"I'm doing nothing wrong, it's a harmless little experiment."

Seungkwan stared at the blonde quarter Veela with a look that said he wasn't buying it one bit. Even for a Slytherin, Jeonghan's ideas can get rather bold and brash, lacking in the more subtle charms of life. It was only a few weeks into their sixth year when Yoon Jeonghan, beloved Slytherin prefect and top of Potions class for the previous five years, decided to put his good looks and charm to the test.

Basically, he was going to douse himself with a love potion that amplifies only the feelings of those who already did feel attracted to him. Granted, he may be a Veela, but only partly so. That didn't guarantee immediate attraction from other people and certainly not from Seungkwan as the younger boy rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that day.

"It's an ego trip, Jeonghan. Think of all the poor boys and girls who will fling themselves on you while you crush their hearts?"

"Well," Jeonghan said only after a moment's pause. "Harmless for me. Hand me the Potions book again, will you, Junhui?"

The third figure in the otherwise empty classroom at the moment moved to do so, despite previously voicing out the same concerns as Seungkwan did. Although, his main question was why Jeonghan found the need to do all this at all, when he could just as quickly flirt his way through the crowd and pick someone up if he wanted to. That was when he realized Jeonghan didn't want to; all the blonde wanted was the attention of one dark haired Hufflepuff, and if he had to resort to manipulation and involving half of the Hogwarts student community, he'll do it, rather than just straight up confessing.

A bit of a hassle, but Jeonghan did have a flair for the dramatic.

"How did you get the ingredients, anyway?" Junhui asked as he peered into the bubbling cauldron. It was beginning to take on similar qualities as amortentia, but not quite, since the other boy only needed the first few qualities of the said love potion before tossing the book across the table. "Better yet, the recipe."

"All it took was a bit of research," Jeonghan said dismissively as he continued focusing on making sure he stirred the correct way.

Research was always somewhere along the thin line of actually pouring over books in the library or simply popping over the restricted section. Maybe it wasn't important. If anything, what he was working on was a more diluted version of the famous love potion, made for wearing as a perfume of sorts rather than drinking it. Brilliant work, even Seungkwan had to admit, although he shared the same sentiments as Junhui about the main reason behind this whole situation. He leaned back from his place perched on top of one of the tables and regarded Jeonghan with a pointed look.

"Just confess to Hong Jisoo, why go through all this?"

"I told you, I'm intimidated," Jeonghan said with a hint of glee that gave away his false reason, eventually showing in the bright grin he threw at the younger boy. "He's dark and brooding, straight out of your vampire romance books, except human."

"I do not have vampire romance books."

"Yeah, tell that to Ostorio and Pasha under your bed."

"Are you almost done?" Junhui cut in before Seungkwan could retort, knowing that once the two—despite being very good friends, of course—went at it there was no stopping them. Slytherin drama and all that, why not? He glanced outside the window that overlooked the castle grounds in time to see students beginning to file out of their respective classes, which meant the room they were currently in could very much be occupied in a short while.

With a last quick stir, Jeonghan nodded, flicking his wand here and there to carefully bottle the contents into a vial. He held up the shimmery, pink liquid with a triumphant sound.

"Here it is, my little beauty. What should I call this scent? Passion? Amore?"

"Big Ego?" Seungkwan piped in, before hopping off the table and dusting himself off a bit. "Come on, dab some of that on you and let's take this show on the road. You've got a class with him next, right? I have Divination and I can't wait to predict some bad omens."

"Really, one would think I'd be supported by my friends," the blonde replied with a slight drawl to his tone, before dousing himself on the neck two times and one on his wrist that he rubbed together with his other arm soon after. The potion was tailored to only activate when applied on himself and immediately, at that. Once pleased, the soft smell of vanilla filling the room, Jeonghan glanced at the other two boys expectantly. "Well?"

After only a moment's pause, Junhui snorted as he walked past Jeonghan towards the door, "we love you, Jeonghan, but if you think we're attracted to you after being your friend for so long, you're sorely mistaken."

"Agreed," Seungkwan said after he laughed for a solid minute, following after Junhui to the door and clapping the older boy on the shoulder as he went. "Let's go."

"I hate both of you."

In retrospect, maybe Jeonghan should have applied the potion on himself when he was a bit closer to their Potions classroom. Shortly after exiting the room, the three Slytherin boys went their separate ways and the blonde was left alone to walk his way down the halls. Normally, it was no problem, but even with his ego, he just didn't imagine the immediate effect of the potion on the people surrounding him. He had always been a name around the school for his good looks and Potion mastery, but actually having people's interest in him amplified was a different story.

In the few minutes he's been out, Jeonghan has received countless stares that went from mildly curious to awestruck, although none actually came up to him. It wouldn't have been all too different from how his days usually went, except maybe there was some sort of difference between the usual hidden glances compared to the very open stares. Nonetheless, he managed to appeal to the masses by smiling at some of them every now and then as he rounded the last hallway before his Potions classroom.

"Jeonghan, hi," came a cheerful voice beside him suddenly, matching his pace as they walked.

"Uhm," the Veela started, racking his brain for a name to match the face of the smiling Ravenclaw boy in front of him. He came up with close to nothing and soon deemed him unimportant. "Hey?"

The boy smiled wider, "lovely weather we're having today, almost as lovely as you. You know, you've always attracted me with how much Professor Slughorn praises your potion work, but today you're  even more—"

"Not interested," Jeonghan cut in as bluntly as he could, stepping away when he realized how close the guy got to his personal space. Any other time and maybe he would have enjoyed playing along, but he did have a class to catch up to, especially one with Jisoo. That was all that mattered in the end. As if pulled by an invisible string, the guy's steps followed his and soon fell into place next to him again. The Slytherin pointedly stepped away again before walking again.

Unbothered, the Ravenclaw continued to smile as he followed, "you're positively shining today, Yoon Jeonghan."

The blonde quickened his steps a bit as he decided to just look away from the boy and escaping, but ended up bumping into a wall—or, well, a wall wouldn't be slightly warm and soft at some points—so maybe it was a chest he bumped into. The sight of the red under the black robes didn't exactly make him feel any better as Jeonghan looked up to find Gryffindor quidditch captain, Choi Seungcheol, looking down at him before casting his eyes towards the other boy in view. There wasn't that much animosity between Jeonghan and their famous rival house, if only because he managed to befriend the higher-ups long ago, Seungcheol being one of them. However, if anybody would actively be against his little plan it would also be him.

"Seungcheol," Jeonghan greeted weakly.  “Hey.”

"Is this guy bothering you?" The dark haired boy said, glaring a bit at the Ravenclaw who thankfully decided to stay farther away this time, even if he still looked like he wanted to stay next to Jeonghan regardless. "You attract trouble like bees flock to flowers, Yoon Jeonghan."

With a sigh of relief, Jeonghan relaxed at that, the easy and familiar tone of friendship a welcome change; he was half-worried he'd get strange reactions from Seungcheol of all people, but soon realized the other boy could care less about his charms. Glancing again at the Ravenclaw who refused to go away, the blonde gave a shrug and sheepish grin, earning him another narrowed look from the Gryffindor.

"Just another admirer. Scare him off for me?"

"You know I'm not actually scary, right?"

“Well, I know that," Jeonghan said with a bright smile, missing the way Seungcheol's gaze clouded a bit. "He doesn't, though. Feels like a lower year. Work your magic, so to speak.”

The Gryffindor rolled his eyes before directing his attention to the Ravenclaw, "whatever. Hey, kid?"

"Yes?"

"Scram, we're busy. Now."

There must have been something Seungcheol did to appear scarier than usual, as the Ravenclaw paused only a short moment to stare at Jeonghan before nodding frantically and walking away. A pleased laugh escaped from Jeonghan at the sight, turning back to the other boy with a word of thanks on his lips before he was cut off by the shock of Seungcheol placing a hand on his shoulder. Dark eyes, framed by darker lashes, stared into his own. The Slytherin boy visibly gulped.

“Cheol?”

"Yoon Jeonghan," came the calm reply. "What did you do to yourself today?"

"W-what do you mean?" Jeonghan asked, back to wanting to shrink into himself.

Seungcheol stepped closer, giving him a very obvious sniff, rather close to his personal space as well, but not as uncomfortable as earlier. The dark haired boy was about only a few inches away from his neck when there came a cough from beside them, causing both to jump back hastily. It took Jeonghan a few seconds to register the pitch black hair and pitch black robes, the slight sparkle of various stud piercings, and the splash of yellow on the otherwise dark figure.

Hong Jisoo took one look at the two in their compromising position and sighed.

"I'm sure there are empty classrooms for this sort of thing."

"Jisoo!" Jeonghan said, finally snapping back to reality as he immediately took a step away from Seungcheol. Great, the day of his brilliant plan and the object of his affections think he has something going on with a Gryffindor. Not just any Gryffindor at that, but Choi Seungcheol. The whole school has been at Jeonghan’s neck trying to get them together since their 4th Year. ”It’s, uhm, not what you th—"

Thankfully, Seungcheol cut in before the Slytherin could end up digging himself deeper into the hole by saying such a cliché denial, by pushing him towards the Hufflepuff.

"Hey, do you think there's anything different with Yoon Jeonghan today? I can't tell, maybe a Hufflepuff can find what's off."

"Because we’re so great at finding things, huh?" Jisoo said with a slight roll of his eyes, but he stepped closer regardless and stared at Jeonghan, who merely stared back after steadying himself, unsure what he should do. This was good, right? Jisoo was within range of his potion, which means if the other boy was attracted to him, it would work immediately. Jisoo continued to stare for what felt like forever before he shrugged.

“What am I supposed to be looking for, Seungcheol?”

“Never mind,” Seungcheol said cheerfully. “Gotta go, enjoy Potions!”

The Slytherin boy let out a breath of relief he didn’t even know he was holding in as he watched Seungcheol walk away. When he glanced at Jisoo, he found the Hufflepuff still staring at him with a somewhat indecipherable look before snapping himself out of it; Jisoo pointedly looked away and gestured towards the end of the hallway.

“Potions classroom is that way. Let’s go?”

A bit disappointed at the lack of an explicit reaction, Jeonghan nodded a bit too quickly, shaking off his nerves from earlier and putting on an air of bravado, “of course!”

The two entered the classroom together, which already made Jeonghan pretty happy about things. It’s not like they’ve never talked or anything. If he was being bold about it, he could say he was friends with Hong Jisoo, after all those years of being classmates here and there, and being in the same year level as well. It’s just that they were definitely from different aspects of life and just never truly hung out and got to know each other well.

Yoon Jeonghan had come from a rich, pureblood family despite how cliché that may seem for a Slytherin student. Thankfully, the family no longer kept up with the pureblood prejudices from generations ago. He had easily attracted friends due to his magnetic personality and his general love for attention.  The fact that he was Veela didn’t really contribute to his charm as much as his naturally good looks did. He was smart and sporty, too. Everybody who knew him loved him, even if his close friends agree he’s a handful.

The Hufflepuff on the other hand was very obviously muggleborn; it’s obvious in the way he dresses on free days, leather jackets and piercings and all that. He’s never been shy about his muggle heritage either, if the way he got most of the Hufflepuff house to be interested in muggle music was anything to tell by. He was, however, clearly more reserved than Jeonghan and preferred keeping to himself. It wasn’t a common sight for the usual bright, cheerful students that came from his Hogwarts house.

Potions was just one of the many classes they’ve had to share throughout the year.

Jisoo occupied an empty table immediately, while Jeonghan still attempted to looking around for one. There were definitely none available.

“Wanna be partners today?” Jeonghan asked, already knowing the answer was going to be a yes anyway since they were one of the only few left without partners yet. That said, he didn’t wait for a reply and easily slid into the chair next to Jisoo. The latter hadn’t shown any sort of reaction the potion he was wearing, which made the Veela a bit sad, but not enough to give up completely. Maybe being exposed to it longer would do the trick.

The other boy moved a bit to the side to make more space on the table for their cauldrons and other belongings without a word.

“Hi, Jeonghan!”

The blonde turned around to see one of the Slytherin girls eyeing him with sparkling eyes.

“Hey, Mirae,” Jeonghan replied with a smile.

“Do you want to be partners for class?” Another girl ended up saying, popping up next to Mirae with an equally hopeful expression. For a moment, the Slytherin boy was confused before remembering his potion and immediately panicking about it, but didn’t let it show. Instead he opted to keep his smile as he shook his head.

“Sorry, I’m already sitting with Jisoo over here,” the blonde said, gesturing towards Jisoo, who was watching the scene unfold with raised brows.

Jisoo shrugged, “I mean, if you’d rather partner with one of them—“

“I don’t,” Jeonghan said a bit too quickly, before catching the hurt looks on the other girls realizing that he should probably fix that part, too. “Sorry, it’s just that I have something to discuss with Jisoo, so I hope you guys don’t mind.”

The girls looked at Jisoo expectantly, as if waiting for him to either agree or disagree, with looks that said that he very much should disagree. Jeonghan couldn’t bear