Author's note

For clarification, the following characters are sorted into these houses.

Gryffindor: Yuto, Ryosuke

Ravenclaw: Kim, Kei, Rio and Sayuri

As they became 6th-year students, they were allowed to choose classes based on their O.W.L score and depending on the number of requirements for the subject. It would also depend on the professor teaching said subject if the students met the requirement for the classes. Of course, they would still have the core classes that the students would have to take. However, it was 

It was their first advanced potion class. They were in Professor Hastings’ potion classroom. There was a cauldron, filled with a potion that emitted spiralling steam and has a colour of mother-of-pearl sheen, was placed in the middle of the 

“Can anybody identify the potion in the cauldron? What does it do?” Professor Hastings asked the class. 

Yuto watched Sayuri raise her hand. The professor pointed at Sayuri and said, “Yes Miss Yamazaki.” 

With a bright smile, Sayuri answered confidently, “Amortentia is in the cauldron. It has a different aroma for whoever smells it, reminding each person of the things that they found most attractive, even if said person does not acknowledge or is unaware of their fondness for the target of their affections themselves.” 

“Good job as always, Miss Yamazaki. 10 points to Ravenclaw” The professor smiled and continued, “Okay. Amortentia is considered the most powerful love potion in the world…” 

Yuto slowly tuned out from Professor Hastings’ lecture as he turned his focus to something else. After all, he could always ask Sayuri for the lecture notes for anything he had missed out on when they studied together.  His attention slowly drifted toward the cauldron in front of them. He wondered what his Amortentia scent would be. When they were allowed to take a sniff at the cauldron. Yuto pulled Sayuri closer to the cauldron. The girl yelped a little and blinked at him confusedly before she turned her attention to the cauldron. 

The cauldron has the most enticing yet confusing scents. His scents reminded him of his mother’s peonies, fresh coffee, maple syrup and a peach blossom scent that reminded him of the perfume he gave Sayuri on her 15th birthday. 

“Oi Sayu,” he called out. 

The girl whipped her head around and squinted her eyes at the taller man, “What?” 

“Did you soak yourself with perfume today?” 

“No? Why would I?” She looked at him weirdly before turning back to Rio and Ryosuke,   

Oh…

Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense to him….

The corner of his lips curved up as his eyes landed on the confused Sayuri who seemed to be processing her scents. Somehow, a sense of warmth spread in his heart. 

—

6th year was different from 5th year, in such a sense that the professors seemed to have higher expectations to do better to ace their classes. They would give more assignments to the students that would require quite a bit of critical thinking. The endless amount of essay assignments had Sayuri constantly burying herself behind books. She could do all right in her assignments and answer her professors’ questions in class. However, for some reason, her hard work did not reflect in her tests. 

Quite frankly, that crushed her spirit. 

Perhaps, she should start studying with Yuto again. Just like how they were when they were preparing for the O.W.Ls exam together the year before. Something about studying with Yuto would somehow make studying a lot easier. 

However, she wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea; considering they were not sharing many classes together for this year. Especially, when Yuto had just recently become the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain.

It was just another Wednesday night when Sayuri was sitting on her bed with her textbook and notebook on her lap, flipping through it frantically while trying to crack out her herbology essay assignment on the Sopophorous plant and its magical properties. The girl covered her face with her hands and let out a deep sigh. Her stomach was growling loudly, and she was on the verge of breaking down emotionally for her essay. She was planning to finish her essay before dinner. But the clock on her bedside table had just notified her that she had, once again, missed dinner. 

Perhaps, the fact that she took hours to figure out how to work on her essays showed that she was… perhaps… indeed not as competent as her classmates. Perhaps, her achieving Os during O.W.Ls was simply just her being lucky rather than having her hard work paid off. 

Sniffling as tears rolled down her cheeks, Sayuri closed her herbology textbook and pushed it aside. She buried her face into her pillow and groaned into it frustratedly. A knock could be heard on the 6th-year girls' dormitory door as the girl let out a muffled, “Come in.”

She could care less who entered the door and saw her screaming and crying into her pillow in distress. After all, it had been known to all her close friends that she was a crybaby and would stress cry. With her missing dinner once again, she was pretty sure that whoever had just walked in, let it be Rio or Kim, would probably just leave something for her to eat and let her have her moment until she feels better.  Or, perhaps, it was her other roommate entering the room to grab something. 

However, her assumption was wrong when she felt her bed shift to the side slightly as someone sat down beside her and pat her back gently in a soothing manner. Sayuri sniffed as she set up properly and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her sweater. “Why are you here again, Yutti…,” she asked in a mumble as she looked at her best friend with teary eyes. 

Yuto gave her a warm smile and showed her a container full of food. “I noticed that you missed dinner again,” he sighed and looked at her worriedly, “You do know that skipping meals is not good for your body right?” 

“I know…” she muttered sadly, “But, I’m not done with the Sopophorous plant essay, and they are due on Friday.” Letting out a sorrowful sigh, Sayuri’s head dropped as her fingers fiddled with the hem of her sweater and continued, “But, it feels like no matter how hard I try— how much hard work I give into the test— it doesn’t feel like it's working out.” She sniffled and wiped her tears, “Yuto—what if—”

His hands cupped her cheeks gently, bringing her head up— in a sense, making her look at him in the eyes as he whispered gently, “Hear me out before you go down this self-deprecation road,” he squinted his eyes at her and continued, “You—Yamazaki Sayuri—You’re the sweetest and smartest girl I know. You are smarter than you know.” A soft smile could be seen on his lips as he wiped the tears off the corner of her eyes. He ruffled her hair and patted her head, “I believe one’s brain cannot function properly unless they consume some food.”

“Sherlock Holmes had once said—” 

“Sayu,” Yuto gave her a pointed look and continued, “You’re a human, not a god-level detective.” 

“Fine, I’ll eat,” she grumbled, “And then, I’ll continue with that bloody essay.” 

“Good.”

--- 

When Rio got back to the 6th-year girls' dormitory after her study date with Ryosuke at the library, she found her two best friends had fallen asleep and somehow cuddled each other on one of the empty beds beside Sayuri’s. Frankly, she was not surprised to see that. After all, ever since their 6th year had started, Yuto had been sneaking into the Ravenclaw tower to bring her lovely best friend slash roommate some food.  Even before that, Yuto and Sayuri would occasionally sneak into each other’s dormitory to hang out or study together. 

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Rio teased with a smirk on her lips as she watched Sayuri pull herself up from the bed and rubbed her tired eyes. 

Sayuri got off the bed and stretched her body, “Oh, you’re back.”  She rubbed her eyes once again, “How long were you back from your date?” 

“Well—” Rio grinned cheekily as she untied her tie and took off her cardigan, “Long enough for me to watch you and Yuto snuggling each other while sleeping.” Untying her ponytail, she asked, “So, when are you both finally going to date?” 

“He…” she paused and looked at the sleeping Yuto sorrowfully and continued, “He doesn’t like me that way.” 

“Are you kidding me? He looks at you like you're his world,” Rio exclaimed. She could not believe how dense Sayuri can be when, technically, she and Yuto would do couple-like things with each other. Well—minus the kissing part. In Rio’s opinion, they were more than just best friends, practically lovers.  

“SHH!” Sayuri shushed the girl while glancing at the sleeping figure nervously, “Are you trying to wake the whole Ravenclaw Tower up?”  

“Well—no,” Rio shrugged casually, “But, I do think he likes you.” 

“I’m… not his type,” Sayuri reported with much hesitation in her tone. 

Noticing the reluctance in her tone, Rio asked almost immediately, “What would his type be then?”

“Like Araki,” Rio could hear the little sigh that the girl let out before continuing, “Pretty, sophisticated, and considerate. Practically a real-life Disney princess.” 

“And so?”

“I got no chance…”

“I don't think so,” Rio smirked as she leaned against the bed frame and continued, “He likes you.” 

“He doesn't like me that way,” Sayuri responded almost immediately. 

“Oh! So, you like him.” Rio raised a brow amusingly as the smirk on her lips was broken into a teasing grin. 

“I said nothing,” 

“Well, Sayu,” Rio shrugged and continued, “I think you should tell him how you feel.”

Here I thought you were exhausted from your date with Yama,” Sayuri groaned as she rolled her eyes before picking up her essay and started working on it once again. It wasn’t too long until she heard a soft snore coming from Rio. She, then, sat on the floor beside the sleeping Yuto and studied his side profile. She noticed how long his eyelashes were. She also noticed how his eyebrows knitted together as he pressed his thin lips into a thin line as if he was having a rather unpleasant dream. She gently pushed his brows downwards to help him unfurrow them. His expression seemed to soften shortly after, and the corner of his lips curved upwards. Sayuri warmed warmly at the sight of him sleeping peacefully. 

Her heart did a little flip. She swore that she could hear her heart beating loudly.

But… why?

—

When January came, Sayuri decided that she should come out of the study hole and enjoy her final period at Hogwarts, to which Yuto fully agreed with the idea that she shouldn’t be only spending her time studying. If she were, to be honest, she was quite enjoying spending her time with Yuto. Frankly, she had been wishing that those moments would stay forever. However, remembering what Rio said a couple of months earlier, perhaps, it would be best that she should set Yuto up with someone. Even though deep inside, she would much rather die than see him with someone else. As it was getting closer to February, she had been asked out by some admirers. Well– with any logical sense, she should be accepting them. However, somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to accept their invitation. 

Perhaps, it was because, secretly, she was hoping that Yuto would ask her out. 

It was early February Saturday morning when Sayuri walked out of the 6th-year girl’s dorm with a novel when she saw Yuto sitting on one of the sofas by the window in the Ravenclaw common room. She let out a soft chuckle as she approached him. “Good morning, Ravenclaw wanna-be,” she teased and placed her hands on his shoulders. Subsequently, giving him quite a scare as he jolted up from his seat, before turning around and glaring at her. Her lips broke into a wide grin as she held her book close to her chest and said, “Why are you here?” 

“I thought you might want to head to the Great Hall together for breakfast,” he said with his dazzling bright grin as he stood up.

“Huh, and the door let you in just like that?” Sayuri mused as tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It had never been an unusual occasion for Yuto to randomly show up at the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower and wait for her, so they could head towards the Great Hall for breakfast together. “The number of times you’ve sneaked into the Ravenclaw this year should rival the times that we have sneaked into the kitchen over the past 5 years.” She chuckled and shook her head. Her eyes widened when he suddenly linked their arms together. When she looked up, she saw his eyes twinkling and the bright grin o