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◦ ◊ • A Powerful Little Spell • ◊ ◦
Take a sip of my secret potion, I'll make you fall in love.
For a spell that can't be broken, One drop should be enough.
Boy, you belong to me, I got the recipe
And it's called black magic
- Black Magic, Little Mix
Hector Dagworth-Granger once said that powerful infatuations can be induced by the skillful potioneer, but never yet has anyone managed to create the truly unbreakable, eternal, unconditional attachment that alone can be called Love. They say that love is the kind of thing no one could create with a potion or a spell, that no magic can break it. The only way to find love is to look into one’s heart.
Personally, Nico prefers the ease of concocting a potion.
“Just a little more-” Nico stirred the potion gently, not wanting to overdo anything. The magic was extremely delicate and he wasn’t exactly old enough to be making it. “A little more” he chanted softly to himself, the potion turned pearly and the aromas went up in a spiral of grey smoke.
“Nico, man. It stinks like dog slobber in here.”
Nico snapped the lid back onto the cauldron and smiled at his best friend. “Hey Lewis”
He was wearing red under it, of course, having ended up in Gryffindor. It had disappointed Nico, since he ended up in Ravenclaw, but Lewis was happy with his house and Nico was happy for him.
“Why does your room smell like Butterbeer?” Lewis batted away at the air with his hand, his robes swishing around him like a pair of wings. Nico raised a brow at him. So, love smells like Dog Slobber and Butterbeer?
“Someone tried to unleash Amortentia in here earlier” Nico lied smoothly, making sure that his cheeks remained without a single tinge of red. Lewis, on the other hand, grew bright red. Clearly, he headn’t expected it to smell that way either. “What do you smell?”
Nico blinked, he hadn’t thought of smelling it. He hadn’t even thought it’d work until Lewis arrived. He took a big whiff, Lewis staring at him expectantly. “Books”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “Books, of course”
“And motor oil”
“Still sad you didn’t get to be a racing driver?” Lewis teased, laying languidly on Nico’s freshly made bed. Nico smiled at him the third smell lingering in the air faintly.
Nico sniffed. “Tea”
Lewis shot up from where he was lying down, head tilted to the side. “Tea?”
“Yes, tea” Nico bit back a laugh, trust Lewis to perk right up at the mention of tea. Brits.
Lewis wrung out his hands, deep in thought, and Nico realizes maybe he’s revealed too much. Lewis smirks at him, coming out of his reverie. “Jenson?”
Nico threw a pillow at his face, rolling his eyes. He smiles at the black cauldron, enough Amortentia to make Lewis fall for him hopefully. He just needs to slip it in with him during potions class. Professor Lauda never stayed to watch them make potions.
He’ll see. Soon.
Lewis kicked at the bookcase, hands shoved in his pockets. No one would let him into the Ravenclaw dorms and he had missed Nico Hulkenberg. The tall blonde was normally the one who let him in knowing he was close to Nico Rosberg but today he hadn’t noticed Lewis, probably too wrapped up in thinking about Checo.
The door swung open.
“Fucking finally, what took you so lo-” Lewis turned, coming face to face with Niki Lauda. “Professor” he laughed sheepishly.
“Looking for Nico?” Professor Lauda smirked, shifting the pile of books in his arms for a better grip. “Shouldn’t you be looking for your next class, Mister Hamilton?”
“Professor Hunt is looking for you, Sir” Lewis fibbed, well not really. He really had passed by Professor James Hunt in the hallway, it was just nice coincidence that the Professor fancied Lauda and was always looking to tease him. Niki rolled his eyes in response.
“You better be in class when I see you” Professor Lauda scolded, walking off to hide from James most likely. He had students to teach, he didn’t have the time to converse with pig-headed blonde womanizers.
Lewis scoffed, walking to his potions class. Professor Lauda fancied Professor Hunt too, that was merely a fact of life. Like, Lewis and Nico always walked to potions class together. Lewis frowned.
Something seriously strange was happening to Nico today.
“Muggles” Lewis muttered, pushing the door to the classroom open and finding Nico already working on a potion humming under his breath.
Take a sip of my secret potion, one taste and you’ll be mine he sang softly, dropping ingredients into the pot every now and then from the list on the board. It’s a spell that can’t be broken-
“Hey Nico!”
Nico looked up, startled into waving at the newcomer.
Lewis ducked into the classroom to avoid being bulldozed by the ever enthusiastic Sebastian Vettel. He bit back a growl, his fellow Gryffindor always had the worst timing. His Slytherin best friend Kimi Räikkönen slipped in next, taking his usual table at the back and throwing random things in his cauldron that somehow always came out an alcoholic drink rather than a potion.
“What are you making? Smells like alcohol.” Sebastian scrunched up his nose, peering into Nico’s class cauldron and then into Nico’s second black cauldron he usually used in his room. Lewis raised a brow at the cauldron’s sudden appearance. Had Nico been studying to do the potion in advance? Did Nico get doused with Amortentia again on his way out of his dorm?
… Was that why he didn’t walk here with Lewis?
“Just some drink someone left on my front door” Nico said, gesturing to his cauldron. Again, it made no sense since it was his cauldron.
“A drink! I heard drink! Can I try?” Jenson came bounding in, with Fernando and Felipe in tow. “We could use a drink” he winked at Nico who held the cauldron away from Jenson’s wandering hands.
“Are you serious? This could be dangerous!” Nico protested, placing the cauldron in Sebastian’s hands. Big mistake.
Sebastian took a long sip of it. “Tastes alright to me” he said, wiping at his mouth and passing the cauldron to Jenson while Nico looked on in horror.
Jenson sighed after gulping some down, patting Nico on the back. “Just making sure the Princess doesn’t get poisoned” he slurred, pushing for the rest of the class to try it.
Nico got up, made a show of sniffing at the cauldron and gasped. “Put that down! It’s-”
“Nicooooo!” Fernando jumped onto his back, smelling his hair. “Mi amor” he muttered, trying to kiss at Nico’s neck. The German jumped up, trying to pry the Spaniard off of him with help from Carlos who managed not to drink any potion.
Lewis watched one by one as the people who drank made their way towards Nico. “Was that-”
“It’s Amortentia, come on!” Nico yelled, making a grab for Lewis’ hand and sprinting out into the hallways.
“What the hell-”
“Nico! Come back!!!” Sebastian screamed, running right at Nico and knocking the blonde to the ground. “Why don’t you love me?” Seb pouted, pinning Nico to the ground.
“Shove off, Seb” Lewis climbed on top of the German and pulled his face away from Nico. Sebastian was just about to plant a long sticky one on Nico’s face when he was pulled away by the arm. Nico and Lewis looked up from their little heap on the floor. It was Kimi.
“You better run” he said, holding Sebastian.
Nico’s head swished to the right, there was more screaming coming from the other end of the hall. Jenson and Fernando. Lewis’ eyes shot to the end of the hall, marking out the distinct door labeled Broom Closet. “Nico! Over there!” he shouted, dragging Nico to the broom closet and shutting the door.
They both doubled over, gasping for air. Nico slid down to hold his legs close to him and Lewis sat opposite him crossing his legs. The blonde was blushing intensely, wondering how much worse he could fuck up this situation.
“Amortentia?”
… he had to ask.
“Yeah” Nico nodded reluctantly, looking everywhere but at Lewis’ confused face. “I made it.” He confessed, he might as well come out with it.
Lewis blinked, unable to process that his best friend wanted Love Potion. Nico was beautiful for Christ’s sake! He was smart and funny and all the professors liked him. He could get anyone he wants. “Nico, you know you don’t need that, right?” he asked.
Nico laughed, a small sarcastic wisp of a laugh. “Yes, I do”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “Whoever wouldn’t fall in love with you is blind” Lewis said, nudging at Nico’s foot with his own. The blonde looked at him, blue eyes glassy under the faint light of the broom closet. Was it just Lewis or was the room getting smaller?
“You think so?” Nico asked, sounding legitimately concerned and it hurts Lewis to see his best friend so unsure of himself. He hates that whoever this person was she or he was hurting Nico.
“Of course. I mean you’re pretty good looking and you’re really smart, don’t look at me like that-”
Nico laughed, genuinely this time, biting on his lower lip.
Lewis fiddled with his fingers, should he ask? He shook his head, Nico was his best friend there were no secrets between them. “Who was it for?”
Nico’s eyes darted left and right, running a hand through his hair. It was his biggest nervous tell, he hated messing up his hair. “No one” Nico stuttered and Lewis stared at him. As if he was going to fall for that. “It’s not Jenson”
“Was it someone in our potions class?” Lewis prodded.
Nico nodded.
“Did he drink it?”
He shook his head.
Lewis went over everyone in their class who didn’t drink it, that only meant two people. And Nico had never spoken to Carlos before so it must be-
“Is it Kimi?”
“No!” Nico shouted, his hands waving around in the air in protest. “No, he’s all Seb’s. I don’t like Kimi.”
“Well, who else didn’t drin-”
Nico stared at him, head down and fingers laced together around his legs like he was trying to make himself small. Small enough to blip out of existence.
Oh. OH.
“You-” Lewis started but no other words came out, he was completely and utterly speechless.
Nico ran a hand through his hair again. “Yeah, made it for you. It’s stupid really.”
“Nico” he held him by the forearm, enchanted by the way Nico’s eyes were somehow bluer than his Ravenclaw uniform. Enchanted by the way his blonde hair caught the light and how his lips were always parted ever so slightly like he always had something to say about the world.
Lewis had always been enchanted. Nico didn’t need a love potion for that.
“Like I said” Lewis smiled at him. “You never needed that”
The taste of Lewis’ lips against his was more euphoric than any potion Nico’s ever made and he starts to think maybe Love really is more powerful than magic.