Work Text:
“Are you sure?” Hermione asked him.
Thirteen year old Teddy Lupin nodded. “Yes. Cousin Draco’s birthday is coming up, and I know what he wants. If you'll help me, Hermione, I can brew this potion just in time for his party.”
Hermione gave him a rather indulgent smile. “I’m not sure what your cousin would think if you gave him a love potion for his birthday, Teddy. What about something else? A Pepper-up Potion, perhaps?”
“Aunty Cissy says he’s lonely, so I thought maybe he could use it on this witch he likes.” Teddy looked at Hermione keenly and noticed she was biting her lower lip, a sign that she was thinking furiously. Teddy would bet his new Quidditch broom that Hermione obviously wanted to know who Draco was interested in.
With a quiet sigh she said, “Love potions don’t really cause the person who drinks it to fall in love with someone.” She gave him a censorious look. “And it’s wrong to give someone a love potion; not very ethical.”
Teddy shrugged. “I’ll tell him what it is and he can decide if he wants to use it.”
Hermione looked unsure, and then – as Teddy had hoped she would – asked, “You said you knew what he wanted for his birthday?”
Teddy nodded.
“And he said a love potion?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, not exactly. He said at the rate things were going, he would have to resort to love potions to get the witch he liked to notice him,” he said, intent on giving Hermione the impression that he was repeating exactly what he had heard.
“He told you that?” She sounded disbelieving.
Teddy hung his head in shame. “No, I overheard him talking to Aunt Cissy last Saturday.” Teddy gave Hermione the look his Aunt Cissy had assured him reeked of guilelessness and innocence. “He said you – I mean, er, the witch in question, well, she – you – she might not be interested and he didn’t want to spoil their business partnership – ” He purposely stammered and then with a look of utmost guilt, he continued, “Oh Hermione, please don’t tell him what I just said.”
Hermione looked flabbergasted. And then she flushed. “Draco likes me?” she murmured wonderingly to herself, but loud enough for Teddy to hear. “But he doesn’t even give me the time of day, except for when we talk about the business. And all those invitations for dinner after work – I’d thought, I’d hoped – Merlin, it wasn’t just all about work?” She smiled then, happiness dawning clear on her face. And then shook her head, as if just realising Teddy was witness to her self-revelations.
“Um, Teddy, I have to go speak with Draco about something. Will you be alright in here?” She stood up from behind her desk and hurried to the door.
Teddy nodded, feeling very certain that Hermione was about to make herself and Draco very happy.
Hermione rushed out without a backward glance and Teddy grinned in triumph: mission accomplished.
Finis