In Defense Against The Dark Arts a couple weeks later, Briar was daydreaming while Professor Snape lectured. Because of this, she wasn't entirely focused on her surroundings, so she jumped when Daphne nudged her side with a bony elbow.

Briar looked at her blond roommate with raised eyebrows, so Daphne shifted her hand to put something in Briar's palm. It was a small piece of paper, folded in half.

Daphne leaned close to whisper, "It's from Longbottom." She winked at Briar before she looked up at Professor Snape once again.

Not being one for patience, Briar immediately tugged open the note from Neville. Her lips curled into a smile as she read the words he had scrawled in his surprisingly neat handwriting.

Briar, I just wanted to tell you that you look very beautiful today. Stunning, actually. I just thought you should know that. Also, do you want to go on a walk later?

She was smiling down at the note and rereading the words over again, happiness spreading throughout her body at the fact that he couldn't even wait until the end of class to tell her this.

Daphne kicked her under the table, so she looked up immediately and noticed Professor Snape rapidly approaching. With fingers reacting instinctually, she slipped the note into her pocket underneath her robes, all while she watched Professor Snape with a blank expression.

He reached her table and demanded, "Give me the note, Miss Davies."

"It's Miss Black, and I don't know what you're talking about, professor," Briar fired back and raised her eyebrows challengingly.

Professor Snape drawled, "You were passing notes in my class. Give it to me this instant."

Briar raised one black eyebrow even higher and trailed, "Professor, I don't know what you're referring to." She didn't break eye contact with him, and she knew that he couldn't make her break. She was certain that he hadn't actually seen the note, just her looking at her lap, so he would eventually give up.

After an excruciating few seconds, he stepped back and spat, "Fine. Detention for the rest of the week for you, Miss Black."

Daphne was staring at Briar with large eyes and a pointed look. Briar rolled her eyes. Of course Daphne would have given up the note to avoid Snape's wrath. She didn't understand that that wasn't an option in Briar's mind. She would never let Neville be embarrassed by his third year boggart. It just wasn't an acceptable outcome.

She subtly glanced over at Neville's table and shyly smiled since Neville was already staring at her. His eyes were wide in concern, but she sent him a wink when Snape's back was turned.

-

Briar arrived at potions that day a little late. Pansy was clinging to her in the corridor and gushing about Blaise. He was her newest obsession, and she was telling Briar why it could make sense that he would be her soulmate. Their letters matched, and they both had pureblood Slytherins in their year.

Pansy was ranting on and on about it, and Briar and Pansy both stumbled into class late because of this. Once Pansy got going in these instances, it was impossible to stop her train of thought.

The two girls both tried to take their seats as quietly as possible, but their late entrance did not escape Professor Slughorn. He stepped up to them with a vial and murmured, "Since you two are late, I'll have you start us off today."

Briar and Pansy both nodded, not wanting to disrespect the professor any further.

He handed the vial to Briar and instructed her, "Tell us what you smell in this potion."

She nodded and lifted the vial to her nose, lightly sniffing as the scent entered her awareness. Her eyes fluttered closed slightly as the scent washed over her. She breathed, "A freshly burning fire, vanilla, and damp, fresh dirt."

Pansy spluttered, "It smells like dirt?" Her nose was crinkled and slightly upturned. Briar knew that it sounded vile, but the smell was almost intoxicating to her.

Briar handed the vial off to her roommate to confirm the scent, but she was appalled when Pansy murmured, "Warm spices, firewhisky, and-"

"What? That's not what it smells like at all," Briar interrupted with her arms crossed across her chest angrily. Why was Pansy lying about the smell? Was she trying to humiliate Briar?

Professor Slughorn cleared his throat and murmured, "Ladies, do you know what that potion is?"

Pansy and Briar both snapped their heads to look at their professor simultaneously. Their brows were lowered, and their eyes were incredibly serious as they waited to hear what he said next.

In the silence of their confusion, Hermione offered, "It's Amortentia, the love potion."

Professor Slughorn added, "Yes, it smells different to everyone as the two of you just exampled for us. It smells like what you're attracted to."

Briar licked her lips nervously and let her eyes drift over to the seat where Neville was seated. He was staring at his tabletop with increased interest, but he was donning a happy little smile.

It was clear to everyone that the person she described was Neville. The scent of vanilla and dirt described him and their moments together, and it warmed her soul that such a simple class assignment became another way she confirmed her adoration for the sensitive boy.

His happy smile put a grin on her face too as she sat back in her seat lazily. Her grin only widened that class period when Neville was given the potion to smell. He glanced at her occasionally as he admitted, "It smells of roses, mahogany, and my mimbulus mimbletonia."

Detention with Snape couldn't even lower the overwhelming happiness she felt in her chest that day. The shy, Gryffindor boy had taken down the stones that guarded her heart, piece by piece, until one day, she realized that she didn't need them there anymore. Her heart was safe with him, and the rest of her life fell into harmony, a semblance of the life that should have been hers all along.

———