It was cold and wet tonight. The sound of rain beating against the glass of the Ravenclaw tower’s windows. It wasn’t the best night to be doing this, but a promise was a promise even for someone like Eoin. Here he was, sitting in the dark of his common room with only a few candles lit to see where his supplies were and an overly large cauldron that he wasn’t used to working with. Lifting a handful of purple leaves and beginning to drop them one by one into the cauldron, counting as he went.

The potion required specificity, it would take up the next few hours of his night but he didn’t seem to mind. His green serpent-like eyes observing the cauldron as he tightly twisted two green leaves for the liquid within, following quickly with a few drops of a deep red liquid. Sighing as he did “no wonder potion-makers refuse to brew this one, they’d bankrupt themselves”. The words quietly ran through his mind but never escaped his lips. His wand slowly twisting and turning to control a small magical fire underneath the cauldron letting it rise and fall as he needed.

The waiting was the worst part, the temperature needed to be controlled for far longer than he felt was necessary but he wasn’t going to risk messing up this particular batch. A finger running along dimly lit notes to keep track of where he was. His wand being placed on the ground as he lifted the next ingredient, some brightly shining blue powder that seemed haphazardly poured in with a few stirs just to keep it going.

"Half way done, then I don’t have to make this for another month”. Two drops of some blue liquid and three tentacles from a pickling jar, the smell of which made him nauseous but quickly were thrown in but he could relax for a few moments. Staring out the window as he began to maintain the heat again, watching the rain begin to slow as time passed on and on.

A yawn escaped his lips as he picked up a small silver knife, crushing the side of one of his ingredients to extract some form of juice, taking his time to get the exact number of them correct. Slowly the heat was lowered down until the cauldron was barely a simmer. “Here we go, one last ingredient and it should be ready for her”. He lifted up a silver egg of some kind. Gently crushing it in his hands and sprinkling it little by little, raising his wand to give a quick wave before stirring a few times and repeating his first motion.

“Finally-” the freshly brewed potion let out a plume of blue smoke that almost knocked him onto his back. With a few quick coughs he spoke out loud “I should have time to let that settle and get some sleep”. His words were met with a light finally shining up through the window into his eyes, the sound of other students stirring awake began to fill the common room “Nevermind…” With haste he gathered several bottles, filling as many as he could and storing them in a crate he had borrowed from Professor Slughorn.

His wand waved again as most of his tools swiftly flew away to their original places, the taller boy standing with one of the bottles and beginning to walk out of the common room before anyone had the time to say good morning. Finding his way to the front of the great hall as he waited… and waited… and waited for students to show up for their breakfast. The Hufflepuffs passed by without him even noticing, the Slytherins came from downstairs and got only a brief wave from him, and finally the Gryffindors came down from their own tower. Amongst the crowd he could spot the red hair of who he was waiting for.

Eoin approached Abigail and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, motioning for her to wait for the others to pass by so he could talk to her. When they were finally alone he pulled the bottle from his robes, placing it in her hand “I brewed your next batch for you. I should have enough for this month”. The girl seemed surprised, looking down at the potion, her eyes just showing above her oversized scarf. The realization of exactly what he had done, the tired look in his eyes giving away the time he spent on it. She thanked him quietly, offering to do anything in return for him doing this for her.

“Consider it a gift, maybe next time you can help me find ingredients for it”. She picked up on him saying next time, smiling under her scarf as she grasped the bottle within his hands with both of her own. The embrace of their hands lasted longer than it needed to, both of them looking at each other with different thoughts in their minds yet the conclusion was still the same. Abigail opening her arms to quickly hug the taller boy, a quiet oof escaping him before she grabbed his wrist, dragging him off into the breakfast hall to sit with her and talk. The sounds of the dining hall drowning out the details of what either of them said after.