The Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was built on the scale of a grand Gothic cathedral. Four long tables ran the length of the room, heavy solid wood burnished with the patina that comes with hundreds of years and thousands of students' elbows. Another table ran across the end of the room; this was where the professors took their meals. The enchanted ceiling showed the soft blue of a November morning sky. The Halloween Feast had been held the night before, and the floating jack-o-lanterns had been taken down and all the live bats released into the darkness at the end of the party. The students and staff straggled in for the morning meal.

Breakfast had hardly started in the Great Hall when the owls arrived. Over a hundred owls flowed in through an open window at the far end, swooping over the long House tables. In a rush of wing-wind, owls dropped off letters and packages from home to the students, copies of the Daily Prophet, and for the Head table, a few scholarly journals. Butterfield Trilby, a fifth year Gryffindor student, watched the owls, first with eagerness on her face, then with concern, then with disappointment as the last owl departed. Nothing for her. She pushed her chipolata around her plate. A tiny hoot brought Butterfield's head up and one last tiny owl with a tiny package came flapping toward her. "Thought you weren't coming," she said affectionately to the little bird as she untied the package. "What's that, Butter?" a very tall black girl asked. Butter held the package up. "It's hair tonic, Ivory," Butter said with a wink, "See?" The bottle did bear the innocent label of Hare-Bee-Have, complete with a drawing of a comical hare with a bee perched on its paw. Ivory Aurier, one of Butter's best friends, arched a black eyebrow, and dug into her scrambled eggs and bacon. The girl seating on Butter's other side took the package from Butter and began to read aloud. "Hare-Bee-Have does what you need, guaranteed," Kandra Hough recited. This was Butter's other best friend. She handed the package back to Butter and reached for a Danish, stopping just short of the plate. "I don't know why you got that," Kandra said, "You've got great hair. Not like me. Hey, can I try some of that tonic?" Kandra, short and rather plump with flyaway brown hair, pulled her hand back from the pastries. Butter said mysteriously "Come back to the dorm and I'll show you." Kandra nodded, distracted by the plate of pastries. Her inner struggle ended when she picked the Danish and ate it with relish.

***

"Trust me, it'll work," Butter whispered, brushing her long blonde hair. The girls were alone in their dorm room, having rushed through breakfast. The bottle of Hare-Bee-Have lay on Butter's bed. Kandra wouldn't look at it. Ivory couldn't help staring. "You don't really  know that, do you?" Kandra said, "I mean, what's in it? What if something goes wrong?" Butter shrugged. "It's from Weasley's. They have been making love potions for years now, and they've never had to report any deaths." Kandra blanched. "Oh, relax!" Butter laughed. "Seriously. I took all the necessary precautions. I'm going to mix it with this," she held up a vial, "and then give it to Ethan, and you'll see. I'll have him fall in love and we'll be snogging by the time the mistletoe goes up in the Hall." "Ethan Birch," said Ivory. "You do aim high." "But it's not real love," protested Kandra. "Isn't that what made Voldy the mess he was?" "It'll be close enough," replied Butter. "I just need to give him a little boost, and then my natural charm will take over from there." "Besides," observed Ivory, "This is going to be a lark! Imagine Butter with the hottest seventh year in Gryffindor!" Ivory hugged Kandra. "Oh, Kandra," Ivory said in a misty voice, "our little girl is growing up." Kandra shrugged Ivory off and said irritably, "Fine. You're going to drug some poor boy. So, what's in the vial?" Butter held it up to the light. The contents glowed a soft turquoise blue. Kandra and Ivory said together "Is that..." "Draught of Peace, yes," finished Butter. Ivory laughed. "Brill! Ethan's already familiar with it, and a lot of seventh years are taking it now. He'll probably thank you for giving it to him!" Kandra bit her lip and remained silent for a moment. Finally, Kandra said, "Butter, where did you get that? Please tell me you nicked it from the school nurse." Butter smiled. "No, it's from our Potions class. I snuck a vial in so I could get a sample." "Clever of you," Kandra frowned, "But you do realize if you did anything wrong when you made it, you'll be putting Ethan to sleep forever, right?" Butter gave Kandra a sly look. "Ah, but you see, dear girl, I didn't take it out of my cauldron. I got this from Professor Batyaeva's demonstration." Kandra said nothing, but gave her a worried look.

Butter carefully poured the Draught of Peace into a larger vial, then she took the love potion from its Hare-Bee-Have disguise box. She kissed it, then with a "Here goes!" poured it into the vial with the Draught. Nothing happened for a full minute, then a horrible olive green froth began to spew out. The girls shrieked. Butter dropped the vial, and they all dove away onto their beds. It took two minutes for the vial to stop foaming. "Well," Kandra said, "I hate to say I told you so--no, wait, I think I don't hate it." Butter shrugged. "Okay, so there is an instability problem between the potions. At least it didn't explode." With that, a muffled bang came from the sodden mess on the floor.