Damaged Goods by slytherin_after_dark

Chapter 13

- NOT MY STORY!! ALL CREDITS TO @slytherin_after_dark ON A03!!
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He was the last person she wanted to see right now. "I told you to stay away from me," she said without turning around.

"The astronomy tower is my territory. I used to come here all the time."

"Are you following me now?"

She heard his steps inching closer. Everything in her burned. She kept breathing evenly.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you when you're coming down from your high," he said as he stood next to her.

She stared at him bewildered. "What are you talking about?" There was no way he could know. She hadn't told anyone about taking the potion.

"Looks like you're already coming down from it right now. Was it worth it?"

"I took nothing."

He chuckled. "Please, Granger. I took enough gavisus in my day to know the signs."

She crossed her arms over her chest, worried she might otherwise use them to strangle him.

"Your smile was fake."

She rolled her eyes. "And you would know?"

He nodded. "Your eyes crinkle when you genuinely laugh. That was my first clue. But then I assumed you were just putting on a show for that worthless piece of muscle Whitmore. My next clue was the way you talked to me at the bar." He shook his head. "It was obvious it wasn't you talking. And then I confirmed my suspicion when I smelled lemon hops and sunfeather on you. No other commonly used potion has both ingredients."

Clever bastard. "Well, I still don't need you to babysit me so you can fuck off."

"I'm serious, Granger, you shouldn't be alone with this. Especially if it's your first time using it."

"I won't be alone. I'll tell Harry."

"We both know that's not true. Your friends are the reason you took it in the first place. You wanted to show them that you can be normal again. And they accepted it without further suspicion. They didn't notice when your laugh was fake. When you weren't yourself."

She walked past him. "Shut up." But he wasn't entirely wrong. They had seen what they wanted to see. The old Hermione. Happy. Her time for healing her trauma was up. Nobody understood it anymore. Not even herself.

He grabbed her by her arm and she had enough of his games. She swung around and was about to hit him in the face but this time he had anticipated her move and grabbed her other wrist before she got anywhere near him.

"Tell me I'm wrong," he said with satisfaction.

A different strategy then. "All these years later and you still feel inferior to Harry. You knew how you could hurt him: Taunting him with me."

A jaw muscle flexed under his pale skin. "I won't argue that it does bring me immense joy to see him miserable. But what I said about you is the truth. I'm not the one judging you for it. He is. Your friends are. They don't accept you the way you are."

She scoffed. "And what? You are? You simply want me to be miserable so you don't feel so alone with it. Whatever pain you're going through that you're not even sharing with your friends—it makes you feel better when you see that same pain mirrored in my eyes."

His hands on her wrists tightened and he bit his teeth together with force.

"My friends are actually there for me," she said. "They want me to get better."

He looked like a predator now; silver eyes narrowing in on her. "No, they want you to be like you were before. They want their good little golden girl back." He pulled her closer to him until his breath danced over her skin. "They simply don't understand you anymore. They're trying to help someone who is drowning by giving them more water. And they don't even notice it. But I do. I see you drowning."