Addicted to You

XI

The first thing that needed to be done was to identify which kind of drugs they were dealing with. Snape wasn't too sure about the types himself, telling her that he had to make do with whatever Mundungus Fletcher supplied him. He had hooked him up just to take the edge off things, and he didn't care whatever trash it was as long as it did its job. Hermione made a mental note to give him a piece of her mind should the slimy old git ever come within her grasp.

At the very first, she expressed her concern about whether they should seek professional guidance for the whole detoxification process. Had Snape been in agreement with her regarding that, she would have begun to think of an elaborate plan to somehow smuggle him into a rehab facility. But he flatly refused, saying he wanted no one else but her. His mind refused to be bent and he couldn't be talked out of it in any way. He seemed to have a lot more confidence in her than she had in herself; she long assessed his face, finally deciding that she had no other option but to go ahead with it.

However, she couldn't deny the fact that she could use some help- both in physical labour and fundamental expertise. All she had to rely on was the internet to base her research, in order to get herself educated about the issue. Thankfully, the damage wasn't too severe yet, and there was a chance of recovery.

She immediately started him on a healthy diet, with lots of vegetables and juices; he didn't give her a hard time about that, doing all she asked like an obedient child, nonetheless still finding a way to spice things up with his dry wit. The symptoms of withdrawal kicked in within a day, making him feel cramps in his stomach and limbs, and frequent waves of queasiness.

He was very restless and uneasy, as was normal, and regurgitated most of what he had for his meals, in frequent intervals of retching. Hermione had freshly made some green juice, with kale, cucumber, mint and also breaking open some vitamin capsules into it, and she pushed the glass container into his hand.

"Drink this."

"No..." he protested, almost whining as he set aside the bucket in which he was puking.

"Would you stop being such a wuss? It'll help you detox."

He took the glass, staring at her, engrossed. He had observed it the other day too and he couldn't help but express his amusement. 

"I had never heard you curse before."

"Well, I never had to take care of your crying ass, now did I?"

Hermione managed to draw out a smirk from him; this was nothing yet, it was going to get a lot worse, so she knew she had to keep him distracted, in order to somehow subside the feeling of pain and despair from the abstinence. So she prattled on.

"Well I was doing some reading...when I was bored, of course."

"Of course." When Hermione went full know-it-all mode, it did something to him.

"Think of getting high as taking out a loan- you get an advance on some good feelings while you are high, but then you are saddled with a debt of those same feelings during the comedown of withdrawal. This is called a rebound effect and is part of your body's way of maintaining homeostasis. Once you have paid off the 'debt', you can feel good again naturally."

But that part seemed so far away, if it was to be arriving at all. Then again, there is no rushing in healing. And to get past it one has to go through it all. It'll only get worse till it gets better.

"Do you have anything stashed away somewhere, anything that you might wanna tell me? Then do it now." she implored, "Because you might not have the will to do the right thing after a few more hours."

He had miscalculated and as a result had overdosed on himself the last time but he believed he still had some left. "A packet, in the bathroom tank."