Hermione had long given up hope of clearing her mind from the suffering loop that replayed in her head. The war had affected her in more ways than one.
She had always given some thought to how she would die— she had reason to given the past year— but even at that, she would have never imagined it like this.
~*~
Hogwarts looked the same; as if nothing had ever happened. Yet she could feel the overwhelming sentiment of death and destruction that had been laced into the fabric of its newly built walls. With Snape gone, Professor McGonagall had been instated as headmistress and made it her sole mission to rebrand the name and status of the school. All of the students had returned for another year, having missed most of the last one preparing for the war. Even Draco Malfoy.
Everything was the same but it wasn't, though. At least not in her eyes. Time heals all wounds. Who was the moronic philosopher that said that? Clearly they hadn't lived through anything remotely close to what had happened to her. To all of them.
It had been exactly one year since the anniversary death of the Dark Lord. That's what everyone called him but she didn't like giving him that power, even in death. His name was Voldemort and yes, he had died but what he left behind was far worse than anything she could have imagined.
The pain was excruciating. It had been three months since the flesh around her scars started to burn with intensity, as though they were battling against a losing opponent. It felt as though her skin had been set on fire with an eternal flame.
After a month, she'd thought of throwing herself in the lake, uncertain whether it had been to soothe her suffering or make it stop altogether. And the nightmares never failed to haunt her in her sleep. Yet Hermione hadn't gotten the courage to tell anyone and instead, she isolated herself from everyone. Until he came along.
Somehow the last person she would ever want in her life had become the most important. After all, she'd never been able to tell the difference between sugar and salt.
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𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 | Dramione
Fanfiction[DRAMIONE] Post-war fic. Voldemort is dead. 8th year. The war is over but even a year later, lingering scars make it hard to forget. Hermione battles with the demons in her head and makes the terrible discovery that her scars were poisoned by Bella...
