Here is the next chapter, We are gettng into the darker part of the story, but not thee darkest part. I hope you enjoy it.

Hermione was the brightest witch of her age. She had it all, she had a lovely home great friends and not to mention a great job. She was head healer in St. Mungos so she always stayed busy. Her patients loved her and she loved her job.

Everyone who knew her thought she had it all. But she knew differently. Yes she had a big house, loving friends and a great job but if she were to break down what those three things meant in her life. Then her life would be thought of as hell.

She had a big house; yes but it was empty. The furniture was still there, lavish and exquisite. But there was a darkness to the house. There was one place where no one was allowed into, no one except her and Ron. Her study.

They had spent countless hours in her study drinking up the potions that she had taken from work to ease the pain that the war had caused. Ron had lost a brother so he used that excuse to poison his body to no end. Hermione lost a lot of friends and her parents in the war.

Pain killer potion was her drug of choice. It made her feel good. No it made her feel great. With it she felt like she could then handle the world. Even the dumb people who wandered into the clinic thinking that anything and everything were wrong with them.

Friends; There was Ron who of course spent most of his time with her. She would sneak home potions just so they could get a high together and finally feel good about themselves. He was her best friend in all of this; he had her back while she had his

There was Harry, who watched over her like a protective older brother. He tried on countless occasions to get her to quit but it required too much time to watch over the two as they slowly detoxed. He was too busy, now with marrying Ginny, having a child on the way and being the head of the auror department. She didn't mind though, it meant that she could feel great for a bit longer.

A great job; yes one that she would steal from every day. One that when she was working unknowingly supplied her pain killer potions. Everyone who she worked with had no idea, she hid it well since she took just enough to get her through her shift. But she took too many once she got home. Her patients never suspected a thing since she was always loaded on some kind of pain killer potion that made her happy.

Those three things that everyone thought made her an amazing healer; friend and person had underlying definitions that not many knew about. That was what made her Hermione Granger.

She had just finished doing her rounds checking on some of her patients. Clinic duty was next and she needed something to take the edge off before she had to deal with patients who thought every small twitch was something serious.

She slipped into the closet full of fully stocked potions and downed a small blue vial. She licked her lips as she immediately started to feel the effects take place. Oh how she loved magical drugs. They took effect faster than any muggle medicine would.

She slipped back out of the closet and casually headed down towards the clinic where a nurse waited for her with a stack of folders.

"Gentleman in room three is here for a yearly check-up."

"Thank you Lydia." Hermione smiled as she headed towards room three with the folder.

She pushed open the door and quickly shutting it behind her without looking at the man.

"Granger?"

She suddenly turned to look at the man in the room who had said her last name.

Draco Bloody Malfoy

"It's Dr. Granger." She corrected him

"You can't be serious." He groaned

"Oh but I am." She took her seat on her rolling chair. She pulled herself towards him.

She was feeling a bit lightheaded now but that was good. That was the effect she wanted, because if she wasn't lightheaded she would have a mean headache and wouldn't be able to deal with the insufferable git before her.

"Alright, Malfoy, take off your shirt."

"That's Mr. Malfoy to you." He fired back

She rolled her eyes and waited for him but he didn't move a muscle.

"Are you going to do it or not?" she asked impatiently.

He remained silent; there was only one way that he was going to do it.

"Mr. Malfoy, can you please remove your shirt?" She muttered

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that." He smirked

"Mr. Malfoy," She said a bit louder. "please take off your shirt."

He smirked and with a swift movement he pulled it off and tossed it onto the countertop.

"Like what you see?" He asked her. She was staring at him.

He was being an ass on purpose. It was fucking Granger. He wanted to have his fun while it lasted. He watched as she tore her eyes off of him and pretended to read his file.

"I'm going to do a spine check on you now." She stood up from her chair and walked over to him. "Please lean forward, Mr. Malfoy."

He did as she said but he watched her intently. She had this look in her eyes that she wasn't all there. He chalked it up as maybe she didn't get much sleep. She ran her finger down his spine and then back up it sending chills through his body.

"Careful there, doc. You might get me all hot and bothered." He winked playfully.

She rolled her eyes and continued to examine him.

He still kept a close eye on her, when she walked just three feet to the counter to write something down she stumbled a little. Like her feet couldn't catch up with the rest of her body.

His eyes caught hers once more and this time she didn't look away. What he saw was something he hadn't expected to see. He saw pain, pain that he couldn't quite put his finger on until she tripped over her chair. He then knew instantly that she was on some kind of drug.

Though it had to be prescription, she was a healer for merlin's sake.

He watched as she gathered herself trying not to let her catch him staring but he just couldn't help himself.

"What?" She snapped at him smoothing out her coat.

"Nothing." He muttered looking away

"We're done here." She gathered up her files and headed out leaving him to ponder through his thoughts.

He had seen it once before, his mother. She was an addict. Though with alcohol. He had wished he'd done more to save her. But he figured she would fix herself much like she had always done. But this time she didn't. She would drink and drink and drink until their liquor cabinet was empty. She sent whoever was home to the store to buy some more for her.

He had even fed her addiction himself. She forced him to go down to the store for her. And he did it, not really thinking about the consequences.

It had been almost a year now since her death and he missed her dearly. She had begun drinking when his father died in the Great War. She couldn't live without Lucius, even if he was an old bitter man. He loved him and it pained her to be away from him.

He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. He would have to reschedule, obviously he frightened her away with the way he was watching her. He knew that next time he would have to write down a different healer one that wasn't her. He needed to stay away from her. This wasn't what he wanted to be around.

'

She made her way quickly out of the room and to the nurse's station. She had pawned him off on another healer before heading to her next patient. The rest of her clinic duty went by fine; she had to escape halfway through and go back to grab herself another potion. But now she was off and she had just left the storage room for the fifth time today with a bag full of vials.

She rushed past the reception area and quickly said her goodbyes to the ladies and went home. She found Ron laying on the front steps of her house waiting for her.

"Bloody hell." He groaned

She slipped a vial out of her purse and handed it to him "Come-on let's get inside."

She locked the door once they were inside and she hadn't bothered to turn on any of the lights as they made their way to her office near the back of the house.

She spread out the vials between them and laid down on the floor.

"I saw Malfoy today."

"What the hell did he want?" He growled

"Yearly check-up. Though I passed him off to another healer."

"Good, did you tell him to piss off?"

"No, but I think he knows something."

"Knows what?" Ron asked

"I have this strange feeling that he knew I wasn't all together today." She popped open another vial. She allowed him to have the first swig and then downed the rest.

"Oh come on Mione, he doesn't know shit. How could he? You hide it so well."

She sighed and thought for a minute "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He scooted himself closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. They were friends and nothing more. They had tried the whole dating thing but it ended up being just two people into the same things that loved to hang around one another. She saw him as a brother and he saw her as a sister.

He saw that she was tired and he started to run his fingers through her hair.

"Go to sleep." He whispered. "Forget about Malfoy. He means nothing."

She nodded her head and slowly drifted off.

See I promised you Ron wasn't a psycho in this one!

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KKB (TwitterL twitterDOTcom/KnickKnackBlack)