Poppy shakes me awake a few hours later.
"Minerva, I've brewed the potion Hermione needs, there's enough for the full treatment" she informs me. I nod and look down at Hermione who is still asleep, in my arms. She looks peaceful. I stroke my hand down her face again.
"We need to wake her, I need to assess her mental state" Poppy continues. "I'm happy to do it, and probably should so she doesn't curse you" she offers, smirking a little.
"I caused this, I'll wake her" I grumble back. It's time to step up.
I take a deep breath and gently shake her. All that achieves is making Hermione snore. I think back to how I've managed to wake her in the past. I don't think Poppy would appreciate watching me going down on Hermione. I snicker as that thought, and image, rolls around my mind. Such filth.
I settle for kissing her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks and finally her lips. As her eyes start to open I pull back slightly, allowing her to take stock of her surroundings.
"What are you doing here?" She asks flatly, and closes her eyes once more. She brings her hands up to her face and holds her temples.
"Trixie" I answer simply. "Poppy is here too" I say quickly, trying to head off the argument I'm expecting.
"Accio firewhiskey" she murmurs. When nothing happens she lifts her head from my shoulder to look around the room and Poppy clears her throat.
"Whilst I was brewing your potion, I took the time to remove all of the alcohol from the premises" she confesses. "Not that there was much left. Hermione, what were you thinking?" She asks, looking at her with pity.
"Get out! Both of you, right now, GET OUT" she bellows, a few sparks fly from her wand that is lying on the bedside table. I have no doubt had it been in her hand I'd have been blown through the nearest wall.
"Hermione, calm down, we're here to help you" Poppy tries to defuse her anger. "Here take this, it will help your headache and the dehydration" she holds out a glass with a garish green thick liquid in it.
"I don't want your help" she spits venomously at us, and then leans over the side of the bed and vomits onto the carpet.
As she sits back up, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, rises from the bed and staggers into the en-suite. We hear the shower turn on, and a loud groan as she steps under the spray.
"That went better than expected," I utter. I get up from the bed and clear away the vomit with a wave of my wand. "What are we going to do Poppy?" I ask desolately.
"We're going to wait out here, until she's ready to come back out. I'm going to get her to take this potion, and then we are all going to go outside for some fresh air. I'm betting she hasn't left the flat since you left three days ago. Then we're going to try and get her to eat something. Baby steps Min, baby steps"
I nod my head in acceptance of Poppy's plan, and take a look into the en-suite. Hermione has her hands flat on the back wall of the shower, her head bowed, the water running over her back, rivulets running off her pert breasts. On another day, I'd have joined her, soaped her up, rubbed my hands all over her curves, slipped my fingers into her heat. I close my eyes and withdraw from the room, the temptation too much. I need to fix this. I need my Hermione back.
I sit on the bed waiting for Hermione to emerge from the en-suite. Poppy is looking round the room, taking in our bedroom, it's not somewhere she's been before, and since I moved my things out it looks very barren, apart from the few pictures of us together on the wall. One never fails to bring a smile to my face.
It was taken on one of the first dates that Hermione let me organise, it was during the summer, the students had left Hogwarts about a week before, and I had just finished up the last of the preparation for the next year. I met her at the gates, and we walked hand in hand down to the lake shore where I had set up a picnic for us, at twilight. There were floating candles, and I'd asked the house elves to make all of Hermione's favourite finger foods. We sat and ate and laughed, and talked, and kissed some. Then as the night drew on, I summoned my broom, and managed to persuade Hermione to come for a ride with me. I started slow, low to the ground so our boots whispered across the grass, once I felt her grip loosen off I took us a little higher, sweeping over the top of the trees of the forbidden forest. A cloud shifted from covering the moon, and in that moment Hermione had never looked so beautiful, so I leaned forward and kissed her, I brought us down on the quidditch pitch gently about half an hour later. Once we landed, Hermione asked me if I would move in with her, or if we could get a place together. I of course agreed and then apparated us straight to my rooms, where I proceeded to show her exactly what I thought of that suggestion.
The morning after Trixie had left the picture on my bedside table, she'd come out to observe how the date was going, she knew I was nervous, and took the time to snap a photo. It was the first thing we put up once we'd picked this flat. It's hard to believe that was only 5 months ago. I sigh as I hear the shower switch off, time to face a hungover, angry Hermione. I straighten my back, place my hands in my lap and clear my features of any emotion. We need to get this right.