godsent | h. potter

sixteen.

ADORE YOU

The following weeks felt like absolute heaven to Patricia, who basked in the ignorance of knowing about the goddess out for her life and the danger she would be facing soon enough. Even as the third task draws nearer, the demigod couldn't help but be swept off her feet by the euphoric feeling of teenage love and the bliss of normalcy.

Every second, minute, hour spent with Harry made Patricia feel a flurry of positive emotions she swore she never felt before. The stress of trying to decipher the words written on the professors' blackboards just washes away with just a gentle touch from him. And it is exactly why Patricia tried her hardest to ignore the inevitable storm she'd have to encounter; no matter how many other routes she takes, it would all lead to leaving Harry and the people she now views as her second family.

So she figured she'd bask in this ephemeral euphoria as much as she could, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she would find a way to bring it with her once she returns to her rightful place. Thus began the endless cycle of joyous mornings and nightmare-filled evenings.

Harry noticed, of course. How could he not? He admits that his lover was indeed very good at concealing her turmoil, but after months of close observation, Harry slowly became good at discerning a smidge of what she feels. As someone as awfully dense as him, Harry's ability to learn the smallest of details about Patricia is worthy of praise.

Hermione, too, had noticed. She had noticed how Patricia trembled in her sleep and how her eyebrows were always knitted close together. She noticed how her friend would wake up in an ungodly hour out of breath, shaking. It worried her to death, but she didn't know what to do or how to help her. Hermione could only hope that Harry could help ease the poor girl from the nightmares that seem to haunt her every time she closes her eyes.

"You guys look at me like I've grown another head or something, do y'all know something I don't?" asked Patricia one evening as the quartet lounged in the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione stopped doing her homework to exchange looks with Harry while Ron just stared at his book in agitation.

Harry settles next to her on the floor after a pointed look was sent to his way. "Do you want to talk about something?" asked the raven-haired boy, making Hermione grumble something about horrible wording under her breath.

Patricia furrows her eyebrows in confusion, "Did I do something wrong?"

A sigh leaves Hermione's lips as she puts down her quill on top of her unfinished homework, taking great pain to ensure that the still wet ink won't be smudged or her life would be over. She sends another pointed look to Harry's direction as she speaks, "You did nothing wrong, Pat. We just can't help but notice how you seem tired lately. Is there anything bothering you?"

Ron stops copying Hermione's homework to chime in, "Yeah, you've kinda been looking like a living zombie lately-" He stops after noticing the glares from both Harry and Hermione. "B-But I don't mean that in a bad way! We're just...concerned! That's all."

Giggles erupted from the previously confused girl, "Ron, it's fine. Yeah, I haven't been getting much sleep lately. It's probably the stress of the schoolwork-" she pauses, taking in a deep breath to stop herself from vomiting out the truth; the truth of how her nights were spent in petrifying darkness, of drowning in 'what if's, of being crushed under the weight that's been dropped on her weak shoulders. "I mean, have you seen what Snape just asked us to do? Ten pages about the effects of some stupid potion! I'd rather spend my day doing something else, thanks."

A smirk was on Ron's face as he jokes, "I don't suppose that something's Harry?"

Hermione gasps while Patricia glared at the redhead and slapped him in the arm. From beside her, Harry adjusts his glasses, feeling it slip down his nose, oblivious to his surroundings as he drowns himself in his thoughts. A small frown graced his lips, he knew that she was lying. Was there really nothing he could do? He felt like a fish out of water. He knew nothing about relationships and had been winging everything from the start.