Myron nodded as if understanding. He reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, skin-to-skin contact now she was clothed in the single layer of silk. He drew his thumb over her again, as if gently stroking her. It could have been easily misinterpreted as a soothing action of someone comforting a friend, but Myron subconsciously stroked all the things in his collection when he neared them.
“Look, I know you’re still on edge about why I’m doing this. It’s difficult to explain..” He told her softly, “I’ve been famous for a long time now, I’ve travelled around and I have more galleons than Gringotts. Music is a good release, but after a while things become... “ He paused as if searching for a word, “unbearably monotonous. It becomes very lonely in the spotlight. Giving you these things, helping you, it makes me feel good in a way a potion never could.”
Once again it wasn’t a lie, simply not the entire truth. It made him feel good in a way no potion could, because no potion gave him the satisfaction of adding to a collection. Possessing something no one else did felt so much better than a brief high. Things were forever. Of course Katie wouldn’t last forever, but the knowledge of owning her certainly would. If it weren’t so morbid, Myron could have pictured a wall of stuffed heads of all the lovers he’d seduced, like a hunter with prized deer. He’d had to settle for a photo album. His gaze flicked to his bag momentarily where his camera waited.
“You really do look beautiful,” He said again before letting his fingers slip away from her shoulder down to her wrist, which he took gently to lift her hand. He picked up one of the tiny bottles. The potion inside was pink with what appeared to be black grit floating around inside it. “We’ll take this slowly,” Myron told her, his piercing blue eyes inscrutable as he placed the bottle in her palm and closed her fingers around it, “This will make you feel calmer, but also happier. Things might look like they’re glowing a little. Things will feel softer, less textured…”