Author's Notes: Written for obsessivegirl73's Second Person POV Competition on the HPFC forum.

Choose your character(s) and write a story in second person. You may ask for prompts if you wish.
Prompt: Guardian Angel

)O(

Sometimes it's hard to stay happy.

People think you're just naturally happy all the time, so they don't worry about hurting you. Sometimes they even go out of their way to do it, just to see what would happen if you did crack.

But you don't crack. You keep up your façade of serene smiles, and you never let anyone see that they've hurt you.

Anyone except him.

He could see even if you didn't show him.

He knows that no one could be as happy as you pretend to be. No one goes through the things you do and comes out smiling.

It would surprise your other friends to know that he's the one who understand you, who sees where you're broken. They think he would only exploit your pain and hurt you more.

They're wrong.

They think that because they don't see that he's hurt any more than they see you are. It's funny, you think, that the ones who one would assume to understand you best are the ones who see the least.

You don't try to explain why you love him. It doesn't matter, really – they don't have anything to do with him, so why should you put effort into trying to make them understand? Especially when you know they never will.

But you know why you love him.

You love him because he's the only one who knows just how badly he could hurt you if he tried, and he still doesn't. He even protects you from being hurt – Pansy Parkinson makes far fewer jokes at your expense, now.

But then, your own friends are kinder to him now as well.

You love him because he guards you, and you love him because you can do the same for him.

)O(

Fin