"I don't want to go," Harry said for the umpteenth time. He was sitting on the floor where he was very slowly putting on his socks. Severus, on the other hand, was ready to walk out the door. This was a trick that the boy had done when he was very young and didn't want to go somewhere. Back then, Lily or Severus could 'help' him to move things along rather than letting him do it himself. Severus didn't think Harry would appreciate if he got down there and put his shoes on his feet for him, however.

"So you've stated," Severus said. "But you have to go and we're going to be late which is disrespectful to Mrs. Cannon whose time is quite valuable."

Harry looked up at him pleadingly, "We could just tell mum that I went. I'll start acting normal, I promise."

"You are clearly mistaking me for Black. Do I really need to spell your shoes on you?"

"No," Harry muttered, though he didn't move to put his shoes on.

Severus tried a different tact, "Mrs. Cannon is a very nice woman. I've seen her a couple of times myself, after the war. There's no shame in getting some help."

Harry looked up at him, "So, you know her?"

"Yes."

Harry jumped to his feet and made for the stairs, "That's it. I'm not going."

Severus watched the boy run up the stairs and disappear into his bedroom. The two of them had an uneasy truce the past few days which had done wonders to get him back in Lily's good graces. Of course, the child hadn't done anything to irritate Severus because he simply laid on the couch all day long. Severus looked at the clock on the wall which informed him that they were already running a few minutes late. He wondered if he should just firecall her to cancel and wait until Lily could be here. But just as he had realized he couldn't simply spank the child every time he misbehaved, he knew that he also couldn't simply make Lily handle every difficult situation.

The hospital was not being very understanding about Lily's problems with her son and her hours had hardly eased up at all. Albus had been considerably more understanding about the situation and had agreed that Severus could take a short leave of absence to help Lily deal with the fallout. Lily had accepted the help after Severus promised to be the adult in the situation. Harry had agreed it was okay if Severus stayed with him sometimes which he was eternally grateful for and figured was probably progress.

He sighed and walked up the steps, stopping in front of Harry's room which he rapped on with his knuckles. There was no answer, so Severus cracked the door and called, "Harry?"

The child was lying on his bed, on his stomach, with his face pointed away from his stepfather. Severus approached the bed and said, "Harry. I really think she'll be able to help you. You can't go on like this."

"I'm not going there just so she can tell you everything I say."

Severus almost told him to stop being paranoid, but held his tongue at the last moment. The fact was that the boy had been paranoid in the last week and that would have been a rather unkind thing to say. It had been quite concerning that the boy wanted to sleep with his wand and Lily had caught him in the kitchen, staring out the window into the dark with his hands clutched so tight on the counter that his knuckles were white. Instead, he said, "She won't tell me anything, Harry. She's very professional and discreet. Besides, I wouldn't ask her; if you want me to know, I'm sure you would tell me yourself."

Harry turned his head to look at his stepfather, "You promise you won't ask her?"

"Yes, I promise."

The boy sighed and reluctantly got up off the bed and went downstairs to put his shoes on and Severus took his arm so they could apparate to the office of Rebecca Cannon. They checked in with a young man with tortoise shell glasses who was apparently her administrative assistant and sat down in the waiting room. Harry was sitting unusually close to him which was another odd habit that Lily and Severus had noticed he developed when they were out in public.

Rebecca Cannon was a woman in her mid-thirties with long, pin straight dark brown hair and sea glass green eyes. She wore a pantsuit and looked quite severe but had a bright and genuine smile. She greeted them warmly, "Severus! So good to see you again. And this must be Harry!"

Harry offered her a shy smile and got up to follow her into her office. Severus looked around for something to read, passing over the numerous copies of Witch Weekly and finally asking the young man at the desk if he could borrow his Daily Prophet.

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

Harry didn't like being alone with someone who he didn't know even though Snape apparently trusted her. He wouldn't admit this, however, and tried to gather his courage to follow her into her office. He sat down on the chair furthest from where she was perched and looked around the office. There were several awards on the wall for 'exceptional work' at St. Mungo's and a moving painting of a grassy field where the leaves on the trees seemed to be blowing in the wind.

"So, Harry," she said, "I'm Rebecca Cannon. You can call me Mrs. Cannon or Rebecca. Whichever you're more comfortable with. You must have a lot of questions about how this works."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry said hesitantly, "How exactly are you going to help me retrieve my memories?"

"I use a variety of methods from just asking you questions to actual manual reconstruction. This takes a lot of trust because, unlike Legilimency, I'm actually moving things around in there. So, I usually spend the first few sessions just getting to know you and letting you get to know me and then the real work begins. I should also tell you that while sessions such as these are usually private but I do have the reveal the identity of who attacked you and relevant details to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Okay," Harry said, looking down at his hands.

"So, tell me a little bit about yourself."

"Well . . . I'm eleven. I just started going to Hogwarts."

"How do you like it?"

"It's okay. I only got to go for a week before all this happened."

"Are you looking forward to going back?" Harry shrugged. "You seem pretty indifferent to returning to school."

Harry sighed, "Well, I guess I'm kind of sad that I missed the first Quiddich game of the season."

"You like Quiddich? What's your favorite team?"

"The Falmouth Falcons, I guess."

"They've had a good season this year."

"You follow Quiddich?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Well, no," she laughed. "But I have a son who does. I guess I absorbed that fact by way of osmosis."

Harry smiled a little bit at her and felt himself relaxing the slightest bit. She continued, "And you live with your mother and Severus, correct?"

"Yes."

"You kept your father's last name, though. That must be a very important connection to your past."

"Yeah, I guess. Not that I really had a say in the matter. I'm sure Snape wouldn't want anyone to mistake me for his child."

"Did he say that to you?"

"Didn't have to."

"Fair enough." She looked thoughtful but then smiled at him and said, "Tell me more about school. Have you made any friends?"

They talked for a while more, mostly with her asking questions as Harry didn't offer up much information spontaneously. Toward the end of the session, Harry asked her a question, "I just don't understand why I feel so scared all the time when I don't even remember what happened."

"I suspect that at least subconsciously, you're aware of the trauma. The particular curse you were under the influence of has long-lasting effects even on adults. Things will get better, though, Harry. It just takes time to feel safe again."

She escorted him back into the waiting room where Snape was flipping through a Daily Prophet. He looked up when the door opened and stood up so that they could leave. Rebecca smiled and said, "Okay, Harry, I'll see you later this week. It was very nice to meet you. Oh, and Severus? I wanted to mention to you that I do offer family counseling."

Snape said, a bit coldly, "How nice."

"Just something to think about."

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

Severus was almost asleep when Lily came into the bedroom. She had finished her shift and then sat in the living room reading until Harry fell asleep. He was having a lot of trouble sleeping, and although he hadn't said he didn't like to be alone at night, Sirius had mentioned that he might have trouble with it right now. The child had also taken to sleeping on the couch in the living room rather than his room.

Lily sighed and began shedding her work clothes and changing into her pajamas. She looked exhausted. Severus rolled over to face her as she climbed into bed, "Did you get him to sleep?"

"Yes. He drifted off. I'm so worried about him, Severus. If I ever find out who did this . . . Azkaban is too good for them."

Severus rubbed her back comfortingly and she buried her face in his chest. She said, "How did the appointment go with Rebecca? Harry said he thought she was nice."

"It seemed to go well. He was pretty reluctant to go at first, but I think he's a little more comfortable with the idea now." Severus said and then he added, "She actually suggested that Harry and I come see her together which I thought was a little out of bounds."

Lily looked up at him with her big green eyes and said, "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing. She told me to think about it."

"And what do you think about it?"

"Oh, Lily."

"Don't 'Lily' me. It might not be such a bad idea. If someone is willing to help . . .”

"We don't need her help."

"Well, nothing we're doing seems to be working. She might be able to provide a fresh perspective."

SSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHP

They ended up with an appointment Wednesday with Harry's individual appointment on Friday. Though Lily had been able to convince Severus, she had a considerably harder time convincing Harry. They were still arguing about it the morning of the appointment. Severus was hiding in the kitchen as to stay out of the cross-fire, especially as the child seemed to think it was his doing.

"I'm not going just so he can use what I say against me! He'll probably punish me if I say anything he doesn't like what I have to say."

"I'm not going to punish you for being honest, Harry," Severus called from the kitchen.

"Maybe not, but you'll probably find something else to punish me for," Harry called back.

Severus rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea that he was drinking. He secretly thought this was a stupid idea and that they should be focused on recovering Harry's memories but apparently he was the only person. Finally, Harry stormed into the kitchen, looking quite resentful, and Severus sat down his cup so they could apparate back to the office they had only left a couple of days ago.

They were quickly called into Rebecca's office which was set up slightly different than the last time Harry had been here. There was a round table in the middle of the room with three chairs. In the middle of the table was what Severus recognized to be a pensieve though Harry simply looked at it curiously. Severus had an increasingly bad feeling about this as he took one of the seats. Harry sat down, too, and took the final seat and clapped her hands, suggesting they should begin.

"I'm sure you're both wondering what I have planned for today. I have a method that I find to be extremely effective which involves objectively viewing memories."

"I don't see how that could possibly be helpful. It doesn't seem like a good idea to me to dwell on the past."

"Well, we have to deal with the past before we can move on, Severus," Rebecca said. She didn't mention that she was quite aware of his tendency to avoid things that made him uncomfortable or misdirect his feelings. "Now, the first exercise that I want you to do is think of a particularly negative memory you have regarding each other."

"I have one," Harry said almost instantly. Severus glared at him; he was sure that the boy did. He took a moment to think and then nodded to affirm that he had thought of one as well.

"Okay, good." Rebecca said, "Severus, would you like to go first?"

He nodded and drew the fine, silver wisp that was a physical representation of his memory which he deposited in the pensieve. The three entered the pensieve one by one with Harry going first. They surveyed the scene which appeared to be Severus' potion room though apparently one of the shelves had fallen, causing several potions and ingredients to fall to the floor and mix together which had produced some interesting effects. An extremely displeased Severus was looking at the damage and the oozing mixture on the floor.

He had reacted badly to this, he remembered, actually calling the child a brat to his face. It hadn't at the time even occurred to him to ask the boy if he was okay until Lily had gotten home and it had been her first question. Rebecca said, unnecessarily, "Okay, Severus, why is this a particularly bad memory for you?"

"Because he did it on purpose!" Severus said hotly.

"I did not!" Harry protested.

"You did," Severus insisted. "Do you remember earlier that day? You were mad at me because I took you into the bathroom at Diagon Alley and spanked you because you throwing a holy fit because your mother had sent word ahead that she couldn't meet us for lunch and wouldn't be home until later that night? And you said I would be sorry? And that night, this."

Harry sputtered, "I was, like, six years old. I didn't even know what I was saying! Are you still holding a grudge about that? Are you trying to set a world record?"

Rebecca interjected, "What happened, Harry, from your perspective?"

"I was trying to get my toy broom that he had taken away from me. I was going to run away," Both adults looked at him and he added, "Which probably wasn't that wise, but it wasn't like I did it with the intention to destroy your stuff."

"It took some doing to get in there," Severus commented, "I keep the door locked."

"You don't keep the window locked, though, and I was small enough to wriggle through it and the work table was under it. Easy."

Severus would be impressed by the obvious Slytherin nature of the boy if he wasn't so dumbfounded by his continuing ability to put himself in danger. Rebecca nodded, "Okay, let's move on to Harry's memory."

They exited the pensieve and Rebecca helped Harry extract his memory which they re-entered. Severus was standing, scowling at two boys who sat on his couch. He remembered this; they were about eight and one of the boys had gotten into Lily's herb garden that they used for Severus' potions and some of which she used for cooking. Both of the boys had presented their stories and after considering the history of both the children, Severus had opted to believe Draco and had punished Harry accordingly. Severus wasn't sure why this was such a terrible memory; he hadn't even been particularly hard on the boy in his opinion.

"Okay, Harry, why is this a particularly bad memory for you?" Rebecca asked.

"Because I really hadn't done it and he wouldn't listen to me!"

"All the evidence . . .” Severus began before Harry cut him off.

"It was Draco! Come on, he was framing the house elves for stealing sweets from the kitchens when he was three."

"So I may have been mistaken one time."

"It wasn't one time, though. You always take his side." Harry paused and then added, "You like him better than me."

"Draco isn't as difficult as you are," Severus said evasively.

"You're right," Harry snapped, "It's my fault you can't stand me. I'm just a horrible kid, right?"

"You're putting words in my mouth. In your view you should get special treatment because we're family."

"Ever hear of nepotism?"

"Well, that's a privileged attitude."

Rebecca cut in, "Okay, good. So, clearly, the two of you have not always considered the other side in difficult situations. Now, we'll come back to this, but now what I would like you to both do is come up with a particularly good memory."

This took both of them a little longer. Severus came up with his apparently before Harry did who was silently staring at his hands. Finally, Severus decided that the boy was trying to wait him out and told Rebecca, "I have one."

"Harry?"

"I guess I have one too."

"Okay, good. Harry would you like to go first this time?"

"Fine," Harry said and Rebecca again helped his to extract the memory.

At the last minute when they were preparing to enter the pensieve, Harry said, "Wait. I don't want him to see it."

"Why not?" Severus asked impatiently.

"Because you'll laugh and say I'm stupid for remembering that."

"I've never said you're stupid," Severus protested.

"Harry, would you feel more comfortable if Severus went first?" Rebecca asked.

Harry nodded and Severus sighed, extracting his own memories. When he placed them in the pensieve, however, he found himself hesitant to show them as well. He felt foolish. Deciding to just get it over with, Severus nodded and the three of them entered the memory. Harry was young, maybe five, and walked up to Severus very shyly with something held behind his back. Severus was eating breakfast. He had been expecting this because Lily had warned him the night before that Harry had spent a good portion of the day before making him a birthday card. Harry presented the card proudly and Severus accepted it.

"Wow, Harry, you did this all by yourself?" The card was a mess of glitter and almost indecipherable drawings. Harry nodded, looking up at Severus still a bit shyly. After a moment of uncertainty, Severus went ahead and ruffled the child's hopelessly messy hair, "Well, thank you very much."

Rebecca said, "Okay, Severus, would you tell me why this is a good memory for you?"

Severus stared at her; was she really going to make him discuss it? She waited, however, and he finally said, "I guess because we're getting along. I guess it made me feel good to make him feel proud of his work."

Severus really wished the ground would open up and swallow him. This was ridiculous; he was making a fool of himself. To his surprise, Harry looked upset, "Yeah, but he probably threw it out. He was just acting like that because mum told him to."

"I didn't throw it out," Severus snapped. He hadn't exactly displayed it because he'd been slightly embarrassed by the show of affection. He didn't know why but it always made him feel awkward when they had moments like that. In some ways, fighting was almost more comfortable. But he hadn't thrown the card out; he was pretty sure he still had it buried somewhere in his office.

Harry was still reluctant to show his memory, but grudgingly let them enter it. He looked away from the scene unfolding in front of them, standing with his arms crossed. Severus was sitting on the couch and Harry was working at a small desk. Although Lily had a very informal way of teaching the child his reading and writing, Severus preferred a more formal setting. In a lot of ways, it was the first time he had felt comfortable dealing with the boy because teacher was a role he was familiar with. Harry jumped up from his seat holding the problems Severus had written out for him. Severus checked over them quickly, basic addition, and smiled at the child when he saw they were all correct.

"Such a bright boy," he said happily, "You did a great job!"

"Harry, why is this a good memory for you?"

"Probably because he's not yelling at me or punishing me."

"Okay, fair enough. Any other reason?"

Harry sighed, "I guess because he was proud of me or whatever. I felt like I was actually doing something right."

They were soon seated back in her office, enduring an awkward silence. Severus still wasn't sure if he saw the point of all of this though he supposed that they had talked more in the past hour than probably in the last year. Rebecca said, "I noticed that your good memories were from quite a while ago. Do you have good memories that are more recent?"

The two were silent and Severus finally conceded, "Things have been worse lately."

"Was there a specific event that has made things get worse?"

"I think," Severus said, since Harry seemed determined not to speak to either of them, "that it has been a culmination of negative experiences."

Rebecca said, "Perhaps. I'm going to give the two of you a little homework for next week. I would like both of you to take the bad memory that you showed here and write how you wish you would have reacted and how you think it might have changed the outcome."

Severus recognized the irony of him being assigned homework. They said goodbye to Rebecca and apparated back to the house. Harry immediately climbed the stairs to his bedroom which was odd because of the child's recent resistance to being alone. Severus sighed and went into the living room, trying to push the situation to the back of his mind.