What Remains by Lyzasnape
Summary: Harry Potter has spent the last year hunting down the horcrux with his two best friends and new adoptive parent, Severus Snape. After Voldemort's defeat during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry must deal with what remains after a short life filled with trauma. Although he is no longer alone, Harry finds moving forward to be nearly impossible and finally accepts help in the most unexpected of muggle places.

(Set in the same universe as "Not All Who Wander are Lost")
Categories: Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Ginny, Hermione, Teddy
Snape Flavour: Snape Comforts, Snape is Kind, Snape is Loving
Genres: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 8 - Post Hogwarts (young adult Harry)
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Rape, Self-harm, Suicide Themes
Challenges: None
Series: Not All Who Wander are Lost
Chapters: 9 Completed: No Word count: 15366 Read: 32721 Published: 08 May 2015 Updated: 21 Mar 2018
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Lyzasnape
Author's Notes:
The name of this chapter comes from a book by Ned Vizzini that I once fell in love with. Rip. So, this may be a bit confusing for anybody not familiar with the realm of psychology. What I will be referring to as "program" is an outpatient mental-health program. Programs like this usually run Monday-Friday from morning to mid afternoon, depending on whether or not a person stays full-days.

Programs like these are for those who are finding life a bit overwhelming and have or are contemplating suicide.

Each person in the program gets a treatment team who monitors a person's health holistically. These teams consist of a psychiatrist, a nurse, and counselor.

The program that Sev found Harry is muggle, but has witches and wizards on staff and sees magical-folk as well.

"The snack room is right here. There is hot water to make tea, and there's usually  coffee brewed."

The woman was much too cheerful for Harry's liking as she pointed around the sterile looking room which held a refrigerater, two coffee makers, and two rows of tables with chairs. 

"Those of you who are full day will be eating lunch in here as well. You should all be full day since it is your first day and you are meeting your treatment team. If you will come into this room, this will be your orientation room." She guided them into a room that looked more like office space. "We have to go through your binders, and then we will be finished, and you may join your assigned groups."

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Harry asked timidly. The other three people in his orientation group eyed him as he spoke. Harry was one of the youngest people in the program, which drew some attention. He found himself grateful for the umpteenth time today that he was in a place predominently muggle. Smiling shyly, Harry continued. "Will we be with the same people during out entire stay here?"

The woman smiled warmly back. "Not a fan of surprises, huh?" Harry gave a half-smile and shrugged self-consciously. The woman was about the age that his own mum would be if she were alive. She was direct, but warm, and reminded Harry of a more inteleectual Mrs. Weasley. 

"People spend anywhere from two to four weeks here, depending on what they need. Some people that you meet today may be on their way out, whereas others may arrive tomorrow for their first day.You will stick with the same room and general group of people, but the group will recycle itself as time progresses."

Harry scrunched up his brow and nodded once he thought he understood. 

"Any other questions?" The woman asked, Harry. 

"No ma'am."

"How about you all?" She asked, looking at the other three.

There were a couple responses for the negative and a shaking of the head. 

"Alright, I'm going to go get you all some paperwork to fill out, and then we will begin." She took a step toward the door before turning around and meeting Harry's eyes. "Oh, and Harry?" 

"Yes ma'am?"

"My name is Sarah. Enough with this ma'am business."

"Yes m...Sarah." Harry met Sarah's eyes before looking back down to his feet.

"Atta-boy."

When Harry looked back up, Sarah had left and the other three were already seated. He took a deep breath, making sure that he didn't look as scared as he felt. He was in a room with a man about Severus' age, a boy who looked to be a year or two older than himself, and a middle-aged woman. 

How do you make conversation in the loony bin? Stop it Harry. Severus said not to call it that. It's only an outpatient program for people that are stuck. Still...how do you talk to people here?. Hey, what are you in here for? Wait, that's prison. Blimey.

The boy to his left drummed his fingers on the table nervously, stopping when Harry turned to look at him. He offered Harry a shy smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hullo, I'm Cody. Harry, right?" He extended his hand, and Harry shook it.  Cody was a brunette with light brown eyes and wore a baseball shirt, cap, and sweat pants. 

"Hullo, Cody."

The woman across from them smiled and added in quickly, "I'm Elaine."

"Hullo Elaine," Cody and Harry responded together. 

"Tim," the man said, smiling. He was a tired looking man who somehow gave the appearance of having no energy but nervous energy. Harry was wary of the man, Tim, at first, but quickly became convinced that he was just a bit troubled. 

"I see you have all met eachother," Sarah said, coming in carrying four large binders. "If you will open up to page three, I will try to get you all through orientation as quickly as possible, and into your groups."

"Yay," Tim replied sarcastically, and Harry and Cody both sniggered. They were all anxious about being there in the first place, and were hesitant to meet everybody else. The program was a strange place to be. You could act strong and "normal" all you wanted, but whether you wanted them to know or not, those around you knew that you were broken or troubled enough to be there in the first place. Aparently there are no walls in group therapy. 

"I know, I know," Sarah replied, to Tim with a knowing grin. "Who actually wants to be here?" When nobody raised their hand, Sarah nodded and continued. "The firat day is always the scariest, but I promise that it does get better. I swear by this program and the impact that it has on those whoI have personally seen go through it. It is not a "cure-all," but it does work. That is, if you do." She looked pointedly at Tim, giving him a hard time, and he smirked, winking at the boys.

"Lets begin."

____________________

When orientation was over, the group was split apart as each person was given a room number, Harry was disappointed that Tim and Cody would be in different groups, and even felt that he would have liked to have Elaine around. After Sarah left to get their assignments, Harry was brought out of his musings as he sensed movement in his peripheral and quickly caught something that was being hurdled at his head. He was a seeker for a reason. 

Looking down in alarm, he realized that it was only one of the birght yellow stress balls that they had been given, with a big smiley face on the front, and the program's nameon the back.

"Damn," said Tim. "What are you, a ninja?" 

No, I'm a seeker, Harry thought, laughing, as he chucked the ball back at Tim, where it landed on his shoulder and bounced off. Just as he was feeling pleased with himself, Harry felt something pelt him on the back of the head and turned around to see Cody looking at him innocently.

"I think these stress balls work," Cody said, slyly. 

When Sarah came in, she was equal parts exasperated and amused as Tim was pelting Cody, who was under the table, and Harry was blocking a throw from Cody with his orientation binder. 

_________________________

When Harry walked through the door that afternoon, he was wiped out. The emotional energy that the day had required had him spent, but he knew that Severus would want to talk. Walking into the kitchen, he made himself a cup of strong tea and sat down at the kitchen table. Moments later, he heard footsteps and smiled to himself as he realized that someone had been waiting for him.

Sure enough, his guardian was perched in the doorway looking uncharacteristically nervous. 

"So?" Severus began, his eyes showing concern. 

Harry shrugged. "I'm really tired. I didn't really do much today besides orientation. When I finally got into group it was some yoga class, and they kept pulling me out of it to meet the people on my team."

Severus smirked at the word yoga, and Harry glared at him. "You're not allowed to poke fun, Severus. You put me in there."

Severerus' smirk quickly transformed into a frown as he walked in and sat across from his ward. "I would never make fun Harry. I must admit, I simply found it amusing to picture you with your hands up in the air worshipping the sun God. You know that you have a choice in this Harry. I..."

 Seeing Severus' guilt, Harry interruped. "I know, I know. I didn't mean it, Sev. It really wasn't that bad. And...I know that I...need help," Harry ended hesitantly. Severus reached across and put his hand on the boy's arm. Harry smiled. " Besides, all we did was breathing exercises. It was actually relaxing. You've been listening to the Beatles too much." 

Severus smirked and stood up, fixing himself his own cup of tea. 

Harry looked at his hands and looked up in surprise when Severus' booming voice filled the kithcen.

"HEY JUDE!" 

Harry had never laughed so hard in his entire life.

 

 

 

To be continued...
End Notes:
Please leave me a review! I know that this story is a bit unorthodox, and I want to know if it is worth continuing, and what you all think. :)


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