Monday morning came much too quickly for Harry's liking.
The weekend had passed enjoyably, spent with his two best friends and his girlfriend. It was one of those weekends that makes you forget about all of your issues and problems. Almost.
Squinting his eyes against the rays of sun peeking in through the enchanted window in his room, Harry reached over to his night stand blindly before locating his glasses. After changing into a pair of jeans and a plain red shirt, he opened the door and went into the kitchen to have a quick bite to eat. Glancing at his muggle watch, Harry quickened his pace.
Running late as always.
Severus sat at the table, the Daily Prophet blocking everything but the top of his head from view.
"Morning, Sev," Harry said absentmindedly, pouring himself some cereal and milk and fixing himself a cup of coffee. Extra cream. He may like being able to stay awake, but he did NOT enjoy the taste of mud in the morning.
"Would you like coffee with your cream this morning, Harry?" Severus unexpectedly quipped. He was usually not one to talk much in the morning before having at least two cups of coffee. Harry guessed that it had to do with the overcompensating that the man had been doing for the way he had treated Harry the previous week.
I'll take what I can get, Harry thought sardonically.
"Oi, you didn't ever look up from the paper," Harry complained.
"I don't have to," Snape replied in an amused tone. "I know you, Harry."
"Whatever," Harry mumbled in reply, quickly going at his cereal, as not to be late. Chugging down his coffee, he put his dishes in the sink and spelled them to wash themselves and put themselves back in their proper place.
"Bye Sev!" Harry said over his sholder as he walked out of the room.
Putting down his paper, Severus looked appraisingly at Harry for the first time that morning.
"Harry, wait!"
Turning around, Harry raised an eyebrow in question.
"What group did you say you were in again?"
"Group B, why?"
"It is of no importance, I merely wanted to test my memory," Severus replied, putting his newspaper back up. "Have a good day."
He is so weird sometimes.
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Severus watched the boy leave, a pensive expression on his face.
Hopefully he doesn't run into any trouble, he thought anxiously. Reaching for his coffee cup, Severus casted a warming spell and took a sip, hoping for the best.
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The morning began as it always did for Harry. Walking quickly into his group room, he was pleased to see that not all of the chairs were filled.
I must have not been the only late riser, he thought to himself. Glancing up at the board, he saw "Harry P." written in black marker and made a mental note of the time beside it so that he would know when to leave group and meet with the psychologist.
As the group began, Sarah went around the room doing, "check ins" as they did every day, asking members to describe their weekends and set a new goal for the day and week.
Smiling to himself, Harry thought, My goal for the week is to be less barmy and figure out why there has been a stick up Severus' ar...
"Harry? Are you alright?" Sarah asked, bringing him out of his musings.
"Um, sorry, Sarah," Harry responded, cheeks pink.
Sarah smiled in return and gestured for him to take his turn in presenting his goals to the group.
"Well, um...I guess for today I could...I haven't been outside much lately. I used to go hiking in the woods all the time at my old boarding school, and fl...play sports," he ended nervously.
Great job, Harry. Please tell the group how you used to take a broom and fly it into the clouds chasing little golden balls. They would throw you straight into the looney bin after pulling a stunt like that.
"Very good, Harry. And for the week?"
Harry thought hard about that one. The weekend had been wonderful. He had spent time with his friends and found out what was going on in their lives. He had been able to get some alone time in with Ginny. Merlin, he had missed her! However, all the while, he had felt a nagging feeling in his gut which pulsed every time that he was asked a question about how he was spending his "break" before beginning his training for the Aurors.
Swallowing, Harry carefully replied, "I would like to slowly open up more to my friends." Darting his eyes up into Sarah's and back down to his clasped hands, he continued. "They don't know that I'm here. They don't know the reason that I'm here or any of the negative things that I'm going through right now. My girlfriend and best mate don't even know. I reckon I want to work on changing that." Harry finished talking and looked back up at Sarah. She nodded and moved on to the next group member. Harry did not miss the look of pride in her eyes.
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Harry left the psychologist's office with direct orders to go to the break room and complete something called a "Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)." Walking into the sterile eating space, he poured himself a cup of water before finding a seat in the corner of the room and getting to work.
The questions were quite repetitive, and Harry found his legs shifting restlessly throughout the half hour that it took to complete.
It's like I'm in school again. Except for no quills.
Stuffing the pen into his pocket, he went back to the office, knocking on the door tentatively. The man opened the door a crack and smiled warmly at Harry, reaching for the outstreched assessment in Harry's hand.
"I have somebody else in here right now, but let me look through this quickly."
Harry liked the man. He came off as extremely intelligent and had warm, brown eyes, complimented by an honest smile. He reminded Harry a bit of Remus. Harry swallowed and grimaced.
I miss you, Remmy. Teddy misses you.
"...arry? Harry?"
Harry looked up, startled, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Sir."
"It's David, Harry, remember? Don't worry about it. Look for your name again throughout the week. I will have you come in to discuss the results with me as soon as I have graded this." David looked down though the assessment as he spoke, leafing through it to make sure that it was completed.
As Harry nodded and turned to leave, he was stopped.
"You forgot your name, Harry!" David called, smiling, causing Harry to come back.
Harry smiled apologetically. Reaching into his pockets, he realized that the pen he had put away was suddenly missing.
You'd never lose a quill.
"I don't have the pen, si...David. do you think you could write it in for me?"
"Not a problem, Harry. Last name?"
"Potter, sir. Harry Potter." Harry looked into the man's eyes and was pleased to see no spark of recognition appear there. He sensed a quick movement from behind the man, and stole a quick glance behind the man. When he did, he saw a flash of light blond hair, so light that it almost appeared white.
"Harry, catch!" The wand flying into his hand as he spun around just in time to meet Voldemort's screech of "Avada Kadavra!"
Harry shook himself visibly and realized that he was staring at the silver name plate connected to the dark wooden door of David's office.
What would Malfoy say if he saw Dumbledore's golden boy now? "Hey scar-head, finally gone around the twist?"
Harry chuckled darkly to himself as he was flooded with self deprecation.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen, he thought bitterly.
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The next two groups of the day passed by uneventfully as the group leaders discussed self-help skills and emotional regulation. Harry dutifully took notes, thinking that if everyone in the world were given these skills, it would be a much better place. Perhaps one without war.
When the day ended, Sarah caught up with Harry in the hallway. "Harry, mind waiting around for a little bit before zapping out?"
Harry smiled and looked around them, nervously.
"Relax,the hallway is empty," Sarah placated amusedly. "I would like to talk to you about how you plan on opening up more to your friends before you leave. I have another meeting, which should only last for fifteen or twenty minutes. Can you wait around, or do you have somewhere to be?"
"That's fine," Harry replied. "I can just go exploring for a bit. I'll be in front of your office in fifteen minutes."
"Stay out of trouble," Sarah joked, bustling down the hallway toward her office.
Harry smirked. If only she knew the trouble I got into at Hogwarts.
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After five minutes of sitting in the break room, Harry grew bored. The building appeared to have emptied out pretty quickly, and Harry was sure that he was one of the only patients left in the facility. Deciding to poke around, Harry went from one hallway to the next, turning on lights and peering into the various group rooms, amused that they were all basically carbon copies of each other.
The last room that he went into on the hallway parallel to his own group room still had a lamp light on, and Harry found himself walking in to turn it off without thinking about it. As he entered the doorway and turned the corner, walking toward the source of light, he froze.
Written on the whiteboard, slightly illuminated by the dim standing lamp in the corner was one name. It read:
DRACO M.