Chapter 6
xoXOXox
Blaise sat quietly, eyes on nothing in particular as the group settled into their mandatory therapy circle. He knew his refusal to talk was the only reason he was stuck here in this particular group. They believed his trauma was so deep that he couldn't express it. How far from the mark they were.
He wasn't suppressing anything because there was nothing to suppress. Life was a shit show of bad things. Things that happened to everyone, regardless of where on the spectrum of good or evil that you lie. He had learned that at a young age at his mother's knee, listening to her spin tales of treachery and deceit.
As the room settled, he covertly let his eyes wander over the other participants of this debacle.
Draco sat, eyes downcast, mind lost somewhere none of them could follow. Out of the four of them, he had been handed the worst of it all. Marked as a slave to that nose less psychopath. Forced to torture innocent people to save his own life and the life of his beloved mother. Blaise knew his attempt to end it all had been a cry of sheer desperation to shut up all the voices that never stopped screaming in his head.
Pansy's knee bounced in an unconscious show of nervousness, her teeth worrying her nails to the quick as her eyes darted everywhere but at the people that now surrounded her. Though they kept her as sheltered as possible, she had not been unscathed from the horrors that invaded their lives near the end of the war. Her guilt at having tried to hand Potter over at the final battle ate away at any shield she had now to hide her inner turmoil.
In perfect symmetry to Pansy, Theo sat absolutely still, hands carefully placed in his lap. He was the perfect picture of nonchalance, but Blaise knew differently. Under that facade of calm acceptance was a rolling ocean of fear and anxiety. He was always waiting for the next blow to come from any direction, believing fully that pain was just around every corner. A trapped and abused animal whose master had died at the hands of a terrifying monster and left him adrift not knowing who the next to hold his leash would be. It had taken a lifetime of training for Theo not to flinch at any and everything around him.
Then there was the trio. Blaise still wasn’t sure how to take their newfound apathy and rage. Adding to the already upside-down way that life seemed to be now, Weasley seemed to be the more likely one to have compassion for the four Slytherins and it made Blaise distrustful of this current outlook. Who knew when the other shoe would drop and that infamous Weasley temper made itself known again. If he could be afraid, he would be, but he had resigned himself long ago that he was just one more joke in a line of them to the gods and it was only a matter of time before fate’s design caught him again.
Potter sat much like Draco, eyes cast to the ground, arms folded across his chest and a look of utter apathy on his face. Where the savior of the wizarding world used to wear his heart on his sleeve, his care and worry for all those banking on him plain to see. Now, there was nothing. It was disconcerting to someone like Blaise, who very rarely felt his own emotions and never showed them. And yet, he had them, apathy not one of his many flaws as much as self-preservation but it seemed somewhere between the ashes of Voldemort floating away in the wind and being whisked away to the private retreat, the golden boy had died and left behind a lifeless shell.
Granger, like Theo and Pansy, was the other side of Potter’s coin. Where he seemed to feel less than nothing, she seemed to feel everything and it was there, burning in her eyes with hellfire. Though her skills at occlumency kept it from showing on her face or in her body language, she couldn’t hide those eyes. Whatever happened to her during the war, it left such a mark on her that the logical, intellectual swot had been lost to a storm of vengeance and hate. He wasn’t sure which of the six of them bothered him more.
The schtick of the door opening had him pulling his gaze from the girl to give a bland stare at the Doctor coming in. Dr. Clansdeen. An arrogant, self-important half-blood who thought he was going to be the answer to all their problems. Bloody twit. Blaise once more resumed staring into nothingness as the Doctor made himself comfortable and opened his notepad.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I thought today we could start with introducing ourselves and telling the group what you hope to achieve from our time together. Who wants to start?"
Blaise waited as the silence continued on.
"Come now, don't be shy. How about you, Mr. Potter?"
Blaise's eyes snapped to Granger as the room suddenly filled with malevolent hissing. Her words came low, death and danger dripping from each word.
"Leave. Him. Alone."
Harry turned his head to observe as Hermione shifted in her chair to lean menacingly towards Clansdeen.
“Miss Granger, I am afraid I can’t do that. You know this is Ministry mandated to try to help you all acclimate back into Wizarding society after the war. You must all participate.”
Her scoff was full of scorn as she rolled her eyes.
“The Ministry can shove their mandates up their pompous asses. None of us will be participating in anything with you involved.”
Harry raised an eyebrow as Snape shifted in his chair and he could tell by the way his fingers twitched that he was ready in case this got out of hand.
“Hermione….”
The growl that left her lips had Harry sitting up straighter, Ron mirroring him as they gathered their magic to their hands and shielded the other occupants of the room. He may feel nothing for them on any given day, but he also knew it would only make Hermione worse if she hurt someone she wasn’t actually aiming for.
“It’s Miss Granger to you, Clansdeen.”
The idiot gave her a droll stare, sitting in such a way that he tried to make himself seem superior to them all. Yep. Definitely a self-important idiot.
“There is no need for such formality or hostility, Hermione. We are all here to help you.”
The laugh that fell from Hermione’s lips made his skin crawl. It was too similar to Bellatrix for his liking. Instead of answering, Hermione turned her darkening eyes on Parkinson. Harry watched Ron shift to move if this escalated beyond what he was willing to allow.
“Parkinson!”
The way the poor Slytherin jumped and squeaked had a small modicum of pity coursing through Harry that he ruthlessly cut off.
“Y…. Yes?”
Hermione folded her hands atop her already primly crossed legs and sneered at Clansdeen as she continued.
“What is the custom for using someone’s name when in the company of strangers?”
For all the guilt and worry in her eyes, Parkinson’s cunning slid forward as she looked from the Doctor back to Hermione.
“It is polite to continue to use a person’s formal title until given leave otherwise to use something more informal.”
Hermione gave Clansdeen a wicked smile as she gestured to the other girl.
“See, Clansdeen, we are working together just like the Ministry toads wanted. Parkinson has educated us both on the social graces of greeting. As I have not given you leave to call me by my given name, Miss Granger will suffice for the remainder of our limited association.”
Harry started to relax, thinking that would end the standoff. He should have known better.
“Very well, Miss Granger. As it is my job to help you heal, shall we begin with you then? Contrary to your beliefs, I do care about your wellbeing and only wish to see you made whole.”
The magic slashed across him so fast that Harry barely had time to shield himself before everyone was crying out or grunting as they were thrown backwards in their chairs. He heard the thump of a body hitting the wall as he tried to right himself to the dangerous growl of Hermione’s words.
“LIAR!”
Ron was the first to recover, having not relaxed thinking all would be well. Pulling Harry to his feet, they both carefully started to move, following Hermione’s slow predator walk as she advanced on the Doctor.
“You must not have read all the prior notes from Healer Banesworth. If you had, you would know you are unable to lie to me. I can hear your deepest desires, Derrick. I can feel that overwhelming greed. You aren’t here to help us. You don’t give a fuck about us! You are here to try to pry open the ‘Golden Trio’ and the last remaining children of the Noble pureblood houses so you can find your fifteen minutes of fame off the backs of our pain and trauma.”
Harry watched as the Doctor tried to take in air through a throat that was constricted by Hermione’s magic. Snape moved to get the others up, pulling them behind him and his shield. It was now up to him and Ron to try to settle their raging best friend.
“Mione…”
Ron’s calm voice fell between them, his hand slowly moving to brush against the tendrils of magic that were writhing around her.
“Love, you need to let the dunderheaded Doctor down. I know you’re mad, but this isn’t what you want.”
He hissed as the magic burned his palm, pulling back and looking at Harry with a worried expression. Before he could say or do anything, his arm was brushed as platinum blonde hair filled his vision and passed him. Harry reached to stop Malfoy but only succeeded in bouncing off his shield before the boy pushed through Hermione’s magic and wrapped himself entirely around her.
Harry waited for the explosion; the carnage that came with being touched unwanted. The silence was broken only by the wheezing of the Doctor still trying to breathe.
“Granger… let him go.”
Malfoy’s voice was low, hollow, a touch pleading as he held on to their best friend as if he had known her his whole life. Ron and Harry both started to move only to stand in stunned shock as she did what Malfoy told her to do. The Doctor slumped to the floor, great gasps of air rushing past his lips as he tried to catch up for all he was lacking.
Time seemed to crawl as Clansdeen took gulping breaths and Hermione and Malfoy stood utterly still. The blonde’s arms never loosened from around their best friend’s body, their heads resting against each other, his pale cheek laid gently on the crown of her head, as he and Ron waited with bated breath to see what would happen.
“You can let go.”
The echoing tone of Hermione’s voice proved to Harry her magic was still just on the surface but somehow contained.
“Are you in control again?”
The question was said quietly, filled with wary caution. Hermione only nodded, head down, eyes cast somewhere along the stone flooring. Malfoy carefully unwound his arms until he slid them away, hands hovering in case Hermione lost her control again. Harry watched as Hermione turned and looked up at the blonde boy in utter confusion.
“How?”
Her usually confident voice was barely air and sound as she continued to stare up at him. The slight shrug was painful to watch, as if the effort just to do that was almost too much for the thin boy.
“It’s Black magic tormenting you. Like calls to like, Granger.”
She seemed to take that in before closing her eyes and pulling the rest of her wayward magic back under her skin.
“We’ll talk about this later, Malfoy.”
His simple nod was all it took for the last of the tension to break. Harry and Ron bracketed Hermione as they headed back for their seats. Everyone settled, looking at Hermione with a mixture of fear, awe, and curiosity. Doctor Clansdeen pushed himself up, coming over to take another seat and glare at Hermione.
“Outbursts like that are only going to keep you in this program longer, Miss Granger. I suggest you learn to control that temper. Now, Mr. Nott, how about we start with you.”
Harry watched as Nott’s calm eyes lifted to meet the Doctor’s. Glancing to meet Malfoy’s gaze and then back, Nott’s words came with that snobbish air of his upbringing.
“I believe Miss Granger has stated our decision perfectly, Doctor Clansdeen. None of us are going to be willing to work with someone who is in this for profit and their own gain. We will be going through Headmaster Snape to petition for a new healer for these sessions that actually does have our wellbeing in mind. I think it best you leave. Now!”
The Doctor did not even get to sputter an argument before Snape had him up and was escorting him out of the common room. For the first time in months, a genuine smile pulled at Harry’s lips as he nodded his thanks to the Slytherin boy.
xoXOXox