Disclaimer – I don't own any of the main characters mentioned herein, they belong to that other lady, you know the one, I believe she may just be richer than the British royalty or something, I think you know of whom I'm speaking ;)
A/N - This is just an idea I got whilst on a short psychology seminar one Sunday afternoon…
Summary – After the war Harry decides on a ten year sabbatical from the Wizarding world and finds himself in a psychology class with a professor that seems to have had the same idea…
Sources – healthyplace . com – Thanks for the invaluable info on psychological conditions!
Now on with the fic…
Psychology 101Harry James Potter sat in the center seat of his first class in Psychology. As a third year student he had wished he would never have to sit a first level class again, but alas he needed the credits for his Pediatrics course.
Any magical person would have told you that Harry James Potter need not sit in any class for the rest of his life, he could sit back on his laurels and enjoy the limelight. Live of-off his own wealth, as well as that which his parents and godfather had left him. That is; any magical person who did not know the young man better than what was written of him in the papers.
For Harry James Potter was a celebrity in the magical world, a saviour. He'd gotten rid of the most evil dark wizard the British community had seen in more than a century. Not once, but twice.
But few people knew the man Harry Potter. Neither in the Muggle or the Wizarding world. For in the Wizarding world he was a hero, but in the Muggle world there was no Harry James Potter, at least not anymore.
Even before his defeat of Voldemort Harry had decided to start changing his Parents' fortunes into Muggle assets. A quick Economics course in his sixth year holidays had taught him what he needed to know. He exchanged three quarters of his fortune to Muggle currency. Of this he invested a quarter in bonds and shares. Another quarter he used on acquiring fixed assets - Land, buildings, even a few upstart companies. The rest he left in monetary form.
With the defeat of Voldemort he received about triple the amount of what his Parents' fortune had been. With this he did exactly the same. And last time he checked with the increases in his investments as they were, he was now amongst the Top 10 richest men in Europe. Of course only two other Wizards knew this fact, and if he had anything to say about it, that would be how it would stay.
Before he left the Wizarding world, he'd only told two people of his plans. The one being his best friend the other, one of only two people he still looked up to as a Mentor.
Hermione and Remus had been invaluable in their knowledge of Muggle systems and what he'd need to change his identity.
Already during his seventh year he'd changed his name, legally, in a small faraway town in the Muggle world, and even got a new Social Security Number – Not so legally, he had to use the obliviate spell on a young woman who walked in on him whilst he was changing his information on the system, but it was necessary. With this, Harry James Potter ceased to exist and Peter Hendricks was born.
For anybody that did not know the true Harry Potter, Peter Hendricks would seem his complete opposite. Very few people knew of Peters' wealth, or even the fact that he was so much more than just your average student. For Peter didn't revel in the limelight. He studied hard, was always in the top 5 of his class, which for an Oxford student was saying something, and liked the occasional party just fine.
With a complex glamour charm Peter did not even look like the man he used to be. He now sported blond hair, was a bit pudgier, and no scar was in sight. Contact lenses replaced his glasses, and in place of emerald green eyes, they were now the most beautiful blue.
Many people will probably wonder why the man that was Harry Potter would go to all this trouble. Why would he want to leave the Wizarding world, if he was their Hero? But that was the simplest of questions for him to answer – Because he was their hero. He was tired of reading his name in the papers, tired of all the lies, of all the memories that world held, and had thus decided to leave it for ten years, where after he would return, whether as Harry Potter or Peter Hendricks he had not yet decided.
Now, at twenty-two, Peter was starting to think he might never return to that world. He loved the anonymity of being just Peter, the same way he had always wished to be just Harry. Not even Harry Potter; for with that, he just became a shadow of his father in the eyes of the people who had known his parents.
People such as Severus Snape. It had taken them a long time to get to an understanding, and now it was hard to believe that he was the only other person Harry had looked up to as much as he looked up to Remus. The year after Sirius' death had been the hardest of his entire life. For the first part of the year he had sunk into a such a state of depression nobody could reach him. That was until Severus Snape had stepped in. It was funny how the only other person he had blamed at the time was the man to get him out of his state of self-blame.
It had not been easy at first. Too many years of bad blood between them had kept them at odds with each other. However neither of them could be certain when tolerance for each other had first turned into grudging respect and then even admiration for the other. Harry found himself at times wondering what had happened to the other man, last time he had heard from Hermione she had told him that Severus had left the Wizarding world about the same time as himself and nobody knew what he was up to. Well Hermione thought Albus knew more than he told them, but then again, he always had that aura around him of knowing the impossible.
Harry would not even be surprised if Albus knew exactly where HE was at that moment, even if he hadn't heard from the older man in four years.
And so it came that Harry Potter, or as he was known for the past four years, Peter Hendricks sat back in his seat waiting for the lesson to begin. He had never been interested in Psychology, maybe it was because of the fact that he knew he'd make a very interesting test-subject for most psychologists…
Orphaned at age one, raised in an abusive home, never experienced affection in his early childhood. And that was all just before he reached eleven!
The class filled up quickly and about thirty seconds before the lesson was to start the Professor walked in. Or stormed in would be more accurate. Harry was certain had this man a robe it would have billowed more than Snape's even! He immediately felt on guard, there was something different about this man…
"Lovely, first years for the first lesson of my first day! I will have no giggling outbursts, no pointing fingers at each other as if the condition we are discussing is fit for that person, and NO talking whilst I'm giving lessons. Is that clear?!" Well after that introduction Harry seriously started to consider rather taking the Home Economics class as extra credits.
"Yes Professor." The class's answer was feeble at best.
"My name is DOCTOR John Parsons, I would appreciate if you use the title I spent many years working towards. I know not ten percent of you would be able to reach my level of proficiency in anything, but I would hope you have enough respect for your betters to address them as such. Is that clear?" Harry didn't know whether to laugh out loud or run out of the class. The only thing that kept running through his mind was that this guy was worse than Snape on HIS worst days.
"Yes Doctor." This time only a few brave souls could be heard answering the intimidating man.
"Well since I came prepared to this lesson, I sincerely hope you've done the same. Let's see which of you dunderheads have actually read what you're to study in this course. Can anybody tell me another name for Manic Depression?"
Harry started to get an uneasy feeling. This guy did not look like his old Potions Professor, but his mannerisms just screamed Severus Snape. He'd have to keep a close eye on this one…
Nobody lifted a hand. Well, after his first Potions lesson in his first year Harry had learned to read ahead in all subjects, a habit that had served him well in the years gone past. Seeing nobody else brave enough to hazard a guess, he slowly lifted his hand.
"Yes mister? Name first, then answer please."
"Hendricks Doctor, Peter Hendricks, I believe another name for Manic Depression is Bipolar Disorder."
"It seems all hope is not lost for this class. Now can somebody else please tell me two symptoms of somebody suffering from this disorder?" When it was clear nobody was going to answer the Doctor continued in a clearly suffering tone. "Well it seems I spoke to soon…" Warning bells were ringing in Harry's head… This was getting just too freaky for coincidence.
"Since the rest of this class seems to believe they are still busy with their A-levels and don't need to read ahead, would you please enlighten them as to the answer Mister Hendricks?"
"Well Doctor, I believe the symptom that usually red flags a patient is changes in perception - Paranoia, Hallucinations and Delusions. Another symptom is rapid mood swings. Where a person's moods tend to change without provocation, usually jumping from severe depression to being extremely energetic within minutes, seconds sometimes." Harry was glad he had found that specific chapter very interesting, and even a bit disturbing. He couldn't help but wonder if Bellatrix and even Voldemort may have suffered from this disorder. But such thoughts usually led to wondering whether, with treatment, they could have been helped. Harry didn't like to dwell on those feelings. Not after he had killed the both of them. Of course in self-defence, but he still found himself wondering at times, whether he could have done something different. Whether the entire light side could have done something different…
"It seems, somebody, at least knows what is to be expected of this course. AND WHY ISN'T ANYBODY WRITING THIS DOWN!?" Harry couldn't help but think that the Déjà Vu was getting a bit much…
"Now will somebody PLEASE give me an example of what a client – because a psychologist never refers to them as a patient, let's call that lesson 1 - may say to you, that will make you believe they suffer from dissociative identity disorder? O yes, since it seems I'm dealing with a bunch of illiterate fools I'll give you this hint, it's also known as multiple personality disorder." Harry almost couldn't hold back his laugh, he couldn't believe how intimidated the rest of the class was. This guy was clearly having a lot of fun at their expense. But still Harry couldn't shake the similarities between him and Severus. Thus Harry decided to play a bit of a game with the man, before the end of the lesson, he was going to know if his suspicions were true or not!
Somebody else tentatively lifted his hand.
"Yes mister? Name, then answer please."
"Frank Federline sir, uhm, Doctor, uhm, sorry sir…" The poor guy looked like he was about to wet himself.
"If you will continue, or do you wish to keep us here the entire day with your inarticulate garble?" Well, it seemed if it wasn't whom he was suspecting, they definitely studied from the same insult book…
"Well, if the patient says that he believes he is the King of France as well as a horse; that will probably be multiple personality disorder…" The guy all but mumbled his response. Most of the class laughed out right at the answer, although it seemed many of them were writing down the misinformation the poor guy had provided, thus not knowing just how wrong he was.
"I would suggest you STOP that juvenile giggling this instant! And don't dare write down that complete muck of an answer!
"Mister Federline, I'm afraid that if somebody said they were both the King of France and a horse, there is no way on this earth that dissociative identity disorder would be the correct diagnosis. With only that bit of information it will be difficult to diagnose, but I'm guessing that person suffers from some form of schizoaffective disorder. We will discuss schizoaffectiveness in the next lesson, so please use your eyes and the small bits of brains I HOPE you have, and read up on it before entering this class next week!
"Now will somebody else please act as a client of mine, in a way that will lead me to believe they suffer from dissociative identity disorder. Whomever decides to take up this challenge, please come to the front of the class and we'll have our first practical "session"." The class was deathly quiet; nobody dared to be the man's first "client"
"Anybody?!" Slowly Harry raised his hand and started to make his way to the front.
"Ah, Mister Hendricks, it seems we may as well just have private lessons with the two of us." Harry couldn't help but smirk as he made his way to the front.
"Now Mister Hendricks, you will enter my "office", and we'll begin our session, during which I hope you will be able to convey to the class exactly what the symptoms of somebody suffering from dissociative identity disorder is."
"I hope I'll convey this adequately Doctor…" Harry couldn't help but butter the man up. This was going to be priceless!
"I have no doubt, Mister Hendricks."
Harry quickly found himself in front of the Doctor and couldn't help but wonder if he was treading on too dangerous ground.
'Well too late to back away now!' He walked up to the Doctor and shook his hand.
"Good morning Doctor Parsons, my GP recommended your service to me." And so his little game begun.
"Good day Mister Hendricks, and what seems to be the problem?" Doctor Parsons led him to a seat and then he first got himself comfortable before continuing.
"You see, I have these episodes…" Doctor Parsons raised his eyebrows thoughtfully before asking him to continue.
"Well, I'll be sitting in my room, reading through my Psychology Textbook," Harry heard snickers from the class but ignored it, "and suddenly I'll find myself in the bathroom with no recollection of how I got there." The Doctor's eyebrows seemed to be stuck in their upward motion.
"I see… So you suffer from memory lapses…" He was quiet for a while, leading Harry to believe he was to fill the silence.
"That will be correct Doctor."
"And how often do these episodes take place, and how long do they last?" Harry looked the man in the eyes, before continuing.
"Well I've never timed them, but I'd say about three times a day, anything from thirty minutes to three hours…" The Doctor seemed to contemplate this answer for a while, but before he could continue Harry decided to make his move.
"What am I doing here?! Who are you? If you're a death eater I'm going to kill you!" Harry smirked as all the colour seemed to drain from the Doctor's face, he seemed to be speechless for a moment.
"What, what did you say?" His voice was impossibly low and almost too soft to hear.
"I said; if you are a DEATH EATER I'm going to KILL YOU! Just like I did your Master." He added the last part, waiting to see the reaction, if he got anything.
"Potter…" It was so soft the rest of the class would not have heard anything. Not that either man was aware of anything except the other anymore.
The small nod Harry gave him; was all the answer he needed. That seemed to drag both of them back to the present, and realizing they would have to continue with the "charade", Snape spoke more firmly.
"Mister Hendricks, please calm down. I promise you, I am not a death eater. If you could just calm down and tell me what the matter is, I'm certain we will be able to sort this out in no time. First tell me, is it alright if I call you Mr. Hendricks? Or have I confused you with somebody else?" Harry was glad the man had quickly recovered from his shock, the rest of the class would not even have noticed the effect his words had had on the man.
"My NAME is Bond, James Bond." Harry was quite pleased with his imitation of the infamous drawl. It seemed so was the class, as the snickers turned into full-blown laughter. Although the scowl on Severus' face seemed to quiet them within seconds.
"My apologies, Mister Bond." It seemed he couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice, even if he was supposed to keep up appearances. "It seems you have experienced a bit of a memory lapse. Now what is this about death eaters?" Harry couldn't help but smirk at the drawl.
Luckily before Harry had to answer Snape stood up and faced the class.
"Well it seems Mister Hendricks, at least, understand the difference between dissociative identity disorder and other types of psychological conditions. I'd like you all to write me a five page essay on both Bipolar disorder and dissociative identity disorder - the symptoms, treatment and diagnosis. Now get out of here, and don't ever be this unprepared in my class again!" With that he turned back to his desk, before drawling so softly that only Harry could hear.
"Potter, stay behind."
Oh, well, time to face the fire…