AN: I normally don't post the second chapter within a day, and I probably won't be able to post another chapter tomorrow, but I really wanted to post this one already so here it is. Enjoy! Oh yeah, and I'm not a psychologist or other type of therapist and have never had an appointment with one (nothing wrong with it if you have), so the appointment described in the following chapter is all kinds of incorrect. Just assume things are different in the minds of witches and wizards... please, for me?

The next morning, Harry's positive mood changed drastically. He felt like dying. But he couldn't, so he forced himself to carry on as usual humans do. He ate breakfast with Ron and Hermione, and while they went to work, he went out to get suppressants. The sooner he started on them, the better. He had sent a notification to his job, knowing he wouldn't be any good at work, at least for a while. He didn't know why – probably because it was where he'd been getting his other potions – but he ended up in Snape's apothecary.

When Snape saw Harry, he was expecting what he had come to know as the usual exchange, until he noticed that Harry seemed worse off than normal. "Is everything alright?" he found himself asking with concern that surprised even him.

"It will be, I'm sure," Harry said resignedly. "Listen, I'd really prefer if you didn't ask questions. I'm sure that you'll come to the correct conclusion anyway. I need suppressants."

Snape felt himself grow angry. The boy's – man's – alpha had kicked him out. That was not acceptable. How could an alpha do that to their omega? "That bastard!" he muttered, turning slightly red when he realized that Harry had heard. "I'll be back in a moment," he muttered. He went and found some suppressants for the omega standing out in his front room. No wonder Harry looked so off. He was probably already feeling the struggle of depression kicking in, and for all Snape knew he was feeling the pull of suicide already as well. It happened all too often to omegas who were kicked out – especially when their alphas told them it was a result of something the omega failed at or was unable to do. Just the thought of Harry taking his own life, or even having the desire to, was murder to Snape's heart.

After finally finding the potion, he went out front and passed it to Harry. "Thank you," Harry said with a smile. For some reason, the thought that he had put that smile – however small – on Harry's face made the alpha in Snape curl up happily. That was odd, Snape thought.

"Of course," Snape said. After he accepted payment for the potion, he watched as Harry began to walk out the door. He suddenly just couldn't let him walk away. "Harry!" he called out then, momentarily shocked with himself for using his first name.

Harry stopped and turned, bemused. "What?" he asked, not rudely.

"Are you staying somewhere?" he asked. He wanted to make sure his former student would be safe – for reasons he wasn't yet ready to analyze.

"Yeah, with Hermione and Ron," Harry said, not sure why he felt alright with answering the man.

Snape nodded to himself. That was good. Hermione was a healer, so she would be able to recognize any signs in Harry and staying with his two oldest school friends would be good for him. "That's good. I would like to say that in case you have need of something, you can come to me, Harry."

Harry was shocked, to say the least, at the alpha's words. They were almost tender. Sure, he knew something of Snape's true nature after the final battle at Hogwarts, but that didn't mean he could always overlook the years before that and the dynamics that had passed between the teacher and student. He often forgot how amazing the Potions Master was, and it tended to catch him off guard when he was reminded. "Thank you," he settled on saying. When Snape said nothing else, he left.

He spent the rest of his day at Hermione and Ron's house. It did little to help his mood, but what was he supposed to do? Ron was the first home, and when he did get home, Harry discussed Quidditch with him in a way like he hadn't discussed it in ages. It was engaging. It occurred to Harry that he hadn't had all that much quality of life when he had been with Nathaniel. The only real enjoyment he'd had was centered on the alpha. He was broken out of his thoughts by Hermione's arrival.

"I talked to one of the counselors. There's a beta who said he'd be glad to see you tomorrow at 1:00. Does that work for you?" Hermione asked.

"Sure. I have no plans," Harry said.

"Wonderful. My lunch break ends at 1:00, so if you just go to the lobby a little before your appointment, I can show you the way."

"Sounds good," Harry said. He felt a little nervous about the prospect of the appointment. He didn't know what to expect. As usual, Hermione had no trouble reading him.

"You know, Harry, he's not going to make you talk about anything you don't want to talk about. You aren't going to be under interrogation. He's just going to see where your head's at, exactly, and see if he can help you get through this in a way that your friends can't."

"I know. I've just never done anything like this before, not even after the war."

"I know," Hermione said gently.

The next day, Harry arrived in the lobby early to meet Hermione. When she got there a couple of minutes before 1:00, she gave him a small hug before leading him to the office of the counselor he was going to see. The waiting room was comfortable enough, with warm colored furniture and lighting that was just the right shade. Harry was still relieved when he didn't have to wait long.

"You're Harry, right?" said a cheerful-but-not-too-cheerful beta behind the desk.

"Yeah," Harry said, shaking the offered hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm technically Mind-Healer Robins, but you can just call me Ethan."

"Alright," Harry said, not at all sure how things were supposed to go here.

"So, you're friends with Hermione, right?"

"Yeah."

"She didn't tell me exactly what your situation was. I suppose she thought it best to tell me herself, and I can't say I find her at fault for that. She just told me you were an omega who was in a rough spot, and when she brought up the subject you agreed to see someone about it."

"Well, the rough spot I'm in is that my alpha just kicked me out a couple of days ago. It hasn't completely sunk in yet, but I've heard the stories and I don't want to end up as one of those people."

"I see," said Ethan, looking thoughtful. "What are your feelings on the issue at the moment?"

"Well, it's a bit up and down to be honest-" Harry started.

"Not lately, at the moment," Ethan said.

"Right," Harry said. "Well, right now I feel sort of regretful. I mean, I miss Nathaniel – my ex, I suppose, is what he is now. I'm upset that this happened, and I wish I could have kept it from happening."

"Okay, so now I'm going to ask how your feelings have been since this happened."

"Well, sometimes I'm alright. I mean, Ron and I were talking about Quidditch last night and it was the most fun I'd had in a while, and I sort of forgot about what happened between me and Nathaniel. And yesterday, after I got my suppressants, there were some other things on my mind that distracted me from what had happened, and I didn't feel happy, per se, but I didn't feel particularly down in the dumps either. But when I went to bed last night it was all I could think about and I ended up having nightmares."

"Hm… Harry, before we continue I would like to point out that you don't have to answer any of my questions by any means. I would strongly suggest you do, but you're not required to do anything while you're here."

"I know."

"Good. I have a very important question to ask you. Why did Nathaniel kick you out?"

"Because we had been mated for two years and I can't seem to get pregnant," Harry said.

His comment made Ethan look troubled. "One more question, and then there are some things I want to tell you. You said that when you were talking with Ron about Quidditch last night, it was the most fun you'd had in a while, and then you said you later had nightmares after thinking about Nathaniel. How did Nathaniel treat you?"

"Well, alright I guess. I mean, other alphas sometimes treat their omegas horribly, and he never got too bad," Harry said noncommittally

When Harry stopped talking, Ethan prompted him, "Can you be more specific than that? Did he ever push you around, or did he have rules he made you follow that you thought were unreasonable? Did he start treating you differently after you mated?"

"Well, he did treat me a little different, now that I think about it. When he was still courting me, he was a perfect gentleman. Once we got mated, he was more demanding and most of those sweet things he did that made me fall in love with him just stopped. Then he did start making me rules. He didn't want me seeing too much of my friends – he said he wanted to spend time with me. Then he would get pushy, and if he told me to do something and I didn't do it, he'd get mad." Harry had never said any of these things before. He had been too afraid to share the information. He had known it would be futile anyway, due to the laws regarding omegas and the way those laws were interpreted. "A lot of times, when he got mad, he would hit me." Harry's voice grew quieter as he made his admittances. He wasn't stopping though - now that he had started the words wouldn't stop flowing. "It started out small, just a slap on the arm if I got ahead of him in trying to get food – he always insisted he got his food first. Then he started slapping me across the face if I forgot to do the dusting, or if I missed a spot. The next thing I knew he was giving me orders all the time and punishing me when I didn't do right. I could normally manage to please him, but when I didn't he made up for it by using his belt or a cane on my backside, and sometimes he'd even use the Cruciatus Curse. And if he wanted sex he was going to get it. I used to tell him when I didn't feel like it, but then he stopped listening and started making it rougher when I said I didn't want to. He finally revealed the whole reason he'd mated me in the first place was so I could have his pups. He said he was going to take every opportunity to make it happen and I had no right to try and take that from him.

"When I still hadn't conceived for a year, he made me get fertility potions. That was a year ago. I tried so many different ones, but none of them worked. Soon after the heat before last, he told me I was being couched until I decided to get pregnant already. That was really hard, because I'd gotten so used to sleeping next to him and at the end of the day it was a comfort After my last heat, he told me he'd had enough. He said if I couldn't do what he wanted me to more than anything, then I had failed him and I needed to just get out. That's when I went to Hermione and Ron's place, because they were my best mates growing up, you know?"

"I'd like to make some things clear to you, Harry. Your alpha didn't kick you out because of any fault of your own. Your being kicked out is a result of Nathaniel's flaws, not yours. Nathaniel had the wrong attitude. He kicked you out because he's selfish and he doesn't realize the wonderful things you could have provided for him – love and loyalty and the camaraderie of a mate for life. He focused on the fact that you didn't do what he so foolishly and selfishly mated you for. Contrary to popular belief, an omega's purpose is not to provide his or her alpha with pups. An omega's purpose can be just the same as the purpose of any alpha or beta. There are countless omegas who just don't have the capability of getting pregnant, just as there are countless beta women who can't get pregnant. There is no shame in that. Do you understand?"

"I think so," Harry said, mulling it over. It was nice, the concept that it wasn't his fault his world was crashing down around him.

"You also need to understand that the way he treated you was not okay. I know that the law says no one can interfere with an alpha's relationship with their omega, and that alphas have the right to determine what their omega needs, but that doesn't give any alpha the right to force you into something after you say no. What he did was rape."

Harry stared at the man sitting in front of him. He'd never thought about that. Now that it was put that way, things seemed a lot clearer. A few years ago, he would have readily agreed with the man, and he knew it, and he would have been right. Now, he'd had it slowly drilled into him that Nathaniel was his alpha, and that meant what he said went. There was no option number two. Nathaniel's vice-like grip on his freedoms had tightened so slowly that Harry never would have felt it until he was crushed completely. Nathaniel had forced him to have sex with him when Harry didn't want to, and he had been far from gentle about it. "You're right," he breathed out, almost to himself. That was… a difficult truth.

"I know that's hard to absorb."

"I just never thought about it like that, but a few years ago, before I met Ethan, I would have never let him do the things he was doing to me a couple months ago. Does that mean he… brainwashed me?"

"I wouldn't say he completely brainwashed you. If he had, you probably wouldn't have believed me just then or admitted the way he treated you. You would have made him sound like prince charming. I just think it was such a gradual change from gentleman to jerk that you didn't catch the bizarre difference until now, when you're looking back and comparing your thoughts of a few years ago to your thoughts of a few days ago."

"I think I get that," Harry said. "That's a lot to take in, though."

"You're right, it is. What you're probably going to realize, with a little help, is that even though Nathaniel looked pretty good, he was more than a little flawed and his intentions were anything but good. It will take some time for you to come to terms with all of this, but that's what you need to do – come to terms with it. It's all well and good to do things that will distract you from the truth for a little while when you need a little pick-me-up, but the only way to truly heal is to come to accapet what you have just survived, to recognize it for what it was, accept that, and try to move on, learning from your mistakes. I would recommend talking with Ron and Hermione about this. I don't know Ron very well, but I know Hermione and when she was telling me about you, it was clear to me that she just wants to support you and be there for you. It's gonna help you when you talk to me, but I can't fix everything on my own, just like your friends can't. I'm not saying you have to do anything, but I highly recommend talking to Ron and/or Hermione about all of this."

"I'll do that, if I find a good time and place," Harry said honestly.

"Good for you. Before you leave, unless you have some other questions, there are some things I'd like to share with you about alphas like Nathaniel."

"Go ahead," Harry said, realizing now that the appointment was almost over.

"Most of the time, when an omega gets left behind or kicked out by their alpha, it's alphas like Nathaniel, okay? Now, not all alphas are like this, and I'm confident if you want to you'll be able to find a good alpha one day that won't treat you the way Nathaniel did, because there are plenty of good ones out there. What I'm telling you applies to the ones like Nathaniel.

"When you said you'd heard the stories, I assume you meant the suicide rate of omegas who are in situations similar to your own?" At Harry's nod, the counselor continued. "There are a lot of things that contribute to this, and most of it stems from the treatment they receive from their alphas before the breakup. The alphas were very controlling, wanting to be completely in charge of their omegas' lives. They slowly limit the things in the omegas' lives that would bring enjoyment to them – like your discussions with Ron about Quidditch, for example. As a result, the omega would get most of their enjoyment from the alpha, when the alpha is gone, the omega begins to feel like their only source of happiness has left them and there is therefore no hope for them any longer. To make things worse, the alpha typically wants to keep the omega to themselves, so they lose contact with their friends and therefore after losing their alpha they end up very lonely and have no one to help them cope.

The alpha has also taught the omega that the way to be a good person is to fulfill the alpha's wishes, whatever those are. After being kicked out, the omega feels like it's because they couldn't satisfy the alpha, which means the omega had not only failed to fulfill the whole reason for them being born, but they failed to please their alpha, which is hard for an omega to cope with whether they have been treated like this or not. Omegas have it programmed into their DNA to make their alpha happy. Having an alpha like Nathaniel who relies on you for so much and makes something so important that he kicks you out when you physically can't do it looks like the ultimate failure. Of course, you haven't really failed – you just feel like you have, and it's understandable. Just understand it's not your fault. And as a final point, any breakup is hard. It's just amplified when you're an omega whose alpha kicked you out.

"So, if you like, I want you to come back to see me in a week. Until then, I want you to talk to Ron or Hermione if you feel up to it, and at least inform them that their support is important through all of this. I also want you to look back at your life before you met Nathaniel. Obviously, everyone changes every year, but I want you to go off of the things you enjoyed then as a guideline for finding things to do now that you'll enjoy. I don't want you throwing yourself into things as a distractions, because like I said earlier you need to see things as they are and come to terms with them before any real progress is made. I just strongly believe that you should be having some fun and quality of life. Also, you need to make sure you're eating. Never stop eating – that is vital. Can you do all of this?"

"Yeah, of course," Harry said.

"Great," Ethan said as Harry walked out to the front desk to schedule his next appointment.

AN: Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter! More is always welcome. I hope you enjoyed the early update :)