Albus walked a few steps behind, he was really trying to keep his mind off where they were going and why. Da was talking about all he was going to have going on that morning and Albus focused on that. He didn't recognize the part of London they were in; this wasn't any way Da had taken them to the Ministry before. Most buildings looked Muggle and it actually been awhile since he'd seen a building that was definitely Wizarding.
"Da..." Albus ventured, Da stopped and turned to him. "Where are we going?"
"To Doctor Whitley's office." Da wrapped his arm around Albus' shoulder and led him on, "She works in a Muggle part of the city." Da squeezed his shoulders and grinned. "This is exciting, right? Someone to talk to who can really help you."
Albus forced a smile on his face, "yep Da, fantastic."
"C'mon," Da stopped in front of an oridinary brownstone and held the door open for him. Albus looked around the front room. There were five overstuffed chairs spread around, a coffee table in the center weighed down with magazines. A bored-looking girl, she didn't look any older than Victoire, was sitting at a desk. Her thumbs were moving quickly over a small device in her hands. Albus knew it was a cellphone, Grandpa had talked endlessly about them. He wouldn't ever tell but he thought the Floo Fireless was much more affective.
When she caught sight of them the phone disappeared. "You must be Mr. Potter and Albus, Dr. Whitley is waiting for you." She gestured toward a door tucked away behind her desk.
"Thank you." Da made a move toward the door but Albus stop him.
He frowned, "you don't have to walk me in Da."
"Are you sure, Albus?" Da looked between him and the door.
"Yeah, Da, I'm sure." Albus winced, he knew Da wanted to be there for him but it would be just that much harder if he had to walk in there with him.
Da nodded, "okay, Albus. You're using the floo home, are you okay with that?" Albus nodded, he noticed that the girl behind the desk wrinkled her nose at the word 'floo', like she still wasn't use to hearing it. Da disappeared with a crack and the girl jumped.
"Damn it, Sis, not paying me enough for this," she mumbled.
Albus edged around her, she was already back on her phone, thumbs moving at an alarming pace. He knocked on the door softly.
"Come on in, Albus." He opened the door and stepped in. "Hey there!" The woman behind a large desk stood up, "Nice to meet you, Albus. I'm Dr. Bethany Whitley." Dr. Whitley had a very calm smile, it didn't falter or look forced. "Why don't you take a seat. How was the trip here?"
"Fine," He twisted his fingers together. Dr. Whitley nodded and twirled her pen around once before scribbling on the notebook she had on the desk. Albus looked around the room, he noticed that a lot of the diplomas and certificates on the walls behind the doctor looked to be Muggle. He sat down in the chair in front of her desk.
"How are you, Albus?" Albus shrugged his shoulders and dragged his eyes around the room. There weren't any windows, not even any other doors. "You don't want to be here, I know." He felt his face pinch with guilt.
"Sorry, ma'am," he said softly.
"No 'ma'am', please, it makes me feel old. And you don't have to apologize, Albus. I know your situation, this wasn't your choice." Dr. Whitley smiled, "You should make the best of it though. I am pretty good at my job, if I do say so myself. I'd really like to help you."
Albus looked at his shoes. "I don't think you can help me."
"Why?" He looked at Dr. Whitley, she still had the same smile on her face.
He shrugged his shoulders again, "Nothing has helped me. What could you do different."
Dr. Whitley clicked her pen twice and Albus found himself scanning the room again. He really wish there was a window. "Dreams are my specialty. Interpertations and their meanings have interested me since I was young. If you give this a chance, Albus, I think you'll find something here useful." She smiled and Albus found himself returning in earnest.
Dr. Whitley asked him about the weather and school, his family and what he wanted to do over the summer holiday. He was starting to relax, he'd loosen the grip he had on the hem of his shirt, and his knee had stopped jerking twenty minutes ago. Albus knew though, this was all leading to the big question or questions. The doctor wasn't going to let him out of the office without at least mentioning the dreams.
The silence was stretching. Dr. Whitley hadn't another query ready to fire off when Albus finished telling her the exceedingly boring details of his summer plans.
"The first one I remember I was six," He surprised himself being the one to bring it up. The flicker of a smile on Dr. Whitley's face said that she'd been waiting. "I'm running through the Forbidden Forest and there is something chasing me. I don't know what..." Albus trailed off, he'd slipped and called it the Forbidden Forest; he watched Dr. Whitley to see if she caught it. She was scribbling in her notebook; he sighed, she hadn't.
"Tell me some others." Dr. Whitley's gaze fell on him again.
Albus looked away, fingers twitching, "they're all like that. Sometimes they aren't so intense; it'll be more like being followed, but really scary following - stalking. Or I'll be some where I don't recognize and I'll think it's different but in the end-" He stopped, afraid to go on.
"You're always in the woods being chased." Albus nodded. "Were you told about the Forbidden Forest when you were younger, Albus? Maybe by an older cousin, someone telling ghost stories perhaps?" The blood drain from his face. His hands, which had been finally resting on the arms of the chair, were clammy.
"I-I don't know, Dr. Whitley. I can't remember." Albus closed his eyes, "I don't think so, though." Dr. Whitley didn't say anything, she was following Albus' lead now. "I had a dream once when I was too small to have been told ghost stories about the Forbidden Forest." That was all Albus could say about that dream.
Dr. Whitley nodded, a frown pulled her mouth down for the first time since Albus had stepped into the office. "How did you figure out it was the Forbidden Forest that you were dreaming about?" Albus looked away from Dr. Whitley. This was harder to talk about that he ever thought it would be.
"Albus?"
He snapped his attention back to Dr. Whitley. "S-sorry." Albus ran his hand through his hair. "Da took us to Hogwarts once when we were little. I guess...I was seven or eight, and we were walking toward Hagrid's hut. That's when I saw it, the forest. I'd seen it so many times. Da never understood why I was so scared and on edge the whole time we were there. That night I had one of those dreams."
"Like the one at Hogwarts?" Albus nodded. They were quiet and Albus tried to get himself under control. "Albus have you ever faced what is in your dream?"
He balked, "are you mad? It wants to hurt me." Dr. Whitley frowned. "If it caught me, I'd be dead."
"Albus it's only a dream."
He sucked in a breath. "Only...a dream." His hands curled into fists. "They're more than just dreams to me!"
"You still couldn't be hurt, Albus, regardless. The dream cannot hurt you," Dr. Whitley spoke calmly. She put her pen and notebook down, laying her hands on the desk. "The fear you feel is real, but there is nothing there. If you turn and face-down what is chasing you maybe you'll conquer what's haunting you."
Albus shook his head. "No," he muttered, "no, it wouldn't... Do you think so?" His fingers flexed on the chair arms, he didn't want to ring them together. Dr. Whitley always wrote something down when he did that.
"You wont know until you try, Albus. But you need to believe that the nightmares won't hurt you." She glanced at a clock on her desk. "Time is up for today, your mother will be expecting you soon. I believe we should meet two times a week, Albus, does that sound alright for you?" Albus shrugged his shoulders, nodding. Dr. Whitley smiled, "Okay, I'll see you next week then and we'll start meeting on Tuesdays and Fridays."
"Okay Dr. Whitley." Albus stood and looked around, "Where am I suppose to use the floo?"
Dr. Whitley shook her head, "That's right, I almost forgot that you'd be traveling that way. C'mon, this way." She led him out of the office and back into the waiting room. "Sarah," she snapped her fingers, "what did I tell you about that damn phone." The receptionist jumped and stuffed the phone away. "Remember Mr. Martini doesn't trust technology, it'd send him into fits if he saw it."
"Right, right," Sarah waved her hand.
Dr. Whitley chuckled, "She's still adjusting to the wizarding clients."
"Adjusting?" Albus asked curiously, he'd been interested in the lack of wizarding things.
Dr. Whitley opened a door the led away from the waiting room. It was a short hallway and then they were in a kitchen. There was a fireplace in the corner. "I only recently opened my practice to wizarding folks. Before that it was a case-to-case basis. I'm Muggle you see and my husband is a wizard. It's a strange transition, especially since I didn't want to drop any of my previous clients." She picked up a jar sitting on the mantle. "Alright Albus, safe trip home. I'll see you on Tuesday."
"O-okay, Dr. Whitley. Have a good day." Albus took a pinch of floo and spoke his destination. Dr. Whitley had that smile and waved as he stepped into the green flame.