Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. I'm not making any profit off of this.
What If Snape Died? – Chapter 28 – Mind and Soul
Sirius sat nervously in the lobby of Mind Healer Jones' clinic. While mind healers definitely used muggle psychology, there was another aspect to their field – checking the mind for any types of enchantments or magical invasions, and then freeing patients from those and dealing with whatever damage had been done.
Padfoot shuddered when he thought about all the different things wizards could do to each others' minds. The Imperius Curse, love potions, using Legilimency to plant suggestions, full-out Legilimency assaults wherein any natural Occlumency shields the victim may have are shattered. At the bare minimum, the victim has severe headaches and has to re-experience her/his worst memories. At most, the victim suffers severe brain damage. Sirius Black was sure there were many other types of mental assaults he wasn't familiar with.
Draco had been in Healer Jones' office for nearly an hour now. His new guardian was aware that the first part of treatment was a thorough examination to see if the Malfoys had used any of these methods on Draco. He wouldn't put it past them to do it. He knew that his own father had tried planting subtle Legilimency suggestions in his mind to make him hate muggle-borns and believe all that crap about pure-blood superiority. Fortunately, Sirius had been a natural Occlumens, and clever enough not to let the family know it. He had felt the soft touch of Legilimency but pretended not to. He played his role as a stupid bigot until he stepped onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time. That's when his pretence ended and his real life began.
After that, when he did come home, he avoided his family as much as possible. He hated to see what they were doing to his brother Regulus, turning him into another believer in pure-blood supremacy, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Leaving Reggie behind was his only regret about running away.
He never spoke about that mental conditioning with anyone, not even the Marauders, but he knew it was a tradition in all the so-called noble families. That was also the way family members were persuaded to find each other attractive enough to marry and…Sirius shuddered again at the thought that his family had wanted him to marry his five-years-older cousin, Andromeda, just because she was his favorite cousin. He'd sensed his father trying to put thoughts of how attractive she was in his mind. That was just before he ran away, five years before both his father and brother died. Andromeda's parents, fortunately, didn't do the mental conditioning to their daughter, and consequently she'd married a muggle-born and had a daughter with a rare gift.
Although deep down, Sirius knew that it wouldn't be easy to undo all that conditioning, he secretly hoped that the healer could perform one spell or ritual and suddenly Draco would be a well-adjusted boy like Harry or Neville. Usually, by the time a kid turns eleven, he's had so much conditioning done that seven years of listening to Albus Dumbledore and seeing muggle-borns outperform them at every turn can't shake their belief in their own superiority. It doesn't matter how kind a muggle-born is to them, either. They're just mudbloods, and the highest status they can attain is tolerated pet, provided they are obedient and useful to their masters.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the nearby door opening. Healer Jones stuck his head out. "Mr. Black, would you please come in here?"
"Of course, Healer." Sirius followed the Healer into a small room, where he closed the door and cast a privacy charm. "How bad is Draco?"
The Healer took a deep breath. "There is evidence that he's been exposed to subtle Legilimency hundreds of times. He's also been exposed to both the Imperius and Cruciatus curses."
Sirius' eyes widened. "Cr-cruciatus?" Even he couldn't believe Draco's parents had gone this far. "Did Lucius do that before he was arrested?" He didn't want to think his cousin was capable of that.
"There is evidence that he's been exposed to that curse a few times every year since he was two, but it hasn't stopped. It's possible his father used to perform it on him, but it is clear that his mother has been doing it since then."
Sirius sat down. "Was it her idea of punishment? Did he say that it was done when he was bad?"
"He did not admit to any of it. In fact, all he'll say is how great his parents are and how superior he is to everyone because of that. He's right now talking to one of my assistants who asked him to explain why he's superior to her. We hope that if he has to apply logic to his prejudice that it will help him slowly see the light. In any case, the nerve damage we detected can only be caused by repeated exposure to that curse. This boy has been conditioned to be a perfect puppet for You-Know-Who or another dark lord with the same message."
"Is he too far gone? Can you help him? Is there anything I can do?"
"We don't believe that anyone is beyond helping while they're still alive. We've removed the Imperius curse from him, but most of the conditioning can't be simply removed like that. It will take years to unlearn all that garbage."
"Can't you just obliviate the suggestions out of his mind?"
The Healer shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. Not without removing all of the boys' memories, thus destroying who he is. That would violate our oaths not to do any harm, and is also an illegal use of that spell." He smiled. "Besides, I don't think you want to potty train him, do you? We'll have to slowly deprogram him."
-WISD-
A few weeks later, Harry, Neville, and James were driving Alice crazy with how much they were trying to help her do everything simply because she was pregnant. She had just finished yelling at James for suggesting she stop teaching for the rest of the year. While straining her voice, she explained that the term would be over in plenty of time for the birth. She was due toward the end of July. They joked that this baby would be born on the twenty-ninth, so the kids would have three birthdays in a row (Neville's is the thirtieth and Harry's is the thirty-first). Her husband retreated to their bedroom, saying something about grading papers.
She heard a pecking sound, and looked up to see Sirius' owl tapping its beak against the window in their quarters. Sighing, she started to get up.
"Stay right there, mum. I've got it," said Harry as he rushed to the window.
"I'm not helpless, you know."
"Of course not, mum, but I was already up." Harry took the letter from the owl and gave it a treat. The bird flew off and Harry closed the window. "Here you go."
She unrolled the scroll of parchment that Harry handed her.
Dear Potters,
Things are going a bit rough here at home, but I'm managing. I'm following Healer Jones' advice. I couldn't believe it when I found out that Cissy used the cruciatus curse on her own son as punishment, but I guess once you start down that path, there's nothing so bad you wouldn't do it. I finally did get Draco to admit they did it, but he thinks they were right to. He still hasn't been able to explain why he's superior to anybody, so I hope he's starting to see that he's not.
Hindering my progress is that crazy elf, Kreacher, who seems convinced that Draco's a god. I'd give it clothes except that I'm afraid Draco will believe that the only reason I got rid of it was because it liked him.
I've gotten him to talk a little about how it felt when his parents were taken away from him, and explained that his father took Neville's father away from him. I also explained how he's got a new father and brother now, with another brother or sister on the way, so life can go on after you lose your family. Anyway, I'd like your family to come to dinner in a few weeks after Healer Jones and I have had a few more chances to talk to Draco.
Can't help but love,
Sirius
P.S. Tell everyone in the family I said hi!
Alice giggled at how Sirius always signed his letters, implying that everybody loved him. She knew they'd be happy to come to dinner (she wasn't really sure about Neville, but she'd talk to him), so she arranged a Friday night, knowing they didn't have anything planned. She tried to sneak out to the Owlry, but was caught by Neville before leaving their quarters. She reluctantly let her son mail the letter, wondering when she'd talk with him about the dinner.
While Neville was still gone, someone knocked on their door. Alice opened it to see the headmaster. "Professor Dumbledore, it's good to see you. Come on in."
"Thank you, Alice, and might I remind you to refer to me as Albus when students aren't around? Is James here?" He looked around for a moment and lowered his voice. "I've just realized a possible location of a Horcrux that I can't believe I haven't thought of until now. I'd like for us to investigate the location this Saturday."
-WISD-
Author's Note: I've decided not to focus very much on Draco's progress. We'll visit him occasionally (including the upcoming dinner) and keep updated with his progress, but I don't want that to become the main focus of the story.
