A/N: To the comment with the title "Fed up" (readers can skip if you want)

Oh ok so just because I have the ability to use my voice I… shouldn't use it? I get that maybe I should have been a little more appreciative of my freedom of speech but that does not mean I'm not going to use is. Sorry.

You sound like a Karen, complaining about Thanksgiving restrictions even though it's for the safety of human beings. I understand that being inside is tough, but there are people dying- I try to be respectful in most cases but please, shut up. There is nothing in the community guidelines that even remotely suggests I can't talk about anything other than the fanfic in my author notes. It costs nothing to move on. I'm not going to waste my breath trying to argue with you, even though I did write an entire paragraph as to why every single "point" you tried to make is either whitewashed, untrue, or stupid.

Goodbye. Feel free to keep reading tho.

Chapter 29 : A Happy Place

"I still don't understand why I have to do this." Hermione spoke, two weeks later. She was sitting on a couch in a rather big office room.

The moment she had arrived back, Alessia had tracked her down and informed her of the Ministry ordered therapy sessions. And some… other, rather unsavory news. She'll get to that at a later time. One thing to get mad about at a time. She had had enough panic attacks since she had gotten back.

"Well, the Ministry wants it." replied an old classmate.

"Remind me again, since when were you a certified wizard therapist? I mean, I didn't even know we had those in the wizarding world. "

Dean Thomas scratched his head. "Well, I- the position was made after you- er- left."

Hermione smacked her head. "Of course, there was talk about that before…."

Dean shifted in his chair. "Look, Hermione, if you aren't comfortable talking with me I could always ask for a change."

"No- trust me. I..." she struggled to put it into words. "Would be- am more… comfortable with people I know. I wouldn't want to pour my heart out to a total stranger."

"Ok," He replied hesitantly. "Tell me if you change your mind."

"Got it. So how exactly do you start this session thing?"

"For one, I ask the questions." He said lightly, before adding quickly, "Joking. This is what some would call a 'safe space' to talk about feelings."

"This is going to be interesting." Hermione thought, but instead replied, "Ok."

"So let's start with the simple question: How are you feeling?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You mean it's not obvious?"

"Nope." Dean replied. "Explain it to me."

"Well I-" She froze. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Can we talk about something else?" She asked hurriedly. "How's your life? How's Seamus? Haven't seen him in a while."

Dean seemed to take the message. "He's okay. We just adopted a little girl named Diana."

Hermione smiled. "That's sweet. Anything interesting going on that I missed?"

"No nothing much. Even if there was, you probably already heard about it."

In a weird way, being back in the wizarding world made her unrealistically glad. She still didn't feel comfortable enough to walk around without a disguise. The one time she did, she ran into the Weasley's in Diagon Alley. They didn't speak to one another, nor did they make eye contact, which Hermione was fine with. They reminded her too much of a certain redhead.

After that, she stuck to disguises and stayed locked up in her apartment. Speaking of apartments, she had bought one far too close to Diagon Alley and the wizarding community but she would have to worry about that later. All she had to do before never having to come back was take the therapy session and meet with Harry a few times. Maybe even catch up with a few old friends. In the meantime, she would have to find a job. That would prove to be difficult.

"Maybe I could use a disguise, like all the other times"

She also didn't like to go out bc of the constant headlines with her face plastered on them. You'd think all the buzz would be gone after three weeks, but no. The world was curious as to why Hermione Granger hadn't shown her face.

Hermione was on her way to the cafe. It was 10 in the morning and she was getting coffee without, mistakenly, a disguise. She sat in a booth overlooking the city.

She sat down, ignoring the blatant stares she got.

"Hermione?"

She practically jumped out of her seat, hot coffee scorched her hand.

"Harry. Ginny." She said, grabbing napkins to clean up the mess.

"Sorry." Harry apologized immediately, eyeing the mess. "We- I shouldn't have bothered."

Ginny smiled at her and turned away. An image on Ron came to her mind. Shaking her head, she took a long sip of coffee.


"Here's what I suggest; everytime you think you're getting a panic attack or anxiety, do this. Five things you see, four things you can feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you can taste."

"How exactly is that supposed to help anything?" Hermione asked.

"It's a way to ground yourself." Dean replied.

"Do you have any books I can read?" She asked a few seconds later.

"About wizarding psychology? Yeah, over there. All of them are pretty new." He pointed to a small bookshelf.

She got up from the couch and strode over to the bookshelf. Softly smiling, she flipped through the books.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."


A/N: ik ik it's a sorry excuse for a chapter- especially after like what? two or three weeks? Sorry, I had this huge project and I just happened to take on the most work. Anyway, I am in the middle of finishing this next chapter so maybe if I work on this for a few hours, I can get it out tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I have like one or two chapters left. I was kind of waiting for this ending for I kinda rushed.

I'm doing a huge edit after this story is over so maybe after I get that next chapter out I'll try to make this one seem more interesting ?

I'm sorry y'all pls don't hate me.