Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot everything else is from JKR or CSL. (C'mon you all know who I'm talking about by now!)
A/N: Whew! Well, this chapter is finally out! So sorry I made all of you wait an extra week! Thanks for bearing with me! Sorry to those who feel Harry should be in potions, I just think that there are tons of stories where Harry magically gets an O or he gets an E and gets in anyways. It just seemed unrealistic to me. As to Quidditch, lets just say that all parts of every story have a purpose! Oh, and for anyone who was confused with the last chapter, Harry passed out when he heard the news….
"What did you do to him?" Eustace asked his old teacher.
"For your information, Scrubb, I did not do anything to Potter. I believe he only passed out once you entered the room," Severus informed his old student coldly.
"Well, er, yes, it does appear that that would be the case, but why in Merlin's name would the boy just conk out like that?" Eustace wondered out loud, as well as effectively evading the truth of the matter.
"Obviously Potter is as unstable as the papers say," Severus sneered at him.
"Now, now, Severus, that was not the kindest remark to make at this point," the new voice of the Headmaster interrupted.
"Of course not, Headmaster, forgive me," Severus replied with only half of his usual sneer.
"Professor Dumbledore, do you know what happened to Harry?" Eustace asked anxiously.
"I do believe that he has had one too many shocks for one evening. Tell me, did either of you mention anything that Harry was unaware of beforehand?" Dumbledore responded.
"Scrubb burst into my office while Potter was here and announced that I was about to tell Harry all about my brief interlude in his childhood. I gather this can be considered surprising, especially because I was busy interrogating him about his whereabouts last evening," Severus informed the Headmaster, who nodded in response.
"I believe that it is time Mr. Potter received aide in accepting his lot in life and controlling his emotions, excuse me gentlemen, I must make a fire call," Dumbledore said more to himself as he swept out of the room.
"Is he always like that?" Eustace wondered.
Distractedly, Severus replied, "Like what? I assume that you are left confused and worried for the Headmaster. Yes, he is almost always like that. And a word of advice, Scrubb, don't go to him for a direct answer; you won't get one."
Eustace was more than a little annoyed to hear this but tried not to let it show on his face. "Look, Harry's stirring!"
"Mr. Potter? Mr. Potter! Would you be so kind as to get up from my couch so I can be rid of your presence in my personal chambers?" Severus told Harry's prone form. Harry didn't seem to want to listen to him and merely shifted the position of his body.
Severus glared at the boy and appeared to be beginning to berate him when Eustace very wisely stepped in to take control of the situation, "Harry, come on now, it is time to wake up, we have something very important to tell you."
Harry mumbled something suspiciously like, "Can't you tell me later?"
Severus smirked at his colleague who said, "Well, at least I got him to say something."
"The objective was to force him to awake."
"He did, just not for that long."
"Of course, that is why he is still laying there."
"It's not that big of a deal."
"Yes it is, and if he doesn't get up in approximately one minute he will learn a lesson my wand has been itching to teach him for years."
"You know you can't it is completely inappropriate – "
"Hermione, Ron, go fight somewhere else! I was finally sleeping well, even though I had a nightmare first," Harry interrupted groggily.
The two adult exchanged looks, even if Severus did look indignant that anyone would mistake him for Weasley or Granger. "Harry," Eustace said gently, "what was your nightmare about?"
"I'll tell you later, Hermione, it was about Sirius and I couldn't play Quidditch or become an Auror. But I want more sleep, you know I don't get that much anymore, please, just a few more minutes," Harry revealed unknowingly.
Eustace stepped back and shot Severus a confused look who was looking a bit pale. "It's not a nightmare, Scrubb, that's his life."
Eustace now was worried, "Who's Sirius and what about being an Auror or Quidditch, why can't he do those?"
"Sirius," Severus began with a snarl, "is Sirius Black. Yes, Scrubb, the convict who unfortunately for me, was innocent of that particular crime and was not in fact a Death Eater as most of the wizarding world believes. Wipe that stupid look off your face, Scrubb, it is most unbecoming. Black also happened to be the boy's Godfather and he died at the end of last year. I believe he is referring also to the fact that last year he was banned from Quidditch for life, although I daresay the Headmaster would reinstate his Golden boy to the Gryffindor team," Severus said almost bitterly.
"And the Auror?"
"Ah, yes, he must be referring to the fact that he will not be in my Advanced Potions class. As much as I know we will all dearly miss Mr. Potter's presence in the class, he did not obtain the necessary O.W.L. in order to enter the class and I won't make exceptions for anyone," Severus informed him.
Eustace looked like he wanted to argue but finally decided that it wasn't his place to say anything to the man about how he ran his class. "We need to wake him and tell him of his past. You have waited too long anyway," Eustace finally decided to say.
"Why should we tell him? He has been perfectly happy not knowing for five years. Besides, the boy hates me," Severus argued.
"Obviously he hasn't been perfectly happy, Severus, and if you don't tell him with me right now, I'll tell him alone and we all know how that will work out," Eustace shot at the older man.
"Fine, but at least let me wake him up my way," Severus grumbled.
"No! I'll do it and if that doesn't work then you can do it your way," Eustace told a very sour Potion's Master. Eustace breathed a sigh of relief when Harry rubbed his eyes and began to sit up slowly. He wasn't so pleased when the boy's eyes got rather large and he started mumbling something incoherent to himself.
"Harry," he said gently, "Professor Snape and I would like to tell you something. It's about when you were younger and lived with the Dursley's all the time."
"What about it?" Harry asked nervously with a sickening feeling in his stomach.
"Harry, we knew you back then. Professor Snape lived on your street and was a teacher at the local school. I was in his class and was your Buddy. Professor Snape left around Christmas time and I left after the summer. My parents moved to France and I went to Beauxbatons," Eustace told him quickly, feeling that it was better just to get it all out into the open.
"Why are you telling me this?" Harry wondered out loud.
"Harry, we just wanted to let you know what happened all those years ago and that if you ever need to talk that both of our doors are opened," Eustace informed him. Severus snorted.
Harry just stared at the two of them in disbelief. He had a vague idea of what had been going on, well, he had no clue about Professor Scrubb. But Snape had that picture he drew. "How well did I know you?"
"Well, well enough, I suppose. I mean, Professor Snape healed you a few times and I stopped bullies from picking on you once. I like to think that we liked each other well enough. Isn't that right Severus?" Eustace nudged Snape who looked like he would bite off Eustace's arm if he nudged him again.
"You dusted my house once or twice, Potter. Not to mention this was after you destroyed my garden," Snape snapped. Eustace was trying to hide a grin and failed miserably when the garden was mentioned. Harry didn't think it was all that funny.
"Right, well, I'll just be going then. Homework you know. I must find out all I can about Neville, I'll see you later Professor's." Harry was about to walk out the door when Professor Dumbledore walked into the room.
"Ah, Harry, just the student I was looking for! Please, do sit down, I need to speak with you quickly," Dumbledore said. Harry moved back to the couch and had a clearly disgruntled face on him. "Now, Harry, I realize that lately you have had to deal with more problems and stress than normal and I as well as others have been worried about your health."
"I am fine sir, I don't have a cold or anything, why would I?" Harry responded, not quite grasping what Dumbledore was getting at.
"Harry, we are worried about your mental health. As such, we have decided that you will see a therapist twice a week for an hour each time. Your first meeting is tomorrow at seven," Dumbledore said as delicately as he could.
"No way! I am not going to some therapist. I am NOT loony! And I won't go!"
"Harry, you will go and that is final. If I find out otherwise there will be serious repercussions for you," Dumbledore said, giving Harry a look that clearly said that it was not up for discussion.
Harry gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, sir, may I please be excused then." Dumbledore nodded and Harry left the room. Going to his common room, Harry saw Ron and Hermione going up as well.
"Ron! Hermione! Wait up!" he yelled to them.
"Hey, what's going on, mate?" Ron asked him.
"I – I just wanted to apologize for earlier, alright. I'm sorry. I'm just kinda going through something at the moment and it's messing with my head a little bit," Harry said.
"Oh, Harry, we know that. It just hurt a little bit when you spoke like that to us, we're sorry if we've been insensitive," Hermione told him. Smiling at his two best friends, Harry asked them what they were doing down there.
"I was just showing Hermione our new secret location," Ron told Harry as Hermione pursed her lips.
"Don't you two think it is a little presumptuous to just take a room in the castle for yourselves?"
"No." They both replied at the same time. Harry and Ron shot Hermione cheeky grins and the trio went back up to their common room together.
~~~~~
Harry walked into the room where his first therapy session was held, annoyed. He had made up with Ron and Hermione and told them what was happening, but nothing they said could make him happy about going to the sessions. Inside the room Harry saw a woman waiting for him with a huge grin on her face.
"Hello, you must be Harry Potter! I am Janice Andreski and I am going to be your therapist. You can call me Janice," the woman said in a cheerful voice. Harry scowled at the woman who had no right to be so cheerful in his opinion. Well, he could always make her a little less bouncy.
"Now, Harry, where would you like to begin?"
"Shouldn't you be telling me that?" He questioned.
"Well, how about what you did today."
Harry just barely stopped himself from letting out a smirk. This was just too perfect.
"Well, it all started when I opened my eyes this morning. You see, it was all rather blurry. It took a moment for me to remember that school was in session and that I needed to get up to go to class. I realized that it was still blurry and then noticed that I needed to put my glasses on. Well, to do that, I had to reach over to my nightstand and get them. After I realized that my glasses were firmly on my face, I pushed the comforter down. Then I had to get used to the cold air. I pushed the next blanket down slowly and waited again. Finally I pushed the sheet down just before I swung my feet over the bed. Well, I swung my feet over the bed and then sat up. I realized that my best mate, Ron, was not awake yet so I threw my pillow at him. This did in fact wake him up and he threw me back my pillow and then said, 'Good morning, mate.' Or was it, 'Hey mate, good morning?' No, no, I think it was 'Good morning, mate.'…(A very long fifty-four minutes later)... Then Hermione, Ron and I began to exit the common room. I thanked the Fat Lady before we walked down the first hallway. Now, Ron and Hermione enjoy arguing and of course they began right away, even though it was so early in the morning. Ron said-"
"Yes, well, our time is up, dear. I am sorry, but I must stop you. Thank you for coming, it was – er – an experience meeting you," Janice told Harry.
"Oh yes, you as well, I can't wait until next week when I can tell you all about Ron and Hermione's argument. These sessions are really going to be great!" Harry responded cheerfully just before he left the room and a very bored therapist behind him.
Thanks to all my reviewers:
Kateri1 – Thanks, glad you liked that part!
Insanechildfanfic – thanks! hehe!
Wynjara – Nutella is NOT your favorite! NOOOO!
Iaurhirwen – Yep, it is an evil cliffie. And don't worry, Harry will find something to occupy his time!
Pip3 – Yeah, poor Harry. Hopefully it will get better!
Angel74 – Yay! Nutella rocks! Thanks for the review!
Rain Warrior – Hehe. I know, this chapter was a bit delayed, hopefully I'll stay on track, though!
WAY too obsessed – Hey, it could be a healthy obsession. Now, now, don't be so upset that Harry can't play at Hogwarts anymore, he will be happy again!
Azntgr01 – Thanks!
Anora – Yeah, it bugs me as well, but I think that they are like that!
Padawan Jan-AQ – Hehe, I know, cliffies are evil, but it keeps y'all on your toes!
Shirriez – Thanks! Yeah, Harry still needs to come to terms with it. He didn't really fully comprehend what they were saying at the time! Therapy!
Kemis – Yay! Power to the NUTELLA!!!! I know, Sev can be a jerk sometimes!
Christelle – Yes, it was Harry's mistake. Hehe. But now they are all busy thinking of other things! Harry gets so lucky sometimes!
Ping*pong5 – Yep, Eustace does have *cough* horrible timing. Nope, Harry is an emotional wreck with moodswings at the moment. And Nutella is wonderful, my whole family mocks me for my love of it *tear*.
Starangel2106 – No, Harry passed out.
Tia – Yay, Harry, Ron and Hermione are friends again!
Ronda-Silverpaw – Naw, poor Professor Scrubb wouldn't take anything from Professor Snape!
Molly Morrison – Yes, I suppose it is all very sad for poor Harry!
BabyBlu4 – Thanks! I'm trying to make Eustace as interesting as possible!
Nicoletta – That is exactly right. They already let their guard down with Moody and look what happened with that! Not saying that Eustace is evil, just that all may not be as it seems.
Prongs79 – Good thing you were kidding about evil criticism! Hehe! Yes, just reading the word nutella makes my mouth water for some!
? – Thanks! Glad you know what nutella is! Spread the word! Hehe. Glad you like my writing!
Athenakitty – now, now, we can't go giving away any plot secrets at the moment!
Silvernightshade – wow, getting a bit needy there! Hehe. That's ok, it's all in good fun, but what kinda story would it be if Harry just found out the entire plot right when the first chapter starts?
GoddessMoonLady – Yep, that was Eustace alright! Hehe, glad you like the story, and I agree, Harry needs to play Quidditch!
Tati1 – Yep, Harry did faint! And I'm sorry I made you cry! Nooo…but yes, PMS is the worst!
Separatrix – Thanks! I'm glad you noticed that my writing has improved! After all, that is what I am working on, as well as enjoyment, of course! Thanks!
Water drifter – Yep, he is just getting one shock after another. Hopefully it will all die down, though!
Meggplant – Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the Neighbor too!
ERMonkey, Queen of Insanity – I wrote more!
Jessyka – Hehe! You're not cursed. Authors just enjoy tormenting the innocent readers…oops…did I say that out loud….
Amber16 – I hope the A/N at the beginning was able to help ya. Thanks for your review! I know, everything seems to happen to Harry!
Gaul1 – Thanks!
Tielle – I know, it seems like Harry should get to go back on the team, but as you said, a lot of people in the HP universe are stupid. And yes, it was probably Fudge's doing that Harry can't go back, after all, Fudge is probably more than a little upset that Harry made him look stupid at the end of OotP when Harry ended up to be telling the truth about Voldemort!
Ok, I actually got a couple more reviews that were e-mailed. I'd just like to thank these people. Unfortunately they were all accidentally deleted so I don't know the exact names, so if it is you, I am sorry and I really do appreciate your review! Thanks!