Chapter Six – The Rock in My Shoe

"I don't believe it," I said.

"Me neither," said Liv.

Talk about a blast from the past. I knew that Malfoy was a little nutty and a right pain in the arse but I didn't think he would be nutty enough to land himself here.

"I'm guessing he's here for anger management," said a voice that came from behind.

Liv and I stepped aside away from each other to allow Regan to get a closer look.

"Who is this psycho anyway?" she asked. When she saw who it was, I expected her eyes to bulge out of their sockets and her jaw to drop to the ground. Instead, she just shrugged and said, "Well, it's about bloody time." She turned on her heel and left.

Liv and I were still in a daze as we watched Malfoy bite, scratch and spit at the nurses and his mother. He did not do this literally but he might as well have.

"I assume you are Mrs Malfoy?" said Dr Bell as she scuttled into the Main Foyer from a side door, armed with a clipboard and a quill.

"Narcissa Black," said Malfoy's mother. "I'm not Malfoy anymore."

Dr Bell looked as though she wanted to question her even further but thought the better of it. If anything, you should never question a Malfoy, no matter who it was. If Lucius was anything to go by … well …

"And is this your son, young Mr Malfoy?" asked Dr Bell.

"Who else do you think I am?" Malfoy snapped.

"Draco," said Narcissa reproachfully. "Mind your manners. You'll make us look bad."

"DON'T talk to me," Malfoy snarled. "You're putting me in here! I don't want to see you ever again."

"I'll visit you-."

"NO YOU WON'T!"

"I'm afraid he's right, Ms Black," said Dr Bell sternly. "It is Silverwater policy that the patients don't receive visitors unless the need to see them is urgent. However, you are allowed to send owls."

"Very well," said Narcissa. "I'll send you an owl."

"I'll bite its head off."

"Draco-."

"Get lost!"

Narcissa squared her shoulders and raised her chin up into the air in attempt to regain her dignity. "I will write as soon as possible, Draco," she said grimly. "Meanwhile, I hope Silverwater will straighten you out a little bit. Maybe Dr Bell here can pull all that nonsense out of your head."

She looked at her son one more time and then left with a swish of her cloak. My impression of her was that even though she wasn't as evil as Malfoy's dad, she was just as domineering.

"Mr Malfoy," said Dr Bell, scratching her nose. "Allow us to take you to our room. Gentlemen, please release him."

Malfoy wriggled free from the nurses' grips as they released him and he hissed venomously at the two of them. Well, that was what I thought I saw anyway.

"Follow me," Dr Bell demanded and she led the way, walking in a stately manner.

The entire party waled straight past Liv and I. None of them seemed to notice the two of us standing by the doorway, which was very fortunate. Given the state that Malfoy was in, I didn't want to face his wrath. I didn't want him biting my head off.

"You'll be sharing a room with Mr Nagy," said Dr Bell. Her voice was growing fainter with every footstep she took. "There's no need to be afraid. Mr Nagy is a charming young man."

"Poor Jai," I muttered under my breath.

~*~

"Are you ready to actually do this properly?"

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, I was ready to do this properly. The more I cooperated, the more chance I had of being discharged at the supposed date. I didn't want to stay here forever, did I?

"I suppose," I sighed.

Dr Bell ran a hand through her hair and began the session. "What I'm going to do is ask you a few questions that would allow me to gain a further insight into your mind. Do you have any objections?"

Isn't that what psychiatrists did anyway?

"No," I finally said. "I have no objections."

"Brilliant …"

She grabbed her quill and cast the spell which would make it dictate the entire conversation. "Now … how much do you value friendship?"

"Quite a bit."

"And what are you views on dark magic?"

"What are you playing at?"

"Just answer the question."

"Fine … dark magic is … well, dark magic. It's what Voldemort practised quite a bit for the most part of his life." It was clear that I didn't like dark magic at all. Dark magic really messed me up.

"Yes … what was going through your mind last year when you defeated You-Know-Who?"

"A lot of things went through my mind," I replied truthfully. "I guess the first thing that came to my mind was shock. I mean, I was informed of the prophecy two years prior to the event and for two years I convinced myself that I wasn't powerful enough to do it … and then I did."

Dr Bell nodded in comprehension. EVERYONE in the wizarding world knew about the prophecy as of my sixth year of Hogwarts. It just became common knowledge all of a sudden. I didn't know how it came about but it did. But then again, I didn't know anything.

"And what about the night Ginny Weasley died? What was going through your mind then?"

"It was the happiest day of my life," I said sarcastically.

"Mr Potter, do this properly."

"Do you really want to know?" I asked.

"Yes," Dr Bell replied.

"It's a long story," I cautioned.

"I have all the time in the world," Dr Bell replied. "I wouldn't expect Mr Malfoy to show up for his session today."

"I don't know if I want to tell you the story," I told her.

"Well, you're going to have to some day," she told me.

"Okay."

I took a deep breath and launched on a story about one of the worst nights of my life. "It was during the summer holidays – two weeks after the diagnosis was made by a Muggle doctor. We were all at the Burrow that night. The entire Weasley family, Hermione and Colin Creevey were there, along with me. The doctor told us that it was too late and all we could do was wait until that moment came. I remember receiving an owl that night from her mother while I was at Hermione's place.

"Hermione and I Apparated over there immediately and were greeted by Ron. I could never forget the look on his face as soon as I arrived. It was like he was wearing a death mask, only he wasn't the one that was dying.

"We all managed to drag ourselves up the stairs and then that was when I saw her. Only it wasn't the same Ginny that I was used to seeing. This girl I saw looked lifeless.

"We stayed in her room for a long time and waited until Ginny's Aunt Enid came. She was a Healer from St Mungo's and she was going to be the one that was going to nurse her until she died … er, what do you call those people?"

Dr Bell looked deep in thought before she said, "I don't remember either."

"Well," I began again, "it doesn't matter. My last memory of that night was Ginny's last words to me."

I stayed silent after this. Dr Bell looked as though she wanted me to repeat her last words. Of course she did. She would justify her reason by saying that she was a psychiatrist but if you asked me, she was just being nosey. Finally, she cleared her throat audibly.

"What were her last words?" she asked quietly.

I cast my eyes sideways and murmured, "She told me that she didn't want to die. She said it was too soon."

The deafening silence returned as Dr Bell sat behind her desk with her mouth hung open. She knew that I was being corny and too sentimental but it was the truth. Those were her actual last words to me.

"I'm sorry," Dr Bell whispered.

"That was two months ago," I sighed. "I'm over it."

"I don't think you are," Dr Bell contradicted me. "I don't think you're over her death, nor are you over the deaths of Sirius Black or your parents."

"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "How can I be NOT over my parents' deaths? How could I still be grieving? I never knew them."

Dr Bell ignored my last comment. Instead, she asked her final question, the question that struck a particular chord in me.

"If you were to look into the Mirror of Erised, what would you see?"

I froze for a moment and contemplated my answer. I had looked into the Mirror of Erised before, twice as a matter of fact. The first time I saw it I saw my parents and my family. The second time I saw myself with the Philosopher's Stone. I COULD'VE said that I would see my family but somehow I knew that I would see something else.

"I don't know," I replied quietly. "I really don't know."

Dr Bell raised her eyebrows and waved her wand, thus making the quill slump to one side. "Thankyou Mr Potter. You have done well today. I will see you again at the same time next week."

I nodded and left her office. Along the way I literally bumped into Draco Malfoy.

"Watch where you're going you fag!" he snapped. Suddenly, his eyes bulged out of his sockets. "Potter?" he spat. "I don't bloody believe it."

"Yeah, well, you better," I said. "Why the hell are you here?"

"I've got an appointment with that screwy woman," Draco replied haughtily. He jerked his thumb towards Dr Bell. It wasn't like he needed to do that or anything, I wasn't stupid.

"I can see that," I said slowly. "What I meant to ask is why you are 'here'?"

"Do you really expect me to tell you that?" he sneered.

"Yes," I replied.

"I tried to snuff it," he replied simply. "What about you? Hearing voices? Is it that scar again?"

"Grow up Malfoy," I snapped. "You're practically an adult now. Act like one."

"You Gryffindors are pathetic," he sneered, "acting like you own the place."

"Malfoy," I said. "We've graduated from Hogwarts. If anything is pathetic, it's you referring to us by the houses we were sorted in."

"Don't get smart with me, Potter."

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

I shoved him out of my way and stormed off to my room. The bugger liked to light my fire just for the sake of burning the house down! The next month was going to be hard with Malfoy around.

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Next Chapter: The Wrong Letter

A/N: For those who had been reading before, I suggest you start again because I edited the first few chapters. Sorry :( But not much has changed, really. The only that had changed was some spelling, grammatical errors and I decided not to kill Dumbledore off so that's changed too. I've finished the story. The only thing I need to do is to rethink the last few chapters as they seem dodgy to me and my friend (who is going through this with me). Cheers.

Oh, and to Amethyststar's: Yes, I was a girlscout too.