Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter 30
Next morning found Harry waiting his father's office preparing to meet the first shrink Albus had contacted he sighed and knock on the door, Severus opened it and smirked at Harry. Harry had decided a change of attire was in order for today and was wearing the black leather trouser Outkast had given him and had borrowed her 'I fry cats' top, Sev rolled his eyes, but allowed him in. A women in her late 40's with brown hair tightly pulled into a bun and spectacles on a gold chain looked at him. She stood as he entered the room.
"Hello Harry I'm Cathy. That's an… interesting outfit. Why don't you sit down" Harry sat where he was on the floor and stared at her. Severus left and stood in the door way watching but not in line of sight with Cathy, which was a good thing because the silencing charm worked for sound but didn't do anything for the heaving shoulder's as he cracked up.
"Ok Harry why don't you sit on a chair." Harry did so. She smiled
"How are you today?"
"I'm fine except I shouldn't be here"
"Really why not?"
"Because the voices told me to stay in my room and polish my dagger" Cathy paled
slightly and swallowed
"Ok Harry. Umm do you know why I'm here"
"Yes" he didn't offer anything further explanation so she prodded
"Why do you think I'm here?"
"Because the king of the moose people told you I was hiding the key to their freedom in a trash bag under the chamber of secrets and they sent you to come and claim it. You'll never take I tell you NEVER" he snarled the last bit for effect, Severus was sitting on the kitchen floor with tears falling down his face, he had to hand it to Outkast she'd done a good job preparing him. Cathy was stumped, wizard children didn't normally act like this, she was an abuse specialist and wasn't equipped to deal with severe psychological difficulties, she couldn't believe this boy was meant to be the saviour of the wizarding world.
"Harry who told you that?"
"The carrot did." Ok that was the clincher she nodded at Harry and rose, Harry stood as well giving Severus enough notice to get off the floor, remove the silencing spell and wipe his face. She came round the corner and took him aside
"I'm afraid Harry's difficulties are beyond the scope of my training I'm going to refer him to a friend who is better suited to handle his…. Problems. I will inform the headmaster on my way out." Severus nodded and showed her to the door. It clicked shut after her and he turned to face Harry before they both broke into peels of laughter
"Did you see her face?" Harry gasped Severus managed to nod but couldn't say a word. Harry was gasping having trouble breathing, wondering how he'd managed to keep a straight face through the proceedings.
##
Cathy sat opposite Albus Dumbledore
"I'm sorry Albus but he has deep seeded emotional problems and need specialist care that I can not offer I will send a colleague to assess him but it may well lead to him needing to be sectioned for a bit" Albus was disturbed he knew Harry had problems but surely he wasn't this bad.
"Are you sure, you only spent five minutes with him" Cathy was not used to having her judgement questioned.
"Well he turned up in muggle clothing told me that and I quote 'the voices told him to stay home and polish his dagger' and that 'the king of the moose people believed him to hold the freedom of his people'" Albus saw red
"I assure Cathy he does not need specialist care I know exactly what's wrong with him" she snorted and crossed her arms looking at him incredulously
"Oh really what's wrong with him then?"
"Outkast-itis" he sneered and flew out of his office leaving the poor confused counsellor to make her own way home.
##
Outkast was sitting in the staff room seeing as the office door was still in the process of being replaced marking work and sipping on cola she had bought in from her club when Albus caught up with her. To say he was unhappy was the same as saying that Voldemort may have been a very naughty boy.
"What the hell do you think you're doing" he growled she smiled
"Nice to see you too Albus and I think I'm marking essays why?"
"You know exactly what I mean what have you done to Harry?" Outkast put down her ball point pen and stared at him.
"I did nothing to Harry, he didn't want to see her and you made him. Honestly you never learn do ya? You tried this shit for years with me and got no where, you ignored Tom's pleas essentially create a Dark Lord then around 50 years later you do it again to the only kid that might stand a chance of defeating the first one. Face it Albus" she said spitting his name out
"You are out of touch you can't help him and you know what? He doesn't want you to, he doesn't love you hell he doesn't even like you, he trusted you and you betrayed his trust." She knew the buttons to press to stop Albus from fighting her and hit every one of them, he walked away defeated. But then stopped and turned suddenly
"How do you know so much about Harry?" she smirked
"He showed me, he gave me permission to look" she got in his face
"It's more then he ever gave you isn't it?" He glared
"And what did you do to earn this favouritism" she smiled again
"I trained him, I gave him every little piece of martial arts training I have and all the wandless magic and Occlumency he'll ever need" Albus slapped her
"You idiot that's what happened to Tom" Outkast wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and landed a magically enhanced kick at the old mans stomach sending him reeling into the wall, she sauntered over to him and knelt down
"I know you idiot it's exactly what I did for Tom and I'd do it for any kid that needs it, but the thing is Old Man you need him, and hence you need me, if I walk now Sev and Harry will come with me and there is nothing you can do about it" she laughed
"You are very lucky I'm on your side. As for Harry he won't be the next Dark Lord no matter what power I give him. He hasn't got it in him" Albus glared at her
"You better be right"
"I am" and with that she left.
##
Harry was eating lunch with Severus discussing the interesting points of the morning's short session when a knock on the door got their attention.
"Enter" Severus yelled unwillingly to break the mood with his son by getting up. The door swung open and both men grinned, Outkast stepped in and looked Harry up and down
"I was wondering what happened to that top" she said with a wink before giving Sev a proper hello, Harry groaned and threw a lump of lettuce from his place at them. Severus glared at him Outkast threw it back before sliding into a chair between them.
"So I got a very interesting visit from a rather annoyed headmaster a moment ago" Harry feigned innocence
"Really what did Professor Dumbledore want?"
"Well he got it in his head that I may have convinced you to not take your counselling sessions very seriously" Harry added wide-eyed to his feigned innocence
"Surely not I mean you would never do anything that irresponsible" he said she nodded
"Officially bad boy don't do it again" Harry nodded and waiter for the other shoe to land:
"Unofficially I'm impressed five minutes must be some kind of record, especially as you didn't resort to physical harm" Harry broke into a grin.
"And on that note I'm going to get changed before afternoon class, you two don't do anything sordid" he ducked out the kitchen and up the stairs before they could retaliate.
##
Up in his room Harry locked both the doors and cast the silencing charm. He sat on the bed taking deep breaths before stripping out of the muggle clothing he'd been wearing. He sighed and stepped into the bathroom barely pausing to grab something off his desk. He stood in front of the mirror staring at his body, his unmarred skin. Then with a small movement of his wand the glamour was gone leaving him covered in scars that ran over almost all of his skin. Harry sighed he truly was a freak, and freaky things did happened around him. The more he thought about it the more depressed he got, sure he'd managed to put the mask back on like he had done for so many years but it didn't fit as comfortably. He felt a weight in his hand as wasn't very surprised to see he grabbed a knife on the way in here he pulled the blade down against his skin in frustration with life the universe and everything he did it again and again until the tiles were stained with his blood. He glanced back at the mirror and was mildly shocked to see the damage he had inflicted on himself. He grabbed his wand off the side
"Scourgify" he muttered at the mess and the tiles went back to being pristine, he then cast clotting spells on all the few wounds but didn't bother to heal them. He had gone through a phase of healing every wound he made, the only problem was that he then had to cut twice as often to get relief. After resetting the glamour he took a shower and enjoyed the searing pain as the hot water and soap penetrated the wounds. He got out and put on his uniform and flopped onto his bed. From under the pillow he retrieved a small leather journal and an every-ready quill he opened to a fresh page:
Dear Sirius,
I had another little attack today, not too bad and the glamour still fools people. I think Outkast might suspect but she hasn't said anything. The shrink showed up, she left in five minutes but at least she did show it was amusing. I miss you so much and after all that has happened I need you more, I know that Moony wasn't in control but I can't even look at him at the moment. I don't want to hurt him but he scares me. I never thought I'd see the day that a Marauder scared me and Snape didn't. Merlin I'm still calling him Snape, I guess I don't know what I'm supposed to call him. I don't want to talk to a stranger but I want to talk to someone. I wish you were here I need you. I better go I have class. Talk soon
Harry quickly put the book under the pillow, he'd been writing to Sirius throughout the summer and was just glad the journal had made it's way to Hogwarts with him. He knew on some level that his letters went unanswered because Sirius was dead but it helped having someone to talk to. Harry sighed and grabbed his book bag he had Potions this afternoon and it would be more then his life is worth to be late.
###
While Harry was playing with sharp objects upstairs, Severus was playing with fire downstairs. Only this fire went by the name Outkast, his hands fitted perfectly in the small of her back, she was like the missing piece of him she bought the kiss to an end and stared up at him
"I've missed this" she said quietly leaning her cheek against his chest, Severus smiled he'd missed it too. She moved suddenly was stared intently at him
"I'm worried about Harry" she said he rolled his eyes
"Give me a list of five people who aren't worried about Harry" he snorted
"Yeah I know but look he isn't going to talk to a shrink, he would just get so pissed off if we kept him going to one of the 'I want to be your friend' brigade that he would go do something stupid…. More stupid in rebellion" Severus nodded
"Hence the challenge?" She smiled ruefully
"Hence the challenge, anyway he might open up to someone he knows, it's a long shot but…" Severus could see where this was going
"You want my permission to try and counsel my son is that it?" She nodded; Severus smiled and hugged her close
"I might as well say yes seeing as if I said no you'd go and do it anyway. You're important to him" He cupped her face so he could look in her eyes
"You're important to both of us" he kissed her again, holding her in his arms for a long time
"I have to go I have class" she smiled
"Me too" they left and made a point of avoiding physical contact with each other while the students were milling around. Severus had just reached his class when
Dumbledore caught him
"Ah Severus I just to inform you I have found a replacement counsellor for Harry she will be here this evening if you can inform him thank you" and then he was gone. Severus sighed and stormed into the classroom with his robes billowing behind him. 6th year Slytherins and Gryffindors including his son, oh joy.
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AN: woo new chapter – I'm not trying to avoid studying for finals or anything!
Schnuff: Patients is a virtue!
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May: You ALWAYS plead moose – I'm so proud
Sword Wielder – Firebreath: Two words Rob Zombie
Romm, Blackdragonofslytherin, Adenara Yatman, Jen, Vegita 43 – thanks for reviewing!
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