Chapter 10: Harry's Treatment Begins
"I never said it didn't matter!" Ron grumbled turning red in the face, visibly trying not to yell at Hermione. "I just said I didn't like the idea of hanging around in a hospital for a whole day with no reason!"
"No reason, Ronald?" Hermione asked moving around the table as if she were about to strangle Ron, neither noticing Harry nor Ginny slipping out of the back door of the Burrow. "Helping out a friend is not enough of a reason for you to do anything, but hang around your house or go walking into town to feed your face?"
"I...you know...well...it was..."
"Damn it, Ronald, can you never get anything out without sputtering about for some stupid explanation?"
"I don't sputter out my reasoning's, Hermione!" Ron yelled this time. "Not everyone can think or talk as clearly as Little Miss Perfect: Hermione Granger!" He finished, storming from the kitchen and heading towards the stairs.
"Ron, you started this argument," Hermione yelled following him towards the stairs. "And I intend for us to finish this before we go to St. Mungo's with Harry!"
"For the last time, Hermione, I am not GOING!" Ron roared at her turning away from the stairs and into the sitting room.
"Damn you, Ronald, for being so selfish!" Hermione said sounding on the verge of tears and turned away from where Ron was staring out of the bay window. "I wish I hadn't come back here today with Harry."
"If I'm going to be damned, Hermione, I want to be damned with you." Ron muttered after a short pause still looking out of the window.
"What did you say?"
"I said I want...well...to be with you." He answered still not looking around at her.
Hermione stepped back into the sitting room approaching Ron a little cautiously hoping finally, what he was saying was true. When she placed her hand on his arm, he turned with a blazing look in his blue eyes.
"Well, it looked to me this morning that Ginny and Harry have finally found each other and...well...I've fancied you since the end of our third year in school, Hermione." Ron said bring her into his arms. "Now I think I've come to...well...love you."
Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips causing him to bring her into a tighter embrace. Neither knew how long they stayed that way, but the sound of talking was coming from the kitchen signaling the return of Harry and Ginny from wherever it was they had disappeared off too had brought them back to reality.
"I hope this means you are coming with us to St. Mungo's when we go." Hermione said looking Ron in the eyes.
He nodded his agreement and took her hand in his.
Ron and Hermione walked into the kitchen hand in hand where they found Ginny sitting in Harry's lap while they talked quietly back and forth about something in the Daily Prophet lying open on the table. Ginny gave Hermione an "I told you so" look when she spotted their linked hands.
"So what is with the quiet talk?" Hermione asked sitting down across from Harry and Ginny.
"We didn't want to disturb that moment in there." Ginny answered now looking back at the Daily Prophet that Harry was thumbing through.
"Well, we were...just talking." Ron answered flushing red as he sat down next to Hermione.
"Sure you were, Ron. It looked like you were whispering down her throat." Ginny said still not looking at them causing Harry to snort into his butterbeer.
"What are you two going over?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject.
"Ginny found an article about a new Healer at St. Mungo's that is doing a new kind of therapy." Harry answered wiping butterbeer off his shirt and pants.
"Does it say what kind of therapy?"
"No, it just mentions her name, Healer McAuliffe, and she is using something new for St. Mungo's." He said sliding the paper toward Ron and Hermione, who began to read the article in earnest.
"It sounds legitimate, Harry." Hermione said after finishing the article. "Do you want to look into it?"
"But don't you have to have an appointment to see a Healer?"
"That's the Muggle way of doing things, Harry," Ginny spoke up after finishing off the rest of Harry's butterbeer. "Healers at St. Mungo's are available anytime you need them."
"OK, so...let's go see her if I can?" He suggested sliding Ginny out of his lap and standing.
The others agreed with Harry and then Flooed off to the hospital from the Burrow's over large kitchen fireplace.
Harry sat down on an almost too soft sofa; in the little room, they were lead into after filling out a questionnaire, with Ginny at his side while Ron and Hermione took a seat on the Love Seat positioned diagonal with the sofa. In front of the sofa was a plain three-legged wooden stool, a flower print cushion set on the top, which looked just big enough for a ten year old.
The door opened and in stepped a very short woman, who would have probably been the same size as Professor Flitwick if you stood them side by side, who was wearing a light green pantsuit with her wand poking precariously out of the front pocket of her jacket. She pulled the stool closer to Harry, took a seat on top with a very agile jump and smiled at each of them in turn.
"Hi, I'm Chrysta McAuliffe and I do a different kind of therapy for St. Mungo's than what any other Healer here would normally do. Do you have any questions before we start?" She said very fast in a squeaky voice that made Harry think of Flitwick even more.
"And what type of therapy is it you do?" Harry asked. "It isn't Veritaserum, is it?"
"No one told you what I do? No? I don't deal with Veritaserum due to its tendency to cause strong and adverse side effects in most people who try it, especially high anxiety, but I deal with Hypnotism."
Harry glanced at Ron who was trying to cover up a smile while Hermione had planted an elbow in his ribs to stop him from laughing out aloud.
"Do I amuse you, Mr. Weasley?" McAuliffe asked, her eyes flashing with a yellow tint. "Because as far as I can tell I haven't said anything even vaguely humorous."
Ron sobered under the Healer's glare, and then hung his head when she returned her attention back to Harry.
"Now, my approach to Hypnotism is different than most that practice it. First, I want you to close your eyes and think of something positive and relaxing to you, but do not speak it aloud. Concentrate on nothing but that thought and my voice."
Harry took a nervous breath and closed his eyes, keeping his thoughts on Ginny and the hour they had spent earlier out on the pier by the Burrow's pond. Though he had been nervous and tense most of their talk, her assurances had calmed him, she calmed him.
"Harry, I want you to start taking deep breaths and with each breath I want you to visualize that you are breathing in a pure and calming white light. And with each exhale I want you to visualize you are breathing out a black mist or fog. That fog will represent your nervousness and anxiety."
He began deep inhales of air, imagining he was breathing in and smelling the delicate smell of Ginny's hair and skin. On each exhale, he could feel Ginny squeeze his hand with encouragement, which helped him relax even more.
"OK, very good Harry, now beginning with your toes, I want you to visualize a white light radiating, then circling and surrounding your body, but still breathing deeply, and when that visualized light reaches the crown of your head I want you to open your eyes and look at me."
Still breathing deeply, Harry began to see a radiant white light starting to stream from his toes and begin to circle slowly around them moving up his foot. With each circle the light made he could feel his muscles becoming more and more relaxed. The light with every complete circle would move further and further up his body driving out all of his nervousness, anxieties and tensions. Finally, the light reached the top of his head and holding onto that visualization that he was enveloped in light, opened his eyes and looked at Healer McAuliffe.
McAuliffe was holding her wand up, the tip pointed toward the ceiling, but low enough for the red light it was emitting to be at eye level.
"Harry, in a few moments my wand will be emitting little orbs of red light and I want you to follow every move they make while holding onto your current relaxed state."
At his nod, the wand released two red orbs that floated just beyond his nose in a pattern much like a moon orbiting a planet. As he followed the orbs strange little dance he could feel himself feeling drowsy, but not in an uncomfortable 'must stay awake' kind of way.
"Harry, when the orbs disappear you will be asleep do you understand?"
Once again, at his nod, the dancing orbs disappeared and his head nodded forward, chin resting on his chest, asleep.
"OK, now the first few questions I'm going to be asking him are going to seem irrelevant to you, but they are just to establish a line of communication with him in this sate." McAuliffe said to the others and at their nods of understanding turned back to Harry. "Harry, what is your full name, birthday and age?"
"Harry James Potter. July 31, 1980. Twenty four years old." He answered immediately his head lifting up into it's normal position eyes wide open.
"Do you know the names and relationship of the people you came in with today?"
"Yes, I do. Hermione Granger, she is almost my sister." Harry answered causing Hermione to blush. "Ronald or Ron Weasley, my best mate and almost brother." He continued shocking them all never hearing him speak so plainly. "And last, but definitely in Ginevra, though she hates that name, Ginny Pott...Weasley, my...girlfriend."
Ginny looked at Hermione with a soft smile on her face, who smiled back, while Ron just looked disgusted at the two and at Harry's slip of the tongue about her last name, and gave his hand another squeeze.
"Do you work, Harry?"
"No, I was left a large inheritance by my parents, my Godfather and my mentor. Though at one time I did want to become an Auror or Professional Quidditch Player."
"What happened to all of those people?"
"My parents were murdered by Voldemort when I was a little over a year old. Bellatrix Lestrange murdered Sirius Black, my Godfather, in 1995. Albus Dumbledore, my mentor, was killed by Lucius Malfoy during the final battle in 1999." Harry said after a short pause.
"Do you feel up to telling us about what happened at the final battle and when Dumbledore fell?" McAuliffe asked softly touching Harry lightly on the knee.
"I was at the Burrow at the time. Hermione, Ron and myself, Ginny was at Hogwarts for her last year, were about to have lunch when Fawkes flashed into the kitchen with a note from Dumbledore saying Voldemort had moved into the open and was getting set to attack Hogwarts from Hogsmeade." Harry paused to draw a few calming breaths and continued. "When we arrived at Hogwarts we were met by Dumbledore and McGonagall and we made a game plan about going out face to face with him and his Death Eaters."
Hermione waved her hand to get Healer McAuliffe's attention to let her know she had a question.
"Harry, before we went out there you kept saying you wanted Ginny with you, but you never told us why." Hermione said when the Healer nodded her acknowledgement.
"I found something in my personal researches about the power of love and I wanted Ginny there to help me with my focus for it, but she was supposed to stay out of the way in which she did her best." Harry answered now looking at Hermione. "I told her yesterday morning because she wanted to know the same thing."
"Anything else, Hermione? OK, Harry, please continue on with what you were saying."
"We went to meet them in battle, walking in a line from the gates of Hogwarts into Hogsmeade. Myself in the center, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Remus Lupin to my right. Ginny, Ron and Hermione to my left. As we passed Hogsmeade Station, we were ambushed from the side by Fenrir Greyback, Antonin Dolohov, Walden Manair and Lucius Malfoy."
"Harry, keep everyone close and don't let this line fail!" Dumbledore yelled over the burning wreckage of one of the Hogsmeade shops.
Before Harry could answer, Minister of Magic: Cornelius Fudge was running towards them, his lime green bowler hat askew and his purple pinstriped suit covered in dust.
"Dumbledore, what are you doing taking these children into a fight you can not win?" He asked out of breath and falling to his knees. "We've lost several Aurors already!"
"Fudge, calm down and tell me what you are doing here?" Dumbledore asked without answering the Minister.
Suddenly the Glamour Charm concealing several Death Eaters was lifted catching the group off guard. Three masked Death Eaters charged, knocking McGonagall unconscious to the ground. Lupin immediately pounced on the largest, knocking his mask to the side, revealing him as the werewolf Greyback. Greyback and Lupin grappled with each other until out of sight behind the smoke of the burning building.
Dumbledore flicked his wand and one of the Death Eaters either fell to the ground either dead or knocked out. Hermione and Ron performed two different spells at once causing severe pain in the last standing Death Eater forcing him to fall writhing into the burning building.
Fudge rose to his feet as Dumbledore was returning his attention back to him, pulled his wand and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" catching Dumbledore awkwardly and knocking him over.
"NO!" Harry screamed when Dumbledore crumpled to the ground, pulling his own wand and was about to aim a spell at the Minister when he began to cough and convulse.
Fudge fell back to his knees next to Dumbledore, his features melting away slowly turning younger, his hair turning from the short grey crop to a shoulder length white blonde revealing the Minister to be Lucius Malfoy.
"Surprised Mr. Potter?" Malfoy asked every white tooth showing in his evil smile.
Harry kicked out with his foot, just as Dean had described football players doing with a penalty shot, catching Malfoy under the jaw before he could regain control of his wand, knocking him backwards into the dust. As Harry was about to bring down his wand on Lucius his son, Draco came running from the area of fighting and shoved Harry aside just as a spell left a large crater where he was standing.
Harry rolled away from Draco, who was now standing where Harry had been, his wand trained at his father's heart.
"Draco! What do you think you are doing interfering here? I asked you to stay at the Manor!" Lucius said through gritted teeth after spitting out a mouthful of blood. "That was a perfectly placed trap for the Potter brat!"
"I've stood back in your shadow for too long!" Draco yelled his cheeks flushing pink with anger. "I never wanted any of this! YOU! It was you that want me to have everything your way, not me!"
With a flash, Lucius had his wand up, but Draco was faster in yelling out "Avada Kedavra!" before his father. Draco's head sank and he walked away without a word spoken to Harry or anyone else.
Harry dropped to his knees next to Dumbledore and to his surprise saw that he was still breathing very slowly.
"Professor?"
"Harry," Dumbledore wheezed out. "Finish...him."
Dumbledore's head fell back limply, leaving this world for the next great adventure beyond.
Harry stopped speaking and sniffed loudly while Ginny was trying to wipe away his tears.
McAuliffe looked at the others and then scribbled something down on a clipboard before speaking again.
"Harry, can you continue on with this session?"
"Yes, I think so." He answered sounding hoarse.
"After Voldemort's downfall why did you disappear or go into hiding if you will?"
"I felt I was too unclean to have people around me that were willing to love and accept me no matter what I had done or what happened. In short I felt I was murderer and still do sometimes."
"Is that the only reason?" She pressed.
"No, I was raised by Muggles who showed me nothing but hatred and abuse and I have a fear of passing those feelings or traits off to whatever family I may have eventually had."
"Can you tell me about your Muggle family?"
"I remember they treated me like a normal child until around the age of five when I somehow turned the cat blue for scratching me. Uncle Vernon began to lock me in the cupboard under the stairs only letting me out for school, meals, bathroom breaks and heavy chores which they never made their own son do." answered Harry stiffly.
"Was it just your uncle who was abusive to you?"
"Yes, my Aunt Petunia never hit me like Uncle Vernon did. He would use any excuse to hit me regardless if it was me or just an actual accident."
"Was it always just physical and mental abuse and never sexual?"
"No, he never did anything but yell and hit me. Always open handed in the face so I would show bruises, that is what Dudley was for, but he would punch me elsewhere."
"OK, let us leave them for a moment. Why did you think you would be a danger to your friends?" McAuliffe inquired.
"I was never shown the love of a family until my second year at Hogwarts when I got to meet all the Weasley's. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed me what a true family was about and with the home I grew up in, I was afraid I could never give that back to anyone, so I never allowed myself to really open up."
"So, they were your family to you, but you never told them?"
"No, and now I regret it daily with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gone." Harry answered his voice cracking.
"Did they die in battle?"
"No, Mr. Weasley was killed by a Muggle vehicle and Mrs. Weasley died a few months later of a broken heart."
McAuliffe looked up at the tear-filled eyes of Ginny and Hermione while Ron was fighting back his tears fiercely.
"One last thing, Harry, can you tell me about your past alcohol problems?"
"I...turned to alcohol to try to drown my feelings for my friends...especially Ginny. I tried once before to tell her how I felt, but Ron saw hoe inebriated I was and I never got to see her that day. Ron told me to go home and sober up...I went home and...came pretty close to putting my wand to my head and ending all my pain...but my conscience took over and I passed out before I could do anything...damaging."
"OK, I believe this is enough for today." She said taking out her wand and tapped Harry twice on the forehead.
Harry blinked several times and looked around at Ginny, who was still crying quietly with a shocked look on her face. He took her in his arms and whispered something to her no one else could hear. He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead after which she buried her face in his shoulder.
"That was a good session, Mr. Potter. I want you to come back to see me in two days."
"OK." Harry muttered still holding Ginny, running one hand over her hair and the other slowly up and down her back.
"I do have one more question for you now that you are awake again." She said slowly. "What happened to Remus Lupin? We were good friends during Hogwarts and we've kind of lost touch for the last few years."
"He was found after the battle next to the beheaded body of Greyback. Though he had no memory of it, the Healers here decided the werewolf side of him took over and he...pulled his head off." Hermione answered sounding sick at the thought. "But he is married now and living in Ireland where he is working on the cure for Lycanthropy."
McAuliffe nodded and hopped off the little stool and shook Harry's hand before leaving them in privacy to regain their composure. When she stepped back into the room to escort them out, she found them all standing in a group hug in the center of the room each of them shedding tears and seeking each other's compassion, understanding and assurances.