Couples Therapy

Toby slowly walked towards the courtyard to the two young women sitting on a bench together. He frowned as he approached, noticing the red mark on Granger's cheek. She deserved better than that.

"Hey, it'll be okay. It will," Celes whispered, giving Granger a sideways hug.

"You don't understand," Granger sniffled.

Toby slowed, hanging back in the shadows. Maybe his walking in there wouldn't be the wisest thing. They seemed to be having some sort of girl talk. He shifted his weight slightly. He could wait he supposed. After all, he could still see them, so he knew that Celes was safe as was Granger.

"He's not usually like this. I swear. He loves me. He does. He wouldn't ever hurt me. Just, just sometimes he can't . . . he loves me, though. You have to believe me. He does. He loves me."

"Sweetheart, stop."

"Please. Please believe me. He loves me. He didn't hurt me. I-I should have just done—"

"Stop. You did nothing to deserve that."

"No. I-I did. I had to. I knew he'd get angry. I should have just done what he said. I shouldn't have fought. I—you don't understand."

"I understand better than you think." Celes held Granger's chin so they'd be looking at one another. "I had a boyfriend like him once."

Toby flinched, knowing it was a lie. It hadn't been a boyfriend. It had been her husband, the man whom she was supposed to count on—him. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the stone wall.

"Really?" Granger whispered.

"Yeah. I was like you. I made excuses for him. I thought I truly did deserve it when he hit me, you know? I thought if I had just given in, he wouldn't have lost control and hurt me. It's a lie we tell ourselves, though. Because we're trying to convince ourselves that the person we love wouldn't ever hurt us. Tell ourselves that everything is still perfect. Persuade ourselves into believing that we didn't make a mistake by offering our hearts to them in the first place."

"Ron loves me. He's just going through a rough time. He lost his brother and sister in the war last May." Granger wiped the tears from her eyes. "He just doesn't know how to cope now. So, I need to be supportive, don't I? Isn't that what I'm supposed to do now since he lost them?"

"There's a difference between being supportive and letting him hurt you." Celes sighed. "Come on. I've heard the stories from the other girls. You're a smart woman. You know deep down that what's going on isn't right. Just, you know, take some time away from him. Keep yourself safe."

"Did you?"

"I dumped his arse finally after he nearly strangled me."

Another set of lies she told. Thankfully, he never tried to strangle her. His only crime against her was hitting her once. But it was no light thing he knew. In his mind, it was just as bad as if he had tried to strangle her. He squeezed his eyes more to block out everything. It wasn't good enough, though. The memories bubbled over and took control.

"Severus, please."

"No! Just drop it," he growled, glaring at her as he clenched and unclenched his hand.

"We need to talk about this, though. You heard Madam Pomfrey. It's important that we do."

"Drop it. Now, Sinistra!"

"Severus, you can't keep—" His hand connected with the side of her face, her head snapping back a moment later from the hard blow.

With his teeth bared, he glared murderously at her. Why couldn't she just leave things be like he asked her to do? Why did she always have to impose herself into everything? He growled to snarl those very words at her, but stopped when he realized what he did. He blinked a few times. No. He wasn't like that. However, as he watched her cheek redden, he felt his stomach drop. What had he done?

"Aurora." He stepped towards her and quickly noticed her instinctive flinch. After claiming for years he was a better man, that he wasn't a monster, this happened and proved that he wasn't.

"No. It's, um, it's okay. It's fine." She forced a smile, fear in her eyes. "I'll drop it. I, um, I should go, though. I'll see you, uh, later, I guess." She turned and quickly left the room.

He stared for minutes at the empty spot where she had stood. What had he done?

"You want me to stay with you?" Celes asked. "Just in case he comes back, I mean?"

"That won't be necessary," suddenly announced someone. "I'll watch over her."

Toby's eyes flew open and darted to both young witches. With a curious look, he observed the approaching blond Slytherin seventh-year. Draco Malfoy? What on earth was the boy doing out here?

"Draco?" Granger whispered, glancing at the blond.

"Granger," replied the Slytherin just as quiet as she had. "Are you all right?"

Toby's eyes narrowed as he glanced between the Slytherin and Gryffindor. He was missing something, it'd seem. He hadn't been aware that they were on speaking terms, much less friendly ones at that. He noticed that Celes seemed just as surprised as he was.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Course I am. I was just sitting out here with, um, her. Enjoying the sun."

"He hit you again, didn't he?" Draco asked softly. "I don't understand why you stay with him. Didn't take you to be a fool like that."

The witch instantly came up off the bench, glaring at the blond. "You don't get to judge him, Malfoy. Not after what you did the other night!"

"He deserved it! And you know that deep down! I should've just thrown that piece of rubbish off the stairs for what he did to you!"

"No!" the Muggleborn witch screamed, visibly shaking. "I love him! Why can't you understand that? I love HIM!"

"Oh, yeah? Then, why'd you kiss me the other night? Huh?" Draco retorted, crossing his arms as he held her eyes.

Toby glanced at Celes instantly. Malfoy and Granger? What? He blinked a few times. He supposed it could make some sense. Granger likely was confused with all that was going on with Weasley. But clearly there was more to the story than met the eye.

"That was a mistake. A moment of weakness."

"No. It wasn't. And you know it. I don't care what it takes to prove to you that you should be with me instead." He shook his head. "The war's over. Our parts are done. We can stop acting now."

"I moved on."

"Like hell you did."

"I don't love you."

"Yeah, and right now I don't particularly love you either," Draco grumbled.

"I hate you."

"So you say."

"I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last person alive, Malfoy."

Draco pulled Hermione against him before he raised a hand and lightly brushed back a stray strand of her hair. The young woman instantly turned into his hand as a shudder ran down her body.

"I hate you," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"Like I keep saying, so you say," Draco replied with a snort. "I get this loyalty you have to him. I do. But he's not right for you, Hermione. And not just because he's hurting you now."

"Draco," she pleaded as Celes and Toby looked on in confusion.

"He hasn't been loyal to you from the start. Ask the other girls. They'll back me up on that. He doesn't understand you like I do either. Please. I'm not asking that we jump into this now. I'll wait until you're ready, but just stop being loyal to someone who keeps hurting you time after time."

"I love him."

"You loved me first until I hurt you and called you that stupid name. We both know that. I may not have shown it around the others, but you knew it was me that sent you those notes over the years, those gifts. We both know you figured it out. Hermione, please. You deserve so much more than him. And it just tears me up, knowing you're staying with him out of loyalty when he's never shown an ounce of it to you in return."

Toby's eyes narrowed, but darted to Celes when she suddenly grabbed his arm. He frowned as she quickly pulled him away from the couple. What in the world just happened? When had Granger and Malfoy become so close to one another? Merlin, he was confused.

Pulling his arm back from her, Toby gave her a thin smile and a quick nod so she knew that he'd follow. She, however, quickly grabbed his hand. He forced himself not to react to the action, knowing that she likely needed it with all the troubling thoughts being brought up once more.

When he noticed the brass knocker up ahead, Toby glanced at her. Did she want to spend the night with him again? He didn't ask, though. Instead, he continued towards the door, his brows furrowing when it opened a moment later without asking him to answer the daily riddle. They walked in soon after, heading through the once again empty common room. Upon entering his rooms, he quickly closed the door behind them and warded it.

He watched her slowly walk to his bed and sit down on the edge. He sighed, unsure of what to say or what to do for her. He never was good in these situations.

"Aurora?" he said softly to gain her attention.

"Celes," she corrected quietly. "Remember?"

"Celes," he repeated. "What can I do?" He noticed her confusion instantly. "To help you," he clarified a moment later.

"I'm fine."

He sighed, slowly heading to her before kneeling in front of her. "You would tell me that if you had been tortured for days on end, and I still would know it was a lie. Please. Tell me what I can do to help you. Tell me how to make it better."

"Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong."

He shook his head. "I don't believe that, because I know in my heart that it's not. I hurt you just like Weasley hurt her." He exhaled loudly, catching her eyes narrow on him. "We never talked about that day. We just brushed it off like it never happened."

"Because there wasn't a reason to talk about it," she answered with a shrug.

"There was. I hurt you."

"You slapped me once."

"Once was one too many," he stated, holding her hands in his. "I'm sorry. I should have told you that the next day when I saw you. I wanted to, but I was afraid that I'd hurt you again so I said nothing. I should have kept telling you how sorry I was every single day."

"Toby—"

"No. Let me finish. Please." He paused for a moment as he thought what to say next. "You were right with Granger earlier. You didn't deserve a slap for merely caring about my wellbeing. You were doing the right thing that day. I needed to talk to someone and get everything I was feeling out. I should have listened to you instead of reacting as I did. You did nothing wrong. I did."

"It's done and over with. We've moved past that."

"No we didn't. We just brushed it aside and hoped it went away on its own. I didn't forget about that day, and I know you didn't either." He squeezed her hands gently. "You had every right to leave. Hell, you should have left me after that and protected yourself."

"Toby, stop it," she snapped. "You're not a monster."

"I lost my temper and slapped you as a result."

"Yeah, you did. So what?" She shook her head. "You lost control for a split second and made a bad decision. But you realized what you did seconds afterward and tried to make it right." She exhaled loudly. "You always condemn yourself after committing one mistake, even when you bend over backwards to make it right soon after. Give yourself a break. It's not the end of the world."

"I slapped you, Celes. I left a mark on your cheek, in fact," he argued. "From where I stand, that is the end of the world, because I'm your husband, the one man who shouldn't ever hurt you."

"And that right there is the difference between our situation and theirs. You knew it was wrong the second after you did it. Yeah, sure, you didn't apologize, and we both sort of swept it under the rug so to speak. But you went to Pomfrey afterwards and spoke with her. You forced yourself to go to your sessions and talk to her so that wouldn't happen again, pushing aside your stubbornness. You made a mistake, and you fixed it soon after. There's no need to continue to punish yourself any longer."

"Stop letting me off the hook."

"No. I won't. Quite frankly, in your mind, anytime you display some form of humanity and make a mistake, you automatically believe it to be some catastrophic event that will cause the world to explode or something. You made an error in judgment, and you owned up to it. Hell, you took full responsibility for your actions that day and told Pomfrey what happened, had her fill out a report and everything. You have more than made up for that mistake. You don't need to keep punishing yourself for something that I've already forgiven you over."

He stared at her for several moments in utter silence. It still was always a shock to hear her state that she had forgiven him once more. He couldn't help but think of all the times over the years when he had made a mistake, and others in his life hadn't been so kind. In fact, he was convinced that he was just one mistake away from her leaving him. One day he would reach that secret number where she would no longer be able to stand him and would cast him aside just as Lily had done. He was certain of that. Today did not seem to be that day, however.

"Thank you."

"Oh, Toby, these are the times when I want to hit you," she said exasperatedly. "Stop thinking that I'm going to leave you at a drop of a hat for making a mistake. It frankly pisses me off, because it's as if no matter what I do in the meantime to convince you otherwise you will always believe I'm lying."

"No," he argued.

"Yes," she stressed. "When you get like this, you show me that you don't believe me. That you're always waiting for me to get tired of you and leave. And that upsets me more than anything, because it's as if you think that I'm like all the other bitches in your life instead of the woman who loves you. Do you understand? I'm not going to give up on you for making a mistake. I don't know how else to get that through your thick skull. I'm not leaving unless you prove me wrong about you. Got it?"

"Yes," he sighed, hanging his head.

"We are not Ron and Hermione. If anything, we're more like Draco and Hermione." He felt the tug at his lips immediately and glanced at her. "What? We certainly kept our relationship hidden from all and acted our specific parts like them over the years. I surely didn't know about them, and you didn't seem to either." She leaned forward, kissing the top of his head. "Plus, they're a cute couple like us."