Tomorrow will be the same

But yesterday would have been different.

Daphne sat uncomfortably still, her back arched in a poise position and she tried not to let her eyes wander as she gazed towards the man in front of her; the former Golden Boy of Gryffindor House, Harry Potter.

Except, it was Dr. Harry Potter now. That thought still boggled her mind, as she thought he would have either entered in politics, given his clout as the slayer of the Dark Lord, or go into the Auror Division, where she could see him climbing the figurative ladder of that particular branch of the Wizengamot and be Head Auror in no time flat.

And yet there he sat, clipboard in hand, nursing a mug of tea in the other, taking careful sips as not to burn his tongue.

"So, before we start, I'm guessing you have some questions for me, or rather, about me?"

Harry looked up from his clipboard and gave Daphne an expectant look, she simply met his stare with one of her own, and stated matter-of-factly, "Nothing that may be in your purview as my mental counsellor."

Harry raised a brow at her statement and steepled his fingers together, "Perhaps, but if your curiosity can be satiated so that you may fully be present in our session, then I'm open to any questions you may have."

Daphne Paused to ponder on his offer, she may be a Slytherin and taught to not put her nose in anything in case it backfired on her, not to mention this was Gryffindor that the majority of her house had hated…

But that mindset had rotted away. This wasn't Hogwarts anymore.

This was far worse…

"I would have believed you would take up an authority position in the Wizarding Government, maybe as an auror or a politician, given the clout you have as the hero of the Wizarding World."

"Yeah, well, not that I had expected to end up as a wizard therapist as well." Harry shrugged and leaned back on his chair, "In fact, I would've got into being an auror, if only because I didn't really have a direction after Hogwarts and that a lot of rogue Death Eaters are still out there."

Daphne then asked, "Why didn't you?"

Harry smiled and admitted easily, "Because I was tired. After The Battle I just didn't want to keep on fighting and running after Death Eaters, plus as much as you wouldn't believe me, a lot of my success was luck and the help of the people around me. I'm not as powerful as you think I am."

He was right, she didn't believe him. But she felt it useless to pry any further. She had her question sufficiently answered.

Seeing that Daphne wasn't going to ask any more questions, Harry got up and gestured towards a couch and a chair, "Well then, if you can, please move and lay down here, so that we may officially begin our session."

Daphne followed suit, laying down and watching Harry sit down in the chair beside her, having to turn her head to have a good look at him.

"Now, how would you like me to address you?" Harry questioned her first.

"Daphne would suffice." She replied back succinctly.

Harry smiled and nodded, "Then you can call me Harry, I'd rather that than Dr. Potter. Now just relax for me and make yourself comfortable."

"I don't know how comfortable I can be when I can't even see you." Daphne stated off-handedly.

"Well if you'd like, we could have it so we were talking face to face, but full disclosure, you weren't the first person to say that, and afterwards they also returned to that position." He said candidly.

Daphne sat up and faced him, "You did say to make myself comfortable."

Harry nodded and stated, "Fair enough."

He palmed his wand and waved it towards the couch Daphne was sitting on, it slowly transformed into a chair not too dissimilar to what Harry was sat upon. As Daphne adjusted herself to the newly transformed furniture, Harry began to inform her of what to expect.

"So for the start of our sessions, we'll be going through this the muggle way, that is, just you and I speaking to each other. If need be, we may need to introduce magical means into our sessions together."

Daphne warily asked, "And what do you mean by magical means?"

"In special cases, we may need to enter your mind using legilimency and use pensieves to progress towards a better mental state for yourself."

'No way am I ever letting you see anything in my head.' Daphne thought with conviction.

Harry, whether he knew Daphne's inner reaction or not, continued, "Of course, that will be the last case scenario. Statistics say that most of our patients have not had to go to such lengths to be cleared and discharged."

Daphne nodded and took a deep breath, before releasing it and stated, "Alright, so, can we begin now?"

Harry smiled, "Of course, Daphne."

He then removed a pocket watch from his pockets and clicked the button on the side of it. The ticking of the pocket watch gave some background noise as Harry sat up, clipboard and pen in hand. He then took another item out of his pocket, this time, a small rectangular object that had buttons, an item that Daphne did not recognize.

"Do you mind if we record this conversation? Makes my job easier to do, you see." Harry inquired with a smile.

"I do not mind."

'If it makes it easier for you to let me stop coming here, so be it.' Daphne thought internally once again.

Another click, and the rectangular object joined the pocket watch on the small table on Harry's side.

"So then, Daphne. How have you been these days?" Harry started off with a smile. Daphne thought it a mundane question to begin with but nonetheless answered.

"I have been content."

"I see," Harry replied, not at all perturbed by Daphne's succinct answer or her emotionless tone, "And how about your work life? Hermione had always mentioned you as one of the smartest people in her Runes and Arithmancy classes."

She once again replied in the same tone as before, "I have been working as a columnist for a wizard magazine."

"And how has it been?" Harry asked once more.

"It's been normal, it pays enough for me to live and eat."

Harry started to write in his clipboard but did not leave any pauses in the conversation as he continued to ask more questions.

"A columnist? Mind if I ask for what magazine?"

Daphne hesitated to answer, eyeing the device recording their session. Harry took notice and placated her worry, "Don't worry, everything we do inside here is confidential. I am not allowed to disclose anything we do here unless I have your permission."

Daphne nodded once in understanding and answered, "A lifestyle magazine, I use a pseudonym."

"I see." Harry nodded and jotted down a note on his notepad, "Why do you use a pseudonym?"

Daphne answered, looking warily at his pen, but then returned her gaze back at him, "It is because of my family's… past affiliation with Voldemort."

Harry noticed the emphasis she had put on the word "past." He paused for a moment and then asked her, "I presume that you no longer affiliate yourself with that type of group anymore?"

Daphne had bristled a bit at the question, but answered nonetheless, "No, in fact, I myself have never done anything with them."

"Then why have people discriminated against you?"

Daphne could feel the bubbling once again, it was as if it could explode inside her, filling the room with blood and guts.

"It is because of my parents…"

Harry stopped taking down notes and looked at her with perfect clarity; it was as if he could see inside her, she instinctively raised her legilimency shields but she could not feel any probing in her mind.

"I've heard of what had happened to them. I'm sorry about your parents…" Harry trailed off, even he seemed uncomfortable about the topic.

She took a moment to control her breathing; bubbling seemed too soft of a term, now it was as if it was boiling inside of her now…

"It doesn't matter. What's done is done…"

Harry paused…

"No, it matters more than you think."

Daphne could see he was trying to comfort her, but she couldn't bear to look at him anymore.

"Like I said, it happened. There is no point in dwelling in the past." Daphne said, although it sounded like it was more to convince herself rather than Harry.

"That may be true." Harry conceded, but added, "But if the past is destroying you; in the present and in the future to come. Then we need to address it. That is the only solution for this type of pain."

Pain?

Was she in pain?

She looked down and controlled the tears threatening to fall off the corner of her eyes.

'It's your fault they're dead.'

What was she supposed to do? She couldn't have escaped.

"Their eldest daughter, failing to save them.'

It's not like she wanted them dead, she had listened to their instructions. She didn't say anything and yet they still died.

'Astoria, having to live without her parents. So you really think you could fill in the gap they left?'

…

"Daphne…"

She couldn't stay here…

"Daphne."

She had to go…

"Daphne!"

She jolted, startled by the booming voice of the man in front of her.

"It's almost time for our session to end. Are you alright?"

The worry in his voice was palpable.

How stupid could she get?

"Yes, I'm alright." She said, unbeknownst to her, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Harry wanted to comfort her, maybe even extend their current meeting, but he knew that she had gone through something. What it was he couldn't tell but he would soon enough.

"I'm glad. We can continue this next week if you are available?"

Daphne nodded, not trusting her voice.

The thoughts are still in the back of her head. Taunting her…

She wished she hadn't come here…

The England skies had given way to rain. A dreary sight for most, but it was the opposite for Astoria. The cold air and the gentle pitter patter of the rain hitting the roof was gentle and melodic to her. She had prepared her favourite cup of peppermint tea and scones. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. She hadn't known how long Daphne would be gone for but it was taking much longer than she had hoped. The thought of buying Daphne a cell phone once again popped into her mind, but she knew that her sister wouldn't accept it if she had bought it with her own money, and for whatever reason, refused to buy herself one.

'I could maybe give her one on her birthday, although Christmas is nearing…"

Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't hear the opening of the entrance door, nor did she not hear the shuffling of feet nearing her…

But she did feel the hand grasping her shoulder.

Astoria jumped and yelped an, "Eep!"

And behind her stood Daphne, who looked worse for wear.

"Daphne! What happened? Did the therapy session go well?" Astoria immediately threw question after question at her older sister, who squinted in annoyance.

"It went alright, I supposed." She sidestepped her sister and tried to go to her room, but was stopped by Astoria's body.

"You supposed? What does that mean?"

Again, Daphne sidestepped her, and this time, darted towards her room and promptly shut it on the chasing Astoria.

"Hey! Come on, tell me what happened!"

Her statements were met with silence.

"Oi, I know you can still hear me!"

Nothing…

"Ugh, at least tell me who it was!"

She had expected silence once more, but Daphne opened the door slightly, leaving a small crack that showed her one eye.

"It was Harry Potter."

Once again, the door was shut on Astoria's face.

Overall, it was a horrible day for Daphne…

But seeing Astoria's flabbergasted expression might have saved it.

Harry toiled over the papers in his hands; he had tried to get as much information as he could about Daphne without bordering on anything illegal. Problem was, with the little information he had, he couldn't make any progress in making a plan to help Daphne with her mental trauma.

It wasn't as if it was his first rodeo, but he felt a small sense of unease with how closely related he was with Daphne; being Hogwarts Alumni of the same year, and yet not knowing anything about her.

"I suppose we can focus on her life in Hogwarts first." He mumbled to himself, already seeing what talking about her parents had done to her, so her home life would be a no go.

Tap tap tap!

A rapping on his window had caught his attention. He stood up and opened it to let the small owl in, conjuring bowls and filling them up with some water and some treats for the bird. HE opened up the letter and he could already tell who it was from.

"Leaky Cauldron.

Private Room No. 5

Lunch, don't be late."

An inquisitive eyebrow rose at the letter.

What did he want?

But one thing was for certain…

Never turn down free lunch.

A/N: So, hello everyone. Long time no see. If you don't care why it took so long for this chapter to be released. Then stop reading here…

You still here? Awwww, you do care.

Well to make a long, long story very, very, short. Life decided to throw me in a loop and I have been working some part-time jobs, never really having the time or the motivation to write. Stopped midway in my first year of college, so add that with some life problems and I might need to replicate Daphne and get myself a therapist as well.

But in all seriousness, life has been a very, very, very, finicky bitch, but I've always had this fic in the back of my mind, and so I pretty much have every beat in place for this story; and now that my life has finally settled down some, I can get back to writing.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish this fic, because I hate unfinished fics as much as everyone else.

As for updates, well, I'll be honest and say I don't know. It might be often; every week like last time, every month, or every few weeks. If I get the urge to write I'll write, but just know this fic will get finished, even if it's my final action in this world!

Anywho, I'm glad to be back!

Leave a review, for old time's sake! See you in the next chapter!