T/W: This story will contain suicide, death, and self-harm. It shall also contain mentioning of these topics. You have been warned.
The bubbling feeling she had felt hadn't stopped. It was always there, like an itch that manifested itself inside her skin.
She was floating.
Floating where?
She didn't know, she was just floating…
Until when?
How was she supposed to know…?
Fall.
"Ms. Greengrass."
Daphne Greengrass clutched at her robes and looked to her right, where Amelia Bones sat next to her, staring at her with an impatient glare.
"I must insist that you do not let your mind wander and answer the questions set before you by the court."
Daphne let her gaze wander and she remembered why she was here; every family that had even a picometer of interaction with any well known death eaters were put on trial and questioned.
"Has your family been involved in the activities ordered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
The flowing blood in her hand pricked her as she let go of her hold on it. She looked up and saw her parents, heads down and their eyes not meeting anyones, most of all hers.
"To the best of my knowledge, they had not been involved with Voldemort." The peanut gallery flinched at her use of the late Dark Lord's name and glared at her. Amelia also sent the listless and emotionless girl a glare but nonetheless continued with a sigh.
"How about your little sister, has she been involved in any illegal activities?" All eyes turned towards Astoria Greengrass, who wilted and shook due to all the sudden attention focused on her.
Daphne clutched at her hand, this time in anger at the insinuation, but she had to stick to the script, stick to what her parents had told her.
"To the best of my knowledge, she had not been involved with Voldemort." A round of flinches once again took over the people inside the courtroom and she almost felt a sense of satisfaction at their cowardice. Amelia, sighing at the image of a bunch of old men and women getting scared like First-Years, continued on.
"Do you know of anyone involved with or who has contacted He-Who-Must-Be-Named?"
The image of Draco and his family getting off scot-free appeared in Daphne's mind. Her mouth and fingers twitched to reveal information that could certainly make that fact turned upside its head.
But she looked at her parents.
Then at Astoria.
"No, I do not know anybody who has had dealings with Voldemort."
Again, the flinching and glares repeated, but Daphne was beyond caring. She just wanted this to end.
"Very well. You may leave the stand, Ms. Greengrass." Amelia begrudgingly said, not without sending one final glare at her. Daphne stepped down and let the bailiff lead her to the back room where she would stay until the trial was over. She sat and waited. Her head bereft of thoughts, however the bubbling sensation had returned. It was a nuisance but again, there was nothing she could do about it.
Soon, her little sister had come, tears threatening to fall but never did - they were trained to never let even the sliver of a tear be visible, but Astoria always had trouble keeping up - and she darted towards her like a rocket and held onto her. Daphne said nothing but laid a hand on top of her head. This was all familiar to her; soon, everything will be in order and they can return to their normal lives.
The status quo would be maintained.
Tracey Davis paced up and down her porch, waiting for the arrival of her best friend and her little sister. Her parents had gotten the news of the Greengrass' arrest and they had immediately began making floo calls and sending letters, and Tracey knew that Daphne and Astoria would be becoming a permanent fixture in her house. Not that she minded of course; the circumstances were just too dreary.
The house would definitely have enough room for them, and then some. Having a huge mansion for a home, regardless of how many they were in the family, was an unforeseen silver lining for following the bigotted pureblood stereotype expected of them.
Her head perked up as the pop of apparitions resounded in the air and she looked out towards the garden in front of their house to see her parents walking alongside one head of blonde and brunette hair, one being much taller than the other and someone she had known throughout her whole life.
"Daphne!" Tracey ran up to her and hugged her, embracing not only Daphne but also Astoria as both her parents paused to let the three girls have their moment, before Tracey retracted from her position and released the two Greengrass children from her hold.
Daphne had kept a cool silence, although Tracey could just feel her aura relaxing - a technique she had obtained being friends with one so emotionless - and Astoria gave a quiet laugh, albeit still a bit teary.
"Ben, dear, can you please owl Gringotts and make sure none of their vaults are frozen?" Tracey's mother quietly requested of her husband, who nodded and went inside their home.
Tracey eyed the interaction with trepidation, and she tried her best to keep up the spirits, "Come on, I bet today has been boring having to deal with the old farts."
She was happy to see Astoria give a small smile at her joke, and she could talk to Daphne privately once Astoria was in bed. Tracey led the two girls to the spare rooms they always took when they visited, almost as if the spare had become their unofficial room away from home, and she took in the look of the room; each side having one bed and encapsulating the personalities of the two Greengrass', a monotone white wall with a single pillow and blanket, while the other side was filled to the brim with moving posters and plushies.
Astoria quickly went into her bed and started to hug her favourite plushie, a cute manticore that featured in childrens' books. Tracey tucked her in and cooed over her, "Hey, tomorrow wanna go up the mountain and look for some fairies?"
An exciting nod followed her statement, causing Tracey to softly pinch Astoria's cheeks. Afterwards she and Daphne walked out of the room quietly, "We'll just get ready for bed, be back in a jiffy, Tori."
The two teens exited the room and walked towards Tracey's room, as she locked the room, Tracey eyed Daphne worriedly as she took a seat on her bed and looked at her expectantly.
"Well, go ahead." Daphne said. Tracey fidgeted about, even if Daphne was usually not that bothered by questions that other people deemed inappropriate, this certain situation caused Tracey to try and word her questions to the best of her ability as not to step in any landmines that would cause her friend any discomfort.
And so with a bit of an anxious fidget of her fingers, Tracey started, "So, is your parents…"
Daphne rolled her eyes as her voice trailed off and she answered the unfinished question, "Yes, both my parents are currently imprisoned in Azkaban and are waiting for a proper sentence. Our lawyers had been optimistic for a life sentence, but I know that once the jury saw their Dark Mark, they'll be thrown into the Veil or Kissed."
The callous indifference in Daphne's voice made Tracey wince, "And your home?"
"Seized by the Wizengamot presumably. I believe your parents and mine had already made plans to seize as many assets as they could. Although I believe our trust fund for our Hogwarts education will remain untouched for the time being."
Daphne stared at nothing in particular as she continued to speak in an almost dead-like tone. Tracey moved towards her and laid her hand on hers, causing Daphne's blue orbs to move to her brown ones.
"It's alright to be sad about this, you know? You don't have to keep up a strong front."
Although she meant those words as a supporting statement to her friends' predicament, Daphne scoffed and swiped her hand away from hers, she then stood up and opened the door to her room to exit, but she uttered a choice few words before she slammed the door shut and returned to her room.
"Don't even think of pitying me, Tracey."
In an unassuming room in Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, one Harry Potter lay alone in his late godfather's bed. It had already been a few weeks after the Battle of Hogwarts; all the funerals, the ceremonies, the crying and sobbing. Yes, they won, ultimately they had been the victor in the all of this and the Wizengamot had tried their damndest to clean up the mess and make sure every known death eater and anybody with the Dark Mark would be sufficiently punished, something he had wanted to oppose but didn't have the mental or physical strength to battle in politics and other such nonsense.
And the victory had felt hollow, empty, what did it matter? Everyone was broken and they had lost so much.
The Weasleys were now eight instead of nine.
Hermione had returned to an empty house, her parents all the way on the other side of the globe.
Last he heard, Lavender Brown had survived, but barely. And what was her reward? To be ostracised like Remus had been?
Collin Creevey, whose parents had shouted and screamed on his coffin, as he stood to the side, too guilty to even say anything.
Teddy Remus Lupin, who will never know of the two brave souls that sacrificed themselves for a better world for him.
Countless more fatalities and injuries due to him not killing Voldemort fast enough.
And the thought once again ran in his mind.
He wished Dumbledore's theory would have been wrong.
He wished that he had boarded the train.
He wished for everything to disappear.
As the gloom of his mind began to encroach upon him, he heard a small knock coming all the way down from the entrance. He waited to see if the unexpected visitor would just go away if he ignored them long enough, but the knocking continued with a persistent knock, knock, knock.
Sighing, he stood up from the bed and made his way down the stairs, seeing Kreacher cleaning the dining area as he passed by, and he approached the door and readied himself by taking a deep breath in. As he slowly opened it, he was met with his studious, bushy brown-haired friend.
"Hello Harry." Hermione Granger greeted with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.
Harry silently nodded, and stepped to the side to let Hermione enter. Their feet automatically moved towards the kitchen, and Harry and Hermione sat facing each other at opposite sides of the table.
Hermione looked at the newly cleaned room, her eyes wandering over to the empty pantry and Harry's ruggish frame. The bespectacled boy watched as worry slid onto her eyes and he spoke quickly, "I'm doing fine, Hermione. I've been eating outside."
"Takeout?" Hermione asked and it took Harry all his willpower to not sigh angrily and give her more reasons to get into his business.
"No, Hermione. Outside, I've been eating out since eating here is a bit…"
The two look around the dining room, past memories dredging up and reminding them of better times.
"Ha, remember when Tonks made Ron squirt fizz out of his nose when she managed to transform her into an elephant trunk?" Hermione said, suppressing a giggle.
Harry smiled in reminiscence as well, "Yeah, those were good times."
Silence fell upon them…
"I miss this, Hermione." Harry quietly uttered out.
Hermione fidgeted for a moment
"There's a reason why I'm here." Hermione handed him a small pamphlet, the words on the page popped out at him that he had to read it aloud.
"Wizards' Welfare?" He opened the pamphlet up and read the contents as Hermione began to speak.
"It's a new subsidiary of St. Mungo's Hospital. After everything that has happened, and with how the wizarding world has caught up somewhat with the muggles; Kingsley has been giving everyone affected by the war free therapy sessions."
Harry read and read, at last he put the pamphlet down and sighed.
"I'm guessing you want me to go?" Hermione gave an affirmative nod and he let out a tired sigh.
"Hermione, I appreciate the gesture but I'm fine."
"I love you Harry, but you know that there is not even a sliver of truth in that statement." She raised her hand in a placating manner at Harry's affronted look, "Harry, look at your life thus far; your First Year alone would make you eligible for therapy. It's a healthy way to let out all your baggage that you've accumulated throughout your life, and it's been doing wonders for Ron and I."
The-boy-who-lived eyed her with an inquisitive raise of his brow, "You and Ron have been going to therapy?"
"Yes…" Hermione hesitated but said in addendum, "And couples therapy as well."
That got Harry's attention and he sat up, "I didn't know you guys were having problems being together."
"Well, Ron and I have been doing far better than we did before. We've been going together for the past month now." At Harry's lost look, Hermione decided to bite the bullet.
"And you don't know since you've been holed up here ever since the funerals. That isn't a healthy way to cope with your problems Harry."
The boy looked down and gripped his fist. At first, she was afraid that he would explode in anger and kick her out…
But she was surprised when he took the pamphlet and said, "Fine, I'll go."
The intellectual witch brightened at his statement, "Oh, thank you so much Harry. I'm certain that this'll be the start of your brand new life. I mean, it definitely felt like that for me."
He held back a snort.
'Yeah right…'
Little did the boy know, he would soon find out that she would be right. His life would turn out for the better…
And it all started with the opening of a door.
A/N: Hello everyone! Back again with a new story.
This story will be a bit more on the angsty side, but there will still be lighthearted moments. Updates will be kinda hard, as I have other projects that need my attention. I'll try my hardest to update, as I hate leaving stories unfinished, and I have already had this story's beats in place.
Reader's discretion; I have no prior experience on anything in the mental health field. I am writing this story as I thought it would be an interesting piece to write. I am open to constructive criticism, advice, and anything I need to know to better write a story that will bring justice to such a topic is much appreciated, I will also do some self-research as well.
Anyways, thank you for reading, and see you in the next chapter!