Chapter 53

Investigations, Nightmares and Doctors

Notes from the Authors: So, year 5 will soon be starting, and this is going to be a big year for our characters, with some good, and some bad. There will be some bigotry coming up, among other things, and a number of big changes from canon. We hope you enjoy them all.

Lily was awoken rudely when she was hit with a pillow. "When did you get here?" a male voice asked. It took Lily a moment to recognise it as Ron's.

"Last night," Lily mumbled through the bedsheets.

"Ow." From the sound of the grumble, Lily knew Ginny had just thrown something at Ron.

"Don't wake us up like this," Ginny complained, as Lily forced herself to sit up. "I'd rather be asleep still."

"Ronald, I told you not to wake them up!" Hermione insisted.

"Hermione? When did you get here?" Lily asked before stretching and yawning.

"Two days ago, I've been helping Fleur in London," Hermione replied, smiling. "I didn't know you were coming."

"We weren't, until the Dementor attack," Ginny replied grimly. Both Ron and Hermione's smiles were replaced with looks of horror.

"What? Wait, how?" Hermione asked.

"Not sure," Lily replied, now fully awake by the thought of the events of the night before. She quickly explained what had happened, both Ron and Hermione looking more horrified the more they heard.

"You-Know-Who could have people at the ministry?" Ron asked.

"Moody seems to think so," Lily replied. "I don't think he trusts anyone after the Crouch affair."

"With Crouch still out there, telling Voldemort all about Hogwarts," Ginny said. "He might have even told him about the DA."

"Maybe, but not likely. Let's face it, Crouch, and You-Know-Who, would see us all as being beneath him, because of being a kid," Hermione pointed out.

"Still, we should definitely move forward with it, because now more than ever, Hogwarts could be dangerous," Ron said.

"I was thinking about that," Lily said. "And I was talking to Ginny about an idea I'd had."

Lily explained her idea about the Order and the DA, which Hermione accepted immediately.

"Lily, that's brilliant! And the ideas you have for lessons, teaching students to be more self-sufficient in the real world… I think this will be brilliant. Anyone who wants to learn will be happy to, and those who don't will be like Malfoy, who think they can use magic for anything," Hermione said, grinning.

"Seriously? Learning to cook?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ronald, how would you make food when you live alone?" Hermione asked. Ron shrugged.

"Do what mum does and magic it up," Ron replied.

"Ronald, Food is one of the five exemptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and can't be created out of nothing, which shows why you need to be at the front of these lessons that Lily's going to be teaching," Hermione insisted. "I didn't know you could cook Lily," she added.

"Uncle Sirius taught me growing up; he said it would be important in case he wasn't around one day," Lily said. "And since I grew up as a muggle, I know all about cooking and baking. My muggle school did baking lessons as well; I love making Jam tarts."

"My mum makes jam tarts all the time, I thought she just magicked them up," Ron replied. Ginny teasingly slapped the back of Ron's head.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to those lessons," Ginny insisted.

"Girls," Ron muttered, but nodded in defeat.

"Anyway, we need to get up for breakfast; Fleur's helping Mrs. Weasley with it. They've been getting on great, and Sophie's here as well, with Bill," Hermione explained, smiling.

"How is Fleur doing, anyway?" Lily asked, as she started to get her toiletries ready.

"She's wonderful, thank you. Oh, it's been amazing, spending time with her. She's an amazing artist, and honestly, I'm glad you helped me find the courage to talk to her, Lily," Hermione gushed.

"Ugh, emotions. I'm gonna have a shower," Ron replied, getting up and racing from the room.

"Why's he moving so quickly?" Lily asked, frowning.

"He keeps complaining that we girls use all the hot water before he gets there, but he hasn't actually figured out that Fred and George have been pranking him by making the water cold," Hermione smirked as she spoke. "I thought of telling him, but then he mocked me and Fleur kissing, so I decided against it."

Lily and Ginny burst into laughter, just as they heard Ron scream from down the hall.

"And he just got the cold-water treatment," Ginny guessed.

"Yep," Hermione agreed, as Fred and George came into the room, laughing.

"Morning ladies," Fred grinned as he spoke.

"Welcome to Grimmauld Place, Lily," George added.

"Home to the Order of the Phoenix, and to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes! Currently a mail order service," Fred continued.

"We'll be starting a shop in Diagon Alley," George concluded, as they heard Molly having a go at Ron for scaring everyone with his scream.

"That's awesome," Lily exclaimed, grinning at them.

"All thanks to you, Lily," Fred said, smiling.

"And we'll never forget that," George promised.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Right, I didn't mention. I gave Fred and George the Tri-Wizard winnings, since Fleur didn't want them, and neither did I. I figured we'd all need a good laugh," Lily replied.

"Mum wasn't overly pleased when we told her," Fred admitted.

"But when we explained your reasoning, she accepted it," George spoke next.

"It's like she trusts your reasoning more than ours," both twin's spoke at the same time, as Ron marched in, his hair drenched, a towel wrapped around him, glaring angrily at Fred and George.

"YOU!" he growled angrily.

"Is it cold, little brother?" George asked innocently.

"You've been doing this every morning to me?" Ron demanded.

"We've done nothing to you," Fred replied.

"We just wanted cold water, and needed to test our magic," George added.

"I'll get you two back if it's the last thing I do," Ron warned, storming back out of the room as Molly stormed in.

"If either of you mess with the water again, I'll have you both scrubbing every toilet with toothbrushes and no magic!" Molly warned them angrily. She then shocked Lily as her anger faded immediately. "Morning Lily, dear. We've got breakfast being cooked for when you and Ginny want to join us."

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Lily said, smiling at her. She was always impressed how Molly could go from angry to pleasant in less than a second.

"Oh, it's no problem, dear," Molly told her. "I understand from Sirius you're going to teach the DA some home economic spells since Hogwarts currently doesn't teach everyone them?" she asked.

"Ginny and I thought it would help," Lily replied.

"I think it's an excellent idea. In fact, whilst you're here, I'd love to teach you a few spells if you like," Molly offered.

"That'd be brilliant, thanks Mrs. Weasley," Lily grinned.

"Not at all dear. I think what you're doing is amazing, I think everyone will appreciate it," Molly replied, before leaving the room.

"Really, Lily?" both twins asked at the same time.

"Can you make food?" Hermione asked.

"No, that's what mum's for," Fred replied, smirking.

"Well, we know the basics, and hey, since we met you, we've learnt about the muggle world, and this incredible thing called takeout food," George said.

"Especially pizza. You should see Dad when the driver arrives on his moving bike," Fred added, giggling.

"He wants to ask the man how it works without magic, but mum won't let him," George explained.

"Well, you won't always be able to get takeout, so yes, seriously," Hermione insisted. Lily smiled, glad that Hermione had her back at least.

"Lily… I do need to ask you… have you been reading the Daily Prophet?" Fred asked, his smile now gone.

"Not much, just the front cover in case there's anything big. Why?" Lily asked.

"Well, there's been some… more stuff, inside, that isn't nice," Fred explained.

"Is now the best time?" Hermione asked, with a glare.

"She needs to know, Hermione," George pointed out.

"I need to know what?" Lily demanded, her attention now on the twins.

"It's mostly little stories. They've stopped running the whole LGBT column Rita started, and now going with snide little attacks on you," Hermione explained. "Saying things like 'A story worthy of a Potter' or 'Let's hope they don't have a scar, or we'll have to worship them next' whenever someone is injured, and avoiding using your actual name whenever possible."

"What? That's ridiculous," Lily exclaimed angrily.

"We know Lily. But the Ministry is being very…aggressive towards you, and Dumbledore. He's been fired as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot," George explained.

"But he said he doesn't care, as long as they don't take his pictures off of the chocolate frog cards," Fred smirked at the comment.

"What are people saying though?" Lily asked. "What about the people Rita was helping?"

"It's all being hushed up. The new Minister for Magic has put out multiple press releases, discrediting Dumbledore, and you, and saying that the claims that You-Know-Who is back is an attempt to scare people and make you look good," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.

"Not everyone believes it though," Fred assured her. "Some people, like mum, have cancelled their subscriptions, and sent Howlers to the Daily Prophet, but we're pretty sure that the Minister is behind all of this."

"Then he's possibly behind the fact that we saw Dementors last night," Lily said. Fred and George looked at each other and nodded.

"Dad told us about it when we woke up, but the official story is that it was just kids messing around, and you acted rashly," George told her.

"WHAT?" Lily roared in anger. "THAT ARROGANT, LYING, PIECE OF…"

"Lily, calm down!" Ginny grabbed her arm. "We're not going to St. Mungo's then, so we'll go to a muggle doctor."

"For what?" George asked.

"Ginny, and Uncle Sirius and Remus all think I might have… what was it?" Lily asked.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Depression," Ginny replied softly.

"Yeah, definitely go see a muggle doctor," Hermione agreed. "If the Prophet gets wind of that…"

"It won't look good. Right now, they've got people like Lucius Malfoy being interviewed about how dangerous Hogwarts is," Fred explained.

"I swear, I want to hex that git of a minister," George added bitterly.

"Come on, let's get ready and down to breakfast," Hermione suggested. Lily nodded as she got ready to have a shower, feeling angry at what was happening. Why was the Ministry being so aggressive against letting everyone know Voldemort was back? Was Elpenor White a Death Eater, or was there more to the story? Lily didn't know, but she would find out.


The next few days passed smoothly for Lily, learning how to cook proper meals, and bake sweets and cakes, both using magic and the muggle way. It felt nice, being able to learn some domestic spells, and forgetting about everything else.

The house, of course, needed to be kept clean, and it was, mostly. There was a house elf, Kreacher, but he didn't really do much, other than mutter and mumble about his Mistress's portrait having been removed. Lily didn't know what that meant, but she kept her distance from Kreacher.

When the day came to go to the doctor, Sirius had found an outstanding doctor at a hospital called the Nightingale, with Sirius and Molly having used magic to ensure Lily got an appointment immediately. In the office, Lily was sitting with Sirius and Ginny, nervously twiddling the hem of her dress.

The hardest part of securing an appointment was having to find a doctor who Lily could explain everything to, and when they hadn't found one, they found someone who they explained the whole situation to about magic.

The doctor had agreed, after Sirius proved Magic was real to her, to see Lily, insisting that the only concern was treating people who needed help. Moody had insisted that someone watch the doctor, so Lily also knew that Remus was in the room, magically hidden from the doctor. If she tried to tell anyone about magic, he'd wipe her memory in an instant.

To Lily's surprise, the Doctor, a woman called Lana, had listened intently to everything, and only asked for clarification on a couple of points, but she seemed fully accepting of everything, including Lily being transgender, especially as she was transgender herself. After what felt like forever (although the clock in the room showed it as being five hours), Lana finally made her decision.

"Lily, from the answers to the questionnaire, and from what you've told me, I think it's evident that you are suffering from PTSD, and I'd also be confident with a diagnosis for Clinical Depression. Given everything you've told me, and everything you've faced, I'm really surprised you haven't shown deeper symptoms sooner," Lana said kindly. "I don't have much experience with your… magical world, or what medications your doctors use, but I have some I want to try you on. It's going to be a process, I'm afraid, to find out what does and doesn't work."

"Is it always like that?" Sirius asked. Lana nodded.

"I'm afraid so. I know you have your reasons for coming to me instead of a magical doctor, but we can't wave a wand and make everything better," Lana replied. "For PTSD, the first part of the treatment is counselling, so I would recommend speaking to a therapist. Do you have psychiatrists in your world?"

"Not that I know of," Sirius admitted, looking at Lily.

"Well, I can help with that, although when you return to your school, I won't really be able to travel to help," Lana said, before writing a prescription out. "Take this, as prescribed. Now, for the first two to four weeks, you might feel more depressed, as the medication needs time to adjust your serotonin levels. If you still feel depressed after four weeks, then we'll try upping the dosage or trying something new," Lana explained.

"Thank you," Lily said, biting her lower lip nervously.

"If you have any adverse reactions, like dizziness, nausea, anything like that, come and see me immediately, and stop taking the medication. I don't know what's in the draught you take every morning that you mentioned, but there can be times when certain medicines can react badly to other medications. I must tell you; I think seeing one of your doctors might be better in this instance," Lana explained.

"We can't, not yet anyway," Ginny replied.

"Well, keep an eye on Lily as the medication starts to work," Lana replied. "If anything does happen, I'll be on hand to help."

"Thank you, Doctor," Lily said anxiously as Sirius accepted the prescription.

"You know how risky this is that you know, right? We can modify your memory," Sirius offered.

"As strange as this all is, I promise you, I want what's best for Lily. I'm a doctor, and when I became a doctor, my first oath was to do no harm. That's something we non magical people swear upon when we become a doctor, the Hippocratic oath. I don't care how dangerous it is, everyone needs to be treated with respect, mortals, witches, wizards, everyone," Lana insisted.

"Thank you," Sirius looked visibly relieved at knowing the woman was so caring. "Lily is everything to me."

"That I can see, Mr. Black. Lily is an amazing young woman, and stronger than she thinks. I want to give you some exercises to do, both physical and mental, to see if that helps. Engaging you, Lily, will certainly help distract you from your depressive thoughts, and as time goes on, you may find a way to overcome the nightmares," Lana explained.

"It beats what the healers in St. Mungo's would probably do," Sirius muttered. Lana frowned, so he looked at her. "Usually, they prescribe a sleeping draught for dreamless sleep."

"That… no, that doesn't make any sense. How does that help anyone?" Lana asked, her eyes narrowing. "That delays the inevitable, and either will lead to a full breakdown, or make someone dependant on that draught."

"That's one of the reasons I preferred to come here. Trust me, we witches and wizards haven't quite got everything right, not yet," Sirius said. Lana smiled.

"It actually makes me feel better, knowing that you can't do everything, because it means we're not just little people," Lana commented.

"Oh, trust me, you're not," Lily replied. "Just because you're not magical, doesn't mean you're not awesome."

"Thank you, Lily," Lana smiled at Lily. "Anyway, we're about done for today, so I want to see you just before you go back to school," she added, making a new appointment for Lily.

As Lily left the hospital, with the medication in her bag, she felt slightly elated, knowing that even if magic couldn't solve everything, she'd at least have help in the muggle world. She hated that some people felt muggles were below them because, from everything she had experienced, so far, it felt like some muggles were much better than magical people, especially Malfoy and his friends. Her one hope was that the medicine would help her, and the nightmares would finally end.