Walls

Walls
Chapter Four
Psycho Drama


She hated this part of her regimented day. Psycho Drama or Group Therapy, what a joke. A bunch of sickos telling her how sick she was. It was pathetic really.

She wandered into the room , took her customary seat under the window and looked around. There, in her usual position on the sofa, was the depressed witch who did nothing but cry and feel sorry for herself. Her life sucked, she had said. She couldn’t kick her depression she had said. The medicines weren’t helping she had said. Every day the same things. Over and o It It was so fucking tedious and on more then one occasion, Hermione had to restrain herself from yelling at the woman to just kill herself already. Just fucking die and put yourself and us out of your misery! However, she had managed to hold her tongue. Her primary goal was to be released from this place and she wouldn’t achieve that by angry outbursts.

Gods! How she hated this room! Dull crème paint covered the walls and the celing was waterstained. The coffee was horrid and the chairs uncomfortable. There was no relief to be gained by looking out of the windows either, for the trees were bare of leaves and the skies leaden with the gloom of winter.

She felt so weary.

Determined to not let the suicidal witch with the martyr complex get to her today, Hermione decided to spend the rest of the time studying her fingernails. She needed to find a hang nail to worry with her teeth on so that she could feign an interest in what was being said once the session began. In the interim, she would think about the day that she could leave and be free of all of the pain.

A few minutes passed in silence broken now and then by the shuffling of feet as other patients made their way into the room. Hermione had become so engrossed in ignoring the others that when she finally realized that her name was being called, she looked up with a start.

“Thank you all for joining me here today and I hope that this session will be productive,” said their therapist in a soft voice. Hermione cringed inwardly at the outfit the mediwich had chosen to wear that day. The blue green pants and bright yellow shirt clashed in the worst way with the red robe she wore to signify her job at St. Mungos. “Let me start by introducing my self. I am Madam Carlton your therapist for this session. In a moment I will ask each of you to introduce yourselves, but first I want to go over the rules for session. First, what is said in here stays in here. Do not discuss other patients with anyone but you are free to talk about yourself to others. Second, it is my duty to report you if you tell me you are going to harm yourself or others. It is my lawful duty to protect you.”

Hermione had heard this everyday since her arrival so she tuned the medi-witch out and continued worrying her clescles with her teeth. She didn’t look up and automatically intoned her name when it was her turn. The group was larger than usual she thought and had just started drifting back into her dreams of freedom when a familiar voice sounded in her ears.

She gasped and looked in the direction of the voice. It couldn’t be! Never in a million years! But yes, oh my God there sat Professor Severus Snape, her former teacher.

“No!” she gasped.

He looked at her and responded to her outburst with a raised eyebrow. “Why yes, Miss Granger. Although I could say the same thing about you.”

He had been shocked to see her there although he didn’t recognize her at first. The skeletal form that sat in the chair opposite him in no way resembled the know it all annoyance that he had once taught. What was she of all people doing here for Merlin’s sake! Her life had seemed so fucking perfect to him. So much so he had hated her for it, not realizing that he was as jealous of her as he had been of James Potter and his popularity.

‘So the little Know It All had flaws that even he hadn’t seen’, he thought as he regarded her startled expression through hooded eyes. He noticed her eyes darting to the bandages on his wrist, her frown and then her gaze returning to her nails. His nostrils flared in anger and at the look of pity he thought he had seen in her eyes. The hatred he had felt toward her and her friends flared in his soul and he struck out with his best weapon.

“So, Miss Granger. Not so perfect after all?”

She gazed at him with a hardened expression. “Fuck off Snape! I see you couldn’t even rid the world of your presence with out fucking that up you murdering piece of shite!”

Oblivious to the gasps of the others, he sprang from his chair at her words and with two swift steps was in front of her. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort, Miss Granger, I can assure you!” he hissed.

“That is enough!” exclaimed the therapist as she reached them and tried to place a hand on his arm.

Her words went unheeded as Hermione rose to meet his gaze, her Gryffindor pride refusing to be intimidated by him and said, “Well then perhaps I could be of some assistance to you then? Perhaps a potion as opposed to a blade? Or perhaps that would be too fitting and painless? Too quick? What, did you want to suffer?”

“Enough! Both of you! Right now! Back to your seats or I shall have to put you both in isolation!” the therapist said sternly.

Severus arched an eyebrow at Hermione, who mirrored his action. They both stood face to face, neither one wishing to be the first to back down and return to their seat. The therapist decided the matter for them by gently pushing Severus backward to his chair.

“So,” said one of the fellow patients. “You had Snape too, eh Hermione?”


A/N: I know it\'s a short chappie. Please be patient, I am merely setting the scene for the more angsty chappies. I need to be depressed to write this fic, which isn\'t a picnic for me. I promise that the rest will be longer and more angsty. I also want to say that the journey that Sev and Mione will take will be worht it in the end. Please read and review! Your comments encourage me! Live long and prosper! Titania