A Perfect Situation

Cathy had scoped out several places she thought both Severus and his little wife would be, but apparently they were more distraught then she thought and they weren’t venturing out. She sipped her tea as a smile crept up to her face again. She knew she had hit a tender area by the break down she had witnessed. Now it would seem Severus took his wife away to lick her wounds.



“You seem to have a fondness for this place.” Her smile faded as once again Neville Longbottom joined her without an invitation.



“Following me around is getting to be a habit for you isn’t it.” She said with a grimace but this time his expression held nothing but a stoic calm. “What do you want this time?”



“I want you to continue your therapy.” He said in a steady voice. Her face drained of blood. “I told you I had access to your files and give your recent behavior, I knew something had to have happened to make you so bitter.”



“You bastard.” She gave a harsh whisper, but the anger in her face was unmistakable. “You didn’t have my permission to go through those files.”



“I’m a healer, I don’t need your permission as long as I use them for healing purposes and I have done so.” He pulled a set of parchments from his robes and set them on the table. “We need to talk, you and I.”



“What’s that?” She was almost afraid to ask, because she knew it pertained to her.



“Something you should see.” He stood and offered a hand. “Come with me.”



“You think I’m going to follow you?” She shrugged and looked away but he remained where he was, holding out his hand.



“You will want to see this, trust me.” He looked down on her with pity and it made her angrier. She hated pity.



“Trust you?” She stood and glared at her. “Why should I do that?”



“Because I could go to the Ministry of Magic and get a order for you to continue seeing mental healers. I can do it with what I have in here. But I am giving you an option.” He took her arm and led her to the back of the café where the floo was open to travelers. She knew he was telling the truth and decided at least she should hear from him what he had in his possession first.



They entered the floo and in a flash of green light and what appeared to be a personal residence. “Where are we?”



“My home.” He said, sitting on a nearby armchair. “Sit down.”



“You brought me to your house?” She said and glared at him. “I’m sure Severus would think that unwise, don’t you?”



“Severus isn’t here. The past week he has taken Hermione away to recuperate and to spend time together without distractions.” He spoke calmly as always and Cathy wondered why he suddenly changed toward her.



“I thought he may have hidden her away.” She laughed cruelly but it had no impact on Neville.



“Yes. Considering the heartless actions you exhibited, he decided to leave for his trip early rather that to wait. He may even extend it until Hermione is well again.” Her laughter stopped. “But we are not here to discuss them, we are here to discuss you.”



“I am here to see what you have found out about me, nothing more.” She threw back, holding her body ramrod straight.



“I found out what was in the files, as you can assume. I know about the binge, but it was the rape in your final year that concerned me.” Her face took on a ghostly pallor as she watched him. “I was able to find out that it was too young men you considered to be close friends.”



“How did you find that out?” Her whisper was painful, he could tell she didn’t like where this was headed.



“Would you like to know what happened to Kevin and Justin?” He asked.



She bolted out of the chair and faced a sealed window. She hadn’t heard those names in years, she had refused to hear them. She looked back at Neville who was still sitting in his chair calmly, watching her movements. He was a healer and that meant he would think of her well being first and foremost, no matter how many threats he spewed out.



She looked back at the drapes of the window, dark blue hanging on gold rings. She had thought that ignoring the names of her past she would be able to forget what happened to her, but Neville was forcing her to deal with it. She didn’t want to, she wanted the past and nightmares to stay buried.



“Tell me.” He spoke softly. “Tell me what happened?”



“I don’t want to.” She walked back to the chair and sat down, crossing her legs. “I won’t discuss what happened.”



“Fine.” He took the parchment and unfolded it to reveal two separate pages. He focused and read the information. “Kevin Brandon returned to Ireland after graduating Hogwarts to join his family shipping business. His father being a muggle born wizard gave him access and opportunity to make money in both worlds. When he was 28, he was taken into muggle custody for the rape of a young woman who worked for his family company.” Cathy, sat up straighter, listening. “The young woman accused him of luring her into the offices with the expectation of extra work, only to be attacked and raped repeatedly over the course of three hours.”



She closed her eyes, forcing the memories of her past away. “I don’t want to hear this.”



Neville ignored her. “At his trial, Kevin stated that she had acted for the court and that it was consensual. Kevin remained adamant that he did nothing that she didn’t also want. Before he could be sentenced, Kevin disappeared. Nobody could give any account as to how he managed this. It actuality, the Ministry of Magic intervened and he was removed from the muggle world, so he could serve his sentence in magical custody where an attempt of escape will be made impossible. He remains in Azkaban.”



She closed her eyes. While she had wondered what happened to him, she had never allowed herself to wonder, thinking that she would never move on with her life. Knowing he was in a magical prison had somehow made her feel better, but her own feelings didn’t change. She didn’t feel any differently about herself.



He laid the first parchment aside and took up the second. Before he read, he removed a letter from his robes and set it on the table, then began to read. “Justin Citrino graduated Hogwarts and then returned home to Brighton, where he began working for a coastal hotel. He began seeing a therapist a few years later, suffering from depression and self hatred. While his records have been sealed, friends and family say he carried mass amounts of guilt and never allowed himself to deal with it.” If any of this affected Cathy, she didn’t show it. “He never formed relationships, saying only that he didn’t deserve one, and over time his depression had reached dangerous levels. He committed suicide on June 1st, 1998, leaving behind a statement that his parents and sister do as they wish with his belongings. While settling his affairs, his sister found a letter, but had been unable to find who it belongs to as no name other than the first was written.”



Cathy watched with a thundering heart as Neville closed up the parchments and handed her the letter. In a sloppy script, her name was written. “I talked to the sister, and mentioned that you used to be close friends, she assumed this might be for you based on that alone. She knows nothing else.”



“I don’t care about his last words.” She said, staring at the letter in her hands.



“Don’t read it for him, read it for yourself. Give yourself come closure.” He turned and walked from the room, giving her privacy. He didn’t know if what he was doing as ethically right, but she had a right to move on with her life and in his healer’s opinion she wasn’t doing that.