Spawn of Azkaban

Chapter Seven

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions self-harm and suicide. I will put astricts where it begins and ends for those wishing to skip it. I'll put a little summary at the end!

Song for the chapter: Deep End—Birdy

Before Bianca knew it, her next therapy session rolled around. Bianca and Cedric traveled to Hogsmeade together again and he promised- unprompted- that today they would get dinner after. This excited Bianca and she walked into Angela's office smiling.

They caught up for a bit, Angela asked about Bianca's week and she talked about how things were going a lot smoother. She was especially excited to mention her day playing Quidditch.

"I'm happy to hear that Bianca. You do look tired though dear, have you been sleeping okay?" she asks and Bianca realizes she's referring to the deep bags under her eyes.

"Yeah, I've just been up late studying," she lies. She doesn't want to bring up that she's been researching a potential sibling because she is starting to think it was just her mind playing tricks. Luckily, Angela doesn't know the girl well enough to tell when she's lying.

"Very well then, the next thing I wanted to talk about was the episode you had in your class the other day. Dumbledore told me some about it when he was setting up your initial appointment but I'd like to hear about it from you."

Bianca explains to her how she started by trying to fight the Imperius curse like they were told to do. Then all of a sudden she started having a vision of little Bianca being put under the curse by her mother. When she woke up she was told she had collapsed and was screaming and crying. By the time Bianca's done, a few tears had managed to escape down her cheeks. Angela hands the girl some tissues and Bianca thanks her.

Angela writes a few things in her notebook while Bianca composes herself. "Well, Bianca you definitely have some suppressed memories. Human brains have a way of blocking out traumatic memories to protect them elves. For you, the memories seemed to come back when you were put in a situation you had experienced before. Now we can't just continue cursing you and hoping to expose those memories. That'd be not only time-consuming but unethical. We can try hypnotherapy though."

"What is that?" Bianca asks not familiar with the term. She had never taken psychology classes at Hogwarts so this was all new to her.

"We'll put you in a trancelike state and try to uncover memories that you've suppressed," she explains continuing to jot down notes. "Is this something you'd be interested in?"

Bianca hesitates to answer. On one hand, she would love to find out more. On the other, the last time she had memories uncovered she ended up having a panic attack and it took her days to recover. She knew healing was a long process, she just didn't know if she was ready to begin that now.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" she asks sheepishly.

"Of course dear!" Angela answers sweetly. "We'll continue our sessions like normal until you decide what you want okay?" Bianca nods in agreement. "Now one more thing I want us to start is a journal. We'll both try to write every day each week and bring the journal to our sessions. If we feel comfortable we can share our experiences from the week. How does that sound?"

"I love that idea."

"I thought you'd say that," Angela smiles reaching behind her to pull out an orange composition notebook. "I got this for you while I was at the shops. I think you mentioned orange was your favorite color?"

"Oh my gosh," Bianca breathes thumbing through the crisp pages. She never really received gifts besides from her friends for birthdays and the annual Christmas sweater from Mrs. Weasley. It warms the girl's heart that Angela not only thought about her to buy this but remembered her favorite color. It also made Bianca happy that Angela was beginning to know her enough that she had known Bianca would enjoy journaling. "Thank you so much, I love it!"