A Lasting Curse

Chapter Two

(Oliver has to get worse before things get better, so this chapter is a lot of Oliver falling apart.)

The next day as Draco, Harry, and Blaise were walking to the library, there was a commotion in the hallway. One they were rather confused about the cause, as the center of it appeared to be surrounded by students.

Even the paintings were watching, muttering to each other.

On the edge of the crowd was Cedric, who had barely escaped the Triwizard Tournament alive, having taken the trophy with Harry and through pure luck- as well as Harry's spell that made him appear dead to the death eaters- survived the rising of Voldemort.

"Cedric, what's going on?" Harry asked, brow furrowed and a worried tilt to his tone.

"It's- Oli..." He responded haltingly, tilting his head toward the center of the crowd.

Draco, Harry, and Blaise ran to see Oli on the ground with tears streaming down their face.

"Lyra Montague, you will leave this school if this continues, do you understand? There is no place for people like you!"

"I came out two. Fucking. Years ago, and none of the professors had a problem with it then. Why do you do this to me? Why do you hate me?"

"Because you're sick. It's unnatural." She sneered, words dripping with contempt and disgust.

Oliver's face changed, then. Their expression of frustration fading into something darker.

"Yeah," they spat, "I know."

Just then, Professor Snape stormed out into the hallway and scooped Oli up into his arms. It was then that the trio realized Oli was seizing from their PTSD episode. They rushed after Snape, leaving the chaos to resolve itself and mumbling in their wake.

As soon as they got to the hospital wing, they caught sight of Snape placing Oli on a hospital bed and sat around them. Madame Pomfrey looked Oli over, then nodded sadly to herself and offered Oliver a muscle relaxant along with painkillers, then allowed them to rest.

"Oli, when did this start? You've... you've been shielding so heavily, I should've known." Blaise asked.

Oliver looked down at the sheets.

"Started having really bad episodes a year ago when my parents kicked me out. Been living under ministry custody ever since."

"Oh, my Merlin. I'm so sorry. You can talk about it, you know." Draco replied. Oliver's eyes hardened.

"No, I can't. Talking about it makes me weak."

"Oli... you know, Harry's in a similar situation. He's been living with me since last year as well, while we wait for Sirius to be cleared." Draco said.

Oli just sat there. Their breathing started to pick up and they found themself with Draco and Blaise both methodically running their fingers through Oli's hair, Blaise rubbing their back with his other hand and Harry and Severus holding their hands.

Severus was attempting to use legilimency on Oliver, in order to see what exactly was the cause for their sudden crash. He also was attempting to calm Oli, let them feel his presence as something safe.

"Sev, please stop!"

"Breath, you will be okay, Oliver. I'm trying to see what happened, and I am going to calm you."

Slowly, Oli's mental shields fell and they let Severus in. He saw everything, the PTSD, the coming out, detention. He pulled his mind away from Oli's and looked at them with a troubled expression.