Silver Lining • Harry Potter X Blaise Zabini •

Chapter 14: Calm Before the Storm

Karissa Wentworth sighed as she folded up her notebook and placed it a warded and locked drawer in her desk. She had just finished reviewing her notes from her first session with one Mr. Harry Potter and she was shocked. Harry was a very sweet, gentle young man, but he was so emotionally damaged. It hurt her to see, to hear everything that had been done to him was just shocking. She raked her fingers through her short, cropped blonde hair, a nervous habit she had had since childhood. She knew she needed to speak to Professors' Dumbledore and Snape about everything she had learned. Yes what she discussed with Harry was between her and her patient, however they needed to know how affected he was due to his experiences and how to respond to the emotional roller coaster which would be the next few months. Thankfully summer vacation would be arriving in a few short months and Severus could focus more of his attention on his young charge. She was very unsure of what to make of Harry's relationship with fellow fifth year student Blaise Zabini and she knew she needed to speak to both young men. From the way Harry discussed the Zabini Lord, the emotional connection between the two was very deep and if it was healthy she would definitely encourage the budding romance. However, she was concerned that Harry's past experiences would cause issues in the relationship and Blaise was particularly capable of dealing with those issues, not that he wouldn't try, he just wasn't trained to handle them. Hopefully everything would just work out, Harry really needed things to be fine, but she was realistic enough to realize that things never went how you hoped they would. Checking her planner she marked the date for her next appointment, adding a side note to meet with Dumbledore, Snape and Mr. Zabini under the hopes of sussing out what they wanted from this experience with Harry. She wasn't naive enough to think that all Albus Dumbledore wanted was for Harry to be happy and healthy, she knew what the young teen's role was in the coming war and how Dumbledore encouraged Harry to see himself as the only way to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry had told her as much, told her the massive amount of pressure on the young man's shoulders and she was not impressed. As far as she was concerned Harry need a lot of support to come through this healthy and whole and not to just heal to undertake the task of killing someone, that would destroy the young teen, utterly and completely. She sure as hell wasn't about to let Harry get wrecked emotionally all over again, in just one session the lithe, green-eyed boy had wormed his way into her heart and when he had should her his animagus alter-ego she had been smitten. No wonder this young teen had managed to crack and destroy the icy cold walls which surrounded Severus Snape's heart. She had known of Severus while she had been at Hogwarts (a Ravenclaw) he had been nearly five years below her, but even then she had heard whisperings about the cold young boy who had turned into an incredible potions' master with an absolutely horrid reputation as a teacher. However, just speaking to Harry she had felt her own walls shaking slightly, her desire to help this young man had been more powerful then her standard patient-healer relationship. Shaking her head, she closer her planner and shouldered her bag, she needed to go home, focus on the here and now and worry more about her newest patient tomorrow.

HP/SS

Albus Dumbledore placed his quill down on his desk, unceremoniously shoving the large stack of parchment away from himself with a satisfied smirk. Despite the relief that he felt with being done with his paperwork, he was still reeling from his last meeting with one Dolores Umbridge. She and the Minister were still harassing him about the whereabouts of Harry. Well they both bought the story about Harry being away in a training facility and in hiding, Fudge still believed that he had the right to know where Harry was, and well on some level as the British Minister of Magic, the man had some legal right, but Albus couldn't let them know where the boy really was. So under the guise of protecting Harry, Albus refused to reveal the location of where Harry was or where he really was. Standing, the Headmaster stretched languidly, chuckling as Fawkes made a soft trilling sound before lifting off from his perch and setting down on Albus' shoulder.
"What shall we do with them Fawkes?" Albus asked softly, rubbing the soft feathers of the phoenix. The bird didn't respond but he did rub his head against Albus' cheek trilling lightly in a reassuring manner. Albus chuckled despite the fact that Fawkes couldn't really help him with his problems he very much believed that the bird understood exactly what he was saying.
"Hopefully Madame Wentworth can help Harry overcome his emotional trauma about what happened to him. He needs to be mentally stable for the coming battles" The old man mused to his bird. Fawkes trilled again, but the noise wasn't a reassuring one like normal, instead it was a rather disappointed noise which took Albus by surprise.
"Fawkes, Harry is the only one who can defeat Tom, he is currently not in a sound mental state to do so. I realize that is a lot of responsibility to put on a young man, but alas it is what he needs to do" The man chide the bird gently. Fawkes shook his head, leaving Albus' shoulder to settle back on his perch and hid his head under his wing, clearly not impressed. Albus huffed in annoyance, why did no one understand what he was doing? He wished he could help Harry to live a normal life, but the boy could never have that, not after that faithful night in which Lord Voldemort had marked Harry as his equal and as the only one who could kill him. He understood that Harry was suffering and he felt sympathy for the boy but life was hard and unfortunately for Harry he needed to get over his problems and deal with the hand that life had dealt him. Yes it sounded cruel but Albus couldn't help that. He would do his best to make sure Harry survived and once Tom was defeated he would also support Harry living a normal life. Ignoring his pouting familiar Albus settled himself back down at his desk, popping a lemon drop into his mouth, enjoying the tangy, almost bitter flavor. Summoning a house elf and ordering some tea and cakes, Albus decided to focus on just getting Harry better and try not to worry about the inevitable battle at least not until he knew how far Harry was in his healing process. Content with that plan, the elderly wizard popped another sweet in his mouth, allowing himself to hum contently for a moment before picking up sheet of parchment and beginning to read.