𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. fred weasley

𝚡𝚕𝚒𝚒. 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜

Cress frowns, something clenching in her stomach. She has been here for a week, and all she has to show for it is the haunting screams of Cyprien and the heart wrenching sobs from Tottie. Jaehyun and Rowan are more silent with their pain, keeping a tight smile on their faces and barely talking during group therapy.

"But you're a Healer for me?" Cress asks, pursing her lips. "Surely you must have some say now."

"You must remember, Cress," Augie says, frowning. "Your case is much different from theirs. I am only allowed here because I was your Healer and therapist before we found out you were a Maleficus. Had someone else found out before I was assigned to you, I would not be here right now. I am supposed to be on the fourth floor."

"That's ridiculous," Cress gripes, but she can't think of anything more to say so she lets the matter go.

She eats a small bit of her lunch, munching on the stale bread and soured tuna with a grimace. There's a small table in the corner of the living area where she sits with Tottie and Jaehyun, Tottie going off on a tangent while Jaehyun nods amicably to show her that he's paying attention.

During group therapy, which is always after lunch, they all sit in a circle in the middle of the room. Today, Cress is in between Rowan and Tottie, and she tries to give out a small grin even though none of them really want to be there. Tottie, from beside her, grins back, tendrils of black falling off of her as her body stitches itself back together over and over again.

Last group therapy, Cress had to introduce herself and talk about her situation because she was the new girl. This week, Cyprien starts it out.

She listens to the dark rasp of his voice as he tries to tell Healer Perkins that he can never accept the fact that his parents sent him here. Cress watches his dark brows furrow, scans down his body. Scars line his arms, scratch his face. There's a bright white line on his lip from something piercing into it. The pale scars contrast against his tanned skin.

His long hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and he snarls at Healer Perkins when he asks if Cyprien could have done anything different so as not to be here.

"What about you, Crescent?" Healer Perkins asks, staring helplessly at Cress as Cyprien's scars turn black. "What do you think you could have done differently?"

"I don't understand?" Cress asks. "What you're asking is a bit offensive to Cyprien, isn't it? It's like you're blaming him for something that he couldn't control. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you have no clue what an Obscurus is or how it manifests."

Cyprien grunts in Cress's direction. Cress isn't sure if he's thankful or not.

"I am well aware as to how an Obscurus works, thank you," Healer Perkins says haughtily, coughing. He brings his clipboard to his chest. "They are created due to repressed magic."

"So you can only assume that Cyprien could not have done anything different to prevent him from being here, don't you?" Cress asks, raising an eyebrow. "His Obscurus was created because his parents, I'm assuming--" Cyprien nods, "wanted him to suppress it. That is no fault but the parents'."

And it is true for every one of the patients. Cress knows that Cyprien was young when he was bitten by a werewolf, when his magical abilities started accelerating because of the lycanthropy. That his parents forced him to keep it in, that they locked him in a cellar during the full moon. That they were the reason it became too much, the reason their house came down and they were almost too late to save themselves.

She knows that Tottie's parents were awful despite the cheerful attitude of the eight-year-old. She knows that the only thing keeping Tottie together is her Obscurus because she brought down an entire house and killed both of her parents and then almost herself, the debris falling onto her.