After my friends left, my mood was much brighter. Knowing that we were going to drive away this Phillips made me smile: If we were lucky, maybe St. Mungo's would beg healer Green to come back. If they don't, we could just try again until they do.
The day went on, and everything went well. Narcissa read one of my books to me as I listened to William scream obscenities to Phillips down the hallway. As I was laying down for a nap, I saw Ivy stomping by. Phillips, covered in food, was following after her, begging her to come back. I ate dinner, and chuckled as Gilderoy argued with Phillips that he 'did not know who he was, sir, and he would appreciate it if he left him alone'. Then, it was my turn to go.
"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Lucius skeptically asked. Nodded, grabbing Melvin. "Well..." He sat back in his corner to do more paper work. Narcissa pulled me into a gentle hug and kissed my forehead.
"Be good." She warned, and set me off. As I walked down the hallway, I saw Chase leaning against the wall outside of his door, with his arms crossed. He was wearing a pair of glasses I had seen in Healer Phillip's breast pocket. They made his eyes look buggishly big. When he saw me, he slid them onto the bridge of his nose, winked, and mouthed 'good luck'. I nodded, and went the rest of the way.
Before I could knock on what used to be Healer Green's door, it opened. Healer Philllips smiled as me and gestured for me to come in. I sneered and walked forward. He closed the door.
"Have a seat, if you would like Eleanor? May I call you Eleanor?" He asked. I refused the invitation and crossed my arms.
"No. Only friends can call me Eleanor. You call me Miss Snape. Do you understand?" I spoke ot him like I spoke to the first group of Snatchers I had had.
"I assure you, Miss Snape, I want nothing more than to be your friend. " He walked to his desk. I didn't move.
"I don't want your friendship." I spat. "All I want is for you to go back where you came from."
"I am afraid that isn't happening." He calmly replied. "Any other requests?"
"Yeah." I thought for a moment ." I want to go home."
"Try again. You are not well enough for that to happen."
"Well, then." I put a hand on my hip. "How about my wand? Can I have it?"
"Your wand?" He asked. "Sure."
My jaw dropped. Sure? Was he joking?
"Are you serious?!"
"Yes. OF course, we would have to put restrictions on it, but I think it can be arranged."
"Really! I can't-" I caught myself smiling and quickly suppressed the grin. "Uh-huh. Tell me then; what's in it for you?"
"Nothing. I just want to make you as comfortable as possible."
"You are a liar!" My acting was slowly turning into impulse.
"No. I am not."
"Yes, you are!" I divided across the room. He let out a gasp as I pinned him against the desk. My face was inches from his.
"I'm onto you!" I fiercely whispered. "I am onto you! I know you aren't as innocent as you are letting on! Who do you think you are?! Prancing in here and trying to replace Healer Green! You know what!? You are not Healer Green! You will never be!"
"Let's try to calm down, Eleanor. Let's take a deep breath and-"
"You do not call me, Eleanor!" I yelled, and then pushed him onto the desk. His back was leaned back in a limbo, but his feet were flat on the floor. Pain was evident on his face as I held him down by his shoulders.
"Please, Miss Snape-" He stopped to take a breath. "Let me go. Don't do anything you will regret."
"I won't regret anything!" I pushed down harder. He bit his lip.
I knew I was having a mood swing, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to try to stop myself. I didn't like this man. In fact, I wanted to scare him away.
"Yes you will. I spoke with Healer Green before he left. He said you were a lovely young lady. So, why don't you let me go and show me-"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
"How would Mr. Malfoy feel about this?"
"Don't talk about Lucius!" I yelled, and then slapped him across the face, still holding him down with the other. "This is about you, not him."
"This should be about you. Will you please let me up?"
"Why should I?!"
"Look, I Know that you miss Healer Green. Trust me, your friends do, too. But you need to try to calm down and listen to me."
"Don't talk about my friend, either!" I snapped, only this time I let go of him and turned away. I could feel tears pricking behind my eyes. I couldn't let him see me cry. Not now that I was trying to get the upper hand. "And don't talk to me!"
I went towards the door. He hesitated a moment before following me into the hallway.
"Miss Snape! Your session is not over yet!"
"I don't care!"
"But-"
"I don't care! Leave me alone!" I kept going as he stopped.
"Very well, then. I guess we will try again later. You have a Group Therapy Session tomorrow. In the meantime, I will check on your wand. Goodnight, Miss Snape."
"Shut up!" I yelled, my face still forward, before stomping into my room and slamming the door. I froze when I looked up.
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco all went silent and looked up at me.
Something pulled in my stomach. Draco was the reason I was here. He was the one who had pretended to be nice to me, then went out of my life. Just like everyone else, except he did this by choice .On top of all of it, he was the one who told me to stop taking my Combinations. He was the reason I had the fit in the Apothecary. He was the reason I was sent back.
"You!" I shouted at him, pointing. He slowly stood up.
"what?!"
"This is your fault!"
I jumped for him. Lucius acted quickly and blocked the path. He held me back. "Get out of my way!" I screamed, beating on his chest. "Get the F*** out of my way!"
"Stop it, right now, Eleanor!" He commanded. I fought on. Narcissa stepped in front of her son. Draco peeked over her.
"I know what she's mad about!" He yelled over me. "I'm sorry, Elle! I'm sorry!"
"No!" I shrieked . "He didn't take his!" tears had begun snaking down my cheeks. "He doesn't take his and he doesn't have to be here! It's not fair! He told me to! It's all Draco's fault!"
"Didn't take what, Dear?" Narcissa tried to use a soft, soothing voice, which was difficult to do over the shouting. "Calm down and nicely tell us what you are upset about."
"His Combination! He doesn't take his and he's fine! I don't take mien and... HE told me to! It's ... not fair!" I busted into sobs. Instead of hitting him, I stopped and wrapped my arms round him, pressing my face into his shirt. He held me.
"Breath, Elle." He tried to sooth me. "Let's all sit down and sort this out. Breath...."
He led me to the bed and I sat down .He sat beside me. Narcissa used her wand to position two chairs across from us. Draco and her both took a seat. Lucius soothed me for a few minutes, doing enough for me to calm down enough to talk. He cleared his throat.
"Okay. Let's figure this out now. Draco, you aren't taking your Combinations at night?"
"No." Draco looked at the ground. "I mean, I don't need to. I don't have very many nightmares anymore .I didn't like them. They completely knocked me out."
"You should have talked to us about this, Draco." Lucius sternly said. "Now, did you tell Eleanor not to take hers?" Draco stayed silent. "Draco."
"Yes. Because she said they made her numb. She wanted to feel something."
"Is this true, Eleanor."
"Uh-huh." I nodded, wiping tears with me sleeve.
"You shouldn't have told her that, Draco." Lucius scolded. "Although, if she wasn't taking her Combinations when she was going out to dinner with you, she was doing very well."
"I was only trying to help her." Draco explained.
"If you wanted to help me, you really would have been my friend instead of just leaving me!" I covered my face as I began to cry. Draco glared at his father .After a beat, Lucius sighed.
"That was my fault." He finally said. I looked up at him.
"What?"
"After Narcissa saw the two of you kiss, I became afraid that he was going to hurt you, so I told him to leave you alone. I thought it would help." He sounded extremely guilty.
"Is- Is this true?" I loked at Draco. He nodded.
I stood up. I couldn't believe it. Lucius hat betrayed me. Draco had listened to him. Narcissa didn't put a stop to it. They all hurt me. They all betrayed me. I felt my face turn red as my tears stopped. I had to get out of there.
I quickly stood up and marched across the room to my dresser. Lucius stood up.
"Elle? What are you doing?"
I ignored him. Instead, I grabbed a pair of pajamas and two pair of night pants. I laid one pair next to Melvin as I went to the bathroom. After I put the remainder of the stuff on, I came back out and grabbed Melvin and extra night pants. They continued to question me, but I ignored them. I grabbed my last Combination for the night and, in one gulp, then set it back on the night stand. I quickly scurried out the door. They were so stunned that by the time they thought about following me, I was no longer in the hallway.
"Elle?" Gilderoy asked as I crawled into his bed beside him, putting my extra pair of night pants on his night stand. "Why do you have a nappy and why are you getting in bed with me?" He stopped, his eyes widening. "We didn't get married, did we? Because I won't remember any of our anniversaries...."
"First off, they're night pants. I brought an extra pair in case I wake up tonight and need to change. And secondly: no, we are not married. I am not staying with the Malfoys. They betrayed me. "
"Oh. That's nice, then. Just don't get my bed wet."
"That's what the night pants are for."
"Oh..." We fell into a silence. I scooted a little closer to him. As we touched , something felt... off....
"Um... Gildy? Are you wearing anything?"
"Socks. Why?" He propped his head up with his elbow to look at me. Now that my eyes were adjusting to the darkness, I could see his bare chest peeking out from under the blanket. I felt my face go bright red.
He sleeps naked... Okay. That's.... okay. It's just Gilderoy. He's innocent. He doesn't know any better. Even so, I am intruding on him...It's fine.
"Nothing." I turned my back to him, trying my best not to think about what could be under the blanket. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight. " He said back. "Oh, and Elle? Can you try not to touch me? Your silky pajamas are weird." I answered and happily scooted over a little more. A few minutes later, my Combination took effect, and I fell asleep, not caring if naked Gildy was beside me or not.