The party was on and camping out had been approved, as long as there was one Healer for every three patiens. Which meant that there had to be two, since there was five of us. That was fine, because the two Healers that stayed with us was Healer Phillips and Healer Fuchs.
We stayed in the little yard that I had star gazed in with Gilderoy. Only now, it had two tents, a table full of cake and sweets, and a lots of blankets and pillows. There even was a telescope set out there, so I could look at the stars; something I hadn't done in a long time simply because between Therapy and Group Session and my 'bed time', I had not time to go out and look at the stars.
We could basically do anything we wanted, under a few conditions. If we felt tired, we had to go to bed. Everyone was going to bed at midnight, no exceptions. Everyone had to take their Combinations when it was given to them: again, no exceptions.Girls and boys had to sleep in two seprate tents. And, finally, if any fights broke out, we would all have to go back inside.
Healer Phillips made them wait to go out until I got there. When we finally went out, we started to eat the cake. I nibbled on a bit, because I didn't really like sweets.
"Do you feel okay, Miss Snape?" Healer Phillips asked, noticing that I wasn't eating very much at all. I shook my head.
"Yeah, I feel fine. I just don't like sweets very much."
"Oh, well, is there anything you would rather have instead?" He asked me. I thought for a moment.
"Um... can I have some fruit? Or some vegitables?"
"Sure. What kind would you like?"
"Um... some apples? And some oranges... Oh, and some brocoli... And tomatoes."
"Are tomatoes fruits or veggitables?" Willilam asked, laughing. Chase elbowed him.
"It's neither." He replied.
"No, it's both." Healer Phillips corrected. "Is that all?"
"And some pineapple?" I asked.
"I am not sure if we have any pinapple, but I will check on it. I will be back. Healer Fuchs will be here with you, so be good." He advised, and then turned to go into the building. By this time, most everyone had had their fill of cake. Now Chase and William were telling each other dirty jokes, Gilderoy was looking up at the moon, and Jenna was quietly talking to Healer Fuchs while she held her yarn. Healer Fuchs was knitting. I looked around, then made my way over to them and sat down.
"Goodevening, Miss Snape. Are you enjoying yourself?" Healer Fuchs asked. I swollowed.
"You can call me Elle, you know..." I trailed off. She smiled.
"I know. It's just a habit is all." She laughed. Jennas lips curled up at the ends. "Would you like to knit, too? I have an extra pair of needles with me."
"Sure..." I took up her offer. She reached into a bag and pulled out another set of needles. Then, she handed me a ball of green yarn. "You like this colour, right?"
"Yes. Green is my favourite colour." I grinned, then tucked some hair behind my ear.
"I thought so." She replied. Soon we fell into a silence that consisted of only our needles clacking together.
"You guys are very good at that..." Jenna, surprisingly, broke the silence. Healer Fuchs looked down at her.
"It just takes some practice. Would you like to try?" She offered. Jenna just stared at her.
"I don't care. I can show you. I don't mind."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'll just take off my stiches-" Healer Fuchs moved to take her stitches off her needles, but I stopped her. She was so far into what looked to be a sock that I didn't want her to stop.
"No, I'll give her mine." I said, then pulled my own stitches off the needles. I was only a few rows into a scarf, I could start over later.
"That was very kind of you, Elle." Healer Fuchs smiled as I handed Jenna the needles.
"Yeah. I think I'm going to go talk to Gildy. Have fun, Jenna." I offered, then got up and walked across the yard. Gilderoy was now laying on his back, looking up at the stars. I layed down beside him, and scooted until our shoulders touched. "Hey. What are you doing? I didn't think you liked astronomy?"
"I don't..." He answered. "But I was just trying to remember the ones you told me. I thought Uras Major was over there?" He pointed. I put my arms behind my head.
"No. Well, it was... When we looked at stars it was. But now it is here. See?" I pointed him in the right direction. He saw it and frowned.
"Great. First Ivy hides things to make me think I didn't remember, and now the universe is doing it, too."
"The Universe always does this. It has nothing to do with you."
"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure the stars do not move like that."
"Gilderoy, I have studies stars since I was thirteen, and I was first in my class in astronomy. I think I know a thing or two about them."
"I just don't think it's very polite of them to move around like that."
"Gildy!" I laughed, and rolled over even closer to him. I was now on my stomach, and my head was on his shoulder.
"What?"
"Nothing..." I continued laughing, then rolled back over again to watch the stars. "But you did remember where it was, though. And you did remember the name. It just wasn't in the same spot. That's still good. You remembered."
"Sure..." He trailed off. That made me feel bad. I really was proud of him for remembering, but he didn't seem to care. He was doing a great job. And that's what Group Session was suppose to be about, wasn't it? What friendship was suppose to be about. Helping the other succeed and encouraging them when they do good.
"I have the food, Miss Snape." Healer Phillips put a couple trays of food on the snack table using his wand. I looked up at him. "Good news; they did have pineapple."
"Thank you." I said, then got up. Gilderoy followed me.
"What is pineapple?" He asked. I picked a slice up and showed him.
"This. What to try it?"
"Yeah." He took it and bit into it. A pleasent smile spread across his face.
"This is great!" He exclaimed, then ate the rest of it. He moved onto a second slice.
"Save some for me!" I grabbed a couple slices for myself. Healer Phillips watched us for a couple moments, then looked at everyone else.
"Okay, guys. Don't think you are getting off this easy. I have an activity we are going to do."
"Why. This is suppose to be fun." Chase pointed out. Healer Phillips shook his head.
"You are suppose to be having Group Session right now. You are going to do something that helps you. Now, everyone sit in a circle." He instructed. We all reluctantly did so. Gilderoy, who sat beside me, have about six pinapple slices in his lap. Healer Phillips sat between Gildy and Chase, closing the gap in the circle. Then he took a bag that he had, and took out six paper bags, lots of paper, and five quills. He handed us each a bag, quill, and six pieces of paper each.
"Okay, all of you have a bag." He started, "I want all of you to write your name on it, okay?" He instructed. We all did what he asked. "Okay. Now, I want you to write down everything you don't like about yourself, or anything you feel bad about, or anything that is stressing you out, or anything you just want to go away down on the bag." I swollowed, looking down at the bag. Around me, Gilderoy was righting, as was Chase. But William, Jenna, and I were hesitating.
"You do not have to write down anything you don't want to." He said. That made me feel a little better. I looked back down and put the quill to the bag.
Greasy Hair
I started, then continued.
Bed wetter
Big nose
Too Emotional
Crazy
Stick Figured
Murderer
Liar
Druggie
Cruel
Hated
Widow
Orphan
That was all I could think of before Healer Phillips told us to stop.
"Now, I want you to put all of your bags in the middle. What I want you to do now is look around. ARound you are four other people who have things about themselves that they wish they could change and have things about themselves that they had. What I want you to do is take a piece of paper, and on each one write things on it that you like about the person, but do not write anything on the paper that will show them who wrote it." We all stared at him. "Go on. " He encouraged. We all began writing.
I started with Gilderoy, since he would be the easiest.
Good Friend.
Fun to be around.
Makes me smile
Supportive
Encouraging
Caring
Then I moved onto Jenna
Sensative
Nice
Pretty
Lovely
Then William
Strong
Encouraged
Brave
Caring
Fun
The Chase
Funny
Silly
Fun
Makes me laugh
When everyone finished, he told us to put each one into each persons bag. Then he told us to sit back down.
"Now, all of you should have one extra piece of paper. I want all of you to write something nice about Ivy. I made her a bag." He took it out and put it with ours. I sneered.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, Miss Snape. I am. She needs some nice words right now."
"She manipulated us!" Chase exclaimed. He shook his head.
"Just do as I ask, please. Even if you only write one word, write something." He encouraged. We all looked at each other, then started.
I though about Ivy's outer looks. If I couldn't complement her pesonalilty, I could atleast say something about how she looked.
Shiney hair
Pretty makeup
Skinny
Pretty
As much as I hated to admitt it, Ivy was pretty, despite her ripes that showed through her skin. When I finished, I put it in her bag, as did everyone else.
"Are we all finished?" Healer Phillips asked. We all shook our heads. "Great. You can all grab your bags back now. I want you to get the paper out, and read what they say. Not out loud, but to yourself, okay?" I nodded again, then took out the papers.
By the time I got to the last one, I was in tears. No one had ever said that many nice things to me in my life.
Trustworthy
Loyal
Determined
Sympathetic
Caring
Fun
Brave
Bad-A**
(I'm pretty sure Chase Wrote that one)
Strong
Strong
Strong
Strong
(Strong was written down on all four papers)
I even had
Beautiful
Stunning Eyes
Flawless Skin
Nice hair
When I looked up, everyone was crying, except Gilderoy.
"How does everyone feel about this?" Healer Phillips asked. None of us answered. "The point of this activity was to show you that we all made mistakes, or things happened that we coulldn't help, but we can move on from those things. You can get better. And the way you view yourself, other people don't see. they see you differently. while you focus on the negative things, they look for positive things in you. That being there is one last thing you need to do. Everyone keeps your papers, but put your bags in the middle." He took out Ivy's and put it aside, but we put ours together. He looked at me. "Would you like to use a bit of magic tonight, Miss Snape?"
"Sure...." I replied, a little surprised. I got out my wand.
"I need you to set the bags on fire."
"What?"
"Do it. Set them on fire." He instructed. I hesitated, then wispered.
"Incendio." I watched as the papaer bags caught on fire. I still didnt know how to feel about flames: They were so beautiful, yet, they took away my father, and my Vincent. They are what officially took Wyatt from this world, and they are what took away the mess of what used to be my old house. But how could something so beautiful be so wicked?
We watched the fire until it burned it's self out.
"There. Now all of our 'ugliness' is gone. All you have left are the good things about you. You can keep them in your pocket, or on your wall, and anytime your feel bad about yourself, you can look at them, okay? Any questions?" Again, we all stayed silent. "Very well, we are finished. I am going to take Ivy her bag, and then I will be right back. You may go back to what ever you had been doing before." HE said, then left us.
We continued to sit in the circle, not saying a word. We didn't need to to know what was going on in each others minds: Someone cared, and we mattered. We could make a difference, and we could get better, as long as we had our friends there to help us.