"There are six of us. You don't know us yet, but we will always be here. To help you. You never face anything alone. You'll never be alone."
Harry wakes in a panic. Sweat dripping off his face. He stretches and gets out of bed. Preparing for the day. He thinks about what him and Draco are going to talk about. What kind of questions he is going to ask, about how Harry could possibly answer them. He doesn't feel nervous or scared, but he does feel the presence move to the front of his brain. He thought about everything that could possibly happen in an hour in that small, cozy room.
As he arrived, he said hi to Miss. Granger and walked back to Draco's office. He knocked on the door and after a few minutes Draco opened and let him inside. "Good morning, Harry. How was your week?" Harry relaxed at the sound of Draco's rough voice and smiled, telling him about how Hedwig really liked the new girl owl he had just received to help.
Draco smiled, sitting in his chair and listened to Harry talk about his owls. "You really love those little guys, don't you?"
Harry smiled and nodded, looking down at his fingers.
"Harry?" Draco asked.
Harry looked up at him in response.
"Can we talk about your problem now?" Draco's voice was soft and cautious. Harry nodded and kept his eyes on Draco and his breathing low.
"Do you know, or think you know, what is happening to you?"
Harry froze. He never really thought about it. Anytime he thought about something like that, he lost himself in the back of his mind. After he was back into his body he couldn't remember what he was thinking about.
"W-Why would you ask?" He could feel himself falling again. It could tell it was happening more than it used to and it frustrated him. He fought to stay in his body. He wanted to talk to Draco. He wanted to be in control of what he was doing and saying.
"Stop doing that. I am here to help. Let me help you. You don't have to talk to him, I will for you." There it was again, that voice in the back of his mind. He never heard it before. He didn't like it. He wanted it to go away and leave him alone to talk to his friend.
"He's not your friends, Harry. He's your therapist."
"Harry?" Draco's voice again, but he was too lost in his own head to answer.
"He is trying to hurt you, Harry, He is trying to make you sad. Let me help you."
"I don't want your help. Let me go. I want to talk to him." Harry thought, figuring that was the way to make the voice listen and leave him alone.
"You can have control, but I will take it back if I feel like I need to."
The pressure in his head let up. He was back in his body, but he could still feel the presence there, ready to jump.
"Harry?" Draco asked again, "Harry, please say something. We have to talk about this, it's the only way to help you get better"
"I... I think I do. I mean, I don't know. There is a voice now" Harry looks up at Draco, a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Harry, it's okay. I want to ask you some things and if they are too hard to answer now, we can skip those ones for now, but we will have to talk about them, okay?"
Harry liked talking to Draco, he made him feel safe, from things he didn't know he was feeling. But more importantly, the things he did know he was feeling. Draco asked a lot of questions about the "voice" inside his head. Harry told him he always felt something at the front of his brain, trying to take over and Draco never once made him feel stupid for not knowing what he was feeling or what was happening. He didn't have to fight with the presence through the meeting though he always felt it there, ready to take charge if it needed to. Harry was happy but a little disappointed when it ended, he was happy to be done talking about himself but he didn't want to leave Draco.
"That's about it for today. Thank you, Harry. You did really well. So what's the new owls, name?" Draco asked. He set his notes and the same folder he had last time face down on the desk behind him and smiled at Harry.
"I haven't really thought about it. Want to see a picture of her? Maybe you can help me name her?" Harry asked, thinking Draco would think him stupid for wanting him to name an animal he never met. "Never mind, you don't have to, that was stupid of me to ask." Harry quickly added, lowering his head.
"I would love to!" Draco sounded excited and Harry brought his head back up and they both moved to the couch. Draco say by the arm and threw his arm over the back of the couch. Harry say next to him and didn't pay close attention to how he sink slightly into Draco. He smelled his cologne and felt his heart skip a beat. Ignoring himself, he unlocked his phone, not caring that Draco saw his password and brought up pictures of the new owl. Draco smiled and awed, moving closer into Harry to get a better look at the pictures. They talked about her personality and Harry found himself holding his breath as Draco reached for his phone.
"Move over Harry, this is not okay. GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION" Harry felt the presence push forward. Harry was determined not to let this moment go. He continued to try and talk to Draco over the voice yelling at him in his head. He realized he was stuttering.
Draco caught on and handed the phone back, moving away from Harry. "Alice." He said, standing and moving back to the chair Harry was recently in. He kept it facing backwards and threw a leg over.
"I'm sorry?" Harry asked, feeling cold as the warmth of being pressed against Draco left.
"For the name." Draco said. "Alice."
"Like the book? Alice in Wonderland? I like it. Alice it is." Harry smiled, still feeling the pressure in his head.
"Harry, can I ask you to try something in this next week?" Draco asked, grabbing his notebook again.
"Of course." Harry said, bush back to keep control, but trying not to let Draco see.
"Talk to whatever the presence is. Try keeping a journal of every time you can tell you are losing control of yourself. I would like if you could do that, please."
Harry agreed and Draco thanked him, walking to the door. He escorted Harry out and went back to his office. He sat at his desk and scolded himself for putting them both in that situation. He put his head in his hands. He knew better than getting close to patients. He knew he couldn't keep this up. He would try to continue to see Harry. He would try to keep things professional between them.
Harry stopped by the store and picked up a journal to complete the task Draco had asked of him. When he arrived home he could feel the presence pressing harder than he ever felt. He quickly opened the journal and wrote the date. Then he was gone. He came back, full, showered and changed. He grabbed his book, not knowing if he should write the time he was back too, but he decided to. He opened the book to writing in a different style. It was cursive and small.
My name is Sirius.