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Ready to face the music?	By : sappysappysappy Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 2066 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not profit from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Thanks: to Krystle Bertoncin, my new Beta, for streamlining this story and cheering me along the way.

Ready to Face the Music?

Second Session: Defects for Everyone

"Hello everyone," Hermione greeted the group cheerfully as she sat in her chair and lifted the silencing charms from the group. She gave them all a pointed look.

After a moment Pettigrew's eyes suddenly widened and he squeaked "Hello, Dr. Granger." The rest stared at him witheringly. His shoulders began to hunch and he gave her a pleading smile. She ignored him and continued to stare at the rest of them. As the silence lengthened, she began tapping her foot impatiently and fingering her wand. Finally, one by one, they said "Hello, Dr. Granger."

She let out her breath. "Good, good. I see you're all ready and eager to start our second session." The Etiquette Sheets she sent them earlier had done their job! After the fiasco with Mr. Snape last time she had brainstormed for three days before she came up with them. "Today's session will be about exploring your ideas on how to make yourself better people. I hope everyone gave a lot of thought to this matter. I cannot empathize enough how important this is for all of you. Don't you agree?"

A few "Yes, Dr. Granger." and one quivering "Yes, Oh dear, dear lady!" filled the conversational gap. Dr. Granger made a face.

"So, would anyone like to volunteer to be first?"

"Let it be me, dear lady," Pettigrew crowed enthusiastically. Everyone looked expectantly at the doctor. The doctor took a breath and turned to face her first volunteer.

"All right, Mr. Pettigrew. Tell us what you came up with." She looked down at her clipboard. "Your assignment was to become trustworthy again."

"Yes, yes, of course. I thought of nothing but that, my lady. From morn till dusk and beyond Peter sat and pondered this question. He did not waste this precious time on leisurely meals or lengthy washes or lazy daydreams. All he did was sit and think about how to earn this lofty thing: trustworthiness, how you may find it in your heart to believe Peter Pettigrew is sincere in telling you that he only lives to serve you, dear, sweet doctor Lady. I-"

"Yes, yes, that's all very well, Mr. Pettigrew, but what were the ideas you spent so much time coming up with?" She wrinkled her nose. He must have been sincere about foregoing the pleasures of washes at least, though his rotund figure did not lend itself to his other claim.

"Erm, well, you can trust me, my lady. Poor old Pettigrew would not dream of lifting a finger against you, the great Witch Doctor Healer Granger. I have always admired you and craved your respect. Peter lives only to please you. Can you look Peter in the eyes and tell him that you will never be able to trust him? Please tell me that this isn't so. You see before you a shadow of a Wizard that only your trust can restore in some measure. No one trusts Pettigrew. No one believes him. They all doubt him because they think Peter betrayed his friends, the Marauders, who trusted him with their lives, but could you resist the power of the Dark Lord if you were in his place? Could anyone? Only Harry Potter ever faced him unbent and lived to tell of it. Lady, have pity on me. You can call Pettigrew a wretch. You can spit on him and despise him but please tell Peter that it's possible one day you will trust him."

Hermione felt bile rise up in her throat. She wanted to spit on this wretch. She wanted to tell him she would never ever trust him. Not in a million years. That he deserved nothing from her or anyone else… but she couldn't. She couldn't do such a thing and still consider herself a good psychotherapist. She needed to give this wretch some hope. "I don't now, Peter. You want me to trust you but trust must be earned. How will you earn it?"

Pettigrew seemed ready for this question. Ignoring the others' disdainful expressions he looked her straight in the eye and replied. "You want me to prove my trustworthiness to you, but how can Peter do that when he has no power to prove it with? Give me some power, lady, and you will see how trustworthy I am. Release me from these cuffs and lend me your wand. Peter will not abuse it but do as you wish and return it to you when you request it. You will know then that I am trustworthy."

Everyone became stock still. Hermione gripped her Wand with whitened fingers. "Any other ideas?"

Pettigrew did not falter. "Do not fear. You know this is the only way, my lady. You hesitate because you heard bad things about Pettigrew, but Peter has never hurt the lady. Nothing bad will happen to you." He smiled at her. "Guards beyond count wait outside the door ready to rescue the lady should anything happen to her. Wards as staunch as Dumbledore guard against any attempt to escape. You have nothing to fear. Release Peter and give him the wand and the lady will see he is as tame as a pet rat." His ratlike eyes gleamed at her. His yellowed teeth appeared in what he must have thought was a disarming smile.

Her confrontation with him at the end of her third year came back to her with a vengeance. He must be mad as a hatter, to say such things. Hermione silently repeated Professor McGregor's mantra from her Uni days: 'don't give in to their demands my boys and girls. No matter how passionate, how sure and sincere they seem to you, just remember one thing. It's all built on mad, simplistic foundations that will crumble at the first whiff of common sense. You remember when to say no or they'll eat you up for breakfast before you know it.'

Hermione tightened her lips and gave Pettigrew a pointed stare before saying "No."

"But–" he began.

Hermione lifted her wand threateningly and said, "I said no and I meant it. Trust, Mr. Pettigrew, is not something that's freely given, like candy, in great spades, particularly to someone with your past. It must be earned over time and in small doses. Won't you agree?"

"If the lady says no, Pettigrew cannot argue with that," Pettigrew muttered before taking a deep breath. "What must Peter do to earn the lady's trust?"

"Does anyone have suggestions for Mr. Pettigrew, Group?" Hermione asked her Group. "How do you think Mr. Pettigrew can become trustworthy again? Remember, raise your heads if you have something to say and wait for my permission before you speak."

Snape instantly had his nose in the air, managing to look disdainful and bored.

"Yes, Mr. Snape."

"'Mr. Pettigrew', likes mouldy cheese. He salivates at the mere whiff of it. Isn't that right, Wormtail?" Pettigrew sputtered at this but Snape didn't give him a chance to say anything. "Recall Pavlov's experiment, Dr. Granger. This rat in human clothing will be easy to train with such rewards. He will salivate his way into what will seem to you a perfect trustworthiness." Dolohov and the Carrows guffawed. "Stupid Wormtail," Mr. Dolohov added between snorts.

"Don't listen to him, my lady!" Pettigrew screeched. "He was the Dark Lord's favourite. Don't demean yourself by listening to him. He's got a poisoned tongue and he always bit the hand that fed him in the end. Lily, Potter, Albus Dumbledore, the Dark Lord…"

Snape made a hem-hem sound and theatrically lifted his nose once more.

"Yes, Mr Snape," she sighed.

"It seems like 'Mr. Pettigrew' forgot your instructions on proper etiquette for our Group meetings, Dr. Granger. He has clearly spoken out of turn just now and he addressed you improperly as Lady instead of Doctor numerous times today. Perhaps some negative reinforcement is in order?" he asked her mockingly. Pettigrew gave her a worried look and bit his lip.

"That's enough, Mr. Snape." Hermione ground out. How she wished she could punish him instead of Pettigrew but she had to follow the rules. As Professor McGregor liked to say, 'If you don't follow the rules you've set, they are not Rules but whims.' "I'm afraid I have to take an etiquette point from you, Mr. Pettigrew." Lifting her wand over her shoulder she conjured the blackboard she prepared beforehand and replaced the zero next to Pettigrew's name with a minus one. Pettigrew's eyes filled with tears and she looked away, disgusted.

"Anyone else have any ideas? Yes Mr. Carrow."

"It seems to me that the best answer to your concerns lies within the field of the Dark Arts. To ensure Mr. Pettigrew's trustworthiness all you need to do is make him swear an Unbreakable Oath on the matter. With the proper wording his trustworthiness can be ensured." He giggled.

Hermione paled, and then scolded herself. She should have expected something like this from a crowd of ex-Death-Eaters. Gathering her thoughts she slowly replied. "Putting aside the issue of using shady magic in the first place, our task here is to heal faulty minds, not chain them into a semblance of normalcy. Furthermore, no oath can cover every possible contingency. If it is only the oath that holds Mr. Pettigrew in check and not his own morals and earnest wish to be a better man than he cannot truly be trusted."

"But the Unbreaka-"

"No, Mr. Carrow. Just no. Anyone else?" Goyle looked at her and started moving his head up and down. "Did you wish to say something, Mr. Goyle?"

"Eh…" Goyle's lips quivered, worriedly. "Ah… hmm…" Obviously the man wasn't comfortable having everyone look at him. Being intellectually challenged, he must fear the ridicule of his fellows. Hermione smiled encouragingly at him. He smiled back. "What do want me to say?" he asked her.

Hermione ground her teeth and gentled her tone. "Whatever it is you wished to say."

Goyle's brows furrowed before suddenly his eyes lit up. "Can I have a bigger chair? And bigger cuffs? They're too small for me. My back hurts and I have bruises on my wrists and ankles."

"What does that have with Mr. Pettigrew's dilemma?"

"Well, maybe his chair is uncomfortable for him too. Yeh, you should give him a wider chair so his stomach won't bother him so much. It's not fair to give big Wizards small chairs."

Hermione was losing her patience fast. The rest barely suppressed their laughter while Pettigrew was vainly trying to inhale his rotund stomach. "This has nothing to do with the subject of our conversation, Mr. Goyle! Why would you ask permission to speak just to go on such a tangent?"

"Beg pardon? You were the one who asked me to say something. I never asked permission for nothing. Except the bigger chair, er, chairs. And cuffs." He looked at her with big, confused eyes.

Hermione breathed slowly through her gritted teeth. "You did! When I asked, if anyone else, had any suggestions, to help Mr. Pettigrew, with his problems, you looked at me. And moved. Your head."

"I wasn't asking permission, ma'am, er, doctor. I was just rubbing my neck. My chair's small and my neck hurt. Can't I rub my neck?"

"You-" Hermione wanted the ground to swallow her. How could she make such a basic mistake? She had to do damage control, or she'll never live it down. She cleared her throat. "From now on if I ask whether you have something to say and you didn't mean to say anything, don't make up something but just say you didn't mean to say anything. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Dr Granger."

"Good, good. Now…" she tried to regain her thread of thought. What was she about to say? "Now… so no one else has any suggestion to help Mr. Pettigrew." No one rose to the challenge this time except Dolohov who rubbed his head with great exaggeration and made baby faces at her. She glared at him until he stopped. "Well then, as I was saying, Mr. Pettigrew, what you need to do is prove your trustworthiness gradually to us, in small doses. Is that acceptable to you?" the man nodded vigorously. "Well then, we are going to perform a little exercise to expedite this. Each of us will tell you something in confidence while the others can't hear you. You must then decide what to do with the information you gain. We will review your performance in next week's session and decide how you did. If you succeed in this, you will regain your etiquette point. Remember, with better points come better imprisonment conditions. Group, I want each of you to tell Mr. Pettigrew something about yourselves. It doesn't have to be anything important, it can be your favorite color or your opinion about someone else in the group. Here, I'll start." She went to Pettigrew's chair and leaned into his ear. "My favorite color is gold," she whispered. Pettigrew eyes shone and he whispered back "You can count on me." His breath was foul.

Getting quickly back into her chair, she gave Mr. Goyle a questioning look. "Yeh, sure," he nodded back. Waving her Wand, she sent Mr. Goyle and Pettigrew, chairs and all, to a corner of the room. Goyle said something to Pettigrew and shouted, "I'm done." to her. One by one, she sent the rest of the group to the corner with Pettigrew. Dolohov seemed amused at the exercise and talked lengthily with Pettigrew in the corner, Bellatrix and Snape barely said a word to him and the Carrows didn't seem to care one way or another.

Finally they were all back in place. Pettigrew's eyes were dancing happily. Hermione took up her clipboard and wrote:

'Proposed trust exercise #7c initiated with Mr. Pettigrew.

Review of results to be made at Session #3.'

She looked at her notes. "How about you, Mr. Goyle? We agreed last session that your task is to find better ways to deal with problems than through violence. Do you have any notions how you will accomplish that?"

The heavy man nodded. "Yeh. From now, I don't use violence."

"That's it?" Hermione demanded, flabbergasted.

"It's not the answer? I should use violence?"

“No! What I mean is, can you elaborate a little?"

"Elaborate?" he asked her blankly.

"Yes. How do you plan to avoid using violence?"

"Oh. I don't punch them, or kick them. I say," he glanced at Snape, who nodded back and mouthed something at him. "I say, 'That bothered me. Please stop.'"

Hermione breathed slowly. "And suppose he doesn't stop whatever it is that's bothering you?"

Goyle's brows lowered. "I say, 'That bothered me. Please stop.' Again."

"And what do you do if he still doesn't stop?" she ground out.

"Erm… then I give him a knocker and take him to St. Mungo's."

"What? Why?"

"Because there must be something wrong with his head if he doesn't get 'That bothered me. Please stop.' after I told it to him two times. The Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo's will have to fix him."

"The wha-, no, never mind." She hid behind her clipboard. How did this oaf manage to do this to her? She was a certified, top of her class, psychotherapist. And yet, again and again he made a fool out of her. It wasn't possible. Snape must be at the bottom of this. Goyle was too stupid to outfox her like that time after time on his own. She remembered the looks the two exchanged. That must be it. She gave Snape a hard smile. Should she say something? Should she oust the contrary man now? No, she'll just sound paranoid. Mustn't have that. She'll deal with this later. She wrote 'Goyle – obviously Snape's cat's-paw for disrupting the Group sessions and degrading my standing in the Group. Goyle must be weaned from Snape so the healing process can begin for him.' Hermione chuckled. Soon Mr. Goyle will no longer be a problem. Isolate Mr. Goyle from Snape's disruptive influence and win the oaf's trust for herself – that was what she'll do.

Putting on a straight face, she looked at her notes. "Moving on now, Mr. Dolohov, your task was to work on your foul language and bad manners. Did you come up with any notions on the subject?"

Dolohov gave her a crooked smile. "Sure. Mungo birds like you kiss their patients to make them all better. I'm so sick in the head that bad words come out of my mouth. So every time you don't like my language, you kiss this mouth and make all the bad words go away. How about it, cunt?" He puckered his lips at her.

She let lose a Stinging Hex at those meaty lips before she could think about it.

"Fuckh! Wha' dyou do tha' for? Fuckhin' 'itch!"

"You will address me as Dr. Granger, Mr. Dolohov." She canceled the hex and replaced the zero on the board next to his name with a minus one. "Continue to behave like this and your score will continue to deteriorate. While your fellows will reap the rewards of their good behavior you will languish away without any 'walkies' or 'wand wavies' as you so elegantly phrased it in our last session."

"You can't do this to me, you whore. I'm Dolohov! I'm not fucking getting points taken from me. Fuck to that. Fuc-"

Hermione cast a mild Silencing Charm on him. "A point will be taken for a whole bad session, I think. If you manage to improve your language and manners by the end of the session your score will return to zero. But you will be silenced for five minutes every time you utter three consecutive curse words. We can't have you disrupting our Group Sessions with your curses. Isn't this a fine notion for dealing with your problem?"

"A most excellent notion." Pettigrew piped in. Mr. Carrow nodded thoughtfully and grinned while his sister sneered. Bellatrix opined that a little Crucio beneath the Silencio will solve the problem much quicker and would be a nice thing to do in any case. Snape gave her an approving half smile while Goyle said he thought Dolohov's cursing was funny and it wasn't fair to silence him like that. Dolohov looked ready to burst.

Hermione hugged her clipboard close to her and wrote a big +1 next to her own name.

"On that note, if your score reaches the minus seven mark, you will leave the Group Therapy, as I outlined in the etiquette sheets you received, so be careful."

"But what about me?" Bellatrix cut in. "It's my turn now, isn't it?" She pouted. "Do you think I look pretty?"

"I- sure." Hermione stuttered.

"You're not just saying that, are you? I wouldn't want you to lie to me."

"No! You look very pretty."

"Good." The woman giggled. "I am pretty. Pretty and cheerful as a jay in May. The Dark Lord will like me. How could he not? All thanks to you, my pretty little Mudblood. Do you think he will reward you to me? We will have such gay old times, me and you, just like we used to. Oh, how happy we were at the Malfoy’s, you wailing so prettily on the Ziegler. They didn't like the stains you made," She added conspiratorially, "not at all. But we didn't care about their foibles, did we, my little Mudblood." She giggled again.

Hermione sat rooted to her seat. They heard. They all heard. Hermione smiled a brittle smile. "No. Do… do you need shampoos or soap? Well of course you do, how silly of me to ask. I'll get them for you right away. Or make them. And perfumes, mustn't forget the perfumes. I thought perhaps 'Black Rosette'? It would be no problem to get a bottle for you. Or a couple if you prefer. The guards wouldn't let me give you needles and fabrics to make your own apparel of course, heh heh, but perhaps I could order you robes that will fit you. I can do that and if they don't fit perhaps I can-" Hermione babbled. "Red and forest green. Those will please you, will they not? Or would you rather have something in black? Or maybe both, yes both! I could… I could –" Hermione tore her eyes away from Bellatrix.

Dolohov laughed. "Bellatrix got a new toy."

Bellatrix stopped giggling. "I thought you said I look pretty."

Hermione's eyes remained averted. "With proper accoutrements you will look prettier." She said neutrally. She was the doctor. She was still in control. She just let her tongue run with her for a moment. Everything was all right. Appeasing Bellatrix by prettying her up was simply the task she chose for her patient. Hermione bit her cheek.

Bellatrix' smile returned. "That's true. The Dark Lord will be pleased to see me all polished and pleasing on the day he returns. The fabric has to be green dragon-hide leather, mind. And don't forget the make-up."

"No, of course not."

"Well, go on, gruel Snape about his faults. I know you want to."

Dr. Granger stared murder at her clipboard. She crossed out the pretty +1 next to her name and wrote a little -1 in its place.

"It is your turn, Mr. Snape." She permitted, in a confident voice. "How do you propose to remedy your lack in compassion and patience?"

"As the wise men say, 'act in haste, repent at leisure.' Could truer words have ever been spoken? Therefore, as a test of my patience which I freely admit has always been lacking, I have forgone the pleasure of reaching a hasty decision on this most important matter and will continue to ponder the matter by myself, in a sedately and judicious manner considering all possible aspects of the matter until at length I will find an adequate answer."

"Are you trying to avoid your task?"

"Not at all, Dr. Granger. As I explained, I work diligently on the task you appointed me and even manage in the process to better myself in these very subjects by not giving in to my tendency for verbosity and outspokenness. What use would there be in wearying you with the tedious details of my incomplete thoughts? It would be selfish of me and uncompassionate to outline them to you and the rest of the Group.

"You have had a long and trying session with us today and two more of my fellows await your pleasure after me. Would it be compassionate of me to take any more of your precious time? Would it help to remedy my 'lack of compassion and patience' in any way? And while I would have the pleasure of speaking to you and expanding on my thoughts the task will not be furthered by it and you will not benefit from it. Therefore, despite the temptation to spill my thoughts to you, I choose to remain silent on the matter and call upon you to help me to keep my resolve."

Hermione was speechless. She tried to come with a counterargument but nothing came to her. Any argument she chose would be met with more of his hogwash. After Bellatrix, she wanted to butt heads with her ex-Professor but it would just waste everyone's time and achieve nothing in the end. She wouldn't give him that pleasure. "Very well. We will postpone this conversation until the next meeting but no further. If you do not come up with an answer by then, you will start to lose points, just like Mr. Dolohov." She wrote 'Be merciless with Mr. Snape. Merciless!'

"As you say, Dr. Granger. I aim to please."

Dolohov snorted. "Good one, Snape. Aim to please. Fuck it all sideways if that's not hilarious. You're a real player. When you tweak a fanny, you tweak it good, eh? That's two, Dr. Granger," he told her in a mocking, effeminate voice. "Don't you get any ideas now, you twat."

She silenced him once more. Dolohov silently said "Oops," and hit his head on his headrest.

Hermione was already feeling better. "And now we turn to you, Mr. Carrow. How will you regain the respect of others?"

"Ah, I will do what the Malfoys always did. I will donate my money to the Ministry and St. Mungo's and Hogwarts," he told her loftily. Then he giggled.

"You don't have any money. The Ministry confiscated all of it to pay for the war damages."

"They did what?" There was no trace of laughter on his face now. "Then I will found a library with the many rare and valuable books in my collection to benefit the Wizarding public."

"The Ministry burned those books. They were deemed too Dark and dangerous for the public. Not that there were that many of them to begin with. Now Snape's stash… Anyway, you have no money, books or other possessions."

The man's eyes darkened, he bared his teeth in a feral smile. "They can't take my things away from me. I won't allow it. I'll-" He grew quiet once more. "I find myself at a loss. Advise me how should I regain their respect?"

"Group?" she prompted the rest. "Yes, Mr. Pettigrew."

"Respect is found through humility. He who gives our good lady er doctor his respect and devotion will be rewarded back tenfold. Peter knows this."

"What a toady," someone said.

"Too true," someone else replied.

"Mr. Pettigrew makes a good point," the doctor overrode them. "Acting with humility and demonstrating remorse for your past 'mistakes' will take you a long way in regaining others' respect. That applies to all of you."

"Don't listen to her, Amycus." His sister warned him. "Don't let her turn you against everything you stood for. You should be proud of your accomplishments. You were a role model to a whole generation of Hogwarts students. Seeking the respect of your inferiors will only demean you to their level. Don't wallow in the mud with this filth."

"Ms. Carrow." Hermione bared her own teeth. "Still wallowing in your foul prejudices I see. Could it be that you did not even try to find ways to break out of your sickening attitudes?"

"I-" Ms. Carrow spluttered. "I never agreed-"

"That was the task you were assigned in our little Group. Are you reneging on it, Ms. Carrow?" She was sounding positively Snape-ish.

"No… of course not. I'm here aren't I?" She gave them all a defiant look.

"Well then, what did you come up with so far? Well?"

Ms. Carrow didn't reply. She tried to glare back at the doctor and opened her mouth several times to give some retort but Hermione's glare silenced her.

She looked pleadingly at her brother. "Say something damn it," she shouted. There was a wild look in her eyes. "How can you let that filth address me like that? Brother, you have to say something." Her brother gave a little giggle. "Traitor!" She spat in his face. Her eyes jumped wildly from one person to another until finally they settled on the other woman in the room. "Bellatrix, you hate them as much as I do. Help me!"

Bellatrix pouted. "I don't hate them, do I?" she replied in a childish singsong. "I love them. So pretty and fragile. Pretty and fragile, pity they struggle, look how they stumble, gladly I'll dabble."

"No one is going to help you." Dr. Granger told the woman. "Since it's obvious you're incapable of coming up with ways to overcome your prejudices by yourself I will tell you what you must do. You will be polite to me and learn to tolerate me. In time you will need to embrace the truth that all humans, be they Pureblood, Muggleborn or even Muggles are your equals. Work hard to break out of your diseased belief system and you will become part of normal society once more, in spirit if not in flesh."

Hermione leaned forward. "This was a good session, Group. We examined the defects of each of you and worked on finding ways to remedy them and what's more, we did it in a relatively polite and orderly manner. But there is an important additional lesson to be learned from today's session. Can anyone guess it? No? It is that the defects each of you has are shared by everyone else. By revealing your own faults and discussing them openly with the rest, you helped everyone else in the Group deal with these same defects in themselves. Don't denounce one of your number or another for the things they revealed today. Don't despise them for what happened to them in today's session. Instead, support them in their struggle to overcome their defects. Remember that you yourself share their defects. You are all prejudiced against Muggleborns and Muggles to some degree or another. You would not have become Death Eaters otherwise. You are all lacking in the trustworthiness department. You would not sit here cuffed to your chaired without wands otherwise.

"In the following sessions we will try to address each of these defects you suffer. I want all of you to consider what was discussed today and ask yourself how it may apply to yourself. Next session we will address the issue of trustworthiness, for without trust there is no Group.

"Good luck."

*~*~*

Author's Note - ChaosLady, after reading your review I couldn't stop hearing "I'm so pretty" which was hillarious. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be. Hope you like the new chapter.

Draconia Lesoto - As this chapter mentions, the current Group members are not there to stay if they misbehave (and maybe if they behave perfectly as well?) Some of them are going to be cut from the group as the story progresses so there is a definite possibility we will see a Malfoy.
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