My first thought upon seeing Dr. Thompson was that he definitely did not look old enough to be a doctor. With his casual jeans and T-shirt outfit, he looked as if he'd just graduated Hogwarts himself and, despite how good-looking he was, I didn't trust him to know anything about me.

Thompson shook each of our hands as we walked into an empty classroom on a cold Saturday evening. We all stood there awkwardly for a moment before he shrugged one shoulder and grinned.

"Well, hello there. I'm Dr. Thompson, but seeing as we're all adults here, you can call me Jesse."

"How old are you?" I asked bluntly. Come on, it was an honest question.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, but just kept on smiling. Jesse had a handsome face, with beautiful, bright blue eyes that were slightly hidden by thick black glasses. His light brown hair fell across his forehead carelessly, and although he was tall, his shoulders were somewhat hunched. He was obviously shy.

"I'm twenty years old," Jesse told me, shrugging again. "I know I'm a bit young, but I have a lot of experience. I'm sure I'll be able to help."

"How did you become a doctor so young?" Lo asked politely.

"Well, I graduated Hogwarts early," he told us. "So I was able to get an internship at St. Mungo's right away. And from there, I worked my way up to psychologist."

"You must have been pretty smart to accomplish that," Remus said, sounding awed.

Jesse gave a small smile, but didn't comment on his education. Instead, he said, "how about we get to work?" Taking his wand out of his pocket, he pushed the desks against the walls of the classroom. Then, he conjured a round table in the center, just big enough for eight people.

I immediately sat down, hoping to speed this thing along. I didn't want to spend my Saturday night talking about my feelings. For Merlin's sake, I felt nauseous already.

Once we were all seated, with Jesse in one of the chairs beside me, he began. "Alright, let's start with why we're here." He looked over at me pleasantly. "Violetta – "

"It's just Letta," I said coldly.

"Letta, then." Jesse's smile faltered a bit. "I know Madam Pomfrey diagnosed you with EUD. Do you think you could tell us what had you so stressed? Take your time, I know this might be hard for you."

I paused - for dramatic effect, of course - before looking him straight in the eye. "No."

I heard Sirius snort from across the table. "Listen, Jesse," he said, still smirking, "you're not going to get anything out of her. She's way too stubborn for any kind of psycho-analysis."

"Well, Mr...?" Jesse looked at him questioningly.

"Black. Sirius Black."

"Alright then, Sirius," Thompson continued, "what makes you so sure that Letta won't talk to me? Do you know her well?"

"Yes," said Sirius, at the same time I said, "No." I saw Jesse's eyebrow raise in question. "Right," he said slowly. Turning back to Sirius, he asked, "how long have you known Letta?"

Sirius shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Since first year," he said awkwardly.

"But they haven't always gotten along so well," Lily piped up, sending us both a glare.

"What do you mean?" Jesse said, looking at Lily intensely. I noticed James's arm wrap around her shoulders protectively. Lily then slapped his hand away quickly, which caused Jesse's other eyebrow to go up. Way up.

"I just mean that they've argued constantly for the past seven years," said Lily. "They've dueled so many times, I'm surprised one of them hasn't been killed yet."

"Lily, shut up," I said tersely. She was really ruining my plan to stay quiet and keep this guy from knowing anything about my inner...feelings. Blech.

"So you two have a history of violence?" Jesse said, looking back and forth between Sirius and I. Neither of us said anything. "Have you two been exposed to violence in the past?" the doctor prompted. I really wanted to punch him in the face, but I kept telling myself that it was his job. He had to ask these questions.

But that didn't mean I was going to keep my anger in check. "Yeah, you could say that," I spat at him. "Considering my mother brutally murdered herself and Sirius's family beat the crap out of him for six years." Well, shit. Why did I say that? Jesse was staring at me openly now, analyzing my every move. Bollocks. I sighed in frustration. "I just meant that – "

Jesse held up a hand. "I understand. So how about you three?" he pointed towards Remus, Lo and Peter. "Tell me about yourselves."

Peter raised his hand timidly. "I'm Peter," he squeaked, raising a fingernail to his mouth and biting down on it.

"It's nice to meet you, Peter," Jesse said, smiling.

"I'm Willow Addams," said Lo, glancing at Remus hesitantly. She opened her mouth to say something, but I saw Remus shake his head at her discreetly. She closed her mouth and looked away.

"Did you want to say something?" asked Jesse politely, gesturing for her to go on.

"No," Willow said in a small voice. I've never seen her so...defeated. She looked genuinely sad, but I didn't have the slightest clue what was wrong. Lily and I sent each other confused looks. "This is Remus," Lo said after a slight pause. "My boyfriend." Her tone was firm at the end, as if she wanted everyone to know she meant business. I wondered if their strange behavior had anything to do with his lycanthropy.

"Alright..." Jesse's voice trailed off uncertainly. "How about you two? Are you in a relationship?" he asked Lily, nodding towards James.

"Yes," James said immediately. But Jesse was staring at Lily, who didn't look too sure. "Lily?" said James worriedly.

"I-I don't know," she stuttered. "I don't know if we're together."

"What d'you mean you don't know?" James repeated, clenching his fists. "We had that whole conversation – and Hogsmeade – we went on a date, damn it!" I'd never seen him get this angry at her before. In fact, I don't think I'd ever seen James Potter angry at Lily Evans. It was usually the other way around.

"James," said Lily wearily. "I already told you, I – "

"Yeah, you already told me," James snapped. "Well, I'm sick of you leading me on like this. You are such a tease. All year it's been about your feelings – if you're ready and how you feel about me. Did it ever occur to you that I have feelings, too? That I'm not just some love-struck puppy who follows you around because he has nothing better to do?"

The rest of us waited in silence, but Lily didn't say anything. Something shiny caught my attention, and I realized that tears were running down my best friend's face. I moved my chair slightly closer to the right, where she was sitting, and put an arm around her. She leaned on me and covered her face with her hands. Damn, I thought, biting my lip, and I thought there would just be drama about my mother. I shot an angry look at our stupid psychiatrist.

"Alright," Jesse said smoothly, "how about we try something different? It's an exercise that will allow us to loosen up a bit and, who knows, maybe something good will come out of it."

"What kind of exercise?" I asked warily, glancing at Lily.

"I'm going to call on one person randomly from the group, and I'll give them a word," he began explaining. "They have to answer with the first word that pops into their mind, as fast as they can. For each person, I'll give them a series of words. You have to be paying attention though, because this game is fast paced and you don't know who I'm going to call on next."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, partly because the exercise was intriguing. "Fine," I snapped, but my heart wasn't really in it. I couldn't keep pretending to hate Jesse just because he was a shrink.

"Alright. Lo, you're up first," said Jesse, smiling encouragingly at Lo.

She gulped. "Okay."

"Ready?" he asked, and when she nodded, Jesse began: "Fun."

"Reading."

"Qudditch."

"Dangerous."

"Summertime."

"Warm."

"Shoes."

"Pretty."

"Remus."

"Werewolf." There was a beat of silence before Lo clapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god," she muttered. "Oh my god."

Remus was looking at her with betrayal in his eyes. I wanted to defend my friend, tell him that Jesse had tricked her. But even I didn't know what to say.

"It's alright, Remus," Jesse said before anyone could break the deafening silence. "I already knew about your lycanthropy. But I thought that was what Lo wanted to talk about and...I was right. There's something going on there, and you both know it."

"How did you know about my...condition?" Remus asked, glaring at Jesse.

"Dumbledore told me about the special procedures put into place when you came to Hogwarts," Jesse admitted. "I read about it when he gave me your student file, so he decided to explain it further."

Remus nodded stiffly, before turning to Lo. His expression softened. "He's right. We need to talk about this and what's...bothering you."

Lo nodded, relieved. "I'm sorry." She grabbed his hand.

"Don't be sorry," Remus sighed. "We're going to have a nice dinner tonight, sit down and really talk about this. We'll come to an understanding, okay? We always do.

I could see some of the tension leave Lo's shoulders. She smiled brightly up at her boyfriend. "Okay. Thank you."

As I watched their exchange, I suddenly felt an irrational anger erupt inside of me. No, it wasn't anger. It was...envy. I envied Lo for being able to talk about what was bothering her. She was so sweet and innocent...she didn't have limitations on what she could say. She wasn't afraid about how her feelings would affect others. She was so...real.

"Okay," said Jesse, clapping his hands. "That's settled then. Now, back to the game…" His voice trailed off as he looked around the group. "Sirius! Your first word is: pranks."

"Uh, fun."

"Books."

"Boring."

"Houselves."

"Helpful."

"Patronus."

"Dog."

"Letta."

Sirius hesitated for a moment, before giving Jesse a sly grin. "Nice try, Doc."

I looked away from Sirius for a moment, trying to mask my reaction. I wasn't sure how I felt about his hesitation. I was partly relieved that Jesse hadn't been able to screw with his head, but on the other hand...I kind of wanted to know what he would have said about me. In fact, I really wanted to know.

Jesse was laughing at Sirius's comment, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Well, Mr. Black, I have to hand it to you. You sure know how to keep control of your emotions." Then he looked at me, and I knew it was my turn. "Letta: Water."

"Wet," I responded immediately. If Sirius could keep his emotions in check, then I definitely could. There was no way Jesse could fool me into saying something stupid.

"School."

Shit. I hadn't been paying attention. Focus, Letta! "Uh, learning," I faltered.

"Boys."

"Penis." I smriked at Jesse when he cringed, but he was already on to the next one. This game was so fast, it practically made my head spin. I didn't know what I was saying, all I knew was that I had to get an answer out as quickly as possible.

"Dresses."

"Itchy."

"Pillow."

"Soft."

"Nifflers."

"Vicious," I said, thinking of Sirius's irrational fear of the cute little creatures. My lips twitched into a smile.

"Cheese."

"Rat."

"Hair."

"Red." Why was he taking so long with me? Was he trying to catch me off guard? But it was too hard to concentrate on that with Jesse flinging words at me.

"Parchment."

"Quill."

"Cold."

"Winter."

"Hot."

"Sirius."

I hadn't even realized what I said. I sat there impatiently, waiting for Jesse to give me another word. But then I realized.

Oh, sweet Circe and Merlin, I just called Sirius Black hot. I looked around at my friends. Lily and Lo were smirking at me; James, Remus and Peter were trying to muffle their laughter; and Sirius was just staring at me impassively.

"Uh," I stuttered, trying to find something to say. "I mean. He's good looking. You're good looking," I said to him grudgingly. "I'm not blind. Just because I said he's hot doesn't mean I want to snog the bloke. Is that clear?" I demanded, glaring at him.

"Crystal," he snapped. For some reason, he looked peeved. Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the floor murderously. "It's not like I'd want to kiss you, anyway," he muttered in a low voice. But I heard him.

"Well, good," was my lame comeback. But it didn't matter because Sirius had already stood up violently, knocking over his chair in the process.

"I'm out of here," he said roughly, starting to make his way to the door.

"Wait a second," said Jesse, also standing up. He was about as tall as Sirius, but Black's anger made him seem even more powerful.

"You can't keep me here," Sirius growled. "Madam Pomfrey didn't order me to see a shrink. She's the crazy one." He jabbed a finger at me.

"Then get out of here," I spat. I wouldn't let him know how much his words had hurt me. I was not crazy. If he wanted to be a big baby just because I refused to kiss him, that was fine by me. I didn't need him anyway.

"You're not leaving, Sirius," Jesse said firmly.

"Watch me." Sirius pushed past the doctor, but Jesse put a hand on his shoulder.

"If you don't stay, I will tell Professor McGonagall that I diagnosed you during this session and I will make sure that you have to come back for another meeting. Alone."

His threat hung ominously in the air. Well, it was ominous for Sirius, at least. I knew he never wanted to meet with this crackpot fool again. "Fine," he said after a moment of silence. "Fine, I'll stay." He picked up his fallen chair and sat back down angrily. I could tell Jesse had wounded his pride and ego a bit, but that was all the better for me. He deserved it.

"Good," Jesse said, also sitting back down. "I think that's enough of that exercise for today...It's time that we have a discussion for each couple and what they're going through. I really think that'll help."

"Couple?" I echoed, about to protest. Surprisingly, Lily beat me to it.

"Excuse me, Doctor Thompson," she began, always so polite. But her voice had a slight edge to it. "I know you're trying to help, but...each, er, couple has its own problems and I don't think we'd all be comfortable with – "

"Exactly," Jesse interrupted. "You're not comfortable talking about this in front of your friends, and yet you were all invited to a therapy session where it's obvious that you're supposed to talk about your feelings. I think you all need to talk about what's going on between you guys."
"Well," Lily tried again, but Jesse held up a hand to stop her.

"These are dark times," he said gravely. "I'm sure you all know what's going on right now in the wizarding world. There's fear and desperation everywhere. Some of your families might have been affected." He glanced toward Sirius. "What I'm saying is...you have to stick together. The students at Hogwarts are the next generation to be out there, fighting whatever there is to come. You have to secure your ties while you're still safe. You can't do that if you're fighting amongst yourselves or keeping secrets from each other."

He looked around at each of our faces. "I know you're still young. Hell, I'm still young, and I have a degree. But there's a war coming. If you can't trust the people you spend every day with...you're never going to get through this alive. None of you are invincible. You have to trust each other. That's the only way you can stay safe."

There was yet another foreboding silence afer Jesse's speech. I was the first to speak. "You're right," I said, sighing. I took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of each person in the room. James. Remus. Peter. Lily. Lo. And then Sirius. "I trust all of you," I said softly. "There's no one else I would trust with my life. I would protect all of you if need be. I hope you know that."

My friends nodded. Each of them had the same steely expression in their eyes. I was sure my face was the same. Jesse was right; there was a war coming. It loomed over us, getting closer and closer each day. Death Eaters. Dark marks. Unforgiveable curses. Fear. Deceit. Disguise. Death. This was our life now. As soon as we left Hogwarts, we would be in the midst of something way bigger than anything we could handle alone. We needed each other.

"Alright, so who's going first?" Jesse asked, smiling sadly. "Remus and Lo? How about you?"

As you can tell, I'm splitting this chapter into two parts. So don't worry, there's more to come!