Queer & There

Chapter Fourteen
Therapy

Draco stared around him, a little grin spreading across his features as he turned to Harry. He felt the urge to hop a bit, and indulged this, at which the boy beside him laughed out loud. Draco scowled momentarily, before remembering that they were standing in their club.

The building was finally ready, it seemed, for work to start. Hermione had called that morning with the necessary information, and while Draco had seen the place the first time they had looked it over, it suddenly seemed much, much prettier. It had two floors - the first a large open space with a bar at the far side and installed bathrooms, and the second had a smaller space for the public and a blocked off area with a fabulous office and, strangely, a bedroom. Draco quite liked this addition.

Another thing that was very appealing about standing in the club came in the form of being a distraction from Draco's much dreaded therapy. His first session was to be the same afternoon, with Dr Cherriosa. Harry had insisted that immediately afterwards, Draco meet with him and Lupin, as though to eradicate any damage done as quickly as possible. Draco thought this was a slight overreaction, but couldn't quite object to spending time with his boyfriend.

It was all coming together nicely, though. They had been dating, as it were, for two whole days, without a hiccup. Of course there had been the problem with sex - or rather, the lack thereof - and the incident with Narcissa, but Draco felt that couldn't possibly be held against them. If anything, it was Harry's fault. Draco was an innocent, he felt, and Harry clearly had a desperate, sex ridden mind. As for Narcissa, Draco felt that if it weren't for Harry's desperate, sex ridden mind they never would have got themselves into that state in the first place, thus creating a reaction from his mother. It all fit together quite nicely.

However, when Draco presented this to Harry, he had received a smack on the top of the head with the other boy's rolled up paperwork. This was how they stood now, although Draco had perked up considerably due to standing in His Club.

"You know, we are actually running this together," Harry pointed out for the fourteenth time that afternoon. Draco thought he was being quite touchy about it, really. "It's my money, remember?"

Draco shrugged. "Sort of."

This was met with a pause and a raise of Harry's eyebrows, as the man seemed to slightly raise the paperwork again with a hint of a threat in his eyes. "How is it- sort of? What do you mean, sort of?"

"Well, I suppose it could be seen as mine, ish," Draco pointed out easily. It made a world of sense to him.

Clearly, Harry couldn't quite make the same connection as his boyfriend, because he stood still and quiet for a considerably long moment. "Again, how is it yours?"

Draco beamed, and pointed out, "Penance money."

"Penance."

"Yes! For putting up with you!" Draco nodded insistently, a little grin appearing once again. He was thoroughly pleased with this explanation, and didn't object when Harry leaned across to press a soft kiss to his mouth. "What?"

Harry shrugged, smiling nonetheless, as he tapped Draco on the arm with his wad of papers, causing the blond to flinch unnecessarily.

"So what do I get for putting up with you?" Harry asked, poking his tongue out playfully as Draco's arm flinched again and his lower lip trembled dramatically. "I think my situation involves slightly more coping."

"Coping with what?" Draco pouted.

Harry rolled his eyes once again, and set down the papers on a nearby surface. Draco wasn't sure why he had done this until the other boy started to list off on his fingers, "Well, there's your insolence, for one-" Before Draco could finish his indignant squeak, Harry continued, "Your vanity, your whininess, that stupid little noise you make when you're pretending to be insulted..." He grinned. "Should I continue?"

"No." Draco tried very hard not to make another squeak of a noise, given that Harry had just listed it off. He felt the boy looked altogether too smug. "You're horrid."

Still though, he didn't object when Harry let his arms fold around Draco's waist from behind him, instead giving a happy sort of sigh that sounded strange to his ears. He had never felt particularly- comfortable in a relationship, but Harry seemed to have a way of being very soothing. That in itself was unsettling, and Draco found it all very confusing. He had known Harry to be frustrating, but this was something of a special achievement.

For once he wasn't complaining.

* * *

"So, it appears you display the common traits of a very confused young man, Mr Malfoy."

Dr Cherriosa's office was not symmetrical, Draco noticed. He peered around nosily to try and work out just what it was, and realised that there were far too many plants in one corner. He gave a triumphant little grin and praised himself for his good work, which seemed to alert the doctor's attention.

"Mr Malfoy," he announced, tapping his quill against his desk very unnecessarily. Draco narrowed his eyes just slightly and plotted death on the irritating rhythm. "I can imagine you're feeling..." The doctor paused thoughtfully. "...rather conflicted at the moment."

Draco shrugged and gave a little shake of his head. He was sure Dr Cherriosa wasn't referring to his plant construction, and so he replied, "Not really."

Cherriosa frowned, looked further contemplative, and glanced at his quill, which scribbled something down on the parchment set at his desk. "Your mother tells me you've been experiencing some..." He paused again, and Draco wondered how on Earth somebody could be so dramatic. "...difficulties."

"Not really." Draco continued to look around the office, twisting around in his seat as he tried to work out how you could create three parallel lines throughout the space of the room. If he could just move the desk across a little further, it would be right in line with the window and-

"You've recently become involved with Harry Potter?" the doctor asked, and Draco started slightly, distracted from his plans. Once he looked up, he could see a rather obvious disapproval in Cherriosa's eyes. He found it as annoying as the tapping quill, but gave a silent nod all the same.

Dr Cherriosa looked at him, and added another, "Hmm."

This caused Draco to sit upright and fold his arms. His plans for improving the office building would have to be put on hold, because his concentration was apparently supposed to be with the session. He looked at the man opposite him expectantly, and wondered when therapy was actually going to become therapeutic.

"What?" he asked insistently, and the doctor gave a quiet laugh that made Draco pout slightly. "Hmm what? What's so bad about going out with Harry?"

Dr Cherriosa smiled in a way that worried Draco. "How about you tell me that, Mr Malfoy? Can I call you Draco?"

Draco scowled, considering this question. He didn't feel as though he quite wanted the doctor to call him Draco just yet. That could wait, and so he said childishly, "No. I don't like strangers to call me by my first name."

There was a bit of a 'hmmm' noise again, and Cherriosa asked, "Did you just make that up, Mr Malfoy?"

"Maybe."

"You're an interesting boy, Draco," Cherriosa started after a bit of a pause, and Draco unfolded his arms and sat up a little more, interested now. "You put up barriers, don't you, Draco? You don't like people to see you for who you are. You - create boundaries when people try to get close to you."

Draco shrugged and gave a little shake of his head, but he felt slightly smaller than he had before. He wasn't convinced this was true at all. "I don't mind - closeness. It's alright." He shrugged again and pouted. "I like closeness, actually! Because I have a boyfriend, so I must, mustn't I?" He gave a triumphant little clap of his hands.

"But what if this closeness to Mr Potter is not about being close to Mr Potter so much as it's about pushing away other people?" The older man furrowed his brow, and Draco scowled a little. "Perhaps you are using Mr Potter as a way to create a divide between you and your mother, Draco."

This didn't seem true at all, and Draco said so. "My mother creates her own divide. She's just stupid like that."

Another 'hmm' noise, and Cherriosa kept scribbling things down as he spoke. "Your mother is a caring, dedicated woman, Draco. She loves you very much. She once sat with me for three hours talking of how wonderful her son is. She feels she has failed you."

Draco looked confused for a moment, and he asked suspiciously, "Isn't that supposed to be confidential information?" He folded his arms again. "I don't know if I want to start telling you about my problems if you're just going to go off and tell everybody else who sits in your chair. That's really bad."

"You have problems, Mr Malfoy?"

"No," Draco insisted. "No, I'm excellent. I'm only here because my mother made me go anyway."

Cherriosa scribbled at his pad again, before setting the quill down in his inkpot. He rested his arms on his desk and looked at Draco for a long moment, before asking, "How old are you, Draco?" He smiled slightly in a way Draco imagined was supposed to be friendly. It was, however, rather creepy.

He spoke after a moment, in a mumble. "I'll be twenty two in three weeks time."

The doctor paused. "Do you always do as your mother tells you?"

"Well, she's quite scary when she wants to be," Draco started, forgetting where he was for a moment. An excuse to talk about his mother's faults was almost too good to pass up. "She has this way of talking all- shrill. It's very distracting, you know. And annoying."

"Your mother scares you, Draco?"

Draco didn't like this question, and he fell quiet as he started assessing the office again for bad colour matches. He could find five, maybe six - including a horrible blend of red and green in one corner that Draco felt quite pleased for finding. He would have to remember to tell the doctor once the session was over.

After a minute or two, Cherriosa asked again, "Does your mother scare you sometimes?" He peered at Draco, and then followed the man's gaze to the red and green wall hanging across the room. "Are you alright, Mr Malfoy?"

"Well- I'm fine," Draco started, before realising that the hesitance had been taken in the wrong way. Draco decided then and there that he hated therapists. "I was just... well, I was looking at your wall hanging."

"Does it affect you, Draco?" Cherriosa asked carefully, and Draco watched as he pulled two small bottles from a cabinet beside his desk. "How does it make you feel?"

Draco replied honestly, "Angry. It's not a very nice wall hanging."

"I think," Cherriosa started with a smile that was all too concerned to be real, as he set the bottles so Draco could see them, "you could do with some treatment for that anger. The small blue bottle will help with your confusion, I should imagine."

At this, Draco picked up the blue bottle and examined it carefully. There was no label, and it looked slightly ominous. "Uh- I don't really... I'm not very angry, really. Just the wall hanging that did it." He cleared his throat.

"I am a firm believer that if a wall hanging can make you very angry, you could do with a dose of a healthy potion," Dr Cherriosa replied, adding with another smile, "I'm sure you agree, hmm?"

Draco frowned and examined the bottle.

* * *

An hour later, Draco walked into his and Harry's apartment, closing the door with some flourish. He was pleased to see his boyfriend reading on the couch, and gave him a broad grin as he looked up.

"Hello!"

Harry paused, set down his magazine and gave a bit of a smile. "Hey, how was it?" He really was gorgeous, Draco couldn't help but notice. It was very distracting.

"Oh, it was fantastic," he grinned, taking off his jacket and airily throwing it down on top of one of the small armchairs. His head felt a little lighter than usual, and he could hear a faint buzzing in one ear that was soothing. "I learned lots about myself, and I found five colour clashes!"

"...colour clashes?" Harry frowned, but Draco beamed even harder. He wasn't sure anything could dampen his mood. "What's a- why were you looking for- what?"

Draco spoke very slowly. "Colour. Clashes. I found five!"

"Draco, why are you talking like a six year old?" Harry stood then, crossing the room to stand in front of Draco and fuss his hair into place slightly. Draco batted at his hand and gave a shrill sort of giggle. "Draco- are you alright?"

Beaming, Draco announced, "I'm fantastic. I'm in a very good mood."

Apparently this has not been the response Harry had expected at all, as he frowned further and continued to fiddle with a strand of the blond man's hair. "Um- I thought... you didn't even want to go-" He paused, and when he spoke again he sounded incredibly worried, "What did you learn about yourself?"

"I learned that I'm a very confused young man," Draco grinned, and Harry paled considerably. Draco thought he looked lovely with pale skin. "And Dr Cherriosa said that my fear of my mother is all really down to this one time when I was two. She took away my lollipop, you know. It was damaging."

"Draco- did you take something?"

Draco beamed again. "Oooh yes, I forgot. The doctor gave me a remedy."

Once again, Harry's skin became ashen, and Draco wondered if he was going to throw up. He supposed that as long as he cleaned it up, that was fine. It was a perfectly natural bodily function, after all.

"Um... what kind of.. .what kind of remedy did he give you? Do you have it now?" Harry asked slowly, his fingers slipping down to touch Draco's cheek. Draco giggled again as his skin was tickled accidentally. "Draco."

This sudden change of Harry's tone caused Draco to laugh again and remark, "You sound scary like that. It's fun."

Harry groaned, moved away from Draco and made his way to the phone. "I'm calling Remus, this is... I can't believe they drugged you."

"They didn't! They're helping me, it's a six week remedial process that will get rid of all my anger and violence."

"Draco, you're not violent!" Harry exclaimed finally, and Draco gave a broad grin. He held out his hands hopefully, and Harry scowled. "I'm not coming near you while you're all high."

Draco shrugged, said in a slightly merry voice, "Suit yourself!" and skipped over to sit on the sofa and fold his hands in his lap. He could feel his skin buzzing ever so slightly, and it made him want to giggle. He pressed his lips together, not wanting Harry to tell him off. That would be no fun at all.

After he had left the room with the telephone, Harry returned. He hovered around the sofa for a moment before apparently thinking better of it, and he sank into the armchair supporting Draco's coat.

"Well," he said carefully. "I suppose we should just wait for Remus." Harry shifted uncomfortably, and winced visibly when Draco exclaimed,

"Okie dokie!"

* * *

Draco scowled from his place on the sofa as Harry saw Remus Lupin to the door. It had taken a very long hour of coaxing and calming to persuade Draco to hand over what he had been given by Dr Cherriosa, and once Remus had recognised it, a simple charm had brought the blond boy crashing back down to reality.

"I hate you both," he seethed, picking at a fingernail and glaring at Harry, who rolled his eyes. "I was in a really good mood and you ruined it. You made me miserable again. Do you want me to be miserable?"

Harry gave a weary sigh, and Draco caught him and Remus exchanging amused glances. "Draco, you were on a class one cheering potion. You were scary."

Another distinct scowl etched on Draco's face. "I was just a bit cheerful."

"You were hideous," Harry insisted with a smirk. "Wasn't he hideous, Remus?"

Remus gave a soft smile that had a flicker of amusement hidden behind it, and he eyed Draco for a moment before replying, "Perhaps not so much hideous as cause for concern. But you'll be fine now, Draco."

This was met with a suspicious look. "Why are you calling me Draco?"

"I was under the impression that was your first name," Remus replied easily, before glancing at Harry again and smiling. "I really should be on my way, Harry. Would you still like me to visit tomorrow?"

At the same time as Harry nodded, Draco said bitterly, "No. Go away. Don't come back."

Harry said gently, "Draco-" and was met with another vicious look. "It would be good for you to speak to him."

"I don't want anymore therapy!"

"It's not therapy," Harry insisted in the same slightly lowered voice. It appeared he didn't want to invoke too much of a reaction in the other boy. "It's just talking."

Draco frowned. "I was talking plenty before and you knocked me out. You performed magic on me without my consent, that's like - it's like- it's mean!" He folded his arms and sat up in his seat now, from where he had been previously sprawled across the sofa, given that the cheering potion had rather expelled all his energy. "It's really, really mean to do that. It's probably illegal." He glared at Remus in particular.

To this, the older man simply smiled at Draco, before resting his hand briefly on Harry's shoulder as the door opened for him. "I shall call by in the morning then."

"The morning?! I don't want to get up early!"

"Draco, shut up," Harry said quickly, to be met with a very indignant squeal. "I told you you did that."

"I don't want to get up. I want to sleep. I'm tired."

Harry sighed. "See you in the morning, Remus," he said as he still held the door open, and Draco's eyes darted from man to man as though trying to decipher who was ignoring him and why.

As the door closed behind Remus, Draco still insisted, "Not the morning. No. I won't, Harry. I don't want to get up." He resisted as the other boy sat beside him and brushed a kiss to his cheek, before eventually giving up and settling his head in the crook of Harry's neck.

Giving Draco a slight smile, Harry kissed the side of his head and asked cautiously, "Are you alright, then?"

Draco made a bit of a frustrated sound. "No."

"Business as usual then." Harry grinned, before laughing a bit and fidgeting away from Draco as a hand reached out to hit him in the side of the head. "Hey, watch it! That hurt!"

"Good." Draco seemed a little happier at this, and then pointed out triumphantly, "See, I am violent."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Give it up, Draco, you're just whiny. Violence is hardly your forte." He smirked, and thwacked the boy beside him in retaliation, resulting in another whiny noise. There was a bit of a quiet pause, and then Harry turned back to Draco and asked again with some concern, "But really- you're okay?"

There was once again a silence as Draco mulled this over, and he finally answered in a voice that was squeaky and clearly aching for attention, "I'll be fiiiiine." He sighed and looked at Harry woefully. The other boy smirked again. "I suppose I'll just learn from experience, won't I?"

"Absolutely," Harry replied with unconvincing enthusiasm. "Maybe you'll learn not to take crazy fluid from your crazy mother's crazy doctors."

Draco smiled hopefully, "and... and not to have therapy again with anyone. Ever. At any time of day, but especially mornings." His smile was his most winning, he felt, but still Harry just laughed and gave a roll of his eyes.

"You're not getting out of it," Harry said with a smirk as he picked up his magazine again and let one arm fall around Draco's shoulders. Draco snuggled in and looked up at the boy with wide, expectant eyes.

"Please."

"I said no. You need to talk to someone not insane."

"Pleaaaaaase." Draco grinned at Harry, who shook his head again, and after a moment, the blond let his shoulders slump as he relaxed a little more easily against the other boy, giving up finally. "Fine."

"Tomorrow, then," Harry smiled.

"Tomorrow."