Chapter Text
The sound of water running in the bathroom indicated that either Draco or Harry have woken up first. She closed the book in front of her and stood up, grabbing her long jacket that she draped over the couch and putting it on while looking at her watch. It was just nine in the morning but she has somewhere to go.
“Hermione, where are you going?” Harry asked when she was about to leave the house. Due to her workload at the Ministry, Hermione had to visit Harry and Draco’s place the night before to read up on some books that Draco has here, and ended up having to sleep over at their guest room.
“Oh, I’m…I’m going to find a Mind Healer” She said with a bit of hesitation in her sentence. She has been feeling like a mess lately, she overthink, she was stressed, she couldn’t sleep, her body was screaming for help, so she figured she has to deal it on her own.
“A Mind Healer? Why?”
“Oh, just something for me, don’t worry about it” She said, sipping on the coffee she had made to thank them for letting her stay as Draco walked out to the living room.
“Did you say Mind Healer? Are you trying to find one?” Draco asked and she nodded, he yawned, walking to Harry’s spot and was pulled in a hug by her best friend, she smiled at them and opened the door “Wait!” Draco called her and she noticed he was scribbling something down on a parchment “Here, I know a really good one, here’s the address”
“Oh, thank you” She took the piece of parchment and left the house. She decided to walk because it wasn’t that far from here actually. Hermione wasn’t even sure why she was feeling like this, suddenly everything was overwhelming her, ever since she started working herself so she could become Minister for Magic someday in the future. Normally she’d have answers for everything, not this time, she just felt lost, she only wanted to find peace. She also didn’t feel like telling anyone, partly because they wouldn’t understand, and she didn’t want to bother them, it was best to just see a Mind Healer. Hermione stopped in front of a big building with black door, golden knobs and knocked on it three times.
“Oh, hello” A guy with a familiar face opened the door and greeted her, he was wearing dark blue pyjamas. Was he the Mind Healer? “You’re probably thinking am I the Mind Healer, right?” He chuckled when she smiled at him, she couldn’t be that obvious “No, I’m not the Mind Healer, I’m just her friend, crashing at her house last night because I have a fight with my parents. They’re a menace, I told him I have a crush on an Auror, a guy to be exact, and they started freaking out, it’s a whole thing, honestly. Come in”
“Thank you” She was led into a big living room, decorated in red and black, red walls, red curtains, black couch, so the Mind Healer was a woman, and the guy was surely talkative “I’m Hermione”
“Hermione? As in Hermione Granger?”
“You know me?”
“Of course, don’t you remember me?” The guy asked her but she shook her head, it did feel like she had seen him somewhere but she couldn’t remember where or when “Ah, I’m Theodore Nott”
“Theodore Nott?” She was surprised, she didn’t think she’d see him ever again, they all went back to Eighth Year together but Theodore wasn’t out in the public much after the war “I’m sorry I didn’t remember”
“Oh, please, it’s alright” He walked to the kitchen and poured out some tea in a cup for her “I tried to be as discreet as possible back in Hogwarts, didn’t want to make an appearance at all” He said, handing her the cup and looking at the clock hanging on the wall “She should be up now, how do you know she’s a Mind Healer?”
“I don’t” She said, showing him the parchment with the address Draco gave her “Draco recommended that I go here”
“Figured, I’ll go get her” He smiled and walked up the staircase. Hermione settled down on the couch and sipped on her tea, it was nice, tasted it exactly like the tea Draco and Harry had at their house. This place felt somewhat familiar to her too, she didn’t know why. There was no picture in the house, just paintings, a few books, but she could tell that the person who decorated this house knew what they were doing, this place wasn’t just made to be cosy, it was made to look gorgeous.
“Hey” Theodore called her and she turned around, he was walking down the stairs “She’s up already, so you can go up, second floor, third door to the left”
“Thank you”
“It’s nothing, and, do you know who the Mind Healer is?”
“No, Draco didn’t say”
“Oh” Theodore smiled cheekily at her and walked to the kitchen, that was odd, she started feeling suspicious as she walked up to the second floor. One, two, three. Third door to the left.
“A Slytherin introducing a Mind Healer, at a place where another Slytherin is staying at” Hermione murmured to herself, and before she could get her hand on the doorknob, the door was opened by itself to reveal a person inside that made Hermione’s eyes widened “Parkinson”
“Granger” Parkinson said, she was already sitting in a small chair with a parchment and a quill in her hands, next to a long black couch “Come in, please”
“You’re a Mind Healer?” She asked, she hasn’t seen Parkinson since they all graduated from Hogwarts, it’s been two years, so it did make sense that she has become a Mind Healer.
“You can say so” Parkinson said with a smile as Hermione sat down on the couch next to her. Now that she could see Parkinson clearly, she noticed a lot. Her black hair was still short, falling down to her shoulder, she was wearing gold earrings and a necklace, with a white blouse and a pair of black trousers. Hermione has to admit, Parkinson looked professional here. Her lips were red as always, but her nails were painted black like her heels. There was a small mole on her arm as her sleeves were rolled up to her elbow. If anything, Parkinson even looked kind of…attractive. Hermione shook her head and blinked a few times to set her mind straight “What are you thinking?”
“What?”
“You came here for a Mind Healer, right?” Parkinson asked and she nodded “Then, tell me what’s on your mind” She hesitated for a while so Parkinson added in “It’s your safe place, Hermione, you can say anything, don’t worry”
“I, well, I’ve been feeling stressed out lately, I’m always tired and at night I couldn’t sleep properly. I think it’s about competing to be Minister for Magic, I know I have a long way to go, but I have to be prepared as soon as possible. And I don’t want to bother my friends, they don’t really…understand the problem, they’ll tell me to chill, or to relax. But the point is, I’m not, I just can’t, it’s who I am”
“And who are you?” She asked, making Hermione surprised. How would she know? She was still trying to figure out herself every day.
“I don’t know, I want to know, it’s just…hard”
“It’s okay, we will work on that” Parkinson scribbled down something on the parchment and looked up at her, showing her white teeth at Hermione with a smile “Why don’t you tell me about your childhood?”
*
“…I still visit them as much as I could, sometimes during the holiday, or the summer” She said, it has been a while since she started talking about her childhood and family. There were even stories she has never told her friends before, somehow she found herself telling Parkinson when she looked into the pair of brown eyes in front of her “They don’t know I erased their memories, I’m glad I could restore it, or else…I guess I’d have missed them a lot”
“I understand” Parkinson said and there was a small ringing sound blasting around the room “Ah, time’s up, I’m afraid”
“Oh, I didn’t notice it” She said, time went by so fast, it’s already been two hours and she still kind of wanted to talk a little more “I’m sorry”
“Don’t be sorry, Hermione” Parkinson smiled at her and glanced at the watch on her wrist before looking back at her “When do you want to have another session?”
“Another?”
“Don’t you want to? At least until you can figure out why you’ve been stressed” She said, putting her quill and parchment away on another table behind her, obviously not allowing Hermione to see what she had written
“That’s a good idea, is Sunday okay? Nine in the morning?” She asked, it was the only day she was free, and it’d be better in the morning since she’d be able to do a lot of things after she was done with it
“That’s okay” Parkinson chuckled and stood up, Hermione now realised she was a few inches taller than her. Maybe without the heels, they’d have the same heights “Let me walk you to the door” Hermione smiled when Parkinson opened the door and led her downstairs, she didn’t see Theodore anywhere so he must have left. When she opened the door, Parkinson slipped her hand in her pocket, leaning on the wall with a smile, making Hermione realised…Parkinson was charming, in a way that she has never noticed before, it was odd.
“Good—good bye” She stuttered and left the house, Hermione Granger has never stuttered in her life, and now she has, just because Parkinson smiled at her? She shook the thought off and kept walking, she must be overthinking again.
*
“You never told me the Mind Healer you suggested was Parkinson” Hermione said when she was having dinner with the couple and Ron “I was really surprised”
“I wasn’t sure you’d go if I had told you it was Pansy, at least that’s how Ron reacted when I told him to go see her” Draco said, pointing at Ron, who was having a mouthful of food “He freaked out when I took him there, he even wanted to run”
“What? I was still having problems with Slytherin back then” Ron said, huffing quietly. They have parted ways more than a year ago when they started having too many fights, Hermione and Ron both decided to breakup and got back to being friends. Then Ron has had a few realisation with his sexuality, though he thought he was confused, that was why Draco took him to see a Mind Healer, Hermione didn’t know it was Parkinson that time too “Did you see Pansy again? Is she still good?”
“I guess” She mumbled, poking her salmon with the fork, she was definitely good, brilliant even. She got Hermione talking about anything and everything, and she wasn’t the sharing type of person at all, at least not with strangers.
“Back then she was so good” Ron said, chewing on his food and poking his fork in the piece of sausage on his plate “It took three sessions for me to finally realise and accept that I swing both ways. She encouraged me to come out to my parents, though that went well, considering Percy also came out the same moment I did”
“So are you going to see her again?” Harry said, already finishing his meal “You seemed happy when you came back”
“I did not” Hermione said, feeling her cheeks heating up a bit, she ended up thinking about Parkinson all the way home, that might have been why she was smiling “I’m gonna see her next Sunday”
“Sunday? Weird”
“What? Why is it weird?” Hermione asked when Draco hummed suddenly, the blond chuckled at her and shrugged.
“Nothing, it’s just that Pansy always go to the pub on Saturday nights, which means she’ll end up getting way too pissed and she needs the next day to sober up” He shook his head and continued eating “Maybe she doesn’t have plan this week”
“Is she still with that girl?” Harry asked, which made Hermione focus on him. Parkinson has a girl? “What’s her name? Cece?”
“Yeah, her full name is Cecilia but Pansy used to call her Cece” Draco nodded, so Parkinson was into girls? She didn’t know that, but she didn’t know anything about Parkinson. They didn’t talk much back in Hogwarts, and she was the one who did the talking when they met anyway “No, they broke up, she said Pansy never listen to her”
“A Mind Healer never listen?” Ron snickered at the irony of the reason they broke up “That’s a good one”
“Wait, all of you guys know Parkinson’s into girls?” She asked suddenly, she didn’t know why she asked, but she was simply curious.
“Well, I’m her best friend” Draco said, then pointing at Harry “Whenever I go with Pansy to pub nights, Harry always joins me, and Ron was Pansy’s patient”
“I sometimes catch up with her too” Ron raised his hand and pushed the plate away, finally finished eating “Just once a month or so, she sometimes visits the Auror Department too”
“And she told us, well, she showed us her girlfriend, we all kind of knew” Harry added, and somehow Hermione felt left out. They all seemed to know Parkinson well except for her, and that made her kinda want to get to know Parkinson too, just maybe “Don’t tell me, you’re into her?”
“What? No” She exclaimed, she knew Harry was only joking around, but his question got her heart beating faster. She wouldn’t exactly say she was into Parkinson, she was just unsure of what she was feeling. She met her for a few hours and she was immediately into her? It sounded quite ridiculous, Hermione didn’t believe that could happen “So, when’s Ginny and Luna’s wedding going to happen?” She quickly changed subjects and gladly, they did too. She couldn’t let them know, she didn’t even know what was happening yet.