Theo was sweating as he approached the nice little house. It was becoming more comfortable to come here. He saw Charlotte Stone once every two weeks. It got easier to speak to her every time. Today would not be easy though. He had a lot on his mind. He rapped on the door and waited.

She moved slowly towards the front of the house from where she'd be laying in the sun in her conservatory, soaking up the warmth and trying to channel it into her worn muscles. Charlotte knew that she felt better than she normally did after the Change, partially because of the very relaxing evening she'd spent with Callum on his boat, but her body still ached. Shifting your entire body, rearranging bone placement and muscle configurations would never be easy, and it would never be painless.

The mere fact that she'd been able to see patients yesterday without feeling like death had been an improvement.

Her blue eyes caught sight of Theo through the door, a small smile growing on her face as she grabbed the knob and pulled. "Theo," she greeted, motioning him inward.

Theo just nodded in greeting, moving back towards her office. He'd been telling himself all day that he could do this, he could talk about this. It was difficult, though. For him anyway.

"So some things have happened since the last time I was here," Theo managed as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

Jumping right in then, Charlotte thought as she too took her seat. She grabbed for her yellow legal pad and pen, giving her full attention to Theo.

"The woman whose father married my mother, she's an Auror. Natalie. She got hurt and she's in a coma. I couldn't treat her. I almost couldn't move when I saw her like that."

"You were scared," she said, making it a statement. He would either deny or agree, which would point to just how much he was starting to see of himself.

"Of course I was scared. Someone has to be. Natalie sure wasn't when she charged off after that Azkaban escapee. I have never seen anyone so tiny have so little fear. Perhaps her fear is in proportion to her person. I feel the need to do something, and I can't. There's nothing else to do."

"What would you want to do?"

"Make her better." Theo sighed. "Apparently myself and that boyfriend of hers are her family, all she has. Well, unless you count the house-elf. He, Dean I mean, said I had been a good brother to them."

"Will she be alright?"

"I don't know. She's in a coma, but she's breathing on her own. Everything else is normal. She just won't wake. I... I took it out on a coworker yesterday. I had to apologize. That's difficult for me."

"I get the feeling a lot of thing are difficult for you," Charlotte said, crossing her legs, hiding the slight twinge of pain as she did so.

"Relating to people in general is difficult for me. I can't imagine what I could have done in the past to make Natalie and Dean call me family, to make Jodie care whether or not I am short with her." Theo paused. "I am used to trusting people, caring for them and having it explode in my damned face."

"It's what you expect."

"Of course it is. The woman I was going to marry not only married someone else mere weeks after I was supposedly killed, but she also had a personality transplant. I don't know her now, and my mother? Merlin knows if I ever did know that woman."

Charlotte nodded, jotting down a few things on her paper.

"There's also the added bonus that my mother has done something to Natalie's father. I don't know what. I can't even find them. If I did find her, I am not entirely certain what I would do. I love my mother. I just don't like her very much."

"That's not an uncommon feeling, Theo. A lot of people dislike their parents."

"But I sort of feel badly about it. I mean, she's my only blood relative left." Theo shifted. "I mean, if she died tomorrow, I actually think I'd be happy."

Charlotte nodded, her blue gaze unwavering. "But Natalie and Dean consider themselves your family now, so your mother isn't the only relative left."

"She's the only blood I have left. I am beginning to learn that family isn't always who shares your line, but I do come from an old family. It's difficult to leave that behind for new ways. Tradition was beaten, sometimes literally, into us all."

"But you've shirked most of the traditions already," she said, referring to the things they'd already talked about in previous sessions.

"I suppose. It's just I feel like I should feel something besides anger and revulsion about my mother. I care more about the man she married, probably illegally, more than her. She's not a good person, yet I still want to care for her."

Charlotte nodded. "You want to have that compassion."

"And I just don't for her," Theo sighed and leaned forward, bracing his arms on his knees. "I have more compassion for total strangers who come into the clinic."

"You don't know what bad things they've done in their life, where you do know those things of your mother. Your feelings are common, Theo."

"And here I thought I was unique," he quipped sarcastically.

Really Theo was relieved he was normal. So few Slytherins tended to be. Especially with what those in his age bracket had grown up with.

"Just because your feelings are common doesn't mean you're not unique," Charlotte said, setting her pad of paper on her knee as she looked at him.

"I don't need to feel better about myself, but thank you."

"If you don't need to feel better about yourself, why are you coming here," she asked, voice void of any emotion. It was a simple question, maybe one he hadn't even asked himself.

"I have to talk to someone, have to suss out things. I suppose I could talk to myself, but I sort of like appearing slightly adjusted in the head, so..."

"Doesn't talking about these things make you feel better about yourself?"

"Never really considered it. I suppose it does. Hey, maybe I do need to feel better about myself." Theo considered. "Let me clarify that statement then. I don't need you telling me I am special like I am... Draco Malfoy or something. I never needed words of encouragement. Well, perhaps I did, but not publicly like so many other who came from the same background I did. I only ever wanted the notice and approval of one person, and I never had it, never will, and I am beginning to realize that perhaps that was the wrong thing to want."

"Or, maybe it was the right thing to want, but you finally realized you don't need it after all," Charlotte supplied, gauging his reaction.

"You're probably right there."


{SUMMARY} Theo has a session with Charlotte.