Who: Neville Longbottom & Theodore Nott What: Stuck in a lift When: Sunday afternoon. 17th Feb Where: St Mungo's Rating: PG-13 Status: Incomplete, closed, in-progress
After his well intentioned paving slab to hell had not so much changed things between Draco and himself but had more added the burden he carried to Draco's already overfull load, Theo had spent his time between trying to remove half that burden and the other half trying to give Draco anything that he even hinted at wanting. Draco had come home late Saturday and had dived into a bottle from which Theo had found himself unable to pull him back out. He'd spent most of his time trying to pretend that he felt nothing, trying to hide in that blank space he'd given up as mostly unnecessary after his dad had been imprisoned in Azkaban. He was getting better at, if not completely cutting out the things he felt then at least obscuring the worst of it, but all that pressure, the suppression and his seeming inability to be around Draco without irritating the other meant that he decided that he'd need to pay a visit to his therapist.
He didn't leave as completely drugged from the session as he had his last, the one before he'd met Kennie Towler, because he hadn't had a blackout in this one but he'd still been given a sedative potion; they were necessary to be able to get Theodore to talk during his sessions without flashing back or disappearing into his own head, something that was a particular risk considering what he'd been doing with himself recently. His Healer hadn't been pleased with him for doing it, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the bond he'd recently discovered, or the guilt he'd been feeling for forcing it on Draco.
He was trembling, shivery and wobbly from the potion, ready to hop back home (back to his actual House he thought, give Draco a break from having to edge him away all the time) and sleep, if he could manage it. He let himself into the lift on the Janus Thickey ward and was about to lean back against the wall before he saw someone coming and reached out to hold the door open for them.