Mandatory group therapy??? This was stupid and yes okay maybe some of them needed therapy but but Apollo while no doctor was fairly sure that whenever you forced something upon someone it made them LESS likely to want to participate.

He was however completely overcome by the fact that this bread and the smells were amazing and that much couldn't really be denied by anyone here. So much that he definitely took a big hunk of bread and was munching on it, listening to the 'I feel' statements and had to admit that it really was a stupid exercise to mandate particularly for the first years who weren't even around last year. Although Kale's statement actually got a smile from him and he raised his hunk of bread to toast that before shoving it into his mouth.

Was it his turn? Did he have to share?

Swallowing the bread, Apollo cleared his throat. "I feel... this this... I feel... this bread is amazing."

Claudine sat back, watching everyone arrive. On occasions, when she heard or saw nods in greeting, she’d reply to them. She noted that most of the students seemed to be nomming on the various breads. Honestly, were they not suspicious of this woman? And her breads? The vague thought of ‘What would Trent think of them all?’ when he realised they were eating from a stranger {even if the healer was no stranger to him; but she was a stranger to the rest of them}.

Of course Poppy was trying to force the bread on them. Claudine threw a glare at her as bread was levitated in front of her. Yeah, well she’d just grab a piece so the woman would leave her alone but Claudine wouldn’t eat it. So, a piece of banana bread was taken and simply kept in her hand.

Oh, heck no.

This sixth year wasn’t about to talk about her feelings. A great deal of the persons here weren’t that privileged for her to be discussing her feelings in front of. Catching Ashley looking at her, the older girl shrugged. Though her gaze did fly sharply to Daniel. Minjae had nightmares? It wasn’t surprising but Claudine felt concerned for her friend and made a mental note to write to him as soon as she could.

It was also nice to know that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t trust this woman nor the only one who wasn’t comfortable with sharing her feelings with everyone. Ugh. Please don’t tell her that Poppy would want to have individual sessions with them next.

Whatever.

She'd just sit here in silence.

She was aaaallllll ears, passing on sympathetic looks while the children tried sorting through their feelings. It was a loaded request, more loaded than some probably realised. Others, though, seemed to understand and choice to not give their take.

It was fiiiine. They had the whole term to work things out!!!

"Oh but of course!!" She replied to the Hufflepuff (nicole black). "Help yourself! We have nutella and honey both on the other end of the table. No tea, I'm afraid but I'll keep that in mind for the next session!!" As there would understandably be more.

That the Gryffindor (Cassirin) had sunk down went momentarily unnoticed because the little Ravenclaw (astrocat) was opening up and it was the sort of confession that required A B S O L U T E L Y all her attention. "And that's okay. Anger is a normal and natural response to what happened, but we'll have to learn ways to channel that anger and eventually how to let it go." How delightful they were getting somehere!!

Not fussing over the other silent partner (Tegz), Poppy focused instead on the first year (Sunflower) who shared her sentiments. "Yes, a truly sad time. Sadness, like anger, is perfectly normal, but again we'll have to work on ways to address it as the term goes on."

Healer Poppy clapped in obvious delight at the next to share (Deezers). "How exciting!! And thank you for sharing. In the midst of all the bad, we must be able to consider the good. Life is all about balance." The claps didn't last long when the Ravenclaw (Chelliphone) began to share. For only the briefest moment, the smile fell away--but it was picked back up just as quickly. "You're entitled to your feelings, dear, and no one will be able to take them from you. However some do find forums of this nature helpful in the healing process. Let's not ruin it for them, hmmmm?"

The next (Watson) had a few to share. "Have as much bread as you'd like, dear." She encouraged. "I find in the midst of feeling helpless, it helps to focus on the things we can change and do have control over. Can you think of any?"

From the next silent students (Imsosikk07, Stefan, Fearlessleader19, iBeJenn, Harron Peasley) to the one who openly protested (Kolyander). Again, the smile threated to faltered but this time she maintained it. "You may leave if you'd like. No one will force you to stay." She gestured back toward the castle not in any way looking for a hostage situation.

Moving oooonnn~

While this was not yet the time for questions, she would indeed provide answers to the Hufflepuff (Bazinga). "I suppose it comes down to the people, dear. To become a ghost, at the point of death, you must be unwilling to cross over. You must fear it, rather than embrace it. Perhaps the fallen have made peace with it. Perhaps we just haven't seen them yet."

Oh and this one (DuckyLinJi) had strong feelings!!!! "It can be frustrating at times, wanting to be let in but being shut out. Perhaps your brother needs space to process all that has happened, then he'll be ready." In time.

"Now now," This one (pundantic) clearly had many hang ups still. "Your professors care a great deal about you. It may not have felt that way in the heat of the chaos, but they did what they believed would keep you safest. I'm sure many of you saw first hand how resistance was handled. They would never want to see any of you hurt." The tales she'd heard, loooooordddd, it must've been terrible.

"And there's nothing wrong with feeling this way." She reassured the young Hufflepuff (Waddles). "There's a lot to unpack, and a lot we still don't know. Answers can help the healing process, so can talking about it." Like what they were doing now. Healer Poppy turned from the Hufflepuff to the Gryffindor (ArianaBlack) with cheeks stuffed so tight they looked borderline uncomfortable. "My goodness!! That you are! Have as much as you'd like."

Ah and there it was, one of the many topics she thought would make it's appearance. Both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin (sweetpinkpixie, MadAlice) raised the issue of trust. "Trust, dears, is a delicate thing. It's hard to win it, and so so so easy to lose it. We'll be in for a term of healing and rebuilding some of that trust, but it will take some work on your part. Being open to the process. Accepting the situation for what it was, a difficult one that called for difficult choices on all sides."

The uncomfortable Ravenclaw (MadMadamMalfoy) caught her attention next. "If you'd like, we can arrange for more private sessions in my office, dear." An offer to all. And then the little dear (PhoenixRising) sent her griiiinnning. "Thank you!! I worked very hard on them. My own special recipe!!"



The first question had been useful. It got the students (some at least) to start opening up, which was an important part of the process. It wouldn't do to have everything bottled up inside afterall!!!

"Good, goooood. Now that we've identified some of what we might be feeling, I'd like us to think about some action plans. How do you think you could overcome the rage or the sadness or the mistrust? What does the road to recovery look like when you're in the driver's seat?"

None of that made much sense to Scarlett because not only had she been back home last term, meaning she was not traumatised in any way, shape or form, BUT she was also solely focused on all the BREAD.

The ones on the table AS WELL AS the ones being rejected by her peers. NOOOOOO bread should go to waste with one Scarlett Mordaunt around, okay, so she took it upon herself to first eat her fair share of ALL of the different kinds - it was all so YUMMY - and then to eat whatever the others didn't want, starting with the piece her eldest brother flicked away. Yeah, it had fallen on the ground, but she did NOT care.

Omnomnomnom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"These are REALLY good!!!!!!!!!!!!" The young Hufflepuff told the healer, lifting the slice she was currently eating and speaking with her mouthful because she could NOT wait to tell her!!!! They were THAT good. Or Scarlett was an ostrich and would eat anything.

It was both.

Completely ignoring what they were talking about, Scarlett continued to stuff her face as if she hadn't had any breakfast. She had, though, plenty of it too. THAT would be a good way of healing, mind you! Wasn't there such a thing as COMFORT FOOD?????? Wasn't ALL food comfort food???????? Not that Scarlett needed that excuse to eat. She wasn't even depressed or sad or ANYTHING. But bread was always good.

Omnomnomnom.

Lia could already feel the hot tear welling up in the corner of her eyes, begging for her to let them fall. Not that she would. Not here. Not now. She wasn't about to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Though what she had said, wasn't what she had meant to said, the words had been true. There was no taking it back. The response while it was a desired one, hadn't been expected. It was much welcomed and she was going to take the offer before someone changed their mind and told her she couldn't leave. There was noway she could allow that to happen.

Without wasting another second, the Ravenclaw cast a quick glance at her bestie her eyes sad but she knew he would understand. Whether or not he followed her was up to him. Silently slipping off the chair she had been sitting on, Lia made her way out of the circles of seats and headed back towards the castle.

"If we can leave, then how is this mandatory?" Ash said confusedly. That wasn't what that word meant. "I think I could overcome my rage if I got an apology, but I'm not going to, so I'm not overcoming my rage. I agree with Kale. How are we supposed to heal when we got betrayed like that?" How are we supposed to heal right here, in this extremely traumatic setting? No, Ash was not opening up. She was expressing her outward emotions as a cover for the feelings of pain and helplessness underneath. "I also agree with whoever said something about trust. Sure, people had to make difficult decisions or whatever, but that doesn't mean they didn't betray us and do nothing." Ash found that cowardly. She couldn't understand why people didn't want to fight. They wanted to keep their life and their family? Ash had a life too, and a family. But she wasn't being a wimp, was she?

Honestly, Dia had to agree with those saying they felt confused. All the tension between certain groups of people here was confusing the heck out of her. Of course, she hadn't been here last term because she'd been at Durmstrang and things hadn't gotten as bad there as they'd apparently gotten here. "Well, for me," and this was just her, mind "part of healing means learning to accept that everyone is their own person, with their own decisions to make. And that I'm not necessarily going to agree with others' decisions all the time, but they made the ones they thought were best in the moment. And that that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person or mean that they didn't care about me." Even if said decisions ended up getting them killed, like her mom.

As for her personal progress on that acceptance? Well, let's just say it was a work in progress. She pulled off a small piece of her bread and put it in her mouth, chewing slowly.

Wait. Leave? Oh, good one Healer Poppy. Nice trap, but that was an offer he will not take. First off, it had been clear that the session was going to be mandatory. Even the Headmaster explained what mandatory meant back in his announcement, and they were expected to be there whether they liked it or not. The group therapy session was already forced upon them by the school and the Board of Governors, so why not stick it out?

Who was she exactly to override their Headmaster and his Head of House? He was not going to be some sacrificial lamb caught in a simple misunderstanding between adults. Again, who was he supposed to trust this time? With a huff, Noah sunk further down his seat, only to be distracted by his sister. Scarlett really was like an ostrich. Maybe she was one in her past life... wait. The bread.

Too late. Merlin. Catherine better write all of this down and report to mum and dad. Mama Sophie will not be a happy camper if Scar got poisoned by the highly questionable healer up front.

If they could leave, that was what Pax would do. She wasn't sticking around to ask why it was supposedly mandatory to be here when Healer Poppy had just given permission for people to go. Still not taking any bread, Pax stood up silently. She would have said goodbye to the healer out of default politeness to adults, but didn't want to interrupt whatever this was or draw undue attention to herself, so she simply started back up to the castle.

Morgan did not love this idea one bit. But since it was mandatory, here he was with the rest of the school. Really though, couldn't he be exempt from this? He'd had several sessions of therapy since May, and that also had been mandatory. Deemed necessary by his parents of course, though he didn't think it was all that life-changing. So since he'd already done this, maybe he could get his parents to get a note from a healer note to say he had done this already? He didn't have any problem talking in front of a large group, but he didn't really care for sharing too many personal feelings in front of everyone that he was already trying to move past.

But there was free food and he'd stocked up on several different types of bread, freely eating as he sat and listened to the questions and answers. Morgan wasn't exactly a fan of this touchy-feely stuff that apparently this group therapy session was going to be. He felt a lot of things that threatened to come out of his mouth, most of them would come across as rude tbh, so it was probably a good thing that his mouth was too full for him to answer. He didn't want to be purposefully rude because Healer Poppy did seem nice.

You know who Morgan agreed with though? His bro, Kale. Morgan nodded in agreement as he sampled some blueberry bread. He'd lost a lot of faith in most of the professors. Sure, they said that they were biding their time and he did witness some effort, but it seemed pretty minimal and these were people who were supposed to look after him. His own parents did more to keep him safe.

And Morgan did not miss what the healer had said to that young Ravenclaw who clearly did not want to be here. They could leave? "Sweet!" Morgan got up from his seat with his hands full of bread. He thought this was mandatory, but if the person in charge said they could leave, he was taking that opportunity. "Catch you later, Healer Poppy. Thanks for the bread!" And he soon caught up to Pax who also seemed to be taking the opportunity to leave.

Prior to having opened his eyes and relented part of his bread to his sister, Evan had smirked a bit and shaken his head. "Technically I do not know you won't have snakes from your hair. My eyes are closed. You could be a shapeshifter." Which he of course knew she wasn't, but still.

The meeting had started though, and after he'd said his piece Evan glanced around the circle and happened to see Mamie with raised eyebrows and he shrugged his shoulders in response before facing forward again. He had no issue with therapy, it had it's time and place. But this was too big -- too public. There were first years who knew nothing and he would like for it to stay that way, there were people that might have sympathized with the neo-alliance, there were people that were in the Room and those that weren't. And that was why he found this inappropriate and thought it was entirely fair to say as much.

Focusing on the front, chewing on his bread, the young Ravenclaw could feel something hit his hair. He reached up and pulled out... pieces of bread? He blinked at this before flicking them out into the grass and turning around to spot the Gryffindor (Juliette) and offering a quiet glare her direction as well. He considered chucking the rest of his own bread roll her way but... maybe only if he could snag something not melon bread.

Healer Poppy was also starting her responses, so Evan turned his attention to the front once more. And his own eyebrows rose at her response to his statement. He opened his mouth to ask who this seemed to be benefitting as most people were also just expressing their frustration or that this was a silly idea. But perhaps he'd missed someone, so he just clamped his mouth shut and ignored question number two. He considered leaving like others were after she had told Lia they were allowed to, and he did watch the younger girl with a concerned expression. But he stayed in his seat. He couldn't leave.

Not after having heard his sister.

Evan wrapped an arm around the youngest Nam and gave her a small squeeze. He knew this summer had been hard, but Lisa always was so happy and joyful he hadn't expected how their sullenness had been affecting her as well. He hadn't any idea that she would have been blaming herself for not being able to fix them. He determined he would... try better. Not in silly mandatory group meetings, but on his own.

If this was mandatory, why were they able to leave? Eden didn't stick around to find out. Slipping silently out of the back row of the circles of chairs, she turned and headed towards the castle. The sun felt excellent on her neck as she walked away - much better than it had when she'd arrived.

What a colossal waste of time. She had books to read, potions to brew, a scary menace-witch to become. Emotions to suppress.

Lisa has giggled at her brother’s creative hypothesis. It would have been awesome to be a shapeshifter so she quickly pulled out a notebook, making herself a note of go research it. Maybe she could shape shift into Pascal and roam around the school? Now THAT would be useful for her investigation on their Head of House. She probably could cover a lot more ground that way and even be camouflaged while doing so.

“The melon bread is really really good.” She was starting to warm up to the Healer. Really she thought the woman was trying her best here and felt kinda bad that people were shutting down. Though she did want to learn more about what happened last year... She had suspected it had been something yet still hearing someone talk about their experience in it would be quite different. She glanced at her brother briefly, wanting to know his thoughts, but refraining herself from saying anything. It’d be better off as a private conversation. Healer Poppy posed her a question about what she could possibly change and what she, Lisa, had control over. Uhhhh..... “My imagination?” In her mind, she could control the outcomes and she had seen this through dreams. However, she had also experience nightmares where she felt helpless. “We have control over who we choose to be friends with?”

Er... she wasn’t sure if she truly understood how to answer the question.

They could leave now? Was this a guilt trip? Make the meeting mandatory but give them an option to leave? She was perplexed by the options that the Healer had presented them and thus bit her bottom lip as she watched some students leave. She felt her brother’s arm wrap around her. Lisa let herself snuggle a little into him, feeling completely safe in this moment. She hadn’t told any of her siblings about how she had felt because she hadn’t realized it until this precise moment. She didn’t do well with feelings. She took a bite of her melon bread and then offered Evan some banana bread.

How do they recover from this? This is the type of question that Eomma would have asked them. Eomma was good at asking those questions. After all, it was her job to do that. She didn’t feel rage or trust issues but it was evident that the older students had lots of strong feelings. If she had been there last term, she probably would have too (but she didn’t know that). “I don’t know if it’s possible... but I know when someone’s broken my trust it takes a while to build it up... I think it starts by showing actions instead of talking about it. I think it’s one thing to talk about it but the person or people would have to prove it.”

I feel... like taking a nap, Dare thought whilst everyone was sharing how much they didn't want to be here. Did he need to add to the drama after everyone else? He didn't find it necessary... at least not right now. He had no idea if this Poopy Healer held grudges or not.

Then the Healer spoke the magic words, they could leave. His brows furrowed like that of his father in apparent confusion. Was this a trick? Would we be facing punishment later for actually leaving? Darius was all but ready to leave with the others.. but something was holding him in place as he chewed his chocolate frog slowly. Maybe, if I pretend to actually care I could get away with leaving on better terms.

The next question though was something he already dealt with after his brother's death years ago in therapy. He spoke without hesitation, "Focusing on a hobby or a new passion to helps with transforming the bad energy of being upset into a more positive one so I could reflect in a more calm state," Darius added, "I like to fly, it's nice being up near the clouds and away from everything so I can look on things in perspective. It's not really about getting over it, but learning to deal with it."

And I would very much like to fly away from this session now, Darius thought.

Kale felt his jaw drop. What in the triggering rhetoric--

...they did what they believed would keep you safest. I'm sure many of you saw first hand how resistance was handled. They would never want to see any of you hurt.

Was Healer Poppy out of her mind or just the most unfeeling witch to ever live? What kind of healer/therapist/whatever put the burden of excusing abusers on the abused? Cuz the Hogwarts Professors may not have raised their wands at students directly, but they had stood by and let them be tortured. It made them just as complicit, just as culpable.

And no, lady, the students had seen first hand how resistance was handled-- they'd endured it.

Kale felt his hands start to shake. He needed to go curl under the cocoon of his blankets and hide away for the next several days, pls n thnx. And if he wasn't being forced to stay, welp, he wasn't staying.

Hang the fact that he was the Headmaster's son and should be setting a good example. The sixth year turned on his heel and started his way back up to the castle, trying to banish the thoughts of the mirror and black smoke that now started to cloud his thoughts.

Well, this was...a lot.

The "I feel" statements weren't great, though at least it was open-ended enough that people could give a vague or unrelated response. And then there were others who used it to voice their discomfort and disagreement with the whole thing. Ivy chose neither for now, just focusing on eating the bread. It was rude to talk with your mouth full anyway, yeah? She was just being polite.

But then...the talk of trust and betrayal and making difficult decisions... Those thoughts latched onto her and sank their claws in deep. Because even though it seemed they were mostly talking about the professors, and she understood that feeling too, it was also digging up the guilt that she'd tried to bury.

A small part of her knew that nothing she had or hadn't done last term would've helped stop the Alliance. But that didn't prevent all the things she'd had to say and do from weighing on her now. It didn't matter that it was a lie and she hadn't meant any of it. It didn't matter that everyone else had done so too. It didn't matter that it was done just to survive. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she should have done something. Anything. Even if it had only brought more pain to herself, maybe it would've been worth it. She should have been brave enough to face it.

Mired in her thoughts as she was now, Ivy hardly noticed what else was being said or that some of the other students were leaving. She might have as well, if she had noticed, but instead she sank down a little in her seat, quietly nibbling on a slice of bread, staring at the ground in front of her.

Ha, likely story that they were just free to leave. Why had this session been so firmly labelled 'mandatory,' then? Violet wasn't having any of that--they were probably just waiting to see who did leave and make a note to bother them with individual therapy later. Besides, Violet wanted to see how this thing was going to play out.

Was she kidding? Violet did not remotely feel like she was in the 'driver's seat' (and she was momentarily struck by the use of what was really a Muggle slang expression--but she filed that information away for later investigation). Violet was becoming more and more annoyed by the direction this discussion was taking--why were the students supposed to be the ones responsible for fixing what happened? It was the adults, the ones who had let it happen, who should be making an action plan.

Violet was prepared to cross her arms and sit there sullenly observing and not putting herself out there, like she usually did, but she suddenly found herself speaking. "Well, I for one would like to hear what the adults--the teachers, the Ministry, all the people who let this happen and didn't try to do anything until it was almost too late--I would like to hear what their action plan is. We students tried to tell you for months that strange things were happening, that something was wrong, that we were being held captive in our own school, and all that happened is that the adults treated us like we were silly children who couldn't be taken seriously."

Well, there. Violet surprised even herself, but after last year, she'd learned that sitting on the sidelines and trying to keep out of the way was no guarantee safety. She'd spent an entire year being afraid to say or do what she wanted and she had had enough of it.

Ew. This happy-go-lucky healer spread cheer and joy all over Serena’s answer. How a n n o y i n g.

Stifling an eye roll, the little redhead simply wrinkled her nose in distaste. If she ever thought her mum was a constant ray of positivity (UGH), this was waaaaay worse and she owed her mum an apology.

Obviously, the next question wasn’t an inclusive one, because Serena didn’t feel angry. Well...actually...no. She wasn’t going to go there. HER therapist wasn’t here to help her. “I am not feeling rage or sadness or mistrust about what I just shared,” she said. Had Poppy forgotten Serena’s statement? PFFT. She was ECSTATIC about her wand.

Oh. OOOHHHH.

Students were leaving and Serena noticed Poppy’s expressions. In fact, every time a student said something defiant, her baby blue eyes shot towards the woman. Serena enjoyed seeing joy get sucked from someone so annoying. “If we’re free to leave then why is this mandatory?” she asked as more students left. It didn't make sense. It’s almost as if they were lured to be fed. Like cows.

Serena was no cow.

Mamie was still confused.

People were leaving now? And, and, they were talking about rebuilding trust? She wasn't sure she did mistrust anybody. Well, that wasn't true. She didn't trust Bernadette Grantham. Or Ashley, but that wasn't anything personal, Ashley just got into trouble a lot and she was always worried she'd get in trouble by association. The adults thought? Professor Williamson was cool. And Varma, too, they'd both been in The Room with them. And...and Professor Aguilar had been cool...but he left them. She liked Professor Schmoe, he had clearly been, well, he'd been through something. She wasn't sure what the bad guys had done to him to make him cooperate with all the anti-Muggle things when the man clearly loved Muggles.

She finally raised her hand. "Actions speak louder than words, so...they have to prove they really don't believe Muggles are bad," Margaret said quietly. She continued a little more loudly, because she thought this was important. "And that they know Muggleborns are just as good at magic as everybody else. That'll show they're trustworthy." As for her own actions speaking louder than words, she was going to show everybody that, Muggleborn or not, she was born to be a Quidditch legend. And she was going to keep doing magic no matter what anybody said.

Done giving her own little two knuts, she sat back down and shoved the rest of the strawberry bread in her mouth. It was so tasty.

Tadhg could tell that she was upset and wanted to cry right there and then, he knew her all too well. Although he also knew that she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry.


Looking at his best friend a looked of shockness clearly on his face, while his ocean blue sapphire eyes were widened in surprise. It wasn't like her to talk out like that, she was usually the one that kept him from mouthing off. If she wasn't going to stay he sure wasn't going to, this wasn't his cup of tea to start with. Yup he was leaving, he was going to go with his bestie and leave this stupid therapy session.

Getting up from his chair he without a word he ran after her without wasting any time. "Hey Lia wait up!" Although he knew that she wasn't going to stop, it didn't take him long to catch up with her.

Oh, we can leave? Then what was the entire point of this. Scoffing again, Aibhi doesn't drop her arms from across her chest. She should just get up and just leave, but...she didn't...she didn't know why, but she wasn't moving from her spot. Now that the "feelings" question was pretty much over and done with...she listened to the following question. Overcome the rage? Sadness? Mistrust? Now Aibhi's interest to speak was sparked. Aibhi didn't even bother to raise her hand but more so blurt out, "People cope in different ways, but to be treated for not having pureblood. For being mixed blood and being spat upon, looked at like you're nothing to the magical world but a disease...how would YOU feel if someone judged you just for your blood? How would YOU cope, Healer Poppy? Her words hissed out of her mouth like a raging snake ready to attack.

Her raging Slytherin tongue was starting to come out more than ever. "We- we're just kids. We were just trying to go through the motions while most of us "mixed bloods" and "mudbloods" anything that WASN'T pure to those...those selfish, disgusting, APPALLING beasts that invaded our school, were used, tortured and for what? To make an example out of? I'm NOT going to take that kind of nonsense from anyone anymore." Merlin, did that feel good to get out finally. She didn't even tell her own therapist that over the summer. She would make up stories about how she was fine and how she was taking it one day at a time, but it finally just ate her up inside that she needed to just blurt something out. Granted...she knew she didn't answer Healer Poppy's question she asked...She just needed to get that out.

She cleared her throat. "To...answer your question...I guess...one way to be on the road to recovery is to...not...keep all of your emotions bottled up inside you and wait until you can't hold it back any longer and hurt those you care and love around you..." She nods and pushes a piece of hair back from her face clearly showing how much this hurt her and quickly wipes her face from anything tears falling down her face and fell back into silence because she knows she just defnitely made a fool out of herself as a seventh year. Way to set an example to the younger ones there, Aibhi...way to goooooo....

Gemma listened to what the healer said and had heard it before, that they had made peace, but how could they have made peace if they didn't know they were going to go, that they were taken away. How could anyone find peace in that? She didn't understand and she felt like screaming, but she knew she couldn't. No, she was fine, everything was fine.


Well... it was fine until the headmaster's son spoke up and then Ashley. She felt rage at that point and stood up. "HOW DARE YOU! BETRAYED!!! MY MOTHER WAS CURSED BECAUSE SHE TRIED TO PROTECT US. I WATCHED HER PAIN AFTER THAT FIRST LESSON WHEN SHE WAS. I WENT TO VISIT HER AND SHE TRIED TO HIDE IT, BUT SHE COULDN'T. " The tears hit before she could stop them, she didn't want them, SHE WAS FINE! "YOUR DAD IS STILL ALIVE KALE. SHE STILL GET HIM, MY MOTHER DIED TRYING TO PROTECT US. SHE DIDN'T BETRAY US!!" She watched him walk away, good just go away.

She stared at Ashley too, "You wouldn't just try to understand, you kept just pushing, you put them in those positions. They tried to warn us, tried to give us clues, but you just kept pushing." Taking the bread in her hand she threw it at the girl taking all the emotions she had built up out on the only source she could at the moment.

Conscious of the fact that he was a responsible adult surrounded by students, and thus expected to continue displaying his usual level of decorum, Kamran managed not to stuff his face with the banana bread as he greeted those who greeted him - or simply ended up seated nearby - with 'hello's and nods. As for Flamsteed, his father sounded like a smart man. Kamran was too, in a his own way. But a hungry man also, and the bread was good.

Kamran had the strangest feeling that first prompt would not go down too well, and that soon turned out to be correct. He, of course, had not been here last year, and was like a lot of these kids in not being big on discussing or even acknowledging much in the way of feelings, but had every intention of chipping in all the same. Unfortunately, he hit a minor snag in quite literally biting off more than he could chew, and by the time he'd surreptitiously fought his way through the delicious mouthful of bread without spitting it out or choking on it, they'd already moved on. He listened though. There were always opportunities to listen.

Now, action plans, that was more Kamran's speed. He-...

Well. The outpouring of emotion was one thing - good, even - but throwing things at other students was quite another - less good. It made sense, coming from Kitridge, given her outburst and what he knew of the girl's mother, but lashing out was not the way to go.

"That's enough," Kamran said firmly but not unkindly, pushing to his feet and heading over, sending a glance towards Healer Poppy and Euka both. "Perhaps Miss Kitridge and I should take a walk?" At any rate, some distance was probably a good idea, however it was managed, maybe with someone the girl trusted. Though many students had already left, they didn't need the situation escalating, even if Kitridge seemed to be raising some fairly valid points.

Hearing her name, Lia slowed her steps only until he was at her side. The moment that Tadhg was, she slid her hand back into his and continued at her previous pace wanting to get away from there as quickly as possible. Her grip was tight on hand and she may have been involuntarily tugging him along but she wasn't exactly paying much attention. Not crying was taking up a lot of her focus right now. And she just wanted to get back inside and away from that therapy session.

Healer Poppy had hardly any time to smile at the young Hufflepuff who complimented her bread before several students began querying the true nature of the session. If it was mandatory, they really should stay. Headmaster Trent had made it clear it was but there were so many of them leaving oooohhh ddeeeeaaaarrrrr.

Oh dear.

This was not going to plan. The Healer had promised she would handle everything. Told him he could stay in his office and not worry but my oh me or my was this going south fast.

Students were angry and hurting too much to really internalise anything and some were yelling and Kazmi thought this was enough. Merlin's bread, this wouldn't do, it wouldn't do at all.

"The Headmaster said it was mandatory, I think a first session should be a choice." She explained, oh but would he be disgruntled when he found out. She would have to fix this. "Session over!! Yes, over!! Have some bread on your way out!!" She would fix this, she would and already knew how.