Group Therapy

Yeah, Lily really didn't want to talk.  That made it Shylock's turn now.  At least once he went through his laundry list of issues, she'd be able to feel good by comparison.

"I'm Shylock," he said.  "You'll have to excuse me for not standing, but the healers have me on some wicked meds."

"I'm here for an eating disorder, but I also have an addictive personality and anxiety and depression.  And apparently my magical system is hardwired wrong, or something."

Well, he knew there was more than that, but the healers didn't need to know everything, especially if Shylock thought it was irrelevant.  At least this way Lily would be encouraged to introduce herself.

"Your turn," Shylock nudged her.

Lily sat through the explanations, feeling oddly sick at Lucy's explanation. She had heard about the aftermath of the battle via Teddy, but it seemed not having parents who discussed family gossip over dinner sort of kept her out of the loop, so she had never fully realized the severity of the condition that had affected her cousin.

Well, she felt like a shitty person.

Ah well. The whole Potter-Weasley clan was so fragmented that there wasn't much of a standard for what was a good family member anymore.

The Grimm girl had arrived, and joined the fray. Shylock then added his own and was suddenly nudging her into the conversation. She glanced at him, her eyebrows pulling together in concern, and she shook her head, before slowly looking to Michael.

It was only going to be worse.

She sighed and sat back. "I'm Lily. I took too many drugs."

Michael did not know what to say to that. Oh, he knew what he'd have said if it had been a one-on-one appointment. "How many is too many, Lily?" But this wasn't the time for confrontation.

He cleared his throat.

"Okay. Great to meet you all."

Good Merlin, he sounded like a youth group leader. He supposed this was a little like a youth group, though. A very depressing sort of youth group.

"In case any of you don't know, the purpose of the group is to provide support with whatever you're going through," he explained. "So does anyone have anything they'd like to share, or something they've been having difficulty with?"

Finn did not like this one bit. She hated that she was even here but if she was going to do it, she was going to do it right. She could not see a point in subjecting herself to this if she wasn't going to come out of it better than she was before.

The Potter girl's attitude, the young man's lengthy list, and the severity of Lucy's condition had left Finn feeling a little faint - what was she doing here? She struggled to speak up, she had issues with being a vampire, she hated the spotlight. But she didn't have issues like the people around her.

She turned her eyes on Michael, the only person she felt like she could anchor herself to. Perhaps it was best just to get stuff out of the way now, then.

"I don't really have any friends," she admitted, answering his question. "I'm sort of frightened of everyone, save for my really close friends. But then during the holidays, I don't see anyone. And my worries about staying under the radar sort of outshine everything else, so I'm going into my final year and I have no idea what I'd even like to do after school."