She wants the truth; it's right out there in the waiting room with those hands, looking just as sweet as they can -- Summer 1990

My parents had gotten to the point where they hurt me so badly that we had to go to St. Mungo's.  Well, it was Mother who hurt me this badly.  They both came with me, though.  I was not entirely sure what was going on when we arrived, but I was now coherent and I looked up when I heard the door open.  A Healer came in and she had an extremely concerned look on her face.  "Er... Hello," I said, unsure of why she would be in here with me and not out there talking to my parents.

I smiled closing the door behind me, " Hi Mr. Matthews....please call me Chloe or healer chloe. " I informed him, " I don't like the formalities.." I said as I walked over to sit beside him. " So, we have spoken with your mum and dad. I just come in here to get it from you." I said. He had symptoms and signs of mental and physical abuse. I just wanted to know how much they have done to the poor boy.

My leg was rather painful and I wondered if there was some pain remedy going through me right now because I expected it to be much worse.  "Okay," I said slowly, knowing that my mother would have said I had fallen down the stairs.  I felt my heart pounding in my chest with that thought of lying and just thinking of the way that my little brother died four years ago.  "What all do you need to know, Healer Chloe?" I asked politely.

" How about you tell me about today?" I asked him. I figured I get him talking and he may slip and let me know what really is going on. " Anything new and exciting happen today?" I asked trying to figure a trigger to get him talking to me and let his guard down a little bit. " I'm not going to be saying anything that is said here out there...I promise you it's just between us. " I tried to reassure him. Although, I didn't blame him for not trusting me.

I licked my lips slightly to moisten them.  "It was a typical day," I said honestly, knowing that starting out with the truth would do well in a situation like this.  "I was doing chores... I was actually done.  I almost made it to my room and I forgot to do something."  And this was where the story would differ extremely from the what had really happened.  I looked back at Healer Chloe.  "And I was rushing, so I ended up slipping down the stairs.  I hurt my leg pretty bad, didn't I?"

I smiled and nodded as he spoke as he went through his day. Saying he forgot something wasn't really a non typical thing for a younger man. Mind you my fully grown male forgets to do things, he fell down the stairs hm. I continued to be smiling as he spoke, " so when you fell down the stairs were you carrying anything on you?" I asked him to be sure how well he was going to continue trying to get me off the subject of his parents. They did this and I cannot just ignore this. This boy I am sure is one of Remus' students. I needed to help him.

This was one of the few times that my parents had actually had to bring me into St. Mungo's.  If it had been up to my mother, she probably would have just let me suffer at home.  But Father... he tried sometimes to make it better... but it did not really work.  I shook my head.  "No... I just needed to complete the one task that I forgot to do and I planned on going back up to my bedroom to read," I said, wishing she would stop with the questions.  "Really, ma'am, I just want to get out of here as soon as possible."  The longer I had to stay in here, the worse it would end up at home.  My mother did not like people looking into our family business... and I did not want to lie to anyone more than I had to.