Patience Gets Us Nowhere Fast

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol still couldn't believe she had been sentenced to counseling as a form of punishment for putting manure in the fourth year Ravenclaw girls' beds. It seemed like such an insult to those who actually needed therapy for them to suggest there was something 'wrong' with Marisol for pulling a prank that she wasn't the sole contributor for. But she had taken the fault for it because of Professor Cliffeton's pitiful lack of deductive reasoning skills and she had already felt guilty enough for stripping Wyatt of his Hospital duties and Asaiah of playing Quidditch. If there was one less thing she could spare them of it would be counseling. So here she was, unwillingly at the door of one of the school counselors. If it meant Marisol could escape the confines of the common room for at least an hour each week then she would happily sit in silence in another room just for a change of scenery so she wouldn't go stir crazy. The latina knocked on the door and sighed heavily as she waited.
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[Maria Madison]

A lot about the file in front of Maria rang familiar to her. An angry young girl, lashing out at the people around her. Brought back memories of her own school days. She was interested to hear it in Marisol's own words, the girl in question would be able to shed far more light than a file ever could. As if on cue there was a knock on the door, and Maria leaped to her feet, quickly hurrying to open the door with a warm smile. "Hi! You must be Marisol. I'm Maria, come on in, make yourself comfy."

Once the girl was inside Maria closed the door behind her and resumed her own seat, giving an encouraging smile. "Now, before we get started I just have to explain a few things about how this works, so you know what to expect. All of our counselling sessions will be completely confidential, nothing will leave this room if you don't want it to, so you can feel free to say anything you need to get off your chest, nobody but me will ever hear it. The only exception is if I'm worried that you're in danger of hurting yourself, or someone else. In that case I'm legally obligated to tell someone, so that you can be looked after properly. These sessions are all about you, making sure you're getting the help and support you need to make your time at Hogwarts a good one. Whatever you feel like you need to talk about you can talk about, and we'll do what we can to sort it out together, okay?" Maria gave the girl an encouraging smile, shuffling through the papers on her desk. "Now, this file paints a pretty interesting picture, it sounds like you've had an eventful time recently. Do you want to talk about the Ravenclaw dorms? I'm very interested to hear about what happened in your own words."

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol was hoping the counselor would not be in their office so she wouldn't have to do this today, but unfortunately the door opened and a woman smiled down at her. The ends of Marisol's lips barely curved up in a thin smile as she curtly replied, "Hi," and stepped in. She sighed again as she took a seat across from the woman and listened to her spiel though she thought it was useless. There was nothing that Marisol was going to say to this woman, as nice as she seemed. She didn't trust anyone in this castle. She refrained from stating that not going to these sessions would make her time at Hogwarts much better, and simply sat with her hands in her lap as she shifted uncomfortably when Maria said her file was interesting. That was one way to put things. Marisol rolled her eyes at the mention of the Ravenclaw dorm and shrugged when she said, "I don't know anything more than what they said happened." She would go down denying they had done it because Professor Cliffeton still had no definitive proof it was them. "All I know is there was manure in some of the girl's beds and I was the only girl amongst my friends who were accused of allegedly trashing the common room," she stated flatly. Everyone knew only girls were allowed up in the girl's dorms so she had been the only possible suspect among the three of them, not that Professor Cliffeton was able to work out that logic himself.
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[Maria Madison]

Maria nodded as she listened, taking quick notes of what Marisol was saying. Clearly, she was going to have to talk about this a different way. "Why do you think the staff are so certain that you and your friends did this?" She asked gently. "Were the targets people you had grudges on, or was there some evidence they think points to you?" The file seemed fairly assured of Marisol's guilt, but Maria wanted to give the girl a fair chance to talk about it in the way she wanted.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol rolled her eyes when the woman kept asking questions about the incident. "Look, I don't want to talk about it," she huffed, annoyed. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "I'm tired of trying to defend myself because it's not like anyone even listens to us or what we have to say." She didn't want to further incriminate herself or her friends, not that it mattered because they were already punished, but it wasn't just that, she was just tired of it all. She was tired of talking about Teagan and anyone else who bothered her because no matter what she said nothing changed. The list of people she didn't have grudges on was much shorter than the one with those she held resentment towards.
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[Maria Madison]

Maria nodded, scrawling quickly in Marisol's notes. "I'm here to listen to anything you want to say, even if you feel that your teachers haven't listened." She said gently, giving Marisol an encouraging smile. "But if you don't want to talk about it right now I'm not going to push you. You're the one in charge of these sessions, you choose the topic." Marisol was going to have to talk to her about this eventually, for Maria to sign off that she had successfully completed her counselling, but they had many sessions ahead of them, and Maria didn't want to force the issue so early. There would be plenty of time to talk more about the incident in future. "Is there anything else bothering you right now? Homework, family, friends, boys or girls? We can talk about anything you like, it's completely up to you."

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol scowled as the woman began scribbling in her notes because she didn't know what she was saying to warrant a reaction at all and cause her to write anything down. Marisol gave the counselor a false smile that was more like a grimace and then said, "Look, no offense, but there's nothing I have to say. I'm only here because I have to be." Just because she said she was someone who could listen to the fourth year, didn't mean she believed her. She'd probably go running back to the Professors to tell them everything Marisol said and make things worse for her. Teagan was someone for Marisol to deal with on her own, not with the help of adults. Teagan would only torment her more if Marisol showed fear and then the Ravenclaw girl would definitely have the upper hand.
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[Maria Madison]

Maria gave a sympathetic smile, seeing Marisol's discomfort, and laid down her pen for a moment. "Everyone's got something to talk about. Believe me, I remember being fifteen." She said with a soft chuckle. "I'm not talking about the incident anymore, if you say you didn't do it I'll accept that that's all you have to say about it to me. But we've still got hours together coming up for the next few weeks, so if there's anything else bothering you, now's the time. Think of it as a free vent session, whatever's stressing you out." She said warmly.

 

[Marisol Woods]

The counselor was annoyingly perceptive, Marisol noted, as she put her pen down to listen to her. Marisol scoffed when the girl mentioned being her age once and said, "Yeah, well did you ever get sentenced to a counselor when you were fifteen?" Just because Marisol had a lot to talk about didn't mean she was going to say it to Maria. The Gryffindor sighed as the woman reminded her how long they'd have to spend time together in this room, not that she needed reminding, it wasn't something that she would forget. Honestly, the thought of venting sounded like something the werewolf would enjoy, but she was too stubborn to admit it. Like any true teenager, Marisol wanted to do the opposite of what the adult suggested she do. She kicked the edge of an armchair in frustration and it budged slightly but it wasn't dislocated much. She didn't apologize for the action as she asked, "How long do I have to do this for?" Already this first meeting felt like such a waste of time. Was it really worth spending an hour outside of the common room each week in exchange for talking to someone who didn't really care?
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[Maria Madison]

Maria chuckled softly. "If Hogwarts had had counsellors when I was fifteen, I probably would have been sent to one." She said with a smile. "I had some pretty messy teenage years." Glancing down at her notes, Maria could tell she wasn't going to get anything more out of Marisol today. Maybe some time to ruminate would make it easier for her to talk. "We'll be finished with these sessions when I'm confident that you're in a good place emotionally to deal with everything you've got going on." She took a card off her desk, beginning to write on it. "Let's call it finished for today though, if there's nothing else you want to talk about. I'd like to see you again next week at the same time, if that suits your class schedule. I want to see how you're feeling over a few weeks, just so I can get an idea of what things are like for you right now overall. Try to think about anything going on that you'd like to talk about, alright?" She handed Marisol the card with the appointment time on it, giving her an encouraging smile.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol eyed the woman skeptically when she said she would've probably been sent to the counsellor for her messy years when she was her age. She didn't know whether to believe her or not because she seemed so patient and calm and put together, she couldn't imagine this woman trashing a common room like Marisol had done. Maybe it was just something she said to her patients to make them feel more comfortable, Marisol wasn't biting. Marisol sighed silently because she didn't think there was anything 'emotionally' wrong with her especially not in regards to the prank they pulled, but she became uncomfortable when the woman hinted at 'everything going on' with her. She didn't know if she was reaching, but she felt like that was a hint at her lycanthropy, in which case Marisol was disappointed to find out the woman might know about. Not that Maria shouldn't know, she figured all the staff knew about her condition for safety precautions and to excuse her for the days that she missed lessons, but it was still disheartening to think about someone knowing about it before she even walked into their room.

Marisol looked up when the woman said their session for today was finished and she quickly stood up, eager to get out of here. She took the card from her with the appointment time and nodded her head mutely to indicate the scheduling didn't conflict with anything else. It would've conflicted with Quiddditch practice if she'd been allowed to stay on the team, but that was no longer a problem. Marisol scowled when she thought of her punishment again but wiped it off her face when she looked back up at Maria. She wanted to complain all about how Teagan still got to remain on the Quidditch team even after everything the brat had done but instead Marisol bottled it up, especially since their session was over. "K, bye," she said half-heartedly, waving goodbye to the older woman as she rushed out of the room. As soon as she had closed the door, Marisol took as long as humanly possible to walk through the library and back up the flight of stairs to her common room just so she could enjoy a few more minutes of freedom before being imprisoned again.
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