A/N: There's another at the bottom so I'll make it quick, Please review once you're finished reading! I'd greatly appreciate it. :)



The sun broke through the window curtains and fell upon the sleeping body of a young girl. She is about sixteen years old, but no one is really sure what her age is. She has bright red hair that is very long and in soft waves. She is small, but not delicate. She has the build of an athlete. She also has a beautiful face to look upon, many people think so. Her face has an elegance and grace that no make up could improve. Her eyes are a rich brown with flecks of gold in them. When she is angry, people have told her it appears that she is on fire. She felt the warm summer sun hit her face and she stirred from her sleep. She heard soft voices whispering not far away. The girl struggled to wake herself from sleep, only to catch the attention of the people uttering the quiet conversation. They stop talking and the girl hears movement in her room.

“Good morning!” A chipper female voice greets her.

The young girl groans inwardly before responding not nearly as lively, “Good morning, Emma.” The girl sits up in her bed, stretches widely and reaches for her clothes for the day. She dresses in jeans and a plain white tee shirt. She pulls her hair back to into a ponytail. The girl looks at Emma. She is short, like the girl, but she has greying hair pulled back in a bun and wrinkles on her friendly face. The girl says to Emma,“What are the plans for today?”

Emma replies,“Well, I have some exciting news for you. You’re going to have some company for your lessons from now on. There’s a boy who is at the same level as you and seems to be in the same situation. Scott thought it would be a good idea for you two to learn together.”

The girl looks excited. “How old is he?” she asks.

“He’s about your age. Supposedly he’s very good looking.” Emma says with a smile.

“Really? Oh this is going to be awesome!”

The young girl runs to hug Emma and she says, “Oh, don’t thank me, thank Scott, it was his idea. I just approved it that’s all.” Emma smiles and lets the girl go as she runs downstairs to the cafeteria on the first floor.

*********************

During this time in another building not far away, the same bright, morning sun is waking up a young boy. He is about seventeen years old, though no one really knows how old he is. The boy has straight, blonde hair, which is almost too long. His hair covers over the tips of his ears and they have been telling him to get it cut. He prefers it this way though, covering up part of eyes as well. His eyes are a smoky grey, one of his best features. He is tall, but not bulky. He is lithe and wiry. He jumps off his bed and opens his blinds fully, letting in the sunshine. He dresses for the day wearing a polo shirt and some khaki pants. Just before he is about to leave his room, someone blocks his path and joins him in he room. He is another young man, about twenty-five, who is tall and has a round, friendly face. The boy smiles at the man and says, “Hey Tom. What’s going on today?”

Tom looks at the boy and smiling widely he replies, “Today you get to meet that girl I was telling you about. And you’ll be doing your lessons with her from now on with Scott teaching.”

“She’s the hot one with red hair right?” the boy questions.

Tom laughs. “Yeah, she’s the pretty one. After breakfast go to Scott’s office and you’ll get to meet her,” Tom replied.

“Awesome, thanks so much Tom!” the boy exclaims.

“Don’t thank me, thank Scott, I just approved it, that’s all.” Tom watches the young boy run out of his room to go downstairs and eat breakfast in the cafeteria.

*********************

The girl eats her breakfast as fast as she can. She avoids people that might want to talk to her. She gulps down her orange juice and runs out the front door across the courtyard to another building. No one lives in the building, only people working, teaching, and learning here. The building is named the Meadowvale Rehabilitation Centre. She keeps running all the way up the stairs to the fourth floor of six. She turns right at the top of the stairs and enters a large hallway that is full of activity. She passes many room and offices. Some have just adults, some are filled with young children playing. She turns to her left and knocks on a door labelled, Dr. Scott Grumman.

“Come in,” a deep male voice says permitting the girl to enter.

“Hey Scott. I hear I’m to have a classmate,” she says with a smile. Scott smiles at her. He is of a medium build, has dark brown hair with streaks of grey and dark blue eyes. He has a moustache and although he was once fit, age has changed that a bit and he now is a little larger, particularly around the middle.

“Yes it’s true, now you can have some company of your own age.”

“How come we are going to be studying together now?” she questions.

“Well, it’s rather interesting really. Your situations are strikingly similar and perhaps were caused by the same thing, we do not know. But we feel that it would be advantageous for you two to work together, especially because your knowledge is at the same level,” Scott responded.

“So, us working together might help our progress along too, won’t it? And maybe we’ll give you more answers then. Am I right?” she wonders to Scott.

Scott laughs. “You really are too smart for your own good. Of course that’s exactly what we are hoping. But don’t get your hopes up too much for some answers. This move might be beneficial for the both of you, or it might hinder you.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will work,” she says confidently. “With me in the mix with my intelligence? Of course it will.”

*********************

The young boy is eating breakfast at a fast pace. He doesn’t even notice anyone or anything around him in the cafeteria. As soon as he is finished, he jumps up and runs out the doors leaving his mess behind on the table. He runs across the courtyard dodging trees and bushes that he leaps over. People stare at him but he takes no notice. He runs into the Meadowvale Rehabilitation Center, up to the fourth floor, down the hallway and opens the door to Dr. Scott Grumman’s office without knocking. He hears a young female voice say,
“…me in the mix with my intelligence? Of course it will.”

Without looking at the girl he says, “Scott, now you can’t forget about me and my rather sharp brain.”

The girl looks up and stares at this boy who is tall with blonde hair. He is so handsome that she stops thinking and just takes all of his features in. Scott smiles at the girl who he noticed has gone temporarily dumb.

“Welcome,” Scott says to the boy. “Ah yes, introductions!” Now the boy looks at the girl and it is his turn to come over speechless. She has red hair and a face that could be of an angel. Scott notices the how the two are staring at each other as if they’d never seen a member of the opposite sex before.

“Ahem,” Scott clears his throat, which barely deters either of them. He begins a little more loudly, “Jules, I’d like you to meet Penny. Penny, this is Jules. You two will be working and learning together from now on.”



A/N: What, it's not Ginny and Draco!? Well, if you haven't figured it out then I suggest you wait and read a little bit more! You won't be disappointed. You'll find out why these two are in a Rehabilitation centre and how and everything as the story goes on. I'm trying to tell the whole story through their dialogue and not through narration. So, as these two learn more about the other by talking, so will you. Hopefully I haven't scared anyone away by that though! As usual, please review it's great to get comments and suggestions. :)

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of it; I’m not making money. It’s all belongs to J K Rowling and Warner Brothers and other such businesses.


Penny and Jules continued staring at one another for what must a have been a good minute before Penny stood, shook Jules’ hand, and said as impassively as she could,

“Nice to meet you, Jules.” He smiled and she felt her legs tremble.

“Likewise,” he replied. Scott decided this would be a good time to intervene before they started having a staring contest.

“Why don’t you take a seat Jules?” Scott said, his hand gesturing toward the chair beside Penny. Jules sat down and reverted his attention slowly back to Scott. Penny did the same. “Alright, now that you two have met, we’ll go over the schedule for the following months. You know the both of you will be able to live on your own in about six months, but we still have a lot to go over. I just hope we can get enough memories from you two that will enable you to live comfortably out in the world.” Jules and Penny both looked excited at the prospect of leaving Meadowvale behind.

“I know that our hypnosis sessions are usually done separately, but I would like to try a few sessions together. You will both be hypnotised at the same time. That way you won’t feel uncomfortable and you won’t be able to watch the other person being hypnotised. I would like to know how you two feel about this. If you don’t want to do it, we won’t.” Scott sat back in his chair and waited for both of them to think it over. Penny was the first to speak.

“What do you think that this will accomplish? I mean, can Jules and I communicate with each other while we are hypnotised?” Penny questioned. Scott smiled at Penny. He knew she liked the idea. But he also knew she liked to think of everything before anything was done. She was just very thorough.

“Frankly, we don’t know what could happen. It’s a bit of a risk you could say. But I have a hunch that you will be able to communicate and interact. While you are relaxed you can converse with me while I am hypnotising you, so I would think that two people hypnotised by the same person would be able to communicate. The question is, do both of you trust me enough for this to work? And you both need to trust yourselves and each other.”

Jules and Penny both thought for a moment, each knowing they could trust Scott, both wondering could they trust each other. They quickly looked at each other and knew their answers immediately.

“I’ll do it,” said Jules.

“So will I,” Penny agreed. Scott seemed pleased, as if he knew they would both agree and want to go through this experiment.

“Excellent! Ok you’ll have some time together to answer each other’s questions and get to know one another. Then after lunch, you’ll be helping some of the nurses look after the kids when they go to the zoo. You’ll have time to talk to one another today. You’ll need to have to know each other for this to work,” Scott told them. Penny and Jules both nodded in understanding.

“Off you go then. You can eat lunch together downstairs in the cafeteria here.” Penny and Jules both stood up to leave and said good-bye to Scott.

Walking down the hall from Scott’s office the both of them felt a little awkward. Both having doubtful thoughts.

“How can I trust this person? I don’t even know him,” Penny thought. Jules was feeling the same as Penny was. Jules decided now is the time when they should be talking, no point in delaying the inevitable.

“So where do you…” Jules and Penny both turned and said to the other.

“Sorry, you go first.” Penny said, blushing.

“Oh, okay. Umm… I guess what I was going to say was: do you know where you came from?” Jules said awkwardly.

Penny smiled and said, “I was going to ask you the same thing.” Jules felt relieved and waited for her response.

“I was found in northern Scotland, not many people live there and the closest building I was found by was deserted and in ruins. So I’m a bit of a mystery for the doctors. Especially because I don’t have a Scottish accent, it’s English as you can tell. I’m from England somewhere it seems. How about you?” Jules was startled by her honest response but he didn’t let it show. He decided to answer truthfully as well.

“Actually, I have a similar story. I was found near this abandoned factory in Wales. But I also know I’m not from Wales. I have an English accent, not Welsh. Could I be from England? I don’t know.” Jules finished. Penny seemed shocked and walked without paying much attention to anything. She was going over his words inside her head. She finally spoke very slowly and carefully,

“That’s weird – we were both found by ourselves, and without a sign of an accident or struggle? Usually people like us have been in a car accident, or are really old and suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. They told me our situations were similar, but I didn’t know it was like this.” Jules was deep in thought as well. He asked Penny quietly,

“What else do we have in common?”

“I don’t know, but probably a lot more than just where we were found. Makes sense for us to be spending all this time together then.” Penny said.

“You’re right. Let’s ask each other as many questions as possible to see how much we can figure out.” Jules suggested.

“I think that’s exactly what we should do. Let’s talk about it over lunch in the cafeteria. I’m starving.” Penny said with a slight smile.

Jules smiled back at her before responding, “Me too.”

They reached the cafeteria for lunch and the special today was beef stew. They grabbed their trays with their bowls of stew and sat down together at a table. Both were feeling more comfortable in each other’s presence already. Penny decided it was a good idea for them to learn and do their sessions together. But first she wanted to know more. So did Jules.

“How much do you remember before the incident?” Jules asked Penny as soon as she had pushed away her empty bowl.

“I don’t remember anything. Well that’s not true, I know some things but it’s nothing from my life. I still know how to talk, walk, and what a car is – but I don’t know how to drive one. Scott says that is unusual, because people remember things like that. I don’t even know how to ride a bike. And I don’t know everything that I should with school. I am very far behind people who are the same age as me. I don’t even know how to do variables properly.” She stopped talking and seemed thoughtful for a moment before asking Jules tentatively,

“What do you remember from your life?” He was looking a little unnerved and seemed afraid to answer the question. Penny was puzzled for a moment and then understood.

“You don’t know how to ride a bike either, do you?” Penny said with quiet shock.

“No, I don’t know how. I even barely knew what they were. I saw one a while ago, and it wasn’t the first time I’d seen one, but it was definitely not something I saw everyday,” Jules said with the same astonishment. They both sat in silence for a moment, trying to process this startling information. “This is too weird. They told me I was a special case. This has never happened to anyone before.” He finished in a hushed voice.

“What happened to us?” Penny said after another moment of silence.

“I don’t know.” Jules said. They looked at each other and it was the first time, but not the last, that they saw each other’s expression in the others face. Jules cleared his throat and Penny looked at her watch.

“It’s already five to one! We have to meet Anna for the zoo in five minutes.” Penny exclaimed. Jules jumped up out of his seat and Penny did the same. The rushed out the front door and ran to the Children’s Centre. Anna was waiting outside with the kids trying to get them all onto a yellow school bus. She seemed a little flustered because her only other help was a first year nurse. Anna was in her mid thirties and lived with her husband. She was a kind person but she had a hard face. They say she grew hard after she left her family. Jules and Penny ran up to Anna and she said,

“You two are late! Help me get these kids on the bus.”

“Of course,” Penny said as she helped a young boy onto the bus. All the kids that were going on the field trip to the zoo had learning disabilities as a result of a birth defect. It takes them longer to learn to something that a baby of five months old can grasp. Simple tasks like touching toes has to be taught to these children.

Once all the children were on the bus and Anna made sure they were all secure and accounted for, they left for the zoo. Jules and Penny sat together up at the front.

“How much fun can going to the zoo be?” Jules wondered aloud. Penny thought he sounded a little moody, and she wasn’t impressed.


A/N: That was chapter two, folks! I hope you liked it. Ok, so review and give me some comments and suggestions, anything is appreciated!

Disclaimer: I own none of it. It all belongs to JKR and others.

The ride to the zoo was fairly uneventful until the end. Once they pulled up to the gates, the kids got a little excited and became harder to control. Penny didn’t seem to mind the extra bit of excitement for she was smiling and laughing along with all the kids. Jules, however, was a little moody and avoiding helping too much. Penny walked into the zoo with one child attached to each hand. They kids were talking excitedly about all the different animals they would get to see.

“And elephants! We’re going to see them too, right?” the little boy on Penny’s left asked her. She looked down at him and smiled.

“Of course we are! We couldn’t miss out on the elephants,” said Penny.

Jules walked into the zoo last with his hands in his pockets, looking thoroughly annoyed. The two little boys who were holding onto Penny’s hands let go and ran ahead with Anna and the other children. Penny waited for Jules to catch up with her.

“Are you alright?” Penny asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just don’t like kids too much. I’d rather not being doing this,” he admitted.

“Oh, I see. That’s alright, we’ll just stay out of the way then, if that’s ok,” Penny said.

“Yeah, that’d be ok,” Jules said, looking relieved. They walked along together behind the group in silence. The kids were having a wonderful time laughing and pulling faces at the monkeys and other animals. Penny smiled at the expression on a little girl’s face when she saw her first monkey. Jules was watching Penny and couldn’t help but admire her. She didn’t seem to mind when a young boy from the group came running up to her and hugged her suddenly. He had left his dirty handprints on her clean clothes. She wasn’t phased in the least. Jules seemed disgusted. He didn’t comment on it though, but Penny noticed the expression on his face.

“You’re not afraid of a little dirt are you?” she asked with a giggle.

“I’m not afraid, I’d just rather stay clean and respectable,” he said.

“So you’re saying that I’m not respectable right now?” she asked inquiringly.

“Right now, I’d say yes,” he responded with an air of slight annoyance. Penny was taken aback by his harsh words. She quickly regained her composure and decided not to let her anger get the best of her.

“You do know that clothes can be washed and they’re just like new again, right? Besides it doesn’t bother me if I’m dirty. If it bothers you, that’s your problem, because I don’t care what your opinion of me is.” Even though she said this with conviction, it did matter to her what his opinion was. She wanted him to like her.

“Well that’s just fine by me because I don’t care what you think of me either.” He lied. He wanted her like to like him too.

Thinking that this was a bad start to a friendship, Penny tried to seem like she was okay with this new information about Jules.

“So then just as long as we don’t care what the other thinks we should get along fine,” she joked.

He noticed a little bit of tension in her voice. “She does care what I think then,” he thought to himself.

“So… err… which one is your favourite animal?” Jules asked, trying to sound as if they’d been having a conversation about hippopotamuses all along. Penny couldn’t help but smile.

“Why, the monkeys of course,” she said.

“Monkeys? Aren’t they kind of gross?” Jules asked.

“Yeah, but they remind me of you.” She laughed at the surprised expression on his face that changed to a grin once he realized she was joking.

“My favourite animal is a pig. You know, you’ve got a perfect pig nose, that must be why I like you so much,” he said a matter-of-a-factly. She giggled.

“That make senses for you to like pigs. You must have a lot in common, it even sounds like you’re grunting when you talk.” They were both laughing at themselves by now. Penny was glad Jules was lifted out of his sullen mood. The kids had reached the reptile house and were looking at all the interesting lizards, snakes and other scaly creatures. Jules and Penny stopped walking and looked at one particular specimen of snake. It was a boa constrictor. Its scales were in a pattern of three different dark shades of green. They were staring and staring at this snake, all the while wondering why they weren’t moving yet. Penny and Jules looked at each other simultaneously, while both feeling confused and awed.

“I feel like this means something, but I don’t know what,” Jules said with a hushed voice.

“I know what you mean. But I feel like I should know,” she responded.

“That exactly how I feel. I wonder what it means?” he questioned. Close by, a young boy dropped his ice cream cone and was screaming at the top of his lungs. This brought them out of their reverie. They made to walk out the reptile house and the feeling passed.

“You know what, it was probably nothing anyways,” Penny said, and five minutes later the snake was long forgotten when they came upon a dolphin show. They laughed along with all the kids when the dolphins splashed them.

“Okay kids!” Anna said, leading them out of the dolphin show, “Now we get to see the big animals. All these animals live on the savannah in Africa. Who’s ready?” All the kids responded with a big, enthusiastic,

“Me!”

The kids were all eager to see the giraffes, zebras, and gazelles. Anna had to run to keep with the over excited kids, while Jules and Penny walked leisurely behind. Penny smiled when the kids ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ over large grey elephants, tall lanky giraffes, and striking zebras. They walked along to where the lions were kept. All the kids were apprehensive about these ferocious beasts. For some reason that Penny couldn’t explain, she walked right up to the edge of cage and got as close as she possibly could.

“Penny, be careful!” warned Anna, “Don’t frighten the kids.” Penny didn’t seem to hear her. A large female lion was approaching the cage where Penny was and roared a mighty roar. Penny was nonplussed. She just stood watching the majestic animal with rapt attention. A bizarre thing then happened. The lioness sat down in front of Penny and stared at her just as intently. Penny felt someone grabbing her arm and she turned to face Jules who looking at her with a concerned expression on his face.

“Are you alright?” She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in.

“Yes. I’m fine. Sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” she responded.

“That’s ok. But we have to go, they’re loading the bus to go back to the center.”

“Ok.” They turned to leave and Penny stole one last glance at the lioness. She was still watching Penny and watched her until she couldn’t see her anymore. The lioness got up and went back to the patch of grass she was occupying before.

The ride back to the center was just as noisy as before. They kids were all talking and laughing wildly at the fun they had today. Anna looked exhausted. She looked at Penny and Jules who were sitting quietly together at the front of the bus.

“Thanks for your help today, you two. I really appreciate it. I hope you had fun too, though,” she said to the both of them.

“We had a lot of fun, Anna. Thanks for letting us come,” Penny said.

“Yeah it was great. Thanks Anna,” Jules said sincerely.

“Now I know who to ask for some help if I ever need to take all the kids to the circus. I’m just joking!” she added and laughed when she saw the slightly stricken look on Jules’ face. Penny laughed as well.

“After this, I think he’d like to volunteer for some babysitting jobs.” She giggled when Jules turned to glare at her.

“I’ll have you know that kids love me so it’d be a breeze anyways,” he said confidently. Penny and Anna laughed out loud.

“That’s something I’ve got see one day,” Penny said through her giggles.

“Oh, shut up,” Jules said, though he was grinning too.
When they finally unloaded the kids, Jules and Penny were exhausted.

“Want to go to supper together?” Penny asked.

“Sure.” They walked to the cafeteria in Penny’s building. Grabbing their trays and supper of lasagne they sat down at a secluded table together.

“It wasn’t all that bad, was it?” asked Penny.

“No, it wasn’t all bad. I just don’t like kids too much — you know that. I don’t think I had a lot of exposure to them before,” he said.

“You don’t know if you had any brothers or sisters?”

“No, I don’t know, but I think I didn’t have any or a lot. Scott thinks so too. What about you, do you think you did?”

“I don’t know either, but I know I love kids and I like being around a lot of people, so maybe I did.” She took a sip of her drink and then added, “I know I don’t mind sharing either.”

“Then you must have a lot of siblings. Do you think they look as good as you?” She blushed and he said quickly, “I mean like you, look like you.” He continued rambling, “I probably didn’t have a lot brothers or sisters,” he was saying, “Because I can’t stand sharing. I know I like to keep the things I own, and I like to get what I want.” He took a bite of his pasta hoping that Penny didn’t think he was crazy.

“Really? Sometimes not getting all the things you want makes you a bigger person. I don’t think my family was very wealthy, or maybe I lived alone without a lot of things. I’m used to living frugally, it’s not a problem.”

“That’s the opposite of me. I wish my room were bigger at this place. I know it could be nicer. I also wish I had silk sheets on my bed.”

“Silk sheets? But those are so expensive! Cotton ones are just fine for me,” she said.

“I guess to each his own, or her own, if you’d like.” They sat in silence for a bit and finished eating.
“Are you finished?” Jules asked after a bit. “Because I could walk you back to your room if you wouldn’t mind?” he asked.

Penny thought he sounded a bit nervous. She smiled and said,“Yes, I’m done, and you can walk me back if you want.” They didn’t say anything walking back to Penny’s room. When they got there, she opened the door and looked at him. She noticed a funny look on his face, so she said,“Goodnight, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right. Yeah, I’ll err… see you tomorrow.” He walked away rather quickly and Penny watched his retreating back confusedly. She went into her room and put on her pyjamas. Only then did she realize that he had wanted to kiss her. She flopped down on her bed with a big smile on her face.

Please review. :)

A/N: I am so sorry for the wait! I am extremely busy with school this year. Courses are much more difficult and they require more of my time. My updates will probably be pretty irregular.



Jules had troubles getting to sleep that night.

“Why didn’t I kiss her? All I had to do was lean in a little more,” he thought furiously. He turned over in his bed and groaned in frustration.

“Now I bet she won’t even look at me—or worse, she’ll laugh at me.” He lay on his back looking at the ceiling, not feeling remotely tired.

“No, she won’t laugh at me. I am good looking, so she has to be attracted to me.”

*****************************

Somewhere not far away, Penny was laying in her bed feeling not much different that Jules.

“Why didn’t he kiss me? Why didn’t I kiss him? His lips were mere inches from mine.” She was biting her fingernails like she always did when she was thinking about something.

“Great, now it’ll be awkward the next time I see him.” She let out a groan of frustration.

“No, I won’t let it get awkward. We have to work together.” She then tried to think about nothing and fall asleep. It was some time later she did eventually fall into a sleep filled with dreams a handsome young man with blonde hair.

****************************

Jules woke up the next morning feeling very tired. He looked at his clocked and sighed. It read 6:24 am. He struggled to try and fall back to sleep, but it wasn’t working.

He sighed again and sat up on his bed. Morning sunshine was already filtering into his room. He got up off the bed, crossed his room and opened the blinds fully. Usually this action makes him feel happy. Today, however, it only depressed him.

He had a hypnosis session with Scott today. This one was just with Scott and himself. Scott said he wanted them to know each other more before they started doing their hypnosis together.

Jules opened up his favourite book, Watership Down, and picked up reading where he last left off. He was immersed in the book and did not look up at the clock again until it was quarter to eight.

“Oh crap!” Jules exclaimed as he threw his book down on his bed and began to get dressed for the day. He hastily threw on some clothes, hoping that they were clean. He ran out his room without bothering to make his bed and he headed down toward the cafeteria.
After nearly running somebody over to get to breakfast, he grabbed a container of juice and an apple. He ate this quickly and as soon as he was finished, he high-tailed to the fourth floor of the Meadowvale Rehabilitation Center building to Scott’s office.

“Rough night?” Scott asked, his voice filled with amusement. He looked over Jules in his dishevelled state. His hair was in complete disarray, and he was sweating and planting from running so hard.

Jules plunked himself down into one of the chairs in front of Scott’s desk.

“You know, you can be a few minutes late. I won’t mind.” Jules glared at Scott who looked back with a large grin on his face.

“I know that, I just wasn’t thinking.” He responded with touch of anger.

“That is apparent,” Scott replied. “But onto business!” Scott exclaimed before Jules had a chance to respond.

“Last time we were making great progress with your hypnosis so we’ll pick up where we left off.” Jules nodded as he was becoming more relaxed by the moment. Scott’s voice had that affect on him. It was possibly because he was so used to being hypnotised.

“Follow me to the study and you can settle yourself down in the lounge chair.” Jules got up and walked behind Scott into his study where his psychologist’s chair was. Jules settled himself into the chair while Scott grabbed his clipboard and a pen.

“Alright Jules, you know what to do. Listen to my voice. It is soft and soothing.”
Jules closed his eyes and focused all of his attention of the words Scott was saying.

“You are becoming more and more relaxed with each word that I say.” Jules was barely aware of himself as he went into a sleep-like state.

“Okay Jules, I want you to concentrate on your facial features. Picture them very clearly in your minds eye. Do you see yourself Jules?” He nodded his head yes in response.

“Now try to imagine which part of your features came from you mother, and which came from your father.” Jules lay there in silence for a while as Scott watched him intently. It almost looked like Jules was sleeping, except that his slightly furrowed brow gave him away.

“My hair,” Jules said softly.

“Jules, tell me about your hair,” said Scott.

“It’s blond.” Scott waited while Jules was thinking some more. “Like my mother’s.”

***********************

Penny woke up feeling tired still and attempted to fall back asleep. She did after sometime, until someone bustled into her room.

“Get up you sleepyhead!” Emma said. She pulled open the blinds and Penny groaned when she felt the glorious sunlight fall upon her.

“I’m still sleepy,” Penny said, covering her head up with her pillow.

“That’s too bad. It’s time to get up now. You should do your math homework, which I know you haven’t finished yet,” Emma told her before she left the room.
Penny rolled her eyes before sitting up. She yawned and stretched widely. Grumbling a little, she made her way to the shower rooms. She had a quick shower and washed her hair. Wrapped in a towel with her red hair dripping, she walked back into her room searching for a brush.

Penny loved brushing her hair. It was comforting somehow. She liked to think that her mother, if she had one, used to love brushing her hair as well. She would fantasize what her mother looked like and what it felt like to be hugged by someone who loved you unconditionally.

Once she was done brushing her hair, she opened her dresser drawer and pulled out some clothes. She dressed in jeans and a jumper.

Penny walked down to the cafeteria where she grabbed a tray and some breakfast. She chose her favourite, plain cereal. She sat and ate silence. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she found it was hard to make friends with other people. She just didn’t feel a connection to anybody. She didn’t even feel particularly close to Emma or Scott, even though she has been with them since her arrival at Meadowvale. She often wondered why this was.

Penny felt like she was a friendly person who could get along well with people. It was something she couldn’t describe; she didn’t feel a connection to anyone. Jules was the exception. Penny knew in her heart that they were connected somehow. She felt it every time she was with him. She hadn’t felt that way around any of the girls or boys that she had tried to befriend over her four-month stay. She continued thinking about Jules while she took her time finishing her cereal.

Penny returned her tray and put her bowl on the counter by the kitchens. She walked back upstairs to her room and flopped down on her bed. She picked up her math homework and attempted to finish it.

“Three ‘x’ plus five equals twenty-six… alright-y. Now I’m supposed get the ‘x’ by itself… then what? Oh, I don’t know any of this! Maths is such a useless subject.” She muttered angrily to herself.

She pulled out her calculator, and decided that a little cheating on her multiplication table wouldn’t hurt.

“Okay, I know twenty-six minus five equals twenty-one. But what times three is twenty-one?” She thought about it before she tried plugging the numbers into her calculator. Before she could even try and cheat, the answer came out of nowhere.

“Seven,” she heard someone say. Penny looked up to see Anna standing outside her door smiling.

“Thanks!” Penny said, once she saw who it was. “But you know, I’m supposed to learn how to do this crap by myself.”

“Maths isn’t crap. It was possibly my favourite subject in school,” Anna said.

“Well, it might have been my favourite subject if I could remember any of it. This is Grade eight stuff supposedly. I should be at a grade twelve,” Penny said, sounding incensed. Anna sat down beside her on her bed.

“I know it’s frustrating, but you just have to be patient. It will come back,” Anna said with hopes of lifting Penny’s spirits.

Penny turned and looked at Anna. “You really think so?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so. Of course I could be wrong, but don’t give up hope, Honey. That’s the worst thing that you could do.”

“I know. It’s just getting more and more frustrating only seeing your life with half the pieces,” Penny said.

“Well I know this won’t cheer you up that much, but I have your favourite treat here if you want it. I just wanted to say thank you for yesterday.” She handed Penny a chocolate bar from Belgium.

“Oh, thank you! I love Belgian chocolate!” She hugged Anna.

“You’re welcome,” Anna said, returning the hug. She spied Penny’s calculator and asked,

“I thought you weren’t allowed to use your calculator for this unit?” Penny looked sheepish when she let go of Anna.

“Well, I just wanted to use it for this one question and then you helped me, so now I don’t need it anymore. Besides, I can barely even use it properly. It’s a stupid, useless, mugglish contraption that seems to hate me,” Penny responded quickly.

“Mugglish? What does that mean?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know. I think I just made up the word right now. Or maybe not. I could have heard it somewhere,” she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Oh, but try not to use the calculator any more. I want you to do well,” Anna said getting up from the bed.

“Alright,” Penny agreed. “Thanks for the chocolate, again.”

“You’re welcome, again. I’ll see you later,” Anna said as Penny was already getting back to her homework.

“Yup, bye!” said Penny, without looking up. Anna
lingered at the edge of her door for a moment, looking at the small, athletic girl. Anna’s brows were knitted together as she was doing some quick thinking. She shook her head and the look passed from her faced as she cleared her head of those thoughts. She walked away from Penny’s room without a thought on her mind.

Penny somehow managed to finish doing her maths homework before her appointment with Scott. Maybe she had used her calculator a little, but all in all, she felt that she had done well. She went down to the cafeteria where she grabbed an apple for the journey over to Scott’s office.

She munched happily on her sweet apple, still high on the feeling of finally accomplishing some homework. She threw her apple core out in garbage can down the hall from Scott’s office. She was just about to knock when the door opened and she found herself looking at the very person who she was dreaming about all last night.

Jules looked up and saw the face of the girl who had in torments all night long. They stared at each other for a second. Then Penny spoke.

“Umm, so you finished your session then?”

“That was bloody brilliant, Penny,” she thought
furiously.

“Yeah, err, yeah I did. You have one now then?” he asked.

“Stupid, of course she has one! She’s right here!” he told himself.

“Uh, yeah. I’d better go in,” she said, but still she stood there.

“Move your legs Penny!” she told her self sternly.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you later.”

“This is the part when you walk away,” his brain was telling his body.

Fortunately, for the both of them, Scott appeared at the door.

“Are you coming, Penny?” he asked, saving them from any further self-inflicted misery.

“Yes,” she said. She walked into Scott’s office without a backward glance at Jules. She felt it was probably safer this way. She was surprised for spending that much time with him already she hadn’t drooled once yet. Jules was often surprised that he didn’t drool over her as well. He suspected it would be quite unbecoming.

“I’ll be right back.” Scott told her.

Penny sat in the squishy armchair by Scott’s desk. She was biting her fingernails again thinking now about how Jules must think of her.

“He probably thinks I’m some blibbering idiot,” she thought. “Great, just great.”

“Everything alright, Penny?” Scott questioned once he came back. He knew her well enough to know that when she bit her nails, something was bothering her. She quickly pulled her fingers away and responded

“Yes.” He looked at her intently. She cleared her throat. A sudden thought came to her and she was surprised that she hadn’t thought about it more. She decided to tell Scott about it.

“Actually, something peculiar happened yesterday.”

“Really? Care to tell me what it is?” he asked, leaning back in his desk chair.

“Well, I don’t know exactly what it was. More of a moment, really. Jules might have mentioned it to you.” When she said his name, she blushed ever so slightly, but Scott didn’t notice it.

“No, he didn’t mention anything about yesterday,” he said.

“We were at the zoo with the kids and Anna, and walking through the reptile house and Jules and I were staring at this snake. And this feeling came over me. It came over Jules too.”

“What was it like?” he asked.

“It was big, and green. I think it was a Boa Constrictor, or something.” Scott laughed.

“No, not the snake. What was the feeling like? Were you happy, sad, scared? Anything that comes to mind?”

Penny thought hard about it for a moment, trying hard to place herself back in the situation.

“I’m not sure exactly what I was feeling, only that I know I’ve felt it before. I think the snake symbolized something for me, and Jules too. Him more so I think—he was in a trance, or something like that, longer than I was,” she said.

They sat in silence together for a few more minutes. Scott could clearly tell she was trying to relive that moment and he waited for her to collect her thoughts.

“What do you think this means?” she asked him after awhile.

“Good question. I’m not sure what it means. Maybe we’ll find out. Were you afraid of the snake at all?”

“Oh no, I know that for sure. Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking maybe you had an experience where you received a bite or something, or one might have startled you and it stuck fast in your memory. But I don’t think so if you didn’t fear it all,” he stated.

“Yeah, I agree with that. But I know it did mean something to me at one time,” she said resolutely.

“Has anything like this happened before since the incident?” Scott asked.

“No, but it happened again at the zoo.” Penny replied.

“Again?” said Scott.

To Penny, he seemed just mildly surprised, but he was shocked and masked it well.

“Yeah, I was looking at this lion, and it was much stronger that time for me. It was almost like time stood still for that moment. I wasn’t aware of anything happening around me. And then it passed.”

“It was the same feeling as before?”

“Yes and no. I felt more, well…” Penny struggled to find a word. “Confident,” she added.

“Confident? That’s interesting. The snake didn’t make you feel this way?”

“No,” she assured him.

Scott sat in silence for a while with his fingertips together, leaning back in his chair, and looking up at the ceiling. Penny was forcibly reminded of someone else, but she couldn’t think of whom. Scott spoke, and the moment passed.

“I made great progress with Jules today in his hypnosis,” Penny blushed a little again, “So I was thinking that if we make the same progress today with you, then we should have one more individual session each before we start them together. How does that sound?”

Penny was surprised by this new information. “Together, so soon?”

“I think you are both ready.”

“Well as long as you think so, I think so, too. I trust you, Scott,” Penny said.

“That’s good to hear,” Scott said with a smile. “Let’s get started, shall we?” Scott got up from his chair and Penny followed him into the other room.


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