After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer -William R. Alger

***

Family day seemed to arrive quicker then I liked. Knowing that I would see my beloved mother again made me feel slightly happier. However, there was this small fear that my father might attend todays activities as well. Every time I asked Dr. Dolan if there might have been a chance she had accidentally invited him as well, she shrugged, showing me that either she did not want to talk about it or that she might have done it but did not want to tell me.

The raven-haired boy had been a little grumpy the entire morning, something none of us could blame him for. He believed no one would come to represent him on this rather special day. Even though I had asked Dr. Dolan to at least try to arrange company for him during this day, I was not sure if he would be alone or not. I really hoped he would not be on his own, I really hoped she had done something with my proposal.

'Harry? Draco? You are not making out or having sexual contact with each other, right?' a voice asked from behind our room door, making the both of us look up. We were lying on my bed, Harry was lying in my arms while I tried to assure him that everything would be okay. Something in which I failed miserably.

'No, we are not!' I cried out, something that caused Cecilia to open the door. She carefully peaked through the dooropening and stepped in the room once she saw us. 'Alright, I am happy that I did not disturb anything, that would have been horrible for all of us,' she pointed out, causing a small laugh to escape my lips. Harry did not even seem to hear her. 'You family is here Draco,' she said, patiently waiting for me to follow her. 'You should come as well, Harry. Family day is about to start and you have to be there as well as you might already know.'

A deep sign escaped the raven-haired boy's full, pink lips. He did not protest, he did not speak at all. We both followed the nurse in complete silence. I wanted to ask Cecilia if someone had showed up for Harry, but since the Boy Who Lived was walking besides me, I could not ask her anything. It would break him to hear that no one had come, even though they were invited.

Even though it might have been impossible to upset him even more, I did not want to try it.

We entered the room where our family was waiting for us. I did not notice my own family first. The first thing that caught my eye was a certain red-haired women, who was standing next to hear husband who was also red haired.

'Harry, your family showed up as well,' Cecilia spoke, winking subtlety at me. The look in the raven-haired boy's face was priceless. His lips got separated, his eyes widened. Not only had Mrs. and Mr. Weasley showed up, almost the entire Weasley family had. This sudden move of affection and love towards Harry made me want to cry out of happiness. It was priceless to see how touched he was, how happy this seemed to make him.

'Go ahead,' I whispered, letting go of his hand. 'Go and hug your family.'

And he did. Once Mrs. Weasley had hugged him they all started to cry. They turned it into a group hug when Mr. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, George and Hermione joined the hug. 'He is lucky to have someone watching over his shoulder like you,' Cecilia whispered into my ear, also touched by the sight in front of her. 'Not as lucky as I am to have him,' I whispered back, feeling genuinely touched by the love they all felt for each other. Even though they might not have been his biological family, I knew this was his real family. One that loved him for whom he was.

On the other side of the room Lucia had met her brother again. We had discussed it and she had told me how frightened she was to see him again. I had told her that I would be there for her and if something ever happened she would just have to call out my name and I would be there for her. But she seemed to be doing fine, everybody seemed to be doing just fine. Except for me.

In the corner of the room I spotted my mother, who had a nervous look on her face. However, she was not alone. There was a man standing behind her, a man that I better knew as my father. Seeing him made me feel like I was about to faint. My heart had stopped beating for a moment once his eyes met mine and a cold shiver pulled trough my body.

My mother walked towards me, pulling me into a tight hug. No matter how much I wanted to return the hug, I could not do it. Not while my body was still in shock. 'I am so sorry,' she whispered in my ear. 'He insisted to come with me, I have told him so many times to stay at home but you know how stubborn your father can be.'

There was not a thing in the world she could possibly say to me to set me free from the horrible fear I was feeling. It made me sick to see him again. He made me sick. I felt like throwing up, crying and fainting all at the same time. He slowly walked towards me, making me feel even sicker because I slowly realised that he was indeed very real. Luckily Dr. Dolan entered the room before he could speak to me.

'Thank you all for coming,' she spoke as my father stood still next to me. His presence alone was enough to make me feel absolutely sick. I hated the influence he had on me. I honestly hated him. 'I ensure you that all the patients are very happy and relieved that you showed up,' she said, winking towards Harry who still had a huge smile on his lips. He had not noticed my father yet and neither had the Weasley family. They were so caught up into their own moment, they had not seen him, but I honestly could not blame them for that. 'Would you please follow me to our living room where we normally have our group therapy's? Once we are all settled we can get started.'

Everybody slowly walked out of the room, except for me. My feet did not seem to be able to carry my body, not when I knew that my father was here as well.

'Is that ugly man your father?' I heard someone ask. It took me a moment to realise that it was Lucia, who was standing next to a taller boy that looked like her. I nodded, still not being able to speak up because my tongue felt too dry. 'Why did he show up?'

I shrugged, feeling the need to disappear forever.

'Hey,' she said, taking my hand. Her brother seemed to feel incredibly awkward, but I could not blame him since he had no idea who I was. 'It will be alright, okay? Maybe it is a good thing that he showed up, now you will finally be able to let him know that you are done with him in a safe environment. He cannot hurt you while all the others are in the room as well, please remember that.'

She was right, which was the worst part. Maybe I could take this opportunity to let him know that I was done with him, maybe he would get it and leave me alone after this day. That was all I could hope for.

'You are right,' I said, feeling how she grabbed my hand and led me to the other room where everybody was patiently waiting for us. A pair of green eyes found mine, looking concerned. The raven-haired boy had spotted my father, everybody had since no one could stop looking at him. I took a deep breath and sat down between my parents, hoping that he would not try to talk to me or touch me. We were sitting in a big circle, all the sofas and chairs had been removed to make space for todays activity's.

'Thank you all for coming, once again,' Dr. Dolan spoke, explaining to us what we would do during this day. Firstly, every member of our family would say out loud why they were proud of us, then every family would discuss something that was bothering them. I hated the fact that now everybody would hear what was wrong with our family, but there was a part of me that simply did not care.

Lydia's family was proud of her for trying to get better, her mother even cried and told her that she loved her so much. Honey's family was proud of her because of her strength.

'I am proud of you for never giving up,' Lucia's brother spoke. He had a low, raspy voice that was very different from her soft, sweet voice. 'I just want you to know that I love you, Luuc, I really, really do.'

This touched not only her but me as well. Her brother might have been a jerk to her before but right now he seemed to be willing to make it up to her.

'I am proud of you, my sweet Harry, because you are so incredibly strong,' Mrs. Weasley spoke. 'I am proud of you for seeking help,' Mr. Weasley said. 'I am proud of you for making your own decisions,' Ginny complemented her ex-boyfriend. Hermione was proud of him for being himself, Ron for being so kind even after what had happened and George was proud of him for always letting others feel loved. Something I could relate to.

'I am so proud of you, my boy for admitting who you are. I am proud of you because you finally seem to have found your way of living. But mostly I am proud of you because you are my son. My rock, my everything,' my mother spoke to me, causing me to smile. I knew my father was not proud of me for anything, he could not be. He had never showed me any kind of affection over the years, I was certain that that was not going to change. 'I am proud of you because you can play Quidditch,' he simply said, confirming my thoughts. No one had said anything that superficial.

'All right,' Dr. Dolan said. 'Now let us talk about something that is bothering us. Mr. Malfoy since you have been the last one to receive a compliment I suggest that we start with you. Would the three of you please sit down in the middle.'

We did, taking our seats on the chairs that were waiting for us in the middle. I wanted to throw up even more badly at that point, knowing that my dad would be emotionless as usual.

'So, I would like to talk about something Mr. Malfoy has pointed out in our conversations very often: his childhood. How would you describe the way you son has grown up, Mr. Malfoy?'

I could not bear to look at him. I knew that whatever he was going to see would not match the reality. He still wanted to remain that so called "family status" he thought he had created years ago, not willing to accept the fact that we were a broken family.

'Okay,' he said. 'It was okay. He had everything he needed.'

'Did I?' I asked him with a hint of anger in my voice. 'Yes,' he spoke with a stern voice, trying to convince me not to talk too openly about it. 'You had the nicest toys, the best education. You had everything you needed.'

A bitter laugh escaped my lips, knowing that my father sincerely thought that I had been happy. 'Well if my childhood had been so fucking great then I would not been sitting here, right?' I pointed out, causing my mother to whisper a quick "please do not swear at your father", but I simply did not care about what he wanted anymore. 'So please, tell me father since you seem to know everything so well, did I receive love as well from you? Or were all those materials your sick way to express your love for me?'

'What are you talking about son?' he asked and the way he called me son made me want to throw up. 'I gave you everything.'

'Except for love,' I said, seeing how not a muscle moved into his already pale face. 'You could have kept all that stupid things, the only thing I ever wanted was for you to love me. To be proud of me. But even now you cannot even give me a proper compliment. All you ever cared about was that I was doing exactly what you wanted me to do.'

A bitter laugh escaped his lips this time, making me feel slightly nervous. 'Well, how do you expect me to be proud of my son if he is gay?'

It felt like the world had stopped turning. Like everything had stopped and I had been hit by a huge hammer. How on earth did he know that I liked boys? Why on earth did he bring that up during a moment like this?

He was one sick man and I honestly felt sorry for him.

'You are sick,' I said, feeling how tears were trying to escape my eyes. 'You are not capable of loving anyone, you even abuse your own wife. You deserve to be punished for everything you have done to us, for everything you have put us through. I hate you.'

A silence fell in the room. My mother had not said a word since we had been sitting in the middle of the room. She looked as pale as I did, not knowing what to do either.

'Mr. Malfoy,' dr. Dolan started, talking directly to my father. 'Do you think that their might be a chance that you indeed did treat your family wrongly?'

'I must have done something wrong, yes, otherwise my son would not have became the way he is.'

'How dare you to say something like that to your own son?' a female voice started to interfere into our conversation. I looked up to see Mrs. Weasley with eyes who had been filled with anger. 'How dare you to disrespect that poor boy like that? If he is happy that way, then let him be happy. He can decide who he loves for himself just fine without you interfering with it.'

'You do not have a right to speak, you filthy muggle-lover,' my father snarled to the women that had stood up for me. 'Excuse me?' Mr. Weasley started to react as well. 'We might be muggle-lovers, but we are way happier then you are. Look at yourself, you abuse both your son and wife, causing them to be deeply unhappy. I think you are part of the reason your son is in here in the first place! You should be ashamed of yourself, not of him. You have no right to judge him.'

And then something snapped in everybody. All the parents were snarling to my dad, attacking him with their words. Lydia's parents called him disgusting, Honey's family told him that he made them sick. Even Lucia and her brother spoke out just how much my father had disgusted him. But the most important person that was putting him into his place was Harry.

'You are nothing but a bad influence to your son, you should be happy to have him. He tries to make you proud every single day, but you are too blind to see how well he is doing. You are too blind to see your own son's progress. You must be the worst parent ever.'

'Enough!' Dr. Dolan said, directly quitting everybody's hate comments towards my father. Knowing that I was not alone in this gave me a boost of confidence. Something I never thought I could feel. I felt so loved, so protected by everybody. 'Draco, is there something you would like to say to your father before it is someone else's turn to talk to their family?'

'Yeah, there is,' I said, directly looking into my father's stone cold eyes. 'I hate you,' I started. 'You have put me and my mother through enough misery, and that ends right here. Once I can leave this clinic I never, ever want to see you again. I will make sure that you can never hurt either my mother or me anymore. After today you really are dead to me. I will never look at you again, talk to you again or even think about you again. It might not be very polite of me to say, but I hope that one day, when you are all by yourself you realise what you lost. I hope that one day you will regret pushing us away so much that you will cry, just as I cried because of you. But you know what you told me father? Crying is weak, a real man should not do it. I hope you drown in your own self-pity once you are all alone in that big but empty house. For me, you are dead.'

After I had said that a feeling of relieve hit me. Everybody around me was cheering, causing my dad to look even paler then he normally did. Without saying another word he left the room. That was the last time I saw that horrible man. The last time I had cried over him. The last time his words had hurt me. Letting go of the person who had been the most toxic to me during my life felt so incredibly good.

It felt good to finally be free from him.