Kreacher, it transpired, had been lurking in the attic. Sirius said he had found him up there, covered in dust, no doubt looking for more relics of the Black family to hide in his cupboard. Though Sirius seemed satisfied with this story, it made Harry uneasy. Kreacher seemed to be in a better mood on his reappearance, his bitter muttering had subsided somewhat and he submitted to orders more docilely than usual, though once or twice Harry caught the house-elf staring at him avidly, but always looking quickly away whenever he saw that Harry had noticed.
Harry did not mention his vague suspicions to Sirius, whose cheerfulness was evaporating fast now that Christmas was over. As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, he became more and more prone to what Mrs. Weasley called 'fits of the sullens', in which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for hours at a time. His gloom seeped through the house, oozing under doorways like some noxious gas, so that all of them became infected by it.
Harry didn't want to leave Sirius again with only Kreacher for company, in fact, for the first time in his life, he was not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. Going back to school would mean placing himself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence, there was no Quidditch to look forward to now that he had been banned, there was every likelihood that their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer and Dumbledore remained as remote as ever. In fact, if it hadn't been for the DA, Harry thought he might have begged Sirius to let him leave Hogwarts and remain in Grimmauld Place.
Then, on the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively dread his return to school.
"Harry, Y/n dears". said Mrs. Weasley poking her head into the room they and Ron were sharing. Harry and Ron were playing wizard chess watched by Y/n, Hermione, Ginny, Noctis and Crookshanks. "Could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you both."
"Professor Snape?" Y/n said surprised and he looked to Mrs Weasley.
"Yes dear." She nodded.
Harry however did not immediately register what she had said, one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's and he was egging it on enthusiastically. "Squash him, squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"
"Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word with you and Y/n."
Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron who was gaping back at him.
Y/n just grimaced now as Crookshanks and Noctis, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, both leaped gleefully onto the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.
"Snape?" said Harry blankly.
"Professor Snape, dear." said Mrs. Weasley reprovingly. "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."
"What's he want with you two?" said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs. Weasley withdrew from the room. "You guys haven't done anything, have you?"
"Do not be ridiculous Ron." Y/n said shaking his head then turning his head to Harry and rising. "Come on, We had better see what this is about."
A minute or two later, Y/n pushed open the kitchen door to find Sirius and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions. The silence between them was heavy with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.
"Er." said Harry, to announce their presence.
Snape looked around at them, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair. "Sit down, Grindelwald, Potter."
"You know." said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling. "I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see."
An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Harry sat down in a chair beside Sirius while Y/n sat in the chair next to Harry's own, both were facing Snape across the table.
"I was supposed to see you two alone, Potter, Grindelwald." said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth. "But Black..."
"I'm Harry's godfather." said Sirius, louder than ever. "And I'm looking out for Y/n's best interests as we..."
"I am here on Dumbledore's orders." said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more and more quietly waspish. "But by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel...involved."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Sirius, letting his chair fall back on to all four legs with a loud bang.
"Merely that I am sure you must feel...ah...frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful." Snape laid a delicate stress on the word. "for the Order."
It was Sirius's turn to flush. Snape's lip curled in triumph as he turned to Y/n and Harry.
"The Headmaster has sent me to tell you both, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."
"Occlumency?" Y/n said surprised.
"Study what?" said Harry blankly.
Snape's sneer became more pronounced. "Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one."
"Why do we have to study Occlu...thing? Harry blurted out.
"Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea." said Snape smoothly. "You will both receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"
"Yes sir." Y/n said not understanding why Dumbledore would want him to learn this skill.
"Yes." said Harry. "Who's going to be teaching us?"
Snape raised an eyebrow. "I am." he said.
"Why can't Dumbledore teach them?" asked Sirius aggressively. "Why you?"
"I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks." said Snape silkily. "I assure you I did not beg for the job." He got to his feet. "I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening. My office. If anybody asks, you are both taking remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes Potter could deny you need them. Grindelwald...I shall be marking your work down to cover the need for remedial classes."
He turned to leave, his black travelling cloak billowing behind him.
"Wait a moment." said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair.
Snape turned back to face them, sneering. "I am in rather a hurry, Black. Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time."
"I'll get to the point, then." said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Y/n noticed, balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Y/n was sure was the handle of his wand. "If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry or Y/n a hard time, you'll have me to answer to."
"How touching." Snape sneered. "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?"
"Yes, I have." said Sirius proudly.
"Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him." Snape said sleekly.
Sirius pushed his chair roughly aside and strode around the table towards Snape, pulling out his wand as he went. Snape whipped out his own. They were squaring up to each other, Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius's wand-tip to his face.
"Sirius!" said Harry loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear him.
"I've warned you, Snivelus." said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape's. "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better..."
"Oh, but why don't you tell him so?" whispered Snape. "Or are you afraid he might not take very seriously the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months?"
"Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?"
"Speaking of dogs." said Snape softly. "Did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognised you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform...gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?"
Sirius raised his wand.
"No Sirius!" Y/n shouted as he and Harry vaulted over the table trying to get in between them.
Harry moved to stand in front of Sirius while Y/n tried the same with Professor Snape.
"Are you calling me a coward?" roared Sirius, trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry would not budge.
"Why, yes, I suppose I am." said Snape. "Take your hands off of me Grindelwald!" He then hissed.
"Harry...get...out...of...it!" snarled Sirius, pushing him aside with his free hand.
The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pyjamas covered by a mackintosh.
"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"
He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking towards the door with their wands pointing into each other's faces and both Y/n and Harry immobile between them, their hands stretched out to each, trying to force them apart.
"Merlin's beard." said Mr. Weasley, the smile sliding off his face. "What's going on here?"
Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands. Y/n looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back.
"Six o'clock, Monday evening." And he was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.
"What's been going on?" asked Mr. Weasley again.
"Nothing, Arthur." said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends." With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. "So...you're cured? That's great news, really great."
"Yes, isn't it?" said Mrs. Weasley, leading her husband forward to a chair. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she added, rather menacingly.
"Yes, Molly dear." said Mr. Weasley meekly.
That night's meal should have been a cheerful one, with Mr. Weasley back amongst them. Y/n could see Sirius was trying to make it so, yet when he was not forcing himself to laugh loudly at Fred and George's jokes or offering everyone more food, his face fell back into a moody, brooding expression.
Harry was separated from him by Mundungus and Mad-Eye, who had dropped in to offer Mr. Weasley their congratulations. He wanted to talk to Sirius, to tell him he shouldn't listen to a word Snape said, that Snape was goading him deliberately, and that the rest of them didn't think Sirius was a coward for doing as Dumbledore told him and remaining in Grimmauld Place. But he had no opportunity to do so, and, eyeing the ugly look on Sirius's face, Harry wondered occasionally whether he would have dared to mention it even if he had the chance. Instead, he and Y/n told Ron and Hermione under his voice about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape.
"Dumbledore wants to stop you having those dreams about Voldemort." said Hermione at once. "Well, you won't be sorry not to have them any more, will you?"
"Extra lessons with Snape?" said Ron, sounding aghast. "I'd rather have the nightmares...I get why Harry is having them suppose, but what about Y/n? He's not having nightmares about You-know-who is he?"
"That is what I do not understand either Ron." Y/n admitted.
"Dumbledore will have his reasons." Hermione said now. "Besides it wouldn't be a bad skill to learn would it?"
"No, I suppose it would not." Y/n said. "But I still remain curious as to Dumbledore's motives these days."
They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by Tonks and Lupin, both of whom were eating breakfast in the kitchen when Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione came down next morning. The adults seemed to have been mid-way through a whispered conversation as Harry opened the door and all of them looked round hastily and fell silent.
After a hurried breakfast, they all pulled on jackets and scarves against the chilly grey January morning. Harry had an unpleasant constricted sensation in his chest, he did not want to say goodbye to Sirius. He had a bad feeling about this parting, he didn't know when they would next see each other and he felt it was incumbent upon him to say something to Sirius to stop him doing anything stupid. Harry was worried that Snape's accusation of cowardice had stung Sirius so badly he might even now be planning some foolhardy trip beyond Grimmauld Place. Before he could think of what to say, however, Sirius had beckoned him to his side.
"I want you to take this." he said quietly, thrusting a badly wrapped package roughly the size of a paperback book into Harry's hands.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you and Y/n a hard time. No, don't open it in here!" said Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs. Weasley, who was trying to persuade the twins to wear hand-knitted mittens. "I doubt Molly would approve...but I want you to use it if you need me, all right?"
"Ok." said Harry, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of his jacket, but he knew he would never use whatever it was. It would not be he, Harry, who lured Sirius from his place of safety, no matter how foully Snape treated them in their forthcoming Occlumency classes.
"Let's go, then." said Sirius, clapping Harry on the shoulder and smiling grimly, and before Harry could say anything else, they were heading upstairs, stopping before the heavily chained and bolted front door, surrounded by Weasleys.
"Goodbye, Harry, take care." said Mrs. Weasley, hugging him.
"See you, Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!" said Mr. Weasley genially, shaking his hand.
"Right...yeah." said Harry distractedly, it was his last chance to tell Sirius to be careful, he turned, looked into his godfather's face and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do so Sirius was giving him a brief, one-armed hug, and saying gruffly. "Look after yourself, Harry and Y/n." He said getting the other boys attention and he turned his head from Hermione to look at Sirius. "Look out for my Godson."
"I shall do everything in my power Mr Black." Y/n said respectfully.
Next moment, they found themselves being shunted out into the icy winter air, with Tonks today heavily disguised as a tall, tweedy woman with iron-grey hair chivvying them down the steps.
The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Lupin down the front steps. As he reached the pavement, Harry looked round. Number twelve was shrinking rapidly as those on either side of it stretched sideways, squeezing it out of sight. One blink later, it had gone.
"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better." said Tonks, and Y/n thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. Lupin flung out his right arm.
BANG.
A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down on to the pavement and said, "Welcome to the..."
"Yes, yes, we know, thank you." said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on..."
And she shoved Harry forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed. "Ere...it's 'Arry!"
"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion." muttered Tonks menacingly, now shunting Y/n and Hermione forwards.
"I've always wanted to go on this thing." said Ron happily, joining them on board and looking around.
"You will soon be changing that opinion..." Y/n shuddered.
It had been evening the last time Y/n, Hermione and Harry had all travelled by Knight Bus and its three decks had been full of brass bedsteads. Now, in the early morning, it was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows. Some of these appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place, a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody's shopping bag had slid the length of the bus, an unpleasant mixture of frogspawn, cockroaches and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.
"Looks like we'll have to split up." said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. "Fred, George and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back...Remus can stay with you."
She, Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione proceeded up to the very top deck, where there were three unoccupied chairs at the very front of the bus and two at the back. Stan Shunpike, the conductor, followed Harry and Ron eagerly to the back. Heads turned as Harry passed and, when he sat down, he saw all the faces flick back to the front again.
As Y/n, Hermione and Tonks handed Stan eleven Sickles each, the bus set off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Place, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backwards. In the back Ron's chair toppled right over and Pigwidgeon, who had been on his lap, burst out of his cage and flew twittering wildly up to the front of the bus where he fluttered down onto Hermione's shoulder instead. Harry, who had narrowly avoided falling by seizing a candle bracket, looked out of the window, they were now speeding down what appeared to be a motorway.
"Just outside Birmingham." said Stan happily, answering Harry's unasked question as Ron struggled up from the floor. "You keepin' well, then, 'Arry? I seen your name in the paper loads with that Grindelwald's over the summer, but it weren't never nuffink very nice. I said to Ern, I said, 'e didn't seem like a nutter when we met 'im, just goes to show, dunnit?"
He handed over their tickets and continued to gaze, enthralled, at Harry. Apparently, Stan did not care how nutty somebody was, if they were famous enough to be in the paper. The Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside.
Towards the front of the bus, Y/n saw Hermione cover her eyes with her hands, Pigwidgeon swaying happily on her shoulder. He put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her on what was the death bus they were currently riding.
BANG.
Chairs slid backwards again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud BANG.
"I've changed my mind." muttered Ron, picking himself up from the floor for the sixth time. "I never want to ride on this thing again."
"Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this." said Stan brightly, swaying towards them. "That bossy woman up front 'oo got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though..." there was a retching sound from downstairs, followed by a horrible spattering noise... "She's not feeling 'er best."
A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering the unfortunate Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the second deck. The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until...
BANG.
They were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Y/n caught a glimpse of the Hog's Head down its side street, the severed boar's head sign creaking in the wintry wind. Flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.
Lupin and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye. Harry glanced up at the three decks of the Knight Bus and saw all the passengers staring down at them, noses flat against the windows.
"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds." said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, Ok?"
"Look after yourselves." said Lupin, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry and Y/n last. "And listen..." he lowered his voice while the rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with Tonks. "Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all...Sirius included, want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?"
"Yeah, all right." said Harry heavily, looking up into Lupin's prematurely lined face. "See you, then."
"It was wonderful to see you again professor Lupin, I only wish it could have been longer." Y/n admitted to him.
"I'm sure we will all see one another again." Lupin began with a faint smile. "I've heard from Miss Granger you have aspirations to be a teacher in the future."
"Well, Sir I..." Y/n stuttered nervously, what would Lupin think of his dream? After all, it had been him who had inspired him.
Lupin just smiled. "If you work hard and put in the same effort you have with this 'DA' business, then I'm sure you will be able to achieve your goal."
"Thank you sir..." Y/n said feeling encouraged.
"Now go. Your friends are waiting for you." Lupin told him.
"Goodbye Professor." Y/n smiled.
The seven of them struggled up the slippery drive toward the castle, dragging their trunks. Hermione was already talking to Y/n about knitting a few elf hats before bedtime. Harry glanced back when they reached the oaken front doors, the Knight Bus had already gone and he half-wished, given what was coming the following evening, that he was still on board.
Y/n and Harry spent most of the next day dreading the evening. That morning's double Potions lesson did nothing to dispel his trepidation, as Snape was as unpleasant as ever. Their moods were further lowered by the DA members constantly approaching them in the corridors between classes, asking hopefully if there would be a meeting that night.
"I'll let you know in the usual way when the next one is." Harry said over and over again. "But we can't do it tonight, got to go to...er...remedial Potions."
"You take remedial Potions?" asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Harry in the Entrance Hall after lunch. "Good Lord, you two must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"
As Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Ron glared after him. "Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here." he said, raising his wand and taking aim between Smith's shoulder blades.
"I am more tempted to poison him with a potion to show him just how 'terrible' I am..." Y/n said.
"Y/n!" Hermione reprimanded him.
"Forget it." said Harry dismally. "It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really stup..."
"Hi, Harry." said a voice behind him. He turned round and found Cho standing there.
"Oh." said Harry as his stomach leapt uncomfortably. "Hi."
"We'll be in the library, Harry." said Hermione firmly as she took Y/n's hand.
"Come on Ron..." Y/n said as he wrapped his free arm around Ron's shoulder and Hermione dragged the two of them off towards the marble staircase.
By six o'clock that evening, Y/n and Harry were reluctantly walking down to Snape's office while Harry was telling Y/n about how he had successfully managed to ask Cho to Hogsmede for Valentine's day.
"Oh, of course. I will need to make preparations for that as well." Y/n said beginning to think now.
They reached Snape's office and paused outside the door, Harry wishing he were almost anywhere else, then, taking a deep breath, he knocked and entered.
The shadowy room was lined with shelves bearing hundreds of glass jars in which slimy bits of animals and plants were suspended in variously coloured potions. In one corner stood the cupboard full of ingredients that Snape had once accused Harry, not without reason of robbing. Y/n's attention was drawn towards the desk, however, where a shallow stone basin engraved with runes and symbols lay in a pool of candlelight. He did not recognise what it was but Harry did. It was Dumbledore's Pensieve. Wondering what on earth it was doing there, he jumped when Snape's cold voice came out of the shadows. "Shut the door behind you."
They did as were told, with the horrible feeling that they were imprisoning themselves. Snape had moved into the light and was pointing silently at a pair of chairs opposite his desk. Y/n and Harry sat down and so did Snape, his cold black eyes fixed unblinkingly upon them, dislike etched in every line of his face.
"Well, Potter, Grindelwald, you know why you are here." he said. "The Headmaster has asked me to teach you both Occlumency. I can only hope Potter that you prove more adept at it than at Potions."
"Right." said Harry tersely.
"This may not be an ordinary class, Potter." said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently. "But I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'Professor' at all times."
"Yes...sir." said Harry.
Snape continued to survey them through narrowed eyes for a moment, then said. "Now, Occlumency. As I told you back in you in Potter's godfather's kitchen, this branch of magic seals the mind against magical intrusion and influence."
"Professor Snape, Why does Dumbledore believe that I need to learn Occlumency with Harry?" Y/n asked him still not understanding why Dumbledore had wanted him to learn Occlumency as well.
"I don't understand either." Said Harry.
Snape looked back at him for a moment and then said contemptuously, "The Headmaster's reasons for you Grindelwald remain unclear, even to me. But surely even you could have worked out your own case by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency..."
"What's that? Sir?" Harry asked.
"It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind..."
"He can read minds?" said Harry quickly, his worst fears confirmed.
"You have no subtlety, Potter." said Snape, his dark eyes glittering. "You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker."
Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savour the pleasure of insulting Harry, before continuing.
"Only Muggles talk of 'mind-reading'. The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader, the mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter... or at least, most minds are." He smirked. "It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and so can utter falsehoods in his presence without detection."
Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind-reading to Harry, and he didn't like the sound of it at all. "So he could know what we're thinking right now? Sir?"
"The Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them." said Snape. "Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency."
"Well then, why do I have to learn Occlumency?"
Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so. "The usual rules do not seem to apply with you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable, when you are asleep, for instance...you are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The Headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord."
"But why does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?" he asked abruptly. "I don't like it much, but it's been useful, hasn't it? I mean...I saw that snake attack Mr Weasley and if I hadn't, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to save him, would he? Sir?"
Snape stared at Harry for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his finger. When he spoke again, it was slowly and deliberately, as though he weighed every word. "It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection between you and himself until very recently. Up till now it seems that you have been experiencing his emotions, and sharing his thoughts, without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you had shortly before Christmas..."
"The one with the snake and Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.
"Do not interrupt me, Potter." said Snape in a dangerous voice. "As I was saying, the vision you had shortly before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark Lord's thoughts..."
"I saw inside the snake's head, not his!" Harry said.
"I thought I just told you not to interrupt me, Potter?"
Y/n watched as Harry moved forward in his chair so that, without realizing it, he was perched on the very edge, tense as though poised for flight.
"How come I saw through the snake's eyes if it's Voldemort's thoughts I'm sharing?" Harry asked.
"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" spat Snape.
There was a nasty silence as Y/n awkwardly watched the two glare at each other across the Pensieve.
"Professor Dumbledore says his name." said Harry quietly.
"Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard." Snape muttered. "While he may feel secure enough to use the name...the rest of us..." He rubbed his left forearm, apparently unconsciously, on the spot where Y/n and Harry knew the Dark Mark was burned into his skin.
"I just wanted to know." Harry began again, forcing his voice back to politeness. "Why..."
"You seem to have visited the snake's mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that particular moment." snarled Snape. "He was possessing the snake at the time and so you dreamed you were inside it, too."
"So...the dark lord realized Harry was there?" Y/n interjected choosing not to use Voldemort's name lest Snape scold him like Harry before.
"It seems so." said Snape coolly.
"How do you know?" said Harry urgently. "Is this just Professor Dumbledore guessing, or..."
"I told you." said Snape, rigid in his chair, his eyes slits. "To call me 'sir'."
"Yes, sir." said Harry impatiently. "But how do you know..."
"It is enough that we know." said Snape repressively. "The important point is that the Dark Lord is now aware that you are gaining access to his thoughts and feelings. He has also deduced that the process is likely to work in reverse, that is to say, he has realised that he might be able to access your thoughts and feelings in return..."
"And he might try and make me do things?" asked Harry. "Sir?" he added hurriedly.
"He might." said Snape, sounding cold and unconcerned. "Which brings us back to Occlumency."
Snape pulled out his wand from an inside pocket of his robes and Harry tensed in his chair, but Y/n watched as Snape merely raised the wand to his temple and placed its tip into the greasy roots of his hair. When he withdrew it, some silvery substance came away, stretching from temple to wand like a thick gossamer strand, which broke as he pulled the wand away from it and fell gracefully into the Pensieve, where it swirled silvery-white, neither gas nor liquid. Twice more, Snape raised the wand to his temple and deposited the silvery substance into the stone basin, then, without offering any explanation of his behaviour, he picked up the Pensieve carefully, removed it to a shelf out of their way and returned to face Y/n and Harry with his wand held at the ready.
"Stand up and take out your wands, Potter, Grindelwald."
Y/n and Harry got to their feet, feeling nervous. They faced Snape with the desk between them.
"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of. Grindelwald you will go first." said Snape.
"What are you going to do sir?" Y/n asked, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively.
"I am about to attempt to break into your mind." said Snape softly. "We are going to see how well you resist. I have been told that you have already been able to resist the Imperius Curse. You will find that similar powers are needed for this...brace yourself, now. Legilimens!"
Snape had struck before Y/n was ready, before he had even begun to summon any force of resistance. The office swam in front of his eyes and vanished, image after image was racing through his mind like a flickering film so vivid it blinded him to his surroundings.
He was five, learing to fly on a broom with a happy Atticus who encouraged him...he was eight, and he and Atticus were sitting in an attic looking through old newspaper clippings of Gellert Grindelwald and their parents... he was eleven sitting under the Sorting Hat, and it was telling him he would do well in all the houses...Hermione was lying in the hospital wing petrified...a hundred dementors were closing in on him beside the dark lake...He was dancing with Hermione at the Yule Ball about to kiss her under the mistletoe.
A great feeling of anger quickly washed over Y/n as he shut down the memory and ignored it. This was something for only he and Hermione to remember. He began to think of a blank brick wall.
He felt a sharp pain in his knee. Snape's office had come back into view and he realized that he had fallen to the floor, He panted heavily then got up lookng at Snape.
"How much did you see?" Y/n asked.
Snape was watching him closely. " I saw glimpses...You let me get in too far. You lost control. Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been." said Snape, raising his wand once more. "You managed to stop me eventually, though you wasted time and energy. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand."
"How do I do that sir?" Y/n asked.
"I want you to close your eyes." Snape instructed. "Clear your mind, Grindelwald." said Snape's cold voice. "Let go of all emotion..."
Y/n nodded and closed his eyes now. 'Clear my mind...Clear my mind...' He thought to himself as he took in a deep breath.
He suddenly felt something intrusive attempting to push through but he fought back. As it tried to push through Y/n began to try and build walls in front of it. Until soon it relented and Y/n opened his eyes to be back in Snape's office.
This time he was still on his legs, but they felt heavy and shaky. "An...acceptable effort Grindelwald." He heard Snape comment. "But it's just a start, you need to learn how to perform this skill with precision and not waste energy."
"Now it is your turn Potter, Clear your mind."
Y/n moved tiredly to the side as he started to watch the two.
"You're not doing it, Potter...you will need more discipline than this...focus, now..."
Harry tried to empty his mind, tried not to think, or remember, or feel . . .
"On the count of three...one...two...three...Legilimens!"
A great black dragon was rearing in front of him...his father and mother were waving at him out of an enchanted mirror...Cedric Diggory was lying on the ground with blank eyes staring at him...Y/n was being tortured in front of him.
Y/n watched as Harry fell to his knees, his face buried in his hands.
"Harry..." Y/n said going to move forward but Snape extended his arm to stop him.
"Get up!" said Snape sharply. "Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort. You are allowing me access to memories you fear, handing me weapons!"
Harry stood up again, his heart thumping wildly as though he had really just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard. Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as Harry was.
"I...am...making...an...effort." he said through clenched teeth.
"I told you to empty yourself of emotion!" Snape said.
"Yeah? Well, I'm finding that hard at the moment." Harry snarled.
Y/n could understand this was harder to do when Snape was your teacher.
"Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!" said Snape savagely. "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily...weak people, in other words, they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!"
"I am not weak." said Harry in a low voice, fury now pumping through him so that he thought he might attack Snape in a moment.
"Then prove it! Master yourself!" spat Snape. "Control your anger, discipline your mind! We shall try again! Get ready, now! Legilimens!"
Harry was watching Uncle Vernon hammering the letterbox shut...a hundred dementors were drifting across the lake in the grounds towards him...he was running along a windowless passage with Mr. Weasley...they were drawing nearer to the plain black door at the end of the corridor...Harry expected to go through it...but Mr. Weasley led him off to the left, down a flight of stone steps...
Y/n watched as Harry fell on all fours again. He pushed himself up again to find Snape staring at him, his wand raised. It looked as though, this time, Snape had lifted the spell before Harry had even tried to fight back.
"What happened then, Potter?" he asked, eyeing Harry intently.
"I saw...I remembered." Harry panted. "I've just realized..."
"Realised what?" asked Snape sharply. Y/n wanted to know as well but thought it best to wait with Snape in the room.
Harry did not answer at once, he was still savoring the moment of blinding realization as he rubbed his forehead. He had been dreaming about a windowless corridor ending in a locked door for months, without once realising that it was a real place. Now, seeing the memory again, he knew that all along he had been dreaming about the corridor down which he had run with Mr. Weasley on the twelfth of August as they hurried to the courtrooms in the Ministry, it was the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries and Mr. Weasley had been there the night that he had been attacked by Voldemort's snake.
He looked up at Snape. "What's in the Department of Mysteries?"
"What did you say?" Snape asked quietly and Y/n saw that Snape was unnerved.
"I said, what's in the Department of Mysteries, sir?" Harry said.
"And why..." said Snape slowly. "Would you ask such a thing?"
"Because." said Harry, watching Snape's face closely. "That corridor I've just seen...I've been dreaming about it for months...I've just recognised it...it leads to the Department of Mysteries... and I think Voldemort wants something from..."
"I have told you not to say the Dark Lord's name!"
They glared at each other. Harry's scar seared again, but he did not care. Snape looked agitated, but when he spoke again he sounded as though he was trying to appear cool and unconcerned.
"There are many things in the Department of Mysteries, Potter, few of which you would understand and none of which concern you. Do I make myself plain?"
"Yes." Harry said, still rubbing his prickling scar, which was becoming more painful.
"I want you both back here same time on Wednesday. We will continue work then." Snape told the two boys.
"Yes sir..." Y/n answered though he was not looking forward to Snape trying to invade his mind once more.
"Fine." said Harry. He was desperate to get out of Snape's office and find Ron and Hermione.
"You are to rid your minds of all emotion every night before sleep, empty it, make it blank and calm, you understand?"
Y/n just nodded.
"Yes." said Harry, who was barely listening.
"And be warned, Potter." Snape began. "I shall know if you have not practised..."
"Right." Harry mumbled.
Y/n and Harry picked up their schoolbags, swinging them over their shoulders and hurried towards the office door. When Y/n opened it, Harry glanced back at Snape, who had his back to them and was scooping his own thoughts out of the Pensieve with the tip of his wand and replacing them carefully inside his own head. They left without another word, closing the door carefully behind them.
"You think Voldemort wants something from the Department of Mysteries then?" Y/n asked Harry.
"Let's talk about it with Ron and Hermione first." Harry said feeling his scar burn.
"Very well." Y/n said casting an eye on Harry who looked very white and pale.
They found Ron and Hermione in the library, where they were working on Umbridge's most recent ream of homework. Other students, nearly all of them fifth-years, sat at lamp-lit tables nearby, noses close to books, quills scratching feverishly, while the sky outside the mullioned windows grew steadily blacker. The only other sound was the slight squeaking of one of Madam Pince's shoes, as the librarian prowled the aisles menacingly, breathing down the necks of those touching her precious books.
When Y/n sat himself down beside Hermione he felt a wave of exhaustion wave over him and a small headache began to form.
Harry just sat down opposite them beside Ron.
"How did it go?" Hermione whispered looking concerned at them.
"It went...okay...It is not a very nice experience, but I think Snape's dislike of Harry made it worse for him." Y/n said.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asked him.
"Yeah...fine...I dunno." said Harry impatiently, wincing as pain shot through his scar again. "Listen...when Y/n and I were with Snape, I realized something..."
And he told them what he had just seen and deduced.
"So...so are you saying..." whispered Ron, as Madam Pince swept past, squeaking slightly. "That the weapon...the thing You-Know-Who's after...is in the Ministry of Magic?"
"In the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be." Harry whispered. "I saw that door when your dad took me down to the courtrooms for my hearing and it's definitely the same one he was guarding when the snake bit him."
Hermione let out a long, slow sigh. "Of course." she breathed.
"Of course what?" said Ron rather impatiently.
"Ron, think about it...Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a door at the Ministry of Magic... it must have been that one, it's too much of a coincidence!"
"How come Sturgis was trying to break in when he's on our side?" said Ron.
"Well, I don't know,' Hermione admitted. "That is a bit odd..."
"Do you think he was cursed perhaps?" Y/n suggested.
"We can only hope that is the case." Hermione said worried.
"So what's in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked Ron. "Has your dad ever mentioned anything about it?"
"I know they call the people who work in there 'Unspeakables'." said Ron, frowning. "Because no one really seems to know what they do...weird place to have a weapon."
"It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense." said Hermione. "It will be something top secret that the Ministry has been developing, I expect."
Y/n however was looking at Harry who had just run both his hands hard over his forehead as though trying to iron it. "Harry, are you sure you are alright?"
"Yeah...fine..." he said, lowering his hands, which were trembling. "I just feel a bit...I don't like Occlumency much."
"I expect anyone would feel shaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again." said Hermione sympathetically. "Look, let's get back to the common room, we'll be a bit more comfortable there."
But the common room was packed and full of shrieks of laughter and excitement, Fred and George were demonstrating their latest bit of joke shop merchandise.
"Headless Hats!" shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. "Two Galleons each, watch Fred, now!"
Fred swept the hat on to his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.
Several girls screamed, but everyone else was roaring with laughter.
"And off again!" shouted George, and Fred's hand groped for a moment in what seemed to be thin air over his shoulder, then his head reappeared as he swept the pink-feathered hat from it.
"How do those hats work then?" said Hermione, distracted from her homework and watching Fred and George closely. "I mean, obviously it's some kind of Invisibility Spell, but it's rather clever to have extended the field of invisibility beyond the boundaries of the charmed object... I'd imagine the charm wouldn't have a very long life though."
"I'm going to have to do this tomorrow." Harry muttered, pushing the books he had just taken out of his bag back inside it."
"Well, write it in your homework planner then!" said Hermione encouragingly. "So you don't forget!"
Harry and Ron exchanged looks as he reached into his bag, withdrew the planner and opened it tentatively.
"Don't leave it till later, you big second-rater!" chided the book as Harry scribbled down Umbridge's homework. Hermione beamed at it.
"I think I'll go to bed." said Harry, stuffing the homework planner back into his bag and then walked across the common room, dodging George, who tried to put a Headless Hat on him.
"Ron." Y/n called his name.
"Yeah?" Ron said.
"Could you please check on Harry. He has not looked well at all since we left Snape's office. Y/n said to him.
"He just needs rest right?" Ron said back.
"No Ron, Y/n is right." Hermione agreed. "Harry's defences will be low if Snape has been in mind as much as he has today."
"Alright, alright..." Ron gave in now and as he left Hermione turned to Y/n.
"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.
"Tired." Y/n said truthfully. "But Snape was harsher on Harry than he was with me."
"It still can't have been pleasant." Hermione said.
"I cannot say that it was. Snape looking through my memories is not something I particularly enjoy." Y/n said. "Especially when some of those memories concern events shared with you."
Hermione gasped. "He didn't see anything did he?" She quickly asked.
Y/n shook his head. "No, he did not. Though given that we are still in the early stages of our relationship there is nothing for him to see that would have gotten us into trouble other than you staying by my side to help me fall asleep." He said quietly to her.
Hermione felt herself going very hot in the face. "Well...it's like you say we're still in the beginning of our relationship, it's far too early to be doing anything like that!" She said flustered.
"Naturally." Y/n said feeling slightly awkward now as both sat with slightly red faces. "Those things will happen when we both feel ready. Until then we can keep going as we have been."
"Yes I agree." Hermione quickly said but neither could look at one another out of embarrassment and a few silent moments went by as the crowd nearby cheered Fred and George on.
Y/n cleared his throat now as he moved the topic on. "Harry reminded me that Valentine's Day is soon upon us earlier. I have never truly celebrated it before, but given that I now have you to spend it with...I was rather hoping we could spend it together in Hogsmede?" Y/n asked her.
Hermione calmed down slightly now and smiled. "I...I would like that. A lot."
"Then it is a date." Y/n smiled.
Harry had just opened the door of his dormitory and was one step inside it when he experienced pain so severe he thought that someone must have sliced into the top of his head. He did not know where he was, whether he was standing or lying down, he did not even know his own name.
Maniacal laughter was ringing in his ears...he was happier than he had been in a very long time...jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant...a wonderful, wonderful thing had happened...
"Harry? HARRY!"
Someone had hit him around the face. The insane laughter was punctuated with a cry of pain. The happiness was draining out of him, but the laughter continued...
He opened his eyes and, as he did so, he became aware that the wild laughter was coming out of his own mouth. The moment he realized this, it died away. Harry lay panting on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, the scar on his forehead throbbing horribly. Ron was bending over him, looking very worried.
"What happened?" Ron said.
'I...dunno..." Harry gasped, sitting up again. "He's really happy...really happy..."
"You-Know-Who is?"
"Something good's happened." mumbled Harry. He was shaking as badly as he had done after seeing the snake attack Mr. Weasley and felt very sick. "Something he's been hoping for."
The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room, as though a stranger was speaking them through Harry's mouth, yet he knew they were true. He took deep breaths, willing himself not to vomit all over Ron. He was very glad that Dean and Seamus were not here to watch this time.
"Y/n and Hermione told me to come and check on you." said Ron in a low voice, helping Harry to his feet. "Saying your defenses will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around with your mind...still, I suppose it'll help in the long run, won't it?" He looked doubtfully at Harry as he helped him towards his bed. Harry nodded without any conviction and slumped back on his pillows, aching all over from having fallen to the floor so often that evening, his scar still prickling painfully. He could not help feeling that his first foray into Occlumency had weakened his mind's resistance rather than strengthening it, and he wondered, with a feeling of great trepidation, what had happened to make Lord Voldemort the happiest he had been in fourteen years.