“Headmaster I-” 

“I am sorry, Severus.  For the time being however, I think it is our best option.  Best of luck my boy.” 

Harry awoke to hear the end of a conversation. 

He heard the Headmaster leave and concluded that whatever it was about, it wasn’t good news.  Actually, anything that left him in a room alone with a harassed Potions Master was not good news.   

Rather than give the man a target on which to vent his frustration, the boy decided to feign sleep for a while. 

Madam Pomfrey came in for her morning rounds.  Thus ending Harry’s ploy set to avoid any kind of interaction with Snape.  Not all of him complained about it mind.  It was not helping him a great deal by simply lying there and doing nothing. . . 

Thoughts and memories of the previous night kept persisting in his mind.  His body felt much better after finally getting some rest, but that is not the pain he would have liked to be numbed right now.   

If Cedric could be brought back. . .  If the Dark Lord could still be nothing more than a shadow. . . He would endure just about any amount of physical pain. 

“Pity you could not have been so quiet last night,” drawled Snape.   

“What?  You knew I was awake?” asked Harry in surprise.  He thought he had pretty much mastered the art of pretending to be asleep.   

“Not for definite, but I do now,” smirked Snape.   

Harry just shot him a glare.   

“Since you are up I may as well deliver to you the ‘good news’,” Snape carried on, ignoring the indignant boy. 

“In two weeks the school term finishes.  The Headmaster, however, has seen it fit to send the students home early.”   

‘That explains why it’s been so quiet,’ thought Harry.   

“Unfortunately, as ever, you are the one exception, Mr Potter.”   

Harry just stared at him blankly.  ‘What does he mean by that?’   

“As of tomorrow evening you will be studying Occlumency by the Headmasters wishes.”   

Again, Harry just stared at him blankly.   

Snape sighed in exasperation.  “Occlumency Potter.  It is the art of protecting ones mind against external penetration.”   

Harry’s heart skipped a beat.  ‘External penetration??  From what???  Am I in danger of being possessed?’   

Snape rolled his eyes.  “Calm down Potter.  The Headmaster wishes you to learn it in the event that it may come in useful.”   

Harry gaped at him.  “But, who’s going to teach me?”   

Snape raised an eyebrow.  “I am.” 

Harry felt his insides churn.  That was all he needed. 

He had witnessed the rebirth of the most evil man on the face of the planet and the price he had to pay for his survival was extra classes with Snape while everybody else got to go home early.   

‘Fantastic!’ Harry thought sarcastically with a sneer.   

“Drop the face Potter,” snapped Snape.  “I am none too pleased with this arrangement myself, but I am not fool enough to question the Headmaster’s judgment.”   

Harry knew there was an insult with a meaning in there somewhere, but he couldn’t be bothered to look for it.  Instead he just sulked. 

‘Private classes with Snape. . . Why don’t they just stick me in a sealed room with a manticore, at least it would be a lot more friendly!’   

The day continued on, but Harry was not permitted to leave the hospital wing. 

The only bits of news he got of what was going on outside the ward were from visitors he got.   The Weasley’s came in with Hermione during the afternoon.  Some of Snape’s Slytherin visitors snickered and sneered at him as they watched Mrs Weasley fuss over him constantly.   

The groups where eventually shooed out of the ward by Madam Pomfrey with Ron and Hermione making Harry promise to write to them over the holidays. 

Exhausted once again Harry settled back into the comfort of his pillows.  It was amazing how tiring doing nothing could be!   Fortunately Snape hadn’t bothered to talk to him much so Harry returned the favour. 

All he wanted right now was sleep.  He would worry about tomorrow when it came.  At least the mediwitch had promised him that he would be released from the ward by then.  Perhaps he could find a way to escape before Snape’s class?  He highly doubted it, but it was a comforting thought. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

The day had been a rather pleasant one, considering everything.  Harry found that he slowed down at each corner in order to poke his head round and check for anything dangerous before continuing his walk, but he had a special kind of thrill run through him all the same.   

Not many had the opportunity to explore Hogwarts freely like this!  No invisibility cloak, no need to avoid being seen or having to push through masses of students to get anywhere.   

He wished greatly that Ron could be there though.  The castle walls radiated a sense of absence as well as adventure.  They where designed to hold and shelter hundreds of students, but all too soon those students had departed and left the castle feeling quiet and lonely. 

Slowly and with all the reluctance in the world, Harry made his way down to the dungeons.  A place generally associated with imprisonment and torture. 

‘An apt place for Snape to teach,’ he thought bitterly.   

Harry knocked on the large oak door wondering briefly what kind of punishment he could possibly get for skipping a class out of term time.  He decided he did not want to find out.   

“Come in,” was Snape’s curt order.   

Harry entered. 

He could see that the desk had been moved and in a corner of the room Snape was busy extracting some silvery strands from his head with his wand and placing them into what looked like Dumbledore’s Pensieve.   

“Clear your mind of all thoughts,” was all that Snape said and Harry just stared at him incredulously.   

“What?”   

Snape turned to face him and sneered.  “I said, clear your mind of all thoughts.  I doubt it will be too difficult Potter as I seriously doubt that there is much in there to clear.”   

Harry fumed at him.  “How can you expect me to just ‘clear my mind’?  Have you forgotten everything that’s just happened!?”   

Snape’s face took on a darker and far more serious expression that made Harry shiver involuntarily.  “I have not, and nor do I believe I will ever forget.  Now clear your mind!”    

Harry did not have a chance to react.  Snape uttered a word and Harry fell back a step as he felt the sudden force of a spell hit him directly.   

Images of his past ran through his head.  

‘A green light and a woman falling to the ground.  Sirius flying towards a full moon on the back of Buckbeak.  Running from a dog and jumping up a tree for safety.  Running from Dudley.’   

Harry panted and found himself on the floor of Snape’s office.  The Professor smirked, clearly enjoying himself.  “To whom did the dog belong?”   

Harry pulled himself up, answering with reluctance and annoyance.  “My Aunt Marge.”   

Snape’s smirk grew more pronounced as he readied his wand for a second round.  “You did not resist me in the slightest that time Potter.  Clear you mind and prepare yourself.”   

Harry wanted to argue, but thought the better of it and made a feeble attempt to do as Snape asked. ‘It would help if he told me how!’   

Again, Harry could see memories play through his mind. 

‘Hagrid breaking down the door of the old hut.  Fleeing from giant, man-eating spiders.’   

Trying with all his might, Harry attempted to stop the memories from flowing.  It took considerable effort as he did not even know what exactly it was that he was meant to do, but nothing else came to mind.   

Opening his eyes Harry found himself, once again, on the floor.  Snape stood towering over him.  “Better, but you still would have failed to stop me from going in deeper had I actually been trying.  Simply concentrating on pushing me out of your mind is not enough.  You have to close down your memories and, more importantly, your feelings.”  

“What?” Harry stared at him wide eyed.   

He’d heard those words before, but where?  He couldn’t remember, but a cold sweat christened his brow when he tried to do so.  It was a bad memory.  One he had obviously wanted to forget, but what was it? 

(Don’t read this bit if you’re squeamish!)             

Snape readied his wand and sent the spell towards Harry again with the order, “Close off all emotion!”   

Harry’s heart practically stopped in his chest. ‘No. . . NO!’ 

‘Heavy chains lined the bloodied walls.  A stark white room with masked figures moving in with a bright light.  Sharp metallic claws tearing through flesh and cracking bone.  A red room filled with the lifeless. . .’ 

(You can read again) 

Snape pulled back a number of steps.  Both teacher and student gasped harshly for air.   

“What was that!?” demanded Snape, visibly disturbed by what he had seen.   

Harry just shuddered and curled up on himself in the middle of the floor.   

“Potter!  I asked you a question!”   

Harry flinched at the loud words and curled up tighter, his breathing loud and haggard.            

Snape stood motionless.  He had witnessed many things in his time spent as a Deatheater, but there where still limits as to how cool and indifferent he could be in the face of such violence.  Also, this was completely unexpected!   

He looked down at the boy in front of him, unable to decipherer what to think. 

Part of him wanted to scold the boy and demand the answers he sought.  The other, overruling part, was in a state of shock, revulsion and. . . pity.  Could these truly be images from the boy’s past???   

Snapping out of this trance, Snape took a steadying breath and knelt down to the boy.  “Potter?. . .  Potter!”   He had to shake him out of it.  Harry was obviously going into a state of shock.   

“Potter look at me,” the Professor lifted Harry’s chin up so that he was looking him in the face.   

The boy flinched at his touch, but did not pull away.  Instead he sat hunched up and shaking, his eyes searching frantically for the next oncoming threat.   

Snape bit his lip.  It was true that he did not like this boy, but ridiculing and humiliating someone was completely different to devastating and breaking them.  He felt a heated anger build up within his chest at the unknown tormentor, as he reaffirmed his reasons for distrusting people so much.   

“Mr Potter, do you know where you are?” he asked softly.   

Harry did not answer, but his attention was on Snape completely now.   

“You are at Hogwarts.  This is my office, and you are in no danger here.”   The boy’s shaking lightened, but his eyes still showed distrust.   

Snape sighed.  “Do you know who I am?”   

The boy nodded slowly, his eyes wide.   

“Care to explain to me what all that was about?”   

The boy never answered.  Instead he dipped his head away from the Potions Master and proceeded to empty his stomach contents all over the dungeon floor.   

Snape’s lips tightened and he raised his eyes to the ceiling where he silently wished for strength as he counted to ten.   

“You will follow me to the hospital wing Potter.  I believe that we have done enough for tonight, and that you could use some rest and dreamless sleep.”   

Harry felt strong arms lift and support his unresisting frame.  His mind was practically null of thought and after what seemed to be no time at all, he was being sat down on something soft.   

He drank what was given to him and allowed firm hands to lay him down.   

As warm sheets where pulled over him and his eyes began to close he voiced the first thought that had entered his head since he left the dungeons, unaware of how disturbed it made the one who heard his words feel.  

“Please don’t send me back.”