Snape and Harry had been practicing Occlumency for nearly twelve hours straight, and they were not any closer than when they started. Snape was having difficulty keeping his temper reigned in so he didn't push the Gryffindor over the edge again. In fact, he had made the young man upset at one point that he released some accidental magic. Luckily, Dumbledore had removed the Trace from the boy. Otherwise, the Order would have some explaining to do.

"Enough," Snape commanded as he knelt down. He had to admit that he now had a headache that he guessed rivaled Harry's one. He silently massaged his temples and glanced towards the Gryffindor. "I take it that your headache has worsened?"

"Yeah, sort of," Harry replied breathing deeply. "What am I doing wrong, sir?"

"You're clearing your mind?" asked Snape. He watched the young man sharply nod. "Then nothing from what I can tell," he said. "I can feel you trying, but it is as if something holds you back."

"Then I'm never going to get this," Harry whined.

"You will learn this," Snape stubbornly responded. "Even if it kills me in the process," he muttered under his breath. He had managed to dull his headache slightly. "Are you well enough to try again?" He quickly looked the boy over, but Harry was like him so he knew that the Gryffindor most likely was very effective in hiding his pain.

"Yeah, let's try again."

Snape drew in a deep breath to center himself before casting his spell. He quickly felt himself enter Harry's mind. If he ever truly showed his emotions, he would have smiled when he felt the strong presence pushing him back. Harry was trying. He knew he was. He could feel it. When Harry had nearly pushed him out of that memory, Snape found himself quickly hurtled into another memory. He could feel the strong emotions unfortunately that surrounded it. It wouldn't do either of them any good if they tried with this memory so Snape tried to go onto the next. However, something held him back. He tried again, and again failed to reach the next memory. His eyes narrowed before he sighed. Perhaps experiencing this memory, whatever it was, would give some answers to why Harry couldn't block him.

Glancing around, Snape took in his surroundings in the memory. His eyes narrowed at the darkness and the slight pressure to his wrist. He could tell that both were a part of the memory. Soft sounds slowly reached his ears. Someone was near him whispering in Latin. Snape whirled around trying to find the person, but found no one. He then focused on the words and quickly translated them. It was a spell of some kind, a protection spell if he was right, but there was something else. The spell was unfamiliar to Snape, but he knew it used old magic.

A brief flash of light outside lit the room up for a few seconds. Snape's eyes instantly narrowed on the crib that illuminated for a split second. He walked closer to it and waited for another flash. He didn't have to wait long. He glanced down into the crib and sighed when his eyes met a small infant. It was an early memory of Harry's then. Another flash of light from outside allowed Snape to notice the crimson drop on the infant's wrist. However, before he could notice anything else, muffled sounds of people arguing caught his attention. He whirled around just as James Potter and his wife walked in.

"I should've known. I mean, just look at him. He looks just like him," James snarled.

"It's not like I wanted this, James. I just thought you should know," Lily replied angrily.

"It's a little late for that, isn't it?" James snapped. He then angrily threw his hands up out of frustration. "So tell me, Evans. What possible reason could ever compel you to sleep with Snivellus?"

Snape's eyes narrowed. He had to have heard that wrong. He knew with absolute certainty that he never slept with Lily. Confusion quickly settled in. This had to be a false memory. Someone implanted it in the boy's mind to throw him off, but who—

"Are you enjoying yourself yet, Severus?" a familiar voice said behind him. He turned around and came face to face with the Dark Lord. "The old coot's making you teach the boy Occlumency, is he? You won't succeed, my little traitor. The boy belongs to me." The Dark Lord then smiled sinisterly. "You'll have to forgive me, my little traitor, but Harry and I have some things to discuss in private." Seconds later, the Dark Lord threw Snape violently out of Harry's mind with such force that he slammed hard against the wall. Wasting no time, he quickly scrambled downstairs to inform the Headmaster. This was bad, very bad.