“Harry. Look at me.”

Harry dragged his gaze up to Snape, who was kneeling in front of him. “It hurts.”

“I know,” Snape said, laying his hands on Harry’s shoulders. “But you need to tell me what you found.”

Harry briefly closed his eyes as he fought the bile rising in his throat. “Death.”

“Not very helpful,” Snape said wryly.

“Sorry.” Harry opened his eyes again. “I traced it, like you said. I traced the connection, all the way back to- to him, and then I was in his mind, and it was vile.” He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. “He… lashed out, when he felt my mental presence.” He took measured breaths as the headache pounded through his temples. “It hurts.”

“Is the connection active?” Snape asked anxiously.

“No,” Harry shook his head. “But he knows about it. He’s going to use it, I know!"

Snape sat back on his heels, the worried look in his eyes still there, but less tense than before. “Well, it’s a good thing you know how to Occlude.”

“Yay,” Harry said, unable to feel gratitude at the moment.

“Come on, then.” Snape gently tugged him to his feet, and Harry realized for the first time that he’d tumbled out of his chair onto the cold stone floor of Snape’s office. He allowed Snape to push him back into his chair and found a Headache Reliever pressed into his hands. “I’ll be back.” He then strode to the fireplace and flooed to Dumbledore’s office.

Harry watched the green flames return to red as he downed the Reliever. As the pain in his head faded, he felt the tense muscles in his shoulders and back relax somewhat.

It still surprised him at times to find that he could relax in Snape’s domain. No one, least of all Harry himself, could have anticipated the bond that had formed between him and his Occlumency mentor.

Well, almost no one. Harry smiled when Dumbledore stepped through the floo with a twinkle in his eye, closely followed by a still-talking Snape.

“...moreover, I believe that the Dark Lord will have no compunction about abusing—”

“Severus,” Dumbledore interrupted as he subtly held out a hand for Harry’s galleon, “I understand the threat Tom poses.”

Harry quietly sighed as he slipped the money to the Headmaster, realizing that he must have lost the bet about whether or not Snape would require a Calming Draught before or after Christmas. As if on cue, Snape pulled out a vial from an inside pocket and downed it in one go. Harry stifled his giggle and noticed Dumbledore’s smile.

“Harry,” Dumbledore said, turning to him. “Did it hurt you to use this connection?”

“Not until he realized I was there and attacked me. I think it was instinctive, though. I don’t know if he really meant to hurt me. He might have tried to follow me back to my own mind if he hadn’t been so startled and frightened.”

“Frightened?” Dumbledore asked.

“Yeah,” Harry said, a grin spreading across his face. “When he felt me there, he was frightened. I could feel it.”

Dumbledore exchanged a glance with Snape, who despite the Calming Draught looked suddenly angry.

“Albus, you can’t possibly be suggesting that we use this connection. Harry should be Occluding at all times. I don’t want him to open himself to attack just because you want him to go snooping—”

“Who said anything about snooping?” Harry asked, all innocence, but a thrill of excitement running through his veins. “I was thinking about going on the attack, actually.”

Both men turned to him, and although they both immediately began arguing (Snape strongly insisting that it was too dangerous, Dumbledore cautiously warning that they might want to learn more before making any plans), Harry was already feeling the wonderful sensation of a truly inspiring idea take shape in his mind.

“Sir?” Harry asked, casually as he could manage. Their Occlumency lesson was over for the evening, but there was something he wanted to ask before he left. “If the dreams about the corridor in the Ministry ended after I learned to Occlude, does that mean they were visions too?”

“Unlikely,” Snape said, rounding his desk and sitting in his chair. “Their repetitive nature would indicate that they were likely the Dark Lord’s own dreams, not visions of actual events.”

“That’s what I thought,” Harry said, gritting his teeth. Voldemort couldn’t stop at ruining his waking reality; no, he even had to intrude on his dreams.

Snape, apparently hearing something in Harry’s tone, looked up sharply. “What are you planning?” he demanded. Harry slid back towards the door a few steps.

“Me? Planning?” Harry blinked repeatedly, eyebrows raised in innocent question. When the man only continued to glare, he only smiled and tapped his nose. “Turnabout knows no ‘Dark Lord’, Professor.” He was out the door before Snape could wring a full explanation out of him.

Cho Chang stifled a yawn with hand and sat next to her friend Marietta at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall. “Morning.”

“Hey, Cho, look at this.”

Cho glanced over at Terry Boot, who slid a copy of the Daily Prophet towards her. She glanced down and gasped. The front page was plastered with an image of a skull and snake glowering over a large building. She grabbed the paper and scanned the article below it.

Attack on Chocolate Frog Card Warehouse!

 

At 2 AM this very morning, Bertie Bott, owner of the Chocolate Frog Company after a surprise merge move in 1992 (Go to page 3 for more on the merge), frantically called Aurors to the Chocolate Frog Card Warehouse in Whales. Arriving on the scene, the Ministry was SHOCKED to discover the Dark Mark set above the building! Now, this seems like a lie worthy of Harry Potter, but the Ministry has made a statement that they believe this to have been an ill-conceived prank. No one was harmed, but several crates of Chocolate Frog cards were stolen. The perpetrators of this attack have not yet been found…

Cho lowered to paper to see Terry nodding emphatically. “Isn’t it crazy? I know they said it was a prank, but it kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“It can’t be real Death Eaters,” Michael Corner said. “Why would Death Eaters bother with Chocolate Frogs? That doesn’t make sense.”

The morning post came in with the customary sound of letters being dropped onto tables and soft hoots.

“Look out!” someone farther down the table shouted, and several students looked up and screamed.

Several school owls were sharing a crate between them, struggling to hold up the weight and swaying back and forth erratically. Cho leaned back to let them pass, but they struggled to a stop in front of her.

“What-” she began, but then the bottom of the crate gave out, and hundreds of Chocolate Frog cards began falling into her lap. She was knocked off of the bench, quickly becoming buried in cards. She knocked Gwenog Jones off her nose and looked around in bewilderment.

Over the shouts of surprise and concern, she heard a loud snort from Gryffindor table. Looking around, she saw Harry staring at her, hand covering his mouth as his shoulders shook. She was unable to feel more than a temporary flash of anger at this uncharacteristic cruelness before another crate was opened on top of her.

At that, Harry gave a shout of laughter and rose from the table, staggering away. She watched him go, and felt a vindictive pleasure at seeing Snape storm after him. Usually Harry was so kind. It wasn’t like him to laugh at her distress.

Then another crate of cards was coming towards her, and she scrambled to her feet, causing a mini avalanche of cards. Marietta helped fend off the owls as she ran in the other direction, wondering, why me???

“Harry James Potter!” Severus shouted. “What have you done?”

They were in an empty corridor of the dungeons, where Harry had been too overcome by his laughter to walk any longer and slid to the floor.

“I swear I didn’t know that was going to happen,” the teen said, but the effect was slightly lost in the stray giggles.

“What. Have. You. Done?” Severus repeated, struggling to remain angry, and mortified when a corner of his mouth twitched traitorously upwards.

“Well,” Harry said, with exaggerated, measured breaths to control his amusement, “I thought, it’s not fair that Voldemort took over so many of my dreams this summer and fall, so I decided to make him dream one of my dreams.”

“That does not explain why your girlfriend is now fleeing from Chocolate Frog cards.”

Harry blushed at Severus’ use of the term “girlfriend” and calmed down a bit. “Y’see, I just had a nonsense dream that Cho was demanding Chocolate Frog cards, and I guess Voldemort just didn’t know how to deal with the emotional fallout of being accused of…” Harry trailed off, and Severus assumed that the dream had involved Miss Chang yelling at Harry about Cedric Diggory.

“If anyone deserves to feel guilty about Cedric Diggory, it is the Dark Lord,” Severus mused, sitting next to Harry with his back against the wall.

Harry’s smile returned, but it was tinged with sorrow. “Yeah.”

Severus watched him for a moment, then felt a smile break out across his face. “The Dark Lord, coming out of hiding to attack the Chocolate Frog Card Warehouse. He never did have the best impulse control. 2 in the morning… I bet he woke up and immediately went on a raid.”

Harry looked up at him and grinned in return.