Dumbledore stalked to the room he had given the new ministry appointed addition to staff. For once in their existence, the ministry had ordered a useful decree. After the fiasco in the Chamber of Secrets, a counsellor was appointed at Hogwarts to treat the children. Of course no one could say they did not need counselling.

Something had gone horribly wrong down there and it had taken them days to reconstruct everything that happened. It seemed that Messrs. Potter and Weasley had taken their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher down into the Chamber. Before they could face Voldemort and save Miss Weasley, however, Lockhart had turned on them and used a memory charm to wipe their minds clean. He then proceeded to collect the shedded Basilisk skin as proof of his "adventure", but while he was at it, he came across the creature itself.

When the other teachers finally reached the Chamber – the Entrance in the girl's lavatory wide open – they encountered two dead body's and two unconscious boys. Both Gryffindors were taken up to the hospital wing at once, Lockhart was immediately taken to St Mungos to be examined and young Miss Weasley given up to her parents.

Dumbledore heaved a heart felt sigh at the memory of telling Arthur and Molly Weasley that their youngest child had fallen victim to the newly resurrected Dark Lord. Voldemort had taken her life force and the diary's Horkrux to successfully get his body back. He fled as soon as he discovered the dead Lockhart, probably assuming in his haste that the giant snake had killed the two boys lying there unconscious as well. He had only tried to mask his steps by burning the Basilisk before leaving. The charred ugly remains could be found in the chamber still.

So, now look at the mess! Voldemort resurrected, another Defense teacher dead, a student dead and two others who had lost their memories! And this was only the beginning. Dumbledore raised his fist to knock at the counsellor's door, dreading whatever worries she had to pile up to his shoulders as well.

'Enter' the friendly voice beckoned and Dumbledore strode into her cosy office, with the tell-tale couch and big desk 'Ah, Professor Dumbledore! Thank you for coming so quickly.'

She rose respectfully and shook his hand firmly.

'How may I help, Amelia?' Dumbledore asked, taking a seat at her invitation. Amelia Bourne poured him a cup of tea and then said

'Oh, its just protocol, headmaster. I am to give you a report about the counsels I have given up until now'

'Ah, very well. But I thought you would not be able to say anything – the conversations are confidential?'

'Of course, yes. It was more a general overview. But there is a matter I need to address with you because further treatment does not lie in my area of expertise.'

'Oh?' Dumbledore said mildly, surprised by this pronouncement 'How may I help you? I do hope you are making progress'

Amelia nodded seriously 'Ronald Weasley is getting back to his normal self in record time, he already remembers most of his childhood, I am happy to report' Dumbledore gave her an encouraging smile at that 'The problem lies with young Mr. Potter. I feel like our conversations can only do so much. We have been circling around the same memories for a while now and I understand I must ask for help now.'

'Please explain, Amelia, I am afraid I don't follow.'

'Yes… I use hypnosis to unlock memories. While Mr. Weasley has unlocked most of his childhood, Mr. Potter has only been successful at unlocking his school career, here and in the muggle world. There are no memories of his childhood emerging. It is quite worrisome.'

'Indeed.' Dumbledore agreed thoughtfully 'I assume you have an idea as to how we might proceed?'

Amelia nodded 'I heard you are a skilled Legilimens and wanted to ask you to help him with that. Legilimentic has been used in similar cases by Medi-Wizards and it might help.'

Dumbledore nodded slowly 'I will do my best.'

Dumbledore had already been planning on teaching Harry Occlumency as he suspected that Voldemort knew now, as he did, that Harry might be a Horkrux. It was imperative to block mind attacks with the use of Occlumency. And if the art helped the boy to unlock his memories, all the better.

Harry felt lost and confused by what he remembered and what he missed. He had been staying in the hospital wing because the matron had forbidden him from returning to Gryffindor Tower. She seemed to think the other students would harass him and put pressure on him to remember what he had forgotten. Harry frowned. He rather thought it might jog his memory to return there. And also, he did remember everything from his school days, so what could his classmates tell him to unsettle him anyway?

On the other side there was the matter of the Weasleys to consider, who were still mourning the loss of their sister. While Ron had stayed in the hospital no one had told them that she had been killed in the Chamber. As they did not remember the incident themselves, that posed little issue. But when Ron had started getting better, he had come to the point of remembering that his sister had been kidnapped and it was hard to miss that it was only ever his brothers, who came to visit him. When he realized that she had been killed, he had become silent and withdrawn and soon after that had been released from the matron, because his mind had recovered all memories. Since that day none of the Weasleys had come to visit him.

Harry shook his head in irritation. Why should he care? All of them had reason to come see their brother, who was Harry to them anyway? And they were mourning their sisters loss, helping Ron deal with it and somehow trying to get through end of year examinations. He had no reason at all to fret, really. No reason to believe that they somehow blamed him for her death. Whenever these thoughts came up, Harry felt like burrowing into his pillow and never coming up for air.

It was weird how much Ron and the Weasleys meant to him. He was his best friend, yes and he had stayed with them last summer. Still, how could his heart clench so painfully at the thought that Mrs. Weasley might never hug him again? He had been told, of course, that he was an orphan and how and why his parents had died. He knew he lived with his aunt and uncle and their son in Surrey, had been since he was about a year old. He knew all that, but he did not remember. No one told him any more than that.

But gauging from the fact that neither had he gotten a visit nor so much as a letter from his relatives and he seemed to genuinely care more for Ron's family than his own, he could imagine that they did not get on well. And the way Hermione pursed her lips, whenever he tried to bring up the subject told him even more than he probably wished to know. So he was not very keen on learning how his previous life with the Dursleys had gone. But that was to change now, as the letter in his hand evidently meant.

'Dear Harry,

I am glad to know that you are making progress in your recovery. After consulting with Miss Bourne, we have concluded that the last part of it will require a special treatment.

This treatment is called Legilimency and basically means that someone will enter your mind to find the last memories and unlock them for you. Miss Bourne is not a Legilimens and has asked me to step in, which I will gladly be doing for you.

Meet me on Friday at 12 o'clock in my office, the password is 'caramel custard'.

I look forward to talking to you again

Albus Dumbledore'

Severus Snape had very little to look forward to these days. The end of year was approaching fast and with the horrible events that had led to it, the usual insanity of it was heightened considerably. He frowned when he thought about the memorial service, that had been held for the Weasley girl. He scowled about Fudge's endless blather of 'unfortunate accident' and 'to learn from this horrible event', 'change in security matters' and most infuriatingly 'a stricter control by the ministry'. He had used the death of an eleven year old to gain more control of the situation. While the Slytherin-cunning side of him did appreciate the idea, the Slytherin-don't-mess-with-me side of him resented it immensely.

He had enough puppet masters as it was. With Voldemort resurrected, he had to bend his knee in front of the inhuman monster and the head of the Order of the Phoenix. To have another person wanting to give him orders about anything grated on his nerves. He had wanted to rattle the empty shell called Fudge, until the two brain cells in his mind would collide and possibly get to the conclusion that, yes the Dark Lord was back. Yes, they had to ally themselves with every half-human and non-human creature in Britian to oppose him. Yes, indeed, those respectable purebloods were Death Eaters, are Death Eaters and will die as servants of the Dark Lord as well!

But as it was, he could only sit there and suffer through the incredibly dull and cold speech of their minister, followed by the sorrowful and empathic words of the headmaster. He had stood in line with his colleagues to give his condolences to the girl's parents and brothers. Then he had gone up to the grave, as all others had, and laid down a bouquet of fire red flowers. He had no other personal knowledge of the girl but her red hair and vivacious demeanour, that had vanished as the year passed on and Voldemort's control over her mind grew. On a whim, he had knelt and stroked the headstone once, before turning and apparating back to the castle.

His way to the only real home he had known was interrupted that day, because his arm went up in flames. Not literally, but the pain left him staggering and leaning against a tree. His master was angry and he was going to feel it. Sighing, Severus concentrated and then apparated to the madman's side, falling to his knees and grovelling like a starving dog.

'Master!'

'Did you go to the memorial service of sweet Ginny Weasley?', his master asked calmly and thus began the onslaught of questions and Legilimency. A test he passed, which merely meant that he would be able to leave with his mind intact and his heart pounding. A good set of Crutiatus for his lack of new information was his reward before he could finally, truly enter Hogwarts castle again.

Exhausted, emotionally and physically, he made his way up to the headmaster's study, cursing every step he had to drag himself up. Why could he not report in the entrance hall or better yet, lying in his bed? He finally reached the room, in which Dumbledore was still sitting awake and sank down before him, his limbs trembling. Without preamble he started

'He called me to inquire about the memorial service.'

Dumbledore looked up, his eyes concerned, when they raked over his involuntarily trembling body.

'There is nothing of import to report but I'll leave the memory with you as always.'

Dumbledore nodded and then gave him tea and biscuits. Snape would have thrown them in the headmaster's face and gone down to his quarters, if he hadn't known they were laced with all the potions he needed. And he needed them dearly and he needed them now. He drank greedily from the cup, grateful that it was not hot.

'Before I release you, Severus, there is a development in Harry's treatment.'

Snape made an impatient movement with his hand, as if swatting away a fly.

'Memories of most his childhood seem to be in a state of lockdown, he can't access them. Thus I have been advised to train him in Occlumency and use Legilimency to help him.'

'Any particular reason I should know this?' Snape snarled, biting into one of the cookies and actually moaning, when the pain releaser in it took effect. Dumbledore ignored his mood and continued

'I will see if my assumptions about the connection between him and Voldemort are true. I may be able to access his mind through Harry's. See if you can find any indication about other Horkruxes, items, incidents or places he mentions.'

Snape nodded, feeling more himself after three more cookies and standing up.

'Will you need assistance?' Dumbledore offered, rising when Severus swayed on his feet a little.

'No!' Snape snapped and then took a deep breath 'Your care is better showered on the brat than on me, headmaster.'

'I have enough for both of you' Dumbledore said kindly, Severus shook his head and left without another word.