Lily's Charm- Severitus fanfiction

A Different Approach

1996

“Come here.”

“Sir?” Harry questioned, unprepared for the quiet command.

“Proximity increases the ability to open another’s mind.” Snape paused as he noted Harry’s skeptical look. “The Dark Lord is not an average Legilimens and the connection between the two of you is unique,” he explained, sounding slightly less patient than he had a moment earlier.

“But then I don’t need to be near Voldemort to block him out, right?”

“No, you do not. You do however need to learn to block out anyone at all and that will require you to—come here!” Snape’s impatience overflowed as he tersely repeated his command. Harry felt his feet moving forward automatically, and then he cursed himself for his easy compliance. If the Professor noticed Harry’s resentment, he didn’t comment on it.

When Harry was close enough to Snape, the Potions Master grasped Harry’s upper arm firmly and unceremoniously plopped him on the couch. “Ow!” Harry yelped and Snape snatched his hand away as though he had been burned.

There was a short silence before Snape spoke again. “You will need a mental image,” he said stiffly. His eyes were averted as Harry rubbed at his arm absently; it hadn’t really hurt that much, he wanted to tell the Professor, but dammit, why did the man have to be so pushy?

“What sort of image?” he finally ventured.

Snape turned his gaze back to Harry. “One that will allow you to focus. You will need to choose an image that will not distract you. I will show you.”

Snape sat down on the sofa next to Harry, leaving several inches of space between them. He angled himself so that he and Harry were facing. The Professor drew his wand from his robe and brought it slowly toward Harry’s temple. Harry tried very hard not to flinch, waiting on an indrawn breath for Snape to hiss, ‘Legilimens’ at him. Instead, the man said quietly, “It will work best at first if we are in contact with one another.” He paused and said gruffly, “I will not hurt you.”

Harry’s stomach lurched; he had not meant to make the man feel badly, but the pain in Snape’s voice was unmistakable. “Okay,” he managed to say and then tensed under Snape’s steady gaze.

With an almost gentle movement, the Professor’s course fingers were lightly cupping the back of his head and again Harry couldn’t help the tension that stiffened his body. Snape, seeming to sense Harry’s reservation, said quietly, “This will not be like the invasion it was before.” Harry instinctively relaxed at the reassurance and the Professor tilted Harry’s head up a fraction so that he was staring deep into the black eyes.

And then Snape’s wand was pressed gently against Harry’s temple and a whispered spell broke the stillness. Harry sucked in a sharp breath as he felt a warm glow entering his mind. The warmth gathered around his thoughts, and slowly grew in its intensity, becoming a slow burn, a flame that flickered against Harry’s insistence that he be left alone. But the flames brightened and the warmth began to fill him, soothing the aching memories at the forefront of his mind.

As if the flames were tentacles, fiery fingers reached themselves around Harry’s troubled memories, plunging them downward as they gripped, pushing them under the fire that now raged inside him, until Harry felt cleansed, whole again. Tentatively, the flames licked at the easy memory of Ron, groping under his bed for a shoe, his face tensed up in a frown, of Hermione with her hands clasped together as she explained that Snape had loved Lily, and Hedwig swooping down from the rafters in the Great Hall, bringing him a letter.