Twisted Tales

Occlumency

"Er – Isabelle, Snape is your head of house. How well do you know him?" Harry asks, sliding into the seat next to mine in the library.

Since returning to Hogwarts, I've not seen much of Harry. The teachers continue to pile on the homework, insisting we need as much practice as possible in order to pass out O.W.Ls. I've spent almost all my time outside of classes in the Slytherin common room, Draco and I pouring over books, doing what we can to help each other through the trenches.

Marking my spot in the book I've been flipping through, I look up at Harry, "Quite well, actually. I lived with him for a period of time, before I started here."

Ron, who is sitting across from me, lets out a disapproving grunt, "You lived with him?"

"He's rather funny if you understand his brand of humor."

Ron screws up his face in a look of disgust, his tongue sticking out, "He's loathsome."

"You will please not speak that way about Severus around me," I shoot back before turning my attention once again to Harry. "Apart from being a teacher, he is a dear friend of mine. Why the sudden interest in Snape?"

Harry sighs, making a point to avoid Hermione's cold stare. Whatever it is, she clearly disagrees with him sharing the information with me, "Dumbledore's got me doing Occlumency lessons with him."

"Occlumency? Why?"

Leaning in closer to me, Harry drops his voice down to barely a whisper; "You got my letter, right? About Mr. Weasley?" He waits for me to nod before continuing on. "From what Snape told me, Dumbledore reckons those dreams I've been having are me seeing his thoughts. He wants me to be able to block it out."

"When are you starting these?"

Voldemort finds this connection between Harry and him most useful. I'm hoping Harry isn't any good at the art. A large part of the Dark Lord's plan has to do with being able to feed Harry information, make him feel like he knows what Voldemort is planning. Dumbledore's tampering isn't going to be well received.

"I've already had my first one."

"How'd it go?" I question, trying to keep my tone casual.

"Ouch, Hermione! You didn't need to do that." Harry shoots Hermione a hurt look, rubbing at his ribcage. "It was pretty dismal. He didn't seem keen to help me at all. Just kept making fun of me for being bad at it."

I think of Draco's almost innate ability to keep people out of his head, of how far both of us have come with both Occlumency and Legilimens. I scratch at my nose, trying to hide my satisfied smirk behind my hand, "Well, I've heard it's really hard to master."

Hermione lets out a snort, shaking her head.

"Something you'd like to share with the group?" I ask, sliding a stony glare over at her.

"I just think it's convenient. Harry starts Occlumency and you've just happened to hear about it before."

I roll my eyes, chuckling lightly, "Didn't I just say I lived with Snape, that he's a friend? Do you think, in the three years I was with him, that maybe we talked about some of his special skill sets, Occlumency, for example?"

Harry and Ron exchange looks, Ron pulling at the collar of his shirt as if to indicate it's gotten too hot in the room. Hermione frowns at me, bushy eyebrows drawn together, "I suppose."

"When's your next lesson?" Ron asks Harry after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence in which Hermione refuses to break my stare.

"Every Monday night. I'm supposed to tell people I'm taking Remedial Potions."