I solemnly swear that I am up to no good | Professor Remus Lupin

Chapter 32 | Occlumency

A week has passed and the detention with Remus had turned into training for my Veela abilities. The pressure in the classes had grown because the O.W.L.s were coming closer every week. This Monday morning I had nearly overslept, so I ran to the potions classroom without getting breakfast and managed to get there in time. During class Snape ordered me to get some ingredients for the class out if his chamber, I used this opportunity to check on the ingredients that I would need for the wolfsbane. None of the ingredients were sorted so it took me a while to find them, but I gladly did. I planned on getting them later this day with the help of the marauders map.

After class I walked up to snapes desk. He was sitting behind it, aggressive correcting papers.

"Professor Snape" I started, he wasn't looking up so I just continued. "Did Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore inform you-" but he interrupted me.

"Yes, indeed" he slowly answered without looking up. "The training will start today after Defense against the dark arts."

"No, sir! At this time I have detention with Professor Lupin" I said in a pleading tone. I didn't wanted the extra hours I spend with Remus to stop.

This caused Snape to look up from his papers. He looked at me with a risen eyebrow. "Interesting, I have never seen a student worried their detention getting cancelled.." an emotionless smirk appeared on his lips.

"No, Sir...it's...it's not like that"

"Like what?" He asked. Shit, i thought to myself. I stopped talking, so I would get myself deeper in this mess. Snape was clearly the last person I wanted to know that I had feelings for a teacher.

"So after D.A.D.A.?" I asked and tried to act like nothing happened. He looked down at the papers again and nodded.

...............

After Defense against the dark arts I informed Remus that I had spoken to Snape. He seemed to be just as sad about the end of the detention as I was. But he nodded and wished me a good day. He stopped me in the doorway.

"Maeve...don't be too rude on Professor Snape this time" he joked with a smile.

"If I think about were it got me last time, I would do it again" I answered half-jokingly, before I walked to the potions classroom. Snape was already waiting inside and motioned me to sit down.

"Before we start...I need to ask you if you are willing to let me control your thoughts" he asked me.

"I will do everything that I need to do" I assured him. I had already thought about this, I really wanted to archive the transformation so that I could learn to control it then.

"This includes that I need to get into you mind..." he told me. "Since this is very private, everything will stay in this room" he continued. I needed to trust him on this, I had no other chance. I nodded and he took out his wand. "Are you ready?" He asked me and I nodded again.

He muttered some words and threw a spell at me, I immediately closed my eyes and expected pain or something that would signal me that someone was entering my mind, but I felt nothing. I slowly opened my eyes and questioned if it had worked.Snape looked at me confused.

"Did it work?" I slowly questioned.

"No..." he answered concerned. "Did someone ever teach you Occlumency ?" He asked me.

"No, what is that?"

"It shields the mind from the invasion of Legilimency...it is usually very hard to achieve to block what I just did." He told me still surprised. "Ever thought of being an Auror?"

The training to become an Auror was really hard and difficult and I had never really thought of becoming one before, but my grades were probably good enough... I shook my head in response.

"You can leave now" he just said and turned around.

"But Professor-"

"I will talk to Dumbledore and try to find another way..." he interrupted me and walked past me out of the room. I stayed there for a while and thought about his words. Why was I able to shield my mind...and how did I do it. I stood up and walked out of the classroom.

My mind was filled with questions and my feet took me out of the castle into the gardens. I sighted Remus on the wooden bridge and decided to ask him...maybe he would be able to answer a few of my questions.

"Professor Lupin" I said in a soft tone and threw him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, Maeve..." he said surprised, but smiled at me. "I thought you had training with Snape..."

"Well, yes...but his method didn't work on me...he said I was able to block his spell and shield my mind from him..."

"This is interesting..."

"I don't know how I do it and what it means..." I told him and he took a while before he answered.

"Usually this is a skill that needs to be thought and is hard to learn. It is fascinating that you are able to do that..." he told me. "It would be a great ability, if we wouldn't need it right now"

"Why would it be a great ability?" I asked him.

"It is a great defense against dark magic. Many dark wizards and witches read minds to manipulate their victims or to know their weakness...many aurors try to manage Occlumency and even some of them fail." Remus told me. "Are you sure no one ever taught you?"

"No one" I answered. We continued walking around and talked about other things, until it was time for dinner. In the great hall we split our ways and I sat down with Grace and the twins. They told me about quidditch and we planned the next prank. After we headed to our tower and got ready for bed and I faked going to sleep and waited until Grace had fallen asleep. I silently stood up and grabbed the marauders map. I put on my quidditch sweater and my shoes on top of my pajama before I walked out of the room.

I checked the map before I walked out of the common room, the stairs were empty and I checked every corridor before I entered them. On my way to the dungeons I managed to hide every time before someone could noticed me. Nearly no one was running around at this time, since Sirius Black allegedly was near Hogwarts everyone stayed in their rooms. Snape was in his quarters near the Slytherin rooms. I checked the map one last time before I opened the door to the potion chamber with my wand. I stepped onto the ladder in the middle of the room and put the folded map into between my teeth to have free hands. I reached for the moonstone, that were in a large jar. I grabbed a hand full of them and stuffed them into my small pocket. I looked for the moon seeds and it took me a while to find them, because they were hidden behind another bottle. I carefully took the bottle with the seeds and took a few of them.

Even though I was stealing I was convincing myself that i was doing the right thing. I was just trying to help someone and I hoped that Snape wouldn't notice that someone stole from his ingredients. I put the bottle on it's original place and carefully stepped off the ladder. I secured the ingredients in my bag and looked at the map before I walked out of the room again.

Just as I closed the door of Graces and my room behind me I let out a breath, I didn't even knew I was holding. I silently put down the bag next to my bed and began taking of my shoes and sweater before I went to bed and fell asleep.