Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

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Chapter Twenty-Five: Occlumency

Kreacher, it transpired, had been lurking in the attic. Sirius said he had found him up there, covered in dust, no doubt looking for more relics of the Black family to hide in his cupboard. Though Sirius seemed satisfied with this story, it made Harry uneasy. Kreacher seemed to be in a better mood on his reappearance, his bitter muttering had subsided somewhat, and he submitted to orders more docilely than usual, though once or twice Harry caught the house-elf staring avidly at him, always looking quickly away when he saw that Harry had noticed.

Harry did not mention his vague suspicions to Sirius, whose cheerfulness was evaporating fast now that Christmas was over. As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, he and Remus became more and more prone to what Mrs Weasley called ‘fits of the sullens,’ in which one or both of them would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to an empty room for hours at a time. Sirius’ gloom was especially overpowering and seeped through the house, oozing under doorways like some noxious gas, so that all of them became infected by it.

Harry did not want to leave Sirius all alone again with only Remus and Kreacher for company. In fact, for the first time in his life, he was not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. Going back to school would mean placing himself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence.

Then there was no Quidditch to look forward to now that he had been banned; there was every likelihood that their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer; Dumbledore remained as remote as ever; in fact, if it had not been for the D.A., Harry felt he might have gone to Sirius and Remus and begged them to let him leave Hogwarts and remain in Grimmauld Place.

Then, on the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively dread his return to school.

‘Harry dear,’ said Mrs Weasley, poking her head into his, Theodore, and Ron’s bedroom, where he and Ron were playing wizard chess watched by Theodore, Canini, Hermione, and Ginny, ‘could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you.’

Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron’s, and he was egging it on enthusiastically.

‘Squash him—squash him, he’s only a pawn, you idiot—sorry, Mrs Weasley, what did you say?’

‘Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He’d like a word.’

Harry’s mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at his siblings and friends, all of whom were gaping back at him. Hermione’s cat Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully upon the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their tiny voices.

‘Snape?’ said Harry blankly.

‘Professor Snape, dear,’ said Mrs Weasley reprovingly. ‘Now come on, quickly, he says he can’t stay long.’

‘This can’t be good,’ said Theodore, looking unnerved as Mrs Weasley withdrew from the room.

‘How bad at Potions do you have to be to get a house call?’ said Canini, bewildered. ‘Did you set your last assignment to explode before we had to leave?’

‘No!’ said Harry indignantly, racking his brains to think what he could have done that would make Snape pursue him to Grimmauld Place. Had his last piece of homework perhaps earned a T?

He pushed open the kitchen door a minute or two later to find Sirius, Remus, and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table, Sirius and Snape were seemingly in a death stare competition with Remus just sitting there awkwardly beside his husband. The silence between them was heavy with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius and Remus.

‘Er,’ said Harry to announce his presence.

Snape looked around at him, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair.

‘Sit down, Potter.’

‘You know,’ said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, ‘I think I’d prefer it if you didn’t give orders here, Snape. It’s my house, you see.’

An ugly flush suffused Snape’s pallid face. Harry sat down in the chair on the other side of Sirius, facing Snape across the table.

‘I was supposed to see you alone, Potter,’ said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, ‘but the marauders—‘

‘I’m his godfather,’ said Sirius, louder than ever.

Remus interjected, ‘I think what Sirius is trying to say is we are both Harry’s guardians, and anything that concerns him we should be there for him. No matter what you want, Severus.’

‘I am here on Dumbledore’s orders,’ said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more and more quietly waspish, ‘but by all means stay, Black, Lupin, I know you both like to feel...involved.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ said Sirius, letting his chair fall back onto all four legs with a loud bang.

‘Merely that I am sure you must feel—ah—frustrated by the fact that neither of you can do nothing useful,’ Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, ‘for the Order.’

It was Sirius’s turn to flush. Snape’s lip curled in triumph as he turned to Harry.

‘The headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term.’

‘Study what?’ said Harry blankly.

Snape’s sneer became more pronounced.

‘Occlumency, Potter. The magical defense of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one.’

Harry’s heart began to pump very fast indeed. Defense against external penetration? But he was not being possessed, they had all agreed on that...

‘Why do I have to study Occlu—thing?’ he blurted out.

‘Because the headmaster thinks it a good idea,’ said Snape smoothly. ‘You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?’

‘Yes,’ said Harry. ‘Who’s going to be teaching me?’

Snape raised an eyebrow.

‘I am,’ he said.

Harry had the horrible sensation that his insides were melting. Extra lessons with Snape—what on earth had he done to deserve this? He looked quickly around at Sirius and Remus for support.

‘I recall Dumbledore mentioning of hand that he knew of the arts of Occlumency,’ said Remus in an almost false calm. ‘How come he can’t teach it to Harry?’

‘I suppose because it is a headmaster’s privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks. I assure you I did not beg for the job,’ said Snape silkily as he got to his feet. ‘I will expect you at six o’clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking Remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them.’

He turned to leave, his black traveling cloak billowing behind him.

‘Wait a moment,’ said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair. Snape turned back to face them, sneering.

‘I am in rather a hurry, Black...unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time...’

‘I’ll get to the point, then,’ said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Harry noticed, had balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Harry was sure was the handle of his wand. A quick glance at Remus, Harry could see the worry on his face. ‘If I hear you’re using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you’ll have me to answer to.’

‘How touching,’ Snape sneered. ‘But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his real father?’

'Yes, I have,' said Sirius proudly, ignoring Snape's insult at his parental status.

'Well then, you’ll know he’s so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him,' Snape said sleekly.

Sirius pushed his chair roughly aside and strode around the table toward Snape, pulling out his wand as he went; Snape whipped out his own. They were squaring up to each other, Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius’s wand tip to his face. Remus had risen as well, seemingly preparing to intervene.

'Sirius!' said Harry loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear him.

'I’ve warned you, Snivellus,' said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape’s, 'I don’t care if Dumbledore thinks you’ve reformed, I know better—'

'Oh, but why don’t you tell him so?' whispered Snape. 'Or are you afraid he might not take the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother’s house for six months very seriously?'

'Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he’s delighted his lapdog’s working at Hogwarts, isn’t he?'

'Pads! Severus!' said Remus intensely, 'this is getting out of hand!' but he too was ignored.

'Speaking of dogs,' said Snape softly, 'did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognized you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform...gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn’t it?'

Sirius raised his wand.

'NO!' Harry yelled, vaulting over the table and trying to get in between them, 'Sirius, don’t—'

'Are you calling me a coward?' roared Sirius, trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry would not budge.

'Why, yes, I suppose I am,' said Snape.

'Enough!' yelled Remus who had drawn out his wand and aimed it at Sirius, 'Impedimenta!'

Turquoise light shot out of Remus' wand and hit Sirius in the center of his chest, knocking him over backward by the force of the spell.

'You are both grown adults, yet you are acting like children,' Remus said, his eyes filled with rage and disappointment. 'Shame on both of you!'

And with that he stormed out of the room, not even stopping to help his husband up. As he exited, the entire Weasley family, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.

'Cured!' he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. ‘Completely cured!’

He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, Sirius on the floor and Snape facing him menacingly, both with their wands out, and Harry immobile between them, a hand stretched out to each of them.

‘Merlin’s beard,’ said Mr Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, ‘what’s going on here?’

Both Sirius and Snape put their wands away. Harry looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet Remus’ stun spell and the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back.

‘Six o’clock Monday evening, Potter.’

He was gone. Sirius glared after him, his hand still clutching his wand in his pocket.

‘But what’s been going on?’ asked Mr Weasley again.

‘Nothing, Arthur,’ said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. ‘Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends...’ With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. ‘So...you’re cured? That’s great news, really great...’

‘Yes, isn’t it?’ said Mrs Weasley, leading her husband forward into a chair. ‘Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake’s got in its fangs, and Arthur’s learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven’t you, dear?’ she added, rather menacingly.

‘Yes, Molly dear,’ said Mr Weasley meekly.

That night’s meal should have been a cheerful one with Mr Weasley back amongst them; Harry could tell Sirius was trying to make it so, yet when his godfather was not forcing himself to laugh loudly at Fred and George’s jokes or offering everyone more food, his face fell back into a moody, brooding expression. Harry was separated from him by Mundungus and Mad-Eye, who had dropped in to offer Mr Weasley their congratulations; he wanted to talk to Sirius, to tell him that he should not listen to a word Snape said, that Snape was goading him deliberately and that the rest of them did not think Sirius was a coward for doing as Dumbledore told him and remaining in Grimmauld Place, but he had no opportunity to do so, and wondered occasionally, eyeing the ugly look on Sirius’s face, whether he would have dared to even if he had the chance. Instead he told Theodore and Canini under his voice about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape.

'Well, if it'll help stop whatever connection you have with Voldemort,' said Theodore at once. 'The dreams you have of him, they cause you such pain and distress, it can't be healthy.'

'Yes, but extra lessons with Snape?' said Canini, sounding aghast. 'Will it even be worth it?'

They were to return to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus the following day, escorted once again by Tonks and her friend and fellow Order member Chiara Lobosca, both of whom were eating breakfast in the kitchen with Lupin when Harry, Canini, and Theodore arrived there next morning. The adults seemed to have been midway through a whispered conversation when the door opened; all of them looked around hastily and fell silent. Remus stood up a moment later.

'Is everybody all packed?' He asked, and they all nodded groggily.

'Good, now I hope you all try to have an enjoyable winter term and study hard,' Harry let out a little groan, he was looking forward to having to deal with Umbridge and Snape for several more months. 'I know things aren't how we want them to be right now, but I am very proud of all of you for making the best of a bad situation and how you've been trying to help others at the same time. Keep doing your best and you will all do fine.'

After a hurried breakfast they pulled on jackets and scarves against the chilly gray January morning. Harry had an unpleasant constricted sensation in his chest; he did not want to say good-bye to Sirius. He had a bad feeling about this parting; he did not know when they would next see each other and felt that it was incumbent upon him to say something to Sirius to stop him doing anything stupid—Harry was worried that Snape’s accusation of cowardice had stung Sirius so badly he might even now be planning some foolhardy trip beyond Grimmauld Place. Before he could think of what to say, however, Sirius had beckoned him to his side.

'Harry, I know you were hesitant last term, but I want you to use the mirror to talk to us as much as possible,' he said quietly, while looking Harry in the eyes.

'Why?' Harry asked.

'Because I want you to let me know if Snape’s giving you a hard time.' said Sirius, with a wary look at Remus, who was giving Canini and Theodore final goodbye hugs. 'I trust Moony with my life, but sometimes he follows Dumbledore a little to blindly, and I don't agree with Snape teaching you or you limiting your contact with us. So talk to me whenever you need to—though, still best to keep our conversations away from Deatheater spawn ears, all right?'

'Okay,' said Harry, although he agreed that he didn't want Snape as his teacher, he wasn't so sure about additional contact with Sirius and Remus. It would not be he, Harry, who lured his parents from their place of safety, no matter how foully Snape treated him in their forthcoming Occlumency classes.

Harry was about to head to the front door, but it was Remus' turn to pull him aside. As he pulled Harry into a hug, he said in a lowered voice, 'And listen, Harry, I know you don’t like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and I want you to learn that skill—even Sirius wants you to learn it, he's just not thrilled whose teaching it—and we want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?'

'Yeah, all right,' said Harry heavily, looking up into Remus' prematurely lined face. 'See you, then Moony...'

'Let’s go, everyone,' said Sirius, clapping Harry on the shoulder and smiling grimly, and before Harry could say anything else, they were heading upstairs, stopping before the heavily chained and bolted front door, surrounded by Weasleys.

'Good-bye, Harry, take care,' said Mrs Weasley, giving him a quick hug.

‘We’ll meet you at Hogwarts, Harry,’ said Ron, while waving him goodbye.

'See you Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!' said Mr Weasley genially, shaking his hand.

'Right—yeah,' said Harry distractedly. It was his last chance to tell Sirius to be careful; he turned, looked into his godfather’s face and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do so Sirius was giving him a brief, tight hug. He said gruffly, 'Look after yourself, Harry,' and next moment Harry found himself being shunted out into the icy winter air, with Tonks (today heavily disguised as a tall, tweedy woman with iron-gray hair) chivvying him down the steps.

The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Chiara down the front steps. As he reached the pavement, Harry looked around. Number twelve was shrinking rapidly as those on either side of it stretched sideways, squeezing it out of sight; one blink later, it had gone.

'Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better,' said Tonks, and Harry thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. Chiara flung out her arm.

BANG.

To Harry’s amazement, a violently purple triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backward out of its way.

A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down onto the pavement and said, ‘Welcome to the—‘

‘Yes, yes, we know, thank you,’ said Tonks swiftly. ‘On, on, get on—‘

And she shoved Harry forward toward the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.

‘Goodness—it’s ’Arry—!’

‘If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion,’ muttered Tonks menacingly, now shunting Canini and Theodore forward.

‘I haven’t been on this thing since I escaped my father,’ said Theodore in a sort of appreciative tone. This comment from his foster brother made Harry realize that what they were boarding was the Knight Bus, whose purpose usually was to transport magic folk that were either stranded or couldn’t travel via other means. Harry had heard stories about it growing up, but had never been on it until now.

The bottom of its three stories was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around the wood-paneled walls and windows. Some of these appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place; a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody’s shopping bag had slid the length of the bus; an unpleasant mixture of frog spawn, cockroaches, and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.

'Looks like we’ll have to split up,' said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. 'Theo and Canini, if you just take those seats at the back...Chiara can stay with you...'

She, and Harry proceeded up to the very top deck, and to the two chairs at the back. Heads turned as Harry passed and when he sat down, he saw all the faces flick back to the front again. Momentarily the conductor came to were they were seated.

‘My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this morning. One ride on the Knight Bus cost eleven Sickles. For thirteen sickles, the rider also got a hot choc-‘

‘We just want a ride to Hogwarts, thanks,’ said Tonks. Despite the price Stan mentioned, she pulled out five galleons, ‘And it would be nice to get there as quick as possible.’

As Tonks handed Stan the galleons, the bus set off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Square, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backward; Tonks’ chair toppled right over, she let out a brief curse as she fell on her face. Harry, who had narrowly avoided falling by seizing a candle bracket, looked out of the window: they were now speeding down what appeared to be a muggle motorway.

‘Just outside Birmingham,’ said Stan hesitantly, answering Harry’s unasked question as Tonks struggled up from the floor. ‘So, the rumours aren’t true then, are they Arry Potter? You don’t seen like a nutter to me. And your family downstairs seemed very nice. Although the paper does make some points about what you’ve been saying...’

He handed over their tickets and continued to gaze, enthralled, at Harry; apparently Stan did not care how nutty somebody was if they were famous enough to be in the paper. The Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Harry didn’t normally get motion sick, he was used to quick movements from playing Quidditch, but even he was starting to feel a little shaken up. He was fairly certain he could hear Canini moaning on the floor below.

BANG.

Chairs slid backward again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud BANG.

‘I might have made a poor choice,’ muttered Tonks, picking herself up from the floor for the sixth time, ‘I shouldn’t have paid to go this fast.’

‘Listen, it’s ’Ogwarts stop after this,’ said Stan more cheerily, swaying toward them. ‘With your “tip” ma’am we’re moving you up the queue. We’re just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though—‘

There was more than one retching sound coming from downstairs, followed by a horrible spattering sound. ‘She’s not feeling ’er best, nor is your sister.’

A few minutes later the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. They could hear Stan ushering the unfortunate Madam Marsh out of the bus and the relieved murmurings of her fellow passengers on the second deck. The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until—

BANG.

They were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Harry caught a glimpse of the Hog’s Head down its side street, the severed boar’s head sign creaking in the wintry wind. Flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.

As they descended to the level below Harry found his sister hunched over with her head between her legs, and Stan casting a spell to clean up her breakfast which was now on the floor. Canini had always suffered greatly from motion sickness. Harry went over to check on her.

‘You going to be ok, Cani?’ he asked as calmly as possible.

‘I will be in a minute,’ she moaned, ‘I’ll be down soon.’

Tonks and Chiara helped them off the bus with their luggage and then got off to say good-bye. Harry glanced up at the three decks of the Knight Bus and saw all the passengers staring down at them, noses flat against the windows.

‘You all will be safe once you’re in the grounds,’ said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road.

‘Be safe every month, young one,’ Chiara said to Canini for some reason. The Order member then turned to Harry and put out her hand, ‘It was good to meet you again Mr Potter.’

Harry took it, ‘Yes, you as well.’

Nymphadora Tonks said goodbye to Theodore, gave Canini a quick hug, and then came to Harry.

‘Have a good term, okay?’ she said, her expression softer than it had been for the journey. ‘And do your best leading your “extracurricular activity”.’

‘Thank you, I will,’ said Harry. He added, ‘And you be safe out on your missions.’

‘Will do.’

The three of them struggled up the slippery drive toward the castle dragging their trunks and animal cages. Harry glanced back when they reached the oak front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone, and he half-wished, given what was coming the following day, that he was still on board.

Harry spent most of the next day dreading the evening. His morning Potions lesson did nothing to dispel his trepidation, as Snape was as unpleasant as ever, and Harry’s mood was further lowered by the fact that members of the D.A. were continually approaching him in the corridors between classes, asking hopefully whether there would be a meeting that night.

‘I’ll let you know when the next one is,’ Harry said over and over again, ‘but I can’t do it tonight, I’ve got to go to—er—Remedial Potions...’

‘You take Remedial Potions?’ asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Harry in the entrance hall after lunch. ‘Good Lord, you must be terrible, Snape doesn’t usually give extra lessons, does he?’

As Zacharias strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Allison glared after him.

‘If you want I could jinx him? He is still in range,’ she said, raising her wand and taking aim between Zacharias’ shoulder blades.

‘Forget it,’ said Harry dismally, despite Snape’s warning he had informed Allison, Tracey, and Terence of the true purpose of his upcoming meetings with Snape. ‘It’s what everyone’s going to think, isn’t it? That I’m really stup—‘

‘Hi, Harry,’ said a voice behind him. He turned around and found Cho standing there.

‘Oh,’ said Harry as his stomach leapt to his throat. ‘Hi.‘

‘If you need to find us Harry we’ll be in the library,’ said Theodore firmly, and he seized Allison above the elbow and dragged her off toward the marble staircase with Tracey following.

‘Had a good Christmas?” asked Cho.

‘Yeah, not bad, better than I thought it’d be,’ said Harry. ‘And you?’

‘Mine was pretty quiet,’ said Cho. For some reason, she was looking rather embarrassed. ‘Erm...there’s another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?’

‘What? Oh no, I haven’t checked the notice board since I got back...’

‘Yes, it’s on Valentine’s Day...’

‘Right,’ said Harry, wondering why she was telling him this. ‘Well, I suppose you want to—?’

‘Only if you do,’ she said eagerly.

Harry stared. He had been about to say ‘I suppose you want to know when the next D.A. meeting is?’ but her response did not seem to fit.

‘I—er—you—‘ he said.

‘Oh, it’s okay if you don’t,’ she said, looking mortified. ‘Don’t worry. I-I’ll see you around.’

She walked away. Harry stood staring after her, his brain working frantically. Then something clunked into place.

‘Cho! Hey—CHO!’

He ran after her, catching her halfway up the marble staircase.

‘Er—d’you want to come into Hogsmeade with me on Valentine’s Day?’

‘Oooh, yes!’ she said, blushing crimson and beaming at him.

‘Right...well...that’s settled then,' said Harry, and feeling that the day was not going to be a complete loss after all, he headed off to the library to pick up his friends before their afternoon lessons, walking in a rather bouncy way himself.