Chapter 42: Lessons

Harry awoke the next morning with a feeling of dread hanging over him so heavy that he felt like there was a Hippogriff sitting on his chest.

He made his way down to the kitchen, each step dragging more than the last.

“About time Potter” Draco barked, irritation apparent in his voice. “It’s almost noon!”

“Sorry.” Harry muttered still groggy from the sleeping draught he had taken in the early hours of the morning. He dropped himself into the nearest chair and slammed his head on the table, unable to hold it up any longer.

“Oh for goodness sakes!” exclaimed Molly Weasley as she bustled into the kitchen, her eyes resting on Harry, “Here drink this.” She handed him a mug.

Taking a sip, he discovered the contents of the mug to be hot chocolate. By the time he finished the first mug, his breakfast and a second mug placed in front of him, he felt almost normal.

Fully fed, the color back in his cheeks, Draco asked “Are you ready yet, Potter?”

Draining the last of his hot chocolate, Harry nodded and stood up, “Let’s go.”

He followed Draco into a small room where Minerva was waiting for them.

“Are you ready to begin?” She asked Harry, not unkindly.

After a slight hesitation Harry nodded.

Minerva searched his face for a few moments before nodding. “See what he can do Draco, I don’t suspect Snape gave him any real tutelage.”

“No he didn’t.” Harry interrupted, “That is what I kept trying to tell Professor Dumbledore. Snape didn’t tell me how to do it, he just told me to do it.”

“Yes, well.” She coughed grumpily and walked out of the room.

Draco stared at Harry, a look of almost understanding in his eyes. “What made Snape call off your lessons?” He asked Harry, something akin to curiosity in his voice.

Harry frowned at Draco’s tone, “he always put his memories into a pensive and I came in early one day and looked into it.” He shrugged.

“What did you see?” Draco asked.

Harry thought about lying to make the actions of his father seem better, but thought better of it and told Draco the truth.

“Wait,” Draco said as Harry finished, “you said that he always put his memories in the pensive?” He wore an incredulous look on his face.

“Yes, always.” Harry answered slowly, “Why?”

“Snape never put his memories in a pensive until the very end with me, said that I was not skilled enough to even have the possibility of seeing his thoughts.” He paused for a moment, “He lied, he always said that you were miserable and hopeless to learn something as advanced as Occlumency. But him feeling threatened enough to put his memories away from the beginning shows that he thought there was a possibility.” He had a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at Harry.

“Maybe he was afraid that Voldemort would be able to see through me and into Snape.” Harry asked, not liking the direction Draco was going.

“No,” the blond boy said shaking his head, “He had already demonstrated that he was skilled enough to block out both Voldemort and Dumbledore.”

“Well, if he thinks that I am so skilled, then why would he choose me to look in on my dreams?” Harry asked defiantly.

Draco started to shake his head, when he stopped and stared horror struck at Harry. “He is looking in on everyone’s minds, he said softly, you are the only one who realized it.”

The two boys stared at each other for a moment then bolted as fast as they could out the door and down the hall, colliding almost head on into Minerva who had been on her way back to check their progress.

After telling them what they had discovered, Minerva, almost huffily, exclaimed, “I can assure you Mr Potter and Mr. Malfoy, that no one is intruding upon my dreams.”

“Maybe not yours, but definitely the students,” Draco said hurriedly.

“I’m the only one who has had training in Occlumency besides Draco, and Snape probably thinks that Draco has yet to awaken. The other’s wouldn’t know what it feels like and would have no idea if he was intruding on their dreams, they would assume it was part of their dream, if they remembered it at all.” Harry finished.

The full force of what was being said hit Minerva and she went white, realizing that they might be inadvertently be giving Snape their plans. “Go back to the room and begin the training.” She said as she hurried away.

They slowly made their way back to the room, each one thinking of what had just been discovered. They reached the room and closed the door.

“Ok.” Draco said after a moment, “I want you to block me out. I want to see were you are before we begin the instructions.”

Harry nodded and prepared himself, then nodded again when he was ready. He could feel Draco poking in his mind, and he tried his hardest to block him out. After several painful moments Draco stopped and sat back.

Harry took a deep breath, and tried to relax.

“That was pretty good”, Draco admitted to Harry, “I had to really force myself to get past your blocks. We will begin instruction.”

“If you had a hard time getting past my blocks, then what is the problem?” Harry asked, but not in an arrogant manner.

“I can see one huge flaw with your strategy, but at the same time it is your strength.” Draco said patiently. “You use memories that you don’t care if I see to block out what you don’t want me to see.” Draco looked at him to see if he understood, seeing that Harry didn’t, he continued, “You have just given me fuel against you. While I don’t know what I wanted to find, I now who your friends are, who your girlfriend is, who your favorite teachers are, what you favorite past times are and even what your favorite food is. I can now use Quidditch to distract you while I kidnap your girlfriend and slip poison in your favorite food.”

Harry gasped, realizing what he had been feeding Voldemort and now Snape, the seemingly useless information that could be used against him and his loved ones. “I am putting everyone I love in danger!” he said appalled, “How do I fix it?” His resolution and determination were apparent in his voice and in his face.

Draco nodded, pleased that Harry was accepting his advice. “You have to be careful about what you construct in you mind to block a Legilimens out. You need to focus on something exclusively, and that is what they will see, however, whatever you construct, they can probably find something to destroy it, it is just like in the real world. If you throw up a brick wall, they can throw up a cannon and break down your wall. If you focus on water, they can focus on a sun and evaporate the water, or construct a boat and sail across. You see what I am saying?”

Harry frowned, a nodded slowly, “I think so. What if a thought about black, just thought of nothing?” He asked.

“That might work, but the trouble with that is that you can think you are thinking of nothing, but they use a light of some kind and can see everything, it might be hazy and dim but the can still see it. The best bet is to truly think of nothingness.”

He looked into Harry’s confused face and said simply, “Space. Space is nothing and it is everything. A black hole in space sucks things into it, but where do those things go?” Draco asked.

Harry shrugged unable to answer.

“Nowhere and everywhere. Space is everywhere, but it is impossible to touch, and is so fast that not even the muggle spacecrafts can get to it all. You see?”

Harry began nodding in understanding.

“You think of space,” Draco said smiling, “and anywhere the Legilimens goes, all they will see is space. Infinite space. Let’s try again.”

Harry pictured the sky as he had seen it one night laying in the park near the Dursely’s house, then immersed himself in it, so that he was no longer looking at it, but he was in it.

He could feel slightly Draco’s prodding, but he continued to float effortlessly in the space. Soon he felt another presence as well, but cared not, he was weightless in the space he had created.

“That’s enough.” Minerva’s voice broke through his space, and he opened his eyes.

The instant his guard was down, he felt Draco pierce into his mind, and try as he might he couldn’t get back into the space. He in desperation again thought about the not so useless memories, his frustration mounting until tears stung at his eyes in anger.

“Why did you do that?” He bellowed in Draco’s face. “Did you know he would do that?” he asked Minerva as he sunk out of his chair in exhaustion.

“I told him to.” She said, looking into Harry’s bewildered and hurt face. “Someone who is trying to enter your mind is not going to be nice because you put your guard down to have a conversation that is when they are going to strike the hardest and the fastest.” Her face softened as she continued. “I am very impressed with how impenetrable your Occlumency is when you are prepared, but you need to get it that way all of the time, you never know when someone might enter your mind, and you won’t always feel it.” She paused for a moment, before saying, “I knew that Hermione had not gone looking for that troll, but I am glad none the less that you boys saved her.” She walked out leaving a horror stricken Harry behind.

“What was that about?” Draco asked, confused by McGonagall’s comment.

“She was letting me know that she had entered my mind with out me knowing.” Harry said in an almost whisper, wondering what else she had seen.

“Shall we begin again?” Draco asked after a few minutes.