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Chapter seven - Secrets
Cassie was prepared and waiting when Snape arrived in the tower. She stood in the center of the room as he pretended to inspect the new tapestries she'd hung on the wall.
"You weren't at lunch." He watched her from the corner of his eye as he continued his examination of her new furnishings. "In fact, you've missed several meals in the Great Hall lately. It's been a while since you've felt the need to seclude yourself up here."
"Nonsense," she stared straight ahead. "I merely have been using the extra time to study for History of Magic and my Charms class." An image of Pansy Parkinson teasing Cassie about her lack of cleavage flitted through Cassie's mind.
"Really?" Snape again feigned interest, this time in a vase atop Cassie's dresser. "Nothing else bothering you?" His eyes drilled into hers as he put the vase down, and turned to face her fully.
"No, nothing." Lavender Brown and Pavarti giggling as she walked past crept into her mind. "Nothing a little extra studying won't cure."
"Having trouble with your classes?" Snape studied the round room, then moved towards the sitting area.
"No more than usual." Cassie followed and conjured a tea set onto the coffee table as she took the seat beside him on the chaise. "We can't all be Hermione Granger, now can we?" She poured him tea.
Snape picked up the tea cup and sipped as he surveyed her once more. He wasn't fooled by the images she had deliberatively let slip out. He gave a final nudge against her defenses but all were intact and he couldn't extract a single independent image.
He put down the tea cup and turned to face her. "Ready?"
Cassie nodded, and Snape increased the intensity of his search. Her mind withstood the onslaught. Her defenses were growing stronger and he knew only a very accomplished occulemist would be able to break through them.
But that was the point of these lessons – to increase her barriers so in the event that anyone tried to force her to reveal another's secrets, that she would be able to resist them. Snape knew however, that Cassie still was not strong enough to withstand the mind of the Dark Lord. If he returned and learned of Cassie's abilities, she wouldn't be able to block him. The best she could hope for was that her mind would break and madness would ensue before she was forced to read the minds of the Dark Lord's enemies or reveal any of their secrets or her prophecies that might be of use to the Dark Lord.
Really, the best that she could hope for was a quick death.
"Good job, Cassandra. I know you are hiding something from me but I don't know exactly what. Your turn."
Even as Cassie had been training to block other's thoughts, she had also been working on learning how to extract useful pieces of information from another's mind.
The trouble was, if it's an uncooperative subject, how do you know what important information they're hiding. Also, how do you do this without shattering their mind in the process?
There was no fear of her breaking Snape's mind, but the question was, what was the important information that Snape was guarding. When she first began her lessons with Snape he had hidden treasures in the castle and the only way Cassie could find them was by reading Snape's memory of where he had hidden them.
Gradually, the difficulties of the tasks had increased. Now, she knew that he had a secret that he didn't want to reveal. But what would it be? Flashes of memories, Snape's disdain for Harry, a brown haired woman, a tattoo on an arm, she felt Snape flinch, and a wall sprang up. Then Cassie had it, a pop quiz in potions tomorrow. If she could somehow spread the warning to the other fifth years that she took potions class with, then her popularity would definitely increase.
Maybe Supper tonight would make up for skipping Lunch.
