Severus leaned over his Pensieve and mentally berated himself. His entire body was shaking. How could he have been so stupid? No child, let alone Potter, would have resisted the temptation to pry into a teacher's life. He watched as the memory in question, his worst, circled around in the basin. Anger flowed through his veins. More than that, he felt absolutely humiliated. It was a feeling that he'd avoided for many years, and now the fact that Potter's son had seen that particular memory, all of those emotions he'd long buried came rushing back with a vengeance. Severus' dark eyes closed tightly and he hung his head.
He had to tell Dumbledore what had occurred, but he knew he was in for quite lecture. Severus stood tall and pulled his Occlumency shields into place firmly. Neutral faced, Snape left the room, black cloak billowing behind him, and stalked to the Headmaster's office. The door swung open before he could knock, which was ominous.
"Severus..." Albus said in a low voice. "Do come in."
Snape walked as smoothly as possible to the chair across from his employer and former teacher. As he sat, he locked eyes with the old man. "Harry Potter's Occlumency lessons are at an end." Severus' voice wavered only a bit because of his rage and humiliation.
"Are they? I believe that would be my decision?" Dumbledore eyed him over his half moon glasses.
"You can teach him, then," Severus said as he leaned back into the chair defiantly.
"You know that it's too dangerous for me to be so close to him right now," Dumbledore said.
"I do not care."
"He must learn."
"Not from me," Severus snarled dangerously. His temper was rising.
"Tell me what occurred."
"Bloody Umbridge called me away during my lesson with Potter. He snooped. Into my Pensieve. He saw..." Snape snapped his mouth shut and glared away from Albus toward the wall at all the portraits listening intently.
Albus looked at Severus closely. The younger wizard was near shivering, though trying desperately to conceal it. Snape knew he was being studied and quickly strengthened his Occlumency shields. Severus had long stopped being open with Dumbledore.
"Severus..."
"I will not do it," Severus said darkly.
Albus sighed heavily and thought for a moment. "Then you will add Occlumency lessons to the curriculum you are already teaching Miss Granger. She assist Mr. Potter then in turn."
Snape's eyes snapped to Albus' and he growled, "What?"
"I believe I spoke with clarity and appropriate volume..."
"Absolutely not," Snape said.
"She is more than capable," Albus offered.
"She is a child. You've already forced me to put so much weight upon her," Severus said angrily. "No. I won't do this to her. I will not. Minerva will throw a fit."
"I can handle Minerva," Albus said calmly. His calm tone only served to set Severus more on edge. "You will teach Occlumency to Harry Potter, or you will teach it to Hermione Granger so that she can pass along the information to our Harry."
"Albus..." Severus growled. "She is a child. You've already asked too much of her. In the mere months I have been teaching her, she has already changed."
"This is war, Severus. I did not think you of all people would need reminded of that fact," Albus said as he sipped from his teacup.
Snape glared at his Headmaster furiously. "I do not need reminding, but perhaps you need reminded that the student in question is just that - a student."
"You cared little for Harry's well-being and he is quite a bit younger than Miss Granger. Do not tell me how that big, bad Professor Snape might have a soft spot for our Gryffindor Princess, that he might enjoy teaching her, that he might care for her well-being?"
Snape scowled deeply. The hatred for Dumbledore etched in the harsh sharp lines of his face. "Potter is your bloody messiah in this damned war. Granger is a child with an unfortunate taste in friends... It is not right to ask a child to learn this, and then to turn around and teach it to someone else... This is difficult magic."
"You doubt her ability? I do not think she would take kindly to that."
"I never said that..." Snape started, but he was cut off.
Dumbledore said, "War is coming. We can leave them unprepared, or we can prepare them. The latter is truthfully the right thing to do."
Severus was quiet for a moment. He could not argue that logic. He simply couldn't. The idea of sending students to battle, because they would go, with nothing in the arsenal was sickening. He knew Potter and Granger and Weasley were training up other students. He knew he was teaching Granger so that they would be protected in months to come. He knew... Yet he did not like it.
"You ask too much," Severus said coolly.
"And I will ask more," Dumbledore said heavily. He scribbled on a spare bit of parchment, folded the paper, and stuck it in the beak of his owl. "Fetch Miss Granger," He told the bird.
Severus' eyes bored a hole into Dumbledore's desk. The silence between the two men was very tense, and heavy. Snape's black eyes glittered as he thought. Granger arrived promptly as usual. She sat in the chair next to Snape and looked anxiously between Severus and Albus.
"Good evening, Miss Granger."
"Good evening, sirs," Hermione said. She was nervously chewing her lip.
"We have run into a snag, and we would like to discuss a solution with you," Albus started gently.
Severus winced internally at the verbiage. We? The girl shifted uncomfortably in her chair and said, "Yes, sir."
"Professor Snape finds himself incapable of continuing Harry Potter's Occlumency lessons..."
Hermione flinched at the blatant insult to Severus. Snape looked hatefully at Dumbledore and his dark eyes roared. "You dare..."
Dumbledore cut him off again. "It is important for Harry to learn Occlumency. Extremely so. Professor Snape has agreed to teach you in hopes that you might be able to assist Harry. As his friend. As someone he trusts implicitly."
Hermione's brow furrowed and she looked at Snape, who was avoiding looking at the pair of them altogether now, and instead focused on staring at the wall angrily. Suddenly, she understood Snape's refusal to look at her, his anger toward the Headmaster. He was trying to protect her. Again.
"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore, but Occlumency and Legilimency are very complex types of magic. I'm only 16. Shouldn't someone more qualified teach Harry? I don't know that I even have any natural ability in those fields. If Professor Snape cannot, shouldn't you?" Her tone was light, but her accusation was clear.
Snape laughed bitterly at Hermione's words. A timid alliance had been formed. "It is no use, Miss Granger. You remember what I said? About all the world?"
Hermione looked at him. His eyes were cold and his face was stony, but she felt united with him. "All the world is Dumbledore's stage..." Her face hardened as she looked at Dumbledore.
Albus narrowed his eyes. "Careful, Miss Granger. Defiance and disrespect are far more suited to Professor Snape."
Unable to stop the apology, Hermione said, "I apologize, sir. I feel very overwhelmed."
"I wonder why..." Snape muttered under his breath.
"Dark and difficult times lie ahead of us. There will be a time, many times in fact, when we must choose between what is right and what is easy..." Dumbledore said. His words echoed those he'd spoken after Cedric Diggory's murder. The silent acknowledgement of the truth in his words hung between the trio.
"...How impossible it is to really make a choice, when the best option of all is one you couldn't even imagine." ~ Fire Logic