CHAPTER 14
Harry managed not to let his surprise show on his face. He had been sure that the brooding man would throw him out of his office – again. It occurred to him, not for the first time, that Severus Snape was a deeply disturbed and embittered person, a sufferer who was determined to make others suffer for what he, Severus, had gone through.
"The Headmaster was my teacher," Severus stated impassively. Another surprise. The Potions Master was never forthcoming with personal information.
"Professor Dumbledore taught you? That explains why Remus told me that you are a 'superb Occlumens'."
Severus curled his lip incredulously, and Harry added:
"Those were his words. I'm quoting him."
Severus merely conjured a pile of blankets on the dungeon floor.
"Remove your spectacles and shoes and lie down."
Puzzled and astonished, Harry obeyed. He placed his spectacles on the desk and put his shoes neatly in a corner.
"Er…in which position shall I lie? Sir?"
"On your back," Severus said coldly, watching the youth follow his instructions. He looked fragile as he lay down. Severus drew nearer, knowing that Harry was short-sighted. Like James Potter.
"Close your eyes," he ordered, and the youth's eyelids snapped shut. His eyelashes were black and smooth. His tongue flicked out, nudging at his bottom lip in a small nervous gesture. Lying on the floor with eyes closed and a notoriously bad-tempered Potions Master and former Death Eater towering over him was rather intimidating.
"Relax your body completely."
Harry shifted a little on the blankets.
"You are still tense. You are keeping your fingers deliberately curled and close to your sides, and your ankles are crossed. Relax your arms, hands and feet. Everything," Severus said, swallowing down his impatience and adding an extra note of silkiness to his voice.
A minute or two of silence passed; then Harry felt a hand cover his eyes.
"Close your eyes completely. You must relax even your eyelids," Severus whispered, thinking back to the times Dumbledore had done this exercise with him, feeling the Headmaster's hand rest upon his face…like a father's hand…
To his own amazement, Harry discovered the tension draining from him at the touch of the man he loathed; his palm was gentle and warm. Then Severus removed his hand, and Harry heard him step away quietly.
"Exhale and inhale slowly and deeply. Do so through your nose, not through your mouth."
He waited for another minute, watching Harry's chest rise and fall before continuing:
"You will hear random sounds. Listen to them, but do not focus on each sound, but simply let it float past like water. Let nothing startle you or disrupt you."
Severus took four glasses and filled them with water, wanting Harry to listen to the sound of the water pouring the glasses. The first glass was completely full; the second glass contained two-thirds of water, the third half, and the fourth the smallest quantity. Severus proceeded to tap each glass with a spoon in no particular order, all the while watching the youth. Harry's lips parted as he truly relaxed, listening to the four different notes emitted by the tap of the spoon against the glasses. Severus paused and extracted a tuning fork. He hit the edge of the desk with it and placed the stem, which ended in a ball, against the wooden surface. A note rang out in a loud hum, gradually growing fainter. Severus repeated this, using different surfaces – glass, the stone floor, the hard cover of a book. After that, he walked around the room, varying his pace, his boots tapping on the tiles. Finally, he produced a rhythmic rattling with a pair of castanets. After ten minutes of these acoustic activities, he spoke.
"You may open your eyes, Potter, but do not get up. Remain recumbent until you are used to the light and your surroundings again. Stretch, if you wish, and rise slowly; do not stand up abruptly."
Harry obeyed, rubbing his eyes. He felt that this kind of exercise would be extremely helpful every evening. He could hardly believe that he had been able to relax in Severus's presence. He rose slowly, running his hand sleepily over his tousled hair, attempting to flatten it in that unconscious gesture which he had had since he was small.
"Your glasses and shoes, Potter."
Harry retrieved both articles.
"Let us continue with a repetition of the reading you have done on mental magic," Severus said; and instead of asking Harry questions, he said:
"Explain the term Occlumency and tell me what you know about the topic. I am all ears." He made a slightly mocking gesture, indicating that Harry was to do the talking.
Somewhat confused by this most unusual lesson, Harry spoke about Occlumency, beginning with the origin and definition of the word, feeling profoundly grateful to Hermione and her bookishness. Severus listened impassively for a few minutes before raising one hand.
"Enough. You are familiar with the basics."
He asked Harry some general questions before finishing the lesson with a couple of specific ones.
"Now, if you can realise that knowledge, Potter, instead of simply stowing it away in some dusty corner of your mind, then there might still be hope," Severus said with a touch of his usual sarcasm. "In the meantime, perform that exercise when you go to bed – without the sounds, naturally. Unless you are eager to disturb your roommates in a feeble attempt to garner more attention than you already receive."
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"Sounds like he is really anxious to teach you well, Harry," Hermione said after Harry had told her and Ron about his session with Severus, "it sounds like a form of yoga or something."
"You know, the others would love to hear about this exercise, mate. It wouldn't disturb us at all, it would do all of us a world of good. Neville could definitely use it, poor chap."
"As could you, Ronald Weasley," Hermione remarked waspishly, "and in the meantime, while you learn Occlumency with Professor Snape, I was thinking that we could try learning about Legilimency, then you can benefit from knowing what exactly Snape does to you when he invades your mind."
"'Mione, you're brilliant, but you need an expert…Mental magic could be dangerous if done wrongly…"
"I said learning about Legilimency."
"And nothing happened when she kind of prodded me last time," Harry said.
"That's because I knew that I didn't know enough to cause any damage," Hermione said.
"'I knew that I didn't know'…Really, 'Mione, you sound like a philosopher," Ron groaned.
Later, in the dormitory of the seventh-year boys, Harry finished fine-tuning his carved bird and tried to focus on his breathing as he lay in his bed; and when he closed his eyes, he imagined a warm hand covering them gently.
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A/N: The "superb Occlumens" was borrowed from book 5. About the relaxing exercises Harry does in this chapter: when I was in High School, we went to a theatre camp; and before we started rehearsing, one of the teachers went through a special morning routine with us in order to make us relax; we were told to grab blankets, spread them on the floor and lie down on them. Then he would play a cassette with random sounds on it (twanging, knocking, fingers rubbing and tapping against a glass etc.), and we would sort of drift away for ten minutes – some of us even fell asleep. I would actually listen to the breathing of the others rather than to the cassette sounds…After about ten minutes, the teacher would turn off the radio and tell us to open our eyes, stretch ourselves thoroughly and get up slowly. We'd do that, fold up the blankets and get moving. We were out in the country, in this pretty little camp house in an equally pretty little village, sleepy and homely; it was very quiet, no sounds of traffic, and it felt really, really, really good…So that's how I got inspired :-)