A/N: Thank you once again for the support and your comments and reviews, I'm glad you're all still enjoying this story. Chapter Warnings - possible mentions of sexual assault, violence, bad language and sexual situations. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Many Thanks :)

Chapter 36 – Caught, Harry, and more Legilimency Lessons

Hermione woke first, it was now dark out. How long had they been asleep? She was still wrapped up in Severus' arms and was still tucked against his chest. Hermione looked over Severus' shoulder to where the bedroom door had been left open and her heart stopped.

Draco was stood casually in the doorway, smirking and holding a cup of either tea or whiskey, she couldn't quite tell in the darkness.

He looked better, and Hermione smiled at him through her blush despite the fact that she was currently near nude, in bed with the godfather of her newest friend. She squealed slightly and made sure that the duvet was securely wrapped around her.

Her squeal had prompted Severus into consciousness and he looked at her and grinned. His hand was on her bare thigh and he slid it up to her hip and kissed her on the cheek.

"Morning love" he whispered to her.

"Awww, evening lovers" Draco sniggered from the doorway.

"FUCK!" Severus yelled completely caught off guard.

He spun round to see a smug looking Draco in the doorway.

"Next time you guys want to get it on, you should exercise silencing charms. I almost threw up my lunch earlier" Draco laughed.

Severus flushed and Hermione buried herself under the duvet in order to hide her embarrassment.

Severus coughed awkwardly, he was now awake and remembered exactly what had happened a couple of hours earlier, and that Draco would have been in the rooms the entire time. Severus had also realised that it was not morning and probably more likely to be early evening and so he glared playfully at Draco.

"Alright I get it, I will wait out here whilst you make yourselves decent" Draco said as he left the room.

Severus groaned in humiliation. Although he had quite the wake-up call, it had done nothing to wilt his raging erection.

Hermione had been too embarrassed to notice and had gone about getting ready to head back to her dorm for the evening. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain away her absence to the boys.

Severus put on a loose pair of trousers, he was sure that he would cause permanent damage if he were to try and put on his normal tight formal trousers. He put a robe on over the top to hide his current state and followed Hermione to where Draco sat in the main room.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Severus spoke up.

"Are you alright Draco? Have you caught up with your missed work? Any pain?" Severus asked.

"I'm all caught up Severus and I feel a lot better, thank you. I am in no pain" Draco told him.

Severus nodded and smiled at him.

"You gave us a good scare Draco" Hermione said as she hugged him.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Er..." Draco started but looked at Severus.

"Hermione, there are somethings that we are unable to tell you. It could put us in more danger than we are already in" Severus told her.

Hermione nodded, she would rather remain ignorant if it meant that they were safer.

"Can I ask about the mark?" She asked with uncertainty.

Severus sighed.

"I was forced to take it, I didn't want to do it, and I don't want any of this. But, he threatened my family if I didn't do it. And now, I'm in a position that I have no idea what to do about. I've been set up to fail and there is nothing I can do if I want to live to see the summer" Draco said miserably.

"Needless to say, you cannot mention anything about this to anybody" Severus stated.

Hermione nodded, that was obvious.

"Why have you been set up to fail? What have you got to do?" She asked, she wasn't sure if they were going to divulge that information to her or not, she would understand if they didn't.

"I can't tell you exactly what it is that I've got to do but the ultimate goal is to get at Potter. Do something that's going to make him so blinded by anger that he acts out irrationally and doesn't really know what he's doing." Draco informed her.

"So you're going to be going after someone who has a strong relationship with Harry, you've got to harm one of us haven't you?" She asked him.

Draco looked down ashamed and nodded.

"He didn't specify who it had to be but essentially yes, I have to get to Potter through someone he cares about and has a strong relationship with. As long as I get the job done, it doesn't matter who it is that gets harmed" Draco whispered.

He had begun to tear up, he didn't have the strength to do this, he was going to fail and he was going to die and he knew it.

Severus decided to give the two friends a moment; the wards had alerted him that there was someone knocking on his office door. He excused himself and went to see who it was.

Hermione went and sat next to Draco.

"It will be alright, if there is anything I can do to help, please just ask me" she told him, staring at the dark mark that now marred Draco's perfect skin.

"Thanks" Draco said.

Hermione smiled.

"Now enough doom and gloom, are you sure you have finished all your work?" She asked him.

Draco grinned.

"Nearly, but what about you? Have you finished your work in my godfather's bedroom? An early birthday present for him perhaps?" Draco smirked.

Hermione flushed and cleared her throat; she was embarrassed but was thankful that Draco had brought up Severus, birthday, with everything that had been going on, she had nearly forgotten all about it.

"We didn't realise you were still in here" she muttered pathetically.

Draco scoffed.

"I realised that from the 'ugh, fuck, you're beautiful Hermione'" Draco mimicked what he had heard Severus say earlier.

Hermione breathed deeply, to calm her red cheeks and looked at Draco sheepishly.

"Also, he wouldn't stop talking about your boobs. You must have a fine set there Granger" he mocked her.

Hermione looked indignant and was about to respond.

"That is for me to know and you to never find out, thank you Draco" Severus said as he re-entered the room after having dealt with a second year Slytherin who had been caught practicing a hex on a Hufflepuff.

Draco looked wide eyed at Severus. He knew his godfather was very respectful of women and after hearing what the comments he was just making, Draco feared he was about to be torn a new one.

"Sorry Severus" Draco said.

Severus stared at him for a moment and nodded.

"Dinner has just started in the great hall; we need to all be there. I believe your little friends are beginning to get suspicious about your whereabouts Hermione and they are even more suspicious about Draco's whereabouts. The two of you go ahead and I will come along in a few moments" he informed the pair.

They nodded at Severus and left, deliberating over what story they were going to formulate about why they had both been missing for hours.

Severus needed a few minutes to collect himself, he was still rock hard from when he had woken up and it was now painful and no matter what distractions he had tried, nothing was working. Damn the minx!

Severus went and sat down on his chair and took himself out of his trousers. He looked at his stubborn dick and sighed as he took himself in his hand and began to relieve himself of the tension that he'd had for hours. Severus felt awful about it but he found himself thinking about the feel of Hermione's breasts, how they looked, how they tasted. He found himself quickly approaching the end, and his heartbeat was racing, and he let out a loud moan as his hand was covered in his cum, as it spilled from his throbbing dick. Damn the minx!

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Hermione took her usual spot at the Gryffindor table and piled her plate with food, having missed lunch she was ravenous and began to scarf down her food.

Harry and Ron stared at her with open mouths; they had never seen Hermione act in this manner before. They stared at each other before staring at Hermione again. Hermione paused long enough to glare at them, daring them to say something and they hastily averted their eyes from her and entered another conversation of Quidditch.

Hermione finished her meal and when she was full, she relaxed and sighed in contentment.

"Where have you been Mione, you have been missing all afternoon?" Ron asked her.

"I had to meet...someone, I offered to tutor them in Arithmancy" she lied. She looked at Harry meaningfully, trying to convey the correct message.

Harry instantly picked up on it and subtly looked over to where Draco was sat, trying to eat something without all the Slytherin's staring at him. Clearly, some of Draco's housemates had been informed by their Death Eater parents about what had happened to Draco over Christmas and they were scared of him. Draco was now more alone than ever.

Hermione nodded at Harry as if confirming Harry's thoughts that she had been meeting up with Draco all afternoon.

Harry wanted to know everything about Draco and why he had been missing but he also knew that Hermione, being the type of good friend that she was, would not say a word about what was discussed between her and Draco. He decided to let the matter drop for now.

Hermione was now thinking about Severus' birthday, how could she have forgotten about Severus' birthday? Had Draco not mentioned it she would have completely missed it and that would have made her the worst person in the world.

She was thinking about what she could get him, she still had his pendant, that he got her for Christmas, firmly secured around her neck.

She had completely tuned out of Harry and Ron's conversation but something she overheard reeled her back in and she wasn't quite sure what she thought about it.

"You did what Harry?" She asked.

"I had a meeting with McGonagall today; she told me that I am going to be going to Snape for extra tuition lessons. It's the worst thing ever, I literally feel like my world is ending. I don't want to spend my evenings with the greasy git. A night with Voldemort would be preferable at this point" Harry sighed.

"Don't be stupid Harry, you don't mean that you arse" Hermione snapped at him.

He looked down. Okay, maybe he didn't mean it but he still didn't like the idea of spending his free time with Snape.

Hermione wondered why Severus had not mentioned it, maybe he didn't know yet or maybe he had known about it for ages but with everything else, maybe he'd just forgotten about it.

She forgot about that for now, she would ask him when she saw him for her extra lessons tomorrow. Her mind was now firmly on Severus' birthday, it seemed such a silly thing to worry over in the wider context of things but she couldn't help it, she wanted to do something special. She was pretty sure that Severus had never celebrated a birthday and she felt sad. He deserved to feel special.

"When do these extra classes start and what are you going to be doing?" Hermione asked him, including herself in the conversations once more.

"My first meet with him is tonight, after dinner and he's going to be teaching me...is it...occlumens?" He said.

Hermione froze.

"You mean occlumency? The art of defending the mind?" She asked him.

"The very one" Harry confirmed.

"Wow! That's huge Harry, what brought that on? Why do you need to learn it?" She asked him.

"When Arthur Weasley was attacked before Christmas, I was shown the attack in, what I thought was, a dream. I was in this room, I think it was at the ministry and Arthur was there doing his guard duties. Then, Voldemort's snake started to attack Arthur. But my dream made it seem like I was the snake and that it was me attacking Arthur. Dumbledore says it's because of my 'special' connection with Voldemort; he has the ability to see into my mind, influence it, and make me see whatever he wants me to see. We are not quite sure if Voldemort knows about the connection but Dumbledore is not waiting around to find out. So I have to go and see Snape so that he can show me how to defend myself." Harry said sullenly, why did this shit always happen to him?

"If Dumbledore's suggested it Harry then this is serious, you need to promise me that you will put your hatred for Sev-, er, Professor Snape aside and try hard at these lessons" she said to him, nearly cocking up on Severus' formal title.

Harry also noticed the slip up but didn't say anything. He was still bewildered over what he saw in the potion professor's classroom a few weeks ago. He had spent most of his time denying that he saw anything other than a standard professional teacher-student relationship between Snape and his sister. But now he wasn't so sure.

He focused on what Hermione had said and, as always, she was right. He needed to focus on these lessons, he wasn't happy about them but they were set up to help him. He knew it would probably end badly but he would at least try.

"Alright Mione, I will at least try to be a model student for him" Harry agreed.

Hermione sighed and smiled at her friend.

"That's all I ask Harry" she said.

Ron scoffed at the conversation.

"Well, all I can say is 'Good Luck' to ya mate. You're gonna need it" Ron said, giving Harry a manly pat on the back in encouragement and support.

Harry nodded and swallowed the last of his pumpkin juice.

"Well, off I go. If I'm not back by curfew find Dumbledore and tell him that you will need a manhunt for my corpse and that Snape is the first suspect" Harry joked.

"Harry!" Hermione said aghast.

"Just kidding, I will see you later" Harry said to his friends and he left the hall and headed towards the dungeons.

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Severus had finished another glass of fire whiskey, it had been less than an hour since Draco and Hermione had left his quarters. He had been on his way to the great hall when Albus had met him and guided him back to the dungeons.

He hated Albus sometimes! Why did he need to train Potter? It would never work and it was doomed from the beginning. Severus sighed.

"I'm sorry Severus, I know you and Mr Potter don't see eye to eye but if Harry cannot get control over his own mind, the dark lord could possess the boy completely and I don't know what would happen after that. I implore you Severus, the boy needs help for the sake of the world." Dumbledore told him.

Severus just wanted to rip his hair out.

Meanwhile Dumbledore had taken to some of the papers that Draco had been working on earlier that afternoon.

"And how is the young Mr Malfoy? Is he well?" Dumbledore asked.

Severus had already told Dumbledore of the developments that had occurred at Christmas and Draco having been forced to take the mark.

"He's doing well considering the situation" Severus said tersely, showing the old headmaster that the subject was fragile and off topic.

Albus nodded his head in understanding.

"And what is that other scent I can detect. Is that female perfume? Have you had a guest in your rooms Severus? I saw Sybil eyeing you up at dinner the other week" Albus jested in good faith.

Severus looked mortified, he wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that Albus could smell Hermione's perfume or the thought of Trelawney coming after him. He shivered.

"Are you insane?" Severus snarled, highly strung by the comments.

Albus raised his hands and chuckled.

"I'm just jesting Severus and I know it's not Sybil, she wears a completely fragrance. There is something different about this fragrance; I think I have come across that scent before. When I visited the muggle world not too long ago, there was a young woman who had perfume but it was for under her arms. It was an odd concept and something I hadn't come across before, muggles are fascinating. Don't you think Severus?" Albus questioned, looking pointedly at Severus.

Severus began to feel the sweat forming at the back of his neck; there is no way the headmaster could know about who the mystery scent belonged to. Could he? Severus knew he needed to respond and quick.

"I am familiar with the concept and it is rather odd" Severus admitted.

Albus waited to see if Severus would say anything else and then proceeded with what he originally came all the way down here for.

"I have instructed Harry to come straight to your office once he has finished eating in the great hall. He will be down shortly, so I will take my leave" Albus informed Severus.

Severus felt his eye twitch. It had been a good day up until this point. He started pouring the fire whiskey. He needed to prepare himself for the evening ahead.

Harry knocked tentatively on the office door of his potions professor. Harry hated to admit it but he was slightly nervous, that wasn't a good thing as it usually meant that he went straight on the defensive.

The door opened on its own accord and Harry came face to face with the potions professor.

"Good evening sir" Harry said to be polite.

"Give over boy, don't be two-faced, sit there and prepare yourself" Severus told Harry pointing at the chair.

Harry sat down and was unsure what to do; he didn't really know how to prepare himself. He didn't even know what was about to happen.

"I will attempt to enter your mind. You need to keep me out" Severus said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ready, good. Legillimens" Severus said as he easily entered the mind for the unprepared Potter boy.

Severus was trying to find what memories Harry reacted to the most. Severus wondered whether it would be embarrassing or painful memories that affected Potter the most. Well, there was only one way to find out.

Severus quickly latched onto the memory of the Diggory boy that had died before the summer. Severus felt a small emotional reaction to the bringing up of the memory but it was no-where near strong enough.

So, painful memories caused a slight sting. So Severus tried embarrassing memories. He found a particular memory where Harry had passed out on the train in third year due to the Dementor attack and how most of the students - particularly the Slytherin's - had mocked him for it. Again, there was a bit more of a response this time. Harry tried to fight back but it was futile, the whole memory played out before Severus stopped the memory.

So a bit of pain and a bit of embarrassment worked a little. How about private memory?

Severus found a memory from what seemed to be Harry's first year. The boy had just had his very first nocturnal emission and was slightly unsure as to what had happened. Growing up in the family he did, Harry had never got a full sexual education and in this memory, young Harry was utterly embarrassed and confused about what had happened. All he knew what there was a wet patch on his pyjama bottoms and a small patch in his bedsheets. Harry had been so confused that he thought he had peed in the bed. Well, at least until Ron had seen what had happened and told Harry in a roundabout way what it was that had happened to him.

Severus felt a much stronger reaction, similar to the one that occurred when Severus brought forward Harry's more angry memories.

So, all in all, for the first lesson, the results were clear for now. Painful and embarrassing memories worked to an extent but it was Harry's super private and angry memories that were most effective. At least Severus knew what he was now working with.

"How dare you?!" Harry exclaimed.

"I don't care about your memories and nor will the dark lord, whatever he desires to seek from your mind, he will get if we do not work at this" Severus snapped back at the boy.

"But they were private and personal" Harry snapped, his face red from anger and embarrassment.

"What? Poor little Potter, embarrassed at the fact he couldn't keep his pyjama bottoms clean" Severus mocked, secretly relishing in the boys humiliation.

Harry was enraged.

Severus drew his wand.

"Oh give over boy, settle down, so what you're human with the same responses as every other male adolescent on the planet. You are deviating from the task. You need to try and shut me out of your memories" Severus told him.

Harry settled down and took a deep breath. He was still utterly humiliated.

"Ready Potter? Concentrate. Legillimens" Severus chanted and was making his way through Potter's memories once again.

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Hermione and Ron had sat up waiting in the dormitory for Harry. Hermione was worried; she knew that Harry and Severus alone in the same room for too long was like setting a flame to petrol - highly flammable.

Hermione stopped worrying about 45 minutes before curfew as a tired looking Harry staggered through the portrait entrance.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed upon seeing him.

Her shriek alerted Ron, who had fallen asleep in the process of waiting for Harry, and both sat Harry down and got him some alcohol that Ron had swiped from his older brothers.

"How was it? Are you alright?" Hermione was quick to question him. She knew that the lessons were exhausting and she knew that Harry would be asleep in no time.

Harry shook his head, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

Hermione and Ron didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. If things had been a disaster, Harry would've come in raging about it but if things had gone well, Harry would've been smug about it. For the first time in five years, Harry's friends did not know how to read him.

Hermione told Ron to make sure Harry got upstairs and then she went to bed herself. After all, it was her lesson with Severus tomorrow.