Ooookay. It's been a long time. I've been working on this chapter since April. And only now am I ok with what I got. I'll be honest, this chapter is sorta weird since its rare that I include outside pov characters into to main storyline, but since I am slowly bringing Sev into the fray due to his future involvement with one of the events I have planned, might as well bring him in early. Also, shout out to thehomiewhowrites for not only looking over the chapter before I decided to post it, but also being just a generally great person overall (Volt I know you are reading this you kicked my butt into gear back in April regarding this chapter and I am so glad you are around.)

So without further ado, welcome to the beginning of the second half of Book 5's events~

Chapter 24: Schemes and Occlumency

Dumbledore was… facing a dilemma. Well. He had been facing one since the middle of summer, what with Fawkes vanishing, Harry getting a Not-Guilty verdict without him intervening, and the Ministry itself planting their spy.

On one hand, things were working out well with stalling Voldemort from getting his hands on the prophecy. Sure, Arthur was attacked, and so were some of the other guards, come to think of it, but it indicated that Voldemort was no closer to figuring out which of the prophecies was his without physically being there.

On the other… young Harry had strayed too far from the Light, somehow becoming friends with Dark families like the Malfoys, and abandoning his Light oriented wand. His attitude had changed from mild, reckless, shy, and a hero complex to a more… temperamental one that seemed to work on careful plans and cunning. It was worrisome. He didn't dare poke into the changed boy's mind for fear of Voldemort getting information from him in the process.

(He barely took notice of how several others had changed in the process as well. The Hat snickered on its shelf, watching the old man ponder on what to do with the young Keyblade Master and barely taking into account of the changed attitudes of the three former Nobodies who surrounded him.)

Dumbledore sighed. He needed a way to monitor the boy. While he managed to do so in the past, young Ronald Weasley had recently declined to continue spying for him, which was a pity, and using Legilimency on young Harry often came with an unexpected problem. Usually, one would find it easy sifting through the surface memories if they were skilled enough with the spell. Diving in, however, was the challenge. While Dumbledore never faced any opposition while entering into Harry's mind in the past, if he lingered too long, crackling waves of white-blue and black-violet would nudge him out, something he had always attributed to a defence created by the soul shard in Harry.

He was not even sure if the change was because of Voldemort. If it was, he was not risking himself.

Perhaps…

Voldemort was seething for several reasons. His connection with Potter, for one, had ceased near the beginning of the school year. He had originally been planning to lure Potter into the Hall of Prophecies once the boy began to trust the dreams he had started sending, but somehow, the connection vanished completely, rendering that plan useless.

Second was how the Order of the Phoenix had managed to stop him from reaching said Hall at almost every turn. It was infuriating how they kept having guards around to deter his men from sneaking in.

Thirdly was how little he was getting about Potter's movements thanks to the Ministry. Severus had quite a bit to report on the boy's sudden bouts of rebelliousness, early on. Biased, but it was news. However, unbiased news on the boy and the school from his men's children had trickled to a stop by the start of December. Lucius and his men may have praised the toad for hindering Dumbledore but it was starting to affect them as well. He needed more than just what his spy could give without revealing his position in the war. And he needed to gather more allies to stall while his spy did his work.

Maybe…

Severus sighed as he Flooed to the Black household. Orders from the Dark Lord, orders from the Headmaster. Both, to gather information on Potter! It was going to be the start of the second half of the school year and they were springing this on him right before school started?!

Quickly heading to the kitchen, he greeted the Weasley matriarch, "Hello, Molly. Could you do me a favour and get Mr Potter for me? I need to have a word with him regarding his classes."

"Of course, Professor Snape! Will you be staying for dinner though?" Molly asked, covering the pot on the stove.

He snorted, "I really doubt Black or your children would welcome me at the dinner table. But we'll see."

It didn't take long to hear the scuffles of Potter's shoes on the stairs as he made his way down to the kitchen. Not before someone else entered however.

Black was… different. Severus could tell the moment the man entered the kitchen. The way he walked, the fact that he didn't look as scruffy as normal, even the glint in his eyes told him that things had changed a lot with his former tormentor during his time in Azkaban. It was something he had been aware of for quite sometime now.

The glint in Black's eyes wasn't hair raising. Or worrying. Like it was when he and James Potter planned a rather humiliating prank on him. Rather, it was playful, and childlike? Severus wasn't sure. He had tried his best to avoid interacting with Black for so long that it was hard to truly get a read on what he was feeling.

"So. You need to talk to Harry," Black said.

Severus glared, "And what do you need, Black?"

Violet eyes showed amusement, "Well. Even after entering a tournament that required of-age wizards to participate, and having been trialled as an adult, Harry is still my godson. Legally as his guardian, any conversation you'd have with him would have to have – "

"Fine! You can sit in," Severus cut Black off before the man could begin rattling off his rights as Potter's guardian. The man instead smiled and bounced to the opposite end of the dining table, the glare sliding off his back.

… He was already regretting this.

Then Potter announced his presence, his green eyes glinting in curiosity while his face remained impassive. Severus had to wonder when the teen managed to perfect his poker face when not even a year ago, he couldn't even hide a single emotion on his face.

"Sit down, Potter," Severus said. "I was supposed to see you alone, but Black insisted as your godfather."

"Well, I am his guardian. Surely the headmaster would allow Harry's guardian to sit in," Sirius quipped.

"Noted, Black!" Severus scowled at the interruption. "Either way, the headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."

"What?" Both Potter and Black asked simultaneously for obviously different reasons. Severus sneered at them, but only responded to Potter, "Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one."

Potter surprisingly enough asked a question he had expected from the boy, "And the headmaster wants me to learn Occlumency… why?"

"Because the headmaster thinks it a good idea, even if I disagree," said Severus with a scowl on his face. "You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. Do you understand?"

"And… who will be teaching me?" Potter said slowly, an eyebrow raised, sceptical about the offer.

Sighing, Severus replied, "I am, not that I want to, but simply because it's the headmaster's orders."

"I'd ask why Dumbledore didn't offer to do it himself, but then, he has been avoiding Harry for quite some time now," Black pondered.

"How does one train Occlumency anyways?" Potter asked, which was… strange of him. Then again all his behaviours this year had been strange.

Black was the one to reply this, "There are a few methods, but considering the limited amount of time and how Dumbledore sprung this right before school started, I'm guessing instead of meditation to build up shields first, its going to be a pressure test using Legilimency."

"And that is…"

"The direct opposite of Occlumency, the art of reading one's mind or memories," And suddenly the damn wolf popped into the kitchen with a reply. Severus had asked for privacy, for goodness sake!

Potter then paled a little, "Wait. Professor Dumbledore knows Legilimency?"

"Is this a problem for you, Potter?" Severus scowled.

"… No," but Potter's eyes gleamed as he continued, "But I'd like to make a deal with you. You obviously don't want to do this. So. First lesson, if you test my mental barriers and it is sufficiently strong for you, we'll stop."

"We'll stop when I say so Potter," Severus' eyes narrowed, before sweeping out of the room. 'Honestly, what is that boy thinking? As if he'd be able to repel a skilled Legilimence within the first lesson.'

"Oh? But I thought you wanted to get out of teaching me?" Potter gave a smirk, trying to goad him into taking the deal.

Severus sighed and muttered, "Fine. One lesson. If your barriers are up to standard you are free to go and I won't have to deal with your insufferable mug more than I already have to. If fail, let's say that the lessons will be more headache inducing for you than it is for me."

With that said and done, Severus stood up and left the room, never noticing Potter's confident facade gave way to worry.

Riku, Zack and Cloud had lingered for a short while when Arthur Weasley finally returned and the Weasley clan started celebrating, before retreating back upstairs to Buckbeak's room, where they knew they wouldn't be interrupted.

"So… Occlumency lessons," Riku sighed as he leaned back onto Buckbeak. "Obviously the old goat is getting suspicious about something. What do you both think?"

Zack chuckled, "Most likely, he's taken notice of your attitude and circle of friends changing quite a bit. Considering the Malfoy kid does hang around you, he probably thinks you are straying to the Dark."

Cloud snorted, "Not that you need to stray to the Dark, Mr Keyblade Master who can use Darkness with few repercussions nowadays."

"Speaking of which, what did you find, Cloud?" Riku looked up at Cloud, who surprisingly didn't look worse for wear from his trip.

"A whole lot of trouble that's what," Cloud muttered, before taking out a scroll and handing it to Riku, "Here's a list of the monsters that have come out of their invisible state so far. Lea probably told you this already, but they've mostly been confined to the Magical Reserves, and the Ministry has been covering up each and every appearance as soon as they could."

It was a surprisingly short list, seven known monsters had been revealed so far. Adamantoise, Behemoth, Cactuar, Coeurl, Sagahin, Tonberry and Zu had been spotted in various locations, mostly coinciding with their preferred habitats. Riku blinked in confusion and asked, "If it's such a short list, what's the problem?"

Zack took a peak at the list and then winced, "Oh. Yeah. This might be a problem. Adamantoise are large and are able to take a lot of hits, especially considering its shell. Cactuars are fast and can dish out a lot of damage if you aren't careful. Tonberries… well… they can kill with a single hit. If that isn't saying something about the danger level, I don't know what will."

Riku sighed… It seemed he was going to be rather busy when he got back to school.

Chapter Summary? Well two meddling old men ask their spy to spy on their target and their spy gets goaded while their target continues to plot.

(I am afraid there was a bunch of things taken from the original book that had to be fixed since well Riku doesn't have that link anymore I needed some way to get Sev outta the picture for a while, next chapter should be about that.)

Also if you were wondering, I actually don't intend for the Magic Theory students to fight the monsters listed above. I mean, I do have a couple more of the less lethal ones in my plans to slowly spread into the population as the story continues, but yeah, no, I really do not intend for the kids to fight a freaking Adamantoise of all things.

Anyways as usual, leave a review before you go, and see you again next chapter! (whenever that will be)

Kiri Kaitou Clover

(who is obsessed with fishing in games at the moment Kiri is distracted by FFXV's road trip bois)