Author's Note: This chapter is shorter than my usual updates, but I'm trying to stay on schedule. Enjoy! Reviews are always appreciated. :)

April 20, 1994

Harry slept through breakfast and Defense the following morning. Sirius had made him oatmeal and toast for breakfast and carried it into his room. There he placed the food under a warming charm and sat with his legs propped on Harry's bed, sipping his own coffee as he watched the boy sleep. He sat there nearly half an hour before Harry began to stir.

"What time is it?" Harry asked groggily as he opened his eyes and fumbled for his glasses.

Sirius placed the glasses in his hand and answered. "9:45"

Harry groaned and rubbed a hand through his hair. "I have Transfigurations in 30 minutes."

Sirius watched Harry for any sign of lingering illness, but Harry just appeared to be tired. "How does your head feel?" he asked as he slid the tray of food onto Harry's bed.

Harry sat up. "Better," he answered, taking a bite of toast. "Loads."

Sirius was still worried. "I still think you should stay here and rest. You can go to your afternoon classes. Anything you miss, I can probably teach you."

Harry swallowed a mouthful of oatmeal before answering. "Ok."

Sirius smiled and leaned back again in his seat. "You're sure you're not in any more pain?"

"I'm sure," Harry answered.

"Promise?" Sirius prompted with a raised eyebrow.

Harry nodded quickly. "Promise," he answered, then took another bite of toast. "Trust me, I'm not lying again any time soon. I haven't flown since Saturday and that already sucks. I can't imagine going a month."

Sirius chuckled. "Good." He propped his feet on Harry's bed again. "Christmas our second year, your dad and I got into a little bit of trouble before the holiday break."

"What kind of trouble?" Harry asked.

Sirius sighed. "We may or may not have set Flitwick's classroom on fire."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed.

"It was an accident."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, sort of an accident. We were learning Aguamenti, the water spell, but we got bored just filling glasses. We decided to see if we could use it to put out a fire. We may have slightly overpowered our Incendio."

Harry laughed. "Hermione set Snape's robes on fire our first year."

Sirius, who had chosen that unfortunate moment to take a drink of coffee, spit it out in shock. "She did what?"

Harry nodded. "She set Snape's robes on fire. Remember how my broom was jinxed during my first quidditch match?"

"Uh-huh," Sirius stated, listening very closely.

"She thought Snape was doing it, so she set his robe on fire to distract him," Harry explained.

"And she didn't get expelled?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"I don't think Snape knew it was her," Harry said while shrugging.

Sirius chuckled. "That Miss Granger is something else. She's bloody lucky she wasn't caught though."

Harry nodded his agreement. "So back to you and my dad burning down the castle," he said, gesturing towards Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "We didn't burn down the castle. It was all repaired fairly easily. Anyway, McGonagall wrote to our parents. My parents didn't care. They were too ashamed I was in Gryffindor at that point to care what I did otherwise. But your grandmother was livid and took away your dad's broom for the entire break."

"Ouch," Harry said, grimacing.

Sirius snorted. "Those were your dad's exact feelings on it as well. I know that because he wrote to me every day for two weeks telling me how bored he was, sometimes 2-3 times a day. It took all my self-control not to hex him as soon as we got back on the train."

Harry laughed. "Maybe I should write to Ron. He's part of the reason I'm in lockdown anyway."

Sirius reached up and flicked Harry's ear playfully. "You are the reason you're in lockdown, young man."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry answered, placing his empty tray on his bedside table. He pulled his legs out from under his blanket and stood up. "I'm going to take a shower."

Sirius nodded. "Ok, but don't put on your uniform yet. You need to rest until your afternoon classes." He picked up Harry's tray to carry it back to the kitchen.

"What about going to lunch?" Harry asked as he gathered his clothes.

Sirius stopped in the doorway and raised an eyebrow at him. Harry, noticing his silence, looked at him. "Oh yeah," he said as his shoulders sank. "I still say that's not fair." Sirius simply shrugged and left the room.

Before Harry left for his afternoon classes, Sirius reminded him to return as soon as his last class was finished. Harry scowled and mumbled, "yes, sir," before leaving. Sirius threw himself into a chair and rubbed his head. He was not looking forward to their conversation when Harry returned.

….

Harry returned with Remus a few hours later, the two of them chatting about that morning's class. Once again, as had become their habit at this point, Sirius asked about Harry's day before setting him to his homework. Remus had brought Hermione's notes from Transfigurations, so Harry set to copying them.

"When's dinner? I'm starving," Harry asked.

Remus chuckled. "I'm beginning to think you're always starving, kid. Here." He tossed a banana to Harry.

"I didn't eat much lunch," Harry told him, catching the banana and beginning to peel it.

"Because he was pouting about being grounded," Sirius mumbled to Remus so Harry couldn't hear.

Remus hummed and then whispered back to Sirius. "You still planning on doing this tonight?"

Sirius nodded wearily. "Unfortunately."

The three of them ate dinner together. Harry could tell the usual cheerfulness of Sirius wasn't quite there. Usually their meals together were filled with jokes and laughing, and while Remus was his normal jovial self, Sirius seemed subdued. Finally, Harry had enough.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, already a little annoyed.

Sirius looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're acting strange. Why?"

Sirius was obviously trying to not look Harry in the eye. He could feel the nerves of what he had to tell his godson affecting every inch of his body. Harry was only here in these quarters because he was grounded for lying to him, yet now Sirius was finding it incredibly hard to be honest with Harry. He knew what he had to say was only going to upset Harry, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. But this had to be done in order to ensure Harry's safety, so it was time for him to be the adult. He sighed, leaned forward propping his elbows on his knees, and laced his fingers together.

"We need to talk," Sirius told Harry. He began speaking slowly, "You remember when Professor Dumbledore was here the other night?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, swallowing.

"We were discussing this pain you've been having in your scar. Albus believes, as do Remus and I, that your scar pain was not just a coincidence."

Harry nodded impatiently but didn't interrupt.

"We believe that somehow, probably something that happened the night he tried to kill you, Voldemort and you have a sort of mental connection." Here he paused to get the lump out of his throat. Harry shifted uncomfortably, but, seeing Sirius's distress, waited for him to continue.

"The good news is, Harry," Remus began, giving Sirius time to collect himself, "We don't believe that Voldemort is aware of this connection...yet."

Finally finding his courage, Sirius met Harry's eyes and continued more strongly. "So we believe that you should start learning something called occlumency."

"What is that?"

Sirius looked to Remus for help explaining. Remus, a true teacher at heart, took the cue and began immediately.

"It is a practice of closing your mind off to people who may want to invade it. If Voldemort ever found out that he can see into your mind, he could use all sorts of information to get to you. That is exactly what we don't want to happen."

Seeing Harry's puzzled look, he continued more professorially, "Think of your mind like it's Hogwarts. Occlumency would be the act of protecting it, putting in the Forbidden Forest and the wards, if you will. As long as you can practice occlumency, Voldemort will not be able to use something called legilimency, which is the opposite, an act of invading someone's mind, to get to you. Does that make sense?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his scar absently, "A little. It sounds pretty complicated."

Sirius answered this time, "It is. It's very difficult and you will have to work hard to master it. It's very important that you learn to block him out Harry. I hate that you have to go through this, but it's really for the best. As we find and destroy more horcruxes, old Voldy will lose a lot of his power, but until we can vanquish him completely, you're going to have to be on your guard from his attacks in every way possible."

He looked at Harry with anguished eyes and Harry could tell it was causing his father great pain to tell him this. Renewed anger at Tom Riddle for once again disrupting his life flamed up in Harry.

"Ok, I'll do whatever it takes," Harry answered fiercely.

Sirius nodded and Remus said, "good."

"When?" Harry asked.

Sirius could easily answer that one. "We're hoping to wait until the summer for you to start, although if we have many more incidents like last night, we may have to speed things up. But I would prefer for you to get through your exams before you have to worry about this."

"Who's going to be teaching me?"

Sirius and Remus shot each other a look. Harry immediately felt his stomach twist. He rarely ever saw both Sirius and Remus this uncertain.

"Why do you two look like that?"

Remus gave Sirius a pointed look clearly telling him to say something but Sirius just pursed his lips and stared back. Remus was the first to give in.

"Your teacher, Harry, needs to be a wizard very skilled in occlumency himself. There aren't many wizards who are. Fortunately we do know one, possibly the best actually, and Professor Dumbledore has already spoken to him to arrange the lessons."

"So who is it?"

Remus looked at Sirius and absolutely refused to say another word. Finally Sirius sighed heavily and answered without meeting Harry's eyes.

"Professor Snape, Harry."

Harry blinked owlishly at Sirius. He knew his father could not possibly be serious. "You're joking," he muttered flatly.

Sirius rubbed his hand over his eyes, "No Harry, I'm not. Snape is a very skilled occlumens. As much as I hate it, he is the best person for the job."

Harry just continued to stare at him blinking for a few more seconds. Finally, anger rising up in him, he responded matter-of-factly, "No."

"Harry," Sirius began warningly.

"No Sirius, I won't do it. No bloody way!"

Remus could see both tempers starting to flare, so he quickly jumped in, "Harry, I know Professor Snape is not the nicest person to you, or anyone for that matter…"

"No, he's not. He's awful. He tortures me, and most of the Gryffindors. Bloody hell Remus, you saw Neville's boggart!" Harry interrupted hotly.

"Watch the attitude young man," Sirius warned Harry before continuing more calmly, "Harry I understand your frustration. Truly I do. Believe me, I understand very well how awful Snape can be, but..." Sirius tried to reason but was cut off.

"Then why are you making me do this?! Is this more punishment for lying to you? Because I'll gladly be grounded through the summer to keep from seeing Snape. You can destroy my Firebolt with fiendfyre. Just please don't make me do this!"

Sirius sighed in frustration, "Harry this isn't punishment. Trust me, if there was anyone else, I'd pay them every galleon I've got to have them teach you. But there isn't. You're going to have to do this. It's to keep you…"

"Safe! I know!" Harry knew he needed to calm down, to get his temper in check. Deep down he knew that this was for the best, but he was feeling scared, nervous, and betrayed, so he continued without thinking, "Everything that makes my life miserable is to keep me safe."

"Harry…" Remus began but was cut off.

"Dumbledore sticks me with my bloody aunt and uncle, to keep me safe. I lose my Firebolt and have two weeks worth of detention for a simple walk to Hogsmeade, because I wasn't being safe. Now I have to endure Snape's torture and insults, to keep me safe. You know, in case you haven't noticed, I did a pretty damn good job keeping myself safe for 12 years before you showed up!"

Harry began to storm to his room.

"No," Sirius said, jumping up to stop him. He grabbed gently but firmly around his upper arm. "You're not going to walk away this time."

Harry shot him a nasty glare. "Let me go," he demanded.

"Only if you agree to sit back down and discuss this. I'm not going to let you do this Harry. This habit you have of internalizing your problems and shutting out everyone else has got to stop. I know you're angry, maybe a little scared, probably a little hurt, but you need to talk to us, Harry. If you want to scream at me, fine. But talk to me. Don't walk away. You're not alone anymore, kid."

Though he was glaring angrily at him, Harry listened to every word Sirius said and thought them over. His chest, that had been previously heaving with angered breathing, slowly began to set into a steady rise and fall. "Fine," he said and pulled his arm away from Sirius, sitting back down in his seat.

"This sucks," Harry snapped.

Sirius nodded as he retook his seat. "It does, indeed. But I promise you Harry, I will not let Snape abuse you. I'll be watching the whole time to make sure everything he does is appropriate." He leaned forward and met Harry's eyes. "Do you trust me, Harry?"

Harry huffed but nodded. "Yeah. I trust you."

Sirius inclined his head. "Good, then trust me on this, ok?"

Harry crossed his arms. "Ok."

The three of them sat together in silence for a while. Harry's anger was quickly evolving into misery. He was appalled at what he had said to Sirius. How could he be so hurtful to the man that had given him everything he had ever hoped for? Thinking back over his words made him feel like throwing up. He knew that neither Remus nor Sirius cared much for Snape. They wouldn't be putting him through this if it wasn't absolutely necessary. He felt a little bit like Dudley, pitching a fit over a tiny injustice. He relaxed his arms and looked up at the two men.

"I'm sorry for what I said," he told them miserably.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him, "You know young man, you used some pretty foul language."

Harry's cheeks flushed and his face fell. He was completely ashamed of himself. "Sorry," he whispered.

Sirius's voice continued sternly, but with a hint of humor to it, "'Burn a Firebolt with fiendfyre?' What a terrible thing to say! I ought to scourgify your mouth!" He grinned at Harry who looked up at him incredulously before bursting into laughter. The three laughed together a few moments before Sirius pulled Harry into a hug. "I love you, Harry. I know you're upset, but we'll get through this ok?"

Harry nodded into Sirius's chest. After a moment, he pushed himself away and moved so he could address both of them. "But I really am sorry. Having both of you in my life has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I did keep myself safe before, but it is nice to have people that care now." Harry felt a little embarrassed at that admission, but he wanted Sirius and Remus to know how much they meant to him. "I love both of you."

Sirius rubbed his back as Remus answered, "We love you too, Harry. You got one of those hugs for me?"

Harry smiled and launched himself at his favorite professor.

Sirius watched them a moment, smiling, before deciding his son needed a little more teasing.

"For the record, I wouldn't say you did a particularly good job keeping yourself safe before. Definitely not 'damn good.' I mean, you were in the hospital for 3 days your first year," Sirius told him teasingly.

Remus nodded. "Broke your arm playing quidditch," he added, winking at Harry.

"Crashed Arthur's car," Sirius supplied.

"Bitten by a basilisk," Remus said, shuddering.

"Ok, ok! I get it!" Harry told them, throwing up his hands. Cheekily he added, "I did manage to escape an Acromantula nest uninjured."

Sirius snorted. "You ever go into the Forbidden Forest again, and you'll wish you were dealing with Acromantula instead of me."

Harry rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny that being so loved and cared about felt good.