STORY RECAP THUS FAR:

After many warnings, Osiris Silver is expelled from his private school for a brutal fight that happened mere weeks after his mother's death. Dumbledore accepts him at Hogwarts when it becomes clear that the reality was that Osiris fought back against a horde of little purebloods who tormented him as a Blood Traitor for years. He attracts the (mostly negative) attention of Professor Snape as he proceeds to use the same defense mechanisms he learned at his old school, breaking Draco Malfoy's nose the first night. Despite a rocky beginning, his ability in Potions (among other things) convinces Professor Snape to apprentice him. It does not take very long before the Dark Lord learns of this and wants Snape to bring the boy with or potentially face death for disobeying. Dumbledore coerces Snape to to give Osiris the choice, and Osiris chooses to save his master's life despite the professor asking him not to. He gets trained up in Occlumency and makes some Death Eater appropriate memories of Snape before the Dark Lord calls. Both make it through alive, but Osiris is very desperately injured and given the Dark Mark. After an Order Meeting where he is spurned as an unnecessary accessory aside from Tonks, he continues to decline. Snape take him back to the Dark Lord as a last ditch effort to undo whatever was done at the meeting to make him sick. It succeeds only somewhat, and Osiris begs the professor to take him home to Egypt for healing and answers to why he's reacting so badly. The Egyptians heal him and do a protection ritual for Osiris and temporarily block the impact of the Dark Mark from Snape while he's there. We find out that Snape also has a very small amount of Egyptian blood too, and they informed him that it is enough that he could have helped and healed Osiris if he was more open, knew how, and acknowledged their bond. He realized that the impact the Dark Mark has had on him is far greater than he thought and that the magic of it does much more than provide a means of communication or location. Upon returning to Hogwarts Snape encourages Osiris to befriend Tonks, knowing that the Dark Mark is a death sentence in the wrong circumstances, and (though Osiris does not yet know) before very long he's going to have to kill Dumbledore.

Chapter 49

What We Need To Practice

Osiris apparated to the other end of Hogsmeade, as close as he could get to the apparition barrier, so he would have enough time to make it back with a few minutes to spare. The hike was more than brisk but not quite a jog, and he was more than a little winded by the time he made it down to the dungeons.

Professor Snape was already in his office with the door slightly ajar when Osiris arrived. "Sorry to keep you waiting, master," he said, even though he wasn't late. At least, he didn't think he could be.

"You haven't," the professor replied evenly, not yet looking up from whatever he was reading.

Osiris stood patiently waiting for him to finish.

Finally, the Potions master looked up and said, "I trust you now have some appropriate clothes?"

"Yes, sir." He could happily say goodbye to school uniforms.

"Did Miss Tonks end up accompanying you?"

Osiris was reminded of the awkward ending to the afternoon. "Yes, sir, she did."

Professor Snape noticed the awkward pause but said nothing about it. "Good." He had, after all, encouraged his apprentice to be friendly. Osiris was going to need an Auror on his side as insurance again Azkaban or worse. He tidied up his work and put it aside. "Professor Slughorn lingered down in the cold dungeon long enough to corner me when I returned from teaching Defense."

"Oh?" Osiris had that feeling of impending judgement.

"You say oh very ominously, Mr. Silver. Something you wish to tell me?" The professor steepled his hands on the desk in front of him.

"No, sir, nothing at all." For once he could not think of anything that anyone should have to complain about. "It's just always somewhat foreboding when you know someone's given a report of you."

"Then I will confirm that he had no complaints of you." He offered a nod.

Osiris let out the breath he'd been holding.

"He was eager, even, to thank me for your services and praise your youthful longevity." The professor offered an amused snort. "I think he is worried I'll find another use for you if he did not express your great utility."

"I don't know about longevity, sir. Professor Slughorn takes a lot of breaks. You are far more of a test of longevity. He isn't any sort of taskmaster, but I've done everything he's asked."

In the past the professor probably would not have cared to share Horace's thoughts on his apprentice. He knew that there were things he had to change about how he dealt with Osiris.

"Everything he has asked and then some, in his words. He finds you very self-directed, well-spoken, and respectful."

"Really?" Even Osiris had trouble internalizing that many compliments at once after the relative dearth of them for months. Nor had he expected whatever was said to be repeated for him.

"As I said previously, your former penchant for impulsive behaviour dwarfed your more desirable qualities, but you clearly have them. He found you very hardworking and…pleasant company."

Osiris had to fight down his amusement at the way the professor said pleasant company as if the notion of companionship was entirely foreign and totally distasteful.

"Well, sir, I'm doing all the other things I did for you, but I cannot claim that came from my own volition even if it's beyond what Professor Slughorn asked." He let out a huff of amusement. If anything, he was well-trained by this point in what needed to be done and what the expectations were, so he just did them. "You can take credit for that, master."

"Do not worry. He gave me plenty of credit and compliments as well."

This made Osiris chuckle a bit more, thinking about how his master felt about compliments. "May I ask what he said to you, sir?"

He fought the desire to tell Osiris that he had already done the asking. Instead, he answered, "He said that I have exacting expectations and that I've done well with you that you seek to meet them without any hint of slacking off. He added that teenagers with intelligence and ability are oft intolerable and surly; I did inform him that he missed that happy phase with you and that you have since seen the wisdom in behaving. He called that a quick victory." The professor had only barely kept himself from telling Horace that he had low expectations if that was a victory.

Osiris had the sense to look a bit embarrassed at the wisdom of behaving bit. "You are a good teacher, sir."

"I do think I have had enough compliments for one day, Osiris, and a good portion of Hogwarts would vehemently disagree with you."

"I don't mean it as a compliment, sir. I mean it as credit," he pointed out. Then with a raise of a brow he reflected, "And most students hate strict teachers. It doesn't mean they're bad. It's not like you have a choice how you treat certain students with how many eyes are on you anyway. It's no different than how you treat me in that role, but they have no way to understand that in context."

Osiris' appreciation was continually painful, because it always reminded him the boy had sacrificed far more than he had originally bargained for an apprenticeship.

"Sit," he said, in avoidance of replying about said credit. What had been told to him in Egypt, though, had not been forgotten. What he had seen, heard, and even felt was that their magic was not an individualistic thing, as backward as that was to how he did things personally.

"At least mentoring you is almost an enjoyable part of my day." He allowed a small smile. "I mean in comparison to the bunch of dunderheaded morons I usually have the privilege to teach." His foray into lowering his walls was unpracticed and uncomfortable, but he was attempting.

Osiris smiled in return, "Hearing your biting criticisms and being whacked with that stir is almost an enjoyable part of my day, sir." It was said as if it was the politest and most respectful thing to say.

"I will imagine your joy at not being whacked with it for your cheek."

"Very joyous, although I doubt I will escape it all evening." When they had time for potions, said whacks to the arm, hand, or anywhere convenient, usually accompanied comments about him stirring like a ten-year-old that or waiting to long to add something. "Speaking of, what is on the agenda for this evening, sir?"

"We need to return to practicing your Occlumency skills as we did before since you are no longer unwell. Hopefully there will yet be some time before I am summoned again. Your being forcibly with Professor Slughorn during the day will give you memories unrelated to me to push forward, mundane ones, if need be, but we still need to make sure you have enough memories of me to satisfy the Dark Lord's curiosity should he wish to know what I am doing with you."

It was an unpleasant truth for them both. He might not be the most personable of wizards, but he knew his persona as a spy was bordering on a brutality that made him uncomfortable when he allowed himself to feel it. His apprentice might have the strength to take it, but not in the absence of…his help beyond his teaching.

Osiris merely pushed some hair behind his ears. "I know the memory making is not fun for either of us, sir, but I'd rather have too many of those memories than not enough. Especially when not enough means dead. I'm well enough to handle getting roughed up. We can go back to how we did things in preparation for that first meeting."

"And we will, for now, but I also know you had difficulty separating yourself from the role you're playing when we'd switch back, and you cannot learn to Occlude in a more advanced way without being able to step back into yourself. The better you are at forming memories to put forward, the faster you can learn to falsify them entirely. I do not wish to treat you harshly for the sake of making memories any longer than necessary."

Osiris sighed softly. "You make both sound significantly easier than they are, sir, but I don't want to do that to you either. Or to myself."

"Perhaps it will be easier for you to think of it this way. You are responding to me differently than you usually would when I'm in my Death Eater persona, yes; however, I am the one doing the deception about myself in playing that role. I'm the one that cannot afford to lapse from it. You're merely on the receiving end. The consequences if you have a lapse are minimal by comparison, especially to what you've already experienced."

"How do you mean, sir? I don't want to get us killed."

"Your memories are what can get us killed," he told the boy, with patience. "How you act…very unlikely at this point considering you've made it through two meetings with the Dark Lord. You are worrying yourself over the difference between this me having you scrub floors or the Death Eater version of me beating you or hitting you with some spells? You are far tougher than to worry about that."

Osiris' eyes moved absently as he considered this. "I hadn't thought of it like that, sir. I just…feel bad to make you have to do that. I know you don't want to."

The professor continued to find Osiris' sedate kindness surprising no matter how often he displayed it. Then again kindness did not often find Severus Snape from anyone. Nor did anyone care about his experiences.

"That's not your burden to bear, Osiris. You may have to feel the results of it, but you needn't feel bad for me having to do it. I assure you there's things I've done that wholly justify the…inconvenience of that burden. We need you to focus on your Occlumency skill. Any lapses toward me only give us an opportunity to make memories you can use without you needing to do something on purpose to solicit a reaction."

"But I do feel badly, sir, that I add to your burden whether you think I should feel that or not. I know what you do and that I make it harder."

In a way some things were easier. That was too hard to say. "I would not be here to have any burdens were it not for you sacrificing your own life for mine, so believe me when I say whatever sacrifices I make or burdens I bear for you are willing ones." Being open about some things was less difficult for him than other things. Now, though, was as good a time as any to keep his word. "You do not currently make my life harder, and if you must know I channel my annoyance with your past behaviour for said beatings, so it is not as burdensome as it could be." His lips quirked up.

Osiris shrugged thoughtfully, which usually also would have gotten him a whack with the designated stir, since the professor abhorred shrugging. He smiled a bit and replied honestly, "I guess, in a way, I'd almost rather take a beating, it's over faster than scrubbing floors."

The professor shook his head and sighed in amusement, "And now you know why I prefer the scrubbing of floors over beatings and find using magic wholly less than effective in most circumstances."

Osiris foresaw that there would be many scrub brushes in his future. He kept himself from saying anything of the kind. It would have tested the limits of how much cheek he could employ before getting a whack with the stir!

"Now if you're done querying about the burdens of my role, and your place in it, I'd prefer to talk about the burdens of yours. To that effect, we will be adding something else to our evening routine in addition to starting Occlumency again."

"What's that, sir?"

"This," he replied simply. "I wish to spend an hour an evening simply talking, though not about your apprenticeship or learning or even the Dark Lord. And not from across a desk either. Bringing you home has given me an appreciation for where I have fallen short. I cannot mentor you as I promised without knowing you." And without allowing Osiris to…know him…though he was not quite ready to verbalize that yet.

Osiris' light hazel eyes widened for a moment. Then his lips quirked and he answered, "I'm fairly sure you know and find out quite a great deal while doing Occlumency with me."

The professor could not help but snort at that observation. "You picked it up with astonishing speed and don't advertise yourself like a billboard like Potter, so I've seen less than you might think due to your quick learning and natural resistance. The more complex the mind, the harder to read, and context is somewhat missing. And it's impersonal which is why I want to talk."

Who would have thought he'd have an objection to anything being impersonal.

"I'm happy to talk, sir, but out of curiosity, what is it like if someone doesn't resist you?"

"There's always resistance of some degree naturally, and Legilimency is the more difficult to learn and execute. Nobody simply lets you in, Osiris."

"What if I did, sir?" He made a small sweeping gesture as if allowing someone to enter a door first. "I think it might be useful to me…to know what it should feel like if I wasn't doing anything. I'm supposed to be pretending I'm not doing anything or doing very little, so," he shrugged. "I should know what that looks and feels like to not raise suspicion."

"If someone gets in before you put up your resistance, it is much more difficult to kick them out or manipulate what they see, so if you let me in that way, it's far more invasive. I can tell you that from Potter's pathetic displays and from personal experience." The Dark Lord had gotten him by surprise early on a few times. Since he was still alive to recount it, and had warned Osiris of the same mistake, he'd managed to steer things enough. He vividly remembered how it felt like someone had walloped a few hot pokers through his brain, so the effort had been monumental.

Osiris tilted his head in thought and then replied, "I think I'm passed worrying about embarrassment over what you see, master. I'm sure most of what I'd not want you to see is nothing you'd have interest in seeing either. And you've already seen me at my worst, or at least already know about my worsts." The fight that had precipitated his expulsion from Scyon was no secret, and nor was he embarrassed about it; he still felt rather righteously. He had endured enough torture over the years of schooling to justify it.

His life other than school had been uneventful and tame by comparison. As he had told Tonks, he had never been known as a bad kid other than at school, and he hadn't been much of a troublemaker anywhere else.

"There is utility in trying that exercise if you wish, because if you are strong enough to regain your control after being surprised by an invasion, you will be far stronger when you know it is coming and are ready for it." Their Modus Operandi thus far had just been for Osiris to keep his mind ready for it whenever he was in the Dark Lord's presence to avoid any surprises. It expended a lot of energy and magic, but it was effective. "Anything that strengthens your Occlumency skill needs to be your first focus."

AN – So sad! Nobody reviewed my last chapter, but it's been quite awhile since I last updated, so I'll hold out hope someone will give me some love with this chapter!

UP NEXT – Osiris leaves the mental door wide open, and Professor Snape sees a bunch of memories, Tonks asks Professor Snape for something (any guesses?), some Dark Lord, and there's a talk about Dumbledore's cursed hand, Draco Malfoy, & what Professor Snape must do.

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