Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter 12: Occlumency.
At five to six, the next day Harry sprinted along the corridors towards Dumbledore's office, having only just remembered that he had occlumency.
"Chocolate frogs," he managed to gasp out, clutching a stitch in his side. The door opened and Harry ran up the staircase,
"Sorry, Professor." Harry panted,
"That's alright, Harry, you still have one minute before you become late." Said Dumbledore, amusement dancing in his eyes. Harry grinned.
"Take a minute to get your breath back, then we'll began." Harry sat down on a chair opposite Dumbledore. After a minute Harry nodded, he was ready to start. Dumbledore stood up as did Harry.
"Ready?" asked Dumbledore, Harry nodded, his mouth was dry, he already knew what he was going to see.
"Legilimens" said Dumbledore, images flashed before his eyes, Sirius falling through the veil, Dumbledore arriving at the department of mysteries, fighting Bellatrix, crying for Sirius on his bed, Cho and him kissing when they met at the Burrow, 'no,' said a voice in Harry's head as the image of Cho and him became clearer, 'get out, that's my memory, not yours, get out, that's for me alone.' With a final push the room became clear, Harry was on his knees, his head in his hands and sweat was pouring down his face.
"Did you, um, did you see the image of..' Harry began, a blush creeping up his cheeks,
"Of you and Miss Chang? I'm afraid I did, Harry," said Dumbledore a note of apology in his voice, "But you did well, however you wasted time and energy shouting, do not focus your energy on speaking, empty your mind of all emotion and focus your energy on repelling me upon entry. I apologise but I am going to try and access more memories about Miss Chang and yourself, I fully respect that they are your memories and I apologise, but it is vital that you learn to repel me." Harry nodded, it didn't matter so much that Dumbledore was going to try to view his most private moments, however if it was Snape teaching him he would certainly of refused to let him.
"Are you ready Harry? Legilimens." It was like someone had opened a book filled with memories of Cho and Harry, private memories flashed before Harry's eyes and Harry was filled with anger that someone, it didn't matter that it was Dumbledore, an outsider was witnessing the moments that Harry cherished the most, the memories that were for him only, he was desperate to shout out, desperate to tell the intruder to get the hell out, but he controlled the urge. Instead he focused all his energy and pushed, the intruder resisted, but Harry focused his energy like a beam and pushed harder and managed to force the intruder out.
The room swam back into view and to Harry's immense surprise he was still standing, his face was set in a determined look and there was sweat pouring down him but he was still standing. He looked up at Professor Dumbledore. He was regarding Harry calmly.
"That was excellent Harry, now upon entry clear your mind of all emotion, you will find it easier to repel an intruder if all your energy is focused on repelling the intruder. You got angry that time, with good reason I hasten to add, but had you emptied your mind off all emotion then you would have found it easier to resist me." Not once did Dumbledore's voice take a critical tone, it remained calm and encouraging, Harry nodded.
"Right lets try again. Legilimens." Again private memories of Cho and him flashed before him. Harry couldn't help it, he quickly became angry, knowing that he would not be able to repel Dumbledore as easily, he decided not to try and repel him but to first master his anger. He seemed to open another door, deeper into his mind.
Dumbledore felt a jolt of surprise as Harry willingly allowed him deeper into his mind, wondering what Harry was up to, he pushed further into Harry's mind. He noticed that Harry was not trying to repel him, Dumbledore pushed further and further into Harry's mind.
As Dumbledore pushed deeper into his mind, Harry became angrier, he fought to control that anger. Harry then realised with a jolt of shock and anger that Dumbledore had found his way into Harry's most private and treasured memory of Cho and him yet, the half hour they had spent in the room of requirement. Harry watched, with horror, him and Cho kissing passionately, Harry's hands slowly sliding down Cho's back under her shirt to rest just above her bottom, Cho's hands were sliding down Harry's chest and under his shirt, stroking the area around his navel. Harry fought even harder to control his anger, he had nearly done it.
Dumbledore felt a blush crawl up his cheeks as he witnessed Cho and Harry in the room of requirement, managing to get it under control, he relentlessly pushed further into Harry's mind.
Harry finally managed to get his anger under control, summoning all of his energy he pushed, he pushed so hard and suddenly that it caught Dumbledore by surprise and the old man had no chance to resist and was forced out of Harry's mind. As soon as he regained full perception Harry swore under his breath and turned away, he felt horrified at what he had done, he had let Dumbledore see the one memory that was for him and Cho only, he shouldn't have let Dumbledore that far in, he should have tried to resist earlier, he'd been such a fool.
"Harry," said Dumbledore softly and apologetically, "I'm sorry Harry, that was your memory, as soon as I began to see that I should have pulled back, forgive an old man's foolishness."
"There's nothing to forgive, I should have resisted earlier, I shouldn't have let you get that far," said Harry his voice hoarse from emotion, he threw himself to his knees, tears filling his eyes, "What have I done? That was the one memory that was solely for Cho and I only."
"I'm sorry Harry, that shouldn't have happened, I shouldn't have seen that." Harry didn't answer.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you not resist me earlier on?" asked Dumbledore, Harry stood up,
"Because I had to learn to control my anger, so I focused all my energy on controlling my anger instead of repelling you and I let you deeper," said Harry anticipating the Headmaster's next question, "because eventually you were going to push that deep and if I couldn't master my anger at that level then I would be unable to repel you and it would be much easier to let you that deep, master my anger then repel you, than have you force that deep and me unable to repel you." Explained Harry.
"That was extremely wise of you Harry, next time you should be able to repel me without much difficulty, now do you want to stop there or continue?"
"Continue please, sir." Said Harry. Dumbledore levelled his wand at Harry.
"Legilimens." Harry saw the images flash before his eyes, however after three seconds his anger was under control and the battle of the minds begun, Harry focused all of his energy in a beam and pushed but Dumbledore resisted, the images became blurred so neither person could see them. Harry lowered his attack a little, Dumbledore's attack faltered as it found less resistance, as Dumbledore's guard fell a little, Harry summoned all of his energy and shoved, Dumbledore's defence was lowered as his attack had faltered and was easily brushed aside and Harry forced Dumbledore out of his mind.
"That was excellent Harry, at night concentrate on emptying your mind of all emotions and next time you should be able to repel me upon entry, this will do for tonight." Holding his hand up against Harry's protests, Dumbledore shook his head,
"That will do, you will be very tired and you will have used a lot of energy on this and do not forget that you have that DA meeting later on tonight." Harry nodded. Dumbledore leant down and opened one of his drawers, he took out two boxes of chocolate frogs.
"That," he put one of the boxes down on the desk, "is for doing so well, and that," he put another of the boxes down on the desk, "is to replenish the lost energy." Harry smiled,
"Thanks Professor."
"That's quite alright, Harry, now off you go." Harry smiled and turned round and left Dumbledore's office eating the chocolate frogs hungrily.
He returned to the common room to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him anxiously.
"How did it go?" asked Hermione nervously. Harry grinned broadly at her.
"Excellent, I can empty my head of all my emotions and I can now force Dumbledore out of my head after about thirty seconds, in which, because I'm trying to force him out and he's resisting, he can't see anything because all the images are blurred." Hermione beamed at him.
"That's brilliant, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione,
"Where'd you get the chocolate frogs from?" asked Ron, Hermione rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at him,
"Ron!" she hissed.
"I mean, that's great an' all, mate, but where did you get the chocolate frogs?" Hermione muttered something in which the words 'Ron,' 'greedy' and 'pig' were audible. Harry grinned at Ron.
"Dumbledore gave them to me because I was doing so well. Here." Harry threw one to Ron, who caught it.
"Cheers, mate." Ron ripped open the box and attacked the chocolate frogs vigorously. Harry laughed at Hermione's look of disgust. Less than a minute later the entire box had been devoured. Ron looked at it wistfully. Laughing loudly Harry tossed the rest of the second box to him, Ron caught it, grabbed a couple of chocolate frogs and stuffed them in his mouth, before grinning at Harry.
"Come on," said Hermione, her voice filled with disgust, "let's get to the room of requirement." Ron grabbed another fistful of chocolate frogs, stuffed them in his mouth and threw the empty box into the fire before following Harry and Hermione out of the common room.
They entered the room of requirement and waited for the rest of the DA to arrive, by eight o'clock everyone had arrived and was seated, looking up at Harry.
"Indona Roba," he said before starting, he was immediately wearing his DA robes, everyone else followed his example, "Right, this is really important so listen well, I am about to tell you something that Dumbledore told me yesterday after my scar hurt, but you must not repeat this to anyone outside of the DA," began Harry, his voice serious, "the reason my scar hurt was Voldemort was showing me things that made it hurt. He was able to do this because the ancient wards of Hogwarts that have protected the castle for so long are failing," Horrified gasps went round the room, everyone knew what this meant, "This means that Voldemort could attack at any moment, Dumbledore thinks that he will attack a week from now. This is what we have been training for, nobody has to fight but I am going to be there fighting him, along side Dumbledore." Somebody spoke up, the most unlikely of people,
"We are the DA, this is what we have been training for, we're going to be fighting with you Harry, you are our leader, we are your army, we trust you." Said Neville, his face pale, but his voice was determined, everybody nodded in agreement.
"I'm not going to lie to you, a lot of people will die in this battle, it is likely that some of us will die, it is most likely that I will die. So I just want to say this, thanks, all last year when Umbridge was making my life hell, and when most of the wizarding world had turned their backs on me, you were there, the DA made my life worth living." More then one face had tears on it and Harry felt a lump in his throat.
"And if we do die, then we die knowing we did a wizards job, an adults job, we died fighting for what we believed in, fighting for what is right and let no man say that the DA were cowards." Harry looked at them for a minute, by now tears were flowing down most people's cheeks.
"We have a week to prepare, so let's get to it," Everyone stood up, "What I thought we would do is we would divide into pairs and fight each other, using any spells you want to, in the forthcoming battle the Death Eaters aren't just going to be disarming you, spells like slasio will be used, so practice using them and blocking them now do that for the first half an hour, I'll explain what we'll do in the second half when the first half an hour is up. Ok, let's go" Immediately people started dividing into pairs. Cho jumped up and moved towards Harry smiling but Harry turned his back on her. Cho's smile faded.
"Harry?" she said surprised at his reaction.
"Hermione, go with Cho, I'll go with Ron." Said Harry, still not looking at Cho. Hermione ran over looking puzzled,
"What?" she asked confused. Harry didn't answer but walked off, his heart breaking that he had to do this, by now Cho was crying freely,
"What have I done?" she sobbed.
"I doubt you've done anything, I'll speak to him afterwards." Said Hermione, Harry moved over and stood opposite Ron,
"What was that all about, mate? Why aren't you with Cho?" asked Ron curiously.
"None of your business." Growled Harry, he was hurting, but he had betrayed her trust. Ron looked taken aback.
"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, mate." Apologised Ron hastily. Ron was immediately forced to create a shield charm as Harry sent a burn curse at him. Ron fired three slashing curses at Harry in retaliation, instead of conjuring an advanced shield charm, Harry threw himself to the right, sending a binding spell at Ron, not expecting this, Ron did not react quickly enough and was hit by the spell. Harry waited while Ron struggled against the invisible ropes. When Ron was free the both stood opposite each other. By now Ron was angry and he sent out a mixture of stunning spells and slashing curses at Harry, Harry dropped and lay on the floor while the curses flew over his head and hit the opposite wall.
"Expelliarmus." Said Harry pointing his wand at Ron from his position on the ground. Ron felt his wand fly out of his hand, grinning, Harry caught it deftly and chucked it back to him. Ron swore,
"Is there anyway I can beat you?" he asked angrily. Harry's grin widened.
"Nope." Ron smirked as an idea came to him; he sent four slashing curses at Harry, fired in quick succession. As he predicted Harry simply created an advanced shield charm, Ron counted to eight before sending another load of slashing curses at Harry, Harry's shield charm deflected the first load but then faded and before Harry could create another one, six of Ron's slashing curses had hit him.
"Damn, this hurts." Moaned Harry through clenched jaws. Ron laughed at him,
"Shut up, it isn't funny you prat, at least I didn't use spells that actually hurt on you." Growled Harry, half jokingly, half serious.
"Ah, but you told us to use them." Harry swore good-naturedly. Cho ran up to him,
"Here, let me heal those." She said, taking out her wand. However Harry turned away from her.
"Ginny, could you heal these for me please?" he said.
"What have I done?" yelled Cho, in tears. Finally Harry turned to her. She could see in his eyes that this was hurting him as much as it was hurting her.
"It's not what you've done, it's what I've done." Cho was puzzled.
"What have you done that's making you like this?" she asked.
"Dumbledore saw it." Said Harry sadly and ashamed.
"Out! This isn't for us to hear!" barked Ron. Respectful of their privacy, the DA left the room of requirement to give Harry and Cho some privacy.
"Saw what?" asked Cho. Harry looked away.
"When I was doing occlumency, I let Dumbledore deep into my mind, where all my most private and treasured memories are, the memories that are for me only. One of these memories was the time we spent in the room of requirement after the meeting last week. I didn't have to let him that deep, I could have forced him out earlier."
"So why did you let him that far in?" asked Cho.
"Because eventually he would force that far in and I figured that if I let him in it would be easier to force him out when he did get that deep." Explained Harry, still determinedly not looking at her.
"And so you feel as if, as if you have betrayed me, betrayed my trust by letting Dumbledore see that." Said Cho slowly. Harry nodded glumly. Before he realised what had happened, Cho had thrown herself on him and was holding him tight, sobbing onto his shoulder,
"I don't care, this, you ignoring me, is hurting me more than the fact that you let Dumbledore see that memory, in a way you had to, you have to stop Voldemort from entering your mind, and to do that you have to be good at occlumency. Voldemort won't just use surface memories, he will go deep, so you have to be able to repel people that are deep in your mind, and I would rather Dumbledore see it, then Voldemort who would use it against you." The thing that astonished Harry most was the fact that she said Voldemort's name. Harry looked up and saw Ron looking through the glass of the door; he looked on the floor and saw an extendable ear under the door.
Harry saw Ron give him the thumbs up before opening the door. Harry grinned at him from where he held Cho,
"You hypocrite!" Ron shrugged unconcerned,
"I'm your best friend, I have to be allowed some privileges." Harry laughed at him. He noticed that Hermione was shooting him disapproving glances every so often, and lots of other people were giving him envious and angry glances. However Ron seemed indifferent to these.
"I think we'll leave it here for tonight." Said Harry, several people groaned, but moved towards the door anyway. Harry and Cho waited until everyone was gone. Cho noticed that she had blood on her robes,
"Oh, I forgot that you were hurt!" she exclaimed, she instantly healed his wounds.
"Thanks." Said Harry.
"Come on, let's make a new memory, one that Dumbledore hasn't seen." Harry smiled at her.
Half an hour later Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room to find exactly the same people waiting for him,
"Save it Ron," said Harry not looking at him, holding up a hand as Ron opened his mouth to say something, "you did it last week, it's boring now." He said before walking up the boy's staircase. Ron closed his mouth and everyone laughed at the look of disappointment on his face. Mumbling angrily to himself, Ron followed Harry up the staircase to the boy's dormitories, leaving everyone laughing in the common room.
The next day Harry was heading down to breakfast when Dumbledore stopped him.
"I just want to tell you that your next occlumency lesson will be tomorrow at six o'clock." Harry nodded and continued into breakfast.
After lessons Harry and Cho decided to go for a walk around the grounds by themselves, they had been walking in silence for a few minutes before Cho spoke.
"There really is going to be a battle isn't there?" Harry nodded.
"Yes, Dumbledore is sure there will be." Cho thought for a minute before speaking again.
"In the battle you're going to find Voldemort straight away, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Cho demanded harshly, Harry knew she sounded harsh because she was worried, he thought for a minute, trying to decide if he should tell her about the prophecy. Eventually he decided against it.
"I'm not going to tell you, but there is a reason."
"Tell me!" Cho demanded.
"NO!" yelled Harry angrily, instantly he softened, "no, I can't."
"Aren't you afraid of death?" asked Cho tearfully. Harry thought about the question before answering.
"I'm surrounded by death, so many people close to me have died, I've seen people die, I've come extremely close to dying, so how can I be afraid of death? It's just there, like eating or breathing." Harry sighed, "but yes, I'm afraid of death."
"So why do you put your life at risk, like rescuing the philosophers stone or going to find Voldemort?" Again Harry thought,
"Because someone has to do it or Voldemort will win." He said quietly, by now Cho was sobbing loudly.
"But why you?" she yelled hysterically. Harry opened his mouth to answer but out from behind a bush stepped Malfoy, Davies, Nott, Goyle and Crabbe.
"Well, well, well, it's Potty and Chang." Said Malfoy, sneering at them.
"Go to hell, Malfoy." retorted Harry angrily,
"I'll see you there first." Malfoy said, taking out his wand, "but wait," Malfoy lowered his wand and pretended to think, "that's a good thing for you, you'll get to see your precious Godfather, again."
"Get lost." Said Harry but without much conviction, Malfoy grinned as he sensed he had discovered Harry's weak spot.
"You failed him, Potter, he needed your help and you failed him. How's it feel to be a failure?" The fight had already gone from Harry; he looked down, his eyes filling with tears.
"Harry! It's not true! Don't listen to them, it's not true!" Cho yelled holding onto him and trying to put herself between him and Malfoy.
"Oh, but it is, Potter's Godfather came to help him, and when he got into trouble, Potter couldn't be bothered to help him, Potter failed him," he looked past Cho at Harry, "I wonder how he felt, knowing that his Godson couldn't be bothered to help him, didn't care about him, he probably felt betrayed, hurt." Malfoy sneered, enjoying seeing Harry being beaten by him. Cho grabbed Harry and pulled him away, Malfoy's malicious laughter following them.
When they were far enough away from Malfoy, Cho stopped Harry.
"Don't listen to them Harry, you know it's not true, they're just trying to hurt you." Harry didn't respond he just turned and walked away, looking like he did when he was suffering from depression. Cho ran to catch up with him,
"Harry!" she said as she caught up with him, without a word and not even looking at her, Harry turned round and pushed her hard, she fell to the ground hard and looked up surprised and hurt, tears in her eyes. She was even more hurt when she saw that Harry had just walked of without a second glance at her. She sat on the ground and cried for five minutes before forcing herself up and heading towards the castle.
The next few weeks were weeks of sheer joy for the Slytherins, they knew how to get back at Harry, Malfoy had lost no time in telling the slytherins how to hurt him. The entire school saw the famous Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, broken and weak, he wouldn't talk, he rarely ate and when he did it was only enough to keep him alive. There were dark rings under his eyes and he dragged his feet.
Harry was walking towards the Great Hall for lunch when a group of eight Slytherins stepped out in front of him. They began taunting him but quickly became angry when they didn't get a response out of him. The biggest, a burly seventh year, drew back his fast and sank it, as hard as he could, into Harry's chest. Harry dropped to his knees, winded. The seventh year then kicked Harry hard in the face; Harry's face became extremely bloody, as blood poured from his nose and mouth. The Slytherin boy drew back his foot about to kick Harry again when a furious voice yelled out,
"BACK OFF! GET LOST BEFORE I MURDER YOU ALL!" Yelled Ron as he, Hermione, Ginny and Cho ran towards Harry all three of them looking livid; they rained spells onto the Slytherins as they ran towards Harry.
"STUPID SLYTHERIN SCUM, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I MURDER YOU ALL!" Screamed Ron furiously. Spells were emitting from his wand like one continuous beam of light. Every one of the Slytherins had been hit by at least five or six spells. None of them had enough time to reach their own wands to fight back.
Professor Flitwick left his classroom and, seeing what was going on and why, quickly turned the other way and walked off without a look back.
A/N Right, I wanted to get this chapter up before the four day holiday, hope you enjoyed it, the next chapter will be posted on Friday the 27th.
Ok, this fic will probably be about 15, 16 chapters long. There will probably be a sequel, let me know in your reviews if you think I should do a sequel. Thanks to all my reviewers, especially LogicalRaven and Anime- Master7.
Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter 12: Occlumency.
At five to six, the next day Harry sprinted along the corridors towards Dumbledore's office, having only just remembered that he had occlumency.
"Chocolate frogs," he managed to gasp out, clutching a stitch in his side. The door opened and Harry ran up the staircase,
"Sorry, Professor." Harry panted,
"That's alright, Harry, you still have one minute before you become late." Said Dumbledore, amusement dancing in his eyes. Harry grinned.
"Take a minute to get your breath back, then we'll began." Harry sat down on a chair opposite Dumbledore. After a minute Harry nodded, he was ready to start. Dumbledore stood up as did Harry.
"Ready?" asked Dumbledore, Harry nodded, his mouth was dry, he already knew what he was going to see.
"Legilimens" said Dumbledore, images flashed before his eyes, Sirius falling through the veil, Dumbledore arriving at the department of mysteries, fighting Bellatrix, crying for Sirius on his bed, Cho and him kissing when they met at the Burrow, 'no,' said a voice in Harry's head as the image of Cho and him became clearer, 'get out, that's my memory, not yours, get out, that's for me alone.' With a final push the room became clear, Harry was on his knees, his head in his hands and sweat was pouring down his face.
"Did you, um, did you see the image of..' Harry began, a blush creeping up his cheeks,
"Of you and Miss Chang? I'm afraid I did, Harry," said Dumbledore a note of apology in his voice, "But you did well, however you wasted time and energy shouting, do not focus your energy on speaking, empty your mind of all emotion and focus your energy on repelling me upon entry. I apologise but I am going to try and access more memories about Miss Chang and yourself, I fully respect that they are your memories and I apologise, but it is vital that you learn to repel me." Harry nodded, it didn't matter so much that Dumbledore was going to try to view his most private moments, however if it was Snape teaching him he would certainly of refused to let him.
"Are you ready Harry? Legilimens." It was like someone had opened a book filled with memories of Cho and Harry, private memories flashed before Harry's eyes and Harry was filled with anger that someone, it didn't matter that it was Dumbledore, an outsider was witnessing the moments that Harry cherished the most, the memories that were for him only, he was desperate to shout out, desperate to tell the intruder to get the hell out, but he controlled the urge. Instead he focused all his energy and pushed, the intruder resisted, but Harry focused his energy like a beam and pushed harder and managed to force the intruder out.
The room swam back into view and to Harry's immense surprise he was still standing, his face was set in a determined look and there was sweat pouring down him but he was still standing. He looked up at Professor Dumbledore. He was regarding Harry calmly.
"That was excellent Harry, now upon entry clear your mind of all emotion, you will find it easier to repel an intruder if all your energy is focused on repelling the intruder. You got angry that time, with good reason I hasten to add, but had you emptied your mind off all emotion then you would have found it easier to resist me." Not once did Dumbledore's voice take a critical tone, it remained calm and encouraging, Harry nodded.
"Right lets try again. Legilimens." Again private memories of Cho and him flashed before him. Harry couldn't help it, he quickly became angry, knowing that he would not be able to repel Dumbledore as easily, he decided not to try and repel him but to first master his anger. He seemed to open another door, deeper into his mind.
Dumbledore felt a jolt of surprise as Harry willingly allowed him deeper into his mind, wondering what Harry was up to, he pushed further into Harry's mind. He noticed that Harry was not trying to repel him, Dumbledore pushed further and further into Harry's mind.
As Dumbledore pushed deeper into his mind, Harry became angrier, he fought to control that anger. Harry then realised with a jolt of shock and anger that Dumbledore had found his way into Harry's most private and treasured memory of Cho and him yet, the half hour they had spent in the room of requirement. Harry watched, with horror, him and Cho kissing passionately, Harry's hands slowly sliding down Cho's back under her shirt to rest just above her bottom, Cho's hands were sliding down Harry's chest and under his shirt, stroking the area around his navel. Harry fought even harder to control his anger, he had nearly done it.
Dumbledore felt a blush crawl up his cheeks as he witnessed Cho and Harry in the room of requirement, managing to get it under control, he relentlessly pushed further into Harry's mind.
Harry finally managed to get his anger under control, summoning all of his energy he pushed, he pushed so hard and suddenly that it caught Dumbledore by surprise and the old man had no chance to resist and was forced out of Harry's mind. As soon as he regained full perception Harry swore under his breath and turned away, he felt horrified at what he had done, he had let Dumbledore see the one memory that was for him and Cho only, he shouldn't have let Dumbledore that far in, he should have tried to resist earlier, he'd been such a fool.
"Harry," said Dumbledore softly and apologetically, "I'm sorry Harry, that was your memory, as soon as I began to see that I should have pulled back, forgive an old man's foolishness."
"There's nothing to forgive, I should have resisted earlier, I shouldn't have let you get that far," said Harry his voice hoarse from emotion, he threw himself to his knees, tears filling his eyes, "What have I done? That was the one memory that was solely for Cho and I only."
"I'm sorry Harry, that shouldn't have happened, I shouldn't have seen that." Harry didn't answer.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you not resist me earlier on?" asked Dumbledore, Harry stood up,
"Because I had to learn to control my anger, so I focused all my energy on controlling my anger instead of repelling you and I let you deeper," said Harry anticipating the Headmaster's next question, "because eventually you were going to push that deep and if I couldn't master my anger at that level then I would be unable to repel you and it would be much easier to let you that deep, master my anger then repel you, than have you force that deep and me unable to repel you." Explained Harry.
"That was extremely wise of you Harry, next time you should be able to repel me without much difficulty, now do you want to stop there or continue?"
"Continue please, sir." Said Harry. Dumbledore levelled his wand at Harry.
"Legilimens." Harry saw the images flash before his eyes, however after three seconds his anger was under control and the battle of the minds begun, Harry focused all of his energy in a beam and pushed but Dumbledore resisted, the images became blurred so neither person could see them. Harry lowered his attack a little, Dumbledore's attack faltered as it found less resistance, as Dumbledore's guard fell a little, Harry summoned all of his energy and shoved, Dumbledore's defence was lowered as his attack had faltered and was easily brushed aside and Harry forced Dumbledore out of his mind.
"That was excellent Harry, at night concentrate on emptying your mind of all emotions and next time you should be able to repel me upon entry, this will do for tonight." Holding his hand up against Harry's protests, Dumbledore shook his head,
"That will do, you will be very tired and you will have used a lot of energy on this and do not forget that you have that DA meeting later on tonight." Harry nodded. Dumbledore leant down and opened one of his drawers, he took out two boxes of chocolate frogs.
"That," he put one of the boxes down on the desk, "is for doing so well, and that," he put another of the boxes down on the desk, "is to replenish the lost energy." Harry smiled,
"Thanks Professor."
"That's quite alright, Harry, now off you go." Harry smiled and turned round and left Dumbledore's office eating the chocolate frogs hungrily.
He returned to the common room to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him anxiously.
"How did it go?" asked Hermione nervously. Harry grinned broadly at her.
"Excellent, I can empty my head of all my emotions and I can now force Dumbledore out of my head after about thirty seconds, in which, because I'm trying to force him out and he's resisting, he can't see anything because all the images are blurred." Hermione beamed at him.
"That's brilliant, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione,
"Where'd you get the chocolate frogs from?" asked Ron, Hermione rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at him,
"Ron!" she hissed.
"I mean, that's great an' all, mate, but where did you get the chocolate frogs?" Hermione muttered something in which the words 'Ron,' 'greedy' and 'pig' were audible. Harry grinned at Ron.
"Dumbledore gave them to me because I was doing so well. Here." Harry threw one to Ron, who caught it.
"Cheers, mate." Ron ripped open the box and attacked the chocolate frogs vigorously. Harry laughed at Hermione's look of disgust. Less than a minute later the entire box had been devoured. Ron looked at it wistfully. Laughing loudly Harry tossed the rest of the second box to him, Ron caught it, grabbed a couple of chocolate frogs and stuffed them in his mouth, before grinning at Harry.
"Come on," said Hermione, her voice filled with disgust, "let's get to the room of requirement." Ron grabbed another fistful of chocolate frogs, stuffed them in his mouth and threw the empty box into the fire before following Harry and Hermione out of the common room.
They entered the room of requirement and waited for the rest of the DA to arrive, by eight o'clock everyone had arrived and was seated, looking up at Harry.
"Indona Roba," he said before starting, he was immediately wearing his DA robes, everyone else followed his example, "Right, this is really important so listen well, I am about to tell you something that Dumbledore told me yesterday after my scar hurt, but you must not repeat this to anyone outside of the DA," began Harry, his voice serious, "the reason my scar hurt was Voldemort was showing me things that made it hurt. He was able to do this because the ancient wards of Hogwarts that have protected the castle for so long are failing," Horrified gasps went round the room, everyone knew what this meant, "This means that Voldemort could attack at any moment, Dumbledore thinks that he will attack a week from now. This is what we have been training for, nobody has to fight but I am going to be there fighting him, along side Dumbledore." Somebody spoke up, the most unlikely of people,
"We are the DA, this is what we have been training for, we're going to be fighting with you Harry, you are our leader, we are your army, we trust you." Said Neville, his face pale, but his voice was determined, everybody nodded in agreement.
"I'm not going to lie to you, a lot of people will die in this battle, it is likely that some of us will die, it is most likely that I will die. So I just want to say this, thanks, all last year when Umbridge was making my life hell, and when most of the wizarding world had turned their backs on me, you were there, the DA made my life worth living." More then one face had tears on it and Harry felt a lump in his throat.
"And if we do die, then we die knowing we did a wizards job, an adults job, we died fighting for what we believed in, fighting for what is right and let no man say that the DA were cowards." Harry looked at them for a minute, by now tears were flowing down most people's cheeks.
"We have a week to prepare, so let's get to it," Everyone stood up, "What I thought we would do is we would divide into pairs and fight each other, using any spells you want to, in the forthcoming battle the Death Eaters aren't just going to be disarming you, spells like slasio will be used, so practice using them and blocking them now do that for the first half an hour, I'll explain what we'll do in the second half when the first half an hour is up. Ok, let's go" Immediately people started dividing into pairs. Cho jumped up and moved towards Harry smiling but Harry turned his back on her. Cho's smile faded.
"Harry?" she said surprised at his reaction.
"Hermione, go with Cho, I'll go with Ron." Said Harry, still not looking at Cho. Hermione ran over looking puzzled,
"What?" she asked confused. Harry didn't answer but walked off, his heart breaking that he had to do this, by now Cho was crying freely,
"What have I done?" she sobbed.
"I doubt you've done anything, I'll speak to him afterwards." Said Hermione, Harry moved over and stood opposite Ron,
"What was that all about, mate? Why aren't you with Cho?" asked Ron curiously.
"None of your business." Growled Harry, he was hurting, but he had betrayed her trust. Ron looked taken aback.
"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, mate." Apologised Ron hastily. Ron was immediately forced to create a shield charm as Harry sent a burn curse at him. Ron fired three slashing curses at Harry in retaliation, instead of conjuring an advanced shield charm, Harry threw himself to the right, sending a binding spell at Ron, not expecting this, Ron did not react quickly enough and was hit by the spell. Harry waited while Ron struggled against the invisible ropes. When Ron was free the both stood opposite each other. By now Ron was angry and he sent out a mixture of stunning spells and slashing curses at Harry, Harry dropped and lay on the floor while the curses flew over his head and hit the opposite wall.
"Expelliarmus." Said Harry pointing his wand at Ron from his position on the ground. Ron felt his wand fly out of his hand, grinning, Harry caught it deftly and chucked it back to him. Ron swore,
"Is there anyway I can beat you?" he asked angrily. Harry's grin widened.
"Nope." Ron smirked as an idea came to him; he sent four slashing curses at Harry, fired in quick succession. As he predicted Harry simply created an advanced shield charm, Ron counted to eight before sending another load of slashing curses at Harry, Harry's shield charm deflected the first load but then faded and before Harry could create another one, six of Ron's slashing curses had hit him.
"Damn, this hurts." Moaned Harry through clenched jaws. Ron laughed at him,
"Shut up, it isn't funny you prat, at least I didn't use spells that actually hurt on you." Growled Harry, half jokingly, half serious.
"Ah, but you told us to use them." Harry swore good-naturedly. Cho ran up to him,
"Here, let me heal those." She said, taking out her wand. However Harry turned away from her.
"Ginny, could you heal these for me please?" he said.
"What have I done?" yelled Cho, in tears. Finally Harry turned to her. She could see in his eyes that this was hurting him as much as it was hurting her.
"It's not what you've done, it's what I've done." Cho was puzzled.
"What have you done that's making you like this?" she asked.
"Dumbledore saw it." Said Harry sadly and ashamed.
"Out! This isn't for us to hear!" barked Ron. Respectful of their privacy, the DA left the room of requirement to give Harry and Cho some privacy.
"Saw what?" asked Cho. Harry looked away.
"When I was doing occlumency, I let Dumbledore deep into my mind, where all my most private and treasured memories are, the memories that are for me only. One of these memories was the time we spent in the room of requirement after the meeting last week. I didn't have to let him that deep, I could have forced him out earlier."
"So why did you let him that far in?" asked Cho.
"Because eventually he would force that far in and I figured that if I let him in it would be easier to force him out when he did get that deep." Explained Harry, still determinedly not looking at her.
"And so you feel as if, as if you have betrayed me, betrayed my trust by letting Dumbledore see that." Said Cho slowly. Harry nodded glumly. Before he realised what had happened, Cho had thrown herself on him and was holding him tight, sobbing onto his shoulder,
"I don't care, this, you ignoring me, is hurting me more than the fact that you let Dumbledore see that memory, in a way you had to, you have to stop Voldemort from entering your mind, and to do that you have to be good at occlumency. Voldemort won't just use surface memories, he will go deep, so you have to be able to repel people that are deep in your mind, and I would rather Dumbledore see it, then Voldemort who would use it against you." The thing that astonished Harry most was the fact that she said Voldemort's name. Harry looked up and saw Ron looking through the glass of the door; he looked on the floor and saw an extendable ear under the door.
Harry saw Ron give him the thumbs up before opening the door. Harry grinned at him from where he held Cho,
"You hypocrite!" Ron shrugged unconcerned,
"I'm your best friend, I have to be allowed some privileges." Harry laughed at him. He noticed that Hermione was shooting him disapproving glances every so often, and lots of other people were giving him envious and angry glances. However Ron seemed indifferent to these.
"I think we'll leave it here for tonight." Said Harry, several people groaned, but moved towards the door anyway. Harry and Cho waited until everyone was gone. Cho noticed that she had blood on her robes,
"Oh, I forgot that you were hurt!" she exclaimed, she instantly healed his wounds.
"Thanks." Said Harry.
"Come on, let's make a new memory, one that Dumbledore hasn't seen." Harry smiled at her.
Half an hour later Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room to find exactly the same people waiting for him,
"Save it Ron," said Harry not looking at him, holding up a hand as Ron opened his mouth to say something, "you did it last week, it's boring now." He said before walking up the boy's staircase. Ron closed his mouth and everyone laughed at the look of disappointment on his face. Mumbling angrily to himself, Ron followed Harry up the staircase to the boy's dormitories, leaving everyone laughing in the common room.
The next day Harry was heading down to breakfast when Dumbledore stopped him.
"I just want to tell you that your next occlumency lesson will be tomorrow at six o'clock." Harry nodded and continued into breakfast.
After lessons Harry and Cho decided to go for a walk around the grounds by themselves, they had been walking in silence for a few minutes before Cho spoke.
"There really is going to be a battle isn't there?" Harry nodded.
"Yes, Dumbledore is sure there will be." Cho thought for a minute before speaking again.
"In the battle you're going to find Voldemort straight away, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Cho demanded harshly, Harry knew she sounded harsh because she was worried, he thought for a minute, trying to decide if he should tell her about the prophecy. Eventually he decided against it.
"I'm not going to tell you, but there is a reason."
"Tell me!" Cho demanded.
"NO!" yelled Harry angrily, instantly he softened, "no, I can't."
"Aren't you afraid of death?" asked Cho tearfully. Harry thought about the question before answering.
"I'm surrounded by death, so many people close to me have died, I've seen people die, I've come extremely close to dying, so how can I be afraid of death? It's just there, like eating or breathing." Harry sighed, "but yes, I'm afraid of death."
"So why do you put your life at risk, like rescuing the philosophers stone or going to find Voldemort?" Again Harry thought,
"Because someone has to do it or Voldemort will win." He said quietly, by now Cho was sobbing loudly.
"But why you?" she yelled hysterically. Harry opened his mouth to answer but out from behind a bush stepped Malfoy, Davies, Nott, Goyle and Crabbe.
"Well, well, well, it's Potty and Chang." Said Malfoy, sneering at them.
"Go to hell, Malfoy." retorted Harry angrily,
"I'll see you there first." Malfoy said, taking out his wand, "but wait," Malfoy lowered his wand and pretended to think, "that's a good thing for you, you'll get to see your precious Godfather, again."
"Get lost." Said Harry but without much conviction, Malfoy grinned as he sensed he had discovered Harry's weak spot.
"You failed him, Potter, he needed your help and you failed him. How's it feel to be a failure?" The fight had already gone from Harry; he looked down, his eyes filling with tears.
"Harry! It's not true! Don't listen to them, it's not true!" Cho yelled holding onto him and trying to put herself between him and Malfoy.
"Oh, but it is, Potter's Godfather came to help him, and when he got into trouble, Potter couldn't be bothered to help him, Potter failed him," he looked past Cho at Harry, "I wonder how he felt, knowing that his Godson couldn't be bothered to help him, didn't care about him, he probably felt betrayed, hurt." Malfoy sneered, enjoying seeing Harry being beaten by him. Cho grabbed Harry and pulled him away, Malfoy's malicious laughter following them.
When they were far enough away from Malfoy, Cho stopped Harry.
"Don't listen to them Harry, you know it's not true, they're just trying to hurt you." Harry didn't respond he just turned and walked away, looking like he did when he was suffering from depression. Cho ran to catch up with him,
"Harry!" she said as she caught up with him, without a word and not even looking at her, Harry turned round and pushed her hard, she fell to the ground hard and looked up surprised and hurt, tears in her eyes. She was even more hurt when she saw that Harry had just walked of without a second glance at her. She sat on the ground and cried for five minutes before forcing herself up and heading towards the castle.
The next few weeks were weeks of sheer joy for the Slytherins, they knew how to get back at Harry, Malfoy had lost no time in telling the slytherins how to hurt him. The entire school saw the famous Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, broken and weak, he wouldn't talk, he rarely ate and when he did it was only enough to keep him alive. There were dark rings under his eyes and he dragged his feet.
Harry was walking towards the Great Hall for lunch when a group of eight Slytherins stepped out in front of him. They began taunting him but quickly became angry when they didn't get a response out of him. The biggest, a burly seventh year, drew back his fast and sank it, as hard as he could, into Harry's chest. Harry dropped to his knees, winded. The seventh year then kicked Harry hard in the face; Harry's face became extremely bloody, as blood poured from his nose and mouth. The Slytherin boy drew back his foot about to kick Harry again when a furious voice yelled out,
"BACK OFF! GET LOST BEFORE I MURDER YOU ALL!" Yelled Ron as he, Hermione, Ginny and Cho ran towards Harry all three of them looking livid; they rained spells onto the Slytherins as they ran towards Harry.
"STUPID SLYTHERIN SCUM, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I MURDER YOU ALL!" Screamed Ron furiously. Spells were emitting from his wand like one continuous beam of light. Every one of the Slytherins had been hit by at least five or six spells. None of them had enough time to reach their own wands to fight back.
Professor Flitwick left his classroom and, seeing what was going on and why, quickly turned the other way and walked off without a look back.
A/N Right, I wanted to get this chapter up before the four day holiday, hope you enjoyed it, the next chapter will be posted on Friday the 27th.
Ok, this fic will probably be about 15, 16 chapters long. There will probably be a sequel, let me know in your reviews if you think I should do a sequel. Thanks to all my reviewers, especially LogicalRaven and Anime- Master7.
Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy.