Disclaimer: Sadly, I still only own an emotionally challanged three year old and her blue and red lizard.

Authors Note: Whoo! Second Chapter! Go me! Okay, I know, still a bit dull, but please bare with me! It WILL get more interesting! I SWEAR! Please, Review!

Chapter two

Occlumency Mastery

In the morning, Severus walked into the kitchen to find Thorn already awake. She and Sparkie were sitting at the table in the corner. She was staring at the wood with a concentrated look. She was in deep thought. It always amazed him how mature she could act.

Then she looked up, as if she had known he was there, and said, "Severus, when are we going to change my room?"

Severus smiled. "As soon as we can." He picked up the Daily Prophet and gasped.

"What?" Thorn asked him, now standing on her chair to get a look at the paper.

He sighed and read the article aloud to her:

"Thorn Rose- a Murderer

Yesterday at 453 Sage Street in London, a quite abandoned neighborhood, two famous Aurors, Romulus and Severa Rose, were killed. The person who brought them to death was not one of You-Know-Who's followers, but their own daughter. This reporter was amazed to find that a three year old child held so much malice and hate. I asked one of the people in the crowd that had gathered around the house what they thought of the situation. Mr. Lucius Malfoy said, "It does not surprise me, Thorn Rose has seemed to have a dirty disposition ever since I first saw her. It is rumored that she is loyal to the Dark Lord, despite her young age."

Mr. Malfoy and many others have agreed that Thorn could be dangerous to society and begged that she would be locked up, yet the Headmaster of Hogwarts foolishly stood up for the young Death Eater and convinced the Ministry to let her stay in the hands of her uncle, Severus Snape, who was known to at one time have been a Death Eater. Many of us don't trust Dumbledore's judgment on his decision, but we have little power. It is now in my best hopes that Snape has truly turned over a new leaf, though part of me believes that he will continue to teach Thorn to follow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Thorn gasped. Even at her young age she understood. Severus cursed under his breath. "Rita Skeeter... that foul sad excuse for a witch..." Severus muttered.

Thorn stared at the picture in the paper, which showed her in Severus's arms as he tried to ignore the presses questions. Her eyes seemed to swell up in anger. "How could she!?"

Severus put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it, Thorn, it will be okay." But he knew that after this, it was going to be hard for him or Thorn to gain anyone's trust.

After they had eaten, Severus had begun to change the room. He transfigured the couch into a bed and moved one of the desks. He moved the other one into his room. "You'll need this when you start school." He explained when Thorn questioned him about the remaining desk.

He removed the wall paper, revealing the dark stone that made up the house. Thorn stared up at the back wall, where there was a large area of the stone that had a serpent, the mark of Salazar Slytherin, carved into it. Severus held his wand forward and was about to take it off, but Thorn stopped him by tugging on his robes. "I like it." She said simply.

Severus smiled, "Okay, then we'll keep it there."

They worked on. It only took about an hour, but soon her room was much to her liking. Her bed was up next to her door; her desk was on the opposite side of the wall. Another desk with potions supplies was near the foot of her bed. The dresser was off in the far corner. A few chains fell from her ceiling, because the young girl said that she felt most comfortable in the dark of a dungeon.

Thorn smiled at her uncle's handy work and climbed onto the bed. She sat there, with her feet hanging off, and looked around. She was quite comfortable with her new room.

Severus smiled down at her. For the time being, Thorn had seemed to forget her occlumency lessons. She usually didn't smile. Occlumency... He really should start teaching her again.

He remembered thinking that same thing a week later. It had been a week since his sister's death. Dumbledore still hadn't contacted the family he thought would watch Thorn, and Severus still hadn't continued on her occlumency lessons. The truth was that he didn't want to force her to hide emotions. She was such a happy kid. Yet he had noticed that she was starting to try to use what she knew of occlumency herself. Though she wouldn't tell him why, he had a general idea. The Dark Lord made it possible to talk to Thorn through her mind, and, apparently while he wasn't in power, he could still do this. Severus knew that he needed to continue her lessons, for her own good.

"Thorn!" the professor called. The toddler came forwards quickly and gave him a quizzical look, "I think we need to continue your occlumency lessons."

She nodded without hesitation. "I know... Severus... I... He..."

Severus shook his head to silence her. "I know, and after we're done he won't be able to anymore."

Thorn smiled slightly and ran to her room. She came back moments later, holding her mothers wand. She held it behind her, her other fist in front of her. Severus recognized it as the technique that he usually used. "Ready."

Severus sighed and walked to the other side of the room. He held his wand in front of him and said, "Are you sure?" She nodded. "Alright, be prepared, Legilimens!"

Thorn felt his power hit her in full force. She fought with her mind, clearing herself of emotion, but soon, her uncle's power broke her defenses. She saw flashes of her memories. She saw her mother and herself using the Imperius curse to control spiders, she saw her mother and father practice dueling each other while she watched, then she saw the Dark Lord standing above her, holding his fingers to her skin, she felt it burn, she heard herself scream as the Dark Mark was burned into her skin. She saw the blood running down her arm; she saw the forced look of calm on her mothers face.

She felt pain going through the back of her head. She had fallen forwards and hit her head on the kitchen table. The kitchen came back into view, as did her uncle standing before her. Forcing the tears back, she rubbed the spot on her head.

"You did eventually succeed to get me out of your mind, yet you waited too long." He walked to the sink and got a towel wet. He placed it over the spot that Thorn had hit her head and said quietly, "I didn't know you remembered the night that The Dark Lord put the mark into you..."

Thorn nodded, "Yeah, I remember it..." She stood back up and said, "Let's try it again."

Severus nodded and went back to the other side of the room. He faced her and said, "Be on your guard. One, two, three, Legilimens!"

Thorn had better prepared herself this time, hiding her emotions deep inside of her. Yet still Severus was stronger. Suddenly the room swirled and blurred in her vision and she saw herself sitting in Severus's arms after her parents had died, she saw her mother and father fighting, and she and her lizard watching, crying, using the curse... "STOP!" She screamed and the room came back into focus. Severus had been pushed back a few feet.

"Very good, Thorn, it didn't take as long this time." He rubbed his temples again. He had just watched his niece kill his sister. "I think that's enough for today."

Everyday after that they set aside some time to practice occlumency, Thorn gradually getting better. Soon she could almost completely keep Severus from her mind.

"Come on, Thorn, you can do this," Severus encouraged her. She had just relived crying in the center of her mother's training room for the fourth time that week.

She stood up, she had fallen backwards again. She sighed, her eyes held an angry glimmer. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind. After the weeks that they had spent on it, Thorn could easily keep her emotions at bay. "Okay, try again."

Severus sighed; he really wished that she would stop. He didn't want their constant lessons to harm her. "Are you sure? We could stop."

Thorn shook her head vigorously, so much so that her hair flew out. "No! I want to be able to stop him! Severus, he's trying to make me tell him things!" She held her wand at the ready, a new concentration looking out through her dark eyes.

The wizard sighed. There was nothing he could do to make her take a rest. She was so determined, much like her mother. He held his wand out in front of him, and said, "Brace yourself. One, two, three, Legilimens!"

Thorn held fast, meeting his attack with her defense. She seemed unphased by her uncle's doings. She was standing still, her eyes void of emotion. She felt Severus's power against her mind but she didn't feel any weaker. In fact, she felt as if her power was rising with his every move. He couldn't break into her mind. She was a closed box. No one could get in.

Severus smiled and stopped the charm, "You did it, Thorn!"

She smiled slightly up to him. She still held her emotions within her. She wouldn't let them out much anymore. She had to protect herself, and others, from the Dark Lord.

Sparkie, who had grown a considerable amount, was now about as big as Severus's hand, which was a big change to when he had only been about the size of Thorn's hand. He squeaked slightly and leapt onto her shoulder. Despite his wings, Sparkie still couldn't fly. It would be another couple of weeks or so before he would be able to do so.

Severus was very pleased with his niece, though he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow. Now she would keep her emotions hidden again. She might still act the same way some of the time, but he knew that she wouldn't want to aid the Dark Lord.

They heard a knock at the door. Severus went to answer it and Thorn walked to her room. She closed the door quietly and looked at the dark mark upon her arm. Every other Death Eaters mark was gone for the moment, because Voldemort wasn't in power, yet he had put a little more into Thorn's and hers would forever be visible. It was a reddish color, yet even in the dim light of her room, she could see it perfectly. When he was in power, it was black, and it constantly burned, she was well used to that by now, though, aside the fact that she hadn't felt the familiar burning for over a year. Yet what she truly did hate, yet remembered vividly, was the pain of when he touched the mark of any death Eater. Her mark bled when he did so.

She shuddered involuntarily with the memory then crawled onto her bed. She stared at her ceiling for a long time before she fell into a quiet nap.

Severus opened the door to see Albus Dumbledore standing ahead of him, looking down his crooked nose at the potions master, a smile spread across his lips. "Severus."

"Headmaster, come in." Severus stood aside, allowing his companion to enter the kitchen.

"I have wonderful news, Severus," he said as he sat in one of the kitchen chairs at the table. "I've talked to the family that I'd said I would and they agreed to let Thorn stay with them while you are at the school. They're a wonderful family, and they have a young son, around Thorn's age."

Severus didn't seem convinced. "What about the article? Did they read it? Are they going to treat Thorn with respect?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "Of course they will, and it's really good that they don't much like Rita Skeeter. They didn't trust her article. It's fortunate that they agreed, because the school year starts in less then a week."

Severus nodded. "Alright, who is the family?"

"The Wood's, they're a good, respectful family."

Severus nodded. "Alright, we'll see."