MEETING WITH SNAPE

He hadn't realized he was struggling until Snape pinned his arms at his sides and hauled him the rest of the way into his office. Once inside, he thrust Harry into a chair and whirled to face him.

"Snape, you son of a--" Harry snarled, whipping to his feet, heedless of the consequences.

Glittering black eyes locked with his. "Legilimens!"

Fury pumped through Harry like lifeblood as he felt the spell take him. He wanted to fight, more than anything; he could kill Snape right now!

And the anger rendered him hopelessly vulnerable to Snape's intrusion. The Potions Master forced his way into Harry's mind with casual ease...

Harry was eleven and refusing Draco Malfoy's hand on the train... Harry was calming Malfoy's snake as the others in dueling club stared in horror... Malfoy was threatening to kill him for what he did to his father... Malfoy stood before him in the Great Hall as he taunted the Slytherin into hexing him...

When his vision cleared again, he was trembling on the floor. Snape loomed above him, wand raised, having just lifted the spell. Harry's chin ached; he must have slammed it on the ground when he collapsed.

"I see you're still hopelessly inept at occlusion."

Harry raised his eyes to meet Snape's, and smiled nastily, feeling the anger pulse though his body. "What can I say? I had shit for an instructor."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for insulting a Professor, and another ten for language. Tell me, Mr. Potter," Snape said cruelly, "How many points have you lost for Gryffindor already today? I noticed the number continually returns back to zero, and you appear to be solely responsible."

"Do you think I give a damn about house points?" Harry spat. "Besides, you had no right to penalize me when Draco was the one in the middle of hexing me!"

"At your provocation."

"You have a lot of nerve taking points for that when Malfoy's always gotten away scotch free with provoking me or Ron!" Harry's voice was trembling now. He glared at Snape, fighting the urge to tear into the infuriatingly cold countenance with his bare hands.

He expected a nasty reply. Instead, Snape leaned towards him, black eyes intent upon his, and Harry unconsciously stumbled back a few paces, the chair hitting the back of his knees before a sharp nudge from Snape sent him dropping back into it.

"Stay seated, Potter."

His voice was softer, and taken aback, Harry blinked up at him and said nothing.

"The Headmaster asked me to speak with you," Snape said, clearly switching to the real reason he'd hauled Harry out of the Great Hall. "He wishes us to resume Occlumency lessons this year."

First Potions, now Occlumency. No, no, no.

"Not a chance," Harry said firmly.

Snape sneered at him. "Believe me, I wasn't thrilled at the prospect, either. But he insisted. Our cause is too important to throw away because our pint-sized celebrity does not wish to exert himself."

"Dumbledore said he was going to teach me himself," Harry said, feeling inexplicably stung that Dumbledore was shunting him off on Snape again. He was almost as angry at Dumbledore as he was at Snape over what happened to Sirius, but it still hurt that the Headmaster didn't want anything to do with him.

Snape looked irritated, but his voice was surprisingly tolerant... well, for Snape at least. "Surely you see the need of this, Potter. The Dark Lord possessed your mind last year at the Department of Mysteries. The old concerns still apply, unless you wish to expose the Headmaster to his machinations."

"No, of course not," Harry said hastily. "It's just--"

"We will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at eight in this office. This year, you will practice or you will spend your free nights in detention." Snape leaned back, his expression growing noticeably chillier. "And you will keep the hell away from my penseive or detention will be the least of your worries!" A pause, then, "Now, let's discuss that idiot display with Malfoy."

Harry felt something inside him flare back into anger. "It was Malfoy's fault. He started it."

"Don't think for a second I'm fooled by you, Potter," Snape hissed. "Even had your memory of the incident not confirmed my suspicions, it was plain as day you intended to goad Draco into fighting. I don't think you comprehend the idiocy of your actions-- intentionally provoking Draco, shaming him in front of his classmates, failing to defend yourself when you had no idea what curse he was sending at you. You put his father in prison, Potter. Don't believe for a moment that his threats were made in jest!"

Harry glared at him.

"Of course," Snape said viciously, "Perhaps you were just hoping to be hurt in front of all your admirers. Maybe you were hoping to elicit pity, or gain some attention. It must be quite lonely now that you no longer have that mangy mutt to dote upon you, but then again, whose fault is that?"

He hadn't realized he'd grabbed for his wand before Snape cried, "Expelliarmus!" and "Accio wand!" in quick succession, leaving Harry defenseless as Snape held both their wands in a firm grip.

"I'll cast a body bind if you move from that chair," he warned Harry coldly.

Harry gripped the edges of his seat, watching the hateful man before him; oh how he hated Snape.

Snape, for his part, lowered himself to the edge of his desk, expression strangely free of malice. "I remember your display at the end of last year, when I caught you on the verge of hexing Malfoy. I see this summer has done nothing to dissipate your childish sense of effrontery." Harry averted his eyes from those empty black ones. "I find it curious, Mr. Potter, that a summer at home has left you in virtually the same state of mind you were in last spring."

"Yeah, it's very curious," Harry groused. "Because we both know the Dursleys are great for one's mental health."

"Come now, Potter, I know for a fact that they treated you quite generously this summer."

Harry glanced up sharply. So they'd told Snape about his relatives' strange kindness? Is that why the man was prying like this? He supposed it would seem more curious to Snape than to the others, considering that he was the only one who had seen Harry's memories of them.

"It was weird," he admitted at last, strangely relieved to be able to tell Snape about this-- the one person who might possibly understand how odd it was, however much he despised the man. "They were being nice. I thought they were impostors with Polyjuice."

Snape rolled his eyes. "If Death Eaters could infiltrate Privet Drive, they would not bother playing house before killing you."

"I know that," Harry snapped. "It's just not normal for people to change after fifteen years of being total gits. I kept waiting for them to try to kill me, or hex me, because there was something wrong with them." He glared up at Snape. "So, in case you're wondering, I don't think being terrified all summer because my relatives had lost their minds was all that soothing."

Snape's expression darkened, his eyes narrowing into dark slits. "You are an ungrateful brat, Potter." With a wave of his wand, the office door snapped open. "Get out!"

Harry blinked. No scrubbing cauldrons? He was off the hook? From the twisted expression on the other man's face, and the harsh way he tossed Harry's wand back at him, Snape seemed something other than angry; he seemed almost... offended.

Harry hesitated a moment before he realized it wasn't worth his time trying to figure out how Snape's mind worked. Snape had kicked him out; he would take advantage of that before Snape changed his mind.

"Gladly," Harry snarled.

He stalked out the door.

TBC

A/N Thanks to all those who have reviewed! I appreciate it.

Just wondering-- do people generally prefer authors to respond to individual reviewers at the bottom of the chapters? I find it distracting when I'm a reader, but I know others see it differently!