A/N: I'm happy to know that ou're all still following this story, despite that I had a lack of updates for quite a while. Since you're all so nice, I updated this chapter today just for you all! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I even have to say it...? All right, all right...I don't own Harry Potter...

Chapter 7

Snape had unwillingly been forced to break into Harry's mind again, something he really didn't want to do. He didn't want to look at all of the boy's thoughts; they were all so personal, all his own. And they were all so depressing! It was still a shock to see how horrible his life was. Snape had already had plenty of experiences in knowing how bad Harry's life had been, but it still came as a shock to him somehow whenever he learned some other bad thing about the boy's life.

Most people probably thought that, even if not now, that last school year when he had Occlumency lessons with him that he loved seeing all of Harry's horrible memories. But the truth was, no matter how hard he tried to make himself think of it that way, deep down, he had always hated breaking into Harry's mind.

He never really pitied the boy just because he had suffered all this in general, but he had pitied him because a lot of this suffering was done by somewhere that he 'worked for'. He 'worked' for Voldemort, who was, if you traced it all back, the root of all of Harry's problems, all of his sufferings. And Snape hated seeing all of these memories of his when he was up against this boy.

Snape could really feel for him when he saw these memories of the Dark Lord and Potter. He could feel Harry's fear when he was standing up against him, though he also could feel his determination to prove that he wasn't a weakling. Snape could relate to all of Harry's memories in this way, and it had always made it all the more reason not to break into his mind.

But he had known now that there was no other way, especially since Harry had that determined look in his eye to do it, so he had gone up to him and had broken into his mind. He expected just to find all of the normal memories there, and was slightly shocked when Harry fought off the memory of Sirius. However, nothing could have prepared him for the shock that he was about to receive.

He was sorting through his thoughts, and had just gotten past the one with Sirius, when he found one from that present day. He thought that it was just one of Harry cutting himself, and he didn't really want to see it, so he made to push past it. However, something about it caught his eye, so he quickly focused on the memory.

Once he found out what was going on, he quickly let go of the spell and looked into Harry's face, entirely surprised. It appeared that Harry was just as shocked as he was, because his face matched exactly what Snape thought his to look like.

"What happened?" Lupin asked hurriedly. "Did you find something?" Slowly, Harry nodded his head, his eyes still wide.

"Well," Lupin pressed, "what was it?" When Harry failed to answer, he looked over at Snape. Snape, though, was also too alarmed and confused to speak, so he turned back to Harry.

"Do I need to bring out some Veritasserum?" he asked, getting impatient. "What the bloody hell did you find?"

Finally, Harry seemed to find his voice, though it was very small and slightly strained. "Voldemort," was all he said.

Lupin's eyes grew wide, and he glanced at Dumbledore. Dumbledore turned his blue eyes on Harry, and said, "Can you tell us what happened?"

Harry started to shake his head, but he must have realized that they would keep pestering him until he did, so he sighed and said, "All right," in a defeated sort of tone. Snape felt bad about this, considering that he could tell them all for Harry, but yet Harry was the one being the adult and doing the sharing. However, Harry had started talking, so he shook the thoughts from his head and looked up at him.

"Well, when Professor Snape was sifting through my mind, he came upon a memory of today, and it looked, even to me, like it could have been any time today when I was, err, cutting myself." He paused here a moment to think some, but then continued on. "But then I noticed that my wrist was bleeding a lot, and that I already had the mark on my arm, meaning that I had already cut myself up there. However, I distinctly remember passing out right after that, but not before I dropped the blade on the floor. So I knew for a fact then that this occurred after I passed out."

"But you didn't wake up again until everyone came into your room, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, confused.

"Exactly," Harry said to her. "Which means that someone had to have been controlling my mind when I was doing this. And it became apparent that someone was, for after that, a voice spoke out through my mouth that was not my own."

Here, Snape noticed that Harry had grown quiet, and didn't look like he wanted to talk anymore. So, stepping forward, he tried to finish the statement.

"It appeared as though someone was using the Imperius Curse on Harry, but since he had passed out before it occured, he didn't know it, or was at least to weak to do anything about it," Snape told them, seeing everyone's looks turn to shock. "So, anyway, the voice spoke out, telling Harry to pick up the glass, which he did. Then it told him to – to, err – to cut his forehead. Right on his scar."

Mrs. Weasley and Lupin both gasped, and Dumbledore's face only became sullen. "It would appear as though the Dark Lord is aware of Harry's little, err, problem, and decided to make the 'best' of it," Snape told them all. No one seemed to be able to speak. Finally, Harry spoke up in a voice that sounded as though he wanted to relieve the tension in the room.

"Well, that just sucks then, doesn't it?" he said quite brightly for such a depressing situation. No one laughed at this statement, however. In fact, Lupin said, "Harry, this isn't a laughing matter."

Snape saw Harry's eyes grow a little darker, and he seemed to be slightly angry. "Well, I'm sorry I was trying to ease the situation some," he said irritably. "Besides, if I think it's a laughing matter, then it's my choice. After all, if I might remind you, this is my problem that we're dealing with here."

"Yes, but that's the thing, Harry," Lupin said back. "We're dealing with it, not just you."

"But it still is my problem, meaning that if I don't want anyone else to have anything to do with it, then they won't," Harry told him, and everyone in the room raised their eyebrows, including Lupin. Snape was finally glad to see someone besides himself harp on Lupin, and make him feel inferior.

Harry must have suddenly realized what he said, however, and much to Snape's disappointment, he apologized. "I'm sorry, Professor," he told him. "I didn't mean to say that to you. Really, I am grateful for your help; it's just, there's so much going on right now."

Lupin smiled slightly at him. "Apology accepted," he said, and Harry smiled back. "However," Lupin added, looking suddenly stern, and Harry's eyes grew wide. "I'll only accept it if you promise to call me Remus from now on. I hate being called Professor – it's too formal."

Harry smiled again, and then pretended to look crestfallen. "I guess if I have to, then I will."

Lupin – or Remus, as he now asked Harry to call him – smiled wider, and Snape felt as though he was going to be sick.

"Well, I hate to ruin the mood," he said sarcastically, and both Remus and Harry stopped and glanced over at him. "But shouldn't we try to find a solution to this situation?"

"I agree," Mrs. Weasley said aloud. "I think that Harry should be kept inside so that he can be watched by others at all times."

Harry's eyes suddenly showed fear, and Snape thought he knew why. His assumption was clarified when Harry next spoke.

"No," he said, as if stepping into a horrible memory again. "No, please don't have me locked up and watched. Please, don't. I don't ever want to do that again. Please, don't do that. Please."

His eyes had once again become misty, and Snape felt a pang of hurt for the boy in front of him. It was clear that he was thinking about last summer when he had been cooped up inside, and was also thinking of Sirius, when he had refused to be cooped up any longer and had gone after Harry, only to get himself killed.

"Do not worry, Harry," Dumbledore said gently. "We won't have you locked up all summer." Snape breathed a small sigh of relief that was undetected by all the others. "However," he said, and here Snape sucked the air back in. "We will need to have you watched. We don't want to have something like this happening again, and I'm afraid that if you're on your own for two long, that may just be the case."

Harry nodded his head, obviously understanding what had to be done. "And," Dumbledore added. "I want you to continue your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape. But, instead of only once a week, I want you to be doing it everyday instead. It's most important that you learn it now, and you learn it as quickly as possible."

Snape thought that Harry would explode at Dumbledore for saying that, but he just nodded, and shared a quick glance with Snape.

"Well, I suppose that's it," he said. "It's getting late now, and if she's well, I'd like to have Madame Pomfrey bandage up your scar. And I know that your friends are waiting anxiously to see you. I will let them in as soon as Poppy finishes. Good day to you all," he finished, and he smiled around at everyone and left the room.

Snape looked back over at Harry, who was staring up at him. "Well, Potter, I suggest that you rest as much as possible. As Dumbledore said, you should start Occlumency again quickly, and I think that, if all is well, we should start right away tonight."

Harry nodded, and then, without sparing him another glance, Snape quickly walked out of the room.

It was dinnertime, and Snape had, for the very first time, remained at Headquarters for it. He normally would have left beforehand, but since he would be doing Occlumency lessons with Harry, he thought that he might as well just stay.

But that didn't mean that he was going to eat with everyone else; no, he had his food brought upstairs and ate in the study while he went over some Order papers. He was sitting there for a while, when suddenly a voice shook him from his thoughts.

"Professor?" it asked, and Snape jumped. He turned around to see Potter – err, Harry – standing in the doorway, with a white strip of Medical Spell-o-tape over his scar.

"Err, I'm sorry," he muttered, looking down. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine, Harry," he said, and stood up. "Err, where would you prefer to work?" he asked him, not sure what the answer should be.

"Here is fine," Harry told him, and Snape nodded. He walked over to the center of the room, and motioned for Harry to follow. He did, and positioned himself directly in front of Snape, only he was about three feet away.

"Now," Snape said to him, taking out his wand, and Harry did the same. "You know the procedure: I count to three and place the spell on you, and you use whatever means you can to rid yourself of the spell, all right?"

Harry nodded his head again. "All right," he said, and he readied himself for the spell that was about to be placed upon him. Snape steadied himself as well, and concentrated on the boy in front of him.

"Okay," he said, pointing his wand at Harry, who closed his eyes in concentration. "One, two, three – Legilimens!"

Suddenly, Snape was seeing flashes of memories that were not his own. The first memory that he saw showed someplace that looked like the Forbidden Forest, and in front of him, on the ground, he could see a cloaked figure drinking from a small, silver puddle. Then he found himself watching Harry fly through the air, with a Bludger flying after him, before hitting him on the arm and nearly knocking him off his broom. A hundred or so Dementors were now suddenly gliding in around Harry, Hermione, and none other than Sirius Black, and he saw that Harry was making feeble attempts to stun them with a Patronus charm.

Then, a noise erupted from in front of the real him, and he looked up and saw that Harry was shouting something.

"STOP!" he heard Harry yell, and suddenly, with a great force, the spell was removed. Snape stared at him with a mixture of shock and surprise on his face. Harry was standing there, clutching his chest, looking like he had just run a marathon; and yet, he had done it. He had thrown off the curse.

"Well done, Harry," he told him, and Harry smiled. Even Snape knew that a compliment was rare from himself. "It appears that all of those lessons didn't go to waist. Though it still took you three memories to do it, you successfully threw off the curse, and what's more is that you did it without your wand."

Harry smiled wider. "Yeah, well, I've seen enough of these memories lately, and I don't feel like seeing anymore, so I figured I might as well make them stop."

Snape grinned slightly, another rare occurence for him, and then quickly held up his wand again. "Shall we see if young Mister Potter can do it again?" he asked, and Harry bobbed his head up and down, preparing himself. "One, two, three – Legilimens!" Snape shouted, and this time, he had only made it passed the first memory before Harry threw off the curse, again yelling, "STOP!".

Over and over again they did it, until Harry could successfully throw it off without even giving Snape a chance to see his memories or thoughts. Snape made to put his wand away to stop, but Harry cried out, "No! Just wait! Can we please do it a few more times? I think I may be able to do it without shouting this time!"

Snape was having a hard time restraining himself from grinning; he never thought he'd see the day when Harry Potter would want to spend more time with him than needed.

"I think that that is enough for today, Harry," he said, and Harry just asked him again.

"Please?" he asked, putting on a pouting face, his voice pleading. "Please just try once more? I know that I can do it this time!"

Again, Snape tried hard not to give in, but this was just too hard. Merlin, how he hated it when people pouted like that. Besides, Harry seriously wanted to do this, so Snape finally agreed.

"All right," he said. "But only once more!" Harry grinned and positioned himself. Snape pulled his wand back out, and said, "One, two, three – Legilimens!" He had only had it there for a second though, when the curse suddenly was lifted from Harry. However, instead of just stopping, Snape felt the familiar sensation in his head, and saw memories that were not Harry's flying through his mind.

He was sitting in a big, empty room, staring at the wall in front of him, thinking about how much he hated his life. Then he was suddenly in a larger room, much like a hall, kneeling before the Dark Lord with his arm outstreched , waiting to be branded. The memory suddenly changed again, and he was sitting in his room, still quite young, as he clenched a small knife in his hand, before placing it over his rwist and pressing down.

Finally, Snape seemed to realize what was going on, and shouted, "ENOUGH!" just as he had that night almost half a year ago when Harry had last broken into his thoughts. He stared at the boy in front of him, who had fallen to the ground. Harry stared up into Snape's face, his eyes completely opened and wide as could be. Snape felt his face grow red, and then turned on his heel and walked from the room, Harry's shouts becoming fainter with each step.

A/N2: All right, that's the end. I'll try to update again on Sunday night with the next chapter, since I'll be gone this weekend. Thank-you to those that review this chapter, and to those that reviewed the last:

To yellowpages: I'm glad that you remember this story, and that you like it so much! And to answer your question, no, I'm not from Britain – I'm actually from Minnesota, in the USA. Britishisma...hmm...interesting word...I'm going to take that whole line as a compliment...

To foolishangel87: Glad to know that you still like it! And I'm think I'm going to take the crying part as a compliment – correct if it should be the other way around. Thank-you so much for the review!

Earendil'sgirl: lol. All right, so I got just a wee bit exaggerated...okay, make that really over exaggerated. I have actually discovered that all myself, and so have other people that have read this story on different sites. I apologize for being unrealistic, but this is the oringinal story, and I'm just going to leave it the way it is. I appreciate the review.

To selua: lol. Yes, I had to end that one. But that's what 'angst' is all about, isn't it? Glad to know you like it!

To Read300300: Thanks for the review, and glad to know you like the story!!

As I said, please review. Those are always appreciated!

Hugs,

SiriusBlack4Ever