Delays, Delays! Curse them all! Hope you're all still here with me! ;)

For anyone who wondered, Raven Umbrae, Unlike everything else, is mine! None of you have probably read any of my older stuff, but I work very hard on my characters, and I don't like to share!

Right. Moving on..!

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Lunch time found Harry outside, sitting against a stone barrier that may have been a wall at some point. He knew he should be in the hall, eating with his friends, but he felt the need to sit alone for a few moments.

Professor Umbrae hadn't been so bad. He wasn't sure how she knew about the DA classes, or if she really knew exactly who had been apart of it, he wasn't overly worried about it, because for some reason he felt he could trust her. Even if he didn't, there wasn't much he could do about it now.

He was a little worried though, as he had Occlumency with Snape again tonight, and knew they would actually be working. He grinned a bit, wondering if he'd be able to pull another story out of the git beforehand. Something made him think tonight wasn't going to be as easy as that.

With a sigh, he pulled himself up, using the wall as support until he pushed off and started back toward the castle proper. He was feeling pretty hungry now, and knew the others would worry if he didn't show up soon.

……………………………………………………

Ron settled into his seat at the table, and leaned over toward Neville. "Where's Harry?" He noticed Hermione seemed to be missing too. It wasn't too odd if one of them didn't show- usually being Hermione when she was in the library- but when two out of three were gone, people started to wonder.

Neville shrugged as he picked up a pickle. Ron turned enough to give him a look. "What's with you? You've been awfully quiet since Umbrae's class."

"Nothin'" He mumbled, but Ron poked him in the shoulder.

"C'mon then, out with it! You looked like you were going to wet yourself whenever she looked at you!"

A few other Gryffindors looked over and giggled at the statement, but some of those who had been in the same class were curious too. "Yeah Neville, she's not so bad, so what's the problem?" Hermione asked as she stepped up to the table, a roll of parchment tucked protectively in her arm.

Ron smiled at her as she settled in. "'Ey. You seen 'Arry?" He asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

She made a face, making it clear she wasn't about to put up with him speaking with his mouthful. With a shake of her head as his only answer, she looked beck to Neville. "Are you alright?"

He looked a little uncertain. "It's nothing. Really. I'm fine."

She frowned, gathering her own lunch onto her plate. "You really don't look fine. You've been a bit pale all day. Maybe you should stop by the Hospital wing." She said if almost flippantly, but it had the desired effect. Unwilling to think of going to the hospital wing for it, Neville sighed. Everyone leaned close, knowing he was giving in.

"It just something my gram told me once."

"What did she say?"

"She told me once that when 'you-know-who' was about before, there was rumors of 'the eye' lurking around. Gram said the eye can let you see onto the souls of others. Secrets, fears.. hopes and dreams, all laid open for the taking.. like a living Dementor I guess. But they can take those thoughts and turn them against you. Until you lose your mind."

The whole group fell into a hush, then looked to Hermione. She seemed to know everything, and they were waiting for her to tell him his gram was full of it. Or atleast, hoping she would.

Hermione didn't just say he was wrong. Frowning, she looked at the parchment and frowned. Looking hesitant, everyone began looking around anxiously, unsure of what to do. Hermione looked towards the staff table, where both Slytherin instructors' places were vacant.

"I wonder where Harry is.."

"I'm right here." He smiled, unaware of the discussion as he seemed to materialize out of nowhere. "What's going on?"

The students seemed to relax a bit with his presence. Hermione held up the parchment by the silver ribbon that held it in it's rolled form. "I think we need to talk."

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In the dungeons, Umbrae was sitting at her desk, idly rubbing the neck of her Owl as she stared off into space. The classroom was completely dark, the enchanted window was gone, the stone wall unscathed in it's place. The candles remained at each table, but none were lit.

She sat in a very relaxed position, sunken down in the chair, her right leg propped up atop a small, yet heavy wooden chest sitting on the floor next to her chair.

Severus could tell, as soon as he stepped through the door, that she had something on her mind. He stepped forward, confidently. The soft glow from the tip of his wand died as he tucked it away. He'd kept it out just long enough to assure that she hadn't moved the room around since he last saw it. With any luck, his memory would be correct, and guide him through the tables without any mishaps. It certainly wouldn't do to look like a fool, especially when she was watching him.

And watching she was. Though she didn't acknowledge his entrance, she'd been pulled from her thoughts by the glow of his wand. The glow was gone, but her eyes followed his progress through the room, until he produced a chair and sat before her desk.

"I trust the room was to your specifications?" He asked, completely professional in tone.

"It will suffice." She frowned a bit, and dropped her gaze to the desk in reproach of herself. She hadn't meant to sound so.. cold. "Thank you for your effort on my behalf."

While he hadn't seen her frown, he watched the glowing specks of her eyes dip down, as she corrected herself. Truth be told, he wasn't surprised by her cold tone. After all, it had been years since they'd seen or spoken to each other, he certainly hadn't been expecting to have the same familiarity that they had as students.

"I was not expecting to see you here." She stated plainly, her eyes once again coming to bear on him. "Albus did not tell me you were teaching here."

"No, I suspect he wouldn't." 'Curse the old man and his games!'

She had closed her eyes, or put her shades on, he was not sure which. He waited for her to speak, unsure of what else needed to be said. Silence reigned for what seemed an eternity before he felt a hand rest lightly on his shoulder. "I was wrong." She stated softly. The hand left his shoulder, and he could her the shuffling of her robes as she moved towards the door.

He made no move to go after her, he simply stared through the darkness to where she had been.

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Later that night, the Gryffindor common room was almost quiet. Some of the younger students were working together at one of the tables, others scattered about playing chess, reading of simply conversing with their friends.

Near the fire, our trio convenes. "Alright Hermione." Harry looked to his friend and nodded toward the parchment. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

She nodded slowly, still holding onto the roll. "It's part of it. I really think there's something we need to discuss, but we can't do it out in the open. I know you're busy with your occlumency, but this could be important."

"Neville wasn't entirely wrong." At Harry's clueless look, she filled him in on the part of the lunch conversation that he had missed. Harry was quiet as she spoke.

"Is it true? Can she really do that?"

She shifted in her seat a little and sighed. "I'm not sure what extent it could go to. But I was in the library working on my Arithmancy report and decided to see what I could find. There's a lot here that she failed to mention, and yet, it's incomplete. So I can't be sure."

"What else is there?" Ron asked, popping a chocolate frog into his mouth and trying to look unconcerned.

"Well, the book said there were different ways the powers of the Eye could effect people. Remember how I said that she could sense the presence of other beings?"

Harry nodded. "Both living and dead. What about it?"

"Well, if I understand this correctly, it's really the souls that she's seeing, not sensing any presence at all." They both looked confused, so she tried to elaborate. "Ok, if you tried to sneak up behind her, you couldn't do it. She'd see you."

"She's got eyes in the back of her head?"

'Trust Ron to ask something so silly!' she groaned mentally. "No! Listen. Think of Moony's magic eye; it could turn in any direction, and even see behind him, right?" The boys nodded. "Ok, her sight it kind of like that. She can see all the way around, within a certain radius."

"How far?" Harry asked, curious.

"It depends on how powerful she is. It could be a few meters, it could be a few kilometers." She shook he head and went back to her explanation. "Anyway, if she is powerful enough to look into your soul, then it's plausible that she could.. alter things. As Neville stated."

"Did the book say that?"

She nodded. "It said that the more powerful the bearer, the more abilities the eye would have, including a range of mental abilities.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry stood abruptly, causing a few of the other students to glance in his direction. He mumbled an apology for his outburst and sat down again.

"Harry?"

"She told me after class today.. that I had done well with the DA group.. and that she knew all about it, and even who was in it!"

"You think she pulled it out of your mind?"

Harry was silent, angry that the whole thing was compromised now. Hermione frowned, but placed a hand on his knee encouragingly. "Don't panic yet. We don't know what her intentions are, or if she can really do this at all."

"How else would she know who was in the group?"

"We can't jump to conclusions. We'll have to keep observing her and learning more. Didn't you say Professor Snape knew her from school?"

He frowned again. Hadn't they agreed not to speak of that?

"Just see if you can get any information out of him. Ok?"

He nodded a bit, then glanced at the clock. His eyes widened a bit as he grabed his stuff and made for the portal. "I'm going to be late!"

………………………………………………………………..

Severus looked at the clock again. The boy was late. His eyes narrowed as he heard a clamor in the hall, just moments before the door opened and Harry slipped into the room.

He looked away from the clock, pinning the boy with his gaze. "Eight o'clock does not mean five after. Five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness."

Harry nodded, looking down to the floor. He expected that, and offered no excuses, lest more points be taken.

"Sit." He did so, looking to the instructor. "Calm yourself. You're useless to me in that condition." Snape stood from behind his desk and slipped into an adjoining room, leaving Harry to himself for the moment.

Harry took a deep breath, two, three.. he lost count. He was trying not to get angry, but wasn't doing so well at it. 'No use to HIM? He's supposed to be helping me!' Finally, the professor returned, and held vial out to him. Inside the glass was a clear, pale yellow liquid.

"It will help you focus." At the boys hesitance to take the potion, he smirked. "I assure you that if I were going to poison you, you wouldn't see it coming."

Well, there was that. He glared at the professor all the same. After a moment, he pulled the stopper and downed the liquid in one gulp. Snape nodded slightly, as he leaned against his desk, waiting a few moments until he could visually see the potion working.

"Very well. Tonight, I want to see if you've been practicing on your own at all."

Well, he hadn't really. He hadn't tried at all since he was let out of the impromptu lessons before. "Er.. well.."

Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose irritably. "You haven't tried at all?"

"No sir.." He said softly, sheepishly.

"Very well, I'll just have to remind you as to why you should be practicing." He turned towards him, his wand at the ready. Harry's eyes widened in shock as he realized what he was going to do. He fumbled to grab his wand, but he was too late to fend off the attack. "Legilimens!"

Harry couldn't stop the attack, couldn't even remember how to force the opposing mind back. Memories drifted into his view, flashes of Death Eaters, and the shattering of the prophesy they had tried to protect. The sudden appearance of Dumbledore, and the tragic fall- "NO!" Harry fall back with a loud thud against the closed door. He slid to the floor, panting and glaring angrily at Snape. "You could have warned me to be ready!"

"Your enemies will not be so open." But he did wait, this time, for Harry to ready himself. "Now, clear your mind. Close your eyes and see nothing but space. Think of nothing, and feel nothing."

Harry closed his eyes and envisioned himself floating, nothing in sight. His vision wasn't dark like space, more light, as if he were floating in the dusky, red tinged sky. It seemed easier this time, but he was still angry. He tried to let the anger go, but he couldn't seem to do it.

After a few moments, he was told to open his eyes and ready himself. He did as he was told, but Snape didn't move. "If you can't fend me off, at the very least try to control what I see." Harry wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Snape raised his wand. "Legilimens!"

Harry felt his concentration begin to shatter. Flashes of that same battle within the Department of Mysteries surfaced. Blindly, he groped for something else, anything else. The vision shifted to a less feared memory. The wind through his hair, the tickle of feathers against the back of his hands. He clung to that memory even harder than he had clung to Buckbeak during that flight. All at once, it didn't seem like memory at all, he could feel the muscles pulsing beneath him as the Hippogriff pumped it's wings.

Abruptly, he found himself back in Snape's office, lying face up on the floor; his wand lying uselessly a few feet away.

"You failed to fend me off, and worse yet, you dropped your best means of defense." He didn't yell, and for that, Harry was grateful. "However.. that was certainly a step."

Harry looked to his teacher, almost grateful as he stumbled to his feet, then knelt down to retrieve his wand. "How much of this will actually be useful?"

A brow raised as the question was mulled over. "What are you asking for Potter?"

He thought over his response, not entirely sure what kind of answer he was looking for. "Well.. I mean, is it always like that? Will I always know that someone is trying to find something?"

Snape didn't answer. He moved to sit in his chair, looking thoughtful. "No." He stated simply.

Harry waited a moment for him to extrapolate, but silence prompt him to act. "'No'?" Clearly confused, he righted the chair he had unknowingly knocked over during the lesson. He sat, watching Snape, and wondering if he was going to answer at all.

After a few moments, the elder man shifted, and looked to him. "No. Legilimency is.. difficult. Anyone who attempts it is likely to fail, and in the chance that they are successful, the victim is likely to feel as if his mind has been.."

"Pried open?" He supplied from his own experience.

"Quite. Even so, there are those who are rather adept at the practice. They needn't use wands, and you wouldn't even be aware of their presence. There are others still, who can see into your mind without Legilimency at all."

Harry thought back to what Hermione had said about the Eye, and wondered if it was true. Should he ask? Probably not; there was no way of knowing if Snape would answer, even if he did know.

His thoughtful look didn't go unnoticed. "I suppose you have another question?"

"Actually, I was thinking about what you said in your story the other night.. about the sorting hat almost putting you into Gryffindor." He half-lied. Truthfully, he had thought about it, but it certainly wasn't what he was thinking about right now.

Snape sniffed indignantly, then tried to look unconcerned. "What of it?"

"Well.. it made me think of what Professor Dumbledore said.. About finding common ground." A brow rose again, and Harry continued, knowing he'd at least piqued his curiosity. "Well, when I went through he sorting ceremony, I was almost placed in Slytherin. The hat kept saying I'd do well there.."

The way Harry spoke of it, Snape almost didn't believe him. But he realized that the boy was just being honest. "And?"

"And well.. I kept thinking 'not Slytherin' and the hat.. listened I guess."

Snape's gaze turned into a truly curious one. "Oh? And why not Slytherin?"

Harry had the grace to look embarrassed. After all, here he was, telling the Slytherin Head of House that he vehemently disagreed to being placed there. But turnabout was fair play, and Snape had commented during his story that his father would have been displeased if Severus hadn't gone to Slytherin. "Well.. Ron had told me just a few minutes before that all the Dark Wizards came from Slytherin.."

Snape smirked in his usual manner, then sat back in his chair. "You realize now, that it isn't quite true." It was a statement, not a question, but Harry nodded anyway.

"Yes.. I know they didn't all come from Slytherin.. Even if many of them did. I mean, everyone has the chance of it right? Pettigrew was from Gryffindor." He stated softly, as if that said it all. And really, it said quite a bit. Gryffindor was supposed to be the 'Noble' and 'Just' house, yet even they were not immune to the darkness that dwells within. And now, of course, with everything that Harry had learned about his father being somewhat of a bully, he was forced to realize that even he had not been completely immune. That's to say that Harry believed Snape's words, and what he had seen in the Pensive, but he wasn't quite sure yet, and he couldn't get his father's side of the story.

Snape nodded slightly. "Even if many of those who come from Slytherin go bad, it is simply not true of all of us. Some may even surprise you." He stood and moved to the door, holding it open. "I believe we are done for the night. Practice clearing your mind until the next lesson. And I expect you to do it this time, and not simply tell me you had done so."

Harry nodded glumly and quickly gathered his things before slipping out the door. As he left, he realized Snape, too, was leaving the office. Once he had closed the door, the dark professor moved off in the opposite direction, heading deeper into the dungeons. Harry frowned slightly, wondering where he was off to in such a hurry. His chambers perhaps? He shrugged to himself and headed back to the tower.

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AN: Hope that answered a few questions  More to come!

Thanks for the heads up Julie! The program I use autocorrects, so I must have spelled it wrong the first time and told it to ignore it.. so It just kept matching to the incorrect spelling lol I think it's all fixed now ;)

Coming up: We'll see more memories of Snape's, and learn more about Umbrae. In the meanwhile, the trio has to work out their suspicions and figure out what's going on!