Disclaimer : All characters in the story are owned by J.K Rowling.
A/N : This is my first fanfiction, and I'm so thrilled! I personally dislike authors that abandon their stories for whatever reason, I sincerely hope I wouldn't be one of them. I had drafted the outline for the whole story and will try to update as soon as possible. Please feel free to leave comments, both positive and negative. Hope you enjoy my story. Yeah!
Chapter 1 : A Not So Usual Occlumency
Harry Potter dozed off at the couch of Gryffindor common room, holding a rolled up parchment. He had a tiring day. Besides having painful detention with Umbridge, that is, spending more than two hours 'writing lines', he also finished two one foot essays for Charms and Transfiguration, which were both due the day after.
"Harry, it's 6.45 in the evening, aren't you having remedial potions with Professor Snape at 7 o'clock sharp? You really must get going." Harry woke up with a start by the not so soft reminder from one of his best friends, Hermione Granger. It took him a few seconds to process Hermione's words, his brain still waking from the brief nap. Realizing that he was expected to arrive at his most hated place in Hogwarts, Snape's office, for his most hated subject, Occlumency, with his most hated professor, Snape, in less than ten minutes, he couldn't help but groan inwardly. Cursing under his breath, he got up and messily piled his school books before leaving the common room. He managed to hear his other best friend, Ron Weasley's 'good luck' wish before the portrait slammed closed behind him. "I really do need luck today," Harry thought to himself.
He arrived at Snape's door with just seconds to spare. Without waiting to catch his breath, he knocked. "Enter." Snape sounded particularly bothered and snappy today, not a good sign for Harry. He opened the door and uttered his greeting, still panting slightly. "Five points from Gryffindor for running in the corridors." Harry sighed. Yes, he had been running, but Snape couldn't possibly have seen him, and he couldn't deduct house points based on assumptions. However, Harry could feel that Snape wasn't in a good mood, and he didn't want to make his usually exhausting Occlumency lessons any harder, so he just bit back his rebuttal.
Snape looked up after marking the final parchment with an E. "Definitely not mine," thought Harry. He rarely receives pass grades for Potions despite his essay being adapted from Hermione's. "Let's not waste time. I expect you to have practiced clearing your mind. Legilimens."
Harry's mind was penetrated by Snape almost immediately. Memories after memories were watched by Snape despite Harry's effort to break the connection. Perhaps exhaustion had affected him. Quidditch cup. Basilisk. Triwizard tournament. First kiss with Cho. Dementors. Snape had seen these memories in the previous lessons. Harry was still trying hard to pull away, to no success, while Snape was simply flipping through memories without much concentration. Suddenly, a new collection of memories appeared from nowhere. It caught Snape's attention instantly, for it was set at a house he had never seen in other memories.
Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon was whipping Harry with his belt for not finishing household chores on time. Aunt Petunia clutching Harry's hand to place it on a steaming kettle for overcooking sausages. Harry being punched by Dudley and his gang just for fun. Harry starved because he got better grades than Dudley in exams...
"Stop it!" Harry yelled, finally managing to push Snape out of his mind. He was sweating and panting profusely while Snape looked dumbfounded. This wasn't the upbringing Snape had expected. It was impossible for that spoiled, arrogant Potter brat to be treated so harshly by his relatives. Desperately trying to make sense of what he had just seen, light dawned on Snape.
"POTTER! YOU FOUL! TRYING TO GET MY PITY BY MODIFYING YOUR MEMORY? I'M NOT THE IDIOT YOU HOPE I MIGHT BE!" Snape bellowed, having thought that Harry tampered with his own memories to trick him. True, Harry had never shown respect towards Snape, but he had not expected Harry to try making a fool of him.
Harry, on the other hand, was relieved by the excuse provided to him by Snape. He had never planned for Snape to view his darkest pasts, let alone acknowledge them. Snape's knowledge of these memories would soon be shared to all Slytherins, and Harry could visualize their taunts. He would willingly let Snape believe these memories to be false despite the price of Snape treating Harry more cruelly than ever, if his cruelty had not reached maximum point yet. So, he merely nodded to Snape's accusation, inwardly bracing for Snape's next outburst. "GET OUT OF MY OFFICE! NOW!" Snape was at the verge of hitting Harry. Harry took it as a chance to escape, and scurried away thankfully.
Still muttering curse words under his breath, Snape willed himself to calm down. When he finally managed to do so, another thought came across him. The false memory charm was not within O.W.L. standard, so Harry would not have mastered it. There was always Hermione, but Snape knew Hermione enough to be positive that she would not help Harry to pull off such a trick. That left only one available answer, the memories were true. Snape felt his heart sink when he reached that conclusion. No child deserved such brutality, not even Potter.
That night, Snape couldn't sleep. Despite all his efforts, his mind was replaying Harry's memories, hearing the agonized screams repeatedly. For the first time since he met Harry, Snape was engulfed by empathy and guilt.