A/N: Interesting fact of the day: I wrote the dueling scene to the sounds of the 1812 Overture, which is my favorite overture. That might explain a little. Also, I was a little bit shaken writing the end because I thought I'd ran over a cat, but found out that there was not acat. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Disclaimer: I own nothing... especially not Harry Potter

Happy Reading!

Chapter Two – Getting Owned

Harry, Ron and Hermione strolled about the grounds, talking about their new Defense Against the Arts teacher.

"I kind of like her," Hermione said. "I mean, she can actually teach, can't she? That's what's most important in the end. Maybe we could learn something."

"And she hates Snape," Ron added joyfully. "If that doesn't say anything, nothing does."

Harry had stayed rather quiet during this entire conversation thus far. Harry liked Kent well enough, but found her magical ability almost alarming. He was sure Hermione must have noticed, too, for her expression was thoughtful. Harry had one other thing on his mind as well.

"Dumbledore said I'm getting a new Occlumency instructor," Harry announced.

Ron and Hermione both turned to him.

"I bet you anything it's Kent," Ron said. "She looks like the type that would be a good Legilimens."

Kent fell into step with them.

"Actually, I'm quite lousy at Legilimency."

Ron and Harry jumped. Hermione turned and gave a polite smile to the professor, who returned it. Miranda turned to Harry.

"I was hoping I could have a word with Harry, if you don't mind my interrupting," Miranda said.

"Sure, we'll just leave then," Hermione said, and grabbed Ron's arm.

Miranda laughed.

"No, you can stay if you like; it's nothing secret," She said, and then turned to Harry. "You will come to my office on the morrow for your first lesson. Five o' clock would be best, I think."

"So you are my Occlumency teacher, then?" Harry asked.

Miranda nodded and replied, "I sure am. I have a feeling that with some practice, you'll be a right Occlumens. Professor Snape said that you were no good, but –"

"He never really gave me a chance," Interrupted Harry angrily. "He was always just wanting to tell me I was terrible."

Miranda smiled softly.

"I thought that much," She replied, then lowered her voice so that only the trio could hear her. "Trust me, I can deal with Severus Snape. Are you three coming to the Dueling Club?"

The trio exchanged dark looks. Hermione was the first to meet Miranda's cheerful gaze.

"Well, Professor, a few years ago they tried a dueling club," Hermione said. "And it didn't go too well."

Miranda appeared thoughtful for a moment before turning back to Hermione. Miranda was wearing a slightly mischievous grin that made Harry's insides squirm uncomfortably. Somehow, Harry had the feeling that something was up.

"Well this year, Professor Snape and I are co-hosting. Does that say enough for you, or do I need to tell you that this won't be boring?" Miranda said, smirking.

Ron and Harry exchanged looks that spoke for themselves. Unfortunately, they didn't speak for Miranda, so Harry was forced to speak.

"We'll be there, Professor Kent."

"See you all later then!" Miranda said, and waved as she walked off.

"I think Kent is the best thing to happen to our school since Dumbledore," Ron said with glee as they began walking towards the lake.

Hermione appeared thoughtful and slightly scornful.

"She doesn't seem to get along well with Snape, though," Hermione said.

"Do any of us?" Harry interjected.

"Well, not students. But she's a Professor. I think that maybe she forgets sometimes that she's not our age," Hermione, who didn't believe that 'fun' and 'learning' could be in the same sentence without the word 'isn't' said.

Ron snorted. "Who cares? She's a great teacher – the best since Lupin. I've actually managed to do a nonverbal spell." He paused, a thought drifting across his mind. "I wonder if she can duel."

"Looks like we'll be finding out tonight," Said Harry gravely.

o-o-o

Harry, accompanied by Ron and Hermione, headed off with the crowd towards the Great Hall, which, they imagined, was set up much like it had been back in their second year. Their suspicions were correct, and they found places as close to the stage as they could find. Harry searched the crowd for the faces of Snape and Kent, and found both of them standing on the other side of the stage. Kent winked at Harry, and Harry was reminded alarmingly of Tonks before her depressed streak. As the bells chimed six, Snape raised his wand. The doors of the Great Hall closed and everyone fell silent. Snape went up the steps and took place at center stage.

"In these dark and dangerous times, the Headmaster feels that it is necessary to teach you how to duel properly, seeing as a few years ago's attempt was a fiasco." He peered around the room, giving off his usual aura of menace; Harry suddenly felt sorry for Kent for having to face Snape. "This year, we have a far more competent teacher and possibly more able students. We shall proceed. My colleague –"

At this, Kent jumped up and onto the stage, beaming. She put an arm around Snape's shoulders and finished his sentence for him, which he did not seem to appreciate in the slightest.

"We will be here to assist and demonstrate the proper way to duel. We are trained professionals and we know how to counter every jinx that we use, so there will be no permanent damage…"

"Bet Snape'll 'forget' how to counterjinx anything he throws at Kent," Ron muttered darkly. "Look at his face."

"…Please don't try this at home, and keep your heads, bodies and extremities away from the stage at all times during the demonstration. Caution: you may get wet. Thank you."

Snape scowled and plucked her arm off of him as he stepped away from her.

"Thank you for that," Snape said darkly.

They stood back to back in the center of the stage, turned, bowed to each other, turned again, and began to step in opposite directions. Harry remembered with a pang his first duel with Voldemort. The student body watched with wide eyes, waiting for the fun stuff to begin. Ron leaned across Hermione and whispered in Harry's ear.

"Five knuts on Snape."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Hermione snapped in a whisper. "We haven't seen her duel before. She probably takes it must more seriously than everything else."

"Hermione's right," Harry said, not taking his eyes off the stage. "She's no Lockhart."

"One, two, three, go!" Shouted Snape, and the duel began.

Both professors spun around. Snape, his wand out, sent a hex at Kent, for she didn't have a wand that he could disarm her of. Kent held up her left hand and conjured a shield, which reflected the hex. At the same time, she made a wave with her right hand and sent a blue-colored jinx towards Snape. Snape managed to block both the reflected hex and the jinx, but was not quite quick enough to catch a third that Kent sent his way with her left hand. It hit him in the chest and he fell back onto the ground. He sat up, but seemed to have lost all control of his legs, for they just sat there, useless. He attempted to jinx Kent, but Kent was way ahead of him. There was a flash of light, smoke, and the two professors were momentarily lost from view. People began muttering rowdily, but when the smoke cleared, both professors were still there.

Kent stood there, her hands cupped together as if she was holding water, muttering wildly under her breath and her whole body poised in concentration. Snape took this time to repair his legs and stand, and a ball of light had formed in Kent's hands as if it were coming directly from her body. It looked as if Kent was giving up some of herself to make this thing, for it seemed to be causing her great pain to do it; her eyes were slammed shut and her teeth were clenched. The ball of light took the shape of a raven and flew out of her hands, a silvery, gliding attacker. Snape tried to get rid of it, but it seemed impenetrable by magic; the spells merely bounced off and dissolved. Hermione gave a gasp of shock as the raven hit Snape and he instantly fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Nobody said anything, for Kent was still concentrated, and the raven flew back towards her and into her hands. With a second flash of light, the silvery bird had melted back into her hands. She looked up, chest heaving, and took a sweeping bow. The Great Hall positively exploded with applause and cheers; mostly everyone, minus the Slytherins, had wanted to see Snape defeated. Grinning slightly, though she fought to keep a poker-face, she ran back over to bring Snape back to the real world. She touched his temples with her fingertips and his eyes snapped open. Snape slowly got to his feet, obviously upset about being defeated by a woman younger than him, and tried to look dignified. Harry and Ron whooped loudly, while Hermione continued to look puzzled.

"How did she do that?" she wondered aloud. "I've never seen that before, nor heard of it. It was amazing!"

"Who cares?" Ron said, shaking the feeling back into his hands before continuing to applaud. "She completely murdered him!"

"Snape got owned," Harry said in glee. "I just hope his mood's improved by Potions class tomorrow."

o-o-o

Snape's mood hadn't improved at all by the next day. In fact, he was on the verge of exploding and took five points from Gryffindor when Hermione raised her hand. Snape's mood was not helped at all by the fact that Harry's Potions class had an unexpected, and most certainly unwelcome, visitor.

Snape was sitting down at his desk correcting papers while the class struggled over a highly complicated dittany-based healing drought. Harry had just poured his dittany into his cauldron and was stirring it when the door burst open with a bang. Miranda strode in and everyone looked up at the noise, Snape included. Harry noticed with some discomfort that Snape was struggling to compose himself and that a vein in his neck had begun to throb.

"Must you kick in the door like that every time you enter a room?" Snape asked irately, looking as menacing as he could whilst being professional.

"Actually, yes," Kent answered simply. "It feels good; you should try it sometime."

"What do you want?" Snape spat through clenched teeth.

She shrugged.

"I just wanna see how you teach. Don't mind me; I'm just going to watch." Kent replied, striding up to Snape's desk and leaning against it, her combat boots making a faint jingling noise.

"Get out," Snape commanded in a forced calm, pointing angrily towards the door.

"But you said I have to do things your way," Miranda said innocently, batting her eyelashes in mock flirtation. "I don't know what 'your way' is, so how can I possibly do things 'your way'?"

Snape stared at her for a moment with a look of pure loathing on his face, and then pointed to a chair in the corner without taking his cold, black eyes off her.

"Watch. Do not speak. Do not interrupt," Were Snape's icy commands.

Miranda saluted him, turned on her heel, and began walking towards the corner. Snape sighed and set his eyes back on the essay he was flunking. He would usually prowl along the rows, sneering at the pathetic work of his students, but he was really too far behind on correcting. Now where was he…

"Oh Harry, best not stir that many times, you'll make it too thick. Stick with seven clockwise turns and add a counterclockwise one for more potency."

"Thanks, Professor."

Snape looked up to see Miranda standing over Harry's cauldron, his ladle in her hand. Snape stood up.

"Corner!" He said loudly, and Miranda handed Harry his ladle back without a word and began sulking to the corner.

Snape, after watching her walk, turned back to his papers. After a few moments, he heard and ignored the scraping of a chair. And then he heard voices muttering to one another. Overjoyed at the prospect of docking points and handing out detentions, he looked up only to see Miranda sitting in Ron's chair, muttering to him as she poured over his cauldron. Snape stood up again, knocking his chair onto the floor.

"Miss Kent, what are you doing?" Snape said loudly, trying to remain calm.

Miranda looked up.

"Mr. Weasley needed some help, Severus," Miranda said. "How can you possibly expect him to get it right if he doesn't know what he's doing? Shouldn't you show them the proper way to do it first?"

Snape lost control.

"GET OUT!" Snape shouted. "I DO NOT NEED YOU TELLING ME HOW TO TEACH, NOW GET OUT!"

Miranda jumped up in alarm, but quickly regained her composure. She strode across the room to the door and walked out. Before she left, however, she stuck her head back in the room and smirked. She saw that the vein in Snape's neck was pulsing rather rapidly.

"I know a really great Healer who can fix that," She said, gesturing to her own neck in the spot where the vein was. "Right there."

"OUT!"

Miranda put her hands in the air defensively.

"Sorry, I'm leaving, I'm leaving. Talk to you later, Sevvy."

With that, she was gone. Snape looked back at the class, most of which seemed to be holding in laughter and concealing grins behind their cauldrons, books and hands. He gave them all a look that clearly said the first person to call him "Sevvy" would never see the light of day again.

o-o-o

Harry knocked softly on Professor Kent's door.

"Enter."

Harry slowly pushed open the door to Kent's office and instantly felt as if he'd walked into a giant, multi-colored patchwork quilt. The main wall was covered with all different colored sticky notes. They all had the same untidy scrawl on them, but bore different messages. Kent must have noticed the look on Harry' face, for she laughed.

"I see you like my wall," She said.

She stood up and plucked a blue sticky note off the wall and read it aloud.

"Five o' clock. Harry Potter. Occlumency."

She crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the rubbish. She summoned Harry forward and they sat on the ground together, Harry feeling somewhat awkward.

"I'm dead forgetful, Harry," Kent explained. "I have to write everything on sticky notes so I don't forget it. Everything. Birthdays, memos, appointments, you name it."

"That's interesting, Professor," Harry said politely, not sure what else he could say.

Kent laughed.

"Harry, when I'm teaching you Occlumency, I want you to be as comfortable as possible, because I know this is not just a walk in the park for you. When it's just you and me, learning Occlumency, I am Miranda. Also, everything said in this room is strictly confidential; every memory we might break into; every story; every confession."

"Okay, Prof –er – Miranda," Harry said, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable and wondering what confessions she was talking about.

"Good," Miranda said, clapping her hands together once. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Sure."

"Alright. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to begin with a story." Miranda said, keeping conversational eye contact with Harry and secretly marveling at how green his eyes were – like his mother's.

Harry nodded and shifted on his pillow slightly. Miranda took a deep breath and began her story.

"Okay, here we go. Once upon a time, back when I was young and innocent-er than I am now," Miranda said, and Harry chuckled slightly. "I learned something about myself."

She broke off at this point and gave Harry a very serious look.

"Harry, in order for this story to make sense, I need to tell you something very, very secret. Only Dumbledore knows why I am in hiding, which I am. The other professors do not know why, but they know that I must not be revealed to anybody, because Voldemort is after me. Do you think you can keep that a secret? I will enclose the full story at better time – when your Occlumency skills are up to whack."

"I can, Miranda," Harry said quietly. "So – so you and me, we're in the same boat?"

"Kind of," Miranda replied. "Voldemort wants to kill you, am I correct?"

Harry nodded slightly.

"Well, he wants to recruit me," She said. "In case you haven't noticed, my magical abilities are slightly, well, more advanced than the average wizard. I can do some things that even Voldemort cannot do."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well, that will, like I said, be told a different story. It is quite an interesting story and I wish to do it justice."

Harry squirmed slightly; those sounded very much like the words of Dumbledore.

"Now, Harry, I believe you're taking rather inconsistently organized lessons from Professor Dumbledore?" She asked and Harry nodded. "Okay, well, bearing complications, we'll be meeting every Tuesday and Thursday from now on, alright?"

Harry nodded. Miranda gave him the thumbs up.

"Good. Now, we've wasted precious time, so let's begin."

She made a gesture like shooting a handgun and the lights went out. Another gesture, and several candles came out of nowhere around them.

"Okay, my story. Once upon a time, long, long ago, I learned that I had some interesting powers. It took me years, but I eventually perfected them and whatnot. Then, the rise of Voldemort happened and yada yada yada, so I had to hide for my own sake. Now, in order to hide, I had to properly be able to do Occlumency," Miranda said as the candles flickered all around them. "I could not do Legilimency, and I still can't as well as I'd like to be able to. Learning to do Occlumency was terribly difficult for me, because I was always very emotional. Much like you, if I'm not mistaken. So, I struggled with regular training and eventually came to realize that it wasn't working for me. So I tried a different approach and had something very interesting occur. Do you know what that was?"

Harry shook his head.

"Success. I had success, Harry, and it was almost instant. Now let's see if what worked for me works for you."

"Okay," Harry replied.

"Close your eyes."

Harry did. Miranda did, too, but opened one eye to see if Harry was doing as she had instructed.

"Now, Harry, instead of trying to clear your mind completely, I want you to focus on one thought, one memory, almost like with a patronus. You don't need to choose a happy memory, just a memory."

"Got it, Profe – Miranda," Harry said quickly.

"Good, now, focus on this memory as you would with a patronus. Let it fill you up and whatnot. I'm now going to attempt to break into your mind, which I'm not much good at. However, I have been practicing, so I would be surprised if you managed to block me. Ready?"

Harry nodded shortly with his eyes still closed and his mind focused.

"Legilimens!"

Harry fought to keep the memory in his mind, but it was slowly being picked away by Miranda; he could feel it. This was, though, much different than when Harry had been with Snape. Harry was conscious of what was going on, he was in control. He pushed back with his mind, fighting back against Miranda's attack. Though his energy was quickly draining, his effort doubled and with an almighty push, he heard Miranda gasp and he was seeing images that most certainly did not belong in his head – A little girl was opening her Hogwarts letter…. A group of people standing around a teenager, laughing…. The same teenager firing hexes in all directions, knocking down students as she ran past…. A grown-up, yet still young Miranda, running down a narrow street, being grabbed from behind and wheeled around to come face-to-face with Voldemort himself…

Harry quickly retreated as fast as he could from her mind. He gasped for air when he came back into the real world to find that he was on his back, tears pouring down his face and a great sadness weighing down on him. Miranda was in a similar condition, only more intense. Harry struggled to regain his composure and sat himself up, wiping his face. Miranda sat up, too, only she kept crying.

"I'm sorry Professor, I didn't mean to –" Harry said in a panicky voice, but his sentence was left unfinished as he found himself being tightly hugged by his professor.

"I saw such terrible things, Harry, I'm so, so sorry," She said, still crying.

She quickly let him go, though, and wiped her eyes.

"I was not expecting that," she said as she sniffled. "I think, correct me if I'm wrong, that you saw my memories?"

Harry, realizing that tears were still sliding down his face, wiped them away and nodded.

"Well then I am correct. You see, we were both pushing so hard – you an ammeter Occlumens and me, an ammeter Legilimens – that we accidentally swapped images for a moment. Interesting, very interesting."

Harry and Miranda stared at each other for another moment, both feeling very strange. Harry wondered what the memories he had witnessed meant. How could Miranda, an energetic and otherwise happy person, have such terrible memories? He wondered what she had seen; what memories could have driven her into such tears? Harry cleared his throat nervously.

"What did you see?"

Miranda looked up as if she were confused by the question.

"Just flashes of things," Miranda said, shrugging. "Not very good things at all, but just flashes."

Harry, whose eyes were now dry, looked around the room and waited for the Professor to regain her composure. She did quickly, and stood up.

"Well, Harry, I think that's all we should do for tonight," Miranda said. "Come back on Tuesday and we'll give it another shot. You don't need to practice anything, except maybe focusing on one particular moment."

Harry nodded numbly and they walked to the office door. They walked outside the office and into the corridor.

"See you tomorrow, Harry," Miranda said, heading towards her room.

"Bye," Harry replied, starting off for Gryffindor Tower.

o-o-o

Miranda, who was completely exhausted form the day's efforts, was getting ready for bed when her door opened and Severus came in, looking irritable. She looked up at him for a moment, a white lollipop stick dangling from her mouth. Snape opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and furrowed his brows.

"What the -? Oh, I thought for a moment that you were smoking."
She laughed and stuck the lolly in the side of her cheek.

"No, I don't smoke," she replied. "What brings you here anyway? It's a bit late."

Both glanced up at the clock on the wall to see that eleven 'o clock PM was drawing near. Miranda continued to bustle about, pulling her shades shut and arranging her clothes for tomorrow. She was listening to what he was saying, even though it might not have appeared that way.

"How did you do that thing today?"

"What thing?" She asked, pulling open the hangings around her bed.

"That – that thing you did. With the raven. It was… I've never seen it before."

Miranda shrugged, though her heart was hammering in her chest. Severus always made her feel like she should be on her guard. She'd always been a good actress, or at least good enough. And an Occlumens. She quickly applied Occlumency against Snape, for she felt him trying to probe about in her mind.

"I don't know," Miranda said. "It just sort of came to me."

"Really?" Severus said. "Well, I don't believe you for a moment, and you needn't lie to me; I know that you've got some sort of secret. Lying is merely disrespectful. And that brings me to the other thing I wanted to touch upon. You don't seem all that –"

Miranda held up her finger and the door swung shut. Severus heard the lock click and he looked at her with an uncertain expression.

"What exactly are you -?"

"Turn around and keep talking – I'm listening to you," Miranda said.

Severus reluctantly turned around, not knowing why, and then he heard the rustle of clothing. She was getting changed. Here. With him in the room. What kind of woman was she anyway, playing games like this? Severus shook his head to clear and organize his thoughts and kept talking as if woman changed around him all the time.

"And I came to demand a little more respect from you. Students respect me and lately that respect has been dwindling…"

"Alright, you can turn around now."

Severus turned around and was relieved to see that Miranda was dressed in, not something provocative, but rather a simple grey shirt and some shorts. He took a breath and continued his monologue.

"And a little personal space would be greatly appreciated, too. You really do need to stay away from me, if you don't mind," Severus said bitterly.

"We run into each other quite often," Miranda said, twirling her lollipop subconsciously between her teeth.

"Yes, I have noticed that," Severus continued. "Oh yes, and don't call me by my first name in front of students. 'Professor Snape' would do just fine."

"What about 'Serpent King of Cruelty'?" Miranda asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"No, I don't think so," Severus said. "In fact, why don't you just not talk to me at all? I thought you hated me anyway."

Miranda stood up and walked over to him, lolly dangling from between her teeth.

"I don't hate you," She said, and he caught a whiff of her fruity breath. "Sure, you're a greasy, controlling, mean git who swoops down on children like an overgrown bat for entertainment, but I really don't hate you. Heck, I kind of like you, in a twisted, bizarre way."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure of that? Because I can't stand you."

"Then why do you keep visiting me in my bedroom?" Miranda asked, smirking.

When Severus didn't reply she laughed out loud and began ushering him to the door.

"Goodnight, Severus," She said sweetly, pulling open the door and pushing him outside it.

Severus turned around in the doorway to argue, but she pulled her lollipop out of her mouth and stuck it in his before he could speak.

"Shut up and goodnight," Miranda said cheerfully, and closed the door in his shocked face.

Severus stared at the door in astonishment for a moment before taking the lolly by the stick and pulling it out of his mouth. He looked at it for a moment, shrugged, and popped it back in his mouth.

"I really do love grape."

o-o-o

Meanwhile, somewhere not so far away, Voldemort was sitting in a high armchair by the fire, tapping the tips of his long fingers together as he thought. A knock on the door caused him to wheel around, and he saw Lucius standing in the doorway, an evil grin on his face.

"What is it?" Voldemort asked impatiently.

Lucius bowed low and put his hands behind his back before saying in his silky voice,

"My Lord, she is at Hogwarts."

A/N: Dun dun DUN!...? More soon, I imagine.