A/N 1: Oh how I love Occlumency...

Chapter 12

Hermione sighed as she opened the door separating her sleeping quarters in the Room of Requirement from the Gryffindor Common Room. She'd just greeted the last shift of DA members, who'd arrived precisely on time to keep the Room open for the evening. The Common Room was almost empty, although Ginny waited for Hermione in an old armchair close to the fire.

"Hi," she said brightly, jumping up out of the armchair. "I thought we could go down to dinner together."

"All right," Hermione said, a little surprised at the girl's genial manner after their frosty conversation the evening before.

They clambered through the portrait hole together, and Ginny kept up continual, gossipy chatter as they descended toward the Great Hall. Hermione felt herself relaxing into the conversation, happy that Ginny seemed to have put the disappointment behind her.

"And you know Michael Corner just loves that kind of thing," the she concluded as they reached the deserted Entrance Hall. She grabbed Hermione's hand, stopping her. "Just a second, 'Mione." Ginny averted her gaze for a moment, as though searching for words, and then went on hesitantly, "I know we don't agree on some things lately, but I want you to know that we are on the same side, even if our ideas turn out to be a bit different."

"I know that, Ginny," Hermione answered, touched by the girl's deferential tone. "And I think we're doing a really good job so far, don't you?"

"Uh huh," Ginny said. "I don't want you questioning my loyalties, that's all."

Ginny looked so uncomfortable then, so different from her usual self, that Hermione enfolded her friend in a hug. Ginny returned the embrace a little hesitantly, shifting about, but then she gave Hermione a squeeze.

"Let's have dinner, shall we?" Hermione said, pulling back.

"Yes, but just one more thing," Ginny said. Hermione raised her eyebrows in question, and Ginny went on, "Are you seeing Snape again tonight?"

Hermione felt herself make a face at the mention of the Headmaster and her meeting with him that evening. She'd barely slept for worrying.

"I have weekly appointments with him," she replied.

"Right," Ginny said, nodding.

She preceded Hermione into the Great Hall, and Hermione felt the worry lodged in the pit of her belly redoubling into something nauseating and filling. She didn't eat a bite of dinner.

The day had passed uneventfully, with the usual shifts of DA members taking over the Room of Requirement, and Neville, Luna and the other DA lieutenants reporting frequently to Hermione. She'd felt as though she and her friends had created an efficient machine that might just run through the year, providing sanctuary and safety for anyone who needed it. She smiled at the distinctly Muggle metaphor as she made her way to Snape's office. Her smile fell away when she reached the statue of the gargoyle, which stood before her stonily.

I can do this, she thought firmly to herself, I have to do this. There is no other choice.

"Silver Chair," she said to the gargoyle, which jumped aside and revealed the staircase. Putting aside the usual prickle of curiosity at the password – isn't that another Muggle band of some sort? – she mounted the stairs. She went over her chakras as she did so, rapidly acknowledging each one, and sending white light down through her crown chakra to illuminate the others.

I am fine, she thought firmly, I will do this.

She knocked at the door, which opened immediately to reveal Professor Snape at his desk, quill scratching, greasy hair falling to obscure his face. Hermione said nothing, but looked up at the empty portraits of the previous headmasters. It was unsettling, she decided, that he dismissed them during these lessons. Impatience grew within her as the silence stretched on – the least he could do would be to greet her. But he wrote on.

"Why do you send them away, then?" she asked the air, unable to stay silent any longer. Her voice rang out in the circular chamber, and now that's she'd begun, Hermione continued, "The portraits, I mean. Why do you send them away during our…"

She trailed off, uncomfortable. The scratching quill paused. Snape inhaled sharply before looking up at her. He looked terrible, and Hermione had to fight the urge to take a step back from him. The darkness of his gaze matched the darkening circles beneath his eyes. His sallow skin looked paler than usual, and his jaw clenched as he took in the sight of her standing before his desk, hands on her hips, daring him to bring whatever this was between the two of them to a start.

"I owe you no explanations, Miss Granger," the reply came at last, accompanied by a curled lip.

He cleared his desk with brisk movements, and then waved his wand. Hermione felt panic suffuse her chest, suddenly certain that he would initiate Legilimency without warning, but he just scowled at her. The chairs, spindly tables, and other furniture moved to stand against the circular walls, clearing the space in the middle of the room.

"Sit down, Miss Granger," he said, indicating the chair he had left for her, and taking a seat for himself. It was hard to meet his eyes now, and so she looked down at the clasped hands in her lap. They hardly seemed to belong to her, with their black ink stains and whitened knuckles. Snape cleared his throat, and she had to look at him instead.

"How are you?" he asked.

Hermione had an answer for him this time.

"Better." He raised his eyebrows in question, and she elaborated. "I've been walking again, and the book you lent me on chakras has helped me sort through my energies a bit. I've read it properly, as you instructed, and I've been practicing some of the exercises to some effect."

"We'll soon see, won't we?" He sneered slightly. "I will perform the same examination as last week, and we will carry on from there."

Hermione felt herself redden, remembering how it felt to have him examine her, but she met his gaze firmly. He was different this week, somehow… he was still calm, still in what she considered to be his professor mode, but she could see his exhaustion and his impatience today. But he needn't take his bad mood out on her.

"Whenever you're ready, Professor," she said, with an insolence she didn't quite feel.

He pursed his lips, and raised his wand. Hermione quashed her nervousness and met his eyes. It was much the same as the previous time, although Snape withdrew even more quickly, leaving Hermione to reel in her chair. He hadn't prodded into the mass of emptiness at the back of her Mind's Eye, but she had felt him do a brief sweep. He traced his thin upper lip with the tip of one long white finger, eyes half-closed. Hermione lost patience.

"Well?"

His eyes snapped to hers.

"I am thinking of what I have learned, Miss Granger. It is a process called consideration."

Hermione felt herself almost swell with indignation, which was quickly punctured by a look from Snape.

"Impatience does not suit the Occlumens, Granger," he said, his voice dripping with disdain. "Nevertheless, I will indulge yours. Your Mind's Eye is nearly the same as it was last week, although the examination tonight did not immediately show the same obvious damage as before. The measures you have taken have been moderately successful thus far."

"Oh. Okay, then," Hermione said, realising that he had almost praised her… if she discounted the insulting preface to his statement. "What's next?"

Next was a lecture. Snape reviewed the Sentinella material, glaring her into silence when she attempted to ask questions, and then he went over other Occlumency techniques he seemed to have developed himself.

"It is an obscure branch of magic," he said, winding down. "As such, there are very few volumes concerned only with Occlumency. You are more likely to find useful material in tangentially-related books, one of which I will lend you at the end of this evening's lesson." He gave her a searching look and then sighed. "Ask your questions now, girl."

She asked and, like last time, he answered. It took time, and eventually Snape peered over his shoulder at the clock above the mantelpiece.

"It is getting late," he said, "and so we will move on to the practical portion of this lesson."

Hermione felt herself go pale. Snape's eyes bored into her own, and he smirked slightly.

"No need to look so worried, Granger. I will demonstrate how you can employ some of Sentinella's methods, and then you will have a chance to do so as well."

He was good to his word: he bade Hermione to perform the spell, and she followed his instructions to sift through the memories within his cool, subtle Mind's Eye, peering into the various pools and attempting to fall into them – only then could she see their full contents. But Snape shifted the Mind's Eye around her, so that she kept stumbling forward into nothing, never getting a handle on what she tried to see. Finally, she withdrew.

"That was…" Hermione trailed off, running a hand through her hair absently. "That was frustrating."

"Indeed? I imagine it must be to one who is used to demanding and receiving information on a continual basis."

She glared at him.

"Actually, I'm one who is used to scouring for information," Hermione replied acidly, thinking of the countless time she'd done so in the library. "What was that…" she gestured vaguely, "that movement you managed?"

"I was employing the links Sentinella discusses. I have a structure in place to carry a Legilimens from one memory to another continually during an attack. This prevents the attacker from seeing complete memories. It is a basic technique, and one that will not work with a truly experienced or determined Legilimens. If I may demonstrate?"

Hermione felt a swoop in her stomach. She nodded.

"Create random links this time, Miss Granger," he said softly. "I will not be pushing hard at all. You will create a more complex network as homework."

She nodded again, and he began the spell.

Hermione's Mind's Eye came up immediately, but disappeared quickly when Snape opened one of the many drawers. Suddenly, Hermione was in an old memory: she sat in a classroom, her wild hair half-tamed into two puffy pigtails, bouncing in her seat while the teacher ignored her. Shame suffused Hermione – he's watching this – and she reached for her Mind's Eye. It came up slowly, with the image of the bouncing girl almost overlaid. She opened a different drawer and grabbed a file. A different memory came up this time, one of Hermione taking a solitary walk through Devon. She felt soothed by the recent memory, but Snape brought up her Mind's Eye again – how is he doing that? – and delved into the same drawer as before. This time, it was a memory of a nine-year-old Hermione sitting on her own at recess, nose in a book, glancing up from time to time to watch the other children run about. Hermione countered that memory with another banal one, and Snape delved – faster this time – back into her childhood. It went like that for a while, until Hermione started tiring, slowing down.

She didn't reel when he pulled back this time, but she closed her eyes for a few moments, trying to collect herself.

"Very good." Hermione looked up sharply. Snape gazed back steadily. "Yes, Granger, I am capable of praising your abilities." He looked down at his fingernails nonchalantly as he continued, "You demonstrated a facility for countering potentially sensitive memories with innocuous ones you have on hand. It was well done, before you began to tire."

"I – th-thank you," she stuttered.

He nodded.

"Next time, I also suggest that you attempt to dismiss me entirely from your mind, especially when your energy begins to flag. Although taking a Legilimens on a wild goose chase can be a good strategy, it backfires when the Occlumens wearies."

"But you haven't told me how to – "

A rumble beneath their feet – and an explosion rocked the castle, sending Hermione tumbling to the floor. A ringing in her ears, dust falling from the ceiling, and Snape kneeling beside her, an arm slung protectively around her shoulders as he muttered a series of incantations. As abruptly as it started, the dust stopped pouring from the ceiling. Hogwarts was silent once more.

The dark man made to pull Hermione to a sitting position by the shoulders, but Hermione frowned and pushed his hands away.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm – I'm fine." She looked herself over. She was covered in dust and grit, but fine. "What was that?"

"I am not sure." He was on his feet and crossing the circular room to peer out one of the windows. "But you will remain here while I deal with it."

"What? No!" She was on her feet, too, already running scenarios in her mind. The DA would know to batten down in their Common Rooms, of course, but she worried about the other students. Her mind flashed to Harry and Ron as well –

"Yes," Snape hissed, glaring over his shoulder at her. "I will expect to find you in precisely that spot when I return. We do not know what has happened, Miss Granger, and I will not have you endangering yourself in a demonstration of Gryffindor stupidity."

He swept from the room before she could reply, and Hermione stamped her foot before she could stop herself.

"Really," a voice said from behind her.

Hermione started and turned around. The previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts had been restored to their frames, and were all staring down at her. The speaker, she saw, was an elderly man whom she did not recognise. Hermione looked around the circle of portraits until she spotted Dumbledore, who gave her a small, sad smile.

"Please sir," she said, approaching the picture. "Can you tell me what's happening?"

He shook his head slightly, but another portrait – this one of a witch with iron-grey hair – snorted.

"Come now, Albus. The girl has a right to know."

"Dilys," Dumbledore replied, glancing at the witch, who scowled, "you know very well that Miss Granger is safe as long as she is in this office. She should not be given any inducement to leave."

Hermione felt a wave of anger overtake her, and then she remembered the Map – of course! She reached into the hidden pocket at her waist. It was empty.

"What?" she cried out, feeling through her other pockets, in her sleeves, before attacking her backpack. No… I've never put it in here…

"And now look, Dumbledore," a snide voice said from above her, "you've driven the girl mad with anxiety."

"Shut UP!" Hermione shouted, and all of the portraits stared at her. The Map. The Map. She'd had it this morning when she'd left the Room of Requirement, and she hadn't needed to look at it this evening – Ginny. She rounded on the portraits. "Tell me what is going on, now, or I will leave this office immediately."

A murmur ran through the circle of portraits, and Hermione turned away in disgust. Map or no, she would find Ginny and… what? Hermione glanced at where the sword of Gryffindor sat glinting in its case. Would Ginny – and Neville and Luna, if she'd managed to recruit them – be on her way up here to retrieve the sword? Should I wait for her, just like Snape instructed? Or should I head her off?

"Ginevra Weasley performed a superb Reductor Curse in the Great Hall six minutes ago. She demolished one side of the staircase and caved in part of the ceiling. There is extensive damage. To my knowledge, she meant to create a diversion for the professors Carrow and Headmaster Snape."

Hermione stared up at Dumbledore, but he'd stopped speaking.

"It worked perfectly," the one he'd called Dilys took up the story, "but the Carrows headed your friends off in the Entrance Hall too quickly for them to – "

Hermione had already turned away. If her friends were in trouble – regardless of what Ginny had done – she would help them. She disregarded the protests arising behind her, and marched out of Snape's office.

A/N 2: Cliffhanger! *runs off cackling madly*