Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I think that's been established.

A/N: All right. You convinced me. One more chapter before I go home. Maybe two… I just couldn't stop myself… Anyway, I'm trying hard to get this done, but honestly I just started it after the last chapter posted, so it'll take me a while to get it done the way I want. Just give me a bit of slack with this one, all right?

BTW: Finals went OK I guess. Chemistry really does suck, though. My friend got an F on her chem. final, and I think I might've maybe pulled off a C. Who knows. Oh well, I'm just glad to be going home now!

On with the story!

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Chapter 14: Another Occlumency Lesson

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Harry watched the clock with a growing depression. The hands seemed to be moving much slower than usual, and each and every tick of the second hand seemed agonizingly slow to him.

Remus had left him alone after half an hour of tense silence. Harry was just happy Remus had gotten the hint and was letting him have some time to himself before disaster arrived.

Because Snape was due back in another hour. Because they had another Occlumency lesson.

The message had come with Tonks at dinner…though she hadn't told him until after his friends had left. Didn't want to ruin the meal.

Ginny had still been distant and fearful when she left and hadn't said anything to Harry, but he ignored it. He hoped she just needed a few days to come to terms with this, and then she'd be back to her regular self.

It bothered him some that Ginny had reacted like she had. But then again, he hadn't spent all of his first year possessed by an evil wizard bent on murdering a friend of his. Of course, he had spent his first year wondering just who on the Hogwarts staff was trying to kill him…

He'd caught Hermione and Ron snogging in the hallway when he was looking for them, too. They'd blushed and Hermione and pretended nothing had happened, and then they said goodbye and left with Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been kind of hoping that they'd be able to stay until later in the evening, but he was glad that they'd been able to come at all. It had been rather empty in the old house with just a few adults and himself around.

He was back in his bed…Sirius's old bed…

The photograph was back in his hands, but this time the images of his parents could not distract him. He was much too worried and irritated at the thought of another Occlumency lesson to be cheered by the antics of the photograph images.

Remus had looked like he wanted to talk with him or something. He'd left before the man had had the chance, but he wondered now if he should have taken the time to really talk to Remus. They hadn't had a chance to just sit and talk in awhile, and Harry really needed to sort a few things out with him.

Like about how far this guardian things was going to go. Because, in case no one else had realized it, he was sixteen now. He wasn't a little boy, and he was pretty sure that the things he'd done over the year proved that more than age ever could. No boys fought Voldemort one on one, alone, in a graveyard.

And he'd done that when he was fourteen. They couldn't call him a child after that, certainly. And so he didn't think that it was really fair of Remus to treat him like he was ten. Reprimanding him over little things like language and some of his comments didn't seem like a really fair deal. He didn't need someone breathing down his back every time he said 'bloody' or 'hell' or 'dammit' or any combination of the three words.

He also didn't need someone telling him what he could or couldn't say about Snape. Remus wasn't a professor anymore. Snape wasn't his colleague. So there was no reason for Remus to be defending him to Harry. He should be able to speak about him however he wanted over the summer.

Hopefully, Remus would understand that. It just depended on when they had their 'talk.' He didn't want to drive Remus away—he liked having that person there that cared about him—but he didn't want to be smothered. It was way too late for someone to jump in and be his overprotective father. What was there left to protect? He'd pretty much seen it all.

He understood that Remus hadn't ever had a child. That he hadn't really interacted with a child, especially not one that he was in any way responsible for. And Harry did understand that he was still legally a child. He just needed to be sure that Remus understood that though he might still be a child on paper, he hadn't been a child since he was one year old.

He'd have to have that conversation soon…as in sometime before he left for school. He didn't need Remus coming to visit him at school or something, wondering if he was doing his homework or whatever…

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He slowly dragged himself back down the stairs a few minutes before Snape was supposed to arrive. He did not want to get accused of 'being late' or 'taking too much time' or whatever. He also wanted to find a place in the sitting room where he could just relax a little and try to clear his mind. The memories of his mother were harder to concentrate on this evening, so he worked to just make his mind as clear as possible.

He barely noticed when Remus came into the room, slipping through the door just ahead of Snape. The werewolf took a seat near the fire, out of the way as before, and Snape stayed silent.

Harry figured he'd talk when he wanted to start and just kept up his thinking about nothing. It was a lot harder than he'd ever thought it could be, and he found his thoughts wandering to random things…like whether that Brown girl that had written him almost four years ago was cute or not, or what Ron was doing this evening.

"Legillimens!" Snape said, making him jump. He didn't even have a chance to get ready as the spell hit him, and instantly memories of Cedric and Sirius began to replay. Harry refused to let him win, though, and focused all his strength on getting his wand out of his pocket and aiming it at Snape.

"Protego!" he managed.

The shield formed, but was weak and just barely had enough strength to break the connection between Snape and him. Snape glared at him. "That was terrible, Potter," he stated calmly. Harry glared at him and stood up.

"Why, thanks, sir," he snapped. Snape's eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes flicked over to where Remus sat. His mouth closed again, and he whirled around.

"You have no discipline, Potter," Snape said sharply. "You let your memories overcome you, and you refuse to let them be. They are just memories, Potter."

"Well you try having them sometime," Harry said sullenly. "Sir," he added.

"We each have our own memories, Potter," Snape snapped. "You need to understand that they are yours to control!"

"I am trying!" Harry said, exasperated. "I try to clear my head every night, and I do it before lessons, too!"

"That isn't enough, Potter," Snape snarled. "Haven't you even attempted to learn anything about Occlumency?"

"Well maybe if my Professor pointed out to me that there are books on the subject!" he snapped back. "Maybe you're forgetting that I don't know everything!"

Snape took a step closer to him, and Harry felt a sudden exciting thrill. If Snape came any closer, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to resist taking a swing at the other man. Snape had gotten on his case one too many times.

Sadly, Snape seemed to be fighting a similar battle and slowly stepped back again. "I will send you a list of books to read next week," he ground out. "I suppose it will take you months to finish them all—"

"Severus," Remus spoke up. Harry worked very hard not to roll his eyes. Remus was getting a little too caught up in this guardian thing once again.

"I'll read them," he said quickly. "Maybe they'll actually teach me something."

Snape didn't miss the insult but didn't say anything about it. "Perhaps," he said. "You'd better hope that Dark Lord doesn't suspect anything, Potter. He will have no trouble getting into your mind."

"Yeah, well you haven't exactly been any help," he muttered. Snape seemed to have heard him, and Harry wanted to laugh, because Remus certainly hadn't.

"Let's try a few more times," Snape suddenly suggested with a grin that Harry certainly didn't like.

If the evening didn't end with someone bleeding, preferably Snape, he would be surprised. "Fine," he ground out.

"Legillimens!" Snape said, almost like he didn't put any effort into it.

Harry knew immediately that Snape had put everything into this spell. It felt like it slammed into his skull, shoving its way into his head, and immediately he was reliving the one time when he was seven and his aunt had smacked him for running away.

But this was different. When she smacked him in the memory, it hurt! And then suddenly it was his Aunt this summer, smacking him over and over. And each impact with his face felt just the same as when she'd hit him.

He got angry very quickly. What the bloody hell was Snape doing? 'Get out!' he shouted in his thoughts. Snape just ignored him though, and plowed through his memories some more.

Harry forced his wand hand up, seething now. "PROTEGO!" he shouted. He was knocked backwards as the connection was broken. The shield spell slammed into Snape, knocking him backwards several yards.

Remus was up in a minute, and Harry watched him come closer, looking worried. "Are you all right, Harry? Is anything hurt?"

"'M fine," he said, feeling a little dazed. His face hurt from the memory-slaps, and he felt drained. His scar was buzzing annoyingly, and the room kept tipping whenever he moved his head.

"So." Snape suddenly spoke up, coming forward with a sneer. "Potter fights back when someone picks on him."

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Harry demanded.

"Harry…" Remus said. Harry just glared at him, ignoring Remus's slightly hurt expression.

Snape smiled coldly. "You seem to learn much faster when you realize you might get hurt," he said. Harry blinked.

"Occlumency can do that?" he asked. "You never did that before!"

"I supposed you would be slightly normal and wish to learn the basics of Occlumency before moving on," Snape said sourly. "I should have figured you wouldn't understand how important Occlumency is."

"Do it again," Harry snapped. He pushed himself up to his feet and held his wand up some. "Now."

"Fine, Potter," Snape said with a sneer. "Legillimens," he said, flicking his wand slightly.

Harry was caught off guard as the first thing that happened was an agonizing pain shot through his body. He didn't even realize he'd fallen to his knees until he felt the carpet under his hands.

His mind was a jumble of pain and confusion as he tried to reorient himself, and just as he thought he could manage to raise his wand another wave of agony overtook him, this time radiating from his scar.

He was burning up in agony…and then suddenly it cut off. It lifted away, leaving behind echoes of the pain that made his muscles ache. He struggled to get up, suddenly realizing that he was lying on his stomach on the floor, and then suddenly remembered where he was.

He felt Remus's hand on his arm, but he knocked it away as he shoved hard off the ground, lurching to his feet. "Blood hell." He stopped a moment to let his mouth get used to moving through the pain in jaw from clenching it. "What the hell was that?"

"You said do it again," Snape said coolly, holding his wand lightly as if expecting an attack. Harry frowned. He had said that, but he hadn't realized…

"You went back to that night," he snapped. "You knew that's not what I meant!"

"But that is what the Dark Lord will do when he wants to find something out from you. He's got plenty of memories of pain to work with. You'll give up everything he wants," Snape said. Harry glowered.

"I won't."

"You will, Potter, and you'll do it while begging for mercy," Snape said menacingly. Harry knew he was turning red now.

"You don't know anything about what I'd do, sir," he snarled. Snape just sneered in return.

"I think I know just a bit more about it than you do, Potter," he said sourly. Harry had to breathe in and out a few times before he could respond.

"You've seen and heard plenty about what I know of Voldemort, sir," he said quietly, trying to keep his voice even. "And I think that just maybe you're wrong."

"I can see that there's no point in trying to speak with you, Potter," Snape said coldly. "I would advise not sleeping tonight, if you wish to keep the information of your ancestry secret."

"Severus," Remus spoke up mildly. "I believe Albus said—"

"I am well aware what 'Albus said,'" Snape said sharply, glaring at the other man. Harry stepped back a little so he wouldn't suddenly get the urge to take a swing at Snape and not have a chance to avoid it. "And I tell you that there is not much I can do until Potter here starts learning to clear his mind!"

"Well, maybe if you did more than just 'clear your mind, Potter,'" Harry grumbled. Both Snape and Remus glanced at him. Remus, with reproval, and Snape with a venomous glint in his black eyes. "I'm going to my room," he announced louder. "I'm assuming this 'lesson' is over?" He made sure that lesson sounded sarcastic.

"No, it isn't," Snape said quickly. His voice had dropped dangerous, and Harry wondered just what Snape had planned.

"Well?" he asked. "Sir?"

"We're going to do this again, Potter," Snape said silkily. "I was going to let you go, since the after-effects of the legillimency that I used effect you physically as well, but you've managed to convince me that you don't want a break."

"Fine…sir," Harry growled. He turned back all the way, raising his wand. "Go ahead."

He breathed out, trying to release the anger and other emotions that were swirling around in his head at the moment, but about halfway through Snape made his move. "Legillimens," he said.

There was a pain growing in his leg. Like something was holding onto it…like a blast-ended skrewt or an acromantula… The images of the day started to form, and Harry forced them back to blurry.

The pain grew, and then suddenly the pain moved to his arm, as a knife cut into the crook of his arm. There was pain from ropes, but he ignored it and forced the images of the bubbling cauldron that Voldemort had risen from out of his mind.

He thought he could see Snape in front of him now, and he felt a little jolt of excitement…perhaps he'd actually started to get the hang of this…

But then he realized it was another memory…the day that he'd looked in the pensieve and Snape had thrown him so hard he'd landed on the floor. He tried to force that image away, and focused on the outline of Snape that he could just barely see. "Furnunculus!" he shouted. What made him think of that curse, he wasn't sure, but it was the first thing to come to mind.

The images faded quickly, and he blinked a few times before focusing on Snape, who was performing the counter-curse quickly. "As pathetic as that may seem, Potter," Snape began when he noticed Harry was coherent again, "That was actually an improvement. You purposely used that curse?"

He nodded. He'd meant to cast that curse…even if it hadn't been the most amazing curse to use. He wasn't going to admit that he was pretty sure that only luck had allowed him to actually hit Snape with the curse. "That last image gave me a chance to focus on you," he admitted.

Snape ruined the chance at a few civil words by sneering. "You need to learn not to depend on what you're shown, Potter. You can't expect the Dark Lord to give you any sort of chance to fight back."

"I don't think Voldemort will care if I fight back or not," he grumbled back. He was still wondering just how he was supposed to fight back against Voldemort when he was asleep. It was much simpler just to take dreamless sleep potion or let Ron waked him up from visions. He usually woke up the dorm anyway.

"That's enough for this evening," Snape say suddenly, stepping away. "Again, I'd advise against sleeping at the hours when the Dark Lord is most active, and we'll continue this the day after tomorrow."

"Why not tomorrow, sir?" Harry asked, only slightly curious.

"I am indisposed," Snape said shortly. An instant later he was gone, and Harry's hand instantly went to his aching scar, and he rubbed it absently as he went to sit down.

"Is it hurting?" Remus asked. He started, having forgotten that the other man was there.

"It always does afterwards," he admitted. "And whatever he did made the memories he dragged up hurt, too."

"It's part of Occlumency and Legillimency," Remus told him, sitting down next to him. "I didn't realize he was going to start doing that, though."

"It's all right, Remus," Harry assured him. "I'd rather know about it than get surprised some night. I didn't even know you could do that with Legillimency."

"Didn't he ever give you any books to read last year?" Remus wondered. Harry shook his head.

"No, and I was too busy to wonder about it on my own. I didn't really understand why Occlumency was so important, and it was really bothering me that Dumbledore wouldn't even look at me," Harry told him, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"You should probably get some sleep now, before it gets late," Remus said with a sigh. Harry pushed himself up from the couch, knowing Remus was right.

"Yeah," he said heavily. "When are you going to wake me up?"

"Eleven," Remus told him. "I'll head to bed then, and you can go back to sleep at four, all right?"

"All right," he agreed. He left before Remus could attempt to give him a hug or something else.

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He was flying, doing loops on his broom over and over.

And then he saw the snitch. He dived towards it, intent on capturing it before the other seeker. He was going to win this game. No way he was going to lose to…who was he playing? Slytherin? Hufflepuff?

He couldn't tell. The other players were little blurs, and they all looked wrong to him. He started to slow down, wondering who he was playing against now, but then suddenly the snitch zoomed straight towards him.

He dove out of the way, rolling to the left and dipping, and then suddenly he slipped off his broom. It streaked away and he fell, watching the snitch zoom around wildly as the wind whipped past him.

Any moment he would hit the ground…any moment now…

He rolled over as he fell, and the ground was rushing towards him much too fast…

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Harry woke up as he hit the floor. Somehow, he'd rolled out of bed. That was probably why he'd dreamed about falling off his broom, he decided.

He got up slowly, having to disentangle himself from the sheets somewhat. Then, he straightened up and cracked his neck back and forth. Just once, he thought bitterly, just once I'd like to get a few hours of sleep without having some strange dream or a vision.

"Harry?" came Remus's voice from behind the closed door.

"Come on in," he said, yawning as soon as the words were out.

"I heard a noise," Remus told him as he came into the room. Harry smiled as Remus turned the lights on.

"Fell out of bed," he admitted. "I haven't done that since I was little. The fall was a little shorter, though."

"Well, it's just past eleven now, Harry," Remus said. "Do you think you can stay awake until three or four?" he asked. Harry nodded.

"Sure," he agreed. "I can occupy myself for a while, I guess."

"We're headed to the Dursleys tomorrow, just to warn you," Remus said. Harry sighed.

"Yeah, all right," he said. "Thanks for telling me."

"It'll be Tonks and myself going with you," he added as he headed back towards the door. "And…Harry, don't get upset, but—"

"Let me guess," he cut in. The world seemed to be completely against him these past few days… "Snape is coming."

"Professor Snape is coming," Remus confirmed. "He told me an hour ago that Albus asked him to go. I suppose because he'd know if there was any death eater activity going on."

"Just keep him away from me," Harry warned. "I don't need to hear his comments. On the other hand, my relatives will probably hate him, so he can pick at them."

"It'll be all right, Harry," Remus said. Harry sighed.

"Sure," he said unhappily. "Go ahead and go to bed, Remus. I'm going to wander around and find a book or something."

"All right, Harry," Remus said. "Good night," he added, then left. Harry sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He was sleepy now, but couldn't go back to sleep.

Instead, he forced himself to his feet and slipped out of the room, bare feet cold on the floors. That would keep him awake, he decided. He couldn't sleep if his feet were frozen.

Downstairs, he went through the silent kitchen and back to the sitting room. He figured he'd poke through some of the letters that were still waiting to be opened and see if there was anything interesting.

As he heard a small noise, he checked to be sure that his wand was safely tucked into the waistband of his pajamas. He paused, listening, but didn't hear the noise again. It was probably just some sort of magical vermin anyway.

The letters were just as he and his friends had left them, and moved to the next box of letters, popping it open after a few tugs at the lid. Letters of all shapes and sizes slid out of the overstuffed box, and he sat down on the floor, hoping the mostly uncomfortable position would keep him awake.

There was one thing for certain, he decided as he read the fifth letter from a 'fan' of his. He'd have to find out once and for all if he really did have a fan club at Hogwarts…then he'd have to figure out a way to get rid of it.

The last thing he needed was students at Hogwarts trying to get his autograph or something. And what had been said about the locker rooms…he shuddered at the thought of being watched while he was changing…or worse, while he was showering. He half-wondered how hard it would be to find a disillusionment charm that would keep him out of sight while he changed and showered. It would be well worth learning if it saved his sanity.

'Dear Mr. Potter,

My name is Cindy, and I'm part of my local Harry Potter fan club. I am the public relations officer, and the other girls asked me to write you a letter asking if you'd please…'

Harry stopped reading with a groan. If he got one more letter from some girl and her fan club, he was going to throw all the letters into the fire.

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A/N: I know, I know. This isn't that great of a chapter, I know. But it just kind of fills up some space that I couldn't figure out, and shows that Harry might just be able to figure Occlumency out sometime. Next chapter will me more interesting…but alas! It won't be posted for at least a few weeks! I'm headed home tomorrow afternoon, and I will be almost completely cut off from the internet! That, and I don't have any more chapters done right now…

Review Responses will be at the end of the next chapter, whenever I manage to get it online. I'm working on the escaping-from-college-for-the-summer-only-to-work-full-time-thing.