Chapter five Dumbledore's request
Harry decided it was time to start on his holiday assignments, he had a particularly complicated one to do for his least favourite teacher, Professor Snape. He sat at the kitchen table and began searching through 1000 magical herbs and fungi to find the information he needed.
"O you're doing school work are you?" Amelia asked, "I was hoping, maybe sometime over the summer, you'd go over my work with me to see if I'm at the same level as I should be to go into sixth year at Hogwarts? I mean I want to be ready ..."
"Sure," ar you any good at potions by any chance?"
"Not bad, but it wasn't my best subject, I'm good at Charms and my father was good at teaching Defence Against the Dark arts."
"The potions teacher at Hogwarts is very ... er ... demanding," harry said. Amelia looked nervous.
"I'll go and get my books too, and do some revision." hse said, hurrying away. Harry thought that Hermione would approve of Amelia studying during the summer, he could picture his friend sitting at her house with a pile of books before her and her study planner open, it made him smile. He wondered about O.W.L results, surely they would be getting them sometime soon, but the thought made him feel sik with nerves so he turned his thoughts back to potions.
Amelia came back with her arms piled with books and notes.
"Can I borrow your list of holiday assignments?" she asked, "I guess I should do them too."
"You don't have to, they won't expect you to do them," Harry explained.
"But I wantt to make a good impression," she said. Harry handed her a roll of parchment. They worked in silence for a while, the only sounds being the scratching of quill and the turning of pages.
"Studying together I see," said Sirius, looking approvingly at them.
"I've got an assignment for Snape," Harry explained.
Sirius made a face. "I'd like to help you but I was never much good at potions," he appologised. He sat at the table reading The Daily Prophet.
"Where did you get that?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore left it for me," Sirius explained.
"Anything interesting in there?" Harry asked.
"Not much," Sirius answered. Voldemort and his gang are keeping quiet." ." Amelia flinched and dropped her quill.
"You say the name!" she gasped.
"Both of us do," Harry answered, "Dumbledore says fear of a name increases the fear of the thing itself."
"That's easy for him to say, his parents weren't killed by Death Eaters!" Amelia got up and hurried away. Sirius and Harry looked at each other uncertainly for a moment, then Harry got up and followed her. She was sitting on her bed, holding a handkerchief and trying to wipe away her tears but she couldn't stop crying. Harry sat down beside her and awkwardly patted her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she wailed, "I ... just ... miss them so much!"
"cry if you need to," he said, "sometimes it helps." she buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Harry put an arm around her. He wanted to say something to comfort her but he didn't know what there was to say. He remembered how he felt when he thought Sirius had died, no words could comfort him then. After a while Amelia lifted her face and gave a watery smile.
"Thanks," she said shyly. Harry moved his arm away and stood up.
"Come down when you're ready," he said, thinking to give her some time alone.
"I'll just wash my face," she said. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, thinking how kind Harry had been. It was clear he had felt awkward but he had come to her and sat with her while she cried and she apppreciated it. She thought when she got to know him better she might tell him that.
Sirius looked up as Harry came back into the room.
"It's ok she'll be down in a minute," Harry said.
"This is so hard for her," Sirius commented, "She was always with her father and she got on well with her mother too even though Mary didn't understand about her magical side. Now she's lost both of them and she's stuck here with people she hardly knows."
"Yes it must be hard for her, everything is different now," Harry said thoughtfully. Amelia came back and smiled at them. They smiled back and she sat down again.
"You told me about the potions teacher at Hogwarts, what are the other teachers like?" she asked. Harry could tell she wanted to change the subject and he started talking about the professors. After a while they packed away their books and together the three of them made lunch. Harry asked Sirius about the professors he had while he was at Hogwarts.
"We had a great Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said, "A very powerful wizard called Professor Chapman. He told us interesting stories of adventures he and his dog had. We didnt' always believe him but he was a good teacher and he used to make us laugh."
"Who did you have for Potions?" harry asked curiously.
"O we had Horace Slughorn, he was a good potions maker and his classes were interesting but he mainly cared about people who were related to important people."
"Well he sounds better than Snape anyway," Harry commented, "Anyone who isn't a Slytherin has no hope with Snape and his classes aren't interesting, he just puts the instructions on the board and expects us to work it out from there."
"You're making me nervous of this Professor Snape," Amelia complained.
"Snape is a very gifted potions maker and that makes him impatient with those who aren't as good," Sirius said, trying to be fair. Just then two figures apparated into the house, Dumbledore and Lupin. Harry was pleased to see them, he hadn't had much time to chat with Remus the night before.
"Harry," Remus said, smiling at him. Sirius and Dumbledore were talking quietly together, Harry wondered what they were discussing but he supposed Sirius would tell him later. He turned to talk to Lupin but he noticed that Amelia was sitting alone and left out of the conversations around her, so he introduced her to Lupin. Lupin took her hand and smiled at her.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said gently. Amelia nodded.
"Remus was our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in my third year," Harry explained, "He taught me a lot."
"You were a good student," Lupin said.
"I wonder who we'll have for Defence this year?" Harry mused. Dumbledore heard him and turned in his direction.
"Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anyone to fill the position yet," he said, "For some reason or other people seem unwilling to take that particular job." He smiled at Harry who laughed.
"I'm not surprised," he said, "I just hope the ministry won't give us another teacher like Umbridge,"
"The ministry is no longer involving itself so deeply in the affairs of Hogwarts," Dumbledore informed him, "It will be up to me to find a teacher."
"NO more educational decrees," Harry said happily, "No more inquisitorial squad."
"Certainly not!" Dumbledore said. The conversation continued, and after a while Dumbledore rose to leave.
"A word with you Harry," he said, drawing him to a quiet area. "I wish you to continue your occlumency lessons with Professor Snape," he announced. "It is more ipmortant than ever that you are able to shield your mind from Voldemort, since you know the contents of that prophecy and we don't wish him to know any more than he already does."
"Occlumency with snape!" Harry said aghast, "But last year ... the lessons were a complete disaster!"
"Harry you and Professor snape are on the same side in this war. If we are going to win we need to be united and work together. Whatever is between you and Professor Snape I wish you to put it aside and work together, there is much he can teach you Harry but you have to be willing to learn."
"And he has to be willing to teach, it's not enough for him to tell me to empty mmy mind and then invade my memories without telling me how I'm supposed to stop him."
"If you will both promise to make an effort then I think progress can be made," Dumbledore said sternly. Harry thought he was asking a lot but he also saw the sense in learning Occlumency so he nodded in agreement.
"Very good," Dubledoe approved. "He will come for your first lesson a week from today, he is attending a potion masters' conference in Wellington New Zealand but he will be back and he has agreed to start teaching you next week."
"Ok sir, I'll try harder to learn," Harry promised, "I know how important it is." Harry felt nervous at the thought of the lessons with Snape but he resolved that no matter how hard they were he would keep on and master Occlumency.