A/N: The next chapter may take longer than a week to get out as I need to work on my outline. I made a couple of changes to my outline that require me to think carefully about some of the upcoming chapters. A few questions have been asked about HBP. I will not be following the plot of HBP, although I will use Horcruxes (it is a rather elegant solution to why Voldemort did not die from the rebounded curse). I won't be saying to much more about horcruxes though – you can wait until Dumbledore explains.

I'm planning on picking up the speed. The next chapter will hopefully go all the way to Christmas.

Oh and for those who haven't noticed – I've been spelling Occlumency wrong (Occulumency…were'd that crazy 'u' come from?). I'll go back and fix it when I get the time.

11/3/2005 Note on the next chapter: It will be out no later than Monday. Sorry about the wait, but I seemed to have suffered from a rather bad bout of writer's block.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and everyone knows who does…

Chapter 16: Occlumency

Even Potions could not put Harry in a bad mood. Evidently the twins' estimate of an hour was off target. Umbridge had remained a toad for a little over two hours. It was not until the end of the class that Harry's mood dipped.

"Potter," sneered Snape. Harry looked up and Snape's sneer intensified, "I will expect you at seven tonight."

"Yes, sir."

A few hours later, Harry found himself walking down the dimly lit corridor to Snape's office. Harry slowed his pace not wanting to arrive early. He turned the corner and could see the door to Snape's office in the distance. He walked even slower. The door still came too quickly and he slowly raised his fist and knocked.

"Enter," barked Snape's voice. Harry entered the office; it was horrible. It had only gotten worse since the last time he had been in it. The office had every sort of gruesome creature that could be jammed into a jar, there was barely enough light to see, and a dank smell pervaded the room. To make matters worse, a sick yellowish colored potion was brewing off to the side. Harry hoped he was not going to be a test subject. "Close the door behind you," ordered Snape.

The door closed with a click of finality. When Snape raised his wand and performed an imperturbable charm on the door Harry felt his stomach clench in fear.

"Potter, what do you know about Occlumency?" Snape sneered, disgust evident in his tone.

Harry momentarily marveled at how fast his mind could work as he pieced together what was happening, "You caused my cauldron to explode!"

Ginny?

I know.

I don't want him to know.

Neither do I.

It had been something they had discussed after Hermione had told him that the best way to train in Occlumency was to have someone attack your mind. He did not want Snape to know about his connection to Ginny. Harry was afraid that even if he could block Snape from seeing anything, he might still be able to 'hear' Ginny talking. They had decided that Ginny would stay quiet throughout the lessons in order to avoid the issue. If Snape was able to find memories that revealed their bonding then…well Harry did not want to think about it.

An evil smirk appeared on Snape's face, "Very good Potter. Not as foolish as you look after all. You are to tell no one of these lessons. Now tell me, what do you know about Occlumency?" Realizing he was not there for detention, Harry answered Snape relaying all the information Hermione had told him. He thought that an impressed look might have crossed Snape's eyes, but it disappeared too quickly for him to be sure. Harry knew all too well the next expression that came to the Potions Professor's face though; it was the same one that he held every time he took points away or gave him detention.

"Good. Then I do not have to waste my time," Snape raised his wand, looked Harry directly in the eyes, and cried, "Legilimens!"

The spell that hit Harry like a physical blow and he stumbled backwards. His vision swam and old memories began to surface. He saw himself being chased by Dudley's gang at grammar school. Then Aunt Marge's horrible dog, Ripper, was chasing him. He was ten and locked in his cupboard as Uncle Vernon yelled at him for being a freak. Shaking his head, Harry realized what was happening and tried to clear his mind of emotion and thought.

The pace of the memories slowed to a crawl and Snape's sneering face slowly reappeared, although it was still fuzzy. Harry's ability to push him out of his mind only seemed to spur the Potions Master forward though. Snape repeated the incantation without giving Harry time to even breathe. Again, there was the physical sensation of a blow and he took another step backwards under the onslaught.

He tried to clear his mind, but this time Snape's mental probing brushed his attempt aside. Snape was once again going through his pre-Hogwarts memories. Harry did the only thing he could do and retreated before Snape's consciousness into Ginny's presence. Immediately the memories flashing before his eyes stopped and he saw Snape standing before him. Snape had beads of sweat on his forehead.

"You are better than I expected Potter," said Snape a little breathlessly. "Now go. We will continue this in a week." Harry did not need any prodding. His back to Snape, Harry hurriedly made his way back to the tower. Behind him, Snape slumped heavily into his chair completely exhausted.

"Severus," Snape tried to jump out of the chair, but found his body was too exhausted. The attempt resulted in him slipping out of the chair onto the stone floor. He looked up at Albus Dumbledore with an extremely irritated expression. "How was the lesson?"

Snape's face contorted into barely concealed fury, which then slipped into irritation as he realized he could not yell at Dumbledore, "The boy is a natural. As you can see," his voice slipped into a sneer, "I am exhausted. It took everything I had to push through his barriers and then…"

Dumbledore leaned forward slightly, "And then?"

"He just pushed me out. I've never experienced anything like it. One moment I was in his mind, the next I was not," the sneering tone had left his voice and all that remained was disgust at being beaten by a student. "I don't think the boy will ever be able to learn Occlumency. What he's doing now is something…" Snape seemed to grope for words, "different," he ended lamely.

"Anything else?" asked Dumbledore.

Snape gave him a searching look, "It probably means nothing, but I was able to see only his memories before coming here. There was a wall there," Snape gave Dumbledore a disgruntled look, "It's not a wall created by Occlumency – it's stronger than my own shields against the Dark Lord," Snape took a breath, "…but more formidable." The last was barely audible, but Dumbledore heard it.

"More formidable? How interesting. Will you test him again?" Dumbledore asked even more curious as his Potions professor pulled himself back into his chair.

"Yes. We must be sure," Snape said a nasty smile gracing his face. Dumbledore nodded knowing that if Harry could resist a master Legilimens like Snape when he had eye contact and a wand then he would be able to keep Voldemort out.

Dumbledore pondered Professor Snape's words as he made his way back to his office. It seemed Mr. Potter was full of mysteries. He had so many questions and so few answers. He had always known that Harry and Ginny had some form of natural Occlumency, but he should not have been able to resist Severus' attempts without even breaking a sweat. Dumbledore sighed and wished he could talk to Nicolas or Perenelle; they could have told him much. Nicolas was one of the few people that Dumbledore could ask for advice.

Then there was the prophecy. Things were not making sense. Dumbledore almost turned around to ask Severus to test Harry again this week so that he could be sure the boy's mind was secure. Dumbledore needed to know if the prophecy at the Ministry had also changed and to do that he needed Harry. Dumbledore allowed himself a moment of frustration at the situation. Even if Harry's mind was impermeable to Voldemort, there would still be the matter of getting him into the Ministry. Fudge would not make things easy. But, Dumbledore mused, even if Fudge refused there were other ways of gaining access to the Ministry and to the prophecy. He briefly considered increasing the guard again around the Department of Mysterious in light of the changed prophecy. He discounted the idea though. Two guards would have to be enough; there simply were not enough people in the Order to add more.

As he walked past the Defense corridor, he heard a loud croak emanate from one of the classrooms. Dumbledore allowed a smile to cross his face as he continued to walk by. He supposed that Professor Umbridge had gone back to claim something on her desk. He would have to tell Minerva.

…………………………………..

For the remainder of the week Professor Umbridge spent most of her time as a toad. Three times she had entered the Great Hall for breakfast and left as a toad. She escaped few classes without becoming a toad and not even her personal office was safe. Indeed, by the end of the week Umbridge had become paranoid and, judging from some of the locations that Umbridge had graced in her toad's form, Harry suspected that the twins had some powder of their own. For Harry, the best part was that Umbridge spent so much time as a toad or trying to figure out how she was becoming a toad that she did not have time to take points away or give him detention.

Ginny had wanted to give Umbridge another dose of the powder, but Harry had convinced her to wait and save the powder so that they could spread it over the entire length of term. She had agreed, but insisted that they move on to the next prank.

That was why Harry found himself in the corridor outside Gryffindor Tower. Harry raised his eyebrows in anticipation. Ginny had been formulating all sorts of ideas for Umbridge that ranged from simple fun to the downright dangerous. "Follow me," was all she said as she led him down the hallway. They were soon standing in front of a suit of armor in one of the heavily used corridors.

"What are we…OH!" Harry said as he realized what Ginny had planned. The prank was not as devilish as turning Umbridge into a toad, but it could easily drive her mad if it was done right.

Two hours later they were in a darkened corner of the Great Hall.

"Are we done?" he asked. Over the past two hours they had charmed a great many of the school's suits of armor to respond to Umbridge's presence. Harry had to admire the plan. If he had come up with it, they would have charmed every suit they had come across, but Ginny's plan called for charming them randomly. In some corridors every suit was charmed, in others only one or even none. The end result was that Umbridge would never know when a suit would react to her.

"For tonight. We need to do the sixth and seventh floors tomorrow," Ginny answered. "And you need to be more creative with your charms," she chided.

Laughing, Harry acknowledged the truth, "Only compared to yours. I can't wait to see Umbridge's face when the suit outside the classroom pleads for her hand in marriage." Ginny beamed at the compliment. Ginny's charms had been far more diverse than his own. Harry's charmed suits were fairly restricted to chanting insults or attempting to trip Umbridge.

Ginny's, on the hand, did not only ejaculate insults, but would make dubious compliments. Her real masterpieces though were those she had charmed to move. Where Harry's tried to trip Umbridge or lunged at her, Ginny's would move their entire bodies. These suits of armor would follow Umbridge around making a nuisance of themselves by their presence. Others would follow her around moaning with their arms outstretched. Harry thought that she had got this idea from an old horror movie he had seen, but thought the idea worked just as well with a suit of armor as with a wrapped mummy.

Harry felt Ginny's small hand interlaced with his and she pulled him out of the Great Hall.

"Where are we going?" he asked. The only answer he received was a feeling of anticipation and mischievousness radiating from her. He followed Ginny until they reached the sixth floor, "I thought we weren't going to do the sixth and seventh floors until tomorrow!"

Ginny glared at him, "Hush." Her grip on his hand tightened and she led him up the stairs to the seventh floor. Soon they were in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. When she began pacing in front of the opposite wall, realization finally hit Harry and he smiled as he finally interpreted Ginny's feelings correctly. She gave him a seductive smile as they entered the plush room. "I thought we should test the room before we showed the others."

They entered the common room very late and well past curfew. Hermione was waiting for them.

What do you think she wants? asked Harry.

Ginny's eyes narrowed at the girl sitting in the chair with the book splayed across her lap. I don't know, but if she is going to yell at us or…Ginny sent a mental image of a bat-bogeyed Hermione. Harry stifled a laugh.

"Hi, I wanted to talk to you two," Hermione stated.

"You don't say," Harry responded flatly.

Hermione smiled weakly, "I just wanted to make sure you did not do anything that will get you into trouble."

"Relax. No one can prove it was us," assured Ginny smugly.

"It doesn't matter if someone – as in UMBRIDGE – can prove you did anything. She is going to suspect you and Dumbledore said…"

"I don't care what Dumbledore said," Harry said angrily. "She's getting everything she deserves."

Irritation passed over Hermione's face, "Of course she is, but that is not the point! There are other ways – like teaching defense."

Harry did not know why she was pressing him to teach defense; after all, he had already agreed.

"Please. There's nothing wrong with a little fun. She is going to be horrible to Harry no matter what he does so there's no point in not extracting a little revenge," retorted Ginny.

"But Dumbledore…"

"Dumbledore should never have allowed her to teach here. He's supposed to be this powerful wizard – well it's about time he actually used his power," Ginny said icily. Harry looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder trying to sooth some of her anger. Ginny's opinion of Dumbledore had always been rather dismal since she had found out that the old man had sent Harry to live with the Durlseys. Dumbledore's behavior over the summer and forcing Harry to take Occlumency with Professor Snape had not improved her opinion.

Hermione frowned and then said with a defeated tone, "I…I understand. I just don't want you to get into any more trouble."

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "I don't have to go looking for trouble, trouble finds me!" Ginny giggled and Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but shut it when she realized she could not find a counter argument.

Ginny leaned over and kissed Harry, "Goodnight, see you in the morning."

"Wait!" both of them stopped and turned toward Hermione. They had thought she was done lecturing. Her voice dropped, "I spoke to Sirius."

"What?" asked Harry. "How?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed to the fire, "He used the fire! Can you believe it? It was so dangerous and then Umbridge almost caught him – I'm sure of it!"

"HERMIONE! Stop and explain," commanded Harry almost losing his temper.

"It was Ron who first saw him. Apparently, Sirius was popping his head into the fire for the past few hours hoping to find one of us. OH! I still can't believe he did something like that! You know what he said? He said YOU sent him a letter Harry – is this true? You know what Moody…"

"Yes, I did and Moody just said not to put anything revealing into writing – I didn't. What did Sirius have to say?" Harry interrupted.

"We talked for a little bit. I asked if he knew a good place to hold our defense meetings – he didn't – and…"

"We found a place. What else did he say?"

"Really? Where? Sorry, anyway, he wanted me to tell you to look in your trunk."

"My trunk?" asked Harry mystified. Hermione nodded and by her intrigued expression he guessed that Sirius had not told her what was waiting in the trunk. Hermione began to open her mouth in what Harry was sure encouragement, but he decided to stop the speech before it happened, "I'll do it now." Hermione smiled and Ginny rolled her eyes.

As quietly as possible, Harry opened his trunk and shifted his belongings around. When he pushed his winter cloak to the side something hard in the lining caught his attention. Unfolding it, Harry found a rectangular object wrapped in brown paper.

"A mirror?" Harry said confused as he sat down next to Ginny.

"Look on the back – there's a note!" contributed Hermione. "A two-way mirror! Those aren't allowed…" Ginny shot her a glare, "but I suppose it would be useful."

"Sirius?" Harry said hesitantly, his voice lilting the name into a question as he looked into the mirror.

The glass seemed to swirl into a liquid before clearing as Sirius' face appeared. "Harry! I see Hermione relayed the message. Do you know how many times I've called your name? Honestly, you're just like James – he never unpacked his trunk either," Sirius said jovially, while Harry blushed a little in embarrassment. "I hear you are going to start an illegal defense club – sounds great!"

"It's not illegal," protested Hermione.

Sirius' eyes tried to cut in the direction of her voice, "Just not sanctioned, right?" He guffawed and then moved on, "Either way, it is a brilliant idea. You wanted to know about Hagrid though – We haven't heard anything since Maxime got back. She said that he was taking a longer road, but nothing else."

"Could he have been caught?" asked Ginny with concern.

"No, I don't think so. Snape would have told us that," when Sirius said Snape's name it was with evident disgust. "How are your Occlumency lessons going? Has he mistreated you at all?" Sirius seemed to almost be looking for an excuse to leave Grimmauld Place.

"He was his slimy self, but not so far." Sirius face took on an odd angle as he maneuvered himself to look at Ginny and raised his eyebrows.

"He's telling the truth," she answered the silent question.

………………………………

Unfortunately, Hermione turned out to be partially right about Umbridge's reaction. After spending a week as a toad Umbridge was already in a foul mood, but when she had arrived at her first class the suit of armor had stepped out of its alcove and proclaimed in its squeaky, rusty voice its undying love for her mood went from foul to something much worse. The hallway had veritably exploded with her screams. The waiting class, however, had exploded in laughter. To make the scene even more hilarious, the suit of armor had waited patiently for Umbridge to finish screaming and then had asked for her hand in marriage. Most of the class, which had just recovered from their previous laughing fit, fell out of their seats because they started laughing so hard.

To say that Umbridge had not been pleased would have been like calling Fred and George innocent. Harry was now losing points in her class for "breathing too loud" and "not reading fast enough." Harry had also spent the entire week in detention with Filch, but he had not been alone. While Umbridge was obviously hesitant to punish Ginny remembering Harry's words, Fred and George managed to join Harry in detention every night. On the bright side of things, Umbridge had become increasingly paranoid when walking through the corridors. It was now routine thing to see her blasting the suits of armor as she walked through the halls. By the end of the week, Filch was constantly complaining under his breath about having to repair and polish the suits.

They woke Saturday morning to Educational Decree Number 24. It forbade the charming of all decorative artwork, furniture, or other structures in Hogwarts by students. Most found the decree amusing and Fred and George were heard loudly vocalizing that it did not forbid the charming of functional materials like chairs, desks, torches, or doors.

Now that Fred and George were no longer developing the toad powder, they had returned their attention back to their joke shop. Flyers were posted throughout the Gryffindor common room despite Hermione's attempts to control them. A confrontation between the prefect and the two pranksters was looming.

The Hogsmeade weekend would have been a welcomed break from the castle and Umbridge except for the fact that Hermione had scheduled for everyone to meet at the Hogshead to discuss the defense group. Harry could not believe how many people had turned up or that, in the end, they had agreed to be taught by him.

They must all be crazy, he communicated to Ginny while lying in bed.

Maybe, but if you really think about it – it's not a bad idea. You do have more experience than anyone else and we all need to learn defense for our O.W.L.s anyway.

But I don't know how to teach! Protested Harry.

Don't worry. Ron and Hermione will help and if anyone knows how to teach it will be Hermione.

Speaking of which, what is she always dragging you off to talk about. Ginny's tone changed immediately to one of irritation and annoyance.

Don't tell her I told you, but well it's her fault anyway – she said she'd figure it out and then I wouldn't have to keep secrets from you. She's having 'love issues' or so I've termed them.

What? Harry asked dumbfounded.

She's been writing to Krum and he's been saying all the right things, but she also likes Ron.

…but Ron's being Ron, supplied Harry understanding.

Ginny giggled, Yes – she keeps asking me how does she know if she's in love and what it feels like and…blah blah blah.

So that is what she was getting at…She asked me too, admitted Harry. He had forgotten all about it.

I know and you just had to send her my way. I mean how am I supposed to help her decide? It's not like I've ever had too…

Oh…Harry said as an irrational feeling of guilt took hold.

…or wanted to. I think she's just intimidated by something that does not involve books.

This time Harry was the one to laugh. She does realize that she's going to have to be the one to make the move on Ron, right?

Oh please! I think Hermione is almost as thick as Ron! She knows he was jealous of Krum, but for some reason she can't seem to put that together with the idea that Ron likes her, Ginny said disgusted.

So what are you going to do? Asked Harry, very glad he did not have to talk to Hermione.

I'm going to sit here and listen and listen and listen and listen…and then I'm going to tell her it's her decision. She just needs time to work it all out.

I suppose, but I'm still betting on them going straight from arguing to snogging. Ginny giggled again at the image.

We'll see. Now go to bed – you have to deal with Snape tomorrow night.

Harry woke to a cacophony of yells coming from the common room. Dragging himself out of bed and into the common room, Harry found everyone crowded around the billboard.

"Hey, what's going on?" came Ron's sleepy voice. He bumped into Harry, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, "Sorry, mate." They looked at each other confused and were joined by a sleepy Ginny. The three observed the throng whose words were steadily becoming clearer.

"Do you think she'll allow the gobstone club to reform?"

"What about the chess club?" someone else shouted.

"Who cares about those! What about quidditch?" came Angelina's voice. The common room went quiet. "Umbridge is including it in the clubs and student organizations!" No one had an opportunity to question her further as she quickly left the through the portrait hole, probably to ask Umbridge if they could reform the team.

Hermione found her way out of the throng, "I don't have to tell you that we are the aim of this, do I?" She handed them the Educational Decree. Harry and Ginny shook their heads.

Ron, however, was still staring in shock at where Angelina had been. "She banned quidditch?" was the only thing they got out of him for the next hour.

The day was not conducive to helping Harry clear his mind of all emotion. He spent most of the day ensuring that everyone knew the defense meeting was still on for Wednesday. As if that was not enough, Angelina had angrily announced that Umbridge was not allowing the Gryffindor quidditch team to reform despite the fact that she had allowed the Slytherin team to reform. So it was with trepidation that he made his way to Snape's office. He guessed that he would spend most of his time behind Ginny's presence in his mind. He just hoped that Snape would mistake it for true Occlumency.

"Potter, you're early! Shut the door," said Snape the moment Harry entered the office. He closed the door softly. As he turned around he noticed a bowl that looked to be made out of stone. The liquid inside of it was silvery in color. His eyes glanced up to Snape, who furtively lowered his wand from his temple. Harry wondered what he had been doing.

Snape had a look of pure disgust on his face as he examined Harry. Without so much as a warning he raised his wand and said, "Legilimens."

Harry did not even try to shield his mind, but retreated. Snape's sneer intensified as he put more effort into the spell. He did say I could use my wand…

"Protego!" cried Harry. Immediately, Harry felt like he was being pulled forward. He let loose an "Oof" as he felt like he ran into something solid and then passed through. Images began racing through his mind. All of them involved a greasy haired child. The child's years at Hogwarts past through too fast for Harry to glean any information from, but as he focused they started to slow. The man walked into a dusty pub that Harry recognized as the Hogshead. He walked up the stairs and stopped outside the first door. Faint voices could be heard. Harry held his breath; something about the memory and the man, who had to be a younger Snape, that screamed that this was an important memory.

Dumbledore's voice emanated from the closed door, "Thank you, Ms Trelawney, but I don't think…"

A hoarse voice broke him off, a voice Harry had heard once before, "THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES. . . . BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . . ."

"HEY, what do you think you're doing there?" yelled the bartender. "Get out of here! Right now!"

The memory began to shift again, but Harry was suddenly thrown back. Snape had cursed him. "You will stay out of my head, Potter." From Snape's look, Harry knew two things; one the he was not supposed to see that memory, and two, the professor meant to do him harm. He was not quick enough to prevent the professor from saying, "Legilimens."

The spell hit him with at least double the force as Snape's first spell, but it still was of no use. Harry wanted to smile, but knew that might push the Potion's professor over the edge. He raised his wand and saw Snape's eyes widen in surprise. Figuring that the shield charm had worked reasonably well before said, "Protego."

Again the feeling of falling overtook him and he found himself viewing Snape's memories. Snape was kneeling in a clearing surrounded by woods wearing the black robes of a Death Eater, but he was missing his mask. He gasped as Voldemort stepped out of the shadows. "Severus, what do you have to report?" Harry watched transfixed as Snape repeated what he had overheard in the Hogshead. Voldemort was obviously disturbed by the news, "Yes, I see. The child must die." Voldemort paced in front of Snape, his black robes billowing still pondering the prophecy. "It has to be the Potter boy! You have done well."

Harry did not wait for the rest of the memory as he realized what he had seen. Snape had betrayed Dumbledore. Snape was responsible for his parents' deaths. Panic and several other intense emotions seemed to be trying to overwhelm him. Gripping his wand tightly he yelled, "Expelliarmus." The spell from his already raised wand hit Snape in the chest sending the professor flying backwards into the wall. Wasting no time, Harry twirled, opened the door, and flung himself into the hallway slamming the door behind him. He could hear Snape getting up from the crash of bottles. Aiming his wand at the door, he cried, "Colloportus!" The door squelched as it sealed. Harry ran from the office.

Harry! Meet me at Dumbledore's office! Ginny's voice cut through his panic; he followed it without conscious thought.

Harry skidded to a stop in front of the stone gargoyle only to be plowed over by Ginny. "Merlin! I'm sorry Harry," she panted. Ginny stood and pulled Harry up. They locked eyes and immediately embraced tightly. Harry's panic and horror slowly ebbed as Ginny held him. "It's all right Harry. Don't worry," she whispered into his ear. Harry's hands tightened on her back.

"He's the reason…" was all Harry was able to say. Ginny nodded and softly rubbed his back.

Extracting herself from Harry's arms, Ginny turned to the gargoyle. She was not in the mood to guess what foolish password Dumbledore had chosen. "MOVE! I need to speak to the headmaster now!" The gargoyle did not move. Ginny raised her wand to cast a spell when Harry grabbed her wand hand.

"There's a better way," Harry said and transformed into a phoenix. You should have thought of this, chided Harry as he wagged his tail feathers at her. Ginny smiled at Harry's swift change in attitude – it was hard to be negative as a phoenix.

The first thing Harry noticed when he burst into flames in Dumbledore's office was the object to the far left on the desk. It was softly glowing. Dumbledore was looking at Harry and Ginny serenely as if having a phoenix enter his office with someone in tow was the most normal thing in the world.

Fawkes looked at him with interest and chirped, "It is good to see you again." Harry bobbed his head in agreement and then transformed. The illuminated object ceased glowing.

"May I ask what brings you to my office tonight?" asked Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's question brought what had happened back and Harry's pulse began to increase again. "Snape – he…"

"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore corrected absently.

Both Harry and Ginny gave him a disgusted look. "He's the reason my parents are dead," Harry growled.

Dumbledore's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "You broke into Professor Snape's mind?" said Dumbledore amazed.

Both Harry and Ginny colored. Harry took a step back with a look of horror on his face. Ginny took a step forward as if shielding Harry from Dumbledore. "YOU KNEW!" she yelled. The portraits that had been pretending to sleep stopped pretending. "YOU KNEW AND YOU LET THAT THAT MONSTER TEACH HERE? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Dumbledore eyed the young witch carefully. If he did not say the right thing he was likely to get hexed. Worse, if he reached for his wand, which he had left on the edge of his desk, Harry might interpret this as an attempt to attack Ginny. He was not in any mood to test the limits of Harry's power tonight. "Ms Weasley, Mr. Potter. Please let me explain. Can you tell me exactly what happened?" He decided to risk looking into Harry's eyes. Behind him Fawkes trilled a soft tune that calmed everyone. Both Harry and Ginny glanced at Fawkes as if confirming something and moved forward to sit down.

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back into the chair as Harry finished his tale. "Harry, I know what you saw was bad, but you must believe me Professor Snape is not working for Lord Voldemort. When he realized that Voldemort was going to attack you and your parents he felt horrible. He became a spy for the Order and helped keep your parents from Voldemort's grasp for several months before you went under the Fidelious Charm."

"Snape hated my father – he would not have cared if he died," Harry insisted not willing to believe Dumbledore.

"True. He did not have fond feelings for your father, but he did owe him a life debt and that is powerful magic."

"That doesn't matter," retorted Harry. Dumbledore had told him that life debts were powerful magic, but he no longer believed, not after Wormtail had nearly caused his death in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"You must trust me, Harry, Professor Snape is not a Death Eater." Harry and Ginny only stared at him. Dumbledore did not have to use his legilimency to know that neither believed him. "So you heard the prophecy?" he said changing the topic.

"Yes," Harry responded flatly.

"It doesn't have to be Harry," interjected Ginny.

Dumbledore nodded, "That was true."

"Was?" said Harry with a note of fear. Ginny wordlessly interlaced her hand with his.

"What Professor Snape heard and then relayed to Voldemort was only a fragment of the full prophecy. The full prophecy leaves little doubt," Dumbledore said carefully. "There is a copy of this prophecy in the Department of Mysteries."

"That is what the Order has been guarding!" exclaimed Ginny.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes."

Harry's face hardened at his words as he seemed to realize something. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have been preparing – training and…" the teenager could not find anymore words and gaped at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore seemed to fold in on himself, "I made a mistake. A mistake of old age." His eyes met Harry's sadly, "I did not want to burden with it. I wanted to give you more time to enjoy your childhood." Ginny snorted at this, but said nothing though she did glare at the old man. "I kept telling myself you were too young and that it could not hurt to wait one more year." He waited for more questions from the pair, but they appeared to be in shock. "I know you have questions and I do have a lot to tell you, but it would be better if you heard the full prophecy first. I will arrange for us to go to the Ministry during the break, if that is all right with you?" Harry nodded and the couple quietly stood and left his office.

His eyes followed them until the door closed knowing that he would not be able to hold anything back from them once he told them the truth. Ginny, in particular, was not going to allow Harry to be manipulated. He could have shown Harry the prophecy in the pensive, but there were still too many questions. Dumbledore's frown deepened as he thought of the changed prophecy. Prophecies did not change. Of course, he thought, neither do a ten and an eleven year old bond. Another thought quickly followed, It can't be that simple.

Dumbledore looked at the door again as he considered the possibility. But how? It should not be possible – none of this should be possible. Not for the first time, Dumbledore felt frustration. Prophecies are set – they can be ignored and sometimes even circumvented, but not changed. The only way would be…no, no one would do that. It's too dangerous. Not even Voldemort would dare. But would Harry? mused Dumbledore as he felt goosebumps form on his skin – he needed to have a long talk with Harry and Ginny about how they became bonded. Heaving a great sigh, Dumbledore decided that he would tell Harry everything the first day of the break. The resulting discussion was going to take more than an evening and he did not want to have it anywhere near Dolores Umbridge.

Chuckling, Dumbledore realized that one of his other professors might need some help. Since Harry had told him that he had cursed the professor, Dumbledore had expected Snape to come storming in demanding Harry's expulsion. Of course, that assumed Snape was able to break the sealing charm Harry had placed on the door.