Harry had a difficult time concentrating on the lesson.

What was about to happen this afternoon? What if he'd suddenly forget how to use occlumency? What if he'd faint again and see some of his friends die? What if he'd see Ron die, or Hermione? And he was still wondering what had happened when he had been unconscious. He imagined himself lie on the floor having some kind of fit or seizure, making weird noises and talk about Armageddon in a creepy voice. Like Professor Trelawney had done in third grade when she presaged his nearing death.

Harry cringed. He didn't want anyone to see him doing that. It was embarrassing. He had never asked anyone of his friends what he was doing when it happened, because he was terrified of the answer.

While Harry was brooding over all that, he made the mistake to look out of the window. It had started to snow and he watched one snowflake after the other land on the windowsill. Professor McGonagall who had just transformed the chalkboard into an eagle, levitated the bird to Harry's desk and let it peck his nose.

"Ouch!", Harry chuntered, angry about the eagle disturbing his thoughts. It was a very pretty bird. Its feathers had a slight golden hue, as had its beak. Its eyes, that were blinking at him in a sarcastic fashion, were orange with a touch of green. It almost looked like someone had crossbred an eagle with a phoenix. He was beautiful.

"I'm sorry, Mr Potter, did I interrupt your daydreaming?", Professor McGonagall admonished him, "I'm sure your personal homework will be very easy for you, if you're so bored in my class"

Well, great.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I wasn't paying attention. Could you repeat your question?"

"I didn't ask you anything", the professor answered in a stern voice. Malfoy chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Professor", Harry repeated.

With an awful lot of homework, his updated schedule as well as an occlumency book in his book bag, Harry scuffled to Professor Snape's office in the dungeons. All of a sudden he wasn't so keen to be a good student anymore. He was rather afraid, now that he thought about what might really happen during the visions. He didn't trust Snape enough to ask him. Neither did he want to bring up the topic with Ron and Hermione. They would know immediately that he was getting occlumency lessons again and he didn't want them to know. Not yet.

When he entered the room, Snape didn't greet him. He never bothered, it wasn't new to Harry, but this time he felt a little offended by that. Great start.

"Sit down", Snape hissed in his typical, slow voice, "Have you received my schedule?"

"Yes, Sir", Harry responded calmly, still standing up, "I did. Mondays and Tuesdays, five o'clock."

"Good."

When Harry wanted to take out the occlumency book out of his bag, Snape shook his head, took the book from him and placed it on the table.

"You won't need this in the lessons. Just see it as an opportunity to get answers when you have difficulties understanding something." Great, so in other words that meant he couldn't ask the professor if he had questions. This was just like the Dursley household. Only a bit more magical. Slightly.
Snape navigated him to a chair in the middle of the room. Numerous carpets and cushions were placed on the floor. How very courteous.

"I said sit.", Snape repeated.

Snape's first try to discover the deepest secrets in Harry's mind was successful and more than embarrassing. Harry could feel that familiar hate boil inside him; that particular hate that only arose when Snape was mocking him. But he had promised himself to be nice to his Potions teacher and so he pulled himself together.

"You need to focus, Potter. I can tell you're not even trying. Where are your thoughts?"

Harry didn't want to tell him. After a moment he was glad he didn't, because the expression on Snape's face made it evident that the question was meant rhetorically. Snape continued:

"You have to ban me out of your mind. You have to imagine throwing me out of your personal door. Your thoughts are your property and only yours. Don't think! Act! Through thinking! Do you understand?"

Did that even make sense? Harry nodded. He was confused. This sentence was highly unusual for Snape's standards. 'Your thoughts are your property and only yours.' Years ago Snape would probably have done anything to take a look inside Harry's mind. So what was happening here?

They tried again and this time Harry could at least protect himself a little. He even tricked Snape through thinking that he was in love with his broomstick.
The professor cocked an eyebrow.
"Very funny, Potter. But this isn't one of your stupid jokes. When you want to defeat the Dark Lord, if you want to, one might say, you have to take this seriously. One last try."

The last attempt wasn't any better than the first one. Snape crashed into his mind very violently this time and Harry was so shocked that he couldn't even try to shield himself.
He woke up lying on the cushions.

"What the...", Harry complained, "This is unfair, Professor, it has been a long time since our last occlumency lesson."

"Then I understand you haven't been practising at all. What a surprise. Read the first three chapters in your book. I'll see you on Monday. Dismissed."