Disclaimer – I don't own anything you recognise.
X
"Occlumency? What's that?" Harry questioned, the word sounding strange on his tongue.
"Occlumency is, in simple terms, the act of defence against Legilimency, a skill which allows one to gain access to another's thoughts and memories at will. You will need to protect your mind from the likes of Dumbledore and a number of other teachers if you wish to keep your secret safe. Of course, Dumbledore is so highly trained it shall not be possible for you to stop him entirely; however I see no reason for him to distrust you as long as you keep to yourself and act as natural as possible. I don't imagine Dumbledore will be a threat much longer however," Tom answered, his eyes blazing in anger at the mention of the Headmaster's name. "Allow me to demonstrate Legilimency."
Tom raised his wand, and before Harry could react, flashes of his past were whirring past his eyes, happy memories of his childhood; the time he and his family went to Disneyland Paris when he was six, when he was nine and he flew on an adult broom for the first time on his own while James and Sirius stood beneath him with huge grins on their faces. Then came the newer memories, the bad ones; the one with him sat alone in the Great Hall with everyone acting as if he was invisible, when he broke down after Tom had left him, and then Sirius falling into the veil, into nothingness.
The images stopped and Harry realised he was on the floor, his hands pressed against the sides of his head. He blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes after watching his Godfather's death again.
"Hogwarts has not been good to you," Tom murmured softly from above him. His eyes were not full of sympathy or concern; instead they seemed to hold simply interest.
"Did you see all of that?" Harry asked, climbing back onto the bed to sit beside Tom. The other man nodded.
"I saw most of it. A skilled Legilimens won't use the incantation to access a flurry of memories; rather they will wordlessly enter your mind and be able to access the memories and thoughts they desire in an instant, however using the direct spell is the easiest way to train you against an attack. I have brought with me a number of books on the subject of Occlumency; I would like you to read the introductory chapters, and in three days' time I shall cast the spell again."
"So those times I thought you were reading my mind, you actually were?" Harry enquired, inwardly cringing at the thought; who knew what Tom had seen in his mind.
"Oh no, I have had no wish to look inside your head, Harry. I've found that you are rather fascinating to read," Tom muttered, placing such an intense look on Harry that the Gryffindor found himself unable to hold the gaze and he looked away blushing.
"What exactly am I meant to be hiding though?" Harry asked instead, staring at the floor which he suddenly found very interesting.
"Our allegiance for one thing; although there are a number of students willing to go as far as being the Dark Lord's servants, so you shan't be alone on that front, however there will be one other student with whom you will share a darker secret; one which can help bring down Neville Longbottom," Tom told him, using his fingers to pull Harry's chin up so he could look into his eyes. "I believe you're familiar with Draco Malfoy?"
Harry nodded; he knew perfectly well who Draco Malfoy was. He wasn't overly keen on the Slytherin, but he wasn't too much of a problem compared to other students. He had never called Harry any of the names that most other students called him; if he was going to insult Harry then it was the usual 'Mudblood-lover' type phrases that he used on most of the Gryffindors in their year. Most of the time though, Draco loved to pick fights with Neville, Ron and Hermione. At first, the younger Malfoy had wanted to befriend Neville, likely to be in cahoots with somebody 'famous', but Neville had turned him down for being mean to Hermione, and Draco had ever since been filled with resentment. He hated Hermione purely because of her blood status, and the Weasley's and the Malfoy's had been enemies for years.
"Well Draco has been issued with a very important task," Tom continued, the red in his eyes almost glowing. "Completing this mission would cause Longbottom's support system to come falling down, and he won't last long without it. It is of the upmost importance that the task is fulfilled, and it is down to Draco to be sure of that, but it's a difficult mission for a mere boy with no particular talent. Harry, you need to offer Draco your support and assistance in this; you won't need to do anything else, but you will be able to better Draco."
Harry nodded mutely, mind racing. He couldn't imagine what sort of task this was, and he couldn't understand why a sixteen year old was being asked to carry out something which seemed so important. He then remembered the newspaper article saying Lucius Malfoy had been sent to Azkaban. This was after he had been caught as a Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries, where he had been desperately trying to regain a crystal, but then it had smashed. Everything suddenly seemed to click into place.
"What happens to Draco if he fails?" Harry asked, and for not even a second Tom looked pleasantly surprised before an unreadable mask fell back into place. "I mean, this is Lucius Malfoy's punishment isn't it? Making his only child attempt to do something difficult without the needed skill? I know that He doesn't go lightly on people when they fail either."
"Well tell me what you believe will happen to the Malfoy boy if he fails," Tom answered vaguely, and the look in his eyes was enough to scare Harry slightly. They didn't hold any particular emotion, but something dark seemed to be lurking behind.
"He'll be killed, won't he?" Harry questioned, feeling horror run through him as Tom nodded.
"Eventually," Tom expanded. "If I had my way he would simply be killed for failing his task, however, and as strange as this will sound because in a way I am simply saying this about myself, but my other half," here Tom paused, his face suggesting he found some amusement in the choice of words, "can be rather maniacal at times. Death would be simply too easy. He is well known for his torture techniques, so I suppose it will be up to you if you want to give Draco a chance."
Harry knew then he wouldn't be able to say no, no matter what the task was; he couldn't have the death of somebody on his conscience, otherwise he'd be just as bad as Neville. "So what is it he has to do then?" Harry enquired instead, not surprised when Tom shook his head.
"When I deem you acceptable at Occlumency I'll tell you; for now it could potentially be a risk."
With that said, Tom bid Harry a goodnight and left him alone. Harry spent most of the night awake, wondering what Draco could possibly have to do.
X
The next morning Harry was woken by his mother shaking him gently awake.
"You need to get ready, sweetheart. We're going to Diagon Alley soon," she said softly, but he could feel her temper rising as he didn't get up straight away. He had only managed a few hours of sleep and couldn't muster the energy to get out of bed, let alone walk around Diagon Alley.
"Why do we have to go today?" he moaned as he stumbled out of bed, tripping over his covers as he dragged them across the floor with him.
"The Weasleys are going today; Neville and Hermione will be there too," Lily explained, making Harry grimace. That was even less of an incentive.
"Why do we have to go with them?" he asked, looking at his mum pointedly. A guilty look crossed her face for a moment.
"Neville gets extra protection for obvious reasons. It's safer to go with them."
"Or make us more of a target," Harry muttered under his breath, but Lily still heard him and rolled her eyes before she left the room to allow him privacy to get ready.
He yawned widely as he crossed over to the bathroom. He dropped the bed cover and left it in a heap by the door; he'd pick it up later.
He cringed as he looked in the bathroom mirror. All he could see was his hair; it was messy enough anyway, he didn't think he had ever seen it lay straight, but with the tossing and turning he had been doing last night it made him look like he'd shoved his hand in an electric socket.
He didn't particularly like much about his appearance, apart from his eyes. He had grown up the spitting image of his dad, but as he grew more into adulthood his features seem to have sharpened, only not in a masculine way; it was just another thing for people to mock him for. He hated that he looked girly; he wanted to have handsome features like Tom had, and heck, even Draco Malfoy wasn't too far below Tom in terms of masculine attractiveness. He'd be very happy if he looked like the blond.
It took him almost an hour to get ready, and when he arrived downstairs his mother was tapping her foot impatiently. His sister Heather was sat on the sofa, not even bothering to say hello to him. He presumed his dad was in bed with a hangover but he didn't want to ask. Instead he just reluctantly Flooed to the Weasley's home.
He had never been to the house before, the Burrow he believed they called it. It was cosy. It was cramped but not in an overbearing way, and seemed to be filled with bits and bobs of all sorts. He could tell it was an entirely magical household. It was a strange site to see; Lily wanted them to be proud of their blood so in his house there was a mixture of magical and muggle appliances. It looked a lot easier to wash up pots and pans by magic than doing it by hand.
Before he could finish looking around the house, a woman appeared in front of him and grasped both of his hands gently and pulled him into a semi-hug.
"Hello dear. You must be Harry?" she asked, and Harry knew it was the mother Weasley. He had seen her at Platform 9 ¾ but he had never actually spoken to her, despite the fact Molly and Lily had become very good friends since the Order of the Phoenix reformed.
He nodded as a form of reply, and she beamed at him before greeting Heather just as enthusiastically. He glanced at the other occupants in the room; Ron, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, a man Harry presumed was Molly's husband, an older red-haired boy who was likely Ron and Ginny's brother, and Fleur Delacour, who looked just as beautiful as she had done at the Triwizard Tournament. She was holding hands with the red-haired boy, and Harry thought they looked good together.
After mumbled greetings to everyone, the whole group besides Fleur and the man he now knew was her fiancé Bill, clambered into some Ministry of Magic issued cars which took them straight to Diagon Alley.
The Alley was almost deserted when they got there; half the shops had closed down or been broken into, and only a few people wandered the street, most of them walking in a hurried fashion with cloaks drawn up.
After getting what they needed for school, they headed to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, the shop that Fred and George Weasley owned. Being inside the joke shop was like a very different world; it was colourful and lively, packed with people who didn't seem to have a care in the world.
Harry had planned to find a corner to stand in until everyone was ready to leave, but Ginny ended up grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the main shop.
"We can't have you standing around looking miserable," she told him with a grin on her face.
Harry tugged his wrist from her grip but walked alongside her regardless.
"So are you going to buy anything, Harry?" Ginny asked, her own arms full of items.
"Oh, er, I don't think so. It's not really my thing, which is strange in a way because my dad loves this sort of thing," he murmured in answer.
"He should meet Fred and George then; they'd probably idolise him. Oh, what's that?" Ginny said excitedly, running over to a bright pink display.
Harry followed her, not caring he seemed to be the only male in the vicinity.
"What do you need a love potion for Ginny? Bored of Dean already?" This question came from Heather, and the younger girl had a hopeful look on her face. It was no secret that Heather and her friends seemed to crush on the other boys in Harry's dorm, although Neville's fame made him the favourite.
"Don't you think you're a bit young for him?" Ginny retorted, and Heather pulled a face.
"I'm only a year younger than you," she spat back, but she seemed to give up and sulked off with a friend.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry you have to put up with that," she grimaced, and Harry couldn't help but smile. He decided he liked Ginny.
"Can't be worse than six older brothers," he pointed out, causing Ginny to laugh, before she got distracted by a cage of creatures that were basically balls of pink and purple fluff.
Harry noticed a flash of blond hair go by the window outside, recognising it as Draco Malfoy. He paid no more attention to it until a few moments later when Ron, Neville and Hermione walked by quickly too.
"Ginny, I'm just going to pop to another shop. I'll be back in a few minutes," Harry whispered to Ginny, who only nodded; too busy cooing over the Pygmy Puffs.
He ran through the shop and back to the Alley. The trio were already part way down it, clearly following Draco. If they already suspected him of something, they could hold Draco back and make him more likely to fail, so he decided he had to stop them.
He tried to run as quietly as he could in order to catch up to them. He ended up trailing just behind them, and as they turned after Draco into Knockturn Alley, Harry sprinted to meet them directly, not wanting to shout to them to get their attention.
"Why are you going down there?" he asked. Ron jumped and he had Hermione and Neville pointing wands at him in an instant. They lowered them as they realised who he was.
"We…" Neville started, looking at his friends for help.
"We just saw-"Hermione began, but Ron interrupted.
"Hermione wanted another book from Flourish and Blotts," the redhead stated. The other three could only stare at him.
"You mean the shop the other end of Diagon Alley?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I told you this wasn't a shortcut, Ron," Neville piped up. "Do you want to let the others know we'll be back in a bit, Harry?"
"Oh no, I needed Flourish and Blotts myself; we can go together now," he replied, inwardly laughing at the disappointment on Ron and Neville's faces. Hermione seemed almost relieved and she marched forwards with Harry, the other boys trailing behind miserably.
Harry ended up buying a book in the end so that he wouldn't look too suspicious, and likewise, when they went back to the joke shop and Molly and Lily asked where they had been, Harry lied and told them they had been in the bookstore the whole time. He didn't know if this was what Tom meant when he said to help Draco, but he found he rather enjoyed what he was doing.
X
They hadn't spent much longer in Diagon Alley after that.
When they returned home, Lily tried to convince Heather to stay the night, but she refused and ended up shouting at James before she Flooed back to Snape's. Seeing the hurt look on his father's face was heart-breaking. He missed his old dad, the one who was care-free and happy, but was still fiercely devoted and protective of his family.
He didn't know what he could say to help, however, so he went to hide himself in his room, only having enough time to put his school stuff down before Tom appeared in the room.
"Do you not know how to tidy?" he scowled, waving his wand and organising everything Harry had left on the floor in the morning.
"I helped Draco today already," Harry said, ignoring Tom's comment about his room. "Neville and his friends were stalking him, so I stopped them."
The older boy looked impressed. "That's good; Draco was doing something rather important today. I can't stay for long tonight. I'm going to be away for two days, but I expect you to keep up with your reading. Oh, I've got something for you," Tom said, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a small vial with a clear liquid inside it. "It's not Veritaserum, if that's what you're thinking. This is my own concoction; you need to put one drop in your father's drink, and then tell him everything you think about him."
"What is it? Is it dangerous?" Harry asked, eyeing the bottle warily.
Tom smirked and leant forwards, until their faces were only inches apart. Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed and he hoped his face didn't look as flushed as it felt.
"Don't you trust me, Harry?" Tom asked, the look in his eyes so intense that Harry couldn't find his voice and he just nodded, not even sure if that was the right response. Tom smirked again and he pushed the vial into one of Harry's hands, using both his hands to close Harry's fingers over it and holding the pose.
"Good," Tom hissed in his ear, "I shall see you in two days." With that, he spoke something in Parseltongue before disappearing from his room.
Harry waited a moment to make sure Tom had really gone before deciding to go for a shower; a cold one.
X
After Harry had finished off in his rather intense shower, he crept to where James kept his drinks and grabbed the one nearest to him. He poured in a drop of the potion, and sat down, waiting for his dad to appear, and hoping everything went to plan.
It wasn't too much later that James appeared, blinking as he took in the form of Harry pretending to drink from the bottle.
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, grabbing the drink from his hands and taking a swig of it. "I don't need your mother on at me for letting you drink underage." He took another gulp of the drink, and Harry trusted that the mysterious potion had already taken effect.
"It would be your fault; you're setting a bad example," Harry said quietly, waiting for a denial or to be yelled at, but it never came. Instead his father sat back in his seat, with his eyes glazed over. He just nodded while not really focusing on anything. Harry wasn't quite sure what the point of this potion was, but Tom told him to tell his dad everything, so that's what he was going to do. "I don't understand why you drink so much; I don't understand why you feel this guilt. You weren't there so you had nothing to do with it. Me on the other hand, I was there; I watched as he battled and I watched him die. I still feel the pain, but I get on with things because I know I have to. You though, you're just being weak. There's a war on and you've selfishly abandoned your family. We need you and you've become useless. I can't hate you, but it's no wonder Heather does, and I'm surprised Mum is still with you. You fought to get her, but you can't fight to keep her, can you? If you carry on drinking you're going to destroy our family, and then you'll have nobody." He finished ranting, his anger boiling as he stared at James. He regretted his words almost immediately after he had said them; he didn't really feel that way, it had been his anger taking over, and he felt horribly guilty about what he had said, but his father didn't show any sign of listening to him; he was still sat staring into space with the vacant look in his eyes.
Harry shook his head and made to leave the room, but before he could shut the door behind him, James was at his feet, grabbing hold of his legs and looking at him with watery eyes. "I'm sorry," he croaked, but Harry shook him off him.
"Dad, you aren't you anymore," was all Harry said before he ran to his room. He slammed the door behind him and found himself unable to hold the tears in any longer. His father was broken, not even a shadow of his former self, and it was tearing apart his family. His hatred for Neville Longbottom was now at it's peak, and he couldn't wait to make the boy pay.
X
The next two days seemed to pass in a blur. James made no acknowledge that Harry had spoken to him about his drinking, but he seemed to have a newfound determination to beat his problem.
Harry meanwhile had thrown himself into studying Occlumency. The more he read, the more fascinating he found it. He had no wish to become a Legilimens himself, but he found it disturbing that others enjoyed breaking into other's minds, so he thought learning to protect himself was important.
He had devoured the books, reading from cover to cover instead of focusing on the introductory chapters, and he had found that there were three main ways to stop a Legilimens; the easiest was to block out the attacker by concentrating on just one emotion or thought. There was also the option to split emotions or thoughts from each other and hide the ones that needed protecting in the back of the mind. The most difficult form of Occlumency involved creating false images to trick the Legilimens, but Harry thought he would wait until he was perfect at the other two methods before attempting that one.
It involved a lot of focus, so Harry had paid attention to the advice the books gave and had started meditating, trying to clear out all thoughts. After a while he got the hang of it, so he moved on to trying to focus on purely one thing. That proved to be a lot harder, but the more he worked, the closer he was getting. Unfortunately for him, this could be futile when up against a skilled Legilimens, but it was the only choice he had.
Tom was supposed to arrive at some point today, but Harry had no idea when. Being as nervous as he was, he decided to meditate to prepare himself. He wanted Tom to be proud of him, so the more he practiced the better.
He lost track of time, as he normally did when he meditated properly, but when he heard somebody say his name his mind immediately came to life and he jumped and swore loudly, causing a chuckle to come from the man in the room.
Harry hadn't heard Tom utter any sign of amusement before, and he thought it sounded wonderful.
"I'm glad to see you've done as I asked," the dark wizard said, lips still twitching upwards slightly as Harry tried to calm his racing heart down. "Your shock is a good sign; it shows you were entirely focused."
"Great," Harry muttered, attempting to recollect himself. "So, er, was your thing you were doing successful?"
"Very," Tom replied. "Are you ready to see how you've improved?"
Harry nodded, but he wasn't ready really. He tried to set his mind into motion, focusing on just one memory.
Tom said the spell, and for a moment Harry thought he had perfected it, but he could feel something forcing it's way into his mind, and eventually his defence broke, memories and emotions running through his head, although when he saw the door to his bathroom door in his mind, he panicked and immediately thought of Diagon Alley, the shopping area being the first thing that came to his mind.
Tom pulled out of his mind, and everything came back into focus. He wasn't sure when he ended up on the floor, but he felt proud of himself, and it appeared Tom agreed.
"Very good for a first attempt," he complimented. "There must have been something in that bathroom you didn't want me to see."
Harry blushed and refused to make eye contact; he knew Legilimens needed eye contact if they wanted to access deeper memories, and he didn't want Tom to have any idea of what Harry had done with Tom in mind.
X
The next four weeks were very much the same. Tom was with him every day, practicing Occlumency almost constantly. It was hard work, but the results were showing. Harry had practically perfected the blocking technique now, at least when Tom dropped his own skill level down to the average Legilimens. He was nowhere close to stopping Tom from getting to his mind, but he could block him out enough to make Tom happy. He wasn't as close to perfecting the separating technique, but Tom was happy with where he was at, and believed Harry would be adept enough to protect his mind as long as he didn't act suspiciously.
"I want you to get involved with Longbottom and his friends," Tom had told him one evening. "Get close to them, learn their secrets and give them reason to trust you."
Being in with the 'Golden Trio', as they were dubbed by other students, would certainly give Dumbledore no reason to suspect him of working alongside Dark wizards.
Tonight was Harry's last night before he went back to Hogwarts. His parents had called Heather round and they had had a nice family meal. James' progress was going almost as well as Harry's; he wasn't officially recovered, but he had managed to gain some control over himself again, and he was starting to turn back into his old self.
Despite some normality returning to his family life, he still insisted on locking himself in his room for the evening and spending the rest of the time with Tom. He wasn't sure how often he'd be able to see the older wizard once he was at Hogwarts, so he was going to make the most of their time now.
Harry was happy when Tom told him he wouldn't be having Occlumency, and instead they sat together on Harry's bed, while Tom told him about how pleased he was with Harry's progress, and how he'd fit perfectly into the new world.
The way Tom described this new world made it sound beautiful. He knew Tom was leaving out the torture and destruction of Muggles and Muggle-borns, but Tom told him of how he would be in Tom's league after they'd won the War, and that everyone who was ever horrible to him would be put in their proper place, while those who deserved better would be treated as such, even those who were prejudiced against by the current Ministry, such as werewolves.
"I knew a werewolf once," Harry muttered softly. He could feel tiredness washing over him but he wanted to stay awake. "He's disappeared now; we don't know if he killed himself or just ran away."
"Remus Lupin is very much alive," Tom answered, and Harry didn't know whether to feel happy or betrayed that Remus had left them. "I cannot tell you too much, but he is in good hands. He was saved from sure death of his own hand by his Sire."
"Greyback?" Harry asked, though he already knew the answer. He hoped that Greyback was taking care of Remus; the older werewolf was incredibly sadistic and cruel, but a Sire wouldn't turn away one of their own if they needed help. It was in the werewolf code, Lupin had told him, but most people would rather never see Greyback again and preferred to suffer on their own.
"You're tired, Harry. Sleep," Tom said gently as Harry dropped against him, but the Gryffindor shook his head.
"I'm not going to see you as much anymore; I want this to last," Harry argued sleepily.
"You'll be seeing me more than you think. Draco will need to stay in touch with me, so you can come along with him."
"What is it Draco has to do?" Harry asked, now trying to blink away the heaviness of his eyes. He wondered if Tom had put a Sleeping Curse on him.
"Just sleep, Harry. I shall stay with you all night," Tom told him instead, and the urge to sleep came over Harry so strong he knew it was a spell, but he couldn't find it in him to care; he just wanted to close his eyes.
He felt Tom push him down, and as he drifted off, he felt a gentle hand against his cheek, and he heard a distant voice say, "murder Albus Dumbledore."
X
Sorry for my lousy updating D: Thank you to everyone who is still reading :D
For anyone who may be interested, I've always imagined Harry looking like Joseph Gordon-Levitt (but with wild hair) so that's how I see Harry when I write this. His own self-image has been distorted because of the bullying he's suffered. His 'victim' days are almost over though. He just needs a bit of boost in confidence and he'll show everyone what he's really made of. Fun.
Oh, and a quick question about minor pairings: would you rather see Luna/Ginny and Draco/Pansy, or Draco/Luna and Ginny/Blaise? Or if you like Luna/Ginny, which other girl would you like to see Draco with other than Pansy? I hate Pansy, but I can't decide who else Draco could be with. I considered Hermione but I'm not sure if it would work with this story, so yeah, your opinions and ideas will be very appreciated :D