The door slammed open as a distraught Harry stormed into their quarters (the hunters had agreed that the wizard should be given the password in case he needed them). After informing the Headmaster about Harry's visions, the old man had decided that Harry would have to have Occlumency lessons with Professor Severus Snape in order to protect any valuable information that Harry might have inside his head. Harry had been adamant that it should be a different teacher – something the three hunters noted in the back of their minds – but Dumbledore would not be swayed.
Seeing Harry's reaction as he slammed the door behind him, after the first lesson, it was clear to the hunters that the venerable wizard had probably made the wrong choice.
'That complete and utter BASTARD', Harry shouted as we threw himself onto the sofa, breaths coming out harshly in his anger. His entire form was shaking with repressed feeling, and he proved this by attacking a pillow that was on the sofa. 'That. Complete. And. Utter. Bastard.' he repeated, punctuating each word with a punch.
Dean, feeling this form of anger was more his area of expertise than Sammy's, moved forward to kneel in front of the boy. 'What's wrong Harry, explain it to us', he ordered calmly.
'That fucking arsehole Snape, he's what's wrong!' he exploded. 'He didn't try to fucking teach me anything! He just bloody attacked my mind over and over. He didn't fucking tell me how to block him or anything, he just attacked me!' Harry shouted, and Dean patted him on the arm, glancing over at Castiel.
Cas stepped forward, again touching his fingers to Harry's head, and shocked his two comrades as he let out a guttural growl. Anger distorted his face, his usual stoic features almost unrecognisable in their new positions. The blue of his eyes darkened, his fists clenched, and he looked meaningfully at Dean before disappearing. The sound of his wings was the only sound that rang through the room for a moment, as the shocked wizard looked at the empty spot in front of him (because as far as he knew, no one should be able to apparate in Hogwarts).
'You're really making us run all over the castle today, aren't ya kid', Dean said, getting up and shucking his jacket on. Harry automatically followed the large man out of the room, flanked by the younger Winchester. After a second, he realised which way they were going, and would have stopped, had Sam not put a firm hand on his back and forced him to continue walking.
'I don't want to see that greasy bat again today!' he complained.
'We're not going for you kid', Dean said gruffly. 'We're going to make sure Cas doesn't kill your teacher. Never seen him so angry, whatever he saw in your head must have really riled him up', Dean commented. They walked leisurely to the dungeons, which Harry thought was odd considering the two men apparently wanted to stop murder, but he didn't comment.
They reached the dungeons, and Snape's office, to hear a thud which sounded like flesh hitting flesh. With a sigh, Dean pushed the heavy wooden door open, and pulled Castiel off of the black-clad wizard, who was being straddled by the angel and punched in the face. Hair dishevelled and lip split, Harry was surprised to see that Snape still maintained his usual sneer.
'I'm sure the headmaster would be interested to hear of your attack on my person', the Potion's master drawled, eyes trained on Castiel's form. He glanced quickly at Harry, face twisting in anger, before it quickly smoothened out again. The look wasn't missed by the three hunters, and the two Winchesters (who didn't even know why Cas was angry) quickly came to the conclusion that maybe the young wizard wasn't safe around this man.
'How dare you', Cas growled. 'How dare you attack, how dare you rape, that boys mind in such a way?' he asked, moving forward again to hit the smarmy man.
'I can't say I know what you mean', Snape replied, no evidence of guilt found in his voice.
'You dare lie to me? I can see inside your ugly little mind Severus Snape, your shields do nothing to keep me out', Castiel proclaimed. 'I can see the hatred you harbour for Harry, for no reason whatsoever except for who sired him, and I can see that you are well aware that your methods of teaching him to protect his mind won't work'. Snape paled at these words, but Castiel wasn't finished. 'You haven't given Harry any instruction, haven't told him of any of the various tomes that he could read for extra information, haven't even allowed him breaks between your molestation of his mind! You can go ahead and tell Albus Dumbledore of this if you want, however I have evidence that your actions were not in Harry's best interests. If you take this to the Headmaster, I will have no choice but to do the same'.
'So what?' Snape asked. 'What do you hope to achieve by doing that?'.
'Well Severus Snape, how assured are you of your position? Do you really think Albus Dumbledore will choose you over Harry Potter?' Castiel asked, effectively stopping Snape's retort.
The Potion master's mouth snapped shut, and he glared at the group in front of him. 'What exactly will we do now? It seems I will be unable to… teach Mr Potter without him running snivelling to you about my methods, so how exactly do you expect him to protect his mind?' the man sneered.
'I will instruct Harry on strengthening his mind's defenses', Castiel said. 'That was the course of action I originally wanted, but the Headmaster wouldn't hear of it. I'm sure you will keep quiet about this change in plans, yes?' Cas asked, sounding almost smug.
Glaring, Snape agreed and ordered them to leave his domain. They did so without complaint.
(break)
Harry sighed in bliss. Castiel had gotten rid of his headache with a quick touch to the forehead, and ordered the wizards to sit in front of the fireplace. The two, wizard and angel, sat cross-legged opposite each other on the rug.
'Harry, what I am going to do is allow you to feel your minds natural defences', Castiel instructed. 'Once you can feel them, are aware of them, it should be quite simple for you to adjust them so that they are stronger, have you got that?' he asked, and the wizard nodded.
Castiel once again touched Harry's forehead (something Harry was fast identifying as the angel's power move), and the wizard reeled back in shock as he felt a heaviness in his mind that he hadn't before.
Heaviness may not have been the best way to describe it; it was more a pressure that Harry was now aware of, but it didn't cause him discomfort. Eyebrows furrowing in concentration, Harry closed his eyes, and prodded at the feeling with his mind. His imagination was giving him the image of a sheet of cling-film wrapped around his brain, and Harry guessed that this must be the defences he had.
Well, the boy decided that this wouldn't do. He slowly built up a brick wall in place of the cling-film, using three layers of bricks. It was a longer process than he thought it would be, his imagination not allowing him to simply conjure up the wall, rather making him assemble it brick by brick.
'Yes, that's it. Keep going Harry', the boy heard Castiel murmur, and with this encouragement, he continued.
Once the wall was built, he added a moat around the outskirts of it, and added up facing spikes just inside. Instead of just having one form of defence, Harry figured some offensive manoeuvres might come in handy. Barbed wire was placed along the wall, and Harry filled the moat with the brain equivalent of acid – he placed the feelings that came with his worst and most painful memories in the moat, but without the information that was attached. Should someone try to entre his mind, they would first have to go through his hurt and bad emotions (maybe the feelings would even discourage the intruders from venturing further).
Feeling confident in the defences, he opened his eyes to gaze at the angel in front of him.
Said angel had a small smile on his face. 'Well done Harry', he commended. The wizard glowed at the praise, a warm feeling growing in his chest.
A/N finally updated. Hope you like it, it's somewhat of a filler. Next chapter, you'll be finding out what's wrong with Dumbledore.
I also realise that some people may be offended at my portrayal of Snape. However, I dislike Snape as a character (though I admit his complexity is interesting, and he is well written). After analysis, I just don't like his character, I think that his negatives were too high to be redeemed. But, that is my opinion. If my opinion puts you off reading this story, then I apologise, but I won't be changing it just to cater to those who disagree with me. Artistic liscence should mean that I can write characters as I like.