The Granger Son

Harry; Hermione; Dr. Grangerx2

Rated T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling

The Granger Son

Chapter 16

Harry waited patiently, and somewhat anxiously, outside of Snape's office after dinner, waving to his fellow Slytherins as they walked by after dinner. It was soon time for his first private Occlumency lesson, and he was nervous about it. Despite his nerves, he was also excited for this. He would be learning a new skill to add to his arsenal, and Snape had suggested it to him himself, and with no cajoling. That, and if it helped to keep Voldemort out of his mind in his sleep or during the day, then he would do it.

It wasn't too much longer before Professor Snape finally arrived, moving like a dark shadow in the dimly lit dungeon towards him. Looking at the fifteen-year-old, Snape said, "To the classroom, Mr. Potter."

Nodding, Harry followed his Potions professor to the Potions classroom, the man closing the door behind him as he did. Snape instructed him to sit in a chair as he moved to the front of the classroom. Harry sat down in a chair, holding onto it tightly when the older wizard suddenly used magic to move the chair out from behind the table and into the middle aisle in front of him. Eyes wide, Harry looked up at him and said, "Sir?"

"Tonight, I will be training you in the magical use of Occlumency. As I said before, it is a way to shield your mind from those that wish to invade it and have it influenced by a Legilimens. Legilimency is the opposite of Occlumency, allowing one to invade and navigate one's mind and find whatever it is they want to know. The Dark Lord is a Legilimens, Professor Dumbledore is a Legilimens, and I am a Legilimens. Some of us are naturally gifted in it, others must be taught; the same goes for an Occlumens. Some can master one and not the other. And I hope to Merlin that you can be taught. Do you have this basic understanding of Legilemency and Occlumency?" Snape watched as Harry nodded, though he took notice of the somewhat anxious expression on his face. Oh well, he would get over it. After all, if he wanted to learn, he would bear with this.

Pointing his wand at the boy, he watched as he tensed up at being at wand-point, and told him, "Your goal is to keep me out of your mind. Shield it from me. Prepare yourself, Potter. Legilimens."

Instantly Snape was going through the Fifth Year's mind, looking around at different memories as they flew by. He could feel the boy trying to fight him and push him out, but yet he remained. The boy's mind was too weak to push him out just yet, but he hoped he would soon learn. Watching the memories, he observed memories from school, Potter's time with friends at Hogwarts, playing Quidditch, etc. Deciding to pull back, he did so and took notice of how the boy was panting slightly, him squeezing his eyes shut before looking up at him.

Looking him in his eye, he told him, "Concentrate on keeping me out. Imagine an impenetrable barrier of some sort to keep me at bay. Are you ready?"

Harry took a deep breath and said, "Yes sir."

"Legilimens."

Once again, Snape was in the boy's mind and watching his memories play out. He could feel Potter still struggling to kick him out and possibly keep him out. He continued to watch his memories play, and this time, it looked like he was watching Potter from when he was a little boy. It was him growing up, and he seemed to be playing with…Miss Granger? Well, that certainly was interesting. Snape made to continue to watch more memories from his childhood, only to feel like he was suddenly being yanked by his collar.

As he was quickly pulled from Potter's mind, Potter cried out, "Stop!"

Blinking at how his student seemed to kick him out from that particular memory, he asked, "What was that memory about? You and Miss Granger seemed rather young there."

"I…I don't want you to see that," Harry panted out, a sheen of sweat beginning to form on his forehead. "That isn't for you to know about."

Snape found that interesting of him to say to him, making him believe there was more to that memory than what he had seen, and Potter was unwilling to reveal. "If you don't want me to see or know about that memory, or any related to it, then control your emotions and keep me out."

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder. Legilimens."

The private lesson lasted for two hours, two very long hours. To help the boy from being upset during his first lesson from anything other than frustration, Snape decided to stick to memories of Hogwarts for the time being. Those memories showed not only his time with friends in class, but during lunch and the Common Room, as well as his student's misadventures. He observed the incident with the troll and couldn't help but feel just as exasperated upon seeing Mr. Zabini throw a Dungbomb at the beast. He also watched in interest as Mr. Potter told off Miss Parkinson about Miss Granger during his very first day as a First Year. He had to say, he was impressed, and couldn't help but see Lily in him in that moment.

The memories changed and he soon found himself looking at a memory with Minerva. Not only was it with her, but the location seemed to be Gringotts, particularly in the Head Goblin's office. It seemed to be a recent memory too, as the boy looked as old as he was now. He was going to watch the memory, only for him to be kicked out of Potter's mind for the second time that night. He was impressed that he was able to kick him out once again, but it still wasn't enough.

Looking down at the panting, sweating teenager, Snape said, "I must admit, not bad for a first attempt, Mr. Potter. However, you still have a long way to go. We will continue this lesson in two day at the same time. For now, go back to the Common Room and rest."

Exhausted, Harry stood from his chair and said, "Thank you."

Turning, Harry left the classroom and went down the dungeon corridor to the Common Room, going in and heading straight to his dorm. Merlin, he was tired, and he couldn't wait to crash into his bed. And fifteen minutes later, after showering and dressing into his night clothes, he did exactly that, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

In the courtyard after class during their free period, Hermione, Daphne, Draco, and Blaise were all grouped together, having just left another one of Umbridge's useless classes. Hermione, Daphne, and Draco all sat on a bench while Blaise sat on the ground in front of them, mostly Hermione. Huffing in annoyance, Hermione said, "That's it, I've had enough. I'm sick of Umbridge not teaching us and not learning anything."

Nodding in agreement, Draco said, "Yes, so am I. We need to do something, take things into our own hands. We're not being taught to defend ourselves, and we need to be. Whether it be someone good in the subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts or someone with experience in doing so, we need that knowledge."

"What if we tried to petition for Lupin again?" Daphne suggested. "He knew his material and allowed us to practice and learn."

"That won't be possible. Now that everyone knows the man is a werewolf, and the prejudice still out there about them, there is no way parents or the Ministry will allow us students to be taught by him."

"But he was a brilliant teacher, though," Hermione said with a sad sigh. She would love to have Professor Lupin again, but too many people were still too prejudice against werewolves to even consider giving him or werewolves in general a chance.

Blaise thought for a moment, his head resting against Hermione's leg, before suggesting, "What about Harry?"

He looked up to see three pairs of eyes looking at him, but he focused on their Ravenclaw friend. "Harry, he's been in plenty of life-threatening situations. And every time he's come out alive and mostly unscathed. He would be a perfect teacher."

Hermione thought about it for a moment before saying, "Yes, I agree that he seems like our most ideal choice right now, but I don't think I'll be able to convince him to do it."

"But you're his sister; he'll at least listen if you ask," Draco told her.

"After all, it couldn't hurt," Daphne added. "And I can gather others who feel the same way we do and want to learn properly, as well."

"Please Hermione?" Blaise pleaded from below her.

The brunette looked down at him and his pleading eyes before looking at the two blondes. She considered their words for a moment before saying, "Okay."

"Hermione, where are we going?" Harry asked his sister as they walked through the snow into Hogsmeade on Saturday.

"To the Hog's Head Inn," Hermione answered quietly so only her brother would hear.

Harry frowned in confusion. "But why? Hogwarts students don't normally go there. The place is kind of dodgy."

"Exactly, which means it's a safe place for us."

"What do you mean by that?"

Instead of answering, Hermione led Harry to the Hog's Head Inn, looking around briefly before opening the door and gesturing her brother to enter. Harry did so, his sister entering and closing the door behind him, and was surprised to see a good amount of his classmates from what seemed to be all four Houses present, including his friends. Looking around at all of them, letting Hermione lead him to what was obviously the front with a table, Harry asked, "What is this? What is this all about?"

Once he was behind the table, she slid a piece of parchment in front of him with several signatures on it before saying, "These are the members of Potter's Army."

Potter's Army? What in the world? Looking at his sister and friends for further explanation, Harry asked, "Can someone explain to me what's going on?"

Draco, deciding to be the one to speak, stepped up and said, "Harry, the reason we are all here is because we are all currently facing the exact same problem: we're not learning in DADA. We need to learn spells to be able to be able to defend ourselves, as well as the practicalities. And to be frank, Umbridge doesn't seem fit to even show us that, especially with her not teaching a damn thing. Therefore, we have all come to the agreement that you are to be the one to teach us this year what Umbridge hasn't and won't."

"After all, you are the one with the most experience in this subject. You have a lot of field experience as well, having been in plenty of life and death situations and you're still alive," Daphne said.

"Yes, but what I've been through is much different from what is learned in a classroom," Harry responded.

A Ravenclaw girl named Luna Lovegood, a Housemate of Hermione's, looked at Harry with big, inquisitive eyes and said in a dreamy voice, "I heard that you can produce the Patronus Charm. That's a high level spell that no other student knows."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, he can, and I've seen it in action. He learned it when we were just Third Years."

"And he can do much more than that," Draco added.

"No, I can't!" Harry shouted. The bespectacled wizard looked from his friends to the other students present in the Hog's Head. Speaking to the gathered crowd, he continued to speak. "Look, I know that it seems that I've done some amazing things with my head and sanity still intact, especially for our age group, but the danger alone isn't worth teaching you all. I'm not willing to teach every one of you knowing that you could possibly get killed in a fight, especially now. With Voldemort back…I don't want to put any of you at risk more than you could already be now. The real world and fighting, it isn't anything like it's taught at Hogwarts. You don't have time to think and recall. You must be quick on your feet, and one wrong move could get you killed or severely harmed. Believe me, I know; I've barely gotten out alive by the skin of my teeth. And yes, it is frustrating having Umbridge not properly teaching, but again, like I said, I'm not willing to teach you all knowing you all could get killed fighting."

"Why don't you let us make that choice?" a familiar voice spoke up. Looking through the crowd, Harry was surprised to see that it had been Ron Weasley to respond to him.

Blaise looked at his friend saying, "We understand that we're young and what is coming is bad, but Weasley is right. Let us make the decision to fight if we want. You have to give us the chance to make it and fight back if the adults won't teach and protect us."

Daphne nodded in agreement. "We know it's risky, especially doing something as unauthorized at this, but we're willing to do it."

"Yes, we are. We're ready Harry, and we'll stand behind you," Draco said.

Harry was so surprised at this. He really couldn't believe that not only his friends, but his classmates had faith in him that he could teach them to defend themselves. It seemed crazy, but as he looked around, he could see the determination and readiness on their faces. Turning to look at Hermione, he found his sister with the same expression on her face, her eyes filled with the fiery will to do this. Harry looked down at the piece of parchment with all the signatures on it, noticing a space left at the top above Hermione's name; that must be for him.

He understood their point, he really did. But he still wasn't sure about this. Even so, he knew that they would proceed either way, and Hermione and Draco had been through enough situations with him to teach the others a bit. But when it all came down to it, the only one who could teach everyone that was willing to learn, was him. And he didn't want anyone to get hurt or die, but he also knew that the best chance of that happening was if everyone knew how to properly defend themselves. Coming to a decision, Harry took the Self-Inking Quill on the table, and signed his name over his sister's. Once he was done, he looked up at the expecting crowd and nodded.

"Alright then. I'll do it; I'll lead Potter's Army."