Chapter Thirty Nine
When Harry was younger, and Danica was still a baby, Harry came down with a nasty dose of the chicken pox. It was nothing to really worry about, he spent two weeks curled up on the sofa taking several doses of paracetamol a day to keep the fever down while he either watched cartoons or read.
Lily had laughed when Danica also caught it, having to tape mittens to her hands so she wouldn't scratch the itchy spots, it was difficult and the nights were very long while both Harry and Danica needed attention at all hours but it was manageable.
Then, Severus fell ill. He'd some how missed it when he was a child himself and now lay in bed with a dangerously high temperature. Lily had come to sit with a worried Harry to reassure him that this would pass.
"Is Daddy going to be all right?" Harry had asked, trying not to scratch at his own spots.
Lily nodded, "Yes baby, he's going to be just fine."
Harry snuggled into her side, "Why did we all have to get ill at once?" he pouted, "I could help look after him if I wasn't ill."
Lily smiled, "Because it never rains, it pours. Just remember, water is good for the garden."
It never rains, but pours was a very fitting saying for how Harry felt right now. Not only was Hagrid on probation, so was Severus. Umbridge had reminded them, oh so sweetly, than no more than three students were to gather regularly without her permission, Draco, Daphne, Harry and Pansy were four, Hermione and Neville made it up to six and they had all been seen very regularly in the library together. Umbridge made a point of being kind enough not to take the issue any further, this time, but it wasn't to happen again. It severely restricted how often they could study together.
And now, on top of all that, yet another Educational Decree had been made, informing them all that teachers were not to discuss anything with students not directly related to their subject, further forcing Harry and Severus apart.
The teachers had taken to having whispered conversations in the corridors, clearly no longer feeling that the staff room was safe to voice their opinions.
Several students, were however, taking much of the attention away from Harry; something he was very glad of. Susan Bones for example had had a large proportion of her family killed by some of the recently escaped Death Eaters before they were imprisoned and was suddenly the centre of much gossip, giving Harry a welcome break.
Pansy and Daphne had also, somehow, managed to charm Umbridge's shoes not to click, no matter how hard she walked, while their own new flat shoes, Hermione's as well, now clicked no matter how little of a heel was on them, or how soft the soles were. A small, private victory that many of the girls in the entire school had welcomed, even if it was only to annoy Umbridge.
Harry was sitting, picking at his sandwich at the end of the Slytherin table. Draco filled his glass with pumpkin juice and gave him a nudge.
"Are you OK?" Draco asked.
Harry shrugged, "Just feeling like there's not much point right now."
Draco gave him a small smile and glanced down the table, Daphne and Pansy were sitting slightly further away from them, so they couldn't be accused of being in a group.
"It'll get better." Draco tried to reassure him, "I mean apart from anything else Umbridge seems more focused on picking on the Gryffindors at the moment."
Harry nodded. He too had noticed Umbridge being unusually focused on punishing those in Gryffindor house. He had spotted Lee Jordan, one of Fred and George's friends, trying to bandage his hand up; although he didn't know why.
"Plus people are starting to question the Ministry." Draco said, in barely more than a whisper, "They don't believe that pathetic story about Davis somehow managing to let eight prisoners escape single handed."
Harry smiled, "That's very true. I had one of the Ravenclaws, who's been ignoring me all year, say hello yesterday."
Draco nodded, "The truth will always get out one way or another. Have you heard anything from home?"
Harry sighed. He had been getting the usual rate of letters from home however they were empty, Danica drew a picture or Sirius is thinking of getting a hair cut. There was no real news. Harry couldn't blame his mother for that, his letters home had been equally as dull. Hedwig lost a feather, and did you know O. need lots of revision? It was clear all of their letters were being searched, Umbridge, or whoever she was getting to help her, weren't even bothering to seal the letters any more. Hermione had even been forced to stop writing to Victor Krum as their letters were going missing so often.
Umbridge made it her mission to attend every single lesson that Severus, Hargid or Trelawney taught. Harry knew it was simply not possible for her to attend every one and teach her own classes and suspected it was his presence that was make her hover in those classes in particular.
Trelawney was quickly cracking under the pressure of having to preform for Umbridge. She was frequently asked to predict how each student would answer their questions, who would fail to hand in their homework or do well in their O.W.L. Harry saw her a few times outside of her tower, a rarity in itself, muttering strangely and smelling strongly of alcohol.
Hagrid was fairing little better, he had at least moved on to smaller, less threatening creatures so that even Umbridge couldn't accuse him of putting the class in danger. Unfortunately he seemed to have lost much of his gusto and confidence. He spent the lessons stuttering and struggling to answer even the most basic of questions.
Only Severus seemed to have maintained his cool over the issue. His lessons didn't change a bit, nor did the way he taught. It made Harry sad almost, to see how well Severus was dealing with the stress, it was a harsh reminder of his work undercover with Voldemort.
Umbridge asked many difficult questions which Snape answered without hesitation and referred her to the students' text books for the simpler ones, suggesting that, as a senior member of the Ministry staff, she should know the answers to something so basic.
It was soon made clear that at least one member of staff would be leaving shortly, Umbridge ever desperate to prove her power was enjoying watching them suffer. Harry was no fan of Trelawney and there was no doubt in his mind that if one of them had to leave it should be her. There was a small glimmer of hope inside him through, that still suggested it might be Umbridge who was forced to leave; especially now there were very few students that didn't have words carved into them.
Harry took the only revenge he could think of; to work even harder at the DA meetings. Everyone had been spurred on by the news that there were Death Eaters on the loose, even Zacharias Smith was struggling to pretend he wasn't immensely grateful Harry was teaching him.
Harry had recently been teaching them shield charms, Hermione had of course quickly mastered it, followed by Neville and then William, Harry had set them working to bring the rest of the class up to their level.
Pansy was struggling to aim jinxes at William, as he was with her, to the stage where Harry had been forced to partner them with others all the time so they would actually learn.
"You two have got to get passed this." Harry said to William quietly as they were tidying up one evening.
William sighed, "I know, it's just difficult."
"Thing is," Harry took a deep breath, "We need to be hard. The people we are learning to fight will use anything they can to get against us. You see, there are ways they could trick you-"
"I would know if it was Pansy." William said quickly.
Harry was about to say something but just smiled, "I'd hope so."
"I really like her." William said quietly, "You're like a brother to her."
Harry grinned, "I'll wait until you've had at least one proper date out in the open before I give you the 'if you hurt her' speech."
William laughed and threw the last pillow into the pile, "Thanks. You might be a year younger than me but I think you've proven, you're pretty bad ass."
Harry could only wish that his 'bad ass'ness followed through into his Occlumency lessons, but he only seemed to be getting worse. McGonagall was calm and patient with him which just frustrated him more. He would of course have been angry at her if she had yelled or scolded him but it would have been easier than her quiet disappointment.
Before he started his lessons his scar would prickle every once in a while, now if ached all the time and the dreams were only becoming more frequent. He had random flashes of happiness or anger that had nothing to do with what was going on around him and he felt he was loosing himself, becoming nothing more than an aerial for Voldemort's stronger emotions.
The weather was still cold but he had slipped down to the lake side with Daphne and Hermione. He sat huddled on the dirt, flinging the slowly growing bits of grass into the water.
"I just wish I could get through the door. It's getting boring just walking down that stupid corridor." Harry grumbled.
"Don't say that." Hermione said quickly, "Maybe it's like a fever, it has to get worse before it gets better."
"I don't think so." Daphne said, wrinkling her nose, "But yours is a unique case. I can't find any reference to someone learning Occlumency while their mind is under attack from an outside source, and no reference to a mental link with someone you're not related to."
Hermione nodded, "I'm afraid my research has shown the same. Occlumency needs to be learnt before hand, like a vaccine. I also don't know about the link, some cases with twins and a rare few with siblings but never between two completely unrelated subjects."
Harry glanced over and saw that Umbridge had arrived, watching them from the edge of the castle steps. He forced himself not to glare at her in a surge of anger he was sure was his own this time.
"You need to keep working at your Occlumency lessons." Hermione told him, "Dumbledore must have a good reason for not wanting you to be dreaming of that corridor at all."
Harry huffed at her, "It's not like I'm not trying Hermione!" he snapped, "I don't know what more I can do!"
"I know that." Hermione said softly, "Don't snap at me."
Harry took a deep breath, "Sorry. You just don't get how difficult it is."
Hermione, wisely, chose to say nothing more and turned to helping Harry with his Transfiguration work.
The beginning of February arrived, making the rain that was falling steadily slightly warmer. Harry was sitting in the common room with Pansy, Daphne and Draco out at Quidditch practice, reading quietly.
"What are you reading?" Harry asked, looking at the surprisingly muggle looking book.
"Mr Weasley got me thinking about different ways that muggles have evolved to treat medical issues, not being able to use magic obviously." Pansy explained, "So I've been reading up on their ways. Not just medicine, but living, cooking everything. It's much more interesting than I thought it would be. Certainly much better than the drivel they teach in muggle studies here."
Harry grinned, Pansy had always liked to read weird and unique things that would interest most people.
"I heard you're taking Cho out for Valentines day." Pansy said after a few moments, "Anything planned?"
Harry shrugged, "Not really. I've not had time to think about it. How did you know?"
Pansy grinned, "William told me. Apparently Cho can't stop talking about you."
Harry rolled his eyes and tried to fight blushing, "Well, I bet that makes Quidditch practice more efficient."
"Strangely not." Pansy said, she paused for a moment, putting her book down and turning to fully face Harry, "She… are you sure this is the best time to be taking her out?"
Harry blinked, "What do you mean? She seems interested in me and-"
"I didn't mean like that." Pansy smiled, "She's very interested in you, that's clear. There's just a lot going on. If it gets back to Umbridge that you're dating her then it will make her a target. And you've got so much on between the Order, Occlumency lessons and the DA… she's only just lost Cedric."
Harry didn't know what to say. Up until now Cho had seemed to be the only easy thing in his life, he felt so happy when he was with her.
"I hadn't really thought about it like that." He shrugged.
"I'm not saying don't go out with her." Pansy said carefully, "I just think that you need to make sure that neither of you get hurt again."