(OotP) CHAPTER TEN: Occlumency

"We should go to Dumbledore," Fred said later that night when he, Ellie, George, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had all gathered around the fire. Ron had made the Quidditch team, but no one had been in good enough spirits for a proper celebration—especially not once they saw the scabs that had formed across the top of Harry's hand in dried blood that read I Must Not Tell Lies.

"No," said Harry immediately. He glanced at Ellie and added, "You can go if you want. But I refuse to give her the satisfaction—not to mention, Dumbledore wants nothing to do with me."

"I don't think that's it, Harry," Ellie told him for the second time. "But… I agree. If we go to Dumbledore, she'll just use her Ministry credentials to defend herself and end up on top, all the same."

"It's torture!" Ginny nearly shouted, clearly on the same side as Fred in this. "Physical in Harry's case; mental in Ellie's! We can't just let her get away with this!"

Haven't you been urging me to play ball this whole time? Ellie asked Fred silently as Harry tried to talk Ginny off the ledge. Why the 180?

Because of what she did, he told her, brown eyes glittering black and gold in the light of the fire. I didn't know she'd take it that far, El. I didn't know she'd hurt you.

"What about Padfoot?" Harry asked, glancing at Ellie. "I felt my scar burn in there, y'know—after you left. I don't know if it was because of her or something else, but he usually knows what to do in those situations."

Ellie glanced at Fred, who gave a shrug and a nod. She felt about the same as he did; while she always enjoyed speaking with her father, she wasn't sure he could do much for her in her current situation. But if Harry thought otherwise, then at least one of them could be helped.

"I don't like it," said Hermione firmly. "Remember what Tonks and Lupin said to us before we left? We shouldn't put anything about the Order in writing."

"They also said we shouldn't listen into any of the meetings," pointed out George, grinning. "Since when did we play by their rules?"

"It's not really even going to be about the Order," pointed out Ellie. "I reckon we'll have to come up with a better code name than Padfoot, too, now that there's so much suspicion around the Animagus thing. But I do think we should do it."

Hermione still didn't look convinced, but, as usual, the stubbornness of Ellie and Harry won out in the end, and together, they wrote the letter to Sirius.

When it was finished, Harry rose to his feet, grinned at Fred—the only one from the group who had stayed the whole time—and said, "Guess I'll leave you two to it."

But Ellie stood up, too—so quickly, both boys flinched.

"I'm tired," she said too quickly, refusing to meet Fred's gaze. "I'm going to call it a night, too."

It was the first time since her arrival at Hogwarts that she wouldn't spend the night in Fred's arms.

But it wasn't the last.


The rest of the week went by in the same vein. Ellie and Harry finished their letter to Sirius and mailed it off, then continued attending their daily torture sessions with Umbridge. She had staggered them, of course, to prevent Ellie's shield from protecting Harry.

Ellie hoped, as the sessions went on, that something might spark in her shield to protect her from the mental intrusions the way they always protected her from the physical ones. Each time she saw Cedric's face in her mind, with Umbridge's cold, heartless words echoing over it—Don't you see what you did to him? Don't you see how you manipulated him?—a little piece of her broke. And she wasn't sure those pieces would ever heal.

The sessions did serve their purpose, though. Ellie stopped backtalking in class.

She didn't see any alternative.

"There is a way to combat Legilimency, you know," said Ginny one day at dinner. "Luna's been studying this sort of thing in her free time. I think she said it's called Occlumency."

"Occlumency?" Ellie repeated, glancing curiously at Hermione, who was usually the resident expert on such things. "Have you heard of it?"

Hermione's brows furrowed tightly together as she admitted, "I think so, but I don't know much about it. I really wish Hogwarts would at least offer a class or two on this sort of thing."

"At first, I thought it was more or less rubbish," said Ginny—"y'know, because of who it was talking about it. No offense to Luna."

"But then you found out Umbridge was able to get inside El's head, and realized it wasn't," inferred Fred.

"Hang on," said George, looking amused. "Haven't El and Fred been able to get inside each other's heads for months? Have you two been holding out on us about your Legilimen...istic... abilities?"

They both laughed at his choice of words, but the question seemed to spark interest in both of them. Even if their mind link was more a result of the locket/ring magic that had existed between them for so many years, wasn't it possible that it was a sign they were good at Legilimency, too—and, to that end, maybe even Occlumency?

"I'll talk to Luna," Ellie said, feeling a smile overtake her face at the possibility.

If Umbridge couldn't hurt her physically or mentally, detention would get a whole lot easier.


"Well, I'd be happy to practice with you," Luna told Ellie that weekend as the girls walked to the Quidditch pitch together. Angelina had called together a weekend practice session to make up for the time they'd lost due to Ellie and Harry's detentions. Ellie had caught Luna at breakfast and asked for a quick word, and Luna had offered to walk her there. "I've been wanting to practice Legilimency, anyway."

"Where did you learn about it?" Ellie asked her curiously.

"Well, if you recall, our conversation during your interview was what piqued my interest in the subject. From there, I self-taught. When I was at Diagon Alley, I picked up a few books on the subject, and I've found it all rather fascinating Some of it is innate, I've learned—like how I knew you were lying when you said you had only spoken to your father via Legilimency."

Ellie felt her ears turn pink, though she was relieved Luna had kept that tidbit to herself. It didn't surprise her to hear that some of Legilimency was innate; it explained how she and Fred had picked it up without intending to. "Okay, I'll admit it—I'm impressed."

Luna chuckled sweetly at that, but turned her attention toward the Quidditch pitch, which they had reached. "I think I'll stay and watch your practice. Much as I love Ravenclaw House, Gryffindor has always been my favourite Quidditch team. Good luck."


After a Quidditch session so intense that it left all of its players aching from head to toe, Ellie returned to Luna's side to head back to the castle. She felt Fred's curious gaze on her, but decided to fill him in later; for now, she wanted to focus on this.

"They say that the best way to become an accomplished Occlumens is to clear one's mind and rid oneself of emotion," Luna told Ellie as they walked. "That way, the mind becomes a harder target to penetrate."

Ellie laughed dryly at that. Ridding herself of emotion certainly didn't sound like a bad idea, but it was much easier said than done. "Any pointers on how, exactly?"

"I've always found that focusing on a colour, or an image, works best. Not an image of a person, or even a place, really… More just… an idea. What you see when you think of emptiness, for example."

What did Ellie see when she thought of emptiness? A world without Fred, certainly. The world that had almost become hers the night of the graveyard…

And just like that, Cedric's face was rushing into her mind.

Luna gave a sympathetic chuckle at that. "Without even trying, I can see how far your mind just went. Why don't we sit?"

Ellie followed Luna to a bench nearby, blushing slightly. "Sorry. Emotion and I have been a bit hard to separate lately."

"It's okay," Luna assured her. "But it explains why you're so intent on learning Occlumency. Whoever got into your head really messed with it, didn't they?"

More images of Cedric surged through Ellie's mind—the ones Umbridge had forced her to relive the previous week. "You could say that."

"Don't think of it as emptiness, then," Luna advised. "Try thinking of it as… darkness."

Darkness. Ellie could handle that, couldn't she? Darkness, like the sky after the sun went down… Like the night of the graveyard… Like Cedric's eyes after he was struck by Aleks' Killing Curse.

El, Fred said gently in her head. Instantly, the fear and panic were soothed. Maybe you shouldn't do this. Your detentions are over, aren't they?

He was right, of course. There were no guarantees Umbridge would try again; was she not willingly torturing herself by asking this of Luna?

But she didn't care. She hated Umbridge—hated her, the Ministry, and everyone else who dared to call her, Harry, and Fred liars and deny the truth about how Cedric had died.

And if this pain was what it took to get the power back, then it was a price worth paying.


A few nights later, when all but Harry, Ellie, and the twins had gone upstairs for the evening, Ellie spotted Sirius' head in the fireplace.

"Dad!" she whispered urgently as she scrambled off the couch and up to the fire. "Thanks for the warning!"

Sirius coughed and sputtered for a moment before whispering back, "Thought it safer not to give a date or time. There have been repeated instances of the Ministry sifting through members of the Order's mail, and something tells me you're on the top of their watch list."

"We tried to be careful with the letter we sent you," Harry told him. "Did we give too much away?"

"I don't think so. Concerning stuff, though. You say your scar pained you in the presence of this Umbridge woman?"

"Well… yeah, but I'm not entirely sure it was because of her. I've been having dreams, too—strange sort of dreams, where I'm almost… seeing through someone else's eyes."

Sirius watched him thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "With Voldemort back, it makes sense that your scar is hurting you more often. As for the dreams, I'll mention them to Dumbledore, but I wouldn't concern yourself too much over them just yet."

Harry's jaw tightened. "Are you sure Dumbledore even wants to know about this stuff? He's made absolutely no attempts to talk to me so far."

"He definitely wants to know. He's concerned about both of you," he added, glancing pointedly at Ellie. "Seems to think you're teetering on the edge of recklessness. Can't imagine where you got that from."

Ellie grinned at the unmistakable pride in his tone. But her grin faded when she remembered what she had written to him about. "Dad… what do you know about Legilimency?"

"Well, certainly less than the world now believes I do, thanks to your little story," Sirius said with a bit of a chuckle. "Why do you ask?"

"Remember what I said in my letter—about how Umbridge was hurting Harry physically and me in other ways?"

Sirius' eyes darkened as the realization of what she was telling him sank in. "She's using Legilimency on you?"

"Well, she was—the detentions are over for now, but I reckon she'd do it again in a heartbeat if I acted up again."

"That's even more barbaric and illegal than what she's doing with Harry," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Not to mention concerning from a security standpoint. What was she looking for—inside your head?"

"Nothing about you. I don't think she wants to know about you—that is, she knows she'll have to sift through everything she and the Ministry were wrong about before finding the information they need to know to locate you."

"Then what?"

"Just…" She glanced at Fred, who had never left the couch, but was paying rapt attention. "Stuff with Cedric."

Sirius fell silent for several seconds at that. When he spoke again, his tone was cautious—as if he feared that she might somehow break if he said the wrong thing. "You can't let her get to you, Ellie. You have to try to block her out."

"I've started working on it," Ellie told him. "My friend Luna is helping me, only…"

"She's a nutter," George finished for her. "Know anyone she might have better luck with, Sirius?"

"As a matter of fact, there is one person who comes to mind. Much as I hate to admit it, he's probably your best bet."

Ellie glanced at Fred again, whose expression was hopeful. "Who?"

"Severus."


"I'm sorry," Snape said the following day after Potions had ended and Ellie had approached the man who, for better or worse, was technically her uncle. "You want me to what?"

"To teach me Occlumency," Ellie repeated. "Please."

Snape looked baffled. "Who even told you to come to me in the first place?"

"Well…" Ellie glanced around the dungeon one last time to ensure that they were alone, then admitted quietly, "My dad."

This, of course, only seemed to displease Snape further; he had always loathed her father. "And what, pray tell," he asked her bitterly, "inspired this new fixation with a subject not included in your O.W.L.'s—which, by the way, should be the sole focus of your attention?"

"It's Umbridge," she said, praying that he hated the new Defence teacher as much as she did. "She's using Legilimency against me in detention because my shield won't allow her to, you know… abuse me in the normal way."

When Snape's eyes flashed with realization, Ellie thought for a moment that he actually looked impressed with Umbridge's strategy. But he blinked it away just as quickly. "I suppose I could see how that would be problematic."

"I'll do whatever you like in exchange," she said. "Clean cauldrons, collect ingredients, whatever you want. I just… really need to get ahead of this."

Sirius held her gaze for several seconds, not saying a word. Then, to her complete surprise, he asked, "When was the last time you spoke to your mother?"

She stared at him, flummoxed. "To my… mother?"

"Yes—to Serena. She's sent me several letters since the ordeal at the graveyard, you know, and another since your little announcement about your father."

Serena had been writing to Snape, but not to Ellie? Did she really despise her own daughter that much?

"It's been over a year," she said, looking away from him. "She said she never wanted to speak to me again."

"I daresay that if you wrote to her, you'd find that that wasn't entirely true," Snape told her. Then he cleared his throat, seemingly finished discussing the matter, and said, "Six o'clock tomorrow. Don't be late—and tell no one."


Another thing I'm stealing from Harry and giving to Ellie... but hey, she needs it more than he does, and maybe it'll give her a chance to bond with her uncle a bit! We've got some dark stuff ahead, so buckle up, and thanks as always for reading and supporting!