Thanx everyone for the words of comfort. Hasn't been a good few months. But we move on.

[a/n]Now a bit of a chuckle. In Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories By: The Engulfing Silence the Hat tells Harry about sorting Merlin. Though it doesn't specify, the context implies Slytherin.

Harry Does Different CDLXXII

Early Occlumency

H finds book 1st year. Flipped thru. Found offens def. 1st class slices off SS probe. SS claims assault.

Left alone in the bookstore by his massive guide, the new wizard was reading his text list "…by Miranda Goshawk… Theory by Waffling; who would name their kid that? Newt Scamander? Hmm, gotta meet him. Annnnnd - - oooof!"

"I beg your pardon!" all this person ever was was part of a Hogwarts tie and skirt.

"Entirely my fault." Harry bent over to pick up the fallen books but she were gone. "You dropped your bo- -" he glanced at the cover, which read "Offensive Occlumency by Arsenius Jigger."

The cashier rang up the purchases without consulting any kind of price list, only stopping to comment "Rather advanced fer a Firstie." But she locked on the lightning scar and went on "No, Mr. Potter, you DEFINITELY need this. Read it as quick as you can. Then reread it. Then read it AGAIN. Particular attention to pages 38, 44 and the whole last chapter."

"Err… thank you." The boy paid for his purchase and left, repeating in his head the instruction given.

Abcij

With the Dursleys doing their absolute best to ignore their unwanted burden, Harry had plenty of time to himself, a lot of which went into reading. No little of which was the occlumency book. Little out of the norm occurred during his first week at Hogwarts. What he'd learned from his extracurricular reading helped him learn and process information more easily. Thus, he thought he was well prepared for Potions. He was wrong.

abcij

"What would I get, Potter, if I added root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" the unpleasant teacher demanded.

To which Harry shook his head "I don't know sir."

"Thought you wouldn't prepare for class." He demanded from his looming height. "Let's try again. Where would you go if I asked for a bezoar?"

Harry's body tensed and his tone was just the wrong side of insolent "Neither of those, Professor Snape, are in the first five chapters of the text. What page are they on?"

"How dare you speak to me that way!?" and almost before the Potion Master knew what he was doing, a tendril of his mind probed the hated doppleganger. Only to have it literally seized and ripped from its base. It was like losing a fistful of hair. Even worse that it was mental. He cried out in agony.

The whole class was shocked. Reactions ranged from completely freezing to diving off their stools and ducking their heads under the workbenches. Those first two minutes had given quite an impression. Only two boys were different. Harry would have to be shaken out of a kind of trance by Ron Weasley. The other was the blond who'd made his own impression, who would get disciplined sharply for yelling out "GODFATHER SEV!"

Abcij

"Good morning my boy." The soothing voice of the Headmaster greeted the hospital's only patient as he woke "Poppy had no answer to what caused your collapse, but cared for you in her usual expert manner. Can you, perhaps, shed some light?"

The patient groaned groggily, rubbed his eyes with his fists and snarled angrily "Potter's rotten brat! HE did this to ME!"

"I think that highly improbable, Severus." Albus' tone was unhurried, almost negligent "To all accounts, young Harry never came within ten feet of you. In fact, only your Godson touched you before our resident healer arrived on scene."

Snape half-blindly punched the air in front of him and snapped "I do not mean physically! Old fool! Somehow the brat knows Occlumency. Unfortunately, it was of the axe variety. Had he struck any harder, I would have been a vegetable."

"I will let that insolence pass given your condition." There was more than a hint of menace in his voice. "But, moving on, exactly what led you to learning that item of trivia?"

To this, the pale wizard flushed angrily, snapping "You speak of insolence! That describes the brat to a t! Challenging my authority in MY classroom! I will NOT have it!"

"Not very informative Severus." The Headmaster scolded "Perhaps I should see how effective YOUR Occlumency is, hmmm? Care to offer a bit more detail?"

Abcij

While the hospital conference was going on, a similar talk was had among many of the children. This depending on the knowledge of the participants, thus the highest quality involved Harry. Even if it started poorly, with Ron sneering "What do you want, Flint?"

"Still a charming neophyte as always." The larger boy offered a fake smile "You might, perhaps, do me the common courtesy of an introduction?"

Ron spoke with undisguised contempt "Harry, this lousy Slytherin is Marc Flint. Same Year as Percy. And, of course, any Pureblood would know of my friend, Harry Potter."

"Lovely." Replied Harry's new acquaintance, offering a hand to shake "I cannot exactly say your brother and I are friends, Ronald, however we do have a mutual respect that even YOUR charm will not impact. I do prefer my name not be shortened. Mar-CUS."

*snicker* The-Boy-Who-Lived couldn't help himself, in spite of his friend's scowl. He shook the offered hand while commenting dryly "Dunno Ron, seems nice enough …that is for a lousy Slytherin. Nice to meet ya, Marcus. Is this just an introduction? Or did you want something?"

"Almost a Slytherin response, but yes, there is an ulterior motive to my visit." The older boy replied "Might we speak alone?"

Ron didn't like that "Not a good idea Harry! You can't trust him. Anything you can say to Harry you can say in front of me!"

"Honestly! This is silly." Growled Marcus "Potter, look, after I tell you what I know, you can do anything you want with that knowledge. But I INSIST on privacy. And discretion. You can manage that, can't you?" that last was directed at the redhead.

Eager to avoid even a slight confrontation, Harry guided the Slytherin away saying "I'll catch up with you in a bit, Ron."

"Nicely handled Potter. Almost smooth even." Marcus complimented the younger boy "A quick bit of history you may not know; Slytherin has a bad rep mostly thanks to You-Know-Who and Professor Snape hasn't really helped with that. Greater detail another time perhaps, but the fact is …historically speaking… except for the last war, more dark lords and wannabees have come from your House than mine."

Looking quizzical, Harry asked "Really?"

"Obviously, can't say were any of them might have come from BEFORE Hogwarts was built." Answered the older boy "But we average one about every fifty years or so. Don't take my word, feel free to look it up."

To this, Harry nodded and replied, neutrally "I just might." Then "So?"

Marcus gave an approving nod "Rumor has it my Head of House tried legilimency and you knocked him on his arse."

"How do you know about that?" a hint of suspicion was clear in Harry's voice.

Now the Slytherin sneered slightly before answering "Arsenius Jigger was my Grandmother's great-Grandfather. On my Father's side. Not many copies of that book still exist. Three of them are in my family's vault. I'd be curious how a Muggle-raised Firstie got one."

"Maybe I'll tell you …someday." Retorted Harry with a matching sneer.

That elicited a chuckle from Marcus "You might've done well in Slytherin, Potter. How is it you went to Gryffindor?"

"THAT I'll answer. By the way, you sound a bit like the Hat. See, before arriving at Hogwarts, I met two other First Years. One was Mr. Not-a-bad-witch-or-wizard-wasn't-in-Slytherin over there." He gave a wave to his suspicious looking friend, who clearly was not pleased "And the other was Draco Malfoy."

Now laughing, Marcus answered "That family has a copyright on the phrase 'Wait'll my Father hears' Take that as a caution. In that vane, another tidbit; Legilimency …on minors… except in rare circumstances, is at least a third degree felony. Since I don't wish to exactly outright side against my Head of House, let me suggest a chat with Susan Bones. Little redhead. Sorted into Hufflepuff. And quick, before Professor Snape gets out of hospital."

"I know who she is." Replied Harry "She's next to Ron in Potions."

The Slytherin frowned momentarily, then offered his hand "Better get going, Potter, before Weasley has a conniption."

"Thanks Flint. Really." He shook and departed.

Abcij

Professor McGonagall entered the Common Room with a decidedly intimidating look, and became irked when the object of her mission did not instantly stand. With a sound from deep in her throat, she announced "Harry Potter, follow me to my office."

"Sure. Right there." He only half looked up from the chessboard he was trying to learn on, much to the delight of his teacher/opponent.

The brittle voice cut across the room "NOW Mr. Potter. Not at your convenience!"

"Yes ma'am." Harry jumped to his feet, toppling the pieces "Ooops, sorry Ron." And after closing the office door "Something the matter, Professor?"

She frowned at him "The positive reports, and my own observations, indicate high intelligence. Kindly do not insult mine. You know full well what this is about."

"Snape's awake and wanting me thrown out." The boy skipped over a good deal of conversation.

The Head of House began with a scold "Professor Snape has indeed expressed his …quite understandable… displeasure at being assaulted. What form your punishment will take depends on several factors. What happened?"

"What's the punishment for using legilimency?" was Harry's clipped response "On minors? Without permission? I think we both know he couldn't have parents' permission in my case."

The stern teacher could not help a flinch at the memories evoked. She snapped "How could you know? That is beyond most OWL level students. Never mind a Muggle-raised First Year."

"Book I got in Diagon Alley. Picked up a few other things. Also helped me study." The tone was insolent, if one chose to take it that way.

She chose not to respond to that "Back to the central issue. What is your perspective on Potions?"

"I was really looking forward to it. See, after cooking all the time for my relatives, I figured I'd be quite good at it. Snape - - -"

She cut the student off with an emphasized correction "Professor Snape!"

"singled me out for questioning. Ingredients I couldn't possibly know." Harry finished without acknowledging the neglected title.

McGonagall had to work through a string of conflicting emotions, and pack away several curiosities, before addressing the current problem "We will look at that later. Tell me how Professor Snape ended up in a hospital bed."

"The book I found told me about magical mind-reading and a fast way to learn how to, protect myself." Harry explained then in detail "There was also a start in meditating. But …Offensive Occlumency it's called… said, instead of creating a brick wall around my mind, think of Legilimency as octopus tentacles trying to get into my head. You sneak around the edges of the attack and cut it off at the roots."

She visibly shuddered and had to pause before speaking again "That type of response seems less a defense than an attack. Seems as risky for both. Why would you do such a thing?"

"I never had much time to myself at home." Harry purposely was minimizing his situation due to his lack of trust in authority figures "So I didn't want anyone looking in my head. What I think is no one's business but mine."

Nothing about this conversation was going as expected, McGonagall frowned deeply "Your concerns strike me as rather paranoid. That aside, I should like to see this unusual book of yours."

"Sorry, I can't do that ma'am." Harry couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Frowning down at the boy, she replied "That request, Mr. Potter, just became an order. Go. Get. That. Book."

"I didn't say won't. I said can't." he countered, crossing his arms over his chest "Though you can ask Madam Bones when she gets here. Which …according to Susan… should be minutes after Hedwig delivers our letter and my book that she said I might lose if it stayed here."

Struck speechless for nearly a minute, she finally brusquely dismissed him "I believe that is all. You need not goto bed, however it is too late to leave the Common Room."