Chapter 38: Occlumency

January 11, 2003

"Harry, Dawn," said Buffy, poking her head into the bedroom Dawn shared with Ginny and Hermione. She noticed that Dawn and Willow were playing chess with Dawn's new wizard chess set as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny watched, "I need you two to come downstairs. Severus is here and wants a word with you both."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"No clue," Buffy answered.

Dawn sighed as she looked over at Ron. "Care to finish my game with Willow, Ron?"

"Sure," Ron said.

Dawn stood up as Ron took her vacated seat. She and Harry followed Buffy out of the bedroom and downstairs. Buffy pushed open the kitchen door a minute or two later as she led her siblings into the kitchen. They found Snape seated at the long kitchen table.

"Okay, Severus," Buffy said as her brother and sister took a seat at the table. "What's so important you have to see Harry and Dawn?"

"I am here on Dumbledore's orders," said Snape, "he wishes for your brother and sister to study Occlumency this term."

"That's the thing that Professor Dumbledore mentioned last year, Buffy," Dawn said. "Remember he said something about trying to shield my mind from Harry's so that we couldn't see in each other's heads."

"Your sister is basically correct." Snape said. "It is the magical defense of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one."

"Why now?" Buffy asked. "It's been around a year give or take since he mentioned having someone teach Dawn."

"Because the headmaster thinks it a good idea," said Snape smoothly as he looked at Dawn and Harry. "You will receive private lessons once a week, but you both will not tell anybody what you two are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"

"Reasonable precaution," Buffy said. "After all we have our own problems with her."

"So, who's teaching us?" Dawn asked.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "I am," he said.

"No," Buffy said immediately objecting. "Are you kidding me. You take pleasure in tormenting both Harry and Dawn every day they have potions. What makes you think I would be okay with you teaching them this. Why can't Albus teach them?"

"I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks," said Snape silkily. "I assure you I did not beg for the job." He got to his feet. "I will expect Ms. Potter at six o'clock on Monday evening, I will expect Mr. Potter at six o'clock on Tuesday evening. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking Remedial Potions."

"Really?" Buffy said.

"You have seen their exam scores, Buffy, have you not?" Snape said. "I don't think even you could deny they need them."

"Fine," Buffy said as she balled her fists and walked around the table to Snape. "But a word of advice. Harry and Dawn tell me everything. If I learn you have been exceptionally hard on either of them. You will answer to me."

Snape whipped out his wand as he and Buffy squared off.

The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione and Willow, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.

"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"

He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them.

"Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, "what's going on here?"

"Severus was just leaving MY HOUSE," Buffy said. "Believe me, Severus. If you weren't in Albus' Order I would not let you in here, ever. I don't trust you."

Snape pocketed his wand and swept across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back. "Six o'clock Monday evening, Ms. Potter. Six o'clock Tuesday evening, Mr. Potter."

Willow strode across the kitchen and kissed Buffy till she felt her lover relax.

"Thanks, Will," Buffy said when Willow took a step back.

January 13, 2003

Dawn had spent the first day of classes dreading her lesson that evening with Snape. At six o'clock she paused outside the door when of his office, wishing she were right now in the dormitory in Ginny's arms than here. Taking a deep breath, she knocked, then entered.

"Shut the door behind you, Potter."

Dawn did as she was told with the horrible feeling that she was imprisoning herself as she did so. When she turned back to face the room Snape had moved into the light and was pointing silently at the chair opposite his desk. Dawn sat down and so did Snape, his cold black eyes fixed unblinkingly upon Dawn, dislike etched in every line of his face.

"Well, Potter, you know why you are here," he said. "The headmaster has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope that you prove more adept at it than Potions."

"Right," said Dawn tersely.

"This may not be an ordinary class, Potter," said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently, "but I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'Professor' at all times."

"Yes… sir," said Dawn with sigh.

"Now, Occlumency. As I told you back in your dear sister's kitchen, this branch of magic seals the mind against magical intrusion and influence."

"Why now?" Dawn asked. "Professor Dumbledore suggested this last year to shield my mind from Harry's. So why does he think I need it now and not when he mentioned it last year, sir?" said Dawn, looking directly into Snape's dark, cold eyes and wondering whether he would answer.

Snape looked back at her for a moment and then said contemptuously, "Surely even you could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency—"

"That's the ability to enter another person's mind isn't it? Sir?" Dawn asked.

"It is," Snape said. "For those who have mastered Legilimency they are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and so utter falsehoods in his presence without detection."

"Could he use it to force me to use the Key?" Dawn asked. "Sir? I know he could do that with the Imperius curse but could he do it remotely?"

"He could potentially possess you and control you, yes," Snape said. "That said though the Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them. Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency."

"But the usual rules do not seem to apply with you or your brother, Potter. The curse that failed to kill your brother seems to have forged some kind of connection between him and the Dark Lord. When your body was created to house the Key, a new connection was form at least between you and your brother. Maybe even between you and the Dark Lord. After all, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable—when you are asleep, for instance—you are either through your brother or directly sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you and your brother how to close your minds to the Dark Lord."

"I can understand myself," Dawn said. "It's another layer of protection so no one but I can use the Key and no one can force me to use it either. But what about Harry. Wouldn't the connection be beneficial to the Order. So, they can know what Voldemort is doing?"

"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" spat Snape.

There was a nasty silence. They glared at each other across the desk.

"You and others maybe afraid of it. But it is just a name," Dawn said. "I do not fear the name itself just the man the name is associated with."

Snape stared at Dawn for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his finger. When he spoke again it was in answer to Dawn's question. "It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection between your brother and himself until very recently. Up till now it seems that both you and your brother have been experiencing his emotions and sharing his thoughts without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you both had shortly before Christmas—"

"The one with the snake and Mr. Weasley?"

"Do not interrupt me, Potter," said Snape in a dangerous voice. "As I was saying… the vision you had shortly before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark Lord's thoughts—"

"I apologize for interrupting again," Dawn said. "But why were we seeing from inside the snake's head if we were sharing his emotions and thoughts?"

"You seem to have visited the snake's mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that particular moment," snarled Snape. "He was possessing the snake at the time and so you and your brother dreamed you were inside it too…"

"So, he realized that at least Harry was there?"

"It seems so," said Snape coolly.

"So, if he does know about the connection to Harry. He could then use that connection, couldn't he?" Dawn asked. "He could possess Harry."

"He could," Snape said. "He could make your brother do things. Which brings us back to Occlumency."

Snape pulled out his wand from an inside pocket of his robes and Dawn tensed in her chair.

"Stand up and take out your wand, Potter."

Dawn got to her feet feeling nervous. They faced each other with the desk between them.

"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of," said Snape. He struck before Dawn was ready, before Dawn had even begun to summon any force of resistance: the office swam in front of her eyes and vanished, image after image was racing through her mind like a flickering film so vivid it blinded him to his surroundings…

She was nine, cradling Buffy's head in her lap, begging her sister to wake up. She was eleven looking out a window crying because Buffy had run away from home. She was thirteen with Spike in the Magic Box finding out that she had at one time been the Key. She was in a hospital and Buffy was telling her that she was loved and that nothing would ever change that.

"Out," said a voice in Dawn's head.

Dawn felt a sharp pain in her knee. Snape's office had come back into view and she realized that she had fallen to the floor; one of her knees had collided painfully with the leg of Snape's desk. She looked up at Snape, who had lowered his wand and was rubbing his wrist. There was an angry welt there, like a scorch mark.

"Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex?" asked Snape coolly.

"No," said Dawn bitterly, getting up from the floor.

"I thought not," said Snape contemptuously. "You let me get in too far. You lost control."

"Did you see everything I saw?" Dawn asked, unsure whether she wanted to hear the answer.

"Flashes of it," said Snape, his lip curling. "The first memory, was that when your sister's replacement was called?"

"Yes," Dawn said with a sigh.

"And you witnessed it?"

"I did," Dawn said. "I know I wasn't actually created then. But my memories say I followed Buffy that night. Followed her down into the Master's cave. Watched as the Master drank from her before discarding her in a pool of water. I watched as he finally broke out of his mystical prison then I ran to Buffy pulled her out of the water. As I cradled her head in my lap, I begged my sister to wake up, but she didn't. It was one of our friends who came and using CPR brought her back to me."

"Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been," said Snape, raising his wand once more. "You managed to stop me eventually. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand."

"I'm trying," said Dawn angrily, "but you're not telling me how!"

"Manners, Potter," said Snape dangerously. "Now, I want you to close your eyes."

Dawn glared at Snape, she did not like the idea of standing there with her eyes shut while Snape faced her, carrying a wand.

"Close your eyes," Snape ordered as Dawn reluctantly closed her eyes. "Now clear your mind, Potter. Let go of all emotion…" It was then that he saw Dawn was starting glow. "Potter, control your emotions, you're glowing. Focus."

Dawn looked at Snape in surprise. She then closed her eyes and let her emotions flow out of her. Soon she was calm once more as she looked at Snape again. "You could see it? Only people have seen it is my family and friends."

"I could, yes," Snape said. "Your emotions are tied to the Key?"

"Yes," Dawn said. "It's easier for me to lose control with strong emotions such as when I am angry."

"If you will let me," Snape said. "I will help you with that as well."

Dawn looked at Snape, while she like her siblings didn't really trust Snape. She knew she needed to learn to control her emotions better. "Alright," she said quietly.

"We will worry about that in your next lesson with me. For now, let us go again… on the count of three… one—two—three—Legilimens!"

She was thirteen and she stood chained to the platform on the tower. She had been calling for Buffy and then finally Buffy came and saved her. Next, she saw her meeting with Harry, the discovery of how her aunt and uncle had treated her brother and Buffy saving Harry from that life. Next, she was fourteen, she saw herself asking Ginny to the Yule Ball and Ginny saying yes.

"Out," the voice at the back of Dawn's mind said again.

Dawn was on her knees again, her face buried in her hands, her brain aching as though someone had been trying to pull it from her skull.

"Get up!" said Snape sharply. "Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort, you are allowing me access to your memories, handing me weapons!" He motioned down at the ring on Dawn's hand that Ginny had given her for her birthday. "If I were the Dark Lord and I saw that last memory with Ms. Weasley, what do you think would happen?"

"He would use her love for me against me," Dawn said as she looked down at her ring.

"You would find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!" said Snape savagely. "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily—weak people, in other words—they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!"

"I am not weak," Dawn said in a low voice, fury now pumping through her as she began once again to glow green.

"Control your emotions! Master yourself!" spat Snape. "Control your anger, discipline your mind! We shall try again! Get ready, now! Legilimens!"

Dawn was watching as Buffy performed the final Triwizard task, she watched as Buffy and Cedric disappeared with the Cup. She saw Cedric come back alone and Dumbledore bringing her to his office to open a portal. She saw Buffy diving through it into Dumbledore's office safe. She then saw herself and Ginny walking into the alley during the summer and being attacked by Dementors. She saw herself protecting Ginny as she cast the Patronus wandless.

"Out," came the voice at the back of Dawn's mind again.

Dawn was on all fours again on Snape's office floor, her scar was prickling unpleasantly. As she stood, she realized where the voice she had been hearing was coming from, that of the Slayer spirit within her. She knew Willow had been right that she was an uncalled Potential.

"What happened then, Potter?" Snape asked, eyeing Dawn intently.

"I realized," Dawn said.

"Realized what?" asked Snape sharply.

"That Willow was right when she entered my mind to determine if there was a connection between myself and Voldemort. She had said there wasn't that the only connections I had were to Harry, the Key and …"

"I told you not to use that name," said Snape sharply. "Now you were saying."

"…and the Slayer," Dawn finished. "I'm an uncalled potential. Willow discovered there were more contingencies. The final contingency should all others failed. I would be called as a Slayer to protect myself from Glory. That power still is in me, even though the contingency is no longer needed. I realized that I could still be called."

"I want you back here same time on Wednesday, and we will continue work then on both your Occlumency lessons as well as your emotional control. I saw you glowing again before that last attempt."

"You're right I need to control my emotions better," Dawn said.

"You are to rid your mind of all emotion every night before sleep—empty it, make it blank and calm, you understand?"

"Yes," said Dawn.

"And be warned, Potter… I shall know if you have not practiced…"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn found Ginny, Ron and Hermione with Buffy and Willow in Buffy and Willow's suite. Her brother, girlfriend and friends were working on Umbridge's most recent ream of homework.

Ginny was the first to notice Dawn as she stood and made her way to her girlfriend. "How did it go?" she asked, and then, looking concerned, "Are you all right, Dawn?"

Dawn nodded at her girlfriend before turning to look at her sister. "Snape can see when I'm glowing. He's adding to my lesson so I can try and get better emotional control so that the Key doesn't start trying to slip out when I get angry."

"As much as I don't trust him," Buffy said. "It would be a good thing if you had better control of your emotions. We've all seen what happens if you lose emotional control. You did send the Skeeter woman wherever last year unintentionally when you lost control because of your anger."

"I also realized that Willow is right," Dawn said.

"About?" Willow asked.

"About me being an uncalled Potential," Dawn said. "When I was doing my lesson. Snape would cast a spell that would allow him to enter my mind. As I watched a mental replay of some of my stronger memories, I kept hearing something in the back of my mind saying, out. After the third time I realized what I was hearing, it was the Slayer spirit."

Buffy sighed. "I never wanted you to ever have to worry about that, Dawn."

"I know, Buffy. But you know me even though I never wanted to be a potential. We both have seen what your calling has done to us both. But I also know I am just like you. I want to protect those I love," Dawn said.

January 15, 2003

Buffy sighed as she read the sign in the Gryffindor common room. She knew this would likely come to pass after the Dumbledore's Army lessons.

— BY ORDER OF —

THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information

that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.

The above is in accordance with

Educational Decree Number Twenty-six.

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

HIGH INQUISITOR

"Buffy?" Dawn whispered as she came beside her sister. "It could be because of the Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban not because of our club."

"Maybe," Buffy whispered back. "There is no way to know for sure. Regardless if I keep teaching you all I could find myself on probation like Trelawney or Hagrid or outright fired."