Severus checked the clock again. Harry wasn't supposed to be down for another ten minutes, but he couldn't help anticipating the coming lesson with some trepidation. He'd prepared Harry for the inevitabile return of their public animosity. The moment the boy had given him a smile at Potions, Severus had known that he would have to squash it. Immediately. Several Death Eaters' children were in that same class, and if word got out that the two of them were getting along, it would inspire a lot of unwanted questions. The way Harry's face had closed off had still hurt, despite being the very thing he had been trying to achieve.
Their short conversation afterwards had eased his half-defined anxieties somewhat. Harry had seemed confused and disoriented, which he supposed was only to be expected, but had given one of the genuine smiles that Severus had grown used to at the village. He spared a thought to wonder at how good of an actor Harry could be when needed.
Probably the result of a problematic childhood, he mentally groused, scratching an especially cutting remark on the essay he was grading.
Did Harry resent him for it?
Another glance at the clock showed eight minutes left. He found himself drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair and forced them to still.
Lily had always known what to do when he fell into the habit of nervous twitching. She'd take his hand in one of hers and lead him somewhere else, chattering the whole way about something he couldn't care less about otherwise but paid the utmost attention to when she spoke of.
Come to think of it, Harry had developed the habit of doing much the same. Whenever Severus felt restless in the village, the teen would say something snarky and absurd that distracted Severus so much that he forgot to be antsy while getting pulled into some ridiculous banter. He wondered if it had been done on purpose, Harry again showing his perceptiveness to the moods of those around him, or simply part of his nature. Perhaps a bit of both.
There was a knock at the door. Snape flicked his wand at it, and it swung open to show Harry's startled face.
"I'm here for my remedial potions lesson," he said with a grimace.
Severus resisted the urge to smirk and stood. "I hope you brought gloves. We have a difficult potion to go over. The effects may be quite caustic on skin."
Harry rolled his eyes and shut the door. Snape cast Muffliato. "Okay, what are we actually doing?"
Allowing the smirk through, Snape pointed at the open door of his classroom. "Mr. Potter, I do believe you may be labouring under a misapprehension." He lowered his voice and leaned forward. "I have no intention of letting you fall behind academically, war or no."
"You mean we're actually brewing?" Harry asked, aghast.
"Among other things." A cauldron and ingredients had already been set out. Harry gaped at them, and Severus wondered if he wasn't enjoying the boy's look of betrayal just a little too much.
"I don't really have gloves," Harry said desperately.
"Good thing I set a pair out then, is it not?"
"Isn't Occlumency more important than missed homework?"
"I do hope you have not said so in front of Miss Granger."
"You're too excited about this," Harry accused, pulling on the dragonhide gloves.
Severus generously ignored that. "The two disciplines need not be mutually exclusive."
Harry gave him a curious look at that. Severus set the instructions on the board and turned to his student. "Your previous lessons have focused on achieving calm and constructing your mind maze. Before we may begin covering how to block or misdirect an opponent with Occlumency, you must be able to better manipulate that maze. Doing so while distracted with another task will form an instinctual habit. Multitasking in general is a crucial element to a successful mental misdirection."
With a huff, Harry started chopping up ingredients. "Alright. So what am I supposed to do?"
"You have been actively Occluding everything since completing your mind maze, correct?"
Harry suddenly looked a bit shifty, which made Severus suspicious. When he said, "Yes, sir," however, Severus could detect no lie in his voice. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he continued,
"I want you to review those memories and their placements, adjusting and tightening things up as you go. This must be done while actively Occluding the potion as you brew it."
A furrow appeared between Harry's brow, and his knife slowed in chopping ingredients. "I've never done anything like that before. Isn't this potion dangerous? What if I lose concentration?"
"That is why I am here, Harry."
"I still think I could do the same thing while flying my broom or something."
Such persistent disobedience would have resulted in a significant loss of house points only a few months ago. Severus wondered if he was losing his edge. As it was, he gave Harry a stern look that clearly said get to it, and the boy ducked his head with no more protests.
Twice, Severus had to step in to stop Harry from putting a wrong ingredient in. The next time they did this, he wouldn't get involved unless such mistakes would prove dangerous, but he grudgingly supposed that allowances could be given on a first attempt.
Harry never spoke, lips pursed and brow furrowed in concentration. His too-long hair kept getting in his face, and he hastily pulled it back halfway through the lesson. Severus debated the value of trying to coerce him into cutting it again. Something about seeing him in a hairstyle similar to his own was unnerving, even if it did lessen his similarity to James Potter.
When he reached a period of waiting while the potion simmered, Harry leaned back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked up at Severus, aggrieved. "That was really difficult."
"Were you successful?"
Harry frowned. "Mostly. It was really slow going, I was nervous about screwing up the potion."
Severus nodded, gesturing for him to continue. He removed the gloves and sat on a stool in a comfortable slump.
"But I reviewed all the memories. I realised that I had to re-sort some." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Not a whole lot, just one or two, into a new cloister. It's just, I'm anticipating having to add a bunch of new ones to it," he said darkly.
"Oh?"
"Umbridge."
Severus pursed his lips. "You had her class today, did you not?"
"She doesn't like me. Like, really doesn't like me. And she's not trying to hide it. She tried to give me detention tonight for… well, doesn't matter, but it was all I could do to convince her that I wouldn't be able to 'get out of' this. Now I've got to show up tomorrow instead, and I wouldn't be surprised if she hunted you down to talk about it." His eyes glazed over as he went into some reverie or daydream. Severus wondered what he was imagining.
"And I assume the feeling is mutual?" was all Severus had to say to inspire a rant about how awful the new DADA professor was. He listened intently, sifting through the emotional venting to piece together the story of that afternoon. Everything he heard, while disturbing, was not unexpected. He had, after all, briefly flipped through her assigned text book long enough to dismiss it as banal and harmfully inaccurate.
"...and apparently she's been terrorising my friends all fall," he finished, throwing his hands in the air.
"Your potion is bubbling over," Severus said calmly.
"Oh, shi-" Harry jumped up, quickly dumping in the vial of honeywater and stirring. The cauldron ceased its ominous quaking and settled. He anxiously looked over the ingredients list, relaxing when he saw that he was close to finished.
"Still Occluding?" Severus asked. Harry shot him a look and nodded as he gathered the last ingredients together.
As composed as Severus was acting, his thoughts were racing. He didn't want to show them on his face and further upset the already worked-up boy, but the possibly major obstacles to their lessons and the war effort that she could create were serious concerns that worried him.
"There. I think it's done."
Severus walked over and peered into the cauldron. It wasn't perfect, but would serve its purpose if it had to. "Acceptable."
Harry looked up hopefully. "Does that mean I don't have to brew it again?"
"Not this one," he said knowingly. Harry despaired.
Severus moved to vanish the potion, then hesitated. Before he could think better of it, he bottled a sample first.
"What do you need with a stone corrosion solution?"
Snape thought of a hasty lie given before Christmas and Umbridge's office floor. "Nothing in particular."
Harry cocked his head like he didn't believe Severus, which was ironic coming from the boy who helped make a highly illegal potion in the girls' restroom at twelve.
"Clean this up and we will talk in my office."
The clink of bottles faded as he walked through the door and to his desk. He had just finished the paper he had left off when Harry returned.
"Am I going to do potions in my Friday lesson?" he asked as he flopped into a chair. It was the most comfortable visitor chair he had in the office, which wasn't really saying much. Anything that served to discourage people from staying long was something he was in favour of. Watching Harry shift to get situated, he briefly contemplated casting a cushioning charm before some deeply ingrained principle killed the impulse.
"No." He saw Harry give him a curious look, but refused to elaborate.
"Will I need to bring anything else?" he tried again.
"No."
"Good talk," Harry muttered.
"I am not here to be a thrilling conversational partner," Snape said dryly. "What you will do in Friday's lessons is Friday's business. Right now, let us discuss the results of today's efforts."
Harry sat up a little straighter. "I thought we already did."
Snape inclined his head. "Then the past." He placed his elbows on his desk, lacing his fingers together in front of him. "As you reviewed the memories you had actively Occluded, what did you notice?"
Harry smoothed his fringe in thought. "That they were, er, sorted?"
Severus gave him an unimpressed look.
Harry let out a long breath. "I remembered them better? I mean, little details you usually forget. Like, who remembers that their breakfast plate had a chip two weeks ago? But deliberately sorting them while they happened kind of preserved them more, I guess. When I first started going through old memories in the village, especially ones from when I was really little, the edges were all fuzzy. The ones I actively sorted are more crisp. It actually helped me remember some questions on the assessments my teachers gave me."
"We may make a tolerable student out of you yet."
"Very funny. Speaking of, did you grade my assessment?"
Severus sized him up for a moment, then pulled a thick scroll out of his desk. Handing it across the desk to him, he waited for Harry to look back up with wide eyes before speaking. "That is the copy you may whinge about with your friends." The large 'D' at the top was clear from here. "In truth, I gave you an E."
A glowing smile of pride started across Harry's face, followed quickly by a quip. "Not an O? I'm hurt."
"As I have repeatedly reprimanded you for, you consistently forget to mention how the interactions between the ingredients and their elements result in the final potion's properties."
Harry winced, as that had indeed been the topic of multiple discussions in the village.
"But," Severus finished with a put-upon sigh, "you show enough promise that I see no need to rehash old theories."
"Just brewing," Harry said glumly. Severus raised an eyebrow at him, having been more than fair, then shook his head slightly. How the teen always managed to get him off topic was beyond him.
"What of the emotional ties attached to memories you actively Occluded?"
Harry shrugged, nonplussed. "I haven't really thought to look."
Severus blinked slowly at him. Harry grinned and shut his eyes. He began breathing deliberately in and out, muscles steadily draining of tension as Severus had seen dozens of times when observing him meditate. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes again. They had gained a new gleam of curiosity.
"I can notice the ties to other memories much better. For—oh, I don't know, Quidditch—the old memories just sort of all felt 'happy', but with new Quidditch memories I can tell that getting a particular manoeuvre right made me happy because I'd been working really hard on it in another memory. The different memories link together more clearly, see? And all together, that collection of memories is more strong as a whole."
Severus nodded, feeling rather pleased. "That is a sign that the active Occlusion has been done properly. It seems you may be able to get by after all."
He'd never been good at compliments, had never heard enough directed his way to give them back out. Harry always seemed to understand what he couldn't say, however. He gave Severus another wide smile and leaned back in the uncomfortable chair like it was made of pillows.
"Incorrigible," he muttered. Harry's smile grew. "That will be all for today's lesson."
Harry's smile lingered, and then he grew more serious. "Could… could I stay?"
Severus gave him a curious look.
"Just for a little bit," Harry rushed to say. He gestured to the book bag that he had dumped in the corner, eyes avoiding his. "I've brought work to do. It's just… a bit loud in the tower, s'all."
"Gryffindor tower, anything but a haven of peace?" Severus said in mock wonder. "Well, I suppose." He pulled out another essay and pretended not to notice the way Harry's shoulders slumped in relief.
As he listened to the quiet rustle of book pages, Severus felt a tightness that he'd been resolutely ignoring in his chest loosen somewhat.
It seemed that some things were easier to get used to than to let go of.
