Chap 16: The Terrible Pink Toad

"Mr Potter?" McGonagall said, "What are you doing here?"

"Umbridge sent me Professor," Harry replied, temper fuming.

"Sent you?"

"Yes, sent me," Harry replied, giving McGonagall the note that Umbridge had given him.

After taking a few moments to read the note, McGonagall sighed.

"I've just told you to be careful around her."

"You did."

"And yet you called her a liar in class, saying that You-Know-Who is back."

"I was telling the trut,." Harry snarled.

"That doesn't change a damn thing Mr Potter," McGonagall snarled back.

After a few moments of glaring back and forth at each other, McGonagall finally continued.

"Mr Potter, Umbridge is a dangerous woman to mess with, she really is."

"I don't know, she's just a disgusting pink toad."

"I shall act like I did not hear or agree with that," McGonagall said, a small smirk on her face which improved Harry's spirits a little.

"But don't get this wrong Mr Potter, Umbridge is not one to be messed with, where she lacks in magical capabilities she more than makes up for it in scheming and political power."

"She is insufferable," Harry growled.

"Which makes our Occlumency lessons all the more important," McGonagall said, "Occlumency will not only protect you from Leglimens but also help you to clear your mind and act less irrationally."

"Really?"

"Indeed Mr Potter, it would be essential for you to stay out of her wrath and stay on her good side to protect yourself from the Ministry."

"But she is intentionally trying to push my buttons and trigger me," Harry protested.

"Doesn't that make resisting her all the more satisfying?" McGonagall replied, a small smile of triumph appearing on her face.

"True…"

"Then it's settled, we will begin our Occlumency lessons this weekend after your detentions with Umbridge are over, in the meantime, read this book about Occlumency to get the basic ideas about it, I expect Chapters 1 to 5 to be completed by this Saturday, understood?"

"Yes Professor," Harry reluctantly agreed before getting up and leaving, unhappy that he had found himself with more homework.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE DO!" Cho yelled in outrage.

It was the day after Harry's first detention with Umbridge and Harry was now breaking the news about her Blood Quills to Cho in their hideout together with Ron and Hermione.

"Relax Cho," Harry said, "she used a Blood Quill on me and forced me to write lines."

"Where does it cut!" Cho yelled, shrieking in anger after Harry showed her the back of his right hand.

"THIS BITCH! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HER!" Cho screamed in anger, throwing the book that she was carrying at the wall.

"Cho, relax," Harry said firmly, gripping her arm.

"This is fucking illegal isn't it?" Cho asked, glancing at Hermione.

"It is, teachers are not supposed to use instruments of torture on students," Hermione answered.

"Then why don't we go and tell Dumbledore?"

"It's not wise to do so," Harry answered, "She can easily destroy the Blood Quills before she gets caught and it would just allow the Ministry to further discredit me and call me a liar."

"Shouldn't we still tell someone?" Cho pleaded, "Just to let them know and keep an eye on this?"

"What about telling your father Cho?" Hermione said, "He can probably get Madam Bones to launch a secret investigation into this."

"That's brilliant Hermione," Ron exclaimed, something that Harry could swear made Hermione blush a little.

"I will write to Pa later," Cho said firmly before turning back to Harry, "You have to sit through more of this?"

Harry unhappily nodded, resulting in Cho cursing more in Chinese.

"Fuck Umbridge for now, McGonagall gave me this book on Occlumency 2 days ago, I've read through the first 2 chapters, figured that you guys probably want to take a look at it too," Harry said.

"Oh my! Yes Harry, thank you so much!" Hermione exclaimed, snatching the book away from Harry's hand a dived right into it.

"Hey! Remember to give it back to me by tonight, I have 3 more chapters to read by Sunday otherwise McGonagall will skin me alive," Harry said, making Cho and Ron burst into laughter.

"So, anything interesting in the book?" Cho asked Harry, now comfortably snuggled into him.

"Yeah, gives a new perspective on Occlumency, rather than trying to empty your mind by not thinking, you can try to organise it better in your head which would ensure that it isn't chaos up there."

"Interesting," Cho muttered deep in thought.

"Yeah, chapter 3 will give strategies to organise it so I will have to get to it as soon as possible."

"How does organising your thoughts protect you from Legilimency thought?" Cho asked curiously.

"Some Legilimens thrive when they can hide their presence among all the chaos, organising it will ensure that you can feel the penetration and expel it, other Legilimens will try to force their way into your mind but being able to compartmentalise your thoughts ensures that you can quickly locate the penetration, isolate it and fight against it better."

"Very interesting indeed."

"Yeah, but it will take a very long time to master so wish me luck," Harry chuckled.

"You would find a way to learn it, you somehow always do," Cho smiled, kissing him on the lips.

"Oi! Get yourselves a room!"

"Mr Potter, it's good to see you on time tonight," McGonagall commented.

"Oh come on, I'm only late for your classes when Peeves decides to have some fun."

"Doesn't sound like my problem does it?" McGonagall smirked, "take a seat Mr Potter."

Sitting down on the chair in front of McGonagall, Harry breathed in a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the tough night ahead.

"I assume that you have completed your assignment?"

"Yes Professor, the first 5 chapters."

"Excellent, let's begin then," McGonagall said, "I will attempt to penetrate your mind and you will have to resist my attack."

Harry nodded, bracing himself for the intrusion.

"Legilimens," McGonagall muttered, Harry's vision blurred as he saw his memories from his childhood with the Dursleys, he saw visions of Dudley punching him, Vernon scolding and hitting him and Petunia snarling and calling him a freak. It took a short while but Harry's senses were starting to tingle, feeling an unusual presence inside his mind, as if something was looking at the memories beside Harry. Becoming aware of this presence, Harry started to fight against it for control, attempting to shut down all the memories of his childhood and prevent the presence from seeing anything else. After fighting the presence for a while, Harry suddenly found himself back to reality, his vision clearing up. His head, however, was in pain and his hands aching from clenching his seat handles too hard.

"It was a good first try, you couldn't kick me out of your mind but you did give one hell of a fight for control," McGonagall said, smiling at Harry, her eyes however were misty.

"Are you ok Professor?"

"Yes, just… just-" Her voice faltered, taking a short while to calm down, she continued,

"Those were the Dursleys weren't it?"

"Yes," Harry said softly, almost a whisper. He wasn't particularly ashamed of his past, but having someone looking at his memories certainly made him feel a lot more pathetic.

"I… I see," McGonagall said, "I'm sorry Harry."

"Professor?"

"I was there when Dumbledore placed you at your relative's house, I tried to warn him against it but I let it happen, I allowed all the misery you suffered during your childhood to happen, for that, I'm truly sorry," McGonagall said, tears now flowing down her cheeks.

Staring at McGonagall, Harry was at a loss of words. Firstly, she had called him by his name, something she rarely did for any students. Secondly, her apologising… that was certainly something he did not expect. Finally, crying?

"It's alright Professor, I - I've grown to accept that the past is the past, Dumbledore explained to me the reasoning and if it protected me for all my life, I guess it was for the best…"

"Still, I failed my responsibilities as a friend of James and Lily," McGonagall sniffed.

"I forgive you Professor," Harry said, reassuring McGonagall.

"Let us continue shall we," she said, her determination now back in full force, "Try to fight the presence again, Legilimens."

Harry's vision blurred once more and more memories drifted past him, memories which were random at first, ranging from classes to Quidditch and Christmas. Remembering what he read in his book, Harry focused his mind, organising his thoughts into specific groups such as friendship, Quidditch and Cho. When he finally organised his thoughts, the memories drifting past became more related, allowing him to quickly feel the presence again, fighting for control once again.

"Fantastic try Mr Potter," McGonagall said, beaming at him. Harry however, was no longer on his chair and instead, had his knee on the floor, panting.

"Take a deep breath Mr Potter, you had one hell of a mental war just now." McGonagall said, giving him a bottle of potion, "This is a mix of Calming Draught and Headache Potion, take it."

Immediately drinking the potion, he felt its effects slowly coming into effect.

"Great work on compartmentalising your mind just now and finding my presence in your head, you will have to work on fighting the presence itself but that takes practice," McGonagall commented, "Do not be discouraged, this is a fantastic first session, however, you should work on your compartmentalisation so that it comes naturally to you, reducing the time to find the presence and expel it."

"Hopefully I learn this soon, my head feels like it's about to crack open," Harry lamented, clutching his head in pain.

"It will be a long journey Mr Potter, you have shown great promise at the Mind Arts tonight but you still have a long way to go before you are an Occlumens, go and rest now, I expect you here the same time next week."

"Noted Professor," Harry said, getting up and leaving.