Harry Potter and the Guild of the Night

Chapter 17

The next morning Harry wandered down to the dungeons, his Oversight still active and a headache potion in his pocket. The tapping of his cane on the floor was the only noise as he walked down the corridor. When he got to the door of the potions classroom, he knocked and, at Professor Snape's acknowledgement, entered.

"Thank you for the potion last night," he said as he walked up to the front row of desks and sat down. "Orinda said you knew what to do and because of that there was no danger."

Snape eyed him wordlessly and then pulled a small vial full of a green liquid out of his robes. Orinda, who was once again wrapped around Harry's neck, raised his three heads and hissed menacingly.

"Poison," the left head hissed. "Harry, leave."

Snape raised an eyebrow at the Runespoor's reaction. He walked into his office and put the vial away then returned to the classroom. Orinda calmed and his heads settled back down against Harry's neck. The right head came back up for a moment.

"Clever Snape," it hissed. "Testing us, he was. But we knew." It settled down again.

Harry looked at the Potions Master curiously. "What was that all about?" he asked mildly.

"Orinda seemed to know what I was doing last night. And he also appeared to know what the potion I gave you was for. I was interested to see whether that was right," Snape said, deep in thought.

"Oh," Harry said and waited for Snape to finish thinking. He patted Orinda lightly while he was waiting and was rewarded by quiet, pleased hissing.

Finally Snape seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and focused his attention on Harry.

"Now, Mr Potter," he said firmly, "we shall see if you can form that shield again today. Legilimens!"

Harry was caught by surprise by Snape's actions, not realising that with his new version of Oversight he could be attacked this way again, and the Potions Master was inside his mind before he could do anything. He growled quietly and quickly threw up the shield wall again, forcing Snape out of his mind.

Snape's lip curled. "Not very impressive, Mr Potter. I was able to get in so very easily. Legilimens!"

This time Harry was ready and he hadn't dropped that shield wall. Snape was stopped before he could get in though he tested the shield for some time before relenting.

"Well, well," Snape said sarcastically. "So you can learn. Keep the shield up."

This time Snape tried to get in using the subtler method they had been practising and again the shield wall kept him out. This time he tested the wall for a long time and Harry started sweating with the effort of keeping the shield up. Again Snape relented but this time he stared searchingly at Harry for a moment.

"Pity you couldn't lower yourself to learn this last year, Potter," he sneered. "Your idiot godfather might just be alive."

Harry snarled and Snape broke through into his mind. Harry tried to put the shield wall up again but couldn't focus through his anger enough to manage it. He felt Snape withdraw and looked angrily at the Potions Master.

Snape was staring at him with irritation. "Pathetic, Mr Potter," he said snidely. "Do you really think that the Dark Lord will not throw everything he can think of in your face? Do you not think he will taunt you with the deaths of your parents, your godfather, Mr Diggory? You must control your emotions, Mr Potter, or they will be the death of you and possibly others."

Harry shut his eyes and started one of the breathing exercises that Master Nhean had taught him. When he had calmed down slightly, he opened his eyes again and swallowed.

"I was tired," he said defensively. "It was hard holding the shield up."

"That is no excuse," snapped Snape. "Do you really think that the Dark Lord will be nice to you? In case you had forgotten, Mr Potter, he wants you dead. And waiting until your opponent is tired before making your best attack is an old tactic. He does know that one."

Harry sighed as he realised the truth in all of that. "Yes, sir," he said with resignation and put the shield up again. He was just in time as Snape launched yet another attack on his mind. The shield wall wavered for a moment under the attack until Harry reinforced it. Sweat was pouring down his face as he struggled to hold the shield up. Finally Snape relented and withdrew and Harry slumped in his seat.

"Better, Mr Potter," Snape said. "I think that will be enough for the day. Practice keeping the shield up for as long as possible. With that practice, keeping the shield in place will become second nature." He turned and retreated into his office.

Harry sat still for a moment and then dragged himself to his feet. He walked out of the Potions classroom and decided to head back to his room. He looked up at the old clock in the room and, after a few minutes concentration to sort out that he could actually see where the hands of the clock were, he realised that he still an hour before he was due in the Guild classroom. He decided that he wanted another shower since he had the time and headed for the bathroom.

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When Harry wandered into the Guild classroom, he found his friends already waiting for him. They quickly gathered around, wanting to know how his morning had gone. Harry filled them in and then was forced to deflect the criticism of Snape.

"Stop it!" he ordered and his friends stared at him in surprise. "It was exactly the right thing to do. And he's right; Voldemort isn't going to be nice to me. I've got to be able to do this."

"Do you have the shield up now," Ginny asked, twining her fingers through his.

"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "But I'm going to have to let it go soon. It's really tiring holding it up."

"Well, keep working on it," said Hermione worriedly.

"Yes, Hermione," Harry said patiently and let the shield go down.

Master Nhean walked into the room and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well, its nice to see so much enthusiasm," he said cheerfully and the teens greeted him with a laugh. "Have you all warmed up?"

There was a lot of head shaking so Master Nhean gestured for them to begin. After they had warmed up, he set all but Harry to running through the katas they had learned then he turned back to his apprentice.

"Now Harry, I think it might be best if Orinda sat this one out."

Harry looked surprised but obediently unwrapped the Runespoor from his neck and settled him on the table. He was about to lean his cane against the table as well when Nhean stopped him.

"You're going to need that today, Harry," he said.

Harry turned and looked at him in surprise. He then nodded and returned to the mats, cane in hand.

"Good," Nhean said approvingly. "Now release the sword and draw it but keep the scabbard in your off hand."

Harry did as he had been asked.

"Now run through the first kata," Nhean ordered.

Harry did so and discovered that the kata that he had run through unarmed suddenly became a different prospect with a sword in his hand. It was beautifully deadly with the movements offering plenty of opportunities to slice up an opponent and the scabbard now acted as a limited type of shield. There were a few places where the kata was now a bit awkward so when he had finished he automatically started it again to try and work out what was happening in those areas.

Master Nhean kept a close eye on things. He had been a little hesitant about allowing the use of live steel with the other teenagers around but had eventually decided that Harry and the others had to learn about weapon safety eventually. And at least here at Hogwarts there were no problems getting things healed if a mistake was made.

Harry's second run through the first kata was much better and he decided that a third run through was probably a good idea to make things completely clear. The third run was smooth and he immediately moved into the second kata. He was finding this rather exhilarating. While doing the katas unarmed was good exercise and good for toning his muscles, he had struggled to really see them as anything more. Master Nhean had told him they could be used for unarmed combat but he hadn't seen it until today. Now that he had some small understanding of how they could be used with a weapon, he could see how they could also be used for unarmed combat.

After a careful look to reassure himself that Harry was a good distance away, Master Nhean turned to the other teens. They weren't doing a very good job of their katas. They were too distracted by Harry. He clapped his hands and was pleased to see that Harry didn't even flinch. The teens however stared at him and then there was an almost collective blush as they realised what they had been doing...or rather what they had not been doing.

"Focus!" Nhean barked at them. "You will notice that Harry did not even twitch when I clapped my hands. This is because his focus is much better than yours is. You must maintain your focus! You will be vulnerable to every occurrence on a battlefield if you continue to allow your focus to wander. Now begin again and FOCUS!"

The teens jumped and began the kata they had been working on again, assiduously keeping their minds on what they were doing. As Master Nhean watched them, he noticed that they were achieving some success now. Hermione, Ginny and Neville were still the best of them. Those three were smoothly working through the movements of the kata and seemed to be able to maintain their concentration the best. Luna had made a distinct improvement. He wasn't overly surprised about that; he had thought that her only problem was her lack of concentration. Once she had corrected that, she began to rapidly catch up with the other girls and Neville. The twins still had a tendency to want to move at the same pace through the katas but he was starting to get through to them about working on their own. Ron was still the worst of the lot but even he had made significant improvement. As before he still had problems if he lost his focus and became self-conscious but he was gradually improving. When his focus was intent, he was smooth and showed the ability to become quite skilled.

Just as Master Nhean was about to turn his attention back to Harry, the door opened and Professors Dumbledore and Snape came into the room. Nhean nodded approvingly when they were careful to stay near the door and he walked over to them.

"Albus, Severus, is there a problem?" he asked quietly.

"We were wondering whether we might speak with Harry?" Professor Dumbledore said, equally quietly.

Nhean nodded and walked over to where Harry was working. He saw that the young man was now working through the third kata and doing it fairly well. He waited until Harry had finished.

"Harry?" he said softly and Harry looked up at him.

"Yes, Master?"

"Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape wish to speak with you."

Harry looked around in surprise and then nodded. He sheathed his sword, remembering to lock it in and walked over to where Dumbledore and Snape were standing.

"Harry," Professor Dumbledore said without preamble, "how long do you think you could hold that shield up?"

"Erm, well, I think I could hold it for about an hour if I had to," Harry said in surprise. "I know it's not long but it's tiring. Professor Snape said if I worked at it, I'd be able to hold it longer."

Dumbledore looked at Snape. "Will that be long enough?" he asked.

Snape frowned. "Yes, I'm sure it will. I do not know why the Dark Lord wishes me to attend him but I doubt it could be anything too serious. He wants those potions and I am the only one skilled enough within his Death Eaters to be able to brew them."

Dumbledore nodded seriously. "Harry, as you no doubt have gathered, Voldemort has summoned Professor Snape to a meeting this afternoon. We don't know why and frankly, I'm worried. It is out of character for him to do this. I wanted to warn you. Professor Snape will send a message with a house elf when he has to leave and I want you to put that shield up then."

Harry nodded and then looked at Professor Snape. His new version of Oversight showed a ghostly version of the Potions Master and Harry could just see that the man looked even paler than usual. In a flash of insight, he understood what Professor Dumbledore meant. Voldemort rarely called private meetings; there was a real risk that Professor Snape's role of a spy had been found out. Harry looked soberly at Snape.

"I'll wait for the house elf, sir," he said and, at the Headmaster's smile and nod, turned to go back to his exercises. He took two steps and then turned back. "Be careful, sir," he said to Snape and then returned to his position, completely missing the startled look that crossed the Potions Masters face.

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After lunch the teens returned to the Guild classroom. Harry walked over and deposited Orinda onto the table and then began running through the katas again with his sword without a word. He had told them all what was happening that afternoon before they had gone to lunch and had hardly spoken a word since. The others watched him with concerned looks on their faces but let him work things through on his own, knowing that if he needed their help or advice he would ask for it, unlike last year.

For his part, Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was more worried about. His ability to hold the shield if something went wrong or the fact that Snape's role might have been discovered. He tried to dismiss these thoughts from his mind with the katas. He had some success; running the katas with a sword took a fair amount of concentration. As such he was startled when a house elf suddenly appeared in the room.

"Mr Potter, sir," the little elf squeaked, "Professor Snape says to tell you it is time." The elf then disappeared.

Harry took a deep breath and sheathed his sword. Ginny brought Orinda over to him and he gave her a hug and settled himself cross-legged on the floor. Orinda curled up around his neck as he established the shield inside his mind and his friends, after a quick look at Master Nhean to gain permission, settled in around him.

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Severus Snape walked to the outskirts of Hogsmeade and apparated to Malfoy Manor. When he arrived he found a house elf waiting for him. The little creature led him through the corridors to Lucius Malfoy's study and opened the door for him. Severus took a deep breath and entered, bowing low before the Dark Lord.

"Welcome, Severus," Voldemort said quietly. "Please sit."

Snape straightened and sat down opposite the Dark Lord. He waited as his master eyed him with interest.

"You were present at the Wizengamot five days ago, in a hearing that involved Harry Potter. I believe you were a witness on his behalf," Voldemort said quietly and menacingly. "Do tell me that there is a logical explanation for this, Severus? I would hate to think you were disloyal."

Severus shivered. "My Lord, when the wards surrounding Potter's house alerted that there was a problem, Dumbledore insisted that I accompany Lupin to the house to find out what had happened. He would not accept anything other than a positive answer." Severus slipped out of the chair and dropped to his knees, knowing that this performance would have to be extraordinarily convincing. "I would have brought the boy to you, My Lord, but Lupin did not leave me alone with him long enough to do anything."

There was silence as Voldemort considered this answer. "Continue," he said.

"As I was there when the boy was found, I was pressed into providing testimony at the hearing into the boy's muggle relatives." Snape remained bowed in his kneeling position after he finished.

"Look at me," Voldemort ordered and Snape raised his head. "Crucio." Severus collapsed on the floor as pain ripped through his body. He struggled not to scream as the Dark Lord continued to hold the curse on him. Finally the pain left and he lay still on the floor for a moment, gasping and shuddering. He pulled himself back to his knees and looked back at his master, trying to still the shaking. That was when the Dark Lord struck.

"Legilimens!" he hissed.

Snape flinched as the Dark Lord's mind invaded his own. He allowed it as always and concentrated on keeping all of his secrets hidden; only allowing his master to see what he wished him to see. When the Dark Lord withdrew and invited him to sit again, he knew he had been successful. He returned slowly to his seat and waited for the Dark Lord to continue.

"Very well, Severus," Voldemort hissed. "It seems you have been honest with me. I trust you will continue to be so." His voice developed a menacing note.

"Always, My Lord," Severus said with a small bow of his head.

"Good. You may go and do not forget that I require the potions you are brewing for me as soon as they are ready."

Severus rose and bowed low to the Dark Lord and left the room. Once in the corridor he was met by the same house elf and led back to parlour where he apparated back to Hogsmeade. He immediately stalked back to the school. The moment he passed through the gates into the grounds he paused and leaned against the pillars, shaking. He wasn't sure if he was shaking because of the after effects of the Cruciatus curse or because of the near miss he had just had.

When the shaking diminished, he pushed himself off the pillar and started walking back to the school. He knew he would have to speak with the Headmaster but right now all he wanted was to collapse in one of the chairs in his rooms and throw down a stiff drink. He was relieved to get through the Entrance Hall without running into anyone and quickly stalked down into the dungeons. Thus he was surprised and unhappy to see Harry Potter waiting for him outside the Potions classroom, cane in hand and Orinda around his neck.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" he snapped.

Harry stared at him, his face set and his eyes full of anger. "I wanted to speak with you, sir," he said icily.

Snape glared at the young man standing in front of him. "It will have to wait, Potter," he said acidly and stalked past him to his rooms.

Harry grabbed his arm as he tried to brush past. "It can't," he said through gritted teeth.

Snape glared at Harry and shook his hand off. "Take your hands off me, Potter. We have nothing to discuss that cannot wait." He brushed past the young man and headed to his rooms.

"This can't wait," Harry ground out. "This is about the way you've been lying to me."

Severus paused in the action of opening his door and turned to face Harry. "What are you talking about?" he snapped.

"I saw everything that happened!" Harry yelled suddenly. "I'm talking about the way you keep forcing me to try and block everything out with Occlumency but you don't even bother to do it yourself! You're a hypocrite! You just let him in!"

"Yes, I did," Snape snarled. "And I did that, Mr Potter, because the Dark Lord is far more skilled than I am at Legilimancy. I do not attempt to keep him out. I keep the information I do not wish him to have locked away and leave the information he wants, or the version of it I want him to see, in my mind. My mind, unlike yours, is highly trained and I can do that without arousing his suspicions. If, and that is a big if, you are ever capable of training your mind in such a fashion, I will teach you how to do that. Until then you will continue with the training you are doing now. Now if you don't mind, Mr Potter, I spent a number of minutes subjected to the Cruciatus curse, in case you didn't notice, and I wish to deal with the after effects of that." With that Snape stalked into his room and slammed the door behind him.

He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of single malt scotch whiskey and poured a large measure into a glass. He threw it back and poured another. This one he took to his usual chair and he slumped down into it. He shut his eyes and breathed out. He was just starting to relax when there was a knock on his door. He sighed, got up and walked over to open the door. When he did he found a very contrite looking Harry Potter.

"Sir?" he said quietly. "I...I'm sorry."

Snape glared at him and he swallowed and ducked his head.

"I...I'll just go then," he said softly and turned away.

Snape watched him, a muscle twitching in his cheek, as he started to walk back down the corridor. He sighed quietly and was tempted to let Potter just walk away.

"Mr Potter," he said wearily, "Your...apology is accepted. Next time you wish to ask me something, try asking like an adult next time and not like a child."

Harry had stopped and flinched when he started speaking and was hunched into himself by the time he finished.

"I...yes sir, I will, sir," Harry said softly and started down the corridor again.

Snape watched him go and drank from the glass in his hand. He went back inside and drained the glass. He put it down and grabbed a handful of floo powder. As he turned towards the fireplace to report to the Headmaster, he couldn't help but think that he hadn't handled that well.

*************************************

Harry walked back into the suite, still preoccupied over what had just happened down in the dungeons. He didn't see Remus sitting on the couch, reading, until the werewolf spoke.

"Harry? Is everything alright?" Remus asked with concern. The young man looked like he was about to cry; something Remus hadn't seen since they had had their big talk.

Harry jumped and whipped around to stare towards Remus. "I, er..." he trailed off, not really sure what to say.

Remus patted the couch next to him. "Why don't you have a seat and tell me?"

Harry hesitated and then remembered his promise about telling Remus things. He walked around the couch and sat down, leaning against his guardian. Remus wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving Harry a worried look.

"What happened?"

"I...had an argument with Professor Snape," Harry said in a small voice. "And it was all my fault. I didn't think before I opened my mouth...again."

Remus chuckled wryly. "That's a prerogative of being young, Harry. Sirius was an absolute master of not thinking before he spoke when he was your age." Harry smiled weakly. "What did you do?"

"Professor Snape was called to a meeting with Voldemort. I shielded my mind for it but with the change in the link between us I saw the whole thing," Harry said quietly.

"So what happened?"

"Voldemort asked him why he testified at the hearing." Harry snorted. "I guess the spells that stopped people talking weren't that good."

"Not necessarily," Remus shrugged, "I'm sure there were people who saw us all arrive and leave. It wouldn't have been that difficult to find out what happened there. That's probably why Voldemort asked Severus to attend the meeting. He knew Severus had testified but didn't know any details."

"Huh," Harry said, "I guess you're right. Well anyway, Professor Snape said he been forced to testify and then Voldemort cast the Cruciatus curse on him." Harry shuddered. "I'm glad the shield stops me from feeling that now. Then he used Legilimancy to read Snape's mind. Snape just let him in and I guess that made me mad. After all he keeps pushing me about keeping everyone out."

"Let me guess," Remus said kindly. "You made some assumptions and then confronted Severus with them?"

Harry hung his head. "Yeah."

"Oh Harry," Remus sighed. "I don't suppose it occurred to you to just ask him politely why he allows that to happen? And why right after he returned from the meeting? You know what he's like; it was probably the worst possible moment. Particularly after he'd had Cruciatus cast on him. I hope he didn't tear too many shreds off."

Harry gave a soft laugh. "No, not too many, I suppose." He sighed. "I just feel really stupid, that's all. I went and apologised and he said he accepted my apology but he wasn't too happy."

"Well, I'm glad you apologised," Remus said with a smile. "Did he offer any explanation?"

"Yeah, he did and it was a good one and that just made me feel even more stupid."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Remus said as he gave Harry a one-armed hug. "We all make mistakes. If you're still feeling bad about it then you can always apologise again tomorrow morning. I doubt Severus will come to dinner nor do I think he will welcome visitors tonight. Though I daresay he won't welcome the apology tomorrow. You apologised immediately and were obviously sincere, as he accepted it. I suspect he will just want to move on."

Harry sighed and leaned his head on Remus' shoulder. "Thanks, Remus. I still feel stupid but I feel a bit better about it all now."

Remus chuckled. "Your welcome, Harry. That's what I'm here for after all." He looked up at the clock. "Come on, we'd better go downstairs. It nearly time for dinner and you know how Molly worries when you miss meals."

Harry laughed. "What time is it?"

Remus frowned. "You can't see the details of the clock?"

"Oh, I let the Oversight go on the way back," Harry said a little sheepishly. "I didn't really want to see anything, if that makes any sense."

"Yes it does actually," Remus laughed and then looked interested. "So can you normally see the clock? And how much can you actually see?"

Harry grinned at Remus' interest. One thing he'd learned very quickly about his guardian was that he loved learning new things. About as much as he loved teaching.

"Well, I can see detail if what I'm looking at has detail and, with people, if they are familiar. People I know have the most detail, things like the floor and walls don't have any. I just see the energy fields when I look at the floor. But even the details of people I know aren't that clear. It's kind of hard to explain but I see a ghostly image overlaying the energy fields."

"What about things like chairs and tables?"

"I see a chair or table shape but I couldn't tell you what the colour was or anything like that."

"So it's not really sight as such but more like added detail?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, pleased that Remus understood. "I think I actually get more information from the energy fields than I do from this new part of Oversight." He paused and smiled with delight. "But I'm really enjoying being able to see Ginny, no matter how indistinct it is."

Remus laughed merrily. "I'll bet you are. I must admit that when I saw you and Ginny lying on that couch the other night I nearly laughed. You two looked so much like James and Lily. I guess liking red-heads runs in the Potter family."

Harry laughed and looked towards Remus with surprised delight on his face. "We did?"

"Yes! In fact the thought that ran through my mind was I couldn't remember how many times I saw James and Lily sitting like that both in seventh year and afterwards."

Harry swallowed and tears welled up in his eyes. "You know that's one of the best memories anybody who knew my parents has ever shared with me?"

Remus pulled Harry into a hug. "I'm sorry, Harry. I should tell you more about your parents. I promise I will from now on."

Harry let out a single sob and Remus tightened his arms. When Harry pulled back, his face was red but his eyes were now dry. Remus shifted and put one arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Come on, let's go to dinner," he said as he steered Harry towards the door. "And maybe I'll tell you and Ginny a few more stories about James and Lily."

Harry laughed weakly and they headed downstairs.