Friend or Foe

Chapter 9: Snape's Worst Memory

Harry yawned. In the end, he could only get a few hours of sleep last night. He glanced at the bed next to his. Ron was not there, had probably already gone to the great hall for breakfast.

He went down to the common room and groaned inwardly when he saw who was waiting for him there. How could he have forgotten? Of course Ron would be waiting with Hermione to confront him.

Harry knew Ron was also in it to spy on him. How else could Hermione get his Marauder's Map?

"Morning Ron, Hermione," he drawled.

"Harry! What were you doing with Malfoy?" Ron exploded

Harry suppressed his urge to roll his eyes. He glanced around, feeling glad that the common room was empty except the three of them. If this spread out, it would certainly complicate the matter.

"It's merely coincidence that I met him in the HA room," he said, trying to keep his voice natural.

"But Hermione said you stayed there with him for a long time! What were you doing with that filthy Death Eater?"

Harry's expression hardened. "Malfoy is not a Death Eater," he said coolly. "And just how do you know I've stayed with him for a long time, Ron?" He saw Ron flinched. "I can't believe you and Hermione would do such a thing."

"I am sorry, Harry. It was really rude of me," said Hermione. She bit her lip. "But you really shouldn't have done that, it's so dangerous."

Harry felt his anger slowly melting away.

"I know," he said quietly. "I know you're worried, but couldn't you just ask me?"

"I've tried," said Hermione. "But you just wouldn't tell us what's wrong. You kept avoiding my questions. We were afraid you'd put yourself in danger again, so we..." She tailed off, looking uneasy.

"What are you hiding from us, Harry?" asked Ron. "You always slipp away alone this year, and with something between you and Malfoy..." He gritted his teeth. "I mean, we are your best mates and you didn't tell us anything!"

Harry looked away. "I am sorry," he said. "I know I've not been... as close to you this year as I used to be. I didn't mean to, but something happened this summer, and I couldn't just ignore it." He sighed, trying hard to put the thoughts of Tom away.

"What-" Hermione started, but Harry cut her off by shaking his head.

"I can't tell you," he said in a low voice. "I'm sorry, but you won't understand." Harry held up his hands to stop the protesting. "Please, Ron, Hermione, let me deal with this alone."

Ron looked hurt. "But we've been through so much together in the past. Tell us, we can help you."

He looked back at his friends wearily. "Not this time, Ron. This is my own problem, no one can help me."

Harry stared at his friends, hoping they would understand.

Finally Hermione sighed. "If that's what you want, Harry," she said quietly. "But please, don't do anything dangerous. Remember there are people who will be worried if anything happened to you."

"I don't know what you are planning, mate." Ron started reluctantly. "I don't like Malfoy and I don't understand why you trust him, but I believe you know what you're doing. Just remember if you need help, Hermione and I will always be there."

Harry nodded, surprised that Ron could be so understanding. It seemed he had seriously underestimated his red-haired friend. That made him feel even worse, knowing that what he was going to do would hurt his two friends greatly.

Harry smiled sadly. "Thank you, Ron, Hermione."

The two Gryffindors smiled back.

"What are friends for?"

Ron and Hermione did leave Harry alone after their conversation that morning, for which Harry was graceful. He knew his two friends were still keeping an eye on him, but he didn't mind as long as they gave him some privacy.

Harry was again in the Room of Requirement, but this time the room appeared to be a training room. The room was decorated in black and dark green in general. It had a stone floor with several armchairs near the wall. The room was dark but quite comfortable, and it strongly reminded Harry of the Slytherin common room.

A week had passed since Harry's night-time discussion with Malfoy and a week since Harry had first 'created' this room. Though he had known clearly what the Room of Requirement could do, he had been quite surprised when he had first entered his 'training room'.

The room itself had contained everything he needed for his 'training'. On the far side of the room were several practicing dummies. Lined up along the wall were four large book shelves, three of which Harry chose to just ignore for the moment. What disturbed Harry most was the cabinet on the dark corner of the room. Every time he thought of what he had seen when he first checked out what it contained, Harry felt his blood turned cold. Behind the wooden door of the cabinet, was a large spider's web, with over fifty spiders crawling on it. Again, Harry chose to ignore it for the moment.

Harry scanned the titles of the books on the fourth bookshelf and picked one out. He sat down on one of the armchairs and started reading.

Written in bold letters on the first page of the book was the title- Apparation.

Severus watched Draco Malfoy closely, or rather, he watched the boy's smoking caldron closely. The potion they were brewing today was a dangerous one; one that was highly explosive.

He did not know what had happened, but his godson had been obviously distracted for the past week. It was not like Draco, his best Potions student, to mess up like that in a potion.

Was it because of the upcoming initiation that Sunday? Severus mused. He certainly did not want to lose his godson to that bastard, but it was hard to do anything too obvious without endangering his position as a spy. He hoped Draco could see the error of his father's way in time.

Draco grimaced after adding another ingredient. Severus glanced at the now ugly green potion in boy's caldron and frowned slightly. His potion was as bad as Pot- no, Longbottom's, he could only hope their caldrons would not end up exploding at the same time.

He shifted his gaze to another student, Harry Potter. He must admit, Potter's grade in Potions had improved dramatically this year. And as much as he wanted to, he found he could no longer insult the boy with his Potions grade, not when he had managed to match Draco in the subject. What disturbed Severus most was that when he watched Potter during lessons, he somehow had a feeling that the boy actually enjoyed brewing potions.

He had heard from his colleagues that Potter's behaviour in classes this year had been questionable. Most of them had said that yes, Potter's grades had improved, but he had not been paying much attention in classes. And from what they had said, the situation had even worsened in the past few days. Minevra had even gone to Albus in a rage after one transfiguration lesson, complaining about Potter's attitude. Not that Severus was surprised, the boy was James Potter's sonafter all. Since when did the word 'rule' matter to that arrogant brat?

Severus snorted inwardly. Since when did he pay so much attention at Potter?

Since their Occlumency lessons had started, Severus mused absentmindedly as he continued to watch the students. He had not managed to find out more about the mysterious Slytherin that he had seen in one of Potter's memories, but the more he practiced Occlumency with the boy, the more he felt something was wrong. After invading Potter's mind for many times, he had a feeling that the boy was hiding something; something big. While Severus was curious to know his nemesis' son's secret, he was also aware of the fact that Potter had actually managed to hide it from him, when the boy appeared to be incompetent in Occlumency. Did Potter unconsciously push his secret memories to the deepest layer of his mind? Or was it as Severus had suspected a month ago that Potter was actually a Legilimens?

Severus found he could no longer stand the thought that he might have been fooled, by Potter no less. It was time for him to find out the truth about Potter's abilities.

A loud explosion startled Severus out of his thoughts. He rubbed his temple.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor! Now clean up the mess, Longbottom," he snapped.

Harry smiled slightly in satisfactory as he bottled his potion. He had been afraid that with the disturbing thoughts in his mind, he would somehow mess up with the potion. But surprisingly, once he had started the fire and started brewing the potion, he had been able to concentrate fully on the process. He even felt that the brewing process had somehow eased his mind and made him feel more relax. Harry paused. Since when did he start to enjoy Potions?

He glanced at the Slytherin side of the classroom. Dra... Malfoy had already left the class earlier without handing in any sample. Malfoy's potion was a total failure and there was no point in struggling to make it right.

Harry labeled his vial of potion and carefully placed it on Snape's desk. He quickly packed his bag and followed Ron and Hermione out of the classroom, but a voice stopped him just before he left the room.

"Stay back, Potter," came Snape's voice from behind him.

Harry sighed and motioned Ron and Hermione to leave without him. He walked back into the classroom, wondering what Snape wanted.

After the last student had left the classroom, Snape pulled out his wand to lock the door and muttered a silencing charm on it. Then he turned around sharply and pointed his wand at Harry.

"Legilimens!"

The spell took Harry totally off guard. He stepped back when the spell hit him. Instinctively, upon feeling another presence in his mind, Harry strengthened his mental barrier and pushed Snape out of his mind, with a stronger force than necessary.

"I am bored," said a much younger Sirius. "Wish it was full moon."

"This'll liven you up, Padfoot," said James Potter, "Look who it is..."

"Excellent, Snivellus."

James Potter approached a younger Severus Snape.

"All right, Snivellus?"

Snape reacted quickly as if he had been expecting the attack.

James' smile widened "Expelliarmus!"

Snape fell onto the ground.

Sirius laughed. "Impendimenta!"

Harry felt a strong force pushing him out. He looked around and found himself back in the Potions classroom.

What was that? Why had his father and Sirius attacked Snape? From what he had just seen, Snape had done nothing wrong at all. Was it simply because Sirius said he was bored? He looked up and saw Snape was standing before him, looking very angry.

"You knew Occlumency all along, didn't you, Potter?" Snape said in a voice that sent chill down Harry's spine.

Harry immediately realized his mistake. Only a skilled Occlumens could have possibly pushed Snape out with such a force and only a Legilimens could have stayed in Snape's mind long enough to view his memories. Harry had forgotten that he was supposed to be incompetent in Occlumency. He paled. Both Occlumency and Legilimency were dark magic, how could Harry account for his skills?

"I..."

Before Harry could utter a believable excuse, Snape had grabbed Harry's arm with such a force that it made Harry hiss in pain and started dragging him out of the classroom.

"You will explain yourself to the headmaster, Potter."