Harry Potter and the Past That Never Was

Shortly after Dumbledore departed the castle to visit the Weasleys, Snape asked Harry to follow him to his office. Harry did not especially want to be taught Occlumency by Snape, as he was still not totally convinced the former Death Eater was truly on the side of the Order of the Phoenix. However, Dumbledore completely trusted him, so Harry would go along. That is, he would go along for the time being.

Once inside Snape's dank office, Harry stood just inside the door, looking around. Snape moved behind his desk, taking a seat.

"Sit down, Potter," said Snape. "We're going to have a little talk before we begin your lesson." Harry was not sure he liked the sound of that, but he did as he was directed, sitting in a chair facing the teacher.

"Now then," said Snape as he put his elbows on the table, holding the fingers of each had against the other. "I'm going to say a couple of things to you, and I expect to only have to say them once."

"Yes, Professor?" asked Harry; registering the fact he was already sounding like the Snape he knew, and loathed.

"First, I am well aware you have doubts as to where my loyalties lie," said Snape. "And given your point of view I can understand how you must feel. However, since the night your parents were killed, I have been loyal to the Order of the Phoenix."

"Are you?" asked Harry, a bit of a curt tone in his voice.

"Yes, I am," said Snape, his tone just as curt. "You will do well to remember that." There were times Snape could be very scary, this was one of those times.

"Would you at least answer a couple of questions, then?" asked Harry.

"What would you like to know?" asked Snape.

"I would like you to explain how it is you did not betray my parents," said Harry. "I know you heard the first part of the prophecy, and I know you ran it right over to Voldemort."

"First, I had no way of knowing to whom the prophecy referred," said Snape. "But as it involved the Dark Lord, I naturally told him what I overheard."

"Yes, that's what Professor Dumbledore told me," said Harry. "But when you knew what he planned to do with the information..." His voice trailed off.

"Didn't the headmaster tell you what happened that night?" asked Snape.

"No, he kept a lot of information to himself," said Harry, vowing to put an end to that little detail.

"Professor Dumbledore makes sure no one person knows everything he knows," said Snape. "He calls it, to use the cliché, not keeping all of one's eggs in the same basket."

"I thought it was just me he kept in the dark," said Harry.

"To continue," said Snape, "when I learned of the Dark Lord's plans to kill an infant, you; I rethought my outlook and decided it was time for new ideas. I contacted the Headmaster and told him all I knew, but seeing as he did not know where your parents were, I decided to go there myself and warn them."

"You tried to warn my parents?" asked Harry, very surprised to hear this.

"I did," said Snape. "However my efforts were not successful."

"They didn't believe you?" asked Harry.

"I did not get the opportunity to give them my warning," said Snape, frowning. "I was not a welcome visitor."

"But if you told Professor Dumbledore, why couldn't he warn them?" Harry wanted to know.

"Simply put, because only the Secret-Keeper could have told him where they lived," said Snape.

"Peter Pettigrew," said Harry. "Then you must have known Sirius was innocent."

"No, I believed him guilty, as did most who were involved," said Snape. "Pettigrew covered his tracks quite thoroughly."

"If you weren't a welcome guest, they must have known Pettigrew was a Death Eater," said Harry, frowning.

"I don't know," said Snape. "It's very possible they knew something was wrong, however."

Harry fell silent, digesting what he had just been told. Hearing the tale of his parents' death from a different angle did not make him feel any better. However, it did give him some insight into the reason Dumbledore placed so much trust in Snape. Since it appeared Harry had no more questions on the matter, Snape carried on.

"Let's carry on to the next topic," said Snape. "A certain textbook that somehow came into your possession."

"Yes, Sir?" asked Harry. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, one that told him he was in a lot of trouble.

"It seems I was able to teach you a lot, when you didn't think it was me doing the teaching," said Snape, his lips curled upward.

"What do you mean, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Don't play coy," said Snape. "You know perfectly well that was my old textbook."

"Alright," said Harry. "Yes, I found all of the notes you added to be very useful."

"I don't suppose it occurred to you, the danger in following instructions from an unknown person, given to you in a book?" asked Snape. The image of Tom Riddle's diary floated into Harry's mind.

"Uh," stammered Harry, "Hermione made it a point to remind me of that every chance she got."

"And why didn't you listen to Miss Granger?" asked Snape. "Listening to her advice has gotten you out of a great many difficult spots."

"Well, after we did the Draught of Living Death; and it turned out perfectly, I wasn't going to give the book back, was I?" said Harry.

"Be that as it may," said Snape, "It's not a good idea to use a spell when you don't know the effect it will cause."

"You're referring to the Sectumsempra," said Harry.

"You very seriously injured Draco Malfoy," said Snape. "He likely would have bled to death had the ghost not carried on the way she did."

"I'm not proud of that," said Harry. "But he was about to use the Cruciatis on me, it was all I could think of at the time."

"His account of the incident was quite different from your own," said Snape.

"Right, he was minding his own business and all of sudden I come along and start firing off curses at him," said Harry. "Please tell me you don't believe that is true, Professor."

"I find it best when presented with two opposing versions of the same event, to believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle," said Snape. "However, he admitted to attacking you first."

"I'm not sorry I kept that book," said Harry. "By the way, I'm curious to know at what point you knew I had your old textbook."

"At Professor Slughorn's Christmas party," said Snape. "A perfect Draught of Living Death from you? I think not."

"I managed to get an 'Exceeds Expectations' on my Potions O.W.L.," said Harry defensively "I wasn't as bad as all that at Potions."

"No, and I must admit I was surprised at your grade," said Snape. "But an 'E' on your O.W.L. would not have enabled you to brew the Draught of Living Death flawlessly."

"Yes, I have to say that's true," said Harry. "Even Hermione was only able to get it to turn light purple."

"That is how I became aware you were getting assistance from sources other than Miss Granger," said Snape. "In the future, you would be well advised to research an unknown spell, before using it."

"How would I go about doing that?" Harry wanted to know.

"In this case, simply looking up the word 'sectum' in a Latin dictionary. If you were to do so, you would find the word means to cut, or split," said Snape. "Knowing what the word means, and seeing the phrase 'for enemies' written just underneath, you would have known you had a spell designed to injure someone."

"I... didn't think to do that," said Harry

.

"No, that much is obvious," said Snape. "Why is it do you suppose Miss Granger spends so much time in the library?"

"Doing research," said Harry in a barely audible voice.

"I think nothing more need be said on that matter," said Snape. "I trust you've gotten the point."

"Yes, Sir," said Harry.

"Let's begin your Occlumency lesson," said Snape. "While the attempt to teach you to close your mind was a ruse, you do appear the have the ability to do so. I'm further intrigued at how you were able to see what was intended to be occluded."

"I didn't know I could do that," said Harry.

"I, as well as Professor Dumbledore, have long suspected the Dark Lord transferred a great deal of his power to you," said Snape. He was rummaging inside of his desk. "Further, the Dark Lord seems to also have the same suspicions. It has made him rather more anxious to kill you, before you can do the same to him."

"Oh, there's something new, him wanting to kill me," said Harry, laughing. Snape did not seem to appreciate the humor if the way he was staring at him were any indication. "Sorry, why did he insist on doing it himself?"

"His ego demanded he be the one to kill you," said Snape. "We can save the philosophical discussion for another time, however."

"Yes, Sir," said Harry.

"Back to the powers it is suspected you have, among them are Legilimency, and Occlumency. You should know, not even the Dark Lord can see thoughts a skilled Occlumens has hidden," said Snape. "You managed to do this without being trained to use this ability."

"I didn't know I was doing anything at all," said Harry.

"Which is exactly why it's such an intriguing event," said Snape; while writing on a roll of parchment.

"As you guessed, visualizing a wall would act as protection. However walls can be scaled, or destroyed," said Snape, he brought his fingers to his lips in a steeple. "What you need to learn is to prevent someone from getting to your thoughts at all."

"How would I do that?" asked Harry, doing his best to forget who was teaching him.

"Think of your mind as a building, with your thoughts and memories occupying various rooms in the building," said Snape. "Every building has an entryway, or a lobby. Your protection should be there, in the entryway."

"I'm not sure I understand," said Harry. "Can you show me what you mean?"

"Don't think of it as anything tangible. You said there is a tingle in your scar when someone penetrates your mind, that is your entryway," said Snape. "When you feel the tingle, place your protection there."

"What sort of protection?" asked Harry.

"That will be for you to work out," said Snape. With no warning, Harry felt the tingle signifying Snape was entering his mind.

The first thought coming to Harry's mind was if it were a building, putting a lock on the door would keep out any intruders. Harry tried this, and saw Snape use what looked to be a Muggle tool called bolt-cutters to simply cut the lock. Therefore, he would have to come up with something a little better devised than a lock. Next, he tried envisioning the three-headed dog Hagrid called 'Fluffy'. Snape put the dog to sleep by playing a mouth organ. While it was amusing to see Snape doing this, it did not solve the problem.

After several attempts and refutations by Snape, a very curious idea came to him. What if he were to place the Fidelius Charm on his mind? How could someone see inside something they could not find? It was an interesting thought, but one in which Harry had no idea of it's chances for success. With this being his lesson, he reasoned it would be okay to experiment. He cast the charm, making himself his own Secret-Keeper. A moment later Snape was talking to him.

"What did you just do, Potter?" asked Snape. "I seemed to have lost my train of thought for a moment, then I was no longer in your mind."

"I put the Fidelius Charm on my mind," said Harry.

"You made your mind unplottable?" asked Snape, a very curious expression on his face. "That is not possible." Nevertheless, a moment later Snape tried to enter Harry's mind and found he could not find it. "It is not there. Apparently you've succeeded."

"Someone once told me, my entire life is not possible," said Harry. "Crouch; when he was impersonating Professor Moody, said surviving the killing curse made me impossible."

"There may be some truth to that," said Snape. "However, you have indeed managed to prevent your mind from being accessed. I can enter to a point, and can only see a void." Snape tried again, and shook his head after finding he could not find it. "This is really quite remarkable. I was going to suggest a Disillusion Charm."

Snape began to inscribe on the roll of parchment again. "I can see," said Snape as he continued to write, "there will be no need for further Occlumency lessons."

"Just like that?" Harry wanted to know. He expected these lessons to drag on as they did in the previous attempt. However, there had been no actual teaching on those occasions.

"You have happened upon an effective solution, there is no point in doing anything more than practice," said Snape. "You will likely find the charm will need to be replenished from time to time."

"Do you think I'll be able to use Legilimency?" Harry wanted to know.

"You've already employed it," said Snape. "But passively, communicating with someone in your mind is passive Legilimency."

"Will you teach me more of that, then?" asked Harry.

"No," said Snape. "Unless the headmaster wishes you to learn Legilimency, I'll not teach it."

"That's alright," said Harry. "I know you don't like me."

"My personal feelings toward you have nothing all to do with this," said Snape. He put down the quill he was holding. "Professor Dumbledore has, and will continue to decide what you are and are not taught. As a point of interest, I neither like or dislike you."

"You sure seem to always be tougher on me than on anyone else in your classroom," observed Harry.

"Since before you were born, you have been fated to face the most difficult task imaginable," said Snape. "I am tough on you because only the most powerful wizard will have any chance at all to accomplish the task you must one day face."

"You're saying you've only been tough on me to train me up, then?" asked Harry. He was not at all sure he believed this explanation.

"That is the reason I am tough on you," said Snape. "The only possible way to defeat the most powerful wizard alive is to become more powerful than he."

"Hold on," said Harry. "You've heard the entire prophecy, how else would you know I have to be the one to kill him?"

"Yes, Potter," said Snape, "I have heard the entire prophecy." He stood and was looking through his bookcase, finally extracting a book. He turned around and placed the book on his desk, in front of Harry. "This is a book on mind exercising. In addition, it is a homework assignment. Study, and practice the techniques you will find inside this book."

"Homework a full six weeks before school starts," said Harry. "So much for summer holiday."

A house-elf knocked on the door to Snape's office and told him the headmaster was back and wished to see both he and Harry in his office. Harry followed the Potions Master to Dumbledore's office, being small again made it more of a task to keep pace with Snape's brisk pace. He had to trot a few times to keep up. When they entered Dumbledore's office, they found the headmaster depositing some of his memories into his pensieve.

"I have been finding all the extra memories to be a little too overwhelming at the moment," said Dumbledore gesturing to the pensieve, as he sat behind his desk. "How did the Occlumency lesson go?"

"The lesson went surprisingly well," said Snape. "Potter was able to place the Fidelius Charm on his mind."

"Indeed, Severus?" said Dumbledore. "I must say, an extraordinary solution to closing one's mind." He peered at Harry over his glasses.

"Did you get Pettigrew, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes, Harry," said Dumbledore, chucking. "After the dressing down Molly gave him, I have the sneaking suspicion Pettigrew is secretly glad to be safe inside of Azkaban. And Sirius Black has been released."

"When can I see him?" asked Harry with an excited look on his face.

"I expect you'll see him tonight, as I've called a meeting of the Order," said Dumbledore. "You're going to be the guest of honor, Harry."

"You're not going to tell them about me are you?" Harry wanted to know.

"Yes, I think we're going to let them in on our plans," said Dumbledore.

"But the whole Order?" asked Harry. "That's an awful lot of people to trust."

"If I may, Headmaster," said Snape.

"By all means, Severus," said Dumbledore, holding his palms out

"The members of the Order of the Phoenix have been, and will be asked to do many dangerous things. A lot of the time they are asked to do these things without complete information," said Snape. "It is a good training tool for one's army to give them certain information so that they will know if they are not given information at crucial times, there is a good reason."

"I don't quite understand, exactly how does that apply here?" asked Harry.

"It applies here because to give them this rather large secret, they will know when they are sent out to do something dangerous with little or no information it's for a good reason," explained Snape.

"Let there be no doubt, Harry," said Dumbledore, "acting upon the information you've brought back from the future will be very dangerous."

"I understand," said Harry. "Now that he's out of Azkaban, can I live with Sirius?"

"I knew you were going to ask that," said Dumbledore, frowning slightly. "I'm afraid it's probably not a good idea for you to live with Sirius."

"Then how about the Burrow?" asked Harry.

"The Burrow would definitely be a good home, however we both know the Weasleys cannot afford another mouth to feed," said Dumbledore. "Although I'm positive Molly would love the opportunity to fatten you up."

"I have plenty of gold, they're welcome to it," said Harry.

"That is very generous of you, Harry," said Dumbledore, with a nod and a smile. "However the Weasleys would never accept payment."

"But what if they didn't know it was payment?" asked Harry. He had a devious idea.

"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

"The contest Mr. Weasley won 700 Galleons," said Harry. "What if the prize money were to be a lot more than 700 Galleons?"

"And have the Weasleys chalking it up to good fortune?" asked Dumbledore. "Interesting idea, and it may just work. Very well, if they agree to have you live with them, we can arrange it"

"That would be great, Professor," said Harry.

"Do we have anything else to discuss before the meeting?" Dumbledore asked them.

"Can I be taught Legilimency, since I won't need to have any more Occlumency lessons?" asked Harry.

"In time, I think perhaps so," said Dumbledore after thinking it over a few seconds. "But you're going to have a very busy summer as it is. There's not a whole lot to be gained by packing in a lot of lessons."

"What am I going to be doing?" Harry wanted to know.

"You will find out soon enough," said Dumbledore. It was a vague answer, but he not going in to detail and Harry knew better than to press for information the headmaster was not ready to give.