"Detention"

Harry Potter sat at the table in the Great Hall. He was tense. His detention was coming up. He knew it might not go well. Draco's tension had not gone down much from before his detention last night compared to his tension from throughout the day. Even now, he and Harry would occasionally glance at each other from around their friends and Dudley. Harry could read the tension in the straightness of his mouth, the way he sat, and the bags under his eyes. He knew that his friend could also read the tension in himself pretty much the same way, though they both faked as much ease as possible. Harry was not quite sure what the detention would entail, though he knew the main reason behind it. He ate his food slowly, knowing that this was something that would mentally prepare him for a scolding and a detention that would probably be on par or worse than any of the ones that he had received before for something Potter-idiocy related. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to stun the man as he would be alone with him in this case.

.

Foolish, idiotic, dunderheads.

Snape watched his Slytherins, especially two fifth year boys that he either already had met or was yet to meet in detention.

What had those two boys been thinking? Actually, he knew somewhat, because of Draco's detention that morning, but he had yet to confirm it with the Potter boy.

Foolish, idiotic, dunderheads.

Did the Potter brat not realize that if Draco Malfoy did not have good enough shields, that any of the memories the boy had seen would be visible to anyone raiding the other brat's mind? It didn't matter if the other one was interested in becoming a potion's master and was already making good points with him. What if Draco was put into a position where getting the dratted dark mark was the only feasible direction? Or if Potter and he decided that it would be good strategy to have another spy in the ranks? It wasn't just the boy going down, it was the whole Light Side of the war that fell with him.

Foolish, idiotic, dunderheads.

.

Harry quickly made his way down to the potions classroom after supper. Snape had been quickly done himself, and he knew that the longer that the man waited, the worse his temper became. Anything that he could do to make this easier would most likely be necessary as the topic that they would be broaching this evening was anything but simple like talking back. No, this would touch a topic that neither of the two boys were willing to discuss with someone else at this moment in time, to put it down as best that he could. Such an explosive topic this was, and he had Snape talking to him about it, not any of the more level headed teachers, like Flitwick! All right, yes, he was scared, but he wasn't going to admit that out loud in the halls as he was trying to not be late to this detention that he was afraid of.

He careened down the halls and stopped short before the dreaded door. It opened abruptly as he knocked on it.

"In."

He nodded as he stepped inside at Professor Snape's command.

"Sit down there," said the professor, pointing at the chair at the desk directly in front of his desk.

Harry quickly obeyed.

"What were you thinking? Do you know the dangers of what you were attempting? Foolish Gryffindor-ish stunt! Was the pain of the memories of the last year of sufficient strength that you had to go and do something this drastic? What in the world would your parents say?!"

There was more but it was along the same tracks until he heard, "So what do you say for yourself, Potter?"

Harry opened his mouth, and said, "The nightmares."

"We all have nightmares..."

"No, sir, the ones that are different, like that one that I saw someone get tortured in. I ended up telling Draco and Blaise, and got them to promise to not tell anyone. They got worried because to them it sounded like someone might be sending me the nightmares, so he suggested it as a way to keep them out of my mind! Please sir, it's not like I've figured stuff out with just my friends before. He said he could teach me, but that we had to trust each other first. That took a few tests of each other, some of which I still have on going, and a promise from him to of no loyalty to Voldy."

"Pray tell me you haven't been having nightmares like that one where stuff that is important is happening and you haven't been telling anyone."

"No, lately, it's been a background of anger and doors. I didn't think that was important."

"Idiot boy! That may have been important, and could be still! As much as I admire your enthusiasm to take care of your problems yourself, you should have trusted the Headmaster, McGonigal, or me with this as people you can come to."

"The Headmaster has been ignoring me, McGonigal just tells me that she doesn't believe me, and you? While you sometimes try sir, you have hated me since I have walked through this classroom door! You're as bad as my relatives and I can't go to them for anything, so why would I go to you? If I couldn't go to McGonigal, how will I go to someone that has hated me since I've met him? I can't."

Harry took a breath. He hadn't meant to let that out about his relatives and he hadn't for so long, so he covered it up with the disappointment that he had in the trust of his teachers since the first year at Hogwarts. It was still valuable information, but hopefully that would be enough to distract Snape. Apparently, it was enough for right now.

"Enough! You are going to wash as much of that stack of cauldrons in the next half hour."

Harry quickly got out the dragon hide gloves and soap and started running the water into the sink.

.

Severus Snape's anger was washing over him like a tidal wave. However, as it drained away as he watched the boy wash the cauldrons, he started thinking over what the boy had told him. He could get some good information by getting people mad at times.

Had they left the child so hopeless? Had all the adventures happened in first year because a child had been looking for help and denied it? Had that child then stopped looking for help from teachers and muddled along as best he could because he didn't believe a teacher would believe him?

Wait, there was something else. He had mentioned that he couldn't ask for help from his relatives, the relatives that he grew up with. What sort of guardians were they that a child at the age of eleven had known that he wouldn't get any help from them? A child that was suddenly better dressed and better fed wanted to be able to come to his new temporary guardians for help. He knew, as he had been in that position. For there to be no one, for the teacher to not have believed what was going on... Yes, he understood the reasoning to do all those Gryffindor-ish adventures through only the help of his friends. Which is how he ended up practising Occlumency with Draco Malfoy.

The there was the way he treated Potter. Okay, he could see the lad's point, much as he wished he didn't.

There was only one way to see if there was any truth behind this, and he could cover it up by saying that he had to test to see how strong Potter had gotten his Occlumency shields. He stopped and thought that plan over. Well, there was a second way, Veritaserum, but did he really want to do that on a detention that was about Occlumency shields? Legilimency he could justify to the Headmaster easier as well. He thought that over some more.

.

"Empty the sink, you're done with that, and come back here and sit down."

"Yes, sir."

Harry sat down on the chair in front of Professor Snape.

"Look me in the eye. Since you have been doing Occlumency training with Draco, I will be taking over these lessons from now on. Now to see... Legilimens."

Harry looked him in the eye. He felt Snape push past the daily details that he had to focus on much of the time, such as class schedules, and find his mental wall. He felt a strong push, nothing gave, but Snape kept pushing. He tried to shore them up, but all too soon Snape had pushed through the wall, and was starting to sift through things. He realized that there was a directional push of an idea that Snape was looking for, but while he was trying to get him out, he found one of the boxes of memories that he was hoping the man wouldn't find. He was reliving McGonigal saying that none of the other teachers would be bothered him or believe him that Voldemort would be able to steal the Stone, then his plea with the Headmaster about living arrangements. That memory led to a memory (in another close box) of being locked under the stairs, and right as Petunia was heard screeching for him to get up, he finally kicked Snape out.

"Again."

Oh, no. Really?

He got up and sat down on the chair again.

This time he felt Snape push down the walls easier and quicker, and then skip the first box he had found that last time, but then he was once again reliving a typical morning in the Dursley household, Petunia screeching, his lack of food, hunger, and very over large hand-me-downs, his chores and being wary of either of the male household, and then being pushed into the cupboard again. This time, that memory was followed by the beginning of a memory of Harry Hunting and Dudley as he had been before, pushing Harry into the dirt and kicking him a couple times, before sending him off running. That was where he was able to send Snape out of his mind.

Once again, he was on the floor when he opened his eyes.

"You may leave."

Huh, odd. It was a different sending away then he normally got from this particular professor. However, he was not going to test this man's current better will. He left.

.

So, apparently he had just volunteered to teach Potter better Occlumency than Draco Malfoy. They both needed it, and if they would practice together, that would mean that he would have to teach both. He wasn't an idiot. Only how to do this would take a little thinking. He could have the boys from now on spend every Friday evening with him.

Snape bent his head into his hands. What he had seen was indicative of neglect at the very least. He had not been shown any extra ounce of kindness from his relatives. He was reminded of his own father's bad temper, how he would hide from his father's beatings, his own ratty clothes much patched, as Potter's had been. How he had hidden from the troubles at home by going to the park, how he and his mother went hungry, even how he had become very self-sustained at a young age. He wasn't as completely self-sustained as Potter, as he was able to rely on his mother until she died, but Potter apparently had nobody to rely on.

.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore sat in his desk, reading his mail. He had just received a letter to discuss with him a temporary solution for his DADA problem now that his DADA professor, Ministry provided, was in jail. What may be legal in the Wizengamot did not fit under laws under teachers and if she didn't follow them, she was a criminal. Now, however, it seemed the Head boy and Head girl this year wanted a formal meeting with him and the Heads of Houses to discuss this. It sounded interesting, so he got his parchment, and wrote out a reply. He would send it first thing in the morning, as this was after curfew almost.