3rd Person's POV

"It matters not what someone is born,
but what they grow to be. I have seen you do great things, always putting others before yourself and I can understand if all of this is slowly tearing you down. For now, you can either choose to stay and help any way you are able to, or you may go back to your room. It's your choice."

Those were the words that Professor Dumbledore had spoken to Karina the night that her, Harry, and the Weasley's found out about Arthur's attack.

And those words had stuck to her for days. She had been a part of the Order of the Phoenix in secret. She brought her opinion to the group, it also helped that she saw Harry more than any of them. Just as Snape, Karina was on both sides. One side was voluntary, the dark side however... she knew that she would play a huge role in the battle that was soon to be the present.

As she lays in her bed, staring up at the ceiling she can't help but think of the visions she had been having. She still had many times where she woke up not remembering a thing. However, she would randomly get quick flashes of her forgotten visions here and there.

When she was in class, she saw a flash in her head of herself laying on a carpeted floor screaming. Immediately she had freaked out and asked her Professor to go to the restroom.

When she got to the restroom, she gripped onto the sink so tight that her knuckles began to turn white. Another vision quickly went by. This time it was just a flash of Sirius. She had no idea what it meant and why she had it. But she felt something bad coming. And she wasn't sure how to stop it.

"Karina..."

Snapping out of her head, Karina slowly sits up and sees her friends all looking at her.

"What?"

"We asked if you had question three? None of us seem to know the answer." Layla smiles reassuringly knowing Karina had things she was going through.

Nodding, Karina picks up her textbook tells them the answer. They all look back at their books and papers. They had been given an over holiday worksheet to finish sadly, but Karina had finished it the first day of the break, leaving the others to look to her for help.

As she sits back against her headboard, she stares ahead biting her lip in worry.

This wasn't the first time she had completely spaced out. Was this something to worry about?

"You alright?"

Karina smiles looking up at Aubrey who was sitting in a chair by her.

"Yes I'm fine, really... I just keep blanking out. I don't want to seem loony."

Aubrey nods, "It's okay to feel a little crazy sometimes. And don't worry you don't seem the slightest bit 'loony' to me."

Karina laughs nodding, "Good. That settles it then."

Aubrey grins.

Across the room, Draco looks at the two slightly glaring at his roommate. Aubrey knew that Draco and Karina had been a thing and would probably eventually become a thing again. So why was he even trying?

"Alright, Karina number ten?"

. . . . .

On the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively dread his return to school.

"Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley, poking her head into his and Ron's bedroom, where the pair of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Ginny, and Crookshanks.

"Dear, could you please come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you."

Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's, and he was egging it on enthusiastically.

"Squash him — squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot — sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"

"Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word."

Harry's mouth fell open in horror.

He looked around at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, all of whom were gaping back at him. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully upon the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.

"Snape?" said Harry blankly.

"Professor Snape, dear," said Mrs. Weasley reprovingly. "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."

"What's he want with you?" said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs. Weasley withdrew from the room.

"You haven't done anything, have you?"

"No!" Harry replies indignantly, racking his brains to think what he could have done that would make Snape pursue him to Grimmauld Place.

Had his last piece of homework perhaps earned a T?

He pushed open the kitchen door a minute or two later to find Sirius and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions.

What was even more confusing was the fact that Karina was there as well. And she was sitting beside Snape.

The silence between the two men was heavy with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.

"Er," said Harry to announce his presence.

Snape looks around at him, his face framed between curtains of black hair.

"Sit down, Potter."

"You know," Sirius states loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, "I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see."

Rolling her eyes, Karina leans on her hand that had been holding her head. Snape hadn't even had a chance to be rude and snappy, yet Sirius had to come to Potter's rescue. Karina didn't understand it.

An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Harry sat down in a chair beside Sirius, facing Snape across the table.

"I was supposed to see you alone, Potter," said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, "but Black —"

"I'm his godfather," Sirius states louder than ever.

"Hardly the reason."

Harry glares at Karina who was leaning on her hand staring at her nails. Sirius had allowed her to stay in his home and her she was taking the side of Snape.

"And why are you are, Grey?"

Karina smirks winking at Harry knowing it would make him angrier, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Really she was here to see if her seer abilities would slowly come back or if she was truly blocking herself. She was here to watch Potter and see if there was still anything off about him. To see if it was actually possible that the Dark Lord would once again possess his body.

"We are here on Dumbledore's orders," Snape speaks before Harry can say anything to Karina. Snape looks over at Sirius with amusement gleaming through his eyes, "but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel... involved."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius scoffs letting his chair fall back onto all four legs with a loud bang.

"Merely that I am sure you must feel — ah — frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful," Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, "for the Order."

It was Sirius's turn to flush. Karina eyes widen as she bites the inside of her cheek.

Yikes.

Snape's lip curls in triumph as he turns to Harry, "The headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term."

"Study what?" said Harry blankly.

Snape's sneer becomes more pronounced as he begins to get annoyed.

"Occlumency, Potter." Karina shrugs, "It's the magical defense of the mind against external penetration."

Snape sighs, "An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one."

Harry's heart began to pump very fast indeed. Defense against external penetration?

But he was not being possessed, they had all agreed on that...

"Why do I have to study Occlu — thing?" he blurted out.

"Because the headmaster thinks it a good idea," Snape says smoothly. "You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"

"Yes," said Harry. "Who's going to be teaching me?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, "I am."

Harry had the horrible sensation that his insides were melting. Extra lessons with Snape — what on earth had he done to deserve this?

He looked quickly around at Sirius for support.

"Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?" Sirius asks aggressively seeing the look on Harry's face, "Why you?"

"I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks," Snape quickly replies silkily. "I assure you I did not beg for the job."

He got to his feet.

"I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking Remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them."

Karina bites her lip trying to hide her smirk as she gets up out of her seat. The two turn to leave, Snape's black traveling cloak billowing behind him.

"Wait a moment," Sirius sits up straighter in his chair.

Snape turns back to face them, sneering, "We are in rather a hurry, Black... unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time..."

Harry looks at the two men with wide eyes before looking away feeling awkward.

"I'll get to the point, then," Sirius glares, standing up.

He was rather taller than Snape who, Harry noticed, had balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Harry was sure was the handle of his wand.

"If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you'll have me to answer to."

"How touching," Snape sneered. "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?"

"Yes, I have," said Sirius proudly.

"Definitely not something to be proud of." Karina mutters crossing her arms over her chest while staring blankly at Sirius.

She was over everyone thinking both Harry's parents were innocent angels. She was tired of everyone believing that Harry's parents were perfect. Lily had saved her godfather who was in a state of depression but James... was the complete opposite of Lily. He was worse than a Slytherin.

Harry once again glares at Karina as Sirius gives her a disappointed stare. She shrugs looking away bored. Snape takes a step forward in front of her.

"Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him,"

Sirius pushes his chair roughly aside and strides around the table toward Snape, pulling out his wand as he went. Without hesitation or even a flinch, Snape whips out his own. They were squaring up to each other, Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius's wand to his face.

Karina raises an eyebrow staring at the two of them, interest twinkling in her eyes.

This was all fun to her. She stopped taking everything so seriously. Maybe she actually was slowly starting to lose her mind.

"Sirius!" Harry loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear him.

"I've warned you, Snivellus," said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape's, "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better —"

"Oh, but why don't you tell him so?" whispered Snape. "Or are you afraid he might not take the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months very seriously?"

"Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?"

"Speaking of dogs," said Snape softly, "did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognized you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform... gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?"
Sirius raised his wand.

"NO!" Harry yelled, vaulting over the table and trying to get in between them, "Sirius, don't —"

Karina stands leaning against the wall watching in pure amusement. She couldn't believe this was seriously what riled Sirius up. Out of everything that was happening, he chose this to get upset over. A few words spoken by Snape. It was starting to feel like when Draco would repeat the same things to the Gryffindorks. They knew it was coming. It was things that they knew wasn't true yet they let the words get to them so much, that they chose to react with violence.

If everything everyone said to Karina made her react violently towards others... everyone would be in trouble. She had always heard people whispering things about her and her family. She was honestly just trying to cut the negative family ties at the moment but she didn't let what people said get to her anymore. That was their opinion. She knew who she was. It hurt obviously. But she would no longer give them the reaction they wanted. She would be numb.

"Are you calling me a coward?" roared Sirius, trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry would not budge.

"Why, yes, I suppose I am," said Snape.

"Harry — get — out — of — it!" snarled Sirius, pushing him out of the way with his free hand.

The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.

"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"

He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking toward the door with their wands pointing into each other's faces and Harry immobile between them, a hand stretched out to each of them, trying to force them apart as Karina stood nearby eating an apple.

"Merlin's beard," Mr. Weasley mutters the smile sliding off his face, "what's going on here?"

Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands.

Karina steps forward smirking, "Just a little disagreement. Looking good Mr Weasley."

She pats his shoulder as she walks past the group and out the kitchen. Slightly bumping Hermione on the way out she sneers at her then smiles at the twins.

Snape pockets his wand and sweeps back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment.

At the door he looks back, "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter."

They were both was gone. Sirius glares after him, his wand at his side.

"But what's been going on?" asked Mr. Weasley again.

"Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance.

"Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends..." With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. "So... you're cured? That's great news, really great..."

. . . . .

Ominous feelings intensify with every step Harry takes toward Snape's office.

He pauses outside the door when he reaches it, wishing he were almost anywhere else, then, taking a deep breath, knocks, and enters.

It was a shadowy room lined with shelves bearing hundreds of glass jars in which floated slimy bits of animals and plants, suspended in variously colored potions.

In a corner stood the cupboard full of ingredients that Snape had once accused Harry — not without reason — of robbing. Harry's attention was drawn toward the desk, however, where a shallow stone basin engraved with runes and symbols lay in a pool of candlelight. Harry recognized it at once — Dumbledore's Pensieve.

Wondering what on earth it was doing here, he jumped when Snape's cold voice came out of the corner.

"Shut the door behind you, Potter."

Harry did as he was told with the horrible feeling that he was imprisoning himself as he did so. When he turned back to face the room Snape had moved into the light and was pointing silently at the chair opposite his desk. His cold black eyes fixed unblinkingly upon Harry, dislike etched in every line of his face.

Harry halts in his step seeing Karina sit in the opposite corner of the room.

"What is she doing here?"

Karina smirks, "Learning, Potter... problem?"

Harry sneers crossing his arms over his chest, "And what do you have to learn about? It's not like Voldemort is using you, so you say."

Not yet, Karina thinks to herself.

Standing up, and slowly making her way over to Harry, Karina points to her head.

"The mind is a wonderful thing. In fact, it's very powerful. Often can be used as a weapon. Not that you need to know but since you asked so kindly," Karina rolls her eyes saying with sarcasm, "I'm learning about the magical defense of the mind against any external penetration. Figuring out how to battle against anyone trying to undo the many layers and walls that I've put up in my mind."

"Why?"

"Why not? My mind could be used against me one day."

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Karina shrugs as she turns away from him and goes to sit at an empty table.

Truth was Karina had felt a bad omen. Like she had felt all week, Karina knew something bad would soon happen to her. And for the first time in her life, she wasn't scared. She was determined to fight.

Snape steps in front of Karina who was know in her own world thinking about her own visions that she still had trouble with.

"Well, Potter, you know why you are here," Snape says briefly, "The headmaster has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope that you prove more adept at it than Potions."

"Right," said Harry tersely.

"Now this may not be an ordinary class, Potter," said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently, "but I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'Professor' at all times."

"Yes... sir," said Harry.

"Now, Occlumency. As I told you back in your dear godfather's kitchen, this branch of magic seals the mind against magical intrusion and influence."

"And why does Professor Dumbledore think I need it, sir?" said Harry, looking directly into Snape's dark, cold eyes and wondering whether he would answer.

Snape looked back at him for a moment and then said contemptuously, "Surely even you could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency —"

"What's that? Sir?"

"It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind —"

"He can read minds?" said Harry quickly, his worst fears confirmed.

"You have no subtlety, Potter," Snape says his dark eyes glittering, "You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker."

Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savor the pleasure of insulting Harry, before continuing, "Only Muggles talk of 'mind reading.' The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter... or at least, most minds are..."

"It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and so utter falsehoods in his presence without detection."

Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind reading to Harry and he did not like the sound of it at all.

"So he could know what we're thinking right now? Sir?"

"The Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them... Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency."

"Well then, why do I have to learn Occlumency?"

Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so.

"The usual rules do not seem to apply with you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable — when you are asleep, for instance — you are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord."

Harry's heart was pumping fast again.

None of this added up.

"But why does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?" he asked abruptly. "I don't like it much, but it's been useful, hasn't it?"

Karina stares at Harry in disbelief. She couldn't believe him. He was actually trying to make it seem like such an amazing thing to share the mind of the Dark Lord. Even as a seer, she hated the fact that she saw death of close loved ones, that people saw her as a crazy girl who saw visions and death, and she hated the fact that she couldn't save one person. Yet Harry had.

"I mean... I saw that snake attack Mr. Weasley and if I hadn't, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to save him, would he? Sir?"

Snape stared at Harry for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his finger. When he spoke again, it was slowly and deliberately, as though he weighed every word.

"It appears that the Dark Lord has been unaware of the connection between you and himself until very recently. Up till now it seems that you have been experiencing his emotions and sharing his thoughts without his being any the wiser. However, the vision you had shortly before Christmas—"

"The one with the snake and Mr. Weasley?"

No the other one, Karina rolls her eyes thinking to herself.

"Do not interrupt me, Potter," said Snape in a dangerous voice. "As I was saying... the vision you had shortly before Christmas represented such a powerful incursion upon the Dark Lord's thoughts —"

"I saw inside the snake's head, not his!"

"I thought I just told you not to interrupt me, Potter?"

But Harry did not care if Snape was angry; at last he seemed to be getting to the bottom of this business. He had moved forward in his chair so that, without realizing it, he was perched on the very edge, tense as though poised for flight.

"How come I saw through the snake's eyes if it's Voldemort's thoughts I'm sharing?"

Shivers ran down Karina's spine. She hated how easy it was for Harry to say the Dark Lord's name.

"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" spat Snape.

There was a nasty silence. They glared at each other across the Pensieve.

"Professor Dumbledore says his name," Harry mumbles quietly.

"Would you jump out a window if Professor Dumbledore did?"

Harry gives Karina a light glare as she stares at him blankly. The boy was starting to get on her nerves more and more.

Here he was receiving help once again. Help that Karina hadn't received. The only people to help her truly were Professor Trewlaney, Snape, Draco, and her friends.

No one else believed her.

No one else tried to figure out ways to help her. But when it came to the boy who lived... he got the world.

Was she jealous?

Hell yes. She could admit that. But more than anything, she was hurt. She wanted to do good and to help the people close to her just the same. But because of who she was, what side she was born into, and the house she was placed in no one took her seriously.

That would end soon though.

Everyone would take her seriously soon.

"Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard," Snape muttered, "While he may feel secure enough to use the name... the rest of us..."

He rubbed his left forearm, apparently unconsciously, on the spot where Harry knew the Dark Mark was burned into his skin.

"I-I just wanted to k-know," Harry began again, forcing his voice back to politeness, "why —"

"You seem to have visited the snake's mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that particular moment." Snarled Snape, "He was possessing the snake at the time and so you dreamed you were inside it too..."

"And Vol — he — realized I was there?"

"It seems so," said Snape coolly.

"How do you know?" Harry asks urgently, "Is this just Professor Dumbledore guessing, or — ?"

"I told you," Rigid in his chair, his eyes turn to slits as Snape stares at Harry, "to call me
'sir.'"

"Yes, sir," Harry murmurs impatiently, "but how do you know — ?"

"It is enough that we know," Snape says repressively, "The important point is that the Dark Lord is now aware that you are gaining access to his thoughts and feelings. He has also deduced that the process is likely to work in reverse; that is to say, he has realized that he might be able to access your thoughts and feelings in return —"

"And he might try and make me do things?" Harry hurriedly adds, "Sir?"

"He might," said Snape, sounding cold and unconcerned. "Which brings us back to Occlumency."

Snape pulls out his wand from an inside pocket of his robes and Harry tenses in his chair, but Snape merely raises the wand to his temple and places its tip into the roots of his hair.

When he withdrew it, some silvery substance came away, stretching from temple to wand like a thick gossamer strand, which broke as he pulled the wand away from it and fell gracefully into the Pensieve, where it swirled silvery white, neither gas nor liquid.

Twice more Snape raised the wand to his temple and deposited the silvery substance into the stone basin, then, without offering any explanation of his behavior, he picked up the Pensieve carefully, removed it to a shelf out of their way and returned to face Harry with his wand held at the ready.

"Stand up and take out your wand, Potter."

Harry got to his feet feeling nervous. They faced each other with the desk between them.

"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of."

"And what are you going to do?" Harry asked, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively.

"I am about to attempt to break into your mind," Snape says softly. "We are going to see how well you resist. I have been told that you have already shown aptitude at resisting the Imperius Curse... You will find that similar powers are needed for this... Brace yourself, now... Legilimens!"

Snape had struck before Harry was ready, before Harry had even begun to summon any force of resistance: the office swam in front of his eyes and vanished, image after image was racing through his mind like a flickering film so vivid it blinded him to his surroundings...

He was five, watching Dudley riding a new red bicycle, and his heart was bursting with jealousy... He was nine, and Ripper the bulldog was chasing him up a tree and the Dursleys were laughing below on the lawn... He was sitting under the Sorting Hat, and it was telling him he would do well in Slytherin... Hermione was lying in the hospital wing, her face covered with thick black hair... A hundred dementors were closing in on him beside the dark lake... Cho Chang was drawing nearer to him under the mistletoe... the sight of the Black Lake and right beside it Harry and Karina as Harry looked at her in awe, leaning closer—

No, said a voice in Harry's head, as the memory of Karina drew nearer, you're not watching that, you're not watching it, it's private...

He felt a sharp pain in his knee. Snape's office had come back into view and he realized that he had fallen to the floor; one of his knees had collided painfully with the leg of Snape's desk.

Harry looked up at Karina who had been looking at Snape in slight worry and then his focus changes to Snape, who had lowered his wand and was rubbing his wrist. There was an angry weal there, like a scorch mark.

"Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex?" asked Snape coolly.

"No," Harry replies bitterly, getting up from the floor.

"I thought not,"said Snape contemptuously, "You let me get in too far. You lost control."

"Did you see everything I saw?" Harry asked, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer.

"Flashes of it," Snape says as his lip curls in distaste as he looks from Harry to Karina.

"To whom did the dog belong?"

"My Aunt Marge," Harry muttered, hating Snape.

"Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been," said Snape, raising his wand once more. "You managed to stop me eventually, though you wasted time and energy shouting. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand."

"I'm trying," Harry spits out angrily, "but you're not telling me how!"

"It's not about knowing... it's about feeling. You don't need to know how to push thoughts from your head. You just need to feel walls build up to hide them away."

Harry rolls his eyes shaking his head at Karina who sat at the table with her legs crossed, "Easy for you to say!"

"Manners, Potter," Snape replies dangerously, trying not to glare at the difficult boy. "Now, I want you to close your eyes."

Harry threw him a filthy look before doing as he was told. He did not like the idea of standing there with his eyes shut while Snape faced him, carrying a wand.

"Clear your mind, Potter," Snape says in a dry, cold voice. "Let go of all emotion..."

But Harry's anger at Snape continued to pound through his veins like venom. Let go of his anger? He could as easily detach his legs...

"You're not doing it, Potter... You will need more discipline than this... Focus, now..."

Harry tried to empty his mind, tried not to think, or remember, or feel...

"Let's go again... on the count of three...one — two — three — Legilimens!"

A great black dragon was rearing in front of him... His father and mother were waving at him out of an enchanted mirror... Cedric Diggory was lying on the ground with blank eyes staring at him...

"NOOOOOOO!"

He was on his knees again, his face buried in his hands, his brain aching as though someone had been trying to pull it from his skull.

"Get up!" Snape orders, "Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort, you are allowing me access to memories you fear, handing me weapons!"

Harry stood up again, his heart thumping wildly as though he had really just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard. Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as Harry was.

"I — am — making — an — effort," Harry mutters through clenched teeth.

"I told you to empty yourself of emotion!"

"Yeah? Well, I'm finding that hard at the moment," Harry snarled.

Karina snorts to herself.

The boy couldn't even get over his minor personal issues with Snape to try and block his mind. His little disagreements and tuts with Snape were surely not important enough to build so much anger and hatred that he cannot block his mind and try to protect himself and others. Were they?

"Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord!" said Snape savagely.

"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!"

"I am not weak," said Harry in a low voice, fury now pumping through him so that he thought he might attack Snape in a moment.

"Could've fooled me..." Karina mutters chuckling to herself.

Harry glares at her making her grin.

"Oops did I say that aloud? Sorry Professor you may continue. Pretend I'm not even here."

"You say you're not weak, Potter? Prove it! Master yourself!" Spat Snape, "Control your anger, discipline your mind! We shall try again! Get ready, now! Legilimens!"

Harry was watching Uncle Vernon hammering the letter box shut... A hundred dementors were drifting across the lake in the grounds toward him... He was running along a windowless passage with Mr. Weasley... They were drawing nearer to the plain black door at the end of the corridor... Harry expected to go through it... but Mr. Weasley led him off to the left, down a flight of stone steps...

"I KNOW! I KNOW!"

He was on all fours again on Snape's office floor, his scar was prickling unpleasantly, but the voice that had just issued from his mouth was triumphant. He pushed himself up again to find Snape staring at him, his wand raised. It looked as though, this time, Snape had lifted the spell before Harry had even tried to fight back.

"What happened then, Potter?" Snape asks eyeing Harry intently.

"I saw — I remembered," Harry pants as he glances over at Karina who was looking at him in confusion.

He still had no idea why she was putting on an entire act as if she didn't remember being in his vision, in the exact place he had seen once again.

"I've just realized..."

"Realized what?" Snape asks sharply.

Harry did not answer at once; he was still savoring the moment of blinding realization as he rubbed his forehead...

He had been dreaming about a windowless corridor ending in a locked door for months, without once realizing that it was a real place.

Now, seeing the memory again, he knew that all along he had been dreaming about the corridor down which he had run with Mr. Weasley on the twelfth of August, as they hurried to the courtrooms in the Ministry.

It was the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries, and Mr. Weasley had been there the night that he had been attacked by Voldemort's snake.

He looked up at Snape.

"What's in the Department of Mysteries?"

"What did you say?" Snape asked quietly and Harry saw, with deep satisfaction, that Snape was unnerved.

Karina glares at Harry before turning her attention to her godfather who was doing his best not to show too much emotion.

"I said, what's in the Department of Mysteries, sir?" Harry repeats.

"And why," Snape asks slowly, "would you ask such a thing?"

"Because," Harry replies watching Snape closely for a reaction, "that corridor I've just seen — I've been dreaming about it for months — I've just recognized it — it leads to the Department of Mysteries... and I think Voldemort wants something from —"

"I have told you not to say the Dark Lord's name!"

They glared at each other. Harry's scar seared again, but he did not care. Snape looked agitated. When he spoke again he sounded as though he was trying to appear cool and unconcerned.

"There are many things in the Department of Mysteries, Potter, few of which you would understand and none of which concern you, do I make myself plain?"

"Yes," Harry said, still rubbing his prickling scar, which was becoming more painful.

"I want you back here same time on Wednesday, and we will continue work then."

"Fine," said Harry. He was desperate to get out of Snape's office and find Ron and Hermione.

"You are to rid your mind of all emotion every night before sleep — empty it, make it blank and calm, you understand?"

"Yes," said Harry, who was barely listening.

"And be warned, Potter... I shall know if you have not practiced..."

"Right," Harry mumbled.

He picked up his schoolbag, swung it over his shoulder, and hurried toward the office door. As he opened it he glanced back at Snape, who had his back to Harry and was now speaking to Karina who stood with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised watching Harry leave. Closing the door carefully behind him, his scar still throbbing painfully, Harry quickly makes his way to his friends.

As soon as Harry leaves the dungeon, Karina sits where he had just been.

"You are sure you want to do this?"

Karina nods with a look of determination, "Yes I don't like it, it feels like an invasion of privacy but I need to protect myself against him... and her."

Snape clears his throat nodding hastily.

He knew who she meant.

Him was referring to the Dark Lord.

And her was referring to Dolores Umbridge.

Two people Karina saw as her enemies that both would try to hurt her and gain any information she knew, any way they could.

Snape walks around her slowly as she closes her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"Remember to clear your mind, Karina. It must be empty and blank. Brace yourself.... Legilimens!"

Karina inwardly gasps as she feels a force trying to enter her head. She feels every bit useful information that she knew about Potter and the Order of the Phoenix disappear, but still held onto a handful of specific moments. Feeling herself come back to, she opens her eyes seeing Snape lower his wand.

He sighs shaking his head.

Karina already knew what he was going to say.

"You didn't clear your mind, Karina. You allowed everything else to vanish but memories of Mr Malfoy."

Karina sighs rubbing her forehead, "I can't... he's like my life line. What keeps me sane... he's the most important thing to me."

"Then he will be used against you."

LONG UPDATE!!!

HOW DID YALL LIKE IT?

I'm having so much fun writing a non-caring Karina. She's just been through so much that I think she gets a pass for a bad a** b*tch phase.

Not a lot of Draco this chapter but there will be next time!!

What do y'all think about Aubrey?

How do you think things will go soon? Bad or super bad? 😬😂

Future predictions?

Any special requests...