Noir Evans

Chapter 15: Legilimency

The next night was spent buried in paperwork to the extent that blinking was all the rest that he got. It was truly exhausting, but nothing a little drive and power couldn't get him through.

Sure, he was tired, but he had people's lives in his hands. There was no time for slacking. On top of that, he had so many DADA assignments he could quite literally bury himself in the parchment. Snape was a real arse. Even after his hair went to normal, he still managed to take his anger out in an innocent Gryffindor.

Lucius was out of the curse already after a reluctant letter he had sent after that. It was hilarious, to be completely honest, and he didn't know why he hadn't done that on Dumbledore.

Anyways, currently he was sitting at his desk, going through some stuff some shop owner gave to him. It was nice and all, but he literally could just conjure stuff up. Nice sentiment though.

Soon enough, however, his 'fun' ended when he felt someone breach the wards in his bedroom. More specifically, Ronald Weasley was looking for him, and from his time with the buffoon, he knew that Hermione was the one who put him up to it.

In other words, he needed to get to Hogwarts fast or he was done for. Needless to say, he apparited straight away, leaving behind everything, and transfiguring his clothes before. He had almost gotten caught with his Evans clothes before. He then proceeded to run like the wind, in the direction of the Quidditch Grounds, summoning his broom along the way.

"Harry James Potter! Where HAVE you been?" a certain bushy-headed teacher's pet asked. He summoned up his tolerance and restrained from blowing her head off just yet, He was fine with her screaming in his face. Absolutely fine.

"Quidditch. Where else do you think?"

He had a slight feeling that she didn't believe him, but that soon washed away when he used a tiny bit of Legilimency. It was fine. He was safe for now. "If you'll excuse me, Hermione. I'm going back the tower."

"Harry!" she called after him.

"Goodbye, Hermione."

Bloody Hell.

Harry got to the Common Room in around 5 minutes. It seemed that even the stairs sensed his urgency to get away from the girl. Once he arrived, he went straight to his room, wanting to get away from whatever social interaction may await for him in the common room.

A war was about to break out, and he was going to be in the centre of it. No one would blame him if he took a little time to himself, except he didn't care. The moment he put up wards around his bed, he got straight to work.

He hadn't gotten any sleep that night, and he was still looking for an anti-tiredness charm. Seriously, you would think by now at least one person was to invent it, but nope.

He was forced to tread down the stairs on a Sunday morning, rubbing at his eyes tiredly and for some reason, people stared at the dark circles under his eyes. He was unconsciously using Legilimency to turn them away. Currently, all attention was unwanted attention.

Harry took a seat at the end of the table and paid a smirk to Snape. If he was going to be sat at a table full of incompetents, then he might as well have some fun.

Snape's eyes followed him as he waited for his mail. He had a very strong feeling that something interesting was going to happen today.

On a normal day, owls would usually flood in the moment it turned 8 AM and people would shout in excitement, but on this particular, the whole hall was silent.

There was only one bird in the sky. The Ravenclaws knew what it was, and the Slytherins definitely knew what it was. It was unmistakable.

Its feathers were a matte black and its claws looked like it could bore holes into your eyes if you looked too long. Somehow, it was graceful, yet dangerous. Calm, yet deadly. It was unsettling to the least.

It flew an entire round of the Great Hall once, twice, three times.

Silence.

Absolute silence came over the hall. Harry's mind was anything but quiet. It was panicked.

The staff (including Snape) stood, and there were three choices.

First, he could do nothing and wait for his entire plan and identity to derail, thereby being arrested, sent to Azkaban and left to rot.

Second, he could run out and risk Dumbledore snd everyone else's suspicion.

Or third, the only reasonable choice, to find out how to get this bird out of the buildings. It was a clear choice.

Harry reached into the deep recesses of his mind. He had done his fair share of reading and research, and everyone knew who that bird belonged to. He needed to find some way to get it out, preferably without trying to kill it.

Of course, it was more than a little difficult. He was almost completely sure that even Dumbledore knew how to get rid of it completely. The thing was immortal, after all.

Speaking if Dumbledore, McGonagall had just sent a Patronus. He would arrive any minute.

And then, thanks to an extraordinary Occlumency-protected, search, he found it. Muttering a swift incantation under his breath and just hovering his hand over his hidden wand holster, the bird turned back and out of the building.

Silence.

Then Dumbledore had to ruin it by bashing in through the doors, awfully dramatically, if he may say so.

He looked around and once he found it wasn't there, he looked to Minerva.

"Back to eating, you lot. Harry and Severus join me in my office will you?"

Harry turned to catch Snape's reaction just in time; totally worth it.

"Yes, sir."

Snape just nodded curtly.

This was going to be a long day.

-

Harry Potter was many things. He was the Boy-Who-Lived, a Wizard, a smart one at that, and above all, he was a fantastic Occlumens.

Why couldn't Dumbledore get that through that thick skull of his?

"This is absurd, Albus."

Dumbledore had attempted Legilimency on him once before. It was in fourth year, and they had been in the Great Hall. Harry didn't panic, like he wanted to. He fed the Headmaster thoughts of his classes, and for some unknown reason, the bigot accepted it.

Apparently, now, the Dark Lord was interested in infiltrating his mind. Harry tried his best to seem like he had no idea what they were talking about, and focussed on feeding thoughts into Snape's mind.

I won't tell Albus if you won't

The words echoed in the man's mind and he, for the first time since he enter the room, stuttered in his rant.

Accept it. You won't have to do anything. Win-win.

Snape looked over to Harry, who seemed as confused as ever. The kid's acting skills were good, he'd give him that.

Albus took the silence as a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"Severus, need I remind you what remains at stake here?"

The man sneered and muttered. "Fine. My office after seventh period. Don't. Be. Late."

"Yes, sir."

Buh-Bye, Professor.

The man over excessively swished his cloak/cape and left the two of them. Yet again, Dumbledore insisted on showing him one of Tom Riddle's memories. He already knew all of this. The man had a diary, for goodness sake.

Hi! I'm so sorry for the short chapter. I've been on hiatus for a super long time and I am basically spouting nonsense by now, but at least I updated.

Thanks for reading!