Mind Meld

Disclaimer: Hmm, not mine. I haven't made any money from my writing efforts, and Rowlings is still much richer than I, so they really must belong to her.


A few minutes later, he sensed Draco falling asleep. In spite of his own relaxed state, it was still some time before he fell back asleep.

He kept thinking of all the things that Draco said. But above all the other arguments Draco presented, one of his own kept coming out. Every time he had a dream, so did Draco. What if Draco himself woke up screaming like Harry did? What if Draco started to turn as frightened of sleep? He couldn’t impose this on anyone.

He made a decision. Tomorrow he would ask Snape to teach him Occlumency. Sleep washed over him. He knew he had made the right decision.


The next morning he wasn’t so sure. He entered the Great Hall and saw Snape. Their eyes met briefly and the icy hatred sent a chill through Harry. He looked away quickly and found his gaze meeting Draco’s. He glared at Draco, even though inside he was smiling.

‘I’ll let you know when to go to the library,’ he said. If he hadn’t been watching, he might have missed the nod.

Harry sat and started his morning beverage ritual. After last night’s dream, he needed an extra cup of coffee to get going. He looked at Draco out of the corner of his eyes and noticed he also looked overly tired.

“All right Harry?” asked Ron.

“Yeah. Just took me some time to get back to sleep last night,” he answered.

“What happened?” Harry flinched when he heard Hermione’s voice. Now she was going to start in on him.

“Another dream,” answered Ron. Harry glared at him.

“Harry!” He recognized the tone. “I thought you said you weren’t getting them anymore!?” she was annoyed.

He sighed. “No, I said they weren’t as bad.”

“But you still get them right?” he nodded. “Then you need to talk to Snape about the lessons.”

Her tone didn’t leave room for arguing, so Harry didn’t try. She took this as cause to start in. Harry sighed. She was really starting to annoy him. Her know-it-all behaviour was very helpful when trying to figure out a problem, but right now it was driving him crazy. He drank down the last of his coffee, swiped a slice of toast and got up from the table.

With a glare he snapped, “Let me worry about the damn dreams will you! I am the one that has to live it!”

He stormed off. As he walked past the Slytherin table, he noticed that Draco was looking very upset. They avoided eye contact, but Harry made an effort to calm down for his sake.

The day passed quickly and Harry skipped lunch. He had calmed down, but wasn’t ready yet to talk to Hermione. Instead, he went to the library. He went to the book that he told Draco to look in and slide the Marauder’s Map in the back cover. He hesitated for just a moment when slipping the book back in place.

‘The book is ready,’ Harry wasn’t expecting an answer. He didn’t get one. He knew Draco was afraid of slipping up in front of his friends.

He thought about his afternoon class, double Potions. He really wasn’t looking forward to this. Somehow he knew Snape was going to be even worse this year. He had all summer to come up with new ways to torture Harry. And Harry was going to be swallowing his pride.

Maybe it was a good thing he skipped lunch. He felt the toast from breakfast threatening to come back up.

‘Harry, cut it out!’ the order was very brisk. ‘It is just potions. You can get through it. Just don’t let him get to you.’

‘By the way, I’m on my way up.’ Harry went to a corner of the library and dug out his potions book. He knew there wasn’t much time left before class and wanted a quick review.

‘What in the hell? A piece of paper?’ Draco was rather indignant at what he felt was a waste of a trip.

‘Yes. And be damn careful with it. I will tell you how it works later,’ Harry knew he was being boorish but he was too nervous about the class. He slammed his book shut and headed to the classroom determined not to be late.

Several endless hours later, 20 points lower and a zero for his potion that somehow “accidentally” fell, Harry was beginning to reconsider his decision to talk to Snape. As he made his way to the door to go out, Draco pushed him against the wall. To everyone else, it looked like he was being his usual nasty self. But Harry knew, he was telling him to stay. He sighed.

“Potter! What are you still doing here?” Harry hadn’t moved from where he landed when Draco pushed him.

Slowly he stood back upright and closed the door. He didn’t look at Snape as he said “I wanted to talk to you sir.”

He drew a deep breath and slowly turned around. “I wanted to…I needed to apologize. I was wrong last year. I shouldn’t have looked…I mean, they were your private…” he sighed. “It wasn’t right. But I’m not sorry I saw what I did. You were right about my father. He was rather arrogant. And not always very nice. Especially to you. But I’m not my father sir!” he said the rest in a rush.

He didn’t know what else to say but he took a gamble on the next words, “I’m not my father, any more than you are yours. I don’t want to be judged because of what he did. I want you to teach me what you can about Occlumency. I’m sorry I invaded your privacy.” The last sentence was almost a whisper as Harry ran out of steam, his bravado fleeing him.

There was silence. Slowly Harry looked up at Snape, afraid of what he would see. The look in Snape’s eyes was frightening. It was furious, but contemplative. There was something else there that he couldn’t quite figure out.

Finally, endless minutes later, “Thursday evening. 8 pm. You can serve your detention here.”

“But sir, I don’t have detention,” Harry protested.

“You do now. Now get out of here,” the voice was cold.

Harry didn’t know how to respond. He picked up his bag and left the room. At the doorway a sense of true remorse washed over him and he whispered “I really am sorry sir.” before leaving. He didn’t know if Snape had heard the words or not. He didn’t stop to look.

‘See, not so bad,’ was the comment from Draco.

Harry almost started to laugh. Hysteria bubbled inside him. ‘Not that bad? Were you feeling the same things I was?’

‘Hey, you are still alive. I consider that successful. Is he going to train you?’ Harry couldn’t argue with the logic.

‘Yeah. I get to serve detention,’ he grumbled.

‘Ouch. Did he take more house points?’ Draco commiserated with Harry.

‘No. He really didn’t say much. Are you alone?’ Harry decided to switch topics.

‘Yeah. Going to tell me what the big deal about this paper is?’ Draco was almost sounding eager.

Harry allowed himself to smile. ‘Yeah. That is called the Marauder’s Map. Tap your wand against it and say “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” and then give it a minute’

He felt the shock go through Draco. ‘So this is how you managed to always be a pain in my ass these past few years!’

Harry looked around quickly as he started to laugh. ‘Um, is there any way to really answer that?’

‘Nope. Who are these guys?’ Harry quickly explained.

‘Please don’t let anything happen to it. Besides my cloak, it is the only thing I have of my father’s.’ Harry was feeling a little nervous. He never let anyone have it except occasionally Ron.

‘The Invisibility Cloak?’ Draco asked.

‘Yeah. Tonight, check the map; let me know where to meet you. I’ll be under the cloak,’ Harry had reached the Tower.

‘Gotta go. Later,’ he said quickly.

He gave the Fat Lady the password and entered. He saw Hermione on the couch. There were a few other people in the room, but he didn’t take much notice as to whom.

“Hermione,” he felt kind of bad about snapping at her now.

She looked up at him and he told her about his “detention” on Thursday.

“Does that mean…” she glanced around quickly, not wanting to say anything where it would be heard. Harry nodded. She jumped up and gave him a quick hug.

He smiled weakly at her and said, “Let’s see if I live through it before we celebrate anything.”

He sat and worked on homework with her. Finally, dinner came, and Harry’s stomach made sure he knew it was not happy about the lack of food.

‘Damnit, I thought we were over the whole starving thing!’ Draco was whining again. Harry grinned at Hermione and Ron and they headed to dinner.

It was much later when Harry slipped on the cloak. Draco directed him to an empty classroom on the second floor. He slipped into the room and saw Draco staring at the map. He closed the door behind him, locked it and moved to the corner before removing the cloak.

“You know, this thing is amazing. I could go through the castle and get enough blackmail material to keep me from having to do homework all year,” Draco said. He moved towards the corner where Harry was, his eyes not leaving the map.

“Did you know that Terry Boot is currently in the Astronomy Tower with Zabini? I am really going to have to talk to him about his choice in …partners.” Draco sounded amused.

Harry realized how strange it was to actually be listening to Draco talking. The voice in his head was so much a part of him that the voice in the room felt, strange. He smiled slightly.

“That isn’t why I loaned it to you so behave,” he scolded.

Draco smirked. “I know. But I’m still Slytherin. I can use some of this stuff. This is going to be a really fun year.” Harry couldn’t resist laughing. The mix of emotions with the almost childish eagerness was too funny.

They spent the next hour just talking. They had slide down to the floor and were facing each other as they talked. Several times there was a lull in the conversation. It was different talking in person. They found when that happened, closing their eyes and going back to their mental communication helped.

Harry smothered a yawn and Draco deemed the evening of conversation officially over. They stood up and awkwardly looked at each other, not knowing how to end the evening. Harry figured he had gambled already today and won, so he stepped forward and hugged Draco. It was the first physical contact the two had made since, well, the whole connection started. There was a small sense of a magical charge. Quickly he stepped back, stunned. He looked at Draco and almost yelled.

“Oh shit!” Tiredness was gone. Shock remained.

“What!?” Draco was slightly freaked, feeling only Harry’s emotions, not knowing the cause. Harry grabbed Draco’s arm and pulled up his sleeve. There, on his upper arm, a scar. He grabbed the other arm and looked at it. Carved in the upper hand, the words “I will not tell lies.” Draco was staring at the marks in shock.

“What in the HELL!” Harry couldn’t form words. Slowly he pulled up his own sleeves, showing the scars on his own body. He looked around the room and found a mirror in the corner. Mutely he led Draco to the mirror. As Draco looked, he saw a scar on his own forehead, in the shape of a perfect lightning bolt. Suddenly he felt dizzy. Both boys went back to the corner and sat down.

“Ohshitohshitohshit” Draco was almost in a panic.

“Um, yeah,” Harry barely was able to piece together the response. “Um, spell again?”

“What in the hell am I supposed to do Potter!” Draco wailed. “And where in the hell did these other scars come from?”

“Um, how about I answer the second question, because I have no clue on the first,” Harry wanted to panic himself. But he decided to distract himself with the other scars. He told Draco about the events was relieved to feel some of Draco’s panic slip into fury.

It was easier to think with anger. Panic was less familiar to him. His mind raced trying to find a solution. When it finally came it was simple. Far too simple. Quickly, he told Draco to wait here for a moment, grabbed his cloak and raced back to the tower.

He ran as quietly as possible to his room, opened his trunk and searched for what he was looking for. Grabbing a small bottle he ran back to Draco. The Fat Lady was a little upset at him for keeping her awake, but she didn’t know who she was mad at so Harry paid her little mind. Finally, panting, he got back to Draco.

Draco gave him a strange look when he handed the small bottle. “What in the hell is this stuff? We didn’t make anything like this in potions.”

Harry grinned. “It’s Muggle. They call it cover-up. Mostly women use it. I got some to cover my scar. But I don’t know anything about how to buy it and it was way too light for me. It made it too obvious there was something there. Your skin is so much lighter than mine; I think it will work for you.”

He saw Draco looking at the bottle with again, considering it. Harry took the bottle from him and opened it. He dipped a finger into it and with his other hand tilted Draco’s head towards him. He felt Draco’s unease at being touched and tried to reassure him.

“I won’t hurt you. You know this,” he looked deep into Draco’s eyes. He didn’t smile, just focused on the emotions. Draco nodded hesitantly and Harry brought his hand up to Draco’s forehead. Light brushes across where the scar was and the make-up blended across, very effectively hiding the mark. Harry noticed that unlike his own, Draco’s version of the scar didn’t include the puckered skin. It seemed more of an echo which made it much easier to cover. And the tone was a perfect match. In all, it worked perfectly at hiding the mark and unless you were looking for it you couldn’t see it. Harry felt himself relax, and a grin spread across his face. He took Draco over to the mirror.

“Thank Merlin!” Draco himself was so relieved that he turned and gave Harry an exuberant hug. Harry returned the hug, slightly more nervous, remembering what happened the last time they hugged. But nothing else seemed to happen.

The two returned to the corner and talked. They agreed that Draco would have to keep the scar echo covered. They would go to the library the next day and try to find something magical they could use.

Draco asked why Harry was trying to cover his own scar. Harry told him about how much he hated that when people met him the first thing they did was start staring at his scar. He told Draco about the train ride, with Annalise staring at the scar the whole time.

As they talked Harry felt Draco getting tired. He decided it was time to end the evening. They once again said goodnight, this time without event, and returned to their dorms with promises to get together the following night.

The next couple days passed quickly. They met at night and just talked. During the days they ignored each other except to glare. Occasionally swap a couple insults.

Soon it was Thursday night and Harry stood outside Snape’s office, breathing deeply. He was very scared. He had warned Draco to find someplace private for the lesson because, well, the lessons quite frequently got kind rather physical.

Draco got nervous and upset until Harry explained that it wasn’t that Snape touched him, only that the mind onslaught was so intense the he and Snape often wound up throwing themselves and each other across the room with magic. Granted, usually it was Harry on the physical end, but occasionally Snape. Draco nodded and said he would pretend to go to sleep early.

Harry opened the door and saw Snape bent over his desk. He didn’t look up when Harry entered. “You are late. Detention, next Thursday, same time.” Harry sighed and looked at the clock. Two minutes. This was going to be a long year.

Snape set his quill down and grabbed his own wand. “Prepare yourself.” Barely saying these words he pointed his wand at Harry and hissed “Legilimens!”

Harry braced himself for the invasion of his mind. There was nothing. He saw Snape’s eyes widen. Again he cast the spell and again nothing happened in Harry’s mind.

“Well, well, Mr. Potter. Looks like you have been practicing this summer,” Snape’s eyes were glaring at him. Harry debated what to say. He didn’t have to say anything as Snape cast the spell one more time.

‘Draco, um something going on here!’ he was not sure what to make of this development. ‘Snape can’t get into my mind.’

‘Well that’s good isn’t it?’ Draco asked.

‘Um, I think, but why can’t he? Not like I have been able to do the defence on my own,’ Harry was very uncertain of this development. He didn’t know if maybe it was another of Voldemort’s plots.

Finally Snape, panting, quit trying to get into Harry’s mind. Harry looked at him trying not to let his confusion show.

“Impressive,” Harry wanted to feel pleased. Snape never complimented him. But this wasn’t something Harry did. “Perhaps losing the mutt helped you learn.”

Harry felt the rage explode in him. Before he knew what had happened he raised his wand and was about to cast a spell when his wand flew out of his hand. He heard Snape repeat the spell “Legilimens!”

Harry still didn’t feel the invasion of his mind. Even though he had lost his temper. Still Snape remained outside his mind. He saw Snape’s eyes widen, almost in fear. Harry’s wand landed at his feet.

“Get out Potter,” the words were snarled at him. Harry grabbed his wand and flew from the room. He got up to his room and threw himself on the bed. He drew the curtains closed and then he told Draco everything that happened.

‘Something has gone wrong. I have almost never seen Snape in fear. Only the one time,’ Harry felt the words pouring from him.

‘One time?’ Draco queried.

‘Um, yeah,’ Harry realized he had said more than he meant to. He trusted Draco though, so continued. ‘Um, fourth year, when I finished… um, returned from the tournament. Dumbledore asked Snape to return to Voldemort.'

'Ah. And obviously he did, but I'm surprised that he let you see him that way. You do realize that you do trust him, in spite of everything between you guys right?' Draco asked him.

Harry thought about that. Even though he hated Snape, he did trust him somewhat. Snape had saved him several times over the years. The game where Quirrel had jinxed his broomstick, sending the Order to the Ministry, even coming after him when the Dementors attacked him at the lake.

They decided not to get together that evening as Harry had to catch up on his homework. When Ron and Hermione came in later he filled them in on what happened in the lesson. He left out the comment about Sirius and Harry’s loss of temper.

Hermione was beside herself with excitement. She threw herself at Harry giving him a hug.

‘Ow, what in the hell are you doing Potter?’ Draco was a little put out.

‘Um, Hermione was hugging me. She gets a little over enthusiastic when she is excited about something. I told her about the lesson.’ Harry had to smile. He knew how tight Hermione could hug. His own ribs ached sometimes. Tonight it wasn’t too bad.

“I know, Snape actually complemented me,” Harry grinned at Ron and Hermione when their jaws dropped. When Hermione moved to hug him again Harry moved back out of her reach. “Hug him.” he said and pointed to Ron. Both of the two in question blushed.

Harry laughed and dug out his Transfiguration homework. The three of them sat on Harry’s bed and worked on their homework together. It was some time later, they were bent over their essays on how to transfigure a porcupine into a pincushion when Harry felt Draco drift off to sleep. He felt a small smile playing on his lips. ‘Good, he is way too tired most days’ he thought to himself before he too slowly faded into sleep.