Chapter 5-24 Occlumency

• Kreacher turns up again, he seems to have been lurking in the attic and looks in a better mood then before. Sirius spends more and more time upstairs with Buckbeak.
• At Grimmauld Place Harry is called to talk to Professor Snape in the kitchen. Sirius is also waiting sitting at the table. Harry is told that Dumbledore want him to learn Occlumency, an obscure branch of magical defense against external penetration. To Harry's regret Snape will be teaching him. Even Sirius asks why Dumbledore can't teach Harry but Dumbledore left the task to Snape. Sirius and Snape get into an argument and almost end up fighting but then the Weasley family walk in. Mr Weasley is completely cured.
• The next day they take the Knight Bus and are escorted by Tonks and Lupin. Sirius gives Harry a package saying it contains 'a way of letting him know if Snape's giving him a hard time'. The Knight bus is full of people. They pay Stan the conductor. Stan tells Harry that he and Ernie don't believe the stories about Harry. The ride is very bumpy and Ron complains. Stan says he got a tip to have them skip the queue, right after they let off Madam Marsh, who's not feeling well, at a small pub. They fly through Hogsmeade and arrive finally at Hogwarts. They say goodby to Tonks and Lupin. Tonks tells Harry to do well at Ocllumency, Snape is a superb Occlumens.
• Harry talks to Cho and he makes a date for Valentine's Day.
• Entering Snape's office, he sees Dumbledore's Pensieve on the desk. Snape tells Harry he needs to learn Occlumency to protect himself from Voldemort. Voldemort is highly skilled at Legilimency, the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind. They are safe now since time and space matter in magic, Voldemort 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 everybody. Only the curse that failed to kill Harry seems to make the connection between Harry and Voldemort an exception. Snape tells Harry that Voldemort realised Harry was there when Voldemort was possessing the snake and Harry saw events through its eyes.
• Snape puts some of his memories in the Pensieve.
• Next Snape uses a ¤ Legilimens to enter Harry's mind, and Harry relives all kind of memories. Snape can see all of them, among them the Sorting Hat telling Harry he would do great in Slytherin, the time that Hermione was in the Hospital wing and covered with black hair, the time that a hundred Dementors were closing in on him beside the lake. Harry manages to break the mind-invasion when the memory of Cho and the mistletoe come up. Snape is rubbing his wrist which shows an angry weal, like a scorch mark. He asks if Harry meant to produce a Stinging Hex, but Harry apparently did it without being aware. Snape tells Harry to repell him with his brain and not need to resort to his wand.
• They trie again and this time memories flash by of a great black dragon, his parents waving at him from an enchanted mirror and of Cedric Diggory lying dead on the ground.
• Anoter time they try and now he remembers Mr Weasley leading him through a corridor and Harry suddenly he knows and he's down on the floor again. He realises the corridor he's been dreaming about is a corridor in the Ministry leading to the Department of Mysteries. He asks Snape what's in the Department but Snape sends him away.
• Harry finds Ron and Hermione in the Library and tells them about the corridor in the Ministry.
• Back in the common room, Fred and George are selling a new item, Headless Hats, which use some kind of Invisibility Spell to make their heads disappear.
• Harry goes up to his room. When he enters, he hears a maniacal laughter ringing in his ears and feels an extatic happiness. Harry has blacked out. When it's over he tells Ron that Voldemort was feeling happy, something he has hoped for has happened.