It was a dark, dank room that Harry stepped into several hours later. It was an old room in the Leaky Cauldron, one that Tom had informed Harry was rarely used anymore - it was number thirteen, and apparently wizards were just as superstitious about this number as Muggles. However, Harry felt that had the room been any nicer, he would still have entered with the same trepidation with which he entered the room now, for it was the first time that he had really faced Severus Snape since he had stumbled upon the Potions Master's worst memory.

Of course Harry felt that once Dumbledore had actually come to the Leaky Cauldron himself to persuade him that Occlumency was worth starting again, and that he should give Snape another chance, he was hardly able to decline the offer. "He is not as bad as you like to think," he remembered the elderly headmaster saying. So that had been it. Harry had had no choice after that - he didn't want to let Dumbledore down, and he didn't want to be the cause of anyone else's death because he was unable to shut off the flow of unwanted thoughts. Unfortunately, Dumbledore himself was simply too busy with his work for the Order to teach Harry Occlumency himself, meaning that Snape was the only candidate left. Not that it had meant Harry was prepared to be alone in a room with Snape, allowing him to taunt him as he had last year. Fortunately, Dumbledore, realising the tension between the two, had arranged for Remus Lupin to be there too.

Looking around the room, Harry found it easy to spot the two old schoolmates, despite the darkness of the room. There was a small, dusty table near a blacked out window, at which Snape and Lupin were sitting. Lupin, the only remaining loyal marauder, seemed to have aged years in the week or so that it had been since Harry had last seen him at King's Cross station. Clearly the death of his best friend had really taken its toll on him. Snape, meanwhile, had not changed a bit. From the sly smile on his face, to the greasy black hair, he looked just as Harry remembered him.

"Ah, hello Harry," Lupin said with a tired smile, pointing towards the empty chair opposite Snape.

"Glad you could join us at last, Potter," Snape scorned. "Ten minutes late, I see. That's just the sort of thing your father would have done - he too assumed that everyone would put everything on hold for him, would wait for him while he arrogantly took his time."

Harry felt anger boil up inside him. While he had realised a few months ago that Snape had always been right about his father's arrogance, the comments angered him because he knew that his dad had changed, had become a better person, and he wished that his dad could be remembered that way, instead of as the arrogant schoolboy he had once been. He was about to retort, however, when Lupin stepped in for him.

"Severus, please, this is Harry you're dealing with, not James," he said quietly and patiently. "Harry is nothing like James was at his age."

Snape looked as though he thought differently, but didn't protest. Instead, he stared at Harry, still sneering, and shouted, "One, two, three, Legilmens!"

Before Harry had had time to react, he saw various moments in his life flash past him - he could see a black, shaggy dog in the alley way by Magnolia Crescent; Mr Weasley telling him not to go looking for Sirius, who had been a wanted criminal at the time; he saw a big black dog watch him play Quidditch; the day he learned that Sirius had been a friend of his parents'; he saw the state of the boys' bedroom after Sirius had attacked, looking for Peter Pettigrew, then disguised as Ron's rat, Scabbers; the big black dog dragging Ron under the Whomping Willow; he saw Sirius about to kill Peter Pettigrew; Sirius riding Buckbeak and Sirius in the cave in Hogsmeade - Harry felt tears burn his eyes - "No!" he shouted. "NO! STOP IT!" He refused to watch Sirius singing 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs', knowing where it would all lead. By now tears were falling too fast for Harry to stop them. Why was Snape doing this? Why was he making him relive such painful memories?

"STOP IT!" he shouted finally as the memories flashed before his eyes.

All of sudden, they had stopped, Harry's head was clear and Snape was lying on the floor, apparently having fallen off his chair.

"Wandless magic," Snape noted dryly as he sat back down on his chair again.

"What are you trying to do?" Harry shouted angrily. He would not let Snape get away with doing this to him. And why was Lupin not doing anything? Wasn't he supposed to be here to stop this sort of thing?

"The Dark Lord will not stop simply because you scream and cry like a baby, Potter."

Harry turned to Lupin, who nodded gravely. "He's right, Harry. You have to get used to reliving painful memories unless you can get the hang of Occlumency."

Staring angrily from Lupin to Snape, Harry moodily waited until Snape started again. Once again, he saw various scenes flash before his eyes. He concentrated hard. "No," he said firmly. "NO!" he shouted loudly. It seemed to him to be much like fighting the Imperius Curse; it was simply a matter of him thinking consciously about what was happening and telling himself that he did not want it to happen. Finally, he mustered the strength to use a stinging hex, which sent Snape flying off his seat.

As the Potions Master sat back down on his chair, he stared at Harry for a while before saying, "Good, Potter. Good."

Lupin smiled proudly at Harry. "Well done, Harry," he said encouragingly.

"Does that mean I can stop having these stupid lessons?" Harry asked grouchily.

Snape glared at him. "Too good for Occlumency lessons now, are we?" he snapped. "I too have better things to do than spend my afternoons with you, Potter, but I, unlike you, realise the good it will do. I realise more than you the dangers of you not learning Occlumency."

Harry glowered back at him. "Better things?" he asked. "Like what? Following your precious Voldemort - sorry that's the Dark Lord to you, isn't it? I forgot that Death Eaters like to call him that."

Snape snapped to his feet, towering above Harry furiously. "How dare you talk to me like that, you insolent, arrogant little boy, when I have willingly given up my time for you!" He paused. "Dumbledore will have to be informed, of course. He'll be very disappointed. His favourite little student has failed at Occlumency, and I shouldn't think you've done much better at your Potions OWL either!"

Then, with a sweep of his cloak, he left the room.

Harry turned to Lupin, who looked slightly disappointed. "What?" Harry cried. "He provoked me!"

Lupin, however, simply shook his head. "Harry, it's very hard for Snape to forget what your dad did to him, and since your dad's no longer with us, he's left only to take it out on you. You have to understand that he's not really a cruel man, he's just bearing a grudge, and despite how much he provokes you, you should ignore his taunts. Occlumency is more important than your pride and your temper."

When Harry glared at him, he simply finished with, "I'll see if I can schedule another lesson for you."

Once Lupin had left the room, Harry stormed out after him, pushing past the various members of the wizarding community enjoying a drink in the Leaky Cauldron, and slumped down onto a table in Florean Fortescue's, where Florean gave him a free ice cream because he looked so miserable.

"Those friends of yours were in here earlier," he informed Harry. "When I told them you were staying in the Leaky Cauldron, they left immediately and started looking for you."

Harry groaned. "What did you tell them that for?" he moaned. "I just want some freedom and some space - I want to be away from them for a while."

Florean looked a little disheartened by Harry's angry tone, but continued anyway. "Well, they seemed to think it important to find you. Said something about you being in danger and being a threat to yourself. Anyway, I'd better get back to the other customers."

Harry sighed and let his face fall into his hands. He needed to deal with Sirius' death and with the prophecy, and he didn't feel able to do that with others around. He considered telling them about the prophecy, thinking perhaps it would be easier if they knew. But as soon as this idea had entered his head, he dismissed it. He knew exactly what Ron and Hermione would do if he told them: Ron would inevitably look aghast, and Harry could imagine his freckled face saying, "But - but - that can't mean that you have to kill You Know Who, can it? I mean, he's really strong and not even Dumbledore's been able to defeat him..." He would proceed to give him worried looks for the rest of the week. Hermione would also look aghast; shocked that Harry was the only one able to kill Voldemort. Then, however, she would come to her senses: "Well, I suppose it was inevitable really," Harry imagined his bushy-haired friend saying, "I mean, you're the only one that's ever survived the killing curse, and you're the only one who's encountered him and lived." She would then insist that Harry train for battle, not giving him a moments rest, not even for homework.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry. But I'm not the only one who's encountered him and lived... No, there was one other, one who had been possessed by Voldemort in her first year and still survived.

"Ginny!" he shouted triumphantly.

He would have to talk to her. She was the only one that would understand.

He approached Florean Fortescue, who was handing out ice creams. "Florean," he said eagerly, "when you said my friends were looking for me, which friends did you mean?"

Florean looked thoughtful. "Well there was that girl with the bushy hair, that boy with the red-hair and a girl with red-hair, who I assume was his sister."

"Brilliant!" Harry cried. "Do you know where they went?"

Florean shook his head. "Sorry, mate, can't help you there."

So Harry ran down Diagon Alley, pushing past various wizards and witches, who grunted about the lack of manners young wizards had today, staring through the windows of any shop he thought they might be in. Just as he was about to give up, he saw the three of them making their way out of Gringotts, moneybags jangling.

Harry stared at his friends, suddenly unsure of how to greet them. He wasn't sure whether he should be angry with them for not leaving him alone like he'd asked, or whether he should be happy to see them. However, they seemed to make this decision for him.

"Harry!" Hermione ran to him and gave him a hug, taking Harry by surprise, before she pulled back and apologised nervously, as though afraid Harry would shout at her.

"Harry, mate, great to see you," Ron said slightly apprehensively.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny said simply, a smile on her face, none of the nervousness present in Ron and Hermione's greetings evident in her manner.

Realising that he would not be able to talk to Ginny without arousing the suspicion of Ron and Hermione, Harry pushed the prophecy to the back of his mind and smiled back in greeting.

"Harry, where've you been? We've been worried sick!" Hermione rambled. "We went to your aunt and uncle's this morning to pick you up, but you weren't there - we've been worried sick!"

"But then Dumbledore said that he knew where you were," Ron continued, "and that you'd tell us in your own time. So we just came here to buy Ginny some new robes - mum's been too busy with you-know-what, and then Florean Fortescue said you were staying at the Leaky Cauldron."

The four of them walked back to the Leaky Cauldron as they chatted, finally sitting down in Harry's room, as he told them about his latest Occlumency lesson.

"I still don't think we can trust him," Ron muttered. "How do we know he's not still a Death Eater?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, Ronald! If Dumbledore trusts him, I think we can. Even Moody must trust him enough to let him into the Order, and we all know Moody doesn't exactly hand out his trust like sweets."

Harry thoughtfully recalled something Sirius had once said about his brother. "Sirius once said something - he was talking about his brother, but it makes perfect sense," he said, looking as though he had just found a missing piece to a puzzle. "He said that you can't just hand in your notice to Voldemort -" (Ron and Ginny winced) "- he said it's a lifetime of service or death."

"And Snape was a Death Eater before he came to our side - he's got the Dark Mark to prove it," Ginny added

"Yeah, maybe he came to Dumbledore, telling him that he wanted to come back to the good side, I dunno, maybe Voldemort betrayed him somehow, or he got cold feet like Sirius' brother," Harry continued.

"So Dumbledore got him to be a spy for us!" Ginny said triumphantly. "That makes perfect sense!"

Ron still looked as though he would like to believe that Snape was evil, and Hermione looked thoughtfully sceptical, but Harry couldn't understand why they had never come to this conclusion before.

The four sat in silence for a while, until Hermione tentatively broke it. "Harry, you should come back with us," she said. "You're not safe staying here on your own."

Ginny looked as though she thought differently. "Dumbledore let him stay here, so it must be pretty safe," she pointed out.

"Yeah, I bet he's put loads of spells and enchantments all over the room!" Ron said excitedly, looking around as though he thought a spell might jump out at him.

"I want to stay here," Harry said firmly, glad that Ron and Ginny thought he was safe. If they thought he was safe, they were less likely to force him to stay with them.

"But I think you should come back with us anyway," Ginny insisted.

"Why?" Harry snapped. "So you can all keep an eye on me and make sure I'm being a good little boy and staying where I'm supposed to? Do you really think that I'm going to go looking for Voldemort?"

Ginny winced before answering. "Harry, this isn't about your habit to go looking for trouble. I just think that if you're left alone, you're being left to brood, and how can you be expected to stop mourning Sirius if you're moping around?"

Harry glared at her. "Maybe when you've lost your mum, your dad, your godfather and watched someone be killed, you'll understand a bit better about needing to mourn."

Ginny glowered defiantly back at him, but Hermione spoke before she could retort. "Harry, we appreciate you need to mourn Sirius, but Ginny's right. You can't be left to brood. You need to get on with your mourning so that you can finish it and accept that Sirius is gone."

Harry sighed. He knew they were right, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it. A part of him felt that he was entitled to mourn for as long as he liked, but he also knew that he had to stop mourning and start training - if he was going to defeat Voldemort, he was going to have to work a lot harder on his defence skills.

Grudgingly, he allowed his friends to help him pack his things, before they made their way to the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, where a blonde-haired woman was sitting, chatting animatedly to Lupin.

"Harry!" the blonde woman said when she saw the four of them.

It took Harry a moment to realise that this blonde woman was actually Tonks; however, any doubt was eliminated when Ginny and Hermione asked her to change her hair to the bubblegum-pink, spiky style that they loved. Tonks obliged and Lupin laughed.

"Little did I know when I offered to take these three to Diagon Alley, I was not only going to bump into Remus, but you too Harry!" Tonks then turned to Lupin, looking at him questioningly. "You've been most mysterious about what you were doing all day," she said, "any chance these mysterious activities involved Harry?"

Lupin looked guiltily back at her. "I'm afraid so," he confessed. "Now, why don't we all get back? I'm sure Molly will have a delicious tea prepared for us."

As Lupin made to go, Harry suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Lupin asked concernedly, causing the others to turn to look at him.

Harry could not quite believe that he had only just realised where 'back' was. For some reason, he had simply assumed that it meant the Burrow, but there was no room for Tonks and Lupin there. But he couldn't face Headquarters, not just yet - there would be too many memories of Sirius, memories he wasn't yet ready for, as his episode with Snape had proved.

"Harry, you have to face Headquarters sooner or later," Hermione said, sensing what was wrong.

"Don't worry mate, we're here for you," Ron added.

"It'll be okay," Ginny persisted.

But Harry wasn't so sure. Could he really face Headquarters after so little time? Sirius had only been gone a few weeks and already they were trying to force him to face his death and his face the memories that would inevitably pervade Grimmauld Place. It was all too soon and too fast.