Sentimental Reasons

51. Truth revealed

Classes had already started again. We were all in Professor Snape's classroom, quietly writing our essays before the bell rang. He had collected our homework at the beginning of the class, but he didn't judge the homework he had given enough, so we now had to write an essay about Inferiuses with our little knowledge of it.

I was now writing my third page about the creature while everyone was still struggling to fill in their first page. I had convinced myself to talk to Professor Snape about Occlumency when I was done with my essay. Maybe he would be of more significant help than Malfoy. Anyway, I didn't have the courage to speak to Malfoy, not after what happened. So, Snape was the only person who could help me with this matter.

Finally, after reading what I wrote several times, ensuring there weren't any mistakes, I lifted from my seat. Every eye suddenly fixated on me, seeing how early I was done while they were all struggling. I ignored the stares and walked to Snape's desk.

He didn't lift his eyes as he said, "Have you reread yourself?"

"Three times," I plopped my papers on his desk. He didn't take a look at it. I stayed in front of his desk, which was far enough from the students so that no one could hear us.

"What do you want?" He said with a low voice, still not looking at me.

"I," I started, "I was wondering about Occlumency and Legilimency." Finally, his gaze fell on me. His face wasn't in shock. It was completely neutral.

"Go on." He said, his voice no more than a whisper.

"Is it possible to reveal the truth about a memory? A memory that's been twisted?" I tried not to give too much detail, but I supposed I failed as the words slipped out of my mouth without thinking about them in the first place.

His eyes lingered on mine for a few seconds before he started saying, dropping his head back to his work, "With great power, yes." He said, not giving me any details about how to do so. "I have no doubt you'd be able to do it." His kind words were so uncommon coming from him. I blinked in surprise.

"How?" I whispered loud enough for him to hear.

He didn't say anything, just grunted in response. "I do not think it is useful for you to know. If the memory was twisted," His eyes came up to me. "It was probably for the better." His eyes spoke of honesty. I was left speechless, not knowing how to respond to that. He didn't give me anything to work with. Not a name, not a charm, nothing.

I took a deep breath, exasperated by my constant failures. "Thank you," I said though I didn't mean it. When I turned around to walk to my table, I met Malfoy's eyes, who was waiting to drop his work.

I quickly looked away and departed to my seat. His steps were close behind me as I walked along the students still working on their essays. I sat back down next to Daphne, and he sat a few rows behind me next to Blaise and Theo.

"What'd you talk about?" Daphne asked me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Silence," Snape said with his snake-like voice. I gave her a smile meaning I would tell her later.

I looked over her work and read her paper. There were some mistakes, so I pointed my finger toward one of the sentences she wrote. I wrote on a piece of paper I ripped off my notebook and wrote, "It wasn't Salazar who discovered them, but a student of his."

She read my writing and smiled at me. I smiled back at her and looked out the window, easing my mind on how I would restore my memory.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next evening, I sat in The Library rereading Maxwell Barnett's book on Occlumency, wondering if he had given any clues about twisted memories. To my dismay, there was nothing. Suddenly, black shoes appeared in my range of shots. I looked up at the person wearing them, "Professor?"