The Muggle Intruder

Chapter 6: Legilimency

As we walked in silence, I kept my eyes on the back of Snape's billowing robe. It kept me from having to make eye contact with any of the students on the way to wherever we were going. As we descended down into the castle and it gradually got darker and spookier, I began to panic.

"Sir? Where, exactly, are you taking me?"

"To get answers, Miss Branson."

"And we have to come all the way down here to do that?"

He stopped so fast I almost ran into him. "I've been given strict instructions by our Headmaster and you are in no position to question those instructions. I think it best for everyone that, from this point on, you only speak when spoken to. Is that clear, Miss Branson?"

"But--"

"Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." No matter what I knew about this story, I was starting to hate Snape.

He spun around and continued to walk toward what ended up being his classroom. "Sit," he ordered as soon as we walked in, pointing toward a large, brown leather chair that was sitting off to the side of his dimly-lit room. With a flick of his wand, the door shut and locked behind him.

"I'm a bit scared, Professor," I admitted, hoping he'd tell me what was going on.

"As you should be."

Well, that didn't help me feel any better. "What are you going to do?" They'd already given me the truth serum, so I racked my brain for another potion he might be about to force on me.

"Since you claim to know what's going on here, I assume you know what Legilimency is?"

"Oh, no. You're going to read my mind."

"You are so naive," he scoffed. "What do you know about Legilimency?"

"Well, I know you're a skilled Legilimens and that you end up using it on Harry to teach him Occlumency so he could keep Volde--He Who Must Not Be Named out of his head." Yes, being on this side of the story, I was afraid to say his name.

Snape's expression wavered, but only for a moment. "How do you know these things?"

I swallowed hard. "I think you're about to find out, aren't you, sir?"

He yanked a chair from beside the table at the center of his room and slammed it down in front of me, quickly taking a seat in it. "I want you to look into my eyes and clear your mind of all thoughts. Don't fight me because you can't and it will only become painful for you."

Before I knew what hit me, I was gone, seeing flashes of my life play like a movie inside my head, one after the other. I was little, running through the grass with Apple. In the next scene, Apple was crying and I was comforting her. Then, I was reading my first Harry Potter book. Sarah Dupont was laughing at the new shoes Mom had bought me, which I loved. I never wore them again, after that. Dad was yelling at me for making a bad grade. We were all laughing at my grandmother because her teeth flew out of her mouth when she sneezed. The laughing turned to sobs because we were all crying at her funeral. I was reading Harry Potter, again. My dog died. Another Harry Potter book. Mom was hugging me. Dad squirted me with the water hose. We were all riding in the car, tired from the long trip. We were at Universal Studios. I was in Diagon Alley--the fake one. We were riding rides. We got on the ride that had transported me here. I was falling... falling... falling. I was on Oliver's broom. I was in the hospital wing. I was with Oliver at the Owlery. We were in the dark, heading to the real Diagon Alley. I felt my heart racing as he held my hand.

Then I was back, in the leather chair, breathing as if I'd just physically done all the things I'd seen inside my head. "Please, don't do that again." I felt a tear run down my face, some of the sad memories still lingering.