Emily Potter - Book 5 - Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 47 - Something Wicked This Way Comes

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"Your grades are impeccable as ever, darling." Professor McGonagall remarked as she checked Emily's card. "Umbridge gave me an A in DADA; I guess I should be thankful that she didn't fail me." She said spitefully. Professor McGonagall did indeed notice that flaw in her perfect record of Exceeds Expectations and Outstanding, but the matter was out of her hands. If she dug deep in that area, she'd be accused of favouritism.

"What did I tell you before you first came to Hogwarts?" She asked, tucking away her card into the filing cabinet.

"Do your best if you can't be the best."

"That's right, and that is your situation right now." Professor McGonagall whispered, "Umbridge is as qualified to teach as a dragon is qualified to prevent forest fires – "

"I like that analogy."

"Anyway," She said, turning back to the subject, "I want you to steer clear of that woman, that one week of detention you have with her will be your last week of detention, you got that?" Professor McGonagall said sternly, her jaw clenched in frustration. Emily nodded obediently and went her away, leaving her office and heading straight to Snape's for another Occlumency session with him and Harry.

Before she entered Snape's office, she heard a loud thud and felt vibrations as something had fallen on the floor. Emily quickly got in, closing the door behind her, and saw Harry on his knees. "Get up, Potter." He had just been forced, yet again by Snape, to relive a stream of very early memories he had not even realized he still had, most of them concerning humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon him in primary school.

"That last memory," said Snape. "What was it?"

"I don't know," said Harry, getting wearily to his feet. He was finding it increasingly difficult to disentangle separate memories from the rush of images and sound that Snape kept calling forth. "You mean the one where my cousin tried to make me stand in the toilet?"

"No," said Snape softly. "I mean the one concerning a man kneeling in the middle of a darkened room..." Emily settled her things in a vacant chair and approached her brother, "It was a dream – More of a nightmare to be honest, and I had the same one." Snape looked her dead in the eye, moving a step closer to them, "You... Both of you had the same dream? Clearly, you haven't made extreme efforts to control yourselves. Emily, despite the extra sessions you went for, I am no doubt disappointed."

There was a pause during which Harry stared fixedly at a large dead frog suspended in a purple liquid in its jar. "You do know why we are here, don't you, Potter?" said Snape in a low, dangerous voice. "You do know why I am giving up my evenings to this tedious job?"

"Yes," said Harry stiffly. "Remind me why we are here, Potter."

"So we can learn Occlumency," said Emily said in a bored tone. "Correct, Potter. And dim though you two may be" — Harry looked back at Snape, hating him more than ever — "I would have thought that after two months' worth of lessons you might have made some progress. How many other dreams about the Dark Lord have you had?"

"Just that one," lied Harry. Emily shot him a cautious look, but before she could say anything else, it had seemed as if Snape had bought her brother's lie. "Perhaps," said Snape, his dark, cold eyes narrowing slightly, "Perhaps you two actually enjoy having these visions and dreams, Potters. Maybe they make both of you feel special — important is the word for it, I presume."

"No, they don't," said Harry, his jaw set, and his fingers clenched tightly around the handle of his wand. "That is just as well, Potter," said Snape coldly, "Because you are neither special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark Lord is saying to his Death Eaters."