harry potter

harry potter

A man and a boy, shouting at each other, while another, much older man watches:
“You’re not calming yourself enough, Potter!” the man shouts, his shoulder-length black hair clasping his hollow cheeks like wings.
“Then try not screaming at me!” the boy replies hotly, his own black hair mussed and untidy.
“The whole point of this is for you to learn how to guard your mind in adverse conditions, Potter!”
The old man in the corner cleared his throat. He was present precisely because he was afraid this sort of thing would be happening, as it had in the previous lessons that had occurred without his presence. “And it would be helpful for you, Severus Snape, if you could put aside your hatred and calm yourself for just a few minutes.”
“‘Calm myself’?” A muscle twitches in the black-haired man’s left cheek.
“Yes, Severus,” replied the old man, gently but firmly. “You’re about forty seconds away from having a major stroke.”
If it had been anyone else – even the black-haired man’s own mother – he would have probably uttered some cutting remark. But one did not make cutting remarks to Albus Dumbledore.
So, instead, the black-haired man nodded, closed his eyes, and took several long, deep breaths. Perhaps by the time he opened them again...
He didn’t realize that Harry Potter, having had dozens of embarrassing snippets of his life replayed before their eyes, would be smarting for revenge.
“Legilimens!” came the cry, from a teenaged throat raw and hoarse from an hour of shouting and spell-casting. And Potter's vengeful, focused mind forced its way into Snape's unguarded one.
Whatever calmness Severus Snape may have achieved was swept away in that instant. He felt rage, and a shame at having been caught unawares – how dare that brat do this to him!
Meanwhile, Harry reveled in the sensation of access to Snape’s twisty old mind. At last, at last he’d managed to score a point off the greasy bastard! He knew he...