"Professor Snape was the only other master of Occlumency available to me." Dumbledore reported. "All the others were at the Ministry and given the fact that the Minister was trying to destroy me, Mr. Potter, and Hogwarts, I didn't feel it was a good idea to ask the Minister to let me use one of their Master Occlumens to teach Harry."
"What made you think he would be able to put aside his anger long enough to teach Mr. Potter how to block his mind from Voldemort? Surely you knew he hated the very fact that Harry Potter existed." Boet knew the one problem with Veritaserum was that you had to know the right questions to ask, because if you didn't you might not get all the information you needed.
"I was certain that Severus would be able to put aside his anger toward James Potter for the greater good." Dumbledore countered. "After all he wanted Voldemort gone just as much as the rest of the wizarding world."
"Are you certain of that?" Boet couldn't help asking.
"Of course I am."
"Did you ever attend any of the Occlumency lessons that Professor Snape gave to Mr. Potter?" Boet already knew the answer to this, but it was leading up to his next question.
"No, I did not." Dumbledore admitted.
"Why didn't you monitor their sessions, Albus?" Madame Bones asked the next question. "Even I knew that Professor Snape hated Harry Potter. Why would you allow him free access to Mr. Potter's mind, unsupervised?"
"I had to keep the Ministry from finding out that I was having Mr. Potter taught Occlumency." Dumbledore told them. "If I had gone down to the Potions lab where Harry was supposed to be having Remedial Potions, and the High Inquisitor found out that the sessions weren't remedial potions lessons, then the Minister would have known something was going on. As for Severus violating Harry's mind, I knew he wouldn't because he knew that Harry was just as important to the side of Light as he was."
"So basically it would be safe to say that you the Headmaster, who was responsible for the physical safety and well-being of all the students in your charge, decided to leave a young man's mental health and safety in the hands of man who hatred of the young man's father was damn near as legendary as the hatred between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Is that correct?" A witch on the panel asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed.
"I have no further questions." Mr Boet told the panel.
The panel apparently had no further questions for the Headmaster either, because the antidote was quickly administered and he returned to his seat looking thoughtful.
"The next witness called will be Harry James Potter." Boet spoke up. "Since he is now old enough for there to be no harm to his mind or his magic, I also ask that he be given Veritaserum and I had already had from Mr. Potter his permission to administer a magically binding oath, so that Professor Snape can not claim later on that he was lying in his testimony."
Harry took the seat without a moment's hesitation then after swearing the oath and answering a few questions from the Potions Master, who was going to be dosing him with the truth drug, swallowed the three drops that were placed in his mouth.
After the first few questions Harry could feel the potion take hold and it gave him a kind of floaty feeling like he was there and yet really wasn't.
"Mr. Potter, when were you first told about the Occlumency lessons you were to attend?" The question seemed to come from a great distance.
"It was a couple of days after Christmas." Harry responded. "Snape had stopped by Grimmauld Place and after insulting Padfoot for a few minutes, he told me I would be learning Occlumency in the upcoming term."
"Did he tell you why you were to receive these lessons or what they were to do?"
"He said it was a magical defence of the mind against external penetration. I assumed he meant possession, but then I thought he had to be wrong, because we had all agreed I wasn't possessed when I saw Nagini attack Mr. Weasley." Harry told them. "The only reason he gave me for my being taught Occlumency was that Dumbledore had ordered it. He also said no one was to know about the lessons."
"How did you feel when you were told that you would be learning Occlumency from Professor Snape?" Boet wanted to know.
"I felt like the Headmaster had just punched me in the gut with a bludger." Harry admitted. "I also couldn't help wondering what I had done to be condemned to spending more time with Snape. I couldn't understand why Dumbledore would leave me in the hands of someone who hated the very ground I stood on, for something that wasn't even my fault."
"What happened during your first lesson with Professor Snape?" Boet inquired.
"I had no sooner come in the door and Snape started insulting me." Harry reported matter-of-factly. "After explaining some of the reasons why I needed to learn Occlumency, he told me to stand and take out my wand. I was instructed to try and disarm him or at least to defend myself while he tried to break into my mind. He wanted to see how well I could resist."
"And was he successful at breaking into your mind?" A woman's voice that Harry identified as Madame Bones inquired.
"Yes ma'am," Harry told her. "I finally managed to drive him out when he started getting very close to a personal memory."
"Then what happened?" An unfamiliar voice asked.
"He insulted me some more by telling me I had wasted time shouting and that I needed to remain focused, so that I could drive him out with my mind and not my wand. I pointed out to him that I was trying, but that he had never told me how to do it. He then told me to close my eyes and clear my mind and let go of my emotions, but he still never told me how I was supposed to accomplish that. He attacked me several more times with the Legilimens curse." Harry recounted the rest of the first lesson.
"Was each lesson like this?" Harry recognized the voice asking the question as Dumbledore's.
"Pretty much." Harry admitted. "After the first lesson, every time I came into the Potions Lab he would tell me to take my wand out and clear my mind and then fire the Legilimens curse at me over and over, insulting me and my parents in-between rounds of the curse. Every night I would leave there feeling as if my head had been a target for the bludgers."
"You were never given any books to study so that you could learn how to clear you mind and calm your thoughts?" Another unfamiliar voice asked.
"No," Harry told them simply. "Why would Snape bother telling me if there were any books on the subject, when it was clear from the first lesson that he considered the whole thing a waste of his valuable time?"
"What finally brought the lessons to an end?" Madame Bones asked.
"I had a look at Snape's memories in the Pensieve Dumbledore had given him and he got mad at me for looking at my father's humiliating him in front of the whole school." Harry told them.
"At the time I thought it was only fair. He'd been poking around in my memories for months, so why shouldn't I be allowed a look at his. Personally I think he was looking for an excuse and since Dumbledore wasn't there to force him to continue the lessons, he just stopped them, using my looking into the pensieve that he left out as an excuse. I was kind of glad even though I had seen how much of a bully my father was to him. It reminded me a lot of Dudley's 'Harry Hunting'. I was just glad I never had to go back."
"What is Harry Hunting?" It was Dumbledore's voice again.
....
Join my P*atreon for early access to 60+ chapters ahead of the public release.
Link : pa*treon.com/thebookaddict (Remove the *)
Free members can get 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.