(Y/N)'s POV

And so, on the day of the Hogsmeade trip, about an hour before the trip started, I made my way to my detention, as I looked over the room, I saw a single chair, "Sit" said Snape's voice,

"Before I do, I owe you this", I said pulling out my essay on werewolves, he gave a sneer and moved it to his desk, then pointed at the chair, so I did as instructed.

"What am I doing?" I asked, wondering what task he had for me, maybe if I could get it over quickly, I could try to catch up to Harry.

"After your frequent outbursts, Professor Dumbledore has asked me to personally tutor you in the arts of both Legilimency and it's counterpart Occlumency today, for now, you will simply try to counter my attempts to enter your mind."

"Why you Professor? why not Dumbledore himself?" I questioned. "This will also act as your detention for your earlier insolence" he said in a voice that showed hidden anger.

"I am well versed in both subjects, and Professor Dumbledore has more important things on his mind then teaching a fool like you" he spat. "I'm not a fool!" "The key to both disciplines is not letting those who would wish to invade your mind know that you have the means to counter them, or enter their mind, something you find yourself incapable of doing."

I knew what he was doing now, he was trying to make me mad so I would slip up and he could enter my mind. "Did you tell your little friends, were you proud of these abilities that you now had the power to squander by using for trivial matters like talking to beasts?" 

"As if the art that wizards and witches have dedicated their lives to understand is a toy, a mere plaything?" I was stunned into silence. He continued to berate me "So yes, you are a fool, a child with power he is not capable of comprehending"

"I get it ok! Where do we start?" I said in frustration, I was sick of being lectured. "This is getting us nowhere; it's not going to work." "Again, you reveal yourself without a second thought, are you that confident in your abilities? Or is it simply that you lack the mental prowess to keep a secret?" He circled me as he continued.

"Damn, he's right" I thought. He gave up with trying to enter my mind while I was guarded. "You must experience what it feels like for someone to enter your mind, however empty it may be" "Lower your defence" spat Snape.

"But-" "Lower your defence", I did as he asked, but I was still reluctant. Suddenly there was a jarring sickening feeling of something burrowing through my head the pain felt like my head was splitting in two.

I tried to stop it but couldn't, I closed my eyes as I was confronted by a memory in the form of a voice. "It really creeps me out when you do that" said Ron's voice, I could almost hear him shuddering.

"Does it bring you pleasure to cause unease to those around you?" Said Snape's voice from nowhere. "It's fine (Y/N), honestly, just, um, don't make a habit of it." Rang Hermione's voice in my head.

Now I hear them again, I could hear the discomfort in their voices. "Or is it simply that you like invading the privacy of others, despite being warned against it" The voice was mums this time "Oi! what have I told you about that? it's so rude!" It said.

"For you to learn to control this magic, you must first know how It feels to have your mind laid bare, your deepest secrets known, your private moments, made trivial" This time the memory that was presented to me was different from the others.

It wasn't a voice or a memory, it was a feeling, it was the feeling I had after Hermione had kissed me on the cheek last year, of course Snape would never actually look into this moment, but he was showing me he could if he wanted.

I was pushed back into reality; it was like a kick in the chest. "I understand, but I don't know what else to do, I can't control them, even if I wanted to." "If you do not want me in your thoughts, the answer should be simple even for you, cast me out" he said with venom in every word.

"That's not what I mean!" I insisted, he gave me a perplexed look, "How do I stop it? How do I stop doing this to people?" I begged, almost on the verge of tears, his sneer faltered for a half second, his voice softened a minuscule amount.

"For one to limit their abilities they must first learn to control them" he said without his usual demeaning tone. "I've been doing this to people. All this time!" I said in utter shock, I didn't know, I didn't know it felt like this. Snape sighed loudly.

"Yet another thing you find yourself incapable of grasping, while others must force their way into a mind, you, despite your flaws, seem to be able to do so without such archaic methods" he said, reassuring me.

A thought popped into my head, Dumbledore telling me about my abilities for the first time "Essentially, while most Legilimens would have to break down the door, you, have to innate ability, to somehow, only look through the keyhole, but still access the room" I didn't know if this was my own thought, or Snape trying to help me, either way I was grateful.

"Before we focus on infiltration of the mind, you must learn to defend against it, and in doing so, the method for creating certain countermeasures that you can use yourself to avoid any more... prying."

He seemed to catch himself, "Now prepare yourself", he tried to enter my mind again, but this time I was ready, he wasn't able to see anything, "Again"

This went on for an hour and a half, but it felt like days, by the end of it I was both physically and mentally drained, but I had made it leaps and bounds with my abilities. I could now stop myself from entering someone's mind, essentially, I could lock my abilities away, and only use the key when I need It, Dumbledore's door analogy helped me visualise it.

But that wasn't all, in seeing Snape do it over and over again I had a better grasp of how to infiltrate a mind if I wanted to, with his instruction, I could make people see memories, or in some cases if I really focused, I could make them see hallucinations or visions like Snape could, but it took everything I had. I was under strict oath that I would never use this part of my ability unless absolutely necessary. Life or death stuff.

It was only a little later that I realised how impressive his control was, I could access memories but they would have to be stuff like common knowledge, nothing private or guarded, and even then the memories that I could extract were usually random, or what they were thinking at that very moment, and even all that was provided that I could focus for long enough to dig that deep.

Snape had been able to pick whatever memory he pleased, whenever he pleased, thinking back on it, his control was terrifying, especially against me, I mean not to toot my own horn but Dumbledore himself had called me a prodigy, I guess practice and experience trumps raw talent.

I had come further in controlling my abilities in one session with Snape then I had all summer on my own, I was ecstatic "Thank you" I said quietly as I left, if I squinted, I could almost see an upturned line where his lips should have been, "You are excused, don't linger about. And do not find yourself in here again." He spat in his usual tone.

I rushed out of the room and headed to the common room, hoping Harry hadn't left yet. Luckily, I caught him on the way, he explained the Marauders Map to me and the secret passage into Honeydukes. We quickly made our way down the passage, running under the cloak.

After we made it to Hogsmeade with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak, we went in search of the others, we found them at the shrieking shack, but they weren't alone

"What's this, a couples retreat? Searching for your dream home?" He turned to Hermione "Did (L/N) cry when you rejected him for Weasley?" Sneered Malfoy, at least I assume he did, I couldn't see his face, silver lining I suppose.

I nodded to Harry, we formed a plan, I stayed back in the treeline and made snowballs, he used the cloak and snuck up behind them and played around with them, he pushed them over, pulled their trousers down, even dragged Malfoy off by the legs, all to the amusement of Hermione and Ron.

I threw the snowballs from afar, nailing Malfoy a few times as well as his goons, I was feeling great as they scurried off with their tail between their legs. I threw one more snowball at Malfoy for good measure and then strolled up to join my friends.

They saw me first obviously, but Harry was still having some fun, playing with the ends of Ron's knitted hat and Hermione's hair, they soon realised he was here too, "Harry!" said Hermione cheerfully. He pulled himself out of the invisibility cloak with a hefty chuckle.

"Bloody hell, that was not funny" Ron argued. I strolled up to them "I disagree, did you see his face" I said cheerfully. "I knew you'd make it!" Hermione said happily, pulling me into a hug then she seemed to notice what she had done and she stopped awkwardly.

"I thought you had a detention; how did it go?" she questioned to clear the air. "How did you even get here?" asked Ron. "Magic" I beamed. "And It went fine."

A thought occurred to me, a cynical voice pricked the back of my mind, "If she knew I was going to be here then why did she go to the shack without me? I thought we were going to go together?"

Then I noticed something a bit odd when I looked at Hermione, she seemed very oddly dressed for a trip to Hogsmeade, she was wearing a skirt and everything, then looking at her and Ron, I clocked it. But she seemed to notice me staring.

"They were having a thing" said the cynical voice, even it seemed a bit upset at the thought, So I did what I always do, made it all a big joke, so I acted as if I was very downtrodden, not that it was very hard to.

"Are you ok?" She asked, "Yeah I'm just... trying to put on a brave face" she looked shocked "Why!" She panicked as she realised why, "I'm sorry, I know you wanted to go but, there wasn't much else to do and Ron suggested-", I interrupted.

"Ron's stolen you from me, I'll never forgive him, he even took you to the Shrieking Shack, how can I even hope to compare?" I said with a wail, she blushed and just told me to shut up. Ron lobbed a snowball at my head "Idiot."

Brushing it off, I put an arm round her "Hey don't worry, I'm sorry I missed it, it's not your fault" she still didn't seem too pleased so I went to plan B, "I'll treat you to a butterbeer to make up for it if you like" it was more to cheer myself up if I was honest, she nodded, and we all made our way to the three broomsticks.

Within the next twenty minutes we were sitting down to a nice round of butterbeer, I was teasing Ron about his crush on Madam Rosmerta, as payback for his teasing about Alicia Spinnet. "Sod off" he said, very red in the cheeks, he hid his face in his tankard. This was one of the best days of my life, despite everything.

Now we were in public It took me a minute to realise, but everything seemed different, it was barely noticeable but there was less...noise, everything seemed quieter, but somehow closer, then it occurred to me, I wasn't being weighed down by the thoughts and emotions of everyone around me, it was brilliant.

The door of the Three Broomsticks had opened again. As I looked over the rim of my tankard, I damn near choked. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

In an instant, Hermione grabbed me and Harry and forced our heads under the table rather roughly, it was incredibly cramped, especially for me. Harry didn't seem very pleased either.

"Bloody hell Hermione!" I said in shock, "What?" She whispered. "Not really the weather for a skirt love" I said with a giggle. She let out a loud "eep!" And crossed her legs, in doing so she accidentally kneed me in the head, causing the whole table to shake. 

It took everything in me not to burst into laughter despite the pain. "I was kidding!" I said rubbing my head. It was then I noticed that Harry was nowhere to be seen, I whispered this to the others, he must have gone to eavesdrop on the conversation between the teachers and Fudge. 

A few minutes later, something everyone thought was a large gust of wind seemed to sweep through the tavern, we knew better, I came out of my hiding spot and we all quickly followed Harry.

When we tracked him down, he was sat on a large rock at the edge of Hogsmeade, Hermione went forward, asking him what was wrong, me and Ron stayed back, we didn't want to overwhelm him.

"He was their friend, and he betrayed them" he said quietly then he screamed "HE WAS THEIR FRIEND!" in frustration. As I got closer to him, he continued, "I hope he comes, I hope he finds me, because when he does, I'll be ready, when he does, I'm going to kill him!"

After he explained everything, I managed to drag him back into the dorm room. For the next few days, he sat and wallowed in his new hatred, I understood, but I still didn't think it was very good for him.

To take his mind off it, we visited Hagrid for a few hours, despite Hermione's protests about breaking the rules. But when we got there it was not a friendly visit, we were shocked by the news that Buckbeak and Hagrid would have to stand in appeal in front of the ministry, and if they didn't get through to the jury, Buckbeak would be executed. We tried to reassure him.

"You'll have to put up a good strong defence, Hagrid," said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."

"Won' make no diff'rence!" sobbed Hagrid. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! And if I lose the case, Buckbeak..." his voice faltered and he let out a loud wail.

"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?" said Harry. "He's done more'n enough fer me already," groaned Hagrid. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them Dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around."

"I can see if mum can help, call in a few favours and stuff" I offered "Nah, ain' worth 'er time" he said disapprovingly shaking his head. "Listen, Hagrid," Ron said, "you can't give up. Hermione's right, you just need a good defence. You can call us as witnesses"

"Yeah, I'm sure it's not the first time something like this has happened, don't worry, we can help" I said cheerfully, looking up at him. "I'm sure I've read about a case of Hippogriff-biting," said Hermione thoughtfully, "where the Hippogriff got off. I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened." 

Hagrid howled still more loudly, grabbing Me, Harry and Hermione into a hug we looked at Ron to help us. "Er, shall I make a cup of tea?" said Ron. Me and Harry stared at him confused. "It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset," Ron muttered, shrugging. "Can't hurt I suppose" I said through the bone crushing hug.

At last, after many more assurances of help, with a steaming mug of tea in front of him, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, "Yer right. I can' afford to goter pieces. Gotta pull meself together..." Fang the boarhound came timidly out from under the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee.

"I've not bin meself lately," said Hagrid, stroking Fang with one hand and mopping his face with the other. "Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes" "We do like them!" lied Hermione at once.

"I love them, its my favourite lesson" it was a half-truth, it used to be, but Defence against the Dark arts this year was wicked. "Yeah, they're great!" said Ron. "An' them Dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all," said Hagrid, with a sudden shudder. 

"Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks. 'S like bein' back in Azkaban" He fell silent, gulping his tea. We all watched him breathlessly. We had never heard Hagrid talk about his brief spell in Azkaban before. 

After a pause, Hermione said timidly, "Is it awful in there, Hagrid?" "Yeh've no idea," said Hagrid quietly. "Never bin anywhere like it. Thought I was goin' mad. Kep' goin' over horrible stuff in me mind... the day I got expelled from Hogwarts... day me dad died... day I had ter let Norbert go..."

 His eyes filled with tears. What shocked me most, was while I did have a pang of sadness in my heart, it wasn't the same as usual, I felt bad for Hagrid, not the pain of missing Norbert. "Yeh can' really remember who yeh are after a while." 

"An' yeh can' really see the point o' livin' at all. I used ter hope I'd jus' die in me sleep. When they let me out, it was like bein' born again, ev'rythin' came floodin' back, it was the bes' feelin' in the world. Mind, the Dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go."

"But you were innocent!" said Hermione. Hagrid snorted "Think that matters to them? They don' care. Long as they've got a couple o' hundred humans stuck there with 'em, so they can leech all the happiness out of 'em, they don' give a damn who's guilty an' who's not."

"It shouldn't even exist, should be shut down, it sounds like torture to me" I voiced. How had that place even been allowed in the first place when the guards are so evil that they would haunt Hagrid of all people.