Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

piglets were now soaring past the windows of Gryffindor Tower. Harry lay and listened to the appreciative whoops of Gryffindors in the dormitories below them. His stomach gave a sickening jolt as he remembered that he had Occlumency the following evening.
    *
    Harry spent the whole of the next day dreading what Snape was going to say if he found out how much further into the Department of Mysteries Harry had penetrated during his last dream. With a surge of guilt he realised that he had not practised Occlumency once since their last lesson: there had been too much going on since Dumbledore had left; he was sure he would not have been able to empty his mind even if he had tried. He doubted, however, whether Snape would accept that excuse.
    He attempted a little last-minute practice during classes that day, but it was no good. Hermione kept asking him what was wrong whenever he fell silent trying to rid himself of all thought and emotion and, after all, the best moment to empty his brain was not while teachers were firing revision questions at the class.
    Resigned to the worst, he set off for Snape’s office after dinner. Halfway across the Entrance Hall, however, Cho came hurrying up to him.
    ‘Over here,’ said Harry, glad of a reason to postpone his meeting with Snape, and beckoning her across to the corner of the Entrance Hall where the giant hour-glasses stood. Gryffindor’s was now almost empty. ‘Are you OK? Umbridge hasn’t been asking you about the DA, has she?’
    ‘Oh, no,’ said Cho hurriedly. ‘No, it was only … well, I just wanted to say … Harry, I never dreamed Marietta would tell …’
    ‘Yeah, well,’ said Harry moodily. He did feel Cho might have chosen her friends a bit more carefully; it was small consolation that the last he had heard, Marietta was still up in the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey had not been able to make the slightest improvement to her pimples.
    ‘She’s a lovely person really,’ said Cho. ‘She just made a mistake –’
    Harry looked at her incredulously.
    ‘ A lovely person who made a mistake? She sold us all out, including you!’
    ‘Well … we all got away, didn’t we?’ said Cho pleadingly. ‘You know, her mum works for the Ministry, it’s really difficult for her –’
    ‘Ron’s dad works for the Ministry too!’ Harry said furiously. ‘And in case you hadn’t noticed, he hasn’t got sneak written across his face –’
    ‘That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Granger’s,’ said Cho fiercely. ‘She should have told us she’d jinxed that list –’
    ‘I think it was a brilliant idea,’ said Harry coldly. Cho flushed and her eyes grew brighter.
    ‘Oh yes, I forgot – of course, if it was darling Hermione ’s idea –’
    ‘Don’t start crying again,’ said Harry warningly.
    ‘I wasn’t going to!’ she shouted.
    ‘Yeah … well … good,’ he said. ‘I’ve got enough to cope with at the moment.’
    ‘Go and cope with it then!’ Cho said furiously, turning on her heel and stalking off.
    Fuming, Harry descended the stairs to Snape’s dungeon and, though he knew from experience how much easier it would be for Snape to penetrate his mind if he arrived angry and resentful, he succeeded in nothing but thinking of a few more things he should have said to Cho about Marietta before reaching the dungeon door.
    ‘You’re late, Potter,’ said Snape coldly, as Harry closed the door behind him.
    Snape was standing with his back to Harry, removing, as usual, certain of his thoughts and placing them carefully in Dumbledore’s Pensieve. He dropped the last silvery strand into the stone basin and turned to face Harry.
    ‘So,’ he said. ‘Have you been practising?’
    ‘Yes,’ Harry lied, looking carefully at one of the legs of Snape’s desk.
    ‘Well, we’ll soon find out, won’t we?’ said Snape smoothly. ‘Wand out, Potter.’
    Harry moved into his usual position, facing Snape with the desk between them. His heart was pumping fast with anger at Cho and anxiety about how much Snape was about to extract from his mind.
    ‘On the count of three then,’ said Snape lazily. ‘One – two –’
    Snape’s office door banged open and Draco Malfoy sped in.
    ‘Professor Snape, sir – oh – sorry –’
    Malfoy was looking at Snape and Harry in some surprise.
    ‘It’s all right, Draco,’ said Snape, lowering his wand. ‘Potter is here for a little remedial Potions.’
    Harry had not seen Malfoy look so gleeful since