There was nothing to be afraid of, James told him that death was easier than sleep and would not hurt at all.

Even when he came out of the Chamber of Secrets, the History of Magic course had not yet ended, and he had not been with his parents for too long. Ever since he was obsessed with the Mirror of Erised in the first grade, Harry knew that he should not be obsessed with illusory things.

Not to mention, he thought it would be a while before he saw them again.

Harry's first Occlumency practice was on Saturday. He went to the basement as usual and ran into Malfoy wandering around the castle.

Malfoy has been less excited since he came to Hogwarts again with Cyrus.

To be honest, he missed the days at Hogwarts, after all, his two friends were still there. But when he came back this time, Malfoy found that the situation was different. Goyle and Crabbe were full of hostility towards him, saying that he and his father were traitors and would be liquidated sooner or later! Most of the other Slytherins were like this too. Now, the entire Slytherin group has almost been divided into two factions. One group of parents still stood on Voldemort's side, and the other group was the group that crossed the flames and gathered around Cyrus.

Malfoy therefore found everything less interesting, so much so that even when he met Harry, he was in no mood to make a fuss.

As it happens, at this moment, Harry felt a little nostalgic even when looking at Malfoy.

But as Harry got closer to Snape's office, he didn't miss it at all.

He found himself and Malfoy stopping at the door of Snape's office.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"I'd like to ask you, Pott." Malfoy still disliked Harry and frowned, as if he wanted to have a quarrel with Harry to reminisce the feeling of the past, but he opened his mouth and said nothing.

He felt that he shouldn't waste his time with an idiot like Harry.

Unlike Harry Potter, a fool who is still enjoying his school life carefree, Malfoy obviously feels that he is surrounded by huge responsibilities and pressure (referring to the Malfoy family being sandwiched between Voldemort and Cyrus), and should be more mature.

"It has nothing to do with you!" Harry said a little aggressively.

"That's exactly what I wanted to say!" Malfoy said one thing and another, sneered, pushed open the door of Snape's office, and the two of them walked in one after another.

It was a dimly lit room with hundreds of glass bottles on shelves, with slimy specimens of plants and animals floating in colorful potions.

"I brought the Pensieve, Professor." Malfoy walked into the room and pulled out a shallow stone basin engraved with mysterious symbols from a small package that must have been cast with a traceless extension charm.

"Penney?" Harry recognized it immediately.

Harry and Dumbledore had been inside the Pensieve together on other occasions. Malfoy's Pensieve looked a little older than Dumbledore's.

"Where did you get the Pensieve?"

"Why would you mind your own business?" Malfoy retorted immediately, but he changed his mind and smiled smugly, "Of course it was given to me by Professor Sellers! He personally taught me advanced alchemy in my second year! This Pensieve was repaired at that time!"

Hearing this, Harry felt sad.

You have time to teach Malfoy, but no time to teach me?

Harry was just getting angry when Snape's cold voice came from the shadows, startling him.

"Close the door behind you, Potter."

It was not known whether Snape had been in the darkness from the beginning or had just come out, but the sudden noise he made made both Malfoy and Harry feel a little uncomfortable.

"Draco, put the Pensieve on the table and you can leave." He glanced at Malfoy with his empty eyes, and then said, "Remember, don't tell anyone about this."

"I know, Professor. Headmaster Cyrus has already mentioned this to me." Malfoy was still very respectful when facing Cyrus and Snape.

He nodded and left the office, Harry walking over and closing the door behind him.

The moment the wooden door creaked closed, Harry felt as if he was surrounded by darkness, as if he was imprisoned forever in this cold and terrible cage, and Snape was like a poisonous snake in the cage, with his neck tilted back, ready to spit venom at him at any time.

But Snape didn't.

This man, who seemed so hateful to Harry, had walked to the table, enveloped by the only firelight in the room - this did not make him look any warmer, but on the contrary, even more sinister and terrifying.

Snape pointed wordlessly at the chair opposite the desk.

Harry went and sat down, and Snape sat down too, staring at Harry with cold, unblinking dark eyes, disgust etched in every line of his face.

"Well, Potter, you know what you're here for," he said. "Cyrus has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope you're a little smarter than you were in Potions."

Perhaps because he knew he would soon die, Harry was even braver than usual.

Now he mustered up the courage to look Snape in the eye and ask the question: "Why did Cyrus think I needed it?"

Snape did not answer Harry's question immediately. Instead, he angrily corrected Harry's lost respect in a long, dissatisfied tone: "This is indeed not a class like usual, but I am still your teacher. You should add professor or... Mr.!"

Letting Harry call me professor or sir always gives me the pleasure of having James Potter respect me! Harry did add it, but...

"Why did Mr. Sellers think I needed it?"

He also put emphasis on the word "sir".

This is simply ironic! But Snape didn't waste time on this, because he already knew that Harry Potter was as arrogant and rude as his father.

He went beyond the question of name calling and turned to personal attacks.

"Why do you think you need this?" Snape sneered coldly, "Obviously Cyrus thinks your brain is as empty as a troll, and like a toilet, anyone can go and have a look."

He paused, as if savoring the pleasure of humiliating Harry.

Harry was not angry, because he did recall that when he was in the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort saw through his brain. Similar things had happened many times before, but Harry never took it too seriously.

"So, you're saying that if you learn Occlumency, you can avoid being read?"

"Mind reading? Only Muggles would think this is mind reading." Snape laughed again, "You don't understand the subtle difference between the two. You don't pay attention. That's why your Potions grades are always so bad!"

'My grades in Potions are so bad because you're always picking on me! ' Harry thought unhappily in his head.

To be honest, his Potions grades were not bad at all. Even with Snape's nitpicking and even looking for trouble, Harry still got a good grade in the Junior Wizarding Exam, which was enough to prove that he still had a little talent in Potions.

"Now, listen to me!" he said. "The human mind is not a book that can be flipped through at will. Thoughts are not engraved in the skull and cannot be read by others. The human mind is a complex and multi-layered thing, Potter - at least most minds are..."

When he said this, Snape paused and a smile appeared on his face.

He was obviously being sarcastic about Harry's brain being a small, simple, single-layered, silly thing.

I have to say, to some extent, this is true.

"Lepidopteryx is something that can extract feelings and memories from another person's mind."

Most of the time, that means emotions.

"But for masters of Legilimency and natural Legilimency, it is possible to study the minds of others and make correct interpretations in certain circumstances.

"For example, the Dark Lord can almost always tell when someone is lying to him. Only someone skilled in Occlumency can seal away feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and lie to him without being detected."

"Isn't this just mind reading?" said Harry, frowning.

As Snape said, he had trouble understanding that subtle distinction.

In fact, soul reading is like extracting a mosaic-filled picture from the opponent's brain. As for how to understand it, it depends on the ability of the caster.

A wizard who is extremely skilled in telepathy can always see the essence through the phenomenon and thus glimpse the true appearance of the picture.

The wizard who is good at brain occlumency does not make the mosaic more blurred, but replaces it with another false picture he wants to show in order to achieve the purpose of deception.

"Of course, time and space have an effect on magic, Potter. Eye contact is often crucial to Legilimency." Snape said, looking into Harry's emerald eyes.

This made Harry look away.

This was the first time that when he looked into Snape's eyes, he did not stare at him stubbornly until his eyes were dry.

He thought that since time and space could affect the power of magic, and Cyrus asked him to learn the art of brain occlumency, this might mean that his previous guess was correct.

He just had to face the Dark Lord and had to die.

'Of course, I won't run away!'

Perhaps because Harry looked away, Snape did not sense what Harry was thinking at the moment.

The disappointment in his eyes flashed away so quickly that it seemed like it had never appeared. He quickly continued, "In theory, the magic of Hogwarts Castle will protect you, but since Cyrus asked you to study, I think he must have his reasons."

Snape drew his wand from his robes and pressed it to Harry's temple.

The feeling was not pleasant. Harry felt as if that small piece of skin was swelling and stinging.

"Whatever his reasons are, I don't care. I just need to teach you!" Snape said in a cold, indifferent tone, as if he thought it would be best if Harry died.

Of course, this is a lie!

If Snape had read Harry's thought at that moment that he must die, he would probably have been the first to rush to Cyrus and question him.

"I have another question." Harry asked nervously, feeling the throbbing in his temples, "What is the use of the Pensieve?"

"This is not for you, but for me." Snape's wand did not do anything to Harry. He just scared Harry, then sneered and put the tip of the wand against his head, pulling out a silver, twisted silk thread.

Harry knew that was Snape's memory.

But he had no idea what kind of shameful past was contained in this memory, so much so that Snape had prepared it so carefully and kept it well before starting.

"Stand up and get your wand out, Potter. You can use it to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of," said Snape.

"what are you up to?"

"I am going to get into your mind," Snape whispered. "I want to see if you can resist... Now, get ready... Legilimency!"

He said he had to resist, but Harry couldn't figure out how he could use Expelliarmus on a person's mind and blow his head off.

Don't be too crazy! At this moment, even Snape couldn't have imagined that he had invaded Harry's brain all of a sudden. It was so simple, just like a truck crashing through a vague window paper.

Snape seemed to be flying on a broomstick in the rainy night, and those old memories of Harry came to him like raindrops! When he was five years old, he watched Dudley riding on his new red bicycle, and he was full of jealousy... He wore the Sorting Hat and heard it say that he could go to Slytherin... He saw Zhang Qiu and Cedric bumping into each other during breakfast in the morning, and was secretly sad... And in the Chamber of Secrets, Lily hugged him -

The whole picture shattered at this moment! Harry found himself falling to the ground, gasping for breath, ready to accept Snape's insults.

But he waited for a long time and didn't hear any sound. He looked up and found that Snape was looking at him with a strange look. The flashing light in his eyes made him feel a little uncomfortable, as if he was a piece of roast meat covered with honey.

"Take it out!" Snape stretched out his hand, and Harry felt his breathing was much heavier than before.

It was as if the person in front of him suddenly came to life, he was alive, no longer the stinking zombie he used to be.

"What?"

"That stone, I saw you summon Lily's soul." Snape said urgently.

Unlike Voldemort, Snape was also a half-blood, but he had heard the fairy tale "Death and the Three Brothers" since he was a child. He easily associated the stone with the Resurrection Stone.

But whether it was or not, it didn’t matter anymore, because he was about to see Lily Evans’ face now!

That was what he had always dreamed of!

“Take it out!”

"That's my mother, what does it have to do with you?!"

(End of this chapter)