Chapter 43: The Legilimens, the Occlumens and the Animagus


He advanced quickly. By the end of the first day he had the space constantly going the back of his mind, and could hold a conversation without anyone realizing that he was concentrating on something else. Snape had attempted to invade Harry’s mind that first night, but Harry woke up before he got too far and interrupted the connection.

The days melted away, and before Harry had even realized it, it had been a week. He had reached the point where not only did he constantly have his mind blocked to intrusion at all times without even conscientiously thinking about it, but also he could stop intrusion if he happened to let his guard down and Snape was no longer able to gain entry into his sleeping mind.

Harry awoke well rested and early on Saturday morning and made his way into the kitchen to meet Draco to begin their training for the day.

“Are you ready?” he asked eagerly as he grabbed an apple and a piece of toast.

“We won’t be meeting today” Draco said softly.

“Why not?” Harry asked impatiently, “Just because it’s Saturday doesn’t mean you have the day off.” He joked.

“Because,” Draco said, a small smile on his face, “I can’t teach you anymore about Occlumency!” He looked into Harry’s dumfounded face, “But if you want to learn about Legilimens, I can help you there.” He said jokingly.

“Ok.” Said Harry in complete seriousness.

“Draco’s mouth dropped open, “They don’t want you knowing Legilimens.” He said startled.

“When has that ever stopped me?” he stared at Draco and motioned for the door with a nod of his head.

They got up and swiftly walked to the door, only to be stopped by Minerva. “Congratulations, Harry on finally becoming a skilled Occlumens, where are you two going.”

“To go practice.” Harry said smoothly.

She looked from Draco to Harry, “You told me he was done, and I can tell it because I can’t even get a peak into his mind.” Minerva said a frown on her face.

“Well I forgot about something.” Draco said shrugging.

“Hmm, no. I don’t think so.” She said coldly, “I need you both to work with some of the others. Draco, you are with Ginny, Neville and Luna. Harry you are with the Twins, Hermione, Ron and me.” She walked away with out another word.

“We will work on it later, along with some other stuff.” Harry said out of the corner of his mouth as he walked away from Draco, having decided to invite him to learn to become an animagus, he wondered how the others would react, and resolved to convince them before their first meeting that night.

He found Ron Hermione and the Twins all looking a little worse for wear sitting in the parlor. The all looked exhausted and looked up drearily into Harry’s confused face.

“What’s the matter with you? He asked as he came in and sat down.

“She has been running us ragid with this occlumency.” Fred said angrily.

“Why are you in here, I thought you are working with Draco?” George added bitterly.

“We finished.” Harry said shrugging.

Minerva walked into the room at that moment, and Harry couldn’t help but notice the group flinch at her arrival, “what had she been doing to them?” he wondered.

“Harry is going to begin working with you, I will be back soon.” She turned and left the room without another look.

“Ok.” Harry said realizing that he only had a limited number of time. “What has she been doing with you?” he asked clapping his hands together

“Torturing us.” Ron said his head dropping to his chest.

“Besides that?” Harry asked rolling his eyes, “What has she taught you about Occlumency?” he asked.

“She says that we need to learn to block our minds from intrusion. That we need to think exclusively of something , and only that one thing, and in turn that is what the Legilimens will see.”

“Ok, that sounds good, has it worked for anyone?” Harry asked, nodding and looking hopeful.

“No!” Came the disgruntled response.

“Not for more than a few minutes anyway.” Ron added.

Harry could feel a headache coming on and began to rub his temples. “Ok what are you all thinking of.”

“My cat.”

“Quidditch”

“Fred”

“George”

“Ok, I was told that when you focus on something important to you, while it might seem trivial to you, will be important to someone trying to gain entry into your mind.”

“Huh, by Draco?” Ron sneered in a misbelieving kind of way.

“Yes.” Harry said firmly his eyes never wavering, “By Draco.” His tone left no room for argument.

“I was focusing on happy, non important memories.” Harry said remembering that first session with Draco, hoping that he could be as helpful to them as Draco was to him. “He showed me that not only could he break into my head, but also that I had just given him the fuel that he needed to get to me, he now knew that he could distract me with Quidditch while he kidnapped my friends and poisoned my favorite food.”

Hermione gasped and Ron and the Twins turned a little pale.

“He also said that for everything that you construct in your mind, the other person can construct something to destroy it, for example if you think of a brick wall, they can think of a bomb to blow it up, or if you think of a flower, they can think up a foot to smash it, or a frost to kill it.”

“Then what are we supposed to think of that can’t be destroyed.” Hermione asked crossly.

“Nothing.” Harry said cheerfully. He gazed at the confused faces and said with a sigh, “I think of space, which is as much of everything as it is nothing. You can think of that or you can think of the sky. What ever it is, it needs to be immersed in you, you can’t just think of a picture of the sky or a picture of Space, you have to be in it. Why don’t you all try.”

An hour later Minerva came in to check on their progress. She tested everyone and Hermione lasted the longest at 20 minutes.

“This is significant progress you have made with them Harry.” She said stiffly to Harry as she turned to leave. You may stop for the day since it is Saturday and you may have tomorrow off as well, but you will all be back at it first thing Monday morning.

“Is it true,” Ron interrupted her progress out the door, “that Harry is proficient at Occlumency now?”

“Yes it is.” She looked into his incredulous face, “What, do you want a demonstration?” She asked sarcastically.

The group nodded yes.

“Very well.” She said on a sigh, “If you are up to it that is Harry.”

He nodded even as he fully prepared himself, and she hit him as hard as she could. Even while he was floating serenely in his space, he could feel her bombardment and onslaught.

Finally after a time, she said “Enough. Mr. Potter is quite proficient and this should demonstrate that to you.”

He opened his eyes, calmly moving his space to the back of his mind. He was shocked to see beads of sweat on Minerva’s red face and the shocked expression on the other’s faces.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Ron asked in disbelief. “You two have been at this for the better part of two hours, and you don’t even look like she caused you a dent of discomfort.”

“She didn’t.” Harry said truthfully as Minerva slammed out of the room. “I mean I could feel her poking around, but that was it.” He could see the looks of disbelief on their faces.

“Come on.” He said standing, “Let’s go find the others.”

A short while later found the others in another part of the house, Harry could hear Minerva with them, so they stood back hiding in the shadows behind a curtain until she left.

“Why couldn’t we have just gone in?” Ron asked, rubbing his cramped leg muscles.

“Because she doesn’t want Draco and I to be around each other anymore.” Harry answered.

“Why not, she was the one who forced you together in the first place.” Ron asked incredulously.

“Because we have something to gain from each other.” Harry said.

“And what’s that Potter?” Draco asked almost rudely. “It seems like you have more to offer me than I do to you.” He sneered; his irritation with his group seemed to bring out his former dislike of Harry.

This didn’t faze Harry in the least, who smiled at his former nemesis and said, “Because you are going to teach me Legilimens and I will let you join us learning to become an Animagus.”

It took a moment for this to sink in, but soon Draco had a grasped the implications he began to smile and nod.

“Ok Potter, you got a deal.” He grinned, his former demeanor of the past week back.

“Good, said Harry, “Let’s go then.” He led them through the house, making his way to the place where he had come with Sirius, Lupin and his father.

He pulled open the door and was surprised to find his Godfather, his father and Lupin sitting in the room.

The two groups stared at each other for a moment, and then remembering they were hiding from Minerva, they quickly shuffled inside the surprisingly spacious room and sealed the door.

“What are you lot doing here?” James asked quietly, a bemused smile on his face as he searched the newcomers, until his eyes rested upon Draco Malfoy, “And why did you bring him?” He voice turned cold.

“We have come to learn about becoming an Animagus.” Harry began, “And Draco is with us because in exchange for teaching him, he will teach me Legilimens.” Harry stood defiantly daring his father, Godfather and Professor to appose him.

“Do you think he can be trusted James?” Sirius asked his eyes boring into Draco.

James stared thoughtfully at the boy for several minutes before saying, “Yes, yes I do. If Harry trusts him that is all I need.”

Harry and Draco let out sighs of relief. Harry noticed the curious expression on his father’s face and knew that he would be questioned about his apparent change of heart later.

“We are already Animagi.” Fred began.

“So we can help you.” George finished for his twin.

“Right.” Said James, “Now we have about 3 weeks until the Hogwarts express comes to take you all back to school. While that is not enough time for you to become proficient, it is certainly enough time to learn the basics. You can then practice at school on your own.”

“How long did it take you, Mr. Potter to become an Animagus.” Hermione asked politely.

“Call me James.” It was not a request, it was a demand, “It took us more than a year to learn, but we were teaching ourselves out of books with no guidance.” James said proudly.

“It only took us two months and we were doing the same thing.” George said under his breath.

His comment earned him a scowl from Sirius and James and applause from the rest.

“Let’s begin.”