Chapter 187: Ch.189
Harry was sweat soaked and shivering. He hadn't known what to expect but that was not it. He had felt the Potion Master's mind pressing on his but he hadn't been able to budge it. The pressure had made his head feel like it was trapped in a vise.
Severus looked at the boy in front of him. "As passive defense against legilimency that is probably the best mindscape I have ever seen. I would have no clue where to even start looking for a specific memory. However your ability to push me out is nonexistent, and all of it lacks any semblance of subtlety. It is obvious it is a defense; a good one I grant, but crude nonetheless. So, how do you wish to proceed, Mr. Potter?"
"Teach me how to push you out. But before you do that, what do you mean subtlety?"
"A subtle occlumens places neutral memories in the reach of the legillimens guiding his thoughts to certain conclusions rather than jarring him with a mindscape such as yours."
"Oh. I thought the goal was to keep your thoughts and memories from your adversary."
"Generally the answer is yes, but a jarring mindscape leads the attacking legillimens to understand he is being blocked rather than the occlumens leading him to believe there is nothing to find. I have found this later path to be a safer one to tread."
"I see. I will consider that. In the meantime how do I go about pushing someone out of my mind."
"You must isolate what is you from what is the intruder and will him or her out. That is the way in which your defense, as it is, works against you. In such a setting there are an abundance of anchors and hiding places for a legillimens. They may not find out anything but it also will be difficult for you to force them to leave. It is through your will and magic that you will force an intruder out. Ready to try again?"
Harry gave a reluctant nod.
"Legillimens."
An hour and a half later, Harry stumbled out of the office with a pounding headache. The Potion Master had taken pity on him and given him a headache elixir. Harry knew that the potion would knock him out for about two hours. So he hoped to catch Aaron before he hit the library, to let everyone know he wouldn't be studying with them this morning.
Severus eyed the two inch light blue medallion Harry had accidentally left behind. He would return it to him in a while, but at the moment he couldn't resist the temptation of feeling Lily's magic once more. He reached out and lightly fingered the pendant. As his finger touched it he felt the slight pulse the pendent gave. It had obviously been keyed to Harry alone. The pulse however was just enough that he once again felt the tang of magic that was distinctly Lily. It wasn't a true scent but it reminded him of the perfume he had made for her every year from her twelfth birthday until their falling-out shortly after her sixteenth: citrus, bergamot and a faint dash of cinnamon. He blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry Lily. I'll do my best for your boy. He's like you, you know. I miss you."
Petunia smiled as she re-read the letter from her nephew. It was excellent that he had found someone like the Flamels to educate and advise him. Unfortunately he would only have two weeks this summer where he was actually available to visit with them. He and Dudley would be doing social dance camp at the studio most every weekday from eight until noon. She had spoken with Harry's kenpo instructor and Harry would likely be at the dojo three afternoons a week. Then he would be doing his magical studies at the Potter family apartment the other four afternoons; he would be his usual busy self.
She wondered briefly if the old geezer had made many moves to try and use Harry yet. She doubted it. Harry had a knack for keeping his actions behind the scenes. Part of her smirked, the day the old man tried to steer Harry would be amusing because she knew that Harry would take the knowledge he'd acquired and basically tell him to stick it. She just wished she could be there to see it.
Ragnok was steaming. He was glaring at the Unspeakable wearing the usual obscuring mask. "You want me to do what?"
"We wish to search the vaults of the inmates of Azkaban. There is reason to believe that an extremely dark object is in one of their vaults. If we find it we wish to use the object to trace others of its kind, and after that destroy it. It will never leave Gringotts' premises."
"We are obligated to protect that which is deposited."
"Even if the object in question doesn't belong to the person who placed it in the vault?"
Ragnok frowned heavily at the Unspeakable before him. "That is not the bank's concern."
"Look, You-Know-Who made the objects we're searching for. If one stays in the hands of his followers, they might be used to resurrect that murdering bastard. And that would be very bad for everyone. He'd be going around killing people, and people would hide in their homes, it would be bad for business."
"And if word got out that we let the Ministry enter the vaults of our depositors and destroy what we were entrusted with, that would also be very bad for business."
"Fine, let's cut to the chase shall we? What do you want in return for letting us do this?"
Ragnok couldn't help himself. He got a nasty grin on his face.
....
Join my P@treon and get 60+ advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/0LordSilvere0 (Remove the *)
Free members get 2 chapters free.
Join Right Now