When I got back to the Ravenclaw common room, I sat in my favorite comfy chair and eagerly opened the book on occluncy.
Inside, the book went into great detail about the art of ntal defense. It explained that there were two levels of mastery when it ca to occluncy.
The first level of success was the furthest that most people ever progressed to. It involved reaching a state that would prevent legilincy from revealing a person's secrets. It involved building an impenetrable barrier around your mind.
While this was considered a success by most wizards, this level had the disadvantage of informing whoever used legilincy that a person was invoking a ntal defense.
The second level involves crafting sophisticated fake mories that can completely fool soone using legilincy without them detecting that you are using occluncy.
I'm guessing that Professor Snape had to be at this level, considering he was spying on Lord Voldemort, who was rumored to be one of the most accomplished legilincy users in the world.
After reading about the different levels of mastery, I had a sinking feeling that the first level wasn't going to cut it for the trial. But what made curious concerning the trial was how I would prove that I had mastered occluncy. It wasn't like the eagle statue would be able to tell if I learned it or not.
There must be sothing down there that will be able to use a ntal attack or sothing similar. That's the only way I had thought of being able to prove that soone had mastered occluncy.
If I can work out what is probably down there, and get sothing similar, perhaps it could help practice my occluncy, otherwise, how will I know if I am progressing.
As for how to succeed, the book was maddeningly vague. This branch of magic is extrely personal and requires a person to have complete mastery of their mind.
The book described this state as an awakening or enlightennt of the mind and warned that what may work for one person may not work for another. I rubbed my eyes in frustration; this was going to be a long year.
The following day, I decided to try and test the magical bindings restricting from seeking help. The results shocked . I had assud that I would only be prevented from speaking about the trial.
The results were more effective than I anticipated. When I planned to get around the restrictions by being clever, I found myself unable to enact any of my plans. If this was the type of spell that Whithorn got my grandfather to sign, I understand why he wasn't able to fight it afterward.
It was infuriating. The bindings seed to be based on my intent, any action that I took, no matter how subtle as long as I intended for soone to find out, the spell kicked in and prevented from doing it.
Not wanting to give up, I kept trying thods to see if there was a workaround. One ti, I tried to ask for books on occluncy around my friends innocently and was prevented from doing so. Another, I decided to leave the book given to by the room, and when Cedric picked it up, all he saw was a blank book. It seed like I was on my own for the trial.
Before I knew it, the final exams were upon us, and I blew threw them without any trouble. I was confident that I would keep the top spot in Ravenclaw, and I was looking forward to having the better dorm reserved for those who achieved the top grade. As competitive as the academic competition is in Ravenclaw, my roommates silently cheered on, knowing that they would get to share in my victory.
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At the end of the year feast, Slytherin ended up winning both the quidditch and house cup. I wasn't too surprised, if I rembered the books correctly, they had won for several years in a row. Although this led to Anna being unbearably smug for a few days.
A small part of at the beginning of the year had imagined raking in points and leading Ravenclaw to win the house cup. But, in the end, after dealing with the Grendel, worrying about sothing as silly as the house cup seed rather mundane. At least that’s what I told myself.
After the feast was over, students who held off packing spent the rest of the evening running around trying to get packed, because we were supposed to be on the Hogwarts Express first thing in the morning.
In that endeavor, I enlisted the help of Fred and George. No strangers to rule-breaking, they agreed when they heard what I had in mind for their fellow Gryffindor.
Later that night, past lights out, I drank the potion that I acquired from Burgins and Burkes over the Christmas break. Knowing I had less than an hour to get to Gryffindor and back, I quickly made my way through the castle, making my way to the portrait of the fat lady.
As soon as I arrived, I found George and Fred looking towards the direction I was standing, in confusion. George looked down at the marauder's map and back towards where I was standing and questioned, "Maybe sothing is wrong with the map."
Before Fred could reply, I spoke up, "There is nothing wrong with it, I drank an invisibility potion, I don't have the luxury of having a map that shows where the professors are patrolling."
Identical looks of desire appeared on their faces, and they said in unison, "Where can we get one of those."
Thinking of all the trouble a pair of invisible Weasley twins could cause, I laughed and said, "Good luck, they are insanely difficult to make, and their ingredients are rare. Plus, they are highly regulated by the ministry. Most wizards make do with the disillusionnt charm, and while it's not real invisibility, it's pretty effective at concealing a person."
Seeing their disappointnt, I added, "However, there are those who obtain such mastery over the disillusionnt charm that they can use it to beco invisible. Now let's get going; I only have about half an hour remaining before the potion wears off.”
As we approached the fat lady's portrait, she glared at the twins annoyed and said, "You two again, I should have known."
Smirking, Fred said, "Leo de corde."
Grumpily, the portrait swung open to the Gryffindor common room, and they led to the dorms, where Micheal was sleeping.
Not taking any chances, I casted the silencing charm on myself and slowly made my way into the dorm. After locating Micheal, I pulled out the cursed mask from my robes and placed it on his face.
Once attached, the mask sunk beneath his skin and was no longer visible. With my mission accomplished, I quickly left the Gryffindor tower and made my way back to my dorm.
The following day, we all loaded up on the Hogwarts express and headed ho for the sumr.
On the train, I ran into Micheal, and he noticed I had my ring on and sneered at and drawled, "Glad you seed to have finally found your ring. I can't believe that it took you so long to retrieve it, I guess the rumors that are praising your abilities as a wizard are exaggerated."
Thinking about the mask that was going to drive him crazy, I smiled pleasantly at him and cheerfully said, "Have a good sumr Micheal, these are the best days of our lives, and I'm sure it will be one you will never forget."
Micheal looked at suspiciously. This wasn't how the ga was played. He had been expecting to react in a similar manner; instead, I smiled pleasantly and told him to enjoy his sumr.
As the train rolled away from Hogwarts, my mind ran over everything that had happened to this year. I had accomplished a lot this year, but I still had a ton of things that I needed to accomplish. Hopefully, this trial would help prepare for what was coming. Thankfully, I still had years to get ready.
The closer we got to London, the more I got excited. I couldn't wait to see my family, although part of missed Hogwarts and couldn't wait to return. Hopefully, my second year would involve a less life-threatening situation.
When we arrived at the station, I had expected another embarrassing welco, but only my father was here. At first, I was relieved until he told that mom was waiting for at ho, and his voice indicated that she was not pleased.
As we left the station, I cracked my neck in anticipation, it had been too long since my mom and I had engaged in one of our infamous verbal sparring matches. I would need to prepare my argunts if I wanted to obtain victory.
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