Chapter 18: Chapter 18
Chapter 18
After lunch, X hour had finally arrived, or to be more precise, the Slytherin and Gryffindor freshmen needed to go to a combined Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
The room we needed was on the third floor, so our houses had to walk the whole way together, which of course was not a very pleasant interaction. Because of the Quidditch win, the Slytherins were sneering and jeering at the Gryffindors. The lion emblem bearers were not happy about that, so conflicts broke out here and there, but fortunately they were limited to swear words and no one went for the wand. Although, it was probably due to the fact that they didn't have any spells in their arsenal that would be useful in such a situation.
Finally, when our noisy crowd piled into the office, the freshmen had calmed down a bit, so now I could concentrate on Professor Reikpik's actions.
Another slightly even surprising event was that Angelina chose to sit next to me, ignoring the perplexed look of her friends.
- Hi Draco, do you mind if I sit here?
- It's not my seat, so I don't get to decide who gets to sit here and who doesn't. - I shrugged at the obvious. Angelina didn't seem to appreciate my statement, as I could tell by the way she clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, but she sat down next to me.
I was not in the habit of sitting idle, so as always, during Professor Reikpik's useless lessons, I opened the textbook I had bought for this subject and started reading the reference material.
- Uh, are you just gonna sit there silently? - Angelina decided to interrupt me.
- What do you mean? Class is supposed to start any minute. I can't be dancing around. - The girl's claim seemed to me as stupid as possible, because what else could I do in the office before the lesson.
- Haa, honestly sometimes I don't know if you're smart or stupid. Draco, I thought I'd talk to you about stuff! Why else would I move from the others to you?!
- You should have told me, I'm not a Legilimens. Although it's a very useful skill to learn in the future.
- Legilimension? What is it? - The girl was quite surprised at the unfamiliar word.
- Uh, you really don't know? - I was already surprised, because it is said in many books.
- No, I'm faking it!
- Really? You're very believable!
- Agrrrr, Draco. What a stupid question, that was sarcasm, sarcasm! And I don't know what Legilimenship is, so please enlighten me.
- All right, all right, don't get so angry. In simple terms, Legilimenship is like mind-reading, but not as fancy. A skillful Legilimens can read memories, some visual images in the memory, separate true memories from fantasies and dreams, even place his visions in someone else's mind, but he can't read thoughts as if they were written on paper. By the way, our Headmaster Dumbledore is quite adept at Legilimency, though it's nothing to worry about. I don't think he'll be trying to climb into our heads.
- That sounds creepy. And how do you defend against that? I mean, for every spell, there has to be a counterspell. You're partially right, although there are still spells that have no defense. But fortunately, Legilimensia is not one of them. And her counterspell is "occlumency." It blocks the way into her mind from people skilled in Legilimension.
- Wow Draco, they don't call you a nerd for nothing. I'm sure a lot of people haven't even heard of it and it's really scary when you don't realize that someone's been inside your head. Now that I know about it, I'm going to try to learn this so-called occlumency. ¬- The emotion written on the girl's face was real, so I didn't doubt that my words had worked and broadened her horizons a bit.
- Hmm, so they call me a nerd, huh? What else do they say about me, please enlighten your friend!
- Well, they also say that you are a loner and a weirdo, and that usually such people become dark mages after growing up. Though I always tell them you're not... Oh... I shouldn't have told you that! Don't take it the wrong way Draco, I like the effort you put into your studies and the successes that follow. But still, it must hurt you to hear it. - the girl panicked a little.
- Hmm, if I were an idiot like them, I might be offended. But it's more expensive to be angry with fools. Especially since for some time now I had heard rumors of mockery in my direction. I just wish I knew who was spreading those rumors.
- Psst, don't tell anyone you heard it from me. But I've heard that Kenneth Towler is spreading the rumors, he's a freshman like us, and he's from Gryffindor. To be honest, a lot of people don't like him for his rather nasty temper.
Following Angelina's gaze, I immediately found the cause of the rumors. It was a skinny guy with bulging eyes and messy looking hair. Although I told Angelina that I was not offended, which was not a lie by the way, it does not change the fact that you can not just leave it like that. So in my immediate future, I have a new goal.
My friend and I talked about a few more topics, and finally Professor Reikpik finally left her office. Then she looked around the class, smiled her trademark smile, and spoke:
- Greetings my dear students to my next class. I hope you had a wonderful Halloween celebration and are energized for new discoveries and accomplishments! And before we begin our lesson today, I would like to congratulate the Slytherin students on their team winning the Quidditch match and advancing to the semi-finals. So let's all give them a round of applause for their wonderful teamwork!
To the beat of her words, the professor began to clap her hands, and the Slytherins of course joined her. The Gryffindors, who had a sullen expression on their faces, applauded lukewarmly for good measure.
- Well done, you can see that friendliness and competitive nature thrive in our wonderful school! And now let's begin our lesson. And the theme of today's lesson will be a continuation of the previous one. And this is, if any of you by pure chance forgot, finding the secrets of Hogwarts. I hope you have discovered a lot of interesting and at the same time well-hidden hiding places and secret passages!
***
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