Kapitel 87: The Prince's Praise

Godric's Hollow, Aug. 23 rd

For cursing Ron, Harry was grounded for the rest of the summer. Not even Harry's explanation of Nathan not taking the threat of Pettigrew seriously softened his parents' punishment. Harry was confined to his room for the rest of the summer, with the exception of using the bathroom, and taking meals with the rest of the family. His parents had even briefly considered grounding Harry from receiving his last two Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape; however, they ultimately decided against that.

Much to Harry's annoyance, when Snape heard that Harry had used the Gorgon-Hair Hex on Ron, his former professor spent a good twenty minutes scolding him for not using Occlumency to keep his temper, even after he found out Harry wasn't the first to attack. As Professor Snape said, "Being able to keep one's emotions under control when faced with outright idiocy is one of the most valuable benefits of Occlumency."

While Snape was disappointed at Harry's lack of discipline, James had demanded to see the spell list that seemed to be the cause of the fight. Only after Harry showed him the list, which consisted of defensive magic like the shield charm and a few curses, with the most dangerous being the blasting curse, did James admit that Ron had blown the argument out of proportion. Lily was also disappointed with her son for harming a guest, and had, surprisingly, been the one who decided that Harry would be punished for the rest of his summer break.

As for Nathan, he had outright refused to talk to Harry during meals, and kept his distance from his brother on the rare occasions when Harry tried to talk to him.

"Legilimens!"

The spell struck Harry in-between the eyes, and Harry immediately cleared his mind. As the moments ticked by, Harry could feel Snape putting more and more power behind the spell, and trying to project an emotion into Harry's mind to trigger a memory. After nearly five minutes, Snape ended the spell and sagged slightly into his chair. Harry followed suit, rubbing his head gingerly.

"Congratulations, Potter. I daresay you've become better than average at Occlumency."

Harry couldn't help but feel a great deal of pride. He had learned to interpret Snape-speak during the course of their lessons, and to be told he was better than average was a very high compliment from his old Potions professor. "Thank you for all your help, sir. I never would have been able to succeed without your guidance."

Snape nodded, seemingly pleased by the compliment. "I admit it was refreshing to teach someone besides the usual group of dunderheads I am forced to instruct."

"Finished?" Lily asked entering the room with Remus at her side.

"Yes," Snape said standing up.

Lily nodded and then turned to Harry. "Back upstairs, Harry."

Muttering a goodbye to Professor Snape, Harry returned to his room, annoyed that he was still being punished by his parents. It wasn't his fault that Ron Weasley was a complete idiot! If he had been a decent wizard or just acted like a normal wizard and didn't charge him, nothing would have happened! Instead the moron got hit by the hex and didn't use his wand! Then, acting like a scared Muggle, attempted to pull the snakes out of his hair, resulting in his hands being bitten.

Glancing down at his Durmstrang letter, Harry once again contemplated activating the Portkey early and going back to school. Now that he knew for a fact that he was good enough at Occlumency, he wanted to talk to Calypso and find out exactly what was going on with that piece of parchment. He had exchanged some letters with Calypso over the summer, but their friendship was still tenuous from the argument at the end of last term.

Harry was also looking forward to seeing Viktor again. Harry had written to his friend often during the summer, but return letters had been few and far between as Bulgaria's training schedule began demanding more and more of Viktor's time. Bulgaria had been sent to Group E in the World Cup along with Russia, Colombia, and Egypt, and they were already the frontrunner to win the group after defeating Egypt by a staggering 620-80 in their first match. While Harry had been proud of Viktor's accomplishments, the demand of professional Quidditch didn't give Viktor a lot of time for correspondence, and Harry was looking forward to getting back to Durmstrang and seeing his friend.

Decided, Harry summoned his trunk and began to pack his belongings to go back to Durmstrang. He didn't care if his parents would ground him over Christmas for leaving early, at least he wouldn't be stuck in his room any longer.

After packing most of his belongings, Harry turned his attention to the rather troublesome items sitting on his desk. While the initial enchantments Harry had placed on the items Viktor had sent him for his birthday were all perfectly safe, being stuck in his room for the last part of summer with nothing to do had given Harry a nasty case of idle hands syndrome. As such, he had tried improving upon the enchantments he had placed on the knife, teacup, stuffed Veela teddy, and miniature Quidditch balls.

While the knife and teacup were mostly harmless, unless you tried to pick up the knife or drink tea out of the cup, Harry had horribly botched the enchantments on the stuffed Veela teddy and Quidditch set. The stuffed avian Veela had initially been enchanted to be animate, and the small stuffed animal could often be found harmlessly wandering around his room. Unfortunately, animating the stuffed animal was not enough for Harry, and he thought it would be interesting if he could enchant the teddy to send out a small burst of fire, just like a real Veela.

The enchantment failed miserably, and now the small stuffed animal had a horrible tendency to burst into flames if anyone tried picking it up. The flame-proof charm Harry had cast before trying to enchant the teddy ensured that the stuffed Veela always survived its spontaneous combustions.

The burning Veela was nothing compared to the mistake Harry had made with the miniature Quidditch set, however. Initially enchanted to fly around his room, the miniature balls were an interesting sight, and Nathan had been quite envious when he first saw them; however, Harry had wanted to make them more realistic.

Harry still wasn't sure what had gone wrong, but when he tried enchanting the two Bludgers to chase the Snitch and Quaffle and attempt to knock the balls out of the air, the Bludgers had somehow become malicious. The two balls had irreparably damaged the Quaffle and Snitch, and, once the Snitch and Quaffle were destroyed, they began attacking everything else in his room. Eventually, Harry had been able to capture the two Bludgers, and they were now trapped in his spare closet.

Figuring that the Bludgers would be more difficult to deal with than the stuffed Veela, Harry decided to get the worst over with and waved his wand at the closet, opening the door. The two angry enchanted Bludgers raced out of the room and made a beeline for Harry's head.

Just as he was about to cast a freezing charm, the door to his room opened. Quickly turning around, Harry was surprised to see Professor Snape walk inside. With a sharp jab of his wand, Harry closed the door to make sure the Bludgers couldn't escape out of his room.

Snape's eyes widened when he saw the two Quidditch balls head straight for him, and he silently sent a spell at the nearest Bludger, causing it to momentarily freeze before violently exploding. The second Bludger apparently rethought its decision to head towards the professor and tried to escape out of the window; however, Harry swiftly subdued it with a freezing charm, and it fell to the ground immobile.

"Potter, what in Merlin's name is that thing!" Snape demanded.

"An enchantment gone awry," Harry said as he placed the Bludger securely into its box and placed it in his trunk. He'd show it to professor Kosarev and try to figure out what he did wrong. "Is there something I can help you with, Professor? Oh, and whatever you do, don't touch the stuffed Veela on my desk," Harry warned. "It tends to catch on fire."

Eying the innocuous looking teddy that was sitting a few feet away from him with its arms open, apparently looking for a hug, Snape took a step away from the stuffed Veela. "I have one final piece of advice regarding Occlumency, Potter."

"What else should I know, sir?" Harry asked curiously.

"As you continue your practice in Occlumency, you will find that your greater control and understanding of your mind will lead to you developing a fledgling talent for Legilimency."

Harry looked at his old professor in shock. "But I thought Legilimency had to be learned? How would I just develop the talent?"

"What you must understand, Mr. Potter, is that there are many more practitioners of Legilimency than Occlumency. Learning Legilimency can be done in a similar manner to learning any other piece of spell work, and it is not nearly as uncomfortable as Occlumency. However, by learning Occlumency, you have reached an understanding of the mind that most practicing Legilimentes would never achieve."

"But, sir," Harry repeated. "How will I just develop a talent in Legilimency? I don't understand."

"What did I tell you during your first lesson?" Snape said. "The mind is a complex object. By becoming an Occlumens, you've successfully brought both your magic and mind under control. As a side effect of this process, there will be times when you might find yourself inadvertently projecting your mind magic, such as when you are extremely curious or interested in knowing what someone is thinking."

"For someone who is just trying to become a Legilimens, this is the most difficult step in the process, yet it will come easy to you. At first, it will seem like a burst of accidental magic. A sudden realization that someone is lying to you, reading the surface emotions of people, or perhaps seeing part of a memory. It will eventually become burdensome unless you learn to control it. When you do, you will have become a successful Legilimens."

"So while not all Legilimens are Occlumens, all Occlumens are Legilimens?" Harry asked.

"While there are a few Occlumens that try to suppress or ignore the Legilimency, they are few and far between," Snape replied. "Most accomplished Occlumens consider Legilimency one of the most beneficial aspects of learning Occlumency, for in learning one useful talent, you have gained another."

"I understand," Harry said carefully. "Thank you for telling me, sir."

"The best of luck on your next term, Mr. Potter," Snape said, departing from Harry's room.

"Well that was interesting," Harry said, looking at his stuffed Veela. "Do you think I should start learning Legilimency?"

In response, the small Veela happily opened its arms, hoping for a hug. Harry carefully approached the stuffed avian, and was about to pick it up when it erupted into flames.

"What am I going to do with you?" Harry asked in resignation.

The toy had no answer.