Chapter 37
Nothing bad actually happened to Allen, and the way he casted magic remained the same, there was just one bit of change whenever he tried to cast transfiguration spells. They came out a bit too strong, so he had to tone it down a bit whenever he thought of the spell while casting it. Now, not only did he had to think a specific duration for the spell, but also think about it in a weaker state. It didn't bother him, but it seemed like a lot of to do just to use his wand.
When he tried the transfiguration spells in the Room of Requirements without his wand, they seemed stronger as well, and didn't take much magic out of him, nor did he had to think about specifics, only what he wanted the object to become.
Now, about Occlumency, he continued to practice the same method that the book said, and after a few weeks, his Mind and Body were half the size of his Energy, he could already feel it, so it was time to start building his walls, using the magic from the upper dantian.
He didn't think too much about, the book recommended to think about different defense mechanism to build around the mind, and it also listed a few to try, but to keep in consideration that if these defenses are in the book, they are also the most common which mean they can be easily broken.
There was the external side of the mind, having a shield here would alert him of any kind of intrusion, and if the legilimens is not proficient enough, this shield can ward off the intruder just fine.
For this, a protego-like defense was recommended, since the spell is invisible in nature, the mind shield will be as well.
Next, he would need to build two more shields going inwards. The book recommended a variation of the first one, which could include traps for the mind, letting a few thoughts here and there to make them believe that they reached it only to be ensnared by the traps.
The final shield is the most important, since it's the one just before your mindscape, if they manage to break the first two, you will need to either focus all of your magic here, or engage in a confrontation to stop the wizard from reading your mind.
In either way, it is necessary to think about it. The book recommends a type of dome of fire to protect your thoughts.
Finally, the mindscape, while there were a few recommendations, but the most common thing about it is that it needs to be a place you are familiar with, a place you feel safe and secure to hold all of your memories, somewhere you remember where everything is.
Sadly, the only place that came to Allen's mind was the orphanage. His home from his previous life wasn't big enough and it was full of furniture and trinkets, but it also brought back bad memories, after all, that home was too easily accessible, and if he used it, his mind might be too.
In the end, he decided to go for one of the recommended mindscapes from the book, a library, he would go bit by bit building up his defenses, and even if they were textbook examples, it would work for now, at least until he could find a better option, after all, the only reason he was doing Occlumency was to memorize stuff better and get better grades, might sound stupid to some, but in his case, he needed the schoolarship from being one of the best in school.
And honestly, I don't like that Armand is better than me in transfiguration. Pure spite is driving my learning. He let out a chuckle.
Allen continued with the meditation method and this time, he slowly started to build the first defense layer around his mind, in his thoughts, the scene from the movies appeared, how the Professors used Protego Maxima to ward the castle against the Death Eaters. Around his mind, he continued to build a Protego Maxima ward, instead of the normal one that the book recommended, just because that's what he was thinking about.
His magic continued to run in between cycles, his Energy shared the magic to the Mind and Body, which then these returned it after he built the protection. According to the book, the process was correct, except for the part where the Body also worked towards the defense, but since it seemed to work fine, he let it be and continued with the process.
According to the book, it usually takes from one to three months to build the first defense mechanism to your mind yet, in the case of Allen, the protection was already finished after an evening of meditation.
Must've done something wrong. The book says that it takes three months at max, or maybe it means that you need to constantly reinforce it with your magic through those months while you build the next shields?
Allen turned the pages back to the shields chapter. No, it does says here that only when you feel that its complete, the first shield will be done. It might not be as strong, let's tear it apart and build it again.
After all, when you draw something you can erase it and draw it again, it will end up looking much better, so this can be the same.
He proceeded to smash the defenses that took him all evening to build, on one hand, he really wanted to be some kind of genius that could do anything and everything, but on the other hand, he didn't felt any kind of pain as he built the shields, so, it could be that he didn't try enough.
Allen nodded to himself as he stood up from the cushion on the ground. It's not like Occlumency will give me photographic memory anyway, I can continue to memorize just fine while I build up my shields back up.
He levitated the rest of his stuff using his wand and put it on a desk, where he put everything inside his backpack, not before taking the Marauder's Map and checking to see if someone was around.
Okay, no one's in the halls. Before going out, Allen put his right hand on the wall and gave the room a bit of his magic using the Wand Raising charm, and the room vibrated in joy after receiving its food.
"R- Right, then, I'll see you later." Allen still wondered what was wrong with the spell since it seemed to work just fine in objects with a bit of will, not only wands.
As he exited the room, his wand let out an unsatisfied shock. "Argh, hey! I give you my magic three times a day!" The wand just stayed silent after Allen complained to it.
"…
I wonder what did I do to deserve this, you weren't like this when I first found you. And what's more, wands aren't supposed to have this much consciousness! Allen complained as he walked down the stairs towards the dungeons.
I feel like I'm going crazy, in the first place, wands didn't do this kind of stuff in the books. In the last one they did play an important part in the war, but it was just about changing their allegiance, from one wizard to another, not straight out sending shocks to their partners.
Should I send a letter to Mr Ollivander? He knows more about wands than anyone, and since I didn't find anything about it in his book, maybe he can tell me something.
I mean, I understand that gaining the allegiance of a wand with a phoenix feather as its core is difficult, but this is ridiculous. It has a full blown personality!
While he complained about it in his mind, Allen kept on giving his wand a stream of his magic using the Wand Raising charm, since it calmed her, but also calmed him to use magic.
Maybe its counterproductive to use it so much. He let out a long breath as he turned around towards the dungeons.
There, he found Avery and one of the Burke twins, who, he couldn't tell, since he didn't bother learning their names in the first place.
He hid between some pillars and watched them discuss something.
"-Think it's gonna work?"
"It has to!"
"But what if he-"
"He won't notice if-"
Allen raised an eyebrow, apparently they were planning something, what, he couldn't tell since they were getting farther and farther away. Then, as if struck by lighting, the same idea from a couple of days came back to him.
Test the use of the Wand raising charm on people, and who's more fitting than the second years who seem to be planning something suspicious?
Allen approached them from behind, really cautious, even using his magic to silent his steps, then, when he got close enough, he hung an arm around each of the upperclassmen, touching their shoulders. "Hey! Avery, Burke, what are we up to?" As he asked, he let out the Wand Rising Charm from both of his hands and toward the students.
"Li- Lionheart?! Wha- What do you think we are-" All of a sudden, Avery stayed quiet, the same with Burke. Allen raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly what was going on, he looked with his magic eyes and found that his magic was revolving the Energy of the two in a slow motion manner. A warm light shone on each of them.
"We, um, we were…" All of a sudden, Avery seemed to think that Allen wasn't so bad after all, and the same with Burke.
Instead of scorn, their eyes had a bit of gentle tone in them. "We were preparing a party for someone from the dormitory.
Do you want to come?"
Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Allen deactivated his eyes and patted each of them in the back. "Nah, its okay, I… need to study, but you two enjoy it!"
He rushed out of the dungeons towards the common room, wondering exactly what the charm did.
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Laying on his bed, Allen thought back on his encounter, at first they did show a bit of hostility towards him, probably because they still resent him, but after he used the Wand Raising Charm on them, their demeanor changed a bit, not completely, but it did, they even invited him to a party.
If they were telling the truth to begin with.
This requires further research, but I don't want to use it in someone from my year, in case it does something bad to them, thought, so far, my wand and the Room of Requirements seem to benefit, since they look more cheerful, though they do try to communicate more now…
Allen stood up in a heartbeat. Cold sweat running down his back. Wait, could it be that… Because I used the Wand Raising Charm so much… my wand, and even the Room gained more consciousness?
He flopped on his bed, just like how he used to do it in the orphanage before finding out his powers was actually magic.
But if that's true, could it be that, the reason as to why my wand is so temperamental is because of me? Fuck.
No, its a theory so far, and just because it's a theory doesn't mean it's true. Right, I need to test it. Trial and error, just like with the scientific method… But I don't know how it works, so It'll be my version of that.
Allen stood up back again and grabbed a piece of parchment, he wrote down his observations, from a few days ago, to now, regarding the Room of Requirements. Then, in another piece of parchment, he wrote down how his wand reacted to him the first day he bought it, as to how it reacts now.
He didn't remember how much he used the Wand Raising Charm through those days, but he will document it from now on.
Maybe then, he can share his findings with Mr Ollivander and find a solution, or an answer as to what he should do. He hoped that it wasn't anything negative and just a positive to have his wand to be so expressive.