73: Learning new things

(Nathan POV)

|You did it again, You did it again.|

|Will you shut the fuck up|

|I would but...….. you did it again you did it again|

|UGH|

From the moment I had come out of the hospital wing the shit face in my head had been barking like that. He was seriously testing my patience. Not like I could do something about it. But still, one could give me a little silence once in a while. But noooo. Why would he?

|You did it again. You almost killed your upper-class men and your juniors my dear crimson-eyed cursed child.|

I chose to remain quiet.

|So giving me the silent treatment haan??|

(I got to do something about this before I lose it again and accidentally hurt someone. I think it's time to learn that.)

With the thought in mind, I started to walk back towards the hospital wing.

(I should ask sis....)

That was the aim but then I abruptly stopped.

(Are you dumb Nathan? She is never gonna tell you anything. She does not know about your condition. At best she will say that learn it yourself or you will never progress. So why am I even going towards her.)

And with that thought in mind, I turned and started to stroll toward the library.

(Now its time to learn some occlumency)

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(Beatris POV)

"So are we really gonna do it," I asked for the last time to make sure.

"As I said before, I am up for any idea rather than this one, if you have any that is." Hermione Retorted in her specific way.

Right now we were all trying to smuggle the ingredients of the Polyjuice potion.

"I don't but still. Somehow I am scared. I do not wanna do it." I replied.

"I am with Beatris on this. Why can't we just leave it to the authorities." Ron looked genuinely scared

"I did not mean that. The authorities do not even believe that the chamber exists. I just don't want to get in trouble." I replied

"Yeah, and who knows how many muggles would be hurt if we don't do anything," Hermione spoke.

"You just want to save your skin." Ron showed his tongue "You know that sooner or later you would become the target so...." But before he could escalate to an unreturnable level, I cut him.

"It was dumb of me to ask this question. Let's do this. We have to do it." I said.

The tension between them was growing. Hermione had stopped responding to his obviously obnoxious comments. But still, it felt odd. It was almost as if he was trying to target her.

"So what's the plan." I tried my best to ignore the awkward silence between us.

"First, we look for a place to make the potion. Then we start the process. Simple and easy." She smiled at me.

(Damn she's tough.)

"But I have quidditch practice all week and no free time at all. I am afraid that I won't be much help to you." I spoke worriedly.

"You do not need to do a thing. It's all covered and I even have a place in mind." Her lips curled to form an extremely evil smile.

(Oh boy. This smells fishy).

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(Nathan POV)

|You think you can get rid of me in this way? Don't make me laugh.|

(You Bastard...… I will get rid of you, just you wait. This might not help me get rid of you but it will help me block you more efficiently.)

When this all began he could read all my thoughts and knew everything about me. But as time passed by I learned that I could actually hide my thoughts from him. Not too much but I was able to do it to some extent. Then gradually it got better and now I only needed a little focus to block him off completely. Although it was not possible all the time but I could still think in peace with him not disturbing me. Wait, let me correct that. I could think with him not intruding on me but there wasn't any time when he was not disturbing me.

Now as I sat in the library reading the book on occlumency I found out that what I was doing was also a type of occlumency. Mostly occlumency was a domain in which a person tried to protect his mind from the infiltration of legilimency. Usually, a legilimence tried to infiltrate the mind for three purposes. To break one's mind. To read the memories, or to read and even influence the thoughts of a person.

Now seemingly thoughts and memories were the same things, but there was a major difference. The process to attack and even protecting them was vastly different. And one could not learn occlumency without learning about legilimency. For that reason, I was reading about legilimency. What I did to save my thought from him was similar to what occlumence did. But it was still a bit different. Occlumency was an art of protecting the mind from external threats but the threat I had was totally internal. So what I learned myself was, in theory, the same as occlumency but in practice, it was a different thing. I had gained all the knowledge I needed and now I was ready to put into practice what I had learned. It seemed simple enough. Then again life seemed simple enough.

What I had to do was to make a barrier that could protect my mind from an attack and...…. That was it. There was no special theory or whatnot. It was as simple as that. Now making that barrier was something that was totally not simple.

First of all, there were types of barriers. The most easiest one was when an occlumence made a layer of fake memories. Now that would deceive an immature legilimence but not the proper ones. And the biggest flaw it had was that it was never perfect. Whatever the memories were there were bound to be mistaken. So it was not all that powerful.

Now the next was when someone made a landscape. It was essentially similar to the previous one but it was more proficient. The attacker knew at an instant that it was a fake but it could not be broken easily.

The next and the best one was to create a barrier.

Now if someone attacked the mind of a person who had made a barrier to protect his mind, the attack would come out blank. So mostly the people who practiced occlumency tried to apply at least two if not three of the methods. Who did he think I was? I was obviously going for all three.

I closed the book and placed it back where it belonged. The library was probably the best place to practice my focus. Why?? Simply because it was quiet. I did not mind the company. Not that there was any. The students avoided me like a plague. I sat in a lotus position and closed my eyes. As the book said I started to meditate. I could have achieved something if I was not disturbed. Suddenly something in my pocket vibrated. I was brought back from my trance. I plunged my hand into my pocket.

My pocket watch was vibrating violently. And then it stopped. I kept my eyes on the dial. And then it happened. Something I was waiting for but...…. The scale it was on was well out of my calculations. A black dot had appeared on the dial and now was spreading around like smoke.

"Oh...…..MY...…..God." my lips moved on their own.

"That's a big one." And with that, I sprinted out of the library.