Chapter 4: A Change for the Better. Part 1

Harry Potter woke up a few hours before daybreak. Even if he slept for only a few hours, he felt fantastic, as if he had a full night's sleep. Harry furrowed his eyebrows. Is this a consequence of having the Horcrux removed or one of the benefits of the scar? Maybe I should have a healer give an analysis of what on earth is going on.

Having a few hours before activity in the castle resumed, he pondered on what he should do next. He took out his list of tasks and observation from the day prior. The Hat did tell me yesterday that I was in no condition to start working on mind magic. This might be a good time to start working on mind magics. After all, what better time to have a clear mind than the early morning. He called Dobby and Dobby popped him over to the seventh floor. The door to the room opened upon his request and The Hat was on the same pedestal and room as yesterday.

"Ah Mr. Potter, it is good to see one young as you up and about this early in the morning. Or at least I hope you are and not running around being unable to sleep. That would not be conducive to your health."

"Not quite sleep deprived as much as not needing much sleep. I noticed that even yesterday I woke up much earlier than I usually did, and today was a repeat performance."

The Hat pondered upon that revelation for a bit. "That may be associated with your scar Mr. Potter. After all, Death did mention that you would have certain benefits and I would think that those benefits would only become more pronounced into the future. I assume that you will have an independent healer check on your condition?"

Seeing Harry nod, The Hat continued, "Well then, you called me to start your training in mind magic. Before I start, I think I should introduce to you what mind magics are. After all, even among the more accomplished mages in our society, the art of mind magics has become almost an extinct form of magic. Not because of the difficulty to practice the subject, but rather the more a mage learns mind magic, the harder it is to exert control over them. Even a rudimentary understanding of how mind magics operate can provide tools to defend against manipulation."

Harry's eyes widened at the implication of what The Hat said. "So then learning mind magics is a tightly controlled art?"

The Hat agreed, "Very much so Mr. Potter. Nowadays, you would be hard-pressed to find information about certain topics of mind magic even among the older wizarding families. Ever since the founding of the Ministry, such arts were tightly held under lock and key. After all, it will not do the Ministry any good if the public learns that mind magics can even stop Veritaserum. Ironically, even with such restrictive measures, any evidence garnered with the use of Veritaserum is not admissible in court currently."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows; the implications of such measures point one very likely theory. "So, it is more about establishing control?"

"Precisely. After every minister is elected is that certain mind magic is strategically used in a way to assure that there is no significant rebellion within the ministry. Only a select few have the capabilities to reject the influence, Amelia Bones and Kingsley Shacklebolt to name a few. Mr. Potter. I know that you have more questions on this topic, but for the sake of time, I believe it is best if we proceed with what we came here for."

Harry reluctantly nodded and held his tongue. The knowledge that there is liberal use of mind magic within the Ministry alarmed Harry to no small degree. No wonder the ministry does not implement any measures against love potions. Why ban the same tools that they implement to sabotage or control an individual? He had Dobby bring some writing supplies and he got ready for The Hat to begin his lessons.

The Hat cleared his throat. Hang the fuck on, does he even have a throat? First Dobby and now him, neither of them make a lick of sense. "Mind magic is not simply limited to memory alterations and battles of minds. Mind magic, quite simply, is magic that allows a mage to either alteration of minds, navigation of foreign minds, prevention of attempts to navigate your mind, or unalter alterations placed on a mind.

"The core tenants of mind magic are like that of transfiguration. Transfiguration works with the rigidity of the physical world, while mind magics work with the flexibility of the mind.

"There are two different dichotomies in transfiguration: the dichotomy of transformation and the dichotomy of conjuration, as you know. Transformation and un-transfiguration are the two forces in the first dichotomy. One changes the physical nature of an object, the other reverts the said change. As you know, conjuration and vanishing form the second dichotomy; one creates a phenomenon, the other removes the phenomenon.

"Mind magic has a similar structure. These two dichotomies are the dichotomy of alteration and the dichotomy of navigation. Alteration mind magics and Un-altering mind magics form the alteration dichotomy.

"Alteration mind magics are magics that alter functions of the mind such as memory, thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and any other mental function. This field is not limited to just wand work. The field includes potions, alchemy, enchantments, wards, charms, curses, hexes. All except transfiguration. Care to explain why Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged, "The answer is simple, transfiguration involves the change of a physical phenomenon. The nature of the magic is to change or create a physical phenomenon. Transfiguration is more about alteration and engagement of reality."

The Hat tilted his pointed end towards him. "Correct. I would only add further to say transfiguration is an alteration and engagement of everything but the mind, whereas mind magic is alteration and engagement of only the mind. These two are two types of magics that exist in parallel planes, thus never meant to intermingle."

"Now moving on to un-altering mind magic. This class of mind magic is simply used to revert any changes done by alteration mind magic. There are two subcategories under this class of magic: dispelling mind magic, magic that removes the subject from the influence of mind magic, and mind healing, magic that repair and heals a mind from the damage done by the influence of mind magic. Do you have any questions?"

Harry immediately asked," Why aren't dispelling and mind healing the same subcategory?"

The Hat responded, "Put it this way, to dispel is to only remove the hold alteration mind magic has on a subject. To dispel does not mean to heal. They may sound the same, but they require different components. Dispelling mind magic is purely based on charms. After all, charms involve changes in the properties of a phenomenon. Whereas mind healing is a subject that requires an application of multiple aspects of magic, much like alteration magic, to heal the mind of a subject. Mind healers, or healers in general, are not taught to dispel magic. They are taught to treat and cure the damage.

"I will give you an example of the difference, one that is quite personal to you. In the case of Alice and Frank Longbottom, I believe that they have done well to mitigate the damage done by the magic that has a hold on them. It is inaccurate for them to state that their damage is irreparable due to overexposure by the Cruciatus curse. From what I have observed, both from your experiences and young Neville, Frank and Alice Longbottom are under the influence of an alteration mind magic.

"The only signs of their physical deterioration are their signs of aging, which can be highly accelerated due to the mental stress of being under mind magic. If it is damage done by the torture curse, they would not have lived the past five years. Therefore, I believe they are under an alteration mind magic that has not yet been dispelled."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the hat, "I suppose there is a good reason why you did not reveal this tidbit of information to anyone?"

The Hat chuckled, "Mr. Potter, at the end of the day I am an enchanted object. Nothing more, Nothing less. I am enchanted to aid those who were deemed worthy by Gryffindor if they request my services. Neville Longbottom is not currently deemed as worthy, but you are. As his mother is your godmother, helping her aligns with helping you. Right now, I cannot aid Neville Longbottom directly. But you can request me to do so. That includes anyone who you think should receive my help."

Harry begrudgingly held back from responding. He understood the reasons why The Hat did not mention anything to anyone. However, that is not to say he endorsed those reasons. Shouldn't the priority of Gryffindor have been to ensure the wellbeing of all students, regardless of their affiliations? Or would there be possible consequences of Hogwarts interference on them? Then again, isn't selecting someone worth and having some sort of special help for them itself not a form of interference?

The Hat waited for Harry to finish his musings. Harry nodded at the ancient artifact and The Hat continued with his explanation. "Then there is the second dichotomy, engagement. There are two forms of magic that clash here, Legilimency and Occlumency.

"Legilimency is the art of navigating through the layers of a mind and interpreting the contents of a mind. A user of legilimency must be highly perceptive and analytical. To shift through layers of a mind, especially a guarded mind, requires the ability to perceive and differentiate between thoughts, memories, and emotions. Upon perceiving the many twists and turns of a mind, one needs to analyze the experiences that they can extract. An inexperienced legilimens can easily get lost in another's mind and would not be able to distinguish the difference between the two minds. Many a practitioner have lost themselves in a mind of the subject whom they attempted legilimency on. That is where occlumency is paramount to a legilimens. A master legilimens is always a master occlumens. I will explain the reason for this after I explain the basics of occlumency.

"A Master legilimens can navigate through another's mind nonverbally and without the use of a wand, sometimes even working their way through mediocre occlumens. A master legilimens can even skillfully use altering mind magic through their connection and the subject would be none the wiser. Since the altering magic cast directly into the mind of the subject, the impact would be much greater.

"Occlumency is the art of preventing attempts to navigate and interpret a mind. This requires the ability to control one's emotions, thoughts, and memories. The idea is to conceal your emotions from the opposing individual. This requires a great understanding of one's mind. Therefore, the process of learning occlumency requires you to be familiar with your mind. In the process of being familiar with your mind, you increase the ability to retain more information and the ability to process information. Another benefit of learning occlumency is that it helps in warding off alteration mind magic. A mind that is familiar with its processes is one that is hard to alter.

"Now let us get to why occlumency is a vital component for legilimency. Unlike the limited dimensions of reality, our mind is much more convoluted. Additionally, there are no physical constraints placed in our minds; the physical rules that apply to the external environment, do not govern our minds. Whether an individual is aware of that fact or not, your mind governs itself. Therefore, the mind is completely autonomous from the rest of the world. Most people are unable to understand how their mind operates. Thus, without ever being aware of your mind, you never know where it ends or begins. If one attempts legilimency on another mind without the awareness of their own, they will lose themselves and would be stuck in a comatose state for the rest of their lives.

"This is where occlumency helps you. The first step of occlumency is to familiarize yourself with your mind. If you do not know how your mind feels and operate, how do you expect to even begin to protect your mind, much less navigate another mind? Occlumency helps you understand where your mind begins and ends. Occlumency also shields your mind from the foreign influence of the subject's mind, thus you able to always fall back to your mind if your probe fails. Therefore, you will see far fewer Master Legilimens than you do of Master Occlumens. The danger of navigating another's mind never truly disappears, thus many master occlumens are satisfied with their prowess in warding off probes. An example of a failed instance would have been when Voldemort faced the backlash from your mind," The Hat paused to allow Harry an opportunity to finish writing down his notes.