10 Chapter 10: The woman in green robes.
When Kent decided to share the pattern with Hermione, he didn't expect anything in return. He just wanted a capable ally against the future enemies.
But who knew Hermione would offer something that he was in dire need of before going to Hogwarts.
It's Occlumency.
Kent had been worried that his secrets might be exposed if someone used legilimency on him. To counter the problem, he had compiled a comprehensive method of organising his thoughts and protecting his mind from outside influences, but he was pretty sure that against legilimency it won't be effective.
So he really wanted to learn Occlumency. But even if he ventured into magical world, it was doubtful if he could get books or instructions on Occlumency. It was pretty obscure and valuable knowledge.
Hermione solved the problem.
After seeing the effectiveness of the danger sense skill, Hermione felt a little guilty about hesitating to teach Occlumency to Kent.
From Hermione's perspective, the danger sense skill was equally valuable as the Occlumency skill.
"Here, I have written all the steps and instructions I remember about Occlumency practice," Hermione handed over a notebook, half-an-inches thick, to Kent. She was sure that after today, Kent would probably suspect that she's from the future. But still Hermione didn't hesitate because, like Kent, Hermione was also investing on a future ally.
Opening the notebook, Kent skimmed over the content and he was baffled by it.
'How much does she remember?!' exclaimed Kent in his thoughts. Considering the thickness of the notebook, Hermione had probably written over a hundred pages of content.
"Ah, I almost forgot," Kent suddenly remembered something and said, "okay, wait here for a moment,"
He ran out of the room in a hurry.
When he came back to Hermione's room, he had a small bracelet with him.
He showed the bracelet to Hermione. It was a plain bracelet with a small red button on the top.
He clicked on the button and a small squared card slid out from the side of the bracelet. It contained the pattern that Kent showed her earlier. To make visualisation more convenient for Hermione, Kent had carefully drawn the pattern on the small card and constructed a bracelet with sliding mechanism to put it inside.
He then put the card back into the bracelet and handed the bracelet to Hermione.
"Remember, it is dangerous to visualise the pattern for more than five minutes. So be careful." Kent warned her about the danger of visualising the pattern. He had experienced the danger himself when he first tried it.
"It would be better if you do it in my presence for the first few days," Kent offered to help.
"Okay," Hermione agreed without hesitation. She was well aware of the danger. If Kent hadn't woke her up during her first try, she might not be able to wake from the trance.
...
Days went by as Hermione started to notice the changes brought about by visualisation of the pattern.
After the first few months of visualising under the supervision of Kent, she found that she could recall the pattern in her mind and it was as effective as the one drawn on the card.
This also made the practice more convenient and easy.
The only problem was that her progress was a bit slow.
It wasn't that she wasn't deligent enough.
The problem stemmed from the imperfections of the pattern drawn by Kent.
That didn't make her lose confidence though, because however small the improvement was, it was happening. She had become more observant. She had started to notice things she usually ignore especially as a witch.
Her perception of magic had improved ever so slightly and it was still improving.
Kent wasn't idle either during the time.
After getting the step by step instructions on Occlumency from Hermione, Kent had read the whole notebook.
The process of practicing Occlumency was not much different from the meditation guide he had compiled using the system. The difference was that Occlumency required the person to make his or her mind blank and empty, devoid of emotions. It sounds easy but practicing the discipline required great control over one's emotion.
He modified the meditation guide he had been following for the last five years. He just chose all the information related to meditation and also included the content of the notebook that Hermione gave him.
He specified the main function as being able to repel any kind of mental intrusion.
It took about three days for the system to deduce and optimize the guide. He named it 'Guide to Occlumency'. He memorised the whole manual using the download function of the library.
Practicing Occlumency was harder than the visualisation process. It was boring and monotonous.
But the changes it brought kept him going on. He was a lot calmer. It also brought positive changes to his other practices.
He was hopeful that after mastering Occlumency he would be less prone to panic when faced with unexpected situations.
The process of Visualisation had also become a lot more effective.
...
It was a chilly, Sunday morning.
Two teenagers were sitting on the sofa, a boy and a girl.
Looking at them, it felt like looking at two scholars, refined and disciplined.
The boy was Kent Granger and the girl was Hermione Granger.
It was difficult to recognize the girl as she had straightened her distinctively bushy hairs.
They would occasionally glance outside the window overlooking the front yard as if waiting for someone.
Today was a special day for both of them. It was 19 September 1990, their 11th birthday and also the day they would probably receive their Hogwart's acceptance letter.
They didn't have to wait long as they soon saw a middle aged woman walking toward the door. She was wearing green robes and a pointed hat.
