Chapter 43: The Library Has Been Breached
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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25 December 1991, Hogwarts
Harry suppressed the grin as the redhead got over two weeks of punishment for starting a fight. But the Potter scion didn't even care. After all, he was planning on sneaking into the restricted section using his new cloak. After all, he did need to get started learning the mind arts, and wouldn't that be a good place to start?
Later that night, Harry crept out of his dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and went past the secret entrance. He moved up his way up the stairs, into the library. Finding himself in front of the locked entrance, Harry used his Arcane hearing to get a feel of the magic inside the lock, to find the correct combination to temporarily disable the locking protection.
After manipulating his magic to counteract the enchanted lock, he combined it with an unlocking charm and muttered, "Alohomora!"
The library door unlocked itself. Satisfied with his casting, Harry put on his cloak and went inside to sneak past the library wards. They weren't anything special, really, since the library was technically public for all Hogwarts students and alumni, the books didn't really need to be hidden away. Oh, Harry wasn't under the illusion that, if someone actually tried to damage the books, much heavier wards wouldn't be activated. At least, Harry assumed they would, since if that wasn't the case then it would be a large security flaw, where a student might sneak into the library and burnt it into the ground. The Hogwarts library was a huge asset to the school and provided a certain status to studying in this castle, even if the curriculum started getting restricted decades back.
The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry decided to use a Lumos Maxima to light the way. A ball of light appeared floating alongside the invisible student, guiding him towards the Restricted Section. It was right at the back of the library. It seemed separate from the rest of the library by a rope, but Harry could certainly hear the invisible wards stopping any intruder. They were very complex and very powerful, that's for sure. Without the cloak, Harry wouldn't even dream of trying to get past them.
Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, Harry suppressed the urge to laugh in glee. The cloak really was overpowered. It turned the protections of the most dangerous books in the castle into a simple magicless rope.
Harry waved his hand to move the ball of light, allowing him to see the restricted section tomes properly. A few minutes later, the young Slytherin was slowly getting frustrated. It seemed like the restricted section lacked even the fundamental organization that the rest of the library had. Even the tome titles didn't tell him much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelt words in languages Harry couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be.
Yeah, Harry was pretty unsettled by the damn place, but he was right to be. Harry remembers Tom Riddle's diary in the story and how it possessed anyone who wrote inside. Yeah, the Potter scion was right to be wary of unknown books, especially when their melodies reeked of malice and bloodthirst.
Seeing no point in just walking around endless books and decided to use a certain spell that he had found weeks ago. He waved the wand in a complicated manner and muttered, "invenire libros verbis 'Mind Arts'!"
A glowing beam of golden light was released from his wand and dispersed into countless smaller beams, each one connecting to a certain book. Harry smirked to himself. This was his modified spell of one that researchers used to find certain terms in a book, only on a much larger scale. It was a bitch to get down, but Harry had practised it in secret with his schoolbooks. The original spell was particularly helpful in potions when trying to find out about certain ingredients quickly.
It was based on divination, weirdly enough. It didn't work on books protected against scrying, but people tended to neglect divination as a magical field. Harry still hasn't really tried to look into the magical field, but he was planning to in the future. If it wasn't nonsense, then it would be a very useful field to master.
Still, it wasn't foolproof by any measure, and Harry wanted to fine tune the spell to be invisible and have him use it in conjunction with his Arcane hearing. Alas, he didn't really have the time to do it. Still, Harry noticed that most of the books with the words 'Mind Arts' were grouped together in the middle of the library. When he walked there, practically every book was glowing, and Harry assumed that it was the section in the field.
Satisfied with his search, the Potter scion removed the cloak and started looking at the titled books. Well, he understood why most of them were in the restricted section. 'Mind curses: How to break down your enemies by Charles Claw' sounded quite sinister. Yeah, there were books on how to curse people to insanity, on how to control their minds, on how to brainwash them, manipulate their very thoughts, and so much more. It was very horrific, and Harry was shaking by the end of it.
He had forgotten how dangerous magic was, how terrible it could be. Magic was supposed to be beautiful, filled with wonder and amazement, but not this. After dozens of horrific titles, Harry found one that didn't sound very dangerous: 'An Introduction to the mind arts by Xavier Harlaw'.
Finally, a book that wouldn't give him nightmares. Harry prepared to touch it, only to be warned by his Arcane Hearing of the wards that protected the tome. Harry spread his senses and found out that the ward wanted to see a certain identification magical mark to be disabled momentarily. It wasn't very complicated, since it did need to be heavily manufactured, all things con Harry focused and was able to weave an illusion to replicate the magical mark, and he could hear the wards disabling as he touched the book.
Grinning to himself, Harry decided to read the book slightly to see if it was interesting. The introductory chapter showed it to be an academic book focused on teaching. It was probably a supplementary book that was recommended whenever a student wanted to focus on the mind arts. As it said, it seemed to be an introduction to the field, but there didn't seem to be any chapters on Occlumency and Legilimency. Still, Harry decided to copy the book. He took out one of his modified dictation quills and charmed it to copy the book into his never-ending journal.
With that done, Harry decided to change the command a little, invenire libros verbis 'Occlumency'!"
This time the golden light was far smaller and was only divided into a dozen or so books. Harry walked towards the closest one and read its title, 'Occlumency and Legilimency, the sword and Shield of the mind arts'. It didn't have an author but when Harry took it out and skimmed it, it looked like a brief summary of how Occlumency and Legilimency worked. Looking around the other glowing book, Harry selected three that looked to instruct the caster on how to protect their mind.
Harry decided to take out a few of his spare books and charm his quills to copy them as well. Meanwhile, Harry started reading his fiction book. After all, his spell took hours to work finish, and Harry wasn't in a hurry. He cancelled the lights, put on his invisibility cloak, cast a small Lumos underneath the cloak and started reading.
It was better in case someone passed by. Harry wouldn't be surprised if Filch and his demon cat patrolled the library for some reason. Harry was thankful that he had locked the door on his way in. The squib caretaker shouldn't suspect a thing.
A couple of hours in, the last book was copied, and Harry proceeded to put them back on their shelves, feeling their security enchantments resetting. Harry slowly walked out of the library, making sure to relock the door and felt the enchantment on the lock activate once more. He walked in silence to his dormitory, with a triumphant grin on his face.
It was a good feeling. Sneaking around, bypassing the castle's protection while seeking forbidden knowledge. It was like an adventure. Was curse breaking like this? Harry could imagine himself sneaking into tombs, breaking wards to find hidden ancient treasures. It seems like an exciting profession, all things considered.
The following day, Harry wasn't seen by any of the residents of the castle. Ron Weasley, who had been humiliated the previous day and wanted to give the Potter scion a piece of his mind, ended up trying and failing to corner him.
The young Slytherin didn't show in any of the meals, choosing to get some snacks from the kitchen. He was too absorbed by something new. Harry hadn't really found anything truly different for months. It was all extensions of his current studies. But an entirely new magical field, no. The last he had seen was alchemy and Harry needed to learn another runic language just to begin practising it.
Because that's what the mind arts really were. It was a magical field that was extremely obscure and very easy to abuse. Well, technically, there are charms and potions that could mimic its effects, but actual mind magic was just one a league of its own.
It wasn't just defending the mind and attacking other ones. It was a subtle art that needed practice. It was the gateway to astral projection, sending telepathic messages, and even reading emotions. It was a therapist's wet dream, to be honest. It did explain why 'mind healers' were such treasured and expensive commodities. Apparently, people who specialize in this field are only allowed to do so after finishing their normal healing education and taking an oath not to cause harm. It was sort of like the Hippocratic Oath, but more binding. Afterwards, they would have access to thing knowledge, and it was terrifying.
No wonder Voldemort was so terrifying. You can't really trust your own thoughts when you're at the mercy of a mind mage. Honestly, considering what he had read, Harry decided to learn Occlumency as soon as possible. Funnily enough, it happened to be a somewhat obscure subject, even in the mind arts. The field was mostly targeted towards healers, who didn't really need to be discreet while entering another person's mind, but they needed to be gentle and not cause any damage to their patients' psyches. A mind healer getting inside their patient's mind would need to prepare a pseudo-ritual to stabilize the connection both ways. Legilimency didn't do that.
The subtlety of Legilimency, which is an attacking form of mind magic wasn't really common. It was basically having access to the surface thoughts in one's mind, be it images, memories, dreams, or imagination. It was just a simple spell that collected the 'loud' thoughts around a person. It didn't really involve any true invading of the mind unless the spell is overpowered, which is just as likely to turn the target into a vegetable as getting any useful information from him.
Similarly, protecting yourself from mind magic was also not that common since it really wasn't likely that someone that has learned this magic properly to use it for harm. Occlumency took years to master, sometimes even decades, and that was just too much effort for small harm. It was a discipline, not a spell. It had many levels, firstly, learning how to stop errant thoughts, practically stopping anyone that could use Legilimency from reading your mind. However, mind curses and similar artefacts could still affect you. Afterwards, the discipline is essentially how to control your own mind, so that it may never be manipulated without your permission. Alas, Harry wasn't going to even try to attempt doing something like this anytime soon. He was going to get started with the anti-Legilimency before committing to anything like this without any research.
It took two days and a pointed letter from Professor Snape until Harry Potter exited his common room. And for all the potion master's scolding, Harry wouldn't have had it any other way. After all, Harry wanted to get the most done before classes started again.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.