19 Mind

While being directed Hadrian noticed the men leading them towards Knockturn alley, rolling his eyes he followed quietly, from the corner of his eye he noticed Lady Matilda subtly waving her fingers directing them towards everyone that surrounded them.

Not sure on what she was planning but knowing to trust her enough to get them out of their situation they ended up in he kept quiet, he also got ready to snap his wand to his hands for when everything kicked off not leaving his complete safety to one individual.

After a few turns going deeper into the alley, they arrived in front of a door slightly better in quality to the usual sort found in the alley, after a certain wand pattern there was an audible click. With a shove Hadrian and Lady Matilda, who let them shove her; inside they found three other men.

A fireplace lit with blue flames as the shadows danced in the room, a balding man sat faced the flames deep in thoughts, the room quiet as the occupants waited on him.

"It took quite the effort to find you" his voice rung across the room; the intensity of the flames rose in tandem to his breathing. "You see… while it may not seem like much, you've put me in an awkward situation".

Finally facing the group with the light from the flames reflecting off his scalp Mr Blott slowly stood up, "breaking into the restricted section of my store, which is like that for a reason leaves me in an awkward position."

Hadrian kept on looking at the man whose focus was on Lady Matilda, she never stopped the subtle waving of her fingers, looking as if she was nervous instead of someone casting subtle magic.

Mr Blott continued, "now don't worry I won't be killing anyone as nothing was stolen, but punishment is in order don't you agree". Lady Matilda chose to indulge in the man who clearly felt like he was in control of the situation "how did you find me?".

A chuckle escaped Mr Blott "oh it's only a bit of old magic, but you don't need to know that", turning towards the flame he continued, "the crucifix flame, such a beautiful piece of magic one not used as it went out of style a few centuries ago, one birthed with the emotions of the user." With a pause he signalled his men to approach Lady Matilda.

"Your son shall watch as you bare the fruit of your labour", the men grabbed her by her arms as Lady Matilda pretended to struggle, Mr Blott watching this carried on speaking with dispassionate eyes, "usually used to punish thieves it places a curse depending on the casters desire, seeing as you are a mother I believe it's appropriate that every time you try to touch your children your arms shall burn with the intensity of a furnace".

"With the same arms you used to try steal from me, you shall never be able to hold your children or your lover", the occupants of the room watched as her arms were dragged towards the flames that in any other setting would have been a sight to see.

Suddenly a snap was heard as every occupant apart from Hadrian dropped to the floor, looking closer the muscles beneath their skin seemed to be wiggling, intense grunts were heard all around.

Hadrian felt a chill down his spine as he watched this scene, Lady Matilda dusted the non-existent dirt off her dress, "you are lucky I didn't sense an intent to kill from your men earlier", her measured voice dominated the room amidst the groans as the muscle cramps in their throats prevented their screams escaping.

Walking through the bodies of men Lady Matilda arrives in front of Hadrian, "I hope that didn't startle you too much", even though he face didn't give away too much the concern was still felt. Shaking his head Hadrian replied, "I'm alright, though I'm curious on what that spell was, it's not one I've come across yet".

Letting out a smile - the facial muscle of the suit works as intended – Lady Matilda turned towards Mr Blott whose expression was the worst has sweat dripped off his figure with skin as red as tomatoes.

"Now what to do with you" scanning the room she turned towards Hadrian, "I believe you are aware of some of the branches of mind magics?" Hadrian nodded as he had a feeling on where she was going with this, seeing his affirmation she turned towards the closest man, cancelling the spell the relief on his face was apparent but quickly changed as he was hit with a body locking spell.

"You'll be practicing the branch of Legilimency otherwise known as mind reading", the man panicked as his eyes struggled where his body failed, Hadrian approached the man while in his mind all knowledge related to the mind magics was quickly compiled and sorted into his brain, the process smooth as his vi sorted the already structured knowledge to memory.

Lifting his wand he chanted… "hmm I see why you told him what is about to happen, even if he doesn't have any shields his magic will still try to reject me from intruding, though its nothing compared to what someone with a shield could achieve", Lady Matilda nodded as she saw he understood.

Proceeding with his practice he easily accessed the man's mind not really looking for anything he noticed the ease in which he accessed the mind, at first it felt like a stick was trying to stop a tsunami but figuring out that noticing the mild intrusion was what Lady Matilda wanted him to notice.

The thoughts of the mans mind bombarded his probing as his raw emotions of panic flooded Hadrians mind, pulling out as quick as he could he took a few steps back panting. "You tried to sense too much and overwhelmed yourself, you have to know what you're looking for as the mind is not somewhere you could easily stroll through or some book that's easily read".

Nodding his head to show he understood he tried again, this time with an aim of knowing what his surface thoughts consisted of. Noticing the pain the man was going through he tried easing the intensity he was going at it, over the course of the session his probing had become as gentle as a summers breeze.

Noticing the still panicking but painless look on the bound man Lady Matilda was pleased with this, focusing on the men on the floor "next we'll be moving towards memory scrying, your aim is to find specific memories; we'll start with something more recent; you are to find what he had for breakfast", pausing she looked at the man, "it would be in your best interest to cooperate or this could end much worse".

The man unable to respond could only stare, Hadrian let out a chuckle as he dived into the man's mind more seamless than he began took a few minutes to find what he was looking for, "He had Firewisky with bacon and eggs", Hadrian looked at the man then Lady Matlida for the next steps.

Soon enough hours passed into the night as Hadrian practiced with the wizards available, they had various levels of shields, a majority having the most basic of basic shields to Mr Blott having the most advanced shields yet. His level of proficiency advancing by leaps and bounds to the point where he could get past those with strong defences without them noticing.