The Good and The Bad

Godric's Hollow, Aug. 9 th

"Legilimens!"

Harry felt the spell hit him, and he immediately focused on bringing a memory to the forefront of his mind.

"I don't care what you think, Nathan, Professor Snape is not a vampire!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry, everyone knows it's true," Nathan said. "Have you ever seen him go into the sunlight?"

Harry smiled as he felt Snape's ever-increasing annoyance at the memory that appeared. Harry continued to focus on the memory, replaying it a few times, causing Snape's ire to grow. Just as the Potions Master pushed the full force of his energy into navigating away from the memory, Harry was able to clear his mind of all thought, forcing Snape from his mind.

While Harry still couldn't stop Snape from entering his mind, he had made several impressive strides. It now consistently took Professor Snape at least a few seconds before he was able to overpower, or influence an emotion into Harry's mind. Even once he was in Harry's mind, however, Harry had become adept at withholding valuable information. The book Calypso had sent was absolutely brilliant at making suggestions to annoy an invading Legilimens.

For instance, if you weren't quite at the level to consistently stop an invading Legilimens, a good way to bother him or her once inside the mind is to focus on hunger. This would bring countless unimportant memories of meals to the forefront of your mind. Once the Legilimens were annoyed at not finding what he or she wanted, it became easy to distinguish the foreign emotions, and thus easier to clear your mind to expel the Legilimens.

"For the record," Harry smirked, "I don't think you're a vampire."

Snape narrowed his eyes and peered intently at Harry. "You led me to that memory intentionally. You knew I was growing frustrated at seeing useless memories of you eating, and you baited me."

"I did," Harry agreed.

Snape stood. "I believe we are done for today. We should have two, maybe three more lessons before you go back to Durmstrang. If you continue to improve as you have, I'm confident you will be able to hold back any Legilimens that tries to invade your mind. Good work today, Potter."

Harry thanked his former professor and went upstairs to tinker with some of the enchantments he had been working on. As he passed his brother's door, Harry sighed. Why was it that every time something good happened to him, something bad happened as well? Less than a week after being published in Transfiguration Today, Harry had stumbled onto a copy of his brother's grades from his second year at Hogwarts. While the end of year examinations were canceled for all non-O.W.L and N.E.W.T years, that didn't mean the students didn't get grades. The teachers simply awarded the students the grade they had earned thus far in the class without an end of year examination.

Nathan had gotten an Acceptable in Potions and only Exceeds Expectations in Charms and Transfiguration. Harry had confronted his brother and pointed out that he could have done so much better.

That small argument had turned into a larger one when Harry asked what Nathan was doing in case Peter came after him. Their parents had just earlier that day revealed that Peter had been muttering 'He's at Hogwarts, He's at Hogwarts' in his sleep while in Azkaban, making his parents fear that Peter was going to attack Nathan. Harry had offered to make a list of spells for Nathan to learn, but Nathan had casually shrugged them off as unnecessary, trusting that Professor Dumbledore would keep him safe at the school. It was Nathan's casual dismissal of practicing defensive magic that caused Harry to hex him. When Nathan found himself bound, upside-down, and stuck to a wall in his room. Harry pointed out that if he could do that to Nathan, then surely, Peter, who survived as a spy for Voldemort, would be able to catch him unaware.

Nathan did not take to the hexing so well, and, after a stern lecture from his mother, Harry spent the next two days grounded in his room. Harry had a plan, however. Hermione Granger was going to be coming over along with Weasley to belatedly celebrate Nathan's birthday. If there was one person in the world that could get Nathan to study, Harry knew that it had to be Hermione. It was just a matter of convincing her to convince Nathan to learn some spells that would take Peter by surprise.