Chapter 42: A Vision!

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A twitch of laughter escapes before I can stop it.

"What's so funny?" she demands.

"Nothing, you just made a dentist joke is all."

She glares at me. "You know my parents are dentists, don't you?"

Why can't I keep my mouth shut? "Sorry, but if its any consolation that's all I know." I know they have different names in a bunch of different fanfiction, though Dan and Emma are popular. 

Either way, it doesn't look like that's any consolation at all. 

"Um, anyway," I say shakily, "Harry's dream earlier this summer wasn't just a dream." I pause, waiting for Hermione to chastise me for changing the subject. When she doesn't, I take a deep breath, trying to figure out how to put this. 

"It was...a vision. Not of the future, mind you, but of the present. Harry's scar...it's a connection to Voldemort. An accidental one, so Voldemort doesn't know about it yet, but it allows Harry to experience what he's feeling."

Hermione looks like she wants to vomit. "Oh no, Harry, what are we going to do?"

Harry sits there rubbing his temples, offering nothing.

After some silence I figure I should throw them another bone. "When I was showing you Occlumency all that time ago...I think you can effectively shut off the connection that way. Hopefully no more visions from him...and more importantly, nothing going the other direction."

Harry's head snaps up. "But I was the snake. In the dream, I was the snake. If the connection is with Voldemort, how could I be the snake?"

"The snake is connected to him just like you are," I say ambiguously, hoping this doesn't result in a discussion about Horcruxes.

Of course, hope is a four letter word.

Hermione turns her glare on me. "Explain."

I slump back into my chair, exhausted from being pumped for information and the thought of spilling more. The good news is Harry and Hermione seem to have accepted the fact that I somehow have more knowledge of certain past events than any other single person in the world.

The bad news is that Hermione looks at me as if she wants to dissect me.

After covering the horror that is the darkest magic ever described in canon, I spill everything I know about them. The diary from Second Year, the snake from the dream, the Gaunt family ring, the cup in the Lestrange Gringotts Vault, the locket that Regulus stole, the diadem in the hiding place version of this very room...and the snake.

My eyes flicker to Harry, and Hermione's eyes widen as she immediately puts it together. "No...no...it can't be..." She breaks down into tears and throws herself at Harry. Harry figures it out a second later, and just stares into nothingness.

Hermione's desperate sobs tear my heart in half, and I have to look away. "I'm sorry, Harry," is all I can say for several moments. Once I regain control, I try to ignore Hermione's still heart-rending sobbing. 

"Listen, Harry," I say firmly. "We're going to figure this out. That girl there," I say, pointing at Hermione, "Lupin called her the smartest witch of her age. He's wrong. She's the smartest damn person on the planet – including Dumbledore – and we're all going to figure it out. You aren't dead yet, and you aren't going to have to die." I feel a bit odd making that promise, considering what is supposed to happen, but it feels right.

Maybe if Hermione has more time to think about it, she'll come up with something that Dumbledore never did. She looks a little lost right now, though, so I don't think she'll do her brain-churning thing yet. 

I'll need to distract her for now, and hopefully put some distance between her and the initial shock.

"Hey, speaking of Occlumency, did you guys ever ask Dumbledore about it?"

Harry's head jerks up and Hermione cringes. "No, we...er...I kind of forgot when you...I mean..."

"When you kicked me to the curb?" I ask with a smirk.

"I already feel bad enough—"

"I'm kidding, Hermione. Well, since you found out a little more about me, I suppose I can share what I actually know about it instead of the breadcrumbs I was trying to leave you before."

Hermione's mouth drops open, and I'm pleased to see her hopeless expression turn to anger. "You...you prat!"

I give her a small smile. "Sorry, I didn't expect to give away so many of my secrets this soon. Or rather, I didn't expect you to squeeze them out of me so soon." She doesn't find this amusing, so I clear my throat and move on. "Right, well, Occlumency is indeed the counter to Legilimency. Snape and Dumbledore are both highly skilled at it. I've also heard that Professor Flitwick has some skill at it since he was once a professional duelist, but I'm not sure about that one."

"But how does it work?" She asks, curiosity overcoming her anger at me.

"Well, I only know a little bit about that for sure," I say. That's completely true, since some fics have described what they called real Occlumency exercises in depth. 

Unless, of course, Snape's method of saying 'clear your mind' and then blasting Harry with Legilimency actually is the best way to learn. 

"I know it involves clearing your mind of all emotions, of all thoughts. In fact, that might be why I couldn't get the Room to produce any relevant books: there might not be any. There might not be very much to it except for practice and discipline."

Hermione looks pensive. "I suppose we could start practicing, but that sounds incredibly difficult to maintain."

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