11 Summer of '31
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
Sorry for late upload. I was depressed for two days, and I took my first dose of Covishield yesterday. So, I'm going through a fever right now.
My mum's back, by the way. She's in home quarantine right now, and has a few tablets that she's taking daily. Otherwise, she's fine, but we're still taking care not to get too close. She's the one who's suggesting it, so don't worry.
Well, wish us luck, and thanks for all of your support! Thank you, really!
Read on!
---
Soon, the First year ended, without anything else happening. I progressed a bit in my powers, but not exceedingly so.
On the Telepathy and Mind Magic side of things, I'd completely memorised the 7259 paged book, Complete Mind Arts Compilation in the 10 days of Christmas Holidays. But I hadn't actually understood it immediately.
My Telepathy and the jury rigged Occlumency allowed me the ability to recall anything to the most minute detail. However, it doesn't happen instantly. I have to focus to bring that particular memory to the front. So despite having memorized the book, I hadn't understood it completely then, but I was slowly gaining an understanding of the book.
That needed me to go inside my Mindscape, and read the memorized book there. Again, only this time at the usual pace. I was just about three quarters of the way through the book, having taken to practice the instructions as I read them.
Occlumency is the subject I had studied the most, since Legilimency will only come after I've mastered my own Mind first. Granted I've already mastered my mind, I think, but I'll have to do this the Wizarding way. The last quarter, which I've just begun learning, contains the detailed instructions on Legilimency.
I tried using Legilimency on a few of the older students, and boy did I have some revelations.
Occlumency shields are strong enough that my Telepathy has some trouble going through, undetected. It means they're really strong, but the point is, they're only that strong right behind of the eyes. Honestly it was so shocking, having that revelation that I had to stop and just stare at the wall for 10 minutes.
The shields around the mind aren't weak, don't misunderstand, but when you compare it to the Telepathy shield that I put up when I was literally a child, that is a disappointment. Compared to my bulletproof glass shield, the Occlumency shields are Corning Gorilla Glass 3, not even 5, let alone Victus.
And then I remembered that Cassiopeia's mind literally had a door at the front, but the rest of her mind was surrounded by a wooden picket fence.
Granted, one had to first go through the useless distracting thoughts that the defender must have put up. But still. This made it possible for me to just go into the minds of any student in this school, and get their memories and knowledge, as soon as I learn how to use Legilimency properly.
I don't, however think that the teachers' minds would be this easy. If I cannot listen to the thoughts of the Goblins of Gringott's, while keeping my telepathy active, then I definitely can't do it to actual competent Adult Wizards. At least, not while I'm a kid. Cassiopeia was just new at Occlumency, and so were the other students I tried it with.
Speaking of Cassiopeia, it was a disappointment as well. Her knowledge was precious, no doubt, but it wasn't extensive. It was her memories, only the last 5 years of which I have, that was impressive.
Her cousin Arcturus, is the current heir of the Black Family, and she was literally his favourite. So, he shared a lot of the 'main' family's knowledge with her. Good for me, but it's not that extensive.
She knew a few Dark Curses, which I'm definitely not using this soon, and more than a few Protection spells, which were appreciated.
At least I was now able to stop anyone else from reading the books Helena would sometimes bring me, which were of a level suitable for a first to second year student. And I can now cast a privacy ward if I so wished!
Surprisingly, Privacy Wards give a form of invisibility. The spell I learned from Cassiopeia's mind created an illusion around you, that made everything you want invisible, silent, and odourless. But it was also easy to detect, and remove. Even a Finite Incantatum works, for fucks sake.
As for my magic, my progress was just as fast paced as when I was in the Orphanage. Along with the spells I learned in the classes, I also tried to learn a few additional spells. Like the Stunning Charm (Stupefy), the Snake Conjuring spell (Serpensortia), and the Disillusionment Charm (Celo), these were the most impressive of the spells I've learned that were beyond the first year syllabus.
I got all three of these spells from Cassiopeia's mind. Well, I already knew stupefy, but I had to learn it the proper wizarding way some day, right?
Other than that, I've learned about 5 Charms and Transfiguration spells from out of syllabus, but within the capabilities of a normal first year student, and 5 more from the second year syllabus.
Those I learned from the Ravenclaw House Library, so the teachers probably know that I know those spells. It was a calculated reveal, since a Ravenclaw studying ahead wasn't unexpected, and they must have already noticed I'm bored in classes, but since my magic control wasn't that impressive yet, I kept to the first two years.
Don't want to become blind or something because I tried the Patronus Charm in the first year or something like that. Hey! It's magic, anything can happen!
Speaking of magic control, I still kept with my exercises, but now, only kept to the more useful spells. Disillusionment Charm(Celo), Alohomora, Stupefy, Petrificus Totalis, Incendio, Aguamenti, and Diffindo. I was hoping to completely master them until I can cast them on instinct.
What about the Levitation Charm, Accio, and Depulso, you might ask? Well, this is my best accomplishment of my entire life. I have managed to make my body, and my magic, so used to the three spells, that I can now cast them all without a wand, without speaking, and sometimes, without even pointing my hand. The spells were completely mastered according to Wizarding standards, but not by mine.
My end goal, in regards to the three spells, was to completely combine them and every other such spell to mimic Telekinesis. It was still a work in progress, and I still had a long way to go. I'll consider it mastered when I can fly on my own.
The reason my progress was relatively small, other than my Mind Arts, and Telekinetic spells, is that I was actually taking it slow. First of all, I have homework too, as annoying as it is. Plus, I have to complete the exercises for 3 wanded subjects, and read up on two non wanded subjects, Herbology and Potions. Secondly, I literally have 6 more years inside the castle, I have no reason to speed things up too much.
So now, after my exams were done, and the End of the Year Feast was over with, I was sitting in a train compartment, with Darla in front of me, waiting for the train to start. Beside Darla, was Anastasia Greengrass, who had somehow become better friends with Darla, than with me, her House Mate. (They had met through me in the first place, when we had gotten together to study in the library.) And beside me was an empty seat. Sly was once again sleeping inside my robe, preferring to sleep through the journey.
"Hey, Mason." Tom says, walking into our compartment and sitting down beside me.
Nodding at him, I ask, "What happened to James and Lucas?"
Tom scowls, and says, "They brought their Gryffindor friends in and began arguing about Quidditch. Again. As if we don't tolerate it enough in our Dorms."
Darla snorts, and says, "You say that, but imagine sharing a common room with 100 Quidditch fanatics. It gets really annoying, the way they get so excited, and shout over a sport."
I dryly point out, "You're one of the Quidditch fanatics, Darla. You were literally yelling at your teams captain for losing the match last month. In the Great Hall, that too."
"Doesn't mean it's not annoying when someone else does it." Darla says, not bothering with denying the accusations.
"Hey, even I love Quidditch and flying, but I don't, and can't, speak about it every time I'm free! I also don't know why they're all so bloody obsessed with the professional flyers!" Tom says, defending Quidditch a little. Good thing he mellowed out a little. At the beginning of the year, he barely spoke one sentence per day to us. Now look at him, seeking us out so he can talk freely.
I snort, and just shake my head. Sure, flying is wonderful. Even if a broom is the one to support us, there's a sort of freedom in flying, which we don't get to experience outside of our flying classes. Thank God, Flying lessons will continue on for the next year too.
Only the first and second years have flying lessons. The others are expected to just use their breaks to fly around Hogwarts grounds, if they need to.
Back to the point, despite somewhat liking flying a broom, I did not like Quidditch much. I was a dude who played basketball, and seeing Quidditch, where the players literally carry the ball, quaffle, close to their stomachs, right to the goals, was blasphemy for me.
I watched the games, but would internally scream in outrage the entire time.
Soon, the topic turns to our exams, and Darla shakes her head and asks, "How the bloody hell did you manage to get O's in every paper, without studying a single Page?"
I look back at her, confused, and say, "But I did actually study."
"Not for the exams, you didn't. You were practicing some other spells, playing Chess with Goldfinch and her group, or reading that Charms Magazine the entire time." Tom points out helpfully.
The Charms Magazine was what I would pick up whenever I wanted to read the Occlumency book in my mind. Chess was just a hobby that I crossed over with.
Nodding, I say, "You're right. But did you know that every day, I would practice my spells? Without breaking the pattern, I would practice every spell, go over every Potion, and even read through all of the notes before going to sleep. So, I didn't even need to study, because I already knew everything."
Plus, my Pseudo Eidetic Memory helped with recalling the theory perfectly. I only lost a few points in Herbology practical, and Potions practical, where I made some personal errors. Otherwise, I had almost perfect scores all over.
Theory wise, I felt as if I was writing an open book test, but I did refrain from copying everything down from my memories.
Darla whistles, impressed, and asks, "And you didn't think to tell us this?"
"Hey, if I'd have told you to study 3 hours after dinner, everyday, you'd have stopped talking with me." I say, leaning back.
For 5 seconds, no one speaks, after which Tom says, "Yeah, probably."
Darla nods, and says, "Fair enough."
While Anastasia says, "Definitely what would have happened, yes."
Shaking my head, I smile, thinking what these next years might bring. The Harry Potter Universe, the Wizarding World.
Who would have thought, this would be my next great adventure, to quote the young-old coot.
~
Once back at the Orphanage, I was suddenly bored and back to my pre-Hogwarts schedule.
Waking up, helping out in chores, taking care of the new baby that was found abandoned, etc. Only now, I didn't have school to take up 6 hours of my time. Plus, the food had gotten worse, somehow.
I will definitely make use of my fortune here at least. My mother was raised here, died here, and gave birth to me here. I owe them this much. But, I can't give them money, or the children will see only a fraction of it.
Hmm.. I'll give an anonymous donation of food and clothes. That'll be alright, I think.
With that decision made up, and kept on the TDL, I return to my desk, to draw a sketch on the slate, while my mind is busy reading the Legilimency part of the Complete Mind Arts Compilation.
I'm not good at sketching, never was, but it helps relax my mind.
It takes me about 10 days of reading 10 hours a day, for me to finish the book, and about 20 more days of mental conditioning later, I decide to try the Legilimency attack. Well, not exactly. I'll use my Telepathy to try and replicate the Legilimency spell.
What is Legilimency? It is the use of Magic to go through someone else's memories, and visual thoughts by use of eye contact.
What is Telepathy? It is hearing the loudest thoughts of other people around you, without using eye contact. At least, it is the definition of my current Telepathy.
So, my thought was, can Telepathy be used offensively, like Legilimency, by using the practices of Legilimency. And can Legilimency be used by using a Telepathy probe as medium?
My mind is my own, and I can control my magic inside my body pretty well. So, can I do what I want to? Only one way to find out.
It was dark outside, the clock having crosses the 12 AM mark some while ago, and I am sitting on my bed. I've found that while I can use my Telepathy in any position, it works best, and has the longest range, when I'm calm, meditating, and sitting down.
Once I'm calm enough, and in the Zen, I expand my mind and search for a.. victim. If I fail, then there's a chance that the mind will become.. a vegetable. So, I don't want to try this on good, honest, respectable, people.
Which still leaves me about 80% of London, to be honest, but I'm not going to experiment on them either. I'm looking for the worst of the worst criminals, who wouldn't be missed much.
It doesn't take me long before I hear the trigger words that immediately bring my focus to him. His mind was pretty loud, when it says, 'Hah! That bitch cried a lot, but it was worth it! The screams even set the mood!'
While he didn't think the word 'rape', the intentions were what triggered my telepathy into finding him. And now, I have him in my grasp. All his thoughts were mine, and boy were they so many.
He's a criminal, from what he's thinking, and a crook in one of the many gangs that plague London in these harsh times. In the 2 minutes that I've listened to his thoughts, he's killed 17 people, robbed houses, raped women multiple times, and took part in kidnappings.
I scowl, and think, 'Yeah, I think I'll have to fail this one. It will be quite painful for him, in fact. So unfortunate.'
Thinking back to my experience in Cassiopeia's mind, and all the mental training I did in this last month I've been here, I mentally call out 'Legilimens!' just for the sake of Intent,
As my telepathy already had a hold on his thoughts, my magic goes through it, in stead of the Eye contact necessary, and I tear through his meagre mind shields and land in his Mindscape, which makes me confused enough to call up his memories of the any mental training.
Oh he wasn't a wizard or anything like that. He was just trained to resist torture, for some reason, which resulted in a paper thin shield around his mind. If a normal human practices enough, they can even stop normal telepaths from looking at some particular memory they want to hide.
But this one's just a beginner, and not even that when compared to me.
Just like what happened in Cassiopeia's mind, pages start coming from all over his goon's mind, forming into books. Only this time, I don't send them to my own mind, but keep them in front of me.
One by one, books start stacking up in front of me, while disappearing from their initial places. When the books stop coming, I look at the 35 stacks of 12 books, and one stack of 4 books in front of me, and frown. His mind was useless, if all he has is these books fulk of memories.
This dude was just a crook, but I have no need for the memories of a criminal.
Pointing my palm at the stack, I focus on the rage I felt after hearing his thoughts, really focus on it, and shoot flames out of them. The flames catch one book on fire, and it starts spreading from there. Soon, the entire Mindcape is burning, with the flames taking the shape of animals to burn anything and everything they might find.
The only place unburnt, is the one I'm standing on. Satisfied with the result of my first experiment, I retreat to my body, and open my eyes.
~
Meanwhile, the crook, who had just been walking towards his house from the house of his rape victim, suddenly stops, and drops down on the ground.
"AAARRGHHGH! AAARGH! ARGHH!!" He keeps on yelling in pain, while holding his head and pulling at his hair, waking the people up. Fearful people wake up to see a man screaming in the middle of the road, rolling around on the ground, without any visible reason.
Some good soul takes him to the hospital, where they sedate him to stop his screaming. Finally, when the doctors conduct whatever tests they can, they conclude that the patient suddenly suffered a brain aneurysm, and went into a coma.
When he wakes up, months from that night, they will realize that he has forgotten everything. He doesn't even remember who he is, what he is, and he can't even talk. He essentially becomes a baby in the body of a 36 year old man.
And it is just because he raped a girl minutes before a Telepath was looking for someone like him.
Bad luck, even if it happened to the right person.
~
A few days after the incident with the crook whom I played Judge, Jury, and Executioner with, I had concluded that my Offensive Telepathy, or let's just call it Legilimency, wasn't harmful, unless I actually meant it to be. That was a relief.
If I do want them to hurt, I can use what I'm terming as Mental Energy to do anything. Erase their memories, change the memories, kill them. Anything. The first crook, I burned his memories, but burning isn't the only way to erase memories.
It's just the most satisfying, and the most painful for the victim. So far.
Anyway, I'd used Legilimency on many more people, because practice makes perfect, and I've noticed something.
My mind is different.
I knew that, but I just didn't know how different it was. Hmm, how to explain?
Imagine the mind as an object which gives off radiation, and all of the radiation, no matter which mind emits it, are contained within the light spectrum. It's not like that, but just suppose it does. Human minds are fixed to one band, animals to another, and insects to another, etc. But I haven't tried animal minds yet. It's bound to be disorienting, and I'd rather have a lot of experience with human minds first.
So, let's say Muggles have their Minds at the top in terms of wavelength, between 600 and 700 nanometers, making their Minds the easiest to be sensed, or heard amongst humans. Then, the Wizards come right below them, between 500 and 650 nm, and yes, there is bound to be a considerable overlap. This is just my assumption, however, so take it with a grain of salt.
If we assume all that, then I've found that my mind is based in the 300 to 500 nm range, and this is spectacular! My mind is literally out of the limit allowed for Minds! In the billions of human Minds that are contained in the Visible spectrum, my mind borders, and sometimes even goes to the Ultraviolet region, and I have a range of almost twice that of others!
I'm definitely not the only one like that, but I do like to feel special sometimes.
Keeping to that scale though, I've noticed a few minds that are in the 400-550 nm range, and they are easily noticeable. It's as if my mind just automatically finds them if I want to.
In the city of London itself, there were hundreds of people like that, with their Minds running on higher frequency than muggles and wizards, but far lower than mine. I haven't tried hearing their thoughts yet, nor have I tried Legilimency with them.
If their minds are better than Wizards, then there's a high possibility that they could feel me in there. I was just, observing them for now, by using the other minds near them.
Invading Privacy? Yup, definitely. But I need to know this. If I didn't need this information, I wouldn't be spying on one of these different minded people right now.
I was currently riding the mind of an old woman, looking through her eyes. She was still in control, and I'm not going to change that for now, but I was also there, sitting right behind her, figuratively. This woman is completely normal, with nothing different about her mind. The old man in front of her, however was different.
In front of us, was a man of about 50, the woman's husband. He was reading the newspaper, like he did everyday since I've begun observing him. I didn't have to look through her memories to know that he followed a fixed routine.
I have no idea why his Mind is different, but since I refuse to enter his mind before knowing why, I'll just have to keep observing.
Thankfully, my mind has been able to multitask for years now, so looking through the woman's eyes, and carrying on with my own daily routine wasn't a chore.
This man also wasn't the first person I'm spying on like this. He's the third, actually. The first two were siblings, so I just possessed the mother to observe them. Nothing exciting happened though, for the 10 days I was there, so I switched the target to this man.
The man was called Fergus McAllen, who lived with his wife, Anna. They had no children, and weren't rich either. They belong to the category of man goes to work, while the wife handles the house, and they've been doing it for 30 years, ever since they married. And now, for the last 3 days I've been observing them. Spying, to be honest.
It was all going just like normal, for hours and hours. I kept following the man, Fergus, using different normal humans as my personal TV sets, and nothing was different than the last 2 days I've been observing him. He walked into town everyday, to work at the office of Daily Mail, and then went home after a drink or two.
While returning home from the bar, however, something changed. Fergus was just walking towards his home, a little bit tipsy from the drinks he'd had today, while I was looking at him through the eyes of a man, sitting in his veranda. I just had to prompt the man to keep looking at Fergus.
Suddenly though, Fergus finds himself at the wrong end of a knife, 4 young people surrounding him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I switch minds and go into the Mind of one of the knife wielders.
".. any money! Please, I just want to go ho-me!" Fergus pleads, choking at the end, terrified for his life.
One of the young men, their leader from the looks of it, takes a step forward and puts the knife on Fergus's neck. Suddenly, however, the leader clutches his stomach, and goes to the side to start vomiting, the knife dropping to the ground.
Fergus looks at the remaining three men, who look concerned and grossed out at the same time, and as I was observing him through the eyes of one of them, I clearly see his eyes glow a sickly yellow.
Suddenly, I feel the need to vomit, and get up, instinctively coming out of the crook's mind and running towards the toilet.
"BLEAUGH!"
After having vomited for a full minute or so, thankfully reaching the toilet before doing it, I lean on the tap, looking at the mirror. My eyes are red now, and wet, thanks to all the vomiting. Even after washing my face, I still felt the effects of whatever happened.
"What the fuck was that?!" I mumble, still feeling a bit sick.
Whatever Fergus did, made me feel sick, and the effects still haven't gone away completely.
"Mason? Are you alright?" the concerned voice of Sister Laura asks from outside the door.
Rinsing my mouth once again, I say, "I just felt sick, Sister Laura. Last night's food mustn't have agreed with my stomach."
Am I alright though? That is the question.
I don't remember anything like this in the books, nor the thousands of fanfics I've read. At least, not the ones pertaining to Harry Potter Universe. If there was something like this, I'd have known.
Oh, other media definitely had something or the other like this, but by just one example I cannot make a solid decision.
Sister Laura says, "Very well. Come down to Sister Agnes's room once you feel up to it. She'll look you over."
Opening the door, I smile at Sister Laura, and say, "I will. I just.. I need to lay down for a bit."
And that's nothing on the vomiting. I need to know, what kind of world did I get myself into?
---
A/N: Well, I'm adding X-Men, but only the movies. He won't be meeting anyone until the Age of Apocalypse happens, though. All other movies before that one(chronologically) are focused on just US of A.
Last book, my revelation about mutants was hella fast. Like one paragraph he was a telepath, and then he immediately knew he was a mutant of marvel.
That's not realistic. No one will make that jump even after having the exact talent known from some other fandom. The first instinct will be, "I have this power in this other Universe?! SWEET!"
So, yeah. He's now realising, slowly, about where he is.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
