40 Going Home

When I got back to the Ravenclaw common room, I sat in my favorite comfy chair and eagerly opened the book on occlumency.

Inside, the book went into great detail about the art of mental defense. It explained that there were two levels of mastery when it came to occlumency.

The first level of success was the furthest that most people ever progressed to. It involved reaching a state that would prevent legilimency from revealing a person's secrets. It involved building an impenetrable barrier around your mind.

While this was considered a success by most wizards, this level had the disadvantage of informing whoever used legilimency that a person was invoking a mental defense.

The second level involves crafting sophisticated fake memories that can completely fool someone using legilimency without them detecting that you are using occlumency.

I'm guessing that Professor Snape had to be at this level, considering he was spying on Lord Voldemort, who was rumored to be one of the most accomplished legilimency users in the world.

After reading about the different levels of mastery, I had a sinking feeling that the first level wasn't going to cut it for the trial. But what made me curious concerning the trial was how I would prove that I had mastered occlumency. It wasn't like the eagle statue would be able to tell if I learned it or not.

There must be something down there that will be able to use a mental attack or something similar. That's the only way I had thought of being able to prove that someone had mastered occlumency.

If I can work out what is probably down there, and get something similar, perhaps it could help me practice my occlumency, otherwise, how will I know if I am progressing.

As for how to succeed, the book was maddeningly vague. This branch of magic is extremely personal and requires a person to have complete mastery of their mind.

The book described this state as an awakening or enlightenment of the mind and warned that what may work for one person may not work for another. I rubbed my eyes in frustration; this was going to be a long year.

The following day, I decided to try and test the magical bindings restricting me from seeking help. The results shocked me. I had assumed that I would only be prevented from speaking about the trial.

The results were more effective than I anticipated. When I planned to get around the restrictions by being clever, I found myself unable to enact any of my plans. If this was the type of spell that Whithorn got my grandfather to sign, I understand why he wasn't able to fight it afterward.

It was infuriating. The bindings seemed to be based on my intent, any action that I took, no matter how subtle as long as I intended for someone to find out, the spell kicked in and prevented me from doing it.

Not wanting to give up, I kept trying methods to see if there was a workaround. One time, I tried to ask for books on occlumency around my friends innocently and was prevented from doing so. Another, I decided to leave the book given to me by the room, and when Cedric picked it up, all he saw was a blank book. It seemed like I was on my own for the trial.

Before I knew it, the final exams were upon us, and I blew threw them without any trouble. I was confident that I would keep the top spot in Ravenclaw, and I was looking forward to having the better dorm reserved for those who achieved the top grade. As competitive as the academic competition is in Ravenclaw, my roommates silently cheered me on, knowing that they would get to share in my victory.

At the end of the year feast, Slytherin ended up winning both the quidditch and house cup. I wasn't too surprised, if I remembered the books correctly, they had won for several years in a row. Although this led to Anna being unbearably smug for a few days.

A small part of me at the beginning of the year had imagined me raking in points and leading Ravenclaw to win the house cup. But, in the end, after dealing with the Grendel, worrying about something as silly as the house cup seemed rather mundane. At least that's what I told myself.

After the feast was over, students who held off packing spent the rest of the evening running around trying to get packed, because we were supposed to be on the Hogwarts Express first thing in the morning.

In that endeavor, I enlisted the help of Fred and George. No strangers to rule-breaking, they agreed when they heard what I had in mind for their fellow Gryffindor.

Later that night, past lights out, I drank the potion that I acquired from Burgins and Burkes over the Christmas break. Knowing I had less than an hour to get to Gryffindor and back, I quickly made my way through the castle, making my way to the portrait of the fat lady.

As soon as I arrived, I found George and Fred looking towards the direction I was standing, in confusion. George looked down at the marauder's map and back towards where I was standing and questioned, "Maybe something is wrong with the map."

Before Fred could reply, I spoke up, "There is nothing wrong with it, I drank an invisibility potion, I don't have the luxury of having a map that shows me where the professors are patrolling."

Identical looks of desire appeared on their faces, and they said in unison, "Where can we get one of those."

Thinking of all the trouble a pair of invisible Weasley twins could cause, I laughed and said, "Good luck, they are insanely difficult to make, and their ingredients are rare. Plus, they are highly regulated by the ministry. Most wizards make do with the disillusionment charm, and while it's not real invisibility, it's pretty effective at concealing a person."

Seeing their disappointment, I added, "However, there are those who obtain such mastery over the disillusionment charm that they can use it to become invisible. Now let's get going; I only have about half an hour remaining before the potion wears off."

As we approached the fat lady's portrait, she glared at the twins annoyed and said, "You two again, I should have known."

Smirking, Fred said, "Leo de corde."

Grumpily, the portrait swung open to the Gryffindor common room, and they led me to the dorms, where Micheal was sleeping.

Not taking any chances, I casted the silencing charm on myself and slowly made my way into the dorm. After locating Micheal, I pulled out the cursed mask from my robes and placed it on his face.

Once attached, the mask sunk beneath his skin and was no longer visible. With my mission accomplished, I quickly left the Gryffindor tower and made my way back to my dorm.

The following day, we all loaded up on the Hogwarts express and headed home for the summer.

On the train, I ran into Micheal, and he noticed I had my ring on and sneered at me and drawled, "Glad you seemed to have finally found your ring. I can't believe that it took you so long to retrieve it, I guess the rumors that are praising your abilities as a wizard are exaggerated."

Thinking about the mask that was going to drive him crazy, I smiled pleasantly at him and cheerfully said, "Have a good summer Micheal, these are the best days of our lives, and I'm sure it will be one you will never forget."

Micheal looked at me suspiciously. This wasn't how the game was played. He had been expecting me to react in a similar manner; instead, I smiled pleasantly and told him to enjoy his summer.

As the train rolled away from Hogwarts, my mind ran over everything that had happened to me this year. I had accomplished a lot this year, but I still had a ton of things that I needed to accomplish. Hopefully, this trial would help me prepare for what was coming. Thankfully, I still had years to get ready.

The closer we got to London, the more I got excited. I couldn't wait to see my family, although part of me missed Hogwarts and couldn't wait to return. Hopefully, my second year would involve a less life-threatening situation.

When we arrived at the station, I had expected another embarrassing welcome, but only my father was here. At first, I was relieved until he told me that mom was waiting for me at home, and his voice indicated that she was not pleased.

As we left the station, I cracked my neck in anticipation, it had been too long since my mom and I had engaged in one of our infamous verbal sparring matches. I would need to prepare my arguments if I wanted to obtain victory.