5 ch 5

Fleur awoke to the sun's rays shining through the windows. Her neck ached and her lips were swollen as her head lifted from its position. It took her a moment to realize what happened the night before.

She could remember it all clearly, how they had left the ball early because she was uncomfortable, their walk through the grounds outside, and then their romantic finish to the night. I fell asleep on his chest. The way he kissed her, easily more skilled than any other. She didn't have but two others to compare it to but he outstripped them by lightyears.

I didn't even know who he was a month before. The cute red-head attached to her competitions hip. And then he told her what the first task was, before even her headmistress had. No doubt the other red-headed dragon handler was the reason for his knowledge.

Now she was confused, she had never been attracted to any of the boys at Beauxbatons, especially none that were younger than her. But here she was, trying to wade through foreign feelings for a boy three years her junior.

He doesn't feel my allure. Was one of the first thoughts she ever had about the boy. She still remembered the way the great hall hushed as her and her friends walked in, all the boys staring. Then out of nowhere a voice carried across the room. "Harry!"

Her head whipped around to the voice and found that he and his friend weren't affected at all by the passive allure. He wasn't the first one she had ever come across, but normally they were powerful and learned wizards. He was just a school boy, yet he didn't feel even the slightest touch, even the aurors felt it a little.

It shouldn't have bothered her so much but as they ate breakfast she kept catching his eye from across the room before she would look away shyly, he just stared like he had no shame. It wasn't even the normal glassy eye stare either, it was an intense gaze. Then he stood up and walked straight to her, keeping eye contact the whole time and leaned in. "The first task ...dragons." Then he walked away without any warning, or cheesy pick up line. He never tried to gain her attention once.

"Wait!" Her voice spoke without her realizing. "What is your name?"

"Ron Weasley." He said and the name burned itself into her memory.

The next time she saw him was a month later at the entrance of the medical tent after her task. She was walking with her family as they congratulated her on her performance.

She saw him talking with the Potter boy and had a mischievous thought, a way to pay him back for the last time in the hall. He got the best of her last time but not this one.

She walked straight up to him and took it a step further. She grabbed his wand arm as she leaned in and put her lips right next to his ear, then only whispered. "Thanks." Then abruptly left, not giving him a chance to respond.

"Let's celebrate." She heard as she rejoined her family.

It was her father's eyes that told her that she may have not won that battle like she thought she did. She'd had to answer questions about a boy for the first time in her life.

After that she would see him in the great hall as she started taking her dinners with the rest of the schools. Never did he approach her, not even after the Yule ball was announced. She had denied countless of suitable dates waiting on him. She knew he was interested, his eyes always found hers and then he would smirk like he knew something everyone else didn't.

She got tired of waiting, Fleur Delacour doesn't wait on others, she gets what she wants. And why shouldn't she. Top of her class since her start at Beauxbatons, chosen representative of the school in a legendary tournament against the countries best, and a beautiful woman on top of that. So why did she ask him to leave his friends so she could ask him. So I wouldn't get rejected in front of everyone. Her mind supplied. She didn't have to worry about that as he accepted.

She definitely won that interaction, his face was priceless, obviously not expecting her to ask him. It actually made sense why he didn't ask her, what normal fourteen year old had a chance with a beautiful woman older than him. But he's not a normal fourteen year old, he feels even older than me.

And then there was the fact that he didn't react to the full amount of her allure, nor did he even flinch at the sight of her transformation. He just stared with his intense eyes. Eyes that were so light blue they seemed almost white. A complete different shade than her deep blue eyes.

A spike of pain pierced her head as the sun interrupted her thinking, a result from the wine the night before. She decided to stop thinking and enjoy the moment as the room responded to her wishes. Blinds covered the window, throwing the room back into darkness as the seat they were on turned into a bed and she laid her head back on his chest. Pillows surrounded them and he adjusted to them as his arm dropped to her waist and pulled her closer in his sleep.

I woke up to a room that was so dark it was almost pitch black, and I couldn't feel his left arm. The scent of vanilla clung to me as I lifted me head and realized where he was. We fell asleep. Weren't we in a chair and not a bed?

My faithful wand shot into his right hand as he cast a quick tempus quietly. It was nearly eleven in the morning the day after the yule ball. It's a good thing it's the winter break or I would have slept in. I thought as I pondered the pros and cons to waking my beautiful date up.

I quickly cast a spell to clean my mouth and teeth as I waited for my morning problem to calm himself. Once I had control over my own body again the shades flew open under my command as I took control of the room.

Immediately a groan filled the air as she snuggled her head deeper into my side. "Cinq minutes de plus." She said. I didn't say anything, instead I took in the undeniably cute scene without complaint.

She shot up as she realized the position she was in. We met eyes. "Goodmorning." I said deciding to start.

"You're cruel." She said shielding her eyes.

I shook my arm out trying to get blood flow back to the appendage before I responded. "At least I make a good pillow." I said teasingly.

She wasn't embarrassed at all, no blush or anything. "And a good kisser too." She responded as she stretched out the kinks from the romantic but undeniably uncomfortable position.

I just smiled and took in the sight of her form still in her dress, although much more wrinkled than last night. She decided that it was a good time to lean in again.

Our lips met more tenderly than last night, instead of raw passion, it was caring. "It's eleven. Do you have anywhere to be?" I asked distracting us.

She seemed to panic for a second before calming. "My portkey is at noon today." She answered.

"You better go get ready then." I said as I got out of the bed. "Do you remember how to get down?" I asked.

"We are at the top yes? Just go down." She answered as she got out of the bed.

I only nodded and followed her as she moved to the door in the room. "Would you like an escort?" I asked.

"Non, no offense but I don't want people to see me like this." She said with an apologetic face.

"I don't blame you, but there's bound to be students down there, I'm not sure you'll be able to avoid being seen." I responded not offended at all at her suggestion, it was better for both of us if students didn't gossip.

She only smiled in response and raised her wand to the tip of her head. She sent me a wink as it connected with her scalp and suddenly she was invisible.

Disillusionment charm. I thought as she cast the spell.

The door opened but before the ripples in the air left I felt her hand grab my neck and then her lips were on mine for a brief moment. "I will see you soon, yes?" She said.

"Of course." I responded.

Then she was gone.

As soon as I showered and changed into normal robes I went down to the great hall to grab lunch before continuing my training.

I found Harry and Hermione having a conversation with Draco and his goons. As soon as I walked up, Draco handed them a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"What's it about?" I asked as I made my presence known.

Draco turned to me and as soon as he noticed it was me his face turned into a frown. It was the same face he made when he was about to spit out something racist. "Your half-breed friend Hagrid has been outed as a giant and has fled the school."

"Watch your mouth Draco." I said as my face hardened.

He smiled wickedly. "And why should I? Oh yea you have a taste for half-breeds don't you?" He goaded.

"Leave, before I ruin that pretty face that your mother gave you." I said threatening him and using a classic of schoolyard taunts, yo momma jokes.

Harry and Hermione both laughed at the comment. Draco and his goons, whose names were escaping me turned their bodies aggressively and fully giving me their attention.

My wand found its way into my hand almost subconsciously and my magic rolled beneath my skin, ready to be unleashed.

Neither of us moved as they took notice of my quick draw. Instead Malfoy did exactly what I expected of him. "My father will hear of this."

I actually laughed as I heard this. It's even more ridiculous than the movies.

"Great job mate." Harry said as I sat down and started filling my plate.

"He's a twat." I said in response.

"Language Ronald." Hermione said scandalously. Even Harry looked at me weirdly for my language.

"How was everyone's night last night?" I asked wondering what they got up to.

"Went back down to the chamber again about when you and Fleur left." He said as if he had something to tell me.

"Again?" Hermione asked obviously not knowing of our trip.

"Yea we went down there and found a hidden study designed almost exactly like Dumbledore's office. There was a library and a desk and everything." Harry answered.

"Find anything interesting?" I asked deciding to ignore her for now.

"Yea there are even some books on parseltongue spells, most of them are healing, which I don't understand." He said.

"Well the snake has always been a symbol for healing in the past." Hermione supplied for us.

"Did you do anything about the basilisk corpse?" I asked.

"Not yet, the goblins said they could only help in the selling of the different parts of the corpse, not the actual harvesting of it. In fact they offered to buy the whole lot if I could preserve everything properly." He finished.

"Did they give you a figure?" I asked pryingly before I could stop myself. "Sorry that's a bit personal, you don't have to tell me."

"No it's fine, I was going to tell you anyway. They said two hundred thousand galleons…" He whispered the last part.

Hermione's jaw dropped and I stopped mid-bite of a piece of chicken. "What?!"

"Well they said it was only an estimation based on the rough description I gave." Harry cut in before we could start firing off questions.

"So we need to learn how to harvest a basilisk." I said wrapping my mind around the large sum. It would transfer into roughly a million U.S. dollars, I had no clue about pounds since my last life was american and wizards didn't care about muggle currency. I was going based off of the value of gold.

"You want to?" He asked confused.

"You don't?" Hermione and I asked at the same time.

"Well I kind of gave up on it since I don't know where to start. Plus I have no time with the tournament and everything I have going on." Harry said seriously.

"Mate, I don't think you understand how much money that is being wasted." I said in response.

"Yea Harry, that is a lot of money." Hermione chipped in.

"Well I don't really need money. Gringotts also sent me my yearly audit of my bank accounts, since I am technically an adult for the duration of the tournament. The Potter's are very well off." He said eventually.

He seemed guilty at telling me, no doubt thinking that I would be jealous. The old Ron certainly would have but I was no longer the old Ron.

"That's good news!" I said excitedly. Thank Merlin James didn't bankrupt the Potters like in so many fanfictions I used to read.

His face changed from apprehensive to happy when he reacted to my response.

"I guess we could just go destroy the corpse then yea?" I said as we all finished our lunch.

"Well, why don't you just do it Ron?" Harry said after thinking it over. "You said it yourself, it would be a terrible waste of money and well ...you and your family could really use it."

My heart leaped with joy as the conversation finally led the direction that I wanted it to go. After the joy, the guilt set in. I felt an immense amount of guilt pull on my conscience at the realization of what I was doing. I decided to back out before I could go any further.

"I would love to, but I have no right. You killed the basilisk, it should be yours." I finished, my conscience winning the battle going on inside my brain.

"Just split it." Hermione supplied. At our questioning looks she continued. "It's Harry's by right but Ron would do all the work of harvesting it. This way you work for it and Harry still gets his cut." She continued as if we were both completely void of intelligence.

I looked at Harry after she finished. "Works for me." I said with a grin.

"Deal. I'll mail them to see if they can supply the containers." Harry said thinking ahead.

We finished eating in relative silence. Before I got up to leave, I took pity on Harry because he obviously hadn't figured out the clue to the second task.

"Harry, did you know that when mermish is spoke above water, it sounds like screeching? But when it's submerged in water, it's really beautiful?" I said.

His face took on a look of confusion. "What are…" He started before it clicked. "The egg." He finally said looking at me.

I gave him a wink before I walked out of the great hall.

When I got back to the Room after the events of the day I finally started on a subject that I had been waiting a long time to try my hand at.

Occlumency.

I sat down at the desk and a copy of Guide to Advance Occlumency by Maxwell Barnett landed on the desk.

I read through it quite quickly and it didn't say anything that I didn't already know from the books and movies. The most common practice is to clear ones mind when they feel an intruder. It described the advanced method of trying to trick your intruder by giving them false feelings also but it wasn't what I was looking for.

I closed the book and set it down when the room took pity on me and another tome dropped out of the sky. This book was much smaller and, just like the other books that had helped me so much, didn't have a name on the outside of it.

I flipped to the first page and the title read The Mind Palace by Gellert Grindelwald. This was the first book of his that actually had his name under the title.

That brought up the memory from the last time he was brought a mind boggling discovery on casting. Will this be much of the same?

It was well known that Grindelwald published many papers and held many masteries. He is hailed as one of the most learned wizards of all time, along with being one of the most dangerous dark lords of all time. I personally don't trust what the history books say. I think he is way more dangerous than Voldemort ever was or will be.

Grindelwald was in no way a nice man, he was a dragon amongst sheep. He killed and manipulated the world into the only known wizarding world war, while also instigating the second muggle equivalent. But at the end of the day he failed. His campaign would never have succeeded regardless of if Dumbledore stepped in. Dumbledore only sped up the process in the duel that is hailed as 'the greatest wizarding duel ever'.

Voldemort was a glorified terrorist but he was a smart terrorist. The reason why Voldemort is considered more dangerous is because he got closer to succeeding in taking over, he won over most of the people in charge, and killed those he couldn't. He understood how to control the masses with the media, he just put too much stock in prophecy. He was also one of the best duelers to ever live.

Dumbledore in his prime was said to have complete mastery over the environment around him through transfigurations, giving him a defense that was supposedly unbreachable. Grindelwald was said to be the fastest caster of all time while having absolute control over the elements, completely offensive in nature. Two extremely differing dueling styles. Voldemort seemed to focus solely on the dark arts, throwing around AK's and other extremely taxing spells without difficulty. This is probably why he's hailed as the most dangerous dark lord of all time, indiscriminate killing and obviously dark spells. Grindelwald almost never used the killing curse in duels, he preferred to destroy them with skill and not overwhelming power.

Everyone considered Dumbledore to be too much of a match for Voldemort even in his old age, but Dumbledore barely defeated Grindelwald in his prime. This is the reason I consider Grindelwald more dangerous than Voldemort.

I've done a lot of thinking on whether or not I should be learning from such a notorious dark lord. My final decision was that I would continue to do so with the confidence that I could not be corrupted through a book. I am too mentally mature to think about world domination or making muggles our slaves.

It is up to the person to determine what he does with the knowledge, it is not the knowledge that makes him do it. Summed it up pretty well.

With my mind made up, I turned to the first page and began reading.

The mind arts are some of the most advanced pieces of magic that can be practiced. Legilimency, the art of penetrating another mind, and Occlumency, the art of organizing and defending your mind.

Occlumency is ,without a doubt, the most important of the two branches. The art of organizing your thoughts has also became a sort of stepping stone for the most influential wizards and witches of all time. The list of notable true masters of the minds arts are Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Merlin himself, etc. The list could go on and on.

While legilimency's use is unquestionable, it does not boost memory in the user, nor does it improve speeds in which the user thinks. Occlumency, in my opinion, is what truly has helped me become as respected as I am.

There are different levels to the art. The most basic is just the clearing of your mind when you feel an intrusion and provides almost no benefit beyond the most basic of defenses. The next level allows one to project false images at an attacker and is no doubt useful.

The truth is that most practitioners stop here and do not continue to master the art. These are just the requirements needed to even begin the true art of organizing your mind and enter one's mind palace.

The mind palace is truly one of the most marvelous pieces of magic wizards ever stumbled on. There is no recorded history of its discovery, it is shrouded in even more mystery then the deathly hallows. Fortunately, we do know how to enter our mind palace. It requires a simple ritual, more specifically a blood ritual. These types of rituals have been banned for as long as anyone can remember, and for good reason.

Luckily this ritual requires only your blood and nothing else, drawn in a specific symbol with your magic acting as the 'fuel', as Muggles like to say. Once this is done, then you will be transported to your mind, your soul, whatever you wish to call it. Once inside, you will have the opportunity to 'organize' your very being.

I will not go into any more details on the subject, not until you master the basics of occlumency. The book will show you the necessary exercises to master your emotions and deceive legilimens. After you have completed and mastered the basics, return to the book, you will find the following pages have changed. The ritual and further instructions will show itself to you once it deems you worthy.

This book has been my finest work of enchantment. I would not try to dismantle the enchantments, you are not ready for the secrets that lay deeper inside.

-Gellert Grindelwald

I set the book down as I pondered the information. No one or nothing I've read has ever mentioned a ritual or a mind palace before when referring occlumency.

I flipped the pages to check the enchantments and to see if anything more about the ritual appeared. Nothing, only exercises on disciplining the mind.

My list of things removed two points and now two more were added. Add harvesting spells and materials and basic occlumency.

Continue training your ass off. Learn magic/dueling/everything. Get back into shape.

Occlumency

Money/basilisk harvest.

Moody.

Stop Voldemort's resurrection.

Well then, I have work to do.