chapter 9
Hogwarts, 1973
A month had passed from the start of the year and Gilderoy had already gotten an idea of where his abilities lie.
He was among the bests in potion, slightly above average in charms, slightly above average in transfiguration, he was quite good at flying and he was good in DADA too as his reflex were well developed.
As for History of magic and astronomy, they were theoretical classes, so he became without a problem the best in them.
For many these results would be very good, but for Gilderoy this was just the start.
During this month he had immersed himself in his mental training and in his mind palace you could already see some sapling growing.
For now, there was one for his writing and one for every subject taught in Hogwarts and they were all growing at a rapid speed, especially thank to a spell that Allanon taught him.
The spell was simple, but since Allanon never created a wand movement or an incantation, it took three weeks for Gilderoy to get it.
Now Gilderoy could copy directly in his mind any content of a book he wanted instantaneously.
The problem is that the knowledge rather than going on his third floor, was deposited on the second one, where he didn't have direct access.
Fortunately thanks to the roots of his trees he could absorb from the second floor said contents and the whole process was a lot faster than reading the book directly.
In addition, according to Allanon, as my skills improve and my trees get bigger, the speed with which the roots absorb knowledge also increases.
"You are improving, but now it is time for you to train your legilimency" said the old Druid as he looked at the disciple, who was admiring the scenery in his mind.
Gilderoy had already started reading legilimency, but for now he was using it mainly on Allanon and Gilderoy felt like a small boat in the sea during a storm, when he was inside his teacher's mind.
He was unable to decide what to look for and till now all he had ever seen inside the druid's mind were memories of trees, mountains and sometimes ancient cities, because this was all that the druid let him see.
Only now Gilderoy truly understood what Allanon meant, when he said that we are vulnerable inside our mind and this applied to other minds too, in fact it is even more dangerous.
The mind palace of Allanon was covered totally by a fog that could make people lose themselves, which affected anyone except him.
Gilderoy got lost many times and sometimes he even forgot why he was there.
Moreover Allanon said that this was only possible because Gilderoy was talented or he would have fallen in despair and forgotten who he was inside that fog.
If this was considered talented just how much difficult it is for normal people to learn legilimency?
Maybe the reason it disappeared isn't just a problem related to the danger and the difficulty needs to be taken in consideration too.
Either way he could now enter the minds of normal children, who hadn't practiced occlumency without a problem.
So, muggles were for now a safe bet to practice, and he had already become good at researching the memories of his victims, thanks to Allanon training.
Noble kids on the other hand, have some notions about occlumency, but many just had the basic defence, which is a simple transparent barrier that blocks people from entering the mind tower.
There were two ways to go over such a barrier, one is being forceful and breaking it, for example, if the spell legilimency is used, this is what would be obtained, but Gilderoy is being trained in being subtle.
Allanon said that these barriers are similar to wards, but they don't need any arithmancy, all you need to do is to use your mental energy to let the barrier think you have the right to access.
It is slower and takes more time, but once you do it once, than it usually gets easier to convince the barrier you are not an external threat.
"Don't forget that this barrier is just the basic, those who also have a mind palace have many other subtle mechanisms for defence, like my fog, and you need to always be prepared. Moreover, as you saw in my mind it takes a little longer to find the memories that interest you inside a mind palace, as the memories are not free to be moved and called, but you need to know their position and look for them" he explained, while touching his beard.
"I want to practice on some other first years again this time" Gilderoy didn't like going inside Allanon's mind, as it made him feel powerless.
"Ok, but pay attention and asks me before attempting it. We don't want you to get found because you entered the mind of someone who achieved some accomplishments in occlumency" admonished Allanon.
"How do you even know if someone has a mental barrier without trying to enter their mind?" Asked Gilderoy.
"By sending a probe, but I want you to have a better control of your mental energy before trying that, you need to be subtle to send a probe strong enough to reach the target barrier, but weak enough to not be felt." He commented as Gilderoy got out of his mind and moved away from the bed, where he was sitting in a lotus position.
When he got up, Aaron and Steven, who were studying on their desks, looked at him with envious glares.
In their eyes, although Gilderoy is the first in class when it comes to theory, he just keeps wasting his time by sitting on his bed with closed eyes all day and they never saw him reading once, but little did they know that during those hours he passed meditating, he was in reality reading faster than any of them.
Gilderoy knew what they felt, or better, he read what they felt.
Sometimes they though he was cheating, while others they envied his talent, that allowed Gilderoy to always know the answer to any question.
Steven lacked any defence when it came to occlumency, while Aaron was just a beginner like all the other noble first-years and although the first time it was a complicated for Gilderoy to enter his mind, now that the mind of his noble roommate got accustomed to Gilderoy presence, it was far easier to trick the barrier.
They had become Gilderoy practice dummies and thanks to them he could know more about what was happening in Hogwarts.
Especially thanks to Aaron who had some rich and noble friends in other houses, with which he could communicate.
After doing his daily check of his roommate's mind Gilderoy left for dinner first.
"I think you should get some hobbies, why don't you join that sport called quidditch?" proposed Allanon.
"I don't want to start this year. First, I want to get better at flying and practice with quidditch a little, then the next year I'll enter the squad and with the abilities I developed I will win the tournament and get glory and praises. Why do you even want me to get a hobby? This would take away some of my training time after all" said Gilderoy.
"Sharing a hobby is a good way to make friends. Differently from what you think, having a friend is something that goes over simple connections. Having someone that look out for you and for whom you care is a great gift. You need some company, or you will become isolated and feel lonely. You are being cut off from society and I fear it would lead to a strong depression in the end. You need to have conversations and maybe learn a little of common sense from them, and if it is said by someone from another era, it means that your lack of it is grave" said the druid preoccupied for his student mental health.
"I can just read their mind, why bother talking? Moreover, there is no one worth enough among the first years for me to seek a friendship with" Gilderoy was still unwilling to be the one, who tries to built up a friendship.
He believes it should be the others who start, after all they should be more interested in this.
"Reading one's mind is just a one-way interaction, while a conversation can let you reason, and trust me, having someone to hang out with can make your day more colourful. If you believe you don't have equals among the first-years you can just look for older students" Allanon's words stuck Gilderoy, who had an epiphany.
No one ever said he should only look for a friend of his age, if he is too intelligent to communicate with eleven years old kids he can just look for an older friend.
It would also not be a problem for him to make the first step when making a friend, if said friend is older, after all one must always respect his elders, and Gilderoy consider himself to be an educated boy.
"Respect your elder? When have you ever respected me" accused Allanon, but Gilderoy was too concentrated to care about his rumblings.
In reality what blocked Gilderoy from searching for some friends was that in his mind he believed others would have considered him as inferior, if he was the one to make the first approach with one of his peers.
It was a useless though for Allanon, but as a mind expert he knew that our fears are not always logical.
"How do I know who I should approach among the older students? If I'm going to do this I want to aim for the best." said Gilderoy, who had just reached the Great Hall and was looking at Ravenclaw's table to decide where to seat.
It was in that precise moment that his gaze fell on a blond witch with glasses, who was writing something on a paper.
Gilderoy immediately approached her and asked Allanon to look at her and find out if she had a mental barrier.
"She does and they are a lot better than your roommate, you are not ready yet and it would take some time to pass her defences, but you can approach her only during meals" said Allanon.
It didn't matter, Gilderoy was a resourceful guy when he wanted something and he already had a plan.
"How about doing an exchange of information?" I proposed to Rita Skeeter, who was sitting on my side.
"It depends on which information you want and what you have to give" she said as she stopped writing.
It wasn't new to her. She had been approached by many people who wanted to sell, exchange, or even give for free an information.
Obviously she never gave any money to them, since right now she is working for free and all she gets form this is experience and maybe the hope that this little project of hers could attract the attention of someone in the Daily Prophet, where she wants to work in the future.
She didn't care if the informer wanted revenge or just some fun, as long as the news is good it doesn't matter.
"I just wants some general information, that is difficult to obtain for a first year like me, but that you surely know. As for the information I'm giving it is related to gossip about our house" said Gilderoy.
"I know practically every couple of our house, how can I know your information is something new. How about speaking first?" She said with a smirk.
"Our sixth-year male prefect is having an affair with Jennifer Brown behind his girlfriend back" stated Gilderoy without hesitation
"How do I know you are saying the truth?" she asked.
"Do you remember that time when a little guy called Steven held you back from entering a corridor?" He paused for a moment and waited for that memory to come back before going on.
"He was acting under the prefect order. Steven helps him with this things in exchange for some help in his studies" obviously Gilderoy got this information from Steven's mind.
"I'll check it. You didn't hesitate to tell me the news. Are you not scared I won't answer your question now?" she asked, while taking notes about what Gilderoy told her.
"I'm good in these kinds of things and if you were to not keep your world you will be the one to lose a good informer" he indeed was better than anyone else in finding information, since he could dig others minds.
"Ok little guy. Tells me your question now" She prompted him.
"I want to know who the most capable student in Hogwarts are?" asked Gilderoy eager to know the answer.
"There is no ranking, but in my opinion the most talented are certainly Pandora Fox from Ravenclaw, who you already know, Alice Griffith from Hufflepuff, Severus Snape from Slytherin and Lily Evans from Gryffindor. Since you trusted me earlier, I'll reward you with some more information about them."
(I should start updating more chapters now)