Chapter 2: Harry's Journey to Control Emotions

For Harry, next few days passed quickly as he threw himself in his extracurricular studies once more, doing his best to sharpen his mental abilities. With his accidental discovery of manipulating emotions, those skills were too important to ignore, and not only because it gave him the ability to strike back against the people around him, but also he could see its possible applications in the combat territory. A rush of unfounded confidence or a flood of panic could be the distinction between victory and failure.

The other thing that occupied his attention was Hermione. Her attempts to act like nothing had happened was quite enjoyable, especially with the way she occasionally blushed without an apparent reason, trying to keep her gaze away from his waist level. Harry did his best to act naturally, allowing her to come to terms with it, not because he was feeling generous, but because pushing her at that stage would be counterproductive.

Instead, he did his best to ignore Umbridge's and Malfoy's attempts to enrage him. He wasn't afraid of detentions or point-loss, but he wanted Hermione to believe that her 'assistance' had a positive impact on his anger management. Though he was careful to keep his mood shift limited to two days. There was no point making Hermione's job easier, after all. Not after all the things she had done this year, treating him like a toy to be manipulated.

It was the reason he was currently on feet during the defense class, describing the similarities between a pink frog and Umbridge after her off-hand remark about Hagrid. "Detention, Potter!" she shouted, for once her patronizing, ugly smirk absent. It was a surprise to discover that occlumency also helped him to come up with better insults. Keeping a cool head helped him to bring his creativity much more. He couldn't wait to use those skills against the ugly bat that claimed to be a potions professor.

A minute later, Umbridge dismissed the class. Harry was the first to rush out of the classroom, sparing a glance to check whether Hermione following her. "Good," he murmured when he made sure it was the case. He moved through the corridors at a quick pace, enough to prevent Hermione from catching up before he arrived at one of the sections of the castle that were practically deserted.

"Harry, wait up," Hermione shouted. Harry ignored, instead stepped inside a classroom, his wand already in hand, establishing a temporary ward over the room. He had been impressed with the impact of the spell he used on Hermione a few days ago, but he was aware that catching her with a direct spell was a risky move, so he looked for alternatives. Another visit to the restricted section, and he discovered a way to saturate a ward with his desired effect. Unfortunately, it wasn't something with a lot of practical applications, a medium-power spell enough to destabilize the spell matrix, but it was perfect for his purposes.

He had just finished establishing the confundus ward, a bit stronger than the underpowered variant he used on her earlier, but still quite weak, when the door swung open and she stepped inside. He was barely able to hide his wand. "You are supposed to keep your temper in check," Hermione managed to say as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I know," Harry said, trying to sound regretful. "I tried, but her repeated insults against Hagrid was too much."

Hermione sighed even as she pulled a seat close. "Harry, what are you going to do. You cannot continue to antagonize her."

He suppressed a desire to lash out angrily, looking thoughtful instead. "I'm doing my best, and I was really successful for the last two days, but it seems like my anger is back in its place today."

Hermione was smart enough to catch the implications of the timeline, something Harry was able to ascertain without delving into her mind, clued by the deep blush invading her face once more. "Umm, have you repeated… the thing I taught you?" she managed to murmur, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I tried," Harry said dismissively. "But somehow, it didn't give the same effect when I was alone." He didn't know whether to laugh or get angry when Hermione nodded, showing that she believed his ridiculous excuse instantly. It was convenient for his purpose, but it was annoying to see the proof of her low opinion about him like he was stupid enough to fail masturbation. Even with the confundus ward, it should have been a tall lie to sell, but she believed it without a blink.

But he shrugged dismissively as her emotional conflict pushed itself to the surface once more. Her apparent dismissal of his abilities paled against the possibility of receiving another hand job. "I see," she murmured. "Harry, you need to try more. With Dumbledore gone, there is no one left to protect you against Umbridge. You need to keep calm and stop provoking her."

It was a struggle to keep the sneer off his face. It wasn't like that Dumbledore did anything to actually protect him when he was here. He might have missed the significance of many of the events that happened to him when he was a student, but going over them once again with the help of the occlumency, he could see that neither the teachers nor Dumbledore did anything to actually protect him, preferring to sit on their thumbs and dawdle. Not when there was a deadly basilisk roaming the corridors, nor when he had been conscripted to a deadly tournament in an obvious conspiracy. Even more, they were perfectly willing to convert the school to a trap to Voldemort, uncaring of the potential consequences, like Hermione almost become in the hands of a troll. "I know, Hermione," Harry chose to say after a brief struggle. "I'm doing my best, but it's simply not working."

She nodded. "Have you tried to use some kind of aid. Maybe some magazines? I don't think the magical world has them, but maybe some of the boys had acquired them from the muggle world."

"Too risky. Can you imagine the disaster if Umbridge catches me with something like that."

Hermione nodded. "Good point. It would be a disaster." She stopped for a minute. "But how are we going to solve the situation."

"Maybe you can help me once more?" Harry said enthusiastically, then he turned his expression to dejection before she could verbalize her answer. "Forget it. I can't ask you to do something like that. It's too much." Emotional abuse was helpful even without the ability to artificially manipulate her emotions. He should know, as he had been an easy target for it all his life until his enlightenment through Occlumency. Harry made sure to look her into her eyes before sending a mental probe, reading her emotions, a mixture of shock and pity, underlined with a dose of arousal, and a distinct lack of suspicion thanks to the ward he had established. A bit complicated to work, but he grasped her emotions the best he could, reducing her shock and enhancing her arousal.

He wasn't able to do anything other than changing the intensity of her different emotions, but a little less shock and a little more arousal was enough to change her answer. Instead of a decisive no, he received an undecided silence, which turned into a reluctant nod after he gazed at her with his best puppy-eyes effect. "You're a good friend, Hermione," Harry said as he hugged her without a warning, his arms wrapped tight around her waist. She stiffened in shock for a moment, but her arms wrapped around him reciprocally thanks to her buffed up arousal.

Harry pulled away from the hug a few seconds later, and reached for his belt, ignoring the blush that spread on Hermione's face as he pulled his pants and underwear, revealing his shaft, already half-erect in anticipation. Hermione was about to take a step towards him when he raised his hand, arresting her movement. "Is something wrong, Harry?"

He smiled in a fake shyness. "I thought maybe I could try to do it by myself."

She looked confused, and more importantly for him, with a flicker of disappointment mixed in. "Why did you ask me here then?"

"When I say myself, I don't mean without your help completely. I think it might work if you provide me with some visual assistance."

Hermione blushed as the implications hit her. She looked hesitant. "I don't know, Harry. Maybe it's too much." Harry said nothing, just pointed to his shaft, which was currently in display, and enhanced her arousal with another legimency probe. "But-" she murmured, trying to build up a counter-argument, but Harry could see that her resistance required one last push before crumbling, so he cut her off before she could utter the second word.

"Come on, Hermione, we're friends, right? And it's certainly not wrong since you have no problem looking at my cock for the last few minutes."

A blush spread through her face, surprised that her lingering glances towards him hadn't gone unnoticed. She sighed resignedly, but Harry ignored her display of passiveness in lieu of paying attention to her fingers, which were busy untying her robe. Moreover, her physical displays were not exactly confusing when he could easily read her mood through magical means. Her arousal had been rising rapidly even before Harry gave a small push towards the right direction.

After that, her arousal finally past the limits she could hide. Her lips were parted slightly to allow the passage of her quickening breath, attractively wet due to the courtesy of her tongue darting out occasionally to prevent dryness. Harry couldn't wait for those lips to wrap around his girth in an attempt to bring him to climax, unfortunately, there was still a bit time for that, so Harry shelved that particular image in lieu of focusing on the fact that her robe meeting with the ground, revealing the skirt and the blouse she was wearing underneath, both unattractively shapeless.

The movement of her fingers slowed when it came to her shirt, which would have been enjoyable to watch if she had been delaying her actions with a sense of erotic anticipation rather than boring shyness, so he decided to solve it. He tapped his foot, reinforcing the sign of impatience with a sharp stab of legimency, triggering her guilt. Her eyes widened in shock even as her fingers quickened over the buttons of her shirt, enough to get rid of her shirt in a couple of seconds, her skirt following a moment later, leaving her in a set plain underwear, hadn't made any better by the thick pantyhose she was wearing.

But Harry didn't have any time to lament about the ugliness of her underwear, more interested in her extreme response. Her reaction had been much stronger than he had expected compared to the power he had put behind it. He looked into her eyes, and pushed another probe into her mind, this time to discover the reason of impact.

The findings were interesting. As far as he could see, her mind interpreted the guilt in the form she was most familiar with, one resulting from the disappointment of an authority figure. It was overwhelming because respect to authority figures was a core tenet of her personality. Enough to ignore her friend for the most of the summer after he had been tortured and mutilated, not to mention used in the resurrection ritual of the scariest wizard of the near history who then declared him as his nemesis, all just because a bearded asshole asked nicely. Extremely annoying in the normal conditions, but Harry was not above abusing it to his own benefit, not that it meant much after all the things he had done.

"Good," he said, pushing a small feeling of satisfaction to support the one she was already feeling, and a smile erased her previously panicked expression, though it wasn't able to survive his next words. "Now, the bra," he said even as he wrapped his fingers around his shaft, starting to pump gently as it pushed towards the full erection despite his occlumency.

She looked hesitant, edging towards not removing when Harry sent another flare of guilt through her mind. Her arms rose unbidden, her eagerness to please overcoming her rationality, and after a brief struggle, her bra suffered the same fate as her other clothes, revealing the first pair of real tits Harry had ever seen. And they were spectacular, easily rivaling the ones he had seen in the magazines. They were big enough to almost fill his palms, shaped beautifully without any hint of sagging. Her nipples, surrounded with small pink areolas, begged him to take them between his lips. Following that, she pushed down her pantyhose, allowing him to enjoy the sight of her legs without obstruction. His hand quickened its pace over his shaft as he enjoyed the sight, while the other made a gesture below her waist, reminding her that there was still one piece that needed to be removed.

"Harry," she murmured, her voice filled with conflict, even the last dose of guilt not enough to convince her to go forward with removing her panties.

He briefly considered merits of triggering another wave of guilt in her mind, but then, he chose to hold his hand. While the idea of seeing in her full glory was tempting, his manipulation technique was purely experimental. He didn't know whether he was risking to destroy all the gains he made by pushing her further, not to mention there were more important risks such as damaging her mind permanently.

He decided to act conservatively. "Okay," he said, trying to sound like a teacher that was agreeing with the student's proposal, not because it was a good idea but he was bored of her irrational arguments. The tone almost worked. Hermione's hands hovered around her panties for a second, boosting his hopes that she was about to push forward, but her shame turned out to be stronger than her desire to please what she had seen as an authority figure, and they fell on her sides once more. "Walk a bit closer at least."

Anxious to fix what she had seen as a mistake, she took several steps, until they were just three feet away. It was much better than earlier, but he wanted her even closer, so he pointed at the desk next to the one he was sitting. Her steps were much slower this time, but nevertheless, she followed his direction and sat down next to him. "Is this okay?" she asked, her voice trembling, but a peek into her mind showed that arousal played no small part in that.

"Much better," he said generously, and a large smile bloomed on her face. He loosened his grip around his girth and slowed down the pace, as even with the occlumency, it was hard to restrain from cumming, not when a spectacular pair of breasts were in reaching distance, begging for his attention.

He let a minute to pass in silence, then used his free hand to grasp her breast. "Harry!" she exclaimed, caught flatfooted with the sudden movement, but giving no indication that she was about to forcibly pull back.

"What," he answered in a flat tone even as he squeezed her tantalizing flesh. "It's only fair, right?"

"What fairness!" she said, the second word coming much louder as he squeezed her breast harder.

"The last time, you played with mine, so I'm playing with yours this time," he explained, avoiding the fact that he was the one that asked her to do so in the first place. Her mouth opened, about to raise that subject, but Harry had a good way of preventing it. His fingers shifted place, capturing her nipple between them. He squeezed, enhancing the sensation of pleasure with another mental push, turning her words into a surprised moan that echoed between the walls. "Careful Hermione, we don't want someone to hear the noise and pay a visit," he said, unable to prevent a smirk from invading his face. Thankfully, Hermione was too distracted by her own reaction to notice.

She looked alarmed at the prospect of getting caught at that state, which had the added benefit of silencing her for a few seconds, a time he leveraged to sank his fingers deep into the embrace of her supple flesh, careful to reinforce the impression with rushes of pleasure with each repeat. It seemed to work as he desired, as Hermione continued to keep her mouth closed even after overcoming her shock, proving that the pleasure was getting to her as well. Her lips parted open a couple of times, but only to let out muffled moans.

His arousal rising, Harry started to pump his shaft harder as the desire for a climax started to get more and more acute. In his mind, he was playing several scenarios, from ripping her panties off roughly to using her breasts to relieve himself after pushing her on her knees. But his desire to play safe was stronger. After all, she was always around. There was no need for hurrying when he could enjoy each stage to their full extent.

Still, that didn't mean he was willing to finish it without a bit of mischievousness. He pointed his shaft to her midsection before exclaiming. "I'm here!"

She looked relaxed for a second, happy that her ordeal was finally over, then noticed where his shaft was pointing towards. "Harry, no!" she shouted, but it was too late, as the first droplets were already soaring towards her, and Harry intended the rest to follow the same path. Soon, despite her desires, her stomach was covered by his seed, and a considerable amount landing on her panties.

"Sorry, Hermione," Harry said sheepishly. Or more accurately, trying to look sheepish, but unable to suppress his smugness as the male joy of covering a sexy female with his seed filled his veins. "Let me help cleaning," he said, and reached for his wand, conjuring a napkin before leaning towards her body. Before she could even understand what he was doing, he was already at her belly, giving a cursory wipe before moving to her panties, and started to caress her clit, barely bothering to act like he was cleaning.

"Harrr-YYY!" she tried to say only to collapse into another cry as he teased her clit mercilessly while boosting the sensation with his mental skills once more. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to push her into a climax, but the rush of pleasure he was able to attain was still better than he could have reasonably expected.

He pulled back. "Sorry Hermione," he said. "You're all clean now."

"It's okay," Hermione said after a moment's indecision. It was far from okay, of course, but her mind addled with a mixture of guilt and pleasure, she wasn't in a position to articulate, or even process, why it was not exactly okay.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said. "You're really my best friend." A statement that would have been more sincere if one of his hands weren't still around his shaft, caressing it idly as his eyes explored Hermione's body. "I better go before someone finds us. See you in the common room."

"See you," Hermione mumbled as Harry quickly dressed and left. A persistent smile was on Harry's lips as he closed the door and left her alone in the classroom, his mind already turned to next problem, the best way to learn the limits of his new power.