Horcrux and the Mind Arts

Chapter 24 –

After a lot of tomfoolery and overall merriment by Harry, Nathan, and Jeremy who had arrived over the weekend, Harry Potter had finally spent all his energy. He had promptly plopped down in the spare bedroom Jolene had prepared for him, while Nathan bade Jeremy goodbye for the rest of the summer.

The Summer was close to its end anyway, and Nathan and Jolene were going to spend the rest of it in Kamar Taj, having informed their friends that they would be taking a trip to Nepal and China.

But, prior to that, Nathan had one last request of Sirius. He found the man sitting in The Abode's living room, having enjoyed his stay at the mountainside home.

"Sirius, do you know how I can acquire a house-elf?" He asked as he approached the older wizard, who was lazily reading the non-magical newspaper. Glancing at the headline that he was reading, Nathan read 'King Vladimir Vassily Gonereo Tristian Mangegi Fortunov exiles Romani refugees and mandates temporary detention of all Romani people from the Kingdom of Latveria'.

Sirius sighed as he closed the paper and said "Looking at the larger muggle history, it's not so different from what we had here. Even in the muggle world, people are discriminated against based on differences in skin, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and so many different things. Wherever we go, we end up finding a way to hate each other. All these Romani people will have nowhere to go. Even in this paper, their plight has been pushed back to the eighteenth page, with the front page being all about a tax increase, on imported goods."

Nathan sat opposite him and said, "Well, in time, I intend to help a lot of people, but I think we should start with problems at home first, and then focus on the larger international issues."

Sirius shook his head, still lamenting over the loss of innocent lives displaced due to a dictator's greed and cruelty, before coming back to the reason Nathan had come to him. "Anyway, House-elves, well to get a house-elf, you once again need to understand, that they don't sell house elves to muggle-borns and half-bloods. To get one, you have to again, go through a pureblood middleman, which in your case would be me. Thinking about it, I do have a house-elf, back in Grimmauld Place, don't know if he's still alive. But, he's a nasty little bugger, mind you. I have no reason to keep him, and if you can make him cooperate with you, he hates muggle-borns and half-bloods, then I can give him to you for free."

That was perfect, if Nathan could get in touch with Kreacher, he could get the Horcrux in his possession, and through its destruction, he could get Kreacher's loyalty.

"That would be lovely, don't worry about him cooperating, I have a feeling he will at the very least like my mum, if not me." Nathan said.

"Well, if you're sure, I could try calling on him, I don't know if he can show up through the wards here, or whether he will respond to my call." Sirius informed him before he said in a strong voice "Kreacher!"

For a couple of seconds, nothing happened, and Nathan thought he couldn't get in through the wards, which was comforting, but then there was a sudden pop, and a raggedy old house-elf with a long hooked nose, and droopy eyes popped into the living room of The Abode.

"Filthy master called Kreacher! In a filthy Muggle house no less. Oh, poor mistress would be so displeased. Yes, she will-" The elf's tirade was cut off.

"Shut up! Kreacher! You will not say another word, and you will stay where you are!" Sirius ordered as he approached the elf, and then he grumbled "I forgot how much I hated the little shit."

The elf stood stock still as he watched on with disdain and displeasure written over his face.

Sirius looked to Nathan, "Are you sure you want this one? I could try getting you a better elf from Knockturn"

Nathan shook his head and said, "No, he will be fine."

Sirius shrugged and said "Well, if you're sure! Kreacher, Nathan Frye is your new master! You are no longer an elf of the black family."

The house elf's face betrayed his anger and shock, as Nathan felt his magic establish a rudimentary connection with the diminutive house elf. He could feel that Kreacher was about to do something with the magic he had started siphoning from him and quickly said "Stop! Do not move or do any magic!"

His words had an instantaneous effect on the little creature, and Nathan felt a wave of guilt pass through him, but he soldiered on. He looked to Sirius and said "Thank you, I will talk to Kreacher and inform him of his duties, I will see how I can make him cooperate willingly. Using the connection that I have established, is a little distasteful."

Sirius just shrugged and said, "Suit yourself, though be wary of him, he is a spiteful little shit."

Nathan nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will." And then he looked at the elf who was grumbling insults under his breath, sporting a thunderous expression on his face, and Nathan mustered all the steel he could in his voice and said "Follow me."

Giving a final nod in gratitude to Sirius, Nathan led the elf to his room. He quickly locked the door and applied all the privacy charms he could think of.

Looking back at the elf, he decided to be as straight to the point as he could be, to alleviate the elf's pain. "I know of your old master Regulus' mission. I can probably destroy the vile locket. I want you to bring it to me."

Kreacher who had been sporting a thunderous expression on his face was taken aback. He looked at his new mudblood master and spoke with disbelief and suspicion "Nasty master knows of poor master Regulus' locket? Kreacher doesn't know how? Nasty filthy master be trying to steal from the blacks! Poor mistress will be angry! But nasty master says he can destroy-"

Nathan cut off his tirade and ordered more forcefully "Kreacher! Locket, Now!"

Despite his hesitance, Kreacher was forced to comply. He quickly popped out of the Abode and within a minute he was back, clutching a transparent box with the shining silver locket inside of it. Nathan could already feel the presence of magic centered on the locket. He reached out to grab the box, but Kreacher took a few steps away from him.

Nathan sighed seeing the reaction, he kneeled down in front of the elf and said "Don't worry. I will have it taken care of as soon as I can. You can secure it, in this home till then, how about that? I won't take the locket away from you, and I promise to destroy it, with you present to witness it. Deal?"

Kreacher hesitantly nodded and croaked "Kreacher thinks that filthy mudblood master will lie to him, but Kreacher will obey. Oh, to be serving a mudblood, Kreacher is a disgrace. He is."

Nathan sighed yet again hearing that. He would have to expedite his plans and find a way to destroy the Horcrux without using something drastic like the killing curse. He could attempt to use astral projection on the little disgusting thing, and separate the soul from the locket, but his control over soul magic and astral projection were hazy at best. He would wait to destroy the locket till he reached Hogwarts, for his second year.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOo

"Telepathy, or the art of reading minds, is a very complex process. It is approached by different practitioners differently. Psionic energy is generally what governs the art of mind-reading, and for some of our new disciples despite what wizards like to claim, even Legilimency, which admittedly utilizes dilute volumes of the psionic energy, still uses it to enable mind reading. Now, in your practice of astral projections, you are projecting your entire being, your soul into the astral plane. With telepathy, you are using psionic energy to access the stray thoughts that are present in the astral plane. Every thought that a telepath gains access to, is through the astral plane. In the case of the wizards here, It is your very magic, that duplicates the frequency of psionic energy which then access the astral plain to read minds. Eye contact is generally believed to be necessary due to the eyes being direct leak points of thoughts to the plane itself, but that is only because the telepath has limited control over his psionic energy. The interesting aspect of the magical version of the art is that it is not hindered by psionic energy's main weakness, aluminum." Master Hamur explained to his disciples, of which Nathan and Jolene were a part.

He had completed the day's morning katas and the theory portion of the mind arts segment was about to end. He had been excited to start practicing the mind arts. He had held off previously due to his fear of accidentally messing with some innocent person's mind and potentially causing them harm.

"Now, as you all are new to the mind arts, we have decided to form groups of six, with one master to guide them. Follow this list and approach the master that you have been allocated." The old master said as he conjured eldritch writings in English with a list of names in groups under designated masters.

Nathan noticed that his name was peculiarly absent on the list, while his mum had been allotted to train under Master Hamur himself. He approached the aged old master and said "Excuse me, master. My name isn't on the list."

"And that is by design. Due to your peculiar natural mind defense, The Ancient One herself will guide you through the process. You know where her chamber is." He said dismissing him.

Nathan thought he should have guessed that his mental defense would be noticed at some point, but he hadn't expected to need special training to learn to read minds because of it. He made his way, into the monastery toward the room where the fragrance of honeyed tea was the most strong.

He knocked on the door, and upon hearing the soft mutter of 'Come in!' he opened the door.

He walked in and saw that the Ancient One was sitting on the Zafu, on the floor with tea in her hand as she read through a dusty tome of magic. But Nathan was sure that he saw a hint of a graphic design with a peculiar comic logo 'Fabulous Five issue #5' on the inside of the magic book.

He figured it was none of his business, as she closed the book as soon as he stepped inside, with the comic book which was sure was still inside. She must have seen his gaze, and rolled her eyes as she said "Don't tell the other masters! I read comic books when I am free, which is not that often, but even I need a hobby. Now then, I believe you're here for the lesson on the mind arts?"

She had totally rushed through that explanation while trying to act indifferent, but Nathan knew better. He figured it wasn't his business, for now. He would tease her later.

"Yes, Master Hamur said that because of my natural occlumency barriers I would need your guidance to learn how to read minds." He said as he sat opposite her.

She nodded and said, "Ah, yes. Your 'occlumency barriers'. Nathan, did you know, that you are not leaking a single stray thought right now? A trained telepath, or in a wizard's case, a legilimancer would subconsciously pick at least emotions and feelings from people in their vicinity unless they have perfect mental defenses. You have been facing issues in astral projections as well, and your natural occlumency barriers are hindering your progress. My goal today, is to find a way for you to retain the superb defense and provide you with a comparable offense in the mind arts."

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