Chapter 346

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Still the same spacious room with cabinets, couches, armchairs, and tables in one part of it was filled with students of different ages. They turned around at the sound of the doors opening, and we took off the spell of concealment. After recognizing us, some people at first stupidly blinked their eyes and probably tried to remember whether we had the right to be here. After making sure that "we have", everyone returned to their business and divided into groups, continued to practice various spells.

Hermione and I sat quietly on one of the couches so that we could see the whole room. The girl used a spell to bring a large book on advanced spells from one of the shelves, and leaning her head on my shoulder, she opened the book so that we could both read it. After a couple of minutes, I noticed that Hermione, like me, was peering out of the corner of her eye at the other students' training. It was quite an amusing sight. They seemed to be having a lot of fun here. One group tries to use Expelliarmus on another, standing still, and then they switch roles. The guys in the other group practice on everything in the Reductor Curse, Reducto. Another group looks at two students trying to use Stupefy. Another group tries their best to summon Patronus. Potter and a Ravenclaw guy, I think from the seventh year, are scurrying here and there — they give out valuable instructions, correcting, teaching, telling.

Suddenly, the twins sat down on a nearby couch.

"What's wrong, boys?" I found it necessary to ask. Hermione looked at them, too, waiting for an answer.

The twins looked over in surprise.

"Oh, right, you don't know what's going on..." the first one nodded. "Now Umbridge herself can assign punishments, assign or revoke privileges, and stuff like that."

"Us and Harry got kicked off the Quidditch team."

"Oh..."

"Did you do something wrong?" asked Hermione sympathetically, fixing a strand of hair.

"Punched Malfoy," the twins nodded together.

"He's got a big mouth," the other one explained.

"...But Hagrid is back," smiled the first.

"...And that seems to be the only thing keeping our Harry from falling into despondency."

Both twins clapped themselves on their knees in sync.

"Okay!" they stood up at the same time. "We've had enough rest..."

The twins quickly joined one of the groups and began to actively discuss and debate the nuances of spells. After a couple of minutes, Potter spotted us, and after giving a few valuable instructions to the other guys, he hurried over.

"Max, we need to talk," Harry ruffled his already disheveled hair, and I waved my wand, surrounding us with a slightly vibrating, like hot air, dome that muffled sounds. Potter looked around the dome a little surprised, but once he understood its essence, he looked at me again.

"Tell me, you train in the Chamber of Secrets, don't you?"

"How do you come to that conclusion?"

"It doesn't matter," Potter shook his head.

"And what answer do you want to hear? And more importantly, why?"

"I just don't understand... You can only get in there if you can speak the language of snakes."

"Oh, is that what you mean?"

"And in general... About, how should I put it, the 'Interest Club,' you know which one... No one tells me anything. I don't understand anything. What's going on at all? Even Sirius is silent, obviously hiding something. And I want to know. I have a right to know! After all, I'm the one Voldemort is after."

I looked at Potter carefully.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course! Do you think I can't keep my mouth shut?"

"Well," I smiled, "That's not the point, but Umbridge would say no."

"Then what's the point?" Harry looked very serious.

"Do you master occlumency to tell you anything? And the rest of your friends, too."

"Occlumency?"

Hermione closed her book and decided to insert a few words into the conversation:

"The science of protecting and ordering the mind. Prevents others from reading your mind."

"Even that's possible? I mean, mind reading?" Potter looked extremely surprised.

"Exactly, Harry. Without that skill, your head is an open book. If someone suddenly has the skill of mind reading, it is easy to find out from you all the secrets, the secrets of the "Club", plans, structure. You understand?"

"And what should I do?"

Hermione waved her wand and silently summoned a small old dark brown book from one of the shelves.

"Read, learn, practice. It took us a year of daily practice to defend against superficial legilimency. But even this will not save you from a direct spell in the forehead."