Chapter 21

"I can't believe this, how come I couldn't find anything like this in the library?!" Hermione asked giddily as she kept reading her book, that had been materialized by the 'Room of Requirement', that gave a detailed explanation about 'Occlumency'. The benefits from merely practicing it seemed just marvelous!

"Oh, that's because they are not from the library." Jonathan said nonchalantly as he took another sip from his cup, looking like he was about to melt on top of the bean bag he was laying on.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked, beating Hermione only by one second, with a tilt of her head as she looked up from her book. A book that Hermione intended to read after she was done with her's.

"I mean what I said. They are not a part of the library, Hogwarts is not supposed to teach students mind arts after all." The sole male among them said with a shrug before going back to his drinking and slouching on the bean bag routine, uncaring of the increasingly worried look Hermione was sending towards his way.

"Should I… should I really be reading this then? You're saying like it's against the rules." Hermione asked with the slightest tremor in her voice at the thought of doing something that might be against the rules.

"I mean, it is forbidden to teach them but it's not actually forbidden to learn them by yourself." Jonathan said with a shrug but to be perfectly honest, Hermione was not sure anymore.

"Why is it forbidden to teach them?" Violet asked with a frown as she put her book down and looked at Jonathan, Hermione looking at the same direction with great force of will instead of lunging at Violet's put down book and satiate her curiosity.

"It's about keeping the control they have over the society steady." Jonathan said with a yawn before blinking at the curious looks Hermione and Violet were giving him that were somewhat mixed with horror as well, waiting for an explanation. So explain he did with a sigh.

"Occlumency is the beginning of the mind arts, which can be rather dangerous, and have several nice boons even in its beginning stages. Improved memory, easier to keep your calm, and several similar things." He took another sip from his drink before continuing.

"In the most simple terms I can use, Occlumency is the magic that interacts with one's own mind. Which brings us to Legilimency, magic that interacts with the minds of others, a branch that requires one to have a proper education in Occlumency. Once more in the most simple way I can use, it allows one to read other people's mind, something government officials wouldn't want in the hands of random people. That's why teaching of Occlumency is restricted." Jonathan stopped speaking for a moment, allowing Violet and Hermione to digest this new knowledge.

"There is also the fact that those with sufficient mastery of Occlumency can also fight against the effects of potions like Veritaserum, the strongest known truth potion."

"You can lie under the effects of a truth potion with Occlumency?" Violet asked with a tilt of her head and a spark in her eyes that made Hermione somewhat uncomfortable.

"No, but it can allow you to fight the compulsion to speak. Meaning you can't lie but you can keep your silence. That's also a reason for this knowledge to be restricted, veritaserum can be used in order to make criminals confess. It wouldn't really work out if they could just stop speaking." 

"You... know a lot about these things." Hermione said slowly, her brain finally sending her some bad news signals with Jonathan speaking about things that could theoretically allow one to escape unpunished from a crime.

"I guess? I just found the book here and then kept reading everything I could about it since it sounded interesting." Jonathan shrugged and Hermione could feel herself relax, that was a motive she could sympathize with. Still...

"How are you so good at classes with all this extra activity?" She mumbled, but apparently not low enough going by Jonathan's chuckles and the small glare Violet was sending her way.

"I once heard a saying about this, 'someone who simply works hard will never be able to match someone who enjoys themselves'. I don't really care about classes, I study because they are super interesting and my effort spent just shows in my results." Jonathan said with a laugh and Hermione could feel her worldview about classes shatter in front of her eyes.

Could it really be that simple? Was Jonathan better than her simply because he saw classes as something interesting and fun unlike Hermione who saw classes as simply classes, a responsibility?

"Also, it's not like I don't have classes that I am somewhat average at. Herbology doesn't really interest me and the history that ghost teaches is just useless compared to more modern history." Jonathan's words roused Hermione from her musings and almost made her jump at the defense of Professor Binns. That was until she thought through a little and realized that she could not really say that Jonathan was wrong.

The goblin rebellions were somewhat interesting, even if the departed professor did not really went into the more social effects or morality of such events, but compared to what she had learned from history books before she learned of her magic and Hogwarts; it was actually boring.

Not that it was really Binns' fault, it was rather hard to make wars against goblin sound interesting when compared to the feats of the Justice Society against the Axis forces. Like Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Doctor Fate! Still...

"You shouldn't insult teachers." She could at least defend the professor, even if she didn't defend his classes.

"I can't promise that." Jonathan said with a smile and then got up from his bean bag before Hermione could begin to properly explain him why as students they needed to show a certain amount of respect to their professors.

"Anyway, we gotta leave now. It wouldn't do well if people realized that we are missing." He said as he walked towards the door with Violet right behind him before he stopped and turned to Hermione with a smirk while she was staring longingly at the books she would have to leave behind.

"We might end up in a detention for it." And then she was off of her chair and running towards the door with speeds she never had reached before.

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