Chapter 119: "Fragmented Mind"

As the first-year students walked into the Great Hall, the buzz among the older students grew louder. The boy who lived, Charles Potter, was easy to spot with his glasses and green eyes, looking just like the pictures in the children's books about the boy who lived and articles in the Daily Prophet. Everyone recognized him immediately.

Some students glanced over at Harry to see his reaction to his brother's entrance, but Harry didn't seem to be bothered or interested. So they turned their attention back to the more famous Potter.

Charles seemed completely at ease in the group, almost enjoying the waves of attention washing over him, unlike his nervous and overwhelmed counterpart in the canon. Charles walked with confidence, unfazed by the stares and whispers.

Right by Charles's side was Ronald Weasley. Ron, with his red hair and freckles, stood close to Charles, almost protective. It was clear he was making sure he maintained his place right next to Charles, warding off anyone who might try to get too close. It seemed Ron was quite possessive of his role as Charles's best friend.

Not far behind, Harry found his sister Susan engaging enthusiastically with her new yearmates. She was animatedly sharing what she knew about Hogwarts, likely details she'd learned from Harry's letters. It was obvious from the captivated faces around her that she enjoyed being in the role of the informant, explaining the enchanted ceiling and house tables to the awe-struck first-years.

With all the first-years finally gathered in front of the hall, the anticipation built up to the moment the Sorting Hat began its traditional song, signaling the start of the sorting ceremony. 

As the Sorting Hat began its song, capturing the attention of every student in the Great Hall, Harry remained on high alert. He wasn't focused on the lyrics of the song but was intently watching Quirrell.

Harry knew from his experience that a Legilimens was most vulnerable when they themselves were attempting to invade another's thoughts. This was because their own mental defenses were temporarily weakened at that time.

Harry was certain that Voldemort like he had done with him would not miss the chance to probe the memories of Charles. This presented Harry with a unique opportunity to sneak into Voldemort's own mind without being noticed.

The main concern for Harry was whether he could use Legilimency through the physical barrier of the turban and without making direct eye contact, which was typically required for such a magical intrusion.

Despite the uncertainty, Harry was determined to try. So, when Quirrell momentarily turned his back to the hall, focusing possibly on Charles, Harry sensed his chance and discreetly cast a wandless Legilimency spell towards the back of Quirrell's head. 

Harry was surprised at how easily he broke through Voldemort's mental defenses. What surprised him more was that Voldemort's mind was a chaotic mess. This was unexpected for a wizard renowned as a master of Occlumency. 

Harry thought that the mess in Voldemort's mind might be because he almost died that night or because he was now just a ghostly wraith. This ghost-like existence seemed to have really messed up his ability to think clearly.

Voldemort's mind was all over the place, making Harry wonder how he was even able to give Quirrell any directions on their quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. The confusion in his mind suggested that Voldemort was struggling to access the vast knowledge and magic he had once mastered.

This struggle could also be why in the canon it took Voldemort a whole year to get past the relatively straightforward challenges that protected the stone.

However, the scattered state of Voldemort's mind wasn't entirely good news for Harry. This disorder made it very hard for Harry to find anything useful. All the memories were broken into bits and pieces, and if Harry wanted to understand anything useful, he'd have to slowly and carefully piece together these fragments, like putting together a puzzle without knowing what the picture was supposed to look like. This was going to be a tough and time-consuming task.

Exploring Voldemort's mind was going to be tough, but Harry believed the rare and lost magical knowledge it might hold would make the efforts worthwhile. Since he didn't have much else to do during Defense Against the Dark Arts classes anyway, Harry decided that DADA classes were the perfect time to take his chances and explore Voldemort's memories. He saw it as a way to keep busy during class.

After realizing he wouldn't be able to learn anything significant in the current short amount of time, Harry decided to exit Voldemort's mind.

However, before he completely withdrew, he cleverly left behind a small trick—a loophole that he could use to re-enter Voldemort's mind in the future easily.

Harry doubted Voldemort would notice this loophole because his mind was so disordered. The chaos inside Voldemort's head was so intense that Harry was confident the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to focus enough to detect or repair what Harry had done.

Now even if Voldemort had any existing shields on his mind, Harry was confident enough to enter it easily.

After leaving Voldemort's mind, Harry turned to look at Charles to see if he had any reaction. Voldemort had tried to read Charles's mind, and Harry expected that Charles, being trained by Dumbledore, would at least notice or block the attempt.

However, to Harry's surprise, Charles showed no sign of noticing anything amiss. He acted as if nothing had happened. Harry knew this meant that Charles didn't know any Occlumency and did not have any mental defenses in place to safeguard himself from mind readers.

Harry was puzzled. He wondered if Charles simply lacked the talent in Occlumency, or if Dumbledore had chosen not to teach him. Harry found this neglect risky and unwise.

Harry felt that Dumbledore should at least enchant Charles's glasses to offer some protection against such attacks, but it seemed nothing had been done.

While Harry was lost in thought about Charles and Dumbledore's plans , the Sorting Hat finished its song. It was now time for the Sorting Ceremony and the first-year students were excited to get divided into their Hogwarts houses.