Chương 25: Friends

Occlumency—unlike Legilimency—wasn't a single spell, but rather a field of magic that defined any magical defense of the mind against external penetration. Difficulty-wise it was the upper end of N. E. W. T. level magic, and learning it was going to be an ordeal. Nothing made that clearer than the introduction of the book, which described the three main methods to develop passable mental defenses. I could work on convincing my magic to control and obfuscate any signals it gives off.

This was usually achieved by mastering emotional responses. Basically, it was the method of getting a wizard's natural magic to just... behave without input from a spell. Wandless magic. This was the method that Snape told Harry he was teaching, which meant Snape himself probably relied on it. The next option was to face repeated mental attacks while trying to defend yourself, relying on innate wizard magic's natural ability to respond to the 'need' of its wizard to just magically create a bespoke defence.

The downside was this magic was often both situational and crude. Snape was probably trying to force Harry to adopt this version with his lessons. It was also what Harry would eventually pick up with the deaths of Sirius and Dobby. The last method was to create a latticework of specially woven magic strands encasing the person's head, or rather their 'mind'. It was the slow method. Extremely, painfully slow. Taking expertise, control, and excruciating patience to weave, according to the books.

It could only be done by the individual in question, since the magic strands weren't physical and were only sustained by that person's magic. However, it did have the benefit of being a permanent shield—with both passive and active components—against magical intrusion. Option one had extremely mixed results. Some wizards picked it up naturally, and others found it impossible to achieve. The inconsistencies didn't sit well with me.

I felt there had to be some contributing factors being overlooked due to the lack of any scientific approach to the accounts. Relying on this method felt like a gamble, and if the dagger was anything to go by; I didn't have great natural defenses. Wandless magic itself was considered N. E. W. T. level magic, and combining two high-level magics as a first-year was daunting on its own. No, the first method wasn't for me. I didn't have a safe way to break my mind repeatedly and gain a custom magic solution.

I was absolutely not going to ask Snape for help. So the second option was out as well. That only left the third. I almost wanted to laugh when I saw that the first step to this method—the most basic requirement to start the weaving process—was to develop a natural magic sense. Apparently, whatever sense you develop will come with the additional ability to sense your own internal magic as well. I could see why Flitwick might think I would be discouraged.

Alongside Occlumency, I reviewed Legilimency, since it was touched on in those books and seemed relevant. Understanding a threat should help defend against it. The biggest takeaway was that eyes were 'the window to the soul' and magic itself worked—at least in part—through those symbolic connections. Eyes, therefore, were catalysts for most magical penetration into the soul.

Legilimency was one of the least offensive of these penetration-type magics since all it was doing was 'reading the soul' instead of trying to influence it. In short, don't look powerful wizards in the eye unless I'm confident in my defenses, and be careful of powerful eye-based magic. I thought back to the recommendation not to use magical eyes in the synesthesia potion. An interesting connection…

Unable to meaningfully progress in Occlumency, I ended up spending most of the evening reading through the books for identifying magic. There were multiple relatively simple spells that were essentially 'Detect' something. Revelio and Aperio variations stood out as the most promising temporary measures. Learning those should help me—safely—navigate the Room and convert some of the more valuable items into coin.

Riley tried to get me to take a break and learn Exploding Snap, but my failure with Occlumency had put me in a bad mood, so I chose to just continue working. v^v^V^v^v"You were scared of me?" I was a little stunned. I thought I'd been pretty successful overall in adopting a harmless persona around my classmates.

"You're always watching everyone, and you're so deliberate in the way you talk with people," Luna said.

"It's like you're like a dagger poised to strike if someone ever makes an enemy out of you." I shuddered internally. Luna really was the most observant of our year. But she had nothing to worry about. I wasn't going to go all out against a child. Even Ella—that Slytherin girl that had taken it as a personal challenge to make me mad since I embarrassed her in Transfiguration a week ago—didn't deserve that. … Yet.

"Just because someone is scary doesn't mean they're bad. I want to be friends with you, Luna. I want to hang out more. I'm not evil, and I'm not going to attack just because you're not perfect." I had been making progress on our friendship over the last week, but apparently it was more than just 'both of us being introverted' that was keeping her from wanting to spend time with me.

"Oh, I know that now. You really are quite warm on the inside. You remind me a bit of the murtlap. Everyone notices the teeth first, but its insides help heal people." Aren't murtlaps some sort of tentacle beast? Shouldn't you notice the tentacles first?

"Lyra! Luna! Wait up!" A boy's voice interrupted us. I turned, seeing Colin running after us from where we had just had our second Flying lesson. The class had been a disaster. Almost a full hour spent on a broom. I wasn't going to be able to sit right for days. At least Luna understood that humans were meant to be on the ground; even if she did claim wizards used to have wings thousands of years ago.

"I got them!" Colin all but yelled as he caught up.

"They're developed! And they move!" I looked at the scrapbook he was waving around, open to a bunch of moving photos. He quickly accommodated our interest by stepping between us and holding it steady. They were mostly headshots of the Gryffindor first-years, along with scenery from around the castle. A few really stood out though.

"I really like this one," Luna said about the one where Professor Kettleburn was showing off a unicorn to a bunch of older students. I guess he was the one who Penelope had mentioned interrupting Kettleburn's class. The photo really did stand out from the images of people; with the unicorn framed by the woods and some light rays.

"Look at this one!" he said, turning the page and pointing at a dark photo of a midget being suspended by several tentacles. A bunch of kids in boats were perpetually losing their minds in the background. He even got the castle itself situated off to the side, majestically shedding light over the lake. It was disorienting to see myself like this. Sure, I wasn't struggling with the image in the mirror, but this was more like a recording of something that didn't happen as I remembered it.

The version of me in the photo was very obviously not taking the situation seriously. While the others were panicking, she was alternatively grinning and breaking into laughs. She even threw up peace signs at one point. I hadn't laughed during the incident, and I was fairly sure I wasn't even smirking either. How did magic photos work? This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"It's good, isn't it?" he prodded again.

"Yeah. Still costs you a sickle though."

"Nope! You said that was for photos where you're the subject, and for this one—you can clearly see it's the giant squid." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm clearly the star here, you can't even see most of Horace, just his arms."

"You named the squid?"

"No, Hagrid did. Or maybe a student or staff member before Hagrid?" The name didn't really fit his usual naming sense now that I thought about it.

"Regardless, I don't typically name random things." The dagger didn't count. I wasn't myself when I did that. Once I had reclaimed my mental faculties, I had revoked that name, and sent the thing to a time-out in my trunk.

"Luna said you call your stuffed animal 'Vicky'."

"Really Luna?" I said, turning to her exasperatedly.

"Oh, was that a secret? I thought it was cute." I sighed, "Just don't spread it around anymore, okay?" Too little too late, if first-years in other houses are already aware. Well, nothing to do but accept it at this point. Not like it really matters.

"Where are we going anyway?" asked Colin as he looked around and realized it was only the three of us, and we weren't headed to the castle.

"Hagrid's. I've been wanting to ask him something." We spent the rest of the walk looking at the photos. I laughed a bit at the one with Harry trying to escape Lockhart.

"I couldn't get Harry to sign it," Colin said forlornly.

"And I don't know what I did wrong with the potion; the Harry here is always trying to get away."

"Harry doesn't like being famous. He'd rather others treat him normally. It's his unwillingness to be there that's coming out."

"But he loves attention? He's a quidditch star, and I hear he fought a troll, and he defeated the last Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He flew his way to Hogwarts in a stolen car just a few days ago!" Those were good points. How do I explain knowing so much more about someone when I had never even spoken to the person in question? How do I argue the points?

If I can't make it sound logical, people are eventually going to stop listening when something more important arises; like how none of the teachers seem to take Trelawney seriously anymore. One of the best methods of convincing someone to see something your way is to agree with them, then subtly redirect while displaying empathy.

"You're right. Maybe he does like standing out when he can do so in a positive light, but his best friend is Ginny's brother; who treats him like any regular friend treats another. You know what I mean? It's the smaller stuff he cares more about, meaningful connections like friends or family. Where someone like Lockhart–" I pointed at the fancy signature, "just loves the limelight.

"Harry doesn't want to be Lockhart." I finished. My words were punctuated by the Harry in the photo making another bid to free himself from Lockhart's grasp and escape. Colin nodded, but he had that distracted air that told me he wasn't actually considering my words at all. I hadn't been keeping up with the train group very well since arriving at Hogwarts, and my lack of any real connection with Colin was probably sabotaging me here. Maybe I should try to bump that up the list a little?

"Just try to give him some space and see if he reacts better, okay?" Colin gave a non-committal shrug before closing the album and rushing ahead excitedly pointing out our destination. I held back a sigh. The boy was definitely not the most attentive, thoughtful, or subtle eleven year old at Hogwarts. Luna patted me on the back. Hagrid was out in his pumpkin patch. I looked over at the chicken coop and couldn't spot a single rooster. Barking interrupted my inspection.

Fang ran over, jumping at me with enough enthusiasm that I was once again knocked to the ground. I hadn't come from the kitchens this time, but it was the first time I was visiting Hagrid since I stole Richard, so maybe Fang had recognised me as the thief? Good thing he couldn't talk, and that there was magic to heal bruising.

"Aye, Lyra? Shouldn't ya be in class? And who're yer friends?"

"It's between classes Hagrid," I said, standing and brushing myself off.

"The three of us have Herbology next, so not much point climbing up to our common room. Oh, right—this is Luna and this is Colin. Colin, Luna, this is Hagrid. He's the gamekeeper. Groundskeeper? Both?"

"Bit o' both, an' Keeper o' the Keys," Hagrid clarified.

"But mostly gamekeeper. Got me hands full with all the creatures, I have. House-elves do mos' of the grounds. Dead useful, they are." I nodded at that. One more thing the house-elves care for around here. If I succeed in freeing them, would Hogwarts just collapse under the lack of slave labor? How many pureblood families would be in the same boat? Definitely need a plan to deal with the fallout before proceeding.

I would meet a lot more resistance proportional to negative impact my actions would have on the power blocks of wizarding society. The other two completed their introductions, and Colin asked for a photo. Then proceeded to take multiple of not only Hagrid, but of his hut and the surrounding plants and animals too.

"Bit eager, ain't he?"

"He's trying to get a whole bunch of photos to send home to his family. They're muggles, so they won't have experienced much of the magical world."

"Ahh, makes sense. You ar' too, right Lyra?" I held back another sigh. I was getting mildly annoyed at needing to clarify every time. Especially since my initial thoughts on the subject were proving true; everyone just treated me like a muggle-born anyway since I was raised as one, and unlike Harry, I wasn't famous.

"I was raised muggle. Not sure of my actual parentage. Current theory is they ran into trouble near the end of the wizarding war."

"Dark times," Hagrid rumbled somberly, then fell into a quiet reminiscence. I glanced over at Luna. She wasn't much of a conversationalist at the best of times, and was currently staring off into the distance, humming to herself.

"I actually wanted to ask you something, Hagrid."

"Eh? Well, I suppose, if it's somethin' I can do fer ya?"

"Luna here was telling me about some of the rarer magical creatures around, and I thought, as gamekeeper, you might know about them."

"Daddy said there is a crumple-horned snorkack in the forest. He tried to find it a few years ago, but never had any luck," Luna chimed in.

"Hmm, don't know about crumple-horned snorkacks—not sure they even exist if'n I'm being honest—but there's a lot o' strange creatures out in the forest." His expression grew much more serious.

"Now don't go lookin' fer 'em mind you. The forest's a dangerous place. Specially fer students."

"We have no plans to put ourselves at risk," I assured him.

"I was just wondering if you could share with us some information on what is in there. The stranger and less understood, the better. Luna's dad is thinking of writing an article on the information."

"Daddy would love to write about all the rarer creatures in the forest," Luna confirmed.

"I could send him what you say, like an interview. Your name would be featured." Hagrid gave her a scrutinizing stare.

"Yer a Lovegood, aren't ya?" He chuckled, "Met yer da' when he was at school here. Had to save him after he got in an argument with the centaurs.

'Is why he couldn't search the forest himself when he was askin' around. Roped some students into it. Aye, you can write yer article, but keep my name outta it. I'd rather stay away from the papers, ya know?"

"Thanks Hagrid. So, have you seen anything strange recently?"

"Well, there's always summat strange in the forest." He glanced through the window at the chicken coop.

"But now you mention it, we've been havin' some trouble with summat bein' after the roosters." Jackpot. It was a lot of prep to not look suspicious asking about the roosters, but it was worth it.

"Something's been killing the roosters?"

"Yeah, started off just takin' one to eat, but I musta scared or angered it. It came back the next night and just killed the rest. Strangled em. Poor birds. Had to place an order for more through Hogsmeade."

"What was it?" Luna asked.

"Not sure, it was all dark. Unnaturally so. Blended into the night like a dementor, hovered too. Definitely wasn't one though; didn't feel the chill.

'Sides, they can't fly like this'n did. Long an' pointy it was, with great big flappy wings. Only got the one look at it, mind you." My cloak or his mind playing tricks on him? … Well at least I'm not a suspect. Luna and Hagrid went back and forth discussing 'The Dawn Eater'—my suggestion for a name after Luna started calling it The Cock Eater—and what creatures it might've been. Luna only grew more excited as Hagrid dismissed known creature after known creature.

At one point she pulled out a sheaf of parchments and began taking furious notes. It was nice to see her excited in a conversation for once. She all but lost her mind when Hagrid mentioned the centaurs claimed there was a great evil at Hogwarts this year.

"They say tha' ev'ry year though. Ain't nothing dangerous at Hogwarts. Mark my words."' Ain't nothing,' You know that's a double-negative, right Hagrid? Colin joined us only briefly before heading back to the castle to eat lunch. He hadn't even asked me to sign my photo. I guess I just wasn't famous enough to bother with it. We took lunch at Hagrid's. While the food wasn't as good—or as edible—it was certainly better than being among the crowd. Luna and I left for Herbology in high spirits.

Once we arrived, Riley waved me over and I took a spot next to her as the rest of the class trickled in.

"So, what'cha get up to with Loony during the break?" I froze, and turned slowly towards her.

"What was that you called Luna?"

"I came up with it! You know~ 'cause she's always so… loony? You alright Lyra?"

"Yeah. Just stop calling her that."

"What? Why?" I could feel my anger rising.

"Because it's mean—and she's my friend."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad~ and we're friends too right?" I didn't respond. Instead, I packed up my stuff and moved down the table to be beside Luna at the end of the table. She called after me, but I ignored her. I'd been too focused on the Slytherins. I remembered what Harry saw in Luna's bedroom in the seventh book. The ceiling with the paintings of her five friends. Five total. Ginny, Neville, and the main trio—who barely even talked to her, and likely didn't think the same of her in return.

Of that group, only Ginny was in her own year. I hadn't connected those facts to the realization that none of those people were in Ravenclaw. Even then, I wouldn't have thought Riley would start it. Fiona was the one prone to insulting everyone. How do I fix something like this? Befriending her myself obviously, but was that enough? Could I keep her social standing intact without changing who she is, or who she wanted to become? Could I teach her enough social skills to get by?

Would being her friend lead to me being isolated with her? I didn't particularly care if so. People sucked. But it would limit my ability to change the plot. Probably best not to burn too many bridges. Me and Riley were done though. What had Luna ever done to her? I remained angry for the rest of the lesson, avoiding Riley so I wouldn't say something disproportionate over what she clearly viewed as a harmless nickname. Sometimes having memories of the future was frustrating.

I knew I was reacting to a problem that hadn't had time to fester. Seeing an issue in its developmental stage. I was broken out of my thoughts when a roach jumped off the plant I was moving, and started crawling on me. I accidentally dropped the pot in my haste to get it off. Sprout taking points from Ravenclaw for that was completely unjustified; she repaired the pot in a second with a wave of her wand. I really hated Herbology.