Chapter 51 - 51. Mind Arts
Ragnar returned to the Slytherin common room. He saw the three attackers in the dorm too, standing in front of Lucius and getting yelled at. He gave them a smirk to put some salt on their burnt ego and went to his room.
But just as he entered, he was treated with total chaos. Magnus and Snape were jumping all around. There was also fire on their beds and Snape was extinguishing them with water charms.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?" Ragnar loudly asked.
Magnus was so tired as he laid on his bed and had his arms folded. "Duck learned how to fly, and breath fire. Chad, that dumb cat brought catnip from somewhere and Duck ate it."
"Where is Duck?" Ragnar inquired.
Magnus opened his arms and showed Duck happily sleeping on his chest. "I pity my parents if they had to go through this when I was small."
Ragnar chuckled, "Well, I just came to tell you that something happened in the library. 3 of Lucius' gang members attacked me. They wanted to take revenge on you but know they can't touch you. They wanted to cut one of my fingers, but I managed to scare them with one of my potions."
Hearing that, Magnus got up with full seriousness. He put Duck on the side gently. Snape was also done with extinguishing the fire and repairing everything. He too got serious.
Snape spoke first, "So they will come after me too then."
Magnus shook his head, "No, I don't think so. Chances are, they will try to recruit you. Your potion-making talents are exceptional. They would have tried to recruit Ragnar if he did not have a bad history with their cult."
"That is even worse than trying to bully me," Snape muttered.
Ragnar chuckled, "Well, we just gotta be more careful now. Lucius and Avery are both in their 7th year. They are the brain and muscle of their group. They will graduate soon. So, we just gotta tolerate till then."
Magnus agreed, "Yes, as soon as they are gone, we will seize the Slytherin House. We will have everything under control and bring the house back to its past glory when it was not just about blood purity and racism."
Merlin in the portrait happily shouted, "BOOOYEAHHHH!... that's what I was dying to see."
"You are already dead." Arthur boredly replied.
Only Magnus could hear or see them even now.
...
That night, the three sat down and started reading and practising occlumency and legilimency. But, for them to really practice it, they needed someone who could use Legilimency so they could test it.
Magnus was the best at comprehending new things, so he was given the task of studying Legilimency while Ragnar and Snape focused on Occlumency. Magnus had help, he had the old man Merlin sitting just a few metres away from him. He was instructing him on how to go about learning this ability.
Merlin told him about it, "I learned this ability directly from Salazar Slytherin. I was in the first batch of students of Hogwarts and in those days, all four founders were in harmony and Salazar wasn't the crazed blood supremacist, or else he wouldn't have taken me as his personal student.
"The art of legilimency depends on one's understanding of the human mind. You need to understand how the memories flow, the better you understand it the better you will be at it.
"A master Legilimense can look inside your head, read your whole life and you wouldn't even know it happened. I do not think anyone is at this level anymore because with time this art was also given less importance. Salazar was the best I had ever come in contact with. That old man once found out about the girl I like even before I knew I liked her.
"But, I went further than him and found the ability to read multiple minds at once. Huh, they don't call me the Greatest Wizard of all time for nothing." Merlin gloated.
"So what, do I have to read brain scans of people? Should I go to my mom's hospital?" Magnus asked.
"Haha, no-no. We had no such thing in our times. Just basic scientific knowledge of how a brain works would be enough. Not many had that in the past, but you do. Surprisingly because you studied muggle subjects. You have to take me out to see the muggle world once. I want to see what all this talk is about." Merlin requested him.
Magnus agreed easily, "Sure, I will do it. Now, how do I start with Legilimency?"
"Close your eyes, imagine you are standing in a void. There is nothing around you. Make your mind go empty, the last thing you want is your own thought to clash with the memories entering your mind. Now, try to keep that same feeling with open eyes. Then you look into someone's eyes and cast the spell. A connection will be created, a channel through which you can read the memories.
"But beware, if the other person is stronger than you, then he can also reverse the situation and read your mind instead." Merlin gave him a demo.
Magnus nodded. "What about Occlumency? Help them too."
"Hmm, it is just the opposite of it. The best and fastest way to teach them what they need to protect themselves from is to give them a short demo. Don't dig too deep into their memories as I am sure you don't want to make your friends upset." Merlin advised him.
Magnus agreed and turned back to Ragnar and Snape. The two were looking at him as he talked with the great wizard.
"Okay, guys. I will try Legilimency on you two. You remember how it feels and then try to shield your mind from such things." He instructed.
Magnus tried it on Snape first. He emptied his mind and looked him in the eyes. He muttered the spell and immediately felt as if he was travelling in a narrow tube with a lot of changing pictures around him.
All of it was too fast to make the head or tail. Then, it slowed down a little.
"YOU... what is this monstrosity? Magic? Why was I not told about this?"
It was a manly voice, possibly the earliest memory of Snape. There was also a woman, crying on the floor while holding her cheek. She was most likely slapped.
"Mummy, don't cry. DAD STOP..." soon, little hands appeared in the view and they were trying to help the woman.
"YOU ARE JUST LIKE HER... A DEMONSPAWN..."
Magnus immediately stopped himself and took his consciousness back. He had invaded his privacy enough already. He was also not going to talk about this to anyone.
Snape was breathing heavily. Amature Legilimency was not a one-way thing. Both sides see the memories that were being spied on. So, Snape was aware of what Magnus saw.
"That... that was w..."
Magnus patted his shoulder and stopped him, "You don't have to explain or justify anything to me, Sev."
Then he looked at Ragnar. "Are you ready?"
"YUP..." Ragnar looked straight into Magnus' eyes.
Magnus quickly looked away, "Stop looking at me so intensely. It feels weird, mate."
"What? I'm just looking at your ugly face. It's so hard to focus." Ragnar replied harshly.
Magnus coughed, "Really? Okay, look at me now."
Ragnar kept his eyes normal. This time, Magnus was used to this feeling so he did not feel very weirded out. Soon, a memory became visible to him.
"Sweetie, don't hurt the animals. They also have feelings and feel pain." A kind, motherly voice came.
"Mummy, I just wanted to play with doggy. I promise I won't hurt him. Will he be my friend again?" Ragnar asked in a childish voice.
The woman caressed Ragnar's head and smiled at him, "Of course he will. Dogs are very loyal and loving creatures, you give them love and they will never forget you."
"Really? Yay... I will go and play with mister Snuffles." he ran away.
Magnus came out of the memory. He looked at Ragnar to make sure he was okay. Ragnar was smiling at the moment.
"Mr Snuffles was an old senior dog. He was so friendly to everyone and also smart. That night, he tried to fight them off but was killed." Ragnar revealed.
Magnus patted his shoulder, "Another reason to hunt them and give them a painful ending. By the way, you two. I must warn you, learning Occlumency is very hard. Because it will make your mind much sharper and increase the ability to retain memories, also you will remember the past memories in great details. Ragnar, you know what that means. So, when you start organising your memories, I want you to be near me. Or it might affect your well being."
Ragnar nodded. But, he actually didn't need to worry as he still remembered everything like it happened yesterday. He refused to forget it, not until he sees himself skinning the criminals with his hands.
"Okay, enough for today. Let's go to sleep. We have the astronomy class in the morning tomorrow." Magnus reminded them.
"Ah, I don't like Astronomy," Snape commented.
Magnus chuckled, "Believe me, you will say thanks to learning this in the future."
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