'Oh yes,' Myrtle smiled. Harry silently prayed to whatever deity might exist that she was not about to tell him housemother had Snape had bathed in the Prefect's Bathroom together. 'They were very good friends once,' she gossiped, 'but they had a big falling out one year, she was crying about it in the Prefect's Bathroom on her own.'
'Thank you,' Harry smiled, hiding the sudden malice that had welled up within him for Severus Snape. 'I need to go, Neville's waiting for me. Take care, Myrtle.' 'I'm dead, Harry,' she laughed, flushing a faint silver, before vanishing back into the pipes.
It's a fair point.
He didn't disillusion himself upon leaving this time, it was during classes for most students, though both he and Neville had a free session after Herbology today, so he wasn't afraid of being seen. It also seemed prudent to save his magic. He'd mostly recovered from the ritual, only a slight tiredness lingered, but it was best to be prudent.
Surprisingly nobody had actually commented on his lack of glasses, though whether that was due to Hermione telling everyone he must have changed to contact lenses, or the fact that nobody had cared enough was unclear to him.
Neville was leaning against the wall next to the fat lady, watching, with some apprehension as spoke with the other portraits abut singing.
'Perfect timing,' he noted, as Harry joined him. 'Are we going up to the seventh floor?'
Harry considered it.
'There not much point,' he decided in the end. 'We'll just go in there.' He led Neville into nearby empty classroom and closed the door, throwing up a silencing charm for good measure.
'I've got the hang of clearing my thoughts,' Neville told him, 'even when I was angry in Umbridge's lesson.'
'We'll find out,' Harry grinned.
'What are we doing?'
Harry adopted a more sombre expression. Neville would likely not enjoy this, even if it did make him stronger. 'I will attempt to break into your mind and see your thoughts,' he replied, 'you will do your utmost to empty them and stop me from seeing anything.'
'Will it hurt?' Neville asked, slightly hesitant.
'Yes,' Harry answered bluntly, 'but you'll be a better wizard for it.'
'Then let's go,' Neville decided, taking a seat on the desk.
Harry slipped his wand from his sleeve, raising the slim piece of ebony and staring directly at Neville.
'Legilimens,' he whispered.
He spared no effort from the spell, and Neville's thoughts were immediately known to him. Harry could see the admiration his friend had for him, the loyalty, the devotion and he followed it, glimpsing flashes and fragments of their time together, the moments in which Harry had bolstered his confidence, taught him, improved him and shown him that he was more than just a failure.
He broke the connection.
'Try again, Nev,' he suggested. 'It's not at all easy.'
He repeated the spell, just as forcefully as before, but this time he focused on the pain Neville felt from the intrusion, he concentrated on it, fed it, even as Neville struggled to clear his mind. To his credit his thoughts did eventually fade away, and Harry was left seeing nothing and ended the connection.
'That was good,' he praised him. 'What are you doing when you cast that spell?' Neville asked. 'The first time, you saw all my memories of when you were helping me,' he squirmed slightly, 'you went through every moment in which I was most grateful you.'
'I forma connection between our minds with it,' Harry explained. 'It enables me to see what you are thinking, if I can then get you to think about what I want to know, I win.'
'You aren't going easy on me, are you?' Neville asked hesitantly. 'I've never succeeded with anything the second time of trying.'
'I'm not trying any of the more insidious, crueler methods of seeing what I want,' Harry admitted, 'but that's because I'm teaching you to clear your mind, not protect a single thought from me.'
'Try,' Neville demanded. 'Do your worst.' 'Do you realise what you're asking, Neville?' Harry asked softly. 'I can drag every one of your worst memories and suspend you in them, twisting them about one another in a grotesque parody of a nightmare until your sanity leaves you.'
'Do it,' Neville responded firmly, swallowing hard, but looking determined.
'Legilimens,' Harry hissed, casting it more strongly than he ever had before.
The moment the connection was formed he fed a scatter of images to his friend. The circle of masked Death Eaters in the graveyard, the fear of the basilisk and the burn of its venom in his veins, then pain of the Cruciatus Curse, the endless torment of an instant.
Neville's mind flooded with thoughts and emotions. Fear of the Death Eaters, rage, burning hot, and the face of Bellatrix Lestrange, the hollow, empty eyes of his broken parents in the ever so white ward of St Mungo's.
Harry ended the spell and Neville slumped over on the desk, holding his temples, with tears running down his cheeks.
'I'm sorry, Nev,' Harry told him gently, 'you weren't ready to face something like that so early. I shouldn't have let you convince me.'
'When you try again,' Neville whispered hoarsely, wiping his tears away with his hand, 'I'll be better and I'll stop you.'
'You should bear in mind that I am quite talented in the mind arts,' Harry told him quietly, 'they are an obscure field I intend to master.'
'Did I do well?' Neville asked. 'I know you saw everything, but I didn't do too badly, did I?' 'Neville,' Harry placed his hand on his friends shoulder, 'you did exceptionally well. You successfully managed to clear your thoughts when in pain, keep practising it, whenever you're angry, or sad, or at all emotional, try to empty your mind, and you will quickly improve.'
'Are we done?'
'I think you've suffered enough for one day,' Harry smiled. 'I have to go and endure detention with Snape now.'
'You showed me things,' Neville murmured, 'you showed what it felt like to be under the Cruciatus Curse.'
'I'm sorry,' Harry apologised. He knew it was a terribly cruel thing to do, especially to Neville, but his friend had asked for him to do his worst, so he had. 'Don't apologise,' Neville snapped, suddenly angry. 'I'm glad you did,' his rage faded, 'it helped me understand.'
'Understand what?'
'When I was younger I used to resent my parents for not being stronger,' his friend admitted. 'It was a horrible thing to do, and I know how wrong it is, but I couldn't help it, until now I still hated them for not managing to resist, to stay sane, so I would have had parents like everyone else. I understand now.' Neville looked him in the eye, his smile spreading. 'I think that might be the best thing you've ever done for me,' he said quietly. 'I can't explain how much it means to only be proud of them like I know I should always have been.'
'You don't need to, Nev' Harry reminded him. 'Until I knew what happened to my parents I hated them with every fibre of my being for leaving me.'
He let his hand slip off Neville's shoulder and pulled him up onto his feet.
'You should head back to the common room,' he reminded him. 'We've got an astronomy essay to do for the end of the next lesson.'
'Don't remind me,' Neville groaned. 'Every single planet seems to be in some phase that indicated danger or imminent death. It's like how you used to describe Divination to us.'
'It might be a valid prediction,' Harry grinned, grateful for the lightened mood. 'If I hear the phrase Uranus is illuminated I might not be able to stop laughing before I suffocate.'
Neville chuckled, then looked rather despondent. 'I guess I'd best get started,' he realised. 'You already did some yesterday so I have to catch up.' 'We're both still ahead of Ron,' Harry assured him. 'I overheard Hermione telling him twice yesterday that if he'd paid any attention he'd know that there hadn't been an eclipse in over two years so he couldn't possibly have written about it for his whole essay.'
'I doubt he cares,' Neville commented, opening the door.
'You're probably right,' Harry agreed. 'If you're still up when I get back from Snape's detention do you want to help me enchant all of Ron's chess pieces to switch sides mid-game?'
'Can you do that?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/