Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 53: The Mind Arts
"Oclumency lessons?" Asked Daphne with disbelief.
"And what makes you qualified to teach me?"
"I destroyed your shields with no effort. Someone more skilled than me could get into your mind, get whatever information they want, and leave before you even noticed it."
Daphne looked worried now.
'Is that possible?'
She then looked at Harry.
"But you said you are not very good at the mind arts. Can you really teach me?"
Harry shrugged.
"I'm better at occlumency than legilimency, that's for sure. I would not claim to be one of the best at it. But I can definitely help you improve."
"And…if I better my mental defenses, are you going to answer all of my questions?"
"No." Harry answered simply.
"What?!, why not?" She asked with a demeanor that showed her young age.
"Don't pout…if you become able enough to defend your mind. I will tell you some things."
She looked offended.
"I don't pout!...can Tracey come with?"
"Sure, why not?" He would like to bring Neville too, but separating him from Ron and Seamus might be impossible at this point.
"Well, since you won't tell me anything else, I will take my leave " She stood from the couch and made her way to the fireplace, where the secret passage was located.
"Don't worry, I can open it myself." She tapped her wand on the stone and the passage opened.
"Oh, wait, Daphne." Harry had just recalled something important.
The warning came a bit too late, as she had already climbed into the opening.
"What is it…uh?, there is something blocking the tunnel, what is this?" Asked Daphne.
"Oh…crap." Harry prepared himself.
"Ohh Merlin!, what is this smell? I can't see anything…Lumos!...ahhhhh!"
Harry heard the girl let out a tremendous shriek before she passed out from the shock.
"Right…I should get rid of that corpse." He hasn't had the time to remove the decomposing body of Professor Nayar.
The shrinking charm he used to hide it was only meant to last a couple of days.
He removed the unconscious Daphne from the hole and placed her gently onto one of the sofas. He then pulled out his spare wand.
"Sorry about that…obliviate."
It was the least he could do for the girl.
"Let's take care of you now…I think the Dark Forest would be a good choice for this. There are plenty of carnivorous species that will make the body disappear."
He grabbed the professor and apparent away.
<><><><><><><><>
"Are you serious, Daphne? You didn't tell me this study group was going to have two Griffindors." Tracey looked at her friend with a deep frown.
"To be honest, I didn't know about the second one either…" Daphne looked at the second Griffinfor in question.
"Granger, isn't it?"
"Hello…" Hermione looked very nervous under the invasive gaze of the two Slytherin girls.
Harry decided to help her out.
"I figured that a study group would look more natural with more people. Hermione is already well known for her interest in academics….so"
"So you thought that we would be in less trouble if our housemates found out about this…group?" Asked Daphne.
"But she is a muggle-born." Said Tracey, earning a look from the other three.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way…" She was quick to explain.
"But how would Malfoy and the others react if they knew?"
"We don't owe him any explanations." Daphne frowned.
"You don't, but there is no need to make things more difficult for you two. We can keep our activities a secret." Suggested Harry.
"We are not breaking any rules, right?" Hermione looked worried.
"Of course not! This is just another type of defensive magic." Said Daphne.
"Then why couldn't I find anything about it in the list of magic taught at the school?" asked Hermione.
" Most children from pure-blood families are taught by their parents so is not covered in Hogwarts curriculum." Explained Harry.
"That's not fair. So muggleborns never learn to protect their minds?" Asked the girl.
"If they want to learn, they can buy a book about it. As Daphne said, is not illegal to learn it, is just not taught in school."
Harry said as they continued to walk through the sixth floor.
"Here we are." He opened the door of an empty classroom.
"Professor McGonagall said that we can use any of the empty classrooms on this floor, as long as we leave before dinner time."
"That's very generous of her." Said Daphne.
"Well, it was her favorite student the one who made the request."
Harry looked at Hermione and this one became embarrassed by the comment.
"Oh!, this classroom is smaller than the ones we use, but is very cozy." Remarked Tracey.
The class was indeed small, with only ten seats in it, plus the teacher's table.
The three girls went to look for a place to sit down while Harry closed the door.
"You are not the only one who finds these classrooms cozy, you know?" Harry added.
"What do you mean?...wow, those seats are very comfortable!" Hermione laid back on her chair.
"I mean that these isolated classrooms that no one uses are very tempting for older students to visit at night….for their activities." Harry chuckled.
He knew this from first-hand experience. He and Ginny had visited several of them during his sixth year.
Daphne realized what he meant while she was resting her head against the table.
"Ewwww!" she jumped off the chair.
"Gross!, what the-" Tracey looked down at the table with disgust.
"Oh…" Hermione left the chair in a hurry.
"Can we use a different classroom perhaps?" The girl said with a disgusted expression.
"No." Was Harry's answer.
" You really think there is any classroom here that hasn't been used? Get over it, I'll just teach you the cleaning charm, you'll be fine."