A magical journey that begins in Azkaban.

Chapter 505: The Failed Occlumency
"This method of extracting memories is somewhat terrifying." Rogge closed his eyes and felt those past emotions still lingering in his heart, but he was unable to find the source of their existence.

His memory was like a beautiful harmonic wave, with some important lines cut off by invisible scissors. Although this did not affect the continuity of the entire harmonic wave, the missing details were like gaps in the shadows, making people feel uneasy.

"Teacher, what would happen if all of a person's memories were taken out?" He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Snape.

Snape was slightly stunned. This was indeed a bold idea, even a bit unorthodox. However, as a wizard who delved deeply into the dark arts, he admired Roger's thinking.

"Perhaps he will become duller, or perhaps he will become a different person altogether." He paused, then continued, "Have you heard about the Longbottoms?"

"Neville's parents?" Roger chuckled and replied, "I've seen them at St. Mungo's Hospital. I heard that Neville has cured them."

Snape heard the sarcasm in his tone and understood the contradictions created by the Longbottoms. He explained calmly: "Their minds were once as confused as a tangled ball of thread, with memories and emotions intertwined."

"That stimulation therapy awakens certain parts of their brains, which gives Dumbledore the opportunity to adjust the chaotic situation."

"Have all their memories been extracted?" Roger asked curiously, "And the memories of being tortured by the Death Eaters..."

"It still has to be kept. This is also the bottom line that Dumbledore is willing to take action." Snape looked at the meditation on the side and continued, "There was once a more terrifying magic that could completely deprive people of all the unhappiness in their hearts."

"It sounds like an addictive potion. I remember there is something called 'Powder No. 4' in the Muggle world. It is said that it can make people gradually lose themselves and turn into zombies." Roger said in a serious tone, "It is dangerous to extract memories. I want to take them back now."

"Learn Occlumency first," Snape insisted. "A short period of amnesia will not harm you. I will use Legilimency to try to enter your mind."

He deliberately waited for a moment, then suddenly attacked. Before Rogge could react, he felt a magical force like a cunning snake trying to get into his mind.

Normally, wizards would have a strong rejection of this kind of foreign magic, but Legilimency has an unusually domineering and gentle quality.

It is like a master key that can open anyone's brain and freely browse the other person's memory.

The initial stage of brain occlumency is to learn to recognize this kind of magic and forcefully expel it the moment it invades.

Snape's eyes went dark, and he saw a tall wall with a small barred window. He saw Roger being hugged tightly by a woman with disheveled hair, humming a song full of despair.

"Get out!" A strong sense of rejection surged up from the depths of Rogge's heart, surging like a tsunami, completely expelling the magic power of soul-stealing and telepathy.

Snape was stunned for a moment, with a hint of apology in his eyes. If he guessed correctly, it was Roger's memory when he was imprisoned in Azkaban.

Roger took a deep breath. He did not feel hatred or resentment towards Snape's snooping. This was a necessary step to mastering Occlumency, and he had to endure it.

The dungeon fell into silence, and Roger carefully recalled the feeling just now. Soul reading and brain occlumency are not absolutely antagonistic, otherwise it would become a pure magic contest.

Just as a drop of water will not dry up until it merges into the ocean, Occlumency can only protect you if you open it. It's like the prey has prepared a trap early, waiting for the hunter to fall into it.

"Teacher, try again." Roger said firmly.

Snape said nothing more, and he used Legilimency again. This time, the expected brain block spell did not work. In his perception, Roger's memories flashed like a movie scene.

He saw the small building at the end of Spider Alley, where Roger was concentrating on flipping through the books on the bookshelf. All the textbooks that Snape had carefully hidden in the corner were also found by his students.

"Is your nose a hound's?" Snape thought to himself, his face hardening. Especially when he saw Roger's eyes resting on the words "Half-Blood Prince" on the title page, he felt his face burning.

He applied for the privilege of leaving school at night for Rogge so that he could have more time to study the snake virus instead of looking through his own private collection of books! He groaned and continued reading.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door and a woman's voice sounded. Snape felt both familiar and strange.

"Are you a thief?" the woman asked curiously.

"I'm the owner of the house. Please don't call the police next time." Roger said in a muffled voice, imitating the tone of an adult man. "You know, it's troublesome to get rid of those policemen."

"Sorry, I thought..." The woman's voice suddenly became unclear. She seemed to say two more words before turning and leaving.

The red hair flashing outside the window was like a beautiful sunset, leaving a bright red mark in Snape's consciousness, causing a strong sense of anticipation and uneasiness to surge in his heart.

He thought that Rogge would chase after her and see the true face of the red-haired woman, but to his surprise, Rogge went straight to the second floor and started the experiment of preventing the snake-man virus.

Under Snape's gaze, Roger demonstrated his skilled potion-making skills, which were rigorous and exquisite.

His technique was elegant and concise, restoring the snake-man virus to its original state step by step. The crucible swayed gently on the fire, and Rogge put in moonstone, salamander heart, dragon scales and other materials one by one, processing each one to perfection.

Snape watched quietly, and the troubled heart in his chest slowly calmed down as the potion took shape.

The blue liquid medicine mixed with the extracted snake virus at the moment of its final formation. Then, the clean and beautiful steam on the crucible became turbid, and the outline of a venomous snake fiercely opened its mouth in the mist.

With a "bang", the crucible exploded and the medicine splashed everywhere.

But Roger had anticipated this, and with a slight wave of his wand, he controlled the flying potion in the air.

"Teacher, this is the 63rd failure." Rogge lowered his head and recorded the data of this experiment in a notebook.

Snape nodded slightly. His attention was completely attracted by Rogge's experiment. He asked, "Why not test it with the snake virus after the liquid medicine is fully formed?"

"That would be too dangerous for Muggles." Roger shook his head and explained his thoughts: "I hope the potion can directly form protection, rather than waiting for the Muggles to be initially infected and then treat them. Otherwise, they will have permanent characteristics."

"Considering the blood curse characteristics of the snake-man virus, those snake-man characteristics may even be inherited. This is not a good thing, and it goes against the original purpose of the snake-repelling antidote."

Snape nodded continuously. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then, can we consider reducing the amount of moonstone..."

Suddenly, he stopped, frowning, because he realized that he was using Legilimency to observe Roger's memory. In other words, he was watching a movie like an audience.

This was supposed to be a one-way observation, and the people in the movie shouldn't be aware of his presence, let alone have a conversation with him.

"Is this fake?" Snape stared at Roger and asked in disbelief: "Are you using the brain block technique to weave a false illusion to deceive me?"

Roger nodded, and the test bench and the surrounding walls began to melt rapidly. Snape felt himself being pushed out by a gentle but powerful mental force, as if they were returning to the dungeon from the end of Spider Alley.

There was a glimmer of approval in Snape's eyes, and there was an indescribable excitement in his voice: "Rogge, your talent in Occlumency exceeds my expectations."

"At first, I thought you would focus your mind, abandon your emotions, and use the cold power of Occlumency to drive out the Legilimency."

"But, I miscalculated... No, I thought you hadn't mastered the art of Occlumency yet, so I entered your memory without any preparation." He smiled slightly self-deprecatingly.

"In fact, everything I saw was what you wanted me to see. You even injected your own consciousness into it, adjusting these fabricated memories at any time."

"Rogge, you are born to be suitable for this magic." Snape's tone was full of affirmation.

Roger touched his nose embarrassedly. Even in Potions, Snape rarely praised him like this.

In fact, being born to be suitable for brain occlumency is not a compliment. Because it means that the wizard is deep-minded, able to hide his true intentions and wear multiple masks. "So, what I saw was fake, right?" Snape seemed to be expecting something, and his eyes never left Roger.

Roger shook his head and explained, "Most of them are real. The fake ones can only deceive people if they are hidden inside the real ones."

"Where's that woman?"

He replied nonchalantly, "Oh, she's a Muggle from Spider Alley, pretty annoying."

Roger smacked his lips, feeling a little regretful. This was his first attempt at fabricating a false memory, and it was obviously not perfect.

For example, the woman who appeared outside the door should not have been noticed by Snape, but should have been erased from her memory directly.

Because she was Petunia, the woman Buck sent to Spider Alley, a woman transformed by Voldemort with red hair and green eyes.

Every time Roger came to the end of Spider Alley, even without turning on the lights, she could sense that someone was in the house and asked some questions. Obviously, she thought Roger was Snape, the owner of the house.

"But she moved away recently, more than half a month ago." Roger stared at Snape's uncertain expression and directly pierced his imagination: "Perhaps, this is a trap set by the Dark Lord on purpose."

Snape tried to remain calm and didn't even notice when Roger retrieved the memory in the Pensieve. He sat on the stool staring at the fireplace all night.

"People can't be brought back to life..." He said in a low voice, almost talking to himself, "But Ariana...if she also..."

Snape was in a state of anxiety for several days. He even forgot to use his usual sarcastic tone when Lupin came to him to buy the wolfsbane potion.

Fortunately, Harry came to class reluctantly on Friday night. His green eyes full of hatred rekindled Snape's fighting spirit.

Snape knew that the red was not real and was probably a difficult problem that Voldemort used to test him. He also knew that he could not always dwell on the past and had to face reality and continue to fulfill his promise and mission.

"Potter, you are the worst student I have ever taught, bar none." Snape sneered and began to cite specific examples to prove his point: "After Neville recovered, his performance in potions improved significantly."

"I heard that he is striving for the position of Gryffindor Keeper. Your Hyena Shield has not been disbanded yet."

Harry corrected firmly, "It's the 'Lionheart Shield', not the 'Hyena Shield'!"

"Oh, is there a difference? Your father once formed a similar gang called the Plunderers. It sounds like a gang of robbers."

"Are you going to class or not?" Harry asked impatiently, "I'm here to learn Occlumency, not to listen to your reminiscences..."

"I am glad that you realize your mission." Snape narrowed his eyes and pulled out his wand from his robes. He channeled his memory into the Pensieve and said, "Your progress frustrates me as a professor."

“At one point I even thought that there was something wrong with my teaching methods.”

Harry curled his lips and looked at Snape with a look that said "of course". He didn't think it was his own problem that he couldn't learn the brain block technique, but Dumbledore shouldn't have arranged for Snape to teach him.

As soon as Harry saw Snape's stiff face, he felt restless, especially those cold sarcasm and ridicule, which filled him with hatred and irritability, and he didn't want to listen to Snape at all.

Snape raised a sarcastic arc at the corner of his mouth, and said in a tone mixed with sarcasm and pride: "Rogge from Slytherin, this name is not unfamiliar to you, right? He mastered the brain block technique in just ten minutes."

There was a provocation in his words, clearly trying to poke at Harry's ego in the hope that he would respond.

"Who!" Harry raised his voice involuntarily, "Rogge? He... he must have known it a long time ago. It was definitely not you who taught him!"

Harry wanted to deny Snape's statement, but Roger's talent in spells made it impossible for him to refute it. He hesitated for a moment and had to attribute Roger's rapid learning of brain block to other reasons.

"I bet I could learn it quickly if it were any other professor," Harry countered, a determined gleam in his eyes.

Snape's laughter was as cold as ice: "Oh, so you think Lupin would be more suitable than me?"

"Of course!" Harry answered without hesitation. His words were like a sharp knife piercing Snape's heart. Then he added another heavy knife: "He is the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. You are the professor of Potions. You shouldn't..."

Harry's words gradually faded under Snape's gloomy gaze, and he forced himself to hold back the last few words.

Snape rarely smiled, pointed his finger at the classroom door, and said in a cold tone: "Mr. Potter, since you have such an opinion, please leave my classroom."

"From now on, you don't have to learn any spells here. Just let your Professor Lupin teach you."

Harry's first reaction to hearing such an order was joy. He almost jumped for joy as he walked out the door. However, the moment he stepped out of the classroom, an inexplicable sense of loss suddenly struck his heart.

He felt that the door of the Potions classroom hidden in the shadows seemed to be closed to him forever.

"Who cares?" Harry muttered softly, thinking that he must be crazy to feel regret and sorrow for losing Snape's guidance.

He hurried back to the Gryffindor common room and discussed with everyone where to go tomorrow. The laughter of his classmates made him forget his loss, especially the mischievous snacks made by the twins, which he called a must-have for skipping classes.

"Albus, he needs a new professor." Snape placed the Pensieve on the headmaster's desk and shook his head helplessly: "Harry can't stay calm in front of me. Lupin is more suitable to teach him how to learn Occlumency."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then said, "Severus, I understand what you mean. You must learn to control your emotions, especially when facing Voldemort..."

"Okay, I'll let Lupin try. However, I still hope you can guide Harry personally."

Snape was silent. He suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "Any news about Petunia?"

"Harry's aunt..." Dumbledore shook his head. "I have been looking for her, but there is no news so far. Have you found anything?"

Snape's expression became complicated. "There's a new neighbor next door to my house. She has red hair and a voice..."

He paused, as if recalling every detail of that episode, "But she suddenly left Spider Alley."

"You suspect..." Dumbledore's eyes became serious. "Severus, Lily used her own life to cast an ancient protective spell on Harry, allowing him to survive Voldemort."

"I understand, but..." Snape's voice was filled with unspeakable heaviness, "But, Albus, I am confused."

"If there was someone standing before me who looked like Lily but was not Lily..." Snape did not continue, but Dumbledore understood this feeling deeply.

He understood this feeling, even more deeply than Snape, because when his sister Ariana really appeared alive in front of him, all his rationality was overwhelmed by the emotions in his heart.

"Follow your heart, Severus." Dumbledore's tone was gentle but firm. "I will not interfere with your choice. You are free."

The two chatted for a while, with Snape talking most of the time and Headmaster Dumbledore listening quietly. When Snape left, Headmaster Dumbledore watched him go, confident that Snape would unwaveringly protect Harry's safety.

Then he looked away from the Pensieve and toward the portrait. "Can anyone come to the library? I'd like to speak with Madam Pince."

(End of this chapter)