From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 220: Second Occlumency Lesson
"You know what, Ron?" Harry asked excitedly, "I'm going to live with Sirius this summer!"

"Of course, of course." Ron absentmindedly stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth. "You told me this morning, and yesterday morning, and the morning before yesterday... In other words, every time you talked to me this week, you started with this question."

"Really? Sorry." Even though he was apologizing, the smile on Harry's face did not stop. "Ever since Sirius told me last weekend that he was my guardian, my heart has been beating non-stop!"

"Don't tell me your heart never beat before." Ron scratched his ears, which were about to be callused. "You didn't come back to life until you met Sirius."

"What? Of course I didn't mean that." Harry scratched his head, "I'm just... too excited!"

"I'd better remind you, Harry," Ron sighed heavily, "today is Thursday."

"I know, and then what?" Harry looked at Ron puzzled.

"And then? You asked me what happened next?" Ron looked at Harry in astonishment. "You have detention with Snape today! Did you forget?"

"Don't worry about me, Ron." Harry waved his hand. "Professor Snape is actually a very nice person, he just doesn't know how to express himself."

Ron's eyes were filled with fear, and even Hermione, who had been silent, raised her head.

"Did he cast a curse on you?" Ron asked Hermione again, "I remember there was a spell that could forcibly change someone's will. What was it called?"

"It's called the Imperius Curse, one of the 'Three Unforgivable Curses'." Hermione looked at Harry seriously, "But Harry doesn't seem to have been cursed... or is it that Professor Snape's level is too high, so I can't tell?"

"Although I don't know how to explain it, I still have to say that we all misunderstood Professor Snape." Harry shook his head and scooped up the last bit of gravy and stewed beans on the plate with a spoon.

"I'm full, bye." Harry cleared the plate, stood up and walked out of the hall.

"Where are you going?" Ron shouted after him.

"Potions classroom!" Harry turned around and waved at them.

"There's still an hour until his detention starts..." Ron muttered to himself as he looked at Harry's back.

"Even Harry knows how to work hard, shouldn't I work even harder?" Hermione was thinking about something else.

----

Occlumency is never an easy spell.

Ever since Harry came into contact with it in Snape's office, he has deeply understood this truth.

In short, Occlumency is a technique created to counter another specific type of magic.

Because human thinking is very complex, with many levels, and it is not something that can be seen clearly at a glance, even with the help of magic.

Spells like Legilimency and mind reading use magic to read the target's thoughts, which are then interpreted by the caster himself. Therefore, even when facing the same person, different casters may interpret different things.

After all, human thinking is not like a book, and you can’t understand it just by flipping through it.

The principle of Legilimency is actually to capture a person's memory and feelings through a spell, and then the wizard himself makes a judgment. If someone lies in front of a Legilimency master, his words and his brain activity will obviously not be consistent, so it is very easy to see.

The purpose of learning Occlumency is to seal off the unnecessary thoughts in one's head, so that the wizard using Legilimency can only read "the plain and boring truth".

However, it is very difficult to subdue the unruly mind, so when practicing the art of occlumency, the most effective method is still to resist the "Legitimacy" chanted by others again and again, and accumulate experience from failure.

Standing in the corridor, Harry reviewed his last class.

Professor Snape started by making a ridiculous remark, and then began to explain the basic principles of Occlumency and Legilimency with a reluctant look on his face. Harry was confused, so he asked about his doubts.

He was greeted with a bunch of sarcastic remarks from Professor Snape, which roughly meant that there was nothing in Harry's head except air. So Harry asked, if his head was really empty, why did he need to learn Occlumency? Anyway, no one else could read anything from an empty head.

Professor Snape's face was extremely ugly at the time. He didn't speak for a long time, but just stared at Harry sinisterly.

After that, they entered the practical stage of fighting against Legilimency, because Professor Snape thought that Harry "really grasped the key to the problem, and now he should try to use that empty head to fight against Legilimency."

The first time being legilimency felt really bad, Harry's mind was full of the picture of being dragged by Lockhart to take a photo together, in addition to shame, there was a lot more anger. But he soon remembered that Lockhart had been sent to the Ministry of Magic as a liar and a criminal who abused "Oblivion".

After that, Harry's mood began to improve. Although it was not a good feeling to have someone open his head and look through his memories at will (Professor Snape said that human thoughts are not books, but Harry felt that when he was being legilimency, he was indeed more like a book that was difficult to resist), Harry's emotions that had already risen would not be so easily calmed down.

Then Harry suddenly had a very bold idea and invited Professor Snape to watch his happy memories.

When I heard the Sorting Hat call out Gryffindor; when I saw magic for the first time; when I had two wizard friends; when I took Dumbledore's test with other students in the last empty classroom on the fourth floor; and recently, when I heard that Sirius was my godfather and said he would give me a home...

Harry didn't know how Professor Snape's spell finally stopped, but he still remembered Professor Snape's expression and eyes, as if he had eaten a fly.

Even after being kicked out of the office by the silent Snape, Harry was still very puzzled: How could someone not like happy emotions, not like exciting things, and even find other people's happiness unbearable?

Harry thought that the only possibility for this to be true was that they were sworn enemies - but Professor Snape had clearly risked his life to protect him when facing the basilisk?

So Harry came to a conclusion: Professor Snape is a person who is born unable to feel happiness normally. He can only be comforted by the suffering of others...

But Harry believed that he was a man who yearned for truth, goodness and beauty. At least he was willing to sacrifice his life for a student who was like a burden.

Harry thought he knew very well how difficult it was to live in pain, so before today's Occlumency class, Harry had already prepared himself mentally - he must let Professor Snape feel the beauty of the world. Even if Professor Snape couldn't empathize with others, even if he could only feel happiness from others' pain, even if there were always students who talked about his actions behind his back and even said that he was a dark wizard, Harry knew that Professor Snape was a good person and he deserved all the happiness and joy in the world.

To this end, the first thing Harry had to do was to impress and infect him with the happy memories deep in his mind.

Even though he himself could not feel happiness, he could still use Legilimency to know what happiness looked like from Harry's thoughts.

Harry believed that in the long run, he would be able to accomplish the task of saving Professor Snape spiritually, just as he had saved Harry in the real world.

Harry exhaled secretly and knocked on the door firmly: "Professor Snape? Are you in there?"

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter." Snape's voice came from behind Harry, like a gust of cold wind blowing into his collar, making him shiver.

"I didn't know I was such a terrible professor that I made you make so many preparations outside the door before knocking." Snape continued with a sneer on his face.

"No, Professor." Harry quickly stepped back to make way for Snape. "You are not scary at all..."

There was no doubt that Snape's face was furious, but before his anger turned into venom and spewed out of his mouth, Harry added: "I mean, you're honorable!"

"Stop fawning on me, Potter." Snape's sallow face twitched, and he reached out to insert the key into the door lock. Before turning the door handle, he added, "That makes me feel sick."

"I'm sorry, Professor!" Harry followed Snape into his office, apologizing sincerely, "I didn't mean to make you feel... disgusted... I just felt that there were some thoughts that I had to tell you..."

"Sit down!" Snape strode to his desk. The last time they taught, they were sitting around this desk.

He waved his sleeves, and the oil lamp in the office lit up, casting the two people's shadows crookedly on the ground.

Harry didn't dare to say anything more and sat on the chair opposite the desk.

"No matter what you think of me, Mr. Potter." Snape put his hands on the desk, leaned over to look into Harry's green eyes, and said word by word, "I don't care at all!"

"But I care." Harry said calmly. When he thought of the man who risked his life to save him, he couldn't control his mouth and brain. "You saved my life, so you must..."

"Enough!" Harry was interrupted by Snape again, "Let's be honest! It was just an accident, a ridiculous accident against my will! I didn't know that the bathroom was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and I didn't know that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk hatched by Slytherin himself. If I knew in advance, I would be happy to collect your body!"

"You're lying." Harry was unmoved. After leaving Myrtle's bathroom, he had reviewed what happened that day countless times. He knew that every move Snape made was consciously to protect himself.

Snape's face grew even darker, and he stared into Harry's eyes, while Harry stared into his too.

After an unknown amount of time, Snape's voice rang out in the office again: "I hope you still remember the lessons we had last week, Potter."

"Not at all, Professor," Harry replied quietly, watching Snape sit down across from him.

"Then you must be prepared to accept the attack?" Snape raised his chin, revealing a harsh jawline.

"Always be prepared, Professor." Harry leaned forward, ready to respond to any possible attack.

"And now," Snape said, his voice as cold as the December wind, as he uttered a spell, "Legitimate."

In a shaking, the office disappeared from his sight, replaced by various flashing images and emotions.

There is no doubt that Snape deliberately tried to probe Harry's inner scars, so the first things that flashed through were Harry's childhood traumas.

Never mind Dali's red bicycle, he's too fat to ride it anymore; never mind the barking guard dog under the tree, you're a wizard now, and with a little spell, it'll know who to hide from...

Harry tried to pull himself away from the embarrassing images and into happier memories.

Thinking about Hogwarts... thinking about Ron, Hermione, and Ivy... thinking about Quidditch, the feeling of the cold wind and raindrops on my cheeks... thinking about the candy Sirius gave me... thinking about the future I was going to live with Sirius... thinking about the motorcycle he left at Hagrid's place...

Harry's smile had just appeared on his lips when the rapidly spinning images disappeared and he realized that he was back in Snape's office.

"Professor, did I succeed?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

However, all he was greeted with was Snape's cold face.

"Of course not, I stopped the spell." Snape's features were tense, as if he had been covered in vinegar for hitting the wrong beat outside the Hufflepuff common room.

"If you remember, Potter, I am not a Dementor that feeds on positive emotions. I am your professor." Snape sneered, "Is there a hole in your brain? Have you completely forgotten everything I told you in the last class?"

"No," Harry whispered.

"In that case, tell me, what is the essence of Occlumency?" Snape asked contemptuously.

"Eliminate all distractions, throw away all emotions, don't recall, don't think..." Harry recalled.

"Need I tell you what I just saw in your brain?" Snape didn't expect Harry to answer at all. "It's trivial and has nothing to do with this lesson!"

"If those are just trivial matters, then am I halfway successful?" Harry asked tentatively, "At least, I didn't expose those embarrassing memories to you..."

Snape took a deep breath and said, "I hope you're ready! Legilimency!"

(End of this chapter)