Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 83 What does it mean to hate each other?
"I am dead……"

By the time Harry shouted these words in despair, he had already returned to Gryffindor.

Although he struggled desperately on the way, trying to run back to the headmaster's office and ask Dumbledore to retract his decision, he even told Professor McGonagall that Snape was the man in black robes!

But considering that he and Ron had just fought with Malfoy in the evening, his face was still swollen.

Professor McGonagall put down his resistance forcefully.

"Mr. Potter, even though you play at night, copy homework, and fight... I still hope you are a good boy. Now, obey Dumbledore's arrangements obediently, otherwise I will put you in detention for two weeks and let Professor Snape supervise you!"

"Don't blame me for not warning you in advance!"

Obviously, in Professor McGonagall's eyes, Harry has become a person of bad faith.

Dragged back to the dormitory by Professor McGonagall, Harry was completely desperate. He lay motionless on the bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes.

Worried about him, Ron, who didn't rest, ran to the common room and asked his female classmate Lavender Brown to go to the girls' dormitory to call Hermione over.

Hearing Ron's retelling, Hermione frowned: "Harry, didn't Dumbledore say anything else?"

She stood at the door of the boys' dormitory. Seamus, Neville and other little boys wrapped themselves tightly and dared not say a word.

The only one making a sound was Scabbers, who was at the head of Ron's bed.

The fat rat screamed desperately because Guoguocha had also come with it. It was squatting in front of Ron's bed, shaking its head at Banban's cage.

Ron couldn't care less about Scabbers. He pushed Harry a few times, and Harry, who was in a daze, finally said with a sad face, "No, he just told me that starting tomorrow, Snape will take over teaching me Occlumency."

Hermione thought for a moment, "We'll go with you tomorrow!"

Ron nodded hurriedly: "Yes, Harry, we are with you. With so many people, Snape will definitely not dare to attack you."

Neville poked his head out from the side and asked, "Why did Snape attack Harry?"

Ron said without even turning his head: "Nothing, Neville, you can come with us tomorrow!"

Neville: "..."

On the other side, Seamus and Dean quickly put away their curiosity and pretended to be asleep. No one in Gryffindor liked Snape, and no one was not afraid of him.

Poor Neville, why does he have to talk so much?
After agreeing on a time for tomorrow, Hermione went back. Harry collapsed on the bed like a dead fish, listening to Ron's nagging worries and Neville's stammering resistance.

As they talked, the two began to snore, leaving Harry alone with a broken mind, tossing and turning, and a sleepless night!
The next morning, Harry stared at Ron yawning, then said to him shamelessly, "Harry, I was so worried I couldn't sleep last night. Look, I have dark circles under my eyes."

Ha ha……

It was obviously Crabbe who hit him!
Harry was too lazy to pay attention. He washed up silently, went to the restaurant to eat, and then took advantage of the fact that there were not many classes in the morning to sneak to the eighth floor and try to find Dumbledore.

He repeated the command that Professor McGonagall had given yesterday, but the ugly dripstone didn't react at all. Instead, it attracted Peeves.

"Ahaha, Harry Potter! I caught you, you truant kid, you're doomed!"

For Harry, facing Snape would be the real end.

He threatened, "Peeves, shut up! Do you know the password to the principal's office? Tell me, or I'll have Vaughn teach you a lesson when he gets back!"

Peeves seemed frightened, blinking his small black eyes. "Oh, no—how could poor Peeves know the password? Dear Harry Potter, are you trying to break into the headmaster's office?"

Harry replied casually, "Yes..."

As soon as he had said that, he saw Peeves do a somersault in the air, his mouth wide open, and shout:
"Someone come quickly - a thief is trying to break into the headmaster's office. Filch, you damned cripple, come here and catch Harry Potter!"

Harry fled in panic, but how could he escape from Peeves? That guy was riding on his head and he couldn't get rid of him.

In the end, Harry was taken to Professor McGonagall by Filch who had hurried over.

Looking at Professor McGonagall, who was so angry that she covered her chest and could hardly breathe, Harry sighed and decided to accept his fate.

He finally realized that these adults were not reliable at all!
Not as reliable as Hermione's suggestion!

At night, after a day of mental preparation, Harry picked up a lantern and prepared to go to the Room of Requirement.

There was no need to worry about Filch now, but if possible, he would rather be caught by Filch and taken to the guard's office!
After walking along the corridor for a while, Harry turned back quietly, looked at the empty space behind him, and asked in a low voice: "Are you still there?"

Then, Ron's answer rang in his ears: "We are following closely!"

And Neville sobbed softly: "Honestly, can you let me go back? What if I get caught..."

A few steps away, Hermione's voice came: "Okay Neville, we won't be caught, I promise!"

"Hermione, why aren't you under the Invisibility Cloak?"

"I'm going to bring some fruit tea with me. Don't worry, my Disillusionment Charm is pretty good... Come on, Harry, don't waste time. You have to go anyway!"

"Oh..." Harry sighed, and had no choice but to find the eighth floor with a hoarse voice.

When they arrived, the door of the Room of Requirement had appeared opposite the tapestry of the troll beating Barnabas with a club. It was slightly open, and a dim light shone through.

Harry rubbed his trouser legs nervously, looked behind him to see no one was around, and pushed open the door.

It was still the small study where he and Vaughan often stayed when they practiced in the past, but everything that he usually felt warm and familiar with was cold today because of Snape standing in front of the fireplace, dressed in black and looking like a ghost.

Gudong!

Harry swallowed, deliberately opened the door wide, and gestured quietly behind him.

But his plan failed.

Snape turned his head, his dark eyes seeming to pierce Harry's body. He said in his signature accent, with a long tail sound: "Granger, Weasley, Longbottom - get out!"

"..."

Harry forced a smile: "No one, Professor..."

"I repeat, get out, and—close the door!"

The air was still for a moment.

Squeak!

Harry heard the sound of the door scraping against the ground, and he knew that his friends had finally surrendered. He felt even more sad and desperate.

Outside the door, Ron pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and cried out in fear, "It's over. I did it out of fear. Will Snape kill Harry in there?"

He seemed to have seen the scene where Harry turned into a mosaic.

Neville next to him was so scared that his teeth were chattering.

Only Hermione, after removing the Disillusionment Charm, stared at the fruit tea at her feet, looking thoughtful:
Guoguocha looked very anxious. It sniffed the air hard, as if it wanted to find something, but it didn't dare to leave Hermione's side - it also had to help Hermione deal with Mrs. Norris to prevent everyone from being caught on a night out.

boom!
The door closed behind him, and the sound, which was originally slight, sounded like thunder to Harry at this moment.

He felt as if his head had been hit by a giant monster with a club, numb and empty. Many thoughts came flooding in and then quickly swarmed away, as if there was no substance in his head that could sustain their existence.

Harry rubbed his trouser legs vigorously.

Snape, who had been staring at him coldly, gradually lowered his gaze and curled up his upper lip into a mocking smile: "The famous savior is also nervous. It seems that you are very self-aware and know that you are just a fool - I'm sorry, I shouldn't insult fools!"

This annoying irony finally brought Harry back to his senses.

He took a deep breath, knowing that he had to accept reality. Dumbledore arranged for Snape to teach him Occlumency, and he was powerless to resist.

But at least he could choose not to let Snape succeed.

This damn old bat, don't even think about reading his memory and thoughts!
Harry also couldn't let Snape know that he had discovered his "true face".

All the knowledge that Vaughn had taught him flowed through his mind. Harry desperately used the brain-occlumency technique to lock all his thoughts and memories tightly in a cold "shell".

That shell was made up of emptiness and distracting thoughts, and for more than a month, Harry had been able to maintain it while he was conscious.

But the intensity can never be increased. Once you fall asleep, it is easily relieved because your mind is relaxed.

Vaughn said that this was due to his lack of survival pressure. The safe environment affected his practice efficiency, and he did not have a set of subconscious defensive instincts in his mind.

Harry didn't quite understand the specific theories, he only knew that his sense of crisis and survival pressure must have reached its maximum!
Following Vaughn's instructions, Harry desperately built up his brain's defenses. However, the result of his extreme concentration was that the side effects arrived as expected, and his expression gradually grew cold.

"Begin, Snape...Professor!"

Watching Harry's transformation, Snape looked a little dazed, those cold, emerald eyes... how similar!

Just like the look in her eyes when she saw him again about 20 years ago, after he lost his mind and shouted "Mudblood" and left crying.

No more emotion...

His heart ached, and Snape subconsciously looked away, and then he saw Harry's face.

That damn face!

The pain turned into anger, burning uncontrollably!
He raised his wand and spoke the spell forcefully: "Legitimate!"

The powerful spell, carrying with it a tremendous amount of invisible magic power, slammed down hard.

This time, Harry really felt like he was hit on the head with a stick.

A powerful invisible force was violently attacking his brain occlumency.

The ocean of thoughts was in turmoil, and all the light in the room quickly faded away in Harry's eyes, leaving only endless darkness.

It wasn't that his eyes were injured, but that his brain was fully focused on defense and had no energy left to receive any more information from his senses.

The spiritual world, because of the attack from the outside world, this space that is not a physical existence, now shows all kinds of strange phenomena.

Lightning, strong winds, earthquakes... or many indescribable horrors.

These were all manifestations of Harry's fear. He didn't understand memory magic, so of course he couldn't see them. He just felt that he was very scared. The mental shock caused by the attack made him have a lot of distracting thoughts, and it became increasingly difficult to maintain the brain occlusion technique.

He finally understood what survival pressure was!

This was completely different from the feeling he had over the past few months when Vaughn had used Legilimency on him, but Harry knew that it wasn't because Vaughn was weak, but because he had no defense against Vaughn.

Moreover, Vaughn had never felt such deep hatred, disgust and malice towards him!

Harry, who was struggling to hold on, of course didn't notice that deep in his heart, a human-shaped mist ball quietly raised its head.

It watched the "psychic storm" that was brewing inside Harry.

The gleaming eyes recorded everything, then awaited the person who placed them to retrieve them, read them, analyze them…

Harry didn't know how he managed to hold on.

The mental defense he had built up with all his might was like a lonely boat drifting in a storm, on the verge of capsizing at any time under Snape's attack.

Time seemed to pass forever, and when Snape finally stopped his Legilimency, Harry found that his clothes were soaked and his whole body was covered with sticky sweat.

As the attack faded, the brain's defenses slowed down and vision became bright again.

He suddenly felt as if he was in another world.

Harry also noticed that Snape didn't seem to be at ease either. He secretly held his trembling hands - maintaining strong emotions was very exhausting. Muggles also had similar examples. When people were in extreme grief, they might even faint.

Harry couldn't help laughing, but he soon paid the price for his smugness.

"Potter—you seem quite pleased with yourself? Yes, you managed to defend yourself against Legilimency… Even though you couldn't move at all during the entire process and could only be slaughtered, this must have been a truly rare experience for a fool like you!"

"…I'm not complacent, Professor Snape!"

"Next time you tell a lie, pay attention to the smile on your lips. It looks really disgusting!"

"..."

Snape could always use his cold expression and vicious words to break down any young wizard, especially Harry.

He clenched his fists and barely managed to control the urge to punch. He knew he couldn't beat Snape, so he decided to be patient.

But for Snape, seeing his enemy's son being so tolerant, he would only become more aggressive to vent his frustration of having to raise his enemy's offspring!

He held his head high, and with that Malfoy-esque nostril-squinting manner that Harry hated so much, he said in a slow, drawling voice:
"Take a 20-minute break, then we'll continue!"

Harry's face turned pale immediately. He was exhausted and sweating so much that he was almost dehydrated.

If it happened again, he was worried whether he could really hold on!

He hurriedly shouted: "Professor Snape, 20 minutes is too short..."

Before he could finish, he heard Snape twirling his wrists and snorting coldly, "Ten minutes, Potter. Do you have any objections?"

hateful!

Harry finally understood that this old bat was willing to die with him in order to read his memory and thoughts and to humiliate him!
Harry also got angry and gritted his teeth: "No, Professor!"

"Very good. I hope you can show your potential as a savior next time. Honestly, your defense just now seemed only slightly better than the troll's to me."

"I feel the same way. Your attack is like Aunt Petunia tickling Cousin Dudley, afraid of piercing his delicate skin."

Snape's face darkened, and he spoke word by word: "...Very good, Potter! I want to see if your defense is really as hard as your mouth!"

Although he felt a little regretful, Harry would never give in. He retorted sharply: "I look forward to your performance, Professor!"

"..."

"..."

The two stopped talking, staring at each other without blinking, as if they were competing with each other in this area.

Ten minutes passed in a flash, and as Snape raised his wand, Harry groaned.

The brutal confrontation started again.

"Tsk tsk, that's really interesting."

In the corner of the study, Vaughn was hiding and looking around with a smile.

The fight between Snape and Harry might be brutal on a mental level, but from his perspective, what they actually did was stare at each other stupidly, and then as the attack and defense paused, they would suddenly shudder, stop panting, and rest to recover their strength.

It's like performing a funny and perhaps even suggestive pantomime.

Neither of them was willing to admit defeat, so the pantomime continued in a way that made the onlookers laugh.

As the time goes.

After 60 minutes, Harry, as the defender, exhausted his physical strength in the first time. He desperately waved his soft hands and feet, trying to grab the back of the sofa or something else to support him from falling down.

Snape didn't care about maintaining his own character. He supported the fireplace with one hand, his face pale and sweating.

I have to say that the professor is still professional.

Even at this moment, even though he couldn't help spitting venom, he was indeed trying his best to teach Harry.

"Potter, huh... your stupid brain can only crudely resist all attacks, without knowing how to adjust and adapt..."

Harry no longer had the energy to refute. He listened to Snape's words breathlessly, then used the little strength he had finally gathered and gritted his teeth, "Again!"

So, go ahead!
In the 90th minute, as Snape ended his attack again, Harry, who had been holding on with great difficulty, completely exhausted his energy, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Snape was not having an easy time either. He had been using Legilimency for more than an hour straight, and it was the enhanced teaching version that involved a lot of emotional investment.

He was now as pale as Malfoy.

If it weren't for his stubborn belief, he would probably have fallen down.

Even so, his arms, which were resting on the fireplace, were shaking.

Vaughan lifted the spell and clapped softly. "Brilliant! Sharp attack and tenacious defense, Professor. You and Harry have put on a textbook-classic battle of brain attack and defense!"

Snape was not happy at all to hear Harry's name mentioned together with his own.

He suppressed his gasp and said with a straight face, "Go check Dumbledore's savior to see if he is dead!"

"Oh, Professor, Albus and I still trust you. I'm only here in case of any problems. I won't be back tomorrow."

"Humph……"

Vaughn paid no attention to the mocking hum. He walked over to Harry, squatted down, and his eyes gleamed slightly.

In Snape's now invisible mental world, Vaughan saw a humanoid mist ball. He did not take it back, but left it there and continued to record.

He examined it for a moment and said briskly, "The Occlumency technique remains intact. Although it operates passively and its defensive capabilities aren't ideal, it's sufficient for early warning... Hmm, Harry seems wary and resistant to you, Professor. I've never seen him possess such a sensitive subconscious mind after falling asleep before."

This was not something to be proud of, and Snape's expression grew colder.

Ignoring his unpleasant expression, Vaughn checked for a while to make sure there were no omissions before saying with a smile, "Okay, everything went smoothly, and the results exceeded my expectations. Sigh, I should have let Harry accept the professor's instruction sooner!"

stare--

Snape's dark eyes seemed to penetrate Vaughn's head.

"Don't be angry, Professor. It was just a joke. I actually think you and Harry work well together. Sparks fly between you amidst your mutual hatred and disgust. This intense emotional excitement is really..."

"Vaughn—Weasley!"

"Alright!" Vaughn spread his hands, not wanting to stir up the professor's emotions any more. "Let's just stick to the current pace, Professor. Of course, that's enough for today. You can ask Ron and the others to come in and take Harry back."

After saying this, he became invisible again.

Snape panted for a while and finally regained some strength. He glanced uncomfortably at the place where Vaughan disappeared, straightened his robes, and became a calm "ghost" again, waving his wand.

The door opened.

Ron, who had been waiting anxiously outside the door, quickly poked his head in. When he saw Harry lying on the ground with his eyes closed, his face suddenly turned pale.

"Harry—" he shouted, glaring at Snape with his fists clenched.

Hermione, who had already rushed to Harry's side to check on him, said quickly, "Wait, Ron, Harry just fainted."

"--oh……"

Ron stretched out his fist smoothly, scratched his head and smiled foolishly.

Snape curled his upper lip, "Ten points from Gryffindor for Ronald Weasley attempting to assault a professor!"

"I don't, I just have an itchy scalp and haven't washed my hair recently..."

Snape: "...Ten points off for Ronald Weasley being sarcastic about the professor!"

Ron decided to keep his mouth shut.

He and Neville helped Harry up, and before leaving, he asked, "Hermione, why don't we take Harry to the school hospital? I'm afraid he's injured."

Snape's face darkened. "I think you could send him to St. Mungo's. The delicate savior needs 100 wizards to worry about his head. You can also check if your head is filled with troll snot."

Ron and Neville carried Harry and ran away in shame.

From a distance, I could hear his vague mumbling:

"This old bat's mouth is getting more and more poisonous, Neville. If you hadn't held me back just now, I would have definitely punched him."

"Ah? I, I didn't..."

The voice faded away quickly as Neville made his excuses.

Snape felt in a terrible mood, or rather, he had not been happy for even a second in the past two days.

All this was thanks to Dumbledore and Vaughan. So when Vaughan lifted his invisibility and wanted to chat with him, he simply threw away his robe and walked away without looking back.

Looking around the suddenly empty study, Vaughn shrugged his shoulders, sat in the study for a while, and prepared to go back to rest.

In order not to disturb Dumbledore's plan, he could not appear in front of Harry for the time being.

I have to get back to the Ministry through the fireplace early tomorrow morning.

This does have some advantages. At least the blame for skipping classes can be put on Deng.

Vaughan couldn't help laughing when he recalled the scene that night when Professor McGonagall's chest heaved with anger and she stared at Dumbledore's beard.

Then, when he walked out of the Room of Requirement, he saw a big cat meowing excitedly and running around the corner of the corridor.

And Hermione, the girl in her pajamas, huddled in the corner, only her eyes were shining:

"I knew you were there!"

(End of this chapter)