AN: So here is chapter 10. I am actually a little upset with how things turned out while writing it. It is nothing against the chapter, but more my own fault. Needless to say i went to catch an hour nap before finishing it today and it turned into an almost seven hour hibernation. So, I apologize if my editing process of this chapter wasn't as thorough as it should have been. Also great response to my poll from last chapter. I will post the results as of so far in the AN below.
Disclaimer: Same as the last few have been...Don't own it, and parts may be familiar to canon...Rowling still owns it all.
"Hey Daph." I welcomed her as I took a seat at the table next to her in the library.
"Hey Harry." she welcomed as I started to take out my books to do some studying. "How did your meeting with Him go?"
"It was very informative." I chuckled, thinking about how I had successfully coerced him into teaching me how to properly Obliviate someone.
"Really?" she asked skeptically. "I find it hard to believe that you could accomplish anything worthwhile on his account, that man is a fraud!"
"Oh, of that you are entirely correct." I confirmed. "He is not without talent though."
"Pffft." she snorted. "That I will believe when I see it. What talent could he possibly have."
"Let's just say, I want you to keep your mind cleared when your around him and don't go anywhere alone with him." I warned her.
"Legilimency?" she asked.
"No, worse really when you think about it." I told her. "Turns out he is a Master Obliviator, and he has just been stealing his stories from other people and wiping their memories of them."
"No way!" Daphne exclaimed astonished. "You mean that poof actually has some talent after all?"
"Yeah, it was a shock to me too." I laughed.
"Wait...how did you find all of this out?" she asked.
"The fool was upset about what I wrote on that test and when I called him out on being a fraud he spilled the beans on his entire life's story." I chuckled. "Then thought he could just Obliviate me to forget it."
"You mean he tried to Obliviate you?" Daphne almost yelled, earning us a heated look from Madam Pince. "Harry, that is illegal. Not only is Obliviation restricted and illegal without a license, but he also attacked a student. He should be doing at least fifteen years in Azkaban!"
"Twenty actually." I corrected her. "And he could if I was going to tell anyone on him."
"Why wouldn't you tell anyone?" Daphne whispered heatedly. "He tried to wipe your mind!"
"I know." I gazed at her with the 'I'm not an idiot' look. "But he is of no use to me in Azkaban."
"What are you talking about?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Well, it is almost impossible to find information on Obliviation." I told her. "Why would I send him to prison when I can just force him to teach me how to do it myself."
Daphne stared at me for a few minutes before breaking out in giggles. "You're blackmailing him into teaching you how to Obliviate? Harry, you're too much for me sometimes!" she said trying to control her laughing.
"Leave no stoned left unturned." I grinned sagely. "This is an opportunity that is too good to pass up!"
"You're right." Daphne replied, staring at me for a few moments before speaking again. "Which is why I want you to make him teach me too!"
"Hmm..." I teased. I wanted her to learn it anyhow. For one, I trusted Daphne. Secondly, just in case my trust was misplaced, she couldn't say anything if she was learning it as well. "I will, but you are going to owe me one." I smirked.
"Hey!" she protested. "I talked father into teaching you to learn Occlumency, so this would make us even!"
"It would make us even," I smirked. "But you didn't say that I owed you one when you did that. So...you owe me one." I grinned at her.
"Fine!" she glared at me. "See if I help you again! When do we start?"
"Sunday's, eight in the afternoon." I told her. "It should take us around a month to learn, perhaps a week longer with two of us."
"I will meet you at the entrance to the dungeons at seven-thirty then." she told me. "I am not waiting with that poof alone."
"That's fine with me." I laughed. "Come on let's get some actual studying done."
'I think you made a good choice bringing her in on this.' Violet told me once I put my nose back into my book. 'We may need her as an ally in the future, and I think we can trust her.'
'You don't think I made a mistake by trusting her?' I asked.
'No...I don't.' she told me after a second. 'She knew you were learning Occlumency and never told anyone...not even Tracey.'
'Good.' I told her. 'I really didn't want to have to spend any time alone with Lockhart. I trust him about as far as he can throw a pixie...which isn't much.'
It was just a few minutes before seven-thirty when Daphne finally made her way around the corner to where I was waiting by the dungeon entrance. Curfew wasn't until nine, so we would be fine for our initial trip, the return trip would be a different story depending on how long these lessons each went. I knew Lockhart wouldn't be happy about the extra 'student' but it wasn't as if he actually had a choice.
"You ready to go?" I asked her when she finally stopped in front of me.
"Yeah, lets go." she smiled, happy that she was about to learn a piece of rare magic. "I can't wait for these lessons to be finished so I don't have to spend any more time with the fraud."
"You and me both." I mumbled as we set off towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the second floor.
"You think Lockhart will be pissed that you told me, and that your bringing me along?" Daphne chuckled.
"Probably." I smirked. "Although it isn't as if he has any choice on the matter. It is either agree or go to Azkaban."
"What makes you so sure he won't take you down with him for blackmail?" she asked.
"That Unbreakable Vow I made him agree too." I laughed. "I wasn't about to let that idiot out of my sight without one."
"Sometimes I really wonder how it is your a Hufflepuff and not a Slytherin." Daphne asked curiously.
"Maybe one day I will tell you." I smirked.
"What you going to make me take an Unbreakable Vow before you tell me?" she joked, but stopped when she saw me not laughing with her. "You would? It can't really be that necessary can it?"
"Yes, I would, and yes it is." I gave her a soft smile. "Some secrets are too important to leave to chance."
Daphne nodded as if she could understand what I was saying. "So one day, with a Vow, you might tell me?" she asked curiously.
"Perhaps one day." I smiled. "For now, I won't burden you with such a thing."
"Okay, Harry." Daphne said, opening the door to the Defense classroom. "You first...just in case." she grinned.
I entered the classroom and made my way up the small spiral staircase in the back, knocking on Lockhart's office door.
"Enter." came the wary voice from the other side.
"Good evening professor." I smirked as his face turned wary when he spotted Daphne.
"I was unaware you were going to bring a guest." Lockhart questioned. "Are we still on for our little...study session?"
"Of course, professor." I smiled to him. "Daphne here is going to be learning as well. Don't worry about your secret, however, so long as you have no intentions of harming her, both physically as well as her reputation, then your secret shall remain safe."
"Very...very well, then." Lockhart sighed, knowing he had no leg to stand on.
"So, shall we begin?" I asked.
"Very well." Lockhart said standing up. "I will teach you the same way as my old mentor. This means that your first lesson will cover mostly theory and the basics behind the spell. The practical portion will take roughly another three to four lessons depending on the talent level of the student. Of course, you will have to put in some work in between lessons to practice, but what you do outside of my classroom is best left unsaid to me. I don't want the headache that would undoubtedly come with it."
"Very well." I chuckled. "We are all ears!"
"Very well." Lockhart stated, slipping into teacher mode. "Memory Charms are generally intended to erase a specific memory. They are regularly used if a Muggle witnesses something related to the wizarding world; the Ministry of Magic has Obliviators remove their memories of the event, such as if a Muggle sees a dragon. Occasionally, a mass use of Memory Charms is necessary to cover up major incidents that violate the statue of secrecy, such as the Ilfracombe Incident.
Some Muggles often slip through the cracks in these situations, according to Blemhein Stalk in Muggles Who Notice. When particularly intense memories need to be erased, it often leaves the victim disoriented for a short period of time. Of course, as you know, there are other...more frowned upon...ways of utilizing this skill.
If performed improperly, a Memory Charm can erase significant portions of an individual's memory and cause brain damage, with difficulty in recovery. For instance, one of my very first attempts while I was learning Obliviation was on a Muggle man who had once tried to foolishly rob my teacher. He was one of my first practice cases and lets just say, I didn't pay close enough attention to my teacher and botched it. He too was trained in Occlumency and it is said to be easier to learn for those who are.
The Muggle man is still to this day a permanent resident in Muggle mental hospital. However, there are known ways of breaking the charm, albeit they are far from pleasant.
Memory Charms can be broken through torture, and possibly someone who is both a Master Legilimens and Master Obliviator. It was rumored that during the first way that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named sought out numerous people, searching for knowledge. A few tried to outsmart him by Obliviating themselves from it, but he was able to undo the spell by heavy use of the Cruciatus Curse. However, the breaking of the charm by torture usually causes a great toll on someone, and their body and mind is usually damaged beyond repair.
There are cases where them memory remains lost in some cases throughout history. Usually because the people trying to reclaim the knowledge were less keen on using the Cruciatus Curse. This may mean that a certain level of torture is necessary to break the charm, or that the torturer needs to be specific on wanting to break it, rather than just inflicting the pain. It is still mostly uncharted territory as not many live to tell about their experiences."
"It is nice to see you are actually knowledgeable in some areas after all." I chided him, more teasing than anything.
Lockhart half-smiled, half-grimaced. "The last thing we will cover for tonight is the correct wand movements, which are fairly simple, and pronunciation of the spell. Next lesson we will start practicing on a house elf. It is a decent place to start but far easier than a human mind, which we will start two meetings from now."
"Well professor," I began standing up, Daphne doing the same. "We will see you same time and place next week."
I allowed Daphne to exit the room first, before following behind her.
"It's a half hour past curfew." Daphne reminded me. "How are we going to get back to the dungeons without a detention?"
"Another secret." I grinned, pulling out my Invisibility Cloak. "This one won't cost you a vow."
"Full of surprises aren't we, Potter." Daphne smirked, impressed.
"I've been known to keep an ace up my sleeve." I told her, gesturing her closer to me before throwing the cloak over the pair of us.
"Was this just an elaborate plan for you to get close to me, Potter" Daphne asked with a smirk.
"That answer would take a Vow." I joked, as we started heading for the entrance to the dungeons.
And then I heard something - something quite different from the soft rustling of my cloak coming from around us.
It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom. "Come... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..."
Instantly I froze, dragging Daphne to a stop with me.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Daphne asked looking at me.
"Did you not hear that?" I asked her curiously.
"I didn't hear anything." she responded, concern evident in her voice. "What did it sound like?"
"...nothing." I said after a moment. "Probably just the wind. These halls are pretty drafty."
Daphne looked at me for a moment before deciding to let it drop. "If you say so, Harry."
"Hey, I'll see you tomorrow." I told her as we finally reached the entrance to the dungeons.
"Alright, see you, and thanks for taking me along tonight." she smiled.
"No problem." I grinned. "Besides, you still owe me one for it."
"Prat!" Daphne whispered as she swatted my arm before taking a left towards the Slytherin dorms, myself going right.
'What do you really think it was?' asked a concerned Violet. 'Peeves perhaps?'
'No.." I replied after a moment. 'Had he known we were there, I would say it was. But as much as he likes to terrorize students, I find it hard to believe that he would just run around saying stuff like that by himself. I don't know what it was, but I think we should keep our eyes out. It is clear that something is lurking about.'
'If I had eyes, I would keep them out.' Violet joked. 'But I know what you mean, we should be careful just in case. So what did you think of Lockhart's lesson?'
'Not much to go on yet.' I replied a tiny bit frustrated that we hadn't actually learned anything.
'I think he was caught off guard by Daphne being there.' Violet responded.
'That and he probably isn't very fond of having to teach me how to Obliviate someone.' I told her thoughtfully. 'On some level, he has to realize there is nothing keeping me from just erasing his mind once he has finished teaching us. I would be shocked if he wasn't hesitant to actually teach us.'
'You think he may try something in the future when your guard is down?' she asked worriedly.
'I said on some level.' I chuckled. 'I doubt he is smart enough or brave enough to actually go through with anything against me. He knows I have him by his bits and I doubt he will do anything short of making sure I am happy and hoping for the best.'
'Well, time will tell. Perhaps we should go get some rest.' Violet said tiredly. 'You do have classes tomorrow after all.'
"Good evening Gilderoy." I nodded towards the man as Daphne and I entered his classroom. It was time for our second Obliviation lesson and I was looking forward to getting started on actually learning the spell.
"Welcome you two." Lockhart smiled, less forced than his previous ones.
"Good evening." Daphne mumbled, doing her best to not insult the man. We did at least have to remain cordial until we had gotten what we needed from the man.
"Well, let's get straight to it." Lockhart offered as he gestured to a couple of chairs off to the side of the room. "As I stated last lesson we are going to be starting out on a house elf. While their minds are much less complex than that of a human, they are still a good starting point in case you mess up."
I wasn't one for just randomly hurting an animal or creature, but my need to learn Obliviation outweighed the needs of a house elf. Besides, at worst the poor little bugger would lose his memory, but most house elf's were treated poorly and could do with some memory loss.
"Thankfully not only the purebloods are allowed to become rich or famous." Lockhart smiled. "So we are going to be practicing on my very own house elf. Not to worry, he is getting on in age anyway and will soon need replacing."
Daphne and I shared a look before she spoke. "Well, we are ready when you are."
"Right...Twink!" Lockhart called, and a short, balding creature with a bulbous nose and long pointy ears appeared. His left ear drooped towards the floor and both ears had large amounts of hair growing out of them.
"Master calls for Twink." Came the gravelly voice of the house elf. "How can Twink serve master?"
'They sure give these things some hilarious names, don't they?' Violet snickered.
'No kidding.' I mentally chuckled. 'If I ever get a house elf of my own, I think I'll name it Kid-Killer McGee.'
'Nope, you can't use that name.' Violet stated. 'That is what I am going to name my pet dragon!'
'Dragon teddies don't need names, Vi.' I smirked, causing Violet to huff, giving up on her quest for a dragon…for now at least.
"Yes, we are going to be practicing some spell work tonight. All I need is for you to answer any questions we will ask you during the process." Lockhart told the diminutive elf. "Any questions?"
"Twink be understanding, Master. Twink will answer as best as Twink can." The elf replied.
"Good." Lockhart replied, turning towards Daphne and I. "Now to learn to Obliviate someone properly, you need to understand how it works, what you need to do, and how you need to do it. As I foolishly found out last week, Harry you are sufficient in Occlumency. This is good as you should know how Legilimency acts and feels. While Obliviation is quite similar to Legilimency, it is also just as different.
Just pretend that your conscious mind is like the surface of a lake. Floating on top of this lake are all your of your day to day thoughts and memories. A Legilimency attack is like shooting a jet of water at the lake, while Obliviation is like spraying a cloud of mist or fog at it. Both are capable of interacting with the surface thoughts and memories.
Now someone skilled in the arts of Occlumency is able to clear their mind, or hiding all of their thoughts and memories underneath the surface of the water. Where a Legilimency probe, or our proverbial jet of water, will penetrate the surface of the water if fired hard enough at the surface, continuing its search through your mind. An Obliviation attack however, cannot penetrate below the surface of the lake and is left with nothing to search through.
Now, while Legilimency can search for information from within someone's mind, Obliviation works differently. The caster must have some knowledge of what they are trying to erase, be it a descriptive image of a person that they want the caster to forget, or merely the name of said person. Where it can get tricky is that with less information on what you are trying to erase, the more broad the effects. So if I were trying to erase the image of Harry from your mind Daphne, so long as I pictured him perfectly in every detail you would no longer remember him. However, say I only knew his first name and I tried to erase him, you would still forget, but you would also lose the memory of any and all Harry's that you have ever known.
For instance, during my early days of training, I was trying to erase the knowledge that I had met someone at their house, I didn't stay quite focused enough and erased every memory the poor bloke had of his house. He no longer even recognized his home. It is imperative that you give precise details of what you are trying to erase."
I was a bit annoyed that Lockhart didn't tell us all of this during the last meeting, but I could tell that my earlier suspicions had been correct and he was still hesitant to actually teach us, and wanted to stall as long as possible…well I wasn't going to let him stall much longer. "I believe we are quite ready for the practical side of things, Gilderoy. I trust we have a great enough understanding on the theoretical side of things. Shall we get started on the practical?"
"Yes, yes of course." Lockhart stumbled out. "I just want to make sure you a decent grasp so you don't make the same mistakes I did is all."
"I am sure that we take our studies much more serious than you." Daphne drawled. "I assure you we have a decent grasp."
"Very well then." Lockhart said, scowling slightly at the dig. "Might as well start. Ladies first? Miss Greengrass, I want you to erase Twink's knowledge of what I had for breakfast this morning…go ahead and give it a shot. Remember to visual exactly what it is you are trying to erase."
Daphne pointed her wand at the old elf as a look of concentration adorned her face. Finally after a few seconds she spoke. "Obliviate!"
I could see her eyes crinkle slightly in concentration for a few seconds before she dropped the spell.
"For now, keep what you experience to yourself." Lockhart said. "I want Mr. Potter to experience what it is like with an unbiased view. Now…let us see how you have done. Twink, can you tell me what it is I had for breakfast?"
The old elf's face scrunched up in concentration before it answered. "Master, Twink is sorry but he can't remember. Twink doesn't remember master ever having breakfast served to him by Twink! Twink has failed to serve master properly!"
"Now, now…no punishing yourself Twink." Lockhart smiled at the old elf. "You have done nothing wrong I assure you. As to what went wrong Miss Greengrass, I am assuming you merely pictured him forgetting breakfast, but not a specific one…hence it took them all. Still, you only removed his memory of breakfast and it is a very adequate first attempt.
Now, Mr. Potter, I would like for you to erase Twink's memory of this meeting. Let's see how you do shall we?"
I pulled my wand and pointed it at the head of the old elf before casting the spell. "Obliviate!"
Instantly the memories that I had been concentrating on, the memories of this meeting since the elf appeared, started to flash in front of my mind. I started erasing everything I saw in those memories, from the room itself, to the people and creatures within it. The memory passed before I could finish however and I ended the spell."
The first thing I noticed was the old elf looking around the room questionably. "I don't think I was able to erase everything." I told Lockhart. "The memory passed on before I could remove everything from his mind."
"Which is what I had expected would happen." Lockhart smiled. "Now you see how complex it is. You not only have to concentrate on what exactly you are looking for, but keep that concentration up as you are removing them. In all likelihood, you stopped concentrating on what exactly you were trying to erase as you were erasing it and the memory slipped away. Of course, you can always go back through a second time and do it again if you mess up. This time however, you can concentrate on the pieces left behind or the original memory, making the cleanup attempt slightly easier. Go ahead and see if you can get it the second time around."
Pointing my wand at the elf once more, I repeated the spell. "Obliviate!"
Once more concentrating on the memory of our meeting with the elf, the memories returned. Only this time they were fragmented and large chunks of them were missing. Making sure I didn't stop concentrating on what I was searching for, I started to also delete what was left over at the same time. It only took a couple of seconds before the memory's stopped coming again, only this time it was from successfully deleting them and not losing them due to a slip of concentration.
"Twink, what is the last thing you remember before coming here and do you recognize this room or anyone in it?" Lockhart asked the confused elf.
"Twink was washing master's robes and then Twink was here. Twink not be recognizing masters guests, but Twink knows master and master's office." The elf answered.
"Perfect!" Lockhart beamed. "It seems you were successful, Mr. Potter. Of course, Twink has been in my room before so he would remember it, but he will have no memory of this particular occurrence beyond the last few moments."
Lockhart dismissed the elf back to his chores before standing. "Well, I think this will be a good place to end our lesson. I would recommend you not yet practice on your fellow classmates, but…what you do in your own time is, once again, something I would rather not know. I will see you two in class Friday."
"Until Friday." I offered as Daphne and I started towards the door, making our exit from Lockhart's office.
"So Harry, where have you and Daphne been disappearing too on Sunday nights?" Tracey asked as we sat down for breakfast on the Monday after our third meeting with Lockhart. "Daphne won't say...are you two sneaking away...for alone time?" she giggled.
We had only one lesson to go with Lockhart, and the last one had progressed nicely. We were able to Obliviate more complex memories instead of just something simple as one moment in their life. The poor elf, Twink, now no longer remembers ever seeing the color green or what dishes are, but Lockhart was planning him not living much longer anyhow. He was getting rather on in age. Our last session we were planning on moving on and finishing on a human target. I was still curious on how he was going to make that happen...perhaps he would volunteer if we were lucky!
"Why Trace, you jealous?" I grinned at her.
"You know it!" Tracey scoffed. "I've been trying to get Daphne off for some alone time for years."
Daphne snorted her pumpkin juice causing Tracey to laugh at her. "Tracey!"
"Come on Wayne we should probably get back to the Hufflepuff table." I spoke up as I noticed Snape enter the great hall. I'd rather him not see me sitting at the Slytherin table. Thankfully it was still rather early and there weren't many Slytherin students in the hall yet.
"So why were you two missing on Sunday's?" Wayne asked as we made it back to the puff table.
"Detention." I lied. "Apparently Lockhart wasn't happy about the answers we gave on that little quiz and gave us detention on Sunday nights for a month."
"Wow that sucks!" Wayne exclaimed. "What could you possibly have said to get that many detentions?"
"I called him a poof that had no sense of fashion." I laughed, actually telling the truth. I believe I stated such on several occasions during his 'quiz'.
"You going to come to any of the Quidditch games this year?" Wayne asked. "I am thinking about trying out for beater. Cedric made captain this year."
"I might come to a game if you make the team." I told him. "Cedric seems like an okay guy. I am sure you will at least get a fair shot at making the team. Are you any good?"
"I'm not sure." Wayne responded. "I played Cricket before coming to Hogwarts, so I know how to handle a bat. I'm just hoping that my flying skills won't hold me back too much."
"Well, I am sure you will be fine." I told him. "I'm sure that if you asked, Cedric would give you some help with the flying."
"Yeah, I might go ask him." Wayne told me as he moved off towards the end of the table to find him.
'So what is on the game plan once you finish up with Lockhart?' Violet asked once I was alone.
'I'm going to start looking at the Mirror of Erised and see if I can't figure out how to get the Stone out of it.' I told her, my mind going back towards our task. 'Knowing Dumbledore, it isn't going to be easy. If he has tied his enchantments into the existing ones for the mirror, I may not be able to. I have no idea what the original enchantments on the mirror were and if they are interwoven, I'm going to have a very hard time figuring out where the enchantments for the mirror end and the ones Dumbledore begin.'
'I'm sure he made some sort of key or code to getting the Stone out without having to deconstruct his enchantments?' Violet asked.
'True, but we both know that Dumbledore's mind works in weird ways.' I chuckled. 'For all I know you have to offer the Mirror a tribute of ten lemon drops before it will give it up.'
'He definitely is frustratingly clever when he needs to be.' she responded.
'Yeah, well if only the same could be said for the rest of them.' I told her disappointed. 'If Longbottom could make his way all the way to the Mirror, then they obviously didn't do a very good job securing it.'
'You don't think that maybe that was Dumbledore's point do you?' she asked.
'Perhaps he set it up to as a test, but I doubt it.' I told her. 'More than likely there was only so much they could legally set up inside of a school. I doubt we were the only ones to venture down the third floor.'
'Well, surely putting a Cerberus inside of a school is against the rules.' Violet laughed.
'You would think.' I acquiesced, however, it was easy to spot from the door and it isn't like it could fit through the doorway to attack anybody. Only an idiot would just run inside of a locked room without first knowing what was in it.'
'True, but there are certainly enough idiots around this place.' Violet chuckled.
'Yeah, you got that right.' I agreed as I noticed Weasley digging into his massive plate of food with reckless abandon. 'Might as well head for class. I may lose my breakfast if I have to watch Weasley eat his.'
AN: So the Poll on which minor character you guys would like to see killed off this year is still open for a few more chapters at least. Here are the results I have received so far...
Gilderoy Lockhart – 5
Colin Creevey – 3
Zacharias Smith – 2
Percy Weasley – 2
Cedric Diggory – 2
Madam Pince – 1
Penelope Clearwater – 1
Marcus Flint – 1
Vincent Crabbe – 1
Gregory Goyle – 1
Pansy Parkinson – 1
Theodore Nott – 1
To be honest, I was surprised that nobody had thought of killing off Filch, but I do kind of like his character. Voting is still open and it will be a few more chapters at least until I kill the winner off, so keep the votes coming in. Remember just leave your character in a review, one name per review however. Thank you for reading and until next time, don't forget to Comment, Rate, and Review and all that jazz.