Chapter Two
Legilimency and the Past
"I believe I have found the answer to 'what you are'". Dumbledore said the last words with much apprehension and with a bright glint in his protected eyes.
"It comes from an ancient time long before the pyramids in Egypt went up. That was a time before magic had been truly discovered."
At the strange look upon Anna's face, Dumbledore continued to explain. "This was a time when witches and wizards did not exist. You see, the first witch came about when a normal human, or muggle, somehow harnessed magic and began to use it for her self. She had the most magic, and her children had it split up among them for their use. After a time, the magic grew in the descendents of this witch naturally. This witches name was Laurëmal Tir-palan, in full, but most just called her Laurëmal. She had golden eyes. Before she died she had contained the most magic… more magic then any of us today could ever dream of. She had 10 children, and she split the magic evenly among them. Each of these children had golden eyes. But there was a problem. Her youngest child, who was named Thang, could for some reason not use the magic, and he also did not have golden eyes. Try as he might, he could not get it to come out of him and be used. He was the first squib. And so, Thang tried to live a normal life as a muggle while his siblings grew prosperous with their talents.
"He and his wife had a family. He had five children, and none of them carried magic such as Thang's siblings did. Nowhere in history is it recorded that any of Thang's offspring has shown its magic. But one thing is certain. When Thang's heir's magic finally comes forth, it is precieved that that heir will hold the same amount of magic that Thang should have held.
"What magical ability did she give him?"
"She gave him the normal magical properties, and one special power, Legilimency to the strongest degree."
"And this involves me how?" I asked, my eyes wide.
"Legilimency is the power to 'read some ones mind' but different all together. It can allow one to see what someone is thinking."
"So, you're saying that when I see you or Harry's memory's, I'm performing Legilimency without even meaning too?"
"If you have a strong enough will to know what someone is thinking, and you are making eye contact, yes it is possible. For a long time now, we have called Thang's descendent, Laurëmal. So, the answer to your question to 'what you are' is finally answered."
My eyes still bulgingly wide, I tossed the sheet from me, and stood up next to my bed. "So I am a witch." I said, staring off into nowhere.
"Of a sort, yes. That's why your aura is so strong. My guess is that if you ever have children they will be able to perform magic, which you are not able too, though they will not have Legilimency such as you do either.
"What good is being a Legilimest? They can just not make eye contact with me and I won't be able to see anything. And anyways, I can't choose what I see… I just see."
"Ah, Anna, that is where you are wrong. You're mind may be trained into controlling your powers. With proper training, you can look through someone's mind with out them even being aware, and you can also find the thought or memory your need to retrieve. Anna, you could stop spies, or maybe even find information to stop and end this war once and for all."
And the end of this emotionally up heaving speech, my stomach growled loudly enough for Dumbledore to hear it. It was lunchtime. But before I let my mind wonder too much on hunger, I thought back to boarding school back home. Many students had avoided eye contact with me, as if frightened, or scared. Maybe when they looked into my eyes they felt unnerved, and as if I was trying to look beneath the preppy, show offy boy or the sluty, girlie girl. Maybe that was why I had never been able to make friends.
"Well," said the headmaster, tearing me away from my thoughts, "It feels like lunch time, so it must be. I'll get Madam Pomphry to get your clothes and I'll bring you down to lunch. Everyone already knows about your arrival, so don't feel unnerved if they all stare.
Ten minutes later I was on my walk down the hallways of Hogwarts with Professor Dumbledore, THE Professor Dumbledore striding along next to me. We walked in silence, occasionally running into a student or two who Dumbledore would kindly greet as we passed. After what seemed what a 10-minute walk, I began to hear loads of voices echoing from one giant room. Soon, I strode into a magnificent room with five tables. Four for the houses, and one for the teachers at the end of the room. Upon my arrival, the room went quiet except for a few anxious whispers. Dumbledore motioned me to follow him, the room still unnervingly quiet. He brought me to the head table and told me to sit down next to him. Surprised, I sat and suddenly the room bustled with noise again, which calmed me down a lot.
"No doubt, Anna," said Dumbledore, picking up a sandwich from a plate in front of him, "Madam Pomphry will want you back after your meal. I'll be a bit occupied after lunch, so I'll have a student take you back. Is that alright?"
"Yes, it's fine," I said, even though I felt as if my stomach was about to explode… I mean I was sitting next to Albus Dumbledore in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… how couldn't my stomach be tied in knots?
Within twenty minutes, we had both finished our lunches and Dumbledore's eyes were peering around the room, looking for someone else who had just finished their meal to take me back to the infirmary. He's eyes stopped on a girl about my age wearing Gryffindor colors.
"Miss Granger? He spoke loudly from the head table. "Could you come here for a moment?"
Hermione left the table and walked up to Dumbledore, trying hard not to stare at the girl younger then her who was sitting at the teachers' table.
"Miss Granger, this is Anna Roch. Anna, this is Hermione Granger." Now he turned to look at Hermione only. "Anna's new to the castle and need to go back to the infirmary, could you show her there?"
"Of course Professor. I'm finished with lunch now, are you ready?" Hermione said, turning to Anna.
"Yea, I'm ready."
"I'll see you later Miss Roch, we still have much to talk about."
After the two girls had made there way through the Great Hall, which silenced as they passed through it, and became bustling with noise again as they left, Hermione spoke. "So you're new here?"
"Sort of," I said, avoiding eye contact as not to cause another scare as I had with Harry. "I guess you could say I'm just visiting."
"That's a shame. Hogwarts really is an amazing place. There's no way you could see half its magic in just a short visit. There's so much here, it's like a book that's impossible to finish."
Yep, this was definitely Hermione. Only she would relate things to books.
"So where are you from? You don't sound British."
"I'm from America. The state of Nebraska, which you've probably never heard of." To my great surprise, Hermione hadn't heard of it, which just boosted my confidence about where I lived even more. "It's mostly just corn fields, but I lived in the suburbs of a decent sized city."
"That's nice. My family just lives in the suburbs of London. Nothing fancy, but we're happy there."
They walked along in silence for a few minutes, before Anna spoke up, "So what year are you in?"
"6th. I'm due to take my N.E.W.T.'s next year, can you believe it? It still feels like just yesterday I arrived at the castle. For you it was practically yesterday, but time does fly, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does."
"So, what year are you in anyway?"
My mind froze. Should I answer honestly, or just tell her I was in 5th year, as I would have been if I attended Hogwarts? I decided to not lie, but not purposely give out information either.
"I don't attend school. Well, I do, but it's different, much different from here. If I did go here I'd be in 5th."
Although I didn't dare raise my head from the ground, I could feel her eyes staring at me strangely.
"Harry said he'd met you," Hermione said, sounding as if she were becoming bold in her topic of conversation. "He said you were a bit odd. Don't know where he got that from. But I'm sure he was glad to go and meet you if it meant he got to leave potions."
"Yeah, he'd leave potions any day. Then again, who wouldn't?"
"Yeah… Snape never did have a liking for Harry."
"He just won't let old ties die, he needs to understand Harry's not his father."
I stopped dead in my tracks, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Hermione giving me an inquisitive and know-it-all look."
"I knew there was something strange about you." She said. "How do you know all these things? How do you know all these things about Hogwarts and Harry, and what else do you know?"
I decided to come clean. After all, I was going to have to work with one of her best friends.
"You want to know?" I said, raising my head a little to see her eyes. "I'm a muggle who somehow got here. And in the muggle world, there are books describing in detail ever aspect of Harry's life from 1st year up." Hermione's eyes seemed to grow windows as I saw into her mind again.
My mind was drifting in and out of sleep.
'Come on eyes, open!' I shouted in my mind, and my eyelids obeyed. I looked down at the table in front of me to see a mountain of homework sprawled out in front of me. The room around me was empty, and the fire was burning down to small, cool coals. I lifted my head to start on yet another assignment, and a small necklace with an hourglass showed its self. But before I could think another thought, my mind drifted into sleep…
With a jolt, I could see Hermione again, staring at me strangely.
"What did you just do?" she said, is a quiet whisper.
"Legilimency. Talk to Professor Dumbledore, he'll be able to explain everything." My eyes darted down and around the floor, desperate to keep that from happening again.
"Why don't you ever make eye contact?" Hermione spoke in a caring voice.
"Because when I do, that happens. Dumbledore's going to teach me how to use it, but for now, I just can't make eye contact."
"Will you be down for dinner?"
"Most likely."
"Can I talk to you again then?"
I looked up again. Usually when I met someone they shunned me away because they didn't wasn't to be around me again. But Hermione was different. She almost seemed to understand me already.
"Sure."
"Unless Dumbledore wants you to sit at the teachers table again, go ahead and just find me at the Gryffindor table. Here's the infirmary"
We stopped at some doors and she left. Well, this day was defiantly interesting, I might as well make the most of it.
I walked down to the bed where I had been staying and laid down. I soon had Pomphrey running around me, making sure I hadn't died while I'd been away, and that my head was all right. I was just getting sleepy, and about to shut my eyes when a large boom echoed from floors beneath me. It was so loud and enormous that it shook the walls around me.
"What was that?" I asked myself as numerous screams followed the noise.
Without thinking, I got up and out of my bed and ran towards the sound. I had no idea where I was going, but presumed I was going in the right direction since I was following some other students.
Another crashing boom followed a few minutes after I'd left my bed. Soon, I found myself it what had to be the Entrance Hall. Students were pushing against me, screaming and fighting to move away from what ever stood next to the Hogwarts front doors. My question was soon answered when I heard a hiss like cackle, and the killing curse being muttered.
A/N- so, yea, another chapter… yippieskippiedoodleroo! Long word, amazingly descriptive. REVIEW!!! Rule of thumb… if you read a chapter, YOU SHOULD REVIEW IT!
Another thing- the name that I gave to 'what she was' came out of the appendix of 'The Silmarillion'. I went through and found lots of Elvish words and put them together… this was the result. The full name Laurëmal Tir-palan is supposed to mean this- golden circle watches over far and wide. Hint- the fact that her eyes are almost gold will be important later.
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