Hey everyone! Thank you for all the love and sticking with the story!
This chapter was particularly hard to write, I hope you enjoy it!

Sirius & Lupin had been shocked but had told the three of them to sit tight. Sirius was livid but luckily Lupin was there to hold him back. Once they had vanished from the mirror, Harry and Ron had asked for an explanation of how she knew about Malfoy. Harry had been shocked that Hermione was with Malfoy and even more shocked that he'd tried to help them. She told them the essentials leaving out Italy, the head's bathroom, the room of requirement and the diary they shared. Ron had been furious. He'd refused to speak to her after that day but hadn't missed a single opportunity to throw viscous sarcastic comments her way.

With Harry giving her the silent treatment and Ron shunning her, Hermione tried to avoid the common room. The only person happy with that was Draco because that meant she was either in the library or in the Room of Requirement with her. While they both did have a ton of homework, prefect duties and his Quidditch practice, they still made time to research the Malfoy lineage hoping to find some clue to their theory. Draco was laying off taunting the boys in exchange for snogging and a lot of frottage and grinding, though he had convinced Hermione that this was a great way to just relieve some stress, it was still driving his teenage hormones nuts and more than once he had found himself taking a cold shower before going to bed.

In his most recent show of rage, Ron had tried attacking Malfoy during transfiguration which had gotten them both detention with McGonagall. She had given them to filch to help in the green houses without magic. Darco and Ron were working out that anger at each other by racing the wheelbarrows to see who finished moving the bags of manure faster. The dragon dung bags stank, were heavy and the humidity of the greenhouse had both of them drenched in sweat. They were running low on patience and snapping at each other repeatedly and remarks like "Watch where you're going weasel!" Rebuked with "Or what ferret?!" Was the only small talk they were having. That was until Ron accidentally stepped on the root of the Venomous Tentacula.

The plant woke up instantly with the pain. The large flower opened its mouth and let out a hiss. Ron tried to run for it with a "Bloody hell!" but the vines got him. Draco spun around and was stunned for a moment. He didn't have his wand as they had been confiscated for the detention. He picked up a stick lying on the side and began to hit the vines as dogged the others that came around trying to get him. Ron was being flung around by his ankles and Draco had his left arm and leg caught in the vines when he saw the sickle.

He had seen his mother do a ton of non verbal spells without her wand. He knew in theory, that the wand helped channel magic but you could do magic without a wand too. He outstretched his right hand putting all his focus into it imagining a wand in it and screamed "accio". The sickle quivered but nothing much. Ron was screaming, the plant was hissing he tried it again, this time he felt his entire body radiate with magic. The sickle came flying and if it wasn't his seeker reflexes, it would have taken his head off. He hacked off the vines holing him and fell to the ground. He momentarily considered leaving Ron hanging but then thought how pissed Hermione would be and dove back into the plant's vines again hacking them and trying to reach Ron. The Tentacula was not having it and it started to fire spiky spore-like balls from its mouths at their Draco. After about 5 minutes of battle. Ron and Draco were sitting as far away from the Tentacula as possible that was quite hacked up and still flailing it's cut vines in rage.

Once he'd caught his breath Ron said "I liked her too you know…"

Draco looked at him confused

"'Mione…" Ron explained "I liked her too, just didn't know it until I heard about the two of you…"

Draco looked away "Yeah well, what are you gonna do about it now?"

"Wait for you to mess it up I suppose" Ron said nonchalantly

Draco gave him a dirty look "I'd sock you if I wasn't so bloody tried from trying to save you…"

"Yeah… same…" Ron said leaning back against the glass wall of the greenhouse they were sitting against "Thanks by the way…" He continued "For saving me… from you know… "

"Let's not talk about it…" Draco said putting this memory behind a wall in his head

"Yea…" Ron said closing his eyes

The two boys sat there waiting for the Tentacula to fall asleep so that they could clear up the mess they made

—

With Ron and Malfoy in detention, Harry knew the only place Hermione could be was the library and he was right. She was sitting in the back reading a book with the Malfoy crest on it. He walked up and sat down in front of her. She put the book down and gave him a tentative smile that said hello.

"We have another Occlumency lesson coming up and… I'd like to keep our fight a secret from Snape…" He said slowly "So I was wondering, if you could teach me how you managed to keep him out last time…"

Hermione smiled "It was only for a moment… but sure… so… are we okay…"

"I don't know 'mione, he's hated us since first year, his father nearly got Ginny killed, his family is You-Know-Who's biggest supporter, I mean the man that wants me dead is his house guest!"

Hermione said nothing. She and Harry sat there looking at each other silently.

"Couldn't you have like Mclaggen or someone…" Harry said finally

"McLaggen? Really…" She asked disgusted

Harry gave her a wan smile "So are you going to teach me Occulumency or will I have to ask Snape for that book and pretend to read it until you give in?"

Hermione chuckled and said "Come on, let's go find an empty classroom…"

As they left the library Harry said "So is this one those codes you and Malfoy have?" for which he got swatted over the head with the book she was holding

—

"The first problem" said Hermione going into her best bossy mode "is that you're relying too much on your wand… You are a Wizard harry, that mean every molecule in your body is radiating magic… Wands help, but the wand is not more powerful than the wizard…. Instead of trying to disarm or attack the person trying to get into your head, you need to block them out from the inside…" She explained

"Now as I keep telling you, these blocks will not happen the second you are attacked, you need to start building these walls now so that they go up automatically… While the walls work well for Snape, I found that they don't work so well for me… So what I started to do is create a barrier with all the factual information that I keep reading… "

"How do you mean?"

"Well, when Snape hit's you with Legilimens, you panic and think of things important to you and so you relive some memories that are important to you. I on the other hand start thinking about all the books I've read…. Actually why don't you see it, it might help…"

"What?"

"I mean, that I want you to try Legilimens on me and see what you find… the best way to learn is practically you taught me that in the DA, let me return the favour.."

"Are you sure? Cause I don't want an image of you and him doing the nasty stuck in my… Ow!" Harry recoiled as he was hit with a mild stinging jinx "fine, fine… if you're sure your ready…"

"I am" she said standing confidently

"Legilimens" Harry casted and was instantly lifted and transported into a black space. Around him were what looked like massive pages hanging like flags. When he touched one he saw Hermione memorising the list of ingredients for a potion or making it in class then suddenly he was pushed out of it. When he came out and touched the next paper, he was transported into a chemistry lab where a broad had all sorts of details about molecules, atoms, formula's of chemicals. After a while he realised he was not being pushed out of there, but he was not being able to get out either. Then just like it had stared, he fell backwards into his own body and Hermione was standing there with her eyes closed

She opened them slowly "Sorry" she said helping him up "I think I pushed too hard?"

Harry was impressed "How did you do that, I felt like I was stuck in one memory"

"Basically I created memory windows. What you see is what I imagine my memories look like…"

"Floating pages…" He said

"Exactly… so the pages I'm okay with sharing, I keep to the front, the ones I care about are right at the back. However you have to go through the pages in the front to get to the pages in the back…"

"Like a book…"

"Yes… as for trapping you in a memory, I basically use two thoughts one is 'Stay here' and the other is 'Get out' when you got into my head and went to my chemistry text book I thought 'Stay here' as hard as I could. I focussed my magic on those two words and your image in my head. Only this time instead of a page I imagined you trapped in a bubble. That's what had you stuck… when I wanted you out I thought 'get out' and imagined pushing you really hard and well… here we are…" Hermione finished

"So if I understand, I just need to sit and meditate and decide how I want my memories to be….. sorted?"

"yes… meditating to control your mind helps… When you meditate, try to calm yourself and instead of thinking about one thought at a time, think about all of them ask see how you want to arrange them… That's what helped me out…."

"Okay… so should I do that now?" Harry asked wondering if Hermione was going to be like Snape and assault his mind

"Yes.. I think you should, in fact I'll join you. I need to strengthen my will to hide things anyway…"

"Okay… so just close my eyes and sit?" Harry asked confused

"Try it… it really helps…" She said

"Fine" said Harry and they both sat down to meditate and learn how to control their minds.

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