As simple as thoughts

Studying a whole night with Hermione was something that Harry dreaded. As a friend, she wanted Harry and Ron to have good grades, and as a person she hated wasting her time. Therefore, she was relentless. But Harry would have traded his first Occlumency session for a week of study with her. He took the way towards the Gryffindor Tower letting his steps lead him through the castle. His mind was completely blank, and he was sure he had lost the ability to think.

Salazar had made him go through a series of breathing exercises that had made him completely numb. Harry had discovered the real meaning of clearing his mind. And it had nothing to do with taking a deep breath for a better focus. For a fraction of second he had been able to have his mind free of all thoughts. And the experience had been as surprising as it had been painful.

The Founder had explained to Harry that he wouldn't teach him Occlumency the traditional way. He would give him the ability to control his mind to keep his thoughts in check. After all, the fundamental of Occlumency was to protect the secrets of the mind. If one was able to hid them at will, there would be none to unravel.

When he arrived in the common room, he found Ron and Hermione who were still studying. They hadn't suspected anything thinking that Harry had spent his whole evening in detention. Hermione wanted to talk to Harry but he had dismissed it saying he was feeling very tired.

'But what about the Potion essay?' She had asked with her furrowed eyebrows.

She was right. They had an essay due next week and with their Transfiguration class planned for tomorrow, they would soon have two. He reluctantly sat with them. He could at least try to come up with the general plan.

'Hey Harry, you can copy mine if you wish,' tried to encourage Ron who understood how Harry was exhausted.

Harry eyed the scroll Ron was handing to him with envy, but he declined.

'That's ok Ron,' he said. 'I'll come up with something, no worries.'

Ron shrugged and took his scroll back while Hermione smiled with satisfaction. Harry pulled his quill and some parchment from his school bag, pushing the Invisibility Cloak out of his friends sight, and grabbed his Potion Book.

He looked at his empty piece of parchment and wrote "Venom Antidotes" on top of it. The words danced in the void of his mind as he wondered what to do now. He opened his book without much conviction but, surprisingly, an idea for his plan occurred to him. He immediately wrote it down, afraid to lose it. As soon as he had finished, another one came to him and slowly but surely, he started to draft his plan. It was like, after the emptiness it had known, his mind was hungry again for thoughts. Every definition he was reading was processed at an unusual pace to be used in his essay.

Absorbed in his work, he barely acknowledged Ron when he declared he had done enough and would go to sleep. Hermione glanced at Harry with a curious look and smiled when she saw how focus he was. She turned her attention towards her own paper and didn't stop until she was done.

The next day they only had Transfiguration in the morning and, as expected, they ended up with another essay. They spent their afternoon in the library and by the end of it, Harry put his quill on the table and contemplated his essay. On his table, around his parchment, four books were opened. The desk was covered with notes of interesting facts he had found concerning venom antidotes. And he was quite happy with his conclusion as he had made an opening using his experience in second year with phoenix tears.

He raised his eyes and met Hermione's proud look.

'Are you done?' She asked with a smile.

Harry nodded and Ron looked at Harry while raising his thumb up.

'See?' Continued Hermione, 'it wasn't so difficult.'

'I'd rather say it wasn't so bad,' replied Harry while yawning.

Hermione rolled her eyes and focused back on her Transfiguration essay. Harry considered starting his own, but he was too tired. Besides his homework situation wasn't as desperate now, so he could afford a nap. Especially if he wanted to be useful tonight.

'I think I am going to lie down a bit. Let's meet at diner in two hours?'

Ron and Hermione nodded, and he left the library with a heavy step.

'Don't you think there's something odd about Harry?' Asked Hermione when she was sure he would be too far to hear her.

'I dunno,' replied Ron. 'I'm sleepy all the time too but it doesn't seem to bother you as much.'

'I'm not talking about that,' she replied, a bit annoyed. Ron looked at her interrogatively and she went on. 'He always arrives late at night and, I don't know, it looks like he is hiding something.'

'Well, he has his detentions with Umbridge. Given how she hates him, I am sure she's keeping him longer than allowed on purpose.'

'Hmmm, maybe you're right,' said Hermione. 'I wonder what she makes him do.'

'He told me it was something about lines,' replied Ron who was no longer looking drowsy. 'Look,' he added when he understood Hermione's concern, 'I know it's rubbish and it might be a bit more than simple lines. But between this and Sirius, I think that Harry's got enough on his plate for now. He'll talk to us if needed, don't worry about it.'

Hermione looked at him with a strange look Ron couldn't decipher.

'You're right,' Hermione finally said. She glanced one last time towards the shelf behind which Harry had disappeared minutes ago and she finally turned her attention back to her work.

Harry was feeling better when he headed towards the magical room in which he would meet the Founders. His hand was sore again because of his detention with Umbridge and he was a bit worried as it hadn't stopped bleeding. He had briefly stopped in the bathroom to bandage his hand before taking discreetly the direction of the seventh floor.

'Good evening, young man,' said a stern voice when he entered the room. Rowena Ravenclaw motioned her hand towards the desk and Harry understood the silent order. As he was sitting down, he noticed on the table a strange figure in a silver metal mounted on a wooden stand. The figure was a horizontal eight number, and a glass sphere was suspended on one of the two rings.

'Do you know what this is?' Asked Rowena.

'This is the infinity symbol,' replied Harry after a short silence in which he had tried to remember his Introduction to Arithmancy class from second year. 'It represents the very old concept that the numbers are infinite.'

'You guessed the symbol right,' said Rowena with the same stern voice. 'I am not going to give a full description of its applications as it isn't the purpose of the lesson tonight, but one of them is about the fundamental principle that Magic is infinite.'

She paused to let the time for Harry to process her words.

'The artefact you see here,' she added while nodding towards the silver object, 'is an Apeiron Shifter. It is a great tool when one wants to practice wandless nonverbal magic.' She glanced at Harry, but the boy remained silence. She had expected questions from him at this point and was intrigued by the lack of it.

'I assume you already know what this type of magic is about?'

'In theory only,' replied Harry. He could understand the use of nonverbal spells. In combat it was a definite advantage since the opponent had to recognize your spell first to effectively counter it. You were more unpredictable and therefore had a better chance to win. But wandless spells triggered him a bit. He had always seen his wand as an extension of him as a wizard.

'But as much as I can understand how one could cast a nonverbal spell,' he added, 'I am having trouble seeing how one can produce magic without a wand. I mean consequent magic, not something like lighting a candle.'

'Do you think that lighting a candle and lifting a rock are different?' Asked Rowena amused.

For Harry the answer was affirmative. There was a huge difference, especially when fighting someone like Voldemort.

'In essence,' continued the witch, 'it is the same. Both require an interaction between you and the magic surrounding you. Therefore, the magical affinity is important. With good practice, a talented wizard or witch could motion their World with just thoughts.'

'And the wand would therefore become trivial,' concluded Harry understanding better what Salazar had meant the night before.

'Since the basics seem to be covered,' said Rowena after a short moment of silence, 'I suggest we get to work. What I want from you is to make the sphere you see suspended here slide around the shape.'

'How am I supposed to do that?' Asked Harry.

'Without your wand.' Simply answered Rowena.

Harry looked, puzzled, at the glass sphere he was supposed to shift around the Apeiron. He glanced at the Founder, but she didn't seem to be willing to give him more hints about how he was supposed to achieve this. He took a deep breath and focused on the Apeiron.

'Ok,' he thought, 'make the ball move.'