Previously: She moved her head back, which had been stuffed into Viktor's shoulder when he hugged her. "I used rectaponerequae. That can't possibly keep it from healing."
"It vas a spell meant to contain magic, Hermyone, not to dispel it. You vould need a healer to pull something that dark from you." He grimaced, and broke their hug. "Vhatever you have done to yourself vas very foolish, Hermyone, and I vould like to understand this story. But that is not my only reason for bringing you here. I promised to teach you to communicate through legilimency, and I vill."
Viktor looked at her expectantly, clearly hoping to hear her story first. Hermione would much rather see how good his shields were, how good his legilimency was, before deciding whether to tell the truth.
"Why not combine them?" Hermione asked. "You teach me to speak to you through our minds, and I'll tell you my story through it."
"Vat is the phrase you British use? Ah yes, 'great minds think alike." Viktor said. "I think that is a good idea as vell." Without any further words, he sat down cross-legged, and motioned for her to do the same. She sat across from him, looking into his eyes guilelessly, but really using the time to stuff the most important memories to the "restricted section" of her mindscape. Viktor would have to get past all of her defenses to reach her precious memories – memories of the future, of working with Draco and Severus, anything that could damn her.
And suddenly, she was feeling him poke at her shields. Not a painful feeling, more like someone was hovering very close to her, invading her space. She lowered her shields tentatively, inch by inch, and the feeling got stronger. Finally, the impenetrable bubble of her occlumency shields receded into the mental equivalent of a wooden fence, which Viktor had no trouble bypassing.
A weird feeling came over her, that uncomfortable impression of being watched.
And do you hear me now? He said clearly.
She responded, "Well of course I hear you, Viktor."
No, not that way. You are using your lips. Use your mind. She heard him say quite clearly, but his lips weren't moving. It was a very bizarre thing to witness.
She gaped. This is impossible! Everything she had read had told her that reading minds – reading the actual, verbalized thoughts of the person across from you – was unachievable. The mind simply didn't work in full sentences that another human being could understand, so it was more like reading impressions and thoughts. If you were skilled enough, you could dig into their subconscious, like she did with Draco. But this seemed… companionable. She was certain if Viktor hadn't let her hear his thoughts, she would be unable to understand, and visa versa. A good way to think of it was as consensual, mutual legilimency, she decided, trying not to think about how that categorized other forms of legilimency.
It is not impossible, Hermione. Just a well-kept secret.
Hermione instinctively brought her shields up at that, turning the rickety fence into a big, stone wall. She hoped that was the best way to keep him out. "Stop reading my thoughts!" She said defensively.
Viktor put his hands up in a sign of surrender, and even closed his eyes so she knew he wasn't trying to perform legilimency on her. "I can only here vat you share vith me." He said aloud. "Vich, by the vay, is very impressive. You vere very quick to pick it up. Are you a natural legilimens?"
Of course he would think that, since he knew she wasn't wizard-raised. It was the only thing that made sense, since it was a bit unreasonable to believe she had started before getting to Hogwarts with her dentist parents. 'No, just a hard worker.' She tried thinking to him in the same way she had thought before.
Nothing happened, and Hermione remembered she had upped her shields again. And suddenly, she was very glad she did. If she were to tell him she had trained in occlumency and legilimency to the proficiency level she had achieved, he would never trust her. If he could only hear what she wanted him to hear, then she would be better off letting him think she was a precocious fifteen-year-old. And if he realized she was hiding something, she could give him an expendable secret: the time turner.
Keeping all of this in mind, and continuing to stuff her entire restricted section into the recesses of her memories, she relaxed her defenses. He would be able to hear her thoughts once more.
I've only read about occlumency and legilimency quite briefly. I tried to do some of the mental exercises involved in occlumency, but that's all I've gotten around to. She said, keeping every hint of deception from her face.
Talking like this was a bit like forming a spoken sentence. Much slower, like a trickling stream, than the usual current of her thought process – half formed, freely flowing, and not very clearly articulated at all. At least, not in a way that someone other than her would understand.
Krum smiled, satisfied, as if he had figured out some huge puzzle. You are a natural, then. That is very rare, and very impressive indeed. I can tell you that occlumency is the practice of hiding one's memories or intentions, and legilimency is the practice of revealing other's secrets through force. This is neither, although it is classified as legilimency. I am only connecting to your mind through a mind-bond, and it is created when we both allow the other to hear.
So we've created a mental bond by speaking to one another this way? Hermione asked interestedly. How does it work?
Viktor rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he'd much rather not answer. That is hard to answer. First, we must be legilimens and occlumens both. Then our minds must be compatible, in which we can connect with lowered shields without rebelling. And then, there must be a willingness to communicate and understand.
What does that mean, a willingness to understand? How does that affect the bond? Hermione questioned.
Well, you may notice that I have no accent. In fact, I'm not even speaking English.
Hermione gasped. That's impossible. She seemed to be saying a lot of that today. Thankfully, it was in-character for the innocent-Hermione persona she was selling to Viktor (and didn't that just tickle her moral code). With that thought, she continued to shove any incriminating memories away. It wouldn't do for them to influence her now.
Perhaps improbable, not impossible, my dear Hermione. Viktor looked very smug. The subconscious mind is an incredible place. How does a parslemouth understand the snake with whom he speaks? How does a Hyppogriff distinguish an insult from a compliment, although she does not understand language?
"You're saying our minds are automatically translating for us? Then why can't I understand any language?" She asked aloud.
"You misunderstand, Hermyone, this is a magic based on villingly allowing others into the mind. It is qvite complex, I haff some trouble understanding myself."
After hearing Viktor's unaccented voice for so long, it was quite strange to hear it again, and Hermione had more trouble understanding him than she did since meeting him all those years ago. "So two legilimens connect their minds together in some sort of magical bond, and suddenly we can understand other languages? If I did the same with a parselmouth, could I then understand Parseltongue?"
Viktor met her eyes again, and that same feeling returned, a discomforting feeling like she was no longer alone. You could, but only so long as you connect to their minds. We could maintain a connection for a short time, but without high compatibility we could not keep it open forever. Probably a few minutes at most. But the mind-bond creates more than just communication. It can affect the mind permanently. That seemed just short of ridiculous to Hermione, and she waited for him to finish impatiently. A part of my shields allows my friend, Nerida Harfang, to contact me within a certain distance. We are very compatible, since we have been friends for many years, and we have practiced this art together. I could contact her now, anywhere in the castle, if she were not in Svalbard.
Forgetting her earlier question entirely, Hermione asked, this was the person under the invisibility cloak, wasn't it? And the memories she wanted to hide were officially safe, locked in a sturdy silver safe and hidden in the darkest corners of her mind. Everything that made her her, everything that differentiated her from fifteen-year-old innocent-Hermione, was hidden, so even if Viktor broke her trust and her defenses, he wouldn't find her secret.
Well… Viktor looked supremely uncomfortable for some reason, and Hermione kept herself from tapping her foot in anticipation. I have not been entirely honest with you, in that. It wasn't Nerida, for she is too far.
Then who was it?
No one. The person I would have asked, Lubovsky, was never there. I wanted you to feel pressured by someone else's presence, but I hadn't expected a real danger. You are only fifteen, after all. She looked at him with a strange expression, and he continued quickly. I hope this does not offend.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that, and her concentration broke. She felt another odd sensation, like something had snapped off from her very brain. She felt suddenly quite alone, like she had when she first got to Hogwarts. It was discomforting, if not debilitating, and she reached back out to Viktor to ask about it.
To her annoyance, she hit a huge wall, and ricocheted back into her mind, which spun dizzyingly. Her mind palace, once so pristinely ordered, seemed cluttered, confused, whispy, almost like she had neglected it for years.
"Vait," he said, breaking eye contact so she couldn't continue. "Ve should stop for today."
"But I was really getting the hang of it!" Hermione complained. The loneliness she felt, that sort of empty feeling, didn't help. Nor did the ringing in her head, and the wispiness of her memory palace. The longer she tried to look at her own mindscape, the more distorted it seemed.
Viktor looked at her stonily. "I realize this. You are very good indeed. Perhaps too good, vut I do not know vat other training you haff done for yourself, or how natural legilimency vorks. It is possible to move too qvickly. The subconscious vas not intended for these things, Hermione." She blinked. This was the first time she had heard him say her name right, although he had been improving over time. "It took me four months to get to the place you are." Viktor actually looked sullen at this, and she wondered if she had made him self-conscious in his own skill.
"I'm not seeing what the problem is." She said. Surely quick progress was good? And it would solve the roaring headache she felt.
"The problem is vhy you are pushing to continue, Hermione. You may not haff realized, vut the vay the mind-bond affects the brain can be very damaging. If you continue, you risk losing your subconscious memories altogether."
She reeled back, unwilling to believe what Viktor was saying. But if she thought about it, something felt odd. She seemed to have big gaps in her memories, and tried to remember what she had been doing even yesterday.
She had gone to the ball, hadn't she? Then she had talked to Pavarti and Lavender till she fell asleep. And this morning, she had fought with Ron. Yes, that was it.
Then why did it feel like she was missing something?
"Hermione, may I ask you something?" Viktor interrupted her thoughts. She nodded absently, and he continued. "How long haff you studied occlumency?"
Occlumency? What a weird word. It seemed it was based off the Latin word for eye, or perhaps a word in ancient runes. She had read it somewhere. Oh yes, now she remembered. "It's a mind art, I think, right?" she said tentatively. She had studied a bit of it, but it was more in idle interest than any real desire to learn. "I've learned a bit. Not for long, though," she tacked onto the end, answering his original question.
Viktor sighed heavily. "Hermione. You haff secrets, I am avare. Vut you are meddling with magic you do not understand. Vatever you did vhile ve vere speaking, it has caused the memory to be erased. Perhaps others, if you haff utilized occlumency vithout realizing. You reached out to reconnect vith me because, vhen you vere vorking so hard to make a bond, it suppressed your own thoughts. It is common, ven students attempt multiple arts at vonce."
She looked at him blankly, all of her considerable intellect failing to follow this train of thought. "Hermione, do you haff a secret you vant to keep from me?"
Immediately, she thought of the time turner hidden under her robes. The thoughts of that were fuzzy as well, but she was certain she had been using it this year to attend multiple classes at the same time. "Well- yes, Viktor, but I have to keep this from everyone. It's not like I'm hiding it just from you."
"And are you just now haffing problems remembering that secret?" He pried. She hesitated, wondering how he knew. That seemed to be all the answer he needed, for he gave another sigh. "I think now that I have made a mistake by teaching you so qvickly. I know how to fix this, but there is considerable pain involved. The missing memories haff been moved to your subconscious, and they must be released before you can remember everything."
This seemed awfully familiar to Hermione, although she had no idea why. "What do you mean, pain?"
"Vell, there are two methods. Von is a process vich reqvires a master legilimens, vhom ve haff a short supply. Second is a much more… experimental method. So I must know, if you are avare of any master legilimens in your school."
"I don't… I don't know, Viktor." She said, but something discomforted her about that. "Hang on, I might. I'm not sure, really."
"I know von. But he is a very dark vizard." Her mind moved immediately to Karkaroff, who she, Ron, and Harry recently learned was a death eater, once upon a time.
"Karkaroff?" asked Hermione.
"-Severus Snape." Viktor said at the same time.
"Sn- Professor Snape?" Hermione asked, dumbfounded. Actually, that sounded right. Why didn't she remember Snape was a legilimens? She had learned it… sometime. She couldn't remember when, or why. "Headmaster Dumbledore trusts him," she said with certainty. Plus, in her four years at Hogwarts, Snape could be a right toad, but he was always helping them – even Harry, who he hated.
"He vorked vith Karkaroff, vack in the days of Voldemort." Krum said with scorn. "And off on the same flimsy excuse as my headmaster. I vould rather help you myself, than let him help you."
For some reason, Hermione thought this was a very bad idea. But she didn't want to upset Viktor, who she was still surprised had any interest in her at all. "What's the other method?"
"Vell, I don't vant to resort to this." He hedged, looking uncomfortable. "Because it is not as safe as a master legilimens retrieving the memories. Vut I can, how vould you say it… break into your mind, and retrieve the memories? It vill hurt, however."
She grit her teeth. "It already hurts. Viktor, I don't know if this is the best idea. I'm really pleased, of course, that you want to help me learn, and that you'd help me fix it, but maybe we should do a bit more research first?"
He nodded. "Very vell, Hermione. I von't make you do something you don't vant."
"Thank you, Viktor." She got up, expecting to feel the soreness she was used to after sitting for a while – the unfortunate side-effects of being a sedentary bookworm – but got up with an unusual spring in her step. She flexed her muscles, which, last she checked, didn't do much, and was surprised to find that her noodle legs were quite muscular indeed. She filed it away with the other mysteries of her forgotten memories. Had she unexpectedly taken up running, and that was yet another memory she had forgotten?
Viktor offered to walk her back to Gryffindor tower, but she declined. She wanted to be alone, just now. And to Hermione, the place to be alone was the library, not where she'd be expected to gossip with Lavender and Pavarti.
It was odd, she used to scoff at their frivolities and downright shun them, but something made her change her tune this year. Intuition, perhaps? A whim? But they were almost at a point she would consider friends, albeit not very close ones, and she couldn't figure out just how it happened. Her mind was quite muddled, and as she walked back to the castle, she analyzed the gaps in her memory as much as one could when they had a terrible headache. She only wished she could remember.
AN: Whew! This chapter took more time to edit than I've ever taken for fanfic. It's a convoluted storyline, so let me know if you don't understand what's going on, I'll go back and make it more clear.
Communicative Legilimency is a term of my creation, but the original idea comes from "The Problem with Purity" - calls it "mindspeak." It's on FFN and Ashwinder, and I definitely recommend it.