A/N: This chapter was not beta read, I'm posting this today for a special reason.

Kolybel'naya

Chapter 13: Closed minds

"And she killed Dobby."

"What?" asked Hermione, furrowing her brows as she stared at Harry.

"He helped us to escape, but Bellatrix stabbed him on our way out," the boy explained, looking down to his own hands. "He managed to Apparate us to Bill's house, but died right after."

"That horrible woman." The witch shook her head, cursing Lestrange as she felt her eyes burn with tears. "And… How are you? And Ron?"

"We are all right. We are staying at Shell's Cottage for the time being, until we think of what to do next. We think there is a horcrux inside Bellatrix's vault, in Gringotts, by the way she acted when she thought we had gotten the sword from there." Harry sighed and this soft sound echoed around them. Everything echoed in that strange place where they were now. "But we can't simply walk into her vault…"

"You would have to break into it."

"Yes."

"But you can't," said Hermione, feeling her insides turn upside down. "For those who take, but do not earn, must pay most dearly in their turn," she repeated the words she remembered reading on the bank's front door the first time she walked into it. "Thief, you have been warned, beware of finding more than treasure there."

"I always thought it was incredible how you can remember the exact lines you read from books or anywhere else." Harry gave her a sad smile as he reached to hold her hands. "Quirrel broke into it when we were in our first year, remember?" He chuckled, squeezing her fingers as if trying to comfort her. "Besides, how many rules have we broken since we entered Hogwarts?"

"Way too much, that's for sure."

"And we have Griphook, the goblin, at our side now. He can help us to get into the bank. He knows everything in there."

Hermione stared at her friend's face and felt her heart ache. While she was able to recover from everything she went through during the time they were hunting horcruxes, Harry didn't. His face was paler than usual and there were dark bags under his eyes, along with a few bruises and cuts on the rest of his face. His hair was even untidier, if that was even possible, and extremely long for what she was used to see on him. He looked exhausted, hurt and scared.

"Be careful, please." She felt a knot forming in her throat along with the tears that welled up in her eyes. "I wish I was there to help you…"

"Hermione, everything will be all right," said the boy, smiling again.

"Polyjuice potion, try to find some of it. I bet Mad-Eye had a stock of it, try to contact the Order. Disillusionment charms, illusions, invisibility- Oh no."

"What, Hermione?"

"The cloak," whispered the witch, closing her eyes tightly, feeling Harry's fingers leave her hands. "The cloak was in my bag! And it still is in my bag! God, no, no, no, no! Harry-!"

When Hermione opened her eyes again, there was no Harry Potter in front of her, just like she was not standing in the middle of the white, dream-like place from before, but lying down on her bed, staring at the wooden ceiling from Gryffindor's dormitory. Her breath was ragged as she felt the tears finally streaming down her cheeks, followed by silent hiccups she couldn't hold back. Sitting up on the bed, the girl put her hand on the space between the mattress and the headboard, grabbing the purple beaded bag and opening it. She quickly found what she was looking for and was now holding a silvery cape between her trembling fingers.

"Damn it!" The witch tossed the cloak to the other side of the bed and buried her face in her hands. Harry and Ron were after horcruxes, fighting Death Eaters and running against time to defeat Voldemort, while she was stuck in 1944, at Hogwarts, studying, chatting with Death Eaters and taking advice from Voldemort… And, yet, she had the Invisibility Cloak. "Damn it…"

"Hermione?" The girl's head shot up as she heard someone calling. It wasn't Minerva's voice and she couldn't really recognize it.

"Y-Yes?"

"Are you all right?" Emma Hooper. Yes, that was the girl who was talking to her. She could hear the heels of the other witch's shoes hitting the wooden floor as she approached her bed.

"Yes," she answered, cleaning her throat. "Of course."

"Oh, good. It's just that I thought I heard you… Never mind." Hooper sighed. "Well, just so you know, Minnie already went down for breakfast. I know the two of you are always together."

"Ah, thanks, Emma."

"You're welcome." And her footsteps quickly disappeared from the dormitory.

Tuesdays were supposed to be nice, interesting days. They usually were, as Tom had two of his favourite classes in that day – Charms and Defence – but, from time to time, the boy couldn't stand Tuesdays. That was one of these days… Maybe it was because Avery insisted in being in a horrible mood that day thanks to the fact he woke up to find Abraxas' Jarvey – which now had a name: Flamel, after the alchemist Nicholas Flamel – gnawing on his cloak; or because Lestrange kept talking about the incident, making Atlas get even more irritated; or even because of Malfoy, who kept telling them about how the animal was not doing it on purpose which also helped to increase Avery's bad mood. Aside from his housemates, the fact Charms' class was pretty boring also made Riddle want to skip the rest of the day.

His only hope, for now, was that Defence would be more interesting. According to professor Merrythought, they would have a theoretical class – not that Tom minded it, he actually enjoyed theoretical classes way more than the rest of his classmates – and the knowledge of this made most of the other wizards and witches – actually, the only two witches that took the practical classes – enter the classroom and find their places almost as if they were crawling on the floor. Riddle quickly made his way to the first row of tables where, a few minutes later, Malfoy joined him. He could see by the corner of his eye Elston sitting next to Septimus Weasley a few tables behind them while McGonagall and Potter sat in another table next to the other pair of Gryffindors. It took only a few minutes until everyone found their places and Merrythought appeared in the classroom, walking among the tables and greeting students.

"As I told some of you last week, today's class won't require the use of your wands, so you can put them down." The teacher smiled as she walked up to the front of the room and looked at the teenagers in front of her. "Last year I had a few students asking me to teach them about duels. Now, isn't it what we study in here? How to defend ourselves in a duel?" She waited to see a few kids nodding. "But if I put you in the middle of a proper duel, would you know how to act? Mr. Spinnet, what would you do if you were in a duel against, lets say, Mr. Avery?"

"Ahm, I would attack him?" A wave of laughter echoed inside the classroom and Riddle turned around to look at the blonde haired Gryffindor who was now blushing furiously.

"Mr. Avery?"

"A strong Arctus spell?" Atlas shrugged.

"A good guess, indeed. Now, if you were face to face with a dark wizard, Mr. Avery, and you were allowed to use curses, what would you do?" asked Merrythought, running a long finger along her lower lip.

"The Curiaossa curse?" Although it was a good curse, Tom wanted to slap Avery in the face for mentioning this one. They hadn't learnt it in class, a teacher would never teach a curse capable of cutting bones with a simple switch of a wand.

"A very good one when it comes to a serious duel, Mr. Avery," said the older witch, narrowing her eyes as she stared at the boy. "And where would you hit the opponent with this curse?"

"Their head?"

"Yes, you would split their skull open, but are you sure you would succeed in striking their head?" Merrythought laughed at the Slytherin's confused expression. "Can anyone tell me why the head would not be a good target?" Tom's hand was already rising in the air when the teacher spoke again. "Yes, Miss Elston?"

"It's a small target when compared to the rest of the body."

"Excellent. Where would you hit the opponent, Miss Elston?"

"Their legs, so they wouldn't be able to walk." Riddle smiled. It was a good target, indeed, which would immobilize the other dueller.

"Anyone else wants to take a guess on the best part to strike with a curse that allows you to cut a person's bone? Ah, yes, Mr. Riddle?"

"Their chest," said Tom, smiling and raising his chin.

"And why is that?"

"You can cut their ribs, sternum and collarbones depending on where the curse hits." The smile on his face widened as he thanked Alexei Mazarovsky for the book he had given him back in the orphanage.
"Broken bones are extremely sharp and any of these bones could end up piercing through their lungs or pericardium. This single attack could not only immobilize the enemy, but kill them."

"That is great, Mr. Riddle. Both you and Miss Elston were right." She looked around and started to pace in front of them. "But what I want you to understand today that a duel is not only about strong spells and dangerous curses. I'm not here to teach you exactly how to fight, there's no specific formula for something like that, each person has their own fighting style, but as the Ministry prohibited the Duelling Club, saying that it was useless and dangerous." The woman rolled her eyes and the class laughed quietly. "You are not able to train your duelling skills unless you want to end up with a detention, then I'll try to explain to you the way I duel. As I said, each wizard or witch has their own way to attack an opponent, but it's nice to have something to guide you and prevent you from looking like an idiot trying to do complicated spells and getting hit by the first curse the enemy shots in your way."

The older witch waved her wand at the clean blackboard and a piece of chalk floated in the air and started to write something on it.

"Imagine you are in a duel and you have to fire the first spell, which would you choose: a powerful curse that would finish the opponent in a few seconds or a simpler spell that would delay them?" There was a loud babble around the students before the teacher cleared her throat again. "What are the chances you actually hit the opponent with your powerful curse that would take most of your strength? They are really low, if you want to know. In a duel, people keep moving; they won't stand still and wait until your spell strike them. Knowing this, what would you do?" She pointed at the blackboard where now there were three words written on. "Tire, Confuse and Attack. The first two can swap places any time or you can use only one of them, but they are important and underestimated parts of a duel. First, you make your opponent tired! Magic is part of us and, just like when you run around the castle, if you use too much magic you will get tired. You can use this in your favour. You can use simple spells to provoke the other wizard or witch, inducing them to use stronger spells that will tire then. Can anyone give me an example of a spell I could use here?"

"Diffindo?" a voice from the back of the room said.

"Very good, Mr. Black. Actually, you could mention any spell and they would be correct, even a silly Bat-Bogey Hex. Now, 'Confuse'… What would you do to take the opponent's attention away from the duel?"

"The Confundus charm?" This time it was Minerva McGonagall who spoke.

"The best example of it, but is there anyone who can think of something more… Original?"

"Tinnitus, Labirinto and Lychnus Oculos?" asked Tom, seeing a small smile appear on the teacher's lip.

"All of them are correct. We can also put, before the proper attack, an immobilization spell like… Immobilus or Petrificus Totalus, of course. Now, from this moment on, you will have a tired and confused enemy. It'll be way easier to actually strike them if they are debilitated like that. You could use a Expelliarmus, a Curiaossa or even an Avada Kedavra and your chances of getting the target right would be way higher than if you started the duel by doing so."

"But is there anyone who can think of something more… Original?" Hermione saw Minerva frowning upon hearing the teacher's answer and tried to think about useful spells in the situation the witch was putting them in.

"Tinnitus, Labirinto and Lychnus Oculos?" Riddle's voice echoed in the classroom and the Gryffindor girl felt the urge to tell him to shut up. It was as if the boy knew exactly when she was trying to think in order to answer a question and managed, not only to interrupt her thoughts, but to think about a better answer faster than her. It was irritating.

She looked at the Slytherin boy and furrowed her brows. Had Harry and Ron been there, she could bet they would make fun of her, saying that this was how everyone felt like when she kept answering all the questions their teachers asked in class. Actually, Harry and Ron would have lots of fun with Tom Riddle, after they stopped thinking about ways to finish him off… She could only imagine how many silly jokes Ron would make about his neatly combed hair or about his paranoia about being the best in class; meanwhile Harry would laugh at everything, making sarcastic, sassy remarks about the Slytherin. And Hermione would follow them in their laughter; of course, she always ended up doing so.

"Professor?" the girl called in a low voice, not really knowing what she was going to say. It was just a random idea that came up to her mind as she thought about Harry. "Is it possible to use Legilimency in order to confuse the opponent?"

Merrythought stopped talking and stared at her for a moment before smiling.

"Now that's what I'm talking about when I said I wanted something original!"

"Mind reading?" Septimus, by her side, asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Legilimency is far more complicated than mind reading, Mr. Weasley," explained Galatea. "Legilimency is being able to enter someone's mind and not only look into it, but also to meddle with it. An experienced Legilimens has a weapon more powerful than the Imperius curse in their hands… Can someone tell me the difference between using a Imperius curse and Legilimency to control someone?"

"The curse controls the movement, but the mind is intact." Again, Riddle's voice. "While Legilimency makes the victim's mind submit to the attacker's power."

"In other words, when you're under the Imperius you can think on your own, your mind is still yours," said Merrythought. "And when you have a Legilimens attacking you, your mind won't be yours anymore, but theirs. They'll be inside your head, whispering commands and making it seems that it's you who want to do certain actions. So, yes, Miss Elston, Legilimency is not only a great weapon to distract, but also to manipulate someone."

"Professor Merrythought?" Hermione turned to see Tom, once again, calling for the teacher's attention. "I'm not sure if this question fits in this class but… We know there are wizards and witches who can resist to an attack using Legilimency, the Occlumens, but is that a possible thing to happen with Muggles? I mean, we know there are no Legilimens amongst Muggles, but are there Occlumens?"

"Mr. Riddle's question is a truly interesting one," said the witch, pocketing her wand and entwining her fingers in front of her abdomen. "Not really into the subject that is being discussed here, but I think we can stray a bit from duels in order to talk about this. First of all, you must understand, Mr. Riddle, that Legilimency and Occlumency are natural talents. Yes, you can train and end up mastering them, but a natural Legilmens or Occlumens will always be better than a trained one. There are some people who are born being able to touch other's thoughts and some who are born with their mind so shielded it takes almost all the strength of a Legilimens to break into it. You were actually wrong when you said there are no Muggles able to perform Legilimens, Mr. Riddle, there are. Of course they can't do it with as much power as a wizard can, but they do exist… Muggle seers, for example, that can guess their client's life only by touching them. Stop laughing, Mr. Lestrange, I'm being serious here. If you want a more believable example, think about doctors, aren't they the ones with the power to discover what their patients feel and to make them comfortable? Not all of them, of course, but there are a great number of doctors who are like that… Muggles say they are only good at understanding people, that they are good with empathy, while wizards know this easiness to put themselves into other's place happens because of this ability we call Legilimency."

"Now, if Legilimency is subtler when we are talking about Muggles, Occlumency can appear as strong as in a wizard. It's not common, or at least there are not many researches regarding this, but there are a few registered cases… Has anyone ever heard of Rasputin?" A few students nodded, Hermione and Riddle included. "For those who don't know him, Grigori Rasputin was a rather mysterious man that served as some kind of counsellor of the Russian imperial family. There are people who believe he was a wizard while others say he wasn't… The thing is, Rasputin did a lot of things that could be assigned to witchcraft, but he never used a wand and claimed to be a holy man. This made his status as a wizard a mystery... It's doubted that even the emperor knew if he was or not one of us."

"Wasn't the emperor a Muggle?" asked Avery. "He wouldn't know if he was a wizard."

"The governor of every country knows about the existence of a wizarding world, Mr. Avery, as you must already know." Merrythought narrowed her eyes while looking at the boy. "In Russia's case, in special, the magical and Muggle community are way more mixed than in a country like England. Muggles and wizards, there, have been associating with each other since the times of the first Tsar, Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible. Ivan was the first Russian governor to make a deal with wizards, a deal that ended up with the creation of the Oprichnina, a kind of secret organization that was created to put down anything that would oppose to the emperor and which was composed of highly skilled wizards, dark wizards, who would use their magic to keep Ivan on the power. Mr. Riddle, you and Miss Thorpe must know one of the members of the Oprichnina…"

"I'm afraid I don't know who you are talking about, professor," said Tom, furrowing his brows.

"On the entrance to the Head's dormitories there is a painting of a man, right? That young man is Fyodor Basmanov, one of the members of this organization. There are rumours that he was, in fact, Ivan's lover… Who knows? You could ask his portrait, and take the chance to tell him your Defence teacher finds his dress lovely." The witch laughed, receiving odd looks from her class. "After a while the Oprichnina was dissolved and it was a crime to even mention them. Muggle history says it is because Ivan noticed they were making more mess than anything useful, wizarding history says it is because someone managed to change Ivan's mind about magic, making him believe that magic was evil… Sure, what those wizards were doing was evil, dark magic. Anyway, I'm not here to teach you History of Magic, you can ask professor Binns about the Oprichnina later, he surely knows everything about it. I mean, the man almost threw Basmanov's portrait out of a window when he came to work here… I also don't know why they would put a portrait of a madman on the Head's dormitory, but who am I to question our former headmasters?" Galatea sighed and leaned against her table, appearing to be tired. "I just said all of this to show you how tangled the wizarding and Muggle world are in Russia. After Ivan, wizards and Muggles began to associate again and, by the time Rasputin appeared, there were lots of wizards and witches in the court, powerful wizards and witches who, suddenly, saw themselves being replaced by a common man who claimed to be a saint and that seemed more like a lower class wizard. That's why we don't know if he was or was not a wizard. Some people say he was, some said he was just a lucky Muggle… I believe he was one of us. He did way too much stuff not to be using magic."

Hermione took a deep breath as she let her body slid down her chair. This was supposed to be a nice Defence class… Not that she didn't like History of Magic, but she doubted knowing about Rasputin would be useful for them. From what she knew, Grigori Rasputin was one of the reasons the Russian empire fell. He and his mysterious death.

"There are stories about how Rasputin could easily manipulate people and, if you look at a photo of him, you'll know it is not because of his good looks." A few students laughed at this remark. "He was a common man that appeared out of nowhere and, suddenly, was inside the emperor's house, associating with the imperial family and with the nobility. And now you want to know why I talked so much about this man… You see, when you read about him, you'll read about another man called Felix Yusupov, Prince Felix Yusupov, who was one of the men involved in Rasputin's murder. It's said that Yusupov managed to get away from Rasputin's 'powers'…"

"So Rasputin was a Legilimens?" asked Tom, his eyes fixed on the woman's face as if he tried to cling to every word she said.

"Everything indicates that, yes, he was. And Felix, a Muggle, managed to escape from his Legilimency. I've known people who know Prince Yusupov and they say he still talks about the 'mad monk', as people used to call Rasputin, and that once he explained what he felt while talking to him. He said it was as if he was being controlled, as if Rasputin had some kind of power that took over his body and mind… Not completely, thought, as he managed to remember this and to not submit to the man's powers. Now, when the day you cross paths with a Legilimens come, I beg you to ask them to get a grip on your mind for a few minutes and then you can come to me and tell me what the sensation was. I bet it will be the same thing prince Yusupov described."

"In other words, you're telling us that it is possible for a Muggle to escape from the kind of magic even wizards some times can't escape?" asked Avery before pressing his lips together in order to restrain a laughter but that was not able to hide a sneering smile that curled up the corner of his lips.

"Mr. Avery," whispered Merrythought, approaching him and resting her thin hand on his shoulder before tapping it lightly. "Young people like you should stop believing in the idea that magic is an exclusive thing of wizards and witches. Just how we have magical folk with less magic than others, there are Muggles who have a bit of magic in them."

Hermione brought her hands up to her ears as she felt a high buzz echoing inside her head. From behind the annoying noise she could hear Minerva's laughing and pushed down the need to tell her to shut up. Although Defence class that day had been purely theoretical, during the extra class after it professor Galatea Merrythought had allowed them to practice a few of the spells they had mentioned during her explanation about duels.

"This is horrible!" whispered Hermione, closing her eyes as the buzz grew louder and louder in her ears. "Make it stop, Minerva, please."

"All right, all right." Suddenly, the noise was gone and she could, once again, think straight. "Did I do it right?"

"Considering the fact I couldn't even think with that ringing in my head, yes, you did it right."

"Good! Now it's your turn, will you do the Tinnitus too?" asked McGonagall, smiling as she put her wand down on her lap.

"No." Hermione lifted her hand, pointing the tip of her wand at the other girl's face. "Lychnus Oculos."

"Merlin!" Minerva laughed, quickly blinking her eyes. "No wonder those spells are good to make someone loose a fight."

"Did it work?"

"Yes, I'm not even able to see you anymore!" Another laughter escaped from her lips just before someone bumped into her. "Ouch!"

"Sorry, Minnie!" It was Septimus Weasley, who was now holding the girl's shoulder as if to steady himself. "Wow!"

"What spell did Charlus use?" asked Hermione, watching as Potter approached them, trying to avoid the spells flying across the room.

"Labirinto. He saw Hector using it on Basil and thought it would be fun to practice."

"It is fun!" Charlus, who had finally reached them, laughed and held his hand out so Weasley could hold it and let go of Minerva. "Come on, once the effect is over you can try it on me. Ah! Look over there and tell me if this spell is not funny!"

Potter pointed to the other side of the room, where Tom Riddle stumbled on his feet, his arms stretched out as if to try to find something to hold onto, while a laughing Malfoy approached him. Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she waved her wand and lifted the spell from McGonagall so she would be able to see what her friend was showing them.

"How are you doing here?" The four Gryffindors turned from the sight of Riddle and Malfoy and found Merrythought standing near them, her lips curled into a smile.

"Great, professor," said Charlus.

"I see you put a nice Labirinto spell on Mr. Weasley." She pointed to the red haired boy and Septimus simply apologetically smiled at her. "But could you explain to me how it works?"

"It messes with his balance?"

"You're not wrong, but to be more specific, it messes with his vestibular system, a tiny little thing that is inside his ears. It gives us all the sense of balance and orientation on space. That's why you can't even stand without feeling like you're about to fall down, Mr. Weasley."

"Good to know." Septimus smiled. "And when will the effect wear off?"

"It usually takes a few minutes until it happens, but I can help you with this now." She waved her wand and Weasley sighed, relieved, before letting go of Potter's hand. "Did you try any other spells? Girls?"

"I used the Tinnitus on Hermione and she used the Lychnus Oculos on me," answered Minerva. "I guess Tinnitus interferes on how we perceive sounds around us, right?"

"Actually, the Tinnitus has nothing to do with the outside, Miss McGonagall, but with the inside of your head. It over-stimulates a tiny nerve inside you ear and makes you hear the noise. There is another spell called Auris Intensio that has the same effect, but that makes muscles around your middle ear clench, resulting in an annoying noise too." Galatea shifted her weight on her feet before continuing. "As for Lychnus Oculos, it will not interfere on the function of your eyes, as many people believe, but of your nervous system." She smiled to them before she looked around and sighed. "You're doing great, my dears, but I think I have to go help Mr. Riddle to get hid of that Labirintus spell Mr. Malfoy cast on him and now can't lift off."

Tom still felt rather dizzy from the effect of Abraxas' spell, even thought Merrythought had already lifted it a few minutes ago. At least it was a good excuse to go back to his room before dinner and lie down for a while, a good way to escape from a few minutes of listening to Atlas bringing back the subject of Malfoy's stupid pet. Now, as he stared at the ceiling, listening to the door next to his room open and close as the Head Girl walked in and out – most likely to drop her material before dinner – the Slytherin kept remembering what his professor that told him earlier that day.

There are Muggles who have a bit of magic in them. Magic is not an exclusive thing of wizards and witches. Riddle could only laugh at it. There was nothing magical about old Mrs. Cole and her mania for tidiness, or about Sebastian Turner and his stupid need to prove himself that would certainly make him end up in Gryffindor had he been a Hogwarts students, or even about Martha, sweet Martha who tried to treat all the children at the orphanage as her own… But, now, if he wanted to think about the epitome of a non-magical person he only needed to think about his father, a common Muggle that had absolutely nothing special in him. It was funny to think a great witch like Galatea Merrythought could think that Muggles were able to perform any kind of magic, even if it was subtle and accidental.

But still…

No. Tom told himself that her opinion didn't really matter. Merrythought was, indeed, a powerful witch, but she was growing old and with age came the silly ideas, the illogical theories. If the old woman wanted to believe that Muggles were magical, he couldn't do anything about it… Not that her thoughts would be a great trouble. She was old and old people die everyday, it wouldn't take too long for her and her theories to vanish from Earth.

A/N: This chapter has a lot of little explanations that you can find on my tumblr, under the tag 'stuff for fanfiction', like: the way the spells used work, the Oprichnina, Fyodor Basmanov and Felix Yusupov. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last one! Thams, darling, if you are reading this, I posted this chapter today because of you and your birthday, all right? Also, I don't think Antony reads this, but this chapter was highly affected by his Salazar and his Legilimency stuff ehehe (also, lets play that really nice game called 'how many references can Ari make to Tom Riddle Sr in a story that takes place after his death?')

Anyway, as always, reviews are great! Feel free to say what you're thinking of the story :)