Sirius P.O.V
Sirius was sitting cross-legged on the ground in the usual meditation pose he used while doing his occlumency training but this time he didn't have his eyes closed nor was he sitting still, instead he was continuously moving his hands from time to time just with a bit of hesitation as if scared of something.
But the weird thing was, his eyes were open but he couldn't see, his ears were open but he couldn't hear, his nose was open but he... W-Wait he could still breathe otherwise he would be dead.
To understand what happened to him or why he was doing whatever he was doing, we have to go back to a few days ago when Beth the veteran curse breaker was teaching Sirius a common spell mostly used by curse breakers to check whether there is a Ward in front of them or not.
Sirius had innocently asked at that time, "Do they keep this spell ON all the time? How would that work,"
Beth had replied at a time in disdain, "Of course, they don't? Otherwise, they would get magically exhausted before they even went through half the tomb. They just use it at a place where they think they are most likely to encounter a Ward,"
"And what happens if they miss some?" Sirius had asked the dumb question reflexively and Beth didn't reply, instead just looked at him as if she was looking at a particularly intelligent monkey.
Anyway, after that Sirius asked her, How did she do it, Did she also depend on luck and experience?
She had proudly bragged that during her extensive diving into tombs and ruins when she was young, she had ultimately developed a skill where her senses would tingle in advance every time she was about to come into contact with a ward, No matter how faint or old the Ward was.
Now, as to the reason why he was blind and deaf, we need to understand a concept that he had seen in his last life in a video on youtube.
In that video, a nerdy spectacle-bearing guy explained that our human body was equipped with senses that were tuned to detect changes and not absolute measurements. To keep our minds from getting overwhelmed by the constant sensory bombardment we experience all the time, our senses set different limits for detection for our senses to make sure the only information that arrives in our brain is the one we absolutely need. For example:
If a thousand different people were singing in sync and suddenly one of them went off note, it would be easy for us to pick him apart, but if they were all in sync it would be almost impossible for us to determine which sound belonged to whom.
Normal-temperature water could feel cold to our senses if we put our hands in hot water first and vice versa if we put our hands in cold water first then that same water would become hot.
Shine a torch outside during the day and no one will even notice but do the same thing in a dark cinema hall in the middle of a movie, you'll be thrown out faster than you can say sorry, and God forbids you do it during Valentine's day, then Only God could save you from those horny teenagers. The absolute brightness of the torch remains the same in both instances but we can only feel the one in Cinema Hall.
And the reason for all that is the same, "Sensory Adaptation", means that our senses get adapted to things ridiculously fast and that they can only pick up things that are a bit unique or that stand out.
Anyway, using that information about human senses, Sirius devised a plan that could help him get the skill that Beth had earned from a whole life of Dangerous Curse Breaking adventures.
Beth was a bit skeptical about it all but was interested enough that she agreed to help Sirius experiment.
So that is the reason Sirius was blind and deaf, with the assistance of a mild curse that Beth knew about, while surrounded on sides by a ward that she had created just for this. And what he needed to do was constantly move his hands around while sensing the ward in advance and somehow avoiding it.
The ward was created in such a way that it could change its shape randomly while staying in a fixed circle around him. And to keep him motivated Beth had added a function that would make the ward shock him every time he touched it by mistake.
Of course, the minute Beth was bored of just watching him get shocked and left him alone, the first thing Sirius tried was the hack that had never failed him in any endeavor that involved his mental capacity.
He immediately went into his Enhanced Occlumency mode and then started straining his senses to get a feel for the ward. He didn't get the results immediately as he had excepted but he didn't give up and believed in his hack with all his might.
And he wasn't disappointed as about a week after he had started, he was faintly able to feel a thin screen of magic surrounding him that was constantly changing its shape. He was obviously jubilant with that and that emotion broke his concentration and his perception of the ward.
But after the first success, the second one wasn't too far away as only an hour later he felt that awareness again and to verify it he even tried toughing the ward ('Ow! Ow! which wasn't a very bright idea,') but it proved that it was working and that was all that mattered.
And he kept on turning that state ON and OFF until he was able to get a solid feel of the ward every single time. He didn't stop and celebrate after that as the work was only half done, as he couldn't maintain his enhanced half-grim for very long so he needed to be able to sense that awareness in his normal state otherwise it would have been a moot point.
So very slowly he started decreasing the amount of magical strength he sent into maintaining his half-grim state while maintaining that perception of Ward. And the moment he loses the thread connecting his awareness to the ward around him he would start from scratch.
It turned into a routine for him, he would arrive at Beth's house in the morning and immediately go into the circle of the ward and sit there while constantly straining his senses until he exhausted his mental and magical strength.
And after that, he would head straight to the book of the day that Beth had picked for him, which he would read and comprehend front to back, and later ask Beth to clear all his doubts if he had any.
By that time, he would have mostly recovered his magical strength so they would go straight into the practical side of the magic he learned that day and continue until he was exhausted again.
As the days progressed with his schedule filled to the brim from training, he found out that not only did it improve his awareness of his surroundings it also increased his magical control as he needed to increase and decrease his magical strength continuously.
He already had a lot of magic due to his strong soul and the increase in magical control allowed him to actually use that reservoir of magic that he wasn't able to before—due to his shoddy magical control.
After about 3 weeks of following that routine religiously without taking any breaks, he got a very welcome surprise.
He was just coming out of his regular Enhanced Occlumency session when he noticed that even though he wasn't concentrating or trying to maintain his Occlumency, he still didn't lose his Occlumency shields like he always did.
He was very shocked as he should have been bought out of his Occlumency state immediately due to his exhausted mental strength but he wasn't losing it no matter how long had passed.
After a couple of experiments and various tests, he was able to conclude that he had advanced his occlumency to the next level, Level 3, that according to the Back Grimoire was one of the highest levels achievable just below a Master Occlumens.
"Awesome!"
Level 3 corresponds to an Expert Occlumens, someone who could maintain his Occlumency perpetually and they were even able to somewhat change their memories to avoid incriminating themselves.
And before he could fully process that, another piece of good news made itself known as it turns out his advancement in Occlumency had the welcome effect of increasing his perception. Sirius could now sense where the ward was even in his normal which was what he had been trying to achieve all along.
Sirius guessed that as he was almost in the final part of his training, leveling up just pushed his awareness over the edge. He couldn't wait to throw this at Beth, as the smug tone in which she had bragged about her skills would have made even Draco Malfoy proud.
So the moment Beth arrived back from wherever she went while he was training, he immediately told her the good news, Of course, he was smirking all the way during his explanation. (Sirius kind of understood why Malfoy is the way he is, Bragging just feels too good...)
Obviously, Beth didn't believe him right away after all it was a skill she had earned after years of dangerous expeditions, so she immediately asked to, "Show Me,"
And Sirius did just that, he entered the ward circle and started roaming and moving his hands inside it within inches of the ward without ever touching it.
Beth even altered the ward but the results remained the same as Sirius was still able to sense the ward even though it was a lot fainter this time.
"Did you alter the ward to make it harder?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Beth replied evadingly, "Anyway, now that you've acquired this skill and are now proficient enough. I think you're entitled to a gift for your hard work,"
She took something out a small wrapped box out of her pocket and handed it to him with an innocent smile.
"What is it?" Sirius asked while taking the red box into his hands. He could sense faint magical energy coming from it which made him even more excited as it could even be a magical gift.
So he opened it hurriedly and the thing that fell out of it was a "Compass! Is it one of those magical compasses that always shows the right path?" Sirius asked with gleaming eyes.
"Oh! No, nothing like that," Beth said airily, "It's just a regular now I once found in a muggle trinket shop,"
"What," Sirius asked disappointedly, "Then what's the point of this?"
"Oh, you'll see the point of it... just about now...," She mumbled before looking at him with a smirk and waving, "Bye Bye,"
Sirius immediately had a sinking feeling in his stomach but before he could throw away the compass, he was suddenly pulled by his navel with a yank.
"NooooOOOO—"
He screamed as he was swept away in a swirl of colors. Turns out that sinking feeling was just the portkey pulling him along.
"I need to teach him not to accept anything a magical hands him without checking it first," Beth mumbled to the empty room, "Thank Merlin! I was able to finish his gift just in time or else he would have gotten cocky with this new skill,"
Misty her house-elf popped into the room and served her tea, "Thank you, Misty," She said before taking a sip, "I wonder how long it'll take him to escape from there... A week... Two weeks... huhuhu... HAHAHA,"
Misty the house elf was terrified of her master's creepy laugh and immediately left the room.
...
"NOT AGAINN—" Sirius's scream was abruptly cut off as he was thrown onto the ground by the portkey he had been handed by his crazy mentor.
"Ugh..." He groaned while getting up from the ground where he had fallen face down. Due to the portkey starting abruptly, Sirius didn't keep his hands tucked and wasn't able to land on his feet. He could feel the rough earth below him but it was so dark that he wasn't able to see anything.
"Lumos!"
Sirius chanted after taking out his wand even though he was pretty proficient in silent magic. Something about the darkness made him want to chant instead of casting magic silently.
Looking around using his wand light Sirius saw that he was in some kind of underground tunnel with only the way in front of him open because there was nothing behind him except for a dead end.
The first thing Sirius tried was all the different ways to escape that he knew of, from apparating to creating a portkey, in fact, he even tried calling for Kreacher but alas none of them worked. It felt the space in this place was frozen or maybe there were anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards placed around.
"That crazy bit—" Sirius stopped mid-curse when his wand shined on the earthen wall on his left side. He went close and found that there was writing on the wall.
"GO THAT WAY"
—
"TO BEGIN YOUR FIRST ADVENTURE,"
"That woman is just too fond of these random tests..." Sirius mumbled while thinking that the only option left for him was to just, "... Go through with this shit,"
Before starting his journey into the unknown Sirius first summoned a big ball of light which immediately started hovering in front of him. It was a modified Lumos that was brighter and would always be in front of him no matter how fast he went plus it freed his wand so it was very useful.
Sirius took a deep breath and after praying to Merlin (since he was in Wizarding World,) started walking down the underground labyrinth.
He had stretched his senses to the limit and was walking with complete vigilance, with his fingers tight around his wand ready for anything.
After about 10 minutes of nothing happening, he came across an open space with three different paths leading from there. All three paths were of the same height and width, with the same all-encompassing darkness, which made them indistinguishable from each other.
But fortunately, Sirius had learned a spell that was ready-made exactly for situations like this.
"Ostende similiter"
He chanted while waving his wand in an oval shape that contained all three paths in front of him. And he got a reaction almost immediately when two of the three paths shone brightly.
This spell basically showed a person which of the various path in front of him/her is connected because if they were connected in a place like this then it would most likely mean that if he took one of these passages it would lead him straight back here.
He immediately took the third path which wasn't shining and started walking steadily with his wand held in front of him. An obstacle made itself known very quickly this time on this path.
A minute or two into the tunnel he looked ahead to find that a wide portion of the path had disappeared creating a square-shaped hole.
When he was close enough and looked down in the hole, the only thing he could see was the darkest of darkness, even under the shine of the light ball nothing was visible to him.
"When you gaze into that abyss, it gazes back, and it tells you what you are made of,' I kind of understand that saying now..." Sirius mumbled while fascinatingly staring at the darkness.
But the hole actually wasn't wide enough that a muggle couldn't easily jump across and just go on his merry little way.
Of course, the faint pressure Sirius felt against his brand-new awareness dissuaded him from the notion that Beth would make it so simple. And sure enough, when he whipped out his wand and cast the detection spell, a positive response unsurprisingly came back.
On a deeper inspection, he found that there was a very basic Basic illusion Ward in front of him that interchanges the images of two locations with each other.
So the place where he was seeing the drop wasn't actually a drop but solid ground instead and the actual fall started at the place where the visible hole ended. So if he had jumped while believing in his eyes, he would have jumped over solid ground straight down into the hole.
"What a nasty trick..." Sirius said while bending down to verify his findings with his hands. Sure enough, he could feel the rough earth with his hands at the place where all his eyes could see was unending darkness.
Sirius took a deep breath and slowly started walking one step at a time. It felt as if he was walking on one of those glass floors in those huge towers from his previous.
"Don't Look Down! Don't Look Down! Don't Look Down!"
But he was too curious and made the mistake of looking down when he was about halfway across and the second he saw nothing beneath his feet except for the unending fall, his stomach started flip-flopping as he felt goosebumps rise all over his skin.
"Oh shit! Oh, Shit!" Sirius cursed while taking deep breaths, "Never be curious about these, "Everybody knows curiosity killed the cat!"
It took a while for him to calm down but he resumed after a while and completed the rest of the path. It was just that his legs were a little wobbly and his neck was frozen stiff with his eyes locked staring straight ahead.
He threw a detection spell on the other side and after finding the place where the solid ground was, he jumped across without wasting a single moment.
"F**K! Yes!" Sirius excitedly said when he successfully reached the other side. Even though he overshot a bit Sirius didn't mind that "Hah... that wasn't so hard,"
"If every obstacle is like this, then maybe I'll be able to complete this before dinner," Sirius chuckled to himself while walking ahead, "Will Beth be shocked if I complete her test a little early," he muttered to himself a little smugly, "Maybe that'll show her that's it's not so easy to fool meeeeeEEEEHHH—" the ground under him suddenly gave way and Sirius started to fall straight down.
The last thing on his mind was why he wasn't able to feel any magic from this trap.
/
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