I try not to choke on the dust as another explosion rocks the ground. As the heat from the explosion washes over me, I can feel myself starting to sweat. At least the smell of dust and fire is disguising the stench of blood and death that was overpowering just a few seconds ago. I stand up shakily, my movement hindered by the bruises inflicted on my legs when the last explosion blasted rubble into me. Just as I start to limp towards cover, another plane passes overhead. I duck down, hearing the shrill cry of bombs drop. I wait for the inevitable impact that will end my life, but nothing comes. I look up and see Tamelyn sitting in a familiar black void, rather than the ruined city I was just standing in. I try and process what just happened.

"What is…?" I ask before the situation catches up with me. "Oh. Nightmare."

She nods in reply. "Sorry for not being here earlier. I try and give you space when I can, but when I realised that you'd probably be having nightmares about the bombing, I decided to intervene."

I push myself up to a standing position. "Well, um, thanks for that. How'd you guess I'd be having a nightmare?"

"Because I had them for months until I got good enough at occlumency to block them out." She says with her usual level of detachment.

I would criticise her for not dealing with her emotions if I didn't block out my feelings just as much. "How does that even work?" I inquire, changing the subject.
"I mean, how does occlumency let you dispel nightmares?"

She shakes her head. "Occlumency is an art of understanding your own mind. Dreams are just another aspect of the mind. Lucid dreaming is possible even without occlumency, but said dreams will have greater clarity to an occlumens. Surely you've noticed how we're able to be fully aware of what happened before we fell asleep, how we can think without the usual haze of sleep and dreams clouding our judgement and reasoning, and how we can perfectly recall what we talked about when we wake?"

"I… guess I did notice that." Certainly not in as many words, though.

"By understanding our minds, we are able to use them more effectively. We become aware of everything that goes on in the mind and are granted greater control over processes that we normally wouldn't have any control over."

"Huh. I thought occlumency was made to help defend the mind, and the rest of the stuff was just useful things that came with it."

Tamelyn smirks. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was the other way around. I could easily see some monk meditating for weeks to try and understand his mind and his magic, and the ability to detect and repel intrusions was just a happy accident that came along with the newfound understanding."

"You're not sure?" I'm honestly surprised by that. "You know so much about this field, but you're not even sure how it originally came about?"

Tamelyn's face grows wistful. "Some information is too far gone to track down, wrapped in too many layers of myth and fiction for the real truth to be known. I studied the Mind Arts extensively once I learned of their existence, but in the end, their mysterious origin is just proof that in the end, time conquers all." A cocky grin grows on her face. "Well, everything except me, that is. I will gladly be the exception to the onslaught of time."

I shake my head at her ego. "Right."

"There are other forms of the mind arts besides occlumency. Legilimency is the other big one, and it's one that I'm very familiar with. I'm actually a natural legilimens, and I spent plenty of time at the orphanage building up that skill even before I knew about magic."

"Can you teach me?" I ask. Being able to know what other people are thinking is far too useful a skill to pass up the opportunity to learn.

Tamelyn starts biting her cheek. "I… might be able to. We'll need to find someone to practice on, though. Someone human, to start with. Being able to use legilimency on house elves is extremely useful for gathering all sorts of obscure info, though as magic creatures, their brains are far harder to understand when learning the skill."

"Why can't I practice on you?" I ask.

She visibly hesitates. "That's… probably not a great idea. For several reasons. For one, our minds are already pressed very close together, and that proximity between our minds could get you into some bad habits. Forcing your magic to form the connection to another mind is the hardest part of legilimency, and you basically skip that step any time you enter my mind."

"Right. That makes sense."

"Also, the proximity between our minds is already leaving the boundary between them extremely blurred. Both times that you've been in my mind, you've been drawn into my memories to the point of reliving them. I'm concerned about letting you use actual legilimency on me, which could force that boundary to blur further. As it is, I've been doing my best to undo any effects of our personalities bleeding into each other."

I'm sorry, what? "Back up. Our personalities have been bleeding into each other!?"

She nods. "Not substantially, mind you, but yes. As I said, I've been doing my best to reverse any effects of that bleed. I started noticing it back when your first attempt at making barriers failed to draw any lines between us. While I do enjoy your company, I'm sure that neither of us wants to risk losing our identity lest we bleed too heavily into each other."

I groan loudly. "Great. Now I can't even trust that my personality is my own!?"

She laughs. "You forget that I am a master at the mind arts — fixing something like this is easy. Besides which, it sounds worse than it is. So long as I don't drop my barriers completely, we'll only have to deal with minor effects, like our temperaments influencing each other."

"Even so, that sounds like a hazard."

"Again, it's not as bad as it sounds, but not having to deal with it at all is one reason that I would like to get into a body of my own as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that will take time. To start with, I need to make myself a body of my own. Not to mention that the fact that our souls are sort of… merged… adds in additional complications to the process. I only know of one way that will work for us outside of necromantic rituals, and it's very challenging. I have to use alchemy to form a complete reconstruction of my body using a sample from my old one."

"Hold on." I say. "How are you going to manage that? Your body was disintegrated when your core self's killing curse backfired. We saw that happen in her memory."

She just smiles back at me. "Oh, I already have that taken care of. No, there's no need to worry about the sample. But creating a body through such means is an incredibly advanced form of alchemy, just below creating a philosopher's stone in terms of difficulty. There are a lot of components to bodies, after all, so it's easy to make mistakes. Then we have to actually get my soul out of your body, which…" She glances down at me. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Oh no. You are not allowed to say something that ominous with no explanation. So, does this process kill me to get you out or something?"

Tamelyn scowls back at me. "Of course not. Did you forget that I swore a binding oath to you that I would not bring any mortal harm to you? You won't be harmed by the process of separating ourselves, but you will find it unpleasant."

I tilt my head at her. "If you're giving me instructions that lead me to my death, does that count?"

She smiles and shakes her head. "Feel free to research magical oaths if you want. They're primarily intent based, so even acting indirectly with the intent or knowledge that something would permanently harm you would count as a violation of the oath's terms. The only way I can get out of this oath is if you knowingly and willfully release me from it."

"If these things are so powerful, how come I'd never heard of them before you made me swear one?" Seriously, if oaths were so binding, you'd think I would have at least heard them mentioned in the two years I was at Hogwarts.

"They have their limits. They have to be made by one person, to another person, relating to that person, and accepted by that person. In addition to that, only the oathmaker and oathbinder are able to verify that an oath was actually made. There was a brief time period where the court system tried to use oaths to verify testimony by having witnesses swear an oath to an objective judge. Five defendants in a row were able to implicate innocents by bribing the judge to not accept the oath while pretending that it took. Eventually, someone was too sloppy and got caught. It didn't take long after that for use of oaths in court to be dismantled."

"Isn't there a flash of light when an oath is made, though?" I ask. "Isn't that a sign of a successful oath being formed?"

Tamelyn sighs. "Harry, there are hundreds of different spells to make light. Hell, if you cast it wandlessly, even a Priori Incantatem wouldn't be able to expose you."

Well, I suppose that it's good to know that the wizarding court system is messed up. It makes sense, since it's possible to edit people's memories with magic. I make a note to absolutely avoid getting myself in any legal trouble.

"So, it's possible to cast magic wandlessly?" I ask, going back to the previous topic. "Why isn't that covered in any of our classes?" I try and sit down in the blank environment the way that Tamelyn always leans against a fake wall. I apparently did something wrong, since I end up sprawled on my back.

Tamelyn giggles. "I'm the one controlling the thoughtspace right now. You're nowhere near advanced enough with occlumency to create physical manifestations." She waves her hand and I feel myself rise up as a stool or some similar surface lifts me off the ground into a sitting position. "As for your question, I never got around to explaining spellcasting tiers to you. You feeling up for another lecture?"

I shrug. It's not like I have anything else to do while I wait for myself to wake up.

"I'll take your lack of commitment as a yes, then." She says. "So, to start with, have you noticed how, as you become more experienced with a spell, the wand movement doesn't need to be as precise to get the same effect out of the spell?"

I'm about to answer in the negative, when I realise that I actually haven't needed to be as precise with spells that I've been using for ages.

"Not until you mentioned it." I say.

"Right, that's part of building yourself up to a 'Tier II' cast. 'Tier I' is the way we're taught how to cast spells: precise wand movements and incantations. Tier II, gestureless casting, is when you are familiar enough with a spell that you can skip the wand movement altogether, making it a simple point and shoot."

"Oh. That sounds convenient."

She smirks. "It is, but it also uses more magic to cast a spell that way, so while it's useful in a short fight, it's far less worthwhile in a long one where exhaustion can become a factor. After that is Tier III, silent casting, which allows you to cast without speaking the incantation. That's taught in N.E.W.T. level defence and charms, around the same time that they teach you about spell tiers in the first place. Like with gestureless casting, it's less efficient, but it has a lot more advantages. For example, being able to cast without alerting your opponent to what spell you're using, when you need to dispel something that's preventing you from speaking. After that is what's called 'Tier III½', which is when a spell is cast silently and gesturelessly. Unfortunately, the inefficiencies of the previous tiers are cumulative, making it much less practical for sustained use. If you find yourself fighting an opponent close to your level, then knowing how to avoid exhausting yourself is key."

"How do you learn to cast silent and gestureless spells?" I ask. "Are there any tricks?"

"Nope. It's all down to practice. The closest you'll get to a trick is occlumency, since it helps you instinctively recognise the flow of magic in your soul. The mind and soul are far more intricately connected than most mages realise. But I digress. Lastly, there's Tier IV casting. It's commonly called 'wandless magic', though it would be more accurate to describe it as 'focusless magic', since there are other types of foci besides wands. Wandless magic is incredibly inefficient to use and extremely hard to learn, so it's rarely something worth learning outside of some useful emergency spells."

"What wandless spells do you know?" I ask. There's no doubt in my mind that she's at least learned a few.

Tamelyn smirks at me. "Like I said, emergency spells. Light, summoning, banishing, reviving, and dispelling. Enough spells to last me in any situation where I don't have immediate access to my wand. I would have liked to learn more, especially for skills like apparition, but between my full schedule learning mind and soul magic combined with the fact that apparition isn't taught until the end of sixth year…" she shrugs, "There simply wasn't enough time."

I let out a sigh. "You just love dumping information on me, don't you?"

She grins at me. "You said you were up for a lecture. Besides which, you should be grateful I'm around to teach you. If you keep up with all of my impromptu lessons, you'll be prepared for your N.E.W.T. exams before you even take your O.W.L.s."

"Glad to know my nemesis is taking my education so seriously." I say, only half sarcastically.

"Well that's certainly rude of you." She replies. "I certainly don't consider you my nemesis."

"You tried to kill me, then tried to possess me!" I shout.

She leans sits down and lounges back. "I will admit to acting on incomplete information. My bad."

"Your core self also tried to kill me." I add halfheartedly.

"The same core self that you are going to great lengths to convince me is insane? I should hope it's at least apparent that I am perfectly sane."

I stare at her, not quite convinced that she's not joking. "Tamelyn, even if you aren't insane, you still have a host of other issues."

Her expression immediately sours. "Well that was uncalled for, especially since you aren't exactly a paragon of mental stability yourself."

I wince. "Sorry, I'm just… still getting used to this. Both you being inside my head, and who you actually are. It's been a lot to deal with, and not being able to talk about it has been driving me crazy."

Tamelyn hums for a bit, gazing off into the void. "I suppose we could talk later today, after you're done with your classes and have finished your homework. We can't risk having you fall behind academically, after all."

"You're a better teacher than they are, anyways! Why can't I just turn in passable assignments and ace the tests?"

She stands up and walks over to me, her height making her tower over my sitting position. "Because, Harry, getting good grades gets you in the teachers' good graces. I was able to succeed as much as I did because I buttered up Slughorn, the Head of Slytherin House, at every opportunity. I consistently got good grades and was therefore given greater leeway than many of my less academically inclined classmates. Grades are just another gateway to power."

I groan. "It's always some kind of power play with you, isn't it? Why can't you do something for a normal reason for once in your life?"

She merely grins cockily at me. "Because I am far too exceptional to be mundane in any way."

As I pack my notes from Charms class into my bag, Slytherin's journal catches my eye. I remember wondering why muggle aversion charms weren't used to protect wizarding settlements back then like they are today. As everyone else files out of the classroom, I wait behind to speak with Professor Flitwick. It doesn't take long after the last student exits the room for him to notice me.

"Yes, Mister Potter?" He asks. "Was something not clear about the theory behind freezing charms?"

"Ah, no, that's not it. I was wondering if you could help me with something more… extracurricular in nature." Seeing him nod, I continue. "I was reading through some historical accounts about times before magicals separated themselves from muggles, and I was wondering why settlements didn't simply use muggle-aversion charms the way they do nowadays?"

Oh, finally taking some academic initiative, are we?

'Shut up.'

Flitwick smiles at me. "That is a very good question, Mister Potter. Five points to Gryffindor for maintaining an inquisitive mind. Alas, the answer is far from simple. Do you have anywhere to be after this? I fear that a proper explanation may take a while."

I shake my head. "I have a free period until lunch, sir."

Flitwick smiles. "Very good then. Please, take a seat."

I sit in a chair he summoned from across the room and wait for him to begin his explanation.

"The simple explanation is that, well, there's technically no such thing as a muggle aversion charm." Seeing my confusion, he continues. "You are familiar with the Statute of Secrecy, of course?"

I nod. "That's the law that says we can't reveal the existence of magic to any non-magicals unless they're immediate relatives of a magical person, right?"

"Well, that's certainly the legal end of things. The truth is that the Statute of Secrecy is actually an enormous spell that covers the entire world. It's enforced legally, but it is in fact a purely magical creation. Part memory charm, part ward, part notice-me-not. It was and is the grandest and most impressive work of magic ever created. You know about the history side of the Statute, correct?"

I nod again. "It had to do with witch burnings and abductions, right?"

Flitwick sighs. "I really do wish Albus would do the humane thing and exorcise Professor Binns. He was a poor teacher even when he was alive, and death has not been kind to him. Claiming that the Statute of Secrecy was enacted only because of witch burnings is an incredibly ethnocentric way of looking at it. You are at least well-informed enough to know that abductions were another part of it, though that still doesn't cover the entire picture. Still, take another two points to Gryffindor for staying well-informed."

"Thank you, Professor."

He waves his hand. "Think nothing of it. It's rare that I get to have such discussions, and I do find them quite enjoyable."

'I guess you're not the only one who enjoys lecturing.'

Oh, ha ha.

Flitwick continues his explanation. "No, while witch burnings were an issue in Europe and a few parts of the colonies in the Americas, the Statute of Secrecy was a spell that covered the entire world, and required the global cooperation of magicals everywhere to complete. Many magicals elsewhere had their own reasons for wanting to hide themselves. In India and the Americas, many magicals feared being crushed under the forces of colonialism brought by the Europeans. In Africa, young magicals were a prime target for slave traders. Magicals in Eastern Europe and Asia weren't facing any unified problems the way that other areas of the world were, but ultimately, the idea that we should hide ourselves from everyone else came forward, and thus, the Statute of Secrecy came to be. The idea came from a genius young man with little education in Tibet, but once the concept caught steam, the whole world quickly clung to the idea of hiding not only magical civilization, but magic itself and all of its historical records from the entire world."

Oh, wow. That's way beyond what I would have expected.

"The Statute was designed to wipe every memory of magic from every living person who didn't have it. Historical accounts had to be purged manually, but those that were missed were quickly assumed to be myths and legends by those who had no reason to believe in magic."

"But…" My mind is still reeling. "The statute still exists, right? I thought charms couldn't be permanent unless they were anchored by something…"

"Correct again, Mister Potter. The anchoring of charms is the basis of creating wards. Most wards are anchored to runestones, although there are a few that use other methods of anchoring. Have you ever heard of the Fidelius charm?" I shake my head, so he continues his explanation. "The Fidelius charm is a powerful piece of magic used to ward an area, or in rare cases, knowledge. It removes all knowledge of that thing from the minds of everyone in the world, except for a person who is designated as a 'secret keeper'. In this case, the secret keeper serves as the anchor for the charm, or more specifically, the secret keeper's ability to keep that information secret. From that point on, they are the only one who can reveal the existence of that secret to anyone else."

"So… the Statute of Secrecy is a giant Fidelius charm hiding the existence of magic?"

"Not quite. The Statute was based on the Fidelius charm, but it is different. After all, if it was a Fidelius, then there would only be a single secret keeper, and therefore, only one person in the whole world would be able to tell muggleborns and their parents about magic, which would be beyond impractical. No, instead, the Statute hides the existence of magic from everyone who does not believe in magic."

It finally clicks with me. "So, the anchor for the spell that hides the existence of magic from muggles… is muggles' refusal to believe in magic?"

"Exactly, Mister Potter. It's a very ingenious piece of spellwork by any means. It's not perfect, of course, but it prevents them from noticing certain magical phenomena altogether. For example, muggles are incapable of seeing phoenixes and dementors."

I shudder at the mention of dementors.

Flitwick smiles sadly. "Yes, you do have a rather strong reaction to them. Back to what I was saying, though, it's witches and wizards that are the least hidden by the Statute. After all, we do need to interact with muggles on occasion."

Much to my dismay.

'Don't interrupt! This is interesting!'

Flitwick doesn't notice my brief internal argument, so he continues his explanation. "As a result, our displays of magic are not totally hidden from the view of muggles, hence why there is legal enforcement of the statute of secrecy. After all, the more muggles there are that are willing to believe in magic, the weaker the Statute becomes."

"This is… a lot to take in, Professor." I say, as if that isn't the understatement of the year.

"Yes, well, now that you know all of that, we can go back to your original question: muggle aversion charms. The simple fact is that there is no such thing as a muggle aversion charm. What we know as the muggle aversion charm is simply a way of drawing extra power from the statute so muggles don't notice an area."

"Is that why aversion charms are so advanced? Because it's technically ward modifying?"

Flitwick smiles and claps. "Yes, very good. You've followed this better than many of my upper year students likely would have. If you ever need any other questions answered, feel free to come to me for help. And do try and continue with your current grades. It's been a joy to see your work lately."

I nod as I head for the door. "I'll do my best, Professor."

'Well that was informative.'

I already knew all of that, but I'm glad to see you taking the initiative. This kind of stuff is exactly what I'm talking about when I say you should stay in the teachers' good graces. Ask good questions, keep them on their toes, allow them to explain elaborate concepts, and they see you as someone worth cultivating, and will make greater allowances for you in the future.

'I guess I see the appeal. I mean, it's nice being able to talk about stuff that the teachers rarely get to discuss.'

Exactly. You enjoyed Professor Flitwick's lecture, did you not?

'Yeah, I did. I still can't believe how little is taught about the Statute of Secrecy.'

Binns is not doing the world any favours by continuing to teach. Thankfully, for those of us with ambition, knowledge is always in reach.

'Us?'

Yes, "Us". At this point, I wouldn't want to kill you even if I hadn't sworn a magical oath to you. It would be a waste of such stellar potential. You just needed someone like me to give you the right push to be able to use it.

I roll my eyes.

'I'm sure nothing could go wrong by having you as my role model.'

Sarcastic as ever, I see.

'Well, I have to cope somehow.'

I find an out-of-the-way alcove and pull out Slytherin's journal. I don't read it; I just stare at it for a while.

'I still can't believe how much accounts of Slytherin were messed up in the past millennium. I mean, he was certainly a rough-mannered person, and he was a blood purist, but it feels like the modern depiction is just… exaggerated?'

History is written by the victors. His falling out with the other founders meant that they got to write the records that became what we know as history.

'Yeah, I suppose so…'

Our conversation dies out and I continue to stare at the book.

'I still can't get over how complicated the Statute of Secrecy is.'

Yes, well, at least now you know why I aligned myself with the blood purists despite being a halfblood.

'Wait, what? What does the Statute have to do with blood purity?'

Very little, and yet everything.

'Just answer the damn question, Tamelyn. No need to go all poetic on me.'

Hmph. You were listening to Flitwick's description of how the Statute is anchored, right?

'Of course.'

The fact that it's anchored by muggles' refusal to believe in magic means that every muggle that does know about magic weakens the statute. While this is no big deal in large areas like London, small areas with lesser populations have substantially fewer anchors, so each muggle who knows about magic weakens the Statute that much more.

'So? I mean, it's only the parents who are told, right?'

Muggles can't be bound by magic the same way we can be, so we have no way of ensuring that they actually keep magic a secret.

'So, what, you're afraid that the statute will be slightly weaker in a few areas because the muggleborns' parents will know about magic and might tell a few other people?'

No, what I'm afraid of is a total cascade failure of the Statute that ends with the muggles wiping out as many magic users as they can.

'Cascade failure?'

It's… Okay, imagine that there's a small town with maybe a few hundred people in it. One of them happens to be muggleborn. From there, all it takes is one slip up to risk a total collapse of the Statute in that area. Maybe a parent gets a bit too drunk and starts saying things they shouldn't, or maybe the muggleborn hasn't even received their letter yet and performs a powerful act of accidental magic in full view of everyone, or maybe the muggle parent panics and tells everyone when the letter arrives. In a small town with a small population, it's incredibly easy for the statute to undergo a total collapse in that area. Even obliviators coming in wouldn't be able to re-establish the Statute if it had failed completely. From there, the statute is weaker and more prone to collapse in all surrounding areas. If the Statute totally fails in one location, then it will quickly collapse everywhere.

'So why couldn't the statute just be recast?'

It took the global cooperation of most of the world's magicals to cast the first time around, and that was back before muggles had cameras and airplanes. By the time everyone else realised just how exposed and vulnerable we are, I'm not sure that there's be enough of us left.

'You honestly think muggles could wipe out magical populations that easily?'

You saw my memory of the devastation that muggle bombs were able to inflict over fifty years ago. I won't claim to be up to date on their technology, but I know that they've developed far worse things during the half-century I was stuck in a book.

'But how would they even find us? I mean, isn't every magical residence warded against detection?'

They're warded with Muggle aversion wards.

'Which are powered by the Statute of Secrecy. Oh.'

Yes, "Oh". We would be far too exposed. Hogwarts is an enormous castle that would be far too easy to locate if one was inclined to do so, and Diagon Alley is in the middle of London. If the muggles were aware of us, they could wipe us out far too easily.

'What are the odds of the Statute collapsing like that, though? And is it really worth throwing all of the muggleborns under the bus?'

It's unlikely, I assure you, but it only needs to happen once. And while I would rather not spill magical blood at all, better to cut off the muggleborns than risk the entirety of our world.

'So because you're worried about the possibility of the Statute collapsing, and the possibility of muggles declaring war on us, and the possibility that they'll wipe us out, you're prepared to just kill them all?'

The odds of the Statute collapsing are low, but it will happen eventually. I refuse to believe that we should just be sitting back without even trying to prevent it or prepare for it. I've had the displeasure of living with muggles most of my life — They're violent, aggressive and primitive creatures ruled by their fears. It's not a matter of if they'll declare war on us — it's a matter of when.

'Just because you've had bad experiences with muggles doesn't mean that they're all bad.'

Have you ever met a nice one? Like, actually met one who's nice to you, not just nice to everyone besides you?

'…No.'

I stand by my assertion, then. The closest muggles get to being good people is acting nice until they realise that you're different, at which point they lash out like the animals that they are.

'…Even if what you say is true, which I don't believe it is, I refuse to accept that killing muggleborns is the only way to keep the Statute from collapsing.'

It's not a pleasant choice to make, but it's a necessary one. They're a risk to the Statute when they're young, and they have too many ties to the muggle world when they reach adulthood.

'There have to be other ways, though. Couldn't we just remove muggleborns from their families when they're still children?'

As a long-term solution, that would be viable. We'd have to do it when they're still young so they don't remember their parents at all. It's not safe to use extensive memory charms on someone younger than Hogwarts age, and if they still remember their parents, then they could easily hate us for taking them away. In the long-term, tracking magical births would be ideal so we can abduct them shortly after they're born, and that might be a viable solution if we could get it to work. Unfortunately, the only way to keep track of magical births is The Book of Names, the artefact used to send Hogwarts letters. For security reasons, it's encrypted, so we'd have to find a way to recreate an ancient artefact whose secrets have been lost to the ages. The second best way to find muggleborns early on would be the ministry's accidental magic trackers, which are unreliable at best, and even that solution still risks exposure in the case of accidental magic. Even if we do manage to go that route, there are plenty of muggleborns who would already be adults with plenty of ties to the muggle world, and they'd be a threat in their own right.

'I still don't think that targeting the muggleborns is the only option, or even a good option. While I understand why you'd want to reduce the contact that muggleborns have with the muggle world during their schooling, you'll still have to deal with the large amount of muggleborns who aren't of Hogwarts age. You'll need to track them down regardless of how you plan on dealing with them, and if you're already tracking them down, then you may as well just remove them from the muggle world rather than killing them.'

…

'You know I'm right. If you really want to protect that Statute, then you wouldn't go about doing it by killing muggleborns and their parents. If anything, you risk exposing us more by doing that, since the mysterious deaths of a whole family will draw in a lot more attention than a single child going missing.'

…I concede your point. But I still don't like muggles, and I still think that they're a threat, no matter how much you believe otherwise.

I roll my eyes. Small steps, Harry, small steps.

Having a free period in the late morning means I can attend lunch early, before the rest of the student body overtakes the room. Hermione shows up shortly after I sit down, and Ron's not far behind her.

"Where'd you disappear to, Harry?" Ron asks. "You weren't in the common room after class, and Hermione said you weren't in the library."

I shrug. "I had some questions for Professor Flitwick about charms and got an impromptu lesson on history and warding. I don't think I ever appreciated how well-informed Flitwick is before now."

"Of course he's well-informed." Hermione chides. "He's a teacher."

"So is Snape…" Ron grumbles.

"Ron! Just because we have issues with Professor Snape does not make him any less of a genius in his field! Did you even know that he's one of the only people to have obtained a Potions Mastery before the age of twenty-two?"

'Is that impressive?'

Incredibly. Masteries are only obtained through extensive apprenticeship and original research. I was looking into obtaining several of my own, though my memories end before I actually got around to obtaining the necessary apprenticeships. I should actually look into my records to see what I got up to in between my graduation and faking my own death…

'I would say "be my guest', but it's my body you're going to have to hijack to do the research.'

Are you still angry at me over my attitude on murder?

'I would say more "concerned" than "angry".'

"You said one of, right Hermione?" I say, cutting off any possible retort Tamelyn could come up with. "How many others were there?"

Hermione pulls out a rough stack of sheets and her copy of Hogwarts: A History, because of course she keeps a copy of that book on her at all times. "Well, I found out about masteries when I was looking into making sure I was prepared for our N.E.W.T. exams-"

I groan. "We're third years, Hermione! We won't have to take those exams for four more years!"

Hermione gives me a sharp glare. "That just means we have more time to prepare for them. Anyways, as I was saying, I remembered reading about masteries, and when I next read through Hogwarts: A History, I noticed the term being mentioned in the brief bit about Professor Snape, as well as a few of the Head Students."

"Snape's in that book?" I ask, feeling somewhat aghast.

"Of course he is! He is a teacher!" She says, punctuating each word. "No matter how determined you and Ron are to forget that simple fact! Everyone who's ever taught here in the past century is mentioned in this book, as well as everyone who's ever obtained the title of Head Boy or Head Girl in the same timeframe."

"I suppose that's interesting." I say somewhat noncommittally. "You never answered my original question, though. I mean, surely one of them is around and would have been a better teacher than Snape."

"Professor Snape, Harry, and I'm not sure who the others are. Professor Snape is only mentioned because he obtained a teaching position, and the only other ones mentioned would be the Head Students, and it's not like that information is indexed. We'd have to look through each entry individually if we wanted to find out who had obtained masteries."

Before Hermione has even finished her sentence, Tamelyn has shifted into control of my body and pointed my wand at Hermione's book.

"Scriptinvenio 'Potions Mastery'."

A few pages along the edge of the book start emitting a chartreuse glow, and the book flips to the nearest one.

"Where did you learn that spell?" Hermione asks curtly.

"I picked it up somewhere." Tamelyn replies. "It's a simple text search. Incredibly useful for finding information on specific topics."

'You never taught me that spell.'

You never asked.

'Arse. Seriously, though, where did you learn it? One of Slytherin's books?'

I invented it myself. It was an incredible time-saver.

Hermione clearly doesn't trust Tamelyn's nonanswer, but is apparently elated enough at the existence of a spell made specifically for books that she doesn't press the issue.

"Let's see here…" she says as she looks through the highlighted pages, "looks like there are only three head students from the past century who have potions mastery mentioned in their summary…" she flips through the pages "…and only two of them did it before the age of twenty-two. One of them was Lily Evans, and she… Oh! She's your mother, Harry."

I blink at that. I never knew my mother was good at potions, least of all skilled enough to earn a mastery at a young age.

Hermione flips to a later page. "The other one was a Slytherin Head Girl in the 1968-1969 school year. Her name was Andromeda Black. Do you think she's related to Sirius Black?"

I shrug. "I don't really know wizarding families any more than you do, Hermione."

Hermione goes back to the book. "It also says here that the Head Girl in the 1944-1945 school year, a Slytherin named Tamelyn Riddle, was offered to study for a mastery under Professor Slughorn shortly after she graduated, though she turned it down for a job at Borgin and Burkes."

I worked at Borgin and Burkes!? That place is a shitehole!

'I would criticise you, but I wound up there in a floo accident, and it really is a shitehole. I'm more surprised that you, the person constantly harassing me to work on my studies, passed up an opportunity to study for a mastery.'

You and me both. The only explanation I can think of is that I was using the job to track down magical artefacts, most likely ones I could use as horcruxes. I… I think I planned on making more than the… two? The two that I'd made when my memories end.

'You're not sure?'

No. My memories in the months after my graduation are filled with gaps. I would normally suspect memory charms, but in all likelihood the diary was simply close to being full, so my core self decided to be more sparing with what memories I was going to have. The last date I can recall is… sometime in early September, 1945. I don't recall the exact date, though the memory in question is about a news report.

'I thought occlumency gave you perfect recall! How can you not remember if you planned on making more horcruxes!?'

Like I said, apparently, my core self decided those memories weren't necessary for me to have. In a way, it makes sense, since if I don't know where the horcruxes are, then no one will be able to find them, making them totally safe.

'Is that normal for giving horcruxes memories?'

Truth be told, I don't think anyone has tried making a sapient horcrux before me. I only did it as an absolute failsafe in case my core self suffered some sort of brain damage or memory loss, so at least some version of myself could live on. Death of the mind is hardly better than death of the body, after all. Anyways, it might be a good idea for me to review my memories to check for anything I might not be able to recall offhand.

'All of your memories? All eighteen years?'

While I have a good memory, I can't recall anything from my infancy, so it'll be closer to fifteen years worth, and most of those will be easy to look over. This shouldn't take too long unless I decide to be very thorough.

"HARRY!"

I jump in my seat. "Yes, Hermione?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past minute! You keep spacing out these days! Are you not sleeping well or something? You always seem to do fine in class, so clearly it's not affecting you all the time…"

I bite back a sigh. "I've been practicing meditation lately." I say in a half-truth. "It improves focus and helps with magic, but I do tend to get lost in my thoughts if an idea comes to me."

Hey, not a bad lie. You really are getting better at this.

'I wouldn't even have to lie if you'd stop distracting me.'

Oh, but where would you be without me? You'd still be an underachieving little Gryffindor barely scratching the surface of your admittedly impressive potential.

'I'd also be taking Ancient Runes instead of the waste of time that is Divination class.'

"Are you sure you're meditating right?" Hermione asks. "That sounds like a bad side effect…"

I wave my hand dismissively. "It's fine. This is a known side effect that resolves itself with time."

Hermione stares at me inquisitively, but says nothing before turning back to her food and her book.

I certainly hope our conundrum "resolves itself". I sure don't fancy being in your head for the rest of your mortal life.

'For once, we are in total agreement.'

Later that night, I muse to myself that part of me really wants to grill Tamelyn. I know that she's had awful experiences with muggles, but that doesn't mean that every single muggle is just as awful. Sure the Durselys were awful, but they were just terrible people, and it's not like everyone else was as bad as them!

Well, okay, the rest of the neighbourhood was just as bad. Just as obsessed with normalcy and keeping up appearances, judging everyone for being even slightly different.

The teachers were pretty awful, too. None of them cared if Dudley attacked me, and no matter how many times he did so, I was the "delinquent". I still can't forget the burning embarrassment the one time I tried to succeed on a test, and was brought before the principal and accused of cheating.

I suppose my experiences with muggles aren't that great, if I'm being honest with myself. I never really did meet one who was actually nice to me. I know it was most likely because the Dursleys were tainting their minds against me, but…

Well, my experiences certainly don't invalidate Tamelyn's theory that muggles are implicitly afraid of magic users for reasons they're not sure of. Even Hermione had a pretty awful experience with the muggle education system, though at least she had parents and teachers on her side. Or at least they pretended to be on her side. Maybe they were just as afraid of her as everyone else was.

So no, as much as I was to grill her, I know I can't. How can I convince her that she's wrong if I don't even believe that she's totally wrong?

I push my doubts to the side. Even if she is right, her solution of mass-murder is way too extreme for me to condone under any circumstance. I still think that, if magicals need to segregate themselves from muggles, then it would be best to do so at birth. No matter how complicated the Book of Names is, Tamelyn should at least be smart enough to recreate it eventually, especially if she's as immortal as she claims. If she's not going to die, then she should have plenty of time to approach the problem.

You having fun in your thoughts, there?

'Well, I was until you interrupted.'

Well, do hurry up. If I need to look back over my memories, then it's something best done while I'm asleep. The mind is more susceptible to dynamic influence, so it will be an easier process.

'Yeah, about that…'

What?

'Can I… watch? Your memories, that is?'

I don't know why I asked. Part of me is just rediscovering the sense of curiosity that the Dursleys tried so hard to beat out of me. Part of me just wants to understand her better.

I'm not about to throw you into my entire life story. While you would certainly learn a lot, reliving all of my memories would affect you pretty profoundly. Profoundly enough that Dumbledore might catch on.

'What's with you and Dumbledore, anyways?'

What's with me and Dumbledore!? That bastard made the worst first impression possible! He…! Hmmm…

'Yes?'

Well, while I won't let you see all of my memories, I could show you a few. I have the perfect one to show you, when you have a chance.

'No time like the present.'

Then get to sleep so we can get on with it.

Sleep doesn't come to me too easily, but when it does, Tamelyn wastes no time before pulling up the memory.

Have fun with this one.

I sit in my bed, reading through one of the reference books that the library was about to throw out. What a waste of reading material that would have been. Just because the binding is a bit loose doesn't mean that the words on the pages suddenly stop working.

I instinctively tense when I hear voices and footsteps approaching. Voices approaching usually just means that it's another resident of the orphanage, usually one who hasn't learned the lesson that I am not to be messed with. Some of the obstinate ones took a few lessons to learn to leave me alone. Most only took one.

But audible footsteps mean adults, and the adults are harder to scare off. I could still make them hurt, but hurting adults has consequences that hurting kids doesn't. Adults have power of their own, even if it's weaker than power like mine.

I just hope they didn't send another person here to try and "fix" me. I still have nightmares about drowning after what that one priest did when he tried to "exorcise the demon" out of me.

The footsteps approach my door, and a gentle knock sounds throughout the room before Mrs. Cole peeks in.

"Tamelyn? You have a visitor."

I try and maintain my composure. I can't afford to look weak in front of a person I don't know. If he sees me acting weak then he'll know he can take advantage of me.

"Alright." I reply without looking up from my book. The words on the page soothe me, making it easier not to panic about the stranger being left alone in my room. Mrs. Cole closes the door with a gentle click, leaving me alone with the man. I glance up to try and see what he's doing, but freeze once I get a look at him.

He's wearing a velvet suit dyed a dull orange. His tie and buttons are bright green. As if the colours weren't bad enough, he has a long beard of reddish-brown hair that goes almost to his waist.

"Miss Riddle?" He says, trying to get my attention. "Can you look at me, please?"

No one ever wants me to look at them unless I'm about to get in trouble for something. I don't know what I'm being accused of this time, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of scaring me. I close my book and keep my face as blank as I can before staring him in the eye.

"Yes?" I ask.

He introduces himself. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am here on behalf of an institution that is looking to have you enroll for the upcoming year."

I glare at him as hard as I can. "Oh, so is that what their calling the asylum these days? An institution seeking my enrollment? I'm afraid that I won't fall for your little ploy, so do both of us a favour and leave. I won't be going to the asylum for any reason."

I watch him carefully as he takes in my response. Before he can say anything back to me, I stare at him and push myself into his mind. If I can pick his secrets from his head, then I know how to deal with whatever trickery he has planned.

Much to my horror, I can't find anything in his mind. I feel like I'm running into a brick wall every time I try and push myself into his head. Whoever this man is, he has the ability to stop me from reading his mind. The implications of that are horrifying.

Mister Dumbledore frowns, almost as if he knows I'm trying to read his mind. "Ah, I'm afraid that you have the wrong idea, Miss Riddle. I am in fact a teacher at a school that has you listed for enrollment since your birth. It is a school for people with special abilities much like the ones that you have. People with magic."

I stare at him. "…Magic."

He nods. "Yes, that's right. Magic. Surely you've noticed that sometimes things tend to happen around you, even if you don't mean for them to?"

It only happened unintentionally the first few times, actually. It was pretty easy to isolate the feeling and reproduce the results. I decide not to tell this man that, though. Even if he can provide answers, he's still an adult, and I've learned the hard way not to trust adults.

"I…" What should I tell him? I don't want to give him too much information, so I err on the side of vagueness. "Bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can stop them from being mean. I can make them hurt."

Mr. Dumbledore's face turns more serious. "Yes, that's what we call accidental magic. It's a natural response to powerful emotions. As you grow older, your magic stabilises and you'll need to learn to command it on your own, which is what we teach you at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"And you can do this?" I ask. "You can make your magic do whatever you want? And I won't be able to use my magic anymore unless I learn to control it at your school?" I feel like I'm being forced into this. I don't like being forced into things, but my power… magic is far too important to me to risk losing.

"Of course. Would you like a demonstration?"

I nod hesitantly.

Dumbledore pulls a carved stick out of his robes.

He waves it, and next thing I know, my wardrobe is on fire.

I clench my fists in barely restrained panic. What the hell is wrong with this guy!?

"I think something in there would like to be let out, Tamelyn."

I stare at him in shock before I slowly walk towards the burning wardrobe. Now that the initial panic is wearing off, I realise that the flames around the wardrobe aren't giving off any heat. I open the door, the flames licking at my skin, but not burning me. I pull up the loose board on the bottom to find that the box I use to store things that I stole off of the other children is shaking violently. Once I pick it up, the shaking stops, and the false flames around the wardrobe vanish.

"Stealing is not permitted at Hogwarts, and discipline will be enforced should you fail to follow the rules." Dumbledore says as though he didn't just pretend to burn all of my belongings into ash. "I expect all of these items to be returned in short order."

I bite my tongue and look down. I don't want him to see the rage I feel towards him at that moment. Dumbledore is just like every adult I've ever met. He tries to use shows of power to force me into submission, to make me follow his rules.

Unlike every other adult, I've dealt with, though, he isn't powerless. He has magic of his own, and he has many more years of using it than I do. I refuse to bend to other people's whims, and I only see one way to do that.

I need to become stronger than everyone else, so no one can force me to do anything. No one can torture me or starve me or imprison me if I'm too strong to be contained. Before, having magic was enough to get me out of the worst situations, because no one else had magic. Now I'll be dealing with other people with magic, so I need to become better at magic than all of them.

"Here is your letter, your school supply list, and your train ticket." Dumbledore says as he gives me an envelope. "Would you like me to escort you to Diagon Alley to pick up your supplies?"

Oh, there is no way I will submit myself to this man's supervision. It's bad enough that he'll be a teacher at the school.

"I think I'd prefer to go on my own, Mr. Dumbledore."

Dumbledore nods, then writes some instructions on the back of my acceptance letter. As he gets up to go, he turns back to face me.

"As you are on orphan, once you go to Diagon Alley, you should go to Gringotts and ask for access to the Hogwarts scholarship fund, which should provide you with enough to get your basic school supplies." He pauses for a moment. "And before I go, I should warn you. You should refrain from using any of your supplies to perform magic once you get them, as students are not permitted to use magic outside of school. Any breaches of this law will be met with reprimand from the Ministry of Magic."

I freeze. No. No no no no no no no. Magic is… Magic has been the only way I have to protect myself. It's how I stop the older kids from picking on me. It's how I make sure no one steals my food so I don't have to go hungry. It's how I escape when they try and lock me up. I can't afford not to use magic.

But I also can't afford to go against an entire government full of magicals. Not yet, anyways.

Maybe someday.

"No magic at all?" I ask. "Not even the… accidental magic?"

"We'd hardly be fair if we punished children for accidents." Dumbledore replies, as though adults don't punish children for accidents all the time. "Accidental magic is nonpunishable, though you should stop having any incidents by the time of your thirteenth birthday."

That gives me a time limit, then. I need to figure out how to use magic without being tracked by my thirteenth birthday.

Dumbledore exits my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I need to get as much information as I can as soon as possible. I look over the directions to Diagon Alley and decide to go now. I refuse to step into this new world being weak and clueless.

I find myself unceremoniously dumped back in the emptiness of my mind, feeling briefly shocked by the sensation of my own identity re-establishing itself.

"That's why I don't like Dumbledore." Tamelyn says from behind me. "He tried to cow me into following his rules by making a show of power, and I refuse to let anyone have power over me."

I blink. My mind is still reeling as it tries to catch up.

"And what arsehole pretends to burn all of the belongings of a child they don't even know!" She continues, her voice seething with a level of rage I've never seen her display. "Apparently, trying to teach a child that 'stealing is wrong' means that you can go to any lengths to do so!"

"Um…" I'm not even sure where to start. "What kinds of things had you stolen?"

She shrugs. "Small things, mostly. I just tried to steal a valued object from everyone in that orphanage who made the mistake of tormenting me. Just enough that they'd know that bad things happen to people who mess with me."

"Did you return them like Dumbledore asked?"

She lets out a wry laugh. "Yes, I did, and what a mistake that was. I didn't trust Dumbledore not to check in just to make sure that the items were actually returned, but in hindsight, it would have been better to deal with his consequences. Once they saw that I had returned all of the items that I'd taken, they stopped seeing me as all-powerful and began to see me as a target again. Eventually, it culminated in me being locked in my room during an air raid, an experience I'm sure you recall vividly."

I nod slowly.

"After I survived that bombing, I made sure to teach everyone involved a lesson. I was far past the age where accidental magic was supposed to be possible, but I was able to force out enough for a display that ensured that they never doubted my power again. I almost gave myself a case of magical exhaustion doing so, but the impact of what I did lingered for the remainder of my school days."

"Magical exhaustion?" I've heard the term thrown around once or twice, but I'm not actually sure what it is.

"Oh, that's what happens when you try to use magic while your core is depleted. Your soul forces itself to draw in magic to power the spell, but it damages itself slightly in the process."

I blink. "Is that a… common worry?"

"Hardly. You suffered a minor case when you killed my core self's host in your first year, but it's incredibly hard to exhaust yourself. You're only thirteen and, if you tried, you could cast continuously for over an hour without being anywhere near the point of magical exhaustion."

"I won't experience any detrimental effects from when I was eleven, would I?"

Tamelyn shakes her head. "Soul damage isn't permanent, remember? It heals itself naturally with time to long as the damage isn't repeated. Besides which, the soul damage from magical exhaustion is minor, especially compared to stuff like what I did to the Weasley girl, or when- …The point is that you'll be fine. It's incredibly hard to affect the soul in any permanent fashion, which is why horcruxes are so rare and the killing curse is so hard to cast."

"Right." I say, leaning back and staring up. Not that up is visibly different from any other direction in this place. It's all black.

Tamelyn sits down and crosses her legs. I try very hard not to pay too much attention to said legs. It's much harder than I would have expected, but then, there aren't any other interesting things to look at, since there's literally nothing else here. It was also much easier not to stare when our earlier conversation about the Statute of Secrecy remained on my mind. Now all my frustration at her feels drowned out by the vicarious anger I'm feeling towards Dumbledore.

"Do you feel bad about stealing from the other children?" I ask, desperate for a distraction.

"No. Why would I?"

I push myself up and look at her. "Because stealing is wrong?"

Tamelyn lets out a long sigh. "Saying that something is unconditionally wrong is a fundamental error of morality. Right and wrong, good and evil, these are all subjective concepts without any true value unless contextualised. Even then, I never cared to live by a moral code. 'There is no good or evil; there is only power and those too weak to seek it'."

"Your core self said that to me when I first met her."

"Salazar Slytherin said it originally. I always admired his philosophical musings on morality."

We're both silent for a moment before, in a twist of usual circumstances, she asks me a question.

"Why did you never steal things when you lived at your aunt and uncle's?"

I stop and think about it. "I did steal food on occasion, mostly so I wouldn't actually starve. Hiding the evidence was always tricky, though. I had to be careful not to open something that wasn't open already, not to finish off something that wasn't already empty, and not to take enough that it would be noticed."

"…Do you regret not stealing non-food items while you were with them?"

"I'm… not sure. I'd probably say I don't regret it, mostly because I know that there was almost no chance of me getting away with things. I didn't have any real space to hide things where my aunt and uncle wouldn't find them. There was barely enough space in the cupboard for me, let alone anything else."

"If you could have gotten away with it, would you have done it?"

"…Probably." That's not exactly a pleasant epiphany.

Tamelyn's said it plenty of times, but I find myself forced to admit just how similar we really are.

A/N: Whew! Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. Between being on vacation after publishing the last chapter, then getting sick for a week, then focusing on putting out a Scrambled Sorting chapter, then having a case of writer's block, this one took far longer to complete than I would have liked.

There are a lot of info-dumps in this chapter, though I should be done with them for the most part. Tamelyn's motivations were extremely hard to write. I think I got the right balance for how I want to portray Tamelyn in the end, though.

With regards to Dumbledore… I have a lot of issues with the way Dumbledore handled things in canon. I don't enjoy a lot of the tropes associated with the standard manipulative Dumbledore archetype, but it's also hard to deny that Dumbledore made a large number of things far more complicated or problematic than they needed to be. Seriously, why the fuck would you pretend to light an orphan's wardrobe on fire to teach them a lesson? Not to mention that sending Harry to live with magic-hating muggles was a horrible choice that could very easily have turned him into a second Tom Riddle.

Also, I don't normally shill fics in my notes, but I'm making an exception here. Leyrann, author of The Advantages of Being Sane, has published the first chapter of his larger and grander fic, Riddle of the Ages. I've been clued in to a lot of his long-term plans for the fic, and while he has requested that I do not share them publicly, I will say that everything I have heard so far shows amazing promise.

Lastly, special thanks to Xgenje and Foadar for their help with editing, and to BolshevikMuppet99 for his feedback on the Statute of Secrecy scene.

E/N (Foadar): I like most of this chapter, even if some of my personal headcanons differ. It has gotten my hopes up for a… Binnxorcism? We need a term. Invent one in the reviews, if you please :P

E/N (Xgenje): Reading this story, and the way Ten is world building, has actually opened my eyes to a lot of concepts that didn't quite make sense in the canon-verse and sets them up in a really interesting way. I'm amazed that canon Riddle didn't actually attack DumbleBore for lighting their only possessions on fire. I would have been on him like stink on sewage.

The rate Ten pumps these chapters out is honestly ridiculous though.