Chapter 6: A New Need
"It's called the Marauder's Map." Fred announced as the magical parchment revealed its secrets before Harry. Fred and George had cornered him after all of his classmates had left for a Hogsmead weekend. They had pulled him into an abandoned classroom and showed him an old worn roll of parchment and declared it to be the secret to their many successes as pranksters. Harry had thought they must be pulling his leg, but George had tapped parchment, declared that he swore he was up to no good and then the real map was revealed. The parchment now contained a floor by floor detailed drawing of the entire castle of Hogwarts. Even better it was also filled with tiny figures moving around the castle each with a little name written under them marking who they were. Harry immediately understood why this map had been so useful to two of Hogwarts' most infamous pranksters.
"It was made by these four blokes up here." George said, indicating the header of the map. "Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail; no idea who they were but they've done a service to mischief makers generations over. Who knows how many ne'er-do-wells have been aided by this map over the years."
"Obviously enough that old Filch had an idea of what it was but no idea how to make it work." Fred elaborated. "Which is why he had it locked up back when we pinched it off him in our first year. Cost us a dungbomb and a few days detention for setting it off in his office. Well worth the price."
"Sounds great but why are you giving it to me?" Harry wondered.
"Because you need it mate." George explained. "And we don't. We've committed it all to memory."
"And we've gotten pretty good at not being seen over the years." Fred added. "But you've been oh so wrongfully denied a chance to see Hogsmead, plus people are trying to kill you. This map can give you ways to get away from them. Why just look at this old humpbacked witch statue just outside this classroom."
"See the tunnel leading away from it?" George explained as he pointed out the right section of the map. "That's a secret passageway. There are loads of them scattered through the school. But this one leads to the Honeydukes candy shop in Hogsmeade."
"There are six other ways out of the castle." Fred said, pointing out each in turn. "Don't use these four, Filch knows about those he'll catch you in a heartbeat. Plus I think Snape's got them jinxed now to keep Sirius Black out. This one is one we used to use, but it collapsed last year. No good now it's all blocked up."
"And the last is covered over by the whomping willow." George concluded. "No one's gonna be using that one anytime soon."
Harry thanked the two twins most profusely and soon set off to join his friends in Hogsmeade. The map luckily came with instructions and showed him how to tap the witch statue with his wand, speak the password "dissendium" and soon down he went. Once he was safe inside the passage, Harry had another look with his psychic sight.
To Esharry's disappointment the map had nothing to do with psionic power. Rather it seemed the map was connected to a series of magical wards that had been strategically placed throughout the castle. If Harry had to guess they probably released the occasional pulse of magic power to reflect off walls and people to track their locations and the shape of the building. It was tremendously clever. Harry wondered if he could track down and study those wards then might he be able to extend the map's range? Or perhaps even make alternative maps for alternative places? He imagined he could make quite a bit of money if he sold the goblins a map that let them track the movements of everyone that entered Gringotts bank.
In short order Harry made it to Honeydukes. Luckily he arrived just as the proprietor was stepping down into his cellar to acquire some more product, and so Harry used the opportunity to slip up stairs and into the crowd. After that, tracking down Ron and Hermione proved no difficulty, Harry had learned to recognize their minds from quite a distance.
Ron was delighted to see him and excited to hear about the map. Hermione of course worried about him as she normally did and thought it was dangerous for him to be outside the castle. But as Ron swiftly pointed out Black was hardly likely to try attacking Harry in broad daylight amidst all these wizards, and it wasn't like Harry was easily recognizable with all the other students about.
Next she argued that they should turn the Marauder's Map over to the teachers in case Black was using it to get in. But Harry pointed out the only tunnel he could possibly use from the map was the one under Honeydukes and they would've heard if the place had been broken into. Plus Ron pointed out that Hogsmeade was patrolled by dementors at night.
In the face of such arguments Hermione gave in. The three of them then had a grand old time in Hogsmeade. Mostly they spent their time shopping. Sweets from Honeydukes, jokes and pranking material from Zonko's, Harry even picked up some extra writing materials from Scrivenshafts Quill shop. They couldn't get much sightseeing done, partially because it had taken Harry awhile to get there, mostly because they couldn't really see anything. Hogsmeade was in the midst of a small blizzard, with snow coming down in thick waves, blown at high speeds by a driving wind. Harry bitterly regretted not bringing a heavier coat but he had had expected to spend most of his day indoors. Luckily Hermione was fairly good at the warming charm, but even so, Harry was quite glad when Ron sensibly suggested they make for the Three Broomsticks inn and warm up with a butter bear.
Once safe and snuggly warm inside, the three of them settled down in a booth near the back of the establishment to enjoy their warming beverages. Butter beer didn't have much alcohol in it, but it did have just a slight bit of magic that made the drinker feel warm and happy. Oddly Harry found the drink quite invigorating, and his own mind lit up with far more pleasure than Ron or Hermione did as he drunk his. It was even deeply satisfying and filling, like he had a decent sized meal. He guessed that this was because his psychic awareness allowed him to appreciate the taste of happiness a bit more than his friends could.
Harry's enjoyment was cut short though when a new group of adults entered the room. Three of whom were Harry's professors: McGonagall, Hagrid and Flitwick, the very short but incredibly skillful charms professor. But even more surprising was the man with them, the Minister of Magic himself Cornelius Fudge. This was all quite bad for Harry. Fudge had taken the threat that Black posed to Harry very seriously so he wouldn't appreciate seeing him outside of the castle, however low the chance of Black attacking here might be. And McGonagall knew he wasn't allowed in Hogsmeade.
As one Ron and Hermione forced Harry down under the table. There Harry quickly cast the disillusionment charm on himself making his skin assume the same color and texture of what was behind him, so that he easily blended in with his surroundings. It wasn't true invisibility, if someone was looking for him they might notice him. So Harry reached out with his psychic power from both the top and side of his head. This allowed him to affix a thought in the air throughout the bar so that it slightly sunk into the backs of the mind of everyone in the room. The thought in the case was simply "No one is hiding under the tables." It wasn't a strong thought. It wouldn't make it's way into the front of their minds, but it would ensure that if anyone did catch a glance of him, they would immediately dismiss the notion of what they had seen and ignore him. Esharry believed a stronger version of this power would allow Harry to walk right past most people as if he were completely invisible.
It wouldn't have worked on some of his professors. Dumbledore and Snape guarded their minds carefully. So did McGonagall, but hers was like a sentry watching a camp. She would notice a big attack against her mind with enough chance to respond and firm her defenses. But a subtle bit of work like this would escape her notice since she simply wasn't actually expecting an attack. A good disciplined camp always put out sentries, and good disciplined mind was always ready, but only about half way. Snape's mind was like a fortress. He expected attacks constantly. He would've known someone was trying to influence him, even if he didn't know what Harry was doing or that it was Harry doing it. But Harry wouldn't have been able to get a thought into his head. Dumbledore was like an army on the move with flankers and scouts out and clearing the way. If Harry tried to hide from Dumbledore with this trick he might as well have sent up sparks from his wand as well. It would be slightly less obvious to the great wizard, he might think it was some kind of indoor fireworks show after all.
It did work though. The professors didn't notice Harry despite taking a table not far from Ron or Hermione. Harry wasn't confident in his ability to move like this though and remain unnoticed. So he was stuck here until the adults had their fill. But the gossip he overheard was well worth the risk and the uncomfortable spot under the table.
Minister Fudge spotted an opportunity to impress a figure of the community with the ministry's work and so invited Madam Rosmerta, the owner of the inn to join them for a drink. He waxed on about everything the ministry was doing to try and catch Sirius Black while apologizing to the Madam for the unwanted presence of dementors in the town. This naturally led to a discussion of Sirius Black which was most informative to Harry.
It turned out that Black wasn't as mad as everyone thought he was. When the Minister had visited Azkaban to inspect it over the summer, just before he broke out, Black was sane enough to ask to borrow Fudge's newspaper and enjoy reading it. It also seemed he had spent a few days planning his escape as the guards had started over hearing him talk about how someone, presumably Harry, was at Hogwarts and Black had to get them.
Minister Fudge had been one of the first people on the scene after Black attacked and killed those thirteen people. A young wizard named Peter Petigrew had confronted Black and been blown to pieces by him. The violence had apparently so shocked Black that he just stood there laughing at all the death and destruction he had caused until the Ministry arrived and arrested him. But the most astounding thing of all was the reason why Peter had gone after Black.
"Such a silly boy." McGonagall lamented. "He was never a very good duelist, he just hadn't really applied himself at school. He had no hope of taking Black down. He should've stayed away."
"How could he have done nothing?" Minister Fudge asked. "You must remember that pack of young ruffians, Rosmerta. I imagine they all caused as much trouble in Hogsmeade as they did up at the school."
"Oh I do." Rosmerta said. "Sirius Black and his best friend James Potter, two of the worst trouble makers we ever knew. How they used to make me laugh. With little Peter Petigrew following them around star eyed with hero worship, often left to get caught when he failed to keep up. And Remus Lupin trying his damnedest to keep the three of them in line, failing and then getting caught up in whatever scheme they were running despite his best efforts. Four closer friends I never saw."
"How the school ever survived seven years of teaching that lot I will never know." Flitwick put in.
"I have never seen such a group of troublemakers in all my years." McGonagall agreed.
"Well the Weasley twins might give those four a run for the money." Hagrid said sticking up for today's youth.
"Four truly fast friends." Fudge agreed. "And after how Black betrayed Potter how could Petigrew not gone and tried to do something."
"I know Black turned his back on our side and spied for You Know Who during the war," Rosmerta noted. "But I hadn't heard he had betrayed the Potters in particular."
"He did." Fudge declared. "And a worse betrayal there has probably never been. Not many people know this. It was hushed up at the time so that people didn't demand his immediate execution, which might have set a very dark precedent in those days. But Sirius Black had been the Potter's Secret Keeper."
"Their what?" Rosmerta asked confused.
"For the Fidelius charm." Flitwick explained. "One of the most complicated but effective ways of hiding something. You enchant a location or object and connect it to a secret hidden in the Secret Keeper's heart. Unless they chose to reveal the location of the object or place that had been hidden in this way it's impossible for anyone to find it."
"When Lilly Potter became pregnant with little Harry," Fudge explained. "Dumbledore worried for their lives. He knew from his own sources that You Know Who was trying to wipe out the family. So he suggested they go into hiding using the fidelius charm. James chose to trust his safety and his life to the one person he could trust most. The man who had been his best friend growing up, the best man at his wedding, who was going to be the godfather of his only son: Sirius Black."
"So it was Black who told You Know Who where to find the Potter's." Rosmerta gasped.
"If he hadn't," Flitwick confirmed. "You Know Who could've searched the town of Godric's Hollow for days and never found them. Even if he put his nose right up to the glass of their house. He wouldn't have seen it and could've done nothing to it."
"I was there." Hagrid declared. "First to arrive on the scene after the house was destroyed in the attack and the magic had faded. I dug young Harry out of the wreckage. And then Black came swooping in on his magic, flying motorcycle. He looked so sad that I felt sorry fur him, but it was his master he was weeping fur, not his best friend. He asked me to let him take Harry. Said it was only right since he was his godfather. But I had my orders to take him to Dumbledore. So he gave me his bike to make the trip faster. Shoulda known something was wrong, he loved that motorcycle wouldn't have given it up for the world. But of course it stands out and he needed to go into hiding. But could ya imagine what might have happened if I had trusted him? He would've thrown Harry out into the ocean and finished the job You Know Who had started."
Hagrid was roaring with fury by the end, startling the patrons and forcing a change of topics to calm him down. Harry hardly noticed. He was too stunned to think properly. Sirius Black had helped murder his parents. He couldn't process it. His "don't notice me" field fell apart as his mind filled with a jumble of emotions he could barely process. He might have cried out, but instead he grabbed hold of his friends' legs and pulled them close. Luckily the four adults soon left as they had a meeting to attend with Dumbledore over dinner. After that the group made their way back to Hogwarts.
Harry numbly made his way back to his room and spent the next hour or so going through the old collection of photographs he had of his parents. There in one of their wedding photos he found the image of Sirius Black. He didn't look at all like his wanted posters. In those he was hollow cheeked, thin, pale, sickly looking and had deep bags under his eyes. In this old photo he looked young, full of irrepressible energy, good natured and happy. He looked like he was as proud as Harry's own father was, as if the other man's happiness was his own. Harry couldn't help but wonder if he had fallen to the other side by then? Was he even in that scene of bliss plotting the murder of his best friend?
I doubt it. Esharry suddenly cut in. Very few men plot out terrible deeds over the course of many years. More likely he reported the location of your parents as just one of many things he was giving over to Voldemort. You don't tell your plans to your spies since if they're uncovered they are almost certain to be captured. He probably even regretted to hear his old friend had been killed.
He probably regretted it?! Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could Esharry have any sympathy for the person who murdered their parents?!
Voldemort murdered our parents. Esharry countered. Every death eater that helped him rise to power played a role in helping that happen. You can't hate them all. You don't know them. You don't know Black. You don't know why he went over to the other side, why he spied, why he decided he was done spying or even if he did. Black was doomed the moment Voldemort decided to go after your parents. His cover was blown and he had a death sentence hanging over his head. Even if Voldemort hadn't fallen trying to kill you, Black's days would've been numbered. I can't think that was anything like what he would've planned for.
Harry couldn't take this. Esharry was refusing to understand and tormenting him with his words. So Harry wrapped the part of his mind that held Esharry up with psychic power and silenced his voice. Harry felt a surge of anger come from that part of his brain as Esharry was outraged by what Harry had done. But it faded quickly and was soon replaced by a kind of radiating comfort.
Harry's anger did not last long. After only a few minutes he released his hold on Esharry's silence and apologized for lashing out at him. Harry knew in his heart that Esharry was trying to help him, trying to turn him away from an all consuming anger that might well poison him as it did in so many stories he had heard growing up. But try as he might, Harry couldn't bring himself to care about that. He wanted to be angry. Wanted to lash out. He wanted revenge on Black, on Voldemort, on the whole world that had left him alone and miserable for so many years.
Harry slept fitfully that night. He had done his best to ignore Ron when he came to try to invite him back down to the common room to talk things over. Harry had wanted to be left alone to his misery. His restless sleep had led to him lazing the day away, so that by the time he finally crawled out of bed it was nearly noon.
Ron and Hermione were waiting for him in a very empty common room. This wasn't surprising as today was the beginning of the Christmas holiday, so most of the students had gone home to be with their family. Ron and Hermione had stayed to keep Harry company despite having their own families to enjoy things with. At the sight of them Harry felt a surge of joy in his heart and gratitude that they had gone out of their way for him.
"Harry!" They both exclaimed and then Ron followed that up by asking. "How are you feeling? You look awful."
"I'm fine." Harry lied.
"You're not thinking of doing anything rash are you?" Ron said hesitantly.
"Like what?" Harry responded the anger from yesterday beginning to climb back to the front of his mind. "Going after Black? Putting my parents to rest? Bringing some justice to the world?"
"Harry no." Hermione insisted. "You promised me you wouldn't." Harry ignored her.
"He killed my parents!" He exclaimed and also ignored Esharry harrumphing in the back of his head.
"He's not worth dying for mate!" Ron declared. "Do you know what Ms. Petigrew got back from the ministry of her son? An Order of Merlin first class award and his little finger. That was the biggest part of him they could find according to my dad. Leave him to the dementors, don't be stupid."
"Black's not affected by the dementors the way others are." Harry pointed out. "Azkaban isn't a proper prison for him. He deserves worse!"
"Harry, you promised not to go after him!" Hermione said again and Harry wished she wouldn't. He had promised her that, and he wasn't certain he could break a promise to her or Ron even over something like this.
"I'm going back to the restricted section of the library again." Harry declared. "We've pretty much learned that first round of spells. I think I should pick up something a bit stronger this time. Something really dangerous."
"Harry no!" Hermione shouted again this time with tears in her eyes. "Please don't do this! I'm not going to help you become a murderer!"
Harry almost saw red when he heard that. How dare she? Even if Harry did kill Black it wouldn't be murder. Surely she must see that Black deserved to die? Surely she didn't think that Harry's parents' deaths were so insignificant that they didn't deserve justice? Real justice. Not just imprisonment but real eye for an eye death for death justice. Surely she of all people could understand just how much that loss had scarred and damaged Harry. Most everything bad in his life, from his unwanted celebrity, to the constant danger he faced year after year, to the long years of abuse he had suffered at the Dursleys, even to his impending Illithid transformation could all be traced back to the murder of his parents. And she refused to help him get the revenge he deserved.
Harry wanted to shout at her. He wanted to rage. To lash out, to shut her up by physical or magical means. He wanted to force the two of them to understand his pain and help him get his revenge. But he couldn't.
Not with them. Harry couldn't be mad with Ron or Hermione. Not really. Especially not while he could feel their concern and their worry for him pouring out of their minds. Not when he could feel the real and abiding love that supported and created that concern as well. He could fight people trying to kill him as hard as he could. But he was utterly powerless to genuine love and concern.
Harry collapsed into a chair. He sighed deeply and he admitted defeat. "I won't go hunting after Black. But I'm not going to run from him either if he comes for me. And I am going to learn some spells that will make him regret that if he does. Not spells meant to kill or torture, but certainly ones that will make him pause and think."
Ron and Hermione said nothing in response, perhaps realizing this was the best they would get. Harry half expected them to look happy with having won the argument. But instead they just looked relieved, and now the emotions that poured from their minds were sympathy and sadness for him. Harry took a cold kind of delight in that. They did know how much this meant for him, how much this hurt him. They just wanted him alive and safe more than they wanted him to get what he deserved. He couldn't really be mad at them for that.
Ron desperately changed the subject. He suggested they go down to visit Hagrid in his groundskeeper's hut; they hadn't had a chance to do that yet this year. Harry agreed. He wanted to know why Hagrid hadn't told him what he knew about Black and his father at any point in the years he had known him.
Harry didn't get the chance though. Hagrid had received word from the board for governors about the Buckbeak incident. Luckily they didn't blame Hagrid for what had happened. But they did blame the hippogriff and so had passed the buck as it were to the committee for the disposal of dangerous magical creatures. This probably made Hagrid even sadder than he might have been if his teaching job were at risk.
"Those fiends on the disposal committee have it out for any creature they can get their hands on." Hagrid lamented. "And Luscious Malfoy is backing the case. Buckbeak won't get a fair hearing. He's almost certainly as good as dead."
Seeing Hagrid like this all but broke Harry's heart and drove all thoughts of Sirius Black out of his mind. He and Hermione vowed to help Hagrid make a case to save the hippogriff. Ron offered to make tea since he knew he wasn't all that useful in the research department. Eventually they managed to get Hagrid to calm down and pull himself together. He resolved to fight for Buckbeak as well.
"I thought about just trying and chasing him off." Hagrid said referring to the hippogriff that was actually inside Hagrid's hut since Hagrid couldn't stand the thought of leaving him out in the cold that the hippogriff had doubtlessly lived through perfectly well on its own for years. "But he would probably just come back. How do ya explain to a hippogriff he's got to go into hiding. Plus I'm scared of breaking the law again. I never want to go back to Azkaban."
Hagrid had briefly been to the wizard prison last year when it was suspected that he had opened the chamber of secrets and attacked the students of Hogwarts. He had never spoken of his time there. But now he opened up to them.
"There's no way to get away from the dementors in that prison." Hagrid explained. "They're always there making ya relive the worst moments of your lives. Fur me it was when they broke me wand. When me dad died. When I had to give up little Norbert. Things like that. You can't feel any happiness or satisfaction. Just misery and pain. Every night I went to sleep hoping I would wake up dead."
With that heavy conversation in mind, Harry and his friends resolved to help Hagrid through his trouble. So they ended up spending most of their winter holiday in the library studying old court documents and precedents about various magical creatures that got into trouble. Sadly it seemed that Hagrid might be right and the system really was set against magical creatures.
For muggles it was generally assumed that it was their owner, caretaker, or the person who owned and managed the land they lived in who was responsible for properly socializing and training an animal. Or for making sure people were properly informed about what to do if they encountered a wild animal, or in fact for making sure they couldn't encounter the animal at all. If a creature harmed someone they really would only get put down if it was clear that there was some reason why they were highly likely to repeat the attack in the future, such as having suffered repeated abuse or had some disease that affected their mind.
But wizards assumed that all creatures possessed some moral impetus, that they could therefore be held morally responsible for their actions. The law was written as if a manticore knew it was wrong to savage and eat people and could choose not to do so when it found people in its lair. As a result, rather than the committee having to prove that Buckbeak was dangerous and likely to attack another student without being provoked, the burden of proof would be on Hagrid to prove his hippogriff was safe to be around.
The more Harry read the more convinced he became that the best course of action was to accuse Draco Malfoy of having tried to use Buckbeak to murder Harry with his prank. This would turn Buckbeak from the defendant to a murder weapon that had miss fired and shift the burden of moral responsibility onto Draco. But this wasn't likely to work either. Largely because there was no way to prove what Draco had done.
There was a spell to make a wand recite the spells it had cast, Priori Incantanto, but it was mostly used to make a wand reveal it had cast big powerful curses that had hurt someone, or things that had happened a few minutes ago. Draco's minor ventriloquism charm had been used months ago, the spell wouldn't be able to pick it up. If they couldn't prove that spell had been cast the whole thing would devolve into a 'he said, she said' debacle as Sytherins would swear Draco had done no wrong while Gryffindors would swear he had. With the rivalry between the two houses as famous as it was, neither testimony would hold much weight. The fact that Draco hadn't been brought up on discipline charges by the school wouldn't help either.
So this work was likely hopeless. Maybe if Harry could get himself called as a witness he might be able to see something in the minds of the committee members that would help Hagrid out. But for now Harry couldn't find anything to help. This didn't stop him from looking though. So the work dragged on and on until Christmas was just around the corner.
During one of these long research sessions on Christmas Eve, Harry paused in his reading with a sigh and leaned back to rest his eyes as he stared at the ceiling. As he did he took the time to reflect back on everything that had happened since he had found out that Black had helped kill his parents. He considered his thoughts, his actions and the secret plans he had made in his heart. And a thought occurred to him that had done so several times before. He decided to ask Esharry about it.
He thought: Esharry? Have I become more irritable in the time we've been together? It certainly felt like it to Harry. He had been butting heads with Draco and Snape a lot more. He had been willing to attack Snape that one time Snape had come down on both Ron and Hermione. And it seemed like his emotions were a lot more raw and exposed when it came to his friends as well.
Yes. Esharry answered. You definitely are. I've been thinking about this since you expressed a desire to form a two way mental bond with your friends. And I've been reviewing the memories I've gained from the Elder Brain, and I'll be honest I don't really like the conclusions I've come to.
This sounded serious to Harry. He decided to give this conversation his undivided attention. So he closed his eyes and slipped down a level in his consciousness to dwell in his mental landscape for a time. He was slightly surprised when this happened, but it felt incredibly natural to himself. An easy way to shut out the world and focus all of his intellect on a single problem.
The inner world that Harry soon found himself in was a wide open sky. A world free of gravity and restrictions, a world where Harry was free to go anywhere and simply feel the sheer exhilaration of being alive and active. A world without walls or cupboards to hold him back or keep him sealed up. Esharry was floating in the midst of that world in his own little corner of Harry's mind, which instead of an open sky looked like a personal study or private library. But it was a room without walls, just a floating throw rug, a fireplace hanging in nothing and a number of suspended bookshelves. Oh yes and a couple of comfortable chairs where one could sit and read.
Esharry himself looked very strange at first. He was every bit the Ulitharid that they both actually were. Tall and thin, with dark purple rubbery skin, an enlarged skull, pitch black eyes, three fingers and a thumb on each hand, and six long tentacles reaching from his mouth down below his knees like some fleshy writhing beard. Despite his utterly alien appearance, Harry felt as comfortable around him as he would an image in a mirror. He privately felt that Esharry looked a fair bit more dignified and regal than Professor Trainer had been. Esharry indicated a nearby chair and invited Harry to have a seat, not the least bit surprised to see Harry here.
"So you think this emotional volatility that I'm experiencing is some kind of Illithid thing." Harry surmised, free to speak in his mind without worrying his words could be overheard in the outside world.
"I do." Esharry responded and for once it sounded like actual spoken words, not just a voice in his head. "Luckily I don't think it's an indication that our ceremorphic transformation is accelerating or has passed some new threshold. Rather I suspect that this condition existed since we first gained and Illithid mind and has been gradually exasperated by us inadvertently ignoring it."
"That's good to hear." Harry said relieved. He had started reading up on Human transfiguration through the three shapeshifting spells he had picked up from the restricted section. It was incredibly complicated stuff. He could understand why this was N.E.W.T. level work reserved for sixth and seventh year students. The animagus ritual was ironically the simplest bit of that magic and it took almost two months of prep work to do properly and only allowed someone to change into one kind of animal which the caster didn't get to pick, though they could influence it.
"It is sadly the only good news." Esharry lamented. "The problem is related to how it is actually possible to form a two way mental link with yourself and someone else so they can feel your emotions and sense your thoughts at will just like how you can read theirs."
"That's great!" Harry said excitedly. Words really couldn't express how much he wanted that kind of connection with his closest friends.
"No it isn't." Esharry denied. "In fact it's something you might never want to do. The connection itself is pretty straightforward to make, but there are a few complicated steps to it. First you have to make an image of your mind, one that will reflect what you're thinking and feeling. This can be done by first combining your extra sensory perception with your empathic telepathy. Then you can make a field of that combined power with your telekinesis and push it through your brain. While doing that, if you then telepathically project what you are thinking and doing at that exact moment you can create a linked copy of your brain."
Harry nodded in understanding. The terminology Esharry was using was new but he could easily connect it to what he had already been doing to use his powers. His ESP was his psychic sight, the increased awareness that came from releasing his power from the back of his brain. Telekinesis was a term he already used for the forceful power manifested from the top of his brain. His empathic powers came from the sides of his brain and allowed him to sense emotions, read thoughts and project his own thoughts into other people's heads to potentially influence or even control them. And his telepathy came from the front of his brain, it allowed him to fill his psychic power with the influence of his emotions and desires to emphasize his power and unleash devastating mental attacks.
"Once you have that copy of your brain you can set it into someone else's head," Esharry continued, "With a combination of telekinetic and empathic powers. Now if you just left it there like that it would just temporarily override your targets personality with a copy of your own, which could be useful if you need something down but can't keep an eye on a mind control victim while they did it. But for our purposes what you need is for your target to accept the presence of this power in their mind willingly. If they try to fight you it won't work, and if you're already mind controlling them that power will interfere with this one and the image of your mind will just meld into the existing power without having the desired effect. If they do accept you, you can wrap their mental essence around the image of your mind, sinking it into their subconscious and causing their brain to imitate your own. This will allow them to produce a small amount of psychic energy which you can seize with your telepathy and telekinesis and pull back to your own brain to tie the two of you together. This will allow you to sustain the image of your mind in their brain indefinitely in the depths of their subconscious. This will allow them to sense your emotions and for you to transmit thoughts directly to their brains."
"Okay, yeah, I follow." Harry said, and he did. He didn't think he would have a hard time doing this at all. "But I still don't see why this would be a bad thing."
"It would be bad because it makes it so that there are two minds inside the brain of your friends." Esharry pressed on. "The brain is just a machine, the mind: the spiritual or psychic essence of a person is the real origin of a person's thoughts. The brain takes those thoughts and puts them into action, makes them real and now there would be two potential sources of those thoughts, yours and theirs. With this connection you could at any time usurp control of their body and decide what they would do. You would have instant access to complete mind control over them, you could use them as an extension of yourself or give them orders and directions that they could not refuse."
"I would never do that!" Harry insisted, horrified at the thought of how someone could abuse that power.
"I don't think you could stop yourself." Esharry countered.
"What are you talking about?" Harry said genuinely angry. "I've had people telling me my whole life what I can and can't do. My relatives tried to keep me from being a wizard, tried to make me deny who I really am. You think I'm going to turn around and lord my power over someone the first chance I get? You think I would ever want to use my friends as puppets?"
"It isn't a question of what you want or plan to do." Esharry pressed. "It's a question of the fundamental difference in power between your mind, your brain, and theirs. Your school work is so much easier this year not just because of your better study habits, though those certainly help, but because your brain is no longer a human brain, it is an Illithid brain and Illithids are much more intelligent than humans are. There's simply more brain power in your head than there could possibly be in any human's."
"The best way I could describe it is this," Esharry pressed as Harry was left stunned by these thoughts. "Imagine if the power of a brain could be measured by points. An animal's brain would only have one to three points. The average person would have about ten, the power of their brains would offer them no real advantage in society but nor would it get in their way. Someone like Ron might be a twelve with the occasional really good thought that helps him out but he's often left confused by complicated things going on. Hermione would be about a sixteen. Frighteningly clever and sure to profit considerably from her intellect. The greatest minds mankind can produce would be twenties, the kind of geniuses that come along once a generation."
"The average Illithid is a nineteen." Esharry concluded. "The sort of genius that would have muggle colleges fighting over them to come and do research for them. But we are an Ulitharid, we are greater even then they. Right now you would be a twenty one on this scale. Your brain is more powerful than any human who ever lived. And this is just the beginning, your brain is still growing under the influence of human puberty and our on coming ceremorphosis, we might end up as high as a twenty three or a twenty four. With such a powerful mind you could overwhelm the thoughts of your friend accidently if you formed this kind of link with them. Every time a thought crossed your mind about something your friends could do for you, from something as simple as passing you a glass of water or as terrible as for them to step aside and let you go off and get yourself killed by a dangerous evil wizard, unless you immediately followed it up with a declaration that they didn't have to do this if they didn't want to it would become an irrefutable command for them."
"Okay, I get it." Harry said in grim resignation. "I had hoped to share that kind of connection with Ron and Hermione but I could never risk them losing themselves or anything. Though maybe if I could find some way to practice controlling my thoughts…. No. No, it's not worth the risk even then."
"Well I'm glad you understand the moral problem, but I don't think you yet grasp the scale of the problem." Esharry said with a hint of worry in his voice. "See the thing about this bond is, as morally complicated as it is, we might have no choice but to use it only at least a few people."
"What why?" Harry was taken aback. "Why would we need to mind control people? I don't want to mind control people."
"Back when the Elder Brain explained to me how to do this to take people as thralls it claimed that it was necessary to do this." Esharry explained. "According to the Elder Brain the whole reason why the Illithids exist is to bring order to the universe. There are many things wrong with the Illithids, but from their own perspective they do have a perfect society. The Elder Brains form this kind of bond with every Illithid that lives around them, and this creates a civilization where everyone is still an individual, with their own goals, dreams, hopes and desires, but everyone still works for the common good. Everyone understands everyone else, there's no miscommunication, no misunderstanding, no one thinks less of anyone else because everyone understands everyone's circumstances. An Illithid can't walk past a homeless man and fail to see them. He would understand that person's plight, what has driven them to that state and what they need to get back on their feet and the Illithid would help, it would be the same as helping themselves. And when society needs it they act as one."
"They believe it is their purpose to spread this order to everyone else." Esharry continued. "As the Elder Brain coordinates all the Illithids they can control and coordinate other races. Each Illithid will take half a dozen or so other beings in as their thralls and use them as slaves and servants for the good of their society. But they also promote that same kind of universal care for their thralls, making sure they survive and even thrive under their control. They even ensure that their thralls work well with each other. Races that were sworn enemies become fast friends under the Illithids influence. So it is that the Illithids believe they can bring order and peace to a world by bringing it under their control.
"The problem is the Elder Brain insisted that this purpose is so important it has become an intrinsic part of who the Illithids are." Esharry concluded. "And as a consequence individual Illithids need thralls of their own both to care for and control. Without them an Illithid feels lost, exposed, twitchy and abandoned. At the time I wrote this notion off as just another reason to justify their expansionist nature. But increasingly I fear that the Elder Brain spoke the truth. That your desire to have this kind of bond with your friends and your growing emotional vulnerability are symptoms that some part of us does need that kind of connection and we don't have it."
When Esharry was finished, Harry didn't speak for some time. He searched his own feelings and thoughts to see if he could sense any kind of truth to what Esharry had said. Eventually he did find it. Deep in his own psyche there was indeed a yearning pit of desire. An unshakable feeling that people would abandon him and leave him if he didn't have some means of controlling them and forcing them to stay. An all consuming fear of being abandoned and left alone. Perhaps this was a left over from his long suffering under his relatives where he had been alone and neglected for so long. An irrational fear of being abandoned back into that despair once more. But it felt even greater than that. Whether this had been in him before his transformation or not seemed irrelevant, for his Illithid nature had certainly enhanced such concerns to an overwhelming level.
"No." Harry said in stubborn refusal. "Even if that is true I won't do it. I won't have such a fundamentally abusive relationship with my friends. With anyone. If I form a bond with someone else it will only be to bring us closer together. I will not allow it to be a tool of controlling or manipulating them. Even if it does leave me exposed, I can work through this issue. I can handle this."
"Then I will help you in any way I can." Esharry vowed simply. "This is your choice and I will stand by you whatever you choose."
Harry was grateful for that support. But a traitorous part of his heart still wondered what it would be like. To have his friends so close to himself. Held so tightly to his own mind. His to protect and cherish for the rest of his life without any fear that he might ever lose them. Harry knew that friends in school didn't always remain friends forever. That as they grew older they would all turn to different paths that perhaps the others could not follow. Would it really be so bad to have this kind of bond that could always draw them back? Harry tried to ignore that part of his mind, but it was very hard to do. And it forced him to ask one more question before he left his inner world.
"How do Illithids take people as thralls? You said the person they formed this bond with had to want it and you couldn't force them to? I can't imagine anyone wanting to be a slave."
"Not if they were in their right state of mind." Esharry said ominously. "To make a thrall, Illithids bind a person so they can't escape and repeatedly blast their minds with telepathic attacks. Torturing them and gradually breaking down their personality to its most basic level. It takes about a day to do so, but eventually they can reduce any person down to an instinctive level of reasoning. Then they simply offer to end the pain if they accept their eternal servitude. In such a state they will accept. Then once the bond is in place the Illithids can rebuild their personalities only now with the added rule that they enjoy being enthralled."
"But it isn't necessary to do that is it?" Harry couldn't stop himself from asking. "If they willingly accept the bond you don't need to injure their mind?"
"No you wouldn't." Esharry confirmed. "But-"
"But then accepting the bond wouldn't change the fact that I might still take control of them without meaning to." Harry said, reaffirming his determination to resist this temptation. And with that thought ringing in his mind, Harry stepped out of his inner world.
Harry couldn't remember ever feeling this exhausted on a Christmas Eve before. The thought of having to fight against so powerful a desire of his own heart for the rest of his life weighed heavily on mind. Not all helped by the feeling of loss created by knowing that for all his increased awareness of his friends and their emotions he would never be able to share that same closeness with either of them without putting them at terrible risk.
Ron and Hermione sensing the drop in Harry's mood incorrectly guessed its cause. They tried to encourage him that they would find something that could really help Hagrid and Buckbeak eventually. That only added to Harry's sense of ill ease because he was increasingly doubting that.
At least he had Christmas to look forward to the next day.
Authors note: an explanation of Harry's powers if they weren't clear:
Extra Sensory Perception: created with psychic energy channeled through the ocular lobe at the back of the brain. This makes psychic powers that is sensitive to the movement of energy, allowing Harry to see magic, psychic energy and brain activity. When combined with his other powers it allows those powers to provide feedback to Harry.
Telekinesis: created with psychic energy channeled through the parietal lobe at the top of the head. This part of the brain is associated with sensation and I believe helps with physical movement so power went through it is able to feel the world around Harry and grab hold of things to move them. Combined with other powers allows Harry to touch more esoteric things like thoughts or emotions.
Telepathy: psychic energy channeled through the frontal lobe where it can be combined with Harry's thoughts and emotions for added power or to communicate ideas and sensations. This allows Harry to use the Illithid's power of the mind blast: 60 foot cone, 4d12+5 psychic damage and make a DC17 int save or be stunned for a minute as well as lash out with psychic damage against individual targets. It can be combined with other powers to enhance them with emotional energy.
Empathy: psychic energy channeled through the temporal lobes, it is sensitive to the thoughts and emotions of others. While ESP allows Harry to see the energy of a person's thoughts this allows him to understand what exactly those thoughts are.