Brain shut-in
Harry returned to headquarters looking rather downcast, which relieved Hermione, who had been trying to keep him calm by telling him everything was alright. She tightened her grip on Ron's arm to maintain her composure, causing him to wince in pain. "The hearing… we don't know what time it will end. We saved you lunch, your favorite beef pie. Mrs. Weasley is even planning to bake a cake tonight to celebrate…"
Harry sighed. "No need to be so careful, Hermione. The hearing went as expected. Professor Dumbledore came, and I was acquitted on the spot."
"That's great!" Hermione's hand relaxed along with her breath, and Ron quickly rubbed his arm. How could Hermione's grip be so strong!
"Then why do you look unhappy? Was the trip to the Ministry of Magic terrible?"
"Although the environment of the Tenth Trial Chamber is terrible, it is still not as good as Riddle Cemetery."
"So what are you doing—?"
Halil pulled up a chair and sat down, his green eyes as calm and melancholic as a lake. "I was so happy when the hearing results were announced that I went to see Queenie."
"..." Hermione wanted to scold him, but she could understand sharing joy with someone you like, and he was back safe and sound, wasn't he, even if he looked heartbroken? "And then?"
“She was at the British Library with her friends, and that’s when I ran into her ex-boyfriend, well, maybe I’ve mentioned him to you before.”
Ron's pain had finally subsided, and his mind was drawn to the gossip. "What ex-boyfriend? You didn't mention him!"
Harry waved his hand, "That's not important, anyway..."
He fell silent again, so Hermione cautiously asked, "She got back together with her ex-boyfriend? Are you heartbroken?" She genuinely felt that Harry's behavior resembled that of someone who had just broken up with his girlfriend.
“Queenie didn’t, not after the other person did that.” Harry’s eyes widened.
Hermione wanted to roll her eyes. She hated this toothpaste-like feeling. Why couldn't they just be straightforward?
Harry sensed it too. He cleared his throat and voiced his worry, “Queenie and her friends are working on their summer homework at the library, and it made me realize that summer is almost over. I—I might have to say goodbye to Queenie.”
"Merlin's beard!" Hermione exclaimed. "I almost forgot about summer homework! Have you two finished yours? And the twins and Ginny too? I don't want to see Gryffindor's jewels disappear because of unfinished homework when school starts!"
"...Hermione!"
"Oh, uh, sorry, I just think academics are more important—"
“Yes, of course you think so,” Ron said precisely. “Remember when you said back in freshman year that expulsion was worse than death?”
Hermione glared at him.
Harry slumped back in his chair, dejected, continuing to ponder the question that had been nagging at him ever since he embarked on his journey back—how should he tell Queenie? Hermione's prepared explanation was clearly inappropriate, but if it were for some ordinary reason—well, he had to admit, whatever the reason, emotionally he didn't want to part ways with Queenie.
But you have to think about her safety; she's just an ordinary Muggle high school girl!
That's what reason says.
Hermione, the most rational of the three, spoke up, "Regarding this matter, Harry—"
"Um?"
"Remember what I said before? Your feelings should be the first thing you need to consider."
"you mean?"
"What I mean is, I've been looking for solutions and have made some progress."
Harry's eyes lit up instantly, and ripples spread across the melancholy lake. "What method?"
Hermione, however, wasn't in a hurry to tell her the method she had found. Instead, she talked about how to say goodbye to Queenie. "It suddenly occurred to me that we don't actually need to bother making up lies. Remember Professor Lockhart from the second year? His most famous spell?"
Ron exclaimed, "Forget everything? How can that be? Think about it, Lockhart is going to spend his whole life in St. Mungo's!"
Harry frowned as well.
"Of course we can't use that on Queenie. Putting aside whether we can perfectly control the Forgetfulness Charm, minors can't use magic outside of school. Otherwise, how did Harry get into the Tenth Inquisition?"
"..."
It sounds like the seriousness of minors using magic outside of school is greater than the seriousness of using magic on Muggles. Okay, that's very Hermione-esque.
"But this gave me an idea, and I realized that we could work on 'memory'."
Ron seemed to understand, but not quite. "You mean we'll use the Forgetfulness Charm on Harry when we get back to school? And if he shows any signs of becoming an idiot, we'll immediately send him to Madam Pomfrey? But what if we don't make it in time? Harry might still get into St. Mungo's, but we'll probably be stuck in Azkaban!"
“...Shut up, Ron.”
Harry stared at Hermione. "So the method you're talking about is?"
"Don't worry, there's another way. We'll make up a lie and tell Queenie that you won't see her again. Then we'll extract your memories of Queenie and lock them in a bottle—maybe a glass bottle. After everything is over, you can retrieve those memories. You know, wizards have all sorts of ways to get other people's secrets, and Truth Potion is one of them. However, if you don't have those memories, Truth Potion can't make them out of nothing."
Ha uses pursed lips to express resistance; if he could do that, he wouldn't be conflicted.
"Don't give me bad advice, Hermione. Who wants to lose a memory for no reason? What about the two of us? Should we have our memories extracted too? What if we don't extract them properly and extract too many?"
Hermione nodded. "So I found a third way: Occlumency."
"Brain what?"
Harry and Ron looked completely bewildered.
Hermione pulled out a book, the sheer thickness of which once again slightly surprised the two of them.
“The Black family has quite a few magic books, and Sirius said I can borrow them freely, provided I don’t overextend myself.” Hermione flipped to the page she had marked. “Look here, Occlumency. Simply put, it means hiding one’s brain. It can seal the brain to resist the invasion and influence of magic. I asked Professor Lupin about this, and he said that a skilled Occlumency master can not only perfectly hide secrets they don’t want to reveal, but can even fabricate memories that are infinitely close to reality to interfere with others! Magic is truly amazing!”
Harry and Ron each huddled on one side of her to look at the contents of the book, the tiny letters on it making their eyes dizzy.
"Hermione, you must have done your research. Just tell Harry what to do. You know we both get dizzy when we look at books."
"...In short, Harry needs to learn to clear his mind. Once he masters Occlumency, he will be able to truly conceal Queenie's existence. We both need to learn it together."
The two boys got stuck on the first sentence. Ron asked blankly, "Clear your brain? How? Like deleting the game data on Harry's phone?"
"...I admit it sounds a bit abstract, but I will continue to consult books to figure out how to learn it as soon as possible. The books say that the counterpart to Occlumency is Legilimency, so perhaps we should learn this magic at the same time to help each other."
Ron, who was already learning Apparition, felt a lot of pressure. "Learning three advanced spells at the same time? How about this, I agree to let you extract my memories about Queenie. There's not much of it, is there?"
Harry suggested, "Then why don't we ask Sirius to teach us? This is his family's book, he must have read it, right? Even if he hasn't, he's a member of the Order of the Phoenix, if Occlumency can hide secrets, then he definitely can too."
"That makes sense, then we need to think of a reason—"
“No need,” Harry said cheerfully. “I think we’d teach him Animagus Sirius without a second thought, even if we asked.”
"……you're right."
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