Chapter XIV: Flyboy
(Dumbledore P.O.V)
Dumbledore watched with a less than enthused face as Harry fell from the chair onto the floor panting and covered in sweat, holding his head in an attempt to stop the pain. Dumbledore quickly opened the vial for the pain he had prepared prior to their lessons for this very occasion and offered it to Harry who swallowed the contents of the vial rapidly, before brushing his hair from his face and taking the chair once more, "Again," Harry panted, "Let's try again."
"Harry," Dumbledore spoke softly, "While your enthusiasm is commendable, I believe that we must stop, for now, continuing our training would only lead to a risk of permanent damage to your psyche."
"I don't care," Harry said tiredly, "There's a chance that Voldemort could get into my head and learn about Remus, and Tonks, and Sirius, I can't let that happen. I have to be better than this."
"Breath, my boy," Dumbledore said filling a glass with water, "Occlumency may not be a discipline that comes naturally to you, but we will get there in time. Have you had any other visions since the dementor attack?"
It had been a bit nearing a month since Dumbledore had begun his lessons with Harry, and while the boy certainly showed to every lesson with enthusiasm to learn, the process of clearing the boy's mind was difficult, to say the least. Still, as Harry's ragged breathing began to stabilize he spoke once more, "No, nothing."
"Then there is currently nothing to fear," Dumbledore said, "We should take our time and not rush into a dangerous situation. After all we-,"
"How do you do it?" Harry said cutting off the elderly man, "You tell me to clear my mind and then organize my brain into an unenterable fortress, but I have no idea what that looks like. If I could just see an example, maybe I could do it."
This had been the moment Dumbledore had been waiting for. He had promised Sirius and Remus that he would not force legilimency training onto Harry, but if Harry had asked to learn it, who was he to say no. Still, playing his cards close to the chest Dumbledore spoke, "There is a practice in which you could enter my mind. It is the magic I've been using for my training of you. The discipline is called legilimency or and it's similar to what muggles call mind-reading."
"That's incredible," Harry said.
"Yes," Dumbledore said, "It is a challenging discipline, but very useful if it can be mastered. People such as myself even have the gift of passive legilimency, and while it wouldn't be able to peak into an organized mind, it could easily read the mind of one less aware of my probe."
"So," Harry started, "If I used legilimency, I could enter your mind and see what it looks like for an example to better my occlumency."
"Think bigger, Harry," Dumbledore said patiently, "You've already dove into Voldemort's mind before, think of what secrets you could discover if you were trained in the art."
"Why are we wasting our time with Occlumency then?" Harry said, "Who cares if Voldemort can read my mind if I can read his first, find out where he is, and eliminate him? You have to teach me, sir."
"I'm afraid I cannot," Dumbledore said softly setting Harry up right where he wanted.
"Why not?" Harry demanded clearly frustrated from his constant roadblocks in learning Occlumency, roadblocks Dumbledore may, or may not have purposely constructed.
"Your Godfather and Remus have strictly forbidden me teaching you Legilimency before Occlumency for fear that the mastery of Legilimency could drive you to madness," Dumbledore began forcing back a smile, "You must understand that Sirius and Remus are only looking out for you, they-"
"I don't care," Harry said, "They're everything I have. If your telling me learning Legilimency will help me stop Voldemort before he rises for good and I'd be able to protect Remus and Sirius in the process, then I don't care if I go mad. It's worth it. If I just sit here and do nothing, then when Voldemort rises and starts to kill again, it'll be my fault. I won't let myself be the reason why any other kid has to grow up without their parents."
Dumbledore was simply beaming on the inside as he spoke, "Harry, understand that occlumency is a very important magic art, and learning it will only help in the process of learning Legilimency, and I recommend you take the time to meditate and focus your mind, but if you insist, I will teach you legilimency. Just understand you are going against your godfather's wishes."
Harry bit his lip, and Dumbledore could see the inner conflict on Harry's face as he struggled with the idea of keeping this secret from the man that mattered the most in the world to him, but eventually, Harry nodded, "Teach me the spell, I won't say a word."
"Very well," Dumbledore said in his kind grandfatherly tone, "Let's begin, point your wand towards me and speak the following incantation, Legilimens."
Dumbledore watched with a smile as Harry lifted his wand and spoke, "Legilimens."
(Harry P.O.V)
A feeling of weightlessness had returned to Harry that he hadn't felt since his comatose days, except this time, he felt more in control. While he was amazed he had successfully performed the spell with ease, he had a sinking feeling of guilt in his gut. However, this feeling was eliminated as Harry quickly jumped upon hearing Dumbledore's voice speak out, "Welcome to my mind Harry, tread carefully, it can be an awfully cluttered place.
Soon, the darkness had lifted and what Harry saw had nearly made his jaw drop in wonder. It was a library, the size of all of Hogwarts, with books piled up to the ceiling. As Harry wandered the halls of Dumbledore's mind, he saw books labeled, First Birthday Party, Birth of Ariana, and a single book named, Gellert.
Recognizing the given name of Grindelwald, Harry slowly reached for the book, but when he touched it, not only could he not pull it from the shelf, it burned his hand causing Harry to jump back and hiss, "What the hell?"
"Occlumency is an astonishingly creative art," The voice of Dumbledore called to him, "In the world you create to defend your mind, not even the laws of magic must be applied. Every book in my mental library rests at 4000 degrees Celsius, and yet remains unburned. If somehow my temperature protection was broken, each book is also attached to the shelf by a permeant sticking charm. The point I am trying to make here is that the sky is the limit when it comes to a talent occlumens, and the cunning needed for a legilimens is quite high as well."
Harry nodded in wonder as he spoke, "This is amazing."
"Thank you," Dumbledore said now appearing behind Harry as an apparition, "I am going to force you out of my mind now, "Try to resist."
And try Harry did, as he planted his feet, willing himself deeper into Dumbledore's mind, but the elderly man's mind was nearly impenetrable, and Harry felt himself being forced into a black void. He forced every bit of his magic in an attempt to stay, but soon, everything went black and as soon as Harry opened his eyes once more, he was back, in reality, staring at Dumbledore who once again offered him a glass of water which Harry eagerly drank before turning to face him, "That was incredible."
"It was indeed," Dumbledore said smiling, "Most are unable to even enter my library. While I did say that cunning played a large role in working through legilimency, emotional intelligence and the ability to understand the way another mind thinks is the key to succeeding in the discipline, and in that regard, I feel your free-spirited mentality will serve you well in this practice."
Harry nodded thankful for the Headmaster's praise who stood and yawned calmly, "Now then, you have an example to work with, ponder a way of forming your mental defenses. I will see you next time for lessons, for now, it's time we head to the Great Hall for dinner, and then you should go off to your dormitory for some much-needed rest."
Harry nodded taking down another glass of water before he stood and followed the Professor out of the office and down towards the Great Hall.
(Daphne P.O.V)
Halloween was now just around the corner, and while for most people that meant excitement for the first quidditch game of the season, and trips to Hogsmeade which lead to the blossoming of romance, all Daphne could think of was the exams that were about to begin in earnest. While Daphne felt rather confident about her potions, runes, charms, and transfiguration. Her exams for DADA, Herbology, and Arithmancy didn't fill her with confidence.
She had been intending to go to the library and study, but Tracey and Blaise had other plans as they quickly shoveled down their breakfast before taking her hostage and dragging her to the quidditch pitch, which explained why she was currently sitting out in the heavy wind that made her so cold her nose felt about ready to fall off, glaring at the for now empty pitch, as her housemates made bets on who would win the match. Coincidentally, this had been how she learned the matchup for today as she couldn't have cared less about games, but now, a little more interest took her as she found out that Slytherin would be playing Gryffindor in the first match of the year. Which meant that she would be seeing if all those rumors about Potter being a great flyer was overexaggerated or not.
"What are you thinking about?" Blaise asked turning to her, "You look super focused on something."
"Nothing," Daphne said, "School mostly."
"Bull," Tracey said with a laugh, "You're excited to see Potter play. Come on, admit it."
"I'm not excited to see 'him' play," Daphne said, "I've just heard he's a prodigy when it comes to flying, I'm simply interested in seeing if that's true or not."
"Sure, sure," Tracey said smiling before she turned to whisper to Blaise purposely loud enough for Daphne to hear, "She wants to snog him so bad."
Without even turning, Daphne jammed her elbow into her friend's rib causing her to moan in pain, "Ouch. That was unnecessary."
"I felt it was needed," Daphne said with a shrug.
"Why am I even friends with you?" Tracey said rubbing her side.
Daphne smiled as she remembered the similar conversation at Diagon Alley, "Because you love me, remember?"
"You're lucky you're cute Greengrass," Tracey said with a chuckle and Daphne smiled, leaving Blaise shaking his head at her and Tracey's strange relationship.
"Hey, look," Blaise said as they saw the string of players marching in, "Looks like it's set to begin."
Daphne looked down at the pitch, and from her seat, she saw the familiar flaming red hair of Fred and George, and right in between them, wearing a golden 07 on his back was one, Harry Potter. Compared to the rest of his team, Potter stood somewhere in the middle in height. Both twins were taller than him, as was Wood, but Daphne would guess that Johnson and Harry were around the same height with Bell and Spinnet being slightly shorter than him.
The form-fitting uniform did wonder's for Harry as Daphne noticed how much it accentuated his broad shoulders and firm chest. Once again, as the wind brushed through Harry's messy hair, Daphne had to fight back the side of herself that really wanted to concede the point aloud that Harry did, at least, look good. But she knew if she had said it, it would be the end of everything so instead, she kept her mouth shut.
As Daphne scanned the bleachers, she found her sister standing near Corner waiving a big Potter banner, as the same Black Dog from infirmary stood on its hind legs between then, barking happily. Behind the three of them, Daphne found Professor Lupin who looked down at the Gryffindor team proudly, and Professor McGonagall who was simply festering with a mixture of excitement as she stood up and began walking to the announcer's booth where Bell's boyfriend and third member of the Fred and George mischief gang Lee Jordan sat ready at the mic.
Soon, thunderous applause erupted from the Slytherins as their quidditch team took the pitch, all with their Nimbus 2001's slung over their shoulders, a gift from Malfoy's daddy because he son couldn't get on the team without a little nepotism. Despite her equal hatred for Malfoy, Tracey still cheered as the Slytherin team entered the arena. Daphne had asked her about why she did this, and she had claimed something along the lines of rooting for the house, not the team. It didn't make much sense to her, but then again, Tracey rarely ever did, it was part of what made their relationship so fun.
In the center of the pitch was a lady that Daphne hadn't seen much of since her first year in flying class. The older witch had spiky grey hair which was cut short and had piercing, yellow, hawk-like eyes that were currently being hidden behind goggles. Rolanda Hooch lifted her wand to her throat, creating a large boom from her vocal cords as she spoke, "I want a nice clean game to start of the season. Flyers, mount your brooms," The members of the team did as they were told and then, with a flick of Hooch's wand, the balls all sprung to life except the quaffle which she threw up into the air and shouted, "Begin!"
And begin they did, as Daphne watched each member take off at lightning speeds into the air. She wanted to focus on the red ball and ignore the Gryffindor Seeker entirely, but despite her resistance, her eyes seemed to always float towards Harry. It wasn't long though until the commentating began, as Katie Bell quickly took over control of the ball and began barreling towards the Slytherin Hoops, the game had begun.
(Harry P.O.V)
The feeling of wind rushing by his face, and the adrenaline pumping through his heart as he began to circle the pitch in search of the snitch filled him with joy. Though he would have loved to stop and stare more, Harry had to move his eyes of Daphne, he had a game to win, and upon seeing the shaggy black dog that was his Godfather in the stands cheering for him, losing was not an option.
Yes, he felt guilty learning legilimency behind his Godfather's back, but at that moment, all Harry cared about was making Sirius proud. Harry's eyes momentarily caught a glimpse of Katie catching the quaffle and his sighting was concerned as while Harry continued his search he heard Jordan call out, "And the beautiful Katie Bell has the Quaffle! Look at her fly, she looks like an angel."
"Jordan!" McGonagall cried out causing the stadium to bust out into laughter as a grin appeared on Harry's face. Harry dropped low, seeing the Malfoy was currently hovering high, and feeling confident in his ability to out-speed the blonde git, Harry decided to check a different area.
Harry dove with haste before pulling up at the last minute, flying in between the undertow of the pitch trying to locate the snitch. He heard the oohs and awes as he effortless slithered between each wooden post before shooting up now certain that the snitch was not there, however, just before he was about to restructure his plans, a hint of gold jet past his eyes, and wasting no time, Harry began to tail it.
He was hot on the snitch's trail, but not wanting to give up easily, Harry had to pull back as he saw George just barely misdirect a bludger out of Harry's path, "Close one," George said cheekily causing Harry to nod thankfully as he quickly tried to reclaim what he had lost.
However, his chase wasn't uninterrupted for long as Malfoy, realizing he wouldn't be able to out-race him, decided to play interference instead, "Not so fast Potter." Malfoy said waving his finger.
"Out of my way," Harry growled as he bolted past the blonde, but while the Firebolt was the best broom currently out, the Nimbus 2001 wasn't exactly slow. Malfoy slammed relentlessly into Harry's side, and Harry was certain that he would be pretty banged up thanks to the snake. However, with Malfoy focused on him and not the snitch, it meant that he had the opportunity to try and lose him without fear of losing the game, and with that though, Harry once again dove, Malfoy hot on his trail believing he saw the snitch.
Once again, Harry decided to go for his low spiral, a trick that Tonks had taught him while he was younger. However, to Harry's surprise and Malfoy's credit, the snake wasn't stupid enough to take the initial bait, pulling himself off before Harry skimmed the ground, forcing Harry back into the under-pitch. Not wanting to risk being wrong, however, Malfoy tailed him and a smiled grew on his face, as Harry used his natural flying instinct to weave between pillars and bars, forcing Malfoy to throw caution to the wind as he tried to keep up.
With pinpoint accuracy, that the Nimbus 2001 couldn't mimic, Harry saw his opportunity had shot straight up once more. Then, a grin appeared on his face as he waited for the sound he knew would be coming, and then, he heard it, Conk!
Malfoy too had attempted to assent, but not being as vigilant due to his high speed hadn't seen that from his current location, if he were to shoot up and chase Harry, his head would be painfully introduced to a wooden beam, and just as Harry had predicted, Malfoy now lay at the bottom of the pitch of his broom, a large bump on his head, now all Harry had to do was catch the snitch. Malfoy being injured meant that another chaser had to cover the spot of seeker, and Harry growled as he saw Flint now on his tail. But his lack of defense on Angelina had proved detrimental for Slytherin as Jordan called out, "And Angelina Johnson with a vicious kick into the goal. Fred, are you seeing this!"
Harry momentarily turned to the redhead who was at the moment flying right beside Angelina as the two high-fived before breaking off, a happy smile on their faces. However, Harry vowed never to allow his judgment to lapse again, as it was only thanks to George's nick of time swatting away of the bludger barreling right towards his face that he was still on his broom, "Alright there Harry? George snickered.
"Never better," Harry said as kicking his broom into full speed, he jetted away from his pursuer. The snitch once again flew by him and Harry cursed as he saw the snitch was currently gunning right for Flint. Not wanting to allow that, Harry once again charged the snitch, now locked in a game of chicken with the much bigger chaser. Harry's heart was beating, but people were relying on him, he wouldn't fail, just before the two now seekers collided, the snitch ducked down, and with a quick spin to avoid contact, Harry to plunged after it.
The whole crowd gasped, as unlike before, Harry did not pull up and make a new maneuver, his focus was solely on the snitch. Soon, only mere inches from the ground, the snitch leveled and began to fly so low, it's fast-moving wings were trimming the long grass of the pitch, and in a move that made everyone awe, Harry jumped off his broom, landing perfectly on it as if he was riding a skateboard about to put it all on the line. As his broom followed the snitch cutting through the grass, Harry leapt from his broom, and with a satisfied grin, he felt the snitch buzzing heavily in his hand before he hit the ground and tumbled twenty feet.
The whistle was blown, but before Hooch had even come to check on him, Harry lifted his hand in the air revealing the golden snitch causing three of the four bleachers to go wild with cheers as Harry shouted his success. His first real game had been a victory and instantly, he turned his attention to the Slytherin stands where the Princess herself was staring at him a look of shock momentarily appearing on her face before it turned back to its normal façade of disinterest.
As the rest of his team began to land, Harry mounted his broom and began to fly over towards Daphne a large smile on his face as he spoke down from his broom, "Come to Hogsmeade with me."
Daphne simply shook her head as she looked up at him, "Is this your master plan? Keep asking me out until I eventually say yes."
"It's worked before," Harry said with a grin.
"On who?" Daphne asked a sarcastic tone in her voice.
"My parents," Harry said with a smile, "So what do you say Princess, you, me, Hogsmeade?"
"Not a chance, Flyboy," Daphne said with a grin of her own before heading down the bleachers with Tracey and Blaise who looked at her in shock. Despite being rejected, Harry couldn't help but smile at Daphne's nickname for him, Harry didn't much care for divination, but he was convinced that somehow that meant something, it was fate.
Harry didn't have much time to marinate in his thoughts however as Wood called out, "You going to stay up there all day, or are you going to come down here. Party's going to be starting at the tower soon."
Harry smiled as from his bird's eyes view he saw Daphne walking back towards the castle, Blaise and Tracey by her side as he called back, "Sure thing Captain, I'll be right down."