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Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
Author notes
Chapter 181: Lyra's Mind
Harry closed the door and secured it. "Sit down and get comfortable."
Lyra took a seat on a fancy-looking leather sofa. "Harry, how did you find this room? It's so nice. Do we have permission to be here?"
This was the room he normally used for his meetings with Daphne. He decided to bring his sister here for her first Occlumency lesson.
"I found it by chance, and no, we don't have permission to be here, so try to keep silent about it. And I really mean… try."
"Is this where you bring the girls?" Lyra made a poor attempt at teasing him.
He wondered where she was picking that up. Hopefully not from Lavender and Parvati.
"Yes, this is where I bring the girls. Several times last year, in fact," he answered.
"W-what?!" Lyra became shocked all of a sudden. "You are joking, right?"
Harry sat down in front of her.
"Of course...who do you take me for?" Although, technically, he did not lie as he has been here with Daphne many times.
"That was not funny!" Lyra complained. She wanted to make fun of her brother…not the other way around.
"You asked first. Now let's not waste time. We only have two hours before dinner."
"Why did I have to come alone? It would be more fun with Ginny, Luna, and Astoria here."
"It would take too long to teach a group." He already tried that with Hermione, Daphne, and Tracey… it was exhausting.
"Once you learn enough, you can teach your friends. But I would not worry about Astoria. She probably already knows quite a bit."
"Okay, so… what do I do?" Lyra leaned forward with interest.
Harry put two fingers on her forehead and gently pushed her back.
"Rest your body in a comfortable position and look directly at me."
Lyra did as told. "Now what?"
"Now relax, I'm going to enter your mind using 'Legilimency'..."
She opened her eyes widely. "W-what? You are going to enter my mind?!"
"Calm down, I'm not going to poke around or view your memories. However, I will be able to read your thoughts, so try to keep your mind clear of anything."
"That's easy for you to say!" Lyra's cheeks became red.
"If you feel uncomfortable with this, we can ask Mom to teach you, but we will probably have to wait until next summer. Or I could get you a book about Occlumency, but learning by yourself will be much slower and a bit dangerous so I don't recommend it."
"No! I'll do it. I…I trust you." Lyra said the last part with conviction.
"Very well then… lay down and relax… stare into my eyes." Harry pointed his wand at her and whispered. "Legilimens."
As soon as he entered her mind, he found himself in a blank space filled with countless bubbles scattered all over.
This was how unorganized minds typically looked.
Each bubble contained a memory, and some were bigger than others. The sizes of the bubbles indicated how important that memory was for Lyra, and this also made it easier for her to remember them.
A memory of something unimportant like what you had for breakfast would have a tiny bubble that would get lost in the sea of bubbles after a few days.
He had promised Lyra not to peek into her memories, so he tried to avoid staring at any particular bubble for too long.
But some of the bubbles started to move and jump in front of him.
A memory of Lyra taking a shower this morning, changing clothes, or one of her and Ginny having an intimate conversation about female hygiene late at night in their room.
Harry wanted to sigh but could not do it in this place. He was also unable to close his eyes or cover his ears since he had none of those things here. 'Lyra… you fool…'
He knew well why this was happening. She was actively trying to avoid thinking about any moments she considered embarrassing.
But this was a foolish endeavor. The more you try to avoid thinking about something in particular, the more your mind will focus on those very same thoughts.
But he could not leave yet or this would be all for naught.
The objective of this intrusion is to force her mind to defend itself.
From the moment he invaded her mind, Lyra was instinctively working on expelling him from this place.
To accomplish this, she would be forced to create some primitive mental defenses.
This method is even more effective if the invader is actively trying to cause harm to the other person, increasing the urge to expel the unwanted intruder.
Of course, he would not do that to his sister as he knew well how terrible that felt.
Just standing here will be enough for now.
He then started to feel a force trying to push him away.
It was very weak still but it was just the start. Her defenses had begun to form.
He left Lyra's mind and opened his eyes. "We will be stopping here for today."
Lyra returned to her senses and also opened her eyes. "Wait, that's it? I thought we had two hours."
"It's been almost two hours already." Harry pointed at the clock on the wall.
"Whoa! That felt like minutes," Lyra exclaimed.
"Yes well, time feels different while you delve deep into your mind."
"How did it go? I don't feel like I did anything," Lyra said.
"You didn't do anything directly, but your mind has already started to form defenses. It's going to take a few more classes like this one before the defenses are formed enough for you to gain control."
"We have to do this again then?..."
"At least three more times. We can meet once a week," Harry suggested.
She then looked like she recalled something important. "Harry…"
"Yes?" He had an idea of what she wanted to ask.
"You didn't see anything… when you were in there… you didn't see anything bad, right?" Lyra asked, clearly embarrassed.
"Don't worry. I saw nothing." He had no choice but to lie there.
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