PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

22

The next week, I mostly retire the Sagum and begin to practice occlumency. Occlumency seems to use some of the techniques that we learned while resisting the imperious curse. Harry was the only one who successfully got through it. No one else so much as hesitated. I certainly didn't, but at least now I'm familiar with some of the techniques.

There is a key difference, however. Resisting the imperious curse is about willpower. I'm sure I have more than some, but then not as much as Harry Potter. Occlumency uses the same sort of muscles, so to speak, but the magic comes from a different place. It's repression. An ability to hide, to sit idle. That I have been practicing for years.

Since my work on the Sagum has stalled, Professor Babbling allows me to continue my own private work in her classroom so long as I practice my skills by decoding an artifact of her choices before entering the room. It seems she is a Ravenclaw still at heart. Due to the degrading of the objects, some afternoons are harder than others. On this day, the first of October, I'm lucky that the task is easy.

Now, if I could get access to Veritaserum, and if I could find someone who was willing to drug me randomly, I might be able to check my skills.

At a more advanced level, I will hopefully only hide what I want hidden. I'm not even sure it will work on the Sagum, but I've got to try to hide specific thoughts of Draco. After all, it might be him that is most likely thinking of me, and if I'm always thinking of him, I'll never be able to tell if it works.

At least, I think he thinks of me.

My eyes are closed as I'm meditating. Something grazes the book in my hands. I open my eyes to see Malfoy, leaning against the desk beside me. With my legs still in the tailor sitting position, as requested by the book, I blink up at him.

"Moved on from trying to trap me in a temporal distortion?" he asks.

I glance up at the front. Professor Babbling is still gone. Only over the past few days she has been slipping out a few times while I am here since she usually doesn't leave students with her artifacts. Kenneth Towler is the only other student that she lets use her room regularly, and when he is here, she won't watch over me. He's gone too. I'm not sure when he left.

"I just would rather you not have any insight on the matter," I wag the book, pulling it out of my lap. "Don't want you spoiling my plans about trapping you in a pocket dimension."

Malfoy's hand wraps around the book. We both hold it for a second before I let him take it. He flips through the pages, slowly. It shouldn't surprise me he is this patient. We haven't exchanged proper words since he flew to Brighton to see me, a plan which as I understand it, was hatched over the better part of a summer. Even now, he seems to have all the time. He doesn't expect Professor Babbling to return.

"Is Snape stalling Babbling for you, or did you find a different lackey to pester her?" I ask.

"Snape," Malfoy answers plainly. He puts the book down on the desk in front of me.

"I haven't told anyone I won the bet," I explain.

He rolls his eyes, "you think you've won, do you?"

"I don't argue moot points," I answer.

My eyes close once more, trying to clear my thoughts. It's a much more difficult process with him in the room. I'm aware of the way my skin feels prickly, of the way my chest moves as I breathe in and out. He's easy to wonder about when he's gone but even easier to wonder about when he is here in front of me. After over a month of silence and now he speaks to me once more.