Two Houses (HarryxDraco)

Chapter 13

Harry and Draco's fledgling friendship (or, more accurately, not-friends-but-no-longer-enemies-ship) was almost immediately put to the test as they headed to their next class of the day.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was one of the few classes that Harry had been looking forward to when he had decided to return to Hogwarts. It was by far his best subject and after his lacklustre start in both Herbology and Transfiguration, he was keen to show off his abilities at something he was actually good at. If he learned some useful skills that would help him on the road to becoming an Auror, that was an added bonus. Harry's excitement grew when he entered the classroom to find that all of the desks had been pushed up against the walls and seats arranged in pairs had been set out. That could mean only one thing...

"Today is going to be a practical lesson," Hestia announced as the students filed into the room. "Everyone just grab a seat for now, we'll need to go over some safety checks before we can begin. Are we all here? No stragglers? Brilliant. Now, first things first..." She flicked her wand and a large pile of parchment sat atop her desk took flight, distributing a sheet to each of the students. "Everyone needs to fill in a waiver in order to participate in the upcoming practical lessons, which will be held once a week during lessons on Fridays. Everyone here is of age and can decide for themselves whether or not they consent to taking part. Miss Weasley, do you have a question?"

Ginny's hand had immediately shot up into the air and she asked, "Yes, Professor, um..."

"Jones," Hestia confirmed shortly. Ginny nodded.

"Professor Jones, I'm just curious...what exactly are we consenting to?"

"I'm just about to get onto that very subject. Our lessons will actually entail learning two obscure but highly useful branches of magic..." Hestia began scribbling across the blackboard and Harry's momentary feelings of elation were immediately extinguished as he realised what they would be learning. Hestia underlined two words that she had written on the blackboard. "Legilimency and Occlumency. Who here can tell me what each spell does? Miss Granger?"

Hermione's hand had shot so quickly into the air that she nearly knocked Harry's glasses off of his face.

"Oops! Sorry, Harry..." she whispered before answering, "Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through a person's mind. A person who practices this art is known as a Legilimens. Some wizards are born with the ability but it is an incredibly rare gift. Occlumency is the opposite of Legilimency as it is used to shield one's mind from the invasion and influence of a Legilimens."

Hestia looked impressed and nodded approvingly. "A perfect textbook answer, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor."

Hermione beamed at Harry but he couldn't return the smile. He was thinking back to his Occlumency lessons with Snape during his fifth year, which were nothing short of disastrous. No matter how hard he had tried, he had failed utterly at learning even the most basic form of Occlumency. A fatal error on Harry's part, as that had allowed Voldemort to implant false memories in his mind and ultimately caused Sirius's death.

Harry dug a thumbnail into the palm of his hand, using the pain to distract himself from spiralling down that dark road again. Instead, he tried desperately to focus on Hestia's words as she addressed the class.

"It's important for me to clarify that participation in these lessons is not compulsory. This is advanced magic we're delving into, and it is extremely invasive. Anyone who chooses not to participate will not be penalised when it comes to N.E.W.T. examinations. You will be required to observe this week's lessons, then you will be excused from attending classes on Fridays until we conclude this section of the course before Christmas break. You will be expected, of course, to be spending that extra time in the library; questions about Occlumency and Legilimency will come up in the final examination. Lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays will be dedicated to learning the mastery of nonverbal and wandless magic."