[Discontinued] When Shadows Collide, The Game Begins

Chapter Seventeen

School was slowly becoming more and more time consuming as the weeks went on. The teachers all had their reasons, such things as 'exams are only eight months away,' and 'you'll thank us later'. Harry couldn't stand it. He adored learning, but the piles of homework in addition to the case file Sherlock would send him every week, meant there was little time left that he could spend investigating the secrets of the school. 

While Harry certainly wasn't unintelligent - how could you be with Sherlock Holmes for a father? - he still struggled with the work. Magic went against just about everything he knew about the world, and it annoyed him. Science was the basis of so much of his world view, and magic just chucked it out the window. 

When Sherlock and John had replied to his letter, Sherlock too had been frustrated by the lack of science, but intrigued by the mystery. John had been more worried about the three-headed dog and the threat of death that could come to the curious. He had also been concerned about Harry being the Boy Who Lived and the possibility of a dark wizard coming to the school to find whatever had been moved from Gringotts. 

Another thing that concerned the three of them was Albus Dumbledore. The old man had a few too many secrets and an uncanny knowledge of Harry's life. Just about every week, Harry would be called into the Headmaster's office. Each time, they barely spoke, but Harry always left with a splitting headache.

"Is there mind-reading magic?" Harry asked Draco as they walked back from Dumbledore's office one day, Harry rubbing his temples in an attempt to soothe his headache.

"Yeah. It's called Legilimency. But it isn't supposed to hurt unless the Legilimen wants it to." Draco looked at his friend worriedly. "You don't think Dumbledore is using Legilimency, do you? Because I'm pretty sure it's illegal. If I tell my father, he'll put a stop to it immediately." With those words, all emotion dropped from Draco's face as he put on his Malfoy mask.

"You know, hiding or suppressing your emotions has been shown to reduce mental health," said Harry. Draco's mask slipped.

"Father has been doing it his whole life and he turned out fine," said Draco. Harry stifled a laugh, causing Draco to glare at him. "It's an easy way to practice Occulemency, the way you keep Legilimens out of your head." Harry stopped laughing at that. 

"I'm going to the library," he said, turning on his heel and walking quickly away from Draco. It took a few seconds for the blond to notice his friend had gone, but once he did he sprinted after him.

"Wait up!" called Draco. Harry only sped up, his need for answers blocking out everything else.

He slowed only when he reached the library, carefully reading the spines of each book he walked past before coming to a stop at Madam Pince's desk.

"Excuse me, Madam Pince." The stern woman looked up from her book, eyeing Harry suspiciously. "I was wondering if you had any books on Occulemency?" Harry put on his best innocent eleven-year-old act. Madam Pince looked at him carefully, trying to find any evidence that the book Harry desired could be harmed. Upon finding nothing, she pointed him towards an empty isle near the restricted section. 

Just before Harry began walking towards it, a puffing Draco put a hand on his shoulder. He leaned over, trying to catch his breath.

"How can you walk so fast?" he asked between gasps. Harry said nothing, just waited for his friend to catch his breath before continuing through the library and arriving at the correct isle. He looked through the books, reading each and every title before on caught his yee. The Art Of Occulmenecy. Harry picked it up and sat down. 

An hour later, he was halfway through the book and had a rather in-depth knowledge of occulemency and legilimency. It took a few more hours for him to fully understand every aspect of it. He got out several books so that he could begin learning occulemency that night.