Read My Mind

Asian Magic 101

"Hey." Fred came to talk to her while they were drawing an illustration of a bowtruckle. The three of them made a team and Ria was glad that she didn't need to approach two other strangers, despite, franky Fred and George are still strangers to her.

"I'm not sure if you remembered, but--"

"You were at the Quidditch Cup, yes." Another side effect of being a Legilimens is that from time to time people think she's a creep, who stalks a person she has just met once and already knew everything about their life. In reality, it is just harder for her to forget a person she has just read about their oftentimes intense thoughts, or to forget in general.

Luckily, Fred was rather delighted by her good memory.

"Oh, yes. It was a good game, isn't it?"

Ria could tell polite small talk is not really Fred

Weasley's thing. He seemed to forget they were also in the same wagon on the way to Hogwarts, but Ria didn't plan on reminding him.

"You want to know how I did the trick." Ria helped him out.

"Yes, actually."

"It's an ancient technique. Many Asian cultures believe that magic is all about manipulation. Manipulate the energy exchange between objects, manipulating certain objects in specific ways. To be able to drive a figurine, one actually needs to pay the equivalent of price in return, for it's all about balance."

"Price?" George weighed in.

"Yeah. See the dot here, it was my blood." Ria opened her hand and the tiny figurine jumped out of Fred's pocket. On the center of his head there is a tiny dark red dot.

"I have to do so to build a connection with it, and it takes a small price for simple motions, but a lot in return for serious tasks."

Fred and George were originally interested in learning her technique as a part of their product invention for the shop, imaging having a tiny figurine help you pick locks, or clean the desks, or mimicking a certain person that you would like. They swallowed their words when hearing about Ria's explanation.

They think it's too dark. That thought made Ria chuckle.

What is dark? The Westerners think involving blood sacrifice makes it a shady business. However, only one's intention behind the tricks define its true nature. There have been people using their power, even themselves as a sacrifice to the Dragon King, so he would grant some rainfall and save crops from drought and the civilians from starvation during trying times. There have also been powerful sorcerers using their power to drive dead corpses or dark spirits, some of them even kill to have an army composed of painless, senseless bodies. Nevertheless, they all have to pay their prices in the end, and many of them died from power exhaustion as well as push backs from their puppets.

"You can keep it if you want. You know, help you carry a quill of something." She put the figurine back in Fred's hand and left to hand in Professor Plank her diagram.

She was worried that she scared the twins with her dark, bloody practice, but was reassured when they rushed towards her bragging about their newly brewed aging potion. She had to admit, even though they seem like they have never paid any attention to any classes, let alone Snape's "devilish preach in his dungeon" according to their thoughts, the twins are quite gifted at making things and experimenting. Too bad it's not going to work.

"It's not going to work." Someone said her thought out loud. It was Granger, the girl who was also there at the night of the Quidditch game. She's right, the Goblet of Fire has its own spirit, something as the aging potion will probably instigate punishment for cheating.

Ria kept walking, she did not wish to be in the middle of the crowd when that happened. As she made a left turn on her way back to the commons, she heard people laughing, cheering, and George and Fred cursing.

MUST...GET POTTER...MUST GET HARRY POTTER.

She started hearing someone's extremely loud thoughts again. Ria knew one of the reasons Dumbledore wanted her here, despite he has never said it, nor will he ever, is to protect the chosen one. Being able to detect other people's thoughts could be quite useful when anticipating the enemies' move, if you ask any Legilimens in history who have been kidnapped to be other' spies. Ria does not like the idea of poking around other people's head, but she does want to believe Harry Potter as the chosen one, after all...

She shook her head, trying to stop herself from thinking about the past. She needed to follow that thought. It sounded so familiar she must have heard it from somewhere. She could hear it so clearly so it must have been around.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Moody's office, then her heart sank.

MUST BE HIM , NEED HIM TO---

The thoughts are getting quieter, Moody is contemplating. Get him to do what? Ria is confused, Moody should be protecting Harry as well, shouldn't he? But he felt weird, something about him is not right...Ria thought, before she realized, she was leaning against the wall, sticking one ear against the door, trying to see if she could hear more.

"Miss Lectus."

Ria gasped as the door popped open with a creaky sound, Moody was looking at her with both eyes. His magic eyes, of course he had seen her outside his office being all kinds of suspicious.

"May I help you?" He sounded different, his voice was almost pleasant. He's enjoying her fear.

"Hmm...Yes, actually, I was wondering if...I was having some questions about the spell you used in class the other day."

"Oh, which one?"

Ria is searching her brain trying to come up with something to ask about, "Imperios, sir. I had some questions about it."

"Lovely. Why don't you come in then."

Moody's office is filled with magic detection kits, hidden weapons, and many other stuff that Ria couldn't recognize..

"I was wondering if there are any effective ways to resist Imperios." She was able to regain her composure after sitting down.

"Very good question, Miss Lectus. Very good indeed. As I have said in class, many people have claimed to be the victim of the imperio spell, but if you ask me, only a few are truly credible."

"And why is that?"

"Imperio is a powerful spell, meaning at the same time, it requires the performer to be even more powerful. To be in control, and to maintain control, one must also dedicate an immense amount of effort, which frankly, many of the alleged victims are not quite..worthy of it." He licked his lips while whispering out his last sentence, "they are just cowards trying to avoid punishment."

Ria didn't quite know what to say.

Moody seemed satisfied with her reaction, "That being said, going back to your question. A person could resist Imperio, if they have a strong mind. A mind that can endure seduction, a mind that can resist coercion, a mind that can tell others apart and maintain its own ground, all the time. But unfortunately, not many people have that."

Ria nodded, "I see. Thank you Professor Moody. That was, truly informative. I should probably go and let you back to your night. My apologies for the unexpected visit."

"My pleasure, Miss Lectus." He shut the door behind, but she still felt his eyes staring at her, piercing through the door.