In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 28: A night to remember for a lifetime

"The very essence of Occlumency is actually the combination of 'Will' linking with magic to build a wall in one's mind. This wall can block entry and prying through magic, and those who excel can even construct false memories on the outside of the wall as a way to confuse the memory stealer, with no way to tell if the memories they see are real or not."

While explaining to Jon, Slughorn didn't forget to grab a piece of Crystallised Pineapple from a cardboard box and pop it into his mouth.

"The Occlumency magic has mostly been learned in two ways, one is a simple and brutal method of forcing one's way into the learner's mind and making him constantly remember the feeling of being broken into, and his body will subconsciously resist and his 'will' will actively mobilise his magic, this is the most primitive way of learning the Occlumency. But I don't like this, it's just too crude, and it's not exactly healthy for a wizard to snoop into another's memory too often."

As he said this, he laid his eyes on the stone basin on his desk.

"So I will be teaching using the second method, which is less crude and much more flexible in comparison. I borrowed this magical item from Dumbledore, I actually owned one before, I just forgot where I left it later on during a relocation. Foolishly, I actually kept the memories of where I hid things, in that same magical item of mine, for safekeeping, but without finding the Pensieve I couldn't get the memories, and without getting the memories I couldn't find the Pensieve."

Slughorn chuckled with a self-deprecating shrug.

"I would never be able to find that Pensieve again, good thing Dumbledore's Pensieve was taken out from that castle with him, or I wouldn't know how to start teaching you. Pensieve is a magical item that is used to store thoughts and memories, and to recreate memories so that they become re-liveable."

Jon asked in confusion as he looked at the stone basin with an empty interior.

"So how would we begin? Teacher."

Slughorn cleaned the icing that had stained his hands from the snack he had eaten while holding his wand.

"Now you are going to recall a memory in your own mind, any memory will do, and I will extract the memory that you are thinking about."

Jon took a series of deep breaths as he began to go through his thoughts to find a memorable scene that was fresh in his mind.

"Are you ready?" Slughorn asked.

"Ready, teacher."

He pointed the tip of his wand at Jon's temple, and then the next instant, some kind of silk thread had attached itself to the tip of the wand, Slughorn twirled his wand and pulled a bright silver thread out of Jon's mind!

The sensation Jon felt now was strange, he could clearly perceive a force pulling his memories away from him, it was not a good experience and his body instinctively resisted the act.

Although his body did not move, the feeling of resistance in his mind was very strong, it was like some robber had snatched something from your hands right in front of your eyes, and your first reaction to it would be to get your stuff back.

At the same time that Jon had this reaction, the silver thread that had been pulled out of his head was suddenly halted as if it had taken root in his head, and the movement became difficult and slow.

But in the end, the wand still pulled the silver thread out in one whole piece.

Slughorn stored the piece of memory he had extracted from Jon's mind into the Pensieve, and he smiled at Jon who was a little lost in thought at the moment as if he was recalling the feeling he had just felt.

"Did you not like that feeling and instinctively wanted to resist it?"

Jon nodded as he frowned.

"My mind wants to disrupt that sensation uncontrollably and... It's almost as if it was acting on its own?"

"Not as if." Slughorn said approvingly, "Your body's instinct to defend itself was very strong, it made a spontaneous resistance of its own volition indeed, and that resistance had some effect."

"That's a very good start, Jon, the Occlumency was created in the beginning after someone registered the feeling of constantly having their memories forcibly read, which reinforced their natural instincts and eventually evolved into magic. Some people are naturally not exactly sensitive to this act of reading memories, and such people would have an exceptionally difficult time learning Occlumency, and you clearly fall into the opposite category."

Slughorn showed his delight.

"This is a perfectly good thing, and it shows that we would probably make good progress after this." With that, he looked at the bright silver, mist-like mass of memories in the Pensieve and asked Jon, "Is this memory something that can be viewed by others?"

Jon, of course, had no reason to refuse, and he entered into the memory that had been extracted from his own mind with Slughorn.

***

The sea was calm under the night sky like a sleeping baby lying in its mother's arms.

On both sides of the long table filled with delicious food and delicacies, students and professors alike rose to their feet, and a melodious chorus followed, led by the bearded old man who sang the opening notes of the school song.

Jon stood on the beach and watched in silence as his own self from three weeks ago was infected by the atmosphere at the dinner table and joined in the chorus.

Slughorn, standing beside him, suddenly sat down on the beach, also looking at the entire student body and faculty of this little Hogwarts with a serene expression.

"What do you remember most about this night?"

Hearing his question, Jon followed suit and crouched down, grabbing a handful of sand from the ground, this memory slipping through his fingers as the sand slipped away, while his gaze remained fixed on the students and faculty who sang with joy and sadness.

"This is perhaps the most memorable day of my life, teacher."

Slughorn rested his left hand on the back of his right, placing his arm on his knee as he raised his head to look up at the sparkling night sky.

"I'm with you on this one Jon, I'll never forget the night when Dumbledore first brought me to this Hogwarts before I even agreed to become a professor here, that sly old man begged me to come without having to give him any exact answers, he said all I had to do was follow him around to see and attend the orientation dinner that year once. "

"That day was just like the night you experienced, a night filled with despair and the last bit of hope that one couldn't even bear to look at, and that's how I was pulled by him to sit down at the table, surrounded by students happily asking me if I am the new professor, and they said that they have way too few professors in the school and were really grateful that I was actually willing to come and teach them. I was actually thinking in my mind at that moment that this was probably scripted by Dumbledore to keep me in the company on purpose, but I just couldn't help but feel a sourness in my nose."

"When that dinner was over, Dumbledore took me by the arm and stood up without any prior notice and announced to the dozens of children that I am the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts and the History of Magic, I was pissed off, thinking that I must scold him loudly on the spot, ruin his image, and then turn around and walk away. But in the end, all I could say was 'Hello children, I am your Professor Slughorn.'"

His voice was soft, yet filled with an immense weight of emotion.

"After those words were said, I thought I would regret it, but what my mind actually thought at the time was that it would be nice to just agree to stay and be a professor."

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