Professor Hawtorne and Professor Brooding
September 02, 2018 11:21 AM
Advanced Students - Let's See Into Your Minds
by Professor Hawtorne and Professor Brooding
Co-written With: Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Tabitha liked her Advanced classes. They were the most interesting for her to teach as she got to delve further into the trickier side of magic which tended to rely more on one’s soul, their emotions and their thoughts, rather than just the correct wand movement or the pronunciation of a spell. Both were important, of course, but there was something truly extraordinary about what a wizard or witch could do when their feelings came into play. Today was of no exception. Having dropped the bombshell of Cleo James being a half-veela the week before, Tabitha had been thinking about magic that involved the mind. Veela enchantments worked by playing on the mind of a victim and one way that could be prevented was developing a good mental defence, protecting it from outside sources. There was, of course, a spell that allowed for this, known as Occlumency. She had suspicions that Veela magic was simply an advanced or a variation on Legilimency, which was something else she was going to teach her students about.
She supposed that it was a bit risky, teaching a bunch of hormonal teenagers how to essentially read each other’s minds. On the other hand, becoming a Legilimens was something that took a lot of work, especially to reach the point where they didn’t require a wand or spell incantation so she doubted that the sixth and seventh years would go around poking into each other’s heads. Also, she hoped that they all had more respect for each other than that. There was only one way to find out.
The lesson that she’d planned was half theory, half practical. She wanted them to first understand the mind and while it was a powerful thing, it was also fragile. Walking through somebody else’s mind was a dangerous business as one foot wrong could destabilise the delicate framework of the brain and send it into a jumbled chaotic mess of memories, feelings and thoughts and essentially send someone insane. It was for this reason that Tabitha was absolutely not going to let the students perform Legilimency on each other and instead, have them focus more on performing Occlumency and building mental barriers - after all, it would be Occlumency that would serve them better in the long run, as extra protection against Cleo’s magic, however accidental it may be.
The practical side of it involved the demonstration that she was going to give. This had been a trickier thing to organise as she doubted many, if any, of the teachers wanted the Defence professor to run rampant through their minds and she did not feel comfortable doing so. It was with these thoughts that she had made the decision to play the part of an Occlumens. She had to admit that she was better at it than being a Legilimens as there were a number of beasts who could perform Legilimency - unicorns, for one. She also remembered that the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, that had declared her a Gryffindor all those years ago, used Legilimency to see into a student’s mind in order to see their character and place them in the right house. As a result of this, she was able to shield her mind rather well and, in order to hide her more private memories, she could push other unimportant ones to the front.
This presented a new and different problem. To let someone into her mind would need a boatload of trust and then some. While she had no problems with any of the teachers at Sonora and was pretty sure that none of them had malicious tendencies or were closet murderers, she knew that there was really only one teacher that she trusted to perform Legilimency on her and that was, of course, none other than Professor Mary Brooding. It was rather lucky that the Potions mistress was not teaching at the same time and Tabitha had thanked her repeatedly for doing something that she was sure Mary wasn’t particularly keen on doing in the first place.
Mary hated the idea. She was particularly embarrassed that she was a skilled Legilimens but a lousy Occlumens, meaning she couldn't even politely offer to switch places with Tabitha. She trusted that Tabitha would not let her into her mind, which was good since Mary didn't want in, but she was a bit concerned about what it meant that she could do one and not the other. What if she could get into Tabitha's mind? What if the effort sent them both insane? There were risks but Mary knew Tabitha was determined and preferred to be involved than watching helplessly for the consequences.
She wore violet that day, a dark rich purple that made her feel dangerous. It was important to want to succeed with Legilimency and she supposed she should look the part when the motivation didn't find itself in her crazy emotions. It was more fitted than usual, sans either ruffles or petticoat, but still not as fitted as might be considered immodest or even out of character. It had a stiff high collar and sleeves that came to a neat pointed trim just past her elbows. It was made for dueling but Mary had never used it for that purpose. She had simply found it easier to extract various potions ingredients when sleeves weren't a concern. She supposed that this class would be its maiden voyage so to speak, just as much as it would be her own.
Mary did her best to be prepared for these things, though, and for her, that meant potions. She arrived to the Defense classroom well-stocked, a suitcase full of Draughts of Peace, Pepperups, and more basic things like fainting salts and sleeping potions. She’d also been running through a list of possibly helpful spells, like obliviate, and been preparing the potions necessary to have a functioning pensieve in her office in case Tabitha wanted to send any of her more distressed students someplace to work through their memories more actively.
“I’m here!” Mary announced, smiling at Tabitha as she walked in. “How are you today, Professor Hawthorne?” And she kissed her, enjoying the stolen intimacy before a busy day of classes.
Tabitha looked up as she heard Mary walk in and automatically smiled, feeling better about her lesson already. She knew that the Potions professor more than likely had her worries and concerns but Tabitha trusted her completely and knew that they would both be fine. Especially after the greeting with a kiss. She hoped she’d get that every day.
“I’m very well, Professor Brooding,” she replied, clearing a space on her desk for Mary’s case of potions. “And yourself? I trust you slept well?”
Mary breathed a sigh of relief that Tabitha had played along with her joking formalities and seemed willing to maintain the professional facade into the class.
“I did,” Mary said. “Very well. I had a lovely book of adventures to keep me company, written by someone very dear to me.” She set her case down on the desk, smiling silent gratitude at Tabitha. “Let me know what to do. I shall stay out of your way and out of your ear as much as possible so you can focus.”
“I wonder who that could possibly be?” Tabitha pretended to think about the author of the ‘book of adventures’ though her smirk gave away that she knew exactly who Mary was talking about (Tabitha herself, of course). “Well, it’s pretty simple. I’m going to do a small lecture on the mind first, then about Legilimency and Occlumency. Then, we’ll do our demonstration. Once that’s done, I’m going to perform Legilimency on the students - lightly, of course, I don’t want to hurt them - which is where your wonderful potions will come in. I imagine that at least one of them is going to be shaken up by the experience. Feel free to take my desk chair, if you’d like to sit. I much prefer standing.”
Mary let out a gust of air as quietly as possible, thanking whatever stars made sure she wouldn’t have to perform Legilimency herself on the students. She nodded, accepting her role.
“Normally I’d prefer to stand,” she agreed, “but I think your desk isn’t quite as high as a potions stand so I’ll sit.” She wondered if she was stepping over the nurse’s role on campus but thought that the woman would probably prefer not to be terribly involved in academic affairs.
Mary threw a look of unashamed adoration at Tabitha before taking a seat, and quickly wiped the look as the first of the advanced level students entered the room. She always felt small around these children because at least half were taller than she was. Still, sitting made that less noticeable.
Tabitha shot one last smile at Mary before she assumed her role of Defence professor. Her back straightened and she pushed the sleeves of her forest green buttoned shirt up to her elbows as she surveyed the students who were coming in and taking their seats, then getting out the materials that they’d need for the lesson. She took a deep breath before she snapped into the role that was quickly becoming more and more natural to her as the days went by.
“Good morning, class!” Tabitha called out, once they were all seated. “I would like to stress the importance of today’s lesson. I need your full attention and concentration. The magic I will be teaching you today, with the assistance of Professor Brooding,” she gestured to Mary behind her, “is not only advanced but also very dangerous. You are not permitted to use it outside of this classroom, without the supervision of a teacher. I hope that I have made myself clear.”
She paused for a moment, looking across the class and letting her words sink in. She did not like being the strict teacher, having to impose restrictions on them but something as powerful as mind magic was not to be trifled with so it needed to be said.
Behind her, Mary stifled a cheer, excited to see Tabitha’s teaching in action. She’d known the woman would do well but seeing her passion come alive in her words and in her precautions was thrilling. Mary was careful not to move a muscle besides a polite smile at her introduction; she definitely did not want to draw attention to herself and thus away from Tabitha.
“Please put away your wands. You will not be needing them,” Tabitha added as a final thought before turning to the chalkboard and, as usual, picked up the chalk she was to write with. “The magic you are learning about today is magic of the mind, specifically Legilimency and Occlumency. Before I go into further detail about those, you must first understand the mind itself. Can anyone tell me exactly what I mean when I say ‘the mind’?”
A few hands went up and she nodded when she got the right answer. “Yes, wonderful. The mind, in a nutshell, is the part of a person - muggle or wizard - that allows them to be aware of the world around them. It allows them to react to their surroundings, to think, to feel. It is where our memories are stored, where all the ideas - good or bad - are generated, where your conscience lives.”
“You might be thinking, ‘well, my brain does all of that’ but you’d be wrong. Your brain and your mind are not the same thing. Your brain is a physical organ, it tells your body what to do and is also a part of your body. Your mind, on the other hand, has no physical presence - it is a separate entity. The evidence for this is like when your body is relaxed, like maybe when you’re lying in bed at night, but your mind is darting around all over the place as you’re still thinking, feeling or perhaps your mind is getting ready to produce dreams - hopefully nice ones!”
She paused to set down her chalk and moved back to around the middle of the front of the room, sending a discreet smile to Mary (Mary did not think it was discreet at all and only barely managed to stifle a blush by pretending to examine a nearby bottle of sleeping potion) before she turned back to the class to continue talking. “So, the mind is very powerful. However, it is also very fragile. You can’t just run rampant through it or you’ll cause damage which can potentially be irreversible - I’m sure you’ll have learned about Obliviate in Charms. Cast it wrong and you can erase someone’s entire mind. So, the greatest care has to be taken to avoid such catastrophes.”
“Which brings me to the magic in today’s lesson - Legilimency and Occlumency,” she enunciated them clearly and gestured to their spellings on the chalkboard. “Legilimency allows the spell caster to enter into somebody else’s mind, navigate the many layers that there are, see their memories, extract information. It is easier to perform the spell when your intended target is relaxed, within close proximity to you and you can maintain direct eye contact with them - the eyes are not the windows to your mind, but rather the doors. Legilimency, at its core, is all about sorting truth from lies, fact from fiction, sincerity from disingenuity.”
She moved back to the chalkboard and wrote the key elements needed to cast Legilimency well on the board. As she did this, she continued talking, “To enter somebody else’s mind, to walk among the memories that are stored there, is a privilege, not a right. Of course, it has been known that Dark Wizards or Witches have forced their way in, to try and extract whatever information they feel they need. This is often painful and can result in insanity. Legilimency should not be used repeatedly on the same mind as you can cause the mind to shatter, very much like glass and cause irreversible damage.”
“So, how can you defend against a Legilimens? Well, there is a method of defence against and unwanted breach into your mind known as Occlumency. There is no spell for this, nor do you need the use of your wand. Occlumency is, in very basic terms, the magical defence of the mind against external forces - a bit like the Shield Charm but exclusively for your mind. To be able to execute a good Occlumency barrier requires concentration. You have to keep your mind clear, your emotions under control. You have to be in complete command of your mind and not let it run wild. By being able to do this, you can do a number of things - block a Legilimens out completely though, if you’re dealing with a Dark Wizard, this could arouse suspicion. My personal preferred method is to simply push less important memories to the forefront of my mind, hiding the others underneath. I picture the inside of my mind like a hallway with many doors, some locked, some not. Those that are locked, the memories inside cannot be accessed. Occlumency is extraordinarily useful not only in resisting the power of a Legilimens but also the effects of Veritaserum and the Imperius Curse. There are other ways in addition to Occlumency that you can repel a Legilimens. If you are able to concentrate enough under such a duress, you can use physical magic cast from a wand to defend yourself and it is also possible that magic can be produced accidentally in times of desperation.”
She wrote bullet points on the board as she talked before setting down her chalk and moving back to the centre of the room. She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled gently. She needed to be reassuring for this next part.
“I have invited Professor Brooding into our lesson today to help me with a demonstration. She is an accomplished Legilimens, with excellent technique and wand movement. She will be trying to access my mind, my thoughts and my memories while I shall try to rebuff her. After this, I will be coming around the classroom and performing Legilimency on you.”
A few murmurs started up at this, some of the students clearly worried about what Tabitha could find in their minds. She quickly cut them off.
“You have no need to panic. I will not be forcing my way in so deeply. I will merely skim the very surface of your mind so all I should find there are your basic thoughts, hopefully about this lesson. I simply want you to get an idea of what Legilimency feels like. It will not hurt, you have my word but it might feel a bit weird and possibly slightly sickening. Professor Brooding has kindly prepared and brought many bottles of various calming draughts for any student who feels they need one. She will be available to pass them out to you, and will be keeping an eye out for any signs of problems.”
With that, she turned to face Mary and gestured to the available space at the front of the classroom. Once Mary was in position, Tabitha took the chair Mary had been sitting on and moved it to in front of the desk and sat down. She could’ve done it standing but it was just a precaution in case she had a bit of a funny turn during the demonstration.
Mary took a deep breath and did her best to feel powerful. She was sure nothing would go wrong; there was no more ideal a situation to participate in Occlumency or Legilimency than with two people who were prepared, expecting it, and not actually wanting to hurt each other. Mary kept this in mind as she stood, pushing her cascades of black hair-- finally left out of its normal braid and instead cinched in a number of silver ribbons-- over her shoulder. She stood opposite Tabitha and locked eyes with the professor. For a moment, she wondered what sort of feelings her face would betray, but she was pretty sure the level of concentration required for Legilimency would keep her looking focused.
“Are you ready?” Mary asked. In a classroom full of students holding their breath, Mary’s low voice seemed very loud. And then, clearing her thoughts and imagining her magic becoming a scalpel or a claw, or some other instrument of penetration, she spoke: “Legilimens.”
Her sight disappeared as Tabitha’s mind filled her vision. The floor beneath her feet, the wand in her hand, the sweat beading on her forehead, and Tabitha. Just Tabitha.
The view from outside the minds of the two teachers was vastly different to what was going on within. In fact, it seemed normal - well, not really. Beads of sweat were gathering on the foreheads of both women, though more seemed to be pouring from Tabitha’s brow, the effort of trying to force Mary out of her mind clearly taking more of a toll. Her features occasionally drew together when she winced, old memories being brought to the surface by Mary’s exploration - it wasn’t truly painful, more like the pain of a stiff limb that was being moved after not doing so for long time. The end of Mary’s wand still glowed with the Legilimens spell, indicating that it was an ongoing effort to maintain.
Suddenly, Tabitha let out a sharp gasp as she managed to overpower Mary’s Legilimency, throwing her successfully from her mind and returning with an abrupt jerk to her classroom and reality. She did feel somewhat queasy, having not had Legilimency performed on her for quite some time. However, she took a moment to gather herself and wipe away the sweat, then she was completely focused on her students. She hoped that she hadn’t freaked them out too much. Watching a demonstration of Legilimency could be uncomfortable and she felt that she just reassure them before she went ahead and started poking around in their minds - though not nearly as deeply as Mary had. On the other hand, they were Advanced students and this was the type of thing that they themselves may one day need to deal with. Her eyes met Mary’s, wanting to make sure that she was okay.
Mary acknowledged the look with a quiet nod, her mouth set too gravely to be a smile but certainly nothing unfriendly, either. She had a deep respect for the Defense professor and too much to think about right now so she put it aside. She managed to blink and clear her thoughts.
“Professor Hawthorne is indeed a skilled Occlumens,” Mary said, standing up straighter and addressing the students with a comforting smile. “No one has managed to throw me out before.” Her eyes flicked back to Tabitha’s as this comment sunk in. Her skills certainly lay primarily in potions, but it wasn’t her only ability. Her willingness to chase a Wampus cat with the woman was surely less surprising now. “I couldn’t want a better teacher for any of you,” she finished to the students, and then turned away to allow Tabitha to continue her lecture and herself time to collect the potions she suspected she’d most likely need first.
“Okay, class…” Tabitha began, standing up from her chair. The room seemed to spin slightly and she was perhaps slightly unsteady on her feet but was otherwise fine. “As you saw, Legilimency isn’t a short charm. It’s an ongoing effort, something that has to be maintained. It’s hard to do and takes incredible concentration so thank you to Professor Brooding for doing that for me. I know it’s not easy.”
She took a pause for a moment as the sickly feeling returned. It seemed to ebb and flow so Tabitha took a deep breath to sort herself out. “As for Occlumency, I know there wasn’t much to see. It’s very much dependent on what works for you. I want to reassure you that I wasn’t in pain but Legilimency can cause old and forgotten memories to resurface which can feel very odd. I will be coming round but I want you to remember not to panic - I will not be entering as deeply into your minds as Professor Brooding. Find out what kind of defence works for you - maybe a solid brick wall for me to run into will work or pushing an unimportant memory in front of the one that means something. Should you produce some accidental magic to repel me, don’t worry. I am not easily hurt and Professor Brooding is here to help. I am going to take five, ten minutes to prepare with her for our circulation. In the interim and while you are waiting for your turn, I’d like you to start work on your homework which is to discover, research and write about the creatures that use Legilimency. You may begin.”
OOC: Okay! So, from here, Tabitha and Mary are both going to be coming round the room but only Tabitha will be performing Legilimency. As she’s said, it’ll only be performed on you lightly so nothing too dramatic should happen though as it’s being done for the first time, the feelings and sickness could be very present - some accidental magic could be caused if your student really doesn’t want Tabitha in their mind.. It’s up to you. If your student manages to repel Tabitha, she’ll likely say something like ‘well done’ or something equally positive with a smile before moving on. If they don’t, she’ll be reassuring. If you’re unsure about what she’d do in a particular situation, just ask. If anything major happens that requires a bigger input from Tabitha or Mary, just tag either of us. Big thank you to Mary's author for participating in writing this lesson!
Subthreads: On guard! by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw with Tabitha Hawthorne
Getting to know me by Ben Pierce, Pecari with Professor Hawthorne
For once, I'm glad I have no talent for music. by Joe Umland, Teppenpaw with Professor Hawthorne and Professor Brooding
Fighting dirty by Kyte Collindale, Pecari with Professor Hawthorne
My defences are horrendous. by Lily Spencer, Pecari with Professor Hawthorne
Do you have to? by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw
Tacos! by Tasha DuBois, Aladren
Get. Out. by Arianna Tate, Crotalus
20
Professor Hawtorne and Professor Brooding
Advanced Students - Let's See Into Your Minds
1417
Professor Hawtorne and Professor Brooding
1
6
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Arianna Tate, Crotalus
September 28, 2018 4:55 PM
Get. Out. by Arianna Tate, Crotalus
Arianna had expected her classes to get more interesting this year, to learn more advanced and important magic. However,after being subjected to Professor Wright's physics lecture, she'd been very disappointed. The spell to enlarge things was good one to know and all but she could have done without all that muggle nonsense. They had magic and so they didn't need science, thank you very much.Hopefully, Defense would be better. Arianna had kept up with this subject for two reason. The first was because of the fact that she had been the victim of an attempted kidnapping as a small child. Her mother's first cousin, Fallon had been betrothed to Father. Then he had met Mother and found her much more attractive-understandably since Fallon was excessively overweight, much bigger than Georgia Kirkly's pudge and from all accounts was even larger now-and fallen in love with her instead. They had eloped the night before Father was supposed to marry Fallon. Later, after Arianna was born, Fallon and her mother, Great Aunt Dorthea, had hired some goons to try and kidnap her in retaliation. Fortunately, the hired goons had been seriously incompetant but the whole thing had made the Crotalus realize that Defense was rather important.
The other reason was that Defense Against the Dark Arts would probably contain learning at least a little bit about learning about said Dark Arts, though not how to do them. Arianna found them rather intriguing. She wasn't planning to take over the world or anything on a large scale but to learn better tools to get what she wanted appealed to her.
In addition to Professor Hawthorne, today the new Potions professor was there. Arianna didn't take Potions so didn't have much opinion on her though she had heard around that Professor Brooding was perky and had made the Beginners cook. The sixth year had snickered a bit over her brother having to do that.
Once the lesson began, she perked up herself. Leglimency and Occlumency were right up her alley, though Arianna probably would have preferred the former. She knew Uncle Evan was an Occlumens and her second cousin once removed,Nora was a Leglimens, Nora being the reason her uncle had taken up Occlumency, he didn't want her poking around in his head. Personally, Arianna thought her cousin sounded like she could be interesting but she lived in Wales while the Crotalus lived in Jamaica and Nora wasn't especially close to Mother. There was a rather large age gap both between the two of them and between Mother and Nora's mother, Lucy.
Uncle Evan's advice for combatting Legilimens if you couldn't do Occlumency was to think of something the person performing Legilimency would find boring. Problem was, boring was in the eye of the beholder. For example, Professor Wright found physics interesting and the Crotalus did not. And of course, she had no idea what Professor Hawthorne would find dull.
Still, Arianna wasn't all that worried. She knew she had a strong mind. When Professor Brooding came by, she concentrated hard on a brick wall. She could feel the professor poking around and started wobble, realizing that she didn't like the feeling one bit. So the sixth year focused harder, on that brick wall, but now it was tinged with a strong message to for the professor to get out.
11
Arianna Tate, Crotalus
Get. Out.
353
Arianna Tate, Crotalus
0
5