#legilimency

i think it makes sense for two kinds of legilimency—one where a wizard or witch is born with it, and the other learned. this is just my interpretation and theory, it is not necessarily canon.

For @drarrymicrofic - Prompt: Spell - 1115 words

Anything over 1k should not be considered a microfic. This is ridiculous. I know! But I got carried away. Sorry!

“Legilimens,” Harry whispers for what must be the tenth time today.

Draco stiffens, jaw clenched. There’s a hard stone the size of England sitting in the pit of his stomach, a stone he’d very much like to extract and fling right at Robards’s stupid head.

It would be entirely deserved and not the least bit excessive, Draco thinks.

After all, that’s all the prick deserves for deciding on a whim that all Auror partners should learn the art of bloody Legilimency, with daily training sessions on top of that.

Robards dropped the horrific news at the weekly department meeting three weeks ago: “Being able to  maintain a mental connection with your partner on the field can be extremely valuable. You need to learn to link your minds. It’s a skill every auror is expected to master. It could literally save your life.”

Draco thinks he’d rather died, if he had the choice. That would be a far better option than letting Potter wander free in his mind, with full access to ... well, everything.

If Draco were normal about Potter, he reckons he’d be fine with the whole Legilimency thing—not thrilled, but okay ... fine.

If he had a normal crush, he could probably gather all his inconvenient feelings and shove them into some dark corner of his mind, lock them behind a door, or burry them in a bloody drawer or something—surely there was a place like that where you could dump all the things you’d rather die than have discovered, such as your extremely powerful and unrequited crush on your Auror partner for example.  

But here is the thing:  Draco Malfoy is not normal about Harry Potter, nor are his feelings, and if Potter were to step foot in Draco’s mind, he’d be hit by the enormity of it. No drawers would ever be big enough. Potter would be horrified, and Draco would die of mortification.

“Try to relax this time,” Harry says stupidly.

“I’m relaxed,” Draco replies, fingers tightening around the armrest of his chair.

Harry shoots him an unconvinced look, then voice softer, “Okay ... I’m going in.”

Draco braces himself then feels Harry pushing softly at the edge of his thoughts. It’s warm and lovely and Draco hates it. He stiffens and does what he needs to do to protect his heart.

“Malfoy!” Harry sighs, irritated.

“What?” Draco says innocently, pretending he has no clue what Harry is about to say.

“Your walls! They’re up again. Put them down.”

“They’re not up.”

“They are! I can’t get through your mind and make the connection if your walls are up.”

Draco feels Harry pushing harder, trying to force his way in. Draco resists, pushes back, but the bloody wanker is powerful, Draco knows he only has so much time before his walls inevitably start to crumble. He can already feel the cracks.

“Jesus, Malfoy, you’ve built a bloody fortress in there. What the hell?”

Draco rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “Have you considered you can’t manage to get through because you’re pants at Legilimency and not because of my non-existent walls?”

Harry gives him a pointed look. He shifts his grip on his wand, then says, eyes looking away, ”It worked with Justin.”

Draco’s stomach lurches. “You practiced with Justin?”

Harry has at least the decency to look slightly guilty. “Well, I had to know if I was the problem." He rubs the back of his neck. “Justin suggested it when I told him we were struggling.”

Of course he did. That sneaky little fucker. Of course that rate-face, slimy piece of shit was going to jump at the opportunity to prove he’ be a better partner than Draco. Of fucking course. Draco can’t stand him. He fucking can’t stan--

“You’re mad,” Harry says, surprised.

“What?”

“You’re mad. I can feel it,” Harry  says.

Draco’s blood suddenly runs cold because if Harry can feel it, that only means one thing: he’s managed to get through, though Draco has no clue how, his walls, though shaky, definitely still hold.

Unless … Fuck! The bloody cracks. His anger must have slipped through them.     

“Actually, that’s not quite it.” Harry frowns in concentration while Draco desperately tries to locate the cracks so he can seal them before the whole thing collapses and all hell breaks loose. “You...” Harry’s eyes widened. “You’re jealous.”

Draco coughs, splutters, he almost chokes.

“Jealous? Of rate-face Justin?” He squeaks. “Why the fuck would I be jealous?”

Harry’s lip twitches, one smug eyebrow raised as if to say, You tell me.

“I don’t give a rat’s arse who you practice with, Potter. If you want to waste your time poking around Justin’s stupid head, be my guest. Though, I don’t know what you could possibly find in there, it’s probably just a big fucking empty hole, the guy’s got exactly one braincell,” he taunts.

Harry huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “Right.”

“Actually, come to think of it, you should ask Robards for a change of partner. You’d make a cracking team.” Draco aims for biting but his voice comes out thin, and vulnerable.

Harry hums. His eyes soften, and Draco, horrified, feels the cracks getting deeper and deeper.

“And why would I do that?” Harry says, shooting him one of his infuriating lopsided smile, the one Draco can’t resist, the one that sends his heart bloody racing.  

Draco’s walls tremble. They fucking shake.

Then, softer. “Why would I? When I have you.”

With a deafening sound, the cracks split open.

Draco freezes, heartbeat hammering in his ears, he tries to stop the disaster, but it’s too late. Hopeless. The wall shatters into a million pieces, and suddenly, everything is flooded.  

Harry gasps.

Draco holds his breath, mortified. He stares at the floor, hands shaking. That’s it. His life is over. He will have to resign, go into exile somewhere far way... like Siberia.

“Draco,” Harry whispers as he picks Draco’s wand off the desk beside them and holds it out to him. “Cast the spell on me.”

“What?” Draco croaks.

“Legilimens. Cast it on me.”

Draco looks up, heart pounding. He has no idea what Harry’s on about, but complies anyway. He grabs his wand, points it at Harry’s head, then whispers, voice trembling. “Legilimens.”

In an instant, he’s in Harry’s mind. There’s no walls. Everything is warm and lovely and inviting and ...

Oh.

Draco’s heart stops.  

Oh.

Harry bites his lip, smiling shily at Draco from under his fringe.

“You,” Draco stutters. “You...”

“Yes,” Harry says, his smile huge as he rises, catches Draco by the shirt, and kisses him.

Draco closes his eyes, kisses him back.

Aphantasia being a limited or non-existent visual memory.

New Fic!

So I've been working on a story about teenage Severus. I thought it might be around 5 chapters. I'm currently writing Chapter 22... 🫣

I wanted to try writing from second person POV. (It's not meant to be a reader insert.) And I just wanted to give Sev some nice memories... and maaaaaybe slag off James Potter as much as possible. 🙃

It will also be my first smut-free story... (⚆_⚆)

I *think* it will be called Us and Them. (Like the Pink Floyd song.) No idea when lil baby Sev might release me from his grip, so here's a wee excerpt from Chapter 21. It's a lovely, lazy spring day and seventeen year-old Sev brings up Legilimency to the (female) OC for the first time.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

An advertisement in NME featuring a picture of King Kong jogs a memory.  “Hey, Dru told me that Caius Fawley once conjured up an illusionary gorilla in the Great Hall during dinner.  Were you there?”

   Sev looks up from The Shining and makes that sort of laugh that’s really just a sharp exhale.  “Yeah.  It was insane.  It really did look real.  Everyone was screaming, even most of the professors.  I thought Slughorn was going to keel over on the spot.”

Chapter 2 now on AO3! Preview below ⭐️

Wisteria found Grimmauld Place, just as Kingsley had instructed. It was a derelict square, rather grimier than she had imagined, but suitably isolated for the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. She looked between Numbers 11 and 13, then recalled the scrawled instructions on a bit of paper:

    Kingsley, your agent can find our headquarters at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Destroy after reading. –Sirius.

As she remembered this note, a new building materialized in front of her, ballooning itself out between the two neighboring units. Nervously, she entered quietly without knocking — again, as Kingsley instructed — and found herself in a dark hallway lined with candles. At the end, there were a few steps leading to a basement kitchen, which appeared to be bustling with people.

She made her way slowly down the hallway, noting the curious artifacts along the way, and paused at the drawing room on the right — it was dark, but an intricate tapestry seemed to cover an entire wall. Intrigued, Wisteria entered to get a closer look.

The tapestry — a family tree, she now saw — extended back hundreds of years, with a few singed spots where individuals and their names appeared to have been burned away. 

“Hello?”

She jumped. “You scared me.”

“Wisteria? Is that you?” His voice was quite familiar, but she hadn’t heard it in almost two weeks.

A roaring fire suddenly appeared in the fireplace, and Wisteria again gasped in surprise. Warm light filled the room, and she saw Remus Lupin looking at her, his wand still pointed at the grate.

“I thought so,” he said with a smile, pocketing his wand.

“Hello, Remus,” she said warmly.

He crossed the room and then seemed unsure what to do — he offered his hand, which she shook. Wisteria thought of the last time she had seen him, when he had kissed her cheek. The thought made her blush, and she was glad the room wasn’t so well lit that he could see.

“I’m glad to see you,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I would.”

“Well, Kingsley let us know we would be joined by an agent of his for this meeting, and so I made a point to be here,” he explained.

Wisteria nodded. “Yes, with all the changes at the Ministry the past month, he thought it would be best to introduce me to the rest of the Order, given — well, given the possibility that we might encounter each other.”

“In case one of us tries to wipe the other’s memory,” he said lightly. Wisteria laughed. He continued, “The more I think about it, Wisteria… the more embarrassed I am by my behavior.”

“I would expect nothing less from a member of the Order of the Phoenix,” she said.

He touched her arm and said, in a low voice, “I’ve been reliving that night, and I —”

“Ahem.”

A dark-haired man in black robes stood at the doorway to the drawing room. His arms were folded impatiently.

“I hate to interrupt,” he said, eyeing Remus’s hand on Wisteria’s arm, “but we’re waiting.”

“Thank you, Severus,” Remus replied. “Be there in a moment.” He waited for Severus to leave, but he stood expectantly. “Could we talk?” Remus whispered to Wisteria. “Later?”

She nodded, but — eager to make a good impression — she made her way to Severus.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Wisteria.”

“Severus Snape.”

Anyone?

Edit: Thanks!

Which like- yes absolutely. But also it's ALWAYS painful or unpleasent for the person tom is using. I just think tom could easily make it better for them so they'd be more inclined to let him do it again in the future.

Picture me this: Abraxis Malfoy, struggling to clearly communicate something important bc he's panicked.

At this point Tom has him under his thumb, and decides to try something. He calls to Abraxis all carefully crafted soft charm and care so as not to spook him- "let me make this easier for you?" And abraxis is all panicked like "how?!?? You need to know!!!" And tom sits him down. Like he's a dog.

"Im going to look at your memories- i promise it won't hurt, okay?" And abraxis is still panicking so his eyes are going all over the place and he's really twitchy but he still lets his head be guided by the chin in a way that forces him to look into tom's eyes.

And then tom's in his mind, pulling occlumency barriers into ABRAXIS'S mind- fully helping abraxis rationalize himself down from his panic and looking over the memory with a clearer mind.

He softly lets down the occlumency barriers, and gently releases abraxis's mind, then starts to ground him back to his body with a hand on the back of his neck, thumb stroking his pulse.

Abraxis comes back with a clearer mind than he's had all month & feeling completely safe and protected.

Like damn, thats one way to inspire loyalty. A special bit of attention ONCE, then every once and a while meeting abraxis's eyes and tugging on his occlumency sheilds to make him calmer. That's a high abraxis will be chasing for LIFE lemme tell you.