Legilimency...........

........yep, she had no clue whatsoever.

She kept her eyes down towards her desk. The best way to not have to answer a question was to avoid direct eye contact. Everyone else just had to be helpful and contribute to the discussion and she'd just take notes or something.

WAIT.

Legilimency is mind-reading?!

Blue's head jerked up. Now she definitely wanted to join in with the class. The professor wasn't going to read her students' minds, right?! That had to be an invasion of privacy, right?!

But at least she knew what they were talking about and she could raise her hand. "Professor? Would the sorting hat be a legilimeny-specialist?" Or whatever they were called. "Because he like," he seemed like a he. If hats could be males. "doesn't just hear your thoughts but goes deep inside your brain to find out what house your in."

The very first hand to be raised was, of course, from the sunshine robed group. A perky way to the start of a serious topic, wasn't it? PERFECT! "Correct, Miss Bishop!" Medea nodded happily. "In general, of course. There is a bit more when it comes to legilimency than just figuring out a person's thoughts."

Apparently it was still a surprise to hear the young Gryffindor saying the words "I've read". How EXCELLENT though! "Right. Due to the nature of the spell, it is not permitted within these walls and in some parts of the world, however..." There was always the 'but' wasn't there. "It is not illegal. Restricted perhaps, and it varies from country to country. Something you can maybe read later?"

Since she was reading outside of class and all.

Laura participating was also still a surprise to her, but still as much EXCELLENT as it was to hear Alexa's hopefully growing reading habit. "Reading one's mind is a rather general way to describe legilimency, but not at all untrue. It just depends on how one interprets the phrase "mind reading". But, essentially, yes. Very good, Miss Hyde."

Oh! A bit more into the specifics! "In a way, it is, depending on what the person is actually looking for in a person's mind. Truth is often one of them. Though...there is a catch. It is not always guaranteed and holds many dangers. Unlike veritaserum, one can fool a person with their thoughts. That is why, most people prefer the use of the potion instead of the use of legilimency when it comes to uncovering the truth."

"Occlumency!" There was the word she was hoping would pop up! "Yes, yes! That'll be something we will dive into a little more in just a bit. Though now that you mention it, both skills are very difficult to learn, even more so to master. They require much patience and practice. More so than most people would be willing to put in. Very good, Miss Dixon."

oh, yes! Another important detail. "Imperfect, being the key word there, yes." She nodded slowly, smile growing just as much. "Good luck to Miss Odessa! I'm sure she'll perfect it, despite how imperfect it is, in a matter of time."

Smiling as Asher came to sit riiiight up in the front next to her, it was impossible to miss the boy, considering where he was. It made it quite easy to notice when he raised his hand. Oh dear. "I think your sister may have been messing around with you just a little bit." She spoke quietly, leaning towards the young Hufflepuff so less people would hear. Though she couldn't help but chuckle softly. "However, there are different ways one goes about using legilimency, making it either harder or easier. Part of it having to do with one's skull, but, we'll get into that in just a moment though."

How creative of a way to describe it! "True, Mister Barrington. True." One not entirely wrong either. Though for those who may not make this connection... "The images of thoughts one may see can be as fleeting as flying by a picture at top speeds, or as detailed as if just cruising by...depending on both the caster and subject, or victim I suppose you can say, of course. An excellent comparison though, Mister Barrington."

...

Oh, goodness...

Well, Professor Williamson still lived on in these walls it seemed through the mutterings of the students. How could she ever put a damper on such a marvelous rumor that she'd no doubt be writing to him about later? "Oh, dear. I had nooooo idea. I do hope none of us thought of anything cruel around him." Riiiggght? Hehe.

Ahem.

"Yes, quite right, Mister Stonewall! The use of magic, being another key detail." Medea nodded in agreement, smiling to the lad before moving on to the next student.

Chuckling quietly, Medea smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, parents have other ways in finding out the truth, Miss Edwards." Merlin knows her own parents did. Just HOW was beyond her still though. "BUT, I would like to put emphasis on something you said. Reading one's mind and seeing one's mind. Keep focus on that comparison. I'll go into greater detail in just a moment."

It was better than nothing! "You're on the right track, Miss Duvessa!"

She was going to have to straighten out this 'mind reading' business soon. "Yes, depending on how you interpret the phrase "mind reading", but essentially...yes. Excellent, Mister Kildare!"

It was those little details being mentioned that kept making Medea smile more and more. "Right. I'm sure we all realize how they came up with the name legilimens." Riiggght? Seriously, right? "And...unfortunately, yes. One of the dangers of legilimency. People can do terrible things to someone's mind if they are skilled enough in the art."

There was another little detail! "A picture book perhaps." she laughed quietly, nodding slowly. "Though, yes indeed. I would like to put emphasis on the occlumency part. The amount of access one has to your mind will vary depending on your skill level as much as theirs, but essentially yes. Occlummency will make it exceedingly difficult for one to read, or see, your mind. Excellent, Mister Montmorency."

"Right." she nodded, though may have frowned a little. Not enough to make her smile disappear completely however. "Despite the reputation of the legilimency practice, it CAN be used for the greater good of someone. Rarely though. We may go into a bit more detail on this later on in just a moment, but, think about it for a moment. See if you can figure out what I mean."

Oh, these little yet important details that kept popping up. She was proud of her students! "Correct, Mister Potter! We'll get more into this in just a moment."

"Right, Mister Summers." she nodded. "We'll get into more detail on these 'layers' in just a moment."

A nearly perfect definition of the spell. Well, the general idea at least. "Right! One can see not just a person's thoughts and memories, but their emotions as well. We'll get into just how that happens in a little bit."

Eyebrows raised at the question. "Yes." she spoke hesitantly, before quietly clearing her throat and continuing. "Yes, it is possible to influence one's thoughts. If the caster is skilled enough. Though the dangers to the subject, or victim in other words, can be drastic. Brain damage is not unheard of with this kind of magic."

She had nooooo clue what that little stumble was in the Hufflepuff's speech, but it didn't make her answer any less correct. In a way. Part of it was correct. "It's not so much as taking the memories and thoughts OUT of a person's mind as much as someone going INTO a person's mind. I'll make this a little more clearer in just a moment. Good answer though, Miss Wheatborn."

"Correct!" Medea smiled and nodded. "And when we say everything, we do mean everything."

Everyyyythiiiiing.

"Right, Miss Eventide." She nodded. "Thought it's much more than what they're thinking. Your thoughts. Your memories. Your emotions...whatever you hold inside your head, a legilimens will be able to see." If skilled enough.

How CLEVER!

Medea chuckled. "I'm guessing so! Granted, he can only do so while sitting upon your head, but...yea, I guess so." The next sorting was going to be much more amusing now the thought was in her head. "Excellent thinking, Miss Gracae!"


With that last thought in her mind now, there was no way she could take the smile off of her face. Whether large or small, it would be there. "Those are very good answers, and questions, from all of you. Basically, legilimency is the act of penetrating one's mind through magic and reading their thoughts, memories, and emotions and interpreting them. However, I would use the word "reading" lightly. It is not like reading words in a book. A more accurate term would be "seeing". Seeing their thoughts, memories, and emotions and interpreting them. Mister Barrington gave an excellent idea on what it's like. Flying on a broomstick and interpreting what you find along the way. If you can imagine that, than you're one step closer to knowing what legilimency is like."

"I believe it was Miss Somerland who mentioned that the people who practice this art are called Legilimens." Somerland. Summerland. "I'm sure we can all take a guess on just how they came up with that name. What I would like to focus on for the moment though, is just how one manages to look into someone's mind."

Taking a moment, she glanced around to the entire class before continuing. "We will not be practicing legilimency today." Just going to drop that bomb first. She would like to keep her job, thank you very much. "Theoretically though, if one were to perform legilimency on someone, how do you think they would achieve doing so? Is it all in the intent? Would they have to clear their own minds and emotions in order to gain access to the other person's? Is there a best angle on a someone's head for them to achieve this?

What do you think?"

Frown.

That ruined everything.

She wanted to learn legilimency so bad. Meh...maybe after school, which meant this year..and soon. Gulp. But then she had other plans coming up, ones she actually really needed to think about. Just not now, in class. So back to legilimency thinking then.

How would someone be capable of reading, or seeing as the Professor said, anothers mind?

Hmmm. Pout. The red head thought to herself of a good way to word her opinion about this and then eventually raised her hand. "Professor, I think one would have to be in deep concentration on the task, which means they would possibly have to clear their mind of thoughts. As for what information would be easiest to get, I think that would be the other persons weakest points? They would have to find that and maybe peel through layers to get there." Yep. So that made sense right? The Professor understood what she was trying to get across then, yep? Hopefully.

Laura thought the Professor was doing right in not allowing them to practice legilimency today, some of the students would be too young and she was really glad because she didn't want someone in her mind.

Laura looked at the Professor and then raised her hand. "Professor they would have to be in deep concentration and the person you are trying to practice on would have to be in a relaxed way so that his defences are down" Laura smiled at the Professor. "Otherwise you might have a fight going on in that person head trying to stop the person from reading their thoughts."

She wanted them to tell her how a person would perform legimency but there was one problem. As of yet, the blonde hadn't found a single book in the library that went beyond the description of the art itself, classifying it as dark and since Elise hadn't wanted to be involved with dark magic simply left it at that. However, she did read somewhere that eye-contact was very helpful to the legimens since the eyes were the window to the soul and whatnot.

"The legimens usually maintains eye-contact with his or her victim, since the eye is most vulnerable and easy to... read, in a sense." More like understand, not quite to see. Jumping jelly beans, she didn't know. That could only mean that as soon as she got back to the Common Room, she was cracking open a book from the shelf and doing some light reading on the topic and Elise's definition of light reading usually involved a lot of it.

She'd say nothing more, though. Jotting notes seemed to be the best way to go.

They weren't going to be doing legimency on anyone, well probably better that way, because there were many things that Min wouldn't like others just coming in and taking out of her head. That would be cool at all, maybe if they came in and found the ice cream thoughts and then went and got ice cream now that was more of a good reading in her book.

No how would one do this Minerva thought for a moment and then shot her hand back up, waving it excitedly wanting to be called on. "Professor, they would have to be in HUGE concentration and really be wanting to get into someones head. When using Legilimens the incantation you have to be in total focus and point wand straight at the victim. I'm not sure it matters where at the head you point though." She put her hand down smiling at the professor.

West thought about this and then stuck his hand up.

"Professor, I think aside from eye contact and concentration, and for some people actually saying the spell to actually do it, it'd be easier if you'd sort of...." He hesitated, "got under your target's skin a bit. Done something to make them more susceptible to mental invasions." Did she understand?

"Like.... taunting them. Or ... said something what preyed on their fears and insecurities. Things that make them panic or.... you know, lose the concentration needed to actually fend a mental invasion off if they actually knew you were doing it to them. My dad says some people sort of have a natural mental shield, like they've got a mental wall made up of bricks. Some are higher than others and therefore naturally are harder for the Legilimens to break through. He says if you learn Occlumency it works like mortar, filling in the gaps between the bricks, and holding your mind together so that no matter how much the Legilimens tries to break through, they just can't unless they figure out a way to be tricky and undermine your mental foundations.... like how I said about taunts or preying on their fears and emotions and whatnot." West offered his take on it and put his hand down again.

-__- SOMERLAD, woman!

She wanted to correct her, okay! But Romanos was talking and talking and smiling and it's hard to interrupt someone like that. Fiiine. She'd turn a blind eye..for the....oh she wasn't counting anymore. Now, to concentrate on the question. Oh and they weren't going to practicing legilimency. Cassia would've liked to preform it on someone but then that'd mean someone would have to practice it on her. So nope. She was going to pass.

Raising her hand, the blond spoke, "I think apart from eye contact and concentration," Which were mentioned by other students, "It perhaps would be effective if the one we're trying to invade their mind..." Not that she was going to ,"....was caught off guard without having the time to block their minds," She said. "Unless they are naturals when it comes to blocking their minds, like West explained," T'sup mate. Don't mind us making reference to your question, right? Right.

"And it probably needs a lot of practice till one excels it or succeed in preforming it in the first place," She added as an after thought.

Ehm...it had taken a few moments but the Slytherin suddenly realised that he had made a deal with Professor Williamson NOT to tell anyone his secret. But that had been during his fourth year! That was a long time ago! It just slipped! Oh how glad he was that the man wasn't in school anymore. Daichi was pretty sure that he couldn't read minds from faaaar away...

When the next question came, the Slytherin listened to it but it was like it went one ear in the other ear out. Not on purpose but his mind was just thinking too much. And when the rest of the class began to say their answers the Prefect simply stared in front of him... He REALLY wanted an ice cream right now.

Alexa was grinning. This wasn't something illegal. Yeah it wasn't permitted in Hogwarts but she wouldn't be within these walls forever, now would she? Heh. The world just suddenly seemed a lot cooler. Something she'd have to look into and more reading--MERLIN! What was she saying? But the Professor thought it was worth reading into. She gave her a nod. Mhm, she'd read more on it later, but only the interesting parts.

For now, more info on this legilimency stuff.

She sat forward in her seat, bouncing just a bit. The next question was interesting and it was something she'd need to really think about, know too, because some Professors wouldn't actually be teaching it. Hmph. Such a waste...or maybe not. This was for the best. She didn't fancy going brain dead by accidentally reading a mega!idiot's mind. No thanks.

"There definitely has to be intent and concentration for starters otherwise people can boot you out of their minds. It's possible, people have been known to resist it if they try hard enough so one trick is making sure you're trying harder than them." And why wasn't she writing down everything everyone else was saying?? "It's probably all in the 'who can play the better mind game' thing, you know? I suspect torture might help--as a distraction of course. They'd be too focused on whatever they're subjected to to really think about blocking their thoughts and secrets. I think the main aim would be to make sure they're not fighting back." Mentally. They weren't fighting back mentally. Simply binding them would take care of any physical resistance.

What would best help a Legilimen perform Legilimency? Oakey sat and thought on this for a moment. Until West spoke, that snake had everything to say about everything. If Oakey had parchment out he'd write down everything the fourth year spilled out of his mouth. Could he keep Odessa in his pocket for NEWTs?

Right back to the Question. "What if the Legilimen had had some kind of personal item from the person they were mind reading. Like an item that would help stir the memory in the their thoughts. It could be as West said something that scares them to make the memory more accessable."

If a Legilimen held up a Lobster, he'd probably have the time he was bit by a Mackled Malaclaw fresh in his head.
*shudder*

Professor happy was happy and it made Ella happy too. Smiling was contagious, y'know. The blonde BEAMED and listened and took notes too. Multitasking FOR THE WIN! She was relieved to hear that they wouldn't be practicing legilimency because really, some of the stuff she thought and the memories she had were for her and for her only. She didn't want anyone else to see them. As for how you'd get into someone else's head, Ella had to think on that.

"Along with concentration and eye-contact, I suppose the person doing the legilimency would have to be confident in their ability to invade. Like... they'd need to be able to take control over the situation and maintain that control the whole time to see what they want to see."

Reading minds! She had been right, sort of… her answer had not been perfect, but it wasn’t completly wrong. The second year old grinned, yes, she was proud of herself because she had almost given a completely correct answer! And oh, she wanted to know how she could use this magic, she was thrilled to know how to read the minds of others! She stared with a interested look in her eyes at the professor, she WANTED to know more and she hoped that the professor would learn them how to do it, but the next words of the professor startled Sonea.

No practicing? But… but.. why? She was so curious about this! She sighed and looked disappointed at the professor, she almost lost her interest for the lesson but she tried to concentrate, hoping that the professor would TELL them more about it, yes, she hoped that!

But she didn’t knew how to answer the next question, she already had told the professor everything she know, so it was now time to guess for the answer… she raised her hand after a few moments of silence, she had thought about what she could say and spoke. “I think that it is important to clear you own mind before you can read the minds of others because it would be very difficult to see clearly what the other is thinking when you are thinking yourself. It would be confusing… I think…”

Nigel liked metaphor and euphemism. Or whatever they were called. Now how would someone achieve using legilimency. It would seem that the defense would be down. When someone was dreaming. So maybe that was it.

"If you were a master at legilimency. You don't even need a wand or to say the spell to enter someone mind. So it would not matter when. If the target is not skilled in Occlumency, a Legilimens will know if they are lying. If you are not a master. Maybe the best time to use it. Would be when they are asleep. When their defenses are down and are dreaming."

It would be awesome to tell if someone was lying to you without using a potion or muggle device. Nigel would have to learn how to do this. Eventually.

Tobias raised his hand and spoke. "This is more about the other person than anything, but would it be easier if the person whose mind you were sneaking a peek at was like... really emotional or thinking a lot or really distracted?" he tilted his head to the side. "Like sometimes you see people who are just walking along and they're like only focused on their own thoughts and they don't even notice anything else. So... I don't know as well as focusing you could distract them. Or 'delve into their mind'" (Tobias did actual air quotes at that part and made his voice all low and mysterious) "when they least expect it."

Like someone could be in his mind right now.

Woah.

Way to make a kid paranoid.

Aidan had already had an idea in mind that was...you know...different from the boring stuff everyone else was thinking. And Nigel sort of brought it up which at first made him nervous, in case Nigel stole his idea (like a legilimens, yeah?!) but he didn't. So the third year put his hand up to ask himself, "If the 'target'," as people were calling it, "was sleeping with his eyes open, would you read their mind like normal or would you just see whatever they were dreaming about?"

And...for that matter... "If they're sleeping, would they need to have their eyes open or could you still read their mind and the whole eye contact is just what makes it easier when they're awake and have their wall up." Or whatever West was getting at.

HA. Excellent answer, indeed. Dylan beamed at Professor Romanos as she praised him...but he wasn't totally finished with this line of thinking...

"That's what I meant, Professor. A picture book with really big pictures...Also, if some memories were unclear, wouldn't it be like viewing something in Watercolors?"


...but to answer the question at hand..."I think you'd have to have a very strong-willed mind to evade someone else's. Like...you couldn't be feeble or meek if you wanted to succeed. The same could be same about Occlumency, too. You'd need to have a certain level of confidence and strength within your own mind." He was rambling a bit...but Dylan DID have a point. "Either way, eye-contact, focus, concentration, and being strong-willed."

It seemed kind of silly to add to everyone else's answers after people had gone so in depth with explaining how they thought the proper way to invade someone's mind would be. The whole topic was making Alice fidgety, really. The thought of someone getting inside her brain? That was creepy, right? She'd remained quiet most of the class, but instead of answering this time, she piped up with a question.

"Professor, Legilimens can sometimes influence the mind after they invade it, yeah? Isn't that kind of like what the Imperius Curse does? Would that mean Occlumens could resist being Imperius'd, too?" 'Cause she was curious about it.

Totally off topic, but yeah. Question.

Marigold raised her hand.

"Professor, I agree with the others that the Legilimens has to be focused. But I also think that the thoughts of the victim would be random, so the person who is reading their mind couldn't focus on a specific thought that the victim has, kind of?" She was kind of off on a rant here... anyway, if someone read her mind right now, they would tell she wanted ICE CREAM!!!

So they weren't going to be practising Legilimency? ... That was... probably for the better, right? The idea of someone invading his mind and finding out how he felt about certain... things wasn't an idea that sat well with the sixteen year old. It was like someone reading his journal. Yeah... that was exactly what Legilimency reminded him of. Sort of.

But as for how to achieve this... he really didn't know. Sitting back and listening to what the others had to say was interesting, though. And it did spark some ideas and questions in the Hufflepuff too. "Professor?" he started, raising his hand in the air, "They say that the mind is a many layered... thing," Was that a good way of putting it? "So does the amount of layers you invade, as the Legilimens, depend on your skill with the spell? For example... erm... someone who's more skilled with the spell could probably access deeper feelings and thoughts, ones that the target person had kept hidden particularly well? And someone who's not that skilled might not... be able... to invade as far? Or does your skill with the practice only let you go through someone's mind without saying a spell?" Like Ravenclaw dude (Nigel) had said. Alec was sort of trusting that the dude was right with that piece of information. It sounded right, anyways...

And... did he know what he was saying? ... Sort of. Not really.

"Erm... but to answer your question..." Because he shouldn't just... leave it at a question, yeah? "I guess... I think the intent really counts too. I mean... theoretically... someone who doesn't want to enter someone's mind and is, say, forced to, might not be able to perform Legilimency that well. It sounds like a spell where when you perform it, you have to really mean it." That... was his two knuts. Or something.

If you distracted them with ice cream...

...Lottie raised her hand, sure: intent, focus, concentration, eye-contact, strong-willed character, all that. Most of those were quite common things to have for all spells, right? Right. And ice cream worked too. But this girl had something else in mind, "A relaxed mind, and confidence. At least that's something I would add to what the rest of the class has said. Because a relaxed mind or some sort of relaxation helps you channel the spell better...and confidence, well, we know what that does." Hand down.

That was all she had to say.

Also, if one petrified the person whose mind one was trying to read, then it would much easier. And then a memory charm is a must after that.

You know, there are options to perform this. But no ice cream involved. How sad.

Legilimens... yeah, another word Forrest had never heard of. He should actually invest in reading the class books before the classes but there were just so many classes...

He sighed to himself and started doing what he did best--turning the pages of his class book and trying to find something worth mentioning. He was distracted and didn't hear any of the answers the other people gave, he simply kept on turning the pages. He didn't have any idea what he should be looking for anyway, and soon enough, he was bored of searching. He closed his eyes to remember how the man in X-men read minds. How different could wizard ways be than of Muggle ways?

Raising his hand, he said "The reader must close his eyes to focus, and it's better if he touched the head of the... subject." Subject. Cool words. Hehe. "Touch it with his wand maybe." Yeah. Muggles didn't have wands, but wizards did. "And, I dunno... there was a man in X-men--" X-men was fantasy though! "I mean, maybe there are special helmets in wizard world too to read several people's minds at once." He shrugged. It made sense to him.

Aw man! Theo kinda wanted to mind read. He wasn't too surprised, though, because it sounded like a hard thing to accomplish. Theo didn't have too much faith in himself that he'd succeed. He raised his hand for the next question. "It must be really hard to do leg... legilimency," That was it, "So you'd have to be a good wizard, and a focussed one. I think you WOULD need a clear mind, to see better in someone else's mind, but I'm not too sure..." He trailed off.

Theo didn't actually know much about legilimency.

Yeah, so Ascanius wasn't exactly sure how fly he was with this whole mind peaking business. It was HIS head and his thoughts. And to be honest, he'd be in a lot of trouble if his Professors looked into his head, so he wanted to keep his thoughts to himself. Thank you very much, yeah?

So the fact that they were even talking about this made his eyebrow twitch and his judging glasses were on. All the idiots out and about were so seriously into this thing. Answering like they had put THOUGHT into this stuff. Heh. What kind of stupid bloke wanted to read people's minds? He could tell them upfront that most girls weren't going to be into them. They didn't need this head peaking stuff. Pfft. He was so witty.

With that in mind and amusing himself, Ascanius rose his hand and threw in his opinion on this lot, "Professor," gorgeous, "Why is this even allowed?" Felt like invasion of privacy to him.

So they wouldn't be practicing it. Good. Though the idea of practicing it one someone was sort of appealing, Jory wasn't sure he wanted anyone to practice on him. He focused on the question now. Hmmm.

The Puufer raised his hand. "I think to see very clearly into someone else's mind, the person who wants to accomplish this task must be very calm and he must be focused. There may be other factors but I think being calm and focused are two of th emost important.''