Legilimency........

Too bad they weren't going to be learning how to do it. Lily spaced out a little thinking of how legilimency could be used around the school, especially by teachers on students with detentions. Unfortunately for Lily, she didn't hear the professor's question and was out of luck in trying to answer it, so instead the fifth year redhead just jotted down some notes based on what her classmates were saying. All this talk about focus had to sink in eventually, right?

The Hufflepuffs sure were quick to answer first. "It would only make sense one would need to concentrate on the task to achieve it, wouldn't it?" she nodded in agreement. "On the other hand, would the person's weakest points really need work to uncover? Or would they be the first memories, thoughts, and/or emotions you'd witness? Considering one's strengths would be more heavily guarded or practiced on, as shown with countless of events apart from legilimency."

Mmhmmm. "Certainly could be one way of doing it." Medea smiled in return, slowly nodding. "Although, coming from a different perspective, what if having the person relaxed makes it much more difficult to be able to read their mind? If, in this scenario, the person actually knows that their mind is going to be read that is. What would the legilimens do then?"

"Eye contact, yes. They do say the eyes are the window to your soul. No doubt would make it quite easier to see your inner workings. Good, Miss Fairfield." Smiling to the Ravenclaw, her eyebrows knitted together juuuuust momentarily, having thought she saw Sonya running under a desk in the background. Spazzy bird.

"That would be something to look into, wouldn't it? Whether where you point your wand actually matters with this type of magic?" she asked, stretching out her legs in front of her momentarily. Oh, that was much better. "Good though! Yes, concentration is something you'd need when casting."

Oh? Medea leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and chin on her hands as she listened to the young Slytherin talk. He always had some excellent ideas. "Well, I certainly agree with you on that. Stability is one of the key structures in occlumency. It would only make sense for the legilimens to make the person...unstable. Very well thought out, Mister Odessa. Excellent."

Smiling, she glanced to West momentarily when he was mentioned before turning her attention back Cassia. "Having the element of surprise, so to speak." she chuckled softly. "Though much like a surprise, it is sometimes often quickly overcome. Even if the person isn't a natural in blocking their minds, they can just as easily keep out a legilimens if practiced enough. Good thinking though."

Oh yes. Destruction and torture. She wouldn't have expected anything less with Alexa's answer. "I would suspect torture would indeed help." Chuckling quietly, Medea glanced down to the mat in front of her and shook her head a little. Goodness, her students. Precious things.

That was about all she could say with Alexa before her chuckling turned into unstoppable laughter.

How unusual. Completely creative idea, but unusual nonetheless. "I do wonder if someone had tried that tactic." she thought out loud, staring at the head boy. Oh, look at her. Lost in thought. Ahem. "It's a possibility. Perhaps could have a greater effect than we think. Excellent thought, Mister Gunter."

"Confidence!" Medea perked up, suddenly sitting up straighter. "Yes, that would indeed help the legilimens in achieving their goal. And confidence comes with practice, which would also help them in their task. Good, Miss Bishop."

Smiling encouragingly, Medea nodded slowly as the young Slytherin was finishing her answer. "Yes, I would think it certainly would be confusing mixing your thoughts with another. Good, Miss Duvessa."

Oh? The students minds were working rather creatively today. Medea was beeaaaaming!

"Fantastic thinking. You would indeed think, it would be easier to invade someone's mind when they are asleep. When their defenses are down, as you said." Slowly nodding, her posture relaxed some, as did her expression, before continuing. "The mind, however, is a powerful tool. Even when asleep. My knowledge on legilimency may be limited to just theoretical, but I do know that very rarely would the task be any easier when one is asleep. Our minds slow, making it difficult to maneuver through. It clouds our thoughts, memories, and emotions, making it a very demanding task to see clearly and interpret, especially with having interference of our dreams, which become so vivid at times."

"There is, however, one moment in time during our sleep...that a legilimens could have an easier time in navigating our minds. But, you would need to have much skill in the art do so, because it is when our dreams are most vivid. Our brain waves resemble those of when we are awake. The more activity going on in there, the easier their job." She let that sink in for a moment. "Though, you know, it's a bit difficult to predict when this moment occurs. Especially if the person was in an induced sleep."

"It is a lot about the other person, isn't it?" Medea nodded slowly, growing quiet to listen to the rest of the young Hufflepuff had to say. She chuckled lightly during his slight dramatics at the end. "Yes, indeed. Having the person distracted would make it a great deal easier for the legilimens to enter their mind. Noticing when someone is "reading" your mind however, would depend on both the caster and the target. It doesn't always go unnoticed. And by that, I mean a physical feeling...and not just simply knowing when your mind is being...read."

Oh, she did enjoy the topic of using legilimency when one was asleep. It was interesting stuff!! "That wouldn't exactly make it easier, no." she smiled apologetically, glancing to Nigel momentarily before continuing. "The short answer would be that it is easier to use legilimency on someone when they're awake, even if they have their wall up. It is too...murky, for lack of a better word, when one is asleep. Regardless if they're eyes are open. Excellent thinking though, Mister Stone."



"Riigght. Neither of these types of magic are easy and they do test your limits. Those who succeed the most though are not afraid to push past their limits to strengthen their will. A form of dominance yourself if you will, that is quite difficult to achieve. Still excellent thinking, Mister Montmorency." Medea smiled to the seventh year captain.

If they continued with their answers and questions as such, they were soooooo going to be thrown an ice cream party. "Vaguely, yes. Although legilimency doesn't quite control one's bidding like the imperius curse does, the teachings and skills from occlumency can help resist the effects of being imperius'd. It focuses a great deal on intent and will power, much used in both the casting and resisting of the imperius curse." Slowly nodding, she smiled at the Gryffindor. "Excellent thought processor, Miss Fischer."

"That...would depend on the skill level of the legilimens." she spoke, pondering the girl's thoughts on the matter. "Naturally, the more one practices and begins to master the art of legilimency, the easier it will be to pinpoint what your searching for. Just starting out however, I bet you can guess how the first attempts will be for someone."

If she could become any happier, it would've been with that speculation right there. "There are always benefits when it comes with practice, Mister Summers." she started, moving around so her legs were underneath her and she was sitting on her heels. "Nonverbal magic is something all spells have in common but, with legilimency, you're right when it comes to diving deeper into one's mind."

"Naturally, when first attempting this spell, you can only get so far. It doesn't so much matter if you read an entire book on the human mind prior to trying. However, knowledge does play it's part in this. For example, think of an endless maze. As your first journey into it, you no doubt twist and turn into dead ends and round-a-bout circles. BUT, with a little knowledge on where you are and the right tools, you can go to just about anywhere you want to." Letting that sink in for a moment, she smiled and continued. "Though it is not easy. Legilimency takes much time to figure out and understand, but essentially, yes. The more skill you have in the art, the easier it will be for you to dive deeper into the person's memories, thoughts, and emotions."

His theory on being forced to perform legilimency was interesting. "Indeed, it is. Intent does play it's part in the spellwork, though be careful in your wording, Mister Summers. There are quite a few ways one can be forced into doing something, some methods more effective than others when it comes to performing spells and how far we are willing to stretch our limits."

"It would no doubt be difficult to access one's mind when your own is as crammed and animated as a herd of centaurs, wouldn't it?" she chuckled softly, nodding. "It seems the more relaxed the caster's mind is and the more animated the target's is, the easier the task will. Good thinking, Miss Wisteria."

Huh. Centaurs. Callie didn't like centaurs. Callie also had a tea room.

Tea. Ice cream was apparently good in tea.

ICE CREAM!

.......

Did she ever mention how precious her students were?

She just wanted to hug him! And keep him in her pocket forever. Though she had nooooo idea what he was talking about. This no doubt would be something she'd ask Airey later on. It seemed like a topic he'd know about. "I must admit, I'm not familiar with...X men." she smiled apologetically to the Hufflepuff. "Nor do I believe there is such a helmet that has that kind of effects. Perhaps this is something you can look into?

Would be cool if there was.

"It most certainly would help to have a clear mind, you're right. Good thinking, Mister Kinsley." Medea spoke, smiling encouragingly to the fourth year. Just wanted to squish allllll the uncertainty away!!

Honestly, she was wondering when that question would pop up. "That is a very good question, Mister Stark." she started, shifting so her legs were under her and she were sitting on her heels. "Why are many things even allowed? Some things...that may seem cruel and immoral, can be used for the greater good. However, it's...honestly, it depends on which government you're talking about. Some find it useful and not as dangerous as others may perceive it. Some find it as a great defense as much as an offense when it comes to their law enforcement. Others...others just aren't as...troubled by the idea. The age restriction is meaningless to them. Greed...can be a powerful little worm."

Pausing for a moment, she glanced around the class before her gaze settled back on Ascanius. "Though of course, what you choose to do with such liberty is up to you."

Seemed like the most agreed upon ideas were that the caster must be calm and focused. "Good thoughts, Mister Stonewall. You're on the right track."

"What if, indeed." she chuckled lightly with a few nods. "This is one of the more difficult tasks one needs to achieve, both in legilimency and occlumency. Good thoughts, Mister Kildare."

Oh? "A bit of everything! That seems...just about right. Honestly, you wouldn't be a very good legilimens if you're mixing up your own thoughts and emotions with that of your target." Really. Just...really. ICE CREAM! Sounded good right about now.

PRECIOUS LITTLE HUFFLEPUFF!

"Knowing what your friend may be thinking is the subtle benefit of friendship, Mister Lecium." she chuckled softly. "It, unfortunately, won't help someone in their attempts with legilimency. Though you are right in the fact that one does need to keep their own thoughts and emotions in control when casting this spell. Excellent thinking."

Preciooouuus.



Goodness, she didn't know just which made her happier! All the amazing and CREATIVE ideas being tossed around or the fact that she JUST found Sonya...running into the back wall repeatedly. Well, least the little bird wasn't getting into too much trouble.

"As a recap, I'm sure we can all agree that legilimency has a variety of understandings and key fundamentals that makes it so difficult to achieve. Having a clear mind, focus and intent, and confidence unlike you have ever produced with a spell is needed, and eye contact generally seems to be the best way for the legilimens to gain access to someone's mind. Once you can manage to achieve the spell, it's only a matter of time and building up your skill level to where you can dive into deeper thoughts and memories and deeper emotions that the person may have hidden away."

"What you can do with this kind of magic at the tips of your fingers is quite honestly why legilimency has such a shady reputation though. There is nothing but personal gain with this magic. Information is the main focus most of the time, however, if skilled enough, one can make a person's mind fall into ruins. Slowly. Make them see things. Make them hurt. Make them go crazy or perhaps...detach their mind altogether." Fiddling with her fingers momentarily, Medea took a deep breath and smiiiiiled. "That is truly, terribly advanced magic though."

"Moving on, we touched on the subject of occlumency a few times. As I'm sure you've come to find out, occlumency is the act of preventing your mind from being accessed by the use of legilimency by magical means. When I say magical, I do not mean you need a wand and a spell. This magic is not something you can outwardly produce, so to speak. It's something you focus inside of yourself." Her hands were gesturing eveeerrryyyywhere, trying to make it easy for the students to understand. "Occlumency, in ways, is a bit harder to master than legilimency. It requires a great deal of will power and discipline with your mental and emotional state that is very difficult on it's own to describe. To pull it off flawlessly would be...a tremendous feat."

"We may not be doing practicing legilimency today, but I can let you practice a bit of occlumency. I have an activity set up that we can do towards the end of the lesson. You may not participate if you don't want to. That is entirely up to you. Before we get into that, does anyone know any other details on what occlumency is or how it is performed?"

Legilimency sure was an interesting subject. Though Occlumency was just as interesting. If you learn one. You basically have to learn the other. Two sides of the same coin.

"Well it is like that saying Don't Think Of A Pink Elephant. Once you hear it all you do is think of pink elephants." It was a cool idea and actually worked. "Which is one way of performing Occlumency. Just think of one thing repeatedly and nothing else. So even if they can read your mind. All they see is Pink Elephants."

Nigel was sure he was talking about Pink Elephants to much. But it did not matter. It seemed all you had to do was bring up ice cream and Romanos got sidetracked.

Really? Cool. West put his hand up again. "A beginner has to learn to clear their mind. My dad says that if you focus on clearing your mind it won't work, like that whole thing where someone says don't think of pink elephants and you start thinking about them?" He glanced at Nigel, who had a slightly different take on that concept, "Like that. He says its easier to use visualisation techniques, like the brick wall thing, or imagine a blank piece of parchment, and every time you think you're slipping and a memory or thought is coming up on your mental parchment, you focus on erasing it. Because its a lot easier to focus on something that is nothing, than it is on nothing when it could easily become something."

Well, these were the kind of explanations that worked best on West, so it was how his dad taught him things.

"And for advanced Occlumency, when you want to have them read fake memories or something or not catch on that you're actually blocking them, you can use the same technique but instead of keeping the mental parchment blank, you can mentally draw or write what you want them to see. Doing all that means you're focusing on something tangible too, so its easier to suppress your emotions and avoid giving the legilimens the upper hand." West added and then put his hand down. Because he'd said a lot and stuff.

Lex was soaking up everything the Professor said with avid interest. There wasn't a single moment when her attention span began to wane, in fact, she had actually stopped bouncing where she sat. That was how engrossed she was in this topic. Not surprizing. Everything about this subject fascinated her a little more than it should have.

At the question she slowly raised her hand. This was something else she'd read (shocking, we know) and it could have come in handy on a certain day not too long ago but whatever.

"It's extremely advanced and requires the practitioner to clear their mind so there's nothing for the legilimen to read. It's effective against both the Imperius Curse and Veritaserum but again, it's really advanced. I think it's also a bit dangerous? Isn't it Professor? I've heard people have gone mad trying to resist the Imperius Curse and using this, with all it's concentration...if you're not good enough, you could end up losing your own mind. Isn't that correct?"

And curious thought really.

Jory was certainly enjoying this lesson very much. Now Occlumency would be better to practice as that was the defensive method. He raised his hand again. "The person who has to defend their mind must empty it of all emotion, Professor,'' he said. Gosh. That sounded so impossible. yet it was possible as persons had done it before.

Careful, Professor.

All this talk of it being difficult and a tremendous feat made the Slytherin Captain want to try it. Not that he didn't already want to try it before or whatever...but he didn't need the encourage of a challenge.

Dylan liked being challenged...and worked best that way.

"Also...IF you were skilled enough, couldn't you go so far as to push thoughts into someone else's mind. Like...do a reverse?" He'd read this somewhere..."That'd go along with someone getting in your mind and causing you pain and such, I suppose."

You know, come to think of it...


........They were actually going to DO this? Dylan paused, a slow grin forming on his face. THIS was quickly turning into his favorite Defense lesson ever...besides the one about shields. That lesson had just been...too awesome.

He cleared his throat.

"It's just the same, yea? Focus, concentration...like you'd exercise with all magic...Clearing your mind and not thinking about thoughts that might be "under attack"."

Under attack because that's what a personal invasion was.

Laura looked at the Professor, she was so confused now, wasn't it the Professor job to teach the class and not to confuse poor students because if it was she was failing badly. "Well then, eh they." Laura was struggling here. "Oh eh they would." Laura felt like being silly and trying to think of away out of this but she would she would behave.

Laura took a deep breath and tried her hardest to think of the answer, she decided that she would say it how she would do it. "Well if that was the case then I would say that they would somehow try and make the person too relaxed for their own good, so like if it was me I would try and make them so relaxed that they don't know what is going on." Laura thought that probably would work.

Laura then listed to the rest of what the Professor was saying and raised her hand. "That is where you have to try and stop your mind from being taken over, it's really hard because you have to clear your mind, so that there is nothing in there but as I said it's a really hard feat to achieve." Laura thought it was nearly impossible to do but it was.

Of course she wasn't familiar with X-men. Forrest wasn't as disappointed as he used to be with wizards' ignorance to Muggle culture. He just offered the woman a small smile and shrugged. But looking into that... he grinned, looking away as he dreamt about it. He still didn't have any idea other than visions of X-men, but it appealed to him somehow. Hmm...

Forrest listened to the Professor as if he was hypnotised with his mouth open a little and intent eyes following her every action.

'...however, if skilled enough, one can make a person's mind fall into ruins. Slowly. Make them see things. Make them hurt. Make them go crazy or perhaps...detach their mind altogether...'

He gasped loudly and shuddered visibly as he shifted in his seat, looking troubled. And thus, he was out of the trance with a deep frown on his face as he looked on the floor. He had never experienced such a thing but the thought of it disturbed him greatly. Surely there was some sort of protection?

...

Occlumency... Yes, he wanted to do that. His intent look was on his face again, though he looked different--more intense and determined. The thought of anyone penetrating into his mind... he shuddered again and didn't try to make any stupid guesses from X-men this time. This was serious, and he let the others answer.

While she wrote everything on her parchment she heard about the lesson she stopped and looked up at the professor. This sounded really difficult to do and it seemed almost as if Legilimency was something… bad… And she was afraid that it would be REALLY difficult to learn how to use Occlumency, it sounded almost TOO difficult! But now that she had heard where Legilimency was used for she realized that it would not be cool to learn it. At first it had sounded fun and exciting but now she had suspected that it would be not a good idea to learn it, it would be possible that the people around her wouldn’t trust her because she knew how to use Legilimency…

She shook her head at the professor and said nothing, she had this time really NO IDEA how to answer the professor, but she wanted to participate in the last part of the lesson and to learn more, just to know how she could protect herself against the persons who wanted to hurt her, if there was somebody so evil. She wanted to learn how to protect herself because, well… her mind was really important and she was really smart! She thought that she was really smart and important!

Listening to everything that was said, Cassia took her time to process it all. Legilimency sounded both a big deal and a great kind of magic that to master shows how powerful the wizard but also it is kinda evil destructive to the human mind. As for occlumency it really did sound like the solution and an advanced level of magic as well.

After a couple of students answered, the Slytherin raised her hand and spoke. "Since occlumency is kind of the opposite of Legilimency , naturally it also needs concentration and a huge deal of it. And maybe to prevent the legilimens from succeeding; the person ,whose mind is about to be penetrated, should be more concentrated than the legilimens." She said. It was her opinion, though. "And since it's probably very hard to perfect, one can practice controlling their own minds, like to hide certain information and keep focusing on unimportant things," That'd be easier probably.

SO! What were they going to do? Did it have to do anything with that mechanical bird?

So that was really just a roundabout what of the really pretty Professor to thrust the Spider-Man psychology on him. The whole with great power comes great responsibility thing, yeah? But he knew that much. He had seen all those movies, after all.

What the fourth year didn't understand was WHY they didn't just outlaw it straight up. Sounded dangerous to him. Then again he was sort of leery of magic to begin with, yeah? Lots of power, one place, excuse got laziness, all that. Though, it was starting to grow on him, ish. Eh.

But he didn't press her anymore, MORE because she was a female Professor and there was no need to push her buttons. Mhmm.

And then she was explaining some foreign technique called occulemency or something. It was apparently a way to shield himself. So basically there was SUCH a problem with this form of magic that....ahem, they had to come up with a way to protect themselves. Yeah, that was what he thought. Bad idea.

Although, he didn't have the SLIGHTEST clue how it worked, so he just waited and watched Professor Romanos VERY carefully on her mat for reasons.

Okay so maybe she had been wrong with the weakest point bit, but she listened to what the others said and understood more now. Nodding here and there, even taking some notes.And then when the Professor spoke once more, the Hufflepuff just continued listening.

Her frown from before went away and the smile returned.

Occlumency, that would do. It may have not been Legilimency but for sure it was a good skill to obtain. One that could save your minds most private thoughts. For sure she'd be staying for the activity, it was too exciting to miss something like that.

As for the Professor's question on details the Hufflepuff raised her hand. "I think Occlumency is pretty much performed how everyone said. It needs concentration and of course will power. I also think perseverance is important, because you mustn't give up in blocking your mind, but I think once you start and achieve in creating a brick wall it becomes easier to maintain the blocking?" She wouldn't know too much what it was like, but she guessed. In most cases once the hardest part was over, things were easier...but then was the beginning part of occlumency really the hardest? Pout.

Alec listened intently to Romanos's explanation and thoughts on his answer. And the connection with the maze? That made things a lot easier to remember and understand and so, the boy nodded along to what she was saying. He also couldn't help but feel really happy and slightly proud that he was more or less right. It was like he had just eaten a good amount of ice cream.

... Speaking of ice cream, when was the next break? And when was this ice cream party taking place? GRIN.

The Hufflepuff shook his head and turned his attention back to Romanos, who was talking to the class in general. He pulled out his journal and a quill and started scribbling down some notes as the woman spoke. It was probably one of those things that he needed to think about and say in his own words until he remembered things properly but... it couldn't help to write down what Romanos was saying.

Also... pink elephants?

... Oh! They were going to be practising the art of occlumency? ... Yeah, he wasn't going to do well in that. Too much thinking, way too much! But... question. The boy paused for a couple of minutes before raising his hand in the air. "Professor? If how skilled you are in Legilimency can affect how far you delve into someone's mind, can your skill level with Occlumency also affect how great of an Occlumens you are?" ... Did that... make sense?

"I mean..." Let's answer the question, yeah Summers? "There are different forms, right? You have the one that people have mentioned where you clear all thoughts and emotions but then you also have the type where the Occlumens will suppress the emotions and thoughts that would contradict what they want the Legilimens to believe." ... Or... something.

Since Daichi hadn't answered the previous question since he had been deep in thought, he decided to try and answer the next one. He listened while scratching his head before raising his hand in the air.

"I think you need to be able to concentrate really REALLY well in trying to block your mind." He started to debate with himself whether he wanted to participate in the activity or not. Since concentrating had never been his strongest point. But..he was also a Prefect yes, he had not forgotten about that badge and he had the feeling that at least the Leaders should try... "Also, i read you need to try have no emotions cause it will be easier for the other break the defences when you're in an emotional state"

Occlumency well of course concentration, lots of it. Clearing the mind would also help. As she thought of some ideas she listened to her classmates as well. Clearing yourself of all emotion.

After a couple of students answered, Nerida raised her hand and spoke. "I think Occlumency would need major amounts of concentration to prevent the Legilimens from entering their mind. Like some of the others said about clearing all emotion, I think you would have to clear out everything. The only thoughts you are thinking about is concentration on blocking the legilimens out."

Ice cream and pink elephant talk? Ella was trying to pay attention here, people. Now all she wanted was an ice cream sundae and to ride a pink elephant. Totally normal wishes, obviously. But really...she was hungry now. Really hungry. BEAM.

Keeping ones mind completely blank was hard business and Ella didn't think she'd ever be able to do anything like that. Her mind was just filled with too many things at any given time and clearing it out would be exhausting.

"Yoga would probably help in preparing for something like this, Professor." Not that she was a fan but still. No boat poses, please. "It aids in the clearing of your mind and the centering yourself, both things you'd need to do to master occlumency."