5 August 1991, Monday – New Books
He met Hermione the next morning at the train station, where Hermione's train arrived. The weather, true to the image of English weather, was cloudy, with some scattered rains – not appropriate for spending the day in a park. Both children had several books in their backpacks, although they had already read most of them.
Harry didn't know where to go. They had visited the lobbies of most hotels near the station by then, and he didn't want to return to any of them, for fear of attracting unwelcome attention. Hermione had a suggestion, though. "Most public libraries have some areas for people who want to read or work peacefully on some documents, either for fun or for other reasons. It's not unusual for people to bring their own books there."
"Fine, but where can we find such a library?"
Hermione smiled triumphantly. "I have a library card for the one nearest to the station, just a three-minute walk and no street crossing. It should be nice to be there with you."
It sure was. They found a table in the corner, far enough from others to allow them to talk a bit in hushed tones without bothering anybody. Still, what Harry found most enjoyable was the mere fact that he could sit with Hermione, their bodies touching, and read together, talk softly with her and see her smiling at him. For somebody who had never had a friend, this girl and her friendship were the greatest treasure of all.
By midday, they finished reading the last unread book they had. "We should go get lunch and then buy some more books," Hermione said.
"Well, lunch is really welcome," Harry agreed, disregarding the rest.
Hermione didn't say a thing until they were sitting together at some nearby diner, finishing their lunch. Harry felt obliged to pay for Hermione as well, after being invited by her the previous day, and Hermione didn't argue much. Something else was bothering her.
"Why are you refraining from going to Diagon Alley? I find it fantastic!"
Harry shrugged. "Well, people start ogling, once they notice my scar or hear my name. It makes me uneasy."
"Is that all? We can easily hide your scar, and when paying cash, nobody needs to know your name."
Harry squirmed in his seat. "Well… I'm afraid that if some people find me there, they might force me back to my relatives. The one who took me shopping was supposed to bring me back to these relatives, but he left me at the train station, and I preferred not to go back. My relatives don't want me back either."
"Why should anybody force you back there, in that case?"
"Whoever put me there in the first place didn't seem to have my best interests in mind, as my relatives have never wanted me there and didn't treat me nicely." He grimaced internally at having to disclose that much. "Yet the person who took me shopping spoke very highly of him as if he was above and beyond all doubt. I feel like I have a lot of reasons for doubt."
Hermione looked attentively at him as he talked. "You're still not telling me everything," she noted. "Well, everybody is allowed some privacy, I suppose." Her face turned determined. "I'm not going to tell anybody, but we can still hide your scar and maybe even hide your face a bit, so that nobody will notice you and report you to whoever you fear. Come with me!"
She grabbed his hand and led him to the washroom, common to both men's and women's toilets. She took a band-aid from her bag and covered his scar. It wasn't the same colour as his skin, but it hid the peculiar scar well enough. "I wish I had some of my mother's make-up," she noted, "as that could make it almost undetectable. Do you think we can use a 'notice-me-not charm' on it?"
Harry gave it a thought. "Not here, but we can do it once at the Leaky Cauldron, as there's a lot of magic around and it would probably pass unnoticed."
She smiled. "Good thinking! It looks like the two of us make a fine team."
Harry didn't understand why he felt a bit disappointed that she hadn't used the word "couple" instead.
The fine drizzle made the hood necessary, helping to hide Harry's forehead. The 'notice-me-not' charm helped even more. Hermione cast it wandlessly, before opening the wall to Diagon Alley. They had both found it in one of the books and learned it easily enough. It didn't need any wand movement, and they didn't even think of using one.
As they had already covered the basics, reading all the books recommended by Bill from cover to cover, Hermione looked for some more advanced books on subjects not normally covered at school. She found something that looked interesting at the back of the store.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked Harry, holding a thin book with animal drawings on the cover.
Harry read the title, "Animagus Transformation Made Easy." He didn't know what it was, but several drawings in the book attracted his attention when he leafed through it. "Let's take it. We can buy only one copy, though, as we read everything together."
Hermione smiled at that and nodded.
They also found two other thin books in a hidden corner, pushed back by the larger books: "Occlumency for Everybody – Protect Your Mind From Intrusion" and "Legilimency For Profit And For Pleasure". While they didn't know what these words meant, they thought it would be interesting to find out. The shop attendant at the cash register frowned a bit at these books but said nothing.
Just before leaving the shop, Harry got an idea. "Do you have an option for me to order books and get them by mail, sir?"
"We have owl service. Why are you interested?"
Harry shrugged. "My friend and I like to read a lot, but we can't come here often enough. Do you have a catalogue we can order from?"
They left the shop a few minutes later, carrying two copies of the owl-order catalogue and several order forms, along with their purchases. Soon enough they were back at the library, sitting at "their" table. Hermione browsed quickly through their new books. Most were just advanced topics on subjects they had already read about. The three thin books intrigued her, though. She glanced through the Animagus book first, finding it fascinating, but probably too advanced to be of any use in the near future. Harry had a look at the other two.
"Hey, I think this may be helpful at times," he said, showing her the Occlumency book.
"What is it?"
"A way to protect one's mind from intrusion. If anybody tried to penetrate your mind to either read your memories and thoughts or set some ideas in it, you'd be able to detect it, and maybe even prevent it altogether."
She frowned. "Why would anybody do such things?"
He shrugged. "People do all kinds of stuff just because they can. This," he lifted the Legilimency book, "teaches how to penetrate one's mind. If we could find it so easily, others can too. Would you want somebody to read your memory of you looking at the mirror after showering?"
Hermione blushed. "Certainly not! Let's learn this first!"
"We shall need to learn both, as we won't be able to check our defences unless we learn how to try and go through them."
Hermione sighed. "Fine. Let's study them both."
It wasn't too difficult for the two agile minds to understand the principles and to translate them into mental practices. They spent the whole afternoon on that and planned to exercise some more before going to bed.
–..–
That evening, when Harry returned to his hotel, Selma was waiting for him. "I missed you today. I hoped we could spend some time together, but you left me high and dry. Care to catch up?"
Harry was a bit surprised at her straightforwardness, but he was not going to refuse her. They spent more than an hour just talking. It was mainly Selma talking and Harry listening, as he didn't think that talking about magic with her would be very considerate and there was not much else he could talk about. It was still nice, though, giving him some interesting glimpses into the ways girls saw things, which was quite different from how most boys did. Yet, after parting, Harry felt more eager to meet Hermione the next morning than to spend some more time with Selma.
Harry didn't forget to exercise his mind control before going to sleep. He found it quite easy to push any thought about Selma out of his mind. It was more difficult to push out any thought about Hermione. He still exercised quite a bit and felt that it went very well. He wondered if Hermione did as well as him.
6 August 1991, Tuesday – Legilimency
They reread the books the next morning. While both had advanced nicely with their Occlumency exercises, they needed to advance their Legilimency skills at the same rate to be able to test each other. By mid-morning, they felt ready for some exercise. "Think of what you ate last evening, and I'll try to find out," Harry suggested.
Hermione concentrated for a moment. "I'm ready."
Harry knew that looking into her eyes would make this much easier, but he thought that doing it the other way around would be more beneficial. He closed his eyes and directed his magic towards Hermione, not even contemplating using his wand. Her mind seemed to him like a vast museum, with everything catalogued and arranged logically. It was easy to find his way to her memory of last evening and the dinner she had eaten with her parents. He wished he could have such a meal with his parents, with unconditional love and some small talk. He was too immersed in his thoughts and didn't pay much attention until he saw Hermione starting to undress, getting ready for the shower. He quickly withdrew from her mind, blushing furiously.
Hermione was looking at him with some evident concern. "Why are you blushing?"
He lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I stayed in your memory a bit too long."
"I thought so," she said, blushing as well. "Liked what you saw?"
"Sure! You really look very nice."
She smiled at the compliment, blushing a bit more. "My turn now. Think of your dinner only, okay?"
Harry smiled and concentrated. "I'm ready."
He could sense when she penetrated his mind, as he saw his previous evening, after parting from her, playing in his mind. Just like him, she didn't stop on time. The last memory replaying in his mind, before it stopped, was that of Selma waiting for him near his room.
"Who is that girl?" Hermione asked. "Why was she waiting for you?"
"She's the daughter of the hotel owners, and she's almost fifteen. She helped me with some of my shopping. She wanted to spend some time with me, as all her friends are vacationing elsewhere." He still felt uncomfortable to speak about her.
Hermione let the subject drop. Harry thought that she had also lost some of her confidence. He didn't know what he could do to help her but was glad not to drag Selma into their conversation anymore. Instead, he asked, "Did you feel when I penetrated your mind?"
She nodded. "It felt like you were forcing me to review these memories. I wouldn't have liked anybody else to see them."
"Don't you mind that I saw more than planned?"
She shrugged. "It was somewhat expected. We're no experts. Neither of us could really dig the exact memory we were looking for. It was still a bit embarrassing, though."
"Do you want to see my memory of getting ready for shower, as compensation?"
This made her laugh. "Not yet. I'm sure we'll get plenty of chances to find each other's most embarrassing secrets before we gain enough control. Now, according to the book, if the subject becomes aware of the Legilimency used on him, it means that too much power is used. Let's see how we can use less power. Once we can read each other's mind without the other noticing, it will be time to enhance our Occlumency."
Before parting that evening, they could both penetrate the other's mind without being detected. Of course, being in a muggle area, they didn't dare use their wands. They didn't need to, either.
Once again, Selma was waiting for him. Harry used his newly learned skills to check her intentions about him. He found that Selma was having a minor crush on him and wanted to spend as much time with him as she could, and she also liked that he was magical. He didn't find any long-term thoughts. This made him more willing to spend some time with her. He didn't see any harm in that as long as it didn't affect their future in any adverse way.