Aside from their magical studies, Hermione took the time to help educate Harry on Muggle science. Not too surprisingly, she had already completed her high school education last summer, so she tutored Harry with what she knew- and she knew quite a bit. Harry was in awe, but then again, she had only found out about the magical world when she turned eleven, and then came to school already knowing more about casting spells than most of the pure-blooded first years.
They decided on a schedule for the rest of summer with mornings spent on scientific education, and the afternoons were spent on magical.
On the magical side, they began with one of the Legilimency texts. Since it was a wandless type of magic, they could practice it over the summer without getting any annoying owls from the Ministry. At first, they were both hesitant to invade each other's mental privacy, but they also both agreed that the skill was necessary to further develop each other's Occlumency as well, and they both trusted each other enough that they knew they wouldn't use anything they saw against each other. Hermione, being the quicker learner of the two, decided to dive into Harry's mind first. Harry focused on his image of the empty sky while looking straight into Hermione's eyes.
"Legilimens," whispered Hermione. Harry immediately felt a presence, but after a few seconds, she quickly stopped, losing her balance.
"Hermione! What's wrong?" asked Harry, as he cradled her.
"Um... you know I'm afraid of heights... and I just wasn't prepared to be so high up when I entered your mind..." said Hermione sheepishly. "Let me try again. Legilimens," she repeated.
This time, Harry could sense something poking from below the clouds. "Hermione?" he asked. "Is that you?"
"Err... I think so," said Hermione. "Let's test this out. Um... try to hide your memory of our first kiss."
"Wait, which first kiss?" asked Harry. Unfortunately, the very mention of the act brought the memories to the forefront of his mind. Hermione saw each one of the times he had accidentally "kissed" her along with the one he gave after his "test" of the blood runes.
"Harry! I told you those two didn't count!" she shouted. She paused, and then added, "...and you need more work on keeping your memories hidden, too."
Harry decided to return the favour. When he entered Hermione's mind, all he saw was darkness. "Wow, Hermione. What is this?"
"It's the deep sea. I got the idea from some documentaries. No sunlight can reach this depth so it's pretty much pitch black."
"You're going to have to show that to me sometime. Now, try to hide your memory of the sunset above the Burrow." He smirked, knowing Hermione really treasured that memory.
Just like Harry, Hermione failed to not think about it the moment he said it. Harry caught glimpses of her perspective, and her emotions, during the lessons. "Looks like you need to work on your shields, too, Hermione." He grinned. "Oh... I had no idea you enjoyed them that much, love. I promise, I'll give you more 'lessons' when we get back to school, alright?" Hermione blushed, and bit her lower lip seductively. She made him seal his promise with a kiss.
The occlumency textbooks were extremely helpful. They could only do so much on their own, and the books suggested things neither one thought of before. They learned a few new meditation techniques, and experimented for a few weeks to see which ones worked best for each of them. Hermione really enjoyed doing her meditation while relaxing in the bath, and was now prone to taking much longer each night to wash up than before. Harry tried out a sensory deprivation exercise and found it worked extremely well for him.
The next two textbooks both suggested imagining powerful, but simple, defences to shield their memories. Ideally, it had to be unbreakable, without being complex. The second one suggested something more devious, in placing a decoy fortress within their mindscape, which stored trivial memories, so an attacker would waste a lot of time attempting to break their defences and receive nothing in return.
A few weeks later, just before Harry's birthday, they had their basic schemes set up. Neither one really had any good defences, as it still took a lot of concentration keeping their memories divided into two locations within their minds. Once again, Hermione entered Harry's mind first to take a look around.
"Well, this seems a little cliché. A flying castle?" asked Hermione.
"I got the idea from the cover of one of your books, Hermione," retorted Harry.
"You didn't have to make it shaped like Hogwarts, though," she said. "You might be familiar with Hogwarts, but so are the thousands of other people who had years of schooling there."
"Alright, I'll change it. Maybe I'll make it a UFO or something and fill it with little green men." said Harry.
"Oh, I'd like to see Professor Snape try to take on some Martians. This is your decoy fortress though, isn't it? I can't seem to find your real one... come on, give me a hint, Harry," Hermione said, rather frustrated.
"Go up," was all he said.
"What? There's nothing up higher than your flying castle up here... not even any clouds. It's just the sky, and... Ohhh, I get it," she smiled. "You're hiding your memories in the sun? That's great, Harry. It's always there, but nobody ever really notices it..."
"I'm glad you approve. Now it's my turn," he said.
Entering Hermione's mind, he saw exactly the same thing as he did before- complete blackness. "Uh... a little help?" he asked.
"You're just going to have to feel your way around with your other senses," Hermione said, smirking.
Harry "felt" his way around Hermione's mindscape until he sensed something moving in the water. He chased after it for several minutes, only to come across an enormous squid, tentacles poised to strike at him. "Gah!" he cried. "You're making me work this hard for your decoy memories? This is your decoy, isn't it?"
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