I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good - Private Message to Hermione Granger and Harry Marvolo

[alt_hydra]

Hermione,

I never did get a chance to speak with you after we made the galleons the other night. I suppose we all got a bit side-tracked by other things.

Anyway. It's not terribly important, I don't think. Only you once spoke about knowing someone else who's a natural occlumens, and I had a question about them. Not about who they are, just about their ability. Is that something you can say more about or should I not ask?

From,
Hydra

Comments

[alt_hermione]

I can talk about it in generalities, of course, but I have to warn you that I don't know too much about it, either.

What did you want to know? I can see what I can find out.

[alt_hydra]

What I want to know is: do they know how to do legilimency, too? And if they can, did they have to learn how to do it, or did that come naturally to them, too? If they can do it naturally, how did they find out about it?

That's all.

Also, if you could not tell the others I'm asking about these things, I'd be grateful.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hermione]

Oh, well, that's a really interesting question, isn't it? Because legilimency is really much, much more difficult than occlumency, and I mean, nearly anyone can learn occlumency if they really try, although I know it's next to impossible for some people, and some people never really try, either. And that's a separate question from being able to meditate, like Professor Dolohov has been teaching you all. I mean, they're related, of course, but one doesn't automatically mean that you'll be able to do the other, they're not, what's the word, exclusive but that's not what I mean, you know, the thing where one thing is a subset of the other, so all thumbs are fingers but not all fingers are thumbs? It's not that, it's that they can overlap but some natural Occlumenses are rubbish at meditation skills and some can do it just fine, and some people who can meditate can also learn occlumency without being naturally skilled at it but others can't.

But as to how it relates to legilimency, that's loads harder and it usually can't be learned by anyone who doesn't already have a predisposition towards it, and there's a spell people use when they're learning occlumency, but I've heard that it's really imprecise and it's not at all the same as someone actually using the innate skill. I think that almost all Legilimens are also Occlumens, if that helps. (And that would be one of those what-do-you-call-its, oh, I'll have to look that up! It's driving me mad.)

Well, anyway, like I said, almost all Legilimens are also Occlumens, but being an Occlumens doesn't necessarily mean that one's also able to practise legilimency. I think legilimency is something most of them have to work at, but

UNIVERSAL SYLLOGISM!

Sorry. That's the term I was trying to think of before. I think.

Er, well, I'll have to ask, but for example, I know of three people who can do Occlumency, or something like it, and only one of them is also a Legilimens. I think that person learned it deliberately, it didn't suddenly happen. I could find out more, though, if you like.

Are you sure about not telling the others? Because I know Sally-Anne's interested and I'm sure it would be useful for everyone, really, and I can bring it up in a way that doesn't make it obvious you're the one who's asking. Why, are you interested in learning but don't want anyone to know about it?

[alt_hydra]

Well my Mother is both, of course. She was able to use legilimency when she was quite young, about the time she came to Hogwarts, I think. No one taught her, she could just do it, though I think she had to practise to become really excellent at it.

I mean, really, I could ask her to find out about these things but you can see why I'd rather not, I'm sure.

Because that's just it, I don't want to learn. If there's only a way to make sure that I never do. I don't want it to just...happen. Accidentally, I mean.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hermione]

Oh, I see.

Okay, well, let me ask and I'll let you know?

You can also learn how not to do it when you don't want to do, that much I do know.

[alt_hydra]

Okay, thank you.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hermione]

Hydra, here's what I learned:

• I was right about people sometimes being both, sometimes neither, and sometimes one or the other. It is possible for someone to have talent in legilimency and not occlumency, but it's rare;


• Sometimes Legilimens first experience something like a flash of insight or intuition about people and they attribute it to all sorts of other things and never even realise that they're reading thoughts;


• If that's happening then the person can leave it undeveloped, depending on how distracting it is, but then there also won't be any control over when it happens or doesn't happen and what sorts of thoughts the person is able to pick up on;


• The best way to stop the unintentional flashes is to develop one's skills in both Legilimency and Occlumency, with an expert, until it only happens when it's desired.


• If you don't want to work with someone, then meditate until you can control it, and don't look someone else directly in the eye as that makes it easier.

Actually, I bet if you the person meditated and worked on Occlumency, that would stop it pretty effectively, but there's no guarantees, supposedly.

Does that help?

[alt_hydra]

The only experts in both legilimency and occlumency that I've ever heard of are Mummy, or the Lord Protector.

And if you think on what they're like, you can see why no one would want to work with them.

Actually, if they're representative of what people who have both abilities are like, then I've definitely got to make sure that I never, ever get legilimency. Not that I have got it - just that someone recently accused me of trying to use it on him, when of course I wasn't. But he knows what Mummy can do, and he knows I can do occlumency, so now he's assuming the absolute worst, you see.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hermione]

Well, what about your uncle? He's been working on Occlumency, at least, with Draco and Harry, and I bet if you asked them they'd tell you to talk to him, so you wouldn't have to explain how you got the idea, even.

And I think you're assigning too much about their personalities to their ability with it. I know at least one person who can do it who isn't like that at all. Maybe even two, although I wouldn't say I'm friends with them, you know, just that I know them and they're nice. Well, sort of nice, anyway.

I mean, I do see your point because someone who can just reach in and read someone else's thoughts might tend to think it's their right to do so, or that it's justified because it's in a good cause, or something like that. But not everyone who can read minds has to be a--a berk about it.

[alt_hydra]

Would he really be an "expert," though? He can occlude, but it's something he had to learn, and he can't do legilimency at all as far as I know. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I don't think I'm assigning too much. You don't think it's a little frightening, that one of the most powerful people in England, along with the most powerful, can do both of those things? And who's to say if having the skills didn't make them the way they are. Imagine being able to see what people really thought about you, and from a young age, especially. People aren't very generous in the privacy their own minds, after all. I know I'm not always.

From,
Hydra

[alt_hermione]

Oh, it's certainly frightening that they can do it, but I don't know if they're the way they are because they can do, or if they became that way because they used it and didn't like what they learned, or because they were already sort of mean and using it just made them worse.

Because sometimes seeing what people really think is a good thing, isn't it? If it helps you be a better person, that is, but not if it's just going to make you bitter or nastier, but that's down to the sort of person you want to be.

I think if you're a good person, you can be convinced of bad things, but you're still basically a good person. If you're a selfish or nasty person, then bad things become an excuse to be even nastier.

But then, I don't know, because I think about how long Sirius has been trying to convince people what the right thing is to do, and how many of them go on not doing it.

So I'm not sure, I suppose.