Order Only - Hols and Legilimency

[alt_hydra]

I'm sorry I'm only just now writing about this, only none of it seemed really useful to the Order. If it were, I would have told everyone straight away, of course. But I already did share a little at Tea Appreciation, so most of you know that I spent much of hols going to MLE with Mummy. I was hoping to learn something top secret, of course, but nothing like that happened. She was busy a great deal of the time and then I would just end up reading in her office. I thought about having a snoop around, but that would be a bad idea. She's not the sort to leave anything incriminating out, and I'm sure she has all varieties of monitoring devices, too.

What I did learn, which might be useful (if obvious), is that a lot of people who work for MLE aren't very happy. Much of the time they're afraid, but often they assume that since everyone else seems fine, they shouldn't show it or talk about it. And of course, most of them don't like Mummy. That doesn't bother her. I think she likes it, even.

She wanted to test my legilimency skills, so she would summon some lower-level worker to her office and ask me what he was thinking. We tried different methods, like having me look into the person's eyes, or having them turn their back to me. I didn't notice a very big difference between the two. What was interesting was that we sometimes saw different things. Or, more rightly, Mummy tended to pick up on one strong, singular image and thought, while I would pick up on several at once. Mummy said this is because I'm inexperienced, and that with more practice I will learn to filter through the "insignificant noise" and get to the truth of a person's mind.

I asked her how you could be sure of the truth of a person's mind. A person's mind has an imagination in it, after all, and if I've had a fantasy about stealing from a shop, that doesn't mean I've actually stolen from a shop. Sometimes we also have hateful, fleeting thoughts, too, that we don't really mean.

Mummy insisted that there was always a truth, that you just had to learn how to pull it out of a person.

I just don't know if it's that simple. But if it is, I suppose I need to learn. How to get to the truth of a person's mind, I mean.

Comments

[alt_alice]

I wonder.

Perhaps when someone thinks in absolutes, that is what one sees?

There are so few people who are truly as talented as either you or your mother -- it may very well be that there are different strengths to either approach, and that the way you currently see things is equally valid and just as useful -- simply more nuanced.

[alt_hydra]

I never thought of different legilimens seeing different things. I just assumed that what she would see would probably be more accurate than what I saw (and she seemed to think that was the case, as well).

I don't think she picks up on emotions the same way that I do. One man she brought in, she asked me what he was feeling, and I said that he was feeling fearful and stressed, and thinking about his family and was wondering if he'd been brought in before Bellatrix Lestrange because he'd given a couple of knuts to the neighbour's ill-treated mudblood servant (that's the word he was thinking, "mudblood"). But even though he was afraid he also seemed a bit touched with awe and admiration, like he could scarcely believe how powerful Mummy was, and oh, her daughter, too! How amazing.

But when I said all that to Mummy she said that his admiration was false, a lie that came directly from his fear of being legilimised. But how can she know for sure that it's a lie? That's what I don't understand. She said that I'll just have to learn to spot them.

[alt_alice]

Hm. I agree with you, Hydra. I'm not sure it was a lie, or if you can truly simplify things that much and not lose something in the process.

What you've just told me seems to point a great deal more to this man's character and inner thoughts than it would if you had to narrow it down to a single 'truth' -- if that's even the right word for it.

Perhaps we might have you practice with some people who are deliberately trying to lie to you in their thoughts, to see if you can tell what that might feel like?

[alt_alice]

I'd imagine that if your mother tends to be suspicious of others, and take pride in their fear, she might be more likely to see that in everyone, regardless of what they might actually be thinking, or take what she saw and make it fit what she was expecting to find. To simply assume everyone was lying.

[alt_hydra]

Well, she is an Auror, I don't know if she cares so much about a man's character so much as getting to the bottom of things. And she believes I need to learn to work the same way.

But would seeing things the way I already do be more beneficial to us?

Yes, that's a good idea. To have someone lie to me to see if I can tell.

[alt_alice]

I can certainly see the benefit in nuance. I can also see how there might be occasions where we may need a quick, decisive read on someone, however, without extensive time to gain the information we need.

My first impulse would be to advise you to work on what comes naturally to you, and what your personal strengths are, rather than forcing your abilities into a more narrow mold. The more comfortable you become with understanding and interpreting complex thought and feeling, perhaps the more decisive you could be if you were required to act quickly.

However, I truly am not certain what would be best. Of course, you are certainly more informed about this than I am, so should you feel differently, that is entirely valid.

Severus, have you any thoughts?