NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Chapter 7
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Chapter 4– Shut Up Mind.
Edited: 07/03/2023
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Occlumency, or the magical art of shielding one's thoughts, is derived from the word occlude, or "to hide," though another text claims that the word is derived from the Latin occludere, which means "to shut up," and mens, which means "mind," effectively meaning shutting your mind up. Occlumency is the magical ability to close one's mind against Legilimency.
It is ancient, dating back to the Middle Ages. It can prevent a Legilimens from accessing or influencing one's thoughts and feelings. A wizard or witch who practises this art is known as an Occlumens, as opposed to a Legilimens, who practises the equally ancient form of Legilimency.
The most basic form of Occlumency entails clearing one's mind and leaving it completely blank and empty to prevent Legilimens from perceiving one's emotions and thoughts. Taking this type of Occlumency further entails suppressing the thoughts, feelings, and memories that would contradict whatever the Occlumens desired a Legilimens to believe. This creates a phoney layer of mentality that can completely mislead the person who employs Legilimency into believing that the fake layer is the legitimate one.
At the same time, the genuine counterpart lies deeper within. As a result, even if the person is lying, it is not apparent that Occlumency is being used. It takes a lot of willpower, just like resisting the Imperius Curse, and mental and emotional discipline. It is also one method of fighting the influence of Veritaserum, which is why the substance is not often used in court. Instead, it is mainly used illegally and in conjunction with torture because it is most effective in those circumstances.
Occlumency, as a "magical defence of the mind against external penetration," is said to reduce the effectiveness of the Imperius Curse against an Occlumens, though this is unconfirmed. This is because the power required to use Occlumency is described as similar to that needed to resist the Imperius Curse.
However, a strong will is necessary to master this form of magic, so it is not taught in formal education. As a result, there are very few masters of the art, only among pureblooded families and exceptionally talented, powerful wizards. As a result, muggle-borns hardly ever learn of the existence of this form of magic and remain ignorant of the dangers to their minds.
This is what all my reading, of all the safe texts I could find, essentially boiled down to. Of course, I did not really pay much attention to the books teaching Legilimency, and I did find some more in-depth advanced forms of Legilimency. Still, I want to learn to crawl before I can run.
So I will focus on the most rudimentary and essential forms of Oculemecy, which is clearing your mind. I have predominantly focused on this as I took particular attention to the excerpt, which went on about suppressing thoughts, feelings and emotions, which I want to use at the moment to stop the Lockhart in me from rearing its head.
Reading through the exercises to help clear my mind, I do not get a lot to help me on my journey. It just says that you must purge yourself of all emotions. People who wear their hearts on their sleeves, cannot control their feelings, wallow in sad memories, and are easily provoked — in other words, weak people — have no chance against a skilled Legilimens who can penetrate your mind with absurd ease.
It is no surprise that Gilderoy only learned how to manipulate other people's minds and didn't learn to defend his own. He was simply too vainglorious and shallow to actually have the discipline to learn this form of magic. Even though he had all he needed in his library, he still didn't do it even to hide his own crimes. I can feel his tendencies swaying me to put down the books and go do something more fun, but I resist the idiotic urge and buckle down to eviscerate all traces of the old Gilderoy Lockhart from my mind.
I remove my robes so that I am only wearing my underwear and then sit down on the soft carpet floor of my living room, sat down cross-legged like a monk, I move my hands and put them atop my knees. I close my eyes and make that meditation symbol with my hands and then breathe in deep and then breathe out, and I keep doing so afterwards, trying to just focus on my breathing and block everything out.
After all, the first step of Occulemency is just clearing out your mind and not thinking about anything, which is just basic meditation. As far as I am aware, the best position for meditation is this position. I am even willing to go further and do other peaceful, calm things like yoga, drinking tea, and whatever else I can do to make my mind my own.
I can't wait to be rid of this goddamn disgusting parasite in my head, or am I the para- Wait, shit, I am supposed to be meditating, blocking out stupid thoughts like this. Shaking my head as if somehow throwing away all the thoughts rummaging around my noggin, I take another deep breath and again try to focus on my breathing. I can already tell that this is going to take a lo-Fuck. I did it again. Think nothing, think nothing, think of nothing, don't think about thinking about thinking nothing, just fucking THINK ABOUT NOTHING!!
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"Knock, knock, knock."
"Motherfucker, I was just fucking getting the hang of it. So who the hell is knocking at my goddamn door? Is this the fucking counterpart of Jehova's witnesses in the magical world? Hello, have you heard about our most graceful and decisive leader, the Dark Lord Voldemort?" The sound of knocking at my front door disrupts my current meditation session, and I quickly get up, not caring about my nearly nude form and stalk towards the door.
I have been working on clearing my mind for almost a week now, and I have just stayed within the apartment working on it. There is sufficient food in the kitchen, so apart from eating, sleeping and taking care of myself, I have just been working on this for the past week. But then, just when I was getting somewhere with it, some arsehole began knocking at my front door.
"What do you want? I am busy." I swing the door fully open and let some of my annoyance out to the person knocking at my door. Standing there looking quite cowed was a portly, short, squat man with a pug-like face and a balding head hidden under a brown hat that was a mix between a witch's hat and a fedora.
He is currently trying his very best to disappear from my intense gaze. He was dressed in a ruddy old brown suit that was probably once a nicer shade though now it is a dull brown. In addition, he wears a creased white shirt with some stains peeking out here and there, along with a black bowtie and dirty brown dress shoes. The most important feature to notice about him, though, is the camera hanging around his neck.
"A-Ah, M-Mr Lockhart, sir. It is me. You did not show up to your regularly scheduled photoshoot, so I decided to come and see if you were alright. You have never missed one in the past. Witch Weekly was not happy. They had to pay the models for their time anyway, even the, uh, the ones that were given a higher paycheck to stick around and keep you company afterwards. So they want to reschedule as soon as possible so that they can get the photo shoot in the next edition, preferably before it releases this weekend. Can you possibly come tomorrow for the photo shoot, sir?" The man at my door, no, a name comes to my mind, Digby. D. Digworth, I am trying to figure out what the D stands for.
Anyway, the memories begin to inform me of all my past interactions with this man, and from that, I have been told that Digby used to be an old cameraman that used to work for the Daily Prophet before he was fired for some reason. One day, the man saw Gilderoy at a book signing and begged to be his personal photographer, appealing to the vanity in Gilderoy.
He was given the position. Over the last couple of years, he has taken various photos of Gilderoy and sold them, even making advertising and sponsorships for shops and even selling a calendar. Now the man basically handles all of Gilderoy's PR. he sets up photoshoots and deals to gain more money for Gilderoy.
"So, uh, when do you want to reschedule it for? Any time is possible. I can even have it arranged for tomorrow morning if that would suit you better. The faster we do this, the better, especially because you missed it yesterday. They had to pay everyone for that day, so you will get paid less than you originally were. I accepted since we want to maintain a strong relationship with Witch Weekly as they are our primary source of income." Digworth speaks again, breaking me away from the memories flooding my mind, which I am grateful for.
Still, his words just reminded me of a very crucial piece of information, that being, Gilderoy Lockhart probably has a lot of responsibilities. A lot of PR responsibilities like book signings, unveilings and everything in between to perform, which I am definitely not going to be doing because, for starters, I don't have complete control of my own mind. So I won't be able to accurately recall any of the things I am supposed to be doing, and I will only be able to once I get into way more advanced Occlumency.
More importantly, I won't be able to properly gauge anyone I may come across while exploring the magical world. While I may get some information when I see them in the street, like just now with Digworth, there is no guarantee that the data is one hundred percent correct. For all I know, within my head is blackmail regarding Digworth, or I know a dark secret about him that would make me wary and know not to trust him with certain things. Still, it has not risen up in the memories I just got.
I would be appropriately screwed if such an occasion occurred, so I am staying in my house and not leaving until I have complete control of and access to the old Gilderoy's memories. But the world isn't just going to start ignoring me until I am ready to reenter it. Most likely, people like this guy will begin chasing me down to talk to me, or my fans will get agitated by my absence and start a manhunt in search of me.
So I will likely have to develop a cover story to stay within my house as long as possible without being bothered. It has to have at least the limit of a year because I think that is how long it will take me to properly master Occlumency by focusing my all on it.
"Ah, yes, Digby. Cancel everything that I have to do for the foreseeable future, I will be going on a trip very soon, and you just caught me in the middle of packing for it. Adventure awaits, and I don't know when I will be back but worry not, the mighty Gilderoy Lockhart shall brave all evil in his way and return home in the future." That is a good enough excuse and maybe something that the original Gilderoy would say.
I made sure to dumb it down so that it would be believable to someone who has worked with Gidleroy for the past few years, and it should buy me quite a while. With this guy being my PR guy, he will surely go and inform anyone who needs me. And give me at least some time to work on my mental defences.