16. Defense against the dark arts

— Clara POV —

Not even an hour later, I was released with an official apology letter in hand, before being brought back to Hogwarts by Henry. Tonks only said: „That is to be expected, as they violated dozens of old and new laws", before leaving us, as he had another client waiting. This time Henry apparated us into Hogsmeade though and we didn't go through the floo of the headmaster, which was better anyway. Luckily the headmaster also didn't try anything at dinner, though I am pretty sure that he is a man that holds a grudge, something future me can worry about. There were also a lot of rumors, whispering and pointed fingers about or directed at me from the rest of the schools pupil. Luna asked me a few questions, but only after we had returned to our dorm room, which was quite considerate if I think about it. I gave her a rough outline before going to sleep, real sleep, to just put a mental end to this inconvenience.

The next day I was up early, even earlier than at other times, though I at first didn't know why, I later realized that my anticipation for defense against the dark arts or DATDA as I like to call it, was the reason for my early rising. This time, I went to the great hall, unobstructed, which mad me even happier. Though the great hall was empty, I realized, after coming there, that apparently there wasn't any breakfast at 4 o'clock. So I just started meditating until shortly after 7 o'clock, at which point the tables slowly began to fill up with food, appearing out of nowhere.

Breakfast was short, dirty but also good, before I headed for the library, to get a bit of reading in, before DATDA started. While I think the hogwarts library is probably the biggest library in britain, the content in it is underwhelming to say the least, as the title of biggest library comes from quantity instead of quality, as they needed to have ten to twenty copies of each book's newest edition and also older editions as well. Heck it was pretty much a museum of the timeline of books, their contents and the advancement of knowledge of many fields, but only in the bare basics. There was pretty much no content above apprentice level here, so while big, it was no wellspring of knowledge like many thought. Still, it had a nice quiet environment to it and a hell of a lot of wards. The librarian was more decoration than anything else, though these ones were badly damaged, more so than every other wards I had yet seen in this tremendous castle. I also just wanted to be away from other people, as they would just ask questions, spread rumors about me or point their fingers and while I didn't really care in the end, it was still annoying. They all are kids in the end, contrary to me.

Yes, I didn't see myself as a kid, as while I am missing a lot of knowledge, maturity, most importantly experience and height, my mental age was still at least twice their age, so already well enough into adult range. It was tiring, tedious task of navigating these deep hollow waters called kids and teenagers.

Three quarters of an hour I spent reading a fascinating but basic book about natural selection, which explained the principal behind the law of the jungle in specific ecosystems while also highlighting the importance of small ecosystems for the survival of larger ecosystems with a thrilling explanation and example about muggle - magical relations and its importance for both parties and also references to a lot of different important books with more than intriguing titles. Hadn't Misses Pince, the librarian, reminded me about the near start of the first period, after I asked if these books present in this fast library, I would have missed the first DATDA lesson in its entirety.

So I hurried over to the classroom, which I luckily knew the location of, before being thoroughly after walking through the door, as apparently the twins had expanded the space in their classroom to stadium levels, which made sense, as, while I didn't know yet with all of the things that had happened to me, the first DATDA lesson was a joint lesson of all years. Any question I could have probably had, were answered a few seconds later, as Dumbledore walked in, to which the whole class fell silent, wondering why he is here, before talking: „While most of you already know, that the first few weeks or months will be a joint lesson between all years, as to address the issue of the constantly changing defense against the dark arts teacher, I am also pleased to announce that the curse on the position has been lifted. Now on to more pressing matters. Maybe some of you already know it, others probably don't, both Ollivanders are mutes, which also means their teaching style will be a lot different than other. A short few informations about their style will be given by me. Most importantly, they have given an oath, through a magical contract, to never disclose anything that happens in this room to anyone expect each other, except if the behaviour violates laws or school rules, after which they will be able to inform the current headmaster about these happenings, but only him. In this contract was also included, to never harm any student, except in unforced duels or similar exercises, which you will be going through in this year. Now why would this be needed you may ask", he implied, followed by a lot of murmurs and questioning shouts. „They are both masters, certified through the international community, of the mind arts, which includes but is not limited to legilimency and occlumecy. Their communication and part of the teaching will involve those methods, which consequently means they will need access to your mind. Their oath prevents them from giving away anything at all they may get to know about you. It also prevents that they intentionally do anything else than communicating and teaching, though your allowance can disable that one, if you need help from them. That contract is, I can assure you, more than airtight and they will die at their first violation of any conditions and many more, which do not have any implications for you at the moment, though it will be possible to see most of the contract at your houses noticeboards, though some clauses are left out, as they could be abused by third parties."

After a short and silent pause Dumbledore added: „If you are asking if this is really safe, I will just say this much: There are 4 certified masters of the mind arts in this room, me included, there is another one in the hospital wing and we can deal with anything that might happen. They also could probably kill all of the students here without any problems, even the ones with some feeble defenses. I, myself, would also fall in short time, though I could put up a bit of a fight, so the contract is really more a formality, which was their idea, though it was co-written by all of us and proof-read by most of the staff. Additionally there are wards in place, which will stop most other people from using legilimency in this room, while the professor also need to stop any such attempt they may detect. With this all I think that you will be in very good hands and take my leave. If you would please lower your defenses for these professors", after which Dumbledore promptly left the room, not even leaving the students time to start questioning him.

Shortly after I also felt a very mild and good natured prod at my mental defenses, after which I stepped out of them to begin this lesson. I also need to add, that stepping out of ones own defenses is a hallmark for most masters of the mind arts and is not that easy to accomplish and differs very much from legilimency.

What greeted me were the mental image of both the twins, though I instantly wanted to study it, as they were interconnected in such a complex way, that it made my scalp tingle. Before I could say anything though, they, he, it? started speaking: „Let us give a short explanation, before bombarding us with questions, though you will probably already know most of it. We are the Ollivander twins, you can call us Professor Ollivander and just use normal maskulin pronouns etc. Our minds, while different are also intricately linked, which we won't explain how yet, which gave us this form, for the lack of a better word.

Like the headmaster explained, the are unable to harm you in any way and form while in this room while also needing to protect you from anything considered dangerous which is not intentionally designed that way as part of the lessons. This means that you can come here anytime, if you seek protection from anything or anyone in this castle, headmaster and other teachers included. We are also capable of splitting our attention to all of you for individual lessens, though there will still be normal lessons too. Most theoretical content will also be covered here in your mindscape, with physical handouts after the lesson, though it is also possible to make exceptions for people who learn better through writing. While we are not allowed by law, to teach you any occlumency, we will still guide you at any point in time, on individual basis, outside of classes. We are also bound by most of our oaths outside of classes, so you needn't worry about us. We will also split the lessons by-weekly into theoretical and practical parts. Theoretical parts is learning mostly theory and whatever is possible in this space, while practical includes physical fitness, awareness and duels, which most of them are mandatory, though exceptions can be made if circumstances require it. Any questions?"

I answered after a short pause: „Only things you will probably not explain in detail. Though I am curious, what is your passion? I would guess mind arts but I think I will be wrong about that, as most Ollivander's are at least masters in that regard", I asked. „Our passion is teaching, though not necessarily humans. The last century or so we tried to teach frogs to understand human languages and even speak them, which we are near to accomplishing, though that is just a small side project of us, a test of skill if you will. Now we would like to reciprocate that question."

„Knowledge, the Unknown and Potential are my three, with an additional temporary one of protecting Luna Lovegood in this school. My current knowledge of DATDA is this. „I additionally said, as I foresaw that as their next question, before sending the painfully small package of it to them. This also reminds me, I already categorized most knowledge into rough categories, from which I will go into more detail, after that step is finished. The only problem being, that there are thousands if not millions of different rough categorizations, not to talk about detailed ones. This will take years, if not straight up decades, if I don't find another way to do this, though I already knew that before I even started this endeavor.

„So, let us start with the first few lessons", they started not even a second later:

„First lesson in DATDA, never trust easily, especially if it concerns your body, mind and soul. For an example, willingly given blood. 1 drop of it, in the hands of anyone, can curse you, kill you, rip your soul out of your body and many more.

Second lesson, physical fitness is very important, though most wizards ignore that part of defense and fighting. If your enemy is weak physically, you can capitalize it. If it is your ally, he will probably drag you down throughout a mission or fight.

Third lesson, though you wouldn't need to be told that. Forget comfort. Comfort is only useful if you are alive to appreciate it.

Now on to todays main lesson. Willingly given blood. We think that is a very good starting point for magic in general. Willingly given blood originates, if you are under no force, pressure or any other similar thing while imbuing your magic into a small drop of blood, before shedding it. Your blood crystal was beyond foolish for example, as you didn't know what would happen, after you had implanted it in that stone. Luckily the outcome was just a soul bond, though there already was a natural one, so it just strengthened that." That took me by surprise, as I didn't know that. This was followed by a lot of useful and good usages and a lot of bad and sinister ones and also what to do if it was necessary at any point in time to give willingly given blood away. Possible solutions were an oath or contract or infusing a will to be only used by one person for the intended purpose, though that is a mastery level skill of blood magic, so sadly there weren't that much options in the end. They also gave homework, though it wouldn't necessarily be needed to be written down, as you could also just send them an information package or just let them read/see your mind/memories of you doing it. The homework though was two parts. Gathering more information about willingly given blood but also gathering information about the rituals used on halloween, though we had three weeks for that one.