Chapter 19: Alright, You’re Now a Master of Occlumency

The answer is yes.

Occlumency indeed doesn't require a spell. Chapter Seventeen of this book fully explains the principles and practice methods of Occlumency.

The most basic form of Occlumency involves clearing your mind—stopping yourself from thinking, remembering, or feeling—to prevent a Legilimens from sensing your emotions and thoughts.

There's no magic involved at all; it relies entirely on willpower.

And since willpower is hard to measure, if you really want to practice it, you'd need to find someone to relentlessly cast Legilimency at you. That's the only way to confirm whether your Occlumency skills are improving.

So, who would Cohen ask to do it—or rather, who would Cohen trust to be the intruder?

---

Wednesday afternoon, inside Cohen's Room of Requirement.

"Coo coo coo?"

Earl stared at Cohen like he was an idiot.

"Didn't you say last time that you've always wanted to use a wand? Here's your chance." Cohen placed the wand in front of Earl. "Help me practice Occlumency, and I'll secretly buy you a wand—if Ollivander is still willing to sell to me, that is."

"You know the Ministry of Magic doesn't allow non-wizard species to use wands, right, kid?" Earl tilted his head and asked. "Plus, you're a sneaky little brat—"

"You could use a new wand to catch voles. A freezing charm is more efficient than claws," Cohen pointed out. "And a blazing fire spell could let you eat them cooked. I'll let you in on a secret—Harry says Hedwig loves honey-glazed fried meat."

"Deal!" Earl agreed instantly. "How do you say the spell again?"

"Legilimens," Cohen reminded him. "Le-gi-li-mens. Stress the 'men' in the middle—"

"Got it. Expecto Patronum!" 

"That joke isn't funny," Cohen said with a straight face.

"No sense of humor."

Earl snorted, flapped his wings, and picked up Cohen's wand. He struggled in the air, trying to adjust his position so the wand tip could aim at Cohen.

"How do you hairless folks aim with this thing?" Earl grumbled after circling for a while without finding a good spot. "The tip is thinner than a vole's tail—"

"Just say it. Cast it a few times, and you'll hit me eventually," Cohen said, leaning back in an armchair, waiting for Earl's barrage.

In all of Hogwarts, Cohen probably trusted Earl the most. Nothing built trust like an unbreakable pact. No wonder wizards invented the "Unbreakable Vow" to secure partnerships.

"Legilimens!"

The first one missed.

"Legilimens!"

The second one hit the fireplace. Who knows if charcoal has emotions? Earl certainly did—he was fuming.

"Damn it, Legilimens!"

Finally, Earl's spell hit Cohen.

"?"

"?"

Earl flew back to the table with the wand, lifted his "pant leg," and waddled around, inspecting Cohen from every angle.

Both the boy and the bird stared at each other with question marks in their eyes.

"You didn't even cast it properly, did you?" Cohen asked.

"Bullshit! I saw light come out! Are you blind like those Dementors?" Earl shot back mercilessly. "The wand glowed! Didn't you see it? It glowed!"

Since Earl was a bird, Cohen wasn't sure if he could actually cast magic. To figure out whether that "damn Legilimens" had been blocked by Cohen or had simply failed due to Earl's casting, Cohen taught Earl a few other spells. (Cohen now suspected Earl might actually know magic, since he'd never mentioned or used the Patronus Charm in front of him before.) 

And surprisingly, the other spells worked fine. Especially the Patronus Charm—Earl even managed to summon a corporeal one. Of course, it was an owl. And whether it was because Cohen had cleaned up Earl's late-night snack earlier or because Earl slipped up, the Patronus slammed right into Cohen's head.

His brain buzzed. It felt worse than if he'd been hit with the Killing Curse.

"You little—"

Cohen snatched the wand and briefly vanished Earl's feathers. As Earl let out an indescribable screech and tried to cover himself with his wings, a satisfied grin spread across Cohen's face.

[**Sin Points +10**]

[*Note: Even the most wicked Dark wizard wouldn't pluck a bird's feathers just because it cast a Patronus at him.*]

"You absolute *****!" the shivering Earl shrieked. "Evil little monster! Perverted furry freak! You're not even human!"

"Ha, you just figured that out? I was never human to begin with!" Cohen snarled. "I was going to buy you a wand, but now? Maybe in your next life!"

After all this chaos and testing, Cohen finally understood something.

He was already a master of Occlumency.

The spell didn't seem to work on him at all, like how it couldn't be used on a Dementor.

It seemed he'd inherited nearly all of a Dementor's traits—except he was stuck with this cumbersome human body.

Cohen even cast an Avada Kedavra on himself once. It shocked the now-featherless Earl beside him into silence for several seconds—he even forgot to start cursing Cohen out.

Curiosity might kill a cat, but it wouldn't kill a Dementor.

As Cohen had expected, spells targeting the mind or soul had no effect on him.

[*"You're right, but Cohen isn't affected."*]

The only downside was that a Patronus could still hit him. With enough force, it might even knock him out of this body entirely.

Maybe increasing his soul's strength could help him withstand a harder Patronus hit. But in the relatively safe wizarding world he was in now, Cohen didn't need to worry about that—after all, truly evil Dark wizards couldn't cast the Patronus Charm.

So, what's next? He could safely approach Voldemort, who'd been trying to recruit him.

Imagine this: "Orphan," "Dark magic test subject," "Half-Dementor," "Highly interested in Dark magic," "Hands stained with the blood of over three hundred wizards"—all these sinister traits packed into an eleven-year-old wizard. How could Voldemort resist?

[*"Kid, won't this just sweep him off his feet?"*]

The only thing to worry about was whether Voldemort might try to eliminate this promising talent out of jealousy.

As Cohen calculated his next steps to infiltrate the enemy, the featherless, shivering Earl spoke up from the side.

"Are you done drooling?"

Earl's voice trembled.

"Hurry up and give me my feathers back! I'm shaking! I'm shaking here!"

"How do I do that?" Cohen asked with utmost sincerity.

He genuinely didn't know the counter-spell to the Vanishing Charm.

"…"

"********************!"

(*End of Chapter*)