As always, Hermione immediately rushed to the library. She was not even bothered by the fact that it was already evening, and it was unlikely she would be able to find the necessary books before curfew. Harry was greatly surprised that Miss Know-It-All had not started an argument over Flamia's idea. Perhaps she was tormented by guilt, and by agreeing she wanted to demonstrate her trust at least somehow. Besides, who knows, perhaps the idea of entering that blond ferret's mind had occurred to her as well. But, looking around, Harry found another likely reason for Hermione's hasty disappearance toward the library. Ron Weasley. And not alone. If Colin's camera had still been intact, he would surely have wanted to capture yet another sensation. But Ginny had done her best, destroying the silent witness to her defeat, allowing Lavender Brown to peacefully enjoy the status of the girlfriend of the captain of Gryffindor's victorious Quidditch team.
As always, after a match victory, a small party was organized in Gryffindor Tower. This evening was no exception. Only, whereas before Harry would have cursed anyone who dared forbid him from taking part in the celebration, this time he would have erected a monument to that person. First, he had no desire to celebrate a victory that had been endangered because of his personal plans. Second, despite the game's outcome, all the attention was once again focused on him—or rather, on them—the Best Couple... Even Ron and Lavender's public kiss failed to stop the endless stream of toasts and congratulations... And what was the point of an invisibility cloak if no one would let him use it? Thank Merlin, the younger students had been sent to bed, while the older ones pulled out the bottles of Firewhisky they had secretly brought in. At first they still tried to disguise what they were doing, but after discovering that the fearsome Head Girl was absent from the common room, they turned it into a full-fledged drinking party. Harry was perfectly satisfied with this state of affairs—it meant he and Flamia could quietly leave this den of underage alcoholics, and no one would even notice. However, while Harry merely pretended to drink with everyone on every occasion, some had emptied their bottles with enthusiasm. Harry was even somewhat worried that McLaggen, in the state he had drunk himself into, might try to eliminate his rival without the help of magic. Fortunately, everything turned out fine, and soon Flamia suggested they leave before McGonagall arrived for an inspection... And not a moment too soon! They had barely turned into the corridor leading to Bruce the Recluse when they heard the furious tirade of their Head of House.
After such an eventful day, all Harry dreamed of was taking a shower and going to bed. Flamia surprised him once again: she did not wait for him to return from the bathroom but came into his room herself. After those blissful moments under the shower, all the dark thoughts finally left Harry's mind. After all, did a person not have the right to be happy?
The morning greeted him with a slight headache.
Which hurried away the moment Harry remembered HOW MUCH McLaggen had drunk... I wonder if the Gryffindors had thought to stock up on Hangover Cure Potion? At least today was Sunday, although two years of the Lion House could hardly just skip breakfast (and probably lunch as well...). Deciding it was time to get up, Harry carefully rose and headed for the shower. Flamia woke up when he was already ready to go to breakfast. To avoid arousing suspicion among those who had not consumed strong alcohol the previous evening, the Best Couple agreed to meet in the Great Hall.
Harry had expected the main news of the day to be the hangover suffered by his own House, but he was mistaken. First, the organizers of last night's revelry had clearly been prepared for the consequences, so only a few people had "suffered." Fortunately, McLaggen was among them. Second, everyone at the table was eagerly discussing the absence of the Head Girl throughout the night. However, they were not referring to Hermione, who had, nevertheless, managed to spend the night in the library and had already gone back there again. The real headline was the absence of Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown, which had been discovered during the inspection... And when the hero... of the night finally deigned to appear in the Hall, his satisfied but sleep-deprived appearance sparked a fresh wave of rumors of a very particular nature...
Weeks passed. Hermione continued studying in the library every free minute she had. Harry even considered talking some sense into her, telling her it was not worth spending all her time because of that ferret, but Flamia changed his mind with a convincing argument—while Miss Know-It-All was buried in the library, she had no time to think about the nature of the girl. Besides, while they still had free time, they needed to maintain and improve their dueling skills. They had already become quite good at maintaining a solid shield during battle and using most spells nonverbally. This allowed them to maintain a good reputation in Snape's classes. Which, by the way, they desperately needed, because the Dungeon Terror simply could not do without sarcastic comments and mockery. Especially now that reading the thoughts of his "favorite" student no longer worked. Ron also got his share after carelessly displaying undisguised self-satisfaction during one of the lessons...
"Mr. Weasley! What has caused this smugness of yours? Have you finally mastered the nonverbal Shield against enhanced Cutting Curses? Well then, if that is the case, stand up. You will demonstrate to us just how capable you are!"
Having said this, Snape flicked his wand, pulling Ron out from behind his desk, and pointed the wand... at the most important organ of the adult male population. Weasley trembled with fear, for he could not cast either a specialized Shield or even a basic Shield nonverbally. He had already braced himself for the worst when the professor flicked his wand, but then...
His trousers simply came undone!
The entire class was treated to the sight of the distinctly childish underwear of Gryffindor's Macho, clearly chosen by the "caring" Mrs. Weasley. This alone badly damaged the hero's reputation, but what followed later in the common room...
The girls could not resist asking Lavender outright what the Macho was like in bed, but in response they received a thoroughly puzzled look:
"Ron Weasley??? In bed???? He can't even fall asleep without a bedtime story!"
The reaction was nothing like what Lavender had expected:
"So that's what you call IT?"
"And how did the poor thing fall asleep before?"
"You've already started role-playing in bed?"
"ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR MINDS! LISTEN, EVERYONE, RON WEASLEY IS A COMPLETE MAMA'S BOY! AFTER THE MATCH THAT IDIOT DRAGGED ME TO THE NORTH TOWER, WHERE HE BEGGED ME TO TELL HIM A BEDTIME STORY! A PERFECTLY ORDINARY ONE! HE'S PROBABLY COMPLETELY IMPOTENT!"
Miss Brown's voice at that moment would have made even Dumbledore envious... Needless to say, the ears of the Great Macho quickly turned the color of a ripe tomato! Now, probably the entire Hogwarts knew how to tease the captain of Gryffindor's team. And this news came at just the right time for the Slytherins, whose song "Weasley Is Our King" had become outdated and was now performed only in the Lions' version.
Hermione refused to give up. During the course of her research she managed to find many more books on Occlumency, treatises on protecting the mind, and even, by some absurd twist of fate, a book on hypnosis that had somehow found its way into the Hogwarts library, but she still could not find a single mention of Legilimency. This had already begun to irritate her greatly, yet she simply ignored every argument such as: what if the library simply doesn't have it?
During Potions, Harry finally earned an excellent reputation because his intuitive method turned out to be a true discovery: two potions out of three he brewed better than by following the textbook! This nearly drove Hermione mad, but since nothing disastrous had happened, she had nothing with which to reproach the Genius Potioneer. However, whenever they had to work together, Harry preferred not to invite trouble and simply followed the instructions. Once, the potion was so labor-intensive that he, Hermione, and Flamia all had to work over the same cauldron. And when the potion was nearly finished and only needed to steep slowly over low heat, they decided to discuss what to do about Legilimency.
"Harry, it can't be that there's nothing in the Library! Remember, before the Triwizard Tournament we also decided there was nothing there about the dives! But Neville had the book!"
"And who do you suggest we ask? Dumbledore? If he took it away, he must have had a reason..."
"Well, I thought Snape couldn't have learned it by himself..."
"What? Snape again? I can't take this..."
Then, as always unexpectedly, Flamia joined the conversation:
"Exactly! Snape! How did I not think of that before!"
"WHAT? You too..."
"You don't understand! Snape used the Legilimency spell on you back during those lessons! You just need to remember it and practice on someone!"
Hermione was clearly stunned by Flamia's awareness. Of course, she understood that Harry could fall in love, that he would devote more time to his girlfriend than to his friends (and lately that had indeed been the case, although the friends themselves had also been busy), but to so casually reveal such a secret to someone he had known for barely half a year... But the Best Couple failed to notice Miss Know-It-All's suspicions, especially since Slughorn was approaching them, already composing another speech praising the Golden Boy...
Everything turned out to be far more complicated than it had seemed. Harry managed to remember the incantation, but using it proved to be much more difficult. First, even if he managed to break in, he could not control the flow of the victim's thoughts, and without that the entire effort was meaningless. Second, if the "victim" was moving, it was impossible to use the spell. And what about the two gorillas who constantly followed the ferret? They had to find a way to cast Legilimens unnoticed, so that Draco would not even suspect that someone was exploring his mind...
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