A New Understanding of Occlumency

Although Jon had repeatedly dropped hints, Professor Sprout still seemed not to have guessed that the monster behind the three attacks was a Basilisk.

At the very least, Hogwarts had not taken any public measures against the Basilisk... such as handing out snake-repellent spray to every student and teacher, or having Hagrid breed large numbers of honey badgers.

Fortunately, just as expected, Hogwarts seemed to return to its usual calm after the Christmas holiday ended.

Apart from Hermione Granger disappearing for several weeks, which had sparked endless discussion among the students, everyone naturally assumed she had been attacked. However, Madam Pomfrey clearly explained that Miss Granger had merely suffered a Transfiguration accident rather than an attack, and would recover soon.

Now, it seemed as though the sun had risen over Hogwarts once again.

Within the castle, everyone's mood became optimistic... Since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been attacked, there had not been another incident in the past few weeks.

Professor Sprout had also brought good news. The Mandrakes were growing splendidly and would soon mature, allowing the petrified victims to be restored to normal.

During a Herbology class, Jon heard her tell Filch, "Once their acne matures, they can be replanted; then, before long, Professor Snape can use them to brew the antidote. Your Mrs. Norris will be back soon."

Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction.

Jon knew exactly why. According to the original plot, Ginny Weasley had discarded and tried to destroy Tom Riddle's diary... No longer under the Horcrux's control, she naturally would not cause any further attacks.

Moreover, Tom Riddle's diary was now in Harry Potter's hands, and Harry had yet to master how to use it.

That meant Hogwarts would definitely be safe for the next two months... Tom Riddle could no longer use Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets, and the Basilisk naturally would not wander around the school.

The nerves Jon had kept taut for half a year finally seemed to have time to relax.

Gilderoy Lockhart, however, believed it was all his doing.

"I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Minerva." During one conversation, Jon heard him say, "I don't think the Chamber of Secrets will ever be opened again; those criminals must know I'm here, and that sooner or later, I'll catch them!"

For some reason, Jon always found Professor Lockhart rather strange.

During this time, Jon spent most of his free time in the Room of Requirement... making up for the more than half a month during Christmas when he had been unable to practice magic.

And because he knew the original plot and knew this period would be safe, he no longer deliberately controlled when he entered or left the Hufflepuff common room, so long as he did not violate school rules.

At this moment, inside the Room of Requirement.

An Eastern European man who was not especially tall but moved with extraordinary agility was dodging the attacks of several Dummies before him.

He was incredibly strong, capable of smashing a stone Dummy into fragments with a single punch.

He was fast as well, easily running one hundred meters in under twelve seconds.

More importantly, his hearing was keen. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell which direction an enemy was coming from.

Sergei Pavlov truly was the finest member of the Kazan Training Camp class of 1976, a distinguished KGB Agent who had received the Order of the Red Banner. This body was almost naturally suited for combat, a perfect soldier.

Jon had transformed into him for nearly four hours in total, and he could now fully control this body.

Of the two pistols, he had practiced with the less powerful one many times. Even with the body of a twelve-year-old child, he could now use it to hit nearby targets with reasonable accuracy. The PSM pistol had originally been designed for clerical personnel and female agents.

He had not yet tried the more powerful one, since he could not be sure whether the Room of Requirement had good soundproofing... It would not be ideal if a gunshot drew a crowd.

As the Eastern European man suddenly collapsed onto the ground and began convulsing violently.

His body gradually shrank, eventually turning back into Jon Hart, a first-year Hufflepuff student.

Taking Polyjuice Potion truly felt awful. Having your body suddenly stretched or flattened like a toy was incredibly painful... Jon truly did not know how Barty Crouch Jr. had endured taking it for an entire year, remaining in Moody's form all that time!

After resting for several minutes, Jon changed clothes and picked up the Wand beside him.

Muttering an incantation at a Dummy ahead of him, he sent a yellowish-orange beam of light into its eyes.

After nearly half a year of rigorous practice, he seemed to have mastered the Eye Blight Curse, a spell that did not rely much on emotion.

Even if a Fire dragon appeared before him now, he was confident he could make it suffer terribly with a single Eye Blight Curse; of course, being trampled into a meat patty by the enraged Fire dragon was outside his considerations.

However, compared with the Eye Blight Curse, his progress in the other main area of study had not gone so smoothly.

Jon had long since returned Close Your Mind, the book that recorded how to use Occlumency, to the Library... and he had already memorized its contents.

For nearly half a year now, whenever he woke up, before he went to sleep, and during other spare moments, he had trained his mind as much as possible according to the book's instructions.

He could clearly feel that he had made some progress in this area, but not much.

And there was the same old problem: no matter how hard he tried, he could never know exactly how far his training had progressed... After all, he could not exactly ask a powerful wizard to use Legilimency on him to verify it.

Jon sat on the sofa in the Room of Requirement with a grave expression... Occlumency was the thing he most urgently needed to master.

Suddenly, Jon stood up.

He had thought of something:

Occlumency was not normal magic. It required neither a Wand nor an incantation.

It was merely a kind of instinct, a conditioned reflex.

Polyjuice Potion could replicate instincts... For example, Sergei's combat instincts. After drinking Polyjuice Potion and transforming into him, Jon could fully control those combat instincts unconsciously.

Then, if he transformed into a powerful Occlumens, would that help him understand Occlumency?

Jon suddenly grew excited.

As it happened, Hogwarts had an exceptionally accomplished Occlumens.

"Severus Snape!"

Polyjuice Potion required a strand of hair from the person one intended to transform into. Without question, plucking a hair from Snape was no different from pulling a tooth from a tiger's mouth!

The risk was great, and the chance of failure was not small... but the potential rewards were enormous. It seemed worth a try?