A little after 6 pm...

The Magic of the Mind seminar was just wrapping up when Alvis arrived, the N.E.W.T.s students packing up their things and drifting from the room in groups and lines. Alvis ducked around the crowd, taking up a spot beside the door and going mostly unnoticed as he tried to figure out what to say ahead of time.

Two weeks ago, Casey'd suggested he meet the visiting teacher, an expert on the magic of the mind who might be able to unravel his...'whatever,' as they'd wound up calling it. The first day he'd held back because going in Casey's body seemed like a bad idea, especially since it seemed like at least part of his 'whatever' was attached to his body. After they got switched back, the fear set in. Before bringing it up to anyone else he'd poured over every book the library had on the subject of mind magic, looking for his own answers; but all he'd come away with was a vague understanding of mechanics and more questions than ever.

He needed an expert's help. From what Casey said and what he'd heard about this seminar, Gerard Gries of Beauxbatons was the man to ask. Maybe. If Alvis could get his thoughts together and work up the nerve.

He got so wrapped up in his planned introductions that he almost missed the Professor, who walked straight past him once the room had emptied. Alvis jolted away from the wall, his mind scrambling to catch up. "Ah, Professor Gries!" He caught the man's sleeve. The initial burst of forwardness didn't last long, his train of thought hitting the brick wall of anxiety at meeting a new person. He shifted uncomfortably, his gaze falling to the floor.

"I, um. Sorry. I don't mean to bother you, if you've got somewhere to go right now. It's just that I...there's something...someone told me you might be able to help with a problem I've been having. Well, it's not really a problem-problem, at least I don't think it is, but..."

This wasn't working. Alvis withdrew his hand and rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath to get his nerves under control. "I'm sorry. Let me start again." He sighed, adjusted his glasses, and looked the man in the face, though he was careful to avoid his eye. "My name's Alvis Norling. There's something strange going on in my mind, with my mind, and I was told you could help. If it's not an inconvenience, of course."

The seminar had been going at a remarkable pace. Gerard was just about to introduce the concept of Legilimency before the holiday, though not enough for the participants to attempt anything on their own. Gerard was the last to leave the room.

"Ah, Professor Gries!" a boy had snagged him by the sleeve. Gerard had come to recognize the faces of those that lived st the school, if not knowing everyone by name. The lad looked familiar. "I am not a professor, young man, only an academic advisor." At Beauxbatons they were specific on titles and Gerard was never boastful. "You may call me Gerard or Mr. Gries if you have difficulty with French."

"But no, you are not a bother to my time." Outside of the seminar and some detailed work behind the scenes for the Tournament Gerard never had a busy schedule. His brow wrinkled as the boy tried to explain himself. "Are you sure that your own counselor, Miss Biladeau-Yukawa, would better serve...?"

There was a flicker of surprise in Gerard's eyes for what Alvis was finally able to say. "Is there? If you would rather talk in private I have the use of an office just around the corner." He led the way, letting the student walk beside him. "You are a young mind of Ravenclaw, are you not? I recall seeing you at the seminar near the start of November[1] though I supposed that wasn't you, given the confusion of swapped consciousness." Perhaps that was the root of Norling's troubles, if anything had affected his mind from the temporary switch.

1.

Nov 6

Alvis fell into step alongside Professor -- Mister Gries -- as they rounded the corner to his office. The boy's face scrunching up in confusion. "Your seminar? No sir. I mean, yes, I am a Ravenclaw, but I'm only a fourth year. I've never..." Oh. Wait. Swapped consciousness, the start of the month. He sighed. "You're right, that wasn't me. That was a friend."

When the reached the office he stood by, catching the door as it opened to allow the professor to enter first. It swung closed behind them, cutting off the noise of the halls. Only then did it occur to Alvis how quiet everything seemed. Or rather, how quiet Mr. Gries seemed. It wasn't just his professional mannerisms or accent. It was the underlying, the subtleties. He didn't seem to have any. There was nothing.

Alvis swallowed nervously, hoping that was a good sign. "I, er. I suppose that whole thing might be a good place to start. The body-swapping, I mean. That's when I first became aware of it, at least, but I think it's been going on for a long time before then. So maybe it's not a good place to start after all." He shook his head, hoping the fragmented thoughts would fall into place. They didn't. "I'm sorry. I don't really know where to begin. It's all been very confusing."

Gerard's office was rather small with very little to it that wasn't utilitarian. A desk, chairs, a bookshelf, everything in dark but warm brown woods and stone. There was a single window with warbled glass, making the feeble sunlight dreary. On the desk were writing utensils, filing trays and a pitcher for water with glasses.

Even with the lack of things in the room, the outside noise was absorbed into a stillness if not exact silence. Though at this hour it may as well be silent.

"Have a seat," Gerard gestured to the backed armchair facing the desk as he sat in its twin behind the desk. Initially, it appeared Alvis was highly confused about something. Perhaps a wayward befuddlement but Gerard never voiced hypotheses until he had enough information.

"You do not have to be afraid about what you do not understand," Gerard said assuringly. "Try to relax. I will not judge you whether or not you have this problem."

He started formulating basic questions. "Answer what comes easily to you. What do you think your problem is, can you put it to words? Have you experienced any especially strange phenomena recently? Have you had any recent injuries or chronic medical conditions?"

Alvis tried to do as the councilor said, relaxing into the armchair. The nerves lingered in his tight shoulders and uncertain hands. As Mr. Gries settled in the chair across from him, Alvis took a risk he hadn't dared for a week now, catching the man's eye. Nothing. He felt nothing. That was good, wasn't it?

He shifted in his chair, turning the three questions over in his mind. “Well," he began. "I’ve had these awful headaches ever since I was a kid. Before Hogwarts, they came maybe once a month. After I started here, they cropped up more often – once a week. And then last summer, I took a bit of a fall. Concussed myself. Since then, it seems like they’ve come every other day.” This he knew thanks to Madame Nagde’s constant reminders to keep up his headache journal, even if he didn’t always remember it when he should.

“As for strange phenomena…well, I don’t think it’s strange, but my friend did. During the body swapping, he and I got switched and, when I was in his body, I lost…something. I don’t really have a word for what it was. It felt a little like going deaf. Except I could hear just fine, and see and feel too. But missing what I lost felt like the same sort of thing. Does make any sense?”

It didn't. He knew it didn't. But how else could he explain the loss of something that had no name?

“The thing is, I've always been a bit...insightful, I suppose. But only when it comes to people. Like, when they lie. I always know when people lie. Or when they're sad and try to hide it with a happy face. It never made any sense to me, why people kept trying that sort of thing. It was so obvious, but, maybe it's only for me? My friend, the one I got switched with, he’s got a bit of knowledge about mind magic. I don’t know how. The way he put was...oh, what was it...he accused me once of  ‘peering into people’s heads’, said that I ‘scrutinize their minds’ when we match eyes. But from what I’ve read that shouldn’t be possible. At least, I don't think it is."

Alvis chewed the inside of his lip and looked at his sneakers, resisting the urge to curl up on himself like a child hiding in daddy's favorite chair. "That's the long and short of it," he said softly. Now tell me I'm crazy.

"Hopefully your school Healer knows about these headaches." A chronic injury could be the cause of something or merely a side affect. The increased frequency since the injury over the summer suggested it was tied to other phenomena.

"I understand," Gerard said as Alvis believed loosing a 'sense' but still retaining his sight and vision was contradictory. "The human mind is able to perceive far more than what we are cognitively aware of, very much so for the magically gifted, such as a Seer." Not that Alvis showed traits indicative of a Seer. They talked more about feeling premonitions, odd dreams at night, sometimes nausea reacting to unfavorable yet unforeseen circumstances. "In fact, there are suggested to be more sensory mechanisms then the base five, sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing; yet they are very intangible and hard to explain. Whatever is at work, that's part of the magic of reliving a memory in a pensieve. The magic of the device is able to unlock those details unnoticed when you experience something live."

The explanation was getting slightly off topic from Mr. Norling's issue. As Alvis explained further a specific notion entered Gerard's head. The lad was unassumingly defining Legilimency, odd as it was for someone his age to posses that ability. Improbable, but not impossible when it came to magic.

"What you describe is capable within the realm of magic." Gerard had a few more questions to make absolutely sure before he clung to this theory. "This friend of yours, would you say you have a stronger connection with him when it comes to recognizing lies and emotions?" That addressed the off chance that their time swapped in each other's body, assuming a single pairing between them, was not also a factor at work.

"As for the phenomena you experience, does it correlate to your headaches? Have you sensed any stronger recognitions of lies or emotions before or after your summer injury?"

More sensory mechanisms than just five...yes, Alvis had heard of that before. He thought it might have been mentioned in Divination, the last time they talked about Seers. It made sense, as did Mr. Gries's information about the pensieve. After all, it wouldn't be much use if you could only experience exactly what you remembered.

He turned the next question over in his head for a moment before he answered. "I do pick up more lies from him, but I think that's just because he lies all the time. To me, to other people, to himself...he spends a lot of time hiding." Now that he thought about it, that was probably the reason Casey knew mind-magic. It was another mask to him, one more thing to hide behind. "But, no. It's not any stronger between us than anyone else. Actually, sometimes it's a lot harder to know what he's feeling -- I guess that's where the mind magic comes in.

"The headaches...yes, sometimes they come with those feelings. It's why I don't like looking people in the eye. I mean, it also creeps them out -- the other people -- so they don't like looking me in the eye either. But if I keep it up too long I get these awful headaches when I break away." Like that time he'd somehow gotten into a staring contest with the half-mer girl from Hufflepuff. He hadn't felt much from her, but now that he thought about it, could that have been because there wasn't much to feel...?

"But I don't always get them when that happens. Sometimes, they come when I'm alone and trying to remember...something. I'm not entirely sure what, but it's something important and every time I think too hard about it the headache comes. And then sometimes I meet peoples' eye and don't get headaches at all. That's when I can't get in, I think. But that almost never happens, except with my friend sometimes. And..."

Alvis lifted his gaze from the floor and caught Gries's eye again. As to be expected now, he gleaned nothing from the man at all. "...and with you, sir. I haven't 'gotten' anything since we came in. It's very quiet in here."

This friend of young Mr. Norling sounded unusual but he was not the one who sought out to confide with Gerard today. His suspicions were further confirmed as Alvis listed criteria indicative of Legilimency. At that Gerard concentrated, lowered his shields slightly.

At his level of skill it was common practice made easy that allowed Gerard to keep a mild Occlumency barrier in place at all times he was conscious. It also served as a early warning system of sorts, if anyone tried to peer into his mind with a higher level of Legilimency to surmount the barrier. As the Belgian wizard weakened his defense he felt the wandering probe from Alvis. Very weak indeed, no wonder Alvis said Gerard’s mind had been ‘quiet.’ But that did not undervalue the fact Alvis possessed the ability of legilimency if greatly untrained. A feeble but consistent output, without taxing Alvis while operating at its low level.

Gerard smiled softly, intrigued at the nature of this discovery but also a supportive smile. “And what would you say, Alvis, for how quiet it is now?”

At this Gerard dropped his standard barrier, having formulated a pocket information in his mind outside of his usual Occlumency arrangement. This was to test how much Alvis was able to note within the pocket Gerard had set up for him. It had the curiosity and purposeful thought Gerard had with diagnosing Alvis but there was also a memory present, one with strong imagery. A memory of a time when Gerard had been as a small seaside cliff when the waves crashed against the shore in torrents, salt spray saturating the chilly air.

Salt. That was the first thing Alvis registered as Gries’s wall retreated. The faint ghost of taste filled his mouth. It was not strong or dry the way that table salt could be. Rather, this illusion – no, this memory – was cool and moist, borne by water into the air.

Alvis’s nerves settled, relief replacing his anxiety. This was a test. Finally, something he understood. Unblinking, he held Mr. Gries’s gaze, wetting his lips against the taste of salt. Were those waves that he heard – or felt? Neither word was quite right, but he whatever he sensed he was sure of the waves. They slammed against the shore one after another, filling the cold air with salt and brine.

“It’s still quiet,” he said softly, focusing on the memory, the one thing he’d grasp from the man since they’d met. When he reached for it, its effects grew sharper, more bold. “Except for the waves. They’re fierce, aren’t they? Like the ocean’s threatening to storm. They’re getting salt all over everything. It’s strong.”

He blinked, cutting off his link to the memory. A small headache lanced from temple to temple like an electric shot. Alvis winced, going for his aspirin bottle, but since the headache faded quickly he left the thing in his bag and was content with slightly avoiding Mr. Gries’s eye. “That’s it. That’s all there is, right?”

Without needing to confirm his suspicions with peering into Norling's mind (something that could be dangerous for Alvis given his innate reactions to mind magic) Gerard could see Alvis try to work out the prompt on his face. His tongue would dart in and out of his lips in small movements. A salt lick. The young Ravenclaw also relaxed.

The feeble probe felt like a tickle in the section of Gerard's mind that had been opened for Alvis. What was remarkable was that Alvis did not appear to need the same level of concentration that a beginning Legilimens at his level would need. It was not without drawbacks, however, when he saw Alvis wince and break eye contact, no doubt reaching for headache medication before pausing.

"There's plenty more to my mind but not much more to what I let you see." Gerard considered this with what Alvis had previously said he had experienced. "What you are able to do is not rare to the magical world, though quite rare for you to be able to do it at such a young age. What do you know of Legilimency, the art of exploring another's mind? Have you ever received training for it?"

"Whatever your history with it, you are indicative of a beginner's ability with the skill. You are able to glean a clear emotion or a clear memory, not necessarily the whole memory but sensory input associated with the memory. That and when others lie, you say you recognize the intent to lie. That's a cognitive choice on their part. Emotion, sense memory, and intent to lie rather than complex lines of thought. I was also thinking about my observations of your testimony as indicators of Legilimency, though you only sensed the memory of the ocean I grouped with it."

"What appears to set you apart from any other user at your level is lack of concentration. Learning Legilimency requires immense effort and concentration to peer into another's mind. You are able to do so without thinking about it, as if it always manifests in your social interactions. I would also wager that drives your headaches, getting them after an instance of touching another's mind. Am I correct? I would hesitate to say this solution would solve everything but if you were able to learn greater control over your ability you may be able to reduce or eliminate the headaches you get from doing so."