A Deeper Connection: A New Beginning

A Deeper Connection - Part II

"Splendid," the Lord of the Light said, before once again asking Thomas if he would not prefer to conduct this part of the examination in private. Again, the Dark Lord politely declined. Afterwards, Dumbledore also not so subtly offered the teachers to leave since their presence was no longer required. Thankfully, none of the professors did accept the offer. The more witnesses in the Great Hall, the less the old coot could risk.

Once his flawless theoretical knowledge had been tested, Dumbledore informed Thomas that his practical skills would be tested in a short duel. Opting not to comment on Thomas' rather naïve, childish duelling posture, the Headmaster started to fire off the first few offensive Spells, Charms, and Curses at the Dark Lord, all of which were part of the first-year curriculum. Tom easily side-stepped most of the attacks, although without his usual grace and fluency, while also blocking the remainder of the offensive moves with a few weak Shield Charms, while sending off a few attacks of his own, mostly underpowered Knockback Jinxes or Disarming Charms. Clearly dissatisfied with the results of the duel, Dumbledore soon moved up to second year repertoire, much to the same results, although the Dark Lord's movements and Shield Charms were becoming even less fluid and less steady, and his counterattacks less frequent.

Still not satisfied with the skills Thomas was displaying , third year attacks soon replaced their lower year counterparts. Barely evading the Spells and Curses of the Headmaster, Tom waited for the beam of red light that was undoubtedly still to come, continuing to evade the attacks of the Headmaster.

"Stupify!" the Lord of the Light eventually shouted, his wand slashing through the air.

Ignoring his instincts while adjusting his defences, the Dark Lord moved, although intentionally not fast enough. The red beam of light hit him straight in the chest, rendering him unconscious.

The first thing Tom noticed when he was Revived was the pounding of his shoulder, followed by seeing a pair of blue twinkling eyes once he had opened his eyes. Fractions of a second later, he felt a slight pressure as someone was trying to invade his mind. While they had talked about the possibility of the old coot using Legilimency on Thomas Prince , Tom had not expected him to try something as reckless in public. Luckily, he was prepared.

Given that the Prince family was renowned for their skills in both Occlumency and Legilimency, the slight resistance when Dumbledore entered his mind would not raise questions, especially not in comparison to his usual defences. Under normal circumstances, no one would be able to enter his mind, a fact which Dumbledore was well aware of since he had tried himself shortly after the death of Myrtle Warren. Therefore, the successful invasion of Thomas' mind would be rather unexpected and certainly very out-of-character.

The surprises did not stop there.

Instead of the usual empty void guarded by thick, impenetrable walls, the surface of his mind was filled with vivid memories of Thomas' life. The baffled Headmaster found himself in a vortex of emotions and memories, as a myriad of scenes out of Thomas Prince's life flashed past him. One moment, Nero Prince would be teaching Potions to his son, while his mother Madeleine would be laughing with her son when he had managed to cast his first Levitation Charm. Despite the happy memories of his childhood, the events of the last few days continued to break to the forefront, clearly troubling the young Wizard.

While Tom trusted in his defences, he was rather reluctant to let the Headmaster, who appeared to be coming back to his senses, roam free for much longer, or dig any deeper. Ejecting Dumbledore was not an option since a normal twelve-year-old certainly did not possess the skills nor the power and determination to do so, leaving Tom no choice but to wait and hope for Severus to interfere, as he continued to throw memories at the enemy.