PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

77 || Occlumens

"Right," Katie muttered bitterly. "What is it, then? Why could I block him out?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "You're an Occlumens, Katie."

"An Occlu-what?" Katie repeated, her brain suddenly throbbing with dull confusion.

"An Occlumens," Hermione repeated slowly, as though the pronunciation of each individual letter would help Katie to understand what an Occlumens was. Truth be told, she had never heard that word in her life. Hermione let out a disgruntled sigh. "Oh, for goodness sake," she snapped. "Occlumency, Katie, it's what Harry's been studying with Snape, he's not taking remedial Potions. It helps to protect your mind from external penetration."

"But I'm not studying Occlu-thingy," Katie voiced. Hermione's intricate explanation had somehow only made the Slytherin more confused. Protection of the mind from external penetration — Occlumency sounded very difficult indeed, and Katie had no idea how she could've possibly mastered it without ever having heard of it at all. "How could I use it?"

Hermione rubbed her palm against the top of her forehead, which was wrinkled in agitation.

"Don't you see?" Hermione pressed. "You're a natural born Occlumens."

Katie blinked stupidly at her. "Is that a thing?"

"Of course it's a thing," Hermione snapped irritably. "You can be a natural born Legilimens, right? But a natural born Occlumens is very rare, more so than a Legilimens, there hasn't been one recorded for decades."

"Why me?" Katie blurted out. Of course, Katie would never wish anything she was going through on Chris — she would much rather suffer than let him suffer — but she couldn't help but wonder why she was an Occlumens and why she was a Parselmouth and why Voldemort was trying to recruit her. "Why does Voldemort — oh, relax Ron — want me? Why not Chris? Not that I wish any of this on him, but..."

"Well, it comes down to your personalities, doesn't it?" Ron shrugged, joining the conversation for the first time. "You're a Slytherin. He knew you'd be one."

"What Ron means," Hermione intervened sharply, with a glare towards Ron, upon seeing Katie's offended expression, "is that you possess many qualities that Voldemort himself praises. You're ambitious, clever, self-preserved—"

"I'm not selfish." Katie snapped.

"There's a fine line between being self-preserved and selfish," Hermione cut in firmly. "All I'm saying is that you're very like Voldemort — not that you're evil! Oh, no, this is coming out wrong..."

"You're just a great big Slytherin," Ron stated simply. "A nice one, mind you, but very Slytheriny."

Katie didn't feel that Ron and Hermione had quite understood her question.

"But why am I an Occlumens?" she asked tentatively. "Why am I a Parselmouth?"

"As I said," Hermione answered. "They're rare gifts. Maybe your biological father possessed them and they just skipped over Chris, but whatever the reason, at least now you know that you can keep Voldemort out of your head."

All of a sudden, Ron let out a loud groan, much to Hermione's displeasure.

"My best friend and my adoptive sister are both an Occlumens?" he said.

"Hey," Katie grinned, "I'm not your adoptive sister yet."

"Yet." Ron repeated cheerfully.

They had just entered the Great Hall and were separating to go and sit at their own house tables.