𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍 - 𝐡.𝐩.

12 | A Mind Impenetrable Is Always Imperious

Gemini pushed Blaise's arm off and concentrated her undivided attention on Moody as he called Goyle forward.

The boy went up front, gulping visibly. Moody put the curse on him, and from what Gemini knew about it, he was narrating instructions in Goyle's head. Goyle leaped forward at once and folded one of his legs up as he balanced his weight on the toes of the other. And then he started spinning and springing about, his chunky arms bent up over his head. If it weren't for the absence of a skirt, he would have made a flawless ballerina.

Draco whistled. "Go Goyle!"

The class roared.

One by one, Moody cast the Imperius curse on every student, and Gemini felt an odd, uneasy feeling settle in her stomach as her turn came nearer. Moody made Crabbe and Millicent sing a duet that was so grating and shrill that he took off the curse after only a minute. But he did seem quite pleased when Blaise managed to throw him off to quite an extent.

But Blaise couldn't hold for long and ended up performing a sort of half-frog-leap, which made him feel quite indignant and humiliated.

Daphne was made to chirp like a bird and attempt to fly around with her arms spread out wide, flapping.

And then Gemini's name was called.

Her body went rigidly cold as the queasy feeling in her stomach intensified. Nevertheless, she stood up, handling herself casually as ever, and stepped up to the front of the classroom.

Draco blew her a mocking kiss of good luck. Blaise looked at her in the most fervid way, his eyes unwavering, lashes unblinking. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, like he had the answer to a question on the tip of his tongue, but couldn't put a finger on it.

Moody gave Gemini a solemn, calculating nod before the curse fell from his lips. "Imperio!"

Gemini felt an itch at the back of her head — a very small, barely noticeable itch, but her senses seemed to have heightened and she even found the silence blaring in her ears.

"Imperio!" said Moody again, at the lack of a reaction.

The itch seemed stronger, but Gemini blocked it out completely this time.

And so, Moody tried a third time.

The students had started whispering amongst themselves now, utterly curious. Gemini gave a little smirk as Moody failed on his third attempt to penetrate her mind.

"That is — extraordinary, Miss Delmar," said Moody. "Did everyone see that? Why, Miss Delmar completely pushed me out! Mr. Zabini's effort was good too, but not sufficient. They'll have trouble controlling you, Zabini, but they won't be able to make Miss Delmar move a finger unless she does it of her own free will!"

Gemini went back to her seat.

"Now, speaking of mind control and penetration, there is another — art — another form of mind manipulation. Can anyone name it? Anyone?" Moody pointed at Daphne as her hand shot up with Blaise and Gemini's. "Miss Greengrass,"

"Legilimency," she answered.

"Correct! Two points to Slytherin! And ten to Miss Delmar for her excellency — now... legilimency is an intricate, strenuous thing to learn. Anyone is capable of performing legilimency once they get the gist of it. But not everyone has enough patience and strength of mind to learn it. Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings. A person who practises this art is known as a Legilimens. Muggles might call this 'mind-reading,' but practitioners disdain the term as naive."