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ALL ATHENA WANTED TO DO OVER THE WEEKEND was revise for her exams however that plan was ruined after she'd gotten a note from one of the school owls telling her to go to Dumbledore's office on Saturday afternoon.
Why Dumbledore couldn't wait until after she finished exams, Athena didn't know. However instead of rereading notes and creating mind maps, Athena was walking up the stone stairs into Dumbledore's office feeling rather annoyed.
She didn't really have to worry about Dumbledore reading her mind anymore as her occlumency was almost perfect. Maybe that's why Dumbledore wanted to see her, maybe this would be their last meeting.
Athena was sure that she wouldn't need many more of these, after all she could keep Dumbledore out for about ten minutes before she got tired. Sure Voldemort was going to be a lot more difficult however with the motivation of knowing how important it was the keep him out, Athena was sure that she would be able to manage it.
They started right away, Dumbledore claiming that he didn't want to take too much time out of her day. Athena thought this was rich considering he could have chose to not take any time out of her day however she didn't say this. Dumbledore may be nice but she was still rather scared of him.
Athena deposited quite a few memories into the pensive as quick as she could before Dumbledore could see how many she needed. The amount increased every time, use your imagination as to why.
Sometimes Athena wondered whether she should risk it and keep some present in order to spur her on to be successful. However if this plan didn't work Athena couldn't imagine how catastrophic that would be, she would probably end up dropping out of school due to embarrassment.
She took her place in front of the headmaster readying the imaginary stone wall inside of her mind. Dumbledore smiled calmly at her before lifting up his wand and reciting the familiar words.
"Legellimens"
Athena felt the sharp force on her mind but kept the barriers up, maintaining her stance. The walls held up well and after a minute she didn't feel any different. The only thing that began to happen was a small headache appeared in her mind however apart from that she felt fine,
A second later, the pain got sharper and Athena had to barricade the wall a bit more to ensure that there was no way in. As she focused on keeping Dumbledore out the pain in her head began to shrink slightly, Athena was back in control.
The pain came and went as the force grew and retracted. It covered different areas as though trying to sneak through a back door in her mind but she had every entrance covered. Athena could still see Dumbledore with his wand outstretched and although Athena didn't want to get ahead of herself, it seemed as though he was struggling.
After five minutes Athena was still standing straight without a worry in the world. Her memories and thoughts were safely contained as though in a metal box. She was a safe protecting from a robbery. Nothing was going to break down her boundaries.
Dumbledore was relentless, he knew it wouldn't be easy for her if she ever came face to face with Voldemort he would not be so kind. Athena winced as the pain increased but it didn't stop her from protecting her memories.
After fifteen minutes Dumbledore lowered his wand and the force vanished. Athena felt free again, as though a clean wave had washed over her. The pain disappeared and she was standing light as a feather in the centre of the office.
She looked up to the headteacher and saw the distinct expression of pride on his face.
"There is nothing more I can teach you" Dumbledore smiled, "Miss Sinistra you have mastered the art of occlumency"
"Mastered it?" Athena asked,
"I couldn't break in even when I was trying my hardest" Dumbledore nodded, "which is rather impressive if I do say so myself"
Athena wished that she could go back in time to the beginning of sixth year and tell herself this. When she had first started learning it seemed near impossible to keep him out however now she had done it for fifteen minutes. At the start she couldn't last five seconds.
"Thank you Professor" Athena smiled happily,
"I hope you won't need this skill to protect against Voldemort however all in all it is a very good skill to have"
"What about legellimency?"
"What about it?" Dumbledore asked calmly,
"Can I learn that too?" Athena had always been intrigued by this kind of magic, looking into others minds.
"Having occlumency will make learning this easier for you however I cannot teach you"
"Why not?" Athena murmured in disappointment,
"Because it will not help you in regards to the prophecy or to the war... however I do recommend reading into it, in your own time of course"
"I will do" Athena smiled, "thank you again"
"Of course, I will still see you in order meetings... I think it will be at those meetings when we will continue consulting the crystal ball".
Athena nodded but tensed at the thought. Doing this in her exam had been ok because she hadn't even tried to look into it. She didn't want to because last time this had been the cause of everything to go wrong.
All your fault
There was no way you could have known
"Of course professor" Athena nodded as she walked over to the pensive and collected her memories,
"Good luck on your exams" Dumbledore smiled, "I am sure you will do brilliantly"
Athena smiled one last time before exiting the office with a new found sense of hope. She had mastered the skill of occlumency, something that had taken her nearly two years. It was crazy to think about and she couldn't wait to tell Remus after she returned to the common room.
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Despite being in the midst of exams, students still had to sit through lessons. The majority of these were just revision where teachers could help students go through anything they didn't understand. Athena didn't mind these as they often motivated her to keep on working. A new environment was sometimes all it took.
On the Monday Athena didn't have an exam until the afternoon (which was her written transfigurations exam) meaning that she had defence against the dark arts in the morning. This lesson was just a time to get on with whatever she wanted, Athena had brought with her all her transfigurations notes and was hoping to work her way through them before the hour ended.
They were in the classroom before Professor Watson (no surprise there) and Athena had only just got all her notes out her bag when the door opened and he came striding in.
"Put everything away!" He called loudly and abruptly, "today we are doing a practical lesson".
Everyone looked around in confusion. Never had Professor Watson done anything like this. In fact he stayed silent in so many of his lessons that Athena had forgotten he was Scottish.
"We have revision—" a Hufflepuff student began.
"You have your practical exam on Thursday and there is something Dumbledore has requested we cover before this" Professor Watson continued. Athena couldn't help but notice that his accent became more soft or more harsh with every new breath.
"Dumbledore has requested that you should experience the imperious curse" the teacher continued, "it's becoming very popular for the opposing side in the war and therefore the Professor thinks it's better to be prepared"
"Will this be on our exam?"
"I shouldn't think so" Watson shrugged, "but how would I know?"
"Because you're supposed to be our teacher" Remus murmured so only Athena could hear.
"You all know what the imperious curse is I presume?"
"One of the unforgivable curses" Lily called, "but aren't they illegal to perform"
"Yes but this is strictly for educational purposes" Watson nodded, "don't try this at home"
Athena looked at Remus sceptically before everyone stood up.
"Right we'll go alphabetically shall we so... Abbot you're up first"
Athena watched as the blonde girl stepped up looking slightly scared as she readied herself.
"To repel this curse you have to keep a clear focus, only a few can do it first time and even after experience it is often rather difficult to achieve"
"So what's the point in us doing this?" Remus sighed, again quietly so only Athena could hear.
For once the girl was rather optimistic about this. Having mastered occlumency, she was sure that keeping Professor Watson out wouldn't be difficult at all.
He pointed his wand at Abbot and murmured 'imperio'
Almost immediately, Abbot turned and did a very impressive cartwheel as though she were a professional gymnast. Athena wasn't sure whether the girl would be able to do this had she not been under the curse.
"Next up, Black"
Sirius stepped up slowly after rolling his eyes at James, which didn't go unnoticed by Watson who didn't seem to care. As soon as the curse hit Sirius he began to do some kind of Irish jig. James immediately burst into laughter and cursed the fact that he couldn't record this for future purposes.
The next few students did similar things such as use the desk as a gymnastics vault, speak fluent Spanish, breakdancing, stand up comedy (In Lily's case) and a dramatic recreation of Romeo and Juliet where a chair played the part of Juliet.
After the curse was lifted the students always seemed confused and continued to ask what had happened. Apparently they faintly remembered what they had to do but it felt almost like a dream. Athena was glad that Mary didn't take defence against the dark arts because she had actually had first hand experience with this curse.
"Lupin you're next" Watson called. Athena was surprised he even knew anyone's name considering how little he ever taught them. Remus smirked at Athena before striding to the front of the room.
This wasn't a brilliant time for Athena to be thinking this but she did love how tall he was. Even next to the lanky Scottish Professor, the boy looked tall.
"Imperio" Watson stated and a second later Remus dramatically did the splits. Athena had to hold herself up on James' shoulder because she was laughing so much.
After he'd come out of the curse he walked over to them muttering that he was glad they were standing up because he was in too much pain to sit down. Watson continued to laugh before he called up Dorcas to the front.
Dorcas walked around the room like a runway model which Athena stated she would have done even if Watson hadn't used the imperious curse. Athena couldn't help but notice that the entire time this was happening Watson was laughing hysterically.
Athena saw the comedic aspect to it and he wasn't making the students do anything harmful however, his laughter was borderline creepy and she wasn't sure that anyone should be having this much fun performing unforgivable curses.
James went next and sang a lovely ballad to the class in some ancient Scottish dialect that he'd definitely never learnt before. Lily and Sirius had to sit down because laughing so much was threatening them falling over.
Athena's ribs actually hurt from laughing by the time James finished, he took a deep bow after despite not being under the curse anymore.
"Had to end the show well" he grinned before walking back towards the rest of the group.
"Sinistra" Watson beckoned her forwards. Athena had been having a lot of fun however now she felt uneasy. The entire time the man had been teaching here he had always seemed to hate her. Watson always shot her cold glares during lessons and even out of them such as at Slughorn's party.
However Athena had never said two words to him which made the whole thing even weirder. How could the man hate her if he didn't even know who she was?
Athena stepped in front of him and looked quickly to Remus who didn't seem concerned, he still had a smile on his face from watching James sing.
"Imperio"
It felt as though she was walking on air. This definitely wasn't what Athena had believed it would feel like. She hadn't noticed that her head had been aching however now that the curse got rid of this pain she wondered how she hadn't.
Everything felt calmer and happier in here. A part of Athena wondered whether it would be nice to feel like this all the time or whether it would get boring. It felt a lot like the euphoria she felt when she was with Remus.
Tell me how the war ends
Wait what. Was that a voice? Athena frowned as she thought back to what it had said. She was so carried away by the floaty feeling that she'd forgotten what was actually happening. The voice belonged to Watson and was in her head. However as it spoke, the not so familiar Scottish accent had vanished.
Tell me how the war ends
Why was he asking her that, how did he know about the prophecy? He'd made everyone else dance, sing or do cartwheels so why was he asking her this.
Tell me how the war ends
No. Of course she wouldn't do that. Who did he take her for? The barriers in her mind went up but the floaty feeling wasn't immediately lost.
Tell me how the war ends
Athena was panicking now. Why did he want to know this? She didn't even know how it ended which made it evident that Watson wasn't just having a catch up with Dumbledore about it.
"Expelliarmus" Athena yelled quickly and she watched as the wand flew out of the man's hand. She stood there in complete shock for a moment, her heart pounding before she turned on her heel and ran out of the room.
Athena's heart was beating in her ears. The voices in her head were screaming at her as loud as they possibly could. She couldn't hear and all of a sudden she couldn't breathe. The girl gasped for breath as she placed her hand against her rapidly beating heart.
Her vision was blurred around the edges, she couldn't see where she was going and she couldn't see whether there was anyone around. Athena's legs were shaking, she felt faint and she knew that she was going to pass out.
She couldn't breathe, was she dying? Athena felt her knees collide with the stone floor as she tried to steady her breathing. It wasn't working, tears flooded the remaining part of her vision. She had to pull herself together but it wasn't working. She couldn't breathe, why couldn't she breathe?
Suddenly she felt hands collide with her shoulders, someone was in front her her.
"Athena you need to breathe"
It was Remus, thank god it was Remus. Athena tried to steady her breathing but her breaths were still coming out in rasping gasps.
"With me ok" Remus encouraged her, "with me"
Athena nodded as she placed a hand against his chest and listened to him breathing. Tears blinked out of her eyes as she inhaled deeply and held it before trying to let all her stress go.
"You were the only one who did it" Remus murmured, "you stopped the imperious curse... I suppose your occlumency helped... what happened?"
"Remus" Athena sighed as she looked at him,
"What is it?"
"I think my uncle is pretending to be Professor Watson"
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A/n
Words - 2618
Published - 17th February 2021
surprise :0
or not bc you
probably figured that out