Office of Atticus Prince

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus' office is located in the dungeons

Atticus' assets:

1,183 galleons
Pewter cauldron
school robes
18 common ingredients
11 rare ingredient
Regis (cat)
year 1 books

[Lucius Malfoy]

Geoffrey approaches Atticus' bedroom. He knocks on the door.

[Pontifex Maximus]

The door opens and reveals Atticus setting down his wand. He's pouring over some old book and looks up.

Hello Geoffrey, come in.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Geoffrey walks into his bedroom and finds a seat before looking at Atticus.

Atticus, I must ask...you seem to have a sort of admiration for the Death Eaters. You mentioned them quite a bit during our last meeting. Why is that?

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus put the book on his bed, closing it

Not all of them, but some of them were very powerful and misunderstood wizards and witches. The Dark Arts are the fastest way to power, and it is only by holding power that the world can be changed for the better. I think they understood that. There's a certain disregard for the rules that...makes sense.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Geoffrey watches Atticus and listens to his words. He then looks at the ground.

I know that some, among them, had the right state of mind...others didn't. Others only wanted to destroy purely for the desire of destroying...and not constructing something new from the ashes of the old. So that the world could change.

He then pauses before sighing.

Something my father told me a long time.

[Pontifex Maximus]

There's nothing wrong with that. The Dark Lord was by his nature selfish, he wished to accrue power for power's sake. He did push magic to its limits, however, and he was a great wizard. That cannot be denied.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Indeed it cannot be denied. We shall only have to see if the next leader of the Death Eaters and the Dark Wizard remnants will learn from such mistakes.

[Pontifex Maximus]

And if not...we will have to forge our own path.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Indeed we will have to.

Geoffrey stands up now and walks to the door, then stops and looks at Atticus.

Keep this between you and I...but I know this stuff because my father was a Death Eater. Lived a normal life after the war, but was arrested suddenly and sent to Azkaban when I was 7. Mother slowly went insane due to the loss and feared for my life as well...she was sent to St. Mungo's when I was 10.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus averted his eyes, not entirely sure how to take such news

That's....

Don't worry, Geoffrey. Nobody will know.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Occlumency/ Legilimency 7/10

Alone one afternoon Atticus was once again poring over any book he could get his hands on from the library. He had recently finished a biography, heavily biased, of Grindewald, and was taking a moment to rest his eyes when his mind wandered. Grindewald had a number of special powers, he had honed his skills in archaic forms of magic to produce truly terrible magical weapons. Voldemort had taken that route and perfected it, changing his personal appearance almost on a whim. Such tactics could inspire fear directly. That sort of terror could help Atticus build his reputation as someone not to be trifled with. He opened his eyes and glanced down once again, his eyes falling on a book entitled "Forgotten Magical Arts". He read the first few pages and found himself rather bored with it. Spells means to transfigure insects into drains of sugar for on-the-go tea sweetener. To be honest most of it looked rather bland. Skipping ahead several chapters something caught his eye.

"Chapter 7, Invading The Mind"

Now this was getting good. He read on.

"Legilimency is a specialized branch of magic that allows an accomplished wizard to temporarily see into the mind of his target. Often, the thoughts and memories of the person can be explored, and thoughts or memories produced or dragged to the forefront of thought. It is a highly technical and dangerous form of magic that if misused, has been know to make victims go mad."

Now this was interesting. Perplexed, he read on.

"Talented wizards developed a counter to such invasions of the mind. Legilimency, while not only considered rude, is generally only used for malicious purposes. Occlumency was developed as a way to strengthen the mind to repel invasion..."

Even better. I could strengthen my own mind against attack while learning how to invade the minds of others...perhaps it was worth a try.

"Legilimency can be focused in the wand. Beginners may need to be in direct contact with their victim, while more experienced wizards could cast the spell from a distance and move about the mind at will. The incantation is Legilimens."

[M D]

A message is passed through the house from the Headmaster, Atticus was required to see him as soon as possible. The Password to the Office being Mornington Crescent

[Xion]

Violeta sits in front of her crystal ball, with the ball being on her bed still as she peers into the ball. "Who to begin with..." She then gets an idea and then looks over at the book to learn the incantation for Legilimency, Legilimens. She waves her wand, aimed in the direction of Atticus's room. "Legilimens." She then resumes staring at the crystal ball.

[Pontifex Maximus]

"Legilimens."

Violeta's eyes almost involuntarily rolled to the back of her head. It felt as though her essence was leaving her body and traveling quickly, with no respect to physical barriers, towards an object. The background became grey and blurred as the object resolved into the figure of Atticus sitting in his room. A feeling of cold seized Violeta as she penetrated Atticus' mind. She was immediately seized with Atticus' most common emotions...trepidation...loyalty...loneliness...passion, intense passion. it was as if she was sharing Atticus' physical being in an obtrusive, uncomfortable sort of way. She also became aware that a force seemed to recognize this intrusion in the deep recesses of the subconscious. Immediately it began working against her, but despite this, she was able to penetrate further, into his memories...

Suddenly Violeta felt as if she was falling into a dark hole, but landed on something soft and...green. Yes, the colors resolved themselves into a dreary hillside near Spinner's End. Atticus was younger, possibly eight or nine, and sitting alone under a tree. Several muggles were nearby, kicking a ball around. A particularly large boy began gloating in Atticus' general direction. Atticus attempted to ignore the boy and get back to reading, until he kicked the ball directly towards Atticus, hitting him directly in the face. It would obviously result in a black eye. Atticus rose and started to yell something, tears streaming down his face, when suddenly Atticus' voice echoed around the seemingly endless black void out of the scene. "No" it boomed.

Violeta had to keep moving or she would be thrown out. The next scene became clear, and Violeta was filled with the sense of being in a warm room, a fire lit and the air hot and hazy. A door was cracked and light cast from the fireplace danced along the walls. Atticus sat on the stairs enveloped in shadow. Voices from what were clearly his parents were heard within. First, a woman's voice "Are we safe? The Porters disappeared last week, and they live just two streets over." After a moment's pause the man spoke up, Atticus' father. "Severus told me we would be safe...it may be possible the Dark Lord will simply look us over."

The scene dissolved once again only to reappear in what appeared to be mostly the same situation. Perhaps only several weeks had passed. The man's voice echoed again, but only two words repeated themselves, 'Severus' and 'dead'... it was clear to Violeta that Atticus kept this memory deeply subdued. Once again Violeta was swallowed by the abyss, and she once again felt Atticus' emotions almost as a physical manifestation of apprehension, fear, and hope. The first day of Hogwarts, standing on the platform. Regis stood regally by Atticus' feet as his parents became visible for the first time. The woman was tall and lanky, with sallow skin, and the man had long, dark hair. They gave Atticus a half-hearted goodbye and departed hand in hand. The scene advanced to the train. A younger looking Cecil and Weatherby were already in the car, and Atticus seated himself directly across from Violeta herself. It took several moments to recover from the shock of looking at herself from the perspective of another person. She felt Atticus' emotions, much changed, something had displaced the fear and loneliness. But just as Violeta was beginning to comprehend just what it was, Atticus' face materialized in front of her plane of vision, frowning ominously. She was immediately thrown from his mind.

Atticus rose from his bed panting, sweat plastering his hair to his face.

[Xion]

"Legilimens..." he almost whispered.

As Atticus's essence left his body, it originally felt cold as it moves through the blur of the common room towards Violeta, who is gazing into the flames of the fireplace, on her fourth log for the day. A feeling of heat and vibrant red and yellow hues appear along a feeling warmth, as if the illusion of fire around him was actually real, with varying beasts and other formations in it's waves of flame. After the flames subside, he can feel Violeta's common emotions, ambition, spite, rage, apathy, and loyalty, but only to specific people like her cousin. He then can feel a force working against him, but it appears to also invite him further in.

A whirlwind of color and cold returns as Atticus delves into some of Violeta's memories, ending up surrounded by a mass of tents and a stadium. He can see Violeta, or what appears to be her if she was around the age of six sitting with two older children and a maid, before a man storms in and whispers to the maid in Romanian, while screams and other noises can be heard approaching. The maid nods and leads the children outside, into a chaotic scene of people running everywhere, what appears to be a dead body a few tents over, and a blazing fire slowly approaching. Violeta's gaze remains transfixed on the fire while her elder brother grabs her hand and starts leading her away, while her father disappears back into the crowd.. The memory seems to continue, but the force presents itself and knocks Atticus away from it..

He lands in another memory, of a small house in England at night, with the full moon looming overhead. A older Violeta, probably a year or two before she entered Hogwarts is being led to the house by the man from before and a woman, both speaking in whispers to each other, but Violeta picks up a little of it. "...sure?" The woman gives the man a furtive glance. "Positive., no ties..." The man goes ahead and knocks on the door, and it is answered by a man who looks as if he could be the other's brother. "..stay." The man inside nods. " don't...unnecessary. Foolish." Violeta's father curses at the other and walks off, while her mother kneels down at looks at her daughter. "Violeta, we'll see you again soon." She hugs her daughter and then follows the man, leaving Violeta to stare up at the other man and his young daughter who is peering out from behind her father, and she appears to look like Ashley. The man takes Violeta into the house and once again, Atticus feels himself being torn away from the memory by the force, forcing him to move once more.

The next memory appears to be when the Hogwarts letters arrived. Violeta looks furious, muttering under her breath. "Disgraceful..mudblood-loving school.." while Ashley and her father appear very happy about her acceptance. Ashley looks over at Violeta and approaches her. "What's wrong? Hogwarts is a great school.." Violeta then turns away from Ashley. "For blood traitors, mudbloods, and idiots? Perhaps. I was supposed to go to Durmstrang, as my siblings have, my parents, grandparents.." Ashley hugs Violeta, causing Violeta to cringe and resist the urge to hit Ashley. "Maybe you're supposed to be different! Not be a evil purist?" Before Violeta can reply, the feeling of the fire returns once again and the vibrant hues of red, orange, yellow, and oddly, blue, purple, and a dark green appear as well before simmering once more to reveal a different memory, with himself, Weatherby, and Cecil in it, along with many other students. Violeta looks up from her crystal ball and then over to a spanish looking student. "Ravenclaw." The other students, Atticus included look at her with doubt before she smiles. "That is, at least what I have forseen.." The scene quickly changes in a blur to the sorting last year, when the student in question was just pronouced to be Ravenclaw, Atticus can see Violeta smiling, before the fire returns and actually feels real this time, and keeps him from going any further, forcing him out of her mind..

Violeta snaps out of the trance, falling backwards in her confusion and then remains looking upward at the chandelier in the common room, breathing heavily. She then manages to get up and sees the embers whittling out of the fire that once was blazing.

[Pontifex Maximus]

ooc: I'll timewarp a bit, just so you can start working on your post as well.

After a long day of reading in the library, Atticus was chomping at the bit to practice. This is how it usually went with his magical endeavors. Intense study followed by what was usually a failed attempt at practical application. In any case, practice does make perfect, and a theoretical understanding of how the spell worked was no substitute for it. But, who to attempt to see? Physical proximity must count for something. He had no intention of attempting to see into the mind of anyone who might suspect him. But he hadn't spoken to Violeta in weeks. Perhaps she would be a good first target. Atticus clutched his wand loosely and waved it in the general direction of the common room fire, where he knew Violeta would be sitting "Legilimens..." he almost whispered.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus paused for several moments, rationalizing all he had learned in his first venture. It was quite an eye opening experience, though the lines had been blurred between what Violeta's actual memories were and what were her visions.

[Xion]

Violeta looks up at the celiing, trying to make sense of what she saw in Atticus's mind. Several points stick out, such as the man named Severus. Perhaps she'll have to look into that further.

[Pyrrhus the Molossian]

Lance walks into the room.