"When you sense a foreign consciousness invading your mind, you must immediately clear your brain. Do not think, do not recall, do not feel. Simultaneously, you must mobilize your own mental energy to construct a false reality..."
Following a brief skim of the book by little Goku, Dumbledore began the formal instruction of Occlumency. This was a branch of magic of profound depth; its difficulty rating was exceptionally high, involving the intricate manipulation of mental energy and the physical brain.
Even with Goku's extraordinary natural talent for magic, it was not something he could master in a single afternoon.
Nevertheless, Dumbledore had decided to prioritize this spell above almost all others. Little Goku was simply too pure, his heart an open book. If he could not learn to seal his mind, any ill-intentioned individual could peer into his memories and thoughts with ease.
Dumbledore feared the boy would be manipulated or led to his ruin by those who coveted his power or the secrets of his origins.
Having established a solid foundation in basic charms over the past two months, Dumbledore chose Occlumency as the first high-level art for Goku to tackle. Once Occlumency was sufficiently understood, he planned to teach him Legilimency.
Occlumency would prevent Goku's secrets from leaking out, while Legilimency would allow him to sense hostility and see through lies, preventing him from being deceived. Even a rudimentary mastery of these arts would serve as a powerful shield. As for the more destructive high-level curses, Dumbledore felt no rush; after all, no wizard's curse could truly rival the raw, cataclysmic output of Goku's ki blasts.
At five o'clock in the evening, Dumbledore ended the day's session an hour early.
"Tomorrow is Halloween," Dumbledore noted, eyes twinkling. "Tonight we have the feast, and every professor and student in the school will attend. It is nearly time; shall we head over?"
Halloween was one of the three pillars of the Hogwarts social calendar, alongside the Start-of-Term Feast and Christmas. Goku, hearing this, nodded with instant enthusiasm. He had spent the morning listening to the training students describe the mountains of food that would grace the tables—delicacies they didn't get to see during ordinary meals.
As they entered the Great Hall and took their seats at the high table, Goku noticed the hall had undergone a magnificent transformation. Vivid Halloween decorations draped the stone walls, and thousands of magical bats fluttered rhythmically against the enchanted ceiling.
Enormous, hollowed-out pumpkins, carved with grinning faces and lit from within by floating candles, drifted through the air like orange lanterns.
*Clink! Clink! Clink!*
Dumbledore tapped his golden spoon against a crystal goblet. Instantly, the empty gold plates before the students were piled high with steaming roasts, pies, and sweets. However, just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to officially commence the feast, the Great Hall doors burst open.
Professor Quirrell came sprinting in, his purple turban askew and a look of absolute terror etched into his pale face.
"Troll! In the dungeon—thought you ought to know..."
With those final, gasping words, his knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the stone floor, seemingly fainted from sheer fright.
The Great Hall fell into a momentary, stunned silence. However, unlike what might have happened in previous years, there were no screams of panic. The students didn't scramble over one another to escape.
Instead, they began to whisper, debating how a troll could have breached the castle's defenses. Some even began to snicker at the sight of their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor being scared into a coma by a mere troll.
After two months of watching Goku's "Demonic Training," where they saw various dangerous magical creatures chasing students daily—and having survived such encounters themselves—the idea of a troll no longer carried the weight of absolute terror. If the troll had burst into the Hall, they might have flinched, but since it was "only" in the dungeon, they felt safe enough to be judgmental.
"Silence!"
Dumbledore's voice, amplified by the Sonorus charm, rolled over the hall like thunder. He looked down through his half-moon spectacles at the crumpled form of Quirrell, then turned to little Goku.
"Professor Son, Professor McGonagall—if you would be so kind as to deal with the troll in the dungeon."
A troll was a Class XXXX dangerous creature, standing twelve feet tall and weighing over a ton. Their hide possessed a natural resistance to magic, and they harbored a ravenous appetite for raw meat, specifically human. For an average wizard, a troll was a formidable threat, as many basic spells would simply bounce off its thick skin.
For Goku, however, Dumbledore knew it was a different story. Goku wouldn't need a wand, and he wouldn't even need his ki. A single physical strike from the boy would likely end the encounter instantly.
Professor McGonagall's role was primarily to act as a guide; Goku had spent most of his time either in Dumbledore's office or on the training grounds and was still unfamiliar with the labyrinthine layout of the castle's basement levels. Being an Animagus, she could navigate the halls faster than almost anyone.
"Follow me, Professor Son!" McGonagall said with a sharp nod. In a blur of movement, she transformed into a sleek silver tabby cat with spectacle-markings around its eyes and dashed toward the exit.
Goku's figure flickered, and he was instantly behind her. The tabby was fast, but to Goku, she was still moving in slow motion.
'So this is an Animagus?' he thought curiously. He had studied the theory with Dumbledore, but this was the first time he had seen a full transformation in action.
...
As their figures vanished from the hall, Dumbledore caught Severus Snape's eye and gave a subtle signal. "Severus, guard the entrance. Madam Pomfrey, please attend to Professor Quirrell."
Dumbledore had suspected Quirrell for some time. Quirrell had been one of Ravenclaw's most brilliant graduates, famous for his academic prowess. That was why Dumbledore had invited him back. But after his summer travels, the man had returned... altered.
The stuttering, the garlic-heavy turban, the perpetual jumpiness—it was a performance that didn't sit right. Quirrell claimed he had encountered vampires and hags in Albania, but Dumbledore knew that Albania was the very place where the fragmented spirit of Voldemort had last been sensed.
He suspected Quirrell had fallen under Voldemort's sway, potentially becoming a vessel or a servant. The break-in at Gringotts had only reinforced this theory.
Dumbledore hadn't confronted him yet because he wanted to see what Voldemort's ultimate endgame was—to follow the vine to the melon, so to speak. Bringing the Philosopher's Stone to Hogwarts and letting Quirrell help design the defenses was part of the trap.
Now, he suspected the troll was a classic diversion, meant to draw the staff away while Quirrell made a move for the Stone. In years past, Dumbledore would have had the prefects lead the students back to their dormitories.
But today, the students were fearless. He chose to keep the school together. By sending Goku, he ensured the threat was neutralized effortlessly, while he and the remaining staff could keep a close eye on the "fainted" Quirrell and the rest of the Hall.
He also specifically wanted Madam Pomfrey to inspect Quirrell. He had a growing suspicion that the turban wasn't just hiding garlic—it was hiding something far more sinister on the back of the man's head.
***
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