“You can stop pretending now.” Hermione said as she and Harry settled down beside each other at the small table at the back of the library.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

Hermione held up their clasped hands. “I can tell when someone is acting to gain my favor.”

Harry looked at their hands and smiled. “Well, you're half-right and half-wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked right back.

“I started acting like a Respected Colleague when I approached you and I already told you why.” Harry responded and dropped it. His body slumped slightly and he gave her a crooked smile.

“You didn't want me to think you are an idiot, even though you approached me in a public setting.” Hermione said and Harry nodded. “Then what am I wrong about?”

“This.” Harry said and wiggled the fingers of the hand that held hers. “It's not an act. I intentionally took your hand to show you that I was being serious about talking to you and making friends with you.”

“Why?” Hermione asked with a slight frown. She didn't let his hand go, though.

“Did you read the articles about how I grew up?” Harry asked.

Hermione started to shake her head no and then she caught her breath and she stared at him. It was then that Harry realized he had just made a huge mistake. He had given away his biggest secret without even thinking about it.

“Please, Hermione.” Harry whispered and ducked his head. “Don't tell anyone who I used to be. I've kept it from everyone on purpose, because those that would keep causing me harm are still around.”

Hermione's face changed expressions a few times before she settled on sadness. “You don't mean You-Know-Who's followers, do you?”

“Not only them, no.” Harry said. “In fact, you must have heard about the Headmaster attacking me in class.”

Hermione sucked in a sharp breath. “That was true? He really tried to... um... you...”

“The spell or ability is called Legilimens. It lets someone read another person's mind without their permission and they can find out all of your secrets.” Harry said.

“Oh, no.” Hermione put her free hand over her mouth. “Did he...”

“Thankfully, no. He did try with a very strong mental probe, however. If I hadn't worked so hard to get my mind trained up as much as I did, he could have plundered everything I had.”

“Trained up?” Hermione asked and stopped covering her mouth. “How did you do that?”

“I read all of the available books in both the Ravenclaw Library and the school's library.” Harry admitted.

Hermione's mouth dropped open from shock.

“I know it seems impossible...” Harry started to say.

“How could you have read them all?” Hermione asked, accusingly. “It's taken me weeks just to read the books from one row of shelves!”

Harry wasn't sure how he could explain maxing out his Speed Reading skill and it became Knowledge Absorption. “Do you read them normally or do you speed read them?”

Hermione gave him a bit of a glare before she sighed. “I have to read them normally or I won't retain the information in its entirety for more than a week.”

“So, you do have near perfect recall.” Harry said.

“Yes, if I take the time to actually let my mind absorb what I'm reading.” Hermione said.

Harry nodded in understanding, because he remembered having to reread the contents of both the elementary school's library and the community library to cement the knowledge into his mind. It also told him that his fears were correct. Hermione wasn't getting the benefits of having both her Intelligence and Wisdom above 100.

“Are you saying you can speed read and still keep the information?” Hermione asked.

Harry didn't want to make her jealous, so he hedged his answer in a half-truth. “It used to take me several readings of a book before I learned to speed read. After I did, I had to read everything in my elementary school's library again to make sure I actually remembered what it was that I read.”

“Oh.” Hermione said, a bit dejectedly. A moment later, her eyes widened. “Ohhh! You associated the skill with retaining information! Instead of your mind thinking that you were acquiring it for the first time, you tricked yourself into knowing that when you speed read something, you were just confirming it was what you already knew and it filed right into your permanent memory! That's brilliant!”

It was Harry's turn to have his mouth hang open, because he just had confirmation that Hermione's Intelligence and Wisdom were giving her some benefits.

“Don't look so surprised that I figured it out.” Hermione scoffed.

Harry closed his mouth. “I didn't need confirmation about how smart you were and I was surprised you gave it to me anyway.”

“Uh huh.” Hermione said, clearly indicating that she didn't believe him. “How did you reading all those books let you defend yourself mentally?”

Harry didn't have to lie this time. “I found information about occluding the mind. It's called Occlumency and...”

“Can you get me a copy of the book?” Hermione interrupted.

“You're not going to let me completely answer you, are you?” Harry asked.

“You're only going to summarize the book. Why waste time like that when I can just read it?” Hermione asked, logically.

Harry had the perfect response ready. “Because friends actually talk to each other and don't just hand books to each other without communicating.”

Hermione opened her mouth to argue and realized what he said. “That's a couple of times now that you've insinuated that we're friends.”

“I'm pretty sure that we have to be, since people who are not friends would not have sat together like this or held hands the entire time.” Harry countered.

Hermione looked down at their still clasped hands and back at his face. “I'm afraid that if I let go, you're going to leave without telling me about those books or how you have copies of them.”

“Are you telling me that it's only a preventative measure and you don't actually like it?” Harry asked.

Hermione started to blush and turned her head away. She didn't answer the question and she didn't let his hand go.

Harry let her stew for several moments in silence before he remembered why he brought her here to the back of the library. “Can you tell me why you're in Griffindor and not in the House of the Studious Bookworms?”

Hermione winced at the nickname. “I... I just...” She shook her head and didn't say anything else.

“Do you mind if I take an educated guess?” Harry asked and she shook her head no again. “Even though you are a bookworm and highly intelligent, you didn't want to be associated with it at a new school.”

Hermione turned her head to look at him with wide eyes.

“The problem is, you can't stop yourself from being who you are for long. You're too smart to slack off and pretend to be dumb like your housemates.”

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

Harry smiled. “I'm glad you knew I meant dumber than you and not that they are stupid.”

Hermione took a breath and sighed. “Ronald Weasley's pretty dumb and the other boys in my year are not much smarter. Lavender Brown is a typical airhead and...” She stopped talking and her eyes dropped to the table.

Harry didn't need to read her mind to understand what she was talking about. They were bullies. “My ex-cousin could give them a run for their money if there was a competition for the biggest moron in the country.”

Hermione lifted her eyes to his face. “I'm not sure how you could prove that.”

Harry grinned at her. “During the first day of elementary school, the teacher asked us what our favorite color was. I said blue and Dudley said chocolate.”

Hermione snorted and barked a laugh before she covered her mouth with a hand to stop herself.

“The teacher had to switch to the expensive non-toxic glue paste for crafts, because Dudley kept eating it, throwing it up, and eating some more.”

Hermione had tears form in her eyes as she fought hard to not laugh.

“During science class, the teacher told us that an octopus can crawl through small cracks. Dudley wouldn't go near the toilet or the tub for three weeks because there was water in them.”

Hermione burst out laughing and had to let Harry's hand go to hold her mouth shut with both hands.

“I once told Dudley that he had his shoes on the wrong feet. He threw a tantrum as he screamed and yelled that he didn't have other feet and begged his parents to buy him more feet for his shoes.”

Hermione made a whining sound as tears flowed down her cheeks.

“During a school field trip at the mall, Dudley looked at the map on the wall and saw the big 'You are Here' dot. He started freaking out because someone knew where he was and he didn't tell them.”

“Oh, god!” Hermione said and her muffled laugh got louder and louder.

“The best proof I have is that Dudley's parents were warned that he had to be fully potty trained before going to school. It took them two months to make him stop calling the toilet, 'the butt hole'.”

Hermione let out a massive groan before she covered her face with her hands and laughed and cried in equal measure. Her composure had been completely wrecked!

Harry sat there for a good ten minutes as Hermione calmed down. He couldn't help but praise himself for how quickly he had completely disarmed the confrontational girl, just by making her realize that it was okay to laugh at people that did stupid things. He put a box of tissues on the table and she used them liberally to clean herself up.

“I can't believe you did that to me.” Hermione said and looked like she didn't know what to do with the tissues. Harry pointed at the floor beside her and Hermione tossed the used tissues into the small trashcan that hadn't been there when they sat down.

“Is it my fault that you found my ex-cousin's stupidity so hilarious?” Harry asked her.

“Yes.” Hermione said and gave him a bit of a glare.

“Damn, there goes my entire defense!” Harry exclaimed and fake-pouted.

Hermione lost the glare and smiled. “Why are you trying so hard to make me like you?”

Harry lost the pout and shrugged. “I'm not sure, really. I saw you in the Great Hall and just felt like I needed to talk to you.”

Hermione gave him a pointed look. “You're not acting now, are you?”

“No, I dropped that a bit ago.” Harry said. “I've actually gotten into trouble when I act up in certain situations and it took me a while to be able to choose when I can act certain ways and when not to.”

Hermione's pointed look changed to a searching one. “You really are him, aren't you?”

“I can't show you the scar, because it's gone.” Harry said and moved is hair out of the way to show her a blank forehead. “It healed up and now there's no evidence.” He did not say it only happened recently and let her believe it healed over the years since it happened.

“That means those books they published really are fiction.” Hermione whispered.

“Unfortunately.” Harry said and then smiled. “For now, anyway.”

Hermione perked up at that. “What do you mean?”

“I'm going to be a great wizard someday and my adventures are going to be legendary.”

Hermione huffed. “You're getting full of yourself.”

“What? No! I'm as humble as humble pie and just as tasty!” Harry said with a grin.

Hermione snorted and barely stopped herself from laughing.

Harry went through his current mental library and dredged up a small book on Occlumency. He picked up his fake backpack and conjured the book inside to pull it out.

Hermione's eyes snapped right to it and her hands twitched to take it from him.

“Make sure you read it all the way through first before... B-E-F-O-R-E... trying the first mental exercise.” Harry said and gave Hermione a squinted look. “If you try anything before reading it all, you could ruin your progress and might even stop yourself from learning it at all.” He said. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, no rushing through it.” Hermione said and her hands ached to hold the book.

“Hermione!” Harry spat and she jerked as if slapped and looked at his face. “I am warning you that this is very dangerous. There is a reason it's not taught in school or even at home in most cases. You can seriously hurt your own mental development if you do anything before reading it all and understanding what it means. Do. You. Understand?”

Hermione actually felt a little trepidation now. “I think so.”

“You need to read it normally, too. No speed reading.” Harry said and held out the book to her.

Hermione carefully took it. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. No rushing. The book itself is the structure and basis for the exercises.”

Hermione's eyes widened slightly. “Does that mean it has subconscious coding that I need for the exercises to work?”

Harry nodded. “You're going to catch on to things quickly, thanks to how smart you are. The problem is that you're going to think you're ready long before you read the entire book.”

“No, I swear that...” Hermione stopped at Harry's raised hand.

“Don't lie. We both know how eager we are to try things when we come across a new spell or experiment in a book.”

Hermione wanted to deny it and she couldn't. It was almost like a drug and she needed to get her fix from each new book she found and read.

“I'm going to sit right here and I'm going to watch you read the whole thing.” Harry said and Hermione's face went blank. “I can't let you out of my sight before I'm sure you actually read it all.”

“But... but, I...” Hermione started to say.

“I need to take it back if you only want to read some now and the rest later.”

Hermione frowned and hugged the book. “What can't I read it the way I want to?”

“I told you. You need to read it all first. If you don't, you're going to use the techniques before you're mentally ready. That's bad. Very bad.”

Hermione started to glare at him. “Now you're trying to make me not like you.”

Harry gave her several seconds to lose the glare and she didn't. He sighed and stood up as he hung his backpack over his left shoulder. The move distracted Hermione enough that he discreetly waved his wand at the book and silently erased the print and ink from the pages.

“You know what? Never mind.” Harry said and looked at the box of tissues. “You might want to keep those handy.”

Hermione didn't understand what he meant and watched as he left. She waited a couple of minutes to make sure he wasn't going to come back and try to take the book from her. When she remained alone, she relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. She moved the tissue box aside and put the small book down on the table, lightly caressed the nice black leather cover, and opened it.

A shiver of pleasure went down her spine at the sound of a book being opened for the first time. It was a signal to the primitive part of her brain that informed her that she was exploring unexplored territory. She flipped the first protective page without print that stopped any ink bleed onto the inside of the cover and started to smile. She flipped the next page and her smile stopped forming. It was blank.

Hermione flipped the next page and the next, each one also blank, and she felt panic settle into her mind. She flipped and flipped, faster and faster, and she was soon at the end of the book. Her hands shook as she closed the back cover and she tried to calm herself. The book on protecting the mind from being read was completely blank.

Tears sprung to her eyes at the loss and Hermione realized what Harry had meant about needing the tissues. She grabbed the box and hugged it tightly as she tried to stem the flow of her tears.