Chapter 199: The Italian Climax (1/2)

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Veritaserum.. .. a potent truth serum so powerful that just mere three drops would have a person spill their innermost secrets for everyone to hear. The potion effectively forced the drinker to answer any questions put to them truthfully.. . .

”Though there are methods of resistance,” said Quinn as he saw Dolion, who had his eyes squeezed shut and looked like he was going through a massive struggle, ”one can either take an antidote to the potion — but it isn't a vaccine, and thus one will require to take it in a general vicinity of ingestion of Veritaserum.. .. and from the looks of it, you weren't aware that you'll be taking Veritaserum today.”

”No — Yes! I took an antidote,” said Dolion through gritted teeth — he was trying to resist the Veritaserum.

”The second method to resist Veritaserum is through Occlumency,” said Quinn with a beaming smile, ”which you're doing now and from the looks of it, you're having fun.. .. I want to give you more, but unfortunately, I do care about your mental health and don't want to overload your brain with Veritaserum.

”But, I can't have you resist the Veritaserum,” said Quinn sitting back down on his chair, ”I have to say, Dolion, I'm pleased with how the events folded — I had this vial of Veritaserum for a very long time with no meaningful way to use it inside Hogwarts.. .. to be able to finally use it is as exciting as it gets for me.. .. And now with your resistance, I'm going to get a chance to use Hard-Legilimency to loosen you up which I rarely get to use.”

Dolion felt his eyelids being pulled to stay open and felt eyeballs jam up to look at the front, where stone-grey eyes were waiting for him. And then he clearly felt a mind probe slam against his shields.

'Heavy!' thought Dolion, experiencing the force of Quinn's Legilimency.

”It always feels pretty good to use Hard-Legilimency.. .. without hiding, with so little restriction and sneaking around,” said Quinn, his eyes locked with Dolion and magic flowing.

”Oh, an all-diamond cover,” said Quinn looking at Dolion's Occlumency shields — in front of him was a spread of sparkling polished diamond.

In his time as Legilimens, Quinn had seen many Occlumency shields, and he had come to see a pattern — a heavy majority of people had their Occlumency shields in the form of brick walls or steel structures. And while the imaging of the shield layer didn't matter much as the actual strength came from a person's confidence in their shields and hard work, but when people saw bricks being broken or steel being bent with magic, subconsciously, people's faith in their shields would fail. Quinn's hexagonal graphene-based shields weren't actually seen in the natural world, which ensured that his confidence wouldn't fall from seeing his shield material in the real world.

”Diamond is a strong material, a good choice to choose it as a shielding material,” said Quinn smiling, which didn't give Dolion any comfort, ”your shield is an arrangement of carbon, and mine is an arrangement of carbon.. .. of course, mine is stronger.”

Dolion then felt like a hammer had been unleashed on his diamond shield. He could imagine his shields thrumming as the force traveled everywhere.

”This is so much more fun than sneaking around,” laughed Quinn. ”Tell me, Dolion, how did you protect Nereo's mind!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!. .. continuous blows of Legilimency were making it challenging for Dolion to keep a hold on his tongue.

”I — am — a — nat — NO!” Dolion took control just in time and defied the Veritaserum running through his body.

Quinn sighed in disappointment, ”It seems playtime is over.. .. I'm going to shatter your shield in one swoop.. .. don't say I didn't warn you.”

He charged up his Legilimency and speared into the diamond. Immediately, cracks appeared on the sparkling surfaces, spreading quickly as Quinn drilled down deeper.

”Alright, just one more second,” said Quinn as he could feel the end coming soon.

Shatter!.. .. the diamond layer broke down into million little pieces making Quinn smile, but then his eye narrowed as he felt a sharp mental attack appear out of nowhere.

Occlumency and Legilimency were two sides of the same coin. And just so it happened, when a Legilimens tried to break into a mind, they extended their mind, leaving it open, leaving it vulnerable to the target.. .. and if that target so happened to be a Legilimens, they had a chance to retaliate.

Dolion Abate was a Legilimens, and if he was going to be attacked, he wasn't going down without a fight. He sent out a sharp mental attack, aiming to cause Quinn a lot of pain.

Dolion saw Quinn close his eyes, then a frown appeared between his brows, and finally heard a groan escape his throat. He also felt Quinn's Legilimency attack retreat, making him release a sigh of relief.

”Ha, take tha—”

”That almost hurt!”

Dolion's word died in his throat as he saw Quinn open his eyes with a sigh.

”That's why it is such a pain breaking into Legilimens' mind,” said Quinn cracking his neck, ”they always, without fail, try to retaliate,” then he grinned, ”and in doing so, leave their mind open.”

Dolion's eyes widened when he realized what he had done. By attacking, he had extended his mind and allowed Quinn to exploit that opening.

”You're a decent Legilimens, Dolion,” said Quinn, the corner of his lip raising up, ”but — I — am — better.. .. much, much better.”

Dolion's world went white as Quinn bombarded his entire mindscape with a mind-numbing detonation of Legilimency probe.

”Now, let's get started.. .. tell me your name.”

”Dolion Abate.”

”What's your underwear color?”

”White.”

”Tighty whities.. .. well, how were you able to protect Nereo's mind from me?”

”Through Legilimency.”

”Please elaborate.”

”I'm a natural Legilimens.. . .”

Quinn paused for a bit. This was important information; a natural talent was a humongous gift. Dolion being a natural Legilimens, explained how he was able to fool Quinn. To a natural, their magical talent was the same as breathing.

For example, a Metamorphmdagus was a natural talent in transfiguration, making Nymphadora Tonks a natural. Quinn personally knew another natural — he knew a person with two natural talents; an absolute monster of mind magic, his teacher, Alan D. Baddeley, the man with natural talent in Legilimency and Occlumency.

Dolion continued, ”.. .. I have developed the ability to intercept and block Legilimency probes. I stopped your soft-probe from reaching Nereo, and that's why you didn't feel a thing.. .. if you go back now, you will be able to read him.”

”Why did Nereo help you with the potion?”

”He had been using Rigenerare's money to support his gambling habit and was falsifying the records. I caught him and blackmailed him into owing me.”

”What about Antonio? Why is he acting like that?”

”I re-wrote his mind to follow my every command. It's like hypnotism, but unlike hypnotism, he would do things that even if they go against his moral code. It grants me complete control like an Imperius curse does, but Antonio can't escape my control with a strong will.. .. his will doesn't even come into play.. . he's completely subservient.”

This was the power of a natural.. .. they could do things that others would take years upon years of hard work to replicate. Quinn could imagine achieving blocking a Legilimency probe for a third after a couple of years of research and experimentation, but he couldn't even believe how he could even get started on turning another person into a puppet without any chance to escape, changing them from the very inside.

”Do you have any other puppets?” asked Quinn; he wasn't going to ask if Dolion's next target was him — that was obvious.

”There are many.. .. but Antonio is my best.”

Quinn stared at Dolion and asked after a pause, ”What do you mean by best?”

”It took some time and trial and error to improve my puppeteer ability. There were many before Antonio, but they didn't come out of the procedure whole.. .. many lost their minds and became empty vessels.. . vegetables.”

Quinn bowed his head down. It wasn't surprising to hear that, but that didn't make it any less horrifying. ”How many?” he asked.