As the week went by, Apollonia spent all her free time following Draco. She found that he often spent his nights in the Room of Requirement working on the cabinet, which explained why he seemed so out of it. When Saturday came, Apollonia was exhausted from following him around so much. Saturday, Apollonia remembered, was the day was required to meet her father for those Occulemency lessons. Truthfully, she didn’t want to deal with this, but rather wanted to follow Draco. Her father would never allow it, not in a million years. So, when the time came, Apollonia entered her father’s office and slumped down into a seat. The invisibility cloak was in her bag should she need it later. “Okay, Dad; I’m here. Now, can we please get this over with so that I can move on with my life?”
“This is not a once and done thing, young lady,” her father intoned. “What I’m about to teach you is an advanced skill, something that will prove useful to you if you perfect it. Of course, perfection of this skill takes practices, years even. I cannot be sure how well you can do this, even when you’re my daughter. Now, Occulemency is the art of blocking your mind of to those skilled in Legilimency, which the Dark Lord and I both are. And, before you even ask Legilimency is the ability to look into one’s mind thus extracting feelings and memories. That is what I intend on doing to you. And, you must attempt to block your mind to keep me from seeing those. We will start now…Legilimens!”
Upon hearing that word, Apollonia watched as scenes from her life played out before her. Some were more recent and Apollonia didn’t care. But, the one that caught Apollonia’s attention was her conversation with Harry from a little while ago, the one where she asked for his help in saving her father. “No!” she yelled, forcing the memory to disappear. “You cannot look at that memory!” If her father saw that memory, her plan wouldn’t work.
“What was that memory?” her father asked.
“Not your concern!” Apollonia exclaimed.
“Fine; again. Legilimens!”
Apollonia saw a few more memories before forcing her father out yet again. “Don’t even try, Dad. I am not about to let you see what’s going on in my head. There are things in my life that I must keep from even you. As with you. So, why don’t I look in your head to find out some of the things you’ve been hiding from me? I know there are. Legilimens!”
Since it was her father, Apollonia expected that she would not be able to gain access into the recesses of her father’s mind. He was teaching her Occulemency, so why wouldn’t he be skilled in that? He was teaching Harry as well. Despite that, Apollonia found herself viewing a single memory. A redheaded woman with emerald green eyes held two babies. Both kids had their mother’s striking green eyes. One child—the boy—was nestled in the crook of her arm. The girl, however, was handed off to a man Apollonia recognized: her father. After a short exchange between the two—Apollonia couldn’t hear what they were saying, save the word lily—her father disappeared while a second man—who looked remarkably like Harry—came to the redhead’s side. The memory cut off there. Apollonia looked at her father. “Tell me that was not what I thought it was!” she yelled.
“I can’t,” her father said.
Apollonia ran.
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