Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 77 Automatic Response Personality
Harry clutched his chest; the desperate pain he had felt a moment ago still seemed to be stuck there.

So clear, as if I had experienced it myself.

But the result is false?
Seeing his confusion, Vaughan placed the chocolate in his hand and returned to sit on the sofa opposite. "This is an experiment, Harry. Remember what I said before Legilimency? Your lack of a sense of urgency is what's holding you back from learning Occlumency."

"Of course, from my heart, I don't want to use your most precious memory to force you, but you do need some additional means to put pressure on me and eliminate your laziness and indolence. So I just used a technology I'm experimenting with in your brain."

After that, Vaughn asked, "Want to see it?"

Harry was stunned. "How? Go to my spiritual world?"

Vaughan nodded.

After hesitating for a moment, Harry nodded: "Okay..."

He still felt that the so-called false memory just now was too real and completely different from before.

Even though he couldn't control his behavior before, he was actually conscious. He knew that it was the false memory that caused his behavior to get out of control, so after arguing with Snape during the day, he quickly suppressed the influence of the false memory and apologized to Snape.

But just now...

Harry wondered if Vaughan had done something to his brain.

For example, confusing his perception of what is real and what is false.

"Legilimency!"

He felt dizzy again, but this time what appeared before Harry was the familiar spiritual world.

He still sat opposite Vaughn, suspended in the air, with endless darkness beneath his feet and around him. Only a desk lamp floated between him and Vaughn, providing some illumination.

Snapped!
Vaughn snapped his fingers, and Harry subconsciously shuddered. He heard Vaughn chuckle from the other side: "Don't be afraid, I'm adjusting something...ah, it's out."

Harry saw a wisp of gray mist floating out from his body after Vaughn snapped his fingers.

It rose up and soon gathered into a vague mist above his head.

Harry tried to look up and watched the fog gradually take shape, then twist and stretch, and slowly, it changed into the outline of a human figure.

Then, a little light flickered in the fog, hazy, flickering, just like... breathing!
No, that's not right.

Harry watched carefully and found that with each light coming on, countless arcs of electricity gushed out from the depths of the fog. These very, very tiny arcs densely spread to the surface of the human-shaped fog, drawing zigzag lines!
He suddenly remembered the Muggle TV programs he had watched. Some of these popular science films, in order to show the activities of the human brain, would use the visual effects of electric current to express the transmission path of electrical signals in the nerves.

The fog's behavior at this time was very similar to what was shown on TV.

Harry asked in astonishment, "What...is it?"

"I don't know." Vaughn's answer surprised Harry. Facing his surprised expression, Vaughn spread his hands and said, "It's a semi-finished product. It's still far from what I envisioned. There's no need to define it yet..."

He waved to the human-shaped mist and it floated down.

Vaughn leaned in to observe it closely. "In my imagination, it should possess all the thoughts, emotions, and behavioral characteristics of a human being. A personality that, though fake, can be mistaken for the real thing. For example, it can automatically respond to internal or external stimuli... For example, I've inserted your attachment to your parents and your fear of losing them into this framework."

Vaughn smiled at Harry. "What you experienced earlier was actually a deception committed by your love and fear. It's a bit like a dream. Dreams are fake, of course, but when you're dreaming you're so sure it's real that you can't even tell the difference when you wake up. Isn't that interesting?"

"..."

Harry was speechless, and amused... Are you a devil?

Frustrated, Harry stared at the humanoid mist ball in front of him, a little confused: "Then why did you put it into my head?"

"Of course it's to help you, Harry," Vaughan said sincerely. "Originally, I hoped to alter your memory, make you behave more femininely, or think you were a frog, so as to arouse your rebelliousness and make you resist my Legilimency."

"But unfortunately, it seems to have no effect now."

Vaughn sighed and shook his head. "Like I said before, you trusted me too much. Subconsciously, you believed I wouldn't harm you. Even if modifying your memory caused you to embarrass yourself, you knew it was only temporary. You can control it and make amends. So, you started to... become indifferent and shameless, Harry!"

Harry: "..."

"Alas, this is my mistake. I overestimated the stimulation that a brief moment of embarrassment could have on you. I didn't realize that when controlled shamelessness becomes a habit, people will continue to be shameless."

"..."

Harry began to wonder if Vaughan was being oblique about this.

But after thinking about it carefully, he felt that what he said made sense. As his abnormal behavior was discovered in the past few days, he did gradually get used to it from his initial resistance.

Staring at the humanoid mist for a long moment, Harry asked in confusion, "You just said that the time you erased my memory from the Mirror of Erised was a spontaneous occurrence caused by it exploiting my love and fear?"

Vaughn sat back down across from him and nodded, saying, "Yes, the human brain is a very complex system. It has its own set of deception mechanisms. Let's give you an example."

He raised his hand, the darkness in his inner world rolled, and a long string of misty images were dragged out by him.

Then, a picture detached and flew in front of the two of them.

Harry looked at the screen, which showed the school cafeteria, but it was foggy and couldn't be seen clearly.

Vaughan continued, "This is your memory of your lunch the day before yesterday, Harry. Now tell me, what was placed before you for lunch the day before yesterday?"

This……

Harry was a little dumbfounded, who would remember such details?
He began to try to recall what he was doing for lunch that day. He seemed to have passed the roast quail to Ron or Neville.

Thinking about it, he nodded with certainty: "It's roasted quail!"

Vaughn smiled. He reached out and grabbed his body, pulling out a picture. This picture was much clearer. It was Vaughn's memory.

Through Vaughn's perspective, Harry saw a plate of apple pie in front of him. Ron asked Neville on the other side for roast quail, and Harry helped pass it to him.

Harry's mouth dropped open.

"Look, you weren't paying attention at all. Theoretically, you don't remember. But when you try to recall something due to personal needs or external stimuli, like the question I just asked you, your brain, unable to access your memory, automatically 'imagines' and 'completes' it for you based on the details of the moment. Essentially, it's deceiving you."

"The brain deceives itself to maintain its stability, so that you don't waste energy by getting stuck in a dead end. Therefore, you will subconsciously believe that the deception it makes is true."

"You can think of this thing I put into your brain as an automatic response personality. It exploits the brain's imagination and deception mechanisms. Just set certain conditions for it, such as requiring you to empty your mind at all times. If you fail to do so, you really won't be able to control yourself this time."

Vaughan smiled a meaningful smile that made Harry tremble.

For some reason, Harry suddenly began to miss the serious-looking Vaughn from that fake experience before...

He asked in a trembling voice, "Is it necessary?"

"Yes, you must, Harry. You need stimulation and pressure!"

Harry left in a daze, while Vaughn remained in the Room of Requirement. He took out his notebook and wrote down his recent experiences with Harry, as well as his future expectations.

"...As I anticipated, simple memory modification is incapable of concealing the entirety of human consciousness, let alone using it to mobilize emotions. The design of this 'outer shell' must be shaped as a completely new personality. It must connect to a real personality and a real brain mechanism, so that it possesses genuine thought processes, reaction abilities, and behavioral characteristics. Only in this way can the rich emotions I need be born..."

"...The next plan is to train Harry to learn Occlumency as quickly as possible, test the protection and filtering capabilities of Occlumency, and test whether the contamination of the false personality on the true personality can be blocked by Occlumency."

At this point, Vaughan hesitated.

If we keep trying to fleece Harry, will we really ruin him?
But who else but Harry would be suitable?
He recalled the people he knew and fell into deep thought...

"Merlin, Scabbers—"

A scream in the dormitory woke Harry from his dream.

As soon as he woke up, he felt something was wrong. It seemed like something was twisting in his mouth. Before he could react, Ron in the bed next to him pounced on him with a ferocious face and grabbed his lips.

"What are you doing Harry, let Scabbers go, for God's sake!"

Harry finally knew what was in his mouth!

vomit--

He opened his mouth as wide as he could, letting Ron drag the damn fat rat out, then he lay on the edge of the bed and vomited violently.

Scabbers looked terrified, his fur sticky with saliva, and the whole rat squealed and struggled in Ron's hands.

Ron hugged it with heartache, but it bit him and he had to put it back into the cage.

He said angrily, "Why did you put Scabbers in your mouth, Harry? He loves you so much. Every time you let him out, he sneaks up to you and sleeps with you. How could you treat him like this?"

"Shut up! Ron!"

Harry was nauseated.

After vomiting for a while, Harry couldn't stand the strange feeling in his mouth anymore, so he stumbled into the bathroom to rinse his mouth.

When he came out again, he still felt very uncomfortable.

But what made him even more uncomfortable was... he had realized why he had stuffed Banban into his mouth - the automatic response personality!
According to Vaughan, he must always maintain the various techniques of brain occlumency, which can be a blank mind or a mind full of useless thoughts.

The only thing he couldn't do was leave his thoughts and memories unprotected.

Once violated, there will be punishment!

He had a dream last night, and he must have not maintained his brain occupation skills at that time, so he was punished - this morning, he woke up inexplicably and stuffed Scabbers, who was sleeping at the head of his bed, into his mouth.

He stuffed it in himself... and he didn't even think there was anything wrong with it at the time!

He also knew that the reason he was aware of the problem now was not because he had learned the art of brain closure, but because of the punishment mechanism of his automatic response personality, which was progressive.

After the punishment, it will make him understand that his behavior is inappropriate, and if he commits the same offense again within the same day, the punishment will be increased.

Until he completely becomes another person, and can only wait for the automatic reset in the early morning!
Harry's face was pale.

The first punishment today was to swallow Banban. If I increase the intensity, wouldn’t that mean…

He couldn't help but look at Ron who was still angry.

……

"So, you want to eat Scabbers because Vaughn put something in your head that will turn you into a different person?"

There were no classes on Saturday, so after eating in the cafeteria, Ron, who had calmed down after listening to Harry's explanation, sat with Harry in the courtyard and listened to his detailed account.

Harry struggled to keep his mind blank, his face expressionless. This was a side effect of the initial learning of Occlumency. He even had to stretch out his voice when speaking to ensure that his increasingly dull brain could react.

"Yes, in that state, my behavior would be very abnormal, and I wouldn't even realize it."

“Cool!” Harry stared blankly at Ron, who quickly coughed. “I mean, Vaughn went too far. I should have known. Only he would have such malice towards Scabbers.”

"Not eating the scabs is only today's punishment, and it's only the first stage. If you do it again..."

"What happens if you do it again?"

Ron was just wondering when a pair of large hands suddenly reached out from behind and pressed down on his and Harry's heads. "Weasley, Potter, have you finished your Potions papers? Or are you going to hand me a blank piece of parchment in the next class and continue to mock me?"

The two men turned around stiffly, and behind them was Snape, dressed in black and looking like a bat.

Snape watched with satisfaction as Ron's face quickly turned to fear, but Harry...

Harry's cold face was exactly the same as his, including the lifeless eyes.

Thinking of what happened yesterday, Snape's face immediately darkened: "Why, Harry - Potter, are you going to imitate me again?"

"No, Professor!"

"...Ten points from Gryffindor!"

"Please—listen to me—"

"Deduct another 10 points!"

Harry finally couldn't help it. He lifted his brain from the empty state and shouted, "Professor Snape, I'm practicing..."

He suddenly stopped, turned his head stiffly, and his bright eyes gradually looked at Ron's head beside him...!

Soon, there was a noise in the courtyard.

"Help! Help! Pull Harry away!"

"Harry Potter! Open your...open your mouth!"

"Don't pull me, let me take another bite, let me take another bite! You bad guys, I just want to eat a head, let me go!"

Vaughan and Dumbledore, who were passing by the suspension bridge in the distance and noticed the movement in the courtyard, chatted leisurely:

"It seems you have already figured out a plan."

"Yes, I plan to build a virtual personality to cover myself with a coat."

"Oh, a wonderful idea, different from mine, but very interesting... But, can you please let Harry go?"

"Hmm? Don't you think this method is very effective? I believe that after today, Harry will never dare to slack off again. Otherwise, I will no longer help you train him? I don't mind!"

"Ah, what a nice day today."

Vaughn's prediction was correct.

That day, Ron had a piece of his hair bitten off, and Harry was chained to his bed by Madam Pomfrey for a whole day.

Harry no longer dared to relax, lest he trigger the automatic response mechanism of his personality.

The reality is that it is impossible for him to master the art of brain occlumency quickly because of his fear. Even if his progress is good, he can only keep his mind blank for two hours at the beginning.

After a month, he was able to maintain this throughout the day while awake.

But Harry and the entire Hogwarts knew the bitterness of it...

"Potter, I heard that Hagrid found you in the Forbidden Forest yesterday, eating grass? Tsk tsk, what do you think you are this time? A horse? Or a deer?"

"Potter, I heard that you messed up the whole owl shed yesterday. What were you doing? Oh, yes, the great Mr. Potter thought he was an owl. He even tried to fly and ended up smashing the owl shed to pieces."

"Potter..."

This month is the happiest time for Malfoy.

Harry Potter's confusing human behavior provided Malfoy with laughter for a whole month, but unfortunately the frequency of this became less and less, which made Malfoy deeply regretful.

On the other hand, there is Slytherin's arch-villain Vaughn Weasley. As the Wizengamot held a meeting on the establishment of the "Werewolf Affairs Committee", he became more and more elusive and difficult to see.

Without the suppression of the big devil, Malfoy finally dared to bring Goyle and Crabbe with him to bully all the first-year snakes. By the way, he also recruited a follower named Pansy Parkinson, a girl who looked like a poodle.

However, Mr. Malfoy never cares about appearance when making friends, as long as the friend is strong and can help him fight. This is very consistent with Miss Parkinson.

At noon, Malfoy and his followers blocked the restaurant door again, waiting for his dear Potter.

Harry got into trouble again today. He suddenly broke out of Gryffindor Tower in the early morning, threw himself outside the common room of Eagle Court and banged on the door, insisting on getting into Ravenclaw and not wanting to be with the idiots in Gryffindor anymore.

A crowd of people gathered to watch Harry's rebellion.

Until Professor McGonagall came and dragged him to the school hospital.

"You should have seen it, Harry. Percy's face turned black with rage. Although everyone knows that your abnormal behavior is due to studying magic with Vaughn, your betrayal of Gryffindor obviously made Percy feel embarrassed."

School hospital, Ron said with interest.

Harry's face was filled with pain. As his mastery of Occlumency deepened, he no longer had side effects such as expressionlessness, lifelessness, and slow reactions when his mind was blank.

Although Harry did not mean to betray the school, he still felt guilty.

Because at that moment, he really thought that Gryffindors were all fools, idiots, and reckless men, and he said a lot of nasty things.

Thinking of the senior Gryffindor students who were watching at the time, and Professor McGonagall's lips trembling with anger, Harry wanted to bang his head on the ground.

When will this kind of day end?

Hermione, who was also visiting Harry, didn't care about Harry's pain - he had been suffering for a month anyway - but after hearing Ron's words, she closed the book and corrected him, "Percy was angry not because Harry betrayed Gryffindor, but because Harry was holding Penelope Clearwater's feet, with snot and tears all over his face!"

Ron was stunned: "P...what?"

"Penelope Clearwater, Ravenclaw Head Girl!"

Ron felt a little confused: "Wait, what does Harry holding her feet have to do with Percy?"

Hermione looked at him with contempt: "Because Clearwater is Percy's girlfriend, Ronald Weasley, maybe you will become a family in the future!"

"……how do you know?"

"Percy told me."

Ron was stunned.

When the twins came to visit Harry later, he was hit even harder.

"That's right, little Ronnie. Remember last summer, Percy received a lot of letters? They were all sent to him by Clearwater."

"Mom left them all at home when school started, and Percy was really mad about it."

"So he decided to tell everyone that he was in a passionate relationship with Clearwater to avoid encountering similar problems again."

"We all know about it, including Ginny. I heard that she and Clearwater exchanged gifts at Christmas."

Ron, who was confused as to why he was the only one who didn't know, asked Harry persistently, "Harry, do you know?"

Harry: “Uh…”

No need to answer.

Ron looked pale and lost.

"Well, Ron, I know because I met them before. The last time I went to the Forbidden Forest, they were having a date there. Thanks to Percy for calling Hagrid for me, otherwise I might have gotten lost. You know, I thought I was a stag at the time."

Ron sat on the edge of the bed, as if abandoned by the whole world. After a while, he asked again, "Does Vaughn know?"

"Of course I know. Percy told me first."

A voice came from outside the door.

Hermione smiled happily and stood up: "Vaughn, is everything going well?"

Vaughn, who looked very smart and handsome in a velvet suit, walked into the ward and greeted Harry. He was then pulled by Hermione to sit next to her and shook his head.
"The establishment of the committee went smoothly, but politics is not always smooth sailing. There will always be people who raise issues and you have to solve them or compromise."

Seeing his slightly frowned brow, Hermione bit her lip, took his hand, and gently advised: "Don't be too anxious, there is always a solution to every problem, it's just a matter of time."

"Thank you."

Hermione's palms were warm. It was only then that Vaughn noticed that the girl in front of him had suddenly grown taller.

She is a little taller than him now, and her figure has some curves.

It was as if she had grown from a naive child into a young girl overnight.

Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, but she didn't let go of his hand, and even ignored the two light bulbs next to her.

"Are you going to the Ministry of Magic this afternoon?"

"I have to go there in the evening. This meeting will continue for a few more days."

"Then let's think about it in the evening. How about we go to Black Lake later? Take in the scenery, read a book, and relax your mind."

Vaughn thought for a moment and nodded, "Take the Guoguocha with you. How's it been these past two days?"

The decisive Hermione didn't want to wait a moment longer and immediately pulled Vaughn along. "Let's go now. Guoguocha misses you so much. Although he's very well behaved and doesn't make any noise, he's always in a daze. It's almost dinner time, so why don't we go to the restaurant and get some food and some fish for Guoguocha? How about a picnic?"

"That's a good idea!"

As they chatted, they quickly disappeared out the door, leaving Harry and Ron, two stupid elementary school students, stunned and at a loss.

After a long pause, Ron suddenly said, "Harry, did you really run into Percy yourself?"

"of course."

"Then why did he tell Hermione?"

Harry said dryly, "Maybe he thinks Hermione will be family, too?"

Stupid Ron started sulking again.

He's not even as good as Hermione!
(End of this chapter)