Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 77 Automatic Response Personality

Harry clutched his chest; the desperate pain from moments before still seemed to linger there.

It was so clear, as if I had experienced it myself.

But the result was false?

Seeing his confusion, Vaughn placed the chocolate in his hand and sat back down on the opposite sofa. "This is an experiment, Harry. Remember what I said before Legilimency? You lack a sense of urgency, which is why you haven't been able to learn Occlumency."

"Of course, from my heart, I don't want to force you with your most precious memories, but you do need some extra means to put pressure on you and eliminate your laziness and sloth, so I just used a technique I'm experimenting with in your mind."

After saying that, Vaughn asked, "Would you like to see?"

Harry paused, then asked, "What do you mean? Go to my mental world?"

Vaughn nodded.

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

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

Even though he was previously unable to control his behavior, he was actually conscious of it. He knew that the false memories were inducing his behavior to go out of control. So after confronting Snape during the day, he quickly suppressed the influence of the false memories and apologized to Snape.

But just now...

Harry was starting to suspect that Vaughn might have done something to his brain.

For example, confusing his perception of reality and falsehood.

"Capture the spirit, grasp the mind!"

Another wave of dizziness washed over Harry, but this time what appeared before him was the familiar world of his mind.

He remained seated opposite Vaughn, suspended in mid-air, surrounded by boundless darkness, with only a single lamp floating between them, providing a sliver of illumination.

Snapped!

Vaughn snapped his fingers, and Harry instinctively jolted. He heard Vaughn chuckle on the other end of the line: "Don't be scared, I'm fixing something... Ah, it's coming out."

Harry saw wisps of gray mist rise from his body after Vaughn snapped his fingers.

It rose gently and quickly gathered into a blurry cloud above his head.

Harry strained to look up, watching the fog gradually take shape, then twist and stretch, until it slowly transformed into a human-shaped silhouette.

Then, a glimmer of light began to flicker in the fog, hazy and indistinct, like... breathing!

No, that's not right.

Harry watched closely and discovered that with each flash of light, countless arcs of electricity erupted from the depths of the mist. These extremely tiny arcs spread densely across the surface of the humanoid mist, carving out winding patterns!

He suddenly remembered the Muggle television programs he had watched, some of which used the visual effect of electric current to represent the transmission path of electrical signals in nerves in order to show human brain activity.

The fog's behavior at this moment was very similar to what was shown on television.

Harry asked, bewildered, "What...is it?"

"I don't know." Vaughn's answer surprised Harry. Seeing his astonished expression, Vaughn shrugged. "It's a work in progress, far from what I envisioned. There's no need to define it yet..."

He beckoned to the humanoid cloud of mist, and it floated down.

Vaughn leaned closer to examine it. "In my vision, it should be a collection of all a person's thoughts, emotions, and behavioral characteristics. It should be a fake personality that can be mistaken for a real one. For example, it should automatically respond to stimuli that are internal or external to you. For example, in this framework, I have filled in your longing for your parents and your fear of losing them."

As he spoke, Vaughn smiled at Harry: "That scene you experienced before was actually a deception spontaneously created by your love and fear, a bit like a dream. Of course, dreams are fake, but when you're in a dream, you're very certain it's real, and sometimes you can't even tell when you wake up. Isn't that interesting?"

"..."

Harry was speechless, which was quite amusing... Are you the devil?

Frustrated, Harry stared at the humanoid cloud of mist before him, somewhat puzzled. "Then why did you put it in my head?"

"Of course it's to help you, Harry," Vaughn said earnestly. "Originally, I hoped to provoke your resistance and make you resist my Legilimency by altering your memories, by making you exhibit feminine behaviors, or by making you think you're a frog, etc."

"But unfortunately, it seems that none of them have been effective so far."

Vaughn sighed and shook his head: "Like I said before, you trusted me too much. Subconsciously, you thought I wouldn't harm you. Even if altering your memories caused you to embarrass yourself, you knew it was only temporary, that you could control it, that you could undo it. So you started... becoming indifferent, becoming shameless, Harry!"

Harry: "..."

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

"..."

Harry began to wonder if Vaughn was indirectly insulting him.

But upon closer reflection, he realized that these words made a lot of sense. In the past few days, as his unusual behavior was discovered, he had indeed gradually become accustomed to it instead of resisting it at the beginning.

Staring at the humanoid cloud of mist for a long time, Harry asked, puzzled, "You just said that my experience of erasing the memories from the Mirror of Erised was something that spontaneously arose using my love and fear?"

Vaughn sat back down opposite him and nodded, saying, "Yes, the human brain is a very complex system. It has its own deception mechanism. Let's take an example."

He raised his hand, and the darkness of his inner world churned, pulling out a long series of misty images.

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

Harry looked at the image, which showed the school cafeteria, but it was foggy and he couldn't see it clearly.

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

This……

Harry was a little dumbfounded; who would remember such a detail?

He began to try to recall what he had been doing for lunch that day, and it seemed that he had handed Ron or Neville roasted quail.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded firmly: "It's roasted quail!"

Vaughn smiled, reached out and grabbed at his body, pulling out an image that was much clearer—Vaughn's memory.

From Vaughn's perspective, Harry sees a plate of apple pie in front of him, while Ron asks Neville for roasted quail and hands it to him.

Harry's mouth dropped open.

"Look, you didn't even notice. Theoretically, you don't remember, but when you try to recall something because of your own needs or external stimuli, like the question I just asked you, your brain, which can't access memories, will automatically 'imagine' and 'fill in' for you based on some details from that time. In essence, it's deceiving you."

"The brain deceives itself to maintain its stability and prevent you from wasting energy by getting stuck on trivial details, so you subconsciously believe the deception it creates is true."

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

Vaughn gave a meaningful smile that made Harry tremble.

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

His voice trembled as he asked, "Is it necessary?"

"Yes, you absolutely need it, Harry. You need excitement, you need pressure!"

Harry left in a daze, while Vaughn remained in the Room of Requirement, pulling out his notebook to record his recent experiences experimenting on Harry and his future predictions:

"...As I predicted, simple memory modification cannot deceive the overall human consciousness, let alone use it to manipulate emotions. The design of the 'outer garment' must be shaped as a completely new personality. It should be connected to the real personality and the real brain mechanism in order to have real thought processes, reaction abilities, and behavioral characteristics. Only in this way can the full emotions I need be born..."

"...The next step is to train Harry to learn Occlumency as soon as possible, test the protective and filtering capabilities of Occlumency, and test whether the contamination of the real personality by the false personality can be shielded by Occlumency."

At this point, Vaughn hesitated a bit.

Will constantly taking advantage of Harry really ruin him?

But who else would be suitable besides Harry?

He reminisced about the people he knew, lost in deep thought...

"Merlin, Scabbers—"

A scream from the dormitory woke Harry from his dream.

He felt something was wrong as soon as he woke up. It felt like something was wriggling in his mouth. Before he could react, Ron from the next bed pounced on him with a ferocious expression and grabbed his lips.

"What are you doing, Harry? Release Scabbers right now, oh my god!"

Harry finally realized what was in his mouth!

vomit--

He opened his mouth wide so Ron could drag the damn fat rat out, then lay down by the bed and vomited violently.

Spotty looked terrified; its fur was covered in sticky saliva, and the whole mouse was squeaking and struggling in Ron's hands.

Ron hugged it tenderly, but it bit him, so he had to put it back in its cage.

He said angrily, "Why did you put Scabbers in your mouth, Harry? It loves you so much! Every time you let it out, it sneaks over to sleep next to you. How could you treat it like this?"

"Shut up, Ron!"

Harry was disgusted.

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

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

But what bothered him even more was... he realized why he had put Banban in his mouth—it was his automatic response personality!

According to Vaughn, he had to maintain various techniques of Occlumency, which could involve a blank mind or a mind full of useless thoughts.

The only thing he couldn't do was to keep his thoughts and memories undefended.

There will be penalties for violations!

Last night he had a dream in which he must have failed to maintain his brain-blocking technique and was therefore punished—this morning, he woke up inexplicably and stuffed Banban, who was sleeping by his bedside, into his mouth.

He put it in himself... He didn't even think there was a problem at the time!

Moreover, he also knows that his current awareness of the problem is not because he has mastered the art of brain shutting, but because the punishment mechanism of the automatic response personality is progressive.

After the punishment, it will make him understand that his behavior was inappropriate, and if he repeats the offense today, the punishment will be increased.

Until he completely becomes a different person, all we can do is wait for the automatic reset at midnight!

Harry's face was pale.

Today's first punishment was swallowing Banban. If it gets any harder, wouldn't that be...?

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

……

"So, you want to eat Banban because Vaughn implanted something in your brain that will turn you into a different person?"

There were no classes on Saturday. After having dinner at the restaurant, Ron, who had calmed down, sat with Harry in the courtyard as he listened to Harry recount the details.

Struggling to maintain a blank mind, Harry remained expressionless. This was a side effect of the early stages of learning Occlumency; he even had to draw out his words to ensure that his increasingly dulled brain could react.

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

"cool!"

Harry stared blankly at Ron, who quickly coughed and said, "I mean, Vaughn went too far. I should have known better. Only he would have such malice towards Scabbers."

"No—eating Banban is just today's punishment, and it's only the first stage. If you do it again..."

What happens if you commit the offense again?

Ron was just wondering when suddenly a pair of large hands reached out from behind and forcefully pressed down on his and Harry's heads: "Weasley, Potter, have you finished your potions papers? Or are you planning to hand me a blank parchment next class and continue mocking me?"

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

Snape was pleased to see Ron's face quickly turn to fear, but Harry...

Harry's cold face was exactly like his, including his lifeless eyes.

Remembering yesterday's events, Snape's face immediately darkened: "What, Harry Potter, are you planning to imitate me again?"

"No, Professor!"

"...Gryffindor loses 10 points!"

"Please—listen to me—"

"Deduct another 10 points!"

Harry finally couldn't hold back any longer. He snapped out of his daze and called out, "Professor Snape, I'm practicing..."

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

Before long, a commotion arose in the courtyard.

"Help! Help! Pull Harry away!"

"Harry Potter! Let go of your... let go of your mouth!"

"Don't pull me back! Let me have one more bite! Let me have one more bite! You bunch of bastards, I just want to eat a head, let me go!"

From a distance, Vaughn and Dumbledore, passing by on the suspension bridge, noticed the commotion in the courtyard and chatted idly:

"It seems you've already come up with a plan."

"That's right, I'm going to create a virtual persona to give myself a disguise."

"Oh, what a wonderful idea, different from mine, but very interesting... But, could you please leave Harry alone?"

"Hmm? Don't you think this method is very effective? I believe that after today, Harry will definitely not dare to slack off again. Or, I don't mind if I stop helping you train him!"

"Ah, the weather is really nice today."

Vaughn's prediction was correct.

That day, Ron had a chunk of hair bitten off, and Harry was chained to his hospital bed with restraints by Madam Pomfrey for an entire day as a price.

Harry dared not relax any longer, lest he trigger the automatic response mechanism.

The reality is that one cannot quickly master Occlumency simply because of fear, even if one makes good progress; initially, one can only maintain a blank mind for two hours.

A month later, he was able to maintain this level of performance throughout the day while fully conscious.

But Harry and the entire Hogwarts community know the hardships they endured...

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

"Potter, I heard you made a complete mess of the owlhouse 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 entire scaffolding."

"Potter..."

This month was the happiest time of Malfoy's life.

Harry Potter's baffling human behavior provided Malfoy with a month's worth of laughs, but unfortunately, this happened less and less frequently afterward, much to Malfoy's regret.

On the other hand, there's Vaughn Weasley, the Dark Lord of Slytherin, who becomes increasingly elusive and difficult to spot as Wizengamor holds meetings regarding the establishment of the "Werewolf Affairs Committee."

Without the Great Demon King to suppress him, Malfoy finally dared to swagger around with Goyle and Crabbe, bullying all the first-year snakes. He also gained a follower named Pansy Parkinson, a girl who looked like a poodle.

However, Mr. Malfoy never cared about looks when making friends; he only cared about someone strong and able to fight for him, which Miss Parkinson fits perfectly.

At noon, Malfoy, along with his henchmen, waited at the restaurant entrance for his beloved Potter.

Harry caused trouble again today. In the early hours of the morning, he suddenly broke out of the Gryffindor tower, pounced on the door of the Ravenclaw common room, and pounded on it, determined to get into Ravenclaw and not want to be with the Gryffindor idiots anymore.

A large crowd gathered to witness Harry's betrayal.

Professor McGonagall, who rushed over after hearing the commotion, dragged him to the university hospital.

"You should see, Harry. Percy's face is black with anger. Although everyone knows that your abnormal behavior is due to learning magic from Vaughn, your betrayal of Gryffindor has clearly made Percy feel ashamed."

"The school hospital," Ron said with great interest.

Harry looked pained. As his mastery of Occlumency deepened, he no longer experienced the side effects of being expressionless, lifeless, or slow to react while maintaining a blank mind.

Although his act of betraying the school wasn't entirely genuine, Harry still felt very guilty.

Because of his state of mind at the time, he genuinely believed that Gryffindor were all idiots, fools, and brutes, and he said a lot of hurtful things.

Thinking of the Gryffindor upperclassmen who were watching, and Professor McGonagall's trembling lips, Harry felt like banging his head against the ground.

When will this kind of life ever end?!

Hermione, who had also come to visit Harry, paid no attention to his suffering—he'd been in pain for a month anyway—and upon hearing Ron's words, she closed her book and corrected him, "Percy wasn't angry because Harry betrayed Gryffindor, but because Harry was clinging to Penelope Crivart's leg, his nose and tears all over the place!"

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

"Penelope Crivart, the Ravenclaw prefect!"

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

Hermione looked at him dismissively: "Because Crivette is Percy's girlfriend, Ronald Weasley. Who knows, you two might even become family someday!"

"...How did you know?"

"Percy told me."

Ron was taken aback.

When the twins came to visit Harry later, he was even more devastated.

"That's right, Ronnie. Remember last summer when Percy received a lot of letters? They were all from Crevat."

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

"So he decided to tell everyone that he was in a passionate relationship with Krivat in order to avoid a similar situation from happening again."

"We all know, including Ginny. I heard she and Krivat exchanged gifts for Christmas."

Ron, who thought to himself, was completely bewildered. Undeterred, he asked Harry, "Harry, do you know?"

Harry: "Uh..."

No answer is needed.

Ron looked ashen and dejected.

"Uh, Ron, I know because I ran into them. They were on a date there when I went to the Forbidden Forest last time. Thanks to Percy for calling Hagrid for me, otherwise I might have gotten lost. You know, I thought I was a stag."

Ron sat listlessly on the edge of the bed, as if abandoned by the entire world. After a while, he asked again, unwilling to give up, "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, how did things go?"

Wearing a velvet suit and looking very smart and handsome, Vaughn entered the ward, greeted Harry, and was then pulled by Hermione to sit next to her. He shook his head and said:

"The establishment of the committee went relatively smoothly, but politics is never smooth sailing. There will always be people who will point out problems, and then you have to solve them or compromise."

Seeing his slightly furrowed brows, Hermione bit her lip, took his hand, and gently advised, "Don't be too anxious. There's a solution to every problem; it's just a matter of time."

"Thanks."

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

She's a little taller than him now, and her figure is starting to show curves.

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

Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, but she didn't let go of his hand, even ignoring the two third wheels next to her.

Are you going to the Ministry of Magic this afternoon?

"I need to go there this evening; this meeting will continue for a few more days."

"Let's think about it again in the evening. How about we go to Black Lake later? We can enjoy the scenery, read a book, and relax our minds."

Vaughn thought for a moment and nodded: "Bring the fruit tea along too. How's it been these past few days?"

The decisive Hermione couldn't wait a second longer and immediately pulled Vaughn up. "Let's go now. Fruit Tea misses you. Although it's very well-behaved and doesn't make a fuss, it's always spacing out. It's almost dinnertime, so let's go to the restaurant and get some food, and also get some fish for Fruit Tea. How about a picnic?"

"That's a great idea!"

As the two chatted, they quickly disappeared outside the door, leaving Harry and Ron, two silly elementary school students, dumbfounded and at a loss.

After a long pause, Ron suddenly said, "Harry, did you really stumble upon Percy's affair yourself?"

"certainly."

"Then why did he tell Hermione?"

Harry said dryly, "Maybe he thinks Hermione will become part of the family too?"

Foolish Ron started sulking again.

He's not even as good as Hermione!

(End of this chapter)