The answer turned out to be yes.
Occlumency truly had no spell.
Chapter Seventeen of The Power of Sorrow explained the principles and training methods of Occlumency in exhausting detail.
At its most basic level, Occlumency required the practitioner to empty the mind completely.
No thoughts.
No memories.
No emotions.
Only through absolute mental stillness could a Legilimens fail to detect emotional fluctuations or hidden thoughts.
There was no magic involved whatsoever.
Everything depended entirely on willpower.
Unfortunately, "willpower" was an extremely vague concept.
The only reliable way to test improvement involved repeatedly allowing someone to cast Legilimency on you until your brain stopped leaking information.
So naturally—
Who did Ethan choose as his training partner?
Or rather…
Who did Ethan trust enough to become his peeping tom?
Wednesday afternoon.
Inside the Room of Requirement.
"Coo?"
The Earl looked at Ethan as though he had finally confirmed the child was mentally defective.
"Didn't you say before that you always wanted to use a wand?" Ethan placed his wand carefully in front of the owl. "Help me practise Occlumency and I'll secretly buy you one too. Assuming Ollivander still agrees to sell me another wand."
"You know the Ministry forbids non-human creatures from using wands, right, little brat?" the Earl replied while tilting his head. "Also, you're an exceptionally terrible child."
"You could use your own wand to hunt voles," Ethan reminded him casually. "Freezing Charms work faster than claws. And with fire magic, you could cook your food properly. Harry said Hedwig likes honey-glazed roast meat."
"…Deal."
The Earl sold his dignity instantly.
"What's the spell again?"
"Legilimens," Ethan corrected patiently. "Le-gi-li-mens. Stress the middle syllable."
"Right. Expecto Patronum."
"That joke stopped being funny the first time."
"No sense of humour."
The Earl snorted loudly.
Then the owl grabbed Ethan's wand awkwardly in his claws before attempting to position himself in midair.
"How do you hairless apes aim these things?" he complained while spinning in circles. "The tip's thinner than a vole's tail."
"Just keep casting," Ethan said while reclining comfortably in an armchair. "Statistically you'll eventually hit something."
Honestly, the Earl was probably the most trustworthy creature inside Hogwarts.
Nothing built loyalty better than magically enforced contracts.
Now Ethan finally understood why wizards invented Unbreakable Vows.
"Legilimens!"
The first attempt missed entirely.
"Legilimens!"
The second blasted directly into the fireplace.
The firewood probably lacked emotions, but the Earl clearly possessed plenty.
"Bloody Legilimens!"
Finally, the third spell struck Ethan properly.
"…?"
"…?"
The Earl immediately landed on the nearby table before lifting one wing dramatically like someone inspecting their own trousers.
Then he ran circles around Ethan while staring at him from every possible angle.
Bird and boy exchanged identical confused expressions.
"…You didn't get in?"
"Bullshit!" the Earl screeched. "The wand glowed! Didn't you see it glowing?!"
Honestly, Ethan still wasn't completely certain whether the Earl could truly cast magic.
To confirm things properly, he taught the owl several additional spells.
Shockingly—
Every single one worked perfectly.
Especially the Patronus Charm.
The Earl produced a fully corporeal Patronus on his first attempt.
Naturally, it took the form of an owl.
Unfortunately, whether intentionally or not, the Patronus immediately slammed directly into Ethan's face.
His skull rang violently.
Compared to that, the Killing Curse felt almost gentle.
"You little—"
Ethan instantly snatched the wand away and retaliated by casting a temporary Feather-Vanishing Charm on the Earl.
The result was immediate.
The owl released a horrifying scream unlike anything nature intended to exist before frantically trying to cover his now naked body with his wings.
Watching the Earl tremble in humiliation brought Ethan indescribable satisfaction.
[Sin Points +10]
[Note: Even the darkest wizard would not pluck a bird naked merely because it hit him with a Patronus.]
"You evil little monster!" the Earl shrieked furiously. "Perverted feather fetishist! You aren't even human!"
"Exactly," Ethan replied viciously. "I was never human to begin with."
He crossed his arms coldly.
"I was originally planning to buy you a wand too. Unfortunately, that plan has now been postponed until your next life."
After all the testing, Ethan finally confirmed something extremely important.
He had already mastered Occlumency perfectly.
Because Legilimency simply didn't work on him.
Exactly like ordinary Dementors.
It seemed Ethan truly had inherited nearly every racial characteristic of a Dementor—
Except unfortunately possessing a cumbersome human body.
To test things further, Ethan even cast the Killing Curse on himself.
The Earl froze in absolute horror for several full seconds and forgot how to swear entirely.
Curiosity killed cats.
But not Dementors.
Everything unfolded exactly as Ethan expected.
Magic targeting the mind or soul proved almost completely ineffective against him.
You're absolutely right.
But Ethan is unaffected.
The only genuine threat remained Patronuses.
A sufficiently strong Patronus could literally knock Ethan's soul straight out of his body.
Perhaps once his soul strength increased further, he would resist better.
Still, in the relatively peaceful modern wizarding world, Ethan considered the risk manageable.
After all, truly evil Dark Wizards generally couldn't cast Patronuses.
Which meant—
He could now safely approach Voldemort's recruitment attempt.
Just imagining it felt absurdly funny.
Orphan.
Dark Magic experiment subject.
Half-Dementor.
Interested in forbidden magic.
Hands stained with the deaths of over three hundred wizards.
If Voldemort saw all those labels attached to an eleven-year-old child, he'd probably cry tears of joy.
The only remaining concern involved whether Voldemort might become jealous enough to murder Ethan immediately instead.
Just as Ethan considered future infiltration plans, the Earl finally interrupted.
"Finished drooling yet?"
The naked owl shivered violently atop the table.
"Put my feathers back already! I'm freezing!"
"How?"
Ethan asked sincerely.
Because unfortunately—
He genuinely had no idea how to reverse the Feather-Vanishing Charm.
....
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