"Is there something you need, Professor Dumbledore?" Maurise asked politely.
Dumbledore offered a slight nod, gesturing for him to step closer.
By now, the Great Hall had almost entirely emptied out. Only Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Maurise remained.
Maurise's gaze flicked thoughtfully between the two professors. The Headmaster's expression was as serene and unreadable as ever, but Professor McGonagall looked incredibly stern.
"I assume you have already read the Daily Prophet's extensive coverage regarding Gilderoy Lockhart," Dumbledore began.
"I have."
The scandalous news had already spread to every corner of the castle like wildfire.
"The Ministry of Magic conducted a thorough medical examination of Lockhart's physical and mental state," Dumbledore stated slowly. "His mind has been severely tampered with, and his current psychological condition is catastrophic. We have strong reason to believe that someone within Hogwarts subjected him to an incredibly powerful, highly invasive form of mind magic."
Maurise blinked innocently. "You don't happen to suspect me, do you?"
Professor McGonagall shook her head, her tone softening slightly. "Do not worry, Maurise. We are merely asking if you witnessed anything unusual. Several of the castle ghosts reported seeing you lingering near Professor Lockhart's office on multiple occasions, often quite late at night."
'Ah. Spotted by the ghosts.'
"That is entirely correct," Maurise admitted with absolute, shameless candor. "I did, in fact, use Legilimency on him."
"Even if you don't know anything, that is perfectly... wait, excuse me, what did you just say?!" Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly spiked an entire octave, her eyes widening in absolute shock.
Maurise smiled cheerfully, his tone incredibly breezy. "Truthfully, the fact that Lockhart broke down and turned himself in is likely partially my doing. Do I get House points for that?"
Professor McGonagall looked as though she were about to have a heart attack. Just as she opened her mouth to reprimand him, Dumbledore raised a calm hand to gently cut her off.
"Maurise," Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes peering curiously over his half-moon spectacles, "why exactly did you feel compelled to use such magic on Professor Lockhart?"
"I simply suspected he was hiding malicious secrets, and I wanted to verify my hypothesis," Maurise answered concisely.
Naturally, the primary reason was that he desperately needed a disposable test dummy to practice his Legilimency. However, admitting that out loud sounded a bit too sociopathic for polite company, so he wisely kept it to himself.
Professor McGonagall took a deep, shuddering breath, her expression returning to strict severity. "Maurise, Legilimency is a profoundly sensitive and highly dangerous branch of advanced magic. It absolutely must not be abused. Even if you harbored legitimate suspicions regarding Lockhart, you should have reported them to the faculty immediately, rather than taking such extreme, unilateral action."
"I understand completely, Professor," Maurise lowered his head, adopting the posture of a highly obedient, properly chastised student.
He had fully anticipated McGonagall's strict lecture.
However...
He suddenly raised his head, looking perfectly innocent. "Professor McGonagall, is the practice of Legilimency itself explicitly forbidden by school rules or wizarding law?"
Professor McGonagall frowned deeply. "Strictly speaking, it is not legally banned. However, the application of such magic is almost exclusively associated with highly illicit, criminal activities."
"Maurise," Dumbledore interjected softly. "In our world, the boundaries of acceptable magic often rely entirely upon the user's intent and methodology. Legilimency is the perfect example. It forcibly invades and exposes a person's most vulnerable, deeply guarded sanctuary. Therefore, unless you are faced with a situation of absolute, unavoidable necessity, I strongly advise against utilizing it."
'Advises against utilizing it?'
The corner of Maurise's mouth curled upward into a highly amused smirk. He spread his hands innocently. "Very well. I promise I will not abuse it. But tell me, Professor Dumbledore... didn't you casually use Legilimency on me during my very first semester? I managed to block the intrusion, of course. But I am genuinely curious: was examining a first-year student's mind considered a situation of 'absolute, unavoidable necessity'?"
Professor McGonagall's head whipped around so fast her neck audibly cracked. She stared at Dumbledore, her eyes practically bulging out of her head in utter shock.
She had absolutely no prior knowledge of this incident.
Dumbledore let out a dry, highly awkward cough and waved his hand dismissively. "I believe that will be all for today, Maurise. You are dismissed."
'Nice try changing the subject, Professor.'
Maurise offered a polite, beaming smile, gave a slight bow, and turned to leave.
The exact second the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall clicked shut, Professor McGonagall rounded on the Headmaster. "Albus Dumbledore! What on earth is the meaning of this?!"
"It is a rather long and complicated story, Minerva..."
Dumbledore rubbed his throbbing temples.
Maurise Black was truly an exceptionally exhausting student to manage.
The Headmaster had already strongly suspected that Lockhart's bizarre, catatonic mental break was directly linked to the boy.
However, one specific detail deeply baffled him.
Could the crude application of Legilimency genuinely shatter a grown man's mind and emotional state to such a catastrophic degree?
Truthfully, even with a century of experience, Dumbledore wasn't entirely certain he could replicate that level of psychological devastation.
---
The platform at Hogsmeade Station was a chaotic sea of noise and motion.
With nearly half an hour remaining before the Hogwarts Express was scheduled to depart, the students milled about the platform, their voices overlapping in an endless, deafening buzz.
The anticipation for the upcoming summer holidays was palpable. Everyone was buzzing with excitement.
Maurise stood near the edge of the crowd, casually chatting with the Weasley twins.
"I have decided to found an organization," Maurise stated suddenly, his tone completely serious.
Fred's eyebrows instantly shot up. "What kind of organization?"
"One that gathers highly ambitious, exceptionally talented individuals together, steering them toward a truly magnificent future."
Hearing the incredibly vague mission statement, the twins exchanged a highly skeptical look.
"What exactly does that mean?" George asked, completely bewildered. "Do you not have a more specific, tangible goal in mind?"
Maurise stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Truthfully, the declaration was a completely spontaneous whim.
However, he genuinely harbored the desire to establish his own private collective. His reasoning was exactly as he had just stated: he wanted to gather brilliant, ambitious minds in one place.
Maurise firmly believed that the collision of vastly different, highly intelligent perspectives was the ultimate catalyst for progress. When exceptional people gathered, fascinating things inevitably occurred.
And Maurise absolutely loved fascinating things.
However, the twins were right. He needed a specific, grand objective to effectively recruit top-tier talent.
After pondering for a brief moment, Maurise spoke again. "The organization will possess one singular, ultimate objective: the exploration and conquest of completely unknown territories."
George crossed his arms. "Explore what, exactly? You are still being incredibly vague, Maurise."
Maurise tilted his head back, gazing up at the vast, clear blue sky above them. "Let us... explore the cosmos."
That answer was so completely outside the realm of their expectations that the twins were momentarily struck speechless. It was almost eerie.
Fred blinked a few times, recovering his wits. "Are we automatically considered members?"
"Naturally," Maurise nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Therefore, our grand organization currently boasts a total roster of three members."
He fully expected the twins to humor him and play along with his grand schemes.
"Your goal is incredibly ambitious, Maurise," George noted, his tone adopting a rare hint of solemnity. "It is also completely, utterly unrealistic."
Maurise smiled warmly. "I am aware. But I firmly believe it can be achieved."
Fred stared at the younger boy, feeling a sudden wave of genuine admiration.
That was Maurise Black in a nutshell. Endlessly, terrifyingly confident.
Coming from literally anyone else, such a grandiose, arrogant declaration would sound like utter lunacy. But coming from Maurise, it somehow sounded completely plausible.
"If we are exploring the cosmos, we are going to need significantly more partners," Fred pointed out pragmatically.
"And funds," George added quickly. "An absolute mountain of funds."
'Money?'
Maurise nodded in agreement. "That is an undeniable necessity."
He was a visionary, not a delusional daydreamer. Any form of advanced magical or scientific research required an astronomical amount of liquid capital to sustain.
"Then you should invest in us!" Fred flashed a brilliantly cunning grin, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "We are planning to open our very own joke shop. Do not look at us like that, we are completely serious. We have been planning this for months. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes! That is the official name. We are currently in the process of finalizing our initial product catalog."
Maurise knew the twins were constantly tinkering with various pranks and inventions, but he hadn't realized they had already progressed to the formal business planning stage.
That was a highly pleasant surprise.
"I would be more than happy to invest in your enterprise..."
Maurise began, causing the twins' eyes to light up like Lumos charms.
However, he immediately followed it up with a crushing reality check.
"...But unfortunately, I currently lack the liquid capital required to fund an entire storefront."
The brilliant light in the twins' eyes instantly extinguished.