No sooner said than done.
Alan began by continuously adjusting his breathing, then stood and assumed the Hunyuan Pile stance—the foundational posture of Tai Chi. In this stance, one's focus is centered entirely on the physical form. The goal is "finding"—discovering the most harmonious alignment for the neck, waist, hips, and feet, and then maintaining it. This was Alan's primary method for silencing the noise in his head and centering his spirit.
Once he settled into the posture, Alan instinctively made micro-adjustments to his frame. During this process, his mind became a blank slate, emptied of all random thoughts. He then mobilized his magic, directing the flow slowly toward his brain. Now came the most difficult stage: attempting to immerse that magic into his actual consciousness.
Alan opted for visualization. Rather than imagining himself as a creature or a shield, he visualized his mind as a black hole—a singular point of infinite density from which no light could escape. He then focused on drawing his magic into that void.
Thanks to his years of dedicated cultivation, he entered a meditative state almost instantly. Moving the magic was second nature to him, and while the visualization required a few focused attempts, he eventually felt the concept take hold.
Thirty minutes later, Alan concluded the session and slowly opened his eyes.
"Hmm?" He felt a jolt of surprise as he recalled the details of the attempt.
He wasn't surprised that the effort had yielded a result; he hadn't expected to master such complex magic on his first try. What stunned him was the realization that he might have actually succeeded. Comparing his experience to the descriptions in his magic books, Alan confirmed that he had indeed grasped the core of the art.
The progress had felt entirely natural. He had visualized the black hole and controlled the magic to sink into it without much resistance. Enveloping his thoughts in that magic had been a smooth, fluid process.
This kind of rapid mastery had only happened to Alan once before, when he was first learning the Levitation Spell. While he found other magic relatively easy to learn, those spells still required repetition to truly "grasp." Occlumency, however, felt as intuitive as breathing.
"Am I a natural at this? Or is there a house talent at play? Or perhaps my years of meditation and cultivation provided a massive head start?" Alan pondered the possibilities. He suspected that his long history of practicing "superpowers" through standing and sitting meditation had inadvertently trained the very mental muscles required for this branch of magic.
He shook his head, clearing the speculation. Regardless of the reason, the success was real. He would focus on mastering it fully before overthinking the cause.
He tried to trigger the Occlumency again, but because the sensation was so new, the magical flow felt obscure and sluggish. He exhaled softly; he clearly needed more practice to be able to close his mind instantly, anytime and anywhere.
Encouraged by his success, Alan resolved to practice every night. Once he had perfected his defense, he would attempt Legilimency. He had a premonition that the offensive side of the mind arts might come just as easily.
Over the following week, Alan settled into a productive rhythm. He exercised and practiced his physical skills during the day, helped around the Potter house, and studied runology at the workbench. Every evening, he retreated to his room to refine his Occlumency.
The week vanished quickly, and soon it was time to return to Hogwarts. Alan packed his belongings. Since receiving the extension bag from Sirius, he no longer had to struggle with heavy trunks.
He had gained an immense amount over the holiday. The runic knowledge he had absorbed would take months to fully digest. After tidying his luggage, Alan headed downstairs to share a final breakfast with James and Lily.
"Alan, are you all packed? Come sit, have some breakfast. We have a surprise for you before you head out," Lily greeted him with a kind smile as he entered the room.
Alan was puzzled but sat down, teasing Harry as he ate. Over the past week, the infant had grown accustomed to his presence and always seemed happy to play. Alan used a piece of apple to tease him; little Harry reached for it with desperate hands, looking almost ready to cry until Alan finally placed the fruit in his tiny palms.
James watched the two of them, a knowing smile on his face. "You're heading back today, Alan. Lily and I have a gift for you. We think you'll find it quite useful."
"A gift? But I already received your Christmas present, and I'm very grateful for it. You shouldn't have," Alan said.
Lily walked in carrying a package. "Think of it as a thank-you gift. You looked after Harry through the entire battle last week. I noticed how much you enjoyed the research at the workbench, so James and I put this together."
Alan began to protest, but Lily cut him off. "Don't say no until you've seen it."
She unwrapped the parcel to reveal a circular disk about the size of a basin. it looked like stone but had a cool, metallic sheen. A thin book rested on top of it.
"Lily told me how much you've been studying," James explained. "This is a Rune Disk. It functions similarly to the workbench. While it isn't as powerful, it's perfect for studying individual characters and practicing combinations."
"It's like a portable, simplified version," Lily added. "It handles materialization and combinations perfectly, though it can't record new data or run full simulations."
She picked up the book. "This is a Magic Rune Recording Tool. It's a specialized ledger that can store a hundred individual characters and ten full sequences. I've already recorded over forty common three-dimensional runes for you. You don't usually need to record flat ones, but if you come across any complex three-dimensional ones in your studies, you can save them in here."