Hearing Mouse speak solid words plan as day, isn't hearing an emotion... and it would seem the gate and lock that keeps thoughts inside our heads, you know, where we keep our emotions, must have a natural broadcaster for someone else to be the receiver without help... Mmmm. Guess we do have a entrance.
I went and checked, and Molly does indeed mention Mouse's thoughts. Her line is, "It's something I picked up. A dog's thoughts and emotions are a lot more direct and less conflicted than a human's. It's easier to listen for them. It isn't a big deal."
The way she describes it as something she "picked up" and "listens" for, it sounds like surface thoughts or a "language" that Mouse is speaking -- note that before each of her translations, there's also a description of Mouse's deliberate body language. It appears to be
Mouse that's doing something to make himself be heard, not
Molly doing something to look into his mind.
Combine that with what we see in Zoo Day -- Mouse "talks" to monkeys, lions, otters, and several other animals in what appear to be complete sentences. Unless we're positing that monkeys, lions and otters are
also psychic sensitives, then it seems there is an animal language that Molly simply learned how to understand (if aided by her natural sensitivity to thoughts and emotions).
There's also this bit from Changes that supports the idea:
I was on my feet before anyone else. I eyed the dog and said, “You can talk. How come I never hear you talk?”
“Because you don’t know how to listen,” my godmother said simply.
We have now cleared that up. :)I lost track, Turn Coat it is. And let Molly burn he did. Which makes for good drama. But it makes Harry look like a self righteous ass. The whole next book is mostly about showing Harry that. Right and wrong doesn't change because you are under pressure.
Indeed, it doesn't -- but how one acts and reacts to their choices does change. My point wasn't that the situation somehow made right something that had been wrong before -- it was that Harry
didn't care at that point that it was wrong because he was that desperate.
There is no definitive way to say where the line is on mind magic. JB won't lay down the law, other than to say it is banned by the WC. However when it's convenient he will use it. When Elaine is under attack in White Knight, Harry not only hears her he hears the vampire. That's pretty far in without consent. Even if they had used the spell previously. Anyway I think this is moving off point. So I'll let it lay.
I think that interaction fell under "surface thoughts," or hell, might even have been the vampire literally speaking aloud to Elaine. Or, as Peregrine suggested, it might have been a result of the vampire already working to break into her mind.
So, given everything up to now, I'm positing thus:
1. Soul stuff and mind stuff, while related, are separate in that souls are outward facing and can easily be shared by something as simple as a smile or a hug, while the mind is internal, your private self, and behind a "fundamental" barrier, as the RPG book puts it.
2. Getting past that fundamental barrier violates the Third Law. It might be done "gently," or even with consent, but it's still a barrier you have to get through, meaning you've damaged it, and you have
way too much power to muck about once you're in.
3. There are "layers" to the mind, and outside that "fundamental barrier," there is a sort of transmitter/receiver effect, such that surface thoughts and emotions can be broadcast out and passively sensed by those with an ability for it, without having to actually use any magic. This would explain why communications spells and suggestions don't break the law -- they're only affecting the outer surface, not breaking through the barrier.
It's kind of like a computer, come to think of it.
Surface thoughts are like Discord or Steam Chat. You can project to the world your "surface thoughts" and those with the capability of reading them (your friends list) can see them, and even see when you're on and what you're playing without actually speaking to you.
Behind that fundamental barrier, though, is your computer itself. Normally, you have it password protected, and yes, you can give someone else the password and they might well use it in an entirely benign way, but even then you're probably looking over their shoulder, wondering when's the last time you cleared your browsing history and hoping to God that they don't start their internet search with certain letters like "p."
If they don't know what they're doing, they might accidentally erase something you wanted to keep, or see something you wanted to keep private.
If they
do know what they're doing, they could outright steal your files, change your settings or turn the whole thing into a brick.
