It wasn’t until the Slytherins and Gryffindors started to approach the Great Hall that the results of Sweetie’s potion became apparent.
“Watch where you’re going,” an outraged Slytherin said to a Hufflepuff Second Year witch who had just deliberately walked into him.
The Hufflepuff jumped back and knocked into another Slytherin. That Slytherin shoved her off with a disgusted look. The Hufflepuff looked around in fright, then said, “What? Who said that? Who pushed me?”
The Slytherins looked surprised at that response, as did the Gryffindors further behind. The purple students were rather obvious.
“I said it,” growled the first Slytherin, turning to face the Hufflepuff.
The witch looked around in panic, then screeched, “Eek!” and quickly ran ahead, leaving them all puzzled.
As they reached the clump of students at the Great Hall doors it only got worse.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going! There’s someone here!”
“Can’t you use your eyes, you oaf?”
“Move you great lump!”
“Hey! Who’s pushing me!”
“Cut it out!”
By the time the Gryffindor and Slytherin Firsties had seated themselves it was obvious that while they could see themselves just fine, no one else could.
Harry watched a couple of the Slytherins smile broadly, then start pranking anyone close to them — tapping their victim on the shoulder, whispering behind their back, tripping the students they didn’t like, spilling their juices in their laps. All while knowing they, as invisible First Years, were safe from retaliation by their victims. After all, no one but their fellow First Years could identify them. And if they were sneaky enough, even their friends wouldn’t know for sure.
Snickering, the Gryffindors quickly followed suit.
Things were quickly descending into bedlam when Professor Snape made his dramatic entrance, as usual. He walked straight into Professor McGonagall and then, stumbling, tripped over Professor Flitwick as those two worthies walked directly in front of him trying to restore order to the Hall.
Harry and the fillies watched, shocked, as both Professors McGonagall and Flitwick shot off stunners at Professor Snape, Their Potions’ professor had fortunately fallen to his hands and knees and the spells went over his head, although Flitwick’s barely missed the tall wizard’s back
It was amazing to watch the three professors firing spells off at each other, and brought the students to a halt in their own activities. It took a moment for the Firsties to realize that the two professors could not see Professor Snape, and that he didn’t realize that fact. The two professors were at a distinct disadvantage at not being able to see the third except for the flash and colours of his spells.
It stopped when Professor McGonagall said, “Severus? Is that you?”
“Who else would it be?” he snarled back, quickly moving so she couldn’t track his voice.
“I don’t know, we can’t see you.” She still held her wand at the ready. She twisted her head back and forth to take advantage of her superior hearing. She re-aimed her wand at him as he took another quiet step sideways. Professor Flitwick watched from his position on the floor, wrapped up in ropes as the result of a powerful incarcerous.
He looked at her, then the wondering faces of the students. He glared at Harry and the fillies. “How many students can see me?” he asked. “Raise your hands,” he said even as he again moved sideways.
Only the First Year Slytherins and Gryffindors raised their hands.
It took him only a few moments to explain the situation to the other professors.
It was a most memorable lunch, even if no one but the Slytherin and Gryffindor First Years could see Professor Snape glaring at Sweetie Belle through the remainder of the meal.
The rest of the Great Hall did note his thunderous expression when he became detectable just as everyone finished their meals. Over the rest of the afternoon the First Years slowly returned to visibility, based on how far they had been from Sweetie Belle in the potions’ classroom.
It was strange, Harry thought, to hear Sweetie Belle and Neville without being able to see them, as they were the last two to become visible shortly before dinner.
۸-_-۸
Elly stared at the owl on the other side of the window. She knew, of course, that owls were the preferred method of mail delivery for wizards — the ponies used postmares and hoof-delivered the mail. Still, that left her puzzled as to why the silly thing was delivering a message to her.
Perhaps Gringotts had information for her?
She made her way to the window and opened it slowly so as not to frighten the bird. Not that she really thought the bird would suddenly leave. It had been tapping on the window for several minutes. She could sense its growing impatience at her delay. It was quite clearly communicating, “Come on, hurry up! I don’t have all day.”
When the window was open, the bird petulantly stuck out its leg with the shrunken letter rolled up on it.
The changeling carefully detached the letter, then said, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t any treats for you. Would a sickle do? You could buy your own treat.”
The owl tilted its head, considering, then gave a graceful acceptance bob.
Elly hurried to her bag beside the bed’s side-table, took out a sickle, and then gave it to the bird.
Nodding several times as it took the coin, the bird quickly flew off. Elly watched briefly as it angled towards Eeylops Owl Emporium.
Sighing, she examined the letter carefully. It was clearly addressed to her:
Elly De Rippe, The Leaky Cauldron, Second Floor, Room #3.
She broke the seal and was astonished to see what was written on the first page.
۸-_-۸
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
England’s Premier School
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Miss Rippe,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Because term began on 1 September, you will need to bring this letter with you to the school as soon as possible so that you do not fall any further behind in your studies.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress*
۸-_-۸
She stared at it, stunned. Could she work that to her advantage? Being in a school could potentially be of great service to her. It eliminated problems and provided a cover for her lack of knowledge about the culture.
First, though, she would need to get her supplies — the letter provided a list of necessary items. Most of them would be useful in blending in, no matter what she decided.
After acquiring her books and other things, and storing them in a trunk, she hid herself in an alley. A unique alley, from her point of view. It was beside a place called Madam Puddifoot’s in a wizarding village named Hogsmeade — she thought floo-travel was remarkable for the distances it covered. And scary for how quickly and easily reinforcements could arrive at a beleaguered town or village.
She transformed into a brick overlay and waited for the ambient love to start slowly refilling her reserves as she again considered what she knew. And what she should do.
Wizards and witches — unlike ponies, she had discovered — did not congregate in public places like parks. Finding a place she could lurk, as she had in the Ponyville playpark, was almost impossible. Wizarding children and their parents, it appeared, were mostly solitary individuals. They stayed close to their families and rarely ventured in public in groups. The floo-network and apparition allowed them to live anywhere they wanted. The services ponies normally needed close at hand were mere steps away for these wizards and witches, even if they were on the other side of the country. There was no need for them to live in any given location such as a village or town. She hadn’t seen any foals just playing in groups while their parents watched. She hadn’t seen any place where that could even happen.
She had discretely asked in the tavern where young people met, and been answered with Hogwarts. It seemed Hogwarts was where young witches went to get their husbands. OWLs and NEWTs were secondary for most witches. The OWLs only proved they were competent house-keepers.
Wizards and witches, besides having an almost equal number, were the reverse of Equestria, she had discovered. Mares in Equestria ruled the homes and courted the stallions. And the stallions raised the families and actually ruled the homes. Here, the wizards courted the witches, and the witches were expected to care for the families — raising little wizards and witches was quite time consuming. Without a primary school, much of the education was left to the mothers or tutors.
When she had asked elsewhere about where unmarried wizards and witches went for some time together, the answers had been, naturally, sports, theatre, and restaurants, just as the ponies did. Parks and recreational areas like circuses were not mentioned, unfortunately.
The restaurants and theatres were what she wished to know more about. The restaurants first, as they were open daily. Theatres sometimes closed for weeks at a time, and had a limited amount of time they were open each day or night. Trying to hang around discretely at a theatre would be difficult.
Then she had discovered that Madam Puddifoot’s was popular with the courting crowd.
Hence her current position. On a weekday, it wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. The weekends were what filled her reserves. Once she had the requisite skills in using a wand, she had planned to get a job as a server in that restaurant. That would put her closer to her food sources, and increase her take.
Once she understood how things worked in this world she would start a restaurant of her own using her Gringotts account. She didn’t care about making a profit, only enough to continue operations. Her real goal was acquiring the love she needed.
That had been her plan.
But this Hogwarts appeared to be an easier way, now.
Especially as her default form was no longer that of a quadruped changeling, with both horn and wings. That she was a biped sort of made sense, based on what the pony teachers had said. She just hadn’t expected to be considered so young.
۸-_-۸
Astonishingly, there was a new student at dinner on Saturday.
Elly De Rippe was sorted into Hufflepuff. She was a quiet and bland girl, with black hair and blue eyes. She was, apparently, the last descendant of an ancient house that everyone thought had disappeared. At least that’s what the more knowledgeable pure-blood students claimed in the Common Room that night. But not a member of the Sacred Twenty-eight, as one snobbish Pureblood said, sniffing in disdain.
Harry, and the other non-pure-blood students, learned that Hogwarts almost never had late arrivals. The girl must have only recently returned to England where the school could detect her, and the owls reach her. If she had been a week later, she would have had to wait until next September.
It was quite a noteworthy event. The gossip mill shot into full speed as they speculated on her history. For the pure-bloods, a lot of owls went out that night.
The Gryffindor Firsties were grateful that the school’s attention was no longer focused on them!
The following Monday, Harry learned from Parvati, who heard it from her sister Padma in Ravenclaw, who heard it from Sally-Anne in Hufflepuff, that Miss De Rippe’s parents had lived in Papua New Guinea and had planned to home-school her. In some areas, she already had a start on the practicals and was ahead of her peers.
“Papua New Guinea is a notoriously difficult country for wizards and witches,” Susan had said, Parvati told them. “My Aunt, who is Head of Magical Law Enforcement, gave me a thorough world background before I came to Hogwarts,” Susan had informed everyone. “While the muggle native peoples there believe in magic, the muggle settlers do not.”
Miss Bones had continued, “Unfortunately, the natives frequently make accusations based on greed and local land politics. And mob rule frequently drives people from their homes. Being a non-native is not protection. Living there is like living when the Statute of Secrecy just started — wizards and witches are always at risk. I don’t know why any wizarding family would live there!”
She had added, “Of course, a real wizard or witch would never interfere if a muggle were to be falsely accused. It would only make him or her stand out. And break the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.”
Elly had told the other Hufflepuffs, Parvati explained breathlessly, “A powerful and jealous wizard wanted revenge on his ‘intended’ for refusing his advances. He revealed her family as witches to the natives. He told them that that family was responsible for their poor crops the last two years — and not the poor weather.” The poor witch, according to Sally-Anne, had almost broken down in tears. “That condemned our entire wizarding village! The native muggles attacked and burned us out in the middle of the night. It was horrible!” their informant said the new witch had wailed.
“The Ministry Aurors arrived much too late,” Elly had continued. She had wiped her tears away and then blew her nose. “They were only concerned with hiding the event from the rest of the muggles, afraid the non-native muggles would realize that there are real wizards and witches. And break the Statute of Secrecy.”
She had suddenly been mad. “Not that we could prove the wizard and his friends had brought down our protective charms and blocked our escape via floo or apparition. No, there was no evidence he had done anything illegal,” She had said bitterly, tears again running down her face.
“I left by muggle means,” Parvati had told them the Hufflepuff had said. “A friend of my parents helped me. She didn’t trust the ministry to not use me, the only child to survive, as a scapegoat. She thought they would say that I had let slip we were witches. That they would blame me for all the deaths and destruction.”
And that was why she had no records, belongings, or other adults with her. Her parents’ friend had used a wand Elly had found in the village’s wreckage that night, as the Aurors were obliviating everyone in sight, muggle or wizard. Poor match though it had been, the adult had been able to use the confundus charm on a couple at the seaport and on some papers to get her past customs. The friend didn’t dare do anything more. She was afraid if she did that the Ministry would notice and that they might link her to the incident.
Elly had only made it to England last week, and after weeks of travel with the couple, who thought her their niece. Her parents had claimed family lived in England. “She told me,” Elly had said, “To go to The Leaky Cauldron and then to Gringotts, and ask about my great-great-grandparents.”
All this, of course, was told to the Gryffindors in the most dramatic way possible by Parvati and Lavender.
And had garnered the little Firstie much sympathy from her dorm-mates, who had given her hugs and cuddled her all Sunday as the story slowly came out.
And they continued to cuddle the quiet girl and console her on her losses. By the end of the week, though, most of the school barely noticed the subdued new witch always in the middle of the Hufflepuff pack.
Harry did notice, though, that she always sat with her back to them at the Hufflepuff table — which was beside the Gryffindors. She was always almost close enough to touch whichever of them sat across from him.
The Ravenclaws had the dubious honour of being beside the Slytherins. That put the Slytherins and Gryffindors at opposite sides of the Great Hall.
The Firsties were always seated closest to the Head Table, with the senior Prefect for their House beside them. The better for the adults to keep an eye on the excitable new students, Harry thought. Still, rather than seating at random, the new Hufflepuff sat close to them. He couldn’t help but wonder if she wanted to be near The-Boy-Who-Lived, but she never seemed to acknowledge him. She never even looked at him directly.
And in their shared classes she had eyes only for the three fillies.
۸-~-۸
On Thursday afternoon the magistrate repeated what he had said at the beginning of the trial, “At the Her Majesty’s Government’s request the evidence and testimony for this Crown Court trial will be held private for the protection of both the accused and the victim. The victim, as the court understands, is an under-age boy currently under the protection of Her Majesty’s Government at an undisclosed location.” He looked sternly at the two people in the dock. “Is that clear? The charge and the verdict will not be made public for a time of not less than twenty years.”
He scanned the nearly empty court-room. The only people present were the defendants, lawyers, Harry’s Social Services caseworker, and Castor, who was sitting quietly in the back. And the courtroom staff, of course.
“Do you have anything to say before sentence is passed?” The magistrate stared at the couple.
Castor hoped and prayed that the oaf in the dock and his wife would keep their silence.
In an effort to save time, and prevent publicity, the two accused were being tried at the same time. Fortunately for the wife, the cases were to be judged separately.
The woman, Petunia Dursley, glanced at her over-weight husband and nervously licked her lips as she shook her head. Her solicitor had insisted that she not object to the sentence. He had managed to secure what he considered a very generous plea deal, given the rather convincing evidence. A deal that included her getting to see her son on a regular basis. And the possibility of an early release if she behaved properly and showed contrition.
Both she and Castor, though, were worried about Vernon’s reaction. Vernon had a very quick temper, and tended not to keep it under control. Her husband had agreed to shoulder most of the blame for the boy’s treatment. He did love his wife and son, after all. It was just that freak that upset him so, didn’t he? If it would help her and his son, then he would gladly take the brunt of the sentencing. But he didn’t have to like the situation, did he now? It was, as he said, “All that freak’s fault!”
The couple had listened to the evidence the Crown prosecutors had placed in front of the magistrate for the last week. It had been very damning. Vernon had looked close to exploding several times, his complexion approaching that of a beet at times, but he had held his tongue.
If you considered her nephew as a normal boy, it was looked very bad for the two Dursleys, didn’t it? And she could see how others who didn’t know the truth would consider them to be awful parents.
Castor hoped his presence at the back of the court would remind the man of the stakes and mitigate his temper. It had worked, so far.
The defence barristers had cited the stressfulness of the situation and the lack of oversight from the government. They had tried to place the blame for the two’s abusive treatment of the boy on the government’s ineptitude. Their argument was simply that the government had failed in its charge of making sure the boy was in a proper home. He should never have gone to the Dursleys’ home. A casual interview any time after the first month would have revealed the situation before it escalated, and there should have been a stipend provided. The situation was entirely the Social Services’ fault and not their clients’.
In other words, they tried to claim mitigating circumstances.
Unfortunately for the defence, the prosecuting barristers had easily rebutted that argument — the Dursleys’ had, after all, signed the paperwork, hadn’t they? They had never complained to the Services, had they? They had never even complained to anyone other than their neighbours! And the couple had lied to their neighbours constantly about their nephew, Harry Potter. They had blamed him for things that clearly were the fault of their own child, Dudley.
The Crown had pointed out that the circumstances did not excuse the couple’s behaviour in the slightest. Many families were stressed with too many children and insufficient income, yet they did not take out their frustrations on one of the children in the manner the Dursleys had.
And the Dursleys had never contacted Social Services with the complaint that the child was a problem.
Vernon slowly stood up.
Castor, already leaning forward, sat on the edge of his chair.
Petunia sighed and slumped in her chair.
“It was that freak’s fault,” he thundered. “That Dumbles freak left the boy on our doorstep like the milkman leaving a bad bottle of milk! He had no right to interfere in our lives! I wanted to take the boy immediately to Social Services! But ’Tuny was too soft-hearted, she convinced me we should keep the boy.” He said ‘boy’ as if it were worthy of his utmost disgust.
Vernon’s solicitor had moved to the dock in front of the custody officer and was pulling at Vernon’s arm frantically, trying to get him to shut up and sit back down. The over-weight man was clearly contradicting the verified paperwork submitted by Social Services. Vernon shook him off.
“Then it was too late, we couldn’t go back. The freaks wouldn’t let us! It’s not our fault at all. He’s a freak and the freaks wouldn’t let us go! We didn’t have a choice no more!”
Fortunately for everyone, Castor believed, Vernon’s solicitor finally got his attention. He urgently told him to shut up or he’d screw the whole deal for himself and his wife and son.
The grumbling and red-faced man sat back down. He stared at the magistrate mulishly, arms crossed angrily.
The magistrate frowned intensely. “Are you through?” he asked frostily. He knew the evidence clearly showed the despicable man to be lying.
Dursley gave him a clenched-teeth nod.
“Will the defendants please stand,” he said. Once they were, he said, “Mr. Vernon Dursley, I have never seen a case like this in my time on this bench. The sheer length of time the abuse occurred and that no one noticed it at all is breath-taking. Instead of being ashamed of your treatment of your nephew, you seem proud.” He continued in this vein for several minutes, outlining what he thought were the most damning pieces of evidence. He stopped and stared at the clearly unrepentant man. “In view of the circumstances and your refusal to acknowledge the wrongfulness of your part in it, I sentence you to the maximum of ten years. I wish it could be more, as you clearly are not a fit father or husband.”
Castor could see that Vernon could barely hold himself back as his face turned purple and his fists clenched. But he did.
The magistrate turned his attention to the other defendant. “Mrs. Vernon Dursely, Petunia Dursley, your part in this tragic situation is that of a facilitator. You allowed both your son and your husband to abuse your nephew when you could have reined them back. However, there are mitigating circumstances.” The judge glanced at the size difference between the two. “Your sentence is not more than four years.”
Petunia’s shoulders slumped, and she barely held back the tears and as she struggled to maintain her equilibrium.
The custody officers were already moving their charges out of the room. Mr Dursley was glaring at Castor hatefully. He clearly blamed the former sergeant for his predicament and had no intention of forgiving or forgetting.
The magistrate glanced at the Social Worker. “I sincerely hope that the services involved will take a good hard look at their procedures to prevent this sort of abuse in the future.”
Harry’s Social Worker nodded, but said nothing.
Castor leaned back in his chair, monumentally relieved that the case was finally over. They had dodged that bullet.
Now he only had to worry about the walrus of a man sounding off while in prison!
۸-~-۸
The weeks began to go by and the Gryffindor and Slytherin Firsties returned to their normal skin colours. The weeks were punctuated by either Neville’s melting a cauldron, three times, or Sweetie Belle’s potion doing the impossible, twice — once both at the same time.
The first time, Sweetie Belle had given everyone donkey ears. Two weeks later it was squid tentacles for their tongues. Which scared the tartarus out of the other students every time the Firsties opened their mouths and hand-length tentacles shot out! It was loads of fun, especially at dinner, Harry thought.
Although, after coming over and carefully inspecting Harry’s set at their table, Myrtle had sighed and stepped back. “If only you were a few years older,” she had said, leaving them all puzzled. Several nearby older girls had spat out their pumpkin juice or started choking when she had said that. And then got some very creepy expressions, Harry thought.
The twins had exchanged startled looks, then grinned, and started looking out over Great Hall with even creepier expression.
The ears and tentacles, each, had even lasted through the change to ponies. That day Scootaloo had been especially fond of sneaking up to him and wrapping her tentacles around his pony ears — both sides at the same time. Finally, in the evening, he’d jumped up and hissed at her. And a tentacle war had erupted between them all. Five-to-one odds had ensured he lost.
The other Gryffindors, and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw witches, in the Common Room had all laughed hysterically at the sight.
A rare few had been creeped out at the cute little ponies with long tentacles shooting out of their mouths.
Afterwards, they had all collapsed into a pile in the middle of the Common Room. The witches had quickly taken advantage of their state by piling in, too. And appropriating a pony to pet and comb — not that any of the ponies minded the attention. It was very soothing, after all.
It had been fun, even if the entire school learned just how ticklish he was — and where.
Both changes had not lasted past Saturday’s breakfast. Which was kind of too bad for the tongue-to-tentacle change, Harry thought, as the way the older girls had jumped would have made for an ace joke for Halloween, which was coming fast.
On the other hoof, the twins seemed especially interested in the tentacles and spent hours making sure they understood what Sweetie Belle had done . . . .
۸-_-۸
Myrtle needs to be accompanied by an adult... at all times.
Ahah! I see what you did there.
Twilight overlooked the portal's transformative effect once she and the others figured out how to transform back into ponies, but it's still there.
So much for those changeling detection runes!!
Well, of course.
Spend weeks trying to survive by eating crackers and bland soup, then moving into an institution with cafeteria style food--an improvement, but not exactly luxury!--and you, too, would be staring at the gourmet smorgasbord that is the take-out the institution staff had brought in for themselves. 'Tis entirely understandable, little bug!
I really hope there is a good explanation for Elly suddenly getting a letter to Hogwarts beyond the explanation in this chapter. The whole thing was far more rushed than I would have liked.
Oh Harry, once you get older and truly understand just how many innuendos you lost...
And DAMN, Sweetie and Neville will be filthy rich by the time they graduate on potion royalties alone. Not to mention the sales of the fifteen volumes needed to catalogue all their creations
9370479
I think it was a combination of Hogwarts magic detecting her human disguise's age (coincidentally 11 and nicely hidden from us) and probably the fact that she's actually eleven. We never knew how old an adult changeling is, after all.
Time skip! I was thinking one was due now we can hopefully get to the opening of the embassy and the shattering of the Statute of Secrecy.
Anyway since Elly's base form had changed, it looks like the anti-Changeling spell is practically useless on Earth, at best it would keep Elly human while there.
How long will it be before the CMC manage to win over and befriend Elly?
Really glad things are working out for Elly, she sounds like a sweetie.
I hope she develops a better relationship with the ponies and Humans soon.
9370479
No more rushed than the fillies getting their letters mere days after arriving and becoming humans. Elly was there a lot longer, but only recently was a human.
9370535
It just seems really convenient that the deadline for entering Hogwarts turned out to not be the actual deadline.
9370524
Yeah she's definitely a nice girl she just needs to over come the psychological programing Chrysalis gave her. If she does that she would beat Thorax to the punch to being the first reformed Changeling but right now she's a nice girl whose past and upbringing makes her obliviously evil.
Oh you absolute mad man! Now the Post Owls are going to start going on strike and demanding actual wages.
"You mean I've been delivering these stupid letters and carrying back shiny bits of metal for ten years for the occasional treat when I could have been using those same bits of metal to get more treats?"
- MLP: FiM
- Romance
- Adventure
- Mystery
Fluttershy discovers a creature she's never seen before. It looks like Rainbow Dash, but it looks off. And why does she feel so strange taking care of it?[Adult story embed hidden]
9370543
Most real schools have a deadline for admittance that is a bit farther into the school year than the day school starts. The difference between August 31st and September 1st is not that great to make a difference to a child’s ability to learn.
9370543
Every school has special circumstances where they allow late enrolment, I don't see why Hogwarts would be any different. It's just likely that the way the letter system works makes late enrolment at Hogwarts an exceedingly rare event. Take a look at what Hogwarts might think it knows about the situation, Elly appears to be an orphaned child living on her own, yes she has the means to hold out until next September but given that Elly's vault is secret Hogwarts would not know about that, so getting her to the school sooner rather then later would likely become a priority for her well being.
Lets not overdo the "potion malfunction" bit.
Oh my god, are we still doing this Sweetie Bell potion thing? From now on, this story is losing points every time it happens.
Also, why the hell did Elly just go to Hogwarts when she knows there are people looking for her? Why didn't she think even for a second that it could be a trap?
9370558
Sure but Hogwarts doesn't work that way as shown by the fact that noone joins the school after the year begins. If you miss the deadline you wait till next year.
I'm not against well thought out exceptions, this just seems like the laziest way to get around the rule. Assuming there isn't more to it.
9370566
Too late for that
And so, Elly is now at Hogwarts, and her native form is not that of a classic changeling... This means, she is essentially a super Metamorphmagus by their standards, as her default appearance is now a human. Seems those wards installed in Hogwarts don't work as intended.
Well, well, well... I am really getting disappointing:
Well, the Elly subplot ended abruptly.
9370563
I'm not against exceptions being made, in fact, I was counting on it in order to get Elly to Hogwarts, but the explanation given in this chapter is that Elly got in simply because it turned out the Deadline to enter Hogwarts isn't before the start of September but the end of September. It just seems like a lazy way to go about it and with all the speculating happening in the comments on how she will get in since she was past the deadline this just comes across as disappointing.
Which is why I hope there is more to it than what was explained in this chapter.
9370515
Are potion royalties even a thing? Especially if potions are made for private use and not to be sold in stores. How are you going to charge someone a fee if they're making a potion in their basement? Nevermind that, how are you even going to know that they're using your recipe without spying on them?
Maybe books or stuff would be able to bring in some money (publishers paying the creators of certain recipes some amount for permission to publish their recipe in a book), but the problem is that they probably don't know what they're doing to get the results they are, so figuring out the recipe is probably beyond them. Snape might be able to figure it out, but in that case he's probably more worthy of the credit of coming up with the potion, especially if he's the one that creates a recipe for it. Giving Sweetie Belle and Neville credit for inventing dozens of potions when they don't know what they're doing and likely couldn't replicate the results is a bit ridiculous.
9370581
Elly has plot chitin. No need to be such a negative nelly about it, though. I think? O_o
9370585
There probably is we just got the explanation given to her and she didn't need to many details on why they decided to make an exception, perhaps we will get a more detailed explanation the next time we get Dumbledore thinking back on current event. I have noticed that often times in this story events tend to happen and then we get the explanation a few chapters latter.
9370566
9370573
Sorry, but we’re dealing with the CMC. To ignore their mayhem is to ignore the CMC. Sorta like complaining that James Bond always get the girl or that Captain Kirk always breaks the rules.
9370578
What’s that old saw about how generals and politicians always expect a repeat of the last war and plan incorrectly (German invasion of France in WWII is a prime example), and that any plan for a battle becomes useless on contact with he enemy?
9370599
And isn’t that just like real life? A tidal wave hits the Philipines and then later we find out it was because of an underwater earthquake.
9370472
Myrtle has every reason to be how she is - she's been stuck as a teenager for hundreds of years, with no ability to get any sort of relief. No wonder she was always moaning.
9370581
That's basically what was given. Or were you expecting something along the lines of "Petunia gets x years for y crime. Vernon gets g years for z crime."? I think that part was handled well enough.
9370585
No, the explanation given in the chapter is that she was just a week away from missing the late enrollment period. The normal deadline to enter is still September 1. It's like if she was out of town for some kind of family emergency and only recently got back and was able to attend. Classes still started on Sept. 1 and she still missed all of them, along with everything else that happened during that time, but it was still early enough in the school year that she could start a little bit late and still feasibly catch up with the rest of the students.
9370606
One would think that she would be getting plenty of relief if she was always moaning.
Tentacles? Perfect! Finally, Starlight's dream musical can finally come true!
9370581
If I had just summarized the trial that way, I’d get comments about “Show, Don’t Tell!”
All characters are plot convenience. Harry, in canon, just happens to slip through the cracks of Social Services. He just happens to be already enrolled in Hogwarts. He just happens to meet the Weasleys. He just happens to be a natural on a broom. He just happens to have an unobservant nurse who can’t see numerous injuries and signs of neglect (under-sized for his age, obviously malnourished)
. . . need I go on?
9370613
she was in her period...all that time, I think anyone would be moaning.
9370629
Well, I agree with the most but
don't exist outside the headcanon.
9370634
Harry Hunting certainly does exist in canon. And if injuries were not involved, then why was Harry running? Was he that afraid of a severe talking-to by Dudley?
9370640
If he ever got injured it was never more than what you'd expect of a child that age basically minor bumps or bruises. Nothing serious but also nothing a young child would want to experience more than once.
In canon Harry never showed signs of physical abuse only emotional abuse which is much harder to notice.
9370652
Heavy blows to the head with a FRYING PAN DO NOT CAUSE minor bumps and bruises. Yes he dodged that one, but that was from PRACTICE. Which means there were more previously that were not mentioned directly in the book. Dear Goddess will you PLEASE for the love of Evil STOP trying to argue 'Harry was never physically abused in a serious manner'. The canon DOES NOT SUPPORT your stance in the slightest. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT SUPPORT your stance either. JKR has admitted she didn't want to get into details of the abuse because IT IS A CHILDREN'S STORY. At least the first book. And she never expected it to go beyond a single book.
Edit: HBP Chapter 3:
This is SIXTH YEAR, so that's a 16 year old Harry who's faced VASTLY more terrifying things than Vernon Dursley, with DUMBLEDORE HIMSELF standing in the fucking doorway. And Harry is still afraid to get within Vernon's arm's reach. A Harry Potter that knows over a dozen ways to kill the fat fuck with a gesture and a word, with the greatest wizard in all of Britain watching over them both, and Harry IS STILL AFRAID of the overweight muggle being able to reach him. This isn't simply 'fanon' this is the author's own pen pointing out how much trama the bastards caused Harry.
Hopefully her observation of the fillies will help her get over her pony fears though I am surprised she isn't in Griffindor as well given the courage she's shown so far.
How on earth did a potion have an effect based on smell since no one was exposed/drank that golden glowing one to my knowledge and I'm pretty sure several where using bubblehead charms the entire time just to be safe.
I admit I had to reread this paragraph several times to make sense of it . . .
The weeks began to go by and the Gryffindor and Slytherin Firsties returned to their normal skin colours. The weeks were punctuated by either Neville’s melting a cauldron, three times, or Sweetie Belle’s potion doing the impossible, twice — once both at the same time.
Until I put together that it was refering to Neville melting his cauldron and Sweetie's potion doing the impossible occuring at the same time. I kept seeing it as Sweetie's potion do the imposisble twice at the same time as well as a second time at another time which was the impossible bit.
I see Scootaloo is having fun playing with Harry's ears makes sense given she's the most physical/adventurous of the CMC's.
9370476
I see, that could work I was wondering why the detection spells didn't work on her.
9370652
Honestly it is head canon either way since it is never really explained indepth.
All we know is that he was abused.
Some like to think that the Dursley house hold had a line they did not cross, and stuck to emotional abuse.
Others will say that parents that starve a child, force them to sleep under the stairs, and teach their son to abuse that child...well they would say such people would likely not be above more physical forms of abuse.
However, again both ideas are head canon since all we know is that he was abused
Elly in Hogwarts i have a vary good feeling this will work out for the vary good in the long run.
Myrtle has a vary dirty mind ........................................ I like it.
Elly accidentally made it to Hogwarts! Now, this is interesting to see. I just wish she would learn about friendship in school and eventually make a friend with Harry (who never experienced the Canterlot Wedding). If she behave good enough (not to mention end up helping Harry and the gangs from behind), she might get pardon from Equestria and official refugee status to live in England.
Want to increase your relation with your half other? Don't search anymore with 'Sweetie Belle #5' (Name could be subjected to change) your loving time will change, just a little and your kisses will be the best
9370777
Lmao
Excellent chapter
Woot! Go Elly! If she ever discovers the swarm survived and/or decides to go back to Equestria eventually, she's gonna have some neat tricks to show the family! Also, if Snape isn't somehow at least trying to document all Sweetie and Neville's accidental potion discoveries, then the man is hopeless. Aggravating though they may be, they're propelling this field of study forward at an astonishing rate. Nice chapter!
9370865
He probably will deny that, but only to say something among the lines like document those failures for not be repeated ever again.
First, I want to say that at the point of writing this out, I had not yet gotten through the whole chapter, so I will leave a note for when I'm commenting on the rest of it. I will leave it in for the sake of ensuring that I'm being honest with how I felt about the chapter as a whole.
I'm going to openly state- I'm actually severely disappointed that we had another sweetie belle potion shenanigan. I just... it's not funny anymore. It's not even INTERESTING. You could save yourself time and page space by just mentioning that "This week's potion class was again 'exciting' when Sweetie and Neville's potion did X" and then move on. For the first time when reading this story, I'm actually almost disinclined to keep reading for a bit. I'm starting to wonder if like every few chapters if this is going to happen, which then makes things predictable. Sure, maybe what happens isn't what anyone figured would happen, but we'll be able to say "Oh look, it's potions class, something silly strange or confusing is going to happen and it's going to be Sweetie Belle's fault!"
Like, the least that could be done is change it up. Maybe have Scootaloo or Harry accidentally do something, or hell, have a Slytherin be the one to mess up this time.
This is actually annoying me more than other things I have issue with. It's making me be reminded of why I've removed Magic School Days from my favorites, retracted my thumbs up, and moved it to wait to read. This story is so much better than that one is, and has so much more potential especially when (or at this rate, IF) we reach the reveal part for Equestria to the Muggles, but things like this just make me feel like your purposely dragging things out. It makes me wonder if you actually WANT to get to the part where things get revealed, again making me feel like that once Equestria reveals itself this story changes from being about Harry Potter and his school shenanigans to being a larger, broader story of three or more societies/worlds colliding.
And to be frank, part of what drew me in WAS the idea it'd morph further and further into that. The Hogwarts stuff just made things more interesting by offering a different perspective for Harry and making sure the first year isn't just retreading the books.
After reading more of/the rest of the chapter:
That all being said, I'm glad I've read the rest of the chapter. I can say that the potions thing at the start clearly annoyed me more than it probably should have- after all, I went on a *glances up* four paragraph long rant about it. I nearly decided to put off reading the chapter until another day or after I'm done with things around the house.
Elly getting drawn to Hogwarts is both surprising, and not surprising. It handles getting her caught up to speed on the magic of this world and interacting with other Witches and Wizards. It also easily brings her in to be present with and near Dumbledore, which makes the two meeting to be much more likely. I'm kind of sad we didn't get to hear anything from the hat on this, but perhaps we'll get that in a flashback of some kind. Perhaps the Hat even intends to tell Dumbledore the truth of who she is. I suspect the Equestrians are also in the process of installing anti-changeling runes across the school, so that might have an interesting effect soon.
Her cover story is also rather interesting, though I suspect some of the students more knowledgeable about the ministry may start piecing some things together about it that might be a bit... off. And it sounds like she's managed to give herself her own form to use for her time at Hogwarts.
I do want to again return to my complaint at the beginning of the chapter, mainly because, well, you did the exact thing I was suggesting but saved it for the end of the chapter.
This is how you could easily handle such shenanigans, yet I remain at a bit of a loss as to why you opened up the chapter with the potion shenanigan in such a fashion. It almost feels like it could have been left in the previous chapter. Was it planned to be in the end of the prior one but you reached that point where you just felt the chapter was at an end? If that's the case I can fully understand.
I do love what happened their with the tentacle joke and how many of the students responded. I suspect that Fred and George are going to be even worse than they ever would have been prank wise now thanks to the things Sweetie Belle is giving them.
I'm also glad, ecstatic even, that we've finally had a proper timeskip! Halloween is going to be very interesting I feel given all the stuff the Ponies could add to it, especially if they share with the others the elements of Nightmare Night with them. In fact, it'd be quite interesting to have Luna make an appearance for any such things (and I'm sure many of the male and female students would love to see Princess Luna in her human form ;P)
The rest of the chapter certainly as I had hoped redeemed that beginning section, which clearly as I said annoyed me more than it should have and for that I offer sincere apologies (I could get rid of what I typed there, but I feel that'd be disgenious to myself and to you). Maybe I'm just having an off day or something.
I'm starting to wonder how much longer it will be before Snape decides to either personally start tutoring Sweetie by herself, if for no other reason than to contain the damage, or perhaps to try and see if there's a way he CAN get her to do better. I actually kind of like the idea of 1on1 potions lessons between Snape and Sweetie Belle. And while I think that Snape is stubborn, I do think that a part of him wants his students to learn. If all he liked about potion making was the making of potions themselves he wouldn't need to stay at Hogwarts and teach.
(then again, perhaps he has to be there because of a deal with Dumbledore)
Now time to look at the comments!
9370476
Oh my gosh, I hadn't realized that! I didn't seem to really pick up on that when I read that. I hadn't entirely been sure what I'd been reading there, so I sort of just glazed past it when it didn't make much sense. Though I find myself wondering a bit now if she shouldn't have darker skin, even though I can now realize that her hair being black is meant to represent her chitin it seems.
9370479
I suspect the reason has to do with her being a young changeling, a cadet still. She's probably around the same actual age as the Crusaders.
9370523
That was not something I had actually considered, but it makes sense. The transformation magic works here as well so thus it's going to render her humanoid, even as a changeling.
9370543
While I can agree with that, I would like to remind that they were still purely in the first month of school at Hogwarts, and that she apparently is ahead in some areas and behind in others, so it makes a certain sense the school's magic would go ahead and say "Yes, bring her here now."
And besides, at least we're not having it draw in tons more students every time we turn around *looks at a certain other fanfic*
9370544
I think some of it is the rhetoric she was no doubt fed by Chrysalis and her ilk and then, on top of that, her being young and easily impressionable. She can't seem to think of the possibility that Chrysalis just wanted power for herself.
9370568
I think the section near the bottom has perhaps shown how it will be dealt with in the future. I'll certainly be upset if it makes a full fledged return within like five chapters, but if it's handled in a passing sort of glance and you miss it manner I won't mind too much.
9370581
-Hopefully the usage of a timeskip at the bottom there indicates a willingness to shift towards speeding things up.
-I think that actually just finishes wrapping it all up, and it wasn't that terribly long. It could have been drawn out more if the author had felt so inclined.
-See the beginning of my post here
-Like some things have been, that might get explained better in future chapters.
9370586
This is a worthy and very on point argument to make, which is actually one reason why I'd like to see Snape tutoring Sweetie Belle 1on1, in part to see if some of those potions are things one can actually fully replicate or if their strange one time accidents.
9370595
Eh, I can get where he's coming from. I admit I am a bit surprised she got in so easily. If future chapters don't offer some insight or explanation, I'm going to be a bit miffed myself.
9370599
Eyup, which is one reason why I'm holding full judgement on how that went. I suspect that Dumbledore probably knows a fair bit more, and in fact probably so does McGonagall.
9370600
They may be the CMC, but you don't have to cover every mishap Sweetie has with potions. Doing it in summarized form as you did there at the end of the chapter now is perhaps the PERFECT way to handle Sweetie Belle's potion mishaps in the future until you decide to change things up by having someone besides her or Neville being the ones to cause an issue.
Like say having Draco not paying attention and messing up, perhaps even badly, which ticks Snape off to high heaven, or Snape accidentally doing something when checking someone's potion.
9370629
To be fair, you could have also done it in a brief stint where Castor's gone home to relax and ruminate on the days events, perhaps with his wife coming to console him and he maybe lets slip he had to deal with some horrible horrible people in his line of work that day. In fact, in a way that might have been better- the Durselys after all are the sort that like having attention paid to them :P
9370710
She's still currently loyal to the hive and to Chrysalis at the moment, even if she could have every reason to start suspecting that Chrysalis had cut her losses and gone into hiding (which after a fashion, I'm kind of surprised she hasn't thought of that- keeping contact with every single Changeling could perhaps if any were captured allow ponies to trace back to the hive)
9370777
That and the timeskip more than helped to redeem the chapter in my eyes, as I got a good long laugh out of it.
9371021
I definitely agree with you on the pacing. This story has been really bad about repeating jokes long after they stop being funny for no reason other than to drag things out. Yes the CMC get into hijinx but we don't need to see it all the time especially when it's just the same gag. Here's a thought, how about occasionally treating the CMC as actual individual characters? One point I'll give to MSD is that it does a good job of treating the CMC as individuals with their own personalities and story arcs rather than just treating them as a group all the time.
I appreciate the frequent updates but they don't mean much if you just keep repeating the same things while progressing the story at a snail's pace.
I wonder where things are going with the new addition.
As for Vernon, Solitary confinement does WONDERS for keeping one quiet.
9370629
With the trial, yeah we didn't need that much detail a simple summary would have sufficed. Nothing of actual interest really happened during it, I was hoping Vernon would actually call out the wizards and then have it turn out that Ministry agents were actually there but instead nothing happened it was just a trial with the expected outcome so dedicating so many words to it seemed pretty unnecessary. Yeah, it's good to show instead of tell but if you have nothing interesting to show you can go ahead and tell us about it in a brief paragraph.
He was short for his age and he grew out of it, that's not a sign of malnourishment some people are just shorter than others. Genetics can be weird like that. If he had injuries they would have been mentioned but they never are therefore he didn't have them.
I'm not sure why you use this as an example of plot convenience when it's just headcanon, it's not even relevant in your story let alone the canon material (I think there was a single line about his height).
9371021
One thing to remember is that the author likes writing 10 chapters ahead so even if he agrees with the criticism, unless he thinks it is a big enough issue to rewrite several chapters risking the update schedule, it is unlikely that we would see those criticisms corrected for over a months worth of chapters.
One way to keep a running gag going after having run it's course would be to mix it up like you said have others mess up instead or maybe have whatever Sweetie Belle made to be completely harmless, for example maybe taking a lethal potion and somehow turning it into delicious magic pudding, but things like this don't need to be shown in detail, at least not for a good while, perhaps when whatever side effects Sweetie Belle's potions may have end up being plot important somehow.
9371068
actually, Dudley's favorite game "Harry Hunting" is canon. you might remember that they were playing it when Harry apparated to the school roof. so, while not mentioned, there were definitely lots of injuries. so, no, it is not headcanon. it is canon. frankly, between that, the frequent beatings for doing better than Dudley in school, and the cast iron pan to the back of the head that caused his bad eye sight, it is solely because of his magic that Harry survived to his seventh birthday, never mind to see his Hogwarts letter.