Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, (Order of Merlin, First Class; Grand Sorcerer; Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot; and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards), looked up from his desk and smiled slightly. He waved his hand gently. The door to his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry opened just as his Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, reached the landing outside it.
“What can I do for you this wonderful morning, Minerva?” he asked congenially, leaning back in his chair.
“The same thing you do every year at this time, Albus,” she replied in her usual no-nonsense tone. “Tell me how Harry Potter is doing.” She sighed as she sat in the chair opposite his desk. “This is his tenth birthday. Only one more year before he comes to Hogwarts.”
Smiling, the old wizard looked at the bookshelf against the wall of his office and behind his Transfigurations professor. To anyone else, he looked as if he was simply looking up and thinking. Instead he was examining three certain silver devices hidden among the several dozen residing on the bookcase’s top shelf. “Let’s see,” he said thoughtfully. He studied them as if he didn’t check them every day, after waking and before bed.
One looked like a metronome, its black wand moving slightly back and forth instead of standing straight up or pointing to either side. Its triangular backing and round base were both a neutral silver-grey in colour, although the backing had thirteen horizontal black lines that divided it into fourteen equally tall sections.
He closed his eyes momentarily and said, “Harry is doing well, but he is neither happy nor sad.”
“I would expect him to be excited on his birthday,” she said frowning severely.
“Perhaps he is still asleep,” the Headmaster gently countered, his eyes twinkling. “Sleeping-in on such occasions is not unusual.”
“Still, it is rather odd that every time I ask, you give the same response. I find it troubling that Harry never seems to be happy,” she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
Dumbledore shrugged delicately. “The burdens of being brought up by your aunt and uncle instead of your mother and father, I expect,” he said.
He looked to his next instrument, a squat, round tube lying on its side and sealed at both ends. A long thin smokestack, almost as tall as a textbook and taller than the cylinder was long, stuck up from the nearest end. Eleven black lines divided the cylinder into twelve sections, and all were a dull silver-grey. It was sending up small puffs of white smoke from its chimney. Its square base was a bright silver platform.
Again, he closed his eyes, then said, “He is in good health, and has been for the last year, as usual. No injuries of any kind, not even a minor scrape.”
McGonagall shook her head. “Now that is unusual. His grandmother told me his father never made it through a week without some kind of cut or scrape, even if it was just tripping on the front steps and barking his shin.”
“His mother, on the other hand,” the old wizard said, “rarely had such problems, I recall you telling me.”
Professor McGonagall reluctantly nodded.
The Headmaster looked at the third device on the shelf. A simple vertical wheel spinning and shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow. Its base was oblong. And the support was a half-circle. It was actually a bit hypnotic, and he sometimes found himself watching it when he was stressed.
He smiled. “His mother’s protection on the Dursley home is still as active as ever,” he said happily. “Showing that he is getting the love he needs from his aunt. It certainly isn’t as great as his mother’s. But it is there. Just as it has been for the last nine years. And, no one has attempted to breach the protective charm since I placed it.” He looked back at his Deputy in mild reproof.
She nodded.
“So, Minerva,” he said softly, “Have I managed to lay to rest your concerns for the coming year?”
“I still think you should visit Harry instead of relying solely on monitoring charms. Even the muggle social workers visit their charges on occasion to evaluate what is really happening instead of relying on second-hand information.”
He shrugged, “A visit might inadvertently disclose his location to wizards we would rather not have that knowledge. A skilled practitioner could follow even me without being detected were I to chance it. Which is the reason why I’ve requested you and Hagrid to not visit the child, and all the others to not look for him.
“And can you imagine what the Daily Prophet would print if they knew he was living with muggles? And how to find him? And what the Wizengamot would do in reaction? Or the Death Eaters that managed to escape capture ten years ago?”
She shuddered, “Yes.” She fixed him with a steady gaze. “But monitoring charms can only tell you so much. Visiting Harry, if only for a few minutes, would tell you more.”
Again he shrugged. “My charms are rather thorough. I have complete faith in them in relaying to me all the relevant information I need.”
He smiled at her, “Besides, Mrs. Figg checks up on him regularly.”
Minerva rolled her eyes. “A squib who sees the boy once every few months when the Dursleys ask her to watch him is not the same as going into their home and seeing his living conditions, Albus. And if the Dursleys don’t call her, she can tell us nothing. She doesn't even live on the same street, so she can't tell us if she happens to see him outside in the summer. And didn’t you tell me that last year they only called her four times, including just once since January?”
Half-heartedly, the Headmaster nodded. “Yes. And as he gets older I imagine they will rely on her even less. However, if he were to come over to her house and showed signs of being treated badly, she would have told us. And she can’t very well sneak over there and peek in their windows, now can she?”
Reluctantly, she said, “No. Well, I guess this will just have to do, won’t it?” She sighed. “I still think placing him with those muggles was a mistake.”
He sighed, in turn. “We’ve been over this before, Minerva. I had no real choice. Black was in Azkaban, Amelia had lost almost her entire family and was in no shape to take on a toddler. Mary, Emmeline, Hestia, and Dorcas were all single. And Remus’ monthly problem would have made it impossible to keep his location a secret. And the Death Eaters were carefully checking all the Grey and Light families looking for the child in the days after the attack, and before the Longbottoms were targeted. So my choices were either the Dursleys or sending him overseas.” He looked her levelly in the eyes. “I stand by my choice.”
“I know,” she muttered softly. “I just wish it could have been different.”
She stood. “I’ll see you at lunch, then.” She left his office, the door silently closing behind her.
Dumbledore sighed and looked at his fourth monitoring device, a simple vertical stick on a small round disk, with three lights in a small vertical rectangular box on top. A muggle would immediately recognize its traffic-pole shape. As it always was, the red and yellow lights remained unlit while the green one glowed dimly.
He hadn’t told anyone of the existence of the last two of the five devices on the shelf designed to monitor the boy at all times.
While the wizards couldn’t find Harry at home, that didn’t prevent a clever Death Eater from hiring or charming an unknowing muggle into doing their dirty work for them. It might take years for such a strategy to work, but Death Eaters were known to be patient when necessary. Thus, the fourth device monitored his very special muggle-repelling charm on Harry. Any muggle with the intent to kill Harry, remove him from his relatives, or trying to interfere in the family, would be subtly redirected and made to forget what they had intended to do. It reinforced anything his aunt and uncle told others, to help distract attention from Harry. If they told someone to leave the boy alone, that person would do just that.
The old wizard was pleased to see that the all-black device hadn’t the least bit of colour anywhere except the green light. That meant no one had approached the boy or interfered in his relationship with the Dursleys for at least a year. The same as all the previous times he had checked. Like the other devices, it tracked Harry for the last twelve months, or fourteen days for the happiness monitor. He hadn’t bothered to make the devices track things any longer, not seeing the necessity.
Albus next looked at the crystal globe filled entirely with white smoke, last of the five devices monitoring Harry. It was on a simple silver base. He smiled to himself. That had been a stroke of genius, although devilishly hard to cast correctly. It watched Dumbledore’s special version of the fidelius charm that redirected any wizard’s or witch’s attention away from the one who had vanquished Lord Voldemort.
Harry Potter, for the wizards and witches, was forever linked to the missing Dark Lord. They could not think of one without thinking of the other. Hence, any wizard or witch searching for him would be blocked by the charm. Muggles, on the other hand, would only know of Harry Potter, not his wizarding history, and have no such impediment.
And should a wizard see him, well, while they would recognize him, they would never be able to remember where or when it had happened. And if a quick-thinking wizard were to see him and place a tracking or monitoring charm of any kind on the boy, Dumbledore’s special variation of the fidelius would block it from reporting anything useful. The charm would appear to work, but report nothing of consequence. And that would keep the boy safe from all harm.
۸-~-۸
“Where is our little pumpkin?” asked Petunia, as she walked into the sitting-room, “The roast is almost done!” The aroma of the evening dinner drifted through the house — roast beef with caramelized onions in gravy, roast potatoes with cinnamon butter, carrots and peas, and Yorkshire pudding. A delicious blend of scents that set her husband’s mouth to drooling.
“You know how he likes your dinners. I’m sure the little rascal will be home any moment,” said Vernon jovially as he watched News and Sport on BBC Two.
“I certainly hope so,” she replied, glancing back into the kitchen. “He has been spending a lot more time with his friends lately.”
The obese man glanced up at her, then scowled. “Well, now that that freak is out of our lives, our son has more free time. And he’s out of that boy’s disrupting influence.” He fell silent for a moment.
She sighed, eyeing the cupboard door which they hadn’t opened in days, “He’s only been missing for two weeks. He might show up again.”
“I feel that our luck has finally changed, my love. He’s gone, and gone for good.”
“One can only hope,” she said. She frowned. “I wonder what set him off?”
Her husband grunted. “Who cares? He probably found a mug that he could leech off of. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. If we never see him again, it’ll be too soon!”
۸-ꞈ-۸
Dear Princess Celestia,
It’s probably good that we haven’t found that portal to Harry Potter’s home-world yet. The more I learn about those beasts he calls relatives, the more I find myself wanting to hurt them. I’m trying not to be a bad pony, but the details he’s mentioned (see enclosed notes) make it so difficult sometimes.
The things he’s told me about his home-world, though, are simply astounding. If we do find the portal, or it reopens, the things we could learn will revolutionize magic and science as we know it (see the enclosed notes on the things he’s told me about)!
Harry seems to have made friends with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo (the Cutie Mark Crusaders, in case you don’t remember). I’ve written to you of their escapades in the past. I’m hoping this both helps him integrate better into our world and to slow them down. He seems to be more cautious than they are, so there’s hope on that subject. (see my enclosed notes on the Trebuchet they built, and its current use at Ponyville Lake). It’s truly amazing how many of their Cutie Mark attempts end up with them covered in tree sap — even those that have nothing to do with the forest or trees.
He’s fitting well into school, Cheerilee tells me. He’s very quiet and polite, and studies hard. I told you about his innovation on using his fetlock to hold a quill, and how we fashioned a quill-holder for his hoof (see enclosed and improved diagram). His letters are already about as good as the average pegasus! Cheerilee has said several earth colts are showing interest in his method of writing. It certainly seems like something we should consider teaching instead of mouth writing — much more convenient and easier to use.
I’ve been running tests on his magic and he appears to have a magic well that is quite wide and deep for a colt his age. He will be quite a power-pony when he gets older. His scar, though, concerns me. It is definitely a fragment of something and not simply a remnant of a spell gone wrong. Its reactions to my diagnostic spells remind me strongly of the fragment of Sombra’s horn we found (see enclosed charts and records).
How he could have acquired it is also troubling. He says he’s had it as long as he can remember, which means that whatever happened to him, it was when he was a tiny foal. Somepony was casting highly dangerous spells either around him or at him, resulting in this scar. How could his parents have allowed this? And if not them, then his relatives! (See enclosed notes on what he can remember about the scar.)
And, most importantly, should we tell him about it (see enclosed notes on the pros and cons of such a decision)?
And then there is that protective magic field surrounding him. The only thing it responds to is that scar. Nothing else I’ve thrown at it gets any sort of reaction — it’s as if the magic field’s only purpose is to keep whatever is in the scar at bay. How the field was established and how it maintains itself leave me frustrated! All my attempts to create a similar field have ended in abysmal failure as they either drain magic from the subject or dissipate after only a few hours. And my field reacts to every spell I cast at it. Whomever created this field was an exceptionally knowledgeable, talented, and powerful magic user (see enclosed notes on the recordings and my tentative conclusions).
This is at odds with his firm statements that magic is unknown in his world. No matter how I look at it, my conclusions are disturbing in their implications (see enclosed notes).
Any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.
.
P.S. I have run into a small problem with Harry. How do I punish him when he does something wrong? I don’t want to do anything that might remind him of his relatives and cause a panic attack or cause him lose his trust in us, yet the normal punishments, grounding him and making him stay inside, don’t seem to work. That is, when I grounded him after the Trebuchet incident at Sweet Apple Acres — he has to stay inside and can’t go play with his friends — he spent the entire time reading books. He acted like he was being rewarded! He even thanked me!
۸-_-۸
Princess Celestia hoofed the letter from her faithful student to her sister, Luna. “Have you been able to learn anything helpful about Harry Potter from his dreams?” she asked.
Luna sighed as she read the letter. “No, Tia. His dreams art extremely chaotic compared to most ponies. If it weren’t for his obvious calm acceptance of the events taking place, We would’st thinketh that he were reliving one of Discord’s more extreme pranks from a millennium ago when that villainous creature ruled Equestria.” She stopped for a moment to think. “His dreams segue from one disquieting fantastical setting to another in chaotic — and what should be traumatizing — manners. At times, sections or entire dreams rapidly repeat over and over with minor variations in details and outcomes that should leave him an emotional wreck in the morning.
“One moment he is a pony, another he is in his bipedal form, and in still another ’tis an odd combination of both. He notices not the changes, and doesn’t seem to care one way or another, accepting all with equal tranquillity.”
She shook her head tiredly. “We can’st not say what is of his world, what is of ours, and what is fantasy. We tried to stop one such misadventure the very first time We entered his dreamscape, to direct it and receive answers. All We accomplished was to reset the dream to a different beginning, and it dragged Us with it willy-nilly. Every time We interfere, the dreams just change their theme and remain thoroughly as chaotic and confusing.”
She sighed and laid her head on the table. “And he dost see'th nothing wrong with what is happening. He participates and reacts, but nothing seems to matter. His moods range from mildly worried to mildly pleased, even when what he dost hath no bearing on what happens.”
She looked over at her sister. “If it tweren’t for Twilight’s reports on his interactions with other ponies, We would think him quite insane.”
“Hmm,” Celestia hummed softly.
“Although, We must admit amusement at seeing that thy faithful student dost complaineth that restricting him to the library as punishment dost not work. We don’t think We hath ever heard of such a state of affairs.” She glanced up at her sister with a slight smile.
“Yes,” said the white alicorn, “That is a rather ironic complaint from Twilight.”
“Mayhaps, denying him the books wouldest work?”
Celestia sighed. “That was what I had to do with Twilight.”
They both studied their tea cups for several minutes.
“You should head for bed, Lulu,” Celestia suggested. “You’re about to fall asleep on your hooves. And you’re speaking in the royal ‘We’ again.” She gave her sister a loving look. “There certainly doesn’t appear to be any urgency in this matter, at least not enough to require you to skimp on your slumber.”
“Forsooth, We, I, thinketh thou mayhaps be correct.”
Princess Luna pushed herself to her hooves and slowly walked to the door.
“Good morning, Tia.”
“Good morning, Lulu.”
۸-~-۸
So Dumbledore in this story is just arrogant (over-confident in his skills to not bother checking on Harry either directy or indirectly) and ignorant (on realities that happen in Muggle's world) ? Otherwise, this chapter would scream at me that he was an out-right liar with little care for others.
Oh, and shouldn't Twilight's letter often use 'Dear Princess Celestia' instead? I thought she stopped calling her mentor's title only after she was crowned.
Eeeyyyyyy I got in a good point the previous chapter! Woo me! Also, I get the feeling Dumbledore isn't nearly as worried as he should be, as well as the fact that my sheer instinctual hatred for the Dursleys just increased about 83%.
What is that brown stuff splattered all over the body of the pony in the picture?
It doesn't really make sense for Luna to accidentally slip into the royal We when talking to Celestia.
In fact, it'd make even less sense than a French-speaking person accidentally addressing a family member with the formal/plural "vous" rather than the singular-familiar "tu". (What, in English, were "you" and "thou" before "thou" got dropped.)
Either "he sees" or "he seeth" (the -th/-eth ending is the precursor to the -s ending for third-person singular use. Exact same purpose... different eras.)
I wrote a blog post which explains how this sort of thing works in simple terms:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/309807/early-modern-english-for-authors-aka-lunaspeak
8941633
Indeed. Although I have to wonder how the hell he, or his instruments, missed Harry almost dying...then there is the fact the protections on the Dursley’s house are still in place and that Mrs. Figg hasn’t noticed Harry’s absence.
short and sweet. also, wow.. ironic much twi? lol also, dumbledore truly has messed up.
8941657
that is his coat color
8941633
it was a little further after she was crowned. remember tireks return? she still acted like she had no authority or say in official matters, letting celestia have final say in everything without a fight. also, the library is till there
8941804
The timeline I'm following has her achieving alicorn about two years after she and Spike arrived in Ponyville, which is one year after Harry "stumbles" into Equestria, as explained in the story description.
And Dumbledore isn't a "bad" person in this story, just a bit too clever for his own good.
Personally, from the canon books, I think he's almost as evil as Voldemort with the way he maneuvers his followers like checker pieces, with little to no thought on how what he does impacts them.
8941744
The last paragraph of Dumbles' in this chapter explains how the monitoring devices missed that. And his Privett Drive minder only got to see Harry when the Dursleys let her. So....
8941744
not sure if spoiler or not but, great beardy is being fooled by his own charms thus why it always tells him that harry is just sort of meh.
Dumbledore forgot one simple thing in his fifth item: 'except those of Dumbledore'. Without that one bit in the spell, his devices are as blind about Harry Potter as any other wizard's would be.
Thus, in a year's time, Dumbledore will have a rather angry owl to deal with, for it has to try and deliver a letter to another world.
8941846
to be fair, you have to put celestia in the same position then. despite her promoting friendship and what not. she still basically 'plans out' twilights entire life when she sees her cutie mark. but yes, dumbledore did have voldemorts defeat planned out
One year from now the Dursly's home gets invaded by owls wondering where is Harry Potter
8941965
Well... her life ‘till accention, probably.
8942007
nah.. pretty sure it was up till tirek. notice how she wanted certain things to happen during that time? she went against her own teachings that time.
Uh... And no one in why know how many thousands of years since ponies invent writing don't think about writing that way? I have hard time to belive that.
I hope the Dursleys get assaulted by birds of every kind.
I have to wonder if Princess Cadence would pick up on the sacrificial protection spell. It was after all the last spell Lily Potter performed.
Like Dumbledore says in the book. “Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”
So it logically be something Cadence would detect. I can see it as her looking at Harry and it dawns on her how such a protection spell would be cast. “That...that love magic. Such... a spell. Oh no, Harry I’m so sorry! Only the self sacrificing act of a love one could...”
Such a spell might be interesting to see the results around Changlings.
8942015
Eh... touchè, however nopony in the show (save Pinkie because... Pinkie) predicted the box and keys to grant Twilight her castle.
8942421
very true. no evidence for it... but i like to think celestia at least knew they all had to open it at once. but not much beyond that. that's just me though
8941965
They ARE alike, at first glance.
Except she doesn't send her soldiers out to fight with the decree "don't hurt them!" when their enemy is killing them in droves. Neither is she raising Twilight for the sole purpose of DYING so that she can then kill the villain herself instead of dealing with the villain years before when he was weak (Order of the Phoenix, ch. 37, "I guessed that it might be the sign of a connection forged between you and Voldemort.”). Nor does she deliberately leave Twilight in an abusive situation for over a decade (Order of the Phoenix, ch 37, "You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”). And neither does he do anything to protect Harry from ridicule and ostracization (Why didn't he tell everyone in "The Secret Chamber" that Harry could NOT be the so-called Heir of Slytherin? Why didn't he tell everyone in "The Goblet of Fire" that Harry didn't enter it of his own free will? There are dozens of places where Dumbles could have removed the misery Harry experienced simply by explaining things, either to Harry, or the other students, but he doesn't. Why? Because he's raising him to die.)
And when Dumbles finds out he's doomed to die and cannot beat Voldie, does he tell Harry everything, trust him with everything? No, he leaves Harry guessing at the Horcruxes (90% of book seven). At least when Tia knew she couldn't win, she turned everything over to Twilight and kept no secrets (Tirek).
The biggest difference would be that as the ruler of an entire nation, she must make choices that protect the entire nation, not just a few individuals -- at times, this will mean she does things that are against her principles. And the Element Bearers are all adults and are an official branch of the government, not a bunch of underage students still in school!
What is acceptable in treating adults is NOT an acceptable way to treat children
Anyone in the military will tell you that their superiors ALWAYS know more than they tell their troops (Eisenhower and his top staff knew about the Atom Bomb the Army Airforce dropped on Japan, no one else knew that the bomb existed. To everyone else it was a Top-Secret weapon. Period. The Captain of the ship that delivered the bomb to the airbase only knew he had secret cargo). And troops are frequently sent into battle with slanted information to get certain desired military and political results.
Dumbles, on the other hand, is the SCHOOL HEADMASTER! His number one job is protecting students and seeing that they get a good education. His other jobs are advisory! He has taken it upon himself to act as a ruler when HE HAS NO SUCH AUTHORITY! And he treats the school as his private fiefdom where privileged students are allowed to do whatever they like, regardless of the rules. He has withheld vital information from the legitimate government that he has evidence that Voldemort is not dead. Instead, he "suggests" that Voldie is still around instead of taking this straight to the Unspeakables and telling them his suspicions so that they could start up a spirit hunt.
In short, Dumbles treated Harry as an expendable underage child soldier in a war no one else knew existed. And the way he treated Harry was unconscionable, and unjustifiable. Tia treats Twilight as an adult soldier, a valuable asset that she sometimes has to send into battle with insufficient information. But she never regards Twilight, or any of the other Mane Six, as expendable.
8942740
agreed actually. i think the only things tia kept secret is her sight, and personal things from her past. kudos to her, already doing better than old dumbles. 'tirek has escaped' but nobody knows how she knows this outside of luna. nobody told her, they got no sign yet. certainly helped her appearance as a goddess though xD
8942757
Monitoring spells. She's certainly old enough to know how useful such a thing would be and to make sure somepony really smart made the spell for her. And, naturally, the baddies remove the spell once they escape because they can't do that while in tartarus (or the spell is on their cells).
8942740
In short Stumble-More is an evil wizard that Harry Potter thrice defied and his intention was to always eventually get Harry killed off after figuring out that the Lich's phylactery was Harry's scar. Don't even get me started on the fact that he knowingly put on a cursed ring, despite how great and powerful he is said to be, and could have resisted temptation long enough to break the curse on it.
He is an old blowhard with too much responsibility and power given to him, he should not even be allowed to run a school given how often the wards there don't work.
Weren't the schools wards supposed to prevent the eleven year old's that can cast spells to kill at said age from harming each other? The school is basically giving eleven year old kids the carte blanche to use lethal weapons as much as they want while on school grounds. WIZARDS... GIVE... THEIR CHILDREN... LOADED GUNS... AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN.
Weren't the wards supposed to prevent dark creatures from getting into the school? Doesn't explain the troll or basilisk one bit, the basilisk just slips into and out of the wards all willy-nilly for an entire school year and not to mention all the dark artifacts that are already in the school to begin with.
To not forget how irresponsible the bearded 'donkey' really is. When informed there was a troll in the dungeons, what was his first reaction? Send the students back to their dorms, where are the Slytherins dorms again? It was like he was actively trying to get them all killed by the troll. A real leader would have kept all the children in one place where they could be protected. Instead he just sends them all out to head back to their dorms while a monster is on the loose and any one of the groups could have been slaughtered.
There's a lot of inconsistences I could go on about here about the supposedly safe school, what with Harry dying almost every year going there. It is possibly the worst magical school for OSHA compliance with it's shifting stairs, being taught lethal spells from the very first year and no morality or ethics classes because why do we need those for children who can kill with even the simplest of spells? There's also the entire thing with the school being split into four warring divisions with one division being singled out for being the most evil.
8942791
Yeah. That's pretty much it, from canon, at least.
In my story he's a well-meaning old coot who takes the attitude "boys will be boys" when the boys in question are "pure-blood" or he somehow considers them "important." And he also thinks himself infallible -- just as he does in canon (Sorcerer's Stone, Ch. 17 "I’m glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that’s saying something.").
8941846
Oh, I didn’t realize that included his own monitoring spell. I figured he would have ensured that wouldn’t happen before using it. There is one final thing that doesn’t make sense to me; why is Albus’ device saying Lily’s protection is still affecting the Dursleys’ house? I thought it would only work so long as it was his home? Is it that Albus screwed that up and the protection never extended beyond Harry and is therefore not affected by Harry having a new home?
8942791
Wards, like most magic in Harry Potter, are just literary devices that’s properties are what works for the story at a given time. As such there aren’t really any HARD rules to magic in Harry Potter like there is in Dungeons and Dragons, or any structured fantasy setting. The HP serries only really worked when it was purely a children’s book and the setting rapidly falls apart from its lack of defined structure. Still enjoyed reading the series and it has provided a setting for a wealth of good fan fics.
8942064
You would certainly think so. However, in show we see them using hammers, saws, paint-brushes and many other so-called hand-tools by holding them in their mouths instead of having special handles on them that would allow them to use their hooves.
So, why the surprise that they wouldn't think to make quills with hoof-handles when they haven't for other tools?
8943676
Remember, Dumbles said in the books that Harry had to return to the Dursleys at least once a year or the spell protecting them at that location would fail.
Therefore, the spell can persist for over a year before it fails. It has been a year and a few months since Harry left for Equestria and the spell is about to undergo catastrophic failure.
8944699
It's looks like I failed to explain what I mean. My point that if writing with their hooves would be really easier that do this with their mouth they would do that. If they don't do this then most likely there a reasons for this. Same for tools. Considering that they never have any troubles with using them with their mouth - there pretty much no reasons to use then with thier hooves.
8944699
That is going to be very interesting to see play out.
8944715
No, I got what you meant. It's just like people though, "It was good enough for dad, it's good enough for me." And writing was for the elite until public education became common, so you have them wanting to do it the old way.
Social inertia is difficult to overcome. For example, the Greeks knew about steam power, but it took two thousand years before anyone actually considered using it for anything useful. And the Incan indians knew about the wheel as evidenced by its use in toys, but the never developed wheeled carts.
8945368
I politely disagree with you. Ponies legs are extremely thick and attempt to attach pen or quill to them most likely lead to less control that writing by mouth.
There you can see what I talking about. Saddle Arabians have a normal horse leg and as you can see - pony stallions legs about three or four times thicker. Even pony mare legs at least fifty percent thicker. Or in case of Twilight - two times thicker.
But of well, it's your story.
8942740
The problem I have with this view of Dumbledore is that from what I have garnered alot of it isn't true. The biggest strike I've seen against Dumbledore is that he was raising Harry to be a weapon against Voldemort but from what I've seen from the books it was actually the opposite. Dumbledore believed the prophecy would happen regardless of his actions so he chose to keep Harry out of all the business with Voldemort and allow the prophecy to happen naturally. He kept secrets because he didn't want to get Harry involved, he wanted Harry to have a normal happy life and yes he left him with the Dursleys but that was for the sake of the protection charm which Dumbledore knew Voldemort could never get past even if he returned to full power. There were plenty of times Dumbledore should have stopped keeping secrets but he was just far too stubborn.
And I would say Celestia would absolutely agree with his PoV, Celestia has always been willing to make sacrifices for the greater good and she is always keeping information from Twilight such as sending her to the Crystal Empire on the pretense of it being a test and not telling her about her possible accession.
So I get that this chapter is meant to explain why Dumbledore hasn't noticed Harry's disappearance but you forgot about Mrs Figg. Dumbledore had tasked her with keeping an eye on Harry so if he had disappeared she would have noticed and informed him.
8983848
She only sees Harry when the Dursleys call her for babysitting when they want to go somewhere.
She didn't call them and ask for Harry to visit, she waited for them to call her. And if she started hanging around their house hoping to see the boy, the Dursleys would have quickly twigged to the fact that she wasn't just a crazy cat-lady. When your only purpose is to passively observe, and from an entirely different street, no less, you can't do anything that might trigger the suspicions of your target. And if she did call to ask why they hadn't dropped Harry off in a while, well, all they have to say is, we're punishing him by keeping him in his room.
This is also the reason why Dumbledore didn't know that Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs. If she did know, then that means Dumbledore knew and was okay with how they treated the boy. And totally uninterested in giving him a "normal childhood" as he said in canon. As we saw from the owls delivering the mail, that if the Dursleys knew the wizards were watching, they would have treated Harry much differently.
Dumbeldore had a set of spells that could notify him if Harry was happy or unhappy but failed to tell him about weekly or monthly Broken Bones? Or 9 years of Massive Undernourishment?
im sensing that the spell/s were vastly less capable than he thinks they are...
Don’t u mean sombras horn?
9007847
Good catch! That is certainly what I meant. Fixed it.
I have no issue with most of this, but stop doing that thing with Luna. Tossing ist and st at the end of words does not make them old-timey, it makes you sound uneducated. For the love of god, please stop it.
Read some Shakespearean prose if you don’t know how it sounds, do some research. Looking up things like that is what can really help set you apart from other writers, and i’ve found myself looking up everything from how solar panels function to the difference in fission and fusion because someone said I had them backwards(I didn’t). I can take the bashing, but don’t mangle words like that and expect me to accept them as Shakespearean.
Good grief, Dumbledore is an idiot in this story. 'Here, let me devise a spell that makes all other spells give no significant information. Oh, look there has been no significant information from my extensive suite of tracking spells for ten years that I check every single day! Everything normal here!"
That kind of blind spot... is actually right on par for him. Good job.
9017141
When you say it like that it does seem really stupid for him. I mean Dumbledore knows what kind of people the Dursleys are (McGonagall even warns him about them) so the idea that he wouldn't find 'nothing happening good or bad' strange is really dumb.
I'm willing to let it slide though since the plot kind of requires nobody finds out so some leaps in logic are sort of required.
I'm thinking of Twilight trying to teach Spike how to write with his mouth right now and he keeps accidently burning or shredding the quills up.
I'm really enjoying this story so far, but honestly I had to take a short break after reading Luna's scene. The pain of reading those speech patterns was almost physical.
A fragment of someone's soul, Twilight; while that - and others - is still around, the soul's owner cannot die, even when dealt fatal damage.
GET RID OF IT.
AT him; specifically, a spell designed to cause instantaneous death, that leaves no physical damage behind. A victim would look perfectly healthy - except for, y'know, being dead.
They didn't, Twilight - they were murdered, so by definition they couldn't have 'allowed' this.
They don't know, and they don't care.
Or used an obscure, ancient ritual that only works if the mother sacrifices herself to save her child. Your descriptors could be true, but they're not the whole picture.
AUTHOR: 'Saty' -> 'stay'. Typo.
8942333
I was thinking that Cadence would now what it was right away. She'd know love. I think Harry would be touched and happy to know that his mother loved him that much.
9059443
Master of stating the obvious. lol
Hopefully Harry will grow and adapt to his new life in Ponyville before Dumb'ass'ldore drags him back into danger. By the time that happens, his knowledge of magic is likely going to be pretty darned good.
Try to take over the world!
I'm sorry. I coudn't resist.
Well, at least he's not saying...
Hoo boy. Let me try to parse this one.