Each of the fillies wilted under the fierce glare of a relative.
Spike had retreated to the hallway. He wanted no part of the drama, but his curiosity wouldn’t allow him to completely leave. Plus, Rarity was here!
“So,” snarled Applejack, “jest how long have y’all been visitin’ this here portal? How many times have ya been to his world?”
Apple Bloom gulped.
“You have been designing dresses and you haven’t shown me your designs?” an upset Rarity growled.
Sweetie Belle hung her head down and avoided her sister’s eyes.
Auntie Holiday simply glared at Scootaloo, who mumbled, “I am soo grounded.”
Twilight sat back. “I’m going to have to tell Princess Celestia about how lax the guards have been,” she said thoughtfully, staring at one of the library bookshelves with her eyes out of focus. “Three fillies and a colt regularly sneaking past them, both night and day!” She shook her head ruefully.
She straightened up, “But first, Harry Potter, you’re going to show me this portal so I can examine it myself!”
Harry shivered. “No,” he said quietly, but firmly.
All the mares turned to him. “No?” echoed Twilight disbelievingly.
Still shivering, he said, “If I show you, you’ll go through it. If you go through it, you’ll go as you are and that means you’ll be naked in my world. If someone sees you — and someone will see you because it’s a public park — you’ll be arrested and taken to the guard station. Once the tree is out of your sight, you’ll never find it again.” He took a shaky breath, “So, no! I won’t be responsible for losing you in my world.”
He shivered so hard he almost fell over. He had never defied Twilight before. Snuck under her rules, pretended to not hear her warnings, but never had he out-right, to-her-face, defied her. At the Dursley’s, that would have rated a severe beating. Here, he knew it didn’t, but the echoes of the paranoia and fear were still there.
“Before I show you the portal, you have to have a dress to wear. You have to know how to walk on your rear legs — remember how hard it was for me the first few days? And you have to agree to do as I say. I know my world. Terrible things can happen very fast, especially if someone is trying to do what they think is the right thing for you. Which for you, would be the absolutely wrong thing.”
He forced himself to look straight into her eyes. “In its own way, my world is as dangerous to you as the Everfree Forest is to a foal. You simply don’t know what’s dangerous and what isn’t, nor where to look for the danger.”
Twilight was staring at him as if she had never seen him before.
“He’s right, Twi,” said Applejack. “He’s telling the truth. He’s really worried for ya.”
The mares stood quietly, thinking, while the fillies stayed grouped around Harry, with Apple Bloom slightly in front of him.
“I can make you a simple dress in a few minutes, if I had a pattern,” said Rarity, looking at Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle gulped and nodded quickly.
“And Apple Bloom and I can show you how to walk,” Scootaloo said eagerly. “It’s really not as hard as Harry makes it sound.”
Twilight blinked slowly, then nodded.
“I’ll . . . I’ll . . . go get the patterns,” Sweetie Belle said hesitantly, “They’re in our clubhouse.” She started to edge away from Harry keeping a wary eye on her sister, who was still giving her a stern glare.
“I’ll do it!” declared Harry quickly, and popped away before anypony could object.
Sweetie Belle sighed, she had been looking forward to escaping her sister’s death-glare.
Apple Bloom sighed, she wished she, too, had a reason to dash out.
Scootaloo just tried to hide behind her friends and look innocent. “I’ll be grounded until I’m older than Granny Smith,” she mumbled, glancing at her Aunt Holiday.
Into the short silence that had descended on the group came another “pop” as Harry reappeared, beside the three fillies.
“Here,” Harry said, removing three dresses from the box balanced on his back and tossing them towards his herd-mates. He dropped the box beside himself on the floor, then removed several large sheets of paper and floated them over to Rarity. “Those are the patterns that Sweetie Belle created. They’re real simple. We didn’t want anything that would stand out and make people remember seeing us.”
He stopped and looked eagerly at the fashionista.
The fillies had slipped into their dresses, each a simple modified plain summer dress in a solid colour, and now were standing up on their rear legs. In length, the dresses fell to the floor, which, when they were in Harry’s world, were half-way between their knees and the ground. These were a decided improvement over the sacks they had first tried to use. Rarity was alternately looking between the fillies and the papers held in her magic, comparing what the fillies wore to Sweetie Belle’s diagrams.
Harry concentrated, and carefully cast an illusion beside Scootaloo of what she looked like on the other side wearing the dress. “See how the lines are different? How the straps hold the dress up? And how much longer her legs are?”
The fillies were shuffling from hoof to hoof, unsure of how their relatives would take their new look. The unusual sight of their filly standing and moving almost naturally on only their rear hooves while wearing the most unusual dresses any of them had ever seen had the mares flummoxed into silence.
Rarity walked over and took a closer look at Sweetie Belle’s dress, then Scootaloo’s and Apple Bloom’s. Then compared them to the illusion Harry had cast.
They had decided on backless dresses to accommodate Scootaloo’s wings on this side. Unfortunately, Scootaloo had what looked like an extremely detailed tattoo of wings on her back when in Harry’s former world.
And to give a child a tattoo was very illegal in Britain and inevitably got Child Services involved. While the kids in the playpark might not care, their parents would surely notice and report Scootaloo to the constables. And the constables would take Scootaloo to their station and try to track down Scootaloo’s parents.
So, to keep anyone from questioning why and how she had gotten something so illegal, Sweetie Belle had sewn a cloth panel across the back between the wide shoulder straps. The bottom of the panel attached to the dress by two buttons. That kept the panel closed so the wind couldn’t blow it up and reveal Scootaloo’s secret, while allowing her wings to manifest in Equestria without causing her discomfort.
Twilight also moved closer and studied how the fillies were standing.
Auntie Holiday and Applejack continued to glare at their respective reckless niece and sister.
Rarity took a step over to Harry and looked into the box. “What about your clothes, Harry? Wait, what’s this?” A magazine floated up. Across the top was “VOGUE” with a headline at the bottom that said “Fast Forward . . . Summer Fashion on the Move, Glamourous Sportswear.” The background was a lake or bay with a city on the opposite shore. The woman on the front was wearing a red thigh-length bare-shoulders dress —a shorter version of what the fillies were wearing except theirs had wider neck openings — with green and blue animal designs.
Her jaw dropped. The cover opened and pages flipped by almost too fast for Harry to follow, but with each page Rarity became more excited. “This . . . this is a gold mine! The fashions . . . they’re nothing I’ve ever seen . . . nothing I’ve even imagined. This will revolutionize the fashion industry!” She turned to Sweetie Belle. “You’ve had this for months and you never told me?”
Her hurt expression made Harry feel terrible.
Sweetie Belle looked about to burst into tears and stared guiltily down at the floor.
“It’s my fault,” Harry confessed. “I made them all Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone,” he gave a half-hearted smile. “I was afraid that Princess Celestia would make me go back if she knew about the portal still being there and working.” He shuddered. “Later, well, I was afraid of how much trouble I would be in for keeping the portal a secret. And how much my world could do to hurt this one, even by accident.” Harry could just imagine what his uncle would do if he saw this idyllic world and the relatively defenceless ponies. He shuddered. “There are some very evil people in my world who wouldn’t hesitate to lie, cheat, and steal once they got here — and they act like perfectly nice people so you never suspect them.”
Twilight walked over to him and nuzzled his neck. “Harry,” she said softly, “We would never send you back to those horrid ponies, I promise.”
“People,” Harry corrected quietly, leaning into her mane.
After a moment, he reluctantly cleared his throat and said, “So, if you want to investigate the portal, Rarity needs to put together something like the girls are wearing for you mares. And while she is doing that, the girls can show you how they learned to walk.”
Twilight immediately turned to her unicorn friend, “Rarity, how fast do you think you can throw something together?”
Rarity was too wrapped up in investigating the magazine page by page to hear her, still flipping pages and occasionally stopping to stare.
“Rarity?”
Still nothing.
“RARITY!”
The white unicorn jumped and looked up at Twilight. “This thing has almost four hundred pages, and it says it’s a monthly publication,” she said dazedly. “That’s more pages than any fashion magazine in Equestria publishes in half a year.” She turned a stunned look to Harry. “What’s the circulation?”
He shrugged, “I don’t know for sure. A million?”
That seemed to snap her out of her daze.
“A million? Nonsense! That would be almost an eighth of the entire population of Equestria! And I can guarantee you that the number of ponies interested in fashion is far fewer than that!”
“Well, uh,” Harry stumbled, “London, the big city near where I used to live has a population of six million, and Britain as a whole is fifty-six million, if I remember correctly.”
“Fifty-six million?” half-whispered Rarity. The other mares, except Twilight, of course, looked just as stunned. He had told her this stuff months ago.
“Yeah, the world population is about five or six billion.”
“Billion?” Rarity said breathlessly.
“Uh, a billion is a thousand millions,” Harry explained.
They stared at him.
“Fillies,” said Applejack quietly, “He’s telling us the truth. He really believes those numbers.”
“I can prove it,” he pulled a thick book out of the box. “This is an almanac, it’s the 1985 version so it’s about five years out of date.”
Twilight snatched the book out of his magic field so fast it looked as if she had teleported it. She started reading, flipping the pages at a steady, and fast, rate.
“Where’d ya get these things, Harry,” Applejack asked.
Harry blushed, “Bin diving.”
At Applejack’s blank look, he added, “I went through the portal late one night and then went through people’s trash bins looking for magazines and stuff. To answer Twilight’s and the fillies’ questions.” He ran a hoof through his mane, “I got lucky and the first night I found those two things, so I took them.”
He shuffled uncomfortably, “I took the almanac because I wanted better answers for Twilight, even if I couldn’t tell her about the book. I just said I remembered more stuff a couple of days after she asked questions about where I came from.”
Applejack walked over the Twilight and waved a hoof between Twilight and the book. Twilight reared back, “GACK!”
Applejack glared at the purple alicorn. “Focus, Twilight! Portal!”
She then walked over to Rarity and did the same, snatching the magazine from her magic with her hooves. “Rarity, how long to make a simple dress!”
Rarity blinked, and returned to the problem at hand. “Not long, I just need to get some material.” She looked over to the colt, “Harry, are these dresses still appropriate for the weather in your home-world?”
“Oh, yes, it’s the high-summer there, quite like it is here now.”
She walked over to the alicorn. “Twilight, dear, stand up,” she gestured with her hoof.
Awkwardly, Twilight reared up. She was about to lose her balance when Harry used his magic to help push her back to her balance. She staggered a few steps, but managed to stay up right. Rarity spent the time comparing her with the fillies and Harry’s illusion. “Thank you, dear,” she said, “Now I know about how much material to use. I’ll be right back.” She trotted quickly to the door, stopping to stare back at Sweetie Belle, “And you have some explaining to do later, young mare!”
Sweetie Belle gulped and suddenly found something on the floor very interesting. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Harry closed rank to let her know they supported her.
As unhappy as she was, Rarity still managed a quick smile at the sight before she turned and left.
Twilight thumped back to the floor. “Is standing and walking in Harry’s world as difficult as it is here?” she asked the fillies.
“We might as well start calling it Earth,” Harry advised. “Otherwise it sounds like I own the place.”
Twilight and the fillies gave him smiles and nodded. “Earth it is,” said Twilight.
“Actually,” said Scootaloo, back on the original subject, “standing and walking is easier, there.”
Twilight raised her eyebrows.
“Watch this,” she instructed, removing her dress. She sat down and slowly leaned back until she was balanced on her butt and back legs. Then she slowly straightened just the upper parts of her legs, leaving her hocks, fetlocks, and hooves on the floor.
“It’s a little weird feeling at first,” she explained, “But everything from your hocks to your hooves are actually flat on the ground and you use them to help balance. And they’re really short, barely two hooves long instead of almost half your leg sticking out in front of you like now. Try it.”
Twilight followed her directions and was soon “standing” easily, rocking back and forth testing her balance.
“See how easy it is? Awkward, but easy.”
Twilight nodded. The other two mares were now doing the same, experimenting with this new way of standing. Even aunt Holiday was trying it.
“You’re right, it is much easier to stand,” Twilight said, and then tried to take a step. It was a short step, and she almost fell, but pressing with her fetlock kept her upright. After a few more attempts, she said, “It’s interesting, I have to consciously not go up onto my hooves when I take a step.”
“On Harry’s . . . ,” Scootaloo glanced at the colt, “Earth, it’s not a problem at all. If you want to go up on your hooves, what Harry calls our toes, you have to consciously try to do it. But it’s really hard to keep your balance, though.”
Harry thought that watching the mares clump around the room like clowns with really big shoes on their feet was hilarious, but he couldn’t explain to them why it was funny.
While Twilight was practicing, she had Spike send a six-foot missive — she called it short at merely one celestial long — to Princess Celestia summarizing the situation. She included a separate one-foot-long explanation on how the fillies taught her to walk upright. And then ended with a “brief” two-foot-long explanation of her intent to study the Portal and ascertain its stability and usability as a permanent link to Earth, and to expect another message later this evening. She also included duplicates of the almanac, magazine, and Sweetie Belle’s drawings.
Watching as Spike sent the tightly rolled scrolls, the shorter ones inside the longer one, off to the Princess, Harry wondered how Twilight expected her very busy ruler to have the time to read the unexpected message. He knew she would have to hand the almanac over to others to read.
Barely an hour after leaving, Rarity returned with not one, but four dresses.
“Took ya long enough,” Applejack said snarkily.
Rarity sniffed and tossed her head dismissively. “Quality can never be rushed, dear,” she said in a snooty voice, lifting her snout up, and then grinned at the other mare.
Twilight slipped her dress over her head and admired its straight simple lines. It was a deep purple that matched her coat perfectly, with the slightest shimmer of stars in it. And it seemed to fit her well. She looked up questioningly at the white unicorn.
Rarity rolled her eyes, “Dear, you know I have your measurements, all I had to do was stand up a ponykin and select the correct fabric.” She floated one of the other dresses to Applejack. That one was apple green.
Applejack looked at her questioningly.
“Dear, are you really going to let Twilight walk through that portal, alone?”
To Scootaloo’s aunt she said, “I had to guess at your measurements, but I’m usually good at that.”
Five minutes later, an alicorn, three mares, a colt, three fillies, and a young dragon headed out to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight had the almanac firmly in front of her face rapidly absorbing as much information as she could. The colt and fillies were closely packed, rubbing shoulders and flanks for reassurance. The mares had wanted to leave the fillies behind, but Harry had said, “They have spent hours on Earth, and even talked with some of the other kids. They are far more likely to keep you out of trouble than you, them.” It was a rather persuasive argument. And while the mares were not all that convinced, Harry’s stance of, “If they don’t come along, then I won’t show you how the portal works,” had been the final close of the discussion.
When they arrived at the Guard Post, Twilight greeted Sergeant True Sword, “Harry Potter, here, knows where the portal is. You will accompany us while Corporal Runner goes to the Guard Station and brings reinforcements.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” responded the Sergeant, with a salute, before turning to his Corporal and issuing the order to send every pony who could be spared. The Corporal nodded and stood unmoving.
Harry was wondering why the pony wasn’t moving when he abruptly vanished. Ah, he understood, now. The Corporal was one of the few unicorns who had taken the time to master the teleport spell. Harry had to wonder why they all didn’t learn it.
The small group headed into the Everfree Forest, the Sergeant leading the way and carefully inspecting the path for any dangers ahead or to the sides. Shivering at being in the Everfree forest, Holiday made sure to stay between Applejack and Rarity.
They had barely gone twenty paces when the Corporal ran up to the Sergeant.
“Sir,” he said, gasping a little at his expenditure of magic, “The pegasi are on their way and will be here soon. The others will be here as fast as practical.”
“Excellent, Corporal,” the Sergeant said approvingly, “you watch the left while I take forward and right.”
A salute and, “Yes, Sir,” was his answer.
They had almost reached the portal tree when five pegasi Guards, weaving through the trees, flew up to them.
Once they all arrived at the tree, the Sergeant posted the guards in a ring around the tree and civilians. “Shall I be accompanying you?” he asked Twilight.
“Um, no, unfortunately the portal changes our shapes and you wouldn’t be of assistance due to your unfamiliarity with your new form. Stay here and keep everyone else safe.”
Twilight then turned from the Sergeant and began casting spells at the tree, the other trees around it, on the ground, and even a few that seemed to go up into the air. Her quill shot across a floating scroll almost too fast for the ink to flow. Finally she returned her attention to the tree and walked around it several times studying it from every angle and continuously casting more spells.
Harry shrugged on his shirt and trousers, which were an odd fit in his pony form; he had to leave the buttons undone on the shirt and the trousers draped over his back. He had to hold them in place with his magic. The fillies slipped their dresses on and stood up on their hind legs. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity followed suit, but with much less grace. They had to hold the dresses’ hems off the ground with their hooves in this new stance.
“And you’re taking the fillies and colt?” the Sergeant asked incredulously, with a raised eyebrow, as Harry and the fillies lined up beside the tree-portal. They clearly intended to go through the portal.
“Well, Sergeant,” Twilight said dryly, “It seems the fillies and colt have been sneaking past your post and traveling to the world on the other side of this portal for over a year now.”
The Sergeant, a grizzled veteran, blinked slowly. “They have, have they?” He turned a glare on the four. He would have a few words with his ponies when today was done. And he knew his superiors would be having words with him over the Post’s security failures.
“And they are the experts in what to expect over there,” she finished.
Harry gave the Sergeant a guilty look and turned back to the tree. Twilight stepped up beside him. He looked up at her. “To make it work, you have to want to go to Little Whinging. Just think, ‘Little Whinging.’ Wait about fifteen seconds for me to make sure there’s no one there to see us come through, okay?”
He looked back at the tree, stood on his back legs, and stepped into it.
۸- ̰ -۸
Hoping the dursleys and dudley's gang experience karma and dumbledore soon finds out that Harry isn't with the dursleys
Imagining Twilight on two legs is glorious!
Oh boy.
Nice! Character-wise, you're writing this more like a first contact! :)
(I love it when authors do that, but I've learned not to get my hopes up prematurely when a Harry Potter crossover appears to be aiming for something smaller in scope, like "[character(s)] at Hogwarts".)
I think Rarity would actually use "young lady" here, canonically.
(Twilight addresses the others as "girls" in the initial two-parter and Rarity refers to herself as a "lady" at times, so it'd make sense for them to also think of the phrase "young lady" the same way we do. Likewise, we don't really use "young woman" as a form of address, so they probably wouldn't use "young mare" like that either.)
Possible things I am looking forward to, if they happen; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie-Belle attending Hogwarts. 'cause you know they're going to want to go. Maybe even Spike too. Perfect for sending and receiving messages.
Bringing Ron back through the portal to Equestria. Then later, after they become friends, Hermione.
Dumbledore visiting Equestria. Yessssssss...
The Dursleys getting karmic retribution.
If the portal works as Harry thinks it does, it might be able to open to Hogwarts? Fascinating possibilities there.
Confronting Voldemort. Oh god yes. Voldemort is going to be AMAZING.
Thank you for writing this! I am loving every chapter. Thank you for writing it!
Whoa. They actually listened to children? They are actually preparing for the issues in world traveling? Suspension of Disbelief broken!
But in all seriousness, adults almost never respect children, regardless of the claims otherwise. Hence how shocking it was that they actually LISTENED. And more importantly, took what a child said into account.
As for traveling into a new world like that, when intentional, characters almost never prepare. They dont bring survival equipment. They dont bring a weapon. They don't tell other people they are doing something. Sure, the full truth won't be believed, but a time delayed email, bringing a camera with them, having someone else with them? Never!
This is kinda refreshing.
I still think this Harry is too smart and has too much practical knowledge given his childhood. He doesnt feel like the first year book harry, an abused child, or a child in general.
This is awesome! I don't think I've read an MLP/HP crossover this amazing since "The Wizard and the Lonely Princess".
I foresee Luna blasting the Dursleys straight through the Moon. As for Celestia and Twilight. Well I can only imagine that they'll have some very harsh words planned for Dumbass Dumbledore.
Also, while I doubt this is going to happen. I'm actually hoping Harry rejects wanting to attend Hogwarts and joins Twilight's School of Friendship. It'd certainly make things a bit more interesting for the Triwizard Tournament. Since Harry would be representing his school when he's forced to participate.
Finally, since Harry has lived in Equestria for more than a year. Does he consider Twilight his mother now or is he still not quite that close to her yet?
8981515
If Dumbledore truly wanted Harry to have a "normal" life, he wouldn't have hidden all details about the boy's parents from him. For god's sake, he doesn't even tell him where they were buried! How is that giving someone a normal life? He doesn't tell the boy ANYTHING about how to survive and thrive in the wizarding culture. His approach is a simple, "Sink or Swim!"
Only in the first book does Harry have anything that approaches a normal life. After that, it just gets worse and worse. Harry is asking to stay at school and Dumbledore says he's exaggerating and ignores him. At any time he could have dropped by for a five minute visit and uncovered the truth, yet he doesn't. And that's because, we find out in book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that he knew the Dursleys were going to mistreat Harry and he did nothing to stop them. That alone makes him evil in my mind. He could have helped Harry many times regarding the clear and present bullying the boy endured, not to mention doing nothing to dispel vicious rumours that isolated the poor boy. He knew Harry had nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets, yet he did nothing to prevent the atmosphere of hatred that appeared around Harry.
And that doesn't even begin to touch the way he protected Snape and allowed Snape to carry out a personal vendetta against Harry. Not to mention the extremely unprofessional attitude Snape had towards teaching.
However, in my story, Dumbledore thinks he is infallible and knows everything (just as he is in the book). He is not maliciously ignoring Harry. He truly thinks the Dursleys are treating Harry as their own.
8981450
Perhaps.
8981530
He did deliver an almanac and magazine that backed up some of what he says, so he wasn't exactly spouting things off from apparently nowhere. And abused children, especially the ones who are above average in intelligence, grow up fast and don't react as other children do.
8981582
Thank you. No, he'll go to Hogwarts. Although that idea does have merit. Perhaps when this one is finished I might explore that.
I think you'll be featured in one or two more chapters.
Can't wait to see how the mares handle the new world.
8981668
One can only hope!
8981667
Going the Light!Dumbledore is incompetent route? Yeah, that will save you space in your comments. Trust me when I say that doing a middle road Dumbledore is annoying on a level I hadn't imagined. The pro-dumbledore faction will attack you outright in your comments, claiming you're making Dumbledore too evil while the anti-dumbledore faction will send send you PMs complaining about how you are so very obviously setting Dumbledore up for redemption.
Why do i have a feeling Hagrid is walking around the park looking for Harry.
8981667
I'm not saying he's perfect and the books make it clear he isn't perfect it's just that the Dumbledore haters always seem to have an extremely short sighted view of things. He wanted Harry to live a normal life which meant taking both the good and the bad. The reason he didn't step in during those situations was because he didn't want to give Harry special treatment, and since Harry had already proved himself in a crisis in Book ,1 probably felt Harry didn't need him to step in and fix every problem he faced.
Why didn't he tell Harry where his parents were buried? Who says he didn't? That's a pretty minor detail and I have never seen it brought up one way or the other.
Dumbledore did have a reason to not let Harry stay at the school and that was because of the protection spell that kept him safe from Voldemort and his followers. It had strict conditions in order to work 2 of these being that Harry had to return to Pivet drive at least once a year to refresh it and Harry had to view Pivet drive as his home. If Harry started to view any other place as home the spell would no longer work.
Plus keep in mind that Harry's mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys isn't nearly as extreme as those in the fandom like to believe. He was definitely mistreated but not to the point where he could have been killed. That kind of would have defeated the purpose of sticking him there in the first place.
I'm not saying Dumbledore didn't make mistakes it just seems like the people who call him evil only look at the immediate results while ignoring the bigger picture.
8981749
I'll never understand how you think your Dumbledore is "middle road" when you have made him directly responsible for nearly every bad thing that has happened to Harry, including turning the Dursleys (who are apparently good people) into child abusing monsters and who shows no remorse or regret for any of his actions.
Canon Dumbledore is closer to a middle road character then what your wrote.
8981759
The thing is, whether or not the overall outcome is good* the act of doing blatently evil* acts to create that outcome isnt good* regardless of said outcome.
Yes, if he has the ability to, by sending Harry to be abused by the Dursleys for 17 years, ensure an outcome where Voldemort is killed off entirely, the costs are smaller than the benefit.
However, he is not precognitive. He manipulated the situations to try and force the prophesy into killing Voldemort. He did not have all the information. Many places, sheer luck kept Harry alive or on a path that might pit him against voldemort.
There was no guarantee of success, and it was really highly likely to fail with so many moving parts.
The greater good is evil because not only are you taking evil action to achieve said goal, your idea of good may be disagreeded with, you cannot possible handle that many factors(and so it may fail anyway), and you are still doing evils.
Even with a small chance of success, sacrificing the childhood, sanity, and overall wellbeing, and life of Harry was evil, but as far as I am concerned, given the Horcrux, to some extent unavoidable.
Overall, yes, he did good. But, it was far more likely that he make even a few mistakes, and the entire plot would fall down around his ears. He was lucky that all the evils he committed resulted in the removal of voldemort.
Is he evil? Indeterminate. I would not like to interact with him, but he was little worse than any other leader at war(or politics) making least worse choicea.
*however you define that
Child abuse is serious, and I have trouble looking at the descriptions from the books and not seeing him dying from, say, starvation, internal injuries, or otherwise as a possibility.
It is unlikely that he told Harry where his parents were buried, otherwise the 7th book wouldn't have made such a big deal of it.
The protection spell, which never was shown to actually do anything. If it had been made clear in the books that it fought off the scar's influence, or preventing Dark wizards from locating Harry outside of school, I would agree with that assessment. There aren't enough details to make that a factor.
8981788
That's what I'm saying, he isn't evil but he isn't good. Dumbledore is trying to save as many people as he can from what he sees as an inevitable conflict. He doesn't want to sacrifice Harry (and he does immediately jump on the small possibility to save him when it presents itself) but he's willing to do it because it's the only way to stop Voldemort.
He's not a hero but he's not a villain either he's just trying to get to the best possible ending by any means Necessary.
8981783
I'll never understand how you think your Dumbledore is doing what is needed and is basically good, when he engaged in criminal-level neglect, at the very least, in his pursuit of the Greater Good. And that is being very generous to your view of him.
My point is, it is an arbitrary line that separates a good man doing evil things for good reason and evil man doing evil things for a good reason. Many will tell you that Dumbledore crossed that line in canon.
8981800
Ah crap, I just realized. I entered a flamewar in a location that really doesn't need one.
But yes. He isn't a good person. Sending him to the Dursleys without also making sure he isnt abused was a mistake as far as I am concerned, even if that kind of conditions tends to result in someone good at handling war.
8981788
In regards to the protection spell there were two major points I can think of where it came into play. In book 1 the protection spell is the reason Quirrell in unable to touch Harry so without it Harry would have died. The second time is when Voldemort revives himself using Harry's blood, he does this because he believes having Harry's blood flowing through him will allow him to bypass the protection however what it actually does is bind Harry's life to him through the protection spell making it so that Harry can not die as long as Voldemort lived although Dumbledore was the only one who knew that this was what had happened. It's the whole reason why Harry was able to come back after being killed by Voldemort.
Edit: I forgot the most obvious one, the reason Voldemort was destroyed when he tried to kill baby Harry was because the protection spell.
8981806
The problem is people often ignore the good and focus only on the bad. Dumbledore does bad things but it's for the right reasons and it's naive to say he was wrong to do it considering the circumstances. I'm not saying what he did was right or anything but you can't view things as Black or White the world isn't that simple.
OH boy, when I initially found this I was a bit iffy but once I started reading it I love it and now I'm just wondering who all is going to be going with harry. I know harry is going to be going and the cmc re probably going to be going but who else? Like some others I think spike will be going but I think twilight will be going... If spike goes will he still be a dragon? That seems like a fun interaction.
8981832
Ah. Yea. That works. Did not remember that. Ok, objection dropped. It has a clear effect.
8981808
You are right, of course. I let myself get dragged into the same old tired argument. My post was meant to humorously nettle our good author over his choice of taking the easy way out with Dumbledore. Only, after rereading it, I'm afraid it came across as more self-promoting than anything else.
Oh well, I'll give it another try.
AHEM...
**BWAK!** Tkepner is a Scootaloo! **Bwak!** Afraid of risking the ire of his readers with a dark Dumbledore! *Bwak!** **Bwak!!**
hmm, that is rather direct. Do you think it might have crossed the threshold of good taste?
So are we Getting another bonus chapter As this was Featured on the Popular Storie List again then??
tkepner
I have to call BS on that. Telling a school full of children that the student they are actively persecuting is not guilty of whatever the children think he is, is NOT giving someone special treatment.
And I understand why he made Harry return to the Durselys. HOWEVER, that does NOT excuse his allowing them to mistreat Harry (remember, there were bars on Harry's room at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets).
I don't know about where you live, but here in the US, any parent who did that to a child would end up in jail (we recently had a case in NH where someone WAS put in jail for locking their child in a room and only letting them out for bathroom breaks). If the police here had heard about anyone forcing a child back into such an environment, they would have been placed in jail, too. That is NOT a kindly grandfather-like figure (unless you're a sociopath).
Here are my thoughts on the matter: Why Albus Dumbledore IS a Dark Lord
8981939
That's what I mean when I say you can't only focus on the immediate results. Yes he suffered but because of that he received long term protection from people actually trying to kill him. Also after book 1 they do treat him better out of fear even if it wasn't a complete turnaround. He couldn't threaten them because the spell required them to take Harry in willingly and Dumbledore needed the Dursley's while the Dursley's had no real obligation to take Harry in.
In fact most arguments for him being evil seem to come from the fact that he simply wasn't perfect which is apparently a bad thing? For example he's evil because he didn't immediately fix X, even though he's not portrayed as a super hero who goes around saving everyone they apparently upset he didn't do just that.
8981884
Now THAT I thought was funny.
8981472
FTFY
8981800
"Only way to stop Tom?" And "Best Outcome Possible"...⸮
Hardly. He could have easily involved the Prime Minister and Crown, who would more than likely been more than happy to provide military and relief support. The issue with Dumbledore is that while many people equate his actions to those of a leader in Wartime, he was really anything but. He treated the conflict with the Death Eaters like a Schoolyard brawl, when their enemies were slinging lethal curses and unforgivables without restraint. He insisted the Order of the Fried Turkey only use non-lethal methods and vocally protested when the Ministry authorized Aurors to use the Unforgivables in retaliation near the end, all the while Good people were being tortured, dying or otherwise having their lives and livelihoods destroyed. Later he vocally advocated the eschewing of rule of law in favor of amnesty and forgiveness for known murderers, rapists and criminals, saying that "everyone deserves a second chance" when said criminals were bribing their way out of convictions and had done nothing to indicate any measure of genuine remorse for their actions to the people he was trying to placate who'd lost friends and family to those criminals. Afterward he did almost nothing in his vast capacity of Political power to even attempt to reform the UK's Wizarding Society so that even if/when Tom Did come back his ideals would have no ground to set root into, and in his capacity of Headmaster he not only turned a blind eye to the continued Blood Purity Bigotry in the student body, but also instructed the Teachers to do the same, and hired Snape who would in his own way encourage such behavior among the students by basically allowing the Slytherin students to get away with nearly anything while being overly harsh towards the other houses.
Instead of encouraging the Modernization of his insular society so as to better blend in with the greater population, he advocated for simply maintaining the Status Quo, which will blow up in their faces in less than two decades (Book 1 starts in 1991 after the prologue) with the advancement of the Internet, YouTube and private surveillance and security technology shredding the Statute of Secrecy to pieces once one too many videos of people doing Blatant Wizardry goes viral and people start putting the peaces together when they see themselves on the uploaded security footage and have no memory of seeing what they're watching.
Death Eater Raid? Nothing the SAS couldn't handle easily if attached to a fast-response auror or hit wizard unit, along with squads positioned to hold key locations. Tom Riddle? A good Sniper could have probably taken him out easily the first time he crawled out of whatever hole he was using as a safe house if attached to a Wizard Spotter who could teleport them into position as soon as he's sighted (his Phylacteries notwithstanding).
As far as I'm concerned, when being attacked by terrorists intent on killing you and yours, not retaliating with lethal force in turn is pure folly. If chance happens that you can capture someone alive then fine, but War is one of the few cases where fighting Fire with Fire is the only way to mitigate losses (war doesn't determine who's "Right or Wrong", only who's left standing once the dust settles). "Saving" the lives of a few unrepentant terrorists who will turn around and commit the same crimes all over again the first time they're given the chance doesn't balance out to the many, Many more innocents who's lives they destroyed and ended, and doing so anyway is as far from "The Best Possible Outcome" as you can get.
TL:DR
Dumbledore was positioned nearly perfectly to make sure the Blood War couldn't have restarted fourteen years down the road but did nothing to do so, I can squeeze a trigger and have four rounds down range faster than a Death Eater can utter "Avada Kadavra", and a skilled marksman could have ended Tom (even if only temporarily) years before the Blood-War could escalate to where it was when the Potters went into hiding, before so many people lost their lives, families were destroyed and orphans left in the care of their aunts, uncles and grandparents if they were still alive (Harry, Susan and Neville).
8981832
8981977
Except the protection his mother placed on him was Specific to Him and Tom only. Dumbledore's "Protection" was supposedly co-opted off of Lily's protection and only covered #4 in particular and Little Winging in general and made it so wizards and witches with intent to harm him couldn't harm him while he was there (didn't stop them from knowing where he was before he left at the beginning of book 7, just supposedly stopped them from getting close enough to do him harm, and even then Dumbledore didn't trust his protections enough to not feel the need to place additional guards after Tom was resurrected. If Lily's Protection were actually tied to Petunia and Vernon loving Harry at all, it should have failed the first time they locked him in that cupboard, or swung the frying pan at his head for disobeying them. If it had actually failed after he left their house for the last time, or after he turned 17, then even if Tom took a bit of it into himself, even that should have dissipated then, and Harry shouldn't have had that last tether to Tom to cling to life onto after that Killing Curse in the Forbidden Forest.
Ever heard the phrase "The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions" and "The Ends Don't Justify the Means"? It's not that we don't acknowledge the "Good" Dumbledore is trying to do, it's that we don't forget that two wrongs don't make a right, and are critical of him when we feel he didn't try Hard Enough to find a Better way, even if it made a few people uncomfortable in the short term.
In your second comment, you're essentially condoning child abuse "So Long as the Ends Justify the Means", but in the Real World the "Ends" can only be determined After the fact, and no matter what I will never agree that anything could justify Child Abuse, Physical OR Emotional, in Any capacity. Dumbledore could have at least tried to find a better option, both for the Dursleys and for Harry that would have left the Dursleys to their "Perfectly Normal Life" and allowed Harry to actually grow up Happy and Healthy, but from everything that can be determined in Canon he never even made an attempt.
Further. if you'll also recall, the example in question (Putting Bars on Harry's window and installing the Cat Flap to feed him through) happened After he returned from school and they'd spent a month terrified of him cursing them, only to find out that it's illegal for him to use Any magic outside of School. If anything, learning that only Escalated their abuse of him, and he spent an absolutely miserable summer with them after his second year because they knew they could continue to bully him without him retaliating, and only backed off more or less entirely (excepting the occasional relapse) after he told them his Godfather was an escaped murderer and would be checking up on his happiness from time to time after third year.
Even those of us who Don't think he was "Evulz", but don't consider him to be "Good" either, acknowledge that he was far from perfect. The issue is that too many people in the Canon treat him as if he were lighter than angel farts, and the fans who desperately want to find some way to Justify his actions seem to paint anyone who's even a little critical of him with the same brush.
TL:DR?
Dumbledore may or may not be "evil", but no matter which side of the debate you land on it doesn't excuse the fact that his actions would be considered criminal by any standard in the last 30 years...
8982052
wow that's alot, okay look most of that simply comes down to the fact that Dumbledore wasn't a saint who set out to save the world, he chose not to get involved in the running the nation because he felt he had enough power already and didn't trust himself with complete control of the nation. Maybe he could have done alot of good but Dumbledore was capable of being selfish. That makes him human not evil.
The reason he didn't get the ministry involved is because they didn't want to believe him, everyone was so relieved Voldemort was gone they refused to even humor the idea that Voldemort was still alive which is why Dumbledore had to work from the shadows when fighting Voldemort. The Minister was so stubborn about believing Voldemort was alive he actually tried to discredit and get rid of Dumbledore.
The use of non-lethal spells is basically a morality problem, this story was targeted at young adults and the good guys aren't supposed to kill. Using a lethal spell is considered an unforgivable crime so it makes sense Dumbledore would insist they not commit evil in order to combat evil.
The blood charm was meant to protect Harry from Voldemort and his followers but apparently it also worked on any evil individual who intended to harm Harry which is why it worked on Quirrell but not Dudley. Dumbledore then cast additional blood wards on pivot drive that made use of the original charm which kept Harry hidden and completely untouchable to Voldemort and his follows while he was at pivot drive.
The charm didn't require love it required petunia (because she shared lilly's blood) to agree to take Harry into her home, it doesn't matter that she didn't love him all that matter was she made a selfless decision to take him in. Here's the explanation given in the book:
It's easy to say the ends don't justify the means but when your choices are 10 years of abuse or leaving a defenseless child completely vulnerable to wizards who could literally pop out of nowhere and kill him the choice should be obvious.
Thus, London is going to be invaded by the full force of the CMCs and a super-energetic, knowledge-crazed alicorn princess. The Wizard Society will have to do a lot of damage control after that.
Why nopony tole me/us they were going to explore an unknown world?
8981977
The argument that the so called “protections” justified sticking Harry with the Dursleys is laughable at best. The ONLY time they did anything was when he was physically attacked at the end of First Year. It didn’t protect him from the Diary in Second Year, or from Voldemort using his blood to create a new body. Hell, Voldemort was able to possess Harry during the Battle of the Ministry and I find it far more likely that it Harry’s force of will that let him evict Voldemort (given his ability to throw off the Imperious curse) than the “protection” Albus set up.
8982116
I already listed out 3 important points where the charm came up in a previous post:
8982123
1) That was my point; it required physical contact before it kicked in at the end of First Year. It did nothing to prevent the use of magic.
2) How on earth did you draw that conclusion about the ritual? It did EXACTLY what Voldemort wanted, it worked so well only Harry was harmed by physical contact. Again, notice I said physical, the “protection” did Nothing about spells. The only reason Harry managed to get away was because they had brother wands. There are a TON of variables that let Harry survive the Killing Curse in Book 7; the horcrux, being the master of the Elder Wand, being the master of the Hollows (may be a factor), their shared blood.
3) It was Lily’s protection that saved him the first time not the Blood Wards that Albus setup after the fact.
I would also like to know how a protection granted by a selfless act of love was able to be sustained by, at best, spite. If Albus could make a love based protection run on hate then why couldn’t he leave it running on love and swap the blood relative variable?
Edit: I also notice you didn’t even touch on my comment about the Diary in Second Year.
8982169
1) it protected him from spells cast directly on him which was why he couldn't just hit Harry with a killing curse or some other lethal spell. Indirect magic would work with the idea that Harry would hopefully have the sense to dodge.
2)
also see this quote from the book:
3)The blood wards were created using the original blood charm Lilly had cast on Harry. As for how staying with Petunia worked as I put in another post here is the explanation from the book.
I am SO glad this story caught my eye!!
I think this is a wonderful offshoot of "Magic School Days".
I eagerly await the next captivating chapter!!
Keep up the amazing work!!
8981667
I'm glad you liked the idea. I think it would make a great "What if?" spin-off to this story.
Then Dumbledore's problem is that he can't fully accept the fact that he isn't a "Good Man" and move past it to actually get things done, and so instead of creating many rules for himself that would allow him to still do good on a large scale, even at the potential cost of his own self and good reputation, he created one big rule that would give him the illusion and delusion of goodness when in reality he was accomplishing nothing to forward the virtues he espoused to take root and hold upon his society.
Even if he never directly took over the country Dumbledore still held a great deal of Influence over people. People Listened to him and gave a great deal of weight to his advice. But his policy of not involving himself translated to much of this advice turning out to be "Don't Rock the Boat. Perhaps if we try to keep everyone happy they'll accept what they have for what it is", but all this did is allow the Blood Purists to worm their way back in and implement their more aggressive policies when Dumbledore wasn't looking, and when people protested he told them to calm down and wait, assuring them that in time more reasonable alternatives would prevail when in reality that never happened.
Sometimes doing nothing can be Far more damaging than involving yourself and risking turning out to be wrong, because in the latter case at least you tried.
I'm not talking about after Tom returned. I'm talking about before Harry was even Born, during Tom's first rise to power when he was actively attacking or having his death eaters and dark creature army attack both "Light" wizards (or anyone who wouldn't side with him really) and non-magical people. Everyone knew and thanks to the Death Eaters the Statute of Secrecy was hanging by a thread thanks to all of the attacks on non-magical neighborhoods. Fudge wasn't Minister of Magic yet at the time, Millicent Bagnold was. Why wouldn't the British Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth want to get involved to end the conflict as quickly as possible when their people were dying thanks to the Terrorists known as Death Eaters and their leader the false "Lord" Voldemort?
The Good guys aren't supposed to kill? Since When? There's a difference between murder and killing someone in self defense or the defense of another when their intent to kill you is clear. That's something I've understood since the first time I sat down and played my first computer game when I was Six. Of course, it wasn't until I was older (Around the time the Fourth book came out) that I realized philosophically that Good Guys kill because the alternative is that all we love and hold dear will be destroyed if we don't and the world will be a little darker for it.
Do we regret the necessity of the action? Of course.
Do we regret Taking action? H. Fing. No!
As for using lethal spells, Only the Big 3 (Cruciatus, Imperus and Killing Curse) are "Unforgivable", even in setting. Frowned upon? Sure. Illegal if brought to a case of self defense? Only if on the list of prohibited "Dark" magic, but only those three will land you a one way all expenses paid trip to sunny Azkaban. The others will at least get you a hefty fine, and at most probably a few weeks to months unless you're a chronic repeat offender. It's only Dumbledore and his merry band that moralize about the necessity of killing in wartime, and as I said Earlier;
Leave the moralizing to the philosophers to determine after the fact weather an action taken in the name of self defense was right or wrong, and to the courts to determine whether it was justified or not. It has no place on the field of battle, because there only action or inaction determine whether or not you get to see your family at the end of the day.
No... No it really wasn't. The only reason Lily's protection worked as it did on Quirrell was because he had let so much of Tom into himself that they were virtually inseparable unless Quirrell died, which he did. As I said, Dumbledore's spell (if it even existed) only Co-Opted on top of Lily's protection, expanding the peramitter of "Protecting Harry from Tom Riddle" to include the Death Eaters as extensions of Riddle while he was at Privet Drive.
In an of itself it only ever protected him from Tom personally. Otherwise Crouch Jr. would never have been able to train him to throw of the Imperis, Pettegrew as a marked death eater would never have been able to be pet or held by him as he was masquerading as Ron't rat, and later wouldn't have been able to manhandle him onto the gravestone of Riddle Sr. or take his blood, and later any number of the Death Eaters attacking him during his "extra curricular activities" during the School Year would have failed utterly. Only the fact that Tom ordered his Death Munchers not to kill Harry due to his personal vendetta against him stayed their hands from using outright lethal force during their many encounters, but their spells had just as much effect on him as anyone else, while Tom's always fell just short. (Also Dudley's "Evilness" before Harry saved him from the Dementors before Fifth year is another debate entirely)
Ignoring that I highly doubt Harry ever considered #4 Privet Drive "Home" under any definition (A "Place you live" is not always a "Home"), I also mentioned in my previous comment a case where if it didn't rely on love, then when it "supposedly" evaporated either when he left #4 or turned 17 then the part that Tom took into himself should have equally dissipated, and should have had no bearing on Harry's survival later on. It didn't, and he did, so the logic behind the line Dumbledore fed Harry is flawed and I can smell Bull S as well as anyone.
No... It's not obvious, and therein lies the problem. There were other ways Dumbledore could have hidden Harry. Heck, all he would have needed to do is consult Alastor Moody on the best ways to hide and protect yourself. One is mentioned a few chapters back: sending him to be taken care of by someone overseas. There are also likely other ways besides the so-called "blood wards" to obscure and obfuscate attempts to scry or otherwise divine his location through magic, especially if he was that far away, and if you attached those anti-scrying spells to Harry Himself rather than a location, or his caretaker was someone trusted who could use magic who could re-cast them, then you could potentially have something both almost as effective as the blood wards and far more mobile as well. Further, hiding in the non-magical society, not just blending in but immersing themselves within the culture, learning to use technology and getting a job that pays in an internationally recognized currency, renting or buying a home, paying bills and taxes and otherwise living like 90% of the rest of humanity does while cutting themselves off from magical communications and travel would go even further towards making them all but untraceable to those who would wish Harry harm. Sure, some wizards and witches may know enough about the modern world to hire a Private Investigator, but those who would wish Harry and his caretaker(s) harm aren't among them, and are too proud of their magical heritage to figure out how for themselves.
It always comes back to the issue that Dumbledore didn't even Try to find a better way. He saw the shiny love protection Lily gave Harry and in true wizard fashion took the first, most obvious option that presented itself to him rather than thinking through the problem fully with Harry's complete best interests at heart rather than only his mortal safety. The "Ends" only ever justify the means when all other options are either exhausted, or there never were any other options to begin with, and Dumbledore's Sin is that he never even looked to see if there were any, even if they would have been less ideal in terms of raw power to the blood wards but just as effective long term.
Hermione mentions in the first book that many of the greatest wizards don't hold an ounce of logic between their ears. Dumbledore is no exception as far as I'm concerned.
I just realized Harry forgot to mention some important things to the ponies before they headed to human world.
1) The ponies wear neither shoes nor underwear. The latter is not as noticeable as the first one. A group of bare-feet teenage/children? That's sure to get some attention.
2) Harry didn't mention money and I don't think they brought gems/gold coin with them. And I have no doubt that any of the mares would want to buy something from human world. Plus, how can they get on the bus without money?
Maybe the author left those details to be explore/explain the upcoming chapters.
8982280
I don't know about you, but a lot of ponies in the show seem to have a magic pocket dimension where they can keep small items such as a coin purse, even when they aren't obviously wearing saddle bags... Maybe they've got some bits hidden in one of those...?
8982280
All those concerns are handled. (I'm quite a few chapters ahead of what's posted.)
8982272
This is why it's hard to argue because ultimately you are blaming Dumbledore for being a flawed character instead of some omniscient god whose job is to make the world a perfect place to live which is ridiculously unfair.
I'm not gonna get into whether or not it's right to kill because Harry Potter is a simple good vs evil story targeted at a young audience and in those stories the good guys don't kill. It's like watching a super hero cartoon even if it would be in self defense the heroes don't kill because they don't have to go that far to stop the bad guys. Yeah it's more complicated in real life but you are trying really hard to over complicate Harry Potter.
If Dumbledore comes across as a wise old man it's because he's spent his long life making many mistakes and he is fully aware of that as seen in these quotes from the final book:
Dumbledore is a flawed man who did the best he could and treating him as some kind of monster because he wasn't perfect is simply irrational and unfair. It's nothing but an oversimplification of a complex character.
8982334
Looking forward to read it. Although, I strongly suggest you to put header when doing a flashback, so it would help readers adjust to the flow of time.
8982299
Bit is not an acceptable form of currency in the human world. (unless it was made of gold, but it would be too stand out and attract thieves) Harry should just pointed it out and left how to handle the situation to the mares. I doubt they stored gems or any tradable items on daily basis.
8982341
/sigh
This is why I say anyone who even tries to be critical of Dumbledore, even if we agree that overall his intentions were good, are painted in the same brush as the "Evil Dumbledore" camp by the people desperate to justify away his reasons for doing what he did.
I'm not asking that Dumbledore be omniscent and omnipotent, or being critical of him not being so. The only thing I'm being critical of Dumbledore over is his seeming inability to even consider alternative options to the first obvious solution that presents itself to him.
This problem isn't even unique to Dumbledore. It's more of a Wizarding thing in General in the Harry Potter setting. They've in large part sadly replaced their common sense and capacity for logical thought with their magic and it's immediate convenience for solving their problems, and it is largely to their determent as a culture, as once a method is found, rarely does anyone look into seeing if there might be a better way to, say, talk to someone across the country than sticking your head in the fire while on your hands and knees...? You know... something like a telephone...? (and this is only one example I can give.
Mostly, I'm being critical of the people who try to blindly excuse away his actions and justify the atrocities he is either party to or instigator of, especially if other, better options were possible, if not immediately more obvious than the methods he went with in the end. The arguments almost always come down to "The Ends Justify the Means" and "It was For the Greater Good", but even in setting Dumbledore himself denounces such reasoning as the talk of someone desperately trying to justify their actions as something that they aren't. I honestly believe that Dumbledore earnestly believed that he was doing the best he could given the situation, and that he thought that he could only make a good out of a bad situation rather than a Best with the options available to him, but when I take a step back and look at things more critically, strip away the facade of the old man, learned in his years and wise from the mistakes of his past, I can only see a tired old man, stuck in the past with the rest of his society, desperately clinging to the status quo so as not to be swept away by the changing tide and twice as foolish for it when so much rides on his success or failure.
Does this make him a bad person? No.
It still doesn't justify what he did in the long term either, though.
8982418
Bits are presumably still made of gold, though, and so could be exchanged along with any Gems Rarity may have on her at a pawn shop for currency.
I am so excited to see how this story develops. Thank you very much for updating it more than once a week, which is what I was expecting.
Ummm...
Oliver actually make a pretty good article on pony tech.
Just want to point out that even Ponyvile have his own movie theater.
8982437
I can already imagine the reaction. A group of late teenagers with kids, bring a bunch of gold coin and gems to pawn shop. First thing any respectable owner would do is to call in police for potentially stolen goods.
8982434
The problem I have is that I've yet to see a rational argument from people who are overly critical of Dumbledore's action like saying they're were better options at the time but can't give actual examples that make sense based on info from the books or don't rely on alot of speculation. They also tend to use examples from the books that they simply misunderstood. For example some people don't understand why Dumbledore didn't help Sirius when the reason was explained in the books, Dumbledore simply believed Sirius was guilty mostly because of the way Sirius was acting and the fact that there were several eye witnesses who would have ensured Sirius' imprisonment even if Dumbledore had believed he was innocent.
It's fine to recognize the character is flawed but what I can't stand is when people start making stuff up just to match how they view the character which is something the story Magic School Days is really bad about. Not that this ruins a story or anything it's just really annoying.
8982455
The problem with that logic is that in large part all we have to go on is speculation. J.K.R. left plot holes large enough to drive a Death Star through, and most Fanfiction authors who dabble in the series try their best to fill in the blanks if only to try making sense of it for themselves. This makes the series a veritable sandbox of ideas where nearly anything goes as long as it can be explained adequately or disbelief can be reasonably suspended, and if an Author can do Both, Ho-Boy do you get a good story out of it.
As for Sirius, I'm only going to say that all evidence in the book indicates that Dumbledore was not yet in a position to know or look into the facts concerning his case, nor was he in a position to overturn the ruling (he didn't become chief warlock until a few years after the fact), and that by the time he was the matter was considered handled and therefore he never looked in to.
Negligence, again, nothing more nothing less, but more understandable than his negligence concerning Harry's home life.
8982486
Again you're argument boils down to simply pointing out he wasn't perfect which goes for pretty much any character. He did nothing because he believed Sirius was guilty there's nothing negligent about that, it certainly didn't help that Sirius was a little unhinged even before Lilly and James were murdered (this is the guy who chose to abandon his god son in favor of seeking revenge).