It was only two weeks later that Hedwyg brought Harry a note at breakfast from Hagrid — It’s hatching. Unfortunately, Hermione insisted they go to their Herbology class first. “Seven of us skivvying off to go to Hagrid’s hut would be rather obvious,” she had explained as they left the Great Hall. “We can check in before Charms. And again during lunch.”
“But we’ll miss it hatching,” Ron hissed as they headed to class. He really wanted to see a dragon egg hatch.
Harry wasn’t nearly as impatient. He didn’t want to take a chance and find himself turned into a cactus. Or into a twenty-yard tall lizard. Or for that to happen to any of the girls. He was sure that the wizards were not as forgiving to the perpetrators as Princess Celestia about things like that.
Regrettably, Parkinson and Malfoy overheard Ron. They stopped walking ahead of them, ducked out of the stream of students to fake a quick private conversation, and then started following the Gryffindors, trying to listen for more.
“Shut up,” hissed Harry, but he thought it was a case of closing the bedroom door after the Cutie Mark Crusaders had already escaped.
After a quickly gobbled lunch, they hurried to Hagrid’s hut, while dragging a protesting Ron. “I haven’t finished eating,” he protested, to no avail. He grabbed a plate of sandwiches as they left the table.
They arrived into the inhumanly hot hut just in time. No sooner had they gathered around the rocking egg, now on the table with numerous cracks, than the egg started to come apart.
The baby dragon looked like a crumpled, black umbrella with huge spiny wings and a skinny jet body; it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes. It looked nothing like Spike.
Hagrid, naturally, proudly said, “He’s beautiful!” Sweat drenching their clothes, they looked at him as if he were barmy.
Harry looked at it critically. He hoped Spike hadn’t looked that awful when he was born. Although, he was almost as big as Spike was now. Ah, it was the wings! The baby dragon was slowly expanding and stretching them. And his lungs were inflating with air.
The egg had been quite an uncomfortable and tight fit, it seemed.
It sneezed sparks out of its snout as Hagrid reached to stroke it. Naturally, it snapped at his fingers, displaying an alarming set of needle like teeth. Harry wondered if the dragons here ate gems, too.
Hagrid had been right. It was looking more like a Norwegian Ridgeback every second.
They warily examined the vicious little beast for several minutes. Hagrid suddenly leapt to his feet and ran to the curtained window. He stared for several moments, turning his head back and forth. “Someone was lookin’ through the gap in the curtains,” he cried.
Several of them bolted for the doors, and Scootaloo and Ginny shot out the door on wings. But it was too late. The two fleeing students had too much of a head start and managed to make it to castle doors, and inside, before the two pegasi could catch them. However, they got close enough to see that the two were wearing Slytherin robes. Harry had a fair idea who they might have been.
They worriedly discussed the matter on the way back to the castle.
“We should tell Headmaster Dumbledore,” Hermione insisted. “If Hagrid tells him now, then if someone tries to get him in trouble, he’ll be covered.”
“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle said, shaking her head doubtfully. “He doesn’t seem to be all there, sometimes.”
“Yeah,” agreed Harry. “It wasn’t actually a smart idea to send the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to the dungeons when the Troll was supposed to be in the dungeons, last Halloween.”
The others nodded in agreement.
Knowing the Slytherins, it wouldn’t be long before they tried to use the secret to their advantage. And to Hagrid’s detriment.
The idea of raising a dragon, though, was brilliant! His mum and Spike would be thrilled to see in the pensieve what raising a dragon on this side of the portal was like. However, the trouble if Hagrid was caught was not as wonderful to think about.
Unfortunately, Hagrid was having none of it when they talked the next day. “I — I can’t jus’ abandon him, can’t.” He shook his massive head. “I know I can’t keep ’em forever,” He looked quite despondent at the possibility. “but he’d never survive on his own. Not right now.”
The half-giant was willing to risk everything to keep his dragon. The numerous chicken feathers and empty brandy bottles littering the hut proved that. As did the fact that Hagrid hadn’t been doing his gamekeeping duties because he was so busy with Norbert. The dragon was already bigger than pony, and it had only been a day. At the rate it was growing it wouldn’t fit in Hagrid’s hut in two weeks.
And Norbert showed almost no interest in the few gems Harry tried to give him, although Hagrid did give him a puzzled look.
“Wait,” Harry said, “Your brother,” he turned to Ron and Ginny, “Charlie, works at a dragon preserve in Romania, right?” They nodded hesitantly.
“How about writing him? That would give Norbert a good home, if he agreed. They could pick him up!”
Scootaloo started to get excited. “And if he says they’ll take him, then we can carry him to meet them!”
“It’ll have to be late at night,” Ginny said, “Or we’ll be seen.”
“Pshaw,” she said disparagingly. “We can use Harry’s invisibility cloak to get out of and back in the dorms, right?” She looked at Harry. “Nobody’ll see us. We can even put the cloak over the dragon.”
Harry wasn’t too happy at the suggestion, he could just see the dragon burning up his father’s invisibility cloak with a sneeze.
“It’s the perfect plan! Cutie Mark Crusader Dragon Smugglers, YEAH!” Scootaloo jumped up and slapped hands with Ginny.
“And, in the meantime, we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Dragon Sitters!” Apple Bloom cried, looking at Sweetie Belle. “YEAH!” they yelled, also slapping hands.
Ron and Hermione looked at them as if they were crazy. Harry stoically shook his head.
Considering some of the schemes the three had come up with over the previous two years, this one was pretty straightforward. But it all depended on the Slytherins being quiet. Something Harry, and most of the others of the cohort, were convinced couldn’t happen.
But if it helped Hagrid keep his job, then it would be worth it.
And if Charlie couldn’t help them? They would tell the Headmaster. Surely he wouldn’t punish the half-giant too severely.
۸-~-۸
It was nearly a miracle that the Slytherins kept silent during the week it took for an answer to the group’s letter. Were the two just revelling in the thought that they were tormenting the Gryffindors by doing nothing? It seemed so, from the manners in which Draco and Pansy smirked at them with malicious grins whenever they caught the Gryffindors looking at them. And the way they kept looking at Hagrid at the Headmaster’s table during dinner and snickering.
In any case, their relief that Charlie was sending some friends to get Norbert was almost palpable. All they had to do was wait until the next Saturday.
And in direct proportion to their elation was Hagrid’s dejection.
Norbert, however didn’t seem to care, from the daily carnage they saw, after classes, while they “babysat” the dragon in Hagrid’s hut. Fang had taken to sleeping outside. And his furniture seemed to be sporting quite a few scorch marks.
۸-~-۸
Hagrid sobbed, “Mommy will never forget you!” as they covered the crate with the Invisibility Cloak.
Ron shook his head. “He’s lost his marbles, he has,” he muttered under his breath to Harry.
The feather-weight charm, and the acromantula ropes, made it a simple matter for the two pegasi to heft the crate and fly up to the top of the Astronomy tower. The quarter moon wasn’t very bright, but it made it possible to see the two flying groups meet. Harry hoped he would still have an invisibility cloak by the morning.
Much later than they had expected, the two were back. The group of ponies began to cross the lawn to the Gryffindor tower. They were ponies because they would be harder to see in the dark. Even with their bright colours, the moonlight wasn’t enough to make them more than lighter and darker greys. Not to mention that being smaller made them that much more difficult to spot.
“What took so long?” hissed Hermione, “we thought something had gone wrong!”
“They,” Scootaloo excitedly told them, “had a special harness to carry Norbert! They transport injured and small dragons all the time.” Ginny nodded eagerly. “They were real happy to see we already had him in a secure crate,” she continued.
“Boy,” said Ginny, “were they surprised to see us as pegasi, too. They thought we’d be on brooms. Two almost fell off their broomsticks when we had changed back to witches.” She danced on her hooves happily. The rest discovered that the subsequent conversations, and demonstrations, had taken most of the two’s time on the tower top.
Almost as an afterthought, the dragon handlers had complimented them on using a feather-weight charm to make their job easier.
Alas, the plan to sneak back into the dormitory through the windows didn’t work. Someone had actually re-locked the windows in the boy’s section! And the alarms on the Girls’ Dorm windows prevented the boys from using that particular point of access.
Thus it was that Ron and Harry were slowly making their way to a convenient painting near the main doors when Filch, turning a corner, walked right into them. Well, not exactly. He tripped over the two ponies, accidentally knocking the cloak loose at the same time.
Harry and Ron transformed into people. While they could have out-run the squib, there were very few ponies in the school, and their colours would have given them away, immediately, anyway. And Harry would never abandon a friend by simply teleporting away to leave him to face the consequences. Not that he knew for certain he could.
As the three scrambled to their feet, Harry used Ron as a screen to stuff his cloak into a pocket. He didn’t think Filch even noticed that they had been ponies. If the professors knew, rather than suspected, that they had used their animagi forms, the punishments would be worse.
Filch took them to Professor McGonagall’s study on the first floor, and left them there as he went to find her.
“Aw, man, mom’s gonna kill me,” Ron moaned. “I’m gonna get a howler, for sure.” He hung his head down.
Harry frantically tried to think of a good reason why they were out of bounds this late at night without getting Hagrid, Charlie, and his friends in trouble, too. Absolutely nothing came to mind.
When Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, finally arrived, she was leading both Draco and Pansy, to the two Gryffindors’ astonishment.
“Detention!” she was shouting as they came in. “Twenty points, each, from Slytherin! Out after curfew —”]
“But, Professor,” Malfoy insisted, “it’s Harry Potter — he’s got a dragon!”
Pansy was nodding her head a bit fearfully.
“Utter rubbish! How dare you persist in such lies! We shall see what Professor Snape has to say, Mister Malfoy!”
Pansy shrank back, clearly hoping to avoid further scrutiny.
Both their eyes lit-up on seeing who was in the room waiting for them.
“See, Professor!” cried Draco, pointing at the two Gryffindors, “I told you!”
Harry’s eyes widened and he shook his head. But Professor McGonagall was incensed to see them waiting for her. She stalked over and towered over them. Harry fancied he could see her about to breathe fire.
Mr. Filch was quick to explain where he found them, coming in from outside.
“Explain yourselves,” she demanded angrily. “I would never have believed it of you!”
Harry and Ron were speechless. Draco and Pansy both smirked behind McGonagall’s back.
Somehow, the Professor came to the conclusion that they had tried to trap Draco into being caught out of bounds, just as he had tried to do to them at the beginning of the year. And that they had snuck out to see the action.
She stood, hands on her hips. “I’m disgusted. That you two would do such a thing.” She pursed her lips angrily. “You’ll all receive detentions!” She turned her head to look at the Slytherins. “That means you two, too!”
Their smiles disappeared.
“And,” she turned back to Ron and Harry, “as the instigators of this farce, you two will lose seventy points from Gryffindor.”
She turned her head to the two Slytherins, “And you two lose twenty points, each, for being so gullible! You know Ron’s brothers, you should know better! Letting a petty rivalry get so out of hand.” She shook her head in disgust.
“Seventy?” squeaked Ron as Harry gasped.
“Each!” the Professor proclaimed.
“Mr. Filch, if you please,” she said frostily, “Escort these two Slytherins back to their dorm.”
Filch, standing outside the door and grinning madly, nodded.
“And I will take these two . . . miscreants, back to Gryffindor.”
She reprimanded them the entire way.
۸-_-۸
The fillies were anxiously waiting when the two came in through the entrance. However, Professor McGonagall’s concluding loud admonishment that, “Don’t you ever do that again! If you do, the point loss will be DOUBLE!” had them cowering behind the furniture, trying to stay out of sight.
It took a few minutes for Ron and Harry to explain. The two had to wait until the ringing in their ears had stopped before they could hear the questions to answer.
If Professor McGonagall ever sent a howler, it would bring down the walls!
After hearing what had happened, the ponies later consoled themselves with the thought that they had, at least, ensured a good life for Norbert, and saved Hagrid his home and job.
On the other hoof, they had plummeted to last place in House points. There was no way they could regain those points through classwork, alone. And they would have to trounce Ravenclaw by a large margin to regain their lead. Assuming there were no more point losses. Which, given Professor Snape’s attitude towards Gryffindors, was highly unlikely, even if he wasn’t anywhere as severe as he had been at the beginning of the year.
The next morning, the story quickly made the rounds and Harry dropped from being the most popular and admired person in Gryffindor to the most hated. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him, too, because they had been hoping to see Slytherin lose the House Cup. Ron was just as much a pariah, but Harry received most of the anger, as he had let them down the most.
The Slytherins mockingly went around applauding him and praising him for putting them in the House-point lead. The mocking was in inverse proportion to how much they had liked him before the debacle. Or thought him a valuable career contact.
The Gryffindor Firstie animagi, however, knew the truth. They might not like the point loss, but it was for a good cause, and took great bravery, in their opinion. They quickly closed ranks around Harry. And Harry learned a valuable lesson on just who his true friends were. And how fickle wizards and witches were in their opinions.
It made him want to curse them. Seriously curse them, not just prank. But he held off. He wasn’t that kind of pony. He would seek other avenues of revenge.
۸-~-۸
Elly was very confused. She thought she had mapped out quite accurately the various interactions between the students, their Houses, and their friends. Doing that was critical for an infiltrator to maximize harvesting food.
How could she have messed up?
The Equestrians’ herd-stallion getting in trouble shouldn’t have made that much of a change. Even getting in big trouble, which he had, according to her friends in Hufflepuff, shouldn’t have changed attitudes that far!
He and his friend Ron had somehow managed to lose seventy points, each, in one night. A Hogwarts record, according to a Ravenclaw friend. They had gone from lead to last. Not even a Quidditch victory could have helped them recover, not unless it was ridiculously lopsided. Which wasn’t likely given their last game would be with the Ravenclaws, not exactly a bunch of pushovers.
There were rumours that a dragon — a dragon! — was involved and Hagrid was a part of it.
But those were rumours. No one really knew the truth except the ones concerned, and they were tight-lipped about it.
The dynamics in the whole castle had changed, overnight. Students who used to look on the Gryffindor Firsties with fondness now disliked them. Even when they were ponies, now, there were a fair number who avoided them.
Which really didn’t make any sense at all. Unless these wizards and witches were very much unlike the ponies. And while ponies were fickle, according to her instructors, friendships tended to win out in the long run.
The anger levels were so pervasive that her food gathering had fallen to merely maintaining her levels, even backsliding a tiny bit.
Anxious, she decided to check on her hidden reserves. Which were just fine, she was relieved to see. But that reminded her of the Mirror of Erised.
Had anything changed with these new circumstances? Maybe she should check?
It was a late Sunday night that she used to investigate. She made sure to bring along her notes for easy comparison.
The room was unchanged. To all appearances, no one had been here since the last time she had explored it. She carefully scouted the edges, circling the room, looking for any indications of a trap or alerts. It was only after an hour’s examination, including the ceiling, that she finally approached the mirror.
Unlike virtually every other time she had looked in the mirror, this time nothing appeared except herself! And she appeared as a student, not as a ling? What was going on?
She walked around the mirror, examining its frame closely. There were no marks, no additions, no subtractions that she could detect. It appeared exactly as it had before. Except, perhaps, a bit of dust on the top surfaces.
She turned her attention to the mirror, itself. With her eyes almost touching the mirror, she carefully inspected the edges where it disappeared into the frame. While she could see faint markings that might have been runes, she had the impression that they had always been there. Her magic, at least, couldn’t detect any recent alterations.
Finally, she settled back and just studied herself in the mirror. As a few minutes before, there wasn’t any definite background, just a formless grey. She stood in the middle of the mirror, as if in a spotlight, but there were no shadows.
The Elly in the mirror covered her mouth with a hand as she giggled.
But no additional people appeared. No lings. No ponies.
What could this mean? Had she lost all her desires? That made no sense. She still wanted a Hive, she still wanted lings and nymphs.
Frowning, she stared at the mirror.
Staring back, mirror-Elly reached into a pocket and pulled out a reddish rock. She held it up, laughing, then dropped it back in her pocket. She then waggled her eyebrows, still laughing.
Elly stood stock still. There was something in her pocket. It hadn’t been there a second ago.
Moving slowly, she reached into her pocket and took out the rock that had been in the mirror. She stared at it, uncomprehending. It was a deep red, almost like a gem in that it was translucent, except it had no symmetry or fine cuts as a gem did. She then looked back into the mirror at her laughing self.
She broke out into a cold sweat — and wasn’t that a strange feeling!
Elly dropped the stone back into her pocket. “Return to the mirror, return to the mirror,” she frantically whispered. Nothing happened.
Her mirror-self was laughing harder, clutching at her stomach.
The changeling shivered, and tried again. She gripped her wand desperately, “Return to the mirror, return to the mirror,” she chanted. Still nothing changed. The rock remained heavy in her pocket.
The Elly in the mirror was now doubled over laughing, and having difficulties in standing as a result.
She pointed her wand at herself in the mirror. “Return to the mirror, return to the mirror,” she said frantically, her eyes screwed shut, as she tried to will the stone back into the mirror. But nothing happened except she started to develop a headache. She slowly opened her eyes, squinting at the mirror.
The image had begun to blur. All her features started to become indistinct.
Had she broken the mirror? Oh, Mother-queen! What if someone realized it wasn’t working anymore? They would be furious! If they found her here she would be in so much trouble. The Headmaster would surely unmask her.
Elly glanced around the room, panicked. Nothing to see.
She glanced back at the mirror. It wasn’t any clearer. If anything, it was less.
She took a deep breath. She had to escape before the Headmaster came and found her.
She ran to the exit stone post and frantically kicked it five times. She had to hurry! The Headmaster could be on his way here right now. For a moment she thought nothing was going to happen.
She almost sobbed in relief when the trapdoor dropped her through the floor.
Elly carefully checked the corridor before hurriedly sneaking out of the hidden room. The sooner she was under her bed, the safer she would be.
Making her way back to her dorm was nerve-wracking. She kept expecting to have the Headmaster pop up in front of her and demand to know what she had done to break his mirror. But he didn’t. And neither did anyone else. She didn’t hear or see either Mr. Filch or his cat.
Making it into the Common Room was a tremendous relief, but she knew she wouldn’t feel safe until she was under her bed. She buried the rock in the bottom of her trunk, after encasing it in a globe of green-resin. She hoped the goop blocked enough magic to prevent anyone from tracking it to her.
She dragged the blankets and sheets off the bed and scurried under the bed-frame, quickly arranging a nest-hole, plugging the entrance with a pillow. Only then did she start to calm down.
She wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight, she knew. She hoped tomorrow would not bring any unpleasant surprises.
۸-~-۸
Exams were less than a week away when Harry and Ron received notes at the breakfast table on Tuesday morning: they were to report for detention that night with Mr. Filch, at eleven o’clock at night.
They exchanged glances. A detention so late at night? That made no sense! The girls all wanted to come with the two. But, as Percy pointed out when they were in Common Room, waiting, they didn’t have detentions. That would mean they were out after curfew and would get into trouble.
Eleven o’clock arrived. The girls all gave him one last hug, then the two set out for the entrance hall to meet Mr. Filch. They arrived to find the unpleasant squib waiting for them with Malfoy and Parkinson.
In amongst all the angst since their point-loss, Harry and Ron had forgotten that two others had been caught that night.
With much grumbling, and reminiscing about the old punishments, the man led them outside, to their surprise. They headed across the darkened lawn to Hagrid’s hut, its windows glowing brightly in the dark. The moon was bright, not yet at the last quarter and over half still visible. The clouds swiftly crossing it, however, reduced the illumination it provided.
Harry was relieved. Hagrid would not be such an awful task-master. He knew the truth! Harry relaxed. This wouldn’t be all that bad! But what were they going to be doing outside in the dark? Harry tapped his glasses and turned on their night-vision mode. The dark suddenly became as clear as day, although the colours were a bit muted.
It was when Hagrid appeared out of the forest, carrying a massive crossbow and quiver of arrows, with Fang at his heels, that Harry began to rethink the detention. The crossbow was bigger than he was, and the arrows were more like spears. Hagrid stopped in front of them, and greeted Filch with, “What took so long? I bin waitin’ fer half an hour.” Harry realized that the cross-bow was more of a ballista without the wheels.
Then Filch, spiteful git that he was, said, “I suppose you think you’ll be enjoying yourself? Well, think again! It’s into the forest you’re going. And I’ll be counting the pieces when you come out!” He gave them a nasty grin.
“That’s why yer late?” Hagrid said as he rolled his eyes and frowned at Filch. “Couldn’ stop yerself lecturin’ them, eh?”
Ron grabbed Harry’s sleeve and choked. Pansy grabbed Draco while making the sound a mouse getting stepped-on might make. Draco, paled even further. Enough that Harry was sure the others could see it, too, even without night-vision glasses.
“We’re, we’re going into the Forbidden Forest . . . at night?” squeaked Draco.
Harry didn’t feel too well, himself, at the prospect of going into the forest. It was one thing to go in during the daylight, either the Forbidden or the Everfree, but to go at night? No, not a good idea. Not. At. All.
Even the Equestrian Guards only braved the forest at night in well-armed groups.
And these crazy wizards wanted him to go in with a half-giant?
Harry gave another glance at the massive cross-bow Hagrid was carrying. A well-equipped half-giant, for sure, but still!
And what could there possibly be in the forest that would require going into it at night?
Well, except maybe gathering things for potions. And while the Potions Professor was no slouch with a wand, when he went into the Forbidden Forest he was looking for fungi and plants. Hagrid, on the other hoof, took care of the grounds and animals at the castle. And he, certainly, was not looking for anything as simple as shrivelfigs or bubotubers!
“Right then,” said Hagrid. “It’s dangerous what we’re gonna do tonight, so listen carefully. I don’ want no one takin’ risks.
No. Really? The Forbidden Forest was dangerous? Who would have thought that? Harry snorted. Did he think they were half-wits, just like him?
“Summat has hurt a unicorn in there — hurt badly, too. I found another one dead last Wednesday. We’re hafta find the poor thing.” He shook his head sadly. “We might have ter put it down.”
Harry could only shake his head, gobsmacked and barely listening, as Filch cackled gleefully, then threatened them with all sorts of terrors — werewolves, acromantulas, centaurs . . . CCEENNTAURS? They weren’t just made-up rumours to scare Firsties?
There were really centaurs in the forest? He shivered in terror.
۸-_-۸
*slow clap* Bumblebore does it again. The Stone being stolen by some unwitting firstie who doesn't know about the stone and therefore can't want it.
Goddamnit Dumbledore.
Do none of the students realize that by trying to isolate Harry, they are ruining their pony petting privileges for the foreseeable future, if not permanently?
This was a book about magic and possessed professors and this was the most unbelievable part. It makes no sense she would think this about Harry. Either she doesn't do either her job as deputy headmistress or head of house or she actually believes the manure that comes out of snivellus' mouth. Harry has NEVER done anything like this and she assumes the worst automatically.
...How did Elly manage to get the stone out of the mirror? The enchantment is rather specific that "only those who wanted to find the stone, not use it" would be able to get it. Elly didn't even know the stone existed, so she wouldn't even be looking for it, much less want to find it.
For that matter, why is her love gathering slowing to a crawl? The students grumbling at Harry shouldn't drastically changed any of the other personal relationships. Does this mean that love gathering is impossible unless a pony is near?
9594842
Best thing that could happen to it. Now, no-one knows where it is. Even Elly could truthfully say that she doesn't know where the Philosopher's Stone is, as she doesn't know that that's what she has.
"All Hail Queen Elly of the Eternal Hive!"
and now we get to the meat and potatoes of the story, fun times will be-gene
9594842
you must forgive the old fool after al at that age his brain is not working hardly at all.
So ... how many stripes of hide is Twilight going to tear out of the school for sending first-years (and her son) into a dangerous forest during night where injury and death are real considerations, as a punishment for ... breaking light's out curfew and starting what they believe to be a silly rumor? Because if one thinks about it, said punishment is batshit insane. That would be like sending the CMC into the Everfree for their antics, instead of grounding them. I expect to hear the royal canterlot (ponyville?) voice all the way over here ...
That's not how the enchantment works, you need to want the Philosopher's stone but have no desire to actually use it. She can't get the stone if she doesn't even know about it.
9594842
By the criterion he gave in the book, this shouldn't have worked. Also, why would he put it into the mirror BEFORE putting the mirror down at the end of the gauntlet? Seems like those two things ought to go together or be done in reverse order.
So, not that I expect that this is what the author intends, but this is what would make sense: this was a draft of the test, with a fake stone. Dumbledore's still working out the right criterion to use. The real stone is still wherever it was before the mirror was placed.
9594855
I honestly always assumed she suspected exactly what had really happened and the punishment was to keep the whole incident on the down-low while letting Harry know there was a limit to what she'd let people get away with.
I remember a thing from long ago- about what happened to Umbrige to make her so afraid of the sound of hooves...
TL;DR: Classical mythology centaurs are rape-beasts and Hermione has read enough mythology to know what was going to happen when she was dragged off by them. Remember how she gleefully makes hoof-clopping noises to freak the toad out? Savage.
Of course, Harry's probably just reliving nightmares about Tirek
I wonder if the changeling girl is going to turn out to be a protagonist rather than a big bad now that she's got the stone. I also wonder if your centaurs will like harry.
Nice I loved that you change the whole plot of the philosopher's stone and add an extra layer of randomness that Dumboldor, Harry or Twilight didn't take part in solving on the spot and that it takes the story of the book in a completely different direction, nice job. I am betting she got it because she was longing for her lives of her dead hivemates and the stone is a way to become her own queen and create her own hive from this in the human world.
9594901
I wish I had your confidence in Dumbledore. The mirror was hidden in a new place this time. Heck, it's possible that she managed to find a back door into the mirror gauntlet that no one had found before.
Hah, wow. Elly receiving the stone. Did not see that coming. Nice chapter!
9594871
My understanding was that a majority of the love she was harvesting was directed towards Harry/the ponies, which is why she took to hanging around them.
The end of this chapter doesn't make any sense to me. The only reason that I can think of for Harry to agree to go is to help a unicorn.
Otherwise he can just say "No, I'm not going into a dangerous forest in the middle of the night." This isn't like cannon where staying at Hogworts means staying away from his relatives. If they threaten other stuff, even expulsion, at least he makes it home in one piece.
Regardless of what happens, you know Twilight is going to be tearing strips off everyone involved. She's going to use Filch to slap McGonagall, Hagrid and maybe Dumbledore.
9594900
Maybe Elly's desire to find out what is going on with the mirror counted, we just know how Dumbledore described the enchantment hiding the stone we don't know the mechanics of how it actually works, it's possible that Elly accidentally found a loophole that Dumbledore didn't realize existed, though if this is true it would need to be addressed sometime by the end of the stone's arc.
I'm not against the idea of Elly getting the stone but at least put in the effort to have it make sense.
as
9594902
Even if that were true it doesn't explain her ridiculous accusation. Yes, James did something similar but worse, but Harry had done nothing in book to warrant such a reaction.
To paraphrase a quote from Dust: an Elysian Tail: "Manners, Fidget. It's what separates people like us from people like them."
9594938
The rules of the enchantment couldn't be any clearer. You need to desire to find the stone but not use it. Elly wasn't trying to find the stone, she doesn't even know anything about it so there was no way she could desire it. There is no room for a loophole here all she did was look in the mirror and she was given the stone, it makes no sense.
9594938
I'm pretty sure that the guy who made the enchantment describing how it works means that's how it works. We aren't talking about some lackwit like Gilderoy here, after all. For all his other flaws (perceived, exaggerated or otherwise) Dumbledore is one of the greatest wizards currently walking the planet. He wouldn't muck up an enchantment of that importance.
I think Filch is going to have a... 'conversation', with a VERY angry alicorn princess after this, along with whoever else also thinks that putting students in this sort of outright danger is any sort of acceptable punishment.
This does not bode well.
9594894
Exactly my thoughts, I don't think this is going to be deemed a viable punishment anymore to say the least.
Harry and ron better watch out if they change into their pony selves .... harry might make a few unicorn friends and their might be a female centaur or two interested in rons earth pony strength. *wink wink* Atleast the centaur hostility should be less hostile towards them anyway.
Its funny considering the whole reason their in hogwarts is to learn how to be wizards when he could just goto csgu who could hire the best of the best of wizarding teachers of every category.... whys he in hogwarts again ... all he gets is false friendships and annoying criticism... he should just grab all his friends and goto school in equestria.
Well... on the plus side, at least Harry won't be thinking about remaining in the Wizarding World if given an option - petty cannot describe the Wizards' reaction in canon and here for that simple mess. At least he knows where his real friends are.
I also like how the Equestrian mindset of the fillies and the changeling are shown in contrast to the human wizards. There might be hope for Ellie yet...
PS: And here we can see why no one else has won the House Cup - the heads of House - with the exception of Severus Snape - screw themselves over. Way to go, Minerva!
9594842
The enchantment was actually there to give the stone to someone who wanted to find it, but not use it. That was actually a very clever play by Dumbledore, but maybe tkepner is using his/her creative licence to increase the foolishness of Dumbledore from a 5 to a 6 or 7 in this story.
So as punishment for being out after curfew and believed to be trying to get other students in trouble they still send a group of first years into an area normally forbidden due to its danger to hunt for something killing unicorns. Considering the attitude of the parents of those involved I see this ending well for all involved.
9594849
Yep especially as the ponies know what Harry was really doing.
9594934
I'm inclined to agree this Harry is not canon Harry for one thing he's not afraid of being sent home and for another now he knows there really are dangers that are hurting unicorns he has experience to match them too. I expect both adamant refusal to enter and a letter to his mum asking her to help the forest unicorns.
9594952
Dumbledore may have changed them especially since Elly should have been seeing the give not herself as a student but generally I agree with you.
9594930
The majority yes but there should still be enough to keep her going like she was before focusing on them. Still maybe the other houses annoyance at Slytherins (who again demonstrate they really shouldn't be in that house if THIS is their idea of cunning) is bleeding over to other areas.
9594903
That's...surprisingly insightful by both you and Rowling.
9594855
Well... that is a Slytherin thing to do, going with how in canon Draco tried to screw Harry and Ron over the whole 'duel thing'.
McGonagall is showing her inner snake, it seems.
9594855
I think the point is that the adult wizards and witches are severely incompetent. (General incompetence seems to be a theme of the adults in the wizarding world, in the source material and throughout this fanfic.) Or, maybe, J.K. Rowling had a intellectual hiccup that was never corrected in any subsequent printings of the series. Maybe something else…?
I wondered why Harry would be so scared of Centaurs, then I remembered Tirik.
9594981
This would be an interesting reversal of the plot - them taking the texts from the wizards and implementing them in Equestria, where they would learn in safety and fairness of treatment.
Aside from the other problems with this chapter (Elly getting the Stone when she has no reason to be able to, McGonagall's utterly baffling condemnation of her own students (worse than in canon, no less!)), I have to admit something that's been bothering me:
Why in the name of Celestia's cake-filled flanks is Harry acting like pre-Season 5 Diamond Tiara when it comes to Magical Britain?! Seriously, he has a 'holier-than-thou' attitude towards them, and I fail to see the reasoning. Yes, they've made some questionable decisions, but his disdain for them is inexplicable. Harry in the early books, was humble, fairly level-headed, and with the exception of Malfoy was friendly to just about everyone until they stopped being friendly with him. This Harry seems like he's been bitten by the Malfoy bug slightly (looking down on others is NOT something canon Harry would do). How did he get that way, especially since Twilight, however hyper-competent she is in the story, is most assuredly NOT that way?
9594952
9594963
Dumbledore was describing the enchantment to an 11 year old boy who did not have a proper understanding of advanced magical theory so it is perfectly reasonable that Dumbledore might have given Harry a simplified explanation as that is all he needed to know, plus Dumbledore isn't perfect he may have unintentionally put a loophole of two into the mirror allowing someone like Elly to get the stone, at the time Elly wanted to find out what was going on with the mirror and it is not completely unreasonable to assume that the mirror interpreted that as wanting to find the stone due to a miscalculation by Dumbledore. I'm just saying that there are ways to explain how Elly was able to get the stone without destroying canon but the author will need to address and explain the issue by the end of the stones arc to avoid a plot hole.
9594990
It might also be the upsurge in negative feelings hampers her love collection, and/or she needs to "burn" some additional love to counter ill-effects from them.
9595004
There have been some not-so-subtle signs that Voldy's soul fragment that was trapped in Harry might not be fully gone and could possibly be subtly influencing his behavior and/or personality.
9595004
Spoiler warning in my comment, based on observations and canon/fanon thoughts of what I've learned so far:
Lord Moldypants' soul shard is affecting Harry as show in several bits throughout the story after Tirek's rampage, since the magic protecting him from it was eaten by Tirek along with the curse. And souls aren't made of magic in order to get eaten by Tirek, and the magic protecting him from the curse and soulshard was the one thing preventing him from turning into a resurrected Voldemort.
So yeah...
9594920
I suspect that the twins have been using the book they got from the castle in the Everfree, and have been making changes to Hogwarts. So that when he put the mirror in that room there was only one entrance.
9595020
The magical theory wouldn't make a difference, all that matters is the rules themselves. Fun fact there is actually a way around the enchantment in canon, it's explained that it's not hard to change what you desire it would only take Quirrell focusing a bit to get the stone. Basically, it's the kind of trick that only works once.
The point is the only way Elly could get the stone is if she was looking for it, she wasn't looking for it, therefore, she shouldn't be able to get it. I fully expect the explanation to be "Dumbledore is an idiot" once again.
9595026
That being said, the effects on him are likely due to the shard mixing with his own soul. Seeing how the shard is just that, a small fragment mixing in with a complete soul the effects will likely be rather limited. Weather it still works as a horcrux is another question...
Wow McGonagall not even giving them a. Proper chance to explains don just assuming her explanation is the right one,
Plus putting Harry in danger thanks to the detention, hope she gets an earful and both she and Dumbledore overhears Harry admitting he doesn’t like them and can’t wait to be as far from the wizard world as possible
9595004
Hymn ... im only guessing but i believe he was slightly corrupted due to his mothers protections failing exposing him to the horcrux shard. Hes probably lucky tirek sucked it out of him otherwise he'd probably be as bad as malfoy or worse instead of being slightly conceited. In the book with the protection he still had started to have some side effects .. parsaltongue plus his connection to voldermort ..without the protection which is the only reason quirel got hurt touching him. I think in this story quirel wouldnt disintegrate will make for a better confrontation. Without the shard he also shouldn't get flashes of what voldermorts upto.
Well this is going to end well. I think we can all agree that Voldermort’s soul fragment is poisoning Harry. Hopefully someone will realize something is up with Harry and get him back to his mother. Plus yea I can see Harry leaving Hogwarts after the school year as it isn't really for him anymore. I bet most of his true friends will follow him to Celestia’s school.
9595043
I believe it equal to corruption like it happened with Luna and the Nightmare.
Edit: And sad to say it, but it does behave like a horcrux, otherwise Harry wouldn't have been able to speak Parseltongue, or have a connection to Moldy's mind in the future.
And the trigger was the first meeting with Quirrel at the pub close to Diagon Alley. It was at that point that the first deviation showed up in Harry's train of thoughts.