-Canterlot General Hospital-
The so-called savior of Great Britain was still in pain despite the seemingly gallons of potions the healers had been flooding his system with through the I.V. drip. He didn’t hurt as much now as he did when he first woke up; it was more of the dull throbbing kind of pain, throughout his entire body mind you. Not enough to render him completely immobile, but enough to be in need of assistance when he wanted to stand up.
His mind, however, a storm of thought. He still wasn’t completely aware of what was going on, only that there was another psychopath coming after him and that the seven girls, along with his cousins, kept a very large secret from him. He only hoped to get some answers soon.
His stupor was interrupted when the door to his room opened slightly before opening up gently. Harry recognized the meek voice as it called in,
“Uhm, Harry?”
“Fluttershy?”
The pink haired girl slipped her way into the room and closed the door behind her,
“Principal Celestia told us that you were awake and could take visitors. Do you mind if I… you know?” The timid girl asked from where she stood by the door.
“Uh, sure. I guess I wouldn’t mind a visit.” Harry responded. It felt a bit odd, a moment ago, he was extremely frustrated at the girls who called themselves his friends. All that frustration ended as soon as Fluttershy had entered the room. The animal lover crossed over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it, plopping her backpack in her lap.
“I thought you could use something to help cheer you up, so I brought you someone.”
Fluttershy reached into her backpack and to Harry’s surprise extracted a tiny pure black kitten.
“This is Middie, she was born at the shelter with the rest of her brothers and sisters.” Fluttershy turned her attention to the kitten, “Middie, this is Harry, he was hurt recently and could use a friend while he gets better. I promise he’s a nice boy.”
To Harry’s amazement while Fluttershy was talking to the diminutive cat the teenage girl underwent a change. In small dazzles of lights her human ears were replaced by a set of pony ears on the top of her head, her hair gained an extension and a pair of feathered wings appeared from her shoulder blades. Harry recognized that Rainbow Dash had undergone a similar change when they arrived at the park.
“What…”
Harry cut himself off when the kitten on Fluttershy’s lap left the comfort of the girl and ventured over to the afflicted boy. The kitten looked up at the young wizard with expectant eyes. Unable to resist, Harry scratched behind Middie’s ears. The tiny black kitten melted into Harry’s hand and fully embraced the affection, happily purring. Petting the cat was oddly cathartic and part of Harry’s discomfort vanished.
“She likes you.” Fluttershy happily said.
“How’d you do that?” Harry asked, “It was like she could understand you. Was it magic?”
“Oh, not really.” Fluttershy said, “I’ve always loved animals. For as long as I can remember I’ve been able to understand animals, and they’ve always trusted me. It wasn’t until recently that’ve been able to get them to do what I ask.”
“You understand them? Like you can hear what they’re saying?” Harry asked thinking back to the python from the London Zoo.
“Well, it was more like understanding how they felt. When my powers grew I really began to understand what they were saying.”
“Meow.” Middie brought attention back to her.
“Oh! She wants you to stroke along her back now.”
Complying with the demands of the kitten Harry started stroking along Middie’s back. Once again, the cat let out a meow. Harry didn’t need a translator for that,
“Your welcome.”
The door to Harry’s room opened again and a bespectacled girl stepped in,
“Oh, Fluttershy! You’re here.”
“Hi Twilight!” The other girl greeted, her pony features fading.
“Hey Fluttershy!” A new voice came from Twilight’s backpack. Said satchel rustled violently for a moment before Spike the dog slipped from the sack.
Harry’s body froze in shock at this sudden revelation.
“You… you can talk!” Harry almost shouted, upsetting Maddie.
“Sure can!” Spike proudly declared before jumping up on the bed. Fluttershy wisely withdrew the kitten from Harry’s person when Spike approached.
“Glad to finally meet ya for real! Name’s Spike, though you already knew that.” The dog greeted extending a paw. Hesitantly, Harry shook with the purple and green dog.
“How can you talk?” Harry asked.
“Not one-hundred percent sure but I passed through a few portals to another world and picked up the power of speech.”
“Another world?”
“A realm of existence set apart from our own.”
“It’s all confusin’ to me little feller.” A distinctive drawl commented as its owner walked in, “Ya feelin’ alright?”
“I’m still pretty sore. Doctors say it has more to do with something with my magic than my body. Magic isn’t as easy to fix.” Harry responded, “Not that I don’t want you here, but what are all of you doing here?”
“When we heard you were awake we thought we should come see you and apologize for not telling you sooner.”
“But mostly we wanted to say we were sorry for hitting you with our magical friendship laser!” Pinkie Pie’s voice cut in suddenly. Said overly happy girl poked her head out from a nearby supply cabinet, one that she shouldn’t have been able to fit in unless she was one of the world’s greatest contortionists, and lacked any sort of ridged bones in her body. Needless to say, Harry was slack-jawed. The impossibility of it all…
“Don’t bother thinking about it. It’s just Pinkie Pie.” Spike advised.
“Right,” Harry replied, remembering something similar his cousins told him.
Shortly thereafter both Rarity and Rainbow Dash showed up. After a few minutes of the obligatory, “How do you do?” and, “What are the doctor’s saying?” Rainbow Dash asked the question that was on all of the girl’s minds.
“So, who was that guy from the park? The suits have been pretty tight lipped on the whole thing.”
“I couldn’t say. I thought he was Voldemort but I guess he wasn’t.”
“Who’s Voldemort?” Applejack asked.
“The man who killed my parents.”
The entire room fell into a mixed bunch of shocked responses. A varied array of gasps, whimpers, and slack jawed expressions (plus one very loud “What?!” from Pinkie) chorused around the room.
“Uh… sorry.” Rainbow Dash said just a bit more than ashamed. Fluttershy scooted closer to Harry and did her best to hug the bedridden boy, fighting back her tears. The girl’s actions were a signal for the rest of the group to gather round the head of the bed and gather Harry in their arms. Of course, Pinkie Pie’s hug included a waterfall of tears.
“I feel for ya Sugar Cube. I lost mah parent’s too.” Applejack consoled. The other girls offered words of sympathy and comfort; Harry’s heart couldn’t take it anymore. Deep with him, Harry felt something snap, and unbidden tears filled his eyes.
He couldn’t understand. He had become desensitized years ago, to the fact that his parents were dead, he hadn’t even shed a tear when he found out that his parents had been killed. Somehow, this embrace with these girls were breaking open old wounds and letting him hurt once again.
“Thanks, everyone.” Harry breathed out eventually, “This helped, a lot.”
“You’re welcome darling.” Rarity replied, “What sort of friends would we be if we didn’t show you our concern and care for you?”
Their tender moment was interrupted by the door opening up,
“Oh my, it is quite crowded in here.” A voice from the door said.
The girls, plus Harry and Spike, looked towards the entry to see a trio standing in view. However, the only two that the girls recognized were Professor Colton Smith and,
“SUNSET!” All the older girls exclaimed with excitement. Pinkie, being herself, threw her person at the former resident of Equestria and embraced the other girl, with an unnaturally large fountain of tears ejecting from her eyes.
“WE! WERE! SO! WORRIED!” The expressive girl sobbed out. Giving a polite awkward smile Sunset returned the hug,
“I’m glad to see you too Pinkie.” The orange and yellow haired girl turned her attention onto Harry once Pinkie had satisfied her need to hug,
“Hey Harry, glad to see you’re awake.”
“Thanks,” Harry replied genuinely.
“I just wanted to apologize for keeping the magic around here a secret. We didn’t know how you would react.”
“We’re even. I couldn’t tell you about mine either.” Harry joked.
“And sorry about hitting you with our magic. If we didn’t you wouldn’t have been put in a hospital.”
“If you hadn’t tried Miss Shimmer, Mister Potter might not even be here.”
“From what I have been told you and your friends went above and beyond what could be expected from normal teenagers.” The mystery woman commented, putting a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, “I’ll see if I can’t swing some kind of recognition for all of you.”
“Ah, not to be rude or anything, but who are you?” Rainbow asked the mystery woman.
“Isabelle Saunders. Secretary of Magic. I essentially oversee all things magic related in the United States and its territories.”
“Like the Minister of Magic?” Harry asked. Isabelle’s face contorted into one of frustration at the comparison,
“Yes, much like a Minister. However, unlike those oafs in Britain I know who I work for.”
Harry grew a little angry hearing his native country being regarded as oafs,
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re too young to fully understand the political world Mister Potter; but Cornelius Fudge is nothing more than a puppet on a string. Can’t even make a decision by himself.”
“That’s because he’s new in office,” Harry protested, not even really understanding why he was defending Fudge when he didn’t even know the man himself, “And he’s got Dumbledore to help him!”
The reaction from the two adults were not what Harry was expecting. Both had varying degrees of scowl and the look on Professor Smith’s face was bordering on murderous. Before Harry could ask why, Isabelle explained,
“Mister Potter, the name Albus Dumbledore might mean something to a lot of people, but to a great deal of people in the United States he is not someone to look up to.”
Hagrid’s words of Dumbledore being a great man fueled Harry’s next question,
“Well why not? He’s done a lot of great things! He’s one of the greatest wizards of this age!”
“I suppose you refer to the back of a cholate frog card?” Professor Smith said with a particular edge in his voice, “Let’s see, defeat of Grindelwald in World War Two. There was an entire team dedicated to taking down the dark wizard, including four American combat specialists. When the team was closing in on Grindelwald’s location an anonymous tip leads the team to a point thirty miles away from his actual location. Then Dumbledore, who had no business being at the front lines, comes in and defeats the dark wizard while the team gets caught in a firefight which cost the four Americans their lives saving the rest of the team and the squad of non-magical soldiers that got caught up in the whole affair.
“The discovery of the twelve uses of dragon blood,” Fluttershy looked a little sick at the thought of any creature being used in such a way, let alone for their blood, “Other wizards through the ages had been working on researching the magical properties of dragon blood. Suddenly, Dumbledore comes out with the twelve uses by himself. He wasn’t even authorized to be researching dragons at the time. That little bit of information was swept under the rug because everyone was so appreciative of ‘his,’ big discovery.”
“Even if his accomplishments were untarnished there is his political clout that has many of us concerned.” Isabelle said with a bit more calmness than her Professor counterpart, “He has the highest seats of judicial power in both Britain and the International Confederation of Wizards. Several bills that have directly helped Britain have only been passed through because Albus tipped the scales in their favor. He has too much power that is left unchecked.”
“But he uses that power to do so much good for everyone.” Harry protested, the image of the grandfatherly man who greeted him in the hospital wing trying to win out in his mind, “He protected the Philosopher’s Stone from Voldemort just this last year.”
There was almost an audible squealing of a car’s breaks when Harry revealed this bit of news.
“Excuse me Mister Potter, what was that last bit about the Philosopher’s Stone?” Secretary Saunders asked as calmly as she could.
“Professor Dumbledore moved the Stone from Gringott’s and placed it Hogwarts to protect it from Voldemort’s ghost this last year.”
“And you know this how?”
“My friends and I found out and stopped Voldemort from getting it.”
“Mister Potter, Dumbledore broke several laws doing that.” Secretary Saunders said. Sudden hurt in Harry’s heart kept him from responding. Not that he would have been able to anyway, Applejack interrupted,
“Uhm, fer those who are still new to this whole thing, what the hay is a Philosopher’s Stone?”
“An enchanted item that is said to make the owner immortal and turn metals into gold.” Rainbow Dash replied to everyone’s surprise, “What? I read fantasy books.”
“The Stone is the most advanced piece of alchemy ever created.” Professor Smith explained once again, “The philosophers of ancient Greece theorized its potential existence; but that theory would not be proved until the 1600’s in France where one Nicholas Flamel discovered how to make it. As Miss Dash stated it is able to transmute metals into pure gold, and is a key factor in creating the Elixir of Life, a potion that prolongs life.”
“I thought it made the drinker immortal.” Harry said confused.
“No mortal can truly live forever. The Elixir is more of a really powerful medicine that heals injury, disease, and provides longevity.”
“The Goblin nation was not too pleased to hear about the effects it had over metal. If the Stone became common place, then their gold would be practically worthless. The wizarding world at the time was in no place to handle another Goblin uprising so the two nations signed The Flamel Concord. No further production of the Stone would be permitted, the goblins got to keep it under lock and key, Flamel was able to access the Stone to create more of his elixir when he needed and a bunch of safeguards put in place to keep the humans or goblins from removing it without a consensus of the ICW. There has not been a consensus reached by the ICW regarding the Stone approved or proposed in the last thirty years.”
The weight of what had just been revealed to him crushed down on Harry. Dumbledore had broken such a large law? It was too much for him to handle. He was about to have a meltdown when Fluttershy placed Middie back into his arms. The kitten’s presence helped Harry hold in his emotions for the most part.
“Mister Potter, I’m sorry that so much has been dumped on you so fast. It makes me feel awful for breaking your world apart.”
“I’ll… I’ll get by.”
“If there is any help I can give let me know.” Isabelle said withdrawing a business card from her suit, handing it to Harry, “This has my personal contact information on it. If you want to talk about anything, please let me know. Alright?”
Harry nodded, accepting the offered card. The Secretary and young man continued to converse while off to the side Twilight made her way over to Professor Smith,
‘Um, Professor?”
“Yes, Miss Sparkle?”
“Could I have a word please?”
“Of course,”
Doing their best not to make a scene the two slipped outside the room.
“Something on your mind?” Professor Smith asked. He really didn’t need to go this route if he wanted. He already had an idea of what was on the girl’s mind.
“With all this business around magic and… well…”
“You’re wondering if the offer to Yale is still valid?”
Shamefully Twilight nodded,
“A boy ended up in the hospital and I’m worried about a scholarship.” Twilight admitted, “What kind of friend am I?”
“You’re human, prone to folly and personal concerns.” The Professor consoled, “Allow me to put your worries to rest Miss Sparkle. Every accreditation in the American Community is required to have a matching one in the non-magical world. Agent Hankinson is registered with the FBI, Secretary Saunders is part of the President’s Cabinet, and I am a part time professor of theoretical physics at Yale.”
With a big grin the Professor continued,
“I told you once that the letter that I gave you was real; I meant every word.”
Relieved tears flowed from Twilight’s eyes as hope filled her heart again.
“Although,” Professor Smith said coyly, “With recent events being the way they are, you might just end up with an offer to the American University of Magic.”
Before anything more could be said, raised voices could be heard inside the door they had just exited. A sudden explosion of green sparkling smoke broke through the window to Harry’s room. A worried Colton Smith and Twilight Sparkle rushed into the room,
“What in Merlin’s name just happened here?” Professor Smith asked.
Then, as the smoke cleared he saw his answer,
“Well, I think the graft took.”