//------------------------------//
// Lessons Learned 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"But magic shouldn't work like that. It requires firm rules before it does anything. You need a wand, you need words, you need a pattern, and you need intent before you can do anything like that!" Hermione was actually panting by the end of her tirade. "Magic just doesn't work like—"

Keen Eyes cut Hermione short with the best trick ever, he just used his horn to pick up the mug of coffee he had with him. "Like this?" He took what looked like a satisfied sip.

"Like that. It doesn't make sense." Hermione looked both confused and deeply interested. "Magic could theoretically work like that, but you'd need so much that there'd be no finesse with it. No one has that much magic."

"Uh, Hermione?" Ron asked. When Hermione turned to him, Ron smiled and pointed at Keen Eyes. "It seems to work for him."

Anyone who didn't know Hermione as well as Ron and I did might think she looked defeated. She seemed to shrink in on herself and closed her eyes for a few moments. "This means that something here is different."

"You mean like us not being on Earth?" I asked her.

Hermione shook her head. "No. That's not enough. Our magic still works here, so the rules that govern our magic are the same. But somehow he's just—"

"Doing magic," I said.

"Yes! No. I can feel the flow of magic he's using in my horn, and there's a lot of it, but that can't be all it takes or I'd be able to do it too." With a sigh, Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out a notepad and one of her slightly illicit ballpoint pens. 

"She's one of those kinds of unicorns, isn't she?" Keen Eyes asked.

Hermione's head shot up from her page. "Those kinds?"

"Everything has to make sense, magic obsessed, studious… That type."

"Oh." Her head dipping back down, Hermione seemed completely distracted by her writing again.

"So," I said, "Can you show us how it works? Your horn magic I mean. I've been casting spells with my horn, but that looks way easier than casting Locomotion charms on everything I own."

"Well, as a foal, the first step was to pretty much push magic out our horn. Mostly we made a bunch of sparks, but eventually you could get a good and steady glow." Keen Eyes just shrugged as if it was all self-explanatory. "They make a lot of messes, mind you. I don't know if you have had a power surge, but when I was a foal I turned our house into a giant apple."

"You turned a house into an apple?" Fred asked. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

George and Ron suddenly looked panicked, but Keen Eyes held up a hoof as if to calm them. "That's just losing control of things as a foal. I could never do anything like that now." He turned his attention back to Hermione. "Why don't you try using your horn?"

Hermione's head jerked up. "What, now?"

Fred's face split into a grin so wide I could see it easily even if I wasn't using my mirror shard. "Go on, Hermione, give it a try!"

"Harry, tell me this is a terrible idea." Hermione tucked her notebook back into her robe and the pen after it. "Because I think I might try it."

"It's probably a bad idea, but you'd be the first witch or wizard to do this kind of magic." I shrugged my shoulders at my complete inability to find this a terrible thing like she wanted. "So, uh, good luck?"

Turning and looking down, Hermione had an excited smile on her face that told me it was probably time to stand back. 

"Has anyone ever been hurt by this?" I asked.

"Not that I know of. It's fairly common for foals to start working on their magic when they're about ten or so. Before then it's kinda hit or miss." As if he didn't believe his own words, Keen Eyes stepped back a few paces. "Just focus on your horn and push as hard as you can with your magic!"

Fred was the only one who didn't jump back a few steps, he seemed especially excited to see what would happen.

Then Hermione did what Keen Eyes asked, and I felt a rush of magic about half of what his usually was, but it was coming from Hermione! "This feels really odd!"

"That's a lot of magic, Hermione!" Excitement swept me up and I sidled forward a little. I had to use my mirror to see exactly what was going on. There was a fountain of sparks pouring from her horn, but they weren't the kind of sparks a fire or grinder would make—these were magic sparks, and they all had a faint blue tint to them.

As suddenly as she started, Hermione stopped. Panting, she looked around at us and was almost dancing in place. "That was amazing!"

Keen Eyes stomped his hooves in what seemed like applause. "It sure was. Normally, that would—" 

A loud barking sound interrupted our impromptu magic lesson. I looked up and didn't need glasses to see Hedwig approaching me rapidly—she had a note held in one talon. Turning side-on to her, I braced my hooves and waited for Hedwig to land on my back. "Hello, girl. Someone sent me a letter?"

Hedwig leaned forward as I turned my head to her and rubbed her cheek against mine. She let out a soft whistle and repeated the action on my other cheek.

Casting a Locomotion charm on the paper, I lifted it from her claws and unfolded it.



Harry Potter,

Headmistress McGonagall called off morning classes, so I thought we'd have our first student council meeting. Could you join us at the quidditch pitch as soon as you can, please?

Gemma Farley.



"What's it say?" Ron asked.

"There's a student council meeting. I should go to it, or else Gryffindor won't have anyone there." I reread the note and felt a little excitement at the prospect of what would be discussed. "We'll be getting ready for the quidditch tournament."

"It'll be good to have another few games," Fred said.

"Yeah," George said. "It'll make up for cutting the regular one short for all that mess."

I looked at Addera with a guilty expression. "I better go now."

Addera had been quiet throughout most of the magic lesson, but now she opened her mouth. "Would you like company, Harry Potter?"

"I should probably go alone, but company on the walk would be nice if you want to?" I asked.

We gave Keen Eyes and our friends a round of goodbyes, and made our way back to the school. Hedwig stayed on my back, making occasional whistles from time to time. We were halfway across the viaduct before I realized something. "You were really quiet back there."

"It may surprise you, Harry Potter, that you can learn more things by listening than by talking." Addera's tone was more joking than biting. I looked up to see her smiling. "Besides, you were talking about unicorn magic. I am not qualified to discuss that."

A sudden urge to fill the void with stuff Addera might be interested in hit me. "I didn't tell anyone, but when I used the Fire-Making charm earlier to dry off, it was about ten times bigger than any I've done before even though I barely used any magic. I was cleaning scorch marks out of the bathroom when Neville came in."

"Imagine that, Harry Potter. Someone for whom fire is literally part of them being better at fire magic." Addera leaned across and rubbed one of my ears. "If your fire spells are out of control, you must master them."

"What, just like that?" I asked with some sarcasm.

"No, Harry Potter. I expect it will take work. Did it feel any different from usual?"

I thought about it, the feeling of barely releasing any magic at all and having a torrent of fire pour from me. "It was great!"

"All the more reason to master it. Would you trust yourself casting that charm around others, Harry Potter?"

She had a good point. "You're right. Alright, I'll start trying after this meeting." I took a deep breath. "Thanks, Addera."

"I'll leave you to the vipers, Harry Potter. I pity them." Smiling at the joke she'd made, Addera turned and let me trot the rest of the way to the quidditch pitch alone.

The pace (I called it a trot because it felt like one) ate up ground and took me to the stands surrounding the quidditch pitch. Not seeing anyone, I climbed into and onto the stands and spotted the little group sitting in the middle of the pitch. 

I waved a hoof at them, then made my way down to the pitch and over the moat and onto the center grass. Walking up to the group, I noticed they all had smiles on their faces. "Got here as fast as I could."

"Perfectly alright, but your owl is very strange." Gemma said it with a smile, which made me wonder what had happened. I was tempted to turn and ask Hedwig when Gemma continued. "Now we're all here, we can come to order. Put simply, it sucked not having a full season of quidditch this year. The teachers know it, the headmistress knows it, and all the students know it. We're going to fix that."

The little group was Gemma Farley, Eddie Carmichael, Heidi Macavoy, Lee Jordan, and me. That meant we had two Gryffindor students present. 

"Lee, what would you suggest for a tournament?" Gemma asked.

"Well, we could do a round-robin like normal, but to ensure each team played each other team would take, well, it would take a long time. So why not have an eliminator?" Lee pulled out a notepad, his quill, an ink well, and was reaching into a pocket for some blotter paper when Heidi tossed him a ballpoint pen. He stared at it in shock. "You know we're not—"

"We don't exactly want to spend all day on this, and that rule is only for work to be handed in. If that muggle device helps you write faster, please use it." Gemma, being a prefect, had the most say in it after all.

"So I figured an eliminator, using the ranks of the four houses when the regular games were called off as the order. So Gryffindor play Slytherin, Hufflepuff play Ravenclaw. Then the winners of each play off for first place." Lee drew the matchups quickly with the pen—something that would have taken nearly ten minutes if he'd gone to all the effort to use his quill and ink. "Then if you wanted, you could have the two losing teams play off for bottom spot."

"What if there was a fifth team?" Gemma asked. Everyone turned their heads to look at her in shock. "Say, what if I put a team together from students not in the other teams?"

"That—That makes it harder. Eliminators are best used when there are a power-of-two number of teams." Lee began scribbling on the page, trying to come up with something. Oh! Top five play-offs.

"So Slytherin were on top, with Gryffindor just behind them, Ravenclaw next, and Hufflepuff last. That means Slytherin have a bye on the first round, and the other four teams play each other second against third, fourth against—" Lee looked at Gemma, "—fifth. Your team. Then the winners between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw plays Slytherin, and the loser plays the winner between Hufflepuff and the new team. Then—"

Gemma cleared her throat. "That sounds perfect, Lee. Draw it up. How many games in total?" 

"Six games. It goes five teams, four teams, three teams, then two teams play off for the final." Lee's hand was a blur, sketching out a complex little pattern that, by the looks of it, did give a good spread of games. 

Pulling out her own notepad, I noticed Gemma used a pencil to write things down. "Okay, I trust you can wrangle the four teams to get this working. I'll talk to Hooch and put together the fifth team." Her pencil worked quickly. "Okay, more suggestions? Quidditch is great, but it's only a small chunk of the day. I want everyone to be able to find things to do."

"Well, there's wizard chess," Heidi said. "I know there's a few students who like playing that."

"Great suggestion. Though I don't think we want a tournament as such—doesn't really engender the same feel—but a chess group with a leaderboard would be a good one. Thanks, Heidi." Gemma scribbled furiously. "Eddie, any suggestions?"

"What'sit matter? We're all turnin' into—" Eddie froze at the sight of Gemma drawing her wand out. "Oh yeah? What you gonna do wif it? If you cast a spell, you turn more into one of them."

"Loo-mos!" With such a small spell, and using all the components to form it, Gemma's change took a few moments to happen. Slowly, as if they were wandering, her ears crawled up the sides of her head until they perched atop, reforming along the way to two yellow, fur-covered pony ears. 

When Gemma twitched one of her new ears, she nodded and cut off the light spell. "We're all in this together, Eddie. The student council doesn't have room for someone not willing to work for all students."

I noticed Gemma shift a little where she sat, and realized it was similar to something I'd seen Hermione do. I cleared my throat. "I don't blame you, Eddie, but we need to keep everyone from doing more stupid things." As I spoke, Gemma's ears twisted around toward me and made me wonder if mine did the same thing.

"Alright, alright. Well, me dad had a fing for football. Maybe we could set up a game of that?" Eddie asked.

"That's—what's football?" Gemma looked between Heidi and me.

Heidi looked excited, visibly perking up. "Imagine if about half the muggles in the world all liked one game a lot, and that game was like quidditch, but played on the ground with just one ball and huge goals."

It was so odd that someone who grew up in the UK didn't know about football. I felt compelled to help explain it. "It'd be a lot easier to learn than quidditch, and a lot easier to get people to play." 

"Okay then. I'll leave that in your hands, Eddie. Chess for you, Heidi. I know it'd take more than a full body transfiguration to stop Harry from playing quidditch, but you're not going to be playing all the time. What could you do?" Gemma turned all her attention onto me.

I felt like a deer caught in headlights. My mouth opened a few times then snapped closed. If Hermione were here, she'd know of twenty things to keep people busy. "Hermione."

Gemma just raised an eyebrow, but Eddie asked, "Huh?"

"Not Hermione, sorry. I mean she always knows something to do—though for her it's usually academic. We could ask around students, see if any want to teach a class," I said.

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Trust a Gryffindor to think more school would be a good—"

Though it seemed Gemma wouldn't give him a chance to finish. "It's actually a good idea. With all these changes, I'm sure some of us have learned tips and tricks for dealing with little problems."

"More than that." Excitement built as my idea unfolded. "Some of us know muggle things, some of us know how to fight, some of us know tricks—Eddie, I've seen you cheat at cards, you could—"

"I don't cheat!" Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, but I could see a smile grow on his lips. Both Fred and George had warned Gryffindor students to avoid Eddie in a card game. "I just make my chances better."

"But the point is, Eddie, you're good at 'making your chances better'," Gemma said. "You could teach others at least a few of your tricks." She turned to look at me. "You have a lot of friends with unique talents. Could you get some to help you get the ball rolling?"

On the surface I wanted to reject Gemma out of hand (hoof?) as this being some kind of Slytherin plot. I could see she was manipulating us—it was obvious with Eddie—but her manipulations weren't petty like with Draco and shunning me. 

Then it hit me. The thing with shunning was because of Draco, not Gemma. She was only doing it because Draco made her. Did she need help with Draco? "Yeah, I'm sure I can get some to talk about things they're good at."

"Okay!" Gemma stood up and brushed down her robe and dress. "I'd like to hear from each of you how your things are going. We'll use the quidditch games to get everyone excited in the short term. I think another meeting in two days should work."

It was obvious dismissal, and while Eddie, Heidi, and Lee got up and started walking off, Gemma waited with me for a moment. "I'm sorry about that stunt, Harry. The whole ignoring you thing."

"That's alright. I kinda figured out what was going on." Climbing to my hooves, I heard a surprised whistle from my back. "Sorry, Hedwig. I didn't realize you were asleep."

Hedwig leaned forward and whistled just behind my ears.

"I don't think I've seen anyone talk to their owl like that before. I had to bribe her with five rashers of bacon before she'd let me give her a message for you." Gemma reached a hand out, slowly, then brushed it down Hedwig's feathers. "What's it like?"

"Uh? Having an owl?" I asked.

"Being a tiny horse—pony. I mean, I know I'll probably be bigger, because Hooch seemed to be larger as an adult pony, but it seems like a crap-shoot as to if I'll get hands or be four-on-the-floor." Gemma looked down at her hands as if for the first time. "So what's it like needing to use spells to do the most basic things?"

"I'm getting really good with those spells. It's some of the others I'm having trouble with." For a moment I considered demonstrating. If I'd been purely a wizard, I would have, but then I remembered my resolution to use common sense. Common sense held up a sign that read: using unpredictable fire spells in the middle of a stadium made entirely from wood is a bad idea. "Let me show you outside this death-trap."

Gemma followed me out of the quidditch pitch and to a rocky outcropping that had nothing flammable around. "So what are you going to—"

"This is what I cast earlier. I'm using as little magic as I can here." I drew power into my horn, gestured with my horn in the appropriate manner, and cast the Fire-Making charm. The resulting gout of fire seemed to shoot nearly fifty feet into the air before I cut off my magic.

"Wow."

"Yeah. That's the weakest I can make it." Despite the situation, I couldn't help a little pride in that.

"There are two things that would normally cause a spell to malfunction like this. Either you're feeding too much magic into it—which you said you aren't—or something's affected it to make it too efficient." Gemma narrowed her eyes. "Cast it again for me."

Given the jet of flame started from the tip of my horn, I was glad my fur was fireproof. I made another huge gout of my red/purple flame.

"Well, it's definitely something modifying your spell. That color is a dead give away. Have you tried it without gesturing with your wan—horn?"

"But that'd make it harder to cast and less—" I stopped talking as I realized Gemma's idea. "Efficient. Okay, here goes." 

Just putting my intent behind the spell and words, I filled it with magic and got a spray of fire about a quarter the size, but it took much more effort to keep it under control. The spell was hungry for magic, and giving it only enough to barely keep it going was a struggle.

Snuffing out the spell, I spun around to look at Gemma. "That worked! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Harry. Let's go get lunch. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling like a storm's building." Gemma turned toward the school but waited for me to walk up beside her. "That's part of the reason I'm doing all this. When something big comes, all of Hogwarts needs to be united."

"Yeah. I—Where's Hedwig?"

"She flew off when you started casting. Clever owl you have there, Harry."





Ginevra Molly Weasley watched her brother walking off toward the school. Her heart ached for him—watching him happily cast spells that reshaped his body and twisted it to Sombra's wishes. What now?

Without the pressing concern of dealing with the remnant mind of the body he stole, King Sombra had more focus for his minions. "We build our army, Ginevra. Some of these beasts are too weak to fight, but I have invested the rest with enough vitality for my return."

Our army? Ginny hated hearing him speak to her so familiarly and warmly, but any warmth at all was better than none. What do you mean, our army?

"I am making plans to give you what you wanted, Ginevra. Physical form." Walking among the crystal ponies, all of them wearing the helmets that made his control of them trivial, Sombra touched their weakened minds. "None of these are worthy. We will find you something as a reward for your service."

Ginny shivered. Promising herself that she would betray Sombra at her first chance, she assented wordlessly. What do you need me to do?

"The smartest servant is one who knows when to ask for directions. I need you to work some magic for me, Ginevra. This magic is intrinsic to your kind. Here." Sombra had pulled some useful spells from the ghostly mind of Tom Riddle before he destroyed it. The most useful for him right now was a spell of calling that was bound to a special mark. "Cast this through your brother. Call those your dark wizard has touched."

My father told me about this. It's dark magic. Specifically, it was He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named's dark magic. The marks that the spell called were unique to his servants. This spell calls Death Eaters.

Sombra chuckled. "A curious title. Completely overrated. Nonetheless, cast this through your brother and bind them to his service." 

There's Death Eaters in Hogwarts? Ginny started casting the spell. Rather than magic, the spell pulled directly at Sombra's power—she pulled directly at Sombra's power—and she pushed it out through Percy. I'm sorry, Percy, but you might have some enemies to deal with. I'll help.





Severus Snape was dining at the head table when the pain started. He'd felt it just once before in recent times—when Harry Potter had been fighting Quirinus Quirrell and Voldemort. He clutched his hand over the sleeve of his robe as the feeling of a serpent under his skin carved a track of fire just under his skin.

"Severus?" Albus Dumbledore was beside Severus, eating lunch, and leaned across. Seeing his former student clutching his forearm, it wasn't a particularly large leap of logic to reach what was bothering him. "The mark?"

"It's just a passing pain. It does this from—from time to time." Only it wasn't and it didn't. Lies came easily to a liar, and to reassure a friend like Albus, Severus would lie to the dark lord himself. "It's nothing to worry about."

Albus watched his former student and friend swap his fork to his right hand and return to eating with just one arm free. He knew Severus was lying, but sometimes a lie was more comfortable than the truth. "Very well. I'll—"

The scream of pain spilled from Severus' throat before he knew what was happening. Searing pain ran down his arm from the mark. When he looked at his left arm, there was purple flames licking around it. "A-A-Albus—" 

Outside the great hall, Percy felt drawn to the doors and the shouting within. Ginny's spell—that she cast through him—was akin to a magnet that pulled him closer to the target of it. The target, when he peered around the doorway, made him gasp in shock. 

A purple glow, almost like fire, but not quite, reached from Percy and into the great hall. It trailed like smoke over the benches and tables until it wrapped around Severus' arm. So close to being caught, Percy struggled against the dark spell and ran from the hall.

"Harry Potter, that is dark magic!" Addera's mind was cold and analytical. She stared at the mass of energy and hissed at it. Her mind was only cold and analytical whenever Harry Potter was not involved—and as she watched him gallop up to the teachers' tables, she lost that coldness.

Severus was trapped in his own private hell. The dark lord he thought dead—that he hoped was dead—was somehow here. But the sound of hooves clopping onto the table before him was so different that he split his thoughts away from the agony just in time to see Harry erupt into a blue-red fireball and bite into the magic.

Harry wasn't exactly angry, but he was on fire. He'd needed the fire to do what he wanted, so he focused on what was wrong and built his anger on top of it. When he'd clamped his sharpened fangs around the dark magic, he'd tasted the darkness of it—the spine-chilling cold intent.

Staring at Harry as he snapped and bit at the magic, Severus was in awe of his student's tenacity and spirit. "Just like James," he barely managed to say before Harry closed his teeth down on Severus' arm.

The scream of pain echoed out of the great hall and down the hallways. Percy heard it and cringed, but the severed link between him and Severus Snape let him feel a weaker, lesser bond. 

Rushing, running, Percy could feel the dark spell working through him change his legs—he was soon making soft clip-clopping sounds. He reached the painting of the fat lady and paused barely long enough to mutter, "Fish and Chips."

The fire from the Dark Lord's spell—or what Severus thought was the Dark Lord's spell—was gone, but it was replaced with blue and red flames. They ate their way up his arm, and they burned in a good way. The mark that had been on his arm for so many years burned from his flesh, and as Severus watched the burning, his forearm changed.

Fingers merged together, and a pair of hardening nails shoved down and out of the altered hand. "A hoof?" Severus lifted his head to look at a surprised Harry Potter. "You burned his mark away, but you give me a—" The fire spread.

Percy stared at the rat. "Scabbers? I thought you were dead?"

Ginny's spell pulled harder as Percy's hand touched the old rat. She felt it burn and sear its way into the target and heard him scream as it took root. Bring him back, Percy.

Everyone in the great hall—student or teacher—watched as Severus Snape burned alive. The flames incinerated his clothing, burned away his humanity and left an ash-gray furred kirin in the charred remains of the table.

With wobbly legs, Severus Snape stood up on all fours and looked down at himself. When down didn't provide the answers he sought, Severus looked back. "I'm a bloody horse."

"Lord Kirin!" a masculine voice called from the crowd a moment before Severus passed out.

"Mff-ffff-mfffm-ff!" The muffled words had every bit the purpose of a spell being cast. Everyone turned to see Rolanda Hooch, her wand clutched firmly in her mouth, propel a huge jet of water at Harry and Severus.

What surprised Harry was the water actually worked. The fire around him started to die down, and when Hooch aimed the blast right at him—though it made a lot of steam—his flames were snuffed out. Looking from atop the scorched table at Severus, Harry blinked in surprise at the ash-furred and cyan-green maned kirin. "P-Professor Snape?"





"Are you suuuure this is the right place? I mean, it looks suspicious, but I don't think they want company."

"Pinkie Pie, I don't see how it could be anything else. This spell sure is weird, though." Twilight Sparkle had been trying not to panic the whole train trip north. She'd worked through all her ideas of what she could be facing, and finally settled on tracking down Cadance and her brother as the most important details. "It almost looks like it's reinforcing itself."

"Well, I haven't met a spell that can keep me from—" Rainbow Dash was already pumping her wings and trying to fly at the big dome-like spell, though Applejack's teeth clamped on her tail did a good job of keeping her from actually getting closer.

"Just let me focus on it. It might be important that it stays here. Besides, Cadance and Shining Armor got in." Twilight nodded to Applejack in thanks before she turned all her attention to the magic barrier.

It took nearly an hour of work to finally decode a way to pierce the barrier and open a gap big enough for each of them to pass through, but with her dedication to magical theory, it had been inevitable that Twilight Sparkle would succeed. Trying to ignore the impromptu wrestling match that Applejack and Rainbow had been involved in, Twilight judged her magic just right and began to push.

Twilight was sure to remove her hole in the barrier once Fluttershy timidly jumped through it. "There. Now, unless I miss my guess, the source of this barrier is that way!" Twilight pointed her hoof unerringly in the direction of the middle of the dome.





Almost in the exact center of the barrier, Princess Cadance felt the new touch to the ward. Far from fighting it, however, she smiled with dazzling enthusiasm. "Shiny! Twilight's here, she—" 

Everypony in the camp looked at Cadance just in time to see her waver on her hooves and start to fall, but none moved as fast as Shining Armor to catch her. "Cady?"

"…Five… Six… Seven." Cadance shook her head to fight off the impending migraine. "That was Twilight and her friends letting themselves in. Ouch."