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

I didn't particularly want to lose my temper at Twilight, she'd helped save everyone, but it wasn't like I had a choice. It was her or Addera. "Ugh! We're wasting our time! I need—"

The sound of clattering hooves made me wheel around, ready to face a new threat and blast it with fire. My anger rose until my eyes locked onto Tourmaline. The anger and fury drained out of me like I'd been struck. She looked amazingly happy, and her coat sparkled brightly in the morning sunlight, refracting the sun's rays into a million little beams of light. 

She was beautiful and running right for me. I had no chance of dodging her, and Tourmaline crashed into me firmly and wrapped her forelegs around my neck in a hug. "Harry! Harry! Harry!"

"Hi there, Tourmaline." Was she going to be the one to free me of my anger every time? I shouldn't look a gift-horse in the mouth lest it be a little hoarse. There has to be more horse puns I can pack into a single statement. 

"This is your friend, Tourmaline?" A mare had walked up to us behind Tourmaline. "My name's Perfect Arc, and I believe I owe you a lot of thanks for saving my daughter and my own life."

"A-Addera, could you give me back my glasses?" I asked. Once suitably able to see again, I realized that Perfect Arc was bowing to me. She was a brilliant purple earth pony mare with a jade green mane and tail, and she caught the light even better than Tourmaline did. 

When I'd first started at Hogwarts, I'd found out that practically every wizard and witch knew my name, but being bowed to was something new. "Th-Thanks, Addera." I turned my full attention to Tourmaline's mum. "It's okay. Anyone would do the same. Helping people is what wizards do." Well, it was what this wizard do—err, does. 

Perfect Arc lifted her head with a big smile across it and practically lit up with happiness. "Well, it's lucky we have so many at hoof now!" Her smile, however, fell. "I just wish Tourmaline's father were still with us. I—I like to think he lived on in your world and became part of the ponies that became wizards there."

"Mom, let's go and find our house." Tourmaline's head was tilted nearly all the way up so she could look at her mum's face.

"My clever little filly is right. I should go home. Thank you again, Harry." Perfect Arc didn't wait for me to say anything. She turned around with one hoof rubbing Tourmaline on the shoulder and walked away.

What else was going to happen? The morning was quickly filling up with things that were—

"Twilight!" A blue streak of fur and feathers, somehow trailed by a rainbow, stopped just before us. Rainbow Dash. I'd heard the name before, though I wasn't sure where exactly. She just seemed to stop dead in the air and barely flapped her wings. "Cadance just got word, they've found more wizards just outside the new barrier. She's going to head over there with—Oh! Hi!"

"Hello." Addera, behind her mirror glasses, seemed unreadable—if you didn't know that the squirming of her tail-tip meant she was upset about something. "Where did these other wizards come from?"

"Oh! Right! That's the coolest bit. There's some kind of magic portal, and all of them look a bit like minotaurs, like they were"—Rainbow Dash pointed at me and Addera with a hoof—"before they turned into ponies." 

The news was, honestly, stunning. They had a portal open and were coming through, but it didn't close after them. Unconsciously I found myself taking a few steps back from Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle.

There was a way back.

What was going to happen? A pile of kids stuck turned into ponies goes back to England, that's what. Back to—Back to the Dursleys.

My world seemed to fold in on itself over and over—flashing up images of everything that had happened to me there. Living in a closet. Treated like a servant. Fed like—like a slave. I started to shake not with anger but fear.

—What's wrong, Harry Potter?— Addera's hissing voice pulled her into my world and practically commanded me to look up and pay her attention.

—Idon'twannagoback.— The words (hisses) fell out of my mouth in a heap. I shook my head. —It'll be worse than ever. The Dursleys won't even think I'm human.—

—Harry Potter,— Addera said, but I could barely hear her.

—They'll chain me up outside with a collar and a dog bowl and I won't get to…— I trailed off as Addera's arms reached around me and picked me up from the ground.

—Shhh. Shhh. You won't go anywhere, Harry Potter, that you do not wish to.— She held me tight and didn't let me squirm or wiggle, not that I had much want to do that. "Excuse me," Addera said in English to Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, "Could you give me directions on where to find these kirin?"

"Err. Well." Twilight, when I turned my head to look at her, seemed to be a little caught out. "You see, I have a book back home that will show you where it is. We were planning to head home anyway—I guess I could get the girls to leave early."

"If it were possible, could we leave now?" Gone was Hermione's tones in Addera's voice. She sounded both calm and reasonable. 

"You don't want to meet your friends from—from wherever you came from?" Twilight asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Though I can see you wanting to get to the bottom of this problem as soon as possible. "

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "We practically came here with nothin' but our bad-guy-fightin' gear, Twilight, and that train is waiting for us to go back to Ponyville. I bet he just doesn't like the idea of crowds, like somepony else we know."

"Ohhhh!" Blinking in surprise with eyes that seemed way too big for her face, Twilight Sparkle broke into a big smile. "Well, in that case, tell the girls we're leaving immediately! Addera, if you want to bring anything with you, you'd probably best get it now."

"I have everything I need. Harry Potter, do you need to fetch anything from the castle?" When Addera's snout connected to the back of my neck, I squirmed a little.

I had Ginny's diary, a pen for writing in it, my wand, and Addera. There was only one other thing I needed. "Only Hedwig." Just saying her name sparked a connection. I felt her awareness of me like a little fire inside—though it wasn't as hot as my nirik fire. 

Nirik. It was a silly name, but I liked it. I am the first nirik wizard! Obviously better than regular wizards, since more fire was involved.

I could feel her getting closer and closer. Looking up, I just knew exactly the right direction she was coming from, despite the fact she was dead silent in the air. Now I was squirming to jump up so she could land on me, but instead she swooped down and landed on Addera's shoulder. "Hedwig! It's good to see you, girl."

Without any hesitation I shoved my snout up and into her feathers. She was warm and smelled like—Okay, she smelled like bacon and sausages, but that was because she'd had them for breakfast. She was the warmth I felt. She also used her beak to scratch along my horn and whistle softly at me.

"We're going on a trip," I said to Hedwig. "Would you like to come?"

My answer was immediate and loud. I had to tuck my ears down as she barked loudly, her mouth just about exactly between my ears.

Twilight Sparkle made an excited sound. "You have a pet owl too? Owlowiscious is waiting back home for me. Spike said he'd take care of feeding him for me. He's a barn owl, though. What type is—You called her Hedwig?"

With my ears tucked back still, I turned to Twilight Sparkle. "I did. Isn't she beautiful?"

I realized the other pony—Rainbow Dash—was nowhere to be seen. Twilight Sparkle, however, leaned a little closer to look at Hedwig. "Her feathers are amazing. I've never seen this pattern before. Is she native to your world, or did you find her in Equestria?"

"No, she's from back home. Someone said I might have accidentally made her my familiar, or something." I don't know why I was talking so much—telling Twilight Sparkle more than I intended. She just seemed nice on a level I'd rarely seen before. That probably had something to do with why I'd trusted her with the Crystal Heart.

"Familiar?" Twilight Sparkle asked, but no sooner did she than we were interrupted by five more ponies. 

Rainbow Dash, and—I couldn't for the life of me remember the names of the rest. They were a colorful display, though. Pink, purple, yellow, blue, orange, and a whole rainbow of colors in Rainbow's mane and tail. 

"Twilight! Darling! What's the rush? It seems like we only just got here and—Who's your friends? Is that an owl?" Her tone was full of total snobbery, only she didn't act like it.

"Rarity, Ah think if Twilight said we need t' make tracks, we should." This was the orange one, and speaking with the thickest and fakest American accent I'd ever heard. It sounded nothing like the movies I'd seen.

"Well, it seems Harry here got turned into a kirin by all this magic going around, and he has a little problem he needs to talk to other kirin about. He's going to pay Equestrian kirin a visit to ask them about it." Twilight Sparkle looked like she was completely behind our plan. It was almost crazy that an adult had just jumped onboard with it like that. "So I thought I'd find out where that is—I totally have a book about kirin back home—and I'd go with them to find out all about kirin with him!"

The pinkest of them looked like she was ready to explode. She took a huge gasp of air and bounced a foot into the air and just hung there. "Road-trip!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight Sparkle seemed to agree with me that the shout was not just too loud but ear-tuck worthy. Then my brain clicked as to what she'd shouted. Was the pinkest mare's name literally Pinkie?! "Oh who am I kidding. I'm excited as well. Come on, girls!"

"H-Hello. You're a kirin?" I had to extend my ears forward again to hear the voice of the yellow and pink pony. She looked, well, amazing. Her mane and tail were both so long they should have been dragging on the ground, but each curled at the last moment and lifted free. She was so softly spoken I had to focus on her.

"Yeah. That's what we think. It seems to fit at least." There was something immensely calming about talking to her, like she radiated softness and safety. "Have you seen Hedwig?" Knowing I was talking about her, Hedwig whistled softly.

"Oh my goodness!" It was the softest exclamation I'd ever heard. There was also a kind of subdued excitement in her that radiated out and made me want to smile. "What kind of owl are you, Miss Hedwig?"

Fluffing out her feathers, Hedwig gave a little bark in reply.

The yellow mare cut in before I could try to answer for Hedwig. "A snowy owl? I've never heard of one of those before." Again I felt behind the 8-ball. I hadn't said she was a snowy owl (nor had Addera), and Twilight Sparkle had been pretty upfront that she'd never seen a snowy owl in this world. "Well, we don't have snowy owls here, Miss Hedwig, but if you want I could talk to you more to find out what you need."

—Addera, do you think she can actually understand Hedwig? This place is really odd, and I wouldn't put it past someone here having that kind of magic given how much they seem to leak,— I asked Addera.

"I can understand any animal, though, uh, I've never heard anyone else speak snake before. Do many of you know it?" As she spoke, I stared at the yellow pony. She seemed so much more intense. 

Shifting a little in Addera's grip, I tried to give her as much attention as she gave me. "N-Not really. It's kinda rare. I don't really know how I do it, it just started a few years ago."

"Well, it's fascinating. I'd really like to talk about it some more. The only other pony I know that can understand animals is—well, she's a little odd, and I can't really talk to her too much or her doctors start looking at me strange. I can understand her barking just fine, but they seem to think nopony can, and—"

"Fluttershy?" Twilight Sparkle said, interrupting her friend. "You know we'll be on a train together for the rest of the day, right? I'm sure Harry and Addera here would be happy to talk to you more. Not to mention wanting to ask them about how their magic works."

I wasn't completely sure, but these ponies might just be impossible to not like. Fluttershy, the name of the yellow and pink one I'd been talking with, was so focused on animals I'd think she was some kind of mini Hagrid, Twilight Sparkle was like a more savvy version of Hermione, and I could only imagine how friendly the rest of them were.

"Oh—Okay." Fluttershy didn't draw back from Addera and me at all. She turned at the same time as her other friends, and I figured they already knew where the train was.

Addera turned with them and slithered along sedately at their side. I peeked back, toward the castle that was now a mix of Hogwarts and crystal, and even though I had glasses on, I couldn't tell if the figures moving around at the front of it were human or maybe just muggle-born or even half-bloods. —Thank you.—

—You're most welcome, Harry Potter. Apart from the castle itself, I lack any ties to Earth. Except him, of course.— Her tone, even hissed as it was, told me exactly what Addera thought of Voldemort. 

—My ties are… not worth mentioning. It'll be nice not to go back for a bit.—

The others were talking enough, still in English, to hide our soft hisses. It was nice to just let someone else take me away from the possibility of going back to the Dursleys. —For just a bit, Harry Potter?—

I pushed my snout against the oddly soft fur of Addera's chest and nodded. —I always end up back there. It's horrible.—

—You don't want to go back, Harry Potter?—

This time I shook my head.

—Then you won't, Harry Potter.—

Was it wrong I wanted to believe her? 





"They were demanding to see Headmaster Dumbledore." Gemma Farley looked around at the other students she'd managed to gather together—which wasn't many. Most students had crowded to see what was going on with human wizards coming into the castle, but Gemma had grabbed the first few students she trusted and dragged them around a corner with a glare and pure willpower.

"I'm sure it will all be straightened out quickly, Gemma. They're Ministry wizards. It's not like they'd come in blasting or anything." Percy Weasley felt confident in one thing, and that was the Ministry of Magic. Not only had his father worked there as far back as he could remember, but it stood for order and correctness—things that (in his opinion) were sorely lacking in a lot of wizards.

Gemma actually snorted just like a horse would. "Not blasting, but I can't exactly guess what they'll do when they find out we're in the middle of a foreign country that seems to know all about magic. There are several scenarios I can see happening." Poking her head around the corner, she could see Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall talking to one of the wizards. "None of them are particularly good. Blasting is not required, and given what I've heard of the ponies, I don't think it would work.

"What's the standard procedure if a non-wizard gets involved in Ministry business?"

"Obliviate 'em." Lucian Bole was well aware of the tactics the Ministry of Magic deployed. He was, after all, studying with the aim of working there. "An' if it don't take, Oblivate 'em more."

Draco Malfoy, for a fraction of a moment, could remember seeing the thundering charge the Royal Guard ponies performed. "That won't work out well for the Ministry. But, I hardly see how this has anything to do with us."

"There's not a lot of people I'd trust to try turning us back and not botch it." Gemma closed her eyes as she ran over that short, short list. "But Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape are the only three I think would have a hope of actually managing it, and they have already tried. If we go back to Earth, we'll all be a bloody laughing stock. Here…"

Lucian snorted. "Tell us the troof. What plans you got?" He waited for her to open her mouth again. "No bull here. Give it to us straight."

"Pure bloods, all of us." The looks Gemma gave failed to skip Percy Weasley. "And we're all ambitious—don't try to deny it. Weasley's might take their son back with open arms, but the Malfoys? The Boles?" She snorted a perfect parody of Lucian's. "I don't plan to return."

"An' you want our 'elp?" Lucian narrowed his eyes. "What's in it for us?"

For once in his life, Percy Weasley agreed whole-heatedly with Lucian Bole. He found himself nodding.

Gemma was surprised to find Percy agreeing with Lucian almost as much as Percy himself. "A job, when the four of you come to your senses. I could rise to the top alone, but forging an entirely new power base will take its own work—work I'd rather not do." 

"Maybe they won't accept you, but my parents—" Draco froze. It was true that she thought her parents would probably accept a permanently shapechanged son, but she was worried about how they would take a daughter.

"Anyone else?" Gemma asked.

Percy coughed, which got everyone looking at him. "Well, what if we start off helping without sticking our necks out? Feel the water."

"What he said," Lucian said.

Holding on by a thread, or so Gemma thought. "Sure. What I need is to know what everyone's saying. I'm heading downstairs to see the ponies. Someone needs to warn them about the Ministry's normal tricks. The worst thing that could happen, here, is for the Ministry to actually get away with it."

"How long will that take?" Draco asked. "We'll meet up on the seventh floor then."

Gemma cracked a smile and nodded to Draco. Her plan wasn't perfect, but it had a chance of paying high dividends. "Give me half an hour." She stepped out away from the corner and made her way down the hall away from the main entrance.

Not doubting in the slightest that Minerva would invite the wizards of the Ministry past the pony guards, Gemma headed for one of the other ways down. Hogwarts was full of secret passages and ways for an enterprising student to sneak around unseen, and she'd purchased knowledge on most of them.





Star Flare had just arranged for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's departure to meet with the humans when he spotted the mare looking around confused in the dead-end hallway that he'd appropriated as an impromptu barracks. Surprises were something he wasn't fond of. "Excuse me, miss, but what are—"

"The Ministry! I've come to warn you about them." Gemma's words fell all over themselves. The pony—the first she'd found—was huge. He towered above her in just about every dimension.

The words hadn't surprised Star, he was used to startling things—it was his job to deal with them. "Explain yourself as quickly and precisely as you can."

Honestly, Gemma, you're not selling out your own people, she thought, The Ministry are not exactly friendly to non wizards using wands. She took a calming breath that didn't really help, and started. "The Ministry of Magic are the magic police. If you aren't a wizard, you aren't allowed to do magic and you are dealt with. There's a chance they will attempt to use magic on you to take control of the situation.

"Normally, they'd wipe the recent memories of those they encounter that they think know too much. Please, there have been wars fought back home about this kind of thing."

If it had been a younger foal perhaps, or if Star wasn't still on edge after dealing with King Sombra, he might have spent more time to establish the young mare's story. He eyed Gemma up and down, taking in the school uniform she wore. "Take off your clothes and store them here. We'll head upstairs and warn the Princess and the Captain together. You can tell when these Ministry people are using their magic, right?"

"Y-Yes!" Gemma worked fast to slip out of the robes she'd been wearing. Draco would simply have to get her more, or perhaps it was time to surrender her affiliation to the school completely, or so she thought. 

She was barely out of her uniform when the stallion turned about and started marching for the end of the hall leading away from her secret passage. Moving quickly, Gemma couldn't have possibly walked beside the guard in the small confines of the hallway, but they soon left through a door into the main entry hall of the castle. 

"Sir?" Firmament asked upon seeing his lieutenant escorting a pony from the barracks.

"Code green, Guardspony."

His blood running cold as ice, Firmament had to adjust himself mentally. "Changelings?"

"Give me the code," Star Flare said.

"Code Green, Sir! Nightmare."

"Bits." Star nodded to Firmament. "Continue Code Green until I return." Code Green, he knew, would add overhead to every interaction by his guards, but with the possibility of wizards messing with memories, it was essential. 

Gemma waited until they were walking up the stairs to Hogwarts section of the castle before deciding to lay one of her cards on the table. "Now I know your code word."

"You know one of our challenge-responses. That changes in an hour." Star Flare rose an eyebrow, impressed at the young mare's savvy. "But that was well spotted. The E.U.P. Guard are always looking for smart ponies with keen eyes." Star had opinions on the hiring policy of the Royal Guard, but it wasn't the place to voice that.

"Military?" The thought hadn't occurred to Gemma. Not at all.

"You're not a unicorn, but I saw you doing a fine job in the battle with that little horn you carry. Anypony who can think on their hooves and lay about with magic is more than welcome—though normally only the former is required." They were almost at the landing when Star heard fanfare blasting from below them. His heart soared at the realization.

Gemma almost stumbled over her hooves. "What on Earth was that?"

"The answer to any problems with magic. The Bearers of the Elements might be leaving, but Princess Celestia has arrived."





Ginevra Molly Weasley was starting to get annoyed. Worse than that, she had learned she didn't like sunlight. 'Where this time?' It had been a full day since she'd left Equestria with Peter, and in that time she'd embraced the cause King Sombra had offered—to save the world from Voldemort.

Right now, however, Ginevra floated only an inch above the hot sands of a desert in Australia. It was hot, and despite her form's ability to soak up the light and warmth around her, even the power of a dementor was being challenged by the Gibson Desert. "Because he's not here."

Peter was sweating, but just calling it sweating was an understatement—what he was doing was to sweating as a hurricane was to a light rain. "He's hiding, master. I feel he's somewhere to the north of here."

'Everything is north of here. Congratulations, you've narrowed his location down to most of the planet.' For a second she considered doing something to remind him of his part, but a little part of Ginevra recoiled from the idea. 'Find him—' She paused and tilted her head to the side. 'What should I call you?'

Looking back at himself, then toward his new master again, Peter Pettigrew bowed his head. "Wormtail, master. Can we leave now? I think I have worked out he's in the Americas."

'Wormtail. On the plus side, you can't get further away from him unless he's turned himself into a penguin.' Concentrating, Ginevra drew her darkness closer around herself as if it were a warm cloak on a cold night, the only difference being that it was halfway to boiling—literally. 'Where's the portkey that takes us north? This heat doesn't agree with either of us.'

"I can apparate us." The moment he spoke, Peter felt a cold touch on the back of his neck. Like the chill touch of the creature who's power she'd absorbed, his master drew the very heat from his core. Peter almost felt like rolling on his back and getting his belly rubbed by a dementor if it would cool him this much. Instead, however, he apparated.

For Ginevra, being ripped through the world was something new. Her parents could apparate, but she hadn't learned the magic involved, and shouldn't for many years. When the sickness of being yanked along by what felt like a hook wore off, she was in a shady part of some jungle. 'Teach me how to do that.'

"Before we hunt him, master?" Peter didn't care that he looked like a horse—he'd lived so many years as a rat that it was a clear upgrade. Besides, he had his magic and he had a master. He wanted for nothing but the goal she'd set him.

'I will teach you. His method is less than perfect.'

A shiver of excitement ran down Ginevra's not-spine. Magic was magic, but the magic King Sombra knew was something primal and ancient. 'Please teach me'

The hunger for knowledge he felt in his student warmed Sombra's spirit—a boon, since spirit was all he had. Tethered to Ginevra's minion, he drew strength from the wretch to carry out the lesson. 'Neither you nor I are truly corporeal. Apparating is not required for us to travel.'

Not knowing exactly what continent she was on, Ginevra nonetheless soaked up Sombra's lesson. His form of apparating was less complete teleportation and more moving through objects. Stone and gem deposits were the best, or so it seemed to Ginevra.

First she needed to travel to them, then she could travel as far as she wanted. What interested her was the attention Peter paid to the lesson too. When finally she'd mastered traveling to the bedrock and traveling through it, she found time to probe. 'Wormtail, you can make use of this?'

"I—I think so. Among the Deatheaters, we mastered a method of travel as smoke. It is like how you apparate." Though he hated giving up good information, learning an entirely new mode of transport from his masters thrilled Peter enough to be loose with his tongue. "Watch."

Ginevra had to do more than watch, she had to follow Peter as he turned to smoke and disappeared into the ground itself. It was much easier for her, of course, to become completely incorporeal. She soared down through the dirt and small stone until she found the rock layer far underground.

For Peter, it felt like there was a shark after him, but the small screaming part of his mind that would have been terrified at such a thing drew comfort that he belonged to the shark. Leading the way, he reached deep into the ground and ran. He wasn't prey to the shark, he was a hound. The metaphor fit his mind in a satisfying way. He had masters who he served, and he served them well.

The path was clearer underground. Peter could feel his old master far to the north. The ground above was unimportant, only the path to Voldemort mattered—and like a bloodhound on a scent, he felt the excitement of the chase. 

'Where are we?' Ginevra asked. The downside of such travel was it was impossible to talk and impossible to know where you were, but she had quickly learned that Peter knew where he was going, and there was a constant tug that pulled her toward him. 

When Peter felt he was close enough, he pulled free of the stone and shot out into his smoke-like form to filter and work through the dirt above. Finally, filtering past roots and leaf-matter, Peter Pettigrew shot from the ground and solidified back into his pony shape. 

He could feel the call. Turning his head like the bloodhound he felt himself to be, he pointed his snout toward his masters' quarry. 

Like the grim reaper itself, Ginevra emerged from the ground behind Peter. His excitement filled her senses. She could feel something wrong about the forest—something poisoned. 'Find him!'