//------------------------------//
// Ch. 24 — A Thank You 
// Story: The Triwizard Pony 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//




Ch. 24 — A Thank You




Harry quickly swam to Ginny and freed her with a cutting spell. He gathered her to his chest with one foreleg. Then, before the mermen could react, he did the same to the silver-haired girl.

He held them between his forelegs, and launched himself upwards.

One of the mermen shouted, “Hey! No! Your hostage only!”

Harry ignored them. He swam as hard as he could. He needed distance as fast as possible.

When girls started to slip between his legs, he cast a quick sticking charm with his horn.

He heard the sounds of spears flying through water behind him. He pumped his rear legs harder and angled towards the shore.

He wasn’t faster than the mermen. Not while he was carrying two dead-weight passengers! His pursuers had powerful tails to drive them through the water. But his sudden escape had caught them by surprise. The heavy resistance of the water made throwing a spear ineffectual if the target was more than a few yards away. All he had to do was stay ahead of them.

Fortunately, his desire to escape and live was stronger than their desire to capture the veela girl and they began to fall behind.

He was halfway back when he finally breached the surface. Apparently, reaching air was all that was needed, as both of his passengers immediately woke. Both girls were scared and confused at waking in the lake, but he didn’t give them time to panic.

“Grab my neck!” he ordered. “Hurry!”

Unsure of what was happening, but trusting him, Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck as he rolled her onto his back.

He ducked his head under water, and pushed the girl at Ginny. “Hold her!” he ordered as he surfaced. Several green-haired heads poked out of the water behind him, screeching angrily and brandishing their spears.

With the girls out of the water, Harry could go much faster now without their bodies’ bulk in the water, and using all four of his finned legs. He started off as quickly as possible. He cast a shield behind them, just in case, and fled towards shore.

He heard screaming and yelling from the stands, but he didn’t take time to figure out why, he just concentrated on going as rapidly as possible. Which was far faster than any human or pony could swim. He headed for the area in front of the stands. They were easier to see — his transformed eyes, while excellent for underwater, were not so good when he was out of it. When you were underwater, anything farther than a few dozen yards was simply too far away to see, except as a vague shape, so long-distance viewing was not a necessary attribute. Plus, the ability to see in the darkness underwater made the world above positively blinding if you didn’t squint. Underwater, hearing was a much more effective and precise manner of locating something at a distance than sight. It didn’t hurt that it was also a big assist above the surface.

The spectators’ verbal reactions also helped him arrow in on the right direction with his ears.

He didn’t stop when he hit the shallows. He flung himself out of the water and cancelled the fins and gills spell, running onto the shore. It was only the adrenalin that allowed him to cover a couple of yards farther before collapsing under the combined weight of his two passengers.

A spear thudded into the ground beside them a moment later.

Harry strengthened his shield spell as much as he could — which really wasn’t that much. He was very tired from spell-casting, and charging almost half the length of the lake underwater while towing two dead-weights.

The first person to reach them was Percy, who was almost white with shock. He had his wand in hand, and cast another shield spell as soon as he was close enough. In between his worried looks at his sister, he glared angrily at the green-haired heads dotting the lake surface.

Fleur was not far behind Percy and the looks she was giving the green-haired heads made a number of them duck underneath the surface. Harry could swear he saw fire lick the ends of her fingers and feathers dot her arms.

A couple of minutes later, he watched, dully, as first Cedric and then Krum surfaced way over by the judges table.

To say the scene was chaotic would be an understatement. His three herdmates, and Luna, were grouped around him. Percy was alternately hugging and holding his sister at arms-length examining her while the twins and Ron crowded close, Fleur was doing the same to her sister. Madam Pomfrey looked like she was about to have kittens as she tried to get blankets and potions to everyone, darting back and forth between the champions in front of the judges table and Harry’s group.

Karkaroff was watching from the judges table, not having moved once, and looking quite displeased at the proceedings around him. Madame Maxime was with Fleur, both of whom were rapidly exchanging words in French and shooting looks at Harry. Maxime’s glances were as unhappy as Fleur’s were grateful.

Dumbledore was having a conference at the water’s edge with a mermaid, who gestured quite angrily and shot accusatory looks at Harry. 

Harry resolved to avoid the lake in the future. He wasn’t about to take a chance that the merpeople might hold a grudge against him for ruining their plans.

Now that it was all over, Harry was lethargic and just wanted to catch his wind. It had been an extremely stressful hour. Having his herdmates safe and nearby certainly helped him relax. He began shaking as the adrenaline began to wear off. 

He looked up at the wizards beside him. They were taking turns hugging their sister. Except Ron, he looked relieved, but uncomfortable.

Harry idly wondered how long it would be before Ron shared the gold-runes with his family. Or even just shared his wealth — he had over five tons of the stuff in his apartment trunk. Which, if Harry was correct in the conversion rate of bullion to coins, was about 150,000 galleons. He was mumbling something about needing enough to buy the Chudley Cannons.

Fleur said something to Madam Maxime and darted over to Harry. “’hank you, Sparkle, for saving ’er,” she said breathlessly, and glared at the green-haired heads still visible floating further out in the lake. “Even though she was not your ’ostage.” She then proceeded to kiss him twice on each cheek. He blushed in reaction. Then she hurried back to her sister.

Dumbledore and the other judges were now gathered together, discussing things heatedly. Finally, they separated their huddle and returned to their seats at the judges table. Ludo Bagman stood, casting the sonorous charm on himself again. “What an absolutely thrilling finish to this task! Mr. Sparkle has once again surprised us with his inventive solutions to the task set before him.” The crowd in the stands roared their agreement.

“There are sixty points possible for each champion in this task. Starting with Fleur Delacour, who cast an excellent bubble-head charm but did not retrieve her hostage due to an attack by grindylows, we award thirty points.” 

The Beauxbaton students erupted into applause and cheers, while Fleur shook her head.

“Victor Krum, the last to arrive, used a difficult partial transfiguration to secure his hostage. We award him forty-six points.” The Durmstrang students were as proud of their champion as their headmaster, Karkaroff, and were not shy to let the other supporters know it. 

“Cedric Diggory was the second to return with his hostage. He also used the bubble-head charm but, alas, was one minute outside the time limit. We award him fifty-one points.” The Huflepuff section began to cheer and applaud.

“Harry Sparkle, however, gave himself an excellent transfiguration with both gills and fins, and returned with his hostage well under the time limit. Consulting with the Merchieftainess, we discovered that Mr. Sparkle was the first to reach the hostages and refused to leave until the each of the other champions had arrived and left with theirs. When the merpeople discovered that Miss Delacour had been driven back, they began to move forward to return her hostage. Mr. Sparkle mistook their intent, and decided to take Miss Delacour’s hostage with him. The merpeople had been told each champion would take his own hostage, and took exception to Mr. Sparkle taking two hostages, resulting in the thrilling race across the lake that we saw.” The audience began clapping. “Unfortunately, one of us feels that Mr. Sparkle should be penalized for interfering with another’s champion’s hostage, even if she could not finish the task.” The positively nasty look he gave Karkaroff revealed who the judge was that had dissented. “Thus, we award Mr. Sparkle fifty-five points.”

The Gryffindors burst into loud cheers and applause that was markedly louder than the ones given to Cedric by the rest of Hogwarts. But, then again, the Gryffindors were usually considered the most boisterous of the four Houses.

The Beauxbaton students were not nearly as enthusiastic as Fleur was in clapping for Harry. Cedric and Cho were applauding politely, but the glowing look she gave to Cedric clearly showed who Cho thought had won the task. Krum, on the other hand, was clearly unhappy. He obviously wanted to talk with Hermione, but she was too busy cheering Harry to listen.

Bagman then told everyone that the final task would take place at dusk on June twenty-fourth and that the champions would be told one month beforehand what the task entailed.

It was over. The spectators were starting to head back to either the school or Hogsmeade. Those whose families had attended were spreading out over the lawns. Harry’s collection of friends headed back to the castle. Percy had to beg off — “Well,” he said, almost reluctantly as he glanced at his sister, “I have to return to the Ministry to write this up.” He headed towards Hogsmeade.

Harry noticed the big black dog he had seen in Hogsmeade under the audience stands. It appeared to be dancing with joy. When it saw him looking, it grinned widely with its tail wagging so fast it was almost a blur.


۸- ̬ -۸


 

The twins had the Gryffindor party in full swing by the time the Harry and his friends arrived. They were met by loud cheers as soon as the Fat Lady’s portrait swung open. After that, the portrait was open more than it was closed as it seemed as if the entire school wanted to squeeze into the Common Room. Which kept growing to accommodate the crowd. That a number of the older Gryffindors were showing off by using the wings spell to hover above helped — some Gryffindors were teaching other Houses’ students how to join them.

The non-Gryffindors might not all like Harry, or the fact he was putting their champion to shame, but nobody threw a party like the twins did! There were even a few Slytherins, Harry noticed. It reminded him of Pinkie Pie, except her games seemed aimed at a lower-age participants.

Sweetie Belle snickered at Harry’s expression at all the people congratulating him on finishing first. “No one can beat our Harry,” she singsonged to the tune the Victrola in one corner was playing.

“Harry’s the best that there is,” sang Scootaloo.

“He’s brave and dependable!” sang Apple Bloom.

“It really wasn’t that great,” Harry sang in counterpoint bass — well, as bass as a fourteen-year-old colt could get.

Which launched the biggest Harmony song Hogwarts had ever heard, or seen. Hundreds of students joined in a spontaneously choreographed dance number that left everyone stunned when it ended. But like all such Harmony numbers, soon enough everyone had returned to what they had been doing before as if nothing remarkable had happened — except for the occasional puzzled frown directed at either the Victrola or the Equestrians.

Nobody noticed as Harry and fiancés, and Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, snuck out before lunch and spent the rest of the day teaching what they could to the two foals out by Hagrid’s hut. The foals would be returned to their herd after Friday, and the group wanted to teach the two as much as possible before then. Their vocabulary had already increased some, and if unicorn horns could be used in wands and rituals, surely the horses themselves could use the horns to cast warming and defensive spells! 

They went back inside for dinner. The Gryffindor party lasted until curfew.

Nobody seemed to notice, or care, that the three fillies followed Harry to his dorm room.


۸- ̬ -۸


 

The next five weeks passed relatively quietly for Harry, if not for the rest of the castle. Now that he had covered all the practical spells up to and including the N.E.W.T. level in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts, he could slow down. He went back through the books to learn the theory behind the magic. Without having to wait for the slowest member of the class to get the lesson, he could move through the assignments rather quickly. The professors were thrilled that he was handing in two or three weeks’ worth of assignments almost on a daily basis. Of course, each day was a different class, transfigurations, charms, DADA, arithmancy, runes, and even astronomy. History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures he didn’t really care about, he planned to revise the seven and five textbooks for those two, respectively, at end of the year. 

The end-of-year tests the professors were giving him for each year he completed seemed to show that he was doing very well. He planned to take the OWLS at the end of the year, just to see how he would do. Hopefully, his mum would be here long before he could schedule the NEWT-level tests in the summer.

The Potions class was pretty much a wash, as far as he was concerned. There was no practical way for him to complete the old assignments and potions in a timely manner without severely impacting his work for other classes. What was really being taught in those previous years in the class were the techniques and skills needed to brew the potions used in the wizarding world. Eleven year old kids had to be taught the patience and precision needed for brewing, and so they started with simple things. Just as a pegasus didn’t make her first flight an attempt to cross the entire country!

The potions, themselves, were memorization, easily handled with Hayscartes’ Method. 

Not being a mere eleven year old, he did have more patience, and using magic for years to manipulate everything in his environment had taught him precision. Plus, he really didn’t need to brew the previous years’ potions to learn the techniques he had already picked up in the fourth year class from his friends. So, he just continued the fourth-year class and let things be while reading ahead with the upper-year texts.

As for his herdmates, they were keeping the rest of the castle inhabitants on their toes. The more interesting incidents included setting fire to the forest (“Who knew there was a variant of the bluebell flame that was like incendio?”), trying to catch acromantulas (who moved their nest deeper into the forest), accidentally transforming the muggle blue flower, Tufted Vetch, into a new version of Poison Joke (“It was an accident! It was supposed to be a growth potion!” “Where did you even find those!? Their season isn’t until June, at the earliest!” — the Weasley twins were thrilled), and somehow enticing a herd of miniature Aethon flying horses into moving into the attic of the castle corridor beside Gryffindor tower (which Scootaloo claimed happened only because they were complaining about the cold when she met them while flying one day — they had never seen a human with wings, before — so they followed her home).

Harry heard Professor McGonagall say, “This is worse than when the Marauders were here!” as she sat on a broom and surveyed the new entrance to the attic over the corridor to Gryffindor tower that hadn’t been there the previous week. The attic window had been transformed into a wide landing pad with swinging doors. She could only stare and shake her head at the flock of winged-ponies making themselves at home inside. The castle’s apparent acceptance of her new inhabitants had the Headmaster’s eyes twinkling like mad as he sat on a broom beside her. Harry and the fillies were perched on the crown of the roof, also watching.

Hagrid was thrilled with the situation, especially the first time Scootaloo managed to teach one of the aethons how to make a cloud out of air. Plus, the unicorn herd kept showing up at his hut, especially the two foals from earlier. Most of the herd had learned how to levitate small objects with their horns, and they seemed to want to learn more. Several of the First-year witches were more than happy to show off what they knew. 

The fillies could do no wrong as far as Hagrid was concerned. He absolutely loved the translation spell Hermione had found, and he wasn’t reluctant to praise her and her magical skills. Which left her blushing each time they visited the half-giant’s hut.

The Tufted Vetch had gotten them a write up in Potioneers, a magazine for those interested in such things, long interviews with both Professors Sprout and Snape on what had they done, and a scroll an inch thick of backlogged orders from all over the world for the new plants. The Headmaster said that selling the seed packets would allow Hogwarts to buy new brooms for the First Years to practice with. The first crop should be ready by Summer.

It was truly amazing what the three Cutie Mark Crusaders could accomplish in only a few minutes of idle curiosity. Harry tried to keep them focused on their studies as much as he could, and made sure his tutors were not inconvenienced by also helping them. He wasn’t sure what Liza’s and Jonathan’s time was worth, but he planned to give them double their combined weight in gold at the end of term. From what his roommates said, that seemed more than fair for the imposition on their time and energy. Not to mention keeping the CMC occupied in “harmless” pursuits.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, as well as the other Gryffindor and Slytherin firsties had managed to complete the first year courses, and pass the end-of-year tests for Transfiguration, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. The professors shuddered at the thought of bored firsties, each with an extra nine hours a week to waste, not to mention the hours freed by no assignments. So, Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Moody started them on the second year curriculum. To the intense jealousy and envy of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

Several of whom tried to bribe Sweetie Belle into recreating her “frenzy” potion. Fortunately, Harry and the other two fillies managed to thwart each such attempt in the planning stage. That Professor Snape seemed just as disinclined to allow any students to try to recreate the potion was also a help.

With Harry’s help, and the rest of his group, the Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had worked their way mostly through the second year. They would soon start third year courses, and hopefully complete them and get a start on fourth year by the end of the school year. The two were highly motivated, as this was their only chance to learn magic from somepony who really knew how to use a wand. When they returned home, they would be cut off from the school, and learning more would be difficult at best.

That could happen at any moment — or not. But Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn’t want to take any chances. It was better to plan for the worst and hope for the best. It was more than a bit peculiar to consider being rescued as soon as possible to be a worse outcome than being rescued later. Being able to do magic, and teach other pegasi and earth ponies those skills when they got home, would be revolutionary. Plus, the fillies were having fun teaching what they already knew to the miniature flying horses and unicorns, when they could find the time.

Sweetie Belle’s nearly decade and a half familiarity with using magic to cast spells saw her almost ready to complete the third year classes. She would definitely be at the same level as the fifth years by the end of the year, and ready for the O.W.L.s.

Thus it was that when winter term finished the first week of April, they took advantage of the two week hols to ignore schoolwork completely. Charlie had come through with portkeys and travel documents, and they planned to spend the entire time at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary.


۸-_-۸


 

«Well, » said Twilight as the six trudged back to the castle from the Ponyville train station. Spike struggled under the load of trunks that Rarity insisted she couldn’t travel without. «That was a bust.»

«Yeah, » Rainbow said despondently as she flew beside them. «Not a trace.»

The purple princess stopped and frowned, «Maybe if I used Duskstar’s Variant I could boost my range on the search spell . . . .»

«You’ve got to stop beating yourself up over this, » Rarity said dismally. «We searched the entirety of Trotland very thoroughly. They were not there. They are not there. They have never been there.»

«Ah’m surprised thay didn’t toss us out after the first week fer being nuisances, the way we were carryin’ on,» Applejack said.

«This smells like Discord!» Rainbow said firmly, looping around the group.

Fluttershy sighed, «Discord said, before we left, that he had nothing to do with Harry’s disappearance, that it surprised him when Harry vanished from the party just as much as it did us. » She looked accusingly at the pegasus through her fringe, «Why do you think he had anything to do with the girls disappearing?»

Rainbow shot over to the other pegasus. «It’s either a big conspiracy — just look at how all the letters were covering each other — or one particular scrawny draconequus sneaking around in the background!»

The others perked up. Rainbow had finally said what they were thinking.

Fluttershy shook her head sadly. «I’ll ask him at our next tea.» She sighed morosely and headed off towards her house. «I need to check on my animal friends,» they faintly heard.

The others watched her slowly walk off.

Twilight sighed and looked up at her castle on the other side of town. «I bet I have a mountain of paperwork waiting for me.» She started to perk up at the thought.

Spike rolled his eyes. «And I’m sure the library needs reorganizing,» he said somewhat sarcastically.

Twilight’s ears perked up, and her pace went from a slow walk to a more normal quick walk. «Oh, no! It’s been neglected for thirteen weeks, three days, and seventeen hours!»

Spike looked at the others and shrugged. «We’ll see you tomorrow, I’m sure.» He quickly set off at a trot after his mentor.

Pinkamenia’s long tresses suddenly poofed up into the familiar curls that marked Pinkie Pie as she simultaneously gasped, «The parties! I’ve missed thirty-one birthdays, eleven anniversaries, and five cute-ceañeras!» She vanished, and a pink cloud of shed slowly dissipated from where she had been.

Rarity chewed her lower lip in thought. «Oh, dear! I must have a pile of overdue orders!» She began to trot off towards her home.

Applejack and Rainbow just looked at each other. «Ah think there’s a jug of zap-apple juice with ar names on it, Dash,» the farmer said firmly.

Rainbow Dash nodded. «Sounds like a plan to me.» She zipped around the orange mare. «I can check in tomorrow morning with the Wonderbolts.»


۸-ꞈ-۸


 

The portkey deposited them in a heap inside a large room. 

“Ten o’clock, right on time, I see,” Charlie said jovially, looking at his watch.

Harry staggered to his hooves as the fillies separated themselves and climbed to their feet.

“First time is always a bit rough,” the dragon-handler continued. “I would have thought someone would have warned you that when you see the destination approaching, start walking. If you’re standing still when you land, the leftover movement will knock you to the ground.”

Harry shook his head. The History of Magic textbooks needed to focus more on the advancements the wizards had made and less on their squabbles with their neighbours. He couldn’t help but wonder what other tidbits of magic were not mentioned because everypony assumed every other pony already knew the details.

However, it made a nice and easy way for non-unicorns to teleport great distances — with cargo, too. He patted his pocket with his expanded apartment trunk carrying the gold for the dragons. He made a note to get a book on creating portkeys and what their limitations were. As long as they didn’t take too much skill and magic, they would make a wonderful system to use for destinations that didn’t have an active floo connection. Another revolutionary idea from the wizarding world! His mum would be so happy.

“Well,” Charlie said, rubbing his hands together, “Let me show you your rooms so you can put down your luggage, and then I’ll introduce you to the Sanctuary’s Director and we can visit the dragons! What say?”

They nodded numbly and followed the energetic wizard outside the reception building to a series of cabins. “You caused quite the stir when I told them you said you could talk with the dragons, Harry,” the dragon-handler said jovially. “That tidbit about protecting the nest’s eggs from smaller predators struck the right note, too. We started adding small animal repelling spells to the nests and we’ve already noticed that the nesting dragons are more relaxed. Apparently, they aren’t seeing as many burrowing rodents and such around.”

He made for a large building and opened the door to wave them through. “This cabin has five bedrooms, so you should be quite comfortable.” He grinned. “It’s for our V.I.P. visitors. My cabin is a good deal more rustic than this palace.”

The foyer was large, panelled in a dark wood with a lighter wood for a floor. It was easily big enough for storing winter coats, boots, and other sundries, and led to a larger room nearly as big as the Gryffindor Common Room that was clearly the main room. It was just as richly appointed with decorations, armchairs, couches, and end tables, too. Through an open archway, he could see a luxurious dining room. The remainder of the wall to the left of the dining room was a breakfast or luncheon bar with a kitchen beyond that. A staircase on the right led to a balcony overlooking the main room. There were five doors spaced along it, which Harry presumed led to the bedrooms that were over the dining room and kitchen. When he looked behind himself, he saw that the foyer was bracketed by a modest library on one side and a room with a pool-table and dart board on the other.

While the fillies placed their trunks in separate rooms, Harry no doubts that they would be spending the nights with him.

Then they were off to meet the Director, Grigore Dalca.

The Director was well-tanned, with several visible scars, and had the kind of look that said he should be taken seriously. He was also very welcoming, putting aside his work as they came into the office and standing. He was nearly a head shorter than Charlie, but then again, most people were shorter than any of the older Weasleys. Dalca glanced curiously at the three girls, but reserved most of his interest to Harry. The wizard had a heavy accent, but gradually became more understandable the more he talked as they exchanged pleasantries. Then he said, “Let’s get right to it. You can talk with dragons, yes?”

Harry nodded. “I thought I was talking to the Chinese Fireball in English when I first saw her, but she said I was speaking the noble language of the dragons.”

The wizard studied him with narrowed eyes. He clearly didn’t believe a word the colt was saying, but then again, Harry was standing there as a colt and not a boy. He sighed softly through pursed lips. He started out from behind the desk. “Then let’s see what she has to say, now.”

He led them out of the office. “You can ride brooms, yes?” he said as he grabbed one from the rack on the porch.

Harry glanced at the girls and said, “No, but we can follow you easily enough.” A moment later, all four had wings and were hovering. He had cast the wings spell on himself and Scootaloo while Sweetie Belle did herself and Apple Bloom. Not using the brooms made it easier for the Dragons to see the difference between the Equestrians and the wizards.

Dalca gave them a long look, then shrugged, mounted the broom, and took off. They quickly followed him. Soon enough, they were nearing a cave with a large ledge in front of it, just one of many dozens scattered through the rough mountains that circled a small grazing pasture several times the size of the grounds at Hogwarts. 

Their arrival was not unheralded, as dozens of dragons bugled at their approach, and dozens more silently peered at them from within their caves. The entire face of the mountain they were approaching appeared to be inhabited by Chinese Fireball dragons, all watching them suspiciously. It took a moment, but then Harry recognized the dragon sunning herself on the ledge they were approaching. They halted just outside of its flaming range.

Harry hovered as he shrugged out of his coat. He folded his wings for the brief moment it took to work them out of the cloak, but he quickly regained the lost altitude. He hoofed the robe to Scootaloo and then drifted closer to the Chinese Fireball.

§Hello, again, Dragon Mother,§ he said respectfully.


۸- ̬ -۸