//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Seven Years Later // Story: Pinkie Pie goes to Hogwarts // by WoomyWobble //------------------------------// Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sat behind his desk staring at a letter. Pinkamena Diane Pie Happy Oaks Orphanage Female Dormitory Middlemost Bed The letter sat on top of the muggleborn stack but Albus wondered about that last name and hoped. Fawkes his phoenix chirped and flew around for a moment deciding to land on the desk stationary asking for scratches. Albus obliged him. He was interrupted from his musing by a knock at the door. It was his deputy the gargoyle informed him and quickly bid her entry in his office. "Morning Albus." She walked to his desk. "Are these the ones for me?" "Indeed they are Minerva. Though I wondered if you would allow me the privilege of taking one of your hands." Minerva McGonagall looked a little surprised. It was a long time since Dumbledore went to visit a muggleborn. "Do you want Harry Potter?" She looked sternly over her glasses "It's not very decent to pretend you care now." Albus gave her a look. "You know as well as I do that there was no other option. Do you really believe that I did not try? Who was left to take him in? Remus? Lucius would have him under his control before you can say 'werewolf.' The longbottoms? I feared they would not be safe and those fears proved prophetic." "I would have taken him!" His gaze softened "I know you would have. And you would be good for him. But it would be far to easy for Lucius to claim favouritism. Or to hound you very for every little slight. An army of solicitors and practically infinite amounts of money give a man power and the truth of the matter is despite my many titles I do not have nearly as much. Only secrecy could keep him safe. This I know." "… I'm sorry." "Save your breath for cooling your porridge Minerva." He said gently "Truth is… I've felt quite similar lately. I keep thinking, maybe there was something I missed, maybe there is someone. But there never is." Albus turned his gaze towards the letter he was reading. "It's this one actually." He handed her the letter. "The last time I had to go to an orphanage is sadly seared into my memory." Albus looked away for a second. "I'd like to make sure the circumstances are not similar." Minerva sighed. "I understand. Still who did you have in mind for Harry?" "I thought Hagrid could be a fun option. He is after all, quite magical." "True, but he's hardly the most responsible..." "Agreed, I shall talk with Hagrid after, should he have left something out, I can make arrangements then." "I still find it hard to stomach that we put Harry with those muggles." She conjured a chair and sat down. She eyed the bowl of lemon drops and took one. Albus opened his desk drawer and gave his phoenix an owl treat. "I know Minerva. I know." He scratched his beard for a moment. "Let us make certain that his days here at Hogwarts at least, will be spectacular." xxx Albus stood in front of the orphanage in his flamboyant robes. He hoped it would get a good laugh from the children. Looking around the front yard he didn't see anything untoward. It maybe needed a little weeding but it was hardly a disaster area. The whole place felt old but cared for. The telltale tingle of magic was certainly prevalent in the air. There was no doubt that someone magical lived here. Having dallied long enough Albus decided to ring the doorbell. Instead of the pitter-patter of people rushing for the door, the door instead opened with an eerie creaking. The hallway ahead was dark and ominous... Instantly alert, Albus drew his wand and slowly moved into the darkness. There was another door ahead and he decided to cast a silent homenum revelio. The results made no sense whatsoever. He proceeded with caution. Slowly he lowered the door handle and entered the orphanage proper. "SURPRISE!" sixteen voices shouted in unison. From the ceiling loud popping noises where heard and confetti fell down like rain. Getting startled so completely caused Albus to throw his wand in the air. As he did so he noticed an enormous banner spreading from wall to wall. WELCOME NEW FRIEND! It said in big colourful letters. In front of him was a girl balancing on an odd bicycle with only a singular green wheel. A unicycle? She had a red bulb on her nose and she was juggling what looked like small baked goods. Her hair was a very distinct colour and he noticed that she caught his wand with ease and was juggling it with the same grace as the other items. "Hi, welcome to Happy Oaks!" she said. "You're a little older then our usual guests but I'm sure we can find a place for you." "I don't think he's here to be a resident Pinkie." An older lady spoke. "Aw, that's too bad. I wonder why he triggered my Pinkie-sense. Hey do you want a cupcake? I think I got one that fits your jammies." Albus recovered from his freight quickly and smiled. "How could I refuse? Especially after such a welcome." One of the other children threw a plate at Pinkie all the way from the kitchen. She caught it deftly and gave it to Albus, cupcake included. Albus noticed that the cupcake indeed had the same pattern as his robes had. Purple with yellow moons. He took a great big bite and for a brief flash, remembered all the good things in his life. His friendships with his teaching staff, his joy of teaching, his love for muggle candy and so many more other things both small and big. This was no ordinary piece of confection. He finished the remainder and felt... oddly privileged. "I can say without a shadow of a doubt that that was the best cupcake I've ever tasted." The fact that it was the first cupcake he ever tasted need not be mentioned. "Yay!" Pinkie squealed and threw the remaining cupcakes to all the other residents. It appeared that this was some sort of tradition as all the children of the Happy Oaks Orphanage soon went there separate ways after that. Pinkie rode her odd contraption outside following a couple of other children. She stumbled a bit on the doorstep but she made do. Albus extended his hand toward the matron of the orphanage. "Hello, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I'm the headmaster at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She went up and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Maddie and I run things here at Happy Oaks. Did you say witchcraft and wizardry?" "Indeed I did. Perhaps it would be best if we took a seat?" "Yes, of course. Did Pinkie sent you a letter?" Maddie asked as Albus sat down and she went to grab them some tea to wash that cupcake down with. "Ah no, but I am here because of Pinkamena. Tell me have you ever noticed anything strange about her? Did she ever made odd things happen?" Maddie put the tea in front of Albus, gave him a look and then she burst out in laughter. He looked a little lost and when Maddie looked up she burst in laughter again. A full on belly laugh. "I'm sorry sir. I'm sorry." She said hiccuping as she sat down "Yes I do believe we have noticed a little adherence to the strange. She calls it her Pinkie sense. We have grown to trust it here at Happy Oaks." "Oh really? Could you give an example?" "Well, for one thing she always knows when there is going to be a new resident. She would say that's she's going to make a new friend on such and such day. In fact, that's how we gave you your little surprise party." "How extraordinary." "Quite. We've just decided to accept it. Any attempt at testing it have proven fruitless anyway. To be honest at first I thought she was reading my correspondence somehow but that turned out not to be the case." "What about her other schooling? Any problems? Bullying?" Albus took a sip from his tea. It was rather delicious. Some sort of fruity aftertaste. "No, she's friends with pretty much everybody. But perhaps it's best you told me why you're here and your interest in Pinkie Pie." "Right, I'm so sorry it has been a while since I did one of these. Let me start over. In fact maybe it is best if we invited Pinkamena here with us? She could probably corroborate what I will reveal and-" "I'm here!" Pinkie jumped out of a potted plant and startling Albus into dropping his tea on his robes. She placed the plant back in it's pot and removing some dirt from her hair. After the initial adrenaline spike Albus started thinking about what he'd just seen. He could've sworn he saw Pinkie going away with the other kids. So how did she get out of a potted plant of all things. One smaller then she was no less. Magic is truly a wondrous thing. Maddie however simply shook her head in resignation. She'd seen weirder. "I'm sorry about your tea!" Recovering quickly Albus removed his wand from his robe. "That is alright Pinkie. Please observe." and cleared the beverage from his person with a spell. "Tadaa." Pinkie started applauding "Whoo-hoo! Well done! Encore Encore!" "Alright let us do one more spell." He turned his teacup into a brightly coloured newt. "Cool!" "You will one day be able to do the same. You are a witch Pinkie." The newt scurried away and climbed up the wall. "Well I knew that! Just couldn't tell now could I. Because of the statue." "The statute Pinkie." Hold on. If Pinkie already knows about magic then chances are that she was in fact part of the wizarding Pie family. Albus made a mental note to ask about that later. "Excuse me, what statute?" Albus proceeded to explain everything there was to know about the magical world. He told Maddie about the need for secrecy, about purebloods and prejudices. Pinkie made a fart noise. He told them about Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Maddie asked if the other children where allowed to know about magic. They were, because Pinkie considered them her family. "I understand this is all rather much to take in. Because of that I have brought some folders for everyone to peruse at their leisure." Albus removed some from his robes and gave them to Maddie. "Oh, the pictures are moving. That's lovely." They had title's like: 'Welcome to the magical world.' and 'So your sister's a witch.' Albus smiled at her. He always enjoyed those little moments when people discovered magic for the first time. "Indeed, now we need to set a date for me to take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies. How are you next Saturday?" "I'm afraid we can't next Saturday. We're taking the kids to the zoo. They've been really looking forward to it." "That's okay Maddie" Pinkie interjected. "Me and Albie can go together. And I can learn more about magic like a proper witch!" "Don't you want to go to the zoo?" "Of course I do silly, but this is important. Tell 'm Albie!" "I suppose it is important for Pinkie to get her supplies. But I do not see why Pinkie and I can not go to Diagon Alley and you to take the other kids to the zoo. I will make sure I am here bright and early. So we shall not be in the way." "There you see? Perfectly fine and scheduled." Albus moved himself towards the exit. "Well, I will be seeing you then. Miss Maddie it has been a pleasure." Albus moved to leave the premises but Pinkie stopped him and gave him a hug. He awkwardly patted her on her back with a smile. "Take care Albie" "You too, Pinkie." Albus relinquished the hug with a smile and apparated away. When he later arrived in Hogwarts and sat behind his desk to do some paperwork he found another cupcake in his pocket. It was delicious. xxx "I swear to god Jillian! If you don't knock it off, I'll kick you in the clunge so hard your clit will shoot out of your nostril!" "What's a clunge?" Pinkie did an actual spit-take and started laughing Maddie had enough of these shenanigans and put a stop to them decidedly. "Jillian stop rocking the chair. Sophie stop corrupting the children, or I'll send the both of you to your room. Pinkie could you grab something to clean that up please?" Pinkie went and did just that. "Gracious me. I thought we were passed this." she sat down at the head of the table when five year old Alfie jumped on her lap. "What's a clunge Maddie?" Maddie gave Sophie a look and an exasperated sigh. Sophie looked properly chastised. She did have a bit of a foul language problem. They were working on it. "It's a rude word Alfie." Maddie said. "Anyway, would you be a dear and get everyone for supper?" "Yes Maddie!" Alfie ran up the stairs and not long after a bunch of children ages varying from 5 to 18 ran down the stairs to get some dinner. Everybody sat down on their own designated spaces. And there was the general hullabaloo of a bunch of children at the dinner table. "Everybody can I have your attention please? I have an announcement to make." The table quieted as everyone listened to Maddie. "I'm sure you've all talked among yourselves about the elderly gentleman that was here this afternoon." "He had funny clothes." "Yes Alfie he did, that's because he was a wizard. And he came to tell us that our very own Pinkie is also a wizard. Well a witch technically. I believe it too. I saw him turn a teacup into a newt." "You've met Rodger?" Grace asked innocently. "Rodger?" She pulled a yellow newt that was struggling in her hand from her sweater pocket and showed it to everyone at the table. "Grace that's disgusting!" Sophie said. "Put that thing away! We're eating" Grace put Rodger back in her sweater where he started to fall asleep again. "Are you serious? You're joking surely." Mark asked, one of the older children at the orphanage. "No, I'm keeping Rodger!" Grace replied angrily. "I'm not talking about Rodger, I'm talking about magic." "You've met Pinkie right?" Lewis said sarcastically. "You can't be that surprised." Maddie showed Mark the flyers with the moving pictures on them. "Apparently the wizarding world likes to keep itself secret. Share those with everyone would you." Maddie sat back down at the foot of the table. "So I'm allowed to tell you all this because we are Pinkies family but it is very important that everyone keeps this a secret. So Alfie you're not allowed to tell anyone Pinkie's a witch okay?" "Okay Maddie." What followed were the obvious questions among the children such as 'am I a wizard?' and 'how do you become a witch?' and so on. Not to mention some Pinkie poking to see if she would do things. "That's not all everyone." The children quieted down again. "Pinkie's also going to have to go to another school. She's going to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in Scotland. It is a boarding school which means that she won't be here for long periods of time." Alfie immediately started crying. "Pinkie's leaving us!" He wailed. "Oh silly." Pinkie said. "I'm not leaving you. I could never do that. I'll be over as often as I can." "But who will make desert? And cupcakes and cakes?" "Well I might be able send some of that stuff over. And who knows what sort of cool magical foods I'll find? I promise I'll send loads of weird stuff. And you can write me. I'm sure you can ask some of the others to help you." Being adequately mollified by Pinkie, Maddie continued her explanation. "Albus will be here next Saturday to pick Pinkie up to take her shopping for her magical supplies. Because of this she won't be able to make it to our trip to the zoo." Maddie clapped her hands together. "That's it for my announcements. Let's eat!" And the hullabaloo continued.