//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34 
// Story: On the Implications of Parallel Worlds 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

“Yes, just like that,” Hermione muttered softly.
Her wand was gently touching the back of Silversong’s neck in class once again.  It was early spring- just two weeks before the exams.  Silversong had yet to stabilize her magic enough for Hermione to be satisfied with telling her to go for her wand.
Some weeks before, they had discovered that Hagrid had acquired a dragon from somewhere, and helped him care for it.  Hermione had, in a burst of genius, brought an Equestrian she’d met that seemed to know a lot about dragons, named Spike.
Spike had, in the safety of Hagrid’s hut, accidentally revealed that he actually was an Equestrian dragon- and subsequently swore them all to secrecy.  The revelation had come in the form of trading fireballs with the dragon, which Hagrid had shortly named Norbert.
Then, just the week before, “Norbert” had somehow gained the ability to shapeshift into a human… girl.  She’d been re-named ‘Norberta’- and was growing alarmingly fast, living with Hagrid in his hut.  When she’d first transformed, she’d resembled a two-year-old- and had reportedly potty trained herself in a matter of hours.  Then, even though it had only been four days since she had first transformed, she had already grown to resemble a five-year-old.
Silversong, eyes closed, had just managed to stabilize her magic satisfactorily.
Hermione decided not to ask Silver to go for her wand just yet- she didn’t want to break her friend’s concentration.  Besides, a different solution had presented itself to her a couple weeks prior, when she had successfully stabilized her own magic enough to get…  abnormal effects out of it.
“Alright.  Now, reach out with your magic.  Like…  this.”  She manipulated her spell directly with her magic, allowing her to project what it should look like onto Silver’s magic.
Silver nodded slightly, eyes tightly closed in concentration, and did as she was told.
Hermione guided her carefully.
“Okay.  Now, open your eyes.”
Silver opened her eyes, and froze.
Hermione cancelled her spells, stowing her wand in a single motion.  “Yes, you’re doing that.  Practice it for a little, see if you can make it instinctive, not just something you’re good at.”
“Ah, Hermione?” Bonbon asked, stepping over.
“Mm?”
“Did you just teach Silver to use a magic you don’t have?”
She shook her head.  “No, I taught her to use her magic.”  She closed her eyes briefly to stabilize her magic- she was still working on eliminating the need for that step.  Then, she used her magic to draw her wand, twirl it in the air, and deposit it into her raised hand.  As it went, the wand was surrounded by the faint, icy blue aura that her innate magic seemed to produce.
It made sense, since Equestrian magic tended to have that aura, and that’s what she’d based her methods off of.  She was curious where the color came from, though.  She’d tried changing it, to no avail.
Then she blinked.  Bonbon had dropped her jaw.
Bonbon had dropped her jaw.
She had made Bonbon drop her jaw.
It was oddly exciting.
Then Bonbon snapped her jaw shut, and half-shouted at her.  “You have got to be kidding me!”
She flinched- as did half of the room.  “What?”
“You’re an Aethr, right?  A British Aethr?”
She nodded.  “Yeah?”
“Then how did you just use- and teach Silver to use- Equestrian Raeth magic?”
She blinked.  “Carefully.”
Bonbon sighed.  “More specifically?”
“Later?” she asked.  “Class is still in session, and I think Sweetie’s about ready to start using her Raeth magic as well.”
“What?” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly, a couple rows back.  She’d been doing very well with her practice on the magic stability problem, and with ironing it down to an instinct.  So had the other two Crusaders- such that the most recent odd-magic disaster had happened over two months prior.
Bonbon shook her head, turning away to return back where she’d come from.  “I’m starting to think you can do anything.”
She snorted.  “Hey, I thought you could do anything,” she teased.
Bonbon just sighed.  “Whatever.”





“Um, where are we going?” Hermione asked.  She tried to hide the hint of fear in her voice; Bonbon was dragging her somewhere, with a hand clamped around her wrist like a vice such that she had no choice but to follow.
Bonbon didn’t answer, forging a path through the castle.  When Peeves got in her way, there was shortly a fresh dent in the wall, and Peeves was very, very lucky he wasn’t mortal.  Suffice it to say, he didn’t stay in the way for long.
Hermione became suddenly nervous when Bonbon bumped open and dragged her through the door into the Instruction Course classroom, which still had that metal ‘assigned personnel only’ sign on it.  “Um-!”
Bonbon stopped, closed the door, and snapped her fingers.
The TARDIS core- Hermione was fairly sure that’s what it was called- lit up and started moving.
A couple of seconds later, five girls faded into existence at the head of the room, at the same time as all the desks and chairs scattered about were replaced by a large, circular table with chairs all around it.
Hermione’s breath caught.  Those five girls…  were the powerhouses that had created the TARDIS core.  She squeaked in fright, and debated trying to hide behind Bonbon.
Probably wouldn’t do any good, unfortunately.
“You called?” Luna asked Bonbon imperiously- but Hermione noticed that all four of the others were looking at her, as if sizing her up.  What were they looking for?
“Princess Luna,” Bonbon began.  “Princess Twilight.  Starlight Glimmer.  Sunset Shimmer.  Lyra Heartstrings.  I would like you to meet Hermione Granger.”  She gestured to Hermione.
Hermione flinched.
Twilight raised an eyebrow.  “I’m pretty sure we’ve already met before?”
Bonbon ignored Twilight’s question, and continued talking.  “She is the girl that not only designed Britain’s first compound spell, but she successfully taught all three Crusaders to use British magic- and just today, taught both Silversong and Sweetie Belle to use their innate Raeth magics…  successfully on both counts.
“She’s a British Aethr.”
Bonbon turned to Hermione.  “Hermione, show them what you showed me.”
“Um…”  Hermione took a deep breath, closing her eyes…  and forcibly calmed herself down.  She was only able to stabilize her magic after the second breath- but fortunately, it was easier to keep stable than it was to stabilize.  Then, she drew her wand with her magic.
Instantly, she felt the ripples of magic flowing through the air around her as four of the powerhouses- all except Luna- teleported closer to get a closer look.  She squeaked, and nearly lost control, but managed to keep her magic stable enough to avoid disrupting her spell.
“Wow,” Starlight muttered.  “She’s emulating a generic version of our CM magic.”
Lyra, on her other side, answered equally softly.  “Enough to let her use any Equestrian magic she wants, but not enough to give her safe passage through the Gate.”
“Looks like that emulation has an efficiency factor of about two percent though,” Sunset mumbled, behind her.  “Yet she’s managing a six-thaum output.”
“Which puts her core strength at about three hundred thaums,” Twilight muttered, in front of her.  “Which is…”
“Right in line with our initial estimate for her,” Lyra supplied.
Twilight nodded.  “Add that the average British core strength is around five thaums, to an Equestrian’s hundred…”  She tilted her head, looking into Hermione’s eyes.  “You designed a compound spell?”
“Uh-!” Hermione began, trying to disguise the nervousness.  “Y-Yeah.  Bonbon said the spells I use to view people’s magic are compound spells.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow.  “As in, they have multiple incantations, that must go overtop one another just right for the spell to work properly?”
She nodded.
“Huh.  So, you’ve definitely got brains, and ability.  That’s a mighty rare combination.”
“And you say that in a room full of them,” Sunset chuckled.
Twilight rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, I know.  But us four are literally all Equestria has to offer in that regard, not counting the immortal Princesses from a bygone age, out of a population of about twelve times that of Wizarding Britain.  Assuming the same rate, that gives Britain an average of about point three such people.”
Sunset shrugged.  “True.”
Lyra looked at Bonbon.  “You wanted to invite her, right?”
Bonbon nodded once.
Hermione blinked.  Invite her to what?
“Anyone that can teach the Crusaders magic gets my vote,” Sunset stated.
“Agreed,” Lyra declared.
“Considering her CM-magic emulation seems to defy three separate laws of magic as we know them, she’s got my vote,” Starlight stated.
Twilight blinked.  “What-?  It defies-?  Wow.  Then…  Yeah.  Considering what she’s able to do when she technically doesn’t have the capability to do it…  makes me curious what she’d be able to do if she did.  She’s got my vote.”
“Vote?” Bonbon asked.
Twilight blinked.  “...  Whatever.”
Luna, who had walked closer while the others chatted, chuckled.  “I believe we have a consensus.  Not very often for that, is it?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a better-qualified candidate,” Lyra answered.  “I’m not surprised.”
“How hard would it be to give her that capability?” Twilight asked Lyra.
Lyra winced.  “Well…  after the Papa Tango failed on Draco, I’ve been digging over the records.  Not quite done yet, but according to the records, it actually worked.  But it didn’t.  And I haven’t seen Draco around, so…”
Hermione drew up her courage, and concentrated on keeping her voice even.  “It worked.”
Everyone looked at her, making her squeak.  “It did?” Lyra asked.  “He can use Equestrian magic?”
Hermione nodded meekly.  “Yeah.  It took three weeks to finish…  and…”  She took a deep breath.  “Promise you won’t tell anyone.”
They looked at each other.
Twilight shrugged.  “Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone anything.  Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my ey-Ow!  I keep forgetting I’m supposed to close my eye for that last part.”
Hermione stared.
“That’s a Pinkie Promise,” Lyra informed her.  “Comparable to the Unbreakable Vow.”
“...  Oh,” Hermione muttered.  “Well…  It…  It also gave him a few new forms he could change into with his British Animagus magic.”
Lyra nodded.  “A…  not unanticipated side effect.”
Hermione looked at her.  “He is Silversong.”
Lyra blinked.  “Okay, that was unanticipated.  And Silversong should be able to pass through the Gate…  which means it worked, I guess?  Then why didn’t it…?”  She scowled.  “You said it took three weeks to finish?”
Hermione nodded.  “Two weeks of pain and symptoms- she said they were pretty extreme- then a week of complete magical nonfunction.”
Lyra winced.  “Well…  those logs should have enough for me to reduce the intensity of the symptoms a bit, but only a bit.  I’ll have to add a lot of sensing routines so I can reduce it even further next time.”  She looked at Twilight.  “So it’s technically possible, but it’d hurt a lot, despite being as safe as the Common Cold.  Not something I’d be comfortable forcing on anyone.”
“Ahh,” Twilight muttered.
“Anyways,” Princess Luna interjected.  “Bonbon has her answer.  Let us return to our duties, and let her continue with hers.”  She looked at Lyra.  “You can talk to her about your Papa Tango later.”
Lyra nodded.  “Definitely.  Whelp, I’ll see you later.”  She snapped her fingers, and disappeared.
The other girls quickly followed suit- until, very quickly, it was just Hermione and Bonbon in the room.
Hermione took a deep, calming breath, bringing her spell back from the precipice of collapse.  She’d maintained it throughout.
Bonbon sighed, turning to her.  “Sorry about that.  You can put that away now, if you want.”
She put her wand away, relaxed her hold on her magic, and took another deep breath.  “So…  invite me to what?”





“Ulick?” the Prime Minister asked, looking up from his desk at the otherwise empty room.
A picture on the opposite wall twitched when its name was called, then coughed lightly.  “I have to say, it’s not very often that a muggle Prime Minister calls on me,” it commented.
He smiled.  “I’m aware of that, and it’s about time that changed, isn’t it?”
The man in the picture blinked.  “Oh?  How do you mean?”
“What I mean is that I think it’s about time our governments start cooperating more fully- so when it comes time to reveal the wizarding world to the non-magical world, which will happen whether we want it to or not, neither of us will be caught unprepared.”
“...  Ahh.  Do I take it you want me to get Minister for Magic Fudge?”
He nodded.  “Yes please.”
Ulick nodded his head.  “Got it.  I’ll be right back.”  He vanished into the frame of his picture.
Oscar, the Prime Minister, waited for about a second after Ulick disappeared, before touching the ‘enter’ key on his keyboard, to send a single-letter Facebook message.
Mere seconds later, the door opened, and a few of his ministers filed in to take seats.  It wasn’t a full cabinet, but the planned discussion would have significant impacts on all four of these ministers’ departments.
Closest to him sat Aurora Lewis, the Secretary of Defense.  Next, there was Noah Chapman, the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Harriet Jones, the Secretary of the Interior, and finally James Robertson, the Press Secretary.
They waited for about ten minutes- then a couple of them twitched slightly when a loud crack of exploding air indicated the arrival of Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic.
“Sorry about the delay,” Cornelius began.  “Had one of the old purebloods trying to tell me that muggleborns shouldn’t be allowed-!”  He froze when his gaze fell on the gathered ministers.
James stood and held out his hand.  “You must be Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge,” he greeted, with a small bow.  “James Robertson, Press Secretary.”
“Ahh…” Cornelius began.
“Wizardkind is still a national secret,” Oscar stated.  “However, as much as we might wish it wasn’t the case, there have been plenty of sightings.”  He sighed.  “And what shouldn’t muggleborns be allowed to do?”
“Ahh…  To make studies.  Total bogus- and it’s not like I could do anything about it if I wanted to.”
Noah raised an eyebrow.  “Is this in reference to Miss Granger’s study?”
“Yeah.”  Then he blinked.  “Wait, you know about that?”
Oscar pushed forward one of the ‘documents’ on his desk, being a copy of a school newspaper from fairly early in the school year- with ‘Hogwarts’ written across the top.  “Has me wondering what it means for us non-magical folk.  Perhaps we should invite her for another study?”
“Though, considering it was published over six months ago, why’s your pureblood only complaining now?”
“Ahh…”  Fudge twitched uncertainly.  “It…  It only went public this morning, actually.  That…  How did you get that?”
“We have, ahh, sources,” Oscar stated.  “And we’re not the only ones with such sources.  Just about every non-magical government on the planet has at least one, and well over half of them have top secret departments set aside to manage the Wizarding Problem.  We are no exception- and as a matter of fact, we’ve got the biggest one.”
“For the last couple dozen years,” Harriet added, “we’ve been helping squash rumors of witches and wizards- but with modern technology, that’s becoming harder and harder.  Before long, wearable electronics will be so capable it’ll only take one sighting to alert the entire world…  and if that happens, you’ll have the Witch Hunts all over again- and this time, you won’t be able to hide from it.  We’ve already confirmed the presence of at least two buildings, at various locations, that are not visible to the naked eye- but are plenty visible to cameras.  One of them was even famous, for a time- we had a hell of a time covering that up, I tell ya.”





“Hey, Emma?”
Emma Granger looked up from the breakfast table.  “Yes, dear?”
Dan Granger handed her a small stack of papers- the top layer being the very official-looking envelope it came in.  “Is this normal?”
She raised an eyebrow and accepted the pages.  After glancing at the return address on the envelope, and confirming that it was indeed from the Prime Minister, she flipped the envelope around to the bottom of the stack and started reading.
A minute later, with a stunned expression, she flipped to the next page.
It took her several minutes to read- and reread- the research paper that had been sent with it.
Finally, she looked up.  “Yes.  Yes, I do believe it is normal for Hermione to forget to tell us something.”  She smiled.  “Good thing her owl always seems to know when to show up to pick up a letter.”
Dan nodded.  “Definitely.”