The moment Elly stepped out of the floo, she recognized that the three that had sent her the owl were from her crèche. They immediately recognized her, too. None of them reacted overtly. The drone and two workers continued to sip their fizzy drinks, calmly, even as the four rejoiced in their link. In seconds, they had the answers to all their questions. Elly, meanwhile, used her wand to clean off the soot from the floo as she looked around the room and moved to the side so she wouldn’t block other patrons using that method to enter the Leaky Cauldron.
Elly was in her older disguise, the one she used when she wanted to appear as an adult. The one that she had shown the goblins.
She pretended to spot the three for the first time, and made her way to their table. As she approached, she studied and critiqued the forms the other three had taken. Her minor comments would be ignored this time, but incorporated for their next form. These forms would never be used again.
The other three greeted her warmly. “Elly, how good to see you!” Essie said, standing to embrace the other. Emmie had also stood, and likewise embraced her as the other worker released her. Earl stood and leaned over the table to shake her hand.
“I hope I’m not late,” Elly said.
“No,” said Emmie, smiling back and holding Elly’s hands in hers. “Not at all. You’re right on time. We’ve just been sitting here relaxing, waiting until you arrived.”
When the waitress came up, Elly politely declined. “No, thank you. They’ve been waiting for me. We’ll be late for a surprise party if we don’t leave now.”
All of that was for the benefit of the few people seated around them, of course. Meanwhile they were carrying on a fast and furious mind-link conversation of how to handle the situation.
Elly smiled at her siblings and nodded towards the floo. Moments later, the four exited into the de Rippe mansion. “It’s safe here,” Elly explained. There were things they needed to discuss — and to see if her suspicions were correct. She pulled her robe over her head, and pulled her wand from its pocket. She dropped her disguise for her human default form. There was a brief hesitation, then the other three dropped their disguises, as well. They were holding their wallets with the keys, and Emmie held the second-hand wand.
Elly shook her head. “Follow me,” she said, and led the upstairs to her official bedroom. The door to her walk-in closet was a mirror.
“You’re different,” Emmie said, looking at Elly critically, glancing between herself, Essie, and Earl.
Whatever Elly had intended to show them in bringing them upstairs, that wasn’t it, based on her reaction.
Elly, too, was going from staring at them and then herself in the mirror. While the four of them were exactly the same ages, Elly looked . . . more mature. A bit taller, not much, but noticeable. Her facial features were . . . straighter, less rounded. Her figure was not as childish — her waist was better defined and her chest not as flat.
Anyone seeing them together would see that they were related, but while the three newcomers were clearly siblings, twins with a slightly younger brother, she wasn’t. She might be a year-older cousin, perhaps.
There was also an . . . air about her, for lack of a better word. Her voice had a bit of a command to it. When she had said to follow her, they had immediately complied, no questions and no comments. She had said it, they had obeyed. They didn’t have to obey, but something said to do so. Like a trainee responding to her instructor.
Had being alone for so long give her an air of command, like a senior in the hive? She certainly held herself with more confidence than they did.
Elly frowned at the mirror image, shook herself, and sighed. “We’ll worry about that later. What I wanted you to see is that we are all human nymphs, children. We are not lings when we relax our disguises, but children indistinguishable from other human children.”
She turned and gave the three a critical look. “Humans, as you have noticed, always wear clothes. This extends to almost every moment in their lives except when bathing and procreating. And some don’t even disrobe for the procreation.”
As she spoke, images from the hive mind they now shared rose up with examples, illustrating her points. She had been in the human world for almost a year, now, and had not wasted her time. Observing Hogwarts’ students, Madam Puddifoot’s customers, and then her own tenants had been quite informative.
“In the mansion, and the hive I’ve started below, we could dispense with that. But I’m not sure we should. Being too casual about our state of dress could cause closer scrutiny by others and reveal us. Plus, skin,” she tapped her left arm with her fingers, “is rather sensitive to damage, quite unlike our chitin. Humans are even more fragile than ponies!”
The others’ surprise was clear.
“The smallest of bumps leaves bruises,” she continued. “Scraping against something can even break or cut the skin and cause you to bleed like a pony! It is one of the reasons why they are so insistent on wearing clothes at all times.”
She nodded at their surprised expressions. “I have extra clothes you can wear temporarily, so tomorrow we’ll go back to Diagon Alley and get you appropriate clothes.” She waved a hand to forestall any objections. “Illusions work for the normal humans as long as you never allow any of them to touch you and fail to feel clothes. Unfortunately, you can’t foresee when such accidental touches will occur, and reveal your secret. Even worse, there are wizards and witches who can see through illusions. They will want to know, first, how you as a child can cast an illusion, and second, why you aren’t wearing clothes. So, clothes are a requirement any time you leave your sleeping berths . . . bedrooms.”
She heaved a heavy sigh. “You were lucky. I discovered, quite by accident, that there are certain magical and muggle areas where there are spells that cancel our disguises and stun you — just like a unicorn can cast a ling-spell and then stun you. The ponies have been quite proactive in sharing it with the humans, so it is best to stay in our natural forms as much as possible. Fortunately, I haven’t run across many, but that there are even a few is extremely inconvenient. We just don’t know when or where we’ll run into another. It could even be a place we’ve frequently been before, as I’ve noticed.”
She grinned. “Actually, there’s almost no reason to resort to disguises, anyway!” She began to feed them examples of how she had managed to gather love without changing her form. “Although,” she added, “we should probably do it regularly in private just to keep in practice.”
She grinned. “On the other hoof, minor alterations, such as hair or eye colour,” she demonstrated, “don’t trigger the spell. It appears that only a full change to another form is capable of setting it off. So, this,” in a quick crawl of green flame she changed to a tall boy with red hair, “will get you stunned and found out.”
They nodded their understanding.
“Now that there are more of us . . .,”
They could sense her delight.
“. . . we can experiment with how far we can go before triggering the spell, and escape before anyone finds us.”
They nodded again. They had to practice physical responses to questions and statements in this new world. Some of them were quite different from what they had been taught to expect when intermingling with ponies.
“We also need to get you wands.”
They nodded, assimilating her experience in Ollivanders.
“Given your apparent ages, I expect we’ll soon see owls bringing you your Hogwarts’ letters.” She frowned and studied them again. “They will probably put you in as first years, but with access to my experiences, you’ll be monumentally bored until you get to practice. We’ll have to think about that. Should we try to get them to place you as second years? Say that you already took lessons from tutors?”
She shook her head. “Well, I should give you a tour, first.” She turned and headed out of the bed-room. “Oh!” she said as they followed her, “Are you hungry? I have plenty of jars of love stored.” She began sharing with them her experiences in gathering emotional food at Hogwarts.
She could tell they were relieved that the food supply at Hogwarts would easily support the group. They would spend the time between now and starting Hogwarts reviewing everything she knew about this new world. Having access to the hive mind was one thing, personally learning the details and muscle memory so that you didn’t have to take a moment to search for the relevant information was important. That extra second it took to retrieve something, combined with not having the practice to smoothly use what they had retrieved, could mean the difference between surviving and not.
An owl arrived with their letters three days later.
They picked up their wands and school-supplies the next day.
۸-_-۸
The string of Equestrians that descended on The Leaky Cauldron that August nineteenth left everyone gaping. Thirty-nine students with outrageous hair colours, and parents with equally astonishing colours, trooped into the pub. Their hair colours revealed to everyone that they were foreigners — Atlanteans as everyone was calling them. That they were seven unicorns, thirteen pegasi, and nineteen earth wasn’t possible for the magicals to discern, but that’s what they were. None realized, at first, that only nine of the group were boys.
With their parents and escorts, there were almost a hundred adults with the students. All with the same incredibly long, brightly coloured hair.
Seeing them all together at the Embassy as humans was shocking, Harry had thought. While used to seeing the brightly coloured ponies, seeing the same hair colours on humans was . . . startling. He couldn’t help but wonder if it would soon become a fad among the wizards and witches to use a colour charm on their hair.
He knew from what his uncle had said about teenagers that it wouldn’t be long before he saw such things in the non-magical world. Teenagers would do most anything to “show” their rebellion against their staid parents, he had said. And give Harry a beating to ensure he never harboured such unruly thoughts.
The new students were also the best, brightest, and bravest colts and fillies that Equestria had to offer. Out of forty thousand students who were the right age, a thousand had volunteered.
The normal incoming class size for Hogwarts, for the last few years, had fallen to forty, his mum had told him. A severe drop as the Death Eaters had killed parents they thought weren’t “worthy” of living — and their children. The parents were either muggle or half-bloods — blood-traitors as the Death Eaters derisively called the latter.
During the Blood War, as some called it, spies in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had been a great source of leads for the Death Eaters. They viewed killing the young muggle-borns, and their families, as culling the herd of undesirables, the Princesses deduced.
So, the number of Equestrian students selected should bring the number of students in the First-year class up to what it used to be before the terrorists started. However, that was almost double the expected first-year attendance for the coming term. The Princesses knew there was no way that Hogwarts, or any school, really, could handle an incoming class that did that.
Next year, it would be worse, but not because of the ponies.
The Princesses knew from the witchery history books they had read, that when Lord Voldemort had died, people had celebrated. St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries had reported a “baby-boom” a year later as parents dared to have children, again. Fortunately, by the time the “baby-boomers” started to hit the school next year, the teaching-aides the Princesses had provided would be well-trained to handle the further increases.
From what Harry had learned of witches and wizards, so far, they hadn’t noticed that baby-boom arrival. The professors would be caught by surprise at the sudden increase in class sizes.
Unfortunately, the Princesses suspected, many Death Eaters who had escaped capture or Azkaban, had continued their attacks with the help of Ministry sympathizers. After the magical accidents were reversed, the aurors and Ministry ignored the underage muggle-borns until the next incident. If there were no more accidents, the Ministry officials assumed the muggle parents had moved. There were no welfare checks to notice that the families had perished in suspicious accidents weeks or months later. As long as the accident didn’t require an official obliviator, it was ignored as a muggle problem.
Which would keep the muggle-born Hogwarts’ numbers artificially low for the foreseeable future. At least until the Ministry caught the Death Eaters responsible for the attacks. In the meantime, the increase in pure-blood and half-blood children would still be a shock to the system.
The selection process for the Equestrian students to attend Hogwarts had been a lottery. Harry was sure that a large number of the “losers” were relieved at “missing” the opportunity to attend Hogwarts. Although they would deny it if asked.
The witches and wizards in the Leaky Cauldron could only stare in stunned disbelief as the newcomers trooped out of the floo in a nearly steady stream. Yes, the patrons had heard about the three foreigners at Hogwarts last year, and they had even seen a few photographs. That didn’t match the reality of watching almost two hundred Equestrians trooping through the tiny pub, non-stop. They quickly formed up into groups of fifteen to twenty — four or five students, their parents, and their guides. Then they moved into the little walled-off area behind the Pub that led to the Alley as the next group started forming up.
The students and their parents had been living at the Embassy housing in Little Whinging since June. They had been learning bipedal movement, and about the witching culture and its expectations. Their Hogwarts letters had started to arrive only days after the ones who were already eleven had moved into their new homes. The ponies with birthdays in July and August had received their letters by the last week of July.
Tom, the owner of the Pub, greeted many of the incoming adult Equestrian witches and wizards warmly. He had met the parents and escorts when they had visited and introduced themselves to him over the last few weeks. They had wanted to familiarize themselves with the Alley so they could conduct their charges properly. Knowing the shopkeepers was an important step to making things proceed smoothly, the Equestrians knew. Especially with their precocious and skittish young charges.
Each group entering the Alley headed off for a different store to prevent overwhelming the merchants.
The last group to exit the floo brought an almost palpable feeling of relief from the pub’s patrons — the red-headed family with Harry was well-known to everyone. They barely noticed Hermione and Myrtle. At thirteen, their group was smaller than the others, but at least they were familiar. Even Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, the three foreigners in the group, were recognizable to most of the witches and wizards present. That was mostly due to the Daily Prophet, naturally.
Today would be no exception. A photographer and reporter from that newsparchment had arrived at The Leaky Cauldron in time to watch the third group of prospective students go through. Which put them in a prime position to catch sight of Harry Potter and his friends.
The Daily Prophet had mentioned that the incoming class to Hogwarts was going to be hosting a number of “Atlanteans.” It also said that they preferred to be called “Equestrians,” for some unknown reason. The foreigners, according to the newsparchment, wanted to explore this new magic that involved wands. Where else would they go but the best school in England and Europe, Hogwarts, the paper concluded smugly.
The paper had never suggested, though, that so many would be attending, Harry knew. They would make up almost half the incoming class. Harry knew that there had been rumours that the number of Atlanteans was greater than those of United Kingdom witches and wizards. However, in a show of their overweening arrogance, the witches and wizards had pooh-poohed that thought. Considering the number of students they were seeing today, he could see that they were beginning to think that maybe those rumours were true. At the very least, there was as many Atlanteans as British wizards and witches, or they wouldn’t have had so many Firsties!
That meant the stores, and economy in general, were about to get a big boost as the demand for goods and services shot up, he knew. What they didn’t know was that the Princesses were funding the students out of the Royal Treasury. They considered it an investment in Equestria’s future. These students would be the core of their new society.
The Princesses knew their enemies at home would quickly discover the advantages of wands. They intended their ponies to be well ahead of any who might want to take advantage of the new skill-set to harm them. They would keep the method of making wands a secret for as long as possible. Wand-making facilities would be restricted to inside heavily fortified locations, only, for quite a few years. Individual wands would be closely tracked for as long as it was feasible.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t stop theft. That was balanced, however, in that stolen wands never worked as well as they did for the original owner. The wand chooses the witch, after all.
As soon as the Weasleys started to appear, the Prophet’s photographer started taking photos in earnest. The next issue would document Harry Potter’s, and his friends’, trip through Diagon Alley, Harry had no doubt. That their arrival was timed to coincide with the mass of Equestrian students going through the pub was no accident, Harry knew. Coverage of Harry’s shopping trip today would no longer be the exclusive focus of the newsparchment.
Meanwhile, the pub’s patrons gave a sigh of relief that no more people with brightly coloured hair came out of the floo, only normal wizards and witches. Who all groused about the floo being unavailable for so long, and asking Tom, “Was there a problem?”
Harry had to chuckle when the twins took off on their own as their mother, Mrs. Weasley, ordered them to behave just before they disappeared into the crowded market. As if that would make any difference in what they did! He knew they planned to examine the Alley thoroughly for likely locations for their new business. Mail-order was fine up to a point, then only a store would suffice. They were already brewing potions almost non-stop during the day, making over a dozen different products based on Sweetie Belle’s “discoveries.” They were actually having difficulty getting enough owls to handle their orders!
And that was despite Mr. Malfoy handling all their business for their Gender Gingers!
It was only the requirement that they had to pass their OWLS to use wands that made them stay in Hogwarts.
Despite the Equestrian Embassy warning the Alley merchants that they planned for their students to come in that day, and the numbers to expect, Harry anticipated long lines. Sadly, he wasn’t disappointed. It was still early morning and already the proprietor of Slug and Jiggers looked stressed as one group of students left his store and their group walked in. The photographer and reporter following them did nothing to make him relax. Still, he did his best to make each and every one of them received the times they needed for the coming year.
Unlike the other students coming in his door, the Equestrians were ignoring the standard “Hogwarts Kit” that most students purchased — which was a problem. He had stocked up on those in anticipation of the increased sales. The problem was that the “Atlanteans” were following the recommendations of Harry and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as well as Rarity. The Princesses had instructed the parents to buy the better quality, and more expensive kits. Not the most expensive ones, though. Those tended to be padded out with supplies and instruments the students would never use.
The poor shopkeeper definitely didn’t have thirty-nine of those! He usually only kept a dozen and a half of those on-hand for the pure-blood students.
The wizard could see he would run out well before noon. He’d have to resort to telling the purchasers he would have to owl them their kits. Which wasn’t a hardship for the students, or their parents, in their opinions, by any means. It just meant less for them to carry around today.
Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions was mobbed, as well, Harry saw. He was so happy that Rarity had adjusted their robes back in Ponyville. She had complained, however, that acromantula silk was getting more difficult to acquire. It seemed that its extreme rarity in Equestria made it a much sought-after product. Given the much, much larger market of customers in Equestria as opposed to Earth, she had substantially depleted the stockpiles of the product on this side of the portal.
“If somepony can come up with a reliable source, they will get rich selling it here!” she had groused during his, thankfully, short fitting. Harry knew there was an acromantula colony near Hogwarts. Maybe he could get Hagrid to make a deal with them? A certain number of pounds of silk for a cow? A cow from Earth, that is. He shuddered. There was no way he would consider an animal from Equestria in trade!
Still, it would be hilarious for the wizards to discover, in few months, that the lowly half-giant was a major depositor in Gringotts. All he had to do was talk Aragog into cooperating.
However, it was the line out of the store at Flourish & Blotts Bookshop that took him by surprise. Especially because it seemed to be primarily witches who should have graduated from Hogwarts years, even decades, earlier.
It was only when their group pushed their way closer that he realized that crowd was because of a famous author being present to sign his books. Gilderoy Lockhart — Harry had never heard of him — had apparently written a series of bestsellers, Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Marauding with Monsters Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, Gilderoy Lockhart’s Guide to Household Pests, and One Hundred and One Practical Uses for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. His latest was Magical Me, the one he was signing in the bookshop.
They lost Mrs. Weasley to the line to have her copies of the required DADA books autographed. Harry did a double-take when he saw Hermione join her. Then again, he knew from Rainbow Dash, and her obsession with the Daring Do books by A.K. Yearling, how rabid a fan could get over the thrill of having an author sign their book.
The crowd turned out to be a life-saver for Harry, he discovered. It made it impossible for Gilderoy to reach him when he realized that Harry Potter had actually walked into the store. One look at the wizard in his baby-blue robes, and wizard’s hat set at a jaunty angle on his wavy blonde hair, was enough to tell Harry he wanted nothing to do with that man. Harry pretended not to hear him waving and calling Harry’s name.
Unfortunately, the crowded store made it nearly impossible to browse, so they quickly acquired their books and regrouped out in front of the store. It would be a while before Mrs. Weasley and Hermione escaped the line that snaked out the door — the two hadn’t even gotten inside yet!
Percy had wandered off after getting his books, so Ron and Harry, and his herd-mates, decided to do a bit of wandering themselves. They told the other two that they would meet with them at the Leaky Cauldron. Mr. Weasley thought that was a wonderful idea. He decided to drag Hermione’s parents off with him to the pub to have a bit of a drink, and talk about muggle things.
Harry and the CMC had to do a double-take when they saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and their parents pass them on their way to one of the other shops with another group. Neither had mentioned being part of the incoming Hogwarts class at Harry’s party. Had their fathers pulled some strings at the last minute?
Still, it would be nice having a couple of new familiar faces at Hogwarts.
They managed to run into the twins and Lee Jordan in Gambol and Japes, the joke and prank shop. However, they soon separated — only after picking up a few choice products to send home to Pinkie Pie. And a few for use at Hogwarts, of course.
Livening things up a bit, the three pegasi groups switched to their pony forms and flew overhead to decrease the congestion below. Several flew too high and discovered that if you flew too high, and left the Alley and its environs below, they could no longer see the Alley. The only way to return was to go through the Alley entrance beside the Leaky Cauldron. The height-limit seemed to be about five or ten feet above the rooftops of the Alley’s buildings.
The Guard had already mapped out the boundaries of the magic field covering Diagon Alley. They knew somepony would see if he or she could fly out of the Alley and back. As a result, several pegasi Guards were posted on the rooftops of the surrounding muggle buildings to help guide the errant ponies back to where they belonged.
Harry did notice the Guards standing — attempting to be casual — at the intersection to Knockturn Alley. They were clearly there to prevent any curious ponies from taking a look at the disreputable businesses that lurked down that way. Every once in a while, he saw a student escape her minders, only to be dragged back — complaining, saying they only wanted to take a look — moments later. A few adults had to redirected, as well.
Harry noticed at least two pegasi lurking at roof level looking down at the intersection. He was sure they were there to make sure none of the regular residents of that dubious locale managed to entice one of their charges into leaving the safety of the main Alley.
Eventually, after exploring a few of the smaller shops that the vast horde of students and their parents weren’t visiting — yet — the group headed for the pub. They had an excellent fish-and-chips lunch, then went back to The Burrow.
۸-_-۸