Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire — Intermission

by Damaged


The Colt who Lived

It hurt.

Harry Potter had to fight the mental confusion that came with having lost another place that had felt like home, even if he hated the people who'd lived there. He had even been on his way to tell them he was leaving forever—but that opportunity had been snatched away.

Beside him Addera didn't know what to do. Harry was hurting and, as best she could tell, biting everyone around him to death wouldn't solve the problem. She was out of ideas.

"Is there something the matter?" Twilight's voice had so much concern in it that Harry's own self-pity-party halted because he wanted to make her feel better. It also snuffed out any rising need to become a very angry nirik.

"This." Harry gestured at the mass of humans milling about. "I just—It's nice to know my friends are safe with their families, but it's a reminder that—that I don't have anywhere to go now. It's Hogwarts or—"

Twilight bit her lower lip while he spoke, but couldn't stop from cutting in. "I mean, I have a big library. You're planning to come back when they start teaching again, right?"

"Well, yeah. I want to finish learning how to be a wizard."

"There's a place for you in Ponyville, but first we make sure your teachers know you're leaving, got it?" Deploying a wry smile, Twilight was trying to hide the panic and confusion she possessed—she had no idea why she'd just offered to take care of him. With Spike living with her, her life was plenty full of moments where she'd wondered how things would be different if she wasn't taking care of a baby dragon.

"Wait, you mean I could live in your library?" It was hard for Harry to fight against the excitement that was building. He wanted it to be true so much, but at the same his doubts clawed at the idea. Was she telling the truth? What was the downside? Would he get lost without his friends? For Harry, at least, the last one didn't really seem true. He'd made friends in Ponyville, anyway.

The look of surprise and excitement cemented in Twilight's mind that this was definitely the right thing to do. She nodded and made a sound of assent. "Come on, let's go talk to that pegasus teacher who came for you last time."

Addera was almost as excited about it as Harry. She took extra stock of the unicorn and judged her a good creature. Her motives seemed pure enough, so she decided to just follow and see where this would take them. Where it took them was the castle.

Excited enough to bounce with each step, Harry led the way into the castle and then up to the Hogwarts section. Knowing that if she was anywhere, Madam Hooch would either be in the teacher lounge or outside by the quidditch pitch.

"This castle is amazing," Twilight said as she looked around at the moving staircases. She stayed close to Harry, not knowing the pattern of their movement.

"It's lunacy is what it is. Took me almost a year to get the hang of all these. Here's our stop." Harry jumped off the stairs as they swung past the hallway that led to the teachers' lounge.

Laughing as she jumped off right behind Harry, Twilight looked back as the stairwell moved away and another was zooming toward them. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"Nah. Most of us know how to cast a spell for soft landings. Besides, it's better than the alternative." Still with a bounce in his step, Harry pranced toward the teachers' lounge door.

"What's the alternative?"

"A boring castle without any magic in it." Straightening up at the door to the teachers' lounge, Harry raised his hoof and knocked on it three times—then a fourth for good measure.

Jumping to his feet and apologizing to Sirius, Remus walked to the door and opened it. It was a surprise indeed to see what he thought was two unicorns. He recognized the smaller one as his friend's godson. "Harry Potter?" He tried not to let his tension at an impending full moon get to him.

"Uh." Harry couldn't for the life of him remember Remus' name. "Hi. Is Madam Hooch here?"

Standing up, Rolanda set her charged quill down on the blotter beside her work and walked over to the doorway. When she saw Harry, she felt herself smiling despite the long hours she'd spent that day already. "Harry! I would have thought you'd be with your friends."

"They're—Well, they're kinda busy. Besides, we have a better idea that me hanging around the castle for the next few months. Right, Twilight?" Tilting his head up, Harry felt a thrill to have her with him. When everyone else had kinda forgotten about him, Twilight had asked him what he wanted to do. That's when an odd sensation caught his attention and he turned to look at Addera. "Oh! Twilight?"

The sudden shout surprised Twilight. "What is it?"

"There will be room for Addera too?"

This made Addera gasp a hiss in surprise. As a basilisk, she generally only had room for the more hot emotions, but pleasant surprise was somewhat new to her. She turned her attention to Twilight.

"Of course there will be. And for your owl, though I'll have to ask Fluttershy what they might need to eat." Twilight looked at Addera and gave her best smile. "I hadn't forgotten you, I promise."

"It is much appreciated, Twilight Sparkle." Addera flicked her tongue out to taste the air—which is when she tasted Remus Lupin and froze. There were not many things that were genuinely dangerous to a basilisk, but a werewolf was one such. Narrowing her attention on Remus, she plotted how would be the easiest way to get Harry and Twilight away from him.

"Am I to take it you're here to ask me if you can summer at Miss Twilight Sparkle's home?" Rolanda asked. "Because I am the wrong person to be asking. You need to see Headmistress McGonagall."

Twilight started to see a bit-passing game starting and resisted the urge to sigh. "I'm sure Harry knows where that is, right Harry?"

"Sure do. Come on."

Addera took up the rear and kept her glasses' focus on watching the door close behind them. Only when it was did she finally relax and slither quickly to catch up with Harry. "I do not like that man, Harry Potter."

"Huh? Remus? He's one of my godfather's friends. What's up with him?" Harry led the way to Minerva's little office. Knocking on the door, he heard her welcome them inside.

Addera liked Minerva. She saw the woman as fair and, if nothing else, tolerant of an ancient terror within her school. She slithered past Harry and Twilight and up to Minerva's desk. "Did you know Remus is a werewolf?"

Raising an eyebrow, Minerva now had even more questions added to her list for the day. "This isn't to leave the room, but yes, I do. He is receiving treatment for it, so you needn't worry. He is not a threat."

"My mother told me about their ilk. They are not to be underestimated." Addera wanted to take off her glasses and mesmerize Minerva and tell her to do something more—but she'd made a promise.

"He's really a werewolf? Oh my goodness, I've never seen one of those before! I wonder if he'd like to answer some questions?" Twilight actually felt her hooves itch in excitement.

It had been a long day. Between all the people rushing through the portal and her trying to get Albus' stray puppy settled, Minerva was not all that ready for interruptions. "Please refrain from bothering him. We're trying to get him settled and medicated such that his condition will not be a problem. What are you here for today of all days?"

"Well, I know you didn't really want me staying here over the summer, and with all my friends busy getting themselves settled…" Harry, being thoroughly British, had trouble trying to say he'd asked Twilight if he could stay with her.

Twilight felt it was time to step in and state her plan. "I offered my home if he wishes to not spend all his time around the Crystal Empire. Addera too."

It was an interesting offer, and one Minerva wasn't planning to argue too much with. She knew Twilight Sparkle as literally one of Equestria's heroes, and now a Crystal Empire hero too. And that was not taking into account she was the sister of Shining Armor. "Your home is appropriately sized?"

"Twilight lives in a giant tree!" Harry said. "It's also the town library!"

Chuckling nervously, Twilight nodded her head. "It is both those things. The Golden Oaks Library has an attached living area with three bedrooms." Put like that, she realized, it sounded far more ready for a pair of extra residents.

"That seems amenable." And, Minerva mentally added, far superior to anywhere else the poor boy has lived. "Please have him back here at the start of Sep— In three months time?"

Twilight nodded. "Will he need any school equipment?"

It was such a normal question that Minerva was immensely thankful that it had been asked. It implied an adult who was thinking and who knew what school meant. "Normally, yes. I'll try to have a booklist sent out the moment I know what we will be teaching. I presume this Golden Oaks Library is in—Ponyville?" The name had been dredged up from her memory and conversation with Rolanda.

"Sure is! If you mail anything to the Golden Oaks Library of Ponyville, I'll surely get it." Twilight thought it best left unsaid that she might have to do a little hunting to get said mail, given the town's mailmare.

"That won't be required. Though our owlery was damaged, most of our owls have returned." Minerva tried to avoid looking at Harry. She understood that he had started the owlery fire, but it had been dire circumstances. "I'll send an owl when we have everything finalized."

"An—" Twilight shook her head and looked at Harry, then back at Minerva. "You use owls to carry messages?"

"We do indeed. Owls are brilliant creatures, and with a little teaching can learn to deliver messages far faster than any common mail carrier." A sudden worry hit Minerva that had everything to do with this new world and the amount of magic they used. Humans and their little cars and bikes were one thing, but she had no idea how far the ponies used magic.

"So long as it makes it, that's all that matters." For a moment Twilight was about to stand up and leave, but she wanted to know one more thing. "Have you considered teaching ponies as well?"

The question hit Minerva like a hammer. Their student body had shrunk tremendously thanks to not every witch or wizard having come across, but Minerva hadn't really fully delved the idea of opening the doors to everyone. "It's something to think about. We still have most of our faculty intact, but have lost a significant portion of our student body."

"You started with me. Why not teach ponies?" Addera examined Minerva through the magic of her glasses. "You have plenty of wands with which to teach them."

"That's the problem, Addera. Each pony wishing to learn magic would either need to be a unicorn or be issued a wand. We have"—Minerva took a deep breath and slowly let it go—"a good amount of wands, but I am not aware of any wandmakers who came over."

"I mean, unless Charlie came over—Ron's big brother. He made Ron's current wand, right?" Harry looked up at the shocked face of Minerva. "What?"

"You're right. It wasn't a very good wand, but he definitely has the talent for it." Reaching to her face with a hoof, Minerva adjusted her glasses. "I believe it would be worth sending some owls out to attempt to find him. This may solve several problems at once. Thank you, all of you, and I expect to see both of you two back here in several months." She fixed her eyes on Addera and Harry, but her smile belayed any seriousness.

"Yes, headmaster," Harry Potter said.


The train ride, for Harry, felt far more relaxed and cathartic than the one to find the kirin. It almost seemed to take its time rumbling along the tracks—like the Hogwarts Express.

'Do you think there will be good hunting ahead?' Hedwig rotated her head from looking at the landscape speed by to looking across at Harry. It hadn't been easy to adjust to, but seeing a huge snake coiled around Harry no longer panicked her—she trusted the snake.

The presence in his head made Harry relax a little more into Addera's coils. 'I'm sure you'll be able to get food, Hedwig. Twilight's friend can make owl food, Twilight said, that is just the same as meat.'

Sneezing at the thought of eating non-meat food, Hedwig clacked her beak. 'If there's plant-things in it, I'll peck you.'

The shift in the train—from cruising to slowing down—jerked on everyone aboard. Harry spun his head around to look back out the window and saw Ponyville for a second time. The houses all looked welcoming, but for a brief instant he could see above them and spotted the Golden Oaks Library.

Meeting Sirius had been the high point of recent events for Harry, but his godfather had his own problems to take care of. Looking at Ponyville, he couldn't help but think that it was more of a home than he'd ever had before. "Thank you, uh, Twilight."

"Is something the matter?" Twilight asked.

For a moment Harry tried to find the right words. He tried to work out a way to describe how he felt—and in the end turned to something he knew well. "I feel like a quaffle. My parents died, so they handed me to the Dursleys, now I can't get back there so—well, I'm not being handed to you. You said you'd take care of me, which is why I said thanks, but I feel like at any moment I'll have to find another place."

It was such a simple solution. A few months a year until he was deemed adult wasn't too much pressure on her, after all. "Then I will promise you will have a place to stay until you wish to move out." It was probably more than she'd meant to promise, but it felt right to Twilight.

"You really mean that?" Harry asked.

"Sure do!" In her head Twilight was only mildly panicking at having taken on such a huge responsibility. Mildly, of course, by Twilight standards.

"Who are you, Twilight Sparkle?" Addera asked. "Sister of a prince, hero of Equestria—and librarian."

The train stopped and Twilight managed to get to her hooves and used her magic to heft not just her own things, but Harry's too. "Are you hungry?"

Addera pondered cursing. The evasion had been awkward, but under the circumstances Addera wasn't prepared to push—she had several months to find out. If there was one thing she'd learned after so many years confined to the tunnels under Hogwarts, it was patience.

With Hedwig on his back, Harry jumped out of Addera's coils and landed on the floor easily. One thing he'd learned about being a kirin was their agility. Jumping twice his height into the air and landing on a lower surface? Piece of cake for a kirin.

When he stepped off the train, he was excited to see who was waiting for him. "Hi, Spike!"

A little surprised to see Harry, Addera, and Hedwig, Spike glanced at Twilight before he marched up and started grabbing bags. "Hiya, Harry, Addera. What's goin' on?"

"Harry and Addera will be living with us." No matter how many times she said it, Twilight felt shocked that it was true. "They'll be going back to Hogwarts in a few months, but he needed somewhere stable to live."

Unable to hold back a giggle, Harry tried to cover his mouth with a hoof but was too late. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for being happy, Harry." Twilight waved to the train's conductor and started walking down the steps of the platform.

Biting back on the joke, Harry followed along and to his new home.


The first day proved strange for Harry. It was, apparently, a Sunday. He'd gotten up, slipped out to the kitchen area and started cleaning. It was just like when he was back at the Dursleys', but the difference was it was his own doing—a habit.

Unable to believe his eyes when he entered the kitchen, Spike stared at all the polished and clean surfaces. "Hey, uh, you don't have to clean up like that. I normally take care of cleaning and cooking."

"It might sound a bit crazy, but I kinda liked the cleaning part of living with the Dursleys. Well, as long as they didn't keep trying to punish me for things I didn't do. It was normally Dudley's fault. Sometimes he would just grab a bottle of milk from the fridge, drink some of it, and then drop it on the floor. Aunt Petunia would blame me for it." It surprised Harry how little anger bringing that up caused him.

"Well, just don't take over cooking too or I'll have to find somewhere else to live." Spike pulled his stool around and in front of the stove. "How do you like your pancakes?"

"Uh, do you have marmalade?"

Narrowing his eyes, Spike shook his head. "I don't even know what that is."

"Oh." Finishing up his Locomotion charm, Harry set the broom aside. "What do you normally have on yours again?"

"You probably don't want rubies. Maybe just go with a little syrup and a small dollop of ice cream." Pulling out bowls and ingredients, Spike started to make the pancake batter.

Shrugging a little, Harry looked around the room. "Where's the shower? I should probably clean up before breakfast."

Spike pointed to a door while he worked. "Down the hall there. Don't be too long."

A shower later—though he lacked anything but soap to clean himself—and Harry was partially dry and walking back to the kitchen. Addera was already curled up on a chair at the table opposite Twilight. The smell of cooking pancakes almost completely blew his mind.

"There he is. We were just discussing extra classes for you." Twilight tried to hide her grin at seeing dismay on Harry's face. "It would only be two days a week over the holidays. I was out earlier to invite Cheerilee to drop by to discuss it."

"This will be good for us both, Harry Potter. I need to learn these things too." It was hard to admit, but Addera had learned that bitter pills sometimes needed to be swallowed. She was also aware that if they both attended school, she could better look out for him.

"I guess. What will they teach in this school?" Walking around to an empty seat, Harry bounced with all four legs and landed on the seat easily. Even with the prospect of school on school holidays, this still felt like more of a home than the Dursleys' in just one day.

"That's what we have Cheerilee coming over for. At the very least you will need to learn Equestrian history and geography. I don't know exactly what kind of unicorn magic you could do, but that's something you and me can figure out together." It was just what she and Addera had already talked about, but Twilight was already excited to help two new (kinda) students start their journey in Equestrian schooling. "We can probably skip anything pertaining to actually getting your cutie mark, but I think a good grounding in magic would be good, as well as some personal time to work on using your fire—uh—form."

Harry's school holidays, he realized, were not actually going to be holidays from school. He consoled himself with the thought that learning lots of things was definitely what wizards did.

The conversation would have continued except Spike started ferrying plates stacked with pancakes on them to the table. Each plate had eight round and thick pancakes, and all of them were topped with a thick, dark syrup and a dollop of ice cream surrounded in berries. Spike's had an extra dusting of red gemstones.

Talking ceased, as each dug into their breakfast. Harry couldn't help but compare the delicious and heavy breakfast to those he'd had at Hogwarts, though there was something better about the food Spike made that caused the flavors to seem more vibrant and exciting.

Addera, likewise, was impressed with the flavors. She also realized right away that there was something extra in her pancakes—meat. It wasn't pig or cow or even sheep. Addera could taste, very faintly, fish. She looked at Spike, though with her glasses on he couldn't see her doing it, and she did her best to smile at him. "Thank you."

"Huh?" Twilight looked between Spike and Addera.

"I put that piece of fish you'd caught while fishing with Applejack into Addera's pancakes. She's a snake pony, Twilight. She needs protein." It was simple and logical for Spike. "You should talk to Fluttershy, she can make snake food that doesn't even need fish."

"Oh, right. We need to get her to help with some owl food for Hedwig too," Harry said.

The rest of breakfast went by in silence until there was the sound of knocking downstairs. Twilight jumped to her hooves and rushed downstairs. When she opened the door she was surprised to see Cheerilee and Fluttershy waiting there—both looking excited. "Uh," Twilight began, "I wasn't expecting you, Fluttershy."

"I was talking to Stamped—he's the pony who works as conductor for the train—and he said you came back yesterday with a young kirin, a snake pony, and an owl." Fluttershy was trying to look past Twilight to see if she could spot the owl. "A-And I thought I should come over and talk to them since the owl is from another world and—and they might need special meals." When she couldn't see the owl in question, Fluttershy started walking forward—having forgotten about Twilight.

"Uh…" Cheerilee was a little bemused by Fluttershy's pushiness, but she could remember her having done much the same thing when Cheerilee had told her a large rat had wandered into the schoolhouse and needed to be removed. Giving Twilight a knowing look, she asked, "Would you like me to come back later?"

"I think Fluttershy will be distracted enough with Hedwig that we'll be able to talk. Come on in." With room already made by Fluttershy—who was now looking under books trying to find Hedwig—Twilight led Cheerilee to the stairs.

"It's exciting to have two new students coming in, but why are they joining mid-year?" Cheerilee asked as they both walked up the stairs.

Noticing the pair heading upstairs, Fluttershy realized her target was probable up there too. Letting loose an excited squee, she spread her wings and performed a stunt worthy of Rainbow Dash as she turned side on and flew up the stairs with her wing between Twilight and Cheerilee. Coming out at the top, she saw Hedwig sitting on the back of Harry's chair. "Oh my goodness! Aren't you just the most pretty owl I've ever seen?"

Looking at Fluttershy with a little confusion, Hedwig let out a tiny peep sound.

"You're hungry? I'll find you something to suit your diet right away." Fluttershy flipped open her saddlebag and rummaged around in it. With her snout buried in the bag, her next words were more muffled, "Was there anything specifically you wanted?"

'She can understand me.' The revelation excited Hedwig, who let out a longer whistling noise—both a thank you and—she hoped—an answer.

"Oh, well you're welcome Miss Hedwig. I don't have any of those, but I do have fish. Do you like fish?" Fluttershy waited for more whistling from Hedwig before continuing. "Well, that's nice, but I don't like animals eating my other little friends. So I can make you a fish meal once a week, but have you considered these cookies?"

Harry watched as Fluttershy offered Hedwig a cookie, and after a moment of inspecting it, she tried a piece.

'It tastes like meat!'

"What's, uh, in those?" Harry asked.

Smiling now Hedwig was showing signs of enjoyment, Fluttershy fluffed her wings a little. "They are made like most cookies, but I make sure to only use ingredients that would agree with a predator's digestion. There's a secret ingredient…" It was the only thing that had Fluttershy a little on-edge about the cookies. "It's a little of Harry's blood. He donates it to help give the cookies the meat-flavor most carnivores need. He's such a big dear."

Confusion reigned in Harry's mind. He watched Hedwig devour the cookie completely. "He's a big deer? You take blood from a deer to make these?"

Fluttershy stared at Harry and tried to make sense of his words. Her mind backtracked and she realized where things had gone wrong. "Oh no, I wasn't saying he was a deer, just that he was a—Harry's a bear and a dear friend of mine."

"Oh." Harry struggled to get his head into gear given all the happy owl almost-thoughts rattling around in his head. "Oh! I think I have it. It's still nice of him."

A warm tingle ran all over Fluttershy at hearing how friendly Harry was. "It is. The cookies won't be enough on their own, though. She'll still need a fish or two a week."

Fluttershy still disliked having to feed such predators any meat, but of all the creatures she knew of, fish had so little intelligence they wouldn't even talk to her. She had tried, of course, spending weeks with some larger ones—but all they could ever think about was eating and growing.

"If you'd like," Fluttershy said, "I could have Harry wait next time he goes fishing and take you along? I can get you a fishing rod from Applejack."

His thoughts rushing around, Harry tried to remember where he'd heard that name before. Then it hit him—the cowboy pony. "She fishes too?"

"Some ponies eat fish. Her whole family mostly eats apples, but they sometimes eat them. My parents had me try some once, but I don't like it. Even if fish aren't as smart as spiders, I don't want to eat them."

Having spent her time listening so far, Addera finally decided it was time to address Fluttershy. "Could I eat those too?"

"Harry?" Cheerilee looked at Harry Potter and nodded to the stairs leading downstairs. "Could we have a talk about what I can help you learn?"

Harry had been dreading this. What more did a wizard need to learn, after all, than magic and when to use more magic? He climbed down from his seat—leaving Addera and Hedwig to fawn on Fluttershy—and followed Cheerilee downstairs.

The library itself was very wizardy to Harry's thinking. There were books stuffed into nooks and crannies everywhere, but despite the haphazard shape of each place, the books were sitting on dusted shelves.

"Well, Harry, what would you like to learn?" It wasn't her first time dealing with a clever foal who had non-standard learning requirements, which is why Cheerilee liked to put the onus on the foal.

"M-Magic." It was the first and most obvious thing Harry could think of.

"You will have Twilight for that—as well as your other school." Cheerilee sketched a circle in the air with her hoof. "How about I try a different question? What do you think you should learn?"

It was an annoying question because Harry knew the answers. Hogwarts was amazing, and he loved his time learning magic there, but he'd been at a public school before then—he knew what he was missing. "Maths, English, geography…" Sigh wasn't an answer, but it came out of his mouth nonetheless.

"They teach those at your other school, surely?"

"Not exactly. They got us to learn to use a quill, ink, and blotter, but it wasn't exactly English. We didn't have any book reports or anything. As for maths, well, there was a class on numbers relating to magic. Geography wasn't taught at all. Oh, we had some history, but it was only wizarding world history." Harry knew where this was going. "I was at a public school two years ago. I hope I'm not far behind."

Cheerilee reached out and put a hoof on Harry's slumped shoulder. Foals feeling left behind was something she could deal with. "We'll just need to find out. Class tomorrow will be some tests. Answer whatever you can and put a line through the things you can't. And Harry, there will be things you can't answer on the sheet, so don't feel that you have failed when you find your limit."

It was both reassuring and a little scary. Harry managed to slow his emotions from spiraling with the promise of burning something soon. "D-Did Twilight tell you about my, uh, anger?"

"She did, and she went one better." Pulling a sheaf of paper from her saddlebags, Cheerilee held it out to Harry. "Twilight is working on a manuscript for a book about kirin. That copy is a very rough draft."

"Uh." Holding out his hoof, Harry carefully took the papers by sitting back and sandwiching them between both forelegs. "I don't exactly have the hoof or horn things worked out yet."

It was hard not to want to have serious words with Twilight, but Cheerilee knew the mare and knew that this sort of thing was why Twilight had fetched her. "If you'd like your first lesson now, why don't we at least get you able to hold things with your hoof?"


Still not understanding how it worked, Harry nonetheless used his hooves now to move things around. He'd spent the morning cleaning again, had eaten the breakfast Spike had cooked them, and was already walking out the door—he even closed it with his hoof.

Before Harry had even turned around to face them, Scootaloo felt her excitement boil up. "Hiya!"

"Hi!" Sweetie Belle almost bounced in place at having their new friend back.

"Howdy. Miss Cheerilee asked us if we'd help you find the school today." Apple Bloom delivered her best smile. "And we promised her we wouldn't dunk water on you this time."

Harry watched Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glare at Sweetie Belle for a moment. "It's okay, really. So, uh, you want to lead on?" The walk to school wasn't long, but it did come with a wall of questions from his new friends.

When he stepped into the classroom that the three fillies herded him toward, Harry realized they were probably the last to arrive.

"If you fillies could take your seats, I'd like to introduce our newest student to the class." Teaching, Cheerilee would always say, energized her. Imparting knowledge onto young minds—even the more problematic ones—made her entire being buzz with excitement. "Everypony, this is Harry Potter. Would you like to tell us something about yourself, Harry?"

That was his cue to spend the rest of the day explaining everything that'd happened to him since he got his letter, thus avoiding the test Cheerilee was going to impart upon him. The problem was, Harry didn't feel like doing that. "Hello everyone. My name's Harry Potter. I like flying."

There was a few snorts from around the foals, but Harry realized Scootaloo was staring at him with her wings fluffed out in surprise. "That is, I like flying on my broom. I could bring it tomorrow and show you?" He looked up at Cheerilee and got a nod.

"Please take a seat, Harry." Before she started her class, Cheerilee took the first test over to Harry and set it before him. "Do your best. Now, class, I want to start on——"

Looking down at the paper, Harry almost cursed. Being British, he knew a lot of great curse words he suspected would make Cheerilee very upset with him. The first question was easy—probably the easiest in anyone's life.

2 + 2 =

Harry carefully wrote a 4 in, thankfully for the lesson in using his hooves.

The maths got harder. He figured every second question elevated to a new level. He got thirteen answered before he started seeing concepts he couldn't understand. Letters scattered through numbers he understood, and knew how to solve for them, but when they started getting ticks and other things around them he froze and used the red pen he'd brought with him to cross out the rest.

Cheerilee was teaching a morning math class to the rest of the students when she noticed Harry had finished the first exam. With little fanfare she selected the next from her table and carried it over. Pausing just a moment, she checked Harry's exam and nodded, "Well done."

The praise felt a little hollow. Harry had gotten barely to the bottom of the first page of three. For the first time he felt a little upset with what was being taught at Hogwarts. The page said geography, but I was worried that this would be impossible. How would I know anything about Equestria?

Opening the exam, Harry found a full-page map of Equestria. The detail was quite good, and it listed place names and some information about them. His mind raced and, when he found the first question was asking about a particular town, he referenced back to the map and information.

It was all just looking up and looking for the details. Some of it meant he had to work out how far places were apart, but it was more interesting than it was hard, and in no time he'd answered all but the last question.

What is the nearest city to Tartarus?

Harry double, triple, and then quadruple checked the map, but couldn't find Tartarus. After a fifth check he finally remembered what Cheerilee had said—he wouldn't be able to answer all the questions. So, putting a line thought that last one, he lifted his head to look at her.

When Cheerilee spotted this exam, with all but one of the questions answered, she brightened. It was more than just geographical extrapolation, there was several logic problems she'd embedded in the questions. "Next. Do your best."

Watching Cheerilee return to her lesson, Harry looked down at his exam to find a slip of paper sitting on it. Unfolding it as he reached for his pen, he paused.

Where are you from?

Looking around, he saw an earth pony filly with a two-tone purple and white mane and pink coat widening her eyes slightly. Harry tried to work out if he should lie on the paper, but then he had a better idea.

Tartarus

He folded the paper back up and, feeling smug because he might be able to work out the final answer of the previous exam, he tossed it toward Diamond's desk.

Having to lunge to catch the note, Diamond couldn't help but look back at Harry and his odd body—though she thought his glasses were cute. She narrowed her eyes a little. He had a weird horn, but she was fairly sure he wasn't a unicorn, so that might just be normal for his kind.

The shriek as Diamond Tiara read the answer on the note startled everyone. It wasn't until lunchtime that she got to talk with Harry. "That was mean."

Having given up on using his hooves to feed himself (mostly because he knew exactly where they'd been), Harry had cast a locomotion charm on his sandwich. He just took a bite and chewed for a bit before swallowing. "I could say the same about passing me notes while I was trying to focus."

Diamond opened her mouth to reply, then saw trouble coming. "Oh, hold up, cutie mark clods incoming." She nodded in the direction of the three fillies approaching them. "What do you losers want?"

"We came to talk to our friend!" Apple Bloom stomped right up to Diamond Tiara and glared at her. "And don't get in our way."

When Diamond got to her hooves and glared at her friend, Scootaloo rushed up to give support.

Meanwhile, Sweetie watched as Harry got up and walked off. Biting her lip and looking between Harry and her two friends, she judged that since Silver Spoon wasn't around, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom could handle Diamond Tiara.

Harry saw Sweetie catch up and slowed down a little so she could walk without rushing. "Hey."

"Is something wrong?" Sweetie asked.

"Not really. They just seemed more interested in arguing." Harry wasn't all that confused about what had just happened—after spending two years at Hogwarts, he could appreciate natural rivalries. "Can you show me something cool with your horn?"

"Uh, well, I can pick things up with it." Looking around for a good target, Sweetie spotted a rock and turned her focus on it. She definitely could pick things up with her horn, though neither her sister nor her parents let her pick up breakable things.

Harry watched as the stone wobbled and slowly lifted, surrounded by the pale greenish glow of Sweetie's magic. But he didn't just watch with his eyes, he focused through his horn, too. With his horn, Harry could feel the rush of magic from Sweetie to the rock, though it seemed kinda jagged and round-about. "Can I try now?"

"Sure you can!" Sweetie was surprised at how much fun it was to teach somepony to use their horn. "Just focus on feeling the rock first, then try holding it for a bit. That's how I was taught."

Nodding, Harry tried to reach out to the rock. It wasn't easy. He'd only typically used very small amounts of magic through his horn, but the flow he sensed even from Sweetie was huge by comparison. That's when he remembered a time he hadn't held back.

Looking at the rock, he reached out with what he hoped was the right amount of magic. All he could see of his horn was a red glow above his eyes, but then he noticed the rock was glowing too. "Is that right?"

"Yup! Now try to feel it. There's a little bump on the other side. Try to feel that out."

Harry reached out again with the tornado of magic that seemed to be what ponies and kirin worked with. Holding the stone again, he tried to press gently on it to feel what it was, and to his surprise it worked. He could feel the stone like it was in his hand, and rolling his magic around it let him feel all the sides. "This is pretty good. Should I try to pick it up?"

Giggling, Sweetie nodded. "Go ahead."

Holding the rock, Harry tried to lift it with that magical hand, and to his surprise the rock started to lift. "Is it really this easy?"

"Well, your horn is actually on fire, and I think the rock is glowing red-hot now, but yes." For a moment Sweetie wondered if she should get another bucket of water.

Blinking, Harry dropped the stone only to see it still glowing red—but now that was from its own heat. "Ahh! Wait, I can create water!" Working the incantation to the Water-Making charm was easy, Harry sighted down his horn and let his magic flow—only for a spout of fire to erupt from his horn instead of water.

Without having her own water at hoof, Sweetie panicked a little until she realized that she could probably do the spell Harry had just messed up. In her own mind it would be just like cooking—she was excited and terrified. Concentrating on what he'd said and what he'd done with his head, she pointed her horn at the puddle of flame and said, "Aguamenti!"

There was a pull of magic along her horn, and to Sweetie's shock a fountain of water shot from it. "It worked!" Turning to Harry, she completely forgot that it was still working.

The rush of water hitting his face was enough of a shock that Harry could stop the fire pouring from his horn. "On the fire! On the fire!"

"Oh! Right!" Turning her head back, Sweetie continued to hose down the fire until there was nothing left but mud an a (now cold) stone. "How do I stop it?!"

"Just—Just pull back your magic."

Slowly trying that, Sweetie felt a sort of pop and the flow of water just stopped. "It worked!"

"It did." Walking closer, Cheerilee looked between the two. "You're both lucky I saw it all happen. I don't think I would have believed this"—she gestured at the mud puddle and burned grass—"would have been an innocent accident. Was there a reason why you made a fountain of fire, Harry?"

"I don't get it. I tried to cast a Water-Making charm. It just—" Harry pointed one hoof to the mess they'd made.

"And it did work because I cast it!" Remembering now that she'd cast one of Harry's spells, Sweetie bounced on her hooves a few times. "It wasn't like cooking at all. It worked!"

"Yeah. You really saved my bacon." The moment he said it, Harry had to wonder if ponies had bacon. When none of them seemed to freak out, he figured he'd gotten away with it.

Cheerilee accepted the loss of a single patch of grass as a minor price for letting Sweetie Belle and Harry Potter work together on magic. "Okay. Everypony back inside. Class will resume shortly." As she walked back, she pondered who to contact about repairing the grass.

By the end of the day Harry had sat through two more exams. They weren't as difficult as he was worried about, but he was sure he'd been better able to handle these topics when he'd still been at non-wizarding school.

When everypony else was leaving, Cheerilee gave Harry a look that said she wanted him to remain. Knowing the verdict was coming, he waited in his seat for the news—expecting the worst.

"Harry," Cheerilee said when the last of her normal class had left, "first of all, relax. The results were quite good."

That news surprised Harry. "Are you sure you didn't read it wrong?"

Shaking her head and even laughing at his joke, Cheerilee turned to the blackboard and started writing. "I tested you on several things—more than what I'd said initially. I knew you wouldn't know much more about Equestrian geography than the places you'd been, so I used that exam as a test of your problem-solving skills. On that, you aced it. Your focus and attention to detail make me believe that catching you up on the things you are behind on will be very easy indeed."

Staring at the heading Cheerilee wrote—Problem Solving—Harry was astonished to see her write a 100 there. "But I didn't get the last one? Where is Tartarus?"

"Tartarus is a secret, magical prison. Nopony knows where it is." Cheerilee went on to write Mathematics. "Here you were a little behind. Some of the concepts I'd expect a colt your age to know were absent, but I believe that won't take you long to pick up.

"Language is another matter. You are reading a few grades lower than you should be, though your comprehension is high. Probably more of that problem solving skill. It really shouldn't take a lot to bring you up to speed for a colt your age. If you work with me, we may be able to correct these mistakes within the time you'll be here." It was a challenge, because Cheerilee knew that without Harry's help, she couldn't teach him any of it. She had a thought about him, though, that he would take up such a task easily.

"On one condition." Harry holding to his wizarding ways, tried to keep the smile of his snout—and failed. "I don't have to use a quill to write with."


Addera had chosen, at the last minute, to attend different classes to Harry. Much as she still felt a driving urge to protect him, she'd also had a conversation with Cheerilee about distracting him. Which is how she came to be in a class with foals a hundredth of her age, learning simple concepts.

Her language skills, she'd been told, were nothing short of miraculous given how long she'd been using them. Mathematics, history, and geography were all start from scratch subjects. So she applied herself with the same determination that she had to protecting Harry.

Settling into life in Ponyville had become as easy as waving to everyone she met and trying to smile without showing her fangs. She was enjoying a cup of tea in the library, relaxing and reading a book, when an owl flew through the window.

"Hedwig? Wait, no…" Harry looked at the barn owl with some curiosity, until he realized it was carrying a letter. That's when it sank in that they'd been in Ponyville for two and a half months. "Well, is it for me or Addera?"

When the owl hopped closer to Harry, he held out a hoof to it and collected the letter. While his telekinesis was getting better, he still had a tendency to leak heat. Heat, he knew, wasn't good for paper. "Thank you." When the owl didn't let go immediately, he scrunched his snout up in annoyance. "I said, thank you."

"Just give them a cookie, Harry Potter. They can have one of mine." It was magnanimity on a scale Addera didn't often extend, though she did have a rather impressive cookie hoard.

"Last time I tried to take one your cookies, you hissed at me." Harry finally got the letter out of the owl's beak. Sure enough, it was addressed to him.

"That was a reflex, Harry Potter."

"You told me I could have one!" Opening the letter, harry found two slips of paper inside and a whole extra envelope. "This is odd, I—"

Harry Potter and Addera

We expect school to start within two weeks, and are inviting any students who wish to continue their classes here at Hogwarts to be here shortly. Below is a list of things you're expected to bring.

It included a list of things that, Harry was saddened to note, included writing quills. "Well, this one is from McGonagall. She says that there's a pile of things we need to bring back with us. Oh, I just realized, she addressed this to both of us."

When she wanted to, Addera could move fast. In the process of moving fast, she closed her book on her bookmark, slithered her forward body around in an arc to where Harry was laying in the midst of her coils, and read over his shoulder. "We will have to say goodbye to Miss Cheerilee."

"Yeah. There's a whole other letter in here, and another note I—" Harry stopped speaking when he saw the name on the front of the envelope—Charles Weasley. "Huh?"

Harry Potter,

Sorry to bother you, dear, but when I asked around everyone at Hogwarts to borrow an owl, and asked them for the smartest they have, they all told me I was daft and should be sending a letter to you.

That nice witch up at the castle, Sybill Trelawney, said my boys were all here, and I'd like to know if your clever Hedwig would be able to find my Charles. If she can't figure it out, wait to send the letter until you return up here and I'll dig out some of his old things for her to get a feel from.

Thank you, dear.

—Molly Weasley.

Focusing his thoughts, Harry thought, 'Hedwig? Can you come and help me with something?' No thoughts came to him immediately, but there was a sense of soonness he detected. "A witch at Hogwarts told Mrs. Weasley that all of her sons are here, so she wants to see if Hedwig can find Charley—that's Ron's older brother."

"Hedwig is the smartest bird I know, Harry Potter. If any can, she can." Carefully closing her book on a bookmark, Addera set it down and waited for Hedwig to appear—she figured Harry had already called her. When it seemed to drag on, she opened her mouth to ask where Hedwig was when the bird herself appeared.

Winging into the library through an open window, Hedwig circled the room in silent wings before she pulled her wings forward into a stall and—claws extended—dropped at Harry in a way that would kill most creatures.

Sighing as Hedwig's claws worked on his scaled back, Harry turned his head halfway around to look back at her. "What do you think? Can you find him?"

'Not without something more. I'd need to smell, hear, or see him.' Peering over Harry's shoulder at the note, Hedwig fluffed her wings. 'Did he write this?'

"No he—This was written by his mother," Harry said as he held the letter up with his hoof.

Leaning forward and walking up to Harry's shoulder, Hedwig ripped a little from the bottom corner of the letter and chewed on it thoughtfully. 'Not enough. I need to smell/taste/see something personal.'

Addera, unable to hear Hedwig's thoughts or understand her soft whistles, twitched the tip of her tail back and forth a few times in curiosity. "What does she say, Harry Potter?"

"No good. She needs something personal of his to—uh—smell or taste. It's kinda jumbled since smell and taste are kinda the same thing for her, just different intensity." Reaching a hoof up, he rubbed Hedwig's neck and chest. "It's okay. We'll go back a little early and find you something to help. It'll mean you have to fly further, though."

'I was born to fly!'

"I guess we will be traveling back to Hogwarts, Harry Potter." Reaching out to Hedwig, Addera rubbed the crest of her head. "We will have to pack many cookies."


Fussing about finding all the items on the booklist had taken a day, four checklists, and three quill tips she'd nervously broken. "Are you sure you have everything?" She looked at Addera and Harry.

"You got us both twice what we need, Twilight." Despite the weight, it was surprisingly easy to carry all the stuff in his saddlebags. Turning to look at Hedwig, Harry smiled at her and reached his head a little further to rub his nose against her beak. "You doing okay?"

'You promise you'll send me to visit Fluttershy each week for cookies?' Hedwig asked, making an audible whistle as they rubbed noses.

'Of course I will.' Harry turned back to look at Addera. "What about you?"

"I am nervous, Harry Potter. I know I have a wand, and Headmistress McGonagall made up that lie so I could attend classes without anyone being upset, but there's still things going on that worry me. King Sombra's return, for example." Addera shivered at the thought of the creature. She had often wondered about the source of magic for the spell that'd bound her in the Chamber Of Secrets, and now she didn't have to.

"Whatever comes, we'll face it together," Harry said.

The notion, along with the firm tone he'd used, made Addera so happy she coiled Harry up in the middle of the street so she could hug him extra well. "You are truly amazing, Harry Potter."

"He's also not breathing. You, uh, might want to relax your grip a little." Knowing the pair well enough to realize it was just their particular kind of sibling-like friendship, Twilight gave them a moment longer before she sighed. "I'm going to miss having all three of you around."

"Mostly Harry, I would assume." Relaxing her coils, Addera set harry back down on his own hooves. "What with all the cleaning he does."

"Don't think I haven't noticed how much Spike sleeps now." Twilight couldn't stop a chuckle escaping. "But, if you want to head out today, we'd best get back to the library and get your things to the station."

The walk/slither back to the library was much quieter. Neither Harry nor Addera felt like talking until both got inside the library and found Cheerilee waiting for them.

"There you are. Twilight sent me a message you'll be leaving earlier than originally intended, so I thought I best bring you your presents now." Reaching to her left saddlebag, Cheerilee lifted out four big books and passed them to Harry, then did the same on the right side with four identical books. "Consider these your own little research projects."

Harry looked at his books. "Mathematics, history, and two novels to read?"

"There are notes in each of the two textbooks. Please work through them at your own paces. This is not to get you ahead of your classes here, but hopefully make next holidays less of a struggle to catch up. The novels are two I'd like you both to read and write reports on. Also, if you could, keep a journal of everything that happens." Cheerilee lifted out a pair of notebooks with names stenciled on the covers. One said Harry Potter, the other Addera Potter.

"I…" Addera was lost for words at seeing Harry's last name on her journal.

"It suits you." Harry looked up at Addera and could already tell what was coming. Scooped up in her tail and coiled to within an inch of his life, he leaned into the "hug" she gave him.

"You are an amazing person, Harry Potter."

"You too, Addera Potter."


The train ride back to the Crystal Empire took the rest of the day and the night. Being an overnight ride, they'd gotten a sleeper room to themselves. Addera had coiled herself around Harry and pulled a blanket over both of them. When Hedwig snugged herself down under the blanket too, Addera couldn't help but let out a soft hiss.

When dawn came—the sun leaping above the horizon—Harry yawned and poked his head further out of the blankets. "What time is it?"

'Morning time. Time to hunt. Time to—Oh, cookies!' Distracted from her normal raptorial predations by the cookie Addera put before her, Hedwig picked it up with one claw and started biting into the delicious baked treat.

Harry wasn't prepared to actually fight with Addera's coils to get free, so instead relaxed a little. "We're supposed to arrive mid-morning, right?"

"That's what the stationmaster said, Harry Potter. We have something important we need to do right now." Reaching to her backpack, Addera lifted out her journal and a ballpoint pen.

"Oh, right. Are we going to keep writing down everything each morning?" Locating his own saddlebags, Harry pulled out his journal and started writing not just about his previous day, but also the two and a half months he'd spent in Ponyville.

Addera had decided on a similar path to Harry, though she went a step further and started to write about the first time she saw Harry Potter. "Perhaps we'll change to night-time writing. That way things are more fresh in our minds, Harry Potter."

Each was finishing their writing as the train shifted—the slowing of the locomotive causing the cars behind it to bunch up.

Putting his journal into his saddlebags, Harry now climbed out of Addera's coils and pulled the straps over his back. Living as a kirin had become easier once he learned to use his hooves properly, and would become far more so when he could use his horn without incinerating things. "Hedwig, are you ready?"

Barking at Harry, Hedwig climbed up from Addera's scales to his back and walked to his shoulders before she clamped her talons down firmly. 'I am now ready.'

Laughing, Harry used a Locomotor spell to open the door. There weren't many others on the train, but with it being just two passenger cars and the rest freight, they were all packed in tight.

Ponies were poking their heads out up and down the car, but they all froze when Addera slithered out after Harry. She looked each way and gave her best non-fang smile and followed Harry toward the doors.

When the train finally stopped at the platform, Harry bounced off the step and down to the platform, followed by Addera. "Looks like they moved the station closer to the city."

"Or, Harry Potter, the city grew closer to the station. Let us go and contact Headmistress McGonagall." Looking around, Addera could feel the weight of someone covertly watching them. As she slithered down the steps to the road, she scanned around with her scrying glasses until she spotted them.

The walk to the castle was otherwise unremarkable. Addera and Harry walked up to the two big crystal ponies standing guard at the front gates. "We're going to Hogwarts," Harry said.

Used to having foals coming in, the two guards nonetheless made note of Addera and reported her arrival to their superiors. Meanwhile, Harry and Addera went inside the castle and took the stairway up and into Hogwarts.

It was Harry's home away from home, and the moment his hooves were on the old stone of the castle he felt a calm normality settle over him. It wasn't that Ponyville was all that weird, but in just a few months he saw one of Twilight's friends get multiplied dozens of times and had his friends, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, being put in a dozen bad situations by Apple Bloom's cousin.

Just the smell of the old castle made him tingle all over with excitement. "Do you feel that, Addera?"

"It's nice to be back, Harry Potter, but this doesn't feel like home anymore." Addera tested her scutes on the stone and hissed at it. "I prefer organic things under me. Wooden floors and carpets and grass."

"Yeah, I kinda like Ponyville too, but it's a bit safer for me here. I can practically burn right here and not cause anything but a warm patch on the stone." He led the way to the hallway where the teachers' offices were located. "And we get to learn more wizard magic."

Addera sighed. "Yes, but we lose out on actual learning, Harry Potter. And I like Miss Cheerilee more than I like any of the teachers here."

Harry had to think for a little bit before he shook his head. "You know, there's one teacher that I only ever had good classes with. I'll never forget a single thing she taught me—Madam Hooch."

"Right. Your flying. I noticed you didn't bring your broom, Harry Potter." They neared the headmaster's office, so Addera went quiet and slithered up to it at Harry's side.

This wasn't the real headmaster's office, but it was the one Minerva McGonagall preferred. It was spartan and neat, and that's how she wished it to remain. When there was a discrete knock at the door, she looked up from her paperwork. "Come in, please."

When Minerva saw Harry Potter, Addera, and Hedwig, she couldn't help but smile just a little more. "Harry, Addera, it's good to see you both. And how could I forget Hedwig. What can I do for you?"

Harry tried to relax, but it was hard given what McGonagall was to the school now. "Well, uh, we got the letter, and have all our things—"

"Two of all our things, Harry Potter," Addera said.

Grinning a little now, Harry nodded. "Right. Two of all our things. But the problem was Hedwig doesn't know Charley Weasley enough to find him. She said if she could smell or taste things belonging to him, she could do it."

"You know, Harry, I would never have considered it so useful to be able to communicate with a messenger owl before. Do you require directions to the Weasley's farm?" Pulling out a piece of parchment, Minerva charged her quill.

Turning her head to show that she was looking at Hedwig, Addera asked, "Couldn't Hedwig lead us to Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter?"

'Can you do that, Hedwig?' Harry turned his head to look at her while he waited for her reply.

Hedwig, at that moment, was staring at a corner of Minerva's office, eyes fixated on the tiny field mouse that was staring back at her from just outside its hole. 'Could you cast a spell that would hold that mouse for me?'

'Hedwig I—Alright, I'll do it, but can you tell me if you can find Ron?'

'I can find Ron with my eyes closed, a hood on, and tied to a perch.'

Rolling his eyes, Harry sighted up the mouse and cast a Stunner on it. The red jolt of energy hit the tiny thing a moment before Hedwig did. Turning his head back to a surprised Minerva, he said, "She says she can find him."

"G-Good." It was a struggle for Minerva to come to terms with what she'd just seen, let alone the delight Hedwig seemed to have in ripping the hapless mouse in half. "You won't be needing a map then. If you wish, you can drop your things off in the Gryffindor rooms before going out to see them."

"There was one other thing, Headmistress McGonagall." Addera looked aside at Harry without turning her head. "We were followed from the train station to here."

Minerva set her quill down and lifted her hoof up to pinch the bridge of her nose, only to remember at the last moment how bad a hoof is for doing so. "He has people following everyone. He issued a formal apology for—" She managed to stop herself before unburdening everything on Harry and Addera. From recent history she'd learned that when Harry Potter found things out, he usually got tangled up in them. "Just following you isn't breaking any law, however if they try to stop you, I would suggest using your easiest means of getting away."

Addera's coils twitched and squirmed—she couldn't help but feel on-edge. "Who are they?"

"Ministry of Magic. A Mr. Herbert Trencent took control of what loyal members arrived here, and he's making a—a headache of it. I shan't say more because I know you, Harry, and if I say too much you'll wind up right in the middle of it. They should be ignoring students, though I imagine your history is catching up with you. Please, Addera, don't let anything untoward happen." The one person Minerva felt she could trust implicitly, so far as Harry's wellbeing went, was a basilisk. The school year hadn't started and Minerva already felt herself in need of a holiday. "Now, please, go and help Mrs. Weasley find her son."

It sobered Harry more than the Ministry snooping around all over the place that his friends' mum needed his help. "Come on, Addera, Hedwig, let's drop our stuff off and get out to find the Weasleys quick as we can."

The painting was gone. There was just a simple door over the entrance to Gryffindor tower. Even after Harry and Addera unloaded the things they didn't need into the main sitting room and left, it took Harry until they were almost out of the castle before he realized what had been wrong. "What happened to all the paintings?"

"I imagine they were gone with the ghosts, Harry Potter. Would you like to try to outpace this annoying tail?" As they came to the exit of the crystal castle, Addera nodded to the two guards. "Where are our tails?"

One of the guards chuckled and cleared his throat. "There's always two watching the front door. They're in the shadows of the alleyway across the street and down there two houses. A third had joined them, that'll be your tail. Want a distraction?"

"That would be much appreciated. We just need a few seconds and I can get us out of sight." Addera hadn't been sure what to expect from the "distraction", but a boiling sea of fog hadn't been it. The guardpony's horn glowed a deep blue color and the mist seemed to boil out of the very crystal itself. "Perfect, thank you." She picked up Harry and transferred Hedwig to her own back, then slithered like a reptilian missile across the fogged-in plaza around the castle.

Harry almost laughed at how well the cover worked. With no one able to see, Addera's ability to feel movement in the ground meant that she had no trouble navigating down the street and around ponies startled by the fog. But it couldn't last forever. The fog blew away, though they were beating a retreat down a completely different street from where the guard had pointed. 'Hedwig, where do we need to go from here?'

Rather than answer, Hedwig spread her wings and brought up the memory of Ronald Weasley. She liked Ron, since he'd shared bits of food with her for not chasing his rat around (though every other rat in the castle had been fair game). 'This way.'

Lifting a hoof to gesture, Harry guided Addera through the wide streets of the Crystal Empire, all the way out to the edge and past it. A light snow was falling, though what surprised Harry was the Weasleys' farm—in its entirety—was before him.

The road that should have stopped at the edge of the barrier that the Crystal Heart was making extended out as a snow-covered track that was barely visible. Here and there patches of dirt showed through the light snow-cover—and led to the ramshackle building in the distance.

"The Burrow! That's it! That's their house!" Harry only had a second to wonder at it being in Equestria before Addera was speeding along the track and over the snow toward what should have been still back on Earth. "I wonder how they brought it with them?"

Circling around the house, Hedwig spotted the kitchen window and decided to press her luck. On silent wings she stooped and dove to the sill before grabbing on with her talons. Inside, she saw the pony Ronald Weasley stuffing things into a bag—none of which smelled like food. Indignantly, she gave a bark at him to pay attention to her.

"Hedwig? Is that you?" Jumping to his hooves, Ron rushed to the window and reared up to look out for Harry. When he couldn't immediately see his friend, he looked up at Hedwig again. "Did you come on your own or somethin'?"

Looking around the house, Hedwig failed to see any mice, rats, or anything at all that might be tasty. This only encouraged her to bark again and turn her head to watch Addera getting closer.

When they reached the back door of The Burrow, Harry jumped out of Addera's grip and walked up to the door—then knocked. "Hello?"

Ron raced to the door at hearing his friend's call and used a hoof to pull it open. "Harry!"

"Ron!" It was just like a year ago, only he wasn't sneaking in with Ron, Fred, and George. The Burrow was just like he remembered it inside, even if it was fighting a battle with snow outside. Having lived with ponies for nearly three months, though, Harry was far more in a hugging mood. Rearing up, he grabbed Ron and squeezed his friend.

"Harry Potter?" Molly Weasley was a rather large crystal earth pony with a stormy red mane and tail over a soft brown coat—that was mostly hidden under a flowing dress. She had a motherly figure even as a pony, but as she looked at Harry Potter she dared to feel hope. "My Charlie?"

Letting go of a surprised Ron, Harry started to walk around him and toward Molly. 'Hedwig, you get to be a star now.' To Molly he said, "Hedwig needs something of Charlie's so she can get a feel for him. Clothes or items he held. Smells and even tastes."

Molly's mind was sharp as any barber's straight-razor. "You came as soon as you could. Of course you did. Come along, let me go up to his room and see what we can find." The last words she spoke more to Hedwig than Harry.

Marching after Molly, carrying Hedwig on his back, Harry felt almost like a procession of two. 'She wants to give you whatever you need to find him. Can you help her, Hedwig?'

'If she has things that smell enough of him, yes.' Hedwig wasn't a fan of stairs—at least when she was riding on Harry's back. She dug her claws into his scales a little tighter because she knew it wouldn't hurt him. 'Stop jostling so much.'

'I can't help it. These stairs were awkward to climb even when I was human. Are you on tight enough I can bounce up them?' Harry felt Hedwig's reply as she clenched tighter still and reached to the back of his head and grabbed up some of his mane in her beak.

Harry let Molly get a bit of a lead before he started to pronk his way up the stairs. For a kirin, overly enthusiastic bouncing was a way of life. It brought him joy and excitement, despite that being at-odds with the seriousness of the situation. When Molly stopped at a door, drew her wand, and gestured at it to open, Harry stopped his bouncing.

"This is my Charlie's room. I'll get some things and we'll see if Hedwig can find him." Molly had to bite back any more words lest she start crying. She trusted in the mini-prophecy about all her children being in this new world, and she had to trust in Hedwig's ability too. There wasn't another option.

'Do it, please?' Harry asked mentally.

Jumping down from Harry's back, Hedwig entered the room and already felt a strong male-human smell wrap around her. Hopping forward—closer to the stack of clothing that Molly was making—she jumped into the side of the stack and spread it out on the floor.

Ignoring the noises Molly made, Hedwig leaned down and found something that had many, many layers of the male-scent.

"Well I'll be… She found one of Charlie's hankies." Molly stared in surprise once she realized the daft owl wasn't trying to destroy all Charlie's clothes.

Smells told Hedwig a lot about someone. She felt confident, as she sorted the smells into her memory, that she'd be able to find him no matter what. 'I can find him now. Get a letter ready.'

'Right!' Reaching into his saddlebag, Harry pulled out the sealed letter Molly had sent to be forwarded to Charlie. "Is this all you want sent to him?"

Molly almost gasped. The letter was still in perfect condition. Not trusting her voice, she nodded.

'Okay. Take this to Charlie. I know you can do it, Hedwig. You're the best owl there is.' Harry hopped on three legs over to her and passed Hedwig the letter. When she held it in her beak, he cast a Locomotor charm on the window and pulled it open. "There you go. Thank you, Hedwig."

Rushing to the window after the bird, Molly stuck her head out (and almost all of herself in her haste). "Thank you!" She watched Hedwig flap her wings and soar off into the snowy sky. "Thank you."

Harry backed out the door and left Molly to the room. He wasn't sure how to react to her and figured Ron would probably be better company. Pronking back down the stairs as easily as he pronked up them, he found Addera and Ron at the table chatting away.

Turning his head when he heard Harry reach the bottom of the stairs, Ron looked at his friend. "Here, Addera said you found cookies that taste like meat but aren't?"

"They're actually better than that. I don't know how they make them exactly, but they also have almost everything in them a meat-eater needs to live. Fluttershy did get us to go fishing, it was something about fatty oils, but it was fun to just relax and hang around with Harry." The last bit made Harry grin, mostly because of the name confusion it had caused already. What had really surprised him was how ponies tended to have really unique names, but they named their pets normal names.

"You found a pony named Harry?" Ron asked.

"No." Harry climbed up onto a seat at the kitchen table. "I found a bear named Harry. He's really nice."

"A bear?"

"Yes." Harry tapped his hooves on the table a few times, enjoying leaving his friend befuddled. "A bear."

"Not, like, an animagus bear?" Each clarification seemed crazier and crazier. Dragons and hippogriffs were one thing, but a bear was a big, dumb creature that would just eat you. There were no rules with normal creatures.

"No. Harry Potter is correct. Harry is just a normal bear." Addera reached to her back and produced a cookie. "And he is an honorable bear."

Looking at both Harry and Addera in confusion now, Ron had to finally just shake his head and lean back a little. "Did you get followed when you came out here?"

"Mum said you were 'ere, Harry!" Fred walked over to where Harry was sitting and reached up with a hoof to ruffle Harry's mane. "It's good to see you back. Bit early for school, innit?"

"Yeah, but I heard your mum needed to borrow the smartest owl in the world, so I figured we'd come up here a bit early and lend her Hedwig." As soon as Harry mentioned the situation, he saw Fred's normal jovial veneer crack for just a moment.

"Mum"—Fred clung to the same hope that Sybill Trelawney's prediction was right as his mother did—"is real worried about Charlie. We all are." Making a supreme effort to school his features, Fred ruffled Harry's mane with his hoof again. "But if any owl can find 'im, Hedwig can."

"Hey, Harry, you want to come and see what we done with the farm?" Ron asked.


'I found him!'

The mental shout broke Harry from his focus and, as a result, he fell off his broom. Thankfully it was only a short drop to the ground, but he still tumbled a few times before coming to a stop. "Hedwig?"

Circling above Harry, Hedwig slowly shed her height until she could land on the ground beside him. 'Of course it's me. Who else were you expecting?'

Rolling to his side and holding out a hoof toward her, Harry beckoned Hedwig over. "Wait, you said you found him? Charlie?!"

Hopping toward Harry, Hedwig leaned her head forward to get a good rub from his hoof. 'Where do you think I got this letter? Should we take it to his mother?'

Jumping to his hooves, Harry looked around the quidditch pitch for where his broom had wound up. Bouncing on all fours over to it, he landed perfectly on the broom and took off. 'Yeah! Come on, Hedwig, let's deliver that letter!'

With a bark of excitement, Hedwig leapt into the air and pumped her wings to catch up with Harry. She didn't care that he could fly faster with his broom, just that she got to fly with him.

Higher was safer, or so Harry knew. If he got good and high he could fall and have time to cast a safety spell before he hit the ground. So, pulling Hedwig along in his wake, he shot into a steep climb and got over the walls of the quidditch pitch, over the towers around it, and even higher than the Crystal Castle was.

Flying, despite being a kirin, was part of who Harry Potter was. He might not have his own wings, but even just two days alone with his broom again and he could fly it almost as well as he could when he was human. It didn't matter that he wasn't on Earth anymore, or that he might never see another completely human person, or even that he still couldn't stop the urge to burn things at least once a day.

Hedwig led the way. She knew exactly where she was and where she was going all the time because she was a superior owl—as she would tell anyone if they could understand her. 'Is that as fast as you can go?'

Harry laughed and willed his broom to go faster, chasing after Hedwig.

Neither noticed the glint of light from a rooftop of someone watching them through binoculars.

When they were over the Weasley home, Harry and Hedwig both tipped forward into a dive. Opening his mouth to scream in excitement turned out to be a bad idea—the moment Harry did, three bugs dove suicidally into his gaping maw.

Coughing and only barely holding onto his broom, Harry struggled to get mounted on it properly again and sent his willpower out and ordering a halt.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doin', Harry?" Ron asked, looking at Harry hanging upside down from his broom just three inches from the ground.

Still trying to spit out struggling insects, Harry finally just let go of the broom and fell to his back. As he hit the ground, his mouth snapped closed and his throat worked instinctively. "Oh yuck! Gross! Agghhh!"

Spotting Hedwig, Ron froze. What had his full and undivided attention was the note in her beak. "I-Is that from Charlie?"

Hedwig was many things, but a bad messenger owl was not one of them. She hopped around Ron and evaded his attempts to grab the letter and then gave a quick pump of her wings to reach the back door of the house where Molly Weasley was standing.

The letter in Hedwig's beak looked familiar to Molly, she could see her own handwriting on the outside of the folded piece of paper. It meant someone had opened the envelope and then given Hedwig the note from inside, folded backwards. "You found him?"

Even with her beak still holding the letter, Hedwig could make a soft bark. She hopped up to Molly's legs and waited for her to reach out with a hoof before offering the letter.

Opening the paper, Molly saw the first words and felt her back legs fold under her, dumping her rump in the doorway. Tears were already welling in her eyes as she tried to read.

Dear Mum,

I'm alive, though I've had a few changes. I don't know how easiest to put it, but I turned into a little unicorn made of diamond. I'm safe with friends, but even that's going to take some explaining.

I fell through a portal——

As she read about her son, Rake and Inferno, and even the Bent-Twigs, Molly wept happy tears. He was alive—her little boy was alive—and by all accounts he had landed on his hooves running. When she got to the bottom of the letter, her eyes fighting to read through the moisture in them, she saw Charlie's explanation for why he couldn't come home.

It hurt all the more precisely because it was such a Charlie thing to do. Rereading the note again, she barely noticed her family gathering around to read the letter.

"Lad seems to have landed on his feet—err, hooves." Arthur reached his hoof up and rubbed Molly's shoulder. "And it never surprises me how he manages to find dragons."

"Find?" George snorted and nodded toward the letter. "He finds himself a dragon woman and you expect him to zoom home? Well, he might, but you better believe it would be with 'er."

"Do you think he'll come visit when he marries her?" Fred elbowed his brother. "Or will he send an invitation to the wedding?"

"Cut it out, you two." Bill gave his two brothers a shove to get them away from the door. "Mum, do you think I should go and find 'im?"

It cost Molly far more fortitude than she realized to say, "No. Charlie's fine where he is. Besides, we might be able to get a portkey or even the Floo network to get us there much faster. And, we have things to do here still. Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny all need to get ready for school." Normalcy helped. Having things to do and prepare for—and now knowing for sure her son was safe—Molly got back up to her hooves and noticed Harry for the first time. "Harry! Join us for lunch."

Grabbing his broom under his foreleg, Harry walked over to where the Weasleys were waiting. "If you're sure it's okay?" Hedwig jumped onto his back and, digging her claws in for stability, let out a soft whistle.

"You and Hedwig are always welcome here."