//------------------------------//
// Ch. 43. Meet the Relatives 
// Story: If Wishes Were Ponies, Book II 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

The Sunday Daily Prophet was usually just a recap of the previous week’s events, most of the articles were run verbatim, with small additions to flesh them out or provide a bit more information that hadn’t been available in the original. Not this Sunday’s, though. Above the fold, one half said, “Lockhart the Blackheart?” and the other said, “Dumbledore Flails Again!”

Anne was quite pleased with the newsparchment.

It also went into the details that hadn’t been available before Saturday’s Special Edition hit the owls.

The real blockbuster was the discovery that Gilderoy Lockhart, the darling adventurer and heart-throb of many a witch, was a charlatan, a scoundrel, a fake! Jameson had sent a reporter to Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. As the location for one of the adventurer’s books, it was early morning there, and not the afternoon or quickly approaching night as it was in most of the rest of his adventures. The reporter had had a full day to do his research — and what profitable research it had been.

It turned out, after a few short background interviews, that the description of the town’s saviour, as told by several witnesses, didn’t match Gilderoy — not at all. In fact, quite a number in wizarding enclave of several hundred didn’t remember seeing him until well-after the incident, itself. 

Diligent investigation had quickly unravelled the story as more and more details failed to match the book. Some townswizards, important to the published account in Lockhart’s book, remembered Lockhart as their saviour. Others remembered it as being an Armenian warlock who was in town at that time. 

The primary witness, however, did insist it was Lockhart. A visit to a healer had quickly determined that he had been obliviated. The Healer placed it as happening sometime after the time the werewolf was a problem, but suspiciously close to when Gilderoy had arrived on the scene, according to other wizards and witches.

The Daily Prophet was paying the Healer to see if she could reverse any of the obliviated memories. Even one reversed memory that contradicted the book would be sufficient to prove the fraud.

That one group of interviewees remembered the flamboyant Gilderoy being in town for a week about a month or so after the incident, while the others only remembered seeing him during the incident, was pretty damning evidence. If he was only in town once, which both groups agreed was the case, then how could they remember it as being at different times? One person might make a mistake, but dozens? Not bloody likely! The Daily Prophet editors were convinced that the book was a fraud, the story stolen from the trues saviour of the town.

Jameson had a second reporter attempting to track the Armenian. Several reporters were checking out the witnesses in the other locations mentioned in his books. Preliminary reports from them also found discrepancies. There would be follow-up stories for weeks! His fame would push their revenues higher, and spread the reach of the newsparchment to overseas markets. Maybe she should . . . wonder . . . if an international section might be interesting — within earshot of one of the reporters returning from the continent, of course. Then act supportive when Jameson mentioned it.

The second headline went after Dumbledore, portraying him as a great wizard getting on in his age and slowly failing in his pursuits. As the leading figure in the English wizarding community, he should have detected Lockhart’s fraudulent claims before hiring him for Hogwarts! 

Didn’t he do any research on his professors before hiring them? Even a cursory examination of Gilderoy Lockhart’s exploits would have revealed something wasn’t right! Just his demand that all of his books be purchased should have set off alert spells! Not to mention that there were no spells in the books for the students to learn. Plus, two of the books took place at the same time, which would have been impossible for even the most powerful of wizards to use apparition, or required a ridiculously large number of expensive international portkeys — which neither book mentioned him doing.

Then the editors roasted the old wizard for his failure to detect the vampire months before now. Not to mention protect Gregory Goyle from the vampire’s evil schemes and depredations! Plus, were there other vampires near Hogwarts? Everyone knew Vampires moved in covens! Were their children really safe at Hogwarts?

There were more than a few outraged quotes from the pure-blood families, both liberal and conservative, over the fact that it was a pure-blood scion who had been abducted! What was Dumbledore doing to find the missing teenager? He was the greatest wizard in the country! What was he doing, in his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to find the boy?

How many other students at Hogwarts had been victims of the vampire, and no one knew it? Had he done anything since the attack to search for such victims? Did he even care?

Another article brought up his past mistakes, such as never bothering to check on an associate in Azkaban, nor catching the real culprit even though he had been in Hogwarts for seven years. The recent updating of the protective spells around the castle simply proved their point! He had been in charge for decades, and not once had he tried to get the spells updated. It had taken the pressure of the new Equestrians to get that job done.

How was it possible that foreigners were more competent than the great Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore? Despite that, they still hadn’t detected the Vampire! The Ministry needed to go over the spells protecting the castle, immediately, to prevent this from happening again.

After dragging the wizard’s name through as much mud as they could, they then went into detail about how he had let himself be distracted at the Ministry, yesterday, while there was a major disaster happening at the school he was supposed to be protecting!

People said Hogwarts was the safest place in England because Dumbledore was there. By allowing himself to be distracted by the politics at the Ministry, he was not safeguarding their children as was his job. 

He needed to make a choice.

Either focus on the children, or focus on his political aspirations!

Inside the newsparchment were many more details about the events of yesterday, going into far more detail now that the Healers and Aurors weren’t scrambling to solve immediate patients and problems. This time, the list of injured, their treatments, and final conditions was far more complete.

The Minister even came in for some criticism for delaying Dumbledore’s return to Hogwarts after Dumbledore had been messaged by his Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall.

All-in-all, a satisfactory take-down on the old-guard leader in British wizarding society. Whatever he did next, would be closely watched and questioned. Her off-hand comment that a regular column on the wizard’s actions might be interesting had had Jameson chortling for joy, and ordering one of the string-reporters to do just that. If they couldn’t find anything recent, well, then, they would just have to start examining his past decisions, wouldn’t they?

Altogether, it was a satisfying piece of work.

Just as gratifying had been her visits to various personages in the wizarding community. Madam Longbottom, the MacDougals, and the Turpins had been especially grateful of her dropping by and telling them of the danger their children had been in. That their children had weathered the incident with scraps and cuts — and no permanent injuries — had been a great relief. She left them wondering if Dumbledore would have bothered with telling them anything before the story was printed by The Daily Prophet.

Anything she might suggest in the future, she knew, would be looked on favourably by them. A few minor conversations over lunch or at a dinner party would have them pushing ideas she had led them to, as if they had thought of them all by themselves.

Then she had visited a few of the more conservative families, those considered somewhat neutral, like the Bulstrodes and the Corners. Hearing how their children had been attacked by Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe had not been a pleasant conversation for them. That their children already had been treated and returned to the school was gratifying to them. Especially as they knew from personal experience when they were in Hogwarts that parents were rarely advised of many of the incidents in Hogwarts.

They, too, would listen to her political hints in the future. Coached, of course, as mild comments on things that had Sirius Black’s interest, or one of his other supporters. Always, as if the subjects at hand were vague gossip she had heard.

Just as she passed on her observations, and the comments of the editors at The Daily Prophet, as if she were merely passing on interesting titbits of gossip. That they assumed she had met with those reporters and editors over lunch, or accidentally in Diagon Alley, instead of being in their offices as they discussed the stories, she never corrected.

Dumbledore was being side-lined on the political front. He was putting the blame on the conservative families, his old foes, not realizing there was a new player on the field. That her goals and his coincided, for the moment, helped mask the disquiet and disloyalty she was fermenting among his allies. He had no idea that he was slowly losing all his pawns and followers, incorrectly assuming they were following his lead, when it was her to whom they ultimately were listening.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t realize it until it was way too late for him to regain them. 

This latest fiasco wouldn’t be enough to make him relinquish any of his present seats of power, not yet. His position in the Ministry, however, was weaker than it had been a week ago. By next Christmas, she hoped to have forced him out of his position as Supreme Mugwump of the International Council of Wizards.

Plus, in all that, she hadn’t had to cast a single spell, yesterday, on a single wizard or witch! It was almost refreshing, in its own way.


^-~-^


 

Elly realized, on second thought, that she shouldn’t be as surprised as she was when she saw Harry and his herd headed towards her, and the Hogwarts Gates. With three ponies in the herd, it was clear they wouldn’t desert their herdmates in the Great Hall. It should have been just as clear that the whole group would endeavour to sneak out. 

Just like the lings did, but with different motives. 

That they had managed to succeed without getting caught, or using the more advanced sneaking spells the lings knew, was mildly impressive.

Their timing was excellent. The two pegasi rocketed up to overlook the wall separating the school grounds from surrounding land just as the first group of ponies arrived at the gates. 

The reunion was just as fulfilling as she had hoped. In fact, that first group delivered almost as much as she had gathered at the King’s Cross Station at the end of last year, only this time the other three gathered just as much. They would have to off-load into the disillusioned spare jars they had brought after the next group. A silencing charm and don’t-see-me charm, with the others standing close, and they could each fill their respective jars. Their new body-changing abilities, which they had finally identified it as being metamorphmagi, made it simple. They just repurposed their fangs, canine teeth, the wizards and witches called them, to funnel their harvest into the jars with minimal noise or effort. Much easier than when they had been on the other side of the portal.

If there had been boarding schools in Equestria with large groups of parents meeting their foals at the train station, instead of families by the ones and twos scattered across the entire country, the whole fiasco with Canterlot would have been unnecessary.

Unfortunately, by her count, just under one-third of the student ponies had remained at the gate, with the rest following the guards to head back to the castle to wait. She sent Essie with them with instructions to wait outside the castle for the reunions that were sure to take place there.

Harry startled her when he came over to where the lings were. There was no need to hide that reaction, however, nor her nervousness. Her worry over precisely why he was doing so, on the other hand, did need to be buried deep. She looked at him anxiously, worrying her lower lip in her teeth and shifting her feet.

He tasted of confidence in what he was doing, but there was an undercurrent of fear and determination about something else. Whatever it was, he was doing his best to ignore it.

The moment he started to thank her she realized she should have expected that, too, from him. Well, in a way she had. But she had expected the thank you to happen only after the Princess had arrived, and only tomorrow, at the earliest. That he would take it upon himself was surprising. What was truly astonishing was that he made a magical vow to help her and her family in the future. 

And it was a magical vow. She felt the magic roll over her and her lings, she didn’t bother to hide her wide-eyed, slack-jawed reaction. She just stared at him. This was totally unexpected, and she knew the lings in the hive in the forest had felt her reaction.

She had done a lot of reading about the magical culture she had found herself in, last year. As an infiltrator it behoved her to know as much about the society as possible. She had spent many nights reading the books in the library on that. The goblins had even suggested a few, although those were rather uncomplimentary, and difficult to find, on the whole.

With that simple sentiment, and knowing how serious he was about it, it gave her a considerable amount of influence. She would have to think carefully on how she could take advantage of his offer.

In the meantime, though, she could use his promise, and meet with them for studying — and to gather emotions more efficiently. 

When he asked Hermione to distract the First Years that had remained, she sent Emmie off to join them in “practice.” All the lings knew that spell quite well, as useless as it seemed, it would make for an excellent distraction in certain circumstances. Emmie would pretend she wasn’t familiar with it, while using her “discoveries” about it to help the others and gain a bit of trust.

She knew this was the perfect opportunity to question him about his teleporting in the Great Hall. She looked at him, then flicked her gaze to the side of the road, a bit further from the others, and nodded her head slightly. He took the hint, and followed her with Earl. She walked until she could just barely detect Debbie.

That he then so willingly shared his teleportation secret showed how much he had meant what he had said.

Earl warned her just as Harry was about press his forehead against hers, so she didn’t jump back as she might have done without that warning. His clumsy attempt to “see” into her mind was doomed to failure. She had never heard of such a thing from the ponies. Certainly, none of the hive’s trainers had mentioned the possibility. Could it be something that only the more skilled ponies could do?

She wouldn’t have permitted it at all if she hadn’t felt his groping for a specific image. Realizing what he was trying to do in his own inept way, she had quickly introduced a few errors into her perfect copy of his drawing. Then she gradually allowed his to sense it by pushing it through her barrier that separated her “student” thoughts from reality.

She had read about legilimency and occlumency last year, and realized that her secrets were at risk of discovery from any sufficiently trained wizard or witch. She had quickly built up a barrier in her mind to block any such attempts. Her experience with maintaining her own mind separate from the communal mind in the old hive had been invaluable. Keeping innocuous thoughts in the forefront had become a habit they all practiced. She had made sure to pass on her knowledge to the Brunton Hive. Having them all prepared for any attempt to discern their thoughts could only be a good security procedure. No ling was to leave the hive who couldn’t master it, unless they had no choice.

And under no circumstances were any of her lings to look a wizard or witch in the eyes!

His rudimentary skill at making corrections to the image had surprised her. He must have experienced this frequently enough in the past to have some familiarity with the technique. Still, compared to her, or any of her lings, he was as inexperienced as a month-old nymph. But with time, and a decent trainer, he would be as skilled as could be expected from a pony.

No doubt Princess Twilight had done it many times with him

Maybe, under the pretext of him teaching her how to do this, she could bring up the subjects of legilimency and occlumency? Then teach him some ling techniques under the guise of, “Let’s see if this works?” If she actually helped him, he would be even more indebted to her, counteracting any suspicions he might have about mistrusting her if he should discover her real identity.

The teleportation spell would be a game changer for the lings, much better than the apparition she had read about — safer, too. The others, the older, more experienced infiltrators, could pick this in only a few days, once they had wands and learned how to channel their magic properly. By the end of the summer, the entire hive would be able to escape, at a moment’s notice, if something went wrong. 

She would have to dramatically increase the size of the Hogwarts location to handle a large number of lings in the event of an emergency. That would also be true of the new De Rippe estate. They should probably establish a fourth location in Ireland, too.

It was still far too early to worry about raising nymphs, but it was better to start planning now for their space, than to put it off.
 
Hagrid interrupted their conversation, what there was of it, but that was alright. Harry headed off to see what the half-giant wanted, and Earl went with him. She stepped a bit further away from the gates and closer to Debbie, still in the tunnel. The other lings would be thrilled at the possibilities of this spell. She wanted to make sure that Debbie had managed to get a clear copy of the spell from her nascent hive memory, here, before following Harry to the Gates.

She would have to drop some of her “shyness” around the herd, but now there wasn’t the worry that they might question or misinterpret her motives. It would be easy to hang around them without them thinking she wanted to join the herd. After all, he had pretty publicly proclaimed her family to be a protectorate of his. 

Plus, she could work the guise of a “ditzy” blonde, even if she wasn’t blonde. That way she could make suggestions or point out things they needed to know without them becoming too suspicious. She could make her suggestions appear as “dumb” ideas, that the others might take a serious look at, later. Or do something, then give them a totally ridiculous reason for why she was doing it that way. A “you were right, but for the wrong reasons,” kind of situation.

Madam Longbottom, as Harry addressed her, was not in a happy mood. Elly didn’t have to be a ling to figure that out! Her tight lips and disapproving stare communicated it quite well — as well as the tapping foot. Yes, couldn’t forget the tapping-foot of impatience. She was . . . angry with someone, but not Hagrid. Him, she regarded, as merely an annoyance, a minor obstacle, based on her emotions.

Probably the Headmaster, Elly deduced, was at the root of her ire. He had invited all the parents to visit, and yet had not told Hagrid to have the carriages prepared? Madam Longbottom was going to share her opinion of that mistake by him, at her earliest opportunity, Elly didn’t doubt.

The Sergeant and his two corporals returned at this point. Elly made sure she, Earl, and Emmie were not close as the Guards made their way to the Gates and took over from Harry and Hermione. The Pegasus Guard took off to intercept the diving pegasi students who, apparently, had spotted their parents — and whose parents were rising to meet them.

She had moved up beside Harry when Scootaloo slammed into the ground hard enough to almost bury her hooves. Elly took a step back, but Harry seemed to take in stride. More than a few of the watching wizards and witches raised an eyebrow at a landing that would have seen one of them seeking out a Healer. Two adult pegasi were close behind her, and landed much softer. Ginny arrived a few seconds later, and hovered a moment before touching down. 

Harry and the others dropped back into their animagi forms to make the newcomers more comfortable. And so they could recognize them.

Breathlessly, babbling in her excitement, Scootaloo almost shouted, “They’re here, they’re here, they’re here! My mom and dad are here! They’re really here!” She laughed as she threw herself at one of the pegasi mares. The mare had a pinkish coat, pale with a light greyish-gold and goldish-white mane. Her cutie mark was compass with a white swirl up the left side.

Scootaloo rolled herself over the mare from one side to the other, as the mare smirked and grinned at her antics. 

The other pegasus mare had a pale-yellow coat, a moderate dark- and light- aqua mane and tail, with light-opal eyes. Her cutie mark was a needle and blue thread. She was shaking her head and grinning. “Hiya, Harry,” she said.

Harry grinned back at her, but his eyes and curiosity were on the other mare. “Hiya, yourself, Lofty.”

The mare laughed. “Scoots is too excited to say anything more coherent, but this is her mom, Mane Allgood.” She shook her head at the two pegasi who were too involved in cuddling each other to pay much attention to anything else. “Holiday is coming up the road with Scoots father, Snap Shutter. He’s her younger brother.”

Harry nodded as did his herdmates, who had all gathered together on seeing Scootaloo and Ginny headed to the ground.

From their emotions, Elly was startled to note that they had never met either of Scootaloo’s parents. They were more familiar with Lofty and, apparently, Holiday. 

The magicals were all trying to listen in without appearing to do so. Their curiosity was easy to taste. Still, it was almost buried under the love that was wafting from the three ponies unless she moved away. And lose all that lovely emotional food? Like she would do that without a good reason!

Harry tasted . . . envious. Not badly so, not bitter, just a mild sort of envy, a deep longing for the same as what Scootaloo had. Ginny tasted, embarrassed. The others varied in happiness and joy, probably in anticipation of their own reunions.

After a few moments, Allgood looked up at them and smiled, “Sorry,” she said apologetically, “We, her father and I, study exotic plants and creatures for the advancement of science and medicine.” She wagged her head to the side, “As a result, we’re gone for years at a time. It’s much too dangerous to take a foal along. Holiday and Lofty usually take care of Scoots when we’re out of the country.” She glanced at Scootaloo who had a grin that almost stretched from ear-to-ear. “But when Princess Celestia asked if we’d like to visit another world through the portal, well, we couldn’t very well say, ‘No,’ now could we? Especially if it meant we could see the cutest pegasus in all of Equestria!”

Scootaloo blushed pink, but didn’t object.

Harry stepped forward. “Hello, I’m Harry Potter, and these are . . .,” and he proceeded to introduce the rest of his herd. He included Elly and her cousins in the introduction, which surprised her. He did say she wasn’t part of the herd, but a good friend who had helped the whole herd avoid a catastrophe. At their raised eyebrows, he concluded, “I’ll explain it all later, when everypony is here.” The two adults nodded in understanding.

The rest of the ponies in this group finally arrived at the gate, about ten minutes later. What was unusual were the two humans with them. From Hermione’s excited call of, “Mum! Dad!” and her waving her arm, Elly knew whose parents they were. It also explained why they were with the ponies. The Princess had probably fetched them, not trusting the wizards to actually help the two muggles get to the school.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were not disappointed; both their sisters showed up. Sweetie Belle’s parents came, too, as she had hoped. Hondo Flanks, her and Rarity’s father, was a unicorn stallion with a light-grey coat, dark greyish-brown mane, brilliant light-blue eyes, and a cutie mark of three Equestrian hoofballs. He was clearly a sports nut. Cookie Crumbles, their mother, was a unicorn mare with greyish light- and dark-purple mane, pale-pink coat, very light-blue eyes, and a cutie mark of three crumbling chocolate-chip cookies.

The real surprise for Apple Bloom was that her brother, Big Macintosh had come with Apple Jack. Big Mac, as she called him, was quite likely the biggest pony that Elly had ever seen! He towered over the other ponies by at least a full head, he had to lower his head even with his back to look another pony in the eyes.

He had a brilliant orangish-red coat and mane, soft, sap green eyes, and a cutie mark of half a green apple.

The wizards and witches waiting for carriages watched in gobsmacked wonder as the ponies celebrated their reunion with a frenzy of pronking unicorn and earth foals, and swirling pegasi foals. The parents were all unabashedly cuddling their foals as soon as they got close enough, with the foals happily reciprocating, in displays of affection that no pure-blood, or “proper” half-blood, would ever deign to show in public — and probably not in their homes, either! 

The emotions she was absorbing did not prevent Elly from monitoring the humans, though. Their surprise was clear, as were the slightly bitter feel of scheming just below the surface. Most were exchanging what she felt were derogatory comments behind their hands as they whispered to each other. A couple even openly sneered.

That the adult unicorns were not shy about levitating and catching their foals in magic fields — without wands — also held their attention. That the pegasi foals were occasionally clinging to the walls of the Gate House, and the “common” earth ponies were bouncing to ridiculous heights in their pronking, also drew a few . . . more contemplative . . . looks. That the humans were scheming was evident in the furrowed brows and pursed lips, and emotions.

Scootaloo’s father, Snap Shutter, turned out to be an earth stallion with a grayish brown coat, dark-purple mane, light raspberry eyes, and a cutie mark of a camera partially on a slightly-folded-up map. Aunt Holiday was an earth mare with a pale, grayish-amber coat, brilliant scarlet and light tangelo mane, and moderate scarlet eyes. Her cutie mark was of a sailboat under the sun.

Joining the group, a moment later, was a tall woman with long black hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. To any else, she was a normal, nondescript English witch, neither strikingly pretty nor ugly. She would disappear in a crowd, and people would call her a wall-flower at a party, if they remembered seeing her at all.

To Elly, she was Debbie in disguise. 

“Miss De Rippe,” Elly greeted her formally. She was, after all, only a distant relative to the adult. Plus, they were in public. For the next few minutes, they all played their roles splendidly, attracting attention from none of the humans, nor from the still-excited ponies. She made sure that Debbie was introduced to the Grangers. Having a safe contact in the muggle world could only be an asset to the hive.

She would have some of the infiltrators check out where they lived, maybe remove a few problems before they became problems for the Grangers.

Then it was time for her to introduce her “guardian” to Harry’s herd.

The Sergeant slowly managed to get the rambunctious reuniting group back under control.

With no sign, yet, of Hagrid, and Harry gave a quick explanation of, “He’s getting carriages for the more . . . elderly.” He gave a sly, but significant, glance at Madam Longbottom, who was watching in wonder at the slowly calming ponies. 

The Sergeant raised an eyebrow and said, “Mr. Sparkle, would you watch the Gates until Mr. Hagrid returns?”

Harry was quick to agree. “Yes, Sir,” he barked out, straightening up and snapping off a salute that would have done a Guard proud.

The Sergeant narrowed his eyes, and Elly could taste his suspicion that he might be being mocked, then it dissipated as he realized Harry wasn’t like the Canterlot nobles. He nodded, and turned back to the group of ponies. He welcomed the group to Hogwarts, and was soon leading the second group to the castle, giving his prepared lecture about the grounds and school.

Hagrid finally made an appearance just as things were starting to get awkward between them. He was leading one carriage and several others were following. “Sorry ’bout that, Madam Longbottom,” he said when he got closer, with an apologetic look, waving one arm back at the carriage.

“Humph!” was her only response as she swept pass him, giving him a disdainful glance. He opened the door to the carriage and offered her his hand to help her up, so he clearly wasn’t a total buffoon when it came to manners. Two of the other couples — they had been at Neville’s birthday party, but Harry didn’t remember their names — quickly followed her.

As soon as they closed the door, after they got in themselves, the thestrals started off and another carriage took its place. In short order, all four carriages were on their way to the castle.

“Thanks for the ’elp, ’arry,” he said, coming over and looking out the gate. He paled. “ Er, would yer mind doin’ it agin?” he said, turning back to Harry.

Elly could taste his worry.

After a quick glance at his herdmates, Harry said, reassuringly, “Not a problem, Hagrid.” The three ponies were still excitedly greeting their relatives. 

Hagrid headed off, again, this time a bit faster.

Curiosity rolled off the boy, and she went with him to take a peek down the road to Hogsmeade. A rather large crowd of parents were clearly on their way from the village.

Harry gulped. “I hope Hagrid hurries!” he said.

Elly could only echo his sentiment.


^·_·^