//------------------------------//
// Chapter 50:  Seeking 
// Story: The Accidental Invasion 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

“You know, I bet Mrs. Weasley already knows about what happened,” Hailey told Mr. Weasley, when he stepped out of the boys’ tent to start waking everyone up to return to the Burrow.
He looked at her.  “How…  How do you suppose?”
She tapped a newspaper that was sitting on the ground next to her.  It had been hand-delivered by Rita Skeeter that morning, rather than by owl; she’d wanted to check up on her, since she hadn’t liked how Hailey had sounded the night before.
The headline was Goddess Smites Death Eaters at World Cup Match, Rescues Muggles.
Mr. Weasley blinked at it.  “Oh boy,” he muttered.
She nodded.  “It reads pretty well.  Nobody was mentioned by name, though she did quote the muggles a few times.”  She chuckled softly, and put her finger on the page.  “ ‘It was God’, Mr. Roberts, one of the muggles that had been tortured, told Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter.  ‘It had to be the Second Coming.  He- or she, actually, it looked like a girl- struck down those servants of Satan and rescued us.’  Mr. Roberts went on in religious fervor for quite some time, but did eventually suggest not just that the death eaters were evil, Satan-serving men, but that all the Ministry workers were Godly men fighting to protect faithful men like himself.  Furthermore, he went on to suggest that the Dementors that captured the death eaters were in fact Angels of God sent down to assist in the godly mens’ mission.”
Mr. Weasley blinked.  “What?  I didn’t hear any of that last night.”
Hailey chuckled.  “I wouldn’t expect you to,” she said.  “Rita said she interviewed them again later- the first time was mostly to make sure they were okay.”  She sighed.  “Something tells me christianity is about to explode.”
“Christianity?” he asked.
She nodded.  “Muggle religion.  He mentioned the Second Coming- they’re referring to Christ, the Son of God.  And apparently, I’m the second coming.”  She let out a small laugh.  “The first Christ, and indeed the christian God, was actually a real god- he sacrificed himself two thousand years ago, as the original Christ.  Of course, he wasn’t just the Christian god- Harmonia said he was playing the part of about a hundred different deities for less than half as many religions at the time.”
“So why Christianity…?”
She shrugged.  “The Dursleys are kinda borderline christians,” she told him.  “And Mr. Roberts is definitely one.”





“Ahh, Hailey, you’re back.”
Hailey looked up at Vernon Dursley.  “Yup, though not for long.  There’s something I thought you should see.”  She gestured forwards, across the table, as she doled scrambled eggs onto a plate.  She liked cooking- it helped clear her mind.
He looked down at the newspaper set at his place of the table…  and the moving photo on the front page.  “Not often I see one of these,” he commented.  Then he blinked.  “A Goddess, huh?  That’s surprising, coming from wizards.”  He paused, reading the article.  “Sounds like you’ve got yourself a challenger.”
“That goddess was me,” she said simply.
He looked down.  “...  Oh.  Um…”  He sighed.  “You doing alright?”
“Mostly,” she answered.  “Why do you ask?”
“Well…”  He tapped it.  “This goddess said she might as well be.”
Hailey laughed.  It was an empty laugh, but still a laugh.  “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?  I mean, I made the real gods and goddesses drop their jaws in awe, so…”  She sighed.
“Hmm,” Vernon muttered, rubbing his chin.  “I’m…  I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to help you.”
She stared at him.  “To…  help me?” she asked.  “With what?”
He looked up.  “Because…”  He sighed.  “Because you’re afraid of hurting something you don’t want to, aren’t you?”
She paused, flipping the bacon with her unicorn magic rather than the spatula so she didn’t have to take her eyes off him.  “Yeah,” she muttered eventually.  “But what of it?”
He sighed.  “Maybe…  I don’t know if they have them in Bonbon’s land, but try asking her about mental health counseling?”
She actually dropped the spatula as she stared at him, reflexively catching it in her magic.  “Mental health counseling?” she asked.  “Seriously?”
He shrugged.  “You’d be surprised how helpful they can be.  And you’re obviously worried, are you not?  Worst case scenario, they tell you who can help you to cope with your worry, to overcome it.  That’s what they did for me back before I met your aunt.”
She blinked.  “Oh…  Alright.  But would they do that for a fourteen-year-old?”
He snorted.  “They’ll do that for you no matter your age if they have their heads on straight,” he told her.  “Besides, the worst thing a muggle counselor would do would be to send them to someone that specializes in youth.”





“Hey, Bonbon?”
Bonbon looked up at the Alicorn filly standing in the doorway into the kitchen, from the hallway.  It was her turn to do the dishes; Lyra was out…  doing something, she never would tell her what.  “Yes, Hailey?”
“I…  have a question.”
She put down her dishes and walked over to meet Hailey by the door.  “I’m listening,” she told her calmly.
“I…”  Hailey took a deep breath, seeming uncharacteristically nervous.  “I think I need to ask you about…”  She paused again.  “About mental health counseling.”
Bonbon blinked.  “Mental health-?”  She cut herself off, reviewing the last three years in her mind.  Hailey had shown admirable strength from the very beginning- and Bonbon’s team had been quick to capitalize on it.  She’d continued showing more and more strength, and received more and more responsibility and authority- but now, she realized, there had been signs.
Through her first year, she’d been a little more mature than most her age, and quite a bit more powerful, but that was really it.  She’d almost never exercised her authority without first checking with those around her.
That had gone away for the second year, when it started with her losing her hand.  She’d taken matters into her own hands- and, when Hermione had been attacked, she’d taken it to the extreme and become the Goddess of Reports.  She hadn’t had a Goddess title before, but the title had quickly become Goddess of Reports and Duels, despite the duel in question taking place over six months prior- and being a draw.
But the Goddess of Reports hadn’t been indomitable.  There had been torture in her eyes for the entire time, yet she fought.
Then the third year had come.  Lupin had joined, and Bonbon’s team had decided, in Diagon Alley, that she should be team lead mere minutes before Hagrid’s request for the Instructor Course had arrived; she was evidently better suited for it.
And she had been.  She was a far more effective team leader than even Bonbon herself- but that made sense; her strength wasn’t in leading, but in solitary missions.  Hailey had fought and worked…  and Sadarina had been there to help her.  Sadarina hadn’t left her side at all, offering her strength and comfort, giving her someone to love and cherish in a way that her friends just couldn’t, even though she could see that they were going to end up as a herd at some point.  Not that she needed her gift as a Seer for that- Diamond had told her outright that she felt the herding magic nudging them together.
Then…  she didn’t know what had happened to hurt her now, but something had, and Bonbon wasn’t all that great at people.  That was Lyra, who was overwhelmed by her non-HSI teaching assignment- Lyra was great with ponies, but she absolutely sucked at multitasking- so hadn’t had much time left to see the signs… And, Bonbon was fairly sure, had only crossed paths with Hailey a few times over the last year.
She facehooved.  “Aww, buck it,” she cussed.  It wasn’t like her to miss something- but of course she’d gotten distracted by her power and the united front she presented and missed the signs.
Hailey flinched away from her.  “What?”
Bonbon took a deep breath, and let it out.  She might not be good at talking to people, but she had to.  “We messed up,” she told Hailey.  “We messed up big.”
“You mean-!” Hailey began, and stopped herself.  “You mean it was a mistake to make me team lead?”
Bonbon paused.  Had that been a mistake?  Had it not?  Hailey had brought about almost a seventy percent increase in the team’s efficiency.  “I don’t know,” she decided.  “It’s…  This is very much not my speci-!”
“I’m home!” Lyra’s voice called suddenly, paired with the squeaking of the front door.
“Lyra!” Bonbon called urgently, over Hailey’s head.
The door slammed, and Lyra cantered up the hall and into the kitchen.  “Yes, Bonnie?  Oh, hi Hailey, long time no see!”
“Lyra,” Bonbon began importantly.  “Effective immediately, I’m pulling your teaching assignment.”
Lyra blinked, taken aback.  “You’re-?  You’re what?”
“Instead, you’re back on the team, as our Head Mental Health Counselor.”  She glanced down at Hailey.  “She’s one of the best there is.”
Lyra stared at her.  She’d been happy to leave the management team a year before, when Hailey had consolidated the team to cut down on time wasted during management meetings; Lyra had almost never contributed, being on it as the one that made it possible, and though Hailey hadn’t targeted her in her consolidation, had practically volunteered to leave the team.  “Mental health…?” she began, then facehooved.  “Of course.  Madam Pomfrey never mentioned mental health, but I want to say that’s because wizardkind doesn’t have a concept of it.  Alright, what will my duties be?”
“Me,” Hailey said simply.
Lyra looked down at her, and met her eyes.  “...  Oh.  Yeah, I can definitely help with that.”
“I’ll also expect you to identify any other…  cases in the Castle and deal with them, recruiting additional Counselors as necessary,” Bonbon told her.
“Don’t worry about constraining your picks to non-Instructors,” Hailey decided.  “We can hire more if we need to.  Keeping everypony…  functioning is the priority.”  She sighed.  “And I’d kinda like to know if it was a mistake to make me the team lead, too.”
“Oh, no, it was not,” Lyra told her without hesitation.  “You’ve been amazing.  It was a mistake to not get you in front of a counselor before we did that, though.  Even if there was nothing wrong.”
Bonbon scowled.  “Would it be a good idea for her to relinquish the position, or-?”
“You kidding me?” Hailey laughed suddenly, making Bonbon jump.  “With the noises the School Board of Directors is making, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to get Dumbledore to hire me as soon as I graduate.  They’re thrilled.”
Lyra chuckled.  “Yeah, no, taking that out would probably be more harmful than helpful.  Unless you want to?” She looked at Hailey.
“No, I’m fine,” Hailey answered.  “The part I want to get rid of is the power to annihilate a city.  But we both know that isn’t possible, is it?”
Bonbon sighed.  “Yeah.  So far as we know, ascensions can’t be reversed.”
Hailey nodded.  “Yeah, Harmonia said that too.”
“Hmm,” Lyra mumbled, rubbing her chin.  “Hailey, what do you say we set you up for a nice, normal year this year?”
She snorted.  “Normal?  I’m going to be one of the Champions, remember?”
“Well yes, but who said you had to do that on the spot?  As I recall, during your Goddess of Reports phase, you mentioned a time warp spell.”
Hailey rubbed her chin.  “True…  Little adjustment and it’s become a free time travel spell.  But wouldn’t that break the timeline?”
“Only if you plan on losing, or killing your past self,” Lyra shrugged.  “There isn’t much to be done about you being a judge, but I’m sure you can take care of the whole Champion affair ahead of time.”
She scowled.  “Yeah, I suppose.  I’ve really been dreading being Harry, and getting rid of it now is probably best.”  She took a deep breath, and let it out.  Her horn glowed, and she seemed to flicker- gone for a fraction of a second, then back.  She shuddered.  “It’s…  It’s much worse than I remembered.”
Bonbon raised an eyebrow.  “So which dragon did you get?”
“Hungarian Horntail,” she answered promptly.  “Used the Firebolt, easy peasy.  Felt weird riding it as a boy, though.”  She shuddered again.  “Speaking of, the Yule Ball- I’m kinda glad I got both male and female dress robes now.  But who…?”
“How about Silver?” Bonbon asked.  “One of her alternate identities?”
“Wouldn’t she be unwilling to play boy for an evening?” Lyra asked.
Hailey smiled.  “She has more than one female form,” she said.  She flickered again, and sighed.  “Alright, Tournament is over, Voldemort is back, and Silver is dead.  Next year.”  She sighed.  “She’d be back, but I left before that happened.”
“How’d you score?”
She shrugged.  “I left before it reached that point each time,” she answered.  “Left a magic construct to watch that and disintegrate.  And, for the first task, hand my future self the Egg of Mystery.”
Lyra pulled her into a hug.  “And that should be the last time you ever need to do that,” she said.
Hailey looked up at her.  “What about when Voldemort comes looking for Harry?”
“Whoever said he’d have to find Harry?” Lyra asked.  “Show him Hailey.  And- optionally, you hear- let him find out who you used to be.”
She rubbed her chin with a hoof.  “I wonder how hard it would be to kill Harry off like Silver did Draco?”
Lyra rubbed her chin.  “Hmm.  We’ve still got plenty of Flim and Flam’s Apple and Rock Cider, so the body will be the easy part.”
“We’ve also got plenty of straws,” Bonbon agreed, “though we might need to get more mayonnaise.”
Lyra snorted.  “In any case, I’d recommend you wait until after the tournament, so it doesn’t look too suspicious…  then just pick some perfectly ordinary yet plausible way to kill him.”
“Think he could get eaten by a shark next summer?”
Lyra snorted.  “Yeah.  Wouldn’t even need a body that way, but it might be hard to convince everyone at this point.”
She scowled.  “So it’ll be best for some angry Gryffindor to push him out the tower window after his victory with the Tournament, I guess.”
Bonbon rubbed her chin.  “We might be looking at ‘meat chunks’ more than ‘body’ by that point, but yeah.”