//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Evil Within 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

All through Care of Magical Creatures I'd felt a little tense. Almost like I had an itch I couldn't scratch. I figured out exactly what it was when, while riding around on Buckbeak after introducing myself to him, I saw Hermione and Ron talking to Draco.

That was it—Draco was the itch. He didn't want to be friends, so what else could I do? How do I deal with someone who I can't be friends with and can't get angry at anymore? Buckbeak must have sensed my distraction and, slowing to land, dumped me off sideways before his hooves or claws hit the ground.

Tumbling a bit, I relied on the fact that I was durable so that when I rolled a few times on the ground, all it left me with was a bunch of snow caked here and there. Snow that melted off really easy. Wait, melting? Ugh, I was getting miffed again.

"Harry are you—?" Ron stopped before getting too close. I couldn't really blame him. "Buckbeak's got a bit of an opinion of people."

"Ugh!" The snow around me melted and I was left in a little grove of drying mulch as I caught alight. "It's not Buckbeak and it's not stupid Draco. I just get angry now and then. It's just—"

Ron watched while I let out my anger in a shout, then cooled back down to being a kirin again. "I didn't even mention Draco. He's kinda not so bad, Harry."

"'He'?" I asked, confusion banishing the last of my anger like Ron's socks used to banish sapient life.

"Well, I kinda don't get it but kinda do. He hasn't changed who he is, he's just stuck in the wrong body."

The way Ron put it made it kinda obvious. Like it was a human transfiguration that went wrong. "Huh. I guess I didn't think of it like that."

"So, if you say anything to him, call him him, okay? And if you see anyone calling him her, set them straight." He seemed a little angry, and for a moment I had to wonder what had gotten into Ron. Then I remembered he'd been hanging around with Draco earlier.

"Sure, I mean, I don't think we'll run into each other often. He's probably not even playing quidditch, and it's not like he's in Slytherin anymore to get up our noses." I was surprised at how easy it was to just keep going with calling Draco him.

Class had ended while I was wizarding out. Ron and Hermione both hung around with me. "Wait," I asked as we started walking back to Hogwarts. "Aren't you both meant to have the mandrake leaves under your tongues now?" Ron nodded, and when I looked up at Hermione, she was too.

Some things weren't fair, but then I guess I already could turn into another shape—and it was the most wizard of shapes, too. Nothing compared to being able to set yourself on fire. "I'll keep hanging out in there, I guess, unless I have to do other stuff during those classes. Besides, I like keeping up with you guys."

"Thanks, Harry." Ron sounded happy about it, and that was enough for me.

The walk back to the castle was boring, and when we got there everyone was sent to do the homework that'd been assigned. I spent most of my time talking to Ginny. She sounded really excited—and also scary good about combat magic.

"The trick to dealing with multiple enemies at once is to make it harder for them to affect you while keeping as many stunned or off-balance as you can. A good shield helps, but it can also get in your way if you're not careful," Ginny said.

"When I was fighting a bunch of people at once, I just got them to all aim their spells at me. My scales are really tough against magic."

"Yes, but you don't have a lot of scales."

"I kinda do."

Ginny paused and her outline seemed to be biting its lip. "What do you mean?"

I held out my back leg toward her and used a forehoof to tease the hair apart. "All my coat and hair is really just extensions of scales. I'm completely covered in scales."

Her touch was a little strange, like I could feel her whole hands stroking my fur and teasing it apart, but they still looked like line drawings with no actual volume or mass to them. "Do you want to come into my book and take a look around? It's a little different to Hogwarts, but I think that has more to do with how Tom saw the world than how it actually was."

"Sure I—" I didn't get more words out. Ginny didn't really have to strain or struggle, the whole thing felt really magic-efficient actually. We were sitting in the great hall of Hogwarts with students all around us. "Wow!"

"Yeah! Sorry about the robe colors, I have two options here and they are bright pink or Slytherin. I didn't think the pink would suit you." Ginny was still human. Completely human, in fact, and wearing pink robes.

I realized I was still a kirin and wearing Slytherin robes, just like she'd said. "Uh, I could just not wear any."

She looked at me in surprise, then shook her head with a laugh. "Sorry, harry, it's easy to forget all that in here. All these memories are human."

The robes disappeared and I let out a sigh of relief. Looking around, I noticed something about the general feel of Hogwarts in Ginny's diary. "This is a lot pinker than I would have expected."

"Don't blame me for that. It's Cadance's magic. I know her horn color is blue, but her magic is literally so full of love that it tends to stain everything. Not that I can complain or anything. She is giving it all for free." Ginny sat at one of the benches, turning to face the table just as food appeared. 

"They changed the syllabus." I climbed up onto the bench opposite Ginny just as a plate of sausages and eggs appeared. "There's a witch who was in the Ministry who's teaching us combat magic. She really likes fire. Then there's my godfather, Sirius, who's teaching anyone who wants to learn how to be an animagus. Err, I can't be one, though, on account of my fire burning the leaves away."

"Harry?" Her tone implied she was almost laughing. When I looked up from the food I had started to stuff in my mouth, she was grinning. "Did you forget? I was there. Well, not there there, but Ron took my book to the classes."

"Oh. Right. It's hard to believe they put you forward into our year level sometimes. You must have really impressed McGonagall."

She blushed but nodded. "I showed her what I'd been learning in here, and then I also showed what I'd been working on myself. Cadance told me to follow my dream, and my dream is to protect everyone."

"Uh, do you want to practice, then?" I asked. I couldn't help it. She sounded like she was becoming an awesome witch and I just—I needed to see her in action.

Holding up her hand, Ginny grinned and snapped her fingers. There was a flash of pink and we were in another room. A huge long hall was around us—Ginny stood at one end and I was at the other. "Will this do?" she asked.

Now my only problem was I was more excited than angry. "Yeah, I just—" She didn't give me more than the time it took my third word to echo in the hall. A stunner hit me and I felt it buzzing my nerves—but it didn't take me down. "Hey!" What it did, though, was let me get angry. 

I put up a shield as quick as I could, but another stunner got past before it went up. This one hit me in the shoulder and made my right side feel all tingly. My shield blocked her next three spells—not that I could do more than feel them. The shield spell had been a pony one, and that meant it used my horn's magic directly—it was a sheet of fire.

Right. Sparks had told me to use fire to hide what I'm doing, so while the shield took another two hits, I focused on my anger. It was easy to get angry. My fury at having spells hit me was perfect to ignite my flames and concentrate my attention down to a little dot—and see my glasses melt away.

My fire shield gave out and a splash of water from Ginny's wand almost hit me—it flash-boiled just before reaching me and became steam. I didn't feel the next three spells she hit me with, the first was another stunner, but the second two were something far stronger. It didn't matter, getting hit with magic only made me angrier now.

It was time to stop just letting her cast. I made a flame whip with my horn and started lashing it at her.

She formed a shield, but where I expected it to cover her completely it just wrapped over her left arm in a partial dome like an actual shield. Each time I struck with my whip, she slapped it away with the shield and launched spells back—finally settling on a water spray.

I had to focus when the water hit me. It was charged with magic and was really eating away at my anger. I threw everything I had into the whip for one last strike, only for her to cast a second water spell and completely soak me before I could get it to land.

Feeling like I'd been hit by a truck of water, I felt my anger break and my flames go out. Feeling stunned, I started to lift my head only for Ginny to tap my nose with her wand. Okay, she was good. Really good. "Wow," was all I could manage to say.

"That whip was a good idea, but I've been working on ways to specifically deal with that spell." She reached down and picked me up. All the aches and soreness of the duel were gone. "Come on, let's get out of this musty book. I think my brothers are outside."

It was a surprise when she flashed pink again and I was sitting outside her diary again. And my glasses were still intact! I blinked a few times as I looked around, spotting Ron and Percy. Percy was still a surprise. He'd been controlled by Sombra, and he'd been turned into an actual pony. "Percy?"

He was focused on the diary still, but looked up at me. "H-Hello, Harry."

Ginny manifested herself in a flicker of pink magic. Still drawn with lines, she crouched down and hugged Percy. "I'm so glad you're back!"

I could feel her magic strain as she hugged him. It wasn't anything I could pin down, just a sense that she was using a lot of magic and it was doing work. "Hey, Ron. You were right—she is crazy good at dueling now."

"You almost beat me!" Ginny said, letting go of Percy. "If I hadn't spent time training against that spell, you might have had me."

Ron looked at me with surprise in his eyes. "You must be good, Harry. She even beat George, Fred, and me all together."

"It's his defense. I hit him with six stunners. The first ones seemed to slow him down a bit, but when he turned into a ball of fire, nothing I did even made him blink." Ginny waved a hand in my direction. "In the end I had to work two spells at once. That isn't easy!"

She really had cast two at once. That's just so amazing—so… witchy! "How did you do that?"

Ginny's face looked like she was biting her lip. "Well, you can only do it with two copies of the same spell, and it can't be a big spell, but if you can use two wands, you'll be able to pull it off."

"Casting two spells at once needs two wands?" I asked. Where I was going to get a wand to complement my horn, I don't know, but I did know I had to try.

"Yup! In the journal and out here, I can just make two wands appear." With a gesture, Ginny didn't just make a second wand appear, she made a whole new arm holding the second wand. "Like this!"

"That is so cool!"





Ronald Weasley echoed his friend's words in his head. Two spells at once at different targets seemed amazing. He hadn't heard of anyone doing that kind of magic. "G-Ginny? Can you teach me how to do that?"

Looking from one of her brothers to the other, Ginny Weasley smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I can try. You are going to need two wands to do it, though."

"That's going to be hard, but I'll figure somethin' out." It was a little awkward asking his little sister for magic tips, but the reward was just too much for Ron to ignore. He had other things he wanted to test with magic, and his sister's book was a great way of doing that.

"Well, it's getting kinda late," Harry said. "Thanks, Ginny, I'll try to find a spare wand too."

Percy let Ron and Harry leave the room without a word. He waited for them to go, in fact. "Wands are going to be hard to get, Ginny. You shouldn't stir them up like that."

"But the school has plenty, Ron said. They had a whole pile of them in the—"

"Those are only for the school, and only as a last resort. The reason I'm here is to talk to Mum. Princess Cadance wants more wands so earth ponies and pegasi can learn and use magic, and that's when I told her about Ron's wand—Charlie made it.

"So then Princess Luna arrived and told us she'd spoken to him in his dream. Pinpointed his location on a map for us. Now they want me to go with her to try to find him and learn how to make wands from him or, if he can't teach me, to come here."

"Charlie is coming home?" Ginny couldn't help herself, she started bouncing up and down in place. "I'll have to tell Mum!"

"Mum knows. I already talked to her. I wanted to tell everyone here but—" Letting out a sigh, Percy shook his head. "I know Princess Luna is powerful, but apparently dragons are immune to magic. Well, most magic. Where we have to go is right through the middle of dragon territory."

Ginny could remember the stories her big brother had told about hiding from dragons. "Can't you just use a spell to hide from the dragons?" 

"From what the princess said, we can't expect them to act anything like dragons back home. They're bigger, meaner, and smarter. She also said they were less prone to actually bothering with anyone. We have that going for us." Percy shrugged his shoulders. "At least it's an adventure. I feel really bad for everything that happened with—with King Sombra. I just want to make it right."

Seeing her smart big brother looking hurt tugged at the new destiny she'd been forging for herself. He was being hurt and she wanted to protect him. "You don't have to make it right, though. Everyone understands that he used magic to control you. We—" 

"No. I know no one holds it against me. That doesn't matter, though. I need to do this, Ginny, for me."





Once again Luna sought out those tiny specs of humans that were beyond the dragon lands. She encountered the dragon guarding them again, but this time the huge creature simply gave way for her. It was almost enough for her to revise her opinion of dragons.

Charles Weasley felt his dream shift most notably when the dragon he was trying to befriend turned into the deep blue pony with wings and a horn. For the briefest moment he almost woke, but the dream steadied around him and he smiled at her. "Your Highness."

"We need to talk fast." Luna focused all her magic on reinforcing the dream and making it as tangible and unlikely to pop as she could. "Equestria and the Crystal Empire would like it if you could make us wands."

Confusion reigned for a few moments as Charlie tried to catch up with the topic. "Wands? I haven't—Oh, there was one I made." 

"Exactly. That puts you one ahead of everyone who came from Earth. I will be traveling here with your brother. If you can teach him or myself how to make wands, all well and good, but we would appreciate it if you would come back with us if we can't learn it." Luna felt relief that she'd gotten everything out in time.

"No. I can't leave. People here need me." Charlie's mind brought up the Bent-Twigs, Norbert, and Whistlewing. "They all depend on me to keep things working here. If you can get someone to set up a new floo network, we have a fireplace they could add to it."

"'Floo network'?" There was a lot of reality leaking into the dream now. Luna created a few impossible geometric shapes and scattered them around to anchor things again. "I will have to confer some more with my assistants. This thing would allow us to send items back and forth?"

"It would move people around in the blink of an eye." Even Charlie could tell the dream was getting more wobbly now. He saw the odd shapes Luna had made and, in turning his attention to them, the dream stabilized again. "Clever trick."

"Thank you. I like to believe I've mastered a few tricks of this by now. I'll contact you again tomorrow night. Stay strong." Luna felt the dream weaken a little more despite her best efforts and allowed it to slowly collapse.

The dark bedroom around Luna slowly grew brighter as she used her magic to adjust the lighting. She slipped off her sleeping mask and climbed from the bed to complete her morning routines. It felt odd to not be focused on her moon, but she had left it in the capable care of her sister while this mission was in progress. 

Content that she looked the part of a princess, Luna left her suite and made her way to the throne room of the Crystal Empire. Guards were on duty in the halls and the throne room itself, but there was no sign of Shining Armor or Cadance. 

Reminded of all the times, as a young mare, she'd been up and about in their castle while Celestia slept, Luna made her way to the kitchen to find it bustling.

Two mares and a stallion rushed around transferring long bread tins from their spot on top of a big oven to the depths of it. Even Luna knew the old methods of bread making when she saw them. "Do you require any assistance?"

All three heads snapped around to see the princess standing just within the door of the kitchen, but it was Floured Hooves that was first to react. "Oh no, Your Highness, we have everything under control. Just preparing the day's bread. Can we help you with anything? Breakfast?"

"I can manage. Have you all had breakfast yet?" Luna made her way to a stove that wasn't in use and gave a little nod to it. She could find the pantry easily enough by the smell of spices.

"Not until this bread is baked. Are you sure we can't help you, princess?" Now Floured was starting to feel a little anxious. Princesses weren't meant to spend time in the kitchen except to yell at cooks who'd messed something up.

Floating sixteen eggs out to the bench, Luna found some spices and seasoning. "I believe I have everything well in hoof."

Over the following ten minutes Floured Hooves watched Luna with surreptitious glances as she made omelets for each of them. When Luna finished up and set the four servings on plates, Floured nudged her fellow bakers.

"When you have a moment, I made you something." Luna carried all four plates to the small table and chairs nearby and sat down to enjoy her breakfast.

It didn't take but a moment to finish off their current task and slip aside to eat. All three bakers were prepared to praise Luna's meal—no matter its quality—but found themselves too busy eating the delicious food to even think about lying.

"You know about a mission I'm going on?" Luna asked.

The castle kitchen always knew of such things. Extra resources would need to be provided and that meant that they needed to be cooked. "Yeah, we know you're going on one, not what it's for," Short Crust, another of the bakers, said. "This omelet is delicious."

"Thank you. My sister and I spent a little time learning to cook when we were young. I shouldn't doubt she's had more time to practice than I have, but I can still make the best breakfast." Luna enjoyed seeing the three enjoy her cooking. "We need provisions for no less than two weeks."

"Three would be better then. We can use magic to pack them small and light, and it's better to have more than you need than less," Floured said between mouthfuls.

Luna nodded to that. "What time does the castle wake up?"

"The upstairs? Usually another half-hour. It's why we're getting all the bread baked first."

Finishing her omelet, and letting the bakers do likewise, Luna pondered how long it might be until Percy Weasley might wake. When all the breakfast was gone, Luna used her own magic to gather the plates. "I won't keep you from your work any longer. Thank you for joining me." 

Short, a unicorn, opened his mouth to offer to clean the plates, but was halted by Floured. He looked at her, watched her shake her head, then he shrugged. "We have two ovens left to fill. Let's get to it."





Cadance yawned and piled the scrambled egg on her plate atop a piece of fresh toast. She paid no attention to anyone else at the table as she ate it in one, two, and then three bites. "So, what do you have to report, Luna?"

"I made contact with Charles Weasley. He agreed to help us make wands, but refuses to travel here. Apparently he has ponies to protect where he is now. He mentioned something called a 'Flow Network.'" Luna turned to look at Percy Weasley and Gemma Farley.

"Sorry, Your Highness," Gemma had spent a lot of time testing herself to use the correct royal terms in Equestria, "it's called a floo network, and from what I understand it has not been implemented here yet."

"Implemented?" Luna asked.

"Right. I am not sure of the mechanics of building it, but a floo network requires a central hub and needs a witch or wizard to link a fireplace to that hub. Once connected, people can step up the fireplace, throw floo powder in, state your destination, then step into the fireplace. The flames, by then, will be bright green and will carry you to your destination." It was all common knowledge. "There are two problems for this: the recipe for floo powder is a secret and the process of linking fireplaces was information held by the Ministry."

"Several FNA—Floo Network Authority—workers came across." For Percy Weasley, being useful both to the ponies and wizarding folk of the Crystal Empire was his main goal in life. "I can have my father send the ones he trusts to the castle?"

Cadance nodded to Percy. "Do that, please. I would prefer it if this was something we don't let the Ministry here get a jump on. Plus, we will need to know how to link your brother's location to the new network."

Nodding his head in the pony equivalent of a bow, Percy stood up and made his way for the doors of the throne room. The meeting was now behind him, on a little table beside the dais that held the two thrones. When he reached the door, one of the stallions fell-in beside him and escorted him not just outside but continued alongside him. "Thank you, Blaze."

"It's my job to see you safe whenever you leave the castle, sir." Though Percy was a full-grown stallion himself, Blaze was a brawler of an earth pony mare. She'd traveled to the Crystal Empire when she'd heard a call go out for experienced soldiers and had fitted into the new Royal Guard there with ease. "Come on, Percy, relax. No wizard or witch is stupid enough to attack a wizard and a trained earth pony."

"I'm not sure if you realize, Blaze, but wizards and witches don't generally think much about those who have no direct magic."

Blaze let out a laugh. "Yeah, but that just means they haven't dealt with a trained earth pony guard before. You remember what I told you?" 

"In a fight, don't cast any magic on you. Yeah?"

"Bingo. You just—" The red streak coming toward her gave Blaze enough time to lean into the rock under her hooves so when the stunning spell hit her, it drained away to nothingness. "Cease your casting at once!"

His first reaction was to fire off a distress flare. It was a simple spell that Percy had learned from the unicorn Royal Guard. Once his spell was off, Percy looked around nervously. He knew a wizard spell when he saw it, but he couldn't see where it had come from. "I'm putting up a shield around myself."

Blaze nodded without looking at Percy. "Move with me. I saw what direction it came from." It was a moderately complicated trick to be able to move while grounding her body out, but Blaze could almost trot while doing it. 

Pulling his shield along, Percy kept a short distance from Blaze to keep his shield from bumping her. He scanned all the buildings around them, but couldn't see where the spell had come from. "If they don't do something soon, even run, they'll get caught by our backup."

"Right. So either we find somepony who's running away from here or they're going to try to—" The next spell to hit Blaze held far more malice and magic behind it. She strained to ground it out as the magic fought her racial talent, trying to burrow through her body and into her nerves.

Percy's eyes widened at the feel of the magic that had narrowly missed him and hit Blaze. "That's a forbidden curse! Cruciatus! If someone's using that, we need to hide!"

"It's—" It suddenly occurred to Blaze that the reason the curse was hard to rid herself of was because the one casting it was pouring more magic into her constantly. "Now we play a game of find the screaming wizard."

Doubling down on her grounding, Blaze flexed her earth pony talents in a way that not only sank magic through her body, but caused feedback to the caster too. From one moment to the next the attack halted and she heard shouting coming from a window above and to their left. "There!"

Percy didn't wait for more. He aimed his horn at the window and let loose with one of the other unicorn spells he'd been taught. It was a simple pattern to make and one that he'd memorized easily. The beam sliced through the air and hit the window with enough force to smash it inward.

Seeing her chance, Blaze used Percy's covering fire to rush into the building. The door was like paper to her and momentum. Looking around the entrance of the home, she saw a family of mixed humans/ponies huddled in the living room—and all of them pointed toward the stairs.

Rushing up, Blaze could hear the sound of repeated blasts and charged down a hallway until she found the right room. The witch was coughing and spitting out blood, but turned to see Blaze coming at her. "Damn you! Die! Ava—"

Blaze didn't want to give the witch another chance to cast a spell and delivered a kick to her jaw that spun her around twice. The thud as she hit the floor was relief to Blaze. "I've got her, Percy!"

Panting, Percy was still burning adrenaline. He'd heard the first syllables of the Killing Curse and it had chilled him. The sound of thundering hooves drew his ears and then the rest of his head to the dozen guardponies approaching. They reached him just as Blaze dragged the witch out the front door of the house.

"Sergeant?"

Blaze saluted, keeping one hoof pinning the muggle-born witch pinned. "Lieutenant, reporting a target neutralized. They were using—"

"They used Cruciatus and the Killing Curse!" The words burst from Percy. He'd only seen examples of the three Unforgivable Curses in the build-up to his N.E.W.T. examinations—not that they'd ever happened. But all the ponies were looking at him blankly. "There are three spells that wizards and witches are never allowed to use. Cruciatus Curse is used for torture—it makes someone beg for death. The other one isn't called the Killing Curse for nothing—if she'd finished that spell…" He looked at Blaze and saw her face go pale. "Yeah, that bad."