"Come on, Harry. You know you want to see their ships."
I looked up at George and groaned. "Would it stop you two from bugging me about it?" They hadn't really been bugging me about it, and besides, I wanted to see the ships too. Flying ships were just about the most counter thing to wizarding society I'd ever seen, and given they were just about the most wizard thing I'd seen, that made them ten times as interesting.
Still, I wasn't going to just agree. George and Fred had taught me that everything was worth a favor.
"You'd 'ave our undying thanks," Fred said.
"Fred," I said, "thanks don't buy sweets." It was the exact thing they'd said to me once. "I can help you get over there, probably even get us onboard, but I might need something—"
George punched Fred in the arm. "This is what you get for teaching 'im too much."
"Me? You told him about our map." Fred punched his brother back.
I wasn't convinced. I knew the pair of them could turn from a furious brawl to a new grift in seconds. "It won't be anything big. Come on." I turned and started down the stairs, moving with them as they sought new and confusing patterns.
Footsteps chased me, and I knew I had them. Truth was, I wanted to see the ships too, and they were experts at getting into places they weren't meant to. I had to admit, though, that my own history of doing that was probably why they asked me.
When we got to the bottom, we were just three ponies heading outside the castle and into the (now safer) streets of the Crystal Empire. "So," I asked them, "what's the plan that you needed a third for?"
"Well, you're smaller, right?" Fred asked.
George nodded. "And that makes you look more like a foal, right?"
Fred finished with, "And you aren't stupid enough to say the wrong thing so that we don't all get to have a look around."
Walking across the courtyard to the gantry that'd been built, I tilted my head back and looked up at the two ships. Of them, the bigger one was making my horn itch it had so much magic about it.
"Ever seen an airship before?" It was exactly what I wanted to hear, and the muggle born woman who asked it was quite a sight. She stood tall, had a military rifle slung on her back, and wore a long duster over a shirt and trousers.
"No! They're amazing!" I looked back from her to the bigger ship, and from the corner of my eyes I saw her muzzle pull into a grin. "How does something so big fly?"
She looked behind me, no doubt seeing Fred and George, and turned halfway around. "Why don't you all come up and see?"
I perked up at that, playing my role as the little one of the bunch. "That'd be great! Thanks, uh…"
"Firelight. Just call me Firelight. What's your names?" she asked as she led the way to the ramp leading upward.
"I'm Harry and they're George and Fred." Wizard names sometimes meant stuff, which made me wonder about her. Reaching my hoof up to straighten my glasses, I asked, "Do you do much fire magic?"
Firelight barked a laugh and nodded. "Fire magic is literally in me blood. McOwenses have been cooking up firestorms for as far back as any of us can remember. Why's that?"
"Harry is a kirin. They are"—George snorted—"well, whenever they get angry, they catch fire and lose their cool."
"Don't worry, though, he got it all out of 'is system earlier. Right, Harry?" Fred asked.
"Yeah. I promise I won't set your ship on fire." I managed to clamp my mouth closed before I let slip that if I did, no amount of magic would stop it unless it was magic water.
"Thanks for that, I guess. This ship is actually built partially from the frames and guns of ten other ships. The Storm King makes all his ships like wallowing barges, but at least they have some working cannons in them. Not a single one—or even twenty—is a match for Stiff Wind here." She marched to the top of the ramps and stepped across the small gap bridged by a plank to the deck of the ship. "C'mon over."
The ship, when I crossed over the plank, had a slight sway to it that wasn't noticeable from the ground. It wasn't huge, but I made a promise to myself that I'd try to keep three hooves down at all times. There were a few ponies who turned to look at us, but seeing them I realized they weren't ponies. Like me, they had scales down their faces but instead of horns, they had wings.
One of them walked over and asked, "You're a kirin?"
"Yeah, kinda, I—"
He seemed so excited and bounced on his hooves a little. "So our lost kin are still alive? This is great news! We—the longma tribes—thought all the kirin had vanished years ago. Where are your parents?"
George spoke before I could, "Harry wasn't born a kirin. Like the rest o' us, he came here from Earth only—"
"…his change went a bit sideways you could say." Fred shoved against me. "Not 'is fault though."
"Oh." The strange not-kirin seemed to slump a little.
"But I have met other kirin—native kirin that is," I said, and the light was back in his eyes. "I could show you on a map where their village is."
He did a little prance in place again that reminded me how much ponies could just enjoy life. "That'd be great! I'd love to meet them. Are they, uh, still having trouble with the nirik?"
"Yeah. They have a leader who is trying to teach some meditation that I know doesn't work, when there's one mare that has the right idea. She even explained to me that with just a little time spent every day getting angry somewhere safe, you are perfectly fine the rest of the time." Tilting my head down, I reached up and tapped my horn. "I only went through a few pairs of glasses before I figured that out."
"Our own foals have, uh, similar problems. Such is the way of draconic ancestors. Oh! My name's Breeze Cutter."
"Harry Potter," I said.
"Wait." Firelight, who had been showing the twins around, walked back over to us. "You're the Harry Potter? Huh, I thought you were just a myth. Guess you got tangled up in all these portals and stuff too, eh?"
I wondered, briefly, if I should tell her that George and Fred had just slipped away and through a doorway. Probably, but that would definitely mean I wouldn't get my favor from the twins. "Just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. See, I was in the Chamber of Secrets, which is down in the sub basement, and that's where I found all these crystals and—It was a really intense day."
"Well, you want to come belowdecks and see our—" Firelight turned and saw that Fred and George were both missing. She just laughed. "Come on, I bet they're halfway to blowing themselves up by now."
Walking after her, I waved to Breeze before heading through the door and down the stairs. The first stop was a long room that seemed to run the whole length of the deck of the ship, lined on each side by the cannons. George was looking down the barrel of one while Fred was trying to pick up a cannonball.
"Here we have the fire-breathing throats of Stiff Wind. These guns are all enchanted not to explode and, if they do take damage, they will slowly put themselves back together—like all the ship." Walking over to a cannon, Firelight put her hand on it and drew her wand out. A quick gesture at the spot where her hand was and a hole melted clean through the cannon.
She lifted her hand up and the molten metal started flowing up, back into the hole it had just left. "It's surprisingly effective. Our cannons never crack or split."
"What's the spell you used?" I asked. Though, if the repair spell could fix items melted by magical fire, I'd have rathered that.
"That one? I'll show you when we're not surrounded by wood. I can keep it contained to just what I touch with my hand but if it gets out of control, everything you are in contact with can burn." Gesturing down to where George pulled his head out of the barrel to reveal that his snout was completely covered in black soot, Firelight said, "And that's why most of our gunners are covered in soot, powder, and worse most of the time. The birds love it, claim it's like good grit for cleaning their feathers."
"What's that gun you have?" Fred asked.
"This?" Lifting the weapon off her shoulder, Firelight's hands moved automatically, even though it wasn't loaded, clearing the breach and ensuring it was empty. "Just what we get back home—Sorry, still hard to come to terms with the fact we can't go back."
There was a pain in her eyes that hurt. Thinking quick, I figured a way to change topics. "George and Fred got lucky. Their brothers and parents all made it over, though their sister had a bit of a problem what with Sombra stealing her body. She wound up stuck in a book, though she's gotten all kinds of good with projections."
She didn't look all that thankful for my efforts at first, but when I got to Ginny's problems she looked at least curious. "Stuck in a book?"
"A horcrux, it's called. It's really bad magic to make them, but now that Ginny is controlling it, it's not even evil anymore. Though, Myrtle still doesn't like it." I was rambling now, trying to steer away from talking about family. "Myrtle's a ghost, you see. She's the girl Voldemort killed to make the book a horcrux."
"That's a lot of—Yeah. Okay, now I'm starting to see what all the shouting was about when people talked about you." Firelight crouched down and reached a hand out to ruffle my mane. "You Brits live a wild life. I think I prefer fighting a war for the Abyssinians."
"Abysswho?" I asked.
She opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. Then she looked thoughtful for about ten seconds. "You saw all the other crew from our ships?" When I nodded, she continued, "Well, did you see one that looked like a cat woman with black covering her arms almost to her shoulders?"
I had, though the black covering her arms I'd thought was just her fur color. Remembering what Firelight said about those who worked with the cannons, I had to wonder if she was a… what did she call them? Gunners? "Yeah."
"Well, imagine a whole country full of them. They love nothing more than bartering and trade—which means they were quite happy when we volunteered our services, for a price, to fight their war for them. The trip here was a side bit. We tailed one of the Storm King's generals all the way to the dragonlands, when it attacked Luna's ship. Well, we didn't know who she was then, but Captain Celaeno figured that anyone Storm King's troops were attacking would at least be thankful we'd jumped in."
"Can we fire a cannon?" George asked.
"Sure. Let me show you how you get it ready." Firelight walked over to the cannon George had been messing with. "First thing is you want to measure a charge. Now, our guns can take a higher load than most others around, but you still don't want to put too much in." As she spoke, she reached to one of the little paper balls sitting in a bucket. "Normally you'd pack wadding in after it, and then ram a ball in. Since we don't want to demolish a few houses in the process, we'll just load it with powder."
George and Fred, I have to admit, looked really excited. Can't say I blame them. She set the cannon up and aimed it into the sky somewhere. "Okay now, which of you wants to fire first?" She took a long stick and, snapping her fingers, made the end of it catch alight.
Realization set in that we were all going to get to fire the cannon. "Harry!" George said.
Fred nodded. "Yeah, Harry can fire it first."
Taking the stick from her, I held it up to the hole she'd gestured to on top of the cannon. For a moment after I touched the end of the stick to the hole, nothing happened. Then, seemingly as the gun made up its mind, it roared and a huge gout of flame shot out the other end.
"Okay, who next?" Firelight asked.
"Me!" George and Fred both said at the same time.
Ginevra Molly Weasley screamed. She'd had her soul removed before, but this time it was far more painful. Sombra had bound part of his own soul to her—investing her with his energy and continuing her existence. Now she lacked that thread of power and she was completely reliant on the pony she'd bound to her.
Trembling with the pain of losing her primary source of stability, she clung to the holder of her coin. In a flash of insight, she realized what'd happened. "He died."
Stretching himself, Igor Karkaroff rumbled and looked at his mistress. "King Sombra?" He didn't have to wait for Ginevra's nod to know she agreed. "You need to secure your power. Forge more coins. Find more to hold them."
Fighting to keep herself centered, Ginevra nodded to Igor. "You're right." She used her one link to steady herself. "I will need your help to forge more."
Stirring and climbing to his feet, Igor nodded. "Of course. And you realize with him confirmed dead, we will be more free to act."
The idea derailed Ginevra for a moment. She didn't feel fear or sorrow—without a soul she didn't feel any emotion unless she focused on it. "Yes. We will make coins and scatter them all over Equestria. When the time is right, we'll call them together into the greatest army this world has ever seen and free them from the alicorns' grip."
Draco Malfoy was glad to avoid the limelight. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny had easily played their parts as the heroes of the story while he could get back to his study and, at the end of the year, go home.
The long train ride to Canterlot was reminiscent of the Hogwarts' Express in most ways except for the noise. Where the 'Express would have been filled with students excited to go home and find out what their families had been up to, the train to Canterlot only held three of them. Himself, Hermione, and Harry.
Harry Potter did his best to ignore Draco as much as Draco ignored him. The countryside flying by was more than enough to hold his interest, to say nothing of the excitement of finding out what Twilight had been doing.
All through the year she'd sent him books to read. The last had been an intermediate magic book she'd written about wands and their similarity to horns. He was only about two-thirds of the way through reading it, so pulled it out of his bag and got comfortable.
Which left Hermione Granger looking between her two friends. She wanted to talk to them both about what they would be doing over school break, but knew what would happen the moment she tried to approach one—the other would get shirty.
When Harry pulled out a book to read, though, she was finally free to make a move. Standing, she walked over and sat next to Draco. "You live in Canterlot too, right?"
"Yeah. Twilight and Night are—they let me stay with them." Draco held up his wing to coax Bes out. "Your parents are living there too?"
Hermione nodded and reached out to rub Bes under the chin. "Yes. They only came here originally to get some equipment, but they said they prefer the climate here, and there are plenty of ponies needing their expertise."
Draco smiled a little at that. Bes always seemed happy to see Hermione, and even if he couldn't understand her, Hermione could. "We should keep in contact."
"I am sure we can. Do you know anyone else in Canterlot?" Not complaining and not making a fuss as Bes started to curl her way up her arm, Hermione made soft hissing noises of encouragement to her. The time where she might have been afraid of Bes' bite was long gone. "You're warm today, Bes."
Bes, appreciating attention and warmth both, let out a soft hiss of appreciation and flicked Hermione's cheek with her tongue before she worked her way into the scarf Hermione was wearing. It was warm, though not as hot as Draco's wings were—she loved cuddling into the fluffy feathers with all the big blood vessels just below the surface.
"She's trying to tickle me now. It won't work, Bes." Despite her claim, Hermione was giggling. "Do you think that'll be the last time we have to fight evil at school?"
Draco almost asked where that question had come from, but remembering how much Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been through, Draco could believe it was a going concern. "Hopefully. There are a lot more adults around without any political motive to protect any evil things." He didn't want to go too far. After all, his father had been one such protector of evil.
Reaching her hand toward him, Hermione hesitated for a moment before she rested her hand on Draco's back, trying to approximate a casual hug. "I don't think anyone really goes into that kind of thing wanting to help evil spread. It starts off with little things that slowly grow. One day you're laughing along at someone being called mudblood, then it's tormenting them, and eventually someone tells you, hey, why don't we beat them up?"
"Yeah." That might be in Draco's past, but it wasn't too far in his past. The hand on his back was comforting, though, and he leaned against it a little. "I was pretty terrible."
Hermione laughed and squeezed Draco's shoulders a little. "You didn't get to know me back in first year. I was pretty terrible too, only I did it to people I wanted to be friends with."
"We both grew up in a hurry."
"Yeah." Hermione felt the train shift, its driving power halting and now the carriages started to press forward as the whole thing began to slow. "I've never been on this train before. Is there a reason we're slowing down?"
Draco laughed and got up to walk closer to the window. "Because of that," he said, pointing out the window and up with a hoof.
When Hermione leaned across and looked out, she gasped. "What—Why are we going up a mountain?!"
"That's Canterlot way up there. Can you see it hanging over the edge of the mountain?" Hearing Hermione's surprise cheered Draco up. "It's a shame you didn't become an animagus that gets wings. Flying up there is amazing."
"But—" Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "If you fell from all the way up there, you'd—"
"…have plenty of time to stop panicking, stick your wings out, and catch yourself." Draco stretched out his right wing and made a happy sigh. "We'll figure something out. Maybe you could just hang onto me as a snake while I fly?"
"I'm sure I'd be rattling the whole time. Heights are one thing, Draco, but that's a huge mountain with a cliff. How does it even stay up there? It's just hanging over the side…"
Draco laughed and let out a sigh. "Magic. They don't care about showing off magic here, Hermione. You'll see. Canterlot is a city full of unicorns. Well, mostly unicorns. You'll fit in easily, for the most part."
"Because of my horn?"
"Yeah. You'll be able to do everything a unicorn can. Though, with what Twilight sent me about the use of crystal pegasus feathers as wands, I might be able to fit-in a little easier too now."
As the train wound its way up the switchback, Harry kept his nose in the book. It was interesting stuff, but it didn't seem likely to help him with using his horn to hold things. What he needed to do, he realized, was visit the kirin again so he could work out how they could pick things up with their horns and not set them on fire.
When the train stopped at Canterlot station, he lifted his head from his book to see Draco and Hermione collecting their things. "I guess I'll see you both again in three months?"
Hermione nodded. "Absolutely, Harry. Don't learn too much and get ahead of us." She was only partly joking. Mostly. Hermione actually worried about such things, particularly after Ginny had not only caught up to them from a year behind but passed them when it came to magic fighting.
Feeling like he should acknowledge Harry too, Draco nodded to him. "And if you need help, just send a letter. We—I hate to say it—worked well together."
With the prospect of plenty of time apart, Harry could well agree to that. "Yeah. Same. If you need a crazy pyromaniac wizard, just follow the panicked shouting and you'll find me."
Draco managed to keep back his laughter for a full second before nodding. "I'll probably be the fool diving off high things trying to see how fast I can possibly hit the bottom."
Feeling oddly good about a conversation with Harry Potter for once, Draco Malfoy stepped off the train ahead of Hermione Granger. On the platform was a few ponies he didn't recognize, two he definitely did, and a pair of humans that he thought looked a little like older, less intense versions of Hermione when she wasn't quite so part equine.
"Uh, Draco, you should probably have Bes—" Hermione had been surprised when Draco took off at a gallop toward two ponies. When he crashed into a hug with them, it stunned her further. "Who are they, Bes?"
Bes' hissing, however, wasn't easily recognizable to Hermione when she wasn't a snake herself, and seeing her parents looking all goofy broke her focus. She hauled her case over to them. "Wait! Before you hug me, I need to give Draco his pet snake back."
Blinking in surprise at her daughter, Angelique Granger watched as Hermione unwound a snake from her neck and walked over to the small pony that'd gotten off the train with her. "She's definitely your daughter," she said to her husband.
"Mine? Why is she mine when she's doing wizarding things and yours when she gets high marks?" David Granger asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Watching as Hermione passed the snake to Draco, Angelique waited patiently for her welcome-home-hug to finally come to pass. "I've missed you, sugarplum."
"Muum…" Despite hating the silly nicknames her mother made up for her, despite getting embarrassed just knowing she would deploy them whenever possible, Hermione squeezed her mother back for all she was worth. "Oh, right, I need to tell you. You don't still have your phobia of snakes, dad?"
"So long as your friend keeps his pet away from me, things will be just fin—"
"That's a yes," Angelique told her daughter. "What's the matter?"
"Well…" Hermione eventually cleared her throat and grabbed the edge of the metaphorical band-aid and pulled. "I may have learned a trick that lets me turn into a snake. It's okay, though, I'm in full control of myself."
Her father just stared at her, while her mother seemed to slowly calm. "Hermione, dear, what kind of snake?"
Biting her lip, something she was careful not to do as a snake, Hermione admitted, "A rattlesnake." As soon as she said it, she saw her father go a little more pale than his red-headed self was normally. "I don't bite, though! I've never even bitten anything!"
Angelique pulled her daughter back into another hug. "We'll figure things out. Don't worry." She nodded to the two ponies who'd collected Draco and started for the exit of the station. "Come on, dear," she said to her husband, "you look like you've seen a ghost."
Albus Dumbledore was so very thankful for Arthur Weasley. He watched the man cutting through paperwork and quickly reducing the pile of dangerous persons profiles down to just five. "Just five?"
"Five that I know I can't talk around, Albus." Signing the bottom of each sheet, Arthur knew exactly what he was demanding to have done. "What about Herbert?"
"There's nothing left of him. That collar—" Albus found himself bereft of words to complete the sentence. "I have seen horrors come and go, Arthur, but that is one from which no good can sprout."
Remembering seeing the two other control collars, Arthur distracted himself with the latest reports from Gemma—his new assistant. "And the other two collars?"
"Were not easy to destroy, but after consulting with Celestia, a way was found. There is always a way to remove such evil."
Mulling that over took Arthur's concentration for quite some time. By the time he looked up at Albus again, he had come to a decision. "The Ministry can no longer support enforcement. Any of our officers who wish to continue, can apply to Shining Armor for a transfer. However, I believe we can still be of use. There are still a lot of things wizards and witches have to worry about that ponies don't."
Arthur was about to continue when the door to his office opened and a very complicated man walked in without so much as introducing himself—not that he needed much of an introduction.
"What's this about disbanding the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" Alastor Moody was frowning. He'd started frowning some time in his teens and he hadn't stopped since. Even asleep Alastor would frown. Not even becoming a pony had removed that frown. Now, however, he was frowning more than usual.
"That's one of the departments being removed, yes." Smiling at his friend, Arthur nodded and pulled out the transition document he'd published. "The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes will be stripped to just the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is likewise being abolished—I tried to ask the one member of the Office of Misinformation to define his department's reason for being, but he was one of their lower-rung workers. He didn't know what he was meant to do."
Alastor was trying to categorize all the departments and offices listed. "So you're cutting out all the pro-active police work, then?"
"Yes." Albus looked at Alastor and tried a smile on his old friend. He gestured to Arthur. "We were never good at it. Look at the mess the Ministry kept making with Voldemort."
"I am good at it, I was just hamstrung by the higher-ups." Recognizing that Arthur was now his higher-up, Alastor just didn't care enough to hold back the truth. "So what do I do now?"
"We're getting to that. Would you come with me?" Standing behind his desk, Arthur gestured to the door.
The walk was only a few blocks, but each step was making Alastor's brows furrow just a little more. When he'd been invited to follow, he'd at least expected it to be within the same building. He realized how wrong he'd been when their target was obvious. "The school?"
"No. We're referring all former DM-LE employees to Shining Armor. At least, we were going to ask him before we did, but now is as good a time as any," Albus said.
"Here to see the Emperor," Arthur told the guardponies at the entrance. "We can wait for him to be—"
"Arthur Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, and Alastor Moody." Shining hadn't planned to be at the right place at the right moment, but he had planned and carried out the memorization of the higher-ups of the new arrivals. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"They want to get rid of me and mine," Alastor said without a hint of apology for Albus and Arthur.
Shining cleared his throat as the two more politically minded wizards tried to talk at the same time. "Well, that's a relief in a way. I won't say I was comfortable having an outside agency claiming to enforce their own laws in my empire. Mr. Moody, you and the others that fought alongside my guard and I are great assets, though, and I would be remiss to not at least offer you a training position."
"Shall I send others along to interview with you then, Your Imperial Majesty?" Arthur saw the slight wince on Shining's face as he used the title and it warmed him even with such power as Shining had, he didn't like the airs it gave him.
"Actually," Shining said, tilting his head to look at Alastor, "I think my new sergeant and master of wizarding affairs, Alastor Moody, should be able to take care of the job of hiring."
Alastor, who had been ready to have a good word with Shining, was caught off-guard. "What?"
Smiling, Meara Norris nodded to Minerva McGonagall. "I would be perfectly fine with a teaching position if one is available, but an office job would be fine as well."
The problem Minerva had with hiring the woman was she didn't recognize the name from any of those who'd come from England, nor did her obviously muggle-born appearance let her pass for being a pony seeking work. "I will admit to a certain need for a clerical staff member, but I'd like an explanation first. You didn't come through the rift, nor have you traveled here through the Floo network we've constructed, and you don't have the accent of Captain Blastback and his crew."
"I came with Hogwarts itself. You wouldn't have recognized me at the time, I was still rather petrified." It was a fun little game for Meara. She watched Minerva's face flicker through a dozen emotions as she attempted to guess. "Here's something—we share a lot in common."
"Don't play games."
"Cat. I was stuck as Argus' familiar when a spell we tried backfired. When I revived fully from the basilisk encounter, and then the magic of this world seeped into me, I was able to undo the spell." Shrugging, Meara held up her hand. "Did I mention I can type?"
"Missus Norris?" When she got a nod, Minerva smiled. "You're practically already on the staff list, though I wager you'll want something beyond a sardine a day and a bowl of milk?"
"I got milk?" The break in tension was a surprising relief for Meara. "I'll bet Argus was taking it."
"You shouldn't have had it anyway. Milk gives cats an upset stomach." It was with experience that Minerva knew this. She quickly scrawled down in her notes that she'd have to arrange an office and pay for Meara. "What level of remuneration were you seeking?"
"For now? Room and board are a good start, but I have no idea about the local currency or what is an appropriate amount."
"Two gold bits a day, then. Is that all?" Minerva finished off the note. Seeing a slight shake of Meara's head, she finished up. "Perfect. I'll have an office cleared near mine by tomorrow."
Getting off the train in Ponyville, Harry Potter felt relief that things were going to return to some sense of normalcy. Using a spell to levitate and pull his big case after him, he let Hedwig perch on his back. "Do you want me to apologize again?"
"No, Harry Potter. What I would like is you to not put yourself in such danger needlessly again." Addera was still cross with Harry, but an apology wouldn't help. "There was no reason for you to go."
"I couldn't let my friends go off on their own. Okay, I mean I couldn't let Hermione and Ginny go off on their own—together. Draco…"
"Draco Malfoy has been working hard to improve himself." Slithering her long self along the path, Addera was already looking forward to a nice spot in the warm sun to curl up and just soak up the heat. "You should make an effort to be friends with him."
"I did! Still do. Kinda. We just don't—" Harry grunted and kicked some dirt with his hoof. "We work well together, though."
Addera sighed. She'd been practicing sighs. "Harry Potter, how will Twilight Sparkle feel if I tell her there's a pony you could be friends with, but are unwilling to do the work?"
It was Harry's turn to sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll try. If he calls me stupid names, though, I am not going to be responsible for what I set on fire."
"That will have to do, Harry Potter. I cannot ask any more of you than that." Reaching out to him, Addera gave Harry's mane a little roughing up with her hoof. "And here we are. It is good to have some things remain "
A moment before they both reached the door, Twilight Sparkle opened it and blinked at them in surprise.
Harry and Addera were just as surprised when Twilight's wings shot out.