//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Strange Dream // Story: Pinkie Pie starts a band // by WoomyWobble //------------------------------// The yellow light was all encompassing. It felt surreal, ethereal almost. Like being a little wish inside of a teacup, or a diamond scrunched in a fist. It didn’t make much sense, but Pinkie wasn’t afraid. Instead she felt quite serene. Standing atop of the giant ocean, when she thought about her magic, only the ocean was light and not hers. It was nice. She felt like the light was trying to communicate, but couldn’t get the harmony right. Every now and then she felt like she could ascertain a word or a feeling, only for it slip away. Sand through the sieve… Regret and Reverence. Worries and fears all wrapped in a small voice. “--nkie, --- y-- ea- m-?” ‘Hm… A hug should suffice… a hug... or a cake, a cake, a cake.’ “-inkie plea--! -----or -- S-e--. ” ‘Hm?’ “-- b----y-d y-u. H- --nts --ur -o-l.” 'It's very hard to smell you.' Pinkie giggled in her sleep. “-i-de-o- ----he--t w--l --y -o -il- --u. --w-re t-- A---itia ---ghts. St-- -live...” xxx Pinkie awoke with a start. What a weird dream she just had. At first it was rather nice, peaceful and weird. But then this voice started saying some really weird things. Scary things. She couldn't make heads or tails of it, but left her feeling a bit worried. To clear her head she decided to make the most yummy breakfast this side of a cherry cobbler. It seemed like a good day for cherries. It was sunny outside. A lovely day really. She jumped on the railing and slid down the stairs like she'd done a million times before. The trick was not to let Maddie see her do it. It would only make her mad and who would want that? Hm, the flour came up a little short. Oh that's right, Phoebe forgot to do the groceries yesterday. Oh well, a good baker knew how to improvise. They still had some rice. What if she grounded down some of the rice into flour using a mortar and pestle? That might work. She only needed a little more. And who knows? She might discover a whole new type of pastry! The thought made her giddy as she started milling the rice. If you make a whole new pastry, are you allowed to officially name it? She decided that if this was indeed the case she would name it a kaplowy. Just because it was a fun thing to say. You could have cherry-kaplowy, apple-kaplowy, kaplowy-on-a-stick. Really, you can have all sorts. ...Okay, maybe kaplowy wasn't such a good name after all, but at least she wasn't feeling so weird from that dream she had anymore. It was good to be baking. xxx Harry awoke with a start. Dudley was banging on his door demanding breakfast. He rubbed his eyes and sat on the bed. Sleep didn’t come easy last night that was for sure. Hedwig looked at him accusingly. The Dursley’s had forbidden her from flying around and she didn’t take it well. Neither did the Dursleys. Yes, the magical being ignored, honeymoon phase had definitely ended when he got back from Hogwarts. They quickly realized that he couldn't shoot lasers from his eyes or turn the garden hose into a snake. ...Yet. No, no, no, best not risk it. Man he was tired. Why o' why didn't he just talk to Dumbledore? He could've been in the castle right now. Or maybe stayed with Hermione or Ron or whatever. Not this. Lazily he put his clothes on. He knew it didn't matter whether he was fast or slow. He'll get scolded anyway. In his mind it was best to go with the option that annoyed the Dursleys the most. xxx It was never enough. The food wouldn’t last and it was a battle for those that wanted more. That craved more. She called it ‘kaplowy’ for lack of something better.… Such a strange name for something so potent, so altogether amazing. “Mark? What are you dreaming about?” Maddie asked. “Nothing!” He said with a smile. He liked having these little daydreams. Mark wanted to be a writer and he found it good practice to make things dramatic in his head. It was fun way to pass the time. It did make him look slightly goofy though, with a weird smile on his face. Breakfast was quickly nearing it’s end as it always does with good food. There was a bit of a scuffle going on about who should do the groceries. Phoebe wanted to do it since she forgot to do so yesterday, but Timmy liked to do it so he didn’t want to give it up. It was always a good way to smuggle a bag of candy to the dormitories. Mark knew how it went. Mark also recognized an opportunity when it found him. Quick as a snake he struck at the remaining kaplowy on Timmy’s plate. “Hey!” “You snooze you lose Tim. It’s a harsh world out there.” Mark said, full of faux wisdom as he took a bite. There was a moment of ominous silence. Then a hard pinching sensation on his right ear. Maddie was gripping his ear tightly. “What was my rule about eating off of other people’s plate?” She asked in an icy cool tone. “Uhm… I can’t recall?” “Then perhaps writing down one hundred instances of ‘I will let the other children eat in peace.’ may help you.” Tim was starting to laugh at Marks predicament. It annoyed Mark as Maddie still held his ear. “What are you laughing at?” “Karma is funny.” Maddie tweaked Timmy's ear as well. “No laughing at others' punishments.” xxx “Haha, sucks to be you Harry.” Harry was forced to do the dished with a toothbrush because he had the audacity of suggesting a leaf of lettuce wouldn't go amiss. The Dursleys didn't want anything to do with that kind of rabbit food. Except Petunia of course. She had to keep her pencil-neck extra pointy. It wouldn't be so bad if Dudley wasn't there. Luckily ignoring him worked. Normally it wouldn't but Petunia didn't want anyone to ruin her pots and pans so she called him of. Hurray. Not that it mattered because Uncle Vernon called for a family meeting. Harry could hear perfectly what was being said, he wasn’t very far away and uncle Vernon wasn’t exactly subtle. It appeared that the good uncle had found himself an opportunity for promotion. His boss would come over for dinner tonight. And wouldn’t you know it? Harry wasn’t invited to dinner. Oh no, he had to sit in his room and pretend he didn’t exist. He was actually looking forward to the prospect. He could read some of his books and get some summer homework done. xxx The street was littered with the bodies of the fallen. Sophie took one on the nose. She didn’t make it. Only Pinkie and Alfie were left. The Blues were coming for them. She was sure she would lose, but she would make them pay dearly for it. Their victory would turn to ashes in their mouth. Oh yes... Suddenly a balloon exploded. Alfie got hit right in the stomach. He fell, giggling where he stood. “...Avenge me… Bluh.” “No, not Alfie! He was only a boy!” Pinkie grabbed the gun that Harry had given her. She left the jungle gym outpost, ready for the hunt. She nimbly dodged two balloons using her Pinkie sense and blasted the one who threw them in the face. Duncan crumpled like a sack of potatoes. Very dramatic. Sadly, no amount of Pinkie sense would stop the onslaught of balloons that were thrown her way. “Blargarbl garble garble.” She screamed as she to fell among her brethren. Her enemies rejoiced in their victory. “Can I use the squirt gun next time Pinkie?” Alfie asked. “Of course you can!” Though Pinkie was pretty sure that he could barely lift the thing when it was full of water. Nobody cared, it was such a lovely day. The street had devolved in a raging ragtag group of children. It was about a 50-50 split between the orphanage children and the other kids from the neighbourhood. The teams were divided so that it wasn’t just orphanage kids versus neighbourhood kids, otherwise the orphanage teamwork would win every time and that was no fun. Still the chaos had caused many a garden to become a little… muddy. Parents and guardians would be cross. But that was a problem for the future. xxx It was soothing to hear the quiet scratchy scratch of pencils on paper. Harry found the sound relaxing as he tried to draw the adventures he had at Hogwarts. It made him think of his friends, and even though he was relaxed he couldn’t help but have some dark thoughts enter his mind. Why didn’t they write him? Did they forget about him? Was Harry doomed to live the rest of his life stuck in his room with nothing but a righteously angry owl and an ugly drawing for company? Okay, that last one was a bit much. It was just a few more weeks till Hogwarts after all. A sigh escaped Harry’s lips. A few weeks... The doorbell rang. He heard some muffled voices talking in that overly loud, overly pleasant tone that was just so incredibly Dursley. Once again he was grateful that pretending not to exist was an option. PLOP. A loud noise alerted Harry to a strange creature in the corner of his room. The moment was so startling in fact, that Harry fell over backwards from his chair making a big clatter in the process. Conversations ceased in the kitchen downstairs and Harry held his breath. His eyes found the strange creature. It had very big eyes and very big ears. Especially when taken into account the size of the rest of its body. This must be one of those house elves that Pinkie talked about. What was it doing here? “Uhm, hello? Who’re you?” “I is Dobby, sir.” Harry took a moment to collect himself of the ground and dust himself off. “So…?” “Dobby came to warn Harry Potter sir. Harry Potter mustn't return to Hoggywarts. Harry Potter is in grave danger there.” Harry sighed. He seemed to get in grave danger a lot these past few months . Quidditch, Voldemort and who could forget the thing with the troll? Maybe wizards were actually worse in this then muggles were? It didn’t matter. At least magic meant freedom. “Yeah? Well... things aren’t exactly great here either.” “There is a pl-” Dobby suddenly started to bash his head violently against the cabinet. “No! Bad Dobby, bad, bad Dobby!” The racket that Dobby was making was hard to ignore. Harry grabbed Dobby trying to tell him that he wasn’t bad. An ominous silence followed. It was clear that they were heard by the people one floor below. One second, two seconds… Harry released the breath he was holding. He removed his hand from Dobby’s mouth. “Okay. Let’s not do that again.” Dancing from one foot onto the other, Dobby looked like an overactive dog that’s supposed to stay in his bench. “You mustn't come back to Hogwarts.” He repeated. “Your friends don’t even respond to your letters.” “Yeah we-...” Harry took a moment of reflection. “And how would you know that?” “...Oh. Bad Dobby.” He started to bash his head against the floorboards this time. Harry lunged to grab him but Dobby and cracked away already. Leaving only some letters behind. From below heavy footsteps came thundering up the stairs. “..Fu-” xxx “-cking stupid… Can’t get the thing...” “Sophie! Language!” “…%^&...” “I heard that!” It was hard work at Happy Oaks. The fun that was had in the afternoon made way for abject misery in the evening. A lot of gardens were made messy with all that watery fun. so now everyone had to pitch in to fix it. Sophie was trying to put some flowers in a pot to put next to the walkway but she hadn’t realized that she needed to dig the hole a little deeper and she was aggressively trying to squish it in. Now Cerys was more of a gardener at heart. A laid back sort of girl that liked flowers. She quickly helped Sophie out. She had to help everyone a lot. Most had no idea that some flowers like more acidic soil then others and that some didn’t like pots at all. Cerys didn’t mind at all though, she was in her element. And wouldn’t you know it? Slowly but surely the gardens started to look quite nice again. A little neighbourhood that grew colourful and pretty, in a whimsical sort of way that only children could achieve planting plants willy-nilly. Small little dirt paths that went nowhere, tiny ponds with with fountains and a fish or two, and who could forget those giant bushes for short people to hide in? Cerys was watching Pinkie, who was gently stroking the bark of a young apple tree, whispering sweet nothing’s in a thick American accent. Must’ve seen something weird on the telly again. xxx Harry woke up with a headache. Staring at the bars in front of his window really made his eyes hurt. Staring at the bars in front of his window had started to mess with his vision. This sucked. He once again swore to himself next time he had the chance he would ask Dumbledore to let him live somewhere else. He could make that happen, right? Still, no matter how bad Harry had it. He knew that Hedwig had it worse. If you’ve ever seen an owl sigh you’d know it was a sad sight indeed. Harry was actively contemplating releasing her permanently. This was no way for Hedwig to live. He moved towards the cage when a jolly honking outside his window caught his attention. It was such an odd sound that he couldn’t help but have a look. A strange sight greeted him. Four redheads in a flying Ford Anglia... The youngest of which he’d seen only once. They were all furiously gesturing towards the bars. The little girl Ginny had the bright idea to wind down the car window. “What you got bars on your window for?” "Funny! They’ve locked me inside!” Harry responded a little crankily. Ron peered outside his own window. “Seriously? The muggles actually locked you up?” “...Yeah.” “Dicks.” Ron stuck his head back inside the car and started a lively negotiation with his fellow redheads. Ginny in particular seemed to be gesturing wildly. A moment of head nods indicated that a decision had been made and George crawled his way back into the boot to find himself a piece of rope. “Tie this around the bars.” He said handing one end to Harry. With a little bit of skepticism in his mind Harry did so. He’d been in that room for a while after all with nothing but thoughts to keep him company. To his surprise however, the bars started to bend almost immediately. There was some pluck in that little car. A loud screeching noise was the sign that the bars would break and break they did. Harry smiled. xxx After a big day of making muck and cleaning it up, it was once again time to chill out at the dinner table. Maddie wasn’t exactly pleased with her charges but she had to admit that the garden has never looked better, so she couldn’t exactly be cross either. Still, feeling like she should’ve put on some sort of parenting show she scooped her fill on her plate. ‘Oh, sod it.’ She thought. “Children! Feast on your supper and eat hearty, for tomorrow we’re going shopping!” “Yay!” Another day of excitement at Happy Oaks.