The Wizard and the Lonely Princess

by Harry Leferts


Chapter 22

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling.

"Hello"-Normal Speaking
"Interesting..."- Nightmare Moon speaking.
'Huh'- Normal Thoughts.
'All mine...' Nightmare Moon's thoughts
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From where she laid on top of one of the Hogwarts' Library massive bookshelves, Nightmare hummed to herself as she flipped a page in the book that she was reading from. Myrtle glanced at her from where she was floating in a prone position above the aisle with an amused look on her face. "That was mean what you did yesterday." At the plushy's curious expression, she giggled. "Having poor Hedwig lift you to the roof just so that you could bombard everyone below with snowballs during the fight."


Nightmare snorted. "Holding the strategic high ground is just good sense." She then scowled. "Though I still say that the twins cheated by using magic to get their snowballs to the roof." She then gave the ghost a look. "Besides, if you'd notice, that exhaustion went away quickly enough." She didn't say the next bit aloud though 'Granted, it was helped along with a small spell, but still...'


Intrigued, Myrtle changed her hover so that she was behind her friend and looked over Nim's shoulder from her prone position. "By the way, why did you want a book on magical bonds anyways?"


The plush wrote something quickly on her notepad before she answered. "I've had a developing interest of sorts in them as of late. It's surprising enough an actually fascinating subject considering the amount of material." She then tapped the book with a hoof. "There are even some minor rituals in here that deal with bonds in particular, though it notes that they've all pretty much fallen out of usage in some cases as there are spells and potions that do the same thing."


The spectral girl tapped her chin before she nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds about right. Rituals were much more common centuries ago before they were replaced by modern day spells and potions which do the same things. In fact, alchemy itself uses a combination of potion making and ritual usage."


Nim grunted as she made some more notes. "Still surprisingly enough though, despite being completely backward, the wizarding world hasn't outlawed many rituals or have rules against their usage except for the obviously evil ones."


The ghost just giggled some. "Not really." Seeing her friend look at her with a interested look, and ignoring the warmth that spread through her at the thought that she had an actual friend, Myrtle explained some. "If you're given a choice between a highly complicated ritual that involves multiple people, various esoteric ingredients, and hours of chanting to control the weather and a simple spell that could be done in minutes... Which are you going to choose?" She shook her head. "I remember seeing it talked about in a Ancient Runes class a few years ago when I had wondered in invisibly. The Ministry never had to bother making any real laws against rituals as they fell out of favor centuries ago as modern day spells and potions became more and more common and with a greater variety. Whether this was because there were spells and potions that did what the rituals as well or as better with less work and preparation, or simply because such rituals simply were no longer needed is something still debated." She grinned a little and tapped her nose. "Why bother something that no one even really uses anymore outside of specialty jobs besides ones that use things like human sacrifices?"


Nightmare nodded slowly. "That does make some sense I suppose. Too lazy to bother when the populace does the work for you."


Myrtle nodded. "Exactly." She then looked back at the book with renewed interest. "So then, which ones are in the book? Besides the marriage ones for things like good fertility and so forth."


The alicorn shrugged. "All very minor ones really. Hay, there's one in there that even you should be familiar with." Seeing the intrigued look, she continued. "Turns out that the old mundane 'Blood Brother/Blood Sister' pact is in fact an actual ritual that's somehow seeped into the mundane world."


The ghost's jaw dropped at that, which Nightmare noted as odd seeing as it dropped far farther then should have been biologically possible. "You're kidding!"


Nightmare shook her head. "I'm actually not." She then snorted. "It magically strengthens the bond of friendship between two people. It grants an very minor empathic link between the two." She waved a hoof around. "Nothing major or really noticeable, it just does things like give one of them a gut feeling of the other one is dead or in danger."


Myrtle leaned forward as her eyes sparkled, her thirst for knowledge revealing that she had been placed into Ravenclaw when alive for a reason. "Any others of interest?"


The plush frowned thoughtfully as she fought off a chuckle. "Well, there is one that can transform ordinary pets into familiars. Though all it does is create a strong empathic link between the wizard or witch and the familiar as well as increasing the animals intelligence and durability. Possibly strength as well in some cases." She flips through some notes. "They were used as helpers and assistants for the wizard or witch, though the practice fell out of favor a couple of centuries ago for some reason that the book doesn't mention besides something else took their place." She then sighed as she closed the book and then leaned over the side to put it back onto the shelf where it belonged. "All the same, it's getting late... or early, so that's enough for one night."


As she giggled while her friend placed her notebook in a small backpack, Myrtle smiled. "So why the sudden interest in magical bonds all of a sudden?"


Nightmare stilled for a moment before she went back to putting her backpack on. "It's something that I am currently working on... a side project of sorts if you will."


Myrtle just nodded as she watched the plushy leap across the gap between two library shelving units. In the short time that they had been friends, Myrtle had long realized that Nightmare was no ordinary magically animated doll. She was far too smart and self-aware to be that. And at times she swore (despite how impossible it would be) that she almost performed magic. But Myrtle was anything if not loyal to those who became her friends... a number that she could count on a single hand. 'Like hell I'm going to abandon her...'


After having left the library, Nightmare's ears stiffened as they swivelled here and there. "Someone's coming..."


The ghost beside her simply nodded and gestured at a nearby room. "Hide in there." She slowly faded out of view. "I'll stay out here invisible and tell you when they're past."


Nim nodded as she silently slunk into the abandoned classroom, her eyes taking note of the large wardrobe at one end of it before she turned and closed the door softly. 'Much easier to avoid... situations now then what it was before...' Minutes passed as she heard footsteps pass by. Suddenly, just as they had begun to fade, she stiffened as she heard the door to the wardrobe behind her creak open. Nightmare just scowled as she began to turn. "Look, just stay in there and snog, but be quiet..."


Anything else she had been going to say died on her lips as she saw what was behind her. Because, there as it slowly stumbled and shambled toward her, was an obviously dead and elderly Harry Potter...


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Outside, Myrtle sighed as she became visible once more, the Prefects having already turned the corner and well out of earshot. "That was a close one... Now to let Nightmare know-" She was cutoff as the door to the classroom slammed open while a tiny black blur took off down the hallway. "What the hell..." She looked down in the direction that Nightmare had taken with a frown. "Nightmare...?"


As for the dark alicorn, she kept running up the hallway until she tripped and tumbled into another empty classroom at the corner. She laid there for a few moments just staring off into nothing before she started to gather herself. It was then that she realized that she was in another disused classroom and jerked her head around to see if there was anywhere for another... thing, to hide. Once she realized that there wasn't, she started to calm down. "Get a hold of yourself mare... that... that thing wasn't Harry." She then looked around again for a closer look when her eyes caught sight of a magnificent mirror. Drawn toward it, Nightmare slowly walked until she was in front of it when she stopped and went wide-eyed at what she saw. "How can this be...?"


There, in the mirror was her reflection. However, it was not a reflection of her doll body, but her actual real form. Beside her to either side was Harry and Luna, though she noted that Luna looked just like she did before she was "Born". The doll's already wide eyes flickered as "Harry" seemed to flicker between being human and a silvery alicorn stallion that was recognizable as him. "What is going on here...?" Her jaw dropped though as she saw the familiar form of Celestia walk up behind her. Frightened, Nightmare quickly glanced around, only to see an empty room, which had furniture and chairs stacked across the walls with a single wastebasket in the middle upside down.


She then turned back and felt that if she could, she would have begun crying. For Celestia didn't look at her in either pure anger or hatred as she had so long before, but with forgiveness and pure sisterly love. She then trotted up and laid a wing protectively over the mirror Nim's back causing the real one to shake a bit.


And then came a sight that truly made her heart ache: Her parents and an unknown alicorn that she could only assume was her uncle appeared and took their own places behind and to the sides. "Mo-mother... Fa-father... is that... you?" The two just softly smiled as Nightmare's reflection began to cry the tears that the real one could not. Which only got worse as the background changed into a nightime carnival with hoards of ponies laughing and playing as they enjoyed themselves and the night...


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The next night, all was once more quiet in the classroom until the door opened and closed by itself. A few moments later this was followed by the rustle of cloth as Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off him and Nim. He then glanced around the empty seeming room in thought. "Is this the place Nim?"


She just nodded. "It is." Nightmare then gestured at the mirror, which was still in the same spot as it had been the night before. "And there it is, just like I said."


Both Harry and Luna took several steps forward with Luna being the one to look into it first. Her eyes widened as she glanced around the mirror. "I... I don't believe this..."


As Luna's eyes became misty, the wizard of the group noticed the inscription along the top of the mirror's frame. 'Now what is that about I wonder...' He then took out a notebook and copied jotted down the words there. Once thst was done, he frowned and his brows furrowed as he looked it over. 'Hmm... Erised stru ehru oyt ube cafru out on wohsi... What the hay does it mean?'


Still watching the mirror, Nightmare called over her shoulder. "I have no idea what those nonsense words that you just spoke mean."


While Harry blinked in surprise, Luna nodded as she frowned and examined her reflection. "While there are two english words in there, the rest sounded like gibberish."


The wizard in training looked between the two distracted alicorns with a thoughtful frown before he smacked his forehead as he mumbled. "I have got to stop thinking out loud..." Harry then gestured at the mirror. "And it's not nonsense... or at the least I don't think that it is." He then pointed at the top of the mirror. "That's what's written there after all.


Nim blinked and looked up. "Huh. What do you know?" She then looked at the mirror and then back at Harry. "What do you think, Harry?" Nightmare then walked over and sat down before the mirror before she tapped it's frame. "Well, go on and have a look."


Harry took a breath before he walked over and stood in front of the mirror before he caught sight of his reflection and his eyes widened some. "I..."


Luna shook her head as she puzzled over what she had seen in the mirror in thought. "Why is it showing us these things? I can't see it being the future because..." She trailed off a bit before she shook her head. "It can't be my future because my parents are likely dead, otherwise they would have come back at some point." The lunar Princess sighed some. "Though I only wish that what I saw could come true..." Her eyes widened alongside the others as they all shared a look. "You don't think..."


The male of the three pulled out the notebook and flipped to where he had written down the inscription. He then held it out toward the mirror so that he could see it and frowned. "Lets see... ishow no tyo urfac ebu tyo urhe arts desire..." Harry's brows furrowed and his eyes closed as he puzzled it over in his head. Suddenly, his face lit up and his eyes opened as he looked directly at the mirror. "'I show not your face but your hearts desire'!"


The Princess of the Night's own eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed as she caught movement off to the side in the corner of her eye. She then looked around only to see that no one was visible. Luna then glanced at Harry's invisibility cloak. 'That doesn't mean that they can't be there though...' As her ears rotated this way and that as they tried to catch some sound, Luna looked at Harry and Nightmare. "You two, there's someone else in the room with us..."


Harry jerked a bit in shock and looked around, his eyes searching for something out of place... which they soon did. But rather then focus on it, he continued as if still searching. "Nightmare, is anything different from when you were here last night?" Having lived with him for years, Nightmare caught his meaning and slowly shook her head. Harry then pulled out his wand and then in one movement pointed it at the upside down wastebasket. "You know, next time you should use something other then an obvious seat all alone in the middle of the room.


A moment later Dumbledore appeared where he was sitting on the wastebasket with a very pleased expression on his face. "A very impressive piece of deduction, Harry. As observant as your mother."


But while Dumbledore may have been impressed, Nightmare was most definitely not as shown when she glared at him. "Why are you spying on us!?"


However, it wasn't the Headmaster who answered her, but rather Harry who answered her accusation. "He wasn't spying on us per say." He then looked toward the mirror with a frown. "He was keeping an eye on the mirror I'm assuming." He then gestured at the wastebasket. "After all, if nothing's changed then that was upside down when you had arrived last night."


The elder wizard's eye, already twinkling, lit up even more. "Quite correct. Harry." He then sighed as the twinkle faded. "But you are quite correct in that I was here to make sure that no one, like Nightmare here, discovered the... delights... of the mirror of Erised."


Harry frowned some as he ignored how Nightmare glared at the Headmaster for how he referred to her. "'Erised'? So the mirror of Desire then?"


As Dumbledore nodded, Luna frowned as she looked toward the mirror. "Hmm... ask him if it's dangerous. it does have a strange pull toward it now that I look more closely..."


Harry did so while also mentioning the pull which made the Headmaster slowly nod. "There is an minor enchantment that attracts people to look into it." He then sighed. "It is dangerous, but not quite in the manner that you're thinking." Albus then looked at the mirror himself and looked at Harry from the corner of his eye. "Do you know what the mirror shows, Harry?"


The young wizard crossed his arms and nodded. "It shows us our desires or deepest wishes."


Dumbledore nodded. "And that is why it is dangerous."


Nightmare shook her head. "Because due to it showing your greatest desire, you'll become obsessed with what is being shown."


The Headmaster nodded. "Exactly." He waved at the mirror. "Throughout it's history, hundreds have gazed into it's depths. And many of them have either wasted away in front of it. Obsessed with what they were seeing, or driven mad in the end from wondering if it was true or even possible."


Harry sighed. "Like moths drawn to a flame."


Dumbledore blinked and hummed to himself. "That is a... most apt description of it." He looked at Harry and smiled. "Do you know what the happiest man in the world would see, Harry?"


The younger wizard shook his head. "No idea."


The elderly wizard smiled and chuckled. "Why, he would see his reflection and nothing else my boy." He tilted his head some. "I suppose in a way, it is a test for one's self. You can tell how happy one is by the amount shown in the mirror." Dumbledore then sighed as he looked at Harry and Nightmare. "I would like to ask you though if you wouldn't go looking for it again, either of you." The Headmaster turned back to the mirror. "For it shall be moved to a new home soon, one much more secure then this within the next few days."


The room lapsed into silence before Nightmare spoke up. "Then what is it you see when you look into it?" At Harry's admonishment, she rolled her eyes. "No matter what, he did spy on me whether he meant to or not. I think that he owes me a small question."


The elderly wizard chuckled some. "I do not mind, Harry." He then looked at Nightmare and smiled. "Socks."


Harry and Nightmare shared a look as Luna stared at him with a incredulous look before they all said the same thing at the same time. "Socks!?"


Pleased with her reaction, Dumbledore nodded and chuckled. "Yes, socks. Thick woolen ones to be exact." He then held up a finger as his eyes twinkled in mirth. "One can never have too many pairs of nice woolen socks I've found." The Headmaster then shook his head sadly with a sigh. "And yet, another Christmas has come and gone and I sadly did not receive a single pair." He then frowned thoughtfully. "For some odd reason people always get me books..."


The plush blinked and then shrugged. "I suppose us liking socks is one thing that we have in common."


The twinkle in Albus' eyes increased some. "Quite." He then smiled. "Though I do believe that our tastes in clothing is for the most part different. After all, your dresses look much better on you then they would on me."


He laughed a little at the disgruntled expressions on Harry's and Nightmare's faces as he said that.


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Later while they were headed for the dorms and out of earshot, Luna looked over at Harry with a raised eyebrow as she tilted her head some. "You know, he wasn't being exactly truthful."


Harry gave her an astonished look and blinked owlishly. "You mean that Dumbledore would look good in one of Nim's dresses?"


Suddenly he grinned as both Nim and Luna made noises of complete disgust and both of them gave him a whack (Luna on the arm and Nim to the back of the head). "Ugh! I did not need that image in my head again, Harry!"


Luna nodded, an expression of distaste on her face. "I am in complete agreement with her."


The boy wizard laughed a bit before he shook his head. "Anyways, yes, I do know that he wasn't being entirely truthful with us, Luna." He then gave Nightmare a look. "But then, that was a deeply private question anyways."


The blue alicorn gave her dark counterpart a glare. "Oh, that I agree with you fully on, Harry. It was personal."


Nim for her part just pouted and looked away. "He was spying on me, it's no less then he deserved." She then changed the subject as she turned back and looked at Luna and Harry curiously. "By the way, what was it that you saw?"


Harry watched in some amusement as Luna blushed and looked away. "Well..." She then sighed and hung her head, a far off look in her eyes. "I saw something very similar to what Nightmare did..." She ignored Nightmare's slightly shocked and pleased expression before she turned to Harry. "And you? What was it that you saw when you looked in the mirror?"


He just chuckled a bit before he shook his head. "You two alongside me, no matter what or how I looked." Seeing their surprise, he stopped before he drew Luna into an embrace that she shared with Nightmare. "It seems that my deepest desire is to stay friends with you two no matter what. No real surprise there for me." He then sadly smiled. "I did see my parents in the background and they gave me proud looks, but you two were at the forefront." Harry then closed his eyes as his smile grew. "Odd that all three of us share at least one desire."


Luna snorted as she pulled away. "It's not that odd, Harry." She then softly smiled. "Or, at least I don't think so..."


Nightmare just clambered up onto his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek affectionately as she too smiled. "And it happens to be the one desire that with work hopefully might be granted..."


Harry reached up and gently rubbed her behind her ears. "Maybe..."

The three continued to walk in a companionable silence interspersed with some talking here and there. However, when they reached the potrait of the Fat Lady, they got a surprise as Myrtle was floating there deep in thought with a frown on her face. Once she caught sight of the group (or at least Harry and Nightmare), she shuffled her feet. "Uh..."


Harry looked between her and the confused Nightmare before he gently picked her up off his shoulder and set her down. He then smiled down at her. "How about you have a talk with Myrtle here while me and Luna go inside and have a private chat? Hmm?"


Nim just stared at the two in confusion as they entered Gryffindor tower before she turned to the nervous ghost. "What the hay just happened here?" She then heard Myrtle clear her throat which caused her to blink. 'How does one clear their throat if they're a ghost?'


The ghost girl floated there for a moment while she hanged her head. "Um... Nightmare?" Having gotten a grunt, she continued. "I... want to apologize..."


Nightmare blinked at this in surprise. "Wait, what? Apologize? Whatever for?"


Myrtle slowly rubbed her arm as she looked very uncomfortable. "For... how I acted last night." She sniffled a bit. "It took me so long to even go looking for you! I-I..." She slowly floated down as she kneeled and began to cry. "I'm no better then the people who didn't go looking for me!"


The dark alicorn looked very uncomfortable as the Fat Lady looked at her before she slowly trotted over. Her mind was awhirl as she tried to figure something out until she remembered some of the things that she had observed others doing. "Hey, it's okay. It's not that bad you know."


Needless to say, that didn't help. "Ye-yes it is!" She sniffled some more. "I abandoned you like I-I was!"


As she felt a headache coming on, Nim returned to her usual methods. "Myrtle... SHUT THE HAY UP!" As the ghost was too stunned to react, the doll went to jab her hoof into Myrtle's chest, only for it to go through. 'Never mind...' Nightmare then glared at her. "I do not know what foalishness this may be, but you didn't abandon me! Hay, you came looking for me, remember!"


The ghost sniffled a little, though a small bit of hope flared in her chest. "Well... yes... but that was more then an hour later! And what kind of friend does that?!"


Nightmare sat back and crossed her forelegs. "You still came looking for me." She then frowned. "I'm sure that you had a reason for it."


Myrtle shuffled a little. "I... I just stood there since I didn't know what to do and..." She licked her lips some. "Then I went to find a teacher and let them know about the boggart."


The plush blinked. "So that was what it was..." She rubbed her chin a little. 'Yes, that does sound like what I had read in that book about malicious spirits and demons...' The doll then shook it off. "And then you came looking for me, correct?"


She slowly nodded. "Well... yes..."


Myrtle was shocked though when her friend waved it off. "Then there is no need to be forgiven for abandoning me since that was something that you did not do." She smirked a little. "I take it that the boggart was... disposed of...?"


The ghost nodded. "Of course. It was a threat otherwise if someone who couldn't handle it found it." She gave the smirking alicorn a look of confusion. "Why?"


Nightmare's grin just widened as she held up a hoof. "Then you weren't abandoning me, but rather getting revenge for me." Myrtle had absolutely nothing to say to that so she simply smiled, happy that her friend didn't think that she had abandoned her. Soon talk turned to the mirror and Nightmare told her a version of what happened. "... And that's all."


The former Ravenclaw's mind sped as she assimilated everything before she frowned. "So the mirror shows what one wishes would come true, correct?" At Nim's nod, she shook her head. "Well that explains what I saw, though not why it would be here..."


Having overheard the first bit, the dark alicorn cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And what did you see?"


Myrtle looked over at her and smirked. "Don't you know that it's rude to ask such things?" Having gotten no other reaction then an eyeroll and a snort, she chuckled. "Thankfully, due to my experiences I don't really care."


Nightmare raised an eyebrow as she leaned forward. "So...?"


The ghost sighed as she gained a far off look. "I saw different things. Myself graduating with top honors and as Headgirl as my parents watched on in pride alongside many of those that I thought that could have become friends such as my muggle ones..." She grew slightly misty eyed as her voice lowered. "Finding a boy and getting married... having children... growing old..." Myrtle wiped her eyes a little. "All the things that as a ghost will never happen..."


Nim just made to reach out and grasp her hand when she stopped. She then looked at her. "I'm sure that your parents still loved you. Did you ever go to see them after..."


Myrtle shook her head. "Wouldn't have done a thing. As Muggles, they'd be unable to see me except in a place with high magic like Hogwarts or Diagon, places that they were not normally allowed." She then sighed. "Not that it really matters as the next year they were killed by what I heard was a German rocket..."


Unsure what to say, Nightmare change the subject. After a short chat, they parted ways and Nim entered the tower and eventually found Luna in the Common Room waiting. "Where's Harry?"


Luna smiled as she sat in front of the fire. "He's currently working a bit on writing the stories that we've told him about our past." As her darker counterpart nodded, she sighed. "And it gives you and I a chance to talk."


Nim crossed her forelegs and grunted. "Oh?"


The blue alicorn nodded. "About everything that's happened." She then searched the plush's face. "Harry may be uncomfortable about it, but why did you see a vision of a dead, elderly version of him?" Nim explained things which caused her to give Nightmare a look of compassion. "So your greatest fear is of him dying of old age?"


Nightmare looked down. "Yeah, and so?" She looked away. "Not like that's not your greatest fear as well!"


Luna sighed before she hugged the smaller alicorn. "And I'm not going to deny that either, Nightmare." She gulped a little. "It's something that I live with knowing each day, which is why I cherish each one of them so much." Luna then raised an eyebrow as she heard Nightmare mutter. "Sorry, what was that?"


Nim frowned before she looked up with a hopeful expression. "What you said... about your vision being similar as mine... was that true?"


The ghostly alicorn frowned before she nodded. "It's true." She looked at the fire in thought. "I saw you, Harry, and I. He was shifting just like with yours and then came Celly as well as mother and father."


After she blinked, Nightmare looked up. "So I really was there?"


Luna turned to her and saw not just hope, but some vulnerability in her face and softly smiled before she nuzzled her. "Yes." She then chuckled. "It's odd, but for some odd reason I can't imagine you not being there now..."


Nim smiled herself. "Same..."