23 — Pub Crawling
The ten of them were so engrossed with the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, that they almost didn’t hear the knock at the door. The adults exchanged glances. Unless there was something wrong, the guards had been ordered to not approach the house until Twilight gave the okay. Could there be a problem?
“I'll get it,” said Twilight, heading for the door. The woman she saw at the door took her by surprise. A tall, severe-looking bespectacled woman with dark hair tied up in a bun was standing at the door. Twilight knew she couldn’t be one of the neighbours. All the closest ones had already sold their houses and were making moving arrangements with her solicitor. They were too busy moving out to be bothered with introducing themselves to the Equestrians. And it would be rather pointless because they were just going to move away, anyway.
The stranger smiled. “Hello, I’m Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I have acceptance letters for a Miss Scoot Aloo, a Miss Sweetie Belle, and a Miss Apple Bloom. Are they here?”
Twilight smiled and stepped back as she studied the woman carefully, “Yes, they are. Come in. We’d expected another letter in response to Harry’s reply, but someone from the school actually coming is a nice surprise.”
The Deputy Headmistress stared at her a moment, considering what she had said. She nodded her thanks as she walked in, carefully looking around at the small house.
Twilight led her into the sitting-room. Harry quickly shut off the film on the telly as he, the fillies, and Spike stood up from where they were sitting on the floor. Quite by accident, Spike was mostly hidden behind Harry and the fillies.
“Everyone,” Twilight said, “this is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts.” A chorus of murmured, “Hellos,” greeted the witch.
Twilight turned to face her. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is Blueblood, . . . ,” she said and then proceeded to introduce the herd. She ended with Harry and the fillies. Each girl said “hello” and waved as her name was mentioned, helping the professor identify them. The vibrant hair colours they all sported took her by surprise.
Minerva smiled slightly at seeing Harry. She recognized him immediately. “And Mr. Potter is here, as well. Excellent.”
Still smiling, she said warmly, “You look like your father, but you have your mother’s eyes.” She turned to the three girls and studied them. They looked like typical pre-teen girls, meeting her gaze with happy smiles. Their eye colours, though, were a bit unusual — green, red, and purple. Most wizards and witches had either brown or blue eyes.
“And this,” Twilight continued, “Is my number one assistant, Spike!”
Spike stepped out from behind the three fillies and waved, adding his “Hello.”
Surprised, McGonagall took a step back and rapidly drew her wand. She hadn’t noticed the green dragon partially hidden behind the girls, thinking the green colour was some kind of stuffed toy covered with sequins. “A dragon!” she said. She didn’t point her wand at the dragon-child as none of the other’s seemed worried at its presence, but she kept it ready.
“Well,” Spike said, putting his hands on his hips, “Of course I’m a dragon. Haven’t you ever seen a dragon before?” He puffed up his chest proudly.
A normal witch would have blatantly stared, mouth dropped open in shock, but Minerva was made of sterner stuff. She taught at a school where children went from preteens through puberty to adults. It took quite a lot to break her composure. However, he still flummoxed her a bit. “Not one that talks,” she said slowly. “All the ones I’ve heard about are vicious, unreasoning, deadly creatures.”
The Equestrians all raised their eyebrows at that revelation. Maybe that was why Spike hadn’t turned into a human when he came through. There were dragons here, just not very intelligent.
“Well,” said Twilight, “I’ve raised Spike from an egg and I’ll have you know that Spike is neither unreasoning nor vicious. He can be quite insightful at times. And he has excellent flame control.” She gazed at him proudly.
Spike preened under the praise.
“Ah. Yes. I see,” the professor said still studying the little dragon. She was familiar with most of the dragon breeds in the world, and Spike’s form and attitude was unlike all of them. She carefully put her wand back in its pocket.
“I don’t suppose you know that it is illegal to hatch and raise a dragon without a Ministry license?”
“Is that so?” said Twilight. She shrugged. “No one ever told us, and no one not in this room knows about Spike being at this house.” She smiled at the professor. “I suppose we’ll have to see about getting that license, then.”
McGonagall just stared for a moment. Then she shook her head and returned to her regular business.
“Let’s see,” she said, “This is for you, and you, and you,” punctuating each by handing a sealed letter to the girl whose name was one the front. She turned to Harry. “Mr. Potter, I know you requested in your letter that we allow your friends to join you. Only children with sufficient magic are allowed to attend Hogwarts. Fortunately, your friends appear to qualify, although I don’t know why they didn’t get their letters when you received yours.” The girls hurriedly opened their letters and hopped happily in place, showing each other and Harry their letters.
McGonagall turned to the adults. “Now, then. I’m sure you have many questions, the first of which is usually ‘Is this a joke?’ I assure it most certainly is not. Magic is real.” She paused to look at Spike uncertainly, her normal spiel clearly not being of much use.
They all simply nodded. Not surprising, really, considering they were apparently raising a pet dragon.
“Yes, we know,” said Twilight, staring interestedly at the wand.
The Equestrians had debated this point several times before deciding to be up front about it. While they had decided they wouldn’t mention the portal or Equestria, trying to pretend they didn’t know magic would backfire when Harry and the fillies inevitably displayed their knowledge and abilities. Of course, they hadn’t expected an actual visitor, so the visitor meeting Spike would have ruined any other plans, anyway.
Rarity smiled and lifted her mug of tea in her magic to take a sip. Harry and Sweetie Belle also smiled and lifted their fizzy drink bottles from on the floor to their hands. Prince Blueblood, not to be outdone, magically poured additional tea from the pot on the table into his cup before lifting it for a sip.
It was a bit more strenuous here than at home, and required far more concentration. Twilight had theorized that magic wasn’t nearly as prevalent here as the reason for that difficulty.
“Oh,” the older witch said, “I see. And wandlessly, too.” She blinked a few times, thinking. “That makes things simpler. Have you had any contact with the wizarding community? Do you know about Hogwarts already?”
To that, Twilight said, “No, we haven’t. We know nothing about either subject.”
For the next hour, with many interruptions by Twilight, the professor told the Equestrians about the wizarding community and how they kept themselves separate from the non-magical humans, although she called the non-magicals, muggles. Twilight’s quill flying across paper as she took copious notes kept drawing the older witch’s gaze as the quill and paper floated beside the young woman. Not even the Headmaster had ever shown off such fine delicate unconscious wandless control. And she hadn’t seen either the quill or stack of paper appear, either. They were just there.
She also gave them the sales-pitch about Hogwarts, a boarding school, being the best magical school in Great Britain. She demonstrated some simple spells with her wand, as well as transforming herself into her cat animagus and back. That drew intense interest from all of them and she spent a short time explaining it.
When she said that her wand was made from fir with a dragon heartstring core, she didn’t miss the appalled looks they gave her in response. Spike gasped out loud and stared at her, frightened and hiding behind Twilight. “The dragon who supplied my heartstring died of natural causes,” she said to Spike, reassuringly. Still, everyone, including Harry, was clearly upset by that revelation.
Then she explained the money system used by the wizards, adding, “You can exchange pounds for galleons at Gringotts, the Goblin bank.”
Twilight frowned and asked, “Will they accept gems or gold instead?”
The professor stared at them a moment, thinking. “Yes, if you have some jewellery you’d rather exchange, they will take those instead.”
Harry could tell she was curious why they didn't want to exchange pounds for the wizarding currency.
Relieved, Twilight nodded and said, “Oh, good.”
“Now,” McGonagall continued, “I’m taking another muggle-born student to Diagon Alley tomorrow. If you’ll meet me at The Leaky Cauldron in London tomorrow at eight, you can come with. Otherwise we’ll have to make an appointment for later this week.”
The disguised alicorn quickly agreed, “Oh, yes, we can easily do that. Where is this Leaky Cauldron?”
“The address is in the Muggle-born Introduction booklet,” she pointed at the small brochure she had left them.
It took her another hour to finally escape Twilight’s copious questions. As she reached the door, however, she stopped and asked, “Oh, by the way, will Mr. Potter be returning to the Dursleys tonight?” She didn’t miss the way Twilight stiffened at that question.
“The Dursleys,” Twilight said slowly. “Do not get along well with their nephew, so we decided he could stay with us when he wanted. Fortunately, he was with us when your first owl arrived. The Dursleys truly detest magic and get quite upset if you even mention it. They deny it exists. I can’t imagine how they would have reacted to that letter.” She shuddered. “Oh, and the Dursleys do not know that we can do magic.”
She looked back at the witch. “Right now, they are staying in Woking. Some type of legal issue that requires they stay there until school starts, I think.” Pinkie Pie snickered while Rarity and Rainbow Dash exchanged smirks. "They're staying at . . . well . . . I heard someone refer to it as one of the Queen's Resorts. It's apparently one of many."
Professor McGonagall nodded. “Well, then, until tomorrow,” she said as she left the house.
She had her head down, thinking, as she walked down the street looking for a convenient shadow to disapparate from. She didn’t notice the woman watching from the shadows of the darkened house across the street.
۸- ̰ -۸
Apple Bloom turned to her sister. “Um, AJ? Can I have a hair for my wand?” She scuffed her foot on the rug. “I don’t want to take a chance on getting’ a wand with a core from a stranger. Or,” she shuddered, “a dragon.” She looked guiltily at Spike.
Sweetie Belle turned to her sister with a similar plea.
At Scootaloo’s desperate look, Rainbow Dash just grinned. “Sure, squirt,” she said pulling out one of her long hairs. The one she pulled came without a struggle, as if released by her desire to give it to Scootaloo.
Rarity and Applejack quickly followed suit.
Harry turned to Twilight with a hopeful look, and she quickly handed him one of her hairs. Four sheets of paper from the stack Twilight had been using flew up, folding themselves into envelopes as they floated to a stop in front of Harry and the fillies. “To keep them clean for the wand-maker,” she explained.
The adults adjourned to the kitchen to discuss their next steps while Spike, Harry, and the fillies returned to their film.
Later that night, Spike made a quick trip to the portal and sent a copy of Twilight’s notes and her report of their meeting with the Deputy Headmistress to the Princesses.
۸- ̰ -۸
Harry’s morning started like the previous two, cajoling and whining at the fillies to wear clothes. As they came down the stairs at six o’clock, they saw Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy coming in the front door. The fillies and Harry were surprised to see Twilight and Spike coming in with the other mares. Harry wondered when she had gotten up and why she had gone to the portal.
In the dining room, Pinkie Pie unloaded her soft briefcase, placing an impressive pile of the baked goods on the breakfast table. Meanwhile, Applejack unloaded her briefcase with a huge pile of pancakes Granny Smith had prepared.
“Here you go, Harry,” Twilight said, handing him a piece of wood about twice the size of his thumb in diameter and reaching from his fingertips almost to his elbow. “It’s from the Library Tree. I thought you maybe could use it for your wand. And the Princesses sent you some hairs, as well. Maybe the wand-maker can put them all together?”
Harry’s eyes sparkled as he gently took the branch. “Brilliant, Twilight!” He hugged her.
Applejack handed a similar piece of wood to Apple Bloom. “It’s from Ol’ Granddad,” she explained. Apple Bloom almost burst into tears at that. Old Granddad was the first apple-tree planted at Sweet Apple Acres over three hundred years ago, before Ponyville was founded, by her great-great-great-grandfather.
Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo and held out a primary feather, “Here. This might work better for you than a hair. After all, I am the fastest Pegasus in Equestria, not,” she cut her eyes towards Rarity, “the most vain.”
“Taking pride in one’s appearance is not vanity,” Rarity said haughtily as she glared at Dash.
“You keep telling yourself that, Rare,” Dash replied, and laughed as Rarity’s glare intensified.
Scootaloo reverently took the feather and rushed to her rucksack to store it in the envelope from last night. The others followed suit.
Breakfast was quick and soon they were waiting for the limousine promised by their solicitor. Harry had heard Twilight call him last night and explain where they needed to go. He had told her he would arrange for a limousine to pick them up and take them to the address they needed. When they needed to return, all they had to do was call the service and tell them where they were.
As for the call itself, well, Harry had shown her how to use the telephone system and the solicitor had told her what the number was at Mrs. Marple’s house when they moved in on Sunday. It was now posted above the phone. Their solicitor had told they would keep that number until the Embassy was set up.
The limousine was huge, a long low-slung vehicle with more than enough seating for the ten of them. Harry had never seen such a vehicle before. Fruit drinks were stored in a small refrigerator behind the driver’s seat. For the ponies used to chariots, carriages, and railcars, it was quite an experience and Harry had a difficult time holding his laughter back at their amazed reactions.
The drive itself was just as riveting. They couldn’t believe the high-speed traffic, to the Equestrians that is, on the M3-M25-M4. Fifty miles per hour with three and four lanes of traffic, with London growing large in the distance was an incredible experience for them. Only pegasi in Equestria moved that fast. And yet, here, it was considered ordinary for everyone. And so many at the same time!
۸- ̬ -۸
The driver stopped in front of a bookstore at Forty-two Charing Cross Road to let them all out. Twilight was the first out of the car and nearly bolted for the bookstore before they could grab her. It took both Applejack and Rarity repeating, “Focus, Twilight, focus!” to drag her away. All the while she longingly gazed at the books on display in the store’s windows. Books no pony had ever read. Books she could tell were not in the Little Whinging bookstore.
Harry spotted The Leaky Cauldron as he waited for the drama to end and everypony else to exit the car. It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If he hadn’t been looking for it, Harry wouldn’t have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn’t glance at it, either. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other. It was as if they couldn’t see The Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and* the Equestrians could see it.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby, he thought as they entered. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking something from tiny glasses. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut.* The low buzz of chatter slowed when they walked in and the customers inside looked them over.
Professor McGonagall was standing by the bar at one side of the pub, in the back. With her were two adults and girl, looking quite out of place in their modern clothes. Twilight led the group towards her.
The bartender looked up and said, “These the rest of your group, Professor?” Before she could reply, though, the bartender said “Good Lord.” He peered at Harry, “is this — can this be — ?” The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.
“Bless my soul,” whispered the old bartender, “Harry Potter . . . what an honour.”
He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.
“Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back.”
Harry didn’t know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out.
Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.*
Compared to the laid-back attitude of the ponies in Equestria, this was quite overwhelming to Harry. The crowd, only a dozen or two people, quickly edged the fillies and other Equestrians away from Harry.
Professor McGonagall, her muggle guests, and the Equestrians all stared, completely flummoxed at the way the witches and wizards were reacting to Harry’s mere presence.
The room was brought to a stunned silence as a tremendous BOOM shook the pub.
Harry looked over at the source of the noise and saw Pinkie Pie, with an ear-to-ear grin, hoisting her party cannon on her shoulder. Streamers hung from every spot where a streamer could hang and glitter softly wafted from the ceiling. A huge banner stretched over the bar, reading “WELCOME BACK, HARRY POTTER!” A huge cake adorned one table, the glitter somehow avoiding it. A poster was on the wall, labelled Pin the tail on the Pony! A ribbon sliced to resemble a pony tail hung beside it.
While the wizards and witches were gawking at the transformed pub, Harry’s three friends took advantage of the distraction and quickly formed a triangle around him.
Pinkie yelled, “PARTY TIME!” and started handing out slices of cake to the nearest wizards and witches. Harry over-heard her say, “Hello evil Wizard who will soon have two faces, have some cake.” He couldn’t see whom she was speaking to, although he did hear the man choke in surprise.
Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were quick to take advantage of the situation and also surrounded Harry, cutting him and their sisters off from the wizards and witches.
“Where did she get that cannon? How’d she make that banner!” one of the muggles said. “Where did the cake come from? Where did she put that cannon?” said the other. Their daughter, at least Harry assumed the girl was their daughter, crowed happily, “Magic is going to be so much fun!” and bounced gleefully in place, her hands clasped in front of her chest.
Pinkie handed her a slice of the cake. “I know, isn’t this just wonderful? All these new friends to make!” she said, just as gleefully, as she bounded off to deliver another slice of cake.
McGonagall looked at Twilight with eyebrows raised in surprise. Twilight was face-palming. “Don’t try to understand Pinkie,” she said. “The one time I tried I almost had a nervous breakdown.” She sighed. “She breaks the laws of magic and physics all the time.” McGonagall looked at the hyper-active Pinkie Pie and then back at Twilight, her expression easily conveying the message, you are kidding, aren’t you?
Tom, the bartender, watched as Pinkie Pie walked out of the Pub’s kitchen with three large trays, one in each hand and one on her head, each loaded with muffins and cupcakes. He looked over at the giant punchbowl at the end of his bar and sighed. It hadn’t been there when these witches had come in.
He looked at the happy, smiling wizards and witches in the room. He saw that there were more than just a few minutes ago. He smiled. Whatever was happening was good for business. If not today, then tomorrow. He started lining up mugs of punch on the bar, and stronger drinks behind them. That banner would draw all sorts of customers to his pub throughout the day.
The Equestrians carefully herded Harry over to McGonagall. They formed a wall behind him and the fillies and cut off the curious Wizards and witches, whom Pinkie was doing her best to distract.
The professor cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about that,” she said to Harry. “Some wizards just have no sense of decorum.” She glared at the wizards and witches in the pub behind Harry. She turned to the muggles beside her. “I’d like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Granger and their daughter, Hermione Granger.” She turned back to the Equestrians and proceeded to introduce them to the Grangers. There was a lot of handshaking as they exchanged greetings. She didn’t remark on the fillies all having black hair today.
After that was completed, she said, “Harry, as you can see, is something of a celebrity in our world.” She again cast a dark glare into the pub, which was remarkably crowded, now. It seemed word of Harry’s “party” was spreading rapidly.
Harry shivered. He had to fight against the urge to hex the crowd of them for touching him like that. He was Harry Potter! How dare they!
“Come,” she said, and led them out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.
The Equestrians looked around and were not impressed. Neither, from their expressions, Harry could tell, were the Grangers.
“It’s to throw off suspicion from the muggles,” the witch explained. “And you’ll need to remember this,” the professor said to her younger charges, “Three bricks up and two across from the left.” She tapped the indicated brick with her wand.
The brick she had touched quivered, as if made of gelatine, and suddenly twisted sideways leaving a small hole. The bricks around it began twisting and turning and the hole grew wider and wider until if formed a large archway. One large enough even for their group to easily pass through it onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
“Welcome,” said Professor McGonagall, “to Diagon Alley.”
After they all had stepped through, Harry relaxed as looked back over his shoulder and saw the archway’s bricks twist and turn back into solid wall. He had recovered his equilibrium, now that they were not in that cursed common pub. And the magic! Watching it course through the bricks as they reversed was fascinating
Potage’s Cauldron Shop was the shop right beside the Archway. A stack of cauldrons was piled outside it. Above them was a sign that said, Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible*.
“We’ll come back for one of those, later,” McGonagall said as she guided them down the alley.
۸- ̬ -۸
A.N. * italics followed by an asterisk are quotes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling.
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9034857
It takes a lot to panic Tia. Plus, most of the guards are outside the room and shouting orders from inside a hospital room would cause undue alarm to her "little ponies." Besides, she has to leave some things for her guards to do, or they'll get all unhappy and dejected at being thought useless.
Awww I was hoping for Hagrid to show up. Ah well, was still a good chapter.
And soon enough, somepony is going to ask what Harry is famous for. Soon enough, someone's going to be stupid enough to insist that Spike is handed over and is not allowed to be considered an intelligent being. Soon enough... the wizarding world will pay dearly! PAY 25 GALLEONS FOR A GENUINE PINKAMENA DIANE PIE PARTY-PALOOZA DEAL!
I'm not certain that those italics are giving the impression to the reader that you were trying to give.
Also; Welcome Back Potter?
Fun idea but considering wand cores are only ever made of unicorn hair, dragon heartstring or a phoenix feather (as those were found to be the most effective materials) I'm afraid only Rarity's hair will work.
Pinkie, you really need to start listening to the things you say. Would save everyone a lot of trouble.
Okay? Little concerned about Harry's attitude here. He seemed to go from "0 to Malfoy" pretty damn fast.
Good chapter, lots of complications including the fact that Harry might not get his normal wand which was of course the twin to Voldemort's wand.
And when they get to the library, they are going to lose the egghead
I have to say I was not expecting the Equestrians to play things quite so close to their chest... In retrospect I should have expected it but I didn't.
McGonagall isn't stupid though... I wonder how long it will take for the discrepancies to pile up and she tries to call out the Equestrians.
9034870
damnit pinkie !!
Um... did I miss something somewhere? Even for Harry Now-with-a-vindictive-streak-against-the-Dursleys Potter, this sounds rather Malfoyian.
VERY nicely done; also:
..I don't know how, but I can see her and Twilight Sparkle/Sweetie Belle getting along swimmingly; same in regards to Rainbow Dash/Scootaloo with Ron Weasley whenever he shows up...
9034952
smellymort is abit ticked off because of Twilight and her messing with the scars and such
9034978
That wouldn't make sense, Voldemort is completely oblivious to the fact that Harry is a horcrux and he wouldn't care about the scar.
9034901 We didn't see pegasi or other magic ponies in the canon series, though - so for all we know, they would work.
(On the other hand, I seem to recall Olivander doesn't do custom work, so they might not be using them anyway.)
Now I have to wonder why this caught my attention. If Tirek damaged the horcrux with the magic drain then the mental connection between Harry and Voldemort should be severed. Or did the drain cause the sliver of soul to start combining with Harry’s.
My plot twist sense is tingling.
Fascinating differences! Including Harry's growing attitude.
9034993
Pegasi did make an appearance in book 4 though they are referred to as winged-horses since in Greek mythology Pegasus was the name of the horse not the species.
As for Olliviander not doing custom jobs that might be true. If I recall there were only 2 times in the books when he made a wand for someone from scratch. He created one against his will for Wormtail and he made one for Luna though that was mainly because he didn't have access to his shop at the time.
I admit to finding this attitude from Harry to be completely perplexing, for several reasons.
First of all, he had a very isolated childhood, coupled by limited access to a telly. I would suspect that the taboo of nudity would not be deeply ingrained into his behavior.
Secondly, for the last year, he has been living in a culture that does not have said taboo. A child of ten would rapidly adapt and embrace the new social standards as their own. I would expect, at the very least, that he would be lenient inside their own home on the issue.
Thirdly, this is related to number two, he is coming from a very bad situation, into a loving environment. I could see him siding with the new standards over the old, no matter how odd. Open hostility to the old ways would not be uncommon nor unexpected.
In short. Yes he would be aware that running around naked could get you unwanted attention from the coppers, but no he would not be bothered by the girls running around naked in the house. Yes he's at the age when he's aware that there is a huge difference between boys and girls, but no he shouldn't be self conscious of it nor embarrassed.
Before anyone says anything, this is not an endorsement for nudism. It is, hopefully, constructive criticism addressing portraying a younger character in a manner more befitting one at least a few years older.
9035048
I imagine that Petunia and Vernon, being ultra-conservative, would take a very dim view of nudity, and pass that along in as many beatings as it took to make Harry toe the line -- as in always completely dressed.
And children compartmentalize things, so being naked as a pony is not the same as being naked as a person. And while he isn't necessarily offended by it, the only way to get across the point that everyone else will be upset about it is exaggerate his reactions.
Poor Spike. Stuck with token mascot syndrome, again.
Probably not intentional, but this sounded like Harry was being arrogant about the common rabble deigning to touch his legendary self. Perhaps an extra signifier that he's upset with their sudden reverence would help. Something along the lines of:
Harry shivered. He had to fight against the urge to hex the crowd of them for touching him like that. 'He was Harry Potter!' they crowed with reverence. How dare they!
9034921
I suspect the obvious conclusion for McGonagall to come to is that Twilight and co are foreign witches, but from another country on Earth rather than a magic portal. The presence of a strange domestic dragon (and wandless magic if tkepner is using the secondary canon that wands are more a western wizard thing) might point towards this, and given the general incompetence of the ministry of magic she can probably readily imagine some foreign wizards moving in and never getting introduced to the British magical community. While Spike is strange, he's probably not unbelievable as the result of some other magic society's long term breeding program.
From there it doesn't take much imagination to form her own (mis)conception of what happened: Some exotic foreign wizards move in to the neighborhood, notice Harry is magical and recognize (as McGonagall pointed out to Dumbledore in the books) that the Dursleys are muggles of the worst kind, and start taking care of him without knowing he was famous. She might even assume that's why Dumbledore's spells showed that Harry was doing fine.
I'm more curious how (or if) hearing about the masquerade will change Twilight's plans for an embassy.
9035011
The fact that he used the term "hex" makes me feel more and more like it must have something to do with Voldemort. AFAIK it's not a term we've ever heard the ponies use, so it seems odd Harry would be thinking about hexing those around him.
9035085
As far as wood, the only requirement is that they be magical, I would imagine. With some being better than others. A tree magically grown to house a library and home to the pony whose talent is magic in a land with far more magic than what he is used to seeing? I think that would easily qualify. And the same for "Old Grandad" A tree carefully cultivated by magic-wielding ponies, for centuries, would have to have quite a bit of magic by now.
As for the rest? Be patient. The explanation comes.
9035068
Very good points, but I do have two counter points
I think you are drastically underestimating the fluency of a ten year old's world view.
Compartmentalization is a bit more complex than that. First of all it is inversely related to ones intelligence. Secondly, critical thinking insulates against the practice. Here it is important to note that not only are you portraying Harry as a young critical thinker, but also Twilight would be installing the mindset into him, if only by example.
That said, I would be remiss if I didn't concede that ten-year-olds with strong critical thinking backgrounds are just as likely to respond on an emotional level as those who are strictly conditioned to respond in 'traditional' manners.
Darn it! Fell off the Favourites list before the story fell of the front page Latest Updates List. Well, made it to 2.5 hrs this time, at least.
But almost at the half-way point for 300 likes in only a week!
Ok... what was that?
So far Harry has shown no signs of real arrogance, so that was a bit out of left field.
9035108
I agree Harry Potter was treated like a normal Colt in Equestria so that thought “I’m Harry Potter how dare they” comes out of left field. Much more Voldemort mentally.
Thinking back the earlier thoughts of paying the Dursley’s back fits the Voldemort influence idea as well.
9035127.
I’m thinking it influence from Voldemort. Either the sliver of soul via Horcux or from Quirinus Quirrell being so near.
9035128
They know basically nothing about wands -- what would you do in their place?
9035138
It would certainly be interesting if it was Voldemort influencing Harry since that wasn't something he was capable of doing in the books.
9035150
Personally I would ask more questions rather than make assumptions.
9035152
He did thought in a different way. In the sorcerer stone Harry scar hurt in the presence of Quirinus Quirrell. Or more to the point when Voldemort focused on Harry.
Later Voldemort sent Harry a fake vision of Black being tortured to lure Harry to the Ministry.
So the idea not out of the realm of logic that because the Horcux Magic was affected by Tirek drain the influence is stronger.
9035011 9035108 9035138 9035145 The theory about Voldemort's influence through Tirek sounds really, really plausible, and it'd make for a fun story if that's the case. However, that can't be the only reason for Harry's anger - we saw him getting uncanonically angry at the Dursleys right after he arrived in Equestria, long before Tirek appeared. Maybe the transformation into a pony, or Twilight's investigation spells, could've awakened the horcrux? Or maybe that was Harry, but these new feelings are now the horcrux?
9035171
I meant more like actually controlling him. Voldemort couldn't control Harry but he could certainly trick him. This kind of influencing his behaviour wasn't really something he could do to Harry in the books.
Somehow, this is so Pinkie... or most psychologically-healthy reality warpers, when you think about it.
I suggest reworking this. It feels like Harry suddenly became someone more like Draco Malfoy for a moment and it was really jarring. (As in "did someone hit Harry with a mind-altering spell?" level jarring.)
Maybe something more like this:
(Your current phrasing gives an impression of "I'm too important to put up with this!" while my suggested phrasing takes it more in the direction of "I don't care how famous I am. They have no right to assault me!")
OK, now I really am worried that something has affected Harry's mind... and worried for how much of a hit the quality of the story will take as a result of it. (Compromising the continuity of a character's personality is something only an expert author should do, since it takes a lot of expertise to make it benefit the narrative and reading experience more than it harms it... not to mention, it's proportional to how much focus the character gets. That's why it's much easier to apply something like possession to a background character.)
...not to mention that it would not be in keeping with the strengths the story has established so far. (Basically, the same problem which has ruined so many promising fics over on fanfiction.net. If you've got a story that's developed a soft, nuanced conflict based more on trying to find a social and personal equilibrium and you don't recognize how well it's carrying the weight of the story, you're liable to throw in a hard "vs. villain" conflict in a way that goes down like graffiti on the Mona Lisa.)
9035175
If going by Harry Potter Universe Lore and MLP Tirek lore. It’s possible the magic of his Mother’s Sacrifice could have broken as well making him more open to such an influence.
It also possible the protection that Harry had living at the Dorsey house ended when he went to Equestria. That was a plot point in the books. The main reason he had to return after school. That spell ended when he became 18.
We also don’t know who that man was that gave Dudley the tips in beating someone up. Now thinking we don’t know the woman in the shadows was either. Last Chapter I took her as a guard. However thinking about it her identity is not known so she could be a death eater.
I think my hobby of being a Theorist is showing. Remember it’s just a Theory a Pony/Potter Theory!
9035068
I'm being overly nit-picky about this. Most people aren't going to look at this and say to themselves, "You know, that kid is displaying unusual behavior given his circumstances".
9035206 Ooh, I hadn't thought about any of those possibilities! Very disturbing. I'd hope Dumbledore would notice - but based on how things've gone so far, that doesn't look plausible.
I wonder, could the Elements of Harmony remove the horcrux?
9035206
It would be interesting if the death eaters realized Dumbledore's protections are gone and are now being more active in going after Harry.
9035029
If he doesn't do custom jobs, then how does he replace the wands he sells?
9035217
He makes wands but people don't ask him to make a new wand from scratch just for them. It falls into the idea that the wand chooses the wizard so custom wands wouldn't make much sense.
9035213
I would say yes the Elements would remove the soul shard in the Horcux scar. We see they can be destroyed through many means in the books.
Depending on the MLP lore Nightmare Moon was a result of the Nightmare Force. In the comics that same force bound to Rarity creating Nightmare Rarity.
So by the same Logic the Elements should react to Voldemort soul shard like the Nightmare Force and remove it from Harry Potter.
Lol like I said my plot twist sense is tingling. I can see so many ways this could go. “Nightmare Harry Potter” anyone?
9035183
To clarify, the biggest problem for what you did here is that our social instincts maintain mental models of people or characters by mixing observed inputs into the "running state" and doing a consistency check on the observed outputs. (This is where stereotypes come from. Our instinct wants to maintain a set of "starting templates" and it runs amok.)
Adding "secret inputs" to the model inherently throws off that intuitive consistency check and, when the reader knows there's an author behind the scenes, pulling the strings, it gets attributed to "bad writing". (This is where the statement "reality is stranger than fiction" comes from. We are willing to hand-wave away "coincidence" and "I must have missed something" in real life, but not in fiction.)
Adding overt "internal inputs" (eg. potential possession of uncertain degree) isn't any better, because it still causes the reader's consistency check to fail, but, in the process, you're willingly taking credit for "making a mess", which tends to go down like a little kid doodling on walls in permanent marker and then expecting praise.
9035029
In Harry Potter, true... but even the Ancient Greeks did what MLP did, naming-wise:
9035216
One Harry Potter plot hole is that dreaded Time Turner.
What if after Harry Potter defeated Voldemort a Deatheater used the Time Turner and went back. Then gave Dudley the tips in beating up Harry. Causing the change in timeline and thrust this story.
That an in lore way to explain the change.
oo... meeting hermione early? sweet. also, i like how you are marking actual passages from the book. very nice
9035263 Time Turners only let you go back several hours, though. (Except maybe in the Cursed Child play that I refuse to admit is canon.)
9035269
They also appear to operate on a loose version of closed-loop causality, meaning that the Death Eater wouldn't be able to change anything already observed.
9035224
Some fanfictions that have Olivander do custom jobs have it be just as much of a "wand chooses the wizard", in that Olivander has the wizard or witch take the pieces that call to their magic the most. If that will be the case here, then the wood pieces would just as likely accept Applejack and Twilight.
9035269
I was not aware of the time limit. Must have forgot or not known that detail. We do know thanks to one Starlight that at least in Equestria going back years and changing time can happen. We can also surmise a Deatheater could if desperate enough try Starlight plan. If not the Time Turner then other time based magic. We don’t know who helped Dudley and it could be an interesting story plot to stop the time traveling Deatheater at least that what I would do.
I have no knowledge of this Cursed Child play you speak of. My knowledge of the Harry Potter world is only from the original books and movies.
9035150
It your story ultimately it your say.
As for what they gave the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Earth magic items might be limited Equestria Magic items might be more options given the amount of magic in Equestria. You already stated as such anyway.
As for custom wonds given the highly rare and very powerful items the CMC now has for their wonds he might make new ones just for the challenge. If the new wonds don’t accept the kids as their users well not his fault.