28 — Clowning Around
Rarity looked back at Truckle, the shopkeeper. “Thank you for that information.” She looked at the others and said, “We’ll take seventeen of the deluxe trunks with extra-large baths, and five of the Hogwarts’ trunks for our students, if you please.”
Truckle choked a second, coughed, and then said, “Seventeen of the Deluxe trunks and five of the standard Hogwarts’ trunks, did I hear that right?”
She nodded, adding, “I assume there is a bulk discount rate?”
He stared at her calm expression, then cleared his throat. “Would you like to tour a sample deluxe trunk so you can tell me the room sizes you want?” He waved his wand and a quill and book floated over from the counter. A second wave and a trunk behind the counter lifted up and floated over to him. “Just step inside and the elevator will take you straight down,” he continued, opening the trunk and doing just that.
They peered over the edge into the trunk and could see him at least twelve feet below them.
He stepped off the marked rectangle on the floor below, and abruptly the bottom of the trunk was back in place. They exchanged looks and then Twilight stepped over the edge into the trunk. Watching as she was lowered into the trunk was a bit strange.
It took a few minutes for them all to make the trip. Pinkie Pie made faces at them, and pretended to be drowning.
The elevator was tucked into a corner and had a waist-high wall that swung open when they reached the floor. The wizard was already talking to the Equestrians, as the students arrived, about the sitting-room dimensions, which was currently twenty-by-twenty feet.
“As you can see,” the sales-wizard said walking to a door on the wall across the sitting-room, to their left. “This is the door to the bedroom,” he said, leading them inside. “It’s twenty-by-twenty feet.” He pointed to a door on their right in the far corner. “That’s the closet, currently it is eight-by-eight feet.” He pointed to a second door on the same wall but closer to them. “That leads to the bathroom.”
The bathroom was twelve-by-twelve foot space, with a wall mirror above two sinks by the door on the right-side wall. The toilet had its own small six-by-six room at the far end of the room and by the sinks. The tub and shower were in opposite corners of the wall in common with the closet.
“This second door, here,” he pointed to the door between the toilet room and the sinks, “leads to the kitchen.” Which was another room that was twenty-by-twenty feet.
Harry got the impression that the undetectable expansion charm was a flat forty-by-forty feet that the shopkeeper simply sub-divided as needed with walls. Professor McGonagall was looking around intently, studying what she could detect of the spells being used. Was this the first time she had been in one of the Deluxe Apartment trunks?
With some discussion, and the fillies’ quiet insistence that the tub be big enough for them all when they got home, the bathroom and bedroom closet were the only rooms with any changes. The closet was reduced to a depth of six feet and expanded to eight feet wide. Mr. Truckle substituted what he called a ten-person hot tub option — eight-by-nine feet in size and forty-inches deep — for the regular tub and put it in the far right-hand corner. The toilet room and shower, side-by-side and both eight feet deep by seven feet wide, now occupied the formerly empty space behind the closet. Which left the two sinks on the wall shared with the kitchen, and open shelves opposite them on the closet wall for towels and bathroom sundries. The door to the kitchen separated the sinks from the hot tub. In total, the bathroom now occupied the entirety of its twenty-by-twenty-foot space, except for the closet.
Once they were all back in the shop, the wizard told them, “It’ll take me a couple of hours to process all the trunks, especially the three triple-sized trunks. The total will be,” he referred to his receipt book, “two thousand, eight hundred galleons, twelve sickles, and twenty knuts with the bulk discount rate.”
Harry frowned as he calculated. Based on what Professor McGonagall had told them yesterday, the average wizard earned about one hundred galleons a year. That meant each deluxe trunk was well over two year’s salary. Harry would bet the wizard had never sold that many apartment trunks, ever.
Twilight nodded, frowning, as she pulled out her wallet. “I hope the Goblins give us a good price on our gems.”
Rainbow Dash smirked and said, “I’m sure the fillies would be happy to give you a loan.”
“Maybe you should go with Rare and pick up a few of those big gems,” Sweetie Belle said. “The Goblins seemed to like the magic ones better.”
Twilight hummed lightly, obviously considering that plan while giving Rainbow Dash a dirty look.
Immediately after the register dinged to indicate acceptance of the payment, Mr. Granger stepped up. “We’ll take one of the standard Hogwarts trunks.”
“Oh, no, dear,” Rarity said, touching him on the arm. “That’s why we bought five standard trunks. The fifth one is for Hermione.”
“Oh, we couldn’t let you do that,” said Mrs. Granger. “You barely know us. It wouldn’t be right. The gift of the wand materials was too much as it is.”
“Nonsense,” Rarity said, waving her hand dismissively. “I wouldn’t think of not giving you a trunk when we’re buying in bulk. With the discount, the student trunks are free at that price.”
Mr. Granger looked about ready to object again when Rainbow Dash said, “You’re gonna lose that argument. It’s just the way she is. She won’t be happy until you say, ‘yes.’” Harry and the fillies were all nodding in agreement. “And, as she said, with the discount, the student trunks are basically free,” finished Dash. “So, if she’s giving you something that she got for free, how can that be expensive?”
Mr. and Mrs. Granger exchanged looks, then Mr. Granger turned to Rarity, “Thank you for your generosity. If there’s anything we can do for you, just ask.”
Rarity just smiled.
The wizard said, “Now, then, it will take me a few hours to prepare that many trunks, so if you could come back after three, everything should be ready.”
The professor watched Rarity intently as they left the store for their next stop, Eeylops Owl Emporium.
Fluttershy was mobbed the moment she walked in the door behind Rainbow Dash. The owls were polite, but it was just like her home in Equestria, the birds just had to come over and say hello. Two managed to stand on her head, with one more on each shoulder. When she lifted her arm to shoo away the creatures, three more landed on it. Dash, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, and the Grangers were just as quickly used as stands so the birds could be close to the new friend. The one that tried to land on Pinkie’s head almost disappeared into her hair before it could take off again. The remainder were quick to notice and refrained from repeating the first one’s mistake.
Instead they used the girls and Harry as portable stands.
“Here, now! Stop that!” said a Wizard behind the shop counter, waving his hands as he marched out onto the sales-floor. “Back to your perches! You know you aren’t supposed to pester customers!”
Fluttershy was smiling broadly, “Oh, it’s alright,” she said, looking at the inquisitive birds. “They’re just saying hello.” She stroked one’s head with a finger, “Aren’t you, beautiful?” She stroked the sides of the ones resting on her arm. “But, as the pony . . . man said, back to your perches!” She lifted her arm slightly. With a soft, disappointed hoot they took off.
She quickly went to the others adorning her friends, offering a quick stroke of their feathers before urging them to leave.
“I’m soo sorry,” said the man, “I’m Eeylops, the owner, and I’ve never seen my owls do anything like this before!” He glared at the owls still decorating his new customers.
Professor McGonagall was careful to note everything that happened.
“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said dismissively. “Things like that happen all the time to Fluttershy.”
Abruptly aware of the man’s attention, Fluttershy ducked behind Dash even as she continued to pet and shoo the owls back to their perches.
Turning his attention back to Twilight, he said, “All my owls are post trained and spelled. They’ll never get lost and can find anyone not behind an owl-ward. They’re fast and convenient, house-trained, and always come when called. Plus, they know to wait for dark before delivering to muggle neighbourhoods so they don’t attract attention.
“And as most of my customers say, ‘They’re dead useful, they are!’”
Harry and the fillies nodded. They remembered Professor McGonagall talking about the owls. “Most wizards and witches use owls for communication,” she had explained the night she had first met them at Magnolia Road. “They’re fast and reliable. And with shrinking charms they can carry quite large items. All are intelligent enough to understand if you live in a Muggle area, and, as a result, will only pickup or deliver mail when they won’t be easily observed, typically just before sunrise or after sunset under the cover of darkness. The muggles would think it quite strange if you had owls showing up at home at all hours of the day, after all.”
“I have the finest owl feed and treats on the market and offer a wide range of perches, as you can see.” The shopkeeper waved his arm across the shop, where hundreds of perches were on display or in boxes. The displays all had one or two owls on them.
“If you have any questions,” he concluded, “please feel free to ask. Either I or my assistants will be happy to help you.”
Pinkie was already at the back of the shop and appeared to be sharing slices of apples with the owls. The shopkeeper gave her a puzzled look.
“I have a question, sir,” Harry said. “Why don’t you just spell the owls to look like pigeons or swallows to non-magicals? Wouldn’t that solve the problem of them being seen as unusual during the day? And allow for more efficient delivery of mail?”
The man stared at him for several moments, blinking. “Spell the owls to look like swallows?” he said, more to himself than anyone else. He frowned and put his hand on his chin. “No, a spell would wear off after a time.” His eyes opened a bit wider. “But if I used ambient-powered runes on a metal leg band . . . .” He shook his head and looked back at Harry. “Why that’s a wonderful idea, my lad! I think I’ll look into it!” He turned and hurried off to his counter, mumbling, “Now, who do I know who’s good at rune work . . . and cheap.”
Harry shook his head. He couldn’t understand how such a simple idea had eluded wizards for so long. Didn’t they have any common sense? And they thought they were superior to him.
Harry didn’t have to look very far for an owl. Instead, he was captivated by the beautiful white owl that had taken residence on his shoulder as soon as he looked at it. “Hello, girl,” he said, only to receive a sharp nip on his ear and disgusted “hoot!”
“Ow!” He rubbed his ear giving the owl a cautious look. “So you’re a boy?”
The owl said, “Hoot!” followed by a satisfied look.
“And you want to be my owl?”
“Hoot!”
Harry had to smile. For the first time, ever, someone wanted to be his friend without ever having met him, or even hearing of him, before now. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” he said, rubbing his finger down the bird’s soft breast feathers.
The owl rubbed his head against Harry’s.
Apple Bloom said, “Well, it looks like you’ve picked out an owl.” She looked at the other three girls. “I think it’s our turn now.” They all nodded and split up.
Scootaloo returned with an owl that looked like it had horns, but Harry knew from Miss Cheerilee’s lessons that it was a Great Horned Owl. It had a dark grey and dark brown colouring with areas of white scattered all over.
Sweetie Belle had an owl that was brown with white spots and black eyes, and its hoots were melancholy short things that sounded almost like a laugh, as if it came from a dog. “It’s a Laughing Owl, according to the tag on its perch,” she said.
Apple Bloom’s owl was an overall ochre-reddish colour, with fine dark spots growing larger towards the tail and on the wings. Its face disc was white, with a brownish tinge between the lower edge of the eyes and the base of the light grey bill, with the whole surrounded by brown. “Accordin’ to mah owl’s perch, he’s a Madagascar Red Owl. Right, Maddy?” The owl responded with a short hissing noise that seemed to be approving.
Before they left the shop’s counter, however, Harry motioned the girls together with their owls. He held his arm out, with his as-yet unnamed owl on it and said, “Okay, you guys can find your way to Sweet Apple Acres, right?” He looked at each of the other owls. They each nodded, with his Snowy White giving him a look of “Well, of course I can, you fool.”
He turned to the clerk. “Could you shrink each of our owl’s things and show us how to attach them properly, and we’ll let them meet us at Apple Bloom’s home.”
“Nothing easier,” said the clerk. “Beats carrying all that stuff through the Alley!”
A short lesson later and the owls were winging their way out of the shop.
As soon as they were out of sight, Harry said, “Maybe we should have given them our other packages as well. . . .” The fillies all shook their heads. “Neigh,” said Sweetie Belle, “We need a wand to undo the shrink charms and nopony at Sweet Apple Acres has one.”
“Ah. You’re right.”
Professor McGonagall addressed them all as they exited the shop, “Our next stop is the Apothecary for potion supplies. It’s down this way.” She pointed and started off in that direction.
As they were passing a shop, Twilight stopped and grabbed Harry by the arm. “One moment, Professor McGonagall!” The witch stopped, as did everyone else. “Harry needs new glasses and here’s an optometrist.” She pointed at a small sign above a door sandwiched between two shops. “We’ll meet at the Apothecary.” She turned and handed her wallet to Applejack. “AJ, will you take care of this?” The transformed pony took the wallet, “Shore thang,” she replied.
Twilight guided Harry to the door and up the carpeted stairs. There was no door at the top, the stairs emptied into a reception room with two walls filled with eyeglass frames. There were two doors in the third wall, one open and revealing a simple room with a chair and desk. The other was likely a restroom.
By the windows that looked out onto the Alley was a desk. A wizard, his feet on the desk and a magazine in his hands sat in a padded reclining chair behind the desk. A notepad and quill rested on the desktop. He must have been concentrating as he only noticed them as they stepped into his office. He sat up, hurriedly shoving the magazine — its cover featured a scantily clad witch, Harry saw — into a desk drawer, and then stood. “Good morning! How can I help you this morning?”
He was of average height, with black hair and brown eyes. He wore a smock over his robes, which were regular business robes. They exchanged introductions.
Twilight smiled at him. “Harry, here,” she put her hand on his shoulder, “needs new glasses. His are very old and broken, as you can see.
The wizard focused on Harry. “Ah, Yes. Well come into the exam room.” He pointed at the open door.
As Harry walked in, the wizard said, “Just sit in the chair. May I see your glasses?”
Harry handed them over.
“Humph. Yes. Definitely need replacing.” He handed them back. “Now, please sit in the chair and look at that chart on the wall. . . .”
The next few minutes passed quickly as the wizard cast a spell, read the results, made some notes on a paper, and started handing Harry a series of eyeglasses and asking questions. Finally, he said, “That’s it then. Let’s go back to the office.”
“As I’m sure you know, Miss Sparkle, Harry here is very near-sighted with some astigmatism. It appears to have been exacerbated by a blow to his head several years back. I’m surprised the healers at St Mungo’s Hospital missed that. They should have cleared this right up.” He eyed Twilight uncertainly. “You did take him there, didn’t you? The blow would have knocked him out completely.”
Twilight smiled sadly. “He wasn’t in my care at the time, or I certainly would have had him properly cared for.”
He nodded, relieved. “He still might have had a touch of near-sightedness, but nothing as severe as it is.” He turned to Harry.
“Now, then, Harry, take a look at these frames and pick whichever one you want to wear.” He pointed to the two walls. “This wall has frames that the witches seem to like.” He indicated the nearer wall
Harry took his time and after a few minutes, and a couple of trips to the mirror, he settled on a black full-frame round pair.
“An excellent choice, Harry.” The wizard took the frames and fitted them on Harry’s face. He pulled out his wand and touched the frames. Harry could feel them change. “There now, they fit perfectly. Now, all my frames come with Forever Prescription, a rune charm that will make the prescription match your eyes no matter how much they change as you grow up. What other charms would you like added?”
Harry exchanged glances with Twilight. “Uh, well, what’s available?”
“Oh, well, for example, if you’re into Quidditch, there’s an impervious runes charm to protect your eyeglasses from breakage. And one to keep your glasses dry, clear, and warm no matter the weather. There’s another to let you see in the dark. And a matching one that makes them darken in bright sunlight so you’ll never need sunglasses.
“One rune charm that almost all wizards and witches choose is a comfort charm so that they are comfortable no matter what position you are in, even asleep. And there are many others that wizards find useful.” He smiled at them.
Harry looked back at Twilight as she looked at him. They both shrugged.
“Everything, I guess,” Harry said.
“Everything?” said the optometrist, clearly taken aback. “That’s quite expensive, almost two hundred galleons. Are you sure?” He looked questioningly at Twilight.
“Sure, why not?” she said.
The wizard pursed his lips. “It’ll take me a while to put the runes on the frames, you won’t be able to take them with you right now,” he said slowly.
They both nodded. “That’s okay,” Twilight said, “He’s lived with these glasses for years, a few more days won’t hurt.”
He sat down behind his desk, pulled out his notes, and started making additions. He opened a drawer, took out a small pamphlet and a receipt book, and started making entries in the receipt book while referring to the pamphlet. After a few minutes he looked up. “All twenty rune charms brings the total to one hundred and ninety-six galleons, ten sickles and five knuts.” He sighed. “I can have these owled to your home tomorrow.” He handed Harry the pamphlet he had been copying from. “Here’s the complete list of what the runes do.”
Twilight looked at Harry, “Use your wallet, I’ll pay you back when we get home.” Harry stuffed the pamphlet in his rucksack. Two minutes later, they were downstairs and hurrying to catch up with their friends.
Through the crowded street as they approached Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, they saw Professor McGonagall bending over a large silver bird. The crowd obscured her for a moment, then she was standing upright and there were no signs of a bird of any kind. Harry hadn’t seen a bird flying off. He wondered if he had imagined seeing the bird.
“Hi,” called the three girls as they came out the door. “Thought ya were gettin’ new glasses?” Apple Bloom said.
Harry grinned, “They’ll be ready tomorrow, the doctor said he’d owl them to me.” And he excitedly explained how his new eyeglasses would be unbreakable, always comfortable, never fall off and lots of other things, too. They didn’t understand his enthusiasm, but that was okay. If it made Harry happy, then they were happy for him.
“Rarity insisted we get the deluxe potions kits and crystal vials,” said Sweetie Belle. “That way we won’t have to buy better equipment later because the standard stuff wears out or breaks.” Harry nodded. He had expected that after the trunk shop.
The cauldron shop was a quick visit and they left with the pewter cauldron required by the letters — except Rarity insisted they get the extra-heavy-duty version. She reasoned that the regular ones were designed to barely meet the minimum requirements and thus would need replacing at some point in their education.
The telescope shop left Harry puzzled. While the telescopes here were beautifully-worked pieces of art, he knew that the muggles had ones that were far better than the ones on display here.
“Twilight?” he said, staring at a brass telescope that must have weighed twenty pounds and was longer than he was tall.
“Yes?”
“I think we should wait on getting telescopes. I think we can find a better ones in London.”
She looked at him questioningly.
“Well, I remember that Dudley used to have a telescope, not a long one that you looked through one end and out the other like these, but what was called a reflecting telescope. It was half the length but double the width of these things.” He gestured at the rack of telescopes. “It had double or triple the resolution of these, and a motor that kept it on target.
“And that was over two years ago.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, that might be better.” Then she nodded again, firmly. “Yes, let’s do that. We can always come back here if we can’t find what we want.”
With that decision, the group left the store with only Hermione getting a telescope, somewhat bewildering Professor McGonagall. Once outside, the professor said, “Well, that seems to be everything. And considering the time, why don’t we adjourn to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch?”
As they filed into the pub from the Alley, Professor McGonagall said, “It’s fortunate that we finished before the lunchtime crowd arrived. I’ll see where Tom wants us.” She headed over to the barkeep as the rest of the group bunched up in the dining room, waiting. Moments later, Tom came out from behind the bar and led them over to large table.
“Not quite big enough, eh?” he said looking at their group and the table. He pulled out his wand and concentrated, pointing it at the table. He wiggled the wand and said something, and the table grew longer until it was more than big enough to seat them all. Then he tapped his wand on one of the chairs and made several duplicates, enough to fit the newly-enlarged table.
“There now,” he said wiping his forehead with one hand as he put away his wand. “That should last about an hour or two for yeh.”
“Nicely done!” Professor McGonagall said approvingly. “You’ve improved quite a bit since I first started coming here!”
Tom blushed. “I’ve had quite a bit o’ practice on those two,” he mumbled bashfully.
The Equestrians were, frankly, staring at the man, or at least at his bald head. They had never before seen anyone who was bald. Well, they had seen him earlier that morning, but it had been more than a little chaotic so they hadn’t had the time to really look at him.
Pinkie Pie especially seemed captivated. She hopped over to him. “It’s so shiny!” she said. “Were you born this way or did it all fall out later? Do you wish you had hair? Would you like hair? I wonder what I would look like bald? I don’t think I would like to be bald, I’d have to keep my party cannon in my tail. Is . . . .” Whatever else she might have said was lost, fortunately, as Twilight slapped her hand over Pinkie’s mouth.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she said to the bartender, “Sometimes she doesn’t know when to stop. She has no control over her mouth. Please forgive her.”
Having hands now, Pinkie reached up and pulled down Twilight’s hand with one. “Ooops. Sorry,” she said to Tom. “Here,” she said, plopping a bright orange wig down on his head. “No, that’s not right!” She shoved a round red ball over his nose. “Better, but not quite.” She held up a giant round pad as big as her head out and hit the poor wizard upside the head with it. A puff of white surrounded him for a moment, then disappeared leaving him a white face with exaggerated black eyebrows and red mouth.
“Perfect,” she declared, stepping back. Twilight and the rest of the Equestrians watched with expressions ranging from horror (Twilight) to amusement (Rainbow Dash) to puzzled (practically everypony else in the pub).
There was a stunned silence for a moment, then the rest of the pub burst out laughing.
“Great new look, there, Tom!”
“That’s hilarious!”
“Love your hair!”
“Pinkie!” Twilight said severely, “Enough of that.”
“Have a cupcake, too,” Pinkie concluded shoving one into his hand.
۸- ̰ -۸
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These chapters are like potato chips.
9057688
Huh....to be honest he slipped my mind but now that you bring him up it makes sense. Hagrid loves creatures nearly as much as Fluttershy, even the dangerous ones like Dragons and Acromantulas. It would actually make sense for that. Hell even them just being friends would make sense. In fact I expect them to become friends should the two meet in this fic.
Friendly word of advice, link to Magic School Days. Please respond to this comment.
9058716
It's right there in the 'similar' box.
9058683
*Munch munch munch munch* ... Ah dangit, out already? I need a new bag.
9058683 (Eating Pringles) NOMNOMNOM!
I can understand how you would think that, but ironically, it's incredibly false. Reread or rewatch The Sorcerer's Stone, you'll see what I mean.
Another great chapter.
The only issue is the idea of wizards being incompetent rearing it's ugly head again.
I'm pretty sure that kind of magic doesn't exist. I mean the story would be completely broken if you could use a spell to make others see you as something else.
The idea that wizards wouldn't use magic on telescopes seems really dumb considering how important astronomy is for wizards. I don't think they mention any specific magic with them but that they are capable of seeing things a normal muggle telescope isn't. They spend a lot of time studying Jupiter and it's moons in the books for example.
In summary:
Tom is the second bold person that is inappropriately bothered by Pinkie.
The most interesting thing for me in this chapter is what answer Dumbledore sent to Minerva. I won't be surprised if Headmaster will appear himself in the next chapter. Voldemort inferiority complex continues slipping into Harry's mind.
About telescopes - in books and additional materials alike it was mentioned that there are a lot of magic features that you can't see with normal telescope.
By the way, with such spendings and sales Equestrians already boosted Magical Britain GDP by certain percent.
Poor Tom
The plot thickens...though didn't Harry's scar get affected by Tirek?
That was glorious, Pinkie. Goddess of Joy indeed.
The magical economy isn't really making much sense. Money is, at its root, an exchange for labor - if the average wizard's salary is 100 galleons, then something that costs 200 galleons should take roughly* two wizard-years of labor to make, between materials, crafting, and enchanting. If a normal pair of glasses would have been 20 galleons or so, and the fully enchanted pair 200, then logically it should probably take a relatively average wizard over a year to do the enchanting. Maybe a little less if you consider it was a luxury item and a wizard with a store in Diagon alley might make more than average, but not days.
One could logic away the trunks as something that did indeed take months to produce each one and they had them in storage, but the glasses are explicitly being enchanted after the order.
*After things like taxes, anyways, but not after profit - since we're comparing how much something costs with how much the wizard makes, profit is part of it.
9058683
Yes, yes they are. I sincerely appreciate tk's update schedule even if I REALLY want more right now. Because this story is excellent and I'm going to be reading this for as long as he continues writing them!
The fun and the exploration of the meshing of these two worlds has only just begun.
I really hope Albus shows up next chapter. I want him to meet the girls and to start learning just what happened to Harry... I honestly cannot wait for him to meet Celestia.
Pinkie!
Yes?
Stop clowning around!
But it’s so MUCH FUN!
9058797
I can kind of understand the prices on these things. The trunks are practically a second home, your average wizard could never justify buying something that fancy.
As for the glasses well most of the runes would be unnecessary for your average wizard. I mean unless you expect your glasses to break a lot, making them indestructible is kind of a waste of money when there is a simple spell that can fix them. Not to mention that there isn't really any reason to replace them since the prescription adjusts automatically.
I sincerely hope at some point in this story, someone really hams up Celestia's titles in front of a bunch of snobs. Sol Invictus just sounds so badass. I'd also laugh my ass off if Earth went technicolor when she crossed over and had to limit her time there or risk breaking the statute.
I'm not suprised it's getting steady upvotes, the writing is damned good for a start, the chapters are of a satisfying word count, and the update frequency is pleasingly high. Everything a fanfic story needs to scratch the reader's itch, yeah?
Fun chapter! <º ̰ º>
9058962
Decade, as in ten.
9058844
It's also an indication of talent, supply, and demand. After all, if anyone could do it, why is The Burrow so crowded? And why is Grimmauld Place so small?
If I understand right this story made the featured story list tonight
Nice touch using the opportunity to encourage users to search Wikipedia for lesser-known owl species.
I also got a kick out of the owl and Pinkie's hair.
9058990
I think the misunderstanding stems from most people being ignorant of "decade"'s non-chronological meaning "strongly enough" that "Decade, as in ten" would still be confusing.
If anyone is still confused, yes. "decade" has two dictionary definitions and the second is "a group of ten".
9058897
Except that, in translation from old Equestrian, "Sol Invicta" is probably more accurate. Here, it was "Sol Invictus" because "The Unconquered Sun" was the name of a male god.
9058757
They do have muggle repelling magic, though, so targeting area-effect spells exclusively at muggles is possible. Perhaps some other kind of area-effect muggle-exclusive spell could be useful. (It actually makes me wonder if a muggle-oriented Somebody Else's Problem field could be developed for this situation. Muggle parents would still see the owls trying to get their attention... they'd just get caught up in the "there's nothing strange about this" effect along with everyone else.)
9059097
OTOH, since the Dursleys hated wizards Dumbledore insisting on visiting them regularly to check on Harry might just have resulted in them refusing to keep Harry, which would shortly thereafter have resulted in a dead Harry.
9058741
The book is more authoritative than the movie in my opinion and it never says anything about the normal case (because what happened to Harry is clearly abnormal). All we know is that Harry's first letter was in the pile of mail Harry retrieved and, given the order he looked through them, likely on the bottom, which suggests it could have already been there from an overnight delivery when the postman added the day's letters to the pile.
Beyond that, it's entirely possible that the Hogwarts school owls come from a less expensive but inferior trainer.
9058723
What Starlight Nova was trying to say was "Friendly word of advice. Turn the "Inspired by Dogger807’s hilarious story, “Magic School Days,” here on
FiMfiction." in the description into a clickable link."
love the chapter i kind of feel for Tom but it is Pinkie and you just kind of go with it.
i forgot to say earlier as i am now to the story.
the art work rocks.
9059002
Just imagine all the ponies that will eventually learn that new magic and provide competition. These investments aren't so frivolous when you consider that everything they get will be reverse engineered by Twilight and other ponies under Celestia's direction. After all, it's in the name of achieving magical tech parity, and to provide opportunities for ponies, especially for the useful advancements. It will raise the standard of living for all of Equestria if properly developed, and they have working examples to base it off of.
I'm actually a tad disappointed with Harry (and the ponies by extension) offering suggestions to keep up the statute of secrecy, but I will admit it's fairly minor.
I'm more interested in the idea that despite all the chaos the CMC bring, and all the various depictions of Harry's destiny in many other stories, that Harry's special talent may be giving others ideas on how to invent new things. That's twice now he did such a thing, though the first time was merely sharing something that he was familiar with, and this time he just thought of other kinds of birds and made the leap to a kind of targeted illusion.
9059139
I don't, this might clearly be a prank for Harry's benefit, to get Tom back for starting that whole scene from earlier in the day. But hopefully Tom is a good sport, considering that "welcome back Harry Potter!" banner is still probably there, among other things. He still benefits from the customer rush, after all.
9058962
A century in roman terms would be 100 soldiers. A decade would be ten. A centurion would be a member of a century with 10 centuries making up a legion.
I kinda half expected Fluttershy to conduct a small choir with owls in the shop.
9059114
While it's true that within the canon of Exalted 'The Unconquered Sun' was a male god, I could ALMOST see her using that anyway. It sounds badass and appropriate for Celestia in the 'Bad Old Days' when strife was a common thing. You don't really want to piss off someone who can say they're the undefeated wrath of the Sun. Granted that undefeated it has been SHATTERED at this point, but it's still a cool title.
9058757
The part about the owls is not simply bashing wizards for the sake of bashing wizards. Yes this idea IS common sense, but that kind of enchanting is NOT something everyone can do. More importantly currently used methods of training and enchanting owls WORKS. Thusly it becomes a case of a very old adage. "If it's not broken, don't fix it." While there are times that advice is useful, it is followed FAR too much IMO. When you look at the relative stagnation of the wizarding world, they appear to use this wisdom EVERYWHERE. As for the telescope bit, I'd be willing to bet that a modern telescope, while certainly not cheap, COULD rival a magical one in many ways. And while Harry doesn't know what magic these telescopes might have, he DOES know how good telescopes of the modern world ARE. And as with many things in the wizarding world, the ones in the alley don't LOOK as advanced as a modern telescope in the early 90s.
9059251
I was unaware that Exalted borrowed Sol Invictus. The original Sol Invictus is a figure from Roman mythology:
My suggestion was purely based on the fact that Latin has gendered adjectives which agree in gender with the noun they modify, and "Invictus" is the masculine form while "Invicta" is the feminine form.
The Latin word for "Sun" is masculine but it's extremely likely that the equivalent ancient Equestrian word is feminine, so it doesn't really make sense to do the equivalent of referring to Celestia as a "prince", purely because the equivalent title-holder was male.
9059177
this is vary true i never thought of this point.
9058926
If you want a good starter comedy bit from him, here's a video (that's really just an audio clip on Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkrL42R7gk
But yeah, the "Horse in a Hospital" thing was in a comedy routine from him, and instantly recognizable from people who follow him.
9059377
Canon wizarding world and their choices for appearances make me actually think that kind of overlooking is plausible, then again I recall canonically they didn't even bother to suppress owls during the day, at least around Harry Potter in Surrey. That is, this innovation relies on them bothering to care if the owls are seen in the first place, which I really do wonder about from canon. Here, they do.
9059266
You know the sad part is I studied Greek mythology. I really should have known that. Yeah in Exalted that title is quite literal for the god in question. Part of the entire shtick for the setting as a whole is that The Unconquered Sun (Not sure if it actually calls him Sol Invictus though) CAN NOT be beaten. Of course this being a White Wolf setting, things are rarely as cut and dry as they appear.
Edit:Turns out they DO call him that.
9059377
One this is targeted directly towards muggles, and anti muggle charms are already a thing. So we KNOW that it's possible. Two, you missed the point. Going out in the twilight hours already avoids 99% of muggles because of people being asleep, and this new method isn't easy. Not everyone can cast all spells. When you listen to the shop owner he's flat out admitting he needs to find someone else to do it for him. Why pay extra for something you don't outright need when you already have a method that mostly works anyway? Nobody is going to think of this kind of thing because of the previously mentioned adage. "If it's not broke don't fix it." Even by the standards of 1991, when the first HP book takes place, there are a LOT of things that stand in the series where wizards lack logic/common sense. Hermione even makes a point of saying that is WHY Snape's trap with the potions would stop most wizards cold. Logic/Common sense isn't actually all that common in the wizarding world. To be fair it's not all that common in reality as well.
Absolutely loved this chapter, like always! I get more and more interested and excited to see what happens next with every one of your updates and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
9059251
The problem is the scene makes no sense. They don't examine the telescopes or ask any questions they just assume they must be as unremarkable as they look. I'm pretty sure Twilight has long since learned to not judge a book by its cover.
9059501
Perhaps she has. However she and the others OFTEN listen to Harry's advice. Note that Twilight WAS interested in the telescope. It is HARRY who tells her there are 'better' ones. Knowing that Harry's insight is often valuable, as unlike herself he was born on Earth, she listened. She has little reason not to believe Harry's initial assessment. And just because Harry THINKS he knows where better telescopes can be gotten, doesn't make him right either.
Awww, I've caught up. It's be amazing so far. The story and the plots you've woven have made this so unique among the other crossovers of this nature I've read. The character interactions are good, even if some of the larger scenes sometimes lose focus, but the writing and story itself is stellar. I'm still on the edge of my seat for how the building intentions of Equestria making official first contact will clash with the magic communities secrecy. And I'm always a sucker for the pantheon style approach to the elements and the alicorns.
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Actually, Book 2 does a much better job of proving this false. An owl showing up is the final straw that drives Vernon's dinner guests away. And it was pretty early in the summer, so dinnertime almost certainly happened during daylight hours, especially when you consider that formal dinner affairs tend to happen earlier than more casual dinners. As well, it was a Ministry owl, and they would be a lot more likely to have well trained owls. You could try to make the argument that the Ministry wouldn't know where Harry lives, but that falls flat because it's the Owls that are trained, not the Ministry workers.
9059697
Fair enough though, again, it's always possible that Eyelops sells owls better-trained than the ones the Ministry uses.
Then you'd have a situation where there's no regulation on how well-trained for secrecy an owl is and so Hogwarts and the Ministry buy the cheapest ones they can get.
(Which wouldn't surprise me. The fact that government penny-pinching exists in the magical world too is a canon plot point.)
EDIT: Given what it was delivering and that obliviators were possibly dispatched, it's also possible that owl was expedited.
9058741
But it's not called the Sorcerer's Stone! It's the Philosopher's Stone
I keep finding myself rereading chapter 27. The scene in Ollivanders is the most powerful I've experienced in reading this fine story. Excellent job dear writer.
Found out about this story a couple days ago. Read it yesterday, finally. I find that I rather like it a lot and I'm anxious to see how will this change in his life influence the events to come
And if Hogwarts will still be standing after seven years with the crusaders
9059844 The reason they changed it was because they reckoned Americans were too stupid to know what a philosopher was. Presumably since they themselves were.
Well, the claim is thy didn't think that American children would read anything with Philosopher in the title, but that comes to the same thing.
Marketer concept of a average American child.
'Uh philosophy... that's like thinking isn't it? I don't want to read anything requiring thought. Because thinking is for cissies and communists whatever they are, but my pop is always saying nasty things about them when he's drinking beers in front of the TV and polishing his automatic weapons, so they must be bad.'
Incidentally I'm a Brit, and do not agree with the sentiments above. Marketers, they assume the whole world is thick as pig s**t and only they are smart enough to fool everyone.
Lol pinky keep it up