• Published 1st Feb 2019
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Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire - Damaged



The door of the Chamber of Secrets is just ahead, and Harry Potter has no clue what kind of changes will unfold once he passes it. Monsters will become friends, friends will become monsters, and Hogwarts itself will change completely.

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A Nighttime Visitor

Waking up wrapped in the biggest and possibly the nicest snake in the world was starting to become normal. This would obviously be a problem for anyone but a wizard, which meant I was slipping further down that absurd path. "Morning Addera."

"How did you believe I was awake?" Addera's voice was practically right by my left ear. It should have completely freaked me out, but after a lifetime of sleeping in cold places alone, this was refreshing.

"I've never seen you actually asleep. Do you sleep?" I stretched and yawned as best I could. The latter was easy, but since three of my limbs were restrained in Addera's coils, only my left-rear leg was able to poke out of the covers.

"Sometimes. Not often, Harry Potter." Her hoof found my ear and started to rub. —It is not time to be awake yet.—

I didn't want to let her win, but with sleep not far behind me her ear rubbing was quick to rob me of consciousness.


I woke up for a second time feeling significantly more confused and tired—which was mostly because Addera was still rubbing my ear. "C-Can you stop th-that?"

Her hoof made three more strokes against my ear before stopping. "You needed more sleep."

She didn't pull her hoof away at first, but when she did I couldn't help but lean that way a little. "That doesn't mean I should have had it. What time is it? Is everyone else awake?"

Addera pressed a piece of paper to my nose. This close I could recognize that it was the same style of folded paper as the other two letters from The Moon and I could also smell a mild perfume. "A young lady left this for you, Harry Potter"

With dread, I opened the letter, simply unfolding it.

Great Qilin,

You lit a fire so beautiful, and so tonight will be perfect for our meeting. Please join me in the greenhouse after lights-out.

Your admirer,
The Moon.

The paper jumped out of my grip (holding things with hooves wasn't exactly easy) and twisted into a tiny version of me. It then pranced about on Addera's scales before rushing across the floor and out of my sight. A flare of light from the fireplace revealed its fate. "Absolutely not."

"Someone is using magic to get your attention, and you negative want to find out who it is?" Addera scrunched her snout up. —Understanding English is harder than speaking it.—

"Alright. Firstly, the word you wanted was don't. Secondly, I hadn't actually thought about that. When she left the letter, what did she look like?" Pulling my forelegs free of Addera's coils wasn't easy, but I managed it after a few moments of struggling.

—I didn't see her, but I recognized her heartbeat.—

"Well?" I asked.

"She was in the hall when breakfast two mornings back."

"Everyone was in the hall that morning." I managed to work my back end free and jumped out of Addera's nest of blankets and coils. "Why do you wrap around me like that?"

—Because you're warm, Harry Potter.—

"Warm? I'm like a hot water bottle?" Free from the clutches of Addera's body, I could stretch properly—of course, I had no idea how to stretch properly. My muscles knew just what to do. Like an over tensioned spring, or maybe even like a cat, I took a few steps forward with my front legs and arched my spine.

The sound of a few joints popping was music to my ears. I put more work into the stretch and wound up dragging one leg forward slowly as the muscle woke up. Remembering back to my discussion the previous evening, I realized wings would definitely be pushing it. Four limbs were more than enough for me.

"What's it been now, three whole days?" I asked.

"Yes. Three whole days since you freed me." Addera sounded positively bubbly. "Perhaps you should get a—a…" She waved her forehooves around. "Time… glass… dirt… falling…"

"Hourglass. Filled with sand so that it empties when an hour is over?" I asked.

Addera slithered herself off the edge of the bed and slithered for the door. "Yes! Should you get one to measure days? How do wizards count days?"

"Well, wizards and witches might use other ways, but muggles use a watch." I jumped down from the bed and trusted my legs to take my weight at the bottom. Carried away with the first bounce, I pronked a few times before dropping to a walk. Then something occurred to me. "Where is everyone?"

"At breakfast."

"Addera! We have to go!" I ran to the door before realizing I was forgetting something—or someone. I aimed my horn at the diary sitting on my bedside table. "Loh-koh-mot-tor!"

Magic sang in the air and wound through my will, my words, and finally my horn before it launched itself at Ginny's diary. I cast a second one at the ballpoint pen beside it.

—Why do you use locomotion over levitation?— Addera asked as she slithered across the room toward me. She easily beat the two objects to me.

"Because I'd just need to cast locomotion on them anyway. I want to be able to use the pen and move the diary with fine movements. Levitation doesn't let me do this." When both items reached me, I lifted them onto my back with my magic and turned for the door.

Addera reached up and over for the door handle, turned it, and pulled the door open. "Allow me."

"Thanks." Despite being who knows how late for breakfast, the morning was going well. I trotted down stairs, through the painting that guarded Gryffindor house, and through the halls with Addera at my side.

As we neared the great hall, I feared we were too late. There should have been lots of noise coming from the huge room as nearly a thousand students talked and ate. At the very least there should have been a booming voice from a teacher.

I rounded the corner and looked into the hall. Everyone was there and eating breakfast, but they were quiet.

—This is very odd, Harry Potter. Why are they all quiet?— Addera asked.

Most of the students at the near end of the tables turned to look at me and Addera. I could see a few ears twitch among the blobs that were people, the backs of a few of their robes moved as if there was a tail pushing them about, and at least one student sported a snout.

—Addera, about two-thirds of them have pony bits. Ears, tails, noses…— I said and swapped to English. "We're not too late are we?"

"Over 'ere, Harry." Ron's voice came from among the mass of part equine wizards and witches.

As we approached where Ron's voice had come from, Addera reached out a hoof and brushed my shoulder. —She's here, Harry Potter.—

—The Moon?— I asked as we neared the Gryffindor table. A few of the first year students turned to look at me and Addera, but most had returned their faces to their plates.

"Here." I could have almost hugged Ron for speaking out. His voice guided me to his side. "You're not going to believe this, Harry, but it seems like no one can stop themselves from casting spells."

Ron's voice was like a switch. The room suddenly erupted into people talking. We were plunged into an anonymous sea of conversations that gave us complete privacy.

Jumping up on the bench, I had to reach my forelegs up to see over the table.

Strong pony legs lifted me up and before I knew it Addera had sat me back down on one of her coils at a much better height to see over the table.

"Hi, Hermione," I said. —It's not Hermione is it? Please tell me it's not Hermione.—

—That is Hermione, Harry Potter.—

—No, I mean The Moon.—

"It's really impolite to talk in parseltongue when we can't understand it," Hermione said. "Honestly. What can't you just say out loud?"

"Someone keeps giving Harry love letters." Addera's head bobbed left and right as she looked blindly at the table. "There are sausages here."

She'd said it with such seriousness and yet such obvious need that I couldn't keep a straight face. While I was giggling, Hermione reached a hand out and tapped the edge of the platter with the big pork sausages on it.

Addera was far too fast to keep track of. She lunged forward with a plate and populated it with sausages from the platter. By the time she drew back, she almost sounded like she was purring.

"Love letters?" Ron asked. "Like that one you got the other day? There were more?"

"Loh-koh-mot-tor!" My spell pronunciation caused silence to fall over the hall. I could practically feel eyes focus on me as I cast the spell and filled the patterns with magic. The spoon on my table came to life under my magic. "H-Hermione, can you help me fill my bowl with porridge?"

"Of course, Harry." Our words carried throughout the hall. Hermione didn't seem to even notice that everyone was looking at us. "Tell me when."

I let her fill the bowl from the pot in the middle of the table. "That'll be fine. Thanks, Hermione."

"I want to learn it too." Hermione passed over my bowl and set it before me. "Parseltongue." Indistinct, I could well imagine the slight pout Hermione would be wearing.

"Repeat this," Addera said. —I cannot speak parseltongue.—

"What? But I don't understand it. How am I meant to repeat it?"

"If you can't repeat it, you can't learn to speak parseltongue."

I hadn't even gotten my first mouthful in. "Hermione, it's because of the pronunciation. Addera just said a phrase that uses most of the sounds. Like quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog does for letters."

Hermione blinked a few times as she took that in. "Oh. Well, can you repeat it?"

Since Addera was taking her time with a Cumberland sausage she'd picked up from her plate, I figured I might as well help. —I cannot speak parseltongue.— I don't know exactly how I just knew that it had all the harder syllables in it, the knowledge was just obvious.

I took a mouthful of porridge and almost gagged—there was no honey on it!

The gibberish that Hermione spoke back resembled nothing like the phrase I'd said. "Was that right?" she asked.

I used my spoon to herd a honeypot closer. "Not a single word." —I cannot speak parseltongue,— I repeated the phrase again for her while I carefully lifted the spoon from the honeypot between both forelegs.

She tried again, and this time I only barely managed not to laugh.

"If you can't make the sssss sounds, you can't speak parseltongue," Addera said once she'd gulped down a sausage. —I cannot speak parseltongue—

—I *gibberish* not speak *gibberish*.—

Addera and I both turned to look at Ron with surprise.

"Well, it's not that hard. You just gotta focus on the tone and the pitch. Did I get it right?" Ron asked.

"Some that you could learn." Addera casually bit another sausage in half and gulped it down.

Hermione made a slightly strangled sound. "What about me? How'd I do?"

I could almost see the annoyance boiling around Hermione's head. I needed to act quickly. "Ron got two words right, the first time, and another half of a word right. You didn't get any, but you could keep trying. It's not like our teachers can really teach us anything right now."

"You'd do that, Harry?" Hermione should have sounded surprised. I'd have taken surprise over the curiosity that seemed to ripple in those four words.

Trapped, there was only one reply I could give. "Yeah." I quickly shoveled as much honey into my bowl as I could manage and started stuffing the oats into my mouth. Oh no! I can't reply anymore. You'll have to talk to Addera instead.

"Thanks, Harry." The tone Hermione used was warm and gentle. Maybe if I shoved oats into my ears I could actually get out of this conversation?

"So you'll teach us, then? You'll teach me how to speak parseltongue?" Ron was halfway through cutting up a thick piece of bacon when a pair of tall figures loomed over us. "What do you two want?"

"We got a present for our snakely friend 'ere," George said as he leaned on Ron's shoulder with one hand.

Plunking down on the bench beside me, Fred pulled something from his pocket. "We was up half the night working on these."

Addera twisted around to face Fred. "Are those my—"

"Glasses. Just keep 'em away from Harry." Fred opened the little wooden box he held and revealed a pair of glasses that were positively odd. The ear-hooks were angled upwards, and the glass in them was completely opaque. It dawned on me that they were the mirror glasses. "Here, try 'em on."

Addera leaned down and let Fred put the glasses on her. They had little triangles of leather at the sides so that even at a tight angle, no one could see her eyes. "Can I open my eyes?"

"If you do, and you whammy us," George said. "Make sure you get us doing somethin' really stupid."

"Why would you want that?" Hermione asked.

"Because it wouldn't be our fault. We could get away wiff anything!" Fred, apparently, was well on the same wavelength as George—as usual.

"I can look!" Addera's words held so much joy they made me smile. "Not look. Better word?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "See. You can see."

"I can! You look really pretty, Hermione." Addera turned to look at me. "Harry! I can see you! You're so cute!"

"Hear that, Harry, you're cute!" Fred reached over and patted me patronizingly on the head. "Actually, you are kinda cute. Here, can we take your picture for something we're working on? We'll put yer name on it and everything."

"So you'll teach us parseltongue?" Fred asked.

"What?!" Ron, Hermione, and I all asked at the same time.

George nodded. "That was our deal. We'll make her glasses that let her see without puttin' the whammy on everyone, and she teaches us parseltongue."

"I have students!" Addera let out what I'll never admit to anyone was a cute, hissing laugh.

Fred reached an arm around Addera's back. "Now we have a professor Snape and a professor snake!"

People were finishing their breakfast and getting up. Behind us, Slytherin house were all moving as one unit toward the back of the room, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were just casually getting up in ones and twos.

House Gryffindor were all staying seated.

I tried to gulp down as much of my porridge as I could as fast as I could—something was about to happen.

"What's going on?" Addera asked.

"McGonagall said all of house Gryffindor has to wait behind," Fred said.

Addera (and I) looked at George.

"What?" George asked.

"You always speak after Fred." Addera's mirrored glasses, I thought, were somehow more imposing than her having her eyes closed all the time—though not as bad as her opening them unprotected.

"Well, not this time." George looked proud of himself for nearly three seconds. "She also said you four need to hang about after all of Gryffindor have left."

"I knew it," Addera said and popped another sausage in her mouth.

"This," Headmistress McGonagall said, "Concerns Gryffindor, and Gryffindor only. Miss Addera, please close the doors."

When Addera smiled, I was ready to confirm my hypothesis. Very creepy as just mirrors. She turned and drew out her wand, which spat a blast of sparks over the table. —If you don't do what I want, I'm going to let her put you back on the shelf in that room.— When her wand stopped firing sparks, Addera smiled again. "Loh-koh-mot-tor Yah-nu-a!"

I'd never heard the spell before. I snapped my head around to Hermione, who looked extremely proud of herself. I tried to remember the sound of the syllables, but I wouldn't trust myself to get them perfect first time.

The result of the spell was immediate—the doors of the great hall slammed closed with a resounding thud!

"Thank you, Miss Addera." McGonagall smiled around at the members of her house. "Things have become a little confused in the last several days. It was time to put your fears to rest and clarify what will be happening to house Gryffindor.

"As I now fill the seat of headmistress and continue to teach transfiguration until we can find a substitute, I cannot in all conscience remain as head of Gryffin—" McGonagall had to raise her voice to get over our collective cries of denial. "Pipe down! This is not up for debate!"

"Don't care, Miss. You're our head," Oliver said, and a lot more voices put in their support.

"Gryffindor deserves a head who can devote the time it needs. I will be stretched thin already with my duties to the whole of the school." McGonagall's normal mask was slipping—orally at least. I could hear her voice crack a few times. "If we can find someone to take over transfiguration in a timely manner, I may be able to take back the duty—though you can't expect any favor from me as headmistress."

"I will be taking over as temporary head of Gryffindor." Dumbledore's words stunned us all. He couldn't have stalled us into silence any better if he'd summoned a thunderbolt. "I trust I can carry the torch until you're ready to take it back?"

"Th-Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. Stay strong, house Gryffindor, and always maintain your honor," McGonagall said. "Miss Addera, the door again please?"

"Loh-koh-mot-tor Yah-nu-a!" With a wave of her wand, Addera threw the heavy doors at the end of the hall open again.

"Come on, everybody, make your way to class." Percy—Ron's brother—was herding Gryffindor students out. He looked jittery, though that wasn't surprising given the head of house Gryffindor had just changed. I almost expected him to stop with us, but he spared barely a glance at the table between Addera, Ron, Hermione, and I and quickened his pace for the exit.

When Percy herded the last of the students out, he pulled the doors closed by hand behind him.

"I won't tarry long," Dumbledore said. "I have many wards who are likely acting like chicks without their mother hen."

"Thank you, Albus." McGonagall looked around the other members of faculty. "We can no longer assume help will be coming. We have lacked any outside contact via the Floo network, and all our owls keep returning without delivering their messages. It was hoped that the Ministry would have contacted us by now or, failing that, any other wizards."

"Why are you allowing students to sit-in on this?" Snape sounded as if our mere presence was a personal affront. I wished I'd brought my mirror so I could see.

"Because, Severus, they are as tangled up in all this as anyone else. Mr. Potter and Miss Addera are the—" McGonagall said.

Snape cut in, "The preference of house Slytherin for reptiles aside, why are we giving wands to non-humans?"

"Severus Snape! You will not interrupt me!" McGonagall sounded about as annoyed as I'd ever heard her. "Your own house is indirectly responsible for her imprisonment here at Hogwarts for a millennium. Not only does the school owe Miss Addera a great debt, but in a world where the chief species is not human, she is likely the only ally Hogwarts has.

"I will personally stand accountable for granting her a wand."

It seemed like everyone was waiting for Snape to say something, but I didn't hear a word come from his direction.

"Very well. What we will be doing this morning will be investigating these ponies, and attempt to liberate at least one adult from those accursed helmets. I trust Mr. Potter has taught you the shield spell, Miss Addera?" McGonagall asked.

"No headmistress. Hermione did." Addera sounded very pleased with herself. "She taught me a lot of spells."

"Bravo, Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor." McGonagall sounded if not happy, then at least not as annoyed as a moment ago. "You will hold that shield with myself to cover you for emergencies, while Mr. Potter uses his composite spell to free as many ponies as he can."

"I can help too, Miss. I shielded him before, and I'll do it again!" Hermione looked right at me as she spoke.

"And me," Ron said. "I'm not leaving your side this time, Harry."

"This, Professor Snape, is precisely why I chose to bring them all in on this." Now McGonagall sounded pleased. "Though it won't be necessary, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley. I won't have a student risking themselves before me."

"Perhaps I would be better to bring?" The wizened form of Flitwik—looking mostly like a white blur atop a dark splodge—rose from his seat.

"A perfect plan," Snape said. "Let's all walk out and right into a trap."

"You're both being fools. Why don't we listen to what our new headmistress has to say?" Sprout asked of both of them, causing silence. "Now then, what were you saying, Minerva?"

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Yes, well, we certainly don't plan to engage a large group, and would rather find one or two off on their own. Thank you, both of you, but I'm sure we'll be perfectly capable with a witch, a wizard, and five sharp minds."

"What I don't get—" Ron froze as quickly as he started talking. Looking toward where every adult in authority stared at him, he snapped his mouth closed. "S-Sorry."

To my surprise, it was Snape who stood up. "Despite my objections to our new headmistress' plans, even I was surprised by the tactical acumen that happened to come from a Weasley. Perhaps, I have to wonder, we might have finally found one that is worth teaching. Please, Mr. Weasley, bestow whatever gem of insight you have dreamt up. And do try to prove the first time wasn't a fluke."

"Err, quite. Thank you, Severus." McGonagall sniffed as if she didn't approve of something despite her words. "Please, Mr. Weasley, do continue."

"Right. Well, I was more kinda wondering why you changed your mind like this? What was so different today from yesterday?"

"That was my fault." Dumbledore's voice was soft, as it usually was when he had something thunderous to impart. "Minerva came to me for advice, and I gave her my best assessment at the time."

"Albus, please. It was you who warned me your advice was based off incomplete information. We may be witches and wizards, but we can still make mistakes. Ultimately, the decisions were mine. I made it, I unmade it." McGonagall seemed determined to take the blame from Dumbledore. I wish I could have seen either of their faces.

There was some silence, which would have normally been a good thing, except it felt like there were words not being said, rather than people not having anything to say. Eventually McGonagall stood up from the seat at the head of the room. "No time like the present. Come along."

I gulped down the last two mouthfuls of porridge and jumped down from Addera's coils. In my mind, the twinned spells that I knew removed the masks squirmed and wriggled under my attention. Just focusing on them this much caused a slight tingle of magic in my horn—the same tingle you feel at the back of your neck during the start of a thunderstorm.

Ron was first to reach my side (I'm pretty sure I saw Addera gobble another two sausages). In his hands he turned over the length of rough willow his older brother had carved. "I hope I don't have to use this."

"Did you get the other 'wand', Ron?" I asked.

"Fred lent me 'is spare. Good solid one. I hope I don't have to use that, either." Despite sounding worried, Ron has a little smile as he patted his robes with one hand. Say what you will about the majesty of magic, if you can club a wizard over the head with a beater's bat, he stops casting.

Addera slithered up beside Hermione, and the two conversed in hushed tones.

"Harry," McGonagall said, "Are you ready for this? I had hoped we'd have help by now, or at least work out how to use magic without risking transfiguration."

"How many do we need to get out?" Ron asked.

The question interrupted any reply I might make. I was curious about Ron's sudden surge in confidence. Had the incident with the foals really affected him that much?

"Our aim is just one unless things progress absolutely perfectly. Any adult would be fine, but we'll make further plans when we reach a group." McGonagall led the way out of the great hall, through the entrance hall, and out into the crisp air of whatever place the castle now resided in.

The warmth of the previous day's sport practice had been erased by the night's chill, and somehow the world felt even colder yet. Surprisingly, however, I didn't feel particularly cold anywhere except my nose. A fur coat, it seemed, beat a school uniform and a robe any day.

McGonagall aimed us north—well, what north should be. Without being able to see well, everything else had a greater effect on me. The feel of the cool ground under my hooves—the feel of hooves at all—was something new that only solidified the strangeness of my situation. Strange, yet right.

Every time I thought of the two spells together, my horn twitched with magic. It felt—it felt like it was alive and wanted to play. It wanted to see if I could cast the duplicated spell, and it held no sour grapes that I beat it last time. Okay, so maybe I didn't exactly have a wand anymore, but I had never felt more like a wizard than I did now.

"How are the foals doing?" Ron asked into the silence.

McGonagall turned to look at Ron with as warm a smile as she ever got. "As well as could be expected. They were all asking after both you and Harry, or so I heard. Perhaps you could both look in on th—"

Everything started moving in slow motion, even me. McGonagall stopped talking, Hermione and Ron suddenly turned their attention outward, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck (now significantly more than usual) prickle.

Then there was a flicker of magic.

In motion before any of us knew there was danger, Addera lifted her wand out and aimed it with her hoof. "Pro-tay-goh!" Magic thrummed in the air as she stroked down with her wand. Not a full heartbeat later a beam of burning black-red-green magic slammed into her invisible shield spell.

"Excellent protego, Miss Addera. Harry?" McGonagall, along with the others, ducked low to make herself harder to see.

Everyone was crouched down except me. I'd barely heard her words and could hardly feel anything other than righteous anger. How dare they use this magic on us?! I didn't hide! I charged!

Feeling the fire wrap around me seemed right. The anger turned my fur black and caused blue-red flames to erupt from my mane, tail, and hooves. My vision narrowed and sharpened until I could see the pony who was blasting us.

The pony was startling in that they were a unicorn. A real unicorn. A dull pink body was partially covered by armor, and their blue mane was pinned to their neck by the helmet that clung to them. But their horn protruded through the helmet.

Marching with purpose, I passed the protective barrier Addera had put up and watched—as if in slow motion—as the beam of magic traced a line over her shield toward me. My fire burned hotter still, and destructive force met its match. The beam deflected and twisted to avoid me as I kept coming.

"Ex-pel-lee-ar-muss!" Two female voices pronounced the charm at the same time, and two bright red flares of magic shot past me toward the unicorn in a helmet.

Magic flared and I was only a few yards from them when as the helmet crumbled around their head—rent by the twin disarm charms.

I felt my fire calming at the destruction of the thing that'd gotten me angry in the first place. Calmness started to flow through me, and my flames started to die down. I totally had this under contr—

Purple fire slammed into my side and hurt. This was cheating! I cried out in shock, but before I could fully register the situation or the pain, the fire was gone—its end punctuated with a dull thud.

An ally, Ron, stood over another of the big ponies with his beater bat out. "Got 'em, 'Arry!"

New fire erupted where my old anger was fading. Like a burning log that is kicked, I sent a rush of blue-red sparks into the air and looked for more targets.

"M-Miss Addera, Miss Granger, we need to fetch our subjects and those boys and leave before more arrive." McGonagall's voice barely made sense. Why should I leave when I was still angry?!

"Harry!" Ron's voice was practically beside me. "Harry you daft git, put your fire out before it—"

Something new was coming. I aimed my horn in Ron's direction and let magic sing through it. I was an aqueduct for the fury, and it all aimed just above Ron Weasley's terrified expression.

When my own blast met the fat ball of angry fire that I'd seen shooting toward Ron, it sprayed flames everywhere but on my friend. My friend! A feral grin pulled at my lips, and anger at whoever had attacked my friend lit a tornado of flame within my head.

The fight became a blur that only sharpened when my senses pulled my attention to another incoming attack. When I looked at something, not only was it crystal clear, but it was doomed.

I could hear Hermione, McGonagall, and Addera screaming conflicting orders behind me, but there was just one thing I had to do—keep Ron from getting hit while he dragged the second pony over beside the first, then he grabbed both by a leg each. The idiot was trying to save these creatures that had to weight a ton (maybe even literally) while there was still more attacks coming.

We backed out slowly, but each step backward I took cost me a supreme effort. I wanted to hunt down everything attacking us and destroy them. When we passed back within Addera's shield, I judged it was time to go on the attack. Just as I was taking my first step, I felt magic start to tingle behind me.

"Ah-gwah-men-tee!" It was McGonagall's voice that met my ears moment before the jet of water did. I turned on her to see yet more water coming my way. It wasn't the water that caused me to calm down, however, but her worried look. Headmistress McGonagall was worried, and I don't think it was completely for me.

The water had the desired effect, if the desired effect was a steam cloud and an annoyed Harry Potter. It was cold and now I was wet, and I—I wasn't angry enough to keep my flames burning.

"Hermione, can you give me a hand with these?" Ron asked.

I turned my head, but the glorpy mess was back in the middle of my vision and I barely made out Ron and Hermione arranging the two ponies to be dragged.

An angry hiss was my only warning that I was about to be picked up. One of Addera's forelegs—arms—(or whatever) tucked me close to her fuzzy torso while her other hoof brandished her wand in the direction where the attacks had come from. "Can we go?"

"A grand idea, Miss Addera. Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, please lead the way." McGonagall didn't look any more like a pony, but without getting closer or getting new glasses, I couldn't really tell.

In all, the whole trip back to Hogwarts castle let me ruminate on just how much I'd messed up.


The friendship express was pulled by a reliable and pretty workhorse of a locomotive. It's lines were cemented in everypony's mind as what an Equestrian train should be. This was not the friendship express. The pink locomotive was a newer model, and was nearly fifty percent as long again as the one that pulled the friendship express, and right now it was pushing a train, not pulling.

Railthin, an earth pony that should have been light brown with a red mop of mane and tail, was currently (and almost permanently) a dirty gray from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. With the shovel in his mouth, he tossed another load of crystals mixed with coal into the firebox. Inside, magical flames consumed the mixed fuel and produced heat far in excess of anything that could have been made by either fuel on its own.

The big earth pony stallion was hardly the only pony aboard the train. In the single forward car were six of some of the biggest stallions anypony was likely to see in their lives. Four of them had a horn protruding from their head, while two more bore a pair of wings at their shoulders. They were the Royal Guard of Equestria, and they only traveled where the princess willed.

Pacing up and down the car, ignoring the rocking movement, Flagessio worried at the problem in her mind, but she wasn't alone. The Royal Guard were aboard the train because of two ponies—Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Both royals were glued to the viewing window at the front of the car.

"Sir?!"

Shining's attention broke away from the oddly designed train car's huge window to the leader of the half-squad of guard. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"We'll be reaching the end of the tracks in about five minutes. My squad will be ready to move with you and the princess."

Cadance turned as well, but her eyes weren't on the array of stallions. She watched Flagessio pacing up and back the aisle of the car. "Please, everypony remember that we are hoping this will be a peaceful mission."

Everyone was quieter after her statement than Cadance would have liked. A minute or more went by when the train's brakes squealed and everypony was shoved forward. Spinning around to look ahead, Cadance saw a unicorn standing—rugged up against the cold weather with a large scarf, his horn glowing bright red in the early morning light.

By the time the train stopped, Keen Eyes had to walk to reach the front car's door. A light dusting of snow began to fall, and he cursed the weatherpony-less skies.

Two big unicorns left the train on each side and scanned around them for threats. On one side they spotted the lone unicorn. "Name?"

"Sergeant Keen Eyes of the E.U.P. Guard scout regiment, northern divisi—" He didn't get any more words out. A flurry of feathers pounced out of the train like a lioness and shot toward him.

Flagessio wrapped Keen in her forelegs and her wings, and completely failed to see the smile that grew on Princess Cadance's face behind her. "Anything happen? You're okay?"

"I'm fine, but the rails aren't. I need to report to the princess." Keen brushed his lips along Flagessio's cheek and walked free from her hug to approach Princess Cadance.

"Shiny? We need to listen to this Guard's report so he can return to his fillyfriend." Cadance was only half joking, though she was always happy to see a grown stallion blush who was in love, and Keen Eyes blushed quite a bit.

"Sergeant Keen Eyes," Shining Armor said as he turned from seeing the Royal Guard deploy. "Your report is greatly anticipated."

"As per standing orders, I did not approach the Crystal Empire, nor did I perform any magic other than strictly observational. There is a bubble of magic that is almost impossible to detect without directly probing it—it's covering the whole of the Empire."

"How did you detect it, then?" Shining asked.

"My name, sir, is not an exaggeration. I have my notes here." Keen passed Shining his official notes on everything he'd observed. "A day ago there was some flaring around the far side of the barrier, which made it much easier to detect. The weather, too, seems to have turned wild. There was a thunderstorm last night, which is why I stopped the train early."

One of the pegasi Royal Guards came swooping in after performing his initial scouting. "Sir! The rails are melted clear through just up ahead."

Shining's eyes turned from the reporting Royal Guard back to Keen Eyes. "Good work, sergeant. Our train's heading back. Your team can take it—"

"Sir!" Keen turned to look back at Flagessio. "I need to talk to my squadmate, but I believe we'll be seeing this one through."

"Then talk with Lieutenant Star Flare about your duties." Shining Armor turned his attention to his wife and the report. "Cadie, we need to work out what is going on here."


The Royal Guard hadn't wanted Cadance to get this close to the barely visible barrier. Even this close the shield seemed to shimmer with dangerous energies that she couldn't pick apart. "It's trying to make us leave?"

"That's the best I can tell, Your High—"

"I told you, Spark, just Cadance will be fine."

Spark Splash rolled his eyes. He was a big buff stallion—as all were in the Royal Guard—but among a group of peers known for fighting prowess, he was a nerd. He accepted the title with honor, and it was why he was here. "Cadance, the barrier seems to be attempting to push everything away."

"Then why are we able to come so close to it?" Cadance looked at a slight shimmering to the pattern of the barrier with curiosity.

"Because it's doing it gently, Your—Cadance. Would you like my opinion?"

Cadance nodded.

"This isn't the work of any madpony. This was somepony who cares who might get affected by this. They just don't seem to understand how magic works, though. I'd wager it wouldn't do anything unless you actually touched it."

"Why is that?"

"Whoever made this forgot to account for the magic in everything. It's like the most gentle of bubbles in the ocean."

"But it's working?" Cadance liked the way Spark Splash thought, and the way he explained things. "It's keeping things out?"

"The technical work in it—If I had to wager, Your Highness, I'd say the pony who made this doesn't understand how magic works here, but they do understand magic at a fundamental level. Look how it weaves and flows together? It's reinforcing itself."

"We will wait," Cadance said, "And see if its creator comes out to say hello. And, Spark, please just call me Cadance."

Author's Note:

Lucius Malfoy: Have you heard of what happen to Hogwarts and your previous son because of the accursed diary you slipped to Ginny Weasley?

Raising an eyebrow, the head of the Malfoy family also raised one side of his upper lip in a sneer. "First and foremost, if I find anyone who had anything to do with the kidnapping of my heir, they'll wish I'd given them leave to rot in Azkaban!" As he spoke, Lucius Malfoy's voice rose from a calm and even tone to a shout that resulted in him loosing some spittle. Clearly seething, he settled back down and adjusted his collar. "And for what it's worth, I wouldn't slip a Weasley a life preserver on the Titanic, let alone something as mundane as a diary."


So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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