The Event
"Yeah, I'm ready." I wasn't. This sucked to have to do, but I knew I had to do it. My suitcase only had my adjusted robe in it and nothing else. I only had it with me so I could fill it with stuff to bring back. "Are you?"
'Of course I am. I've been waiting for you.'
Grabbing the handle of my case with my spell, I stood up. "Hop on, then. I want to get this all over and done with so I can focus on working out how this magic works."
Hedwig barely stretched her wings before giving them a quick pump and hopping across to my back. Her familiar (by now) weight settled as she hooked her claws into my scales.
It was so quiet in the halls. There were a few older students here and there, but all they did was show how empty the place was.
"Harry?" When I looked around, I saw it was Percy talking. He walked over to me. "I heard you're going back to the UK. Can you get this letter to my mum?" He floated a letter out of his resewn robes to me.
"Of course I can. Well, Hedwig can. I'm not going to stay." I tilted my head back to indicate Hedwig, as if she wasn't almost as big as I was.
"You're going to stay here too? That's fan—" Percy cleared his throat, but I could see his face was locked in a smile. "I mean, that's nice. It'll be good to have another Gryffindor around."
Something was eating at me, though, something I needed an answer to. "Why'd you stay?"
"Because I finally got what Charlie meant. When I saw Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, and realized they'd just stepped in the deep end by offering to take on any crystal ponies that wanted to come, I knew they'd need someone to help them understand what wizards need." He seemed much more talkative now and started walking with me. "I hope things will get sorted out between the Ministry and the Crystal Empire. It'd be nice to be able to go home and visit without having to worry if I can come back."
"Madam Hooch is going with me. She says she can make sure we get back through, but I'm still a little worried. Honestly? I'd rather have Addera with me. I know she can take care of getting us back through."
'And she gives good hugs.'
"Speaking of, she's just down there waiting for you." Percy looked over the railing and down, and when I copied him, I could see Madam Hooch waiting on the landing below. "Please, Harry, don't forget the letter."
'It means a lot to him, doesn't it?'
Yes. His family is… I don't know how to explain it, but they all love each other a lot. Him staying here means he has a really good reason to. "I won't, Percy. I better go before she gets angry."
"Ha. Madam Hooch only gets angry when you don't ride your broom right. Good luck, Harry." Percy turned and walked back toward the painting of the Fat Lady.
"You too, Percy." I trotted down the stairs a little faster now, trying to keep my movement from disturbing Hedwig too much.
'Thank you for that.'
You're welcome. At the bottom of the stairs Madam Hooch was waiting. She wore a large set of robes that flowed down and over her body, hiding almost everything from her neck back. It even hung low enough that I couldn't see her hooves. "Good morning, Madam Hooch."
"Have you eaten yet?" She looked at me, and I could swear she knew I hadn't. Well, I guess she had seen me come down from the upper stairs and not the dining hall. "Here, Harry, eat these." When Madam Hooch stretched her wing forward from under her robes, she held a pair of muffins out to me.
"Thanks. We're going now?" I asked.
"As soon as you've had a morning stomp. I don't want any accidents while we're there." She led the way down the stairs and through the crystal castle, then outside and into the warm morning.
It was hotter than the barmiest summer outside. When I looked up, I could see the multi-colored swirl of the Heart's magic making a dome over the city. "I could get angry about how warm it is."
"Really?"
"Okay, probably not. I mean, I could just get angry about the—" I stopped myself saying their name and used a spell to levitate my glasses off and passed them to Hooch. "Could you hold these a second?"
She didn't need to use a spell, what with her wings to hold things. Madam Hooch took my glasses and my case, giving me some room.
It wouldn't take much. I could just start with Dudley. Dudley Dursley's fist hitting me, his whiny voice demanding something I had be given to him, and even—
My anger boiled up within and started to overflow. My eyesight narrowed down to a point and focused perfectly. Dudley Dursley got anything he wanted—everything he wanted. Dudley Dursley was an idiot, a bully, and… I hated him more than even Draco Malfoy!
Madam Hooch's movement caused my vision to snap to her and I felt a little snarl boil up in my throat. But, she wasn't what I was angry at. I started stomping after her, leaving blackened hoofprints on the ground as I did.
Fire dripped off me, landing on the ground before fizzling out. I was angry and working it all out when a bunch of voices stopped me.
"Ha! There's 'Arry now! He looks angry at somethin'!" George Weasley said.
My anger evaporated as I watched George, Fred, Ron, and their older brother, Bill, walking along with their mother. The latter two, of course, were still human. And that's when my vision turned fuzzy again. "C-Can I have my glasses back now?"
Madam Hooch set them right on my face before she walked over to Mrs. Weasley. "Molly? What on Earth are you doing here?"
"That's Madam Hooch, Mum," Ron said.
"Thank you, dear." Mrs. Weasley looked from Ron to Hooch. "You know how it is—well, maybe you don't. When most of my boys are walking around on four legs and maybe needing magic to live, your choices narrow a little." She kept glancing behind her.
"What do you mean?" Madam Hooch asked.
"Magic. Don't tell me you don't—Well, of course you wouldn't. Over the last few days magic has been getting weaker and weaker. Rumors don't seem to be able to decide on why, but everyone knows there's magic here." Mrs. Weasley was now looking back in the direction of the portal.
Madam Hooch walked closer and reached out to Mrs. Weasley with a wing. "Arthur?"
"There was an officious type from the Ministry. Our Arthur had to bully him a little to let anyone through."
"I'll go have a word with him."
Mrs. Weasley looked down and over Madam Hooch. "Wings? They suit you. I just worry about—"
The conversations of everyone coming from the portal had stopped at the sound of an engine revving.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Only the bloody Knight Bus!" George stared at the huge, triple-decker bus hurtling down the hill toward us. "We might wanna get out of its way!"
I just stared at it. The thing was impossibly tall and moving way too fast to be safe, but it somehow managed to miss absolutely everything and everyone around it.
'It's also coming right at us.'
It took me a moment to realize what Hedwig said and what that meant to our survival. Never let it be said that I wasn't as good at getting out of impossible situations as I was getting into them. Diving to the side, I threw myself out of the path of the bus just as it stopped dead—what would have been an inch from where I'd been standing.
A strange looking man stepped off the back of the bus and looked around. "Cor. Ern! 'Ave a butcher's at all these 'orses! 'Scuse me, ma'am," he said to Mrs. Weasley, "where are we?"
"This is the Crystal Empire." Madam Hooch stepped up. "The question is, Mr. Shunpike, why are you here?"
"Why's I anywhere? We 'ad a fare. Well, a few of 'em. Come on, lads, this 'ere's yer stop." The man stepped to the side as people started departing the bus.
The first was strange. A wizard (probably a true wizard too), he had an artificial eye that seemed to be spinning around wildly in its socket while he walked with a limp. He blinked his good eye as if he'd just come from somewhere dark.
Behind him, practically shoving his way past the man—
"Hagrid!" I completely forgot everything I'd been doing as I rushed up to him. That's when I realized how much bigger he seemed now. "Hagrid! It's me!"
"Who?" Hagrid asked.
'Ha, ha. I've heard that one before.'
"Hagrid, it's me! Harry!" I reached a hoof up to bump my glasses, then turned my head a little toward Hedwig. "I changed a little…"
He looked at me for a few seconds, his big eyebrows furrowed, but then his face split into a huge smile. "I'll say you 'ave, Harry. So this place really does turn ya all into little horses? An what's this? You gots a horn too? And scales? 'Ardly a horse. Much more… Oh! Just like a kirin!"
I bounced in place. Of course Hagrid would know exactly what I was. He knew every animal. "Yes! That's right! I knew you'd—"
"H-Harry? Harry Potter?" Another voice from the bus. "Harry James Potter?"
"Easy now, Sirius, Harry hasn't met you before," Hagrid said.
"But I—He's—" The man getting off the bus looked… like the most wizard wizard that ever wizarded. There were no robes and he didn't have a wand, but his stare (locked on me) was intense beyond belief. He wore a black shirt that was in tatters and had a pair of old jeans on. "Yes. Yes, you're right, Rubeus. C-Could you introduce me to my godson?"
My brain hit a wall.
'Wake up, Harry. They're talking to you.'
"G-Godson?" Odd, it sounded like my voice was really far away.
'You blanked out. Still standing though.'
Thanks, Hedwig.
'You're welcome.'
Hagrid was towering over me, though he didn't seem menacing at all. He was Hagrid, after all. "Yes, Harry. This 'ere's Sirius Black. He—He was stitched up a treat by—"
"Peter Pettigrew." Sirius Black's voice sounded cold as ice. He sounded like he could kill with just those words. "He killed so many muggles, then he claimed I did it. I spent—That doesn't matter now. I'll find him, but not if it takes me away from you, Harry."
There was something about his voice. Something that reminded me of my parents. It stung more than anything to feel that, but something in my head shoved him firmly into the family group. I couldn't stop myself. My hooves were moving and I jumped at him.
Hedwig leapt free of me just before I hit Sirius in the chest. His arms caught me, but I couldn't tell what his expression was because I'd started crying. Addera was the closest thing to a mother I'd had since—
"You knew my parents?" I asked.
"Yes, Harry. I knew Lily and James." Just the sound of him saying their names—as if he were so familiar with the words—told me all I needed to about him. He knew my parents and they knew him well enough to make him my godfather.
"I—"
Screaming and shouting cut me off. This was supposed to be a special moment meeting my godfather, and something even crazier was happening.
"What's going on?" Sirius asked.
"Rack and ruin!" a house-elf said as he cartwheeled out of the bus.
Mr. Weasley was running toward us through the screaming crowd. His voice was lost in the noise everyone was making, but he was pointing away from the portal, and that was enough for me.
"Maybe we should run?" I asked.
"I'd trust 'Arry if I were you. He's survived two wars now." Despite his words, though, Fred just pulled out his wand and stood beside his mum—facing the direction of the portal to Earth.
Ginevra Molly Weasley didn't actually want to hurt the wizards running Azkaban. They were good men, but they were giving her little choice. She had little in the way of magic that would stun since all her power seemed to twist, reshape, and sometimes kill.
Fortunately for Sombra's apprentice, the wizards of Azkaban weren't exactly focused on defending the inmates. They'd huddled in the staff quarters and had barricaded themselves in. When she realized this, Ginevra let out a little sigh of relief.
"Have you chosen what to do with all these evil wizards and witches?" Sombra was comfortable leaving Ginevra to manage the prison. He was calling back his power bit by bit and absorbing the Dementors.
"Their lives are wasted here. They are powerful, thinking beings." Ginevra walked slowly down the hall where the Dementors had dragged all the prisoners to. "They fear, they panic—I can feel it all." Raising her hand, Ginevra reached out to thread her power into each of the wizards and witches that now bore a different mark. She tugged gently, but it was a tug nonetheless.
Bellatrix Lestrange was the first to stumble forward. She stared at Ginevra and felt her blood run cold. "W-What are you?"
Tugging more, Ginevra drew more of the death eaters to their feet and toward her. "Your salvation. Tell me now, do you choose death or servitude?"
"Where's Voldemort? Where is he and what did you do to our marks?" Bellatrix, despite having no angle to argue from, stood up straight and glared at Ginevra. "And who are you to make me choose? To make any of us choose?"
"I am Ginevra Molly Weasley. My master dealt with Voldemort and gave the handling of your wretched selves to me. As I did with Igor, I have decided to give you the chance to redeem yourselves—or not." Jerking hard on the string of magic connected to Bellatrix, Ginevra pulled the witch toward her so quickly she fell to her knees. "I can do either. Choose life or I will give you to the Dementors to fuel my master's magic."
"Weasley…" The name meant something to Bellatrix. The name of the only Sacred Twenty-Eight family to have anything to do with muggle-born was well-known to her only because Bellatrix enjoyed the idea of killing them. Now, however, her allegiance seemed in flux. "Pure-blooded witch of a Sacred Twenty-Eight family…"
Bellatrix stared at the mark on her arm and felt the connection to Ginevra through it. Dark energy writhed and swirled just beyond her grasp. Though she'd had a strong connection to Voldemort, Ginevra's power drew her closer—like a moth to a flame. "He's really gone?"
The emotions leaking through the link with Bellatrix told Ginevra everything she needed to know. "He is. King Sombra dealt with him, and now you can be free." She reached down with one hand and cupped Bellatrix's jaw.
The searing cold was immediate, but Bellatrix felt—for the first time in her life—truly unafraid of anything. Always before there had been one constant she had to fear, be it her father or her former master. The pain Ginevra gave her was as freeing as it was shocking. Along with the ice came burning dark magic.
Ginevra's magic—rooted in Equestria as all magic was—knew well the forms of that land. When she called for a menacing shape to remake the witch before her, it delivered again. First Bellatrix's face began to elongate and darken, then her whole body began to writhe and twist.
The pain was extraordinary, but Bellatrix had experienced worse as a prisoner of Azkaban. She locked eyes with Ginevra and let the dark witch's magic pour through her unopposed. Limbs twisted and reshaped, her head felt like it was pulled and tugged every which way, and finally her vision became tinted with green as immense magic wrapped itself around her core.
As Bellatrix stood up on four shaking legs, she looked down her bark-covered snout. Experienced with shape-changing magics, it took her moments to figure out how a mouth such as hers now was worked. "What am I?"
"Timberwolf," Sombra said as he stepped up beside his apprentice and looked in delight upon the form she'd given Bellatrix. "Invincible, relentless, hungry. Fear not physical blows, nor shy from flame—your rotting wood will withstand both."
For the first time in her life Bellatrix Lestrange felt physical power on par with that of her magic. Shaking her shoulders from side to side in a rolling motion that worked its way down her body, she felt exactly how Sombra had described her. "You are my master's master?"
"I prefer to think of myself as a liberator. Removing shackles and bonds that tie creatures to immutable horror. Can you not say your freedom is—exciting?" Sombra's experience with humans might be short, but he was already enjoying how fast they were to shift alignment when they sensed true power. At the same time he was also cautious to bind such to him so they couldn't shift their focus to the next alicorn to come along.
The white palm-print on Bellatrix's jaw stretched as she smiled. "I want to hunt. Let me loose!"
"Who else," Ginevra asked, "wishes to live?"
"What's this?" Lucius Malfoy glared at the people slowly filing through the rift to Equestria. "This is unacceptable!" The press of people around the portal made reaching it difficult even for someone who thought as highly of himself as Lucius did.
With her mother between her and her father, Draco had never felt so alone in her life. Even before she'd started school she'd had two "friends" with her. Though even Draco had to admit that Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe weren't her friends. They weren't after she became a pony, and they hadn't been before then either.
Draco was surprised to hear an echo of muggle equipment rattling off the hills around where Hogwarts had one stood. Turning, she first saw two faces she hadn't expected arriving with their families in tow. "Helena? Lucian?"
"What was that, Draco-dear?" Narcissa Malfoy looked down at her daughter, that she still thought of as her son, then traced the direction Draco was looking. "Oh, your friends?"
"Yeah. My friends." The two of them had shown Draco more friendship in two days than she'd experienced in her whole life. Those friends weren't the source of the muggle-machine sound. "What's that noise coming from?"
The Knight Bus didn't so much come into view as swerved around a person and was suddenly there. Ernest Prang had been driving the bus for quite some time, and knew the little tricks it could pull. Swerving around a sheep and coming out from behind a witch was just one of a multitude of seemingly impossible things it could do—though this particular one only worked if the sheep was a ewe and the witch was no more than a kilometer away. Ernest didn't know why the limitations existed, he only knew how to use them.
"Hold on, Stan, this might get a bit bumpy," Ernest said.
Stanley Shunpike had heard Ernest use those words only twice before. His eyes narrowed to points and his fists tightened around the metal bars he normally forsook in favor of his sense of balance. Clearing his throat, he braced against whatever was coming. "'Old on t' somethin'!"
It was a good thing Ernest was such a terrible driver. He recognized several people he'd personally learned to dislike greatly, and try though he might, he missed absolutely everyone on his rush toward the rift. In fact, the one thing he didn't miss at all was the rift that led to Equestria.
"That was the Knight Bus. Quickly, it made a gap." Grabbing his wife's hand, Lucius started to pull her forward only to freeze as icy pain lanced through his arm. His personal wards were crumbling as he felt a tug on the very core of his being. "G-Go! It's here!"
"What on Earth are you saying? What's here?" But as she turned to look, Narcissa's eyes widened at the sight of a host of monsters flying toward them. "Lucius—?"
"Go!" This was no longer about getting to safety. The icy pain growing inside Lucius Malfoy was proof to him that he would not leave this place. All that mattered to him was that his wife and daughter were fine. "Go, damn you, Narcissa!"
"I should think not." Narcissa could feel the dark magic her husband was preparing. She drew her own wand and started weaving her own curses. "Draco, do help your friends get everyone through the portal, and don't wait for us."
"But—"
Quick to cut Draco off, Narcissa started sending her first salvos of dark magic at the beasts winging toward them. "Do not dawdle young man! Do as you're told."
For a moment Draco considered standing with them, but the steel in her mother's voice was something she knew she couldn't fight. "Y-Yes. Yes, mother."
"Draco"—Lucius paused to sling his first killing curse into the mass bearing down on them—"I'm proud of you." With the protection of his daughter firmly in mind, Lucius found the impetus to send several more green lances of magic into the host.
"C'mon, Draco, I think we all need to get out of 'ere'." Lucian Bole planted his head behind Draco's back end and shoved her toward the rift. "Sure you're not commin'? Sir, ma'am?"
"Quite sure. Do see Draco doesn't wait too close to that portal, if we can't stop them, that will be my last target." The wards of magic swirled around Narcissa now, encompassing Lucius as well. "Please hurry."
"You 'eard her, Draco, all four legs goin' now. Come on!" Lucian, with all of his might, was able to push Draco away from her parents despite Draco's best efforts.
Crying, Draco wanted to rush back to her parents and help them. But Lucian was implacable, and a few more feet of pushing and Draco surrendered and began to trot with him. "Why are they doing that? They can leave too!" As she spoke, though, Draco watched as her parents were illuminated by wards her mother had cast. Magic blasts and bolts came thick and fast—launched from both sides—and she had to admit that it would have been hard to find two better wizards to stand against the attack.
"Darling," Narcissa said as she rebuilt a ward that a strange beast made of wood had physically tried to plow through, "what are our odds?"
Barking a laugh, Lucius didn't waver for a moment as he sent another killing curse at the timberwolf—this was the fourth he'd hit it with. "Dear Narcissa, I haven't a clue how to kill half of these things. That one keeps shattering and reforming, and the dragon at the back has just brushed off everything I've sent its way."
"Thought as much. Can we at least hold them off for Draco and his friends?"
Lucius was practically aglow with magic. It boiled through his blood and jolted out from the various artifacts he'd prepared and brought with him in case of this sort of situation. "Oh, I think we can, so long as—"
"Stop. You can't win." Ginevra walked through the ranks of monsters. Burning now with yet more magic—gifted to her by Sombra—she held out a hand and magically grasped at the link to Lucius Malfoy. "You're a Death Eater."
Feeling the magic trying to cut through her ward, Narcissa strengthened it to allow her husband to resist Ginevra's pull.
Ginevra struggled several times to manipulate Lucius, but the wards held and he was free to keep casting. What surprised Ginevra, however, was that she didn't feel a mark on Narcissa. "You are the last two. Surrender, let me give you purpose, and this fighting will be over."
"Purpose?" Narcissa laughed in a short, sharp, and mocking tone. "I already have a purpose, dear lady, and that is to protect my child, protect my husband, and protect all these people here from monsters like yourself!"
The vehemence in Narcissa's words stung Ginevra. Here she had a witch without a dark mark, accusing her of being a monster. She paused in her attacks and looked around—behind the couple facing her.
Ginevra's eyes widened at the sight of all the people screaming and running in fear. Fear of her.
No fool, Sombra could understand the compassion that his apprentice showed. He could also appreciate that it was something he'd need to work on, but he could understand it nonetheless. "Ginevra, let them go."
"Huh?" The words stole Ginevra's attention.
Seeing her master distracted, Bellatrix Lestrange rushed forward to harass Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy. If not for the pair working together, Bellatrix could have slain them both. As it was, she had to keep moving and working constantly to avoid being shattered by magic again—but she did keep them focused on her.
"These creatures—humans. Let them return to Equestria. We have no quarrel with them. They are not who must be punished." It was a simple mercy, so far as Sombra was concerned. After all, it would mean more servants once he returned to power.
Her king's nobility was assured, in Ginevra's mind, by his apparent mercy. She smiled and nodded. "Of course. I was—I just figured that… Thank you, master." Calling Sombra her master came easier with the reprieve he offered, and it brought a smile to Ginevra lips. "But I still need to deal with these two."
Sombra liked her enthusiasm, though he really didn't care about the targets of her wrath so much as her actually being wrathful. "Might I suggest something canine?"
Ginevra's mind raced and she came up with exactly the right fit for the pair. "The only two Death Eaters to work together when I came upon them. I have just the thing."
Bellatrix had been enjoying herself immensely. She'd been grazed by Lucius Malfoy's magic several times, but though it blew holes in her body, the rotten would rushed back moments later. She was implacable and unstoppable, and she was getting closer to the couple. Just when Bellatrix started to leap for the kill, she watched a hand reach out of the ground close around Lucius' neck.
Staring as the woman rose from the ground and grabbed her husband, Narcissa Malfoy started preparing the biggest spell she could. A single look at her husband's agonized face told her everything she needed to know. "No. Not today and not any day."
The spell was wordless, and required only the will of someone that wanted to cause absolute devastation and destruction—thus it was almost always accompanied by a scream of rage. Lucius Malfoy smiled, despite the pain gripping his neck, as his darling wife flashed aglow and her body became fire.
When love, fury, and dark magic combined, Narcissa felt her body burn away in an instant. The spell required much of a caster, but it needed far less to fully realize should the caster be willing to join it. Stepping toward her husband, the elemental of flame that had been Narcissa Malfoy tossed aside Ginevra Molly Weasley with a wash of searing fire as she embraced her beloved.
Fiendfyre was not a kind spell. It stripped Lucius of his life in but a moment of searing release. His body bulged and trembled as his will was wrought into a new form. Wings of flame exploded from Lucius' back and his hands curled into sickle-bladed claws.
When the fire dragon that was her husband turned to face her, Narcissa's being exploded with excitement. She leapt atop his back and together—along with a growing number of wyrms, salamanders, and serpents (all made of flame and fury), they set upon the menagerie that Ginevra had created.
Sombra had to move fast. For a moment he'd admired the fire spell that Narcissa had wrought, but all too soon he saw how dangerous it was to himself and his student. Reaching forth with his magic, he grabbed Ginevra and pulled her away before the flames reached her. "We cannot fight this conflagration. Let us leave them to their end."
Even Igor could tell that a fire was too hot for his allies—though the flames didn't seem capable of burning through his scales. Stomping toward his master, he spotted Bellatrix and grabbed her by the neck just before Lucius Malfoy managed to pounce on her.
Pumping his wings, Igor dragged himself and Bellatrix skyward. On his heels, however, was a dragon made of flame and anger. Not able to get himself and Bellatrix away from his pursuer, he rolled his foreleg back and threw the timberwolf at the portal.
"You understand, Ginevra, that there are some things we cannot confront head-on?" Sombra marched his apprentice toward the portal and watched the last few humans flee through the portal. "This magic is most impressive, and while I believe we could easily destroy it, it would cost more time and energy."
"Masters!" Peter Pettigrew had galloped around the fire to reach Sombra and Ginevra. "Masters! Don't leave me here!"
Not for the sight of Peter did Sombra smile, but rather for the diadem that was stuck around his neck. "You have survived. Well done. Come." At the cusp of the portal, Sombra watched as a timberwolf sailed past them and through the portal. A glance back showed him why Bellatrix had been soaring through the air—Igor was flying at them as fast as he could with a dragon made of fire literally on his tail.
Ginevra, Bellatrix, Peter, and Igor were all given a good shove by Sombra's magic. He put up a wall that would, if nothing else, slow down what was left of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. "Go back whence you came. Burn this world for all I care."
With his last words spoken on Earth, Sombra stepped back through the portal and broke the tendril of magic that kept the rift open.
As the primary portal between Equestria and Earth broke asunder, each of the additional ones also lost their anchor between the worlds—and winked out one by one.
"DRAGON!" Sombra bellowed. The pain of the Crystal Heart—so near and fully charged—was eating away at his power. "Get us out of here!" His voice and form had become far more bestial now he had his magic and was once more in Equestria. Only two things held him back from taking his rightful place as ruler: the Crystal Heart and the alicorns of Equestria.
If Igor had felt devoted to Ginevra and Sombra before, he was now ready to do anything for them. Voldemort had never saved him from anything. Reaching out his talons, he grabbed Bellatrix and Peter up while lowering a wing for Sombra and Ginevra to climb. When his masters were aboard, he began pumping his wings.
The magic of Equestria loved flying creatures. It made life particularly easy for pegasi, but also dragons. Igor shot into the sky and was winging toward the barrier of the Crystal Heart before he knew it. Reaching out with his claws, he raked at the barrier with his back legs and tore a huge hole in it.
Ginevra, still shocked by the Fiendfyre curse that she'd just faced, found herself looking down at the people gathered below. She recognized one face in particular because it was the only one looking up at her—Harry Potter.
Watching the dragon tear its way through the magic of the Crystal Heart's shield, Harry pointed upward with his hoof. "Did anyone else just see a dragon carrying a tree and a pony?"
"What're you on about, Harry?" Following the direction Harry was looking, George could only see the sealed-over patch where Igor had ripped his way free. "Why's everyone yellin'?"
"The portal's gone! There was some kind of fight on the other side." Arthur Weasley had finally caught up with his family but was almost breathless. "Monsters attacked them, and—"
"It wasn't monsters!" Draco marched up to the cluster of people and ponies around the Knight Bus. "It was—was King Sombra again. He had an army with him. Dragon, some kind of wooden wolf, all kinds of snakes and things with more heads than sense!" When everyone kept staring at her, she tried to get angry but only tears came. "M-M-Mother and Father stood up against them…"
Advancing on Draco, Molly Weasley crouched herself down and pulled the filly into a hug. She knew there wasn't a single thing she could tell Draco that would make her feel better, so she just offered the hug and let the filly cry.
Turning to look at Rolanda Hooch, Harry Potter bit his lower lip. "What do we do now? Wait for them to open another portal and go back? What if we get stuck over there?"
Clearing her throat, Rolanda spread her wings and lifted herself into the air and landed again on top of the Knight Bus. "Everybody! I understand that this hasn't gone exactly as planned, but if you would all follow me, I'll show you where the castle is so you can all get temporarily settled. This way."
In the midst of the crowd, huddling under his coat in the hotter-than-expected winter of the Crystal Empire, Bartemius Crouch Jr. held tight to Winky's hand. Everyone around them kept clear of the house-elf, not realizing Bartemius still hid under the invisibility cloak. "What do we do, WInky?"
It was the exact last thing Winky wanted to hear. She looked up at Bartemius and spent all her effort on not shrugging. She was in charge. "We need to leave here, mas—Barty." It was still both strange and a thrill to say his name. "They won't be looking for you exactly, but with this many around, they're bound to find you. Plus we need to get food, and this place doesn't look well-stocked."
"Of course." Thinking was still hard to do, lest Bartemius risk the wrath of the Imperius Curse still affecting him. "Please, Winky, lead on." Reaching across with his free arm, he scratched the spot on his arm where the horse mark had replaced his dark mark.
"This isn't right, Richard." Herbert Trencent felt distinctly unwell as they walked slowly after the Knight Bus and the pegasus riding atop it. "We're supposed to be in charge here."
"My dear chap, it was only a few days ago you wanted to wash your hands of everything going on. Now you want to take charge? Very well. Do so." Richard Fellows gestured toward Rolanda Hooch with his pipe. "You know as well as I do the consequence of casting magic here, but at the same time we'll need to use magic if we have any hope of returning to Earth."
"And what if all this lot were right?"
"I thought you said this wasn't right?"
"This event isn't right, but you heard them. The further away from the portal, the weaker magic was. If the portals really were the source of magic on Earth—and they're closed—what would it be to go back to?"
Taking a long puff on his pipe, Richard Fellows let out a soft sigh as the tobacco reached his lungs and soothed him. "Then I would say we're the lucky ones. Think for a second. What would it be like back there now with no magic? All your precious memory charms would be gone and muggles would be seeing things as they really are."
"Exactly. I know this doesn't feel right, but it could be much worse. What of that other—" Herbert's mouth was covered by Richard's hand so quickly he barely had time to blink.
"I think, for both our good, we'd do well not to share that kind of information until we know what it's worth, Herbert." Slowly taking his hand back, Richard smiled as if it were a mask.
That brought Herbert Trencent up sharply. He paused and let out a sigh. "You're right, of course. Sometimes I lean too heavily on Obliviation as a method for solving all problems. This is not a problem that hammer will work on. The question now is, do we—do we cast spells?"
"We're wizards, Herbert, casting spells is what we do. I'm sure things won't be too bad. Look at all these students. It doesn't seem to slow them down any."
"Richard, you realize we're neither of us spring chickens. Slow is what we do best." Herbert took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So we have two assumptions to make. The first is that we can regain contact with the Ministry. The second is that we are on our own here."
"Very good thinking, that. The first is merely a matter of accounting, the second is where our focus should be."
"Oh? I reached the same conclusion. If the Ministry finds a way to connect with us, they would be rather upset if we tried to usurp their power structure. So, we bill ourselves as The Equestrian Office of the Ministry."
Richard smiled and drew on his pipe. "This is exactly the right move. Then we continue to act how the Ministry of Magic would under the circumstances."
"Precisely. Now, the first matter is to gather up all Ministry witches and wizards and see what we have to work with. We can't very well claim dominion over magic, here, if it were just the two of us."
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one line in this chapter made the grate chapter a amazing chapter for me.
OK, House-elves aren't slaves so much as they are bond-servants. While they are treated like less than dirt, they aren't bought and sold. Nor do the majority want freedom. A question comes to mind, what's going to become of House-elves when the magic is gone? Will they retain their magic? What about the bond that holds them to a family?
And for Herbert and Richard: Do you not realize that you are not in England anymore?
10374793
You should have said that when England was spreading out and colonizing the world. Would have saved the world a lot of hassle.
10374823
Let me just check my past lives... fairly sure I may have said that at some point in a past life.
Yeah, good luck with that, I'm sure the local alicorns who actually run things will just gladly go with whatever crap you shovel
.
Ask X- Celestia- Do you know about the scheming Wizards who are trying to put Dominion over magic use?
Ask X- Harry- Do you like anyone? Like not family or friends wise?
This is a very interesting development and i'm curious to see how Sombra will be defeated permantly.
10374793
This kind of thinking is the result of biblical apologetics trying to paint slavery as not so bad. A bondservant is a slave. Claiming otherwise is monstrous defense of slavery.
It does appear to be true that house elves aren't purchased, at least not technically. There is an Office for House-Elf Relocation (Newt Scamander worked there for a time, and found the job tedious), which would seem to be in charge of assigning house elves to houses, rather than an explicit house elf market existing. However, comments about needing to be able to afford a house elf suggest that the Office for House-Elf Relocation's decisions may be influenced by money, in one way or another (whether though actual corruption, or by assigning house elves to expensive homes, or some other confounding factor).
It's also the case that house elves are inheritable property after they've been assigned, and their ownership can be transferred to someone outside of the family (such as Harry coming to own Kreacher, despite not being a member of House Black).
This story quickly became a favorite of mine, and it's yet to dissapoint! You've written a captivating story that demands attention! It's full of little questions, few answers, and partial information galore. The more questions we answer, the more we get! Well done! I look forward to the next chapter.
If they actually think they will manage to take dominion over magic, they have to be smoking stuff other then tobacco as theres no way in hell, Cadance, Celestia, Luna, or Twilight would allow that to occur.
10376117
I think perhaps you've misunderstood what I meant. The way JK Rowling worded it, House-elves are literally part of the estate bond to a family, and freedom causes them great distress. This suggests bond as in magically bond like a familiar. So long as the family exists they are bond to the estate. Kreacher is a fine example. He could have left any time he wanted to while Sirius was in Azkaban. He could have sought out employment elsewhere or any number of options. Granted that it's possible that just staying right where he was was his best option. His final promise to destroy the locket containing the Horcrux wasn't dependant on location either. He was bond to the estate with no choice in the matter, and bond to the will of the master of the house. Not bond as property but bond by enchantment. In a way, the condition of a House-elf could be considered wors than a slave. Kreacher only left after the bond had been stretched to the breaking point. As for the cost associated with House-elves, I've no doubt that is tied to the ministry's love of paperwork and fees. Not to mention kickbacks and bribery.
What I was suggesting and didn't word right is that once the magic is gone and the bond holding the House-elves to the estates to which they are bonded is no longer there, how many will just up and leave? What happens if they have magic and wizards don't? Could there be payback in the future?
10376315
10376117
There's a term for "people bound to property": serf. While not explicitly considered slavery, it is banned by the UN in the same laws that ban slavery.
JKR has shown, time and again, that she didn't exactly look at the deeper meaning of anything in her world until people started asking questions after it was all said and done—at which point she got out the red marker and started retconning or WoGing whatever she wanted to make the world look nicer.
10376232
Yyyyeah, they're going to have to deal with a few slight problems first. Like the current ruling government you mentioned, or the rather sizeable population disparity between the British wizards and Equestria. And it's not as if they can just obliviate their way through things this time, given that Equestria has memory retrieval spells.
10376739
very true!
Lot of action happening in this chapter, delightful to see how all these things are coming together wondering how or if they will be fixed in the end. Awesome chapter as always, and excited for more!
Ask book Ginny: What if you told Harry something only you would know to convince your other self to rejoin with you?
When something is just called "The Event," you know it's going to be big.
Somehow I completely missed that Sirius can act as a guardian for Harry until this moment. And there's no conveniently inconvenient one-way gate to the afterlife this time!
Ginny. Sweetie. You literally just said the two choices were servitude or death.
Mind you, Sombra defines "immutable horror" as "being human and/or not enslaved by Sombra."
Ginevra Wesley subplot is kind of annoying, but at least the portal is shutoff
10378948
I wouldn’t call it a subplot when King Sombra’s plan relies on her. I myself find it interesting - if only to see how things turn out between the two different versions, and whether or not she’ll turn on Sombra.
10374793
Slavery isn’t restricted to buying and selling; that would be human trafficking. In this case elf trafficking. Slavery is simply someone being in servitude of someone else with no pay. House elves are treated like dirt and are not paid. Ergo, slavery.
10376315
While that is more reasonable, it’s still slavery, as the enchantment is either placed by them - in which case it’s wilful slavery - or by others, which is still slavery. Dobby was a free elf, by the way. Any explanation for that?
As for the lack of work causing them distress, that could simply be a quirk of the elves in question. Again; Dobby seemed fine with it. One or two house elves is not a statistic. Same could be said for Dobby, but the point is that you can’t argue for or against all house elves wanting to be slaves because there’s not enough examples of such behaviour.
10379450
I could point out that similar arguments have been made about indentured servitude. And shot down.
My point is that House-elves are magically bonded to the estates in much the same manner as a familiar is bonded to a master. They are in many ways worse off than a slave or a serf in that they have had free will taken from them in addition to the loss of their freedom.
10379601
I repeat; that’s still slavery. They can’t resist, they’re not paid, they’re treated like shit, it’s still slavery. You can’t say “it’s like a familiar bond” because a familiar bond - especially in this story - is mutual. A familiar at least gets treated right, they’re a companion, they have free will to an extent. What you’re describing is just another version of slavery.
10380343
Yes, it's slavery, only worse due to the total lack of free will. What I was trying to get across was that once all the magic is gone, and the bond that forces slavery on the House-elves, will life continue as usual, or will the House-elves realize just how messed up their lives are? Could there be a House-elf revolt in the not so distant future?
10381237
Harmony: The more they use magic the more they move toward me... Not this one, though. Disco-o-ord! You can change this one... nah, take entire Slythetin and have fun with it.
Glad to see Lucius and Narcissa go out with a bang.
Most excellent.
again this is dumb. So all the goblins from gringotts dead? house elves? the centaurs are all dead? every single magic creature that evolved on earth dead? all due to no magic because earth didn't naturally have magic? again this makes no sense from a narrative standpoint and is a glaring plothole that makes no sense whatsoever.
Making timberwolfs immune to the killing curse and fire is pretty ridiculous. The killing curse rips out the soul of the victim and reforming from ash rather then broken pieces that can be placed together is far fetched
Is that "King Bullion" type of backstory I feel? The one where Sombra is a unicorn king that is salty about Celestia and Luna taking the reins of Equestria. Like in that Sawtooth's theory about Sombra being former Bullion?) That one was an interesting theory for sure...
...
Where was my starting line? I just got through the block of thoughts on the topic of house elves and what their existence is and came to a conclusion, but I can't start the line of thought again to make whoever reads it understand why it is this way.
Oh well, anyway.
So, house elves?
10376117
"Bloodservant is a slave? Bloodservant as in a servant that was captured in a war, or what? War prisoners aren't slaves in the first matter. Maybe in the second, but firstly they are corpses with an extended live period for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary bloodshed." Just remembered that topic by your mention of blood.
"Their kids are slightly less dead ghosts with a potential to become a family/clan members of yours."
Probably from the 'family' thought came the next part, but I can't remember already.
So, house elves?
Hm... First bit of thought was about money as I recall. So, why would they need money? Why would wizards need money anyway? To buy products and rarities, but definitely not to survive. Wizards already have a way to feed themselves, have a house and make it comfortable. So do house elves. And moreover, wizards don't even need house elves, a house could be cared for just with spells. House elves live with wizards if there is additional place for someone to live.
Mhm. Second bit of thought I can recall is about position of house elves. They do house labor? Take care of the family? Being fed and have a place to live? That sounds familiar... And while some would agree on the idea that what I'm about to mention is slavery and house owners are basically tyrants, more sensible people say that you shouldn't be overreacting to your parents asking you to do at least something for living with them.
Yeah, child abuse is a thing, but it is discouraged by sensible people. Pretty sure same goes for elves. And of course, kicking children out of the house is not the most empathetic thing to do, they may not find a way to survive, or barely find any job to work at.
...
Eh, tried to replicate my train of thoughts to guide you to how that idea comes to be. But yeah, house elves are basically never growing children that don't want to leave cozy home.
They're also a part of family. I mentioned child abuse? Yeah, those who actually tortures them should be punished accordingly.
It may as well just be an old misunderstandings. They and wizards lived together, but neither kids where thought by their predecessors of what is this situation about, so after several generations they formed cultures in which brownies believe that they should follow every order, where wizard kids believed that the other party is obliged to follow their orders. Sort of a willing "slavery" with several traditions and no real basis behind it. Its origins might as well date back to the times of ancient Greece.
Those are just ideas, you can always make it a binding ancient race-enslaving contract for your fanfiction if you want to.