Horsing Around
Just as we reached the common room I had a moment of panic. "The diary!"
"Honestly, Harry, you'd forget your own head if it weren't attached." Hermione held out Ginny's diary to me expectantly for a moment, then she seemed to realize I had no way of holding it.
The number of times Hermione Granger got to feel superior to another wizard in a day was likely uncountable, but for the most part it was actual magic lore that she excelled. "Thanks, Hermione. Wing-gar-dee-um levi-o-sa!"
Magic flowed and sang through me like a warm rush of excitement. It felt good to work magic as a unicorn, and part of me was just fine with staying one if this was how it would always feel. Ginny's diary floated out of Hermione's hand.
"Harry!" Hermione said in her most nasal tone reserved only for when she got to tell someone off. "Didn't you hear Headm—Professor Dumbledore? No magic!"
"That's only for you lot." I couldn't help it, I strutted over to a couch and jumped up. "Since I'm already fully transformed, I can cast whatever I want."
"You hear that, everyone? Harry just volunteered to do our laundry!" Fred walked over and poked me in the shoulder then sat down beside me. "Now, who bet what? You lot did great to get those stinkin' Slytherin to bet everything they 'ad."
"What?!" I jerked around to look at Fred. "I don't know any spells to do that. I'd have to clean them by hand—err—hoof."
"Hermione can teach you. I saw 'er reading the fourth-year text, and I bet she knows it cover-to-cover," George said. He was already reaching into his robe to pull out the bag of coins he'd skimmed from the crowd. "Okay, who's first?"
I ignored the twins and turned my attention to Hermione while Fred and George handed back all the bets Gryffindor students had made. "You're learning fourth-year stuff?" I asked.
"What? Of course not! Professor McGonagall made me promise not to learn spells that would be taught later. Scourgify isn't taught as a primary spell. It's completely optional!" Hermione, as always, was technically correct. I imagined she used that phrase as her guiding light in all things. "And I'll teach it to you on one condition."
This was new. Hermione Granger putting a condition on showing how good she is at magic? "What is it?"
At that moment, however, Addera slithered through the entryway of the common room and over to us. Anyone in her way quickly jumped to the side, though she didn't look like she was going to collide with a single one of them. —There you are, Harry Potter.—
"Hi, Addera. What kept you?" I asked.
As she got closer, I was again surprised at how small I was in relation to—well—everything. Curling herself by the couch I was on, Addera lifted her pony-body up and sat "beside" me on the arm of the couch. —I was still hungry.—
"You were still hungry?" I asked.
"Hey, George, did you hear that?" Fred asked.
"I didn't, Fred."
"After the contest, Addera was still hungry and probably ate some more." Both brothers broke into gales of laughter that were contagious—at least I started chuckling, as did several other Gryffindor students nearby.
—Why are you laughing?— Addera asked.
"Because you showed the whole contest to be a sham. How much more did you eat?" With the way Addera had positioned herself, I actually didn't feel as intimidated by her size.
When a hoof touched my head, I knew it could only come from one source. Nonetheless, I tilted my head up to look at Addera. "What are you doing?"
—Helping keep you calm, Harry Potter.— Addera's hoof found one of my ears and began rubbing it. It was embarrassing, demeaning, and felt amazing. I meant to shove her away and tell her to stop, but her hoof kept rubbing and I had no hope of actually doing anything to stop her.
"Harry? Harry are you in there? E-Excuse me, Miss Addera, could you stop doing that to him?" Hermione's words came to me through a soup of relaxation, but they had the worst possible effect—the hoof stopped rubbing my ear.
I blinked a few times and looked around—there was not a male face to be seen. How much time had passed and what had happened while Addera was petting me, I have no idea. "What?" I asked.
"He is so cute!" Fay said.
"That's adorable!" Lavender said.
"And we'd all turn into that if we used magic?" Kellah asked.
Hermione, however, didn't wear the same starstruck expression of all the other girls. "He needs to learn this spell. Can you all please make room?"
"Who died and made you queen?" Kellah asked. "We were just watching him, Hermione. Look at how cute he is."
Cute? I was cute? I had no idea how to use this piece of information. Girls finding me cute had never been a problem before. "What spell do I need to learn?"
Pulling a book out of her robe, Hermione used it like a wedge to make room in the half circle of girls. "Scourgify. It's really quite simple. I have no idea why they don't include it in second year's Standard Book of Spells. The syllables are simple—"
"Wait!" I said. "Hermione, take out your wand and put it down. Unless you like being small, fuzzy, and cute too."
"I knew that." Hermione, if I had to bet, didn't think that far ahead. A prodigy of magic she was, but a scholar of common sense she was definitely not. She took out her wand and put it down on a nearby table then crouched down before me. "Now—Do you use your horn as a wand?"
She managed a whole word before she got distracted by magic. I think that was a new record for her. Hermione's foibles, however, were what made her an interesting friend. I nodded.
"Can I try to use it to cast something?"
"Only if you like being a little unicorn."
Hermione's lips formed a straight line of annoyance, though I had to squint to see it. For just a moment I wondered if she'd try anyway just to further the cause of magic. She was that kind of person. "Okay. We'll look at that later. Scourgify's syllables sound like this: Skur-ji-fy!"
I felt my horn hum with a desire to put magic to work. There was a sensation that, if I just let it flow out, I could cast the spell from the syllables that Hermione said. Then the feeling was gone.
"S-Sorry, I got distracted. What was that?" I asked.
"Harry!" Hermione crossed her arms across her chest and frowned at me. She stood up and I couldn't make out her expression so well anymore. "Skur-ji-fy."
Again my horn sought to distract me. Magic called to magic, and the words Hermione said held the potential for magic. I wondered if letting my magic out would work the spell. I also wondered if it would result in Hermione turning into a little unicorn. But, having heard the magic incantation a second time, I could picture it in my mind. "And it's an S pattern, right?"
Hermione looked shocked. "How did you know that?!"
"Magic is predictable. Start an incantation with an S, and you often get an S pattern to reinforce it." That and it felt right. But I wasn't going to tell Hermione that. I didn't have enough time in the day to answer all the questions telling her about my new sense of magic would raise. "So S pattern, and Skur-ji-fy!"
My magic didn't hold back this time, and I didn't intend to stop it either. Power rushed through my body from the tip of my tail to the end of my horn. It rushed through like a stream, and as I curled my head lazily in an S shape, I focused on Hermione's clothes.
"H-Harry!" Hermione's shrill voice snapped me out of my trance-like state. Okay, I hadn't been the best at aiming that one. Hermione stared at me as if I'd just done something very personal to her.
"Uh, did I miss?" I asked.
—She just exfoliated like a snake, Harry Potter. I believe you cleaned the girl completely.— Addera's tone held plenty of mirth. —Now it's my turn to try.— "Skur-ji-fy!"
I barely had time to register Addera holding Hermione's wand. I watched her free hoof sketch the S shape, and I felt the call of magic that poured through her. Then I realized why Hermione was so upset.
A sensation like a million scrubbing brushes suddenly working over me drew a gasp from my throat. Soap, water, and eventually a dry towel—it was all there. I felt like in the snap of a fraction of a second I'd been cleaned down to a lower layer of my skin than was normally on show. A hot rush of air seemed to blow over me and dry me back out in an instant.
While I couldn't see the exact expression Hermione wore, I did manage to see her mouth gaping open. "You cast a spell!"
—Yes. Oh, wait, I know this one.— Addera giggled. "Yes."
"You used my wand!"
"Yes also."
"She is supposed to be a student here. I guess that means McGonagall or Dumbledore could tell she was capable of magic," I said. When I moved to look at Hermione, however, she was now staring at me. "What?"
"Harry you—" Hermione broke into a giggle, then quickly covered her mouth.
"What?!" I asked.
—You look perfect. Now, try casting the spell on just the sofa,— Addera said.
Me. Something had happened to me. I looked down at my forelegs and gasped. "My fur!" … had completely puffed up. I looked back over my shoulder, and apart from the patch of scales that extended down my back, all my fur was fluffed up. I looked huge!
"They were right, Harry," Hermione said, "you do look adorable." She quickly covered her mouth again.
I jumped to my hooves and off the couch, only for a slip of paper to float off after me. It wafted through the air like a butterfly—No. It actually flew because it WAS a butterfly. Someone had cast a spell to make their note fly.
"Wing-gar-dee-um levi-o-sa!" I channeled magic and aimed it at the paper, missed, and sent one of the couch cushions into the air.
"Harry! Stop casting. What's it say?" Hermione snatched the letter out of the air and unfolded it.
—You have your first crush, it seems, Harry Potter.—
"Don't I get to read it first?" I asked.
Hermione stuck her tongue out at me. "Dear Lord Qilin—" Harry, I don't think this is for you.
—Qilin is an old word, Harry Potter. I know not what it means, but I have heard it spoken,— Addera said.
"Addera said it's not a name but a word. Well, I guess that might still be a name. What else does it say?"
"Something about wanting to touch your fur but not being time yet. It's signed by The Moon." Hermione passed me the letter. "I think you just got a love letter."
"What? Let me read it. Wing-gar-dee-um levi-o-sa!" I plucked the note from Hermione's hand this time (and luckily didn't actually hit her with the spell—again).
Dear Lord Qilin,
I long to stroke your mighty mane, and feel the power burning in your scales, but I don't think your guardians would appreciate my attention right now. Allow me this moment to say, however, that your friendship is something I would cherish.
If you ever wish to meet privately, just light a fire under the night sky and I will find you.
Your admirer,
The Moon.
I stared at the note, read it again, and then a third time. This was terrible.
—This is wonderful, Harry Potter. A suitable suitor would strengthen you at this juncture,— Addera said. —Unless this Hermione would be a better choice? She seems a rather good teacher.—
"What did she say about me?" Hermione asked.
I looked back and forth between Hermione and Addera. The worst bit about the situation was they were both ignoring me now. It was worse than being the center of attention. "I'm done."
Both Addera and Hermione turned to face me.
"You heard me. I'm done. If you need me, I'll be at first class." With note and diary floating along beside me, I trotted for my dorm room. And I mean actually trotted. I'd seen horses doing this and it had always seemed like the most jarring motion of all, but that must have been my human sensibilities. It was comfortable.
In my dorm I found Ron and Dean talking quietly together. I ignored them and jumped up on my bed to get a better height to see my books on the shelf next to my bed. I tried to remember what class it would be, and then it came to me. Potions.
"Wing-gar-dee-um levi-o-sa!" I focused on my copy of Magical Drafts and Potions and floated it into the air at my side.
Now I was left with a problem. I had three levitation charms going, which didn't seem taxing at all (and I have to admit that I'm getting good at them), but I needed to stop just one of them. That note was incriminating for all the wrong reasons.
The solution, as seemed to be the case so much in the last two years, was more magic. "In-send-dee-o!"
I held back on how much magic I let pour down my horn, and when a modest fountain shot out anyway I was very glad. Fire, it seemed, was now my thing. Less. Smaller. Only a trickle—and got it! A little jet of flame left my horn and I finally directed it at the note. No evidence was good evidence.
"What's that you're burning, Harry?" Ron asked.
Only when the note was just floating ash did I turn around to face him. A blurry pile or orange on a mountain of darkness: Ron Weasley—every Weasley—when I don't have my glasses on. "Nothing. Just a note."
Dean laughed from where he sat on his bed. "Did you get a love-letter, Harry?"
"No!" My answer was too swift, I realized. If I'd just snorted in derision and shrugged, I'd have gotten away with it.
Coming closer, Ron reached out for the floating cloud of ash and ran his fingers through it. "Cor, 'arry. Who's it from? Did they use magic on it?"
My eyes snapped around to lock onto the ash that was the remains of the note. Even without glasses on I could see the paper reforming. "Ron, if you touch that…" I let my threat hang half-formed.
"Ron," Dean said. "As much as I want to find out, bugging the only person in Hogwarts who can use magic safely is probably not the wisest move. If you want to find out who Harry's admirer is, you're welcome to everything he wants to do—alone."
Standing up, Dean grabbed his own book for Potions class and walked out.
"I'm gonna find out anyway. You can't keep something like this a secret." Ron backed up and walked back to his bed. "Frankly, I'm surprised. Is there any indication McGonagall is going to be able to reverse all this?"
A tickle of anger rose in me. Ron didn't mean it, I know, but it still annoyed me to hear. "Addera!" I could feel the anger growing, feel it threaten to get completely out of control.
"Harry? What's wrong?" Ron asked.
I tried to ignore his voice, but despite the concern, my mind twisted what he asked into another statement that I was going to be stuck like this. "Addera plea—" I didn't get another word out. Calm flooded me, strained against the burning anger that had grown. Looking into Addera's eyes was like having a calming hand—hoof—on my ear again. After a moment, the hoof was actually there. Addera said something in parseltongue and I started walking with her.
—Follow me, Harry Potter. Come with me to somewhere less flammable.—
A war was raging in my head. On one side was Addera and the sea of calm her eyes and her hoof rubbing my ear brought, and on the other was my anger. The flames licked up inside me, but Addera kept them from growing.
Following Addera was all that was important. I heard when my hooves started clopping on rock, and then heard it grow soft again as grass tickled the underside of my hooves.
—Harry Potter?— Addera's voice was even more soothing than her eyes and her hoof on my ear. —Harry Potter? Burn.—
The calm presence of Addera was gone. I was engulfed in a tornado of flame and fire. "I don't want to be like this! I hate it! I want to be me! I want to be a wizard! Why can't anyone just turn me back?!"
I looked around me, my vision narrowing onto things that were flammable. Rushing around and bucking my legs around me with the force of my rage, I set fire to everything I could easily see that looked like it would burn.
"Hello?"
My head spun to lock onto the new voice. A foal—a bit smaller than myself—and they looked terrified. Terrified of me.
The fear on their face was what quenched my fire. My eyesight blurred again as I calmed down and the flame stopped burning around me.
"…rry!"
I barely heard Ron's shout. My anger was slowly going away, and along with it the roaring sound in my ears. Panting, I turned my head to see if I could spot the foal again. "It's okay. I won't hurt you."
"Harry? Who're you talking to?" Hermione asked. "And why do you keep catching on fire? Honestly, we're going to need to get fire extinguishers at this rate."
"What's a fire extinguisher?" Ron asked.
Hermione looked at him like he was crazy. "What you use to put out a fire."
"Well I've never heard of that spell."
"It's not a spell."
Their words were peripheral and my focus was leading me elsewhere. I trotted in the direction I thought the foal had been. "They'd rounded this hedge and then—" Cutting short, I looked at the hedge. "Are you in there?"
"No."
The absurdity of the reply meant one of two things: either this was magic, or a young child. I breathed a sign of relief and hoped that it wasn't some kind of smart bloody hedge some crazy wizard had come up with. With my decision made, I set about working the best angle I could—and assumed it was a child. "That's good. I'd feel really embarrassed if someone saw me on fire like that."
"Why were you on fire?" Curiosity stained the words with a good measure of fear still.
"You're really talkative for a hedge, you know that?" I asked and got a giggle for a reply. "It happens when I get angry, I think. My friends were helping me calm down." Even just mentioning them made me remember the look in Addera's eyes—her beautiful mesmeric eyes. "But then I saw someone—a little pony like me—who looked scared. I wish I could find them so I could help them not be scared."
The hedge beside me rustled a little, but the foal didn't come out. Keep your calm, Harry, they're just a child. "Do you know where they went?" I asked.
"What kind of pony are you?" The fear was less still. Yay for explaining things to children so they can actually understand.
"I'm a unicorn, near as I can tell. The fire's something a little odd. What kind of pony are—What kind of pony was the foal?"
"You're not a unicorn!" Righteous indignation now—much better than fear.
"Well, sure. I mean, I'm a bit short and—"
"Unicorns have straight horns, and their manes aren't like—like a lion's. They also have solid hooves, like mine. I mean, like the foal's."
"Really? Well, what kind of pony do you think I am?" There was still a note of something odd in her voice (it was definitely a her), ticking off some kind of warning in my head, though I wasn't sure exactly what it was.
"Well! You're not a unicorn, you're not a pegasus, and you're not an earth pony. And, you're definitely not a crystal pony like me—like the foal that ran away."
That was it! That was what I couldn't get my head around. "How do you know so much about ponies?" I asked.
"Because I am one!" The "hedge" sounded so certain of itself, so sure. "I-I mean—"
It all made sense. She knew all these things about ponies because she was one. The first talking creature my little friend was not. But that gave me the biggest question of all. "Why was the foal out alone?"
When I heard the sobbing start, it rent my soul. The arguing of my friends behind me was completely gone as I dropped to my belly and crawled into the hedge. I couldn't see all of her through the branches, but I could see enough to aim myself. I pushed in, ignoring the branches that pulled at my horn and mane, until I could shove my nose against the filly—it seemed like the right thing to do.
She grabbed hold. Her tears cut through me like nothing could. I pushed forward until I was firmly against her and put one leg over her to hug her to me. Hagrid had always told me empathy was a gift of mine, but the pain I felt in her was too much. "You're safe now."
"But what about my friends?" The words barely got through her sobbing. "Their helmets fit too tight. I couldn't pull them oh-oh-off!"
"What helmets? What friends? Can you show us?" I asked. I had a lot more questions, but helping her seemed more important than fleshing out my knowledge of her species—my species.
She held up a shaky hoof and pointed to the north. "It's scary. The mask—it made me wake up and wanted me to do something. But it was too big." She sniffed. "It fell off."
"Show me."
"But you might get hurt too! What if—"
"You think a silly mask can hurt me? I'll set it on fire! You should see it, anything burns when I set it on fire!"
"Your book didn't."
"That book's magical. It's one of my friends. My other friends should be done arguing soon," I said. "Do you want to come out and meet them?"
"Do they catch on fire too?"
"Not unless they mess up with their magic. What's your name? I'm Harry—Harry Potter." I ran my hoof along her back. It was strange how she felt like she had fur, but at the same time it looked almost transparent.
"I'm Tourmaline. Mom named me that because I'm precocious!" I just bet she is.
"Well, Tourmaline the precocious and precious, let's get out of this hedge. Between you and me, I think it talks too much," I said and earned a giggle and a sniff. "Come on."
Only, getting out was easier said than done. Apparently, my not-unicorn mane was literally like Velcro to the myriad tiny branches of the hedge. I pulled and yanked, but it seemed like I was stuck, until little Tourmaline braced her head against my chest and pushed.
She was like a tiny bulldozer. Each step she took ripped at the branches and tore me—slowly—free of the hedge. I shook off my daze and started shoving backward too, and together we got me out of the tangled underbrush.
Hermione was apparently the first to have arrived. "What were you doing in the hedge?"
I turned around and looked at Hermione. "Well, it started as a conversation, but things got a little heated and I had to show the hedge who was boss." My words earned more giggles from Tourmaline.
"Well, it looks like you lost. Why did you—?" Hermione stopped dead in her tracks both physically and verbally. She was staring at Tourmaline. Apparently their argument had distracted them from what had happened.
"H-Hi!" Tourmaline said. "Will you help me? Harry said you would."
"Who's this?" Hermione asked. It was to her credit that she didn't ask What's this?
"This is Tourmaline. She needs our help getting her friends out of some overly friendly headgear." Focusing myself, I let a little of my magic flow through my horn. "Loh-koh-mot-tor!"
Tourmaline almost jumped backwards so far as to land in the hedge again. When she saw me plucking twigs from my mane, however, she started giggling.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"You're really not a unicorn. Unicorns don't need to shout to do magic."
"Very funny. Obviously someone didn't get the memo about casting magic. It must have been a first year judging by their size." Of course Hermione would jump to conclusions. Something could never be just one thing.
I was about to correct her when Ron and Addera arrived. The timing made me wonder what they'd done together that would make them take longer than Hermione. "Who's your new friend, Harry?" Ron asked.
Maybe I could get the whole school to get in a big long line and ask me the same thing over and over. Sure, that would be a great use of my time. "This is Tourmaline. She's from outer space."
Ron blinked quizzically at me. "Really?"
"No, Ron. I found her here, and she says her friends are in trouble. She's not a student, and she's not from outer space." I looked at Addera, but only got a shrug from her. "Well? Are you going to help me help her?"
I watched Hermione glance back at Hogwarts. "We're supposed to be going to first class."
"You really think we'll be graded on anything that happens now? Besides, what kind of wizards are we if we don't help someone?" Winston Churchill couldn't have said it better. We will fight them on the beaches!
"Harry, wizards are kind of a selfish lot," Ron said.
Addera nodded, but Hermione just looked at Ron in surprise.
Ron gestured at Addera. "See?"
"Then go back to your classes. I'm not that kind of wizard." Yup, I'm the stupid kind who goes head-first into danger without backup! I turned away from my friends and looked at Tourmaline. "Can you show me where your friends are?"
—I do not break my word on the say-so of wizards, Harry Potter.— Addera slithered across the soft ground to my side. She towered over me, but I felt a hundred times safer with her there than going alone.
Standing beside Hermione Ron started to turn back toward Hogwarts, but he paused when Hermione didn't turn with him. "A-Arn't you coming back?"
"You were right, Ron," Hermione said. "I guess I'm a terrible witch." She stepped closer to me and didn't stop until she was flanking me with Addera. "You might as well go back and tell Headmistress McGonagall what we're doing."
When Ron turned and started walking back to Hogwarts, Tourmaline started bouncing in place. "Come on, they're this way!"
For such a small filly, Tourmaline sure could run. Her hooves pounded the ground in a steady rhythm that I tried to keep up with. Tried, and didn't do so great. She kept slowing down so I could catch up, then she'd gallop off again.
Addera kept up with me easily, Hermione too. It was refreshing to know I had some heavy hitters with me.
When I saw the first blurry shape of what I assumed was Tourmaline's friends (standing beside some bush colored thing), I slowed down to a walk. "Tourmaline, don't run over there."
"But they're my friends! I need to get their helmets off!"
Oh bollocks. I ran after her, and rounding the bush I realized what the problem was—there wasn't just one foal with a mask on, there was four. They were all facing away from where we'd come, though, so I hoped we might have some measure of surprise.
"Harry! Slow down! They're not running away!" Hermione's voice was about as sensible as my headlong rush after Tourmaline wasn't.
At last Tourmaline started to slow and then stopped. She was standing a few meters back from the first of her friends. "Zircon! Zircon, stop!" Her voice was filled with fear.
Addera slithered closer and put herself slightly ahead of me. —What are those things on their heads, Harry Potter?—
"I was kinda hoping you might know, Addera. Hermione, any clue what they are?" As I finished asking, all four foals leaned their heads forward and down and concentrated beams of red/purple light shot from the forehead of each.
The beams of dark light converged and caused a shimmering sheet of light to spray in all directions. "They're trying to break Dumbledore's ward!" More lights flared in the distance to each side of us. Flickers of purple and red that seemed to be the wards repelling the magic.
Tourmaline rushed up to the closest foal and jumped on them. "Stop it, Citrine! Let me get that bad mask off!" Having experienced Tourmaline's strength firsthand (or hoof?), seeing her fail to pull the headgear free was startling.
Alright, Harry, time to be the hero. "Hermione, grow the helmets or shrink the ponies?" I asked.
"They're already little foals, shrinking them more isn't a good idea. Engorgement charm, and an unlocking charm if they are somehow locked on. But Harry," Hermione said. She waited until I turned to look at her. "If I cast, I'll—"
I turned back to the four foals. Focusing my attention down to the helmet of the one Tourmaline was trying to remove, I relaxed my grip on my magic and felt it flow through me like a breeze—or a river. "En-gor-gee-oh!" I twirled my horn in an almost circle and let the magic flow through my incantation, my gesture, and my will.
The helmet started to swell and swell. It grew to twice the size it should be and yet it still clung to the foal's head.
"Ah-loh-ho-mor-ah!" A second rush of magic and the helmet finally released! It felt so good to use magic. The flow of it, even just letting it free in my body felt good.
The foal that the helmet came off collapsed to the ground, and as she did so the other three turned to face me—more of that magic seething around their helmets.
I had my magic already flooding through me, but as I watched those helmets produce little spears of un-light, I panicked a little.
"Pro-tay-goh!" Hermione's voice was clear and sharp, her words perfectly pronounced. Three purple/red beams crashed into her shield spell at the same time.
There was no time to look back and see what Hermione was doing, or what magic had done to her, I needed to end this fast. Two spells for each helmet was too much. My mind raced to pick which of the charms I knew best—unlocking charm of course. I knew it for a whole year.
"Ah-loh-ho-mor-ah!" My horn wasn't still after sketching the pattern for the engorgement charm, I continued sketching unlocking and let my magic find both spells at the same time. Normally magic was like a well-trained hunting dog, once it saw what you wanted it would dive down that path. This magic was like riding a bucking bronco.
The engorgement charm worked flawlessly, but the unlocking charm tried to get away from me. Magic had so many possibilities. It could have set the ponies alight, drowned them, or turned them into chickens as easily as it freed them (okay, the last one would have been harder, but not for wild magic). Magic wanted to do all those things and more.
It all happened from one heartbeat to the next. Magic strained against my will, but I held its reins. I kept it from exploding the helmet on the pony's head, from shrinking down and crushing them, or from duplicating a few thousand times.
I didn't have time to watch the helmet float upwards. With my attention on the second of the ponies, I had to ignore the little thump as the newly freed foal fell down.
I started the pattern with my horn again and began the chant. "Ah-loh-ho-mor-ah!" As I worked through the first pattern—and with the mor syllable still on my tongue—I began the unlocking charm's pattern.
When the magic grabbed hold this time, I was ready for its bucking ways. My will was strained from the first wild ride, but I was used to it now. That didn't mean I wasn't going to take some mental bruises for pitting myself against magic.
Never in my life had magic been this—not hostile, never actually hostile—wild. Every bit of the spells took more effort than ten normal spells to cast, but again it was over in a heartbeat that lasted forever.
Now I realized what was the best part of being a not-unicorn—four legs. I braced each of my wobbling limbs and felt the joints seem to lock into place. Behind me I heard Hermione cry out in shock, but her shield still held.
"Ah-loh-ho-mor-ah!" Magic didn't wait this time. Power rushed through my horn before I'd even started the first gesture. It had no pattern for the unlocking charm except for my will, but it felt eager to perform the task. Only after the fourth helmet unlocked and started floating away did I realize why it was easier. Each of the first spells made a pattern for magic. Each cast would be easier because it knew the patterns of the previous. There was something important I had to say or think or do, but my mind was wavering.
I fell to the ground at the same time as the fourth foal did. I stared ahead almost blindly (well, actually blindly). Four little hooves ran past me once, twice, and then a third time, but then a single pair of hooves stopped just before the point where my eyesight became a blur.
—Harry Potter, I am so glad you're small, but next time you will pick friends who weigh a lot less than these ponies.—
I barely got my head around what Addera said before darkness flooded my mind.
"Curious." Sombra watched through the eyes of one of his minions as the strange looking unicorn undid the restraining helmet in a most ingenious way. "Very curious. Host, do you have any knowledge of this?"
If the ghost of Ginny Weasley that still inhabited her body still had control of said body, her heart would have sped up at seeing Hermione Granger backing up a little pony that used some intricate spell-casting. She could see through King Sombra's eyes only because he let her. "Your doom."
"You still have some fight. Good. I like fight—I respect it." Sombra mentally clamped down a little more on the screws that bound Ginny's remnant. "Tell me who you recognized."
Genevra had seen several things, not the least of which had been the diary. "Tom Riddle." It wasn't a lie, she felt it was the truth—though it wasn't. "I saw Tom Riddle's diary floating beside that little horse."
"It is a strange conundrum. The last of his ghost told me much of what that artifact was." Sombra flexed his mental strength, shoving the other helmeted crystal ponies to greater effort. "A horcrux. A soul vial. A phylactery. There are several words for it, but I want one.
"That, dear little Tom told me, holds you. The actual you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, and not this ghost. Your friends—and I don't think it's a large jump of reasoning to divine they are your friends—are guarding that because they know it's all that is left of their friend—of you."
Ginny recoiled from the idea. She knew Harry, Hermione, and even her brothers wouldn't rest until she was safe, but what if they thought she was safe? She curled up in a tiny ball in her own head and wept.
"You sound wonderful like that. Such despair and hopelessness. Dear little ghost, why not just surrender and die?" Sombra wasn't as ready for the rush of anger as he might otherwise have been. Nonetheless, when Ginny's attack came he shoved her back and wrapped manacles around her wrists and a collar around her throat. "It appears I have given you too much leash. That stops now."
The ghost of Ginny Weasley screamed in her own head as Sombra cut her off from all her faculties.
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Yes, I am reading your story. What'cha gonna do about it?
McGonagall, are the house elves still around, and if so are they subject to the changes as well due to the use of magic?
>Tourmaline
Shouldn't she be only be semi-precocious, then?
9440202
9440165 I'm going to write some more so you have to read more! There! Your move!
9440211
You win this time...
Here's my 'Ask Question'.
Autumn Blaze: Have you heard about the little Kirin who can speak? He's near the old Crystal Empire. Gonna seek him out?
So many things happening just off-screen! I wonder what Hermione's shocked about...
Would the Moon happen to be Luna Lovegood? I very much doubt it's Princess Luna... Or maybe it's a student of Chinese heritage? Whatever the case, she got a lot closer to the truth than most have... Still... let's just hope that the love expressed in that note was of a more platonic nature.
It's good that Harry has such good friends to help him with his anger issues and the outward expression thereof.
I wonder how much longer the school will be able to keep its translocation under wraps with these extra foals on the loose...
My question for Tourmaline: What did your dad tell you about the bad masks?
Well this was an interesting chapter, makes me almost wish I could try drawing Harry in is Qirin form. I hope this isn't Sombra's alternat time line.
9440309
When you phase it like that, I find it more likely that note was from someone within Hogwarts because qilin is almost unknown to Equestria at the moment (according to the canon).
Ask Professor Dumbledore: Where do you think Hogwarts is right now?
So, can Sombra be defeated by ear skritches? Also, I would like to see Snape as a bat-pony.
My goodness, this is great.
9440453
probably Luna, ether the ravenclaw or the moon goddess, after all Luna and Ginny were around the same age and Luna would know what a Qilin is because of her interest in magical animals, while the moon goddess would know because, you know pseudo if not full immortal.
Hagrid how are your animal buddies?
9440580 Thanks! It's a real ball to write, even if I keep having to look up tons of minor details to make sure I'm doing the HP source material justice.
Harry's excuse for not attending first class: "Sorry, but I'm a little horse right now."
9440166
Ooooh, that's a good point. There are hundreds of the little blighters, and they're constantly using magic. If, as I suspect, the transformation is tied to how much magic the subject is channeling, then they would have changed almost as quickly as Addera.
Come to think of it, what other innately magical creatures inhabit Hogwarts? If Magic is changing everything into Equestrian analogues, then there are going to be unexpected problems cropping up all over the place.
9440597
true. I have to wonder also if ghosts, and magic paintings will somehow be effected.
9440596 Well, it gives all of his friends an out too.
"And why weren't you in class?"
"I was feeling a little horse."
9440674
<- My face right now.
9440589
It definitely shows. Both the passion and the effort.
Man, Addera is gonna be rolling in dough. That's two chapters she's made a qiling.
She said helmets, not masks.
9441119
9441226 Fixed! Thank you!
"And that's how it happened, Headmistress," said Hermione, the last human girl in Gryffindor.
Okay, someone needs to say it. Ahem:
"My first love letter was from the Moon."
"That's rough, buddy."
Gryffindor House in a single sentence.
The coming conflict should be very interesting indeed. Even if the wards fall, Hogwarts can most assuredly defend itself... if the teachers are willing to cast magic. And honestly, I don't see why they wouldn't in such circumstances.
9441267
But do they really need the wand motions? Truly? By the end there, Harry seemed to be doing just fine without them. If anything, his main problem seemed to be in keeping the native mana from running rampant.
I suspect that this particular iteration of Equestria possesses far more freestanding magic than the Earth our intrepid wizards have left behind. This, combined with a more, attuned, form, might well allow a wizard to set aside some of the elaborate methodology they've been forced to adopt. Perhaps a more, "hooves-on" approach is in the offing?
I have a question. Why do you write the spells exactly how you enunciate them, it's honestly a little annoying. I mean if you did if for every new spell when it's introduced, I wouldn't have a problem, but every time it's cast? That's repetitive.
9441868 The reason for that is patterns. Wizard magic relies on patterns. Enunciated spells, flicks of the wand (or horn in Harry's case), even the very thoughts in their mind come together to give a pattern for magic to fill. When a wizard enunciates a spell for actual casting it has nuance. I use that to show that Harry recognizes a spell being cast as opposed to someone just saying the name of the spell.
Three galleons on Luna Lovegood!
Who are you and what have you done with Ron and Hermione?!
9442768
She was sorted by the hat, it might have mentioned it in private.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/36a0ca73-7240-487b-aba2-5a6c301f2f79/d648sbi-668c4181-e4a8-4701-b866-e3ee51b21eab.png/v1/fill/w_641,h_1246,q_70,strp/pokemon___eevee_poof_by_rasenth_d648sbi-pre.jpg
9444453
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/12/20/1321101.jpeg
(source)
Well. Hermione's part pony now.
9455394 🐴
Given how many words I spend on the flaws in how the story starts, I really want to make my position on originality clear, and this is an excellent place to start. I love this interaction between Harry and Tourmaline. It's charming, a joy to read about, and details like "Mom named me that because I'm precocious!" are the kind of little flavour bits that really make a character satisfying.
(And a perfect example of how you're definitely not a bad author. Writing character interactions that intrinsically satisfying is not easy... it's just that, in establishing the story, the ways in which you took certain things for granted bear strong similarities to bad stories.)
Luna meets Luna will be AWESOME. Luna will be so excited. Wonder who she will mistaken for a Crumple-Horned Snorckak
9440588
Oes noes Hagrid is still trapped in Azkaban!!!@
9440597
If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Crookshanks becoming either a manticore or a gryffin. Or an Alicorn. Yes I am aware Hermione hasn't gotten him yet
He is a Kirin, and they aren't in Kansas anymore
9675786 Indeed!
I'm really surprised Harry remembered that quote from Muggle school considering all he's been through since then.
9699897 That part of it is very often used in pop culture references of the time. If Harry had seen much TV at all, he'd have seen people making that gag.
No! Harry x Addera 4 evar!
9442753
One Galleon on Princess Luna :P
(No I'm not confident in this bet, could you tell?
)
Heh
Same. Minus the wizard part. Actually, you could probably replace "wizard" with "eccentric", and then you'd get me.
11454414 Fixed, thanks.