• Published 14th Mar 2019
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A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone - gerandakis



Displeased with her mentor, Sunset Shimmer looks for a new option, she finds it in a Mirror Portal, deep in the vaults of Canterlot. Together with Philomena, she sets out on a journey. Two worlds of magic will be changed forever, by a small error ...

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52 - A Lapse in Judgment

Chapter Fifty-Two

A Lapse in Judgment


Between cheering Harry on for his Quidditch training thrice a week, working on combining the magic of two worlds with Professor Flitwick – they were continuing their work on shields – trying to find out just what Professor Quirrell was up to and what was hidden beyond the trapdoor guarded by the Cerberus, with little success in both, the weeks began to flow together for Sunset.

By the Wednesday after they had been shown around Ponyville by Granny Smith, Princess Celestia had finished work on the interdimensional journal she had promised for Sirius and, at his discretion, asked Sunset to pick up its counterpart and deliver it to the Headmaster, who would hand it on to the contact Sirius wanted to put in charge of his communications while he was in Equestria. Owls, after all, couldn't travel between dimensions as phoenixes could.

The journals, like Sunset's own, were much like the ones Sunset had enchanted for herself and Harry, but the spell linking them was conducted through a rare mineral found in Equestria known as Antennite. Its unique properties were the only difference between the two kinds of journals and thus, evidently, the reason why those with Antennite still worked while in different dimensions while those without it didn't.

It's golden sheen made it ideal for the fitting of the stylized paws found on both of the journals, much like it had been used the same way for the depictions of Sunset's and Celestia's cutie marks.

When delivering the journal to Dumbledore, Sunset had learned that the contact Sirius had assigned was none other than the third surviving 'Marauder' a man named Remus Lupin whom she knew to be a werewolf. For some reason that description sparked a faint recognition, as though she had heard of the term before. Still, she couldn't put her finger on where.

Unfortunately that was only one of the things she needed to research, as, by the time Halloween came around, she still had no idea what the dark magic around Professor Quirrell was and she was running out of ideas for what it could be. Ultimately she had to settle for sending Princess Celestia a description of what she had found and a list of things she had determined it not to be. She had quite simply run out of ideas.

Still, the princess was a busy mare and unless she could think of a possibility of the top of her head, it would likely take a few days at least for her to answer. For now, it was time to get to the Halloween celebrations. Hermione had explained the holiday to her and, once more, Sunset marveled at the remarkable similarities between Earth's holidays and those of Equestria. In this case, Nightmare Night.

It was quite surprising that the two holidays, happening at loosely the same time of the year, had ended up being so similar, despite their vastly different origins.

It was truly impressive to see how far the school had gone to decorate the Great Hall for the evening's feast. Thousands of bats flew through the vast room, alone, in groups or even in entire clouds. Much like the rest of the school, the hall had been decorated with carved pumpkins that served as the evening's light fixtures, floating above the tables in place of the usual candles.

The kitchens, it seemed had gotten into the spirit of things and styled the food to fit the theme of the occasion. Despite having lived on earth for half a year and having grown used to human food, Sunset found it to be remarkably eerie, but no less tasty than usual.

All the students were in attendance as were most of the teachers, even one rather eccentric-looking witch that they had never seen before. The only one that was conspicuously absent, was Professor Quirrell.

That changed a few minutes before the time for desserts. The doors to the Entry Hall flew open and Quirrell ran into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. The students and teachers watched with confusion, and, in the case of the Gryffindors, suspicion – some of the older students had overheard the first-years talking about him and rumors had spread – as he ran up to the head table. Straight towards Dumbledore.

"Troll," he wheezed out as he reached the headmaster. "In the dungeons. Thought you ought to know." He then proceeded to faint and fall over where he stood.

The hall immediately broke into chaos, it took loud blasts from Dumbledore's wand for him to attract the students' attention.

"Prefects!" he called, his expression the most serious many of them had ever seen, "lead your houses back to their dormitories immediately."

Percy was immediately on the task, quickly sorting the Gryffindors into a line with the first-years right behind him. As he led them to the doors, Luna tilted her head slightly. "Aren't the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons?"

Hearing her, Percy whirled around, suddenly worried. "They are. And the Hufflepuff dorms aren't too far from there either. Hold on."


Professor McGonagall was overseeing the students as they left the hall, when she saw the Gryffindors stop. Seeing Percy Weasley rushing towards her from his spot at the front of the line, she hurried across the hall to meet him halfway.

"Is there a problem, Mister Weasley?"

"Yes, Professor. The Slytherin dorms are in the dungeons, and with all the secret passages through the castle there is no way to be sure the troll is even still there."

Minerva was momentarily stunned. Then she surprised most of the students still in the hall by teleporting directly to the headmaster's side. When Albus and Filius had used the book Miss Shimmer had translated to upgrade the apparition wards of Hogwarts, they had been able to key all the teachers into the new wards.

Still, they were so used to being unable to apparate within the school that they rarely used their new-found teleportation ability in the school. As such, Albus was quite startled when she suddenly appeared at his side.

"Albus! We have no way of knowing if the troll is still in the dungeons. We can't let the students rush out into the castle without a teacher to escort them."

The headmaster's eyes widened. "And if Quirinus chose to flee from it, who knows if one teacher would be enough to deal with it." Quickly recovering from his shock, he pointed the tip of his wand at his own throat. "Sonorous." When he spoke again, his voice resonated through the hall and – through the wards that had linked with the spell – the entire castle. "All students immediately return to the Great Hall. The troll's location is not confirmed. It could be anywhere within the castle."

Not having gone far yet, the Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that had left the Hall were quick to return. The Gryffindors were still in full attendance. A wave of his wand later, Albus nodded to Minerva, having used the wards to check the students in the Hall with the list of students at the school and come up positive. All students were here.

Canceling the spell on himself, he spoke to the students in a more normal volume. "The Heads of House and myself will take care of the troll. The other teachers and the siege wards around the hall will keep you safe. Please, continue your feast."


As soon as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape had left the Hall, the great doors fell shut and gained a silvery sheen, locking in place. Looking around, Sunset saw that the other doors to and from the hall were similarly sealed. While the other students returned to their feast, wildly speculating how a troll had gotten into the school, she lit her eyes with a scanning spell, studying the patterns of the siege wards.

She was not disappointed. The heavy doors all around the hall had not only been locked in place, but also magically reinforced to be stronger than steel. The walls, while not visually different, were similarly reinforced and nigh indestructible.

Memorizing the patterns of the wards, she returned to her food as well, satisfied that the troll certainly wasn't getting in.

When Quirrell woke up he seemed momentarily quite upset to find himself in a hall filled with students and sealed with unfamiliar wards while the headmaster and the heads of house were elsewhere. He quickly calmed down, but his slip didn't go unnoticed. Needless to say that it did nothing to allay the Gryffindors' concerns.


Albus leaned back in his chair to consider the evening's events. Taking down the troll had been child's play for five accomplished magicians, but the fact that it had gotten into the castle in the first place – without his knowledge – was startling in the extreme. He had suspected that Tom might have an agent in or near the school, something Ms. Shimmer's suspicions had supported, but this was the first piece of evidence he had actually found. Only Minerva and Filius should have had a sufficient understanding of the wards to allow a troll to enter without him being notified immediately.

But he trusted them both with his life and they had shown no signs of subversion. Of course, Tom had spent years studying the castle and was brilliant in his own right. He might have managed it. But could he have taught the necessary skills to an agent and smuggle them into Hogwarts? Could an agent be in the school right now? A startling thought.

Alternatively, it could be that he had an agent on the outside, the troll serving as a test. A trial run to see if he could smuggle someone into the castle undetected. A troll, of course, wouldn't stay hidden, but one of his followers very well might. Albus would have to find out exactly how the troll had gotten past the wards and plug the loophole posthaste.

With that matter settled, he turned his attention to the other problematic issue of the evening, his dramatic lapse in judgment. The students had already been assembled in the Hall. Without knowledge of where the troll had gone after being spotted by Quirinus, sending the students away, two of the houses in the very direction the troll was reportedly located, was monumentally stupid.

Especially given the fact that Hogwarts, designed as a fortress to keep wizards safe in the days before the Statue of Secrecy, was well equipped to defend against attackers. The great hall was only one of the places in the castle that had extensive siege defense wards. Entire sections of the castle could be locked off if needed. A mere troll stood no chance of getting past that.

Was he loosing his touch? Was he getting senile in his old age? He couldn't allow that. He would have to take measures to ensure that didn't happen.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. Reminded of Ms. Shimmer's warning by the day's events, he lit his eyes with magic and quickly conjured a mirror to check himself over. He found exactly what he had suspected.

It was hard to spot, but looking carefully, he found the remnants of a Confundus Charm.

That was simultaneously worrying and relieving. Relieving because his monumental lapse in judgment was, in truth, caused by a spell meant to confuse him, and worrying because such a spell had been cast on him in the first place.

That supported the idea that Tom had an agent within Hogwarts. But, the only one under obvious suspicion couldn't have done it. Quirinus had, after all, only just entered the Hall when everything happened. He had been the center of attention from the moment he opened the doors. There was no way a spell coming from him would have gone unnoticed.

There was no way he was the culprit.

Or was there? If he truly did support Tom, would he have any quarrels using an imperious curse to get a sixth or seventh year to silently cast the charm in his stead? Hardly. That did it. He would make his own covert scans of Quirinus. Ms. Shimmer may have extensive knowledge in combating dark magic, but he was no slouch on the subject either, perhaps he would find something she missed.

And once that was done, he would go over the defenses for the stone again, thinking every one of them over. To check if they had any tactical flaws. He had a busy few days ahead of himself, but for the safety of all he had worked to protect here, the students and the stone, it would be well worth it.

He was just glad that the Gryffindor first years had managed such an admirable job at keeping their unusual abilities a secret. He could well do without the headaches that would give him when it came out for the moment.

The fact that Poppy had assured him that Argus' treatment was coming along nicely, something she had confirmed with Ms. Shimmer, served to further buoy his mood.

It brought him no end of joy that, with the implications of these treatment methods, the entire pureblood movement might become obsolete in a century or two. After all, in a world where all humans had magic, a pureblood superiority movement would make no sense whatsoever.

An owl fluttering in with a letter interrupted his musings. He recognized the coat of arms on the seal. Olympe, it seemed, had another letter for him. Thinking back, he realized that she hadn't written him since he had sent the book over, together with a more in-depth – and confidential – explanation as to its origins.

Quickly reading through the letter, he chuckled quietly. The new spells, it seemed, had caused the same excitement among Olympe's teachers as they had among his own. She also seemed to have had the same idea to improve the wards around the palace with the knowledge gained from the book.

He leaned back, thinking, perhaps he would get in contact with more of the great wizarding schools.

For now, though, he had more important matters to consider.

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