Chapter 24
He had a good night, Draco decides. Today, the day his father had decided to take him home, is a Saturday. Thus, there’s absolutely nothing to keep him in the castle. So of course, after getting Dumbledore’s permission first thing in the morning and catching a quick, early breakfast, he’s in the air.
But he’s not on a broom.
He smiles out the front window, before glancing down at his wristwatch, then sideways at the blonde Hufflepuff seated next to him. “My dad’s probably starting to realize I’m not at Hogwarts,” he muses. “How far?”
Cherry Berry grins, glancing at one of the many controls littering the panels in front of them both. “Three hundred miles,” she states. “One hundred left.”
He blinks. “Wow,” he mutters. “This thing’s fast. Even the Nimbus Two Thousand can’t go anywhere near that far in only an hour.”
Cherry glances at him. “To be fair, neither can this, normally. We’ve magic-augmented it, allowing me to rather effortlessly sustain speeds of up to almost seven hundred miles an hour.” She glances out the windshield. “The turbulence gets a bit nasty very far above three hundred, so I don’t like going any faster than that unless I have to. Unaugmented, this thing would make about a hundred and fifty miles, safely, in an hour.”
He blinks. “Uh… What happens if the Department for the Improper Use of Muggle Artifacts sees it?”
She looks at him. “If it ends up in muggle hands, there’s nothing to show it has those augmentations,” she answers. “No behaviors, no nothing. It simply flies smoother at speed than any helicopter has a right to- the muggles won’t know it’s capable of going that fast, and it’s not a stunt ‘copter or something, so they’re likely to never try- meaning, they’d never encounter the enchantments.” Snort. “Not to mention, Moondancer hid the spells so well they’d never find ‘em without tearing the thing apart.” Then she shrugs. “Besides, I’d never let them take my baby away from me.”
“Ahh… Um, what happens if a muggle happens to see it booking twice the speed it’s supposed to?”
“They won’t,” she answers simply. “Anytime I go over a hundred and sixty, the invisibility matrix comes on, banishing us from both sight and radar displays.” She glances forwards. “And muting the noise. As a matter of fact, that’s the main reason going over three hundred makes for such a bumpy ride- it takes a lot of energy to silence the sonic boom.” She snorts. “And of course, Moondancer’s so good at spells that it draws all that energy from the boom itself. Takes it a second, though- we still have to deal with the shockwaves.”
He tilts his head. “What’s a sonic boom?”
“Ah, that’d be the shockwave produced when something travels faster than sound. Sound travels at about seven sixty seven miles per hour- which is actually why I can’t very easily get past seven hundred: The boom on the rotor occurs too close to the hub, and starts messing with my controls.” She glances up. “Once I get it up to nine hundred- I’ve done that before- I can push it all the way to fifteen hundred for a dead sprint. Keeping it under control is a bit of a pain when I do that, though.”
“Oh.”
“Nervous yet?” Bonbon asks, leaning forwards from one of the seats in the back.
He looks out the windshield. “Uh…” Then he turns back to her. “A little, yeah.”
“Worried about the transformation?”
He shrugs. “Not really, actually. So long as it’s not random, or unexpected, or… that stuff, and so long as it reverses when I come back, it doesn’t bother me.”
Bonbon chuckles. “And so long as nobody back at Hogwarts finds out you’re a filly, right?”
He nods. “Yeah. But that’s got to be easy to keep- I mean, everypony is already pretending they’ve been humans all their lives, what’s to keep them from simply not mentioning my pony form isn’t the same gender as my human form?” He shrugs. “Nothing I know about, that’s for sure.”
She nods. “That is true,” she mutters.
“Worried about meeting Bonbon’s family?” the fourth and final person in the helicopter asks, a Slytherin with a teal stripe in her purple hair. Her nametag reads ‘Starlight Glimmer’.
“A little,” he answers.
“Don’t be,” Bonbon answers him simply. “You’ve already met her.”
“Her?”
Bonbon nods. “Lyra. Both our parents died long ago- mine in an accident, hers murdered. We’ve been living together- and otherwise alone- ever since we met, a good fifteen years ago.”
He turns to stare at her. “But… But you’re eleven.”
Nod. “On this side of the gate, sure. On the other side, I’m thirty six.”
“Uh…”
“Lyra’s thirty five. Even if she makes me wonder, sometimes, if she’s ever truly grown up.”
He drops his jaw.
“But I imagine much of your worry stems from stepping through that gate for the very first time, into a land where literally no other British wizard can follow?”
He closes his jaw with a snap. “Um, yeah.” Then he looks forwards. “Though considering that I ran immediately after being first transformed, I daresay my worries about being able to walk are ill-founded.”
Cherry Berry nods. “Yep. Just don’t think about what you’re doing for the first hour or two, and you’ll be fine.”
“Hour or two?”
“Yep. That’s how long it took most of us to get used to bipedal locomotion over here, even if Lyra’s spell gave us the skill outright.”
“Though to be fair,” Bonbon mutters, “bipedal locomotion is unheard of in ponies- and quadrupedal locomotion is called “crawling” in humans. So, it’s quite possible you’re already well-adapted to it.” Then she glances out the windshield. “Come to think of it, you’re probably going to want to come up with a new name for your Equestrian form. ‘Draco Malfoy’ isn’t exactly a filly’s name.”
Lucius Malfoy is not having a good day.
As a matter of fact, he’s had quite a terrible day so far.
Another letter from his son had made its way to him on Friday morning. He had been in a bit of a hurry, though- too bad work never seems to stop. He hadn’t been able to read it that morning; thus, it had sat on the kitchen table until he got home. It had been opened, and moved, sometime in the interim; he’d figured Narcissa had read it. So, he’d finally been able to read it, during dinner. He’d abandoned his dinner and rushed upstairs to forge a quick reply.
Unfortunately, while he was just starting to write it, an urgent owl had come in, calling an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts School Board. So he’d amended and hastily finished his response to Draco, sent that on its way, and rushed out to the school board meeting.
Which took all night. Tidbit after tidbit after tidbit of important information had trickled in, at just the right rate to keep everyone there.
Now, with only three bites of last night’s supper in him and no idea what happened to the rest of it, he had shown up at Hogwarts- he hasn’t even eaten breakfast yet!
Only to find that his son is missing. And left a message with the staff, informing them he’d be back on Sunday. None of them, unfortunately, could tell him where his son had gone- they either didn’t know, or didn’t even realize he’d left in the first place.
He had been able to find out who he’d been going with: Three of the dangerous Equestrians.
And so, he’s on his way to the Ministry, where the agency governing the Hogwarts Express is located- and the agencies governing just about every other method by which his son could have gotten away from the castle grounds. He needs to find out where they went, and fast.
None of the castle staff could tell him.
He must find out.
It’s a letter.
It’s always a letter.
Dumbledore lets out a groan, putting down his latest piece of paperwork, as he magics his office window open. This one’s not a Ministry owl- rather, it’s even worse. He recognizes it as the owl the Hogwarts Board of Administrators likes to use to inform him of their latest policies.
The owl swoops in, drops a letter on his desk, and returns from whence it came. He magics the window closed again, before slitting open the envelope and unfolding the letter.
It takes him all of ten seconds to read it, before he lets out a groan, allowing his head to drop down to the surface of his desk. It’s not paperwork, no- actually, quite the opposite.
But it’s even worse.
They want him out.
He raises his head again, lifting his hand to his microphone. “Bonbon?”
“Yes, Professor Dumbledore?”
“It would seem I’m no longer the Headmaster,” he informs her.
“Really? When did that happen? And why?”
He smiles in spite of himself. The Equestrians seem to be really good at making him smile. “Last night. The Board is removing me for allowing so many ‘dangerous students’ into Hogwarts.”
There’s a brief pause. “Don’t leave,” Bonbon orders him. “We’ll pull some strings, make them reverse that decision.”
He actually chuckles this time. “Are you sure that’ll work?”
“Absolutely certain it’ll work,” Bonbon declares. “If they’re dropping you for that reason, they’re almost certainly going to try to blanket-expel all the Equestrians just for being different. And that’s a major insult to a foreign power that we’re going to stuff down their throats. All the way up to the Wizengamot, if we have to.”
He chuckles. “That is true, but how will that keep me in place?”
“Easy: Princess Celestia knows they’re dumping you for letting us in. All it’ll take is a single mention of that, after the Wizengamot rules in our favor, to get the whole board thrown out and you reinstated.”
“Princess Celestia… She already knows?”
“Yep. We had warning- and since Princess Celestia is the immortal ruler of Equestria, and can get mighty stuffy when foreign nationals start insulting her people… Well, she’s already disappointed in them. I give them about a fifty-fifty chance of maintaining bladder control when she enters the room.”
He actually laughs at that. “She sounds powerful.”
“Yep. And it probably won’t hurt she’s going to be going in fully armored. With her sister by her side, Princess Luna- who happens to also be the Commander in Chief of all of Equestria’s armed forces. Including us.”
“Albus?”
Dumbledore blinks in the middle of his snort of laughter; that was Professor McGonagall, through the castle wards. “Yes, Minerva?”
“I just received a letter from the Board, saying you’ve been removed as Headmaster- and all Equestrians are to be expelled immediately. How true is this?”
He grins. “Very true, actually. But we’ll disregard them, because Bonbon’s making a diplomatic incident out of both decisions.” He goes for the mic again. “You’ve got your incident,” he informs Bonbon. “Minerva just received the expulsion order.”
“Are you sure of that?” McGonagall asks him.
“Absolutely sure,” he informs her. “She just told me herself. And since Princess Luna- in Slytherin, as I recall- is not only their immortal ruler’s sister, but the Commander in Chief of all their armed forces, we might even see the fireworks from here.”
McGonagall chuckles through the wards. “They’ve made quite the blunder, haven’t they?”
Hermione knocks nervously on the door in front of her.
“Hmm? Oh, Hermione? Just a sec!”
She waits patiently.
… er, as patiently as she can. The fifteen seconds or so it takes before the door opens feel like forever.
“You’re early,” Lyra informs her. “Worried about something?”
She blinks, and nods. “Um, what happens when your gravity spell wears off?”
She shrugs. “You wake up on the ceiling,” she answers.
“But-! But wouldn’t I fall through the ceiling?” she squeaks.
Lyra shakes her head. “No. The physical impediment spell I used is the original, designed by old Star Swirl himself. Lasts for years on a single invocation, though most lack the power to invoke it. He used it, mostly, to let him make his bed out of clouds.”
“Make his bed out of… clouds.”
Lyra nods. “Yep! I have a cloud bed back home as well.” She glances back into the room. “It’s almost ready- ‘nother few minutes of testing, just to be sure, and we can set it off.”
“Testing?” Hermione asks. “Wouldn’t that waste it?”
She shakes her head. “Nah- I’m not testing it at full power, so I’m not burning the enchantments. And, I’m only testing small sections at a time. Making sure they do their jobs. There’s always a chance I missed something when I pentuple-checked the matrices.”
“... Oh. Wait- it hasn’t been twelve hours yet!”
Nod. “I know; it’s only been about eleven. That twelve was an estimate. Now, come on in! You going to be free just after breakfast on Tuesday?”
She tilts her head. “Uh, maybe?”
“Just because if we invoke it as soon as I finish getting it ready, that’s when you’ll transform.”
“Oh, then, yes.”
Lyra glances back at her, raising an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
“Absolutely sure,” she declares. Then she looks thoughtfully towards the ceiling. “Pretty sure I won’t have to throw anything around on my schedule, either.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.034 seconds
Total duration
1,031 users online
2,180,266 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
9653920
I agree. It would be funny...
Unfortunately, we've already got her ponyform decided upon, and she doesn't become a colt. Any more than that, you'll have to wait for the chapter in which she morphs... in at least a few days.
Now, call me a conservative old coot, but I'd say that a father has every legal and moral right to know where his eleven-year-old son has vanished to. And, a school allowing said child to vanish and stonewalling said father's efforts to find his child would very much warrant an investigation by the school board.
Be it voluntary or not, removing a minor from school grounds without his parent's consent or knowledge sounds very sketchy to me, and not at all the diplomatic hill to stake my good name upon.
And as a third point, the Wizengamot chamber is likely one of the oldest and most powerful places of magic in England, the heart of the English wizarding world. I really can't think of a worse place for a foreign power to try to force their influence. The chamber enchantments might well be capable of withstanding even the sisters.
9653946
It's worth note they don't plan on actually fighting them- only political battles... where the intimidation factor matters far more than true combat capability. Besides, if they attacked a visiting foreign leader, the rest of the same government would pounce on them like a pack of hyenas.
9653957
Here's the problem with this whole situation, they have no political power. They never introduced themselves to the wizarding government, if they had this problem wouldn't be occurring, so no one knows who they are or have any reason to take their threats seriously. Being a princess doesn't matter when no one officially recognizes your title.
The ponies have nothing to bargain with because no agreement was ever made to let them attend Hogwarts they just took advantage of a clerical error so no official exchange is happening. They can't exactly threaten to take anything away because the Wizards haven't been getting anything out of this to begin with.
The ponies should be working to smooth over the problem they caused through proper diplomacy not by throwing around political power they don't actually have.
Kidnapping a minor doesn't help their case either.
9654019
But at the same time they have a lot of magical power, which is all the Wizard world ever seems to recognize anyway. If the equestrians wanted, they could threaten to overtake them from sheer numbers. Not that they would (except maybe Twilight in the interest of pursuing knowledge) but the idea that they *could*.
Even if we disregard that, Hogwarts is, it seems, a government run school rather than a private one. The Ministry handles expulsion (Book two), The only board members we see in the books are also members of the Wizengamot and can post their own prison security against the Headmaster’s wishes (Book three), the ministry runs interscholastic events (book four), the Ministry is able to appoint professors when the school is unable to (book five).
So Hogwarts is, if not a government run, at least a government sanctioned institute, and being recognized by part of the government means you are recognized by all of it.
Additionally, even if the Equestrians have no political clout, the Ministry has no actual reason to do any of what they just did other than “we don’t like what your numbers imply so we want you gone”. They have broken no Wizarding laws and meet the basic qualifications of becoming students (having their name appear in the book).
9654237
Yes, I realize the ponies can just strong-arm their way into getting what they want I just hope that wouldn't be their opening move.
While true this is an overreaction they do have a reason to be upset as thousands of students who are not only not citizens of magical Britain but are part of a nation not officially recognized by the ICW have snuck into Hogwarts. Like I said what happened was clearly a clerical error that no one at the school chose to correct so while rash the Ministry does have a right to demand their removal especially after forcing a transformation on a minor and, as they'll eventually discover, kidnapping him as well.
That's why I say the situation should be handled diplomatically as the ponies aren't completely innocent in all this either. I really don't think they should be able to just force the Ministry to let them do whatever they want.
9654255
Considering the Equestrians
A: Aren't abducting Draco - he's going of his own free will and
B: Aren't holding him captive
then they aren't kidnapping him.
9654649
They are taking a minor with them without the expressed consent of the parent that is kidnapping. It doesn't matter that he is going along of his own free will. That's like saying you can take any random child off the street as long as they freely agree to get into your van.
9654655
The difference being, the child being abducted by the van-men is being held captive.
9653957
Ah yes, Intimidation. Truly the favored tool of the calm and reasonable diplomat. 'tis a bit more difficult when you and yours are stuck in the form of young children, armor or not they'll still need a crate to reach the top of the podium. If they wish for anyone to take them seriously they'll need to be radiating magic like a thunderhead.
Which leads to my second thought, that humans have been practicing magic in England, in this Place, for longer than even the sisters have been alive. This place is old, old as stone, old as bone. While Equestrians may have mastered their own innate magic, Wizards have been weaving the magic of the world for even longer still. Individual members of the Wizengamot might not hope to compare to these ponish interlopers, but the regard of uncountable centuries might serve to put a civil tongue in their mouths.
Honestly I still find it difficult to understand precisely what justification the ponies think they have here. "I'm a foreigner so your laws don't apply to me"? Really? From the ministry's perspective, twelve thousand foreign entities suddenly appeared within their borders, in close proximity to their children, and are now refusing to leave. Their only impressions of these people are their mocking dismissal of Fudge(honestly no great surprise) their apparent theft of Lucius's son, and their imminent magical chest-beating before the council.
Nothing they've done makes them appear even remotely trustworthy to any responsible lawmaker.
9654682
Considering the wizarding world's recent and extensive experience with compulsion charms and the imperius curse, I wouldn't expect that excuse to be very convincing.
9654682
You seem to be forgetting that, regardless of captivity, the wizarding world would still call it kidnapping. Perception is everything... annoyingly enough.
9654782
9654741
Fair enough point.
All it takes:
Dumbledore: Actually, Mr. Malfoy asked me for permission to go on this trip with the three Equestrian ladies. No one had informed me that Lucious was planning to remove his son, and I gave my permission for the trip. There is no kidnapping or other such behavior. Now, if you want me to let you know when they return, I'll be happy to let you know as soon as I find out.
9658845
9654782
According to modern law this is child abduction, whether Draco is willing or not.
If Dumbledore were to make such a statement, we're talking perjury here at the very least, probably aiding and abetting after the fact as well.
But hey, fictional legal system, so it's author's choice.
And from where the supersonic helicopter gets the energy required to go at such speeds? Uh there goes a fuel economy.
9690507
I don't know... probably magic.
...A fully-armoured, magically-superior pair of eleven-year-old girls. Yeah, something seems off about that.