Ch. 10 — Ruminations
Ch. 10 — Ruminations
Harry shrugged at the Professor Snape’s positive assessment of his question. “The ones who made the potion were amateurs, but the ingredients were readily available.”
The entire Potions class had stopped to listen.
“Most so-called love potions do not have any lasting effects,” the Potions Professor continued, “and are temporary in duration. In fact, most so-called love potions are not love potions at all, they are passion potions. They are designed and brewed to be operative for only a short time. Their actual time-spans depend upon dosage, naturally, and, of course, the effectiveness of the exact potion used. And the skill of the potion-maker.”
He stared at Harry. “For someone you think may have been dosed with one of the more persistent love potions — a potion designed to ensure two people actually remain a couple, without regard for their true feelings that may or may not have developed in the absence of the potion — a cleansing potion is needed, not an antidote. But even those have a time-limit on their effectiveness. In general, anytime such a potion is not corrected in a month or two the character alteration induced by the potion becomes a permanent fixture of their character.” He frowned and looked around the class.
The students that had completely stopped, suddenly started moving again, trying to avoid his eye and losing points.
“Passion potions, being designed as a temporary measure, do not have that problem. Either wait it out, or apply the antidote. Although,” he added, “such potions, if applied for a long time, will linger in their effects for days or weeks. But they will lapse.”
“Ah. Thank you, sir.” Harry pursed his lips and looked down. It was far too late, then, to make sure that Big Mac and Cheerilee had really been cured all those years ago.
“Why, Mr. Sparkle?” Professor Snape said, a bit more harshly. “Do you suspect someone has been dosed with such?”
Harry looked back at the Professor. “It was some years ago, sir. I think it was fixed at the time, but no antidote was ever administered.”
The wizard stared at Harry intently.
Harry shook his head. “According to the book consulted,” Harry explained, “this was a permanent love potion. And it seemed to operate exactly as described after being administered. It said the potion could be broken only if the two who drank it were kept out of each other’s sight for an hour, during the first few hours. This was done, and the two appeared to be fine the next day.” He frowned. “But one is always . . . concerned.”
Professor Snape stared at him. “Are they still seeing one another in a romantic manner?”
Harry shook his head. “Not that we can tell. But neither has a partner as of yet, nor are either dating another. Both are at the ages where dating and marriage are well past the beginning of when such things should be in consideration.”
The wizard frowned. “Based on your rather inadequate description, I would say that they are just fine. Although at this point there is no test that could confirm or deny the potion’s continued effects.” He again glanced around the still room and frowned. “Well? Why are you stopping? Is your potion complete, already?” Once more the class broke into busy activity.
He turned his attention back to Harry. “And that will be another two points for disturbing the class, Mr. Sparkle.”
Harry nodded. He had expected as much. The man was a bully, after all. But at least he had acknowledged the question. And then answered. He wasn’t completely useless.
Granger kept glancing at him.
Harry put Apple Bloom’s potion stories about Zecora to good use, and quickly rearranged his equipment to separate the tasks needed and perform them in the correct sequence. Then he opened his textbook to the correct page.
He frowned. The potion instructions in the book did not match those on the board. Nothing major, just tiny details like specifying how many times a minute he should stir instead of simply saying “mild stir” or “quickly stir.” He glanced at his classmates and immediately noticed that the Slytherins all had additional writing in their textbooks in the margins while the Gryffindors did not. Had they been told the correct instructions before-hoof?
He frowned, sighed, and shook his head. He didn’t doubt for a moment that the bully would coach his House’s students to ensure they got good grades while doing what he could to get the others to fail. He wouldn’t actively give wrong instructions, but he would ensure that his House always had an advantage with better instructions than the rest.
He carefully added the changes into his book.
He noticed Granger doing the same.
Apple Bloom would be extremely disappointed to miss out on this class. And Zecora would pitch a fit at the wizard’s unprofessional attitude towards his students and his profession.
While Harry prepared his potion, he watched the Professor closely.
Component preparation took time. The wiggentree twigs had to be trimmed to the same lengths and separated into groups of similar diameters. He grouped the smaller sections together to be added first and reduce waste. The castor oil was carefully measured into a vial for the approximate amount needed. He had to carefully grind the gurdyroot with a mortar and pestle, and reserve what was ground into a second measuring vial, again trying to approximate the amount to what the instructions on the board said was needed.
Professor Snape was a brilliant potioneer, like Zecora back in Equestria. But, unlike her, he was a complete failure as a good, or even competent, teacher of the subject. The only good thing Harry could say about the man was that he didn’t mess up the potion instructions.
He couldn’t help but wonder what a good dose of Poison Joke would do to the wizard. Whatever it would do had to be an improvement.
The potion started with a base solution of boiling water to which he slowly added four wiggentree twigs, one at a time. He stirred widdershins, quickly, until the potion turned green. He switched directions and stirred clockwise until the potion turned orange. He added five drops, drop-by-drop, of castor oil while he stirred slowly clockwise until the potion abruptly turned blue,
Everything the man had to offer was decidedly disappointing. He had no interest in fostering budding talents, as his constant disparaging remarks and non-existent praise quickly buried anypony’s interest in the subject — unless he or she was a Slytherin. The idea of fair treatment was a foreign concept to him. Any question not from a student of his House was either ignored or treated as too trivial to answer. Or he would act as if he couldn’t believe anypony would ask such a stupid question when the answer was clearly as obvious as the nose on his face — at least, to a Master Potioneer.
Unless it was a question that caught his interest — an extremely rare event, Harry gathered from the hushed comments he heard from both the Slytherins and Gryffindors.
Then it was time for Harry to stir widdershins until the potion turned a dull purple. Next came powdered gurdyroot, dribbled into the potion as it swirled, unstirred, until the potion turned red. Two more wiggentree twigs went into the cauldron, one at a time, stirred gently clockwise. Then came more gurdyroot, and purple was the target colour. He then left the cauldron to simmer, and waited patiently, for it to turn red. More gurdyroot was added until it turned green.
The wizard swept around the room, dropping snide remarks and criticisms as sarcastically as it was possible to be. He waited and watched for a student to make a mistake, then swooped in like a falcon stooping on a rabbit. The worst part was, if he saw a student about to make a mistake — unless they were a Slytherin — the Professor would approach and watch carefully, a tiny smile on his face. Instead of preventing the mistake he would wait until the potion caught fire, exploded, or otherwise failed in a spectacular manner. Then he would belittle the student for making a mistake and take off points. He never used the incident as a teaching moment to prevent future mistakes.
Harry stirred, widdershins, once, then clockwise once, and alternated the two directions until it turned orange. It was time to add seven wiggentree twigs, slowly and one at a time, no stirring, just the continued swirl of the solution from his last stroke with the glass stirrer removed. He reduced the heat and let it simmer, waiting for it to change to a bright pink.
The Potions Professor seemed to revel in watching the Gryffindor students flounder, and went out of his way to ensure the Slytherins were protected from their mistakes. Several Gryffindors were so intimidated by him that simply knowing he was watching them was enough for them to make an inadvertent mistake.
And, as Harry had noticed at first, he was a drama queen. He did everything possible to make sure that you were always paying attention to him, even if what he was doing had nothing to do with you or the potion you were preparing. Calling attention to how well somepony prepared their ingredients was ridiculous if no one else could see what they had done — “Excellent timing, Mr. Malfoy, that was perfect ingredient placement.” Similarly, standing over somepony and humiliating them by casting aspersions on their intelligence — “Another ruined cauldron, Mr. Longbottom? Tsk, tsk. You must be quite the disappointment to your Grandmother.” — did nothing to ensure the other students were properly preparing their potions. It merely made the professor, and the Slytherin’s, feel better, and superior.
When the potion finally turned pink, Harry carefully decanted the mixture into several vials. One he reserved for hoofing to the Professor, the others he labelled and carefully packed into his kit box. He studied the vial carefully. It appeared to be nearly a perfect match to the book’s picture of the finished product.
In Equestria, Professor Snape would have been immediately replaced with somepony who knew how to teach.
He could only shake his head disappointedly as he left the room. Taking the class would be difficult. He would have to approach Hermione Granger about checking her notes on the previous years. Based on the corrections Professor Snape had made to the instructions on the board, if today’s potion was a typical example, he had no doubt that many of the textbook’s potions could be improved.
And Hermione was just the type to have captured all those changes, correctly.
“Excuse me? Hermione?” he said speeding up slightly to catch the witch. Ron and the others tailed after him.
She stopped and stared at him, not quite hostilely, but with narrowed eyes. He took a quick glance behind at his friends and noticed they were not as pleased to see the girl as he was. He mentally shrugged. He knew nothing of the girl and would keep an open mind.
“I noticed you copied down the instructions on the board,” he said as he drew closer.
She nodded, splitting her attention between him and his friends.
“I noticed that they were different from those in the book.”
She nodded again.
Quiet sort, isn’t she? He thought. “Are they always like that? Because, if they are, I’d like to borrow your notes so I can make the corrections in my potions’ books for this and previous years.”
She studied him carefully, then said, “Why you don’t you ask your . . . friends.”
The accent she placed on friends seemed to indicate she didn’t get along very well with them.
“Because I noticed your notes are more complete. At least, that is, what I could see of them, they are much more detailed than the ones these guys take,” he said, waving his hoof in the general direction of his dorm-mates, who were headed back to the Common Room, or some other after-classes activity.
She rolled her eyes. “That I can easily believe,” she said. She looked back at him. “What do I get out of this?” she asked suspiciously.
Harry hummed for a moment. He’d already taught her the wings spell when Luna had dragged her and Ginny over last night. “How about I teach you Hayscartes’ Method? It lets you actually go inside a book to better understand what the author intended. And it has far fewer distractions than simply reading, and with better comprehension.”
She looked at him disbelievingly.
“Here,” he said, “I’ll show you,” and looked around. Everyone else had already scampered off. Dinner wouldn’t start for another hour.
There was a nearby door, and when he opened it, it was to an empty classroom. Or, at least, empty at the moment. He walked in and looked back at her.
At first, he wasn’t sure she was going to come in. “It’s alright,” he said, “I promise.”
She came in slowly, looking around the room carefully for things she couldn’t see from outside.
He blinked at her hesitation. Wow, she sure has trust issues, he thought.
Five minutes later, they were both in the Potions textbook. She was blinking and staring around at the landscape. It was like they were standing in a lab, with barely seen page-edges. She could see the page they were on, but it was like a film over one whole side of the room.
Beyond the film was a window back into the room that they had just left.
She turned to look at him. “It’s a deal. Give me a day or two to collate and duplicate the notes.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
Once they were out again, he said, “Remember, you can only stay in the book for a certain amount of time, depending on how much power you have, how much information you can absorb at one casting, and how healthy you are.” He paused. “And how tired.”
She nodded as they headed out of the room and towards the Great Hall. She seemed a bit friendlier to him.
۸-_-۸
Tuesday night, Harry discovered there was a limit to the Hayscartes’ Method. He had just cast the spell after opening Spellman’s Syllabary for the first time. And, after a brief swirl of magic, found himself still sitting on his bed staring at the open book. He tried again, with the same result.
He tried the spell on another book, Muggle Expectations and Notable Accomplishments, with the same outcome. Apparently, he concluded, he could only absorb a certain amount of information in a given amount of time. And the spell prevented him from wasting his time.
His previous all-nighters had been revising material he already had read, days or weeks previously.
His brain was full.
They had always joked about that. Well, now it really seemed a thing.
So, there was a maximum rate to how fast new material could be assimilated. Whether that was determined by his age, mental abilities, or just how dense the material was, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he was through for the night. He sighed.
Well, it wouldn’t hurt to revise what he already knew.
And found himself, exasperated, still on the bed after he cast the spell on The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1). Apparently, even revising was considered too much at this point. He was done studying for the night, it seemed. He would just have to wait it out. And hope that it had worn off enough for him at least to get a glimmer of Runes before the class.
His dorm-mates were all downstairs in the Common Room, either playing chess — Ron was quite the aficionado — or doing their own studies. Or flying as they tried out their wings. That had turned into quite the popular spell. Everyone had at some time wanted to fly, and not all of them were comfortable on brooms. And that spell was definitely power-related in how long it could last. None of the First or Second years could get the spell to work and required someone else to cast it on them. The Third years could do it for a few minutes at a time. The Fourth years increased that time, the Fifth years could hit half-an-hour, the Sixth years could do an hour, and the Seventh years could make it last an evening. Which meant the First through Fourth years bothered the Sixth and Seventh years quite a bit and there was a fierce trade in chocolate and other items. The Weasley twins seemed more interested in getting some students as testers for some candies they had made.
He had to shake his head at the thought that wizards and witches normally flew on brooms, when he found out. How clichéd could you get!? Although, considering families with young children, why didn’t they use flying carpets?
He rolled over onto his side, packed his books back into his rucksack with magic, and stared at the open door.
Wizarding magic was quite different from pony magic. Unicorns used specific spells to do things, but they were generalized spells, for the most part. The lifting spell, for example. Unicorns just lifted and moved. There were no spells for each individual movement. The pony lifted it, then moved it. Period. How big the item was and how far they could move it were limited only by the pony’s power.
The wizards, on the other hoof, had a dozen spells to lift and manipulate objects. They had Wingardium Leviosa, which merely lifted something; Mobiliarbus, which lifted and moved trees; Mobilicorpus for moving bodies; Locomotor, for just moving something; Levicorpus, which levitated and dangled a victim by the ankles; Liberacorpus, the counter-charm to the Levicorpus; and many similar spells. The difference was that each individual spell used less power for its casting than a unicorn would have used to accomplish the same result.
Similarly, unicorns could manipulate multiple objects with ease — although it took practice. Rarity, for example, with her sewing: controlled needles, cloth, and thread all at the same time with a precision that would awe a human seamstress. Wizards? One spell at a time, one item at a time.
On the other hoof, there were many wizard-spells that were a set-and-forget type — such as the dish-washing spell that you could cast several times in succession. From what he could tell from Ron’s description, it was actually a function of the spell, to allow more of the same spell to be cast at one time. All you needed to do was maintain a flow of magic and the spells would continue to work. The mass of dishes would float to the sink, wash themselves with the sponges, and set themselves in the dryer rack.
He wanted to see that spell in action.
And that meant the average wizard knew far more spells than a unicorn ever bothered learning. Unciorns learned or taught themselves the magic they needed, and then stopped there. The ponies at home would be astounded at the sheer variety of spells that the average wizard learned, and then never, ever used again. Why go to all that trouble when you never planned to use what you had learned?
Unless you were his mum, Starlight Glimmer, or Sunburst. They learned just because they could. Especially Sunburst.
Unfortunately, the wizards had a huge numbers of spells designed for the specific purpose of hurting others. Wizards, as a rule, seemed to be cruel and mean for no purpose but to be cruel and mean. The Bogies Curse, Slug-Vomiting Curse, Conjunctivitus Curse,Furnunculus Curse, and literally hundreds of others had no real-world use except to inconvenience others. A very few, for instance, the Leg-locking Curse, Impedimenta Jinx, and Tripping Jinx, might be useful to Guard Ponies chasing criminals, but the average pony had no need for anything that included the word Curse or Jinx in its name. And they would be appalled at the suggestion such things be taught in a school as if every child was expected to be attacked and needed those curses and jinxes for defence!
Harry could not think of a single unicorn — except Sombra — who would use the Flagrante Curse, for example, on a pony, no matter how much they disliked the other pony. That a school would even consider teaching such a spell as a part of their curriculum was beyond belief.
But Harry had had experience with humans. He knew just how casually cruel they could be. That someone would cast the tripping jinx on a whim on someone they didn’t know, or even someone they did, did not surprise him in the slightest. Nor was it a shock to him that the wizards considered it appropriate to teach such a spell to impulsive, easy-to-anger, eleven-year-olds.
All things considered, he was amazed he hadn’t been subjected to such an attack already. And that made him doubly glad he had worn his armour under his robe. His helmet had gotten a few strange looks on Sunday, but a don’t-notice-me-field on his armour had taken care of that — it simply looked like his own fur.
In any event, wearing the armour under his robes was now a requirement — tedious though it might be. Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe he could sew a few runes into the robes to reflect or block spells. They wouldn’t be very powerful — the threads would quickly be burnt up — but they would add one more layer of protection, no matter how brief it might be.
He pulled off his robe, and retrieved his others from his trunk, and got to work. He wasn’t the greatest at sewing, that was Sweetie Belle’s realm, but he could do what was necessary. And then he could use magic to add the finishing touch-ups. The runes wouldn’t stop, or even slow down, a serious and powerful curse, but the smaller hexes and jinxes would slide right off or be completely blocked.
He couldn’t help but wonder why, in such a contentious society, they didn’t make protective rune-spells as standard items on everything a pony might wear?
۸-_-۸
«Well,» Twilight said despondently, «there is no doubt that Harry was returned to his native world, by magic.» She slumped and dropped her head to the table. The purple alicorn appeared as exhausted as she felt. Her mane and tail looked as if someone had tried, and failed, to give them a Mohawk-styling. Her coat revealed, quite frankly, that she hadn’t bothered to comb or brush it since Saturday, six days ago.
Spike, at least, had managed to collect the dirty dishes and cups, and so the table and floor around her weren’t littered with that debris. And he had managed to stack, neatly, most of the discarded books on a shelf to her right. The pillows and folded blankets were neatly stacked behind her.
She looked around the table — well, more properly, she looked around the book stacks piled on the table — at her friends. They all, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, and Sunburst, looked back at the purple alicorn, just as tired. Spike alertly watched, deeply concerned for both his mum and his brother Harry.
Spike was the only one who had been getting any regular meals or sleep.
Twilight’s other friends, the Elements of Harmony, had returned to their various jobs after it became apparent that this wasn’t going to be solved any time soon. And that each of their particular areas of expertise were not really useful, at the moment. Rarity and Rainbow Dash still dropped by when they could, to offer emotional support. Those two, at least, could use the excuse that they had business in Canterlot. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie couldn’t as readily do that. They had to make express arrangements to be away from their businesses in Ponyville. And none could afford to be away for any length of time or they would be sorely missed.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been in and out the entire time. They would have been only “in,” but Twilight had insisted Sweetie Belle needed to go to her classes and that Apple Bloom help her sister. Applejack was distracted by the emergency and not totally on focus, but with Apple Bloom helping the farm was staying on track. And Scootaloo had a job that she didn’t want to lose, which she would, Twilight had repeatedly reminded her, if she didn’t show up on time and awake every day.
«Once we find him, we can use a portal,» Twilight said. She hadn’t otherwise moved.
«The problem is finding him,» stated Sunburst.
She sighed and pushed herself back to an upright position. She glanced at the dozen blackboards they had filled with equations. A new one popped in beside the others. She started transferring diagrams and equations.
The others quietly watched.
As soon as she finished, she climbed to her hooves. She swayed a moment, then stretched, having sat in one position for far too long. She almost fell over several times, but managed to recover. She didn’t notice just how unsteady on her hooves she really was. She started to stagger towards the distant door. «Now we need to go the Portal laboratory and actually FIND Harry.»
The others groaned as one, whether because they were getting up or headed for the lab couldn’t be determined, but they determinedly pushed themselves erect anyway, and imitated her stretches.
Spike ran in front of Twilight. «Wait!» he said hurriedly. He held two pillows behind his back, with his wrists on his waist. «You need to rest and eat more than just a snack. You’re almost dead on your hooves.»
She waved a hoof. «Pffff! I’m fine!» She swayed and would have fallen over if she hadn’t quickly returned her hoof to the floor. She yawned wide and long enough that Spike could easily count all her teeth.
He smirked. It was time to play The Game. «If you’re so fine, then close your eyes and count backwards from fifty.»
She rolled her eyes. «I don’t have time for this, Spike,» she said distractedly.
He raised his eyebrows. «Right. If you’re so fine, then you won’t take more than a second or two. And you can do it while walking, if you want. No lost time at all. And you know the rules.»
She sighed heavily and sat down. «Okay, Spike. Fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven, forty-six, . . . ,» she started quickly.
«Uh uh, Twi! Close your eyes! Those are the rules!»
She sighed again, and yawned. «Okay, okay.» She glared at him a second, then closed her eyes and started counting, «forty-five, forty-four, forty-three, forty-two, . . . .»
«Uh uh, Twi! Ya gotta start over,» he reprimanded. She was swaying dramatically now.
She huffed, eyes still closed. «Alright.» She yawned. « Fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven, forty-six, . . .»
Her voice was getting lower and lower, and her swaying was more extreme. And her counting was slowing down.
He grinned at the watching ponies, who were none too steady on their hooves, either.
«forty-five, forty-four, forty-three, forty-two, . . .» She toppled over sideways.
Spike had been waiting for that. Moving quickly as he saw her reach the tipping point, he held out the pillows to her side, cushioning and guiding her as she fell.
She started to pull her hooves under her to get up, but he softly said, «Bedtime Twilight. Here’s your favourite pillow.» It was a line he frequently used when he saw her starting to fall asleep when she had overworked herself.
He watched, smiling contentedly, as she relaxed and started snoring.
He looked up at the other three. «Works almost every time.» He smirked. «When her head hits the pillow, she goes right out.» He ran over to the pile of blankets and brought one back for her.
He looked at the others, still staring at Twilight, and retrieved some pillows and blankets for them. «Here, guys, I’ll have breakfast ready when you wake.»
They needed no further encouragement and quickly arranged their makeshift beds.
Once they were all snoring, Spike headed over towards the door. He smirked at the librarian behind the counter. «They finally fell asleep. I’ll get the Guards and we’ll move them to their rooms for a more comfortable night. Then, we can clean things up a bit in here.» He glanced at the book-fort they had unintentionally made. «And move the boards to her lab, so they’ll be out of your way.»
The mare gave him a very relieved smile. And helped him re-shelve the books, later. He really was the best assistant a researcher could ever have.
۸-_-۸
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What's with the weird quotation mark substitutions?
9847527
It's for when someone is speaking in the pony language.
9847532
Ah, makes sense.
This one strikes a nice balance. On the one hand, it is "yet another example of showing how canon could do it better" but, on the other hand, it's the sort of thing that feels like Wizards would actually neglect purely because they're so used to the status quo that some mix of peer pressure (eg. "worrywart", "coward", etc.), laziness, lack of training requiring paying someone else, and "too close to the problem" actually could make such a thing canon. (Has there ever been evidence that Moody didn't do something like this canonically?)
9847527
They're guillemets (used as quotation marks in a couple dozen different languages, including French), but I have no more idea than you why they're being used in English.
The only reference to that I know of is that, apparently, Iowans are prone to using them to indicate "quotes within quotes"... a practice popularized by the Des Moines Register.
EDIT: And, again, I forget to try refreshing the comments before posting a reply.
9847562
At the moment, it seems superfluous, but when we get ponies and people together, it’ll make it easier to follow what’s happening and why everyone can’t understand what’s being said.
9847567
Well I mean, he got jumped in his own house...
9847576
True, but, for all we know, they existed but were overpowered or he got hit on bare skin.
(Or he never took ancient runes and is too paranoid to let someone else do runework on his clothing that he can't read.)
great update, keep up the great work! Also i cannot wait for Hermione to meet Twilight! just imagine Hermione's reaction to that Harry's mom used to live in a LIBRARY! and has access to a ROYAL LIBRARY lol.
Nice update!
9847567
I feel like the problem with such protection runes is that they complicate things for no real reason. You'd basically have to always keep in mind what spells these runes would protect against and what spells could just overpower them as well as considering who might have such runes. It just seems like it would be easier to simply assume everyone has them all the time or that such things don't exist in canon (and they most certainly do not exist in either HP or MLP canon).
Author, you forgot the 'c' in 'unicorns'.
9847574
I personally got that vibe from the beginning, since there's no way Equestrians would be speaking English, or any human-recognisable language; what better way to symbolise that than using different quotation marks?
If Twilight's his mum, and she adopted Harry, shouldn't that be his brother Harry?
Well hopefully once she wakes up she will have the ability to find Harry. I can’t wait until the mane 6 meet Snape. I think he will be in for one very bad experience as half of Twilight’s friends are not going to be liking him at all.
9847677
Thanks.
9847690
Another good catch.
9847577
Plus, even here Harry said it wouldn't hold off a major curse. And there's no way that Barty Jr led off with a bat-bogey hex.
I was wondering if Twilight would make a mistake in her calculations due to being sleep deprived, hopefully she double checks them on waking.
So the way Hermione is reacting indicates she is being bullied and is laking in close friends i wonder what effect that will have.
Should be interesting seeing the moment Snape realizes taking points from Harry is pointless and Twilight's response to his teaching methods.
Well I guess the only solution for Snape would something in the main hall recording Harry's points. Though its unlikely Dumbledore would go for it since that could make Harry a Hogwart's student
Yep, it's only a matter of time before Twi finds her way to Harry. Heaven have mercy on any who get in her path.
9847718
I'm more interested in seeing everyone's shocked reactions when they see three CMC member kissing on Harry.
YOU'RE MARRYING THREE GIRLS?!?!??
9847690
actually no... as stated in the show, Twilight sees Spike as her brother, not her son, so that would make Harry his nephew
Just for the sake of being contrary, I note the fact that Snape seems to be the only Head of a house who actually involves himself in it's business. He makes a particular effort to manage them and help them excel, something that we never seem to see the other three heads do. Sure it's favoritism, but there ought to be three other teachers balancing his influence.
Seriously, how many times did McGonagall turn up in Gryffindor tower except when someone had set a figurative (or literal) fire?
9847790
Yeah, but in this fanfic, the author has Spike refer to Twilight as his mother.
9847792
A fair point.
Nice we finally got to see her in the story and it sounds like she became a lot more weary of other and became a shut in, can't wait to see how this grow out to become.
9847788
Well I think they may be adding Luna to their group. I think she is crushing on him hard right now.
9847860
Would not mind. Luna's adorable
9847790
Actually, Twilight's and Spike's canon relationship is completely irrelevant since this is an AU where Spike!POV narrative explicitly referred to Twilight as Spike's 'mum'. Where did that happen you ask? In the section that the person you replied to quoted... meaning you didn't bother to read the quote they were asking the author about.
Does this story seem a little "paint by numbers" to anyone else? The latest chapter almost follows a to-do list:
9847870
It does feel like there is a lot of dicking around going on, which was a problem with the Hogwarts segments in Wishes, most of the chapters seem to just focus on Harry critiquing the wizards with not much time spent on actually moving the plot forward. Hopefully, the story stops dragging its feet soon and gets the main plot moving.
9847768
Makes sense about Hermione. Most positive interactions she had early on were initiated by or involved Harry. Without the little push he brought along, she would probably just be seen as a show off type of know-it-all.
I hope twilight is a momma bear
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9847906
And yet, if I hadn’t mentioned Hermione, nor an interaction with Snape, I would have been endlessly criticized for failing to do so. (Maybe not Hermione and Ginny if I had let them get killed off).
I think I cannot agree more.
That's why my salary also include gems.
9847938
Better to upset some people than slow the story to a crawl on things that don't matter. Unless Snape and Hermione are gonna play significant roles in the story moving forward there is no reason to spend so much time on them. Even then it's not like Snape's class was needed just to introduce Hermione.
Man it is just so heartbreaking to see Hermione like this. Without Harry and the catalyst of the bathroom troll incident, she's obviously remained a social outcast, to the point where she's suspicious of other students approaching her. At least with the boys, though in the books it didn't seem like she got along with the girls of her age group, especially Lavender, and since Ron's probably one of her chief antagonists, it's unlikely she would have been inclined to have a friendship with Ginny in this timeline either.
Also this chapter sums up what was said earlier about Snape: excellent potion master...lousy teacher.
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What we have here is a failure to communicate.
The problem isn't the inclusion of these characters, but the manner in which they were written. They come across as though you felt obligated to include these events, rather than having the thrill of the narrative you're creating driving you. It would have been bad if they had not been included, but their inclusion feels like unadorned structure. I cannot tell you what you should do differently per se, only that it lacks feeling.
9847790
I dont agree with that view especially since the main support comes from season 9 which alot of the time feels like its written by someone with no knowledge of the show.
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Or her just dismissing Harry and the others in the philosophers stone when they warned her it was in danger.
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Well she was right if Harry and co had listened and done nothing the stone would have remained safe.
Spike the best assistant ever.
ok so Twilight now know the were now she needs to find the how.
a grate story.
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They probably would have done nothing if the professor did something. Think about how things would have developed if McGonnagal had simply said "I will deal with this Mr Potter kindly go somewhere far away from teh corridor so yoy don't get hurt and dont mention this to anyone else so we can set a trap." Then told Dumbledore today was the day he shouldnt be flying to London on a broom.
9848210
She told them the stone was too well protected to be stolen. They also had no proof a theft was happening and they accused Snape of being the one after it. She had no reason to do anything other tell them to forget about the stone.
Also Dumbledore had already left by the time they warned her.
9848253
In which case she had a reason to tell him to come back. If they know about the stone then they probably have reason to genuinely view something as a threat.
Continue the good work my friend.
Great chapter to a brilliant story.
Quick question, will Harry’s godfather come into the story?
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That is exactly how it was. Ron even commented that she had no friends.
A book person with no social skills, tossed into a boarding school where everyone makes groups?
If she had been put into Ravenclaw, her thirst for knowledge would have been supported/recognized.
If she had been in Hufflepuff -- wait, she would not have.
Heck -- ** WHY IS HERMIONE IN GRIFFINDOR?!? **
She has **none** of the traits of that house.
She only got them from the initial train ride into hogwarts when she interacted with Harry.
Lacking that whole thing on the train? There would be no reason for the hat to not put her in the house of knowledge.
9848088
um...Voldemort would have eventually figured out how to get the stone...Yes the Mirror was a Major road block but i don't think it would have stalled him for much longer. The thing is that the Professor should have said she would deal with it and sent a letter to Dumbledore and gathered the professor's and looked into the issue...the fact that 11 year olds knew enough to be worried should have told her that the protections were not as good as she thought.
Man, fuck you.
9848723
Who the fuck pissed in your coffee?
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The Author. For losing me The Game. And now you, for doing it again just hours later! Faust damn it, I had nearly a year long streak going!