Ch. 25 — Belated Inspiration
Ch. 25 — Belated Inspiration
«Discord swears he would never do anything to harm the Cutie Mark Crusaders.» Fluttershy proudly informed her friends. «He said they’re the next best thing to him in creating chaos out of nothing. He’d sooner give up chaos than do anything that would cause them pain. Plus, he reminded me he had promised never to deliberately hurt any ponies with anything he might or might not do. Especially if they were friends of mine.» She hung her head down low. «He was rather offended that we thought he would harm them.»
Twilight sighed and looked at her other friends. That pretty much closed that avenue of investigation. They could only hope it was something innocuous that the three fillies had gotten themselves into. Missing-pony bulletins had been sent to every corner of Equestria and beyond, asking for information about them. Although, she had to smirk, all they really had to do was watch the news reports for unexplained explosions and incidents involving three fillies.
«I did ask about Harry, again,» she added. «He still insists he had nothing to do with Harry disappearing. When I asked if he could find Harry, or knew where he was, Discord said that there are some things in which for him to express an interest might change those things — the observer effect, he called it, something about Schrödinger’s cat —,» she looked very puzzled for a moment, «and not for the better. Too much chaos simply becomes destruction.» She looked slightly frightened at the prospect.
Applejack stared at her. «That’s not ominous at all, is it girls?» She looked over at Twilight and the others, wide-eyed.
۸-ꞈ-۸
The Chinese Fireball dragon studied Harry coldly for a moment, then let a small bit of smoke curl from her nostrils. §I did not expect to see you again, pony,§ she said aloofly. §Nor with two-legs.§ She glared at the two wizards on brooms. §Nor two-legs with wings?§ She studied the three girls carefully.
§The two-legs with wings are my betrothed. They wear the semblance of the two legs to better fit in with them than I do — the wings are temporary.§ He paused. §I had to see you again,§ he said, §to thank you and the other three for your performances during the task. It was truly a surprise, and tricked the two-legs completely.§
He wasn’t sure, but he thought she might have blushed. She turned her head to the side for a moment and inspected the tiny valley far below. §Yes, it was rather well-planned, wasn’t it?§
§Have your eyes recovered completely? I do so apologize for him hurting you like that. I never dreamed he would start with such a hurtful curse.§ He smirked. §Although, you did give him a rather nice and thorough roasting. I admire your restraint in not simply eliminating him in retaliation.§
She scowled and let out a blast of fire to one side.
He could hear the others behind him crying out in surprise.
§I should have roasted him, but the two-legs get extremely upset when any of us kill the annoying excrements. And who knows what they might have done to my eggs if I had?§ A dense cloud of smoke drifted from her nostrils. §He survived, then did he?§ she said with more than a hint of regret.
§Yes. He’s completely recovered, now. But it took far longer than your eyes did, I’d wager.§
She nodded.
§Anyway,§ he said, §I have a thank you gift for you to add to your hoard.§
She growled and glared at the wizards behind him. §They don’t allow us to have a hoard. We cannot forage as we used to.§
Harry backwinged in shock. §That cannot be!§ he exclaimed.
She nodded sadly and rested her chin on the ledge a moment. §We each have only a tiny bit. What we have managed to scavenge or were gifted from our mothers or partners.§
He shook his head in dismay. That meant his present would radically shake things up here. But, be that as it may, he owed the four dragons. §May I land and add my gift to your hoard?§
Moments later, he was using his wand, at the far back of the cave, to guide the arc of gold rocks from his trunk to the floor, and unshrinking it in the process. He carefully avoided the nest of eggs at one side.
The dragon watched, gobsmacked.
§It is only five tons,§ he explained. §A ton more than what I will give the other three because you suffered so at the wand of Victor Krum. I hope it pleases you.§
The dragon had spread the gold out and was almost wallowing in it. §It is real gold!§ she exclaimed, after eating one of the rocks.
It was so small in comparison to her mouth, he had to shake his head in amazement that she could make such a definitive statement.
§And pure!§
Her taste buds have to be amazing.
If a dragon could purr, he was sure she would have.
She wriggled happily. §And it feels so good!§ She sighed and another dense cloud of smoke came out.
Harry unobtrusively cast the bubble-head spell. Then he shrank his trunk and stowed it back under his armour in the pocket for incidentals.
§I shall take my leave, now, dragon mother,§ he said as he bowed deeply, chin almost on the ground.
She gently pushed a small portion of the gold over to her eggs, and tenderly started to pack it around them, breathing small flames to warm the eggs and melt the gold to flow around them and better retain the heat.
He turned and headed back to the front of the cave.
Behind him, he heard her say, §Dragon and pony against the world, pony. Dragon and pony against the world. If you ever need my help, again, just ask.§
He turned back to her and bowed deeply. §I thank you for that offer, dragon mother, . . .§ he tilted his head inquiringly.
§Slow Charm, pony,§ she interrupted him, §my name is Slow Charm.§
Harry paused a second. §Thank you for your friendship, Slow Charm. My name is Hairy Hard-slick-ground Sparkle.§ He suppressed a grimace, his first names didn’t translate well. Fortunately, no pony or wizard would ever hear it. The dragons, naturally, wouldn’t care.
§Oh, I almost forgot. The stupid two-legs never knew of the noble language of dragons. Now that I have told them of it, they wish to learn it to converse with you. Or arrange a method of communication.§ He smiled slyly. §Maybe you could trade lessons for gold?§
She looked back at him and smirked.
§The tall, red-headed two-legs is a friend of mine,§ Harry continued, §He might be able to arrange something . . . advantageous?§
They shared grins. Then he turned and went back to the cave entrance. He heard her chuckling happily behind him, interspaced with what she considered “gentle” blast-furnace-like flames.
The other three dragons were equally pleased with their gifts, and he left each as she began rearranging her nest.
Director Dalca was convinced that he really could talk with the dragons.
There seemed to be an awful lot of bugling coming from the mountains behind them as they returned to the wizards’ headquarters late that afternoon.
Relations between dragons and wizards were about to take a dramatic shift.
That evening, at dinner, he told the dragon wranglers the names of the four dragons he had met, and that he had told them the wizards wanted to communicate. “Why don’t you set up a translation board?” he suggested. “You can record words I say, then link them to words on the board. That way, anyone can ‘speak’ the language without actually having to learn it. Then, as you get more experience, you can have the dragons record words for you until you have a complete spoken dictionary.”
By the end of the next day, he was sorry he had said anything because he was so hoarse from recording all the commands and questions the wizards wanted to be able to say.
The next day, they had twice as many.
Still, he found time to pull Charlie aside. “Look, Charlie, these dragons don’t have hoards worth mentioning. And a dragon without a hoard is a pitiful sight. They eat some of the gold for nutritional reasons, and measure their position in their society by how big it is.” He smirked. “They spend a good deal of their time and energy gifting and stealing some from each other, so I imagine you’ll find they spend less time annoying you and the other wizards.”
Charlie shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Our budget would never hold up to giving the dragons gold, Harry. We just can’t do that.” He continued to shake his head sadly. “I’d like to do that, but . . . .” He spread his arms, hands up, in a ‘what can I do?’ position with a questioning expression on his face.
Harry grinned. “I can’t explain right now, but you really need to talk with Ron, in person, and explain your problem. He might be able to help.”
Charlie gave him a sceptical look.
“Honest, Charlie. Make the time. You won’t regret it! And it will partially solve your problem.” He paused a moment and smirked. “And in a year or so, you’ll be running this place.”
Charlie folded his arms over his chest and gave him a very sceptical look.
Harry just laughed. “Remember, everyone disbelieved that dragons had a language.”
After a further moment’s stare, the wizard pursed his lips and sighed. “Okay. I’ll see if I can get the last weekend of Easter Hols off for a visit home.” He stared at Harry. “You better not be pranking me just to get me to visit the family,” he threatened.
Harry grinned. “No problem. Just tell Ron I said it was important to share.”
Shaking his head in resignation, the red-head slowly walked off, muttering to himself.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders had decided that because they were now in human form, and humans didn’t seem to have cutie-marks but they were transformed ponies, that maybe they could get a second cutie mark as “dragon wranglers.”
Logic was not one of their strong suits.
It was more than passingly strange to see big and burly grownups with tattoos and scars getting nervous at the sight of the three young teenagers approaching their work areas. Many simply adopted the attitude that whatever they had been doing was finished and they quickly vacated the premises.
The dragons seemed to think the fillies’ investigations and attempts were hilarious, and the fillies made several friends among the younger preadolescent dragons. The lack of direct communication did not seem to be an issue.
Several forest fires, two destroyed sheds, a collapsed cliff, a flooded pasture, several traumatized sheep, goat, and cow herds, and a bunny-rabbit stampede later, Director Dalca declared the three to be honorary Dragon handlers, and gave them patches to sew onto their robes. He also gave them a set of official Dragon Handler books from the Sanctuary, and stated that while the three had interned at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, unfortunately, the Reserve wouldn’t have any opening for the next few decades, until after his retirement. “However, I will,” he said as rubbed his hands together gleefully, “be happy provide you with letters of introduction to any Dragon Reserve at which you might apply for a job.”
The fillies were thrilled and honoured. As a result, the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary experienced their very first Harmony song, with Dragons bugling in the background as backup.
The translation boards had become books with the help of a clever artificer, and had several thousand words. Harry lost his voice for a day.
Unfortunately, they returned to Hogwarts without any new cutie marks.
۸- ̫ -۸
The next six weeks at school passed quickly. The Crusaders determined they had discovered all the hidden passages and rooms in the castle — a feat no one else had accomplished in the last thousand years. Harry had the feeling that maybe a few of those hidden passages hadn’t been there six months ago, as one led directly from the Gryffindor Common Room to the attic where the herd of miniature Aethon flying horses had settled. It was only one short flight of stairs — down — which wouldn’t even have made it to the floor below. It was, Scootaloo declared, quite convenient.
She was really getting into teaching them the tricks that she had learned as a cadet in the Equestrian Weather Service — and a few tricks Rainbow had taught her about flying. She had never seen a group of ponies look so disbelieving as when she sat-up with her legs crossed while flying around the attic. They kept glancing from their own wings to hers and back, while tentatively flapping them.
It was also Scootaloo who had made those discoveries possible. They had been in the Room of Lost Things, which was now almost completely empty and barely the size of one of the dorm rooms — taking a break between studying. They had been discussing the passages and rooms they had found. She had looked around, and petulantly said, “Well, I want to see the other rooms we haven’t found. I know there have to be at least one or two.”
Sweetie Belle had said, “I don’t think there are any we haven’t found. I mean, we’ve even scoured the attics!”
Scootaloo had hovered around the room. “Yeah, but we would’ve never found Salazar’s Chamber if it hadn’t already been opened. There must be some rooms we haven’t found! What about the other founders? I want to find the other rooms!” She stomped her foot on the floor.
Only a few moments later, thirteen doors had appeared along one wall.
One led to the previously unknown ‘Rowena’s Library’ — really just her office, apparently, but that’s what everyone else was calling it; the next, to ‘Godrick’s Armoury’ — mostly medieval weaponry for defence of the castle, but now in dire need of cleaning and polishing, except for the goblin weapons, of course; and a third to ‘Helga’s Hothouse’ — a greenhouse on the roof where she had kept copious records of the seeds and plants she had brought to Hogwarts. All three locations had the founders’ personal diaries and notes, as well as small libraries. Four doors led to rooms that held nothing more than dust. The other six led to various areas in the castle, including one room that had a really odd mirror in it. The door from the Room of Requirement disappeared as they entered the middle of each hidden passage from it, meaning they had to keep returning to the Room of Requirement and starting over.
The Daily Prophet had been furious that three “foreigners” had discovered what everyone had been searching for for generations. Instead, they played up that Harry Potter, and to a minor degree Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood, had been the discoverers. The three fillies’ efforts had been relegated to a small paragraph at the very end of a long article, all by itself, at the bottom of a back page as the last “continued” part of the article. In print half the size of regular. In German.
A steady parade of ministry officials and historians had been to the school to inspect the finds. Harry had received a medal, Order of Merlin, Third Class, which he had promptly tossed into his trunk and forgotten. Hermione had been scandalized, both at the treatment of the fillies by the ministry and by his treatment of the medal.
Ron told him that Charlie had been promoted at the Dragon Sanctuary, he was now Assistant Director. And that the dragons’ diet had been significantly upgraded — they looked healthier, too! They certainly weren’t as ornery with the wizards as they used to be. Things were a lot calmer, except for the normal squabbles between the dragons. Which, oddly enough, seemed to have intensified. The Dragons, strangely, were happier in general as a result.
There was even a rumour, according to Charlie, that the Romanian wizarding government was going to give him a medal for revealing the dragons’ language and the subsequent improvements at the Sanctuary and in relations between the two species.
And a few wizards had been roasted trying to steal some of the dragons’ gold, but nobody wanted to talk about that.
۸- ̫ -۸
In response to Professor McGonagall’s directions after classes in the last week of May, Harry made his way at nine o’clock that night to the Quidditch field. He was transfigured into a person. He studied the stands that he had been told was where they played that strange game as he approached. He arrived in time to hear Cedric’s outraged exclamation, “What have they done!?”
The field between the stands was crisscrossed in every direction with what looked like tightly-packed low walls. As he got closer, he saw that they were actually hedges. He didn’t understand why Cedric was so upset. It wasn’t as if they played quidditch on the ground. It could be a field of rocks, weeds, or water, and it would have no effect on the game, or players, at all.
As he bent down to examine the hedge, he heard a cheery voice call, “Hello there!” He looked up. It was Ludo Bagman. He was standing with the other two champions, Krum and Fleur, in the middle of the field.
Harry and Cedric made their way to the three.
After explaining the maze, and objective, the Triwizard Cup, Bagman said, “You have to enter the maze through the proper entrance. Once inside,” he glanced at Harry, “you won’t be able to fly out of the maze, so no taking shortcuts.” Then came the order of the champions. Harry was first, of course.
Harry nodded. It was no secret he liked to use the wings spell. He had no doubts that all three of the other champions had readily mastered that spell, too.
As they started back, Victor pulled Harry aside and asked to speak to him. Surprised, but not having a reason to say “no,” Harry agreed. The Bulgarian started to lead Harry away from the others
Bagman looked slightly upset for some reason. His offer to wait for Harry explained it. He wanted a word with Harry, even though, as a judge, he shouldn’t be talking alone with any of the four champions.
“No thanks, it’s not a problem, Mr. Bagman,” replied Harry politely, “I’m pretty sure I can find the castle on my own.” It was becoming harder and harder to put up with the stupidity of the adult wizards. The children, he could understand. They were still learning and finding their way in life. The adults? They had no excuse for the dumb things they said and did. He shook his head. It seemed as if every interaction he had with an adult wizard, or witch, that wasn’t in a classroom, merely proved the voice in his head — which persisted in calling them stupid — was right.
He was torn between learning all he could of wand magic, here, or just getting shot of the stupidity continuously on display and going home. Well, when he could go home.
A pony saying something like that would be doing so out of prey instincts — never get separated, always stick with the crowd, two ponies could watch in all directions, three was even better, and so forth.
But people? Predators followed the philosophy of the loner. Company meant competition, not reassurance that nothing could sneak up behind you. Predators were even more nervous with company composed primarily of strangers — one of whom might betray them at any moment.
Still, Harry knew that Victor had nothing untoward in mind. Directly attacking a fellow champion outside of the tasks would lead to retaliation by the Goblet of Fire. However, being led closer to the forest made him a bit nervous. He slowed and transformed back to a pony and dropped back to all-fours. Krum frowned, but said nothing at the change.
He kept a close watch on his surroundings as Krum queried him about Hermione.
Harry didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted that the Quidditch star thought he might be involved with the witch. Hadn’t he heard that Harry was affiancéd to the three fillies? He shook his head. How could the wizard believe the garbage that the Daily Prophet liked to print? The writers of that rag had Harry paired up with half the school’s witches. He sighed. It looked like Victor was well on his way to being a stupid wizard.
After reassuring the Bulgarian that there was no romantic interest between the colt and Hermione, they were about to head back when Harry heard a movement in the forest.
Reacting instantly, Harry went up on his rear hooves, pulled his wand and readied a shield spell for his horn. Simultaneously, he pushed back on the other wizard, herding him from the trees.
“Vot is it?” said Krum, looking back and forth between Harry and the forest as he copied Harry and pulled out his wand.
Before Harry could say anything, a man staggered out from behind a thick oak.
It was Mr. Crouch, and he looked terrible. He looked as though he had been traveling for days. He was unshaven, grey with exhaustion, and his face scratched and bleeding in places. His normally neat hair and moustache were neither. His robes were ripped and bloody. His behaviour was equally unusual. He acted as if he were talking to someone that no one else could see — he muttered and gestured wildly. He reminded Harry of a tramp he had once seen, a very long time ago. He’d been scared and curious, at the time.
“Isn’t he von of the judges?”
“Mr. Crouch, do you need help?”
The man staggered and fell to his knees.
Harry and Victor moved forward, closer to the man. Harry kept a close watch on the trees, eyes flicking from shadow to shadow, ears swivelling to and fro to find and track the slightest sound, and his nose, raised sniffing and twitching, for any betraying smells in the air.
Mr. Crouch gasped. He reached out and weakly grabbed Harry’s robes. “Dumbledore!” He dragged Harry closer, his eyes stared into the forest. “See . . . Dumbledore. . . .”
Harry gave the wizard a quick glance. “Okay,” he said. He took a deep breath. He would have to carry the man, he was in no shape to go anywhere on his own.
Mr. Crouch wheezed painfully. “Stupid . . . stupid . . . thing . . . I . . . .” He looked absolutely mad. A trickle of spittle slid down his chin. Every word he spoke seemed to cost him a terrible effort. “Tell . . . Dumbledore . . . .” His eyes bulged out and rolled.
It was but a quick moment to cast mobilicorpus and grip his wand in his teeth as he ran on all fours for the infirmary, towing the mumbling madman behind him.
“Dead . . . Bertha . . . my fault . . . dead . . . ,” Mr. Crouch said faintly.
Harry stampeded into the infirmary, yelling, “Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey!” around the wand.
“What?” said the matron as she came out of her office. She gasped at seeing the man floating behind Harry. “Put him on that bed!” she ordered, pointing, before rushing back into her office. She almost immediately returned with an armload of potions. She dumped them on the table beside the bed and started casting diagnostic charms. “Start casting episkey on every cut you can see,” she directed, as she poured a potion down the wizard’s throat.
The aimless mumbling tapered off with a final, “Stronger . . . so very . . . Harry Potter . . . the Dark Lord . . . .”
Krum came staggering into the ward a bit later, breathing hard, followed soon after by the Headmaster and Professors Snape and Moody.
While Madam Pomfrey tended her patient, Harry and Victor told them all they had heard and seen.
By the time they had finished, so had she.
“Well, he’s asleep for now. Poor man’s exhausted. I’ve healed all his injuries and given him a Dreamless Sleep potion. Hopefully, when he wakes in the morning, he’ll be more coherent and can tell us what happened to him.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him, tonight,” Moody growled.
“I think we should alert the Aurors,” Harry said. “He is a ministry official and he’s obviously been attacked.” He glanced at the growling Mad-Eye. “It is unfair to Professor Moody to expect him to have handled classes today and then do more tomorrow after staying awake all night to watch over Mr. Crouch.”
The Headmaster looked at Harry, eyes twinkling. “Surely you don’t expect the man to be attacked here in Hogwarts, in the Hospital Ward?”
Harry stared back levelly. “If an agent of Voldemort . . . ,”
Madam Pomfrey, and a few others who had snuck in, gasped.
“. . . can sneak in — and stay here for an entire year — as happened twice, two and three years ago, and then last year, one actually attacked a student in his bed, without you noticing he was here, what makes you think it can’t, or hasn’t, happened again?”
Moody chuckled. “The boy has you there, Albus.”
It was clear that the Headmaster did not like that reminder.
“Hm. Yes, Perhaps I should alert the Aurors,” he said quietly, stroking his beard.
Harry just stared at him. As the leader of what he had been told was the “good” side of magic, the wizard had a rather lax view of the law and his own responsibilities to maintain peace in a castle full of children. He seemed to think the law didn’t matter, here, only his opinion.
After they had stood quietly for several moments, waiting for a decision of some kind, Madam Pomfrey announced, from her office door, “The Aurors will be here shortly. I called them through the emergency floo.”
Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise. Someone had actually done something?
The next hour was an exercise in tedium as Harry was repeatedly questioned by two different aurors. Victor was not spared, either.
They decided that moving the sleeping Mr. Crouch to St. Mungo’s was unnecessary. It likely would make it easier for an agent of the Dark Lord to get to the wizard, they concluded. Instead, they left a two-person team to take turns throughout the night watching over the sleeping man.
It was a very tired colt who wandered into his dorm well after the normal curfew to find his three filly friends waiting for him, and not just a little worried that he had been out for so long.
۸-_-۸
Harry was not surprised to hear that Mr. Crouch was apparently insane, now. Whatever the wizard or witch had done to him had destroyed his mind. He seemed worse than he had the night before, lost in world that hadn’t existed for at least five years. Apparently, he had been obliviated as part of his torture.
Only occasionally was he coherent enough to string together a sentence that had a noun that agreed with a verb. Or respond to a question with more than one or two word answers that might even have been related to the question — if you struggled hard enough to link them.
Unfortunately, he had a reputation for "fighting fire with fire" while he had been the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during the first wizarding war in England. His rigid application of the law had made him many enemies, many of whom were not in Azkaban. No one knew where to start looking for a more specific motive.
He was transferred to St. Mungo’s Janus Thickey Ward, which was responsible for long-term treatment of spell damaged wizards and witches.
The remaining weeks running up to the third task were filled with revising and practicing magic. Harry had finally completed the Seventh Year textbooks, and started on the more esoteric books that he knew would be useful when he returned home — magical healing spells and potions headed the list, followed by the intricacies of making wands, floo operation, portkeys, disapparition and apparition, the Undetectable Expansion Charm, and runes.
Harry, Sweetie Belle, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna surprised everyone by deciding to take the O.W.L.s for D.A.D.A., Charms, and Transfigurations when the schedule was posted, especially the three Hogwarts witches. The three witches had been working with Harry and his tutors whenever they weren’t in their regular classes, which gave them an advantage that none of their peers could match. It was also risk-free for them because they were taking them ahead of their year-groups. If they didn’t get good grades this year, they could retake the tests next year.
The O.W.L. exams were as brutal as everyone had told them, they discovered, starting the Monday before the third task. Even with the help of Hayscartes’ Method, the detail requested in the exams was daunting. The practicals were much easier than Harry had anticipated, but then again he had been practicing with the sixth and seventh year spells, which built on those of the earlier years.
Strictly speaking, Harry didn’t have to take the exams as he was exempted from them. Just being a Triwizard Tournament Champion was a free pass on the N.E.W.T.s for all the subjects he had “officially” taken. Taking the N.E.W.T.s also meant an automatic pass in the O.W.L.s. Still, he wanted to know how well he measured in comparison to the other students.
He was sure, from their practice sessions, that the fillies would all perform admirably. Honestly, if Sweetie Belle got just an Average in the three wanded courses, he would be deliriously happy. For himself, he was hoping for Exceeds Expectations. Only taking the tests would tell.
He expected the three witches to hit Exceeds Expectations on each of D.A.D.A., Charms, and Transfigurations simply because the three had the benefit of three and four years of magic by this time.
Their performances were all due to their tutors, he knew. He had sufficient stocks of gold easily to reward the two students with a ton each — he had had to do something to amuse himself after showing his friends his runes in the mountains. Amusingly, they had discovered, as he knew would happen, that they spent more time fetching rocks as sources than waiting for the transfer.
Unfortunately, they would have to wait until next week to discover how they had done in the tests. In the meantime, Hermione was obsessing over the tests they had taken. She asked everyone she could pigeon-hole what they had answered for certain questions she wasn’t positive she had gotten correct. That, and wring her hands while she fearfully stated she was sure she had failed everything and that she shouldn’t have taken the tests early.
Ginny reassured the rest of the group that this was normal behaviour for the witch. Harry starting in again on the sixth-year textbooks managed to distract her some, as he suggested she could get an early start on next year.
۸-_-۸
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Dumbledore always take confidence in the school's ward and his spells rather than take precaution.
Loved the update. Hopefully Twilight and friends show up soon. I look forward to her ripping the wizard world a new one for ponynapping her son lol.
Also I am also curious how harry will handle the third task, as all he'd need do is use levitation on the trophy and the portkey wouldn't trigger
A adult with any kind of authority in Magical Britain doing something rational and useful?
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9930237
And it is especially amusing in this case given who all is in the room at the time that sentence is spoken.
Sigh, Discord your hurting ponies right now by leaving them worrying about their family (possibly financially in as well as emotuonally Applejacks case) instead of just telling them you sent the crusaders to be with Harry but can't do the same for them as you've already pushed boundaries as far as you can. They know their sisters and Harry are safe for now.
Good job, Discord! You completely avoided the question! I'm pretty sure Fluttershy asked you if you knew where the CMC were, not if you had harmed them - which is what you answered!
You manipulative little piece of work, Discord; I'm proud of you.
Now...I wonder if Discord's going to intervene when Harry's abducted2...he did promise the CMC wouldn't be "harmed", and that should include mental harm along with the more obvious physical harm. Needless to say, the CMC will suffer mental harm when Harry's abducted2, so Discord will need to ensure their fiancé isn't physically or mentally harmed too.
Harry: Predators are all paranoid loners!
Social predators (including humanity): *exists*
Excellent chapter!
So... Is Discord going to help Twilight after the Tri-Wizard finish? Is Harry going to defeat Voldemort before he could say "Avada Keda... *ouch*"?
Also, I wonder if Twilight is going to try Time Travel to search for the crusaders or put a spell to locate Harry before he disappear and find him in the present.
Is the pink toad going to give Harry any problem even when he take the N.E.W.T?
Is Harry going to be the D.A.D.A teacher?
Could Harry try to get a mastery after the N.E.W.T?
Twilight is an idiot who should know about technicalities. He said he wouldn't do anything to harm them, he DIDN'T say he wasn't responsible for their disappearance.
9930353
Especially after the maze debacle when she first met Discord.
This is a good chapter.
You know, with the current rate of improving relations with the dragons, and the new path of diplomacy with the dragon 'races'.
I fear what is to come, with the dragon(s?) in Gringotts' lower vaults, was it rendered insane or was it still just an infant when starting as their guard...
That little bit with the dragons was awesome, he's likely something of a hero to the whole dragonkind on Earth now. Add that to the equestrian's work with unicorns and mini Pegasus and their influence shall be felt long after they're gone.
Cutie Mark Crusaders Dragon Wranglers made me laugh, I don't deny
I suddenly had a thought, in the books, while Harry was willing to share fiding the goblet with Cedric... he was out to prove that he could compete with the other older students. Thus the trap that had been set worked as well as it did. But here we have a pony Harry, who isn't out to win, who isn't out to prove himself, who could care less if one of the other champions gets the goblet even if he finds (stumbles across) it first.
Heck, as far as I tell... with what I've read, just entering the maze fulfills Harry's contract as a champian. Yes, he has to walk the maze, but nowhere does it say he needs to be the winner. So, off he goes into the maze and just needs to keep taking the same turns to deadends until someone elts finds the stuped cup. Or if he finds it (do to someone rigging the maze to steer him to the cup) he could just walk away or sit down and wait for someone elts to come along and claim it...
Bald-dee-mort and the other death-eaters have come across something they hadn't counted on... Harry has no reason to care about the wizarding world or any secret prophecy... so what are they going to think when he doesn't show up when cup ports a different champian to them?
9930267
Well if you take the not unreasonable assumption that the various members of the Hogwarts staff are masters in their respective fields, then it is only logical that Madame Pomfrey is an exceptional mediwitch. And every good doctor knows the value of escalating an emergency to the people most capable of handling it.
Poor Mr. Crouch, sure he gets to live in this timeline, but it seems Barty Jr. still found an opportunity to mind wipe him during the night, so he still fails to properly warn anyone...
9930691
Well, while the cup being a Portkey plan is probably a bust, the maze still gives Barty Jr. plenty of other chances to find a way to send him to Voldy...
9930237
It's interesting to note that the only year Voldemort didn't have some sort of agent in the castle was the one where the MoM sent someone just as bad...
9930852
too true...
I'm surprised that he didn't track down the actual meaning of his names, given that he grew up in a culture more like Japan or China, where linguistic drift and religious borrowing haven't separated naming from meaning.
Countries with a religion not originating in their own language are the exception to how human cultures develop, because you need foreign cultural references to overwhelm the natural tendency to give meaningful names using native words. (That's why, when you hear a name like "dances-with-wolves", you should realize that your name, with its non-obvious meaning, is the weird one.)
For example, for the names his birth parents gave him:
Harry originates as a short form of either Harold or Henry.
Harold is an Old English name that basically means Army-leader.
Henry or Henri traces back to Heimeric in Common Germanic, meaning "home ruler".
James is a Latin variant of the Hebrew Jacob with multiple possible interpretations, including "follower", "to supplant/circumvent/assail/overreach", and "heel" (that last one coming into play in the biblical story of Jacob's birth where he came out holding Esau's heel.)
Potter needs no explanation since it's what it looks like. A family name that originated as "<given name>, the maker of pots".
*chuckle* Reminds me of a friend (who I really need to get back in touch with) who wrote about some fine print about bad interactions with a comically specific other situation from a non-HP magic product being overlooked because it was written in boustrophedon ogham and looked like a decorative border on the label.
Yet another thing that should have been an obvious way to change things up in HP fanfic, yet you're the first person I've seen who did it.
I mean, bit meta, but he’s not wrong. In this situation, if Discord were to actively help the girls with the Harry problem, something would prevent him doing so. Basically, the author can write Discord helping, but it’d be too easy and would thus have to write a way to stop Discord helping.
So yeah, that’s quite smart. Discord literally just explicitly said to the readers - us - “I can’t help because it would ruin the story”. In any other case that’d be the kind of thing to annoy people as it’s inaction that’s causing harm to others, something a villain would do. But he said it in such a way that it’s not seen as villainous, but just him being meta him :D
Brilliant.
So... Harry, seemingly by the virtue of being, at the very least, somewhat educated in politics and having been taight how to operate in noble society, does know about omitting information and relying on technicalities and is savvy enough to discern this, but Twilight, who acted as his mother, and, presumably, is the one who signed him up for the lessons with Blueblood(or, at the very least, gave consent to them) and has been, most likely, actively communicating with her son about what he learned, can't notice the most obvious attempt to not answer a question ever.
Basically, what we have here: ponies' politicking is close enough to "human-style" one, so that Harry can utilize skills and information he learned about the topic. He can recognize deception and when people omit facts. This means that ponies can recognize these things even if this was a massively AU Equestria(and it doesn't seem to be the case, so ponies should have experience with deception, especially when Discord has a history of it). This means that Twilight, with experience of parenthood and several years of at least some contact with nobility of Equestria, also can recognize these things. But she doesn't. Nopony does.
I have managed to ignore minor inconstistencies in the story, like with the wings spell, which in the first chapter is specifically mentioned to be exhausting enough that casting it more than once a day or for more than a "short time" isn't feasible for Harry and Sweetie, but later basically everyone starts using it willy-nilly, including Harry and, after coming to Earth, Sweetie. Or like with dragons, where their language is, presumably, parseltongue, but their behaviour, customs and biology are very, very close to Equestria's dragons, which, when taken together, doesn't make any sense and doesn't really even make sense when considered separately. Or like with characters behaving contradictory to how they behaved earlier in the story with no explanation for the change given or implied. But this idiot ball handed to Twilight and company is, I think, enough to break my suspension of disbelief and make me stop reading the story. I don't like reading things that are internally inconsistent.
You rightfully comment on wizards being stupid, but these ponies really need to learn how to ask the right questions of Discord.
Harry should learn the Wings Spell, (not to be confused with The wings spell) capable of summoning Sir Paul McCartney at any given moment.
... Why was Harry telling the dragons about making a deal if you were just going to turn around and have Harry be dumb and tell the wizards the translation idea? Why would he intentionally screw over the dragons like that? I feel like that entire section was now a waste of time to have read, because Harry acted all smug for the idea giving, and then turns around and just gives the information away for free. Literally WTF.
9931104
Wow, so dragons don’t horde gold in our legends, regardless of all the stories I’ve heard? I always thought that MLP having dragons horde gold was projecting our expectations on them -- guess I was wrong. It was a totally original idea from MLP! I wonder how Tolkien managed to see the show back in the early 1900’s?
And the wings spell? Which the story specifically says they will get better at the more they use it, is unlike doing sit-ups? If I get exhausted doing twenty the first day, I should give up, because I’ll never get to the point where doing twenty is easy, even if I work at it every day? In fact, isn’t that how the (canon to HP) Harry and company learn the Patronus Charm? Extremely exhausting at first, easier as time goes on?
And in MLP canon, correct me if I’m wrong, Twilight dislikes diplomacy because she does have to watch out for that sort of stuff and she never was taught it, formally? She doesn’t take creatures at their word? Even when she should know better?
Oh, well, sorry to see you go. The end is in sight, actually. I’ve already written it.
9931682
Because he’s a teenager and didn’t think things through? And that he expects Charlie to hand them the gold for good relations, anyway? Besides, he can only give them questions, not the answers. The wizards will have to pick that up on their own!
9932157
Yeah, and obviously in all of the legends that survive to this day dragons eat gold they hoard. And, by Harry having familiarity with this, it seems like Equestrian dragons are just the same for some reason. Obviously, if it is a dragon, they must eat gold, it is a natural part of their diet, don't you know?
... Sorry, I don't like that style of writing, so I will cut down on sarcasm or whatever, even if my knee-jerk reaction is to want to reply to your message in the same style it was written.
Harry and company didn't improve in casting this spell for however many (five-six or so, probably) years he was in Equestria, but he, and especially Sweetie Belle, managed to train up enough in a couple of months(at most) to cast it several times for a long duration, with enough confidence in their abilities to know this. When Twilight, in(at the very least) later teenage years, with constant magic lessons and practice, was still only capable of one "wings" spell when she tried to cast it. If we are going for analogies, of course each magic spell could be considered like a separate "muscle" that must be trained up separately, but so far my impression of magic, either in HP(where they don't seem to get exhausted after spellcasting and, in particular, transfiguration and conjuration - wings spell probably falls somewhere in those categories - at all, except getting simply tired of trying to get it right) or in MLP(where exhaustion is a thing, and seems to affect physical stamina of the caster as well, but doesn't seem to be the case of "I didn't practice casting this particular rather difficult spell constantly, so it seems like I am bone-tired after one cast" and seems more like the case "I have enough magic to do this bullshit spell, but not too many times, my magic is exhausted after that" where one trains up the general magic capacity, which seems to be an actual defining factor that can be, for example, stolen or transferred semi-permanently. Twilight with all the alicorn magic in her, for example didn't seem to be particularly bothered by casting laser beams of doom, when she obviously didn't have any experience doing this at such a scale before. In this story Twilight(who semi-actively teleports) not being capable of teleporting from Ponyville to Canterlot(and yes, Celestia not even considering Twilight teleporting from Ponyville, but knowing why she didn't teleport from the train station supports this), while Celestia(who, actually, doesn't seem to use teleportation all that much if ever) can do it casually, also seems to support this) was contrary to that. Anyway, by the analogy you used, a couple of months of practice don't make a person that is more fit than average into a successful athlete. Patronus charm in books wasn't actually that exhausting to cast, if I recall right, it was difficult to cast while in the close presense of soul-devoring dementor(even if it was a boggart, it had the aura, at the very least) and difficult to perform correctly and create a corporeal patronus, but not exhausting. Harry in practice with Lupin was casting it dozens of times and wasn't particularly bothered by casting it when Malfoy and co tried to disguise themselves as dementors at the end of a quiddich match(a perfect time to be mentally and physically exhausted. I think it was also his first corporeal patronus cast, judging by the description) and creating an extremely powerful corporeal patronus that chased away dozens of dementors at once when time-travelling. So no, this is not a valid example.
Twilight is Harry's mother here, as I said. Mothers, generally, are interested in what they sign up their child for and what have they learned as a result. Twilight must have either arranged the lessons with Blueblood herself, or gave her consent to them, at the very least. So she must have had some interest in her son knowing this "diplomacy" and "politics" and "how to talk to nobles" stuff. And I don't think that Twilight wouldn't want to know all about how her son's day went and what did he learn from Blueblood(especially when she, probably, has some reasons to dislike him after Grand Galloping Gala and what happened with Rarity). Also, I'll repeat, Twilight is a mother. Knowing when their child is hiding something, not saying something or deflects a question is basically a job requirement and usually is picked up in some way. Here Discord's deflection is at the level of a 10-year old at most: "Do you know where <something> is?" -"I would never try to throw it away or break it, it means a lot to me!". =/ She, and Applejack, and Rarity - who should have some experience in interacting with such excuses(because Cutie Mark Crusaders at the very least. And because Rarity and her business) - don't see this when they already know how Discord can be deceitful ot twist the truth. Even if Twilight did still, after a lot of years, take creatures at their word(which she doesn't - look at Chrysalis as the prime example) - this situation seems implausible. I would have sooner believed either a "No comment" by Discord a-la "There is nothing I can say about this". I mean the same passage has the "I can't interfere here. The chaos will be too much if I do." excuse that everyone takes at face value, why would Discord need or want to deflect the question in such a crude and non-dramatic manner?
Well, hope the bits between this chapter and the end don't give you trouble, but, as I said, I don't think I'm able to continue reading this story at the moment.
9932566
And it is canon that as one gets older they become more proficient and better at magic (in both MLP and HP), where the closer one get to adult, the more POWERFUL one gets. So, yes, you can struggle with something all through grammar school, and find it easy and simple as a teenager. Weight-training is like that, for example. The same with math. That’s why calculus is not taught in grammar school -- the kids simply can’t understand the concepts, even if they can do the actual math when the specific problem is explained.
Which, you will note, is the very FIRST time she tried it, and it lasted ALL day, not just minutes at a time as in the beginning for the teenagers in my story. And the reason she didn’t want to cast it again was that she would be completely exhausted if she did it for Applejack and Pinkie Pie, where the spell lasted ALL day for each of them! That’s quite a different situation!
It is just as unreasonable as Harry learning the Patronus, which was barely a mist in the beginning in January, to casting one powerful enough to chase away a hundred dementors six months later! And then Seamus (an average wizard, not of Harry Potter’s magical strength) mastered the spell well enough to cast a mist in the very first class of Dumbledore’s Army that he went to (in the spring!) of Harry’s Fifth Year at Hogwarts without collapsing as Harry did the first time he successfully cast the spell. Or ending up as exhausted.
So clearly, how old you are does have an effect, both in how quickly you learn a spell, its duration, and how tired it makes you.
Still sorry to see you go. Have a nice day.
9930997
Except theres plenty of ways to say he's pushed what he can do as far as he can while still reassuring the mane 6 the cmcs are fine. He was even asked by said fillies to do that yet here he's letting them run around panicking their sisters are missing and potentially murdered by Chrysalis or the like.
9933244
Thing is though, he’s helping in his own way, and he’s causing chaos which is what he wants. Chaos in Equestria from the Mane 6’s frantic search and chaos in Hogwarts with the CMC. Discord isn’t evil but he can be an asshole. He’d never let it go as far as someone coming into harm’s way if he can help it, but he’s not going to babysit either.
He doesn’t want to go too far into helping the Mane 6, because as said, it’d ruin the story. He can straight grab the CMC back no problems but why would he? He could send the Mane 6 to Hogwarts but why would he?
The only way I can see Discord actually helping in a direct way is if the Mane 6 explicitly ask him to, which I doubt they will as even canonically they seem to forget Discord can help, and he’d probably come up with a reason to say no as he did in this instance, which is an entirely valid reason from our point of view as readers.
I like the Q&A with Discord. Fluttershy wasn't asking the correct questions. Discord would answer truthfully but without elaborating or volunteering information. Which means the Mane 6 are in the dark. Which I find in character for him. XD
9933244
Except in canon his jerkishness after he was redeemed was generally to teach them a lesson or learn one himself. Here he's letting them panic and worry for motnhs that their sister are potentially dead and when asked directly dodges the question rather than just saying their safe but i can't help you find them or better they're safe and with Harry.
Oh dear. Discord really weaseled out of a direct question.
Up until now, I figured he'd say "You never asked if I knew where he was". Now that he was asked that?
... Twilight will show what an angry mother can do.
I agree with harry... Stupid wizards
9935412
*Ponies get off the train returning from Trotham, exhausted and worried.
Discord greets them at the landing.
Twilight glares at discord. "I don't suppose YOU know anything about where the CMC are?"
"Why their with Harry of course."
Twilight grits her teeth. "And why didn't you tell us this before?"
Discord grins. "You never asked. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one Princess Purple Smart." He says after bopping her nose and proofing away.
"DISCOOOOORD!"
*Explosion* END SCENE.
Harry really stresses me with his quite bothersome "predator/prey" remarks. Really hope it's just Tom being a scared animal he is. Cause that idea is... Well, you can guess it - stupid. (=
The faster they get rid of that parasite - the better.
Betrothed. Or engaged.
But not affiancéd! That's for the bride. Husband is either betrothed or engaged.
As well as in prior mentions of this. It's understandable to mess up words, no crime in it, just understand your flubs and move on, after fixing it. Even native speaker can mess up in some literary words. But for the better experience for your readers it'd help to fix those. Cause it may seem unimportant, few people would leave because of the semantics - so what, but with this attitude your following wouldn't really grow. Even if it still seems like it is growing - it could be more, while helping the quality of your writing.
If that was intentional because of the roles being reversed in Equestria, this advice of being more attentive to such details is still a good one. But you also may want to mention that "switch" in roles in the first chapter that Harry mentions being affiancéd, in the notes section. As to make sure people like us understand whether or not it is intentional.
Also, try reading your stories, probably every [insert number] chapters, especially good if you can do it from start to finish. Slowly, attentive and from a neutral perspective, or better yet - sceptical about quality if your work. But only to find grammar and other kinds of mistakes.* Who knows, since the time of writing this you may have developed a better affinity with the language and can spot more mistakes you haven't seen before. Maybe binge-read few chapters and write one page instead of writing two pages.
Because grammar here (and some other moments) is in need of fixing, and it's hard to mention everything on mobile, especially when there's no such thing as public beta to mark those straight from text on this site. While that re-reading solution not only would help you catch those mistakes here, but can also inspire you. If not for this world, then for IWWP, not mentioning that it can be used for fixing and checking facts in other stories too.
* It could also help to find logical mistakes in your stories.
11393713
this reminds me of a scene near the end of "a Mark of appeal" by Estee, where Celestia is talking to a nasty drug-dealing Minotaur who has been arrested, and he wants to talk to her alone, to make a plea deal.
she says something like, "you fancy yourself a Predator, and you think only Prey would keep their word. therefore there is NO point in making a deal with you, because it would never even OCCUR to you to keep YOUR end of ANY bargain."
then she does something very strange...i don't know if i should spoil it.
11393745
I didn't know that. I thought affianced was for both bride and groom.
Betrothed. Or engaged.
But not affiancéd! That's for the bride. Husband is either betrothed or engaged. Really?!