Chapter 46
Ginny was in the middle of taking the opportunity Morning was giving her to fully relax when her newfound peace was interrupted once again. The seats at the long House tables were benches, so she’d sat right next to Morning- and the two had wrapped their near arms around each other. Neither had released the other since; Morning’s Raeth magic was enough to serve them both when the time came… then, Morning fed Ginny anyways. She’d noticed that the girl didn’t seem to be eating much herself- just a couple bites every now and then. She didn’t know why… and in the end, she wasn’t sure that she even cared, so long as the girl wasn’t starving herself.
“Uh, Hi,” Lyra said, having sat next to her. “Ginny. Morning.” She took a deep breath, and her tone went from uncertain to concerned in a heartbeat. “Are you doing alright?”
Ginny looked at her. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean…” Lyra began, once again uncertain. “You… You looked mighty upset on the train. Are you okay, or…?”
She blushed. “Oh, no, I’m fine,” she declared.
Morning Sun chuckled lightly. “I’d say the scare is certainly over, but it takes a lot longer than an hour to fully recover from that much sorrow.” As she spoke, she squoze Ginny softly with the arm still wrapped around her.
Ginny smiled in response, leaning into Morning, and squeezing back. She knew it wouldn’t last forever- it couldn’t, after all- but at least she knew it’d come back.
Lyra nodded softly. “I thought that might be the case. So, um… the instructor assignments.”
Ginny winced, reminded that she’d have to leave Morning for classes. She didn’t look forward to it.
Morning stiffened. “Yes?” she prompted cautiously.
“Well,” Lyra muttered, pausing briefly to scowl at the table. “I… As promised, if you want out, you’ve got it. Both of you.”
Ginny blinked, then turned to look up at Morning. Did Morning accept it too?
Morning must’ve seen the fear in her eyes, because she dumped the fork on the plate to hug her with both arms. “I expect we’ll both be cancelling, then,” she stated softly.
Lyra bowed her head. “About that, actually. We’ve… already elected to match your schedules to each other, so you’ll probably be able to trade and never notice the difference. So, I… I wanted to offer you a little bit of an, ahh, alteration, to the normal instructor pattern as well.”
Morning tilted her head. “... I’m listening.”
“I… We talked about it, and it was approved- so… If you want to go in as an instructor team- meaning, same Instructor Course, same class assignment, working with each other to teach the same class- we can do that. The only required separation would then be a single hour during the Instructor Course, so we can test you individually- but that’s going to be little different from being in just the other room. Is that something…?”
Morning raised an eyebrow. “I thought the instructor teams were supposed to be composed of students from different houses?”
Lyra shrugged. “Normally, yeah, but we’ve got only three Slytherin instructors for your year, and well over two thirds of the remainder are Ravenclaws. Plus, we’re actually more than a little short on student instructors, so we’re breaking that rule- and we’re also supplementing with a few from our year. Don’t worry, it’s not an unmanageable deficiency.”
“Well…” Morning looked down at Ginny.
Ginny looked up at her, and hugged her with both arms as well. “Why not?” she muttered.
Morning smiled, and looked back up at Lyra. “Alright, you’ve got a team. It might take a couple days for her to fully recover, though, so…”
Lyra nodded. “No problem. First year Charms and Transfiguration are both late in the week this year anyways.”
Morning raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah… Before any of this came to light, we were planning to offer Ginny a Charms position, and you a Transfiguration position.”
She let out a snort of laughter. Ginny didn’t see what was so funny.
Lyra grinned as well. “So anyways, seeing as how close of a race it is between those two subjects for either of you, I guess I’m offering both.”
Ginny looked into Morning’s eyes for a second, then back at Lyra. “Whichever one makes things easier for you.”
“Uhh,” Lyra muttered. “They both do.”
“... Oh. Um…” She looked at Morning again. “Transfiguration should be fine. Right?”
Morning nodded, and there was amusement in her voice as she answered. “Yep.”
“Alright then,” Lyra nodded. “Um… I’ll catch up to you later, in the Common Room, with the details… and for your final decision.”
Ginny looked at Morning. “Was that not final enough…?”
Morning shrugged, lifting the fork once again. “It’s a year-long commitment, with basically no way out, so they like to verify… several times. Potatoes?”
“Hey Ginny.”
Ginny looked up; she recognized the voice. It was Hermione… whose hair was even redder than hers, if she ignored the icy blue fringes. “Hi,” she greeted.
Then Morning flinched. She might not have noticed it, had she not been sitting right up against her, in the same chair. They were in the common room, some ten minutes after dinner; neither she nor Morning had been tired enough to go up to bed right away. Lyra had appeared a minute or two after they arrived, and they’d agreed to be instructors.
She looked at Morning. “Something wrong?”
“No, it’s just…” Morning muttered. “Back when I first met you, in Flourish and Blotts.”
Ginny winced as the memory brought with it an echo of the pain from the month prior. Interestingly enough, she felt Morning wince in time with her.
“Back then… Before I met you, I was convinced no one would ever love me, and that I would never fit in. Then, I met you, and…” She took a deep breath, and looked at Hermione. “They’re calling it ‘family magic’ on this side, right?”
Hermione shrugged. “It’s gone by a few different names, but yeah.”
“What’s it called on the other side?”
“... I’m afraid its proper name is actually an Equestrian National Secret, so I can’t tell you out here. But anyways, that’s the magic that helps us find our, ah, soulmates, I suppose. When I ran into you, I felt it for the first time in my life, and…” She sighed. “For the first time in my life, I felt like the world had accepted me, like I had a place in it. That’s… why I gave you those books. Then I went home, and spent a few days sorting out my feelings, and understanding what the, er, family magic was telling me. That’s why I was waiting for you on the Hogwarts Express.” She took a deep breath. “And now…”
“Felt it again?” Hermione smiled.
“... Yeah.”
Hermione nodded. “I thought you might. I mean, I felt it, soo…”
Morning grinned. “I bet you didn’t feel it quite as strongly as I did.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
She shrugged. “I’m pretty sensitive to that kind of thing.”
Hermione nodded slowly. “Ahh… Okay. Anyways. Um…”
“Come to think of it, Ginny,” Morning muttered. “Back in Flourish and Blotts, you acted like you felt that h-family magic as well… even though you’re all British, and shouldn’t have it. I wonder…?”
“Oh.” Ginny blushed. “Actually… I went through the Papa Tango, soo…”
Morning nodded. “Ahh, that explains it.”
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
“... But I hadn’t gone through it yet,” Ginny muttered. “I… When I was eight, I… a goddess blessed me, and…”
“And gave you something at least comparable,” Hermione muttered. “Right?”
She tilted her head. “... Yeah. She also gave me perfect recall.”
Hermione nodded. “Wow.”
Morning tilted her head. “It’s not as good as it sounds,” she stated. “I have some perfect recall myself- like, I can choose what to remember perfectly for the rest of my life. But even with that choice, it’s both a blessing and a curse.”
“Oh?”
“Imagine being unable to forget about that one mistake you made almost five years ago, but wanted to remember at the time, so you could learn from it?”
“Well-!”
“Or,” Morning smiled, tapping Ginny’s shoulder. “Imagine being unable to forget about that time ten years ago when you first met the love of your life, but didn’t realize who he was and so treated him like dirt?” She flinched in time with Hermione. “Er, sorry, I didn’t realize…”
“Uh, that never happened?” Ginny muttered.
“It was a hypothetical example,” Morning answered.
“I’m never going to forget that,” Hermione muttered, blushing. Then she glanced up. “Er, and not because of perfect recall, but because…” She took a deep breath. “I… I went to the same muggle school as Harry did. Yes, the Famous Harry Potter. And I treated him like a freak, because that was the ‘proper’ thing to do- even though I was just as much of a freak, if not more of one. I mean, I could even control my accidental magic, to a degree!” She shuddered. “Then… Then I got my Hogwarts books, realized who he was, and…” She trailed off, blushing scarlet. “I will never forget that day.”
Ginny grinned. “You look good in Gryffindor colors,” she offered.
“Huh? I- uh-!” Hermione blinked, blushed even darker, and laughed.
“So, uh,” Morning stated, as if changing the subject on purpose. “I have a question.”
Both Ginny and Hermione looked at her.
“I, ahh, happen to notice that your thaumic signature is way stronger than anyone else’s,” Morning told Hermione. “I’m kinda curious why that might be?”
Hermione shrugged. “It’s a known side effect of the Papa Tango. We have no idea why it happens, it just does. And I don’t think Lyra’s all that worried about it either, so that’s one side effect that’s probably going to stick around.” She grinned. “Which means, Ginny, that when yours finishes tomorrow, you will probably also be stupidly powerful.” Then she scowled. “... Though, your hair hasn’t changed. That’s… We’ll have to ask Lyra about that.”
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Great new chapter! Wonder why Ginny's hair hasn't changed...
yay love bug! when they find out about that will that be a loving nickname for our resident changeling?
Maybe thw goddes ginny was bleaswd by was fausticorn
Gah! No payoff this chapter.
Something seems wrong here. Is Lyra aware of what Morning is?
Transfigurations, eh? I wonder if Lyra actually knows and is playing it off like she doesn't as long as Morning behaves. Or I suppose the whole "prejudice" thing might not be quite as universal as Morning thinks.
Actually, when in the My Little Pony timeline does this take place? Is this post reform changelings?
10436110
Probably not. If changeling can be easily recognized, the Canterlot Invasion probably won't happen.
10436110
She suspects it, yes- after she saw the scene on the train. She’s also chosen to learn more and make like she doesn’t suspect, because she saw the scene on the train, and Morning was in a much more helpful role than any ‘ling she knows should be. In other words, she saw an act of goodwill that made her look suspicious, so she’s giving her a chance to prove herself before she acts.
10436132
It’s pre-reform, yes. Reformed ‘Lings are never canon to my stories.
10436352
Then why is Lyra just chill with an enemy of Equestria? She outright points out to Morning that she knows with the Transfiguration comment.
10436350
Just saw the other comments you made. I don't know, it still doesn't make sense to me. An act of good will from a race that feeds on positive emotions should mean nothing to Lyra. From her point of view it should be Canterlot wedding all over again (which to remind you she was one of the bridesmaids that got mind controlled) with this ling maybe even faking the reaction in Ginny to make Ginny think she's found her soulmate so the ling can feed off her.
Her being some ling okay with the Equestrian government I could understand they had that ling at Cranky's wedding before that reform and technically even Thorax would count as a peaceful ling pre-reform. I'm fine with avoiding post reform stuff but Lyra knowing and just being okay with it with just a single kind act that obviously nets the love eating changling a clingy first year supposed soulmate who went through the PT and is going to be stronger than Shining armor (who gave Chrysalis enough love to overwhelm Celestia) is a bit suspect.
10436778
Well, do you want her to slaughter Morning or something?
10437233
There's tons more possible reactions than kill on sight or trust on sight.
Like I said you could have made her an already known element that they let through the gate. You could have Lyra interrogate her on her intentions (varitaserum being a thing in Harry Potter). If you had Silver's old powers of always knowing the right spell or Ginny's old powers or precognition either of those could vouch for her. Or you could have had Lyra not be able to tell she's a changeling with her soul sight until later when she was more proven to be an ally and one of those powers or some other vetting processes could be used. (Which again Lyra was one of the mind controlled bridesmaids in the cannon story so her not being able to notice a changeling would make sense, maybe only being able to see a copy of the soul the Changeling is copying.)
Making all Equestrian's just know when they're with their soulmate is a double edged sword. It retroactively means Shining Armor was either always under mind control when Chrysalis replaced Cadence, which is believable, or that Changelings can fake that soul bond feeling in their victims, which is also believable but slightly more problematic for you if you want Lyra to just wait and see.
10437376
Yeah no, the soul bond cannot be mimicked... the soul is too complex, too powerful, for that. And Lyra is not trust-on-sight either, she’s unsure. Her first clue that Morning might be a ‘ling was the train incident, and they were already planning to give her transfiguration even before that happened.
Ginny: I hope not, I am not the one who jumped into alicorn-hood
10435567
Also, consider that Ginny has apparently broken a family curse like Draco has, and that he became a she when that happened. So Ginny is a girl but she shouldn’t be, and he hair hasn’t changed but it should have...
10437904
Ooh, true
10437904
And now consider that she was born a she... so that curse-breaking must've happened really early in her life...
Perhaps it was the "purity" the Goddess was noting, that let her slip through the cracks?
10437376
Ooooor chrysalis fudged the connection and made it seem it was coming from her.... Or she has one with shining too.
"squoze" is now my new favorite word.
That does bring up an interesting point about Chrysalis and Shining Armor. Which admittedly could explain why she went kinda mad at the end there...
How is the Weasely family curse supposed to work, anyway? You'd think if anyone got upset they'd curse them with girls, since wizarding Britain seems to follow male lines of inheritance...?
10465695
No idea. Maybe it was some ancient Weasley mother, who knew her contractually-wed husband would kill a female child, that cursed herself to only have male children... and didn't realize it'd carry on to her young as well, for as long as they carried her name. It might also have been someone "blessing" the Weasley House with a nearly-guaranteed path of succession- say, those ancestors had 6 girls then a boy, and very nearly lost him to something dangerous (chickenpox?), and so gave him that "blessing" that should make it much easier for him to pass on his name...