Ginevra Weasley
"Harry?" Ginevra Molly Weasley looked down on the humans and ponies that milled around, but her focus was briefly on just one. Harry Potter looked up at her and seemed—not actually terrified, but he definitely didn't look like he'd spotted a friend. It took Ginevra a moment to realize it was because she looked like a Dementor.
But that wasn't important to her task. She was doing this to help free Harry and her old friends from the alicorns.
"Ginevra, something bothers you?" Sombra asked as they flew away from the Crystal Empire on Igor Karkaroff's back. In one talon he held Bellatrix Lestrange—now a huge timberwolf—in the other he held Peter Pettigrew—now a pony. They hadn't all made it through the portal, but of those that did Sombra was most pleased to have the more powerful creatures—and Peter.
With her hands pressed to Igor's neck, Ginevra shook her head. "Just remembering what I'm fighting for. My friends were back there, probably under the control of those alicorns."
"True enough, Ginevra. We all fight for something. Hold the memories of your friends close as we fight against tyranny." The devotion of his apprentice was still something Sombra was working on correcting. Time, he was sure, would cure her of such softness. "Our first order of business is to establish horcruxes for me. Your dragon and your wolf don't need them, and death is a good incentive to your other pet to keep him from misbehaving."
"H-Horcruxes…" How a spectral representation of herself stuttered, Ginevra would never understand. She had to put it down to getting used to the form.
Sombra nodded. "I would not wish to leave you before you are fully trained in the arts of magic. You, of course, do not need one." Sombra reached a hoof out to press it against Ginevra. "You have already lost your soul, which is why I am sharing mine with you."
"W-Wait, what? I don't understand."
"Why do you think I shared a link with you? You are a self-perpetuating magical phantasm, but only with a soul can you be anchored to this world." Sombra pointed his hoof to the warmer regions of Equestria. "That way, we must avoid Canterlot. I had some workers in a mine down there. With luck they have amassed a good supply of crystal for us to use."
Igor Karkaroff's wings didn't tire and his will didn't waver. He followed orders, just like when he was with the Death Eaters, and it suited him for things to be that way again. Always, since the first wizarding war, he'd felt vulnerable to being ousted as a Death Eater, but now he had two powerful beings ensuring his survival.
When he heard a shout to land, he set himself up for a descent and began to spiral down to the ground. Only when he landed, and dropped Bellatrix and Peter, did he remember how big he was again. Sombra and Ginevra were tiny beside him, as was Peter. Bellatrix, when she stood up, was still small, but she was much larger than the others.
Ginevra walked around in front of Igor and reached out to him. When he lowered his head to her, she pressed her hands on each side of his huge muzzle, over the twin white hand-prints she'd burned into his scales. "Thank you, Igor."
Igor rumbled softly, the chill of Ginevra's touch still chilled him, but it no longer hurt—merely a sign that he yet lived.
Sombra led the way to blind canyon nearby that had rock walls and a strong wind that blew up the center—scouring the ground there of sand. Deep in the canyon, under an overhang, sat a small building. "This is hidden from overhead observation. It was unusual for magical minerals to be this pure here, and I definitely didn't want to share."
"We'll be making horcruxes with it?" Ginevra floated along at Sombra's side, relishing the dark of the cave when they found it.
"Yes, but we also need to remove that amulet from your pet." Sombra gestured to Peter, who was the only other of their companions who could fit in the cave. "That is already a horcrux, and a powerful one. It will give you limited control over any who wears it."
"It will need to be longer, both to get it off him and for another to be able to put it on." Ginevra floated over to Peter and pinned him still with her mind. "Or we could create a clasp on it."
"A clasp. It must be under your control—you don't want someone to take it off before you're ready." Sombra, as always, guided his apprentice to the path he wished.
Ginevra examined the amulet, the way it seemed wrapped around something deep inside it—a piece of Sombra's soul—and how magic twisted and turned throughout it. Carefully, she reached into the metal at the back and started to carefully redirect the lines of magic back upon themselves. "What if only the wearer could take it off?"
Grinning, Sombra relished the easy way she'd come to that conclusion. "And why would that work?"
"Because I'd be in control of them. I could stop them from taking it off." With the final bands of magic diverted, she started planning in her mind what the clasp should look like—and the metal reshaped.
"Good. Good. You can feel what needs to be done instinctively. How well do you see the bands of magic within the amulet?" Sombra's eyes burned brightly as he watched Ginevra work.
"Now, give me the amulet." Ginevra's tone carried enough command that she saw Peter's eyes widen in shock. When he reached up and took it off, she held out her spectral hand and took it. Her grip on him didn't slip, not after all the effort she'd gone to to break Peter. "There, now we could find one of the alicorns to put it on."
"That would be amazing, but none of them would let us get near. No, we will pass it off to a pony, any pony, and set about drawing it toward an alicorn in a spiral." Walking over to Ginevra, Sombra reached out with his magic and put a finishing touch on it.
Ginevra's hands practically smoked as she felt the spell her master just cast try to claw into her mind. It wasn't easy, but she fought-off the magic and reestablished her sense of self. "What is it doing?"
"It wants you to put it on. It wants everypony to put it on." Sombra grinned a hellish grin. "That will be how it spirals to an alicorn—it will belong to the strongest."
"That—That's genius. All we need to do is find the right pony to give this to." Biting her lip, Ginevra thought about what would be the easiest way to do so.
"And the easiest way to do that is to sell it. A pony who buys power deserves it least. Have your pet take it to a city and sell it to someone. Offer them power and their dreams are fulfilled."
Turning back to Peter, Ginevra clamped down hard on his mind and slipped into him. His body was weak compared to her spectral form, but it served her well enough. "I have learned, master, that if I wish this rat to do something important, I have to do it myself."
"You've learned well, my apprentice. Hurry back and I will hold off the creation of further horcruxes until your return." Sombra's eyes danced with the joy he found in teaching another all he knew of the dark arts.
Driving Peter onward had been a simple task. When he needed food, however, she relaxed her grip on him just enough to allow him that small grace. In the desert, however, he wasn't able to find much more than tough grass in small clumps and insects. Ginevra despised Peter a little more now that she knew what the latter tasted like.
After two days, however, Ginevra found herself staring at a city in the distance and, by the following morning, they were walking into the outer limits of it.
As far as cities went, this was stereotypically Egyptian in design, but to Ginevra that just seemed as good a level of crazy as anything else. A water fountain saw Peter getting his first drink in days, and with that she pushed him to find the right kind of merchant.
The pressure eased from Peter's mind. He could think again, but he had a directive and every action would lead toward its completion. Staggering down the street, wishing he'd had some way to bring the water with him, he saw many stores, but none seemed right. When he slipped into an alley, however, he discovered the perfect one.
Inside, there was junk everywhere. Ginevra could sense that not a single one of the magical amulets, gemstones, or wands had a wink of magic in them.
"Can I help you?"
Ginevra turned at the sound and spotted a pony behind the counter. "Yes, I wish to sell something."
"Something precious if you don't carry it in the open. I must see it before I'll offer you any bits."
The brown pony's speech made Ginevra roll Peter's eyes at the drama of it. Lifting the amulet from its bag, she held it out to the merchant. "You can look, but know that if you touch it, you have agreed to buy it."
"An interesting gambit, and one I normally use." The pony reached a hoof out and picked up the amulet. "But you should have set a price. I'll buy it, but whether for one gold or an alum is a whole other kettle of corn."
Looking with her magical sight, Ginevra watched the spell reach out to the merchant to grab him, but something made her halt it. She reached her own magic out and calmed the spell, promising it that the next pony it finds will be far more suitable. "How much?"
"A useless piece of jewelry. Two silver bits." A paltry sum by Equestrian ideals, where silver was plentiful and was the second-lowest denomination.
"It's worth more than that. Give it back and I'll sell it to someone who's serious." Ginevra held Peter's hoof out.
"Five copper."
Ginevra wasn't sure how much copper and gold balanced out, but she'd seen people haggle for prices before. "Twenty."
"Two alum?! I—One, alum, and that's my final offer. Take it or leave it."
"That will do. I couldn't be bothered walking somewhere else anyway." Ginevra tried to do her best well, I didn't really want it after all follow-up. "Just give me my money and I'll be out of here." She could already see the magic Sombra had placed on the amulet stretching out around the room, barely avoiding the shopkeeper.
"Here's ten copper—one alum—now go before I call the Guard in on you for asking such a price." The merchant paused. "What's it called?"
Thinking for a moment, Ginevra almost laughed as she told him, "The alicorn amulet."
Shooed out of the shop, Ginevra smiled fit to make even Peter's face look almost pleasing, and trotted back to the edge of town. The walk back to the cave was no less horrid given she hadn't spent any of the coins of food or drink for Peter, such that when they arrived at the cave and Ginevra left him, he scrabbled around the cave looking for water.
Ginevra grabbed her ten coins as she left Peter behind to his hunt for water, and proceeded deeper into the cave to find Sombra. When she found him, he was pouring his magic into seemingly identical bowls—five of them.
"You sold it?" Sombra asked.
"I did. I also adjusted the magic you placed on it so it wouldn't affect the merchant I sold it to. I told him it was called the alicorn amulet, and got ten copper coins for it. I have no idea what they're worth, he seemed to think gold was really low or something." Ginevra held out the coins for Sombra.
"The currency scale used to be—gold, silver, copper, then aluminum. The harder a metal is to acquire, the more its value." Sombra glanced at the coins and huffed. "You got a good price for a random item. Keep the coins, apprentice, they are your reward."
Looking at the coins in her hand, Ginevra thought about what they meant and how they might be used. She wasn't sure how long she'd been quiet for until Sombra cleared his throat. "S-Sorry."
Outrage that someone would ignore his words was barely kept in check by Sombra's curiosity. "All is forgiven if you convey your thoughts."
Ginevra smiled sheepishly at that. "I was wondering if I should take actions to support myself should something happen to you. These"—she held up the coins—"could be used to allow me access to other souls."
Again, Sombra considered outrage. She was his student to mold and control, but he couldn't help but admire her willingness to survive at any cost. It was a topic near and dear to his heart. "You wish to escape my control?"
"N—" She didn't want to lie to him. "Yes, but only so you'll see me as an equal. I want to work with you to free the world from these alicorns' control. I want to be strong enough that you don't need to help me."
Thinking on the matter, Sombra considered how to handle the situation. The balance of giving her some more freedom against making her more loyal to his course was the question. But, of course, her undertaking this will give her a taste for something no good creature ever would. Right now he was sharing his soul with her willingly, but this idea of hers was predatory. "Consider it a project. Make one coin, and I will test how well you have wrought the magic."
Excitement buzzed through Ginevra. She lifted one of the coins and examined it. "What do the alum coins look like? Aluminum? So they'd be lighter and silvery in appearance." Changing the metal's properties was as simple as breathing. Ginevra warped the color of the copper to resemble the chrome-like silver of aluminum, and then made the coin significantly lighter.
Watching Ginevra work, Sombra admired her methodical nature in first making the coin the most desirable it could be.
A lucky coin, so far as Ginevra understood it, wasn't just lucky for its actual value. She held it up and turned it. One side bore a twin symbol of moon and sun, the other bore the outline of a pony's head. Angling her thumb, she carefully etched the shape of a horn onto the pony, as well as crude wings arcing up behind them. "If they venerate alicorns, however unwillingly, I will make them clutch this coin as a testament to that power over them. Now, to build the spell that binds their soul to me."
This was what Sombra wanted to see. Magic involving manipulation of souls for personal gain was the darkest he knew, which meant it would color Ginevra even further in his image. He watched her bury hooks and siphons—spells he'd never taught her but that she seemed to grasp instinctively. He waited until she was done before speaking. "Very fine work, my apprentice. Do you wish to test it?"
The spells were unlike any she'd been taught, but Ginevra had made them based on how a dementor's kiss had worked. It wouldn't completely remove a soul, but it would bind the coin—and herself—to them. "It should work on any creature other than myself. I could give it to Peter, but he's already bound to me."
"You will need to take it to town yourself. I need Peter for something important." Sombra gestured at the four glowing crucibles. "Voldemort's spell for making a horcrux required a sacrifice."
"You're going to kill him?" It was remarkable to Ginevra just how little that bothered her. She'd been inside Peter's head enough to know he'd murdered a lot of wizards and muggles alike, and had caused others to kill yet more.
Sombra looked into the dark pits Ginevra had for eyes. "Any problems with that?"
"He deserves so much worse. I've seen into his mind and heart, and both are dark and stained with blood." Ginevra felt far colder than she ever had before. Mentally, she tugged on Peter's mind to bring him into the chamber where Sombra had the metal to make horcruxes ready.
Leaving the chamber herself, Ginevra pointed behind her when she saw Peter. "Your destiny lies in there."
Ginevra was not even a quarter of the way to the pony city when she felt her link with Peter severed. It was a chilling moment only because it highlighted that she had bonded to his soul and had been feeding on it. The coin in her hand itched and hungered, as she hungered.
She still had links to both Bellatrix and Igor, though she'd delved into each of them far less than she had Peter. She knew enough from her history that Bellatrix was probably worse than Peter, but Igor seemed far less experienced with death.
It was all feelings and hunches, but she had little else to work with. As she neared the city, just as the sun literally plunged from the sky, she got another of those hunches and detoured to an arc around the city.
A wagon sat on the sand, its wheels having been removed to reveal the underside had a large ski. With the cover of darkness she moved silently toward the wagon and heard a male voice coming from within.
"Hoo'far, why in the world did you come here? Here!" Rearranging his things inside the wagon, Hoo'far stepped out into the cooling night air. "Ah, but the desert always calls my hooves. How could I possibly deny her?"
Feeling positively hollow, Ginevra floated high above Hoo'far and carefully dropped the coin beside him into the sand. She watched him twitch and turn to look for the sound. Before he could even start to look up into the sky, Ginevra rushed to get behind his wagon.
The moment the stallion touched the coin, Ginevra felt a rush of stability and safety. Her hollow insides seemed less-so, and the hooks of her magic burrowed into Hoo'far and bound him to her. She could see him staring in wonder at the coin, and knew he'd never part with it.
Sombra felt the dark magic of his apprentice when it started working. It was like a distant song of good tidings to him. Meanwhile, having used Peter to make four new horcruxes, he had choices about what to do with them physically.
The first was an easy choice—ponies loved books. Books were coveted and protected, thus the first would be a book. The actual book itself would be far less important than what it would embody, of course, and so Sombra created an empty book from shadow and sand. The pages were blank, but it wouldn't need words.
Gathering up the metallic essence from the crucible—now stained with a little blood—Sombra fashioned it into four triangles. Each of them thrummed with power and, together, held a portion of his soul.
"I returned as quickly as I could, master." Ginevra could feel the intense magic in the air radiating from the four crucibles. Of Peter's unique and slimy presence, she could detect none.
"Good. It is well you see this. I am making my first new horcrux the very peak of addiction. It will give power beyond measure. It will make everything the holder wishes come true." Turning, Sombra looked at Ginevra. In her eyes he could see that she understood what that meant. "You understand this?"
"In school they taught us about sources of power. H-How will you fuel it? What will give the power?"
"The horcrux will act like a storage crystal. Whoever finds it won't be using it constantly, nor will they likely be able to use it for long. They will unleash all the stored magic in a rush, probably destroying themselves and everypony around them, and the book will be taken away and locked safely somewhere." The most sly expression he'd felt in over a hundred years slowly spread across Sombra's face.
"That—" Ginevra hadn't felt mirth since waking up to having Sombra controlling her body. The giggle of a dementor, she could admit to herself, needed some work to not be terrifying. "That's genius. They will protect your horcruxes for you."
"Thank you, but I can't rely on that. Voldemort's thoughts covered the destruction of horcruxes, and I'd rather not put all my souls in one basket, as it were. Do you have any thoughts for the next one?"
"You want at least a few that are not obvious, but at the same time better than a normal item of the same type. They seem to have a lot of soldiers who wore armor, so why not a suit of armor? Something that is comfortable and easy to wear." Ginevra tapped at her chin. "There is a certain power in making your protection obscure."
"A good idea. A very good idea." Sombra used his magic to draw the next horcrux metal from its crucible and started to rework it into armor. Its mass and volume didn't matter, his magic could stretch it as large or small as needed. In a short amount of time he had a suit of armor similar to what he'd seen in the Crystal Empire. "Two more."
"One should be kept by you at all times. You never know if one of the alicorns will work out our plans and a way to hunt them down."
"Very sensible. Voldemort had that reptile with him." Turning toward the exit of the small caves, Sombra picked up the next crucible and began walking outside. "Beast known as Bellatrix."
Lifting her head, Bellatrix Lestrange was still trying to get used to her new form. She lacked much in the way of both magic and mental acuity, but her driving will still existed—and seemed sharper than ever. She wanted to live, to hunt muggles, and do the bidding of her masters. She looked at Sombra, taller than him even while lying down, and made a curious whining noise.
"You are a timber wolf. An eternal blight upon any forest. There are few forces in this world that can put a stop to you in any manner other than temporarily. Voldemort made the mistake of using a single reptile as his horcrux—I will avoid that error." Reaching forward with his magic, Sombra crashed through the normal magic resistance of a timber wolf and carved a path to the center of Bellatrix's being—then let the metal flow into her.
Bellatrix screamed first at the attack, but again as she felt that heat and fire burrow right into her core. She thrashed and shook, fighting to get away from the pain, only to have Sombra pull back and leave the thing inside her. It cooled slowly, still burning her wood for a time, but even that faded. She'd lost track of what anyone was saying.
The feel of new magic within her itched at first, but soon Bellatrix started to feel the way it strengthened her. To test a theory, she clamped her jaws down on her left foreleg and ripped the log away from her upper leg—only to have it quickly pull back together faster than before.
Pain brought power. Bellatrix still didn't like how hard it was to think, but now she realized she was not just more powerful, but essential to Sombra's survival.
"You understand, don't you? The power of that shard will grow within you, beast. It will grow and make you a titan among your kind. Stand at my side and I'll ensure you never need fear another." Sombra liked the speech, it was strong, and he particularly liked the way Bellatrix's eyes flashed brighter. She understood, this he knew.
"Bellatrix was a powerful witch. I—I don't know if we could, but it might be wise to give her a way to work magic again?" Ginevra watched as Bellatrix's head snapped around and stared at her. The raw, pleading expression transcended the language barrier.
"Perhaps." Turning back toward the cave, Sombra thought long and hard about the last horcrux. "That would make a good project for you, apprentice."
It was an odd relationship for Bellatrix. She wanted to hate Ginevra simply for her last name. She found her new mindset was rather keen on hating lots and lots of things, but it was hard to hate someone who worked to restore her magic.
Ginevra hurt her at times, but pain was fleeting, or so Bellatrix had discovered. Pain came and went, but she was now eternal. She could and did hate Sombra. She could taste Voldemort's death around him, but of Ginevra she just tasted cold, deathly darkness. It was like meeting a long-lost sister.
"This is going to hurt again." Ginevra readied the spell that she hoped would drive a spark of magic back into Bellatrix, but paused. "No. This won't work."
No longer bracing for the pain she'd been promised, Bellatrix turned her head and looked into Ginevra's eyes. Darkness, determination, and curiosity burned there.
"Every time I put a spark of magic into you, your body devours it. The only spell that is safe within you is the horcrux that master put in there. I don't think I—" Ginevra looked deep into Bellatrix's body and could see the dull burning magic that even now had taken root. "I could try to attach something to that. Like a graft."
Focusing her magic down to a blade edge, Ginevra paused. "This will probably hurt a lot, but I'm going to give you back your favorite spell. It's not like you can't kill effectively like this already, but I think you'll like it."
There was only one spell that Bellatrix knew of for which killing would be considered analogue. Excitement buzzed through every part of her and she rallied her mental faculties to focus on what Ginevra was doing.
For what Ginevra wanted, she had to cast the spell herself and capture it, mid-cast. The spell itself wasn't hard, but the willpower to kill was required. Juggling the magic a few times, she eventually worked out how it would graft on—the moment before that will was needed and before the target had been defined, she halted the casting of the spell.
The pain actually staggered Bellatrix. She wobbled as Ginevra split her body down the middle as if she were peeling a banana. Bellatrix flung the two halves of her head up to the sky and screamed a howl of agony, but just as the pain seemed like it would kill her, Bellatrix felt something familiar.
Magic. Ginevra didn't graft it to the horcrux, either, she grafted it onto Bellatrix's core of power itself. Bellatrix's howl of agony turned into a pure note of joy. Many would have written her off as a mindless beast—probably even herself—but as her body healed around that new attachment, it became part of her and Bellatrix Lestrange became closer to what she'd been.
When her head finally reformed, Bellatrix looked around and spotted a scorpion venturing out onto the cooling desert sands from wherever it had crawled from. She knew where the spell was located, but getting it to activate took some focus. It cost Bellatrix a lot of awareness to discover the process of activating the spell, but when she did, a dirty green beam of light shot from her open mouth and into the scorpion.
Ginevra could see when the arachnid died. It had such a tiny soul, but when the green blast of magic hit it, that soul was ripped free and cast asunder. "You like it?"
Spinning her head to look at Ginevra, Bellatrix felt a new appreciation for her "sister". She managed to nod her head.
"Want more spells?" The answer to Ginevra's question was two timber wolf eyes that flared brighter.
It had taken two more days to cram every spell Ginevra knew how to cast into Bellatrix, but the former witch now looked far more animated and bright. Again and again Ginevra felt herself reaching out to touch Bellatrix, and Bellatrix would lean against her hand.
Bellatrix got less than she hoped for and more than she expected. The killing curse had been a welcome surprise, but the rest of Ginevra's spells were simple at best. When she heard Ginevra mention what classes she'd been in the previous year, it all made sense. That's when Bellatrix had decided something—Ginevra wasn't her sister, the girl was the daughter she'd never had.
But Ginevra wanted more. She considered Bellatrix as good as she could make her, and so she turned her attention to Igor. "And what to do with you? Bellatrix has magic, all you have are claws, wings, and anger."
Sprawling out on the warm sands, Igor lowered his head to a level Ginevra could reach. In his own mind he didn't need her help. So far as he'd experienced, he was immune to magic. It literally couldn't affect him. That, combined with his strength, made him more than content with his gifts.
Though one thing was hard for Igor—speech. Opening his mouth, he focused on his vocal cords (and avoiding breathing the strange new ice breath). "I am content. Strong."
"Can you teach me more magic?" Ginevra asked.
It was a shock to Igor to hear those words. His old life had been about teaching students magic, and when he'd become a dragon he'd thought those times were behind him. It was hard to keep his voice level and low enough it wasn't blasting when he felt such joy. "It would be—an honor."
"I have it, Ginevra. The book is complete." Sombra walked out of the shadows of the cave and toward the three in the ravine. He carried his greatest creation so far, something that should trap pony after pony in a string of destruction and mayhem. "You must take this to a bookstore, prepare it as you did the amulet so that it will not activate until sold. Sell it for however many coins you can get."
"That will be hard. Last time I had Peter to use as a body." Ginevra reached out and took the book from Sombra, feeling its weight not just in mass but in destiny.
Sombra looked between the three, noting that neither a wraith-like creature nor a timber wolf were likely to get any kind of service. A dragon, though, was at least not a complete shock. "Take your dragon. From what I remember of Equestria, they'll trust any creature at least once. Don't let him eat any of them, though—until you've sold the book."
"We'll take a few days. I want to learn more magic from Igor." Fashioning a black sun umbrella from darkness itself, Ginevra took a step out of the shade of the ravine and shuddered at how hot it was.
Surprised, Sombra looked at Igor. "You are a teacher?" When the huge beast nodded, Sombra felt new excitement boil within. "Then teach her everything she wishes to know. I would consider that a boon owed."
All three of them watched as Sombra walked back into the cave. Ginevra was surprised at how he'd reacted, but not so much that she considered being derelict in her duty. "Come, Igor, we're going to walk there. It's not far on foot."
As they walked from the ravine's embrace, Igor rifled through his mind for the correct things to teach Ginevra, though in the end he decided to ask her. "Where did you learn—the killing curse?"
Laughing (which Ginevra had to admit sounded terrifying), she shook her head and looked at Igor with a smile. "Protecting you. When that wizard tried to kill you, and I stepped in and absorbed it—I felt how to cast it. Maybe it's just dark magic I have an affinity for now."
"We can test—that. Try this—spell." When it came to actually casting a spell, however, Igor realized he was at a loss. "This will not—work. I cannot—cast magic like—this."
It was a setback Ginevra hadn't anticipated. She patted Igor's cheek affectionately and tried to come up with a solution. "It's not your fault. I created this form for you. What you need is a wand."
"A wand would—help me channel—yes."
"Which is its own problem because we don't have any wands. How hard is it to make a wand?" Ginevra thought on the topic. "Could I make you a wand?"
"It is not—easy. Some spend—their whole lives—learning to make—wands." As annoying as his deep voice was at first, Igor was getting used to the timing of his voice and let his mind sink into the pattern with ease. "Wands have—several parts. Shaft—core, and an enchant—ment to bind."
"Enchantments? Oh, charms. Professor Flitwick said I was good at charms. He's—This will be more advanced than first year charms class at Hogwarts, won't it?" For a moment Ginevra had gotten carried away with her past. She shook herself to pull back on track. "So I need to learn this charm?"
"Yes. It will—not be easy without—a demonstration. Even—I cannot cast it. The—charm is difficult—and you need apt—itude." Long words were starting to annoy Igor. Worse still was when there were too many syllables for even a single breath on its own to sustain within the part of his breathing he could make tones a human could hear.
"Then I've either got it or I'll steal you a wand."
Materials were easy enough. For the wood to make the shaft, Bellatrix offered her leg. They gathered five to work with since they grew back, but Ginevra could tell that it hurt Bellatrix every time.
Though it hurt, Bellatrix could practically taste the way forward. She knew that Igor would have a wealth of spells to teach Ginevra, and those spells could be passed to her. So she lived with the pain of a dragon ripping her leg off, again and again, because it would grow back anyway.
"We need a core—for the wand." Igor spoke the words slowly, his mind turning on what would be suitable. "I would offer—part of myself—but it is—not easy to—damage me."
"No." Ginevra had seen how hard it was to damage Igor, and she was reasonably sure that trying to remove something to make a wand would either cripple or kill him. "I will supply the core myself."
Bellatrix stood up, ignoring the after-pain of her newly regrown limb, and walked over to Ginevra. Leaning against her, ignoring the chill and memories of what dementors had done to her, Bellatrix let out a soft whine.
"Yeah. Looks like we're doing this for him so he can help us." Rubbing Bellatrix's ear took effort since Ginevra had to reach up to do it. Timber wolves, she'd learned, were far larger than Earth wolves. "Dark magic, icy and pure."
Standing back and watching, Bellatrix watched as Ginevra first used her magic to burn the limb with cold until it was a single, wrist-thick stick.
Holding the remains of Bellatrix's limb in one hand, Ginevra pressed her lips forward and kissed the end of it. The wood, being from a timber wolf, soaked up the spear of magic Ginevra pushed into it. It poured down the middle of the wood and froze the center into a crystalline mix of living wood and dark magic. When she felt like it had enough, Ginevra tried to pull back—only to find that the wood wasn't done yet.
In giving the wood magic, Ginevra hadn't noticed that it was actively drawing it from her. She couldn't pull back, and felt more and more of her power being drained into the log. Trying to get away from it, Ginevra felt herself getting weaker—
Snarling, Bellatrix dove on Ginevra and grabbed the wood in her mouth. It fizzed with power as she started to crush down with her jaws.
"Stop!" Ginevra, separated from the wand, was free of its effects. "I'm okay now. Put it down—please?"
Snarling past the wood in her mouth, Bellatrix wanted to destroy something so badly she pondered just breaking it anyway. Slowly, though, she opened her mouth and set the dark magic infused branch on the stone underneath them.
The need to belong—from both her time as a Death Eater and now as a pack animal—led her to lean down and help Ginevra rise before she just lay at Ginevra's ghostly feet.
Leaning across and pressing her lips to Bellatrix's wooden cheek, Ginevra whispered, "Thank you."
There wasn't much room left in Bellatrix Lestrange to feel love or affection, but what she had stirred and gripped to Ginevra. She tilted her head and leaned just a little against Ginevra. The chill of contact with a dementor should have sent terror running through her, but Ginevra was hers. She had to protect and guide Ginevra so that they could—all three of them—be powerful.
"What charm do I use? How do I enchant the wand now?" Ginevra asked.
Without a way to convey most of what was needed to actually cast a charm to complete the wand, Igor instead tried the holistic approach. "Think of what—a wand needs to be—and what it should be. Build a picture—in your mind—of what this wand will be—and let your magic carry—out your will. You have the power—you have the will. Employ them both."
The cadence of Igor's deep voice had Ginevra following his words and, in her own mind, she built the idea of wandness and sent her magic into the wand.
Bellatrix sensed the wand's malfunction first. Jumping to her paws and grabbing it out of Ginevra's hand, she turned so her body was between the wand and Ginevra.
The magic explosion shook the ground and caused huge chunks of Bellatrix to be scattered everywhere. Her pain threshold discovered new peaks as she poured magic into pulling her body back together and rebuilding herself. It was going to take time, though, even as powerful as she was.
When Ginevra put her hand on Bellatrix's shoulder, she could feel a magical pulling at her. It was like with the wand, but far less demanding. Steeling herself against the effect, she let her magic flow.
With half her body now a wreck of smashed up kindling, Bellatrix was in a strange not-pain as Ginevra's magic pulled her back together. Tilting her big head up, she looked at Ginevra from her one remaining eye—until the other decided to reignite with a green glow.
"Thank you." Ginevra looked at the next piece of Bellatrix's wood and contemplated it. "We need to work out what went wrong with the first one."
"I think it—needs less—magic. You over—whelmed it."
"Then we'll try again." Turning her attention from Igor to Bellatrix, Ginevra asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Nodding her head, Bellatrix slowly stood up and shook some twigs loose.
It took Ginevra over a month of practicing before she managed her first wand that didn't explode. It was an ugly thing about the size of her arm, but it held its core and practically burned with dark potential. She also scattered more coins to the nearby town to keep a more constant flow of magic into her body.
Sombra had kept himself to himself in the caves. What he'd been working on, Ginevra didn't know, but she could feel growing dark energy coming from underground.
Holding the wand out to Igor, Ginevra felt accomplishment at having learned how to create a wand. "Try it."
Igor didn't need to touch the wand to feel its power. There was a darkness so pure in its core that he shuddered just as his talon made contact with it—and on a dragon, a shudder is a major event. "It's a wand. I can feel—magic through—it." He struggled to control his voice, feeling so much joy and excitement. "It is tuned—for dark magic but—that's what you—can cast."
"So, where do we start? What would Bellatrix want to be able to cast?"
Remembering his fear of Bellatrix Lestrange, Igor was surprised he'd been able to count her as an ally now, but here they were. "Destructive spells." He looked at Bellatrix and caught her nodding. Smiling wide, he bared teeth that would give a shark something to worry about. "But no fire?" A definite shake of her head then. "Engorgio Skullus?"
As far as dark curses went, it was fairly weak, though Bellatrix knew that with enough power, it could certainly kill. She nodded enthusiastically, pleased to continue her path back to being a witch. She kept vigil over Igor and Ginevra for a week while the latter learned the spell.
When it finally came time for Ginevra to implant the spell, Bellatrix didn't feel the desire to brace herself. Pain was fleeting and seemingly ever-present now, but she didn't need to fear the kiss of a dementor or death. Even as Ginevra ripped her open, Bellatrix smiled—life was good.
Watching as Bellatrix reassembled herself after the spell integration, Igor let out a puff of icy air from his nostrils. "You are getting—used to that?"
Ginevra was about to answer, but Bellatrix knew who the question was for. She let out a soft grumble that sounded like wood rustling together and nodded. It didn't register fully as pain now, though it still had a feeling of wrongness when she was in pieces.
"We adapt and—grow stronger."
Igor's words caused Bellatrix a shock of excitement. Each spell she had made her stronger and more formidable. To what end, she no longer cared, she just wanted to break a lot of things. Looking at the dragon before her, Bellatrix saw in him an ally to bring glorious levels of destruction. The third of their triumvirate of power was Ginevra. She looked at the witch-trapped-as-a-dementor and bared her own teeth in a savage grin.
Reaching a ghostly hand out, Ginevra reached inside Bellatrix's mouth and grasped her jaw by her wooden teeth. It was an old motion she'd seen her father use with hounds before, and it came so naturally. It was trust and understanding rolled into one. "I want to find a way to attach to other souls. Much as I—I believe in Sombra's vision, he's—"
"I'm what, my apprentice?" Sombra strode out of the shadows he'd wrapped himself in and across to where Ginevra, Bellatrix, and Igor were gathered. "Oh, don't try to pretend otherwise. You want to cut your own swathe of freedom through to the alicorns. I understand how power drives you—it drives me too. For now, though, you need me, but I have errands to run. Keep learning more dark magic, keep growing stronger. I can taste a war coming—a fight between freedom and cloying control. Make sure you're ready for it."
Ginevra was about to ask what war, but Sombra just dissolved into smoke and vanished. She stared at the spot where he'd been and focused down on the part of his soul that resided within her. He was still alive—she could feel him—but he was now far away.
"He has given us—leave to experiment—on what you can and—can't do." Igor looked from Ginevra to Bellatrix. "Let's go—test some—spells."
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I hope everyone enjoyed this little collection. There will be a short break and then I will begin the next book of Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire.
11025784
Intermission Indeed. Very nice set of chapters. Looks like you've set up a lot of background for the next story. I'm looking forward to it.
Hohoho. I am incredibly excited for this. A storm is brewing! It's on the horizon!~
This is freaking awesome, thank you for making it, Damaged.
Silver Denarii is it? Nasty business that. Also, Sombra missed the trick of sealing a rock horcrux in a lump of lead and yeeting it into the deepest part of the ocean.
11026265 Heh, we were actually discussing crazy ideas for horcruxes the other day. The worry, at least on Earth, was there might be something in the deep oceans that likes the taste of souls and can nom horcruxes.
11026270
Fair enough, fair enough, there's still burying it under a tree though.
Either way, I am endlessly amused that Ginevra is responsible for pretty much all of the cursed artifacts that trouble Equestria.
11026275 Hehe, someone has to make all the nasty things that go bump in the head.
Also, despite how fun it would be to have Sombra set up the perfect defense—he's smart, powerful, and utterly ruthless, but I didn't want to go too far with him.
Bella has basically become a magic m1a1 with the fire power of a small squad of aroras.plus a dragon and the power house that Dement Ginny is becoming. Sombra will definitely have fire power. Looking forward to the next part of this story set.
This is an interesting chapter and I am sure that if the fate of the Alicorn Amulet is anyrhing like in canon Sombra will be dissapointed in the results.
Nice
so "The alicorn amulet." ok i did not see that one.
this is a grate story i love it,
Well we know where at least one of the Horcruxes is going to meet it's end, in Spike's stomach. The inner flame of a Equestrian dragon does seem like a fitting destruction method.
Wow, you're really planning for the long game with this one. Looking forward to seeing all these threads intertwine.
Yikes the twin Ginny's each sevring a different master wont end will. The one seving Somba definately is doing stuff the one serving Cadance would NOT approve of. I really wanna know how "Dark Giny" will be dealt with and how "Light Ginny" will fix her non body status lol
I’m so excited to see what comes next
11051759
Ginny's soul is in the book and is with her family while studying under Cadence, while Ginny's soulless body was turned into a dementor and has been convinced to work with Sombra and the few remaining death eaters.
11061169
True, but still for all intents, both are still A Ginny. Hell you could kinda liken it to Heartlesses and Nobodys from Kingdom Hearts XD (I half jest)
11061224
Nyxgin, the dread dementor that can wriggle unnaturally and bonelessly.
Took me a while to get to this one; seeing the state of Ginevra honestly saddens me. It’s a twisted sort of friendship and justice that drives her, but darn if this doesn’t feel like appropriate actions for a Dark Gryffindor. In any case, I believe I have some catching up to do with the next installment.
11265660
What, differentiation? Yep, it's the most basic level of calculus. The quick explanation for the single-variable version is that it is the slope of the equation at that point.
The underlying math is:
Given y = f(x)
y' = ( f(x+ε) - f(x) ) / ε where ε is a number which approaches 0.
So for y = 3x³ + 6x² - 7x + 9
y' = ( ( 3(x+ε)³ + 6(x+ε)² - 7(x+ε) + 9 ) - ( 3x³ + 6x² - 7x + 9 ) ) / ε
y' = ( ( 3x³ + 9x²ε + 9xε² + 3ε³ + 6x² + 12xε + 6ε² - 7x - 7ε +9 ) - ( 3x³ + 6x² - 7x + 9 ) / ε
y' = ( 9x²ε + 9xε² + 3ε³ + 12xε + 6ε² - 7ε ) / ε
y' = 9x² + 9xε + 3ε² + 12x + 6ε - 7
Now, since ε approaches 0 we are actually allowed to treat it as a 0 so we end up with:
y' = 9x² + 9x(0) + 3(0)² + 12x + 6(0) - 7
y' = 9x² + 12x - 7
11266055
11268667
Thank you, guys, I've kind of slipped on my math so this gives me something to look up.
11268667
Doing it in reverse is the hard part (finding the "area under a curve"). Integration can be either fairly simple or incredibly difficult (to the point where there are some integrals that still have not been solved.)
I unfortunately forgot most of my knowledge, but I always found calculus to be the most fun part of math. It took things that were just stupid rote memorization and made them into concepts that had real, physical meaning.
There were several parts of my calculus class that made me scratch my head and wonder why they didn't teach these things in earlier math classes. Like, it would have been easier to learn it the right way first instead of teach people one way and then tell them to forget everything they ever learned and do it a different way.
And there were so many more practical uses for math, too, in calculus, compared to other math. Geometry is useful in, like, making schematics. But it doesn't go much deeper. In Calculus, you could determine, for example, the slope in two dimensions of a three-dimensional curve. (Which is used in video games to tilt the character alongside the terrain. Legends of Equestria uses this technique, or at least I think it does, because they implemented that feature after I suggested how to do it. Or it could just be something the game engine already offered, and I gave too much detail. Probably the second one.)
A lot of things in math are made unnecessarily difficult. Like using pi as a constant. Tau (2 times pi) is actually far more useful, and makes every single equation more simple that ever used pi. It would even make radians work better. But because it was the "standard" now people have to deal with unnecessarily complicated stuff.
11400263
I was thinking more about two dots after "goo" and two before "d", but I guess if it is more correct this way then so be it. Mostly reading fan-fiction lately, so may not be a surprise that the grammar in my mind isn't the most literary one.
Oh, right! That makes sense. Although, probably would be good to add that bit to avoid confusion of the other readers who may come by with the same problem as me.
Is this interlude necessary to read for the next part?
11538537 You will be in the dark about some things that happened.