Ch. 24. Who’s Watching Me?
At the Arrival Feast, Harry and the herd couldn’t help but look at Professor Snape, and speculate. They had to wonder how accurate the books were compared to this Snape. He certainly hadn’t appeared to care what happened to Harry last year — except for saving Harry from Quirrell in his first Quidditch match. Since his new assignment as the N.E.W.T. professor for Potions, they rarely saw him.
On the other hand, he was writing up the things that Sweetie “discovered” in Potions. He was being very fair about sharing the credit for what he refined from each new potion.
Harry decided, barring any new evidence, to remain sceptical of the wizard and his silly prejudices towards non-Slytherin students. But, maybe, he wasn’t the useless waste of space they had been thinking of the wizard as being.
The first few weeks at Hogwarts were a bit tense for the herd. They couldn’t help but scrutinize every wizard and witch they saw. Was she, or he, acting odd or different? Was anyone surreptitiously stuffing a journal away when they happened to see them?
Elly and her cousins still seemed to be in the background, but the thought of one of them being possessed was ludicrous. They were too close-knit not to notice something off if one of them had the diary. Especially because Elly had been so instrumental in saving Harry the previous year.
However, there were no ominous messages written in blood on the walls, Hagrid’s roosters were in fine shape, and no students were acting obsessive about writing in a journal. Gradually, they calmed down and forgot about the diary being missing.
It was entirely by accident that the Gryffindors discovered Luna’s secret super-power. She had decided, during the after-dinner petting circle in the common room, that she needed something from her dorm room. She had gotten to her hooves and started for the stairs when one of the Second Years decided she wanted to spend a bit more time petting, and cast the Leg-Locker Jinx at shiny pony.
To everyone’s intense surprise, the spell hit the pony . . . and refracted in a rainbow-like spread of spell-light across half the common room. It didn’t separate the light of the spell into components, as a prism does white-light into a rainbow of colours, but it did make the spell fan-out over a wide area. Dozens of people, those standing, at least, felt the spell attempt to pull their legs together. It wasn’t a powerful spell. It hadn’t been cast with strong intent. Spread across a dozen people it was more of a “please do this” rather than a “DO IT NOW” sort of thing. Luna, herself, felt only a slight tingle.
An intense evening of spell-casting research was the result.
Action-specific spells, like the disarming charm, tripping and knockback Jinxes and so forth, spells sent at Luna, tended to pass through her and get spread out. It was much like shining a light through a crystal — without the colour rainbow, of course, just spreading or bouncing off to the side in a wide beam. It all depended on precisely where the spell hit. Glancing strikes tended to bounce, head-on strikes went through, or rarely, bounced.
Other spells, ones that required continuous concentration, like the levitation, or tickling charms, worked just fine.
Spells cast from the wand, such as the hot air charm, worked normally, too. That was, of course, because the wand was generating the effect and not trying to impose the magic on another.
They also discovered that if you turned out the lights and had Luna cast lumos while holding the tip of her wand against her side, she lit up the entire room. Almost blindingly so, depending on how bright she wanted the lumos. * A lumous maxima would probably light up a stadium without difficulty.
Still, it made for some very interesting letters back home to Equestria. The Princesses, and his mum in particular, would want to see if this was a natural ability of all Crystal Ponies. Or, had Discord, again, done something different?
The good news, from Harry’s point of view, was that this meant another visit from his mum on Saturday as she came to scope out the new discovery! Princess Luna’s arrival with her was not unexpected, and she showered the filly with attention and praise. From Princess Luna’s comments to others, you would think she was the one who was crystal and not the filly!
Harry had the feeling Princess Luna was already preparing a list of potential suitors for the filly. He hid his shudder. Better her than him! He had his hooves full with the five that had decided they wanted him.
Which was a whole different kettle of fish.
Witches were paying a lot more attention to him, he noticed. More than one would try to hang around the group — some more successfully than others.
He hadn’t noticed it before, but after what both Blueblood and Sirius had told him, he saw that more than a few witches were trying to talk to him away from the herd. Or they were saying things that could be taken multiple ways — invariably naughty ways, too.
He just didn’t understand.
He wasn’t rich. Everything he owned was something provided by his mum.
Celestia, Sweetie Belle was far richer!
He wasn’t important.
He wasn’t even that smart.
Hermione was far smarter!
Ginny and Apple Bloom both had wonderful, supportive families. Sweetie Belle’s sister would do anything for her.
Scootaloo could fly!
He wasn’t particularly good looking, in either form. There were plenty of others who were more handsome, who had more money, who were lots smarter.
Unless they wanted to use him to get closer to his mum?
Or did they thought that by getting closer to him they could get closer to the herd, and thus accepted into the herd? That didn’t make any sense, though.
Why would anypony be interested in a pony who had spent nine years in a cupboard, as the punching bag for his cousin? He wasn’t special in any way.
So, why him?
What made him so special they would seek him out?
Although, it was sort of pleasant that they were nice to him. He doubted it would last past when they realized he wasn’t interested in them.
^-~-^
Unfortunately for Tom, time was distorted when he hid in the diary. He never really knew how much time passed while he was inside it, beyond vague feelings. Having to keep so much of his soul inside the diary while absorbing his target’s made things more complicated. It would have been so much easier simply to displace the boy from his own body while he slept and wander the castle to relieve his boredom. Regrettably, that risked being discovered by the spells guarding the castle, or noticed by the prefects using that bloody-damned map to look for wayward students at night.
It would probably show his real name, too.
If only the Atlanteans had just kept their bloody opinions and hands to themselves, and hadn’t provided those improvements, he would have had free rein. But now? He didn’t dare risk it. He had to keep his explorations to the minimum.
His only respite had been the hols, when the professors were much laxer about enforcing the rules. But even then, he had felt under watch and kept his activities to the absolute minimum outside of the Dungeons.
He had discovered a lot about the Atlanteans since the beginning of school, though. Being in the diary so much gave him plenty of time to think and review what he had learned without distractions. The memory of the ponies’ “demonstration” last year, which he had seen in his host’s mind, had been startling, to say the least. That their “Guard” had gone so muggle in their approach to a magical incursion had been illuminating. They had transformed the castle into an impressive armed camp overnight — one that would have been a tough nut to crack even for a wizard army.
The rapidity with which they had used muggle guns to punch through a strong shield faster than a crucio had given him much to ponder. Unlike spell-fire, one couldn’t even think of a shield before getting hit! Their ability to combine magic and muggle technology had been extraordinary. That the wizard-disdained muggle weaponry could be so effective was an eye-opener.
There was no doubt that their weaponry would stop giants, trolls, and werewolves long before they came close enough to engage in hand-to-hand combat. The vampires would even have a difficult time, given the Atlanteans penchant for equipping every other team with a flame-thrower specialist in addition to those mini-guns. With a flame-protection spell on themselves, they needn’t worry about “friendly-fire” incidents should the vampire’s get among their troops.
Wizards would barely get to the second syllable of a spell before being reduced to bloody mist by a hail of bullets. No wizard would be able to cast a spell and then erect a shield in time. The retaliation would arrive before an offensive spell could even finish being cast, much less travel to hit its target.
If shields were rendered ineffective in less than a second by heavy-duty muggle weapons, as it appeared, then the only hope for a wizard was dodging or a sneak attack, Unhappily, dodging a well-aimed bullet was impossible. With those miniguns they had? Even needing to be well-aimed was made unimportant. They could make them even deadlier if they charmed the bullets with explosive or cutting curses. The potential of homing spells made him shudder — figuratively speaking, that is.
No one could move fast enough to dodge something traveling at a thousand feet per second when the one shooting the gun was only a hundred feet away. The first that they knew they were being fired at was when the bullets took their arm, leg, or head off. That didn’t even begin to factor in the number of bullets per second being fired.
That they fought in teams of three made things especially difficult. The aurors usually worked in teams of two or alone. Not to mention that now all three Guards were likely wand-users specializing in combat. The combination of muggle and magical defensive and offensive tactics made them formidable opponents.
That they were so well-prepared for combat on a large scale said a lot about what enemies they faced in their own land. That they depended so heavily on muggle means to fight when all their enemies were as magical as they were was also intriguing. It gave him much to ponder while he was stuck in the diary. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so quick to write off the muggles as nothing more than easily managed pests?
Fortunately, he had no need to confront them. Once he had reconstituted himself, his first order of business would be finding a secure place from which to operate.
He had no doubts that his parent soul-piece had established several bolt-holes and caches of gold, potions, and equipment, but he had no idea of where they were. Aggravating, but there was nothing he could do about it.
There was a chance that he had a vault in Gringotts, so that would be one of his first goals. Which would be right after he had pillaged whatever remained of his parental host’s resources. Regrettably, based on what he had heard from the other Slytherins, all his former slaves had already been thoroughly, and legally, pillaged by that bloody-damned pure-blood-traitor, Black.
Still, once he had a few thousand galleons to back him, he had no doubts that he would be able to track his “errant” parent soul-piece. Depending on what he found, he would either suborn it or destroy it. Preferably the former. There was a considerable amount of magic his parent-soul had accumulated after leaving Hogwarts. Losing all that knowledge would be a waste of tremendous proportions. However, if the other was not accommodating, then he would destroy it. No reason to leave competition just waiting for an inopportune moment to surface and attack.
Finding the parent-soul would be easy, but time consuming. Particularly if he had to be careful with his resources! But once he found it, he would have access to all its secrets, including those prepared bolt-holes and caches, at the least. There wouldn’t be any resource scarcities after that.
Then he planned to assess the current world-situation, both muggle and magical. If the muggles were as well-equipped as the Atlanteans, then he would have to avoid direct confrontations at any cost. The only way to control the irritating beasts would be to control their leadership. That would take decades to get wizards and witches into the proper positions for control. But what did he care? He had millennia to execute his plans. There was no hurry.
Before conquering the wizards and muggles, though, he would have to sneak into Atlantis and steal their secrets.
He wanted to rule the world — the entire world — not just the wizarding and muggle parts he had known about before his host had started using the diary.
However, before all that, he needed to discover just who it was that was stalking him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a Slytherin, as he had first supposed.
Living in the same dorm over the hols had made things much simpler than they might have been. One at a time, usually at night when everyone was asleep, he had had his suggestible host stun everyone in a dorm room. It was a good deal like trying to drive a car from the backseat and shouting directions through a blanket at a blind driver.
He had used a compulsion charm on his host that the students in that dorm room had something of great value that his host wanted. That way, he wasn’t taking direct control and possibly tripping the alert spells to his presence. Once in the room, he used a moment’s legimency to examine their memories. The wizard-side of the dorm had taken only a few days.
The witches’ side had taken a bit more work — defeating the spell protecting the staircase for that side had required non-magical means — and five days. However, more compulsion charms had taken care of that problem. They, too, had been eliminated as suspects.
He had carefully obliviated everyone of all his activities — even his host, even though he was loathe to use that spell on something he intended to use.
Which left only the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs.
It had been tricky, but he had finally cornered the Ravenclaws, separately, and rejected them as possible suspects.
He had found it difficult to believe that the four Hufflepuffs could be that advanced in magic to track and follow him. However, that seemed to be the only conclusion possible. Unfortunately, trying to isolate any of the four had been impossible — they never seemed to travel alone. He had considered an ambush, but there was no way he could hit all four simultaneously — they didn’t bunch up the way Slytherins did.
One of them was competent enough for him to fail to detect the spy before now. That meant there was the distinct probability that attempting an ambush would backfire in the worst sort of way. Plus, if it was two or more working together, then it would be a disaster for him. The risk was not worth it.
When the new term started, the feeling of being watched had increased.
He was caught between a rock and a hard place. It was far too early to flee, the resistance from his host would be a definite problem. If he continued as he had planned, there was the increasing chance that whomever it was might find evidence, and go to the Headmaster. He might be found out and caught before he could escape.
He could reduce his drain on the boy, curtail all his activities, and hope they lost interest as his trail appeared to vanish.
However, if he did that, then he would have to wait until summer to complete his plans. Not that he was in a hurry. That might even be better.
He would have to increase the compulsion on his host to write in the diary at night. It would be in the privacy of his bed, instead of at random times during the day when he had time. And not every night, either. Plus, he needed to have his host leave the diary in his dorm room — just in case someone was picking up the spells on the diary when they got close to his host.
Perhaps he could spend a bit more time with the Atlanteans and mine for information about their home? Leave his host with a list of questions every night and get the answers the next?
Knowing your enemy was a very important tactic in warfare. He understood wizards and witches quite well, but the Atlanteans were a mystery. They had a prey-mentality, based on their almost universal animagus as a pony, and not predator.
Their entire approach to life was different. Just look at how they considered polygamy as normal! Balancing that was their assumption that the witches made the decisions and their husbands followed, the exact opposite of wizarding and muggle customs.
Bah! Stupid Atlanteans.
But maybe he should make some contingency plans in case something went wrong before summer hols arrived . . .. It wouldn’t hurt to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice if things went pear-shaped.
^·_·^
They had settled into a Hogwarts routine rather easily, fear of the diary notwithstanding. The routine was comforting, albeit a bit boring, sometimes. However, Harry had learned his lesson about wishing things weren’t boring. Oh, yes, he had!
Well, boring for his friends. Not so for the other ponies. The change to the grading system, separating the humans from the ponies, had been a surprise to everyone. Following that was the change of detentions from being extra learning lessons to down-right boring historical assignments. For many of the ponies, discovering the very violent history of the humans was stomach churning. Reading what they sometimes did to each other was enough to get the pony rule-breaking almost eliminated.
That hadn’t, however, prevented a group of the pegasi from corralling a doxy colony in the attic, and attempting to domesticate them. **
Subsequently, Rule 8 was modified:
8) Students are not allowed to play with dangerous beasts inside Hogwarts, its grounds, or the lake, without the direct supervision of a Professor.
a) For the purposes of this rule, Hagrid is a qualified staff member.
And, in a rare show of foresight, another new rule was posted: ***
16) Students are required to GET PERMISSION from a staff member with suitable qualifications, experience, and attitude BEFORE bringing any dangerous beasts from home.
i. For the purposes of this rule, Hagrid is NOT a qualified staff member.
ii.
a) Hogwarts’ staff are the arbiters of whether a beast is dangerous.
b)
i. For the purposes of this rule, Hagrid is NOT a qualified arbiter.
ii.
c) Hogwarts’ staff are the arbiters of whether an animal is a beast.
d)
i. For the purposes of this rule, Hagrid is NOT a qualified arbiter.
ii.
e) Students are not allowed to take home with them, or send home, dangerous beasts from the Forbidden Forest to demonstrate the difference between their forest and ours. Rules 16a & b from above apply.
f)
g) Students are not allowed to have dangerous beasts sent to them from home. Rules 16a & b from above apply.
h)
i) Students are not allowed to send dangerous beasts to school ahead of themselves. Rules 16a & b from above apply.
Then it was February.
Hearts and Hooves Day — Valentine’s Day on this side of the portal — was fast approaching and Harry didn’t know what to do. Blueblood had been quite explicit about what would and would not be appropriate things to do and say on that day. At the very least his herd-mates — the three fillies for sure, and very probably Hermione and Ginny, based on what had been happening since this day last year — expected cards that expressed his sentiment.
The first problem was, just what was his sentiment?
He was extremely relieved that the three fillies wouldn’t end up quarrelling, and that he wouldn’t end up losing two friends just because he liked the third a tiny bit more. Hermione and Ginny left him confused, however. He wasn’t certain they understood that the three fillies weren’t vying for his attention the way the other fillies in the castle seemed to assume. The three fully intended to marry him. He wasn’t sure how that would work, but Blueblood had assured him that ponies did that all the time without any troubles, or, at least, none that were worth worrying about.
Harry hadn’t really noticed such things, before, in Equestria.
They simply hadn’t been anything he thought about. It didn’t help that most of his mum’s friends were all single . . . and the ones that were married were in monogamous relationships . . . well, he thought they were monogamous. Maybe they weren’t and he simply hadn’t noticed.
He still wasn’t sure why the fillies hung around him. It had been quite a shock to discover that they liked him more than as a friend. He had never had friends! The thought that somepony might want to be more than that was . . . inexplicable. How could there be more than being a friend?
The real problem was, what did he feel towards them? He liked them, that was for sure. Waking in a pony pile with them was definitely something that made him feel warm — and he didn’t mean as in temperature. If he didn’t see them for a while, it was always a relief and joy when they did get back together. He couldn’t imagine not being involved in their shenanigans. The thought of never seeing them again left a hollow feeling in his stomach, and he couldn’t really imagine not seeing them again. They were the first ones he thought of when waking, and the last at night going to sleep. When they were sad, he wanted to make them happy. When they were happy, he just wanted to bask in the glow of their happiness.
But what did that mean? Did that mean they were family? He had never had a brother or sister, and his cousin had prevented him from getting close to other colts and fillies who did have siblings, so he had no examples. His cousin certainly wasn’t a good example, what with the way he had always belittled and bullied him, and did everything he could to make Harry miserable.
That all three agreed they wanted to be more than friends with him left him a loss as to what he should expect or do.
Blueblood hadn’t had the experience of a poly-marriage himself, but from the ponies he had shared drinks with over the years, it hadn’t seemed to be an issue. By the time a mare joined a herd, all of the mares knew where each stood, what each gained, and what each had to compromise on.
But did the two human fillies understand that? Did he dare ask? Or had the five already hashed that out among themselves? Should he just assume that everything was settled? If it wasn’t, then he hoped his defence that he was a clueless stallion would suffice.
But back to what to do.
Cards for each of them was a given. He wasn’t a poet, but surely the library had something he could crib from, right?
Blueblood had said that candy for the fillies was acceptable, almost demanded if the fillies were in a herding mood. Sirius had also said that getting fillies candy was never a bad idea. He also suggested flower arrangements, but that Harry had to be careful of what Sirius called “flower messages.” For example, Sirius had told him that a red rose meant love or respect, while an orange lily could mean you hated someone. Putting both together in a bouquet? What did that mean? Except, maybe, that he had made a tremendous mistake?
So, while Hermione might like flowers for the flowers, Ginny and all the other pure-bloods would read a message into whatever he might give them. The fillies, naturally, would assume the flowers were interesting snacks to go with the candy.
He cradled his head in his hooves.
He wondered what message a chocolate rose with a peppermint stem would send? That he was hungry at the moment? His stomach growled.
Any kind of jewellery was out of the question, at this point, according to both of his “experts.”
Blueblood said, in view of his previous gifts of the rings, that more jewellery from him was uncalled for, even vulgar. It would be taken as him bragging about how rich he was. Which was quite gauche for a member of the nobility such as himself, now that he had been adopted by his mum. Sirius had concurred.
Jewellery from the mares would be more acceptable. However, at this stage of their relationship, anything more than small trinkets would be considered premature by the adults.
Sirius had said that, for the purebloods, giving jewellery on Valentine’s Day was a serious statement of intent. A wedding would be expected in the summer, if either side gave jewellery, even simple earrings or bracelets. Best to avoid that as much as possible.
After much consideration, Harry decided on white and red roses with white heather to accompany his cards. The roses said unity — they were a herd. The heather was both protection and wishes will come true — Ginny would read the second as first, as would most of the pure-bloods.
He didn’t understand the dynamics of a herd, yet, but he wasn’t going to tell her ‘no’ right off the bat, for no real reason.
That Valentine’s Day morning, in the Gryffindor Common Room, everything went as he had planned and hoped. He presented the fillies with the cards he had meticulously made. The chocolates, owl-ordered from Hogsmeade, were well-received. He had practiced the third-year reducio and engorgio charms just for this occasion to present the flower arrangements without having to make multiple trips to his room. They had come with a stasis charm on them so that they stayed as fresh as when they had been delivered — again owl-ordered from Hogsmeade.
There were quite a few ohhs, awes, and compliments from other fillies in the common room. The pure-bloods all sighed at the flowers. Hermione and Ginny had pinked a bit, while Ginny’s eyes had turned a bit watery.
Harry figured that Ginny would clue the others into the meaning of the flowers soon enough.
It appeared, from what he could observe, that the Equestrian fillies were taking full advantage of Valentine’s Day. The older colts were almost under siege as the fillies made clear that they were not limiting their choices to the colts in their age group. Neither were the fillies limiting themselves to one. After all, who knew if the one they selected would be interested in them? Better to explore several and pick the one with the most potential for a good match in the future.
All five fillies made sure to hug him and give him a kiss on the cheek. The group of them were skipping and grinning the entire way to the Great Hall.
Which was where things started to go pear-shaped.
The walls were covered with large, lurid pink flowers. From the pale blue ceiling heart-shaped confetti was falling and slowly collecting on the exposed food. Harry led the way to the Gryffindor table. Ron, who had rushed on ahead of them when Harry started handing out the Valentine cards in the common room was sitting, looking sickened. He was holding a small shield spell over their section of the table to keep their food from acquiring any more unwelcome additions.
At first, the fillies seemed to have the giggles at the state of the Hall. But Hermione quickly noticed and took offense at the unsanitary pollution of their meal, to which she loudly proclaimed her disgust. She used a soft wind from her wand to blow away what she could while the others either tried to help her or added their shields to Ron’s.
Fortunately, the second years were well-accomplished with that spell from all their practice last year. They extended their coverage to the first years who were still struggling with the spell.
“So, what’s this all about?” Harry asked, sitting down and shaking confetti off a rasher of bacon.
Ron, too appalled to speak, gave a disgusted look at the teachers’ table. The teachers were stony-faced to either side of the widely grinning Lockhart. He was wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, and waving for silence. From even this far, Harry could see a muscle twitch in Professor McGonagall’s cheek. Snape looked as if he had just drunk a most repulsive potion.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Lockhart shouted, with his arms wide-spread, and then he explained. Harry was surprised to hear that forty-six people had sent him cards — he actually had expected for more of their female population to have done so! Then Lockhart bragged about arranging the decorations in the Hall.
But that wasn’t all. Somehow, he had convinced dwarfs to wear golden wings and carry harps while wearing what could charitably be called a baby’s diaper. They did not look happy. Harry could only bury his head in his arms as the daft wizard announced that the dwarves would be accepting and delivering Valentine cards — but that wasn’t the worst. The worst was that they would be singing the valentines.
The DADA Professor did not endear himself to Professor’s Snape, Slughorn, or Flitwick by suggesting that two would be a good source for instructions on Love Potions and the other might share his knowledge of Entrancing Enchantments. All three professors gave him appalled looks, and then glares into the Hall that promised detentions to any student who dared approach them about anything that wasn’t directly related to today’s classes.
All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers. Late that afternoon, as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs caught up with Harry. Harry dealt with it as gracefully as possible, while wanting to sink into the floor in embarrassment. The fillies watched on with varying expressions of laughter and horror.
Fortunately, Harry knew none of the fillies in his herd would have need of the services of the dwarves, having delivered their valentines earlier.
Still, it made for a madhouse in the corridors as the dwarves rushed about between classes trying to deliver their messages before the next class started, embarrassing students by the score. Their surly attitude was a surreal contrast to the syrupy-sweet and awful poetry they recited.
Usually while sitting on the person to whom the poem was addressed, because that was the only way they could get the silly sots to listen.
^·_·^
Harry wondered if he was slowly losing the plot. Ever since those dwarves had been in the castle, he could swear that he kept seeing unicorns in some of the portraits that lined the corridors.
There were a few landscapes that featured unicorns, of course. However, he kept seeing a white unicorn, always in the background and peeping from behind the scenery, that looked suspiciously as if it was trying to hide faint lines that seemed to indicate wings. And he could swear that he had seen the vague shape of a black unicorn whose eyes were staring at him from a painting of a moon-lit forest glade.
But he knew that the portraits were all locked, so it couldn’t be any of the pegasi sneaking into them with fake horns.
^·_·^
Stats
Page generated in 0.047 seconds
Total duration
1,044 users online
11,800 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This chapter's title reminded me of this;
Sounds like celestia and luna are having a whale of a time.
10778427
It was supposed to.
IDEA:
Royal Guard armor based off Crystal Pony spell-refraction as an anti-wizard defense.
Also, now that Equestria has wizardkind's magical knowledge, they may make an effort to study and duplicate The Crystal Heart’s abilities: (1) citywide LOVE-fueled enchantments, (2) temporary crystallization of non-Crystal ponies, and (3) weather-control that makes an arctic zone inhabitable.
trollestia
Luna Lovegood has a bright future as a living disco ball.
Also, damn. I get that Harry is young and ignorant but sometimes I just want to smack him upside the head and deliver wisdom to him. Percussive wisdom.
I had my doubts before, but seem like you are set on shoehorning Harry x Hermione into this story. I get why some people think this ship is more sensible than canonical Ron x Hermione and Harry x Ginny. However, it doesn't make much sense in context of this story. Ginny had strong celebrity crash on Harry and this story got to start school earlier, together with her crash. Moreover, watching movies could give her even more motivation to pursue relationships with Harry despite whole CMC herding.
Hermione, on other hand, didn't show any romantic infatuation with Ron or Harry till 4th year. Moreover, Hermione has an heighten sense of personal dignity. I don't see her trying to be part of this polycule, especially after watching movies.
P.S. Other than that, nice chapter.
Luna and Tia paintings are keeping an eye on harry it seems.
Nice chapter!
free rein
I bet that the Luna and Celestia paintings
10778544
Remember, you're seeing this primarily from his POV, not the fillies or girls. It has been my experience that just because two people are experimenting with a relationship doesn't mean it works out. Out of the 600 people in my class in high school, I can confidently say that less than two percent of the couples in first year were still couples at the end of fourth year.
10778565
Thanks. I'm not dyslexic, really I'm not. Darn autocorrect slips these things in. It can't let pegasus go by with captializing!
10778588
Fair enough.
I really hope Voldemort makes his escape. He needs to see just how little power he has left and him trying to rebuild can definitely drive the story further.
10778639
It would be interesting if Cozy Glows enters Hogwarts in third year, merging with soul shard, but due to her magic theory expertise not being drained by him.
10778647
Personally I hold to the theory that Cozy Glow suffers from a magical issue that keeps her as a foal, she is really an adult.
I wonder how Voldemorts ambush, study and obliviate would react to changeling hive minds?
10778668
It is kind of stupid situation that we even need to make theories about Cozy Glow origins. Hasbro apparently thought it is totally OK to just dump "evil child trope" on audience without any justification as if it is normal thing. In fact they very bad at handling psychology related things.
10778460
Or as a way to increase the area of effect of spells if needed. Could be incredibly useful for even simpler purposes like making use of light-spells much, much more effective, probably make lighting up big areas incredibly efficient in terms of fueling the lights with magic. It could also work as, oh, something like a flashbang, without the bang, just close your eyes and cast a strong light-spell, and whoever was unfortunate enough to not have their eyes closed at that point is gonna be having a hard time seeing anything for a bit, and due to equestrian medical spells, eye-damage would likely not be much an issue.
I forget. What's the status of Peter Pettigrew in this one?
10778733
Jailed in Equestria.
10778706
I thought it was at the level of at least beta canon? I thought the writers of the show said they based her off of the villain Baby Doll from Batman the Animated Series? They just couldn’t work it organically into the plot and when they where questioned about it they revealed it. They said because why would someone who looks the CMC’s age be in classes with either adults or late adolescents. This is what many fanfic writers seem to be going with, from what I have mostly seen.
10778738
Actually not. Just as you can't be tired and jailed in Britain for a crime you committed in the US. He's being closely monitored, but in pony society in one of the cities.
If they wanted, the British could ask the Ponies to extradite him, but there's no treaty in place for that, yet. The wizards don't extradite, so they won't ask. They might complain, but the won't demand his return.
10778760
Ok, my bad. I thought he will be closely monitored in pony society in one of the cities after release.
Entire setup of second Fantastic Beasts is started with Grindelwald's extradition to Europe from America.
10778742
No, the same tweet thread intentionally keeps it vague whether or not she is midget:
Source
Being inspired by something doesn't mean having all properties of the inspiration source. Moreover, in the show made by many people in collective effort, "Word of God" is barely means anything.
No. Origins of Cozy Glow are mystery.
I hate to say it due to how much I was loving the story but I really really hate the inclusion of the books. I can't help but feel it just jumps the shark. I still love the changeling and the world building and everything else but I don't know the books might be a bridge too far for me
Part way through, I realized that I was reading the Tom Riddle section in the voice of Megatron. I was surprised by how well it worked.
This should be if.
10778809
The books add an element that makes it very difficult to maintain certain plot elements. Lockheart is the most glaringly obvious one here. They know from the books that he should be a total fraud, a criminal one in fact who has used mind control on a lot of heroic witches and Wizards. Presenting the evidence might be problematic, but it should add the plot element of them trying to figure out how to expose him without revealing the source of their information.
10779057
Also exposing Crouch, which is even more morally pressing.
10778588
I think Hermione and Ron can be ruled out as a couple. They're not really even at the like stage yet. If not for Harry they'd not even associate. Far from pushing them together the book and film would likely push them apart as they reject the premise.
I rather like the idea of Hermione slipping into a relationship with a colt. It can be presumed that the nice colts who are currently attending are nerds. Would not be out of line for her to encounter one in the library, and they'd have a lot in common. The colt might be technically one year younger, but as a pony he's actually a couple of years more mature. He'd view Hermione as being too young. Hermione fleeing from the idea of a relationship with Ron might be more inclined to cozy up to another potential match.
Ginny on the other hand would latch onto the shipping the book supplies. She'd become even more determined to be in a relationship with Harry. She's also young enough that she doesn't have the "Only Mine" attitude fully hardwired. Nurture over nature could see her willing to accept a polyamorous relationship.
Actually, one thing that has not been touched on, much. It is taken as a given that the three fillies all want to herd with Harry, but what about their relationship with each other. Would be an interesting twist if Apple Bloom for instance is happily BI and has no intention of limiting herself, sexually, to just Harry. GIven the population numbers that might not be out of the norm. The herd is a group marriage, but nothing says that the pairings inside it all center on the stallion.
I wonder if it means she is immune to unforgivable curses... and also if a spread out Avada Kadavra actually becomes a mass destruction weapon...
Usually, they call me Luna, but you can call me...
Flash Hand Grenade
Somepony's sense is tickling
derpicdn.net/img/2021/2/2/2542154/large.jpg
I wonder if she can extradimensionally feel that her special day is being utterly defiled
10778781
That was because the Yanks wanted to get rid of him. They could easily have tried and jailed him with their OWN juries. He committed quite a few felonies in NYC, didn't he?
10779038
Thanks.
10779367
Unfortunately, Crouch is nearly impossible. They can't go to the Ministry with this and be taken seriously: "Where did you get your information?" "From fictional books written in a different universe than both of ours."
You would hear the laughter all the way in Scotland.
Any covert attempts to "discover" his imperused son have the potential to backfire tremendously.
However, keeping an eye on Bertha might be a good idea, and making sure a good friend goes with her to the Crouches' home next summer might be doable.
10779435
That's a quagmire I will avoid getting into at this stage. Harry is not close enough to any of them to see such inclinations or beginning interactions. He has enough problems with him and them.
10779492
Flash Hand Grenade — I like that.
However, when she's much older, it really gives a double entendre to Flash Bang, doesn't it?
10779501
On the topic of acting on what is in the books. While some things would cause them to reassess things they know are true, like Snape's nature. Some of them are conditional on the domino effect. What happened in book one led to what happened in book two, and so on.
I'll point out that there really aren't that many similarities in the books right from the first chapter. Harry did not run away from home after a beating that came within an ace of killing him. He had a lousy abusive childhood, but the mental scars were worse than the physical ones.
There is no reason at all for you to try and fit plot elements from the books into your world.
Barty Crouch might never leave Azkaban for instance. In fact he might not even exist.
That would be an interesting twist. With Arthur checking up, because he had never heard of Barty, and finding out there never was such a person.
That throws a spanner into the works, and suddenly they are back to not being sure if Snape is the book Snape, or just a toe-rag with no redeeming qualities.
10779544
Unfortunately, Barty Crouch being in prison, and then released, happened well before Harry's problems began. Harry's abuse at the the Dursleys could have occurred, if you postulate an extremely manipulative Dumbledore (he confesses he knew he was condemning Harry to ten dark years in Order of the Phoenix), then Dumbledore simply erased and repaired Harry as needed that day, and obliviated everyone while fixing the Dursleys to not go so far, next time.
If not, then changing that one aspect of Harry's life had no impact on the rest of the wizarding world — at all — as none of them interacted with the Dursleys. The changes in the wizarding world start occurring when the Equestrians arrive.
Which was my premise to the story. The ONLY change to canon was Harry's treatment, and his escape from it.
10779569
My point was that there is no reason why this world would align perfectly with the books, and that you are not restricted by them. But if you want to deal with juggling all of that, more power to you.
10779501
On completely unrelated note. Can we have Peeves and Discord interaction? A spirit of chaos meets the Spirit of Chaos. I didn't see that done in HP x MLP fics. Just imagine Discord admonishing Peeves for slacking of on his 'chaotic duties' and Peeves just fanboying.
10779435
Yes, those are valid potential developments and healthy polyamorous relationships are usually not monocentric, however development of this topic at this stage is currently not exactly appropriate, it is more stuff for fourth year, as for now anything beyond innuendo jokes is morally hazardous territory.
The portraits are tracking diary Riddles Host at night?
10779628
Fair points. Some aspects of that might show up in some more mature herds, but it should not be something Harry would consider.
Speaking of mature herds. The author is hitting the polyamorous relationship drum pretty hard. It would maybe be more effective if the only married couples in the story weren't monogamous. Especially the princess of food. She needs to see about adding another mare to her relationship with Shining.
I suggest this purely for the comic potential of her going second wife hunting in the human world. The potential herd members in the pony world would be far too aware of Cadence's status and that of Shining Armor. They'd either run for the hills, or be agreeable for all the wrong reasons. A talented young witch with an adventurous spirit would be just what the doctor ordered. Too bad Castor doesn't have a female subordinate seconding him in his role as Concierge. She'd be a great candidate for hijinks.
Too tell the truth I was sort of hoping we might see somepony approaching Castor's wife with the intent of feeling her out on the topic. Castor has proven himself quite capable and would be quite the catch.
HAH! Ahem- sure Tom, prey mentality. Before you make any judgements on how weak this makes them though, you might want to look up wendigos and question why you can't seem to find any wendigos in Equestria anymore.
Oh, and watch out for rainbows. They don't really like soul parasites.
nice work on chapter
HEARSAY!
We got a sequel and I didn’t even know bout it tell now this is a crime against the motherland of Equestria! Welp time to start reading.....after I reread the first one to remember what’s going on.
10780165
I don't think it necessary to force this kind of relationships onto Castor. I also don't see anyone entering relationship with Shining and Cadance aside from Chrysalis if she is reformed or Royal Sisters, if Shining ascends to alicornhood. The very few examples of potential setups of polyamorous relationships in MLP canon include Spike/Rarity/Ember (with significant time skip or aging Spike up), Starlight/Suburst/Trixie, CMCs between themselves, Twilight/Flash/Sunset, Feather Bangs and those three mares, Big Mac/Sugar Belle/Marble Pie. Textbook monogamous relationships are already complicated and require significant effort to maintain in healthy shape, polyamory requires even more consideration and commitment on author's part.
Yay I caught up
... Oh God, how did painted-Princesses get access to paintings in Hogwarts? Even with another set of paintings being provided to the Embassy, they wouldn't have a link through paintings to exploit to gain access.
The most straightforward way would be a set of Princess paintings having been shipped to the school. The lockdown on Hogwarts paintings, I'm pretty sure, only applies to students trying to painting-walk - so the painting-Princesses would be fine from there.
Incidentally, I wonder when Harry will realise he might need another colt for backup? With 3:1 being the normal ratio, and lil'Luna potentially joining the fray, that's an awful lotta work for one colt. I pre-emptively nominate Neville.
10788394
The twins may have been involved.
I just could not stop reading. Thank you so much for this amazing set of stories so far! (Book 1 and 2)
You're incredible!
10778477
She would probably enjoy it. For five seconds. Then she would get bored and jump down to join the dancing.
10781726
Which one was 'just right'?