A week later, in Wednesday’s DADA class Harry was, as usual, recruited into re-enacting scenes from Lockhart’s book. They involved scuffles with several muggles and wizards enamoured of the vampire. After which, he turned to the topic of Renfields. “It’s rather humorous,” he said, as a relieved Harry got to return to his desk. He swept his gaze across the class with a huge smile. “Most of you haven’t heard of the book, but those of you who are muggle-born, and a few of the half-bloods, have heard of a book by Bram Stoker called “Dracula.”
He nodded as Neville, Lavender, Fay, and Parvati, the pure-bloods sat up. “Yes,” he said, “that Dracula.” He smirked a tiny bit. “The muggles know about Dracula, you see. A very enterprising Irish half-blood, Stoker was. He wrote a book about the vampire, wrapping it in superstition. By the time the Ministry discovered he had written it, there were far too many copies around to remove it.” He shook his head.
“Fortunately, the Ministry was able to use confundus on any curious muggles and convince them that there was no solid evidence that the Count in the novel was modelled on the real Dracula of Wallachia. They spread the tale that Stoker only borrowed the name Dracula and mixed his story with scraps of miscellaneous information about Romanian history. They went so far as to ensure that there were no comments about the Count in the author’s working notes. There was some debate about tossing Stoker into Azkaban, but he was too much in the public eye, by them. So, the Ministry fined him heavily, leaving him and his squib wife paupers, by all accounts, to discourage anyone else doing what he did.” He shook his head sadly.
“Anyway,” he continued, “The book became quite popular. One of Stoker’s ‘alterations’ to the Dracula story was distilling the people who are mind-controlled by vampires into a character called Renfield — whom he described as a lunatic. When the Ministry aurors were dealing with the book incident, some of them who had to deal with vampires started referring to those victims as Renfields, and the name has stuck.”
He paused and looked around. “Well,” he finished, “It seems we have run out of time, so that is all for today. Don’t forget, your assignment on Marauding with Monsters is due next Monday. Dismissed.”
^-_-^
It was during breakfast on Thursday that the Headmaster began to tap his cup. The students in the Great Hall quickly settled down and waited curiously, with many whispered comments back and forth.
He stood and smiled genially at them all, at least the ones who weren’t running late to breakfast. “Professor Lockhart would like to say a few words about classes today.” He sat and looked over at the professor expectantly.
The professor, resplendent as always, was in robes of deep plum as he stood behind the Head Table. He grinned broadly as he glanced around the Great Hall at the students. “I am sure you will be overjoyed to hear that I will be holding a special class for my Second-Year students on Saturday.”
The students looked at each other warily. Many of the Second-Year witches looked excited at the prospect. The wizards were a good deal less pleased, as were a few of the witches, such as those in Harry’s circle.
“Never fear,” he continued exuberantly, “although it will be much more exciting, it won’t interfere with the quidditch match, in the slightest.”
A relieved sigh was heard from the wizards in his second-year classes.
“I will be holding an exceptional demonstration on the mind arts for the second years.” He again swept the room with his gaze. “Those of you not in those classes need not fear you will be left out. The class is open to any who might wish to see an incredible display of my wizardly prowess. A level to which you should all aspire; despite the many years of concentrated study it will require.”
He struck a pose with his wand upraised. After a brief pause, as if waiting for the flash of cameras to accompany the enthusiastic applause of the witches, he lowered his arm. “The class will be immediately after breakfast, at nine, and be completed by ten-thirty.” He gave a throaty chuckle. “There will be plenty of time for you to make it to the pitch and secure good seats.”
He took a deep breath and looked proudly at the students. “I suspect most, if not all of you, will benefit from taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime demonstration! If you aren’t there, you will forever bemoan not seeing the incomparable Gilderoy Lockhart at work! It will be a lesson for the history books.” He struck a new pose.
Harry tried not to roll his eyes, but he noticed quite a few other boys were unable to resist. Almost an equal number of witches, most not in Gryffindor, sighed dreamily. He suspected nearly all of the audience on Saturday that weren’t second year students would be witches.
Lockhart started to sit, then stopped and stood again. “Ah, yes,” he said as if he had suddenly remembered something. “In compensation for the special class Saturday, classes for the second years are cancelled for today and tomorrow.”
He sat with a flourish as the second years all burst into cheers — or, at least, the boys did. Many of the witches looked disappointed. Harry shook his head and looked across the table at Neville, who had a similar expression at the reaction of the witches. His herd-mates were looking relieved, while Hermione was downright scowling.
That was when he noticed that Elly had turned around and was giving him a steady, meaningful look. He raised his eyebrows at her. She turned her head enough to look at the Head Table from the edges of her eyes, then looked back at him and tilted her head in a slight nod at Lockhart.
Then she turned around completely to look over at the Slytherin table, and craned her neck to look over in the specific direction of Malfoy and his boyfriends. Then she turned her head enough to look at him from the edges of her eyes, and tilted her head at Malfoy.
After that, she returned to eating her breakfast and ignored him.
Hermione, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had not missed Elly’s action, and were frowning heavily, glancing among themselves, Lockhart, and the Dark Trio. How their professor was connected to the Dark Trio, beyond the obvious, was puzzling.
But, considering Elly’s actions, they would find out Saturday. In the meantime, they would need to be especially vigilant.
Everyone was debating what the DADA demonstration on Saturday would entail — and if the non-second-years should attend, in view of what had happened at the Duelling Club demonstration in December.
^·_·^
Tom was not stupid. He stared at the Professor with narrowed eyes. Something was up with Gilderoy. He was planning something . . . something more than just a “demonstration” for the second-year students.
Tom hadn’t missed that the older of the four Hufflepuffs who had stayed over the hols had given Potter a rather obvious alert that something was up with the Professor. He shook his head. She couldn’t have been more obvious if she had climbed up on the table and shouted at the boy.
Clearly, she thought that whatever the Professor was planning had something to do with Potter. What her connection to Potter was, he didn’t know. She never hung out with him, and while they shared a few classes they hadn’t studied together. Or, at least, not that he had noticed. That she was one of the Hufflepuffs who had stayed over the hols was significant, he felt. It might be just a coincidence, but there was that niggling thought that it wasn’t just that.
Was she the one spying on him?
And, if so, why?
Had she somehow picked up on his draining of his host?
Did that have anything to do with the DADA professor and his announcement?
He had learned in the orphanage to pay attention to those feelings that said something wasn’t right, that he needed to pay close attention to his surroundings. They usually portended one of the orphanage’s bullies doing something to him or his few possessions. That had only lasted until he had learned how to focus his meagre magical powers. It had taken a while, but he had taught the bullies that messing with him was not something they could do with impunity. Once he had started Hogwarts, they had quickly learned that payback was a real witch, or wizard in his case.
Maybe he needed to revise his plans? Maybe waiting until summer wasn’t a viable option, anymore?
Or was he panicking for no reason?
No, he was being cautious.
Tonight, he would use the confundus on the fifth through seventh years and have them give him some of their galleons. They would remember it as loaning the funds to each other, with the promise to repay the loans by June first. It wouldn’t be a lot, only a twenty or so galleons, but it would be enough for him to live on for a few months if he did have to do a runner. He could search out some of the places he assumed his “parent” soul-piece would have used as emergency stashes — such as the cave on the coast, the Riddle family cemetery, and a few other places no one should suspect.
That, of course, assumed he wouldn’t be able to pillage his host’s family vault before he completely drained him. Or that someone else — Black — had already done significant pillaging.
He had to admire the wizard’s business acumen, though. He had manoeuvred around and exploited the Death Eaters’ financial Achilles’ heels quite well. He would have to remember some of those tricks to use on his own, when he had gained enough funds. It seemed to be remarkably easy to get others beholden to him by loaning them the funds to live above their means, temporarily, with the promise that they would have higher earnings in the future to pay him back.
^·_·^
Albus was not stupid. Something was up with Gilderoy. He was planning something . . . something more than just a “demonstration” for the second-year students. Unfortunately, except for the Duelling Club and Valentine’s Day fiasco’s, the wizard had been fairly subdued outside of his classes this school year.
That was very much unlike his desire to be the centre of attention when he was at Hogwarts as a rather average student.
He actually seemed to be somewhat effective in his classes, much more so than Albus had expected. Giving the students a scenario from one of his books, asking what they would do in that situation, then having them practice the spells they mentioned was surprisingly successful at teaching. He was definitely doing better than many of the other professors Hogwarts had had in the DADA position over the last twenty years.
Which was a bit of a relief, as Dumbledore hadn’t had a choice in hiring him — he had been the only one to apply for the position! If he hadn’t come forward, Dumbledore would have had to go to Cornelius, hat in hand, and ask if he would be so kind as to appoint one of the aurors to the position.
The only indication he had that anyone suspected the wizard wasn’t what he purported to be was that some of the witches in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw weren’t as enamoured of the wizard as the other witches in the castle. Especially, lately.
Albus had been hoping that Lockhart would make a fatal mistake and expose himself as the fraud Albus knew he was. The downside to that happening, of course, was that if he left at the end of term it would leave Albus in the same quandry as this year. Maybe Albus could ask a retired auror to take the position? This was Alastor’s last year in the auror’s . . . maybe he would consider the job?
He shook his head, he was going off on a tangent.
Gilderoy had made an error in memory-wiping a friend of Dumbledore’s, one who had already confided his adventure to Albus. He had been a bit disgruntled at the attention that was starting to draw to him. He’d rather continue his researches out of the limelight.
However, now it was the basis of an adventure in one of Gilderoy’s books, with Gilderoy as the hero. Albus’ friend had no recollection of telling Albus of any such incident. Many of the principal participants in the situation now remembered Lockhart as their “saviour,” too.
Albus had researched one of Lockhart’s books on a weekend this past summer. The descriptions of the actual incidents in the book were truthful, if a bit exaggerated. The embellishments could be written off as differences in points of view in those who had witnessed what had happened. Merlin knew, if ten wizards saw duel, their retelling of the duel would sound like ten different duels had taken place.
There had been more than a few discrepancies between what Gilderoy looked like and what those involved remembered about the wizard who had helped them. Differences in hair colour, facial hair, attitude, clothes, and so forth. Nothing that would be proof positive, mind you, but more than enough to cast doubts on him being the wizard that had been there at that time. At least, in Dumbledore’s mind. He was sure no ordinary wizard or witch would take his observations seriously, despite his leadership role and reputation.
Albus had been rather pleased to note that there was a growing sentiment among the students that the DADA Professor was not the great adventurer he claimed to be. Several portraits had told him they had heard students discussing the discrepancies in Lockhart’s books as to when the events recounted had actually happened.
Normally, one expected an adventurer’s books to be released in the order in which they occurred. However, one of Gilderoy’s adventures seems to have happened after the book that came after it! Plus, they had noticed that two of the books seemed to take place at the same time.
But, so far, nothing that might unveil the depth of the wizard’s deception. Very disappointing.
Until now.
What made Albus most suspicious was not the professor’s insistence that the Headmaster be in attendance, but that he also insisted that Madam Bones, Director of Magical Law Enforcement, also be present.
She had already agreed.
His excuse was that he wanted her present as he wished her direct permission in using Susan Bones as one of his subjects.
The question was . . . what was the gilded-fraud planning?
He would make sure that both Filius and Severus were present, and under invisibility cloaks.
^-~-^
The morning passed quickly for Harry with History of Magic after breakfast, and then Charms with the Ravenclaws. Then there was a break, which they dedicated to revising their spells, they needed to be able to cast them quickly and accurately. As they headed for a late start to lunch, Hermione insisted they needed to learn the impediment, impervius, and episkey charms that afternoon.
Then came Double Potions with the Slytherins. The only things of note in the last two weeks had been one or another of the Dark Trio smirking at them and laughing. They hadn’t really done anything that was outright offensive. Still, Harry and the others would have to keep a careful watch on the three Slytherins. Just in case they decided to strike early instead of waiting until Saturday.
After the class, it would be back to practicing their spells.
It would mean leaving off assignments until Sunday, but they were ahead, anyway.
^-_-^
Hedwyg made a surprise delivery at breakfast, Friday morning. Harry took the proffered scroll and offered a rasher of bacon in return. After cooing a bit over his owl, with his own appreciative sounds coming out as he stroked his breast and head, he turned his attention to the mail he had brought.
“Huh,” he said as the herd crowded closer. “It’s from Hagrid. He wants to know if I could stop by after classes today.” He looked up at the others.
“Sure.”
“Don’t see why not.”
“Fine by me.”
“We really should practice more on the shield-spells.”
“Well, we haven’t seen much of him, lately, have we?” said Ginny.
“I could do with a break in shield-spell practice,” said Ron
Neville just shrugged.
Harry nodded and quickly wrote a response of sure they would visit him, re-rolled the scroll, and gave it back to Hedwig. The owl grabbed a banger in one claw and took off.
^·_·^
Harry and company arrived at Hagrid’s hut not too much after their last class. Truthfully, Harry was relieved that they weren’t going to be practicing shield charms the rest of the afternoon. He could put up with an hour or so, but three hours? That was a bit too much. Last night their whole bodies had ached after three hours of practicing after dinner. That had hit their beds well before curfew. He figured that was one reason why Hermione hadn’t been as insistent on practicing as he had expected.
On the outside, everything appeared normal, but when Hagrid let them inside . . . things were different. For one, the inside was bigger — almost twice as large as before. Second, there was a bin just inside the door that was a yard wide, the same in height, and almost as long as he was tall. It was filled with a white substance that he quickly realized was spider silk, specifically, acromantula silk.
To one side of the hut was Hagrid’s enormous bed, table and chairs. The fireplace, with its spit and cauldron holder, was unchanged. However, now, there was an armchair and couch across from the table, against the wall. “Perfesser Flitwick ’elped me wit’ this,” he said proudly, standing with his hands on his hips, in response to their wondering expressions. “ ’e said I should ’ave sometin’ fer guests.”
After serving them tea, this time in cups sized to their hands instead of his, he relaxed into his new armchair. He ran a hand along the arm of the chair, looking down at it and smiling. “Good man, Perfersser Flitwick, he is. I jus’ ask’ ’em to make me hut a bit larger, ter make room fer the bin, yer see, and ’e did all this.”
He looked back at them. “I wanted ter thank yer for yer suggestion, Harry.” He nodded at the bin by the door. “I sent a letter ter tha’ Mr. Rich, nice feller, wit’ a bit o’ silk, and ’e wer mighty interested. Smart man,” he gave them a sly look, “— or should I say pony? — that Mr. Rich.” He glanced at the bin by the door. “I think ’e made a mistake, though. He sent me this bag o’ galleons fer the first bale of silk I sent him.” He reached over and pointed with one hand at a rather large bag stuffed under his bed. “I wanted yer ter check with ’em. See?” he handed a scroll out to Harry, who was sitting closest.
Harry unrolled the scroll and started reading. A moment later, staring at Hagrid, he handed the scroll to Sweetie Belle. Everyone watched as her eyebrows rose. She looked up at him and just stared for a moment, obviously calculating something in her head. “How hard was it to get the silk?” she finally asked, frowning.
Hagrid shrugged, and glanced at his new wand — it was almost as long as a footie bat — leaning by the door. “No’ tha’ hard, a’tall. Aragog were quite innerested in trading it fer food. I promised him a cow fer each bin-full, pressed tight. I bin studyin’ real hard and I almos’ go’ the duplica’ing charm down. I’ll jus’ keep a dead ’ne in stasis an’ make ’nother as I need ’em.” He paused. “It’ll be while ’fore I ’ave the spells right, bu’ tha elves are ’appy to ’elp until then.”
She stared at him a moment. “Then, nothing, essentially?” she said a bit incredulously.
“Except me time, and tha’s jus’ an evenin’s stroll.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, over the summer, Rarity told me about the demand for acromantula silk, what she pays for it, and what it sells for.” She shrugged as she handed the scroll to Hermione, who had been trying to lean over Ginny and Apple Bloom to read it. “So, eight hundred galleons for a bale sounds fair.” *
Ginny and Ron choked and stared at Hagrid in shock. Hagrid had just made almost six years of their dad’s old salary, and three years of his new one. For, as he put it, “An evening stroll.”
Neville merely looked surprised.
Hagrid looked at the bag, eyes big. “Really?”
She nodded slowly. “I suggest you get to Gringotts and set up a vault. That way you won’t end up with sacks of galleons stuffed under your bed.”
The others all slowly nodded their agreement.
“Huh,” he said, thinking. “Guess I’ll ‘ave ter go do tha’ tomorrow mornin’.” He shook his head.
Scootaloo got a sly look in her eyes, and smirked. “I think, once the witches hear how much you’re earning, you’ll find more than a few dropping by to say hello!”
Hagrid blushed. “Now, dunna you start tha’!”
“I won’t be starting anything,” she quickly retorted.
He shook his head, “It dun matter. No witch’ll give me a second look.”
The three fillies giggled. “I think,” Sweetie Belle said, “You should get my sister to make you a new wardrobe. What you’ve got is good for a groundskeeper on a small income, but now you can afford things that fit better and look nicer! My sister told me that a proper acromantula coat would easily be warmer and more rugged than what you’ve currently got. You can trade her some the raw silk for her to use as thread, in exchange.”
“Aw, I dun need a new wardrobe,” he said, looking slightly panicked. “Wha’ I got is jus’ fine.”
“Nonsense,” declared Hermione, as the other girls all nodded. “My father says, ‘Clothes make the man,’ and your clothes currently declare you to be a rough wizard who lives in a forest. You need clothes that say you’re a wizard of means, and you live in the forest because you like it, not because you haven’t a choice.” She nodded again.
“Besides, the new wardrobe isn’t really for you.”
He frowned at her. “I dunno ‘bout tha’.” He said slowly.
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “As soon as word gets out that you’re making this much money, if you don’t upgrade your wardrobe people will think you’re not very smart. You might not think it important,” she said, “but my sister says, “Just a minor change in attire can make a tremendous change in how others perceive you.’ Especially if you give most of what you make to Hogwarts.” She gave him a sly smile. “On the other hoof, if you dress like a gentleman, they’ll think you quite shrewd. I know that in the Equestria all the ponies look up to other ponies who dress well.
“You telling everyone that you’re investing in the witchery world’s future, and paying the school back for all that they’ve done for you in the past will reinforce that image.” She paused, then added, “Who knows, if you get enough attention, we might see more half-giants deciding to go to Hogwarts. That would be a good thing, right?”
Hagrid leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard in a manner that they all recognized as an imitation of the Headmaster.
“That’s right,” Hermione chimed in. “You aren’t spending the galleons on yourself for no purpose, you’re showing everyone that a half-giant can be as successful in wizarding society as anyone else! You’ll be an inspiration to all of the other half-breeds. Just as everyone looks up to Professor Flitwick.” She paused, then added, “Figuratively, that is, not literally.” She gave him a steady look. “It’s not for you, it’s for the ones who would toss their Hogwarts letters because they think someone like them could never do it.”
By the time they left, the girls had convinced Hagrid that it was his duty as a newly-rich half-giant to show-off that wealth, to inspire others to strive for equal success. To show that, even though he had had a rough row to hoe, he had come out on top, and so could they. There was hope.
They had a promise from him that he would contact Rarity for a fitting.
As they were headed back to the castle, Harry couldn’t help but overhear the girls conspiring to order several books on how to attract the notice of witches, in a good way. By the time dinner was over, the girls had an action plan. They would read the books, add comments and asides to the margins, and even possibly insert a few extra pages. They would, in essence, tailor the books to suit Hagrid’s unique situation. Myrtle was going to be drafted for her opinions, too. Fifty years of observing the older teenagers ought to have a few insights they would miss.
They also planned to alert Rosemerta, at the Three Broomsticks, about Hagrid’s new social status. They hoped she might know a few . . . open-minded . . . witches who might be willing to meet Hagrid.
^-_-^
The first thing Harry noticed when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast was that Susan Bone’s aunt was seated with her. Director Amelia Bones was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. That she was here was a surprise. Parents rarely were present for any of the meals. He was curious, but not that curious. He settled into place at the table and started adding food to his own plate.
Neville’s gasp at the breakfast table drew Harry’s attention. They were mostly finished, and the owl parliament had arrived only moments before. Neville had just opened his daily subscription to The Daily Prophet. “Oh, wow,” he said, eyes wide in surprise at what he was reading. There were several other gasps from across the hall, as other subscribers, usually the more astute students, opened their copies.
“Oh, wow,” was a phrase he repeated a couple of times — in between stares at Harry and the article. Others were staring at Harry, too. Finally, he said, “Harry, is this true?” and turned the paper around so he could see the headline.
“The Boy Who Lived is The Boy Who Left!” it blared across the top of the page in two lines. Harry dropped his head down. He felt like pounding it on the table, but his breakfast was in the way.
Already, he could feel the hostile stares coming his way.
Grabbing the newsparchment, he began skimming the article. It was, surprisingly, rather accurate. The author, Rita Skeeter, whom he had met the previous year, pointed out that he had a dual-citizenship in Equestria and England. That was, she conceded, entirely legal. However, she also mentioned that he had been adopted by Princess Twilight, a member of the royal family in the Equestrian Princessdom. Which meant he was also a member of the Royal family, Prince Harry Sparkle, as everypony over there called him. “Notice,” she said in the article, “that the Equestrians do not call Harry by his parents’ name, Potter.”
Amazing, Harry couldn’t help but think, she was one reporter who didn’t once refer to them as Atlanteans!
She was not shy about supplying numerous quotes from Ponyville residents about the many ways that Harry preferred Equestria to England. Including that there, it was legal to have more than one wife.
The students at Hogwarts, of course, knew how the three fillies and two witches were always with him. They had heard rumours from the pony firsties that polygamy was allowed. But it had a different impact to read in the news that that bit of rumour was actually true!
She further explained that he had been telling ponies since the summer before his first year that he was only attending Hogwarts because the Royal sisters had requested he do so. A request he read as a command. She even had one source who came right out and said that Harry would have stayed in Equestria, if given the choice.
Then she delved into the reasons why he preferred Equestria over England — the Dursleys. She didn’t go into many details, fortunately. But the ones she included were bad enough, in Harry’s opinion. Regrettably, from his point of view, she promised a more complete recital of his difficulties with the family in future editions of the newparchment. She heavily implied that it was magic, itself, fed up with their treatment of the Saviour of Wizarding World, that had finally provided him an escape to Equestria.
Then she went into some of Harry’s and the CMC’s adventures in and around Ponyville. She quite bluntly said that the two books about Harry’s adventures in Equestria were, for the most part and with little exaggeration, the complete truth. She had heard the stories in Equestria before discovering the books in England. She named them both, and the author, and pointed out that the fillies were more than happy to sign them, if asked.
She ended by asking, given the few details she had provided so far, would any of them have been eager to return to England?
That wasn’t all, though. There were other, shorter articles inside asking questions and delving into tangential matters. One such was the Potter Wizengamot seat. There was the very legitimate question of whether Harry, as a foreign prince, could actually hold the seat. And, if so, should something be done about it? Plus, given his disillusionment with wizarding England, could they really leave it undecided? If they did take the seat away from House Potter, weren’t they justifying his disdain and indifference to them?
Then there was his adoption by the Equestrian Royalty. Was it even legal? Should they say that Equestria had no right to interfere in the custody of Harry Potter? Was Sirius Black, as the legitimate guardian of the boy, according to the Potter will, going to acknowledge this usurpation of his obligations? What would be Harry’s reaction if they tried to claim his adoption was illegal? Wouldn’t that, too, justify his disdain and indifference to them?
Harry shrunk down a bit further. Once more, he was under constant scrutiny. He had a feeling Lockhart’s upcoming class, and the rest of the day — no, week — were not going to be much fun for him.
^-~-^
Like it or not the muggle authorities have recognized it Dumbledore has known about it for months. There is very little the wizarding world especially England can do about ti other than muck racking and stirring up potential trouble
She did interview with him in previous book. Did you, by chance, originally planned to write article reading from Tom's POV, but then rewrote it to Harry's? Also, I wonder what is Skeeter's motivation for publishing it now, she seemed to be under control since portal accident.
10861702
Are you implying that twelve-year-old kids have a perfect memory?
10861706
Well, he would at least some déjà vu, rather then outright saying that he never heard about her. Also I think there were other her articles Harry and Co read, but I might be mistaken. It is a small nitpick on my part though.
oof, poor Harry.
That last portion of the chapter is pretty interesting. I wonder how you'll have harry and friends react. Getting back to Harry's exploits after some chapters about Not Harry in a Harry Potter crossover feels good to me.
Ooh, well this is going to have some interesting implications, cannot wait for next chapter.
Harry hasn't exactly kept it secret that he prefers Equestria. Nor that he actually dislikes how wizards run things.
Looking forward to see how the Sheeple will react
10861694
And yet, that has never stopped people from muckraking and stirring up trouble.
I actually hope some wizards try to do something about Equestria's perceived "transgressions". Should be amusing.
10861737 No it hasn't little surprised they though to ask about how trying to take Harry's seat in the Wizengamot or try to fight the adoption would affect things.
I wonder if Skeeter publishing this story now is an attempt or delayed attempt by Dumbledore to but pressure on the Equestrians to leave Harry in England during the summers
Rita, now you fucked up! Equestria isn't going to take this prying into Harry's personal life well. No it will not...
But what is Lockhart planning? It has to be something big...
On the second note, I wonder if Rita going to investigate identities of CMCs and Mane Six in follow up articles.
And the chips begin to fall. I wonder how fast they would be changing in Britain if they found out how they treated their lessers is a major reason why Harry has no desire to stay?
well whoda thunk Rita would be the one to speak the honest truth in this case? Well that'll give wizarding england a black eye. Nice chapter.
Are the Royal sisters going to be going on a bug hunt soon? I can not see any of the Alicorns being happy with Rita and tracking her down ASAP. Poor Harry, but I'm worried about what Lockhart is going to do with his special class, hopefully it will backfire and he gets exposed.
While the wizarding world might accept without reservation someone guardians named by will. The muggle government will not especially considering Sirius was in jail for mass murder and his emotional state once released from jail. I doubt if they think about it that is a JUMBO can of worms the wizarding world wants to OPEN by any means. You have a wizard basically tortured in jail for decade convicted by not a trial but public opinion and the say so of one minister, especially when finding out what spells were cast is so easy. This also brings to light the wizarding war of that time and how many muggles were killed and covered up by the wizards
Harry is getting all the attention, meaning Hagrid is even more unobserved making a fortune?
Just what is Lockheart setting up, and just how badly is it going to go wrong.
Okay I have been critical of recent chapters. But this chapter really reminded me why I like the story. This was fun and enjoyable. I love seeing all the different perspectives. Thank you much sir.
nice work
With regards to the question of the legitimacy of Harry's adoption within the wizarding world, Sirius could counter that simply by putting out a statement outlining his personal gratitude towards Twilight, and how the adoption has his full support.
As well intentioned as the herd is in trying to get Hagrid dating, I fear that pushing up his new income as one of his features might open the door for him to be taken advantage of. It's unfortunately canon that Hagrid doesn't have the most well tuned common sense.
10862662
Assuming Starlight doesn't talk him into contesting it out of spite.
10862886
Highly unlikely given that he has already visited Equestria several times and has become friends with Twilight, if anything he's more inclined to side with Equestria over the Ministry on key issues, it would be more trouble than it's worth for Starlight to try and turn Sirius against Twilight, in fact, it's by far more useful for her to have the ear of one of Twilight's chief allies, thus allowing her to influence Twilight's policies from the shadows, which for her would be much more satisfying then any singular act of petty spite, especially when it would just bring unwanted attention to herself.
The adoption situation should be resolved fairly quickly, though the question of what is to be done with the Potter's Wizagomont seat is the real thorny problem, most likely Harry, and his potential heirs would be found ineligible to hold the seat and thus it would likely fall to his next of kin within the Wizarding World, but since Sirius already has a seat he would likely have to choose a successor, and if I were him I would pick Arthur Weasley.
The other big problem is that this completely destroys Dumbledore's efforts to make it seem like Harry wasn't abandoning the Wizarding World.
A wizarding world witch would probably be snobby about the half-giant thing but I don't see why an Equestrian wouldn't be interested in Hagrid. There's a shortage of males and they seem more in tune with nature than the witches, that is assuming that on the other side of the portal he's not something monsterous though. I'd assume he'd just be a large pony but I can't assume that the Equestrian equalivant of giants isn't something other than a big pony.
So will Voldemort still be around for Lockheart to make a mess of things or did he do a runner already?
10862902
I am be mixing up stories but doesn't Sirius also owe his current freedom to the Equestrians and their desire for a fair trial. I imagine that would incline him to side with them. Hmmm
Lord Black today gave a statement that he not only fully supports the Equestrian adoption and Harrys desire to live there but has also been considering emigrating himself. Gringotts when contacted for the potential financial impact said they have been looking into financial prospects in Equestria where a Goblin can hold a wand. Dolores Umbridge senior undersecretary for the ministry gave a statement she be pushing the ministry to take tighter control of the Equestrian interactions with England in the future.
10863012
I don't think we saw any mention of the 'dark trio' (with I think Crabbe being the one possessed) - the article timing is bad news as the distraction could mean it'd give Tom the time to bail. Of course, Auror Bones is already in place so... I'm looking forward to next chapter!
At least we know the 'boltholes' the first horcrux had planned ended up just being other horcrux hiding spots so he's in fact not going to get hold of any extra cash beyond the around 20-25 galleons he can expect from confundus plans.
10863012
Don’t forget but the toad is currently in prison for falsely claiming she was a pure blood. She is in no position of power and with the dust starting to settle I doubt the Ministry will be looking to rock the boat. We should also keep in mind who owns the paper now and their motives are. I think Starlight is trying to stir up trouble for Twilight to spite her.
10862886
I honestly get more of a teenage, "You look fucking terrible and this is as good an excuse as any to make you look as awesome as your personality without... actually saying that and making you feel like shit."
10863012
Hence his personal gratitude to Twilight.
hum i wonder just how Rita found out all of this info about Harry?
for the answer look to the first story .
10862902
The last part of 10863136 's mostly sums it up.
And as for Sirius, remember that Starlight also has been making liberal use of Equestrian magic brand mind control. So his feelings on the matter may be moot.
10863493
True but as I said it's more valuable for her simply to have the ear of someone Twilight trusts, and it would be a bad idea to make liberal use of mind magic on Sirius as Twilight could easily notice and that would be very bad for her especially considering how he has acted around Twilight before now, him not publicly giving the adoption his blessing at this point would just be suspicious, though she probably did greenlight the story just to mess with Twilight.
We hit 600!!! A bonus chapter is coming!
So, unless VoldeGoyle either bails before that class, he's in deep shit. In one of his earliest chapters, he admits to himself that his countermeasures against being detected by the castle wards won't hold up to direct scrutiny. Though, he's thinking about Dumbledore being the one scanning him. Can Lockhart do a good enough job to pick up on him? Assuming he can, we appear to have something of a clusterfuck on our hands. Quite possibly a spectacular brawl.
I don't see how Rita's article could get to print without Starlight okaying it - it's too politically charged to just ignore, and Starlight would happily Swiss-cheese Rita's brain if she got uppity about Starlight exerting editorial control. So what's Starlight's angle here? The article and its companion pieces seem very equivocal - 'Potter doesn't much like us' is very deliberately paired with 'and can you blame him, given how we failed him?'
I foresee Starlight and Sirius having words. Sirius ALREADY has an arrangement with Twilight that let's him be a part of Harry's life - and with the weight of Equestria's ruling family behind Harry, Sirius can't keep him any safer than they can. Sirius doesn't need to rock that boat, and he effectively GAVE the Prophet to Starlight, so he'll want answers. Barring some very unexpected revelations.
The equivocation applied to the things that are an attack on Harry and Twilight ('if we try to take his inherited seat, or try to take him from his adoptive mother, we'll PROVE to him that we're awful fuckers he'd be better off without') highlight the very UNEQUIVOCAL part of the coverage, though - the Dursleys are fucked. The Ministry HAS to do something to avoid being eaten alive ... wait.
Is this aimed at Dumbledore? Does anyone outside Albus' Hogwarts staff KNOW he put Harry with the Dursleys? But even if Starlight somehow knew, I didn't think she had Dumbledore in her sights yet. At some point, almost certainly, but she's already planning in decades, and I would think the purebloods were higher priority.
It IS guaranteed to make trouble with the UK government, though, unless Albus and the Equestrians can facilitate Bones talking to them and forestall the wizards attempting to take the Dursleys. Because the UKG will be ready for any attempt like this - they knew this was a potential problem back during Vernon's trial, and they're monitoring the Prophet. I imagine they'll have a contingency plan for this - worst case scenario, squirrel the Dursleys away in Equestria. It will have to be all three - the wizards won't care that Dudley's a kid.
But if that followup article happens, Dumbledore might get exposed ANYWAY, and then we'll see a lot of witches and wizards transfiguring their wands into torches and pitchforks. Utter political chaos.
Which brings me to an issue that's been simmering for a LONG time - Harry is really, really not well. He's showing WAY more Riddle than anyone should feel comfortable with, and I'm not talking about the really blatant memory and personality leaks like remembering how much he hated the Ministry balls that Harry has never attended.
The memory leaks from the scar ARE important (remember his verbal judo throw on Malfoy over Colin's photos, and then ditching Lockhart immediately after - no-one's taught him that stuff, and it was way too slick for a kid his age). More worrying are the parallels being drawn between Tom and Harry due to shared experience as orphans growing up in hostile environments. In one of VoldeGoyle's recent POV passages, he talks about the exact same sort of paranoia and obsessive situational awareness that Harry displayed at the start of this story's Book 1, that made him practically non-functional in normal social interaction.
He got over a lot of that, thanks to his herd and Twilight and Ponyville in general. But it never went away. He never trusted the Princesses, and still doesn't. Crusading with the CMC kept it well and truly alive as well, because he felt like he had to be paranoid to keep his herd safe. He practically self-taught himself basic occlumency to be able to suppress his memories of the Dursleys enough to move on with his life, but he never actually healed.
But going to Hogwarts, the intense public scrutiny it has brought, is exacerbating his issues. Being adopted by Twilight, as positive as it has been for him in other ways, is adding to the pressure. A lot of Harry's POV segments have touched on this - he feels like he's under siege, that everything he does is under a microscope. And his mistakes might hurt his herd, which makes things worse.
I may be mistaken, but I don't believe Harry has been explicitly told that Dumbledore was responsible for his placement with the Dursleys, and at fault for failing to notice and prevent the abuse Harry suffered. He was suspicious, but no-one ever told him outright. This renewed PR crisis will affect him badly enough, but with the incident that's about to occur on top of it, particularly if Harry's herd are endangered by it ... he's on a knife's edge. If he finds out Albus' negligence on top of that, it shatters his trust. His mother not being upfront about it is even worse. He may think it was hidden from him to avoid him demanding to leave Hogwarts, and if he stops trusting Twilight...
Parallels between Harry and Tom are, well, kinda the point in the canonical material. Harry managed to claw his way out, Tom didn't. But this story's Harry isn't doing as well - he's practically a snake in lion's clothing already. His herd is his lifeline, God help us all if they're threatened.
So this may just be a personal obsession, but there's one penny waiting to drop that I am really looking forward to.
Way, way back, Harry mentions that he knows a few things Twilight hadn't taught him about magic, that she would not be happy about him knowing. Followed by, as I recall:
So, what has Harry been keeping up his sleeve for the last 500,000 words or so? Given that he didn't show any cards in the confrontation with Quirrel, I may be overthinking this - they may have just been minor Equestrian combat magic that he doesn't remember now anyway. But then, he was wandless and would have been stopped by Quirrel if he tried to transform to get access to his horn. And by the time Dumbledore and Twilight had Quirrel distracted, Harry was banged up and a complete wreck, and there were witnesses.
Okay, I'm reaching, I admit it. I just feel that this story's Harry is well and truly primed to pay off that old cliffhanger from the top of this post by throwing out a spell he really REALLY shouldn't know, let alone be willing to use.
I propose two candidates:
1) The obvious one is something salvaged from the memory leakage from the scar. An awful lot seems to have leaked through before Tirek freed Harry of it by accident - under enough stress, Harry might be able to cobble together something workable from Tom's memories of his spells, and throw it out without realising what he'd done.
2) Equestrian shadow magic, a la King CRYSTALSSS! himself. As over-used as it is, Twilight not securing sensitive materials appropriately is entirely possible. And consider that Harry showed with his initial location of the portal that he was quite capable of displaying subterfuge and deception quite beyond what Twilight believed him capable of. Getting into something she had locked away is within his capabilities - remember that he did know basic lock picking, though he wouldn't be able to use it until he had telekinetic fine control down, I assume. Though pony hooves ARE called out in-story for doing just bullshit things sometimes, so who knows? It's possible she may have had materials related to Sombra's magic in her possession. And Harry DOES have those big boxes full of pain and fear and hatred thanks to the Dursleys, so he has fuel for dark magic. And spent a lot of time mulling over his revenge fantasies.
He put those aside, mostly. Thanks to his herd, and Twilight. But it's still in there - he HATES being reminded about the Dursleys because he has to waste more time meditating and shoving them, and what he wants to do with them, back into their box.
I just want to see some pay-off for Albus being so worried about Harry's wand.
10864192
I have one question, Does Sirius know Starlight now owns the Prophet? He knows she has part of it but does he know she is the majority owner? It is implied that she is not publicly known as the owner and she isn’t broadcasting it. Still I could see Sirius asking her to look into it or doing it himself and asking if they would back off messing with Harry.
10864192
10864216
You know, a random thought I've had for a while... I want Flim and Flam to meet with Fred and George, they're too similar to one-another to just ignore, they could get into all kinds of crazy shit.
The conservation of narrative detail leads me to suspect that to some degree or another Lockhart may have gotten under the thrall of a vampire (ie become a Renfield), and that the "mind magic" session of his is a ploy by the vampire to extend their control over a significative chunk of the wizarding population, or, based on Lockhart's obsession reported by Elly, Harry in particular...
Now, I'll probably be proven wrong, because it's easy to see non-existent connections inside a chapter and to mix fluff and plot, but... Yeah. The problem being, the vampire would probably be an OC that appears out of left field or a very minor character in canon, because otherwise it would've been relevant to the story and Harry would've read about it.
Alternatively, Quirrell yet lives, so he could be the "vampire" or its equivalent puppeting Lockhart. But I have a feeling that the dark magic would have been detected already.
Or it could just be Lockhart being extremely creepy at the occasion to steal the credentials of someone whose individual fame is such that Lockhart's fades in comparison. But I still favor the "vampire" hypothesis.
10865459
More likely that whatever spell Lockhart pulls out at his demo is one meant for identifying Renfields and the like. A detection spell for possessed/dominated people, say. Which he will probably get hilariously and horrifically wrong.
Wasn't it already established in the last book that Harry's owl was a male and that he named him Hedwyg?
He met Rita Skeeter the previous year when she came to Hogwarts and interviewed him.
Oh dear...
10872864
if Canon states a name of a character, what's the point of changing it?
This is after all the Owl Harry got before he started the school in the first book(isn't it?)
Harry Potter just can't get to mutch of a cool down.
In other hand, he has a lot more than in the Canon version.
Changelings allies sure are a great game changer!
Just like in the movies Harry Potter has at least one major event a year. I wonder what the remaining 4 will bring? ... ... FUN
11477147
I feel like this will be a trilogy rather than seven books.
10864192
I think the key thing here is that Harry isn't as likely to be corrupted by the lust for power. Instead, he's a far more dangerous foe: one who will do anything to protect the ones he loves.
Tom Riddle was right: there is no good nor evil, simply power (and those too weak to wield it properly). Harry's got the strength to wield both light and dark power, and may not know when it is appropriate to bust out the Bag of Special Tricks.