Ch. 41. Preparations
Elly was more than a little bit startled when a school owl landed in front of her on Sunday morning. After offering the owl a banger, she took a quick read of the message. It was addressed to her “adult” persona and invited her to visit Hogwarts this Sunday or Monday, if she was concerned about the news regarding Saturday’s events and wished to check up on her “charges.”
It took only a few moments to lay out a plan. She would have one of the lings stationed nearby impersonate their “adult” guardian. To her knowledge, no one at Hogwarts had ever seen her “adult” persona, so that wouldn’t be a problem. With no contact between the muggle government and the magical regarding the lings, it would be safe for them to arrive as their real self, so they didn’t have to worry about any ling-magic detecting spells in Hogwarts. Minor face manipulation magic would take care of their “family” appearance.
It had only been a little over a week, but the lings had already established an underground hive in the Forbidden Forest beside Hogwarts. It wasn’t very far from the manicured grounds, but it wasn’t close enough for anyone to stumble across its entrance by accident. Nor was it near any of the trails Hagrid or any of the other professors used when they went into the Forest. So, no one watching the Forest would notice the lings using the entrance. It was disillusioned and hidden with wizard-, muggle-, and animal-version spells, as well.
Not that they needed to use that entrance point. Its primary purpose was for emergencies.
The tunnellers had made an extension from that Forbidden Forest Hive most of the way to Hogsmeade. Once they had a house in Hogsmeade, that would be the terminus. For the moment, though, there was a surface entrance in the middle, just outside the wall surrounding Hogwarts. The wall around Hogwarts concealed it from the view of anyone on Hogwarts grounds. It was far enough from Hogsmeade, the Hogwarts Entrance Gate, and the road between them, to be out of their view, as well.
There was a second tunnel from the hive that ran right up to their estimated-edge of the spells protecting the castle, and close to the road to the gates. The entrance was still inside the Forest far enough to easily conceal any of the lings venturing out or sneaking in, but a spur of the tunnel ran right up to the edge of the spells protecting the castle. That spur ended in an unfinished emergency exit/entrance that was only a short distance from the surface. It would be nymphsplay to finish the opening from either direction. In the meantime, there was no physical evidence on the surface that needed hiding, or spells that might be be detected and reveal its presence.
Elly and her lings had questioned different Prefects about the reach of the spells that watched Hogwarts, using the excuse of “monsters attacking from the forest.” It had been disappointing to discover that the spells covered a good part of the grounds around the castle, extending as far as the Whomping Willow, but not as far as the Quidditch stadium, fortunately.
Hence, the hive’s location in the Forbidden Forest. It was a location of practicality. It was deep enough in the Forest to escape both the spells and direct line-of-sight from Hogwarts. Plus, it was a reasonable distance from Hogsmeade for easy movement of lings and supplies. And it provided her easy access to her lings and an emergency place of refuge, if she needed it.
No one would ever suspect that there was a mini-hive at the edge of Hogwarts, although it was more of an outpost, in truth.
Forewarned by the owl’s letter, the Headmaster’s announcement at the end of the owl parliament that the parents would soon be here did not surprise her in the least. That the ponies’ parents were coming, too, however, was a surprise.
The joy, happiness, and love that generated from the ponies, was a very pleasant bonus. Enough so that she decided the best thing to do was to have them all unload their reserves and prepare a couple of bottles for later that day. She knew the emotional outpourings from the ponies meeting their families would be quite generous, in that regard. They should probably place at least two on each floor.
While the Hall celebrated, Elly made plans. She and the others would head for the hidden hive’s closest approach to Hogwarts’ protective spells. It was purposely situated to be close to the road that led to the Front Gates. From there, any ling on the road would be able to “touch” any hive lings in the spur-tunnel with their magic. They could talk without anyone else having any clues a conversation was taking place.
Once in contact, Elly would instruct Abby to act as their “relative” to visit, as well as bring the other lings up to speed on exactly what had happened yesterday. The four lings would wander up and down the road, waiting for their relative to arrive at the Gates. No doubt plenty of other students would join them — most of the ponies, for sure. The perfect camouflage.
They would collect as much as they could from the pony families reuniting, in the meantime. Then, when there were five of them and most of the ponies had joined their families, they would head back to Hogwarts to maximize their collecting for the rest of the day.
That the Prefects made the excited ponies finish their breakfasts wasn’t a surprise. After finishing their breakfasts, the ponies rapidly escaped from the Hall to accompaniment of myriad “Oi’s!” and “Blimey’s” echoing around the hall. If she hadn’t known better, she would have suspected the ponies had their own version of mind-talk that allowed for the almost coordinated dash for freedom.
The Prefects astonished expressions as the ponies fled before they could react was vastly amusing. She was sure a few of them would have said very unkind words if the Professors hadn’t been watching.
Unfortunately, the Prefects did manage to prevent the rest of the student body from following the ponies. Closing the doors after the ponies escaped proved very effective, if cliched. They even went so far as to organize them to leave in escorted groups for the Common Rooms. The Prefects prevented an open revolt by telling the students that they would notify them as soon as their parents arrived at the school. Still, there were quite a few sullen expressions and stomping of feet by the younger students at being held back.
The older students understood that staying in their Common Rooms would make it easier for their parents to find them.
It didn’t take too long for the four lings to finish their preparations. They snuck out of their dorm using the notice-me-not and confusion spells. Despite the Prefect standing almost directly in front of the door, with his arms folded, and scowling into the room. Illusion and silencing spells over the Common room door prevented him, or anyone else from noticing it opening and closing.
It only took a few minutes to hide their emotion containers, with each ling taking two floors. They had to use the door that led to the Greenhouses when they finished, to avoid all the Prefects at the front doors to the castle.
Soon, the lings were about a quarter of the way down the road to Hogsmeade, halfway to the Gate House and just past Hagrid’s Hut. The Forbidden Forest was as close to the road as it ever got. But they strolled along the road, not even looking at the Forbidden Forest, so that Hagrid wouldn’t think they were trying to sneak into it. They were far enough away, they hoped, to not draw attention.
Not that he would notice them. Elly could easily see the thirty-nine First-year ponies who were pronking, bouncing, and whirling overhead and by the gates in anticipation of seeing their parents and showing them the school. A number of younger human students were with them, having managed to elude their respective Prefects. The older students were “more mature,” in their own minds, too dignified for such a childish display of their emotions. They remained in their Common Rooms.
As soon as she detected her, Elly gave Abby a complete recap of what had happened the day before. Abby would pass it on to the others hiding here, and one of them would take it to Brunton Hive. Then Abby would impersonate their “English” relative, exit the Hogsmeade tunnel, and come through the front gates with the other parents.
“I’m sorry . . . Elly,” Abby was finding it difficult to refer to her Queen so familiarly. “But we saw no students or adults leave the castle yesterday. If Goyle left the castle, it was by one of the secret tunnels.” She shook her head. “Based on what you’ve said of Tom Riddle, he probably didn’t even leave the tunnel, he just followed it outside the school boundaries and teleported.”
Elly sighed. “I thought as much.” She looked down the road towards the Gates. “And the humans have deployed almost all the lings to the airports and ferry locations?”
She felt Debbie nod. “They rousted us at midnight, last night, and gave us the information on Goyle and Riddle, along with pictures. We are paired with the Special Technology officers all over the country, and most of us were in position before dawn in every location. Almost every ling they could, they used.” She shook her head. “They only left behind twenty-three.”
Elly was surprised. While easily almost eight out of ten lings had made the transition to Infiltrator status, and were training with the humans, that was because surviving outside the hive in a hostile Equestria after the failed Canterlot attack had greatly reduced the . . . more specialized . . . lings. The remainder, here, were considered too old or unsuitable for a variety of reasons, including not being very good at imitating humans. They couldn’t seem to completely internalize the needed behaviours, and made many mistakes that would ruin any infiltration they were assigned. To put it nicely, they also weren’t what one would call quick at understanding any given situation. Some of the ones she had met in the Hive before the invasion she doubted could reliably finish any task that wasn’t their specialty without being confused unless it was very simple. That hadn’t really mattered in the old hive, though.
Of course, the original number Debby had given her didn’t count the new lings that had been arriving for the last few months. There hadn’t been a reason for her to want to know, it wasn’t her responsibility. Debby’s earlier numbers had been a drastic understatement when they made an actual count last weekend.
In a situation where any tiny mistake could end in disaster or death, either others or their own, those lings simply couldn’t be trusted out of the hive. The human government also didn’t want to attract any attention to the lings. They must be truly desperate to dive that deeply into the numbers.
However, pairing them with magicals, and explaining that they were Equestrians, would help cover for any mistakes the borderline lings made. Or so Castor and his superiors hoped.
Elly was impressed that Debby and Abby had managed to hide the fact that there were lings absent from Brunton and hiding in Hogsmeade in view of the emergency need for lings.
“I think they are underestimating Riddle,” Abby said with a sigh. “Debby said that if he had any sense at all, he would act just like any other non-magical. His information may be out of date, but he has lived in that world and knows the mannerisms that will and won’t draw attention — better than some of our infiltrators! If he is a good enough, he could submerge himself in his role as an average person travelling.” She snorted. “He certainly fooled everyone in Hogwarts into thinking Goyle wasn’t possessed. If he has the discipline, he could hide his emotions behind a wall of being someone concerned only with their own business.
“Without broadcasting anxiety, fear, or any other emotional triggers, he would be difficult to detect.
“He wouldn’t cast any magic unless absolutely necessary. The one thing he is certain to do is to cast an illusion that he is an adult, probably a random person he saw on the street.
“In short, if he is at all competent, he could walk right by one of us and we’d never notice him.” She again shook her head. “I’d be surprised if he hasn’t already slipped out of the country. Debby says she would have been on the first plane leaving England in any random direction before noon, yesterday.”
Elly internally grimaced and agreed.
Abby took a deep breath and let it out. “Next, I think I’ve found a house in Hogsmeade.” She shared her visions of the building and its layout. Its dirt basement, an unattractive feature to most Wizards and witches, would be perfect for the lings. They could connect the tunnel directly from the house to the Forbidden Forest base, small as it was, and thence to one of the other secret tunnels that riddled the castle.
Elly agreed. It seemed to be a reasonable location. She would send an owl to the Goblins to see about purchasing it under a fake name.
“The government doesn’t suspect any lings are missing?”
“The four of us here were declared ‘unsuitable’ for espionage work.” Abby made a wry expression. “They still don’t seem to understand that a ling will do what she’s told. The other three here were farmers and they were scared of the humans, at first. I’ve . . . gotten used to humans. As far as the government is concerned, they think we are on housekeeping duty somewhere inside the hive with the other “unsuitables.”
“Excellent. I’ve discovered that there is a trunk-maker in Diagon Alley selling trunks linked by Floo. This summer, I’ll get two. One we can keep at Brunton, and the other here. That should make things much, much easier.”
It would, too. No more time-wasting long flights to throw-off suspicions. They could move lings back and forth at their leisure. No one would guess the ling they were seeing in the Brunton Hive had been in Scotland just a few minutes ago. She could even have Essie, Ellis, and Earl each purchase a set. That way they could have three locations in Brunton, so no one trunk got all the traffic. It would also let them have a trunk in the de Rippe House — when it was ready.
Elly shared a bit more of what they had learned this last week in Hogwarts for Abby to share with the other Brunton lings later. With the instruction that the most accomplished infiltrators were to practice the wand movements and incantations. They would be getting wands this summer and she expected them to be proficient in all the basics.
Elly stopped and looked at Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid wasn’t there, of course. He was at the Hogwarts Gates, waiting to let in the humans and pony parents.
That entire conversation had taken only a few moments.
Whatever the situation was with Riddle, it was out of her hands. If he had fled the country — most likely — there was nothing she or her lings could do. If he hadn’t fled, then only constant vigilance would be the correct answer. They would have to wait to see if they could find him first, or if he acted out against the magicals or them.
^·_·^
Albus took only a brief look at The Daily Prophet that the owl at the end of the owl parliament had dropped into his breakfast. Just long enough to realize that he needed to take the children’s attention off that. They didn’t need to see the bold headlines decrying his incompetence, and demanding his removal from the school, and his positions in the Wizengamot and the International Council Wizards.
He had the perfect distractions though. He had planned to wait until the first guests had arrived at the gates, but now would do just as nicely.
He stood and tapped his goblet. The room fell silent and waited. Before the good news, however, he told them of the two students due to arrive back from St. Mungo’s later that day.
His following pronouncement that their parents would be visiting set off a storm of joy that he was in no way about to curtail. He just smiled with the grandfatherly aura he liked to project, and calmly retook his seat. Whatever the Prophet had to say, no one who was at Hogwarts today or tomorrow would pay any attention to it. It would give him just a bit more time to rally his supporters.
With exceptions of Severus and Horace, Minerva and the other professors all had sour or resigned looks. He had warned them of the parental visits, beforehand, but that didn’t mean they were looking forward to it. It was difficult enough dealing with parents one-on-one, but en-masse? Never something that you would look forward to doing. Especially as they had never had all the parents at Hogwarts at the same time.
Especially after a disaster like yesterday. In fact, the number of parents who usually came to Hogwarts in any single year, after their own graduation, he could count on his fingers.
He could see from his expression that Severus was both annoyed at the prospect of meeting parents and relieved that all his students this year were either sixth- or seventh year students. A situation in which the number of parents he had to meet was drastically reduced from what it could have been. Even better, he wasn’t Slytherin’s Head of House, either.
Horace, on the other hand, looked delighted at the prospect of meeting so many influential people, especially influential Atlanteans. As far as he was concerned, He was getting two Christmases this year.
In the next faculty meeting both would no doubt be gloating over how they had weathered the parental tide.
The Atlantean aides looked quite pleased, on the other hand, — or should he say hoof? — and seemed eager to meet the parents of their students.
The children, themselves, could barely contain their enthusiasm. The pegasi were flitting around the hall at speeds that most wizards would be afraid to try on brooms. The unicorns and earth ponies were treating their benches and tables as trampolines — and getting an impressive amount of height out of them, too!
The excited reactions of the English children, which would have been considered outrageous displays under normal circumstances, were almost placid by comparison.
The difference was only natural, after all. For the human children, almost all of their parents had all attended Hogwarts for their magical education, so seeing the Castle was nothing new. Seeing their parents here, however, was exciting.
The Atlantean children were overjoyed at the opportunity to show their parents what before they had only been able to inadequately describe. Pictures were not the same as actually showing your parents the insides of the castle and your House Common room.
It would be an excellent opportunity to introduce both sets of parents to each other, though. Who knew what wonderful contacts the two groups would make once they met in such a casual setting? Maybe he should plan such a visit — what did the muggles call it? Right, an “open house” — each year? Perhaps he could also have a . . . what was the term? Oh, yes, an orientation day, the day before Hogwarts officially started the new year. All the new students, not just the Atlanteans, could come with their families for the day to familiarize themselves with the school and to meet the other parents. It could top off the Equestrians’ “pre-Hogwarts” class that Minerva had suggested.
They could have that class in the morning.
That had some very good possibilities.
Considering it, however, maybe they should set aside the week before Hogwarts started for the Atlanteans. They could cover the puberty issues, behaviour expectations of the other students, the “common” rules that students on this side of the portal took for granted (such as always wearing clothes), how the pass/fail system worked, and quillmanship. Perhaps they could end the week with all the new students’ parents arriving the day before the train ride?
Being able to personally meet them, and their parents, would also allow him to impress them and gain their trust before school started in earnest.
Definitely something to consider this summer.
As for today, he wouldn’t have that much time to impress on them that he had their children’s best interests in mind. However, being able to explain that their Princess, herself, had examined the school’s protections would be a big boost in getting them to support him.
He would have to warn the house-elves to stock up on vegetables and be careful where the meat platters appeared on the tables.
The First-years were all for heading to the Gates immediately, but the Prefects were quick to respond and sent them back to their tables to finish their breakfasts. Not that that took long. The entire group seemed to almost inhale their food. There weren’t any leftovers at that end of the tables.
It was quite a rush to the doors, but the pegasi were long gone by the time the unicorns and earth ponies galloped out behind them — yes, they had all transformed as soon as they finished, despite the Prefects futile attempts to get them to be more orderly.
It was a bemused, but excited, group of wizards and witches that started to follow. However, the Prefects managed to corral most of them and send them to their Common Rooms. Otherwise, the crush at the Gates would have been as bad as that at the train King’s Cross in London, except the children would have no idea when their parents would arrive. They would get bored and disappointed if their parents didn’t arrive quickly. At least, if they kept them in their Common Rooms, they would be under better supervision.
The Prefects promised to alert the students as soon as the parents made their appearance at the castle. And emphasized that it would be easier for their parents to find them than if they were scattered all over the castle and its grounds.
He headed up to his office. He needed to study what the Prophet had printed and marshal his arguments. Yesterday’s late-evening edition had been bad enough. Today’s articles just threw more fuel on the bonfire.
Being so far north meant the owl-deliveries in England and Wales of the Saturday Prophet had finished long before his own had arrived, yesterday. He had known almost immediately when the Prophet’s Special Edition had hit: The number of incoming calls was so great that the castle spells had decided the floos were being used to attack the school, and shut them down completely.
Considering the situation, he was in no hurry to reopen them.
The only saving grace to Rita’s very thorough and accurate summation of the events was that she had pointed out that the floo network would probably shut down due to the number of concerned parents attempting to contact Hogwarts. The article suggested, instead, that the parents should arrange to visit the school on Sunday, via either apparition, the Knight Bus, or the floo at the Three Broomsticks, although there would probably be a long wait for the floo to be open.
It would be easy to point out that he had hired a reputable and famous Dark Arts expert in Lockhart. It wasn’t Albus’ fault that the wizard hadn’t shared his suspicions. And if they attempted to blame him for possibly ignoring the warning spells in the castle of a Dark Magic artifact or magic? He could quite reasonably point out that if he had strengthened the spells to that level, none of the parents who were unfortunate enough to have made a mistake when they were young would be able to visit the castle.
The next two days would be a wonderful opportunity for him to connect with his supporters and those who were fence-sitters. Much simpler than waiting for dinner-parties, or trying to arrange luncheons or dinners
^·_·^
After hearing the Headmaster’s announcements, Scootaloo, along with almost every other pegasus in the First-year, rocketed off their benches as if they had been launched by the Trebuchet! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were hugging him and each other to point where he squeaked. The rest of the hall was just as chaotic. Well, at least at this end of the hall. Both Hermione and Ginny were bouncing up and down in their seats, squealing and clapping their hands excitedly. The muggle-born students seemed especially happy out of all the other students.
It was the Prefects, naturally, who brought things back under control. The seventh years had apparently mastered the cannon-blast charm. Percy, and the others, insisted that the First-years had to finish breakfast before they could leave. The pegasi, reluctantly, were coaxed into landing and changing back into humans.
Suddenly, the entire First-year was vying with Ron for seeing how much food they could pack away in the shortest amount of time possible. The ensuing inhalation of the food on the table was amazing to behold.
The ponies, or at least First-years made sure to polish off everything within reach, then, almost as one, piled from their seats, changed to ponies, and headed for the doors. By the time the Prefects caught on that the Firsties had finished, the pegasi were already out the door. Percy was wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He quickly recovered with a loud, “Oi!”
The unicorns and earth ponies were not far behind. The Prefects managed to catch a few with spells. But they quickly realized they only had few ponies. Faced with the weaponized versions of puppy-eyes that the ponies had somehow developed, the Prefects released them and turned to keeping the remaining students under control.
The three fillies were not about to leave Harry and the two girls behind, so they reluctantly remained seated and stared wistfully after the vanished ponies.
Harry didn’t expect to see his mum until late today. He knew she would be the one at the portal helping the ponies who crossed to revert to the pony forms. It would be much easier for them to be ponies than spend hours and hours practicing walking on two legs before going to Hogwarts. However, he was sure Applejack, Dash, and Rarity wouldn’t miss the opportunity to check on their sisters. Scootaloo’s aunts might visit, but they also just might ask Dash to convey their concern. That Molly and Arthur would show was a given. Hermione’s parents, too, would love the opportunity to see the castle.
Supporting his herdmates would help take his mind off his . . . concerns. He was Harry, and Harry looked out for his herdmates — nothing else mattered. Without the fillies he knew he would be dead. So, he would live for the fillies and girls. If he followed their lead, then he didn’t have to worry about Tom.
He blinked, staring at his empty plate.
That was his solution. He didn’t need to worry about being Harry or Tom or Harry-Tom. They would be his measuring stick. His guide-phrase would be, “What would the girls do?”
Unless they were threatened. Then the guide-phrase would be, “Whatever it takes to keep them safe.” No holds barred. Or was it, no spells barred?
Yes, he nodded too himself. Just as they had saved his life, they would save his soul.
He looked up from his plate to the Hufflepuff table, or, more specifically, Elly. He needed to talk with her. She seemed to be quite . . . sensitive to important events.
First, last year, and then again this year, she had noticed things that had slipped by everyone else. He and the others in the herd should have realized that her concerns regarding the Dark Trio had to involve the Diary. He needed to thank her, and properly
He felt so stupid for not realizing that the odd behaviour she had noted had to be the Diary. If they had told her about the books, she probably would have made the connection immediately. They had been too close to the problem — they couldn’t see the trees for the forest.
He would make sure to give her the complete set before they left for the summer.
She didn’t seem to want to join his herd — thank Celestia for small miracles! Still, he would let her know that if she needed any help, in any way, he and the girls would be ready to assist.
It was odd that she wasn’t interested in visiting Equestria, but then again, she and her cousins came from the other side of the world. England, by itself, was probably enough of an adventure for them.
He should invite her to join them in their spell practice. Her background might give them a different way to look at what they were doing. She might suggest things they hadn’t thought of trying or doing.
Then everyone was getting up and the Prefects were organizing them for the trip to the Common Rooms.
A little judicious use of his mum’s don’t-see-me spell at one of the “secret” passages to the seventh floor saw the entire herd left behind.
“Quick,” he whispered, “in here,” and led them into an empty room. He closed the door and put a weak “witch-aversion” spell on it to discourage anyone looking for them.
He turned and looked at the others, who were watching him with curious looks. “Well,” he said, a bit sheepishly, “How do we want to do things today? I mean, obviously my mum, Rarity, and Apple Jack don’t need a tour of the castle. Neither do Ginny’s parents. Hermione’s parents have never been here, though, and probably want to see everything. The same for Scootaloo’s aunts.”
Hermione sighed. “Plus, we don’t know when anyone will show up.”
“Whomever arrives first, we can spend some time talking about what we’ve learned since Spring Break,” Apple Bloom suggested looking around hopefully. “Maybe the other’s will show up while we’re doing that?”
“Well, if it’s Scootaloo’s aunt’s, the fillies can show them how they look as humans. Maybe help them change back and forth and get a feel for what it’s like. That’ll certainly take some time,” Hermione suggested.
“And if the Hermione’s parents get here first, we can show them the Gryffindor Common Room, and Scootaloo will know to check there first,” Sweetie Belle said.
After a few more minutes discussion, they decided to just go with the flow of circumstances. They headed for the front doors, but quickly realized they wouldn’t make it past the Prefects waiting for the parents, to direct them to the different Common Rooms. They ended up sneaking out of the castle using the door to the Greenhouses, then transforming into ponies to run, and fly, around the castle to the road to Hogwarts’ Gates.
It was a wonderful Scottish Spring day. Harry knew, though, even if it hadn’t been such a nice day to begin with, Scootaloo and several of the other pegasi would have quickly cleared the skies over the castle for such an important thing as a visit by everypony’s parents.
Already, they could see a stream of parents in the distance making their way up the road to the castle. The parents were usually couples walking together; sometimes with their other, younger children. Rarely, they were with a child that had managed to escape the Prefects.
^-~-^
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Nice! Giving Ellie those books will definitely cover any weakness that can pop up. I wonder how she will react when she finds out why the ponies purchased her old house? Then again before she leaves she will doubly make sure there is nothing there for Tom other then a trap if he goes to look for the ring.
I forget, did you do something about the magic that makes Hogwarts look like uninteresting ruins to muggles? You're usually pretty attentive to how canon things might interfere with or help your story, but I don't recall any mention of this issue before.
In the context of our main characters, it only impacts Hermione's parents, of course.
castle 'for'
I'm still getting b-grade horror movie vibes from what Elly is doing. Not that I think she will turn dark. I'm more thinking of the reaction of the various governments, muggle and magical if it comes out. Governments tend to be paranoid at the best of times. RIght now even the Equestrian's have reason to view the Changelings with a jaundiced eye. There is no one to speak up for them.
Elly really needs to pull a Doctor Who move and get the Muggle Government on board with the idea of actively supporting her, if possible. But I understand it goes against the changeling culture to do so.
The pegasi, reluctantly, were coaxed into landing and changing back into people.
A person is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness, or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility.
Please, please, please, stop using people as a synonym for human. By using it in this way you are inferring that the Ponies are not people.
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I'd think the updated ward schemes would probably be more selective than just muggle or no, probably keyed to allow anyone related to students to be ignored by them
10940855
What about the Stone? Has Elly finished eating it yet?
Elly has become my favorite part of this story.
Kudos to that.
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10940909
Thank you.
50 bits say it isn't Scoot's aunts but her actual parents. Who';d probably have a grand ole time inside the forbidden forest. Cataloguing all the creatures and possibly even taming the huge ass spider
I just realized that we haven't seen Luna Lovegood in a while.
extra O there.
Otherwise a nice chapter.
nice work
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Thanks.
The chapter feels like it ends abruptly
Glad to see harry's being rational about his realisation. I said last time that it's been years since it happened, and there were no noticable side effects. They still like him.
Nice chapter as always. Still I would love to see effects of the story from perspective of characters that remain in Equestria: Equestrian villains , civilian population in Canterlot, etc.
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It is weird, considering author bothered to put her pony form on the cover image.
Ahhh, so we're still sort of at the same time as the 'ling at the airport spotting Tom because he didn't assume there were emotivores out there? And didn't bother to mentally shield his unfeeling nature?
How close do hive members have to be for communication, like when can the ling that spotted Tom contact her auror or pig partner, or another hive member, to update on where he's heading?
... maybe an unexpected wide-cast stunner across everywhere in a plane barring the cockpit (if it's in the air) or including the cockpit (if it's still boarding) could be a good way to nab Riddle and snap Goyle's wand.
Poor kid though... bluh.
Ah well, thank goodness for more Elly content :D Was a little worried Harry might have spotted her when both of them were sneaking about the castle at the same time lol
CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
This chapter ends pretty abruptly. I’d suggest ending it with the paragraph about the herd heading for the Hogwarts gate, and starting the next chapter with the last two paragraphs, as those are setting up a scene.
Changelings are awesome! I love Harry’s new mentality being “what would the Crusaders do?” And can’t wait for the chaos it creates. The second part puts me in mind of the threat about a special set of skills from Taken, especially if one of the girls gets taken hostage.
I can’t wait to see the herd give a tour of Hogwarts to the Granger parents.
(Harry) didn’t need to worry about being Harry or Tom or Harry-Tom. They would be his measuring stick. His guide-phrase would be, “What would the girls do?”
At that exact moment in time, all across Equestria, monsters of all shapes and sizes suddenly shivered as one and decided that an early hibernation was a good idea...
That is a good book. I am really happy that I have found it. Thank you, tkepner.
I believe that it is only a matter of time that the news about Greg's death will leak out. In all likelihood, Twilight would be the first to know as she would share the news with Dumbledore and the Goyles first; insinuating the lie that it was indeed a Vampire, and later pulling The Griffindor Cohort to the side to share her views that it was likely indeed Tom that had killed him and was likely on the loose somewhere in France or Germany.
Hearing this news would shake a fair number of the Cohort to their core at how Tom Riddle managed to revive using the same technique that the echo nearly used against Ginny in the Second Book. It would also be prudent to know exactly how Draco and Crabbe would feel about the whole situation once they get out of St. Mungo's later, to know that one of their Trio was dead; how it would serve to change their entire group dynamic. I doubt that they would simply brush the whole ordeal off like it was another day at the office; I believe that in all likelihood at some point either Draco or Goyle Sr. would ask for Princess Twilight to use an ensoulment spell like was used on Myrtle last year, only that in order for the ensoulment spell to work; you'd need the victims' ghost as part of the ritual. And that due to the circumstances of his death; Goyle probably didn't leave behind a ghost.
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myrtle was a horcrux-creation-process victim and left a ghost, maybe goyle can get one once this version of tom is disembodied or goyle's death is known?
how long do ghosts take to form?
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It should be noted that the resurrection would have had to be in a situation where the death was "sudden" in the case of Myrtle. Goyle however had a slower death as his life force was siphoned from his body.
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Blood replinishers and patroni exposure would be my remedy
Say that to Pinkie Pie?
Horace, on the other hand, looked delighted at the prospect of meeting so many influential people, especially influential Atlanteans. As far as he was concerned, He was getting two Christmases this year.
~~~
lol Horace is going to have so much fun with the equestrians, his slug club will finally reach new heights of glory!
I've noticed a stutter in the way you write, with "had had" being a common occurrence, and this "be be" helps confirm that it is a stutter, and not intentional.
It appears I missed the paragraph that said had had? I saw it somewhere. Second edit, the sentence immediately preceding is that of a tired, hungry, and cold mind. I'm gonna go sit somewhere warm for a bit while I wait for supper. And work on school work.
Hugging who? The way you formed it, sounds like you're talking about Dumbledore. Was that your intention, or is that another "His mum" situation, where you forgot to preface the character or give the context?
Chaos big time, Dumbledore get his well earned verbal punches in.
I wonder how he will try talk himself out of this mess?
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Pretty sure Voldemort nom-nom the soul away...
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The Changelings keep me more interested since they are higher in stakes. If they are ever discovered I have no doubt that Twilight hypocritical Sparkle will be the first to verbally burn down the Changelings. Equestria do its best to get a clean peaceful Genocide trough
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The parents return to Equestria with 'riding Spiders' would be absolutely priceless ♡
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Good point, her being attacked with cutting curses might cause smaller cuts, but literally everyone would need help...
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Better prepared than dead
Dumbledore has accomplished a lot in his life, me must know that everyone eventually has to step down.
Reducing his actions to being either Wizengamot or Headmaster of a school is still a lot!
I think he should consider retirement to Equestria and have a family!
Hes bloodline otherwise will end with him!