You're Being Hugged, Harry

by David Silver

13 - Family Bonds

"Nice place. Hey Arnie!" Flurry waved at Arnavon even as she wandered their room, examining everything with equal fascination. "I promise I won't get my girl cooties all over your little stallion-pad here."

"I find that hard to believe." Harry twisted his head towards Ron in a sweep of his neck. "Sorry, for all of this. It's--"

"--Family," cut in Ron. "Been there. Won't hold it against you." They met, hand to hoof, still friends even if a brightly colored family member had been thrust on them. "So, hey, what kind of magic does she do?"

"All kinds!" The question was enough to attract Flurry's smiling attention. "I only had one tutor back where I'm from, but she's about the best there is. I'll be really surprised if any teacher here can compete with Twilight."

"Twilight is pretty good," allowed Harry. "But she's still one pony. The teachers here, together, have information that'll blow your mind." He sat to spread his hooves in emphasis of that point. "They know spells, sure, but they also know astrology, herbology, defense against the dark arts and so much else. They make full on wizards here."

Ron waffled a hand a bit. "What does this 'Twilight' make? They're a, uh, pony, like you two, right?"

Arnavon grabbed Flurry despite the conversation going on, delivering a great big hug. "It's been so long!" Soon he was being hugged back, which only made him happier. "Was it hard getting here?"

"Just a brief train ride." Flurry snuggled in against the affectionate tsuki. "Missed you too! I hear you and Harry are not keeping out of trouble, so I came to lend a hoof and learn some more magic." Her horn glowed with that promise, or was it more of a threat?

Harry shook his head with a little smile at the reunion of the two. "Twilight's a, uh, pony version of a wizard. She's an expert at magic, has made a new spell before, and she's a princess."

"I'm a princess." Flurry heart extended her tongue at Harry with a nyah of a noise. "Don't see me showing it off."

"You just did," noted Harry a bit flatly. "Now, see, this is a school. A serious school." He tapped the ground with each word. "It has rules, and breaking those rules can get you in trouble, but more than that, it gets the people around you in trouble, and then they're really—"

"Pissed," concluded Ron. "Which won't make you many friends. You want to be friends with most than just your bro here, right?"

Flurry batted her lashes at Ron. "Well, you count, don't you?"

"Right good at it," he got out with a laugh. "But seriously, can't go losing the house points like that."

"Never again, please." Harry turned away from the both of them. "Now, you weren't paying attention to herbology, so we need to go over those plants again." He ignored her suffering groan. "But, after that, we can practice that new spell." That got her clapping with excitement.

"Alright, fine. Boring stuff, then to the fun stuff." She sank to her haunches. "Hit me with your plant trivia!" So it was that they dug out their books and went over the plants of the day. "Really?" She leaned in, peering at the book. "It can do that?"

"And so much more." Harry tapped at the same page. "That's what I was telling you. Prepared properly, plants can do all kinds of things."

"Hm." Flurry didn't complain again, at least for that session. "And now that we have that down... magic?"

Ron dug out his wand. "You are something else. Alright, you said you know some magic already, right?"

Harry was quick to raise a hoof. "Pony magic, not a word of human magic, so far."

Flurry looked between the two. "Is human magic that different?"

Harry curled a hoof back on himself. "Remember when I used to say funny words as I did spells?"

Flurry's eyes went wide. "That was human magic?! Why did you know that before you even got here?" She leaned off to the side, examining Harry's rump. "Is that your talent? Not fair, you have magic as a talent!" She began to stomp in place in a little tantrum. "Bad enough Twilight had one!"

"Talent?" Ron looked helplessly between the two ponies.

Fortunately, Arnavon was there. "Ponies have a talent." He pointed to either of their rumps, highlighting the icons on them. "When they learn what they're drawn to, it goes here. A pony is usually really good at whatever it is."

Flurry swatted Arnavon away. "Rude. Don't invite random stallions to stare there." She burst into giggles, revealing how seriously she considered that. "Mine is related to my family." She showed it off despite any earlier misgivings. There was the crystal heart, with new fine lines cradling it, making hers different than her mother's, though still quite similar. "I'll be ruler of the Crystal Empire some day."

Harry let out quite the loud snort. "Don't get a big head about it. It's not even promised."

"Not promised?!" She pointed back at her cutie mark. "That looks like a promise to me. What do you call it?"

"A crystal heart." Harry crossed his arms with a bit of a smirk. "Doesn't show the empire. Maybe you'll show off its crystal heartiness somewhere else. Maybe the whole empire will be gone." He threw those hooves aside. "Poof, we can't know."

Ronald bounced a finger between the two ponies. "So you get your fates written on your butts? But only when you... realize what that fate could be, but it could still be wrong... am I following right?"

Harry grabbed the abandoned schoolwork book in his mouth and with a toss, sent it flying to land on the shelf it belonged. "Basically."

"So... Awkward question maybe, but why ain't you got one then?" It was true, Harry Potter had no cutie mark at all, his rump was blank. He looked like any horse really, with a horn.

Flurry's wings shot out as she came towards Ron. "That's what I was thinking. He's acting like he has all sorts of talents, but no cutie mark yet? That isn't right either." She leveled an accusing hoof at Harry. "Get your cutie mark so I can know for sure if your talent is magic or not."

Harry hopped up onto his bed. "I didn't claim I had any talent at all, that was you. I'm paying attention in class, is that a talent?"

"Maybe!" She blew a raspberry. "Now what's this thing that was trying to hurt you? This school seems peaceful."

Arnavon clasped his fingers into a heart shape. "It is! I like it here quite a bit. But there was this nasty... I don't know what it was... A nasty creature, all pale, with no nose... Two legged! It cast a killing spell at me!"

"Why aren't you dead?" Flurry looked for signs that Arnavon was, in fact, quite dead. "Not a very good spell."

Arnavon giggled, which turned into a proper laugh. "Silly! Tsuki has a specialty, remember." He waggled his fingers at the new alicorn. "Go ahead, cast a spell at me, any of them. Any at all, um, directly."

"Directly? Well... Since you're so happy, what if this!" She lowered her horn, zapping Arnavon with a bright bolt of her magic.

Which he caught like he was playing a casual game, bouncing it between his paws with his big smile. "You can't use magic on a tsuki if they don't want it." He let her lean in for a peak at her own spell, just the right time to throw it in a casual lob, poofing against her snout.

"Hey!" Her voice was high and squeaky under the effect of her own magic. "Not fair!" she demanded as if she were a tiny angry mouse. She crashed to her belly, going quiet instead of embarrass herself with more squeaks that were clearly making Arnavon quite amused.

Ron too from the wry smirk on his face. "That's quite the spell there. You didn't use any words, a spell you use a lot?"

Harry answered that first, hoof raised. "For ponies it's different. Most of their spells have no words. And no wand, just the built in one." He pointed up at his horn. "Maybe it being a part of us makes the difference?"

"Maybe." Ron shrugged softly. "Still, she was a good sport about it all. Say we show her a human spell. Her first?"

"My first!" She was still squeaking, but the offer of a new spell was enough to capture her attention. "Show me what you have."

So it was that Ron showed her one of the least potentially harmful, he figured. It was good that it amused her, with Flurry dancing her head back and forth, a stream of green sparkles gushing out of her horn. "The words are funny. I'm not a pro, like Twilight, I can't just... break the spell apart like she might... I'll have to use it like it is."

Harry's brows came together. "Probably for the best, that. Don't need the teachers getting upset if you make them look bad at what they do. Do human magic like humans do."

"Only if they promise to do unicorn magic like a unicorn." She sat up, confident in her unassailable logic. "Fair's fair."

"If they want to try that." Harry frowned suddenly. "I wonder if they could... I can do either, but I am either. Not a fair example, taking someone who's both. You can use human magic though."

"I can," sang Flurry, a bit in pride, and her voice restored. "The real trick would be using a human spell like a unicorn. Or a human managing it at all, with on their... fake horn..." She peered at Ron's wand as if it had done something wrong. "Just imitating the real thing, you know that right?"

Ron didn't look upset. "You know they use unicorn hairs or horns in wands sometimes, right?"

Flurry paled at the very idea, clapping both hooves on her horn from either side. "You wouldn't! Harry, stop him from looking at me like that!" She shrank back from the suddenly predatory glare of the human.

Harry was only laughing at the exchange. "The unicorns they'd consider are not like you, Flurry, promise. You're safe. Besides, you're also mine, in theory, so anyone who got that idea would have to ask me real nice."

"And you'd tell them to fly a kite?" suggested Flurry with a big smile.

"Maybe... Depends on if you get your act together." He got paffed with a flying pillow. "Well, now I'm not sure." The siblings fell in to a spirited little brawl, hooves and cushions flying as they attempted to beat other into submission.

Arnavon squatted next to Ron. "They love each other a lot."

"Oh, is that what it is? Yeah... Been there with my sibs." He shrugged, getting the grasp of what was playing out in front of them.

"Very much, yes. She came all this way just to protect her brother. That's very kind of her." Arnavon tapped his fingers together. "I hope it's a waste of time. All she'll do is learn some new magic, maybe have some fun, but never fight anything."

"We can hope." Ron set his wand on a small table. "It's about bed time, which reminds me, where is Flurry sleeping? We only got two beds in here."

Flurry stopped fighting, catching a pillow to a snout to end things with. "Um." Her eyes moved between the two beds available. "Where does Arnavon sleep?

He thudded to the ground, ready for sleep.

"Oh." That the floor wasn't where she wanted to be was clear on her face. "Well, I'm supposed to guard you." She thrust a hoof at Harry. "So here." She turned away from him and flopped over, her horn glowing as she drew a pillow under her head, getting cozy on his bed.

Harry suddenly had a lot less bed to work with...

Author's Note:

These are some of the prices we pay for having siblings.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Solve several problems at once, use the Cloak Of Invisibility as a Hammock?

[harts fire]

make room Harry your sister is having a extended sleep over.
this hole story line is just so fun.

11154998
i did not think of that and it is a really good idea.

[tsaukpaetra]

No cuddle pile, even for siblings!
Luckily they can just expand the bed into bunk style, right?