Chapter 27
Professor Remus Lupin looked up when the door to his compartment on the Hogwarts Express was opened. He’d boarded the train some time before, and had been settling down for a nice nap; the students likely wouldn’t want to join him in this compartment, and he was dreadfully tired as well, after the full moon the night before.
It was a young girl, roughly… Thirteen, maybe? She could easily be anywhere from second-year to perhaps fifth-year, but he was fairly certain she wasn’t a first-year student. She had long, gleaming black hair, and was even already wearing her Hogwarts robes. They looked to be brand new- and while her hair was draped over the House patch and her nameplate such that he couldn’t read either one, he could see the scarlet edge of the House patch. She was a Gryffindor.
“Well hello there,” the girl greeted, then paused, looking him up and down for a second. “I didn’t know teachers rode the Hogwarts Express?” she asked, tilting her head.
“We do, from time to time,” he answered. “Especially when, like me, they prefer the more… mundane methods of travel to things like apparition.”
“A lot slower but also a lot more relaxing,” the girl agreed. “Um…” She glanced down the passage, and looked back at him. “Do you mind if we join you in here?”
“We?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Me, Ginny, Hermione, Silver, Lily, and James.”
He paused. With the exception of James and possibly Silver, that sounded like a list of girls’ names- and if there was one thing he knew about girls, it was that they tended to be confusing. On top of that, the presence of both Lily and James on the list immediately made him think of the Potters… But no, it couldn’t be- they were dead. “Ahh,” he muttered. “I’m looking forward to a good nap, so if you can keep the noise down…” He shrugged.
“Ahh, thanks!” the girl said, then dragged her trunk in from around the corner. Remus got up to help her lift it into the luggage rack- then she paused, still standing on the seat and looking at his trunk and the letters stamped on the corner. “Hangon,” she muttered. “You’re… Professor Remus Lupin, the new Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, right?”
He nodded slowly. “I am,” he muttered, wondering where she’d gotten his name from.
“Awesome,” she said, popping her trunk open to dig for something. “I’m Hailey Potter, the Head Student Instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts… and simultaneously the Student Instructor Program Management Team Lead. I’m looking forward to working with you- Dumbledore had nothing but good to say.” She chuckled. “That’s a first. Oh, there it is!” She plucked something from her trunk, shut the lid, and stepped down from the seat, before glancing at the door to make sure it was closed. “I think you should have this,” she informed him, holding out… a deep purple amethyst necklace.
He accepted it, and raised it up to his eyes. “A necklace?” he asked.
She nodded. “Professor Dumbledore told me about your…” She paused. “Condition, let’s call it,” she muttered softly. “That should help, but I’m not entirely sure. See, I found it in a muggle shop, all nice and labeled as a magic necklace. It’s a nice necklace, so I got it- and when I did some tests on it, I concluded that yes, it is a magic necklace. It’s got no effect whatsoever when worn by a regular human like, say, me- but as near as I can tell, if a werewolf wears it during the full moon… they won’t transform.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Professor Dumbledore told me he had a couple of Royals working in the Student Instructor Program,” he told her calmly. “Did you have one of them look at it?”
Hailey paused, and looked at him for a second. “I know the one that enchanted it, actually. Can you tell me the color of her black hair?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You just said it,” he observed. “It’s black.”
She smiled. “She’s me. And because I am the one that enchanted it, out of the four Royals at Hogwarts, the effect is basically guaranteed and you can safely tuck it down your robes or something. I’d rather people not find out about me, though.” She sighed. “I’d have made it a persistent effect like Silver’s genderflipping necklace, but I couldn’t figure out how to do that properly, especially against an intermittent effect like werewolf transformation.”
“A necklace, though?”
She shrugged. “It’s what was handy. And honestly, what else am I supposed to enchant? A sock?” She chuckled. “Gemstones also take enchantments of this sort really well, so that made the enchantment side of things a lot easier.” She paused. “Er, I did add a few cushion and gravitational behavior charms so it shouldn’t be a problem to sleep with it during the full moon.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, slipping it into an inside pocket of his robes. He was going to have to try it on at some point, so he could acclimate to the feeling of wearing it before the full moon at the end of the month… and still take Wolfsbane Potion, just in case. “Are you going to get your friends?”
“Huh?” Hailey muttered, then blinked. “Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. We have a telepathic network… maintained by the other Royal Dumbledore knows about, actually. But I’ve already told them where to meet, so they’ll be here any second.”
Right at that moment, the door opened- revealing a slightly younger girl with brilliant red hair and a Gryffindor patch as well… and an exposed nametag, though he really didn’t need that to recognize her as Ginny Weasley. “Hi Hailey!” she grinned, dragging her trunk into the compartment and giving Hailey a quick hug before they hoisted it into the luggage rack. Finally, she sat next to Hailey- who had sat across from Lupin- and waved cheerfully at Lupin. “Hi!”
Lupin stared. Wasn’t Ginny ridiculously shy?
Hailey seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “You’ve forgotten to be shy again,” she observed.
Ginny blinked. “Oh yeah,” she muttered, then shrugged. “I guess I’m just used to it by now.”
Hailey chuckled, and looked up at Lupin. “Ginny here is our second-year Lead Student Instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts,” she informed him, wrapping an arm around Ginny. “Aaaaand… the royal with the psychic network.”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she asked.
Hailey shrugged. “He passed the test,” she told her calmly.
Lupin raised an eyebrow at them; Ginny accepted the explanation unquestioningly.
Hailey grinned. “A good while ago, I cast some really powerful magics that are set to help us avoid political careers. The main effects that it’s had so far would be a series of coincidences that keep us out of their notice… though at one point, it got so far as Professor Dumbledore couldn’t figure out who I was when he was sitting right next to me. Wasn’t long after that when he accepted that we have a right to anonymity or something- I don’t really know- and suddenly had no trouble telling us our names.”
“Ahh,” Lupin muttered slowly. “You mentioned four royals?”
Ginny looked at Hailey. “Four? Weren’t there only three?”
“You turned Hermione into one, didn’t you?” Hailey countered.
Ginny blushed and averted her eyes.
Hailey chuckled. “Though I expect it won’t be long before I finish creating my first royal, either.”
Both Ginny and Lupin looked at her. “What?”
She shrugged, grinning mischievously. “I expect Silver will evolve into a goddess in another year or so,” she mused. “That’ll make her the second student deity at Hogwarts… though fifth at Hogwarts overall, since three of the Professors are deities.”
The next second, the compartment door slid open to reveal three people- two girls and a boy. One of the girls looked almost exactly like a young version of the Lily he knew- and discounting the bright red evidence of a slap on the side of his face, the boy looked like a young version of James.
The girl that had opened the door had bushy brown hair and brilliant brown eyes- and she was carrying her trunk in one hand. The nameplate on her Hogwarts robes identified her as Hermione Granger. “Hi Hailey, Ginny!” she greeted, entering and practically tossing her trunk into the luggage rack with a very heavy thump. “And… Professor Lupin, was it?”
He nodded. Probably that psychic network thing.
“Remus,” the boy said- his nametag identified him as James Potter alright- as the other girl, Lily Potter, dragged both their trunks over so Hermione could hoist them, apparently effortlessly, into the luggage rack. Both Potters had no House patch- meaning they were first-years. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
He stared. “What…?”
Hailey giggled. “Yes, they’re the same ones you know. I resurrected them a month ago.”
He looked at Hailey, then back at James. “... Ahh,” he muttered, as Hermione sat next to Ginny, then James came to sit next to him, Lily on his other side.
That left only one person: Silver, who Hailey had just referred to with a female pronoun. As such, he and James would be the only boys in the compartment.
Then the door slid open again, revealing a cute girl with a Gryffindor patch as well. She had gleaming silver hair down her back, split cleanly into thirds by royal blue stripes. She was also wearing her Hogwarts robes- and over them, a brilliant diamond necklace. Her nameplate simply said ‘Silversong’, no surname or anything- and she had an arm around another really cute girl… who didn’t have a House patch on her robes- a first-year. She seemed to be extremely timid, trying to hide behind Silver and even her own flowing pink hair- and while her hair was draped over her nameplate so he couldn’t read it, she was wearing a bright pink butterfly-shaped gemstone necklace.
“Hi Hailey,” Silversong greeted. “Do we know if any of Fluttershy’s friends are here?” She looked at the pink-haired girl- presumably Fluttershy. “What were their names again?”
Hailey answered first. “I wasn’t aware any Element Bearers had fallen through,” she observed calmly. “This… This is going to be big. Let me check on something.” She rose to her feet, turned, and walked straight into the wall of the car, vanishing tracelessly.
Lupin looked out the window, but there was no sign of her.
“Hmm,” Silversong muttered, before looking at the girl, Fluttershy. “Would you like to join us?” she asked. “I promise we’re kind.”
Lupin tilted his head at the odd promise.
Most of an hour later…
Princess Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth in front of the lectern in her library. Fluttershy had disappeared just two days before, and nopony knew where she was. It couldn’t be the portal- it had already sucked its batch through for the year nearly a month before… and she was no closer to stopping it.
But where was Fluttershy?
“Good evening, Twilight.”
She jumped at the sudden, unfamiliar voice, and looked.
It was… some kind of minotaur-like creature, though it was only about as tall as she was. It was female, with a black mane flowing down her back- and unlike the Minotaurs, it was shrouded almost completely in black fabric. There was a patch and a badge on her chest, but Twilight was at a loss for what either of them meant.
The… cow? That was what minotaurs called them, right? The cow was walking casually towards her- and by the movements in her clothing, her legs most definitely did not work like minotaur’s did. She saw the odd shoes the cow was wearing underneath her drapes, and they weren’t shaped like anything she’d ever seen before…
No, wait. She knew what sort of creature this was; she’d met them before, when she went through Starswirl’s mirror portal.
They were called humans. And ‘girl’ was the right term; ‘cow’ would be an insult to her.
Even so, this girl’s proportions were different- and her skin had an interesting, light pinkish tone. She was also holding a small, hardcover book in one hand.
“Good evening,” she answered, straining to offer the same courtesy the girl was offering her. “Who are you and why are you here?”
“I’m Hailey,” she answered simply. “I’m from the world your people are falling into.”
She blinked. “You found a way to send ponies back?” she asked eagerly, all courtesy forgotten.
The girl shook her head. “No, I didn’t, though it wouldn’t be all that hard. Another couple years and Starlight will probably figure it out- though I’m going to have to stop her from doing so, since any that do return will die immediately upon arrival.” She sighed, then took a piece of paper from inside the front cover of the book and held it out.
Twilight accepted it, using her magic to float it over to her; the girl- Hailey- was still a good twenty feet away.
She instantly recognized Fluttershy… and the Element of Kindness around her neck, even though that should’ve been on the Tree of Harmony. Fluttershy was looking very timid and worried, standing next to a strange girl with bright silver hair, who was only partially in the photo. Interestingly, both of them had similar skin coloration as Hailey’s.
“What- How? That portal already took its handful!”
“It seems to have picked another after the fact,” Hailey told her, and sighed. “I did some… research of my own on my way here, and figured out why your people are falling through the worldwall like that.”
Twilight looked up. “Why?”
She sighed, and stopped, about a pony-length away from Twilight. “Because this universe will die in less than fifty years,” she answered. “The worldwall is already beginning to collapse, causing your people to ‘fall’ into the nearest other universe- mine.”
“Y-You mean-!?” she began.
The girl nodded. “The land of Equestria will cease to exist within the next fifty years.” She sighed. “As near as I can tell, it’s the Magic of Harmony that’s bringing your people all the way to my universe when they leak out through the worldwall into the Void, which would otherwise kill them instantly- as a result, I don’t think anything truly evil is ever going to make it across. Once all six Element Bearers are in Britain, it won’t be hard for you to restore Equestrian magic to your people.”
“Th-Then-!” Twilight paused. “What about their families?”
Hailey offered her the book. “Here’s a spellbook I made for you,” she told her. “In it, you’ll find spells to send things to people that have already crossed, send people across, communicate with people that have already crossed, both telepathically and through a visible ‘window’, tell when any given pony will fall through… and of course, to temporarily project yourself to the other side, as a human like us.” She sighed. “I’m really sorry to have to be the bearer of such bad news, but it is what it is- and the best I can do is to give you and your people the chance to save what’s important.”
Twilight accepted the spellbook, and placed it on the lectern for later. The girl had just told her what was in it, so she didn’t need to look just yet. “Alright,” she said. “Thank you. I’ll be…” She paused. “Probably talking with Celestia before we disseminate any of those spells.”
Hailey nodded. “I would ask that you keep my identity to a need-to-know basis,” she informed her. “I’m keeping my powers secret in my world. I don’t mind if the other Bearers know- we’ll be telling Fluttershy pretty soon anyways.”
Twilight nodded. “Thank you.”
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This is a big development. Also, hi Remusss!
Also, also, got to start reading the rewrites
This is going to be big really fracking big.
this year at Hogwarts is going to be interesting the rat best start running.
this story is amazing i love this hole new look at things.
11419529
Um...yes, I think you may be reading it wrong, because I am not in the Atlantic Ocean. Either way, it was about 12:05 when I finished reading them, but it was worth it!
Well that took a suprisgly dark turn
11419757
It did. That world structure was my plan for much of the story, though I didn't do a very good job of revealing it, did I?
11419923
Yeah it kinda just came out of nowhere
11420917
Well... there's a reason I put the A/N at the top and asserted in it that the chapter sucks...
Ok. This is a good chapter. Yay.
11422172
It was pretty morbid, but come on let anyone who was bullied as a child didn't have power phantasy about standing up to their bullies
Well Shit... Their universeis dying and Discord and others will probably to.
What about Dragon kind who are eating gems?
Kirins, Zebras,Griffons,Sphinxes etc...
very morbide future ahead.
The Tree if Harmony evacuating everyone she can? I actually thought it would be Discord.
Are we going to end up with two
John De Lancie's?
One can never have enough of them.