Chapter 43: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
The group slowly exited the Hearth room into a lobby area that seemed to be there solely to connect the Hearth room and the main entry hall with the rest of the house. In front of them were two large Hellenic arches. Rich mahogany stairs with ornate Persian runners went back to a landing and then climbed forward again. Aerie looked at the steps, the low wide risers, and while it took a moment to compute, these were the same sort of steps that were often used in Equestria. In fact, the entire place had that Hellenic – Equestrian look to it. Only the eclectic mix of furnishings and pictures of witches and wizards made it clear what sort of home they were in. If they could call it that. From what Aerie could see of the place, it was huge.
The upstairs landing lead into a large lavishly furnished salon with a lofted ceiling that cut through the second floor. Within, a number of people were already gathered, and yes, there was Christmas decor everywhere.
“Aerie?” Hermione asked sounding rather befuddled. Justin, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan were there and they bust up laughing at Hermione’s reaction to the multiple Aeries. Aerie just assumed the two boys had been warned by Justin. And yes, their parents were there. The Patil twins were there as well, also accompanied by their parents. Wayne and Ernest weren’t there, but then again, they weren’t likely people who would have been invited in that they weren’t well known to Lavender. Alice Tolipan was there, presumably with her parents, which accounted for all the first-year Gryffindors save Ron Weasley who’d been marooned at school.
“What exactly am I seeing?” This time it was Dumbledore’s voice.
“What’s he doing here?” Flora whispered to Leigh.
“Seems to have invited himself,” Leigh offered softly. “Kind of hard to tell him no.”
Dumbledore’s gaze was now locked on Princess Luna. Bad enough there were now four Aerie Potters, but Lily? “I think this jest is in poor taste,” he said as he reached for his wand.
His wand was gone. “Professor Dumbledore, jest?” Mrs Silverwood asked drawing his attention back to her moments before her little Moonie delivered Dumbledore’s wand to Aerie of all people. Curious that?
“I must confess that I may have jumped to conclusions and thought perhaps someone had gotten it into their head to impersonate Lily Potter.”
“Professor, this is Luna Moon,” Mrs Brown informed him.
Flora had seen the man reaching for something, seen him stop, and seen yet another Moonie cat running off with a wand while chased by two other Moonies. And she knew full well what a wand was even if she’d no idea what all could be done with one. She also suspected, nay she couldn't prove it but suspected that Dumbledore was indeed the author of Aerie’s misery. OK, it was actually Discord in Aerie’s case, but that’s beside the point.
“I know she looks like Lily, but I can assure you that she’s not.” Flora stated coldly. “And this little lady with the check mark on her scalp is Miss Kitsu, Mrs Silverwood’s daughter. Also, we have Aurora's cousin Tsuki Hoshiko. She’s visiting from Japan.”
Hoshiko made a short bow so everyone would know which girl she was.
“And we have Miss Brightstar Nova Mustang who also seems to be a cousin. Don’t ask me why they all look alike, I can only think it’s a family trait as they all seem to be cousins.”
Both Aerie and Mrs Silverwood were looking daggers at Professor Dumbledore who for his part had risked giving Aerie a calculated look given that the last time the Elder wand had left his pocket without his knowledge she’d been the one who did it.
“Professor, you see someone who looks like Lily, like she did a little over ten years ago, and the first thing you think of is that surely it’s an ill jest?” Asked an old matron of Professor Dumbledore. Neville was nearby along with an elder gentleman so Aerie guessed it might be Neville’s grandparents.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“I should say not.”
“Professor, perhaps you can explain to us what it was you wanted?” Mrs Brown asked. “I must confess my eyes do play tricks on me, but it almost looked as though you were about to draw your wand on one of my guests.”
“My wand? Poppycock. As a matter of fact, I was just reaching into my pocket on the realization that I must have left it... behind. Somewhere...”
“Is that it? Given that there have been several attempts to relocate Aerie against her will or mine,” Basil began from the doorway. Mr Brown was standing next to him. “Allegedly at your behest... I’m not so sure I’m all that comfortable with your presence.”
“Mr Dumbledore, shouldn't you be at the ministry?” Mr Brown asked.
“The Ministry?” Dumbledore asked. Dumbledore was both flustered and a bit flushed, though it was difficult to tell if by anger or embarrassment. Perhaps a bit of both. He’d seen a woman enter the room looking like Lily and he was just sure all his plans for Aerie’s future had been dashed once and for all. Aerie’s fate was in his hands and no one else had any right to her, or so he believed. Granted that he’d have to find the Dursleys before he’d have any chance of getting her away from the Finch-Fletchleys at this point. As for the cousins, duplicates to throw off an opponent was a ploy right out of his own playbook. They certainly weren't cousins. The Dursleys were Aerie's only living family so far as Dumbledore knew. Although, to be honest, he'd never looked for any second cousins simply because the Dersley family fit so well into his plans. And if there had been, the Dersley family fit so well into his plans.
“A Mrs Figg has been arrested by the Muggle authority along with a co-conspirator,” Mr Brown informed him. “I understand she is a friend of yours?”
“There was another incident, only the individual who nearly got spirited away was Hoshiko,” Mrs Silverwood informed him. “Had that happened you’d have a serious international incident on your hands.”
“Incident?” Dumbledore scoffed. “I hardly think we need be concerned with muggles.”
“Dad’s a Magister Magi with the government, and mom is a formidable Enchantress,” Hoshiko boasted.
“Word is, Mrs Figg was acting on your orders,” Mr Brown informed Dumbledore.
“Hedging your bets was it?” Mrs Silverwood asked.
“I never told her… By Merlin’s beard, I never told her to do any of the sort.” Granted that he might have suggested to a number of people that he wanted her at Hogwarts over the holidays or at the very least convince the girl she wouldn't be safe anywhere save where he wanted her. He may even have set a certain individual to collect her, but he was smart enough to make himself scarce and give himself reasonable deniability. Granted that the two girls were already aware of the room of requirement, and dangerously powerful given their abilities. Still, though, he needed her to find that damn mirror or his plan wasn’t going to work. Or to be more accurate, he might have a little trouble retrieving that damned stone. But then again, would she even cooperate? He had to admit that she might even know about the mirror and just wasn’t interested. Not now that she had a family. Could Neville play the part? He’d have to convince Mrs Augusta Longbottom that returning her grandson to school early was for his protection. Just not right now though, not to mention that Neville might just tell his gran if he gave Neville the invisibility cloak. Could he manage it during school? Not like Neville would be too difficult to manipulate if he could just get him to follow the script.
“Professor, people will do things for you if you but utter the desire,” Mrs Brown pointed out.
“People like Mundungus Fletcher,” Basil offered. “He had some interesting things to say concerning your wants, Professor.”
“Mundungus is hardly a reliable source,” Dumbledore countered tersely.
“Perhaps you should get down to the Ministry, I’m sure there is bound to be someone you need to talk to,” Mr Brown suggested. “Might be a good idea. Before they come looking for you.”
“Well then, I guess I best get down to the ministry…” he had a look about as though hoping to spot something he might have dropped. “.. and see if I can’t straighten…” he checked his pockets. “.. straighten things.” He paused, and let out a sigh. After all, he was about to toss an old friend under the bus, metaphorically speaking. Not like he wasn’t prepared to sacrifice whomever he needed to. “Might I borrow your floo?”
“By all means. It’s right downstairs. I’m sure you know the way,” Mr Brown offered. “Or do I need to show you the way?”
“I can find my own way, thank you.” Dumbledore had one last look about and then strode out of the room. A moment passed, followed by what seemed to be a collective sigh from the room. Thanks to a slew of recent articles in the papers there wasn’t a person present who didn’t suspect Dumbledore of some form of inappropriate behavior.
“Princess Nova, troubles do seem to find you all too easily,” Mrs Longbottom quipped.
“If trouble knows what’s good for it, trouble will hide from me,” Mrs Silverwood replied with a kind enough smile.
“From what I’ve heard of your exploits it’s a pity you weren’t there to help my son and daughter-in-law.”
Mrs Silverwood let out a sigh. “I fear that Pettigrew wasn’t the only one leaking information. Still, though, it seems I am always too late for some damned reason. Almost like someone fairly high up has been actively working to prevent us from moving forward.”
“Let’s not be dwelling on the past,” Mr Brown offered. “Basil and I have a bit of good news.”
“Oh?” Flora asked. “Basil, did your magic kick in?”
“No, wish it would, but we can’t all be as blessed as yourself.”
“Magic kicking in?” Mrs Longbottom asked as she looked back and forth between the two.
“I can do magic now,” Flora announced. “It just needed a little stimulation.”
“That is good news,” several people echoed.
“Indeed it is,” Mr Brown offered with a bright smile. “Afraid the news we have is much more mundane.” He waited a moment as several individuals congratulated Flora. “What we wanted to announce has more to do with the fact that so many of us are living double lives. Many of us, want only the best for our children. And that means plenty of opportunities ahead. We now live at least part of our lives in the muggle community. That is the non-magical community. The downside is having to deal with the mundane legal system. Which is nearly as convoluted as our own.” That last garnered a few chuckles. “Mrs Finch-Fletchley has been a wonderful ally in regards to getting our children placed in good schools even before we knew she was one of us. What we have to announce is that the firm I work for will be contracting Mr Basil Finch-Fletchley as our legal advisor and representative for our firm in Her Majesty’s courts.”
“Well… that’s… I’m not sure what to think?” Mrs Longbottom said.
“One of the things we’ve had to do was provide paperwork to the non-magical government proving that our children are indeed attending school.” Mr Granger informed her. “You see, schooling of some sort is mandatory. And when Hermione went to Hogwarts it looked like she simply wasn’t attending school anymore. We’ve been providing her with educational material not covered by Hogwarts. The equivalent of homeschooling, and this because Hogwarts doesn’t meet any of the required educational standards.”
“Wizard children seldom enter the muggle school system. Which means that so long as our children never enter into the muggle system, we don’t have to deal with the hassles it can create,” Mr Brown pointed out. “We entered our Lavender into a muggle school because we’d realized that they could give her a better foundation than we could by homeschooling. Given our busy lives. And as in the Granger’s case, it looked very much like we’d pulled Lavender out of school when she went to Hogwarts.”
“To head off any issues early on we went against the Ministry’s rule about not teaching about magic before Hogwarts,” Mrs Brown added.
“And we did the same,” Mrs Patil announced. “Accidental magic doesn’t have to happen.” Mrs Patil was determined that her children avoid the pitfalls of holding back one’s magic. The irony is that what they were doing was vehemently opposed by Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore was rather fond of the notion that it was he who was shaping the hearts and minds of upcoming generations of English witches and wizards. He wasn’t too keen on anyone else interfering in his work.
“Now, I’d like to welcome everyone to our humble home,” Mr Brown offered. The place was anything but humble given that it was an old English manor house that had three floors counting the ground floor. What Aerie had been able to see if it gave her the impression that it was every bit as expansive as any Canterlot Nobles estate.
The next few minutes turned into something of a question-answer session.
“Aerie, you must be thrilled to have been reunited with so many cousins?” Lavender asked a short time later. She and the others her age had separated themselves from the adults as best they could.
“Kitsu is visiting with Mrs Silverwood, Nova Mustang came out to see Aurora, and Hoshiko, we sort of found her.”
“Found her?” Hermione asked.
“Lined up in a queue,” Aurora informed them. “We can’t really account for how she came to be where she was other than she’d been stuck in a group home and no one bothered to contact her parents.”
“Don’t worry, it’s been sorted,” Aerie offered. “Mostly.”
“That sounds horrible,” Hermione said softly.
“Well, yes, and no,” Hoshiko replied. “Nothing really bad happened to me. I called my mom the first chance I got. No idea how I got out here and the lady that ran the home I landed in just didn’t believe me when I tried to tell her who I was.” The part about no one, pony, believing her was true enough. Going along with a little lie to help shut down a bad home seemed fair enough.
“Ron sent me an owl,” Hermione offered. “He says it’s miserable boring at Hogwarts.” She thought about it for a moment. “Can Dumbledore not like what our families are doing?”
“I suspect that he’s the sort to be steadfastly opposed to anything that wasn’t his idea,” Aerie offered. “He was bound and determined to keep me with an abusive family, supposedly for my protection. And this latest string of incidents… they all seem determined to drag me back to Hogwarts for the winter holidays.”
“I’m to understand that your new mom helped my parents when people wanted to know why I wasn’t in school,” Hermione added. “Does Dumbledore just not understand that just because we are attending Hogwarts that we still have the world we came from to deal with?”
“I doubt it,” Aurora said. “My mom had problems too. My Aunt can do magic, mom can’t and had to earn a living in the non-magical community.”
“So what happened to the Dursleys?” Seamus asked.
“No idea, really. I don’t really care either,” Aerie offered. “I’ll do what I have to and then I’ll transfer to Eques. Get as far away from England as I can.”
“Me too,” Lavender added. “Well, maybe not the leaving England part. I’ve got this feeling that I have no future in Hogwarts past an OWL though.”
“I suspect that could be Dumbledore's greatest fear,” Nova Mustang offered. “He’s a relic from a time now past, and he’s unable to change with the times.”
“And what does Dumbledore have hidden in the third corridor, do you think?” Hermione asked.
“Right off hand, I’d say the very package Hagrid removed from Gringotts. You know, when he used me as a cover?” Aerie was just sure that there was no way Hermione was going to just let it rest.
“You have a good idea what he’s hiding though, don’t you?”
“That’s why I suggested that you look up Nicolas Flamel in non-wizard books. The Ministry wants what he has kept quiet, but there will always be information leaking into the muggle community.”
“You talk like he’s still alive?”
“He is. He’s a famous alchemist,” Seamus informed her. “I want to be an alchemist.”
“You can’t be serious? He’d have to have… something that extends life indefinitely. That’s it. That’s what Professor Dumbledore has safeguarded. Oh, and now I wish I’d looked up what you said I should.”
“You’ll get your chance soon enough,” Aerie suggested. “Just, for your own safety, leave it alone. Don’t get mixed up in Dumbledore's little game.”
“Game?” Nova (Brightstar) Mustang asked.
“To draw in and finish off the Dark Lord.”
“She’s from further out of town than I am,” Hoshiko offered just as a butler came out and announced that dinner was served.
“You have a butler?” Aerie asked.
“Catering service. House Elves are fine, but lack in decorum when putting on a fancy dinner,” Lavender informed them in a whisper as they were informed that the children were in the small dining room.
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Sad we won't get any updates for a bit but I rather you take a break then burn out or story implodes like so many on this site. We will be waiting for your return.
From most writers, taking a break on a story this complex would worry me. Given that all stories you've written so far have been finished though, take as much time as you need for your drive to come back. I'll give ponies at Hogwarts another read during the wait.
aww and now Professor Dumbledore has players pulling on his strings from all directions.
it is time to unwind all of his lies and story's.
two amazing chapters.
And KittyrinnAiko you take all of the time you need to gather your ideas.
I haven't read the two new chapters yet, but reading this story along with another story has me thinking on the whole harry potter story itself and I wondered. What if harry potter was a girl instead of a boy and his/her parents told the wizarding world they had a boy and kept the true gender a secret. How would the story go? Would his aunts actually be kinder to harry or would they stay the same? How would the Prophecy around harry react due to harry being a girl and the prophecy stated it was supposed to be a boy?
So many ideas and questions and yet, only the fanbase and fandom could answer that and each one would change it completely. Love the story and I'm looking forward to reading the new chapters along with the rest of the story, hope do take breaks so you don't burn yourself out.
Take all the time you need to not burn yourself out
AHHH the elephant in the room JK never addresses in canon how they deal with students like Hermione or her parents deal with the obvious issue of their son or daughter having been in school and suddenly stop attending
11497937
The Girl who didn't just live
Not complete yet but still good read.
11497754
My primary reason for taking a break is that both my Carpal tunnel and fibromyalgia have been acting up. Imagine trying to write while suffering the effects of a hangover. And the fact that people are having trouble following what I've been doing suggests I have a problem. Nor have I done myself any favors by bringing in so many different elements to keep track of.
There are a month's worth of updates more or less ready to go, plus more on my computer. I was working on a bit where Hoshiko's mom and dad arrive in England... and hit the oddest mental block. I know what I want to do, but when I go to type... nothing.
Meanwhile, I'm working on a Dollhouse.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/ddc4a67f-dbff-4672-9bed-c7c3c220b5c5/dfotx3b-63501dfa-c1ba-4624-96e1-589b69f4e125.jpg/v1/fill/w_1032,h_774,q_70,strp/20230208_094021_by_kittyrinnaiko_dfotx3b-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9OTYwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZGRjNGE2N2YtZGJmZi00NjcyLTliZWQtYzdjM2MyMjBiNWM1XC9kZm90eDNiLTYzNTAxZGZhLWMxYmEtNDYyNC05NmUxLTU4OWI2OWY0ZTEyNS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.tFKtUf8-Ig-4O0IOxSKqZo5fthVp2r0WRqTvBU-kLUQ
11497937
I suspect that this idea has been explored by a goodly amount of people. Seek, and you will probably find it.
As for how his/her family would have treated them the prevailing theory suggests that the Duersleys weren't just horrible people. The idea is that the presence of the bit of Voldemort in Harry's head slowly made them worse. I've a mind to think that truly good people wouldn't have been affected.
11501216
Like I said, take as much time as you need. Especially as you have medical reasons for needing it. And as long as the previous chapters are as chaotic as things are going to get for a while, i wouldn't worry too much about how difficult the story is to understand. It just became a bit messy because of how many different dimensions and new characters there were to keep track of. Keep things more focussed on just a hand full of characters when you start writing again and it should be fairly doable to keep the confusion to a minimum.
Besides, one of the biggest draws of your stories to me is that they become better when reading them a second or a third time. I consider a healthy dose of confusion a feature when reading your stories, not a bug. It just became a bit much these last few chapters.
Great update. Looking forward to reading when you return. Please take care.
great chapter
11515476 read all your stories just saying there is more possible Novas out there including Universes where Nova doesn't exist. What is a major decision what we think of major or what the Universe thinks of as major
11515560
I was thinking along the lines of events which would lead up to moments in time when there are large expenditures of energy. That and or events in which a lot of individuals are affected by that singular moment in time. The Wright Brothers figuring out flight, the invention of the telephone, or in the case of MLP FIM Princess Celestia not paying enough attention to her sister and missing the signs that lead up to Nightmare Moon. Image for a moment that Princess Celestia had made the decision to take better care of her sister and put an end to the ponies shunning her and the night. Imagine two Equestrias coming into existence at that moment. One going down the path we know and the other a path in which the sisters never fought.
11516008 I can easily see that us also thinking of what on the surface is a minor change. IE one night instead of turning right into the kitchen for a late night snack she went strait spying Luna's loneliness and maybe hearing some of the noble's plotting to side lie Luna or maybe worse. On the surface that decision to go strait rather than turn is very small but has a huge impact