A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone

Chapters

[RVS] 1 - First Steps
[RVS]2 - Society
[RVS]3 - After Action
[RVS]4 - School Days
[RVS]5 - Medical Marvels
[RVS]6 - Covert
[RVS]7 - Change Looms
[RVS]8 - Surprise Cuts Both Ways
[RVS]9 - Horizontals and Diagonals
[RVS]10 - Underground and Under Scrutiny
[RVS]12 - Journeys and Journals
[RVS]13 - Baggage
[RVS]14 - Reunion
[RVS]15 - Seeing Red
[RVS]16 - Burrowing Deeper
[RVS]17 - Passing Time
[RVS]18 - Wand Wonders
[RVS]19 - Arrangements
[RVS]20 - Celebration
[RVS]21 - History
[RVS]22 - Opportunity
[RVS]23 - Preparation
24 - Surprises
25 - Palace Morning
26 - Canterlot
27 - Winsome Falls
28 - Mistake
29 - Rescue
30 - Holiday Stories
31 - Solstice
32 - Scarlet
33 - Arival
35 - Lessons
36 - Learned
37 - Subverting Expectations
38 - Unpleasant Conversations
39 - Arcane Theory
40 - Exploration
41 - Airborne
42 - Following the Lines
43 - Suspicion
44 - Revelation
45 - Truth
46 - Prison
47 - Liberty
48 - Setting Things in Motion
50 - Making Arrangements
51 - Ponyville
53 - Dark Magic
54 - Research and Development
55 - Strength
56 - Game
57 - Winter
58 - Holiday
59 - Wards
60 - Vault
61 - To Delay the Inevitable
62 - Savior
63 - Baiting the Snare
64 - Trading Favors
65 - Trials
66 - Chase
67 - Aftermath
68 - A Tale of Light and Shadow
69 - The Light Inside
70 - Examining Magic
71 Summer Wrap-Up
72 - To Return
52 - A Lapse in Judgment
[RVS] Prologue - Through the Looking Glass
[RVS]11 - Trunks, Teas and Cherry Trees
34 - House
49 - Playing With Fire

[RVS] 1 - First Steps

Act One

A Different World

Chapter One

First Steps

Emma Granger had just left the bathroom to exchange her dressing gown for some real clothes, when she heard the flapping of large wings. That was odd to say the least, she was certain she hadn't left any windows open and no bird with wings large enough to create such a sound would mistake one of them for an aperture to a possible nesting place anyway.

Slowly blinking, she turned around, looking for the source of the sound. The perpetrator was easily identified. A large bird with a gorgeous red and golden plumage had perched itself on the sink. The window at the opposite end of the room was, indeed, closed.

She didn't have long to puzzle where the mysterious bird had come from as mere seconds later a young girl came flying out of the full body mirror stood against one wall, promptly falling to her hands and knees and, in the process, also explaining where the bird had come from.

If it wasn't for the fact that Emma was well attuned to the general weirdness that seemed to be following her daughter around, she was certain she would have fainted from her brain failing to process the situation. Even so, she found that she could do little more than stare at the fiery haired girl that had just come out of a mirror.

The girl raised one of her hands up to her face, turning it and repeatedly forming a fist. "Yup. That's just as weird as I expected it to be." She turned around, slowly looking at the room she was in, before turning to the mirror. "Well, that isn't a statue. That was what? Five seconds? And we've already gone off the rails."

The girl seemed to be about Hermione's age and had hair in streaks of golden blonde and bright red – not just bright red for hair, but actual bright red – falling in waves over her back. That it actually touched the ground only added to the surreal situation.

She was muttering to herself, saying something about an altered body type before closing with the words, "but still, definitely a bathroom."

Still on all fours, the girl pressed a hand against the mirror. "Huh, closed already. I knew we were cutting it close, but I thought we'd have a few minutes at least. Oh well, not like I had any plans of going back."

For some reason, her bathroom mirror being treated like some kind of portal, was the thing that snapped Emma out of her stunned silence. "Hello?"

The young girl's head snapped around, focusing on Emma, giving her a great view of the pair of bright teal eyes. "Oh, hello. Is this your house?"

"Yes. Might I know your name?"

"Oh, of course. Sunset Shimmer, a pleasure." She shook her head for a moment. "Sorry, this isn't exactly going to plan. The terminus was supposed to be in the base of a statue. And, for that matter, outdoors." She turned to the bird. "Guess you really did screw up the calibration. Good job, Philomena."

The bird looked down, giving a quiet, apologetic trill.

"Portal? You mean our bathroom mirror?"

"I guess that's where it leads now. Oh well, you needn't worry about that. It'll be thirty moons before it opens again."

Emma was now convinced that floating toys and numerous color changing items had not adequately prepared her for this situation. "Moons?"

"Assuming your years are about as long as the ones I'm used to, about two and a half of them."

"I see. Say, how long were you planning to crawl around on my bathroom floor?"

"Huh? Crawl?" The girl looked confused for a moment, before her face brightened up. "Oh, right, bipedal locomotion." Pushing herself up with her hands, the girl got to her feet, wobbling slightly. "Woah, that'll take some getting used to."

Feeling an oncoming headache, Emma turned to around. "Dan, could you wake Hermione? We have a guest."

"Guest? I didn't hear the door bell," her husband quietly called back.

"They used the bathroom mirror."

"Pardon?"

"Just wake Hermione. You won't believe it 'till you see anyway."

"If you say so, honey."

That matter dealt with, Emma turned back to the girl who was once more examining her hands, the bird – Philomena, was it? - now perched on her shoulder. Emma internally winced, she was fairly certain that those claws would have dug into her shoulder if it weren't for the leather jacket she was wearing. "Well, I guess we could offer you breakfast." When the girl looked up, she pointed down the hallway. "If you go that way and down the stairs, just turn right and you'll find the kitchen, you can wait there while I get some proper clothes on."

Hermione blamed her clouded mind for not noticing that something was off earlier. She had not expected to be woken up so early, and wasn't quite there yet when she entered the kitchen. Only when she had turned to the counter and gotten herself a glass of milk, did her brain catch up with what her eyes had seen.

She slowly turned around.

No, it turned out, she hadn't imagined them. Sitting on a chair, next to her mother, was a girl she had never seen before, absently stroking the bird perched on the arm of her black leather jacket. All three of them were looking at her expectantly. Even the bird.

Hermione was just coherent enough to realize that she was not yet coherent enough to form an intelligible sentence, so she just stared at the unknown girl and her equally unknown bird.

Her mother gave her a sly grin before pointing at the girl. "Hermione, this is Sunset Shimmer, she came out of the bathroom mirror."

"How?" Not a sentence, per say, but it got the message across.

The girl shared her mother's sly look. "Magic." She then pointed at the bird. "Oh and this is Philomena, my familiar."

"Right. Magic." Getting there.

The girl simply turned to the small candle placed in the teapot warmer. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at it. She snapped her fingers ...

... and nothing happened.

"One moment, I'm used to having better physical focus than this."

Once more she stared at the candle for a few seconds, then she closed her eyes. Her expression completely calmed and she brought her fingers together again.

This time, when she snapped them, a small teal flame appeared atop the wick, quickly growing and changing to a more normal yellow-orange color.

"Like I said. Magic." The girl smiled again. "More advanced magic than lighting a candle, of course. But the same basic thing."

"Can you teach me?" There we go. A coherent sentence.

"If you have magic, sure."

"Do I have magic?"

The girl got up. Watching as the bird perched itself on Sunset's shoulder, Hermione managed to see her mother rolling her eyes from the corner of her eye. The faint teal glow from Sunset's hand quickly refocused her attention. It was flickering wildly, sparks of light jumping off it on occasion.

"We'll know in a moment." She took Hermione's hand. "Can you feel that?"

She could. It was a faint, tingly sensation, not unlike the feeling of the little hairs on one's arm standing up in proximity of a static charge. The tingle ran up her arm until it ended up somewhere deep within her chest. She nodded.

"Good. Then yes, I can teach you. If you'll teach me what I need to know about this world. I'm kinda new here."

Now it should be said that Hermione wasn't exactly a very social person. She preferred learning over making friends, but if there was an opportunity to do both at the same time, she'd take it. Getting to teach as well was just a bonus. "Okay."

It was then her turn to smirk and suppress a giggle as her father entered the kitchen, having offered to let her take the bathroom first. She had to agree with the others, his expression was priceless.

With the basic idea of what they would do set up, Sunset managed to enjoy breakfast. Fortunately the book that had informed her of the mirror had also mentioned that humans were omnivores, so eating meat came as no surprise. It was still odd and she only managed not to throw up by keeping her mind occupied with other matters, but she couldn't deny that it was tasty. The food did seem to have a notable lack of sugar, however. The pony diet Sunset was used to, was about one third sugar.

While they ate, she used the opportunity to iron out the arrangement with the Grangers. In exchange for some help around the house, an easy feat for a skilled mage such as herself once she got used to not having a horn, and teaching their daughter magic, the Grangers would let her stay at their house. They happened to have a spare bedroom.

Over breakfast she also learned that her arrival had coincided fairly well with the start of the 'spring break', apparently a short holiday from school. A fortunate side effect of that was that she'd have two weeks to learn how to blend in with human society. The first issue was soon identified. Pens, it seemed, didn't usually move on their own. While she fully intended to keep using her kinesis to write while in the house, Sunset agreed with Hermione that she would have to learn how to write using her hands by the time school started back up.

Once they knew that she would simply need practice, Sunset decided to give Hermione her first lesson in controlling her magic, as that was another matter that would need practice. That way they could practice together and correct one another.

From the discussion over breakfast, Sunset knew not only that Hermione had used magic before, but also that she was completely unaware of that fact. That first part would definitely make her job easier. The second would almost certainly have the opposite effect.

The first lesson, thus, had to be getting her to use magic on command, more specifically helping her find her magic reservoirs. The basic exercise was simple. Sunset, having practiced controlling her magic the entire morning, conjured a simple orb of teal light and handed it off to Hermione, watching in interest as it changed to a pale green and giving her the task of sustaining it. She had made sure that it had a sufficient internal reservoir to compensate for short hiccups in her output, something she would gradually remove later.

Over the next two hours, they practiced. Sunset was far from confident in her writing, and fully intended to practice it further, but Hermione had confirmed that it was, if not pretty, so at least legible.

Hermione herself had, in the mean time, grown more and more frustrated, seeing how she had failed to keep the orb of light stable for any longer than she had on her first try. She only calmed down when Sunset explained to her that she had been surreptitiously increasing the difficulty of the exercise every time she conjured the orb. To be perfectly honest, she was impressed with Hermione's progress. The girl had talent.

Now that she could access her magic, it was time to teach Hermione a way to put it to use. In other words, to teach her her first spell. The understandable excitement at this development took several minutes to quell. Once she had sufficiently calmed Hermione down, Sunset started instructing her on the spell. A basic light spell, it was little more that the simplest possible version of the conjured light from before, but as a starting point, it would do.

Of course Hermione first needed a basic introduction to spell forms, more or less the first lesson one would be taught on arcane theory. Once more, the girl proved herself to be a fast learner, taking to the concepts like a fish to water. After a few minutes, Sunset started making a game out of simply hinting at the concepts and letting Hermione figure the rest out for herself, which she did with impressive accuracy and, it seemed, great joy.

Half an hour later, Sunset watched with mild amusement as Hermione stared at the mildly flickering bead of pale green light on her index finger. Holding up her hand, a far more constant bead of teal light sitting atop her own index finger. Sunset smirked at her new pupil and held up her hand. It only took a few seconds for Hermione to recognize the gesture and return the high five.

And so the learning continued, Hermione kept on giving Sunset the basics of what she needed to know to blend in, or as much as a girl with bright red and blonde hair could blend in, and Sunset continued monitoring her progress while making notes, practicing her writing at the same time.

Dan and Emma Granger were on their way home from work. They didn't always go to work on Saturdays, both of them going to work on a Saturday was even rarer, yet the sheer number of appointments the pair of dentists had gotten for that day had made it necessary. While such a thing was unusual, it wasn't unprecedented. Normally they would be talking about that on their way home. Today however, a less mundane matter took priority.

"Think they're getting along?"

Emma turned to her husband. "I sure hope so. Hermione could use some social contact with children her age."

"And it only took one from another dimension to make it work." They both shared a laugh, Dan never taking his eyes off the road.

"Seeing how she behaved when she first arrived, I'm not entirely sure Sunset was even originally human."

"I can believe that. From how she kept staring at her hands at breakfast you'd think she'd never had them before." Dan smiled for a moment. "Still, I can't get over the fact that she's at our house right now, teaching Hermione magic."

"We always knew Hermione was special."

"No kidding, the floating books weren't exactly subtle."

"Still, we should probably make sure the two keep that quiet. What are the chances of Hermione being the only human able to use magic?"

"Slim."

"And seeing how we've never heard anything credible about magicians on earth, they're probably hiding."

"Yeah, probably best to make sure no one else knows about it." The two stayed silent for a while until Dan brought the car into the driveway and they got out.

As he was about to open the door, Emma spoke up once again. "Just so were on the same page, we both know that the only reason they get along so well is that Sunset is just as smart as Hermione and not intimidated by her intellect, right?"

"Of course."

As they entered, they found the house as they knew it. The only change came in the form of muffled conversation in the living room. When the door fell closed behind them, the conversation fell silent, replaced quickly by footsteps.

"Mom! Dad! You're home."

Dan watched as his daughter hugged his wife, before turning to the end of the corridor where Sunset Shimmer was leaning against the door frame, an amused smile on her lips. She lifted her hand, a point of light at the tip of the index finger, and pointed at the light switch for the hallway lights. The switch was engulfed in a soft teal glow for a moment before flicking into the on position, bathing the hallway in soft yellow light. Extinguishing the light on her finger tip, she let her hand fall back to her side, seemingly content to watch.

He was still recovering from witnessing such a casual display of magic, when his daughter came over to hug him in turn. "Dad! I can do magic! Sunset taught me!"

"Oh?" Emma was enjoying seeing her daughter so happy. "Show me."

"Okay." Focusing for a moment, Hermione first stretched her hand out toward the light switch, flicking it back off, then lit the hallway with a flickering point of light on her own index finger.

Dan and Emma shared a glance before congratulating their daughter on her success. Somehow they couldn't shake the feeling that their lives had just gotten a lot more exciting.

Author's Note

Before that comes up, I guess I should explain something. I have read the entirety of 'Magic School Days' and I actually help edit 'If Wishes were Ponies', as such some elements from these stories have found their way into my personal head-canon. In places where they don't contradict the official Harry Potter canon, these elements will find their way into this story.

The first names of Hermione's parents are one such element.

That aside, I've decided to provide a bit of bonus material. Certain things that are not required to know in order to understand the story, but provide background knowledge for those who want it.

As such, it is time for the first ever episode of:

Lore of the Veil

Wands, Horns and other Implements - The Meaning of Focus

Magic, in its natural form, flows freely, in any direction. It is, however, also very dispersed and rarely comes in sufficient concentrations to have more than a negligible effect. As such, magic in it's natural form is of very limited use to spell casters. It needs to be directed and concetrated or, as magicians call it, focused.

Focus, at it's most basic, comes in two varieties: Physical Focus and Mental Focus. Physical focus is immutable and unchanging as it is based on some form of physical object. Be it a wand, a horn or even just the nerves and bones in the caster's hand and arm. Mental Focus, on the other hand, is entirely dependant on the caster's will and concentration. As it is entirely intertwined with the will that causes magic to work in the first place, magic cannot be used without it, whereas Physical focus is, technically, optional. Any lack of Physical Focus can be compensated for in Mental Focus, at the cost of making the magic more draining to cast, both in terms of energy expended and in terms of the mental effort necessary as only Physical Focus, not Mental Focus, can serve to make spells more efficient.

Focus is a gradient commonly represented in a percentile scale. 0% refers to a complete absence of focus, only truly present in the ambient field or in incorporeal beings. 100% is a purely theoretical state in which all magic channeled is concentrated into an infinitely small angle forward from the caster.

As it stands, the Physical Focus provided by the horn of a unicorn roughly ranges between 40% and 60%, with values of less then 50% rarely found in adult unicorns. Sunset may be young, but she is a talented caster, as such, her horn, at this point, provides a focal value of 45%.

The wands used by wizards on earth are much stronger foci, ranging between 85% and 95%.

A caster not using either, could only make use of their own nerves and bones which rarely serve to provide more than 5%.

[RVS]2 - Society

Chapter Two

Society

Sunset leaned back on the couch, watching Hermione practice a cleaning charm, one of the set of utility spells she was teaching her. She was certain the Grangers wouldn't mind that their living room would be a lot cleaner as a side effect.

It had been a week and two days since she had arrived in this new world. It was Monday afternoon, Dan and Emma were at work, likely playing catch up on cases that had gathered up over the course of Sunday. Going over her notes on Earth's culture in general and British culture specifically, Sunset was quite happy with what she had accomplished in just nine days.

All windows of the house now had a simple perception filter on them that made sure anyone who might observe magic being used from the outside would be unable to register that fact. The relatively simplistic charm was the best she could manage without a better physical focus. Making the enchantments powerful enough to ensure that they would still work regardless had taken a lot out of her and she had had to take a good two hours to recover her reserves after each of the windows. Four for the big windows in the living room.

Well aware of the disruptive influence magic could have on sensitive electronics, Sunset had enchanted one of her smaller gems to create a localized magical field around the house to keep Hermione and herself from accidentally frying various devices around the house. That one she had finished earlier today, since then she'd been relatively idle to allow her magic time to recover.

She had made it a priority to read through the book on using magic in low ambient fields. She wouldn't necessarily describe the ambient field in this world as weak, but she was certainly used to a much stronger one. It didn't do much against the fact that, without a horn, her spells were highly inefficient, but at least hastening her attunement to the local ambient field helped her magic recover faster.

She had used some spare wood Dan had had lying around in the tool shed to make a perch for Philomena. Generous application of fireproofing charms kept it safe. It was true, of course, that the fire of a phoenix only burned the things the phoenix wanted to burn, but that control was subconscious and the subconscious was known to do funny things in dreams. It was now placed in the guest room the Grangers had generously offered her. Given the time, she assumed Philomena was napping there right now, she had taken to taking naps in the early afternoon.

Looking up from her reading, Sunset was impressed to see the living room practically sparkling. Faintly she could feel Hermione's magic from the adjacent kitchen.

"Yeah, we can no longer ignore this."

Orabella Nuttley nodded quietly. She had hoped it was nothing at first. Two spikes of magic from a muggle neighborhood wouldn't normally be cause for concern, accidental magic by a muggleborn too young for Hogwarts was something they observed on a daily basis. A quick check with the records department had confirmed that a young witch by the name of Hermione Granger was, in fact, living in the house in question.

But it hadn't stopped there, there had been more magical emissions that day. The trend continued on the day after. Just this morning, the house had started emitting a permanent, low level magical field. And now there were small surges of magic coming from it at least twice a minute.

Leaning back from observing the magical monitor that recorded the observations made with the Trace, Mafalda Hopfkirk looked at her. "Grab Brewer and go check that out. Make sure you two are dressed appropriately."

Orabella nodded. "I know, I know, muggle area." With a sigh, she got up and went to fetch her coworker.

Ten minutes later two quiet popping sounds could be heard from an empty alleyway in a suburb of Birmingham. A witch and wizard left the alley moments later. For a casual observer, there was no way of recognizing them as such. Much though the Pureblood Faction was loathe to admit it, there were situations when having a muggleborn at hand was a distinct advantage.

In a department whose primary responsibility was to hide the wizarding community from muggles, a man like Gabriel Brewer had far to go. A few minutes' brisk walk brought them to their destination. Gabriel made sure no one was observing them while Orabella pulled out her wand and scanned the building.

"Well, there is certainly magic here, but that's about all I can say with certainty. I've never seen any of those spells before."

"Sure it's not accidental magic?"

"Have you ever heard of accidental magic creating stable enchantments?"

"No."

"In that case, yes, pretty sure."

"Well, shall we take a closer look?"

Crossing the street from where they had been watching the house, they came closer. Orabella turned to look into the window. "Strange, there's a girl in there. My wand tells me she's casting magic, my eyes tell me she isn't."

Gabriel looked at her with a slight smirk. "Was one of those enchantments possibly on the windows?"

Orabella repeated her scan. "Yup. Most of them actually. Looks like each window is enchanted individually. Guess it's some variation of a notice-me-not."

"So we're not getting anything else from standing out here?"

"Not really."

"Than shall we knock before someone walks by and asks why were peeking through windows?"

"Probably a good idea."

Sunset was startled from her relaxation by a knock on the door. She was mildly confused that the visitor wasn't using the door bell, but didn't get far in that train of thought before Hermione called, "I got it."

Deciding to go with 'better safe than sorry', Sunset got up and waited around the corner from the hallway, hidden from sight by the door frame. With a moment's concentration, she readied her magic.

"Hello?" she heard Hermione say.

"Good afternoon young lady, you wouldn't happen to be Hermione Granger, would you?" It was a woman that spoke.

"Yes, that's me."

"Good, we've come by to check in on something. We've picked up on some ... unusual readings. Might we come in?"

"I guess."

Sunset quietly rolled her eyes at Hermione's naivety, but decided to play along, she went back to the couch, sitting back down.

Orabella was glad that the girl was willing to let them in. They followed her into the living room only to see another girl her age sitting on the couch. For a moment they worried about a possible breach, then they noticed the faint glow around her hand.

For a short moment Orabella was willing to write the girl's outrageous hair color off as a dye job, then she noticed the girl's bright teal eyes, matching the glow around her hand.

"Good afternoon young miss." Orabella decided to break the uncomfortable silence. "I believe we haven't introduced us yet. My name is Orabella Nuttley, this is my colleague Gabriel Brewer, we're here for the-"

"Magic, yes," the unknown girl interrupted. "We gathered."

"Yes. Were from the Ministry of Magic, Improper use of Magic Office. We're here to investigate a potential breach of the Statute of Secrecy."

"I see." The girl was acting very cautiously. It was painfully obvious that she didn't trust them. As if the fact that she kept her magic ready hadn't been a dead giveaway already. "And exactly what does that Statute state?"

Gabriel was all too happy to supply. "It states that magic is to be kept a secret from muggles." At the raised eyebrows he received he quickly amended, "the non-magical population, that is." Orabella rolled her eyes. Of course he would say it as if he were quoting from a book. Ravenclaws.

"Given it's a law, and a rather general one at that, I take it there are exceptions?"

"Well, of course. The most obvious one is that non-magical family members of witches or wizards may be informed of the existence of magic."

"Then there is no breach."

"Huh?"

At Gabriel's rather less eloquent response, the girl elaborated, "Hermione is a, I believe you called it a witch?" Receiving a pair of nods, she continued. "The only ones who know about our magic are her parents. Seeing how the general population clearly neither have magic, nor believe in it, we made sure to keep it secret. Every window in this house has a perception filter on it. Looking in, no one will be able to tell something is off, even if we're using magic directly on the other side."

"So that's what that is." The girl nodded. "You seem well versed in matters of magic." Another nod. "Might we know your name?"

"Sunset Shimmer."

"How old are you?"

"Eleven. I studied magic since I was four."

"I see." Orabella didn't see. This situation was plainly a headache waiting to happen. However, fortunately, as long as there was no breach and no misuse of magic, it wasn't her responsibility to figure it out. "We'll take our leave then. Do make sure no muggles see you using magic."

"We were planning on that anyway."

"Very well, come Gabriel." For a moment it looked like Brewer would refuse, looking to learn more, but he ultimately obeyed his superior and followed her out the door.

The moment the door fell closed, Sunset got up from the couch and closed her eyes. A moment later, she faded out of existence, reappearing behind a decorative tree in the garden. Moments later she vanished again, this time not into a teleport, but under the cover of an invisibility spell.

Using a quick spell to prevent noise from her footfalls, she moved to tail their visitors. They hadn't gotten far and while it seemed they hadn't spoken yet, it was painfully obvious that the man introduced as Gabriel Brewer wanted to say something.

Ultimately, however, it was the woman who spoke up first, apparently she had noticed as well. "Come on. Say it."

"What?"

"You know exactly what. Go ahead."

"Fine. Are you sure we shouldn't do something more? I mean, sure it's not our Department, but shouldn't we at least make sure matters are in order?"

"If you want to check in with the Records Department, be my guest. Heck, check in at Hogwarts if you want. I hear you're on good terms with McGonnagall, I'm sure she could check up on this."

"I think I will."

"As long as you're on your post when something important happens, that's your decision."

As the two fell into silence, and Sunset continued to follow them, she considered what she had learned so far.

There was a hidden community of magic users in this world. Not only that, but they apparently either had their own government or were regulated by a secret branch of the regular government, she couldn't tell which at this point. Not really all that surprising. Either way, this 'Ministry of Magic' was clearly subdivided to deal with all manner of things. She guessed their visitors were low ranking officials. She didn't think it likely that they would send anything more for the initial investigation of some unusual readings.

She had been trained in politics by Princess Celestia. As such the fact that the woman had referred to their place of work as an Office, but also mentioned a Department didn't escape her notice. Something to consider later, perhaps.

It was clear that, out of the two visitors, the woman outranked the man, she was also clearly older, so that was quite possibly the only reason.

Furthermore, she had mentioned someplace named 'Hogwarts' and someone named 'McGonnagall'. Sunset didn't know the relevance of these names, but the two magicians clearly seemed to think that they would be able to help somehow.

She was startled from her thoughts when she saw the two turn to enter an alley flanked by tall wooden fences, reaching an area where none of the windows overlooking the road could be seen. When they didn't move for a few moments, Sunset cast a simple spell on her eyes that would visualize arcane patterns.

She was rewarded moments later when there were two quiet popping sounds and the pair disappeared. Thanks to her spell, she was able to see the arcane patterns of the teleport, immediately frowning as she saw how unstable and inefficient it was. Still she was able to trace the energy pattern of the older woman's teleportation and with a moment's thought decided to follow her.

Once more she skillfully hid her signature, making it practically impossible to trace her magic as well as hiding the typical flash of light and crack of displaced air that would accompany a teleportation. Moments later, the alley was empty once more.

Sunset was glad that resting to recover her reserves so often over the last several days had given her plenty of time to think. Time she used to find a workaround for the interference between her teleport and her invisibility. That it took more focus to accomplish was as much a given as it was inconvenient. Still, her teleport went unnoticed and she quickly left the tiled area of the floor where her aura sight charm showed her a gap in the wards. She internally winced, seeing how the teleport, on top of her other charms had depleted her primary reservoir and taken a sizable chunk out of her secondary one. And with the drain of keeping up the other three spells, it was barely recharging.

This was clearly an area for people to teleport in and out and simplistic though the wards were, if that was the only kind of teleport they had to stop, they were probably enough. Once she was out of the way, she took a moment to look around.

She was at the end of a wood paneled corridor, two rows of fireplaces were set into the walls on either side. They would occasionally flare up with green fire and disgorge someone who would then walk off down the corridor, occasionally pulling out an ornately carved stick and absently using a small cleaning charm to remove soot from their clothing. Interestingly that only seemed to happen in the fireplaces to the right. Those on the left were burning with regular, yellow-orange fire, she was confused what those were for until a lone man walked up to one, reached into a small bowl, threw something into the flames which turned green, said 'Diagon Alley' and stepped into the sudden flare of green fire.

So those are exits. A fire based form of travel, huh? Can't really fault them. It's more stable than their regular teleportation.

Making her way down the corridor, careful to make sure that no one would walk into her, Sunset marveled at the clothing the people were wearing. From what Hermione had told her, she knew that this wasn't even close to normal clothing. Most of them were dressed in long robes, some of them with pointy hats as well, occasionally there would be one with a more normal suit or dress, but even those came in outrageous colors and patterns.

Following the people walking deeper into the building, she saw a large round hall with a fountain in its center. Five gold statues stood in the basin depicting two humans, one male one female, wielding the same ornate sticks she had seen the new arrivals use to remove the soot from their clothing, a centaur wielding a bow and arrow and two smaller creatures with big ears. She didn't recognize the last two, but she was reasonably sure that they were different species.

The glimmering of gold, silver and copper reflected onto the ceiling let her deduce that coins filled the bottom of the basin. Dismissing her earlier spell and replacing it with another that enabled her to see much clearer at a distance, she looked at a brass placard on the rim of the basin.

All donations from the Fountain of Magical Brethren go to the St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Looking around the large area, Sunset saw a kiosk set in the wall beneath a large sign 'Security'. Beyond, several brass grates occasionally opened to admit the numerous people into smaller cabins she recognized as elevators, which rattled noisily back down once the doors had closed. She debated for a moment if she should take her chance with one of them, but ultimately decided that the risk wasn't worth it. She might be invisible, but she was still tangible. It wouldn't do to be discovered when someone ran into her.

Stepping into a corner beside the security kiosk, she canceled all her spells save her invisibility. That one alone significantly cut down on how fast her reservoir was recharging, she didn't need other spells impairing it further.

Suppressing a sigh, she resigned herself to standing in a corner for a few minutes, waiting for her magic to recharge. Still, in the nearly half an hour she stood there she saw a few more interesting things. Every so often, a visitor would come by and approach the security desk. They would then take out a carved stick like the ones they used to clear away the soot from their fire teleport and hand it to the wizard behind the counter, who would place it on a small device.

A moment later the device would spit out a thin strip of paper which the security wizard, whom several of the visitors addressed as Eric, would rip off and study for a moment, then store on a long brass thorn, likely to be filed later. Finally he would hand the wand back to the visitor who would then hurry off, usually to one of the lifts.

After observing another such exchange, Sunset checked on her reserves again. She was happy to see that, if not completely, her reservoirs had recovered enough that she could teleport back to the Grangers' home without fear of crippling her magic for days. She closed her eyes to focus, glad that while she waited, her mind had recovered from the previous strain.

Seconds later she was gone, leaving the wizards and witches of the Ministry for Magic none the wiser.

Not having bothered with her workaround, Sunset felt her invisibility spell collapse the moment she arrived.

"Sunset! Where were you?"

"I trailed our surprise guests. Found out where that Ministry of Magic is."

"What? How?"

"I used an invisibility spell and teleported into the garden, followed them from there and when they teleported away themselves I traced them and teleported after them."

"Where did they go?"

Sunset stood up, closing her eyes for a few seconds before pointing in a direction. "More or less a hundred and sixty of your kilometers that way."

"That's" Hermione furrowed her brow, "Hold on." She ran out of the room and came back a moment later with a map she spread on the table. "Which direction."

Sunset pointed the direction out once more and Hermione started making measurements on the map. After a few moments she looked up and stared at Sunset, completely stunned. "That would mean the Ministry of Magic is somewhere in central London."

"Hmm, makes sense that it would be in the capital city."

"Sure, but what gets me is that you went to London and back that quickly. It's been barely half an hour."

"What can I say? Teleportation is pretty useful. Especially if you use a proper spell rather than the mess they used. I would have been back sooner with a proper focus, but like this, I had to wait for my magic to recharge before coming back, which, surprise surprise, doesn't happen too fast when you're also keeping up an invisibility spell."

Author's Note

And once more a topic deserves further explanation. Time for the second part of:
Lore of the Veil:

The Source of Their Power - Reservoirs

In their natrual state, every magician has two reservoirs. The Primary or Shallow Reservoir, colloquially called 'The Pond' and the Secondary or Deep Reservoir, known as 'The Well'.

While some types of magic, be they light, dark, harmonic or chaotic, draw their power from other sources, most 'neutral' or grey magic draws from those reservoirs. Specifically such magic draws from the Shallow Reservoir first and only taps the Deep Reservoir if the Shallow Reservoir has run dry.

While there is some variance, a caster's Deep Reservoir will generally have between twice and thrice the capacity of their Shallow Reservoir.

The most significant difference between them, other than their capacity, is the rate at which they refill when depleted. If a caster's Deep Reservoir is depleted, it can take days to fully recover.

The rate at which the Shallow Reservoir recovers is directly tied to the current fill state of the Deep Reservoir. If the latter is filled completely, the Shallow Reservoir, even if completely drained, will fully recover in minutes or even seconds. If the Deep Reservoir is depleted as well, the Shallow Reservoir will not refill at all until the Deep Reservoir is at least partially recovered.

Casters aware of this, will oftentimes avoid drawing from their Deep Reservoir altogether if they can avoid it, as even a small drain from there has a significant impact on the time it takes to fully recover their Shallow Reservoir.

[RVS]3 - After Action

Chapter Three

After Action

"What do you mean?"

"Well, teleporting there depleted my shallow reservoir and took a good chunk out of–"

"No. I meant the teleport."

"Huh? Oh right. Well I watched their magic when they teleported out, there is no finesse to it at all. I can only assume those wands of theirs are a really effective focus. Celestia knows I'd need one to brute-force a teleport over that distance."

"They use wands?"

Yeah, at least that's what the man at the security desk called them. We don't have those, that's what we have horns for."

"Horns?"

"Yeah, y'know. Unicorn horns."

"Unicorn?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to try holding a stick with hooves."

"You used to be a unicorn?"

Sunset tilted her head. "Did I not mention that?"

"No. You definitely didn't. I'd remember that. Though I kinda wanna see that."

Sunset tilted her head to the other side, scratching her chin. "Hmm, maybe ..." She turned to Hermione with a smirk. "Let me try something."

She sat down on the couch, her legs crossed, and closed her eyes. She sat there for several minutes, clearly focusing. "I can feel something," she finally said. "I might be able to return to my natural form with enough practice. It'll take a while though. I'll need to spend some time practicing."

"Alright, sure. I can wait. We got off topic anyway, what were we talking about again?"

"We were talking about their teleportation spell."

"Right, you said they were brute-forcing the teleport. How is that different from your teleportation."

"Well, they simply picture the destination, focus on going there and then throw energy at it until the teleport happens."

"Huh, yeah, that doesn't really sound very sophisticated."

"That's because it isn't. You see, we have a whole host of teleportation spells, but they can be sorted into three general categories."

"Categories?"

"Short, medium and long-range."

"Oh, that's more simplistic than I expected. How are those split up? What constitutes short-range, and where does medium start?"

"Well, they are differentiated by technique. What range one has while teleporting depends on the caster. My short-range teleports have a range of roughly thirty of your meters, provided I can see the destination. Effectively short-range teleportation is just a matter of moving very fast.

"Medium-range is where the actual teleportation starts happening. I can manage about one of your kilometers from my primary reservoir but the drain it puts on my reserves increases at about two-and-a-half times the rate of the range."

"That would mean twice that would burn through both reservoirs, right."

"Well, my reservoirs are both pretty well trained so I expect I would still have a bit of magic left, but it wouldn't be much and it would take ages to get back up to full.

"Anyway. Long-range teleportation combines that with spacial manipulation. Essentially a long range teleport is a matter of folding space to create a shortcut. Interestingly, the teleport the wizards here seem to use, does that too. Though I can't imagine that the spacial tunnel they create is very stable. Probably makes it very uncomfortable.

"Of course, with greater distance, that becomes harder to do so it's not like you can make it so things are right next to one another. It's more like a set rate of how much you can decrease the distance by. With my current skill I can manage to cut the distance down to about a third of a percent of the real space distance."

Hermione thought on that for a moment. "So you're saying that to go to London you basically made it so that London was only four hundred meters away from here?"

"In some sense, yeah, pretty much."

"So you're saying that with that technique you can go three-hundred kilometers with little effort."

"Well, without too much strain on my magic at least. It's still pretty tricky to do, using only nerves and bones as a focus. Takes quite a bit of mental effort to compensate. That's in my human form, of course, with a horn acting as a focus, I can manage a medium-range teleport of about three-point-four kilometers from my primary reservoir and reduce the distance on a long-range teleport to about one sixth of a percent."

"So in your natural form you'd easily manage ... goodness, how much is that? Two-thousand kilometers?"

"Closer to three-thousand, actually."

"How are you doing all this math in your head? I mean, I'm pretty good at math and even I'd need a calculator for that."

"I'm not. I'm using Arithmancy."

"Didn't you say Arithmancy was about using math to do your magic?"

"Well, it is. In part. The math gets pretty complicated, so Arithmancy is actually two different things. Getting math to do your magic and getting magic to do your math."

"That sounds circular."

"Effectively, you use magic to make your magic easier to use. You use a bit more power to make the mental strain more manageable. It's a tradeoff."

The two fell silent once more, until Hermione's head suddenly snapped upward and she looked at Sunset. "Wait a minute! I just realized the teleportation spells were another tangent. You were about to tell me what you saw in the Ministry."

"Oh right! Well I didn't go far in, I might have been invisible, but I wasn't intangible."

"I can see that being a problem."

"Yeah, not too great for crowds. So I only really saw the entrance area and the atrium. I think most people teleport in there one way or another."

"They have multiple ways of doing that?"

"Yeah. They have an area set up for people to teleport in, but they also have two rows of fireplaces. They can apparently travel by fire."

"How?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Basically they walk up to the fire, throw some powder in it, say a destination, the fire turns green and they walk in."

"Then what do they have two rows for?"

"Incoming and outgoing."

"Ah I see. Well what did you see?"

"Well, the first thing I noticed is that wizards and witches dress really weird."

"Huh?"

"They have these, actually hang on, I'll just show you." Reaching out with her kinesis, Sunset drew her notepad and pencil into the air before her and started to sketch out some of the clothing styles she had seen.

Hermione got up and sat beside Sunset on the couch to see what she was drawing. "You're pretty good at that."

"Thanks, it's a hobby."

"And you're right. That does look odd."

They fell silent once again as Sunset turned the page and started a second drawing. Over the next few minutes, Hermione watched as an impression of the Fountain of Magical Brethren took shape on the pages.

"What's that then?"

"The fountain they had in the center of the Atrium, apparently all the money thrown in it goes to a place called St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."

"Huh, figures they'd have a secret magical hospital as well." The next drawing was significantly faster. "Let me guess, that's their logo?"

"I'd guess so, at least it was all over the place there."

"Huh, a lit wand over the letter M, how original."

A lit wand over the letter M hung above the door together with the words 'Records Department'. With a sigh, Gabriel Brewer walked into the expansive room. For visitors there were people available as guides, Ministry employees were left to find their way through the mess of self-updating paperwork on their own accord.

Fortunately, Gabriel knew what he was here for and where to find it. He made his way to the Registry of Known Witches and Wizards, somewhat of a misnomer as there were plenty of wizards and witches in the self updating registry that no one in the ministry had ever even heard about. It took a moment, but he soon reached the thirty four filing cabinets reserved for the registry. Witches and wizards might only be a small part of the population, but this registry held the name of every witch and wizard to visit or live in Britain since the Ministry was founded in the seventeenth century.

Taking a rough guess, he walked up to the third of the cabinets used by the letter S, a short search revealed three drawers, St-Su, Su and Su-Sz. He drew out the middle one of the three and quickly found the file he was looking for.

'Sunset Shimmer, here she is. Now let's see here. Age eleven, daughter of Stellar Flare and Sunspot, one older brother. Huh, odd names those. Place of birth, thirteen Plaza Road, Sire's Hollow, Equestria? Huh? Okay, this is getting odd. Place of residence, one fifty Ryde Park Road, Rednal, West Midlands. Okay that at least makes sense. Guess she lives with the Grangers at the moment.'

Looking further down, he found what he was looking for. Ah, here we go. Legal Guardian, Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Solaris, Steward of the Sun, Princess of the Aetheris Tribe, High Admiral of the Aeolis Tribe, Warden of the Eterris Tribe, Protector of the Land, Conqueror of Chaos, Bringer of Light and Harmony and Eternal Ruler of Equestria and Its Territories.

He took a few moments to process what he had just read. 'I guess I know now why that field is so large. He looked down to the field for Magical Guardian only to see the same string of names and Titles.

'Alright then, this Princess is magical too. Now what else ... Ah here. Citizenship. Citizen of Equestria, Permanent Resident of the United Kingdom. Well that makes things interesting. I'm starting to see what Orabella meant. I don't really want to deal with all this. Oh well, I should at least warn Minerva.'

With a course of action in mind, Gabriel Brewer set off to the Ministry's small post office.

In the ancient halls of Castle Hogwarts, Minerva McGonnagall had just finished teaching her last class of the day. This late in the afternoon, the normal Monday fatigue had mellowed out into a minor annoyance. The term was going well, thus far, but had been entirely unremarkable. She had no illusions of her house standing a chance in the Quidditch Tournament or the House Cup, but that had been the case for years, ever since the eldest two of the latest generation of Weasleys had finished their schooling.

On that topic, even the Weasley twins had behaved themselves today. All in all it was an entirely unremarkable day of an equally unremarkable term.

So, of course, things wouldn't stay that way. The hint of something going in unfavorable directions was the official looking owl bearing a much less official looking letter that had perched itself on her desk. The ring on one of its legs clearly marked it as a Ministry owl. The rather private looking letter on its leg only served to confuse Minerva.

Professional as they came, the owl flew off the moment the letter was no longer tied to its leg. With some trepidation, Minerva opened up the letter. She was happy to find it to be from a former student she had fond memories off. He may not have been one of hers, but he had been pleasant to teach regardless.

Her brow furrowed as she read through the letter, her eyes passing over several passages more than once, widened in disbelief. Finally she got up with a sigh and made her way up to one of the smaller towers of the castle, to a place students never went.

"Come in."

Albus Dumbledore sat in his chair behind his desk. Looking benevolently to the door that was now being pushed open by his deputy. "Minerva, what a pleasant surprise."

"Good evening Albus."

"I know you don't come to my office without a specific reason. What brings me the honor?"

"The next year is going to be interesting."

"With Harry Potter coming to Hogwarts, I expected that might happen."

"More interesting than that."

"Are we getting another unusual student?"

"You might put it that way." At Dumbledore's expectant expression, Minerva continued. "One of the students we'll have next year is one Hermione Granger, a muggle born witch from somewhere near Birmingham."

A simple nod signaled that the headmaster was following.

"About half an hour ago I got a letter from Gabriel Brewer."

"Ah, Mister Brewer. He went on to work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, if I'm not mistaken?"

"The Office for the Misuse of Magic to be exact. Earlier this afternoon he and a colleague went out to the Granger Residence to check up on magical emissions they had been picking up for about a week, fearing a breach of the Statute. When they arrived at the Granger residence, they found the windows to be charmed with an unknown form of a notice-me-not."

Dumbledore raised a brow in surprise, but didn't interrupt.

"There was also a low magical field surrounding the house. Once Miss Granger let them in, they were led into the living room where they encountered another young witch. And that's where things get ... strange."

"Strange, you say? How so?"

"She seemed to be a witch of considerable skill, despite being the same age as Miss Granger, she was apparently the one who had spelled the windows, so any use of magic inside would not be seen from the outside. A rather ingenious way of using a notice-me-not, I might add."

"Hmm, very clever yes."

"Mister Brewer described her as having red and blonde hair and teal eyes, she apparently introduced herself as 'Sunset Shimmer'."

"Odd."

"That's putting it mildly. Regardless, after Miss Shimmer had reassured them that the only muggles aware of their magic were Miss Granger's parents, Mister Brewer and his colleague returned to the ministry. I checked the Book of Admission, Albus. Miss Shimmer will be attending Hogwarts next year."

"Oh my. I can see what you mean."

"That's not even it. Mister Brewer checked in at the Records Department to look for Miss Shimmer's file. Her Parents are listed as Sunspot and Stellar Flare."

"It would seem her unusual name isn't an exception then?"

"Certainly not. Additionally both her legal and magical guardianship is held by one Princess Celestia Solaris of Equestria. I'll spare you the list of titles."

"Equestria, you say?" He got a nod in response. "Perhaps a magical nation we were thus far unaware of?"

"Unlikely, but so are all other explanations I can think of. And there's more, her place of birth is listed as 'Sire's Hollow, Equestria'. she's a Citizen of Equestria and a Permanent Resident of Britain."

"Ah, the self-updating paperwork got ahead of those meant to mind it, didn't it?"

"That sounds like the most likely explanation."

"It would seem a bit of an investigation is in order. The Easter holidays perhaps?"

Minerva could merely nod. The current term wasn't even over yet, and already the next one was giving her headaches.

When Dan and Emma Granger stepped into the living room that evening they found their daughter sitting on the couch, practicing her magic, as she had done for over a week now. Sitting beside her in a meditative position, Sunset had her eyes closed, he face completely serene. The parents could only guess what she was up to.

Author's Note

Teleportation is explained within this chapter as far as one needs to understand it, but for those who desire to know the math behind it, we have the third installment of:

Lore of the Veil:

Range, Capacity and Focus - The math behind teleportation.

Warning - Math ahead:

To define the terms:

Range (R) is the possible maximum distance for a teleport given the current magical means and assuming the caster is traveling alone.

Capacity (C) is the magical capacity availiable to the teleport, for these calculations that is the caster's Shallow or Primary Reservoir, in Sunset's case the value is 0.5

Foucus (F) is the Physical Focus availiable to the caster. Given that mental focus has no bearing on the spell's efficiency, it is not considered in these calculations. The value is given in percent. (note that a value of 0, while not technically impossible, breaks these equations and is not to be used)

Given these, the formula for a mid-range-teleport is:

R=Log2.5C*F

Using this formula, Sunset's mid range teleportation has a range of 1km when wandless and loosely 3.4km when using her horn.

The formula for a long-range teleport is as follows:

R=[Log2,5(C-0,01)*F]*1/[1/10(15,27-1/10Log1,8F)-1,44/19]

Using this formula, Sunset's long range teleports have a range of about 312km while wandless and loosely 2884km when using her horn.

In both cases, wanded teleportation ranges will be supplied once she has her wand.

[RVS]4 - School Days

Chapter 4

School Days

Another week had passed, and, like in most households, Monday morning was a mess in the Granger residence. The Grangers were traditionally late risers, Sunset fondly remembered the days when she was one herself, but being the personal student to the Steward of the Sun had changed that rather quickly.

As such the Grangers had to suffer the terrible fate of being late risers in the presence of a morning person. Sunset had, as usual, risen at first light and gone on to infuriate everyone else with her perky attitude. The Grangers had unanimously decided that having breakfast prepared for them by the time they arrived in the kitchen every morning was a fair tradeoff.

Sunset hid it well, but Emma could tell that the girl was nervous. Understandable, given the occasion. Today she would be attending a human school for the first time. It had been established that the curriculum would not be a problem. Sunset spoke perfect English, a fact that had confused them all until Sunset had made the guess that it was probably an effect of the portal.

It had actually taken a few days for her and Philomena to notice that everyone, themselves included, wasn't speaking Equestrian. Once she had realized that, Sunset had given the Grangers a short demonstration of her native tongue, a melodic sounding language that consisted mostly of long words spoken at immense speed. They had all found it to sound rather beautiful. And immensely complicated.

Mathematics was, likewise, not an issue. Arithmancy made the kind of mathematical problems they would have to deal with at school look like foals' play by comparison. If anything truly did get complicated, she could always let magic do the maths for her.

Art wouldn't be an issue, given Sunset's drawing skills, PE was of secondary importance. The only subject that the Grangers thought might give Sunset some problems, was French. That too was easily dealt with however. Sunset had simply borrowed Hermione's textbook and used a spell to put together a translation matrix.

When Hermione had asked if she could use something similar to learn Equestrian, Sunset had simply copied her knowledge of the language and placed it in Hermione's mind. Suffice it to say that hearing their daughter and her friend avidly conversing in Equestrian when they came home that evening had been quite the shock for Emma and Dan.

Sunset had assured her hosts that she would make sure no one at the school would question her presence. Seeing how mysterious she was being about the matter, they immediately, and correctly, assumed that magic had a role in her plan.

It wasn't long before Sunset followed Hermione out of the house and the two made their way to the local junior high school. Fortunately the school was only a few streets away and they were able to reach it in a mere few minutes.

The school was a wide, flat building and rather drab in appearance. Hermione guided Sunset to the classroom where they sat down at the front of the class. The classroom filled up and soon enough the teacher came in.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Miss Pritchard," the assembled students chorused in response. And so class began.

True to her word, no one questioned Sunset's presence, students and teachers alike simply treated her as if she had always been there. The first few classes of the day presented as much trouble for Sunset as expected.

Namely, none.

Hermione repeatedly noticed Sunset rolling her eyes at various math exercises. Text comprehension was similarly easy, it seemed. Art, of course, wasn't much of a challenge, only notable as it gave Sunset an opportunity to actually use her hands for drawing.

All in all the day passed easily.

Tuesday had come and gone, ending up being similarly unremarkable. Wednesday morning, however, brought Hermione's least favorite subject. PE.

"Alright," the teacher began, "good morning class."

"Good morning, Mister Johnson."

"Now I know my colleagues have probably done this to death, but I hope you had fun in spring break." The groan from the class gave him all the answer he needed. "Yeah, thought so. Anyway, to get back into the swing of things, I think we'll try something a little different this time around. You see, I went to France myself over the break and I picked something that seems to be up and coming over there. But first, it's paramount that you're all properly warmed up."

With that he sent them on a few laps around the area while he started setting up the material. Once they settled back where they started in various states of exhaustion, he spoke up again. "Alright, today we'll be trying something called Parkour. Now I know normally exercises on obstacles are meant to be a challenge of endurance and strength. Not so here. The entire point of Parkour is that it is a set of techniques that should, in theory, allow us to clear the obstacles with as little effort as possible. That being said, to do this, we'll need some obstacles."

He proceeded to split the class into groups, giving each group a sheet of paper with the instructions for constructing one of the obstacles. Soon obstacles were being set up around the area and mattresses were being set up to catch the students, should they fall.

"So. Now that we have those, I can give you the basics. The primary point of Parkour is to clear the obstacles with as little effort as possible, while loosing as little momentum as possible. If you're doing it right, you'll run up to the obstacle, clear it and be running again before two seconds pass."

Sunset found that she was actually enjoying herself immensely. This sport seemed to be something for her tastes, a matter of skill before anything else. She would be the first to admit that her studies of magic and rulership hadn't left her with much time for physical exercise. Now that the topic had come up she vowed to rectify the situation. This was a good start, finding a sport that would actually be fun could only help.

An hour later, Sunset and Hermione made use of the first break of the day. They were both completely spent and looking forward to a relaxing math class. Still, Sunset found that she could get behind this sport. She would have to do more research on it. Even Hermione, while in even worse physical shape than Sunset, had made a valiant effort.

After the excitement of the morning, the rest of the day was unremarkable. Math and English passed quickly. Before they left, Hermione showed Sunset to the list of extra curricular activities the school offered. Going with her plan of trying to get in shape, Sunset decided to attend a martial arts course.

Thursday brought an interesting challenge for Sunset in the form of home EC class. She had already proven she could cook reasonably well. Other things she was not used to doing. Being used to living in a palace in a world of magic she was mostly acquainted with such tasks either being done for her, or being easily solved with magic. Fortunately that only gave her a new conviction. A determination to conquer every challenge this world could throw at her.

Friday afternoon saw Hermione returning home on her own. She busied herself with getting her homework done and preparing lunch. Just as the food was ready, Sunset appeared. Having gotten used to Sunset's habit of teleporting, Hermione didn't even flinch when Sunset suddenly stood behind her. A place she decidedly hadn't been a few seconds earlier.

"So, how was it?"

"Quite fun actually, I recognized some of the techniques from watching the guards train back in Equestria."

They sat and ate in silence for a while, Hermione watching carefully as her friend reminisced with a look of slight melancholy.

"Do you miss it?"

"Huh?"

"Equestria. Do you miss it?"

Sunset looked out of the window for a moment. "Sometimes. Y'know, with you and your parents, that's family. That's something I haven't had in years. It's been three years since I last saw my brother. I'm not sure I'd even still recognize my parents. Or they me. I haven't seen them in seven years."

"That's kinda sad."

"It is. But you know what they say. Out of sight, out of mind. Well, we haven't met in the better part of a decade and I'm literally a world away."

Hermione watched her friend carefully. 'I get it. She's a genius. She's a prodigy. But she's lonely. The only one she's had for most of her life was a being literally millenia older than she is. No friends. No family.' As she looked on, Hermione's pity turned into determination. 'Until now.'

Lost in thought, Sunset was rather startled to find herself wrapped into a calming hug.

The weeks flew by and Hermione started treating Sunset as less of a friend and more of a sister. The change was slow and subtle, so it took nearly two weeks for Sunset to notice. When she did, she decided not to mention it. She simply returned the favor in kind. She hadn't missed that Hermione had been lonely as well. She had family, sure, but friendship was another matter entirely. The other students at the school seemed either intimidated, or annoyed, or both. To be fair, they were treating Sunset the same way, but she didn't care much.

The weekend after their first school week, Sunset and Hermione once more sat in the living room. Hermione was practicing her magic again, while Sunset had finished one of the new wards she had been placing around the house. While she gave her magic time to recover, she was once more focused on her meditation.

Hermione had, by now, managed to get an explanation from Sunset. She had told her that she could feel her natural form, along with the form she currently had. That she knew she could be in her natural form just as easily. All she had to do in her meditations was to make a way to go from one form to the other.

When she suddenly heard the words, "gotcha!" she turned around to see that Sunset had started to glow. She carefully watched as Sunset began floating off the couch, hovering in mid-air. Her entire form began to glow a bright teal and a soft humming noise set in around her. After a few more seconds, Hermione had to avert her eyes to stop the light from blinding her.

Suddenly, the humming seized and a pulse of magic ran through the room. Having grown more and more attuned to it over the bast few weeks, Hermione was startled by the intensity of the pulse. Only when four clopping sounds could be heard on the hardwood floor, did she realize that the light had stopped as well.

Turning to see, she found an adorable little creature standing on the floor in front of the couch. A part of her mind was highly intrigued to see an equine the size of a house cat. Still she found herself worrying. 《You okay, Sunset?》she asked in Equestrian.

《Yeah, I'm fine, it's just been a few weeks since I've been in this form.》 Turning, around, the little unicorn came over and jumped up onto the armrest of the armchair Hermione had claimed for herself. 《Ah well,》 she continued. 《I'll have some time to get used to it again. That almost burned out my magic right then and until it's recovered I'd rather not try turning back.》

Suffice it to say that Emma and Dan were rather startled to find an amber-coated unicorn in their kitchen, preparing dinner when they came home that evening. Still, everyone in the house quickly adjusted and Sunset ended up not returning to human form until Monday morning. Emma had almost broken down in giggles when she had found Hermione still in bed that morning, holding a curled up Sunset like a stuffed animal.

Another week later, Hermione and Sunset sat in the living room, reading. When she looked up from her own reading material, Hermione noticed something was off. Sunset was turning the pages of her book rather fast, never spending more than five seconds on a single page. She had seen Sunset do that a lot over the past weeks. At first she had thought Sunset was searching for something and not bothering to read, but by now it seemed that the girl always read that way. After remaining quiet for so long, Hermione decided to speak up, no longer able to keep her curiosity in check.

"How are you reading that fast?"

Sunset looked up, confused.

"I mean, I'm a fast reader, but what you're doing is impossible."

"Not exactly." Sunset smirked. It was that special kind of smirk Hermione had grown to love. It was the sly expression that meant that Sunset knew something, and that she was about to teach. "I'm not actually reading this fast. I'm just memorizing the pages, I'll read them in my mind later."

"Pardon?"

"About three years ago I used a rather obscure spell to give myself a photographic memory. I can remember everything I see. The longer I see it, the more details I can recall, a few seconds per page are enough so I can easily read them later. It's amazing for learning."

"Wha-" Hermione was stunned. "But that's cheating!"

Sunset's smirk changed, this victorious grin meant that she was about to make an irrefutable argument. "Is it? There are people born with this, you know? They have a natural advantage others don't have. I'm simply leveling the playing field."

"I guess ... So you've had a photographic memory all this time?"

"Yup. Want one too?"

"Wait, you could give me one?"

"Yeah, just ... maybe make sure you have your homework finished first. The spell literally rearranges parts of your brain structure, so you'll have a pretty nasty headache for a few hours. And there are some downsides, of course. There are a few things I wish I could forget." She looked down in thought for a few moments. "One of the downsides of being Student of the Sun, I guess. You get to see Equestria at its best ... and its worst."

Hermione thought the matter over for a few moments, while Sunset simply watched from across the table. "So this is just a one time thing? You do that and it's done? Magical brain surgery, basically?"

A smile returned to Sunset's face and she giggled. "Not quite. It's a complicated thing called conceptual magic. It basically allows me to see the brain as a concept and edit it as such. I don't know exactly what the magic does, but I do know how to get it to do that."

Once more, Hermione thought about the idea. "Alright. Go ahead."

With a calm nod, Sunset shifted into her equine form. Absently cleaning her hooves with a spell, she hopped onto the table. "Lean back and try to relax. It's not pleasant, but I promise you, it's worth it."

Hermione gulped, but nodded. She was having second thoughts, certainly, but her conviction remained. Not to mention that she trusted Sunset. She watched as Sunset's horn glowed brightly, her eyes alight with magic. She stared at her for a few moments. Hermione could practically see the spell forming behind those glowing eyes.

She could sense the power in the air, not unlike when Sunset had first transformed, only this was sustained, charging the air with energy, not just a quick release of power. Finally, Sunset carefully aimed her horn at Hermione's forehead and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. When she re-opened them, there was no emotion in those eyes, only pure, uninterrupted focus.

A needle-thin beam of teal light sprang from the tip of the horn and impacted perfectly in the center of Hermione's forehead. A searing pain erupted between her temples. She winced in pain, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out.

Sunset quashed her empathy with determination. Now was not the time for emotions, she couldn't risk loosing her focus before the spell was complete. With cold eyes and the precision of a machine she unerringly kept her horn pointed at her friend, following each of her movements.

After ten excruciatingly long seconds, the beam cut off and the light on Sunset's horn faded. The pain Hermione felt quickly waned until it had dimmed to a more normal stinging pain. It wasn't pleasant by any means, but it was a relief compared to what she had felt a moment earlier. Torn between sighing in relief and crying from pain, she did both.

Sunset's empathy returned with a vengeance. She knew from when she cast that spell on herself that there was nothing she could do to ease Hermione's pain. Normally there were spells that could numb pain by blocking the nerve signals, but doing such a thing was far too risky when the pain was coming from inside the brain.

Well remembering how sensitive she had been to sound when she had been in the same situation, Sunset cast a quick spell on her hooves to prevent noise on the hardwood floor, before jumping down from the table and carrying Hermione to her bedroom. To make sure not to apply undue pressure, Sunset didn't simply levitate her, she instead used a spell to temporarily free Hermione from the clutches of gravity and used short, gentle bursts of her kinesis to maneuver the girl through the hallway and up the stairs.

She made sure to remove Hermione's shoes before navigating her down onto the bed and slowly, carefully releasing the gravity spell. Once her friend was comfortably settled on the bed, Sunset jumped up onto it as well, careful not to disturb her. She curled up next to the girl, casting a monitoring spell to keep track of the progress the spell had made. The process was going well, but it would still take a few hours to finish.

Unable to form a coherent thought, both from the pain, and from the restructuring of her brain, Hermione grabbed the fuzzy red and yellow thing in front of her, and hugged it tightly to her chest. She didn't register the teal glow as she closed her eyes, falling asleep as she whimpered in pain.

[RVS]5 - Medical Marvels

Chapter Five

Medical Marvels

When Emma and Dan Granger opened the door to their house, they found it unusually quiet. They were just about to call out to Hermione and Sunset when Philomena came gliding down the corridor. She landed on Dan's shoulder, spreading her wings and pressing a primary feather over each of their lips. It was clear what she meant.

The two had long since accepted that, while she was unable to speak, Philomena was doubtlessly a highly intelligent being. As such they didn't ask questions when Philomena took off of Dan's shoulder and disappeared down the hallway and up the stairs, they simply took off their shoes and followed her up, seeing her waiting for them, hovering in mid-air next to the door to Hermione's room. With a quiet trill and a powerful flap of her wings, the phoenix flew into the room, Dan and Emma behind her.

They saw Hermione curled up on her bed, Sunset clutched to her chest. Their daughter's friend was once more in her native form, a bead of teal light at the tip of her horn. At a soft trill from Philomena she looked up and opened her eyes. When the phoenix, perched on one of the bed posts, rocked her head to the side, Sunset turned to the door.

When she turned to face them, they saw that where her left eye should have been, there was only an opaque teal glow. As they gasped, Sunset immediately made shushing motions, pointing a hoof to the girl behind her, before gesturing for them to come closer. The light faded, letting her eye shine through once more, only the bead on her horn remained.

"That was just a monitoring spell," she explained quietly. "Don't worry, I'm fine, and so will she."

"What happened?"

Sunset's eyes met Emma's and with a sigh, she began to explain.

When she finished, both parents were stunned silent for a moment. "How long?" Dan finally managed.

"About three and a half hours now. Give her another half an hour, give or take, and she'll be back on her feet. I've already canceled my sleeping spell, but she hasn't woken up yet. I don't think she'll be doing much thinking tonight, but she'll be all fine by tomorrow morning."

Emma looked over her daughter in worry. "Are you sure this is wise?"

Sunset nodded solemnly. "I've gone through it myself. It's painful, but it's worth it. I haven't come to regret it, and I doubt she will either. The restructuring is almost done. I'll keep watch. We'll be down in half an hour." With that her eye lit up once more and she turned back to Hermione, once more curling up against her.

Emma and Dan shared a nod and left the room. Careful to avoid any unnecessary noise, they left Sunset and Philomena to their silent vigil.

The soft warmth in her arms, told Hermione that Sunset was curled up in her arms. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she knew that her head felt sore. She cracked an eye open to a teal glow. The glow quickly faded and resolved into an image of Sunset's face.

"Good evening," the tiny unicorn greeted with a sly smirk. "I'd ask if you slept well, but I know that that would be a clear 'No', so I won't bother. If my nose isn't mistaken, I think your mom should have dinner ready any minute. Come."

With that she leapt off the bed, her hooves not making a noise on the floor, and quickly assumed her human form. Rubbing her eyes, Hermione followed, getting up out of bed, as her memory returned, helpfully supplying why she felt so terrible, and informing her that she had felt terrible earlier and what she felt now was but a minor discomfort in comparison.

Putting her shoes back on, she followed Sunset out the door and made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. There she found her parents, both immediately asking how she felt. Once she had allayed their concerns, they both smiled.

"You look like you could use a coffee," Emma joked.

"She could, actually," Sunset pointed out from where she was leaning against a wall, reading yet another book. "At this point, it's one of the few things that help with the headache."

"Oh. I'll make some then." As Emma got to work, Sunset put down her book – a book on advanced medical magic, Hermione noted – and came over to hug the girl.

《You're doing great,》she quietly spoke in Equestrian. 《You're past the worst now. By tomorrow morning, you'll have only the benefits left to enjoy.》

Hermione returned the hug, answering in kind. 《That's good to know.》She held the hug for a few more moments, before she spoke again. 《Thank you ... sis.》

Sunset stiffened slightly at the word, but relaxed after only a moment. 《You're welcome. And ... thank you too ... sis.》 With that she released the hug, and sat down at the table. Hermione followed moments later.

Another week passed, and Hermione often found Sunset carefully reading in the book on medical magic she had seen her with, usually with a thoughtful expression. On Friday evening, Sunset joined them in front of the TV. Emma and Dan didn't notice, but Hermione saw Sunset's eyes light up as she looked over her parents. She wanted to question it, but she trusted Sunset enough to not interrupt the movie. Watching TV, she forgot about it and didn't ask afterward either.

It was at breakfast the next morning, Saturday eight weeks after Sunset's arrival, when their magical guest finally revealed what she had been up to. She turned to Emma and Dan, sat across the table from her and Hermione, and asked a single question.

"Would you like to be able to use magic?"

They both stared at her for a few moments before Emma found her voice again. "I guess it would be nice, but we can't, so it isn't really worth worrying about, is it?"

"Well, maybe. But I may have a way to change that. I did some scans of you, from what I can tell, the reason you two can't channel magic is that your thaumic channels are blocked. I have a book on advanced Equestrian medical magic with me. It mentions that condition. It's called Void Star Syndrome, something that foals are occasionally born with in areas with low ambient magic.

"You see, the ambient magical field in Equestria is much stronger than the one here, but it isn't homogenous in either world, and there are places in Equestria where it's barely stronger than it is here. Genetics do play a role, but it is a proven fact that the ambient magic during prenatal development is a deciding factor in determining magical ability."

She took a bite of her jam toast to give the Grangers a moment to digest that information. "But that's neither here nor there. The important part is that there is a therapy that can correct this condition. And I've been reading up on how to do it. It's a long process. Weekly or biweekly sessions for half a year or so, but it can clear up the blockage."

Emma and Dan simply stared at her. Finally it was Hermione who spoke up. "So you're saying you could help them be able to use magic?"

"Essentially, yeah."

Finally Dan turned to his wife. "Well, I have to go take care of the clinic, but if you want, then go for it honey."

Emma looked to be lost in thought. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah, I've seen what you two can do with magic. That's just too great a chance to pass up. Let me just take care of the dishes first."

"Don't worry about it mum, I'll take care of them. You go ahead."

With a shaky nod, Emma followed Sunset out of the kitchen.

Hermione got to work, first placing the leftover food back in the fridge and the cupboards, then using a few quick spells to clean the dishes and levitating them back to where they belonged as well. Finally, a few more quick spells cleaned the table of any remaining breadcrumbs and returned the toaster to its place on the shelves.

While it only took a minute or so, the entire process did take longer than it normally would as Hermione kept getting distracted by pulses of power from the adjacent living room. Once she was done, she decided to investigate.

She was quite intrigued by the scene she saw. Her mother was sat in a comfortable armchair, while Sunset was sat on the table before her, once more a unicorn. Her eyes were faintly aglow with magic, focused onto a single spot on Emma's body. After a moment, her horn pulsed with power, then dimmed again, and her eyes moved onto the next spot. Every ten seconds or so a new pulse of power radiated from the little unicorn, every time, Emma scrunched up her face a little. From her expression, Hermione deduced that whatever Sunset was doing created a rather ticklish feeling.

Using a spell Sunset had recently taught her, Hermione set her own eyes alight with pale green magic. Immediately she saw a whole host of things that were normally hidden from her, patterns woven into the walls, the ceiling and floor, the windows, some of the furniture and even through the air in some places. Having seen them before, Hermione recognized them as the wards Sunset had placed around the house and property.

Not bothered by the wispy lines and symbols, Hermione refocused on her mother and Sunset, she recognized the spell in Sunset's eyes as a more advanced version of the one she was using herself. It was like comparing a simple microphone to a sonar system, Hermione was simply watching, whereas Sunset was actively sending waves of magic to map out her mother's thaumic pathways.

The spell in her horn was a totally different beast. It was little more than a carefully focused release of arcane energy, walking up behind Sunset, Hermione saw the pathways in her mother's body herself, lines of a pale teal, flooded with Sunset's magic. But they were interrupted, dark spots broke up the flowing lines, hundreds, maybe thousands of them all throughout Emma's body, every time Sunset's horn pulsed, one of them lit up a bright teal.

Focusing more closely on one of the glowing blockages, Hermione saw that Sunset's magic was slowly seeping into it, like water into a sponge.

For nearly half an hour, she watched as Sunset focused on point after point after point, setting them aglow with her magic one by one. Finally she jumped off the table and walked around the table from several directions, looking to see if there was a blockage she had missed. She jumped back onto the table, her horn pulsed one more time, a final point lit up, then the glow faded from both her eyes and her horn and she layed down and curled up, resting her head on her tail.

"There," she said tiredly, "done. We'll let that work its way in for a few days, then we'll do this again." With an adorable yawn she closed her eyes and soon began to snore softly.

Emma got up and chuckled slightly, scooping Sunset up from the hardwood table and placing her down on the much softer couch. "With how adult she always acts, I sometimes forget how young she really is." She smiled softly and turned to her daughter, taking note of her glowing eyes. "You watched all this, didn't you?"

Hermione followed her mother out of the room. "Yeah, quite impressive really. I understand why she got so tired. That took a lot of magic and mental focus. I can see why that would take a lot out of her."

"What exactly did she do?"

"She pushed her magic into the blockages in your thaumic pathways, I think it's supposed to act like a solvent. Y'know, to soften them up, a little more every time, until they melt away completely and your magic can flow freely."

"She really is something."

"That she is."

Emma watched as her daughter sat down and closed her eyes. It was clear that she was reading one of the books she had memorized earlier. She saw that a gentle smile graced her lips.

The day the little pony had tumbled out of the bathroom mirror, their lives had been turned upside down. Their daughter used magic now, she had found a friend, a sister in all but blood, one who was happy to both teach her and learn from her.

The two elder Grangers didn't spend nearly as much time with Sunset as Hermione did, but they too had grown close to her. With her help, Emma might be able to use magic before long. That alone was immense. The little unicorn had, quite literally, brought magic to their lives. Emma was only waiting to see how she would next surprise them.

From a window in one of the towers of Castle Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall watched the train snake its way out of Hogsmeade station. There it was, the students were out on their Easter holidays. With that done, the time had come for her to start her little investigation. Albus and Filius had promised to cover for her, taking care of her duties while she was observing the mysterious new student.

Half an hour later, the Transfiguration professor stepped through the large gates in the walls surrounding the castle, pulling them closed behind her.

"Now then, to see what's the matter with our mysterious new student. Where did you come from, Sunset Shimmer?"

With a quiet 'plop', the witch disappeared.

[RVS]6 - Covert

Chapter Six

Covert

A woman in Victorian dress stood in an alley that had been empty a second before. Her wand already drawn, she drew a gesture in the air. Muttering under her breath, Minerva cast a spell to mask her magic. From what Mister Brewer had told her, it was easily possible that Miss Shimmer had some way to detect magic.

If she did, a cat with large amounts of magic would almost certainly attract her attention.

Stowing her wand she quickly assumed her feline shape and made her way out of the alley, looking at the street signs to verify where she was relative to her destination. It seemed to be a normal, suburban muggle neighborhood. Nothing indicated the presence of magic. Still, Minerva wasn't so easily fooled.

It wasn't long until she found what she was looking for, a street sign saying 'Ryde Park Rd.'. She turned to the side to see a house numbered 123. She followed the road until she perched herself on a fence post of number 151. From there she saw her target.

To the uninitiated observer, 150 Ryde Park Road seemed to be a house like all the others in the street. A two floor brick building with white-framed windows, a wooden door and a small garden. She didn't sense any magic, but she knew there were wards that could block magic from seeping out, so that didn't necessarily mean anything. Besides, her feline form wasn't that great at sensing magic anyway.

Looking along the deserted road in both directions, she saw nothing and no one coming, so she crossed the road and jumped across the fence into the garden of number 150. She had been prepared to feel magic, but the wave of power that hit her the moment she passed the border of the property took her by surprise. It was nothing compared to the wards of Hogwarts, of course, but still much stronger than she had expected.

Perching herself on a decorative lawn ornament, she gazed into the window. What she saw was clearly the living room, a couch and two armchairs, a coffee table, one of those 'telly' devices muggles used.

'I can sense all the magic in the air from here, how is that thing even working in there?'

The room was empty, as far as she could tell, so she made her way around the house, perching herself on another windowsill. Gazing in, she saw what could only be the kitchen, unlike the living room it was not empty. A woman, maybe in her early thirties, stood at the counter, seemingly enjoying lunch. Minerva suspected her to be Emma Granger, Hermione's mother.

The girl sitting on a chair at the table could only be Hermione herself. She sat there, her eyes closed. Occasionally she raised an eyebrow or let a smile cross her lips. Minerva couldn't for the life of her figure out what she was doing.

Suddenly, Mrs. Granger spoke up. Minerva could just barely make out what she said through the glass. "Hermione, could you wake Sunset? I'll have lunch ready in a few minutes."

"Okay mum."

Minerva watched carefully to see where Hermione went. Much to the teacher's surprise she went into the living room. Confused, Minerva hopped down from the windowsill and made her way back to the lawn ornament.

By the time she had reclaimed her previous perch, Hermione had leaned over the couch, gently stroking the air there. 'Disillusioned maybe? But then how could Miss Granger see her?' She saw that Hermione was speaking, but it was too quiet and she was too far from the window to hear.

Suddenly, Minerva felt magic trying to take hold in her mind. She wasn't as skilled an occlumens as Albus or Severus, but she wasn't a slouch either. Focusing her mind she prevented the magic from taking hold and suddenly saw a girl with red and blonde hair materialize next to Hermione who herself had stood back up and was now leading the way back to the kitchen, leaving Minerva to stare into an empty room.

The transfiguration professor was stunned. That ward had been quite powerful. Albus or Severus wouldn't have had any problems with it, but it had brought her to her limits, barely managing to stop it from taking hold. She couldn't tell exactly what it had tried to do, but she could guess.

'Mister Brewer mentioned that they have notice-me-nots set up on the windows. It was probably meant to stop me from noticing her appear, but why was she invisible to begin with? Was she doing something magical? Transformed maybe? That could explain why she was completely hidden. I'll have to tell Albus about this.'

Slinking to a shadowed corner of the garden, between a small tree and the garden wall, Minerva turned back to her human form. "Expecto Patronum. Message for Albus. I've arrived at the house. The notice-me-nots are there, and they're quite powerful, I barely managed to resist them. Miss Shimmer was completely hidden. When I managed to resist the wards, she suddenly came into view. I can only suspect she was doing something so obviously magical that the wards simply hid her completely. I'll investigate further and report in tonight."

Prompted by a flick of her wand, the glowing, silvery cat before her nodded, stood up, turned around until it was facing loosely north and jumped away, turning into a silvery mist mid-jump and vanishing. She nodded. Her message was on the way and Albus would know not to answer until she reported in tonight. Returning to her feline form, she made her way back to the edge of the property, perching herself on a fencepost.

She continued her vigil for a few hours, but when a car made its way up the road and parked next to the property, a man getting out and walking up the door, before pulling out a key, opening it and entering the building, Minerva knew that it was time to leave for the day.

In the cover of the darkness, she returned to human form and pulled out her wand, scanning the wards over the house. Her eyes widening at what she saw, she turned on the spot and vanished.

"Come in."

Albus Dumbledore smiled when the door to his office opened, revealing his deputy. A thoughtful frown marred her face.

"I received your message, Minerva. I must admit I'm quite impressed that Miss Shimmer can cast a notice-me-not that could give you trouble without formal training."

"That's the problem, Albus. I scanned their wards. The house has wards on par with some of the manors of our old pureblood families. They're not quite as powerful, but expertly crafted and remarkably efficient, not to mention that they most certainly weren't in place when Mister Brewer visited the house. I don't think Sunset Shimmer is untrained. She couldn't achieve that level of skill without formal training. And that's before considering that I didn't recognize any of the ward schemes."

"Are you suggesting that she has formal training from a school or master of whom we are unaware?"

Minerva frowned. "I know it sounds unlikely Albus, but I can't think of a more plausible explanation. I don't think I'll be able to find out much more unless Miss Shimmer leaves the house."

"Very well, continue your observation. If you can't find out what secrets she hides now, we'll get more answers in July."

With a nod, Minerva left the office.

The next morning, Minerva was once more in her feline form, curled up in the sun on a large rock in the garden of 150 Ryde Park Road. She used the time to think over what she had seen the previous day as she waited for Miss Shimmer to leave the house. Not long before noon, she got lucky.

Miss Shimmer, now wearing a much lighter training outfit and with her curly hair tied up in a ponytail, made her way out of the house. Covertly following her, Minerva was wondering where they were going. Sunset was jogging at a good pace, leaving the Transfiguration professor struggling to keep up while remaining undetected.

After a good fifteen minutes, they entered a small park area. Minerva saw that Miss Shimmer entered an area with various concrete ramps, low metal fences and other such things. A number of muggle kids were there, riding up and down the ramps or grinding along the fences using strange boards with wheels attached to them. Stopping at the edge of the area, Sunset began stretching. At first Minerva suspected she wanted to join them, but she clearly had no board like they did.

Minerva was quite baffled when she saw Miss Shimmer start to run around the area, vaulting over the rails, running up the ramps, jumping back down, rolling to arrest her fall and preserve her momentum and using various other techniques she had never seen before. Sure, many of them were common techniques for traversing obstacles, but she had never seen it done as a sport before. Judging by their bewildered expressions, many of the muggle youths, most of them older than Miss Shimmer, hadn't either.

To say they were surprised at seeing her running up and jumping down ramps two or three times her own height would be an understatement. For a good hour, Minerva watched the young girl practice various traversal techniques. Finally she sat down in the shadow of the tree that was the animagus' perch, resting for a good few minutes. Then she got up, and walked deeper into the line of trees.

Minerva watched carefully as the girl looked around. Once she had reassured herself that no-one was watching, Miss Shimmer closed her eyes and simply vanished. There was no bang, crack or even a quiet pop as produced by apparition, she didn't spin on the spot or twist like water in a drain, her form simply wavered for a short moment, and disappeared. The only thing Minerva detected was a momentary magical discharge and even that was barely noticeable to her feline form's passive senses. Had she been a few yards further away, she wouldn't have detected it at all.

Suspecting what had happened, Minerva raced back through gardens and across roads until she reached the Granger residence, and sure enough, standing in the kitchen, still in her exercise clothes, was Sunset Shimmer, drinking a glass of water. In complete bafflement, Minerva returned to human form, and apparated back to Hogwarts.

"Come in."

Albus got no chance to greet his deputy as Minerva spoke up the moment she opened the door. "She can apparate, Albus."

Raising an eyebrow, the headmaster sat up straighter. "Pardon?"

"Sunset Shimmer is capable of apparition. Or something similar at least, there were some inconsistencies, but she clearly disappeared and reappeared a good fifteen minute's jog away."

"How did you follow her?"

"By guessing where she went and running like wild. Not to mention taking a few shortcuts. Still it was nearly a mile."

"So she apparated home?" At Minerva's nod he tilted his head in thought. "I wonder why she only apparated home and not there as well."

"She jogged the way there as a warm-up."

"Am I to understand there are other details you haven't mentioned yet?" Another nod. "Then by all means, go ahead. Take a seat and tell me all that happened."

Once Minerva had explained everything that had happened, Albus leaned back in thought. "I recognize the activity. It's a muggle sport called Parkour. Olympe mentioned it in a letter recently. She enjoys occasionally watching the muggles as much as I do." He chuckled lightly. "Apparently the sport was developed in France a few years ago, but it hasn't gained much public attention yet. I wonder how she heard of it."

"I see you're still in regular contact with Madame Maxime."

"Indeed I am. Our correspondence is always delightful, though I do wish we could meet in person more often. I'll have to send her a letter. Perhaps Miss Shimmer has been to France. If so, Olympe might be able to find out more." He smiled at his deputy. "Regardless, it seems that Miss Shimmer is aware of the effect physical exercise can have on magical ability. Something many of our old Pureblood families seem to have forgotten."

"True. They seem to think physical exercise beneath them. To their misfortune, political posturing doesn't have the same effect."

"Indeed. It's actually well documented. Many of the strongest witches and wizards are and were Quidditch players, aurors or others with jobs involving physical exercise."

"Well, even I only know since Poppy told me. It's hardly known outside of healer circles."

"True. Do let me know if you learn anything else."

"Come in."

Albus was glad to see his Transfiguration teacher a lot calmer than she had been the day before.

"Ah Minerva, what have you learned?"

"I followed Misses Granger and Shimmer to school today. They are both highly intelligent and avid learners, Miss Shimmer also seems to be a skillful artist."

"Ah yes. Good. This may be a school of magic, but art comes short on too many occasions."

Minerva winced as she recalled the last time Albus had had the students sing the school song, but pushed forward regardless. "They seem to be a bit solitary when it comes to contact with other students, but it may well be that their intelligence intimidates them. They are very close to one another though."

"They do live in the same house."

"True. They also call each other with a word I have never heard before."

"Oh? And what word is that?"

"Asaruuk."

"I will admit that it is not part of any language I've ever heard. A made up term, perhaps?"

"That's what I first thought as well, but it seems to be only a single word of a complete language, one the two of them speak in when they are alone. I've never heard anything like it. It sounds like someone took Gaelic and Arabic and combined them. They also speak it very fast."

"Mysterious. These two only open up more questions."

"That they do."

With a wave of her wand, Minerva opened the door to her office. "Ah, Albus, what brings you here?"

"I just got word back from Olympe, I thought I should let you know. Neither Beauxbatons nor the French Ministry of Magic have ever heard of Miss Shimmer, even the veela Registry comes up empty."

"Ah well, it was worth a try."

"That it was. Since you didn't come by, I take it you have learned nothing of note today or yesterday?"

"Not really. I have learned that Miss Shimmer can cook reasonably well, but that's neither here nor there. It also seems that Miss Granger, while not as fit as Miss Shimmer is at least decent at sports. Not exceptional, but she can hold her own."

"I see. Thank you, Minerva."

"Any time, Albus."

"Come in."

Professor McGonnagall once more pushed open the door to the Headmaster's office.

"Ah good evening Minerva, I take it you have finished your observations?"

"Yes. I have."

"Did you learn anything else of note?"

"Only that Miss Shimmer apparently practices martial arts. Between that, her magical skill and this Parkour she practices, she will be a terrifying duelist some day."

"Oh my, yes. All too many wizards forget that in most circles of dueling, magic isn't the only tool to bring down an opponent. How skilled is she?"

"She seems to be at a relative beginner level, so she only has a small range of techniques available, those she practices with great skill. She seems to focus on methods to disable an opponent with as little effort and doing as little lasting damage as possible."

"Admirable. And very impressive. I look forward to seeing what she will achieve at Hogwarts.

"As do I, Albus. As do I. With both anticipation and trepidation."

Albus couldn't help the quiet chuckle that escaped him.

[RVS]7 - Change Looms

Chapter Seven

Change Looms

Sunset and Hermione settled into a weekly routine of sorts. On weekday mornings, the two would go to school while Emma and Dan went to work the clinic. After school, they would return home together and prepare lunch before doing their homework, except on Fridays when Sunset had her Aikido practice, leaving Hermione to return home on her own and do her homework before fixing lunch in time for Sunset to teleport home.

In the afternoon, Sunset would jog to the nearby park to practice Parkour, except on Fridays where she would do her homework at that time and Saturdays when she took a break from her exercise. Hermione would usually read a good book. Occasionally she would accompany Sunset on her practice instead, having been informed by Sunset that physical health and fitness had a noticeable impact on magical power and mental focus.

For an hour every day, Sunset taught Hermione magic. The lessons ranged from theory of all kinds, over practice and learning new spells, to creating spells from scratch. The latter was a tricky matter, but with Sunset's help and a thorough understanding of the basic rules of magic, even that challenge couldn't stand in Hermione's way for long.

Finally, on the Saturday before the last week of school, there came a time Hermione had been anticipating for a long while. For the last week, Sunset had been teaching Hermione thaumic phase theory, the science behind teleportation. They had isolated a destination, a vacant house a few streets away, and Sunset had been teleporting the two of them there and back at the end of every one of their lessons for the last two weeks, enabling Hermione to watch the spell form and get used to the sensation.

Now the time had come. With a final, encouraging smile, Sunset vanished in a flash of light, not bothering to mask her own teleport, both starting point and destination were warded, after all. Taking a deep breath, Hermione focused and began crafting the spell. She first focused in on herself, marking what she wanted to teleport. With that firmly set into the spell, she next focused on the destination, feeling the magic find the route there on its own.

With the fundamentals in place, she began setting her safeties. Power supply, destination clearance, ward check, pattern safety and half a dozen others found their place in the forming spell, making sure she would arrive safely where she wanted, or not teleport at all. After ten seconds of carefully crafting the spell, she marshaled her power and pushed it into the spell, focusing her intent.

The world around her flashed a pale green and she found herself in the living room of the vacant house, just as she had intended. She started as two arms wrapped around her from behind, enclosing her in a proud hug, she only relaxed when she saw red and blonde hair draping over her shoulder. 《Good job sis, I knew you could do it.》

After having done so for months, Hermione didn't even think about answering in Equestrian. She just did. 《Thanks sis, couldn't have done it without you.》

Still mid hug, Sunset teleported them back, just as Emma and Dan returned home. They ate out to celebrate this milestone.

With exams over and grades not coming until Friday, school was a relaxed affair for this last week. They spent the lessons watching movies, playing games and generally doing anything but actually learning something.

While some of the games got a little tedious for the two, the week passed quickly all the same. Before long, Friday was there and grades were being given out.

And Hermione was panicking.

《Oh dear, Sunset, what if I failed, I don't know if all my answers were correct? What if I wasn't good enough-》She was cut off when Sunset leaned over and pressed a finger over her lips.

《Shhh. It's all right, you did great, I know you did. And let's be honest, even if you did fail, what good would it do to fret over it now?》

《I guess, but-》She cut off again, this time when the teacher placed the sheet with her grades on her table.

Sunset smirked, she might not have managed to calm Hermione completely, but she had managed to distract her long enough for there to no longer be any reason to panic. 《There you go, straight As except for one C in PE. How very surprising.》

Sunset stopped her snark when she saw her own grade sheet being placed on her table. Of course, no one had questioned why she didn't have any grades from any point before the winter break. Hermione leaned over, looking at the sheet. 《You did well yourself. Straight As except for a single C in home EC. For someone who arrived from a different dimension half a year ago, that's pretty good.》

As the two shared a laugh, Miss Pritchard returned to the front of the classroom. "Now, before anything, I would like to congratulate Miss Granger and Miss Shimmer for tying as best in class."

To the polite applause of their peers, the two young witches shared a high-five, laughing as they did. Unseen by the class, a spark of magic passed between them as they had both subconsciously sent a bit of magic into their hand. Their eyes widened for a second, but they were quick to hide their surprise, seeing how this was clearly a matter of magic and not to be discussed here.

Class let out soon after and Sunset and Hermione slipped onto the roof of the school. Once Sunset had set up a simple privacy charm, Hermione spoke up. 《What was that?》

Sunset herself seemed deep in thought, looking at her sister with a gentle smile. 《A thaumo-harmonic connection. It occasionally happens with some Equestrian channeling methods. So far, nopony knows exactly why it happens, but we know that a deep bond of trust is one of the requirements.》 Their eyes met for a moment. 《I'm honored.》

《Wow. So what was that I felt there? Was that your magic?》

《My reservoirs, yes. Mind you, this wasn't a true link, it was just a spark. A longer link can form a true connection, sharing much more than just a glimpse into the other's magic. It's not telepathy in the usual sense of the word. It can't transmit thoughts, but you can sense emotions and, to a degree, intent.》

Hermione looked at Sunset for a moment longer, then her hand lit up a pale green and she offered it to her sister. Lighting up her own hand, Sunset took it, and the moment they touched, the spark jumped once again, but this time they didn't break the contact. They simply stood there, at the edge of the roof, looking over the small town and exploring the connection that had formed between them.

They didn't speak. They didn't send thoughts. They didn't need to. Both of them knew what the other meant, and that they were both enjoying the sensation. They stood there for a few moments longer, enjoying the view, before Sunset teleported them home.

The start of the holidays was much like any other weekend, only Sunset and Hermione replaced their study for school with matters of science and magic. Soaking up knowledge like sponges did water.

On top of that, Sunset began teaching Hermione the basics of Arithmancy. With her primary schooling now complete, Sunset figured she was ready to understand the basics without much issue. The material was complex, but Hermione managed to keep up.

With so much time on their hands, the two continued their training. Sunset had visited the local library to borrow some instructional books on Aikido, so she could train without the course at school. At the same time, the two kept up their Parkour practice. Sunset was getting good at it and Hermione was catching up as well.

It was about a week after the end of school that something truly remarkable happened.

Sunset slept in.

It was only when a confused Hermione on the way back from the bathroom was looking into her room, that she woke up.

With a groan, Sunset pushed herself off the bed. 《Guess I was awake too late last night. Ah well.》She shook her head, her hair falling into form easily.

Hermione stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh come on!" she called out finally. "That's so unfair."

"Huh?"

"Your hair. You shake it once and everything falls into place. Meanwhile I'm stuck with this bushy mess." She gestured to her head in exasperation.

"Oh. That's my innate magic. Without it my hair would be just as messy. I think I could enchant something to get you the same effect."

A second later, a slight disturbance of the air was the only sign that Hermione had been in the room.

Sunset chuckled. 《Oh. The joys of teleportation.》

With a barely visible flash of light, Hermione returned, a crimson hair ribbon in her hand. 《Would that work?》

《Sure. I can use that.》With a sly smirk, Sunset took the ribbon and held it for a moment. Her hands began glowing a pale teal. The light then flowed onto the ribbon, coating it completely. After a few more seconds, the light seemed to seep into the material.

Almost instinctively, Hermione cast an aura sight spell, lighting up her eyes with magic as she watched the enchantment form. A mere few seconds later, the light faded and the ribbon looked as inert as before.

Taking it back, Hermione tied it into her hair, marveling as it fell into smooth waves behind her. With a grateful smile, she enclosed Sunset in a hug. 《Thanks sis, you have no idea how much that was bothering me.》

About one and a half weeks after the end of school, the Granger household enjoyed a relaxed morning. Dan and Hermione were only just getting up, preparing themselves for the day, while Emma and Sunset were preparing breakfast.

A noise from the front door announced the arrival of the mail.

"Sunset dear," Emma called from the other end of the kitchen, "could you go fetch the mail please?"

"Sure thing." With a happy bounce in her step, Sunset made her way to the front door. Lying on the floor was the stack of mail, three letters from various companies, a thin package for Dan and a card from Emma's sister lying on top of two larger letters.

Curious, Sunset picked up the pack and separated out the two big letters. They were made of yellow-ish parchment, not stamped and addressed in emerald-green ink. Intrigued she picked out one of them and read the address.

Ms. S. Shimmer

The second bedroom on the right

150 Ryde Park Road

Rednal

West Midlands

[RVS]8 - Surprise Cuts Both Ways

Act Two

Magic Unveiled

Chapter Eight

Surprise Cuts Both Ways

Checking the second letter, she found it much the same, but addressed at

Ms. H. Granger

The first bedroom on the right

150 Ryde Park Road

Rednal

West Midlands

Turning them over, she saw that the letters were held closed by a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms she didn't recognize. A lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake, surrounding a placard with the letter H. A stylized medieval knight's helmet sat atop the shield, feathery ribbons falling down from its top to either side of the shield, framing it. Below it was a stylized scroll bearing the motto 'draco dormiens nunquam titillandus'

Turning around, Sunset saw Hermione coming down the stairs, Dan right behind her. She wordlessly handed the normal letters and package off to Dan, and followed them into the kitchen. There she gave the card to Emma and sat down next to Hermione. 《We got mail sis.》

With that she handed Hermione her letter and proceeded to open her own, breaking the seal with practiced ease. Two pieces of folded parchment fell out, followed by a smaller piece of thin cardboard. She picked up the first and began to read.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL FOR WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.)

Dear Ms. Shimmer,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1. September. As you live with a non-magical family, I will visit you personally in a few days time to formally introduce you to the wizarding world, please do not mention this letter or its contents to anyone outside your household until then.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Barely looking up to see that Hermione's letter was essentially identical, Sunset took out the next piece of parchment. Recognizing it as the list the letter had mentioned, she began to read.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL FOR WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Uniform

First year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

Set Books

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllinda Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

A look at the small piece of cardboard revealed it to be a train ticket, Sunset skimmed it quickly.

The Hogwarts Express

King's Cross Station London

Departure: 1 September, 11:00 AM

Platform 9 3/4

Raising an eyebrow at the eccentricity the wizarding community kept displaying, Sunset looked over to where Hermione had just finished reading the contents of her own letter.

Hermione looked up, meeting Sunset's gaze. "I guess we know what Hogwarts is now."

Sunset nodded. "And who McGonagall is."

To say that Emma and Dan were surprised would be an understatement. Still, they decided to wait until Professor McGonnagall made her visit before judging the school and the wizarding community at large.

Four days later, on Monday, the time had come. Not long after they had finished dinner, the door bell rang.

The day had come. Ever since that week spent observing this household and the two young witches that lived there, Minerva had both dreaded and anticipated the day she would come here to give them the muggleborn introduction. One did not teach at a school for nearly three decades without developing a sixth sense for which students meant trouble, and despite the inconsistencies already on display, that sixth sense was rather clearly telling Minerva that she had only seen the tip of the iceberg.

When the door opened, it revealed a now familiar girl with wavy red and blonde hair and bright teal eyes. Minerva would rather they didn't know she'd been spying on them, so feigning ignorance was the only viable course of action. "Sunset Shimmer?"

Tilting her head slightly, the young witch nodded. "Yes, that's me. Now let's see here. Pointy hat, unusual robes, aura of authority. Professor McGonnagall I presume?"

"Yes. Indeed. May I?"

Allowing her in the girl called deeper into the house. "Emma, Dan, Hermione, Philomena! She's here!"

Minerva immediately turned back to her, raising an eyebrow. She knew that Emma and Dan Granger were young Hermione's parents. But none of her observations had indicated the presence of another living in the house. Turning to the girl behind her, she missed the phoenix silently gliding past her and into the living room.

Moments later the family had gathered in the comfortable room and Minerva followed Sunset to join them. The moment her eyes fell on the red and gold bird perched on the edge of the couch, she froze, staring at the bird with wide eyes. "Is that a Phoenix?!"

Sunset turned back to her. "Yes, that's Philomena. I hatched and raised her. Say hello Philomena."

The bird's pleasant trill morphed into something Minerva would later valiantly deny to be a chuckle at the professor's continued inability to form words. Finally Minerva realized that this gave her an opportunity. "Normally I would start this by telling you that magic exists, but I believe this may be redundant in this case."

"I'm inclined to agree." Sunset sported a sly smirk as a glass of lemonade floated beside her in a teal glow.

"I see." Minerva remained outwardly calm, but inside her, her Gryffindor curiosity stirred. This was a spell she had never seen before. Levitation charms were nothing new, but they didn't usually make things glow.

"Though I do believe we'd all appreciate a demonstration of the magic this world uses."

Minerva's curiosity was immediately redirected. "This world? Are you saying you came from another world?"

"Well another dimension, technically."

"Another dimension? Are you telling me that you've come here from another dimension? Is that where Equestria is?"

Sunset focused a frown on the teacher. "How do you know about Equestria?" The Grangers seemed similarly suspicious.

"Mister Brewer. After he visited he checked in with the Records Department at the Ministry. The paperwork there self updates. One of the things listed there was your place of birth. Sire's Hollow, Equestria."

The others visibly relaxed.

"It also seems to have decided that you should be granted permanent residency in Great Britain."

Mrs. Granger actually chuckled at that. "Well, that's convenient."

"Quite. Anyway, I believe you asked for a demonstration?" When she received nods, Minerva shifted into her animagus form. The response wasn't quite what she had expected.

"Oh. You can do that too?" When the little cat on the floor simply tilted her head, Sunset shrunk down, assuming her natural shape. "This is my natural form. My human shape is actually an effect of the dimensional travel."

Minerva sat on the floor, looking in complete bafflement at the amber-yellow unicorn before her. With mane and tail matching the girl's hair even a complete amateur could have recognized her animagus. What was remarkable however was that the girl retained her ability to speak in this form. As such Minerva simply stared at the impossibility before her. That her sixth sense was telling her to get used to it was not exactly encouraging.

"Nice going Sunset," Dan joked, "you broke her."

Looking at the stunned teacher, Sunset tilted her head slightly before walking over and lighting her horn, casting a basic scanning spell to check for life signs. "Nah. She's fine. She just needs a moment to catch up with all this."

Minerva shook off her shock before she could lose the rest of her dignity and returned to her human form, prompting Sunset to do the same. "You can cast magic in that form?"

"Wouldn't be much of a unicorn if I couldn't, now would I?"

"You would actually. The unicorns of this world cannot cast spells. However they also aren't sentient so that may have something to do with it."

"Huh. Weird." Sunset nodded. "Anyway, I think we've gone off topic."

"We have, haven't we?" Minerva then proceeded to demonstrate several simple spells as well as a number of normal transfigurations. She didn't receive the same awed expressions she usually got, but she did notice that both young witches cast spells to perceive magic.

After a few more minutes she handed them the booklet she had brought along, giving them a few minutes to scan through it. Finally she asked, "Do you have any immediate questions?"

Hermione nodded. "The supplies we're supposed to bring, where do we get those?"

"Ah yes. I'll be accompanying you to Diagon Alley in London. There you can buy all the supplies you need, exchange for wizarding currency, and whatever else you may need to do. Normally I would do so tomorrow, but I'm afraid I'll have to delay that a day. The things I've learned today will take a bit of managing. Anything else?"

"Uhm," Sunset floated the envelope of her Hogwarts letter over and levitated the train ticket out of it. "Platform nine-and-three-quarters?"

"Ah yes. The Hogwarts express leaves from a hidden platform accessible by walking through the barrier between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross station."

As no other questions presented themselves, Minerva shook everyone's hands and Philomena's wing, much to her confusion, and apparated back to Hogwarts.

Sunset stared at the point where McGonnagall had vanished.

《You're going to see where she went, aren't you?》

Sunset turned to smirk at Hermione. 《Sure. Wanna come along?》

Hermione contemplated for a moment. Finding no rule against doing such a thing, she nodded. 《Oh sure. Why not.》

Sunset nodded and closed her eyes. Without a sound the two young witches disappeared.

Emma and Dan looked at each other and sighed. "We're not going to be able to keep them in check, are we?"

"Nope."

Minerva breathed a sigh of relief as she reappeared before the gates in the wall surrounding the lands of castle Hogwarts. She needed to take a moment to recover from the madness she had just endured.

She had known that Miss Shimmer was a skilled witch, especially for her age. She couldn't have guessed that she was an extra-dimensional animagus. A unicorn animagus no less. Not to mention that there was no known way of traveling between dimensions. And let's not forget the Phoenix. Miss Shimmer had hatched and raised a phoenix and brought it along from a different dimension.

"Wow. That's a big castle."

Minerva spun on the spot, restraining her reflex to draw her wand as she spotted Miss Shimmer and Miss Granger behind her. "How did you get here?"

Sunset shrugged. "I traced your transit and followed you. I wanted to see where you went. Sorry if I offended you. That was rude of me."

"Excuse me? An apparition can't be traced. The only way to follow it is by holding onto the traveler while they disapparate."

"Apparition? Oh is that what you call that mess of a spell? And if it's untraceable, then how did I just do so?"

"You have a point, I suppose. We'll see. For now, I suggest you return home. I will see you Wednesday morning."

"Okay. See you then. Good night professor." In twin flashes of teal light, the two young witches vanished. This time there was the familiar crack of displaced air that usually accompanied apparition.

Minerva pushed the thought out of her mind, turning back to the gates and slipping inside. She needed to talk to Albus. Again.

"Come in."

"Ah Minerva. I take it you learned something new about our mysterious new student?"

"That's putting it mildly. She has a Phoenix, Albus."

"Pardon?" Dumbledore sat up straighter, his head already swirling with the implications of Miss Shimmer having a phoenix.

"A phoenix, Albus. Her name is Philomena. Miss Shimmer claims to have hatched and raised her."

"Most unusual. It would be advisable to ask her to keep that a secret. Miss Shimmer may be more powerful than we first estimated."

"That is a given, I suspect."

"Am I to expect that that isn't all you have learned?"

"Not even remotely. Miss Shimmer claims to be from another dimension."

"Most unusual. Especially since there is no known way, magical or otherwise to travel between dimensions."

"She is also an animagus. She is able to resume her natural form. She claims her human form to be a side effect of the dimensional travel. Oh, and her natural form is a unicorn." Drawing her wand, Minerva conjured an illusory image of Sunset's equine form.

Dumbledore carefully studied the illusion, taking in every detail. "She is rather adorable, isn't she?"

"That she is. Not to mention she can speak and cast spells in that form." With a swing of her wand, Minerva lit up the illusion's horn with a teal corona."

"Ah, we'll have to get her registered. The law is clear on that."

"It is. I'll take care of that tomorrow." Minerva sighed quietly.

Dumbledore studied her expression. "Are you telling me that still isn't all?"

"Unfortunately not. When I apparated back here, she followed me, taking Miss Granger with her. She said she simply wanted to see where it was I went."

"Impossible. Apparition can't be traced."

"That was my first reaction as well. She answered with, and I quote 'Oh is that what you call that mess of a spell?'. Whatever magic she has learned, it clearly involves a far more comprehensive understanding of magical transportation than what we have."

"Most impressive. I will have to think on this."

"You're not the only one. Good night, Albus."

"Good night, Minerva."

[RVS]9 - Horizontals and Diagonals

Chapter Nine

Horizontals and Diagonals

Ten in the morning on the last day of July. After an exhausting day of paperwork – personally she suspected it was a measure to keep the number of animagi limited – Minerva made her way back to the front door of 150 Ryde Park Road. Before she could even ring the bell, the door opened, revealing Sunset Shimmer.

"Good morning professor, come in."

Minerva stepped in despite her slight surprise. "How did you know I was coming?"

"Monitoring spell. I detected your apparition."

"You did?"

"It's not that hard, Apparition leaves a wake turbulence for several seconds. It's not hard to spot if you know what you're looking for."

"Wake turbulence?"

"Have you ever seen a ship drive along a canal?" When Minerva gave her a nod, she continued. "It's kinda like that. You know how there's that bit of unusually calm water just behind the ship, where you can tell that a ship came through several minutes later? This is the same effect, only faster. Any teleport will leave that turbulence, regardless how well you mask it. The only thing you can change is, to go with the metaphor, the size of your boat." She shook her head. "Anyways, you're not here to discuss arcane phase theory, are you?"

"No, but it seems magical knowledge between our worlds varies. We should compare later."

"Absolutely. I was planning on doing that anyway. I'll go fetch the others."

Minerva watched the girl race up the stairs. 'Curiosity, thirst for knowledge, cunning and loyalty. She practically encompasses the essence of every house. I do not envy the Sorting Hat on this one.' She chuckled slightly at the thought.

At that point Miss Shimmer was coming back down, now carrying a dark gray, almost black, messenger bag with a stylized red and gold sun stitched into its flap. It was remarkably similar to the one Minerva had seen her wear to school, only the base color was different.

On a whim, Minerva cast a spell to scan the bag and recognized the familiar distortion of an undetectable expansion charm. The spell was different and, she suspected, not as effective as the one that was known to wizards, but she still estimated the bag to be at least three times as big on the inside as it was on the outside.

Layered beside it there was also an illusion charm woven into the fabric itself. McGonagall was not a seamstress and illusion charms were much more Filius' area of expertise, but she suspected it was the reason the bag was a different color. Perhaps Miss Shimmer had seen the uniform requirement and simply adjusted the bag to match Hogwarts' fashion.

Miss Granger followed her down the stairs, wearing a similar bag, but one without the symbol. A quick check revealed it to have the same charms on it.

Emma and Dan Granger weren't far behind, looking a little lost. It was the latter who spoke up. "So how exactly do we get to London?"

Minerva smiled. "Normally I'd apparate us there, but I think it would be easier to simply ask Philomena to flame us there."

All eyes turner to her, then the three Grangers looked to Sunset. It was her who spoke up. "Ask Philomena to do what?"

"Fire travel. Phoenixes travel through their fire. They can go more or less anywhere that isn't specifically warded against them."

"They can?" Sunset turned to the phoenix perched on her shoulder. "You can?"

Philomena trilled in confusion, tilting her head. Then she spread her wings and both of them vanished in a flash of golden flames. A second later, they heard Sunset's voice from above. "Apparently you can." With a flash of teal, the two returned to where they stood before. "That's convenient." She looked around, an amused smirk on her lips. "Shall we then?"

Minerva simply rolled her eyes. "Quite." She then turned to the phoenix. "There is a warded alley near the Leaky Cauldron in London. If you could bring us there."

Philomena trilled and spread her wings once more. A flash of flames later, the five of them found themselves in a small alleyway off a larger thoroughfare. Dan looked around in a panic. "We didn't lock the house."

"Key!"

Dan fished the key out of his pocket, throwing it into the air. It was captured in a teal glow, flying into Sunset's hand. Two flashes of flame later, the key flew back to Dan. "Thanks Sunset."

"No problem, shall we?"

"Wait a moment." All eyes turned to Minerva. "I'm afraid a phoenix would attract more attention than you would want at this juncture."

Sunset simply smirked and stroked a finger over Philomena's plumage. A moment later the gorgeous phoenix was replaced by a majestic eagle. "Better?"

Minerva simply rolled her eyes. Again. "Eagles aren't exactly common. But wizards are known to have exotic pets. I can think of five wizards who have eagles off the top of my head. So I suppose it will do." She drew out her wand and waved it through the air, muttering under her breath. "That's an impressive illusion Miss Shimmer. Especially considering how difficult it is to overcome a phoenix' natural resistance to outside magic."

Sunset giggled slightly. "Well, Philomena and I have been known as pranksters. Let's just say there have been a number of situations when it came in handy to have a phoenix appear as something that isn't a phoenix."

"I see." Minerva sighed. "Well, regardless. We should get to the Leaky Cauldron. Another student is being chaperoned through the alley today and Professor Dumbledore asked me to meet up with them there."

Having never been to a big human city before, Sunset watched the area around her carefully. Commuters and shoppers were rushing to get to where they needed to go. It reminded her of the few times she had visited Manehattan. It was certainly nothing like Canterlot, where the commoners were too relaxed to rush and the nobles were too busy disdainfully looking at the commoners to do anything productive they could be rushing to.

After about a minute they arrived before a book store. A record store stood nearly adjacent and a dingy little pub was sandwiched in between them. Interestingly only they seemed to be able to see it. The eyes of those around them seemed to go from the stores on one side to those on the other without taking note of the pub at all.

"Here we are. Come in then."

The pub was a rather dark affair. In fact, Sunset was sorely tempted to conjure a light so she could see better. After a moment's consideration she cast a night-vision spell on her eyes instead. The low din of chatter had stopped when they entered and several patrons greeted the professor. They then set out to wait for whomever they were to meet here.

They didn't have to wait long. After only a few minutes, a truly gigantic man with an immense black beard arrived, shepherding a small boy with messy black hair. Once more, the chatter stopped, the patrons greeted the man like they had McGonagall, as he reached the bar, the man behind it spoke up.

"The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom. I'm on Hogwarts business." The man, apparently named Hagrid, then clapped one of his huge hands on the shoulder of the boy beside him, causing the boy's knees to buckle slightly.

The barman's eyes went wide. "Good lord. Is this – can this be-?"

Sunset noted that the pub had gone completely silent, everyone's eyes focused on the boy, expressions caught somewhere between awe and curiosity.

"Bless my soul," the old barman whispered, "Harry Potter ... what an honour." He rushed out behind the bar with surprising speed, grabbing the boy's hand in his own. "Welcome back, Mister Potter, welcome back."

"I guess we'll be waiting a bit longer then ..." Sunset heard McGonagall mutter under her breath, turning to her with a questioning look, she prompted the professor to explain. "Mister Potter and Mister Hagrid are the ones we are to meet here. Mister Potter is, as you can see, something of a celebrity in wizarding circles. This may take a moment."

True to her words, Harry was surrounded by witches and wizards wanting to greet him and shake his hands. Sunset snickered when Hermione pointed out the witch who was puffing on a pipe that was no longer lit.

At one point a wizard cried out in a high pitched voice. "He remembers! Did you hear that? He remembers me!"

Some time later they heard Hagrid call out, "Professor Quirrell! Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

Unable to hear the pale, young man's stuttering over the crowd, Hermione turned to McGonagall for an explanation. "Quite right," the professor confirmed, prompting Sunset to listen in as well. "Professor Quirrell is this year's teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Sunset took note of the phrase 'this year's', but decided to file that tidbit away for later. "That reminds me, Professor. Which subject do you teach?"

"Transfiguration, Miss Shimmer."

After another minute or so, Hagrid finally put a stop to all the greetings. "Must get on now – lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." After a final witch shook Harry's hand, Sunset was reasonably sure she had seen that witch shake Harry's hand five times before, the two made their way over to a door near where the group was waiting, prompting Professor McGonagall to approach them.

"Good morning, Hagrid."

"Mornin' Professor McGonagall, what're you doin' here? I thought you were chaperonin' yesterday?"

"That was the plan, something came up. We rescheduled for today. Albus got your message and asked me to meet you here." She waved the group over. "These are Miss Shimmer and Miss Granger as well as Miss Granger's parents." She turned to the group. "This is Mister Hagrid, he is the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts. And Harry Potter, it will be his first time in the alley today as well." Once introductions had been exchanged, she turned to the door Hagrid had been heading for. "Come then."

Following her, the group gathered into a small, walled courtyard, empty save for a few weeds and an empty trashcan. Hagrid brought up the rear. Walking up to the wall, McGonagall pulled out her wand. "Watch closely." She pointed her wand to the edge of the trashcan. "Three up, two across. Here." She moved her wand accordingly, then tapped it to the brick she arrived at.

Having dismissed her night vision and cast her usual scanning charm once the wand came out, Sunset saw a small charge of magic resonate through the brick, triggering an embedded spell, that in turn sent a bit of magic into the surrounding bricks, triggering embedded spells there. Each spell then began to reposition its brick. After a few seconds half the wall was in motion, rearranging itself into an archway large enough for even Hagrid to pass through it without crouching.

As they stepped through, they saw a narrow alleyway, zig-zagging off into the distance. After the orderly, suburban roads of Rednal and the busy thoroughfares of downtown London, this was quite a shock. No two houses were the same size, there were bits of buildings jutting out in all directions.As if that wasn't enough, wares from the many shops that lined the street cluttered the limited space even further.

As they heard the wall close back up behind them, McGonagall spoke up. "Welcome to Diagon Alley. Now to Gringotts."

With McGonagall leading the way at a far more relaxed pace than before, the new arrivals had plenty of time to look around, already spotting several of the things on their lists. Harry and the Grangers seemed surprised at such things as collapsible cauldrons and flying brooms. The latter was a novel concept for Sunset as well. When a third of the population had wings, other means of personal flight weren't exactly common.

It wasn't long before they reached a large marble building. The alley split in two before it and ran back together afterward. Beside its burnished bronze doors stood a being that Sunset immediately recognized as one of the two unknown species from the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Only now did she put two and two together. The booklet had mentioned that Gringotts was run by goblins.

"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid's comment to Harry a second later confirmed her conclusion. The goblin was dressed in a crisp uniform of red and gold, was a little more than a head shorter than her and had a clever face, watchful eyes, a short, pointy beard that reminded Sunset of a goat and remarkably long feet and fingers. He bowed as they passed him.

Inside, they found a second set of doors, used to the splendor of Canterlot, Sunset recognized them to be plated with real silver and engraved with a poem split across both of them.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure here.

From behind, they heard Hagrid mutter to Harry. "Like I said, yeh'd have to be mad ter try an' rob it."

With bows, another pair of goblins opened the doors for them and let them into a large marble hall. More than a hundred goblins sat behind a large counter that ran along the three other walls of the hall, while yet more goblins showed humans through some of the many, many doors behind it. Occasionally they could see a goblin gesture, only for part of the counter beside him to vanish, admitting the humans through, and reappear afterward.

McGonagall turned to Hagrid. "Am I right to assume you have other business here, Hagrid?"

"That's right. Got a special mission fer Professor Dumbledore."

"Then might I suggest that you let me handle Mister Potter and take care of just that. We can meet up before Madam Malkin's afterward."

"Sure. That's a good idea." Hagrid turned to make off towards one of the tellers.

"Hagrid!" Once she had his attention once more, she held out a hand. "The key."

"Oh right." Hagrid grinned sheepishly. Reaching into the pockets of his mantle, he started pulling things out, then putting them back in and trying the next pocket. His mantle had a lot of pockets. Clearly seeing a trend, McGonagall pulled out her wand. Lighting up her eyes with a bit of magic she pointed a finger at one of the pockets.

"That one."

"Oh. Thank ye kindly." Hagrid pulled the key out of the indicated pocked and handed it to McGonagall who had put her wand away again. Turning once more, he left for one of the unoccupied goblin tellers while McGonagall guided the rest to another.

[RVS]10 - Underground and Under Scrutiny

Chapter Ten

Underground and Under Scrutiny

Stepping up to the Teller, McGonagall greeted him. "Good Morning, we've come to take some gold from Mister Harry Potter's vault and exchange some muggle currency."

The Goblin nodded. "Let's take care of the exchange first." Nodding, McGonagall waved for the Grangers and Sunset to step up to the counter. "Now, do you wish to just exchange, or do you wish to open a vault?"

"What would that entail?"

"A vault comes with a small, yearly fee and can be used to store any valuables, enchanted or not, you wish to keep there. Dangerous items and substances may incur additional hazard fees. It may be wise to set up a vault, exchanging muggle currency comes with a set fee per transaction, regardless of the amount exchanged."

"One moment please." Dan turned to his family. "What do you think."

To his surprise, Sunset was the one to answer. "Setting up a vault may not be a bad idea. The treatment is going well and if it works out as planned you'll only get deeper into the magical community. That aside I have a few things I wish to exchange. Letting you make use of that as well would be a way to repay you for your generosity."

Dan and Hermione were looking at her wide-eyed, but Emma stroked her chin, turning to her husband. "You know, she has a point."

After shaking off his shock, Dan nodded and turned back to the teller, waving for Sunset to follow. "We'll take a vault and we'd like to exchange something. Sunset?"

Nodding, Sunset walked up to the counter as well, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small pouch. Reaching into the pouch in turn, she pulled out several gemstones, more than should feasibly fit into it.

The goblin nodded. "We'll set up a vault first, then you can talk to an appraiser." He pulled out a form, a quill and a small golden key, like the one Hagrid had given McGonagall. After a few minutes of paperwork, the goblin directed them to one of his colleagues on the far wall.

After explaining to him what they wanted, the appraiser inspected the gems Sunset had presented to him, first looking at them with a set of magnifying spectacles, then placing them on a set of brass scales, making notes on each as he went and placing them in numbered slots. Finally he took out a silver tool, looking like a rod with crystals on both ends, one of which was glowing a pale blue. He took the other end and tapped it to his quill, which stood up on its tip. He then took the quill and placed it on the paper next to his notes on the first gemstone.

With a satisfied grunt he picked the tool back up and touched the glowing crystal to the first gem, causing the crystal on the other end to light up a bright green. He actually recoiled a little, but recovered quickly, then proceeded to repeat the process for each of the stones in turn.

The watching humans noticed that every time he touched the tool to a gem, the quill wrote something, before the goblin took it and placed it next to the notes on the next gem. Not every gemstone provoked the same reaction, some caused the tool to glow even brighter than the first while others barely got a reaction at all, only the first one managed to get a flinch from the goblin.

After a few minutes the goblin took the gems and arrayed them in a new tray, copying his notes into a table he attached to it, he didn't take the gems in order, sorting them instead. Finally he turned back to the customers, pointing at the first three gemstones he had placed in the new tray. "I can give you three-hundred-and-thirty-one galleons and twelve sickles for these three. All these gems are well cut and exceptionally pure, but the others also take to magic very well, making them ideal for powerful enchantments. That increases their value significantly. However that also means that I will have to get a second opinion from another appraiser. I will owl you our offer by tomorrow."

All three Grangers and Sunset turned back to McGonagall who was the only one with some understanding of the sums involved. She stared at them, wide-eyed, before nodding sharply, indicating that the amount stated was easily enough for the girls' school equipment.

After agreeing to the offer and showing the appraiser the vault key, he summoned a runner to take them to the vaults, before waving his hand, making part of the counter disappear to let them through.

The runner took the keys and carefully looked at them. "Vaults six-eighty-seven and twelve-thirty-one? Very well. Follow me." He led the group through a door into a raw stone corridor. Rails ran along the floor. After a few more steps, the runner put two fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Moments later a cart came along the rails, stopping beside the group. They got in and the ride began.

The cart, driving entirely on its own, made its way down further and further, through tunnels and caves, past doors and switches until finally stopping next to a specific door marked '687'. He got out, followed by McGonagall. "Mister Potter, this is your vault."

Sunset and the Grangers watched as the goblin took one of the keys and inserted it into a small key-way. As he turned it, the door rattled quietly, before slowly moving outwards and sliding to the side, releasing a wall of green smoke. Once it cleared, Harry took a small wallet the goblin offered and entered the vault. Moments later, he came back out, returning to the cart with McGonagall while the goblin pressed a small brass button on the door, prompting it to slide shut. He turned the key the other way and pulled it out, handing it back to McGonagall as he climbed back into the cart.

After another ride through the tunnels, up this time – being so familiar with arcane phase theory meant that Sunset always had a pretty good idea where she was and which way she was going – they arrived at another, similar door. Marked '1231' this time. Once more, the goblin and McGonagall got out, followed this time by Sunset and the Grangers.

When the vault opened, without smoke this time, they found a pile of golden coins and a stack of twelve silver ones. McGonagall turned to the Grangers. "Fifty galleons will easily be enough to by the supplies and whatever else you may need. With this level of funding, giving each of them a spending budget of five galleons would also be reasonable.

Taking the four wallets the runner handed them, Emma and Dan proceeded to load five galleons each into two of them, handing those to Sunset and Hermione, and twenty-five each into the other two, keeping one each.

A third cart ride later, the five gave their goodbyes to the runner as he let them out through a gap he made in the counter with a toothy smile. They all shielded their eyes with their hands upon returning to the bright summer sun after the dimly lit tunnels of Gringotts. After a moment to adjust, Professor McGonagall led them off towards Madame Manikin’s Robes for all Occasions.

The shop wasn't as grandiose as Gringotts, but it was a comfortable place. Mannequins wearing various robes stood towards the edges of the showroom, while more clothes lay folded up on various shelves. In the back stood several pedestals for fitting clothes, one of which was occupied by a pale boy with light blonde hair, being fitted by a witch.

A second witch wearing mauve robes approached the group and greeted Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, always a pleasure. Brought me another group?"

"Yes, Olivia. If you would."

"Of course, I have everything here. Come along, dears." The squat witch shepherded the three to the back, leaving McGonagall to chat with the Grangers. With a wave of her hand Madame Malkin summoned two more aides and gestured for the three to step onto the pedestals.

As they were all being fitted, the boy started up a conversation. "Hullo. Hogwarts, too?" Seeing their nods he continued. "My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands."

Sunset was immediately reminded of the nobles in Canterlot. 'Am I supposed to be impressed that his parents do everything for him? And why is his mother looking at wands? If they work anything like staffs, there is no point in that without him there. Does she just enjoy looking at wands for some weird reason?'

"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Sunset rolled her eyes as the comparison got more and more accurate. She couldn't help but smirk as she realized something. 'Should he really be saying that when there's a teacher in the room?'

"Have you got your own broom?" They shook their heads. "Play Quidditch at all?" More head shakes. "I do – father says its a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

Sunset couldn't remain quiet any longer. "I'm pretty sure that's not how houses work," she said coolly.

"Technically not, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Since none of them chose to answer, the conversation lulled for a moment, then his eyes turned to the window. "I say, look at that man!" Following his gaze, they saw Hagrid standing outside, talking with the Grangers and McGonagall.

"That's Hagrid," Harry pointed out. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh. I've heard of him. He's some sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper."

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage – lives in a hut on school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed." Sunset noticed Madam Malkin scowling at those words, and she gestured for the aid that was fitting the boy's clothes to come over and fit Sunset's instead while she got to work on his, working decidedly faster. Sunset guessed she was working to get the annoying boy out of her shop all that much faster.

"I think he's brilliant," Harry coldly countered.

"Do you? Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"Well you've seen mine." Hermione pointed out of the window.

"Mine probably don't know I'm here," Sunset added, then thought better of it. "Actually scratch that. They definitely don't know I'm here."

"Mine are dead." Harry's words rather quickly put a stop to the conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He didn't sound sorry. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

Sunset and Hermione raised their eyebrows. Harry, it seemed, hadn't missed the implication either. "They were a witch and a wizard if that's what you mean."

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get their letter, imagine. I think they should keep it to the old wizarding families. What's your surname anyway?"

Before any of them could answer, however, Madam Malkins called out, "here we go dear, that's you done, I can make the rest of the adjustments. Your parents have already paid and you can gather up the finished robes in half an hour. You can get your wand til then."

"Oh, good idea. I'll see you later." He turned to Harry, Hermione and Sunset, still standing on their own stools. "And I'll see you in Hogwarts." With that he walked out of the shop, leaving the shop in silence except for the ring of the door chime.

After a moment, Madam Malkin spoke up. "Thank goodness he's gone. I don't think I could have endured this for much longer." All three of her aides breathed a sigh of relief and stated their agreement.

"Who was that?" Harry asked.

"That was Draco Malfoy, the youngest of the Malfoys. They're an old pureblood house," Madam Malkin explained.

"Pureblood?" Sunset groaned, then her eyes widened. "Oh please tell me wizarding society doesn't arbitrarily segregate based on heritage?"

One of the aides sighed. "Most of us don't, but some families, like the Malfoys put great value on heritage. You heard him say what he thinks of muggleborn. There may have been a good reason for such a thing once, but that was centuries ago. Muggle society isn't as stagnant as wizarding society and a lot has changed since then. Not that they would notice. They see paying attention to muggles as beneath them after all."

Madam Malkins turned to Hermione with renewed scrutiny. "You're muggleborn, right?"

Sunset chuckled quietly. "We're working on that."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?"

Hermione giggled as well, "Don't worry. If it becomes relevant, I'm sure you'll notice."

"Well that's not ominous at all," one of the aides snorted after a moment.

After a few more minutes their uniforms were done, black, as the list had stated, but with a gray trim on the sleeves and collar. Being robes they went all the way to their knees. After another minute for Madam Malkin to stitch in the name tags, they packed up the uniforms, revealing a small problem. Harry had nowhere to put it. He had put the wallet from Gringotts in the pocket of his trousers, but that clearly wouldn't work for the uniform.

"Give it here," Sunset said after a moment, "I'll carry it until you have somewhere to put it."

"I think Truckle's Trunks a few shops down that way carries book bags as well," Madam Malkin pointed out. "You'll need to get your Hogwarts trunks there anyway."

They rejoined the adults in their group back outside and, after a quick discussion, followed McGonagall to the trunk store. All the while Sunset glanced at Harry with interest.

[RVS]12 - Journeys and Journals

Chapter Twelve

Journeys and Journals

Once the three children had packed their books into their bags, Sunset and Hermione now slightly weighed down and Philomena once more disguised as an eagle, Dan revealed another surprise. With a grandiose gesture, he pulled a bird cage out from behind his back, inside was a beautiful, snowy white owl.

"I noticed I didn't get you a birthday present yet, Harry," Hagrid explained.

"And he offered to let me carry her and let him lug around the books," Dan added, a little sheepish.

To say Harry was stunned would be an understatement. It took a few moments before he had recovered from the surprise. Once he managed, they made their way to Pottage's cauldrons, where they not only got the three cauldrons they needed (pewter, standard size two) but also a small leaflet each on how to use the self stirring enchantment and how to fold the cauldron as well as three sets of crystal vials.

From there they went to the Apothecary where they got three standard potions kits and a store for magical implements where they got their telescopes and scales. The entire time, Sunset kept an eye on Harry, measuring his reactions to everything they saw. Her worry only grew. Finally she made a decision.

Medical magic had never been a subject of particular interest to her, but Princess Celestia had insisted on teaching her at least a basic medical diagnostic charm. Seeing how it wasn't too dissimilar from other scanning charms she used all the time, it only took her a few seconds to weave the charm. Her eyes lit up with magic once more and she turned her gaze on Harry. Her eyes first widened then narrowed. It only took her a few more seconds to come to a decision.

The group rounded out their trip through the alley at a stationary shop. The shop provided the parchment, ink and quills they would need. Sunset also made it a point to buy two identical journals and pay for them with her own money. Being three knuts each, they didn't set her back by much. She wouldn't tell Harry why she needed two journals.

Once they had all they needed, they returned to the leaky cauldron, where they split up. Harry was a little down at having to leave his new friends. Sure he hadn't known them for longer that the loosely six hours they had spent in the alley, but they had been nice the entire time, which was about five-and-a-half hours longer than anyone else he had met. He didn't much like the fact that he wouldn't be seeing them for a whole month. To his surprise, Sunset handed Philomena off to Hermione and followed him, Hagrid and McGonnagall towards the nearest subway station.

When Hagrid started messing around with muggle money for the tickets, Sunset went ahead and did it for him, earning a grateful look from McGonagall, she, it seemed, couldn't handle paper money either. After only a few stops they reached Waterloo station where Sunset, once more, took care of the tickets. Not long after, they bid Hagrid and McGonagall goodbye and got on the train.

When they were sat in an otherwise empty car of the Wednesday afternoon train to Woking, Harry couldn't hold back any longer. "Why did you want to come with me? How are you even going to get home?"

Sunset laughed. "Back to the Grangers, you mean? I haven't been 'home' in nearly eight years now. And remember what Hermione said at Ollivander's? I taught her to do that. And what she did there was a mid-range teleport, with a long range one, I can easily get back to Birmingham, even without a wand. As for why I wanted to come with you? Well, three reasons. I wanted to be able to teleport to you if necessary. To do that I have to have some way of knowing where to go. Normally, having been there before.

"Secondly I wanted to see where you live. There are a few things that tell me that your living conditions are far from normal and, if I had to take a guess, far from acceptable. You have clothes that are barely holding together and are much to large for you, you didn't have a bag with you, you are very thin and relatively small for your age, which, by the way, can be a sign of malnourishment. The list continues, but I think you know all of these things, and you hoped we didn't notice."

Harry winced at those words, realizing that she had more or less surmised his situation at the Dursleys' was far from normal, but Sunset put a comforting arm around his shoulder. "Well I did notice, and I'll see what I can do about it."

With that, Sunset folded out the little coffee table from the seat before hers and pulled out the two journals, pointing the backs of both at her and placing a finger on each.

After a moment, Harry quietly spoke up. "And the third reason?"

Sunset smirked at him. "You'll see."

He pointed at the two journals. "Does it have something to do with these?"

"It does." She lifted her finger off the books and Harry was startled to see the formerly blank backs of the books now bearing a darkened, almost charred, area in the shape of a compass rose. She placed the books down and opened them to the first page, placing a finger on the inside of each cover.

Harry might have missed it the first time, but now, without a distraction, he noticed that her fingers were faintly glowing teal. Seeing nothing else happen, Harry busied himself with his owl. Interestingly, she seemed to be almost as intelligent and expressive as Philomena. He had been quite shocked to see the 'eagle' revealed as a phoenix. Not that it stood out much after all the other surprises he had endured today. None of those surprises were particularly unpleasant, which was a bit of a surprise in itself.

When he looked back to Sunset he saw that circles of glowing teal lines had sprung up under her fingers, slowly populating with symbols he didn't recognize. "What are you doing?"

"Enchanting," she answered absently. Before long, the circles had filled, pulsed teal a final time and then faded until they only shimmered a faint teal. She then placed her fingers on the opposite page and repeated the process, focusing once more.

About half an hour into their train ride, she finished that second pair of circles and leaned back for a moment, massaging her temples. Then, she stroked a finger over the pages, coating them in a pale teal before closing the two books. She reopened them to check her work and Harry saw that she hadn't opened the first page and the inside of the cover, but the second and third page. The first page had remained stuck to the cover. "Good. Half way there."

She continued to open the books to the last page, once again placing her fingers there and creating a third pair of circles. By the time they were done, the driver had announced the final stop and she packed the books away. Their interchange at Woking Station only took a few minutes and they were soon sat in a smaller train going south.

Harry wasn't really surprised to see Sunset pull the books back out and place her fingers on the inside of the rear covers, creating a final set of circles over the next fifteen minutes. With his owl – he really needed to find a proper name for her – having fallen asleep, Harry watched her carefully. She clearly knew way too much magic to have never been to magic school. Together with her allusions to not having been home in a long time, he realized that there was something she hadn't told him. Still, she wanted to stay in contact and he could always ask her later. He really didn't want to interrupt her work.

When the circles were complete, she repeated her actions from before and stuck the last two pages together. Finally, after confirming that they were, indeed, stuck together, she closed both books and placed her full hands on the covers, looking at them from the sides. After a moment she took her hands back out and pulled a pen out of her bag. She gave the right journal to Harry and told him to look at the back of it, then she opened the other journal and began to write in it.

Harry was stunned to see the little compass rose symbol light up a pale teal. Sunset then closes her journal and told him to open his. Surprised to see text on the formerly empty page, he began to read.

Hey Harry,

Pretty neat, huh? I've enchanted these journals so that everything

written in one will appear in the other as well. I get the feeling that

your relatives don't particularly like magic, or you would have known

about it. This should be unobtrusive enough to go unnoticed,

especially if you keep it on your person.

Take it as my present, it is your birthday after all.

Congratulations, by the way.

Sunset.

"How did you come up with this?"

"I didn't. I have something similar to keep in contact with my old mentor." She looked out of the window, suddenly seeming a bit sad. "I should probably write her and apologize. I said some things that weren't exactly nice before I left." She perked up again. "Ah well, I'll do that tonight. For now I have other priorities." She packed her journal away, prompting Harry to do the same with his.

Barely a minute later, they stood on the platform of Little Whinging station. "So, where do we go from here?"

Sunset shrugged. "Shouldn't you know?"

"Well yes, I mean is there some specific place you need me to show you?"

"Oh. A place where I can teleport unseen would be good."

Harry thought for a moment. "There is an alley in the estate that's hardly ever used. I can show you there."

"Mhh, yeah. If I set up a few perception filters that should work out fine. Show me."

Ten minutes later they stood in the small, shadowed alleyway between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. Harry leaned against a wall as he watched Sunset, her hands aglow, setting up the aforementioned wards. It only took her a few minutes. She had explained that the perception filters would effectively hide themselves, as well as any other magic in the alley.

"Just in case your relatives are home, I'll go invisible. Come here a second." He did as she asked and she waved her hand in front of his eyes. His vision shifted, though he couldn't put a finger on how. A moment later, Sunset became transparent, but he could still see her as a warping of the light, as though she was made of glass. "Now. Lead the way."

As it turned out, she needn't have bothered. The Dursleys hadn't come home yet. Not surprising, actually, considering that he and Hagrid had left them on the island without a boat. He was pretty sure Uncle Vernon wouldn't get cellphone reception out there either.

Getting in proved to be easy. Being invisible, Sunset could pick the lock without fear of being seen. Harry chose not to ask where or why she had learned to do that. Once in, Sunset dropped her invisibility and Harry's vision returned to normal. "Okay. Now that were here, tell me what actually happened here. I can guess at a lot of things, but tell me what really happened."

Harry was hesitant for a few moments, but she already found out most of what was going on with the Dursleys, he might as well fill in the blanks. Not to mention that, if Aunt Petunia's shows on the telly were accurate at all, talking about it might actually help. And so he led her to the living room, unnaturally pristine as usual, and began to tell her.

The strange things that happened around him, she identified them as magic surges, and the Dursleys' reactions thereto, the gluttony of Dudley and Uncle Vernon, and how they made sure he got little more than the bare minimum, how he'd only ever gotten the clothes Dudley didn't want anymore. When he told her about their reactions to the letters from Hogwarts, he mentioned how they told him to move to Dudley's second bedroom.

"Wait, you didn't sleep there before?"

"No." He got up, walking out into the hallway. "I slept there."

She followed his gaze to the cupboard beneath the stairs. "You're not serious. Are you? Oh sweet Celestia, you are serious." She placed her hand on the lock and it clicked open. Seeing the small mattress inside she scowled. "That is absolutely appalling." She turned back to him, holding out a hand. "Give me your hand, I'll make sure we have a plan b, just in case."

After a moment's hesitation he placed his hand in hers, prompting her to place one finger on the back of it. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the finger began to glow, followed a moment later by a glowing teal symbol. When she took her finger off and let go of his hand, he could still feel the tingle of her magic from the glyph, even as it faded into a faint, discolored outline. He looked at the flowing lines of the alien letter with slight confusion. "What is that?"

"An alarm spell. You can feel it right?" He nodded. "Good. If you ever need me, if your relatives do something too egregious, or something like that, focus on that feeling. It'll trigger the spell and I'll know where you are and that you need me. I'll come as quickly as I can." She smirked. "The glyph is ancient Thessian. It means 'contingency'. I thought it was appropriate. We can see it as a faint outline, but only because I'm the one who cast it, and you're the one I cast it on. Anyone else will need an aura sight spell to see it at all, so don't worry that your relatives will find it."

Harry couldn't help but smile. "Thanks."

"But know that it's an emergency measure. If it isn't absolutely necessary, use the journal to contact me instead. That glyph is single use."

They sat down in the kitchen and talked for a few more minutes. Then a car came down the road. Harry looked up, recognizing the vehicle. "It's the Dursleys. You gotta leave. They can't find you here."

"I see." With a sad expression, Sunset got up and hugged Harry which he returned after a moment. Then she took a step back. "I'll be in touch." She waved a final time, the air around her wavered and she was gone with nary a sound.

[RVS]13 - Baggage

Chapter Thirteen

Baggage

Hermione wasn't exactly surprised to see her sister fading into the living room with a slight wavering of the air. The melancholy expression she wore was less expected. "Sunset! Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm okay. I just remembered some things, learned some others." She looked Hermione dead in the eye and her expression changed into one of determination. "We'll have to be good friends to Harry." She sighed. "He doesn't have anyone else."

"But, his relatives -"

"Are treating him like a parasite!" Sunset sighed again and collapsed on the couch. "He barely gets anything to eat, they told him that his parents, who, by the way, were murdered by the darkest wizard in recorded history, died in a car crash." She snorted. "As if you could get that kind of scar from a car crash. They kept his magic a secret from him all his life, blamed anything that went wrong on him."

Seeing how distraught Sunset was, Hermione wrapped her into a gentle hug. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"He didn't want to. He has, admittedly, good reason to distrust people in general. He only told me when I asked him directly. I saw the signs. I've seen them before. Did you see how small he was, how thin?"

"Malnourishment, of course! How did I not see that?"

"Don't blame yourself, a normal person doesn't consider that. I only recognized it because I've seen this kinda thing before. Child abuse, well, foal abuse isn't a common thing in Equestria. Less than half a case a year, in fact, but every few years it happens, and when it does, it goes straight to Princess Celestia. She's the highest judicial authority. And in cases like that, it falls to her to lay down the law, and to do that she has to look at the evidence. And her student is right there with her. It's one of the hidden downsides of the position."

"Oh Sunset, I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it. If it lets me recognize that kinda thing and put a stop to it ... Well, then I guess it's worth it, isn't it?" She sighed again. "Well, at least we can stay in contact. She reached into her bag and pulled out something Hermione recognized as one of the journals she bought.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry has the other one. I enchanted them on the train ride over. If you write something in one, it appears in the other as well. I have another like it to communicate with Princess Celestia. I'm actually gonna write her later. But we should probably unpack our new stuff first, shouldn't we? I guess you want to check out Flourish and Blot’s tomorrow. And I at least don't want to lug all that stuff around. At least not until I can figure out that featherweight charm. Equestria has nothing like it."

The basic undetectable expansion charm on their student trunks, it seemed, manifested in the form of the trunk having three buckles on the locking plate in the center. Each opened a different compartment, each of which was in turn as wide and tall as the trunk itself, but twice as deep. Not to mention that they shared the same space.

Sunset found this make up mildly confusing as the Equestrian variant of the same charms, provided much less space with the same power but would never need this level of compartmentalization. One could simply reach in and think of what ever they wanted to retrieve and the next moment they would have it in their hand. Or hoof, as it were.

Hermione, used to the same utility from the bag Sunset had enchanted for her, was only slightly less confused. The shrinking and featherweight charms were intriguing to say the least, but difficult to reverse engineer from seeing the enchantments alone. Once the trunks were back to their original size, they began packaging the things they wouldn't need until school directly into them. Their school robes, their potions equipment, and their telescopes were quickly stored in the trunks. The books on Herbology, Potions and magical creatures provisionally followed. Philomena watched from her perch.

Once they had finished, Sunset decided to check in on Harry. Sunset levitated her journal over along with a pen.

Hi Harry.

It only took a few seconds for Harry to answer.

Hey Sunset.
How are you?

I'm fine. Hermione's here too.
How are you doing? Did your relatives treat
you alright?

Oh, I don't know yet, they're a little preoccupied
with Dudley's newest addition right now.

Addition?

Yeah funny that.
Apparently it's a bad idea to insult out Headmaster
where Hagrid can hear. After Uncle Vernon did that,
he gave him a pig tail. He said he wanted to turn him
into a pig, but that didn't quite work. I think they're
kinda freaking out about it. I can hear them up here.

Hermione and Sunset shared a laugh over the mental image.

Funny thing is I could probably fix it in
a few seconds, but they probably wouldn't let me.

Oh they absolutely wouldn't. Hi Hermione by the way.
They just sent me up here once they came home.
I think they're scared of me now. Oh the irony.

Hi Harry, quite the reversal of roles that.
Sunset told me what happened with your family.
I'm so sorry I didn't notice.

It's okay. Nobody does. Ever. I'm still surprised
Sunset did to be honest.

She explained it to me. She'll probably explain it to you too,
but I'll let her decide that. Anyway we really just kinda wanted
to check in on you.
Good night, Harry.

Yes, good night.

Good night to the two of you as well.
See you around.

After looking at the page for a moment longer, Sunset packed the journal back into her bag.

While Hermione went downstairs to check on dinner, Sunset pulled a second journal out of her bag, the symbol on its cover matching that on the flap of the bag. Blowing a bit of dust off the larger, silk bound tome, Sunset flapped it open, turning to the last written page. A bit of guilt stung at her heart when she saw several unanswered messages in a fine, flowing script, some slightly run apart from tears dripping onto them.

Dear Sunset,
Are you there? I hope you're getting this. I can't find you or Philomena,
but I didn't find your journal either, so I'm hoping you took it with you,
wherever you went. Are you two alright?
I'm sorry for what I said, I know I should have worded it better. I'm sorry.
I know I can't just turn back time and undo what I said,
I just got so angry. I shouldn't have snapped like that.
I truly am sorry.

Your loving mentor,
Celestia

Dear Sunset, dear Philomena,
You've been gone a week now, I don't know where you
went, but I hope you're alright.
Sunburst came by today and asked if you were alright.
I couldn't tell him. I know he deserves the truth, but I just couldn't.
I hope I can find you soon. I was hoping it was just another
foalnapping, we're used to those by now.

Sunset couldn't help but chuckle at that. They were indeed. Over the years seventeen separate groups of foalnappers had tried to hold her for ransom. Eight of them she had handily beaten herself and left for the Royal Guard to pick up. The rest had learned that 'The Princess will come for me' was a lot more than an empty threat coming from the Princess' personal Student.

I have no idea where you might be, my student. I know there is
little in Equestria that could become a serious threat to your
safety. But I also know that you won't be found if you don't
want to be. I can only hope that you will come back one day,
my Little Sun.

Love,
Celestia

Tears dropped to the table as Sunset realized just how much pain she had caused her mentor.

Dear Sunset,

It's been nearly a month now. I have a new student. It feels
wrong. It feels like I'm replacing you. I suspect she is bound
to one of the elements. There was an explosion of magic near
Cloudsdale and when it reached Canterlot, her magic surged.
She managed to hatch a dragon egg, grow the infant dragon
to adulthood in seconds, creating a hole in the testing hall in
the process, and turn her parents into cacti before I managed
to curb the surge.
I have some of my guard researching the explosion to see
where it came from and if others were affected similarly. If we
manage a full set of six, we'll know that the elements are
reawakening. I only hope they do before Luna returns
to Equestria.
The filly is a bit older than you are, but she is quite lovely.
Her name is Twilight Sparkle, from the House of the Stars.
Her older brother is a lieutenant in the Guard.
What pains me most is that I have to train her into a weapon
to recover my sister.
I only hope she will forgive me when the time comes.
As I hope you will forgive me, my Little Sun.

Celestia

Dear Sunset,
Three months. That's how long I've been without you.
I've called off the search. I should have done so sooner.
There never was a point, really.
Twilight is coming along nicely. She is a very diligent
little filly and she has a love for books. Well more of an
unhealthy obsession, really. I might have to curb that a
little if it gets too pronounced. Thankfully she is taking
good care of the dragon hatchling. She named him Spike.
Surprisingly he only set the castle on fire twice so far.
His flame control is excellent. For an infant.
I do so wish you would return to us. Cadence misses
you too, you know? And Twilight and you could be
great friends. I only hope you will come back one day,
my Little Sun.

Celestia

Sunset was actually crying now. She hadn't realized how badly she had hurt her mentor. And she wasn't even the only one. There were others that had cared about her. They hadn't been the loving, caring family she had always wanted, but they had cared for her deeply none the less. Having heard her sobs, Hermione came rushing into the room, before she could ask what had happened, Sunset silently pointed at the book. Following her gaze, Sunset watched as she read the messages one by one, until she arrived at the last one. That one they read together.

Dear Sunset,

It's been four and a half months now. Twilight managed
to teleport today. It was short range, granted, but still she
managed from one end of the castle to the other.

The two looked at each other, both sharing the same thought, having mentally done the math and come to the same conclusion. This latest entry couldn't be more than a few days old. And this Twilight had managed to learn teleportation just as fast as Hermione had, faster even. Skilled and diligent indeed.

I don't know if you will ever read these messages. I don't
know if you will ever receive them or even if you are still alive.
But I am convinced that you are. Anything else is too painful
to consider. Given that she has taken your place at my side,
I feel it only fair that I keep you updated on her progress.
I've told Sunburst the truth now. He didn't like it at all.
He wasn't happy with me. I can't blame him. Neither am I.
If you ever read these messages, I hope you find it within
yourself to forgive me. Know that whatever you may have done,
I have forgiven long ago. I only want to see you again.
To know that you're alright.
I hope to hear from you, my Little Sun.
Whatever you may have done, I shall forgive,
If only you will forgive me in turn.
I miss you.

Celestia

"I have to write her." Tears fled as determination burned bright. Hermione simply nodded, floating over a pen in her pale green aura. Sunset took it in her own, shaky teal aura only to grab it with her hand when she couldn't keep it stable. "Here we go. Been a while since I've written these words. Far too long really."

Dear Princess Celestia,

[RVS]14 - Reunion

Chapter Fourteen

Reunion

Princess Celestia sat down in her study, ready to tackle some of the inevitable paperwork that came with ruling a country. She had just set the sun and wished her new student good night before she teleported back to her room on the other end of the castle. The thought of her new student inevitably brought her mind back to her previous student. She glanced over at the journal that stood on the shelf, still and silent as it always was.

She heaved a weary sigh. There was no point. She had only written Sunset yesterday. What would she even write? There was nothing to tell, nothing left to say that hadn't been said. All she could do, was wait. Wait and hope. Hope that her student was fine. Hope that she and Philomena were happy, wherever it was they had gone. Hope that they would, one day, return.

Hope that they hadn't – no. They couldn't. Sunset was fine. She was alive and well. She would not consider anything else without good reason. But was the lack of a reaction for closing in on five months not reason enough?

Once more, she sighed. She had had this mental debate with herself dozens, if not hundreds of times. There was no point. She turned back to her paperwork.

She had just finished looking over a proposal made by a noblemare and was ready to reject it outright, when a sound reached her ears. Involuntarily, they flicked backward, listening closely.

There it was again. A sound she hadn't heard in nearly half a year. A low hum, lasting a few seconds, falling silent, then starting back up a moment later. She turned her head and saw the journal glowing and vibrating on the shelf. Indicating a new message. Something it hadn't done in nearly two seasons.

She lit her horn and carefully, almost reverently, pulled the journal from the shelf. Her magic slightly shaky despite centuries of experience. The proposal was swept aside along with the rest of the paperwork to make room for the tome. She could sort it later. Barely daring to breathe, Celestia opened the book and turned it to the glowing page. There it was, the familiar writing of Sunset Shimmer, slightly different than she remembered it, but that needn't mean anything.

Even before the message had finished appearing, she began to read.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am so terribly sorry. I am sorry for what I said, for how
I acted, for simply leaving. And for taking so long to realize
what a spoiled brat I had become. Philomena and I are safe.
We went through the crystal mirror in the dimensional
section of Vault 7 in the royal treasury. Philomena landed on
the upper part that acts as the dimensional tuning fork. She
must have messed up the calibration because this is not the
world Starwirl's notes describe. First of all, there is magic here.
The ambient field is weaker, but it is there. There is a significant
non-magical population as well as a hidden magical community.
They have completely different spellcraft as well. They have made
some interesting forays into mental magic. They have spells to read
minds and extract and alter memories. But when it comes to
teleportation, their magic is remarkably primitive. They only have one
true teleportation spell and it's extremely unsafe. They just kinda do
it without understanding even the basics of how it actually works.
I've been offered to go to a magic school here. Of course, I wouldn't
miss a chance to learn the local brand of magic. Combining it with
magical knowledge from Equestria, the possibilities are endless.
But that is something we can discuss in more detail later. I am truly
sorry for all the grief I have caused you and others. And I would really
like to meet Twilight one day.

Your former student,
Sunset Shimmer

Celestia couldn't believe it. Her Little Sun was safe. She wanted to celebrate, to sing and dance. In fact, she could feel a heartsong coming on, but she quashed it with vigor. There were more important things to do now.

Dear Sunset,

I am so happy to hear from you. Don't worry about whatever
you might have said or done. I can't even remember what it was
anymore. I'm just glad you're okay.

Before she could think of anything more to write, words formed on their own.

Princess?

Yes, its me.

Oh it's so good to hear from you. I am so sorry for how I acted.

Enough of that now. It's in the past. Let's leave it there.
What have you learned in this new world you are in?

Quite a lot actually. Did you know that phoenixes could use their fire
to travel?

What? No. I can't say I ever have heard of that.

Maybe its something about this world then. Or maybe Equestrian
phoenixes can do it too and just don't realize it. Actually, hold on.
I wonder ...

Celestia was startled away from the book as she heard a crackle of fire from behind her and saw light reflect from the marble wall before her. Turning, she saw a familiar unicorn filly next to another unicorn filly with a sea green coat and a wavy brown mane with pale blue streaks in it, falling all to one side of her face except for a single braid with a red ribbon woven into it that fell to the other. Hovering above them, trilling proudly, was an equally familiar phoenix.

The princess only had eyes for the amber filly, barely registering the phoenix and the other unicorn. She lit her horn and a second later the filly was sat before her wrapped in her wings while the princess shed tears of joy above her. Absently they both registered the other unicorn speak to the phoenix. "Huh, guess that means you can."

Hermione's rather blasé comment was not the result of her being unfazed by the sudden changes. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was the result of her startled mind clinging to the one thing it understood about this strange situation.

Sunset had told her about Equestria, but seeing it was something else entirely. The pearl white being before her was absolutely gorgeous. Hermione idly wondered how she got her hair to keep flowing like in a gentle breeze despite any wind being markedly absent.

Intellectually she understood that, being a pony herself now, she would be just as small as Sunset's pony form. Still, Princess Celestia was remarkably huge by comparison, easily towering over them both.

Oh, and then there was the fact that she was a little unicorn now. That part was probably important. Seeing that the two other ponies in the room were still hugging and sobbing, Hermione began to study her new form. Her soft, sea green coat was quite pleasant to look at. She also noted that the ribbon she had braided into her hair was still there, but her hair, now her mane and tail, were no longer the monochrome brown her hair had always been. She now had streaks of pale blue running trough it.

In all honesty, save for her different hairstyle, she might easily have been mistaken for a recolored version of Sunset. Looking over at her reflection in one of the windows, she noticed her eyes had changed to a pale green that matched her magic. Oh and she had a horn.

She tried to get up and walk over to look out of the window, but only managed two steps before face planting. Fortunately, being as small as she was, she didn't have far to fall, so it was little more than a minor inconvenience. She studied her hooves again, trying to get a feel for them. It took a few more tries, but she soon managed a slow, careful walk. Anything faster could wait for later.

Making her way to the window, she saw that it was opened partially and actually led to a balcony. She lit her horn, marveling at how natural it felt, and pulled it open a bit further. Far enough to get through.

She recognized that she was in a castle tower, looking down at the city below. From what Sunset had told her, she could conclude that this had to be Canterlot. A city built onto a mountain. It was hard to see over the lights of the city in the darkness of the late evening, but she thought she could just barely see the edge of the great platforms the city was built on. Faint lights far in the distance indicated the presence of other cities.

Taking a deep breath, she enjoyed the cool, clean mountain air. She could feel the magic in the air. It was that lingering feeling she had had all her life. The feeling that there was something there. Something she could reach out to and make use of. It hadn't even been half a year ago when she had learned that that something was magic. Most of the time she didn't notice the magic, but here, where it was so much stronger than at home, it was clearly noticeable.

"Sunset, it's so good to see you again. But how about you introduce me to my other guest?"

Hermione was still marveling at the sensation of her ear tilting to pick up the words behind her. She turned around and stepped back into the room, just in time for Sunset's answer. "Oh right. Princess, this is Hermione Granger. Her family took me in ... after I came tumbling out of their bathroom mirror. They've been nothing but kind and generous ever since." She turned to Hermione. "Sis, this is Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Solaris, Steward of the Sun, Princess of the Aetheris Tribe, High Admiral of the Aeolis Tribe, Warden of the Eterris Tribe, Protector of the Land, Conqueror of Chaos, Bringer of Light and Harmony and Ruler of Equestria and its Territories."

Hermione bent her forelegs and lowered her head in the best approximation of a bow she could manage in her unfamiliar form. "It is an honour to meet you, Your Highness."

The Princess giggled. "Just Celestia is fine. Sunset, did you really have to list all of my titles?"

"Of course," Sunset joined in her mentor's mirth, "Everyone should get to hear them at least once."

"Everyone?"

"Well I can't really say everypony, now can I? Hermione isn't exactly a pony."

The princess looked over the sea green unicorn filly. "She certainly looks like a pony to me."

"Well here, yes. Not over there. I actually changed to look like them when I went through the portal. Actually, hold on." Sunset took a step back, closed her eyes and, after a moment's concentration, flowed seamlessly into her human form. "Huh. So it does work. Neat. That's what I look like in the other world. Hermione, try focusing on how your magic flows in your human form."

Hermione focused. She focused for several minutes. Under Sunset's gentle guidance, she carefully explored what Sunset had explained from her own experience as her own magical essence, it took her nearly half an hour to find what she was looking for.

There, she could sense her current form and the form she had been born with. She knew from Sunset's explanation, that the next step was much easier, but also far more time consuming. She had found the two 'locations' in her magical essence, now she had to create a path between them. Once she did, she could go back and forth at will. After how long it had taken Sunset, she expected it would be at least a month, if not longer, before she managed it, but she had laid the groundwork.

Celestia watched with pride as her former student easily assumed the role of a teacher in her own right. Her form was a bit strange at first, but not all too difficult to get used to after a while. She had, of course, heard of humans. The legends had existed even when she and Luna were still foals. Not to mention that she led the school that taught magic to Lyra Heartstrings. How could she not have heard of humans?

Still, she had never expected to actually meet one. Seeing a sweet little unicorn filly turn into one was even more surprising. She stood tall enough to look over Celestia's back when she stood, and was fully clothed. She wore a light blue dress, boots and leather jacket as well as a bag slung over what Celestia could only assume to be her shoulder. She had to admit that she was not an expert on the anatomy of mythical creatures.

Her eyes, she noticed, were remarkably small. The most remarkable feature, of course, were their hands, allowing for far finer manipulation than hooves ever could, even without the natural sticking charm that all ponies had in their hooves.

When Sunset was once again focused on gently guiding Hermione on her explorations into her own magical essence, Celestia got up and poked her head out of the door. "Could you go fetch Cadence?" She asked the pegasus guard standing on one side of the door. He saluted and flapped his wings, flying down the corridor. Satisfied she pulled her head back into the room.

Hermione only absently listened to Sunset catching up with the princess, most of her focus was on her magical explorations, even though the glow from the horn on her forehead was a bit distracting at first.

Just when she had found what she had been looking for and returned her attention to the conversation, a knock on the door prompted the princess to her to light her horn. Sunset returned to pony form and gestured for Hermione to follow her, taking up position so that the princess was between them and the door. Meanwhile Celestia smirked. "Come in, Cadence."

Princess Cadence made her way to her aunt's chambers with some trepidation. It had been some time since Celestia had called her at such a time. When asked, the guard that had been sent for her had explained that he didn't know why she was being called, only that he had been asked to fetch her. That it had been worded as a request rather than an order was reassuring and indicated that there wasn't some kind of crisis.

Before she could think on the matter any further, she arrived and the pegasus guardspony retook his position beside the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

She only had to wait a second before she felt the familiar sensation of Celestia's magic running over her, followed a moment later by the words, "come in, Cadence."

She pushed open the door and stepped into the room, finding Celestia sitting on a cushion not far from her desk. "You called, auntie?"

"I did. I've had some late night visitors and I thought you might want to meet them." With a gentle smile, the princess of the sun lifted a wing, revealing two unicorn fillies that had been hidden behind it. The one on the left she didn't recognize, judging by her expression, the filly didn't recognize her either.

The filly on the right she very much did recognize. "Sunset?" she breathed. Unable to believe her eyes. The amber filly stood there with an amused smirk. "Is that really you?" The filly nodded.

Next thing she knew, Cadence was across the room hugging the little filly for all she was worth with hooves and wings alike. She wasn't entirely sure how she had crossed the room, but she didn't care to guess. Her mind was busy with the little filly that was vigorously hugging her back.

"Where did you go?"

"Oh that's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell you if you want."

"Sure. I've got time."

From across the room she heard the other filly speak. "Yeah, this will take a while. Princess Celestia, do you have something to write my parents a note, I'd like to let them know where we are, so they don't worry."

"Of course dear."

The phoenix disappearing in a flash of flame barely registered to the princesses. Both were far too focused on Sunset's story.

[RVS]15 - Seeing Red

Chapter Fifteen

Seeing Red

As the morning sun peeked through the window, Sunset woke up to the now familiar sensation of being cuddled up to Hermione, both of them in their natural forms. Though Sunset's was significantly more furry.

The Grangers had made the interesting observation that she didn't shed. Sunset, meanwhile, had been rather confused that they had expected her to. In modern days, almost every pony had a permanent, selective vanishing charm on them to automatically vanish hairs and skin cells the moment they were shed. It really cut down on the cleaning.

Cracking her eyes open and blinking a few times until the sun stopped blinding her, she looked around, seeing flowing brown and blue hair. That Hermione's new hair and eye colors had persisted into her human form had been quite the surprise when they returned. Learning that Hermione had always found her combination of brown hair and brown eyes to be extraordinarily bland and was entirely okay with the changes had been a relief.

That she was curled up in her sister's arms was nothing new. Somehow they always ended up like this by the time they woke up in the morning. And she had gone to bed in human form. One room over.

Humans knew of sleep walking, of course, but with their reliance on wands, Sunset was fairly certain that even the local wizards and witches hadn't heard of sleep casting. Being as skilled as she was only exacerbated the issue. Sleep walking and sleep casting were one thing, sleep teleporting and, more recently, sleep shape shifting were another.

Emma wasn't entirely surprised to find that Sunset had, once again, found her way into Hermione's room, curled up beside the girl like a cat. Hermione's new look had been a surprise for her and Dan. Hermione announcing that she would be learning to transform into a pony as well had added to that. Philomena being able to travel between dimensions had actually been easier to believe.

With a content sigh, she made her way down the stairs. Had someone told her that Sunset's presence would turn her into an early riser when the girl first arrived, she would have happily declared them clinically insane. Yet here she was. Up only a few minutes after Sunrise at the height of summer. It wasn't even six o' clock.

Arriving in the kitchen, she heard a clicking on the window. Turning, she saw an owl perched on the widow sill, pecking at the glass. That would be another thing to get used to, she supposed. Walking over the window she unlocked it and watched the owl fly in, perching itself on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

Mentally thanking Philomena for giving her ample opportunity to get used to having large birds of prey in her kitchen, Emma approached the bird, prompting it to dutifully hold out a leg. A tug on the right string undid the knot and freed the scroll tied to the bird's leg. Seeing the bird sit there, waiting for her answer, she guessed, she looked at the scroll more closely.

It was sealed with bright red wax, stamped with a coat of arms of a bejeweled ring surrounding a set of scales holding coins in one dish and gems in the other, framed on the top and bottom by a dagger and a sword. She made the connection in moments. Gringotts.

She was right. It was the payment offer from the appraiser. Her eyes nearly jumped from their sockets when she saw the sums listed on it. The appraiser hadn't been kidding when he had called the gems they had yet to sell 'substantially more valuable'.

Every single stone was listed to be somewhere between one-hundred and one-hundred-and-fifty carats and of flawless quality. They only substantially varied in two categories, the type of stone and a category listed as 'thaumic conductivity rating'. Those, and value of course.

The five listed with a rating between E-Minus and E-Plus were priced somewhere between five and six-hundred galleons each. The three with a rating between D-Minus and D-Plus were priced just shy of one thousand galleons each. The seven gems rated between C-Minus and C-Plus were priced at around three-thousand galleons each. The four between B-Minus and B-Plus were listed for about five to six-thousand galleons each.

The two gems listed as A-Minus were priced at around ten-thousand galleons each. The two at A were listed for about twenty thousand galleons each.

Finally, all the way at the bottom of the list was a single gem listed with: 170 ct. / Flawless / A+ - 39,084 g.

Having been informed of the approximate value of a galleon by the muggleborn introduction booklet, Emma was utterly stunned by the sums she was seeing. The total sell price of the gems was listed as '148,612 g, 15 s, 23 k'. She turned to the owl. "Wait here. I'll be right back." The owl nodded dutifully.

Idly wondering when she had started talking to birds, Emma hurried up the stairs to wake Dan, Hermione and Sunset.

Five minutes later Sunset an Emma were mildly amused, sitting at the kitchen table, the owl from Gringotts on Sunset's left shoulder and Philomena on her right, as they watched a groggy Hermione and Dan stumble down the stairs, yawning all the way.

They got a lot more awake the moment they saw the letter.

"What?!" Dan managed to sputter.

"That was about my reaction as well," Emma pointed out in mild bemusement. She still managed to be surprised by all the things that had started happening since Sunset had arrived, but her recovery time had gotten much better. "It would seem Equestrian gemstones are pretty valuable here."

"You don't seem surprised, sis." Hermione pointed out.

"I'm not. I learned the value of gemstones pretty quickly after I arrived here. Not actually sure why they're so common in Equestria. Maybe the stronger ambient magic helps them grow faster?"

"Where did you even get those?" Dan just about managed.

"I dug them up myself."

"And where did you get them cut?"

"I didn't. That's how they naturally occur in Equestria. I didn't even know cut was a factor in pricing until I came to this world."

"Your world is weird."

"So is yours."

"Touche."

"So I take it you're all okay with that then?"

"Sure, but once you're of age we'll add you as an account owner to the vault."

"Seems fair."

Another minute later the owl was on its way with the necessary signatures and the Grangers were left to recover from their morning shock. Emma and Sunset busied themselves with making breakfast.

In a burst of flames, Sunset, Hermione and Philomena appeared in the small, warded alleyway near the Leaky Cauldron. It was now nine in the morning and they were ready to visit Flourish and Blot's. With a stroke over her feathers, Sunset once more disguised her familiar. She didn't need words to tell Philomena that she appreciated her help.

After passing through the pub, Hermione drew her wand and tapped it against the correct brick, causing the archway to open up for them. After a short walk they reached the wizarding book store. Flourish and Blot's was every book worm's dream. The shelves were filled with books of all manner of materials and on all topics imaginable.

The two split up and went to look into different sections of the store. Both ignored the section on fiction. Not a type of book either of them disliked per say, but not what they were here for. Determined to do more research, Hermione looked through a section on recent magical history, while Sunset looked for reference material on Earth's magic, particularly on the featherweight charm.

It didn't take either of them long to find something. When they met back up half an hour later, Hermione held a copy each of Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century as well as a copy of Hogwarts – A History Sunset in turn held a copy each of A Comprehensive Guide on Utility Charms and Magical Theory 1.

《You got what you were looking for, sis?》Sunset asked.

《I do. Both of these have a section on Harry and what happened in that night, all the common theories, the lot. What about you?》

《Me too. This one has something about many utility charms, including the featherweight charm. And this one is on more general magical theory. With that I should be able to do some nice comparative research.》

"My aren't you two a bit young to be out on your own? Don't you have any supervision?"

They turned around to see a plump woman with bright red hair (at least by human standards) holding a young girl, maybe a year younger than them, by the hand and vigilantly looking over the rest of the store. The girl's hair was just as red as hers.

"Oh no need to worry, ma'am. We're well behaved." Hermione assured her.

"I'm sure you are," the woman answered, "but Diagon Alley isn't a place for children your age to be going alone, you never know who might come after you."

"Oh, don't worry about us," Sunset assured her. "We can take care of ourselves." Without turning she poked a finger over the shoulder that didn't hold Philomena, tapping it on the hand of a red headed boy maybe two years older than they were. The moment her finger touched his hand teal lightning erupted from it, arcing up his arm and giving him a nasty shock. "See?"

She turned to look at the boy more closely, his hair stood on end, smoking slightly and he wore a goofy grin. An identical boy with hair that didn't smoke, looked at him and broke out in hysterical laughter. "She got you good, brother dear."

"That she did." The first boy shook his head, causing his hair to fall back into shape, though it was still smoking a little. "How did you know?"

"Never hurts to be prepared." Sunset stroked a finger over the feathers of the disguised Phoenix on her shoulder. "Compared to the prank wars I've had with Philomena here when we were younger that was strictly amateur hour. Nice job on the comedic timing, though. Would have been hilarious if it would have worked." She took his hand and shook it. "Sunset Shimmer, by the way."

The boy shook her hand back and chuckled. "Oh I like you. Fred Weasley."

"No you're not. You're George. I'm Fred."

"I am? Right, I am. Sorry, George Weasley, my mistake. This is Fred." He unnecessarily pointed at his twin, then at the woman and girl on Sunset's other side. "Those are our mum and our little sister Ginny. Ron and Percy should be around here somewhere as well."

"Hold on," Sunset chuckled. "I'm sensing a trend here. Which one of them is older?"

"Percy, why?"

Sunset held out a finger and let it pulse with teal light, then she pointed at a book shelf to their side. "Ron is back there. That's the sports section, if I recall correctly."

"Figures he'd be there," the girl giggled.

"And Percy is a floor up. In the law section if I'm not mistaken." 《You wanna introduce yourself, sis?》

《Oh right,》Hermione shook Fred's hand. "Hermione Granger, a pleasure."

Clearing her throat, Mrs. Weasley brought the conversation back from it's meandering trajectory. "Are you two here to get your Hogwarts books?"

"We got those yesterday," Hermione explained, "but my father went with Hagrid to get them, while we were at Ollivander's to save time, and we didn't get to look around here, so we came back today."

"You know Hagrid?" Mrs. Weasley seemed pleased, the twins, Sunset noted, were also intrigued.

"We met up with him yesterday, when Professor McGonnagall showed us through the alley."

"I see, so you're just browsing?"

"That and getting some background literature." She held up her three books while Sunset held up hers.

"We're here to get a second set of third grade books for the twins." She sighed. "Well actually we already have them, we only need to fetch the rest of the boys."

Sunset turned to Hermione with a smirk. 《Shall we?》

Hermione shrugged. 《Sure. Why not?》She held out a finger lighting it with pale green magic.

Sunset smirked at Mrs. Weasley. "Allow us." She lit up her index fingers on both hands in teal magic holding one up in the air and letting it pulse again, while touching the other to Hermione's.

Then they both turned and grabbed one of the twins by the arm before disappearing in twin flashes of green and teal.

Fred was rather startled when he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and whisked away, but he recovered quickly when he recognized Percy standing only a few meters away. Sunset let go of his arm and smirked yet again. "Go grab him. I'll bring us back down."

Fred smirked as well. He liked how this girl thought. She knew how to have fun. Others might have been startled by the vibrant hair colors the two girls displayed, but he was a Weasley, vibrant hair was part of the package.

"Brother dear, it's time to go."

Percy sighed and put down the book he had been looking at. "Alright, brother, let's go."

"Go? Oh no brother dearest, walking is so last season. Sunset?"

The girl giggled quietly as she snapped her finger and the three disappeared in another flash of teal.

Ron was having fun, reading about his favorite topic. The Chudley Cannons. He didn't notice the flash of green behind him, the quiet crack of displaced air was drowned out in the din of the store.

Suddenly an electric tingle ran through him as a hand touched his shoulder. "Cut it out!"

"It's time to go brother dear, we don't have all day."

"Is that just you or did mom send you?"

"In some capacity."

Ron sighed and put down his book. "Alright. I'm coming." He turned around to face his brother. "Why are you smoking?" A giggle and a flash of green later, he was standing before his mother.

Molly Weasley, was confused to say the least. The two girls were first graders, no doubt, second grade at most, yet they did some magic she had never seen. And now they had just disapparated, not to mention taking two of her sons with them.

"Ohh, they're good."

Ginny approved, of course. She wasn't as much of a prankster as the twins, heaven forbid if she were, but she seemed to enjoy the level of spontaneity and independence the two girls were displaying.

Before she could think much further, there was a flash of teal followed almost immediately by a flash of green. All four of her boys suddenly stood before her again, Fred and George highly amused, Ron and Percy rather more startled. The two girls stepped out from behind them, giggling. Even the eagle's eyes were filled with mirth.

Molly simply stared for a moment. "Did you two just apparate?"

Sunset stopped giggling and visibly shuddered. "Oh Celestia, no. I wouldn't poke that mess of a spell with a ten foot pole. This was a proper teleport. By someone who knows what they're doing."

Molly wasn't entirely sure if she should feel insulted. Now that she thought about it, flashes of light weren't normally a part of apparition. Still there were things to do so she filed the thought away for later. "Well we should probably get going, we still have some more shopping to do. Do you two want to tag along?"

The two girls shared a gaze.

"Evalnuus saruhn?"

Sunset shrugged. "Ertnarek."

Hermione nodded, turning back to Molly. "Sure."

[RVS]16 - Burrowing Deeper

Chapter Sixteen

Burrowing Deeper

In a marked repetition of the previous day, the two followed the Weasleys on their shopping trip. When they were getting potion supplies at the apothecary, Sunset suddenly stopped, reaching into her bag.

After they had returned the evening before, she made sure to set up alarm charms for both her journals, so that she wouldn't miss a message again. One of those spells had just triggered. She pulled out the journal she used to communicate with Harry. Opening it she read.

Hey Sunset, are you there?

She pulled out a pen and answered.

Yes, I'm here, why?

Where are you right now?

The apothecary in Diagon Alley. Wanna come too?

I'd love to.

You in the alleyway yet?

I am.

Okay. Stand by. Be right there.

She closed up the book. "Philomena could you wait here for a moment. I'll be right back."

Trilling softly, Philomena took off from her shoulder. A moment later, the air around the girl wavered and she disappeared with nary a sound.

Having heard the flapping of wings, Molly, Ginny and Ron came around the corner, just catching the end of her vanishing. Molly sighed. "There she goes again."

"Cor, I still can't believe she can do that."

"I wonder where she went."

"I suspect," Hermione spoke up from beside Ginny, "that she went to fetch Harry. That right Philomena?"

Alighting on her shoulder, the disguised phoenix nodded.

"Harry?" Ron, Ginny and Molly asked as one.

"Potter." Hermione nodded.

"Potter?" The three chorused again?

"Are they trying to one-up us, brother?" came a voice from a few shelves down.

"I think they are," another answered.

"That cannot stand," They exclaimed in unison. Ron, Ginny and Molly sighed. Hermione just giggled. This family was fun.

The air wavered again and two people appeared, once more without a sound. Sunset was now accompanied by Harry, whom Hermione promptly hugged in greeting. Sunset watched with a smile. "Allow me. Harry, these are Ron and Ginny Weasley and their Mother. Fred, George and Percy, their older brothers, should be around here somewhere. Guys, this is Harry Potter."

Harry was, evidently, still recovering from being transported halfway across the country in the blink of an eye directly into a hug. The transit itself had been extremely smooth, but hugs were still new to him.

After Harry and the Weasleys had recovered from their shock and finished greeting one another, they finished their shopping. By then, it was closing in on noon and Mrs. Weasley insisted that the three come over for lunch.

Five minutes later the six Weasleys and their three guests stood in front of the Fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. Mrs. Weasley was introducing them to the concept of traveling via fireplace. "Have any of you traveled by floo before?"

Sunset looked on in fascination. "So that's what that's called. I've seen it before, but never used it."

Once Harry and Hermione indicated something similar, Molly continued to explain. "It's rather simple, you take a bit of floo powder, wizards usually keep a bowl of it near any chimney connected to the floo network. Breathe in, throw the powder into the fire, step in, and state your destination without breathing in. If you do that, you'll get a mouthful of ash and won't be able to talk clearly.

"I'll let my kids go first, I'll go last. The destination, in this case, is 'The Burrow'. Watch."

Percy dutifully stepped forward, taking a pinch of floo powder from the bowl and throwing it into the fire. The happily crackling flames turned a bright emerald green. He took a breath and stepped in. "The Burrow," he calmly stated. The flames flared up and he vanished.

Fred, George, Ron and Ginny then repeated the process. Sunset had cast her aura sight charm again and was watching the process carefully, she saw how the floo powder burned up in a split second, releasing its magic into the flames, turning it into a nascent arcane phase gateway and, in the process, removing the heat as well. Once a destination was stated, the gateway connected to a terminus on the other end and flared open, taking whomever was standing there with it. Judging by the similarities, she would guess that it was inspired by the flame travel of phoenixes.

She stepped up next, keeping her spell active, she took a pinch of powder and a deep breath, threw the powder into the fire, creating a nascent gateway, stepped in and calmly spoke. "The Burrow." And off she went.

A normal floo traveler would have focused on the various fireplaces that came into view and flew past, but Sunset was focused on the phase energy streams of the portal around her. This was noticeably slower than phoenix travel, she also noted an energy resonance building up within her as she traveled, bleeding off into kinetic energy. Understanding that, she realized that she would exit out of the other terminus of the gateway at considerable speed and braced herself accordingly.

Ron and Ginny had taken positions on two arm chairs on either side of the fireplace, while Fred and George claimed the couch across from it. Watching new floo travelers land always made for an amusing show. Even Percy couldn't escape its attraction, leaning against the far wall.

The Fireplace flared green and, in a flare of red and yellow, Sunset and Philomena emerged. The latter was now without her disguise and visible in all her proud glory, flying out of the fireplace in a graceful arc and gliding around the room in a circle.

Sunset meanwhile was flying towards the floor. As she had trained countless times, she tucked into a roll. Then, at her lowest point, she pushed off with her arms and flew in an arc over the couch and the heads of the stunned twins, twirling into a spiral with a slight bit of magic, and landing on her feet behind it, her arms stretched out. Amusement clear on her face, she bowed and walked over to lean against the wall beside Percy.

The Weasleys were stunned, Sunset and Philomena had certainly given them a show. Not the show they had been expecting, but a show none the less. After a moment's stunned silence, they broke into applause, while Philomena landed lightly atop Sunset's head, giving off an amused trill.

They stopped their applause when the fireplace flared green again. In a mix of blue and brown, Hermione appeared. Having taken part in the same Parkour training, she rolled like Sunset had, rising back to her feet before the couch, twirling on one foot and landing without losing momentum on the couch between the twins.

Sunset gave her a proud smile, as the Weasleys applauded again.

In another flare of green, Harry appeared, flying out of the fireplace faster than the two others had, straight towards Hermione on the couch. With a pulse of magic, she pushed herself up and caught him in a hug, breaking his fall as they both tumbled back to the couch.

Sunset, in turn lit up her magic, giving the couch a slight shove as it threatened to fall over backwards. The moment it stopped moving, the fire flared green again and Mrs. Weasley calmly stepped out of it. She looked at the soot spread out in front of the living room and sighed. Pulling out her wand, she pointed it at the soot. "Scourgify."

Sunset, having not yet deactivated her scanning spell, saw how the charm removed the soot. It seemed to be little more than a selective vanishing charm.

"Kids, why is there a phoenix in the living room?"

Sunset chuckled. "That's Philomena. Good to know that floo travel removes the disguise."

"You have a phoenix?!"

"Yup, hatched her when I was four, raised her ever since."

"Mister Ollivander is making Sunset a wand with one of her feathers," Hermione added as she disentangled herself from Harry.

Adjusting his glasses, Harry looked at her more closely. "Say, Hermione, weren't your eyes brown yesterday?"

"They were. Turns out becoming a unicorn has side effects. Who would have guessed?"

Suddenly seven voices spoke as one. "Hold on. Unicorn?!"

Sunset burst into giggles. 《Way to go, sis. Think we should tell them?》

《Why tell, when we can show?》

《Fair enough.》With a smirk, Sunset walked into the center of the room and transformed.

For a moment, the Weasleys just stared at her in silence, then came a shout of 'Mine!' and Sunset suddenly found herself in Ginny's lap, her hands scratching behind her ears.

"Yeah," Hermione explained with a giggle, "I'm still learning to do that."

"Okay," Percy managed after a few moments, "you have some kind of strange apparition spell that isn't apparition, you have a phoenix and you're an animagus. Any other surprises we should know about?"

Sunset forced herself to answer. "Maybe? Dunno. Can't think. Too comfortable."

"Good job, Ginny." One of the twins intoned.

"You broke our guest."

With a laughing trill, Philomena landed on Ginny's shoulder.

Mrs. Weasley just sighed after a moment. "Oh let her have her fun, just make sure to stop her so she's coherent when lunch is ready." With that, she walked off to prepare the meal.

The Weasley boys dragged Harry off to do ... something ... Sunset didn't know what. She was too relaxed to care. Hermione seemed to quietly amused, and Ginny, it seemed, was enjoying herself.

Time flew by, without either of them caring much. Only when Mrs. Weasley called that lunch would be ready in five minutes, did Ginny let up. Still it took a moment, for Sunset to regain coherency.

Finally, Hermione spoke up. 《Is it really that pleasant?》

《That it is. Just wait and see.》

《Not exactly conducive to coherent thought, though.》

《Not even remotely.》

"Wait you can talk like that?"

They turned to Ginny. "Of course, why wouldn't we?"

"Animagi can't talk in their animal forms."

"Well those animals can't talk either, can they? They don't have the necessary physiology to do that."

"But you do?"

"Evidently."

Sunset got back to her hooves, stretching out like a cat, startling a giggle out of Ginny and Hermione who quickly conjured a small shield platform next to the couch for her to jump to. She did just that, jumping over to it and then off it, flipping both times before transforming in mid air to land on her hands, push off again and land once more, on her feet this time. Hermione just giggled. "Show off."

Sunset smirked, walking over and holding a hand out to Ginny. "Now, I do believe there is lunch to be had. Shall we?"

Ginny giggled again, took the offered hand and pulled herself up, followed quickly by Hermione. "Let's go. Knowing the boys we'll have to go get them from the Quidditch pitch anyway." She walked over to the back door and looked out over the large orchard behind it. Seeing several dots in the air, she nodded. "Yup, there they are, come on then." She turned back inside. "Mum! We're gonna go fetch the boys!"

"Thank you!"

A minute later, the three stood on the edge of a clear field, watching Ron, the twins and Harry flying around on broomsticks, throwing a ball back and forth. Sunset and Hermione grinned at each other.

《I take the twins, you take Harry and Ron?》

When she got a nod from Hermione, Sunset disappeared in a flash of light, Hermione followed a second later.

Ron was enjoying himself immensely. Harry was an impressive flier for someone who was doing that the first time. He was startled when his broom suddenly sagged down.

"Lunch is ready," a voice called from behind him. A moment later, the broom went back up.

Ginny watched in amusement as Hermione and Sunset teleported onto her brothers' brooms and delivered the message, finally Hermione vanished completely and Sunset reappeared before her with a smirk. A moment later there was another flash of teal and they were back at the house.

"That's three of your brothers," Sunset pointed out, "one left."

"Out of those that are here anyway."

The two older girls turned to Ginny with questioning expressions. "Well, I have six brothers not four. The two oldest are already out of Hogwarts and working abroad. Bill is in Egypt working as a Curse Breaker for Gringotts and Charlie is in Romania studying dragons."

"I see. Still, we need to fetch Percy. Unless you want me to go fetch them as well."

"You can't apparate that far, can you?"

"Teleport, not apparate. And no. I can't. Not to Egypt anyway, pretty sure I'd manage Romania in my natural form. But I'm pretty sure Philomena can."

"Oh right, I'm still getting used to you having a phoenix. Well, let's go then. Percy will be in his room. It's across from mine."

With that, Ginny walked back into the house and over to the stairs. With a final look up at the building's crooked structure – They had both used a spell to visualize the magic keeping it standing and found it sufficient – they walked in and followed her. Getting Percy was a simple matter of knocking on his door and telling him that lunch was ready.

With nine people, Lunch at the Weasleys' was a rather large affair. Still, there was enough for everyone and it was quite tasty. Sunset quietly thought that Mrs. Weasley could probably give half of the castle chefs a run for their money.

Hermione was enjoying the meal as well, but also kept careful watch of the Weasley children and their mother. This was a unique chance to learn about how wizarding families lived, and she wasn't going to let it slip past her.

Harry was simply enjoying the food. It was good, better even than anything he could remember eating, and genuinely nourishing. If he ate enough now, he might not go hungry later.

Judging by how often she remarked on how thin he was and insisted on giving him extra, Mrs. Weasley certainly wouldn't stand in the way of that. All in all he was quite content.

Mrs. Weasley calmly ate her lunch, but also carefully studied her guests. Hermione was eating normally, but seemed to also be keeping a close eye on her and her children, observing everything they did. Sunset seemed to be eating slowly, carefully tasting every bite and genuinely enjoying it. Harry was eating rather fast, looking like he hadn't had a proper meal in days. Judging by how thin he was, Molly suspected he hadn't. She couldn't let that stand. If at all possible, she would make sure to invite him over more often.

Ron was eating at immense speed, as he usually did. He considered the guests, as he did. Sunset had a phoenix, that alone was impressive. She also seemed to be physically fit and magically skilled. Where she could have learned all of that was beyond him, but he didn't care. Hermione was interesting. She was clearly muggleborn, yet she didn't bat an eye at all the magic happening around her, occasionally even joining in. He suspected that Sunset had taught her. Harry seemed to be an okay bloke, and he had an impressive talent for using a broom. Ron would have to get in some training with him.

Percy was caught up mainly in the political implications of Sunset having a phoenix. That alone would cause a shift in the magical landscape. The only one to have had a phoenix with him in well over a century was Headmaster Dumbledore. What did that say about Sunset? And where did she come from? Her name clearly wasn't British and she kept speaking to Hermione in a language he didn't understand.

Fred and George were thinking about ways to prank Sunset, she seemed like the kind who could take it. If her statements were anything to go by, they would have to look out for her retaliation, and she was good. They wouldn't be beaten at their own game.

Ginny was simply content having met two new girls whom she could befriend. That they could turn into adorable, colorful unicorns was simply a bonus. Well, one of them could, but the other would gain the ability in due time. That they would go off to Hogwarts and leave her behind was a pity. But they had a phoenix, surely they could stay in contact.

[RVS]17 - Passing Time

Chapter Seventeen

Passing Time

The next few days passed in a whirlwind of activity for all involved. The morning after, being a Saturday, they introduced Dan to the Weasleys while Emma was taking care of the clinic and were, in turn, introduced to Mr. Weasley. He was taller and slimmer than his wife and wore a suit and hat, he had the same red hair all his family seemed to share.

He hadn't believed his family when they told him about Philomena, seeing him corrected was quite amusing. After showing Harry the day before, the Weasley boys took it upon themselves to introduce Sunset and Hermione to broom-based flight.

"So," One of the twins started. "The brooms listen to-"

"-basic vocal commands. Like."

"Up!" The first twin's broom flew up to meet his hand.

"Or Come!" The other's broom flew out of the shed and met his hand.

"If a broom is used by only one witch or wizard,"

"it absorbs part of the rider's personality and forms a closer bond."

"That's why you wouldn't want to use one of ours."

"If a broom is used by a lot of different riders,"

"it absorbs a complete mess of contradicting character traits."

"Which is why the school brooms at Hogwarts are such a hot mess."

Both of them jumped on their brooms.

"Now to actually flying. Jump on." The speaking twin pointed at Bill's and Charlie's brooms lying at the girls' feet.

Both girls looked down at the brooms, Hermione at Charlie's with slight trepidation, Sunset at Bill's with eagerness. Both spoke a single command. "Up!"

Bill's broom responded immediately, allowing Sunset to get on, Charlie's took a moment, but then jumped up as well, letting Hermione jump on.

"Good. Now you push the front of the broom down to go down."

"And pull it up to go up."

With a slight pull, both girls were floating a few meters in the air, once more level with the twins.

"Push it to the right to go right."

"And to the left to go left."

After a moment both girls were strafing left and right, getting a feel for maneuvering the brooms.

"You lean forward to go forward."

"And back to go back."

The girls were suddenly a lot closer to the twins, before backing away again.

"Like that, yes."

"And leaning left and right lets you turn."

"Go and have a try for a while."

What followed was a lot of flying at low altitude, weaving around trees and, somehow, avoiding any crashes. Even the twins weren't exactly sure how that was possible. The girls weren't natural fliers like Harry was, but they did have a certain grace to their maneuvers. They weren't extremely skilled, but they had their brooms under control.

Soon enough, the two started chasing one another, and not long after, the twins joined in.

The twins won the chases, obviously, seeing how they had far more experience, but the girls had a great time regardless.

On Sunday, some time before lunch, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sunset were sat in the orchard at the Burrow with their wands out (safe Sunset, who would simply use her horn instead) and The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) open between them. Sunset and Hermione had done some reading up on Earth's magical theory the evening before and were prepared to adapt their techniques for the local type of spellcraft.

Soon, calls of 'Lumos' echoed through the clearing. Before long a bead of white light appeared atop Sunset's horn, followed barely five seconds later by one at the tip of Hermione's wand, their prior training and theoretical knowledge had proven a great help.

With their help, Harry and Ron soon managed the charm, but it was clear, that the two could only profit from being taught some magic the Equestrian way. If anything, they would end up knowing both, like the girls.

Both Dan and Emma came over for lunch. Finally, both their families knew each other fully, save for Bill and Charlie. Sunset couldn't help but smirk as she considered the latter two. There might be an option there.

After lunch, the four soon-to-be-first-graders reconvened back in the orchard. Instructing the boys to put their wands away, Sunset and Hermione each conjured an orb of light. The same spell Sunset had used to teach Hermione when they first started practice all those months ago.

Seeing how the only thing they had to do was to occasionally re-conjure an orb when one of the boys lost focus, sightly decreasing its internal reservoir and, in turn, making the exercise just a little harder every time they did, they sat down in the grass, or in Ginny's lap in Sunset's case, lettingher pet the little unicorn – carefully telling her to leave out the ear scratches – and got to reading their new books. Sunset got out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them while Hermione focused on One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

It took a few hours, and about half an hour longer than it had taken Hermione, but eventually the boys managed to keep the orbs stable even after the girls had removed the internal reservoir completely.

Sunset smiled at Harry, before turning to Ron and Hermione. 《How's he doing?》

《Stable without a reservoir.》

"Good, Good." Sunset turned to the two boys. "Well, it seems you have mastered this exercise and there is no way for us to make it any harder-"

"Wait! Wait! Hold on. You were making it harder all this time?"

They all looked at Ron, even Harry and Ginny. "Well, yes. If we didn't you'd have kept the orbs stable hours ago. Why do you think it kept getting harder? Training doesn't usually make you worse at things."

"How?"

Harry nodded. "That's actually something I'd like to know as well." Even Ginny looked up from where Sunset and Hermione had left her with the books to help the boys, listening carefully.

She smiled. "Well, it's simple really. We first conjured the lights with an internal reservoir. An energy storage they could feed from, you actually fed your power into that storage. If you couldn't keep your power stable, lost focus for a second, the reservoir could feed the magic until you recovered. It might flicker a bit, but it would stay intact."

"Over time," Hermione continued, "we watched you improve. When you lost focus, we would re-conjure the orb. Every time with a slightly smaller reservoir. The ones you've been working with for the last half hour or so, had no reservoir at all. If you stopped feeding them power, they went out. Immediately."

"So," Harry began slowly, "this was an exercise of ... focus?"

Sunset nodded. "Yes. Well, that and reliably drawing on your magic. If you try and cast Lumos again, you'll find it to be a lot easier."

"Lumos." Ron's eyes widened. "Hey, you're right!" He looked at his glowing wand for a few more moments. "Hey, what was the spell for getting it to go out again?"

"That was Nox, Ron," Hermione reminded him.

"Oh, right. Nox."

A light from their side caused them all to turn and look. "Sunset?"

Sunset looked at them after gazing at the point of white atop her horn for a moment longer. "Oh, sorry. I was just trying to figure out how hard it would be to cast Lumos without talking." She paused for a moment, gazing at the light again. "Not that hard, it turns out." A moment later the light faded. "You should try it."

And so they did. Hermione managed it in only a few moments. Harry and Ron took a few minutes longer, but before long, they were all casting the spell silently. They noted that silent casting made the spell less stable, necessitating more mental focus to keep it stable.

The two boys were quite intrigued to learn more Equestrian magic. After a few moments of discussion, they forewent the basic light spell Sunset had taught to Hermione until the two of them could devise of a way to combine Equestrian and Earthen casting techniques and create a spell that combined the properties of the Equestrian spell and Lumos into one.

Instead, they proceeded to teach the boys the basic, Equestrian kinesis charm. Doing so, they also got to see the boys' aura colors. Harry's was a bright yellowish green while Ron's was a deep royal blue. Unlike Hermione's initially had, both loosely matched their eye colors, though Ron's was a lot more vibrant than his eyes were.

Once more, Sunset retired into Ginny's arms in pony form and Hermione sat down beside the younger girl holding her sister. This time, however, all three were watching the boys carefully, using the aura sight charm Sunset and Hermione so enjoyed. Sunset helpfully offered to cast it on Ginny as well.

Suffice it to say that Ginny got rather caught up in watching the flows and eddies of the ambient magic field, a distraction that many first time users of that particular visualization charm succumbed to.

Harry and Ron spent a few moments looking for something to levitate, until Hermione helpfully suggested levitating their wands. It would not only help them practice wandless magic, but also help their wands grow more accustomed to their magic.

Once more, they took a bit longer than Hermione had, but before day's end, both boys had managed the charm. Mrs. Weasley was quite startled to see her son come through the kitchen door, his textbook floating behind him.

Monday passed in much the same way as Sunday had. This time Fred and George joined in. Both to help with learning the Earthen charms and to learn the Equestrian ones themselves and get in some cuddle time with the Sunset as well. Ginny begrudgingly accepted their argument that she had hogged her for the past two days. Hermione, meanwhile, used the time the boys spent practicing to continue her work on gaining the ability to assume her own pony form at will.

In that vein they continued for not only Monday, but also Tuesday morning. They would have continued for longer yet, but an unexpected visitor got in the way of that.

Everyone looked up when the screech of an owl announced the new arrival. Sunset got up and flowed into her human form. Following the guidance of its mail charm, the owl homed in on Sunset, landing on the offered arm. Stretching out a leg, it offered a sealed letter, flying off once it's delivery had been accepted.

Sunset looked at the letter, finding it bearing nothing but her name written in a fanciful cursive and yet another seal she didn't recognize, three crossed wands, framed by two bent olive branches on the bottom and sides and a stylized scale, feather and hair above the tips of the wands. None of them knew the seal, but it didn't take a genius to find out the sender.

Opening the letter, Sunset pulled out a folded piece of paper, holding the same flowing script.

Dear Miss Shimmer,
I am writing you this message to inform you
that I have finished work on the wand you have
ordered. You may retrieve it at your convenience
in my store at 34 Diagon Alley, London. The
price, including the additional fee for custom
work, is six galleons after subtracting the
deposit you have already paid.

Yours sincerely,
Garrick Ollivander

"Well, time to go get my wand then." Sunset smirked, looking up from the letter. "Good thing Emma left me some galleons to make sure I could pay for it. I guess another trip to Diagon Alley is in order." She folded the letter, placed it back in its envelope and placed both in her bag. Then she held out her arm once more, closing her eyes for a moment to focus on the connection she shared with her familiar.

With a burst of flame and a majestic trill, Philomena appeared in the air, her wings spread widely. It only took her a few gentle flaps to land lightly on the offered arm.

"Knows how to make an entrance, she does," Ron offered from behind, receiving an amused trill in return.

"Philomena, would you be so kind as to flame us to the warded alley by the Leaky Cauldron?"

Another trill and a flash of flame later, the seven stood in the dark alley. Sunset once more disguised Philomena as an eagle, and the group set off to the pub around the corner.

Sunset, took the opportunity to check if she could open the portal into the alley without a wand. The answer was a clear 'yes'. Before long, the seven of them entered the dusty gloom of Ollivander's, standing once more between the shelves that held hundreds of boxes.

"Ah, I suspected I wouldn't have to wait long. Still, I only sent the letter an hour and a half ago. I am impressed." Harry, Hermione, Sunset, Fred and George had expected Mr. Ollivander's sudden appearance and kept their composure. Ron and Ginny had not been thusly prepared, both of them jumped. "I'll get to you in a minute, but first. Miss Shimmer, give me one moment, I have your wand in the back, I'll be right back."

The moment Ollivander stepped through the door leading back to his workshop, holding a long box in his hand, both Sunset and Philomena spun around, their eyes glued to the box. Watching them carefully, Ollivander smiled in satisfaction. "It would seem that our endeavor was successful."

The moment the old wand maker pulled the lid off the box Sunset gazed down at the wand. In the box, on a black velvet cushion, sat the wand, ornately carved from a rich, reddish-brown wood.

"Cherry and Phoenix Feather, eleven and a quarter inches, springy, power and potential in one. I don't believe we could have found a better match." As he spoke, Sunset held her hand out towards the box. Without her even touching it, the wand jumped into her hand. Her eyes lit up with golden fire and she pointed the wand upwards to the ceiling. Twin comets of red and gold shot up from its tip, trailing sparks as they flew upwards circling ever closer around each other. A few inches below the ceiling they finally collided, exploding into a perfect copy of the image on Sunset's bags formed from red and gold flames. An image, the Weasleys and Harry had noted, that was also found on the flanks of Sunset's pony form.

When the glowing symbol faded and Sunset's eyes had returned to normal, everyone but her took a collective breath, seemingly having forgotten to breathe while staring at the show.

While everyone else was awestruck, Ollivander was speechless. Getting an entire extra level of magical perception from his wards, had revealed the flames as a powerful form of something not unlike the patronus charm. In fact, the entire shop was still flooded with its power. "A perfect match indeed. I am certain you will go far, Miss Shimmer. Far indeed." He took a moment to center himself, before turning to the others.

"Now, Miss Granger, Mister Potter, I do hope your wands are serving you well." After receiving affirmatives, he turned to the two redheads of the group. "Now Mister Weasley, I've been wondering when you would come by."

"What? Oh no, I can't. I'm using Charlie's old wand. A new one wasn't in the budget."

"Ah, yes. Twelve inches, Ash and Unicorn Hair. A good wand, certainly. But loyal to a fault. I'm afraid you will not find much success with it. Wands made of ash ought not to be gifted on. Especially with a unicorn core."

Sunset listened carefully, placing her hand on her chin and rubbing its underside with her thumb, a gesture she had adopted from Dan. "We'll see what we can do about that."

Ron was about to start protesting, but Harry put a hand on his shoulder, quieting him to allow Ollivander to continue. "And Miss Weasley, I can see that you are ready to bear a wand, but I'm afraid that the law does not allow it without special permission. I shall have to write to Professor Dumbledore. Perhaps he can help with that."

Author's Note

There we go, Sunset has her wand. As promised, the additional stats:

Her wand is a focus of 87%

With a wand her medium-range teleports can reach 4.1km and her long-range teleports can reach 7060km. (Be advised that all of these are rounded values)

[RVS]18 - Wand Wonders

Chapter Eighteen

Wand Wonders

Ginny stood there, completely stunned. She had long since accepted that she would have to wait another year to go to Hogwarts. Sure, she would complain, but in truth, she knew that there was no way to go to Hogwarts before she was eleven, which wouldn't happen for another year. She was still only nine and almost a week away from being ten.

Yet Ollivander said she was ready to wield magic now? To own and use a wand? While her gaze was still affixed to the old wand maker, she saw, at the edge of her vision, how Sunset's eyes lit up as they always did when she wanted to see magic. Seeing Sunset's eyes widen and a smile spread across her face, Ginny absently registered that Sunset had to have found the same thing Ollivander had.

"You're right. Guess I'll have to start training you as well, huh Ginny?" She turned back to Ollivander. "Do you want Philomena to deliver the message?"

"That would be most kind. I do suspect it will be more than an hour still before my own owl returns. And given the paper work involved, I suspect the headmaster will appreciate a speedy delivery. Give me just a few moments to pen the letter."

With that, the old man moved to go back to his workshop, leaving the seven children alone in the shop for the moment. Ron was looking between his sister and his wand. Fred and George were looking back and forth between Ginny and Sunset. Ginny herself was still dumbstruck in the center.

Sunset, Harry and Hermione watched the Weasleys' reactions with mild amusement, leaning against the counter. Sunset still held her wand and was experimentally channeling her magic through it, finding it to be a rather interesting experience. Her wand could channel her magic incredibly easily. Twice again as easy as her horn, but it was far less flexible and she suspected that she would have to practice casting even just two spells at a time with it. It was truly worthy of being called a focus.

She also noted how directionally focused it made her magic. Casting a simple levitation charm she observed that she needed to actively disperse the magic for the spell to affect anything that wasn't within a thirty degree cone around the direction the wand was pointed. Had she been asked to put it in words she would have called it 'efficient, but constrained'.

She opened her bag, using her wand to float out the galleons Emma had given her to pay for it. She still marveled at how easy it was. The wand didn't glow like her horn or hands did whenever she used her kinesis. Only a faint teal glow at the tip indicated that it was channeling magic. The aura around the coins themselves, however, was the same envelope of teal light it always was.

Deciding to practice her focus while Ollivander was busy writing the letter, she took the six coins and separated them into two stacks of three, then let them fly in two linked rings before splitting them up into three rings with only two coins each. In that fashion she went through various patterns, letting the coins assume various formations as they flew before and around her. When she felt Ollivander approaching again, sensing his connection to the wards from the scanning spell she still had active, she let the coins form a line and stretched out a hand, letting the six galleons form a neat stack in her open palm.

Just seeing the end of her exercise and having felt her fine control through the wards, Ollivander smiled as he came through the door again. "Bravo, Miss Shimmer. Impressive control. You have studied magic before, haven't you?"

Sunset smiled and nodded. "I have studied since I was four, yes."

"And you are eleven now? Oh my, you have quite a complete magical education, then?"

"Back where I am from, I am one of the most accomplished spell casters known." She didn't bother to hide her pride. "Of course, here the magic taught is fundamentally different. Your understanding of magical translocation is almost painfully crude from my perspective, but in the week I've had extensive contact with the local magical community I've already learned of a few spells that simply don't have any equivalent in my homeland. Especially combative magic seems to be far better understood here."

"So you seek an exchange of knowledge?" When Sunset nodded, Ollivander smiled. "Good, I do suspect both communities can only profit from such a thing." Shaking his head, he refocused on the small envelope in his hands. "Here, if you would be so kind as to have your phoenix send this to Professor Dumbledore."

Sunset took the letter and wordlessly held it up to the disguised phoenix on her shoulder. With a pleasant trill, Philomena held out a wing to the envelope, a golden flame dancing at the tip of the longest primary. The moment the flame reached the letter, it was consumed in a flash of golden fire, leaving Sunset's hand empty and, much to the Weasleys and Harry's astonishment, entirely unharmed.

Calmly lowering her hand as Philomena folded her wing back up, Sunset smiled. "Now I believe I owe you some money, don't I?"

Albus Dumbledore was just on his way back from sharing lunch with the rest of the faculty, when a flash of golden fire in the air before him startled him. With a practiced hand, he caught the letter, recognizing the seal. Wondering what his old friend might want and how he had gotten Fawkes to send the letter, Albus broke the seal, extracted the letter and began to read.

Dear Albus,
How have you been recently?

I'm writing you now to let you know of a
Situation you might want to take action on.
Earlier today I finished a wand for a
customer. I suspect you have heard of
Miss Shimmer. Seeing how she has a
Phoenix at her disposal, I suspected she
would come by rather promptly.
I was not disappointed. She arrived
minutes after receiving my letter,
bringing Mister Potter, Miss Granger
and the four youngest Weasleys with
her. The situation I wish to inform you of
concerns the youngest of the Weasleys.

The daughter of the house shows great
promise and is, in my humble opinion,
ready to wield a wand and learn the art
of magic. Miss Shimmer seems to be in
agreement with me on that matter.
If you need any help on my end to get her
the permission to begin Hogwarts this year,
please let me know.

I suspect that by the time you finish reading this,
they will already have returned to the Weasley
Homestead, in case you wish to take a look for
yourself.

Your friend,
Garrick.

As he read, Dumbledore's eyebrows had climbed ever further up his forehead. The youngest child and only daughter of Molly and Arthur was ready to begin schooling this year instead of next? He had to check the book of admission.

A few minutes' brisk walk later, he arrived in one of the castle's smaller towers. The small, round room, held a single lectern, beautifully carved in the shape of an owl out of ancient, dark wood. Thanks to the extensive enchantments on not only the lectern, but also the leather-bound tome bearing the school's coat of arms atop it and the phoenix feather quill and the simple silver rod lying next to it, it looked pristine as though it had only been carved a day before, yet it was nearly a thousand years old.

With a careful hand, Dumbledore cracked open the ancient book, turning the pages in the ancient registry until he found the letter W. Once he had found the name Weasley, a few pages in it's own right, it only took him a moment to find the letter G and from there, find the line he was looking for. There, written in the blocky, mechanical script of the ancient quill, was the line of text he was looking for.

Weasley, Ginnevra Molly; August 11, 1981; ready for education

It was those last three words that confirmed Garrick's suspicion. Ginny was indeed ready to attend Hogwarts. He closed the book and began a mental list of all the paperwork needed for a special permission to attend Hogwarts a year early. It was an unusual event, but not unheard of.

Since ancient times, starting with the founding of the school, children had entered education at Hogwarts when they were ready. Only a few centuries ago, the, at the time, newly founded Ministry of Magic had mandated that all wizarding children were to attend the school starting at age eleven, regardless of when they were ready.

If such early talent was spotted, of course, exceptions could be made, as the headmaster, that was his prerogative. But no doubt the Ministry would make a fuss about it. He sighed as he considered the inevitable. He would have to, once again, remind them of their place.

He went on his way back to his office. There was work to do.

With a flash of flame, the seven children reappeared back in the orchard at the Burrow. Without much ceremony, Fred and George dragged Ron and Harry off to the Quidditch field, saying something about the two needing some sports practice after the studying of the previous two days.

Finally waking from her shell shocked condition, Ginny giggled. "You know, I never would have thought Ron and studying were words that went together."

As they watched the twins drag Harry and Ron off to their small Quidditch field, Sunset smirked. "Y'know, we really ought to introduce them to Parkour at some point."

Hermione nodded, but Ginny seemed lost. "Parkour? Is that an Equestrian thing?"

"No. It's a French thing. It's a kind of sport as well. We've been doing it for close to half a year now. Want us to show you?"

"Sure ...? I guess?"

"Okay then." With a wave of Sunset's hand, the air around the three warped and they vanished.

Looking around, Ginny got her first glance at a muggle living room. It took the other two girls several minutes before they could ask Philomena to deliver a message to Mrs. Weasley so she wouldn't worry and then get to their rooms to change into their exercise clothes.

The clothes were another bit of culture shock for Ginny, having been raised among wizards beyond the outskirts of a rural village in Devon, had not prepared her for what was a common sight among muggles in a suburb of Birmingham. She giggled when she realized that Sunset had her hair tied back in a ponytail. Hermione had hers in a single braid behind her, her ribbon woven into the braid as usual.

The tight fitting, knee long trousers and light, flexible shoes were ideal for maintaining freedom of movement, their equally tight shirts would be sure to stay where they should regardless of their position and make sure that during rolls of various kinds, they would not touch the pavement. With their expertise in magic, scratches were easily healed, but they were still unpleasant and inconvenient. The gloves they wore served the same purpose. Unaware of where they were going and what they were doing there, Ginny was rather confused by them.

"Why are you wearing gloves in August?"

Sunset and Hermione both smirked, the latter providing, "oh, you'll see," as the only answer. Moving to the front door, Hermione tapped the lock with a finger, unlocking it, and opened the door. The three stepped out and Sunset closed the door behind them, re-locking it with a snap of her fingers.

Ginny was still marveling at the casual use of magic when the two older girls broke into a leisurely jog. It was quickly revealed that the two were in far better form than Ginny was. She may have made a habit of breaking into the shed and practicing on her brothers' brooms, but flying hadn't trained her legs all too well. By the time they reached the small skate park, another concept she was completely unfamiliar with, Ginny was exhausted. She was still breathing easily, but her legs hurt.

Sunset, however, was in top shape and Hermione, too, was only slightly winded. For the next five minutes or so, they went through various stretches to limber up, then they began their usual practice routine.

To say that Ginny was impressed by their ability to simply jump over and slide under obstacles as though they weren't a hindrance at all, not to mention fall several times their own height and land unscathed, or combine a few techniques and traverse a wall twice their height while barely loosing momentum, would be a complete understatement. Suddenly, their skillful landings after their first floo travel made so much more sense.

Finally, they stopped and came over to sit down beside her, breathing heavily. Ginny simply stared at them. "How did you learn to do all that?"

The two took a few more moments to let their breathing calm down, then Sunset made to explain. "Well, our teacher showed us the sport in PE during my first week of school here. He said he picked it up on vacation in France. I decided that I enjoyed it and did some more research, then I started practicing."

"I joined in whenever I felt like it. I started doing it more regularly after the hols started."

Ginny took a moment to mentally parse the explanation, but kept running into a word she didn't understand. "Uh, what's PE?"

"Y'know, sports."

"Why do they call it that?"

"Short for Physical Education," Hermione helpfully supplied.

"Why not just call it sports?"

The girls both shrugged. "Beats me," Sunset admitted. "Anyways I mostly started doing this to keep in shape. So my magic gets stronger."

"What's that got to do with staying fit?"

"Uhh, physical fitness benefits magical strength. It's kinda common knowledge."

"It is?"

"It is where I'm from. It isn't here?"

"First I've heard of it."

"Well," Sunset started again after a few more moments, "let's head back. We can get back to the Burrow and get started on training your magic. You do have a bit to catch up on."

Still rather shell shocked by the day's revelations, Ginny dumbly nodded, getting up as well. "I still can't believe I might get to go to Hogwarts this year. I mean, I'm only nine!"

The two older girls shot her questioning looks. "I thought you were going to go to Hogwarts next year? Wouldn't you have to be eleven by then?"

"Eleven by September first. My birthday is on Monday, I'll be ten by the time Hogwarts starts."

"I see." Sunset suddenly wore a smile that could be generously described as 'mildly concerning'. "Ginny?"

"Yes...?"

"Your mother strikes me as the kind to throw her children birthday parties. Is that true?"

Worried by Sunset's sudden shift in behavior, Ginny quietly nodded, not daring to take her eyes off the girl.

"Good." Sunset rubbed her hands together. "I will have to coordinate with her."

"Uhh, Sunset. You're slightly worrying me."

From the girl's other side, Hermione put an arm around Ginny's shoulder. "Don't worry about that. It's a cultural thing. Apparently where she's from they have a habit of celebrating at every opportunity they get. So for big things like birthdays, the parties need to be more special. You should've seen what she did for mum's birthday."

"Why? What did she do?"

Hermione giggled quietly. "I'm tempted to tell you. But I really don't want to ruin the surprise."

[RVS]19 - Arrangements

Chapter Nineteen

Arrangements

Ginny was once more dumbstruck. After Sunset's mildly ominous behavior, everything had returned more or less to normal for the next few days. Sure, with the girls showing her not only magic but also Parkour, she hadn't exactly followed her usual routine, but it had felt like the most natural thing in the world regardless. Now, however, Ginny stood in the door leading from the Burrow's kitchen to the garden.

Her brothers and her mother stood gathered there, together with her new friends. Then Ginny noticed another familiar face. "Luna! You're here too?"

"Yes. A girl came by with a phoenix and asked if I wanted to come to your birthday party."

"That would be Sunset. She has a bit of a habit of doing that. How did she manage all this?"

"Well she didn't exactly do it alone." Ginny spun around to see Emma standing behind her, wearing a proud smile. "Hermione and Molly helped a good bit, and the twins were invaluable at making sure you didn't notice."

"Turns out we make a good distraction."

"Who could have guessed?"

More than used to her brothers' antics, Ginny simply rolled her eyes as she surveyed the gathered guests. It didn't take long before she noticed something was off. "Hey, where is Sunset?"

The gathered party guests shrugged.

"We only know that she-"

"-said something about-"

"-getting some surprise guests."

Everyone turned when there was a flash of flames at the edge of the gathering. There was Sunset, Philomena perched on her shoulder and two mildly bemused men stood behind her. It only took Ginny a second to recognize them. "Bill! Charlie!"

She rushed forward to greet her two grown-up brothers, enclosing them both in a tight hug that they gladly returned. The older and taller one of the two, wearing relatively light explorer's clothing, including a pith helmet, and small golden earrings, was the first to speak up. "It's nice to see you too sis. Happy Birthday."

The younger one of the two, a bit stockier, weather beaten and completely covered in freckles, only interrupted by several scars that marred his skin in multiple places, with long read hair, nodded as he still hugged his sister. "It's been way too long. Happy birthday sis."

Molly meanwhile was focused on Sunset, noticing the sandy brown dust in her hair. "How did you manage that?"

Sunset simply maintained her smug smirk. "I think Bill can explain it better than I can."

Seeing that he was suddenly the center of attention, Bill let go of his sister and took a seat at the large table that stood next to the house. "Alright. So I was in a pyramid, at work."

Bill stood in the underground chamber, his wand drawn to illuminate his surroundings. There, at the end of the chamber, no ten meters away, was the treasure. The treasure his employers wanted. The one he would get a cut from after completing his work. But there was a hindrance, an unseen obstacle standing between him and his prize.

A curse.

Of course there was a curse. These old tombs always held curses. They were the reason he was here in the first place. He was a curse breaker. Removing that hindrance was what they would pay him for. This particular curse was tricky. Nothing he couldn't deal with of course, but time consuming to break none the less.

He had been at work on unraveling it for two weeks now, another week, he estimated, and he would have it safely removed. There was a chance, of course, that the treasure itself might be cursed, but that would be someone else's problem. With a smirk, he got back to work removing the curse, weakening it, bit by bit. Engrossed in his work as he was he didn't notice the flash of light from the corridor he had entered through, nor did he hear the distant crackle of flame, or the footsteps slowly approaching afterward.

"William Weasley?"

He jumped. A voice had just spoken behind him. Before he could even turn around, his mind was going a hundred miles an hour. Almost absently he moved the matrix lines of the curse he was working on into a stable position and released his magical hold on them, he had been startled during his work before and it was dangerous to leave such an ancient spell unstable.

His mind quickly processed through what he knew. Both the survey team and he personally had scanned the entire tomb, cataloging every curse found, the one that was his current project was the only one left. Still it was possible that they had missed one. But how would a trap know his name? Legillimency came to mind, but that form of magic had only been invented fifteen centuries ago. This tomb was twice as old.

The voice had pronounced his name perfectly, without any discernible accent. The locals spoke Arabic, pronouncing his full name without accent was a feat beyond most of them. Not that the majority would bother to try anyway. Some of his colleagues could do it, but they would call him Bill.

Perhaps mental subversion was at work. A voice speaking in his own head. He had heard the reverberations off the walls, but those could be replicated with magic. It would explain hearing his own name. The trap might not know it, but he certainly did.

His thought process concluded just as he finished turning, his still glowing wand now pointing at a young girl. Her hair was a fiery red and blonde, her large, teal eyes were faintly glowing in the gloom of the chamber. She wore a modern leather jacket and a pale blue skirt, with leather boots and a messenger bag to round off the ensemble. There was also a phoenix perched on her shoulder.

Her clothing made no sense for this environment. Nor was there any reason she should be here. She had to be an illusion. His mind made up, he gripped his wand tighter. "Revelio!" A bolt of pale blue light erupted from the glowing tip of his wand, striking her square in the chest. Nothing happened. The girl raised an eyebrow, the phoenix tilted it's head.

No illusion then. A golem, perhaps? Tomb guardians were not unheard of. "Reducto!" A second bolt, a darker blue this time, shot forth from his wand, once more aiming for her chest. This time, she moved, twisting her upper body to the side. The long chamber gave the spell quite a way to fly, granting her more than enough time to dodge the spell.

She returned to her previous position, her eyes now narrowed, her hands glowed a faint teal and a glowing barrier sprung up between them. "That's about enough. You are William Weasley? Eldest son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley nee Prewett? Brother of Charles, Percival, Frederic, Georgius, Ronald and Ginnevra Weasley?"

Hesitantly he nodded.

"Good. My name is Sunset Shimmer. You are the one I came here for." Once more he grabbed his wand tightly. A silently cast charm revealed the shield that not only separated them, but also sealed him in the chamber, to be of significant strength, he could break it, but it would take him a moment. "Tell me, Bill, what day is it?"

"Monday, why?"

Both girl and bird rolled their eyes. "I mean the date."

"August eleventh. Again, why?"

"Tell me, Bill, what happened at your home, ten years ago to the day?"

Bill was confused for a moment. Ten years ago? At his home? His home here in Egypt hadn't been built ten years ago. She had to be talking about the Burrow. Suddenly he remembered. "August eleventh! Ginny's birthday!"

Sunset broke into a warm smile. "Exactly. I've come to get you and your brother for her birthday party."

"Isn't this a bit late?"

"Normally yes, but when you can travel the distance in seconds, there really isn't such a thing as too late, is there?"

"Right, phoenix. Still. I'd love to come, but I have work to do."

"You're a curse breaker, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I presume you need that curse-" She pointed at the area behind him, where the curse was anchored. "-broken?"

"Yes."

"One moment." With that she drew her own wand. "Luminis Salvatis." A pulse of golden light erupted from the tip of her wand, passing trough the entire chamber. The moment it passed through him, he felt a pleasant tingle, it felt similar to touching a patronus. The golden light coated the walls in a faint glow.

He looked back at the area that held the curse. All across the walls, in a deep purple, ancient runes were written on the old stone.

The girl seemed pleased. "There we go. I see. Interesting. Ah well, I can study it in more detail later. For now, tell me. Does this help?"

Bill took several moments to look at the intricacies of the curse he was dealing with. He could see several things that had been giving him trouble before. Laid bare as they were now, he could see how he could easily circumvent them. Even layers of the curse he hadn't even touched yet suddenly seemed trivially easy to break. Normally he would need to do more prep-work, but as it was, what he had already done was more than enough. "It does, one moment."

He once more pointed his wand, focusing on one rune in particular. "Acribeus." A bolt of silvery, blue light shot out from his wand, striking the arcane symbol and lighting it up the same color. "Torquis." A second bolt of light shot out at another rune, lighting it up as well and forming a fine, silvery chain between them.

The process repeated several times, leaving silvery chains criss-crossing a good portion of the chamber. "Now, for my favorite part." He snapped his fingers and all the chains went taught. A moment later, the glowing symbols ripped from the walls and shattered, disappearing along with the chains.

With crucial parts of it missing, the other runes of the curse quickly began to loose their purple shimmer, turning a dull black. After barely a minute, they dissolved into a black mist. He watched as the girl lit her wand again, a golden glow appearing at the tip. With a twirl of the wand, she summoned a shimmering light, picking up the air of the chamber in a golden glow and dispersing the mist.

Bill drew his wand to check and found that, indeed, the remnants of the curse were gone. "Convenient. Normally I have to wait hours for this stuff to clear. Could you teach me that spell?"

"Which one?"

"Both, actually."

"Sure. But first we need to go get your brother. Philomena, if you would."

With an amused trill, the phoenix spread its wings and the three of them disappeared in a flash of flame.

"Uhh, how?"

Sunset shrugged. "Light magic, I can explain later. But tomorrow, okay? Today's about Ginny, not me. I think it's about time you knew my story anyways."

"That's alright dear," Mrs. Weasley assured her. "Would you mind if I invited some of your teachers at Hogwarts over? They'll probably want to know anyway."

"Sure thing. Anyway, Bill? Would you like to continue?"

"Fair enough. Well, we quickly popped over to Romania ..."

Bill took a moment to adjust. He had never traveled by Phoenix before. Sure, apparition was unpleasant, and portkeys and floo-travel were adventures all of their own, but in some way or another, they all provided a feeling that something was happening. Something he could interpret as motion.

Phoenix travel on the other hand, was jarringly seamless. One moment he was many meters underground in Egypt, the next he stood at the edge of a forest clearing somewhere in rural Romania. And nothing but a faint heat washing over him and a flash of light indicated to him that anything had happened at all.

By the time he got his bearings, Sunset had already surveyed their surroundings. It didn't take him long to follow her gaze and spot the scene a hundred meters ahead. Twelve wizards trying to subdue a massive dragon.

By the time he had spotted the wizards, Sunset was already pointing at one of them. "Is that Charlie?"

Looking at the wizard she had pointed out, it only took him a moment to verify her suspicion. "Yup. He looks kinda occupied right now."

"True enough. Let me think." She fell silent for a few moments, studying both the wizards and the dragon in more detail. "Tell me, the scales of dragons are resistant to magic, correct?"

"Yes." Bill was intrigued what this mysterious little witch was up to now.

"But their eyes are not?"

"No."

"Are their bones?"

"Not as far as I know, why?"

"And Charlie knows that?"

"After how long he's been working with dragons, I certainly hope so."

"Good."

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see.

Bill watched as she pulled out her wand once more and began following the handlers with its tip. It didn't take him long to realize she was aiming for Charlie.

"Accelro!"

Bill watched as a fine beam of teal sprang from her wand and hit right between Charlie's shoulder blades, just as he had stopped a good distance from the dragon to take a breath.

Charlie couldn't understand why, but suddenly, it was as though the world was hardly moving at all. He could see faint traces of motion in the flames the dragon was breathing against one of his friends, as well as in the hastily conjured shield that deflected them. But everything else was so slow it might as well not have been moving at all.

He didn't understand what was happening, but the dragon needed to be subdued. This was a chance he couldn't afford to miss. Normally a dragon's hide resisted magic so well that it would take dozens of stunning spells to drop one of this size, more than their small group could fire at once. But whatever was going on afforded him more options.

He knew that a wizard hit in the head with a stunning spell was usually out for several hours, while hitting a foot might not even completely stun them in the first place, going by that logic it was clear what he had to do. Seeing how there really was no hurry, he calmly strolled over until he was looking straight into one of the dragon's eyes. With great care, he pointed his wand, so the spell would hit the eye and, if he was lucky, perhaps even pass through into the brain. That was sure to keep even a dragon down and out for a good while.

"Stupefy."

A bolt of red shot from his wand and hit the dragon's eye. Seeing no change, he shot another one through the other eye, just to be sure. Then he calmly walked around the clearing, waiting to see if the mysterious effect would end.

After a moment, he spotted the two people standing a good hundred yards away. He saw, to his great astonishment, his own brother, Bill, standing next to a girl with fiery red and blonde hair with a phoenix on her shoulder.

As he walked closer, he could see the teal light at the tip of her wand. A wand that was pointed exactly where he had been standing when the mysterious effect had started.

Understanding dawned on him and a quick aura sight charm confirmed his suspicions, clearly showing the magic flowing from the wand to him. With a smirk, he drew his wand again, pointing it at hers. "Finite."

Bill was quite startled, to say the least, to see his brother suddenly standing next to him. "Gah! When did you get here."

Sunset simply giggled. "That was a speed spell. So I'd say, for him, some time in ... eh, the last ten minutes or so. For us, half a second ago."

Charlie turned to his brother, who was currently watching the dragon collapse behind him. "Who's that."

Bill recovered his wits and turned back to Charlie. "That's Sunset Shimmer, she's apparently a friend of Ginny's. She's here to pick us up for her birthday party. "

"She is?" The younger brother turned to Sunset. "You are?"

She simply smirked. "I am."

"Well, that one-" He pointed at the sleeping beast behind him. "-is gonna stay out for a while, so I think I should have time. Lemme just tell the blokes right quick"

When the two nodded, Charlie hurried over to his confused friends. He only took a minute or two to to talk to them. Then he returned. "So. We're going by phoenix then?"

"We are. Come let's walk for a bit. Professor McGonnagall told me not to let too many people know about her." As soon as they were out of sight from the other handlers, Sunset turned to the bird on her shoulder. "Philomena, if you would."

With a trill, the bird spread its wings. In a flash of fire, the group was gone.

[RVS]20 - Celebration

Chapter Twenty

Celebration

"And that's how we got here," Bill concluded his story. "Now. I think there is a party to be had?"

"Quite right," Mrs. Weasley agreed as she carried a large cake out of the kitchen. Ten candles sat prominently atop it.

From there, the celebrations went more or less by the book. Ginny managed to blow out all the candles at once, everyone had a piece of the cake, and from there the various guests began to mingle. Bill and Charlie spent most of their time telling the others what they had been up to and were, in turn, caught up to what had happened at the Burrow.

Seeing Sunset transform into a tiny, candy-colored unicorn was quite the shock for them. Seeing Ginny snatch her up and begin petting her amused them greatly. Seeing Luna, Ginny's childhood friend sit down beside her and do the same only made it better.

"You're right Ginny," Luna said absently, "this is nice." She smiled when the amber unicorn curled up in her lap, smiling contently. "I wonder what I'd look like as a pony?"

"Thestral probably," Sunset mumbled, too relaxed to speak clearly.

"Pardon?" Ginny turned to her amber friend in confusion.

Sunset shook her head slightly and turned to the girl petting her. "Luna, could you stop the ear scratches for a moment, I want to be able to speak clearly."

"Okay." Luna smiled happily and moved her hand to stroke the little unicorn's back instead.

"Thanks. I said you'd probably a thestral. A pretty rare, mostly nocturnal tribe of ponies. You strike me as the type. If you do end up one, we'll probably have to find another to teach you how to use their shadow magic, they're pretty secretive."

"Shadow magic?" Ginny seemed to be somewhere between worried and intrigued.

Sunset chuckled. "You might want to call it dark magic. But in this case 'dark' doesn't mean evil, but actually dark. Mind you, those two are not mutually exclusive, but most shadow magic isn't any more evil than what most wizards and witches use here. It's just unfortunate that thestrals like to call their shadow magic 'the dark arts' as well.

"Anyway, a good bit of unicorn magic is actually derived from their shadow magic. They were actually the first ones to figure out invisibility and teleportation. More or less the entire field of arcane phase theory is derived from their techniques. Not to mention a good chunk of illusions as well."

"So ..." Ginny tentatively spoke up. "You're not all unicorns then?"

"What? Oh no. Unicorns are one of the three great tribes, pegasi and earth ponies are the other two. I'll go into more detail tomorrow."

"Well okay then." Ginny shrugged and went back to petting the still sleeping Hermione. "And what colors would you think?"

Sunset shrugged. "Not sure, if I had to take a guess, I'd go with dark gray coat and light blonde mane and tail, but that's just a guess."

Ginny inclined her head slightly. "Hmm, I'll go with orange."

"Orange? Why orange?" Sunset stared at Ginny from Luna's lap, Luna herself also seemed to be mildly interested.

"I don't know ... she just seems orange to me."

"Well," Sunset smirked, "shall we find out?"

"Find out? How?"

"I don't think they'll mind if we're gone for a few minutes. Philomena?"

Philomena gave a trill from where she had perched herself on the backrest of the bench they were sitting on. After a brief flash of flame, the party had three young girls, a unicorn and a phoenix fewer.

Sunset took a deep breath as she looked around. Her tower suite was just as she remembered it. She had suspected that the palace staff would have done nothing but keep the room clean, but it was reassuring to have confirmation. She turned around and smiled a seeing Hermione's pony form again. It had been over a week since she'd last seen it.

Then she noticed the two others. She smirked. Ginny and her had both been right in a way. The charcoal gray thestral with a practically white mane and tail could only be Luna. She had to admit that the two orange stripes cutting the girl's white locks into three parts, twisting and turning as they did, suited her style quite nicely.

Ginny meanwhile, had kept her Weasley red hair for mane and tail, though now intermixed with streaks of a pale red, almost pink really, and a deep cherry red. The overall picture suited her quite well and matched rather nicely with her snow white coat and wings.

Both of them were lying on the ground as if asleep, but they were both stirring. The moment they turned to her, Sunset could see their eyes. Luna had kept her pale silvery eyes, but, of course, they were now the slitted eyes of a thestral, a fact that the color almost seemed to be made for. She was squinting her now much more sensitive eyes in the bright midday sun. Ginny, meanwhile, had her hazel eyes turn a bright amber, almost perfectly matching Sunset's coat.

Hermione stepped up next to Sunset, looking at the pegasus and thestral before them. "Well. You both came out rather nicely, didn't you?"

Both of them looked at their hooves, Ginny at a pearl white one, Luna at a charcoal gray one. Both of them shrugged. Sunset giggled. "One moment." With that she walked over to the bathroom, returning a moment later with a small hoof mirror held in her magic. She held it out to them so they could study their reflections.

"Hmm. I like those eyes. I can work with this."

"Yeah, I think I'm fine with this." They both tried to turn to one another, only to promptly fall, unfamiliar with the feeling of walking on four legs.

Hermione giggled. "Take it slow you two, just try walking slowly at first, it comes natural after a while."

The two followed her advice and carefully got up again. Both unicorns lit their horns, ready to catch their friends if they fell, but the two managed to stay on their hooves. Their walking was slow and unstable, but they managed it without falling.

While Luna sat down at a window, enjoying the panoramic view of Canterlot and beyond, Hermione refocused her efforts towards changing forms at will. After having made significant inroads towards that goal from the human side, she found it much easier to complete the process from the opposite end.

Sunset, meanwhile, placed her glowing horn on Ginny's forehead and told her to focus on the feeling of her magic. After training with the others for a few days, Ginny could feel Sunset's magic interfering with her own. She was confused for a few seconds until Sunset's magic reached a part of her essence she instinctively understood to be connected to her current form.

"You feel that?"

"Yeah. That's to do with this form, isn't it?"

"It is. Now hold onto that while I try to find the part of your essence that's connected to your human form."

Ginny did as asked and focused on the indicated part of her essence while she felt Sunset's magic move on to search once again. It wasn't long before Sunset found what she was looking for.

"There. Now focus on planning out a pathway between the two. Once you have that you can stop focusing without loosing any progress."

"So I'm basically planning a tunnel?"

"More or less. Actually that analogy works pretty well. The different aspect you're trying to connect are basically like caves in a mountain and you're trying to dig a tunnel between them."

Having finished her planning, Ginny opened her eyes. "So getting used to our new bodies when we first came here was basically cave exploration?"

"Basically, yes."

"And what happens when the tunnel is done?"

Both of them and Luna turned towards the bright green light that suddenly filled the room. Hermione's form was glowing and changing. She was floating off the ground and slowly returned to her human form. Suddenly, the light exploded away from her and she landed easily on the floor. "That."

With a giggle, Sunset turned to help Luna as well.

The gathered party goers turned as a flash of flame once more lit up the edge of the party. Hermione and Philomena appeared as they had left, but Sunset was once more in Human form and Ginny and Luna displayed subtle differences. Recognizing the symptoms, Emma, Dan and Harry simply rolled their eyes. The Weasleys, however, had never seen Hermione before her trip to Equestria and, in their, shock didn't immediately put the pieces together.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"We're fine mom," Ginny groaned, annoyance shining in her brilliant amber eyes. "We just took a quick trip to Equestria. Turns out that has some side effects. We'll got pony forms as well, but we're still working on keeping them over here."

"What kind of pony forms?" Ron asked, curiously.

"A pegasus and a thestral," Hermione helpfully supplied, prompting everyone to turn and look at where her and Sunset had once more assumed pony form.

"Does that mean they can fly?" Charlie asked, locking onto Sunset as the most likely source of an answer.

Sunset merely chuckled. "No. It just means they can learn it. They don't magically know how to fly from having wings. Once they figure out how to transform, they can get to that."

While the others were distracted, Sunset took the opportunity to take a closer look at the two younger girls. Like Hermione they had kept their new hair colors. Ginny had also kept her new eye color. Luna's eye color, of course, hadn't changed to begin with, but her pupils had returned to their original, rounded shape.

Once everyone had settled again, the party guests got back to mingling while Luna and Ginny got back to petting ponies, relishing the fact that they didn't have to share any more.

Looking at the sea green unicorn curled up in her lap, Ginny smiled. "You know, I could get used to this."

"This is fun." Luna agreed, turning to look at her friend. "Also I think you still have presents to open." She casually pointed a finger at a table at the edge of the party, where a small stack of presents lay unattended.

"Oh my, I can't believe we forgot about those," Mrs. Weasley called out, drawing her wand. "Acchio." The stack of presents floated over and neatly landed next to Ginny who set Hermione down to join Sunset beside Luna and got up.

It didn't take much to get Ginny started on unwrapping presents. Most of the presents were small items from the Weasleys' various distant relatives. Two stood out. The first was from her own parents, a pair of small silvery earrings, each studded with a single sparkling stone. Sunset, being familiar with various precious materials from the Palace in Canterlot, could easily recognize that they were made of comparatively cheap materials, but they were pretty regardless, their warm green stones nicely contrasting her hair. If anything the new range of colors only made the contrast better.

The other was a set of exercise clothes from the Grangers Ginny immediately recognized as matching those she had seen Sunset and Hermione wear during their Parkour training. Feeling the magic woven into the fabric, she immediately understood that it had the same protective charms as theirs.

When they had been practicing before, Sunset and Hermione had applied those charms to her manually. Now they wouldn't need to anymore. That way she could practice even when they weren't around.

Looking over the stack of presents and her gathered friends and family, Ginny grinned. This was her best birthday yet. The fact that Sunset, Hermione and Luna would be staying over for the night only made her happier.

[RVS]21 - History

Chapter Twenty-One

History

Molly Weasley woke up to the first rays of dawn, as she always did. She had offered the girls to fit Ginny's room with extra beds, but the four had happily declined. Seeing the Sunset and Hermione transform and curl up on the bed with Ginny and Luna laying down to either side of them had explained why.

Molly had silently vowed to have her teeth checked. That much sweetness couldn't be healthy.

As she made her way down the stairs, she was surprised to find a pair of expressive, teal eyes watching her through the partly opened door to the darkness of Ginny's room. She was surprised that Sunset was already awake. Giving the filly a nod, she made her way back down the stairs, missing Sunset lay her head back on Hermione's barrel and close her eyes. She might have been awake, but she wasn't in the mood to get up, especially if it meant leaving the comfortable bed.

Not to mention the others were still asleep. Sunset had no intention of waking them.

In the kitchen, Molly moved to make breakfast. She was operating mainly on autopilot, having gone through the motions so many times that she could practically do it in her sleep. Her mind was elsewhere, drawn back to the pair of eyes she had seen from the darkness of Ginny's room.

Sunset Shimmer.

She had known the girl for well over a week now, and still she was a walking riddle. She clearly had magical training, but none of her magic was remotely familiar to Molly. She spoke not unlike an American, but had a slight, almost British accent. Still, she vowed to not be from Britain and had claimed to never have visited the Colonies either. She and Hermione also occasionally spoke in a language only they seemed to understand.

Then there was the fact that whenever she went to that 'homeland' of hers – Equestria, she called it – she went there by phoenix. Wherever it was, it was clearly too far away for any other method of travel. Sunset had proven that she could apparate quite well after all, though she didn't call it that.

The phoenix was another mystery. Thus far she had only ever heard of one contemporary wizard with a phoenix. Albus Dumbledore. An immensely powerful and influential Wizard and a steadfast defender of the light. Was Philomena's presence a sign that Sunset was destined to something similar?

Sunset had claimed that she had hatched and raised Philomena and the bird, as far as Molly could tell, seemed to confirm that. That was of little help, however, as only Dumbledore and Fawkes knew how they had met.

Still, despite all the questions she had, Molly was rather content. After all, today she would get answers. Not to mention play host to some of Hogwarts' faculty. She had asked Philomena to give the letter she had written to Minerva. The answer had come promptly, sent back the same way and confirming that not only Minerva, but also Professor Dumbledore and a few others would come.

Yes. She would learn much today. And she could hardly wait.

Albus Dumbledore hummed happily as he made his way to the teachers' lounge. When school was out for the summer holidays, the professors took their meals there most of the time.

He would be visiting the Burrow today, to learn more about the mysterious Miss Shimmer. He knew that she was from a different dimension and had the ability to alter her species to fit in with humans. Muggles might have called that ability impressive, wizards called it animagus.

She clearly had advanced magical training. Perhaps today he would learn more about this 'Princess Celestia' and about Equestria as a whole.

His robes flowing in his wake, Dumbledore strode into the teachers' lounge. He would not be going to the burrow alone, when Minerva had announced Molly's offer at dinner the evening before, Filius, Pomona and Septima had announced interest and chosen to come along. Minerva, of course, would be joining them as well.

He happily made small talk with the other professors, putting the matter of Sunset Shimmer out of his mind for the moment.

Harry folded the journal closed and put his pen away. He smiled happily as Sunset materialized next to him. Without a word, she looked around, spotted Harry, smiled and closed her eyes. A moment later he stood in front of the Burrow. Sunset led him inside and they both sat down in the living room.

It didn't take long before there was a flash of flame and Philomena appeared, perched on Bill's shoulder, Charlie at his side. They had returned to their respective homes abroad for the night, but had no intention of missing Sunset's story. Moments later there was another flash of flame and five people appeared in the corner of the room.

Harry immediately recognized Professor McGonagall, but the other five were unfamiliar. Beside his transfiguration teacher, there were two men and two women, seemingly playing a game of opposites. The men were both of average figure, but one was extraordinarily tall and the other extremely short. The two women were about the same height, but one was rather plump while the other was very slender.

The phoenix on the tall man's shoulder trilled happily upon seeing Philomena.

In moments, McGonagall introduced her companions as Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts and Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Vector, the teachers for Charms, Herbology and Arithmancy respectively.

Not long after, everyone was gathered and Sunset was sat in an armchair in the center of the room, her audience spread across various chairs and couches. The professors had expressed surprise when Hermione had transformed and taken positions in his laps to safe space. He couldn't help but think he had heard a groan from McGonagall.

When everyone was settled, Sunset began.

"For those who don't already know, I am Sunset Shimmer, and I come from a different dimension."

Those words alone were enough to leave the Weasleys dumbfounded. Hermione showed no surprise and Harry wasn't sure if Luna was capable of doing so. The Professors, too, showed no surprise at the revelation.

Unperturbed, Sunset continued. "In my homeland, I look like this." She took her unicorn form and continued. "Formally, I am Sunset Shimmer, daughter of Sunspot and Stellar Flare, born into the House of the Sun and the Aetheris Tribe, former Student of the Sun." She smirked at the various confused expressions and raised eyebrows she received.

"To unpack that, Sunspot is my Father, Stellar Flare is my mother, I also have an older brother named Sunburst. The Aetheris tribe, also known as the Unicorn Tribe, is one of the three great tribes of Equestria along with the Aeolis tribe, the pegasi, and the Eterris Tribe, the earth ponies. The House of the Sun is an ancient Equestrian noble house, created about eight-hundred years ago, when the house of the Firmaments split into the Houses of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. The House of the Firmaments can trace it's history back, more or less, into the Pre-Harmonic era."

Seeing no change in her audience, she sighed quietly. "Looks like we'll need a tangent to explain our tangent. Very well. The History of Equus, my home planet, is split into several eras, the first of which, ending about one-thousand-five-hundred years ago, is the Pre-Harmonic Era. It was followed by the first and second Harmonic Eras, interrupted by the chaos years. I won't go into too much details about those, but suffice it to say that in those days, time keeping was difficult, so nopony knows exactly how long the chaos years really were.

"The second Harmonic Era ended several centuries ago and was followed by the Celestial Years of Peace which continue to this day. On the Equestrian calendar it is currently the nine-hundred-and-ninety-fourth Celestial Year of Peace.

"A few more notes on the Equestrian calendar in general: We have seconds, minutes and hours that almost perfectly match those here, no idea why. But our days have twenty-two hours, not twenty-four and our years have four-hundred of them. If you do the math you'll notice that an Equestrian year is therefore forty hours longer than a year here, sixteen more than a leap year.

"At the same time, for every eleven days that pass here, twelve pass in Equestria. Anyway, back to the original topic."

She smiled at the audience. "I won't bore you with centuries old history of my family. Instead I'll tell you what exactly I did back in Equestria.

"Basically, when I was four, I managed a quite nice feat of magic. A roaming party of dragons had managed to steal a phoenix egg, but they lost it when they passed by Sire's Hollow, the village where I lived at the time. They came back looking for it, of course, but I found it first. I hid the egg until they gave up and then took it home. I was practicing my magic before that and I used a fire spell to keep the egg warm."

She smiled sheepishly. "Turns out, magical fire is something phoenixes need to hatch, together with genuine love and care. Without that, the eggs can survive in oviostasis for decades. I happened to provide what the egg needed, and the phoenix hatched." She pointed a hoof up at Philomena who was perched on her head. "This phoenix, to be exact.

"As it turns out, Phoenixes have an innate connection with the sun, and so does Princess Celestia, she can feel it when one hatches and she also knows when one was magically hatched. So she came by to investigate. When she learned what had happened, she met with me and, I guess, she saw something in me, because she made me her personal student, giving me my own room at the palace and training with me every day. That's also when I learned that she is actually a distant relative of mine, her mother was the sister of one of my distant ancestors, back before the house of the firmaments split up."

"Hold on," McGonagall interrupted, "are you saying she is over eight hundred years old?"

"Closer to twelve-hundred, actually. She gained immortality when she used some of the most powerful magic in Equestria to imprison a powerful evil and end the chaos years, starting the second Harmonic Era."

"Immortality?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Well, either that or at least a very long lifespan. I only know that she hasn't really aged since. Anyway. It's her responsibility to move the Sun and Moon to bring about day and night, so she isn't just a ruler. She has lead ponies for countless generations. And she's taught me everything I know about magic, excluding the things I learned here, of course."

"So I take it then," the small man McGonagall had introduced as Professor Flitwick asked, "that your level of magical expertise isn't normal for one your age?"

"Oh no. Not at all. I'm actually one of the most powerful spell casters known in Equestria. Technically any unicorn could learn any spell, but most don't bother learning more than a dozen spells at most."

Seeing the incredulous expressions of her audience, she nodded. "I know. I don't get it either. Most ponies are incredibly complacent.

"Ponies have underestimated me quite a few times. That was always fun. Like the various times when somepony tried to foalnap me to get ransom from the princess. Not sure what they expected would happen. Even if I couldn't easily deal with them and leave them for the royal guard to pick up."

Caught up in her memories, Sunset didn't notice the startled expressions of her audience.

"Well, eventually I went a bit crazy. Turns out that level of power and skill doesn't really mix all that well with a prepubescent mind. I got into fights with the princess more and more often and, finally, about half a year ago now, I decided to leave, and come back to prove her wrong at some point. Like I said, I wasn't really thinking straight.

"I did some research for a bit, then I learned of a mirror that was a portal to a different dimension. So I snuck into the royal vaults of Canterlot, where it was being kept and went through it with Philomena. I can only guess that Philomena messed with the configuration of the mirror, because it wasn't supposed to lead here. Anyway, I quite like it here, and I realized that the Grangers were giving me the one thing I was missing all that time with the princess. They were treating me like family. I was lonely before. Now I'm not." She lit her horn and phased over to where Hermione was, hugging her tightly. "And that's basically my story. Questions?"

There was a moment of silence, then the woman that had been introduced as Professor Vector spoke up. "You say that Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun and the moon. Surely you exaggerate."

"No."

"Pardon? Are you aware of the amount of power doing such a thing would require?"

"I am, professor. I have been at her side many times she did that. I have seen and felt that power first hoof countless times. I can take you to watch later, the next time would be about seven hours from now."

"I do believe I would like to see that as well," the headmaster admitted.

Seeing the expressions McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout were wearing, Sunset smiled. "Should I just assume all five of you want to come along?"

They were silent for a moment, then Professor Sprout sighed quietly. "That obvious, huh?"

Sunset giggled. "I can't really blame you. It's an impressive thing to see." She tilted her head for a moment. "Then again, that's generally the case when a pony acts upon their special talent."

"Special Talent?" Even despite all the startling revelations of the morning, Dumbledore's expression never seemed to go beyond mild intrigue.

"Yes Headmaster, everypony has a special talent or destiny, symbolized by this mark." She pointed a hoof at the stylized red and yellow sun on her flank. "It's called a cutie mark and is earned when a pony realizes their true talent and destiny. I got mine when I was six, I was a bit of an early bloomer."

"And what, if I may ask does your mark represent, then?"

Sunset nodded. "Of course. In its most basic form, my mark represents my affinity for fire and pyromancy. But split in two, as it is, it also marks me as a manifestation of the binary nature of fire, of its ability to both nurture and destroy, sometimes both at once, think a forest fire, for example. I got it when I refined the basic spell that I used to hatch Philomena. It's become a bit of a signature spell of mine."

"What kind of spell is it?"

"A light magic fire spell, not unlike phoenix fire."

"Would you mind demonstrating?"

"Of course." With an amused smirk, Sunset lit her horn. For a short moment, the light was her usual teal before shifting to a pale gold. Then, without warning, she burst into flame, completely engulfed in fire of the same pale golden color.

To say Harry was startled when one of the two fillies in his lap suddenly caught fire would have been an understatement. Hermione clearly had seen this spell before as she simply curled up next to Sunset who smiled down at her. A moment later the fire spread across Hermione as well. Harry's surprise only mounted when the fire didn't harm any of them them. It didn't burn, it was simply a pleasant warmth that seemed to warm their hearts and minds just as much as their bodies.

The professors were similarly startled, but for a different reason. Dumbledore drew his wand to scan the burning fillies, looking quite intrigued at the results he saw. "Remarkable, like a patronus."

Sunset let the fire go out and returned to her human form as she jumped from Harry's lap. "Like what?"

Dumbledore looked at her with a soft smile as he explained. "We only know of one spell with a similar magical signature. It's designed as a defense against creatures known as dementors. Let me demonstrate. Expecto Patronum."

Sunset took a step back when a silvery figure of a phoenix appeared between them. She absently applied her usual scanning spell. "Yes, definitely light magic. One Moment." Well familiar with light magic, she drew her own wand and repeated the incantation. "Expecto Patronum."

A golden light, much like the fire before, erupted from the tip of her wand, quickly forming into the shape of a small lizard that quickly climbed up to her shoulder, looking at the phoenix the headmaster had conjured. "Interesting. I take it the shape means something?"

Dumbledore, the other professors and the adult Weasleys in attendance looked at the golden Patronus with varying degrees of surprise. They had never seen one of that power before. Suddenly, Sunset turned back to the headmaster.

"Hold on. Did you say this was the only light magic spell wizards know?" Dumbledore nodded. "Well no wonder you have such a problem with dark magic. Without light magic to balance it out, its bound to run rampant. Guess I'll have to help with that."

"Are you saying you know more of this light magic?"

"Of course. I was the princess' protége. Dark magic is a common threat to Equestria. Of course I'd learn how to counter it. Light magic just happens to be one of the most effective ways of doing that. Learning how to do that I also learned the more casual uses of light magic."

"Casual uses?"

"Well, light magic has a natural connection with purity, so it works well for spells to clean and heal. Allow me." With a smirk she drew her wand, dispelling the Patronus with a quick swipe. She held it at her side and a golden light appeared once more at its tip. Walking over to the nearby fireplace, she tapped it against a decorative plate stood atop it. The light flowed off the wand and over the plate, leaving it practically sparkling.

Dumbledore came closer to look at the plate in more detail. With his magically enhanced vision it didn't take him long to realize that the plate was clean on a level beyond the physical. Whatever this spell was, it was far more thorough than Scourgify could ever hope to be.

Author's Note

Lore of the Veil:

Alternate Sources - Different types of Magic:

Beyond normal magic, often called Neutral, Arcane or Gray Magic, there are other types that are powered from different sources.

Most of them, like the infamous dark magic, are powered by emotion. In the case of dark magic, negative emotions such as anger, hate, jealousy or fear are the source of power.

In the case of light magic, its counterpart, feelings such as joy, gratitude or well placed pride are the source of power.

Harmonic magic draws power from the positive emotional impacts of interpersonal relationships, such as love and friendship.

Finally, Chaotic magic, or just chaos magic, draws power from the raw concept of entropy. It has more or less unlimited power, but is, like all conceptual magic, difficult to control.

[RVS]22 - Opportunity

Chapter Twenty-Two

Opportunity

Once he had managed to reign in his curiosity, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As intriguing as this light magic may be – and I'm certain that those present here will only be the first that will want to learn from you – I do have another matter to discuss."

He turned to Ginny. "Mister Ollivander informed you, didn't he?" Ginny simply nodded. "Did you tell your parents yet?"

She smiled sheepishly. "No, we forgot about that."

"Very well, then I shall." He turned to the adult Weasleys. "As it happens, your daughter is ready to attend Hogwarts this year rather than next. I've made sure that the Ministry won't make a fuss because of it. The school is ready to admit her."

While the Weasley parents were stunned, Sunset spoke up from behind Dumbledore. "Professor? You might want to take a look at Luna as well." She pointed to girl sitting beside Ginny, watching the conversation carefully. "I took the liberty of scanning her, and I'm pretty sure she's ready too."

Dumbledore drew his wand and scanned Luna with it. "Yes, Miss Shimmer, I believe you may be correct. Give me a moment, I shall consult the book of attendance. Fawkes?"

The phoenix on his shoulder spread his wings, gave a triumphant trill and vanished in a flash of golden fire.

Molly and Arthur looked at one another, both seeing their own thoughts reflected in their partner's eyes. 'How are we going to afford that?' They would both love to see their daughter go to Hogwarts all the sooner. They suddenly understood why Sunset and Hermione had been teaching her along with Harry and Ron ever since they had gone to fetch Sunset's wand. Ginny wasn't doing any worse than the boys once the fact that she had started practice two days later was considered, so they had no doubt that she could handle the curriculum.

Still, their budget was always tight. They had given Bill's old wand to Ron, but they didn't have another spare. That alone was a problematic impact on their finances.

Sunset walked over to the two. She had not missed the Weasleys' generally rather cheap or second-hand-looking possessions. She had heard what Ron and Ginny had said back at Ollivander's. Their expressions now only confirmed her suspicions. "Don't worry," she started, as Hermione walked up beside her. "We talked this over with Emma and Dan. We can help you."

The two looked up. After sharing a glance, Mr. Weasley was the one to speak. "Oh no. That's fine. No need really. We couldn't accept that."

Sunset looked at him with a stern expression that would not have been out of place on Professor McGonagall's face. "Yes you can. I'm not blind. I am well aware that you are not exactly a wealthy family. I know you did what you could with what you had up 'till now, but that is no longer necessary."

While Sunset was speaking in an entirely calm tone, Mr. Weasley was getting rather heated. "That may be so, but Weasleys don't take charity."

Sunset looked at him. The fire in her eyes a stark contrast to the frigid tone of her voice. "Under normal circumstances that might be an admirable position to hold, but not now. If Ginny is ready to go to school now, then she should. And if Ron has a wand that doesn't allow him to reach his full potential, he should rightly get another."

Arthur and Molly looked at each other, startled at the revelation. Sunset noticed their expressions immediately. "Yes. Mister Ollivander was quite clear on that. With another wand, handing it down to him might work decently well. But wands of ash bond very strongly with their first wielder. They lose much of their power and skill when handed on. A core of unicorn hair only exacerbates that problem. In another case I might not care much, but with this combination of circumstances, I cannot let this go."

Even Sunset herself wasn't entirely sure where this sudden confidence was coming from, but she had seen Princess Celestia act exactly like this on more than one occasion. In fact, even her manner of speaking had shifted slightly to mimic that of the princess. She wasn't sure why this was happening, but, for the moment, she didn't care. She had to do what she knew was right.

She looked at the Weasley parents in turn, her eyes both alight with determination and cold with disappointment. "I can see that you hold your children dear. And I can also see that you have pride as a family. I ask only that you consider which of those is more important to you. I respect your integrity, but I will not stand idly by and let you squander your children's potential out of some misguided sense of pride. Not when there is another option. Think on that."

Without another word, she walked over to the wall, leaning against it. Hermione right behind her, looking back at the two with an expression somewhere between hope and disappointment.

The entire room was stunned for several moments. Even the professors from Hogwarts were surprised to say the least. They could now all see the same thing Minerva had seen before. In just that short conversation, Sunset had displayed the quick wit of a Ravenclaw, the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, the cunning of a Slytherin and the willingness to stand for what she considered to be right that was so typical of a Gryffindor. In fact, Minerva seemed to be the only one other than Miss Granger to not be surprised in the slightest. She had simply observed the entire exchange with a calculating expression, almost as thought she had expected such a thing to happen.

The Weasley children were looking back between Sunset and their parents for several moments, even Bill and Charlie had never heard anyone speak to their parents like that. Sunset hadn't been impolite, she hadn't lost her composure, she hadn't even raised her voice. But she had made her opinions clear in a way that brooked no argument.

Molly and Arthur were the most stunned of all. Had they truly been ready to place their pride as a family before the wellbeing of their children? For three generations now, their family had been rather poor, a side effect of being considered a blood traitor family. Whenever a member of one of the rich pureblood families had seen the light and fallen in love with a Weasley, they had either conformed to their family and ended the relationship or followed their heart and been promptly disowned.

Still despite that, they were a pureblood family, if one that wasn't greatly respected by most of the others, as such their word held a certain amount of political sway. Any gift from a richer family usually came with a catch. Some kind of agenda attached to it. Admittedly that had become rarer over the years, but it still happened from time to time. As such, refusing such gifts outright had become habit.

They had grown so used to having to conserve money that a sudden removal of that requirement, even a temporary one, required some time to mentally shift gears. When they truly thought about it, they could find no fault in Sunset's words. She was entirely correct. Of course the Grangers wouldn't have an agenda in wizarding politics. None of them had the first idea of the current political situation in Wizarding Britain.

As they looked over their children they realized something else. Sunset could not have chosen a better time to speak out. With all their children gathered here, they could directly see those whom their decision would impact. Their children. The ones they loved as much as they did each other. As their gazes traveled from one family member to the next, their stunned expressions gradually gave way to determination.

The silence that had taken over the living room was broken by another flash of flames. Looking around, Dumbledore smiled. "Did I miss something?" Another moment later he looked to he gathered professors. "Ah well. I'm sure my colleagues will fill me in." He took only a moment to find Sunset, nodded and turned to Luna who hadn't moved from where she had stood when he left. "I checked the book of attendance. Miss Shimmer is correct. You are ready as well. Shall we go and inform your father?" Luna nodded with a quiet smile, walking over to the headmaster. In another flash of flame, they were gone.

Shaking their heads after the surprising entrance of the headmaster, Molly and Arthur, looked at Sunset, determination shining in their eyes, and nodded. Sunset gave them a gentle smile, one of her hands glowing teal and pulling a piece of parchment and a quill from the bag. She watched the room for a moment, not bothering to look at the message she was writing. Before long, the quill returned to the bag.

She rolled up the parchment and drew her wand, tapping it onto the scroll. After a moment she put her wand away again, taking the scroll in a hand and holding it up to her shoulder. She silently nodded to the bird sitting there. Philomena stretched out a wing and calmly tapped a primary feather onto the scroll, causing it to vanish in a small flash of flames.

Having sent her message, Sunset looked at the gathered Weasleys, smirking. "Looks like another trip to Diagon Alley is in order."

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Yes. You can go there tomorrow. Now. I had the morning off, but I really need to get to work now."

Bill and Charlie nodded, denoting similar sentiments, as did the professors. Sunset simply smiled. She nodded to Philomena who flew over to Bill and Charlie. Once they had said their goodbyes, they were whisked away in a flash of flame.

Mr. Weasley excused himself and disapparated to the Ministry. The professors were about to do the same when Sunset stepped up to them, turning to McGonagall. "I know you're curious about my teleportation. Do you want me to take you back to Hogwarts? That way you could see it first hand."

After a few quiet words with her colleagues, McGonagall nodded. "Very well Miss Shimmer, go ahead."

Smiling, Sunset drew her wand. The air around the professors rippled and quickly reformed into the gates of Hogwarts and the school grounds. The professors were still for another moment, waiting for the normal sensations of apparition before realizing that they would not come and that they had, in fact, already arrived.

Professor Vector was the first to speak up. "Merlin's beard. That was the smoothest apparition I've ever had."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "That's because it wasn't apparition. This is what happens when a proper teleportation spell is used. You know, instead of the volatile mess you call apparition."

"Remarkable," Professor Flitwick breathed. "I believe we have much to learn from each other."

"Of that I am certain," McGonagall agreed. "I have already seen Miss Shimmer display feats of magic that I have never seen elsewhere. Personally I am looking forward to see what you will achieve here at Hogwarts, Miss Shimmer."

"Thank you." Sunset smiled, curtseying slightly. "Professors. I'll see you in September." With a small wave of her wand, her shape warped and rippled, disappearing without a sound.

"She's gonna throw everything into chaos, isn't she Minerva?"

"You have no idea, Pomona. You have no idea."

The five underage Weasley children stood in the now familiar warded alley near the leaky cauldron. They were not alone. Harry, Hermione and Sunset were along for the ride again, as were Emma and Molly. Rounding out the group were Luna and her father, a man that was even more eccentric than she was. He had been introduced as Xenofilius Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler, a wizarding magazine that, Molly had quietly told the children, was of rather questionable believability.

The group quickly made their way to the pub and followed the now familiar path through the wall and along the Alley to Gringotts. Despite having seen the truth in Sunset's words, Molly couldn't help feel bad about the Grangers' offer to pay for Ginny's school supplies and Ron's new wand. That feeling only went away when she saw the mountains of gold in the Vault. Both her and Xenofilius stared into the vault while Emma was inside, loading up a purse.

After a quick trip to the Lovegood vault, they returned to the lobby where the kids were waiting under Percy's and Sunset's watchful eyes. Half an hour later the group left Madam Malkins with new robes for Ginny and Luna, Mister Lovegood went to get Luna's books while the rest of the group made their way to Ollivander's, Ginny didn't need books as the necessary ones hadn't changed since the twins had their first years, so the family had a second set already.

"Good Morning." Sunset actually giggled when Mr. Ollivander jumped at her greeting. While he seemed to enjoy sneaking up on customers, he clearly wasn't used to customers doing the same to him.

"Good Morning. Two more wands, I presume?"

"Three actually," Sunset pointed out with a nod to Luna.

The old wand maker looked at the girl for a moment, then nodded. "Remarkable. What are the odds? I take it it was you who spotted her potential, Miss Shimmer?" Sunset nodded. "Very well then, Mister Weasley, Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood, what are your wand hands?"

Ginny and Ron both held out their right hands, Luna held out her left. "Very well." He pulled out a tape measure, absently snapping his fingers to call two more to measure Ron and Ginny while he measured Luna. A few moments later he let go of the tape and let it continue on its own while he flitted off to the shelves and, once again, started drawing wands to form a stack on the counter.

None were really surprised when, almost half an hour later, Luna was still being matched. Mister Lovegood had joined them and watched with mild amusement as his daughter went through wand after wand. Finally Mr. Ollivander stroked his chin. "I wonder. Hmm. An unusual wood, but you might just have what it takes." He pulled another box from a shelf at the far corner of the shop, before coming back over. "Here, try this one. Acacia and Unicorn Hair, ten and two third inches, flexible, a wand for one of subtlety and hidden talents."

He held the wand out to her. She took it gently like all the ones before. When she took hold of it, her eyes widened. She held the wand up and twirled the tip in a small circle. Her entire form turned black and she sank into the shadowed ground. A moment later she peeked out behind a shelf at the opposite end of the shop. The moment he saw her, Mr. Ollivander began clapping.

"Bravo. Dark magic in the literal rather than traditional sense. Unlike any I've seen before."

"We're definitely gonna have to find someone to teach you shadow magic, aren't we?" Sunset chuckled as she came over.

"You are familiar with this type of magic, Miss Shimmer?" Ollivander seemed highly intrigued.

Sunset nodded. "Shadow magic, part of the innate skill set of thestrals back home. When I took Luna and Ginny to Equestria, Luna became a thestral, It's not really surprising that she'd start displaying shadow magic after a while. That's where we developed most of our illusions and arcane phase theory from."

Ollivander was listening with rapt attention. "Oh my. Had I known that before I would have tried an acacia wand sooner, is there anything I should know about Miss Weasley?"

Sunset tilted her head for a moment. "Hmm. Maybe. I need to test something." Sunset drew her wand and waved it in the air for a moment. A drop of water appeared in the air before her, quickly turning into a fluffy white cloud, with another mumbled incantation the cloud turned a deep gray and small sparks of static began flying around it.

With a smirk, Sunset floated the miniature cloud over to Ginny. "Touch that and tell me what you feel." With some trepidation, Ginny stretched out a hand and gently touched the cloud. A bit of electricity arced up her arm. She inclined her head slightly in confusion.

"Huh, I always thought that would hurt. It just tingles a little."

Sunset smiled happily. "Normally it would. She turned to Ollivander. Something to do with Lightning would work best I think." With a small swish of her wand, she let the cloud disperse. Ginny turned to look at the old wand maker.

"Hmm, lightning you say?" He inclined his head in thought for a few moments. "I have an idea." He wandered off along the shelves, stroking a finger along them for a moment. "Ah here." He came back with another wand box. "Laurel and Chinese Fireball heartstring, nine and a half inches. This wand seeks excitement."

Ginny carefully took the wand, swinging it through the air. Arcs of electricity, colored the same bright amber as her eyes, followed the tip. The moment she reached the lowest point of her swing, a large bolt of amber lightning struck the ground a few meters ahead of her with a resounding bang. Ginny's startled expression turned into a satisfied smile.

Ollivander matched her smile as he absently swished his own wand to remove the scorch marks at the point of impact and repair the small crater that had formed there. "Got it in one. Yes. Laurel. Make sure it doesn't grow bored and this wand will serve you well. It might in fact do what you just did to whomever might try to steal it."

Ginny gave him an incredulous look. "Really?"

He nodded. "An unusual quirk of laurel wands. Yes. Mister Weasley. Your turn."

It only took a few minutes before Ollivander found what he was looking for. "Willow and Unicorn Hair, fourteen inches, give it a try." Ron carefully took the wand and suddenly remembered Sunset's display of light magic the day before. Without warning, the wand flared a bright gold before dimming down again, leaving everyone in the shop surprisingly calm, but confused. "Uhh, what'd I do?"

Sunset was the one to answer. "A light magic healing spell. And quite a powerful one too. Nicely done."

"Accidental healing magic?" Ollivander watched with wide eyes. "Yes, wands of Willow do have a propensity for that. Well, Mister Weasley, I believe you have far to go." With a cryptic smile, he turned to the adults to handle payment.

After he had received fourteen galleons from Emma and seven from Xenofilius, the group left the little store.

[RVS]23 - Preparation

Chapter Twenty-Three

Preparation

The day after their latest trip to Diagon Alley, the girls finally got around to showing Luna and the boys Parkour. Most of them had been quite reluctant to try it at first. Until, that is, Sunset switched from training to actually doing what she could, using an adaptation of earth pony magic to amplify her physical abilities.

The spell was a relatively simplistic replica of an actual earth pony's abilities and nowhere near as efficient, of course. Not to mention that her raw power, while exceptional for a unicorn, was at the lower end of the spectrum for earth ponies, the price unicorns paid for their magic's added versatility.

As such, she had been nowhere near the level of an actual earth pony, but she had gained strength, speed, agility and endurance in excess of any human.

Seeing her teleport a good thirty feet into the air and land safely had been quite inspiring and the boys had immediately asked to not only be included in their training, but to also be taught those spells. Even the normally sedate Percy had been impressed.

A week later, they sat in the orchard, once again practicing magic, reading books and generally preparing for school. Luna had joined in on their magic practice and Sunset had managed, somehow, to get a guidebook on shadow magic from Equestria. After teaching Luna contemporary Thessian – once more a simple matter of copying her own knowledge of the language into Luna's mind – the girl was often up at night, reading and practicing.

Ginny usually joined her brothers and Harry in their Quidditch practice, using Bill's broom while Harry used Charlie's. Still, it was an open secret that she couldn't wait to be able to transform and fly under her own power. Both her and Luna spent a good hour every day focusing their efforts to be able to transform.

She was, it turned out, a terror on the field, scoring more goals than Harry or Fred could, easily evading any bludgers George sent her way and flying circles around Ron. Literally on some occasions.

Only Harry could come close to matching her as a chaser, but it was clear that his real talent lay elsewhere.

Lying on the grass, Sunset watched the boys, Ginny and Luna try some of the more complex first year charms while she and Hermione were lying side by side, looking through Hogwarts – A History. After a while Harry came up to them.

"Okay, seriously, how are you two reading this fast? You barely look at a page for five seconds, how can you possibly read and understand everything that fast?"

Sunset smirked up at him. "Noticed that, have you? In short, photographic memory. We can recall everything we see. With a few seconds, we can recall enough details to simply read the actual text later."

Ron raised a skeptic eyebrow. "And you both have that? What are the odds?"

"That is rather unusual," Luna added, approaching silently.

"The odds aren't exactly important," Sunset pointed out, "we don't naturally have it. I gave it to us using a spell."

"Really?" Ginny came over as well, looking intrigued. "Can you do that for us, too?"

Sunset sat up and looked at the others that were now sitting in a semi-circle before them. She sighed. "I can. But I must warn you. It's not–" She cut off, staring off into the distance. "Hold on. I've got an idea. Maybe ... I'll be back." Before anyone could ask what she was on about, she vanished in a flash of teal.

Hermione sighed. "Oh dear. She has an idea." She turned back to the group. "I'm not entirely sure what she's up to now, but let me clarify. The spell she used on me hurt. Badly."

Ron looked at her hesitantly. "How bad does it hurt, really?"

"Bad. I haven't had a headache that bad any time before or after. The spell literally changes the brain structure. It takes about half a day before you can even think clearly again. It's not pleasant. At all. But once the actual spell is cast, the rest of the process is slightly less painful. Anyway, I think I should probably figure out what she's up to now. Good thing she was too distracted to mask her teleport."

Lighting her horn, she closed the book and vanished in a flash pale green without another word, leaving the others rather confused. Without much else to do, and unable to trace teleports as Hermione and Sunset could, they returned to the magic practice.

The two only returned late in the afternoon in a flash of flame, accompanied by Philomena. The others hadn't even noticed that Philomena had disappeared some time in the afternoon. Ginny was the first to speak up. "Where have you two been? It's been hours."

Sunset smiled a little sheepishly. "Well at first we only went back to the house to get some materials to plan a spell with, but then we needed some more things so we started by going back to Emma and Dan's place. Then we went to Diagon Alley to get some more materials and in the end we decided to talk to Princess Celestia. She was the one who originally invented the spell after all."

"And now we have a modified version," Hermione brightly added.

"And what's different about this one?" Fred asked. He and George had joined the others a few hours earlier and had been caught up on the matter of the memory spell in the meantime.

"Well it more or less does the same thing," Sunset explained, "but much slower. That way it should hardly hurt at all, maybe a bit of a headache on occasion. Of course that also means that it takes much longer to achieve the same effect. It'll take a few weeks instead of a few hours before its done, but you should start seeing the effects of it long before that, it'll just be a while before they fully manifest."

"And other than that it's the same spell?" Harry asked.

"It is, but as it is, casting it is more a matter of finesse, before it was more a matter of power. Now the tricky part is mainly to give it just enough power to work, but not so much that it works faster than intended."

"But you're sure you can do it?" Ron seemed a little skeptical.

"Yes, Ron, I'm sure. I know plenty of spells that are much harder to cast. Hmm, actually, some of those have a similar difficulty ... If I can repurpose a regulatory matrix from one of those I should ... Yes. That would make it much easier. Hold on." She stared off into space for a few moments as she did some mental calculations. "Yes. That works. I got this."

Hermione turned to Luna and the Weasleys. "But if we're going through with this, we should probably ask your parents for permission first." She chuckled quietly. "I know mine would have appreciated that."

"I don't think Daddy will mind," Luna idly observed. "But asking him first is probably better."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed, "Mum will probably want to know about this."

Getting Molly and Xenofilius to give their okay wasn't too difficult after Sunset and Hermione demonstrated the effects. Still, they had some questions. "So this won't harm them?"

"No. Don't worry. Hermione and I both have it and we're fine, aren't we? And that was the original version that was far less ... gentle."

"So it won't disrupt their days?"

"No. It's designed specifically to speed up while they sleep and slow down while they're awake."

"That part was my idea," Hermione happily chimed in."

"So it was," Sunset agreed with a chuckle.

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Well alright then, go ahead."

Ginny took a deep breath and spoke up. "I'll go first."

With matters settled, the group moved to the living room and Ginny sat down in one of the armchairs. Sunset, meanwhile, shifted into pony form and jumped up on the table, lighting her horn.

For a good minute, very little happened. The unicorn sat on the table, breathing calmly, her eyes closed and her horn softly glowing. She had mentally gone over the spell while modifying it countless times, but this was her first time actually casting the new version. She had to make sure not to make mistakes.

She could always get faster later.

Finally, she opened her eyes and faced the girl before her. Entirely unlike the original version she had used on Hermione, the spell manifested as a cloud of teal light that flowed off her horn into the air and over to Ginny before seeping into her head.

Sunset was glad to see that Ginny's expression spoke of nothing more severe than mild discomfort. Once she was done casting, she replaced the spell with a specialized scanning spell designed to work with the conceptual magic the memory spell, both the original and the modified version, was based off.

She was glad to see that the spell was working as intended, though the actual changes it had made thus far were negligible. What was more important to her was that the magic had formed properly and was functioning as planned. "Good, that should do it. I'll need to check back in an hour or so to make sure the magic is stable. Assuming it is, I can take care of the rest of you then."

And so they waited, Hermione joined Sunset in assuming equine form and jumped up into Ginny's lap, successfully distracting her from her slight headache. Seeing how they had some time to kill, the boys went back out into the orchard to unwind from their afternoon of study by playing some Quidditch.

Noting that Luna wasn't straying from Ginny's side, Sunset hopped over into her lap, mirroring Hermione in Ginny's. Under the girls' gentle hands the two of them quickly dozed away and only woke up when Mrs. Weasley came to check back on them an hour later.

Seeing how the magic was still as stable as it had been an hour before and that the changes it was making seemed to be going to plan as well, Sunset cast the modified spell on Luna, only taking half a minute to prepare this time, while Hermione went out into the orchard to fetch the boys.

Before she could bring them back, Percy requested to have the spell cast on him as well. Mr. Lovegood and his mother, it seemed, had filled him in while she'd been asleep.

Half an hour later, she had finished casting the spell on the last of the boys. As she lay beside Hermione who had returned to pony form once she was back in the house, she thought about things. She was happy to see that Hermione was so comfortable with spending time as a pony. She wasn't exactly surprised, her sister had long since proved to have an open mind – part of what made such a talented magician – but it was nice to see regardless. Not to mention cuddly.

She thought back on her day. Modifying the spell had been a great deal of fun. The difference in time between Earth and Equestria had worked in her favor. Seeing how it was the late evening in Equestria, Princess Celestia had found time to help them with the modifications.

It had been fun to, once more, work on a complex spell with the princess. Just like old times. Despite the advanced subject material, Hermione had also kept up admirably well, even if she only understood the broadest strokes of what they were actually discussing. Her suggestion of making the speed at which the changes took place depend on whether the subject was awake or asleep had been brilliant.

It was a pity that they hadn't gotten to meet the Princess' new student. As it was it had already been past Twilight's bedtime.

As she thought back, one suggestion Celestia had made didn't let go of her though. "Why don't you show your new friends around Equestria? It should still be a few weeks before school starts, right?"

It was a good idea, but the planning was a bit trickier. She would have to coordinate with the adults at the very least. If at all possible she would like to keep it a surprise to the other kids. Looking at the time, she got up and returned to human form. Drawing her wand, a glance at Harry was enough to get the message across. He got up from the couch to stand beside her. A moment later the two of them were back in the small warded alleyway in Little Whinging.

After a hug goodbye, Sunset watched as Harry walked back off to the Dursleys'.

The Dursleys. There was another thing that needed to be addressed before her ideas even became an option. Deep in thought, she teleported back to the Burrow.

There were plans to make.

24 - Surprises

Author's Note

Alright ...
Revisions done. We're back on track.
I can't promis that I'll always manage daily chapters, so I might skip a day every few days or not publish for a few days every so often, but in the grand scheme of things, we're contuning now.

Enjoy

24 - Surprises

Chapter Twenty-Four

Surprises

This was the conversation she had been dreading the entire week, the last piece of the puzzle that was their plans. Sunset stood in front of number four Privet Drive. Harry was back at the Burrow. They had yet to tell him of their plans. In fact, the Weasley children and Luna didn't know either. It was Saturday and the Dursleys should be at home right now. A quick spell was enough to confirm that.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset pressed the button for the doorbell. It only took a moment before a narrow figure that could only be Mrs. Dursley approached the door. "Oh, hello dear, what can I do for you?"

Sunset suppressed the need to roll her eyes at the artificial sweetness in Petunia's voice. "Good afternoon Mrs. Dursley. I have a matter that I need to discuss with you." She took a quiet breath and said the words that were sure to get rid of Petunia's artificially pleasant demeanor. "It concerns your nephew."

Petunia looked down at her for a moment, the smile vanishing from her face, then she slammed the door in Sunset's face.

Sunset simply rolled her eyes. "Welp. I've tried being polite." With a snap of her fingers she stood behind Petunia who still had the door handle in hands. "As I was saying."

Petunia turned around, staring at Sunset. "What do you want?"

Sunset smiled pleasantly. "Simple. I want to take Harry off your hands a bit sooner than September first. Tomorrow to be exact."

"Why?"

"Because he is a friend and I intend to take him along on a camping trip."

"A camping trip?" Sunset nodded. "And why should we allow this?"

Sunset lifted a brow slightly. She reached into a pocket of her jacket and covertly sent a piece of paper to the kitchen of the Burrow, she had prepared it as a contingency plan beforehand. "Allow? I think you misunderstand." She suppressed a smirk as she saw a flash of golden light from upstairs. "I didn't come here to ask permission. I came here to inform you, because that is the polite thing to do."

"Vernon!"

"Yes, 'Tunia?" came the voice from the living room.

"Could you come over quickly?"

"Of course." It only took a few moments before a remarkably fat man entered the corridor. "Who's that?"

"Sunset Shimmer. A pleasure. As I just told your wife, I've come by to inform you that we'll be taking care of your nephew for the rest of the Summer. You needn't worry about him any longer."

The man snorted. "And what about next summer?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "If I have anything to say about it, he won't be returning here at all, but that, to be perfectly honest, has yet to be decided. I need to know the reasons why he is here in the first place before I can decide upon that."

Petunia hesitated for a moment. Ultimately she saw a chance here. She chose to explain. "He is here because of something Lily did. Something about dying to save his life. And because of that, the spell requires this to be his home to work."

Sunset stroked her chin, thinking for a moment. A mother's love. She was certain she had heard of that somewhere before. She'd have to look it up to be sure. "I see. In that case I should be able to get back to you on that in a few weeks. I suspect that I should be able to find a way around that. In fact, if my suspicions are correct, this may well a problem that will resolve itself before long. Who explained this to you?"

"Professor Dumbledore."

"I see. I'll see what can be done." She smirked as she saw another flash of light from upstairs. "Ah, it would seem that Harry is done gathering his belongings. Then I'll be taking my leave." She smirked. "Philomena!"

Vernon and Petunia recoiled when the phoenix flamed into existence on Sunset's arm. "Have a pleasant afternoon." With that, Philomena flamed her back to the Burrow, leaving the Dursleys completely confounded.

Harry was confused. A few minutes ago, Mrs. Weasley had come up to him with a small piece of paper in her hands and told him that Philomena would take him to his room in number four Privet Drive where he should quietly pack everything he needed and then signal Philomena when he was ready.

Trusting her, he had done so. He really only needed to pack a few spare clothes into his bags, the rest of his possessions already resided there, and grab Hedwig's cage. He still enjoyed the name he had found in one of his books. Philomena then took the three of them and all of Harry's things back to the Burrow only to flame away seconds later.

He was slightly startled to see her return almost immediately, sat on Sunset's arm. Both the girl and the phoenix broke down in giggles a moment later. When Harry asked what had happened, Sunset gestured for him to stop and levitated a pencil and a piece of parchment out of her own bags. It only took a few moments before he saw the pencil sketch out an image.

It was a remarkably life-like sketch of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, both wearing hilarious expressions of utter befuddlement. Now he understood her amusement. "That was you talking to them?"

"Yup. To be honest, I thought I'd have to stall them for longer. You were quick."

"I only needed to pack the rest of my clothes. I had the rest packed last week."

"That explains that. Now come. We have a bit of a surprise waiting for you." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, handing it to Philomena, who took it and flamed them away. Before she did, Harry saw that it only bore four words, written in Sunset's flowing script. 'The time has come.'

"You have a surprise for me?"

"Well not for you alone. For you, for Ron, the Twins, Percy, Ginny, Luna."

In moments they arrived in the Burrow's kitchen. Gathered there were all the Weasleys, except Bill and Charlie, as well as the Grangers. A gust of flame behind the two new arrivals announced the arrival of two more. Turning they saw Luna and her father, Philomena sitting on the former's shoulder. Focusing for a moment, Sunset used a quick spell to check the time, before nodding to the bird and handing her another, identical piece of paper. With another flash of flame, Philomena vanished again.

"Hi Luna," Ginny called from inside. "Do you know what this is about?"

Luna brushed past Sunset and made her way in to meet her friend. "No. Daddy only said that there was a surprise."

"That's all Mum and Dad are-"

"-telling us as well, but-"

"-Sunset and Hermione obviously-"

"-know something."

Sunset smiled innocently. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You're not exactly convincing us that you're not up to something," Ron pointed out.

Sunset turned to Hermione. "Was I supposed to?"

Hermione shared her smirk. "Well, so long as they don't know what it is ..."

"I don't usually agree with my brothers," Percy admitted, "but things are off. Dad usually isn't home at this hour. And Mum is behaving oddly as well."

"Guess they're in on the conspiracy then." Everyone in the room turned back to the door, seeing Bill and Charlie standing there.

Mrs. Weasley turned to the unicorn in the room. "Sunset dear, would you check if everything is in place on her end?"

Nodding Sunset took a book out and flipped it open, taking a pen she wrote a few words before closing it again. Not long after the book began glowing and vibrating. Cracking it back open, she looked in and read a few words. She closed the book again and smiled. "She's ready."

"Good, then let's go." With that, Mrs. Weasley walked out of the kitchen, into the yard. "Come along, all of you." The adults shepherded the gaggle of children out of the house, Sunset helpfully took Hedwig with her cage into her levitation so Harry wouldn't have to carry her. Mr. Weasley was the last to leave, carrying Errol and Hermes. A swish of his wand extinguished all the lights in the Burrow, closed the windows and locked the doors.

When he finally joined the group standing in the courtyard, Sunset looked from the bird in her levitation to the one on her shoulder. "Philomena, if you would."

With a proud trill, Philomena flew up above the group. A flash of fire erupted all around them and suddenly the courtyard was devoid of life once again.

Princess Celestia sat calmly in her throne. Normally she would have preferred to receive Sunset's friends in her chambers, but she doubted that the room had enough, well, room to fit them all. A familiar, majestic trill announced her guests and moments later a bright flash of flame revealed a whole gaggle of ponies. At the center of the group was a familiar pair of unicorns with an equally familiar Phoenix.

Sunset teleported them and the owl she was holding in her levitation to the edge of the group where she set down the cage and began galloping up to the throne to cuddle into Celestia's waiting wing.

"Welcome back, my Little Sun," the princess quietly greeted her former student as she carefully studied the other new arrivals. Only three of them seemed to have any familiarity with their current bodies. She recognized Hermione Granger, the little sea green unicorn filly that stood at the edge of the gathering and respectfully bowed. The Forest green unicorn mare and marine blue unicorn stallion could only be her parents.

A pearly white pegasus filly, a little younger than Sunset flew above the middle of a group of pegasi and unicorns with red manes and tails, experimentally staying flapping her wings to stay aloft. Her own were long and flowing and displayed a set of three colors, a medium shade of red that the entire group seemed to share, a pale pink and a deep blood red. The only thing that tipped Celestia off that she had been in this form before was the fact that she was actively trying to use her wings, not surprised to have them at all as the other pegasi seemed to be. Beneath her were an older pegasus mare and unicorn stallion Celestia surmised to be the parents of the family. Both only had the single, shared shade of red in their manes and tails, while beyond that the mare was a pale gray with piercing yellow eyes and the stallion was a similarly pale blue, with deep green eyes.

They were surrounded by an assortment of colts of various ages and two young stallions. The older one of the stallions could almost be a male Daring Do, only his mane was seven shades of red, not gray and his cutie mark was a treasure map with an ominous aura around it, not a compass. Even his eyes matched.

The younger stallion was stockier and sported exceptionally large wings. He was a dark blue with a tinge of purple, his mane and tail had the shared color of red, interrupted by two streaks of metallic red that actually gleamed in the light. His eyes were a steely blue.

The eldest of the colts was a beige unicorn, his red mane was split in two by a single strand of white, and his eyes were a deep crimson. The youngest was yet another pegasus, this one with deep blue eyes and a gray coat that reminded her of storm clouds. His mane was the same red that they all shared, but cut in three by two streaks of bright yellow that cut through his unkempt hair like lightning bolts.

The final two colts were about half way between the oldest and the youngest, and looked nearly identical. They both had pale magenta coats that terribly clashed with their red manes and bright purple eyes. They too were pegasi.

With the massive family out of the way, only three new ponies were left. The first immediately attracted her attention. He had a deep purple coat, and a pitch black, scraggly mane with two electric blue stripes and a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead. What had caught her eye, however, was the pair of slitted, brilliant green eyes behind his glasses. Looking to his side, she confirmed that she had, indeed, seen feathery wings folded there.

This colt was a raptor, a rare subtribe of the pegasi, only one in a thousand pegasi had eyes like those. The glasses were confusing, however. Celestia, in all her centuries of life experience, had never heard of a raptor with glasses. It was part of their innate magic that their eyesight was unparallelled. Their vision was perfect, their magic made sure of that. If he was careful, he could probably go out to the balcony right now and, even in the dim light of the late evening, read the sign at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres all the way in Ponyville. Especially once he mastered his internal magic and accessed his eyes' natural ability to zoom.

Raptors were extreme fliers. Not when it came to stunts, of course, but in other categories. They could fly far higher than any other pegasi, the magical fields of their wings providing lift in much thinner air than the wings of any other species could. They were suited to fly with extreme endurance, able to stay at such altitudes for hours on end. And they could deal with pressure differentials so well that the could ascend to and descend from those altitudes within minutes.

The only thing stopping this colt from seeing details about the room no other pony could even spot, were those silly glasses. He certainly wouldn't be needing those any more.

The remaining two ponies were two thestrals, a young filly and an older stallion. The filly didn't take long to adjust to the to the light of the throne room, flitting about happily and gliding inexpertly above the group, her pale silvery eyes were a sight to behold and her white mane fell in graceful locks only interrupted by two orange streaks running through it, her charcoal gray coat provided a nice counterpoint to the light colors.

The stallion was clearly not adjusted to the light at all, squinting so much Celestia couldn't discern his eye color. She thought she saw hints of green, blue and pink, but every time she got a glimpse, his eyes seemed to change. His coat was a deep, pearlescent blue, the light above revealing hints of dark purple and his mane was the same white as his daughter's, only without the orange streaks.

Celestia released her student from the hug and once more swept her gaze across the gathered ponies. "Well, Sunset, won't you introduce me to my guests?"

25 - Palace Morning

Act Three

To See Equestria

Chapter Twenty-Five

Palace Morning

It took a while to introduce everypony, and even longer before the new ponies managed to walk, but once that hurdle was cleared, Princess Celestia showed the Weasleys, the Grangers, Harry and Mr. Lovegood to their rooms. Sunset had invited the other three fillies to stay in her suite for the night.

The four girls, already more or less used to being ponies had a relaxing night. The others encountered some problems.

"Ow, Emma, careful where you put that horn. That thing is pointier than it looks."

"Sorry honey." Emma cuddled into her husband. While she had to admit that the fuzzy blue coat made him a lot more cuddly, she could have done without the slight headache she'd had ever since Sunset had taught Equestrian to everyone but Hermione, who already knew the language, and she had yet to work out a way to hug her husband without stabbing him with her horn.

Harry couldn't sleep. Sunset and the princess had helpfully pointed out that he would not need his glasses any longer. He had been wondering how his eyesight had gotten even worse from coming to Equestria. Suffice it to say that he was surprised to learn that it had actually improved. And improved by such an extreme margin. Out of the window of his small suite, he could see the lights of a distant city. He was sure he saw something that looked like a pony version of the Statue of Liberty.

The fact that his large wings kept itching wasn't exactly helping him sleep either.

Mr. Weasley wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up in this position. He had laid down on the bed and, just as usual, Molly had cuddled into him. The wing draped over his barrel was new, but not exactly unwelcome. But then Ron had cuddled up to his other side, the twins had cuddled up to Molly and over the course of the night, apparently walking over in their sleep, Bill, Charlie and Percy had joined the cuddle pile.

He sighed and tried to get back to sleep, contemplating why he had woken up before Molly. Then he noticed Percy's horn on his pillow, where his head was supposed to go.

Xenofilius Lovegood was faintly aware that something was off. He couldn't put his finger on what, but something was definitely odd. After a moment of contemplation he realized that the reason he couldn't put his finger on it, probably had something to do with the fact that he didn't currently have fingers. Unfortunately he couldn't put his hoof on it either. Given the rather rudimentary level of skill he currently had in using his hooves that was hardly surprising.

Carefully cracking open his eyes, he saw his suite. Though the vantage point was unusual. It took him about a minute to figure out that everything was upside-down and another to realize that he was hanging from the chandelier by his tail.

"How?"

Four giggling fillies made their way through the halls of the Royal Palace of Canterlot, the first of them carrying a phoenix on her back. Sunset had stirred with the first light of dawn, as usual, but, for some reason, this time, all of them woke up when she stirred. Unable to fall back asleep, the four of them made to explore the palace.

Sunset guided them through the expansive network of halls, stopping here and there to mention an interesting bit of history or trivia or point out an especially beautiful view from a window.

"Uh Hello?"

The four of them turned around to see a purple filly with a deep lavender mane, cut in two by twin stripes of purple and pink. She had her magenta eyes fixed on them, looking to be a little shy. Sunset was the first to react.

"Hold on. Purple filly, cutie mark of a six pointed starburst, deep lavender mane, you wouldn't happen to be Twilight Sparkle would you?"

"Uhm, yes, I am." After a moment's pause, she seemed to reconsider and provide a more formal introduction. "Excuse me, I'm still kinda new to this." She cleared her throat and then spoke in a more formal tone. "Twilight Sparkle, born of the House of the Stars, current Student of the Sun. Daughter of Night Light and Twilight Velvet."

Sunset had to smile at the formal introduction. She knew that Twilight was about a year older than she was, but she was clearly new to this. Still, Sunset chose to reply in turn. "Sunset Shimmer, born of the House of The Sun, Daughter of Stellar Flare and Sunspot and former Student of the Sun."

"You are Princess Celestia's last student? How come she never mentioned you?"

Sunset considered that for a moment, then smiled sadly. "Does the term 'my Little Sun' perhaps ring a bell?"

"Oh. Yes. She did say that quite a lot, especially the first few weeks, she always did seem a little sad when she did."

Sunset smiled again, more happily this time, almost proud. "Already learning to see through her mask, huh? Good. From what she told me, you learn fast. We'll see great things coming from you, Twilight." When she heard Hermione clear her throat behind her, Sunset blushed slightly. "Oh right, I should introduce you to my friends."

She stood aside so Twilight had a clear line of sight to the three ponies behind her. "These are Hermione of the Granger Family, daughter of Dan and Emma, Ginny of House Weasley, daughter of Arthur and Molly, and Luna of the Lovegood family, daughter of Xenofilius and Pandora. We're visiting Canterlot today."

The three fillies happily greeted Twilight who kept glancing at Luna. After a few more moments, Sunset couldn't hold her giggles anymore. "Never seen a thestral out during the day, huh?" Twilight shook her head. "We'll she's only been able to become a thestral For a grand total of maybe ten hours at this point."

Twilight looked at them with a questioning look. Sunset sighed quietly. "Look, we can show you, but it would probably be best if we didn't do that in the corridor. Hold on." With a faint ripple of the air, the five of them teleported back to Sunset's suite."

"Wow. Where are we?"

Seeing Twilight's expression, Sunset giggled and pointed at the door. "It's open, have a look for yourself."

Twilight opened the door and quickly realized her position. "Oh. I know this place. The door was always locked. Is this where you lived when you were the Princess' student?"

Sunset nodded and gently nudged the door closed with her magic. "It is. Now, to explain. These fillies aren't from here." When Twilight raised and eyebrow, she groaned quietly. "Okay, let me rephrase that. They're not from this world. They're from a nation called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Located on a planet called Earth. Which is in another dimension."

"Another dimension?!"

Sunset nodded. "Yes. And, while were there, we usually don't look like this. We're not ponies. We look like this." She shifted into human form, prompting Hermione to do the same. "We're humans. And these three were born like this." She then pointed at Ginny and Luna. "They have yet to manage turning back."

Twilight simply stared at the two mythical creatures standing before her. She had heard the myths, of course, but she had never thought humans were anything more than that.

"This form has its advantages," Sunset pointed out. She stretched out her hand. "These things especially." She picked the still stunned filly up in her magic and sat down on the bed, levitating Twilight into her lap and gently petting her mane.

Slowly coming out of her shock, Twilight squirmed slightly. "You're right. This is pretty nice."

Sunset nodded. "Mhm, it is. Now brace yourself, for I shall show you the wonders of ear scratches." With that she put actions to words and began carefully scratching Twilight's ears. She watched in mild amusement as the inquisitive filly suddenly turned to putty in her hands. Suddenly there were three more fillies around her. She rolled her eyes. "This isn't going to work girls, I only have two hands."

"Well alright." With an artificially dramatic sigh, Hermione returned to human form and got to work on robbing Ginny and Luna of their ability to form coherent thoughts.

After about five minutes Sunset let up and switched back to stroking Twilight's mane and back. She knew from experience that, while still pleasant, doing so was of little hindrance to the mind. Still, it took another minute before Twilight was speaking coherently again.

"Wow. That was amazing."

Sunset nodded with a knowing grin. "I know, I figured that out a few months ago. To be honest, I'm kinda tempted to see how Princess Celestia would react to that."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh dear. I don't know if that would be a good idea, but if you try that, I kinda wanna see how it goes."

"We'll try that at some point," Sunset giggled. "But for now we should really go find the others and get them started on learning how to transform."

"Wait. Wait. Hold on. Others? Learn how to transform?"

Sunset face palmed. "Right, you don't know about that yet." She pointed at Hermione and the two fillies who were still non-functional in her lap. "They're not the only humans here. We brought along Ginny's family, Hermione's parents, Luna's father and another friend our age. And we couldn't change between human and pony forms at will from the start. The first time takes a good bit of focus and we arrived pretty late yesterday evening, so we decided to give them a night to get used to these bodies before teaching them to control that."

"Can I come along?"

"I was hoping you would." Lighting her horn again once they had all turned back, Sunset teleported them to another wing of the castle, the area that held the visitor suites. "Now, that room should be Harry's if I recall correctly."

Knocking on the door with a hoof rewarded her with a mumbled 'come in'. Using her magic to open the door, she stepped in, followed by the other four fillies. The deep purple colt on the bed cracked open one of his slitted green eyes and looked at the intruders. "Oh. G'morning Sunset. Is it time for breakfast yet?"

Sunset smiled at the sleepy colt. "Not quite yet. You were just the first one we reached. We're fetching everyone. Breakfast should be in half an hour or so."

"Oh. Okay. Let me just get dressed." He stopped when four of the five fillies before him broke into giggles. "What?"

Sunset managed to stifle her giggles long enough to answer. "You can skip that step Harry. Ponies don't usually wear clothing. When we do it's either for work or purely decorative. And your human form is still clothed. Or do you remember taking them off?"

"Oh. Right." Harry shook his messy mane and got out of bed. "Sorry, I'm not quite awake yet." He yawned. "Had some trouble sleeping. Too much to think about."

"Like the fact that you don't need glasses any more?"

"For example. I think I saw something that looked like the Statue of Liberty, but as a pony."

Sunset stared at him, stunned. "You managed to see all the way to Manehattan? Wow."

"Manehattan?" Ginny piped up from behind them. "Seriously?"

Hermione giggled. "For some reason, most Equestrian city names seem to be horse-based puns on the names of places on earth. In fact I'm pretty sure Canterlot is just a pun on Camelot."

"Wow. I didn't even notice." Harry had to suppress a chuckle of his own. "I take it you haven't gotten the others yet?"

"Nope, we got to you first," their new companion piped up. "I'm Twilight, by the way, Twilight Sparkle."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

"Uh, Harry," Sunset piped up. "That's not really how introductions work in Equestria. If you say it that way, Ponies will think 'Potter' is part of your first name. The correct way to introduce yourself would be as 'Harry of House Potter, son of James and Lily'." She shook her head slightly. "At least that's the formal way, in informal contexts it's enough to just introduce yourself as Harry."

"Oh. That's good to know actually, thanks Sunset." When she simply smiled, Harry tilted his head. "We should probably tell the others about this too, shouldn't we?"

Sunset thought for a moment. "Probably. Wanna come along?"

"Sure."

The group left the room and made their way down the hallway. Twilight studied the colt walking along before her with interest. She had never met a raptor before. Walking, as he was, beside Ginny, his eyes weren't the only obvious difference. His wings seemed longer and narrower, more like those of a bird of prey. Suited for long, enduring glides and quick dives.

She would have to read up on them later.

Before long, the group arrived at their next stop. Hermione was the one to knock on the door. "Mister Lovegood? Are you awake?"

"Yes. Is that you girls? Do come in." The girls pushed the door open, and saw an empty room. They looked around for a moment, before a voice called out to them. "Up here."

Looking up, they saw the thestral dangling from the chandelier by his tail. "A little help would be nice. I'm not sure how I got up here. Or how to get back down."

Luna giggled. "Don't worry daddy, that apparently happens sometimes. It's instinctive. Just spread your wings and focus on letting go."

Following her advice, Xenofilius only took a few moments to glide back to the floor. A quick cushioning charm from Sunset prevented an unpleasant landing. "Thank you. I was getting rather bored up there. Though it was a lot more comfortable than I would have expected."

Rolling her eyes, Sunset led the group out of the room. It wasn't long before they reached the room Princess Celestia had given Dan and Emma for the night. Once more, Hermione knocked. "Mom, Dad? Are you awake yet?"

After a moment, Emma's voice came through the door. "Yes Hermione, I'm awake. Give me just a minute to throw your father out of bed."

A minute later a slightly subdued Emma came out of the room to join the growing group, followed by a very tired Dan. Hermione looked at her worriedly. "Mom? Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, dear. Just a bit of a headache."

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Sunset turned around, lighting her horn. "A headache, you say?" Her eyes lit up with magic and she looked at Emma intently for a few moments, then a wide smile spread across her face as she let her magic fade. "Don't worry. That should go away soon." Without another word, Sunset turned around, leading the group to the last room they had yet to visit.

This time, Ginny knocked on the door. "Mom, Dad, guys? You awake yet?"

"Ginny, dear? Is that you?"

"Yes mom."

"Come in."

With a shrug, Ginny pushed the door open, stopping after a few steps. She looked at the various beds strewn around the room, then at the pile of ponies on the biggest.

Luna came up behind her, tilting her head slightly. "How did this happen?"

26 - Canterlot

Chapter Twenty-Six

Canterlot

After untangling the pile of ponies, Sunset and Twilight, knowing the palace the best, led the group to the dining hall where Princess Celestia was waiting for them at the breakfast table.

"Good morning. Did all of you sleep well?" After seeing several hesitant nods, she sighed. "Please, relax, all of you. I did not invite you so you could be uncomfortable around me for fear of offending me. I am over a thousand years old, in that time I have seen many things that were far worse than anything you could do."

Despite some initial hesitation, the group managed to get past their fears and treat Princess Celestia like any other of their number. The fact that she had forgone her crown for breakfast was quite helpful in that, the fact that she was about twice as tall as the tallest of them, however, was not.

Emma was quietly eating her breakfast. The only noticeable difference from what she usually had, aside from the expected increase in quality – this was a royal palace, after all – was the obvious absence of any meat. Interestingly, however, there was some fish. Sunset had quickly explained that some ponies, especially pegasi and thestrals, occasionally ate fish.

She was enjoying the food, some of the cereal, she discovered, included whole grains, she found that her current herbivore teeth made quick work of them. The prolific amount of sugary treats on the table did not escape her trained eye. All of it was delicious. If only her headache would stop bothering her.

Sunset had said it would pass soon, but thus far it had only gotten worse. Sunset had whispered a few words to Twilight after they had collected the Weasleys and then again to the princess when they arrived in the dining hall, ever since, both of them were occasionally glancing at her as though they expected her to do something.

She looked over the table and saw a boiled egg on a platter not far from her. She could go for one of those right now. As it happened the platter was just slightly out of reach. Suddenly one of the eggs began glowing a faint cerise and floating over to her. Her stunned expression was mirrored all around the table, only Sunset, Twilight and the Princess looked at her with proud smiles.

It took her a moment to make the connection from the cerise glow around the egg, to that on the tip of the horn that had been poking into the top of her field of view since arriving in Equestria. It took her another moment to notice that her headache was gone.

"It seems Sunset's estimates were accurate." Emma looked back over to the princess. "Your arrival in Equestria's more powerful ambient magic field has expedited the final stages of your treatment. My congratulations Emma Granger, your magic has awoken."

Among the Weasleys and Lovegoods several jaws hit the table. Literally in some cases. "But! That's impossible!" Arthur finally managed.

Sunset giggled. "Not at all. I've been treating Emma and Dan for quite a while now. Dan's magic should awake a few hours from now, early tomorrow at the latest."

"Okay just to make sure I didn't miss anything." Ron pointed a wingtip in Sunset's direction. "Did you just turn a muggle into a witch?"

"Effectively, yes."

"Remarkable," Mr. Lovegood breathed. "Entirely unprecedented." His eyes suddenly widened. "My goodness, the purebloods are going to have a meltdown once they find out."

"Likely." Arthur nodded. "I feel like we'll need a bit more information on this."

Over the rest of breakfast, Sunset and Princess Celestia explained the matter to the guests.

After the morning's shock had worn off, Twilight and the Princess joined the visiting group in getting most of them started on the path to the ability of switching forms at will. The four fillies, of course, had already completed that step and Dan wouldn't be able to get started on it until his magic awoke.

It wasn't much of a surprise when the adults, save Emma, found the path first and without much instruction, but the children, with some guidance from Sunset, the princess and Hermione, whom Sunset had taught how to do it as well, weren't far behind.

When they had all completed the necessary preparations and gotten Luna and Ginny, who had taken the opportunity to continue their work towards managing the transformation, they looked to the lone unicorn leaning against a wall. Dan wasn't paying any attention to them, looking instead into a corner of the room. Following his gaze they saw what had captured his attention.

Princess Celestia was lying in a corner of the room, her head resting in Sunset's lap as the girl, currently in human form, was gently stroking her ears with one hand, while applying the same treatment to Twilight with the other. Hermione was leaning against the wall nearby, watching the scene with mild bemusement.

Once Celestia had recovered her senses, which she managed with admirable speed, she headed off, saying she had duties to attend to and asking Twilight to keep an eye on the group while they were in Canterlot. The group then split up, with the unicorns, save Sunset, staying indoors to give Emma a basic introduction to magic. Dan couldn't participate yet, but, assuming the oncoming headache he felt was any indication, that would change before long.

Meanwhile the rest of the group, consisting of Sunset and all the pegasi and thestrals, went outside to give all the new winged ponies an introduction to flying. Certain differences quickly became obvious. Harry and Charlie were easily the most talented fliers of the group, though they had very different natural styles. Charlie flew mostly as one would expect from a pegasus, hovering or flying at any altitude, quickly accelerating or stopping however it might be necessary. Harry, on the other hand, or hoof as the case may be, preferred to calmly cruise at high altitude, gliding most of the time and only occasionally flapping his wings to maintain momentum. From his vantage point he could clearly observe the rest of the group practicing.

Whenever one of them seemed to have trouble staying in the air, he would drop into a dive, quickly bleeding off altitude in exchange for speed and swoop in to catch them before they could hit the ground. Once they regained their wits, they usually spread their wings again and he let them go into a glide while flapping a few times to pull up away from them. He found the quick dives to be highly enjoyable.

After a quick explanation from the twins, Sunset was happy to conjure the four balls used in Quidditch for the group of pegasi. Once informed of the possibility, the group simply formed three rings out of clouds and used those as goals.

It wasn't long before Sunset and Harry as well as Luna and her Father were standing in mid-air, on a platform Sunset had conjured, and watching the Weasleys play an impromptu game of Quidditch. Unable to form two full teams, they had instead elected to have Fred, Bill, Ginny, Charlie and Mrs. Weasley on offense and Ron and George on defense. Both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley turned out to be talented chasers. Charlie was already a famously known seeker. Fred and George split up so each team would have a beater and Ron played the role of the keeper, guarding the three goals.

Sunset was watching the game with interest. This was the first time she had seen it played with anything close to resembling a full team. After a while she decided to make the game a little more interesting and quietly lit her horn.

It only took the players a few minutes to notice the goal rings slowly drifting upwards.

And thus, High Altitude Quidditch was born.

Emma, Dan, Percy and Mr. Weasley followed Twilight into the park surrounding the castle. The filly looked around in mild confusion. "Strange, Sunset said they'd be here."

"Well," Arthur pointed out, "they did say they would fly." He looked up, just in time to see a dark purple colt racing down from the sky on a collision course. He instinctively ducked, missing the colt leveling out just inches above their heads before banking into a wide turn to bleed off speed and landing gently on the grass before them. "My goodness Harry, don't startle me like that."

"Sorry Mister Weasley," Harry looked back up into the sky. "If you're looking for your family, they're having a Quidditch game up there. Your wife and daughter are giving Ron a bit of a hard time."

"How so?"

Harry grinned as he continued to watch the distant game, now well over a kilometer above the ground. "Turns out they're both really talented chasers and Ron keeps drifting sideways when he's watching them."

Arthur followed his gaze, frowning a little. "Quidditch isn't usually played so high up."

Emma snickered slightly. "The players usually don't have wings either, do they?"

Arthur chuckled lightly. "Touche."

Twilight frowned a bit. "Still, it's almost lunch time."

Harry waved a hoof, inwardly marveling at how natural the gesture felt already. "Don't worry, I'll go fetch them." With that he spread his wings and pushed off, catapulting himself up into the air. It took him a minute to reach the game and relay the message, but then he dove down, the entire team following moments later.

As the last of them were landing, Sunset, Luna and Xenofilius easily stepped off the platform Sunset had conjured, the construct dispersing behind them. Sunset turned to Twilight. "Do you know if the Princess has something planned for lunch?"

"No, she's busy with court."

Sunset smirked at her. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Joe's?"

"Joe's."

Half an hour later, the group followed the two unicorns through the door of a cafe on one of the plazas in upper Canterlot. The guests had spent most of the trip marveling at the marble architecture.

After a quick headcount, Sunset walked up to the stallion behind the counter. The moment he saw her, a wide smile broke out across his face. "Well here's a face I haven't seen in a while. Miss Shimmer, where've you been?" The moment he noticed the group behind her his smile grew even wider as he addressed them. "And Miss Twilight, coming by again, eh? And you brought by some new customers as well. Greetings, a pleasure to meet all of you. Doughnut Joe at your service."

"We'll have seventeen for now, Joe," Sunset stated, "We'll see if somepony needs seconds."

"Coming right up. Which one of your tabs should I put it on?"

Sunset and Twilight shared a glance and shrugged. "Well, they do both go to the palace anyway," Twilight pointed out, "so just pick one, I suppose."

The group spread themselves out across multiple tables as the cafe didn't have one that would seventeen ponies. Before long, Doughnut Joe levitated their platters over, to Mrs. Weasley's immense surprise. "Hold on, that's a dessert. This isn't a suitable lunch."

Sunset smirked. "It is for ponies, Mrs. Weasley."

While Molly sputtered, Arthur placed a calming hoof on her back and Dan raised an eyebrow. "Really? We're in a world of tiny, magical, candy-coloured horses, and the fact that they eat desserts instead of normal food is what gets you?"

"Well, I suppose." Molly still seemed a little put out, but the moment she got the first taste of her doughnut, that problem resolved itself.

As it turned out, all of the Weasleys involved in the Quidditch game and Harry, got seconds. Ron got thirds as well. They were nearly done when a voice rang through the cafe.

"Sunset?"

The unicorn in question turned to see another unicorn, a few years older than she was, standing not far from her. "Vinyl!"

"It is you. Sunny, it's been ages! Where've you been?"

With a wide smile, Sunset got up and trotted over to greet the new arrival. Watching, the group saw that the new arrival was the same pearly white as Ginny, but with a two-tone electric blue mane, not too far off from the streaks in Harry's mane. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of purple tinted shades. Sunset grinned as she enclosed the unicorn in a hug, careful not to squeeze the pair of headphones hanging around her neck.

"Oh, y'know. Living in another dimension, learning new forms of magic, experiencing life as a different species, teaching people magic ... The usual."

The stranger's glasses slipped to the tip of her snout, revealing wide, cerise eyes. "You've got an odd definition of 'usual', you know that, Sunny?"

"Maybe ..."

The unicorn rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Well anyway. You wanna introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh, right. Of course. These are the Weasley family. There are the Parents, Molly and Arthur. And their kids. There's Bill, that's Charlie, Ron, Ginny, Percy, and those over there are Fred and George. Good luck figuring out which one's which." The twins grinned mischievously as Sunset continued, "that over there is Harry, that over there is Hermione and her parents, Emma and Dan. And over here we have Luna and her Father Xenofilius. And this is Twilight Sparkle. My successor as Student of the Sun. Guys, this is Vinyl Scratch, basically the inventor of modern, Equestrian electronic music and the best DJ this side of the frozen north."

"Oh, stop your flattery."

"It's not flattery," Sunset smirked. "Nothing but the truth."

Vinyl blushed a little, but did her best to ignore it. "Say, Sunny, when you said another dimension ..."

Sunset nodded. "Yup, everyone here, save Twilight is just visiting from another dimension. Myself included."

"Cool, can I come visit at some point?"

"Hey," Twilight called from the table. "Me too."

Sunset giggled. "We'll see what we can arrange. Don't be surprised when a letter appears in a gout of flame, that's just me sending you a message through Philomena." The bird perched atop her head trilled proudly.

After they finished their lunch, the group returned to the castle. Not far from the main entrance, a guard waved Sunset over. "Per the princess' request, here are the supplies as ordered. The craftsponies are also standing by."

Sunset nodded. "Thank you, sir." With a nod of his own, the guard walked off, while Sunset waved the group over. "Alright, the stuff is here. We're good to go. I'll come with. I wouldn't want to miss your first reaction. Then I'll teleport back here and get the tents sorted for us."

Many of the younger members of the group seemed startled. "Wait. We're not staying here?"

Emma smirked. "No Ron, we're not. Sunset is taking us on a round trip of Equestria."

"Oh, have fun with that," Twilight called from the edge of the group. "Where are you going next?"

Sunset smiled coyly. "I hear Winsome falls in nice this time of year." She then smiled more openly at Twilight. "On our last day here, we're visiting Manehattan for the Summer Sun Celebration. Will you be there too?"

Twilight nodded. "Of course. That is where this year's official celebration happens."

"Good. See you there then." Sunset turned to the bird on her shoulder. "Philomena?"

With a proud trill, Philomena spread her wings and the group vanished. Smiling happily, Twilight left for her afternoon lesson, leaving the room empty once again.

27 - Winsome Falls

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Winsome Falls

The new arrivals looked around in wonder. The area was gorgeous. They were on a large, roughly circular island on a crystal clear lake. The outer edge of the lake surrounding a good third of the island was a massive waterfall. Several more islands dotted the lake, the space between them sporadically covered with water lilies. The islands themselves were relatively flat and sparsely populated with deciduous trees among the sprawling, grassy fields. The clouds in the distance that had liquid rainbow cascading off them were just overkill.

While she had never been here before, Sunset had at least seen pictures. As such she was the first to recover. "Welcome to Winsome Falls." More quietly she added, "beautiful, isn't it?"

Slowly walking over to her, Hermione nodded. "You don't usually find this kind of untouched nature in Britain anymore. Well, outside the Highlands, that is. And nature there is usually not quite as colourful as this."

"That's an understatement," one of the Twins began.

"Hogwarts is in the Highlands."

"And nature there is nowhere near-"

"-as pretty as here."

"It's too busy-"

"-trying to hit people." Finishing in unison, the twins had clearly recovered from their shock, though they, too, were still marveling at the gorgeous nature around them.

After she had spent a few more minutes enjoying the reactions of the group, Sunset left them to enjoy Winsome Falls and teleported back to Canterlot. She had some work to do.

Arriving back in the hallway she had left minutes earlier, she found the guard who had spoken to her and let him guide her into a room where a team of five craftsponies, three unicorns and two earth ponies, were waiting for her along with several crates of supplies and two fully set up, luxurious two-pony tents.

One advancement in magic she hoped to share with not one, but both worlds, was her progress in the field of spatial distortion, or, as the wizards of Britain called the type of spell, undetectable expansion charms.

Both worlds had their own methods to create items, vehicles, even entire buildings that were larger on the inside than they were on the outside. The Equestrian method simply created a pocket of compressed space inside the item, allowing it to simply be larger on the inside than on the outside.

The method used on earth was entirely different. Items enchanted in that way were not actually bigger on the inside, the wizards of earth achieved that effect by, for lack of a better word, cheating. The object simply served as an entry portal to a pocket dimension and an anchor to the spells keeping it intact. The bigger the anchor was, the larger the pocket dimension could be. The objects were not, however, bigger on the inside, as the bigger space they created, was not actually inside them.

Sunset was quite giddy to get started, she had originally requisitioned more tents from the princess, but the night before their departure, she had managed a breakthrough. Taking the methods from both worlds, she had managed to combine them.

It took her nearly half an hour to weave the spell on the first tent, but when she finished, she was quite proud of her work. She had created a compressed space inside a dimensional pocket. And she had improved her time as well. When she had enchanted her bag in that way, it had taken more than forty-five minutes.

With her improvements, the tent's interior was easily the size of a family home. And she hadn't made it even a quarter the size she could have made it. This new spell was more complex than either of the two she had crafted it from, but it was efficient. The Earthen method would have struggled achieving an effect of this magnitude, while the Equestrian method simply couldn't have done it. Her new spell could have created an effect five times larger without issue.

Now that she had a pocket space created, the craftsponies could start furnishing it. After giving them instructions on the basic layout she intended, they got to work on putting in the walls, floors and ceilings, the earth ponies focusing on preparing the wood for installation while the unicorns, with generous application of permanent sticking charms, placed them on the transparent walls of the spacial pocket within the tent.

First came the floor. The floor of the dimensional pocket was completely smooth. Pretty, certainly, but not exactly easy to walk on, especially using hooves. For those not well versed in it, walking on an invisible plane of force that was little more than a window into subspace could also be highly disorienting.

For the skilled and experienced ponies, a wooden tiled floor was quickly made. The walls, made of lighter wood were quick to follow. The brightest wood they had available, northern Equestrian Snow Birch, Sunset had reserved for the ceiling. They even installed windows. Some were simple glass panes, looking into the depths of subspace, others were basically illusory screens displaying the world outside, as seen by tiny glass pearls woven into the fabric of the tent. Sunset had seen fit to magically harden them when she anchored the scrying charm into them. She was glad that glittery materials were currently 'en-vogue' in Canterlot.

Furniture was not much harder to install. Tired of the windows being the only sources of light, The craftsponies first added a ceiling lamp. Rather than a crystal, they used polished glass to hold the enchantment. Adding a switch on the wall to toggle the enchantment on and off was foalsplay.

This, Sunset had decided, would be the boys' tent. As such it would need ten beds. After separating off two bedrooms on the upper floor, each with room for five beds, the crafters got to work on making them. The frames were easily made. Sunset had advised them that she would deal with the mattresses later, she'd need Ginny's help for those.

The final space on the upper floor was used for a common room with two large windows, one into Subspace, the other showing the view from a pearl above the main entrance, and a bathroom.

On the lower floor they installed a kitchen, toilet, and living room, as well as a storage closet. After the furnishings were complete Sunset, having long since finished the enchantment on the girls' tent, got to decorating. While some could spend hours staring at the colorful weather patterns of subspace, others would get sick of them after a few minutes, and the tents were likely to be used in Britain and Equestria alike, and, in the former, unpleasant weather wasn't uncommon. As such, curtains were a must. Once all the windows were fitted with royal blue velvet curtains with beautiful golden patterns stitched into them, she took a step back from her work and took a moment to walk around the house.

She had no illusions that it was anything less. They had just built a house inside a tent. Satisfied with her work she nodded and stepped outside. They had worked on the boys' tent for several hours, but she figured they'd still have plenty of daylight to finish the girls' tent today.

They had just built a house inside a tent. Now she would give the craftsponies a few minutes' break, maybe teleport back to the others for a short swim, then she would return here and do it again.

The second tent had only taken her twenty minutes to enchant. Once she mastered it, she estimated, she would be able to cast the spell in under five minutes. This time she added red curtains with silver patterns.

Another two hours later, their work was finished. The work was far from done, but she could beautify the houses later. For the moment she needed to deal with something essential.

Thanking the craftsponies, she packed up the tents, still amused by the fact that the subdimensions they maintained wouldn't be damaged in the process, and teleported them and herself back to Rainbow falls.

A quick scan of the area revealed a suitable clearing on another, more densely forested island and she teleported to its beach to walk to the clearing. A magical scan wasn't enough for a safe teleport.

It took her magic mere minutes to set up the tents and get everything ready. A few simple cleaning charms got rid of some loose sawdust and other remnants of the work. Soon enough, the tents were ready.

Returning to the lake she used a quick spell to read the magical signatures in the area. It only took her a second to find Ginny. Another quick spell later, she was walking towards the pegasus filly.

Across the water.

Dan, it turned out, got rather cynical when he was annoyed, and he found his current headache to be highly annoying. Seeing Sunset walk across the lake, he snorted. "Why not? It's not like she hasn't done the impossible a few dozen times at this point.

Raised in a magical family, Ginny was only mildly startled when Sunset trotted over to her across the lake. "Hi Sunset, done with the tents?."

Sunset pointed a hoof over to the forest island. "Almost. I kinda need your help for something. Do you think you could fetch me some clouds?"

Ginny was confused at the request, but took wing regardless. "How big? How many?"

Sunset projected a shape into the air beside her. "At least this big, I can cut them down if necessary. And sixteen if you don't mind."

Ginny didn't. She went to fetch the first cloud, then brought it over to the clearing Sunset had indicated, seeing two tents that should be far too small to house sixteen ponies. She saw Sunset outside them, in human form, ready to receive the first cloud. "Here you go. Now what exactly are you gonna do with those?"

"I'll turn them into mattresses. Wanna watch?"

"Cloud mattresses. Sure. Why not? I'll have a look." Ginny ended up not seeing much of the process from the first cloud. She was to busy walking through the house, looking around the place in a daze. The tastefully furnished living room right across from the entrance was only the first sight that stunned her.

When she was finished with the first mattress and, for that matter, the entire first bed, pillow, comforter and all, Sunset made her way through the house, looking for Ginny. She found her in the common room, looking out into subspace.

"Pretty isn't it?"

Ginny jumped, when Sunset spoke up. Seeing the girl's raised eyebrow, the little pegasus blushed and jumped out of the comfortable armchair from where she had been looking into subspace. "Sorry, I got distracted."

Sunset giggled, sitting down in the now vacant chair and levitating Ginny into her lap to administer calming strokes along her red mane. "Don't worry. I suspect you won't be the last."

Calming slowly, Ginny smiled a little. "Probably not. I can't believe you built all this in – how long? – five hours? Six?"

"Around five hours. The days here are two hours shorter, remember? And I did have some craftsponies to help me. I didn't do all of it alone." She set Ginny back on the ground as she began walking back to the stairs. "We better get back to work so we get done before sundown. There are fifteen more beds to do, after all."

It took the two half an hour, but the beds were soon completed. Sunset returned to pony form and they took a leisurely stroll through the forest, walking towards the setting sun. When they reached the beach they found most of the group there. They were all gathered around Dan, his face was screwed up in concentration and his daughter's horn on his forehead. Just as they passed the treeline, Hermione took her horn away and Dan opened his eyes. "There, that should get you started, now you can focus on it whenever you have time."

Moments later, the Sun touched the horizon, sinking behind it within moments. Sunset giggled. "What did I tell you? Before sundown." She smiled widely at the man. "Congratulations. You are now a wizard."

"Sunset! Where did you go all afternoon?"

Ginny smirked at her Mother. "Don't worry mom, She was just getting the tents ready.

Ginny had expected the reactions of the other girls to be priceless. She was not disappointed. She leaned next to one of the windows into subspace and watched the group wander into the comfortable living room with stunned expressions.

Sunset had sat down on the couch, also watching the reactions amusedly.

Hermione, Luna, Emma and Molly took a few moments to get over the room they had just entered. Then Luna discovered the window into subspace. "Oh. That's pretty."

"If you think that tiny window is pretty," Ginny grinned, "wait 'til you see the panorama upstairs."

All four shot around at the word 'upstairs'.

"And just wait for the cloud mattresses," Sunset added with a smirk.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. She comes to the royal library every Sunday, and she passes through that alley every Sunday. She will do so again tomorrow."

"Good. And when she does, we got her."

"That we do."

"Make sure every creature is ready."

"Don't worry. Everything will be in position."

In a basement somewhere in lower Canterlot, two voices laughed in glee.

28 - Mistake

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mistake

The boys were just as stunned as the girls one tent over. Harry was well aware that his bag was bigger on the inside, but it wasn't furnished. Sunset had crammed a family home into a two man tent ... somehow.

And this was not the organized chaos he had gotten used to from the Burrow, or the suburban style he knew from number four, this was a different style entirely. Though it did seem a little bare bones. Not really much of a surprise seeing how it had all been built in a few hours.

Still, all the essentials were there. The windows had a wonderful view, most of them just showed the clearing, but some showed a mesmerizing, ever shifting display of color. Mr. Weasley had called it subspace and sounded very impressed.

Arthur was highly impressed. He knew Sunset was skilled, but this was different. He could feel the spell matrix keeping the dimensional pocket together, but there was ... more. The energy levels were too low, the patterns too complex to be the undetectable expansion charm he knew.

Sunset had told them that the expansion magic she knew was less efficient than the one wizards used, so it clearly wasn't that either. He wasn't sure what Sunset had done, but he had no illusions that it might be anything less than an earth-shattering breakthrough.

The only thing he could clearly deduce, was that the spell he knew would have been at its limits with an expansion of this degree, whereas this spell was nowhere near its.

Xenofilius next to him seemed equally impressed, but he, it appeared, had gotten distracted by the window into subspace that sat on the wall opposite the entrance.

The windows allowing to see the outside were cleverly made. The ones looking out into subspace were an ingenious idea he had never seen before, though one that, in retrospect, seemed obvious. Subspace was already there, and it was actually kind of pretty.

Ron lay in the bed, utterly relaxed. The day had been great.

Wings, it turned out were also fantastic for maneuvering in the water, he had gotten to practice holding his breath while diving in the lake. The crystal clear water made the experience entirely incomparable to anything he had done before.

Now he lay in this bed. He didn't know where Sunset had gotten this mattress, but it was utterly fantastic. He might as well be sleeping on clouds.

Speaking of sleep, that sounded like a good idea right now.

The sun poked in through the window, waking Sunset gently. In hindsight, she may have overestimated the number of beds required for the night. She momentarily considered the concept of fluff-based gravity, but decided that that probably wasn't the cause of the cuddle pile she found herself in. The cloud mattresses might have something to do with it though.

Deciding that getting up could wait a little longer, she sighed contently and cuddled back into the pile, burying her snout somewhere under Ginny's wing. As she considered things, she had to admit it. Pegasi had superior fluff.

As she lay between her sleeping friends, Sunset considered her situation. She was relaxed and happy, something she most certainly hadn't been half a year ago. She had found fantastic friends and Hermione was effectively a sister to her. The planned vacation was going marvelously thus far. They'd spend the day and the next here at Winsome Falls before moving on to Fillidelphia for a few days, letting her friends see how ponies did big cities. Finally they would come to Manehattan for the last three days. One day to explore the city and two days to enjoy the Summer Sun Celebration and the ramp-up thereto. After that, they would return to earth in time for the start of term.

One thing this day was likely to bring was basic magical training for Emma and Dan. The two had magic now, but they had no idea how to use it. That couldn't stand. They would need training. She would make sure that they got it.

When Ginny stirred atop her, removing her wing, Sunset lifted her head again.

It was time to get up.

This was the day they had planned for. By tomorrow they would be rich. It wouldn't be long now before their target entered the alley. Unlike the previous Student of the Sun, this one was a creature of habit. She came this way every week, she had done so for the six weeks they had been watching, and she would do so again today. Only today she wouldn't come out on the other side of the alley.

The stallion looked to his accomplice. She had gathered the intel, she had made the preparations. He was the leader, but while he was busy leading, she made things happen. It was marvelous, really.

She chose that moment to give him a sign. Their lookout had seen the target approaching.

Looking around, he verified that everything was in place. The spell that would knock her out was prepared, the alley was empty except for them and appeared empty even with them there. The ambush was prepared, the trap was ready.

Unaware of the danger she was in, Twilight sprung the trap. A spell hit her in the side of the head, and she fell over, unconscious. He and his accomplice jumped down, flanking the filly on both sides. They charged their horns and moments later vanished from the alley. The others would follow using more conventional methods.

The day had been wonderful so far. Much had been taught and learned. The day before, her friends and their families had mostly guessed at how ponies swam. Sunset had been happy to teach them the proper styles.

They had happily reciprocated and taught her to swim as a human, a skill she had mostly forgotten about during her time on Earth.

The magical training for Emma and Dan had happened as predicted. They could now reliably draw upon their magic and use basic kinesis and light spells. Sunset's comments that most unicorns didn't bother to learn much more than that, were met with incredulity, a sentiment she shared wholeheartedly. If one could use magic, why not learn to use it to its fullest?

Sunset had always been ambitious. For a time, those ambitions had blinded her to the things that mattered most, but, with Hermione's help, she had overcome that. Her ambition was now tempered by reason and empathy, but it was far from gone. She was still striving for self-improvement, to be the best she could. Having the natural ability to learn so many things and simply not doing so, was something she had never considered viable.

The complacency many unicorns displayed in that regard was something of a sore topic for her. Her past experiences with the nobility had made sure of that. Those had been a major factor in fueling her ambition. Regardless of what she was, regardless of what she might become, at least she was not that. She may be from a noble house, but she had worked for her accomplishments and she didn't take them for granted.

With a sigh, she took her mind off the matter. There was nothing she could do to change the nobility. At least not for now. That might change some day, but not now and not any time soon.

Casting a quick spell so she wouldn't run out of air, far simpler and more efficient than the bubble head charm Mr. Weasley was using, she dove beneath the surface, heading calmly for one of the deeper areas of the lake. The crystal clear water was cold, but a second, quick spell isolated her so she wouldn't lose any warmth to the water.

Her spells would last a few hours and it was wonderful down here. The light of the sun was playing in the waves, casting scattering, ever-shifting patterns of light across the rocky ground of the lake. Small fish in a variety of colors swam through the water, sometimes in swarms. It was a breathtaking sight.

How fortunate that she didn't currently need to breathe.

Sunset had learned that, in the wizarding communities of earth, transfiguration of sentient beings was mostly relegated to potions for some reason. She couldn't quite fathom why, seeing how wizards and witches didn't seem bothered at using spells to transfigure everything else.

With a few moments to focus, she transformed her hooves to have fins on them, allowing her to glide beneath the waves much easier. Pegasi might have been able to use their wings to help with that, but she didn't have that option. It was at the top level of her transfiguration skills, but, from what she'd seen, nowhere near the limits of what she'd be able to do once she learned the Earthen methods.

After a while she found an underwater cave. Making sure to remember her path, she dove in, exploring the cavern. Finding it full of gems wasn't entirely surprising. Gem caves were not uncommon in Equestria.

Seeing the light from her horn reflected in the innumerable facets, however, was still a sight to behold.

For half an hour, she floated through the sparkling caves before she came across another opening into the lake at large. After a moment to consider, she swam back out. Deciding to have some fun while she was at it, she swam back to where her friends were paddling on the surface.

She shot a smirk to Mr. Weasley who was also still exploring the depths, then swam up to the surface at speed and jumped out just between Fred and George. Flipping in mid air before diving back down and falling back into the water.

Both of them started and jumped into a low hover, before breaking out in laughter.

"She's good."

"That she is, brother dear."

When they settled back into the water, Sunset broke the surface again, more slowly this time. "Wanna have some fun?"

The two shared a glance before replying as one. "Any time."

"Okay then." Sunset placed the first two charms on them as well. Having wings, the two would have little use for the third. "Come catch me!" With that she dove back beneath the surface and swam off in a flash of red and gold. The twins were hot on her hooves.

The chase lasted for several minutes at first. Sunset was fast, far faster than the twins had expected. And while they could go at impressive speed as well and their wings allowed them to accelerate and stop faster than she could, Sunset had a far easier time turning without stopping. As such their attempts to outmaneuver her bore little fruit.

Switching tactics without ever needing to communicate as only twins could, the two split up. Fred continued to chase her, while George tried to cut of her path. After she eluded them several times, George positioned himself in a narrow crevice between two taller rock spires. He spread his hooves and wings wide when he saw a smirking Sunset racing towards him. When her horn lit up he braced himself, realizing a moment too late what she had planned.

The twins collided a second after the unicorn disappeared between them. The displaced water did a good job of pulling them together. Once they had separated, they went to search for her once more. They spotted the end of her tail several times, following her. Finally they reached a deeper, more open area.

Looking around, they saw her floating before a cave entrance, waving a hoof, before swimming inside. Sharing a glance, they followed. The moment they reached the first chamber, they stopped, seeing the gems embedded in the walls. It was a gorgeous sight. They swam slowly through the cave.

Sunset watched them with amusement for a few moments, before deciding that their game had been interrupted for long enough. Conjuring an illusory double of herself, she let it swim, horn alight, deeper into the cave, following the same path she had taken earlier. The twins followed.

Sunset enjoyed the high speed chase through the caves. That the twins didn't realize who was chasing who, only amused her further.

The chase through the surprisingly expansive tunnels took several minutes before 'Sunset' once more exited the cave, the twins not far behind. Once more out in the open, the twins switched back to heading her off. Smirking, Sunset saw herself presented with an ideal opportunity to reveal her illusion.

She let the two of them set up a trap and guided her double right into it. When they went to catch it, they, of course, went right through it, colliding once more as the illusion dispersed. When they untangled, she waved at them from a distance, garnering their attention once again. As she once more shot off, she decided to put an end to the chase. As such she lit her horn and created writing that trailed behind her.

Let's have a race back to the others.

If I reach them first, I win.

If you catch me before then, you do.

Shall we?

She turned around, seeing the two smirk and nod. She lit her horn once again and created a second illusion behind her.

Go!

She shot off, knowing she'd need every bit of speed she could muster. She might have a head start, but the twins had had ample opportunity to prove that, on a straight line, they were faster.

The twins knew that as well and pushed forward with powerful strokes of their wings. They were getting closer to Sunset, but she was also fast approaching the beach of the island where their tents stood, apparently having decided it made a good finish line.

The race was close, but Sunset managed to reach the beach and jump out of the water before they caught her. Canceling the spells on herself, she transformed back into human form, rolling to arrest her momentum, before drying herself off.

She graciously ignored the grooves the twins had carved into the sand.

Seeing how they were all out of the water, she canceled the spells on the twins as well. All of them took a deep breath, now that they needed to again, and began laughing.

From their place on the ground, the two little pegasi looked up at the girl.

"You know how-"

"-to have fun."

"Clever tricks you-"

"-used there."

She smirked at them. Then suddenly felt something. She opened the bag that had formed at her side when she assumed human form and took out a large book and a quill.

Opening the tome she began to read.

Dear Sunset,

Twilight has been foalnapped.

I just received a ransom note.

I'll go and deal with this.

Do you want in on this?

Celestia.

Sunset narrowed her eyes. They never did learn, did they? She grabbed the quill and brought it to the paper.

Sure thing. Is this her first time?

It is. Any ideas on strategy?

You go in, I get her and

go out, we meet in the middle?

Sounds good.

Great, I'll meet you there.

Closing the tome, she packed it and the quill back into her bag, a grim smile on her lips. "Boys, I'm afraid I'll have to cut our play time short. There are some ponies that need to be taught why you don't mess with the Student of the Sun. I'll be back soon." She returned to her equine shape and used a quick spell to remove the water that still clung to it's coat, mane and tail, followed by a light magic cleaning spell to make sure she was perfectly clean.

She teleported over to the tents and went to the bedroom she was sharing with the girls. There, she returned to human form, switched into her Parkour training outfit, stowed her wand in a pocket she had added specifically for that purpose and returned to equine shape. Finally, she focused her mind and reached out.

When the phoenix appeared atop her head. Sunset spoke to her. "Twilight has been foalnapped, think you could find her and drop me off on the roof? Quietly?"

Philomena, trilled softly, spread her wings and lifted off, landing on the ground. She then touched the filly with a flaming primary feather, causing her to disappear in a flash of flame.

29 - Rescue

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rescue

Twilight was uncomfortable. She found that she didn't enjoy being gagged and tied to a chair. She didn't particularly like the two ponies standing beside her either. They hadn't believed her when she had told them that the princess would come for her. They would soon learn. She had realized months ago that Princess Celestia had a spell on her that allowed her to track her student. The spell was designed so that Twilight knew whenever the Princess looked up her location.

She had felt it go off a few moments ago. The Princess had thus gotten the ransom note and would be arriving any moment. Unable to do much about the situation, Twilight attempted to relax. She glanced at the two ponies beside her. She had no combat training, so they could probably take her out even if it weren't for the ring atop her horn. Still, she wished she could remove the itchy thing.

She sighed as well as she could through the gag and leaned back. For now, it seemed, she would be playing the waiting game.

Sunset arrived atop a roof in the lower district of Canterlot in a flash of flame. She quickly applied an invisibility spell to ensure she remained unseen. Philomena, clever bird that she was, had set her off on the roof, but beneath an overhanging section of roof from a neighboring building. As such, an aerial sentry would likely miss her arrival.

Lighting her horn, she prepared a series of spells. First a set of sound dampening spells to make sure her hoofsteps and breathing would go unnoticed, second a reactive dark vision spell, in case she had to pass a badly lit area. Seeing how she had just taken an extensive swim in a mountain lake, she decided to forgo a spell to hide her scent. Finally she used a spell to scan magical signatures in her surroundings.

She had expected such a thing to happen. Not so soon, admittedly, but it paid to be prepared. She had taken the morning she had spent around her successor as an opportunity to familiarize herself with her magical signature. As such, she found it easily. Several floors beneath her, in the basement.

Hardly surprising.

Another quick check revealed a few basic wards in her way. A more thorough check, revealed no further, hidden wards among them. She could even tell which instruction from which book on basic wards the schemes were from.

Amateurs.

There were several guards though, half a dozen in the basement. She had no way to tell how many in the building above were accomplices of the foalnappers. Having all the information she needed, she began to weave her teleportation spell. A minute later, the invisible unicorn vanished from the roof.

The wards never twitched.

Twilight had come to a conclusion. If one knew that help was on the way, being foalnapped was a rather boring situation. She was about to sigh, again, when she heard a voice.

"Really now, Twilight, I would have thought you could find better company." She recognized the voice as that of her mentor. Her foalnappers tensed, ready to spring into action, but also afraid. Clearly, they had recognized the voice as well.

"I'll be there in a moment," the voice continued to echo about the room, making it impossible to pinpoint a single direction it was coming from. Either the source was moving, or there was magic at work. Likely both. "Now, for you two. Did you really think you could foalnap the Student of the Sun without attracting the sun's wrath?"

There was something off about the voice. From the sound alone it was a perfect match, a normal listener wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. But Twilight heard her mentor's voice many times a day. She knew it well. This was not that voice. There were minute differences in enunciation and inflection. It didn't quite match Princess Celestia. But she had heard it before. Only a day before in fact.

"You do realize that 'Student of the Sun' is a royal position. As such, attacking a Student of the Sun, or holding them against their will, constitutes high treason. Did you know that?" Twilight shot a glance at her foalnappers. She had known that. They, clearly, hadn't, if their startled expressions were any indication.

The voice chuckled. "I suspected as much." As she spoke, the voice slowly shifted, the perfect imitation of Princess Celestia's voice slowly returning to its natural sound. Twilight's suspicion had been correct. It was Sunset Shimmer.

"Really now, you're not all that smart are you?" There was clear amusement in the voice now. "Really not impressed with your choice of company, Twilight. The phrase 'beset, on all sides, by idiots' comes to mind.

"Well, that can be fixed." Two glowing blue waves of force erupted from thin air on either side of Twilight, slamming into the two ponies standing there and throwing them against the wall. With a gentle wavering of the air, Sunset Shimmer appeared in the center of the room, not far from Twilight's chair. Two more ponies, thus far hidden in the shadows, ran out to grab her.

The moment they collided into each other, the illusion dispersed. A fine teal mist appeared above the head of each of the ponies, two still pressed against the wall, the other two frantically trying to disentangle themselves from each other. The mist simply seeped into them and, moments later, all four of them lay snoring on the floor. A powerful sleeping spell that would last for several hours.

"As I said, 'idiots'," Sunset snorted as she let her invisibility spell fall off her, appearing beside Twilight. With a glow of her horn, the bindings fell off the filly and the gag undid itself. She casually shifted into her human form, reached a hand out and gently removed the ring off Twilight's horn. "Now then. Princess Celestia should be here any minute, she'll make her way in so none of them escape, we'll make our way out doing the same. We'll meet halfway."

Twilight stared incredulously as the girl calmly drew her wand and twirled it. "How?"

"How what?"

"You're younger than I am, how are you so casual about this?"

"Right. This is your first time, sorry I forgot for a moment." She leaned down, gently stroking Twilight's mane. "Students of the Sun get foalnapped all the time. I'm just used to it. It's kinda part of the job."

"Wait. You were foalnapped too?"

"Of course. Seventeen times if I'm counting correctly. Sorry, they do tend to blur together a little. I think you can guess why. You did seem pretty bored when I arrived."

"I guess when you know that help is coming ..."

"You don't really worry. Yeah. I know." Sunset smirked a little. "In later years they started to become more memorable. After a while I became skilled enough to fight my own way out and leave them for the guard to pick up. Come on then." Her eyes lit up with magic for a moment and she looked at the door, then sighed. "Not even a magical lock. Seriously, amateurs. Alohomora." She tapped her wand to the lock which opened up with a quiet 'click'. "Stay behind me. I'll clear a path."

With that, Sunset calmly walked into the corridor. Twilight hesitantly followed.

Disguised as a sky blue unicorn mare with a smiling sun as a cutie mark, Princess Celestia walked down the street, guided by her tracking spell. She reached the house before long.

Taking a moment, she looked around to get her bearings. She quickly noticed several ponies unobtrusively watching the building. Hardly a surprise. Using one of the many spells she had learned and developed over her centuries of life experience, she marked all those she saw. If she sought to find any of them within the next two months, they would have nowhere to hide.

She committed their appearances to memory. Making sure she'd be able to recognize each from a description. The spell Sunset had used to give herself photographic memory was another of her creations, after all.

After she had taken a good look at each of them, taking care not to forget the two pegasi circling above, trying and failing to be inconspicuous, she made her way to the door of the building. A few quick spells showed her that there were quite a few ponies in the building and that they were quite interestingly distributed.

There were eight ponies in the unusually large basement of the building. Four of them showed telltale magical signs of being under the effects of a sleeping spell, another two of them she recognized as two very familiar fillies. Sunset, it seemed, had already arrived.

The two ponies in the floor above were ... busy. Clearly not among the foalnappers. The top floor seemed to be vacant. The floor in between however, held seven ponies, two of which seemed to be patrolling the stairs to the floors above and below.

She lit her horn again, creating a powerful shield over the door. None would be leaving through there. After placing similar shields over the windows, she teleported up onto the third floor and began her way down. The ponies on the stairs fell unconscious before they could even realize what was happening, such was the power she brought to bear.

The door was locked. After a moment, it wasn't locked anymore. Or a door for that matter.

These ponies had disappointed the sun. Now they would bear the consequences.

Sunset made her way out of the room, keeping an eye on the magical signatures in the building. She quickly noticed the powerful and familiar signature just outside the main door.

The princess had arrived on scene.

She pushed the matter out of her mind. The princess would be entering from above. She would be clearing a path for Twilight from below. Carefully aiming her wand, she shot two quick spells at the first of the two remaining guards in the basement.

The first silenced him so he couldn't alert the other, the second was once again a sleep spell. Unaware as he was, the guard made no attempt to resist the spell and was soon asleep standing, snoring soundlessly. The second soon followed. Snorting once more, Sunset shook her head.

Amateurs.

She returned to her equine shape and waved for Twilight to follow. When the older filly stood beside her, she smirked. "Feel it? She's here."

Twilight nodded. "She's not happy, is she?"

"Her student was foalnapped. I don't think she's going to be all too happy about that. I mean sure, it happens all the time, but it's still disappointing."

"Did they really foalnap you seventeen times?"

Sunset smirked."Well, they tried seventeen times. They only managed it the first eight. The other times, I took them out before it could come to that. Now come along, I think the princess wants to see you again."

The two of them climbed the stairs, each levitating three sleeping ponies behind them. When they reached the second floor landing each of them picked up another, they then went through the splintered remnants of a door with a conspicuously molten lock. The room behind it held two more unconscious ponies, each of them picked up one of those as well.

When they opened the next door, they saw Princess Celestia, no longer disguised, staring down a unicorn stallion, a unicorn mare, a pegasus stallion and two griffons. All of whom seemed to be terrified. Two fillies coming in carrying their remaining guards only served to drive home the point of how badly they had messed up.

"Twilight, my faithful student. It's good to see you again. Put them over there if you don't mind."

After the fillies had stacked the unconscious ponies in the indicated corner, Celestia smiled at them. "Thank you. Sunset, could you take the two of you to my quarters? I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

"Of course. See you then."

In a flash of teal, the two smirking fillies vanished, leaving the foalnappers with the furious alicorn.

"Can't we talk about this?" the mare squeaked.

"Of course," Celestia agreed, then her gaze hardened. "We will."

With a flash of gold, the room was emptied of ponies.

When Celestia teleported from the Dungeons beneath the palace to her chambers several minutes later, she found Sunset leaning back in a couch, once more in human form, wearing an outfit she hadn't seen before, clearly designed to be more practical and provide a greater range of unimpeded movement than her usual clothing. The protective enchantments did not escape her notice either.

She smiled when she saw her student curled up in Sunset's lap, snoring quietly. She had never seen Twilight fall asleep without a book before. Then again, she had had an exciting day. Looking to the balcony, Celestia saw her ward slowly sinking towards the horizon. She could feel, of course, that it would soon be time to set it to rest for the night, and wake the one she had taken from her sister. Still, the visual reminder was there.

With a calm smile, Sunset levitated Twilight to the couch beside her, continuing to gently stroke along her mane. She sighed. "Once more it happens. It really is a shame ponies would do this."

Celestia nodded. "It is. Still, I never had any illusions that there were no criminals among my little ponies." She, too, let out a sigh. "There always have been, and always will be, those that are driven by selfish desire, by greed for wealth, for power, or for something more abstract. There will always be those that would abandon the path of harmony for their own benefit.

"All we can do, is to make sure such sentiment doesn't spread. Traps such as this one are a good way to do that." She glanced at the filly beside Sunset. A pained expression flashed across her face. "One day she will understand that as well, though it pains me that I must use her so."

Sunset was fully aware that the Princess was no longer talking about catching petty criminals, but she decided to play along and keep the conversation abstract. She smiled at her old mentor. "She will understand. Assuming all goes to plan, none of them will come to harm. If only we could tell her, but that would defeat the point, wouldn't it?"

Celestia sighed. "It would. We both know that friendship cannot be forced."

"Do you think it would be viable to introduce them sooner?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather not take the risk. Too much hinges on their success." She shook her head. "But anyway, now is not the time for such a dour topic. You have a vacation to enjoy." She smirked at the little purple unicorn beside Sunset. "And I think I have a young filly to bring to bed."

"True, true." After a final stroke across Twilight's mane, Sunset got up. "Good night, Princess."

"Good night, my little sun. Sleep well."

With a nod, Sunset drew her wand and teleported back to Winsome falls.

A moment later, Celestia teleported herself and Twilight to the latter's room, leaving her quarters empty.

30 - Holiday Stories

Chapter Thirty

Holiday Stories

In a flash of teal, Sunset reappeared at the beach where her friends and their families had gathered to watch the setting sun. Emma was the first to notice her return.

"Sunset! Where did you go? The twins said you read something in a book, suddenly got all serious, said something about teaching ponies manners and teleported away."

Sunset slipped her wand back into her pocket and turned back to her equine form before answering. "I did. Princess Celestia wrote me and told me that Twilight had been foalnapped. She asked if I wanted to join in the rescue. I did."

"Ignoring the term 'foalnapped' for a moment" Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes. "How are you so calm about this?"

Sunset smirked. "Because Twilight is the Student of the Sun. Getting foalnapped is basically part of the job description. Happens all the time."

"Wait you got ... 'foalnapped' too?"

Sunset nodded, "Of course. Princess Celestia even mentioned it in one of her letters. I know you saw that."

"Right. She did. Huh. I didn't think of that."

"They tried seventeen times." Sunset giggled as all the others gasped. "Only actually managed it eight times, mind you, but still. Those were some real amateurs today."

"Seriously?"

"What? They were! Anyways, what've you been up to while I was gone?"

"Not much, really," Emma explained, "you weren't even gone for half an hour. We were about to invite the boys over for dinner. You did make the table large enough for that."

"But before that," Dan chuckled, "we were going to watch the ... well, sunset."

Sunset herself giggled as well. "Y'know, I've watched Celestia raise and lower the sun thousands of times over the years I was her student. But it's still a sight I never grow tired of. You'll see it for yourself in a few days." She tilted her head slightly. "It should be time any second now."

Everyone turned their heads back to the sun. Only seconds after, it quickly slipped below the horizon.

Hermione turned to Sunset. "How d'you know that?"

"Good sense of time. Come on, let's have dinner. Tomorrow I'll get to show you around Fillidelphia."

Late morning the next day, the tents were disassembled and placed back in Sunset's bag. The entire group had gathered in the clearing. "Philomena, if you would."

A flash of flame later, the group stood on the roof of a building several stories tall. Sunset pulled a scroll out of her mane. "Alright, this should be our hotel for three nights. I have our reservation here."

They pressed the button on the elevator. The natural born humans were surprised for a moment, both that Equestria had elevators, and that one would go all the way to the roof. Then they remembered that a third of the Equestrian population could fly. Of course most buildings would have rooftop access.

The elevator brought them to the lobby in short order. The receptionist was quick to give them the keys to their rooms, though she seemed slightly baffled by their lack of luggage. And by the phoenix. Obviously.

She couldn't know that everything they needed fitted into the three bags Sunset, Hermione and Harry weren't visibly carrying. They had, after all, flowed into their very magical essence when they had assumed pony form.

They were quick to claim their rooms and head out, eager to see the city. Before they did, however, Mrs. Weasley insisted they have lunch.

Sunset was guiding the group on a tour of the city, showing them the various tourist attractions Fillidelphia had to offer. The city was one of the older ones in Equestria, having been founded nearly nine-hundred years ago. It had long since become a focal point of art and culture in Equestria, second only to Canterlot.

It thus came as no surprise, when Sunset showed them Court Bard Institute of Music, one of the most renowned conservatories in Equestria and the only one to match Canterlot Conservatory, despite the latter being nearly two centuries older.

Many in the group were intrigued by the modern style of architecture on display in the next building Sunset showed them.

"Now this," Sunset began, pointing at the modern building, "is Camel Hall, the home of the Fillidelphia Orchestra."

The group was staring at the wide, arching roof, many of them feeling instantly reminded of Kings' Cross Station, though it had only one arc, not two. The panes of glass were several yards wide each and spanned across the entire arc as a single, bent strip of glass.

"Wow," Emma spoke quietly. "I don't think humans could even make that kind of glass structure, especially not in that size."

Sunset nodded. "Probably not. From what I've seen, the technology of muggles on earth compares to that of Equestria much like the magic of wizards on earth compares to Equestrian magic, different states of advancement in different fields. Equestria is far behind in such things as transport or electronics, heck the entire field of Information Technologies doesn't even exist here, but in things like Chemistry and Material Sciences, Equestria is decades ahead."

"Uhh," Ron began, before voicing the Question most of the group were asking themselves, "what's Information Technologies?"

Rolling their eyes, Sunset, Hermione, Emma, Dan and Harry led the group to a cafe as they began explaining the concept of computers to the Weasleys and Lovegoods. Mr. Weasley was highly enthused, to say the least.

His wife simply sighed and rolled her eyes. Still she couldn't completely hide her interest.

The tour continued after their stop at the cafe, taking most of the remaining day. The humans still hadn't quite adjusted to days being shorter, so the excitement of the tour on top of that, made the day seem to pass in an instant.

Before long, they had returned to the hotel, turning in for the night. The four girls had offered to let Harry and Ron join them for the night, an offer that would have certainly turned heads, had they been a few years older. As it was, it was seen as adorable and accepted without issue. If anything, it was one less pony in the pile that would inevitably form in the room the Weasley family had taken. They still weren't entirely sure why that kept happening.

The four fillies and two colts arranged themselves in a circle, each resting their head on the neck of the one beside them, cuddling into their mane.

As such, the night passed quietly.

The next morning, after breakfast, the Weasleys and Harry once more began a game of Quidditch, this time in a nearby park. They didn't start out with two full teams, but that issue fixed itself rather quickly once passing pegasi noticed them and started joining in. Sunset ended up conjuring a second and later a third set of balls for another four teams that formed.

She was quietly grateful that Cloudsdale wasn't on their itinerary. Fillidelphia was a city founded by earth ponies and, to this day, they made up about half the population, much like over half the population of Canterlot were unicorns. Tradition was a powerful thing.

A city of more or less exclusively pegasi would completely lose their mind over Quidditch. It would certainly be an interesting social phenomenon to study, but one she preferred to watch from a distance. Though she had the feeling that she would be somehow involved anyway.

She was right.

It only took about two hours before one of the pegasi asked if they had a rulebook. Pegasi were rarely the bookish types, that personality archetype was far more common among unicorns and earth ponies, but it was still only a matter of time until they found one that was.

Of course, they didn't have a rulebook. This led to an immediate issue. Acquiring a rulebook was a simple matter of asking Philomena to take them to Diagon Alley and buying one there. The problem was that those rulebooks would be written in English. A language completely foreign to Equestria.

Sunset suddenly smiled. "Guys, I have an idea. I'll be right back." The unicorn vanished in a flash of teal.

She reappeared at the entrance to the Royal Archives in Canterlot, recognizing her, the guard at the door nodded and lit his horn to open the door for her.

She walked through the rows of shelves with intent, certain of her destination. It was a path she had taken countless times. After a minute of walking through the expansive hall, she conjured a platform of force beneath her, letting it lift her like an elevator. The books she was looking for dominated the upper half of the shelf she had reached. She smiled in nostalgia.

This was the Book of Magic, a comprehensive and encyclopedic index of spells sorted, for some strange reason, alphabetically by subject. The whole work took up nearly half of the several stories tall shelf by itself simply because of how complete it was. In total it was more than seven-hundred books long, describing in detail over sixty-thousand spells.

After a moment of search, she found the thirty fifth part of the series.

Book of Magic

(35)

Bol - Bop

Pulling the tome from the shelf in her magic, she opened it and put it down on the platform which she absently lowered back to the ground. It only took a minute for her to find the topic she had been looking for: Books.

"Let's see here," she quietly mumbled to herself, "book comprehension, no, book manifestation, what's that? Heycartes' method? Huh, something to look into later, but no, book replication, here we go." She took a few minutes to carefully read the spell, then she closed the tome and cast the spell on it.

It was fascinating to watch as the spell first created a new binding and then floated the two books across from each other and copied the original, page by page by page. In only a few seconds, the entire tome was copied and she carefully placed the original back where she had found it, high up on top of the shelf.

Momentarily taking human form, she stowed the copy in her bag. Once she had, she teleported back to her friends. "There, I have a spell that I can use. Now we just need a book. Who's coming along?"

After a few minutes it was decided that, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Luna and Hermione would be accompanying her, with Emma and Dan to chaperone them, the two needed wands anyway.

A few words later, Philomena had taken them to the warded alleyway once more. Sunset disguised her again and lead the way to the alley.

A few minutes later, they stood in a section at the back of Quality Quidditch Supplies. The shop, Ron remembered featured several sections one might not initially expect, including one that handled the sale of used equipment and one that carried Quidditch literature. It was, unsurprisingly, far more comprehensive than the section Flourish and Blot’s had set aside for the sport.

After a few moments of looking through the books, they found something interesting, a comprehensive rulebook, including a full list of fouls with a voice controlled search function. The list was not complete, of course, as the ministry had never released a complete one, but the book did include the great majority of the seven-hundred fouls the game knew.

Once they had acquired the book, it was time for them to head for Ollivander's yet again. While some of them appeared a bit startled, none of them jumped when Ollivander stepped from the shadows with a jovial. "Ah, it's time already? That was sooner than I expected. Welcome once again and my sincere congratulations. You have made history."

Emma smiled happily. "Thank you. But really this was all Sunset's work. She's the one who cured us."

Ollivander raised an eyebrow. "Cured? Are you suggesting that being a muggle is a medical condition?"

Sunset smirked. "Well it is. I couldn't have cured it otherwise. Though it is excessively common here."

"Remarkable. But that's not why you are here, is it? I take it the two of you will need wands?" Emma and Dan nodded. "Which are your wand hands?"

After Dan indicated his right and Emma her left, they were both assailed by measuring tapes while Ollivander, in his typical manner, flitted through the store to find prospective wands.

It took several minutes each, but before long, Emma held a twelve and a quarter inch wand of sycamore with a phoenix feather core. Ollivander had remarked that it suggested she had great potential to learn and grow.

Dan was, in turn, chosen by a fourteen inch, aspen wand with a unicorn hair core. Ollivander's pronouncement that he was likely to bring great change was met with gazes that unanimously said 'No! Really?! Whatever gave you that idea?'

After they had left the store, Ollivander scratched the back of his head in thought. In retrospect that really hadn't been much of a revelation. Regardless, Miss Shimmer had managed to turn two muggles into a wizard and a witch. It seemed another letter to Albus was in order.

Not even an hour after leaving, the group was back in Manehattan and Sunset took the rule book. She looked to Hermione with a smile. "Now this might come in handy later. I've found a spell that can copy a scroll, book, letter, you name it. I've compiled my knowledge of English and Modern Equestrian into a translation matrix. If I link that matrix into the spell, we should get a translated copy. After that, I just have to enchant it with a modified version of the search spell and we'll be golden."

She lit her horn, firing a beam of teal at the book. Within moments, the book was copied over. They took a few minutes to skim various passages in the book to confirm that it was, in fact, written in coherent Equestrian, then, once Sunset added a slightly modified version of the search enchantment, they took it back to where the pegasi were still playing Quidditch.

The stallion that had asked for the rulebook was ecstatic at the gift. He was, it turned out, from Cloudsdale – Ginny simply rolled her eyes – and visiting family for the local Summer Sun Celebration.

With more and more pegasi coming over to see what the commotion was and even some Earth Ponies and Unicorns joining in, the group was quite busy for the rest of the day. Sunset taught Hermione, Mr. Weasley and Percy a simple cloud walking charm. Any of the pegasi of the group that weren't currently playing were put to work molding clouds into seating.

Of the many things the group had expected to do today, building an impromptu stadium, out of clouds no less, was not among them.

The next day was similar, only with Emma and Dan practicing magic in their hotel room under Arthur and Hermione's supervision.

The pegasi failed to notice the repeated flashes of colored light coming from one of the hotel's rooms, too engaged in their game. Only Harry, who was taking a break from the game, and focused on gaining the ability to change shapes at will, noticed the lights coming from their room.

31 - Solstice

Chapter Thirty-One

Solstice

With the sort of calm only experience could bring, Harry let the golden flames wash over him and suddenly found the phoenix, the three owls, the fifteen other ponies and himself on another rooftop. At first glance, it didn't seem too different from the one they had just left. To his new, sharp eyes, however, there were distinct differences in the architectural style. The roads were wider, the houses closer together, and in the distance, through gaps in the rows of taller buildings, he could see the green-tinted bronze of a familiar statue.

What happened next seemed distinctly familiar. Use the elevator to get to the lobby, retrieve room keys with a reservation Sunset pulled out of her mane ... somehow, get rooms, grab lunch and then go out to tour the city under Sunset's guidance.

That was when things started to go differently. Sunset's style of presentation was as informative as ever, but the sights themselves, obviously, were different ones. He repeatedly had to suppress chuckles upon hearing names such as 'Bridleway', 'Saddle Row', 'Bronclyn', and 'the Crystaller Building'.

He was impressed to learn that Manehattan, unlike any other city in Equestria, had an underground railway system, the Maneway. He was more than a little surprised to learn that it was not, as he had suspected, powered by magic, but, in fact, just like the rest of Equestria's trains, steam powered. He was even more surprised when Hermione pointed out that the London Underground had been steam powered in its early years as well. He hadn't known that.

To think that he would learn such an interesting bit of trivia about his own homeland, by going to another dimension of all things. Life really was odd at times.

Riding the Maneway was a far cry from the calm ride on the Tube he was familiar with, but it was also nowhere near as harrowing as the insanity of the carts at Gringotts.

When he went for an evening flight high above the city, he was amused to notice that he could actually track the trains on their journeys beneath the earth, by looking for the streams of smoke from the smokestacks that periodically rose between the buildings to keep the air in the tunnels at least somewhat clean. He suspected there was magic at work in that at least.

After a relaxed glide in the evening twilight, he landed back on the roof of the Manefair Hotel and took the elevator to the room he was once more sharing with Ron and the girls.

The next morning was relatively normal, at least as far as waking up in a hotel room as a member of a species that isn't your own could be considered normal, but things quickly changed from there. There was an almost palpable air of nervous excitement in the air, that only seemed to grow stronger as the day progressed.

Thanks to Sunset's explanations, the visiting humans knew that they would not only witness the Summer Sun Celebration, but also a peculiarity in the Equestrian calendar that came with it. A day that wasn't part of any week.

The Equestrian year was, as Sunset had explained to them back at the Burrow when the Professors had visited, split into four seasons that were, in turn, split into three months, two of thirty-three days and one of thirty-four. Thus it came to a total of one-hundred days to a season and four-hundred to a year.

The Equestrian week, as was common on earth as well, was seven days long. As it happened, four-hundred didn't evenly divide by seven. However, three-hundred-and-ninety-nine did. As such, an Equestrian year, had fifty-seven weeks and the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. The current week would end today, and the next would start the day after tomorrow.

It was an odd concept, but it made a surprising amount of sense. Every day of every year would always fall on the same weekday as it had the year before, and would again the year after. Hearth's Warming Eve, which Sunset had described as something similar to Christmas only with a bit of the fourth of July celebrations of the Americans mixed in, for example, would always fall on a Wednesday, with Hearth's Warming Day coming on the Thursday that followed.

The ponies of Manehattan found that aspect to be entirely uninteresting, they were too preoccupied with hosting the official celebration. The Summer Sun Celebration was, of course, celebrated in every city, town and hamlet up and down the land, but there was always an official celebration. The one Princess Celestia would be attending and raising the sun from. This year, it would be happening in Manehattan.

The day was unusually calm, being a Sunday, everypony was relaxing if they weren't somehow preparing for the celebration.

After waking up late, the group only left the hotel in the late afternoon to see the preparations for themselves. There was a large stage in a park in Bronclyn, unused for a few years, but still in decent shape. It was where the Princess would take position. Sunset also showed the group to the roof of a nearby highrise that would serve as their vantage point. It was also where she had arranged to meet with Twilight half an hour before sunrise.

While Sunset was somehow able to stay awake and perky throughout the entire night, some of the other younger ones seemed to have more trouble with that. Harry was a bit tired, but he managed. Ron and Ginny were struggling the most, barely holding on to wakefulness by the time dawn was approaching. Luna and her father were, of course, utterly unfazed by the long night. Hermione, used to late night reading, managed nearly as well as Sunset. The older Weasleys managed fine, especially the twins who were just as perky as Sunset, the three of them seemingly both feeding off and feeding back into the excitement that was electrifying the air. Now more than ever.

In a flash of teal, roughly two thirds of the group appeared atop the roof, brought there by Sunset. Moments later, Hermione brought the rest with her in her own flash of pale green. They only waited a few seconds before a flash of magenta heralded Twilight's arrival, having noticed them from where she'd been waiting on the opposite end of the roof.

With a jump, she leapt into Sunset's forelegs, hugging the younger filly whom she had already formed a rather strong bond with, surprising herself. They had talked for a few minutes before Twilight had fallen asleep when they were waiting for the princess. Despite being older, Twilight was fully aware that Sunset was far better trained and more mature than she was. In a way, she was treating Twilight a lot like Shining Armor did. Twilight got the feeling that Sunset genuinely cared for her.

It wasn't much of a surprise for Twilight when Hermione, Ginny and Luna quickly joined into the hug. None of them had spoken a word yet, but they didn't need to. The message was clear. Thinking back to the foalnapping, Twilight wondered why she had ever been scared at all. With friends like them, she'd be fine either way. That they had a means to find her wherever she might be taken, didn't exactly hurt either.

In that moment she realized that, even after they went back home, literally to another dimension, these fillies – girls – would care for her and, if she needed them, come for her at any time. At the same time, she realized that she would gladly do the same for them. She didn't entirely understand why that revelation was meaningful, but it just felt important somehow.

When the five of them separated, Twilight wordlessly waved the group over to the edge of the roof, where the royal guard had cordoned off a VIP area. Several of the guests smirked when they realized what the P stood for in this case. The view was fantastic, allowing them to look over the entire park and clearly see the, thus far vacant, stage.

It was still a few minutes before the procedures would begin, and the group spent them in quiet conversation, the girls were catching up with Twilight while the rest of them were quietly muttering about what to expect from the ceremony.

Before long, a crackle of static rang through the speakers set up all around the plaza, and a stallion in a suit stepped out onto the stage below. The mayor of Manehattan. "Good morning fillies and gentlecolts," he began, earning several quiet snickers and eye rolls from the human guests, "I welcome all of you to the nine-hundred-and-ninety-fifth Summer Sun Celebration. It is our great honor to host the official proceedings here in Manehattan this year.

"Now without further ado, I present to you the one you are all waiting for. The great, the wise, the bringer of light and harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!"

He stepped aside and, with a fanfare, the curtains over the stage parted, revealing the familiar form of a white alicorn.

She didn't step up to the microphone, but she lit her horn, and when she spoke, her voice carried clearly to everypony in the assembled crowd. "Good morning, everypony. It is time again, to celebrate the longest day of the year, and to begin a new year in turn. May it be as successful and prosperous as the last."

With that, the princess of the Sun, the ancient, immortal ruler of Equestria, spread her wings, rising into the air with powerful flaps until she was hovering above the stage. She spread her wings wide, floating in mid-air in spite of gravity, and lit her horn.

All ponies present, including the humans, could feel the raw power of her magic. Behind them, the moon slipped beneath the horizon, throwing the world into darkness, then the Sun began to rise behind the Princess, quickly ascending to stand behind her, framing her as a glowing shadow against its radiance.

They could only assume that Celestia had placed a weak enchantment on the crowd as even Luna and Xenofilius weren't blinded by the sudden brightness. The crowd broke out into cheers when the princess landed back on the stage. The guests from earth were just as impressed, cheering just as much as the rest of the spectators, only Sunset and Twilight watched the matter quietly, having seen all of this many times before.

Twilight leaned over to Sunset, speaking quietly. "Y'know, It was seeing the Celebration in Canterlot a few years back that first inspired me to study magic. Even now, it still impresses me every time."

Sunset chuckled quietly. "I think this is the kind of thing that never gets old."

The group spent the morning talking back in the lobby of the hotel, Twilight had told them that the princess would see them off personally, but, as both she and Sunset knew, Princess Celestia would be caught up talking to the guests at the Celebration for several hours. It was always a chance for her to talk with her little ponies without the nobility hogging her time.

Some of them used the opportunity to take a bit of a nap as well, especially the younger ones were happy to take one of the larger cushions in a corner of the lobby and cuddle together for a nap there. Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry dozed away quickly, Twilight and Sunset were a bit tired, but were too caught up in their conversation to sleep. Luna was, of course, still wide awake, but happy to cuddle around her friends anyway.

It only took a few moments before Sunset pulled a small, golden perch from her mane, and placed it on the ground, a minute later, Philomena was sleeping on it.

The adults, meanwhile were discussing quietly among themselves, Xenofilius and the two elder Weasleys were discussing the implications of the sheer power they had felt radiating from Princess Celestia. She could easily overpower any human wizard they had ever seen if she so chose. Even He-who-must-not-be-named would have had a difficult time against her sheer power and experience. He was far older than any of them, but to her he was as much a child as they were. To them he was a mortal threat to the very stability of the world, to her he would have been little more than a foal throwing a temper tantrum. The very concept was difficult to comprehend.

Emma and Dan meanwhile were listening to Bill and Charlie, telling them stories of the things they had seen on their jobs abroad. Percy was caught up in his own thoughts and the twins were quietly talking to one another, prompting their mother to occasionally cast them wary glances.

Finally, three hours later, Princess Celestia appeared with a gentle wavering of the air. She waved the bowing hotel staff off with a hoof and turned to the group. "I hope you enjoyed your stay in Equestria?"

After receiving several affirmatives, she smiled widely. "It's been a pleasure to have you all visit and I hope you will return at some point, but I think for now it is time you returned to your own world."

Nodding, Sunset blinked out of existence, returning a moment later with a slightly dazed looking Hedwig and a terribly dazed looking Errol perched on her back. Hermes was flapping above her head and quickly perched himself on Percy's back. With a smirk, Sunset pulled a slightly struggling Scabbers out of her mane and hoofed him over to Ron, who quickly deposited him in his own mane, having long since stopped questioning exactly how manes of all things were so useful for storage. "I think we have everything. We should be ready."

The adults nodded while the older children walked over and the younger ones were still being herded over by Luna, Twilight took position beside Princess Celestia, trying to hide her yawn. The princess' sly grin indicated that she had been unsuccessful. A golden aura lifted her onto the Princess back where she laid down and watched the group from her high vantage point.

After a few more goodbyes and a hug for Sunset from the princess, the group gathered together and with a proud trill and a flash of flames, they vanished, returning to the world they had come from.

Four sets of wings fluttered through the air as a highly amused phoenix watched the three startled owls that tried to take off after their quadrupedal perches suddenly weren't quadrupedal anymore. Mrs. Weasley took Errol and Percy let Hermes land back on his shoulder. Harry, meanwhile, let Hedwig land on his shoulder while he pulled her shrunken cage from his pocket. "Finite." Tapping the cage with his finger, not bothering to use his wand, he canceled the shrinking spell and opened the door. Hedwig graciously took up the perch inside. Mrs. Weasley took Errol inside as soon as her husband unlocked the house with a wave of his wand.

Philomena perched herself on Luna's shoulder before taking the girl and her father back to their own home. She soon returned to do the same for Bill and Charlie. Meanwhile Sunset brought Hermione, Emma and Dan home, After staying up the entire night and half a day, as well as the entire day before, they were all more or less spent. Their trunks for Hogwarts had been packed long ago and all they had to do was be at King's Cross on time tomorrow.

When Philomena returned several minutes later, she found her perch back in its usual place on Sunset's desk, the girl sound asleep in the nearby bed. With a quiet, satisfied trill, Philomena landed and buried her own head under a wing. She wouldn't mind catching a bit more sleep herself.

32 - Scarlet

Chapter Thirty-Two

Scarlet

Harry was content. For the first time he could remember, he was awoken in a gentle manner, as opposed to some Dursley waking him with their noise, and he wasn't a pony at the same time. He certainly didn't mind being one – flying was incredibly fun – but he certainly would prefer if it wasn't a condition to having a good night's sleep.

The day had come. September first. Today they would be taking the train to Hogwarts. Of course, it would be three hours yet before that happened. He was still relaxed, just getting out of bed in Ron's room while not just Ron, but also all his siblings – those that were still attending Hogwarts, at least – were running up and down the stairs to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Harry got dressed, happy that he didn't need to waste time taking a morning shower ever since Sunset had started teaching them the basics of light magic.

The wizards had a popular cleaning charm of their own. They called it Scourgify. That charm was very unpopular, however, for use in personal hygiene. It wasn't dangerous, but it was very unpleasant. Sunset had theorized, after Mrs. Weasley had demonstrated the charm, that it was a side effect of it being little more than a selective vanishing charm and the empty space left behind by the vanished matter filling back up with air caused an unpleasant, cold sensation. The Weasleys had seemed confused and he himself had only understood the basics, but Hermione had claimed that it made sense, and he was inclined to believe her.

Using emotions to fuel his magic was an interesting idea. Drawing power from the bubble of happiness that always seemed to float around him since he had made friends a month ago seemed like such an obvious thing to do, in hindsight. The cleaning spell she had taught them was nowhere near as advanced as the one she had shown to the professors when they had visited, but for personal hygiene it was more than adequate.

He calmly made his way down the stairs, though he had to dodge Fred, George, Ginny and Percy on his way, and sat down in the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was happy to offer him breakfast while she watched her children run up and down the stairs, shaking her head. Harry couldn't help but agree. He, Sunset, Hermione and their parents had told them, repeatedly, that they should get their things packed beforehand, but they wouldn't listen.

By the time he finished breakfast and Sunset brought over Dan, Emma and Hermione, materializing in the kitchen with nary a sound, they were still running up and down the stairs. From there he had a VIP seat to watch the following spectacle. Emma and Dan sat down beside him, expectant smirks on their faces.

Hermione leaned against the wall nearby and waved Mrs. Weasley over to join her. Meanwhile, Sunset was walking up to the stairs, her eyes glowing with magic. When she spoke, her voice reverberated throughout the house. "Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Percy! The kitchen, now!"

The rumble on the stairs immediately stopped and a second later started up again. Within half a minute, all five siblings were standing before her in an orderly line. "Alright," Sunset continued, her voice back to a more normal volume but brooking no argument regardless, "I figured this would happen so we came prepared. Hermione?"

The girl in question snapped her fingers and five rolled up scrolls appeared in midair before her, three of them tied up with bands in different colors, the last two sharing one. In her usual pale green aura, she floated them over to the Weasley children, distributing them among them. The matching scrolls, unsurprisingly, went to the twins. After another second, she also distributed five fountain pens to match.

The latter was one of the muggle inventions that the Weasleys had adopted after becoming friends with the Grangers, all three of them and Sunset had argued that, magic or not, fountain pens were infinitely more convenient than quills. The Weasleys, ultimately, couldn't help but agree.

"These," Sunset explained, "are enchanted with a refilling charm. So long as someone with magic uses them, they will never run out. You can keep them. Now take those to your rooms with the lists, check off everything you have already packed and then take five minutes to think of anything you might need that isn't already on the list and add anything you think of. Then come back here."

The five took a few moments to marvel at the beautifully crafted writing implements. The mechanism was crafted from shining brass and the main body was made of beautifully carved wood. Each of them was engraved with a name in the flowing, twisted Equestrian script. Each was made of a different wood.

Ginny's was made from pale birch and engraved with the Equestrian word for 'Lightning', a reference to her ability to harness said element. Ron's was of dark walnut and engraved with the word 'Strategist', referencing his exceptional skill at chess. Percy's was made of elm, with beautiful, curly patterns in it, engraved with the word 'Authority'. Fred and George got matching ones made of ebony, carved with the word 'Trickster'. Their bright grins to Sunset upon seeing that were answered with a smile and a nod towards the stairs. Taking the hint, not only they, but all five siblings ran back up the stairs.

"We've got one for you and Luna as well, of course." Sunset kindly spoke, turning to Harry and snapping her finger, another pen appearing, held in her teal aura, in the air between them. Harry took the pen in his own brilliant green aura and pulled it closer. It was made of pale holly – a reference to his wand, he realized – and carved with an Equestrian word that, depending on context, could mean both 'Saved' and 'Savior'. He smiled sadly when he realized the double meaning.

In a flash of fire, Philomena brought Luna and Xenofilius to the kitchen. Once Sunset had explained what she was doing, she gave Luna her pen, made of mahogany and carved with the word 'Shadow'. With a smirk, Luna shadow stepped over to her and caught her in a hug.

Ten minutes later, Ginny returned as the first of the Weasley children, Hermione took her hand, took a look at her list and teleported the two away in a flash of pale green. Sunset did the same when Percy appeared a moment later. By the time Ron came down, Ginny and Hermione had returned. So the latter took Ron by his hand and teleported away again while the former went to double check her list, seeing if there was anything missing from it. Similarly Sunset took care of the twins when she returned with Percy a few moments later. In record time all five Weasleys had their things ready, and were prepared to head for King's Cross.

On Sunset's request, Molly took her hand and apparated the two of them to Platform nine-three-quarters. Shuddering, Sunset returned a moment later, mumbling something about having to teach her how to teleport properly, and took Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to the Platform before disappearing again. A moment later, she returned bringing Xenophilius, Luna, Percy and the Twins.

On the platform, they saw her take a moment to breathe before vanishing again and making another two trips for the luggage. Hedwig and Hermes took the trip much better than they did last time. Errol had seemed quite happy to stay where he was.

Looking around, the group saw that the platform was still relatively empty. The train, however, was already in place. A bright scarlet steam engine stood on the rails before them, coupled to a set of seven long passenger cars. On the front of the engine, on its sides and on the sides of every car was a large green sign with polished brass letters 'Hogwarts Express'.

While Harry, Hermione, Sunset and Luna looked at the engine with interest, the Weasley children looked across the platform with slightly baffled expressions. Clearly they had never reached the train so soon. The clock above the platform informed them that it was half past ten.

Within a few minutes they had stowed their luggage on the train, handily claiming a compartment for the new first graders and one for the twins. Percy, already wearing his robes and proudly displaying his badge, brought his own luggage to one of the compartments at the front of the train that were reserved for the prefects.

They then returned to the platform where Hermione and Sunset were waiting with Mrs. Weasley, Emma, Dan and Xenophilius. Their shrunken luggage was safely stowed in their pockets. Harry's was too, but he had Hedwig's cage to take care of. Sunset still had Philomena on her shoulder, but the fiery bird was once more disguised as an eagle.

After talking on the platform for another twenty minutes, the kids finally boarded the train. The platform was much more heavily populated by now, so the twins had spotted a friend of theirs and dragged him off to the compartment they had claimed for themselves.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Sunset and Luna, meanwhile, took their own seats in the other compartment. When a shrill whistle sounded over the platform, they crowded around the window. And waved to their relatives. With a creaking of the axles, the train began to move. They continued waving until their car went around a bend and they lost sight of the platform.

Leaning back in her seat, Hermione sighed contently, then she stopped. "Say, Sunset?" When her sister looked at her expectantly, she continued. "How are mum and dad going to get home?"

Sunset looked at her for a moment, then buried her forehead in her palm. "I am such an idiot. Could you take Philomena for a second?" Once Hermione had let the 'eagle' perch herself on her arm, completely unfazed by the claws, Sunset blinked out of existence.

Emma and Dan had just come to the same realization as their daughter, and were about to ask Mrs. Weasley for help, when Sunset appeared before them, waved to Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Lovegood who were staring at her with wide eyes, much like many parents around, and blinked back out of sight, taking Emma and Dan with her.

When the startled pair reappeared in their living room, Sunset looked at them. "Sorry I forgot about you, you can thank sis for reminding me. See you." Before they got a chance to get a word in edgewise, she disappeared again.

After a moment, Dan turned to his wife. "I need to learn how to do that."

"Absolutely."

Sunset reappeared in the compartment and took her seat. After a moment all of them broke into laughter. "Well," Sunset finally managed, "now that that's sorted." They began to talk. After a while, Ron challenged Sunset to a game of wizarding chess. She was the only one who could give him an actual challenge. For many years she had occasionally played the game with the princess. While it had always been a humbling experience, it had also been fantastic training. Ron pulled out a box of enchanted chess pieces while Sunset conjured a floating board and her own pieces.

They kept up the conversation as they played. Around half past twelve, when Sunset was doing rather well, hoping to even the score which currently sat at three wins for her to Ron's four, there was a clattering outside and the door to their compartment slid open. Turning, they saw a smiling, dimpled witch looking back at them. "Anything from the trolley dears?"

Intrigued at the magical sweets, Harry, Hermione and Sunset, bought some of everything, the witch had. As it turned out, while magic was commonplace in Equestria, enchanting food was not. Ron and Ginny watched wide eyed as they carried it all back into the compartment in their magic. The witch looked at the floating candy in confusion. Luna looked at it with a slightly tilted head, about as close as she ever came to surprise.

While Sunset and Ron got back into their game, they listened as Ginny and Luna explained the various sweets. The chocolate frogs seemed a little macabre, but they didn't really mind. If anything, sweets that could jump into your mouths were quite convenient. The cards held some interesting trivia as well. Each card had a picture of a famous wizard or witch on one side, and some flavor text on that person on the other. Some of it actually wasn't mentioned in their books.

The Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans were another attraction, the name was taken quite literal. Curry, coconut, toast and sardine were only some of the flavors they encountered. Sunset was delighted to find one that tasted of hay, much to Hermione's amusement.

When Ron and Sunset were tied five to five, having just finished their latest game, a round-faced boy about their age pushed open the door. "Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?"

Sunset turned to him, tilting her head slightly. "You lost your toad?" He nodded. Getting up, she walked over to him, taking his hand and turning the inside to face her. She looked at it for a moment, her eyes glowing faintly. "Hmm, that should be it." She turned to look up and down the train. "Now let's see here. Gotcha." She turned back to the boy. "What's your name?"

"Neville. Neville Longbottom."

"Well come on then Neville." With that she walked out of the compartment, Neville following her. She took him several cars back, before turning to one compartment in particular. It was filled with girls a few years older than they were. She pushed the door open. "Excuse me." Her hands glowed as a toad was lifted from under one of the benches. "There you are. Here you go Neville." Turning back to the compartment, she gave a quick, "Pardon the interruption," and closed the door again.

"You wanna join us, Neville? We do still have some room in our compartment."

"Uhh thanks, sure. Let me just grab my trunk right quick."

"Lead the way."

When they arrived back at the compartment a few minutes later, Sunset casually deposited the large trunk floating behind them under one of the benches and reclaimed her seat opposite Ron. A wave of her hand brought the board back into position and the two quickly started another match.

Meanwhile, Neville properly introduced himself to the others. He stuttered a bit at first, but their friendly attitude, even if Ron and Sunset were a little distracted, quickly helped him calm down.

33 - Arival

Chapter Thirty-Three

Arival

After Neville had introduced himself, the conversation turned to a break-in at Gringotts that had been made public a few days before while they had been in Equestria. As such, Neville mentioning it was the first they heard of it. The break-in had, apparently, been weeks ago, but the goblins were very secretive about such things, so the news had only broken quite some time later. Someone had broken into a high security vault, yet, strangely enough, nothing had been stolen.

When Ron was trying to catch his seven victories up to Sunset's eight, the first time all day that she had gone in the lead, the compartment door opened again. It was a boy their age whom Sunset, Harry and Hermione immediately recognized as Draco Malfoy. He was flanked by two large, muscled boys that didn't look particularly bright.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment." Everyone in the compartment turned to Harry, following their gaze, Malfoy nodded. "It's you, is it?"

"Yes." Harry admitted while he looked over the two boys flanking Malfoy like a pair of bodyguards. He wasn't the only one to look at them.

"Oh," Malfoy carelessly explained, "this is Crabbe and this is Goyle." He looked at the compartment in general. "And my name is-"

"Malfoy," Sunset cut him off. "Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa. Yes, we know who you are."

"And who are you?"

Getting up to face him properly, Sunset matched his aristocratic expression. "Sunset Shimmer. These are Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. You've already recognized Harry, it seems."

Malfoy seemed a little taken aback by Sunset's sudden shift in demeanor. She hadn't spoken unkindly. She hadn't raised her voice. Yet she clearly had presented herself as the speaker of the group. He was fairly certain that he was the only one beside her that really understood that. He knew that his two lackeys certainly didn't. Whoever this Sunset Shimmer was, she was trained in matters of politics. He had hoped to talk to Potter, but she would have to do.

"In any case, you – all of you – would do well to remember my station."

The edge of Sunset's mouth lifted ever so slightly in amusement. "Your station." When he nodded, she smirked. "And what, pray tell, is your station? Do tell us of your fantastic achievements."

When Malfoy's expression shifted to pride, Sunset concealed her satisfaction. He had taken the bait. "I am born-"

"Yes," Sunset interrupted, "born of House Malfoy, we gathered. But I did say achievements, did I not? Unless you can find me a human that hasn't, I'm afraid I'll have to disabuse you of the fallacious notion that being born is an accomplishment. As far as the family you're born into goes, that's not exactly an achievement either. It is, after all, entirely a matter of luck." She raised an eyebrow slightly. "So I ask again, what have you ever achieved?"

"I am an accomplished flier," Malfoy started, now slightly flustered, only to be interrupted again.

"Congratulations, so is half this compartment. Say, did you ever get that racing broom?" Malfoy's expression told her all she needed to know. "Ah well, you'll only have to wait a year. All in due time. Now unless there is anything else..." She trailed off, calmly indicating the corridor.

Malfoy was now getting angry, this girl clearly had no respect. The presence of the blood traitors only angered him further. Still, he masked his emotions and remained outwardly calm. "But we don't really feel like leaving, do we boys?" He didn't even look at his two companions. "We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

They did. Miraculously they actually did have some of their sweets left. Goyle began to move forward, making a dash towards the chocolate frogs on a floating tray next to the chess board. Before he could get anywhere near them, however, he collided into an invisible wall, a faint pale green shimmer indicating its location in the places he had hit.

Sunset had felt the magic both behind and in front of her. After living with her for nearly half a year she didn't need to see the color to recognize the magic as Hermione's. She knew that her sister had her back. She also realized that the barrier likely couldn't take another hit. A subtle motion of her hands was all that was needed and she felt the magic fade.

Sunset's calm expression was gone now. She was openly scowling at Goyle where he had staggered back after bouncing off the barrier. "You should rethink you approach. You have strength, but without any idea how to use it, you will inevitably fail."

Seeing that Goyle was still holding his nose from where it had collided with the barrier, Malfoy turned to Crabbe. Taking the hint, the boy rushed at Sunset, hoping to catch her off guard. To his misfortune, he was several minutes too late for that. She calmly sidestepped him, grabbed across his wide back and spun in place. She leaned back, barely managing to prevent his weight from throwing her off balance, and used his own momentum against him. Letting go, she sent him back right where he had come from.

Stepping aside, Malfoy returned into the corridor where Goyle already stood. Crabbe fell to the floor beside him, slightly dizzy and unable to keep his footing.

Sunset smirked. "As I said: power without skill is worthless. Think on that."

A teal aura formed around the compartment door and it closed in their faces. Sunset turned around, sat back down, and calmly moved her knight.

"You were having way too much fun with that," Hermione absently noted.

"And why shouldn't I? Thanks for having my back sis."

"Anytime."

Ron and Ginny looked entirely stunned for a moment before breaking into giggles. "That was priceless," Ron gasped between laughs.

"What did you do?" Neville asked, "What was that move?"

"Aikido." Hermione calmly explained. "A muggle martial art focused on self-defense. It's from Asia. Japan, I think." After a moment she continued. "Anyway, we should probably change into our school robes, I don't think It'll be much longer.

Sunset nodded, gently lifting everyone in the compartment until all the girls were on one side and all the boys were on the other, then she set up an opaque force wall between them. "There, now we can change."

A few minutes later, Sunset removed the wall and everyone sat back down, now in their robes. Not long after, a voice echoed through the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to school separately."

Ron quickly packed up his chess pieces and Sunset dismissed hers and the board once he was done. After a moment's deliberation, Sunset, Hermione and Harry unshrunk their luggage and placed it next to the rest. Then they left the compartment to join the crowd already in the corridor. The train came to a stop soon after and they disembarked into the cold air of a late evening in the Scottish Highlands.

Soon, a familiar voice rang across the tiny, dark platform, accompanied by the bobbing light of a lantern. "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry?" Hagrid happily beamed across the crowd of students on the platform and the small flock of first years forming up in front of him. "C'mon, follow me – anymore firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! All firs'-years follow me!"

The entire group of first years was stumbling in the darkness, with the exception of those near Sunset, Hermione, or one of the Weasleys, all four had a small bead of light at the tip of a finger. Luna, of course, wasn't slipping either, effortlessly seeing through the gloom. The path was flanked by trees on either side.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over a shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Sunset and Hermione smirked at the 'Ooohhs' of those around them. They had, of course, seen the giant castle before, but it was still an impressive sight. The castle was perched high above them, atop a mountain, they were stood on the other side of the lake at its base.

"No more'n four in a boat." Hagrid pointed to a fleet of small boats sitting in the calm water by the shore. The new first-years spread out across the boats. Harry, Ron and Neville shared a boat and Ginny, Luna, Hermione and Sunset shared another. Soon everyone had found a boat. "Everyone in? Right then – FORWARD!"

The boats began moving across the smooth surface of the lake. The students looked up at the castle high above them until Hagrid called a warning and the boats breached a curtain of ivy into a cave at the foot of the mountain. They floated through the cave for a few more minutes until several more lanterns came into view before them. They belonged, as it turned out, to an underground harbor. In quick succession the boats docked and the students disembarked, once more forming up behind Hagrid.

They followed him up a pathway hewn into the rock of the mountain until they exited another cave and stepped onto the smooth, damp lawn at the foot of the castle. Hagrid led them to the huge, oaken front doors, checked once more that everyone was still there and knocked three times.

The door opened at once, revealing a familiar witch. Hagrid nodded respectfully. "The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take them from here." Pulling the doors open fully, McGonagall waved them in. The entrance hall was massive. The Grangers' entire house could have fit into it. Multiple times. The walls were lit by torches and the ceiling was so high up that they couldn't see it in the gloom of the evening. A magnificent marble staircase led to the upper floors.

The mumbling of hundreds of voices could be heard through a door to the right, but McGonagall led them across the flagstone floor to a smaller door to the left, leading them into an empty chamber off the hall, barely large enough to fit them all. Once they had all crowded into the chamber, McGonagall spoke up. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up while you are waiting." After looking at a few students critically, she finished, "I shall return once we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," and left the chamber.

Harry turned to Sunset and Hermione, "So how does this sorting work exactly?"

Seeing how Hermione was mumbling to herself, it fell to Sunset to answer. "I don't know. Hogwarts – A History was rather vague on that. Deliberately if I had to take a guess. Wizarding schools like to keep their secrets. I guess this is one of them. From what I can tell, we'll be sorted into houses by specific qualities of character each house favors. That implies that some kind of neutral judge does the sorting. I have no idea who though."

Suddenly, about twenty ghosts, pearly white and transparent, floated through the back wall, talking to each other, barely taking notice of the first years. They seemed to be arguing. One that looked like a fat, little monk was in the middle of speaking. "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar," another Ghost interrupted, "haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?" He had suddenly noticed the first-years.

Nobody answered. Most students were looking at the ghosts with something along the lines of shock, fear or horror, but Sunset seemed to be intrigued more than anything.

"New students!" the Fat Friar exclaimed, smiling around. "About to be sorted, I suppose?" When he received several nods, he smiled again. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

"Move along now," A sharp voice interrupted, heralding McGonagall's return. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." When the ghosts began departing through another wall, she turned back to the first-years. "Now, form a line and follow me."

They all lined up, Sunset following a girl with long, pale blonde hair while, in turn, being followed, by Ginny, then Luna, Harry, Hermione, Ron and, finally, Neville. McGonagall opened the door and led them back through the hall and through the large set of double doors on the opposite wall into the Great Hall.

The Hall was magnificent. Hundreds of candles floated in the air over four long tables, two to their right and two to their left, where the rest of the students were sitting. They were differentiated only by the trims on their school robes. Where the first-years had gray trims, the table to the far right had red, the table to the far left had green, the table directly left of the middle corridor McGonagall was leading them down had blue trims and the table directly to the right of them had yellow trims.

On a raised podium at the far end of the hall was another long table behind which the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led them there and told them to line up in front of the teachers' table, facing the students with the teachers behind them.

The ceiling above them was, as they had learned, enchanted to mimic the sky outside, a deep blue and dotted with stars, that alone made it hard to tell just how high the ceiling was.

Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool before them at the edge of the podium and put a pointed wizard's hat atop it. It was a shabby looking thing, frayed, patched in many places and incredibly dirty. All eyes focused on the hat and, for a moment, there was silence.

Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide, like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

35 - Lessons

Chapter Thirty-Five

Lessons

The next morning came with the immediate challenge of figuring out the way back down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Photographic memory, it turned out, was of limited usefulness in that endeavor, as the way to get there seemed to have changed overnight. The castle seemed to enjoy rearranging itself, changing the ways to get to places.

The sheer number of staircases alone was staggering. They were all over the school, and came in all shapes and sizes. The strangest of all, however, was the main stairwell. Sunset was reasonably certain that it shared a location with the Great Hall. A quick check with her scanning charm confirmed that, allowing her to ascertain that the entire staircase was actually contained in the warped space of a toroidal sub-dimension, meaning that if one were to go all the way up the staircase, they would end up back at the bottom.

That the actual stairs themselves liked to change directions every few minutes didn't really help either.

The only helpful part about finding the main stairwell, was that one only needed to take the correct exit from it to come out on the marble staircase into the entry hall. From there it was only a few steps into the Great Hall. As such, the group managed to reach breakfast with only minimal delay.

Seeing the closely knit group, Lavender, Pavati, Dean and Seamus had chosen to follow them, Neville was already doing so anyway. It seemed like a viable strategy against the various dangers and annoyances of the castle. Peeves, after all, was still on their minds.

When they had sat down for breakfast, not as elaborate as the feast the evening prior, but delicious and filling none the less, Professor McGonnagall came down to their table and handed them their schedules. When they had finished, they quickly returned to their common room so those that didn't have enchanted book bags could grab the right materials, then they set out to find their first class of the day. Charms.

Professor Flitwick was a rather kind and easy going man, but so small that he had to stand on a pile of books placed on his chair to be able to see over his desk. He happily greeted the class, consisting of the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, before taking attendance. He seemed excited when he read Harry's name despite having met him before.

Sunset, Hermione, Luna and the Weasleys mostly helped Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Pavati keep up with the theory that made up the first half of the lesson. They themselves were already well familiar with it, after all.

Professor Flitwick was most impressed to see them all take notes magically. So impressed in fact, that he didn't even notice them using fountain pens instead of normal quills.

The second half of the lesson, things got interesting. Professor Flitwick introduced them to the Lumos charm, only to nearly fall off his precarious position atop his literary perch when all five of them cast it flawlessly on the first try. He gave each of them a point to Gryffindor as a reward and asked them to help the rest of their house while he attended the Hufflepuffs.

About three quarters into the allotted time for the lesson, he got a little flustered when the last of the Hufflepuffs managed the spell. "Very good. Very good. I'm impressed. I don't think I've ever had a class learn their first spell this fast. There's usually one or two that worked ahead, but to have so much time left and be basically done with the lesson? Unprecedented. I'm actually not sure what to do now, I didn't exactly plan for this situation. Yes, Miss Shimmer?"

Sunset lowered her hand. "If you want, I could show you the light charm I developed by combining Lumos and the lighting spells from my homeland."

"Oh, by all means, go ahead."

Nodding, Sunset drew her wand. "Illumis." The tip of the wand lit up with a warm white light, very different from the cold, bluish white of Lumos. After holding it up for a second, Sunset let the light on her wand dim to only a faint ember before turning it back up until it was painful to look at. After returning the light to its original brightness, she focused it first into a narrow cone, then into a tightly focused beam, before letting it radiate outwards in all directions once again. Finally, she had the light flow through a rainbow of colors before letting it settle back on its default warm white color.

When she extinguished the light and put down her wand, the entire class clapped, Flitwick chief among them. "Marvelous, Miss Shimmer. Very impressive. Would you mind teaching me this spell?"

With an amused smile, Sunset snapped her fingers, handing him the scroll that summoned. "Here. That should have all you need."

With a flick of his wand, Flitwick called the scroll over and opened it. "Ah, I see," he mumbled as his eyes practically devoured the scroll, "clever, very versatile." After about a minute of reading through the scroll, he raised his wand. "Illumis." It lit up, just like Sunset's had. He let it run through different colors, brightening and dimming, focusing and dispersing it. After a few moments to test the spell, he turned back to Sunset. "Are you planning on creating more spells by combining your magical knowledge with ours?"

"Of course. Any suggestions?"

"Hmm, I'll think about it. For now, I think it's time you got to Herbology." He turned to the Hufflepuffs. "And for you to get to Transfiguration. Class dismissed."

Herbology was interesting to say the least. Magical plants had a lot of strange quirks. First years were only allowed into greenhouse one, the plants in the others were deemed too dangerous for them.

The plants in greenhouse one, on the other hand, while no less quirky, were mostly harmless. Though, admittedly, some of them were a bit distracting.

"Gah! What is that?!"

Professor Sprout laughed. "That's a flitterbloom, Miss Brown, they can be a bit affectionate."

"It won't leave me alone!"

The others watched with some amusement as Lavender tried to rid herself of the affectionate vines. Finally, Neville came over and, together with Professor Sprout, got the flitterbloom to release Lavender. Seeing the woman give the plant a stern talking to was oddly amusing.

Lavender was still breathing heavily, but gave Neville a grateful smile.

The Ravenclaws, with whom they shared the class, came in a moment later, the Gryffindors having been early. The entire group watched with interest as the new arrivals got acquainted with the flitterbloom.

The class itself was rather fun. Once everyone had arrived and been freed of the affectionate plant, Professor Sprout gave them some more in depth information on the flitterbloom, warning them not to get it confused with devil's snare, a plant that looked very similar, but was far more dangerous.

"They wouldn't grow here, though. Devil's snare likes dark and damp places. There's too much light here."

After a quick tangent to explain how to tell the two plants apart, specifically that devil's snare had bright red thorns where flitterbloom had leaves instead, the actual lesson began. It was, for the moment, little more than gardening. Specifically they were to take care of a culture of dreamgrass, the extract of which, Professor Sprout told them, was a common ingredient in sleep potions. The trick was that it only grew in very fine, damp, sandy soil, so it needed to be watered with a fine mist to avoid washing away its soil.

According to Professor Sprout, it was good practice as many magical plants were very particular in the care they needed.

The students also noted that dreamgrass grew in a dense, unbelievably soft carpet.

After Herbology, the class made their way back into the school. The Ravenclaws went to shower, the Gryffindors simply used their light magic cleaning spells and went straight to lunch.

After a relaxed meal, the group made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts.

When the Gryffindor group arrived, half the Slytherin first-years, with whom they shared the class, were already there. Professor Quirrell, however, was not. Sunset had warned Hermione, Luna, Harry and the Weasleys about what she had seen. As a result all of them were understandably wary of the Professor.

Sunset had prepared a well masked scanning spell, hoping it would give her more insight, beyond the mere presence of dark magic. It may be simply a side effect of his work, but she wouldn't take chances until she knew more, especially with the history dark magic had in wizarding Britain.

The class itself proved to be an absolute joke. Quirrell seemed incapable of stringing three sentences together without stuttering. When Dean asked why he wore a turban, he told them that it had been a gift by an African prince, a reward for ridding him of a troublesome zombie. That, when Seamus asked how he had dealt with the zombie, Quirrell began talking about the weather, did little to allay their suspicions.

The results of her spell only had Sunset more concerned. She still couldn't identify what kind of dark magic it was, but she did get a closer read on its exact location, it was spread all throughout his body, only breaking through his skin in an area on the back of his head, covered by his turban. It was well masked, she wouldn't even have noticed it, had she not been specifically looking for dark magic, but with a targeted scan, it was clearly visible.

The fact that the only area likely to show physical effects of the magic was covered up, and that the explanation of said cover was so flimsy, had Sunset very suspicious. Still, she would not jump to conclusions, and she would not take action until she knew more. Identifying the magic was now her first priority.

She would have to prepare a new scanning spell for their next class on Wednesday. Fortunately, the failure of her current spell, while not telling her what the dark magic was, at least told her several things it wasn't.

Meanwhile, the classroom had become the scene of a very rare occurrence, Slytherins and Gryffindors agreeing on something. Specifically on the fact that Quirrell was obviously not qualified to teach Defense against the Dark Arts. Mind you, they held that opinion for different reasons. The Slytherins were certain that he was terrified of his own subject, while the Gryffindors suspected he was a dark magician himself and was simply terrified of being discovered. Still, the result was the same.

When Quirrell's class finally ended, without anyone having learned much of value, the two houses went their separate ways, retiring to their common rooms. They didn't particularly like each other, but, for the moment at least, they had more important things to do.

Like trying to remember where there common rooms even were.

Thanks to several of them having photographic memory and Sunset's ability to divine her own position, the Gryffindors managed to find their way with relatively little issue. The castle, it seemed, hadn't reconfigured over the course of the day.

When they arrived in the common room, Lavender and Pavati saw their chance. They turned to the other Gryffindor girls with suspicious expressions. "Girls," Lavender spoke up, "we have questions."

Sunset nodded. "Hardly surprising." She lead the group over to an area with several armchairs. "Go ahead."

The boys followed, Neville, Dean and Seamus with intrigued expressions.

"Okay," Pavati began, "first question. Why can you four turn into tiny horses?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Ponies, not horses, and six, not four."

"Ponies, sure, whatever. And what do you mean by six?"

Without a word, Sunset pointed two fingers at Harry and Ron.

Following her gaze, Lavender gasped. "They can too?"

Sunset nodded. "So can the Twins and Percy. It's a side effect of traveling to my homeland."

"Aha!" Lavender exclaimed, "that brings us to our second question. What is this homeland you mentioned in charms?"

"Equestria."

"Pardon?"

Sunset sighed, drew her wand and conjured an illusory map of Equestria. "That. I come from another dimension. The pony that you saw tonight, that was my natural shape. I only gained a human form when Philomena and I came to this dimension. This is my home country. Equestria."

Lavender, Pavati, Dean, Seamus and Neville looked stunned for a while. Finally, Dean spoke up. "Is that why you have an eagle?"

Sunset smirked. "I don't. Philomena isn't an eagle. Professor McGonnagall simply thought it wouldn't be the best idea to make it common knowledge that I have a phoenix with me. People might get ideas."

"A phoenix?!"

"Though things like that might make it tricky to keep quiet," Hermione deadpanned.

"Do you want pony forms too?" Sunset asked the group?

"Wait. How?"

"By going to her home dimension," Neville pointed out. When everyone turned to him, he looked a little sheepish. "What? You said so. I just paid attention."

"Okay," Dean admitted, "fair enough. But my question still stands. How?"

Sunset pointed to the bird on her shoulder. "Phoenix."

"Right. Of course. I withdraw my objection."

"So ..." Ron began, "do you, or don't you?"

Seamus looked a little uneasy. "Can you give me some time to think it over?"

Ginny giggled. "We'll be coming here together for seven years, Seamus. Think that's enough time?"

"Probably. So I take it we shouldn't make a big fuss about this?"

Sunset nodded. "For the moment at least. I do think It'll come out sooner or later."

"No kidding," Ginny fell in. "The chance of Fred and George not using the ability to fly to pull pranks is nonexistent."

"My thoughts exactly," Sunset nodded, "but for the time being, do try to keep it quiet."

After a moment to think it over, the other five agreed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Sunset got up, "I'll go have a look and see if these stairs lead anywhere other than the dorms."

"Where else would they lead?" Hermione asked.

"The roof?"

"Oh. Good point," Ginny agreed, "We'll come along."

Hermione held the boys back when they moved to follow as well. "You'll probably want to use your stairs."

"Why?"

"Let's just say the girls' dorms are charmed against boys. The stairs turn into a slide if a boy tries to use them. And the dorms themselves ... Well, let's just say there will be no boys in the girls' dorms and leave it at that." With that, the girls walked off.

"What? Some extra defense to keep boys out?" Dean asked.

"Not to keep them out, no."

The boys wisely decided to use their own stairs.

36 - Learned

Chapter Thirty-Six

Learned

The stairs, it turned out, really did lead all the way up to the top of the tower. By the time they arrived, some of the group seemed a little queasy from walking in circles for so long. The two groups came out of trap doors on the roof, painted red for the girls and blue for the boys.

This late in the afternoon, the air was getting a bit chilly, but the view was fantastic. The Gryffindor Tower was, it turned out, the second tallest tower of the castle. In the privacy of their perch, Dean, Neville and Seamus got their first look at the groups' pony forms and Lavender and Pavati got to see them without being dead tired at the same time. Sunset also removed the illusion spell on Philomena.

It was hardly surprising that the ponies ended up being cuddled in various laps for the next few minutes.

After a while Sunset, having used a spell to keep track of the time, pointed out that it would be time for dinner soon. There were some complaints, especially from Lavender and Parvati, but soon the entire group was human again and on their way to the Great Hall, Philomena disguised once more.

Their first class on Tuesday morning was Transfiguration. The moment they had sat down, Professor McGonagall got up and gave the class a stern talk.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

To demonstrate she transformed her desk into a pig and back again. Sunset was intrigued. She had already learned that Transfiguration was a term the humans used to collectively refer to metamorphoses and conjurations. The latter was far better understood in Equestria than the prior, which the humans seemed to have a far more complete understanding of.

This was a subject she would be able to learn much from.

McGonagall acknowledged their magical note taking with a pleased nod, but didn't react further. Apparently she had been better prepared than Flitwick. They had to take a lot of complicated notes before they could get started doing actual magic. Sunset and Hermione made use of their fine control to let their pens practically fly across the page, noting down parallels and differences with Equestrian magical knowledge they would cross reference later.

About an hour into the lesson, McGonagall gave each of them a match and the instruction to turn it into a needle.

Taking the match in her magic, careful to control her energy so as to not accidentally light it, Sunset analyzed the changes necessary. She would have to change both shape and appearance of the needle. She also noted that McGonagall had asked for a 'needle' without specifying the type of needle. She had an idea.

She first focused on the shape. It took her several tries to change it at all, and several more to reach the shape she desired. She now had a relatively normal needle with a narrow ear at the end. Only it was still made of wood. That she would correct next.

Once again it took her several attempts to change the material at all. Once she did, she only changed the type of wood. Undoing that particular transformation, she tried again, this time managing to turn it into something that wasn't wood. Unfortunately, humanity had moved past stone needles several centuries ago. Again she undid the latest change.

Her third change of material actually yielded a metal, unfortunately, copper wasn't exactly what she intended. The next try yielded a silvery needle. She was satisfied at first, until she looked closer and saw that it was actual silver, not the intended nickel plated steel of modern sewing needles.

Sighing slightly, she undid the latest change and tried again. Finally she managed the desired result. Now she could get to work on her side project. Another change to the material. This wasn't as much a metamorphosis as a simple transmutation, something she had much more experience with. She carefully conducted a magical energy field through the outer nickel plating of her needle, over the course of half a minute aligning the atoms to conduct magic better, making it easier to move the needle with levitation, improving speed and accuracy in sewing with it.

Finally she raised her hand. Beside her, Hermione did the same, having just finished her own needle. Coming over, Professor McGonagall took a look at their needles, than carefully scanned them with her magic. "Very good. A point each to Gryffindor. Now, Miss Shimmer, what exactly did you do to your needle? Don't think I didn't notice that you finished it five minutes ago."

"I brought the outer layer into thaumic phase alignment, that way it conducts magic better and is easier to use with magic. Very helpful if levitation is used to sew with it."

Hermione turned to her. "Is that the same thing you did to our pens?"

"It is."

McGonagall scanned the needle again and then, for comparison, scanned one of the pens as well. "Very interesting, almost like some of the properties of goblin work, but I've never seen anything like this in wood before. Would you mind doing this with something more permanent than a transfigured needle?"

"If you have something I can use, certainly." After a moment's thought, McGonagall grabbed a quill from her desk, handing it to Sunset with a questioning expression. Sunset nodded. "Sure, this should work. One moment."

While Sunset worked on the quill, Hermione moved to help the rest of the group with their transfiguration. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Luna were doing fairly well, unsurprisingly. Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Pavati had only made marginal progress. Neville was struggling, so she moved to help him first.

McGonagall went to check on the Ravenclaws, but kept shooting curious glances at Sunset, who was still focused on her quill. It wasn't much later that the bell rang to end the class. Having just finished, Sunset stowed her wand and handed the quill back to McGonagall.

While the teacher carefully studied the quill, Sunset and the rest hurried to their next class.

The group arrived as a single unit in the classroom for History of Magic. Most of the Hufflepuffs with whom they shared the class, were already there, but the teacher had yet to arrive. Ron, Ginny and Neville looked at the vacant place with some trepidation, but the others didn't know anything about the teacher, beside his name: Binns.

They were, as such, quite startled when the teacher entered the classroom through the blackboard. They had had a few days to get used to the concept of ghosts, but they hadn't expected one of them to be a teacher.

Professor Binns' entry was the only interesting thing he did throughout the entire class. He started monologuing immediately, without taking attendance, without introduction, without any preamble at all, in a droning monotone that seemed tailored to sap all the life out of the room until the students felt as dead mentally as he was physically.

Sunset and Hermione were loathe to admit it, but even they were struggling to pay attention. That Binns had started his monologue seemingly right in the middle of a chapter half way through their textbook didn't exactly help either. It was as though their presence didn't even register with him. He just did as he always had, unaware of the students, unaware of the date and, quite possibly, unaware of the fact that he was no longer among the living.

Half way through the class, Sunset decided to mentally check the chapter in the book, quickly looking through it and simply comparing whatever Binns was talking about to that to keep up, absently taking notes on an adjacent paper. Instead she took the opportunity to study a ghost in greater detail.

She was sure Binns wouldn't mind, he hadn't noticed their pens writing on their own either, after all.

Ghosts were an interesting matter. They were nothing but myths and legends in Equestria, but, while they had never been proven to exist, theoretical thaumatologists over the centuries had found multiple ways that they feasibly could.

Based on those hypotheses, generations of unicorns attending Princess Celestia's school with too much time on their hooves had created spells to interact with them. Everything from summoning over banishing and exorcising all the way to full resurrections for all manner of situations. All of them were more or less advanced light magic and, as such, she had spent some time researching them. It had been years since, but she should still be able to find the correct section of the royal archives.

Assuming, of course, that she didn't die from boredom first.

She hadn't died from boredom, to her immense surprise. It did, however, take the better part of lunch for her brain to start working properly again. Once lunch was over, they accompanied the Hufflepuffs to their second lesson of Herbology.

Barring the fact that the flitterbloom had been moved away from the door to stop it ambushing students for surprise hugs, the lesson went much like the first.

That evening, after spending two full days at Hogwarts, Sunset found it was high time to write to the Princess and tell her of her experiences. She was startled to find that, when she got to Professor Binns' class, her first instinct was to describe it as 'dreadfully boring'. Clearly she had spent too much time in Britain, if she stayed much longer she might just start developing a Trottingham accent.

Once she finished her report, she went on to prepare her scanning spell for the next day's lesson of Defense against the Dark Arts. She would find out Professor Quirrell's secret.

Sunset sighed.

She hadn't found out Professor Quirrell's secret.

On the bright side, she had narrowed down the things this mysterious dark magic could be further. She would try again on Monday. He couldn't hide his secret forever.

After lunch, the Gryffindors returned to their tower. Using an alarm charm, they intended to sleep until dinner, so they would be well rested for Astronomy class at midnight.

Curled up in a circle on Sunset's bed, the little fillies didn't have any trouble resting for a few hours. So when Sunset's alarm woke her, she gently nudged the others awake who, in turn, went to wake Lavender and Parvati.

The boys, it seemed had had a similar experience. They went to have dinner before returning to their common room for another few hours. At quarter to midnight, finally, they set out to the only class held at night.

Expansion charms were clearly at work on the Astronomy tower, otherwise it would never have fit the first and second-years of all houses. Since the week only had five school days, only third through fifth-years got the tower to themselves. First-years shared with second and sixth-years shared with seventh. Similarly, all houses had Astronomy at the same time. In the case of first and second-years, at midnight on Wednesdays.

Professor Sinistra was a pale witch in midnight blue robes bearing, unsurprisingly, a star pattern. Her hair was almost as pale as Luna's which was impressive given that Luna's hair was mostly white since she had first visited Equestria.

She arrived on the scene a minute before her class started, greeting the students far to jovially for the late hour. "Welcome to Astronomy. My name is Aurora Sinistra and I'll be your teacher. Now if you could please form groups so that each first-year has at least one second-year partner from the same house. For this week and next we'll be going over the basics and they'll be helping you get into the swing of things."

Sunset partnered up with a blonde Gryffindor second-year named Allison Barnes. Seeing that Gryffindor had more first than second-years present, she waved Neville over to join them as well.

Once the groups had formed, Sinistra spoke up again. "Alright, now that we have that, I'll leave it to the second-years to teach the firsties how to draw a star chart, for that you can start with a chart of the thirty brightest stars within five degrees of Polaris. Any constellations that would partially include are to be completed even beyond that range. I'll be going around and checking up on your work."

So they began. Sunset had never personally done much study into astronomy, so this was new to her. Neville didn't have any experience either. As such they both turned to Allison.

"Alright, first, we're gonna have to find Polaris," she explained. "Fortunately that's easy. She pointed at a group of stars to the north. It's the brightest star in that constellation. Also known as the North Star. Go ahead, try focusing your telescopes on it. Start with relatively low magnification for this."

Nodding, Sunset pulled out her telescope, mounting it on the tripod that came with it. Within a few moments, she had found Polaris again and pointed the telescope at it. A few twists on the dial later, she had focused it in such a way that the stars were sharply visible. Neville took a moment longer, being a little clumsy he pushed the dial too far several times and had to correct, but he managed it in due time.

Allison then went on to explain how to draw the actual chart. Setting Polaris as the center point, they aligned the chart so that north was up. Contrary to common belief, Allison explained, Polaris, while very close to being above the north pole, was actually ever so slightly off it. Thus, alignment did matter. From there they added the ranges in degrees and began checking back and forth between their charts and telescopes, drawing in the stars as they saw them.

As she worked, Sunset started thinking. Space was beautiful out here. So far away from the lights of cities, the stars were visible in all their beauty. Galaxies and nebulae dotted the vast expanse above, adding touches of color. For a moment, she really wished she could borrow Harry's eyes.

She vowed to find a spell that could enhance her eyesight in such a way that she could see the stars better. Finding a way to stop her eyes from glowing was first priority. It wouldn't do to suffer light pollution from her own eyes.

In due time, they finished their star charts. Professor Sinistra seemed satisfied. After announcing that, for the next lesson, they would begin observing planets, she dismissed the class.

When the tired group of Gryffindors gathered back together, Sunset decided to take a shortcut. After exchanging a few words with Hermione, she snapped her fingers, disappearing together with the rest of the girls save Hermione who repeated the gesture a moment later, vanishing along with the boys.

Suddenly finding themselves atop their own tower, the Gryffindors shrugged, too tired to think much about it, and took their separate stairs down to their dorms.

37 - Subverting Expectations

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Subverting Expectations

Thursday morning started out boring, after Sunset's strategy had proven more than sufficient to keep up with class the last time, the rest of the group followed her example. They had explained the memory treatment to those Gryffindors who hadn't gotten it thus far and promised to give it to them over the weekend.

They had complained, of course, but Harry, Luna and the Weasleys had explained that the symptoms of the slower version of the spell could be distracting and took a day or two to get used to, as well as that it would take a week or so before any noticeable improvements to their memory manifested at all. Even their memory, treated weeks before, was still spotty in places.

They had also badgered Sunset and Hermione to teach them how they had managed to apparate within Hogwarts. The two had explained to them that they hadn't actually apparated and didn't want to do so either. And they had promised that, yes, in time they would teach them to do that as well.

Still, none of that served to make History of Magic any less boring.

Charms was much better, but passed far less eventfully than it had the first time.

Their final round of Herbology for the week finished off their day with more basic plant care.

Now there was only one day left in the week. And only one class they had yet to experience. Thursday had come and gone. Now it was Friday, and they were set to experience a double period of Potions.

Saying that the subject and its teacher had a bad reputation wouldn't do reality justice. Professor Snape was the head of house Slytherin and notorious for giving them preferential treatment. He was also known to be extraordinarily strict in his teaching and unforgiving of mistakes. It wouldn't be long before they saw for themselves. With a bit of trepidation, the group made their way down to the dungeons where Professor Snape had set up his classroom.

As they approached, Sunset reapplied her masked scanning spell. Quirrell wasn't the only one bearing a dark magic she had yet to identify. As their first lesson with Snape, this was her first chance to check. Harry meanwhile had his hand in his pocket where, she knew, the message Hedwig had brought him at breakfast resided.

When they reached the classroom, they found the door locked and most of the Slytherins, with whom they shared the class, scattered through the corridor before it. Still put out after what had happened on the train, Malfoy chose to demonstratively ignore them.

Sunset was torn for a moment, but ultimately decided that she didn't want to rush her apology. As such, she decided against apologizing now when the teacher could come by any minute.

Mere moments later, there was a subtle clicking noise and the door swung open, revealing Professor Snape. He wordlessly turned around and stalked deeper into the room, the students following.

Looking around, Sunset found the décor to be rather peculiar. With the pickled animals and plants floating around in colorful and sometimes glowing solutions, it looked as though Snape had made an effort to make the room as creepy and intimidating as possible. She didn't know enough about the man to know how much truth there might be to that.

The class quickly spread out around the room and automatically segregated by house. The Slytherins took the left side of the room, while the Gryffindors took the right. Spreading out amongst the workstations, Sunset sat between Hermione to the left and Harry, a table over, to the right, sharing with Ron. Ginny and Luna were behind them. Seeing that the Gryffindors were an odd number, Snape barked a quick command, telling Neville, Dean and Seamus to form one group.

Like Professor Flitwick had done, Snape began by taking roll. It gave them a good chance to learn the names of the Slytherins they hadn't paid attention to during the Sorting. Snape halted when he came to Harry's name. "Ah yes, Harry Potter, our new celebrity." The Gryffindors collectively ignored the chuckles from the Slytherin side of the chamber.

When he finished, Snape looked up from his list, letting his gaze wander across the class. Staring back, Sunset saw that the dark magic on his person seemed to radiate from a point on his left forearm, but didn't seem to go far beyond skin level. Filing that information away for later, she refocused on Snape's words.

"You are here," he began, "to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, but the class was absolutely silent, so they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic."

Sunset had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that notion. Sure potions had never been something she had specialized on personally, but they were absolutely a form of magic. After all, in other situations where magical components were mixed together, wand-making for example, no one claimed the result or the process weren't magical.

"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ..."

Sunset wasn't entirely sure whether Snape was giving them an introduction or a sales pitch. She knew, however, that, half a year ago, that last part especially would have been very enticing to her.

"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

When his little speech finished, the room was silent. After a second, Snape's gaze snapped to Harry. "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Sunset smirked. Had he spent the summer at the Dursleys', Harry probably wouldn't have been able to answer that question. But that wasn't what had happened. They had all committed each of their books to memory. She could see not only Harry but also Ron, Ginny and Luna squinting slightly as they matched the words to the pages they remembered before their minds' eyes from Magical Drafts and Potions, even as she quickly did the same. It only took Harry a split-second longer than it took her, likely due to the memory spell not having quite finished its work yet.

"The Draught of Living Death, Professor."

Snape looked surprised for a moment, then focused once again. "Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

This time, all of them found the answer faster yet. "The closest place would probably be the supply closet, or, barring that, the first aid kit. If I couldn't find one in either, I'd check at the medical wing. Finding a bezoar at the source could be a little difficult here as I haven't seen any goats around so far."

Snape looked on with growing surprise, but, after a moment, seemed to decide on giving it one more try. "What is the difference, Potter, between Monkshood and Wolf's bane?"

Once more, they all thought back, this time to One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. After a short moment, Harry smirked slightly as he found the answer. "Semantics, Sir. Both describe the same plant."

"Also known as?"

"Leopard's Bane, Mousebane, Women's Bane, Devil's Helmet and, in muggle circles as the Queen of Poisons or the Blue Rocket. But I suspect you want the scientific term, which is Aconite."

"Well. You may have some of your mother's diligence after all." Seeing several confused faces around the class, Snape quietly sighed. "For those that didn't understand all that, the Draught of Living Death is a sleeping potion of immense power. Something you won't be brewing unless you manage to take potions at N.E.W.T. level, and a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and can protect you from most poisons. And, for the record, Mister Potter, there aren't any goats on school grounds, but there is a herd kept near Hogsmeade that is our primary supplier of bezoars."

When he looked into the class, seeing no reaction, he barked, "Well, why aren't you copying that down?"

From there, Snape set them out to brew a basic potion to cure boils. He stalked about the class, criticizing nearly everyone, except Malfoy whom he seemed to like for some reason. There was a bit of commotion when Dean and Seamus narrowly stopped Neville from adding an ingredient before taking the potion off the fire instead of after it, but otherwise, the class remained relatively calm.

At lunch, Percy came over to Sunset, waiting until she had finished. "Sunset, if you would come with me please. The headmaster has asked to speak with you. I'll show you to his office."

When her friends shot her questioning glances, Sunset shrugged. She told them to have fun at Hagrid's who had invited them over in his message to Harry, and explain to him why she couldn't come. Then she followed Percy out of the Hall, up to the second floor and then to several corridors until they arrived in front of a marble statue.

With a soft sigh, Percy said, 'Bubblegum', and the statue, suddenly animate, jumped aside, a passage opening behind where it had been before. "Go ahead. He'll be expecting you."

Sunset stepped through the passage which sealed back up behind her and onto the spiral staircase that was slowly moving upwards, like a spiraling, stone escalator. As she tended to do on escalators, Sunset walked up anyways, arriving at the office in moments. She raised her hand, but before she could knock, a calm 'Come in.' interrupted her and she instead gripped the handle and stepped through the door.

Looking around the office, she saw a multitude of small sliver instruments, making chirping and whirring noises, plinking lightly or puffing out small clouds of different colored smoke from small chimneys, stood on various small tables, shelves and some even on the desk. Sitting behind the desk in a pale blue robe, Albus Dumbledore smiled gently.

"You wanted to see me, Headmaster?"

"Indeed I did, I believe there are some matters we should discuss. Please, take a seat."

Thinking back to all she had done in this world so far, Sunset could see where he was coming from. "Alright, where would you like to start?"

"Let's start with a matter my old friend, Mister Ollivander has informed me of. According to him, you managed to turn Emma and Dan Granger, two muggles, into a wizard and a witch."

Sunset nodded. "I did."

"Such a thing was thus far believed to be impossible."

"It isn't." Taking a deep breath, Sunset prepared herself to explain. "The muggles, as you call them, and, to a lesser extent, I suspect, the so-called squibs, have a medical condition known in Equestria as Null Star Syndrome. Much like it is in this world, in Equestria it was long believed that those afflicted with the condition were born without magic. But roughly eight-hundred years ago. Null Star, eldest daughter of Void Star, founder of the House of the Stars, was born with that condition. Thanks to her exceptional expertise with magic, Void Star managed to identify the condition for what it was and develop a treatment."

"And exactly what is this condition?"

"Let me show you." Getting up, Sunset drew her wand and projected a life-size image of Emma in the air beside her. With a wave, it became transparent, allowing a network of lines to be seen within, interrupted by thousands of gaps. "These were Emma's thaumic pathways before the treatment." She conjured a second image, identical only without the gaps. "And this is what they look like now. See the difference?"

Getting up from behind his desk, Dumbledore moved to take a closer look at the two images. "The blockages?"

"Exactly. Muggles have several thousand of them in their thaumic pathways, squibs, I'd guess, would likely have a few hundred, but I can't verify that until I can scan one. Even wizards can have up to a few dozen of them, though those usually erode away once they start using their magic frequently."

"I see. How very interesting. We always thought muggles didn't have thaumic pathways."

"Huh? Really? How did you get that idea?"

"We couldn't find any when we scanned for them."

Sunset looked at him skeptically. "And how did you scan for them?"

"You have aura sight spells?" Lighting her eyes, Sunset nodded. "Good. Then allow me to show you." Drawing his own wand, Dumbledore let a magical scan pass over the girl.

"Wait. You used a passive thaumic wave scan?"

"What else would we use?"

"A thaumic wave resonance scan, of course. Muggles have thaumic pathways, but you won't get any thaumic waves from them with a passive scan since they don't have any magical flow."

Lighting his own eyes with a swing of his wand, Dumbledore observed her closely. "Could you show me?"

"Of course." Dismissing the illusions, Sunset cast the requested spell, sending out a thaumic wave pattern that Dumbledore realized would be refracted and absorbed by a thaumic channel, thus rendering them visible to a passive scan.

"I see. One moment please. I believe we should call someone else in on this." Walking over to his fireplace, he threw in a pinch of floo powder. "Hogwarts – Medical Wing." When the flames flared green, he poked his head into the fire. "Poppy, do you have a moment?"

Sunset couldn't hear whom he was talking to, but waited patiently. A moment later, Dumbledore pulled his head from the fire which returned to normal before flaring green again seconds later. A woman in nurse's garb came from it. "What do you have for me, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore nodded to Sunset. "Miss Shimmer, this is Madam Pomfrey, our school nurse. Since we are discussing matters of medical magic, I thought it wise to draw upon her experience." When Sunset nodded in understanding, he turned to the nurse. "Poppy, Miss Shimmer here has managed something truly impressive. Using the magical knowledge from her homeland, she has turned two muggles into a witch and a wizard."

"Pardon?"

"You have not misheard, Poppy. Miss Shimmer, if you would show her?"

With a wave of her still drawn wand, Sunset recreated the two illusory images, helpfully adding 'Before' and 'After' tags above them.

Dumbledore and Sunset watched in mild bemusement as Madam Pomfrey sat down in the chair Sunset had vacated, staring dumbly at the two images.

Sunset turned to the headmaster. "Do you think she needs a moment?"

"That would indeed seem likely. I will admit my reaction was not too dissimilar when I received Garrick's letter. Would you like a cup of tea in the meantime?"

38 - Unpleasant Conversations

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Unpleasant Conversations

It took a few minutes before Madam Pomfrey was functional again. In the meantime Dumbledore and Sunset each enjoyed a cup of tea the headmaster had gotten from ... somewhere. When the nurse was once more aware of her surroundings, she looked at the illusions Sunset had been keeping up in closer detail. "How did you get those readings? We never found thaumic pathways in muggles."

"I can demonstrate," Dumbledore pointed out as he got up, "Miss Shimmer, could you tell me if I'm doing this correctly?"

When Sunset nodded, he drew his wand and cast the spell nearly perfectly. While Madam Pomfrey was busy considering the implications of this spell and the things that had been discovered with it, Sunset pointed out a few flaws in his casting and he recast the spell several times, correcting them one by one. Not long after, all three were seated around the desk again.

"Alright," Pomfrey began, "I think it's clear that we can't keep this a secret forever." When she received nods from around the table, she continued. "The question is then, how do we make this news public." After all three considered that question for a moment, she spoke up yet again. "Think the purebloods might take it better if it happens to a squib first?"

"Possible," Dumbledore conceded, "likely really."

"Think Argus might be up for it?"

After a few seconds' consideration, he nodded. "He's been jealous of wizards for as long as I can recall, giving him the option of becoming a wizard shouldn't be an offer that he would have any trouble accepting. It might actually improve his mood for once."

Sunset did her best to hide her shudders. While she hadn't had a run-in with him thus far, she had already heard the tales of Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts. An immensely strict man, it seemed to be Filch's hobby to make students' lives miserable. He and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were more or less law enforcement in the school's corridors unless a professor happened to be nearby and pulled rank.

The two shared some kind of uncanny bond and if Mrs. Norris spotted a breach of the rules, Filch would only be seconds behind, using his immense knowledge of the school and all the secret passages through it.

She hadn't been aware that he was a squib though. Suddenly his constantly miserable mood made a lot more sense. Being the caretaker of a school of wizards while being himself unable to use magic had to be psychological torture for the man. If he was up for it, Sunset would do what she could to correct that state of affairs.

"Miss Shimmer, do you think you could teach me how to use those spells?"

Startled from her thoughts, Sunset turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Of course. But it's easiest with someone to demonstrate them on. I could show you how to do it at the first session."

Pomfrey nodded. "If there is nothing else, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Nothing for the moment, Poppy. Do you want to floo back?"

"Oh no, I think I'll walk."

"In that case, would you mind reminding Filius to come see me here once he finishes his afternoon classes?"

"Of course, Headmaster. Have a nice afternoon."

When she closed the door behind her, Sunset turned to face Dumbledore once again. "You wanting Professor Flitwick to come see you wouldn't have anything to do with me as well, would it?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It does indeed. Though, it will likely be a while longer before he can come join us. I hope you don't mind."

Sunset shook her head. "Not at all actually, I have something I wanted to ask you myself."

Albus looked at the girl before him with curiosity. What could she want to ask? A matter of the magic of this world perhaps? Filius or Minerva could probably give her better answers than him. Still, she had asked him, and he saw no reason not to humor her. "By all means, go ahead."

Miss Shimmer sighed. "Very well. Why was Harry with the Dursley Family?"

While remaining outwardly calm, Albus was shocked. This was not at all what he had been expecting. While he was still reeling, the girl continued.

"From what I managed to get from his aunt, it was because of something his mother did before she died. And to keep the spell going, he needed to live there, but that seems a bit vague."

He sighed as he considered how much to tell her. Usually the answer would have been simple. Nothing. But in this case things weren't so straight forward. Ms. Shimmer was playing the role of a simple student, yet they both knew she was so much more. Perhaps she even understood something about Lily's spell that he didn't. The extent of her magical knowledge was still a mystery to him.

"I suppose it isn't much of a surprise that Petunia would forget important details over the years. What Harry's mother did was an act of love. She stepped in the way of the one who had come to kill him and died in his stead. That was how he could resist a killing curse."

The girl before him nodded. "I suspected as much. There really wasn't any other place the harmonic magic around him could have come from."

Albus tilted his head. Once more, Ms. Shimmer had casually used a term he had never even heard of. It seemed he was right to suspect she knew something more than he did. "Harmonic magic?"

"Ah. Then I take it you don't know much about that either?" He shook his head. "Well, it's relatively simple as far as the basic concepts go. It's another kind of emotionally powered magic. But where dark magic is powered by anger, hate, fear and the like, and, in turn, light magic is powered by happiness and joy, harmonic magic is powered by the feelings that come from interpersonal relationships, namely, friendship and love. A mother's love has been known to carry a special kind of power."

Dumbledore listened closely. "Then Equestria knows more of this magic?"

"Well, to a degree. From your reactions I can tell that we certainly know more about it than you do, but our own understanding of it is still relatively rudimentary. Add to that the fact that this magic is among the most temperamental, something that most casters don't enjoy at all, and the fact that the only artifacts that allow wielding that power reliably have been dormant and practically inert for centuries, and it's hardly ever used intentionally."

"What exactly do you mean by 'temperamental'?"

"Mostly that it's next to impossible to tell harmonic magic what to do. You can suggest a course of action, you can show it a way to solve a given problem, but in the end it will always be the magic that decides what happens, not the caster."

"I see. Yes, most wizards wouldn't enjoy that at all. I notice that you said 'intentionally'. Are you suggesting it is used unintentionally?"

"It is. Most commonly in a phenomenon known as Heart Songs. Basically impromptu musical numbers caused by particularly strong emotions. It's not entirely uncommon to be swept up in someone else's Heart Song as a background singer. If there are ponies with instruments on the scene, they are almost certain to be swept up in the song, a bit of an occupational hazard, if you will, but if there are none, the magic usually supplies background instrumentals anyway."

"Fascinating. I can only guess at what could have caused such a form of magic to develop."

Ms. Shimmer nodded. "We have more or less the same issue. The phenomenon has puzzled our scholars for generations. But I believe we've gone off topic."

Albus nodded. "So we have. I believe you were asking why Harry was with his aunt and uncle all these years?" The girl before him nodded. "Very well, how much do you know about the wizarding war?"

"I've read The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Good. Then I'll skip the essentials. Harry's parents were part of the resistance movement and had even encountered and fought Voldemort himself on more than one occasion. He came after many families that did that in those days and Harry's was no exception. I suppose he wanted to also kill Harry, so he wouldn't become a threat later.

"Underestimating the power of love was always one of his greatest weaknesses. He didn't understand what he allowed Harry's mother to do until it was too late. Assuming, of course, he ever understood at all. But, while he was alone that night, he did not fight the war alone. He had many followers who I feared might come after Harry. As such, I came up with the idea of using the protection Lily had given him to keep him safe. But for that to work, he had to live with a direct blood relative of his mother.

"I was well aware that Petunia was never too fond of magic or of her sister. I have reason to suspect she was jealous of Lily. And I understood the risk that could transfer over to Harry. I knew that leaving him with them was not a good option by any means. However, to keep him safe, it was the only one."

Ms. Shimmer leaned back in the chair for a moment, absently scratching her chin. "I see. But I must ask, were you aware of what happened at the house of the Dursleys?"

"Unfortunately no. I only learned of how they treated Harry when Hagrid reported to me about it. I would have hoped that they would treat him better, but I have been known to be a bit naive in that regard."

Looking carefully at the girl before him, he saw a deep frown. He couldn't tell exactly why, but a sense of unease crept up his spine. That sense was vindicated when she spoke. "I'm afraid Hagrid likely didn't quite understand the gravity of the situation."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean that Harry was subjected to both physical and emotional abuse for nearly a decade."

Albus was shocked. Could it be? Could Petunia really have fallen that far? He needed to know. He couldn't afford not to. "How can you tell?"

He saw a sad smile on the girl's face. "He tried to hide it, Harry I mean, but I've seen the signs before. Foal abuse, you'd call it child abuse, isn't common in Equestria, crime in general isn't. But when something so severe does happen, it goes straight to the princess. She sees all the evidence. And, as her personal student, so did I. One of the downsides of the position. Regardless, I had seen the signs before, and when we went through Diagon Alley together, I saw them again.

"Harry is unusually thin for his height, not to mention unusually small for his age. Did you know that that is one of the effects of malnourishment?" Albus did not, but he didn't say anything, letting her continue. "In the Alley, he was subtly nervous the entire time. Obviously he was in awe at seeing so much magic in one spot, but if you knew the signs, it was enough to notice. Not to mention his clothes were in a terrible state and far too large for him.

"After seeing all that, I got suspicious and quietly performed a medical scan. He has scar tissue all throughout his body, many of his bones show signs of having been cracked or, in some places, broken, some of them several times. He was terribly undernourished at the time. Many of his organs showed signs of being damaged in the past. The list goes on."

Albus was shocked to hear all this. Still, he could not see what he could have done differently. Giving the Dursleys a stipend to help take care of Harry might have helped alleviate some of the problems, but they were not a poor family. The main issue, their dislike for anything magical would have remained. Still, he had not failed to notice that Ms. Shimmer had persistently been speaking in past tense. "What did you do?"

"Hagrid and Professor McGonagall probably told you that I accompanied Harry on his way home that day, correct?" Albus nodded. "I did that for three reasons. Firstly, I wanted a way for him to keep in touch, just in case. I had some empty journals I got in Diagon Alley. I could enchant those so that anything written in one would also appear in the other, but that would take time."

"You can manage a Proteus Charm?"

"Oh is that what you call that? Huh, I'll have to look that up. Well, anyway, it's a tricky bit of magic and time-consuming to cast, but I did have the entire train ride. Still, that was only the first reason. The second was that I wanted to be able to get to where he lived and come get him if necessary. I could always ask Philomena for help, but Fire Travel isn't exactly subtle and I like to keep a more covert option available.

"The third reason was that I wanted to ask Harry why he was in the state that he was. He didn't want to tell me at first, but I managed to get through to him, mainly by implying that I knew more than I did. I could only really guess, but my guesses weren't too far from the truth. The Dursleys blamed him for everything that went wrong around the house, magical or not, they punished him for the smallest things and, not too rarely, for things he had nothing at all to do with. And that was all before I saw his living conditions."

She sighed deeply again. "He lived in a cupboard under the stairs for almost a decade. He had next to no room for belongings of his own, not that there were many of those. Not to mention the house had not one but two spare bedrooms. When I learned all of that, I made sure to set up a backup plan, just in case. I put a subtle, single use rune charm in place. A magical alarm linked to a locator beacon. That way he could call me and I could find him if necessary.

"Every time I saw him over the summer, I fed the charm a bit of magic to maintain it. I stopped doing that after I got Harry out, so it'll have faded by now. If Harry has to return there over the summer, I'll restore it, but I hope it doesn't come to that."

Albus leaned back in his chair, considering what he had just heard. After a moment he spoke up. "I'm afraid I can't see how that would be possible. Harry is a powerful symbol for the light, which makes him a target for what remains of the dark forces. I fear he needs the protection his mother's spell gives him and if it is to remain active until he is of age, him living with the Dursleys is the only option."

He was surprised to see the girl before him smirk. "That would be a problem, certainly, but I believe that that issue has sorted itself out. You see, I've taken Harry, Hermione and her parents, Luna and her Father as well as the Weasleys, including those that aren't at Hogwarts anymore on a round trip of Equestria.

"Well anyway, the ambient magic in Equestria is different, aside from being stronger, it's made up differently. Ambient magic here is about ninety-nine percent neutral and about half a percent each light and dark. In Equestria it's also about half a percent each light and dark, but only about ninety-two percent neutral, then about six percent harmonic and circa one percent other types, mostly remnant chaotic magic from the Chaos Years.

"Before we went to Equestria I could distinctly tell the spell on Harry was drawing on Mrs. Dursley to maintain itself. After we went to Equestria, it linked with the ambient harmonic field there. Even now that we've returned it's still connected to it. The connection seems to have fully supplanted the one to Mrs. Dursley and the spell is stronger and more stable than ever."

Dumbledore looked at her in complete surprise. All those years, he had been displeased with the status quo, had found the way he had to do things completely dissatisfying, but suddenly, he had options. "Where do you suggest Harry should go for the holidays?"

"Well, if it is your goal to keep him safe from the dark magicians of this world, Equestria seems like the obvious option. Until the portal opens back up in two years, phoenix travel is the only way to get there and back. And only you and I have a phoenix at hand."

Considering the idea, Albus could not deny the logic. It really was the obvious solution, and where better to hide Harry than a place the world didn't know existed? "I think that should work."

A knock on the door interrupted them. Checking the wards, Albus recognized the small figure beyond it. "Ah, I believe it is time for another change in topic." He raised his voice, "Come in, Filius."

39 - Arcane Theory

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Arcane Theory

Looking over her shoulder, Sunset saw the diminutive stature of Professor Flitwick enter the office. "Ah, Miss Shimmer, you're already here."

"Yes Filius, we've already had a most enlightening conversation. Take a seat."

Nodding, Professor Flitwick sat down in the chair beside Sunset's looking between her and the headmaster. "Now, shall we get started?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Miss Shimmer, the reason Professor Flitwick is here, is because you've already shown the results of combining the magic of both our worlds in his class."

"Yes," Flitwick agreed. "Most impressive. I think it will be more or less supplanting Lumos once it gets out to the public. It may be a little more difficult to learn and cast, but the added versatility more than makes up for it. We mainly want to see what else we can learn from you. You did say you wanted to try combining the magic of our two worlds in more ways, have you made any progress?"

Sunset nodded. "Well, there is one more spell I managed to combine with its equivalent from Equestria before we came here. A spacial distortion spell, to be exact." When she received a pair of confused looks, she groaned. "Oh you wizards with your weird names. You'd call it an undetectable expansion charm."

The two men's eyes widened. After sharing a glance with the headmaster, Flitwick turned to stare at Sunset eagerly, an expression in his eyes that Sunset knew all too well. The hunger for knowledge. She smirked. "I happen to have something for that here." She reached into her bag, closing her eyes for a second, then pulled out the long, slender pack of the boys' tent they had used at Winsome falls.

Placing it on the ground, she drew her wand and set it up with a few quick movements. Putting her wand away, she smirked at the two men. "Wanna take a look?" With that she stepped into the tent, the two men eagerly following her.

Once inside, the two looked around, quickly exploring the large family home she had crammed into the tent with the help of the Equestrian craftsponies. Once they had gotten a good idea of its size, they drew their wands to analyze the spells. The results left them stunned. "How did you accomplish this?" Flitwick finally managed.

Sunset gave the two a quick rundown of how Equestrian spacial distortion spells worked compared to Earthen ones and how she had managed to combine them. They seemed quite impressed.

"Do you think a variability matrix could be attached to this spell?"

Sunset tilted her head, looking at Flitwick.

"Oh, right. A variability matrix allows something under the effect of an undetectable expansion charm to expand and shrink its interior space as needed. I'll have to give you a book on that later."

"I'll see if I can make it work. I know that a retrieval matrix works fine." Seeing that she was now the one receiving questioning glances, she quickly amended her statement. "A retrieval matrix allows you to retrieve whatever is stored in an item with a spacial distortion spell on it just by reaching in and thinking of whatever you want to retrieve. I've got one on my bag."To demonstrate, she reached into the bag several times, pulling out a different item each time and returning it immediately.

"Oh my, that sounds rather convenient."

"Indeed it does, Filius."

Sunset nodded. "It is."

Once they were back in the office and the tent was back in Sunset's bag, they all sat down around the desk once more. "Now was there something else you wanted to ask?"

The two men looked at each other. Dumbledore was ultimately the one to answer. "My professors tell me of your skill at apparition."

Sunset's eyes narrowed. "I've experienced apparition once. That was more than enough, I won't go through that again. I use a proper teleportation spell, thank you very much."

"Of course, my apologies. I do find your skill at, teleportation, was it?" When Sunset nodded, he continued with a winning smile. "Yes, teleportation most impressive. I wonder if you could perhaps teach us? I hear you've already taught the skill to Miss Granger."

"I could, but I think I can do you one better." She got up, stretching an arm out in front of her. "Philomena!" With a flash of flame, Philomena appeared on her arm, startling Fawkes from his sleep. "Could you take me to my suite at the palace right quick?"

In a second flash of flame, the two disappeared.

Flitwick turned to Dumbledore. "The windows into subspace were a nice touch, weren't they?"

"Yes. Hard to believe wizards haven't thought of that yet. It seems like such an obvious thing to do."

"It really does, doesn't it?"

With a third flash of flame, Sunset reappeared, Philomena perched on her shoulder and a book held in her hands. "Here we go. Now I just need to translate it."

Walking up to them, she placed the book on the table, and drew her wand, tapping the book with it. The two were startled and quickly cast visualization charms when the book began floating upwards, an identical binding jumping from it in a flash of teal.

Looking closer, Albus saw that the binding actually wasn't identical, he hadn't been able to read the text on the other book, but this one was written in English, identifying the book as Basic Arcane Phase Theory – Third Edition by Professor Graceful Warp, Canterlot Academy of Arcane Sciences.

The two watched as, in further flashes of teal light, page after page jumped from the original book to the translation, materializing into pages mid-flight. After a few moments, the light-show stopped and both books settled back onto the desk, where Sunset picked up the original, placing it in her bag and leaving the translated copy behind. "Here you go. That should teach you all you need to know for the basic teleportation spells. It even has a chapter on short range teleports even though they don't technically fall under arcane phase theory."

"What was that spell you just used?"

"A spell to copy books and writing with a translation matrix linked into it. I could use it to translate any text I can read into any language I know."

Dumbledore looked at her with interest. "And how many languages do you know?"

"Ten. Modern Equestrian, Old Ponish, Pony Latin," When the two professors looked at her incredulously she crossed her arms. "What? I didn't come up with the name! Anyway, then I know ancient and contemporary Thessian, Gryphonian, Minotaurian, Draconic and, since coming to this world, English and French."

"So you could translate this book into French?" The headmaster's eyes were twinkling.

"Sure. One moment." Sunset placed a finger to her temple for a moment then drew her wand again and tapped the book a second time. In short order there was a second one, this time in french. "There you go."

"Thank you. Olympe will be very interested in this."

"Who?"

"Oh. Of course. Madame Olympe Maxime, the Headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic."

"I see. Now, was there anything else?"

Dumbledore seemed preoccupied with the book, so Flitwick answered. "I was hoping we could meet on weekends and see what we can do about combining the magic of our worlds."

Sunset nodded. "Sure. We can do that. When were you thinking?"

"Would Saturday after lunch suit you?"

Sunset considered the offer for a moment. "Sure, I can work with that."

Looking up from the book, Dumbledore looked at Flitwick. Sharing a glance, the two nodded, then he turned to Sunset. "Thank you, Miss Shimmer. That would be all for the time being." When Sunset turned to leave, he cleared his throat. "Miss Shimmer." When she turned around, he pointed a finger at Philomena. "Your phoenix."

"Oh right! Nearly forgot." Stroking a finger over Philomena's feathers, Sunset once more disguised her as an eagle. "Have a nice afternoon."

Sunset had only just arrived in the Gryffindor Common room and met up with Dean, Seamus, Pavati and Lavender, when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open once more and the rest of her friends came in.

Seeing her, Hermione came over. 《Sis, there you are! What did Dumbledore want?》

Sunset smiled back, enclosing her into a hug. 《Not much, really. He just asked about your parents because Ollivander told him. I'll be teaching how to do that to Madame Pomfrey.》

《Who?》

《The School Nurse. Flitwick came by too, we'll be working on combing this world's magic with mine. Should be fun.》She chose not to mention the matter with Harry for the moment. She wanted to check in with the Princess first.

Lavender came up to them, looking slightly confused at hearing them speak in a different language. Still, determination was clear on her face. "So, when are we ...?"

She trailed off, but Sunset knew what she meant. "I could do it now, but it could be very dangerous if the spell isn't cast perfectly, so there is a lot of due diligence I'll have to do. I probably couldn't get through five of you before dinner."

Hermione nodded. "True. It does take a while and dinner will be starting soon." The Weasleys and Luna gave their own agreement, so the group spent another half hour in the common room, talking and taking care of some homework.

When they returned from dinner, it was finally time. The boys guided them to their own dorm after being assured that the safeguards on the girl's dorms weren't mirrored there. Sunset got a chair ready to cast the spell from.

Finally, everything was prepared. "Any questions?"

Sunset was surprised to see Hermione look over to her. "I've actually been meaning to ask this for a while, but how does this spell actually work?"

Sunset chuckled a little. "Funny thing that. I don't actually know exactly how it works. It uses something called conceptual magic. It allows me to see the brain and its functions as concepts and change them as concepts as well, the magic extrapolates from there. I don't exactly know all the details of how the magic does what it does, only how to get it to do them, and that's plenty complicated for my tastes."

"Like the difference between knowing how to drive a car and knowing how a car works?"

Sunset looked over to Dean, nodding. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Alright. I'll go first then."

Sunset nodded to him, then gestured to his bed. "Okay, take a seat then. Shifting into her equine form, Sunset hopped onto the prepared chair. "Brace yourself."

She closed her eyes to focus. After a moment, her horn lit up in its usual teal and she started to build the spell. The thin film of teal energy slowly reformed into a cloud of mist that flowed off her horn and through the air over to Dean. It momentarily surrounded his head, then seeped into it.

His expression was one of obvious discomfort, as usual for this version of the spell, but not of the excruciating pain the original version caused.

After repeating the process for Neville and Seamus, Sunset spent several more minutes scanning the three to ensure the spell was formed correctly and the first, subtle changes were happening as intended. Then, while she was at it, she also scanned Harry and Ron, to ensure their spells were still working as planned.

She frowned slightly when she noticed that the spells had less power left than she had estimated, she gave each of them a bit more to compensate.

Over in the girls' dorm, Sunset repeated the spell first with Lavender and then with Pavati. Finally, she jumped down from her conjured chair and dismissed it. She repeated the scans on the other girls minus Hermione, finding that their spells, similarly, had used up more energy than she had expected and compensating accordingly. Finally, she returned to human shape again and pulled the journal to the Princess from her bag.

She had a message to send.

Author's Note

It's been a while since we had one of these, but this chapter once more warrants it. Have another edition of:

Lore of the Veil:

Delving into the Abstract – Conceptual Magic:

Magic comes in many forms. From destructive to healing, from light to dark, from magnificent to subtle and from obvious to obscure. But of all the many forms in which it comes, Conceptual Magic is easily the most abstract.

Used primarily to manipulate things which aren't common knowledge or not entirely understood by ponies, it is a vital tool in Equestrian science, used to push the boundaries of what is known. With its ability to simplify complex systems, it is also a vital tool for first diagnosis in medical magic.

Of course, everything that is learned from conceptual magic is a gross oversimplification. As such, any information gleaned from it, should be taken with a grain of salt and spells of this kind intended to manipulate systems, not just observe them, need to be carefully designed to ensure nothing can go wrong. That fact is what makes it so essential to ensure that these spells are cast without a single error every time.

It is also frowned upon to try creating such a spell without a complete understanding of the subject matter. So even if the caster doesn't entirely understand how their conceptual spell does what it does, somepony, somewhere, probably did.

40 - Exploration

Chapter Forty

Exploration

For the five newest members of the group, the morning brought mostly one thing: hunger. Sleeping through the whole night after getting to bed exceptionally early and while a spell started rearranging one's brain structure worked up an appetite. Who'd have guessed?

That aside, the spell was noticeably working. Their memory, they could feel, was better. Marginally so, but still. That being said, that improvement to their memory came at the cost of focus. All week, they had been wondering why most of their new friends seemed to occasionally lose focus and forget what they had been doing or talking about.

Now they understood. The spell was constantly working and they could feel its effects in the back of their minds. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation or a break in the action of whatever they were doing, that feeling could get very distracting very fast. It would take some getting used to.

When they came down, Sunset was already waiting for them, intercepting them as soon as they entered the common room. She had mentioned that she'd want to check up on them. Ensure the spell was working properly. After she checked everyone of them over, she visibly relaxed. Everything was working as intended, it seemed.

As such, the group made their way to the great hall quickly, able to find their way in record time despite the castle's shenanigans. None of them quite understood the point of constantly changing architecture.

At breakfast, Sunset was approached by Professor Flitwick, informing her that he was still preoccupied by the book she had given to them yesterday and that they would start their work the week after. Instead, he told her that Madame Pomfrey wanted to see her this afternoon.

Still, before that, there was an entire morning for them to explore the castle and the grounds. First on the list was the mysterious corridor on the third floor. They were well aware that they shouldn't enter it. Fortunately they didn't need to go through the door to see what was beyond it.

"Yup, that's gotta be it. Locked."

The others looked over from where they had been trying other doors to the one Ron had just found.

"Good. Good. Now let's see here." Sunset sat down before the door, her legs crossed and cast a simple scrying spell. "There we are, that's the corridor, that's the door and – Woah! That's a big dog! – Okay, that is a tad worrying."

The others looked at her in confusion. "Uhh, Sis, what did you find?"

Stopping her spell, Sunset looked over to Hermione. "Right, of course, well I found this." With a wave of her hand she created an illusory version of the corridor they were in, followed by one of the corridor behind the door. It was a large hall, much taller than the one they were in, and occupied solely by a large, three headed dog. "A cerberus. Traditionally a guard dog of the most ... extreme variety, at least in Equestria."

With a wave of her hand, the sleeping beast in her illusion became mostly transparent, revealing the floor beneath. "Add to that the fact that it's sleeping on a trap door and it's obvious that it's guarding something. Question is: What?"

"Can't you just find out?"

Turning to Ron, Sunset shook her head. "No, there are some pretty powerful wards in place to prevent that. I could probably get around them safely with a bit of time, but I'd need to be closer for that. The room underneath that trap door is narrow and really tall, probably goes down deeper than the dungeons."

"So how else can we find out what it is?" Lavender began, "What do we have to go on?"

"Besides the massive, three headed dog you mean?"

Looking over to Ginny, Luna giggled slightly. "Sure. Who do we know who would have something like that?"

Looking amongst each other, they all sighed. "Hagrid."

Deciding that they could ask Hagrid about that later, they made to move on to the rest of the castle, but not before Sunset had placed her own alarm charms over the door. If someone made their way in through there, she would know.

Before long, Sunset and Hermione, their eyes lit to analyze the castle's magic, guided the group around the school.

"Oh look." Harry pointed out a tapestry on the wall a few yards ahead. "Another secret passage. Shall we see where this one leads?"

Chuckling, Sunset led the way, pushing aside the tapestry and looking into the staircase beyond. "Okay, the third and seventeenth steps are traps. Skip those."

Following her up and skipping the indicated steps, the group made their way up the stairs to see where they led. Ending up in a short corridor that lead to another tapestry form behind which they emerged in a corridor not far from their potions classroom.

Ron was scratching his head. "Did we just walk up a staircase to get from the fourth floor to the dungeons? How does that work?"

Sunset simply snorted. "More twisted space shenanigans. Remember the main stairwell?"

"You know, I'm trying to make a mental map of this place," Hermione pointed out, "but all these secret passages are giving me a headache. This was, what? The fourteenth one?"

"That should be pretty close," Sunset agreed, "But we should probably get to the Great Hall. Lunch should be in a few minutes."

Following her, the group made their way to a passage leading to the main stairwell from where they stepped out onto the marble staircase and into the great hall.

Lunch was as delicious as usual, but just when Sunset finished, Madam Pomfrey approached their table. Seeing her, Sunset quickly ate her last bite, put down her cutlery and waved to her friends. "I'll see you guys later."

Seeing this, Madam Pomfrey waved for her to follow. Once they left the hall to head for the medical wing, the nurse started up small talk. "I hope you've had a pleasant morning?"

"We did, exploring the castle, the usual."

"I see. I've had quite the fun morning myself, watching my colleagues. That book you gave the headmaster has them all in a tizzy." She giggled, covering her mouth daintily. "Of course, I won't deny that the medical magic you can bring to the table has me quite excited as well. This therapy of yours alone is sure to cause waves around the medical community, not to mention wizards as a whole."

"In a world where Null Star Syndrome is so common, I can see that happening."

"Is that what you call the condition?"

Sunset nodded. "It is, after the one in whom it was first diagnosed as a medical condition. Before then, we thought about it much like witches and wizards do here. Of course, it's much rarer where I come from."

"Of course."

They walked in silence for a few moments longer before they reached the medical wing. Madam Pomfrey spoke up again when they did. "Argus should be here in a few minutes. If you could teach me the scanning spell you used until then ..."

"Sure thing. How good are you at visualization charms?"

"Pretty good actually, I use them a lot in medical exams."

"Then cast one and take a good look." Drawing her wand, Sunset first cast her own visualization charm, then began emitting pulses of magic that would resonate in the thaumic pathways of any creature.

Watching carefully, Madam Pomfrey took only a moment before she mimicked her and quickly got a scan of Sunset's own thaumic pathways. "Ah, I see. Clever. Hard to believe no one ever thought of this."

Sunset chuckled slightly. "Well, as far as I know, people don't usually develop spells to be able to see things they don't know exist."

"Fair enough."

Only moments later, Filch came through the door, looking at them both suspiciously. "Are you sure this will work?"

Sunset nodded. "Absolutely."

Madam Pomfrey quickly donned her professional mask. "Please, take a seat."

Once the caretaker had sat down in a comfortable chair, Sunset turned to the nurse. "Alright. Let's get started. First things first, visualize."

Following her instructions, Madam Pomfrey cast the spell they had practiced before. Carefully looking at Filch. "You were right. I can see his thaumic pathways. And the obstructions."

Sunset nodded. "Good, now watch carefully." Drawing her wand, she carefully aimed it at one of the obstructions, after a few seconds, she loosed a pulse of power, and her target lit up teal. Waving her wand in a circle, she conjured a small floating sphere in the air. "Here, try it on that."

The nurse took careful aim and loosed her own pulse of power. Sunset frowned slightly. "Not quite. Here watch again. She targeted a second obstruction, firing another pulse of magic a few seconds later. "There, now try it again." Once Madam Pomfrey had hit the conjured orb again, Sunset smiled. "Almost. Here watch again." A third obstruction, a third pulse of power. "Now try it again."

This time, when the nurse's pulse impacted the orb, Sunset broke into a wide smile. "There we go. Let's make sure you can do it reliably. Try it a few more times." Once Madam Pomfrey had done as she asked, Sunset smiled widely, dismissing the orb with a wave of her hand. "Good, now go ahead. Just make sure you don't miss any. I'll watch, just in case."

With another nod, Madam Pomfrey took careful aim the first obstruction she found and loosed another pulse of power. The obstruction lit up a soft purple, indicating that the method was working.

Over the next ten minutes, the nurse worked her way through the several hundred obstructions in Mr. Filch's thaumic pathways. When she was done, both her and Sunset walked around him a few times, carefully checking that all of the obstructions were lit up. Finally, they dismissed their spells and put their wands away.

"Good. Give that a few days to do its work then do it again. With the constant, strong ambient magic here, it may only take two or three months for the treatment to complete."

"So what would you recommend? Weekly sessions? Twice a week?"

"I'd go with twice a week, personally. If you can spare the time for that, it'll make the treatment that much faster, but anything more won't really help."

"Very well. Then I'll see you on Wednesday if that's okay, Argus."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make the time. You'll keep this quiet, right?" They both nodded. "Good." Without another word, he left the medical wing.

"Say, Miss Shimmer. When you had me practice the spell, what was I doing wrong the first two times?"

"You know that the magic needs to be slightly acidic to get rid of the blockages, right?" Seeing the nurse nod, Sunset continued, "well, the first time that effect was a bit too strong, it could have damaged surrounding tissue. The second time it was a bit too weak, so it would have barely done anything."

"I see. Thank you, Miss Shimmer."

"My pleasure. Have a nice afternoon."

As Sunset left the medical wing, Madam Pomfrey simply shook her head. "And she hasn't even been here a week. I wonder what she'll do next."

"Caput Draconis."

"Indeed, my dear."

As the talking portrait swung aside, Sunset stepped into the common room, seeing most of the group gathered there. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Pavati were clearly using the first beginnings of their new photographic memory to memorize their school books just like the others had. Having the entire reference material just a thought away was simply too convenient.

As she looked over the group, however, she saw that three faces were missing. "Where are the others?"

Ron looked up. "Hermione went to find the library. Ginny and Luna are up on the roof, not sure what they're doing there though."

"I'll go take a look then, thanks." Without further ado, Sunset made her way over to the passage and up the stairs, past the girls' dorms and onto the roof. To her surprise, however, the roof was abandoned. Looking out between the crenelations at the edge of the roof, she surveyed the expansive castle beneath.

It didn't take her long to spot her quarry.

Ginny was racing across the roof in her training outfit, dodging chimneys and windows, and vaulting over the railings of balconies. Luna was trickier to spot. It took Sunset a few moments to realize that she had taken her pony form and was gliding over the rooftops, carefully watching Ginny and using shadow magic to conceal her presence.

With a smirk, Sunset teleported back down to the dorm and switched into her own exercise clothing, now colored black, gray, red and gold to match the colors of both Hogwarts' uniforms and of house Gryffindor. Once she had stowed her wand in the pocket designed for it and stored her bag safely in her trunk, she snapped her fingers again and returned to the top of the tower.

It only took her a moment to spot Ginny and Luna again. A quick snap of her fingers applied some magic designed to mimic that of earth ponies, amplifying her speed and agility far beyond normal human capabilities. She would need it to catch up. Keeping an eye on her two friends, she jumped off the tower and onto the adjacent roof, heedless of the fact that it was a distance of twenty yards lower.

Between the natural endurance all ponies seemed to share, the added protection of the replicated earth pony magic, the enchantments on her clothing and her expertly executed roll, she barely felt the impact and immediately moved to run along the roof, using a quick spell to tilt gravity for herself, so she wouldn't need to adjust for the slope of the roof, a spell she had taught all of those who practiced Parkour with her.

Dashing along the rooftops at superhuman speeds, it didn't take her long to reach her two friends, dodging chimneys and windows along the way, just as Ginny did. Once she caught up with them, she gave them both a smirk and, making a quick adjustment to her gravity spell, ran up the wall of a nearby tower and jumped off the top of it, dismissing her spell mid-fall to return gravity to normal and land safely atop the tower.

With a smirk Ginny followed her example, landing almost as easily. "You're gonna have to teach us those amplification spells at some point, those are just way to useful."

Sunset chuckled as Luna silently landed on the roof beside them, the shadow magic falling off of her as she returned to human form. "All in due time. Those are trickier to learn." She looked over the two. "I see you went to look for a place to practice. Good thinking."

While Ginny was wearing her exercise clothing, Luna was in her school robes. Sunset furrowed her brow a little upon seeing that. "We're gonna have to get you some exercise clothes too, aren't we?"

Ginny nodded. "Probably. Anyway? What did the nurse want from you?"

"To teach her the spell I used on Emma and Dan. They want to go for curing squibs first. Maybe then the purebloods won't have a complete meltdown."

"Maybe. The old pureblood families all have a few squibs among them. They'd pay good money for a way to correct that. And what are the others up to?"

Sunset smirked. "Reading. Most of them are in the common room and Hermione is looking for the library."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course she is."

Luna smiled serenely. "You know, I'm surprised it took her this long."

All three of them shared a round of giggles. Finally Ginny looked over to Sunset with a thoughtful expression. "You know, I've been wondering how it feels to have those enhancement spells running."

Sunset met her gaze and smirked. "I can show you." She drew her wand touched its tip against Ginny's arm.

Ginny could feel her strength increase. For a moment she didn't entirely understand why it felt like it did when she was flying, why she had that same feeling of weightlessness, then she realized that this added strength simply made it easier to resist the force of gravity. With a manic smile, she raced off for another round across the rooftops, marveling at how much easier it suddenly was. Her new strength and speed took some getting used to, but it was definitely worth it.

Sunset and Luna stood at the edge of the tower and watched as Ginny raced over the rooftops. "You know," Luna quietly spoke up, "with your experience you two might actually be evenly matched." As she watched, a grin spread across Sunset's face. "Should I be worried?"

"Don't worry Luna, all will be well." Sunset drew her wand.

In a flash of teal, Ginny appeared back beside them, held aloft in Sunset's levitation. "Whoa! Sunset! What was that for?"

"Well I had to catch you somehow."

"Why?"

"Luna had an interesting idea. How about we have a race? First back to Gryffindor Tower wins?"

"Oh you are on!" With a wild giggle, Ginny shot off the top of the tower, landing on the roof below a good distance away. She didn't seem to notice that she was running in the wrong direction.

Sunset smirked and raced off in the other direction, flipping gravity to run down the tower. A whistle from her drew Ginny's attention and prompted her to turn around once she realized her mistake. Soon, both of them were racing across the rooftops, back to their house tower.

Luna quitely sighed. "I guess I should be worried then. Oh well." She shifted back into her equine form and once more shrouded herself in shadow. Then she leapt off the tower herself and soared into the sky, trailing her friends from above and regarding their race with a watchful eye.

41 - Airborne

Chapter Forty-One

Airborne

Where Saturday morning had been used to explore the castle, the group had set Sunday aside to explore the grounds. After all, Hogwarts was in the Scottish Highlands and it was only a matter of time before winter came and turned the castle grounds into an unnavigable mess of snow and ice. As such, they wanted to see all they could of the school grounds while they still had the chance.

The castle could wait.

Between skirting the edge of the Forbidden Forest, gazing deeper inside, exploring the Quidditch Pitch and the stands surrounding it and taking an extended break at the lake, their exploration of the grounds took them all day, only interrupted for lunch.

After dinner, they returned to the common room to find a notice posted there.

First years of house Gryffindor will have
Flying Lessons with Madam Hooch for
late afternoon classes on Thursdays starting
on September 12. The first years of house
Slytherin will be joining them. The Lessons
will take place on the practice field beside
the Quidditch Pitch. Please be sure to wear
appropriate clothing.

"Well," Harry chuckled. "Malfoy has been bragging about his flying skills ever since we got here. We'll see what he can actually do."

Sunset couldn't hide her smirk. "Well, his tales can't be true, given how often he supposedly escaped from muggles in helicopters. Even his father couldn't bail him out after breaching the Statute of Secrecy that often."

"That's a good point actually," Dean chimed in, "not to mention that he clearly has no idea how helicopters actually work."

"Well," Neville started, "wizards don't usually know much about how muggle technology works."

"They're missing out then." Harry sat down on one of the couches throughout the room. "Mr. Weasley didn't even know how aeroplanes work until I told him. And that's not even technology that's just physics."

The week passed quickly. Herbology was slowly getting more interesting as they were now getting into the more complex parts of plant care. It was staggering how many magical plants had special requirements for when and how they could be sown, trimmed or potted.

In Charms, Professor Flitwick introduced them to the next of the basic charms, the mending charm 'Reparo', followed on Thursday by its opposite, the cutting charm 'Secaris'. By Thursday, he stopped being surprised by most of the Gryffindors managing the charms on the first try.

Transfiguration on Tuesday, gave the students that had yet to manage transfiguring a match into a needle another chance to do so. Those that had managed it already were given small pieces of wood and the task to turn them into pin cushions as a bonus exercise. On Thursday, to up the difficulty a bit, they were once again given matches, but this time their task was to turn them into a piece of cutlery of their choice. The trick was that, while a needle was about the same size as a match, a knife, fork or spoon was much larger. Additionally, those who weren't quite confident in their abilities, could make their work easier by trying for a cake fork or teaspoon first.

History of Magic was predictably boring, but in Defense Against the Dark Arts, to everyone's surprise, Professor Quirrell actually managed to teach them something. Specifically, he taught them a spell called 'Salvio Hexia', a protective spell against basic hexes.

Sunset still couldn't figure out what kind of dark magic was surrounding the professor. That it seemed to be slowly growing stronger only served to exacerbate her worry and frustration. Still, she was quickly cutting down on the list of things it might potentially be and estimated that it would only take her a few more weeks at most before she had at least a basic idea of what it was.

In Astronomy, Allison guided them through looking at Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, all of them relatively close to the western horizon. It was, according to Professor Sinistra, a relatively bad time to watch planets, as most of them weren't currently visible in the night sky. Mars and Jupiter were more or less on the opposite side of the sun from earth and Venus was between the Earth and the Sun and thus not visible at this time of night. They'd have a special lesson to watch it at five in the morning some time in early December.

Finally, after their Thursday afternoon lesson of Herbology, the Gryffindor First years made their way to the practice field beside the Quidditch Pitch, where twenty-three brooms in two neat rows of eleven and twelve were already waiting for them along with the Slytherin First years, stood in a loose group next to the longer row.

They formed their own loose group next to the shorter row and waited for their teacher to arrive. They didn't have to wait long. Madam Hooch, Sunset realized, was the woman with yellow eyes and gray hair she had seen at the head table during the feast for the start of term.

"What are you all waiting for? Everyone stand next to a broom stick. Come on, hurry up."

They quickly lined up so each stood next to a broomstick. They clearly weren't in the best condition, with twigs sticking out at odd angles and scratches all along them.

"Stick out your right hand over the broom, and say 'Up!'."

"Up!" everyone said in response. Some, mostly those inexperienced with brooms shouted the word, but Sunset, Hermione, Luna and the Weasleys simply spoke it as a calm command. It was hardly surprising that Harry, Luna, Ron and Ginny immediately had their brooms jump into their hands. Sunset and Hermione and Seamus also quickly grabbed theirs as they jumped up, though without quite so much enthusiasm.

Dean's, Lavender's and Pavati's brooms only turned around on the floor or did a lazy hop, and Neville's didn't move at all. He had been telling them all week that he really didn't want to fly and that his Grandmother had never let him near a broom. Not entirely unreasonable, considering how clumsy he was at times, even with both feet safely on the ground, but Sunset knew of several pegasi that were like that on the ground, yet had unparalleled grace and elegance in the air.

Madam Hooch showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end and then walked up and down both rows, inspecting and correcting their grip and stance. Harry, Hermione, Luna, Sunset and the Weasleys got by without comment, but they had to struggle to stifle their laughter when she told Malfoy that he had been doing it wrong all these years.

Finally, Madam Hooch returned to her position at the end of the rows. "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning slightly forward. On my whistle. Three. Two."

Sunset saw Neville beside quavering slightly from nerves and placed a calming hand on his shoulder, glad to see him relax a little.

"One." A shrill whistle cut through the air and twenty-three brooms flew up into the air. Sunset was dismayed to see that while Neville did push of with everyone else, he had pushed off much too hard and rushed higher up than everyone else. His hands, slippery from nervous sweat couldn't hold onto his broom and he fell to the ground with a startled scream.

He impacted the ground with a loud 'WHAM' and a nasty crack. Sunset, having seen him slip and started to descend, jumped off her broom several yards up in the air, landing with a practiced roll, and raced over at the same time as Madam Hooch. Hermione watched worriedly as she absently pointed her hand at the two vacant brooms and pulled them to her so they wouldn't drift away.

Sunset and Hooch reached Neville at the same time. The teacher went to examine him with a practiced eye, while Sunset drew her wand to cast a quick diagnostic charm. Both came to the same conclusion at the same time.

"Broken wrist."

Looking over to see who else had spoken, Madam Hooch saw Sunset. The girl tapped her wand to Neville's right forearm and his pained grimace vanished into an expression of confusion. "There. That'll mute the pain, but I'm not familiar enough with human physiology for a healing spell."

"Human physiology?" After a moment the teacher's face lit up with recognition. "Right, right, Minerva mentioned that." She turned to Neville. "Come along, boy, we'll get you to the medical wing." She turned to the rest of the class. "Come down! All of you."

Once they had landed, she continued. "Put the brooms on the ground and leave them there or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch." As she turned around, they heard her quietly speak to Neville. "Come along, dear. And be careful with that arm, with the pain deadened you won't feel if you're doing worse damage to it."

As Sunset turned back to the rest of the Gryffindors, standing in a group, quietly talking, she stowed her wand back in its pocket. She thought she saw something glinting in the grass, but dismissed the thought.

Sitting in a pair of comfortable armchairs next to the window, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape watched their first-years inaugural flying lessons, as they did every year.

The Head of House Gryffindor winced in sympathy as Mr. Longbottom fell from his broom and fell hard to the floor, but trusted Rolanda to address the situation. Unlike Severus, she had seen Miss Shimmer's Parkour skills before so she wasn't entirely surprised to see the girl jump of her broom in mid-air.

Still, she was a bit startled, so she couldn't fully enjoy Severus' gasp of shock when she expertly rolled and broke into a run to reach Mr. Longbottom.

They watched as Miss Shimmer drew her wand and did something. They couldn't identify the spell from this distance, but they could see that Mr. Longbottom was no longer curled up in pain. Seeing how Rolanda walked off with Mr. Longbottom a few moments later, they surmised that she hadn't simply healed him, or that, if she had, Rolanda thought it better to get a second opinion.

They didn't hear the teacher's warning, but her gestures and expression made it easy to understand her warning to the students. While the Gryffindors huddled into a group, Mr. Malfoy sauntered innocently over to where Mr. Longbottom had fallen. He leaned down and picked something out from the lawn.

Neither of the two noticed the other raising an eyebrow, so neither of them realized how well they were mirroring each other. They both knew what was going on. Seeing Mr. Malfoy taunting the Gryffindors before jumping onto his broom and flying off elicited a sigh from Severus. Seeing Mr. Potter take off after him got a matching sigh from Minerva.

Looking at each other, they nodded and made their way to the nearest door to the grounds. The two students were still in the air as they approached. Suddenly, Mr. Malfoy threw the item he had picked up high up into the air and went into a dive, returning to the ground. Mr. Potter, meanwhile was following the item with his eyes and, the moment it passed him, dove after it. Moments before hitting the ground, he grabbed it and pulled out of the dive, landing gently on the ground.

With a glance, she told Severus to wait and marched up to the group.

Sunset watched with mild worry as Professor McGonagall led Harry away, she was pretty sure they wouldn't actually kick Harry out, but she couldn't be sure.

"Mister Malfoy!"

Just like before, all students turned around to face the speaker. It was Professor Snape. Glancing to the side, Sunset could see Malfoy sweating.

"Rolanda likes to speak in hyperbole, but don't think I will let a member of my house ignore a direct command from a teacher without punishment. Follow me."

They watched Snape lead Malfoy back to the castle. None of the Slytherins daring to speak out in his defense. Only minutes later, Madam Hooch returned. "Well, looks like we have a few extra brooms." With a wave of her wand she returned the three vacant brooms to a shed not far from the field. "Now, let's try that again."

When the group met back up with Harry in the common room, he seemed excited for some reason. "She told me to join the Quidditch team as Seeker. She introduced me to Wood."

When several of them shot him skeptical glances, he rolled his eyes. "Oliver Wood. The team captain. He told me I was ideal for a seeker. He did ask some questions about my eyes though."

"Did he now?"

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Oliver turned around, confused what his Head of House might want. When Professor Flitwick nodded kindly, he got up and followed the Professor along the corridor, looking at the first-year walking beside him with interest.

Of course he recognized Harry Potter. Who wouldn't? The boy was famous up and down the land, and the electric blue stripes in his hair weren't exactly easy to miss. But what did he have to do with him? After a few moments of walking, he remembered something. Weren't the first-year flying lessons happening around this time. She couldn't be thinking what he thought she might be thinking, could she?

"In here." McGonagall had led them to an unused classroom. Massive as the school was, it had those in obscene numbers. As such, it was all the more surprising that this very classroom wasn't entirely empty. "Out, Peeves!"

Once the nuisance was dealt with, McGonagall turned to them. "Potter, this is Oliver Wood – Wood, I've found you a seeker."

Turns out she could be thinking what he thought she might be thinking. "Are you serious, professor?"

"Absolutely." McGonagall's face was stern, but after four years at the school, Oliver had learned to see something other than what she wanted people to see, as such he could see a glimmer of pride in her eyes. "The boy's a natural, I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"

"No. I've used them a few times while I was staying at the Weasleys', but while on holiday it was easier to just use my wings."

Oliver looked at the boy in utter puzzlement.

"Wings, Mister Potter?"

"Yes professor, I became a pegasus when we went to Equestria." Without another word, the boy shrunk into a tiny horse with deep purple coat, mane and tail of scraggly black hair with two stripes of electric blue each, much like his hair in his human form, large, expressive emerald green eyes and, most importantly, a pair of long, sleek wings, like those of an eagle. One of the other first-years commonly carrying an eagle around on her shoulder made the comparison an easy one.

"I see. I really wish Arthur and Molly would have told me about this. Animagi need to be registered, you know? I've made sure to register Miss Shimmer. After our visit I also registered Miss Granger, but I wasn't aware of any others. Who else?"

"All the other Weasleys, Hermione's parents and Luna's father laid the groundwork, but I'm not sure who else has actually transformed yet. I know Ginny and Luna can do it and I'm pretty sure Fred and George got too distracted to do it yet. But assuming they don't forget about it it's only a matter of time before all of them can do it."

McGonagall sighed. "I'll have to write them. Your verdict, Mister Wood?"

Wood looked over the little horse before him. "Can he participate like that?"

"Not for the time being, no."

"In that case, could you turn back, Potter?" The boy did so. "Good stature for a seeker. Sleek, fast. We'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor. A Nimbus Two-Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say. But if he's as skilled as you say ..."

"He is."

"Then I'd say we're sure to win the Quidditch Cup this year."

"See to it that you do. I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend that first-year rule a little. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few letters to write."

Once the Professor was gone, Oliver turned back to the boy. "So, what's with those eyes?"

"Means that I'm a raptor. A subtribe of pegasi with magically enhanced eyesight. Supposedly I can zoom with these, but I'm still trying to figure out how. That's also why I don't wear glasses anymore."

Oliver was already thinking about training this boy into a Star Seeker, barely managing not to drool at the idea. "So you have magically self-correcting eyesight. Neat. Anything else?"

"Well, I can see something that's two kilometers away as well as you can see something that's two meters away."

"How far?"

"Right, wizards still use the imperial system, I forgot. About one-and-a-half miles and about two yards."

Oliver was actually drooling now.

42 - Following the Lines

Chapter Forty-Two

Following the Lines

The first rays of the morning sun poking in through the window woke Emma Granger from her slumber. Yes, she had been right to think that Sunset would change her life in a number of ways. Bringing magic to the table had been expected. Turning her into a morning person defied her understanding to this day. Still, she got up and got herself ready for the day.

Coming into the kitchen, she saw another sight that would have utterly confused her half a year earlier. Now an owl pecking against the window, wanting to be let in was only another reminder of the secretive magical community she had become a part of. Still, joy lit up her heart as a cerise glow formed first on her hand, then on the handle of the window across the room, twisting it and pulling the aperture open for her avian guest.

The bird flapped its wings once to take off from the window sill and landed on her offered arm after a silent glide across the room. She silently marveled at the level of control she could exert with her magic as she untied the message from the owl's leg. She recognized the seal in deep purple wax as the one on the girls' letters of acceptance.

With slight worry she opened the letter, pulling out a single sheet of parchment. Unfolding it in her magic and levitating it beside her as she began to make coffee. She looked over the letter. Before even reading it, some of her concerns were starting to fall away. The girls, it seemed, hadn't gotten into trouble, the letter simply didn't look formal enough for that.

Once she had poured the boiling water into the filter, she began to read the venomous green letters, idly shaking her head at the wizards' preference for outlandish colors.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Granger,

it has, purely by chance, come to my attention
earlier this evening that the both of you may
have attained, or are on the verge of attaining,
an ability known in the wizarding community
as the animagus. I thus feel that it is my duty
to inform you that all animagi are legally
required to be registered by the Ministry of
Magic. There is a one-year period to file the
necessary paperwork for adults newly attaining
the ability. I have been given to understand that
this was not the case for either of you, or those
who attained the ability alongside you, but
gaining an animagus is, generally speaking, a
dangerous and extremely difficult feat of magic.
As such, the ability is also exceedingly rare as,
while most wizards could attain the ability, very
few bother to put in the necessary effort. As such,
until I filed the paperwork for Ms. Shimmer and
later your own daughter, there were only seven
animagi registered in this century.

I have attached the necessary paperwork (in
shrunken form) to this letter. Please fill it in at
your earliest convenience. As I realize that you
may have trouble reaching the ministry to file
the documents, I will be visiting on Sunday to
take you there.

Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall

Emma looked over the letter again and found a bundle of smaller papers deeper in the envelope. Grateful that she had been taught several of the basic utilities from both worlds, she tapped the papers with her wand. "Finite." The stack of papers on the table grew into a sizable block of documents the moment she spoke the word. "Oh dear. This will take a while, won't it?"

Deciding that it could wait until after breakfast, she took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee and proceeded with preparing the meal.

Sunset hummed in contemplation as she thought back to dinner the previous evening. Malfoy had come by their table, obviously and wrongfully assuming that Harry had been kicked out of the school. What exactly had driven him to that assumption after getting away without such punishment for the very same offense was beyond her, but she decided she had better things to do than question his judgment.

His challenge to a duel at midnight had been soundly dismantled by Hermione. "Really? Neither of you know enough magic to even disarm, far less do anything worse. A duel at this point would be guaranteed to tie. Not much point to having a duel with a foregone conclusion, is there?" It had been clear that Malfoy had tried to find something to say in response, but come up empty.

Sunset would have to find an opportunity to apologize to him soon. Considering that, she had realized that she would need to be able to actually find him and, as such, placed weak tracking charms on him and his two 'bodyguards'.

When they arrived for their potions lesson, he had still been fuming. That Professor Snape had kept shooting him warning gazes only added to her housemates' silent amusement. Again, Dean and Seamus narrowly avoided a potion-based disaster courtesy of Neville.

When they left the classroom an hour later, Neville was close to tears. "I just keep forgetting things and making mistakes. And Snape isn't helping. He makes me nervous."

Trying to think of a solution, Sunset recalled a mental technique she had learned years before. "Try taking the recipe and visualizing it as a checklist, your memory isn't photographic yet, but it's good practice until then. Then just work through it step by step."

It was a mental technique she had been taught by the princess after she had used the memory spell on herself. To this day she remembered the lecture she had gotten for that. The spell, it seemed, was not designed to be used on the caster. Still, Sunset got a small amount of vindication from knowing that the princess was also the first to cast the spell on herself. Admittedly, at the time she hadn't known just how painful the spell would be, but she had still cast an untested spell on herself.

Still, after the lecture, the princess had been genuinely comforting and taught her this mental trick to go along with the photographic memory so she could use its full potential. It only felt right to teach it to her friends in turn.

With Saturday came her first cross dimensional spellwork session with Professor Flitwick. After asking about the Proteus Charm the headmaster had mentioned and how it compared to the journals she had enchanted to stay in contact with Harry, their conversation quickly turned to that.

Sunset very much enjoyed the work. This was the most complicated charm of Earthen origin she had seen thus far. Seeing the wizards' take on more advanced magical concepts was every bit as interesting as she had expected. Once they had gone over the Proteus Charm, Sunset went over the Equestrian Mimic Charm with the professor, then they went to compare the two.

Both spells had some very clever bits of spellcraft in them, though the Equestrian version arguably had a few more. Amazingly, there was rather little overlap. Finally, with their minds and expertise combined they managed to create a new spell that combined the solutions from both, achieving the same effect as them while being easier to cast than either. A first estimate from Flitwick placed it as a fourth, maybe fifth-year charm, both the Proteus and Mimic Charms had been sixth-year charms at least.

It was now time. She had just left Professor Flitwick's office and it would be another hour and a half or so before dinner started. Her tracking charms showed her that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were out on the grounds east of the castle.

Looking out of a window on that side, she managed to spot them after a moment. In the interest of time, she forewent using one of the exterior doors in favor of simply teleporting into the shadow of the castle.

She made sure that there was no flash of light to give away her teleport. Having seen the usual reaction of 'You can apparate?' several times now, she figured that it would be wiser to keep that ability hidden among the students that didn't already know.

When she reappeared on the grounds, she took a moment to refocus and walked off in Malfoy's direction. It didn't take her long to reach him.

He and his two associates were walking parallel to the castle walls, headed in the direction of the main entrance. As such, it was easy to head them off.

"Draco Malfoy?"

The three boys turned around upon hearing her call. Clearly the most perceptive of the trio, Malfoy was the first to spot her. "What do you want?"

"To apologize."

Clearly that wasn't what any of them had been expecting. "Pardon?"

"For what I did and said on the train. I cut you off when you introduced yourself, that was impolite. And while most of the rest of what I said was meant as honest advice, the Sorting Hat let me know that you didn't take it that way. I was being serious, but I could have worded it better. For that, I apologize. I meant no offense."

"And you expect me to just forgive you?"

"I don't really expect anything. I simply felt this was the right thing to do." She focused her gaze on Crabbe and Goyle next. "And I also meant what I said to you. You need to learn to use your strength properly. If you want any pointers, let me know." Quietly, she added, "Celestia knows I'm getting out of practice."

Once more, she looked at all three of them. "That is all I meant to tell you. Have a nice evening."

As she turned around and walked off, she didn't see the three boys following her with her eyes. Malfoy's expression was one of well masked surprise, Goyle's was one of entirely unmasked surprise. Crabbe, however, had a thoughtful expression he hurried to hide when Malfoy motioned for him and Goyle to follow and walked off towards the main gate.

Sunday, finally, gave the group another chance to explore the castle and all it's nooks and crannies. Between the aura sight charms Sunset and Hermione kept up more or less all the time and Harry's impeccable vision, they found no less than thirty-seven secret passages crisscrossing through the castle. If nothing else came from it, their exploration would at least allow them a much easier time moving around the castle.

Several times they came across enchanted statues that Sunset would swear had more enchantments than the basic ones that animated them, but she was never quite able to find out exactly what they did. When they returned to the common room after dinner, Sunset saw something out of the corner of her eye that attracted her attention. After taking a closer look, she considered the situation for a while. If her suspicions were correct, she couldn't risk acting on them now. I'll have to ask Ron a few questions tomorrow.

Emma and Dan had taken the better part of Saturday to fill out the paperwork. Still, they had managed and were now ready for McGonagall to come by and take them to the Ministry.

The ringing of the doorbell interrupted them in their casual conversation about the practice.

Speak of the devil, there she was.

Emma made her way to the door and let the professor in, inviting her to the kitchen.

"I take it you have completed the paperwork?" When they nodded, McGonagall made her way to the table to look at the two stacks of documents. "Good. Then we should go. Are you both ready?"

When they nodded their affirmative and picked up a stack each, she drew her wand and they vanished in a flash of pale blue, reappearing in the wooden tiled halls of the Ministry of Magic.

Emma turned to McGonagall. "Was that this 'apparition' you wizards use?"

McGonagall shook her head. "No, that was an Equestrian spell. Miss Shimmer translated a book on the topic for the headmaster last week. It's been making the rounds among the faculty ever since. I've only managed the long-range variant yesterday, so I thought the practice would do me good."

Dan chuckled. "That would explain why it didn't feel any different."

"Yes. I assure you that apparition is quite a lot less pleasant. Now come, we are here for a reason."

She led them to a security kiosk set into the wall where all three of their wands were weighed, then guided them to one of the lifts. Emma and Dan both noticed that muggles and Equestrians alike were much better than wizards at building lifts. The clattering vehicle wasn't exactly subtle. After leaving the lift on the second floor, they followed the teacher down a long corridor and around a corner into a large hall. At a counter near the door they spotted a familiar pair of wizards.

"Arthur. Xenophilius. I take it you're here to get registered as well?"

"Minerva! Yes. We are. I have actually only managed it myself yesterday, but Ginny did it weeks ago and out of the boys, last I heard, only Bill, Percy, Fred and George haven't yet. Molly is also still working on it, but the house keeps her rather busy. Thank you for reminding us, I'd forgotten all about it."

"My pleasure, Arthur."

After a few minutes' wait the small group stepped up to the counter. "Minerva," the clerk chuckled, "registering more animagi?"

Pulling her own stack of papers from a pocket, McGonagall nodded. "I only have one this time, but my companions have a few more."

One by one, the Grangers, Mr. Lovegood and Mr. Weasley placed their own stacks of paperwork down. The first two only had one each, like McGonagall, but Xenofilius had two and Arthur had three.

Looking at the stacks before her the clerk sighed quietly. "Alright. I'll get these filed. I'll get you your receipts in a few minutes. As she made her way deeper into the archives the group spent the time talking in the quiet lobby.

"Well Minerva, how have the children been doing?"

"They've been doing quite well so far. Miss Shimmer is doing fantastically, of course, but the rest are keeping up impressively well. They also seem to have integrated the rest of the Gryffindor first-years into their group pretty quickly."

"That's probably Sunset's influence," Arthur pointed out. "These ponies have a pretty strong herd mentality from what I could tell. I don't think they'll let any of them fall behind."

"If so I'd be glad. That would just be one less worry for me. I've also recruited Mister Potter into the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a seeker."

"From what Sunset and the Princess said," Xenofilius fell in, "that sounds like the perfect fit for a raptor like him."

"A what?"

"A raptor. Apparently a subtype of pegasus with magically enhanced eyesight and wings optimized for long glides and rapid dives. Like a bird of prey, basically."

Emma chuckled. "Supposedly their eyes can zoom."

"Say Minerva, how did you get around the rule against first years owning brooms."

McGonagall smirked. "Quite simple, really. We added an exception into the rule, stating that a first year may own a broom should they be chosen to play for one of the house teams."

"Clever."

"Isn't it just? Anyways." She turned to the Grangers. "How is wizarding life treating you?"

"Really?" Emma groaned quietly. "Does everyone know that now?"

"No actually, Professor Dumbledore only told the senior faculty after Mr. Ollivander informed him. We think it best to keep this quiet for the time being. We want to first establish that the technique works on squibs before going on to muggles. We're hoping that might prevent the pureblood faction from throwing a fit."

"An admirable goal," Xenofilius pointed out drily. "Though I find its chances of success to be dubious at best. The treatment basically shoots the very idea of blood status to the moon."

"Be that as it may, I believe we've gotten off topic."

"Oh right." Dan shook his head to get back on track. "It's been going quite well so far, though, to be fair, we haven't exactly had much exposure since the kids went off to Hogwarts."

"You have a point. I guess you don't even have an owl, do you?"

The two shared a look, then turned to Mr. Weasley, shaking their heads.

"Well, I happen to have a few hours to spare," Mr. Lovegood spoke up from beside them. "I can take you to the Alley to get one, if you want."

"Thank you. That would be very nice of you."

"Oh, it's no big deal. Like I said, I have the time."

Not long after, the clerk returned and gave them their receipts. Back in the atrium, the group split up. Professor McGonagall and Mr. Weasley returned to Hogwarts and the Burrow respectively via the floo network while Mr. Lovegood led the way to the leaky cauldron.

Later that day, Emma and Dan would learn that McGonagall's description of apparition as 'less pleasant' had been very charitable indeed.

43 - Suspicion

Chapter Forty-Three

Suspicion

When the Transfiguration professor of Hogwarts first arrived at the desk before her, Silvia Anderson had only recognized her by description. The fact that she, unlike most British wizards, had never been to Hogwarts, was due to the fact that her parents, a half-blood and a muggleborn, had seen certain signs in the wizarding world that they knew all too well from the world of the muggles.

Thus, before the Wizarding War started in earnest, her family had moved and was living in America, successfully evading the death eaters. She had gotten her magical education at Ilvermorny and lived in the US for several years after the war was over before finally deciding to return to the land of her birth.

Still, when Professor McGonagall returned to her counter for the third time in only a few weeks, Silvia did recognize her. The paperwork she and her companions submitted was no less unusual together with the ones she had submitted over the past weeks, those listed on these documents almost tripled the number of animagi registered in this century. In fact, she happened to know that those registered now were more than had been previously registered in this century by the British Ministry of Magic and the MACUSA combined.

Usually such things weren't anything she would concern herself with, but unusual events such as these aroused her suspicion. As such, when her guests were gone, she made her way back to the archives to check back on what she had filed there.

Previously, she had only checked the names on the paperwork and used a spell to check its validity. Combined with the self updating database, they would know if anything wasn't in order. The only reason animagus registration wasn't automatically covered by the database was that the normal files for every witch and wizard didn't contain the necessary papers for that.

Still, she remembered every name she filed and decided to go for the largest sample she could, as such she headed for the first of the filing cabinets covering the letter 'W'. Moments later and with a bit of quiet grumbling she closed it back up and went to the second one instead, finding the correct files soon enough. Those of the Weasley family.

The first file she found, going through them alphabetically as she was, was that of Arthur Weasley. Everything seemed in order as she read through the file, until she reached the animagus details. She hadn't expected that, of all things, to be the unusual part, but then again, she might be forgiven for not expecting the field titled 'animagus form' to read 'unicorn'.

That the more in depth description mentioned a pale blue coat and red mane only served to confuse her further. Any unicorn she had ever heard of, was pure white in coat and mane. Adult ones at least. But even the gold and later silver of foals and juveniles came nowhere close to the described colors.

The line reading 'Cutie-Mark of a wand threaded through a gear' was just the cherry on top. What on earth was a Cutie-Mark supposed to be. What kind of word even was that?

She would be willing to dismiss the file as a hoax had she not personally cast the charm that linked it up to the self-updating database and prevented that very thing.

Thoroughly confused, she moved onto the next relevant file she found, Ginnevra Weasley. Again, everything seemed to be in order until the 'animagus form' category read 'pegasus'.

And so it continued. For over half an hour, she checked file after file, each checked out save for the incongruities in the 'animagus form' and 'identifying details' sections. One by one she added to the list, coming to a total of one unicorn, five pegasi, one of them with the annotation'(Raptor)', and two thestrals, another magical creature not at all matching typical description.

Finally, she arrived at the last two files she intended to check. Granger, Daniel and Granger, Emma. Here, again, she found two more unicorn animagi, but she also found further incongruities. She had seen the two at the counter. They were clearly adults. The files confirmed that. Yet the files also stated that they had been created on the thirty-first of August of this very year and even at the same time, only minutes apart. That alone would be surprising, but not entirely implausible, until one considered that the files also stated that they were not only currently living in, but had also been born in Britain to British parents. The files should have been created upon their births.

They were clearly a wizard and a witch. Their parents, as stated in the file, were muggles, but that was nothing unusual. The self-updating database not creating their files upon their birth, however, was. In fact, it was more than unusual. It was unheard-of.

There clearly was more going on here than a few nonsensical animagus forms. She wasn't certain how any of this was possible, but she would find out. She would have to tell her friends about this.

At breakfast on Monday, Sunset intentionally positioned herself next to Ron. She needed to talk to him. When they had left the common room, she had intentionally gone last, making sure that Ron's pet rat remained there.

"Say, Ron, how long have you had Scabbers?"

Ron looked at her with some surprise. "I just got him this year. He was Percy's pet before, but when he got Hermes ... well ... owls and rats don't mix too well, so I got Scabbers instead. Why?"

"And when did Percy get Scabbers?"

Ron looked to the side, scratching his chin in thought. "I don't know actually. You'll have to ask him. Must've been years though. But again, why?"

Sunset stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Since we came to Hogwarts, I've seen a few things that weren't what they appear to be. I suspect Scabbers might be one of them. I'll have to talk to Percy, maybe do some research as well."

Ron looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean 'not what he seems'? What do you think he is?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll let you know if I find out."

Their morning classes passed quickly. Seeing how they were learning quite a few spells at this point, Professor Flitwick saw fit to teach them a rather universal, if basic, counter spell, 'Finite'.

After that, their lessons on basic plant care as it applied to magical plants continued in the morning's Herbology class.

Finally, the students reconvened in the Great Hall for lunch. Seeing Percy already seated and an unoccupied seat directly across from him, Sunset made a beeline for the latter. She wondered for a moment how she would strike up a conversation with the prefect. Luckily, he solved that problem for her.

"Sunset! How do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"Oh, it's great. I know a lot of the things lessons go over already, of course, but that doesn't really stop me from enjoying them. Well, outside of History of magic of course, but I guess that's a given."

Percy chuckled a little. "I suppose it is. Defense Against the Dark Arts is also usually more interesting. I really hope we get a better teacher next time."

Sunset looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? How do you know he won't stay?"

"Right, I guess you probably don't know that. Hogwarts: A History doesn't mention that. For decades now, this school has never managed to keep a D.A.D.A. teacher for more than a year. There are rumors that the position is cursed."

Sunset's eyes widened slightly. Could this be the dark magic she had been detecting? She had checked if Quirrell was cursed, of course, but if the curse was simply projected onto him from elsewhere? If it wasn't him that was cursed, but something as abstract as his job? She hadn't considered that option.

She would continue her scan for the Defense lesson after lunch as planned, she didn't have time to prepare a new one, but if that one didn't turn up anything either, she would have to investigate this lead.

"But anyways, how do you like Hogwarts beyond the lessons?"

Percy's question brought her back from her thoughts. "Oh it's great. We've spent a few days already exploring the castle. Seriously, the amount of secret passages there are in this place ..."

"You're right on that. I don't know why the castle has so many secret passages. I guess it was meant as a fortress at some point, that accounts for the layout changing all the time, but is that amount of secret passages really necessary?"

"Intruders. Of course! That's why the castle changes its layout! Sweet Celestia, how didn't I see that?"

"Well, the castle hasn't needed to work in that role since muggle repelling charms were invented a few centuries ago. Any wizard that might attack has a good chance of having been a student here and knowing the way the layout changes anyway."

"I suppose that makes sense. Still I really should have realized that. It's basically military tactics one-oh-one. Anyway, Ron said that you had Scabbers before he did?"

"Uh, yes, why?"

"I suspect Scabbers might not be who he seems to be. When did you get him?"

Percy narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at her curiously. "I found him when I was seven and brought him into the family."

"Now I don't know how it works here, but in Equestria, at least, I'm pretty sure rats don't get that old. I'll go check later."

"Now that you mention it, I guess you're right. Do you think he might be an animagus?"

"Entirely possible. I'll read up on it later. If I find any more evidence, I'll ask Professor McGonagall. But if he is, he can understand what we say so we need to make sure he doesn't realize that we suspect anything, just in case."

"True, true. So no mentioning this in the common room then until we can confirm either way."

"My thoughts exactly."

Silvia Anderson sat in her chair at one of the tables outside Florean Fortescue's' Ice Cream Parlor. Beside her, was her childhood friend Erica. They had met on their first day at Ilvermorny and been friends ever since. When Silvia had returned to the land of her birth, Erica had followed with but a moment's hesitation. Erica's parents had both been muggles. After they had died in a car crash during her third year at Ilvermorny, she had had nothing keeping her in the States. As such, she came to Britain with her friend.

While Silvia had found work at the Ministry's Department of Records, Erica had always been good at magical craftsmanship and found work learning under Madam Malkin. She was one of only two whom Silvia felt comfortable sharing her suspicions with. The other hadn't arrived yet.

Monday was their day off, a recompense both of them got for being willing to work on Sundays. They often spent them together. The latest gossip from the Ministry or the Alley was always a top subject to discuss.

"Yoohoo, Girls!"

And there came the third member of their little group. Emily Winters. The witch was younger than her two friends and had lived in Britain all her life. She and Silvia had met through her work at the Daily Prophet where she was more or less solely responsible for any research in the Ministry Archives. Silvia had than introduced her and Erica.

"There you two are. Oh it's good to see you both. I need a bit of relaxation. Seriously, Skeeter is driving me mad. No sense of privacy at all. Good thing she's out in the field so often."

Silvia chuckled and pushed the third sundae sitting on the table over to the new arrival. "We took the liberty of ordering one for you. I know you don't have much time in your lunch breaks."

"You two are fantastic. Anything new?"

Silvia nodded. "Absolutely. You'll never believe what happened yesterday."

"Why? Did you register another animagus?"

"Oh, if it was just one."

"Wait, really? You know I was joking right?"

"I gathered. Doesn't change the fact that you're right though. I got to file eight new animagi yesterday. With the other two we've had recently we've had more in the last three months than Britain and the US got together this entire century. Mind you, the US has been slacking a little, they only got four, but still."

"Unbelievable."

"Absolutely. And that's not even the weirdest thing."

"You're kidding, right? What could be even weirder than that?"

"Only that two of them are an adult Witch and Wizard couple who have been born in Britain, yet their files are barely two weeks old."

"What, the files have the dates of birth wrong?"

"Oh, I wish. No. They have the dates of birth right, as far as I can tell. But that date doesn't match the date the file was created, and for any wizard or witch born in Britain to British parents, it should. So either the self-updating database is broken, or something seriously weird is going on."

"What are their names?"

"Emma and Daniel Granger."

"Wait. Hold on. Granger? Were they filed to have a daughter?"

"I think so. Why?"

"We've had a girl in the shop at the start of August getting her school robes. She was in with some friends. When she was asked if she was muggleborn, one of her friends answered, and I quote: 'We're working on that.' Tell me that's not suspicious."

"Wait are you saying the database didn't create files for them any sooner because they were No-Majs before?" Despite being raised in a British family, Silvia still often fell back into using American terminology. Calling muggles No-Majs was only one of her quirks that threatened to drive her co-workers insane.

"I don't know. It sounds impossible, but I've also never heard of a self-updating filing system failing like this."

"I guess you've got a point there. I'll check on that tomorrow."

Emily had been looking back and forth between her two friends for their entire conversation as though she were watching a tennis match. Now, however, she felt it right to add her own two knuts. "You go do that. I'll see if I can dig up anything on my end. And I'll let you know if the Prophet catches wind of anything weird."

Sunset was still frustrated at her persistent failures to divine the nature of the dark magic around Professor Quirrell. Still at least she had a lead to go on now, perhaps on Wednesday she'd know more. For now, however, she had more pressing matters to research.

Following Hermione's directions, she easily found the library. She could scarcely believe that she hadn't been here before, but her time at Hogwarts thus far had been so eventful she simply hadn't had the time to explore this place alone yet. And the chances of dragging the entire group to the library of all places were slim to say the least.

It took her a while to find a book on non-magical animals, but she managed. A quick check was all she needed to confirm that, indeed, regular house or garden rats rarely lived for more than two years. Just like in Equestria. Finding her suspicions progressively more likely, she began looking for a book on animagi.

It didn't take long to find what she was looking for in the 'Transfiguration' section of the library. She pulled an old edition of Animagus – Awaken Your Inner Animal from the shelves. The book was nearly twenty years old, but with how rare animagi were, she didn't suspect that there had been any significant advancements in the field since its publishing.

A check in the index led her to a short chapter titled 'How to Identify an Animagus'. Many of the stated traits would be difficult or impossible to manifest or find on a rat, but discrepancies in lifespan were among those mentioned. Still she thought of one more check she could perform. If the animagus, by chance, had achieved their alternate form at Hogwarts, there was a good chance that they may have used this book as a guide, perhaps extensively. Drawing her wand she cast a complicated scanning charm on the book, aiming to find magical signatures. She found many.

A quick look over her shoulder confirmed that the most prominent of them belonged to Madam Pince, the school librarian. But there were three more signatures that were far more prominent that the nearly hundred others. They were old and badly degraded as a result, but she was almost certain that one of them matched Scabbers.

With a quiet sigh, she brought the book to the counter to borrow it. Claiming that she was doing research. Not technically a lie. Carefully depositing the book in her bag, she made her way back to the Gryffindor tower.

She would talk to McGonagall after the Transfiguration lesson the following morning.

44 - Revelation

Chapter Forty-Four

Revelation

"Class dismissed."

Between the commotion that broke loose at Professor McGonagall's words, Sunset absently levitated her things back into her bag. She only gave Hermione a meaningful look and a slight tilt of the head in McGonagall's direction, but her sister understood and began shepherding the rest of the group off towards the next class. Leaving her behind.

Professor McGonagall turned, seeing that Sunset had approached her and that the room was empty otherwise. "Can I help you, Miss Shimmer?"

"I hope so, Professor. I have a question. A question about animagi to be exact."

Minerva tilted her head, looking at the girl with curiosity. "And what would that be?"

"Is it possible to recognize an animagus while they are in their transformed state? Is it possible to tell if an animal is actually a transformed animagus?"

Minerva looked Sunset, tilting her head slightly. "What brought this about? Do you know of an animal you suspect of being an animagus?"

"I do. Ron's pet rat, Scabbers."

"Mr. Weasley's rat? What has brought you to this conclusion?"

"I happened to have an aura sight charm up in the common room on Sunday evening, and I noticed that Scabbers had far more internal magic than a mundane rat has any right to."

McGonagall arched an eyebrow, thinking the matter over and watching the girl before her closely. "That is indeed suspicious. But if I am reading your expression correctly, that isn't all?"

"No professor, it isn't. I got suspicious, so I did some research and asked Ron and Percy about Scabbers. Percy brought him into the family after he found him when he was seven. And Scabbers was fully grown at the time. A normal rat rarely lives longer than two years. And when I read up on animagi, I learned that animagi will always keep the lifespan of a wizard, not adopt that of the animal."

Minerva thought about the matter. This was troubling. The evidence Ms. Shimmer was bringing forward was damning, and it's potential consequences were severe. Most troubling of all, this still didn't seem to be everything. With two fingers, she motioned for the girl to continue.

Ms. Shimmer opened her bag and fished a book from it. Animagus – Awaken Your Inner Animal. "I did my research with this. It's from the school library. I scanned it for magical imprints and found four that were exceptionally strong. The strongest of them matches Madam Pince, the other three are badly degraded, from age if I had to take a guess. Probably three people that frequently handled this book over a long period of time, years maybe."

McGonagall sat down behind her desk, she had a feeling that she knew what was coming. She was only waiting for the coin to drop. And she had a feeling she would want to be seated when it did.

"Adjusting for the degradation, one of the imprints is a near perfect match with Scabbers."

Minerva looked at the book and took it from Sunset's hands, she checked the index for the date of publishing. It was the next printing after the one she herself had used to attain her animagus. She only saw two viable courses of action, the first, and most obvious, she would only be able to take later in the day. The second she could, and would, take right now. "Miss Shimmer, what class will you have next?"

"History of Magic, Professor."

"Good, Professor Binns is unlikely to even notice your absence. Follow me." She got up from her chair, the book held in one hand as she left the room, turning into the fastest way she knew to the library. Irma Pince was by far not her favorite colleague, she was strict and not entirely likeable. But there was one thing she was known for among the faculty above anything else.

She kept immaculate records.

It only took them five minutes to reach the library. "Irma, I need to check your records on this book."

The librarian took one look at the book and wordlessly waved for the two new arrivals to follow her before stalking off into a side room. Like the library, the room was arrayed in rows, only made of filing cabinets instead of bookshelves. The letter, unsurprisingly, A wasn't far. After a few more steps, Madam Pince drew her wand, pulling open a drawer and calling a specific folder from it. The name of the book was written on the side.

They trailed behind her as she walked over to a table. "Here." Placing the folder on the table, she opened it and took a small stack of parchment from it. On them was a list of names, each associated with three dates. Professor and student alike quickly understood them to be lending date, due date and return date.

Approaching, Professor McGonagall pushed the first page out of the way, then the second. She took out the third page, then the fourth. There it was, over the span of three years, three names repeated with only a few others strewn in between: Potter, James; Black, Sirius and Pettigrew, Peter.

"You are certain that there were only four signatures of exceptional power, Miss Shimmer?"

"Absolutely. It's one of them."

"Well, that is odd. Supposedly one of these men is imprisoned and the other two are dead. We will have to get to the bottom of this. There is a certain way to check. Miss Shimmer, bring Mister Weasley and his 'rat' to my office after your final class today. We shall yet find the truth."

Without another word, Professor McGonagall left the library and went to find her class. Sunset returned the papers to the correct order and their place within the folder before leaving the backroom, handing the folder and the book back to Madam Pince. Then she, too, left the library.

Sunset led a confused and mildly nervous Ron, in turn carrying a very nervous and rather shivery Scabbers down the corridors to Professor McGonagall's office. She hadn't explained why the Transfiguration Professor wanted to see Ron. And he certainly had no idea what she wanted with Scabbers. The fact that Sunset kept a close eye on Scabbers, barely looking at Ron, and kept her magic at the ready as the faint glow of teal around her hands suggested confused Ron. Scabbers, too, was eyeing her hands nervously.

Before long, they reached the office and Sunset knocked. "Come in." As the door opened before them, Scabbers decided to make a break for it. He ran from Ron's hand up his arm and jumped from his shoulder to the floor. Or at least he intended to jump the floor, instead he was caught in mid air as the glow around Sunset's hand's surged.

Ron looked from the rat caught in a teal glow, to his fiery haired friend keeping it trapped and to the Professor getting up from behind her desk. "Do come in now. We have something important to check. With a calm wave from her glowing hand, Sunset made it clear that Ron should go ahead. As she followed behind, Scabbers floating to the center of the room and the door closing behind her in a teal glow, she nodded to Professor McGonagall.

Scabbers was turned to face McGonagall as she waved for the two students to stand beside her and drew her wand. "Don't worry, Mister Weasley, Miss Shimmer has made some observations that have led us to believe that your pet isn't what he appears to be. Should we be mistaken, this won't harm him. Homorphous."

At the final word, a beam of white and blue erupted from her wand, striking Scabbers in mid-air. A wave of magic pulsed from the rat, breaking Sunset's hold. In response she once more lit up her eyes with magic, watching carefully as the transformation slowly reversed.

The rat on the ground shuddered and began to grow like a tree, quickly gaining in height until it was towering over the two students, but still a head smaller than McGonagall. The shape resolved into a human man with a rat-like face. He was not pretty by any standard. And the wand he drew from his sleeve was pointed at McGonagall.

"Avada-"

Before she could hear the full incantation, Sunset's instincts took over. She had never heard this incantation before, but she felt the dark magic form in this wizard's wand. She paid no attention to the rest of the words as all her focus went into her magic. She didn't have time to draw a wand. Instead the teal glow around her hands shifted to pale gold and a barrier sprung up between her and the man, quickly extending outwards to enclose him.

It wasn't enough. The bolt of green light slipped by her light magic barrier at the last second.

Thankfully, McGonagall's wand was already drawn. A series of complicated motions had one of her cufflinks coming off and floating before her. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a hand mirror, only to be hit by the green light a split second later. Molten glass and silver dripped onto the floor from where the mirror had nearly been melted through. Still, it fulfilled its purpose and deflected the attack, sending it shooting off over her attacker's shoulder. This time, however, Sunset's barrier had finished forming and the spell shattered against it. A momentary flicker in the shield was all the indication that anything had just hit it.

When her barrier fully closed around the man, Sunset drew her wand from her sleeve with her right hand while maintaining the barrier with her left. A pulse of teal magic erupted from the tip of her wand, quickly washing over the room. Her, Ron and McGonagall, as well as the room itself were unaffected, but the man was engulfed in a teal glow and ceased to move. "Professor, if you could relieve him of his wands."

Not having a visualization charm up like Sunset did, McGonagall tilted her head. "He has more than one?"

Sunset nodded. "He has two. The other is in his back pocket. You can reach through the shield."

Trying to touch the faintly glowing barrier after putting down the molten mirror, McGonagall noted that, indeed, she could reach through it as though it was no more solid than air. She took the wand that the man had just attempted to kill her with, then walked around him and reached into the back pocket of his trousers, pulling out a second wand, placing them both on her desk.

She turned around to see that the barrier had dissipated and a teal mist was seeping into the man's head. As his eyes turned upward and he collapsed, fast asleep, she took a moment to look at him in more detail. His features were decidedly more rat-like than they used to be, a known side effect of maintaining an animagus transformation for extended periods of time, but there was no mistaking Peter Pettigrew.

"Thank you, Miss Shimmer." She pointed her wand to a potted plant at the wall of the office, turning it into a couch. "Place him there for the time being." With a sigh, she looked at the mirror in more detail, then canceled the spell on it. The much smaller item had fared even worse against the spell than its temporary form. The face was almost entirely melted off and the mechanism behind it was fused together and wouldn't turn.

This was the result of powerful dark magic. There would be no repairing this. Not to mention it was evidence anyway. She couldn't help the smirk that came to her face. It paid to be prepared. She quickly walked around her desk and opened a drawer. Among various other things, there was also a replacement pair of cufflinks.

Once her wardrobe was once more in order and the piece of evidence stored safely in her pocket, McGonagall raised her wand once more. "Expecto Patronum. Message for Albus. Albus, we have a bit of a situation. Please come to my office immediately. And brace yourself for a bit of a surprise." With a nod, the silvery tabby cat jumped off and vanished into mist.

Albus Dumbledore was already rushing down the halls when the patronus reached him. He had started rushing towards Minerva's office the moment the wards of Hogwarts had informed him of a dark spell being cast there. She had told him over lunch of the potential animagus she would check right about now.

The moment the patronus materialized and spoke in her voice, relief flooded him. If she was in good enough a shape to cast a patronus and speak to it so clearly, the situation couldn't be so bad. The warning to brace himself for a surprise was ominous to say the least.

The moment he rushed into the office, he saw four people already there. Minerva was standing in the center of the room, keeping her wand pointed at a familiar man sleeping on a couch against the wall. It only took him a second to make the mental connection to what she had told him at lunch. His features may have changed, but he still recognized Mr. Pettigrew. To the side, Ms. Shimmer was calming down an obviously somewhat shaken Mr. Weasley, the youngest of them. The one who had discovered the infiltrator and the one who had thought him a pet.

"Minerva! What happened here? What spell did he use?"

When Minerva turned to him, it was barely noticeable, but from the look in her eyes, he could see that she was shaken by what had transpired. "He used the killing curse, Albus. I managed to deflect it and Miss Shimmer cast a shield that nullified the spell when it hit it and immobilized him with a second spell. I took both his wands after she told me where the second one was and she put him to sleep once he was disarmed. She says that, unless it is canceled, the spell will last for several hours."

Concise as always. In the space of four sentences, Minerva had summarized what had transpired and given him enough to act. He absently noted that Miss Shimmer, hiding her own mental turmoil, though not as well as Minerva, walked over once Mister Weasley was somewhat calmed and joined the professor in pointing her wand at the sleeping man. He, meanwhile, walked over to Minerva's fireplace, throwing a pinch of powder into the flames.

"Ministry of Magic. Office of Amelia Bones."

Once the green fire flared up, he pushed his head into the flames. "Amelia, are you there?"

The woman at the desk turned to him. "Albus? How can I help you? Did something happen at Hogwarts?"

"You could say that. A supposedly dead man just tried to kill my Transfiguration professor. I thought you might want to know."

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "I do. Is Minerva alright?"

"She is. He is subdued and currently presents no threat, but he did use one of the Unforgivable Curses. We're in her office if you want to come through."

Amelia nodded curtly. "We'll be there in a minute." Without another word, she turned and rushed out through the door.

Albus pulled his head back.

"Amelia is coming. We'll have this matter cleared up soon."

Miss Shimmer turned to him, still occasionally letting her eyes flick over to Mr. Pettigrew. "I feel like we're missing a bit of backstory here."

"True enough," Albus agreed. "This is Peter Pettigrew. He supposedly died at the hands of Sirius Black nearly ten years ago. Clearly, that isn't the case. We shall hear the full story from him."

As he finished speaking, the fireplace beside him flared green and a square jawed witch with a monocle and short, gray hair emerged from the flames, followed by a bald man with dark skin and a serious expression.

"Ah, Amelia. Perfect timing. Over here." Albus waved her over to the couch and her eyes narrowed when she saw the man on it, her monocle cutting into the lid.

"I see what you meant by 'supposedly dead'. I see the finger wasn't all that was left after all. Just all he chose to leave behind. How did you find him?"

"That would be thanks to Miss Shimmer here." Albus waved a hand at the girl. "She discovered that there was something unusual about Mr. Weasley's pet rat. After she came to Minerva about it, he was revealed."

"He used an Unforgivable Curse?"

"Yes," Minerva confirmed. "He attempted to kill me the moment he resumed human form. Fortunately I was able to deflect his attack and, together with Miss Shimmer, was able to subdue and disarm him."

Amelia raised an eyebrow and gave the girl a measuring stare, before turning back to Albus. "You have his wand?"

"Wands. And yes. We have both of them." Albus pointed a finger to the pair of wands on Minerva's desk. "Perhaps Garrick can help us identify the second one."

Amelia took a moment to mentally connect the first name to the old wand maker, then nodded. "We'll owl him. Anything else?"

"There is something on his forearm."

The entire group turned back to Ms. Shimmer whose glowing eyes were affixed to Mr. Pettigrew's left forearm. Albus walked over to the sleeping man and pulled back the sleeve of his robes, revealing a very recognizable tattoo. He sighed. "The dark mark. This makes things rather clear, doesn't it?"

Amelia nodded. "We'll have to get him to the Ministry for interrogation. I'd also like to get eyewitness accounts from all of you." She sighed. "It's always such a hassle transporting prisoners through the floo."

Once more, Miss Shimmer spoke up. "If you wish, I can take us to the atrium of the Ministry."

Amelia stared at the girl for a moment longer before turning to Albus, who nodded. "Very well, Miss Shimmer, was it? If you have a more convenient means of transportation, go ahead."

"As you wish." Ms. Shimmer drew her wand from her sleeve, its tip glowing teal. Mr. Pettigrew floated up from the couch, still sound asleep, and the entire group – two teachers, two ministry officials, two students and a criminal – vanished in a flash of teal.

45 - Truth

Chapter Forty-Five

Truth

When seven people, among them the Chief Warlock and the head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, as well as two children in Hogwarts robes and a sleeping man floating above the ground, appeared in a flash of teal in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, right next to the Fountain of Magical Brethren, they, unsurprisingly, drew a few surprised glances. Both the teachers and the students among the group watched the reaction with various levels of amusement.

Amelia Bones looked around in shock and even the ever calm Kingsley Shacklebolt seemed mildly startled. Amelia turned to the fiery haired girl who was calmly stowing her wand while her glowing left hand maintained her hold on Mr. Pettigrew. "How? This isn't the apparition area. And how did you get past the wards around Hogwarts?"

"Sorry, I tried for the apparition area, but there were too many people there." Amelia looked over the heads of the crowd and saw that the apparition area was indeed filled with ministry workers headed for their homes. "And with enough of an understanding of arcane phase theory it's easy enough to bypass the wards, especially with the apparition area leaving a hole in them. I'd recommend closing the hole and extending the tunnel outwards a bit to reach outside the wards, then just place the apparition area there. Anyway. Shouldn't we get going?"

Shaking her head to get over her shock, Amelia looked around. "Right, right. We should get to the lifts." She began to walk off, the group trailing behind her as the crowd parted. Any who didn't get out of the way received a stern glare from her or Kingsley and made to move aside.

They quickly reached the lifts and made their way to the second floor. To say her other subordinates were surprised to see whom she had brought along would have been an understatement. Most of them had studied under McGonagall and all of them had studied under Dumbledore, the two students only confused them further. That one of the students' hands was glowing with a matching glow around the sleeping man that floated beside them made the picture complete.

And if their expressions were anything to go by, they hadn't even recognized Pettigrew yet. She led the group to one of the interrogation rooms and told Miss Shimmer to leave the man there. After calling over another auror to guard the sleeping man, and handing the two wands to yet a third one, she led the group to a more comfortable place to receive their statements. Namely, her office.

"So then," she began as she sat down in the chair behind her desk, "I would like you to tell me what happened. From the start." The group had taken the chairs opposite her desk, McGonagall and Dumbledore quickly turning the two hard wooden chairs into four comfortable armchairs. Only Kingsley remained on his feet, leaned easily against the wall beside the door, his eyes carefully watching everyone in the room.

The group in front of her all looked to the young girl in their midst. After a moment's hesitation, she began to explain. "It all started the day before yesterday. I had an aura sight charm up when we returned to the common room. When I saw Ron's pet rat Scabbers, I noticed that he had far more magic than any mundane rat should, even in a magical place such as Hogwarts."

"You can manage an aura sight charm?"

Dumbledore leaned forward slightly. "Miss Shimmer here already has a comprehensive magical education. She has come to Hogwarts to facilitate an exchange of magical knowledge between Britain and her homeland. As you have seen, her understanding of magical transportation is extensive."

Amelia carefully looked over the girl, readjusting her first impression of her. She hadn't considered her to be potentially dangerous. Now, however, while she still doubted that she would become a danger, she had to admit that Miss Shimmer was, at the very least, dangerously easy to underestimate. "I see. Continue."

Miss Shimmer nodded. "The following morning, I spoke to Ron at breakfast, and asked him how long Scabbers had been in their family. After he couldn't give me a conclusive answer, he advised me to talk to his older brother Percy. I did so at noon and he told me that he had found Scabbers and brought him into the family when he was seven. That is eight years ago at this point.

"After the last lesson of the day I did some more research, first on rats, confirming my suspicions that eight years is far in excess of the normal lifespan of a mundane rat, and then into animagi, confirming that, even while transformed, an animagus will keep their human lifespan and that exceptional amounts of magic can be a sign of an animagus, though they can be concealed.

"After I finished reading up on the subject I performed a magical scan on the book and found that four magical signatures were much more pronounced than any other. The strongest fit the librarian, but the other three were badly degraded, likely well over a decade old. But one of them fit the magic I had sensed from Scabbers.

"I borrowed the book and brought my findings to Professor McGonagall the following day."

All eyes in the room focused on the Professor in question. Quietly clearing her throat, she continued the explanation. Bit by bit, Amelia heard the retelling of how they had found out that that Peter Pettigrew, as well as, likely, Sirius Black and James Potter, had become an animagus and later uncovered him. How he had immediately attempted to kill McGonagall, likely hoping to get rid of the greatest threat and escape. She looked at the molten cufflink now sitting on her desk in thought.

She also learned how Miss Shimmer and Professor McGonagall had subdued and disarmed the wizard and how Dumbledore had taken notice of the confrontation and rushed to the office.

Finally she sat up from where she had leaned back in her chair and sighed. "That is quite the tale. Shall we hear his side of the story? Kingsley, would you go get the Veritaserum?"

Together with the rest of the group, Sunset followed Madam Bones to the interrogation room where they had left Pettigrew. Mr. Shacklebolt was waiting for them there, handing Madam Bones a small bottle of a clear liquid. The auror at the door followed her into the room while Shacklebolt led the rest of the group to the room beside it. A large glass pane showed the interrogation room beside them. Wizards, it seemed, weren't entirely blind to muggle innovations and had adopted the use of one way mirrors.

They could see through the glass that the auror had taken up position next to the door, just like Mr. Shacklebolt had in Madam Bones' office. Madam Bones herself had taken up position opposite the still snoring Pettigrew, at the table. A glass of water stood between them and Madam Bones took the little bottle she had gotten from Mr. Shacklebolt – Veritaserum, she had called it – and let three drops fall into the glass. Then she packed the bottle away into a pocket of her robes and tapped a small crystal on the table with her wand.

A matching crystal lit up in their observation room and they could hear her voice clearly despite the glass. "Miss Shimmer, if you would cancel your spell now."

Aware that, if this room was anything like muggle interrogation rooms she had seen on the telly, Madam Bones wouldn't hear any answer she gave, Sunset snapped her fingers and dismissed the spell.

The effect was instantaneous. One second, Pettigrew was sleeping soundly, snoring rather noisily, the next he jumped, his eyes springing open. He coughed from taking a startled breath mid-snore and hectically looked around the room. Seeing that he couldn't escape and that both his wands were out of reach, he fell back in the chair.

Madam Bones calmly waved a hand, the one that wasn't holding her wand, at the glass on the table. "Drink."

Pettigrew eyed the glass for a few moments, then shrugged, greedily gulping down the water.

"Good. Now tell me what happened. Starting with when, how and why you became an animagus."

"In our third year at Hogwarts we found out that Remus was a werewolf and that he went to the Shrieking shack once a month to transform alone. He didn't tell us because he was afraid that we'd abandon him. We didn't. We wanted to help him. But we couldn't be humans if we wanted to be with him while he was transformed."

"Who is 'we'?"

"Sirius, James and myself."

"Sirius Black and James Potter?"

"Yes."

"I see. Carry on."

Sunset watched with mild amazement as Pettigrew described how Sirius Black and Harry's father had helped him become an animagus while becoming animagi themselves. How Sirius had gained the ability to become a large dog and James that to become a stag. How, in their fifth year at Hogwarts, they had finally managed it. How they had explored the school and the grounds together, creating an artifact known as the Marauders' Map.

Then he went on to explain how he had been both tempted by the power that was offered to him by Lord Voldemort and cowed by the threat of what would happen to him if he resisted. How he had given in and become a double agent. How Sirius had suggested to use him as the secret keeper for the charm that hid the Potters rather than himself. A ruse, a bluff, meant to lead Voldemort down a false path. She made a mental note to look up this 'Fidelius Charm'.

The explanation went on for a good half hour. Pettigrew admitted to giving the secret of the Potters on to Lord Voldemort, to returning to the house shortly after his unexpected defeat to retrieve his wand, to trying to flee, but being caught by Sirius, to casting a spell behind his back, blowing up the entire street and killing thirteen muggles in the process, and cutting off one of his fingers to fake his own death, before turning into a rat and escaping through the hole he had blown into the sewers.

Finally, after some more prompting from Madam Bones, he explained how Sunset had gotten him and Ron and brought them to McGonagall's office. How he had tried to kill the teacher as the greatest threat in hopes of escaping, how he had underestimated not only McGonagall but also Sunset, and how they had restrained him, taken his wand and that of Lord Voldemort and how he had fallen unconscious and woken up here.

Finally, Madam Bones stood up and made a quick gesture with her free hand. Mr. Shacklebolt left the observation chamber and joined her in the interrogation room. With another gesture, the second auror joined him and they led Pettigrew out of the room. After a moment, Bones tapped the crystal again, causing it and the one in the observation area to stop glowing and put her wand away, before leaving as well. She poked her head in through the door and waved for them to follow her.

Back in her office she sat down behind her desk with a sigh. They all took their own seats before she began to speak. "Well, he just admitted to one count of attempted murder of a magical citizen, two counts of accessory to murder of magical citizens, thirteen counts of murder of non-magical citizens and one count of using an Unforgivable Curse. That last one alone nets him a life sentence in Azkaban."

She turned to Dumbledore. "We'll have to bring in the full Wizengamot for his trial."

"That seems inevitable, yes. It would also seem that Mister Black is, in fact, innocent of every single thing he was accused of. The only thing he is guilty of is being an unregistered animagus, and the punishment for that, if I recall correctly, is a fine."

Madam Bones shrugged. "I'm not sure myself, it's not exactly a crime we deal with often. I'd have to look it up. But I know for sure that ten years in Azkaban is not proportionate punishment. At all."

"We will have to retrieve him posthaste."

"Yes. I'll go myself."

"I would like to accompany you."

Madam Bones shrugged. "You're the Chief Warlock, that's your prerogative."

Sunset finally leaned forward a little. "Excuse me, but what's Azkaban? I've read that name several times, but none of the books I found it in actually explained what it was."

Dumbledore turned to her with a small smile. "Azkaban is the name of the British wizarding prison. It's on an island in the north sea and guarded by dementors."

"Those things you use the patronus charm against?"

"Exactly."

"Then you should take me along. I have more experience with light magic than any other witch or wizard in Britain."

Both Professor McGonagall and Madam Bones seemed about to deny the request outright when Dumbledore spoke before they could. "Normally I would never allow one of my students to go to such a place. Especially one of your age. But I cannot deny your point. Even with patronus charms, spending time in a place where dementors exist, especially one with as many as Azkaban, always takes a toll on even the strongest wizards. Perhaps your expertise can help." He turned to McGonagall. "Minerva, please take Mister Weasley back to the school. I shall take care of bringing Miss Shimmer back safely."

McGonagall hesitated for just a moment, her eyes darting between Dumbledore and Sunset, then she nodded curtly and turned around. "Come, Mister Weasley."

Madam Bones turned to Dumbledore. "Are you sure about this, Albus? I doubt she can manage something like a patronus."

Dumbledore actually smirked slightly, his eyes twinkling madly. "Miss Shimmer?"

"Expecto Patronum."

Madam Bones actually flinched back slightly as the diminutive, corporeal patronus took shape in her office. Not only was it clearly corporeal and brighter than most she had witnessed, it was also the first time she saw a golden patronus.

"Never mind then, we'll just wait until Shacklebolt comes back. Protocol demands an auror escort. Albus, would you arrange for transportation?"

Fully aware what she meant, Dumbledore nodded. "Of course, Amelia. Fawkes."

His avian companion appeared on his shoulder. "Be ready to take us to Azkaban, my friend."

Fawkes nodded with a quiet trill. Moments later, Mister Shacklebolt returned. Once Madam Bones had explained the situation to him, she gave Dumbledore a signal.

With a flash of flames, the office was empty.

46 - Prison

Chapter Forty-Six

Prison

An eternal storm raged over two small islands in the north sea. Muggle repelling charms and notice-me-nots hid the islands from non-magical eyes and ancient visual illusions kept even the storm itself hidden from everything that wasn't within their range.

Under the roiling clouds, a fortress had stood for centuries, powerful enchantments keeping the storm from chipping away at its walls. The island it stood on was barely larger than the expansive fortress itself. Once the home of a muggle torturing madman, it now housed the sole high security prison facility of Wizarding Britain.

This was the fortress of Azkaban, an infamous prison known for throwing its inmates into despair and madness ever since it was opened on the suggestion of Minister for Magic Damocles Rowle in Seventeen-Twenty-Four. The reason for this reputation were the numerous dementors flying over the island and the stormy sea surrounding it.

The only place within miles that wasn't hounded by the spectres of fear, was an even smaller island, really little more than a rock in the ocean, housing a single structure. A solitary watchtower stood atop it and where the dark shapes of dementors were gliding through the air all around it, focused on the fortress on the bigger island, the silvery shapes of patroni circled around its base and stood vigilant on its roof, heedless of the unceasing downpour.

Four aurors sat around in the comfortably furnished room at the base of the tower, the unnatural cold of the dementors held at bay by the patroni outside. None of them expected anything interesting to happen in the few hours remaining of their shift, so they were all huddled around the happily crackling flames of the circular fireplace that sat in the center of the room.

Their expectations were subverted when a gout of flame delivered another auror, the Chief Warlock, the head of their department and a young girl they had never seen before. The presence of another auror was nothing special, they had all met Kingsley before. The presence of Madam Bones set them on edge. The presence of Albus Dumbledore almost guaranteed that something very important was going down. The presence of a random first year just confused them.

Madam Bones approached the head of the little team. "We need to get over to Azkaban. Peter Pettigrew has been found alive and has, under the influence of Veritaserum, admitted to the crimes Sirius Black was accused of. We'll hold his trial during the next session of the Wizengamot, but for now we need to get Black out of Azkaban."

The four aurors exchanged glances, then the head warden nodded and took a heavy key from a ring on his belt. He walked over to a door opposite the entrance, unlocking it with a loud 'clunk' before returning to his colleagues. With a nod to them, Madam Bones waved for her three companions to follow and went through the door.

Once the others had followed the door swung shut and the room was once more in silence.

After a few seconds, the youngest of the four spoke up. "So Black's been here innocently for ten years? Oh boy, wait 'til the Prophet hears of that."

After walking up the small mountain atop which Castle Hogwarts sat for several minutes, Professor McGonagall and Ron stepped first into the Entry Hall and then into the Great Hall. Their arrival turned heads on all five tables.

McGonagall went through the central corridor between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables up to the head table where the other Professors immediately began badgering her with questions. Ron went along the wall and found a seat with his friends at the Gryffindor table where the same thing began to happen.

"Ron!"

"Where did you go?"

"What happened?"

"Is something up with Scabbers?"

"Where is Sunset?"

"Do you know why Professor Dumbledore isn't here?"

A shushing from Hermione stopped the onslaught of questions. "Give him a moment to respond, would you?"

Ron shot her a grateful smile. "Thanks Hermione." He took a bite of the food he had piled onto his plate, and began to explain what had happened. "Yes. Something was up with Scabbers. He isn't a rat at all. He's an animagus called Peter Pettigrew."

And so he continued to explain what had happened, how Pettigrew had been revealed, how he had tried to kill McGonagall – that part resulted in several startled gasps around the table – how he had been disarmed and subdued, how they had brought him to the Ministry and what they had learned in the interrogation.

When he got to the part about Pettigrew betraying Harry's parents, Ginny and Luna, sitting at his sides, put a caring arm each around his shoulders. Seated as they were, a hug wasn't quite feasible.

The group retired to the common room after dinner. Seeing Harry's downtrodden state, Hermione sat down on the armrest of his chair with a thoughtful frown. Finally she nodded to herself, stepped into the narrow space between the backrest of the chair and the wall and assumed her unicorn form. With a few moments' focus, she cast a spell.

Satisfied with her work, she came out behind the armchair and jumped easily over the armrest, curling up in Harry's lap. Absently the boy began to stroke her mane. She watched carefully as his troubled expression, while still there, slowly lightened up. She cheered inwardly. Petting a pony was always a surefire way of getting someone to cheer up. There was simply something about curling up in someone's lap and letting them pet your mane that let them know that you cared. There was probably magic involved at some point in the process, but Hermione didn't care at the moment.

After a few minutes of absently stroking her mane, Harry quietly spoke up in Equestrian. 《So, are you not worried someone will see your animagus form?》

Hermione shook her head. 《I used a small perception filter Sunset taught me. In theory they should be able to see me just fine, they just won't realize that I'm not currently human.

《In theory, at least.》

The staircase behind the door led them to a small underground dock, similar to the one beneath Hogwarts, but much smaller, housing only two small, wooden boats. Already Sunset could feel an unnatural chill in the air.

"Patroni." Madam Bones curtly ordered as she picked up a clipboard from the wall. "Expecto Patronum." The greyish-silver raven that sprang from her wand was quickly joined by a bluish-silver Lynx from Mr. Shacklebolt, an almost white Phoenix that sat down on Dumbledore's shoulder, mirroring Fawkes on the other. The small golden lizard that silently climbed up onto Sunset's head rounded off the set.

Seeing how she already had her wand drawn, Sunset cast a light magic scanning charm to learn what she could about the dreaded dementors that seemed to frighten the wizards of this world so. She had been getting a lot of practice with those charms recently.

In the unnatural darkness around them, her eyes glowed with golden light as did the patroni.

The four of them stepped into one of the boats. Even in the shielded cavern it was clear that the water around the boats was much calmer than elsewhere. Once the four of them had taken a seat in the boat, Madam Bones tapped her wand on a lantern at the prow.

The large clear quartz crystal in the lantern lit up and the boat began moving from the pier and off towards the mouth of the cave. At the same time, the storm outside seemed to get quieter. Looking at the lantern with interest, Sunset was slightly disappointed that her specialized scanning spell didn't allow her to learn much about the enchantments on the lantern. She did see, however, that it was meant to do much more than provide light.

Its other purposes became clear as they left the cave. In a wide circle around the boat, the rough sea calmed into small waves, the wild winds slowed to a gentle breeze and even the howling storm seemed to be muffled. They sat in silence as the boat crossed the distance to the larger island.

Until, that is, Sunset began to glow. The three adults watched with slight worry as the girl's glowing eyes began to burn with golden fire, her entire form beginning to glow with a soft golden light emanating from her chest. Seeing their gazes, Sunset looked down, noticing the glow herself.

"Woah. The dark magic here must be stronger than I thought if my well is responding this strongly." Seeing questioning glances, she moved to explain. "A part of my training with light magic. In addition to the normal two reservoirs all magical creatures have, Princess Celestia found a way to modify one's arcane nature to allow for a third reservoir specifically for light magic called the Lumineum. It recharges passively whenever I feel the positive emotions that generally power light magic.

"Basically, it's a workaround for the inconvenient problem that the situations where light magic is the most useful tend to be the ones where it is hardest to call upon."

The other three thought about her explanation for a moment. They understood what she meant, every wizard with a N.E.W.T. in charms knew of the two reservoirs, even though wands made spell casting so efficient that most wizards rarely used their secondary reservoir. And all of them knew how hard it was to summon a patronus when a dementor was already bearing down on them, to power their magic with the very emotions the dark creatures drained from them.

"And this 'Lumineum' reacts to dark magic around you?" Dumbledore asked with interest.

Sunset nodded. "Well all light magic has a bit of a mind of its own. That your patronus charm is an animated construct amplifies that, of course, but all light magic seeks, by nature, to protect its user. In an area with strong dark magic, my luminous well reacts to protect me from it. It wouldn't work against a spell, it isn't fast enough for that, but ambient dark magic? It works wonders against that. We'll see how much stronger it gets. Let's just hope it doesn't get too intense or it'll burn through my reserves like nobody's business."

With rising interest, Dumbledore cast his own scanning charm, watching Sunset carefully as the boat continued to glide through the calm waters that followed it. Fawkes and his patronus still sat on his shoulders, while silver lynx walked over the surface of the water beside them without disturbing it and the silvery raven flew circles above their heads. Sunset's own patronus seemed to be formed from golden fire at this point.

After a good ten minutes, the boat drove into another cave, docking in yet another subterranean port, this one vacant of any other boats. It lightly touched against the pier and the light of the lantern died. As they stepped off the boat Sunset noticed that she was much lighter on her feet than usual, as though gravity couldn't quite grasp her. Still she had no trouble moving. A sure sign that her Lumineum was acting to protect her.

She could see the dark magic in the very air around them. No wonder that the wizards of this world feared the dementors. No wonder that Azkaban was so feared. Had she not had such powerful light magic to protect her, fed from weeks spent around her friends, she would have been scared as well.

If it wasn't for all the dark magic around, the staircase hewn into the rock of the island would have felt distinctly reminiscent of the one she and the other first years had followed Hagrid up on their first day. The tower they arrived in was not unlike the one they had left earlier, but the stone it was made from was much older.

Madam Bones took out the clipboard she had picked up and fished a metal rod with a crystal on the end from her pocket. "Alright. Across the yard, in through the door, turn left, follow the corridor, go up the stairs two floors, take the right corridor and he should be in the seventh cell on the left. Come along then."

She tapped the crystal against a matching one set into the rim of the cast-iron door that separated them from the yard, exactly where a lock would be. With an audible 'click' the door unlocked and she pushed it open on squeaking hinges. The dark shapes of dementors slowly floated backwards from the light of the patronus that had sat down on her shoulder, glowing like a lantern.

Dumbledore followed her, both phoenixes on his shoulders glaring at the floating specters, causing them to move back further. Mr. Shacklebolt waved for Sunset to go next, clearly intending to bring up the rear. They were in a place filled with the worst British wizards had to offer, though Sunset wasn't sure whether he was worried about the inmates. Or about the wardens.

The moment she stepped out into the rainy yard, the glow surrounding her pulsed and she was lifted off her feet, wobbling in mid-air for a moment before she got used to floating a few inches above the ground. Her hair was floating behind her, though not at all like the sparkly, ethereal mane of Princess Celestia. More lifting off her shoulders as though gravity couldn't hold it anymore than it could hold her.

The light around her coalesced into a visible aura creating a glowing golden ring where its edges met the floor. The dementors jolted back a bit before stopping and turning away from the light. It didn't seem to harm them where they were, but it was as though they understood that entering the illuminated area would be a grave mistake.

From behind the golden fire around her eyes, Sunset watched them carefully, cataloging everything she saw. They were clearly undead and at least partly corporeal. The magic, empowered in response to their plentiful presence, let her see through their long, tattered robes, revealing sunken, eyeless faces with wide, gaping maws, gray, sallow skin and bony, long-fingered hands, nervously moving as though to grab them. Yes, she decided, she probably wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

Still, for the moment she felt no fear. The light magic had detached her from such emotions. She knew that they would come back with a vengeance. But for know, she couldn't seem to care.

Amelia stared in complete bafflement at the floating girl behind her. They all stood in the golden aura surrounding her and, while normally even a powerful patronus wouldn't be enough to fully banish the unnatural cold of so many dementors, here, in this light, she felt none of it.

Even the rain would not intrude on this island of peace.

Still she had a job to do. An innocent man had spent ten years in this place, she wouldn't keep him here a minute longer than necessary. With a grunt she turned around and walked off, a highly intrigued Albus Dumbledore walking behind her. When Miss Shimmer soundlessly floated behind them, easy to see from the golden glow that effortlessly kept up with them, a bemused Kingsley Shacklebolt brought up the rear.

Another click resounded when she tapped the crystal on her key against another door and pushed it open. Of course, in a place like this, squeaking doors were almost obligatory. She lead the group down a corridor in between two rows of cells, some of the prisoners were asleep, but most of them stared at the girl behind her as though she was an angel come to save one of them.

In a way she had, and while she was fairly certain that Ms. Shimmer was not of any divine origin, Amelia couldn't fault their mistake. The glow made for an uncanny resemblance. She kept an eye on the girl behind her, noticing how she floated up the stairs until they turned into another corridor.

The seventh cell to the left, overlooking the courtyard, held the man they had come for. Sirius Orion Black sat on a mattress woven of moldy straw, wearing tattered clothing and looking at them with the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes. The last spark the dementors hadn't managed to steal. How he had protected it from them was a mystery to her.

Sirius saw the light coming down the corridor. The floating girl looked at him with eyes burning with golden fire, he had seen her gaze into the other cells with detached interest, shuddering at the sight of the sole dementor in the hall. When the group stopped before his cell, her gaze turned into one of sympathy.

"Did you come to get me?"

His voice was rough. Broken. Eroded from years with barely any use. Still, Amelia Bones understood. He recognized her. She had grown up into a strong woman. She held the key to Azkaban. And she nodded. "Yes, Sirius. We did."

"Did you find Peter?"

All eyes turned to the unknown, glowing girl. When she spoke, her voice held an otherworldly echo.

"We did. We learned the truth from him."

Author's Note

Once again some explaination is required. As such, have another installment of:

Lore of the Veil:

The Light Inside - The Lumineum

Every so often, a dark magic threat crops up somewhere in or around Equestria. When such a thing happens, it is up to Princess Celestia and a special task force of the Royal Guard to deal with that. The thing that sets them apart, is the third magical reservoir all of them have: the Lumineum.

After the fall and banishment of her sister, Princess Celestia sought to ensure that she wouldn't fall to the same darkness and become a threat to her subjects. As such, she explored an idea she had had centuries earlier.

After some time, she found a method to maniupulate a pony's magical essence to give them a third reservoir, a repository specifically for light magic. A side effect of that process, is that those subjected to it become fundamentally incapable of using any but the most basic forms of dark magic and even those only with excessive training and controll.

The Lumineum doesn't protect against all dark magic, it takes some time to react and, as such, while a fantastic defense against ambient dark magic, it offers practically no protection against spells. It can, of course, be used to power light magic spells that can offer such protection in its stead.

47 - Liberty

Chapter Forty-Seven

Liberty

Sunset floated closer to the cell so her aura extended into it through the bars. The moment Black stepped up to the bars, hearing her response, she could see hope flare up in his eyes, now that the dementors could no longer touch him.

Another click sounded through the hallway as Madam Bones tapped her key against the crystal locking the cell. They all cringed at the loud squeaking of the hinges. Clearly the door hadn't been opened in years.

Black let his gaze rove across the cell a final time, then turned to the door. Sunset made sure to float beside him on the other side of the bars until he made it out the door, ensuring that he never left her aura.

Black turned to see the two men that were with them. "Albus. Good to see you again. Taking good care of Hogwarts I hope? Kingsley! Is that you? Auror, huh? Not bad. It suits you."

The two nodded silently, even Sunset understood that Black was rambling, doing his level best to think about anything other than Azkaban and the circumstances that had landed him here. From Pettigrew's story, she understood what was going on. Now that the one who had truly betrayed the man who had been like a brother to him would meet justice, a fate he had endured for ten long years, he could afford to think of other things.

Closing the door behind him, Madam Bones returned to the head of the group, leading them back to the entrance and locking all the doors behind them. Sunset did her level best to ignore the looks of disappointment she received from the inmates. And the looks of jealousy they shot towards Black.

They made their way back across the rainy courtyard, the drops running off the barrier the light magic formed above their heads. The dementors' eyeless gazes followed them, but they paid them no heed.

The moment Sunset passed back into the tower that held the staircase back down to the underground harbor, the aura around her faded and she lightly touched down, still not quite feeling the full might of gravity. She was still glowing, but didn't look so much like an angel anymore.

They made their way down the stairs and settled into the boat that was still waiting for them. Dumbledore and Shacklebolt sat to both sides of Black, so the severely weakened man could lean on them for support should he need it. As such, Sunset took a seat opposite them, Madam Bones sitting down beside her once she had turned around to tap on the lantern with her wand, lighting it once more and causing the boat to ferry them back to the smaller island that held Azkaban's four human wardens.

Sirius watched the glowing girl sit opposite him beside Amelia. He didn't know her name, but Azkaban really wasn't a good place for introductions. He would learn it later. He absently munched on the large piece of chocolate Amelia had handed him as he watched the girl’s hair settle down on her shoulders and the glow fade more and more the further they got away from Azkaban and the mass of dementors it housed. The golden fire in her eyes was hypnotic to watch, but he still managed to spare a glance at the four patroni accompanying them.

He might not have regained all of his mental faculties back quite yet, but he realized that one of them had to be hers. The golden one probably. That alone was evidence that this girl was more than she seemed. As if the floating and the golden aura hadn't been a dead giveaway.

As they drifted into the cave beneath the smaller island, he turned around to take a final look at the fortress that had been his prison for the last ten years. Then he turned back forward to face the future.

Was it odd that the future looked like an eleven year old girl?

Back in the watchtower, the group split up. Madam Bones told Mr. Shacklebolt to return to the Ministry to try and find Black's trial records, the snort that got from the man did not bode well. Dumbledore told Sunset to return to Hogwarts and to come to his office after her last lesson the following day. The other two would take Black to St. Mungo's Hospital to recover from his stay at the dementor infested fortress.

As such, Sunset phased into the Gryffindor Common room a few moments later, finding her friends gathered in a corner. She saw her sister curled up in Harry's lap snoring softly, a quick scanning spell revealed a familiar perception filter over the form of the small unicorn. With a wave of her hand, a nearby armchair floated over and she joined the group.

"Sunset!" Ginny was the first to notice her, causing the others to turn and startling Hermione awake. "What happened?"

Sunset shuddered a bit. "Dementors are a lot darker than I expected. It'll take days before my well is filled back up after how it reacted to them." Seeing the questioning expressions she got from everyone but Hermione, Sunset summarized the explanation she had given on the boat, before continuing to describe the trip to Azkaban to get Black.

"Madam Bones sent the auror who came with us to the Ministry to look for Black's trial records. But after how Black reacted to that ... well I'm not entirely certain there actually was a trial. And then she and Professor Dumbledore took Black to the Hospital and I teleported back here."

Seeing Hermione yawn, she chuckled a little before yawning as well. 《You got the right idea sis, We really should get to bed.》

Neville, Dean, Lavender, Seamus and Pavati stared at her questioningly. She just chuckled tiredly. "Oh yeah, remind me to teach you lot Equestrian at some point." Picking up Hermione out of Harry's lap, she carried the little unicorn up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

Clarice Cornile stood at the reception desk of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, staring at the door on the opposite wall in boredom. Nothing exciting ever happened at this hour.

She was startled from her monotony when, in a flash of flame, a wizard and a witch appeared, supporting a second wizard stood between them. She immediately recognized Albus Dumbledore, his phoenix proudly perched on his shoulder. She tried and failed to put a name to the witch on the other side of the group. Still, she read the news and was fairly certain that she had the Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement before her.

As she hurried around the counter and over to the group, she tried to put a name to the man in between them. He looked familiar, but she just couldn't figure out who he was. He wasn't looking well.

"What happened?"

The woman turned to her. "Dementors."

Clarice stopped and drew her wand. "Accio chocolate. Here you go. That should help."

Healer Maverick sat behind his desk in his office on the ground floor of the hospital. A knock on his door pulled his attention away from the paperwork that always seemed to pile up from somewhere. "Come in."

One of the assistant nurses made her way into his office. "We have a new case, sir." Without any further preamble she handed him a clipboard.

He let his eyes wander over the essential information. Malnourishment wasn't something St. Mungo's treated often, but daily application of nourishing potions could correct most cases in a few weeks at most. Unremarkable, all things considered. The phrase 'long term dementor exposure', however, gave him pause. He could only think of one place where one could be exposed to those abominations for any amount of time that would constitute 'long term'.Azkaban.He flipped to the first page of the stack of papers to find the name of their newest patient.

The name 'Sirius Orion Black' was not what he had expected to read.

"Sirius Black?"

The nurse nodded solemnly. "That was my reaction as well. Turns out he was innocent. I expect we'll read more about it in the Prophet a few days from now at most."

"Sirius Black is innocent?" The nurse nodded again. "And he was falsely imprisoned in that hellhole for ten years?!" When the nurse nodded again, Healer Maverick jumped from his chair. "Show me to him!"

The nurse hurriedly left the room, the healer right behind her. That those abominations were used as prison guards was bad enough and something healers up and down the land had been protesting for centuries, almost since Azkaban's opening, but someone innocently imprisoned there? Such a thing was unthinkable. And they didn't need to talk to know that they had to do their part in setting it right.

They arrived at the room in short order. Sirius Black looked like they always imagined an inmate of Azkaban to look, skinny and with messy hair he sat on the bed in the room. But, surprisingly, he didn't act at all like they would have expected an inmate of Azkaban to act.

Outside of the dreaded 'kiss', dementors took quite a while to leave lasting damage, but that damage was to the mind and very challenging to treat, permanent in many cases. Many inmates of that prison went insane before too long, but Black, surprisingly, showed very few signs of that.

He sat on the bed, surprisingly clean, in a hospital gown that had been provided for him, seeing how his other clothes were no longer suited for such an environment, and was greedily eating the meal the head nurse had brought him. In chairs beside the bed sat Amelia Bones and Albus Dumbledore.

Madam Bones was explaining how they had come to know of his innocence in her usual, serious tone. She finished right when Black had cleared away the last vestiges of his meal. He looked at the two seriously.

"So that girl was the one who found him? I knew she was special – I mean, the glowing was hard to miss – but still, I didn't realize she was the one." He chuckled quietly. "To think, that after ten years of hiding, without anyone ever even suspecting anything, he'd be found out by a first year. Am I the only one who thinks that's a bit surreal?"

Dumbledore was in full 'benevolent grandfather mode'. He chuckled wryly. "Miss Shimmer may be young, but she already has a comprehensive magical education. She is actually at Hogwarts mostly for comparative studies and because her friends are there as well, I suspect. She is certainly more than meets the eye."

Madam Bones nodded. "She certainly surprised me a few times. Then again, if she really does have a full magical education, maybe not that surprising."

"Oh, I don't know. She is certainly well studied, but I suspect she has a good measure of talent as well and a pinch of luck never hurts either."

The nurses and the healer had no idea whom they were talking about, but they nodded anyway. That last part was hard to disagree with.

Rested as she was from her nap cuddled to Harry, Hermione was cuddled into bed next to her sister. She quickly noticed that Sunset was quietly crying and shuddering a little. She carefully moved closer, giving Sunset a questioning glance.

Sunset noticed her and gave her a shaky smile.

《Are you okay, sis?》Hermione asked in quiet Equestrian.

Sunset shook her head. 《It's a side effect of the Lumineum defending me. Negative emotions, anger, fear, jealousy, things like that, can't manifest while the pool is so active. The amount of light magic doesn't allow that. So they build up, and when the pool calms back down, they catch up to you after a while. To be honest, I'm surprised I managed this long.》

Hermione listened quietly and cuddled closer to Sunset. She may be a skilled, talented and studied magician, but, at her core, she was still an eleven year old girl, even if she didn't usually act like that. She had heard Sunset's descriptions of the dementors, of seeing what was under their robes, of seeing what happened in Azkaban.

She couldn't imagine how afraid she would have been. And if all that was now catching up to Sunset, she would need all the support she could get.

Sunset wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

Hermione, probably wouldn't either. But that was okay.

48 - Setting Things in Motion

Chapter Forty-Eight

Setting Things in Motion

Breakfast on Wednesday saw the group back in the Great Hall. Sunset and Hermione were clearly rather tired. As they had expected, they hadn't gotten much sleep. It also wasn't entirely surprising when the headmaster came up to their table.

"Good morning Miss Shimmer, I hope yesterday's adventures weren't too straining for you?"

Sunset tiredly shook her head. "No. But I'm not really in any hurry to return there if I can avoid it. At least unless it's to get rid of those abominations."

"There is no known way to destroy dementors," the Headmaster calmly pointed out.

"Give me a day when I'm not this tired and I'll find one for you." She chuckled quietly before looking back to the headmaster. "So, anyway, how is Mr. Black doing?"

"All things considered, surprisingly well. His mind seems largely intact, though his body will still take a bit to recover. I take it you will inform your princess of what you have learned yesterday?"

"Of course. I'll probably do that later, I didn't find the time tonight."

"It did get rather late, didn't it?"

"After telling the others what happened, definitely."

"Yes, it seems the school's rumor mill is going to have a field day with this. And the Daily Prophet won't be far behind, I suspect. Ah that reminds me. Mister Potter, would you mind seeing me in my office after lunch?" When Harry shrugged, Dumbledore turned back to Sunset. "I already asked you to come anyway, Miss Shimmer. Would you mind showing him the way?"

"Sure."

Satisfied, Dumbledore returned to the head table while the Gryffindors continued their meal.

Once they had eaten lunch, the Gryffindors returned to their common room to relax and conserve their strength for the day's Astronomy class, late at night. Harry and Sunset, however, were headed elsewhere.

Harry followed the girl through the castle's many corridors until they reached a stone statue. Sunset stopped before it, rolled her eyes and said, "Bubblegum." Harry tilted his head in confusion, before the statue suddenly came to life and jumped aside, the wall parting behind it to reveal a passageway.

Waving for him to follow, Sunset stepped through and made her way up the spiraling stone staircase. Stepping onto it, Harry noted that it was moving, slowly carrying them upwards. Sunset was walking up it anyways so he made to catch up.

"Come in."

Sunset pushed the door open and stood aside to let Harry pass into the office atop the stairs. Seeing the headmaster wave her in as well, Sunset stepped inside, closing the door behind them.

"Thank you for coming. There are some things I need to tell you about Harry. Take a seat."

The two of them sat down.

"Miss Shimmer, I take it you and Mister Weasley informed your classmates of the things we learned yesterday?" When Sunset nodded he continued. "Good, then I don't need to explain too much. Harry, you know that Sirius Black was a good friend of your father, but there is more to it than that. Sirius is your godfather, Harry. And I expect that once he has sufficiently recovered from the terrors of Azkaban, he will want to get to know you. After all, he hasn't seen you in ten years."

Harry stared at the old man with wide eyes. He had a godfather he never knew of? A man who had been a friend of his father? A man who could have taken care of him all these years he had spent with the Dursleys?

While Harry was lost in thought, Dumbledore turned to Sunset. "Now, Miss Shimmer. If the magic of Equestria truly does sustain his mother's protection, which my scans suggest it does, then there is no reason for him to return to the Dursleys over the summer.

"Sirius, I know for a fact, has inherited the house of his family, simply because he is the only viable heir. As long as there is a member of House Black who still bears the name, the house cannot be inherited by anyone who doesn't. The family's wealth will have gone to others, but the house is his.

"That being said. If I'm guessing right, Sirius will not be eager to return to said house, which leaves us with a bit of a problem.

"I can't tell if the protection Harry's mother gave him will now require him to see Equestria as a home he can return to, but I'd rather not take the chance, so it would be best if he did."

Sunset nodded thoughtfully. "I'll write to Princess Celestia. I'm sure she can arrange something. And if Mister Black wants Harry to live with him, I'm sure that can be arranged as well. The Weasleys and Hermione's parents adjusted rather well to being ponies and if Mr. Black is already used to a quadrupedal form, that will just make it easier for him."

Dumbledore smiled. "I had hoped you would say that." He nodded and his expression became thoughtful again. "I suspect it will take a week at least for Sirius to recover physically from the effects of Azkaban. As far as his mental health is concerned, I suspect meeting Harry will greatly help him improve on that front.

"For now, let's assume that he will be ready for that by next Saturday. If we are to make arrangements in Equestria, that would require your presence or, if she can arrange it, that of Princess Celestia. I'd very much like to meet her."

Sunset, having had quite a while to get a measure of the man, nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess you would. I'll see if she can arrange it."

"I thank you. Now. Harry."

Dumbledore calling his name seemed to startle Harry from his thoughts.

"We have ordered your new broom and it should arrive soon. If you get a long slender package that looks like it could hold a broomstick, please don't open it in the Great Hall. Take it to your dorm and open it there, we don't want this to make a big splash."

"Okay, Professor."

"Good. Now I think you will want to rest up a little so you can be ready for Astronomy tonight."

Harry made to leave but noticed that Sunset wasn't following. "Sunset?"

"Go ahead. I'll be there in a minute."

Dumbledore looked up as Harry shrugged and left the office. "Is there something else, Miss Shimmer?"

"Yes. There is. You remember how I noticed the mark on Mr. Pettigrew's forearm yesterday?"

Dumbledore slowly nodded. He could guess where this was going. "You noticed that Professor Snape also bears the same mark and wondered if I know about it?" Sunset nodded. "I do. You needn't worry about him. He abandoned the dark forces before the end of the war and acted as a spy for me after that. He had personal reasons that I will not share here, but I assure you they were good ones. I trust him completely."

Sunset considered the matter for a moment. "Alright, there is also the matter of Professor Quirrell."

"Quirinus? If you noticed dark magic about him, I wouldn't be surprised. It could easily be a side effect of his position."

"I know that. And I'm making sure that that isn't the cause. That's actually the main reason I waited so long before telling you about it. The problem is that there is a dark magic about him that has been growing stronger since the start of term. A dark magic I have yet to identify. And I'm starting to run out of things it could be.

"I've also heard that the position is supposedly cursed. I checked in today's lesson. There actually is a curse on the position, but that isn't the dark magic I've been sensing. It's extremely subtle and well hidden, but if you want I can help you track down its anchor at some point. The worrying thing about the dark magic surrounding Professor Quirrell is that it is focused around his head."

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly. He knew quite a few things about dark magic. Including its corrupting influence. If it was focused around the head, that could indeed be highly problematic. Still he let the girl continue.

"Furthermore, it only breaches skin level in one place. The back of his head. So to summarize. The dark magic about him, a dark magic that, by the way, shows all the signs of being deliberately concealed, and the only place where it is likely to show physical effects is hidden underneath his turban. I don't know what he told you about his turban, but when we asked him about it in class his explanation was flimsy at best.

"He said it was a gift. A reward for ridding an African prince from a zombie. But he was quick to distract from the subject when we asked how he did that. Not to mention that we saw him in the Leaky Cauldron only a month before the start of term. I didn't know what he looked like then, but I certainly didn't see a turban then."

Dumbledore was worried now. "Are you certain he claimed it was a zombie?"

Sunset narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment. "Yes. That's what he called it, why?"

"Because there is no such thing as zombies. The concept is entirely a muggle invention. Likely based off of the concept of inferi, but if it had been that, an expert on the dark arts would have called it that. We may have to inquire directly."

"I don't think that's a good idea. It may not even be anything. And if he thinks we suspect anything, he could easily become very dangerous. Give me a bit more time to identify the magic. We can find a solution from there. Until then, maybe just keep your eyes open."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment. "Very well. I suppose you have a point. Rash action may prove unwise. I'll make my own covert scans. Once either of us manages to identify the magic, it may be wise to ask your princess for advice."

"Yes. A thousand years of experience might come in handy. I'll probably soon ask her if she can recommend any more scans I could make. It may well be a type of dark magic I didn't think of."

"Very well. For now I think you should return to your common room and save your energy for tonight."

"True. Good afternoon professor."

Dumbledore watched her leave with mild concern. He would have to think over his past dealings with Quirinus again. Was there a subtle change in behavior he had missed? Aside from the obvious, of course. Or was his stutter and anxiety simply a mask to conceal such subtle differences? He would need time to think about that.

Now, however, it was time to send out a few letters. There were some people who deserved to learn about recent events from him rather than seeing them in the morning news a few days from now.

He looked down at the letter in his hands as he sat in the reception area of St. Mungo's Hospital. It had arrived in the morning, only a few hours ago and he had come as soon as he could. It wouldn't do to visit his friend any later, especially since the full moon was a mere few days away.

With nothing better to do while he waited, he unfolded the parchment and re-read the letter another time.

Dear Remus,

I write you today because I have news that you deserve to be told in person
rather than learn them from the Daily Prophet. Just yesterday I learned a
good bit about what you and the other Marauders got up to over your last
three years at Hogwarts. I learned that James was an animagus. And that
Sirius and Peter still are.
Yes. You read that correctly. Peter is alive. He spent the last ten years in his
animagus form, hiding out as a rat. When one of my students noticed that
something was off about the pet of young Ronald Weasley (yes he hid under
the roof of the Weasley family, the irony is not lost on me.) she brought the
matter to Minerva's attention.
When she revealed Peter's true identity, he tried to attack and kill her, but
ended up disarmed and subdued. I called in Amelia's help and she took us
along to take up our statements. In the interrogation I learned all that had
happened. Sirius didn't betray James and Lily. He wasn't the secret keeper.
He wasn't the double agent. Peter was.
Sirius suggested making him the secret keeper as a bluff, a ruse to lead
Voldemort on a false track. He knew that he was the obvious choice. But
by suggesting Peter, he played right in his hands and Peter betrayed them.
He was also the one that killed all those muggles that day, then cut off his
own finger before fleeing through the sewers as a rat. Sirius never fired a
spell. We went to Azkaban to retrieve him immediately. He is in St. Mungo's
now. With this letter I'm sending you a written authorization. The staff will
let you see him.

I will do all I can to see this injustice corrected.

Your old friend,
Albus.

He could hardly believe it. Peter was alive. And he was the betrayer, not Sirius. Sirius was innocent. He had never understood how his friend, his pack mate, could do such a thing. He had never been one to be easily swayed from his beliefs, so how had the Death Eaters gotten through to him? Sirius had never been one to desire power, so that could not have been a draw. He had never feared a confrontation, so him turning on them out of fear was unimaginable. And while wealth was a draw for every wizard, Sirius had more than he would ever need.

Now, of course, everything made so much more sense. Peter had always had a certain lust for power, he might have been susceptible to the Voldemort's machinations. He was still convinced that they had simply gotten unlucky. Peter had always been the weakest of the group, but even winning him over couldn't have been easy. He was saddened by the betrayal of one he had considered a friend.

But Sirius was innocent. And that was why he was here. With renewed resolve, he walked up to the receptionist and showed her the slip of paper he had found in the letter. She nodded and quietly told him a room number, pointing to the door beside her desk.

With a quiet thanks he walked off.

The headmaster's prediction came true two days later. The morning mail made breakfast in the Great Hall quite a bit more interesting. Harry's broomstick arrived, of course, but is also seemed that the Daily Prophet hat gotten their hands on the news of Mr. Black's release from Azkaban.

Over the course of the past two days, the news had slowly spread throughout the Gryffindor Tower, bur only in the later hours of the previous day had the news spread to the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. As such, there was quite the uproar at their tables, but it couldn't match the chaos at the Slytherin table.

It got so bad that Professor Snape had to come down in person to lay down the law. After that, his house resigned itself to silent fuming under the watchful eyes of their prefects. Harry, meanwhile led the trek back out of the hall and to the common room. From there it was a mere few moments before he reached the boys' dorms and unwrapped his brand-new 'Nimbus 2000', as the plaque at the front proudly proclaimed.

It was, by all accounts, a top-of-the-line racing broom. The streamlined shape and polished wood spoke of the work of expert craftsmen. The entire design showed their pride in their work.

After that day's Potions class was over, this time without an almost disaster at the hands of Neville, which did wonders for the boy's confidence, Harry found Oliver Wood at lunch. He was, unsurprisingly, eager to start training Harry, and promised to give him an introduction that evening.

So it was that at seven that evening, Harry flew from the top of Gryffindor Tower to the Quidditch Pitch. He landed lightly on the grass, jumping off his broom just as Wood arrived with a large box that Harry suspected to hold the game's four balls.

"Very nice. I can see what McGonnagall meant. You really are a natural. Now. You said you know the rules?"

They then went through the basic rules of the game. Harry, having memorized the rulebook they had bought for Sunset to translate, surprised Wood with his knowledge and even taught him a few obscure things.

Wood didn't quite expect Harry's reaction when he explained that they wouldn't be practicing with the Snitch due to the darkness. "So what? I'll find it. It's not like it can just fly off, is it? It's charmed not to leave the playing area."

"I suppose you're not wrong ..."

"And ... I've figured out how to get my eyes to zoom. Oh that reminds me."

Wood was puzzled to see Harry wave in the direction of the distant Gryffindor tower. "Why are you waving?"

"My friends are watching."

Confused, Wood took a closer look, and indeed, squinting a little, he could see the glimmer of several telescopes in the light of the setting sun. "You can see them from here?"

"Yep. I have the best eyes at the school. And now I also have a built in telescope."

"Well alright then."

Wood let the snitch fly several times. Each time, Harry would close his eyes to give the ball a few seconds to fly off, then reopen them and let his gaze wander over the vacant stadium. He would then jump onto the broom and race off towards a more or less distant corner of the field and come back with the snitch in hand moments later. Occasionally, the ball would manage to escape, but even then it would only take a few moments before Harry found it again.

By the end, Wood had to hold back so as to not jump for joy.

50 - Making Arrangements

Chapter Fifty

Making Arrangements

The flames in the fireplace suddenly flared green and the head of a teacher appeared in their midst. "Severus, are you there?"

With a grunt, Professor Snape looked up from his analysis of one of the potion samples from his fourth-year class. "Yes Filius, I am here. What's the matter?"

"If you could come by my office for a moment? We have something here that might interest you."

"Very well. But this better be important, Filius. You know I don't like being interrupted."

"Yes, yes, I know. See you in a minute." The head retracted and the flames returned to their normal size and color.

With a wave of his wand, Severus lifted up the row of bottles and placed them in a warded cupboard, closing the door over them. It wouldn't do to lose a student's potion sample before he got a chance to grade it, and there were several students who would be all too happy to make just that happen.

Assured that the samples wouldn't be touched until he was back, he swept out of the office and made his way up to that of his colleague. As he turned into the corridor that held Filius' office, he came across another familiar face, walking in the same direction. "Headmaster. Did Filius call you as well?"

"Indeed he did. He claimed he had something to show me. He didn't sound urgent, so I chose to walk."

"I got the same impression. He sounded rather giddy actually."

"This is about the time for his weekly comparative study sessions with Miss Shimmer. Perhaps they have made a breakthrough."

"A likely possibility." The two men had come to a stop before the door to Filius' office. "Shall we?"

With a nod, the headmaster knocked. "Come in!" The door opened to admit them, revealing Filius and Miss Shimmer, as they had expected. The pair of boxes on Filius' desk, one made of brass with several crystals and metal rods poking out of its top and the other made of wood with several switches and dials under a glass cover, they had definitely not expected.

"Filius, Miss Shimmer, what do you have for us?"

"Well Albus, I told you about our work on fire spells last week, didn't I?"

"You did indeed. Am I to assume this has something to do with this?"

"It does. I happened to know that several potions were currently only hypothetically possible because the necessary temperature regulation couldn't be achieved with enough precision. When I told Miss Shimmer here about that, she had an idea." He turned to the girl standing beside him, looking up to her. "Would you care to demonstrate?"

She nodded, standing behind the desk and momentarily lighting up her hand a faint teal, causing the wooden box to fly over to her and open, its glass cover flipping aside. With a flick of a switch on her control board, the brass box came to life, the four smaller crystals on its top emitting a glow of magic and projecting a shield around it. "Activating the system projects a shield around it, capable of withstanding some physical force and a substantial amount of heat. I haven't had a chance to test it, but it should theoretically be able to resist anything up to and including a cauldron melting on top of it."

Severus was beginning to suspect why he was here, but held his tongue. If anything he was intrigued by what Miss Shimmer had cooked up.

The girl in question meanwhile flicked the second switch, causing a flame to appear above the larger crystal in the center, just above the shield. "This is the flame at minimum settings. With the dials its possible to change the temperature and size of the fire independently." Twisting one of the dials, she caused the flame to grow larger and larger until it was about a foot tall. "This is as big as it gets."

Severus watched with mild concern as a smirk came to her face and she twisted the other dial. The flame grew brighter and, he noted, hotter. He was used to the heat coming of a fire and the steam coming off a cauldron, but after a few moments even he started sweating. Finally, she stopped. "And this is as hot as it gets." She then quickly twisted both knobs back until the flame was back to its original size and temperature.

While she flicked the switches, turning the device back off, Severus was lost in thought. He had noted that Miss Shimmer had had very fine control over the temperature just from the single dial she had on the device. He could think of several dozen experimental potions he had attempted over the years that had failed because he hadn't been able to control the temperature fine enough. And those were only the ones he had attempted. Several more he hadn't because he had known from the start that he would never be able to control the temperature to the degree he needed.

While he was caught up in his thoughts, the headmaster had a different worry. "Are you certain this won't violate the restrictions on the enchantment of muggle artifacts?"

Miss Shimmer tilted her head slightly. "I'd be very surprised if it did. I didn't enchant a muggle artifact. I modified the magic in such a way that the muggle technology could control it. It wouldn't work without it, just as the muggle tech wouldn't do anything without the magic."

"I see. Severus, what do you think?"

"If it truly allows for such fine control of the temperature, it could pave the way for innumerable breakthroughs in potion making."

Miss Shimmer smiled widely. "You can keep the prototype." She waved him over. "Come, I'll show you how to use it. The switch here on the far left toggles the shield and the control circuitry. The one next to it ignites and extinguishes the flame. The displays above them show the charge of the internal power supplies of each of the devices, the controller on the left and the Hearth on the right.

"The left dial controls the temperature. You can regulate it in steps of one degree between twenty-five and nine-hundred degrees. The display above it shows the currently chosen value. It's the only one that isn't percentile."

Severus nodded. "Then I take it the dial on the far right regulates the size of the flame?"

"Exactly, and the display above it shows the current value between one and one-hundred percent. Now here at Hogwarts, at least, the ambient magic should be strong enough to keep it well charged, but just in case, there is a small contact crystal on the side of both the hearth and the controller that you can use to manually charge them with your wand. Just channel some magic into it. But make sure you switch on the controls before you do, that way you'll know when it's fully charged."

As Severus walked out with the two devices in hand, he heard Miss Shimmer speak to the Headmaster. "By the way, Princess Celestia will be coming tomorrow, so we can discuss things directly with her."

"Come in."

The wards on the way up to his office had alerted him to the arrival of two more guests. The door opened to reveal Harry and Miss Shimmer. Sitting in a chair before the desk, Sirius turned to look at his godson. "Harry."

Albus Smiled. "Harry, this is your godfather. Sirius Black. Miss Shimmer, when will Princess Celestia be arriving?"

The girl turned to the 'eagle' on her shoulder. "Philomena, if you would?" A flash of flame later, the bird was gone, causing Sirius to stare at the place where it had vanished.

"Was that a phoenix?"

"That it was. Miss Shimmer apparently raised her from an egg."

By the time Philomena returned, now undisguised and on the shoulder of a woman of otherworldly grace and beauty, Sirius was still staring.

"Ah, Princess Celestia, I presume?"

Miss Shimmer nodded. "Yes. If I may introduce-"

"Sunset," the woman interrupted, "just my name will suffice this time."

"Fine. Gentlemen, this is Princess Celestia of Equestria. Princess, these are Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black and you've already met Harry Potter."

"A pleasure to meet the both of you. And it is good to see you again young Harry."

"Quite the same, your highness. Please, do take a seat."

As all three new arrivals took a seat on the chairs he had prepared, Albus considered the situation. He had already explained Lily's spell to Sirius, along with the things Miss Shimmer had told him about the way it connected to the Equestrian magical field. He had left it to him to understand the consequences of these facts.

"So then, I must ask your highness, how much have you been informed of?"

"Everything, as far as I am aware. But I believe we can go over the relevant facts while we bring young Harry up to speed on matters."

Albus nodded. "Very true." He focused on Harry who sat in the middle of the group. "Very well then Harry. The first thing you need to know, the reason why you are so famous, is how you managed to resist a killing curse by the most feared dark wizard of all time.

"The whole truth is that you didn't. The spell never fully reached you. When Lord Voldemort tried to kill you, your mother stepped into his way, so he killed her first. What he didn't realize, is that, in doing so, he allowed her to invoke an ancient magical protection, stronger than any curse: A Mother's Love. When he then tried to kill you, he couldn't, and was instead reduced to little more than a ghost by his own spell, as it was bounced back at him."

Albus couldn't prevent a sad smile coming to his lips as he saw Miss Shimmer wrap an arm around the obviously distraught boy's shoulder. With a meaningful glance, he signaled for Sirius to continue.

"Now, what you need to know, Harry, is that, at the time, there were still supporters of Voldemort out there, and they may well still be there to this day. That was why you needed the protection of your mother's spell. The only known way to maintain it, was by having you live under the roof of a blood relative of your mother. And since her parents had already died at the time, her sister was her only option."

Sirius stopped his explanation and simply stared as Sunset got up from her seat, transformed into her equine form and curled up in Harry's lap, allowing him to gently stroke her mane. Her horn lit with pale golden magic, comforting him further as she continued the explanation.

"You see, Harry. When I took you to Equestria in the summer, something changed. I recognized the harmonic magic of your mother's spell, and I guessed that it might react with the ambient harmonic magic in Equestria. As it turns out, it did. The spell linked with the ambient field in Equestria and is now fully fed from there. The new link has fully supplanted the connection to Petunia Dursley, so there is no point to you living under her roof any longer."

Harry's hand actually stopped as he looked at the little unicorn in his lap in utter bafflement. Apparently he hadn't seen where this explanation was going. "You mean, I won't have to go back to the Dursleys in Summer?"

A playful smirk came to Miss Shimmer's surprisingly expressive face. "Not unless you want to."

"I don't."

"You don't say."

"Then I suppose it would be my turn to continue," Princess Celestia spoke up, all eyes focusing on her. "We don't know if it would be necessary for you to actually live in Equestria to maintain the spell your mother used to protect you, Harry, but we are not all that keen on taking chances, so it would be best if you did."

She turned to Sirius. "I've also been informed that, while you, Mister Black, do indeed own a house, Headmaster Dumbledore estimates that you are less than likely to want to return there."

Recovering from his surprise, Sirius let out a barking laugh. "Not really, no. I ran away from there when I was sixteen. I have no wish to go back there."

The princess gave him an understanding smile. "In that case, I would be happy to offer you a home in Equestria. One young Harry could also return to for the holidays."

Judging by the expression on Sirius' and Harry's faces, neither one of them had seen the implications of what had been explained to them, and of the Princess' presence.

The conversation quickly turned to explaining multiple aspects of Equestria, something Albus followed with great interest while Harry and Miss Shimmer seemed to be watching both his and Sirius' expressions with mild amusement. Finally, they agreed on giving Sirius a small home in a town not too far from Canterlot, so he could stay in contact with the Princess if need be. She would also see to it that he was given a magical journal like the one Miss Shimmer had that would continue to work even across dimensions.

Finally, Harry, Sirius, Miss Shimmer and the Princess went to Equestria with Philomena's help Albus still had some paperwork he needed to finish. Miss Shimmer had arrived a little earlier than he had expected. He would join them later. He had Fawkes, after all.

It only took a few minutes to finish up the remaining paperwork, so he got up and held out his arm, prompting Fawkes to fly over and land on the offered perch. "Now, if you could take me to follow them, old friend."

Fawkes trilled majestically and spread his wings, as he liked to do before flaming away.

And nothing happened.

"Well, this is awkward."

51 - Ponyville

Chapter Fifty-One

Ponyville

A flare of flames heralded the arrival of a group of equines at the southern edge of Ponyville. A dark purple colt with black and blue mane and tail stood at the head of the group with an amber yellow filly with a red and yellow mane. Behind them, staring at the little hamlet with wide eyes, was a unicorn stallion with a forest green coat and a scruffy black mane and tail. His cutie mark showed a stylized dog paw. Rounding off the group was the majestic form of a phoenix alongside none other than Princess Celestia herself.

Turning around towards the south, away from the city, the white alicorn vanished in a flash of gold, reappearing a moment later, to find Harry and Sunset softly giggling at the still stunned Sirius. When Harry waved a deep purple wing before his eyes, Sirius finally managed to shake himself out of his confusion.

"You know, when Albus mentioned a land of talking ponies, I was positive he was having me on."

The Princess chuckled behind him. "No, Equestria is quite real. Now, since I have some more work I need to take care of, I have arranged for an old friend of mine to take you around town. If you'll excuse me." In a flash of gold, she vanished.

《Oh that Celestia with all her fancy teleportin'. So y'all wanna get a guide 'round Ponyville, eh?》

Turning around, the group saw an elderly earth pony mare with a green coat and a light gray mane that may have been blonde at some point. "Y'all can call me Granny Smith. Ah run Sweet Apple Acres, the orchard in town." She pointed a hoof behind her where their gaze fell on the expansive apple orchards she had mentioned.

"Sorry, what?"

All eyes fell on Sirius, before Sunset's hoof collided with her face. "Right, I haven't taught you Equestrian, have I? One moment." Her horn lit with a teal light that quickly compressed into a bead of light at its tip which she then touched to Sirius' forehead."

A moment later, Sirius spoke up again. "Did you just ... teach me another language?"

"She sure did! Them unicorns with their fancy magic." The elderly mare shook her head. "Now come along, y'all. Ah'll show you 'round town." With that she began walking off towards Ponyville proper.

Harry and Sunset followed her. Sirius, still glancing at Sunset on occasion, trailed behind them.

By the time Granny Smith had introduced them to town hall, Sunset was glancing around confused. "Say, is anyone else noticing that Professor Dumbledore is taking a long time?"

"Oh yeah, he did say he would only be a few minutes, didn't he?"

Sunset nodded. "He did. Granny Smith, could you wait a moment?"

"Sure thang, youngin. Ah'll be rahght here."

"Thanks. Philomena, let's see what's taking him so long."

In a flash of flame, the filly and the phoenix disappeared.

"Oh dear. She do that often?"

Harry nodded. "Quite a bit actually."

Dumbledore looked up from his desk when he noticed the flash of flame. "Ah Miss Shimmer, a good thing you have come back. It seems that Fawkes cannot find Equestria."

"Really? How odd. Philomena never had a problem with that. Come we'll show you the way."

As Dumbledore got up, Fawkes settled on his shoulder. Spreading her wings again, Philomena took them back to Equestria.

"Do them phoenixes have teleportin' too now?"

Sirius and Harry turned around from their conversation with Granny Smith to see that Sunset and Philomena had returned, this time with Dumbledore and Fawkes along for the ride.

The elderly red unicorn stallion turned to the bird that had perched on his back. "Intriguing. I wonder. Miss Shimmer, could you come fetch us if we're not back in a minute?"

The two of them vanished in a flash of flame and reappeared in another seconds later. "How very interesting. It seems phoenixes can travel to other dimensions only if they have been there before."

"Huh, guess we won't be exploring any other dimensions for the time being then." Shaking her head, Sunset went to introduce Dumbledore to Granny Smith.

Once introductions were out of the way, Granny Smith proceeded to show the group around town, introducing them to all the sights, which weren't terribly many. As such, she invited them over for lunch at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Now what're y'all gigglin' about?"

Sunset shook her head. "Sorry Granny Smith, but where we're from time run's a bit differently. For us it's actually about dinner time."

"Eh, works too. Food's food, know what Ah'm sayin'?"

"Fair enough," Dumbledore chuckled, he found he quite liked the eccentric farm mare. "We'll be happy to join your family for whatever this meal may be."

"Well, come along then. Sweet Apple Acres is the only sight o' Ponyville y'all ain't seen yet."

The farm truly was a sight to see. Apple trees stood as far as the eye could see, the fruit practically glowing in the midday sun. Sirius found that, much like it did in his human form, the amplified sense of smell of his animagus form carried over when he was a pony. That fact alone made the experience truly amazing. He also found that he was very much looking forward to dinner. The chances of it being apple-related seemed quite high.

Even without his sense of smell, the others were clearly enjoying the scent of her orchards, getting a smirk from Granny Smith. "Smells great, don' it? Yeh. Applebuck Season's right 'round the corner, so that'll be a whole heap o' work, but until then there ain't much ta do in the orchards. Bit o' tendin' to the trees o' course, but mah family is takin care o' that today.

"Sure, Applejack is still a bit young ta properly help with farm work and Apple Bloom is much too young, but Big Macintosh is already pullin' his weight helpin' his parents 'round the farm."

It wasn't long before the group reached the bright red farm house, where they were greeted by an orange filly with a straw blonde mane and tail, both tied together near the end. She couldn't have been much older than Sunset and Harry.

"And here we have mah granddaughter. Applejack." There was an undeniable pride in the elder mare's voice.

"Hi Granny! Ah've been busy gettin' lunch ready. Ah even made enough for yer guests."

"Ya found mah note then? Good. Go get the others from the fields, would ya? I'll see about gettin' lunch ready."

"Alraght Granny. Be back in a few minutes!"

The group watched in amusement as the energetic farm filly ran off into the fields.

"Now say, why're y'all here anyway? Celestia didn't mention."

"Assuming I conjecture correctly," Dumbledore spoke up with a hint of amusement in his eyes, "the reason we are here is that Sirius might be moving into town some time soon."

"New pony in town, eh? Good. Always nice to have new folk settle in." A proud smile came to her aged features, though it was a different kind of pride than the one they had seen her regard Applejack with. "Y'all know? I'm the last surviving founder of this here town. Mah family founded the place nearly two-hundred years ago an' ah've been watchin' it grow ever since. Always lahked it when new ponies came into town. Makes the place feel alive."

Sunset quietly smirked to herself. Thanks to her correspondences with Princess Celestia, she knew where the dormant relics that would one day purify Nightmare Moon were kept. If anything Ponyville would end up a lot more lively in a few years' time. Especially since the Princess had identified Applejack as another of the potential element bearers. Now if only some of the others didn't still prove so elusive.

While she'd been casually explaining her part in the town's history, Granny Smith had been steadily working away on some deliciously smelling dish, while the smell of an apple pie came from the oven. Pulling it out, she raised her voice. "Apple Bloom, lunchtahm!"

The steps of small hooves could be heard from the stairs and moments later a bright yellow filly with and equally bright red mane and tail and a pink bow in her mane that was, by all accounts, much too large for her size.

With another proud smile, Granny Smith placed the pie on the table and went to introduce the young filly, Apple Bloom.

It wasn't long before the second filly of the house returned, bringing back her older brother, a young red pony, barely old enough to be called a stallion, who turned out to be the Big Macintosh that Granny Smith had mentioned before, as well as her parents, a pale yellow stallion with a red mane that looked more or less like an older, male version of his youngest daughter, introduced to them as Bright Macintosh and a beige mare with a wildly curled orange mane introduced as Buttercup.

Apple Bloom, unintentionally, served as the conversational ice-breaker when the guests gave their names in return. "Serious Black? Hairy Butter? You have some funny names."

The resulting giggles from the visiting group only added to her confusion. Sirius quickly learned that explaining that his name was that of a star didn't exactly help, seeing how Equus was another planet entirely, not to mention in another dimension, and the stars and constellations here would, obviously, be different ones.

As the group ate, Dumbledore took the chance to consider what he had learned. The food was absolutely delicious, but he couldn't tell how much of that was due to his current species, and how much of it was the effects of the magic that clearly went into its making.

That Granny Smith was somewhere in the ballpark of two centuries old was startling to say the least. Had he not known the length of a local year, he would have assumed it to be shorter than it was on earth. Knowing that it was actually a little longer certainly put things into perspective.

His ability to judge people wasn't as well applicable as it usually was, seeing how he wasn't trained in getting a measure on ponies, but he could tell that Granny Smith was elderly, but not quite old yet. That meant that ponies could live to be well in excess of two-hundred years old.

That alone was startling, but it wasn't the only thing he had learned on this trip. Phoenixes could travel to other dimensions, but only if they had been to the dimension that was to be their destination. That would at least serve to explain why such a thing had never been observed at any previous time.

Now that he had been here, however, Fawkes could come to Equestria whenever he liked. The question of whether he could summon Fawkes across dimensions was one that still bore investigation.

Beyond those things, he had had a delightful afternoon. The fact that it had been a morning to the locals was disorienting, but ultimately of little consequence. Once the princess finished making arrangements, Ponyville would work handsomely as a safe place for Harry to stay over the holidays. It was fortunate that even the winter holidays were months out yet. More than enough time to get everything ready.

Satisfied that all things he could immediately control would work out to his satisfaction for the foreseeable future, he returned his attention to the meal and conversation.

Sirius, it seemed, was quite smitten with the little hamlet. Whether that was because it served as a contrast, in both tone and location, to the urban London manor he had grown up in, or because it reminded him of the small town charm of Godric's Hollow he couldn't tell, perhaps neither, perhaps both, but regardless, it was good to see the man's – or pony's, as it were – genuine smile.

Harry, similarly, had taken a shine to the town, it seemed. Again, Albus suspected, it was likely due to the contrast it had to his childhood home. The gossipy, suburban neighborhoods of Little Whinging, couldn't hold a candle to the pleasant, rural charm of Ponyville.

Not for the first time, he asked himself if there could have been a better option, one he didn't see. But no. Much though he thought about it, until the connection with the ambient magic here in Equestria had started to sustain Lily's spell, Petunia's home was really the only option.

The magic. That was another topic deserving thought. As he and Sirius mimicked Miss Shimmer, picking up the food in their magic, and marveling how the others, even Harry, were managing to do the same with their hooves, he felt the magic flow though his horn.

To most wizards it would have been an entirely foreign experience. And while the place the magic was going was unusual to him as well, the way the horn felt to his magic was not entirely new. It was much less focused, much less restrictive, than a wand, but still much more so than casting without one in his human form. Few western wizards ever bothered to learn wandless casting, so most wouldn't know and find the experience to be surprising in the extreme, but he found that it made a decent enough middle ground between the benefits of both approaches.

He also guessed that learning to control one's magic in unicorn form, might help a great many wizards gain the skill to cast wandlessly.

And then there was the ambient field. He could sense, faintly, the unfamiliar types of magic Miss Shimmer had told him about. It took a bit before he was able to discern harmonic magic from light magic, but after a few minutes of focusing on the magic he felt, he started to sense subtle differences.

At the same time he also started sensing something else, something that made his new coat stand on end. That could only be the chaos magic he had heard about. Before he could further dwell on it, he noticed that all of them had finished their lunch.

Buttercup and both Macintoshs said their goodbyes, the smaller one of the latter, ironically the one named Big Macintosh, in rather few words, and returned to their work on the fields. The rest of the family also wished their guests a nice evening, even though they clearly didn't quite understand why they were told to do so at noon.

Philomena then took all of them back to his office at Hogwarts. All of them save Fawkes, that is. He wanted to test if Fawkes could hear his summons across dimensions. Turns out, he could.

53 - Dark Magic

Chapter Fifty-Three

Dark Magic

The familiar humming of the journal on her shelf drew Celestia's attention away from Twilight's studies. Seeing how it was nearly time anyway, she sent the filly on the way to her room with her usual warning of what would happen if she continued reading for too long.

Once Twilight was safely on her way, she lifted the journal up in her magic and opened it up to read Sunset's latest message. As she read, her eyes first widened in shock, then narrowed in concern. The moment she finished, she lifted the fountain pen Sunset had gifted her and began writing her answer.

Sunset quickly read through the answer the princess had sent her and immediately got up. She raced up to the privacy of her dorm room and pulled out a piece of parchment and her own fountain pen – crafted from dark walnut and engraved with the equestrian word for fire – and wrote a short message.

Once she was done, she quickly cut off the parchment from the roll with a charm and folded it up. She held it up over her shoulder in between two fingers. A moment later, a feather, alight with golden fire, touched the note which vanished in a flash of golden flame.

Despite her worry at the news the Princess had sent her, Sunset found comfort in her ever reliable companion. She let a hand run gently along Philomena's feathers as she waited for answer.

Albus sat down in his chair, deep in thought. He had just finished his covert scans of Quirinus and his worst fears had been confirmed. He would have to inform Ms. Shimmer, Princess Celestia as well, if possible. Knowing the situation brought him no closer to a solution and the two had already proven apt at solving problems.

Before he could think any further, a flash of golden flame heralded the arrival of a note above his desk. The moment it touched down, he unfolded the message and began to read.

Headmaster Dumbledore,
I have news. We need to speak. Urgently.
Sunset Shimmer

It wasn't a long message, but its implications were severe. Had something happened in Equestria? Had she learned something in her own investigations? Had she, perhaps, come to the same conclusion he had reached?

No matter. He would have been willing to wait and speak to her the next morning, but if she was willing to come now, it would make things easier for him. As such he pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment and began to write.

Very well Ms. Shimmer,
Meet me in my office.
A. Dumbledore

Without a verbal prompt, Fawkes flew over and touched a feather to the message. In a flash of gold it was gone.

It only took a minute before Ms. Shimmer faded into existence near the door. When he was about to welcome her, she held up a hand.

Seconds later, there was another flash of flame and Philomena joined them, bringing Princess Celestia with her. While the Phoenix settled down next to Fawkes and began exchanging quiet trills with him, his other two guests quickly approached and took seats opposite him.

The princess was the first to speak. "Given the matter at hoof, I suggest we skip the pleasantries. We've been able to identify the dark magic surrounding your professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Albus nodded. "Indeed. I actually managed to do the same only a few minutes ago. I agree that this is a matter of utmost importance."

Ms. Shimmer looked between the two, confusion clear on her face. "Uhh, mind cluing me in on exactly what we found out?"

The princess looked a bit embarrassed all of a sudden. "Oh my, I didn't explain, did I?" Her expression became serious once more. "Souls, Sunset. Some of the darkest magicians in Equestrian history focused their research on that subject."

"And in human history as well," Albus added. "And as it happens, the dark magic you detected around Professor Quirrell is a fragment of a soul."

"A dominant fragment, to be exact."

Albus looked to the princess. "Pardon?"

"The spell I sent Sunset was meant not only to identify a soul fragment, but also to discern if it was a dominant one. A soul can, theoretically, be split into several parts, but only one of them can ever be fully sentient. That part is called the dominant fragment. And such a thing is what we have at hoof here."

Albus' mind was running wild with the implications of what he was hearing. Of course he knew that only one part of a split soul could be truly conscious, but the Equestrian spell was, apparently, capable of identifying that. Something his spell couldn't. So Tom had found a host in Quirinus. That was problematic. He didn't have an agent in Hogwarts. He himself was here. Still, he had to focus on the here and now. Perhaps, the princess would have a suggestion. "Do you have an option in mind on how to solve this issue."

She nodded. "I do. This isn't the first time I've had to deal with a parasitic soul fragment. In the past that may have been an issue, but, after the first few times, we found a solution that should work here. I'll commission the archmage to construct a soul trap."

"Pardon?"

"A device, highly complex in nature, involving incredibly complex magic, that can trap and capture a soul, or fragment thereof, that isn't in its natural body. The process of creating one is time consuming so the most complicated part of the process will likely be ensuring that we do not tip our hoof until the trap is finished."

Albus was intrigued now. "How long exactly would you expect the process to take?"

"At least two months, maybe three. The process involves acquiring several rare minerals and combining them using complex spells and rituals. Some of the latter can only be completed in certain time frames and under specific conditions. Still, we are fortunate. Normally, just sourcing those materials, or the work towards creating the trap itself could tip off the host of the fragment, but since all of that will take place in Equestria, there is no risk of that. If there was, I would calculate at least half a year."

"That does indeed sound promising. Once it is completed, what will be required to use it?"

"We will need a place to set it up. Once it is, we need some way of ensuring the host remains within range for a sufficient time so it can activate. At that point, the main issue is assuring that nopony else interferes with the process. That could be catastrophic."

"So we need an out of the way place to set it up and something to bait the trap as it were. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Of course, though I must ask, do you have any idea as to the identity of the soul fragment in question?"

Albus sighed. He had known this was coming. "I do actually. And I must ask you, both of you, to not share this information with others." The two shared a glance, but nodded. "Very well. I take it Miss Shimmer informed you of the recent history of Wizarding Britain?"

"Ah, I see. A dark wizard claiming to be immortal, supposedly killed by his own curse being reflected back at him. Yes that makes sense."

"Indeed, I suspect the one we are dealing with here is none other that Tom Riddle or, as he likes to call himself, Lord Voldemort. I had my suspicions before, but now I have proof. The soul clinging onto Professor Quirrell is clearly not whole. He has created a horcrux. Potentially several."

"Just to be sure I understand you correctly, what you call a horcrux is a fragment of a soul bound to a physical object by powerful dark magic, correct?" He nodded. "I see, we call them soul anchors. I will have to see what we can do about locating and destroying those in time. But for now we should focus on the issue at hoof. Do you have any idea what this wizard could want here?"

"I do. Undoubtedly he is here for the Philosopher's Stone."

"Oh is that what that cerberus on the third floor is guarding?"

Albus sighed. "Among other things, yes. How do you know about him?"

"Went to the third floor, found the door and used a scrying spell to look behind it. Hmm. He's only been here since this summer so..." She gasped. "That's what Hagrid was picking up from Gringotts, isn't it?"

"Again, yes."

"And Professor Quirrell was in the Leaky Cauldron that day. And later the same day someone broke into the vault where the stone had been kept. Only Hagrid had it by then. That was probably him too."

"I ... hadn't considered that, but that does indeed sound likely. Well, if anything, that just confirms my suspicions. It would seem we've found our bait. The stone is already hidden in a place where no one would accidentally stumble across it, so we needn't worry about anyone interrupting. I think I also have an idea to occupy him for long enough. I'll have to investigate that."

The princess nodded. "Very well, you'll have time to do that while I get the trap ready. Just make sure he doesn't reach the stone until then."

"Hmm, yes. I may need to acquire Severus' help in making sure he doesn't. He has seemed suspicious of Quirinus for a while now."

"If you think it worth the risk of involving him. It would be advisable to keep the number of ponies that now of our plans limited."

Albus nodded. "I agree. And I don't intend to tell Severus about the trap until after it is at least set up."

The princess nodded. "Very well. If that is all, I need to set up a meeting with the archmage."

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

"When the trap is sprung, what effect will it have on Quirinus?"

"Well, forcibly removing a parasitic soul fragment will cause some damage to his soul, there is no way around that. As a result, his magic will be weakened for a while, severely so at the start. Beyond that, he shouldn't suffer any long term consequences. Of course, the lack of side effects from the possession indicates that he is hosting the fragment willingly. That doesn't bode well for his loyalties."

"Naturally, but I will rest easier knowing that we don't have a death trap in the castle, just waiting to be sprung."

"Understandable. Good night, Headmaster Dumbledore. Philomena, if you would?"

With a gentle trill, Philomena flew over from beside Fawkes and landed on the princess' outstretched arm. In a flash of fire, the both of them vanished.

Albus turned back to the girl still remaining in the room. "I take it it goes without saying that everything discussed in this meeting should remain strictly confidential?"

Ms. Shimmer nodded. "Obviously. Don't worry, I won't risk tipping him off." She scratched the back of her head, clearly a bit sheepish. "That being said, I did already warn my classmates about him and word kinda got out. So now, pretty much all of Gryffindor is a bit suspicious of him. I don't know how well they'll be able to hide it."

Albus sighed. "Ah well, nothing that can be done about that. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'll write you a pass so you can get back to Gryffindor Tower-"

"Or I could just teleport."

"Or you could do that. Hmm, the new wards are supposed to prevent that."

"Well they're better, certainly. No comparison to what there was before, but they can't stop me. Mind you, I myself couldn't create a phasic ward I couldn't bypass. I could make one that would take me minutes to get past, but not one that could stop me for good."

"I see. Would you be averse to helping with the wards at some point?"

"Sure. These wards are, what? A thousand years old? And how long since they were last upgraded? There's bound to be some improvements we can make. From either world."

"Hmm, I do believe the last time the wards were upgraded was when modified muggle repelling charms were added in accordance with the Statute of Secrecy in 1689. I suppose the wards are a bit overdue for a full upgrade. Anyways, I do believe it is time for you to head to bed. Wouldn't you agree?"

Ms. Shimmer yawned quietly. "You have a point there. Good night, Professor."

"Good night, Miss Shimmer."

With a soft wavering of the air, his second guest of the evening disappeared.

Albus leaned back in his chair, considering what he had learned tonight and what he would do next. First thing tomorrow he would have to have a talk with Severus. Keeping an eye on Quirinus had become a vital priority.

After that, he would have to ensure that the stone was safe. First, he would have to remove Quirinus' own protection. The man had no doubt made sure he could easily defeat or bypass it. Then he would need to find a way to replace it. Maybe Aurora or Septima could provide one.

There was work to do.

54 - Research and Development

Chapter Fifty-Four

Research and Development

After the revelations of the previous day, Sunset used Tuesday mostly to relax. There was still one thing she needed to prepare for the following day, however. Using all her knowledge of masking spell matrices and of the magic used in this world, she designed a short range tracking spell that was almost impossible to detect, especially for local magicians that weren't even looking for it. She would place it on Quirrell to ensure he came nowhere the stone without her knowledge.

With that spell ready to be placed on the teacher during their D.A.D.A. lesson the next day, she could once more get to her personal projects. It just so happened that the following day would also include a lesson of Astronomy. In her first lesson, she had vowed to find a spell to improve her eyesight for that very purpose, but thus far she had always been too busy.

Conjuring a hoof – no, hand, she still slipped into pony terminology on occasion – mirror, she got to work. She still remembered that she, first of all, needed to find a way for the charm to not make her eyes glow. Introducing light pollution was the last thing she wanted.

She went through a range of scanning charms. Aura sight, dark vision, enhanced perception, medical scans and any others she could think off. No luck. Each and every one lit up her eyes with either the teal of her regular magic or the pale gold of her still recovering light magic.

That was another item on her to-do list, finding a way to kill dementors. For a moment she was stunned by the revelation that she was calmly contemplating ways to kill. Then she reminded herself that dementors weren't alive and she'd been trained to kill undead for years.

Still, none of that was a solution to her immediate problem. Lacking a scanning spell that didn't make her eyes glow, she would have to find one that suited her purposes and suppress the glow manually. It would be a bit of a hassle, but that was life.

Both Harry and Luna, fortunately, were in the common room with her and quite willing to let her scan their respective eyes to copy their improved perception of detail and increased reception of light respectively. Both of them were partly based on biological structures she had no hope of copying, but she could replicate the magical parts of their abilities.

It took a few hours, but in due time the first prototype of her spell was ready to be tested. Standing atop Gryffindor tower, she stared out into the still young night, looking out onto the school grounds, reasonably impressed.

To her normal vision, the school grounds were dark, but the moment she fired up her spell, she could see most of them quite clearly, using nothing more than the light coming from the castle windows. Seeing how making out singular leaves and needles in the trees of the forbidden forest was also remarkably easy, she was confident that the spell would work to her satisfaction.

Conjuring her mirror once more, she sighed. Now came the tricky part. Suppressing the glow in her eyes.

Copied from natural mechanisms as it was, the spell didn't cause a glow anywhere near as strong as those she had tried earlier, Neither Harry's nor Luna's eyes glowed, after all, but it was still an intentional use of her magic and, as such, caused a glow.

She would need to find a solution, preferably before the next day's Astronomy lesson.

Dismissing both spells, she made her way back downstairs and sat back down in the common room, looking at the spell matrix diagrams carefully, there was a magic run-off causing the light somewhere. She just had to find it.

《What're you working on, sis?》

Sunset turned to see Hermione leaning on the backrest of her armchair, looking over her shoulder at the complicated diagrams. 《Just trying to find the run-off. It's better than what I had before, but my eyes still glow when I use it.》

《Hmm, can you show me what you have so far?》

《Sure.》Like so many times before, the two took each other's hands and guided a bit of magic into them. As usual, their eyes widened a little as the spark of magic opened up the familiar connection.

Both of them took a moment to enjoy the comfort, then they both returned their gazes to the papers on the table. With the connection between them, Hermione could see the diagrams as Sunset did, and Sunset, equally, shared in the insight of her sister.

Neither of them knew exactly where the idea came from, if it was Sunset's, Hermione's, or emerged from the link they shared, but regardless, both of them suddenly grew excited as they accessed Sunset's knowledge of Equestrian illusions. More specifically, invisibility spells.

Sure enough, there were run-offs in those spells too, but they didn't cause the caster to glow. That would, after all, somewhat defeat the point of an invisibility spell.

The emitted light was masked, not suppressed, but hidden. Once they understood how, it was child's play to apply the same masking to Sunset's new spell.

"So, how's it going?"

Both of them were startled from their triumph and lost focus on their connection. After a few seconds to recover from the shock of being once more alone in her own mind, Sunset turned to see who had interrupted. Harry and Luna were looking at them with curious expressions.

"Oh it's going alright. I think. Sorry, usually we're a bit more careful about disconnecting."

"Oh were you doing your sister connection thing?" Harry, just like Luna, understood what she was talking about, both at the Burrow and in Equestria they had seen Sunset and Hermione link like this several times. Apparently it was a bit disorienting to lose connection so suddenly.

"Ugh. Who? Where?" Hermione, evidently, was a more shaken than Sunset was. The two looked at each other. "Oh, sis. Wait, sis? Something isn't right here. Am I you? Or me?"

Sunset was now also staring at Hermione. "I'm ... not sure. But I think we can sort it out." She held her hand out to Hermione, glowing with magic. After a moment's hesitation, Hermione took it in her own and activated her own magic to open the connection. After a moment, the glow around their hands faded again and they let go.

They both turned to Harry and Luna. Sunset moved to explain. "There we go, that's better. I think when you startled us out of our connection, we were a bit too interwoven, so parts of my personality got stuck in Hermione and parts of hers got stuck in me. Good thing reconnecting fixed it."

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. Good to know it's that easy to fix. Still though, that was very confusing. We should probably make sure we don't get interrupted next time."

"Probably, yeah. Anyway, the spell should be ready to test out now, but it's a bit bright in here for that."

"Yes," Luna agreed, "it takes me five minutes every morning to let my eyes adapt."

Hermione looked at her with a stunned expression. "Oh so that's why you do that!"

"Time is up. Each of you fill a sample bottle with your potion in its current form and place it on my desk, then you may pack your things and leave. Miss Shimmer, I would like a word with you."

Sunset leaned against the wall to wait until the remaining students had filed out of the room. Her telekinesis had made cleaning up and packing her things as trivial as it was quick.

Finally the last Slytherin, Vincent Crabbe, she noticed, left the room with a glance back at her, leaving her alone with Professor Snape. "I must say, Miss Shimmer, your device, what was it you called it?"

"The portable hearth, professor."

"Right. Your portable hearth is working fantastically. I have already managed to successfully brew three potions that were previously only theoretically possible. I have also spoken with a few other potion masters, acquaintances of mine, and they have confirmed that they would buy such a device should it become available. Only advanced potion masters would, mind you, so it would be a niche market, but if you can refine the design, it should sell regardless. Both in wizarding Britain and beyond."

Sunset nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose that's true. Is there any issue you noticed, anything you thought of?"

"Perhaps. The potions I have tried here were exceptions, most potions that are advanced enough to require such fine regulation of temperature take weeks or even months to brew. In Hogwarts that isn't an issue, but in other places it might become a problem."

"You're worried it might run out of charge. Possible I suppose?"

"What would happen if one tried to recharge the device while it is running?"

Sunset rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "A sudden power spike might carry through to the fire, cause a sudden increase in temperature. I'll see if I can find a way around that. Did you notice anything else?"

"No. Everything seems to be working as expected. A simpler variant might also be appropriate for amateurs. Your device is far more convenient than a regular fire. I can't count the number of times students messed up a potion because they were too distracted by the fire they needed to take care of."

"I'll see if I can make a simpler version. Thank you, professor."

With a nod, Snape dismissed her. She picked up her bag in her telekinesis and let it float over to her, before walking out of the room.

"Oh. Miss Shimmer!" At the door, she was stopped by the teacher's voice.

"Yes, professor?"

"Your work is remarkable. Fifteen points to Gryffindor."

"There you are sis, what did Professor Snape want?"

Sunset sat down at the table next to Hermione with a relaxed smile. "He just gave me some feedback on the hearth. I'll have to see if I can incorporate it. I need to finalize the design anyway."

"If you need any help with that, I'm pretty good with visual design."

"Thanks Dean. That would be helpful."

"No problem. I'd like to know what exactly you did anyway. All I saw was that you were messing around with a bunch of electronics and using a wand as a soldering iron."

"A what?"

All eyes turned to Seamus who was looking at Dean in confusion. "It's a tool muggles use to melt metal and build electronics," Hermione explained.

"That's that stuff that doesn't work around Hogwarts, right?"

"Except when it does," Sunset confirmed with a snort. "It really isn't too hard to make it work anyway. You just need to know what kind of interference the magic around here causes and how to filter it out. That's it."

"I literally understood none of that."

Ron shook his head. "Me neither."

"I think it's because we were raised by magical parents," Luna helpfully pointed out.

"Possible," Harry admitted, "I think I understood some of that. At least the words sound familiar."

Hermione sighed while Sunset just chuckled lightly. "I can show you later. Let's eat for now."

After a quick demonstration of the electromagnetic disturbance caused by the plentiful magic around Hogwarts and an explanation of its effects on electronics, the group sat down in a corner of the common room around a table where Sunset projected an illusion of the prototype hearth and its control device. The table itself was covered in papers, both the blueprints for the devices themselves, but also the schemes for the various enchantments and plans for the electronic circuits in the control device.

Sunset looked at the plans, then let the illusions of the outer covers on both devices fade, showing the internal systems. "Now hold on. I need to modify this so it can be safely charged while it's on." After a moment, she let the illusory control device fade to focus on the hearth itself. "Don't need that, the charge can't get through the link. Only need to worry about this. Now if I move the charging port to be over here, I can connect it to the other side of the internal reservoir, then the reservoir itself should work as a buffer and stop any spikes."

She quickly drew the modifications into the blueprints with pencil held in her magic and restored the illusions to completion. "Now, any ideas?"

Dean leaned closer to the illusions. "Maybe add a ring on top of those spikes, would probably make it easier to place a cauldron on it."

"But that would trap the hot air and mess with the temperature, wouldn't it?"

Sunset glanced at Hermione. "It would, but if we put a profile on the ring that leaves gaps between it and the cauldron for the heat to escape, we can get around that." She quickly added just such a ring to the design. "Any idea on visuals?"

Dean quickly grabbed an empty piece of parchment and the pencil Sunset had dropped and started to draw. After a moment he held up a sketch. How about rounded edges and corners? Like a playing dice cut in half.

Sunset looked at the sketch, then reshaped the illusory hearth to match. Harry nodded. "I like it, maybe a matte white colour?" The illusion changed again. "Yeah like that."

Luna spoke up next. "Could you make it so the flame can change colour? That could indicate how hot it is."

Sunset nodded slowly. "I think I can make that happen. Yes."

Ron looked at the control device for a moment. "Could you move that illusion so it's on the table. At the edge where you'd place it?"

The illusion moved. Ron got up and stood next to it, mimicking the motions of fiddling with the controls. "Maybe tilt this a bit."

"And put a frame around the glass cover," Dean added.

Sunset nodded. "Would make it easier to mount the hinges. Let's also round off the corners to match the hearth itself. There we go. Any other ideas?"

Nothing.

"Good. Then give me just a moment to copy this into the blueprints. Then I'll get to figuring out how to make the color of the flame change depending on temperature."

Dean tossed the pencil over. She caught it in her magic and got to editing the blueprints.

55 - Strength

Chapter Fifty-Five

Strength

Sunset still wanted to go over her modifications to the spells for the portable hearth with Twilight and the Princess, but, in the evening, it had simply been too late and she had been too tired. She would find the time tonight.

Breakfast was mostly business as usual, though the Gryffindor Firsties were all throwing ideas around, suggesting that other muggle technology could improve magic, or be improved by it. Half way through their meal, as usual, the morning mail arrived.

Sunset was quite surprised to see an owl land before her.

Seeing the note tied to one leg, with a small metal band bearing Hogwarts' coat of arms tied to the other, only confused her further. Seeing no point in guessing games, she magically untied the note from the owls leg and sent it back on its way with a gentle stroke along its back. Then, she unrolled the note and began to read.

Sunset Shimmer,
I have thought about your offer. It took me
a while to decide. But I have decided to
accept. If your offer still stands, I would
like to learn how to better use my strength
Draco and Gregory might not agree, but
I think they will come around in time.
For now though, I think it would be best
if they didn't know about this. So, if you
could find a subtle way of answering, that
would be great.
Thanks either way,
Vincent Crabbe

From the way it was written, it was clear that he had copied the message from somewhere else. He had probably spent quite a while formulating it. Looking across the hall, she saw him sneaking peeks at her every so often. She rubbed her chin, thinking about how to answer, then smiled as an idea hit her.

Subtly drawing her wand, she covertly cast a spell. Then she whispered, "sit tight, I'll be in touch," knowing that the magic would carry her voice across the hall to his ears. And to his ears alone.

When Hermione gave her a confused look, she simply stowed her wand and held out her hand. Hermione quickly took it in her own hand, lit up just the same. A few seconds later, she let go, having read the message and understanding Sunset's response.

Half an hour later, Sunset sat down in the common room and took out two pieces of parchment, identical in every way. She placed both of them on the table before her, then laid out the tip of her wand on the corner of one.

Watching her, Harry noticed that a network of lines was spreading out from where the wand touched the page. Using his new-found ability to zoom, he took a closer look at the page and recognized it as an enchantment array very similar to the ones she had used to link his journal with hers on the train to Little Whinging, though combining elements from all four of them with others he didn't recognize.

After about a minute, much faster than it had been to even create one of the arrays for the old enchantment by hand, Sunset took her wand off the page and placed it in the same spot on the second piece of parchment, creating the same array there.

Once that was done as well, she placed her hands on both arrays and energized them, feeling them link together. Once she was certain they were linked, she added a few smaller, simpler enchantments, making sure to link them into the first.

Finally, she rolled both of them up and placed them in her pocket, each tied together with a small ribbon.

A flash of flame announced Sunset's and Philomena's arrival in the Royal Palace of Canterlot. When Philomena settled on her back, Sunset made her way along the hallways towards her destination. It was easy for her to locate the familiar and powerful signature of Princess Celestia. The smaller signature beside it, also familiar, confirmed that she had arrived just in time.

"What's going on, Princess? Didn't you say we'd have a special project today?"

"We do. You'll just have to wait a moment. I'm sure she'll be here any minute now."

Sunset cast a quick spell to muffle her hooffalls as she continued to listen in.

"She? Who? Do I know her?"

"You do."

"Oh, who is it?"

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

"Oh, I don't think she will."

Dropping her spell, Sunset calmly approached the two as they spun around to face her. The effect was immediate.

"Sunset!"

The filly in question jumped back a little as Twilight suddenly flashed into existence so close before her their muzzles were nearly touching. She recovered quickly though and the both of them quickly hugged, happy to see each other again after not having met for two whole months.

"It's good to see you again, My Little Sun. It's been too long since I've seen you as a pony."

Sunset let go of Twilight and moved to enclose the princess in a hug next. "It has, hasn't it?"

"Indeed. Now, I think you mentioned a special project?"

With a chuckle, Sunset let go, flowing seamlessly into her human form and reaching into her bag to pull out the spell schemata for the hearth and its control device. "I've come up with a bit of a device and some of my friends suggested some changes to the enchantments. I wanted someone else with magical experience checking them over."

Both she and the princess were distracted by Twilight looking at the plans with wide eyes. She pointed at some of the writing. "What's that say?"

Sunset reverted to pony form and scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "Oh yeah, we never did teach you English, did we?"

"That won't be a problem." Both of them turned to the princess who had lit her horn and was now touching it to Twilight's forehead. "There you go."

Sunset watched as Twilight turned back to the plans, now studying them in more detail, showing no sign of the slight headaches that were always a side effect when she cast that particular spell. It was mildly frustrating that she couldn't tell if the Princess had found some way around that, or if Twilight was simply ignoring them.

"Oh, you used their technology to control the enchantments. That's clever."

With a chuckle, Sunset and Celestia joined Twilight in going over the plans.

Stroking a finger over Philomena's feathers to disguise her once more, Sunset made her way down the stairs to her dorm. It had been a few hours since she had left for Equestria and it was, technically, past curfew. Still, strictly speaking, she wasn't outside of Gryffindor tower, so that wasn't much of an issue, as even first years had no official 'lights out' time.

As such, she calmly made her way over to her bed and sat down on it. Before she went to sleep, there was one more thing she needed to do. She absently pulled her fountain pen and a piece of parchment out of her pocket and began to telekinetically write out a small message. In the meantime, she pulled out one of the rolled up pages she had enchanted earlier.

By the time she had drawn her wand, the short missive was done. She put down the pen and touched her wand onto the paper, imbuing it with a spell. Finally, she unfurled the other page, placed the two of them together and rolled them back up, before retying the ribbon.

Upon a quick mental prompt, Philomena touched a feather to the rolled up papers and sent them away.

Not expecting a reaction until the morning, Sunset went to bed. It was the weekend and she could afford to sleep longer. It wasn't likely, but she could try.

Vincent Crabbe awoke from a troubled sleep. At some point, not too long after he had gone to bed, something had disturbed his slumber. Afterward, he simply couldn't find proper sleep anymore. As such, he woke up exceptionally early for a Sunday.

The moment he sat up in his bed, he noticed the scroll lying beside him. It must have arrived and hit him while he slept. That would at least account for what had interrupted his slumber. Curious, he unrolled the parchment, finding a second page rolled up within. Unfurling it, he began to read.

Vincent,
I would gladly teach you. To be honest,
it would be a great excuse to get back to
training myself. To help secretly keep in
touch, I've enchanted the other piece of
parchment to mimic a matching one I am
keeping. Anything either of us writes, will
be mirrored on the other's sheet and vanish
after a few minutes or when the paper is
tapped with a wand.
This way we can keep contact without your
housemates' knowledge. Once you're done
reading this, tap it with your wand three times.
Just make sure to do so on a fireproof surface.
Sunset

Sparing a curious look at the second piece of parchment, he placed the message on a tray on his bedside table, probably left there by a house elf. Drawing his wand, he tapped it three times. The message promptly burst into flames, burning up within a few seconds and not even leaving ash behind.

He couldn't quite hide his smirk. All this secrecy was actually kind of exciting. Pulling out a quill, he reached for the second piece of parchment and began to write.

Sunset?

For a few moments, nothing happened, then words began to form, written by another's hand.

Ah, good morning Vincent. I see you found my little gift. Good. Now I can explain the rest.

Rest?

Yes. Tap this piece of parchment with your wand and channel a bit of magic into it. Hold that for five seconds.

Mildly confused, he held his wand onto the page and did as told. After the specified time, the page begins to glow slightly and he could feel something at the back of his mind.

Woah. What was that?

That was the spells I put on this thing linking to you. Now you'll always see the page glow slightly. That way you can't confuse it with another one. And you'll get a mental alarm when I write you.

Cool. We should probably figure out when we can train, but I really don't want to do that while the others are in the dorm with me. I'll write again.

Sure thing. I'll clear the messages now.

He watched as the messages they had exchanged vanished, then placed the once more spotless page in his school utensils.

The early afternoon sun shone over the grounds as he approached the lake. It was a bit strange walking across the school grounds alone, he was used to following Draco around, after all. Still, he thought to himself, it's quite relaxing, isn't it?

Before long, he reached the small group of trees by the lake that was to be the meeting point. He looked around, trying to find red and blonde hair between the trees. Then he felt it.

Magic.

The world around him shifted. It warped and changed and before two seconds had passed, he stood in a circular room. A large, equally circular mat in the center of the room covered most of the floor. It didn't take long before he noticed that something was decidedly off about the place.

The proportions were all wrong. The windows were of the same style he was used to seeing all throughout Hogwarts, but, while they were of the usual height, they were far too wide. The stones in the walls also seemed far too wide, but no higher than anywhere else in Hogwarts.

"Don't worry about the room. I've expanded it. It would be too small otherwise."

He spun around to face Sunset just as she faded into existence. "How-"

"I teleported us up here when you arrived. I was waiting under an invisibility spell, this hair isn't exactly hard to spot."

"Where are we?"

"A chamber in one of the unused towers. You wouldn't believe how many of those this place has. Don't worry, I've hidden the entrance. A professor might stumble over it on accident, but no student who doesn't know what they're looking for would find it. Your housemates won't have a clue."

"How do you know so much magic?"

She shook her head. "Long story. Another time, maybe. For now, I'd say we get some training in. What I used in the train was something called Aikido. It's a martial art developed by muggles in Asia a few hundred years ago."

"I don't need anything made by muggles."

She raised a brow. "And yet you took a train to come to the castle where you'll be taught magic. You write on parchment with quills and I could name dozens of other examples. You may not really need any of them, but they're convenient to use anyway. I don't know about you, but I don't think a misguided ideology born of some long dead wizards' paranoia and superiority complexes is a good reason not to make use of something that makes life more convenient."

"But ... I ..."

She sat down on a cushion at the edge of the room. "Think about it. Why did you just say that? What makes you believe that? Do you have any actual reason? Or do you just believe that because it's all you've ever been told?"

He flopped down on a cushion next to hers, thinking back. It was what he'd always been told. That he was pure. That that made him better than half bloods or mudbloods. That they were beneath him. But had he actually seen any of that? It had to be true. Right?

He thought about it, thought harder than he had in his entire time at the school. Malfoy didn't keep him around to think. He kept him around to do as he was told. That wasn't normal either, was it? The more he thought about it, the more he found reality didn't match his image of it. "Why?" he finally whispered after a good ten minutes of silence in which she simply sat there, watching him with a sad smile. "Why do I believe these things?"

"Because they are all you were ever told."

"Why did they tell me that?"

"Because they believe it too."

"But why?"

She sighed. "Because they were indoctrinated into believing it, just as you were. But it isn't actually true. Is it?"

Once more, he fell silent. Thinking. He wanted to believe that it was true. But it wasn't, was it? If it was, there would be no such thing as squibs. If it was, his aunt would be able to use magic. And didn't the history his father taught him also mention a number of dangerous halfbloods and muggleborns? How could that happen if purebloods were superior? The more he thought about the entire ideology he had been brought up with, the less sense it made to him.

"No. It isn't. It's all lies."

She nodded softly. "Lies that have been fed to innocent children for generations." Then she smiled. "But once you recognize them for what they are, they don't work so well anymore. Do they?"

"No. They don't."

"I'd understand if you want some time to think about it. We can train another-"

"No." He looked at her, conviction burning in his eyes. "No. I came here to train. And I will. I can worry about that later."

For a moment, she looked at him carefully, with narrowed eyes. Then she broke into a wide grin.

"Alright. Let's train."

56 - Game

Chapter Fifty-Six

Game

Over the following week, Sunset secretly trained with Crabbe twice more, but, come the weekend, the two couldn't continue. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor training together was an unlikely scenario under the best of circumstances, but the day before their houses would face off in a Quidditch match, it was downright impossible.

To not jeopardize their new found friendship, they had agreed on Thursday to interrupt their training until the following week. Sunset found that, now that she had gotten to know the boy, he was more thoughtful than she had expected. How much of that was due to his recent revelations on the pureblood ideology she couldn't tell, but it was a pleasant surprise regardless.

He showed some talent for Aikido and an admirable willingness to learn, though she found that there was little stamina or control to support his raw strength. He would need to train that. As for her own abilities, she found that she was startlingly out of practice, though, after two months without partaking in the sport, perhaps it shouldn't have been. With her continued Parkour training, she was physically well in shape, but she kept making mistakes in her technique.

It was good that she was getting back to training.

Still, it was Saturday morning and the first Quidditch game of the year was coming up. As such, the gathered group, surrounding a somewhat nervous Harry, made their way to breakfast. With their memory charms long since having completed their work, the group was well familiar with the layout the castle liked to assume on Saturday mornings and found their way to the Great Hall easily.

The group had observed that Harry had a bit of a tendency to lose his appetite whenever he was nervous. That particular issue was now back with a vengeance. It took them awhile to get him to actually eat something before heading out onto the grounds and towards the changing rooms the Quidditch team used.

They weren't entirely sure why he was so nervous. He was a fantastic seeker and the crisp November air did nothing to obscure his vision. After discussing the matter with the team he had actually agreed to wait for a few minutes to catch the snitch and just keep an eye on the Slytherin seeker until then.

It was probably just the effect of the entire school watching him play.

Before long, the rest of the group, along with, more or less, the entire school, left for the Quidditch pitch, leaving the castle mostly empty. Secretly acting as the relay for any correspondence between Professor Dumbledore and Princess Celestia left her in the know on the current state of their plans concerning Professor Quirrell. As such, she knew that the headmaster planned to use this opportunity to get rid of the original 'protection' the professor had put in place for the stone.

That the headmaster of Hogwarts rarely attended Quidditch games helped keep his absence from being conspicuous. In the meantime, it fell to her and Professor Snape to keep an eye on Quirrell in his absence. They doubted he would try anything in such a public venue, but there always was a chance.

As they settled on the stands, Sunset watched with some amusement as Hermione pulled a large, rolled-up banner from her bag. The paradoxical sight of something coming out of a bag it realistically had no business fitting into in the first place truly never got old.

Between training with Crabbe, refining and finalizing the design for the hearth, starting the design for a simplified version of the same and helping them keep their little project a secret from Harry, often by distracting him and keeping him occupied elsewhere, Sunset hadn't actively participated in the creation of their surprise for Harry, but Hermione had kept her updated.

Still, it was the first time she actually got to see the large banner reading 'Potter for President!' with a stylized Gryffindor lion, courtesy of Dean, set beneath it. It wasn't the first time she found herself shaking her head at the odd sense of humor humans seemed to display from time to time. Her eyes flashed over the field to the distant Professor Quirrell. He looked innocent enough, but she knew better.

Her thoughts were interrupted when, to loud cheers, the two teams walked out onto the pitch.

As was traditional, the teams were headed by their captains. Then came the three chasers in Gryffindors' case or the remaining two chasers for Slytherin followed by their keeper. Next in line were the beaters followed, finally, by Terence Higgs for the Slytherins and none other than Harry for Gryffindor. The seekers.

Under the watchful eyes of Madam Hooch, Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain, engaged in a swift match of who could more readily squeeze the other's hand and make it look like they were amicably shaking them. Flint had an advantage on the first part, while Wood clearly had him beat on the second.

Over the roar of the crowd, the call of 'Mount your Brooms!' went unheard, but Sunset managed to glean its meaning by reading the referee's lips. The shrill of her whistle was much easier to hear and sent the fourteen players racing skywards. Madam Hooch pointed her wand at the chest holding the game's four balls, prompting it to release its payload, before taking to the skies herself.

As she watched the game, Sunset had to smirk several times, listening to the commentary provided by Lee Jordan, a friend of the twins. She kept an eye on the game while switching her attention between keeping an eye on Harry and Quirrell.

Soon enough, the stands broke into cheers when Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor chasers, managed to make her way past the Slytherin defenses and score a goal. She couldn't help an amused chuckle escaping her when she noticed Harry flying several loops to celebrate before going back to watching the game far below him and keeping an eye on Higgs, his Slytherin counterpart.

On the stands behind the group there was suddenly a commotion and they turned to see that Hagrid was making his way towards the group, sitting down beside them with a pair of binoculars. "Bin watchin' from me hut," he explained. "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," Ron replied readily.

"Mind you," Ginny added, "Harry probably knows where it is, but he's giving the game some time to play out. Would ruin everyone's fun if he immediately caught it."

"'Is eyes are that good?"

"Jup."

"Huh. Been keepin' outta trouble though." He turned back towards Harry and the game.

Harry's watchfulness was soon rewarded when he spotted the snitch headed for Adrian Pucey. The Slytherin chaser was currently in possession of the Quaffle. If the snitch came close to him, it was sure to be noticed. He was right. Nearly everyone, including Lee Jordan, noticed the flash of gold and Higgs began surging towards it. The Slytherin seeker was much closer, but he had to work against gravity, while Harry, high above, had a head start and a vastly superior broom.

Focused on the snitch as he was, however, he didn't notice Marcus Flint flying into his path until it was too late. He just barely managed to avoid a mid-air collision, but the quick change in course meant that he was nearly thrown off of his broom. Still, he managed to stabilize himself and pull up in the time it took Madam Hooch to berate Flint and give Gryffindor a free shot.

Alicia Spinet turned the chance into another ten points for Gryffindor while her housemates in the stands were still rather vocally angry at Flint. A bludger, meanwhile thought to go after Harry. He dodged it easily, but seconds later, his broom gave a disquieting lurch.

Sunset's eyes widened and she lit them with magic a second later. Recognizing the dark spell, she let the teal glow fade and replaced it with pale gold. It came as no surprise that the spell came from Quirrell.

Professor Snape, evidently, had also noticed Quirrell's hex, but he was too busy keeping Harry's broom from throwing the boy off to do anything about Quirrell himself.

Sunset wasn't worried that Quirrell's ploy might hurt Harry, he could simply transform and fly under his own power, after all, but Quirrell didn't know that and she would prefer to keep it that way. Still, she couldn't afford to tip her hand, and a random first year thwarting his efforts was sure to do that.

She needed to be subtle.

Drawing her wand, she pointed it at Quirrell and focused. It took her a moment to form the spell and mask it, so no one would see a flash of light whizzing across the stadium. Finally, she aimed her spell and fired. Both Quirrell and the soul fragment were fully focused on Harry, she was glad to notice, so her spell had not aroused their attention. She went to put her plan into action.

After nearly a minute, Harry had drawn some attention from the stands, but Sunset was ready and started slowly supplying power to the spell. A sudden yawn from Quirrell told her it was working.

Moments later, he collapsed on the teachers' stands, fast asleep.

When Professor Snape stowed his wand and shot her a glance, she simply gave him a wink in return and went back to watching the game.

Harry took a moment to reassert his position on his broom, then, apparently, decided to end the game and dove down.

Thirty seconds later, the game was over and Gryffindor had won.

Despite being built to accommodate Hagrid's gigantic frame, the groundskeeper's hut on the grounds of Hogwarts got a little cramped when filled with not only its usual inhabitant, but also Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sunset, Ginny and Neville. Luna, Dean and Seamus had gone back to the castle to help with the preparations for the inevitable celebration in the common room.

"It was Snape."

"It wasn't Snape. Why would he do something like this Hermione?"

"I don't know, but I saw him do it."

Sunset pushed off the wall she was leaning against and walked over to where Hermione and Harry were arguing. "It wasn't Snape, sis."

"What? Not you too. I saw him do it."

"No you didn't. You saw him cast a counter curse. Takes the same level of focus and concentration."

"But ... if he didn't cast it, then who did?"

Sunset sighed and enclosed Hermione in a hug. "I wish I could tell you," she whispered into her sister's ear. "But we can't risk tipping him off and I know you have a terrible poker face."

"What are you two whispering there?"

"Sunset knows who cast the curse, but she won't tell me."

Neville looked confused. "Why not?"

"She says she can't risk tipping 'him' off."

"Really sis? Air-quotes?"

"What? You're the one being all mysterious."

"Hermione, I'm not doing this to be mysterious. We're trying to keep the number of people who know about this to a minimum."

"Settle down there. No need for fight'n."

Hagrid's comment went ignored. "And who is this 'we' then?"

"Professor Dumbledore, Princess Celestia and myself are the only ones who know everything. Professor Snape and the archmage of Canterlot each know a part of it."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Sorry sis."

The two of them hugged again. "It's alright. I don't like it either. But it's necessary. For now."

"Now that's better. 'Ere, have a cup o' tea."

"Thanks Hagrid."

As the group settled around the table, several of them sharing some of Hagrid's massive chairs, it was Ginny who spoke up next. "What you're planning wouldn't happen to have anything to do with whatever the cerberus on the third floor is guarding, would it?"

Hagrid's teapot would have dropped to the table had Harry, Hermione and Sunset not reacted to catch it in their combined magic. "How do you know of Fluffy."

Sunset stared at him for a moment before smirking. "Luna was right. He is yours."

"Course he is."

"Right. Not really much of a surprise I guess. And yes. Yes it does. The one we're after is trying to steal it. But it looks like he hasn't gotten past Fluffy yet."

"He's a good dog."

"Of course he is, Hagrid. Of course he is." Sunset stroked her chin. "Though I wonder if the weakness of a cerberus is common knowledge around here."

"And what weakness is that?"

After a moment, Sunset used the same whisper spell she had used on Crabbe. "Music."

"Huh. No. No it isn't. Woulda' gotten past him otherwise wouldn't 'e?"

"Well, yeah. I guess he would. If he could simply find the answer in a book he would have it by now."

"Why? Is that weakness common knowledge in Equestria? Whatever it is?"

"No sis, no it isn't." Though it doesn't hurt that none of the inmates in Tartarus can hold a tune.

57 - Winter

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Winter

As the weeks passed and Sunset continued her training with Vincent Crabbe, never twice on the same day or at the same time to avoid attention from the other Slytherins, the days grew progressively shorter – to a startling degree, Sunset found – and colder. In the process, they laid bare one of the major shortcomings of Hogwarts. The castle lacked both central heating and any thermal insulation to speak of.

In her comparative magic sessions with Professor Flitwick, she made it a point to bring the matter up and suggest that the coming rework of the castle's wards include isolation charms, if not a full suite of thermal regulation magic. To demonstrate, she placed the charms over the professor's office.

He then quickly requested a second demonstration. In the teachers' lounge. And he seemed to think he was being subtle.

Professor Dumbledore had, it seemed, informed both Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall of the coming rework of the wards. The headmaster had also requested that she come by between Christmas and the new year to help with her expertise of wards and Equestrian magic. Considering the promise of witnessing advanced Earthen magic for several days straight, it didn't take long before she agreed.

A few days into the month of December, the school woke up to find itself coated in snow. Sunset found herself covertly applying her thermal isolation wards to every room she found herself in. Magic wasn't technically allowed in the corridors, but that just meant she had to be more subtle.

She well understood the difference between not breaking the rules and breaking them without being caught doing it. One day, her sister would understand it as well.

The professors did an excellent job pretending not to notice.

A few days after the first snow, a message appeared before her in a flash of flame while she was sitting in the common room on a Friday evening. Long since used to it, she snatched it out of the air before it could fall and unfolded it, immediately recognizing Albus Dumbledore's handwriting.

Ms. Shimmer,

I asked the Headmaster to have Fawkes

deliver this message. I must urgently

request your presence in the medical

wing.

Poppy Pomfrey

Wondering what could be so urgent, Sunset got up, grabbed her bag and, with a few moments' focus, teleported to the medical wing.

"Ah, Miss Shimmer, there you are. Thank you for arriving so promptly. Mister Filch has been having headaches the entire day and claims they have gotten progressively worse. I called you because I'm not certain if it may be a side-effect of the treatment."

"I don't think 'side-effect' quite fits the bill, but please, show me." Nodding, Madam Pomfrey led her around a corner and to Mr. Filch. Lighting her eyes with magic, Sunset took a good look at the caretaker, then nodded. "Jup. As I thought. This isn't a side-effect. This is the effect." She turned to the man. "Congratulations Mister Filch, your magic should awaken soon. If you really had these headaches all day, it may only be a few minutes."

She turned back to the nurse. "The headaches are a result of the thaumic channels being fully clear and flooding with ambient magic. That prompts the body to start producing magic of its own. For a while after the process starts, the foreign magic causes dissonance with that produced by the magic, which causes the headaches. The first accidental use of magic causes the foreign magic to acclimatize to the user and synchronize with their innate magic, finalizing the treatment and stopping the headaches."

Mr. Filch suddenly took a deep breath. Recognizing the signs, Sunset readied her magic. When the aging man finally sneezed, only her hastily erected shield protected her and the nurse from the massive blast of air that accompanied it.

After a few seconds without a second blast, she lowered her shield and smiled at the man. "Congratulations Mr. Filch, your magic has awoken."

"Congratulations, Argus."

Filch simply remained seated on the bed where he had been the entire time. After a moment he closed his eyes with an entirely atypical, serene smile and took a deep breath. "So that's what it feels like when you have magic."

"Pardon?"

"All the years I have worked here, I found Hogwarts to have a very oppressive aura. Entirely unpleasant. I thought it was just a side effect of my jealousy, but the moment my magic awakened, it went away. Now I feel something different. It's pleasant. Welcoming almost."

Sunset looked at him with wide eyes. "The ambient magic. That ... that ... Oh my. That explains so much. Huh, I'll have to get in touch with Princess Celestia later. For now though, I think it would be time to inform the headmaster, wouldn't you agree?"

Pomfrey nodded. "Indeed. One moment, I'll let him know." She walked over to the fireplace, grabbed a pinch of powder and threw it into the flames. "Hogwarts, headmaster's office."

Sunset and Filch watched as she held her head into the crackling green flames for about half a minute before drawing it back and letting the flames return to their normal size and color. "He wants us to come through, follow me."

She quickly took another pinch of powder, repeated the address and stepped into the flames. Sunset and Filch quickly followed, the former landing with a lot more grace than the latter. Sunset spent a moment looking at the large cushion in front of the fireplace in bewilderment while the caretaker got up from it. Seconds later, it transformed back into the rug she remembered being in its place. Ohh ... Clever.

"Congratulations, Argus. Welcome among wizardkind."

"Thank you, Albus.

"Now then. I suppose we should discuss how we should go about going public with this. Any suggestions? Yes, Poppy?"

"I think it would be best to first break this news in healer circles. They can come by and check it over. I can also teach them the technique. I've had plenty of time to practice over the past few months, after all. Their support should prevent the public from declaring this a hoax."

Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, that would probably be best. I shall get in contact with the head healers of St. Mungo's. I will call you once I get an answer."

Madam Pomfrey looked at him for a short moment, then nodded and pointed at the fireplace. "May I?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. Have a pleasant evening. Hogwarts, medical wing."

Once the green light faded, Dumbledore turned back to the caretaker. "We will need to get you some training, but first, you will need a wand. We shall see about getting you one tomorrow. It will be good to see Garrick again." Suddenly, he seemed to recall that Sunset was still in the room. "Ah, yes, Miss Shimmer. Thank you for your aid."

"My pleasure. I really should have mentioned what the final stages of the treatment look like at some point."

"Ah yes. Would you mind giving us a summary of how the treatment works and what it does in written form? It would be an immense help in explaining it to the healers."

"Of course. I'll send it with Philomena."

"Thank you. And good night, Miss Shimmer."

"Good night headmaster, Mister Filch." With a crackle of static and a flash of teal, Sunset teleported back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Philomena?"

"Miss Shimmer's phoenix."

"She has a phoenix? Ohh. That's the eagle she always carries around with her, isn't it?"

"Indeed. Minerva advised her to keep that fact hidden for the time being."

On the Friday before most of the students would be returning home for the holidays, just as they were coming up from potions class and headed for the great hall, they found their path blocked by a massive fir tree.

The mildly annoyed grunting noises and the fact that the tree was shaking made it rather clear what was going on.

"Hey Hagrid," Ron called cheerfully as they came to a stop before the stubborn plant. "Need some help with that?"

"Nah, I'm alright. Thanks Ron," Hagrid replied with a merry chuckle.

"Would you mind moving out of the way?"

Several of the Gryffindors sighed more or less audibly as Malfoy, followed of course by Crabbe and Goyle came to a stop before the roadblock. All three were sporting annoyed expressions, though Crabbe's, to the careful observer, didn't appear to be directed at the tree or the gamekeeper behind it.

"Are you trying to earn some money on the side, Weasley? Hoping to be the gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose." Ron simply glared at Malfoy as he continued, a calming hand on his shoulders, courtesy of Hermione, holding him back from doing anything more. Luna was doing the same for Ginny who didn't seem to be any less hostile. "That hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Sunset and Harry simply stared at him with raised eyebrows and it wasn't long before the echoing footsteps of Professor Snape coming up the stairs behind them put an end to their little staring contest.

Malfoy and Goyle broke off and made their way through the tree, waving their arms wildly to bat away the branches and spreading needles over the ground in the process. Crabbe stayed behind a little longer, rolling his eyes with a glance at the other two, then gave an apologetic look to Ron and Ginny followed by a conspiratorial wink in Sunset's direction, which she returned with a sly smile.

Then he returned his attention to the tree, ducking beneath the tip just as Hagrid was lifting it up slightly. Not a single needle touched his robes.

"How long do you think it'll take those two to realize he isn't playing for their team anymore," Hermione idly wondered as they slowly followed Hagrid along the corridor towards the main stairway.

"Eh, give 'em a few more months and they'll come to the same realization he has." Sunset smiled proudly. "Ever since he started thinking for himself, he's become pretty good at subtlety. He's been subtly planting doubts whenever he's with them."

"Tha' was good, you two." Hagrid poked his bearded face out between the branches, smiling at Ron and Ginny. "Don' let 'im provoke yeh."

"We try," Ginny admitted with a sigh, "but it's hard. The things he says ... hit close to home."

"Guess they would. But now cheer up, it's nearly Christmas. Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall. Looks a treat."

And it did. The corridor led out onto the main staircase from where getting first to the Entry Hall, then to the Great Hall was trivial.

"Ah, Hagrid, the final tree. Put it in the corner over there, would you?"

As Hagrid plodded off to place the tree in the corner Professor McGonagall had indicated, the Gryffindor first-years looked throughout the festively decorated hall. It was a truly impressive sight. The tree Hagrid had just brought, now being decorated by Professor Flitwick, was the last of twelve towering Christmas trees. The walls were practically covered in Festoons of holly and mistletoe.

The main attraction, however, were clearly the trees themselves. Some were illuminated by hundreds of candles – with magical flames using a modified version of the spell she had helped Flitwick develop, Sunset noted – others were covered in glowing baubles, lit by a version of the Illumis charm she had taught the professor set to cycle through the colors automatically. Others again were covered in magical icicles that were not only made of real ice, but also, paradoxically, both weren't cold and didn't melt.

What they saw now were the preparations for the Holiday Feast the following evening, meaning they had only the remainder of the day and the entirety of Saturday left in Hogwarts, before riding the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross on Sunday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had, originally, intended to have their children stay in Hogwarts over the holidays and visit Charlie in Romania, but their visit to Equestria in the Summer had served as ample replacement for that, not to mention Sunset had relayed Philomena's offer to bring both their eldest sons home for the weekend.

Of course, they needed to be reminded of that. After all, it took a while to get used to the convenience of having a phoenix around. In return, Mrs. Weasley had insisted to invite not only Sunset and the Grangers, but also Harry and Sirius as well as Luna and her Father to come by for the Holidays. She did, it seemed, quite enjoy hosting large numbers of guests.

She had even asked if Twilight wanted to come over as well.

The answer to that question, obviously, had been a resounding yes. That Sunset and the Grangers were spending their Holidays in the Swiss alps to go skiing and that Harry, Sirius and Twilight were effectively living in Equestria was no hindrance to their plans, once more, thanks to Philomena.

On Saturday morning, a cold and snow covered Errol had brought Sunset a missive from Mrs. Weasley, asking if she would mind coming by in the afternoon. Seeing how she had agreed with Professor Flitwick to continue their comparative magic sessions in the new year, she had the time and let Philomena subtly flame over an answer that she would come by after lunch and bring Errol along. She had offered the poor old owl to take him along when she went rather than sending him to fly through the icy weather of the Scottish Highlands a second time. He had seemed most grateful and perched himself on her left shoulder exchanging friendly hoots and trills with Philomena on the right one.

When Sunset did come by the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley asked if she would terribly mind placing her improved expansion charms on the house. When Sunset asked why they hadn't long ago placed regular expansion charms on the building, she explained that that wasn't actually legal. The traditional expansion charm was under unduly strict regulation because of the Statute of Secrecy, most pureblood families only had expansion work done on their houses by virtue of having had them since before that law was put in place or because they knew which palms to grease to get around that law.

Sunset's spell, however, she explained, opened up a bit of a legal loophole, as the word of the law was written with one particular spell in mind and didn't account for the possibility of a second spell with the same purpose. By bringing her knowledge of the spell's Equestrian equivalent and creating her own, enhanced version combining the power of both, Sunset had, unintentionally, opened up a legal loophole none of the wizards in the know had seen fit to inform the ministry about just yet.

"Of course," she added, "once we do, there are even odds they'll just strike down that old law altogether. It's far stricter than it needs to be and it only covers things the Statute mandates anyway. To be honest I don't know why we even have the thing."

Of course, Sunset hadn't actually shared the spell schemata for her upgraded charm with anyone yet – an oversight she really needed to rectify in her next session with Professor Flitwick, she noted – and thus was the only one who could actually apply the new charms to the Burrow.

An hour of charmwork later – she was seriously getting quick with that spell – Sunset had expanded every room in the house save the attic of which, in retrospect, there were surprisingly many, and she was sharing a cup of tea with Mrs. Weasley in the newly expanded kitchen, chatting amicably.

Letting her gaze wander across the furniture that suddenly felt way to small and sparse for the no longer cramped kitchen, Sunset couldn't help but frown a little. "Say, how are you going to adjust all the furniture for having so much more room?"

"Huh?" Mrs. Weasley let her gaze travel around the room. "Oh, don't worry. Arthur and I will have a good bit of work to do when he comes home later until we come fetch the boys and Ginny tomorrow afternoon, but don't worry. We'll manage. Making quick adjustments to the Burrow when needed is practically a family tradition at this point. That reminds me, shouldn't you be heading back soon?"

Sunset absently used a spell to check on the time and found that, indeed, she really should be getting back to Hogwarts. "You're right. I really should." With a final, long sip, she emptied her cup, then got up. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then."

"Right. See you then. And thank you for bringing Errol along, he doesn't do particularly well with long flights anymore." Mrs. Weasley watched as the girl and the disguised Phoenix on her shoulder wavered and disappeared, then shook her head with a rueful smile. "I don't know if she even realizes how much she is upsetting the status quo half the time." She let her gaze wander around the kitchen, looking at the far too small seeming furniture. She drew her wand with a sigh. "Oh well, best get started."

Author's Note

Just a quick word of warning:

These past few chapters have been a bit tricky to write. They took a lot more time than the reasonably should so I'm a bit behind schedule. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I may need to skip a day uploading at some point soon.
If that happens, don't worry, it's not another hiatus or anything of the sort, just a matter of the story being a little difficult.

58 - Holiday

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Holiday

The persistent snowfall over the icy hills of Great Britain gave their journey on the Hogwarts Express an entirely different feel than the first time they used the train. At least the train, unlike the castle, was properly heated and insulated, though the spell patterns achieving that seemed remarkably familiar. And they certainly hadn't been there in September.

That, at least, explained where Professor Flitwick had gone when he had left the castle on Saturday afternoon.

In the late afternoon, the group stepped out onto platform 93/4, their jackets and coats braced against the winter chill. Except Sunset's. She simply wore the same leather jacket she had arrived in this world with, she had spent the past half year layering enchantments on it, a little cold couldn't get to her while she wore it.

Awaiting them on the platform, were the Grangers, Xenofilius Lovegood, the Weasleys, including Bill and Charlie, and Sirius Black, along with a man only Sunset recognized to be Remus Lupin, the last of the Marauders and the man Sirius had set as his contact in this world while he was in Equestria. The presence of those last four also explained where Philomena had gone partway through the train ride.

The students and relatives happily reunited while they watched Dean walk up to a pair of witch and wizard, Seamus walk up to a solitary witch before quickly, and with a wave, walking off towards the wrought iron gate, likely to reunite with his muggle father who couldn't enter the platform. Parvati and her twin sister in Ravenclaw marched up to a sole wizard before, much like Seamus, quickly wandering off towards the gate, while Lavender, much like Dean, walked up to a pair of witch and wizard. Neville gave the group a final wave and a few words to say goodbye for the holidays before walking over to the rather imposing older witch that was his grandmother.

Before long, the group separated. Sunset let Philomena hop onto Harry's shoulder to take him and Sirius back to Equestria, The Weasleys left together with Luna and her father and Mr. Lupin disappeared shortly after Harry and Sirius had found a hidden corner to flame away. That only left Sunset and the Grangers.

Leaving first the platform, then the train station, the group made their way to Emma and Dan's car. They had, it seemed, chosen to drive all the way from Birmingham to London, finding it preferable to letting the Weasleys take them along by means of side-along-apparition. Sunset found she couldn't disagree with the sentiment.

Both her and Hermione giggled when Emma regaled them with the story of how Mr. Weasley had come by with the offer, only to, when they declined, practically beg that they take him along in their car. The two adults' rather descriptive retelling of his reactions to things such as a car stereo or an umbrella lying beside him on the rear seat, entertained them for a good portion of the drive.

Emma and Dan had, of course, planned the skiing trip with Sunset and Philomena in mind. The two suitcases they were carrying were mostly to keep up appearances. Most of their actual luggage was carried by Sunset and Hermione in their bags which were both still well below capacity.

And so, in a now familiar flash of flames, the small family departed Great Britain and reappeared in a small, snow covered side alley in a mountain village in Switzerland, not far from their hotel. At nine in the morning. They would have the entire afternoon to introduce Sunset to the concept of skiing.

It was dearly needed. Sunset was in good physical shape, certainly, but she had two sets of instincts for motion, one bipedal, one quadrupedal, and neither one of them was meant for sliding down a hill on a pair of wooden planks. The Grangers, of course, didn't have any instincts for skiing either, but they did have one significant advantage.

This wasn't their first time skiing.

They already knew how to move on skis, and despite their new, disorienting second set of instincts, they could manage just fine.

As it was, one of the Grangers remained with Sunset at all times while the other two were enjoying themselves somewhere in the general area.

Still, it was just one afternoon and sundown inevitably arrived. The lifts shut down and the family found themselves faced with a problem.

"Really? Again?!"

Hermione couldn't suppress a snicker at her father's antics. "This does seem to happen at least once every year, doesn't it?"

Emma looked at the mountain that they had been skiing on all afternoon. The mountain that now stood between the small Swiss mountain village they were in, and the small Swiss mountain village where their hotel was located. "Mhh. At least once a year."

"To be honest, I don't quite see the problem." All three of them turned to Sunset. "What?"

Dan pointed at the snow-covered giant. "How about the mountain between us and the hotel?"

"What about it?"

Emma frowned, confused at what took Sunset so long to understand. "We're on the wrong side of it ...?"

"Well yeah. I just don't get why you're all acting like that's some kinda big deal."

"Well, now we have to find a bus to the other valley," Hermione explained. "And those go like, once an hour or so."

"Well, yeah. I guess that would be inconvenient, but why would we need a bus?"

"To get to the other valley."

Sunset looked at Dan, her face a mask of utter bafflement. She turned to Emma, then to Hermione. Neither of them showed any sign that they were joking either. "Are you serious?! Why are all of you acting like you forgot that we can do magic?"

The three stared at her for a few seconds, then three gloved hands met three partially covered faces. "I can't believe we forgot about that," Hermione groaned. "It's not like the two of us spent the last four months in a magic school."

"Well, to be fair," Emma spoke up, blushing in embarrassment. "We've had this situation before."

"Yeah," Dan added. "And none of us could do magic then."

"Fair enough, I guess." Sunset drew her wand. "Still, it really isn't much of a problem now, is it?"

"Have to admit," Hermione chuckled, "this was kind of funny."

"Yeah, can't deny that," Dan agreed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Sunset simply rolled her eyes and focused her magic. Chuckling in amusement, the four wavered and disappeared.

After another morning of skiing, Sunset was slowly getting better at doing the things she should do over the things her conflicting sets of instincts told her to do, the group of four had lunch in their Hotel and flamed back to the Burrow.

The bright flash of golden fire seemed to have attracted attention as it only took a few seconds before the door opened and Mrs. Weasley came to welcome them into the house. Just as they were about to close the door behind them, she looked up and pushed past them, going back out to call in Mr. Lupin who had just apparated in the yard.

He had, it turned out, brought the journal that connected to the one the princess had given to Sirius Black. He and Sunset both exchanged a series of messages with Sirius and Celestia respectively before sending out Philomena to go fetch Twilight, Harry and Sirius.

When she returned with the three, Sunset quickly gave Twilight a hand to help her deal with the unfamiliar feeling of bipedal locomotion. The simple advice of 'just don't think about it' proved to be rather tricky for the girl to follow.

"Twilight, if you keep thinking about it, you'll just confuse yourself trying to walk as if you still had four legs. Just don't think about it, you have the instincts to walk with two legs, just let them take over and think about something else."

"I'm trying, but it isn't easy to not think about something."

Sunset groaned quietly as Ginny and Hermione giggled off to the side. "True, I guess. Then try to distract yourself. Look at the decorations, for example."

Taking a deep breath, Twilight properly looked around the room for the first time. Her brow furrowed when she saw the fireplace. "Okay why is that thing covered in ... are those socks?"

This time it was Mrs. Weasley's turn to groan while Sunset explained. "They are. Though I think the fireplace isn't exactly made for a Christmas celebration with this many guests."

"What would the number of guests have to do with it."

"There is one for each of us."

"Okay, why?"

"Because that's where the presents go."

"Oh, so like Hearth's Warming then?"

"Basically, yeah. It's startlingly similar to be honest."

"Huh, weird."

"I know, right? I can only guess that there's been a portal between worlds somewhere before."

"Maybe we can find some evidence of that at some point."

"See? What'd I tell you?"

"What?"

Sunset simply smirked. "The moment you stopped thinking about it, you walked perfectly fine."

"Huh, you're right." Twilight sighed. "I really was thinking too much, wasn't I?"

"You were. Anyway, how've you been doing?"

"Oh, y'know, the usual. Studying magic, history politics and whatever else the princess thinks of. We did visit Mister Black several times. He seems to be adapting quite well."

A barking laugh from the other side of the room drew their attention. Black, evidently, had been listening to their conversation. "Hey, I spent my last two years at Hogwarts exploring the castle and the grounds for fun, this hasn't been culture shock, it's been a vacation."

"And one long overdue, I'd wager," Sunset replied with a somewhat subdued smile. "That reminds me, Mr. Black, how is your Equestrian form interacting with your animagus?"

"Oh, please, girl, call me Sirius. You've earned that just for getting me out of that place."

"Well, alright, call me Sunset, then."

"Sure. Now I don't know. Gotta say, it's a bit odd. I can go into both forms just fine from my human form, but I can't seem to switch from one to the other."

Sunset furrowed her brow for a second, then lit up her eyes with magic. "Now let's see here. Ah that would be why. You know how you need to form a connection to the new form to access your other forms?" Sirius nodded. "Well, right now your human form is acting as a bit of a hub. Both your Equestrian form and what I can only assume to be your animagus are connected to it, but they aren't directly connected to each other."

"So you're saying that if I form a direct connection between them I'll be able to switch freely?" Sunset nodded. "Huh, might have to invest some time into that."

The stockings hung from the fireplace had been filling up with presents all evening, but there was one more that needed to be placed in one.

It was night now and everyone had gone to bed. With a crack of displaced air, a small creature appeared in the sitting room of the Burrow. It drew a package from a fold in the pillowcase it wore instead of actual clothing.

It spent a moment looking at the various stockings hanging around the chimney, then found the one it had been looking for. "Master Potter, there you is."

It quickly jumped up onto the fireplace and let the small, unmarked package slide into the stocking, then jumped back down. It snapped its long, spindly fingers and, with another crack of displaced air, vanished just as suddenly as it arrived.

In the morning, the Burrow awoke to the sound of Mrs. Weasley humming along to the sound of Celestina Warbeck singing out off the wizarding radio in the kitchen. Reactions to that were ... varied. Both Mr. Weasley and Mr. Lovegood simply smiled ruefully. The rest of the Weasley family ranged somewhere between annoyed and exasperated. Sunset, Hermione, Harry, Emma and Dan found their own amusement in listening to the incredibly cheesy lyrics. Sirius and Mr. Lupin, or Remus as he insisted they call him, smiled rather nostalgically and Luna, as usual, seemed to be the only one entirely unaffected.

It didn't take long until they all got to unwrapping presents. Mrs. Weasley, it seemed, took the time to knit a sweater for each member of her family every year. Only this year she had gone a bit overboard and also knitted one for each of her guests. How she had even known Twilight's size was anyone's guess.

For that matter, no one outside her own family could recall ever giving her their measurements.

One set of gifts came, collectively, from Sunset, Twilight and Princess Celestia. Sunset had had the idea, Celestia had pulled a few strings to make it happen and Twilight had ultimately delivered the final product. That way, everyone was now sampling some classic, Equestrian Hearth's Warming cuisine and, seemingly, quite enjoying the exotic taste.

Hermione, with the aid of her parents, had provided a set of gifts that surprised exactly no one: Books. Still, everyone was grateful, Sunset and Twilight especially so.

The others had gotten some interesting gifts as well. Bill and Charlie, independently from both each other and Sunset, had gotten traditional holiday snacks from their respective countries of work.

The rest weren't quite so remarkable, but well appreciated regardless.

In the end only one present remained unopened.

Harry held the strange, unmarked package in hands, weighing it to try and figure out what it might be. It wasn't particularly heavy.

"Well go on, Harry," Sirius prompted him, "open it up."

Shrugging, Harry used a quick cutting charm to open up the wrapping paper and pull it off, revealing a small, similarly unremarkable box beneath. The moment he opened it, something silvery came flowing out of it.

Both Sirius and Remus gasped. Most of the rest weren't far behind.

Sunset glanced at the mysterious silvery thing that had now folded up, suggesting it was actually some kind of fabric, then she noticed the small piece of parchment that had come out along with it. Grabbing it in her magic, she immediately recognized the handwriting. "Would you look at that. It's from Dumbledore."

Sirius and Remus both turned to her, confusion clear on their faces. "How'd Albus get his hands on it?"

Sunset shrugged and made to read out the small card. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you." She shrugged. "That's all it says, but I recognize his handwriting."

"Right," Sirius slowly said, "James mentioned that Albus was borrowing it." She showed him the note and he nodded. ''Yeah. That's his handwriting alright. Wonder what he wanted with it.''

"Not to interrupt," Harry spoke up in mild annoyance, "but would someone mind telling me what 'it' actually is?"

Sirius actually looked a little sheepish. "Oh right, sorry. That's your father's invisibility cloak. He said it was an heirloom, had been in the family for centuries."

"Invisibility cloak?"

Harry put on the cloak and immediately only his head was visible, the rest of his body was entirely gone. Then he pulled it over his head and promptly vanished completely.

Sunset lit her eyes with magic and cycled through a series of scanning spells and visualization charms. "Huh, that's pretty good. I can't find you."

"Really?" Harry suddenly pulled the cloak off his head right beside her.

"Gah! Would you mind not doing that?"

As everyone chuckled, Harry pulled the cloak off completely and folded it back up.

"Wow, that's weird."

"Huh?"

"Oh sorry, that cloak is really impressive. I mean, now that you've taken it off, I can see it, but none of my scanning spells even recognize it's there. I wouldn't even know how to start looking for it."

"Oh, the things James got up to with that thing," Sirius chuckled ruefully. "I still remember back before he and Lily got together, it was, what? Our fourth year, I think? We all had a bit of a vendetta with Snivellus."

"Who?"

"Oh that's what we called Snape."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "How mature."

"Hey, we were kids."

"And yet," Sunset pointed out in a slightly mocking tone, "you still call him that."

"Well yeah, maybe we went a bit too far. Most of our pranks were harmless, but some of them were ... not entirely in good humour."

Percy sighed. "I'm not sure I like where this is going."

"We do."

He turned to the twins, completely deadpan. "That isn't reassuring in the slightest."

"Anyway," Sirius caught their attention again, "James and I were always good with spellwork. We managed to tailor a spell matrix to trigger only when Sniv- when Snape passed by. We had a trap all planned out, but we couldn't be sure he would walk by just anywhere in the castle. I mean, you know the place, it's huge."

"Yeah, and the sheer number of secret passages is insane."

"Oh absolutely," Remus agreed. "How many have you found?"

"The running count was, what fifty-seven?" Harry looked at his friends questioningly.

"Fifty-nine," Hermione corrected."

"Right, fifty-nine."

Remus and Sirius shared a stunned look. "Fifty-nine?" In three months? What did we do wrong?"

"Well," Harry moved to explain, "between Sunset and Hermione being able to spot magic so easily, Luna's dark vision and my eyesight, it does make them a lot easier to find. Anyway, what did you do?"

"Oh right. Well, there was one place we could be sure he would come by. The Slytherin common room."

"I see where this is going." Sunset smirked. "Let me guess: Harry's father used that cloak to trail a Slytherin to their common room and set up the trap without anyone noticing."

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, it wouldn't be as perfect as that," She pointed a finger at the cloak, "but I don't necessarily need a cloak to go invisible."

"Evidently," Remus remarked amusedly as he looked at her, now transparent and refracting the light as though she were made of glass. "Though not really too hard to spot."

"Well, that's because I'm allowing you to see me. Still, if you know how to look, that spell isn't too hard to track." She dropped her spell and looked at the two older wizards. "Anyway, what did you actually do?"

"Oh you know, dropped a cake on his head. Classic."

"That was one of your less serious pranks, I take it?"

"Well, yeah. We were in fifth year. A scourgify or two and he was clean again. Not the most pleasant of experiences, but easy enough."

"Alright, that's enough of your stories, you two. The twins get up to plenty of mischief on their own time without you two giving them ideas. And I have breakfast ready."

As Mrs. Weasley turned around and returned to the kitchen, leaving the living room in silence. Finally Sirius was the one to speak up. "Did you notice her leave?"

Heads shook around the room.

"And that," Mr. Weasley spoke up with barely concealed amusement, "is why she doesn't need an invisibility cloak."

Author's Note

Again, I can't promise to have the next chapter ready by tomorrow, but I shall endeavor to try. My muse has been uncooperative lately.

59 - Wards

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Wards

At precisely nine AM, just as agreed, Sunset faded into existence in the Teachers' lounge. There, she found Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Vector already waiting for her.

"Good morning."

"Ah, good morning Miss Shimmer, so glad you could join us," Flitwick greeted merrily. "I do hope you've had a pleasant holiday."

"Oh, it's been quite nice so far. Are we expecting anyone else?"

"Well," McGonagall spoke up, "it would seem Severus is following his habit and being fashionably late ... and Albus, I suspect, is just late."

"Yes," Professor Vector agreed, "he has seemed a bit busier than usual lately, hasn't he?"

"Indeed." The gathered professors only noticed Snape's arrival when he spoke up. "Good morning."

Snape shared a quick glance with Sunset, both of them aware of why Dumbledore had been busy lately. McGonagall's eyes lingered on them for a while longer, but she didn't say anything.

Fortunately, before any further questions could come up, the door opened again and Albus Dumbledore finally arrived. "Ah, everyone is here already, I see. Good. Please apologize my delay. I had a matter to discuss with Aurora."

"That's quite alright Albus. We didn't have to wait long."

"Thank you, Minerva. Now, we all know why we're here. Over the years, the wards of Hogwarts have been upgraded several times, I myself have touched them up here or there several times in the last few decades. Still, it has been over three centuries since the wards protecting our fair school had their last full upgrade. When Miss Shimmer here recently brought them up with me and how some of the spells they include are simply obsolete these days, I realized that they are well overdue for another.

"Since all of you are well aware of Miss Shimmer's ... heritage, I don't need to be coy about. Miss Shimmer is here to provide her expertise with the spellcraft of her homeland and include the protections it can offer into the school's wards. Now, Filius, I believe you had an idea where to start?"

"Yes, Albus. Some of you probably noticed that this place and a few other locations around the castle aren't as cold this year as they have been around this season in previous years."

"Yes, Filius, we noticed." McGonagall rolled her eyes. "And we also noticed Miss Shimmer applying a set of charms causing that effect wherever she went. I conjecture that there is a relation there?"

"Yes, there is. Miss Shimmer, would you explain?"

"Of course." Sunset drew her wand and quickly projected an illusion of the relevant spell matrices. "It's a relatively comprehensive suite of thermal insulation and regulation magic placed on most Equestrian buildings these days. Applying some of the magical principles this world knows that mine doesn't has made it marginally more effective, but that's about the extent of the changes in this case."

"Thank you," Flitwick picked back up. "I would suggest starting with this spell. It's one of only a few that we can just straight up add rather than use to replace an older version. I take it I don't need to spell it out for you that that makes it much easier. I figured it would be a good point to start."

"Thank you, Filius," Dumbledore spoke up again. "Now, before we start I need to ask that you run any modification to the wards by Septima and Miss Shimmer first. Septima is our expert on spell efficiency, and the more efficient we can make our wards, the more powerful they will end up being. And Miss Shimmer can apply the magical principles known to her homeland that are unknown to us to improve the spells.

"Now then, let's get started."

The headmaster lead the way to a secluded area in the dungeons beneath the castle. On the way, he explained that they were headed to the primary keystone. Each of the school's wards was placed first on the primary keystone that provided the power for the spells and linked them up to the one currently controlling them – the headmaster, in most cases – and from there mirrored onto an array of twelve secondary keystones distributed around the castle that were responsible for actually applying the wards to the castle itself.

After a final door that only opened to a few specific spells and through the application of four separate physical keys, they finally stood before the large, heavily enchanted quartz crystal that served as the castle's keystone.

Everyone cast their own advanced aura sight charms in short order and took up positions around the keystone.

"Miss Shimmer, would you apply the spells here first?"

"Of course."

"Good. Now everyone, please, watch carefully. There are six of us and twelve secondary keystones throughout the castle. It will be up to each of us to apply these spells to two of them. Miss Shimmer, go ahead."

A few minutes later, once the set of six spells was cast, a heating charm, a cooling charm, a humidifying charm, a dehumidifying charm, an insulation charm and, finally a complex control charm to tie them all together and control them as a cohesive whole, Dumbledore conjured up a map of the castle's current configuration and marked the twelve secondary keystones in six different colors, red for McGonagall, blue for Flitwick, green for Snape, purple for Vector, a sunny yellow for Sunset and a silvery gray for himself, the professors went on their way while Sunset looked at the central keystone and used its connection to find the first secondary one she had been assigned and teleport straight there.

Once again, she shook her head at how easy it was. She would have to upgrade the teleportation wards personally.

She applied the set of spells to the first keystone she had been assigned, then decided to check in on the professors before taking care of her second one. They may be exceptionally skilled magicians, but even they weren't guaranteed to perfectly cast a set of six spells after seeing each of them once.

Since she had shown the spells to him several times before and because of his specialty, she decided to check up on Flitwick last, after a moment's consideration, she teleported to the first keystone Snape had been assigned.

Her prudence proved to be wise, as each of the professors, save Dumbledore and, of course, Flitwick had made a mistake somewhere. After helping them correct them, she moved on to place the suite of enchantments on her second keystone.

When everyone reconvened by the main keystone, the castle had grown noticeably warmer. After a few moments' discussion, they moved on to the next charm on their list.

By noon, each of the five other charms that were straight up additions to the wards was added and the group had had lunch in the teacher's lounge. The professors were still there, discussing what wards to apply next, while Sunset was back at the main keystone, getting started on the upgraded teleportation wards.

It was as she had told Dumbledore. She couldn't create a phasic ward that she couldn't bypass given time. That was not to say, however that it wouldn't be entirely adequate to hold off anyone but those with truly exceptional skill in arcane phase theory. Of course, such wards took time to apply. She'd already been at it for an hour and she suspected that it would take another hour of focused work before the new wards were applied to the central keystone.

Over the next few days she would apply them to the secondary keystones. She simply couldn't take care of them all in one day.

A few minutes before she was done, the professors returned and watched her work until she was done. When the teal light finally faded from the tip of her wand, the five gave gentle applause.

"My goodness," Flitwick spoke up. "I can see the resemblance to some of the basic wards from the book you gave us, but this is on an entirely new level. I've rarely seen a ward that complex."

"Well, this is more or less a direct copy of the phasic wards on the royal vaults beneath the Royal Palace of Canterlot. I spent about a month and a half studying the wards there."

"It shows. I suspect you'll want to put take care of placing that enchantment on the secondary keystones yourself."

Sunset nodded. "Yes. I'll take care of it over the next few days. There are some other things I'll have to take care of and I wouldn't get it done today anyway."

Three days into the rework of the wards, Sunset found herself in Dumbledore's office waiting for the headmaster alongside Professor Vector. She had inquired about the siege wards on the Great Hall that Dumbledore had activated to ward off the troll on Halloween. When asked, Dumbledore admitted that these particular wards were one of the founders' own creations and hadn't been touched since their original installation. Only one written record of their schemes existed.

It was located in the founders' private library. What was now the private library located in the headmaster's quarters directly above his office.

After a good five minutes, Dumbledore returned, a heavy tome in his hands. "Here it is. The schemes for the siege wards should be in here. If I recall correctly they were only applied to key areas of the school because they would have been too power hungry otherwise."

"Well," Professor Vector replied with a smirk, rubbing her hands at the challenge, "let's see if we can change that."

Looking at the spell, two things became immediately clear. It was a creation of the founders and they had been brilliant. The sheer number of clever tricks, the way each bit of the spell was perfectly placed for maximum effects made that fact obvious. It was also over a thousand years old. And that showed just as much. In so many places did the spell do things in such a circumspect way that it was almost painful. There was always a much easier way, but one that, of course, relied on a principle of magic that hadn't been discovered until centuries later.

Over the past two-and-a-half days, Sunset and Professor Vector had formed a budding friendship built on mutual respect of the other's abilities. Both marveled, again and again, at how much they could teach each other. As such, an opportunity to improve upon a spell crafted with such ingenuity, but using such vastly outdated methods was a real treat for them.

Finally, after several hours of complex arithmancy, careful spell construction and at least half an hours' worth of double and triple checking, their work was done. The new siege wards were completed and they would not share the efficiency problem of the original. They could be safely applied to the entire school.

Hogwarts was a castle. But once those spells were installed, one command from the headmaster would turn it into a fortress.

With their work done, Sunset returned to her own project, she still had five of the keystones left to enchant, and she had just enough time to deal with one more before sundown. Professor Vector, meanwhile, went to show the fruits of their labor to the headmaster and Professor Flitwick. The three of them would handle applying them to the keystones.

It was done. Their work was completed. All the enchantments were set, each of the keystones aligned, every spell cast. Now only one step was left.

To deactivate the keystone and power it back up. Then, and only then, would the new wards take hold.

All of them had their eyes lit with magic, prepared to witness the activation of one of the greatest and – now, at least – most modern ward setups on earth.

With a wave of the Headmaster's wand, the keystone lit up brightly for a few seconds, then fell dark. Each of them shuddered slightly at the rush of power. At the feeling of the wards all around them suddenly vanishing.

Another wave of Dumbledore's wand reactivated the stone. Lights of all colors flashed through it for several minutes, before the enchanted quartz resumed its usual pale blue glow, but much brighter than they had gotten used to for the past five days. Then, twelve motes of light came shooting out of the top of the crystal and began spinning around it in a circle. After a few moments of dancing around the primary keystone, the twelve lights rushed off, spreading throughout the castle.

None of them needed to be told, that they were headed to the other keystones. A shudder ran through the castle as the ancient wards gradually returned. It took about half an hour for the wards to return to full strength, and, during all that time, they were fully active. Even the siege wards covered every wall, door and window in the castle, giving them all a slight silvery sheen. A side effect of the modifications.

Finally, the keystone came fully active and the light faded back to it's usual, dull glow. In the process, Dumbledore regained full control of the wards. It took him only a few moments to get the wards set up to work as he had planned. In short order, the siege wards were placed back in stand-by, the new thermal regulation wards, now under the headmaster's full control all throughout the castle, were set up for a pleasant temperature, and all the teachers were keyed into the new phasic wards.

After a moment's consideration, he keyed Sunset into the phasic wards as well. After all, there was little point in not keying her into wards she could bypass given time, especially since she also had a phoenix as a familiar that would bypass them anyway.

With everything set up to his satisfaction, he nodded to the gathered teachers. Testing out how Sunset's work, each of them teleported to their own private quarters in short order. Finally, only Dumbledore and Sunset stood next to the keystone.

"Miss Shimmer, if you would accompany me to my office."

"Of course. We did get done a little sooner than I expected."

Dumbledore chuckled as he re-locked the door to the primary keystone. "Indeed. I suppose our improvements really do show. The wards used to take longer than that to power up."

With the door locked once more, they both teleported to Dumbledore's office.

"Now, Miss Shimmer, I thank you for your assistance. Your expertise has been invaluable. This has been a most enlightening experience."

"Absolutely, I learned plenty of things myself. Oh that reminds me. Twilight came by for Christmas with the Weasleys, she brought along a message for you. From Princess Celestia. I wanted to give it to you sooner, but I kept forgetting." She reached into her bag, pulled out a sealed envelope and handed it to him.

Recognizing the seal as magical, Dumbledore drew his wand and tapped the seal. He wasn't surprised at the small burst of magic when the seal broke. It was clearly that of the princess. A proof that the letter hadn't been opened by another. Not uncommon on confidential messages. Once it was open, he put his wand away, opened the letter, unfolded the sheet of clear white parchment inside and began to read.

"Ah yes. It would seem Princess Celestia wants her 'local agent' to check on the defenses for the stone, to ensure they are adequate and will last until the trap is ready." He nodded. "Yes, that may be a good idea, Quirinus managed to get me under the influence of a Confundus Charm on Halloween. If he managed that, he may well have managed to sabotage our efforts to safeguard the stone itself in a similar manner. Very well. I'll arrange for the Professors that helped with each of the defenses to meet us tomorrow. We can show you the defenses then. I actually was about to implement my own defense. I'll use this chance to take care of that."

60 - Vault

Author's Note

Well, my apologies for the delay, but, as promised, have two chapters to compensate.

60 - Vault

Chapter Sixty

Vault

The next morning, Sunset once more teleported into the Headmaster's office to find Professor Dumbledore waiting for her. "Ah, good morning Miss Shimmer. Good, now we can get started. Fawkes."

The phoenix gently lifted off his perch near the wall, gliding over to Dumbledore who had gotten up and moved to stand beside Sunset. With a flash of flame they found themselves in a chamber deep beneath the castle. On a table in the center of the room, lay a small, irregularly shaped red rock. Sunset walked up to it, intrigued. "Hmm. So this is the famous Philosopher's Stone. Interesting. So, how do you plan to hide it?" Her gaze turned to a mirror placed near the rear wall of the room. "I take it that has something to do with it?"

"Indeed. That is the Mirror Erised. I thought of it when Princess Celestia said the trap needed Quirinus to remain in place for some window of time."

Sunset walked up to the tall mirror, studying it carefully. "Hmm, Erised ... Desire. Subtle."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Quite. But it is a powerful magical artifact, as intriguing as it is insidious. The mirror shows those who stand before it no more and no less than their heart's deepest desire. Wizards have wasted their lives away staring into it, wondering if what it showed was a reality, or merely a possibility."

"Wizards who didn't think to read the writing backwards? On a mirror?"

"Magic makes many things easier. After a while, a wizard's ability to solve problems through logic alone can start to deteriorate. Part of the reason I usually avoid the simplest, most magical solution to a given problem."

"I guess that would explain a few things. Anyway, exactly how were you planning to use the mirror to protect the stone."

Dumbledore smiled. It was clear that a lot of thought had gone into his plan. "With a spell tied into the enchantments on the mirror. The basic idea is that the ability to retrieve the stone should be based on intent. Specifically, on a desire to have the stone, but not to use it. Or, likewise, not to give it on to someone who would use it."

"So, Quirrell, wanting to obtain the stone and give it to Voldemort who would then use it could not retrieve it?"

"Correct."

"I see. And you, wanting to retrieve the stone and give it to Mr. Flamel who would then use it could?"

Dumbledore's smile faltered. "That could pose a problem. I may have grown too focused on protecting the stone and overlooked an actual need to retrieve it."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard to fix, should it? Just make sure that the safeguard against retrieving the stone to pass it on includes an exception for passing it on to the rightful owner."

"And of course a clear definition of who that rightful owner is. We couldn't allow it to be based off of the perceptions of the subject. Yes, that should work. I have already cast the spells on the mirror, but recent events led me to wait for a second pair of eyes to take a look at my efforts first, just in case you would spot such an oversight. I should be able to make the modifications easily. Give me just a minute."

Watching the headmaster work was a highly enjoyable experience, Sunset found. He guided his magic with an experienced precision and practiced grace she had only ever seen in Princess Celestia before. His custom tailored spell upon the mirror was no less genius, she suspected, though she couldn't see it properly, so well was it hidden within the enchantments that were on the ancient looking glass anyway. Had she not known that it was there and what it was meant to do, she would never have even found it. Despite her experience on the subject, enchanted mirrors were a bit of a staple for any magician, after all.

"There, that should do it. Now I simply need to place the stone inside and it will be safe. How long exactly would the trap take to function?"

Sunset rubbed her chin, thinking back to her conversation on the topic with the princess. "About half a minute to lock onto the fragment, then about ten seconds for a subtle charge that should be more or less undetectable over the ambient field. Then about a second of rapid charge to build up enough power and once it has that, the activation is more or less instantaneous. So about forty odd seconds all-in-all."

"Good, good. This should easily distract him and keep him in place for longer than that."

"Oh yes, by the way. What would happen if the mirror were shattered?"

"Then the stone would become inaccessible until it is restored. The stone isn't stored within the mirror, only in a sub-dimension accessed through it."

"Like the undetectable expansion charm uses?"

Dumbledore nodded with a gentle smile. "That was indeed my inspiration, yes." After a moment of silence his expression becomes more serious and he looks to the door. "Now, shall we go over the remaining defenses?"

"Of course."

"Good. Fawkes." The firebird took nary a second to flame into place atop Dumbledore's outstretched arm. Reaching his other arm into one of the pockets that had to be hidden all over his robes, the headmaster pulled out a folded piece of parchment, holding it out to the bird. "Take this to Severus, then bring him to us, my friend."

With a gentle trill, the phoenix took the note in his beak, lifted off from Dumbledore's arm and vanished in another flare of flames.

"Come."

Sunset followed the old man out the door and through a small room and an archway into a somewhat larger circular room, featureless save for the archways on opposite ends, one of which they had just entered through, and a long, narrow table in the center, holding seven bottles, not one of them matching the next, and a slip of paper with a note.

The moment she had passed over the threshold, black flames sealed off the door to the stone behind her while purple flames flared up to cover the other archway. A few seconds later, a third flare of flames, golden this time, heralded Fawkes' return, accompanied by Professor Snape.

"I take it it is time?"

"Yes Severus. It is. Miss Shimmer? Would you like an explanation or would you prefer to try and figure out the trial on your own?"

"I think I'll have a look for myself first."

"Very well." Both professors leaned against the wall of the room to wait while she picked up the sheet of parchment and began to read.

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven, will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line,
Choose unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side:

Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

For a moment, Sunset remained still, using some of the magic used for arithmancy to check through the possibilities, before settling on her answer. She pointed at the smallest of the bottles, more of a vial, really. "Forward." Then she moved her hand to a much larger bottle at the far end of the row. "Backward." She turned to the two Professors, smiling. "Correct?"

After a second, Snape hesitantly nodded. "Correct. How did you manage to solve it so fast?"

"Arithmancy, the spells are easy enough to adapt."

Snape looked at her with some consternation. "I see. Most wizards are terrible when matters of logic are concerned. I hadn't considered the possibility of using magic to solve the logic problem."

"I am more or less inversing the idea of arithmancy for this. Wizards rarely have to solve complex math problems, so I doubt he would think of it. Without that, it would probably stall him for a while. Now let's see here."

She drew her wand, pointing it at the bottles for a few moments. "Shielded against magical scans, very good, He shouldn't be able to simply bypass the riddle." She then turned to the flames on either side of the room. "Oh my, there's quite a bit of power behind those. Hmm, I wonder ..."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then a golden flame appeared in her other hand. It quickly spread until she was fully engulfed in flames. She took a deep breath, clearly relishing the sensation of the magical fire that was her talent. Then she tentatively reached a hand out and held it into the black flames.

The black fire tinted gold whenever it came close to her and failed to harm her. After a moment's hesitation, she stepped through the black flames to the door leading to the room that held the stone, then back. After repeating the same process with the purple fire, she returned and extinguished her fire. Finally she turned to the two men who had been silently watching, an eyebrow raised on each.

"Well, I can get past the fire, but that is my special talent, He almost certainly won't be able to do that. Other than that, I don't think He'll be able to bypass the fire. Unless ... hmm. I have to ask. He is keyed into the new teleportation wards, correct?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"But this area doesn't allow transport?"

"It allows transport out of this area, but not into or through it."

"Good. So he won't be bypassing it that way either then. In that case I don't see a problem with this trial."

Dumbledore nodded, satisfied, while Snape allowed a modicum of pride to show on his face. "Very well," The headmaster turned back to the bird that had taken a seat on his shoulder. "If you would take Severus back to his office, please."

Fawkes stretched out a wing and touched a primary onto the professor's shoulder. In a flash of golden fire, Snape was gone.

Dumbledore drew his wand again and waved in a gentle, circular motion. The flames died down. "Don't worry, these flames were of my creation, only I can deactivate them while someone is in the room. Now, the next room was previously Quirinus' own contribution to the stone's defense. Given the change in circumstance, I figured it was no longer adequate, so I removed it and asked Professor Sinistra for help in replacing it. Allow me to show you."

Stepping past the archway that was previously blocked off by the purple fire, they progressed through a door into a most peculiar room.

Actually, Sunset wasn't completely sure the descriptor 'room' was entirely adequate. They seemed to be standing on a loosely spherical rock in a star-filled void. Several more were floating in the distance in all directions. The door was not attached to any wall, merely a frame standing around on it's lonesome. The room they had just left clearly wasn't behind it.

Then the door fell closed and disappeared. Walking along the rock carefully, she noted that gravity always seemed to point her towards it, rather than towards where she had first thought 'down' to be. Yes, she concluded, this definitely had the touch of the astronomy professor. Speaking of.

"Would you please take this to Aurora and bring her here?"

Sunset just managed to catch Dumbledore holding another slip of parchment out to the phoenix before the latter disappeared, taking it with him. Figuring that it would take a moment for him to return with the professor, she continued to walk across the likeness of an asteroid, albeit a greatly down-scaled version.

On the opposite side of where they had first entered, she found another door. Opening it, she found it to lead back out into the castle and assumed that it was meant to be the regular entry to this trial. Not far from the door, she found a table that held several large sheets of parchment, each of them containing a star chart with a few of the stars labeled with symbols. It took a moment before she realized this to be another riddle or puzzle of sorts, but, this time, not one of logic, but of spatial reasoning.

Each of the star charts had five stars labeled with a unique symbol. There were six in total. Each of the maps was missing one symbol. After another moment and turning the cards a few times, she realized that the stars were actually the 'asteroids' in the 'room' they were in.

Each of the maps was actually circular and displayed everything around focused on the 'sun' that seemed to be in the center of the large cloud of floating rocks. Then she noted that each of the maps had the missing one of the six symbols marked in its corner and, another moment later, she realized that one of those symbols was also on the table beneath all the charts.

She was just about to try figuring out what to do about all of this when she heard two sets of footsteps approaching.

She turned to see Dumbledore had followed her, now accompanied by Professor Sinistra. "Ah, good morning Miss Shimmer, enjoying my little trial?"

"Good morning, Professor Sinistra. I'm still working out the details. I suspect that the answer has to do with those other, marked 'asteroids', for lack of a better word, but I'm still working out the details."

"Well we couldn't fit full scale asteroids in here. And the gravity spells were tricky enough."

Sunset, using her still active aura sight charm, took a closer look at the array of spells keeping the complex gravity patterns around the miniature asteroid field intact. "Hmm, yeah, I can see why. Equestrian gravity spells are a lot more flexible. These seem quite a bit more powerful though. I'll bring that up with Professor Flitwick."

Dumbledore stroked his beard with an amused smile. "I suspect he will be delighted."

Sinistra turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "You suspect? I thought that was certain."

"I suppose you have a point. I should probably warn him. He will probably want to acquire Rolanda's expertise for that. I seem to recall that being a specialty of hers."

61 - To Delay the Inevitable

Chapter Sixty-One

To Delay the Inevitable

Sunset absently listened to the professors' idle banter as she focused her attention on the room and the magic within. The room itself appeared to be a long hall, maybe sixty meters on its own. That being said, there was a spatial expansion spell at work. One she recognized as a modified version of her own work. Specifically it had been combined with the ancient enchantment that made the main staircase of Hogwarts loop.

All in all, after accounting for the magic in place, the room was a hollow cylinder, maybe a kilometer and a half in circumference at the center, and, of course, slightly more on the outer edge and slightly less on the inner. Where the main staircase had illusions placed on it to hide the fact that it looped, the illusions on this room, or some of them at least, were clearly designed for the opposite purpose. To make the room appear as a miniaturized ring of asteroids around an equally miniaturized star, maybe two hundred meters across.

The 'star' of course, didn't exist. It was an illusion placed upon the room's walls to fill in the space in the hollow center of the room. She suspected that Dumbledore and Sinistra had heavily worked together and relied on the castle's ability to reconfigure itself to pull off this trick. The illusions even showed 'asteroids' that were behind the walls. It took some squinting to find the edge where the illusion ended and she could see the asteroids themselves.

Still, she had come no closer to actually figuring out the puzzle. Returning her gaze to the star charts, she noticed something odd. She could have sworn they looked different a minute ago. Utilizing her spell, she found that they were indeed magical. Specifically, the magic was meant to change what they showed.

Looking closely, she realized that the dots marking the asteroids were, in fact, slowly crawling across the charts. She looked back out across the asteroid field. Given that the rock they were on was slowly spinning around its own axis, she had to use the room itself as a reference, but, after a few moments of observation, she was able to confirm her suspicion.

The asteroid field was changing.

Each of the floating rocks was gradually moving across the room, causing the layout of the room to change over time. A solution once found would not work a second time.

Analyzing the charts in more detail, she found what she was looking for. A clue. Specifically, that five of the asteroids on the chart corresponding to her current perspective were circled. Looking around at those she could see from her position, she realized they seemed to be very close. She picked up the chart and walked around the floating rock, realizing that she had been correct.

The marked asteroids were the five closest ones.

Furthermore, there was something on the floor beneath each of them. A golden ring on the floor that slowly moved to remain beneath the asteroids. After confirming its function, she stepped into the ring, and was catapulted across the void to the adjacent asteroid, landing lightly. The map, she realized, was gone.

It was a trial of memory and spatial reasoning. She would have to try and maneuver her way across the field using these magical catapults.

She realized that the ring she had landed in was a silver in color. Once she stepped out of it, it returned to gold, ready to launch her back. Still, for the moment, she would explore the asteroid she had landed on.

It took her less than half a minute to find all there was to find. Namely four more golden circles and another door. Cracking it open, she found it lead to another asteroid. She recognized the table. This was where she had started. Stepping through, she met back up with the two professors.

"Okay, I think I get what I need to do now."

"Then do enlighten us." Dumbledore was clearly enjoying himself.

"There is a door on each of these asteroids. This one leads to the path back to the castle. One of these has a door that leads on towards the stone. The doors on all others simply lead back here. I'm guessing the charts on the five other marked asteroids, assuming there are charts there as well, of course, will have clues towards where the right asteroid is.

"I'm guessing I have to find my way to all of them, collate the clues and find the correct asteroid, then make my way there and go through the door onward. Correct?"

"Exactly, Miss Shimmer," Professor Sinistra replied.

"I like it. Alright. I'll be going asteroid hopping then."

It was an enjoyable experience and Sunset had a suspicion why. The other trials were likely designed to deter or stop anyone trying to obtain the stone. This one had been designed after they had found out just who Voldemort's agent was. And just who he carried with him. None of their trials had much of a chance of actually stopping him, so this one, with that in mind, had been designed to instead delay him as much as possible and buy time to react.

It took her about five or so minutes to reach the first of the marked asteroids. Mainly because she forgot which one it was as it had moved since she had looked at the chart. Once there, she found another set of charts, identical to the first, and a golden ring with a pane of glass inside it and two metal tubes on it's sides that seemed to be slightly narrower on one end than on the other. Raising an eyebrow slightly, she picked it up and peered through it.

She immediately understood what its purpose was, as about half the asteroids in the room lit up golden. Not immediately helpful. There was one more thing she needed to do. She checked the charts and looked up the location of the next asteroid with maps on it.

She found the next catapult in that approximate direction and continued her journey. Once she landed she looked down and found that the lens was still in her hand. Unlike the maps, she could take it along.

From there, she made her way across the asteroid field to pick up the other lenses. The moment she picked up the second one, she picked it up and found that, once again, about half of the asteroids were lit up golden. She was confused for a few seconds, before she tried looking through both of them at once. Maybe a fifth of the asteroids lit up this time. Suddenly the purpose of the small tubes became clear to her as she used them to attach the second lens to the first.

After that last revelation, it was only a matter of finding the remaining three lenses and completing the puzzle. With every lens she added to her little array, fewer asteroids lit up. First about a dozen. Then five. And, finally, only one. Satisfied, she made her way there, walked up to the door and pressed down the handle.

The door didn't open.

However, a panel on the frame did. Looking inside it, she found five circular depressions with small holes at the top and bottom. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was supposed to do. She disassembled her little lens array and placed the five lenses into the depressions and closed the panel. There was a quiet click.

She pressed down the handle and the door opened, revealing a familiar corridor leading to a room with bottles in it.

"Good work, Miss Shimmer. What did you think of my trial?"

"Well it was certainly fun. And I can't see anyone taking less than fifteen minutes to solve it."

"I was asked to design a trial to delay."

"I figured. I take it magical flight won't work in here?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I made sure to block that. Not to mention the chaotic gravity would make it a lot harder."

"And it wouldn't help finding the way either," Sunset agreed. "Looks pretty good to me then."

"Very well. Thank you Aurora."

"My pleasure, Albus."

"Fawkes, if you could take her back to her office please?"

Once the professor was gone, Sunset and Dumbledore let themselves be catapulted to an adjacent asteroid and used the door there to get back to the start. Once the door was shut and reopened, they stepped through it into ta short hallway that led to another room.

"Taking a wild guess here," Sunset started with a smirk, "but I suspect the trial here has something to do with the giant chess board. Professor McGonagall's work?"

"Indeed. Fawkes, if you could take this to Minerva."

Sunset used the time until Fawkes returned with the transfiguration professor to study the giant chessboard. Most of the spells weren't too difficult to figure out. To pass the trial, one would have to play their way past the white figures and win the game. If one tried to simply get past without doing so, both colors would become hostile and the door would fail to unlock.

Beyond that, the figures and door alike were quite heavily fortified and had charms to self repair. Fighting one's way past them would, theoretically, be possible, but very difficult and risky. It was quite impressive work.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Shimmer."

Sunset turned around. "Good morning, Professor."

"I take it you have already studied my work here?"

"Of course. Quite impressive all things considered. I take it one needs to replace one of the black figures to play?"

"Indeed."

Sunset stroked her chin for a moment. "Is it possible to replace the king?"

McGonagall looked at the figures for a moment. "Hmm, yes, it is. I should probably change that, shouldn't I?"

"Probably, yes."

"One moment."

Another flash of flames heralded the arrival of Professor Flitwick in the chamber of his trial. Once Professor McGonagall had finished modifying her chessboard, Sunset and Dumbledore had left the room and found themselves in a room full of small flying things, looking like birds and streaking through the air.

The light that came on once they entered, however, made it clear that these were no birds. They were keys. Winged Keys. Clearly, one of them was the one that opened the door.

"Good morning. How are our defenses holding up?"

"Ah, good morning Filius. Quite well so far. Miss Shimmer pointed out a few minor issues that should make them more resilient and buy us some time should an attempt to steal the stone be made."

"Good, good." Flitwick turned to look at Sunset who was still studying the swarm of keys in the air above them. "Your verdict, Miss Shimmer?"

"Well let's see here. The basic concept is simple, but sound. Can the keys be summoned?"

"I made sure that they can't."

"Good. Since a simple unlocking charm won't work, I take it that there is an enchantment on the lock that needs to interact with magic on the key?"

"Indeed."

"And do all of those keys have magic that might do that?"

"Yes. All of them do."

"Good, good. Then I can really only think of one way to improve upon this."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, since we're essentially trying to stall for time here, give the door multiple locks. If He needs to catch more than one key, it will take Him longer."

Dumbledore nodded. "A sound strategy. If each of us adds one lock that should buy us a good amount of time."

Half an hour later, the door had four locks and three more keys had joined the swarm above.

Finally, Dumbledore and Sunset found their way into a dark chamber with a tall ceiling. Sunset quickly activated the sight charm she had created for astronomy, recognizing the chamber as the one beneath the trap door on the third floor.

Set into the ground right beneath the drop, was a flower bed with an expansive, writhing mass of vines and thorns. "Ahh, Devil's Snare. Professor Sprout's contribution?"

"Indeed. There is a spell on this chamber that automatically creates light and heat to subdue the plant and locks all the doors if it manages to choke somebody unconscious. Just in case a student does manage to get this far."

"Reasonable. With Fluffy up there to deter and this thing to take out anyone stubborn enough to get past him anyway, that should stop most of the students."

"So, what do you think of our defenses overall?"

"All together, they should give us a decent amount of time to act. And with Fawkes and Philomena, we can be there to react in moments. We just need to make sure not to interfere until the trap is sprung."

"Good, good. Any further ideas to improve our protections. Maybe one you could contribute."

"Well, a series of detection wards to monitor his progress would probably help. As for something I can add, hmm." She stroked her chin thoughtfully, then smiled.

"I think I might have something."

62 - Savior

Chapter Sixty-Two

Savior

Sirius waved a hoof at the phoenix before she vanished in another flash of flame to meet back up with Sunset on the Hogwarts Express. He sighed in contentment as he thought back on what he and Harry had done over the winter holidays. That they were winter holidays at all was a little counter-intuitive as Equestria was only a few days into the last month of fall.

In fact, upon the Apples' invitation, he and Harry had taken part in an event known as the Ponyville Running of the Leaves. It was apparently part of the process of changing the seasons. Something the ponies did manually. Of all the things he had seen in Equestria so far, that was certainly among the hardest to wrap his head around. Having lived all his life with seasons that changed on their own, the very idea of having to do so manually was bizarre to him.

After Sunset's suggestion back at the Burrow, he had taken some time every evening, after Harry had gone to bed, to meditate and work on a way to go directly from his pony form to his regular animagus. She had been correct in her guess as he was quickly able to establish the basics of such a connection. Now that Harry was back in Hogwarts, he could go back to his house and finish his work.

After maybe an hour of concentration, he opened his eyes and, with nary a thought, effortlessly slipped into his canine form. After shifting back and forth a few times, he was certain that he could shift freely back and forth. He shifted back to his human form and from there back to his animagus, just to make sure neither of those connections had been impaired then, once he had assumed his unicorn form once more, he walked out of the house to work.

With the aid of Princess Celestia, he had been able to convert some of his sizable personal fortune, inherited from one of his uncles, another anomaly in his usually dark family. Still, he didn't enjoy living off his fortune alone. He preferred to have some income to balance out whatever he spent. To that end, the Apples had offered him work on their farm. Rumor had it that they were testing the waters, trying to see how much they could get done with some extra hooves. If their experiment proved successful, they might well choose to expand their farm by an orchard or two.

After maybe half an hour of relaxed walking – his new house was on the opposite end of town – Sirius began walking through the already expansive orchards towards the farmhouse at their center. When he was maybe another minute out, he began to hear the noise of small, light hooves approaching at a hasty gallop. A moment later, a familiar orange filly crested the hill ahead of him.

Her mane was slick with sweat and her expression was a mixture of fear, worry and determination. It did not bode well.

"Whoa there! What's wrong Jackie?"

Sirius could tell that something was quite significantly wrong just from the fact that Applejack completely failed to react to his nickname for her. Usually she found it to be completely obnoxious and was all too happy to inform him of that. Now, however, she didn't seem to care at all.

"Ma! Pa! Timberwolves! Granny sent me ta get tha guard!"

"Where?"

"East orchard."

With a grim nod, Sirius turned his gaze eastward. "Go get them, I'll buy you some time."

He didn't see Applejack's nod, but he just heard her gallop off as he lit his horn, ignoring the still unfamiliar sensation, and focused. A split second later, he was engulfed by the uncomfortable yet familiar sensation of apparition.

When he arrived, the strange, reverberant howling and the cries of terror were more than enough to point him in the right direction. Almost absently, he made use of his new-found ability to go directly into his animagus form. He was faster as a unicorn than he was as a human, but he was faster still as a dog.

In barely half a minute he arrived at the edge of the orchard to see a dire scene. Four timberwolves had managed to surround Bright Macintosh and corner him against one of the orchards larger and older trees. A fifth had Buttercup pinned beneath it, a gnarled, wooden claw poised to strike at her face. Another three of them were slinking around in the area. And they were not the only ones if the stench was anything to go by.

He had arrived just in time.

He immediately turned back to have full access to his magic and jumped out between the trees. "Flippendo!" Had he been using his wand, he would have had to point it more or less straight at his target. But he wasn't using his wand. His new horn could attack in a far wider angle than his wand could and the almost instinctive control that came with it allowed him to guide the bolt of pale blue light straight into his target.

The timberwolf that had managed to get Buttercup pinned down was torn both off of her and off of its own paws and thrown backwards a good distance. It would get back up, but it would be out of the fight for a few seconds. Another beast immediately moved to replace its packmate, but a call of "Bombarda!" sent it to the ground in a scattered mess of branches and twigs.

Buttercup didn't hesitate to take her chance and use her restored freedom and the distraction Sirius had provided to get back to her hooves and deliver a powerful buck against the downed timberwolf Sirius' spell had thrown off of her, shattering it to pieces as well.

Sirius, meanwhile, with a call of "Confringo!" sent a bolt of orange into another of the timberwolves that had now moved to attack him. The moment the spell hit its mark, the timberwolf violently flew apart, sending wooden shrapnel into the other two wolves that had moved against the new threat alongside it. Seeing how he hadn't been able to take a breath for another incantation, Sirius used a simple, silent Protego to ward off the splinters.

Emboldened by their success and by the fact that one of the wolves that had been focused on him had turned to attack Sirius only to be blasted apart by the splinters from his exploded pack-mate, Bright Macintosh pushed off from the tree behind him and jumped over the distracted timberwolves before him. One of them managed to notice his escape and took a swipe at him, but the gash across his barrel didn't feel particularly deep.

He landed by his wife's side joined, a moment later, by Sirius who had jumped over the splinters of his latest victim with practiced ease. Turning his horn to the sky, he sent a jet of bright blue sparks upwards.

Galloping at full tilt Applejack managed in two minutes the distance that had taken Sirius fifteen. Panting heavily she pushed open the door to the guard barracks just barely past the edge of town.

Seeing the distraught filly, the lieutenant on duty, a pegasus by the name of Nimbus Sentry, immediately put down his cup of tea and nearly jumped over the counter. "Whoa, what's the matter?"

Still badly out of breath, Applejack just barely managed to give him the same rundown of the situation she had given Sirius, but, for the trained professional, it was more than enough. "Alright. Rest now. We'll take it from here." He turned to the unicorn mare he shared duty with. "Smokescreen, I'll take the pegasi. Alert the others and follow us."

As he rushed out of the room and into the small yard where the other two pegasi of Ponyville's E.U.P. detachment were resting, he heard Smokescreen send a bolt of magic against the enchanted bell that would alert those guards that weren't currently at the barracks before turning to the filly who was still recovering from her run. "Your brother is in town, isn't he? You might want to let him know."

He just heard the scramble of tiny hooves before the door fell shut behind him. "Guards, we have a situation," he called, immediately attracting the attention of the four others in the yard. "A timberwolf incursion at Sweet Apple Acres. Mist, Stratus, you're with me. The others will coordinate with Corporal Smokescreen. Come."

Without another word he spun around and took to the air, followed shortly by Private Mistwalker and Private Stratus Blade. They had flown for barely a few seconds, when a jet of brilliant blue sparks from the east orchard prompted them to change course in that direction.

"Orbis!"

A bolt of light hit the ground beneath the timberwolf held up by Sirius' creative application of Snape's old Levicorpus-Charm. The earth formed up into a dust storm, engulfing the creature and pulling it beneath the ground. They had taken out the last of the original Timberwolves nearly a minute ago, but they kept putting themselves back together and more of them kept showing up.

As such, his eyes were lit with an aura sight charm as he looked for some way to permanently destroy them. A smirk crossed his muzzle as he watched the wild magic that animated his latest victim disperse beneath the earth, swallowed up by the much stronger innate magic of this world. Back on earth, this wouldn't have worked. Then again, back on earth, wild magic would never have been strong enough to even form such beasts in the first place.

Still, this method of destroying them was complicated and risked over-saturating the ground with the foul wild magic of the Everfree forest, perhaps even enough to prompt that place to expand towards the town. He needed something better. But his idea had at least given him a clue. The thing that seemed to animate the wolves was a bundle of moss and sap in their torso. Right where, if his knowledge of canine anatomy was accurate, which, given he had a dog for an animagus, it almost certainly was, a real wolf would have its heart.

He could only guess that destroying that was key to stopping their regeneration permanently.

When a powerful buck from Bright Mac shattered another timberwolf into pieces, only for the magic to start putting it back together, he leveled his horn at the 'heart'. "Finite!"

The magic flickered and stopped. The heart was still glowing, but it wasn't putting the beast back together. For the moment. His counter-spell wouldn't suppress it for long. Fortunately, it was enough for his purposes. "Incendio"" A burst of magical fire engulfed the 'heart' and sent it smoldering. For a moment, that was all it did, then it exploded into flames as the magic that held it together finally gave out, setting the rest of the wolf aflame as well. A quick call of "Aguamenti!" stopped the fire from spreading to the rest of the orchard.

For a few moments, they managed to work a rhythm. Bright and Buttercup would use their innate strength to keep the wolves back while Sirius would destroy them one by one. When only three of the attacking wolves were left, a deep growl sounded from behind him. Ah, I was wondering when he'd show up, Sirius grimly thought as he spun around. A massive timberwolf, easily three times the size of the largest they had faced so far, stood there, growling at them. It's paw was raised, ready to swipe.

The alpha had arrived.

As they arrived at the location the sparks had indicated, Lieutenant Nimbus and his squad saw Applejack's parents and a large black dog fighting three normal timberwolves and an alpha. All three of them had various scratches and bruises and one of Bright Macintosh's forelegs was bent in a direction forelegs decidedly weren't meant to bend in. Still he fought just as ferociously as the other two. The dog was confusing. They knew that the family owned a dog, but that dog was still a young puppy and certainly not cut out to fight timberwolves.

A few signs from Nimbus were enough to send him and his two squad mates diving at one of the regular wolves each. Their impacts shattered the wild constructs leaving only the alpha to deal with.

With their combined might, the group quickly managed to overwhelm even the large wolf and scatter it as well. As it fell to the ground, the dog began to shift and warp, quickly changing into the shape of a forest green unicorn with a scraggly black mane. The new pony in town.

The guards watched with some confusion as the stallion turned to the scattered remnants of the three regular timberwolves and lit his horn. In short order he used a series of spells to suppress the magic that animated them and set them aflame. After doing the same to the alpha and extinguishing the resulting fire with a water spell, he finally relaxed and turned to the guards.

"Thank you. You came right on time. I didn't think swords would be so effective against those beasts."

"Normal swords wouldn't. But ours are enchanted to interfere with wild magic. They're standard equipment for guards stationed near the Everfree." The lieutenant held a hoof out. "Nimbus Sentry. Those are Privates Mistwalker and Stratus Blade. I don't think we've met?"

"We haven't. Sirius Black. I'm new in town."

"Well, y'all certainly did us a solid-" Bright Mac was cut off by a pained wince as he unintentionally put weight on his broken foreleg.

"Woah, take it easy. One moment." Sirius pointed his horn at the injured limb. "Ferula."

Several of the nearby sticks and branches floated over. three of the larger pieces transformed into long, straight pieces while some of the others became clean bandages that wrapped the broken leg into an impromptu splint.

"There. We should get you to a hospital to get that properly healed. My knowledge of healing magic only goes so far. But I should be able to heal most of those cuts. Episkey." He pointed his horn at the particularly severe cut on the underside of Bright Mac's barrel where the timberwolf had managed to scratch him as he jumped over it. The cut quickly began to heal and even the skin and fur atop it regrew, leaving behind a rather odd looking clean line among the dusty and bloodied fur around it.

Sirius repeated the spell a few more times to heal both Buttercup's injuries and his own, then he turned to the two farmers. "How did they even get in here?"

The farm mare pointed a hoof towards the edge of the orchard. "Broke through tha fence over thar."

With a nod, Sirius walked off. Private Mistwalker looked at her superior questioningly, then, when he nodded, trotted after the unicorn. It didn't take long to reach the broken fence. A quick Reparo later, it was restored and they made their way back.

On their way back to the town, they were first joined by Granny Smith carrying Apple Bloom as they walked past the farmhouse, then a highly worried Big Macintosh not long after they reached the path back into town. He was then followed by the rest of the Ponyville E.U.P. detachment led by Corporal Smokescreen.

The gray unicorn mare seemed very interested in the Apples' tales of the spells Sirius had used to combat the timberwolves. Finally, not long before they reached the town, they came across Applejack who seemed very relieved to see her parents alive and, mostly, well.

Before long, they reached Ponyville General while the guards, save Nimbus and Smokescreen, returned to their barracks.

When Sirius learned that this world didn't have a spell to mend broken bones, only a potion that, even for such a simple fracture, would take several days to reach its full effect, he headed straight back to his house. He had a message to write.

It seemed more magical exchange was in order.

63 - Baiting the Snare

Chapter Sixty-Three

Baiting the Snare

With the start of the second term, it became obvious that Dumbledore and Sinistra had made good on their promise to relay Sunset's offer to Professor Flitwick and the two of them spent a few weeks of their comparative magic sessions discussing gravity spells with the assistance and expertise of Madam Hooch and, once they were satisfied with the results, delved into other spells altering the fundamental properties of reality.

This was the first time they had been discussing purely theoretical magic. Both worlds had magical theory that suggested that a spell to alter an object's mass was possible, but neither had actually managed to create one. But, by relying on the magical knowledge of both worlds, they were able to turn the theories into reality.

For now, outside of a mass-independent, if far more complicated, levitation charm they hadn't found much in ways of applying their discoveries so far, but they were certain that they would think of something sooner or later.

Still in the first week of term, Sunset was also called to the medical wing where Madam Pomfrey showed her several books on medical spells and asked her to translate them and send them to Equestria. Upon further prompting, she revealed that the headmaster had gotten word from Sirius and learned that medical spellcraft was nowhere near as far advanced in Equestria that it was on Earth.

Sunset could understand why. Ponies were a lot more durable than humans were, even wizards and witches. Injuries occurred far less often, as such there was far less incentive to develop methods to heal them.

It was fascinating. Equestria had potions that could heal a simple fracture in days. More complicated ones, like wing injuries, could take a week or longer. There were spells that could lock the parts of a broken bone in position, but even those required a thorough knowledge of anatomy. From the books she had learned a spell that could heal simple fractures in seconds and even complicated ones in minutes. Regardless of anatomical knowledge.

It was an immensely complex spell, of course, but it was still a remarkable piece of magic and immensely useful for those willing to learn it. She had never actually given much thought to it, but now that she thought about it, it had seemed odd that Neville had been able to return to the flying lesson after half an hour as though his wrist had never been broken in the first place.

Once she had the translated copies, she returned to the common room where Ron seemed very interested in what she had gotten. Uncharacteristically so, considering she had brought back books of all things. She did remember, however, what Mr. Ollivander had said about Ron's wand and the accidental magic he had cast with it when they were matched.

Ron wasn't usually particularly diligent, but his brothers had set the bar high and if there was one thing he was truly willing to work for, save Quidditch, of course, it was distinguishing himself from them. In that light, she supposed, his sudden interest made a certain amount of sense.

She made copies of each of the books for him and then another set for herself, her bag had plenty of room, after all, before sending the stack off to Princess Celestia along with a message asking whether the princess had any idea what could have caused Sirius to inquire after human healing spells all of a sudden.

As the snow started to thaw and give way to rather heavy rain, Harry was once more busy many a morning and evening as Oliver Wood was roping him and the rest of the team into Quidditch training. Gryffindor wouldn't be playing in another match until March, but Wood seemed to have the same attitude concerning training Hermione and Twilight had to studying.

Sunset was careful to observe Malfoy and Goyle whenever they ran into them. She noted that they were slowly starting to look a bit put out rather than openly hostile more often than not. It seemed that the seeds of doubt Crabbe had planted were sprouting nicely.

Speaking of Crabbe, he and Sunset were continuing their training and he was quickly improving. At the same time they also often took the opportunity to discuss news or the general situation in wizarding Britain as a whole. It was remarkable how often he said something only to, moments later, reconsider and discover that he had come across yet another idea he only held because it had been told to him by his parents and their friends.

All in all, Sunset was quite happy with the way things were going. Even Quirrell hadn't made a move so far. Then, in the third week of February, on the evening after they had watched the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw, Sunset got word from the princess. After some covert research hadn't uncovered anything, it seemed the Princess had paid Sirius as visit and simply asked him directly. That was how she had found out about his actions in defending the Apple Family and their orchard.

Her friends, especially Harry, quite enjoyed her retelling of the tale, especially since the Princess had apparently been interested in the story herself and gotten a full report from the guard in charge and Granny Smith. It also served well to distract her friends from the second part of the message.

The trap was ready.

She would have to inform the headmaster that the Princess would be coming by later that evening to set up the trap.

A knock on the door prompted the headmaster to turn to the door. "Come in," he called before his other guests could react. The newly upgraded wards had been correct and the door opened to reveal Miss Shimmer and Princess Celestia. "Welcome. I've been told your project is complete. Is it truly ready?"

"Yes Headmaster Dumbledore. I personally checked. It is ready."

"Albus, would you mind?"

"Oh, of course. My apologies, Minerva. May I introduce Princess Celestia of Equestria, the ruler of Miss Shimmer's homeland. Princess, allow me to introduce Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout and Severus Snape, our heads of house and professors for transfiguration, charms, herbology and potions. This struck me as the time to let the rest of the senior staff in on our plan. I assure you they all have my complete trust."

The princess looked at each of the Professors in turn, then nodded. "Very well, do you wish to inform them or shall I."

"Severus, would you like to inform your colleagues of what you've learned."

Snape nodded calmly. "Of course, director." He turned to the rest of the senior staff. "Quirinus has betrayed us. He is working for the Dark Lord."

Professor Sprout gasped. Professor Flitwick nearly fell of his much too large chair. Professor McGonagall managed to contain her reaction the best. Even so, she looked flabbergasted. "How?"

Albus leaned forward, clearing his throat quietly. "I did some research over the past months. It seems Quirinus' travels over the past year took him to Albania. The very country where Lord Voldemort was reportedly hiding after his downfall. I suspect that they met there."

"Months? Albus, you've known for that long and not told us? Why would you not act to remove him immediately?"

Snape's nod was barely noticeable, but his voice was as clear as ever. "That, director, is a very good question. One I've been asking myself for a while as well."

"The reason for that is in a discovery myself and Miss Shimmer here made independently not long after Halloween. It is also the reason for Princess Celestia's presence." He sighed. "Quirinus is not merely aiding or serving Lord Voldemort. He is hosting him. Willingly."

Once more the professors gasped in disbelief. Sprout was barely moving. Flitwick was barely holding onto his chair. McGonagall's reaction was the loudest this time. Snape, however, seemed outraged. "The dark lord has been in Hogwarts for months?!"

"I am afraid so, Severus. However, Princess Celestia suggested a superior method of dealing with our problem. Your highness, would you be so kind to explain?"

"Of course. Sunset?"

Miss Shimmer reached into her bag and pulled out an object, maybe the size of a bludger, that seemed to be a tetrahedron made of brown glass with golden trim. When she placed it on Albus' desk, a closer investigation revealed it to actually be made up four smaller tetrahedrons made of glass with complex pieces of metal inside them and connected by four hexagonal panes of brown glass, or at least some material resembling glass, he doubted it was actually glass, that connected the four.

The hexagonal panes each had three long sides, connecting to the three other panes and three short sides connecting to each of the smaller tetrahedral devices. Two sides of the trap had complex spell patterns inscribed on them. The patterns on one side were faintly glowing in the teal color he had come to connect with Miss Shimmer's magic. The second set of inscriptions was glowing a golden, sunny yellow. He didn't need to guess whose magic it was.

"This," the princess began to explain, "is a soul trap. A masterpiece of light magic that will free any living being caught within its grasp of any soul, or fragment thereof, that isn't their own. Each side of the trap is a spell matrix lock. Only when four key spells are cast upon the trap at the same time – each upon the correct face, of course – will it open and release whatever soul may be trapped within.

"As you can see, both Sunset and myself have already inscribed our key sequences. If two of you would do so as well, the trap would become operational."

"Thank you, your highness." Albus turned back to his professors. "Now, as you all know, the Philosopher's Stone is being kept at Hogwarts. Stealing it is, of course, his objective. The soul trap is our only chance of containing him so we intend to use the stone as bait to lure Him into it. Once the trap fulfills its purpose, we simply need to deal with Quirinus and recover it. I have personally ensured that neither Quirinus nor his new ... master will be able to recover the stone. I nearly prevented myself from recovering it in the process, but fortunately Miss Shimmer managed to catch a detail I overlooked."

He gave his heads of house some time to discuss amongst themselves while he quietly spoke with the princess. "Does this spell matrix lock require a specific key?"

She nodded. "It has a predetermined form. Sunset?"

He hadn't seen Miss Shimmer walk over until she stepped out next to the princess and pulled a scroll of parchment out of her bag. Actually, it wasn't parchment at all, it was much smoother. The 'paper' material the muggles seemed to prefer. As she placed it on his desk, her hand lit up with her teal magic for a split second and a fine line of magic cut the ribbon holding it closed. She then unfurled it and used what he recognized as a weak, transient sticking charm to keep it from rolling back up. When she lifted her arm aside, he saw that the scroll held a complex spell scheme drawn partially in red ink and partially in blue ink. He noted that only some of the actual inscriptions were blue, all vital parts of the spell structure were red.

The princess confirmed his suspicions a moment later. "The red sections are integral components of the spell. The blue areas are placeholders. Feel free to change them as you see fit. Just make sure to memorize them well."

Albus looked at the spell for a good while, memorizing every detail first of the required portions, then of his own version of the spell. Finally, he lit his eyes with an aura sight charm and cast the spell. A bead of light red appeared at the tip of his wand. After confirming that each of the patterns of the spell had formed correctly, something only he was capable of as the spell cleverly used his own signature to mask its matrices, he tapped his wand against the center of one of the unoccupied sides of the trap.

When he lifted it away, he watched as the small bead of light that had jumped off of his wand slowly crept a few fractions of an inch over until it was perfectly centered. From there it extended into three lines, quickly running towards the three points of the triangular surface. From there, each turned to the right, running along the edge. Before they could reach the corner, however, they passed the middle and curved inwards, forming a circle that matched the central glass pane in size. At the point they touched the smaller triangles they turned outwards forming three smaller circles on them.

Once they had finished their smaller circles, they returned back onto the original circle and continued until they had finished a third of a turn and returned back to the outline, continuing on where the previous line had left off until they reached a point again. Once the basic framework had formed, further circles subdivided the large areas, filling with fanciful characters to quickly form a dizzying array of glowing symbols.

It remained there, glowing, for a few seconds before the symbols faded, leaving only the outline of the spell, now glowing much dimmer, just like on the other sides of the trap that were already keyed.

Once he had finished watching the spell matrix lock do its work, he turned to his professors. "So which of you want's to do the honours?"

After some back and forth, it was decided that Minerva should be the final key bearer. All seven of them were now in the chamber where the Mirror of Erised was kept, and, with it, the Stone.

Princess Celestia held out the trap in one hand, her own side facing down against her palm. When her hand lit up with her golden magic, the other three key bearers drew their wands and tapped them against their respective sides.

Within moments, the locks once more filled with symbols and lit up. The hexagonal panes vanished leaving only the smaller tetragons behind. The top one dropped into the princess' palm where another already lay. The other two were easily caught in her magic.

"Very well. Now we simply need to place them in the correct positions. Sunset."

Albus and his professors watched as Miss Shimmer and the princess walked around the room placing three of the small glass objects in a triangle pointing away from the entrance and centered around the spot in front of the mirror. When they were done, Miss Shimmer stepped in front of the mirror, looked into it for a moment, nodded, and threw the final piece into the air above her.

None of them were particularly surprised when it suddenly stopped in mid-air, twin lines matching the colors of magic keyed to the lock outlining a much larger tetrahedron momentarily flashing up before they vanished and the smaller objects vanished.

It took a quite impressive effort on Albus' and Filius' behalf to pierce through the extensive suite of concealment charms and momentarily render them visible. They would have never found them, had they not known to look for them.

Albus was beginning to understand why it had taken the Equestrians two months to make the artifact.

64 - Trading Favors

Chapter Sixty-Four

Trading Favors

Finally, after months, the three friends were all back together. Sitting together, this time in the Leaky Cauldron rather than in front of Fortescue's, given the weather, Silvia, Erica and Emily had once more found their way together.

"So sorry I couldn't make it all this time, girls," Emily apologized, "between the whole situation with Black and Pettigrew and all the investigations sparked from that, the Prophet has been busy for months now."

"I'm just glad you could make it this time. You must have insane amounts of overtime at this point."

"Oh you have no idea, Silvy, you have no idea. I just hope things calm down soon."

"On that topic though," Erica chimed in, "that you remember the girl I mentioned? The friend of Granger's with the really ominous statement?"

The other two thought back to their conversation a few months back, then nodded. "What about her?"

"That was Sunset Shimmer. The one who ratted out Pettigrew."

"Really?! That was her? Come on, that can't be coincidence. Oh, and that pun was terrible."

"What pu- oh. That wasn't actually intentional. But yeah. That was her. I stitched her name tags. You'd think I'd remember."

"And that isn't even it."

"What is it, Silvy?"

"I looked her up when that article came out. She's another one of those new animagi. The first one, to be exact."

"No way."

"Yes way, Erica. And it gets better. Her file is even crazier than those of the Grangers. her date of birth doesn't match the date the file was made, but that's not really all that strange. She isn't from Britain, after all."

"Oh? Then where is she from?"

"Equestria."

"Where?"

"Equestria."

"Where on Earth is that?"

"I have no idea. I've never heard of it. But apparently she is a citizen there and a permanent resident here. And that's before you get to her guardian."

"Normal or magical?"

"Both actually. They're the same person. I actually had to write this one down because I couldn't remember it all."

Erica put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my."

"Yeah, brace yourself. Her magical guardian is 'Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Solaris, Steward of the Sun, Princess of the Aetheris Tribe, High Admiral of the Aeolis Tribe, Warden of the Eterris Tribe, Protector of the Land, Conqueror of Chaos, Bringer of Light and Harmony and Eternal Ruler of Equestria and Its Territories'."

For a few seconds, her friends just looked at her uncomprehendingly. Finally, Emily snapped out of it, shaking her head. "Well, that's a mouthful."

"Yeah, it is. And that's not even all about this weird Equestria place."

Erica managed to snap out of her reverie. "Really? There is more?"

"There is. A few days ago, Sirius Black came by and had a second animagus form registered."

"A second- Is that even possible?"

"I asked him the same thing."

"And?"

"Sure enough. He demonstrated. He can turn into a dog and into a small green unicorn that is way more adorable than it has any right to be."

"So he has two different animagi?"

"Yes. I do."

All three of them turned around to see two men standing beside their table. They easily recognized them both. Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore. The latter of whom now spoke up, "Good morning Miss Winters. A pleasure to meet you again. Miss Anderson, Miss Hops, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. I take it you have heard of Sirius Black?"

After a moment of silence, Silvia decided to speak up. "We have, yes. Kinda hard not to. How can we help you?"

"It has come to my attention that the three of you have grown suspicious of certain parties whom, I think, you were discussing before we arrived. I would be willing to, shall we say, bring you into the loop, assuming you could keep this information confidential until the time is right. However I would expect a favor in return."

Erica was growing wary. "What kind of favor?"

"Oh, nothing difficult, I assure you. It just happens that we need some information given to certain parties without said parties suspecting that we planted it. A simple matter of saying the right things at the right time. Nothing more complicated than that."

The three looked at each other for several seconds. Finally, Emily turned back to Dumbledore. "Could we have a moment to think this over?"

"Of course, Miss Winters. Take all the time you need. When you come to a decision, we'll be at the bar."

As the two men walked off, the three huddled together, speaking quietly. "We really should have known that Dumbledore was involved."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Not really surprising in retrospect, no. But what do we do?"

"That favor he's asking doesn't sound difficult," Erica chimed in.

"Well it wouldn't, would it?" Silvia pointed out, "What does he need us for?"

"The people who work for him are probably just too well known. Doesn't want to risk tipping whomever off."

"I suppose that makes sense. But what secrets could he want us to keep?"

"Think about it, Silvy," Emily chimed in, "what if our guess was right? What if the Grangers really were muggles before? If they found a way to turn muggles into wizards, how do you think the purebloods will react?"

"Oh yeah, they'd throw a fit, wouldn't they?"

"And not a small one, yeah. Not sure how he's planning to mitigate that, but he's known to be good at politics. And it would be a good way to hear all of it from the horse's mouth. I mean, if Dumbledore doesn't know all the details, who would?"

"I guess there is that. So, do we do it?"

Erica seemed to think about it for a moment. "Sure, why not?"

Emily nodded. "I'm in too, what about you, Silvy?"

"I can't shake the feeling that this'll end up in a terrible case of 'curiosity killed the cat', but sure. I'm in."

Together, the three made their way over to Dumbledore and Black, sitting at the bar with a bottle of butterbeer each. "Ah, there you are. Have you come to a decision?"

At the head of the group, Silvia nodded. "We'll do it."

Dumbledore broke into a wide smile. "Excellent. If you could meet us in the warded alleyway not far from here in a few minutes, I'd rather not too many people see us together until ... certain events have concluded. Again, things better not discussed in public."

The two men took their bottles and left out through the door to muggle London. The three young women followed some minutes later, meeting back up in the warded alleyway near the Leaky Cauldron. "Alright, we're here. Where to now?"

This time it was Black who spoke up with an amused smirk. "I think this would be best discussed back at my place."

Dumbledore nodded. "I suppose the potential to demonstrate cannot be denied. Very well. Fawkes." When the phoenix landed on his arm, he looked at the three young women. "Brace yourself. It would be difficult to explain what is about to happen and it can be quite startling if you don't know what to expect. If you could take us to Sirius new home, my friend."

Fawkes gave a quiet, proud trill and the group vanished in a flash of golden fire.

With a pop, Quirinus Quirrell appeared. He had some things that needed arranging and required his constant oversight. That was the reason he had come here during Hogwarts' lunch time. Suddenly he got the strange feeling that he had just gotten incredibly unlucky, but he couldn't for the life of him guess why.

Dumbledore had been right. Suddenly being quadrupeds was indeed quite startling. Emily and Silvia found it rather odd to suddenly have four hooves. Erica, meanwhile was dealing with two claws, two paws, and a pair of wings.

"Well, would you look at that," the deep green unicorn standing beside them chuckled, "and earth pony, a unicorn and a griffin. Don't get too many of those here."

The older-looking unicorn beside him nods with a very 'Dumbledore' smile. "Indeed, I certainly don't recall the princess mentioning them. Ladies, welcome to Equestria."

After managing to get up on her four hooves, Erica looked out the window at the small hamlet beyond before asking the question she shared with her friends, "where on Earth are we?"

The younger unicorn standing beside Dumbledore, who could only be Black, chuckled lightly. "That's kinda the thing. We're not on Earth. The planet, I think, is called Equus. We're in an entirely different dimension right now and this is where I've lived for the past few months. The lovely little town of Ponyville."

"Ponyville? Seriously?"

Erica's question prompted another laugh from Black. "If you think that's weird wait 'till you hear some of the other names places have around here. It's hilarious."

As the three of them managed to navigate their way to the couch, Dumbledore and Black easily trotting behind them and sitting down on the two armchairs, they looked at their host and the house around them with interest. "So this is where this Sunset Shimmer girl comes from?"

"This country, yes," Black confirmed, "though she actually used to live in Canterlot. That's the capital city about fifty miles north-east of here." He pointed a hoof out of the window. "See the thing attached to that mountain back there? Yeah, that's Canterlot."

Erica looked at the city for a moment. "That doesn't look structurally sound."

Black smirked in response. "Tell that to the Weasleys."

"Point."

"Now," Dumbledore interjected, "I believe you had some questions?"

"Yes," Silvia nodded, "we do. Emma and Daniel Granger?"

"Ah yes, the two elder Grangers. As I take it you have put together, Emma and Dan Granger were born muggles. As it turns out, muggles, and, to a lesser degree, squibs are afflicted with a condition the Equestrians call Null Star Syndrome. They have a treatment for it. Miss Shimmer started treating the Grangers in March. They completed the procedure and became a witch and wizard in mid August."

Emily snorted. "Oh the old families are gonna love this."

Dumbledore nodded sadly. "Undoubtedly, that is the reason we are containing this information for the time being. We have established that the treatment works on squibs and will be going public with that soon. We want to give the pureblood families some time to get used to the idea and its benefits before announcing that it works on muggles as well."

"Well that explains that, what about the sudden influx of animagi?"

"Well, Miss Hops, as I'm certain you have noticed, traveling between dimensions has certain side-effects."

"Like being turned into a tiny horse?"

"They call themselves ponies, Miss Anderson, but yes. With some effort it is possible to gain the ability to take one's local form back on Earth or one's Earthen form while here. The animagi you have registered recently, starting with Miss Shimmer, were actually Equestrian forms learned to assume in Britain in that fashion. Since Sirius here managed to gain the ability while retaining his usual animagus form we are starting to doubt whether these Equestrian forms even are actual animagi, but that is a discussion for another time."

"Yes," Sylvia agreed, "it is. What was it that you wanted our help for?"

"Ah yes, I'm afraid that will take a bit more explanation. And I must ask you to keep this strictly confidential."

The three nodded, prompting him to continue, "I take it the three of you have a loose idea of what happened on the thirty-first of October nineteen-eighty-one in the home of the Potter Family, correct?"

The three nodded somberly. Emily was the one to answer. "He-who-must-not-be-named found their house after Peter Pettigrew ratted them out to him. He came there killed both James and Lily Potter and then tried to kill Harry Potter. But he failed. His spell was bounced back at him, killing him instead?"

"And that," Dumbledore began with a sigh, "is where the official story starts to deviate from the truth. The spell did bounce back and it did hit him, but it didn't fully kill him. Lord Voldemort-" The two mares and one formel flinched at the name, but Dumbledore continued unerringly, "-often claimed he had transcended death. His claims were not entirely empty. He still exists in some fashion, but has been reduced to little more than a spirit, requiring a host to survive long term."

"He's still alive?"

"He is, but in his current state he is not a direct threat to anyone. His host is a more pressing issue at the current juncture. We have a plan to deal with both, but they need to be given information without any indication that it came from us."

"And who is that host?"

"Quirinus Quirrell. Our current professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Oh the irony."

"Indeed. I am not asking much, really. He is planning to steal something. He doesn't know that it is a trap. However, the thing he is trying to steal is protected by a number of defensive measures. He is likely to bypass most of them sooner or later, but the first seems to still give him trouble."

"And you want us to give him a hint."

"More or less. That first defense happens to be a large, three-headed dog. A so-called cerberus. They have a little known weakness. Music puts them right to sleep. He meets with some, shall we say, shady contacts in a small pub in muggle London, not far from Diagon Alley. All we're really asking is that the three of you go there while he is there as well and have a not-so-subtle chat about the cerberus of Greek mythology. It doesn't have that weakness, but he doesn't need to know that."

"And by making it about muggle mythology about an actual magical creature we can give him a hint without his knowledge and without breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Clever."

"Exactly, Miss Anderson, that is indeed the intention."

"What do you say girls? Think we can do that?"

The other two nodded. "Alright, you have a deal. One question though. Just what is he trying to steal?"

"I'm afraid that information is strictly confidential. Even Sirius here doesn't know."

Sirius huffed. "And I'm not happy about it."

"Indeed. I'm afraid I cannot risk telling this information to more people until the trap is sprung. After that I will let you know. You have my word."

65 - Trials

Act Four

Containment

Chapter Sixty-Five

Trials

He was ecstatic. His master was more along the lines of smugly triumphant, not that Quirius Quirrell would ever have said so to his face. His master had questioned many things about him. His abilities. His power. His resolve. But never his loyalty. As such some parts of his mind were still his and only his. One of those he buried that thought in now. His master, thankfully, was too distracted to notice.

The plan had worked. He and his master alike had been sceptical when they had heard the three muggle women discussing the ancient legend of the cerberus based of the real magical creature. Could it really be so easy? Could the weakness of the mythical creature be as based in reality as the myth itself?

But sure enough. A few bars of conjured music and the beast dozed off. From there it was only a matter of levitating it out of the way and the way to the trapdoor was clear.

He had had a plan laid out. To coax Hagrid with a dragon egg that he had been working hard to covertly acquire. To get him drunk, get him talking. But all of that was unnecessary now.

Still, he didn’t dare go further.

Even at the height of his power, his master couldn’t beat Albus Dumbledore in a one-on-one duel. He was not his master, he could match neither his power nor his skill. And, here at Hogwarts, a straight duel wouldn’t happen. Not with this much hanging in the balance.

McGonagall, Flitwick and Snape were all formidable duelists in their own right. With them supporting Dumbledore, he wouldn’t stand a chance. With his master’s aid or without it.

He would have to wait until the old geezer was out in the next session of the Wizengamot. With him far away, the wards protecting the stone would have no one else to report to and by the time Dumbledore came back, he would be long gone. And the stone with him .

Until then, he would have to continue laying low.

For now, however, he would have to make his way back through the sleeping castle to his office without attracting attention. Snape had become suspicious, he could tell. His master was convinced of the man’s loyalty, but agreed that it was not a risk they could take at this juncture. If he became a greater problem, perhaps, but a little suspicion wouldn’t be a problem.

Just before he was about to go to bed, a small gout of golden fire delivered a message into Albus’ bedchambers. He recognized the handwriting.

He has taken the bait.

He couldn’t quite hide his smirk. And, he realized, alone as he was, he didn’t need to.

Everything was going to plan.

Over the next week and a half, Sunset was under a constant, slight tension. She knew when Quirrell was likely to make his move. The next session of the Wizengamot was the obvious candidate. Still, she had to keep up the charade until then.

After discussing the matter with Dumbledore and Princess Celestia, Sunset had let Hermione in on the secret. To account for the fact that her sister had a terrible poker face, she had left out certain details, such as the identity of Voldemort’s agent, but told her the general gist of the situation and the plan to deal with it.

Dumbledore and the heads of house would be needed to defeat Quirrell, Sunset didn’t know enough offensive magic to do so herself, even when accounting for him being weakened by the trap. But what she lacked in offensive ability, she more than made up for in defensive power. She couldn’t stop him, but she could buy time.

But with her being occupied, someone else would have to rally the professors. That someone was Hermione. To be able to do so at a moment’s notice, the two of them were sticking with one another as though they were glued together, but that wasn’t entirely new.

The only times they separated were when Sunset had her comparative magic session with Professor Flitwick and her trainings with Crabbe. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon the next week, she felt her spells go off once more.

She shared a glance with Hermione and they both got up to leave the common room and made for the roof of the tower.

With the dog out of the way, he could get through the trap door and make his way to the second challenge. He tried using a gravity spell to slow his descent, but found it blocked.

Fortunately, something soft broke his fall. Lighting his wand, he recognized the plant. A simple spell later, the offending weed shied back from the magical fire he had conjured, allowing him to make his way forward.

Sunset was glad that the princess had come up with the idea of placing detection spells in between the challenges, allowing her to track Quirrell’s progress while she filled Hermione in on the rest of the details.

After having already dealt with Hagrid’s and Sprout’s contributions to the Stone’s defence, the trial he now faced was clearly Flitwick’s work. He found the door sealed with four separate locks and reinforced by the same siege wards that had protected the Great Hall on Halloween. His summoning charm proved useless. He hadn’t expected anything different, but it was still wasting valuable time.

With a sigh, he called one of the brooms to his hand and got to work.

That a good portion of the keys started attacking him whenever he came close to one of the keys he suspected matched the door, didn’t make this trial any less frustrating.

Sunset noted with satisfaction that it took nearly fifteen minutes for Quirrell to beat the key room. Once Hermione was filled in, she got to writing notes for the heads of house. They would need to be warned.

The next trial turned out to be a gigantic chess game. He was very glad that Dumbledore was in London and would be occupied there for hours yet. If this trial and the previous one were anything to go by, this would take a while.

When she felt Quirrell leave the chess room, Sunset sent a note to Dumbledore. He needed confirmation that their expectations had been correct.

She couldn’t help her smirk. This was where they had added her trial. Something any muggle would call a classic, yet entirely unfamiliar to wizards.

He was confused to see that the door beyond the chessboard opened up onto a spiraling staircase. The path lead him up into a square room with a pedestal in the center. In the direction he suspected the stone to be there was another door. It was locked and, once again, sealed by the siege wards, but didn’t have any actual lock he could see.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the pedestal in the center of the room had something to do with opening the door.

He had no clue who’s test this could be, but turned to one of the other doors instead. Those weren’t sealed. He pushed open the first door and his eyes widened. Beyond it there was nothing but a corridor, maybe sixty feet in total, with another pedestal at the end. Hovering atop it was a fine metal ring.

When a summoning charm failed to retrieve the item, he made his way down the corridor waiting for the inevitable trap.

He almost missed the fine beam of magic and managed to catch himself just in time before he hit it. An aura-sight charm to analyze the spells confirmed what he had feared. The little beam was tied directly into the wards. Disrupting it in any way would alert Dumbledore. And, at this point, he would likely have enough time to come back and swoop in before he could reach the stone.

More worrying, however, was the fact that there were many more such beams, some stationary, some moving, and not all of them tied into the wards. Some of them were instead far more powerful and loaded with a powerful cutting charm. Touching those wouldn’t trip the wards but run the risk of seriously injuring him.

He was about to move on and try making his way through the mess of beams when something he could just barely see caused him to pause.

“Revelio!”

He stopped once again when his spell revealed a third again as many beams as before. Like with the others, three quarters of them were tied into the wards, the rest were meant to cut directly. Only these beams were also invisible.

This trial, he decided, was terrible. Not only did it waste valuable time, it also required near perfect concentration to avoid either an alarm through the wards or a dangerous injury that would only make the trial harder for him and cost more valuable time to heal.

He would have to remember this design.

It was a tricky bit of work to get past the trial. A few adhesive spells stopped his robes from tripping any of the beams, but that was about all he could really do to make the matter easier for him. He had to weave between the beams, occasionally mimicking poses from a muggle sport he had observed called ‘limbo’. A few times he had to jump through a gap in the grid.

The exhausting part was doing that six times. One each to get to through each corridor and one more to get back with the parts found at their end.

Finally, after nearly twenty minutes, he returned to the central room with the final piece. When he placed it on the pedestal, it came together with the other two parts, each ring fitting neatly into the next larger one. They began spinning above the pedestal, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. He only had eyes for one fact.

The door was finally open.

Sunset and Hermione were now chatting merrily atop Gryffindor tower. Sunset used her monitoring charms to give her sister a running commentary of Quirrell’s progress. All preparations were complete.

All the trials and defenses, they realized, had the unintended side effect of exhausting Quirrell both physically and mentally. That could only help them. All her messages were prepared.

The only thing left to do was to wait.

The next room was a surprise. This was where his trial was supposed to be located. Instead, he found a gigantic room designed to look like space. Filled with floating rocks.

Now that he thought about it, Dumbledore had mentioned something about the danger a troll in the castle represented. He had likely removed it and replaced it with another defense. Probably with the help of one of the other professors. Sinistra if he had to take a guess.

This test was decidedly more fun, but still time consuming to get through. At this rate, Dumbledore might actually finish up at the Wizengamot before he managed to reach the stone. It was fortunate that the old man was known to hobknob for a while after each meeting.

Finding the right door was a slog, but he managed it.

Hermione was still marveling at Sunset’s description of the star chamber, as she had dubbed Professor Sinistra’s trial, when Quirrell made his way to the last trial. The potion chamber.

Finally! A sensible trial. No ridiculous displays of magic. No tests of dexterity. Just a simple riddle. Now if only he wasn’t so terrible at logic.

After a good ten minutes, his master grew impatient and solved the riddle for him. Taking the smallest bottle he gulped down the potion and made his way first through the fire, then through the door.

“Alright. He’s reached the room with the stone. Time to get ready.” Sunset handed Hermione the five rolled-up scrolls before letting Philomena hop onto her sister’s shoulder, a wing on her back, ready to bring her in on her command.

The mirror surprised him. He had not expected this as the final defense. Then again, it was Dumbledore’s trial. Perhaps he should have expected something like this. He walked around the mirror, his wand drawn, but couldn’t find any indication where the stone might be located.

Finally, he looked into the mirror itself. He saw himself. Using the stone to produce the elixir of life and restore his master. But where was it? Inside the mirror? Beyond it? Was it perhaps-

A pulse of magic surged through the room, breaking his concentration. One moment his wand was raised, posed to fend off any attack that might come, the next it clattered uselessly to the floor.

A golden light filled the room and he was lifted off his feet.

Suddenly, his world erupted into infernal pain. A force unlike any he had ever known tore at his very essence. The pain wasn’t physical. It was simultaneously far less direct and far more real.

But he was in no state to think about such matters. He only dimly noticed when he fell to the ground. The pain let up.

Then, his world faded to black.

66 - Chase

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chase

“There. The trap has closed.” Sunset fixed Hermione with a serious gaze. “You know what to do. Philomena?”

With a gust of flames, she was gone.

Hermione turned to the firebird on her shoulder. “Alright then. Gotta get these messages out first.” She levitated the five scrolls in her pale green aura, allowing Philomena to easily touch them with a feather one by one and whisk them away to their destinations.

The darkness slowly fled from his mind when he felt a wash of magic and heat not far from him.

“Ah, good morning Professor. How is your head feeling?”

He recognized the voice. One of the Gryffindor first-years. Sunset Shimmer.

“Ugh. What happened?”

“You failed.”

That gave him pause.

“What?”

“You failed to steal the stone. You ran right into our trap. I ask again, how is your head feeling?”

He managed to get to his feet and pick up his wand. He had been lying in front of that blasted mirror. The girl stood across the room, in front of the door. A silver shimmer covered it, indicating that it was once more sealed shut by the siege wards.

Mostly because he had little else to do, he humored her. His head hurt. But there was something else. Something different to what he had grown used to. A familiar presence that was now gone.

“Master? Master!”

“I’d be very surprised if he could hear you right now.”

His gaze snapped up to her. “What?! What did you do?”

“Personally? I didn’t do anything. Collectively? We trapped him.” She pointed a finger at a small object at his feet, made, seemingly, from brown glass. A faint, flickering light shimmered within. “Seriously, I didn’t think he had damaged his soul that far. It’s disgusting.”

Their gazes met once more. “What did you think of our upgraded defenses?”

“Tedious. It felt like you were just stalling.”

“We were. To make sure that we had enough time to react. Did you like my trial?”

“You contributed a trial?” She nodded. “Which one?” Before she could answer, his thoughts went back to the trials. He could assign each of them. His own had been removed. Snape had brought in the riddle. McGonagall had made the chess board. Flitwick had enchanted the keys. Hagrid had provided the dog and Sprout the devil’s snare. That only left two. The space room clearly was Sinistra’s contribution. That only left one. “The corridors with the beams.”

She smirked. “A classic, really.”

That was the last straw. This girl had helped in trapping his master in a device he couldn’t begin to understand. She had worked with Dumbledore against him. She had probably even helped with the other trials. Flitwick wasn’t the type to use multiple locks. He wasn’t one for simple solutions. And she had contributed that insufferably tedious beam trial. She had interfered with his master’s plans one too many times. “Avada Kedavra!”

The girls didn’t move. She made no efforts to dodge the lethal spell headed her way. He didn’t understand. He also didn’t understand why his spell simply vanished just before it hit her, leaving nothing but a slight wavering of the air.

Then he looked more closely. There was a shield surrounding her. A faint veil of golden energy. In the flickering yellowish-orange light of the torches he hadn’t seen it. He had also missed the golden glow around her left arm. But what shield could stop the killing curse?

“Oh, did I mention the side effects of having a parasitic soul fragment forcibly removed from you?”

His eyes widened. “Side effects?”

“Your magic is severely weakened right now. That spell was weak. I’m not sure it would have killed me even if I didn’t block it. That’s why I’m here alone.”

“You’re stalling.”

“Exactly.”

“You will not stop me.”

Her gentle smile faded. “That remains to be seen.”

Her wand jumped into her hand from a pocket in her robes, engulfed in a teal light. The moment she grabbed it, it’s tip lit up with the same teal light while the golden glow around her left hand grew into a shimmering flame that quickly spread up her arm and, from there, grew to cover her entirely. The shield around her faded only to be replaced by a far more powerful-looking teal barrier. “You will not escape.”

“They’ve had a minute now. That should be enough. Let’s get Snape first.” A flash of flame later, they were in the dungeons, next to the potions classroom.

“Ah, Miss Granger. It is time?”

“Yes, the trap has done its job. Sunset is stalling Quirrell.”

“Good. We should get Filius next.”

“Alright. Philomena, you heard the man.” With a majestic trill, the flames returned, delivering them to Professor Flitwick’s office.”

“Ah, Severus, Miss Granger. There you are. I believe we should give Pomona a moment longer to get some distance from the greenhouses. They are transparent after all.”

“A good point. Minerva next then?”

“Indeed.”

Hermione couldn’t help but smirk in excitement. “Philomena?” Another flash of fire delivered the growing group outside the transfiguration classroom.

“Ah there you are. Good. Shall we go get Pomona then?”

Another trill later, they were on the grounds a good distance from the greenhouses among a small group of trees.

“Ah good, I managed to get here just in time. And you’re all here already. Perfect. To Albus’ office then?”

With yet another gout of flame they were back in the castle. Hermione looked around in interest as this was her first opportunity to look around the headmaster’s office. They didn’t have to wait long.

Only moments after they arrived, another flash of flame heralded the arrival of Fawkes and Dumbledore. “Ah, everyone is here. Wonderful.” He sighed. “Politicians are remarkably hard to shake off. One would think the words ‘urgent matter’ wouldn’t be too hard to understand. Oh well. Let’s go then. I believe we have made Miss Shimmer wait more than enough.”

Quirrell kept firing spells at Sunset, yet her shield held easily. After another half dozen killing curses and other unforgivables had uselessly dispersed against the golden fire that was her specialty, he had given up on dark spells altogether. Unfortunately for him, his other spells weren’t much more effective.

The fact that the spells that didn’t impact her shield hadn’t left even a scratch on the room or anything in it was a testament to just how much his magic had been weakened. That the trials had left him mentally and physically exhausted didn’t help him much either. When he fired another spell that ineffectually bounced off her shield, she felt a tug on her bond with her familiar.

She chuckled. “Time’s up.”

“What?”

In a flash of flame, Professor Snape appeared behind Quirrell at the same time as a second flash delivered Professor McGonagall behind Sunset. Seconds later, two more gusts of golden fire delivered Professors Sprout and Flitwick to their left and right, closing the circle.

Finally, in two more gusts of flame, Dumbledore appeared in front of Sunset, Fawkes on his shoulder, while Hermione appeared beside Sunset who immediately extended her shields to protect her sister as well and Philomena appeared on her shoulder, receiving a stroke over her plumage.

Dumbledore looked at Quirrell with narrowed eyes. “It’s over, Quirinus. Give up.”

Desperation was clear in Quirrell’s eyes. He looked around for a way out and found none. His inability to even put a scratch on Sunset had made it clear to him just how much his magic had been weakened. And now, in the face of such overwhelming force, his anger made way to fear. Suddenly his eyes lit up with glee. “Not quite Albus. Not quite.”

His left hand reached into his pocket and he pulled out a small golden talisman. At the same time, his wand whipped forward.

The others watched, too stunned to move, as the soul trap flew the short distance into his hand.

“Contingency!”

The talisman flashed blue for a second and, in a whirl of colors, Quirrell was gone.

“What was that?” Hermione’s question broke through the stunned silence.

Dumbledore shook off his shock. “A portkey. He must have forgotten about it in the heat of the moment.” He looked over to Sunset. “Can you trace it?”

Sunset closed her eyes. She tried to follow the rather obvious signature of the portkey, but soon ran into a problem. “Not through the wards.”

“I see. Fawkes.”

With a trill, the phoenix spread his wings and they were whisked away out of the castle.

They found themselves in a small forest clearing. A small popping sound immediately attracted Sunset’s attention.

She felt the usual trace of apparition, and this time there was nothing to stop her from tracing it. In a flash of teal, she vanished.

By the time she arrived, all she could sense was a new wake. A second later, she was gone again.

In that fashion, she followed Quirrell, jump after jump. A windy cliff, an old ruin, a damp cellar, and dozens of other places flashed by. Several of the places were warded, likely for just such an occasion. The wards were simple and took little to no effort to bypass. But they did cost her valuable seconds.

With each jump she fell further and further behind until she couldn’t find the trace anymore. In a final effort, she mentally called out to Philomena. Her familiar appeared on her shoulder.

“Can you find him?” Philomena closed her eyes, then shook her head after a second. “Figures. Must have gone to some place warded against phoenixes. Could you bring the others here?” With a quiet trill, Philomena flamed away once again.

While she waited, Sunset looked around herself. She was standing on a field with many small plants. “Just where the hay is here anyway?”

“A very good question.” Dumbledore had faded in behind her. “I may have practiced the Equestrian style of teleportation from what I was able to glean by observing you and analyzing the new phasic wards, but I still can’t quite keep up with you.”

“I did have years of practice.”

“True enough, I suppose. Now, let’s see here.” He held out his wand and began casting a series of spells. “Interesting, we appear to be in northern France. Not particularly surprising, all things considered. Most British pureblood houses have also branched into France and many of their old manors are warded against phoenixes in some fashion. It is a pricey thing to do, but for many of them money hasn’t really been an issue in centuries.”

A flash of flame brought the rest of the group to their side. “Did we get him, Albus?”

“No, Filius. I’m afraid he escaped. He is likely hiding in one of the old pureblood manors here or back in Britain.”

“Here or back in Britain? Where exactly are we?”

Sunset walked over to her sister. “Northern France, apparently. A shame that Quirrell got away with the trap. Oh well, there is a reason the thing has a four vector spell matrix lock.”

“You expect he will not succeed in releasing Lord Voldemort once more?”

Sunset turned to Dumbledore, shaking her head. “No. The trap will only open with all four key spells. And any attempt to damage the trap or break it open, physically or with magic, is redirected against whatever may be inside. If he really does break it open, there won’t be anything left to release, but that would take an immense amount of power.”

Dumbledore sighed, but still managed a small smile. “A partial victory then. He may still be a threat in the future, but, at least for now, Tom is out of the equation. Shall we return to Hogwarts then?”

Seeing how three of the professors still had classes to teach, they quickly agreed and returned to the school.

Albus sat back in his chair with a sigh. Quirinus had managed to escape with the trap. By using a portkey. Why had he not thought to check whether the new wards blocked those? The old ones never did, but perhaps the new ones could be configured to do so. He would have to bring the matter up with Miss Shimmer.

On the positive, Tom was contained. They could worry about recovering the trap later. Tom was contained and he would stay that way. His followers they would still need to contend with, but he himself should not cause any further trouble. Albus wouldn’t count him out just yet, of course. Tom had a history of doing things others thought impossible.

Perhaps he could ask Miss Shimmer to provide training in the use of light magic. She had described her fight, if it could be called that, with Quirinus to him. Weakened magic or not, a killing curse would kill. That her shields were able to block it so completely was a clear indication that this light magic could prove a great boon.

For now, however, he had a more immediate matter to consider. It was only an hour or so until dinner and he had yet to find a way to explain to the students why they suddenly didn’t have a teacher for defense against the dark arts.

He would also have to find a new one. Again.

67 - Aftermath

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Aftermath

The events surrounding the attempted theft of the Philosopher’s Stone caused a bit of a stir around Hogwarts. Apparently the school had a bit of a history with less than optimal staff retention for the position of the defense against the dark arts professor. It was, according to the older students, nothing new that a teacher in that position would leave at the end of the year or even before. It had been that way for decades. But never before had it happened that early.

Usually, when such a thing happened, the lessons in the subject would simply be suspended until the end of the year. This time, however, doing so wasn’t feasible. It was simply too early in the year. Add to that the fact that Quirrell’s performance as a teacher had been – according to most students – less than stellar, and stopping the lessons now would mean that students would be massively behind when the new school year came around.

As such, several measures were devised to mitigate the issue. Several upper year students, sixth years mostly, took over teaching the lower years while Professor Dumbledore himself took over teaching the sixth and seventh-years. It was a stopgap measure, sure, but it would work until a replacement could be found.

As a result, the quality of lessons in the subject improved across the board.

The other effects of Quirrell’s attempt to steal the stone were less public. In an after-the-fact discussion with Sunset and Professor Dumbledore, Princess Celestia idly asked how often Nicholas Flamel had come to Hogwarts to make use of the Stone. When Dumbledore revealed that Flamel had his own stock of the Elixir of Life, she, in turn, asked what had been done to secure that stockpile.

The realisation that neither side had come up with the idea that Voldemort could simply use some of the Elixir of Life Flamel had already created was rather startling. That he could not gain any use from the Elixir while he was held in the trap was a relief, should he ever realize his mistake.

This was not the only discussion he had over the week following the incident. Before questions could get out of hand, he invited Amelia and Cornelius over on Saturday.

As the flare of green fire returned to its original size and color, Cornelius drew his wand to vanish the soot off his usual pinstriped suit. “Professor Dumbledore. Good afternoon. I’ve heard the rumors. What happened this time?”

“Admittedly, Albus,” Amelia agreed, “it is a bit early in the year for Hogwarts to be missing its defense teacher.”

“True enough, I suppose. Though this was very much an exceptional case. Please, take a seat. This will take a while. Tea?”

When his two guests nodded and sat down on the offered chairs, Albus drew his wand under the table and sent a quick message to the kitchens. “Now, to begin, I should probably make sure we are all on the same page to start with, so I must ask: What is the current condition of the dark wizard Tom Riddle, also known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or Lord Voldemort?”

Cornelius flinched upon hearing the name, but quickly asserted himself. “He is dead. Has been for ten years.”

Albus sighed. “No Cornelius. He is not. He never died. He was brought low. As close to death as he could without actually dying, but he is, in fact, still alive. For certain definitions of ‘life’, at least.” Albus could see that Cornelius didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, yet he had always trusted his advice before. Perhaps, had this happened a few years later, this could have become a problem, but, as it was, it seemed, that Cornelius would ultimately accept the truth.

“His claims that he was immortal weren’t merely empty boasts. He was reduced to a mere fragment of a soul. An unstable, incorporeal entity, bound to the material world by powerful dark magic. He had to leech the energy of other living beings, hosts he possessed, to not simply fade away, but he was, in fact, alive.

“Mind you, he only didn’t die because he couldn’t, but still, he didn’t. I tried to inform you of that circumstance before, but you wouldn’t listen. I’m telling you again now, because the situation has changed.”

Amelia leaned forward. “Changed how?”

“I have reason to believe that Tom spent most of the last ten years hiding in Albania. As it happens Quirinus Quirrell spent nearly a year there not too long ago.”

“You’re saying he was possessed there, Dumbledore?”

“No, Cornelius. He was turned there. Tom was always charismatic. He knows how to convince people to work for him. I know not how, but he managed to get Quirinus to work for him.”

“To get him to do what?”

“Primarily, Amelia, to steal something. I don’t have any conclusive evidence, but it would fit at least. I suspect he was the one who attempted to rob a Gringotts vault on July thirty-first of last year.”

“It was emptied earlier that day, if I recall correctly.”

“Indeed, Cornelius. By an agent of mine, I might add. The vault only contained one item. One which we, me and the vault owner, that is, no longer believed to be safe at Gringotts.”

“And rightly so, it seems.”

“That I cannot say. The goblins do not secure empty vaults in the same way they do filled ones. There is no guarantee that the attempt to access the vault would have succeeded had it not been empty. Regardless, I stored the item in question in Hogwarts instead.

“Some time between then and the start of term, Tom possessed Quirinus who, judging by the lack of symptoms, hosted him willingly.”

“Since he isn’t here anymore, I take it you discovered his ploy, Albus?”

“Not on my own, I’m afraid, Amelia. I have recently made some new contacts. It was one of them who initially grew suspicious of Quirinus. They also offered a plan to deal with him. They constructed an artifact known as a soul trap. It works exactly as the name indicates.

“We used the item I was asked to keep safe as bait to lure Quirinus into the trap. It worked as intended. Tom’s soul was extracted and is now contained within the trap.”

Amelia raised an eyebrow. “I feel like there is a ‘but’ coming.”

“I’m afraid there is. Quirinus used a portkey to escape with the trap. Still, my contacts assure me that the trap cannot be opened without the correct key and any attempt to do so would either fail or destroy the trap and anything within. Tom himself will likely not be an issue anymore. That being said, his followers well may.”

“You’re suggesting to warn the aurors.”

“To get them ready to deal with an attack should it occur, yes. Furthermore, my contacts may make first contact soon. They are a sovereign, foreign nation and should be treated as such.”

“So get the Department for International Magical Cooperation ready as well?”

“Indeed, Cornelius.”

“Strange. I thought we contacted every magical community on Earth.”

“We did. However, my contacts are not, in fact, from Earth. But I think it best to let them explain in more detail once they do contact the Ministry officially. I simply thought it best to warn you beforehand.”

After some more discussion, Albus’ two guests left with significantly more to think about and he was left to return his attention toward running the day to day matters of running the school.

Sunset, meanwhile, had her own discussions. Now that secrecy was no longer a major priority, she and Hermione got the rest of their friends caught up on the details of the matter. Or, at least, as many details as they thought appropriate. After Hermione’s own reactions to some of the darker facts involved in the situation, such as the requirements to create a soul anchor, they decided to skip certain topics.

It was a lie of omission, certainly. They let their friends believe, for example, that the damage to Voldemort’s soul was due to the spell that had reduced him to his current state. They hadn’t outright said that, but until given reason to doubt it, their friends would likely assume it.

Still, they learned the general details.

They were quite horrified that the most powerful dark wizard of all time had spent months in the castle, some of that time even in the same room as them.

Another detail they left out was just what Quirrell had been trying to steal.

In the end, their friends’ curiosity was satisfied and they agreed that Sunset had been right to keep the secret for as long as she did. The fact that Voldemort and Quirrell were still out there didn’t sit right with them at all.

Her ‘battle’ with Quirrell, if it could be called that, also gave Sunset food for thought. She had been prepared and the man’s magic had been at a fraction of its usual power, so she was able to simply set up a barrier of light magical fire for any dark spells and a powerful general shield for anything else and from there simply concentrate on dodging anything that was easy to dodge and occasionally throw a powered-up cutting charm or a kinetic pulse like the Royal Guard used to subdue their suspects and make arrests.

But she had no illusions that every magical battle would be so one-sided and a general shield wouldn’t always do the trick. Even in this fight, certain dark magical spells, especially the killing curse, had pierced straight through her regular shield without even interacting with it at all and were only stopped by her light fire shield.

In any other situation, a general shield wouldn’t be able to block more than one or two spells. A specialized one, like those she had developed with Professor Flitwick would be far more effective and resist far more punishment at a fraction of the power cost, but only for the very specific thing they were designed to counter.

The tricky thing was that they were also far more complex than a general shield such as the Protego shielding charms wizards apparently liked to throw around in duels. Keeping all of them memorized would be tricky for the average wizard. Even the perfect memory she and her friends shared wouldn’t always work as they were also harder to cast.

She toyed with the idea of creating a magical item to cast them as needed, but the more she thought about it the more she realized that an enchantment that could detect all those varied threats – be they any particular condition such as heat, cold, or electricity, simple magic as it was found in a stunning spell or something similar or any of the other things spells and other such things could cause – and also employ the correct shield to counter them would be ludicrously complex and prohibitively expensive to create. The power draw it would cause wasn’t even worth considering.

With that option firmly off the table, she instead tried to think of other options. At some point, she decided to include her friends in her deliberations. Ultimately it was Harry who brought up the option of simply using multiple smaller enchantments. That only left the issue of coordinating them.

Seamus suggested once more using muggle technology.

The problem was that none of them had enough knowledge of electronics – muggle-made or Equestrian – to judge if such a thing was feasible. Sunset, Harry, Hermione and Seamus agreed that it probably was, but none of them were sure. Raised, as they were, in magical families, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Dean had no idea either way.

More research, it seemed, was in order. But that would have to wait until later. For the moment another matter had priority.

Both the headmaster and the princess had independently asked her to help facilitate an exchange of medical knowledge between worlds after the timberwolf incident at Sweet Apple Acres.

It was intriguing, really. Unlike the advanced spellcraft she had always focused on, Equestrian medical magic and other commonly used forms of magic were usually available both as a spell and as either a potion or an enchanted item. Given that only about a third of the population were capable of direct spell casting, it made sense, but it was still interesting to know.

Healing magic used by wizards, on the other hand, had almost no such overlap at all. Magical items saw next to no use whatsoever and almost every method of healing available as a potion wasn’t known as a spell and vice versa.

Even adjusting for that, there was relatively little overlap in what the healing magic of both worlds could do and when there was, they were rarely evenly matched. Both worlds had a spell that could heal bones, but while the Earthen version took anywhere from a few seconds to a minute, the Equestrian version could, depending on the scale and complexity of the fracture take between a few minutes and a few days. Wings, in particular, were notoriously slow to heal thanks to being both rather large and relatively complex.

On the other hand, Wizards had very little magic useful for healing the mind. Again, this was likely a matter of need. In a world that was so dangerous, broken bones were likely more common, but spellcraft was a complicated matter and often involved knowledge some might consider problematic. A mind trained for spellcraft was less likely to suffer trauma.

It was ironic really that, despite having so many spells to affect it, wizards had such a comparatively basic understanding of how the mind actually worked. Once first contact was made, officially that is, magical scholars from both worlds would likely begin cooperating to combine their knowledge of the mind and how to influence it to heal mental trauma. There were, from what she had heard, still wizards suffering from mental trauma after the horrors of the Great Wizarding War a decade earlier.

Being neither familiar with human mental magic, nor possessing of any training as a psychologist, Sunset would likely be sitting out most of that exchange of knowledge, but she would have to make sure to keep tabs on it regardless.

When it came to healing small wounds – cuts, burns and the like – both worlds had their methods. She suspected that combining them might lead to some small improvements, but both had it well enough figured out.

In the case of small cuts and bruises specifically, both worlds had basic healing spells that were commonly known. Perhaps a little more common on Earth, given how quickly ponies could recover from what they would consider a minor inconvenience and how effective a protection against scratches a coat of fur was.

Still, before she had gotten the protective gear she had enchanted specifically for her Parkour training, the same she now also used for her training sessions with Crabbe, she had made liberal use of just such a spell to heal the numerous minor scratches and bruises she accrued during her training.

On another note, when the whole medical exchange started, she’d had her doubts about Ron’s willingness to work, but he had stayed on the ball. Whenever she had been ferrying medical books back and forth and translating them back and forth, he had always come by and requested a copy for himself. Many of the spells were years ahead of what he could cast so far, but those he was ready to learn had did without complaint.

It had come to the point that, whenever Harry came back from Quidditch training with scratches from a botched landing or a bruise from a bludger the twins had failed to intercept, Ron stood ready to patch him up. Sunset didn’t even have to remind him that light magic was naturally suited to healing. He started using it anyway.

Sunset couldn’t help but giggle when Madam Pomfrey told her that she had noticed that fewer students from Gryffindor were coming by the medical wing and asked if she knew why that might be.

However, when, after a quick explanation, the nurse considered calling upon Ron should the need arise, Sunset promised to pass along the request.

68 - A Tale of Light and Shadow

Chapter Sixty-Eight

A Tale of Light and Shadow

In the old, forgotten summer home of an old pureblood house somewhere in france, he had taken refuge and worked away. Trying to free, or, at least, contact his master.

His magic had recovered somewhat. It was still nowhere near his original strength, but at least his spells once more had an actual impact on the world. He was lucky that his master had ordered him to prepare a hiding place long ago. He probably wouldn’t have managed to trick the old wards on this place into recognizing him as their new master in his weakened state.

The house was old and falling apart in places. It had stood empty for a long time, well over a century, perhaps. It was not a pretty sight to see, but it would do for the moment. Because of one reason, mainly. The house itself might be falling apart, but the wards protecting it were made to last. And, most importantly, it had that one rare, exceedingly expensive bit of spellwork on it.

It was warded against phoenixes.

None of the accursed fire birds would find him here. The wards were the cheapest form of phoenix wards that existed – he had checked – but they would do. A phoenix could come and go freely, but they couldn’t detect anyone or anything that was here.

When he had escaped, fear had heightened his senses. He had not missed the presence of two phoenixes. One had clearly been Dumbledore’s. That much was obvious. But who had brought the second? If one of the other teachers had had a phoenix, he would have noticed, so clearly it wasn’t them. Granger was a smart girl and an excellent student. A shame she was muggleborn. But having a phoenix? No.

That only left one option. Shimmer. The insufferable girl that had provoked him enough that, in his rage, he had even forgotten the portkey that was meant as his way to escape. And by trapping his master, they had handily stopped the dark lord from reminding him.

And then, of course, there was the trap itself. That infernal piece of magic that was now containing his master. What was it? Where had Dumbledore gotten it from? Was it even from Dumbledore? Or was it another of Shimmer’s contributions? Or someone else entirely?

Regardless, if it didn’t help him open the trap, there was no point to knowing where it had come from. For nearly a month now, he had tried to find a way to open the thing. For the first few days, when his magic had still been severely weakened, he had simply scanned the thing all day long.

It hadn’t helped. Much of the magic looked completely foreign. And what small parts of it he could understand gave him no clues towards opening it. The patterns on the outside were an obvious starting point, of course, but he couldn’t make sense of them either.

He had started to break the thing open next, but the flickering of the light inside was worrying him and quickly convinced him to stop and try a different approach before long.

Still, so far he’d had no success.

But he would keep trying. With a muggle village in the nearby valley, food was easy enough to come by and the old mansion’s plumbing was still functional, so he had water. He didn’t trust the old pipes to keep it clean, but purifying spells weren’t much of a challenge. He could stay here. And Dumbledore’s cronies wouldn’t find him.

He had plenty of time.

Without the constant threat of Quirrell and Voldemort, the days, weeks and months began to blur together for Sunset. After a few weeks, the basic exchange of medical knowledge was well underway and a few more people on both sides had adopted her trick to create translated copies of books. With Fawkes now handling most of the exchange of literature, she could get back to her comparative magic sessions with Professor Flitwick.

At least for a few weeks.

After that, Dumbledore himself approached her to ask whether she would be averse to educating wizards and witches in the use of Equestrian style light magic. She agreed. On Saturday afternoon that week, she gave her first lesson.

As the only one in the room who didn’t know the reason why there was a bird perch on the teacher’s table, Amelia Bones was quick to pick up on several of the other witches and wizards assuming that it had to be for the eagle Ms. Shimmer, who would be teaching them the use of the strange power she had witnessed in Azkaban, seemed to carry around most of the time.

The expressions of the rest of the gathered wizards and witches, mostly the faculty of Hogwarts and a few select others, among them a few trusted friends of Dumbledore’s whom he had invited such as Madam Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbaton Academy over in France and Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, didn’t exactly support that theory.

When also accounting for the small fact that the idea of someone carrying an eagle around at all times was rather more absurd, it made Amelia seriously doubt the idea.

Her suspicions were confirmed when a gout of brilliant golden phoenix fire delivered Ms. Shimmer behind the teacher’s table. With a stroke over the gorgeous bird’s plumage, she sat down in the chair behind it and let the phoenix jump off her arm onto the perch. “Good afternoon everyone.”

She looked at the imposing figure of Madam Maxime for a moment, then nodded, clearly mentally refocusing. “Welcome to my first lesson in the use of what my homeland calls light magic.”

She smirked when she received several confused expressions and raised eyebrows, Amelia’s own among them. “For the benefit of those who don’t already know, I come from a nation called Equestria, located in, from what we’ve been able to tell, a dimension completely separate from this one. From what I hear, Princess Celestia plans to make official diplomatic first contact with wizarding Britain some time this summer and go from there, but that’s not what we’re here for.

“Some of you, especially those whom I’ve not had the pleasure to meet in person before today, may wonder just what I mean by light magic. Well, your world, from what I’ve seen so far, only knows one example thereof. Mister Lupin, I’ve been told it is somewhat of a specialty of yours, would you care to demonstrate?”

Remus got up from his seat beside Sirius with a nod. “Of course. Expecto Patronum.” A glowing, transparent wolf, formed of silvery light burst out from the tip of his wand and leapt forward to stand beside Ms. Shimmer.

“Thank you. Yes, the Patronus charm is the only form of light magic known to this world. Powered, supposedly, by positive, happy memories. Before you ask, yes. I say ‘supposedly’ because it isn’t actually powered by those memories at all, but by the emotions these memories evoke.”

Thinking about it, Ms. Shimmer’s claim made sense. Emotions were what powered dark magic, after all. It wasn’t too much of a jump to assume that different emotions resulted in different forms of magic.

“My homeland knows far more types of light magic and using it is a bit of a talent of mine. Allow me to demonstrate.” Rather than draw her wand, Ms. Shimmer, once again, simply cast without one, conjuring a flickering golden flame in her hand.

“Much like dark magic, light magic has a few innate differences from regular magic, or, as we call it in my homeland, grey magic.” She let the fire grow until her entire arm was burning. “For example, as I’m guessing you know, doing this with grey magic would be highly dangerous while doing it with dark magic would be bordering on suicidal. But, as you can see, with light magic it’s entirely safe. Not only will light magic never harm the caster. It will also never damage anything or harm anyone else unless the caster specifically wills it to do so, or that object or person had extensive contact with dark magic. And in that latter case it will actually be attacking the dark magic itself, not its user. Once again, allow me to demonstrate.”

She pulled the fire together into a single orb of light held between her hands, then threw it into the air over their heads, where it exploded, coating the entire room, and everyone in it, in golden fire. Once the initial shock wore off, Amelia, just like everyone else in the room, realized that the fire wasn’t burning her. It was merely a pleasant warmth.

She noted that the fire seemed to burn a bit brighter around her. She wasn’t the only one to take note. “Ah yes. I suspected there might be some remnant dark magic around you, Madam Bones. An occupational hazard, I’d say. Ah well, better to get rid of it now. It’d just make things more difficult for you later.”

Ms. Shimmer let the fire die down all around the room, until it only remained around herself and Amelia. “I’ll let this stay for a minute or so longer, just to be sure. That should remove the remnant completely.” She turned her attention back to the class at large.

“Now. What I’m doing here is a bit of a signature spell of mine. But I can show you how to use a simplified version of it. All of you are experienced magicians already, so that should make a decent enough starting point for you. Something as destructive as fire isn’t usually the best starting point for beginners, but I’m pretty sure all of you can manage a patronus of some sort, most of you even a corporeal one. So you all have some experience with the subject.”

She snapped her fingers and let the fire go out. At the same time, a piece of chalk floated up in a teal aura and began writing a spell formula on the board. “Now I specifically designed this spell formula so it wouldn’t work with normal magic, only with light magic. To start, you can use the same memory method as for the Patronus. The necessary emotional control to power it without having to worry about memories takes time to learn. Yes Professor Dumbledore?”

“What about the special reservoir you mentioned? I believe you called it a ‘Lumineum’.”

“Ah yes. I’ll explain the details of that later. I have one myself, but I don’t actually know how to make one. I’ll be asking the princess about that later this week. For now, try casting the spell like you would a Patronus.”

She sat back down behind the table and watched as the gathered wizards and witches started trying to cast the spell she had outlined. Several of them, especially the Hogwarts staff, were quietly talking about the spell itself. Amelia didn’t understand the details, but she could guess. The spell seemed to make use of several concepts of magic that weren’t known in this world.

It didn’t escape her attention that the senior staff of the school didn’t seem surprised by that fact. Shaking her head, she refocused on casting the spell. Like she did when casting a Patronus, she focused on her go-to happy memory, the birth of her niece Susan. Seeing how Ms. Shimmer hadn’t specified an incantation or a wand motion, Amelia simply visualized the spell pattern and focused on the memory, taking the emotion from it and guiding its power to the tip of her wand.

She felt a spark of power.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a pale bluish-white flame dancing at the tip of her wand. She met Ms. Shimmer’s gaze, who smiled, nodded and used one of the weird pens muggles tended to use to make a note on a clipboard she absolutely hadn’t been holding a moment earlier.

Looking around, Amelia saw that several others also had flames dancing on their wands. Most of them were either pure white or a similar bluish-white to that of her own flame. Only Ms. Flamel’s wand played host to a flame nearly the same pale gold as Ms. Shimmer’s had been.

“Very good. Well done. I take it most of you will have noticed that your flames had different colors. What you’ve seen there is the color of your light aura. It’s a barely known phenomenon in this world, where most spells have an innate color.

“Back in my world, very few spells have that, so the color they appear is usually dictated by the caster’s aura. Each caster has three aura colors. A light one, usually a shade of pale silver or gold, a grey one which can be more or less any color, but often matches the caster’s eye color, and a dark one which is usually some shade of green, purple or black.

“The light aura color depends on the kind of light caster you are. Light magic mirrors celestial objects. Those of you that have pure white light magic are stellar casters, the most reliable type, only varying in strength with the time of day. Lunar casters, those with a slight blue tinge to their light magic, additionally vary with the phases of the moon, being the strongest on a full moon. Much rarer are solar casters like myself or Miss Flamel. Our light magic also has a seasonal variation, stronger in the summer than the winter. We’re also the only light casters who’s magic is stronger during the day than the night. That effect is reversed for all others.

“The final type is also the rarest, which, I guess, explains why there isn’t a single one of them in this room. Planetary casters. Their strength mirrors one of the other planets of their home system and varies with its motions. But that’s all very specific. All you’ll really have to worry about is that your light magic will be stronger at night. Unless if you’re a solar caster in which case the opposite will be true.”

“Now I suspect some of you may be questioning of how much use a spell like this one could be. One would suspect that countering dark magic takes specialized spells, right? Wrong. Any light magic will counter dark magic. Here, I’ll show you.” Once more, she conjured a flame in her hand and let it grow up her arm. From there she let it grow further until all of her was aflame.

“This was what I used as light magic defense in my recent … disagreement with Mister Quirrell. I was stalling for the headmaster and the senior staff to arrive. While I had this protective envelope running, I was, at some point or another, hit by all three unforgivable curses. All of them failed to take effect.”

She paused to give them a moment to process that statement. “Mind you, his magic was severely weakened at the time, so the damage those spells did to the barrier was marginal, but the envelope would have stopped more powerful versions of the same spells as well, only at greater cost. A more specialized spell might achieve a greater effect for less cost, but any light magic will disrupt any dark magic, no matter the situation. Just keep in mind that the reverse is also true.

“But it will always come down to a contest of strength and skill. No dark magic spell will ever simply bypass a light magic barrier. The same is also true for the reverse, but dark magic is really not well suited for defensive barriers.”

Amelia couldn’t really argue with that fact. She had been the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for five years and worked there for almost ten years before that. She couldn’t recall hearing of dark magic being used defensively even once in all that time.

Ms. Shimmer went on to explain several more facets of light magic and how they affected its users. She then provided them with another three spell schemata she had modified to work only with light magic. One was a dedicated barrier spell, especially useful against dark magic in both directed and diffuse form. A powerful passive defense against, for example, dementors. The second was an aura sight charm designed specifically to detect dark magic and identify the most common types thereof. She had, apparently, designed it to analyze the dark magic in Mr. Quirrell. The third was designed to create a focused bolt of light magic, meant to disrupt energy patterns, specifically those of dark magic.

She and Albus joked about her making good on her promise. Amelia wasn’t entirely sure what they meant until Ms. Shimmer spelled it out that, with sufficient power, that spell would, in fact, be capable of destroying a dementor.

That statement silenced the room as the gathered witches and wizards considered the implications of that possibility. All the while, Albus and Ms. Shimmer watched them with amused expressions.

And, again, none of those spells came with incantations or wand motions. Did the girl have some reason she never included those? Was it a property of light magic? But no. The Patronus had an incantation after all.

A question for later. After each of them had managed all three charms which, given the amount of magical talent and skill concentrated in the room, didn’t take long, Ms. Shimmer asked them to keep practicing the four charms and, until the next session, attempt to cast them without relying on memories as a crutch. With their ‘homework’ assigned, she dismissed the class, let her phoenix hop onto her arm, and vanished in a gout of flame.

69 - The Light Inside

Chapter Sixty-Nine

The Light Inside

Amelia found herself in a small dining room not far from the castle kitchen. Albus had invited her, the Flamels and Madam Maxime to stay for dinner. The topic of discussion was clear.

“I knew Miss Shimmer was an expert on this subject and had a full magical education, but a whole different world? I know you warned me and the minister about that, Albus, but I can still hardly believe it.”

“Oh I assure you, Amelia, it becomes much easier to believe after they first take you there. It is certainly a quite … memorable experience.”

“Why do I ‘ave ze feeling zhat zhere is something you are not telling us Dumblidor?”

“Probably because there is,” Nicholas Flamel pointed out with a chuckle. It was odd talking to him. He looked no older than fifty, yet he spoke with that same wisdom of age Dumbledore had, had that same sense of humor all old people seem to share. “In all the years I’ve known him, he always liked to do that.”

“True. ‘E always liked ‘is riddles.”

“Still, I wasn’t really expecting to be getting homework,” Amelia fell in.

Albus chuckled. “Personally, I am quite pleased to see Miss Shimmer taking this matter so seriously. I am not certain how much she realizes it so far, but her arrival has provided us with a plethora of chances to, shall we say, change fate in a more favourable direction.”

“True. The very idea of a spell that can destroy dementors … I can still hardly believe it. Could it really be possible?”

“And with a spell we were able to learn within a few hours, no less,” Perenelle joined in, “it sounds too good to be true.”

“Oh, I have no doubt that it will work,” Dumbledore reassured them, “Miss Shimmer and I had a most enlightening conversation on the subject when I first proposed these lessons to her. The reason we could never destroy them before, is that they belong to a group of semi-corporeal beings that can only be destroyed by light magic. And since the only light magic spell we had before today was purely defensive, meant to drive them off, not destroy them, well …”

“Well, we did always assume that it took happy memories to even conjure a patronus.” Nicholas’ thoughtful gesture made it quite clear where Albus had picked up the habit of stroking his beard while thinking. “And reminiscing about happy times in our past doesn’t really sound like the right frame of mind for righteous devastation, does it?”

Albus chuckled in response. “Perhaps not. But now that we know that that isn’t even necessary.”

“Yes, Albus,” Perenelle joined back into the conversation, “her explanations on what emotions can be used to power light magic were quite enlightening. Righteous anger sounds like a much better frame of mind for such work.”

As the months went by, Sunset kept busy. Beyond giving lessons in light magic once a week, she had drawn other conclusions from her ‘battle’ with Quirrell. Together with Hermione, she continued her research into means of controlling complex enchantments using technology. They had a few promising leads, but nothing they could really pursue while they were still at Hogwarts.

In the meantime, Sunset worked to correct her other shortcoming in that fight. She had been working to stall Quirrell and, for that, her skills had been adequate. Had she instead been trying to end the fight, preferably by subduing him, her chances would have been much different. As such, she was reading up on offensive spells.

It wasn’t a subject she had given much thought to before, but given that humans seemed to be far more combative in nature than ponies, it seemed prudent to know her way around a magical battle if she intended to remain living among them.

She was learning plenty of interesting things, but it was slow going. Her lessons in history – from both worlds – had taught her the value of surprise, of keeping one’s enemy unaware of one’s true power. That was one of the reasons she went spell by spell and went to the effort of modifying each using her knowledge of Equestrian magic.

Some of the spells were true works of genius, leading her to once more question the humans’ tendency towards fighting each other. Some spells, of course, were designed to be non-lethal. Stupefy, for example, was a stunning spell, combining an immediate neural shock to disable the target with a sustained sleep spell that would keep the target unconscious. The disarming hex Expelliarmus, meanwhile, caused a sudden discharge of air pressure at the point of impact and in both of the target’s hands, throwing anything they might be holding flying and also knocking over or at least back all but the most sturdy of targets.

Interestingly, both of those effects, like those of many targeted combat spells, were stored within the spell pattern alongside a magical charge and only manifested upon impact. She encountered that particular pattern in most normal curses and hexes designed for combat.

She would have to investigate the possibility of weaving a pattern disruption charm into a shield. Doing so without disrupting the shield itself would be tricky, but she was confident she could manage it.

It was a weakness about Earthen combat spells she would have to learn to exploit and, if possible, correct for her own use. If nothing else, the spells had given her plenty of ideas for destructive ways to use the magic she already knew.

It took a bit of rethinking. She was still used to ponies who tended to be a lot more durable than humans. A fire or lightning spell would have to be very powerful indeed to cause lasting harm to a pony. Similarly a wind spell might knock over a physically weak unicorn, but no earth pony or pegasus worth their salt would be blown over by a bit of wind.

Humans changed everything. Even wizards, who’s magic afforded them some natural resistance, would be a far easier target for such magic. At the same time, while a pegasus might dodge, a unicorn or earth pony would be far more likely to simply take an attack head-on if forced into a combat situation. Humans were far more likely to dodge or seek cover, making combat a far more strategic matter.

Yes, she had much to consider.

Of course, doing so was a bit tricky when her sister kept bugging her about studying for the year’s final exams. Perhaps it was time to put her research on ice for the time being and focus on more immediate matters.

Hermione had a point, exams were coming up and she really should study. Just to be sure.

Not to mention she had something to discuss with her.

“Are you serious? She would do that?”

“Well, she did the same for me, didn’t she?”

Hermione stared at Sunset for a moment. “Well yeah, sure. But you’d been her personal student for years. She barely knows me.”

“True. But she knows me and trusts my judgement and I know you.”

“But why would she suggest that? Why now?”

Sunset smiled mischievously. “Who said she was the one who suggested it?”

“Wait, you suggested it?”

“Well, I am teaching Dumbledore and several wizards and witches he trusts to use light magic. The topic is bound to come up sooner or later. I asked Celestia to do it slowly so I can memorize how to do it myself. She already explained the theory to me, but she wouldn’t let me do it without having watched it once beforehand.”

“What about when she did it to you?”

“How would I remember that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“The procedure is meant to manipulate your magical essence. Your mind and body are placed in suspended animation for as long as it takes. They’d cause interference otherwise. So I don’t remember what it was like when she gave me my Lumineum because I wasn’t conscious.”

“Oh. That’d do it.” Hermione was silent for a moment, then spoke up again, more quietly, this time. “Still though. Are you sure I’m ready for it?”

Sunset came over and sat down beside Hermione on her bed, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Hermione. If I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have offered. The question is whether or not you want to.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I?”

“Mostly because a Lumineum has a tendency of getting a mind of its own when dark magic is about. Most spellcasters don’t like that. Especially in this world. Getting a Lumineum changes your perspective on magic. You learn to see it as less of a tool and more of a reliable friend. You can guide it. You can tell it what to do. But light magic especially will ultimately do what it thinks is best. If you want it to do a certain thing, you better know how to convince it.

“And then, of course, there is the other side effect when it goes off on its own like that.”

“You mean what happened after you came back from Azkaban, don’t you?”

“Yeah. We were there for maybe half an hour tops. And I was only at peak output for maybe five minutes of that. And it still took me almost two weeks to fully recover my reserves.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“I know, I know. I prefer not to think about it.” Sunset snorted as she remembered the emotional backlash after her trip to Azkaban. “Guess the magic rather I didn’t think about it either. It’s weird, you know. You see all these things. You know you’re surrounded by the worst criminals this country has to offer. Murderers, rapists, sociopaths, not to mention the dementors themselves. You know you should be terrified. But you just aren’t. The magic doesn’t let you.”

“But those emotions don’t just go away.” Hermione’s voice was barely more than a whisper. Neither one of the two was entirely sure when they had transformed into their equine shapes and curled around one another, but if it gave her sister comfort, she didn’t care.

“No. They don’t. Even light magic of that level can’t just remove them. It only delays them. They come back afterwards. Once the Lumineum settles back down. All at once. In a way that’s even weirder. You know the things you’re afraid of are far away and can’t possibly harm you. But you’re scared out of your wits anyway. You saw the kind of mess I was that night.”

“Yeah. I did. Though a high security prison guarded by the undead isn’t really a place you’d normally take an eleven year old, is it?”

Sunset chuckled. “No. Not really.”

Hermione awoke in darkness.

Or did she? Was it really dark or was she just unable to see? She was feeling very strange. She couldn’t feel her body at all and her mind was sluggish. The only thing that was as she remembered it was her magic. It was just as orderly and responsive as ever. Or was it? It felt different somehow.

How had she gotten here? Wherever here was.

Thinking back, her memories seemed to return in bits and pieces. Sometimes sounds and smells without images, sometimes whole minutes without sound, but with sight, sometimes short, vivid, complete scenes. She recalled cheering Harry on in the quidditch match against Hufflepuff, but she couldn’t recall who had won.

She recalled a discussion with Sunset. They had been talking about dementors. Why had they talked about them?

Oh right? They had discussed the procedure of getting a Lumineum. Sunset had offered it to her. Had she accepted?

Yes. She had. That’s what this was. Her mind and body had been placed in suspended animation for the procedure. Now her mind was waking up.

She could feel something, something warm was cuddled into her fur. Fur? Oh right, she was in Equestria over the weekend to allow the Princess to complete the procedure. Was it her she was cuddled to?

No. The princess was larger than that. It had to be Sunset. Yes. It smelled like Sunset. Oh, her sense of smell was back. Good. Now if only …

Slowly, her eyes opened and her muscles began to respond. Lighting her horn cleared away the last vestiges of the spells that had kept her in suspended animation, returning her fully to the land of the living.

She had been correct. Sunset was cuddled around her, the two of them curled together like a furry yin and yang symbol. A look around confirmed that they were within Sunset’s room in the Royal Palace. There were few lights in the city below and the horizon only had the faintest fringe of a glow. The pale light of early morning. Probably an hour or two before sunrise.

Sunset’s quiet, slow breathing made it clear that she was asleep. She had never been one to snore. Hermione wasn’t tired, but she was quite happy to remain as she was, cuddled around her sister and enjoying their combined warmth.

She remembered now. Harry had indeed won the game for Gryffindor. And that had been weeks ago. Before Sunset even started giving her light magic lessons.

Oh right, light magic. That was what she had come here for, wasn’t it? She lit her horn with her usual pale green glow and called upon her light magic. She was rewarded by the light around her horn turning a pale silver. It felt differently to before. She wasn’t focused on any emotion. It was like channeling her regular magic it simply came from somewhere else.

It felt strange after being used to both her regular magic and the regular way to channel light magic, but it was pleasant.

The idea that she now had a reservoir of light magic was strange to consider. That she couldn’t use dark magic now, even if she wanted, was interesting. She hadn’t planned to, of course, but it was comforting to know that she couldn’t fall to that anyway.

Comfortable and happy as she was, she felt her new Lumineum start filling up as she let her horn go out once more. She placed her head back down on Sunset’s side.

She wasn’t particularly tired, but what should stop her from dozing some more?

70 - Examining Magic

Chapter Seventy

Examining Magic

As April turned into May, the rest of the first-years started to catch up to Hermione’s zeal and began their own preparations for the year’s exams in early June. Sunset and Harry were quite glad they had let Hermione talk them into starting their work early. Between keeping up her practice with Crabbe and teaching light magic once a week, Sunset was quite busy anyways and Hermione’s zeal had been the only thing to stop Harry from falling into the same trap as the rest of the Quidditch team. Wood had no intention of slowing down training. Gryffindor had another match coming, just after the end of the exams.

Crabbe, it seemed, was making steady progress towards getting Malfoy and Goyle to question the things they had been told all their lives, Sunset could only hope it was enough that a few months around their parents wouldn’t undo all the progress they had made.

The fact that their families were known to be friends at least suggested that Crabbe would have opportunity to continue his work. She only hoped he himself would remain strong..

In the second week of May, finally, Sunset’s students reached a lesson quite a few of them had been waiting for after the word had spread. The lesson she would tell them the details of a Lumineum.

“I know a few of you have been waiting for this. Today we’ll be talking about the so-called Lumineum.”

Sunset smiled at seeing several intrigued expressions throughout her little class. Only Professor Dumbledore, Sirius and Madam Bones had actually seen her Lumineum in action, but word had a tendency to spread about such things. She had no illusions that most of those present hadn’t been told.

“I suspect most of you have a decent idea what a Lumineum is and what it does at this point, but for the sake of those who don’t and those who got the information second or third hand, allow me to reiterate.

“About nine-hundred-and-fifty years or so ago, Princess Celestia, in cooperation with the archmage at the time, created the first Lumineum to address two issues. One of those two issues is the inconvenient tendency of traditional light magic usually being the most difficult to use in those situations where it has the potential to be most useful, think casting a Patronus when you’re already surrounded by dementors. The other is the tempting power and the addictive and corrupting nature of dark magic.

“Those who know about Princess Celestia will understand and those that haven’t yet will learn in due time, I’m sure. For now, let me simply say that Princess Celestia is a being of immense power and she had, at the time she created the Lumineum, just seen what happened when a being as powerful as her was corrupted by dark magic. She was able to stand against it then, but should she fall as well, there would be none to stand against it.

“So she created the Lumineum as an insurance policy, to make sure she could not be tempted and corrupted by dark magic.

“So, a few of you are probably still asking what a Lumineum actually is. Well, since you’re all fully trained wizards and witches, I’m sure I don’t have to explain the two reservoirs, do I?” She noted several of her students shaking their heads. “Good. In essence, the Lumineum is nothing more and nothing less than a third reservoir. One reserved specifically for light magic. That way it’s always available and doesn’t need to be created on the spot.

“The other effect of the Lumineum is that, so long as it contains any light magic at all, which is going to be practically all the time, it leaves its bearer almost completely incapable of wielding dark magic and immune to being corrupted by it. In other words, because I have one, even though I understand the magic behind what you call the unforgivable curses and comparable dark magic, I could never use any of them, even if I wanted to.”

This created a bit of a stir amongst the assembled wizards and witches, as they considered the implications. Both Madam Bones and Professor Dumbledore looked like they were thinking about the various effects of such a technique, and they were not the only ones. There were murmurs and mumblings all across the room, but much of it quieted down upon hearing Sunset’s next words.

“Now before some of you get any drastic ideas, I should probably tell you that it isn’t possible to force the Lumineum upon others. In the cases where you would likely want that, it wouldn’t be possible anyway, because the process requires some inborn predisposition or prior training with light magic to work at all, and for all other cases, Princess Celestia took precautions.”

Sunset frowned a bit. “Not all dark magic is necessarily evil and the resulting imbalance would be just as bad for the world as the one you have now, light magic is less likely to run amok than dark magic, sure, but we can’t assume that it isn’t possible. That’s why Princess Celestia made sure it was impossible to force it upon others.

“The process of giving the Lumineum to another includes a set of specialized stasis spells that won’t interfere with the light magic used later in the process. They include a mental component. If the subject isn’t both aware of the process and okay with undergoing it, they simply won’t work.

This brought up a sudden query, and it came from Nicholas Flamell, “since there is a reservoir specifically devoted to Light Magic… given what you’ve mentioned of Harmony in your world, is there something similar for Dark Magic?”

Sunset looked at him for a second, before smiling gently. “No, there isn't. At least not so far. It would probably be possible to create something like that, but as far as we know it hasn’t happened as of yet. Another reason Princess Celestia would prefer it if word of the Lumineum wouldn’t spread too far.”

Sunset sat with the rest of her friends at one of the tables in the Library. There were quite a few other students around, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering the upcoming finals.

Even possessing their photographic memory and the head start they had, Hermione made a good point that it couldn’t hurt to review their books and make sure they hadn’t missed anything. They also made sure to practice the spells that would be most likely to be on the big tests, making sure to help each other out in the areas they were weak in.

“Think the tests will be harder?” Ron asked as he closed his first year transfiguration textbook.

Sunset looked to the others who shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “Why would you think that?”

Ron scratched the back of his head a bit as he said “Well, we’ve all been doing better than most other first year classes, thanks to that memory spell of yours. Percy told me that some of the work McGonagall has been having us do is stuff they cover in second year.”

Ginny looked up from her own work. “Oh is that why she hasn’t been using the book much lately? Actually, now that I think about it, she isn’t the only one.”

Seamus hummed a bit at that, putting his quill down. “You know, I have heard some of the older students talking about how the other first years in the classes we share are ahead of where they were. They might not have that memory spell, but watching us having such an easy time of it seems to be pushing them to work harder.”

Sunset pondered that, wondering to herself how the classes here might change if every First Year student had the same photographic memory as she and her friends did. Perhaps she should mention it to the headmaster. Oh well, she could always do so after her next light magic lesson, Dumbledore had taken to staying behind and discussing the topics of the class anyway.

She smiled to herself as she turned back to her work. A little more and she should be able to convince Hermione to let it be enough for the day. That was the one great upside to the head start her insistence had given them, they had a lot more free time now than other students did. Quite a nice thing to have, given it was the height of summer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle walking into the library. It seemed with each week that passed now that the way he looked at all the students around him, the way he carried himself, was changing. He wasn’t quite as boastful as he had started out the year, and from what rumors said he didn’t seem as inclined to throw his family name around like it was a cudgel. Ironically, he now seemed to spend more time being quiet and watching things, which seemed a bit more in line with the idea of Slytherin than what he had been like previously.

Maybe by the start of second year he’d be more open to considering the same offer she’d given Crabbe.

And speaking of Crabbe, she needed to remember to discuss with him at their next training session the possibility of trying to continue their lessons over the summer, though it was unlikely they would be as frequent as they had been. She did after all want to spend some of the Summer Hols enjoying her time with the Grangers, not to mention there was talk of turning their vacation to Equestria into a yearly thing.

She was brought back to the here and now by the sound of Harry groaning just a bit. “I see Oliver… looks like we’re practicing today too!” He flopped his head into his book and grumbled something incoherent, earning both amused and sympathetic looks from the others.

Hermione reached over to pat his hand. “He’s only wanting to make sure you’re all ready for the big match.”

Harry lifted his head up a bit. “We’re plenty ready. And I could end the match in the first minute if I wanted to.”

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be any fun for anyone, would it?” Ron replied with a chuckle, earning nods from the rest of the First Years.

Ginny smirked. “It might be fun to do once, just to show the Gryffindor’s can end it that fast. But it’d probably get the other teams’ Beaters to really focus on Harry.”

Harry nodded. “I know, I know. Even Oliver says I need to come to the trainings mostly to keep up appearances.

Seeing this as a chance to end the study session, especially since it seemed most of them had nearly wrapped up their work anyways, Sunset offered “Why don’t we come watch you practice for a bit? Been a bit since we’ve all done that.”

“Was just thinking that myself.” Seamus remarked, closing his book as the others likewise began packing up. Hermione gave Sunset a knowing look but quickly shook her head in amusement as she, too, gathered her things into her bag.

With a last look back to her friends, Hermione walked off through the door that Lavender and Seamus had already gone through.

The first-years had already completed the theoretical part of their transfiguration exams – not really challenging, considering how well they had been prepared, but exhausting regardless – and were now waiting to be called for their practical exams. In alphabetical order, of course.

They had already gone through something similar for charms and herbology. Nothing about either of those had really stood out, save that Professor Sprout looked entirely out of place in an actual classroom, rather than her usual greenhouses. Judging by how much she had been fidgeting for the entire time of the exam, she likely felt the same.

“Longbottom, Neville.”

McGonnagall’s call prompted Sunset to refocus on the present and wave to Neville as he walked off to take the test. Hermione hadn’t come back out, neither had Lavender or Seamus, but if it was anything like how charms had gone, they were probably waiting in a second waiting are on the other side of the test chamber.

The following day would bring their potions exams, followed by defense against the dark arts the day after. Then only astronomy and history of magic would be missing. They would take those exams at the start of next week.

“Lovegood, Luna.”

As Luna calmly got up and practically floated, as she was wont to do, off towards the test chamber, Sunset turned her thoughts to the exam at hand. It was clear why the others weren’t coming back out of the room. McGonagall didn’t want them to share what was asked in the exam and give those yet to take it an unfair advantage.

Unfortunately that also meant she had nothing to go off when trying to figure out what McGonagall would be asking.

Something from each topic they had covered throughout the year, probably. Basic transformation, some task including a significant change in mass, probably a thematic bridge and likely some simple conjuration like they had started to practice towards the end of the year.

“Patil, Parvati.”

Harry looked to her with a smile, seeming only slightly nervous. He would be next. He was the only one left before her own turn would come around. She smiled back, nodding slightly. Both of them were well prepared, she was confident they would do well.

Transfiguration had been one of the subjects where her advantage had been the smallest. A thorough understanding of the fundamentals behind magic had certainly helped, but transformative magic was simply a lot less developed in Equestria than it was on earth. Only when they had started to tackle conjurations and summoning towards the end of the year, something she was almost positive was usually second-year material, had she once more been able to make use of her Equestrian knowledge.

“Potter, Harry.”

With a final smile, Harry made his way to the door. Now only Ron and Ginny were still in the room with her. They silently shared glances for a few moments. Once more, she smiled. Those two were well prepared as well. Ron not so much perhaps, but even he should have no great issue with the tasks they were likely to be given.

To prepare for her own turn, Sunset cleared her mind. It wouldn’t do to be distracted. Then she waited.

“Shimmer, Sunset.”

She rolled her eyes as she got up. One of these days she really had to teach McGonagall how Equestrian names worked. With a final nod to Ron and Ginny she walked up to the door and entered the room.

McGonagall was waiting for her. The moment the door fell closed behind Sunset, she spoke up. “Good afternoon Miss Shimmer, I hope your day has been pleasant?”

“Pleasant as can be, Professor.”

McGonagall rolled her eyes. “I am well aware that taking part in a written exam and waiting for a practical one aren’t exactly enticing activities, Miss Shimmer. I was simply making small talk.” With a glance at the papers on the desk before her, she refocused. “Regardless, shall we get started?”

“Of course, Professor.”

“Very well.” McGonagall pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it on the desk before Sunset. Not parchment, mind you, as wizards were wont to use, but muggle-made, international standard A4 paper. Smooth, clean, and perfectly rectangular. A pureblood wizard might have been confused upon seeing it, but Sunset, having spent half a year living with the Grangers, was merely surprised. “Your first task is to turn this-” McGonnagall pointed at the paper. “-into a feather.”

A feather then. An interesting choice for a task. Between their common use in early charm practice and how common a sight owls were around the castle, every Hogwarts student should be reasonably familiar with how a feather was made up. Still, feathers were a lot more complex than they appeared at first glance, and getting all of the fine structures just right could be rather tricky.

As she drew her wand, Sunset couldn’t quite hide her smile. She would have had to be a pretty unattentive Student of the Sun to not know how feathers were made up. Princess Celestia, after all, had wings.

McGonagall seemed pleased with the pale red primary feather Sunset had floated over to her. She would have gone with a perfect replica of one of Celestia’s primaries, but she wasn’t sure how McGonagall would have taken it if she hadn’t changed the color away from the pure white the paper already was. Why she had gone with the pale red she wasn’t entirely sure. Much like her patronus, the color seemed familiar somehow, though she couldn’t tell why.

McGonagall studied the feather for a few moments, taking notes on a piece of parchment, before tapping it with her wand with a quiet ‘Finite’ and stowing the paper in the drawer under the desk again. “Very well Miss Shimmer, on to the second task.”

When McGonagall pointed her wand at a chest in the corner of the room, the lid was engulfed in a blue aura and opened up. From inside it, wrapped in the same aura, came a set of scales and a few weights. McGonagall placed them down on the desk and smiled. “Ah yes, I’ve taken the liberty of analyzing the levitation spell you like to use. I quite enjoy the added control. Now for your task.” She pointed at the scales and the three weights beside them. “Bring these into balance.”

Taking a closer look, Sunset found that there was already a weight in one of the trays, which explained why the scale wasn’t in balance. The offending weight was kept in place by a rather complex sticking charm. Nothing she couldn’t dispel, but this was transfiguration, not charms.

She had been partly right with her guess. A change of weight was involved as there was no way to bring the scales into balance with the given materials as they were. But the challenge wasn’t in the magnitude of the change, but in the required precision. Drawing her wand once more, Sunset got ready for some precise work.

McGonagall studied the scales sitting before her, perfectly in balance. “Very good. Now the final test.” Once she had stowed the scales again, McGonagall pulled a teacup from the drawer beneath the desk. “Fill this with water.”

And a conjuration exercise to round of the test. Sunset was used to conjuring ink, quill and parchment to take notes on the fly, conjuring some water was really more of a victory lap than a challenge, but that didn’t matter. She had been tasked to fill the glass, so fill the glass she would.

McGonagall smiled a bit as she watched Sunset perform the necessary spell. “You know, I was actually curious if you would use the spell-work of our world for this task, or that of your home. It has not escaped my attention that transfiguration is not yet your strongest area of magic.”

Sunset blushed a bit, but the warm expression her head of house offered helped brush aside any embarrassment. “No need to worry. You will grow into it. As you have mentioned, transformative magic is far less common back in your homeland, but you have more than shown yourself to be a skilled witch. Just give it time.”

Feeling her heart swell a bit at the compliment, Sunset gave a soft bow to the Professor as she hurried off to join the others that had finished their exam.

Author's Note

Well, after a bit of a longer break (Curse thee, writers block!) we're back with a bit of a longer chapter to compensate (well, really because it kinda just ended up being a little longer than first intended, but it works out well regardless)

In case that wasn't obvious to anyone, this first part will probably only get another one or two chapters, maybe three, before we move on to the second part.

71 Summer Wrap-Up

Chapter Seventy-One

Summer Wrap-Up

To an outsider, dinner at Castle Hogwarts on the last day of exams might have looked a bit strange. There were no decorations, no changes to the usual seating arrangements, no unusual food, nothing at all that would indicate that there was any kind of special occasion. And yet, everyone in the hall, students and teachers alike, though the former more so than the latter, seemed to share a feeling somewhere in between relief and exhaustion.

To those in the hall, of course, that made perfect sense. Exams were over. Now they all had a week or so to relax before results came in along with the end of the school year. There were only fourteen people in the hall the couldn’t quite relax yet. Not entirely, at least. Among them was Harry.

Those people were, of course the Quidditch teams of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, who would play the sixth and final Quidditch game of the year on Saturday. Both would practice once more on Friday.

Sunset, however, had more immediate concerns. Namely a meeting she would have this evening with Professor Dumbledore and Princess Celestia. They had some matters to discuss before the year ended.

Albus was waiting in his office. He had asked Miss Shimmer to give Princess Celestia his request for a meeting before the end of the school year. Said meeting had been arranged for this evening and the agreed upon time was fast approaching.

The Equestrians, it seemed were about ready to reveal themselves to the wizarding public at large. It did suit him quite well that they intended to do so during the holidays. With no matters concerning Hogwarts to occupy him, he would have a much easier time acting as a mediator.

The prospect of an entirely separate magical nation was certainly something to watch out for. That said nation was, however, not inhabited by humans, he suspected, was likely to cause trouble. It wouldn’t do to let the princess make first contact without warning her of this first.

He also had no doubt that the Princess would want to be kept informed on the situation concerning Tom and Quirinus. It was unfortunate that he had nothing new to report on that end.

A knock on the door interrupted his musings. Checking the wards was enough to confirm his suspicions. He had grown quite familiar with the signature of Miss Shimmer’s magic. The other signature he wasn’t nearly as familiar with, but, considering the raw power behind it, it couldn’t possibly be anyone but Princess Celestia.

“Come in.” He smiled as the door opened to reveal his two expected guests. “Please take a seat, there is much to discuss.”

“Indeed,” the princess agreed, “I have taken the liberty to commission a soul syphon from the archmage. It should prove to be quite useful for when we find the soul anchors of our recent adversary. I don’t suppose you have any news on his location, do you?”

“Unfortunately not. I’m having Fawkes periodically check, but so far he seems to have remained within the wards of wherever he may be hiding. I’m having my informants keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, but so far there has been nothing of note. It seems he is laying low for the time being. I take it this ‘soul syphon’ you mentioned is similar to the trap in function?”

“Essentially, yes, though it is significantly more powerful.”

“Yes, I suppose it would need to be to overwhelm the curses that keep a soul fragment bound to its host object.”

“Exactly. Now I take it there were other matters you wanted to discuss?”

Albus nodded. “Indeed. Is it true that you still intend to reveal the existence of Equestria to the wizarding public over the summer?”

“Yes, I suspect that would be best.”

“Good. In that case, allow me to give you a warning. Many of the old pureblood families have some … issues with non-humans.”

“Issues?”

“Traditionally, wizards have maintained a role of dominance over non-human species within the magical world. That changed with the goblin rebellions in the early sixteenth century. They were the first to become independent. The giant wars started not a decade later. That set of something off a chain reaction so that, nowadays, most magical creatures mostly govern themselves.

“The Departments for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures of the various Ministries and their equivalents throughout the world technically maintain a token of political power over most of them, but really they cannot do much more than maintain the Statute of Secrecy.

“As a result, many of the old wizarding families have become suspicious, if not outright hostile, to magical beings that aren’t human. That the majority of the magical economy is controlled by goblins has been a thorn in their side for quite some time.”

The princess nodded thoughtfully. “And you foresee an issue in that regard?”

Albus sighed wearily. “I have no doubt that some of them will try to be troublesome. They may become outright hostile, but I suspect they will more likely try to establish dominance in the way they feel things should be.”

“In other words,” Miss Shimmer fell in with a sly smirk, “they’ll be acting like the Canterlot nobility.”

When Albus raised an eyebrow, it was the princess’ turn to sigh. “In a word, tedious. They never seem to realize that I have dealt with their ilk and their transparent attempts to put into place laws that would only serve them for well over a thousand years. I suspect that your pureblood families will have to learn that I have played the game of politics for far longer than all of them together have been alive.”

“It’s not like there’s much they could do anyways,” Miss Shimmer noted with a snort. “Right now the only way to get to and from each world is via phoenix.”

The princess nodded. “All the same, they would be making a mistake if they think they can sneak anything past me.”

Albus smiled gently. “That should be amusing then if nothing else. Still, I thought it prudent to warn you. Especially given that, from what Miss Shimmer has told me, your subjects are not as prone to using violence as a means to an end as humans are.”

“You have my gratitude, but you needn’t worry. My little ponies and I are not above using violence as a last resort measure. But, personally, I find it terribly unimaginative. When dealing with day-to-day annoyances, we tend to get far more … creative. For now though, a different matter.” The princess’ royal mask twitched for just a moment, long enough for Albus to recognize something which he suspected to be amusement. “There is another student at my school who has just recently turned eleven. I suspect that she might be quite eager to attend Hogwarts once she is informed of this world’s existence.”

“Is she as well trained as Miss Shimmer here?”

“No. She has only been attending my school for about two years and she isn’t my personal student either. But she is a bright young filly with an agile mind, if a little obsessed at times, and quite eager to learn.”

“Obsessed?”

“Not to worry, it might lead to a few ‘geek-outs’, as the young seem to call it these days, upon entering this world, but she should be quite fine by the time Hogwarts starts.”

“Well, assuming it works like it did for Miss Shimmer, the Book of Admittance should take note of her once she arrives in this world. If she is still eleven by September first, she should receive a letter like any other student would. I’m sure we should have no trouble accommodating her.”

“Good that’s what I was hoping.”

“Uhh, who are we talking about?”

For the first time he’d seen her, the princess’ royal mask vanished completely, giving way to an expression of mischievous mirth. “Just wait and see, My Little Sun. Just wait and see.”

The common room was in the usual state of wild celebration that tended to follow a won Quidditch game. It was maybe slightly greater than usual, but that was likely due to the shining award that was likely sitting on a shelf in Professor McGonagall’s office by now.

The Gryffindor first-years, minus Harry, were gathered in a group of armchairs not too far from the heart of the party, but just far enough so they could comfortably talk without the noise getting in the way. How much of that was due to the distance and how much was the effect of various noise dampening spells students had set up was difficult to tell.

Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team were the heroes of the evening. Thanks to the fact that house points carried over from year to year, Slytherin had still held a narrow lead over Gryffindor, though all houses, according to some of the older students, seemed to have gained more points than in years past. The fifty points awarded to Gryffindor for winning the game, along with the one-hundred for winning the cup, quite comfortably pushed them into the lead.

Harry had, intentionally, they suspected, taken his sweet time catching the snitch and thus given the rest of the team ample opportunity to demonstrate their own skill. The final score of two-hundred-and-thirty to thirty reflected that quite nicely.

Even amidst the celebration though, chatter of the plans for the Summer hols was starting to spring up amongst every year, and this was especially true for the first-years. Sunset had been thinking about this for the last month, and concluded there was no reason not to make the offer to those who had not yet gotten a chance to visit her home.

Luna had politely declined, stating that her father had some kind of expedition planned for the two of them. Apparently looking for some mythical creature or another. Sunset found it sounded rather far-fetched, but she was hardly an expert on the magical creatures of this world.

Luna also promised to warn her father of the Equestrians’ plans to make official first contact over the summer.

“That should make the first days of second year quite interesting,” Luna commented. Only a year’s experience let her friends see her smirk through her usual dispassionate expression. “It’s probably the only thing anyone will be able to talk about.”

“Oh absolutely,” Hermione agreed. “Especially if they all have to wait a month before they can talk about it to their friends. Not to mention the muggle-born students that won’t even hear about it until school starts back up.”

Sunset nodded. “Some of the Slytherins might try to give us some grief over it, but I don’t think they’ll be willing to try anything I can’t deal with. Especially if I can get those shield amulets working.”

Ron grimaced at that, thinking about a few in particular. “Think Malfoy will be one of ‘em?”

Ginny was the first to reply to that. “I don’t think so… He’s been acting a lot more subdued lately. I haven’t heard him say anything about muggle-born students for the last few weeks.”

“Mmh,” Sunset agreed with a mischievous smile, “Vincent can be remarkably subtle when he wants to be. Nothing takes down an ideolog as well as making their own thoughts work against them.”

“You know, sis, that sounds remarkably sinister when you say it like that.” Hermione noted, earning a few nods from the others.

Ron, in fact, felt a need to chime in. “Bloody hell it does, saying it like that makes you sound like a Slytherin.”

Sunset chuckled lightly. “Well, the Sorting hat did say that I would have made a good Slytherin if it wasn’t for some initiation rite of theirs. Still not sure what that was about. Might have to ask Vincent if he knows.”

“Initiation rite?” Neville fell in, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Not sure,” Hermione admitted. “What exactly did the Hat say?”

Sunset furrowed her brow as she thought back to that evening. “That they have some kind of test that seems to determine standing in the house. From what he said, it sounded like he was implying that I wouldn’t do well in it.”

“Maybe it’s a test of how well you can use dark magic.”

When everyone looked at Lavender she shrugged. “What? It makes sense doesn’t it?”

“It does actually,” Hermione agreed thoughtfully. “The house has a history of producing dark magicians, even before the time of, well, you know who. Back when muggles had their second world war, there was another dark wizard named Grindelwald. He came from somewhere in north east europe, but most of his British followers were Slytherins. And the Lumineum makes it impossible to use dark magic, right?”

“Well, not entirely impossible,” Sunset corrected. “I’m pretty sure Princess Celestia can do it if she really wants to. But it takes a lot of effort and training and it really isn’t much. Takes too much focus to keep the light magic from interfering to pour much power into the dark magic. But I wouldn’t even know how to start doing that, so yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually.”

Ron snorted. “I bet Malfoy’s father practiced with him.”

That earned a unanimous round of nods from everyone. Then Ginny looked to Sunset and asked, “Hey, don’t you need to talk to Crabbe about those lessons you’ve been doing with him?”

“I already have, actually. We’ll keep in touch over the holidays. He had something he wanted to try. I guess we’ll see what he’s up to.”

Roaring applause rang through the Great Hall as Professor Snape handed the beautifully crafted golden House Cup to Professor McGonagall, wearing a mildly-more-displeased-than-usual expression all the while. The cheers at the Gryffindor table were the loudest, of course, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were certainly giving them a run for their money.

The Slytherin table was silent, of course, but the Gryffindor first years noticed that three particular Slytherins weren’t looking nearly as displeased as they should have, judging by the expressions of their housemates.

“Yes, good work House Gryffindor,” Dumbledore called out with a slight chuckle. “Though I feel that I should point out that all houses have gained more points this year than in almost any year before. My teachers tell me that most of those points came from academic work as well. It’s almost as though there was something inspiring you to work harder, especially amongst the first years of all four houses.”

He smiled again, noting that many eyes across the hall turned towards the Gryffindor first years. His smile only widened further as some of the older students gave a smattering of applause to the youngest of their houses. “Regardless, there is one more big feast to be had this year before you’re all boarding the Hogwarts Express tomorrow. Enjoy it!” With that, he sat down and began piling the food onto his plate that had once more appeared on the tables, while chatting amicably with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick to his right and left respectively.

The rest of the present teachers and students quickly followed his example and soon the Great Hall of Castle Hogwarts was filled with the clinking of cutlery and the quiet drone of conversation.

72 - To Return

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

52 - A Lapse in Judgment

Chapter Fifty-Two

A Lapse in Judgment

Between cheering Harry on for his Quidditch training thrice a week, working on combining the magic of two worlds with Professor Flitwick – they were continuing their work on shields – trying to find out just what Professor Quirrell was up to and what was hidden beyond the trapdoor guarded by the Cerberus, with little success in both, the weeks began to flow together for Sunset.

By the Wednesday after they had been shown around Ponyville by Granny Smith, Princess Celestia had finished work on the interdimensional journal she had promised for Sirius and, at his discretion, asked Sunset to pick up its counterpart and deliver it to the Headmaster, who would hand it on to the contact Sirius wanted to put in charge of his communications while he was in Equestria. Owls, after all, couldn't travel between dimensions as phoenixes could.

The journals, like Sunset's own, were much like the ones Sunset had enchanted for herself and Harry, but the spell linking them was conducted through a rare mineral found in Equestria known as Antennite. Its unique properties were the only difference between the two kinds of journals and thus, evidently, the reason why those with Antennite still worked while in different dimensions while those without it didn't.

It's golden sheen made it ideal for the fitting of the stylized paws found on both of the journals, much like it had been used the same way for the depictions of Sunset's and Celestia's cutie marks.

When delivering the journal to Dumbledore, Sunset had learned that the contact Sirius had assigned was none other than the third surviving 'Marauder' a man named Remus Lupin whom she knew to be a werewolf. For some reason that description sparked a faint recognition, as though she had heard of the term before. Still, she couldn't put her finger on where.

Unfortunately that was only one of the things she needed to research, as, by the time Halloween came around, she still had no idea what the dark magic around Professor Quirrell was and she was running out of ideas for what it could be. Ultimately she had to settle for sending Princess Celestia a description of what she had found and a list of things she had determined it not to be. She had quite simply run out of ideas.

Still, the princess was a busy mare and unless she could think of a possibility of the top of her head, it would likely take a few days at least for her to answer. For now, it was time to get to the Halloween celebrations. Hermione had explained the holiday to her and, once more, Sunset marveled at the remarkable similarities between Earth's holidays and those of Equestria. In this case, Nightmare Night.

It was quite surprising that the two holidays, happening at loosely the same time of the year, had ended up being so similar, despite their vastly different origins.

It was truly impressive to see how far the school had gone to decorate the Great Hall for the evening's feast. Thousands of bats flew through the vast room, alone, in groups or even in entire clouds. Much like the rest of the school, the hall had been decorated with carved pumpkins that served as the evening's light fixtures, floating above the tables in place of the usual candles.

The kitchens, it seemed had gotten into the spirit of things and styled the food to fit the theme of the occasion. Despite having lived on earth for half a year and having grown used to human food, Sunset found it to be remarkably eerie, but no less tasty than usual.

All the students were in attendance as were most of the teachers, even one rather eccentric-looking witch that they had never seen before. The only one that was conspicuously absent, was Professor Quirrell.

That changed a few minutes before the time for desserts. The doors to the Entry Hall flew open and Quirrell ran into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. The students and teachers watched with confusion, and, in the case of the Gryffindors, suspicion – some of the older students had overheard the first-years talking about him and rumors had spread – as he ran up to the head table. Straight towards Dumbledore.

"Troll," he wheezed out as he reached the headmaster. "In the dungeons. Thought you ought to know." He then proceeded to faint and fall over where he stood.

The hall immediately broke into chaos, it took loud blasts from Dumbledore's wand for him to attract the students' attention.

"Prefects!" he called, his expression the most serious many of them had ever seen, "lead your houses back to their dormitories immediately."

Percy was immediately on the task, quickly sorting the Gryffindors into a line with the first-years right behind him. As he led them to the doors, Luna tilted her head slightly. "Aren't the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons?"

Hearing her, Percy whirled around, suddenly worried. "They are. And the Hufflepuff dorms aren't too far from there either. Hold on."

Professor McGonagall was overseeing the students as they left the hall, when she saw the Gryffindors stop. Seeing Percy Weasley rushing towards her from his spot at the front of the line, she hurried across the hall to meet him halfway.

"Is there a problem, Mister Weasley?"

"Yes, Professor. The Slytherin dorms are in the dungeons, and with all the secret passages through the castle there is no way to be sure the troll is even still there."

Minerva was momentarily stunned. Then she surprised most of the students still in the hall by teleporting directly to the headmaster's side. When Albus and Filius had used the book Miss Shimmer had translated to upgrade the apparition wards of Hogwarts, they had been able to key all the teachers into the new wards.

Still, they were so used to being unable to apparate within the school that they rarely used their new-found teleportation ability in the school. As such, Albus was quite startled when she suddenly appeared at his side.

"Albus! We have no way of knowing if the troll is still in the dungeons. We can't let the students rush out into the castle without a teacher to escort them."

The headmaster's eyes widened. "And if Quirinus chose to flee from it, who knows if one teacher would be enough to deal with it." Quickly recovering from his shock, he pointed the tip of his wand at his own throat. "Sonorous." When he spoke again, his voice resonated through the hall and – through the wards that had linked with the spell – the entire castle. "All students immediately return to the Great Hall. The troll's location is not confirmed. It could be anywhere within the castle."

Not having gone far yet, the Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that had left the Hall were quick to return. The Gryffindors were still in full attendance. A wave of his wand later, Albus nodded to Minerva, having used the wards to check the students in the Hall with the list of students at the school and come up positive. All students were here.

Canceling the spell on himself, he spoke to the students in a more normal volume. "The Heads of House and myself will take care of the troll. The other teachers and the siege wards around the hall will keep you safe. Please, continue your feast."

As soon as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape had left the Hall, the great doors fell shut and gained a silvery sheen, locking in place. Looking around, Sunset saw that the other doors to and from the hall were similarly sealed. While the other students returned to their feast, wildly speculating how a troll had gotten into the school, she lit her eyes with a scanning spell, studying the patterns of the siege wards.

She was not disappointed. The heavy doors all around the hall had not only been locked in place, but also magically reinforced to be stronger than steel. The walls, while not visually different, were similarly reinforced and nigh indestructible.

Memorizing the patterns of the wards, she returned to her food as well, satisfied that the troll certainly wasn't getting in.

When Quirrell woke up he seemed momentarily quite upset to find himself in a hall filled with students and sealed with unfamiliar wards while the headmaster and the heads of house were elsewhere. He quickly calmed down, but his slip didn't go unnoticed. Needless to say that it did nothing to allay the Gryffindors' concerns.

Albus leaned back in his chair to consider the evening's events. Taking down the troll had been child's play for five accomplished magicians, but the fact that it had gotten into the castle in the first place – without his knowledge – was startling in the extreme. He had suspected that Tom might have an agent in or near the school, something Ms. Shimmer's suspicions had supported, but this was the first piece of evidence he had actually found. Only Minerva and Filius should have had a sufficient understanding of the wards to allow a troll to enter without him being notified immediately.

But he trusted them both with his life and they had shown no signs of subversion. Of course, Tom had spent years studying the castle and was brilliant in his own right. He might have managed it. But could he have taught the necessary skills to an agent and smuggle them into Hogwarts? Could an agent be in the school right now? A startling thought.

Alternatively, it could be that he had an agent on the outside, the troll serving as a test. A trial run to see if he could smuggle someone into the castle undetected. A troll, of course, wouldn't stay hidden, but one of his followers very well might. Albus would have to find out exactly how the troll had gotten past the wards and plug the loophole posthaste.

With that matter settled, he turned his attention to the other problematic issue of the evening, his dramatic lapse in judgment. The students had already been assembled in the Hall. Without knowledge of where the troll had gone after being spotted by Quirinus, sending the students away, two of the houses in the very direction the troll was reportedly located, was monumentally stupid.

Especially given the fact that Hogwarts, designed as a fortress to keep wizards safe in the days before the Statue of Secrecy, was well equipped to defend against attackers. The great hall was only one of the places in the castle that had extensive siege defense wards. Entire sections of the castle could be locked off if needed. A mere troll stood no chance of getting past that.

Was he loosing his touch? Was he getting senile in his old age? He couldn't allow that. He would have to take measures to ensure that didn't happen.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. Reminded of Ms. Shimmer's warning by the day's events, he lit his eyes with magic and quickly conjured a mirror to check himself over. He found exactly what he had suspected.

It was hard to spot, but looking carefully, he found the remnants of a Confundus Charm.

That was simultaneously worrying and relieving. Relieving because his monumental lapse in judgment was, in truth, caused by a spell meant to confuse him, and worrying because such a spell had been cast on him in the first place.

That supported the idea that Tom had an agent within Hogwarts. But, the only one under obvious suspicion couldn't have done it. Quirinus had, after all, only just entered the Hall when everything happened. He had been the center of attention from the moment he opened the doors. There was no way a spell coming from him would have gone unnoticed.

There was no way he was the culprit.

Or was there? If he truly did support Tom, would he have any quarrels using an imperious curse to get a sixth or seventh year to silently cast the charm in his stead? Hardly. That did it. He would make his own covert scans of Quirinus. Ms. Shimmer may have extensive knowledge in combating dark magic, but he was no slouch on the subject either, perhaps he would find something she missed.

And once that was done, he would go over the defenses for the stone again, thinking every one of them over. To check if they had any tactical flaws. He had a busy few days ahead of himself, but for the safety of all he had worked to protect here, the students and the stone, it would be well worth it.

He was just glad that the Gryffindor first years had managed such an admirable job at keeping their unusual abilities a secret. He could well do without the headaches that would give him when it came out for the moment.

The fact that Poppy had assured him that Argus' treatment was coming along nicely, something she had confirmed with Ms. Shimmer, served to further buoy his mood.

It brought him no end of joy that, with the implications of these treatment methods, the entire pureblood movement might become obsolete in a century or two. After all, in a world where all humans had magic, a pureblood superiority movement would make no sense whatsoever.

An owl fluttering in with a letter interrupted his musings. He recognized the coat of arms on the seal. Olympe, it seemed, had another letter for him. Thinking back, he realized that she hadn't written him since he had sent the book over, together with a more in-depth – and confidential – explanation as to its origins.

Quickly reading through the letter, he chuckled quietly. The new spells, it seemed, had caused the same excitement among Olympe's teachers as they had among his own. She also seemed to have had the same idea to improve the wards around the palace with the knowledge gained from the book.

He leaned back, thinking, perhaps he would get in contact with more of the great wizarding schools.

For now, though, he had more important matters to consider.

[RVS] Prologue - Through the Looking Glass

Prologue

Through the Looking Glass

It was finally time.

When Princess Celestia had taken her in all those years ago, she had been the happiest filly in Equestria. The first few years it had been great. Studying under the princess she learned all she could to be the best she could be.

And yet, she had always longed for more. Even now she couldn't exactly put her hoof on what it was she wanted, but she knew that she hadn't found it under Celestia.

Then, one day, the princess' lessons had changed. She had started stifling Sunset's progress. Sunset had asked why, but Celestia, ever the wise and mysterious ruler, had been unwilling to tell her. Sunset had been trained in politics, she was a good conversationalist, but she couldn't go up against the aeons of experience of the pony that had taught her all she knew. The princess was impressively skilled at dodging questions.

Over the last half year, they had argued more and more, both had said things they later regretted, but their relationship had deteriorated regardless. One month ago she had had enough. The fight on that day had been one too many.

She could still hear the princess' words.

"I'm worried, Sunset."

"About what?"

"About you."

"Why?"

And, like so many times before, Celestia had fallen silent. Sunset wasn't stupid. She had spent seven years training under one of the oldest and wisest beings in the world. She understood that the princess was afraid that Sunset might stoop to darkness, but she always refused to explain exactly how that would happen.

Celestia had lost her sister to darkness. To the dark magic that twisted and controlled her. But she had long since developed countermeasures. Ways to ensure she wouldn't suffer the same fate. And she had taught those to Sunset as well.

Even now, the question wouldn't let her go.I can't even use dark magic. How would I fall to darkness?

And so, she had decided to leave. To seek her luck elsewhere. She had spent the time since then researching for alternatives. Finally she had found one. And it was well within the realm of what she could manage. The day before, in the late evening, she had had the idea to look into magical artifacts, she had been looking at spells before.

That was why she was now here. As luck would have it, the artifact in question was stored in the Royal Treasuries of Canterlot. Others would have trouble getting in, even teleportation was blocked by the wards around not only the building, but also the individual vaults. She however, had, as part of her studies on wards and with the princess' blessing, studied the wards on the royal treasury. One would be hard pressed to find a more complete and sophisticated set of wards in all of Equestria.

She was one of maybe four or five ponies that could make their way into the vaults without the princess' express permission. Thanks to her knowledge of the wards she had managed to stroll in, without the protective magic stripping off her invisibility spell.

The spell itself was a tricky bit of magic. Illusions had never been her specialty and it had taken six years under the Princess' tutelage before she could reliably manage the feat. Casting it in such a way that the wards couldn't touch it had been foals' play in comparison. A minor charm to muffle her hooffalls rounded off the package.

Philomena, her loyal companion, the phoenix she had hatched and raised herself after dragons had stolen her egg, only to lose it on their travels, had simply flown over the guards' heads and through the tall gate, leaving them none the wiser.

There she stood now. Vault seven held the magical artifacts. Including the one she was here for. She was not here to steal. Quite the opposite, her plan was entirely based around using the artifact and leaving it where she had found it.

Philomena had perched herself on her withers, fading from view the moment her claws touched the invisible unicorn. All the while, Sunset was focused on her spellcraft.

It had taken her nearly five minutes of careful spellweaving. One mistake and the wards would keep her out and alert the guard. She could take them, of course, but she was already committing treason. She had no intention of adding assault and resisting arrest to that list. No. Better to go unnoticed. Carefully woven as it was, the spell whisked them both away, without a sound and with no flash of light, as was so common for a hasty teleport.

The teleport tore away her invisibility spell. No matter. They wouldn't need it anymore, regardless. She had closed her eyes for the teleport, so nothing could interrupt her focus. When she reopened them, she was greeted by a great collection of magical items. She had studied magic for the better part of her life, yet even she didn't know what half of them did. She could probably figure it out, given time, but time was pretty much the one thing she didn't have.

She had come well prepared. Her saddlebag held a pouch of gemstones, she had debated taking gold, but decided it would be too heavy. Bits were out as well, where she was going, they would simply be gold in an unusual form.

She had a few books as well. Most of them detailed advanced concepts of magic that would take her weeks to study, she had considered the option of ending up in a low magic environment, the book hadn't been clear on that, so she had brought a book on using magic despite that. And she had taken the magical journal. She thought it unlikely that she would wish to communicate with the princess, but it paid to be prepared.

She had no idea how much use anything else would be to her. She had considered taking along a gem that was enchanted to create a small fire when fed with a minute amount of magic, then she had remembered that she was taking along a phoenix and promptly discarded the idea. Normally a teleport spell would have been a drain on her reserves, but despite the complexity of bypassing the wards, she had really only teleported to the other side of a door. A distance so short, didn't even touch her deep well and her wide well had already recovered. The air was, after all, saturated with magic from all the artifacts around.

She had been in this vault before. She had even seen the artifact she had come for. Of course, she didn't understand its significance then, but she knew where she had to go. Unfortunately, the item in question was on the opposite end of the vault. And they only had a few minutes left.

She broke into a hasty gallop, racing through the lines of enchanted display cases that safely held the smaller artifacts. Finally she reached the place she had come for. Six display cases stood in lines of three to the left and right, flanking the path leading through the dimensional wing like trees lining a road. The artifacts in these cases were designed to view or communicate with alternate dimensions.

The one she had come for, was somewhat grander in scope. Standing on a shallow, two-layer pedestal at the opposite end of the small chamber, sat a tall, oval mirror. Its frame was a stylized horseshoe, its open side pointing down to form a large archway, sitting atop it was a smaller horseshoe facing the opposite direction, sitting on the larger one like a tuning fork. From her research, she knew that the parallel continued in its function. It acted as a tuning fork for the destination.

And Philomena had perched herself right atop it.

"Philomena, get down from there! We don't have time to recalibrate it."

It's a little known fact that Phoenixes, unlike other birds, have eyes they can move independently from their head. Philomena made full use of that ability to roll her eyes before taking off with an elegant flap of her wings, turning around above Sunset's head and gliding right into the portal.

Sunset mirrored the eye roll, Philomena was a bit of a brat sometimes, but she had the right idea, if she was guessing correctly, the portal would be closing in only a few minutes, at most.

With a final look back, Sunset stepped through the gate, and towards a whole new world.

Author's Note

And so it begins.

Just to warn you right now, Sunset has already had a full magical education, so she may be considered overpowered by some. Furthermore, this story does take a while to get to the point. We're in this for the long haul. If either of those things isn't to your taste, you have been warned.

Otherwise, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride.

[RVS]11 - Trunks, Teas and Cherry Trees

Chapter Eleven

Trunks, Teas and Cherry Trees

Tucked into a corner of the alley, Truckle's Trunks was much larger than its facade would indicate. Interestingly enough, this was not a result of expansion charms, but a simple quirk of the architecture. The proprietor hurried over once they entered.

"Welcome. Welcome. Hogwarts, eh?" Without even waiting for an answer, he continued. "Got em all here. Three? No problem. The base model? Or do you want something more advanced?" Harry and the Grangers seemed completely stunned by his energetic approach to salesmanship and McGonagall and Hagrid seemed too busy stifling their laughter to do anything productive.

As such, it fell to Sunset to answer. "Define 'advanced'?"

"Well, I can put a whole host of rune charms on them, but I can add the four basic ones for a galleon per trunk."

"And those are?"

"Undetectable expansion, featherweight, self-shrinking and muggle notice-me-not. Wouldn't want a random muggle coming by and seeing you shrink your trunk, would we?"

"Fair enough." Sunset giggled. At seeing the expressions of those around her she explained. "Sorry, I just can't get over the fact that you call perception filters notice-me-nots."

Mr. Truckle still looked confused, but continued on regardless. "I see. Now I can show you the trunks, if you want." He continued to do just that, demonstrating how to use the trunks, trigger the auto shrinking and showing the effects of the featherweight charm, much to Sunset's interest. She noted that last one as something to look up later.

Not long after, they had three new trunks and one more matter to attend to in the shop. "Mister Truckle," Harry spoke up. "I also need a bag to carry my books. I don't have one right now."

"Oh, of course, I carry bags as well. A bit above standard fare if I do say so myself. Come with featherweight and undetectable expansion charms and an illusion charm that lets you alter the colour to your needs. I have a few models to chose from. Come along."

The others watched with slight amusement as the two walked off deeper into the shop, the proprietor keeping up a running commentary all the way.

Emma turned to McGonagall, amusement clear in her face. "Talkative one, isn't he?"

"Less now than during his school days, but still quite a bit yes."

"Oh my."

Sunset meanwhile contemplated what she had seen of Harry. The boy was supposedly eleven, just as they were, yet both of them were taller than he was. Not to mention he also seemed to be a bit underweight for his height as well. She was starting to get a terrible suspicion.

Once Harry and the proprietor returned, now with an additional book bag, Harry insisted on taking his robes and carrying them himself. He was polite if nothing else.

Once they left the store, McGonagall suggested that they eat a small lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before continuing their shopping. It didn't take long before everyone agreed.

Back at the Leaky Cauldron, everyone ordered lunch. Somehow they all ended up ordering a cup of tea as well. Hagrid's cup was noticeably larger. Taking a sip from her cup as they waited for the food, McGonagall, started up the conversation.

"Normally I'd save getting wands for last, but a wand matching always takes a while and with three of them, I'd like to get that out of the way first." She turned to Emma and Dan. "One of you can accompany the children and I to Ollivander's and the other can go with Hagrid to Flourish and Blot’s and take care of getting the books."

"Normally I'd agree," Emma laughed, "but Hermione would go berserk if we didn't take her along to the book store."

Sunset simply giggled and placed an arm on Hermione's shoulder. 《It's fine, sis. We can come back whenever we want, remember?》

《Right, phoenix. I forgot.》She turned to Emma. "That's alright, mom."

Dan just sighed. "I really wish you'd teach us Equestrian. I hate it when you do that."

Sunset grinned. "Now might not be the best time for that. Or do you want to be shopping with a headache?"

Hermione, nodded. "She has a point. That wasn't exactly pleasant. It's more annoying than painful, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with it on a shopping trip."

"Not to mention," Sunset added, " I could always teach her ancient Thessian and talk with her that way."

"Gettin' the feelin' there's some stuff I don't know about." Hagrid pointed out.

Harry and McGonagall looked on in curiosity, but didn't say anything.

"So." Emma turned to her husband. "You get the books with Mister Hagrid-"

"Jus' Hagrid is fine."

"Very well. You get the books with Hagrid and I go with the kids to get wands for them?"

"Sure. That works."

Once they had all finished their food and tea – Sunset might not have been British, but she was a student of Princess Celestia, a position none could hold for long before developing a love for the beverage – the groups returned to the alley and split up.

As they headed for the wand store, Sunset's thoughts wandered to Harry again. When the food had come he had seemed eager, but also nervous, as though afraid that someone would steal it from him. None of that really helped alleviate Sunset's suspicions, it only made her more suspicious that in Harry's home something was not at all going as it should. Seeing that all his clothes, without exception, were several sizes too large for him and in appalling condition, didn't help either.

She might have to investigate later, but for now it was wand time. She had been looking forward to this all day.

The store wasn't pretty, but it looked like it had always been there. 'Well worn' might have been a good way to describe it. There was no sign. Instead, peeling gold letters on the door itself proclaimed 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.'. A single wand lay on a purple cushion, in the window. After a quick charm, Sunset recognized it as the anchor for the powerful wards that surrounded the shop.

As they stepped in, a bell tinkled somewhere in the depths of the shop. The shop was small and empty save for a small, spindly chair that didn't look entirely stable and rows upon rows of shelves. The entirety of the walls, save for two more doors was covered in shelves as well, stacked to the ceiling with long, narrow boxes. No one needed to guess what they contained.

"Good afternoon." The soft voice startled Emma, Harry and Hermione. McGonagall had apparently expected it and Sunset had sensed the man approaching through his connection with the wards. He was old and his wide, pale eyes seemed to glow in the dim of the shop.

"Good afternoon Mister Ollivander. I've brought another group."

"That I see, Minerva. And what a group it is. Three of them need a wand. The fourth isn't quite there yet. Though that may change." As Minerva looked to Emma in puzzlement who herself only returned a mischievous smile, Ollivander turned to the three children. "Garrick Ollivander, at your service. I see you brought your phoenix along. Is she here to make a donation?"

Philomena trilled slightly as he dismissed the illusion with a wave of his hand. "Gorgeous. Truly gorgeous." Philomena trilled again, lifting of off Sunset's shoulder, before vanishing in a flash of flame above Ollivander's head, leaving behind a single golden feather floating down to be caught by the wand maker. "Am I to presume you want this as your wand core, Miss Shimmer?"

Sunset could only nod. "Very well, we'll see about finding a fitting wood for you in a minute. Now." With a snap of his finger, three measuring tapes came from one of the doors and floated over to the three children. "Yes. I thought I'd be seeing you here soon Mister Potter." He smiled a barely visible smile. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Ollivander moved closer to Harry, staring at him unblinkingly. "Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration." Sunset noticed McGonagall give a sad smile at that. "Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course.

"And that's where ..." Mr Ollivander had come very close to Harry now, laying a long white finger on a scar on Harry's forehead. Sunset's eyes widened as her charm revealed extremely dark magic clinging to it, tightly focused as if contained. She winced as she focused more closely and, for a split second, saw a flash of green and heard insane, high-pitched laughter.

Unaware of her, Ollivander continued. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands ... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do ..."

He suddenly backed away, motioning for Harry to follow. "Now Mister Potter, which is your wand hand?"

"Uhm, I'm right handed." A tape measure immediately floated over and wrapped around his wrist, tugging on it slightly until Harry stretched out his arm which it then proceeded to measure.

"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use the tail hairs of unicorns, the heartstrings of dragons and, as you've seen, the tail feathers of phoenixes. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just like no two dragons, unicorns or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course you'll never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

As he spoke, the old man went from one shelf to the next, pulling out boxes by a system he and he alone understood. "That will do." The tape measuring Harry fell to the floor and curled itself up. "While we're at it," He turned to Sunset and Hermione. "What are your wand hands?"

Hermione held out her right hand. Sunset looked at both of hers for a moment before looking back at Ollivander. "I'm – what was the word? – ambidextrous."

"Balance ... I see ... good." The tape measures went to measure Hermione's right arm and both of Sunset's. "Now Mister Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heart string. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." He absently snapped his fingers, causing the two remaining tape measures to join the first on the floor, before snatching the wand back from Harry.

And so it went. Ollivander gave Harry wand after wand, taking them back sometimes before he had even moved. "Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

The moment Harry touched the wand, a smile started to spread on his face. He brought it above his head and let it swoosh down, spraying red and gold sparks across the room.

"Oh bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well ... how curious ... how very curious ..." Even as he gently placed the wand back in its packaging and wrapped it in brown paper, he continued muttering. "Curious ... curious ..."

"Excuse me," Harry finally spoke up, "but what's curious?"

"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mister Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix who donated the feather for your wand, gave one more. Just one. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar." He cleared his throat and pulled out his own wand, waving it in a circle to cause all the discarded wand boxes to float back to their shelves. "Now, Miss Granger, I believe you are next."

Once more he bounced through the shop, pulling out box after box, while Harry joined Emma and McGonagall in the corner by the door. The process then repeated, Hermione didn't take as long as Harry had, but a few minutes passed regardless. "Let's see here, elm and Opaleye heartstring, nine and five sixth inches, elastic, powerful yet sophisticated, well suited for charms and transfiguration."

Hermione's eyes widened as she touched the wand. She twirled it in a circle and vanished in a flash of green, reappearing on the opposite end of the shop. "My, my. Impressive. That wasn't apparition, was it?"

"No. That was the teleportation Sunset taught me."

"Very good. I'm impressed. Good to see that nonsense disproved once again."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, my apologies. The common wizard isn't exactly knowledgeable on wandlore. There is the persistent myth that only a pureblood wizard could produce magic with a wand made from elm. I've seen it disproved several times in this very shop. Every time is a special joy." As he spoke, he packaged Hermione's wand, as he had Harry's. "Now, Miss Shimmer, if you would come along to the back please, we'll find the perfect wand wood for you." He delicately picked up the golden feather and walked off through one of the doors.

With some trepidation Sunset followed the old wand maker. In a flash of flames, Philomena reappeared above her head, alighting on her shoulder. Before long the arrived in what was clearly a supply room. A shelf held jars with what she assumed to be dragon heartstrings, next to it were two filing cabinets. One of the drawers was open to reveal a row of envelopes, holding unicorn hairs, each meticulously labeled.

The main attraction, of course, were the rows of shelves, not unlike those in the shop itself, holding various lengths of wood. Once more, Ollivander began flitting between shelves, pulling pieces of wood from it and placing them in a row on a table. "Now, move your hand over these, let me know if you feel a pull."

Sunset did as she was asked, floating her hand over each piece of wood in turn. Every once in a while she felt a pull and let Ollivander know about it. He took the indicated pieces of wood and placed them in a row on a second table. After she was through the row, he called her over and asked her to find the one with the strongest pull.

After a few minutes of testing, she had isolated two potential candidates. "This one, or this one. What do you think Philomena?" The phoenix hopped onto the table and placed a primary feather on each of the two pieces of wood, then rather strongly indicated towards one of them, a smooth length of reddish-brown wood, rather beautiful to look at. Sunset moved her hand over it again. "Yes. This one."

"Oh my, Cherry and Phoenix feather. Not a combination I've sold before. Cherry is a wood that is often underestimated by western wizards, but very popular in Japan. The classical combination is, of course, Cherry and Dragon, both materials with great power. But combining the power of Cherry with the versatility and potential of a Phoenix core? That is a combination with potential. Very intriguing. I'll have it ready in a few days.

"Not to mention that this wood stems from a cherry tree that was rather dear to me, it was planted out behind the shop by my grandfather. Take good care of it. Now, come along."

Sunset followed him back to the front of the shop. "Now that will be seven galleons from each of the two of you and a two galleon deposit from you, Miss Shimmer." After Emma and Harry paid the old wizard, he returned to the back and they left the shop, once more squinting into the bright afternoon sun, before they spotted Dan and Hagrid, the latter carrying three bags of books.

34 - House

Chapter Thirty-Four

House

Sunset listened carefully, analyzing the song as the hat went on. It was called the Sorting Hat, it seemed. A hat enchanted to be sentient and gifted with the ability to read the mind of whomever wore it.

It continued to outline the qualities sought by each house, going through the houses in the same order McGonagall had named them. Seeing that it was exactly the order in which the house tables stood, seen from their current vantage point and looking from left to right, Sunset surmised it to be the default order to list the houses.

When the hat fell silent, the hall erupted into applause. It bowed to each of the tables and went still. After a moment, Professor McGonagall stepped up beside the line of first-years, a long scroll of parchment now in her hands. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." After a moment she announced, "Abbot, Hannah."

One by one, the students were called, put on the hat and sat down, after some time, different for every student, the hat would call out the name of a house, prompting the student to take it off and the respective table to break into applause. The trims on the robes of the students, Sunset noted, changed to match the color of their house as soon as it was announced.

After about ten minutes, McGonagall called again, "Granger, Hermione."

Hermione took a long while on the stool, longer than anyone else yet. Sunset noted the tip of the hat slowly turning left and right, it was difficult to see from her vantage point, but it looked like it was switching back and forth, between two tables, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw if she wasn't mistaken. She could only guess that it was having some trouble deciding which of the two houses to put Hermione into.

When finally, it announced 'GRYFFINDOR!', the table to the far left applauded and Hermione walked off to find a seat there, leaving the hat behind for 'Greengrass, Daphne', who turned out to be the girl to Sunset's right.

Another few minutes later, McGonagall called, "Longbottom, Neville." For him, the hat seemed to be looking at one table while Neville was looking at another. After a few minutes, the hat, it seemed, prevailed and Neville made his way to the Gryffindor table as well.

Luna's name was called next. It was almost an exact repeat of what had happened with Hermione, only this time it seemed to be Luna herself looking between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. After a few more moments to deliberate, the hat placed Luna in Gryffindor. She sat down beside Hermione.

They got a few minutes to relax after that. Student after student was called, until, finally, McGonagall silenced the entire hall with two words, "Potter, Harry."

Many quiet whispers broke out through the entire hall as all eyes turned to Harry who now took a seat on the stool. It took half a minute and some deliberation, but eventually Harry followed the rest of their group to Gryffindor.

The row of students got ever shorter, one by one, they were called, sorted and sent to their houses. Finally, McGonagall called out again, "Shimmer, Sunset."

Choosing to ignore the fact that McGonagall had assumed Shimmer to be her last name, Sunset made her way to the chair and put on the hat. Like with most students before her, it was much too large and fell over her eyes.

A voice rang through her head.

Sunset greeted kindly.

The tip of the hat moved to the right to now point at the Slytherin table.

Once more, the tip of the hat moved to the left, pointing at the table of red and gold.

"Gryffindor!"

Once again the Gryffindor table broke out in applause and Sunset walked over to join her new house. From Hermione's other side, she watched the Sorting continue. After a few minutes, Ginny and finally Ron were called, following the rest of their friends and family to Gryffindor.

After the final student that still remained was sorted into Slytherin, McGonagall rolled up her list and took the hat and stool away through a side door. By the time she returned, the headmaster had gotten up and was beaming at the gathered students.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

With that, he sat back down and the hall cheered. Sunset could only shake her head.

Suddenly, the tables before them filled up with food, creaking under golden platters filled with all manner of edibles. Soon the hall was filled with the clinking of glasses, the clicking of cutlery and the droning of quiet conversation.

The entire group was eating, happily greeting their new housemates. They quickly got to know the other four new Gryffindor first years. Two girls, Lavender Brown and Pavati Pattil, and two boys, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. They were also quickly introduced to one of the ghosts, sitting near the group. "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

Most of the group were happy to leave it at that, but Ron recognized the ghost. "I know who you are! My brothers told me about you. You're Nearly Headless Nick!"

The ghost was about to reply when Seamus cut him off. "NearlyHeadless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Nick didn't look at all happy, but replied none the less. "Like this." Grabbing his left ear, he pulled. Like on a hinge, his head fell to the side. Clearly, someone had terribly failed at beheading him. Relishing their stunned looks, Nick flopped his head back into place, coughed and spoke up again. "So. New Gryffindors. I hope you'll help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor has never gone without a win for so long. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron is becoming unbearable – He's the Slytherin ghost."

Looking across the hall to the Slytherin table, Sunset saw a ghost, sitting right next to Malfoy that could only be the Bloody Baron. The silvery blood staining his robes was a pretty clear giveaway. His gaunt face and staring eyes were eerie to say the least. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, even despite the cross looks he kept covertly shooting her.

Sunset wondered how the baron had gotten so covered in blood. She wasn't the only one. Nick, it seemed, didn't know either.

When everyone had eaten their fill, the remaining food vanished, replaced moments later by all sorts of desserts imaginable.

For the Weasleys, Luna, Hermione and Sunset, this was a reminder of the food that had been their fare in Equestria. How ponies could eat this kind of thing all the time still confounded most of them. Even Sunset didn't know.

Around them, talk shifted to their families. Sunset only half listened, as she let her gaze roam across the hall. All around conversation slowed down, the long day, the train ride and the filling feast clearly taking their toll on the students. At the head table, the teachers were conversing as well. Professor McGonagall was talking with Professor Dumbledore, while Professors Sprout, Flitwick and Vector were avidly conversing not far from them.

On their other side, Professor Quirrell, now wearing a rather ridiculous turban, was talking to a greasy-haired man in all black robes.

Beside her, Harry followed her gaze and suddenly winced in pain, holding the scar on his head. Concerned, Sunset lit up her eyes with her usual scanning spell and looked it over.

She had scanned it rather thoroughly after they had all read about the events that had led to Harry getting it, so she knew that a remnant of dark magic was still contained within. It had given her something to think about when she had joined the others in comforting him. Reading about his parents' deaths clearly hadn't been easy on him.

That very same dark magic was now reacting to something. Looking back at the two talking professors, Sunset noted there was something off about both of them. On a hunch, she switched to a more powerful aura sight spell, specifically designed to detect and identify magic in trace amounts. What she saw was worrying to say the least. Both professors had an aura of low-level dark magic. It was either very faint or extremely well masked, she couldn't tell, but either way, it was barely perceptible and she likely wouldn't have noticed had she not been specifically looking for it.

Seeing this, she switched to a light magic scanning spell, lighting her eyes up a pale gold. To her heightened perception, the dark magic around the two now stood out like watered down ink on an otherwise untouched piece of parchment. The dark magic on Quirrell was all around him, but seemed to be densest around his head. On the other man, it seemed concentrated on his left forearm. She would have to investigate more closely later, maybe set up some light magic wards around Gryffindor tower.

The unknown Professor, whom Percy was explaining to Harry was their Potions professor, was worrying, but not necessarily dangerous. Quirrell, however, was deeply concerning. Dark magic was never a good sign, but concentrated on the head? Highly troubling.

Deciding to keep her spell going for the moment, Sunset let her gaze drift across the hall once more. She still felt there was something else off, as though there was something that had more magic in it than it should, but she couldn't put her finger on what. It might well just have been the ancient magic of the castle messing with her readings. Ancient magical castles had a habit of doing that. She filed the thought away for later when the deserts disappeared and Professor Dumbledore rose once more.

"Ahem – just a few more words, now we're all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." His eyes flashed over to the Weasley twins for a moment before returning to the hall at large. "I have also been asked by Mister Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes on the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of terms. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch." Sunset noted that several pairs of eyes in the hall flashed over to a woman with short gray hair and yellow eyes, much like Mrs. Weasley had gained after visiting Equestria.

"And finally," Dumbledore continued, "I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

A few students laughed. Sunset thoughtfully added the corridor to her list of things to investigate.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Many of the teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore flicked his wand and a long golden ribbon flew from it, twisting itself into a rather ridiculous set of lyrics. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!"

As the school broke into a cacophony of song, Sunset and Hermione shook their heads and sealed their ears, using small, sound dampening shields. It took several minutes, before the last students, the twins, finished the song.

"Ah, music." Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Percy guided the first-years of his house first through the crowds in the hall, then through the corridors of the castle. Up the marble stairs, past several moving and whispering portraits, through passages hidden behind tapestries and sliding panels until he stopped in a corridor before a bundle of walking sticks floating through the air ahead of them.

With her spell she had forgotten to cancel, Sunset saw they were held by a transparent man floating in mid air. He had wicked, dark eyes and a wide grin. When Percy approached, he began throwing the sticks at him.

Percy turned to the first-years. "Peeves," he whispered. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice. "Peeves! Show yourself!" Only then did Sunset realize that the others couldn't see Peeves.

The poltergeist blew a raspberry at Percy that somehow managed to sound like he was releasing the air from a balloon.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

With a pop, Peeves suddenly became opaque. "Ohhhhh." He cackled evilly. "Ickle firsties! What fun!"

Most of the first-years ducked when he swooped at them, but Sunset and her friends stood their ground. The poltergeist stared at them in surprise.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this. I mean it!" Percy warned.

Sticking out his tongue at Percy, Peeves became transparent again, dropping the sticks over Neville's head. The group around them quickly reacted, each catching one or two of them, while Sunset watched the poltergeist fly off, rattling a coat of armor here and there as he flew past them.

By the time Percy had warned them about Peeves and explained that only the Bloody Baron could really control him, they reached a portrait of a very fat woman in a silk dress. Percy stopped before it.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis"

The portrait swung open like a door, revealing a passageway into a room that was clearly in one of the towers. There was a fireplace on the opposite end of the room and an opening each in the two remaining cardinal directions.

Explaining that those led to the dormitories, Percy led the boys through one and left Sunset to lead the girls through the other. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Pavati and Lavender followed her. They went through the passage and turned right onto a flight of stairs that spiraled upwards around the tower, the occasional window showing them little more than the starry sky. After a quarter turn, they passed a door with a sign labeled 'Seventh Year'. Another half turn later, they reached one labeled 'First Year'. They went through it into a circular room with six beds.

Recognizing their luggage at the foot of each bed, the girls spread out across the room. After a moment's deliberation in Equestrian, much to Lavender and Pavati's confusion, Sunset, Hermione, Luna and Ginny, the latter two of whom had managed to complete their work on it while in Equestria, transformed and curled up together on one of their beds, not bothering to check whose it was.

The other two were sorely tempted to snatch up the adorable little things and figure out how they had managed that, but were ultimately too tired to tackle such questions. Yawning, they found their own beds and followed their new housemates into the land of dreams.

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49 - Playing With Fire

Chapter Forty-Nine

Playing With Fire

A smile graced Princess Celestia's face as she looked up from where she was teaching Twilight her latest magic lesson and to the book on her shelf that had once more begun vibrating and glowing. Making sure to keep an eye on the filly, she took the journal into her magic and lifted it before her, opening to the latest page and beginning to read.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I've had an eventful few days here. But let me preface this with a bit of a quote.
You see, the humans have a saying: "If you want to judge a country, look at how
they treat their prisoners."

Celestia thought about the statement for a moment. She couldn't deny that there was a certain wisdom behind it, but mostly she was curious what might have caused her former student to tell her this. She went on reading.

Suffice it to say that I lost a lot of respect for Wizarding Britain when I saw how they treat theirs...

Twilight looked up from her training, watching as her mentor's expression darkened, growing ever more troubled as she read on. She had learned weeks ago that the book was the journal the princess used to stay in contact with Sunset. She only relaxed when she saw Celestia's face light up towards the end of the message. Finally, the princess let her eyes jump over to her desk, floating a quill over.

My Little Sun,

Your tales of this 'Azkaban' are most troubling. I will have to bring it up with their government when official first contact is made. That you managed to find and help capture such a terrible criminal and get an innocent released from prison, especially one such as that, is wonderful to hear. You continue to make me proud, my Little Sun.
I would love to come over to meet Professor Dumbledore in person. Assuming the required time frame doesn't fall into the middle of Equestria's night. Please make sure to send me the calculations. I'm afraid I haven't been keeping track of the calendar.
If Sirius Black and Harry Potter wish to stay in Equestria, I can easily make arrangements to allow for that.
The results of your comparative studies have been very enlightening thus far. Please do let me know if you learn anything more.

Love,
Celestia

P.S: My student, I know that the emotional back-pressure caused by the Lumineum can be difficult to deal with. If you need any help, or simply wish to talk about it, you know I'm here for you.

With a smile, the Princess closed the journal and returned her attention to Twilight's training, already considering how much of what she had just learned she would tell the curious filly when she would inevitably ask.

When lunch came around on Saturday, the group returned from the grounds where they had visited Hagrid. Sunset had been able to come along this time. Her comparative magic studies with Professor Flitwick would only begin after lunch had ended.

She made her way to his office in record time, thanks to all the shortcuts through the castle they had discovered. He welcomed her in jovially, well aware that he was likely to learn just as much as he taught.

"So then, Miss Shimmer, have you thought of a topic we should cover today?"

Sunset chuckled. "I did. Actually I'm kinda surprised I didn't think of this sooner. It is my specialty after all. Pyromancy."

"Spells dealing with fire, you mean?"

The two began demonstrating the various fire based spells they knew for several minutes, respectively watching the other with an aura sight spell. Eventually, Professor Flitwick stated that he only knew one more spell, but that it was one he wouldn't demonstrate. Something he called 'Fiendfyre'.

"Ah, a dark magic fire spell. I see. Probably a counterpart to this." She once more let her hand light up with teal magic, before it shifted to the pale gold Flitwick had come to connect with her light magic. In moments, a ring of pale golden flames formed around her hand, even as the hand itself stopped glowing. She played with the pale golden flames for a few moments, and Flitwick had to admit that it looked rather fun.

The fire didn't burn her, and she seemed entirely comfortable with it, smiling as the flames snaked up her arm and wove into her hair, forming a little crown on her head. Most surprising of all, however, was that even she seemed surprised by that. Had she not made it do that? Had the magic acted on its own?

That alone was a startling discovery. All his life he had learned to treat magic as a force. A tool, even a weapon. Used to accomplish his goals. The girl before him, however, seemed to be treating it like an old and reliable friend. And the magic seemed to respond in turn, acting almost alive. Was this part of the independence she had ascribed to light magic? He had to ask.

"Is this another example of light magic acting on its own?"

The girl looked over to him and nodded. "Yes, I'm letting it more or less do its own thing. This spell is my specialty. Being light magic, it will never harm me, and even beyond that it won't burn anything unless I want it to or it's dark in nature."

"So for light magic it is actually viable to let the magic act on its own?"

"Yes. Like I said, it isn't actively harmful unless I want it to, even if it is fire."

"How very strange. That's actually a completely foreign concept to me. Over here we're only used to normal magic, which won't really do anything on its own, and dark magic which has to be controlled, to stop it from harming the caster. Now, mind you, not all dark magic is as ... volatile as fiendfyre, but it all needs a certain level of control."

"And at the same time, light magic is perfectly safe to let go on its own and harmonic magic and chaos magic can't really be controlled at all, you just tell them what to do and hope that they will."

Sunset chuckled a little. "Anyway. I think we should get back to work shouldn't we?"

For a good hour or so, they worked on combining the more mundane fire spells of both worlds ending up with a spell that was remarkably efficient, much more so than any of the ones they had started with and allowed for supreme control over the size and temperature of the flame.

Flitwick sighed a little. "If only we had a way to sustain this. Potion makers up and down the country would love us for it. We could make it an enchantment, of course, but that would make the control aspect very tricky and likely much less precise."

Sunset nodded thoughtfully. "It probably would ... unless ..."

"Do you have an idea?"

"I think so ... this may not be a problem to be solved with magic alone ... if I ... yes, that could work ... Of course the muggles of this world know much more about this than ponies do. Not to mention I was never too up to date on the topic myself. I'll have to do some research. But I think I might be able to make that happen. But if we are to make it work for potions, we should cover another topic."

Flitwick was intrigued. What was she up to? What idea could she have had? And what would the muggles know about it? Still, he decided to humor her and see where it would lead. "And what topic is that?"

"Shields."

"Shields you say? Very well. We have a few shielding charms. The obvious one is of course the Protego Charm. It's very well liked among duelists. It's not very efficient, but it can hold off one or two powerful spells, not to mention it's pretty universal. Most of our other shielding charms are magnitudes more efficient, but highly specialised."

Another hour later, they had managed to create a new shield spell as well. A powerful and efficient thermal shield that, if integrated into an enchantment, would easily resist even the heat from something such as a molten cauldron. Exactly what Sunset needed.

On Sunday, two major things happened. First, Harry had his first training session with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, who seemed highly impressed by his skill. By the end of their practice, Fred and George actually started suggesting to just keep an eye on the enemy seeker for a few minutes, to make sure they didn't catch the snitch first, then catch it after the game had gone on for a while, just to give the rest of the teams a chance to actually do anything.

Harry had to admit they had a point.

The other major thing happened atop Gryffindor Tower. Sunset stood alone on the roof. Waiting for a very familiar sight. She didn't need to wait for long. In a flash of golden fire, Philomena joined her on the roof, happily gliding down to land on her shoulder. But she hadn't come alone.

A woman in a flowing white dress stood before them. The fabric was patterned with gold and she wore a golden necklace and a tiara, each holding large purple gemstones. She was tall, radiating power and wisdom, and stood with otherworldly grace.

Which lasted exactly until she tried taking her first step and fell forward.

Well prepared, Sunset had her magic ready and caught her easily. "Well princess. Welcome, to Hogwarts." She walked over to Celestia, taking her hand and helping her walk over to the edge of the tower to look over the school's grounds.

"It is rather pretty to look at, isn't it?"

Sunset nodded. "That it is. Still, it isn't why we're here."

"True. That it isn't."

The two of them spent several minutes walking, jogging and ultimately running in circles around the top of the tower. After the Princess had mastered bipedal locomotion, they moved on to help Celestia resume her equine shape while here. Sunset wasn't at all surprised that Celestia managed the transformation after only half an hour. She had, after all, had eons to grow familiar with her magical essence. And with manipulating it. After hugging Sunset in human shape and finding that she preferred the experience as a pony, the princess returned to Equestria.

Now, however, she would be ready for her meeting with Professor Dumbledore the following week.

Sunset, meanwhile, switched out of her school robes and teleported to London. Looking to find a place where she could find a book on basic electronics. She had some research to do.

When Sunset returned that evening with several electronic components, Hermione was rightly confused as to what she planned to do, over the next week she would learn what her sister had planned.

Professor Flitwick, however had to wait until Saturday.

Filius Flitwick felt a mixture of joy and curiosity as he heard the knock on his office door. Wondering how Miss Shimmer would surprise him today, he waved his wand to open the door. "Now will you tell me what your idea was?"

The girl before him smirked. "I'll do you one better. I'll show you." She opened her bag and pulled out two small devices. The first was a square brass box that had several metal bars sticking out of the corners at the top and a red crystal sitting in the center, surrounded by four smaller crystals. The other device was a wooden contraption with two dials and two switches, as well as four displays like he had seen on muggle devices. All the controls were covered by a glass plate that was attached on a hinge so the cover could be flipped aside when it wasn't needed.

"Now what is this?"

"Well. I found that using magic to control the spell we created in an enchantment wasn't feasible."

Flitwick nodded. He knew that much. The spell lost too much of the precision in deciding the temperature and the size of the flame that was its main draw.

"So I used technology instead. Look." She flipped the cover aside, brought both dials to the minimal position and flicked the left switch. With a faint hum, the box came to life, the displays above each control lighting up and displaying numbers. The small crystals on the other device lit up a soft teal and a wave of teal magic ran over the brass box.

Drawing his wand, Flitwick cast an aura sight charm, recognizing that both devices had a multitude of enchantments on them, as well as an internal buffer of magic. The teal shimmer, he realized, was that of the thermal shield they had come up with the week before, combined with a weak shield against physical impacts. With a satisfied smile, the girl flicked the second switch and the red crystal in the center came to life. A flame appeared in the air above it, outside the shield, and remained there.

He watched as Miss Shimmer turned the left dial, the number above it climbing slowly while the flame grew in size. When she had brought it to the maximum position, the flame was a foot tall. She quickly dialed it back to a more moderate size, then began twisting the second knob. It only took him a moment before he noticed that the flame was getting noticeable brighter and hotter. Again the display above the knob she was twisting displayed steadily higher numbers, but he noticed that it was a bit wider and didn't stop climbing at '100', instead climbing ever higher until finally stopping at '900'.

Seeing how the office was getting rather toasty, Miss Shimmer quickly dialed back the heat and the size of the flame, before extinguishing it by flicking the right switch back up. Once the flame was gone, she flicked the left switch up as well, causing the displays to shut down and letting the shield dissipate.

He stood there in stunned silence for a moment. "How?"

The girl smirked again. "Turns out using muggle electronics to control the enchantment is a lot more precise."

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