The following morning, Ginny woke up to find herself tangled in the bedsheets with her doppelganger. It took her drowsy mind a few seconds to figure out what was going on- then she spent a couple minutes examining Morning’s face- and, by extension, her own face. She looked so… peaceful, with that gentle smile on her face, that it was a shame to wake her up.
Unfortunately, though, Ginny could just see a clock on the wall from her position- and they were already starting to run late. She sighed, then freed the arm that wasn’t trapped under Morning to gently shake the girl’s shoulder. “Hey, Morning,” she muttered.
Morning didn’t stir, and instead shook her hand off and curled into her chest.
Ginny chuckled softly. “Oh, I wish we had more time too,” she muttered, and started drawing her finger around in Morning’s hair, on the top of her head.
She didn’t know when Morning was awake because Morning looked at her, because she didn’t. Instead, after stirring for a few seconds, Morning let out a sigh… and raised an arm to start drawing on Ginny’s head as well.
Ginny smiled again, and hugged Morning close. “I wish we had more time too,” she muttered into Morning’s hair. “But we’re already a bit late.”
Morning finally looked up at her. “Mm?” She sounded exactly like Ginny herself- but Ginny expected that, since she’d never un-transformed the night before. Morning stared at her for a couple of seconds, before looking over towards the clock, and staring at it for a few seconds more. “Eh.” Then she curled right back up into Ginny’s chest.
Ginny hugged her. “That means we should be getting up.”
“Eh.”
It was clear to Ginny that Morning wasn’t fully awake, so she contemplated her options. On a thought, she glanced upwards, and judged how far she was from the edge of the bed.
It was just about right… so she gently adjusted her left leg into a better position for what she was about to do, hugged Morning tightly, and rolled. She stopped when she was lying on her other side- and let go at the same time, lying on the very edge of the bed, and facing off.
Morning had fallen perhaps three inches before she let out a shriek of surprise and her arms snapped out, allowing her to turn her fall into a strange kind of cartwheel, which brought her to her feet just short of the next bed in the row, breathing hard.
Ginny propped her head up on an elbow. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” she greeted.
Morning took two more deep breaths, then let out a huff and gave her a deadpan look. “You know you didn’t have to do that,” she stated.
Ginny shrugged. “But where’s the fun in that?”
Morning blinked, then started laughing- and after a couple seconds, Ginny joined her.
Finally, Ginny rolled herself out of bed, one leg first so she could rise fluidly to her feet, and took Morning’s hand. “C’mon, let’s get started with our day.” Morning hadn’t seemed to notice she was still Ginny’s doppelganger, and she had some ideas. She tugged on Morning’s hand. “Why don’t we start with a shower?” She’d spotted the dormitory bathroom before she’d stood.
Morning chuckled. “Yeah, why not.” She glanced towards the bathrooms. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shower on this side of the Gate.”
She giggled, dragging Morning over to the door. “Look and learn, how about?”
When she opened the door, and dragged Morning in, she made sure to position herself so that Morning never looked directly into the mirror, even by accident.
As it turned out, Morning was unfamiliar with showers in general, not just human showers. It seemed she was used to bathing in rivers- or simply never bathing. As a result, Ginny ended up educating Morning on some of the more mundane things like how to use soap, how to properly take care of her hair, and so on.
And much to Ginny’s delight, it wasn’t until they had finished their showers, and were toweling off their hair, that Morning seemed to realize that her hair wasn’t the fiery red and yellow she’d entered the Castle with. “What…?” Morning paused, staring at her own hair.
Ginny giggled.
Morning looked up at her, tilted her head, then stepped past her to look in the mirror. “What-!?”
Ginny burst out laughing.
Morning stared for a second- and, in a blink of green fire, was her fiery-haired self once again. Then she looked at Ginny, and smiled, then started chuckling as well.
It took Ginny a few seconds to stop laughing, before she stepped closer, and ran a hand through Morning’s hair.
It was completely dry, and had even resumed its unruly hairstyle from the day before.
“No fair,” she complained lightly.
“What…?” Morning asked curiously, running a hand through her own hair… then she paused. “Huh.” A flash of green fire turned her hair red again, as she became Ginny’s doppelganger once again- but her hair didn’t become wet again, it stayed nice and dry.
“Cheater,” Ginny accused.
Morning tilted her head, restoring herself with a third flash of green fire. “Actually… We might be able to do something about that. How about we try…” She shrugged. “How about we try channeling your magic, through me, into yourself?”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “How would that help?”
Morning smiled, and took Ginny’s shoulders in her hands. “Concentrate on your hair,” she muttered. “But concentrate on it being a little different than it is now.” She closed her eyes.
Ginny closed her eyes, and concentrated. Her still-damp hair was cold against her back- but she imagined it looking like Morning’s, falling in a neatly messy array of red and gold, as if it were a bonfire. She concentrated on that- and thought of Morning’s green fire.
The moment she imagined that green fire turning her hair into a duplicate of Morning’s, a brief wash of warmth started at her scalp and traveled down her back, where it disappeared… and her hair was no longer hanging down her back like a damp towel. She opened her eyes.
Morning let out a breath, and opened her eyes. “Okay, that-!” She blinked, then chuckled. “You know, if we don’t want ponies to think you are a changeling, we might have to change it again.” She took a deep breath. “That said, any changes we do this way will wear off in about a day. That’s about how long it’ll take for your own self-transformation magic- something most ponies don’t have- to reassert itself, and push you back to your natural form.”
She looked in the mirror, and shrugged; her hair looked exactly like Morning’s, but she was otherwise no different… No, she was also dry. She shrugged. “Eh, there are potions and spells for this kind of thing,” she stated. “And there are witches and wizards that can make small changes like this at will, anyways. They’re called ‘metamorphmagi’.”
Morning blinked. “You’re… not one, are you?”
She shrugged. “No, I’m not a metamorphmagus. But they don’t need to know that, do they?”
Morning chuckled. “I suppose they don’t. I probably don’t want to make myself out to be one, though- I bet that’s one of the British facets that Equestrians simply don’t have.”
Ginny’s good mood remained fully unabated when she and Morning raced each other back to the Great Hall for lunch that day. She’d found out, on their way down to breakfast, that Morning had no idea which way to go to reach the Great Hall- but she’d known exactly where to go. At breakfast, they’d arrived late, but they’d done so to find out that, since they didn’t teach any classes that day or the next, they actually had the entire first day off.
It had taken until halfway through breakfast before Ginny realized just how unusual her morning had been, even for herself. Had she been told, even just the night before, that she would’ve enjoyed teaching Morning how to scrub herself in the shower, she would’ve been convinced that whoever was telling her that- even if it had been herself- needed to be admitted to St. Mungo’s. But, it’d happened.
Finally, she paused just inside the Great Hall. She’d won the race.
It took Morning just a couple seconds to catch up, before Ginny picked a spot on the massive Gryffindor table and led Morning to it. There were lots of empty seats; they were slightly early to lunch.
“So,” she began, as she sat Morning down first, then hopped onto the bench next to her, looked at the table, and picked the nearest plate that looked appetizing to offer Morning. “Um, eggs, I think?” Why did she have to pick the one thing she didn’t know the name of?
Morning took one look at it and smiled. “I believe that would be called ‘deviled eggs’,” Morning informed her, before plucking one off the platter to offer her. “Want to try it?”
Ginny giggled, and promptly bit off half.
Then, while Morning ate the other half, she served a dozen or so more onto their plate- just like with breakfast, Morning wasn’t all that hungry, so they shared a plate- and she started searching the table for the next item to serve.
She was interrupted from her contemplation, however, when Morning twitched involuntarily. She looked up at Morning. “What?”
“Well,” Morning began, before looking somewhere behind her.
She looked. “What?” she repeated.
Then, she very suddenly knew what, as her heart leaped, yet again, as she made eye contact with that silver-haired girl that was trotting towards them. She grinned, and waved. It looked like the girl was a second-year- but, with the twin royal blue stripes splitting her gleaming silver hair evenly into thirds, she had to be an Equestrian. Thus, according to Equestrian law, which Morning had explained before they left the common room the night before, there was absolutely nothing wrong. Morning had told her it wasn’t uncommon for families- technically herds, that was the Equestrian term- of four or even five mares to form before they found their stallion. And of course, even if she included Hermione, this silver-haired girl would only make four.
The silver-haired girl smiled and trotted up next to her. “Good afternoon to you too,” she greeted. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Do I mind?” Ginny asked, in mock offense. “Whyever would I do that?”
The girl chuckled, and took the seat next to her. “Gee, I have no idea,” she chuckled.
Ginny giggled, and hugged her sideways. “Honestly?”
The girl smiled, and hugged her back. “Yeah, why not?” Then she looked up at Morning, and held out the hand she’d wrapped around Ginny. “And you too, no Sister left behind.”
Morning blinked. “Sister-?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel it too?”
“Uh- No, I do, don’t get me wrong.”
“And you’re an Equestrian?”
“Uh, Yes.”
“Then you know what I mean.”
Morning blinked. “...I guess I do.” She leaned in, and joined in the group hug.
Ginny looked at the silver-haired girl, even as she wrapped her unoccupied arm around Morning as well. “Sister?” she asked.
The silver-haired girl smiled, and whispered softly in her ear. “Sister wives.” Then she offered them her free hand, and spoke normally once again. “Anyways, my name’s Silversong, how about you?”
Ginny blinked, and blushed. “Oh. Um… Ginny. Ginny Weasley.” She smiled innocently at Silversong, and squoze gently with her hug.
Morning chuckled. “Morning Sun.” She inverted her free hand to shake Silver’s. “And it’s nice to meet you.” She took a deep breath. “You seem… mighty accepting of the whole Sister thing, for a local.”
Silver blinked. “What-? How did you know?”
Morning flinched. “Sorry, I’m just, ah, very sensitive, to…” She took a deep breath. “Stuff.”
Ginny tilted her head. “Can you tell us later?” she asked softly. “Maybe tonight?”
Morning nodded.
Silver nodded in turn. “Alright, I can work with that.” She looked at the table- and, in about three seconds of royal blue aura, assembled herself a plate of food, complete with garnish.
Ginny stared.
“You’re pretty good at that,” Morning commented.
Silver shrugged. “Eh, it’s nothing worth recognizing, though. I mean,” she looked at Ginny and Morning, “it is my Talent.”
Morning tilted her head. “Is that what we’re calling it on this side?”
Silver blinked up at her. “You don’t know?”
“I wasn’t paying much attention during the… presentation before we went to Diagon Alley,” she shrugged. “So I know we’re not calling it-” she glanced down the length of the table, and looked back at Silver- “by its proper name, but I don’t know what we are calling it.”
Silver rolled her eyes. “So, assuming we’re talking about the same thing, yes, we’re calling it the Unique Talent on this side. I suppose we can verify tonight, up in the dormitories?”
Morning shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
Then someone touched Ginny’s shoulder. As strange as it was, it didn’t feel strange, so she just looked.
She recognized him instantly. It was the boy from the station so long ago- and from that angle, she could also see his lightning scar.
“Hi,” she stated.
He smiled back at her. “Hey Ginny,” he began. “I see you’ve already met Silversong, but I don’t believe I know your other friend?”
She blushed only slightly at how quickly he’d recognized her… and then, she looked at Silver. “What?” Silver had turned to give Harry a strange look.
Morning smiled up at him. “I’m Morning Sun. How about you?”
Dumbledore looked up to scan the Great Hall after he served himself lunch. The new Plan was coming along well- and, thanks to the amount of raw power available to oppose Voldemort, it wasn’t nearly so sensitive to things going wrong, so he didn’t have to manipulate nearly so many. As a matter of fact, he- and the Equestrians- had been able to classify most of the student body- British and Equestrian alike- as “bystanders”, and so completely exclude them from the Plan.
Unfortunately, there had been one person he hadn’t been able to remove: Harry Potter. The Equestrians had, reluctantly, agreed- but this time, he could actually tell the boy about the part he played, since he no longer needed to martyr himself! As a matter of fact, the main reason he still needed to be part of the Plan at all was that Voldemort would be targeting him!
… The discovery that Harry was almost alarmingly good with his defensive spells was a relief. Whenever Voldemort attacked, the longer he could stay alive, the more time the various powerhouses had to reach him and do their thing.
He hoped that Voldemort would still make the crucial mistake he’d been manipulating him into making before, of using Harry’s blood to resurrect himself; even without the rest of the plan, that would still render Harry immortal until after Voldemort’s own death- until after the Light had won. He’d mentioned it to the Equestrians- and working that back into the Plan, since that mistake would basically guarantee at least an eventual success of the Plan, was scheduled for the afternoon meeting.
Much of the morning had been spent figuring who had to be part of the new Plan and how to deal with the parts of the old one that had already been set in motion; much of the night, before breakfast, had been deciding the general direction for the new Plan to follow.
Fortunately for youngest Weasley, he had scanned the castle during breakfast, and had not found Tom’s signature. As such, the diary must not have made its way into her hands, and the coming year should be fairly peaceful. Or, at least as peaceful as a castle stuffed full of Equestrians could be. So of course, one of the things he’d done just before coming down for lunch was to cancel her marriage contract, free her to follow her heart.
Then, he looked up, instantly recognized the Equestrian she’d gotten off the train with, blinked, and stared.
For one, Ginny’s hair had changed. He wasn’t sure how, but it wasn’t all that important. There were plenty of spells to do that- and plenty of skilled Equestrians to cast them, he was sure.
For two, Ginny looked almost blissfully happy, sandwiched between Morning Sun and Hermione Granger on one side, and Silversong and Harry Potter on the other side, all seated so close together they might as well have been attached at the hips- like that one very interesting incident in Gryffindor Tower last year.
And of course, they were all smiling, hugging, sharing… they looked like a single family.
He shook himself, and sighed. He’d have to spend some of his free time these next few nights looking up the various laws and precedents, to see about how to make a polygamous marriage possible for her if she wanted it- or, if not, how to make it possible to legally marry her under Equestrian law, while standing on British soil. It was the least he could do, with how much pain his original Plan had caused the girl. It wouldn’t be hard for him to ram something through to get the entire International Confederation of Wizards to recognize contracts- including marriages- from Equestrian law; a vast majority of the Mugwumps would simply rubber stamp a law or treaty to that end, and the remainder didn’t really matter.
Unfortunately, he was fairly sure that neither Ginny nor Potter could cross the Gate without giving up their lives, and when marrying, even wizards don’t get to pick and choose whose law they marry under. Nor Hermione, now that he was thinking about polygamy- she looked to be part of the party as well. Though, she might be able to, with the Papa Tango he’d heard about… and with her strange propensity for breaking the laws of magic. Perhaps the next time she broke the laws of magic, it would render national borders, or even laws, moot?
While he turned back to his potatoes, he idly wondered exactly what it would take to make it possible for both Weasley and Potter to cross the Gate safely.