Princess Sparkle and Headmaster Dumbledore both stared at the cube on his desk.
“We can’t destroy it,” Albus said heavily and slowly. “As long as he has at least one horcrux left, he will survive. And come back.” It was as if he measured and weighed each word before saying it.
After a pause, Twilight said, just as heavily, “And we know that he has at least one left — Hufflepuff’s Cup.” She looked up at him.
“Yes,” he said after a moment. He returned her gaze steadily.
“But we don’t know where it is. Not even a suspicion,” she continued, slowly, thoughtfully.
“True.”
“Will the cube . . . contain him?”
“In his present state? Yes. He is cut off from the world. The runes won’t allow any magic past them, in either direction. He will exist just as he was when we captured him.”
They resumed staring at the cube. They shifted in their respective chairs as they thought.
“And, as I told Harry, we can’t just hide it. Things like that always get found and released.”
Dumbledore had to agree with her. Horrid items like this did tend to resurface in time.
“Hogwarts is supposed to be the safest place in England,” she said, thoughtfully.
“It is,” Albus said with conviction.
“And yet, he hid a horcrux here.”
He sighed and deflated slightly. “Yes, that is true,” he said glumly.
“And he managed to sneak past all of our defences.”
He shrunk back into his chair. “That, too, is true,” he murmured, even more dejected.
She looked up at him. “Gringotts is supposed to be the most secure place in England.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Yes, most consider it so. The break-in last summer has shaken that confidence, some, though.”
She shook her head. “But that is only recently. Ten years ago? Gringotts was considered impregnable.
“That is true.”
“So, if he hid one here, the tiara, would it not make sense to hide one there?”
He nodded slowly. “There are tens of thousands of vaults.”
“He would only trust something of this importance to one of his most loyal lieutenants.”
“Most are in Azkaban.”
“Doesn’t Gringotts have a rule about storing dangerous objects in a vault?”
He slowly smiled. “Why, yes, they do, I believe.” He sat up straight. “If we brought to their attention the explosive abilities of these things, they would be very interested.” He leaned across his desk and swept the cube up in his hand. Opening his fidelius-ed drawer, he dropped the cube in it.
Twilight shuddered. “That is so weird.” She rubbed her head with her right hand. “We are so fortunate he never thought to do anything like that.” She shuddered. Then she frowned. “Although, once he was bodily destroyed, the secret would be revealed, wouldn’t it?” She looked at him.
“Perhaps.” He said softly. “Can a ghost be a fidelius secret-keeper?” He looked back at her. “I suppose it depends upon how much of a soul the ghost has.”
A slow grin crept across her face. “An experiment!” She started to wriggle in place.
Dumbledore hid a smile of his own behind his hand. He cleared his throat. “I think I shall visit Gringotts after dinner, tonight.”
She sighed, and nodded. After a moment’s contemplation, she said, “The Guards will stay here until the students leave. Any changes, now, would cause talk. The rumours in the castle are bad enough as it is. Also, there might be other followers of his, nearby, that will notice when he fails to contact them.”
He nodded. “Thank you. The less attention we bring to this problem, the better.”
After a few moments contemplation, she looked up. “Could you show me the spell you used to alter the Mirror?” she said hopefully.
He stood. “Now is as good a time as any,” he said smiling.
Not even half-a-minute later he apparated back into the room. He took the miniature Mirror out of his pocket, placed it on the floor, and restored it.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said as a parchment and feather floated off his desk.
He smiled indulgently. “I think I can manage.”
“A moment, please,” the Princess said. She transformed into an alicorn and walked around the Mirror. The quill scribbled and diagrammed almost non-stop on the parchment as it floated beside her. She carefully studied the magic that encompassed the Mirror. And how it focused on the area in front of it. Finally, she sat to one side. She looked over at him. “Can you cast it now?”
“Easily,” he said. He took a galleon out of his pocket and pointed his wand at it. He cast a spell. The coin began to glow brightly. Then he started another spell.
Twilight watched closely, switching back and forth between the Mirror and the galleon. The ink feather was almost a blur.
This one was more complex. Part way through, the galleon began to float. At the end, it disappeared.
“There,” he said. “The galleon will remain in the Mirror until someone wants it, but not to use it to light up the dark.” He returned to his desk chair.
She nodded, still focused on the Mirror. She began to frown. “Is this the exact same spell?” She looked over her shoulder at him.
He stroked his beard. “Yes, it is.” He watched her curiously. “It is actually quite simple. Only one who wants to find the item — find it, but not use it — will be able to get it, otherwise they’d just see themselves using it.”*
She turned and stared at him. “It is a bit more complex than that, though, or Quirrell would have had the Stone. He didn’t want to use it, according to Harry, only to give it to his Master.”
“Well, yes. I suppose I should say the spell is such that only one who didn’t want the Stone to be used, either by themselves or another, could get it.”
“How did you intend to retrieve the Stone?” She said, eyebrows raised.
He stroked his beard, “Simple. I don’t want to use the Stone, merely give it back to the owner, Nicolas Flamel.”
She tilted her head. “Who you know is going to use it. Thus the Mirror won’t give it to you.”
He sat there a moment. “Ah, yes, that is a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it?” He thought a moment. “I suppose I would ask a muggle-born for help to finish one of my experiments. To . . . retrieve a gem from the Mirror, so that I might return it to a friend.”
She nodded. “That would work. It would have worked for Tom, too. It’s what he tried to do with Harry, except Harry knew about the Stone’s properties.” She sighed. “Harry probably didn’t get it because deep inside he knows that if he had it he could use it to save someone’s life, so he would use it.”
Albus had to agree with her.
“But that’s not the only problem with this spell.”
“Oh?” He tilted his head inquiringly.
“Well, your spell is actually fine. It starts with ‘does the one reflected want to find and use the item?’ If the intent is ‘to use the item,’ then the Mirror locks to seeing the item in use in the Mirror and the rest of the spell is ignored.
“If the first part isn’t triggered, then it falls through to the second part. The spell checks to see if the one reflected wants to find and give the item to someone else, who they know intends to use it. If the final intent is ‘to use the item,’ then the Mirror locks to seeing the item in the Mirror, and, again, the rest of the spell is ignored.”
She glanced down at her notes. “If the first two parts aren’t triggered, then the spell checks to see if the one reflected wants to find but does not intend to use the item. If the intent is ‘not to use the item,’ then it gives them the item. But if it does give up the item, then the next time someone steps in front of the mirror the spell runs its course, displaying the item as necessary, even though the item isn’t there anymore.” She looked back up. “But you plan to remove the spell afterwards, so that’s not a problem, not really.”
“And if someone just walks in front of the Mirror, and doesn’t think of the item, nothing is supposed to happen. They never even see it.”
She looked at her notes, and sighed.
“Except something does happen.” She turned and looked at the Mirror.
He straightened up. Any unintended consequence could be a disaster in a spell.
“The problem comes up in the interaction between your spell and the Mirror.” She looked into her notes, flipping rapidly back and forth. “Here,” she looked back up, briefly. “Your spell is interfering with the main function of the Mirror, to display one’s deepest desire. In the case of someone searching for the item you put in the Mirror, your spell forces the Mirror to use their surface desires of what they want, to find and use the item. Your spell prevents — subverts — the Mirror’s only function from displaying their deepest desire! And that creates a conflict of functions. And the magic in the Mirror will try to resolve this conflict so that it can function properly, once again.”
She circled the Mirror. “This is about a hundred years old, right?”
Albus nodded.
“It has to be very powerful to slip into our minds and ferret out our desires. And it is very complex to be able to differentiate between immediate wants, mere dreams, and deep desires. Not only that, but it doesn’t alert or damage anyone in the process of getting that information.” She stopped, staring at it. “It truly is a wonderful, delicate, and seductive piece of work. With potentially nasty outcomes.” She looked at him, clearly expecting a response.
He nodded again
“Harry and the fillies told me what they saw in it. They did not see mere reflections.” She looked back at the Mirror. “They saw people moving, talking, and interacting like they were real, not static or stiff images. To be able to do that, it almost certainly has to have some form of sentience granted to it by magic, to fulfil its function. That would explain why the reflections in the Mirror can cry, laugh, and react to each other in such a life-like manner.” She circled the Mirror, again.
“Otherwise, the images would just stand there, static and unmoving. Which would hamper a major part of the Mirror’s function, to pull people into staring into its depths.” She glanced back at him.
“But your spell forces it to show only the main reflection, and maybe the image of the one they wish to give the item to. It supresses the deepest-desire image, unless finding the item is truly their deepest desire. For example, they want to use the item, but their deepest desire is to rule the world.”
She looked up at him. “Do you understand? If I don’t know about the item and stand in front of the Mirror, I see only myself. My deepest desires are not shown. But if I know what the Mirror of Erised is, I’ll be puzzled at what I don’t see. I will want to find out what is wrong with the Mirror. I want to find what is causing the problem. Which is the item and your spell. So, if I want to find the problem, I must want to find your spell, which means I want to find the item, because your spell contains the item!”
She again studied the Mirror, poking it with a hoof. “The Mirror knows I want to use the Mirror for its original purpose, and your spell with the item is in the way. But if the item is removed then the Mirror can work properly.” She turned to look at him, again.
“You see? I want to find what is causing the problem, which is the item hidden by your spell, but I don’t want to use the hidden item because I don’t even know it is there.” She paused and glanced back at the Mirror.
She set the parchment down. “And the rune spell on the Mirror will see that I want to find whatever it is that is causing the problem — the item. I don’t know exactly what the item is, but I want to find the problem. And your spell will know that I don’t want to use the item. Find and don’t use. Both conditions are met. Maybe the definition of want-to-find has to be stretched, but the enchantments on this Mirror are rather flexible. They have to be, to interpret and display your desires.” She sighed softly.
“The Mirror will give me the item because both conditions of the third choice in your spell are satisfied. That adjusting the definition of what is wanted, by overriding the need for the reflected person to know precisely about the item, would correct the conflict in functions you have created is merely a detail.”
Albus leaned back in his chair, chagrined. “Oh, dear.” He looked at the Mirror. “I do believe you might be right.” He paused musing. “The reflection would probably be laughing at me, too, delighted at upsetting my plans and at the opportunity to trap whomever was standing there. Much like the Sorting Hat sometimes laughs at me when it places a student in an unexpected House.”
He looked back at her. “Then it is very good that only someone who knows what is in the Mirror, and determined enough to make it through six puzzle rooms to reach it, would ever see it.”
The Princess nodded, pressing her lips into a thin line. “Yes, indeed,” she said.
۸-_-۸
Elly looked up from her breakfast plate, startled, as one of the Hufflepuff prefects, Tim, and one of the Guards headed for her seat at the table. She tried to avoid Tim. He had a rather unhealthy tendency to set things on fire as a way of showing off.
Being at the end of the tables nearest the Head Table, she had noticed the Headmaster’s late arrival, but hadn’t thought much about it. It clearly was related to yesterday’s events and he had been working on that. Based on his pleased and happy emotions, it had had a satisfactory ending.
Her alert yesterday had had the effect of kicking over an ant-hill, as Guards and others had sprung into action. The Thursday afternoon exams had even been postponed. She knew Harry Potter had been kidnapped, searched for, and finally found. He had been injured, but was safe and now in the Hospital Wing. The Gryffindor table was missing him and his herd-mates, as well as Bon Bon and Lyra. The Princess had probably already returned to Equestria.
Details had been vague, but it had had something to do with the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side of the castle. The one guarded by the cerberus. Supposedly, it led to other traps. With a final goal of something quite valuable. Something linked with last summer’s Gringotts robbery.
That didn’t matter, though. What did was that the Professors and Guards were all feeling much more relaxed than they had been at any time since the Guards’ arrival. Something, at the very least, had been resolved.
Tim leaned close and said, ominously, “Come with me, please.” He stared at her intently. “The Headmaster said Princess Sparkle would like to thank you.” He swept his arm to indicate she should get up and follow him. The remains of her breakfast burst into smoke and flames with a small POP. His feeling of amusement were a contradiction to his theatrics.
“Princess Sparkle?” she gasped. She hurriedly grabbed her bag and stood.
He turned and led the way, his robes almost billowing like a certain Potion Master’s did. A few moments later, the three arrived in the small chamber off the hall the First Years had waited in back in September. Tim opened the door with an extravagant flourish. “Enter,” he intoned gravely, then chuckled in low portentous tone. Tim was more than a bit of a drama queen.
She nervously noticed that this time the chamber wasn’t empty.
Waiting for her was not only Princess Sparkle, but Harry and his herd-mates. She noted that Harry had his arm in a sling, so his injury couldn’t have been that terrible.
She barely noticed the Guards standing to one side. She did notice that Tim closed the door behind her with an unnecessarily loud bang. The Prefect remained in the main hall. Her fear that she had been discovered, unfounded as it might have been, receded as she tasted the emotions in the room. Gratitude and thankfulness filled the room. Their smiles were all genuine.
The Princess waved her closer.
Unsure of what to do, she complied, then curtsied with her head bowed.
“There is no need to do that, Miss de Rippe,” the Princess said warmly.
She straightened and just looked at the Princess.
“I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart.” She suddenly stepped forward and swept the startled girl into a hug. Feelings of love, gratitude, relief, and happiness flooded through her senses. If she had been feeling peckish before, she was now approaching full!
“If not for your astute observations yesterday, and immediate reaction, I wouldn’t have my son today. For that I cannot thank you enough,” she said, not letting go of Elly.
“My son’s kidnapping was unrelated to any events in Equestria, and was, in no way, a reflection of his position there. I cannot tell you any further details on what drove the kidnapping, as those details are not mine to share at this point in time. Revealing them would provide warning to our enemies here in this world.”
She stood back, her hands on Elly’s shoulders. “Just know that the persons responsible for it intended to kill him.”
She swallowed, and her voice thickened with emotion.
“If you had delayed even a few minutes, he might not be here with us today. And you were the only one to notice anything amiss out of everyone who went through that room.”
A cloud of depression flitted across the room at that proclamation. She looked into Elly’s eyes. Elly could feel her sincerity.
“I am an alicorn, a Princess of Equestria, and Harry Potter is my son. As such, this was a direct affront to Equestria, myself, and a Prince of Equestria. The person responsible has been captured and will be punished appropriately.”
There was a feeling of grim satisfaction as she said that.
She smiled briefly. “And the person responsible for saving him shall be rewarded,” she said.
The feeling segued into happiness.
“For various reasons, including state security, I cannot publicly acknowledge the true depth of how much we owe you, but know that if there is anything Equestria can do for you, we will do it, to the best of our ability.” She again pulled the ling into a hug. “Know that you forever have a friend in Twilight Sparkle.”
Elly easily picked up the feeling of deep sincerity from the Princess.
Moments later, Elly realized she was the centre of a massive hug involving the entire family. She almost passed out from the intensity of the love and friendship poured in her direction.
Slightly drunk, and wishing she could off-load what she had so she could get more, she staggered a bit as they let go of her.
“I didn’t know anything was wrong, it just didn’t feel right,” she said, dazed.
“And that’s why you have our friendship,” declared the Princess, with another flood of emotions that Elly, regretfully, had to turn aside. “You had nothing at stake, you had nothing to gain, you didn’t have to say or do anything. You could have just said to yourself, ‘that’s odd,’ and never mentioned it. But you did.”
Princess Sparkle stepped back.
“I’ve been told you are an orphan. Do you need assistance of any kind?”
Elly blinked. “No,” she said softly. “I am well-funded from my family’s vault. I’ll be spending my hols at the family estate in Scotland.”
Princess Sparkle nodded. “Good. If you need anything, just send a note to the Embassy to my attention.” She smiled. “If you wish to visit Equestria, likewise, drop me a note. You can stay at the palace, either in Ponyville or Canterlot. And I’ll cover all your expenses.”
She stared at the woman, wide-eyed. Going to Equestria would be a total disaster! This was a disaster! She had wanted to stay as far from the ponies’ attention as she could manage. And here she was, getting personal, privileged attention from a Princess. And, glancing at the smiling and glowing-with-happiness Herd, she knew they would expect her, their new friend, to spend time with them.
Mistaking her silent dismay for something else, Princess Sparkle said, “I think we’ve overwhelmed the poor girl.” She looked around at the herd. “And isn’t there an exam you all need to go to?”
There was a loud gasp and hurried checking of rucksacks. Yesterday’s incident had postponed the History of Magic exam to today! They rushed out of the room, with their Guard escort.
Despite her desire not to attract attention, her arrival in the exam room in the middle of Harry’s Herd put her front and centre of the gossip mill.
She sighed as she set down her rucksack and Professor Lupin told them to open their scrolls and begin. No doubt, by the time dinner rolled around, the gossips would have her married and with foal as the latest in the Potter herd.
۸-~-۸
Dumbledore stood and tapped his water goblet gently, the sharp ringing tone bringing the Great Hall to an inquisitive silence. They were at the official End of Year Feast, the Monday after the exams.
Elly noticed that while Bon Bon and Lyra sat bracketing the First Year animagi, the Princess was at the Head Table with the Headmaster.
“So,” Dumbledore said, “We have once more reached the conclusion of a successful year of cramming knowledge into your empty heads. No doubt, everything you have learned will quickly drain during your brilliant summer hols, leaving your heads empty, once more, for us to refill to bursting next year.”
The students smiled or chuckled at his gentle jibe.
“To our graduating Seventh Years, we offer our sincere congratulations and wish you all long, profitable, and successful careers. I have no doubt you will bring honour to Hogwarts with your accomplishments.” He smiled genially as he looked over the seats where the seventh years were congregated.
He looked out at that the red-and-gold decorations throughout the Great Hall. A distinct colour change from the previous six years of silver-and-green at the End of Year Feast. The decorations celebrating the winning House would remain until the Hogwarts’ Express left with the students after the exam results were released.
“I congratulate Gryffindor House on winning the Quidditch Cup this year. Saturday’s Quidditch match, between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was especially close, until the snitch made its appearance.” He looked at Harry, who blushed. Scootaloo, on his left, and Apple Bloom, on his right, bumped shoulders with him, grinning.
The cheering from the Gryffindor table was thunderous, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were only a bit less so. Oliver was so happy, he had tears down his cheeks. The Slytherins were noticeably silent. Their Quidditch team members were scowling darkly.
Professor McGonagall looked especially happy, her giant grin decidedly out of place on her normally stern face. She stroked the Quidditch trophy on the table in front of her plate lovingly. Flitwick and Sprout watched and smiled approvingly. Professor Snape looked like he had bitten into something extremely sour.
“The House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thusly: In fourth place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; in third, Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six; Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two; and Gryffindor, with four hundred and eighty points.”
Again, a storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Gryffindor table.
“Yes, yes, well done, Gryffindor,” said Dumbledore warmly, smiling, his eyes twinkling. “However, certain adjustments must be made.”
Confused mumbling broke out, and Gryffindor table went unnaturally silent.
“First, to Elly de Rippe, for acute perception and timely action to prevent a tragedy, I award twenty points.”
Elly was completely surprised and stared around at her fellow Hufflepuffs, who congratulated her. It was the first time in her life she had ever been awarded points. Or even acknowledged as anything but average.
“Second, to Mr. Harry Potter,” said Dumbledore, “for pure nerve and keeping his head in disastrous circumstances, I award Gryffindor House fifty points.”
Gryffindor table applauded and cheered, but they were a bit uncertain what all this meant.
Dumbledore smiled and gazed around the Hall. “I realize these awards did not materially change the standing of the individual Houses, but I felt it was necessary to acknowledge the accomplishments of these two unusual individuals for staying true to the high standards of their Houses.
“Therefore, it is with great delight that I award the Hogwarts’ House Cup of 1991 to Gryffindor House.” With a wave of his wand, a giant House Cup appeared on a stand behind Professor McGonagall. Once again, it was a change from the previous six years when Slytherin had won the cup.
The Gryffindor table exploded into relieved cheering, stamping, and table-pounding. Even the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw celebrated the downfall of Slytherin. Slytherin House, Elly thought, no doubt were even now scheming to win back both trophies, and put the other Houses back in their proper places — behind the pure-bloods.
The noise went on for a few moments before the Headmaster was once again tapping his water goblet.
The room’s noise slowly dropped to an acceptable level, he said, “There is one more announcement to make, this one is to our graduating class.” He turned slightly, “Princess Sparkle?”
She stood and looked across the hall before focusing on the Seventh Years. “I’m sure most of you have plans on what you want to do next in your lives. However, I have something I would like you to consider.” She glanced down a moment, as if at notes. The entire school focused on what she had to say.
“The manner in which witches and wizards use magic is unusual to Equestrians, and many of the things you do with it are intriguing. For that reason I would like you all to consider working in Equestria as a part of your future. We have a deep need for teachers in all types of magic — transfigurations, charms, potions, runes, arithmancy . . . practically everything except history and astronomy. If you are more interested in doing instead of teaching, we have openings in all those fields I just mentioned, both here, on this side of the portal, and in Equestria. For more information, please speak with Bon Bon or Lyra.” The two transformed ponies stood and shyly waved their hands at the students.
She swept her gaze across the rest of the hall. “In fact, if any of you know of someone looking for new employment, tell them to drop by the Equestrian Embassy office in either Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. We would be happy to see them. Applicants should at least have an OWL in whatever field in which they want employment. NEWTS will only be required for teaching positions.” She stopped and scanned her audience.
“Also, if you, or your family, know of any squibs who might be interested in being pegasi, we are in desperate need to fill positions in weather manufacturing, manipulation, and management.” She paused and smirked. “And we have discovered that squibs, as pegasi, can use wands, if that makes a difference. The squibs aren’t as powerful as unicorns and other native Equestrians, but they can use the wands for minor spells. We will provide any needed wands and basic instruction.
“The Equestrian Embassy in Little Whinging can take applications, as well, if that would be more convenient for any interested applicants.”
The students, and Professors, stared at her, stunned into complete silence. Squibs using wands in Equestria was ground-breaking news for wizards and witches, Harry realized. And it must be something fairly recent, because his mum had never mentioned it to him.
She started to sit, but then straightened as she remembered something. “Oh, and for Fifth and Sixth Years? If your parents give their approval, we would be interested in hiring for summer employment. Again, that would be on both sides of the portal.”
The Hall burst into excited chatter.
She sat back down, as did Bon Bon and Lyra.
۸-_-۸
So Dumbledore didn’t bring up attempting to get harry to the weasleys again
So Elly has gained a powerful backer. I think Twilight will be surprised when she finds out the truth but by then Elly will have proven herself and she will be welcomed with open arms.
I call favoritism how can what elly did be worth only 20 points while just being a victim gets Harry 50 he made some contributions with his spells but really did they even need his help quirrel was running outta juice anyway . Booooo boooo elly deserves more Dumbledore you old geezer.
The problem is Quirrell and Voldemort were sharing a body and Voldemort did want to use the stone. I agree with the reasoning but in this case, it doesn't work because the assumption was the thief wanted to use the stone and since Quirrell was sharing a body with Voldemort and wanted to help Voldemort restore his body he did indeed want to use the stone.
Maybe this could work as described but as long as Voldemort was also in front of the mirror and wanted to use the stone they would not get it.
The explanation for how Elly got the stone is really dumb, the spell requires you to want the stone and not use it if all you wanted was to know what was causing the problem the mirror would just show you the stone it wouldn't give it to you unless you actually wanted the stone. Elly didn't want the stone she wanted to know what was wrong with the mirror which would not fulfill the conditions as Twilight describes them. If she wanted to fix the mirror removing the stone wouldn't do that because Dumbledore's spell would still remain on the mirror so again giving her the stone doesn't make sense.
Wow, Twilight wasn't just making leaps of logic, she was playing logic hop-scotch.
Has Twilight Sparkle established that all squibs are going to become pegasi?
9639046
Yeah, no, that bridge is well and truely crispy-krittered.
Goddamn, I thought Elly was about to be found out. I mean, Twilight would undoubtedly still be appreciative of what she helped to do, but there is no way that Elly would be permitted to stay on this side of the portal. Not yet anyway. That would probably mean being locked back up in Equestria, probably in better accommodations than her bereaved kin, and possibly with enough love to survive, if not thrive. But a prison is a prison, and even those meager allowances would not be assured. Stay safe, bug horse! Anyway, nice chapter.
9639046
Why would he? Harry is now a target, and doing so would make the Weasleys targets, too.
9639118
I Lee I’ve especially from reading tvtropes Dumbledore wants to still tie Harry to the wizarding world
Well, you outdone yourself. You literally made entire new system for the Mirror and made Twilight instantly understand it, so your OC Elly can have their own special plot, while Twilight can lecture Dumbledore YET ANOTHER BUCKING TIME! Is it a fetish of yours? Seriously, jeez, can you grant old man at least some freaking intelligence? At this point you can replace Dumbledore with a cabbage and no one will notice the difference!
9639093
Canon Dumbledore is biased towards Griffyndor - and Harry to gain loyalty and sympathy towards his designs for the long term.
'nuff said.
What I don't get is where are all the anti-changeling wards Twilight was supposed to be putting up everywhere after Elly first came through?
9639151
Dumbledore the cabbage man
This chapter does seem to bring a return of a common problem with this story, Dumbledore is made to look like an idiot as his mistake is pointed out by Twilight who once again gives him a long drawn out lecture explaining it.
here's a better way it could have been handled:
There, everything is explained so that your plot still works but without Dumbledore looking stupid or yet another lecture from Twilight.
9639046
frankly, harry was almost killed and twilights still new to maternal instinct, Dumbledore's probably amazed harry's still allowed to attend hogwarts.
9639046
I have to wonder if, by how often Twilight has brow beat him for his lack of forethought, that he has written such an idea off, a bad deal. Methinks he's finding Princess Twilight to be a more formidable negotiator than he has ever encountered before. She proven, time and again, not only how brilliant she is but also how staunch a defender of Harry she is. Any argument of keeping Harry on Terra Firma for any political reason is meeting a wall of Mother Bear Protectiveness.
Nice chapter
9639183
Ahhh but don't forget the Castle is practically sentient and probably realizes that Elly doesn't want to be found.
9639151
so honest question because i'm having doubts did you ever read the book series or actually watch the show this site is based around?
lets start with your complaints about Dumbledore shall we?
the issue isn't him being dumb, him being dumb is not even remotely the situation here. twilight even notes his spell is clever to his face. the problem is he didn't think all the consequences out, something thats a cannon flaw of Dumbledore that he himself has acknowledged several times. Dumbledore takes actions that work in conjunction to his plans but he himself has stated several times they are not always the smartest or the right actions. honestly the author could be blamed for making Dumbledore too self assured and unwilling to doubt himself but frankly him using a spell and not finding the loophole like that is entirely in the realm of possibilities.
as to twilight?
your complaining because a person with a noted high intellect who has studied the subject of magic itself most of her life at the feet of one of the most powerful people in her world and has likely had a chance to study magical artifacts of varying powers up close and personally during that time, was able to use said knowledge to discern how an artifact worked and what might be happening with it?
honestly take a moment think it through and you might find it's not as out of the ballpark as you think.
The pursed lips on twilight makes me wonder if she suspects someone got to the mirror.
Also I still want to know if the Griffybdor Quidditch team ever apologized to Harry.
Will Finch be heading to Equestria as we know he deeply desires magic when would probably consider becoming a Pegasus well worth the price?
9639183
As I understand it they're supposed to force a Changeling into their natural form and her natural form on this side of the portal is as a 12 year old girl.
9639093
Even so she could get more than 20 and not affect the tansinfs I agree she should get more than Harry here.
That was a fun update!
9639101
Yeah, well, she does that sometimes.
So the Mirror/Stone interaction worked pretty much the way I said it would.
Although, some of the might seem to be a bit too reminiscent of my musings.
9639218
The problem is it takes Twilight all of 5 seconds to figure out what is wrong with the spell no research and no experimentation she just instantly figure it out. And she does it with massive leaps in logic, for example, she assumes the stone won't be given to you if you plan to give it to someone who will use it based on Quirrell but she ignores the fact that Quirrell shared a body with Voldemort and didn't account for how his presence affected things.
Then she figures out how someone like Elly would get the stone again off massive leaps in logic. And she does this all the time to the point where it gets annoying. She did it with the Horcruxes and she's doing it again here. She can't just know the correct answer even Batman needs a little more than a brief glance to figure out how something works.
The fact is that the author constantly employs "Twilight instantly figures it out" as a convenient plot device for delivering exposition and people are getting sick of it. Especially when it's constantly done at Dumbledore's expense, yeah the guy makes mistakes but the author constantly goes out his way to make him look as stupid as possible.
9639151
^kinda has a small point. I think picking things apart may have been a bit unnecessary. More like a pondering of how someone got the stone and a suggestion of the accidental discovery despite access precautions.
9639245
twilight has experience in unusual magical matters then Dumbledore does.
9639084
I wonder how that'll work out when Thorax shows up.
9639247
That's a load of crap, the guy is over 100 years old, has done of a variety of research in magical artifacts such as the Deathly Hallows and has fought in two magical wars. If anything he's the more experienced of the two.
9639218
I'm not complaining that Dumbledore is actually dumb in this story. I complaining that he is downplayed as useless. Dumbledore studied magic for more years than Twilight lives! Yet, once and again author use the same scheme: Dumbledore fails, Twilight lectures him with a smug, feeding the audience with tons of overloaded exposition. And again, and again. She spent two chapters scolding Hogwarts stuff on the topic of how stupid their traps were, yet when her ideas failed story skipped to her lecturing Dumbledore again with loads of exposition about the Mirror.
nice work.
9639252
...If he's still alive. The portrayal of the events of the wedding had quite a dark outcome, if Elly's suspicions are true.
So we go from teenagers getting summer jobs as lifeguards in Britain, to getting summer jobs as cloud wranglers in Equestria.
I suppose either way they'd get a chance to work on their tans.... :)
More please
9639267
and called more then half the things he's heard form the equestrian side impossible without absolute proof. your argument is invalid.
9639274
he's also been shown to have a very closed understanding of what magic is and how it works basing it only around how wizards understand magic which was shown to be wrong in many ways in cannon never mind here.
9639382
9639384
It's not that he has a closed understanding it's that magic just works differently in Equestria, he can't be expected to know things that could only happen in an environment that he never had the opportunity to live in. Everything he knows of magic is how it works on Earth and Equestria is just introducing a new variable he couldn't account for.
That said, experience does count for something so the fact that he is repeatedly shown to be a clueless idiot while Twilight is shown to know everything is nothing more than the author exercising his hatred of Dumbledore while using Twilight as his personal mouthpiece.
9639401
except that his argument about equestria itself already destroys your logic. he's so assured that how wizards understand magic is the only and right way that he refuses to acknowledge wizards couldn't know if there was intelligent life in other worlds. rather you like it or not equestrias magic has nothing to do with wizarding knowledge being for lack of a nicer term flawed straight down to it's fundamental bedrock and Dumbledore thus looks at it with a lack of understanding bred by a grandstanding society with very little actual knowledge about how things work.
as for Dumbledore himself, anyone who's bothered to read the books should have picked up on one fact. Dumbledore was not a good person. he was never meant to be a good person. did he accomplish good things? yes, but he was not a good person. where the absence of one event in his life he'd have been at grindelvalds side killing muggle men women and children for 'the greater good.'
and as it happens in real life it's happened many a time where a scientists with less then half another age could grasp a concept and solve a long time problem or correct a mistake the older one made without realizing it after less then a few minutes exposure to the issue. making Dumbledore this untouchable genius because of his age would be the more unrealistic of situations.
9639433
And making Twilight an untouchable genius based on her age is just fine?
This wouldn't be a problem if Dumbledore's mistakes didn't always lead to Twilight lecturing him while every time Twilight makes a mistake it just gets swept under the rug because Twilight is apparently beyond reproach in this story.
9639464
maybe because unlike Dumbledore she's trying to adjust to the knew facts and adapting herself rather then putting herself on a throne and acting like everyone's stupider. twilight has shown she's trying to adjust, Dumbledore been steadily going with 'well i'm still right, it's just this way'
9639488
How can you know that? We never get to see Twilight's PoV so you can't say she's doing anything different from Dumbledore. The only difference is noone ever challenges Twilight.
9639198
Such tolerance only comes with the inhabitants of Ponyville - where the majority of disasters in Equestria happen.
9639496
she's embraced new ideas that she could have easily turned away from in story and adapted them to equestria itself. the mere fact she's letting harry attend Hogwarts when she could be sending him to her own school is a great show of willingness to adapt to the situation.
no argument you've made can solidly explain twilight couldn't do what she did, and yet there is plenty in both canons to justify why she could.
9639512
You're assuming Twilight is solely responsible for all of Equestria's decision when we have no clue how they decide things. Why did Equestria decide to adopt firearms? Was it a sole person's decision and if so was it made by Twilight or Celestia? Did they decide via a vote and if so who's doing the voting and why did they vote as they did? Did Twilight object to any of the decisions made?
The fact is we don't know because we get almost no insight into Equestria's side of things so we don't really know why they do any of the things they do.
9639552
and your assuming because Dumbledore old he knows more. you, you of all people do not want to play the assumption game, you really don't.
9639274
I agree, at least this time. With the previous times Twilight lectured Dumbledore on his mistakes, it was all stuff from canon that someone should have spotted as problems at the time. But this time it is a change made by the fanfic, since there is nothing to indicate that this loophole exists in canon.
Some exposition is needed to explain how Elly got the stone, but I think it would have been better if Dumbledore spotted the loophole himself, even if only after the fact.
That's not to say that I like all the previous times Twilight has called out Dumbledore's apparent mistakes, but I don't hate it either.
9639560
It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with experience.
Dumbledore has spent over a century studying magic and applying it in real-world situations. When he explains something I know he's drawing that knowledge from a lifetime of experience. When Twilight explains something all I can assume is that she's pulling the information out her ass. I'm not saying Twilight can't know things that Dumbledore doesn't know, being young means she's more knowledgable of newer information, but she can't just know everything.
There should be times when Dumbledore's experience counts for something he definitely shouldn't be getting lectured about his own god damn spell by someone with little to no familiarity with it.
If his spells have faults have him recognize and explain them. Plenty of programs get shipped with bugs because the developer decided it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to fix it especially when it doesn't really seem to cause any problems with the intended function of the program.
In previous stories about changelings, isolation from the hive led most to assume the others had died. While I can't speak for AU, I have read stories where some good hearted changelings before the redemption assumed the hive is dead because of longstanding isolation. This was even with a hive mind.
That said, I hope that when Elly is inevitably found out, she will realize that ponies aren't bad and calm down. That could just be my changeling bias speaking as I love changelings. Sure the goodwill she has built up with Twilight will be soured slightly when that truth comes out, but Elly did have a choice to not indirectly help Harry. Nobody will believe her, but we as the audience know. Useless as that is to the characters.
I look forward to more story!
I personally was hoping that Ellie would ask for a royal pardon. She basically saved Harry's life. She could have asked for just about anything at that moment and Twi would have bent over backwards to give it to her.