“No more studying,” Ron sighs happily, stretching out on the grass.
“Eh, something like that,” Lyra agrees, trotting up next to him, Harry, and Hermione to flop down on the grass. She glances at the latter two. “Us second-tier instructors still have to finish grading our students’ finals, though. Unless, like me and Diamond at least, you’ve already finished.”
Hermione and Harry both nod. “Yep, finished that last night,” Harry answers.
Hermione grins. “Three days ago, here. Had fun keeping everything straight with Bonbon.”
“Wait a second,” Ron mutters, staring at Harry. “You were teaching?”
Harry nods. “Yep. Defense Against the Dark Arts. We… never did actually use any of the information from Professor Quirrell’s classes.”
“In any case, I’ve finally gotten the new papa tango matrices complete and tested,” Lyra continues, ignoring Ron’s dumbfounded expression. “As such, it’s ready when you are, Harry.”
“Awesome,” Harry states, rising quickly. “How about now?”
Lyra shrugs, hopping back to her feet as well, before walking with him back towards the castle. “You’re still aware of the danger, right?”
“Yeah. Um, and the pain.”
She nods. “Yeah, and the pain. Though, it shouldn’t be quite as bad as I thought; I was able to work the painkiller patterns into the matrix. Won’t be overly helpful for you, unfortunately- but it should take the edge off of it, and only leave you incapacitated by pain for a few hours.”
He shudders. “Yeah.”
“And you’re still aware of the new hairstyle you’re going to get, right?”
He shrugs. “What does that matter?”
“And the only thirty percent, or so, chance that you’ll gain the levitation ability?”
He shrugs. “It’s better than nothing,” he answers. “And besides, my scar’s going to stop hurting all the time, right?”
She nods. “Right. As a matter of fact, that’s the reason the danger- and pain- is present: Because I’ll be stripping out the soul fragment that’s causing that pain.”
“Let’s do it.”
“H-Hermione? Um-! Where’s Lyra? Or Spike?”
Hermione looks up; a five-year-old girl is charging towards her, black hair billowing through the air behind her. “Norberta?” she asks. It’d been a surprise when ‘Norbert’ had first transformed into a human last month… and turned out to be female. She’d turned into a two-year-old at the time, but hasn’t slowed down in her growth spurt just yet; according to Lyra, she should slow down to a normal aging rate, at about eleven (biological) years old, just in time for next year. “What’s wrong?”
“Where- Where’s Lyra?”
“She just left with Harry to do his papa tango,” Hermione informs her. “Some… Oh, ten minutes ago, as a matter of fact. She’s probably in the middle of it right now. What’s wrong?”
Norberta nods, turning to face her more fully, her tone losing the panic, but not the urgency. “I found out this morning that dragon breeding is illegal, so I asked Dad how he got my egg.”
“Wait, why Spike?” Ron injects.
Norberta huffs angrily, sparks flying from her nostrils. “Because I’m not old enough to send a dragonfire message just yet,” she answers sharply, before blowing a tongue of scalding flames at him. Not close enough to hurt him, but enough to make him jump up and run. She turns back to Hermione. “He played cards for it, against a mysterious bloke in a bar, that kept buying him drinks. He told that guy that all he’d have to do to get past Fluffy is to play him some music!”
Hermione’s hand rises to her radio. “Foxtrot Sierra Echo.” She lowers the hand. “Okay, she knows.”
Norberta blinks. “That simple?”
“Readiness Alpha Seven,” Bonbon’s voice orders on the radio. “Report in.”
Hermione nods. “Yeah. We’ve been prepared for that secret to get out for quite a while.”
“Foxtrot Gamma Sierra,” an unfamiliar voice answers Bonbon.
“So…”
Hermione nods, rising to pat the girl’s shoulder reassuringly. “In case you’re wondering, Lyra’s not even the leader. We’re all members of the Royal Equestrian Secret Service- and Bonbon’s the mission leader. She’s just ordered a higher readiness state- so we’ll know very quickly if anyone goes anywhere near Fluffy, even if they take out the guards.” She grins. “And so will Dumbledore. So don’t worry, the Stone isn’t in any danger.”
“... Oh.”
“Ow…” Harry groans, one hand coming up to his forehead. He’s lying on something soft, but, beyond that, he doesn’t know. Everything hurts a bit too much.
“You’re awake,” someone states, off to his side. It takes him a few seconds to match the voice to a name, he hurts so much.
He tilts his head down, groaning again, to look down at her- yes, she’s there, next to… his bed? “What…” He begins.
“Having difficulty formulating coherent thoughts?” and older, sterner voice asks, from the other side. A voice he’s heard before. He looks, and has to concentrate. Madam Pomfrey.
“Uh…” he mumbles.
“You’ll be right as rain in five minutes’ time,” Madam Pomfrey continues. “Just the residual shock from the pain. Which is a lot better than can be said for everyone else in here.” She turns around, tending to… it looks like a Slytherin, in the hospital bed next to his.
“Ugh…” he groans again, turning back to Lyra. “What… What happened…?”
“Total success,” Lyra announces to him. Then she giggles. “And I didn’t tell you about the zero percent chance the muggles will continue hating on you this summer, did I?”
He blinks; that almost made sense. His brain is starting to get into line. “What?”
Lyra grins. “You know how the Dursleys, and every other muggle in that entire town, always pounded on you so much?”
It takes him a few seconds to think, to analyze the question, before he nods.
“They won’t anymore,” she states. “And not because I did something to them, which uh, I did, actually. Instead, it’s because all that hating was an effect of carrying the aura of someone as evil as Voldemort around with you. Even I can’t see evil in someone’s aura- but non-magicals are highly susceptible to the presence of evil nearby, and will instinctively become hostile towards it. The evil has been removed from you now, though, so you should be able to have a normal life with the Dursleys.” She chuckles. “Or, as normal a life as the Dursleys have any more, at any rate.”
He blinks, processing everything for a few seconds. Then he speaks up again. “What… about everyone… else?”
“Oh, that.” Lyra’s spirits fall. “Quirrell is going in after the Stone. Dumbledore’s been notified, but he’s so far trashed every attempt to apprehend him.” She glances upwards. “It’s a good thing the Killing Curse doesn’t work the same on us Equestrians; nobody was killed, though they’re all mighty close to it and expected to be unconscious- and under intensive care- for days.” She sighs. “Dumbledore’s several hours out yet, but Quirrell’s going to be hitting the mirror any moment now. With that long to analyze it, it’s at least possible he’ll fool the spell- no spell is foolproof- and acquire the stone.
“Unfortunately, that’s where you come in. We’re pretty confident he won’t try to kill you outright- and if he does, your envelope will recognize it, and allow you to completely ignore the killing curse. Mine won’t- not the first time, at least. I’d get something close to what you got back when you were little. So, we’re ready to send you down after him, as soon as the pain fades far enough. I can get you past Fluffy- but I can’t follow you into that chamber, because I won’t be able to teleport out if he happens along, and I’d be in much greater danger than you.
“Hermione’s ready to go down with you; she’ll get you past the devil’s snare, the key room, and the potion room. If the troll’s active, she knows how to take those down as well.
“And finally, we’ve got Ron going with you as well; you’ll need his skill to get you through the chess room.
“When you get to the final room, your goal is to stall Quirrell for as long as possible. Confuse him, distract him, even punch him on the nose if you have to. Your goal is to keep him from analyzing the spellwork.”
He sits up, holding a hand to his head. “Ow… Alright. Where do I go…?”
Madam Pomfrey clears her throat.
Lyra looks past him, in her direction, then back at him. “Well, if you’re that determined… I’ll lead you there.” She glances back at Madam Pomfrey. “At a walk, so you’ll be fully recovered by the time we get there.”
He sighs. “Can’t you…?”
“Go faster? Of course I could. But then I’d only be sealing Britain’s fate as being attacked by Voldemort again. The Royal Equestrian Secret Service may have a lot of experience fighting big, bad monsters, but the easiest way to fight them- by far- is to keep them from appearing in the first place.”
“Great,” he grumbles.
“Hey, at least you’ll be with your friends. They should be able to follow you as far as the potion room- that’s the one right before the final room. They’ll wait for you there- if it’s too dangerous for you in that final room, just run back through the door and Hermione can get you out of there before you can say Quidditch.”
“Quidditch?” he asks.
Lyra grins. “Or any other two-syllable word. She’s really fast, as I’m sure you remember from her falling lessons.”
He blinks, then remembers. “Oh, yeah.”
“Anyways, we’d best go make sure Madam Pomfrey doesn’t have a whole nation to treat, haven’t we?”
Not sure if it was explained but... Could Dumbledore benefit from the Papa Tango? He is a century old, he could return to be a 11 year old. They could even offer it in St. Mungo, a way for patients that are about to die.
This is confusing. Why is Quirrell still a threat? They caught him a couple of chapters ago so why is he still on the loose and attacking people?
9693736
Because they couldn't simply throw him out...
Because a known evil is a lot easier to protect against than an unknown evil, so by leaving Quirrell in, Dumbledore kept track of his enemy- and was able to follow his every move. To a point, he did kinda get a little outsmarted...
As I recall, in the books, Dumbledore was suspicious of Quirrell basically the entire time as well- in one of the later books, it comes out that he'd asked Snape to investigate Quirrell.
9693812
But they caught him drinking unicorn blood, they identified Voldemort on the back of his head. In what way does it make sense to just let him go?
In the books they couldn't do anything because they had no proof. Here they got him dead to rights there is no excuse for this level of incompetence.
9693728
It is certainly possible that he could, yes. As a matter of fact, I even have a plan for a complication to his eventual Papa Tango-ing.
And down the road, yes- they might offer it in St. Mungo's, especially with how Lyra was able to make standing, reusable matrices here in Hogwarts... that can, presumably, be activated without having a clue how they really work. The only problem with that, right now, is that they're still experimenting with it- finding out exactly what it does or doesn't do, finding out exactly what all the potential problems are, and so on.
Something that can be certain is that the Whiskey Tango will be available in St. Mungo's at some point, and possibly/probably other places as well. She'd been able to tether a reusable version of that spell to a book rather than a location... and that really only turns muggles (and squibs) into witches & wizards.
9693812
He's got Voldemort bolted to the back of his head. Why would they want to keep track of him when locking him away is the endgame?
9693818
9693823
To answer both of you at once:
Because Voldemort is a spirit. He can abandon Quirrell at any moment, and disappear into the ether. That's what he did after the battle in the books, after all.
If they lock Quirrell up, they'll have a dead man in a cell, and no clue where Voldemort is.
So they left Quirrell (and Voldemort) unaware, keeping him close- and no doubt allowing Dumbledore (and possibly the Equestrians as well) to test a few tracking spells, see if they can't keep track of him when he inevitably leaves.
9693827
But they already had them in a coma. Why not just keep them unconscious indefinitely until they can extract Voldemort? They clearly have spells that can affect him so keeping him trapped should be easy.
9693834
They'd have to deal with all sorts of legal problems, moral problems... and of course, the typical immunity problem. Keep the spell enacted for too long, the subject starts to become immune- it wears off faster and faster... until it simply won't stick. (Yeah, that's headcanon, not canon.) Thus, they chose to not give him time to start building immunity- such that that spell will still work on him next time. (Because there will, inevitably, be a next time.)
Note that the legal/moral problems were not a part of that decision.
9693837
But its freaking Voldemort, even in the books Dumbledore wouldn't just allow Voldemort access to Hogwarts under any circumstance he's just too dangerous. This is just some next level stupid.
9693843
He might have (erroneously) trusted the Equestrians' confidence in their ability to contain him...
9693845
Then he better bitch slap the hell out them because he knows better than anyone not to underestimate Voldemort.
9693850
No doubt he will.
... though in a less physical manner. It'll probably take the form of a few raised eyebrows and disappointed words... then a lack of trust in their abilities. I mean, they're already in a bit of a panic themselves right now... (Lyra's just good at hiding it)
9693837
uh, actually, that's canon. remember Crouch Jr.? had he not built up a resistance to the Imperius, he would have never been able to grab Harry's wand, nevermind use it to cast the Dark Mark. so, yeah, building up a resistance is indeed canon.
9694694
This is true.
So I guess my reasoning has all-canon roots, none just headcanon. Thanks!
9694733
Most people haven't read the books in ages and they definitely didn't mention it in the movies so I can't blame you for forgetting. I don't remember who but someone in the books explained it.
9694739
Yeah... been forever since I last read anything past the first book too.
I do recall that fake-Moody (whoever he was, as DADA teacher) taught Harry to resist the Imperius Curse... by using it on him. Repeatedly.
9694742
I mentioned him. Remember. Crouch Jr.. helped the Lestranges torture the Longbottoms.
9694755
Yeah...
I'm still going to have to come up with something for the Equestrians to do to help the Longbottoms, then find a way for them to have a "chance encounter" at St. Mungos... probably whenever they make the Whiskey Tango publicly available, and St. Mungo's staff starts to wonder what else they can fix...
9693151
I would make an over 9000 joke here.. but that'd be too easy, I do have a question.. if/when Ol Tommy Runs-Away-From-Death comes back in the 4th year.. I was thinking, what if Hermione purposefully landed on Moldywart.
so no word on the results of Harry's Papa Tango...or i missed it. So i am still holding out for Reindeer Harry.
9694694
9694733
That's more a case of learning to resist the spell not gaining immunity. You could certainly learn to resist the coma spell but if you're never allowed to become conscious you won't have a chance to resist.
9695008
actually, someone in the books specifically explained the ability to do exactly what computerneek described. the one most likely to have the knowledge is Dumbledore but he is not known to pass out information no matter how relevant and/or important the information is so my next guess would be either Hermione, Remus, or Sirius.
9695129
What the author is describing is slowly building up an immunity to a spell over time like a virus will eventually become immune to medication. What I'm talking about is learning how to resist a spell which is what happens in the books. The difference is the former happens automatically through constant exposure over time while the latter requires an actual effort on the side of the person the spell is being cast on.
What I'm saying is that with practice you could learn to resist the coma spell when its cast on you but if you're already under its effects it's unlikely you will ever break free due to being rendered unconscious whereas with the imperius curse you remain conscious so learning to resist over time is a lot more probable.
9695138
Someone ask JK Rowling or read books 4-6 to find out the answer. I would but my copy collapsed years ago and none of us could be bothered to get new ones. I will wait.
9695153
It's definitely learning to actively resist the spell, if it was possible to become immune to a spell then where would you draw the line? Could you eventually become immune to apparating or floo travel? Resisting a spell just makes more sense then you eventually becoming immune to the spell after awhile.
Even if we pretend immunity is a thing it took over a decade before Crouch was actually able to break free.
9694793
When he comes back in the 4th year, that's Goblet of Fire, right? How would Hermione purposely land on him...? (Pretty sure she wasn't present for that scene...)
9694951
Yeah, no word. He's too distracted to notice his hair.
9693845
they only promised he wouldn't sneak by them, and he didn't. they were indeed on him when he went for the stone.
they never said he couldn't bulldoze through them.
and since Hermione joined them, they could claim they did contain him... with assistance.
also, could flutter-fastest gun in the west-shy not have simply shot him?