As they left the bank, it was Scootaloo and Apple Bloom at his sides, each holding one of his hands, while Sweetie Belle trailed behind.
Their next stop was the bookstore, to the delight of both Hermione and Twilight. Dash chose to stay outside and watch the people in the alley. And wish she could fly while in this world.
Professor McGonagall warned, “We are on a schedule, so we can’t spend more than half an hour in the bookstore!”
Twilight walked in first, squee’d, and disappeared into the racks of bookshelves before either Rarity or Applejack could grab her. They both sighed and set off to find the book-hound. Pinkie Pie said, “Party books!” and disappeared almost as fast as Twilight had. Fluttershy wandered off as well with a loud, for her, “I wonder what books they have on the animals here?”
Hermione longed to follow Twilight, Harry could see, but her parents guided her to the register. The rest of the herd followed her.
“Here for your Hogwarts’ books?” asked the witch behind the counter. At Hermione’s and the other girls’ eager nods, he said, “The books are sorted into the different years over there,” she pointed to seven large boxes, numbered one to seven, on the opposite side of the store. Each was piled high with bags. “Each bag has all the books you’ll need for the coming year. Just go to the box with your year on it, pull out a bag, and Bob’s your uncle!”
Scootaloo gasped. “I get an uncle named Bob with my books?” she said excitedly, eyes wide in delight.
The witch behind the counter gave her a puzzled look. “You’re not from England, are you? That’s just an expression meaning you’re done.”
“Oh.” Scootaloo said in a disappointed tone. Harry put his arm over her shoulders. “Hey,” he said softly, “We’re your herd.” She smiled up at him gratefully. “Want to look around and see what kind of books they have?”
Hermione had already disappeared after Twilight, her mother admonishing, “Only three books, Hermione!” A faint, “Yes, mum,” came from the bookshelves.
Several minutes later, Harry saw Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie drag Twilight, her arms full of books, out from the back of the store, sputtering, “But I barely started that aisle! And the upstairs!” She gazed longingly at the staircase she could see ahead.
Pinkie giggled, “Silly, why don’t you just grab a catalogue from the front counter like this one?” She waved a thick magazine in front of Twilight. Twilight’s eyes locked onto the catalogue and she started following it like a cat tracking a laser dot. Rarity and Applejack shook their heads and followed behind her to make sure she didn’t suddenly make a break for the first-floor staircase. Pinkie continued, “Then you can order one of everything and have it delivered!” Twilight moaned and started to drool.
Harry shook his head. Knowing people as well as he did, Harry had grabbed Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More). Then came Animagus: Harnessing Your Inner Animal because he was curious if his Equestrian form really was his animagus. Finally, almost as soon as he noticed it, he grabbed Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy. That last one scared him a bit — it was possible for wizards to read his mind? The spells might be a bit beyond him at the moment, but it was better to be prepared than caught lacking. Dudley had taught him that lesson.
Sweetie Belle had Hogwarts: A History, Modern Magical History; One Minute Feasts - It’s Magic! and Enchantment in Baking. Harry rolled his eyes at those last two. With her record for starting fires in the kitchen he shuddered to think what she could achieve with Earth’s magic added — and hands. Apple Bloom had found A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions, Good Gardens Guide 1990, and Shrubs & Trees for the Garden. Scootaloo had picked up The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle; Voyages with Vampires; and Wanderings with Werewolves, as well as several books that all started Harry Potter and . . . .
Scootaloo stopped in front of Harry. “Hey, Harry, did you see these books?”
Harry stared at the books, then grabbed the top one off the stack she was carrying, Harry Potter and the Pirates of Connacht. He quickly skimmed the first few pages. “What a load of tripe!” he said in disgust. “This thing claims to be the true story of one of my adventures as a child! It’s . . . it’s . . . garbage!” How dare they! How dare these . . . lowly wizards . . . tell lies about his life! He felt as if he knew just the awful, painful, delightful curses he wanted to hit them with . . . except . . . he didn’t know any spells like that. He shook his head uncertainly. He was a good colt!
He stalked to the front of the store to find Twilight with her stack of books at the register, the clerk ringing them up. “Twilight,” he said, furious.
Twilight jumped at his tone and looked at him worriedly.
He held up the book. “This is a bunch of lies about me!”
She gasped and grabbed the book from him. She started reading, quickly flicking the pages. She looked at him, no less upset than he was. She glanced around for Professor McGonagall. The Professor was at the front of the store talking with the Grangers while they waited on their daughter to return with her selections.
They both stalked over to the professor. “Professor McGonagall,” Twilight said tightly, “What are the libel laws like in this world?”
“Whatever do you mean?” asked the professor.
Twilight showed her the book.
“Ah, well, I’m not a solicitor, but the libel laws state clearly that you cannot print lies about anyone. And to use another person’s reputation to sell a product without their permission is also illegal, I believe.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Fine! Where can I find a solicitor?”
The professor glanced out the front window of the store. “Well, the Goblins might be able to suggest someone for you. Other than that, I don’t know of any solicitors, personally, who deal with issues like this.”
Twilight turned to the boy. “Harry, I’m going to have a discussion with the Goblins. I’ll catch up with you later.”
She turned and headed for the door. “Twilight,” he said chasing after her.
“What!”
“Pay for the book!”
She stopped and blushed. “Right.” She headed back to the register and handed the wallet to Rarity. “Take care of things for me. I have an errand to run.” She showed the book in her hand to the clerk, who nodded. Twilight spun on her heel and headed out for Gringotts.
Harry looked up, “Professor McGonagall?”
“Yes, Mr. Potter?”
“Why are there books about me? Why did all those people in the pub come at me? Why am I a celebrity?”
She studied him carefully. The fillies were at his side, listening just as attentively. She sighed. “I suppose those dreadful relatives of yours told you nothing of this world?”
He frowned heavily. How did she know about the Dursleys? And how they had treated him? He shook his head, distrust flooding his mind. This would require a bit more thought, later.
She tsked. “Ten years ago a powerful and terrible Wizard was trying to take over the Wizarding World. He was so powerful, only the Headmaster could stand up to him in a duel. This vile wizard believed that only those of ‘pure’ blood should be allowed in our society. That the muggle-borns should be excluded, killed, even. He regarded the muggles as little better than animals — to be avoided where possible, and exterminated where not.
“He and his followers killed scores of people. Almost anyone who disagreed with him died. Whether they were pure-blood, half-blood, or muggle-born mattered not to him. Only the very brave defied him. Sometimes even the rumour that you were against him would draw his ire. Entire families were wiped out. Everyone was terrified of him. And nearly every family that did survive lost someone to his Death Eaters. Those were terrible times, indeed.
“The Ministry was about to collapse and the rebellion succeed, when he decided to attack your parents.” She shook her head sadly. “Fine people they were, your parents. I had them both in my classes. They were both in Gryffindor House, my House, and even made Head Prefects their seventh year, you know.”
She paused. “I don’t know why, but He Who Must Not Be Named . . . ,”
Harry could hear the capital letters as she said that. Rarity and Applejack were listening in, as were the Grangers.
“. . . decided to target them specifically, although they did defy him, fighting his followers, and even him, personally, several times. Perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore knows more. In any case, on Halloween night, 1981, he attacked your home. Your parents, I’m sorry to say, died fighting him off. Then he tried to kill you. He used the most evil curse known, the Avada Kedavra — it kills instantly when it hits you. Even if it just touches your hair, you die.” She looked out the storefront window, then back at Harry. “That’s one of the three curses that is an automatic life sentence in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, if you use it.
“It failed. You lived. And he was destroyed.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Almost everyone thinks he died, that you somehow killed him. Headmaster Dumbledore disagrees. He says the dark wizard was reduced to a spirit and is still alive, in a sense.” She looked at Harry intently. “With his ‘death,’ the revolt fell apart. His followers immediately fell to fighting among themselves, and the Ministry was able to recover and arrest them.
“Everyone was ecstatic that the Wizard had been destroyed, and they decided you were their saviour. After all, he had died attacking you, and all that happened to you was that scar on your forehead.” She glanced at it. “Dumbledore sent someone to your home to rescue you, then hid you away where no one in the wizarding world could find you. And, thus, you disappeared from our world.
“Rumours went wild about where you were and what you were doing. And how you had destroyed the dark wizard. In the absence of information, they made up their own stories.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Hence the scene in The Leaky Cauldron. And those books. To put it simply, they feel you are a hero for saving them from that dark wizard.”
Harry looked down at the floor in deep thought. He knew the Dursleys had always lied about how his parents had died. A car crash didn’t explain his occasional dream about a green light and an explosion. He needed far more information.
In a soft, kindly voice, she added, “I suggest you get the book, The Last Dark Lord. It has the most complete account of that time period, and has a chapter on your parents.”
Sweetie murmured, “I’ll get it,” and left for the bookshelves.
It took another fifteen minutes to get them all rung out at the register. Time that allowed Harry to think about what the professor had told him, and calm down from his fury about the lies in those books. He hadn’t been that furious at anypony, ever, that he could remember. And here he had done it, twice, today. He shook his head ruefully. He had better control of his temper than that. He would make sure to meditate every night before bed for the next week or so.
It was just that . . . something about the way these wizards acted just . . . set him off. Maybe it was the feeling that they somehow thought they were superior to him. As if. He snorted and grabbed hold of Scootaloo’s hand. He would think about what he had just been told, later. After he had read that book. Twilight had taught him always to get the facts before making a decision. Which was ironic, considering how often she flustered herself with a problem before doing her research.
Rarity stared with dismay at the numerous bags and piles of extra books.
The Witch behind the register said, “Oh, are you muggles? I can shrink everything for you if you want, then when you get home just tap them with one of the children’s new wands and they’ll pop right back to normal.”
“Oh, then you can put everything in my rucksack,” volunteered Sweetie.
He watched carefully as witch performed the spell with her wand. He was absolutely, definitely, going to learn that spell! His studies with Twilight were beginning to pay off as he could almost see the way the spell was put together. He would have to try it once they returned to the house.
Sweetie smirked at him, “Oh, so you’re finally going to let me carry your books to school, are you?” She fluttered her eyes as she tilted her head. He rolled his eyes as the other two fillies laughed.
The fillies had been pestering him almost every day in Ponyville to carry his books for him during the school year. It seemed to be a pony tradition for fillies to carry the school books of colt friends. And, as the only colt member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they felt they should do that. His response every time had been, “I can bloody well carry my own books!” — even if his saddlebags were overly large for his frame and almost dragged on the ground. He wasn’t sure why he was so insistent, just that picking one of the three would probably annoy the other two and start another round of incessant squabbling.
Minutes later they were out the door and headed for their next destination, a place called Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions.
Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed in a pale purple set of robes.
She smiled at Professor McGonagall. “Another group?” she said warmly.
“Yes,” said the older Witch, “Five this time.”
“Oh, my. That’ll take a few minutes. I have another young man being fitted up just now, in fact.”
Hermione handed her rucksack to her parents.
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Hermione on a stool next to him, while Harry and the other girls filed in behind and watched. She slipped a long robe over the girl’s head, and began to pin it to the right length.
Rarity and the others wandered around the shop looking at the various fabrics and items on display.
“Hello,” said the boy, “Hogwarts, too?”
“Oh, yes,” said Hermione enthusiastically.
“My father,” said the boy in an arrogant, bored, drawling voice, “is purchasing my textbooks, and mother’s examining wands.” He sneered down at the attendant before saying, “As soon as these bumblers finish my robes, I’ll be off to inspect racing brooms. Why first years can’t have their own, I don’t know.” He shook his head at the ignorance of others. “Father will get me one and I’m sure he will manage an exception for me.”
Harry couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. Great. The first wizarding kid they meet is a prat and a bully. Typical.
“Do you have a broom?”
“Oh, no,” said Hermione. “Why? Is it important?”
He sniffed, then said suspiciously, “Are you a muggle-born?”
“Er, yes?”
He sighed, as if deeply offended. “That explains it,” he said derisively.
“What?” Hermione said, perplexed.
He sniffed again, making a face as if smelling something bad, and looked up and away from her, ignoring her question.
Frowning at the obvious snub, Hermione stood in silence until the witch working on his robe said to the boy, “That’s you done, my dear.”
Sneering at the witch, he hopped down from the footstool. “Took long enough,” he said disparagingly. “Well,” he said, looking at Hermione and the others with a dismissive glance. “I’ll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose. At least you won’t be in Slytherin,” he said with a sneer.
Scootaloo handed her rucksack to Harry and took the boy’s place. She managed to keep a straight face until the bell at the front of the store tinkled to indicate he had left. “Wow,” she said, “What. A. Jerk.” The others all tittered while Harry shook his head.
However, before the seamstress could get started, Rarity came over. “That won’t be necessary, my dear,” she said to the witch. “Just provide me with one each of a colt and filly’s robe.” The witch looked at her blankly as Madam Malkin looked up sharply.
“I meant, boy’s and girl’s,” Rarity explained. “I’m a professional fashion designer and seamstress. All I need is a template.”
Madam Malkin was getting a bit red in the face, Harry saw. She was not happy at being upstaged in her own shop.
Oblivious to the witch’s reaction, Rarity held out a sash she had taken from a display. “What material is this? It’s absolutely marvellous! Do you have a bolt or two of it?”
The seamstress blinked, taken off guard by the question. “It’s acromantula silk. It’s very expensive, though. I think I might have an unused bolt.” She looked at the door to her stockroom.
“Does it take dye colours well?”
Madam Malkin nodded.
“Wonderful!” said a delighted Rarity. “I’ll take all you have!” She paused a moment in thought.
“And can you get me more bolts? Princess Luna would look absolutely stunning in a midnight-blue dress made from this! And I could make a matching dress in Princess Celestia’s day colours!” She stopped and smirked, “And Princess Twilight will have to beat off the stallions with a stick!” she snickered as the fillies exchanged excited looks. “Oh, this is so exhilarating! This flows so well!” She dragged the material across her arm and shivered. “I can make it look like an extension of their manes! This will cement my position as the premiere fashion designer in . . . ,” she caught herself, “. . . at home!” She spun in place. “I can hardly wait for the next Grand Galloping Gala at the Palace!”
She stopped in mid-spin and fixed the shopkeeper with a stare. “How long is a bolt?” She didn’t notice the Grangers and Professor McGonagal staring at her as they listened.
The witch replied, “Forty yards.”
Rarity frowned, “How long is a yard?”
The witch held her hands apart.
Rarity nodded, frowning, as she calculated. She looked back at the seamstress. “How soon can you get me ten bolts, with a reasonable retail mark-up, of course.”
Madam Malkin stared back at her. “That’s four hundred galleons a bolt!” she said after a moment. “And you want ten?” This strange woman was offering her what amounted to twenty year’s wages for a shop clerk — in one sale! “A week, I think?”
It was Rarity’s turn to frown. She turned to Sweetie Belle. “Dear, do you think you could loan me the funds for this until I can get more bits transferred over?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Sure. How much do you need?”
Rarity turned to the seamstress, “Would two thousand up front be acceptable? And I’ll take the one bolt you have on hand?”
The witch nodded numbly. Her sales-witch stood nearby and stared, eyes wide at the sums being tossed around.
Sweetie Belle pulled her wallet out, started to open it, and then stopped uncertainly. “Uh, how do we do this? Two thousand coins is an awful lot. Do I just pour them out onto the floor?”
Madam Malkin blinked a couple of times, then said, “Oh. You’ve never used one of Gringotts’ wallets before?” If she was surprised that the older witch was asking the younger one for such a substantial loan, she hid it well.
The girl nodded, “That’s right.”
Madam Malkin smiled. “It’s really easy for something like this. Just open the wallet and say into it, ‘Transfer two thousand galleons to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions shop account as down-payment on four thousand four hundred galleons for eleven bolts of acromantula silk, I will be taking one bolt with me when I leave. Transaction complete.’ You want to make sure to add any information that might be important in such transaction, such as if it is a down-payment and if you are taking anything with you. That way, when you review your accounts later there will be that additional information to remind you of precisely what you were doing in that transaction.”
The shopkeeper said it a second time, slower, with Sweetie Belle carefully repeating it into the wallet. A moment later, there was a loud DING from the register at the front of the shop. Madam Malkin hurried over to it and then returned, smiling broadly. “Perfect!” she said. “Now let me get that bolt for you.” She headed into her stockroom and returned a moment later with the four-foot-long bolt of cloth.
“Here you go . . . Miss?”
“Rarity. And this is my sister Sweetie Belle. That’s Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger,” she said as she pointed at each.
Both the shopkeeper and the sales-clerk stared at Harry for a moment. Madam Malkin shook her head briefly, and said “And here’s a receipt for you listing the purchase. I’ll owl you when the other ten bolts get here. What’s the address?” She noted it down, frowning. “A muggle address, so I’ll make sure the owl goes at night. Okay?”
Rarity gave her sister a hug after putting the shrunken bolt in Sweetie Belle’s rucksack, as well as the two sample sets of robes — gratis for making such a large purchase. “Thank you, dear.” Sweetie Belle hugged her back with a soft, “Anytime, sis.”
The fashion-designer turned to the other mares, “And don’t any of you tell Twilight, either! I want to surprise her with this.” The agreement came with many eye-rolls and a bit of grandstanding by Dash that, “Of course, I won’t tell Twilight.”
The Grangers silently listened, eyes wide at the revelation that the nice young woman they had met and were shopping with was a princess! Professor McGonagall hid it better, but she, too, had noticed Rarity’s slip. Harry sighed. That secret hadn’t lasted long. The ponies hadn’t even been with the wizards and witches here a full day!
Just as they were leaving the shop, Twilight caught up with them. She did not look happy.
“Woah thar, Twilight,” Applejack said on seeing her friend, “Is every thin’ alright?
Twilight took a deep breath and looked over at the colt. “The Goblins have told me that there is basically nothing we can do about those books, Harry.”
Harry stared at her, stunned. “Nothing?” he repeated breathlessly.
“It seems,” she growled, “that your magical guardian, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, has given them permission to produce those books.” A small smile graced her lips, “However, the Goblins suggested a strategy. Starting tomorrow, and every day for a week, we will be running a full-page ad in the four largest circulation newspapers in Wizarding Britain declaring the books to be complete and total fabrications, published without your personal knowledge or permission. That the only thing factual about them is your name. And that you have received not a single solitary bit from their publication. Not to mention that they’re making profit off the fact that you were orphaned that terrible night ten years ago and had to grow up never knowing your parents.”
It wasn’t much, but at least it was something. Hopefully, that would kill the market for those books. He doubted it, though. However, if he ever had the chance he was going to let that Albus bloke know his displeasure! He frowned, wondering if this Albus was related to Headmaster Dumbledore. His frown deepened. It was highly unlikely that there were two Albus Dumbledore’s in the wizarding world. Just hearing that name spoken made him . . . angry for some reason.
Harry shook his head to get the bad thoughts out. “Thank you for trying,” he said.
Twilight smiled, “Anytime, Harry, anytime. I just wish I could do more.”
The girls had rotated positions again, with Apple Bloom acting as rear guard.
Their next stop was a shop named simply, Ollivanders. Below it was: Makers of Fine Wands since 382b.c.
۸- ̰ -۸
will this fic cover all the books plus the cursed child?
Probably a bug in fimfic's code for accepting rich-text pastes. Have you tried loading them into Google Docs and then copying the chapters from there to see if it works around it?
I’m getting the feeling that Harry’s occasional bouts of anger and rage are part of his connection with ol’ Voldy.
Anyway finally wand time, awwwww yeah
The Cursed Child breaks so many of the canon rules that I can't regard it as part of the series. The characters act out of character, things established as impossible happen without comment, and the plot, overall, is just Marysue wish fulfillment.
As for the other books, we'll have to see how that plays out, won't we?
Did the wizards actually write fictional books about Harry? An initial search doesn't turn anything up but it would make sense that they would and that Dumbledore would allow it since it would help satisfy everyone's curiosity about where Harry is and what he's doing with his life.
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Which rules?
I wonder if purchasing power is different between the magical and muggle English economies? If it is, then some wizards might still be better off living in a magical community despite currency conversion rates favoring pounds over galleons.
I'm not sure how it might happen considering the communities are co-located with seemingly unregulated currency exchange, but who knows. We don't know much about how the magical economy works. We only really see bits of the home life of the idle rich and a single working class poor family. For all we know their primary food supplier may just buy most everything from non-magical suppliers, or maybe magical automation lets a handful of wizard farmers feed the entire population. Or something.
Oh boy... That little theory of mine looks more and more probable.
With this chapter title, I was expecting more to happen in the bookstore.
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Yeah it's hard to properly judge the economy without knowing the cost of basic necessities. Can't be too bad if the Weasleys were able to get by.
Can't wait to see the next chapter and how their wands will all turn out.
Speaking of wands, a few chapters ago when Twilight gave Harry the hairs gifted to him from the Princesses; were they just Celestia and Luna's, or did she mean them and Cadence's as well?
Wonder how a unicorn animagus with a wand would handle Moldyshorts? Or a Mary Sue alicorn animagus? ~-^-~
Oooooh ho ho. This is going to be delightful in so many ways. The Wand shop... mmmmnf. I cannot wait! And it seems every time you update you hit Featured, which is wonderful! Your story is excellent. This is going to be a fantastic and fascinating ride.
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canon contradictions.
Ok people, 50 more and we can get another chapter right quick there
My greatest, and fondest hope, is that some piece of fiction (this one or other) will have some visiting mage/wizard/unicorn/what-have-you-magic-using-sort visit Hogwarts prestigious grounds and say, "You teach children magic in this DUMP!?"
Mostly so I can get a cheap chuckle.
Also, this chapter brought out a smile to my face and for that I thank you good author! Also, my face hurts now.
I wish I could favorite this story a second time... maybe a third.. fourth... I wanna like it more than I'm physically allowed!!!
Curse you limitations of shown affection for a given story on the site!
Anyways, loving the story, eagerly awaiting the next chapter!
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And that is?
What if, and this is just a thought, what if, when the mane 6 go in thevwand shop, some of the wands float over to them?
9041526 So McGonagall told Dumbledore how she squeed when she saw that Harry's letter had arrived? Something she was clearly pretending didn't happen? Well that... seems completely out of character, also extremely stupid. And the solicitor told Harry about all his stray thoughts and impressions while they were in his office the first time?
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And you have never guessed what someone was thinking based on their reactions?
I feel like harry is channeling his inner Malfoy here
OH, I can't wait to see them get their wands, though it would have been cool if Celestia had given a mane hair or a feather from her wing to harry for his wands core, or even one from Luna or Cadance.
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The initial problem with figuring out the selling/buying power and economy of the Wizarding world is, Magic. Mrs. Weasley has show she is more then capable of keeping an entire household put together with just spells (I'm sure the Gnomes were just kept around to give the children chores). By accepting Magic we also accept all of the basic necessities of life have been covered, and the only thing you need money for is interacting with special things like nicer clothes or things you don't know the spells to make yourself.
That would mean the economy skips the necessities and goes straight to specialized stores. Couple that with the general Renaissance feel, barter should be a much bigger part of the culture then is apparent. "I'll charm this thing for you in exchange for you making these six potions. I'm pants at potions, and you can't charm your way out of a wardrobe." That sort of thing.
Introducing Goblins and a Banking system however puts a damper on that, as the Goblins will act similarly to many companies in America. "If you don't do business with us we will start another war. If you don't make us successful we will start another war." Having had multiple "Rebellions" and still being in charge of the banking system is a bad sign.
So realistically, you would need more then my "Armchair Economics Degree" to figure out how their economy works. Just know that it's a mess, much like everything else in the books, and our love for the story and world doesn't mean we understand how everything works. For that to happen J.K. would need to know as well, and Writers can only do so much.
Hymn ... I could see Dumbledore allowing the books ...after all the more famous a pawn is the more useful it is. By keeping Harry ignorant of the wizarding world before his time at Hogwarts he made him reliant on him and his staff for all information. On the perspective of what should have happened if the story we're real and not a work of fiction Harry woulda have been stronger wizarding wise being raised by a selected wizarding family sent into hiding with a secret keeper thus hidden but still recieve wizarding tutoring from mostly ...absent family.... these are examples ...madeye for example could have been crazy grandpa who popped in from time to time and would have taught him def ag dark arts while grandma mcgonagle transfiguration ... even the black sheep of the family uncle severus could have taught him dueling and potions. But this would have resulted to Harry being more mentally stable thus less open to manipulation. Plus the other wizards involved would've had a more vested interest of what's good for Harry since of bonds formed and all that because in the books they all feel emotionally detached in the name of professionalism being teachers besides hagrid ...rather then we'll Dumbledore says it's in Harry's best interest and Dumbledore always right so well go along with it like allowing him to be raised by the dursleys with a bond they would've been like old man what crack are you smoking theirs no way he's being raised by these magic hating wankers.
So is dumbledore going to get suspicious when he sees that daily prophet headline
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This:
9041342
Second one in particular. He also likely have connection to Voldemort's mind since he had it in canon and got a few visions out of it and Parseltong somehow, but it seems odd for that connection to influence him like so much and so early and there should be a reason why his mark slowly disappears.
I'm also curious whom Dumbledore came out in this case. In "Magic School Days" he end up as a complete moron whom intentionally harmed Harry "for the Greater Good". And here he already did at least two very questionable thing by allowing publishing these books and making him live with the Dursley's in the first place. There is reasonable (even though it's still bad) explanation for the second issue, but the first one remains. So, there is a good chance he'll go overboard "for the Greater Good" here as well.
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It's hard to say just how unicorns will compare to trained wizards. After all, we're told in MLP that most unicorns only know a bit of magic related to their special talent (and telekinesis of course), though there are also unicorn mages and I would assume unicorns in the guard probably at least learn some shields and combat spells. But most wizards seem to know at least basic shields and combat spells as well, since they have a whole class devoted to it, and any competent wizard also knows dozens of utility spells, which seems to put them above the average unicorn.
Average unicorns may or may not have more magic power than the average wizard, but they seem to have less formal training on using magic. So I would expect an Equestrian unicorn to actually be pretty impressed by Hogwarts and maybe think of it as the equivalent of every unicorn attending Celestia's school for gifted unicorns.
Of course, as has been pointed out there are almost certainly a lot more unicorns in Equestria than wizards in Britain.
9049204
Considering how they acted in The Leaky Cauldron and elsewhere, can you imagine that the wizards wouldn't make a series of children's books out of their young hero who has mysteriously disappeared, but is considered perfectly safe by the authorities? Especially when one of them realizes that kids would eat up those books and make the authors rich?
That's my rationale, at least.
Congratulation number 45, I'll go more into this one I read more. Thanks
9045380
Since veela are apparently a species of fey type humanoid that means fey exist..... so that means they could be humanoid in shape thats still able to shapeshift .... but instead of wing tattoos they'd get dragonfly ones in their base form.
9049334
Well, given Twilight's listed criteria for a "Premiere Magical Academy" in an earlier chapter, if she ever visits Hogwarts there's good odds on your wish coming true.
9049486
Let's not forget that ponies are incredibly skittish, even those among the main 6 were scared of Zecora for no real reason. She at least looked Equine I can't imagine how the average pony would react to Voldemort.
9049400
Wait. Are people arguing with the author over the author's stylistic choices? And after the author explains, they still nitpick minutia?
This is dumb.
9049395
So, wait. What's the exact point you're trying to make here? That any information we, the audience has, seems to be available for Harry Potter, except when it's not?
An update to this story really makes my day!
I wonder how long it will be before someone thinks to update Twilight on what they learned about Harry’s scar. I’m sure she could start theorizing what it’s history could mean in conjunction with her previous tests.
And NOOOO!!! The chapter stopped right before getting to the wands! I REALLY want to read that part!
Why was Draco Malfoy at Madam Malkin's? There's so much different in this fic's events that I'm finding it hard to believe that the timing of Malfoy and Potter ending up in that particular shop at the same time should have been almost nonexistent.
9049322
Ah, yea thats bad
Isn't it amazing what you learn while writing?
9049248
9049439
Another thing to note in this whole mess is that according to word of Rowling a galleon is roughly 5 British pounds.
The Harry Potter wiki on the subject plus additional exchange rates
Now that might be explained away as the wizarding world having access to more gold than the Muggle world, perhaps places like the seven cities of Cibola and El Dorado were in fact real in the Potterverse and subsequently looted by wizards (it would make sense for any "city of gold" to be magical seeing as gold is not famous for its structural engineering properties.) As to keeping people from selling wizard gold to muggle gold exchanges it can probably be handled by mild compulsion charms made to convince non wizards that the coins are not in fact gold.
Of course that is just as much a guess as anything else.
9049551
A. They are going on the same day, July 31st, that is in canon
B. The wizarding world, up to this point, is exactly the same as in canon (nothing that has happened in the story, so far, has had any effect on the wizarding world), thus Malfoy is in Diagnon Alley at the same time as he is in canon -- and no reason why he shouldn't be.
C. They are in the bank at the same time as Hagrid. While Hagrid's visit is shorter, Harry's visit to his vault and the filly's to the gemologist, makes their stay about equal to the time in canon -- why? Because I say so, and you can't really come up with a valid canon argument why not.
D. Canon doesn't mention how much time Harry spent perusing the bookstore, so the time he spends in there could even out the time he spent in the bank to match canon for when he heads for Madam Malkins.
E. So the odds of Malfoy and Harry meeting are not unbelievable, and, in fact, the odds are remarkably high. After all, we don't know how much time Malfoy spent in the shop before Harry got there, now do we? If it were a different day? Then yes, that would be changing canon for no reason but to suit the author.
9049486
This whole deal with magic and talents tend to change from writer to writer. Start with "magic tightly connected to talent and cutie mark" and later they said that "you don't limited by your cutie mark".
Official MLP tabletop RPG also operate under idea that pony can have as many "talents" as he or she wants. And spells also count as "talents".
Also "talents" become more powerful with practice. Like ability to create magical copies start with "creation of small tools" and go into "creation of castles".
9049322
Yeah.
Halfblood Prince had some seriously dumb moments
And Fantastic beasts Beasts Movies left us wondering why Harry wasn't a Obscurus....JK has an official answer but its dumb and handwavy.
How saying, "Magic is bad and you should feel bad for being magical" and "Magic doesn't exist, and if strange stuff happens we are going to starve and beat you," doesn't lead to the same result I don't know.
Regardless....Cursed Child is terrible. There is so much wrong with it, its not even remotely funny. Its bad fanfiction...
I am glad you don't consider it cannon. The fact that JK does is just sad.
9049656
Because Harry had no reason to hate magic, being a wizard was the whole reason he was able to get away from the Dursleys. Had Harry known that magic was the reason the Dursleys were so cruel to him then maybe he might have grown up with a different mindset. As it was magic was the source of the only good things to happen to him when with the Dursleys.
The fact that he didn't grow up to hate muggles is far more unbelievable by comparison.
9049654
I always looked at cutie marks as a representation of what comes naturally to you rather than how you are limited in other ways. For example if you have a fire cutie mark then fire related spells will come easier to you in which case it makes sense you would end up specializing in fire magic. You could still master other spells but it would take alot more effort on your part to do so and how often do you put alot of effort towards learning something you're bad at?
9049654
I don't think those two positions are inconsistent - the average unicorn probably can learn spells if they want, it just seems like they usually don't bother. "Wizards" like Twilight, Starlight, and Sunset seem very much the exception rather than the rule, though I'm sure there are others - I would assume most unicorns who go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns come out knowing a lot of spells. They're just the minority, while most unicorns in Equestria are similar to Rarity, who know TK and a bit of magic that helps their talent but never bothered spending the time to learn more.
That wouldn't make as much sense for Harry Potter wizards since they have the muggles to handle most non-magical activities; if only .1% of the ponies in Equestria were unicorns, they'd probably have a lot more pressure for unicorns to become wizards, because it would be an in demand profession none of the other ponies could fill, as opposed to Rarity being a dressmaker, a role that can also be filled by ponies like Coco.
Though come to think of it, Sunburst is a bit of a hole in this theory - he put in the effort to learn spells but can't cast them well, possibly implying that some or most unicorns may have weaker magic than Harry Potter wizards, and "wizard" unicorns may be the exception both in terms of power and education.
9049711
The best explanation I find for Sunburst is that his talent is in magical theory. He spent so much time learning about magic he never took the time to learn how to cast most of it himself. Twilight by comparison always takes time to take what she learns and put it into practice. As a result Sunburst knows more about magic than Twilight but Twilight is far more capable of putting Sunbursts knowledge to actual use.
9049711
On Sunburst it's rather similar to a mathematician and a professional pool player. A mathematician could know EXACTLY the right angle and force needed to sink a shot. They can calculate this information so well that they could give you the numbers with less than .01 margin of error. And yet few mathematicians are actually professional pool players. Why? They don't have the right mindset/physical ability for it. In Sunbursts case he knows theory and spell matricies so well that he could walk any unicorn ABLE to cast them through most spells known in Equestria. He can even guide others on how to combine spellworks to make unique effects/make new spells entirely. But it's quite plausible that his magical strength simply isn't up to par like Twilight's or Starlight's own. All three of them are prodigies, but while Sunburst is MENTALLY equal to them, if not superior, MAGICALLY he isn't exactly in the 1% like Twilight and Starlight are. Remember that even prior to her ascension it was heavily implied that Twilight is well beyond most unicorns. Starlight is a unicorn who pushed herself to be just as powerful, and has a history of trying things that even Twilight herself wouldn't risk.
9049700
Well, series with CMC camp and Rumble more or less said same thing. That with his fear of getting the "wrong" cutie mark it Rumble himself limiting his options. Thunderlane outright stated that his talent not limited by his cutie mark.
9049700
Your missing the fact that Harry went to Hogwarts at 12.
ALL Obscurus form well before that point, and most die by the age of 10. Their are literally only 2 exceptions (to the death by 10) in history according to Fantastic Beasts.
So saying, "He wasn't an Obscurus because Magic saved him" doesn't make sense. By the time he got his Hogwarts letter, if he was going to become an Obscurus it would already have been FAR to late. Instead every time something strange happened (his hair growing back, the talking snake, the teleport,) even if it wasn't his fault (say a glass falling off a table due to poor placement) he was starved at the very least, and possibly beaten.
In an effort to make him less weird, and convince him that magic wasn't real. Even mentioning a dream that involved magic, a simple dream involving a flying motorbike, got him verbally abused.
If that doesn't fit the description of being forced to oppress their magic through, "physical or psychological abuse," I don't know what is.
9049711
I always assumed that Sunburst problem more about lack of confidence and less about magical strength.
9049783
Yeah, I agree with all that. My point was more that Sunburst seems less magically powerful than a Harry Potter Wizard, which means there's two obvious possibilities:
1) Sunburst is, however brilliant at the theory, magically weaker than 99% of unicorns. The average unicorn could still be comparable to an average Harry Potter wizard in magical power, and could probably learn as many spells if they spent seven years of schooling on them like wizards in Harry Potter.
2) Sunburst is average for a unicorn, and the unicorns we would call "wizards", not Twilight's level but more like Moondancer, have far more magical power than most in addition to years of study to cast the spells they do; most unicorns probably couldn't match Harry Potter wizards even with the same education.
I don't really have a position on which of those is true; they both seem viable.
I think it's pretty clear that Twilight in this story is at least Dumbledore level, which is reasonable either way; she was one of the most powerful unicorns out of a population of millions, and may have gotten an additional powerup when she became an alicorn (opinions differ), and Starlight appears to be on a similar level. I'm more just wondering how the average unicorn compares to the average wizard.