The Phoenix – Season One, Episode Five – Traveling

Magical India is beautiful.

What little she’s seen of it so far is, anyway.

There are four hidden provinces, according to what she’s read. The one the Potter’s ancestral lands are in a hidden, heavily forested section of India. The small town on and in the side of a cliff is bright and colorful and -not loud because that has insulting connotations but- lively. It’s very lively. And oh, so magical.

Their trip from the portkey arrival platform down the main thoroughfare and to a large secluded estate has all the life and energy of a holiday parade.

On a Tuesday.

Even the sitting room her Great Uncle Trent immediately secludes her in is lovely. With its deep-colored exotic woods, bright hand-woven carpets, and big enchanted windows with a forest view.

No, not seculdes because there is a second man already in the room waiting for them. He’s probably late 30s and unfairly pretty. Not Arthur but at this point Merlin fully expects to meet him once he gives up. It seems like he has that kind of life now.

Anyway. Her, Uncle Trent, and Mr. Brown Eyes. In the sitting room.

“I have received a letter,” Her Regent Uncle begins with a glance at the man he has not yet introduced to her. “Through my daughters. From a man calling himself Severus Snape. He indicated you have been physically abused by your previous guardians but have not sought professional healing for it.”

Merlin raises her eyebrow. This is unexpected and he’s not exactly sure how he feels about even breaching this topic. “No, I can’t say I have. Surely he told you why as well.”

“He did. That is why I have arranged for a private healer based on his and my daughters’ observations in this matter.”

“I-”  Harry huffs. “Are you sworn to keep my secrets? Both of you?”

“As your Regent in India, I have been magically bound to do so but the oath I swore was when my brother was the lord of our house. I never had the opportunity to make one to your father. I am willing to take the oath again to you specifically should my lord require it.”

“Please.”

Uncle Trent stands, pulls his wand, “I, Trenton Julius Potter, swear upon my life and magic to hold Harriet Jasmine Potter’s secrets as sacred, to obey her commands, and to trust her judgement from this day until her last day. Additionally I swear to her my full and honest council whenever she requires it and to place the interests of the House of Potter before my own and my family’s.”

“Thank you,” Harry smiles at her Uncle before she turns and focuses on the healer.

The man smiles at her gently. “I am already bound to keep your secrets, my lord, but not through my oaths as a healer.” When Harry raises a single eyebrow at him, the man just smiles. “I am the Order of Merlin. First class.”

“Ah,” Harry grimaces and ignores her uncle’s confused look. “I didn’t know Britain gave the Order of Merlin to outsiders.”

“They didn’t,” He gives her an ironic quirk of the lips. “But then your Minister Fudge sold access to the protocols to the ICW in exchange for his own Order of Merlin. First Class, of course.”

“That man is disgusting.” Harry huffs. She knew she had one but not how exactly he achieved it. That he was bought and sold for one, ugh. “I look forward to ruining his whole life.” She pokes absently at the threads of oath bonds sitting idly in Vault 2 as she contemplates the healer. “I didn’t think- The other three Order members I regularly associate with didn’t know what I am until I told them.”

“Were they First Class?”

“Two of the three, yes.”

“Then I’m at a bit of a loss,” The healer says honestly. “It could be the difference between Eastern and Western magic? We believe in the cycle of rebirth and redeath so we are mentally and magically prepared to accept your situation.”

Merlin hums. “Or it could simply be that I’ve been working with these skills and that’s making my mental presence more apparent than it was when I met my first minions.”

The healer concedes this with a nod.

“How did a healer get First Class?” He probably shouldn’t ask but, seriously?

“I saved Durmstrang from a contagion.” The man shrugs like it’s a small thing. “I lost a third of the faculty including the headmaster but saved all of the students.”

“Ooooooh.”

“What does the Order of Merlin have to do with the Lord of House Potter?” Trent finally interrupts to ask, frowning at the two of them like he is contemplating pissiness.

The healer that she still has not been introduced to glances over at her regent in surprise. “She is Lord of the Order.”

Trent blinks and then blinks again and then turns to look directly at Harry. “You’re Merlin.”

She shrugs.

“How many times have you been Merlin?”

“Seven, that I’m sure of. There might have been two or maybe three more before my most famous of lives but I can’t quite recall.”

“And you have not achieved the Moksha?”

Merlin laughs in a way that kind of hurts deep inside. “I cannot escape my rebirth because it is not a trap but a duty. For me, at least.”

“Are you,” Trent hesitates. “Are you an avatar? Of the gods? Like Krishna or Rama? Were you Krishna or Rama?”

“No, I’m- I’m a force of nature. I am an Archetype. I am the embodiment of chaos. Fire, wind. Emotion. I am a servant. This life was supposed to be a reward but someone,” Oh, how to phrase that? “Someone messed up -horribly- and now Arthur and I will have to clean up after them.”

“Which makes healing your current form will that much more important,” The healer says, bringing them back on track. “Is there anything I should know before I begin to evaluate you?”

“I would like to know your name?” She asks, delaying.

“Yash Tamboli. Please call me Yash.”

She’s silent for several moments. Now that she has his name as well as his magical signature finally finding him in her mental index of the Order is simple and she tugs him into a Vault of his own like the Lords Black and Bones. Vault 9 unless her count is off, which she knows it isn’t.

The man pales and his eyes go wide. No doubt he’s feeling her mental focus but he just swallows and remains silent as she evaluates him.

“Yash Tamboli, you are currently between healing contracts.” The man nods to her though it wasn’t actually a question. “My Uncle will draw up a contract and I will pay you to be the official Healer for the Order. I will need you to return with me to Britain.” The man nods again. Taking something like pity on the man, she mentally backs off and answers his earlier question. “Before you begin evaluating my physical status, I suppose you should know that I have access to several ancient resources. Including the largest Sorcerer’s Stone currently in existence.”

The man barks a laughs shocked and rather nervous, “You’ve been using it.”

“In an attempt to heal myself, yes. Unfortunately, the Stone doesn’t work that way. If my problems were caused my old age or some other lack of vitality like a rather clever poisoning, it would have been the best solution but the effects of a lack of nutrients in addition to a surplus of physical violence don’t fall under that heading.”

“No, I can’t see how they would.” The man draws his wand. “May I?”

“Of course.”

He stands and casts several spells at her. In parseltongue. That’s really fascinating.

After several minutes of casting, Yash puts down his wand with a frown. “There is much to be done if we are going to get your body into even decent physical shape before you begin school in, I believe September? Regent Trent said?” Harry nods to him and the healer nods back. “Your use of the Sorcerer’s Stone has granted a great deal of, “He hesitates, searching for the word. ”Vitality to your internal organs that an aggressive potions regimen can make the most of but your bones and muscles are still lacking.

“There are several options before us to address those issues but I would suggest what I would call a staggered marathon method.

“By day, we will fill you with potions and as much natural nutrients as we can. You will eat, drink potions, and play outside as much as possible. At night we will vanish bones in a strategic order and regrow them with advanced skele-gro. You will be potioned to sleep and get exactly 12 hours every single night.”

“How long would that take?” Merlin asks.

“Up to two weeks to address the ‘high risk’ and ‘troubling’ areas. Since I will be returning to England with you I can handle the ‘low risk’ areas and any necessary maintenance on school breaks and holidays.”

“Or?” She prompts.

“Or, I can put you in a magically induced coma and spend the next week handling just the ‘high risk’ areas. Or, we could just work on refining the healing to your organs, getting to work on the muscles, and address your bone health as you break them.”

“You mean vanishing and regrowing them after I break them.”

“Yes.”

“Sounds painful.”

“Horrific,” The healer agrees. “Especially since there is no humane way we can be sure you’ll break them all before school starts.

“However the fact remains that no matter which option we take, it will require a small fortune in potions.”

Harry waves that away. “I’m not worried about that, I have a truly stupid amount of gold in my vaults though I would like to be sure whatever potion master we are setting for life deserves it and isn’t a totally terrible person.”

“Severus Snape indicated in his letter that he would be willing to come out and handle any potions you need personally.” Her uncle chips in.

“Then let’s get him here and get him started. I assume you want to do the first round tonight?”

“It would be best, my lord.”

“So I need to go out and play, you said.”

“Vitamin D is very important and humans soak up a great deal from sunlight. And if you can use as little magic as possible, that would be good.”

“Alright,” She stands and grins wickedly. “I’ll go crash Drishti and Lord Black’s little property tour date then.”

~*~

A week into their stay, Yash gives the okay for a field trip and they all tramp down to the temple so that Merlin can pick out their snake. Or get picked by a snake, as the case may be.

It’s a huge temple complex of Shiva with high, brightly colored roofs and finely carved walls. The temple is surrounded by lovely gardens and pools of deep, clear water for various purposes. They wander around, looking at everything and the entire time she and Hermione are flanked by Remus and Severus.

It’s probably weird to say but the two former rivals are quickly becoming parents to her just as much as the Grangers are or anyone else has ever been but it’s true. She has two dads, Robert and Severus, and two moms, Amy and Remus. Gods only know where Sirius will fit or if he’ll even want to fit once he’s healed but she hopes he does. She’s greedy for the care and attention they treat her to and not even remotely ashamed of that fact.

Towards the back of the temple, they find a man with a sword and a spear leaning against a stone column beside the large statue of an anthropomorphized cobra.

“Is this the entrance to the snake haven?” She asks the, well, the guard when she realizes the other parselmouths -and most of the rest of the group- have wandered off.

“It is,” The man nods.

“Can we go in?”

“Only the god-touched may enter.”

Okay, no one has explained that term to her but she’s heard it with enough context to realize the man means parselmouths. Which makes sense, sort of, because this is a temple of Shiva who wears a cobra as a necklace, but-

“What about my party?”

He eyes all four of them. “Once the god-touched has proven themself, their party may enter as long as all members remain with them.”

Harry very carefully doesn’t roll her eyes. The man is obviously trying very hard to be stoic and intimidating but, honestly, very little intimidates her any more. One man holding a spear isn’t gonna cut it, magical sentry statue or no magical sentry statue.

Instead of saying anything though, she steps up to the statue and while holding the image of Mrs. Patil’s snake firmly in mind she says. “Hello.” Remus shifts back, no doubt uncomfortable with what he’s been taught to regard as an evil sound. Severus on the other hand leans forward avidly to listen. Hermione rolls her eyes at them both so the whole parselmouth thing must be working. “My name’s Harry Potter and I’m here to find a snake companion.”

There’s a pause because dramatics but then the snake’s eyes light up. He turns to one side and reaches out to lay both palms on the stone column the human guard hastily moves away from. A spark of silvery magic runs around the edge of the newly formed doorway. It then flashes over with a solid silver light before it clears and reveals a slice of a field rather than the forest physically in front of them. The statue turns just it’s snake like head to look at her and says, “Enter.” In a deep, grinding voice.

Harry moves forward, into the portal.

Then, on second, thought she stops and offers Hermione her hand. Hermione takes it and silently holds up her other hand. Remus takes that one and before he can say anything Snape takes his other hand.

Harry pulls them through in one long line and when they stop on the other side… it’s not what she expected.

There are no cages, no roped off areas. It’s nothing like what Hermione described a muggle animal shelter to be like. It’s nothing like a market either even though there are some tables all around where people are just chatting or playing games either with snakes or with each other as snakes dart around them.

They are greeted quickly with a woman clutching a clipboard. “Lord Potter?” She asks, looking at Severus with interest.

Remus chokes and has to turn quickly away.

“Yes?” Harry asks, calling her attention down to her. “And you are?”

“Oh,” the woman blushes. “I’m your guide, my name is Chanda. Your Uncle Trent,” She gestures over to where the man is reclining in the shade sipping something fruity looking, the blasted traitor. “Said you were looking for a companion and asked me to show you around.”

“Very well, lead on.”

Their guide walks them around the large field. She points out all manner of krait and cobra. There are even sea serpents hanging out in various water features. Snakes in golds and silvers. Snakes sparkling like sapphires or absorbing light, darker than the darkest obsidian.

“This is what we call the Bonding Fountain.” She says at last as they return to a clearing near the front of the field. “If you sit here snakes of all species in the haven can approach you and test your compatibility for bonding.”

There are several snakes already waiting as Harry sits and her escorts back off to join the rest of their group under the trees. Several of the snakes leave almost immediately but one stays. He’s a big, pretty bastard. He looks like clusters of emeralds chained together and bound into a mostly smooth cylindrical shape by thick bands of gold.

He hisses at several others of his kind but allows snakes of different species to approach her.

After a bit of a lull, the big gold and emerald male approaches her more closely, going so far as to scoot up against her trousered leg but not yet touching her skin.

“That’s an Emperor Cobra,” Her guide tells her from just out of arm’s reach. “The magical version of the King Cobra. They are larger than their mundane cousins but just as strong and agile. Green and gold rather than black and yellow but also predominantly snake eaters. The unique thing about them is that unlike most other magical snake species, they have no natural magical abilities. Instead they have great intelligence and actually learn spells by watching them be cast or by having them cast upon them.”

“And this one?” Harry stops herself just before she pets the disillusioned snake currently in her lap.

The snake obligingly drops the spell.

“The Jade Mamba,” The woman swallows. “Magical predecessor of the Black Mamba. It’s named because its scales are similar to small green jade cabochons that range in shade from a milky almost white on the belly to nearly black along the back ridge.”

It’s eyes are like yellow jade marbles, Harry is amused to note, with a starburst of red rather than the usual black snake-slit pupils.

“They are normally quite shy and rarely bond so much is not known about the species despite being one of the oldest documented species of magical snake. We do know they have the same black mouth as their cousins and that they can spontaneously change sex but the conditions for the change have not been conclusively established.”

“Can I bond two snakes?” She looks past to woman to ask her Uncle Trent.

“Looks like it,” He says as he wanders over and sends her guide away with a nod. “I’ve never seen those two species in such proximity without one getting eaten before. Bring them both with you to the estate. They can always return if they decide you aren’t their proper bondmate.”

“Okay,” Harry nods and very purposely touches both snakes with her bare hands at the same time.

To absolutely no one’s surprise both snakes decide stay.

~*~

Of all the various possibilities, Remus and the Grangers are the ones they chose to get them settled on the Hogwarts Express.

Lords Bones and Black of course have other assignments from Harry to deal with. Madame Bones has to bring her niece to the station. Professor McGonagall is seeing to John and Professor Snape to Draco.

They could, of course, group together in one massive caravan but Remus, Robert, and Amy are the right choice for them.

Them being Harry, Hermione, and Neville who ended up staying with them at the Grangers’ for the rest of the summer while his gran goes to somewhere in Magical Germany for reasons they aren’t officially supposed know.

Remus leads them to the very back of the train and into the very last passenger compartment with a wistful look. “Do you know how many are going to be joining you?”

Hermione frowns a bit at the question. “The Twins said they wanted to ‘scout’ so they might join us eventually but not right away. John will probably join us because Professor McGonagall asked him to. Do you know if he ever found his dog?”

Remus smirks. “I’m not sure but I did point them at the magical breeder I found last week.”

Harry grins up at her honorary uncle. His mischievous side is a rare sight but it’s becoming more common the longer he’s with them. Well, with her, probably.

“The house is Hogsmeade ready?” She asks.

“Lord Black said it should be habitable no later than tomorrow. I will move up there tonight to be available to you.”

“And the London House?”

“His elf will start there after she finishes in Hogsmeade.”

“I don’t know why he doesn’t just bond more elves.” She sighs.

Remus raises an eyebrow. “He’s focusing on the other tasks you’ve given him and with the various means of instantaneous magical travel living in proximity just isn’t a priority.”

“And you aren’t going to… do as he’s doing?”

“You haven’t asked me to do it yet. You haven’t asked me to do anything, actually. I’m not part of your secret little club.” And it’s not quite sharp but it’s not really teasing either.

Harry blinks. She hadn’t thought he’d realized- Ugh, wait. Werewolf. He must have heard them talking even if he wasn’t invited to their last meeting.

Remus takes some measure of pity on her. “I prefer men more than women anyway.”

“And you prefer Sirius Black more than most?”

Remus blushes and laughs, surprised. “I can’t deny that though we aren’t exactly compatible.”

“What?” Harry tilts her head. “Why not?”

“I’m an omega werewolf, Harry. He’s a submissive Veela.”

“Oh. But omegas can sire as well as bear so it’s not like it wouldn’t work!” She blushes. “I mean if the two of you wanted children. I mean, you know-”

“Veela have a fated mate, Harry, and werewolves don’t do well with competition.”

“Oh. Right.” And then because she really didn’t mean to hurt him. “You know it’s not- Its not that I don’t want you in my ‘secret little club.’ I just don’t want to be an obligation for you. I want you to be here because you want to be, not because you have to be.”

“I am,” He says, a little choked up. After a moment he huffs. “I’m here because I want to be. Now. What do we need to do in here to make everyone comfortable?”

“We could use more seats so the familiars can stretch out.” Hermione immediately answers, reminding them that they are in fact not alone.

“Right.” Remus nods and pulls his wand. After several silent motions he informs them, “The compartment will expand as you need it to.” A few most swishes and two window boxes appear on the window closes to Harry. “For your snakes.”

Harry smirks and pulls her Emperor Cobra and Jade Mamba out from where they are curled together in their basket.

“Will people see them from the outside?” Dr. Amy asks.

A few wand movements and Remus smirks, “Not any more. Only the people that know they are there will see them at all.”

There’s a somewhat awkward pause before Dr. Robert nods to them all and announces, “We should go.” He claps Neville on the shoulder and gives Hermione a great big hug before turning to Harry.

There are more hugs all around before Harry finally throws herself into Remus’s arms. “I love you, Moony.”

“I love you, too, cub. I’ll see you soon.”

He’s gone barely a minute before she gathers herself and casts one more charm on door of their little cabin.

“You know your eyes roil like dragon fire when you cast wandless, silent magic.” Neville says amusedly.

Harry huffs, you’d think she’d outgrow that tell.

“What did you cast?” Hermione asks.

“A charm so that you can only find this cabin if you know where it is.”

Hermione nods approvingly. “No gawkers.”

“No gawkers,” She agrees. “But someone will have to go get John and the Twins so they can find us.”

Neville is immediately on his feet again. “I saw Professor McGonagall in the station so they should be here already. I’ll go find John.”

Harry nods and starts levitating down her trunk back down from where Dr. Robert shoved it into the overhead. She sets it down across the gap in the seats so that it opens toward the cabin.

“You never did show me what all you have in there.” Hermione reminds her so Harry waves her over.

She pushes her magic into the lock and asks for the first compartment. “I’ve changed it up a bit. The first four layers are now libraries, organized first by originating age and then by subject.” She pushes up the lid so Hermione can see the stairs leading in. “The libraries down there are each about twice the size of our bedrooms at home. The walls are lined with shelves and there are free standing enchanted shelves in the middle. You can look in when we get to school.”

“The fourth layer actually has a pretty cool enchantment. It was Remus’s idea. With the lid open to the fourth layer, you can hold your hand over the trunk and ask for a specific book and if I have it it will pop into your hand, no matter which of the libraries it’s physically in. It actually got really intuitive because I had to tailor it so that it would ignore the restricted volumes. Now you can ask for a book, without a specific title, and it will supply you with something relevant to your general interests or you can specify a subject and it will supply you a book that fits your research goals.”

She closes the lid and prods the lock for the fifth layer. “This leads to a room about the size of our bedrooms at home. It’s pretty much a walk-in closet with the clothes grandfather gave me and a couch I found in the Potter Vault in the middle.” What kind of random luck was it that her ‘grandfather’ had packed his gift in a trunk compatible for this endeavor? Okay, it’s not really that random since there are only 12 different wand-quality woods generally used for trunks but it’s still a pretty cool happenstance.

Close, lock, unlock, and she opens the sixth layer. “This is the same but it’s my Hogwarts stuff so there are bookshelves, clothing racks, drawers with other school supplies. Even a desk.”

“That’s what you wanted to do to my trunk.”

“I still want to do it,” Harry admits. “Adding these last two layers to my trunk increased how much I could expand the other four layers and I really want to find out if that’s true for other woods and/or at a smaller number of layers. I didn’t pay enough attention to it before.”

“Well, you had other concerns.”

“That’s true.” Harry sighs and stares out the window. She’s not sure how long she stands there and stares before the sight that catches her eye actually registers.

Neville and John are out there, off to one side. Neville is making over the big wolfhound John managed to start a familiar bond with but behind them, looking on enviously is a boy with red hair wearing what she’s pretty sure is homespun clothing. Not that that matters. The clothing is warm and the boy is covered and that’s what matters.

But on the boy’s shoulder is a rat. A rat that’s missing a toe on its right forefoot.

Harry frowns and prods Vault 8, the place in her mental palace where Peter Pettigrew resides, and the almost-sleeping rat stands on his boy’s shoulder. Then he looks around confused like he’s not quite sure why he’s standing and all Harry can think is finally, gods dammit.

She uses their oath bond to push a disillusionment charm over the rat’s body and prods him onto the train.

Harry glances over to see Hermione already curled up and reading. “Why don’t you go see if you can find the twins?”

“The twins?” Hermione asks distractedly. “Didn’t they say they weren’t going to ride with us?”

“They should still know how to find us, just in case.”

Hermione closes her book and frowns at Harry but after a moment’s consideration she nods and stands. “Alright.”

And she’s out the door just moments before the rat makes it to their cabin.

Harry closes the door and locks it after the rat bastard.

“Peter Pettigrew?” She asks and the rat twitches uncomfortably. Nervously. Like he wants to bolt but isn’t sure if he can. “I’d prefer to see your face when I’m talking to you, Peter.”

There’s a stubborn, silent moment as he fights the magic of the Oath but then there’s a whoosh of magic and a man is sitting right where the rat had been. An ugly little man, twitching on the floor and refusing to look at her.

“I know what you did,” She tells him softly. “And I want you to speak the Oath.”

He stares at her confused for a moment and then, holding up a wand that looks rather like a ravaged bone he says, “I, Peter Oliver Pettigrew, swear my eternal allegiance to the High Warlock known as Merlin. I hereby commitment myself to the Principles of the Order of Merlin and swear to act with all the dignity and grace of the High Warlock himself.”

The oath seals in a sweep of purple magic and Harry frowns. “Lucky for you, I’m not terribly graceful nor all that dignified.

“Peter Oliver Pettigrew. I, Harriet Jasmine Potter, the High Warlock known as Merlin reborn order you to present yourself to the Chief Editor Iacchus Storey of the Daily Prophet immediately after I release you from this meeting. You will give him a full accounting of your misdeeds, including your betrayal of my parents and your deliberate framing of Sirius Black as well as any other misdeed you have enacted before or since. Then you will allow yourself to be arrested by Deputy Director Amelia Bones of the DMLE. You will answer all questions put to you by myself, Amelia Bones, or Iacchus Storey fully and truthfully with the exception of revealing my current identity until the day you die. Do you understand what is required of you?”

“I do.”

“And what will you do?”

“I will obey.”

Harry nods. “Back to the rat with you.” He transforms and she unlocks and opens the door.

The rat scurries out and she has to sit down to collect herself.

She’d been looking for that bastard for almost two months now. Figures she’d find him just as she put it on the back burner. But this is happening right in time for the next part of her plan. Maybe the distraction of it will make her other plans go more smoothly than she had hoped.

Once she’s settled, she mentally updates Yash and the Lords Bones and Black about her plans and needs. Once acknowledgments are received, she opens her eyes to see a silver-haired nymph of a girl standing wide eyed in the doorway of their compartment.

“There are so many Nargles in here!” The girl says in something close to awe.

Amused Merlin asks, “And what do Nargles look like?”

“Nargles are shape changers,” She answers sincerely. “They look like everything. And nothing.”

“What do the ones in here look like?”

“Misty red clouds. On the benches and the floor and the walls. There are two almost solid ones on the window there, that’s really interesting!” The stranger points to where the snake’s window boxes are hanging. “I didn’t know they could cling to transparent surfaces!”

Merlin squints at the girl. “And the one in my lap?”

“Oh. That’s a silver-blue fire. I’ve never seen one like that before. Other than the one on the door, of course.”

Mage Sight it is. Merlin pokes her trunk so that the fourth layer opens, thinks of a specific title and waits for the book to fly into her hand.

She holds the book out to the girl who just blinks at her with wide silver eyes.

“This is a book on Nargles,” She explains. “How to see them, what the presence of different ones mean, how not to see them so you can do other things, like sleep. Or eat. They call them magical auras in here but I’m sure you can decipher the true meaning behind the text.”

“My father says it is very important to be able to read the real story within everything you see.” She confirms looking pleased. She then takes the book and curls right up in the corner near the door on the bench Harry’s claimed for herself.

Neville and Hermione return after not too long with their quarry in tow. They all look questioningly at the little blonde girl but no one actually asks so Harry just shrugs and grins at them all.

Padma and Pavarti drop their trunks off and leave rather quickly. Ostensibly they to, as they said, scout the rest of their year and ‘get the lay of the land.’ The mean little grins they share when Padma mentions a girl named Pansy immediately gives lie to that though.

John leaves too but not until King’s Cross is completely out of sight and he leaves his dog behind, making it clear that he intends to return.

And return he does, not ten minutes later, with a surprisingly tall and willowy boy with a long face and ever so slightly mismatched eyes.

“This compartment did not exist a moment ago,” He announces rather than introduce himself.

“Of course it did,” Harry tells him with a grin. “Just because you couldn’t see it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.”

He gives her a pout that probably thinks it’s a glare and she rolls her eyes.

“I’m Harry, that’s Hermione, and that’s Neville.”

“And Luna!” The corner adds.

“And Luna,” Harry amends with a nod in the girl’s direction.

“Sherlock Holmes,” John introduces, his face flushed with fury. “Some other kids were being-”

“Arseholes,” Harry finishes for him and he nods once, sharply. “Let me guess, Draco?”

John sighs, rolls his eyes, and nods again.

Sherlock squints at her so she explains. “Only a person of greater or equal rank to yours would mess with a Holmes, that would be the heir of Black or the heir of Longbottom. Neville is the heir of Longbottom and he hasn’t left so it obviously wasn’t him. Draco Malfoy, however.” She grins. “His father has him convinced he’s the heir of Black. Unfortunately, grandfather, like me, finds the whole rather hilarious so he hasn’t yet corrected the boy on this misunderstanding.”

“Boring,” Sherlock huffs and throws himself into a seat. “What is the purpose of leaving your luggage standing open?”

Harry raises a single eyebrow at him because rude. “Step up to it and think of a subject you want information about. A magical subject.”

Holmes quirks an eyebrow at her and steps challengingly up to the trunk.

And promptly gets hit in the face with a book on familiars.

“Oh, and be prepared to catch.” She adds, pointedly late. Holmes gives her a dark look but she just smirks. “You did start it.”

The probably-older boy smirks ever so slightly, takes the seat across from Luna, and promptly cracks open the book.

John rolls his eyes at the two of them and huffs his opinion on the matter before he turns away to play gobstones with Nev.

So this was pretty much my Play-At-Home Battle of Five Fandoms from RT last year. Partially because HP wasn’t an option but also because I seem to do better at RT if I keep it to myself? At least for a few months? Which is weird? but, whatever. The challenge was 5 episodes, so yay! 5 episodes! Yes, there is a Season 2. Yes, our intrepid hero will get their ass back to Hogwarts and yes, we will meet Arthur there. No, I’m not posting it before the season is pretty much ready. I have no idea when that will be.

If you are curious about the cast, there is a casting folder on my Facebook. I’ll even share it public so y’all can find it easier. Beware there will be spoilers so if you don’t want to know what House our precious babies get Sorted into or anything like that, just don’t do it, yo.

Oh, this whole thing was inspired by like four lines of lyrics. They were:

Like the legend of the Phoenix.
All ends with beginnings.
Keeps the planet spinning,
The force of my beginning.

The song:

There was a big chunk of this Episode I almost threw out but then I realized there was a conversation Merlin that is Harry had that I wanted y’all to see and they would have it at no other time with no other person than her first meeting with her Great Uncle Trent so it all had to stay.

You should really know the other Notes I could put in this tab by now but if you need them, check Episode One.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.
<3 ~SW