30: S.P.E.W.

HOGWARTS, FOURTH EARTH

The movement of the semester found the regular study group around a table in the library yet again.

"And that's how I found out I can cast Incendio!" Pinkie boasted happily. "You want me to demonstrate?"

As one, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy yelled, "NO!"

"Awww…" Pinkie hung her head.

"Maybe later," Rarity suggested. "Somewhere not so…flammable."

"I've actually been really interested in the new History of Magic subject," Applejack said.

For a moment, there was silence. Then Ginny asked, "Did you really mean to say 'interested'? Or did you get the name of the class wrong?"

"Yeah, Binns is boring," Applejack admitted, "but we're learnin' all about the Werewolf Code of Conduct now. I didn't even know there were werewolves on this world."

"Did you ever know any?" Twilight asked. "Werewolves, I mean."

"Just…just one," Hermione answered. "He died in the war. He was one of our professors, just for one year. And I daresay one of the best. If you were wondering, I guess he could be a little dangerous when he was in wolf form. He would go out of his mind, not be able to remember us as his friends. But when he was human, he was one of the kindest people imaginable, so much so that he took measures to make sure his wolf side would never hurt anyone. His name was Lupin. Remus Lupin."

"I wish we could have gotten to know him," Fluttershy said softly.

"You would have loved him," Hermione asserted.

"All right," Rarity announced, turning a note sheet over. "I think I've finally memorized that Forgetfulness Potion. Now, if only I had a silver Sickle for every time that caused trouble with the other first-years…"

"What happened?" Luna asked.

"Ebony and Stevie tried to slip it in each other's drinks," Rarity sighed. "I just can't for the life of me seem to know what to say to get those two not to hate each other. Well, then again, Ebony seems to hate mostly everypony."

"And speaking of hating, or at least not liking very much," Rainbow Dash added, "anypony else bothered by how much Slughorn's been trying to weasel his way back onto our good sides?"

"I'm sure he's just ignorant," Fluttershy said. "If he knew how much what he said hurt Flora and Hestia…"

"But you yelled at him and everything, and he still doesn't," Rainbow Dash sighed. "He's just sorry that he lost the loyalty of the only six overage centaur first-years in the building. And he didn't even know the HALF of why we're special!"

"Speaking of…" Rarity looked to Twilight. She'd already revealed the contents of the journal to them. "Have you thought any more about what you're going to do with…everything you found?"

"Well…" Twilight replied. "All this stuff was kind of off-limits to know, right? So where better to go from here than…" Her eyes traveled to a large, locked door.

"The Restricted Section!" Hermione filled in. "I wouldn't put too much stock in it, as it's still a place that students are technically allowed to access with the proper permission, but I wouldn't rule it out either."

"I'm still amazed," Luna said. "All this time, and I thought the secret rooms in this castle were used for brewing bootleg Veritaserum and housing overflow from the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries."

"Did you even have any evidence for that?" Rainbow Dash asked her.

"Well, next to what you already found, it doesn't seem that far-fetched," Ginny pointed out. "It almost makes my head hurt…thinking about how big it is. You don't think there are any of those Sages around here who still want to strike against Hogwarts, do you?"

"If they haven't made a move yet, they probably won't just now," Hermione theorized. "I would bet there aren't even that many on this world."

"But what about other worlds?" Luna asked.

"A question we'll deal with when it comes to that," Hermione insisted. "Twilight, you know the protocol for the Restricted Section, right?"

"A signed note from a professor," Twilight said. "It just so happens that I have a plan to get one."

"Trick Slughorn into giving you his autograph, and then forge a note on top of it?" Rainbow Dash guessed.

"That plan is ridiculous," Rarity sighed.

"Not as ridiculous as you'd think…" Hermione said suspiciously. "Though Slughorn isn't quite gullible enough to fall for it. Not like SOME professors this school has had."

"Actually, I was going to get someone to legitimately approve my going in the Restricted Section," Twilight said. "It's a bit risky, and will involve some showing off, but I've already impressed Professor Ricksmith a lot. I think I'm on his good side. If I can show him that there's a reason worth my going into the Restricted Section…I think he'll help me out."

---

"Today," Ricksmith told his class of Ravenclaw first-years, "we will be learning the Verdimillious spell. It is one of the few pieces of pure Light magic we will teach, and has multiple uses."

Twilight perked up at that. This would make the perfect opportunity.

"Verdimillious," Ricksmith continued, "can be used as an offensive spell in a duel, but will not cause any lasting damage as will, say, Sectumsempra…which, for the record, you will NOT be learning in this course. It is, however, more potent than the Flipendo Knockback Jinx. It can be used as a countercurse to many popular curses if cast in time, and, perhaps most importantly, it can be used to find objects that are hidden by Dark magic. First, I want you all to practice the use of offensive Verdimillious without wands, just to make sure no one gets hurt. Use the regular flick of the wrist, and say it with me: Verdimillious!"

"VERDIMILLIOUS!" the class chorused.

"And now for the second use," Ricksmith went on. "I have hidden in this classroom one object for every student here. I covered them with Dark magic. You may not take more than one object; everyone needs a chance to try and use the spell. To find your object, raise your wands like this, draw out the casting, and make sure you don't aim in the direction of any living bodies…use your wands this time, and say it with me:"

"VERDIMILLIOUS!" the class said along with Ricksmith. Beams of green shot into the air. Some students pulled it off right away, while others had trouble getting the green beams to show.

Twilight's green beam seemed to glow brightest around her own desk. She looked under it to find a gleaming marble taped beneath it. When Twilight let the Verdimillious light fade, the marble vanished from view. Twilight cast Verdimillious one more time before removing the marble from beneath the desk.

"Very good, Miss Sparkle!" Ricksmith congratulated.

"Well, I am very interested in Light magic," Twilight said. "In fact…I've found a few spells that I was practicing." She looked around the classroom; most of the students were busy searching for hidden objects. "Would you mind taking a look at how I'm doing with some of them while everyone else is busy?"

"Well…I don't see why not…" Ricksmith said.

"First, though," Twilight said, "I'm going to need you to cast a jinx on me. Something that leaves me able to use my wand, preferably."

"You want me…to jinx you?" Ricksmith looked nervous. "I'm sure that's against the code of—"

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

"Well…all right…but we'll use something that we were going to practice the countercurse to later in term anyway." Ricksmith pointed his wand at Twilight. "Tarantallegra!"

Immediately, all four of Twilight's hooves began a wild tap-dance. Had Twilight not been slightly struggling to keep her balance and her concentration, she might have found it hilarious. She pointed her wand at her dancing hooves. "Esuna!"

A ring of light settled around Twilight's hooves, and she ceased dancing. "See?" she said to Ricksmith.

"Where…where did you learn that?" Ricksmith asked.

"I found it in a book," Twilight said; it wasn't a lie. "I found some other spells too—"

"Ow!" One student hit his head on the bottom of a desk while crawling toward a hidden pocket watch.

"Cure!" Twilight called out, aiming for that student. A blast of green shot at him.

"TWILIGHT!" Ricksmith cried in horror—most of his associations of green spells were with things that could injure people.

"Hey," the student murmured, "that doesn't hurt! Er, thanks, Twilight!"

Ricksmith was in awe. "Miss Sparkle…these spells are amazing! In what book did you find them?"

"It…was with a bunch of others when I found it," Twilight said. Also not, technically, a lie. "There was one more spell in it that was interesting."

"Well, do show me!"

"I can't really show you on anything because it was meant to be used as an offensive spell against Dark magic, but I can cast it on the air," Twilight said. She pointed her wand straight up. "HOLY!"

The white light burst against the ceiling in a harmless shower of sparks, but not before lighting up the whole room. Now all eyes were fixed on Twilight.

"Amazing!" Ricksmith cried. "Simply amazing! I've never seen such th…erm, I mean, those are indeed rare spells, but I'm sure I will eventually come across them as I continue to teach in this position."

"I want to learn more," Twilight said. "That was why I was wondering something."

"And what was that, Miss Sparkle?"

"If you'd help me get into the Restricted Section of the library. Just to see what else I can dig up on these spells. They are rare, after all."

"Well…" Ricksmith shrugged. "You've proven yourself a good and trustworthy student. I don't see why not. And I certainly don't want to hinder you from learning more in this direction!"

He moved toward his desk, taking out a sheet of parchment and drafting a permission slip for Twilight to enter the Restricted Section of the library. "There you go! Now, if you find anything special, don't hesitate to share it with the class!"

"Thank you," Twilight said sincerely.

After class, a throng of students surrounded Twilight. "I can't believe it!" said the boy who'd hit his head on the desk. "I've never seen spells like that! That looked like really high-level magic!"

"Are you sure you should be a first-year?" another asked. "That looked like second-year stuff at LEAST!"

"I'm just really interested in learning all the spells I can find," Twilight said humbly. "Especially if I read about—"

"Doesn't anyone think there's something a little too odd about all this?" one first-year boy sneered. "It isn't natural. Those spells can't be as Light as you say. Otherwise, Professor Ricksmith would have heard of them. Isn't anyone else seeing this? It's unnatural magic that she brought from…weird places!"

A few students regarded him with interest, but most still gushed over Twilight's skill. Twilight put on a happy face, but the boy's remarks troubled her. What would happen if the others figured out that not only her magic but her entire self came from somewhere "unnatural" to them?

---

"I'm going in," Twilight told the study group as she looked up at the Restricted Section.

"Good luck!" Luna wished her.

Twilight approached Irma Pince's desk. Pince, a small witch with dark hair and piercing dark eyes, regarded her with suspicion. "Umm…" Twilight handed over the permission slip from Ricksmith. "I have a note for access to the Restricted Section?"

Pince took the note. "It seems to check out," she said. "Follow me."

She led Twilight to the locked door, opening it with an "Alohomora." Pince turned to face Twilight. "Now, be careful. And don't mess with anything you shouldn't. I wouldn't abuse my first time in the Restricted Section, were I you. It would not earn you any invitations back."

"I'll be careful," Twilight promised. Then she crossed into the other room, Pince resealing the door behind her.

The Restricted Section was massive. Row upon row of shelves faced Twilight, and she hardly knew where to begin. It unsettled her that this part of the library was painted a slightly darker shade of gray than the rest—perhaps that was to make her feel uneasy on purpose. Perhaps it was supposed to be a deterrent to mischief. Mischief was not at all what Twilight had in mind. What she wanted were history books and glossaries of terms. She sought out the history sections and began taking down encyclopedias.

The majority of the books seemed to be devoted to the works of Dark witches and wizards that had terrorized Fourth Earth in general. Or so Twilight thought. She passed over the work on Morgana le Fay without giving a second thought that le Fay might have affected more than just one planet. However, even had she known, she was not here to investigate le Fay; she was here to elaborate upon Joseph's journal. She knew the key terms she wanted to look up, and so she sought them.

Right Eye: nothing.

Lumen Sage: nothing.

Shibusen: nothing.

Mahou Shoujo: nothing.

Prayermaster: nothing.

Herald: nothing.

Amaterasu: something, but not much. Merely a statement that she was a goddess worshipped in feudal Japan. This was juxtaposed with chapter upon chapter about witches and wizards that committed horrible crimes in feudal Japan and had little to nothing to do with Amaterasu. By the time she reached the chapter on kitsunes and how they possessed the bodies of unsuspecting women, Twilight knew that she was more likely to find a horror story to keep her up at night than she was anything about Amaterasu.

Re-Horakhty: a similar situation. He was a sun god of ancient Egypt, mentioned in a book about terrors committed in ancient Egypt.

Atlantis: Twilight was stunned. There was a whole book. Short, but definitely a book in its own right. "Essays on Atlantis" was bound in blue leather with gold leaf lettering. Twilight flipped through it; unlike the other books, it wasn't filled with gory illustrations or tales of terror and terrorism. It seemed to simply be essays on a city.

She looked at the introduction:

"Atlantis is infamous for many reasons. While scholars can, for the most part, say it did in fact exist and did in fact contain a degree of magic, it is uncertain what exactly this city was like. Some even speculate that Atlantis was not of this world, and that it was a separate dimension. However, that is highly unlikely."

Based on that statement alone, Twilight guessed it was more likely than the author had imagined.

"This book is filled with theories about Atlantis and its significance. Each essay in this book is penned by a renowned magical historian. However, because evidence is scant, keep in mind that these essays are filled with hypothesis only."

Twilight didn't have time to read through every essay, and if they were only going to be theories, she wasn't going to check out the whole book. However, she figured she had enough time to sit down and skim the essays for the important parts. She put back the books she'd taken down and made her way to a table upon which to read the book she had.

On her way there, she noticed that some of the other books seemed to…whisper, and make other rustling noises. Many a spellbook was chained to the shelf. She shuddered. The history books must have been the "Muggles" of the Restricted Section; what the others contained, Twilight wasn't sure she wanted to know just yet. Perhaps the sort of curse that Esuna was designed to counter when Verdimillious failed. Perhaps stronger curses yet.

Trying to ignore the thought that the books on the shelf probably wanted to kill her, Twilight set the book open in front of her and leafed through it.

Partway through, she was interrupted by the sound of footfalls. She looked up. "Is…is somepony there?"

To her surprise, an orangutan shuffled out from behind one of the shelves.

"Um…hi?" Twilight tried.

The orangutan merely said "Ook" and began to survey the shelves.

"Okaaaay…" Twilight watched him (at least, she thought it was a him) search the bookshelves. Eventually, he took down a thick black volume.

"Ook," he said, looking back at her, and she knew it meant something akin to "Goodbye." Then he shuffled away between the shelves.

"Wait!" Twilight got up, galloping after him. However, after looking up and down every row of books, Twilight had to concede that the orangutan had simply, inexplicably disappeared.

---

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" Pince asked Twilight.

"Yes," Twilight answered. "Although the orangutan was kind of a distraction."

"Come again?"

"I ran into an orangutan in the library. I thought he might have been part of the staff or something."

"There isn't any orangutan on campus that I know of," Pince replied. "However, stranger has happened in this school…"

With that, Twilight returned to the study table.

"So?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"What did you find?" Luna added.

"Not much," Twilight said. "A lot of…creepy stuff."

"That's generally what's in the Restricted Section," Hermione pointed out.

"Turns out the gods we saw altars to in the Luminary Hall are gods from different parts of the world, though I'm willing to bet they're not limited to just there," Twilight began. "Amaterasu is from someplace called 'Japan,' and Re-Horakhty is from 'Egypt.' But that's not the most interesting thing I found. There was a whole book in there on Atlantis. It wasn't even creepy. It was probably restricted because it had speculations on the cosmos and otherworldly things, even though it didn't say them outright. After all, it looks like Atlantis was really important to magical history on this world too."

"It was," Ginny said. "I thought you knew. Everyone knows the legend of the sunken city. It was in the Mediterranean Sea."

"If it was on this planet," Twilight said. "Or…maybe it was in that sea and on this planet, but ALSO on others. I know that doesn't make sense, but it's the best I've got right now. Anyway, it was respected as this kind of…big city of good. When it sank, and nopony knows exactly why it sank, the entire world grieved. It was a center of art and culture, and it preached peace…except that it was at war with an unknown nation. Probably unknown because it wasn't on Fourth Earth, I'm guessing. It also pioneered technology using crystals. Even more than the Crystal Empire back home. And that's all anypony knows for sure."

"Isn't there anything about it in your electric book thingy?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Great idea!" Twilight realized, taking the Guide out of her bookbag where she'd had it stored. She hadn't used it since arriving at Hogwarts; she hadn't needed to. When she attempted to use it, however, it came up blank.

"Electric things don't work on campus," Hermione reminded her.

"Goodness knows if they did," Rarity sighed, "we wouldn't have to listen to Ebony whine about how her Walkman doesn't work so much."

"I don't really feel like going all the way off campus just to read it," Twilight sighed. "I know this is important, but I also feel like it can wait." She replaced the Guide. "Well, I guess for now, the trail is cold."

"But that means we can focus on other things," Applejack pointed out.

"Like helping out with S.P.E.W.," Fluttershy added.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "It still spells 'spew'!"

"We're agreed to meet in the kitchens on Friday?" Hermione asked.

Everyone around the table nodded assent.

---

"The trail is not necessarily cold," Firenze said as he and his six protégés watched the sky that Thursday evening. "You have only found one of the secret rooms. The others do not contain so much information, but it will still be enlightening to see them. Now that you have the Incendio spell, you may use it to open the room on the north corner of the main story of the castle. It looks unassuming, but will lead you to the Moshu and Mofa ballroom. I can explain it to you well enough myself, but it will do you good to see it for yourselves."

"I LOVE ballrooms!" Pinkie cried.

"The Moshu and Mofa ballroom is one worth loving," Firenze asserted. "It was the gathering place for all who were at Hogwarts—students, staff, and guests. It was where they would dance and celebrate. It was founded by a royal family from another world, and the reason Incendio was chosen as the unlocking incantation was in their honor…they were of a family which was close to fire. It symbolized the coming together and mingling of all who were in the castle. After it was sealed, all formal events were held in the Great Hall instead."

"So that was back when parties were for more than just the Slug Club," Rainbow Dash laughed.

"In a sense," Firenze agreed.

"Well, I for one am incredibly excited to see it in person," Rarity affirmed.

"Hey, Firenze," Twilight said, "do you know anything about Atlantis?"

"Atlantis…" Firenze looked directly up toward the sky. "A dream of utopia. Though it was ruled by humans, it is said that it was a city where everyone from human to centaur to house-elf could be treated with integrity. Then it was destroyed."

"Was it of this world?" Twilight asked.

"The historians of this world would like to claim that," Firenze said. "Though in a sense, they are not entirely wrong. This world was part of the same fabric as Atlantis."

"You've said a lot about how everypony used to get along here," Applejack pointed out, "and if even the Lumen Sages could get along here for a while…heck. Maybe this place could become the new Atlantis."

"It could never fully replace it for many reasons," Firenze said. "But to follow in Atlantis' footsteps would be a dream indeed."

"Minus the getting destroyed part, of course," Rainbow Dash offered.

---

The study group, as they had come to think of themselves, gathered before the massive painting situated on the wall in the first basement. The painting portrayed a still life of fruit: a vibrantly crimson apple, an almost edible looking green pear.

"Is it a password painting?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, it works very differently," Hermione answered. "It's rather silly." She reached up to touch the pear and gently tickled it. The pear went into a laughing fit before transforming into a green handle.

"That WAS silly!" Pinkie agreed.

Six Kentaurides and three humans stepped into the kitchens to find them bustling with activity. The kitchens themselves were enormous. At the center were four tables that paralleled the tables in the Great Hall, which was directly above; Twilight guessed the food was transported from one table directly to another. Around the walls were stoves, cooking fires, and chopping boards of all sorts. And working these stations were creatures that the six Equestrians were surprised never to have seen before despite their involvement in the running of the school. The house-elves were about half as tall as Hermione, or a little shorter. They had large, shining eyes; pointed noses; and batlike ears. Each wore a toga made of a pillowcase, a towel, or similar material, barring one who wore a ratty blue suit marred by tears and burns.

"Excuse me!" Hermione said.

At the sound of her voice, every house-elf turned to face her. At first, the collective expression was unreadable. Then, one angrily said, "Not this again!"

"I know we didn't part on the best of terms," Hermione said, "but we—"

"Get out!" another house-elf yelled. "Don't you understand? We don't want you here!"

"HEY!" Twilight yelled. "Why aren't you even listening to her?"

"Because," said the house-elf nearest to the group, "she's going to goes on about us needing pay and vacations and freedom. She's been at this for years. We doesn't want any of that stuff."

Fluttershy didn't miss it when the house-elf in the blue suit said very softly, "Most of us don't want any of that…"

"I thought you'd changed your tunes after the battle last year," Ginny said sternly. "You all pitched in, didn't you?"

"Doesn't mean we're going to starts getting above ourselves," another house-elf said from the crowd. "Can't we just works in peace?"

"I'm startin' to think it might be best if we just let 'em work in peace," Applejack told Hermione. "They obviously don't want—"

"Why?" Fluttershy asked.

"What?" several of the house-elves chorused back at her.

"Why don't you want to do anything but work, and without pay or vacation or anything fair?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm not criticizing you. I'm just curious."

The house-elves looked around amongst themselves. Then one stepped forward to speak. "It's our lot," she said. "Since the beginning of time, house-elves have served wizards and witches and been perfectly fine with it. If it was good enough for our ancestors, it's good enough for us. It's why we're called house-elves. We isn't good for anything more. We're born servants."

"No one is born a servant," Hermione argued.

"We," the house-elf insisted, "is."

"So…it's more that you think…you can't have any other kind of life?" Fluttershy asked.

Now the house-elf in the blue suit pushed aside the one who had been speaking. "Winky wants another kind of life!" she cried. "Winky wants more! But it's never going to happen to Winky because…because Winky has never been anything more than a failure!"

The other house-elves all shot her angry glares. "Backs off, Winky," the one who'd been shoved aside said.

"Leaves her alone, Linney." Easily the oldest house-elf in the kitchens stepped forward.

"And you're going to be the one who talks, Kreacher?" Linney shot back. "After all you did for the House of Black? You barely has any ability to distinguish between fiction and reality as it is!"

"Linney is obnoxious when she speaks out of turn," Kreacher muttered to himself, not quite aware that he had said that out loud instead of just thinking it.

"That's it!" Rainbow Dash said sternly. "Everypony, LISTEN UP!"

All eyes were then on Rainbow Dash.

"So you think this is all you're good for," Rainbow Dash said. "That this is a dead end because of history. But haven't you ever dared to dream? Haven't you ever wanted more? Let me tell you a story about a little filly I once knew who—"

"Rainbow Dash," Applejack hissed, "this is not the time for a personal story—"

"—who had a dream," Rainbow Dash said. "She wanted to be the best and fastest flier in the entire world. She was born to ordinary parents in an ordinary town, but she never gave up, and she kept on trying every day until she was accepted into the finest flying academy in the world! And there, she was nominated as a group leader! After that, she became a hero! You probably couldn't tell, but that filly was me."

"Everyone could tell," Hermione muttered.

"You think I could have become what I did if I hadn't decided to try for my dream, even when it looked like I shouldn't have been able to do it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "No! I didn't just accept everything that was given to me! And I'm here to tell you right now: no matter what your ancestors did, no matter what you think you were born to do, and no matter what's stopping you from getting what you want, there's nothing saying you can't try! Do you really want to stay in these kitchens all your life without fair conditions? If you do, that's fine. Then do it. But haven't any of you ever wanted to be paid? To buy things for yourselves? To get a vacation and go see…go see…um…hand me a place that's good for a vacation."

"Norway can be nice," Luna offered.

"To Norway!" Rainbow Dash picked up. "Or maybe you even want to work somewhere that's not the kitchens! Maybe you want to work in Diagon Alley! Own a shop! Sure, there are a lot of things that say you can't. But you can say you can! Do you think you can? What do you REALLY want?"

After a silence, Winky said, "Winky…Winky is all right with the kitchen…but Winky would like pay so…so Winky can has things for myself. Not other people's things."

"Kreacher wants to see more of this school," Kreacher said. Then, again confusing thoughts for dialogue: "It hides all sorts of nasty secrets Kreacher must knows…"

"And?" Rainbow Dash stared Linney down.

Linney's lip quivered. "Sometimes…sometimes Linney thinks about Diagon Alley. Linney is the best at making cakes and pies and wonders if anyone would likes them…but those is bad thoughts! BAD thoughts! Linney is supposed to make cakes HERE!"

"Says who?" Rainbow Dash challenged. "History? Tradition? Neigh-sayers? Forget it all! I think everypony here who isn't happy, and I'm not talking on the outside, I'm talking way deep down not happy, with the way things are, should get together and do something about it! NOW, WHO'S WITH ME!"

Several house-elves found themselves cheering. A few more gave soft yelps of approval.

"ALL RIGHT!" Rainbow Dash cried. "Now, I think the first thing we should do is—"

"Can Winky speaks?" Winky asked.

"Sure!" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Winky thinks…we should starts with a letter," Winky said. "We should gives it to the Headmistress."

"We can even help you write and deliver it!" Twilight said happily.

"We does not need your help for little things we can does ourselves," Linney snapped. "We wants to do this on our own."

"Whatever you want is just fine," Fluttershy said with a smile.

"Of course it makes sense," Rarity said softly. "We couldn't just act like they're powerless."

"But they could need our help more than they know," Ginny argued.

"They seem quite confident that they can get on well by themselves," Rarity replied.

"Just remember," Pinkie told the house-elf crowd, "if you need help, Hermione is really cool with helping you, okay? She wants what's best for you! So, um, don't be mad at her!"

"But she won't leaves us alone!" another house-elf cried.

"Quiet," Kreacher hissed. "He doesn't know when someone's trying to helps him…completely blind…"

"We can writes the letter ourselves," Winky told the study group. "But if we needs your help, at the very least Winky will ask. Thank you for saying what you says."

"No problem!" Rainbow Dash said with a wink. "Keep us posted on the letter, okay?"

The study group left the kitchens. "That…went strangely better than all my other attempts," Hermione said. "Rainbow Dash, you are quite the leader."

"I know," Rainbow Dash bragged. "I wasn't kidding about being named lead pony at Wonderbolt Academy. It just comes naturally!"

"But it wouldn't have gone that way four years ago," Ginny pointed out. "The battle showed them all that they have more power. And Winky is relatively new to the kitchens. She's probably changed their views a lot."

"What's her story, anyway?" Rarity asked. "I couldn't help but notice she was different in many ways."

"Winky was mistreated by her first masters and punished for things she didn't do in order to cover up actions by the Death Eaters," Hermione explained. "They threw her out, and she came here. She had more freedom than the other house-elves, and that made the others in the kitchens angry. It took them a long time to get used to her. Kreacher is a different story. He worked for the Death Eaters himself, sort of, but he sort of changed his tune and came to work here instead. Harry could have kept him on as a servant, but for all he laughs at my work with S.P.E.W., he still thought it was important to let Kreacher have a choice. And Kreacher picked these kitchens."

"Did they really think that all they were good for was being servants?" Pinkie asked.

"It isn't that hard," Luna said, "for people to convince you that you belong somewhere, whether you want to be there or not."

"That's just so sad," Pinkie said.

"McGonagall should be receptive to a petition from the house-elves," Ginny said. "I don't know how much she can do outside of improving conditions in the castle, but we'll just have to wait and see."

---

MITAKIHARA, 30TH EARTH

"NOW do you remember?" Discord asked Kyubey as the two sat on the park bench.

"Now I remember," Kyubey said. "Madoka's wish changed the timeline and the fate of all the Mahou Shoujo that signed the contract. As long as she was what she was, they would fight wraiths and not witches, and never go through the maturing process."

"You're not mad, are you?" Discord asked. "After all, the other timeline gave you the energy source you needed without the, er, nasty side effects."

"I am not mad. I cannot be mad. I do not have the capacity. I am not pleased either. I do not know whether I would be mad or pleased. But it takes the defeat of several wraiths to equal the energy produced by one contract. Perhaps I would be pleased. I see them all as disposable. May I ask where the wraiths have gone?"

"They're still around. Just not on this world, or at least not in that quantity. Anyway, now that things are normal, I suppose you're wanting to expand the business."

"In order to keep entropy from depleting the cosmos, I will have to make as many contracts as I can," Kyubey said. "There are many planets filled with emotional girls in the second stage of development. As there were in the past. There are even some that are already Mahou Shoujo without a contract. I can make a contract with them if I want."

"And there's the thing," Discord said. "The reason I went through all this in the first place. You see, with Madoka out of the way, you can make contracts, and they will end the way I like them."

"In disorder."

"Precisely. But I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you. Something rather small in the grand scheme of things, and it benefits you too."

"I will choose whether or not I want to accept," Kyubey said. Throughout, the expression on his face remained the same—the blank, staring eyes, the upturned mouth.

"There are six in particular I want you to make the contract with," Discord said.

"What makes them so special?"

"Let's just say I know, and you'll find out. And I can't wait to see the look on your face when you do—well, admittedly, it will be the same as it always is—but you know what I mean. Now, don't worry. You'll still get your energy from them. A lot of energy indeed."

"Is it one of your little games? You know the only option is for them to lose."

"I know very well what the options are."

"Show me who they are," Kyubey commanded.

Discord produced several photographs from thin air. There was one of each—Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack—and one of them all together. All had been taken candidly in Ponyville. "Technically, they're already Mahou Shoujo," he said. "But they don't have the contract signed. And they're actually working far under full potential."

Kyubey took a look at the photographs. "They are outgrowing the ideal stage of development."

"But trust me. Emotionally, they're just as volatile."

"Then I see no reason why not—"

"There is a catch."

"Go on."

"You see," Discord said, "their goals are a little different than those of the girls you usually deal with. The exact reason you give for most of the girls to get powers is one they would hate. And the exact reason most girls end up hating what you give them is actually what they want…well, if you worded it a little differently. If they knew what it REALLY meant, they'd be as horrified by the others, but they like the concept. So to get them to make the contract, you're going to have to NOT tell them what you usually tell the others, and tell them what you usually DON'T tell the others."

"And you promise a high net gain in energy? I don't want to waste my time if they won't contribute to the combat of entropy."

"Believe me, Kyubey, no one would hate the end of the cosmos more than me. The more energy they give off from the contract in order to make sure that doesn't happen, the better."

"Tell me more about what you would specifically like me to tell them," Kyubey said.

"I knew you'd agree to it!" Discord cried happily. "So here's the thing…"

---

HOGSMEADE, FOURTH EARTH

In the Shrieking Shack, Narcissa Malfoy lay a plate of sandwiches on the dining room table. "It was the best I could get from town today," she said. Shopping for food was always an ordeal for the Malfoys; each kept a hood up or a hat pulled low to keep the hair covered and the face obscured. All feared being discovered.

"It's all right," Lucius told her.

"Perhaps soon," Narcissa said, "we should…seek help, or something…"

"Or fight back," Draco suggested.

"Draco," Lucius said, "you cannot make up for battles you didn't pick in the past by picking this one now, and I won't entertain the notion of it any longer."

"But how long should we stay like this?" Narcissa asked. "Running—"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Narcissa's arms snapped to her sides, and she fell to the ground, hitting it as though she were a statue, unmoving.

"NARCISSA!" Lucius cried, rushing to her; Draco followed.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Lucius and Draco's stonelike forms fell alongside Narcissa's. All three could only stare upward and do nothing else. Two hooded forms shimmered into view, out of a cloaking charm.

"It's finally time for the traitors to die," said the shorter of the two. "Did you three really think you could hide forever? What an obvious place to choose."

"I don't see why we couldn't have just killed them," said the taller.

"Because I want them to know why they are dying," the shorter growled. "I want them to fear the way we feared. To know that there would NEVER be any freedom from consequences for what they did!"

"Don't," the taller cautioned. "Just kill them. Don't tell them—"

The shorter wouldn't listen. He removed his hood. He was then recognizable as Peter Pettigrew. "Thought I'd died, hadn't you?" he jeered. "I did. We all did. Thanks to you three snitches. Did you really think the Death Eaters were just some club you could join for luncheon and then leave when you felt like it?"

"Pettigrew," the taller said—his voice, come to think of it, was recognizable to all three Malfoys as Scabior's—not afraid to use Pettigrew's name since Pettigrew himself had spoiled it. "STOP."

"No," Pettigrew said. "They need to know. We aren't dead anymore. Not one little bit. We found a way back. But you never will. Lord Voldemort will rise once more, and you won't be around with your little snitching ways to annoy him. He'll be quite pleased with me, actually, once I turn in your bodies. But first…I want to have a little fun." He grinned. "Do you know everything I sacrificed?" He cradled his right wrist with his left hand. "Well, it's about time you sacrificed something yourselves, you stuck-up—"

"If you won't," Scabior growled, drawing his wand, "I will."

"I want to take the boy's right hand first," Pettigrew replied. "I gave that AND my life to the Dark Lord, only to take a demotion! And they betrayed us completely…led us all to our deaths…and they didn't give up ONE! SINGLE! THING!"

"Stupefy."

When Pettigrew hit the ground, unconscious, it took Scabior a while to register what had happened. All three Malfoys were down for the count, and Scabior certainly hadn't cast a stunning spell. By the time it occurred to him that there was someone else in the house—

"Stupefy."

Scabior didn't manage to turn around and get a good look at his attacker.

The fourth member of the household of the Shrieking Shack approached the Malfoys, casting the counter-curse for the full-body bind. The three scrambled to their feet hastily.

"It's not possible," Narcissa wailed. "It can't be—"

Lucius peeled back Scabior's hood. "It is."

"I would suggest," said the fourth, "that you leave this place. Now that you know what you know…"

"How did they even do it?" Draco asked.

"I do not know," the fourth said. "This is a grave matter indeed. No doubt this will be of interest to your allies among the authorities. Now that you know you were not targeted by those against the Death Eaters, I would assume it safe to trust those you had trusted."

"The Ministry," Narcissa suggested.

"Will never believe us," Lucius argued.

Draco thought it over. Then he knelt, taking Pettigrew and Scabior's wands. "What about Hogwarts?" he suggested.

"The safest bet," the fourth agreed. "After all, the last time Voldemort returned from the dead—"

"Don't say that!" Lucius retorted. "All we know is that these two are somehow here. Perhaps it's even an illusion!" He looked closer at the wands Draco held. "Though…those are the wands they held…"

"Minerva McGonagall will know better than Minister Shacklebolt how to react to the situation," the fourth concluded. "I would not delay further."

"You'll be coming with us," Draco said, "right?"

"No. I will be moving on to a new shelter."

"But don't they deserve to know—"

"No. And I will thank you to keep it a secret."

"Be careful," Draco said softly.

"We must go," Lucius insisted.

The three Malfoys huddled together for a group Apparition, and then were gone. The fourth regarded the two prone Death Eaters on the floor with no doubt that they were in fact who they appeared to be. After all, who would know better about coming back from the dead? The fourth—now the one, since the Malfoys had left—contemplated killing them, but knew that more death would not solve the problem, and would probably only draw out even more assassins. The only solution would be to find elsewhere to hide. And so the one Apparated away as well, hoping to fade out of the fabric of memory of the world, to be forgotten.

But Draco wasn't about to forget.

---

Chapter 30:

· Pinkie Pie HAS to get fire. I love the Pinkie Pyro meme as much as the next brony meme-maker.

· Verdimillious is a canon spell in the Potterverse. It's mostly game-specific. It has versatile uses, but my favorite is the ability to find items hidden by Dark magic.

· Tarantallegra is another canon spell…one those who recall the magic duel between Draco and Harry will remember fondly.

· I really should come up with more OC names for the people in Twilight's class.

· I couldn't resist going with Pince's movie design. It's just too perfect.

· And the Restricted Section is one area where the movies and games trump the books. In the books, the Restricted Section is separated from the rest of the library by a rope. Not only is a door better security than a rope, but making the Restricted Section a separate room allowed me to go a little Creepypasta on it. I mean…it's very canon that the books are filled with disturbing things and that some of them are even CHAINED TO THE SHELVES. In fact, if you like creepy/horror-style music, I would suggest listening to the song "The Trial" by Attrition while thinking about the Restricted Section. Also, it has a darker paint job because, again, that's just creepier.

· The orangutan isn't really a Chekhov's Gun so much as he is a cameo. In the Discworld books, it's established that there's such a thing as "library space" that those with the knowhow can use to travel from one library to another. All libraries are connected that way. You get yourself lost in the shelves of one and you come out in another. The orangutan is the librarian of the Unseen University (wizarding college) in the Disc. (He used to be human. Then he was enchanted into an orangutan. He doesn't mind and he actually kinda prefers being an orangutan.) He's probably the smartest character in the series and spends a lot of time in the library and using the library space, so I don't find it a stretch that he travels the libraries of the universe to find the books he wants.

· The Disney film of Atlantis and the Atlantis: The Lost Tales games I mentioned earlier BOTH have Atlantis running on crystal-based technology.

· Atlantis is mentioned in philosophy a lot as an example of utopia, so they would, of course, preach peace. But I need them to be at war with this "mysterious nation." Because I need to. (I wonder if anyone recalls a certain conversation Discord had with the Old Ones back in Morbus…)

· I'm surprised it took me this long to mention that the Guide doesn't work here.

· "Moshu" and "Mofa" are both Chinese words that essentially mean "magic" in slightly different contexts.

· Potter Wiki says that Kreacher MIGHT have stayed on as Harry's servant and MIGHT have moved to the kitchens. I chose kitchens. Not only because I needed more house-elf characters there and I wanted him to have at least an acquaintanceship with Winky, but I do think that Hermione probably would have influenced Harry's desire to not rely on a house-elf in a way that might be unfair.

· Linney is my OC because there are only two house elves with actual names in the Potterverse.

· Again, I'm trying to tackle it as best I can. I don't think it fair that this entire race thinks it's BORN to serve, and one of my readers and helpful idea-bouncers suggested to me the very convincing idea that house-elves are resigned to unpaid servitude because they believe they aren't good for anything else, as told by society. I tried to have characters in this scene offer at least one statement on different perspectives of the argument. And I realize that one solitary speech might not be enough, but I didn't know how else to kick it off (besides, Potter Wiki says emotions in the kitchen had changed since the house-elves participated in the Battle of Hogwarts…and also, the one giving the speech was Rainbow Dash).

· Again, I'm trying to keep a lot of the Puella Magi stuff hush-hush, so if it doesn't make sense to you now…it isn't really supposed to. What basically happened: Discord put the timeline back, so now Kyubey has memories of the contracts he used to make with Mahou Shoujo before the wraiths showed up and he didn't have to do that. Also, Kyubey's main motivation is to collect energy to combat entropy. Defeating wraiths is a source of that. So is forging contracts with the Mahou Shoujo in the timeline where Madoka is not a goddess.

· Canonically, Kyubey is incapable of feeling emotion. This time, I'm not retconning that out like I did with Voldemort and love/lust.

· And Kyubey's favorite target for Mahou Shoujo is preteen girls because they're more emotional, which leads to the conversion of more energy in the mysterious process of the contract. Which is why he balked at the Mane Six at first…but we ALL know how emotionally volatile they are!

· Pettigrew monologues because I need a way for the mainstream world to suspect that the Death Eaters are back.