Disclaimer: For the record, this is my last one. Because I believe I mentioned in the other one that I am 19 years old and wash old people's dishes. And if you seriously think someone of that caliber (NOT!) owns anything you actually recognize, than you seriously need help. And so do I, because I'm sounding like Motor Ed, and that means I'm watching WAY too much Kim Possible. (Seriously!)
Now, what one must understand about the Kingdom of Caring up in the clouds, and home to these two unusual human Care Bear Family members, is that time passes much more differently for them then it does on Earth. Which is how Starwing and Thunderheart was able to age to about maybe 6 or 7 between originally meeting John and Dawn and seeing them again when things with Dark Heart took a turn for the worst.
But, the story appears to be getting ahead of itself again, so let's go back a bit and explain.
John and Dawn were best friends with a brown-haired girl named Christy, and Christy was a bit too competitive for her own good. It didn't help that she hated always coming in last and the boasting boy who always came in first place gloated far too much and made Christy and John and Dawn do all the camp chores while the other campers went off to play.
But while John and Dawn were cases intervened into by the Care Bears, thankfully, Dark Heart got to Christy first. Using his shape-shifting powers, he made himself out to be a camper in a neighboring camp on the opposite side of the river Christy's camp bordered. He offered Christy a deal in the forest, he'd make her "Camp Champ", as it was called, and all he asked in return was a favor no questions asked when the time was right.
Christy was at first distrustful of Dark Heart, and rightly so. Sadly, she did not listen to her gut instincts and run away. Won over by Dark Heart's charm, she made the deal, and was suddenly capable of far more then she had been ten seconds ago. With a sinister reminder of the no questions asked favor later, Dark Heart vanished just in time for John and Dawn to find Christy and begin excitedly telling her about their successful babysitting job with the cubs.
"But what was even stranger was that two of the cubs were humans, only two years old. The boy looks like he will be quite the man in his youth, with these stunning emerald eyes and a really cool bolt scar on his forehead. His adoptive sister is adorable, grey-blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair." said John.
Christy opened her mouth to respond only to hear a creepy laugh from Dark Heart, who was of course listening. All three campers stiffened in shock and fear. Dawn looked at her friend. "So, what happened to you while we were lost and babysitting?" she asked.
Christy shrugged, suddenly rather nonchalant. "Nothing. We'd better get back to camp before someone notices us missing and does something extreme."
Christy walked purposefully away to the camp, and John and Dawn exchanged glances. Dark Heart's creepy laugh echoed again, and a cold wind blew, and the two blondes, sticking close together out of fear and general uneasiness, headed after their friend.
And no one realized just what had happened.
Dark Heart came to collect his owed favor not too long afterwards, and Christy was horrified when she learned that she would be his decoy to capture the Care Bear Family. But before we go to that, let's go back to the Kingdom of Care real fast.
Noble Heart and True Heart, well aware of the risks posed by Dark Heart, even in the Kingdom, decided that it would be prudent to move the cubs somewhere safer. Thunderheart became an official bear in the clouds of Care-A-Lot while Starwing learned about being a Cousin in the Forest of Feelings' trees.
But even though they were two separate factions, they were two separate factions of one large group, a Family. Thunderheart and Starwing were brother and sister, alongside their confidants, Secret Bear and Proud Heart Cat. That they were human, and their family bears, a cat and a dog and etc, never registered with them as anything but normal.
Under the tutelage of True Heart and Noble Heart, the cubs flourished and grew. True, Thunderheart and Starwing were a tad slower then the others, but that was because they were human, or at least born human. That was going to have an effect, but they were mature enough in mind, and no one treated them any different in the family.
After all, they were the Care Bears and Cousins, and making fun of their own family members with a hurtful intention just wasn't done. Sure, they all teased Thunderheart and Starwing every once in a while, but it was not hurtful, just playful. Besides, Thunderheart and Starwing always came back with retorts that, from the rate they were growing still, they would be taller then the rest of the family combined.
At age seven, they were already taller then the others, reaching about four feet or so, give or take, where the Bears and Cousins only reached about two feet. And they showed no signs of stopping anytime soon, either.
But they were also almost unbearably cute as well. With Harry's vivid green eyes and Amber's warm smiles and glittering cloud eyes, they made an adorable pair, and many adults would melt into sappy piles of mushiness as they thought about them, particularly them getting together in a romantic sense.
The children they would deal with on a more frequent basis would not think of that, although it could be argued that many girls would still do the melting bit. Then again, they were girls. And their minds were just as sharp and aged as their family's.
Growing up Care Bear, it turns out, has interesting effects on wizards. Both Thunderheart and Starwing had already displayed rather prominent power, although Thunderheart's was undoubtedly more stronger then his sister's, and when the horse and bear and their adopted cubs were granted the power of a Care Bear, these powers were also endowed to the two wizards by the Great Wishing Star.
That said, the two different magicks—although it could be said that the only difference was that the wizard's magic had the potential to go bad, like Dark Heart's, if used the right way, when the Care Magic didn't have any route to choose except goodness and caring—ended up melding together. And the combined product was very interesting indeed.
Why the powers merged, it couldn't be said. Some theorize that the wizard magic sensed that their wielders identified the others also getting the magic as family, and accepted the foreign magic being given them as family magic just as much as it was. Others think maybe it had to do with some interference from some higher power, maybe even the Great Wishing Star himself.
Whatever the reason, the white beams of light Starwing and Thunderheart used to hurt Dark Heart's dragon form on the ocean that long ago day were now far stronger then they had been, and against Dark Heart and others like him, far more damaging. The two humans' Care Magic was also capable of more then the others', thanks to the already present Wizard Magic. After all, Care Bears never thought of transfiguring items or charming them.
All too soon, every one of the cubs save Thunderheart and Starwing were full grown, full fledged Care Bears and Cousins, and began to help out on missions to make sure the level of caring on earth was stable.
Then Dark Heart called in his favor.
The plan was to imprison each and every single member of the Family in a red crystal that would then become part of a beautiful and decidedly tragic chandelier for Dark Heart's lair. Once all the Bears and Cousins were trapped to never be released and incapable of escape, Dark Heart would be free to make the world the most uncaring place to have ever existed.
To imprison the Care Bear Family, however, would take Christy's help. Extremely reluctantly, she would engineer a situation, on Dark Heart's orders and plots, that would call the Care Bears to her aid. Once they had come, he would defeat them, because in twos and threes they were hardly able to do more then scratch him, and they would be encaged in his lair until they were all collected and could be placed inside their prisons.
True Heart and Noble Heart he also took care of. They would defend the others if they got wind of his plan, so he sent his shadow to lead them on a wild goose chase. Dark Heart knew that by the time they realized it was all fake, it would be too late to save the others, and he would win.
It hadn't counted on the powers of Thunderheart, Starwing, John, Dawn and Christy herself.
By the time the rest of the family realized that every mission meant to help Christy was a trap, not very many members were left. Cheer Bear, Grumpy Bear, Tenderheart, Brave Heart Lion, Swift Heart Rabbit, Secret Bear, Friend Bear, Harmony Bear, Bright Heart Raccoon, Love-A-Lot and, of course, Thunderheart and Starwing remained.
As Harmony Bear put it, "Oh my, oh dear, what do we do? We were so many, now we are so very few."
At first, no one knew what to do. They couldn't just up and stop helping lower the influence of Dark Heart's evil on the rest of the world, but how could they go about helping if it might just end up as Christy, setting up another trap? It was Thunderheart who provided the solution.
"We need to get caught."
Everyone stared at him, but Starwing was doing so while nodding in agreement, having channeled into his wavelength. "Exactly. We're strongest all together. Once Dark Heart has all of us, we can attack him, and maybe even defeat him for the last time. I don't know if we can do it without Noble and True, but we have to try anyway. If we don't there will be nothing left."
"But, if Dark Heart is out there capturing us, then what are they doing?" asked Swift Heart.
"Chasing ghosts, but that isn't the problem that needs discussing right now. We need to figure out how to free everyone after Dark Heart captures us so that we can launch that attack." replied Thunderheart.
Captured and caged, as planned, the remaining Care Bears and Cousins quickly and briefly explained the plan to the already captured members. One of the Star Buddies unlocked the cage holding Thunderheart and Starwing, but it was quickly discovered that it couldn't unlock all the cages.
"We'll have to get the key from Dark Heart." said the also released Brave Heart.
"Let me do the honors." Starwing shook her head, and called up her magic, asking it to open all the cage doors without alerting anyone.
Her trademark trio of winged stars zoomed around the room, silently unlocking cage doors and moving on. Once the final cage was unlocked, they came back and became her tummy symbol again.
"Neat trick Starwing." Thunderheart murmured softly. "Now let's get Dark Heart once and for all."
Christy's help was invaluable when they ended up captured anyway and she broke the chandelier. Her natural talent at marbles was a gift the whole Care Bear Family could appreciate quite a bit when it saved their lives. Only True Heart, Noble Heart, Thunderheart and Starwing ended up un-captured before Christy broke the chandelier.
Noble and True arrived too late to stop Dark Heart from entrapping their cubs, but Dark Heart was unable to get Thunderheart and Starwing because they were sensitive to magic, particularly evil magic, and had dodged his little spell. Thunderheart was extremely sensitive to evil magic thanks to the attack on his person when he was two, and Starwing had been an extremely empathetic child before the Care Bear Magic made her even more sensitive and prone to others' feelings.
Christy tried to protect all four remaining members of the Family from Dark Heart, but was spelled out of the way by him, allowing True, Noble, Thunderheart and Starwing to have at it. With the white beams shaped like their tummy symbols hitting him dead on from True Heart and Noble Heart, Starwing's winged stars attacking him wielding what seemed to be little white light sabers, (A side effect of the wizard magic) and continuous bolts of lightening hitting him from the sides thanks to Thunderheart, Dark Heart was quickly weakened, but it would take more then just that to defeat him.
With a crash and burst of magic, the Family found themselves facing Dark Heart, their remaining four members doing everything in the power to defeat him, and being attacked by red bolts in response. Tenderheart and Brave Heart quickly rallied the Bears and Cousins and Dark Heart was nearly defeated for good, but he upped his attacks and prevented the Family from doing anything but dodging.
Dark Heart, laughing as he sensed his final victory nearing, made the fortunate move of glancing over his side to see the Family, and instead caught sight of Christy, glowing red and having obviously been victim to one of his attacks. Christy, who had saved his life, Christy, who Dark Heart had come to see as something a bit more then an ally.
"Help me Care Bears." He pleaded as he came to kneel in human form by Christy's side.
Noble Heart reached out to touch her, and everyone gasped at the reaction, which was impossible to describe with words. "We—we can't." chorused True Heart and Noble Heart sadly.
"NO! What good is all your love, your caring, if it cannot save this child?" cried Dark Heart, sounding, impossible as it was, near tears. His voice sounded odd in his human body, deep and resounding, coming from the mouth of what appeared to be a boy no older then maybe 12.
"It would take more love and caring then we have all put together." replied Noble Heart miserably.
Starwing and Thunderheart were looking at their enemy oddly. "Maybe it would take more then the family has together, but we might be able to save her." commented Thunderheart.
Dark Heart latched onto this like a limpet. "How, what is needed?" he demanded.
"All of us here, the Family, John, and Dawn would need to care as hard as possible, but what is going to really make a difference is you, Dark Heart." Thunderheart said, still looking at Dark Heart.
"We care, we always will care, and John and Dawn care for her as a friend. But what about you, Dark Heart? Do you care for Christy? Do you really, deep down inside your heart, twisted by your evil though it has been, care? Then help us save her. Show you care for her as much as the rest of us, and help us. Yours might just be what brings her back from wherever you have sent her." Starwing added.
"Everyone hold hands!" said Noble Heart as he and the others, including John and Dawn, made a circle around Dark Heart, Christy, Thunderheart and Starwing. Cheer Bear started up a chant of "We care!" that was quickly taken up by the others, save Dark Heart, who was looking around at this display from the Care Bear Family and thinking about Starwing's questions.
Did he really care for this girl? This child who had been nothing to him but a means to entrap the Care Bears and Care Cousins? Nothing but a tool for him to use against the good guys and win. But this tool had saved his life.
"Good or bad, you're still a person, or whatever you are." Christy's voice echoed her sentiments as she tried to explain why she had saved him from drowning that day on the lake. "Maybe that's the only difference between us." she had said when he told her point blank that he wouldn't have done so if the positions had been reversed.
"We care, we care. I care, I care!" Dark Heart didn't know when he had started chanting, but he could no longer deny it, deny that he did indeed care for this girl who had ended up helping him more then he and her both had originally planned. As he continued to chant, his voice changed, becoming the boyish voice he had used to originally make his deal with Christy.
Thunderheart and Starwing smiled at him through their chanting as they saw and heard him chant, and those smiles became wide, somewhat smug grins as their idea was enough. The red of Dark Heart's magic faded behind, and Christy's eyes opened, looking a tad confused, particularly when she recognized Dark Heart's human form over her looking more worried then she had thought he could be.
The lair chose this moment to start coming down around them, and it was only a narrow escape by everyone involved, but they were all thrilled nonetheless. Especially Dark Heart, whose red eyes had turned blue, signifying that his evil had left in the face of his feelings for Christy, and he was now a normal boy.
Dark Heart, now under the name of Clayton, or Clay for short, became a camp member with John, Dawn and Christy, and the Care Bear Family stuck around to celebrate for a bit. They laughed and teased, splashing each other in the lake used for swimming, going into hysterics when Grumpy Bear jumped in from a swinging tire and lost his bathing suit, and tossing the laughing Swift Heart into the lake.
All too soon, however, it was time for the Care Bear Family to head back to the Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings, for they had to keep watch over the rest of the Earth, as was ordered by the Great Wishing Star.
And that was the end of Dark Heart's evildoing.
Meanwhile, Hogwarts was running normally, and the student body had increased their numbers now that Voldemort and his Death Eaters weren't murdering muggleborns before they could get their letters, or opposing families, school-age children included. Dumbledore was still spending every summer trying to find a clue as to where Harry Potter had gone, and failed each year.
But unnoticed by them, one of their future students, a now nine year old Hermione Granger, was succeeding where he was failing, kinda.
Having spent most of her life the unwanted teacher's pet of her class, Hermione had closed herself off from feelings other then her parents, who loved her. Even then, there was still a bit of withdrawing, because her parents were highly recommended dentists and spent a lot of time at work.
And this, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the Care Bear Family, keeping an eye on situations like these from their home in the clouds. When Wish Bear, playing look out, spotted Hermione, she alerted the others. Noble Heart and True Heart sent Thunderheart and Starwing, accompanied by Proud Heart Cat and Secret Bear, to intervene.
Hermione was walking home from school when she was approached by a strange boy and girl, and a cat and bear walking upright on their hind legs and colored, of all things, orange. They all had strange symbols on their tummies, or tummy area in the humans' case, and Hermione looked at them dropped jawed.
"Who are you, and what are you?" she demanded, first to the two humans, then to the cat and bear.
"My name is Thunderheart, and this is Starwing, Secret Bear and Proud Heart Cat. We're here to help you."
"Help me do what?" replied Hermione with resigned look.
"We've noticed that you don't share your feelings, and we're here to help you. We're here to be your friends, because it seems that you don't have any." spoke Proud Heart.
"Well maybe I don't want any friends. Maybe I don't need any friends. I have me, and my parents, and that works. How about that?" said Hermione sharply, decidedly unfriendly. She glared at them harshly.
"Nonsense! Everyone needs friends, Hermione, even the book-lovers like you. I mean, I enjoy a good book just as much as you, but I still need Proud Heart, otherwise I'd be very lonely. And Thunderheart is very good at making sure I come outside and play and have fun, instead of wasting away in the library all day." Starwing replied.
Hermione stubbornly walked past the quartet, deciding that maybe ignoring them would make them go away. She didn't get very far before she stopped and turned around to stare at Starwing. "How did you know my name?"
"We know lots about you, Hermione. That's what friends do. We know that you love books and hope to someday be a famous researcher. We know that you hate how busy your parents are, and we know that you get lonely sitting at home reading instead of outside playing with the other kids. We know because we're your friends." said Thunderheart.
Secret Bear whispered in Thunderheart's ear and he nodded. "Secret Bear also says that you have an invisible friend named Gina that helps you sometimes, but he says not to worry because your secret's safe with him. And nobody keeps a secret like Secret Bear!" he added.
Hermione stared at the odd group for several moments. She didn't know what to do, but eventually decided to show them to her house, where they could talk about this more and in private.
By the time they reached the Granger residence, Hermione had four new friends, and their talk ended up involving the board games the family owned.
After all, they had to figure out which to play first as friends.
There. Now, note that in some of the lines, both here and in chapter one, I stole from the second CB movie directly. I tried to be as true to Hermione in the last bit as possible, and I hope I have kept her in character. At least as much as this little AU will allow.
Thanks for all your kind reviews, and I'm glad you all seem to like it this much. Next, I think, will be Hogwarts catching on to poor Thunderheart. Unless you all have other ideas you'd like to see first, maybe another Care Bear plot? I have only seen one episode (Came with my 25th anniversary Proud Heart Cat), but that doesn't mean I can't get the summery and just make up lines. Or something.
As for those of you who saw the second CB movie, I sort of made Dark Heart the reason Christy was saved, because I don't think the teenagers and adults reading this really care for the audience participation done in the movie. Clap for Tinker Bell isn't done anymore after you reach about 10.
I also took liberties, because it could hardly have been more then days when John and Dawn met up with Friend and Secret Bear, and they were all grown up. So, I made Harry and Amber seven in body, and they aren't done growing yet! And I hope you like the tidbits about the magic combining and why Dark Heart's attacks didn't effect them.
Well, tell me if you want more CB action before the HP plot kicks in, and remember, flames make me cry…