Okay, so here's chapter eight! This one was interesting because I was debating the thing with the crew (as you'll see in the chapter) but overall, I ended up going through with it because reasons. I'll explain at the bottom after you've finished.

Velial13: Let me explain my thinking, okay? I gave Jonah magic because he's the only person in canon who has remained by Lara's side since Yamatai. Reyes went her own way, Sam is in a mental hospital as far as I know (I haven't read the comics, I need to though) Roth is dead, Alex is dead, and Grim is dead, so obviously they can't, and Whitman just needed to die from the get go (in case you couldn't tell, I hate that man with a passion, which just goes to show how good the characterization is). So, in my story, Jonah has magic. As we've seen in Shadow of the Tomb Raider trailers and gameplay trailers, Jonah is still with Lara, backing her up. Guy deserves a small fortune just keeping up with Lara in RotTR. Anyways, I gave Sam magic because, as we see in the video game, she's Himiko's descendent, and in my story, she's a descendent of Himiko's ORIGINAL body, the one that had the most power, originally, before she started jumping bodies like Orochimaru in Naruto. As I explained in story, she's not a trained witch because of her canonical forced nomadic lifestyle, in response to her parents' production company's needs. Wherever she was born registered her birth for the local magical school, but she was most likely NOT in country when she reached the appropriate age, and we all know how arrogant magical purebloods are, so they probably didn't go looking for her when the invitation didn't go through. Lara's special though. As I said in the story, she has survival magic, and she was born during the peak of when Death Eaters were getting rid of records of muggleborns. Sam probably lived a pretty cushy life, which means she probably never had any noticeable accidental magic, and Lara's magic was already primarily engaged in KEEPING HER ALIVE. Even when she wasn't necessarily in danger, or dying.

On to the power issue. Yes, Harry is more powerful than Merlin, yes, so is Lara, and Sam is on the level of Morgana. HOWEVER! However, that doesn't make them automatically as good at magic as the two premiere magic practitioners. Naruto has had a massive effect on multiple other fandoms, and Harry Potter is the best way to see this difference, prior to, and after the changes wrought by Naruto. In Naruto, everyone has chakra reserves, which here is how much magic a person has, and then there's chakra control, which translates to MAGICAL control. Then there's what the fandom has done to Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry. It is the commonly accepted theory that the reason why Voldy and Dumbles always tied in their duels, is because Dumbles had perfect control over his spells, no movement, or magic, wasted. He also had a depth and breadth of magic memorized that is nearly unmatched in his lifetime. He's also incredibly intelligent, and adaptive in his fighting style, resulting in someone, who, while not as magically strong as Merlin, could give Merlin a run for his money, simply due to his control, finesse, and adaptability. Then there's Voldy, who the fandom has accepted as having monstrous magical reserves, a knowledge of the dark arts only rivaled by Dumbles, and a cunning and ruthlessness that allows him to duel Dumbles to a standstill. Then there's Harry, who, in popular fanfiction, has power AT LEAST on par with Voldy, and through vigorous practice during Fourth Year to survive the Triwizard Tournament, control to impress Dumbles. However, Harry's spell repertoire is limited to his Hogwarts education. Also, Harry is at least as intelligent as Hermione, possibly even more so. Think about it, he had to figure out how to pass each and every grade in primary school, but he also had to ensure his grades were lower than Dudley's in order to avoid getting a beating from Uncle Vernon. Trust me, it takes more intelligence to fake being stupid, than to show off your intelligence. So that shows both superlative intelligence, and a cunning most kids JUST DON'T HAVE.

Now, I've handicapped my characters by making it so that using magic causes strain on the body. I got the idea from the movies, and kind of from the books. In canon, we don't hear any witch or wizard go "I'm out of magic, it's up to you." Instead, in the movies, we see that they stop casting spells because they're FUCKING EXHAUSTED, and can't really move due to their exhaustion. Hence, why, even though I'm putting an upper limit on magical capacity in my story, my characters will not be OP. Why? Because it will take YEARS for Sam and Lara to build up the finesse and control that Harry shows now. He wastes very little magic in each spell, but he still waves his wand excessively. Compared to Dumbles though, he's rather like someone dropped an elephant in a china shop. Dumbles could perfectly control the amount of magic in each spell so that there was no wastage. Harry… not so much. Sam and Lara? You ever tried to fit a swimming pool's worth of water in a thimble? The thimble is the spell, and the swimming pool's worth of water is the amount of magic they're trying to put into it. Tons of wastage. Literally. There's also the fact that Lara's magic is already engaged in her survival magic. Meaning that, despite how much magic she HAS, her body is already using a good chunk of it keeping her in tip top condition in preparation for fight-or-flight. So, when it comes to length of time and number of spells cast, Sam can outlast her, despite being, objectively, weaker.

Guest that mentioned Lara using Greek Fire: There's an idea. Not saying it's right or wrong, but it's an interesting idea.

DeathCrawler: Yes, Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be in here, along with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Maybe some of the DLC's too. I've definitely enjoyed Blood Ties, Baba Yaga, and I'm still working through the Cold Darkness DLC, but I'll have to figure out how to add in my little magical twist.

plums: I'm a great fan of your Last Second Savior, so if you PM me, I'll talk with you about some of my ideas, I've been in desperate need of a sounding board if you're willing. That said, part of Lara's appearance is my personal preference for women, partly just for comedic relief opportunities later in the story.

And to EroSlackerMicha! AH! Can't believe you actually favorited my story! Thank you! I love your works, and I really miss your Team Sharingan story, it was incredibly well done, and I truly miss it. I hope you get better after the recent tragedies that have struck you. Get well soon!

"He was the epitome of a Gryffindor, yet he's such a coward around women, honestly." Hermione said, and I marveled at the perfect clarity of picture and sound, like she was actually in the room with me.

"Gryffindor?" I asked. "What's that?"

"He hasn't taught you about the Hogwarts Houses?" she asked, surprise overcoming her features.

"No," I shrugged. "He's been more concerned with getting our magical knowledge of spells and capabilities up to at least seventh year, with some outlier skills to assist us on this expedition."

"Yes…" she sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Adventures with Harry tend to be fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants the entire time, interspersed with death defying stunts and mortal injuries that somehow don't kill you. Like the time we broke into Gringotts Goblin Bank, stole an artifact from a vault that was supposedly impregnable, loosed a blind dragon from its bindings, rode it out of the bank, and jumped off its back into a lake in Scottland in mid January from a height of almost three hundred feet. We came out of it with a few burns from a curse in the vault, and hypothermia in our toes and fingers that we got rid of in a couple of hours."

"… Do you… have survival magic?" I asked, curiosity overcoming my manners for a moment.

"By dint of seven years of exposure to Harry and engaging in all the semi-legal activities that caused numerous injuries to us, yes, my husband Ron and I both have survival magic." Hermione nodded. "I'm guessing since you're asking, you do too, but it's too soon for Harry to have affected you so."

"I was a difficult birth." I shrugged. "Both me and my mother should've died, but we didn't, and I've been a pretty healthy girl my whole life."

"And on top of that, your magic never had anything else to do since Tom Riddle's followers destroyed records of muggleborns, meaning that your survival magic is probably more powerful than mine and Ron's." she grimaced. "Well, enough about that, onto Support Charms!"

"Please, don't be so chipper." I groaned, rubbing my forehead with my free hand. "Ever since Harry forced me to start eating more to increase my muscle and bone density, my breasts decided it was a good idea to get bigger as well. I've gone up three cup sizes, but since we're at sea, I can't exactly go shopping for new bras, so I've had to just let my bras out to their loosest hooks, and bear with it."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I went from DD, to probably F. I haven't had to worry about side or under-boob since I hit puberty and blew through bras in a few months!"

"Alright, well, here's the incantation, its–"

.

When I woke up six hours later, I was happy to find that the charm was still in effect, and I still felt comfortable going braless, something I hadn't done since early in high school. Hermione had also showed me a sizing charm made specifically for bras, so now all my bras fit once again. I was going to have to show Sam later!

After eating a hearty breakfast with Harry, we made our way to the galley, where I had another full breakfast, with Jonah eyeing me warily, and moving towards the pantry that held my beloved Jaffa cakes. I glared at him, and he smirked and moved away as I summoned one to me, using both the summoning and levitation charms to sneak it past all the non-magical crewmen milling about the galley. I bit into it, and Harry just chuckled at me. I had to admit, magic really was useful and fun!

I blinked.

Wow, reduced stress from not having an aching back from my breasts really did improve my disposition, just like Hermione had said! No back pain was a novel concept that I hadn't experienced in years, and that back massaging spell Hermione had taught me put me straight to sleep. Sam would be so excited, once I told her… If I told her…

"Someone's chipper this morning." Roth said, sliding into the empty chair next to me.

"Let's just say I learned some feminine hygiene charms last night that make walking around with my chest far easier," I said, chuckling as Roth choked on his bite of scrambled eggs. After he cleared his airway and took a swig of water, he glared at me, but the intensity was mitigated by his watering eyes.

I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me, and I ran out of the galley giggling like a little girl a few minutes later, Sam trailing after me with questions. We spent the next hour giggling together in the common room of Harry's suit case, before we were called up to the galley, where we saw the entirety of the Endurance crew gathered.

"Thank you all for coming on this dangerous expedition," Harry said. "I'm probably going to be lambasted by governments the world over, but I don't give a fuck because your lives are more important."

There was some uncomfortable shifting around me, and I realized with a bit of horror and more than a little apprehension, that Harry was about to break the Statute of Secrecy wide open.

"Magic is very much real, gentlemen." He said, waving his hand and conjuring a chair that he sat in. "And Yamatai is the home of an ancient sorceress that has amassed enough power to control the weather around her island, wrecking any and all sea and air craft that pass within her area of control. Over the past five thousand years, ships, and in recent decades, air craft, have been crashed, and subsequently confined to the island, with absolutely no chance of escape."

There was grumbling and shifting, and I wondered if we were about to face a mutiny.

"The Japanese Ministry of Magic commissioned me to deal with the sorceress. It's kind of my specialty. Your jobs, will simply to be to stay on the Endurance, and fight off any and all people that are not me, my apprentices Lara and Sam, Jonah, or Roth. We will be dealing with the sorceress." I frowned, wondering why Harry had stipulated that everyone fought off anything that might come for the ship. "With the way my luck runs, there are survivors of the wrecks on the island, and more than likely some megalomaniac in charge who will happily kill everyone who doesn't join him and his fucked up cause. I don't expect you to go out and fight, I don't expect you to try and combat something you don't understand. I expect you to stand and defend this ship.

"Each of you are looking at a million pound bonus once we're back in England, plus hazard pay and full medical coverage if any injuries are accrued that I am personally unable to heal, or that you do not wish me to heal. If you are somehow killed, that money will go to your closest living relative, and the medical coverage for them will be for life. I know money can't fix everything, but sometimes it helps. If you do not want to be involved in this, I have a place to hide you all that will keep you safe until the insanity is over.

"I will leave for fifteen minutes, and you can debate among yourselves what your collective decision will be."

And with that, Harry got up, vanished his chair, and walked out of the galley. As soon as the door shut behind him, the deck master stood up and looked at the crew, silencing them with his glare.

"Well, I don't know about you wusses, but I'm going to earn my million. Show of hands of who's not?" he demanded immediately. A few hands went up. "Then you're off the crew forever once we get back home."

The hands retracted like they'd been burned, and a low grumbling started up.

"We're looking at going to the Asian version of Atlantis." I said, standing up, drawing everyone's attention to me. "The only difference is that Yamatai is real, with actual written records of its existence, not simple legends echoed through time from one generation to another. There will be artifacts, both magical and not, that will go for tens, even hundreds of millions of pounds the world over. From what Harry has taught me and Sam, magicals are willing to pay obscenely well for magical artifacts, and will throw money at you if there's even a hint of an artifact belonging to an ancestor of theirs. There could be billions of pounds involved in this venture, and all your paycheck provider wants, is for you to guard this ship? This ship that how many of you have called home for how long?"

"My daughter's a witch."

I blinked and turned to see Reyes standing up.

"The British magical society looks down on magical people born to non-magical parents. They even disparage non-magicals and the technological wonders we perform regularly now." She said, and I could see the frowns on the men's faces. "But if it came out, and I know Mr. Potter will see that it does, if it came out that a boat full of non-magicals, and no more than four magicals, two of whom have no magical schooling, and might as well be non-magicals themselves, found and successfully revealed the home of a magical kingdom that's been lost for almost five thousand years, we'd be showing magicals how we can do something they can't.

"And when it came out that I was one of the people who helped rediscover it, my daughter's going to be having people falling all over themselves to get in her good books so that they can meet me. And I'm going to enjoy blowing them off like their society has blown me off for so long, simply because I don't have magic. I'm going to take this opportunity to smear it in their faces that I'm just as capable as them. I highly suggest you do the same."

The galley was silent, and then Roth stood up, and all movement and sound ceased.

"My sister was a witch." He said. "She's dead now. Died saving thirty six children from being slaughtered by madmen. Mr. Potter is currently funding those children's lives. Out of his own pocket. He's paying us obscene amounts of money just to transport him to where he can do his fuckin' job. So, here's your assignment from me."

He paused, leaning forward slightly, his eyes peering into the faces of the entire crew.

"When Mr. Potter gives the signal, we're all piling into his suit case." There was confusion, until Sam came in with a pop culture reference that put most at ease.

"Think Doctor Who's TARDIS, only, applied to a suit case instead of a police box." She said. "It's got like, a full house inside of it."

"Indeed." Roth said, nodding at Sam. "We pile in there when Mr. Potter tells us to. Then when things calm down, we come back out, and guard the Endurance until Mr. Potter says it's time to go. You all get to stay on the ship. Only me, Mr. Potter, Jonah, Reyes, Alex, Lara, and Sam will be getting off the boat onto the island. Clear?"

There were murmurings, and I felt a wave of relief when I realized that they were all agreeing, albeit grudgingly in some cases, and we wouldn't face a mutiny on Roth's ship.

When Harry came in a few minutes later, and got confirmation that everyone was on board with his plan, he smiled, and then asked Sam to show the crew into his suit case so they could preemptively familiarize themselves with it.

.

"What's wrong, Lara?" I asked, pulling my apprentice aside. Something was troubling her, and it concerned me deeply, especially given how light hearted and giggly she was earlier this morning.

"You ran the risk of having a mutiny on Roth's ship." She said, avoiding looking me in the eye.

I winced.

"Yes, I did." I admitted. "But!"

Her mouth was open to lay into me, but I stopped that by pressing a finger to her lips.

"But…" I said, getting her to look me in the eye. "Which is more important? Keeping a secret that would've been blown wide open anyways once we got to Yamatai, and risk everyone here dying, or tell them, risk a mutiny, and simply lock everyone and everything of value up in my suit case until we're done on Yamatai?"

That seemed to stop her, for a moment, before she swelled up in a manner not dissimilar to Hermione getting ready for a long-winded tirade, and I just cringed slightly before resigning myself to a tongue lashing.

"But what about the rest of us?!" she exclaimed. "Roth, Reyes, Grim, Alex, Jonah, Sam?! What about them?! How long would it have been before you got in there to save them? They're not you! They're not me! They would've been overwhelmed in seconds by that many men, and somebody would've gotten a lucky shot in on me eventually, regardless of anything! You're playing with lives here, and you don't seem to care! How can I–"

"Stop." I said, voice tight. "Just… stop."

She was breathing hard, and her face was flushed in anger.

"First, most of the people you named have all been magically treated by me, remember?" I pointed out, getting a grudging nod from her. "Two. Just because they're not us, does not mean they're vulnerable. Roth can handle himself, Reyes used to be a cop in one of the most dangerous precincts in a rough city in the States. Alex obviously is more than meets the eye, seeing as how he's been on the run from various governments for who knows how long, and the fact that he's in one piece goes to show just how well he can handle himself. Grim is a nasty old bastard that I would not want to face in a fist fight, magic or not. Beware the old man in a profession where men die young.

"Jonah is a Pacific Mage. Those guys specialize in strength enhancement spells. He's also built like a steel brick. Getting him to move when he plants himself would take far more effort than can be supplied by the rest of the men on this ship combined."

"And Sam?" Lara snapped at me, and I narrowed my eyes, getting her to visibly back down a bit.

"Sam is a black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu, or at least, she was when she was a child." I explained, and when a surprised look crossed Lara's face, I wondered if that was something my second apprentice had never told my first about. "Add in the magic enhancement, the fitness regime I've put her on, and her still ingrained reflexes, I'd be more worried about her killing the men by accident than them being able to hurt her."

Lara seemed to have a hard time swallowing that concept, before she visibly shook the thought away, and tentatively asked another question.

"And me?" she asked, stepping into my personal space. It took me a moment to process the question, simply because those eyes that I had once thought as merely "brown" were closer to hazel and chestnut with flecks of gold scattered throughout them. They were rather mesmerizing.

"You are a powerful witch with survival magic." I said slowly. "You have an unnatural penchant for fire that I've never seen outside of those with Veela heritage, and God help whoever deserves your righteous fury, let alone your vengeance. You are smart, brave, and a veritable force of nature, even before you delve into your magic.

I tilted my head slightly, and smirked before I continued.

"Besides, you're rather beautiful, I'd like to think those brutes wouldn't harm your pretty face just because they were mad at me."

She stared at me wide eyed, and her entire face went red.

"Now then," I said, ignoring her spluttering, and thanking my Occlumency and minor talent with metamorphing for hiding my own blush. "How far have you gotten into–"

And that's a thing. Honestly, while I understand killing off the crew of the Endurance from a narrative stand point, I feel like they were just… killed way too easily. The Solarii are mentally unbalanced, they're malnourished, and more importantly, they've come to expect a lot of crews that just roll over and die. And with the way that Roth is portrayed, I think he'd have a crew of far tougher men, willing to throw down at a moment's notice. Roth doesn't strike me as having a crew of pansies, though I think he would temper that by having several people who have both intelligence, and common sense. People who could take the situation of Yamatai, and respond to it in a manner that will keep them all alive.

So, taking that into account, I'm going to have the Endurance Crew live a fair bit longer. Not saying they'll survive Yamatai, but they'll last longer than a mere twenty four hours.

As always, review! Love to see everyone's reviews! Even if it pisses me off and send me on a rant, like I did in the AN at the top.