Darkness and a Fairy
Chapter 10
Hikari woke to the feeling of her hand being held, and a cool hand brushing against her cheek. I'm in Sylph form? I thought I couldn't do that in my sleep.
"You're finally waking up," said a familiar voice, from nearby. "Your boyfriend was frantic with worry."
"Boyfriend?!" Hikari opened her eyes, and sat up quickly, startling her bedside companion.
"It seems you ingested something that affected your mental barriers," Mizuchi whispered. "Someone has apparently been trying to hack your mind for a while. Dying a couple of times hasn't helped. I don't think it was an accident that I was sent back here after all."
"I'm aware of the attempted mind-hack," replied Hikari. "The wraith things wouldn't have been able to do what they did, if I hadn't already been mentally exhausted." Her voice became suspicious. "How did you get past my defences so easily?"
"That was partially me," replied the person who Hikari realised was still holding her hand.
Why haven't I let it go? Hikari wondered.
"It seems that his presence helps to 'calm' your soul," Mizuchi commented. "As for your, for want of a better term, mind-scape; I have something equivalent to a programmer's back-door access key."
"Mother's memories," Hikari whispered. "You accessed my mind, through those, while your friend here distracted me."
"I'm your friend, actually," replied the person sitting beside the bed. Hikari realised she knew him, even though she couldn't describe him, physically. It was almost as if he had a perception filter over him, as only Mizuchi and Dr Pomfrey appeared to notice his presence. The healer looked at him as if he was a familiar, and mildly-unwelcome, presence.
"Doc, he's not here for professional reasons."
Does nothing stop Mizuchi from being so cheerful? Hikari looked at her little sister. She's like my polar-opposite.
"Now that my big sister is awake, I'm going to ...uh... inform the school principal she's recovered."
The man beside the bed pulled out an ornate hourglass from inside his jacket. The sand in the top was almost empty. "This could be interesting," he commented. "For the first time ever, I have no idea what the cause of death of a mortal is going to be."
Madam Pomfrey and Hikari looked at the hourglass with fascination. "Is that what I think it is?" the mediwitch asked. "I've always wondered how you knew when someone's time was near."
A few minutes later, the last grain of sand left the top vessel. A few seconds later, the inside of the hourglass filled with flames. The sand vanished from the lower half, and reappeared in the top. "Fucking horcruxes!"
()()()()()()
Mizuchi looked mildly irritated at the gargoyle statue. "Either let me pass, or I'll make you," she growled. The statue moved aside. Wings unfurling, Mizuchi ascended the stairwell.
Dumbledore was surprised to hear knocking at his office door. There was no indication of the charms and curses on the spiral stair having been activated. He had the feeling that whoever was on the other side of that door wasn't going to fooled as easily by his grandfatherly facade as others were. "Enter!" he called.
The girl looked almost the same as Hikari, except she was dressed in bright colours. The metallic-purple on her dragon-scale cloak only made the blues of her dress and cloak-lining look even brighter. Is she another fairy, who can make herself human-sized?
"My sister's physical condition is a result of genetic tampering," the girl said, looking him directly in his eyes. "I'm also not a fairy." She scratched her head, near one of her hair ornaments. Dumbledore's eyes widened, briefly, in surprise as he realised that he wasn't looking at an ornamental headband, but a 'crown' of horns on the girl's head.
Then it hit him. She's a Legillimens! She read my thoughts!
"I can see magic," the girl commented. "So many curses, charms and potions. Truth-serums in the tea, mind-relaxants in the biscuits, and psychic-neutralisers in the lemon drops. Then there's all of those physical de-buffers on the stairs. It's like I'm in the lair of a Dark Wizard."
Dumbledore was disconcerted. The girl hadn't once broken eye-contact, but he couldn't seem to enter her mind. Just when he thought he'd found a way in, it seemed to shift and flow, like trying to grasp water.
++CryoDragonAlpha: He hasn't figured it out yet.
++CryoDragonBravo: Should we give him a hint as to why?
++CryoDragonCharlie: Where's the fun in that?
++CryoDragonPrime: I might only be the virtual-representation of when all three of you have consensus, but the clue was already given when we scratched the base of our primary left horn.
A mild look of amusement showed on the girl's face. She's toying with me. Dumbledore realised. How can a sixteen year old girl have Occulmency skills better than mine? He was beginning to get frustrated. Then he noticed the hint of fangs in her smile. She must be another Dark creature. Therefore, the 'rules' no longer apply. He drew his wand.
"Interesting," Mizuchi commented. "You have one of Mr Karitoriki's artefacts. He's downstairs with my sister at the moment." A halberd appeared in her hand. I never thought I'd be needing a skill Aunt Elma taught me quite this soon, she thought.
"Imperio!" ++Expelliarmus!++
"Mind control? Disarmament? Really?" Mizuchi wasn't impressed. "You really should think ahead before attacking a dragon." She held his wand in her hand. "Being able to cast multiple spells simultaneously isn't unique to Hikari."
Dumbledore looked down. Mizuchi's halberd blade was lodged in his chest, his blood already freezing on contact. He vanished, in a burst of flame."
()()()()()
A few days later, the five contestants were standing on the pontoon, ready to dive into the lake.
"Acting Principal McGonagall, why did you change the objective for this task?" Principal Karkaroff wasn't happy with surprises.
"It's very simple," she replied. "You can't use boyfriends or girlfriends for everybody, as Harriet and Cedric have been dating since last year."
"And kidnapping Kemuri would be fatal," commented Mizuchi.
"Quite. Taking little sisters would also have a similar result," agreed McGonagall, looking meaningfully at the young Frost Dragon. "That's why young Miss O'Reilly here suggested the 'Examination Upgrade Pass' idea. Not every student can excel in every one of their subjects." She turned to the competitors. "Hikari, don't go overboard. You're exempt from exams. They're not."
()()()()()()
The students were on their way to Hogsmeade, chatting away happily.
"Viktor is going to find that upgrade pass useful," Hermione said. "Apparently the extra Quidditch practices have been affecting his grades a little."
"Can you believe that article Skeeter published?" Mizuchi asked. "Don't they fact-check things before publication?"
"Most of the magazines and newspapers here are propaganda media," commented Hikari. "Facts are the irrelevant to those. On another matter, what happened to the two men that followed you here?"
"The Doctor is running around like an excited twelve year old. Jack is randomly keeping him in check, and flirting with the locals. Last time I saw them, Harmony was dragging them from an Acromantula nest."
"I still need to see this 'Harmony' person you keep mentioning."
"I've already told you. Seeing her could result in a paradox."
As they headed towards The Three Broomsticks, they spotted the newspaper stand.
STRANGE MONSTER SPOTTED IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST
"Oh shit," said Mizuchi, as she covered Hikari's eyes. The Daily Prophet had somehow acquired an image of Harmony rescuing Jack and the Doctor.
"Was that an arachnid variant of a centaur?" Hikari asked.
"Fuck!" Mizuchi exclaimed, as everyone in the area, including her, suddenly clutched their heads in pain. "Paradox!"
"What was that?" Many witches and wizards were confused.
"Care to explain?" Professor McGonagall was looking directly at her, having heard Mizuchi's comment.
"Long answer, or short?" Mizuchi replied.
"Short, for now. You can give me the long answer in private."
"Rita Skeeter has just caused a time paradox," Mizuchi explained, for the benefit of the nearby witches and wizards. She turned to the professor. "Where is a good place to talk?"
"The Boar's Head pub," she replied.
++CryoDragonPrime: Harmony. Meet us in town. The Boar's Head.
++TimeWeaver1337: The paradox? Hikari found out somehow?
++CryoDragonPrime: I'll explain over here. Bring Jack and the Doctor.
()()()()()()
Eight people were sitting in a quiet corner of the Boar's Head, with various privacy spells erected, to keep the few other customers from overhearing. Beyond the initial stares of an arachne boldly walking through the village, nobody commented beyond mild surprise at there being 'spider variant' centaurs.
Kemuri briefly looked jealous, when Harmony embraced Hikari. She settled down, when Mizuchi mentioned their brother, Hiroshi, had four girlfriends.
"I suppose that I can share my Mistress," she grumbled.
"As you may have noticed," Mizuchi began, "We have had a bit of a hiccough with the space/time continuum."
"A bit?" Jack commented. "I thought the Doctor was about to regenerate again."
"What happened?" McGonagall asked.
"Hikari wasn't supposed to know about the existence of the arachne species for at least another year," explained Mizuchi. "Skeeter publishing that article has changed established historical events across at least four different versions of Earth. You've used a time travel device before, so you know the potential risks.
"Before the changes, Hikari made four more space-bridges, to make it back to 'our' timeline. On the second leg of her trip, she found her quantum twin. She was half-buried under a collapsed building, while rescuing school-children from an extra-dimensional invader. Hikari saved her, by using her armour as emergency prosthetics. Because her lower-half was crushed, Hikari didn't know she was an arachne. When she saw her first 'intact' arachne at the emergency field hospital, her anger and despair at realising she had saved her sister's life at the expense of permanently mutilating her, caused her to literally beat a god to within half an inch of its life. That caused the invaders to rout, terrified of the 'reincarnation of the Great Titania, consort of Death, Bringer of Chaos' and her wrath."
"They got the second part partially right," Mr Karitoriki whispered. "But not until she drinks me under the table on her 21st birthday."
Seven sets of eyes focus on him in shock.