Disclaimer
Well, we don't own this.
Wouldn't mind the money from it.
Don't want the paperwork, though.
Author's Note
In 2006, I posted the first chapter of Bind the Serpent on FFN – a story in desperate need of both a rewrite and an ending. Last year, I started posting the Sephiroth Potter series. Even with all the the time Bind the Serpent has been available, Seph Potter has already hit over eighty percent of the page views that BtS has. Its over 101k combined for the Seph Potter stories on FFN, as opposed to almost 124k for Bind the Serpent.
Wow. Just wow.
Chapter Fourteen
In the deepest part of the planet's core, there was an ocean of green swirling energy. This ocean was the life force of the world. In Ancient times, it was called the Lifestream. In modern times, wizards and some muggles tried to track it and called the flow 'ley lines.' They only knew it was the energy of the planet.
They didn't realize that an older race had recognized it for what it truly was: a river – well, more like a sea – of souls.
Everyone who died would return to that sea. They would then be spun out of it again. The Cetra believed that one could be a tree in the next life, or an animal. No one had ever gotten a definitive answer on whether that was accurate. Some would balk at the implication that they could become a 'lower' life form, but the Cetra held that all life was equal.
Time, when one was dead, was also relative. There was no day or night to distinguish. Things could be happening in a moment or an eternity. Souls could even move forward and back through time.
As it was, Cloud was drifting back and forth. His soul was lazing around in the comfort and care of the others around him. Emotions, thoughts and feelings passed freely between them. There were no words, because there didn't need to be. It was the ultimate communication.
He drifted...
He could feel Aeris and Zack every now and then. He'd felt Tseng and Reno. And, hadn't that been a surprise? The whiny little street rat had a kinder soul than Cloud had expected. Tseng felt things far more deeply than he'd ever imagined. The two, however, withdrew into the same small eddy as Rude and a few of the other deceased Turks.
They were wary and clannish, even in death.
He drifted...
He hadn't felt Aeris in a while. Zack had drifted past recently, though he was gone at the moment. He absently pondered where his friend went, then relaxed back into the souls around him. It was so very calm and peaceful here. Much more peaceful, now that Sephiroth had stopped his semi-violent swirl through their number...
Wait...
Where...
Is...
Sephiroth...?
His 'eyes' snapped open and Cloud started searching, the amorphous feeling of purely spiritual panic slinging through him. This couldn't be good.
Classes were going to always be the bane of his existence. It was true when he was a young SOLDIER, and it was true now. Sephiroth had always understood the written word more quickly than the other SOLDIERs in his classes. That trait, with the re-emergence of his memories, had manifested in Harry. It was even more prominent now that he was tapping into those memories so extensively.
He wasn't as bored in a classroom when they were working on the practical. Harry did need to learn that, but that had never taken long even without his memories. Still, he could help Ron and Hermione and it would keep him entertained. The theory lectures, on the other hand...
He'd had four sharp looks from Professor McGonagall and the period was only half over. Every time she noticed him fiddling with something or absently doodling on his parchment, she shot a question at him. Every time she did, he answered correctly. He wasn't trying to ignore her or distract her from the other students. It was just inevitable at this point.
Finally, class was dismissed. He gathered his things and started to leave, only to have her call him over. "Mister Potter?"
He approached her desk. Ron and Hermione continued out of the room, feeling comfortable leaving him with their Head of House. Unlike some teachers – Umbridge being either a shining or tarnished example, depending on your perspective – she had never tried to harm him. "Yes, Professor?"
She shifted a few parchments on her desk and then pinned him under her gaze. "While I am pleased with the turnaround, I have to wonder what has caused this new bout of studiousness?"
"I'm not studying and more than I already was. It's... I'm retaining it more easily thanks to my past life..." He gave her a sheepish look. "It's no reflection on your lectures, but theory classes are boring now, as a result."
She pursed her lips, but nodded. "Very well, then. During my lecture, you are welcome to read ahead in your book. You may ask me any questions you have. Then, come to me when you've finished with that book and I'll quiz you on it. If you've retained enough, I'll give you another book to read."
He felt the relief settle in his shoulders and back. He had grown fond of McGonagall – even if he didn't trust her to always listen when there was a problem – and didn't want to inadvertently upset her. "Thank you, Professor."
"You're quite welcome, Mister Potter. Keep in mind, though, that many of the books at your level will reiterate what you may have already learned. It will generally be from a different perspective, however." She gave him a small smile. "Not that different perspectives are a bad thing to have. They may, in fact, help you attain a higher level of understanding."
"I will, Professor."
"Very good." She turned back to her parchments, and he took it for the dismissal that it was.
Though Ron thought he was insane, Hermione was delighted with the compromise. At her suggestion, he spoke to Professor Flitwick and was provided the same opportunity. Astronomy was also split between practical and lecture. The Astronomy professor, Sinistra, was gleeful at the request for further reading. He got the impression that she didn't get many interested students. Herbology was almost entirely practical, with assigned reading for after class. As he wasn't really interested, he skipped asking Professor Sprout.
He also didn't bother trying to talk to Umbridge. The woman was worse than useless where his studies were concerned. He'd also pretty much stopped attending her class, so that made the whole thing a moot point, anyway.
Like Herbology, Potions classes were almost entirely practical. This was due to Snape's teaching style. The students were expected to read the theory in their own time and ask questions later – if they felt brave enough to do so. Professor Snape did stop him after their next class to arrange regular times to have their version of therapy, but that was it.
Amusingly, by the end of the day he'd had several DA members ask him what arch support was. It wasn't just the purebloods, either. He'd been certain that the muggleborns would know so he was more than a bit surprised. Still, he did his best to be patient as he explained the concept. Repeatedly.
At least they didn't get upset when he put a moratorium on questions at dinner. Keeping Umbridge from noticing anything strange going on was just a bonus - he wanted to eat in peace. He made a mental note not to assign homework again, if possible.
He arrived to their arranged session that night to find Professor Snape in his office examining a small oval amulet. On his desk was a small cardboard box of similar, though un-worked, pieces of gold. The professor set the amulet down on the desk and nodded. "Mister Potter."
"Professor." He eyed the box. "May I inquire...?"
"This is for you, actually." Snape came around his desk to sit in the other chair near him, passing him the box and amulet as he did. "I think Miss Lovegood suggested it, though I'm not certain if that was her intent or not."
Harry laughed quietly. "Luna is difficult to read sometimes. Her idea of sane and the way the reality interprets the concept are two entirely different things. She seems fairly harmless, though."
Snape raised an eyebrow, and Harry knew that he'd latched onto the qualifier. That was another holdover from Sephiroth – he never trusted appearances. The professor nodded. "I haven't had extensive interactions with her, but that does appear to be the case."
Sephiroth leaned back in the chair, raising his own brow. "What, precisely, am I supposed to do with this?"
Snape didn't move, beyond the slightest motion of one shoulder. "Some muggle therapies involve what they call 'Arts and Crafts.' I will admit that I'm not certain as to the therapeutic purpose of the activity. However, the particular amulet you are holding is exceedingly rare and valuable. If nothing else, learning to reproduce it would provide you an income should you later need it."
Sephiroth nodded. "Therefore, even if it does nothing for therapy, it's not a completely wasted effort. I approve." He paused. "If I succeed, would you like the first one? We can call it payment for the materials, as opposed to a gift from student to teacher, since I understand that would likely be out of bounds if these are that expensive."
"That would be acceptable," Snape agreed.
Sephiroth smirked slightly, fully recognizing that it was as close to thanks as he was likely to get from the taciturn man. He looked down at the disk, running his finger lightly across the runes. "I did not take Ancient Runes. Perhaps Hermione will let me borrow her books."
"The library also has several volumes on the topic, of course, if that proves to be a problem." Snape leaned back in his own chair. "Why did you not take Runes?"
"Hermione tried to persuade me to." Harry set the box and amulet down on a nearby corner of the desk. "I just... Ron was taking Divination and Care."
"I see. So, you chose to follow him into those classes. Why did you follow him, instead of Miss Granger?"
Snape's expression was carefully neutral. Sephiroth couldn't determine if there was condemnation there or not, and his eyes only reflected curiosity. He supposed that he wasn't supposed to know. "Well, Ron... I think he needs me. He has siblings, yet – in some ways – he's almost as alone as I was. He feels he has to live up to them, and I think that it puts a... distance... between them. Not some gaping chasm, but... a bit of resentment."
"And Miss Granger?"
"She..." Harry wasn't sure how to word it without sounding like he was disparaging her. He wasn't, but it was a flaw in their relationship. Finally, he settled on: "She needs friends, yes, but not as much as she needs to excel. Being the best is how she defines herself. If I had been in the class with her, she would have pushed herself further and wanted to push me to higher levels, too. I didn't want her drive to get in the way of our friendship."
"Understandable, if counter productive to your own advancement." Snape picked a bit of lint off of his robes. "Are they your only close friends in this life?"
"Yes." Sephiroth nodded.
"What about your last life?"
He stiffened slightly. Images of Genesis, prematurely aged and Angeal turned into some form of bio-mechanical monstrosity played behind his eyes. He smelled the blood spreading across the ground from Zack's bullet riddled body. "They... We handled a situation badly, and we all wound up suffering for it."
He watched the internal debate play out behind Snape's eyes. Finally, the professor came to a decision. "Do you feel up to telling me how?"
Sephiroth sucked in a breath, then let it out past the tension forming in his chest and throat. He knew he would have to talk about it eventually, but... "Not yet."
"All right." Snape called for a house elf and ordered a pot of tea. Sorting out cups and condiments allowed Sephiroth to compose himself. "Tell me about you that life when you were off the battlefield."
He took a sip. "It was very regimented most of the time. There is always something that has to be done when you're leading an army, even when you're at home. It can be as annoying as retrieving your men from whatever detention facility they're in, or as tedious as approving supply paperwork. At other points, there are... times when the schedules is thrown out the window because your immediate subordinate's apprentice has decided to crash into the roof of a church."
The professor choked, having been in mid-drink. "The roof?"
"Oh, yes." Sephiroth smirked at him. "Midgar was built on two levels. When the city – well, cities – were first founded, they were all at ground level. The buildings seldom exceeded two or three stories tall. In time, the cities merged into one – Midgar – and the old towns were referred to simply by numbers.
"Of course, Shin-Ra wanted a district for the more affluent to reside and yet still have easy access to the tower they were building in the very center. For that reason, they built the Plate." He held his saucer a few inches above the table. "At ground level, were the slums. In the center of the Plate, the citizens could ride a train up a spiraling track that circled the base of Shin-Ra tower. The Plate, as we called it due to the circular structure, covered the slums and kept them in perpetual shadow. There were lights on all the streets, of course, and there were more suspended from the bottom of the structure. This architect's nightmare was supported by massive columns in each sector and at the center."
Snape nodded his understanding, so he continued: "As I said, the eight cities that once merged to form Midgar were referred to by number – Sectors One through Eight. In the center, Shin-Ra tower was Sector Zero – or Zed, depending on how you wish to say it. At the time Zack fell, the Sector Five section of the Plate was incomplete. He fell and, well, crashed straight through the roof of the old church."
He met Snape's amused gaze with a wry smile. "You have no idea how much paperwork that caused. Angeal had him cleaning toilets for weeks."
"Angeal?"
"I was at the top, General of the Army. My seconds – and best friends – were Commanders Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos." He smirked. "Sometimes, they caused more trouble than the rest of the army combined. Angeal had taken Zack under his wing, possibly to save all of Shin-Ra from absolute destruction. The antics of that Puppy..."
"Puppy?"
"Mm. He was always over-eager. He'd bounce with excitement at even the hint of a mission..."
It was, perhaps, for the best that they didn't have to (could not) spend all their time at the school. Genesis was certain that he would have gone insane if they'd tried. Not only was there the typical teenage foolishness, but the overpowering stench that was humanity. (He did whack Angeal's shoulder for suggesting that he fit right in with his melodrama.)
It wasn't that the students were unwashed, quite the contrary, but that they were exceedingly hormonal and releasing large amounts of indicators into the air around him. While most of the school had average levels for places inhabited by large groups of teenagers, the Defense classroom reeked of fear. The Potions classroom wasn't much better, and there were strange smelling components on top of that. It was just his luck that they were seeking out the Potions Master and, therefore, couldn't avoid it.
Invis, or Vanish, materia were beyond rare. Genesis was extremely lucky to have found one that day in Modeoheim, a small abandoned town just south of Icicle Inn. He had used it many times over the years, both to explore and to escape. The materia had served he and Angeal well these last few weeks as they were sneaking around laying out their traps for the 'High Inquisitor.' A few field tests had proven that even the portraits couldn't see them.
They could, however, see the door to Snape's office swing open and then slowly close.
So could Severus Snape.
The potions master raised one eyebrow as the seats in front of his desk shifted. The cushions depressed as if there were people seated there. He calmly drew his wand. "Hominem revelio."
He cocked his head to one side, keeping his wand at the ready. "Care to identify yourselves?"
A brief moment focusing on his Dispel materia had the two of them shimmering into the visible spectrum. Genesis gave a small smile. "Commander Genesis Rhapsodos at your service, Professor Snape." He gestured to his right. "And this is Commander Angeal Hewley."
Snape's eyebrows rose, confusion flitting through the black depths. "I was under the impression that the two of you would be dead by now."
Genesis shifted positions for a moment and then leaned back and crossed his legs in front of him. The chair was amazingly comfortable, even if it didn't look like it should be. "We were. Well, Angeal was. I'm just remarkably well preserved."
The professor tilted his head to the other side, processing that statement and the likelihood of receiving straight answers to the questions that sprang to mind. A slight smirk hovered around the corners of his lips after a few seconds. "There are witches that would kill to know what brand of moisturizer you use."
A startled laugh escaped Genesis, echoed by Angeal's quiet snort. Genesis shook his head. The flatly delivered, though humorous, comment diffused the tense atmosphere a little. "I'm sorry to say that it's all natural."
"Is there some reason that you have seen fit to disturb me? Or is this simply a way of distracting me from some other happening in the castle?"
"We actually wanted to know what your intentions are towards Sephiroth." Snape had picked up his lukewarm cup of tea to take a swallow. Genesis had expected a classic spit-take, but was a bit disappointed that he didn't get one.
"My 'intentions' towards Sephiroth?" Snape repeated the phrase, curling his lips and tongue around it with rising disbelief as his eyes narrowed into a glare. "Despite the length of his hair, he is no fair maiden and I am not courting him. I intend to teach him and ensure that he makes it through his school career without needlessly slaughtering the residents of the school."
Genesis raised one eyebrow. "So, you're not planning to torture, experiment, or turn him into a weapon for whichever side you are supporting this week?"
Snape recovered his equilibrium and reined in his temper, leaning back in his seat with his teacup firmly in hand. "If that is the type of behavior your previous mentors exhibited, you are well shot of them."
At Genesis' look, he continued. "No, I do not intend to do anything to him in that vein." He paused for a moment. "What he may choose to do, as a result of the politics around him, is up to him. He is adamant that Voldemort is not gone, despite having vanquished him a second time. Therefore, I intend to ensure that as many people survive the coming war as possible. That may not be as difficult as I thought, should he continue to defend his fellow students."
Angeal eyed him for a few moments. "So, you're not going to force him into it, but you won't turn down the help?"
The professor nodded. "Precisely."
Angeal nodded in thought. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Gen?"
Genesis shook his head. "As much as I wish otherwise, I suppose we're about to be embroiled in another Battle for the Fate of the World."
Professor Snape looked at him, ignoring Angeal's eye roll at the phrasing and near-audible capitalization. "We?"
Thin lips tugged upwards into a smirk. "My dear professor, surely you didn't believe that we would ever allow our friend to enter a conflict without us? Now, tell us about the major players from your perspective. Please."
Snape quirked an eyebrow, recognizing that it was more demand than request. Deciding to comply, he refilled his cup and started talking.
Harry was on the floor, laughing so hard that he was holding his sides and attempting – with varied success – to keep from literally rolling around in his mirth. He had divided his 'class' into two groups and set them up with fairly rugged terrain, then told them to battle it out. No deaths or serious injuries were allowed, but he hadn't forbidden pranks.
He had split the Twins, one to each side. He'd also allowed fifteen minutes for each side to set their initial plans of attack. As a result, each group was armed with prank spells that were disruptive, humiliating, and – in Sephiroth's opinion – brilliant. He would have loved to have had half this ammunition in Wutai!
The rules also stated that anyone hit with a spell had to move to the 'penalty box' near his own position as judge. Genesis, in full royal-blue peacock feathers, glared at him from the box, even as a bright purple and green polka-dotted Angeal joined him. "This is not amusing."
He looked at the two of them again and snickered. "Yes. Yes, it is."
Fred, sporting a neon-orange mohawk, made his way over and took a seat with a rueful grin. "Next time, I want to be on Hermione's team. She's right lethal."
Harry nodded. "If you can get her to stop thinking about what spell to use and get her to actually cast? Her aim is incredibly good, and her repertoire is impressive. I would have given my left arm to have her in the mountains of Wutai."
Fred eyed him oddly, prompting Genesis to explain: "That's his sword arm."
The younger ginger nodded his understanding and examined the battlefield. Harry surveyed it as well, with a feeling not unlike fatherly pride. Bits of transfigured weirdness littered the space. There were odds and ends that he recognized – toilet paper, paint, half a rather quickly animated and destroyed stone lion, and a radish amongst others – and some he didn't. He wasn't sure who had transfigured the three foot wide shoehorn, or why. Still, it was distracting.
He did a quick head count, compared the members of the various teams, and called a halt. Fred's team was down to two standing members. George and Hermione still had most of their team and had just taken the high ground. There was still a chance, but he didn't think the remaining two were skilled enough to practice true guerrilla warfare as of yet. Not and win, at least.
"Gather round, everyone... Yes, Genesis, you can use a Dispel. Link it to an All, would you?" The spell effects reversed, leaving grinning and otherwise unmarked trainees behind. "You've done quite well. I want an honest show of hands, though. How many of you have noticed that prolonged casting is easier?"
He gave a satisfied smile as almost every hand went up. "Very good. Next meeting, we're going to go over some household charms that Hermione found. She has some interesting ideas for using cleaning and cooking spells on the battlefield. What's even better, is that they use less energy than the similar 'combat' spells used by most witches and wizards.
"The upside? You'll last longer than they will in terms of pure power. Remember, though, that these spells don't have the energy to punch through shields. For that reason, we'll also be covering how to use normal combat spells to break shields before following up with the simpler spells we'll be discussing. Also, please remember that cooking your classmates might earn you more than a simple detention if you use it in the halls."
He noticed quite a few of the members eying Genesis and snickering. He let his slightly malevolent smirk show. Ignore him, would they? "Next meeting, I'll also have full workups on what you did right, with tips to avoid what you did wrong. Now, for the second half of our time, Genesis has agreed to help you practice avoiding spells. There will be no shield spells used – you are to just dodge. The game, which I'm sure some of us will enjoy, is called Dodge Fireball. Genesis?"
He sat down next to a laughing Angeal. The dark-haired SOLDIER bumped his shoulder against him. "'Some of us?'"
Sephiroth snickered. "Well, I'm sure the three of us count as 'some.'"
Voldemort set the heavy tome down on the table, then flipped the cover closed. It was the last book in the Malfoy library that he'd hoped would provide an answer. Unfortunately, it didn't have much information. The ritual he'd used was an extremely modified version of a much older spell, supposedly found inscribed on tablets over two thousand years ago. The tablets had vanished into the sands of time.
The ritual itself had been preserved, translated and altered by the same wizards that had perfected the Horcrux – primarily the Egyptians and wizards in the Far East. If information on Horcruxes was merely hard to obtain, finding information on the ritual was almost impossible. The book he'd found the spell in originally, written by a German wizard that had assisted in a dig on the Giza Plateau in the 1920s, had only a few references to where further information could be found. Those references had been destroyed in purges after Grindelwald fell from power.
It looked like he was going to have to plan a trip to Egypt and, possibly, the Orient.
In the wilds of Alaska, a single wolf trudged its way out of freezing water. Soaked to the skin, it should have been dead a dozen times over in the dangerously cold winter air. Instead, it shook water off of itself. The water, tinged with the faint residue of Mako, hit the ground and hissed for a second before lying dormant. When next spring hit, the ground would be far more fertile than any would have expected.
The wolf padded forward cautiously before it rose to its hind legs and slowly morphed into a naked and well-muscled young man. He ran a hand through black, spiky hair before turning sharply to the right. The others were that way. Quite a distance that way, it seemed. He frowned down at himself, wondering how the others had made clothes, then shrugged and resumed his wolf form. He could always run until he ran out of land.
While he ran, he'd work out how to sprout a wing and clothes so that he could reach them more easily. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Zack Fair, the infamous 'puppy,' was bound and determined to catch up with his family.
Sirius Black Innocent – Bagnold Dropped Ball
by I.M. Amaysed
Recent events have shown us that the Ministry of Magic isn't as infallible as it would like to appear. In addition to mistakenly charging a legal adult – Harry Potter, no less – with underage magic violations, we learned that Sirius Black had never received a trial. That long-delayed trial began and ended yesterday, in the extremely packed Courtroom Ten.
Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt estimates that there were approximately one hundred and fifty witches and wizards present in addition to the entirety of the Wizengamot. This full attendance is a rarity, since only two thirds of the members are normally required to achieve a quorum to decide any matter that comes before that august body.
In a surprising move, the defendant volunteered to testify under the influence of Veritaserum. In his testimony, Sirius Black revealed that he not only wasn't the Potter's Secret Keeper, but the real traitor was the very person he was accused of killing. What's more, that same treasonous wizard – Peter Pettigrew – is still alive.
Testing of Black's wand revealed that he did not cast any spell that could have caused the infamous explosion on the street that day in 1981. The most notable spell retrieved was a mild tanning charm.
The Wizengamot proceeded to vote on the matter and swiftly came to a decision. Forty-seven chose to acquit, while eight proclaimed guilty. On the charge of escaping Azkaban, the defended was acquitted on the basis of extended illegal imprisonment, 43-15. On the charge of failing to register an Animagus form, he was sentenced to one year – time served, 45-10.
Also up for debate was reparations for Black's imprisonment. The final agreement was to pay the salary he would have received as an Auror, had he not been arrested and continued in his career path. As this includes pay raises, the settlement came to an incredible four hundred thousand galleons, 40-18.
The money will be raised by fining the parties responsible for his incarceration. Who are they? Former Minister Bagnold, Chief Warlock Dumbledore, and Bartemius Crouch, Senior – current Head of the Department for International Magical Cooperation, who was then Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
For further information:
Spot the Traitor – Pettigrew in Detail, pg 2
The Black Lordship – To Ascend or Not To Ascend?, pg 3
Miscarriages of Justice – How to Send an Innocent Man to Jail, pg 4
Custody vs Emancipation – Can Black Petition For Potter?, pg 5
Note
The husband is working on living his new lifestyle. I owe the ER half an apology, by the way. They explained the lack of drugs to my satisfaction. The lack of a monitor for his blood sugar, on the other hand...
Mom, by the way, is doing well. She hasn't gotten any better, of course, but she isn't any worse. Unless you count a tendency to talk to me while I'm trying to write. As it's a sign that she's alive, I'm rather forgiving of it.
I do apologize for taking so long to update. In addition to wrestling with this chapter, the stresses of real life have me seesawing back and forth on an emotional roller coaster. It makes updating a bit difficult. Again, still not really satisfied with the chapter, but here it is.
Aeris/Aerith – I grew up playing the Final Fantasy series and the version of VII that I played (the original US release) spelled it Aeris. So, that's what I'm used to. In the notes, as I'm sure you've seen, I use both. It would break the flow to do that in the story.
Cloud – How long did that scene cover? It could have been a second or an eternity. No scene breaks, no definition of time. Did he realize Seph was gone within moments or days? Weeks? Years? Cloud doesn't know. He just knows that Sephiroth has a kink for causing trouble and is gone.
Snape – is not a licensed professional. So, he's winging it based on what he knows and/or has experienced. As he's never had therapy, either, he's just muddling along and trying to provide an ear. I think it's going well. I could be wrong.
Guest Reviews – I accept guest reviews. However, if you want me to answer, you either need to be on AO3 where I can reply directly on the page or sign in to FFN. I will not reply to a chapter by chapter summary review in my ANs. They get too long as it is.
I will answer the following, however, as others might want to know:
-Sub-vocalization is how I learned to refer to the use of non-audible murmur (NAM) microphones. I am aware that it is not the common textbook definition. (Feel free to look that up.) Depending on the model, NAM mics pick up the vibrations of the throat or words murmured so quietly that they appear to not be vocalized. This is then translated into sound or amplified for transmission.
While the boys' ears aren't quite good enough to translate simple vibration, they can hear sounds that are far too quiet for normal human hearing... That was rather clearly indicated in context in Chapter 3. I will not explain every term in every chapter.
-Fiendfyre vs. Flare. Sure, he could have used Flare. But, think of it as a field test. You try a new spell on the small fry before you use it against the big guys. Also, Harry may have been Light, but Sephiroth is a Dark Wizard. (Mad or not, he nearly destroyed a planet and that was after subjugating it for the financial interests of Shin-Ra. This does not make him a good or "Light" person.) Harry, in canon, uses two of the three Unforgivables.
-Don't credit the wizarding world with a lot of intelligence. These are the people that: leave toddlers on doorsteps on cold November nights (Dumbledore), believe the Daily Prophet (Molly Weasley & Mrs. Finnegan), run about with a loose werewolf in spite of the danger to the general populace (The Marauders), and voted Fudge into office (either the general population or the Wizengamot).
-As for Useless!Dumbledore... Don't you mean Canon!Dumbledore? He had sixteen years to figure out how Voldie survived. Sixteen years to gather and destroy Horcruxes. What does he do? Sit there and wait for a child to get old enough to handle it. Let's not get into all the ways he botched his interactions with Tom Riddle, the child who would be Voldemort.
Purple Materia – I made a mistake. At least it was only in the notes, right? Purple Materia is Independent Materia, not Support. Support is blue. Examples of Independent are Chocobo Lure or Luck Plus. Support would include Final Attack or Elemental, pairing with another Materia to use a last attack or add an element to weapon or armor (respectively). Red Materia are Summons. Green Materia are Magic. Yellow Materia (Command) gives a character skills such as Steal, Deathblow, or Throw.
With that in mind, I've had a couple of suggestions as to what Materia Luna has. Anyone else want to chime in? I've settled on Chocobo Lure and Long Range. The third is up for grabs. Check the Final Fantasy Wiki if you need a list and/or ideas for what you might like to see. I'm also still trying to decide if she actually can lure a Chocobo. Do they still exist? Is that the mythical Crumple-Horned Snorkack?