"Wait...this is Hades' dog Cerberus?!" said Axel, staring at the puffball on Tania's lap.
"I asked if he could become smaller so he could stay in the castle with me. Next thing I knew he turned into this," said Xion, hugging the fluffy hell hound.
"He's so cute!" said Luna. She wanted to hug him too!
Cerberus barked...though it was more of a yap...as he wagged his tail. Everybody seemed to love the fluffy side of him.
"Beware the puffball," said Axel, once he got over the disbelief. Cerberus barked happily.
"So what are we going to do about the Yule ball?" asked Roxas.
"Well us girls are going to visit the three fairies. Nothing says ball like a princess dress. I don't know if they can do formal wear for boys too though," said Xion.
Roxas shuddered.
"I'll take him to London and have one fitted for him," said Axel, sparing Roxas the horrors of having to endure girl-talk.
Roxas had developed a paranoia of being anywhere when that started.
Shadow returned a month later, with the promised "gifts". For Roxas he brought some special duty ear plugs so he could avoid the dreaded "girl talk" that he was so terrified of. For Axel he brought a book on how to handle dating. For Aqua he brought some new books to read. For Luna, he brought a Chocobo egg (she was delighted to finally have a pet). For Naminé he brought several art supplies. And finally for Xion, he brought several music sheets worth of songs from the worlds around.
She was already updating the music selection for the Yule Ball.
"So any idea what they're planning for the first task?" asked Susan.
"Dragons. Specifically nesting mothers from what I saw," said Tania, not realizing everyone in the Hufflepuff house heard her.
Stone silence.
"What?"
"How do you know it's dragons?" asked Cedric, nervously. Understandable considering HE was Hogwart's champion.
Tania held up Cerberus.
"The 'puffball of doom' likes to run around the lake. I ran into Charlie Weasley while I was walking him, and but not before I heard the word 'mothers' and heard the dragon roaring," said Tania deadpan. "I didn't get a look at what kind they had, but it wasn't hard to put two and two together, especially when he didn't recognize me and I wasn't wearing my school uniform. He might have thought I was a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."
That and she had changed her hair to blond with green eyes out of boredom.
Cedric looked relieved at the forewarning, but terrified (naturally so) of facing a dragon. Especially a nesting mother, if Tania was right.
And she was. Less than a scant month after Shadow came back, Cedric found himself facing a mother dragon with a nest just to get a fake egg from her.
It was a good thing Tania found out by accident and told him, because neither of his competitors were remotely surprised to find out about the dragons.
Jerks.
Seeing that massive dragon waiting for him, he scanned the audience and it took him a few seconds to realize what he was seeing Tania Potter sitting on.
A bloody Cerberus. Not only that, but it was the same dog that appeared two years ago causing one hell of a ruckus before vanishing without a trace. The same hell hound that Hagrid had so affectionately called "Fluffy" for reasons he very much did not want clarified for the sake of his sanity.
Then he blinked, and all that was there was the same ball of fur that had supposedly followed Potter back from Hogsmeade and now mooched off the girls by hiding under the table at meal times for them to drop food on the floor.
The furball got a lot of snacks from the students, to the amusement of Tania.
He then looked at the dragon, and realized for the sake of all things sane and holy he was better off not asking until later.
In this case, almost immediately after the first task.
"Why did I see a vicious three headed hell hound behind you before I faced the dragon?" asked Cedric with a low hiss to avoid being heard.
"Oh, you saw Homura's original form. I'm surprised you saw that," said Tania unconcerned.
"You have a bloody Cerberus for a pet dog. Are you kidding me?"
"He's more of a lapdog and I have it on good authority that Hades is still trying (and failing) to train his replacement since I refuse to hand him back. Poor thing was cooped up in Tartarus," said Tania with a straight face.
"Do I want to know?"
"Not really."
"Then for the sake of my continued sanity, I'll quit asking," said Cedric.
"Would you like a tidbit that the teachers haven't mentioned about the tournament every time it's come up?"
"Is it life threatening or dangerous?"
"Only to your feet if you can't dance."
"Then why not."
"There's going to be a ball. Roughly around Christmas. They're going to announce it before the second task, and I'm considering bringing three fairies to handle the dresses if the girls are interested. We already have ours prepared," said Tania with a straight face.
Cedric made a face.
"Thanks for the heads up."
He turned to Sky and said "If they're bringing in more girls to talk while they get dressed, I'll do the honorable thing and kidnap you so you don't have to listen to Hannah Abbot."
It was no secret Windheart had run afoul of Abbot's perverted girl talk, because he refused to be alone with her and other like minded friends. He felt sorry for the guy, being stuck in that even once.
Abbot and anyone like her were a menace. She could make a seasoned sailor blush with the amount of perverted innuendo she knew.
The second the ball was announced for Christmas, the girls went into a fervor. That was when Tania struck.
"Alright girls. For those of you who haven't got a dress to wear, or want to upgrade, come see me in the second Music room where we keep the spare instruments on the fourth floor. I've got a special surprise for you all," she announced to the Hogwarts students.
Needless to say a good chunk of them came...and some of them squealed in excitement when they recognized the three fairies.
"It's Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty!" said Mandy from Ravenclaw.
"That's right, the same good fairies who protected Aurora from Maleficent until she turned sixteen are here to help us one-up the French girls and make us all look fabulous~!" said Tania.
"We'll get you ready for the ball..." started Flora.
"While Titania makes sure that the music doesn't fall flat!" said Fauna.
"And if you need help with ideas, ask Naminé! She's a master at color coordination!" said Merryweather.
Naminé held up her pencils. She found them easier to draw with than the crayons she previously used.
"Alright girls, let's get to work~!" said Naminé. Tania grinned.
"So have you got the music selection picked out?" asked Hermione.
"We start with a waltz, then we get to play whatever we want. Fortunately we found a way to make MP3's work here, otherwise I'd never get a decent break!" said Tania.
"So what songs are you going to play for the ball?"
"Angel of Darkness is a must. So is Friendship Through the Ages, though I'm going to need the choirs help for that one. Hmm... let's see..."
"...Isn't Friendship Through the Ages a MLP song?" said Hermione.
"Yeah, but it has a piano opening and I liked the lyrics. By the way, are you going to the fairies for your ball gown? I heard Krum asked you out," said Tania impishly.
"He did, and how did you hear about that?"
"Shadow. He was in the library looking up a potions tome and he overheard you two. Why people dismiss him when he's not addressing the class I'll never get."
"Just like I'll never understand how you got that massive dog to turn into...that," said Hermione.
"Aw, but he's so cute and fluffy now!"
"Exactly. He's a hell hound, he's not supposed to be so...so..."
"Huggable?" suggested Tania.
"Yes!"
Tania held up the dog in question. He practically followed her everywhere save the Transfiguration class.
"How could you say no to hugging this face?"
"GAH! He's too cute for words! It's not fair I tell you!"
Cerberus barked in a cute manner. Hermione lost it at that point, because she started hugging him. Tania snickered.
"No one can resist the puff ball of doom," giggled Tania.
"So have you gotten this week's assignment done for Runes?"
"Hermione, I always do my work the day I get it. Makes life easier in the long run."
"What about the assignment by Professor Wayfinder?"
"Master Aqua prefers practical lessons to written work. Our next one is going to be on advanced keyblade tactics...though you should have seen her face when she found out who my new dog was..." snickered Tania.
She had actually fainted seeing Cerberus change from the "puff ball of doom" into his true form. Even Axel hadn't been that bad.
Xion grinned.
"Besides, I still have to work on my Drive forms."
"Really? You have the same Drive forms Sora has?" said Hermione excitedly.
"Not exactly. Sky can use them too, but ours are different. Want to watch?" asked Xion.
"Yes!"
An hour later...
"This is the practice room inside the castle. I'm going to work with Demyx for this today."
Hermione, Luna, Naminé, and Axel were watching from above.
"Begin!" said Aqua, drawing her Keyblade.
Xion took a stance, and channeled her magic into the armor from the fairies.
"Symphony Drive Start!"
Demyx turned into a blue light that went inside Xion, as her clothes took a distinctly sea-blue tint. In this form, her water and musical attacks (not that she had many) took a major boost. She could also create clones, but they were incredibly weak.
Hence why she needed practice.
That wasn't the only change. Where her Keyblade was once a luminescent black, was now an electric guitar.
Hermione frowned.
"I thought that Drive forms were only supposed to change the clothes?"
"While the games are mostly accurate, there are times they'll get it wrong," said Luna.
"Besides, Xion has always been a little different. I think this only happens when she uses Drive form with Nobodies she's given hearts too," said Naminé.
When she used Drive Form with Naminé, her keyblade became a massive paintbrush.
"How long can she sustain a Drive Form?" asked Hermione.
"Depends on how much power she uses. For Keyblade-only, it's ten minutes. If she uses the powers of the ones she's synchronized with, it can be from anywhere to five or seven and a half minutes. The more power she uses, the shorter the time span. She's getting better though... it used to be only two minutes," said Luna.
"...So what happens when she syncs up with you?" asked Axel, looking at Luna. He hadn't seen Xion combine Drive with Luna yet.
"Summon Drive. Allows her to summon the lower ranked contracts for a period of five minutes, as well as use my Blue magic for two full minutes. She can't access my Seer's powers though...too weak or the wrong element to use them," said Luna.
"What about the Drive form with Sky or Professor Ignis?"
"She can't use ours. I can only do it with Axel or Naminé, and even then it's for a shorter period than Xion," said Roxas. They had tried, but something blocked it.
"Oh look! Xion is using her sonic attacks!" said Luna eagerly.
"Sonic attacks?" said Hermione.
"See that odd thing on the side of her face near the mouth? It's an amplified microphone. All she has to do is aim the guitar and the sound waves can be translated into an attack," said Naminé.
"I thought she could only play piano?"
"That's why the one playing the guitar is Demyx. She provides the lyrics of the song, and he provides the movements of the guitar. All she has to do is sing and aim. They're really good at combination attacks, likely because he was the first Nobody she restored the Heart too," said Luna.
"She tried to play the guitar without him and it sounded awful," giggled Naminé.
"Oh, by the way... Tania said something about getting our ears pierced after Christmas. You interested?" said Luna.
"My parents would kill me if I did," said Hermione.
"Have you tried asking them?" asked Luna.
"No, but when my older sister got her ears pierced without permission, Mum threw a major fit."
"Then ask first," said Naminé.
"What are earrings?" asked Roxas.
"They're pieces of jewelry you hang from your ears. It's more of a girl thing, but some guys have one of their ears pierced for aesthetic reasons," said Axel.
"Oh, you mean like Cloud from Olympus Coliseum?" said Roxas, remembering the blond. His left ear had some sort of ornament on it.
"Pretty much," said Hermione.
"That actually sounds interesting," admitted Roxas.
"You sure you want to have your ears pierced Sky? You have to take care of them for a few months, or you'll risk getting them infected," said Hermione.
"I'd have to see what they have available."
Hermione looked at Axel. He shrugged.
"If he wants to get his ears pierced it's not my problem so long as it doesn't affect his ability to fight," said Axel.
Suddenly the two split apart, the Drive Form coming apart.
"Time!" shouted Aqua.
"Eight minutes!" Luna called out.
Xion and Aqua sparred until the Drive limit refilled. That was when the "puff ball of doom" appeared and barked cutely.
"Homura, what are you doing here?" said Xion, pausing in her assault on Aqua.
Cerberus glowed, and briefly there was the shadow of his true form. Then it turned a bright red, as if the color of flame...and slammed into Xion.
She gasped as she felt a new Drive form awaken.
Her outfit turned a hellfire red, with black and deep blue accents. Her keyblade changed form as well. At the hilt were three distinct canine heads, all biting the blade. The blade became a wicked black color with vicious serrated edges that looked like teeth.
"What's that form called?" asked Aqua as she calmly slide into a defensive stance.
"Tartarus Drive," said Xion after thinking about it.
"Appropriate, considering Cerberus is the guardian of the Underworld, and another name for it is Tartarus."
Xion found her flame spells and dark spells got a major upgrade while the Tartarus drive was active.
Considering it was the first time going into Drive form with Cerberus, it was understandable that it deactivated much quicker than normal.
She found that the more times she "synchronized" with those she could activate the Drive with, the longer she could hold it.
However it was what happened after it deactivated that had everyone staring...before Luna started giggling and Hermione groaned.
"Is nothing ever normal when it comes to you, Tania?"
Cerberus came out of Drive form as a red hair, almost black-eyed human...thankfully with clothes.
"...I hate my life sometimes," said Xion, facepalming. Why did this always happen to her?
(A/N: Again, I blame Dance with Devils as my inspiration for what happened to Cerberus. He looks and acts like Loewen in human form, save for the blood-red hair and eyes as black as coals. His outfit is similar too, except it's darker and has silver instead of white.)