Hogwarts-A discworld crossover
Well here comes part 3! Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I only write fanfiction. I don't own it!
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Snape stood in Dumbledore's office. It was nine forty four exactly…Now. He was washed, shaved, and wearing his best robes. They where black. Dark black. The kind of black that sucks in light and spits it out in a mangled mess. He was going to where black until they invented a darker colour.
He breathed slowly. Dumbledore treated him like the son he never had. He didn't know why. He had betrayed his cause. He had let people die. He had been evil. He had been raised in Knockturn ally. Yes, his family where purebloods, but they had been poor. Even poorer than the Weasley's if he was honest with himself. Yes, they wore second hand robes, but he had 4th hand robes bought by his parents, then he got them after his brother and sister had got through them By that time they were less robes, more rags to tie around himself.
They, his siblings had been in Ravenclaw, but he had a thirst to be rich and powerful. Rich, admittedly meant to him having a pair of trousers he didn't have to share, but his thirst for power had lead him straight to the dark lord. After a few years of being bullied by Lucious Malfoy. He was a bastard if he had ever met one.
Always playing pranks on him. Even more than Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrue did. He and lily where the freaks. They had stuck together through everything until. Until the last prank. He called it the last prank, because it was the last big prank they ever played on them. After that it had just been him.
He had fallen in love with her as soon as he had seen her. He couldn't tell why Potter hadn't. He supposed he was still so immature at that point, and because Lily was clever he just bullied her irrespective of her beauty. Well, it was just obvious why Potter hadn't liked him. He was so poor and was always drawing.
He couldn't afford to draw in Knockturn Ally, but he always like to draw. He even stole a book once to draw in it. Potter and Black where always stealing his sketchpad and writing obscenities in it. Lily didn't though. Even when he had forgotten about him, she always had liked his art.
Art. It held the mirror up to life. If black could see what was in his sketchpad now…
"Ah, Severus, on time I see." Dumbledore had appeared again in his fashion. Snape straightened up. "All present and correct?"
"Yes sir."
"Severus, I have to talk to you. Now."
"Sir?"
"Ever heard the theory of the trousers of time?"
"No sir."
"Well it goes like this. Every universe starts off metaphorically the same. The thing is, each reality is what didn't happened in another. For example, in another reality, you might have been Lord Voldermort. In this reality, however, you are Severus Snape, and must live with it. This reality bifurcated a long time ago. For on thing, the shape of the world is very different to their, hence the name Discworld."
"Isn't that an outmoded believe cause by lack of science…"
"No. They have proved it by science, I assure you. But my point is, Severus, is that what happened their does not happen here. The point is you may see a man just like Lupin, but he is not lupin, but a different version of him that has never happened in our universe. You see."
"I see, but I don't get your point…"
"What I mean is, if you see James Potter, he isn't James potter, but an alternative version of him."
Snape froze. He knew Dumbledore point now. Could he cope with seeing another version of James Potter? Would he just lose it and start a punch up? He could just see himself punching James Potter, and here him shouting," I'm not James Potter, I'm Fred Gensbenzine."
Snape knew why Dumbledore was so concerned now. This could cause a lot of confusion.
The other teachers arrived in the office followed by the Ministry of Magic representatives. They lined up, ready to go through. Dumbledore summoned through the glass orb a young face. It was a young face, about as old as Snape, who was 36 .He looked as if he had spent nights working on perfecting machines of magnitude, then slept on them in the morning. In other words he looked like a nerd. He and Dumbledore had a whispered conversation, and then Dumbledore said, "Cornelius Fudge."
Cornelius Fudge, the Head of the ministry of Magic Stood up and stood in the Circle." You ready?"
Fudge nodded. Dumbledore waved his wand, and Fudge was gone.
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The wizards had assembled with the patrician to meet the guests. He had arranged hurriedly some guards to give the place a finished off look. Vimes stood to attention. The patrician looked at him, as if to ask what the guard situation was.
" Guards are lining the route to the dining room, and I've sent a squad to line the roof. Senior Captain Carrot will be in charge of Guards in the hall. "
" The guards in the hall being…"
"Sergeant Detritus, Junior Captain Angua, Sergeant Littlbottom, Corporal Visit, Corporal Goriff and Corporal Shoe."
"An on the roof…"
"Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobb's, Junior Captain Lancaster and the newest batch of recruits"
"Good." The patrician turned to Ponder " Mr Stibbons, is the matter transporter ready?"
"Yes My Lord,"
Please call our guests. Ponder switched the Omniscope to Hogwarts View and had a quiet discussion with Dumbledore. Ponder walked back to the portal, and waited for the first guest.
Suddenly the Portal flared open, and A man in a green cloak came through. Vimes stood to attention as if waiting for him to attack. He staggered a bit and then seemed to realise where he was. He smiled, straightened up and said, "Hello. I'm Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic"
"Welcome. I am the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, This," he said, indicating Vimes," Is Lord Vimes, Duke of Ankh-Morpork and Commander of the City watch."
Vimes suspiciously held out his hand to shake. The minister held his hand and shock it firmly. He had a very firm handshake. It didn't make him trust him any more. The two men met each other's eyes for a spilt second and then looked away like defeated dogs. Then the Minister for Magic turned to the next person to welcome.
Another man came through as the Portal rippled like a stone being thrown into a pond. The man wore rather old well-worn robes and had flame red hair. He also looked groggy for a few seconds before he seemed to realise where he was. He held out his hand and said
" Arthur Weasley, Head of the misuse of Muggle artefacts department. How nice to meet you."
" The Patrician of Ankh- Morpork, we're pleased to meet you." They shock hands. He moved onto Vimes, who also held out his hand suspiciously (which is a hard thing to do).
" Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the city watch."
The man smiled back at him and said, "How nice. I hope we can talk later." Vimes just kept starring at him. There was only one place where he had seen hair that red, and it wasn't a very common hair colour.
Then a very Thin, white man with white blond hair came through the portal. His face curled into a sneer, as if it was first nature. It seemed familiar. Too familiar.
"Lucious Malfoy, Adviser to the minister of magic and Governor for Hogwarts school."
"Patrician of Ankh- Morpork."
The rather nasty looking man walked up to Vimes, and sneered. Vimes could see it was his prompt to talk.
"Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh- Morpork and Commander of the city watch." He didn't like the look of him. A face like his was guilty of every crime. Mostly theft though. Theft of innocence, theft of money, Dignity and justice. Then he remembers. There was no justice, only the man with the sneering face.
Vimes ignored his temptation to punch him in the face and kept the line moving. There would be time for arguments later.
Jack Swifytery was angry. Very angry. He hated school and he hated the pupils. They hated him, but he hated them more. He hated the teacher, all sarcasm and no brains. Although he hated them all, he hated himself more for not standing up for himself. He sat at the back of the classroom folding a piece of paper into a swan.
He watched the teacher with a hateful gaze. He didn't like it here. He felt claustrophobic. The last time he had felt like this something had happened. He didn't know what, but he had been able to leave the school for a week
He focused the feeling. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He felt drowsy, as if he was about to drop off to sleep. The room swayed around him as if in a terrible dream. He heard the teachers, voice, but it was slowed, distorted. Deep.
He could feel red anger filling his body. He seethed with fury. The teacher tried to get him to stand up, but when he touched he yelped. Jack was so cold he burned.
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Ponder sat in the hall as the guests got to know each other and talk. He sat alone, as usual. It was ironic, he though, but the one person who made the meeting of these people possible, and he was the one that sat alone. He starred at the Patrician or more precisely at his side. Vimes was there, watching the guest who was talking to hims' every move. His hand was on his sword hilt. He couldn't believe that a man like that could raise a girl like Pippin. She was beautiful, cultured and intelligent.
Then he though about it deeply. She was also very suspicious of everybody, like her father. She was always ready to fight or run, like her father. She was cunning and could take you by surprise, like her father. She was just like her father, but she was also like her mother, just more noticeably like her father.
He couldn't believe it, he was thinking about her again. He was 36 and she was 15. It was just disgusting. He had never really though about her this way before, but ever since she had kissed him…
Well, she deserved a better father than commander Vimes. He was never at home as far as he could gather from her, and he was about 60. An old man. He had heard men call their father old man before, but this was ridiculous! 60 was practically retirement age in nearly all businesses, except wizarding. Ponder wasn't much of an expert in these matter, but when he had talked to Pippin, they obviously felt the generation gap.
Ponder had been lost so much in his own thought, he didn't notice when Adrian came running up to him.
"Ponder, Ponder, come quickly, there's been a leak in the High energy building!"
Ponder felt annoyed, "Adrian, you should be able to sort out a leak of ants for gods sake!"
"It isn't that," said Adrian panicking "The magic's been leaking!"
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Ponder ran into the High energy building followed Closely by Adrian.
"Where the hell is this leak," He shouted as he burst into the working students.
"Over there, behind Hex next to the biggest anthill." Ponder crawled around and saw the leak. It glowed octarine, the colour of magic. Magic was leaking through a huge hole. It wasn't the size of a mouse hole anymore. It was big enough to fit a good-sized dog through. Ponder turned calmly to Adrian.
"Adrian, for how long, would you estimate this leak has been here?" He said in a sickly sweet voice. It was out of character for him, but sometime he got really annoyed.
"Well," said Adrian getting out his abacus and doing some very complex mental arithmetic,
" Give or take a few days, allowing for the size of the average mouse hole, and how often we check around their and the acidity of magic on the building material…"
"Adrian, just give me the facts."
"About 12 years."
"12 years! "Exclaimed Ponder." I don't believe this. I left this building for 14 years and this happens! Gods!"
"What've we got to do Ponder?"
"We've got to tell the wizards…"
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"Well, I though to myself, if you're going to have crime, It might as well be organised crime"
The patrician was talking to Fudge. Fudge looked nervous in his presents, and this was unusual, as he himself was a leader.
"Well, where we come from we sent our criminals to Azkaban, there we have Dementers, which suck the happiness out of people and leave them only the bad times. People go mad in there. Ever since we introduced Azkaban into our justice system we've had a distinct drop in crime." Said Fudge amiably.
Vimes was starring at him with opened-mouthed astonishment. Fudge looked at him and said," What's wrong with you, Sir Samuel?"
"You suck the happiness out of people?" He said, half astonished, half- angry.
"Oh yes Sir Samuel, It's very effective .I can see you yourself would like to introduce this system…"
"I would like to send some people to Azkaban, yes…"
"Vimes," sighed the patrician, "You can leave me to talk to other guests. I have no need of you as my nurse maid." Then the two leaders walked off leaving him alone. He made some attempted to talk, but gave up and went to get some fruit juice. Even if he hadn't been tee- total, it would have been too early to drink. As he walked over to the buffet table a wizard caught him and started to talk to him.
"Hello, I think I met you this morning., Commander Vimes isn't it? I an Arthur Weasley if you remember…"
Oh gods he did remember. The overly pleasant manner, the eagerness, he had picked up on straight away, but he had felt it somewhere else…
"You don't? Well I study muggles, very interesting in fact, how they cope without magic and…"
"What are muggles?" Said Vimes in a dream. The man was beginning to irritate him, but he felt compelled to listen. It sounded interesting in a boring kind of way.
"Muggles? Non magic folk. Can't even perform the simplest magic spell."
"Wait a sec…I'm a muggle? I'm not magical. Why are you even talking to me?"
"You're a muggle?" The red haired man took him notebook out from a pocket." Tell me, how do you light things?"
"With matches."
"How…do you travel?"
"Where?"
"Anywhere?"
"Well, for long journeys, like from here to Uberwald, I would go by coach, but if I was just going across the city, I'd run, but if I was going across water, I'd go by boat."
"Oh, oh!" said the rather excited man as he wrote jumping up and down " This is really good stuff!"
"Yeah…" said Vimes sheepishly, trying not to look scared. He had nearly been killed on several occasions, but he felt this man would spring on him just to find out more. He tried to edge away. The man just followed him. He looked over the room. He could see Sybil directly across the room talking to a man who looked as if he also kept dragons who had red hair, and a man in black. If he could just slip away…
Snape stood there listening to the dragon breeders. For such dangerous creatures, they were extremely dull. The large woman was totally at ease with herself, and Charlie Weasley was enjoying comparing notes.
"Oh my goodness, you've got the big dragons? There was one once in the city, but it was just to big, and things how they are, it just disappeared. With a little dragon called Errol, long after we found out that it was a throwback from the moon-dragons."
"Well lady Sybil, I do like the little swamp dragon. They have beautiful scales y'know. Well looked after." She blushed red at this complement. Snape just stood their, brain on automatic. How could he get stuck with the dragon breeders? The only good thing those dragons were good for were potions in his opinion. He sneaked off to the buffet table for a drink.
Vimes couldn't escape. The man had him by the short straw. He sat their, being told about electricity and some bad jobs with the misuse of muggle artefacts. He tried to escape for more juice, but he couldn't. Sybil could handle these sorts of people. He couldn't. He tried to resist garrotting the man with his bare hands.
"I suppose sometimes, with the job, I come home late, and that makes Molly angry. She has a temper like thunder. I'm glad she hasn't passed it onto the kids…"
Vimes connected the word "Kids" and guessed molly must be his wife.
"Kids?"
"All seven of them! Theirs Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts bank, Theirs Charlie, he works with dragons in Romania…"
"Romania?"
"Country in our world, nice place, plenty of trees, then their Percy, works in the Department for International magical co-operation, they all should be around here somewhere, then George and Fred, twins. Jokers, always thinking of new products for a joke shop, then there's Ronald, he still attends Hogwarts, gets good grades though of, of course, and a keeper on the quidditch team. Then there's our only daughter Ginny, she's as cute as a button and very good at school. Have you got any children yourself?"
Vimes reeled under the information about this man's children. He thought about his own daughter.
"I've got a daughter" He volunteered.
"What's she like?" Said the man eagerly.
"She's…Okay. She's called Jennifer."
"That's a nice name. She a good girl?"
"Err…a bit of a trouble maker really," He said, for some reason unable to lie at this moment, "quite intelligent, just unable to get along with the teachers, or anyone at school really."
"It's a bit like Fred and George really, always in trouble. Pity your girl can't come to Hogwarts. Dumbledore can set almost any child straight. All right, they still get into trouble, but they respect Dumbledore…"
"Respect isn't the problem!" said Vimes, far to loud. It was a problem as far as he could see. A hereditary problem. It was all right in some circumstances, but in others… not so good.
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Jack was now very angry. The teacher tried to get him to wake up from his semi-translucent dream as the class jeered at him. He looked up. He stood up and screamed. Not in fear, not in pain, but in anger, pure anger.
The glass shattered as he screamed. It didn't sound like a scream, but a shrill pure note. He started to levitate high off the ground and his body looked as if it was outlined with blue. The blue line licked up and down his body, leaving traces in the air with its presents.
He looked up from the floor. He smiled a nasty smile and raised one of his hands slowly from the ground. A blue bolt of rage erupted from his hand smashing the teacher, who had made his life hell, into a wall, and several passed it.
His eyes where not his own, but the colour of the fire. They glowed bright blue and crackled occasionally. The class looked at him. Was this the same Jack they pushed around and made fun of? They thought. They didn't think this, but though, We better get out of here fast.
Jack just levitated their, staring through the unnatural eyes. He smiled. Then the world exploded.
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"Well, I'm just going to get a drink" Vimes mumbled and made a beeline to the fruit juice. He was just about to pour himself a drink when a wizard ran through the meeting to the Arch- Chancellor.
"Sir, sir theirs been a leek in the high energy building! It's been leaking into the city!
Ridcully looked at the wizard with slight distaste. "Is this really necessary now Mr Stibbons?" He said.
There was an explosion from the guild of teachers. A boy burst through the window and hit the floor causing several women to scream in astonishment. Glass covered the hall.
"I think it's pretty urgent." Said Ponder " I know there are no wizards in the city, and no-one apart from a wizard could cause this much destruction."
The patrician stares at the body. It was the first time Vimes had seen him scared. The guards in the hall ushered everyone to the yard. Guards came from the roof to stop people coming in. Vimes made sure the hall was empty and called "Sergeant Littlebottom, Get Igor Up here now! "
She saluted. "Yes sir!"
As the hall emptied he when over and studied the body. The boy was fairly normal, but his corpse was all warped and twisted. Glass stuck into his back like a bed of nails. He wore the uniform of the teacher's guild, but the journey through the window pain had ripped it to shreds.
He looked in the remaining rags of the school uniform for a name. The name was…
Jack Swifytery.
Vimes sighed. Some times their where times that you had to feel for people. He had never liked Mr Swifytery, a social climber with nothing else on his mind, but this was the worst thing a parent could face. He knew that, even if he wasn't much of a parent.
He put the boy in a restful position, and walked across the room. The glass crackled beneath his feet as he walked to the door. Cherry and Igor ran up the stairs, being the seniority of the City watch's forensics team.
"The team will be hear soon, Mr Vimes, They're just calming down the crowds sir."
"Cherry," said Vimes with a strange certainty, " I want you and Igor to make sure this boy lives…"
"Lives!" said Igor exasperated," I can't make anyone live thir! I can prolong their life, but I can't give life, unless only a few organs are damaged, but he has far to much damage."
The boy lifted his head up, a strange blue light in his eyes. "Mr Vimes, I'm not the last case like this you'll face. The magic can change a human. This magic, when in the body is permanent, just can't get rid of it. The magic only chooses a few people. The most ambitious, the most loyal, the most brave, the most intelligent.
I am not the last changing. Whether it is at home, or city-wide. The magic has the children of the city. Some of them know, some of them don't, some are still in denial, frightened of people like you." The boy spat the word like an insult" Frightened of the general public, but the power can make the people dance like puppets for them. They control the power, of course, but if they choose not to…well I think you can guess. That's what happened to me. I let it control me. There is only one places that teacher's you to control it. Hogwarts."
"He's delirious" interjected Vimes.
" 'Fraid not commander. The changelings are every where. They are not evil, or good, it just depends on what they choose to do. They must be controlled by Hogwarts, learn to control the power, or it will kill them, like me. I would have been killed anyway, if anyone found out, but this way is easier. Vimes, you must love the changelings. They have power you can't imagine. If you don't work with them and make them your own, they will kill you. Even Jennifer. Whatever you would like to belief, the magic will make them do it. " Then he raised his head and stood up. He shouted.
"We are changeling…we are not like other people."
Then he folded into a heap on the floor, the strange blue light leaving his eyes. His body lay in foetal position on the floor. Igor looked for a pulse.
"He'th gone thir. No hope, he'th dead. Too much internal damage, as if he had been kicked repeatedly in the stomach of weeks, then that thaumic thurge…. It finithhed him off thur."
Vimes looked at the mangled body. The oddest thing was his face. It should have looked scared, or at lest mad, but it didn't. It looked like the face of a boy who had relief finally from this world. It was the face of pure enjoyment of death. That face would haunt him to the rest of his days. The face with the faint pleasure of being dead in an unkind world. He thought about his last words. He had shouted them into the rafters, so every one in Ankh-Morpork could hear them.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
Cherry looked shocked, as if she where about to cry. Igor was just writing down the last words of the boy. Cheery broke down. Vimes helplessly patted her on the shoulder as she broke down.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
He could feel that the changelings where going to change his life altogether. He could feel it in his water.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
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Ooooooooooooooooooooooh cliffhanger ending. 4th chapter will come up as soon as possible.
Well here comes part 3! Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I only write fanfiction. I don't own it!
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Snape stood in Dumbledore's office. It was nine forty four exactly…Now. He was washed, shaved, and wearing his best robes. They where black. Dark black. The kind of black that sucks in light and spits it out in a mangled mess. He was going to where black until they invented a darker colour.
He breathed slowly. Dumbledore treated him like the son he never had. He didn't know why. He had betrayed his cause. He had let people die. He had been evil. He had been raised in Knockturn ally. Yes, his family where purebloods, but they had been poor. Even poorer than the Weasley's if he was honest with himself. Yes, they wore second hand robes, but he had 4th hand robes bought by his parents, then he got them after his brother and sister had got through them By that time they were less robes, more rags to tie around himself.
They, his siblings had been in Ravenclaw, but he had a thirst to be rich and powerful. Rich, admittedly meant to him having a pair of trousers he didn't have to share, but his thirst for power had lead him straight to the dark lord. After a few years of being bullied by Lucious Malfoy. He was a bastard if he had ever met one.
Always playing pranks on him. Even more than Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrue did. He and lily where the freaks. They had stuck together through everything until. Until the last prank. He called it the last prank, because it was the last big prank they ever played on them. After that it had just been him.
He had fallen in love with her as soon as he had seen her. He couldn't tell why Potter hadn't. He supposed he was still so immature at that point, and because Lily was clever he just bullied her irrespective of her beauty. Well, it was just obvious why Potter hadn't liked him. He was so poor and was always drawing.
He couldn't afford to draw in Knockturn Ally, but he always like to draw. He even stole a book once to draw in it. Potter and Black where always stealing his sketchpad and writing obscenities in it. Lily didn't though. Even when he had forgotten about him, she always had liked his art.
Art. It held the mirror up to life. If black could see what was in his sketchpad now…
"Ah, Severus, on time I see." Dumbledore had appeared again in his fashion. Snape straightened up. "All present and correct?"
"Yes sir."
"Severus, I have to talk to you. Now."
"Sir?"
"Ever heard the theory of the trousers of time?"
"No sir."
"Well it goes like this. Every universe starts off metaphorically the same. The thing is, each reality is what didn't happened in another. For example, in another reality, you might have been Lord Voldermort. In this reality, however, you are Severus Snape, and must live with it. This reality bifurcated a long time ago. For on thing, the shape of the world is very different to their, hence the name Discworld."
"Isn't that an outmoded believe cause by lack of science…"
"No. They have proved it by science, I assure you. But my point is, Severus, is that what happened their does not happen here. The point is you may see a man just like Lupin, but he is not lupin, but a different version of him that has never happened in our universe. You see."
"I see, but I don't get your point…"
"What I mean is, if you see James Potter, he isn't James potter, but an alternative version of him."
Snape froze. He knew Dumbledore point now. Could he cope with seeing another version of James Potter? Would he just lose it and start a punch up? He could just see himself punching James Potter, and here him shouting," I'm not James Potter, I'm Fred Gensbenzine."
Snape knew why Dumbledore was so concerned now. This could cause a lot of confusion.
The other teachers arrived in the office followed by the Ministry of Magic representatives. They lined up, ready to go through. Dumbledore summoned through the glass orb a young face. It was a young face, about as old as Snape, who was 36 .He looked as if he had spent nights working on perfecting machines of magnitude, then slept on them in the morning. In other words he looked like a nerd. He and Dumbledore had a whispered conversation, and then Dumbledore said, "Cornelius Fudge."
Cornelius Fudge, the Head of the ministry of Magic Stood up and stood in the Circle." You ready?"
Fudge nodded. Dumbledore waved his wand, and Fudge was gone.
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The wizards had assembled with the patrician to meet the guests. He had arranged hurriedly some guards to give the place a finished off look. Vimes stood to attention. The patrician looked at him, as if to ask what the guard situation was.
" Guards are lining the route to the dining room, and I've sent a squad to line the roof. Senior Captain Carrot will be in charge of Guards in the hall. "
" The guards in the hall being…"
"Sergeant Detritus, Junior Captain Angua, Sergeant Littlbottom, Corporal Visit, Corporal Goriff and Corporal Shoe."
"An on the roof…"
"Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobb's, Junior Captain Lancaster and the newest batch of recruits"
"Good." The patrician turned to Ponder " Mr Stibbons, is the matter transporter ready?"
"Yes My Lord,"
Please call our guests. Ponder switched the Omniscope to Hogwarts View and had a quiet discussion with Dumbledore. Ponder walked back to the portal, and waited for the first guest.
Suddenly the Portal flared open, and A man in a green cloak came through. Vimes stood to attention as if waiting for him to attack. He staggered a bit and then seemed to realise where he was. He smiled, straightened up and said, "Hello. I'm Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic"
"Welcome. I am the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, This," he said, indicating Vimes," Is Lord Vimes, Duke of Ankh-Morpork and Commander of the City watch."
Vimes suspiciously held out his hand to shake. The minister held his hand and shock it firmly. He had a very firm handshake. It didn't make him trust him any more. The two men met each other's eyes for a spilt second and then looked away like defeated dogs. Then the Minister for Magic turned to the next person to welcome.
Another man came through as the Portal rippled like a stone being thrown into a pond. The man wore rather old well-worn robes and had flame red hair. He also looked groggy for a few seconds before he seemed to realise where he was. He held out his hand and said
" Arthur Weasley, Head of the misuse of Muggle artefacts department. How nice to meet you."
" The Patrician of Ankh- Morpork, we're pleased to meet you." They shock hands. He moved onto Vimes, who also held out his hand suspiciously (which is a hard thing to do).
" Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the city watch."
The man smiled back at him and said, "How nice. I hope we can talk later." Vimes just kept starring at him. There was only one place where he had seen hair that red, and it wasn't a very common hair colour.
Then a very Thin, white man with white blond hair came through the portal. His face curled into a sneer, as if it was first nature. It seemed familiar. Too familiar.
"Lucious Malfoy, Adviser to the minister of magic and Governor for Hogwarts school."
"Patrician of Ankh- Morpork."
The rather nasty looking man walked up to Vimes, and sneered. Vimes could see it was his prompt to talk.
"Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh- Morpork and Commander of the city watch." He didn't like the look of him. A face like his was guilty of every crime. Mostly theft though. Theft of innocence, theft of money, Dignity and justice. Then he remembers. There was no justice, only the man with the sneering face.
Vimes ignored his temptation to punch him in the face and kept the line moving. There would be time for arguments later.
Jack Swifytery was angry. Very angry. He hated school and he hated the pupils. They hated him, but he hated them more. He hated the teacher, all sarcasm and no brains. Although he hated them all, he hated himself more for not standing up for himself. He sat at the back of the classroom folding a piece of paper into a swan.
He watched the teacher with a hateful gaze. He didn't like it here. He felt claustrophobic. The last time he had felt like this something had happened. He didn't know what, but he had been able to leave the school for a week
He focused the feeling. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He felt drowsy, as if he was about to drop off to sleep. The room swayed around him as if in a terrible dream. He heard the teachers, voice, but it was slowed, distorted. Deep.
He could feel red anger filling his body. He seethed with fury. The teacher tried to get him to stand up, but when he touched he yelped. Jack was so cold he burned.
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Ponder sat in the hall as the guests got to know each other and talk. He sat alone, as usual. It was ironic, he though, but the one person who made the meeting of these people possible, and he was the one that sat alone. He starred at the Patrician or more precisely at his side. Vimes was there, watching the guest who was talking to hims' every move. His hand was on his sword hilt. He couldn't believe that a man like that could raise a girl like Pippin. She was beautiful, cultured and intelligent.
Then he though about it deeply. She was also very suspicious of everybody, like her father. She was always ready to fight or run, like her father. She was cunning and could take you by surprise, like her father. She was just like her father, but she was also like her mother, just more noticeably like her father.
He couldn't believe it, he was thinking about her again. He was 36 and she was 15. It was just disgusting. He had never really though about her this way before, but ever since she had kissed him…
Well, she deserved a better father than commander Vimes. He was never at home as far as he could gather from her, and he was about 60. An old man. He had heard men call their father old man before, but this was ridiculous! 60 was practically retirement age in nearly all businesses, except wizarding. Ponder wasn't much of an expert in these matter, but when he had talked to Pippin, they obviously felt the generation gap.
Ponder had been lost so much in his own thought, he didn't notice when Adrian came running up to him.
"Ponder, Ponder, come quickly, there's been a leak in the High energy building!"
Ponder felt annoyed, "Adrian, you should be able to sort out a leak of ants for gods sake!"
"It isn't that," said Adrian panicking "The magic's been leaking!"
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Ponder ran into the High energy building followed Closely by Adrian.
"Where the hell is this leak," He shouted as he burst into the working students.
"Over there, behind Hex next to the biggest anthill." Ponder crawled around and saw the leak. It glowed octarine, the colour of magic. Magic was leaking through a huge hole. It wasn't the size of a mouse hole anymore. It was big enough to fit a good-sized dog through. Ponder turned calmly to Adrian.
"Adrian, for how long, would you estimate this leak has been here?" He said in a sickly sweet voice. It was out of character for him, but sometime he got really annoyed.
"Well," said Adrian getting out his abacus and doing some very complex mental arithmetic,
" Give or take a few days, allowing for the size of the average mouse hole, and how often we check around their and the acidity of magic on the building material…"
"Adrian, just give me the facts."
"About 12 years."
"12 years! "Exclaimed Ponder." I don't believe this. I left this building for 14 years and this happens! Gods!"
"What've we got to do Ponder?"
"We've got to tell the wizards…"
##########################################################################
"Well, I though to myself, if you're going to have crime, It might as well be organised crime"
The patrician was talking to Fudge. Fudge looked nervous in his presents, and this was unusual, as he himself was a leader.
"Well, where we come from we sent our criminals to Azkaban, there we have Dementers, which suck the happiness out of people and leave them only the bad times. People go mad in there. Ever since we introduced Azkaban into our justice system we've had a distinct drop in crime." Said Fudge amiably.
Vimes was starring at him with opened-mouthed astonishment. Fudge looked at him and said," What's wrong with you, Sir Samuel?"
"You suck the happiness out of people?" He said, half astonished, half- angry.
"Oh yes Sir Samuel, It's very effective .I can see you yourself would like to introduce this system…"
"I would like to send some people to Azkaban, yes…"
"Vimes," sighed the patrician, "You can leave me to talk to other guests. I have no need of you as my nurse maid." Then the two leaders walked off leaving him alone. He made some attempted to talk, but gave up and went to get some fruit juice. Even if he hadn't been tee- total, it would have been too early to drink. As he walked over to the buffet table a wizard caught him and started to talk to him.
"Hello, I think I met you this morning., Commander Vimes isn't it? I an Arthur Weasley if you remember…"
Oh gods he did remember. The overly pleasant manner, the eagerness, he had picked up on straight away, but he had felt it somewhere else…
"You don't? Well I study muggles, very interesting in fact, how they cope without magic and…"
"What are muggles?" Said Vimes in a dream. The man was beginning to irritate him, but he felt compelled to listen. It sounded interesting in a boring kind of way.
"Muggles? Non magic folk. Can't even perform the simplest magic spell."
"Wait a sec…I'm a muggle? I'm not magical. Why are you even talking to me?"
"You're a muggle?" The red haired man took him notebook out from a pocket." Tell me, how do you light things?"
"With matches."
"How…do you travel?"
"Where?"
"Anywhere?"
"Well, for long journeys, like from here to Uberwald, I would go by coach, but if I was just going across the city, I'd run, but if I was going across water, I'd go by boat."
"Oh, oh!" said the rather excited man as he wrote jumping up and down " This is really good stuff!"
"Yeah…" said Vimes sheepishly, trying not to look scared. He had nearly been killed on several occasions, but he felt this man would spring on him just to find out more. He tried to edge away. The man just followed him. He looked over the room. He could see Sybil directly across the room talking to a man who looked as if he also kept dragons who had red hair, and a man in black. If he could just slip away…
Snape stood there listening to the dragon breeders. For such dangerous creatures, they were extremely dull. The large woman was totally at ease with herself, and Charlie Weasley was enjoying comparing notes.
"Oh my goodness, you've got the big dragons? There was one once in the city, but it was just to big, and things how they are, it just disappeared. With a little dragon called Errol, long after we found out that it was a throwback from the moon-dragons."
"Well lady Sybil, I do like the little swamp dragon. They have beautiful scales y'know. Well looked after." She blushed red at this complement. Snape just stood their, brain on automatic. How could he get stuck with the dragon breeders? The only good thing those dragons were good for were potions in his opinion. He sneaked off to the buffet table for a drink.
Vimes couldn't escape. The man had him by the short straw. He sat their, being told about electricity and some bad jobs with the misuse of muggle artefacts. He tried to escape for more juice, but he couldn't. Sybil could handle these sorts of people. He couldn't. He tried to resist garrotting the man with his bare hands.
"I suppose sometimes, with the job, I come home late, and that makes Molly angry. She has a temper like thunder. I'm glad she hasn't passed it onto the kids…"
Vimes connected the word "Kids" and guessed molly must be his wife.
"Kids?"
"All seven of them! Theirs Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts bank, Theirs Charlie, he works with dragons in Romania…"
"Romania?"
"Country in our world, nice place, plenty of trees, then their Percy, works in the Department for International magical co-operation, they all should be around here somewhere, then George and Fred, twins. Jokers, always thinking of new products for a joke shop, then there's Ronald, he still attends Hogwarts, gets good grades though of, of course, and a keeper on the quidditch team. Then there's our only daughter Ginny, she's as cute as a button and very good at school. Have you got any children yourself?"
Vimes reeled under the information about this man's children. He thought about his own daughter.
"I've got a daughter" He volunteered.
"What's she like?" Said the man eagerly.
"She's…Okay. She's called Jennifer."
"That's a nice name. She a good girl?"
"Err…a bit of a trouble maker really," He said, for some reason unable to lie at this moment, "quite intelligent, just unable to get along with the teachers, or anyone at school really."
"It's a bit like Fred and George really, always in trouble. Pity your girl can't come to Hogwarts. Dumbledore can set almost any child straight. All right, they still get into trouble, but they respect Dumbledore…"
"Respect isn't the problem!" said Vimes, far to loud. It was a problem as far as he could see. A hereditary problem. It was all right in some circumstances, but in others… not so good.
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Jack was now very angry. The teacher tried to get him to wake up from his semi-translucent dream as the class jeered at him. He looked up. He stood up and screamed. Not in fear, not in pain, but in anger, pure anger.
The glass shattered as he screamed. It didn't sound like a scream, but a shrill pure note. He started to levitate high off the ground and his body looked as if it was outlined with blue. The blue line licked up and down his body, leaving traces in the air with its presents.
He looked up from the floor. He smiled a nasty smile and raised one of his hands slowly from the ground. A blue bolt of rage erupted from his hand smashing the teacher, who had made his life hell, into a wall, and several passed it.
His eyes where not his own, but the colour of the fire. They glowed bright blue and crackled occasionally. The class looked at him. Was this the same Jack they pushed around and made fun of? They thought. They didn't think this, but though, We better get out of here fast.
Jack just levitated their, staring through the unnatural eyes. He smiled. Then the world exploded.
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"Well, I'm just going to get a drink" Vimes mumbled and made a beeline to the fruit juice. He was just about to pour himself a drink when a wizard ran through the meeting to the Arch- Chancellor.
"Sir, sir theirs been a leek in the high energy building! It's been leaking into the city!
Ridcully looked at the wizard with slight distaste. "Is this really necessary now Mr Stibbons?" He said.
There was an explosion from the guild of teachers. A boy burst through the window and hit the floor causing several women to scream in astonishment. Glass covered the hall.
"I think it's pretty urgent." Said Ponder " I know there are no wizards in the city, and no-one apart from a wizard could cause this much destruction."
The patrician stares at the body. It was the first time Vimes had seen him scared. The guards in the hall ushered everyone to the yard. Guards came from the roof to stop people coming in. Vimes made sure the hall was empty and called "Sergeant Littlebottom, Get Igor Up here now! "
She saluted. "Yes sir!"
As the hall emptied he when over and studied the body. The boy was fairly normal, but his corpse was all warped and twisted. Glass stuck into his back like a bed of nails. He wore the uniform of the teacher's guild, but the journey through the window pain had ripped it to shreds.
He looked in the remaining rags of the school uniform for a name. The name was…
Jack Swifytery.
Vimes sighed. Some times their where times that you had to feel for people. He had never liked Mr Swifytery, a social climber with nothing else on his mind, but this was the worst thing a parent could face. He knew that, even if he wasn't much of a parent.
He put the boy in a restful position, and walked across the room. The glass crackled beneath his feet as he walked to the door. Cherry and Igor ran up the stairs, being the seniority of the City watch's forensics team.
"The team will be hear soon, Mr Vimes, They're just calming down the crowds sir."
"Cherry," said Vimes with a strange certainty, " I want you and Igor to make sure this boy lives…"
"Lives!" said Igor exasperated," I can't make anyone live thir! I can prolong their life, but I can't give life, unless only a few organs are damaged, but he has far to much damage."
The boy lifted his head up, a strange blue light in his eyes. "Mr Vimes, I'm not the last case like this you'll face. The magic can change a human. This magic, when in the body is permanent, just can't get rid of it. The magic only chooses a few people. The most ambitious, the most loyal, the most brave, the most intelligent.
I am not the last changing. Whether it is at home, or city-wide. The magic has the children of the city. Some of them know, some of them don't, some are still in denial, frightened of people like you." The boy spat the word like an insult" Frightened of the general public, but the power can make the people dance like puppets for them. They control the power, of course, but if they choose not to…well I think you can guess. That's what happened to me. I let it control me. There is only one places that teacher's you to control it. Hogwarts."
"He's delirious" interjected Vimes.
" 'Fraid not commander. The changelings are every where. They are not evil, or good, it just depends on what they choose to do. They must be controlled by Hogwarts, learn to control the power, or it will kill them, like me. I would have been killed anyway, if anyone found out, but this way is easier. Vimes, you must love the changelings. They have power you can't imagine. If you don't work with them and make them your own, they will kill you. Even Jennifer. Whatever you would like to belief, the magic will make them do it. " Then he raised his head and stood up. He shouted.
"We are changeling…we are not like other people."
Then he folded into a heap on the floor, the strange blue light leaving his eyes. His body lay in foetal position on the floor. Igor looked for a pulse.
"He'th gone thir. No hope, he'th dead. Too much internal damage, as if he had been kicked repeatedly in the stomach of weeks, then that thaumic thurge…. It finithhed him off thur."
Vimes looked at the mangled body. The oddest thing was his face. It should have looked scared, or at lest mad, but it didn't. It looked like the face of a boy who had relief finally from this world. It was the face of pure enjoyment of death. That face would haunt him to the rest of his days. The face with the faint pleasure of being dead in an unkind world. He thought about his last words. He had shouted them into the rafters, so every one in Ankh-Morpork could hear them.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
Cherry looked shocked, as if she where about to cry. Igor was just writing down the last words of the boy. Cheery broke down. Vimes helplessly patted her on the shoulder as she broke down.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
He could feel that the changelings where going to change his life altogether. He could feel it in his water.
We are the changelings, we are not like other people.
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Ooooooooooooooooooooooh cliffhanger ending. 4th chapter will come up as soon as possible.
