40. Phylacteries
HOGWARTS, FOURTH EQUESTRIA
When Dumbledore's Army next gathered, it was to learn the group's first Unforgivable Curse.
"All right, everypony!" Pinkie Pie announced from the front of the room. "Today, you're going to get to learn how to mind-control me!"
"She seems far too excited about this," Ron muttered to Fluttershy.
"Well, she is adventurous," Fluttershy answered.
"Now, remember," Harry reminded the group. "If any of you intentionally hurt anyone else seriously with the Imperius Curse, we will have to take disciplinary measures." He wasn't sure what he could even do to punish anyone—once they knew the curse, that was a powerful thing that couldn't be untaught—but he hoped he sounded imposing enough to instill order.
"Right." Draco took his place next to Romilda Vane. "Like this. IMPERIO!"
Pinkie Pie began to walk around and around in slow circles.
Romilda carefully aimed her wand, flicking it in the proper motion. "Imperio!" She found she couldn't change Pinkie's direction. "IMPERIO!"
"It takes practice and skill," Draco informed her.
Romilda eventually gave up, letting Hestia take the next spot in line. She wasn't able to do anything either. In fact, no one was until it came around to Hermione.
"Imperio," she said. In her mind, she asked, Read out loud from page 170 of the first book in your bag.
Pinkie stopped circling, diving for her bookbag and taking out a textbook, flicking excitedly to page 170. "His intent was to revolutionize the cauldron industry at large, but reception was at first lukewarm at best!"
"I should've known," Draco said with a respectful nod. "Not bad…Granger."
The line continued to circle. The next person to be able to cast the curse properly, stopping Pinkie from reading, was Astoria Greengrass.
Pinkie dropped the book, walking slowly toward Draco and Astoria and bowing on one knee before them, where she remained, still.
"Excellent," Draco remarked.
"Thank you," Astoria said with a nod.
Harry and Luna chose not to enter the line. At first, it seemed that the other Equestrians would hold to the same choice. But when the line finished cycling, Twilight suddenly blurted, "Can I try?"
"Twilight!" Rarity cried.
"I…I honestly don't want to use it to hurt anypony," Twilight defended. "I just…I have to know."
"Then cast it," Draco told her, motioning for her to move to the front of the line.
Twilight did. She flicked her wand at Pinkie. "Imperio."
It took three casts, but eventually, Twilight was able to get Pinkie to sing what she remembered as an old favorite from Ponyville: "All you gotta do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix-!"
Twilight stepped down, unsure what to really think—if she'd done the right thing or not. However, it was done, and she knew the spell.
Draco removed the curse from Pinkie, who shook her head to clear it before saying, "Woo! Things got cuh-razy!"
"That's all I have for today," Draco announced.
"I don't have anything either," Harry added. "I guess you're dismissed."
As Pinkie rejoined her friends, Twilight asked, "Should I just have not learned it?"
"You're a unicorn!" Pinkie reminded her. "And your talent is magic! It only makes sense that you'd wanna learn all the magic you could!"
"Besides," Rarity added, "it isn't as though this is less ethical than the Want It, Need It glamour."
"You're right," Twilight admitted.
"Shhh!" Pinkie suddenly hissed. "Looklooklook!"
Astoria had approached Draco again. "I appreciate what you're doing," she said. "Teaching the Imperius Curse. It does have quite practical applications, especially in terms of defense. I know that you almost didn't come to the Army at all. But I'm glad you did. You have a lot to teach."
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked away, leaving Draco very confused.
"See?" Pinkie whispered. "She's obviously in love with him!"
"Where did you get that idea?" Applejack asked. "She just talked to him—"
"Oh, Applejack," Pinkie interrupted, somewhat condescendingly. "It takes a keen eye and a sharp mind to notice these things. You know how she usually just hangs back and doesn't say anything! And she doesn't seem shy. She's going out of her way to speak to him!"
"She could just wanna be his friend," Applejack pointed out.
"Maybe," Pinkie admitted. "It's going to take some investigation to figure out!"
"You're not going to meddle, are you?" Rarity asked. "Oh, why do I ask…of course we all know you're going to meddle."
"I'm just going to do some research!" Pinkie defended. "I mean, even if she just wants to be his friend, they'd be so good together and they'd finally each have somepony to talk to!"
"But what if Astoria doesn't want somepony to talk to?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, I'll just have to find that out too!" Pinkie resolved.
To Pinkie Pie, nothing was more obvious in the world than the fact that Astoria Greengrass had some sort of feelings for Draco Malfoy. She took to watching Astoria, noting that mostly, the girl slipped through the hallways unseen, being as quick and quiet about it as possible, but she would always stop to give Draco a quick "Hello" if they crossed paths. Pinkie had no idea, however, if Draco returned the affections she was so sure Astoria had.
"What do you think about that Astoria Greengrass?" Pinkie asked him in the hallways, perhaps in the most suspicious tone of voice she could possibly have mustered.
"I have no clue," Draco admitted. "She's…very friendly…"
"But only to you!"
"I couldn't tell you why."
"But what do you THINK of her?" Pinkie reiterated. "Do you think she's a friend?"
"I barely know her!" Draco spat. "All I can say is that she's been very good at the spells being taught in…Dumbledore's Army." It still took him a while to get used to saying that combination of words, especially in regards to him being part of a group with that name. "At the very least, she proves that I'm not wasting my time there."
"Would you WANT to be friends with her?"
"How should I know?"
"Hmmm…" Pinkie concluded. "I think I've got everything I need to know from you. See ya later!" She dashed away, leaving Draco to wonder what the bloody hell she'd been going on about Astoria for.
Pinkie later found Astoria reading under the shade of a tree on the edge of the grounds, out back of the Herbology greenhouses. "Hiya!" she greeted, kneeling down next to Astoria.
Astoria did a slight double take as she looked up from her book, wondering how anyone had thought to go behind the greenhouses for any reason, let alone to look for her in such an out-of-the-way place. "Hello," Astoria replied, confused.
"Oh, I'm not here for anything much," Pinkie said. "Just catchin' up with my Dumbledore's Army buddy!"
"I hadn't accused you of anything else," Astoria replied.
"Whatcha readin'?" Pinkie asked, looking at Astoria's book. She wasn't put off in the slightest by the fact that it was "Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed," or that the other two books in the stack next to Astoria were "The Dark Arts: A Legal Companion," "How to Tame Tigers," and Astoria's very own copy of "Magick Moste Evile."
"It's quite useful," Astoria explained of the hex book. "And fascinating."
"You seem like you're really good at hexes and stuff!"
"I've studied for a long time."
"So speaking of people who cast hexes," Pinkie transitioned—not very well—"what do you think about Draco Malfoy?"
"I'm glad he's sharing what he has to offer with Dumbledore's Army," Astoria replied, and at first, that was all she said.
"Yeah," Pinkie prodded, "but what do you THINK of him?"
"It's a complex issue."
"Awww, c'mon, Dumbledore's Army buddy!"
After some deliberation, Astoria said, "He's certainly one of the most interesting people in wizarding history. His motivations fascinate me. I believe he's sincere when he says he's done with the Dark Lord, and yet he still carries with him a history of Dark Arts that most others do not have."
"Do you think you'd ever be friends with him?"
"I don't know."
"He's been really lonely since he got here! Everypony hates him because of the whole Voldemort thing!" Pinkie pointed out. "He probably wouldn't be very happy I told you that he was lonely."
"I believe he has human emotions," Astoria pointed out. "He doesn't give into them often, but he has them."
"So would you ever want to be…" Pinkie paused for dramatic effect. "MORE than friends with him?"
Astoria went silent, turning back to her book.
"So is that a yes?" Pinkie asked.
Astoria gave a very slight sigh. "It's not a matter I particularly want to talk about."
"So you DO like him?"
"It's only a crush. I would like to deny it, but I'm not much of a liar."
"Why don't you hang out with him, then?" Pinkie asked.
"I'm perfectly happy on my own."
"But you always compliment him on lessons and say hi to him and you NEVER do that to ANYPONY else!"
"As I said, I perhaps have somewhat of a crush on him. He isn't unattractive, and his history fascinates me," Astoria repeated. "But it will amount to nothing."
"How do you know that if you never try to talk to him?"
"Because Malfoys don't go for Greengrasses, and that is a simple fact," Astoria stated plainly, as though she were telling Pinkie that moondew only grows at night and that is a simple fact.
"Why not?" Pinkie asked.
"The Malfoy family, Draco included, has a very pro-pure-blood view," Astoria explained calmly. "Mum was a Muggle. Some would term me a 'mudblood.' If I were ever to have a boyfriend, it would be someone more tolerant of wizarding-Muggle marriages."
"Oh…" Pinkie realized she didn't have anything to say in response to that. She wanted to give a ringing endorsement that Draco didn't think that way, not anymore, but she still wasn't quite sure. Even though he was tolerating friendships from those he would have previously shunned, it was entirely possible that he couldn't view himself dating someone who wasn't of the same heritage as himself. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't be sorry. It's only fact."
"Okay! Well, I've got stuff to do, but if you ever wanna hang out, I'm always free! See ya round, Dumbledore's Army buddy!" Pinkie got up and sprang away. Astoria shook her head and then continued reading as though nothing had happened.
As time progressed for the members of Dumbledore's Army, said members grew far more proficient. Twilight didn't cast Imperio again, but she volunteered to be a test target often. Those who chose to learn it grew proficient at it, and the group as a whole became stronger at resisting it to a degree, though no one actually graduated to being able to shrug it off entirely.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack became able to cast full-blown Patronuses, and just so happened to perfect the art on the same day. Rainbow Dash whooped in delight when her silver mist formed into a giant eagle, and Applejack couldn't hold back a smile when her own Patronus turned out to be a Golden Retriever that didn't mind when she patted it on the head.
Harry couldn't help but feel proud of the group he'd put together. They were learning. And they were becoming strong enough to fend off Dark forces.
After Kreacher had taken his time off from the kitchens to explore the castle, Winky eventually gave in to curiosity. She wandered out of the kitchen area, awed by all there was to see that she'd never seen before. Wishing to avoid stares, however, she made her way to the dungeon, where she knew there would be fewer students pointing and gaping at her because she was a house-elf.
It was there that she was nearly tripped over.
"Winky is sorry!" she squeaked.
"It's all right," the student who'd nearly run into her said.
Winky looked up. "You is…Veronica, isn't you?"
"That's my name," Crouch answered.
"What is you doing down here in the dungeons? There is no Potions class now!"
"I wanted to ask Professor Slughorn a few questions," Crouch lied, his tongue flicking.
"But you is coming from the classroom," Winky stated obliviously. "Slughorn's office is that way." She pointed.
"I guess I'm lost!" Crouch said with a shrug before turning down the way that Winky had pointed. He placed a hand in his bag, where another textbook had been linked to the Potions classroom, ready to be mailed back to Trixie and Alex for safekeeping until Voldemort activated it as a Portkey.
"Is strange, the Veronica girl is," Kreacher later told Winky. "Kreacher sees her coming out of the Transfiguration classroom after McGonagall leaves for a long time. Says she wants to ask McGonagall questions, but McGonagall is not there."
"What does it mean?" Winky asked.
"Kreacher doesn't know," Kreacher muttered, "but Kreacher doesn't like it."
"TODAY'S THE BIG DAY!"
Rainbow Dash rushed down from the Gryffindor bedchambers in full Quidditch gear. "Last game of the season!" she cried, deftly sidestepping where Crookshanks was for the hundredth time trying to scratch through Tank's shell. "If Gryffindor wins this, we get the Cup!"
"You have a fair shot," Ginny replied.
"I'm curious to see you play," Harry admitted. "Everyone says you're quite good."
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "Not to brag, but I'm kinda the star of the team. Hey, you were Seeker before Ty was, right?"
"Yes. I'm curious to see him play as well."
"So come to the game!" Rainbow Dash insisted. "Gryffindor's gonna clean up! Nopony's gonna wanna miss this!"
The audience around the Quidditch pitch bustled with excitement as the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams walked out onto the field. Rainbow Dash turned to wave at all those who cheered for her.
Both teams mounted their brooms, the Quaffle was tossed, and off they went.
After Rainbow Dash scored the third goal, the Ravenclaws knew they had to keep the Quaffle away from her. So the Chasers began tossing the Quaffle up and up higher, zooming to take it as sort of a relay to get it closer to the sky and further away from Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash, of course, saw this as a challenge. She sped upwards, trying to keep up with the Quaffle as each Ravenclaw Chaser tossed it higher, then zooming upward to take a place to catch it and toss it again.
As the Chasers went higher, the Beaters realized that it wouldn't do any good to bat Bludgers around at each other on low ground, so they followed, swatting the Bludgers upward. That left only the Keepers, Ty and the Ravenclaw Seeker in the lower area of the field, near the actual goal posts. The two Seekers looked up; they had a clear view of everything, now that there was no one down low.
Ty saw it first. The Snitch had been released in such a manner that it zoomed up toward the crowd that was now about 400 feet, or over 100 meters, in the sky. He shot straight up to find it, and the Ravenclaw Seeker followed him.
"I can't believe it!" came the play-by-play announcement. "I've never seen a game get this high in the air!"
Everyone in the audience had to crane his or her head back, straining necks to watch the play.
The Ravenclaw Beaters had seen both Seekers fly up to the top level, realizing this must have meant the Snitch was there too, unless this was some extremely complex version of the Wronski Feint. It became clear to them that they had the victory if their Seeker could catch the Snitch without the Quaffle ever having to touch another goal post; they put all their energy into batting the Bludgers at Ty. Ty noticed this, swerving past each one.
In the meantime, Rainbow Dash focused on getting the Quaffle back so she could bring it down to the goal posts. The Ravenclaw Chasers had finally stopped going upward, feeling the ill effects of being up so high to begin with, and were passing the Quaffle back and forth to one another. Rainbow Dash knew that all she had to do was intercept it from one of their passes and she would have it once more in her possession.
Ty kept his focus on the Snitch, still keeping the Bludgers in mind; he outdistanced the Ravenclaw Seeker, having the little golden ball clearly within his sight. He swerved upward to avoid the first Bludger and downward to avoid the second before falling back in line behind the Snitch, stretching out his hand.
One of the Chasers made a slow pass, and Rainbow Dash caught on, sliding in so that the Quaffle landed in her hands. "GOT IT!" she cried.
"Got it," Ty muttered as he reached out for the Snitch.
The Snitch passed behind Rainbow Dash, and Ty followed it. When he passed out of the way, the Bludger smacked Rainbow Dash in the back of the neck. The Quaffle flew out of her hands, picked up by a Ravenclaw Chaser. Rainbow Dash did a full front flip, holding onto her broom tightly.
Where the Bludger had struck, the clasp to her amulet had come undone; her flip sent it flying, downward at an angle, to land somewhere on the Hogwarts grounds.
Ty's hand closed around the Snitch. Cheers erupted from the audience.
Rainbow Dash straightened up to see what had happened. "Hey!" she cried happily. "We w—"
She froze, an expression of horror upon her face. She slumped forward. Her limbs relaxed their grip on the broomstick, and she slipped off, falling toward the pitch below.
The crowd gasped as one. The other members of the Gryffindor team immediately took off after her falling body, hoping to catch her. Down in the audience, Twilight, panicking, drew her wand. Instead of using a traditional incantation, she funneled through the wand the energy she usually used to manipulate objects, pointing the wand sharply at Rainbow Dash. A bolt of pink shot from it, enveloping Rainbow Dash, slowing her down enough for the other Gryffindor players to catch hold of her and bring her gently to the ground, where they lay her down. She didn't move.
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Neville rushed onto the field, flustered and horrified. Ginny turned to face them, pale with shock. "She's dead," she cried. "She's dead!"
"NO!" Fluttershy cried, kneeling down at the side of the prone Rainbow Dash. She felt her wrists and hooves and neck for a pulse, but in vain. She placed her hands over Rainbow Dash's face, her chest, her stomach, searching for breath, but her friend wasn't breathing. There was no sign of a heartbeat.
"How did this happen?" Hermione wailed.
"Someone must have cursed her in the sky!" Ron theorized.
"No one saw a curse, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "The Killing Curse leaves a green flash!"
"Well, she didn't die of nothing!" Ron yelled.
"Please," Fluttershy begged, "oh, please, don't be dead, please breathe—"
Twilight couldn't help but notice that Rainbow Dash's lightning-shaped amulet was missing. She remembered seeing a glitter of gold flying out of the sky up in the air, but had dismissed it, as there couldn't possibly have been two Snitches in play. That glimmer must have been the amulet detaching, which had happened almost immediately before Rainbow Dash fell.
Just like a riddle, Twilight put the pieces together. The amulet. The gem that had gone cloudy when Rainbow Dash summoned her Mahou Shoujo powers. Kyubey had altered it by taking something out of Rainbow Dash and putting it inside.
"The amulet," Twilight burst out. "We need to get it back!"
"How will THAT help?" Ron growled.
"JUST GET IT BACK!" Twilight insisted.
Harry took the initiative. "Accio lightning bolt amulet!"
Before it even arrived, Rainbow Dash took a great gasp. Fluttershy gave a cry of relief. Everyone else around was awash with the same relief. "What just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Did we win?"
"I…guess," Ty answered, looking at the Snitch in his hand.
The amulet flew into the Quidditch pitch and into Harry's hand. "Here," he said, presenting the amulet to Twilight.
"What's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting to her feet. "Okay, I can't remember anything that happened since that Bludger hit me, and—"
"Put this back on," Twilight ordered, handing over the amulet. "Now."
"Why?" Rainbow Dash asked, refastening it around her neck.
"We have to talk about this later," Twilight insisted. "Not now. But I know what happened. And it isn't good news. For any of us."
"For now," Harry suggested, "concentrate on the fact that you won."
"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash slowly realized. "YEAH! GRYFFINDOR HAS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!"
Upon hearing this and seeing that the Chaser was all right, every Gryffindor in the stands stood and cheered.
"So what happened?" Luna asked Twilight.
"We need to meet somewhere," Twilight told her. "You, me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Oh…and Draco will probably want to know about this too. Is there anywhere we can meet and be alone? Not the ballroom and NOT the Room of Requirement."
"Most of the classrooms will be empty," Luna suggested.
"Good."
They chose a classroom on the tenth floor, where the hallway was deserted of any traffic. All were present but two.
"I still don't see why you had to bring him into this," Ron hissed.
"Because he was there when we made the contract," Twilight answered, "and he thought it would end badly for us. We can't keep it from him now that this has happened."
"Why is it such a big secret?" Rainbow Dash asked for about the thirtieth time.
"Because it's…bad," Twilight answered. "It has to do with Kyubey and the contracts we made. I don't even know if I'm right yet, but here, we can experiment. And we can tell."
Finally, Rarity and Draco arrived. "I heard," Draco informed the others, a slight note of panic invading his voice. He looked toward Rainbow Dash. "So you're…"
"Perfectly fine, I think," Rainbow Dash answered. "Though Twilight seems convinced that none of us are."
"I found the catch in Kyubey's contract," Twilight stated. "Close the door."
Rarity did so, and the thirteen were alone in the room.
"We had best not sit down," Luna brought up. "Sybil Trelawney always used to say that when thirteen sit to a table, the first to rise will be the first to die."
"Kind of ironic," Neville pointed out, "since Rainbow Dash already died."
"She didn't die," Twilight stated. "In fact…it just got a lot harder for her to really die."
"Now that the door's closed," Applejack said, "can ya just tell us what's goin' on already?"
Twilight took a deep breath. It wasn't an easy announcement to make. "When Kyubey turned us into Mahou Shoujo," she reminded her friends, "he took something out of us. Some kind of glowing aura. And he put it in our amulets. He even said he usually just makes a new gem out of whatever it was. I can't believe I didn't think harder about what that meant. It was obvious that whatever he took from us, it was something that would belong to the amulets and not our bodies. After today…I think I figured out what it was."
"And?" Rarity asked.
"It was us," Twilight stated. "Our entire soul. He took our souls out of our bodies and put them in these amulets!" She touched her own.
"Like a Horcrux," Harry breathed.
"A what now?" Applejack asked.
"When Voldemort was alive," Harry said, "he made sure he'd stay that way by taking pieces of his soul and putting them in things. Things that were special to him. He couldn't die unless those things were destroyed."
"And that's the thing," Twilight picked up. "If I'm right, the amulets became something called a phylactery. An object that holds part or all of a soul. Horcruxes are phylacteries too, if I understand that right. Our bodies can only work if we have the phylacteries near us, because they have all of our souls instead of just part. Otherwise, Rainbow Dash wouldn't have lost control when she was separated from hers. And it also means that we can't die from anything hurting our bodies…but we can if someone finds a way to destroy the amulets."
"NO!" Rarity moaned. "This…this can't be! I'm not a NECKLACE! I'm a living being!"
"I don't see what the big deal is," Applejack stated.
"How can you take this so calmly?" Harry asked her.
"You were the one who distrusted this all from the beginning!" Draco pointed out.
"Well, if Twilight's right," Applejack said, "it only makes sense. If we were gonna become super magical girls, this makes it so we can't be destroyed as easily, doesn't it? We're still who we are, no matter where our souls are. We just gotta be real careful…" She touched her own amulet. "Not to lose these."
"I think it's kinda cool!" Pinkie added. "My necklace is a pocket-sized Pinkie Pie!"
"I'm ruined," Rarity wailed, "positively ruined!"
"You're sure that's the only explanation for this?" Ginny asked Twilight.
"Well…no," Twilight admitted. "It could just be a fluke. Which is why I wanted to experiment. Everypony…take off your amulets and lay them on the desk."
Her friends did as they were told; Twilight lay hers on top. "We're going to test this," she said. "We'll go in pairs. One Equestrian with one from Fourth Earth. We walk until something happens. That way, we can test if I'm right, and if I am, we can see how far the distance is that we can get away from the amulets and still work with them. Rainbow Dash was up over one hundred meters when she lost hers, and it probably flew a good distance away from the pitch. She was fine before the amulet came all the way back, so there is a distance." She looked up at Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Hermione, and Draco. "You don't mind walking with us, right? You'd have to bring us back within radius if we, well, died, and one of you should stay here and guard the amulets to make sure no one messes with them."
"I'll do that," Harry volunteered.
"Thanks," Twilight said. "I know they're safe with you. Now, let's split up. Luna, you're with me."
"Partners?" Rarity asked Draco, who nodded.
"Let's go," Rainbow Dash told Ginny.
"Wanna come with me?" Applejack asked Hermione, who agreed.
"Come with me, Ron!" Pinkie Pie insisted, grabbing Ron by the elbow.
"I guess we're together," Neville told Fluttershy with a kind smile.
One by one, the pairs left the room. Harry stayed back, watching over the six amulets. He could hear Rarity's moaning about how this "positively ruined" her existence for quite a while.
He waited until all twelve of those who'd gone out came back. The six Kentaurides each looked somewhat dazed.
"Okay," Twilight said, "who collapsed?"
She raised her hand, as did Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash. Rarity, at that moment, burst into tears; Pinkie Pie just reiterated, "AWESOME!"
"So you really are connected to them, then," Harry confirmed. "How far did you each get?"
They all told him their locations, and Harry calculated. "It sounds to me like each of you were fine for roughly one hundred meters."
"Then let's not get one hundred meters away," Applejack stated, picking up her amulet and reattaching it.
"This had better be the only catch Kyubey wrote into that contract," Rainbow Dash huffed. "Still…the awesome sword might make up for this. MIGHT."
"I just have one question," Fluttershy said softly. "Um, if our souls are in these gems…and they get a little dimmer every time we use them for power…what happens when they get completely used up?"
For a while, no one dared answer. At last, Twilight said, "It might be better if we not think about that until we know."
Chapter 40:
· Just a reiteration of the background on "phylactery": the term comes from D&D, WoW, and Magic: The Gathering. No, I haven't played any of those; I just found the term when looking up info about liches (which is what you technically are if you keep your soul in something) on Wikipedia. I have no idea if it's a generally accepted mythological term for a soul container or if it's just used by certain works of modern media. Either way, this is a crossover fic, so it's not like it matters. It is interesting to note that Wikipedia will suggest looking at "Voldemort" or "Horcruxes" if you look up liches/phylacteries.
· Magick Moste Evile IS in the Restricted section. Which is why I went out of my way to point out that Astoria owns it. It's her copy. I may flesh this out later. I wanted it there for now so you can start getting an idea of the sort of person Astoria is…
· Harry Potter Wiki will list the Greengrasses as pure-blood simply because "it would be out of character for a Malfoy to marry below his social station." First of all, that's a huge assumption for a Wiki to make. Second, I gave Astoria a Muggle mother for a purpose. Dramione is still one of my favorite HP pairings, and one of the things I like about it is that in the right hands, it's the pairing that will get Draco to wake up and rethink his old ideals. I wanted to do a little of that with Astoria. And there ARE canon instances of Slytherins with Muggle heritage. Two of the biggest ones being, of course, Voldemort and Snape. The Hat will override Salazar's "blood purity" bit for those with enough ambition, and ambition is something I want to make Astoria all about.
· So now we come to one of the BIG REVEALS of this storylet: getting down to what the catch is behind being a Mahou Shoujo, PMMM-style. First, some explanation. In PMMM, whenever a girl signs the contract, a Soul Gem is made (and we visually see Kyubey pulling a ball of light out of her body to form the gem). This gem is what enables the transformation to Magical Girls and back. We're led to believe for the first half of the show that they're just facilitators of this, until there's a Big Reveal that they actually contain the souls of the girls in entirety. The girls all freak out over this. Kyubey passes it off as an advantage because they actually can't die unless someone breaks the gem, though breaking the gem results in instant death. And, in canon, if a Magical Girl is separated from her Soul Gem by over 100 meters, her body becomes lifeless because the soul is too far away to control it.
· There's actually a fan debate about whether that's an advantage or disadvantage. In the show, it's portrayed as an ultimate tragedy. Some fans see it that way. Some say, "So what?" And some think it actually is an advantage because of the invincibility it grants the body. I was in the "So what?" camp, and one of the big reasons I hated PMMM for a long time was because I never understood why they were making such a big deal out of something that I thought was, yes, horrible to do to someone without permission, but not something to get utterly depressed over. My reaction would have been, "Well, I'd better not fucking lose this gem." Sayaka's in canon is, "I can't confess my love to the boy I want because I'm a horrible inhuman creature because of this." Which I have NEVER understood, but okay. So I wanted to portray all the sides. Again, a benefit of having six protagonists. Rarity can go all Sayaka on it while Pinkie Pie can think it's cool.
· The thing about thirteen to a table actually does become canon in HP—of the thirteen of the Order who sit down to discuss looking for Moody's body in Deathly Hallows, Lupin is the first to stand up. Oops.