"Come on, Roxy! You can do so much better than that!" Nebula called out as she and Roxy, both in their fairy forms and circling one another, trained at a sort of naturally made arena somewhere on Tir Nan Og.
They were standing on a stone surface with bits of grass peeking through cracks at random areas and large, vine covered rocks shaped vaguely like the stands at a sports arena, surrounded them, with a few flowers growing here and there on them.
"I'm trying!" Roxy yelled as she dodged her aunt's energy blasts.
"Try harder!" Nebula flung another energy blast at her, which the younger fairy narrowly missed, doing a back flip in the air and firing off an energy blast of her own, mid flip.
It knocked Nebula off her feet and sent her skidding to the edge.
Roxy landed and kept herself in a battle-ready stance until her aunt got to her feet and brushed herself off.
"Not bad, Roxy. You are not fully up to scratch, but that can easily be blamed on other factors besides your youth." Nebula motioned for her to relax.
"Uh... Thanks, I guess?" Roxy was unsure whether or not that was a compliment.
"Come with me..." Nebula flew over to the stands and motioned for Roxy to follow her.
"So... What's happening?" Roxy asked.
"Your magic... How does it feel?" Nebula asked.
"How... how does it feel? Is it supposed to feel a certain way?" Roxy's face displayed her confusion.
"How do you feel when you expend your magic? When you transform?" Nebula's tone was serious.
"I feel... normal. No, wait..." Roxy paused. "My magic... I mean, ever since I got my fairy form, there were some shortcomings. I couldn't do the different wings thing that the Winx could and I'm at the same transformation level that they are, aren't I?" she sounded unsure.
"Not... quite..."
"Explain, please?" Roxy felt even more confused.
"I have spoken with your mother, father and Headmistress Faragonda about this beforehand, so they know. Roxy, when you gained your current fairy form, you skipped a few levels. You never gained your basic level transformation, your Charmix power-up or the Enchantix form. You just went straight to Believix and that could actually limit the amount of magic you'd normally be able to do in this form." Nebula explained.
"Like how I said earlier with the me not being able to do the different wings thing?" Roxy asked.
"Precisely." Nebula nodded. "Take Bloom for instance. As powerful as she is, she still had problems with her Enchantix when she first obtained it, since it was an incomplete version of it as she willed herself into it. She did not truly earn it at that point."
"But didn't she get the Magic Winx and Charmix stages done already?" Roxy asked.
"She did, and that certainly helped. If she had skipped ahead from not being able to transform and jumped straight into Enchantix, she would have had problems for quite a while too..."
"But I... I somehow skipped straight into Believix..."
"Indeed. Enchantix, when fully earned is supposed to be the 'final' fairy form. Anything you earn beyond that can be switched between because of that form. Each form has its advantages and disadvantages. If you were to gain the Sirenix (aquatic-based) fairy form for example, you wouldn't be able to switch between any of your prior forms and that current one. Enchantix is truly the most powerful form. It is the key." Nebula explained.
"So, me jumping from not being able to transform and going straight up to this... incomplete Believix, did more harm than good to my power level?" Roxy began to understand.
"Precisely. And we want you at your best, since this thing with Voldemort is going to be a problem for us now." Nebula looked grim.
"I want to help you and help Harry fight him. I need to learn. I need to improve myself, improve my powers. I want to be able to train with Harry when he comes here with us after the Young Royals Gala. What do I have to do?" Roxy looked determined.
"We will have to bind your powers."
"What?!"
"We will bind your fairy form, actually. Faragonda, Morgana and I checked for a way to do it and it certainly is possible. You'll still be able to use your general magic, but it will be weakened for a bit, at least until you are able to earn your proper basic fairy form. Once you do, you will be able to work your way through the stages as you should and your powers will grow accordingly."
"I... give up my fairy form? Give up flying?" Roxy looked incredulous. "I knew I didn't like flying at first, but... I... wow. I don't even know what to say to that..." she shook her head.
"I know that it a lot to take in but the decision has already been made. It's going to be for your own good, Roxy and as I said, your not being able to transform after that ritual is performed on you is only temporary. The next time you transform after that, it will be in your basic fairy form. Your mother and I will perform it in four days to give both you and us time to prepare for it." Nebula stood up. "Come, let's go back to the palace." she flew off.
"Great. Just great..." Roxy thought as flew off behind her aunt.
"Hey, Artu." Roxy smiled as she knelt down to pet her canine familiar as soon as she entered her quarters in the royal palace.
"Roxy! How are you! How was your training session with your aunt?" he asked eagerly as he jumped around, trying to lick her face.
Roxy giggled. "Down, Artu! Down!" she giggled again before standing up and dispelling her fairy form.
"Training was actually okay. I didn't get my ass kicked as much as the last time. But..." Roxy sunk into a chair. "but my aunt told me something that I don't quite like the idea of..." she frowned.
"Why? What is it?" Artu went up on his hind legs and put his front paws on her knees and rested his head on top of them, looking up at her.
"Apparently when I jumped from not being to transform at all straight into my Believix form..." Roxy grimaced at the memory of how that came to be. "...it might have actually hurt how my magic grows, so basically I have to have this form bound and work my way up again..." she scowled.
"But it would be better for you in the end, wouldn't it?" Artu asked.
"Yes, but..." Roxy rubbed his head idly. "That doesn't mean I have to like the idea... It makes me feel... inadequate..."
"Don't say that. You'll always be good enough for me!" Artu exclaimed.
"Thanks, Artu. They've already decided that they're going to do the binding in four days so it's not like I have much of a choice..." Roxy sighed. "Then I have to do more of what is basically magical summer school, then the Young Royals Gala with Harry and my friends..." Roxy perked up at that.
"The latter half of this summer may just get better. I'll call Harry and see if he can talk..." Roxy flicked her hand and a drawer in her desk opened itself and her cell phone inside flew into her hand.
"Hello, Roxy. How are you?" Harry smiled as he reclined in his bed and answered his phone.
"I'm... okay, I guess." Roxy shrugged.
"Just... okay?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Well, not really. Let's just say that the next time you see me with wings, they won't be the same ones that you've seen before..."
"What? Why? Is there something wrong with you?" Harry paused. "Wait. That didn't quite come out sounding right. Sorry..." he sounded sheepish.
"No, no. It's okay. You didn't upset me at all. There is something wrong in a way with my fairy form..." Roxy recounted her conversation with her aunt.
"Oh... You're scared then? Maybe feeling even a bit... inadequate for having to have this done?" Harry asked.
"Yeah... I mean, there's even bigger things to worry about now what with Voldemort on your side of things and the Trix on my side of things teaming now, but... I... I... I just don't know..."
"You'll be fine, I'm sure. It's for your own good. At least she explained it to you and gave you advance warning about it. They just want you at your best..."
"I'm just being silly. I mean, you have even more problems than I do and yet, you're not worrying about things as much as I am. Voldemort's after you specifically, not me..."
"And he's not going to stop until either I'm dead or he is. I do worry about what will happen in the end when I face him for the last time, but I can't spend my entire life worrying about it. I've literally got friends from different planets now, I've got a scholarship to attend a wonderful school in a wonderful world where I have more personal freedom and people don't judge me or admire me for something I don't remember..." Harry paused. "And of course, there's you." he smiled.
"Oh? Mention me as an afterthought, won't you?" Roxy fake-scowled, but ended up laughing.
Harry chuckled as well. "I was saving the best for last."
"And is that supposed to flatter me, Mr Potter?"
"I don't know, Princess Roxanne. Did it work?" Harry laughed.
Roxy rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, I have a lot of things to do today. Shall I call you again later?" Harry asked.
"Of course you can. I have a Tir Nan Og History and Culture class with Fabula again..." Roxy said.
"I don't believe I've heard of her. Is she one of the British Fairies?" Harry asked.
"Oh no. Fabula César is Canadian. She teaches at the school that my mother aunt and the Major Fairies helped to establish here. Mother asked her to tutor me over the summer. Said I needed to 'know my heritage...'"
"Have fun with that." Harry ended the call and slid the phone into the desk drawer.
He stood up and looked around the room.
"Well, I'd better freshen up, get some food and go do the thing I have to do. I can't really afford to put it off..." he sighed as he went into the bathroom to have a wash.
Grimmauld Place.
Harry had not set foot on Grimmauld Place since the last time he left it, a little over a year ago.
Strolling down the street casually in a disguise, with his backpack slung over his shoulder and his wand in his pocket, Harry made his way over to where Numbers 11 and 13 stood and waited.
Soon enough, Number 12 revealed himself to him and as soon as it appeared, Harry dashed up the stairs and swung the door open.
He grimaced as he stepped over the threshold.
The house looked frozen in time.
It looked just as it had when he'd last left it.
There was the umbrella stand, there was old Mrs Black's portrait, still (thankfully) silent and covered by the curtains.
He almost expected Sirius to come bolting abound a corner to welcome him to the house, to grapple him in a hug so tight it almost hurt to breathe; to make stupid jokes and talk to him...
Harry sighed sadly, knowing that Sirius would never be able to do those things or anything else with him ever again...
He made his way down to the basement kitchen and looked around.
There was Kreacher's cupboard in the corner, but he didn't seem to be there. Perhaps he was still at Hogwarts. He wasn't needed so Harry wasn't about to call him back if that was the case...
Swinging off his backpack and putting it on the table, Harry retrieved a sandwich, packet of crisps and bottle of juice he'd gotten from a Muggle shop nearby and unshrunk them.
"There's one good thing about coming back here at least. I can practice my wand magic here completely undetected..." he thought as he began to eat.
"So, now that I'm here in this house freely and with no one to stop me doing what I please, what should I do with this place...?" he wondered. "Shall I just have a look around down here and then go upstairs and see what awaits me?"
H e got up and left the kitchen, heading upstairs to begin his search.
His search of the house hadn't recovered a lot of things, but the things he did obtain, he deemed rather useful, or otherwise held some sort of sentimental value.
He'd found a few rare spell books and a potions book, all of whose content would be declared borderline Dark at best, but when he'd discovered Sirius' room...
He really had to admire his godfather's nerve.
Living in a house full of Slytherins and decorating his room with Gryffindor colours and decorations almost to the point of being blinded by the sheer force of red and gold up on entering the room; the pictures of Muggle motorcycles and bikini-clad Muggle girls stuck to the walls by the same charm that must have been cast on Mrs Black's portrait downstairs...
A large picture of Sirius and the other Marauders, looking rather happy at some joke that must've just been told, had been stuck to the wall with the same charm, otherwise he'd have taken that as well...
Inside an old copy of Bathilda Bagshot's A History of Magic, he'd found a letter to Sirius from his mum, along with a picture of little, toddler him on his first broomstick- Sirius had given him his first broomstick... There he was, looking as happy as a toddler could be as his mother laughed at his father chasing him around, trying to catch him...
Harry took a deep breath and willed himself not to shed a tear as he sat in the kitchen once again, examining everything he'd found.
The spell books and potions book he had found were certainly useful in their own right, but this... this letter, proof that Lily Potter had actually lived to form these words herself on paper, the picture of his family in happier times before Voldemort had come calling to tear them apart...
Harry tucked the picture and the letter carefully away in an empty envelope and slid it carefully into the front pocket of his backpack.
As he began to pack away everything he'd found useful in the house (thankful that Dumbledore had not found them, for if he had they would have been gone for certain), his resolve hardened.
Voldemort... he'd already known obviously that Voldemort was a monster who needed to be stopped; that he'd torn apart other families besides his own, but this... it was finding out little things like this that made the fight even more personal.
Dumbledore, as good a man and a wizard as he was, wanted Harry to do things his way, but Harry wasn't about to have any of it.
The man had apparently meant well, but his meaning well had left him living with the Dursleys all those years, who were about as far from a loving family as he could have possibly gotten to raise him after Voldemort murdered his parents.
Not being told what he needed to be told and being treated like he wasn't old enough or even strong enough to know things... had resulted in him dashing off to the Ministry to 'save' Sirius and he remembered all too well how that ended... His own foolishness had played a part in the events off that night, but still...
Hogwarts had been fun in its own right and he'd certainly learnt many useful things there, but he wasn't about to squander the opportunity handed to him to attend Red Fountain on that fateful day that he'd somehow found himself in Magix by accident...
Now, Voldemort had joined up with the Trix from that world and now threatened both his and Roxy's home worlds... No... he couldn't allow it. He wouldn't allow it.
Not if he could help it.