"So, I've been told that my bonding with Camilla is an unusual thing..." Hermione started as she, Roxy and Harry sat together near the top of a mountain, where they had gone hiking a few days after their visit to Pixie Village.
"Yeah, but it's not a bad thing. Just unusual." Roxy said.
"It just gives you a bit of a research project to work on, doesn't it?" Harry pointed out. "To find out how it happened? We both know you enjoy homework and research, so that should be a real treat for you, shouldn't it?" he snickered.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Well, I don't think Camilla cares. She's quite happy to be bonded to you. Zing told me so." Roxy glanced over at the two pixies, who were off playing with Artu and Crookshanks, while Hedwig watched their antics from a nearby tree branch.
"I'm quite happy with her too. I remember wanting a little sister when I was younger and now it feels like I have the most adorable little sister in the world. I don't care how unusual it is." Hermione smiled as she saw Camilla giggling when Crookshanks actually allowed her to ride on his back.
"What are you going to do when we've gone back to Magix?" Harry queried. "Red Fountain is an all-male school so obviously you can't go there, I highly doubt you'd fit in at Cloud Tower and you're not a fairy so you couldn't attend Alfea either..."
"I'll stay here and study, of course. There's so much magic on Tir Nan Og to learn and I know you have school and I'm not saying you should give up such a wonderful educational opportunity, but I think that I would feel better closer to home, given what's been happening there..."
Harry nodded at the grim reminder of what was going on back in their home country.
"I can't blame you. If I weren't at Red Fountain, I'd have stayed. Even with everything going on now, if I ever dropped out of school, I'm sure all of my dead loved ones would somehow find a way to come back from the dead and give me grief for it..."
"Alright. Enough about that for now. Shouldn't we be heading back down this mountain soon if we want to get back to the more populated area of this island before it gets dark?" Hermione stood up.
"It's no problem if we just use magic to get down there." Roxy shrugged.
"Oh come on. That's just the lazy way. We can't rely on magic for everything!" Hermione exclaimed. "Besides, I'd like to see a bit more of your realm today before we quit!"
Roxy and Harry looked at one another.
"Harry, has she always been so... focused?" the animal fairy queried.
"She has. Once she has a goal in mind, she won't stop until she's achieved it, no matter what it takes. That's Hermione Granger for you." Harry shrugged. "It's just the way she always has been since I've known her."
"You know you love me for it." Hermione actually broke her usual character by sticking out her tongue at him. "Don't worry about that Roxy. I could only like this loon as a friend. Honestly, I wonder what you could possibly see in him."
"I admit I was mildly concerned about you and him at first, but now that I've seen the dynamic between you two for myself, I'm fine. As for what I see in him..." Roxy eyed him mischievously. "Sometimes I find myself wondering that too..."
The two girls giggled and Harry found himself wondering for the first time of many, if it was ever a good idea to introduce the two.
The summer flew by in a haze of exploring the island, training and keeping in touch with those back in both their respective home countries, but soon, it was time for Roxy and Harry to return to Magix for the starts of their Junior years.
"Yikes. Time's flew by fast, eh?" Harry said as he checked on the last off his belongings before hoisting her backpack on and making sure Hedwig was fine in her cage for the brief journey.
"Imagine: just two years ago, we would have never imagined making it this far..." Roxy said as she took a book from Zing and tucked that away into her suitcase before shrinking it.
"And look at us now. Just this year and the next and we'll have graduated." Harry said.
"That's you. At Alfea, I can graduate at the end of this year if I get Enchantix." Roxy stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'm kind of hoping that no situation arises that you have to make any sacrifices to save anyone..." Harry frowned.
"Yeah... Damned if you do, damned if you don't, right?" Roxy shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens, won't we?"
They both made their way out of the palace to the teleportation area, saying their goodbyes to Morgana, Nebula and Hermione as they went.
Roxy cast her transport spell at the same time Harry made his portal and both waved good bye to one another as they were transported to their separate schools.
Harry flopped onto his dorm room's bed as soon as he'd put away his possessions and released Hedwig from her cage.
After he was finished staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes, he got up and reached for his new phone (he'd given the old one to Remus so he'd have a safe way to communicate with those back home), dialling the number.
"What's happening?" Harry immediately asked. "Is there any news?"
"Other than the usual murders, disappearances and the fact that they've officially seized the Ministry building and all it contains, no. No news." Remus spoke wryly.
"Not even about the..." Harry paused to look around him also hearing nothing to indicate anyone else was in the dorm yet. "...anchors?" he spoke the keyword for Horcruxes that all that were in on the secret agreed on.
"No. Dumbledore believes that it may be an item connected to Hufflepuff, likely the goblet that we saw in one of the memories he acquired about... him."
Harry narrowed his eyes at the werewolf. "When are you going to start speaking Voldemort's name? It's just a bloody name!"
"Not anymore it isn't. It's been Tabooed. Anyone who says it... they can be traced down, most magical protection methods be damned. They almost got both Moody and Kingsley that way." Remus explained grimly.
Harry winced.
"Name's Taboo, don't say it while there, understood." he nodded. "In other, much better news... how's my godson and his mum?"
Remus allowed himself a small smile. "They're both fine and safe. We're staying in a secluded house in the countryside with her parents. We've all worked together to put as many protective enchantments on it as possible and Mr. Tonks is the Secret Keeper."
Harry perked up when he heard the sounds of his dorm mates arriving.
"I've got to go now. I'll be in touch. You and your family stay safe, Remus."
Remus, having heard the sounds signalling Harry's dorm mates' arrival as well, nodded in understanding as Harry ended the call.
"Hey Harry! Reunited at last!" Aki's cheerful voice boomed as he practically slammed the doors to their room open.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm filled with so much joy about that. Really. I am."
"You damn well better be! I heard some things about what happened over the summer in your home world and I gotta pass on my condolences, but we're here for another year of training to learn how to beat down the baddies like the one who caused all that crap!" Aki exclaimed.
"That's the only reason I'm back. If I wasn't learning anything useful here, I'd be right back there, right now, on the front lines, trying to take Voldemort down." Harry admitted.
"I don't mean to sound insensitive or anything, but if my parent were dead too and I so much as thought of dropping out of school for any reason, I'm sure they'd find a way to resurrect themselves and curse some sense into me..." Aki shuttered at the very thought.
Harry chuckled wryly. "From what I've been told of them, my mum would have been the more likely candidate for that sort of thing. Dad would have just came along for the ride to keep her happy."
The sounds of Darian's booming laughter cut off their rather odd discussion.
"Well then, the rest of the tribe is here. We can always talk shop later." Aki got up and practically glided out the doors.
Harry looked at Hedwig who had been on her perch, watching the entire exchange and shrugged.
When Roxy stepped into her dorm room, it was to see all her other dorm mates gathered in the living room, talking excitedly.
"Junior Year, baby! The year we all get Enchantix!" Rainer cheered.
"I feel the need to point out," Anahita spoke up. "that not everyone gets their Enchantix while in attendance at Alfea. We cannot all be like the Winx Club."
"Ehh... who the hell wants to be like them, anyway? Sure, they're all talented enough fairies, I suppose and one of them is the freaking future ruler of my home planet, but a lot of their escapades were survived by sheer luck alone." Rainer shrugged. "I'm all about making my own damn mark on the universe!"
Athena cheered.
"Well, with the way things are going in my boyfriend's home region, I'm likely to be drawn into that mess more than I already am and the chances of me getting Enchantix in the process are pretty high." Roxy used magic to send her items into hers and Rainer's room and plonked herself into an armchair, joining the discussion.
"I can't wait to see what my Enchantix form might look like. I think it's the loveliest of all the fairy forms!" Krystal spoke in a dreamy tone and the others agreed with her.
"Fabulous outfit, fabulous hair, fabulous wings and a mega power boost. What's not to like about the idea?!" Rainer exclaimed.
"Possibly the fact that we have to sacrifice ourselves to get it?" Anahita raised an eyebrow. "Put ourselves in danger? Potentially lose something extremely valuable to each of us, up to and including our own lives?"
Rainer sunk down into her chair. "Well, when you look at it like that..."
"Why did they have to make it so hard?" Krystal pouted.
The twins looked at one another.
"I for one, don't plan on letting that get me down. We can still graduate without it. We can't all be the Winx and get it so relatively early in our lives..." Roxy shrugged.
Rainer checked her phone. "Well, I don't know about you, but I've got time to mix and mingle before the start of year assembly. A girl's gotta maintain her contacts, after all."
With those words, Rainer strode out the door as if she was a supermodel on a catwalk.
"Well," Roxy thought. "at least I lucked out with interesting and relatively sane dorm mates..."
While Harry and Roxy were in Magix starting off their third school year there, Icy and Stormy stood over a crystal ball.
"Darcy was so much better at this kind of crap." Stormy muttered as she stared down the magical item, frustrated with the fact that she couldn't see anything in it.
"Well, she is dead and can no longer help us in these things, so shut the hell up, Stormy. I'm honestly threatened to put you on ice right now." Icy gritted her teeth as she focused her energy into the crystal ball.
The mist inside it began to move around agitatedly and cleared away to reveal a series of images that, although somewhat blurred, the subject in them was clear.
"What's Voldemort up to?" Icy rubbed her chin as if in thought, upon seeing the image of the dark lord. "Why exactly won't he die, anyway? He's been in so many situations that he should have died, not including the time he got bested by a toddler..."
"Something ain't right there," Stormy agreed. "he's done something to himself. I just know it."
"If he's found a way to make himself immortal, I have to wonder... if it's worth it for us to try the same..." Icy mused.
"I don't know... if he basically cursed himself to do it, it might very well not be worth it for us, immortality be damned." Stormy pointed out.
"That is true." Icy nodded in agreement.
"Maybe that Potter kid knows something about it!" Stormy exclaimed.
"Maybe he does but he doesn't exactly trust us, now does he? Smart move on his part, admittedly... No... I think we should do a bit of digging first, because if something out there is keeping him from dying, we need to find it, destroy it and then find out if it's worth making any of our own."
The image on the crystal ball dissolved just then.
"Eh... the image lasted longer than I thought it would, with him being behind all those enchantments and all." Stormy shrugged. "Hell, the fact that we managed to lock in on him at all..."
Icy nodded.
"Come, Stormy. We have things to do." Icy strode out of the room, her hair and the cape of her witch form fluttering behind her.