XENOPHOBIA

CHAPTER 3:

BREAKFAST AND BOGGART

12 Grimmauld Place was not the best of places to be. Between a portrait of Walburga Black that screamed insults and imprecations whenever someone woke up the portrait, and a decrepit House Elf called Kreacher who muttered similar insults towards all and sundry, including Sirius, it was certainly not very healthy. But on the other hand, it had a certain charm, despite the dark, decrepit, and grim nature. Harry learned more about Sirius' family than he knew before, especially as he was distantly related to the Blacks.

As they sat around the breakfast table at 12 Grimmauld Place the next day, Ron looked at Harry and Mikoto sitting together, and said, his mouth half full, "I can't get used to you looking like that, mate."

Mikoto looked at Ron with a raised eyebrow. "You should. Incidentally, while I feel etiquette is a vestigial remnant of society, talking with your mouth full can cause you to choke, and I presume Harry won't want to see you dying of asphyxiation."

Ron swallowed, and peered at her. "I'm surprised you haven't been talking to Hermione, what with all those big words."

"Oh, we've been talking, Ron," Hermione said. "While you and Ginny are asking Harry and Zidane about their adventures on Gaia and Terra, I was asking Mikoto about genetic engineering and other technology they have. Terra was far more advanced than Earth. They even fused magic and science! I just wish it hadn't got to the stage that they were trying to assimilate other worlds to survive. It was a bit like Mondas from that old Doctor Who episode(1)."

"Hermione is indeed an intelligent person," Mikoto said. "It is refreshing to speak to someone who, while not on my level, is nonetheless capable of understanding the concepts, and learning them."

"I'm not sure whether I should be insulted by the fact that you said I'm not on your level," Hermione said.

"Mikoto lacks social skills," Harry said.

"And I have been trained for much of my life to be Garland's assistant in all things," Mikoto said. "I apologise for the offence, Hermione. None was intended. And Harry is right. Aside from Garland, the only company I had was with my fellow Genomes, who had no souls, and virtually no sentience. I believe you would view them as being robots, albeit of a biological nature."

"Yes, we discussed that earlier. It's creepy, but fascinating too," Hermione said. "And I agree with Ron, it's taking some getting used to having Harry using the body of a different species. The fact that Terra had such technology, to tear the soul from a body, as well as transplant souls, is highly disturbing."

"I had to go through it," Harry said pointedly. "It's a very unpleasant experience."

Zidane, who had been getting his own breakfast, sat down nearby, and said, "Yeah, well, that whole saga wasn't exactly a garden path. The Mist Continent got torn apart by wars my brother caused, Dagger and I, and Vivi, we all learned some pretty bad truths about ourselves. Dagger was orphaned at a young age thanks to Kuja, and her adoptive mother, the Queen of Alexandria, exploited her for her Eidolons and tried to have her executed. Vivi and I found out we were both created for the purpose of killing and destroying. And Mikoto…she had to see what Terra was doing to Gaia."

Silence fell over the table, broken by Sirius entering the kitchen, Tonks in tow. Harry had been introduced to the clumsy Auror trainee before, who was a Metamorphmagus, and a relative of Sirius. "Bad news, kids. It's been confirmed that the Umbitch is coming to Hogwarts. Dumbledore's managed to stall Fudge on the DADA post, but Fudge has still appointed Dolores Umbridge as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and she'll be the next DADA teacher if we can't get word back from Gaia soon."

"That's bad news, right?" Zidane asked. "You were talking about how bad this woman was before."

"Yeah. She's one of those people with power and the ear of Fudge, telling him what he wants to hear," Tonks said, pursing her lips in anger. "She's not a Death Eater as far as we know, but she's got the attitude, pretty much everything bar the Dark Mark. Hell, for all I know, she has one, but you'd never get a warrant to check because she's the Senior Undersecretary. And even that wouldn't do much, or we wouldn't have Lucius Malfoy or those others still running around."

"And she's still angling for the DADA position," Sirius said. "Keep in mind that, lately, Fudge is growing more paranoid about Dumbledore building up forces to overthrow him. Umbridge and Malfoy help stoke those fears."

"Divide and conquer," Mikoto murmured. "This Malfoy is obviously sowing discord to assist in his master's plans, and Umbridge, directly allied to Voldemort or not, is helping, at least for her own ends."

"Dumbledore's the one person Voldemort fears, not that he'd ever admit it out loud," Sirius said. "Then again, he probably feared Harry on some level. Keep in mind, he failed to kill Harry when he was a baby, and while he may not have feared Harry personally, he would have feared the effects of the failure to kill Harry. He's probably resting easy, at least as far as you're concerned, Harry."

"Well, I was probably dead for a while when Garland tore out my soul," Harry said, rubbing a hand through his hair. "I don't recommend it. Getting a new body was painful. And I'm still getting used to it, especially the tail."

"You'll love it," Zidane said with a smirk. "You can do all kinds of neat stuff with your tail, Harry." His expression became serious. "I know it's only been a day, but have you heard back from Dagger?"

"You mean Princess Garnet?" Sirius asked. "You've got good taste in girls, Zidane, and no, we haven't heard anything substantial. Dobby's agreed to act as a messenger between worlds. She's only just sent messages to Lindblum and Madain Sari. That being said, she's got one possibility that I'd think would be a great prank. Something called a Moogle, by the name of Stiltzkin."

Zidane blinked, then laughed. "Stiltzkin?"

"Who's Stiltzkin?" Harry asked. He knew what a Moogle was: they were a sort of fairy race that resembled winged teddy bears with pom-poms on the end of antennae from their heads. Eiko's strongest Eidolon, Madeen, originally took the form of a Moogle until Kuja attempted to extract Eidolons from the too-young Eiko.

"What's a Moogle?" Ron asked.

"Moogles are fairy-like beings," Zidane said. "They're intelligent and helpful, for the most part. Remember Eiko? She was raised by them when her family died. And Stiltzkin is like an adventurer. He may look small, but he's a seasoned traveller. He'd probably know quite a bit of White and Black Magic. Hell, if you'd look past his appearance, he'd be a great DADA teacher, at least in terms of what he could teach. Dunno if he's a good teacher in general, though. And he might have too much wanderlust to want to do teaching."

"What about the differences in our magic styles?" Hermione asked. "Mikoto told me a lot about the differences between our magic, and that of Terra and Gaia."

"Extemporise," Mikoto said. "Harry was capable of learning our magic, and I am sure that a seasoned mage from our world could learn what is needed for the position. I would do it myself, but I doubt Umbridge would consider me to be any authority on the matter given my age."

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it," Tonks said. "Harry, got any further thoughts to an assumed name?"

Harry considered it. In fact, he had been considering it for quite a while. To have a new name was not a decision to take lightly, nor was choosing said name. "Well, I think I'll have Hal as my first name: that's short for Harry. As for my last name…I'm choosing Vivi's. Ornitier."

"Hal Ornitier," Zidane mused. "Has a nice ring to it. Why Vivi's surname, though?"

"A tribute to him. We don't know how much longer he will last," Harry said. "And with the soul-transference equipment lost with Terra, we can't attempt transferring his body into a Genome one."

"Harry asked me," Mikoto said quietly. "I could, given time, recreate some of the technology, but it would be too late for the Black Mages, even with any technology I could scavenge from this world. At best, I can create longer-lived clones with the technology on the Invincible, children if you would, but I cannot transfer the soul."

Zidane tched in annoyance. "Vivi deserves better."

"So did the people of Terra," Mikoto pointed out. "Or those killed in the wars Kuja caused. Or the summoners of Madain Sari. But life is not so neat."

A solemn silence settled over the room, broken only by those present having breakfast with varying degrees of enthusiasm. There was nothing else to say for the time being…

"It's a rather curious ability," Mikoto mused later as she watched Tonks shift into various forms while they were in an office, helping Sirius clean things up and checking for Dark artifacts. Molly had roped Harry, the Weasley children, and Hermione into helping elsewhere. "And you have to be born with it?"

"Yep. Why do you ask?"

"I am well-versed in genetic engineering," Mikoto said quietly. "I am curious about genes that would govern magic of various kinds. I would like to do tests."

Tonks frowned. "With what?"

"Blood tests and buccal swabs."

"Buccal what?"

"…For DNA testing. I swab the inside of your mouth with a cotton bud."

Tonks sighed in relief. "Sorry, I thought it was something bad. Then again, wizards don't know much about DNA. My dad's a Muggleborn, though. I reckon that, in the whole of the DMLE, there's maybe three who know about DNA testing: me, Madam Bones, and Shack."

"Do you mean Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"Yeah. He's a Pureblood apparently, but he's also one of those who bothers to study the Muggle world. He's usually the one sent out to liaise with the Muggle police, especially those who are aware of us. DNA testing is used to identify criminals here."

"Dee-Ehn-Ay?" Sirius asked.

"Deoxyribonucleic acid," Mikoto said.

"…Gesundheit?"

"Think of it as making up a blueprint that shapes how your body grows," Mikoto said with a gentle sigh. "You inherit half of this blueprint from your mother, and half from your father. DNA is the name of the chemical that makes up the blueprint, but the full blueprint is known as a genome. That is why my people were called this: our blueprint was modified and enhanced."

"Really?" Sirius asked.

"No magic required, either," Mikoto said. Then, a writing desk's cabinet rattled. She started slightly.

"Sirius?" Tonks asked.

Sirius frowned. "Moody!" he called out. The grizzled, scarred Auror limped in not long afterwards. "Can you tell what's in there?"

"Boggart," Moody growled after a few seconds.

"How can you tell?" Tonks asked. "I thought they were shape-shifters? Do they have a true form?"

"No. Boggarts change their shape based on whether they are being perceived."

"Better a Boggart than something worse," Sirius muttered. "Okay, Tonks, you and I are using the Riddikulus Charm. Mikoto, stand back."

Mikoto blinked, wondering what a Boggart was. She soon got her answer when the cabinet was opened, and something came out, something that, when it noticed her, suddenly changed shape.

To the others, the ancient man, while sinister and odd, was not someone they feared. But Mikoto knew that figure, her heart thumping in her chest in fear and loathing. The armoured body with the red light strobing in his chest, the blank white eyes glaring at her, the bearded face. It couldn't be him, he was dead, but…here he was.

"You betrayed me, Mikoto," Garland growled. "You betrayed me, and with that, the future of all Terra! You are of no use to me now." He reached for her throat.

"FLARE!" Mikoto screamed, flinging a hand out. Garland disappeared with a howl of pain as orange and red energy coalesced around him, and then exploded outwards, bathing the bare skin of those present with heat. Blinking the dazzle from their eyes, the others present stared at the spot where the Boggart used to be. The floor was slightly charred, and part of the writing desk had disintegrated into ashes.

Moody, after a moment, said, "A touch of overkill for a Boggart, Tribal. You can force them to flee or dissipate with the right charms. Who was that?"

"Garland," Mikoto said, panting.

"The guy who ruled Terra?" Tonks asked. "Merlin, you must have been really afraid of the guy. I thought it would have been Kuja for your Boggart."

"Tonks, get Harry," Sirius said in an unusually no-nonsense tone. Tonks scurried out, while Sirius guided Mikoto to a chair to sit down.

Moody, meanwhile, was examining the charred remains of the Boggart. "Like Fiendfyre, only focused on the spot," he mused. He looked at Mikoto, and said, not unsympathetically, "You're dangerous, girl. I'm glad you're on our side. And I'm glad you're watching Potter's back."

Mikoto said nothing, even when Harry burst in, and came over to Mikoto, sitting by her, placing his arm around her. But she leaned into his embrace. No words needed to be said, even as Mikoto, gently, began to weep. They just stayed like that for a while, in relative silence, one comforting the other after an unwelcome reminder of the past…

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

Sorry about the wait for this chapter. This will probably be one of the lower-priority stories. But I've managed to squeeze out this chapter. I was inspired for the Boggart bit by Molly having her own encounter. It didn't take long for me to realise what Mikoto's Boggart would be. Garland or Kuja are the only serious candidates, unless a Boggart can imitate a planet exploding, and I thought Garland would be the better choice, as Mikoto knows Garland better, and probably fears him more than Kuja, despite Kuja's later genocidal ambitions.

1. Hermione is referring to The Tenth Planet, the debut story of the Cybermen and the last story of William Hartnell's Doctor. I thought what Terra was doing to Gaia was fairly similar to what Mondas did to Earth.