Well, I'm glad of the enthusiastic response to Under the Light of the Shattered Moon, and rest assured, a second chapter is on the way. But this idea came up, and I just HAD to post it. In fact, this will probably be posted as a full story sooner (assuming I get that far), as I need to watch more of RWBY first before I continue Under the Light of the Shattered Moon.
Anyway, a few of you might have noted posted in my other compilations of a certain crossover being melded with My Hero Academia and Naruto. Well, after some thought of doing it in the Potterverse (including considering doing, with permission, a story based on Jonn Wolfe's sample chapter of Just a Spark), I decided to do another story based on whitetigerwolf's 'Animagus Lover' based on this crossover.
The crossover is with the webcomic Girl Genius.
For those not in the know, Girl Genius is a series about an alternate history where, in the words of the authors Phil and Kaja Foglio, 'mad scientists rule the world. Badly'. This story has Harry, having fallen through the Veil and ended up in the Girl Genius world, becoming the companion of Agatha Clay (or rather, Agatha Heterodyne), first as a pet owl, and then as her comrade in trying to find out her past.
I hope you enjoy...
GIRL GENIUS' ANIMAGUS
CHAPTER 1:
BREAKING THROUGH BARRIERS
There were few bright spots in Agatha Clay's life. Even her senses seemed to be washed out, dulled, the world seeming to be monochrome, shades of grey with only the slightest dash of colour. She had few prospects, or at least she wouldn't have had, had it not been for Dr Beetle. She had to wonder why he favoured her, when she was a klutz, when she suffered massive headaches whenever she tried to build anything. Oh, and there was the kindness of Glassvitch, but given how Merlot treated her, well…Agatha felt worse than useless.
One of the few bright spots in her life, apart from Glassvitch's kindness and her adoptive parents Adam and Lilith, was a constant companion, or at least he had been since she had found him outside her adoptive parents' shop a couple of years ago. An owl, injured, tired, one she had nursed back to health, with dark feathers and brilliant emerald eyes, and a weird lightning-shaped patch of white feathers above one eye. The owl kind of hung around after that, and she called him Emerald, because of his eyes.
Her adoptive parents had been a little reluctant for her to look after the bird, but Emerald refused to go away, and soon, he became part of the family. Hell, sometimes he seemed so human. He certainly seemed smart enough to respond with a shake of the head or a nod, or even a winged shrug, to her questions. Maybe, she speculated (and it was speculation her adoptive parents shared, albeit with darker implications) that Emerald was some sort of Construct, trying to make a smarter owl.
He often went with her to Transylvanian Polygnostic University, perched on her shoulder, much to the amusement of Glassvitch, the bemusement of Beetle, and the ire of Merlot (though this wasn't just due to Merlot's general obstreperous nature, especially towards Agatha: Emerald had a habit of flying over Merlot and shitting on him when the belligerent non-Spark scientist gave her grief). And here he was this day when everything changed…though not necessarily for the better.
As she walked down the street, downcast, ready to begin her day, Agatha suddenly heard a commotion. People's hair began standing on end, and electricity arced from every bit of bare metal, including Agatha's glasses. She heard shouts from various people, before with a great crackle of noise…something appeared in their air in front of her.
It was as if a window had opened up in the air, revealing a strange, metallic figure, vaguely feminine, glowing eyes glaring out from beneath a helmet from which Gorgon-like cables mocking hair swayed. The entity pointed at Agatha, though whether in accusation or demonstration, she didn't know, and it snarled, in a distorted eldritch voice, "…LIKE THAT?!"
With a squeak of fear, Agath fled down an alley, Emerald, startled into flight by the apparition, following. Agatha tripped over a box and tumbled to the ground, noting only briefly a poster on reporting any revenants immediately to Dr Beetle. And then, he heard a voice drawl, "Well, well, well, lookee here, Moloch. Looks like our very own angel of mercy has crash-landed before our very eyes. Obviously, she's looking for a fine pair of soldiers-of-fortune to send her on her merry way?"
There were two soldiers, dressed in rather filthy uniforms. The one who spoke had a wounded leg and a rather nasty leer, while the other had a full beard, and a more pleasant expression, though the bottle in his hand could have explained that. "Yeah, Omar, she must know that you just wasted our last coins on this cat's piss you call booze. Help her up, Omar, okay? Hey, miss, d'you have any change you can spare?"
"She can spare more than that if she's got a locket and a pet," Omar leered, only for Emerald to make a threatening growl, insomuch as an owl could do that. "Ooh, scary, a featherduster is trying to frighten me," he sneered.
"Leave it off, Omar," Moloch said. "It's got claws and a beak. Plus, owls are birds of prey."
"Sod that," Omar sneered, but as he advanced on Agatha, theft at the very least on his mind (and worse, Agatha feared), Emerald launched into the air and began scratching at his face, screeching. "FUCK!" Omar screamed, before grabbing the bird, and smashing him against a nearby wall.
The sickening snap Agatha heard had her snatch Moloch's bottle before smashing it against Omar's face. "Bastard," she hissed. She rarely swore, but to see Emerald attacked like that…
Omar suddenly grabbed her and slapped her, hard. Stars exploded behind her eyes as blood ran down his face. "That hurt, you bitch! I don't take that sort of shit from a bloody civilian or her fucking pet!"
Moloch was on his feet, and grabbing the man's shoulder. "Stop that, Omar! Don't you remember what they do to people in this town? They put them into those damned jars to die, and I for one don't wanna end my days in one of those things!"
Omar seemed to realise that, before he sneered, and stole Agatha's locket, the one her Uncle Barry gave her, in the shape of a trilobite. "Call that compensation for what you and your pet did to me, bitch," he said, before shoving her roughly to the ground. "You're so charitable, doll. Bye!"
He ran off laughing, while Moloch muttered, while following him, "You're a lowlife, Omar…"
No, my locket! Agatha thought. "Stop, thief! You…you filth! I'll report this! Dr Beetle's Clanks will come for you, catch you, and put you into a jar in University Square to rot! And I'll come every day while you roast in the Sun and starve and claw at the glass in futility and scream as you DIE SLOWLY LIKE THE HORRIBLE RATS THAT YOU ARE!"
The rant began to build into a crescendo, only for Agatha to feel a knife of ice stab through her head. She screamed in pain, and even as she panted in pain, she was unaware that something was changing…apart from inside her own head, anyway…
Oh, this brought him back. The jolt of pain through his left wing. It stirred memories that had been adrift in the fog for a while, memories he had allowed to be submerged. Because to remember that he was once human was to remember all the pain he had suffered.
It was a walrus who had broken that arm last. Well, a man who was very like a walrus. He had the moustache and the corpulence. What was his name again? Uncle Venial? Uncle Verruca? Uncle Venereal?
Ah, Vernon. Yes, that fat twat. Fucked a giraffe to have a pig. Or was that a song he once heard?
Gah. Focus, dammit. The owl known as Emerald used the pain to focus his mind. The two bastards had gone, but Agatha was still in pain. Reminded him a little of someone else for some reason, someone with bushy hair.
Another fog-shrouded memory came unbidden to mind. Of a dogfather fighting in a darkened chamber, fighting against a rabid bitch. A curse hit him, he staggered towards an archway…and Emerald needed to save him.
He charged forward, and stopped his dogfather from falling through the archway, only to be knocked through himself. He remembered falling through a void, but only remembered darkly. Even now, his life was mistbound.
But the memory spurred him to do something about this. In his desperation, Emerald reached deep within himself, found something he hadn't used for two years now, and changed…
Agatha became aware, over the sound of her pained sobbing, that she could hear a noise. She turned to find Emerald on the ground, a wing limp…only, his body was twisting and distorting. Before her astonished eyes, he began to change…before there was no longer an owl in the alley with her…but a boy her age, clutching a broken arm.
He was somewhat short and lanky, even scrawny, dressed in tattered rags that had once been clothes. He had a messy, shoulder-length mop of black hair framing handsome, if haggard features. There seemed to be, oddly enough, black feathers stuck in his hair.
But the things that caught her eye the most were two things. The first was the lightning bolt-shaped scar, snaking out from beneath his fringe. The second, flashing behind scuffed glasses, were emerald-coloured eyes. So much like her own, she realised.
With a grimace, before he took his left arm, which seemed broken, and grasped it in his right hand. With a scream, green light suffused it, and then, he released it. "Oh, that was fucking painful." He looked over at Agatha. "Are you okay, Agatha?" he asked, his voice hoarse and raspy with misuse.
Agatha opened her mouth to reply, only for the chimes of a bell to echo from afar. "Oh no, it's seven!" she hissed in horror. "I'm late!"
The boy gently took her hand. "I'll get you there. Hopefully, I can do this without splinching."
"Wait, what?" was all Agatha could say, before she suddenly found out what it was like to be toothpaste squeezed from a tube…
…And appearing in the laboratory she had been assigned to with a loud, gunshot-like crack! Leaping into the air was the dark-skinned Doctor Glassvitch, who whirled to face Agatha. "Agatha? And…who is this?" he asked with his French accent.
"Umm, this used to be Emerald, Doctor Glassvitch," Agatha said, in a lost voice. "I'm not…too late, am I?"
"Mere seconds. Agatha, have you been crying? What's wrong?"
It was as if a dam burst, and Agatha threw herself at Glassvitch, crying into his chest. "My locket! They stole my locket, Doctor Glassvitch! It had the only pictures I have of my parents, it belonged to my mother, and now it's GONE!" She subsided, no less miserable, but less hysterical. "…Uncle Barry gave it to me before he left, and he made me promise never to remove it. And now it's gone, he'll be disappointed in me, and now he'll never come back because I'm stupid, damaged, and broken!"
"You're not broken," the boy who was once Emerald said quietly. "At least Barry tried to do something for you. My own uncle kept me in a fucking cupboard. Called me a freak." He gently touched Agatha's shoulder, where he used to perch. "And at least Adam and Lilith care about you, from what I can see."
Agatha looked into the boy's eyes, and asked, quietly, "So…does this mean you were a boy all this time?"
"Uhh, yeah. If it makes you feel any better, you might have noticed I flew away when you got dressed. I mean, you're beautiful and all, but I didn't think you'd appreciate me being a Peeping Tom. I couldn't change back until now, I don't know why."
"You…still have feathers," Agatha said, chuckling, pointing to his head.
He instantly felt for them, and scowled slightly. "Crap. Well, that's what I get for trying an Animagus transformation without training."
"A transformation? Are you a Construct or something?" Glassvitch asked.
"More…something. I'm nobody's lab experiment," the boy said.
Glassvitch snapped his fingers. "Oh! Speaking of which, Agatha, I found your latest machine! You know, your little Clank? Does it work?"
Agatha, timidly, muttered, "I don't know. I mean, I wanted to show you before I showed it to the Master, to Dr Beetle."
"Bon plan," Glassvitch said. "Dr Beetle is a patient man with you, but wasting his time is still not a wise idea. Shall we see what it does?" He handed over something that looked like a pocketwatch, which Agatha took.
She clicked a button on the top, and a raised section in the middle opened up, revealing an eye. It seemed to sprout a pair of legs, before it started to spasm and convulse, and finally exploded, part of it flying out a nearby window. "Sorry," Agatha muttered.
"De rien," Glassvitch said. "At least it moved before it exploded, so that's an improvement, no?"
"Not much of one, Glassvitch," came an unpleasant sneer of a voice, an older man with closely-cropped white hair, wearing a visor and an unpleasant scowl on his face appeared, rubbing his head. Merlot, the closest thing she had to a nemesis here. "Encouraging her is a waste of time, and we've got problems enough as it is."
"Problems?" Glassvitch asked.
"Baron Wulfenbach is here, and before you complain, yes, I know he is early by weeks. He's with Dr Beetle as we speak. Glassvitch, we need to clean up after the projects done in the secondary labs. Miss Clay, you and…this vagabond need to get this laboratory cleaned up, and you have half an hour."
"With just two people?" Agatha demanded.
"Don't be insolent!" Merlot snapped. "You seem to be here purely for the twisted amusement of the Master as he watches your pathetic antics, but we are now host to Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach! And he does not suffer fools or incompetence gladly, and you are both!"
"Go fuck yourself, you elitist twat," the boy sneered. "You're worse than Snape, you know that?"
"Well, you had better find some decent clothes, boy, and have a shower. And get those feathers out of your hair!"
Glassvitch took Merlot away, and hissed, "That's enough of your bullying…"
"Quiet, Glassvitch…if they cause enough ruckus, the Baron may not look too closely at the rest of us, understand?" Merlot whispered harshly as he led his colleague out.
Agatha sighed quietly, and then looked at the boy. "Well, we've got half an hour. But how are we going to do that?" she asked.
The boy grinned, rather painfully, before pulling out from his robes a stick, a polished one, apparently made of holly. "Like this," he said, before waving his wand. Almost instantly, cupboards and drawers flew open, and apparatus and blueprints and papers strewn everywhere were soon packed away neatly and tidily. The laboratory was soon, if not immaculate, then more than acceptable. "Wow, I…didn't know that'd work."
Agatha, however, couldn't help but gape. What the hell just happened? She looked at him suspiciously and with sheer astonishment. "…How'd you do that, Emerald?"
"Okay, first thing's first, Agatha? My name isn't Emerald. My real name is Harry Potter. Not that I mind being called Emerald, it was a nice name and all, but I prefer my real name. And as for how I did that…well, I'm a wizard."
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, Harry's revealed himself to Agatha…but they have somewhat more pressing concerns on their hands. Like Baron Wulfenbach, for example…
Those who have followed my stories in The Cauldron may have noticed some copying and pasting from my attempt at a One Piece crossover, Mare Nostrum.
Oh, and as some of you may not be familiar with Girl Genius, here's a dictionary of terms we will be coming across…
CLANK: Robots, particularly steampunk.
CONSTRUCT: Any biological organism created by a Spark, ranging from chimaeras of human and animal, to Frankenstein-like amalgamations of corpses.
SPARK: Both a term for mad scientists and their ability to create new inventions. When in 'the Madness Place', their morality and restraint tends to go by the wayside, while their intelligence, perception, and hamminess rises.
No numbered annotations this time.
