Bubona looks out of her window as her daughter is playing in the early morning sunlight with that creature again. With a sigh, she's about to turn away to floo her sister, when her daughter turns into something else, and suddenly darts into the undergrowth. Hurrying to the floo, she dumps a handful of powder into the floo, far more than is needed, "Hogwarts greenhouses." As soon as the fire turns green, she's on her hands and knees with her head through the fire, "Pomona! Pomona! Are you there. I need you!"
A minute later, her sister comes into view, brushing dirt of her hands, "What's the matter?"
"My niece, she was playing with that creature and she changed."
"You mean Murph?"
"Yes, that. I tolerate it because it can seemingly come and go when it wants, but I draw the line with Vesta changing into that. Not only that, but she's disappeared into the undergrowth somewhere."
"Fine, I will find my… someone that can help. Be warned that you may not get the result you're hoping for." Pomona walks away from the floo, and a burst of yellow light illuminates what Bubona can see of the room.
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"Ok Hermione, ready to go?"
Hermione looks up at Arry from where she's reading to the youngest of the Yautja that have joined the hive. Honestly, she feels sorry for Ne'stbei, as she was subjected to a massive battery of medical scans by the older Yautja as soon as the face hugger fell off.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes, we promised your parents."
"But they can't read my books."
"All of the new members will be moving to Earth soon, so you can read to them then."
Reluctantly, Hermione stands up, "Fine. But they were going to tell me some of their stories when we finished the book."
"Now, do you know where you live?"
"Of course, it's 72 Beech lane…"
"I don't mean the address, I mean can you really picture it."
"Ah, no?"
Arry hangs her head, "Right, the Alley it is."
Together they appear in a flash of fire, before walking into the Leaky Cauldron from Diagon Alley. There, Hermione sees her mother waving at them. So she grabs Arry's hand and pulls her over to the table, "Mum, Dad, what are you doing here?"
Vivian smiles at the two of them, "Take a seat both of you. I'd like to introduce you to Xenophilus Lovegood. Widower and father. He's also my newest patient."
Reflexively Hermione says, "Pleased to meet you."
Xeno looks up at Arry, "I remember you, you took my Little Moon away."
"I did," Arry admits, "you weren't taking very good care of her."
"I know, I was doing my best but…"
Vivian puts her hand on his, "Mr Lovegood, you don't have to explain yourself. Just ask what you want to ask."
"Thank you Doctor. Luna, is she alright?"
"She is, she's currently in a cocoon, but she should emerge in just shy of 6 tendays. That's 60 rest periods, which are almost an Earth day."
Hermione's eyebrows furrow, "I still don't get that, why rest periods and tendays?"
"Multiple spacefaring species. The Yautja didn't have a concept of anything but ticks, rest periods, and cycles. So tenday got adopted."
Henry laughs, "Much like many English terms then."
Xeno finishes processing what was said, and organising his own thoughts, "Arry, why is she in a cocoon?"
"When she met me, she said that she wanted lots of children. Then complimented me on having lots of children. So, I frightened her into becoming a xenomorph to survive, and then fed her royal jelly to turn her into a queen like me. As a queen, I am able to produce Royal Jelly pretty much on demand, so she did in a tenday what it took a cycle for me to do. Pretty much all she did in that time is eat Jelly and sleep."
"Could I see her?"
Vivian speaks up again, "Mr Lovegood, why don't we set meeting Luna as a goal for you to aim for. If Arry agrees, then if you have made good progress by the time she's about to emerge, you can watch her emerge."
"I can do that, but I'm worried about her."
"Write it down in your journal, and we'll go over it together tonight. Which brings me to the next thing, Arry, would Hermione be able to stay with you for another week please? Hermione, Mr Lovegood is going to need to stay with us for a week, and you know what that's like."
Hermione bounces in her seat with excitement, "I get to spend more time with Aihrein and Cadta, oh, but first can we go to a bookshop please dad? I don't have enough books to read them."
"Can't they read themselves?"
"Of course not silly, they don't see with visible light, they see by heat."
"Oh, silly me, why wouldn't I know something nobody told me."
"Dad, you're making fun of me."
Henry laughs, "Whatever you've been doing with my daughter, keep doing it. I've never seen her this animated about visiting someone elses home."
There is a flash of fire and Pomona appears standing next to the table, "My Queen…" Pomona takes in her surroundings, "I wasn't expecting you to be on Earth."
"Just call me Arry Professor, what can I do for you?"
"Murph has been playing with my niece most days, and Vesta has just changed. Bubona called me in a panic, so I said I'd find someone that can help."
Arry looks at the ceiling, then looks at everyone around the table apologetically, to which Henry laughs, "Go, I'll take Hermione to Foyles after breakfast and meet here when you're ready. (Can't exactly leave without her until we're ready to go, as there's no way back in if I do)"
Standing, Arry takes Pomona's hand and they both disappear in a puff of fire. The pub, which had gone dead silent when Pomona arrived, erupts with noise as the workmen all start gossiping about the phoenix flames, with no phoenix to be seen.
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Arry and Pomona reappear in Bubona's house, where a frantic witch is watching the garden intently.
"Bubona, I've bought Murph's mother. Can you show us where they were playing?"
Bubona spins around, vitriol on her lips to die stillborn when she sees Arry, "You can't possibly be that things mother."
There's a loud crack as Arry's tail goes through the floor, and then she disappears with a pop, to reappear in the garden. Pomona points through the window, and Bubona turns around just in time to watch Arry turn into her normal form. Pomona steps up beside her sister, and they watch as Murph and a chest burster come out of the garden, then start playing with the massive queen.
"You know, you should try socialising with more than the Malfoys and their toadies. Sometimes the things you see aren't what they appear. Murph is only two, so she doesn't understand language yet. However, she's fully grown, and will probably start speaking in a year or two. Vesta treated her as she would another child near her age, and they both got on because of it. Now I wonder why Vesta would feel the need to change into a Xenomorph herself? Let me know when Dennis gets home, I'd like to have a chat with him."
Arry appears outside with a pop, and feels around for Murph. When she finds her, it's clear that Murph is protecting something. Sensing that she looks too human, she returns to her xenomorph queen form and looks expectantly in the direction of Murph. She doesn't have to wait long, as the cutest little chest burster comes hurtling out of the underbrush and climbs up her leg. Murph quickly follows and soon enough they're playing king of the castle with Arry being the castle and random monster at the same time. After 15 ticks, Arry decides they've had enough play time, so she returns to her human form and sends a feeling that the chest burster should do the same. Surprisingly she gets a feeling of reluctance, and the chest burster moves closer to Murph. Frowning in thought, she sends a sensation of returning to human with Pomona. There is a sense of reluctant acceptance at that. Returning to her queen form, she gathers them both up and flames to the greenhouses at Hogwarts.
"Pomona, the child didn't want to return to human at home, so I'm at your greenhouses. I need to get back to Hermione, so could you come and look after them please?"
"Of course my…" – Arry sends a strong sense of disapproval – "Arry. I'll be right there."
Once Pomona arrives, they are able to coax Vesta back into a human form, and Vesta immediately latches onto Murph.
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"Dennis, I'm worried about my sister. I'm sure that she's shouted at you about Vesta turning into a thing. I think it's something to do with Murph. What's going on?"
Dennis sighs, "Bubona. Bubona has developed some very fixed views about what's acceptable. Because Murph isn't human, or from a known species of animal, magical or mundane, she has decided that it's an abomination. This isn't helped by the fact that Murph hurt her quite badly a few days ago when she decided that Vesta had had enough play time."
"I see, I assume this was for lessons?"
"It was, it's also why she called you rather than trying to get Vesta today."
"How bad was the injury?"
"Deep gashes on the arm, nothing an episkey and some essence of dittany didn't solve. But still bad enough."
"I see, I don't think I can stop Murph from going to play with Vesta. But maybe I can get Murph involved in her lessons. She should be getting to the point that she understands speech, and can start speaking a few words in her own language." – Pomona hangs her head – "Which Vesta will also need to be taught. Also, Arry said that you should try not to feed her when she's transformed. Xenomorphs mature very quickly when there is a ready supply of food. Reaching their first moult is roughly equivalent to being physically 8-9 years old."
"Just how old is Murph?"
"2 or 3 I think. But she's fully grown, and her intelligence is coming through quickly."
"Merlin, just a toddler. No wonder Bubona is having trouble with her. She had the same trouble with Vesta, until she worked out that Vesta could be bribed with carrots. I'll have a word with her later, and we'll see what we can do."
"Just make sure you do it before Arry decides to adopt her. She did that with Luna, Xeno's daughter."
"Oh, bad business that."
"He's getting help now, and will hopefully be ready to be a parent again in a couple of months. But Luna is becoming a queen like Arry, and she's currently in a cocoon for the next 2 months."
"What are you saying?"
"Vesta would be a xenomorph with a humanoid appearance. Imagine a butterfly that could turn back into a caterpillar, that's what it would be like for her. She'll also know things that no 6 year old ever should. I'm having trouble coping myself."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you have any fire whiskey?"
"I do, I didn't think you drank?"
"Normally I don't, as it's a good way to get killed in the greenhouses. But if I'm going to talk about this I want a drink."
Once they both have a glass of amber heaven, Pomona starts, "Natively, Xenomorphs are a parasitic species. They reproduce by implanting their young into suitable warm bodies, where they mature and then kill the host by bursting out of the chest. Thank Merlin, Morgana, and any of the gods that are listening, that Arry was born Harry Potter, and that Lily sacrificed herself for him. Without that, she could easily have been a more typical Xenomorph Queen. Instead, she has a strong belief that children are to be protected. That only extends so far though, as if the child is old enough to attack her, then they're old enough to die. But that's still an infinite improvement over her predecessors.
"Ptiana, the Merlin damned phoenix of Dumbledore's, used me to get into Dumbledore's lemon drop stash, and then dropped me into Arry's egg room. I was lucky, so very lucky that the egg she dropped me next to was the egg that detected my presence first. I would probably be dead if it hadn't."
Pomona takes a pull of her drink before she continues, "I'm also thankful that T'o-Ba'sall didn't attack Arry when she first met a couple of years ago. It was for her that Arry made the modifications to some of her eggs that mean I'm now part of Arry's hive. I'm not human anymore, and I'm becoming less human by the day. At the moment, Vesta is just a girl with an animagus form. Oh, gods, the instincts. I have memories of being the equivalent of rats on a planet, where just about everything else saw us as food. It's why xenomorph hives usually number in the thousands once they're established. We, they can eat just about anything, and will do too. Then someone, thousands of years ago, took a queen off the planet and didn't take enough care. That queen escaped and multiplied unopposed on a world that wasn't adapted to them.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to feel your own lifespan pale in insignificance against the backdrop of something so vast? Of course you don't, I didn't either. Some of the queens, they developed intelligence. But that just made them worse, as it was age rather than birth that granted that intelligence. They don't see anything outside their own hive as worth consideration, unless it's stronger than they are. We're also biomimetic, did you know that? When implanted, Xenomorphs take on the strongest traits of their host. Add in a touch of magic, and that works across the entire hive. I can phoenix travel now, all because Ptiana is part of the hive. Even if she somehow died, that would still be there. Even her memories are now part of our ancestral memories too. I can't stand it, and I don't want to end it, our desire to live is too strong to even consider suicide."
Pomona refills her glass and takes another long pull, "If you don't want that for Vesta, you'll treat her and Murph right. Course, that doesn't mean she won't decide to do it on her own when she's older. Just that Arry won't take the choice away from you because Vesta is suffering."
Dennis looks at Pomona, his own drink untouched. Glancing down he lifts the glass and downs it in one go, "How are you so composed about it?"
Pomona laughs, "It's easy, I can't change it, so why worry. It's done, and most of the time the memories don't intrude. Just in my dreams, and when I dwell on them. It would be so easy to lash out at someone, and things are getting more fragile."
Dennis watches as Pomona runs her fingernail around the top of the whiskey bottle a couple of times, before just popping the top off, leaving a clean cut where her fingernail went.
"Is Arry safe?"
Pomona can't help laughing, "Define safe? Will she lash out for no reason? No, she's an 11 year old girl that's had to grow up far too fast and experience too much. She's not going to suddenly snap and go on a murder spree. Will she kill someone? Absolutely yes, if she's attacked she will retaliate, and her first instinct will be to kill. When her brain catches up, she'll be remorseful, but that won't bring back the dead. If someone kills one of her children, she'll ensure that they replace them. And not with one of the nice eggs."
"What about the school?"
Pomona looks positively predatory, "Oh, I think that most of the students will be just fine."
Shuddering, Dennis just goes back to his thoughts, and Pomona goes quiet too.