'm not dead.
Just really struggling with work and life commitments.
That and finding the narative voice that i've somehow lost along the way.
This reads more as a collection of short segments rather than a proper chapter but i'm struggling with the ballance between a fast paced jumpchain and the slower paced school experience that streches over years.
Also, I've tried something new with the NSFW scene with trying to make it integrated with the story rather than a cut and past like chunk that just suddenly "Sex Scene." Let me know how you found that because the smut is not a stregnth of mine.
Chapter 28
Alex sunk lower into the steaming hot water and let the heat permeate through his body. He was in the Room of Requirement which had currently been reconfigured into a replica of his Gem Temple's natural hot spring. The amount of dark magic he had used in his violation of the horcrux and his confrontation with the Dark Lord made him feel filthy. True, his various perks prevented the tainted magic from actually affecting him or tarnishing his soul or anything like that, but it didn't help with the grimy, greasy feeling the spells had left on his skin. The cleansing waters of the recreated bathroom were doing wonders to wash away the memory of that taint.
He released a long-drawn-out sigh as he leant against the moulded walls of the pool and languidly rolled his head to stare at the object sitting on the edge of the pool by his head. The ruby red Philosopher's Stone glinted darkly under the candle light and the shine of the moon through the glass walls.
He picked up the stone, it was composed of odd glass-like surfaces yet with rough edges giving it the appearance of a piece of a larger red crystal that had been shattered and this piece dug out of the centre of the whole.
Alex focused on the alchemical stone and reached out with his magic. The first thing he felt was power. A tremendous amount of magical energy was contained within the red crystal. Focusing on that energy, he opened his mind's eye to see deep within the stone. It was almost blinding. Deep within the red centre was a ring of purest white energy that pulsed with the thum-thump beat of a heart.
Alex stretched forth his senses and felt the flow within the molten ring of magic. Magical energy flowing in a stable circle much like a plasma toroid trapped in a magnetic field. As Alex's mental vision became accustomed to the magical radiance of the ring, he noticed sparks of magic arching around the crystal and being absorbed by the pulsing ring in the centre. Each flash of magic adding to the ring and yet never increasing its size; instead, the magic was compressed into a denser state.
Using his Diamond abilities to gain a sense of the stone's composition, Alex tore his eyes from the ring of pure magic and inspected the make of the stone itself. Mercury, gold, iron and antimony were woven betwixt the hexagonal structures of aluminium oxide in a curious repeating pattern that seemed to subtly shift each time he looked away. In the space between the alchemical metals pinpricks of magic sprung into being and grew into sparks that arced through the crystal lattice, gathering together before being pulled into the centre. Alex's eyes widened as he came to understand what he was sensing. A ritual on a micro-scale. An artificial magical core. An alchemical magic generator. A crystal that generated and stored magic.
Nicholas Flamel had created an artificial magic generator that was capable of producing and compressing an insane amount of magic. Making a logical leap, Alex determined that the process by which both the elixir and the transmutation of base metals to gold was achieved was not actually the intended purpose of the stone. Instead, the Elixir of life and the high energy transmutations were byproducts of the stone expelling excess energy once it had reached the maximum compression of magic that the crystal structure could contain.
With a thought, Alex held out the hand not holding the stone and concentrated. Above his palm a small fleck of red grew from nothingness as he pushed his Diamond crystal creation abilities to replicate the stone. The small grain grew slowly as Alex had to nudge each exotic element into place against the natural structure of ruby base. Each alchemical element had to be precisely placed to the very atomic structure of the stone's crystal lattice as each alchemical element acted as brush-stroke forming the micro ritual space within the stone's core. By the time that the grain of ruby sand had grown to the size and shape of a smooth sparrow's egg, Alex was left panting from the sheer mental focus involved.
Alex wiped the sweat from his brow and inspected the recreation of the Philosopher's stone only to find it cold and dead in his hand. A murky red gem of impure ruby with not a single spark of magic within. Not one to give up. Alex reaching out again with his magic to probe the new crystal for any trace of magic and gasped as the power was pulled from him violently. His tendril of magic had been caught within the structure of the crystal and yanked hard. That small thread pulling a much larger amount of magic from him and had his reserves not been ridiculously large due to his assorted perks, then the amount extracted from his core could very well have killed a regular witch or wizard.
Even then, Alex was left aching from the sheer volume of magic that was pulled from him in such a short amount of time but was still able to watch as the magic flowed through the stone and compressed into a point in the centre. Much a like a spark igniting a much larger fire, the point of magic pulsed like a heartbeat and the alchemical pattern within the stone shifted ever so slightly. For a moment there was nothing and then small sparks of a magic were born within the stones ritual space and flowed into the centre which pulsed and expanded with each spark until it grew into a slowly revolving ring of magic.
Alex smiled. He had just reproduced the philosopher's stone albeit without years of tedious study of alchemy. Cheat abilities were cheat.
"You're looking very pleased with yourself."
Alex let out a squeak of surprise as he was informed that he was not alone.
Lounging in the water across from him, the shade of Myrtle Warren smiled coyly at him as she appeared to relax in the warm waters. Her attempt to appear alluring though was undercut by the fact that she was still wearing her outdated Hogwarts robes while in the bath.
Alex flexed his ghost king powers and verified that Moaning Myrtle was the only spirit in the room, though he did feel another notice his pulse of ecto-energy and start in their direction. He couldn't help but smirk at the way the bespeckled ghost shivered and blushed with his outpouring of energy.
"I am pleased with myself." Alex told the dead girl. "I've made a lot of progress tonight."
Myrtle nodded and adjusted the spectral glasses on her face and Alex didn't miss the way her eyes flicked to the water where the lack of bubbles failed to hide his nudity. She blushed again and Alex was surprised to note that she was actually quite cute. Large eyes, a smattering of freckles across her nose and long hair pulled into twin-tails on either side of her head. Moaning Myrtle only looked a little bit like the actress Shirley Henderson if you squinted. She had a touch of Velma Dinkley about her if the animated character had kept her hair up in pigtails: nerdy and cute.
"So, what are you doing here, Myrtle?" Alex asked.
"You know my name?" Myrtle asked, her eyes wide with surprise, ignoring his question.
Alex nodded. "I know your name. I know how you died and I know about Tom."
Myrtle had been looking progressively more pleased as Alex spoke until Tom's name was mention. It was interesting to see an already pale ghost become even more so.
"You know about Tom?" She asked with in a timid voice.
"The dickhead who killed you and then went on to become a dark lord all because he was whiney sod who never got over his mommy-and-daddy-issues? Yeah, I know about him. Trapped part of his soul in a magic portrait not two hours ago." Alex didn't fear Myrtle spreading that around. As a ghost she would listen to his orders if he phrased them through his abilities.
Myrtle was stunned to silence for a moment before she gave a wide grin. "You captured Tom? You captured my murderer?"
Alex nodded. "Plan to kill him or worse once I gather all the pieces of himself that he's left around."
The young dead woman launched herself at him and Alex near whimpered as she hugged herself against him. Her form was a direct contrast to the steaming waters as if he had decided to rub up against a block of ice while in the bath. He immediately tapped into his Ghost King abilities bringing violet flames to his eyes and Myrtle's cold and spectral form rippled into a much more comfortably cool and semi-solid form within his aura.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." The dead teenager said over and over again as she pressed her face into bare chest, like a cat marking their owner.
"My Lord. Does this harlot disturb you?" An acerbic voice cut through Myrtle's gratitude.
Alex rolled his head back to stare up at the shade of Helena Ravenclaw as she stood behind him at the edge of the pool.
"No, I'm fine. She's just a little overwhelmed from finding out that Tom has been captured."
Helena's stern looks softened just a little and she turned pensive. "I too was gladdened at his fall. He was once a sweet and charming boy yet he turned out to be so rotten at the core." The Grey lady shook her head and smiled down at him her eyes flicking between him and the teen ghost in his arms. "I have not yet thanked my Lord for cleansing of the dark lord's taint from my mother's crown." She smirked.
Alex raised a brow as Helena undid the lacings of her dress and allowed the spiritual fabric to fall and pool at her feet. Such an action would have been impossible just days ago, as a ghost she was immutable, eternally unchangeable, a spiritual moment captured at the point of death. Yet the combination of Alex's control over the ghosts around him and the more freeform nature of ghosts from the Danny Phantom world that he impressed on the spirits around him allowed her to disrobe for the first time in near a thousand years and bare herself to him.
NSFW SCENE CAN BE FOUND ON AO3 AND QQ
⦖⋄⦕
Students returned from their Christmas break in high spirits. Throughout the return feast all anyone seemed to be talking about was the strange yet entertaining show that occurred in Hogsmeade the night before. Many of the pureblood students, who had been able to watch at least some of the event in person, were not so quietly rubbing the noses of the muggleborn and halfblood students into the fact that they had been unable to be present for any of the strange and magical event.
"I wish I had been able to see it." Hermione complained for the sixth or seventh time.
Ron spoke through, not around but through, a mouthful of potatoes to comment. "It t'was bloo'y brill'ant, it t'was." He preened and thankfully swallowed. "Da' was called in with the ministry and then sent for mum and the rest of the family. We didn't see the beginning but we caught the end."
"Ron, please for the love of all that is good and right with the world, would you please swallow before starting to talk." Gred leant over to chastise their more uncouth brother.
Feorge though, picked up where Ron had left the conversation. "It was pretty great though. Wish I knew how they did what they did, we could use some of those ideas for our products."
"How did they do what they did?" Hermione mused aloud. "Illusion magic is notoriously finicky without a something to anchor the magic on and from what I've heard it would take multiple wizards casting in concert to pull of as many transfigurations and animations as was described."
Alex shook his head as he cut into his roast beef. "Don't look at me, I didn't even get to see it being trapped in the castle an all the whole time." Alex echoed a common complaint from the students who had been in the castle at the time of the show. Those students had only been able to see some flashing lights over the forest and hear the deep roars of the dragons and the faint melody of distant music during the whole thing. None of the teachers had thought to fetch the students when I became apparent that there was no danger but realistically that was understandable.
Thankfully though for those that missed the event the night before; Alice and Lapis had them covered. High in the rafters behind the illusion of the night sky that was the ceiling of the Great Hall, a small but sophisticated Gem robonoid floated.
The spherical crystal robot split along hidden seams and broke into five pieces, four of which floated to each corner of the ceiling while the largest piece stayed in the centre. At an unseen signal from the two girls below the device triggered its projectors.
Above the sea of students, the sparkling stars of the night sky dimmed as the sound of drumrolls reverberated around the stone hall. Students looked up in surprise as large words were projected into the air above them forming a strange tower of lettering that read: '20th Century Marauders.' Muggleborn and half-bloods giggled as they recognised the lettering and the fanfare of trumpets that accompanied it.
The words faded to be replaced with simple text that spelt out the words: 'Welcome to The Greatest Show,' and then those too faded as the sound of music and the flight of dragons appeared on before the enchanted ceiling.
Alex snorted and caught the eyes of Alice and Lapis who were grinning maniacally amongst the other Slytherins who were all staring up at the projection in awe or who were pointing out parts of the show to their peers. The entire hall had devolved into near silence as the student population were entranced by what was by all accounts a very advanced movie projection. Only the Professors seemed to be immune from the enrapturing display as Dumbledore, Flitwick and McGonagall all waved their wands in an attempt to discern the spells and enchantments at work.
Alex wished them luck as the whole thing was entirely produced by advanced yet mundane technology. Glancing next to him at Hermione and seeing the shinning wonder in her eyes as she stared upwards Alex had to revise his prior thought. The method of the presentation may be mundane but the effect was certainly magical.
⦖⋄⦕
The rest of the year was tame in comparison to the returning feast. Dumbledore and the staff had not discovered the method by which Alice and Lapis had repurposed the enchanted ceiling and the old headmaster had seemed quite miffed about that as he asked for anyone with information to come forward. In contrast Flitwick seemed quite excited as he admitted he had no idea what charms the pranksters had used and made his own plea for information while promising extra credit to the orchestrators. McGonagall took it all in stride and betrayed nothing even if she did sometime seem to be keeping an extra eye on Harry and the Weasley twins. Likely she recognised the name 'Marauders' when it was used. Snape too may have recognised the term and he responded with increased sneers and vitriol to any unfortunate Gryffindor that crossed his path. He might have also suspected Harry yet his enforced distance from him meant that Alex didn't need to suffer any increased animosity from the greasy potion's professor.
McGonagall finally came through with her promised tutor and so it was that Alex got to meet Andromeda Tonks much earlier than expected.
"Potions are an exacting magic that rewards patience, persistence and precision over raw power." The attractive older witch explained to Alex during his first delayed potions class. Her stiff demeanour was then tempered with a small yet fond smirk. "These could be referred to as the three P's of Potions."
Andromeda, like most other witches, appeared a good decade or so younger than she actually was. With her long and thick black hair and her typical Black family aristocratic good looks; Alex could see the resemblance between her and her incarcerated sister Bellatrix. Though Andromeda's eyes held a stern warmth that Bellatrix's eyes lacked in favour for bright and deranged fanaticism.
"The three P's?" Alex asked.
The older witch nodded. "A term your mother used that I picked up."
Alex's eyes widened; he hadn't known that the two were close. "You knew my mother?"
Andromeda motioned for Alex to keep dicing the rhubarb leaves that were to become the base of a hangover potion of all things. Clearly Andromeda had a different curriculum in mind that deviated from the regular potion's class. Still, she did answer his question once his hands returned to their task.
"We didn't really know each other while at school seeing as I was just starting my sixth year when she was a first year. But during her later years at Hogwarts, when she started dating your father, we became much closer due to his friendship with my younger cousin Sirius." She spoke with fondness.
"What was she like?"
Andromeda gave a small smile. "Proud. Feisty. Your mother had a core of iron in her."
Alex grinned hearing these words. Despite not truly being Harry Potter in spirit, the methods Seraphina used to insert them into the various reality did seem to have a certain bleed of emotions to it. He felt a strange and poignant connection to the mother he never met and was glad that he would be returning her to the realms of the living come the summer holidays.
"She had a deft hand at potions and charms and would have made quite a splash in the potioneering circles if her ideas of combining the two had borne fruit during her Mastery."
Andromeda continued telling Alex stories of Lily while also showing him how to properly mix the diced rhubarb leaves with spring water, honey and milk. The hangover cure potion that he was being instructed to make didn't require any overly magical ingredients at all, instead pulling on the brewer's magic and the trace amount of magics within the more mundane ingredients. Having looked over the next few recipes that Andromeda had listed for the upcoming classes, Alex could see a pattern of beginning with these less volatile potions while learning the proper methods of chopping, stirring, cutting, peeling and grinding. Hangover cure elixirs, stomach settling drafts, fever reducing concoctions, contraceptive tinctures and brewed teas for menstrual cramps an
Hedge magic Alex realised. These recipes were not the work or master potioneers pushing the boundaries of their craft but the tried-and-true potions of generations of witches from a time before wand magic. These were the potions from which a hedge witch got their moniker; potions crafted from the herbs and plants grown among the hedges of a witches garden.
Not only were all these potions invaluable in their everyday application, they were cheap, easy and most importantly without danger of blowing up if brewed incorrectly. Honestly it didn't make sense to start novices to the art of potion brewing with brews that would violently explode should the ingredients be added in the wrong order or at the wrong temperature. Why Snape would subject each class to such a danger when these much safer (and cheaper) recipes existed; Alex did not know.
"And my father?" Alex asked.
"A scoundrel and a flirt." Andromeda immediately responded.
"Really?" Alex asked with a blank stare while stirring the potion in precise amounts of three stirs clockwise and one stir windershins with an odd half-stir star shape in between.
Andromeda huffed. "Well, I might be somewhat prejudiced but he did keep flirting even after I was a married woman. He and Sirius both were consummate reprobates." Her words might have been harsh but her tone was one of nostalgic warmth.
"Sirius was your cousin, right?"
"He is, he was a such a good boy even with his penchant for pranks and womanising." Andromeda sadly shook her head. "I don't know what happened for him to turn out like he did."
Alex stretched out his magical senses, exploring the room for any traces of eavesdropping spells or hidden portraits through which the headmaster could be listening in. Finding nothing he decided to broach a delicate subject with the older witch.
"He was also supposedly my godfather yet supposedly betrayed my family to the dark lord."
Andromeda nodded sadly. "Like myself he always said he wanted nothing to do with dark prejudices of our family. I know something happened, I can't believe he could betray your father like he did, James was like a brother to him."
"He didn't." Alex admitted.
Andromeda turned sharp eyes to him. "Didn't what?"
"Betray my family." Alex revealed. "Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper, not Sirius, it was all supposed to be a misdirection where everyone thought that Sirius was the Keeper but this just allowed the true traitor to set Sirius up for both the betrayal and killing the crowd of muggles." Alex explained as he decanted the hangover potion into the prepared glass vials.
His arm was grabbed in a surprisingly strong grip causing him to look up from his work and meet the eyes of his tutor.
"Tell me everything."
⦖⋄⦕
Fred Weasley carefully carved a set of runes into the underside of the Slytherin table in the great hall as George was on watch duty.
"McGee's in still in her office. Filch is cleaning up that mess on the fifth floor — we'll have to resupply Peeves with more dungbombs soon — Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects are… huh." George droned as he kept careful watch on the map projected from the gifted marauder's timepiece. Watch duty, get it?
Fred paused in his carving. "The Badger and Raven prefects are what? Coming this way? Reporting to a professor? Killing a firstie? What? What are they doing?"
"Making out in a broom closet." George replied.
"Sandra Witshike and Damien Carlson?" Fred asked as he tried to picture the curvy female fifth-year Puff and the tall male sixth-year Raven prefects.
"Nah, Sandra must have swapped shifts with her counterpart. It's Nathan Boyd and Damien in the closet together."
Ahh, that made much more sense. "Huh, good for them." Fred returned to carving the simple rune sequence.
The use of runes in their pranks had been increasing throughout the year. Part of it was that Fred was taking the class while George focused on Arithmancy. By dividing the electives between the two of them they reconned that they would get the most out of their education and contribute to opening their future joke shop together. The other part was their continued correspondence with the son of the Marauders: Spook.
The watches they had been given had somehow updated themselves a few months ago and gained a 'message' function through which they had maintained contact with Spook. Spook had acted a great sounding board for future prank and joke ideas and was incredibly helpful with providing unique and fun rune schemes for use in their pranks. It was also further proof of their guess that Spook was really Harry Potter as the firstie had already made something of a name for himself as being a bit of a prodigy in Runes without having even taken the class. Though, if the rumour mill was anything to go by, he was getting 'personal' lessons with the young and attractive Professor Babbling. Lucky bastard.
Speaking of Harry. "So, you still think Harry was somehow behind the Greatest Show?" Fred asked, referencing what the school and the papers had started calling the Hogsmeade show.
"Twentieth Century Marauder's Presents." George quoted the viewing that occurred in the great hall on the first day back from holidays.
"Yeah. Long odds on that not being Spook and given that Spook is likely Harry…"
"I think we should try and partner up before we graduate. That sort advertising and imagination would be hell of a boon when we open shop."
"That and Harry seems like an alright bloke from what we've seen so far. Sneaky though."
"Sneaky?" George asked.
Fred nodded even though George wouldn't be able to see him under the table. "Didn't you notice that the Cerberus is gone from the third floor and the trapdoor has been removed?"
"What? No!? And why do you think that was Harry?"
"One. He was one of the few students still in the castle over the holiday." Fred listed. "Two. He's mentioned a few times on the watch that setting off a distraction elsewhere is a great way to cover tracks and the 'Greatest Show' would have made the perfect distraction to working out the puzzles. Especially McGee's."
George shivered at the memory of trying to play past McGonagall's animated chess set. Getting past Hagrid's Pup, Sprouts Japanese wet dream — and screw you Cho Chang for exposing the Ravenclaw's to that piece of cultural heritage — and Flitwick's ultra-fun quidditch tryout was easy compared to the McGee's abomination. They had almost considered asking Ron for help if they hadn't succeeded by their next attempt.
"And Three. He's Harry Fucking Potter."
George couldn't argue with that logic. "When did you even have time to look anyway?" George asked.
"Went had had a gander while you were having fun with Angelina." And you could hear the leer in his voice.
George huffed and rolled his eyes. "Not my fault that I'm the better-looking twin. And what happened with your date with Alicia?"
"Postponed to next weekend." Fred said with just a hint of annoyance. "Some Snake spoiled her cauldron in potions while they were brewing a blood-replenishing potion and caused it to erupt; the resulting mixture gave her a blood-nose that took Pomfrey the whole night to fix as it kept coming back."
"Hence why you wanted to hit the Snakes tonight." George reasoned. "Alicia's Ok though, right?"
"She's fine. The spoiled potion still sorta worked as it replenished the same amount of blood as she lost from the nosebleed."
"Huh… did she happen to remember what stage she was at when it was sabotaged?"
"Yep." Fred popped the 'P.' "And I've narrowed down the list of possible contaminants. With a bit of work, we should be able to refine it into something usable."
"Nice."
"Alright, I'm done here." Fred said as he finished off the last rune cluster.
"Sweet. And the trigger word is set?"
"Of course." Fred extended a hand up to his brother.
"Then let's get back to bed." George took Fred's hand and pulled him to his feet. "And maybe let Harry know to pull his lady Snakes to our table for breakfast?"
"Good idea." Fred brushed the dust from his robes.
The next morning found Alice and Lapis pulled to the Gryffindor table by Alex to share breakfast with himself and Hermione. This meant that they were thankfully excluded from the prank as it went down. It started with a couple of seventh-years but quickly spread among the rest of the house. Periodically, for no apparent reason at all, Slytherin student's faces were suddenly drawn with rapid force into the solid wood table or their plates of breakfast. The general buzz of conversation around the hall was marred with the sudden 'THUNK' and subsequent curses of the students as their faces were slammed into the table.
After the first few green clad students had to either be walked to the hospital wing for either the resultant blood noses or concussions, Snape had descended on the table with fury in his eyes and had personally checked the food for any signs of compulsion potions or tampering. It took over an hour for him to inspect the table itself and find the runes that described the localised summoning charm that summoned the student's faces directly into the hard wood table, repeatedly. It took a little under that for the students themselves to realise the trigger-word that activated the rune clusters. For just that day, and for at least a week following, Slytherin students avoided saying the word 'mudblood' even in the privacy of their own house.
Alex couldn't resist tipping his goblet of juice to the twins for a prank well done.
⦖⋄⦕
"You'll write, won't you?" Hermione asked from within his arms.
Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes; he had already confirmed their plans for the summer. "I'll write but I'll also see you in person. No way am I going a whole three months without a hug."
The young bushy haired girl squeezed him even tighter before releasing him and taking up her trunk.
"Hermione!" A woman's call rose above the mayhem that was the train platform crowded with reuniting families.
Hermione broke out a wide and happy smile as she waved down the approaching woman. "Mum!"
The two united in a tight embrace that left Alex standing awkwardly nearby. It got even worse when he was soon joined by a tall middle-aged man with the look of a nerdy college professor; tweed and all.
"You must be Harry." The man said as he proffered his hand.
Alex took the hand and was thankful that Hermione's father — and who else could it have been — didn't try to crush his hand due to some sort of overprotective machismo.
"Harry, Harry Potter. You must be Dr. Daniel Granger. Hermione's mentioned both you and her mother."
"Dr. Emmaline Granger. A pleasure to meet you." Hermione's mother commented over the top of her daughter's head. "You can call me Emma."
Alex almost felt uncomfortable with the way she eyed him up and down with a knowing smirk on her face. What on earth had Hermione been telling her?
"Just Dan to my daughter's friends, please." Dan said affably. "Would love to stay and get to know, my dear lad, but we must be off if we're to make out flight."
Alex nodded. "France, right? Hermione's been so existed since she found out."
"When we get back, we must spend some time together. At least as a thank you for lending us your beautiful owl to write Hermione." Emma said as she and Hermione finally released each other.
Hedwig preened from within her cage and gave Alex a reproving stare that told him he had neither shown her the proper amount of respect nor an adequate amount of work.
Alex just accepted her thanks with a smile. "Hedwig enjoys the exercise and I'm afraid I just don't have enough letters for her myself. Letting Hermione use her to correspond with her family was the least I could do."
Emma returned the smile and Dan nodded along happily though he turned to Hermione and gave her one of those odd half-hugs that were common from fathers. An expression that he loved and cared but also struggled to properly show the affection physically. Hermione obviously got her penchant for physical affection from her mother. "C'mon, Dears. The cab's waiting on the street." He turned to go.
"Coming Dad." Hermione responded, yet before she followed, she grabbed Alex into one last hug and surprised him with a chaste kiss on the cheek before she grabbed her trunk to follow. Her face burning red as she walked quickly after her father.
Dan might not have noticed the kiss but Emma certainly did and her knowing smirk only increased as she winked at him and followed after her husband and daughter.
Alex stood for a moment with his hand on his cheeks and a silly smile on his face before he too took up his trunk to leave. Looking around he didn't see anyone paying him too much attention though he did notice Mrs Weasley occationally glancing at the portal back to the muggle side of the station every now and then. Likely under orders to keep an eye on him. He did catch the eye of Ginny — read Lyn — who grinned at him and then promptly distracted the Weasley matriarch and allowing him the opportunity to slip through the portal without anyone of import noticing him.
Once on the muggle side of things Alex was able to slip away into a public bathroom where he could teleport away without notice.
"Welcome back."
Lyn greeted him as he appeared in his headmaster's suite in the Luna Academy.
"I left a clone with the Weasleys." Lyn answered the unasked question.
"Right. That makes sense." Alex nodded as he let Hedwig out of her cage and opened the window for her to explore the modified lunar landscape. "Remember, no flying beyond the force field or you'll die. I'm not kidding, Hedwig."
The owl rolled her large amber eyes at him and took flight causing Alex to shake his head.
"Where's Sirius?" Alex asked
Lyn giggled. "Probably off playing doctor with the doctor."
"It's nice that he's getting on with Azalea."
"You mean getting IT on." Lyn wiggled her eyebrows at him.
Alex conjured a rolled-up newspaper and bonked her lightly on the head with it. "Bad. Bad horny. Save it for tonight." Alex leant and kissed the top of her head where he had tapped her with the paper. "I've missed you."
Lyn smirked. "Missed you too."
"Now, I'm going to go find our discerptible dog. I've a letter for him."
"Andy?" Lyn asked and Alex nodded in confirmation.
Alex had been passing letters back and forth between the two through portals to facilitate their communication. He wished he could just give them both P-comms but it wasn't yet time to reveal that capability yet. All Andromeda knew was that Sirius was somehow out of Azkaban, safe and surprisingly happy.
"Before you go: Operation Starbomb is ready for deployment." Lyn said as he was about to leave the room.
Looking back at her he nodded. "Proceed with the operation then."
"Sweet!" Lyn grinned and hurried passed him to reach the central control.
Alex shook his head as he watched her dash off. "This should be fun."
As he walked down the hall towards the rooms set aside for his Godfather, he pulled a rough, blood-red stone from his P-comm and ran his fingers along the familiar planes and groves of the crystal. It was almost ready.
⦖⋄⦕
That night, a few things happened at once.
Across the globe thousands were amazed by the sheer amount of shooting stars that streaked across the night sky. Astronomers were left flummoxed as they couldn't discern the reason for the sudden display. Centaurs though looked up and spoke of great change coming.
In a well-appointed private study, a blond man sipped a glass of Cointreau and ice and studied the black leather journal sitting on the desk before him.
In cozy loungeroom, a young muggleborn witch settled onto the couch with her mother to marathon the missed episodes of Doctor Who that her mother had recorded for her during the school year.
In a room specifically designed to recreate the Gryffindor common room, a recovering un-incarcerated man quilled a reply to the only relative he cared to talk to while trading quips with a young woman with startling pink hair.
In large bedroom and on a ridiculously oversized bed, four interdimensional travellers made love while paying special attention to the one who had not been with them for most of the year.
And as night fell, across the globe, hundreds of muggleborn, squibs and hedgewitches were startled as, in a moment when they were alone or with trustworthy parents, a star fell from the sky and sought them out. Passing through wards and windows and walls, a bright white gem fell from the skies and floated before each chosen recipient. Each glowing white gem opened like a blooming rose and projected the same feminine face of a Pearl with luminous white eyes and hair. Then she smiled and spoke:
[The Luna Academy of Magic and Enchantment
is pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a potential student
to be taught in the arts of Magic most Extraordinaire.
My name is Margarita, deputy Headmistress of the Luna Academy, and am able to answer any and all questions.]
Lastly, in a small provincial French village, a young girl knocked on the door to a quaint single storied cottage. The knock was answered wearily as the location, nay the very ability to perceive the dwelling was a magically kept secret.
She smiled at the man and woman who opened the door.
"Hello Mum. Hello Dad." She grinned at the two with mischief glinting in her ruby red eyes. "My name's Sophia. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."