I feel I should apologize, again. I am super super sorry for this unprecedented delay. Life got in my way and I haven't been able to get the energy needed to sit down and write. If it were in my abilities, I'd post every other day. Unfortunately, you are all left with meager results while I navigate my writing. Maybe If I go rewatch everything, that'll get my energy back...

Anyways, enjoy.


Harry's first week flew by without any notice. The classes were even easier than the years prior, which Harry attributed to his summer education. He was fully capable of getting most charms right on the first attempts, putting him on par with Hermione and the top students. Transfiguration was not much more difficult. The simpler spells still required his wand in class. Unfortunately, Harry's newfound skills had the reverse effect on his enjoyment. His newfound skills drew abnormal attention from students.

In Care of Magical Creatures, Grubbly-Plank wasn't a bad teacher, but she still lacked Hagrid's enthusiasm. But being so close to the forest felt weird, like there was something else waiting in there. Harry found himself wishing for dinner sooner than normal, rather than be there. Unless Hagrid returned, Harry wasn't expecting much from that class.

Fortunately, Slughorn was much more enjoyable to learn from. Harry wasn't the best in the class, but he was still pretty good. And this time the professor wasn't taking any chances to void all of his grades. Strangely, Slughorn seemed to give a strange amount of... well, Harry wouldn't call it favoritism, but Slughorn gave a lot of positive attention to particular students. At least this professor wasn't taking his chance to insult everybody who wasn't a Slytherin.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was... different. In the lesson after Harry and Snape's duel, Snape took the (mostly) practical method, Shining Armor's and Harry's favorite. According to Snape, their books were incorrect for the year, much to Hermione's despair. In lessons, Snape seemed to enjoy demeaning Harry's abilities, though he expressed equal levels of disdain when Harry succeeded despite that.


Friday started as all days did, with breakfast. Thankfully, none of the girls attempted to repeat their antics after the first Monday (for both their and his sake). Harry was much more tired that morning, having finished all of his classwork the night before, wanting to leave his weekend completely open.

Harry sat at his house's table and lazily shoved pancakes into his mouth. Twilight appeared a few minutes later to take the seat next to him.

"Morning, Harry," she said.

"Morn—" Harry swallowed the food in his mouth. "Morning, Twi."

"So, what's your schedule for the day?" Twilight asked.

"I got nothing until five, then quidditch practice," Harry said. "I think Hermione has a class today, and Ron needs to study; I did all mine last night."

"I can tell." Twilight reached out and ran a thumb under Harry's eye. "You look almost as bad as Sunset did yesterday."

"What's been going on with Sunset?" Harry asked, doing his best to suppress a yawn.

"Did I tell you about that book Sunset got?" Twilight asked. Harry shook his head. "Well, we found a book Dumbledore that was a gift from Star Swirl to Merlin. They were doing the same thing we were generations ago. Sunset's trying to decipher the pages, but they keep... I don't know... changing? She was hardly sleeping the last few days, so I forced her to promise to sleep in."

"Merlin and Star Swirl knew each other?" Harry echoed. I should've known Twilight and I weren't the first to talk across universes, but for it to be Merlin and Star Swirl? "That's... something, I guess."

"So, what were you going to do before practice?" Twilight asked. She levitated a piece of Harry's breakfast for herself, smirking.

Harry thought to himself. Normally, a day like this might've been dedicated to catching up on his studies, but that wasn't an issue for now. He doubted Dumbledore would let him within sight of the Horcrux before their next meeting. But surely there was something important he could do? I could practice my magic, but then...

"I have an idea," Harry said. He dropped his volume for his next sentence. "I think I've got my normal magic under control, but I want some help with this thing." Harry tapped the bracelet on his wrist.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't use that after you but Snape in the hospital?" Twilight responded, putting down her utensils.

"I know, just let me explain. This thing is my wand, I still need to use it for my classes. So I want to control it so that doesn't happen again. That makes sense?" Twilight nodded. "I don't want to hurt someone by accident."

Twilight placed a hand on her chin, thinking. "Alright, we can do that. Where's the best place for that? You can't be seen. This magic doesn't belong in your world."

"Well, let's go look," Harry said. The two got up from their seats and left the great hall. "Our best bet is probably the forest. No one goes deep into the forest without a reason."

"But no one's going to bother an alicorn and a unicorn there, will they?" Twilight responded with a grin. She took a quick step and transformed into an alicorn. Harry followed behind a second later.

"I'm going to be honest, I've missed this." Harry recalled his memories of Equestria. Now that he thought about it, some of his best memories were from being a unicorn.

"Well, you'll get plenty of time to get reacquainted with having four legs later," Twilight replied.

They arrived at the forest's edge a few minutes later and went deep into the woods. They walked to the former roaming ground of the thestrals, seeing as it was deep enough that no one would look for them. Twilight and Harry quickly cleared a small area of twigs and debris. When they finished, Harry transformed into a human, put on his bracelet, and set aside his bags.

"Alright, how do we do this?" Harry asked.

Twilight placed herself at the opposite end of the clearing. "Remember we are trying to understand your new powers, not train them. This is volitile magic we're dealing with."

"I remember."

"Alright, good. First, I want you to try and use its magic for something simple, like light or levitation."

Twilight surrounded herself with a magical shield. Harry raised an eyebrow at her defenses and she grinned sheepishly.

Harry closed his eyes and recalled all the sensations his bracelet ever had. Unlike a horn or wand, he needed to channel magic from it, not through it. Where it drew magic from Harry didn't know, but knowing what it could do was a good start. Simple levitation would be a good start. He focused on a nearby twig and his bracelet and cast his spell.

The stick glowed magenta, then raised gently. The sensation was strange; Harry didn't feel like he'd cast a spell. Yet the stick obeyed his commands as it rose in the air. Harry dropped that spell and lit a small sphere of light between his hands. It felt easier than any spell he'd cast before. Harry excitedly brightened the orb; its size and luminance grew exponentially. Magenta sparks encircled the artifact, tickling Harry's skin. The light was almost blinding now, even as Harry raised it over the trees.

"Hey, Harry?" Twilight said in a weak tone. "I think we should take a break, I'm not feeling... feeling good."

Harry let go of his spell and looked at Twilight. She looked sick, weary. The bubble she built around herself flickered in and out of existence. In shock, Harry dropped his spell completely. Twilight staggered and took a breath, then stumbled. She caught herself before she could fall, however. Harry rushed to her as she dismissed her shield and sat down.

"Are you alright?" Harry demanded.

"I'm..." Twilight rubbed her forehead, "I'm not sure. I think I'm okay, just... tired."

"What happened?" Harry glanced at his wand, then dismissed it back to a bracelet. "Did— did I do that?"

"It's a possibility," Twilight admitted. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how to describe it. It felt like when the princesses poured their magic into me, but in reverse."

"Then I shouldn't use this thing," Harry decided. He looked at the wand. The unusual material glimmered in the sunlight, hiding its strange Equestrian powers. "Using someone else's magic, it's just like Tirek."

"Not quite," Twilight replied. "Whatever you were doing, it didn't feel bad, just strange. I think your bracelet was able to siphon excces magic, we just let it get out of hoof. From now on, we can't do that."

As soon as the words left her mouth, both their bracelets shuddered. Harry looked at his bracelet curiously. It felt heavier and didn't shine the same. Maybe it reacted to Twilight somehow?

"Try that again," TWilight insisted.

"What?" said Harry, incredulous.

"I think I figured this out, just try what you did last time."

"Okay...?"

Harry cast the same spell as before, igniting a small ball of light. This time, he could feel the "stress" of the magic. As he brightened the orb, the strain increased on Harry, but Twilight seemed unaffected. Harry realized what TWilght was testing. Was his bracelet asking for permission?

"Alright, you can use some of my magic, but not much."

Instantly, the pressure of holding the spell lessened. Now, Harry could sense his magic mixing with another to create the orb. Harry once again dropped the spell and turned to Twilight. She beamed at him.

"Do you get it now?" she asked. "The bracelets came from he Tree of Harmony, they wouldn't steal magic, they borrow what's freely given. If I don't want you to use my magic," their bracelets shuddered again, "you can't. Friends ask, but don't take. They are, quite literally, magical friendship bracelets."

"So I can use your magic?" Harry asked. "For free? Just like that? And maybe the other girls' too?" He looked at the Tree of HArmony's gift. He didn't understand why it'd given him this and gave Twilight a castle. Her magic was tied to the magic of friendship, shouldn't this be hers?

"That's... a lot; maybe too much. I think I should hold off on using it more."

"Probably," Twilight agreed. "The tree must have given you this for a reason, but until we know what that is..."

"It's safer to use as an experiment."


With that concerning piece of information, the two left the forest. Harry felt simultaneous relief and anxiety. Though he wasn't stealing magic, it felt too much like Tirek; too much like the centaur who nearly killed him, his friends, and everyone they cared about. He'd never use that.

They went to lunch after that and met up with Ron, Hermione, and Sunset, the former of whom still had yet to do his coursework. Ron promised to do it Saturday and said he "didn't want school on his mind during tryouts".

Harry'd completely forgotten about Quidditch tryouts today! Ron's been talking about them a lot, he wanted to be the new keeper, now that Wood was gone.

"Ron, don't worry, you'll do fine," Harry said.

"Easy for you to say, mate, you got the seeker job easily," Ron muttered.

"True, but that's different," Harry insisted. "You've been flying on brooms with your brothers for years. They're excellent beaters. If you're even half as good a keeper as they are beaters, you'll be better than half the competition."

"You think so?"

"We know so," Hermione said firmly.

"Hey, I got an idea, how about some practice?" Harry said. "I've got the gear for a game of cloudball, we can play that," Harry suggested. "We can use the quidditch field before tryouts."

"Cloudball? Is that a wizard sport?" Hermione asked.

"If it is, I've never heard of it," Ron replied.

"It's Equestrian, technically," Harry said.

"Well, it must be new, 'cause I've never heard of it," Sunset added.

"Harry made it over the summer," Twilight said. "He based it off quidditch, so we can teach you quickly."

"You can all try if you want, I have studying to do," Hermione said. "I can make it to Ron's tryouts."

"That's fine; the rest of us can meet at the quidditch field," Twilight said. "Bring some friends, we'll need a few players."

"I'll get my gear," Harry said. "Twilight, do you think you know some people who could play?" Harry asked.

"I know a few of the Ravenclaw quidditch players," TWilgiht replied.

"Great! Grab them, and you can get a head start on the field." Twilight nodded and left the Great Hall.

"I'll see if I can find Penelope and Daphne somewhere," Sunset said, leaving not long after Twilight.

"Alright!" Harry declared. "You guys are going to love it. A friend of mine, Cloud Chaser, bought some gear over the summer. He wants to start an amatuer league in Cloudsdale. Apparently it's getting popular."

"Do we need anything?" Ron asked.

"A broom, if you want. Meet us down in an hour or so."

Ron left to grab his siblings while Harry rushed down to the quidditch field. Harry and Twilight were the first to get to the field. The alicorn was busy gathering clouds With a quick command of "Accio," Harry's gear was swiftly summoned to him. Harry set out his gear and was pleasantly surprised to see the horseshoes were now pairs of greaves and reinforced fingerless gloves. Good, he wouldn't have to transfigure them.

When Harry set everything out, he cast the cloud-walking spell to help shape the floor manually. The quidditch field was filled with small clouds, cirrostratus if Harry recalled correctly. A "floor" of thicker clouds coated the bottom and below the stands.

By the time everything was set up, the others had arrived at the field. Ron arrived with Ginny and the twins, Sunset showed up with Penelope and another girl, presumably the Astoria girl she mentioned. Twilight's friend Becky also came along and brought Roger Davis, the Ravenclaw quidditch captain, with her.

"Wow, what did you two do?" Roger asked, pointing at the field.

"This is what a cloudball field looks like, mostly," Harry replied. "We made it entirely out of clouds the first time, but this works just fine."

"Wicked," the twins said.

"So, how do we play?" Ginny asked. She then pointed to the three Slytherins and two Ravenclaws, with Penelope and Roger being the only ones who brought brooms. "Why didn't you bring brooms?"

"They won't need them if they don't have them," Harry said.

"I don't think I can play," the frail-looking Slytherin girl said. Harry tried to remember her name; Astorian maybe? "I'll just watch."

"And that's fine, we understand," Sunset said with a smile.

Harry turned around and waved Twilight down, who was putting some finishing touches on the arena. She landed and transformed back into a human.

"Alright, the rules are like Quidditch, with one major change: the snitch," Harry said. He reached into the case and removed a very shiny golden ball. "This is our snitch. It acts the same but with a rule change. Catching the snitch awards fewer points and starts a countdown to end the game."

"What!?" Ron exclaimed. "That's not fair, you just undid the whole point of the seeker! They end the game; why add a timer and win fewer points!?"

"Because, Ron, I want the game to be more fair," Harry said.

"Fair?"

"Think about it like this. Until a team has a one hundred-and-sixty-point lead, the snitch wins every time. If one team is slightly better, getting a one hundred-and-sixty-point lead takes time, and an early-game snitch makes their effort worthless. And if the other team has that kind of a lead, why would you ever catch the snitch and lose?"

"You could do it by accident?" Ron offered weakly.

"Then you're a bad player for not watching the score," Harry countered. "And speaking of the seeker, and I say this as a seeker, we have no reason to work with the team. Beaters defend their team, chasers keep pressure off their keeper, and keepers defend their goal, but the seeker ends the game. There's no teamwork involved.

"Look, the rule changes are to encourage the seekers to work with the team by timing the catch to when their team has an advantage, then keeping it long enough to win. Or, if you're down points, score extra and hope for a slim victory." Harry placed the snitch back in the box. "Can you work with that?"

"Do we still have bludgers?" Geoge asked.

"You bet," Harry replied. "We've only got ten people, so the chasers can also be beaters."

"Wicked," Fred said.

"Okay, that's nice and all, but how are they going to play without brooms?" Ginny said, pointing at the people without brooms.

"Like this." Harry picked up his wand and tapped the space between his shoulder blades, reciting a spell in his head. The wing spell activated, and two pairs of turquoise dragonfly wings sprouted from his back. Harry hovered off the ground to prove the wings worked.

"Unassited flight!" Becky shouted. "Do you realize what that means? A spell wizards have been trying to make for centuries, and you're using it for a game?"

"Well, yeah," Harry said.

"Unbelievable," Becky muttered. "...Can I try?"

"Later; we've got one more thing." Harry lifted out the greaves and gloves. "These replace the bats used by beaters. The repealing enchantment on them knocks back the bludgers. Also, the bludgers are always faster than you, but won't hit as hard. They can't go into the clouds, so you can outthink them. So, who's up to play?"

After a slightly more in-depth explanation of the rules, Harry handed out the gloves and greaves while Twilight started casting the wings spell on everyone. At Sunset's suggestion, they also cast the cloud-walking spell. Once everyone was set up, they walked to their starting positions. Harry and Ginny were seekers, Ron and Twilight were keepers, and the rest were chasers. Harry's whistle activated the bludgers and snitch, and he tossed the quaffle up to the game.

The game went off with a splendid start. The erratic bludgers did knock a few people down once or twice, but the cloud layer did its job to catch them. Harry intentionally "forgot" to tell them bludgers were "attracted" to speed, so flying faster painted a bigger target on you. This benefitted Sunset's aggressive playstyle, as she used speed to get the bludgers near so she could launch them at the opposition. Fred and George, who intentionally placed themselves on different teams to mess with everyone, played a mix of traditional beater and chaser. But Twilight and Ron acted exactly like keepers should, and stayed near the goals.

The game went wonderfully, though Harry admitted his nerves ran high when his team started to lag behind. Roger and Sunset were the driving force behind both team's points. The game got intense when Harry, unsurprisingly, caught the snitch, earning points and starting the countdown. Despite the desperate aggression from the opposite team, they couldn't fully close the gap the snitch made. The game ended in a close win for Harry, Twilight, George, Roger, and Becky. They took a rest on the soft clouds on the edge of the field after Harry disabled the bludgers and snitch with his whistle.

"Well, that was fun," Fred said, flopping down on the clouds. "Have to say, these were by far the most comfortable crashes I've ever had."

"We should ask Madame Hooch to make it a permanent addition," George said.

"Well, I think it's comfy," Astoria said. She had come down from the stands to bound across the cloud layer. Despite her rather frail appearance, the third-year Slytherin seemed to enjoy it.

"Race ya!" Penelope shouted as she ran toward the opposite end of the field.

"You know, Harry, you should make a club for this," Roger said.

"And give up quidditch?" Harry replied. "No thanks—"

A shrill voice rang from the end of the field, "what happened to the field!?"

The group looked back to see Angelina Johnson at the edge of the field, wearing full quidditch gear and (as far as Harry could tell) a shocked expression. She flew on her broom toward their group but fell face-first through the clouds when she got off her broom. Twilight and Harry walked up to the girl as the Weasley twins snickered.

"You alright?" Harry asked through the human-shaped hole in the arena.

Angelina's head popped up through the cloud layer. She glared harshly at the couple.

"Did you do this?" she growled.

"Yeah," Harry said. "What's the problem? Tryouts aren't for another hour or so."

"The problem is I wanted to get some practice in before tryouts," Angelina said. She reached up, only her hands to swing through the clouds again. "Seriously, what is all this stuff?"

"Clouds," Twilight supplied.

Twilight held her hands out and levitated Angelina and her broom back up. Harry flicked his hands at her feet and cast the cloud-walking spell. This time, Angelina's feet found the clouds to be solid.

"We were playing a game of cloudball," Harry said. "We can clean up now if you need to."

"Yeah, get rid of all this," Angelina replied.

"Can we keep the floor?" Fred shouted from the bottom. "It's rather comfy down here."

"Fine, keep the floor," Angelina relented. "Just get it done before practice."

Turned out, Angelina didn't have to wait for long. Twilight managed to remove most of the clouds not at ground level with a wave of her hand. As Angelina prepared for keeper tryouts, their group of amateur cloudball players went their separate ways. Harry and the Weasleys stayed for tryouts. Hermione showed up a few minutes later to watch Ron.

Most of the existing Quidditch team sat to the side as the potential keepers, Ron included, gathered in the center. Harry chuckled as most of them fell through the clouds, forcing Harry to drop down to cast the cloud-walking spell. Angela explained what the possible keepers would do to earn their spot (defend the goal) and set up an order to go one at a time. Ron was last in alphabetical order, so we stood off to the side.

Harry stood next to him.

"Do you think I can make it?" Ron asked.

"You will," Harry said confidently.

"Are your sure? I haven't told your but've been practicing on my own—"

"You've been practicing?" Harry said, surprised. "Is that why you've been behind in class?" Ron nodded sheepishly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why should I?" Ron replied forcefully. "You got the seeker role without practice."

"And my role doesn't require teamwork," Harry countered. "I guarantee Wood had to practice before he was the keeper." Harry patted Ron's shoulder reassuringly. "Look, you worked hard for this. I mean, an hour ago you were blocking most of the shots in cloudball. My team almost didn't win because of you, and we had the Ravenclaw quidditch captain! You see them," Harry pointed at the other tryouts, "most of them didn't try half as hard as you. If you go out there, and give it everything you've got, I'll be seeing you on the field in the next game."

Ron chuckled, then sighed. He stretched his muscles, bouncing on his toes.

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

"Thanks, I guess," Ron said. "For having my back."

Harry's bracelet vibrated. A string of light broke off and wrapped around Ron's wrist. The light severed from Harry's bracelet, and dulled to a yellow-and-red band. Harry and Ron stood, stunned. Unlike Twilight's, this one wasn't decorated with a cutie mark. Harry gaped in surprise at the new artifact.

Harry wondered why his bracelet made another. Was there a list of rules it needed to make one? Was it like the keys to Twilght's castle-box thing?

"Is this bad?" Ron asked.

"So, far, not really," Harry replied. "Don't worry about it, this isn't the first time it's happened. It's like a magic friendship bracelet, as far as Twilight can tell."

"Friendship bracelets? Really?

"Just go and go win the tryouts," Harry said, lightly swatting Ron's shoulder.

Ron chuckled and went back to the main group. By now Angelina had turned down well over half the group. Harry knew Ron had a near-guaranteed chance. Needless to say, he did well enough to not get immediately turned down. However, he still had some work to do before he could outplay Oliver Wood.

Harry rubbed his magic bracelet absentmindedly. Whatever it, and by extension, the Tree of Harmony, was doing, Harry could wait until after his friend got on the team.


Yeah, I'm back. So, a lot's happened. Harry and Twilight learned more about the bracelets, Ron got one, and Harry's not in detention with Delores because she's not a teacher. The pink toad is not a concern for anyone at the moment. The next chapter will get a little more serious, with some more Horcrux information and a few other things, so stay tuned. I doubt the wait will be this long ever again.