Chapter 9
HOGWARTS
Saturday, 1 AM
Hermione and Harry were walking on the seventh floor of the castle. Hermione's wand was out and stunning the portraits they came across.
"Hiding under this invisibility cloak was much easier when we were students," came a male voice from out of thin air.
"Shhh!" Hermione insisted.
"You've stunned all the nearest portraits, and the ghosts are elsewhere," Harry commented. "There isn't anyone else around that can hear anything."
"I know. I was just enjoying the quiet while I still could."
"Hey!" came an exclamation from thin air.
"It's like she knows you, Padfoot," came humorous voice of another unseen person. "And if you are finding it too crowded under the cloak, then transform into your Grim self."
Hermione turned to Harry. "I'm having second thoughts. Maybe we should turn around and scrap this idea."
Harry gave her his best pouting look. "Can we keep them if I have them neutered? It is supposed to make males mellower."
"There are some things that you should never jest about, Harry," responded Sirius Black as he stepped out from under the invisibility cloak. Remus Lupin, who had been right behind him, carefully folded up the invisibility cloak and put it in his pocket.
Harry looked at the Marauders' map one more time before declaring 'mischief managed', then folding it up and tucking it away. "Ok, you two, this is going to be somewhat... insane, but you two are Marauders so you should be able to take the shock of it."
Hermione groaned. "The way you are making it sound-"
"They need the warning," he insisted. "I almost killed Xander when I saw what he had done."
"Pup, what's going on?" asked Sirius.
Harry looked to Hermione.
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, we are going into a secret room where we are going to meet someone who isn't really who you will first think he is. This is not a prank, and it is not malicious. Please do not attack anyone. Everything will be explained."
Sirius and Remus exchanged curious looks. "Damned if I'm not more confused now than I was when they said they needed to sneak us up here, Moony."
The werewolf studied the two teens. "We trust you. Will you tell us now?"
Harry began pacing back and forth in the hall while Hermione told the two adults about the Room of Requirment, otherwise known as the Come-and-Go Room. Remus remembered hearing a house-elf mention the room once during his Fifth Year, but the werewolf didn't think to ask about it back then.
Both adults watched the door appear on the stone wall to which Harry automatically opened. Raised voices could be heard once they crossed the threshold.
"-personal violation, Luna! You should have realized I would be against this!"
"Xander, this amalgam was perfect for me. Your friend has fighting savvy and strength, which is something I lacked. Now I am very formidable. Any wizard or witch wanting to harm me would quickly have the tables turned on them. I can now take on a troll if I had to. And win!"
"You could have chosen lots of other candidates! Many even more powerful than Buffy!"
Hermione winced as she now knew what the problem was. Luna Lovegood had originally chosen Valeria Richards to be amalgamated to her. Luna had been enjoying her increased intelligence, but she had been caught off-guard when Ron had struck her. Luna had confided to Hermione that she wanted to be able to defend herself when necessary. But what Hermione hadn't known was that Luna would choose Buffy Summers as her second amalgamation. Xander had regaled them with several tales of the Sunnydale Slayer, and it was easy to hear in his voice how near and dear she was to him.
"Xander, I did not choose your friend lightly. I made a detailed study of everyone available. Buffy and Valeria are close enough amalgamations to myself that they may become permanently a part of me."
"Wait, permanently?" Xander said. "It was my understanding that the amalgamation process was temporary."
"I've been doing some research and speculation on the energies employed to implement the amalgamation changes. And what I have determined is that what we have actually done is force a complete change in our potential animagus forms."
Xander gave her a weird look and raised an eyebrow in his best Vulcan imitation. "Oh, that's right. I got one of those now." So saying, Xander changed into a deer to emphasize his understanding as well as to try out the new form.
Hearing a gasp at the door, Luna and the deer turned to see Harry, Hermione and two gobsmacked wizards watching them.
"Prongs?" Sirius managed to say in barely a whisper.
Xander turned back to his human form. Said form having resembled a certain James Potter who everyone knew had been dead for over a decade, did not help matters.
"Uh, sorry, guys. I'm not who you think I am."
"Then... who are you?" Remus managed to ask, his voice and eyes showing alarm.
"Ah..." Xander began fidgeting. "Actually, this all began with your godson. It would probably be better if he-"
"Hey! You're the guy who merged yourself with a copy of my dad!" Harry snapped.
Xander winced. "I'm still on your side, Harry." He sighed. "It just made sense to do it when it was brought up to me. Unfortunately, it turns out that I have to take on his full physical form to exist outside of the crystal cell I'd been staying inside."
Remus turned to Sirius. "Hermione did say this wasn't a prank."
Sirius nodded. "I keep telling myself that."
For the next hour, Harry, Hermione and Xander explain to the two Marauders about Dumbledore and the Weasleys' betrayal. Also, of how Harry had used the Room of Requirement to accidently summon Xander to their universe. And of how they came up with the idea to use the extra magical energies during Halloween to create avatars that could be merged to their selves to empower them.
"So I had to use an avatar of someone in this universe so I could leave the crystal cage that I had been inside since I arrived here." Xander looked to each of the two men and then to the teenage boy. "I suppose we could try and reverse it. I don't know if that will work though."
"It wouldn't," Luna responded. "I may have a way after some time; though, it could be permanent if it is a close enough match. More likely, it could be partially permanent. I don't have enough data yet to say for sure."
Sirius began to snicker.
Remus eyed his fellow marauder carefully. "Sirius?"
The former Azkaban prisoner wiped a tear with his sleeve. "Can you imagine all the mischief we could have caused with this setup?"
Remus managed a wry grin. "It would have been epic."
Sirius turned to the teens who had been waiting to see how he took everything. His eyes locked on Harry. "You said you wanted us to try something up here. It's this avatar-amalgam stuff, right?"
Harry nodded.
Sirius sighed. "Any avatars you think I should try?"
Harry gave an exaggerated scratch behind his head. "Well, Xander did suggest Scooby-Doo."
The room broke into laughter before Sirius or Remus could ask who Scooby-Doo was.
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POTIONS CLASSROOM
Monday 9:15 AM
George and Fred worked on preparing their ingredients for their cauldron. Luna had practiced what they should do repeatedly over the weekend. Now it was showtime.
They both gave small yawns so as to portray that they were not at their best. One of the nastier Slytherins in their year, Caleb Jugson, rose to the bait. Jugson, seeing both Weasleys turned away from him, took several frozen capsules of Flobberworm Mucus and tossed them into the twins' cauldron.
As they had practiced it, Fred turned with a look of surprise on his face, and tried grabbing it. George, meanwhile, called out, "Jugson! No!"
No one is sure what happened after that. The explosion of fog that erupted out of the twins' cauldron hid most of what happened, such as Fred catching all of the Flobberworm Mucus and then vanishing it. No one else could see George pouring a liquid that Luna had manufactured that made the remaining contents in the cauldron shoot out in an orangish-green foam that covered Fred and George.
Both twins screamed as if in horrible pain while also loudly cursing Jugson who was grinning, not realizing how much trouble was coming his way. There were too many witnesses for him to be believed to be innocent.
As Snape cleared the air with several spells everyone was shocked to see the twins' bodies stretched out all over the place. George was using one of his trembling hands to press his melting skin back onto his face. Fred's stretched out neck left the poor boy's head caught up in one of the candle chandeliers. The rest of their limbs were spread out many yards and intertwined to such a degree that people couldn't tell which limb belonged to which twin.
Needless to say, class was canceled.
No one in the class (except the twins) knew that just a few days before Luna Lovegood helped the Weasley twins both choose Ralph Digby, a.k.a. the Elongated Man, as their avatar to amalgamate with. Doing this big reveal not only would force a crackdown on potion sabotage, but the twins wouldn't have to hide their newfound powers as everyone would believe they were a result of the potion 'accident'.
And it wasn't just the stretching powers that the twins were interested in. Ralph Digby was a deductive genius as well as a supreme prankster.
Hogwarts would never be the same.
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DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS
Tuesday 1:40 PM
Harry kept rubbing his nose. He wasn't getting sick. No, there was a bizarre odor that irritated him. The problem was, after gaining Wolverine as one of his amalgamations, his nose was now so sensitive that he was sure he could smell some of the lingering garlic that Prof. Quirrell had once used to try hide his slowly rotting body back in Harry's first year at Hogwarts.
"Problem?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Something in the air."
"Ron is usually gassy after a meal," she responded, taking a quick look back where Ron Weasley, their former friend, was sitting with Seamus and Dean near the door.
"Something else. It's familiar but I can't place it."
They watched Moody as he relayed the pros and cons of various spells for both offense and defense battles. The scarred retired auror paused in his regaling speech to take out his hip flask and drink from it.
Harry gasped as the answer hit him. Or at least hit his nose.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"Tell you after class."
Mad-Eye Moody was drinking polyjuice potion. A smell he remembered from their second year at Hogwarts. Then that meant the person teaching the class was not the real Mad-Eye. But how long has this been going on? It had to have been since Halloween since Harry has been noticing that smell in this classroom ever since he had amalgamed himself with Wolverine and Spider-Man. He hasn't spent time around the auror, but now Harry was wondering if the man was avoiding him.
Harry studied the man as he limped to the chalkboard and used a spell to draw a diagram of different environments, and then asked the class for their thoughts. He asked for Draco Malfoy's opinion. Draco provided a few ideas and then the defense teacher gleefully tore those ideas apart.
Amidst that, Harry noticed Mad-Eye's magical eye spin around and look directly at him. Then Harry realized that Mad-Eye, or whoever that was, could use that magical orb to see the metal skeleton and claws under Harry's skin as well as the web-shooters he and Luna put together.
'Well, damn,' he thought to himself.
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THE GREAT HALL
Tuesday 5:50 PM
Ginny Weasley struggled to keep the grin off her face. Earlier that day she had started to spread a rumor that Hermione Granger had stated that if Draco Malfoy was the epitome of pure-blood children, then pure-bloods must be in extreme decline. Ginny had added that Hermione had said that she herself was both smarter and more powerful than the Slytherin braggart.
Ginny's legs twisted together in glee under her seat as she watched Theodore Nott passing the rumor to Draco whose face was getting redder and redder. Afterwords, Malfoy's eyes smoldered in hate as he stared at his target at the Gryffindor table.
She chuckled to herself as she stabbed a piece of her shepherd's pie. This will teach the bushy-haired bint to not get between Ginny and her Harry.
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HOSPITAL WING
Wednesday 10:21 AM
Molly Weasley was yelling. In truth, she never seemed to stop. But at least it was a step down from her screeching, which she had begun doing when he stepped in the hospital wing. Albus Dumbledore was beginning to think that she might have some banshee in her lineage. He was thinking he might have to use a silencing spell on her, but he knew from previous experience that to do so would only anger her even more.
"Molly, dear," Arthur began. "The headmaster was only suggesting that the Unspeakables might be able to help the boys with their... problem."
Molly paused and was about to turn her ire on her husband when the Hogwarts med-witch, Madam Poppy Pomfrey, stepped forward and handed Molly a mug. Molly took the mug automatically, and because Pomfrey had added a compulsion charm on the mug, Molly drank down the calming draught before she realized what she was doing.
"Thank you, Poppy," the headmaster said, even as he used his wand to heal the tinnitus in his ears.
Arthur gave the med-witch a grateful smile. "You have to understand, Albus, back when Molly was a little girl, one of her uncles had a magical mishap. To this day no one knows if he performed a spell wrong, had a mishap trying to become an animagus, or was cursed, but his arms had both become elephant trunks and his mouth and nose into that of a large pelican beak."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at this news. "I think I heard something about that. I believe I had crossed the pond to Brazil when it happened. There was this crystal skull that... hmm, now might not be the time to remiss about such matters."
Arthur looked over at his wife who was still settling down. "Yes, well, the problem is that the Unspeakables were called in to undo the problem. They took her uncle down into the Department of Mysteries and that was the last any of his family ever saw of him. There is no way she will allow Fred and George to go to the Unspeakables. They may never come back."
"Hmm, yes. The Unspeakables are a law onto themselves. That can be very vexing. I will have a word with Saul Croaker. See if I can learn what became of her uncle, for one thing. For all we know, her uncle might be an Unspeakable himself as of now."
"That... that would be appreciated," Molly said as she handed the mug back to Pomfrey, who bustled away with it.
"Perhaps I could have the Unspeakables come here to do an examination?" asked the headmaster.
Molly and Arthur exchanged looks.
"Hey, we're fine the way we are!" called a voice from near the ceiling. They all looked up to see Fred and George weaving themselves around the room like a spider's web.
"This is the most brilliant thing to have ever happened to us!" said the other twin.
Both boys' bodies were stretched out like taffy, but neither showed any sign of harm no matter how far they stretched themselves. No, they seemed thrilled with the experience.
"It's most remarkable," said Dumbledore, which earned him a scathing look from Molly.
"Careful there, George," said Fred when they almost crashed together and became slightly entangled. "You are not tying the knot with me, even if you are the better-looking twin."
"No worries, Fred. I'm saving myself for Angelina."
"What?" blurted Fred. "I thought I was the twin that was seeing Angelina!"
"Well," said George, "I know that whichever one of us that isn't seeing Angelina has a date with Katie Bell this next Hogsmead visit."
"Good point. Shall we wrestle to see who goes with whom?"
Dumbledore set off a thunderclap with his wand before the incredibly stretchable twins could begin a battle that would surely destroy a good part of the Hospital Wing. "Mr. Weasleys, if you two would reign in your more mischievous nature for the time being. Decisions must be made. You may want a say in these matters."
Fred and George exchanged looks. Shrugged. Then allowed their bodies to revert back to their normal shapes.
Molly rushed forward, checking each twin for anything that could still be wrong with them, all while saying things like 'my poor babies'. Madam Pomfrey came up behind them and began collecting a series of new diagnostic spells on the boys as unobtrusively as possible, tutting to herself all the while.
Before they could begin any discussions, the main door opened, and Luna Lovegood came in with a box that she was levitating behind her.
Madam Pomfrey hurried to the teenage girl. "Ms. Lovegood, are you ill?"
Luna looked around in her casual blithe attitude. "Hello, Madam Pomfrey. I am well. Thank you for asking."
"Then what brings you here?" the med-witch asked.
She indicated the box she was levitating. "I brought some clothes specially treated with certain potions for Fred and George."
"Why would you do that?" asked Dumbledore who just had to stick his nose into everything.
Luna gave a casual wave to the twins. "On occasion when they happened to be nearby, Fred and George would stop the nargals... the bullies… that targeted me. So, when I heard that Fred and George had snuck out of the Hospital Wing yesterday, there was quite a bit of commentary about how their clothes didn't stretch along with the rest of them. Evidently, there was a lot of exposed skin. Some people claimed to have been stunned, but Hannah Abbott and Cho Chang said it caused their eyes to bleed. The reference to 'bleeding' may have been a metaphor, but on the off chance it was not, I brought treated clothing for Fred and George."
Fred and George's faces were redder than their hair for a change. Their father, however, broke into gales of laughter even as Molly rounded onto the twins and began a new tirade.
Pomfrey rolled her eyes as she went to get another calming potion. Albus, meanwhile, came over to examine what Luna had brought.
"How will these potion-treated clothing help?" asked the headmaster somewhat dubiously.
Luna let the box come to rest on a nearby table. She then went and lifted up one of the shirts from within. "These will stretch just as their body stretches. Therefore, there should no longer be anymore unplanned nudity on Hogwarts grounds."
Dumbledore pulled on the shirt which easily stretched. "What potion did you use?"
"A potion I found in the family grimoire," she said, knowing that he couldn't ask for the unstable molecules formula she had treated the clothes with, and he wouldn't know that the family she was referring to was that of one of her amalgamated forms: Valeria Richards' father, Mr. Fantastic. It was considered very bad taste in a magical society to examine another family's personnel assortment of magic spells, runes, and potions.
Dumbledore had easily stretched a shirt's sleeve several feet, then let it go and watched it retract back to its original shape with no problems. "Fascinating. I would have loved to study this in my youth." He gave Luna a shrug. "At my age, it is rather taxing to spend hours in front of a boiling cauldron, calculating everything that would need to go in, anticipating alterations, the varied results, figuring out what went wrong and what went right. Oh, those were good times."
Dumbledore considered her quirky; bordering on bizarre. Very much like her father. Luna and her father never seemed to recover after the passing of her mother. The two of them somewhat reminded him of a family he once met in the Americas called the Addams. Just the thought of those Americans put a shiver down his spine.
He regarded the Lovegood child for a moment. Ever since she had been attacked by some of her Ravenclaw housemates, she had been spending more time with Harry Potter's group of friends. Perhaps she would know some of what Harry was doing in preparation for the First Task. Unfortunately, his usual informants, the two youngest Weasleys, were no longer on speaking terms with Harry. Strangely, the portraits and ghosts of the castle no longer seem to provide him with information either. Could the boy know of the surveillance Dumbledore kept on him?
Dumbledore, seeing everyone else distracted, decided to take a chance, and performed a legilimency probe as he caught the eyes of Luna. He hoped, since he was holding onto the elder wand, that this time he would have easier access to her mind than the time he had attempted a wandless legilimency probe when she was a First Year.
He instantly felt like he was caught in a tornado and being slammed by various objects. He tried to disengage from the girl's mind, but felt as if he was being held there caught in a centrifugal force. It was only after he had been there for about ten minutes, he seemed to be released and snapped back in his body.
"Are you alright, headmaster? You seemed to have frozen up there for a few seconds," Luna asked as innocently as possible. "Did a wrackspurt make a nest in your ear canal?"
Albus was about to puke from the dizzy-induced nausea. Using the elder wand held tightly in his hand, he silently transformed the rising puke into air that quickly belched out of him.
Luna quickly backed away from the odorous air while sending up several air cleaning spells to get rid of the smell, all the while scowling.
"Pardon me," Dumbledore managed to say as he quickly sat down on one of the nearby medical beds. "Better out than in as my brother used to say." He quickly followed that with a breath freshener charm on himself. And a few spells to take away the remaining nausea. He wanted to berate himself for trying to ever try look into that child's head again. How can her mind function like that? he wondered to himself. He considered asking Severus to examine the girl's mind sometime, but didn't know if he could do that to the poor boy.
"Headmaster?" asked Madam Pomfrey, who was bustling over to him.
"It's all right, Poppy. I've been working hard lately. There's nothing to worry about."
"I'll be the judge of that. Lay down there and I will examine you."
Albus gulped. "There's really no-"
"Headmaster," she said in her scolding tone. "You will be examined by me, or I will call Minerva."
He grimaced but gave in. Madam Pomfrey then used her wand to bring privacy screens to place around his bed. As she also erected silencing spells around them, Dumbledore felt a bit of relief as he now had an excellent reason to not have to listen to Molly's ranting.
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ON THE GROUNDS OF HOGWARTS
Wednesday 1:54 PM
Hermione sat outside on a rock while reading a book. The sun shown in a clear sky making it one of the last decent days of the year. She had her sleeves rolled back as well as her pant legs, and her shoes and socks set to one side.
The sun on her skin felt glorious. Part of it she knew was from her amalgamation with Starfire who absorbed sunlight which gave her her powers to fly and fire starbolts, among other things. Beside her were four batarangs she had transformed from pinecones. When it came time to turn a page, she would take a batarang and throw it at a pinecone high on a tree. She didn't always hit the pinecone, but once she did she then would choose another pinecone a little farther away. She did this to not only get more proficient at the skill, but to also get her more in tune with her other amalgamized part of herself: Batgirl.
The thing Xander had nailed into them was that bonding to these heroes did not automatically make them a part of her. She received the memories, reflexes, powers and some physical characteristics, but not the emotions. Not the living aspect of their individuality. Their personalities were not a part of her, though Xander did point out that Starfire's Tamarian hotheadedness could be a biological trait from her species that Hermione would need to control. Xander also pointed out that Starfire's more amorous side might be another physiological thing she might have inherited.
Hermione wasn't sure about that, though if that was part of what led to her and Harry making out in a broom closet then she was just fine with it.
Turning the page in her book, she picked up a batarang and threw it at the pinecone. It made contact and fell from the tree. She smiled as the batarang came back towards her only to fall short at her feet.
"Almost," she muttered to herself as she went back to read the new page on runic applications.
The reading, sunlight absorption, and batarang practice was really just busy-work. She was trying to distract herself from the fact that in just a few days Harry would have to climb in an arena to fight a dragon of all the stupid, bloody things; for a contest that he hadn't even entered himself into.
"Expelliarmus!"
Hermione's book and wand flew off to the right of her, to which she responded by quickly rolling to one side, grabbing a batarang, and throwing it right at Draco's startled face.
"Protego!"
Draco's quick shielding spell deflected the batarang much to the surprise of everyone. Including Draco.
Draco's look of surprise easily slipped back to his usual one of bravado. "Stupid mudblood. You think your muggle weapon can best a pure-blood?"
Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance. Draco stood there strutting in his imagined self-importance. His two stooges, Goyle and Crabbe, hung back about a dozen feet looking around for anyone that might interfere with Draco's grandstanding moment. There were a few younger year Slytherin students farther back who seemed more like spectators rather than supporters of Draco. She snapped up two more batarangs and threw them far out off to one side.
Draco snorted at that. "Stupid girl can't even throw straight enough to hit anyone."
Hermione grinned back at him. "That depends on what I was trying to hit."
One of the Second-Year Slytherin students called out a warning as the batarangs swooped back toward them. Greggory Goyle only got clipped in the shoulder, but Vincent Crabbe received a hit from a batarang to the back of his head and then he hit the ground hard.
Hermione considered using her starbolts to take down the Slytherins, but Xander had insisted she and Harry try to keep their new powers from everyone as long as possible. Therefore, she chose to use trickery. She allowed Starfire's green eyes to replace her own and stood straight as a board.
Draco was about to fire a curse when Hermione's eyes suddenly became two completely green glowing orbs. He was unsure what happened to the mudblood, or even if this was some sort of attack. It didn't make sense to him. Why was she standing like that?
Then Hermione started to speak in a monotone voice. "The little dragon will try to follow his father's path, but it will be doom for him and his followers. His father will abandon the little dragon, and will flee to hide in the ends of the earth with all his wealth. If the little dragon continues on his current path, it will lead to his ruin. Only by changing his ways can he be happy and survive. The little dragon will try to follow his father's path, but it will be doom for him and his followers."
Draco and the others froze in startlement. Then they turned to look at each other.
"What was that?" Goyle asked.
"That was a bloody prophecy!" Theodore Nott called from where he'd been hiding behind a nearby tree.
Draco stared at Hermione who seemed to slump and shiver before standing normal again with her normal eyes. Thinking better of the situation, Draco decided to depart quickly and regroup. If that was a prophecy, he had to examine it carefully. He had heard from his father that the First Task of the tournament involved dragons, so that may be what was being referred to, but that didn't make any sense when listening to the rest of the possible prophecy. The only other thing that the young dragon reference could refer to was… himself. And he didn't like the implications of that at all.
He dropped Hermione's wand next to her book on the ground. He then turned and left motioning for the others to help Crabbe and follow him.
He never saw the small smile on Hermione's lips.
"That will give him something to think about," she said to herself.
She looked forward to telling the other about the encounter. "All that and I barely had to hurt anyone. And who knows, maybe Draco will actually try to change if he thinks he's doomed otherwise."
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MAD-EYE MOODY'S QUARTERS
Wednesday 5:21 PM
Barty Crouch Jr. sat on a small couch he had diligently coated with cushioning charms. He was massaging his leg though his leg was in reality completely fine. The pain was actually bleed-over due to the constant use of Polyjuice potion. It was a form of phantom pain. If he had been using the subject of a normal person, Barty was sure he wouldn't hurt nearly as much. But the damn former auror he had to impersonate was a mass of scar-tissue and cursed injuries. Barty now knew why everyone said Alastor Moody was insane: he was in constant pain. The first time Barty had tried taking on Moody's shape, he'd been sure the mad auror had found a way to make anyone trying to use him as their subject for a Polyjuice potion would suffer greatly for it. After the Polyjuice potion had worn off, Barty had retaliated by putting his captive under the Cruciatus curse.
Barty checked the time and grimaced. Soon he would have to take that damnable potion again and go down to dinner. He figured he would go down late today.
And once he got back, he would have to grade his students' papers. He really wanted to burn all that parchment. In its own way he considered grading papers nearly as bad as Azkaban.
But he had greater concerns.
The magic eye-piece of Moody's had allowed him to discover a new bizarre mystery: Harry Potter's skeleton had been turned to metal. And if that weren't strange enough, he also had three blades within each of his arms.
Barty had almost pulled out his wand and fired a killing curse at Potter the first time he'd seen that metal skeleton.
What in Merlin's name happened to the boy? Dare he confront him? Barty wanted to ask his master, but he'd been instructed to wait until after the First Task before sneaking out of Hogwarts to give him an update of events.
Barty had been scouring the Hogwarts' Library for anything that could tell him how the Potter brat would have changed his skeleton. He was sure that know-it-all mudblood must have found whatever they used.
But why a metal skeleton? And how? The damnable boy even looks more muscular, too. Could they have done some ritual? And this was the result? The Dark Lord had told him that he wanted Potter in the Triwizard Tournament so the child would be forced to strengthen his magic. Thereby, when Potter's blood was used in the resurrection ritual, his master would also become stronger. But how would this bizarre change in the boy affect the dark lord?
There have been too many odd occurrences in Hogwarts lately. The Greengrass girl turning out to be some kind of ice elemental. The Whomping Willow suddenly gaining another Whomping Willow the same-size as a companion. Several areas have now been warded to keep the poltergeist, Peeves, from entering. The ceiling of the great hall suddenly being able to show the stars and planets with great unheard of clarity. The strange results from a potions mishap concerning the Weasley twins. He even heard rumors that people have seen the Potter brat walking up walls.
Strange things always happened at Hogwarts, but never to this level.
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ROOM OF REQUIREMENT
Wednesday 11:18 PM
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were at opposite ends of the room, each looking at their own monitor. Originally, they had been side by side, but Xander had to separate them because of Sirius' constant joking of characters with names like Slapstick, Ambush Bug, or Matter-Eater Lad.
Xander was focusing most of his attention on the battle sequence he had set up in X-Men's Danger Room which the Room of Requirement made for him. Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, along with their friend Tracey Davis, were fighting to take the streets of Gotham back from several of Batman's foes, which included Clayface, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Deadshot, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and the Joker.
Sirius noted Xander's attention on the on-going fight. He then took a moment to animate an origami harpy to fly across the room to Moony, who noticed the flying piece of parchment when it landed in front of him. Realizing it was from Sirius, Remus tapped it with his wand, which caused the miniature pho-harpy to unfold itself and flatten.
All these characters are beginning to blend together in my head. I can't decide on any of them. Are you having any better luck?
Remus chuckled at the note. Clearing the parchment of ink, he wrote his own note. Just make a list of the best ones you like and I will help you make a choice later, if that is what you want?
Sirius looked happy to see the harpy note returning to him. He tapped the table a few times before sending another note. You find any avatars to suit you?
Remus sent a quick reply. I've considered Dr. Strange, Beast, Timber Wolf, and a couple more. But I don't know if I really want any of them.
Sirius frowned at that reply. Are you worrying that your furry little problem might cause a problem with any amalgamizing?
Remus winced. That actually had been one of his major concerns. Perhaps. We really don't know how it may affect my condition.
Sirius recognized his friend's deprecating nature and decided to knock some sense into his friend with a new message. For all we know, it could cure you completely.
Remus stood looking at the last message that Sirius had sent. Could one of these many characters actually have the ability to cure werewolves? If it could be true, he could then travel the world and cure as many werewolves as possible. Restoring their lives. Now that would be a worthy cause.
Meanwhile, Xander was calling out instructions to his newest students. "Try and work together!"
Astoria was screaming as she ran away from the mud-creature known as Clayface as well as several long-veined flowers with teeth. Daphne had her own problems as she was being attacked from two sides: Mr. Freeze on her left and Deadshot on her right. Tracey had already knocked out the Riddler and was now going after Two-Face and the Joker.
"Well, one of them is a natural fighter," Xander muttered to himself. "Daphne and Astoria, switch combatants!"
Daphne, seeing where her sister was, formed an ice-tunnel with her Elsa cold powers so she could slip and slide to her while keeping Mr. Freeze and Deadshot from taking her out of the fight. "Story! We're trading!"
Astoria saw where her sister was and made a beeline to her, using her Shadowcat powers to phase through obstacles. Once Astoria passed her, Daphne raised an arm that froze solid both Clayface and the attacking flowers. Unfortunately, Astoria also ran past Mr. Freeze and Deadshot, and instead ran straight to Xander.
Xander saw her run through the wall right up to him, then she dodged behind him and began crying. "It's-it's too scary!"
Xander felt a pit in his stomach. He'd been treating these girls like they were Slayers, but they weren't. "Dang, I think this is my fault. I was so busy trying to set this all up, I forgot about who I should be setting this up for. A rookie mistake. Sorry, little one."
"Uh, Xander," Remus cautiously spoke. "One of the girls are down."
Astoria looked back into the Danger Room and saw her sister collapsed on the floor.
"She's just stunned," Xander said. "No one can get injured on this level."
"That other girl is quite the fighter," remarked Remus.
Xander chuckled. "She's really embraced her inner Xena."
As they watched, Tracey's metal disc, the chakram, was sent bouncing off the helmet of Mr. Freeze, breaking the glass plating that was holding the cold air inside.
As they watched, a large black dog was chasing the Joker. Two-Face flipped his coin to see if he should help the Joker or not. He did not.
The others watching began to chuckle; even Astoria a little.
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AuThOr'S NoTeS: 2/9/2025
Okay, I got a new computer and now I can write again.
I had both Fred and George use the Elongated Man for their amalgamation. He's always joking around, and it has been said to almost be as great a detective as Batman. And as I said in the story, their very public reveal of their powers means they won't have to hide them.
With Barty Jr. using Mad-Eye's magical eye, he was sure to see Harry's adamantium coated skeleton as well as the claws.
Astoria's freak out actually makes a lot of sense. Not everyone is a fighter.
I am taking suggestions for who Remus and Sirius should amalgam with. I don't remember what I had planned for them. So let me know.
Next chapter will cover the First Task.
Amalgamations so far:
Harry Potter + Spider-Man (Marvel) + Wolverine (Marvel)
Hermione Granger + Batgirl (DC Comics) + Starfire (DC Comics)
Neville Longbottom + Chlorophyll Kid (DC Comics)
Daphne Greengrass + Elsa (Frozen)
Luna Lovegood + Valeria Richards (Marvel) + Buffy Summers
Xander Harris + James Potter
Astoria Greengrass + Shadowcat (Marvel)
Tracey Davis + Xena: Warrior Princess
Fred Weasley + Elongated Man (DC Comics)
George Weasley + Elongated Man (DC Comics)