Mist of Shadows
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Harry Potter and the Magical Girls Part 7
🕑 Added 2021-02-20 09:43:47 +0000 UTC'This would be so much easier with Hermione's help,' Neville mused as he walked down the aisle of books, looking for interesting covers while he worked his way towards the fantasy section, figuring they'd have the best loot. 'Romance, not exactly useful.'
He stopped when he noticed a book that showed a teenager walking down a street with girls wearing strangely transparent clothes on the cover. 'Melvin and the Magic Glasses?' he mused as he glanced around to make sure no one was watching then flipped the book over and skimmed the back cover. 'A tale of obsession, perversion and magic, at least he can see through walls.'
'Worst case, I toss them if they don't work. Best case, I'll be able to see through Death Eater masks.' He flipped the book back over and teleported into the picture or the world the picture represented, hoping for the best. He drew his wand and hit the smirking teenager wearing purple tinted glasses with a stunner then teleported over and grabbed him before he could face plant into the sidewalk.
"Sorry, not sorry," Neville muttered as he lowered the guy to the ground and stole the pervert's magic sunglasses. He put the glasses on and glanced around at the various people walking around the crowded plaza. 'It's like all of the girls are wearing sheer silk for clothes.' He focused on a building and smiled when it turned transparent, showing what looked like a lobby.
'That should make teleporting around easier,' he mused as he checked the man's pockets, curious how much muggle currency he had on him. 'Eighty pounds, it looks real enough,' he mused as he took the money and stuffed it in his pocket. 'I'd feel worse but you're an ass.' He teleported back to the bookstore.
Neville frowned slightly when he noticed the book's cover had changed, showing the guy on the ground without his glasses. 'So much for grabbing a couple of copies.' He looked through the shelf filled with books then quickly adjusted the glasses mentally so he wasn't looking through people's clothes when he saw a fat woman without her clothes.
'I probably deserved that,' he admitted with a shiver. He moved the altered book and saw another copy of the book that looked perfectly normal. 'At least it didn't change all of them.' He teleported into the picture and smiled when he saw the same teenager with a set of glasses. 'Yeah, this might be better than my ability to teleport back to places I've lost something.'
Neville quickly stunned the man and stole his glasses and cash then teleported back to the bookstore. 'I can always come back if I need more,' he mused as he continued walking towards the fantasy section, avoiding the occasional person that couldn't see him thanks to his cloak.
0o0o0
Sirius blinked when the goblin silver goblet that Hermione had been poking at with her finger liquified for a split second, causing the metal to slump and deform. "What the hell?"
"Huh," Hermione said as she waved her hand over the deformed goblet to test for heat. "That might have been my fault."
"Might have been?" Harry teased as he glanced between the melted goblet sitting on the dining room table and Hermione.
"I was thinking about ways to reforge or copy the metal," Hermione admitted as she poked the deformed cup and pushed a bit of magic into it, causing it to deform where she poked it. "Interesting."
"That's one way to put it," Sirius said, knowing the goblins would go ballistic if they ever found out that she could manipulate and damage goblin silver. "Can you turn part of it into a ring so Harry can do his thing?"
"I doubt it's going to look all that great," Hermione admitted as she grabbed the lip of the melted cup with her thumb and index finger and pushed magic into it while pulling on it, causing the metal to stretch like clay.
Harry watched as Hermione pulled a piece of the metal away from the cup and started playing with it like it was clay. "I don't suppose you know anywhere we can practice combat magic?" he asked Sirius.
"Nothing easily accessible," Sirius replied as Albus walked into the room. "Did you find out anything useful?"
Albus glanced at the deformed goblet in front of Hermione then focused on Sirius. "Not as much as I'd like, I spent most of my time at the ministry assuring Ms. Hopkirk that Ms. Granger was nowhere near her house when the magic was used."
"Someone used magic at my house?" Hermione asked warily, wondering what he wasn't telling her.
"From what I've been able to determine, five of Tom's followers decided to show up at your house on an unsanctioned raid and ran into someone or something that ripped a portal open and killed them," Albus explained, figuring she needed to know.
"Portal? Why would they think Hermione had anything to do with it?" Harry asked.
"The ministry doesn't have the ability to keep track of the entire country, let alone Ireland or Scotland so they place magical sensors near muggleborn homes and in populated areas that work with the trace to detect magic use."
"So all it would take is someone with the trace like Draco using magic as they walk past and I'd get in trouble?" Hermione asked, wanting to make sure she understood the situation.
Albus sighed. "Which is why the Ministry tries to discourage people from finding out how the system works."
"You'd think they'd fix that," Hermione complained.
"Why fix something that isn't broken?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "After all, it's only the muggleborns that need to worry about harmless pranks like that."
"I don't suppose America is any better?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Marginally, they're typically better about looking at why someone used magic. I have to ask, what happened to your goblet?" Albus asked, glancing between Sirius and Hermione.
"Would you believe me if I said it just spontaneously melted?" Sirius asked with a grin.
Albus raised his eyebrows. "Not when you say it like that. Let me guess, it has something to do with the magical rings you're all wearing?"
Sirius used his ring to transform into his female form. "They give a significant boost to strength and agility and allow for some interesting magical tricks when you're transformed."
"What type of magical tricks?" Albus asked, wondering how the rings worked.
"I might have figured out a way to manipulate goblin silver," Hermione admitted as she used a pinch of magic and poked her finger into the already deformed goblet.
"I'd advise you to avoid mentioning that, goblins have been known to start wars for less," Albus warned her. "That being said, how do you manipulate goblin silver?"
"With a pinch of magic and a mental push," Hermione explained as she worked on turning the piece of metal she'd pulled off into a vaguely lumpy 'wire' so she could turn it into a ring.
Albus glanced at the ring Harry was wearing. "Have you figured out anything else?"
Harry conjured his wand then let it vanish. "Just a couple of tricks."
"Side effects?" Albus asked, curious where they'd found the rings.
Sirius shrugged. "Beyond the fact that the rings give the user a female alternate form, I haven't noticed any and we had Bill check them for curses."
"Can you get more?" Albus asked thoughtfully, curious how they worked.
"I might be able to scrounge up a couple more," Sirius replied with a grin. "How many do you need?"
"At least a couple," Albus said thoughtfully, fairly sure Moody and Mundungus could get some use out of an alternate form as could Severus if things got more complicated.
"I'll see what I can find," Sirius offered. "Do you have any tips on transfiguration for Harry and Hermione?"
"I can think of a couple of things, it's mostly about visualization," Albus mused before launching into a lecture, revealing some details that often got skipped until later for various reasons but were useful to learn early.
0o0o0
'So many pictures to choose from,' Neville mused as he glanced over the various fantasy covers, not sure where to start. 'Hobbit?' he mused as he looked at the image of a massive looking dragon sitting on a pile of gold and gems that filled a cavern. 'No thanks, I'm not Harry,' he told himself firmly as he continued glancing at the various covers, making sure to keep an eye on the two children that were looking at magazines in case they got closer.
"This is stupid, we should just get the Zelda guide," the boy complained.
"Why? Mark has the guide, he'll let you borrow it," the girl argued. "I want the guide for Final Fantasy II, it's awesome."
"His guide is missing a couple of pages," the boy complained.
"That you don't need," the girl argued as she held the guidebook up. "Look, it shows us where all of the important treasure is."
"Zelda is better," the boy argued, not even looking at the book his sister was holding up.
"You don't need it," the girl said as she walked off with the book causing her brother to follow her with his own book.
'So many questions and I'm not even sure who to ask,' Neville mused as he walked over and opened a copy of the 'strategy guide' the girl was talking about. 'Okay, it's a computer game with various professions and magic. That makes a bit more sense,' he mused as he flipped through the book. He paused when he saw a picture of a treasure chest in a cave. 'Huh, I can grab a ring of protection that boosts my resistance to magic and makes me immune to instant death?'
He teleported into the cavern with the chest. 'Don't mind if I do,' he mused as he opened the chest and grabbed the ring in the bottom. He put the ring on his finger and teleported back out of the book then continued flipping through the book, wanting to know if there was anything else he could acquire that would help against the Death Eaters. 'Bulky armor, weird looking weapons, a ribbon that protects from a bunch of things including being turned into a toad? I wonder if that translates to transfiguration?'
Neville frowned when he read the part where the book mentioned it could only be equipped by girls. 'That's a little annoying. Still, I might as well grab it for Hermione. Maybe Dumbledore can figure out a work around.' He teleported into the cave the picture showed and opened the chest, relaxing when he saw the red ribbon in the bottom of the chest. 'Okay, this would be easier if it came with a way to identify everything.'
He glanced around the cave, wondering if there was anything else he could grab without being horribly murdered by monsters. 'Stop procrastinating, your parents will be proud of you or they won't be, anything is better than leaving them half alive.'
Neville teleported to the waiting room in Saint Mungos and used his mental health spell before he could change his mind, causing a pulse of magic to sweep across the land, curing everyone within a hundred miles of mental illness. He glanced down the hallway that would take him to his parents' room then teleported back to the alley where he was supposed to be wandering around while his grandmother finished her business at the ministry. 'I'll just have to wait for the healers to contact us, no point in having people ask how I knew to show up.' He pulled his invisibility cloak off and stuffed it in his bag then started walking towards the junk shop with a smile on his face.
0o0o0
Harry glanced up from his transfiguration reading as Fred and George walked into the library. "Any luck with the doxies?"
"Easily sorted," Fred replied as they walked over to the table where Harry and the girls were studying.
"And quite useful," George added.
Ginny glanced up from her charms book. "Let me guess, you're trying to avoid more pointless jobs?"
"Basically," Fred admitted. "Remus took care of the boggart and Kreacher should have everything cleaned in a couple of days which means there's no real point in helping."
"What are you planning on doing with the doxies?" Hermione asked.
George shrugged. "We're not sure, it just seemed a shame to waste them."
"Let me guess, Ron decided that he didn't want to study?" Fred asked.
Ginny snorted. "He put his foot in his mouth so he's helping Mum with dinner."
"Percy?" George asked in a whisper.
"Yep," Ginny replied, less than amused with Ron for bringing it up and Percy for being stupid.
Bill put the book he'd just finished checking into the safe pile. "If I thought it would help, I'd track Percy down and curse some sense into him but I doubt it would help."
"He'll come around eventually, right?" Hermione asked.
"Eventually," Bill muttered, figuring it might take a couple of years considering some of the things Percy had said to their father.
"Did you hear back from the Ministry about breaking the rules?" Fred asked, trying to change the subject.
"McGonagall dropped by with an official notice that I'm in the clear. You'd think they could come up with a better system," Hermione complained.
"On the upside, having five less Death Eaters running around is a good thing," Ginny pointed out as the door opened revealing Severus and Sirius.
"Yes and no," Severus said as he walked in with Sirius following him. "He'll have less trained dark wizards but Lucius Malfoy's death will likely push Voldemort to act sooner than he otherwise would have."
Ginny snorted. "Good riddance."
"Did you find out why they were at my house?" Hermione asked, wanting to know why they'd decided to go to her house when they should have been hiding.
"Lucius was looking for leverage," Severus replied as he glanced over the group, checking to see if any of them looked guilty. "Someone abducted Draco earlier, Lucius assumed it was Harry's fault and figured if he kidnapped you, he'd have to give him back."
Harry shook his head. "I'm not particularly unhappy to hear that Draco is missing or that Lucius is dead but I haven't seen Draco since the train. If you find the person that killed Lucius and the other four, I'd love to give them a thank you card."
"I told you they didn't know anything," Sirius pointed out.
"I had to ask," Severus replied then turned to look at Hermione. "You might want to talk to Remus about getting anything valuable out of your house before they burn it to the ground."
"How long do I have?" Hermione asked, her mind conjuring images of the Death Eaters burning her books.
"Tonight," Severus admitted as he turned and walked out, fairly sure Voldemort would send at least ten Death Eaters to burn her house to the ground to help with morale and to prove they weren't scared.
Hermione turned to look at Fred and George. "How do you feel about trapping the hell out of a piece of property?"
George glanced at Fred then looked back at Hermione. "What are you thinking?"
"If the Death Eaters want to burn my house down, I'm going to make them bleed," Hermione said as she grabbed a piece of parchment and started drawing a rough map of the area around her house. "We should be able to put some snipers on the roof, once they're distracted it shouldn't be that hard to deal with them."
"Snipers?" George asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll call in some favors," Harry explained.
"I've broken plenty of traps, I should be able to help," Bill offered, knowing they were going to need all the help they could get.
"If you need a distraction, I can distract Mum," Ginny offered, fairly sure Bill wouldn't let her come with them to set up traps or stay for the main event.
"Good," Sirius agreed as he looked at Hermione's drawing. "It shouldn't take more than an hour to trap everything."
"Since when do you know snipers?" Fred asked, fairly sure he was missing something.
"That depends, can you keep a secret?" Harry asked.
"Yes," George replied.
"So can I," Harry replied with a grin.
"We walked into that one," Fred admitted. "The less we know the better?"
Sirius gestured at the door and locked it then muffled it with another spell. "Joking aside, you should probably hand them a set of rings, we don't need anyone watching to recognize a Weasley and get suspicious or know who to hit."
"Point," Harry admitted as he pulled two goblin silver transformation rings out of his pocket that Hermione had helped him make and slid them over to Fred and George. "Welcome to the magic girl corps."
"Magic girl corps?" George asked with a raised eyebrow.
"There's a joke we're not getting, isn't there?" Fred asked, glancing between Sirius, Harry and Hermione.
"Yeah," Harry replied as he used his ring and transformed into his magic girl form.
Fred laughed. "Nice hair."
"And other things," Ginny piped up.
"How do they work?" Fred asked as he picked up one of the rings.
"You just put it on and think about changing form," Hermione explained.
"You should probably conjure a screen," Harry suggested. "Your alternate form doesn't start with clothes."
"You know, our bookworm might actually have a sense of humor," Fred said as he slipped the ring on his finger. He focused and grinned when green mist frowned out of his ring and changed his form into a busty teenage girl with long green hair. "How do I look?"
"Naked and busty, just the way Harry likes his girls," Ginny teased.
"Only if they're actually girls," Harry replied. "Tell me if you notice anything strange or you pick up any new and interesting magical powers."
"Are we supposed to?" George asked as he grabbed the other ring and put it on, changing into an identical green haired girl.
"Maybe? This is the first time I've used goblin silver," Harry admitted.
"Should we be offended that he used us as test subjects?" Fred asked as he checked out his brother's new form.
"I'm not a hypocrite," George replied as he stretched his arms over his head then bounced on the balls of his feet. "It's not like we haven't used plenty of people for test subjects."
"You were expecting shame?" Bill asked Hermione.
"Not particularly," Hermione replied with amusement.
Fred glanced between Ginny and Hermione. "Please tell me we're identical."
"If you aren't, I can't see a difference," Ginny offered.
"Awesome," Fred replied then changed back. "Let's get to work, we have a battlefield to prepare."
"Probably a good idea," Hermione admitted as she moved her rough sketch into the middle of the table. "There are hedges around the edge of the property so we shouldn't be seen as long as we don't do anything too spectacular."
"That limits things a bit but I have some ideas," George offered then launched into a description of some of their more useful prank ideas.
0o0o0
"Move out of my way, peasant," Ji Lee sneered at the angry looking blond haired teenager wearing robes that was 'blocking' the path.
"Peasant? Do you know who I am?" Draco demanded, glaring at the man that was looking at him like he was slime.
"No, nor do I care. I am Ji Lee of the Song of Death, Sept of the Thunder Walkers, you are dirt beneath my feet! Kiss my feet or die mortal!" he shouted as he used a touch of qi to cause the air to crackle with thunder.
'Damn, is this how Harry felt when I introduced myself the first time?' Draco mused as he drew his wand and pointed it at the stranger. "Tell you what, if you can survive my first shot, then I'll agree to kiss your feet, if not you can fuck off and get out of my way."
"You think you can strike me down?" Ji Lee asked in disbelief.
"Avada Kedavra." Draco stared in disbelief when the green bolt of magic hit the man's chest and nothing happened. 'Fuck!'
"I am Ji Lee!" Ji Lee roared then blinked when the strange robed figure vanished with a crack of thunder. "That's new."
'How the fuck did he survive that?' Draco complained mentally as he checked himself over to make sure his hasty apparition hadn't caused him to splinch himself. 'Okay, you're fine, keep walking, maybe you'll find someone that isn't a complete lunatic.'
Comments
Mist of Shadows
It's one of those... do I sound like that? Well shit... but yeah, seemed like something he might realize given the right pressure.
DeerHeart
That moment when Draco truly understands how he comes off to other people is priceless
