"Let's get you back on solid ground dear." The woman said. With that she reached her other hand down and gently hauled him back up.

Setting him down beside her, she turned to face the skeletons. Harry was surprised to see them standing at attention, like soldiers in an army.

The woman seemed to understand their behavior. Clasping her hands together, she said, "You've done your duty and done it well for so long. This one is no threat." Pink light began to pulse from her clasped hands. Then she flung her arms wide apart, sending the light flying towards them. "Please, you have earned your rest. Be free of your bindings!"

The light exploded in a cloud of pink sparkles, swirling about the creatures like a vortex. As smoke began rising from their bones, the skeletons made no move to escape. If anything, they stood a little straighter. Then as the glow began to fade to from their eyes, the leader rapped its spear against the ground.

As one, the entire squadron dropped to one knee and saluted the woman. Then they rose and drew their swords. They pointed them at her, before holding them up in the air. Then the blades were swung together, colliding with a loud and distinct clash of metal, and forming into an odd sort of fan shape, the leader's spear held aloft in the exact center.

The light intensified, as did the smoke. The skeletons held their pose as they dissolved away into nothing, their weapons falling to the ground, and fading away as they did so.

The woman smiled down at Harry and put an arm on his shoulder. Harry suddenly realized she was holding a large umbrella, though where she had gotten it from, and when, he had no idea. "What do you say we get out of this rain dearie? The others are over there." She pointed to a cave like opening a short way off where a group of people were standing, apparently watching them.

The woman turned, and kneeling down, held out a hand to him. "I know you must be scared right now. But I promise you, I'll make sure you're alright. You just need to have a little courage. Even the worst of creatures respect courage when they know it's true."

Okay, so this isn't exactly like my dream. Harry thought. But I think she's probably the best chance I have. He nodded and took her hand.

She beamed sunnily at him and rose, gently steering him towards the others, stopping briefly to pick something up from the spot the skeleton leader had disappeared.

As they walked, Harry took the opportunity to examine her. She was ridiculously tall, perhaps even taller than the headmaster, who was the tallest Harry had seen thus far, Hagrid notwithstanding. She had white gloves that went all the way to her elbows, and her outfit was the most unusual he had seen yet. She was wearing a gown that was in varying shades of pink. The top had rather large puffed sleeves, and a sapphire blue brooch of some kind was set in the center, outlined by what was perhaps gold. The bottom half of the gown flared out rather like a bell as it passed her hips. It was mainly the same shade as the top half, but there was a wide band of much deeper pink that came a good ways up from the hem. He even managed to catch a glimpse of pink high heeled shoes. The gown was cinched at the waist with a belt of fabric that was nearly purple, though this was mostly hidden by what looked like nothing so much as an ammunition belt.

The woman giggled suddenly. "Gracious, I bet I'm quite the sight to you!" When he nodded carefully, she laughed outright, a merry but refined sound. Just hearing it made Harry feel a little better. "Well, I won't deny that I'm a bit out of place dear, but probably no more than you yourself are."

They reached the mouth of the cave, and the woman closed the umbrella with a snap and gave it a shake before pushing it into a pocket of her belt around her west. Harry watched as it shrank to fit.

"Another stray you've picked up Madame?" Harry's attention snapped to the speaker. He was a tall man with short, wiry looking brown hair. He was wearing a rather fancy vest, and the pants were much the same. He passed a hand through his hair, and Harry saw that he wore a number of rings, as well as a gun of some kind on his hip. He sighed. "Really, haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

The woman gave him a look. "Oh, do stow it Balthier. I couldn't let him plummet to his doom could I?"

"Yes."

She fixed him with a rather stern look. "No, I couldn't. And you know that you couldn't have either." When Balthier muttered something and looked away, she gave a decisive nod. "I didn't think so." As a strange black spherical creature bounced over and sniffed at Harry, she said mildly, "Easy now Ironfang, he's no threat." The creature gave a strange metallic sounding bark and bounced away to rest at her side. The woman smiled at it. Then she glanced up and stepped back slightly to make room as someone behind Balthier stepped forward.

Harry found himself looking at what appeared to be a seven foot, white haired humanoid rabbit wearing what looked like nothing so much as a metal bikini. He supposed he could call it armor, except he had never seen anything that covered so little. There was even a veil of sorts attached to the chest region.

The rabbit creature eyed him for a moment, then kneeled in front of him. "Are you alright?" She, for the voice, while high and somewhat nasal, was undoubtedly female, looked him over, before meeting his eyes.

Noting the massive bow hanging on her back, Harry wasn't sure whether a yes or no was in order. His body felt alright, but his brain had obviously been damaged. Finally he settled for, "Probably."

Professor Ambervale's magic quill was still working, to Harry's great relief, but it was obviously on its last legs, or fletches rather. Whatever had brought him here had apparently damaged it beyond anything Professor Snape could have done. The quill was bent and mutilated looking, and the words it wrote were shaky and crumpled looking.

The entire group eyed the floating letters. The woman tapped her lips thoughtfully. Then she spotted the dismayed expression on Harry's face. "I'm going to make a wild guess that you can't speak, and that device is what allows you to communicate."

Harry nodded, feeling forlorn. "If the quill stops working, I don't know what I'm gonna do."

The woman pursed her lips in thought. After a moment she said, "I may have a solution, but we need to get out of the open before we can try it. I'd rather we didn't attract any more attention. One set of those undead soldiers were enough."

"You mean there's more?"

One of the others laughed, a rather tall blonde man with a scraggly beard. "There's plenty of the undead roaming these mines, I'm afraid."

The other man, Balthier snorted. "Fortunately, the Madame's magic seems to be uniquely qualified for use here."

An enormous thunderclap drowned out whatever the woman said in response. Glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky, she frowned. "I don't know how strong the barrier is, but I doubt it'll be able to hold out much longer. If that hurricane breaks through, then Bhujerba is doomed." A blast of lightning arced down. There was a high pitched screeching sound, like metal against metal, and the electricity arced away in in strange jumping loops across the sky. "At this rate, we won't even be able to get away from the island."

"Is there anything we can do?" This came from a teenager that appeared to be about the same age as the woman, and with rather similar looks.

The woman frowned for a moment. Then she brightened. "I have an idea." She looked at a younger looking boy with jet black hair standing off to one side. "You said there was a paling of some kind that prevents monsters and natural disasters from affecting the miners right?" When he nodded, she smiled. "Then perhaps we can use it to disrupt the storm enough to make it dissipate."

The boy blinked at her, looking startled. Then in an oddly cultured voice he said, "I never even considered that." He grinned. "It would mean we risk unleashing some dangerous creatures into the mines, but it might just work."

"I think it is a risk that may well have to be taken." The rabbit woman said. She drew her bow. "Where can we find the source of the paling?"

"It's not far from here. Unfortunately, if what I've been hearing from the locals is true, then some unusual and dangerous creatures have been making their homes along the route. We'd best be prepared for them."

The others nodded and as one, began trekking off. As they walked, the woman glanced down at Harry. "I suppose a good round of introductions are in order dearie. What's your name?"

"Harrison Potter ma'am. But please call me Harry"

She smiled. Well then Harry, we'll go from the top. That fellow over there with the gun is Balthier, and the Viera is Fran. She indicated the rabbit like woman. The two of them are Sky Pirates apparently." She pointed to the blonde bearded man. "That gentleman is Basch von Rosenburg. He's also known as Kingslayer, or some nonsense like that."

The blonde teenager next to her grinned. "I'm Vaan. And over there is Lamont." He pointed to the raven haired boy. Then he pointed at an odd little man Harry hadn't seen. He stood about five feet tall and had white hair that had an occasional strange red spot in it. "That's Tundry." The little man gave a wave.

The woman smiled. "My name is Peach Toadstool." She pointed a hand at the little black creature bouncing along beside her. "This is Ironfang. He's a Chain Chomp." Her smile morphed into a grin. "And I have the dubious honor of having the strangest name, I assure you."

Harry couldn't help it, he grinned back.

Peach nodded in what seemed to be satisfaction. "That's much better dear. I find troubles are much easier to handle if you can meet them with a smile on your face." She glanced at the tunnels ahead. "I can tell you've got plenty of magic in you, though it seems twisted about somehow in a way it shouldn't. Can you cast any offensive spells?"

Harry frowned. "Just one that's any good, and I don't think it works on anything that's umm…natural."

Peach tilted her head at him. "What do you mean by natural?"

Harry shrugged. "The description when I found it just said, "Spirits of death and darkness wander where they do not belong. Bring them calm through the power of the Solar Song." I think it's not meant for anything that's already living."

To his surprise, Peach nodded in agreement. "I think you're right. It sounds like a special magical song that a warrior friend of mine can play, the Sun's Song. If they are similar, then it won't do anything to living creatures, except perhaps blind them for a moment. Undead though, are another story. The Sun's Song can paralyze them, or even destroy them if they're weak enough. Maybe your Solar Song can do the same, though it sounds as if it may have a bit more range of effect."

Harry shrugged again. "I don't know, I couldn't really try it on anything. I just know that casting it takes a lot out of me."

Peach pursed her lips. "Well, we'll find out when we find out, I suppose." She drew what looked like a gold stick topped with a sparkling pink jewel from a loop at her waist. "Until we can figure something out, stick with me dear." She gave the stick a sharp flick, and a pink light of some kind started crackling over the jewel. "I won't be letting anything get at you without dealing with me first."

With that, she pushed a rather startled Harry behind her and set off. Harry blinked and tried to swallow the strange feeling that rose up inside him, and followed her.

They had only gone a short way when Harry heard a rather sibilant voice. "Intrudersss!" It rasped. Harry whipped around. Peach must have heard the voice as well, because she snapped something out to the others ahead of her and ran towards Harry.

Harry felt frozen. In front of him was the largest snake he had ever seen. It reminded him of a cobra, though he had never seen one that was sapphire blue. Nor had he ever seen a snake that appeared to have a hood such as this one. It hissed, then rasped out, "Interlopersss! Nessst hunterssss!"

"Nest hunters?" He and the snake both froze as the quill swooped about, producing a very peculiar hissing noise, accompanied by the strangest writing Harry had ever seen.

The snake creature regarded Harry curiously for a moment. Then it gave a strange jerk of the head. "Not nessst huntersss?"

"I don't think so. Unless your nest is in the middle of the tunnel, we don't plan to bother it."

The snake creature regarded him for another moment, then jerked its head. "Fine. Leave me in peace, I leave you." It paused and gave a strange bob of its head. " Apologiesss for my hassstinesss. Farewell." It cocked its head at him. "Your accccent isss terrible, by the way." Then it turned and left, vanishing down some hidden tunnel.

Behind him, Peach lowered her wand, looking suspicious. "Just like that, it's gone?"

"It said, Leave me in peace, I leave you. I think it was just trying to keep its nest safe."

Peach stared at him. "You mean you could understand it?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. It called us intruders, interlopers, and nest hunters. Then it apologized and left."

Peach frowned. "All I heard was a good deal of hissing." She shrugged. "All the same, that's quite the handy device you have there."

Harry made a face. "I don't think that's supposed to happen. From what I was told, it's supposed to write out what I say in my head. It never translated or made sound before." Granted, it was another thing he had yet to practice, but he was sure Professor Ambervale would have mentioned it.

Peach grinned. "Then I suppose it's your own little talent dear. I'm pretty sure the rest of us just heard a lot of hissing." Harry jumped as she abruptly gave the stick in her hand a sharp flick, sending pink light rocketing out. It shot over his head, close enough to make his hair move. There was a loud bang, followed by a shrill squeal from just behind him.

Startled, Harry turned to find a strange, furry bat-like creature slumped on the ground. "What was that?"

Peach twirled the stick. "Projectile spell." She blinked as Harry shook his head and pointed at the creature. "Oh you meant the monster!" Frowning slightly, she said, "I'm not sure. I think it's a Streeler, or some variant of one. They aren't all that dangerous though, as long as you keep your wits about you." She shrugged eloquently. "Really, I think they're just overgrown bloodsucking bats." She suddenly launched another spell. As another of the beasts squealed, she said, "They are also persistent and annoying. Best we keep going dear."

Harry nodded and slipped up closer to her. The chain chomp, Ironfang, sniffed at him before giving a soft bark and bouncing around to take up the rear. Peach smiled slightly. "I do believe he likes you. He's decided to watch your back. Let's move."

As they caught up with the others the teenager, Vaan, dropped back to match pace with them. "Hey Peach, what were those skeletons doing when you freed them?"

Peach blinked at him. "You mean the thing with their weapons?" When he nodded, she grinned slightly. "A very old salute by Ivalice's standards. Rather a current one by my kingdom's though." She glanced at Harry and bit her lip. Then she sighed. To Vaan she said, "I see no point in trying to hide it from him." She indicated Harry. "Tundry said he wasn't from Ivalice either, and I rather doubt anyone here would believe him anyway."

Then she turned and faced Harry properly. Somewhat formally she said, "My full title is Princess Peach Toadstool, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. I came here to Ivalice because my own kingdom is in grave danger, and this land holds the key to saving it." She paused to let Harry take this in.

After a moment, Harry bowed to her. The Princess laughed. "No need for that dear. I never insist on such things, and around here it's better if you don't anyway." She leaned closer and said in a stage whisper, "I'm pretty sure they already think I'm crazy as it is."

Vaan laughed. "Only a little Peach." To Harry he said, "Ivalice lost contact with the Mushroom Kingdom over four thousand years ago. The place is just a fairy tale to most people. I' the only one in our group that knows where she's from, aside from Tundry I guess." Then he frowned. "What kingdom do you come from anyway?"

Harry blinked. "Oh, um, England."

Vaan shrugged. "Never heard of it."

To Harry's great surprise, the Princess said, "I'd be astonished if you had Vaan. It's part of a world called Earth, specifically their continent of Europe. The entire place is more or less unaware of our existence."

Harry stared at her. "How did you know that?"

Peach smiled. "This isn't the first time my kingdom's been in danger. I once traveled all over with three of my friends in a quest to liberate it, and we went to Earth on several occasions. Our adventures there are something of an open secret in some places."

She broke off as the chain chomp growled at something up ahead. Seeing where it was staring, she went white. "Balthier! Fran! Stop! Now!"

The two of them, who were in front of the group, skidded to a halt, the man looking slightly annoyed. "What is it, Madame?" he asked, arms crossed.

The princess hurried towards them. "First, call me Peach. Second, get back. Now!" Looking rather nonplussed, the two of them did so. Peach stooped and picked up a large rock. "Watch."

Aiming carefully she tossed it forward. The rock hit the ground and bounced a few times, before landing underneath a row of gray spiky rocks that almost lined the tunnel ceiling. Instantly, the rocks shook and came down with incredible speed, revealing themselves to actually be the bottom of some kind of spiked stone slab. The slab crashed into the ground with a loud grunt and enough force to make the tunnel shake.

As the ground finally ceased shaking, Harry was shocked to see a rather angry looking face glaring at them from the stone.

Balthier had gone a ghastly pale color. "What. Is. That?"

Peach's lips were pursed. "That is a Thwomp. It's also the biggest one I've ever seen. This tunnel has to be nearly thirty feet across."

Basch grunted and drew his sword. "How do you propose we defeat it?"

"Not with a sword, I can tell you that. Thwomps are nearly impervious to almost all weapons."

Balthier put his gun away in disgust. "Then just how are we supposed to get rid of it?"

Peach grinned. "Oh that's easy." She fished about in a pocket of her ammunition belt for a moment. Then she withdrew a shining, flat yellow star with large black eyes. Holding it up she said, "Alright little Starman! It's your time to shine!"

The little object, which Harry guessed was a Starman, began glowing and floated into the air as Peach released it. The glow intensified and the little star swept around her.

For a moment, Peach seemed to flash as though she were under a strobe light. Then it abruptly stopped. Harry was startled to see that the Princess' gown had changed colors. The top was now a brilliant red, the belt and majority of the skirt was now white, and the band of dark pink had become blue. She was also glowing with a faint rainbow colored nimbus.

Peach grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Alright folks, it's time for you to see just what a starman can do!" Her voice had a slight echo to it. Then she charged straight at the brick like creature.

The thwomp's eyes widened as she darted towards it. Then it seemed to struggle to rise, but it had evidently wedged itself in too deep. Peach jumped into the air as she got close and dropped towards it, foot extended in a downward kick. Yellow energy seemed to gather at the edge of her heel, which Harry noticed had changed to a red color.

The kick connected dead in the middle of the thwomp. There was a flash of yellow light as the energy discharged, and a gravelly, grunting roar, accompanied by a cloud of dust. When it finally thinned out, Peach was standing in the midst of a small mountain of rubble.

She grinned. "That's how you get rid of a thwomp!" There was a strange thrumming sound, and she seemed to flash, before fading back into her pink colors.

"Effective." Balthier remarked. "Though a tad short lived."

Peach frowned slightly. "Well it usually lasts much longer. I put all the energy it gave me into that attack though, I wasn't sure a regular strength one would cut it. That thing was massive. It must have been growing undisturbed for decades."

"You don't suppose it's an effect of the magicite in the mines?" Vaan wondered.

Peach pursed her lips. "That's possible I suppose, but it'd take quite a bit. The average thwomp is usually only about as tall as myself. You see, their diet is mainly gravel and metal they grind up from their pounding. Magic doesn't usually factor in. They're a bit like fish in a tank really, they tend to only grow as large as the area they inhabit can support. They're pretty much impervious to magic of all types too, Starmen notwithstanding. It would take quite a powerful spell to make one grow that large."

Balthier sighed as a skeleton suddenly arose from the ground and yattered at them. "I think we have more to fear from the undead roaming the mines than from those behemoths."

The skeleton fell apart in a cloud of smoke as Peach hit it from behind with some kind of light green spell that sparkled. "Cura. It's a healing spell." She said to Harry. To Balthier she said, "I think you're right. Though I can't help but be curious."

"About what?"

Peach glanced at Fran. "The undead wandering this mine. There shouldn't be so many, I don't think."

"What do you mean?"

Peach started climbing over the rubble, gesturing for the others to follow her. Over her shoulder she said, "Well look at it logically. Bhujerba, or the city portion at least, doesn't seem to be more than a few decades old, maybe a century at the most."

"It was founded about ninety years ago." Lamont said suddenly.

Peach nodded emphatically as she landed on the other side of the pile with a sharp click of her heels. "Exactly! But these skeletons seem to be much older, and from what I could tell, the population out there is about one for every three or so skeletons. The discrepancy is too large."

Three skeletons erupted from the ground in front of her, spears and swords waving. They were quickly dispatched by Fran, Basch, and Balthier. Watching them fall apart she said, "And that's another thing. I know they all look pretty much identical, but I could swear I've seen some of them before." She blinked and looked down when Harry tugged on her gown. "Yes dear?"

"Um, do you think they might be getting recycled or something? I mean be getting used again?"

To Harry's alarm, Peach went white. Wordlessly she looked around at the others, eyes wide. Most of them looked much the same, comprehension seeming to dawn on all their faces. Very quietly she said, "You know dear, I think you may have just hit the nail on the head." She clenched one hand into a fist. "No wonder their numbers seem so overwhelming! It's so obvious now! Whenever one is defeated it isn't set free, it's forced to fight again!"

Vaan said slowly, "And whenever anyone dies in the mines, or maybe anywhere in Bhujerba…" He trailed off, eyes widening.

"They likely get caught up by the spell and forced into the same situation as the rest!" Fran finished. The rabbit like woman's face twisted into a mixture of disgust and fury. "It is an unacceptable cruelty, and an abomination to the cycles of life and magic."

Harry shuddered. "I don't like this place. These caves feel like…despair and hatred."

Peach nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know what you mean dear. It's like a mountain of shadow pushing down on you." When Harry nodded she tightened her grip on his shoulder. "Well, don't worry. Now we know what's causing it, thanks to you. And maybe, just maybe, we can put a stop to it."

Balthier snorted as he reloaded his gun. "And how do you propose to do that? Granted, I'm all for it, especially if it rids us of these persistent foes. But I don't exactly see how it's possible."

"I think its close by. The source I mean."

Everyone stared at Harry. After a moment, Lamont said curiously, "What makes you sure?"

Harry shuddered despite himself. "Everything starts feeling colder and darker the farther in we get." He pointed to the route ahead. "It's really bad up there." He shuddered again.

Peach eyed the passage contemplatively. After a moment she said, "Well, I think we can add sensitivity to evil magic to your list of abilities, dear." She drew her odd golden wand. "You stay behind me, Iron Fang, take up the rear." The chain chomp gave a short bark and bounced around to situate itself behind them.

They started off up the tunnel again, Peach out in front. They passed through several caves in quick succession, oddly encountering nothing more than dirt and stone.

As they passed through another cave, Harry felt a strange tingling sensation wash over him. It was not unlike the response he had gotten when he had chosen his wand. Looking ahead, he saw a strange golden light shining out of the other end of the cavern. "What is that?"

"The source of the paling I suspect." Peach said. She eyed the light for a moment. "If it's what I think it is, we may have a better chance than I thought."

Wand poised and ready, she led them towards the source of the light. Harry shuddered as they drew closer. While the tingling grew stronger, and felt warmer, there was another sensation that grew. It felt like a knot of ice, growing stronger as he got nearer.

Then they were suddenly outside in the rain again, though it was more of a drizzle here. He could see a strange shimmering dome of some kind out in the middle of the plateau, covering what looked like a number of glowing objects. They were spread out in a circular pattern that ringed the dome. As they got closer, Harry saw that there was a second ring inside the first and at the very center of the dome was a cluster of much larger objects.

Peach clasped her hands. "I knew it! Power stars, Shine Sprites, and there's even Grand Stars! This is just what we need!" She hurried forward, forcing the others to sprint to keep up with her.

They were nearly halfway to the dome when Harry suddenly felt as though he had been dunked in freezing water. The sensation was so abrupt and alarming that he threw out a hand and caught onto to Peach's dress to keep from falling.

Feeling the tug, the princess stopped. "Are you alright, dear?" She leaned down to look more closely at him.

Harry winced as the cold sensation grew so that he was practically numb, and he was having trouble breathing. He did the only thing he could think of and pulled her forward as hard as he could.

Caught off guard, Peach stumbled forward a few steps, just as a wave of sickly looking black energy roiled up from the ground like smoke with an audible crackle, just where she had been. The Princess whipped around and took one glance at the wall of darkness before scooping Harry up and darting nimbly backwards.

About ten feet back, Harry felt sensation return to his body and signaled to be put down. After a moment of looking as though she'd rather not, Peach set him down. "Are you alright now Harry?"

He nodded shakily. "I think so. It just . . . came on really strong I guess."

Peach frowned. "No surprises there. This must be the source of the spell keeping those souls trapped here." She eyed him speculatively for a moment. "Do you think your sun spell might be able to do something?"

"I-I don't know. I've only used it the once. And that thing's massive!"

Peach smiled. "Half the battle is mustering the courage to try." She eyed the wall of seeming smoke. "And you won't be alone. Do you see that golden light?"

Harry nodded. Despite the thick blackness, an occasional ray of gold burst through, shining like liquid sunlight.

The princess smiled. "That's coming from the Shine Sprites, Power Stars and Grand Stars. They're all special magical items that abhor corruption and its attendant darkness, and will try to remove it the instant they sense it. They're trying to banish this. . . thing, but they need help to do it. They need something to guide them, to tell them how they should focus."

Lightning crashed above them. Harry looked up to see the energy bouncing away in arcs as before, but now there were strange floating cracks in the air, looking for all the world like broken glass.

"The paling's starting to fail!" Harry wasn't sure who spoke, his attention was focused on the cloud in front of him.

Then he jumped when Fran suddenly laid a hand on his shoulder. The rabbit like woman gave him a faint smile, and Harry got the impression he was seeing a very rare sight indeed. "Think of it more in terms of what you have yet to try." She said quietly. "Think of it more as testing your boundaries. And remember that you are never alone. We will be here to support you."

Harry looked around. With the exception of Balthier, who was eyeing the floating cracks in the sky uneasily, everyone was watching him, smiling too. He swallowed hard before nodding. "Alright. I'll try it."

Fran nodded solemnly and stepped back. Harry held up his wand and aimed it at the roiling darkness. As if it could sense what was about to be attempted, it seemed to grow thicker and darker. Harry felt the feeling of ice start creeping back into his chest. It grew steadily worse and he felt his arm shake.

Then hands clapped down on his shoulders. Startled, Harry looked up to find Peach standing behind him, grinning down at him. "Don't let it get to you dear. It's only trying to scare you."

And doing a darn good job. He thought. But he swallowed and nodded, raising his wand again. The icy feeling started again, but this time he could also feel the Peach's firm grip on his shoulders. The tingling from before washed over him, forcing the icy feeling to shrink back. He drew a breath and swung his wand in the upwards skirling motion that he had used before.

A warm sensation blossomed in his chest and exploded outwards. He opened his eyes as he heard the lilting melody from before. Curtains of warm yellow and orange light were sweeping about Peach and himself, shining brighter every second. Then as another ray of golden light shone from the dark cloud, it touched the curtains of light. There was a dull thrumming sensation, and the melody suddenly amplified, becoming more intricate and intense.

Then the curtains swept together and blasted towards the wall of darkness, spiraling into something resembling a corkscrew. It impacted with the wall, sending shining sparks flying.

The wall bent inwards under the force of the blast, and then with a high pitched screech like metal against metal, it splintered and burst open, allowing a veritable nova of gold to blaze through.

A tidal wave of light seemed to crash over him, submerging him in a pleasant, tingling warmth. There was a strange humming sound that scaled up into a veritable orchestra of voices, and numerous shining objects blazed out of the hole in the cloud and began circling around it. Harry could make out large shining stars and what appeared to be circular objects with three spikes coming out of them, the spikes topped with large round knobs.

There was a much louder hum and truly massive stars flew out to hover above the ring of spiked objects and smaller stars. Harry was startled to see that all the objects and stars had large black eyes that were blinking and seemed to be glancing around them.

Then the melody of the solar song increased in volume, and the large ring of stars and objects began to glow brighter and spin about the cloud of dark smoke. They moved faster and faster, seeming to blur into a continuous ring of light. Then small spheres suddenly appeared, spreading up and down the wall before darting inwards, trailing light behind them.

There was a crackle and the smoke was forced into a spherical cage of light. The giant stars began moving now, spinning about the cage, turning slowly as they did so. There was a chiming sound, and the cage became too bright to look at. Then it stretched skyward, morphing into a pillar of light. Over the sounds of the solar song, Harry could hear something that sounded like a chorus of screams. As the light pillar expanded however, he realized they were cheers, hundreds of joyful shouts overlapping each other.

A sound like splintering glass and wood rose up, and the dark smoke exploded, dissipating into the air.

The silence was so abrupt that for a moment Harry wondered if he had gone deaf. The light scaled back down, leaving the area looking almost dim after the extended brightness.

Peach clapped her hands. "Wonderful! That certainly seemed to take care of that! Are you feeling alright Harry?" He nodded, then jumped as lightning smashed down with a tremendous bang, a loud splintering sound accompanying it. Peach squared her shoulders determinedly and drew herself up to her full height. "Good. Now let's see what we can do about this hurricane."

She clasped her hands and closed her eyes in concentration, ignoring the next crash of lightning. Everyone else however, was looking skyward. Looking up, Harry saw that the floating cracks in the sky were much more numerous, and were spread out in a dome shape, arching away in all directions.

Then a sound that reminded him of a harp made him look at Peach. The princess seemed to be glowing very faintly, the stars and objects spiraling around her. She raised her arms skyward and shouted, "Shine Sprites bring us a clear day, end the hurricane that threatens our way!" The strange looking objects, which Harry supposed must have been Shine Sprites, launched themselves upwards, blazing with golden energy. "Power Stars and Grand Stars I beseech thee, protect the city and keep its people free!" This time the stars rocketed upwards, spreading out in all directions as they went.

A deafening blast sounded and the dome above them exploded into glimmering pieces that quickly faded away as another lightning burst hit it. The storm clouds crackled, another blast imminent.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The lightning discharged just as one of the smaller stars was directly overhead. The star glowed brightly. There was a sound like a hundred candles being blown out at once, and the lightning seemed to freeze, and then dissipated as though it were no more than fog.

Then there was a high pitched whining sound, and one of the giant stars pin wheeled across the sky, trailing faint yellow light like a curtain. It stopped dead overhead, causing the curtain to spiral outwards, growing larger as it did so. There was a faint whooshing sound as the curtain edges touched and promptly sealed together, creating a pale yellow dome of energy over their heads.

More yellow energy spread towards it from all directions, connecting with a faint hiss and significantly expanding the dome. The enormous star dropped down and spun around the group, creating a second shield. Harry, who was more or less in the center, found the star floating directly overhead, oddly expressive black eyes staring at him, blinking slowly.

Harry's first impression was of a starfish, though the similarity ended at the shape. While largely the same as the smaller stars, which Harry supposed must have been the power stars, this one had round spheres at the ends of its points. Aside from this and its truly massive size, they looked the same. Harry gathered this had to be a Grand Star, as nothing could be a more accurate description.

He was distracted from the floating star by a soft white glow to his left. He turned to find Vaan holding some kind of crystal that was pulsing faintly. The glow intensified and the white energy rose and unfolded like a screen. There was a faint crackle, and Harry was suddenly being treated to a cinematic sweeping view of the mines. As he watched, the view swept up a long row of steps and exploded out into open air, and into what could only be described as mass chaos.

People were running in all directions, screaming and covering their heads as massive hailstones pelted down. Several people were trying to herd the rest into a more orderly retreat, but were having a very difficult time.

Harry watched as one of the people, a rather tall looking man, finished shepherding a group into what must have been an underground shelter. Then he turned abruptly and darted out into the open, just in time to grab a child that had actually been lifted by the wind.

The man said something to the child, but all the little girl did was point at the sky. When the man looked, his mouth dropped open.

Obligingly, whatever was giving them their image turned in that direction as well. Harry found himself looking at the mine entrance. A golden glow appeared from behind it, looking like a sunrise. It grew brighter, then fractured into numerous rays. A moment later, Harry realized they were stars, rocketing towards the town like comets.

As they reached the city, the Power Stars scattered in all directions. One blasted down and flew to keep pace with a running group. It twirled and darted down to float ahead of them, filling large gaps in the street with gold, and even levitating a shattered bridge back into place. As the hailstones grew in both size and frequency however, it spun around the group, encasing them in a glimmering yellow bubble.

Another star encased itself in a sphere of golden energy and looking remarkably like a pinball, began actively ricocheting about, knocking away large pieces of debris as they blew through the air.

Then a Grand Star was suddenly overhead, generating a shield over the entire city. While the view was small, Harry was just able to make out another of them in the distance, generating another shield dome.

Beside him, Vaan made a gesture, and the view suddenly pulled back in a rather disorienting jerk, giving them a breathtaking aerial view. From this distance, Harry could see that the mines were actually on an island floating high up in the sky, surrounded on all sides by a truly massive storm.

He could also see the Grand Stars locations. They were spread out in all directions, each generating a barrier that interconnected with the others, effectively encasing the island in an enormous shield.

Then rays of light began to peek through the wall of storm cloud like beacons. The rays touched the shield and instantly grew brighter. They widened, and with an almighty bang from overhead, and the wall of clouds began to disintegrate.

The Shine Sprites emerged from the clouds and still glowing, began to sweep away at them, effectively clearing them away from the sky, allowing natural sunlight to filter through at last.

"And that takes care of that!" Peach said. Squinting up at the orange glow, she said, "Hmm…It's later than I thought, nearly sunset." She turned to the others. "I really don't think we should attempt to go any farther at night. It'd be too easy to miss a foothold or something and go plummeting down."

Vaan made some kind of motion, but stopped halfway through. "I-Yeah, you're right."

Peach smiled at him. "I know you're worried about Penelo, but I think she'll be fine. Her captors are obviously using her as bait, and they're not likely to hurt her until they're certain they have us where they want us. They won't want to take any chances."

Vaan nodded, though he looked a little dubious. Balthier however, clapped a hand on his shoulder. "She's entirely correct. Ba'gamnan is ruthless, but he's not stupid either. He won't chance anything. And I for one could use a breather. If my understanding is correct, neither the storm nor the undead number among our worries now."

Peach frowned. "Well, there's likely a few of the undead still left." She warned. "Harry blew out whatever spell was reanimating them, but that still leaves us to mop up the rest."

"At least now the supply of them is finite, which is a major step forward." Lamont said suddenly. "It certainly makes it a little easier knowing there won't be any more once they're gone." Harry rather thought he wanted to add, "I hope."

Peach smiled. "True enough." She glanced around. "We should set up camp here. It probably has the best protection on the whole island. Even with just the one Grand star here right now, nothing will be able to break through without some effort. We'll make sure we restore the paling to full muster tomorrow morning. Right now it'll probably be best if we leave the rest of them to get things cleaned up and under control in the city."

A short while later, as she sat in front of a small campfire mixing something in a kettle that smelled absolutely delicious, the princess said to Harry, "I imagine you're quite anxious to get home."

Harry made a face. "Depends on which home you're talking about."

Peach raised an eyebrow as she produced a bowl from somewhere and ladled some of the kettle's contents into it. Passing the bowl to him along with a spoon and napkin, she said, "What do you mean?"

Looking down at what turned out to be some kind of stew, Harry shrugged. "Well, I mean, I like Hogwarts loads better than I do the Dursley's, but I guess that's not saying much, anything's better than them. I won't be happy to go back there in a hurry, I can tell you!" He shrugged and tried a spoonful, finding it to be every bit as good as it smelled. "As for Hogwarts, well, I've only been there a few weeks, and I've already been chased by some kind of bloodthirsty psychopathic monster, been attacked by a pack of students, had someone try to set me on fire, and had a teacher take it out of me for not reading and memorizing a book that has to be at least a thousand pages!"

Peach frowned as she dipped a cup in a large basin of sparkling water and passed it to him. "If you'll pardon my frankness dear, neither seems all that appealing."

Harry grinned and set down the now empty bowl. "I know it doesn't sound that good, but I actually have friends at Hogwarts. I think I just have really bad luck."

The princess laughed. "Now that feeling I know all too well!" She grinned. "Well, if nothing else, we need to make sure you get home safe and sound. That's a promise I intend to keep!" Seeing him yawn however, she laughed again. "Though right now, I think we should see that you get to bed safe and sound!"

And without a another word, she fished around in one of the innumerable pouches on her belt an pulled out a sleeping bag, followed shortly by a pillow." Her grin widened at his stunned expression. "Spatial compression spell, very handy. Though most generally refer to it as Hammerspace, I think."

Harry just nodded tiredly as she tucked him into the bedroll. She smiled. "Don't worry; we'll all be right here. You need some rest. From the looks of things, you've had quite a day!"

As he drifted off, surrounded by a faint flowery scent he couldn't identify, Harry's mind drifted towards thoughts about Hogwarts. His last conscious thought was to wonder what Professor Ambervale or Pamela would have thought about this whole mess.

~***~

Severus noted idly that the common room was unusually noisy that night.

He was sitting at his usual desk in the corner, marking down grades while the students chattered and generally made fools of themselves. Dipping his quill in the inkpot he drew another essay towards him for perusal.

He had just begun writing a comment when a sound similar in volume and application to sonic boom erupted near the entrance to the common room. He jumped, causing a large blotch of ink spread across the parchment. Scowling, he looked up to find the same ghost that had so thoroughly cowed Peeves in the great hall floating in front of the entrance, which was wide open.

She glided forward, the entrance shutting with a crisp snap behind her. Without preamble, she said icily. "All of you shut those gaping wastes of space you call mouths!" She looked about them. "I am here to, in part, deliver a message." Her eyes narrowed. "The first thing you should all know, is that Slytherin house points have been reduced to zero."

As the students burst out into outraged yells, and Severus himself rose to his feet in fury, the ghost clicked her fingers, causing another blast of sound to assault their ears. In the ringing silence that followed, she snapped, "The second thing you should all know is that the dung is officially in the fire."

Then she glided to one side to reveal an absolutely furious Mahalestro Ambervale.

Severus suddenly felt as though the ghost had been understating things.