Winds of Change
Summer and this year's Championship Tournament was fast approaching and if that wasn’t enough it was also time for the tournament to decide the gym leaders for the next two years' gym challenges. Opal was already exhausted just thinking about it; if only she could find a way to take some of Harri’s excess energy. The young girl spent most of her time close to Ballonlea these days. That wasn’t to say she never had stretches where it was rare to spot her or she moved her camping spot again, it was just that she was more likely to be seen close by and frequent the same place for camping. Her progress with her school work was continuing to be impressive, her aura control and ability to manipulate it was astonishing for her age, and Opal could feel how much the Glimwood Tangle and its pokémon loved her (the last time she’d felt them have this much affection for someone that wasn’t her was before her daughter left). Harri had come a long way from the suspicious and half-feral loner she’d been when they first met.
“How is Harri progressing, Guardian Riley?” Opal wasn’t afraid to admit she’d become fond of the girl, but she was nervous about why Riley wanted to meet privately with her after Harri’s latest lesson.
“She continues to surprise me with her rapid mastery over aura. She would make an incredible Aura Guardian, but whatever she decides to do with her life I’m confident she’ll be successful.”
“That’s very good to hear.” Opal smiled briefly. “Although I feel there must be something else if you wanted to meet with me, I know you have to hurry back to the Bones’.” Riley nodded slowly.
“It was always clear that Harri has a strong aura and spent a long time with pokémon instead of with people. You found her on her own, correct?”
“Yes. If it wasn’t for the wild pokémon becoming so interested in her when she moved into the forest I wouldn’t have known to look for her, let alone actually have been able to find her. It was slow going at first; I was afraid a wrong move could send her vanishing into the wilderness.”
“I see.” Riley frowned. “Were you aware of her scars?”
“Yes,” Opal sighed. “I suppose it's mere wishful thinking that they are simply the marks of her time alone in the wilds?”
“Based on what I've managed to see, which isn’t a lot, she does a good job of hiding them, Harri had good reason to run off and live with pokémon. The strength of her aura probably afforded her more safety with them than what she was experiencing before.” Opal massaged the bridge of her nose. She’d suspected, but to have Riley’s confirmation was hard. Harri was such a kindhearted child; she was polite and eager to learn and improve herself. What kind of monsters could do that to her? Riley’s next words nearly made her heart stop.
“What?”
“The lightning scar on her forehead? It's the one she hides the most, I only caught a glimpse of it by accident. It doesn’t look particularly recent, but I have no clue what might have caused it and Harri said she’d always had it.”
“Ah. Thank you for bringing your concerns about Harri to me. It’s nice to know she has other people in her corner. Please rest assured that I will allow no further harm to befall her and will be continuing to take steps encouraging her to stay in Ballonlea.” Riley searched her face for a moment, most likely searched her aura as well, before nodding and bowing to her. As he left to call a Flying Taxi, Opal turned over what he’d told her. There was only one child known throughout Galar for having a lightning marked brow. When she first learned Harri’s name she hadn’t thought much of it. There were many children named Harry and Harriet during the baby boom in the wake of the sudden end of the war. Harri was a small child, she easily could have been one of the children named in honor of the Girl-Who-Lived. But the scar changed things.
Either her parents had carved a matching mark on their child’s forehead (and then proceeded to take their ire out on the girl when she failed to live up to the built up hero image they’d made of her?) or Albus was lying through his ridiculous beard in his yearly reports to the league (James Potter may not have been a gym leader, but he could have been Champion if given the time and Lily Potter was a prodigy in aura on her way to becoming a pokémon professor; they sacrificed their lives to save their daughter and ended up stopping a threat to the whole of Galar, while Harriet Potter was officially in the ministry’s jurisdiction it was only natural that the league wanted to ensure the child was well looked after). Perhaps it was a good thing the tournaments were right around the corner. She had some digging to do.
* * * * * *
It was rare for Opal to deal with capable trainers close to her age. Most people decided to put their training days behind them when they decided to start families. Gym leaders were notable exceptions who raised their children alongside the pokémon they specialized in, but even they typically retired once a suitable heir came of age. Among her peers, Opal was one of the oldest alongside her current target: Arcturus Black III, leader of the ghost gym. The Purity War (as the most recent conflict to rock Galar was known) hadn’t been good for anyone, but the Black family was one of the harder hit. Arcturus had been old when the conflict started and had to watch as his family tore itself apart when picking sides, unable to truly intervene to avoid losing the family’s claim to the gym (and there were many that were eager to wrest control of such an influential position from a traditionally ‘dark’ family). His only hope was to wait out the conflict and select the best option from whoever was left once the dust finally settled, but even then he was unlucky. One of his most talented granddaughters was disowned (not that that would have stopped him from naming her heir, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with him or the rest of their family anymore), another imprisoned for horrific crimes, and his third ineligible do to her marriage into another family (one with a bad reputation that Kabu had only recently been able to make any headway into undoing). One Grandson vanished without a trace and the other, the one he’d put his remaining faith into, was arrested almost immediately after the attack on the Potters for the crime of revealing their location.
Arcturus had grimly decided to maintain his hold on the gym until he could find a worthy successor, he’d even consulted on the matter of Opal's own search for one (not that he’d ever considered her methods, the man had no theatrical flair), until another Black family tragedy fell into his lap. A third grandson, born a few years before the end of the war, who ended up surviving both his parents who passed one after the other in the months after the end of the war. The ministry that came to power in the wake of the conflict made it extremely difficult for Arcturus to retain guardianship of young Allister. They pointed to the rest of his family as ‘proof’ that the Blacks were rotten and that he shouldn’t be allowed to have power or influence over the impressionable child for fear of him turning out just as ‘bad’ as the rest of them. The other gym leaders rallied behind Arcturus; many of them had had relatives on the ‘wrong’ side of the conflict and feared what could befall their families if the ministry were to be allowed to take their children away for the crime of simply being related to those that had followed and fought for the wrong person (or that the same thing could have happened in the reverse if the ‘bad guys’ had won), there was a very real chance violence would have broken out had the ministry not backed down. As it was, Fudge had never quite gotten over the fact that the Galar League had ‘dared’ to defy him like that and had attempted over the years to find ways to usurp or undermine their authority.
“Arcturus, you old Ghost, what are you doing skulking around back here?” It had taken Opal far too long to find him in the post-tournament ball crowd (if she hadn’t managed to find him she’d have to visit him at the gym, it was well known that Arcturus left right after they announced the winners, he had little patience for these things).
“Opal,” he sighed, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Oh don’t give me that tired old man act. You and I both know you could have destroyed the competition by an even wider margin than you did. How is Allister doing? He must be 12, nearing 13 by now, if I remember correctly; his team shaping up well?”
“Allister and his team are well. They can barely wait for the day I’ll have to relent and bring them along to one of these events.”
“That eager to take the stage is he?”
“Hardly. He still suffers from the shyness and anxiety all those ministry ‘wellness checks’ brought on and has decided the best way to get back at the fools is to wear a Corsola inspired face mask when out in public, its resemblance to the Death Eaters’ masks be damned.” Opal had to bark out a laugh. Beneath the gruff veneer it was clear that he was actually quite proud of the boy’s chosen method of payback.
“Well, he certainly has the Black gumption.”
“Yes, and he’s not the only one. So,” he leveled a firm gaze toward her, “why did you really seek me out. This could have been an email after all.” She pursed her lips before answering.
“Some things are too risky to put in anything traceable.” And now the old ghost looked interested. “What do you know about Harriet Potter?” He thought for a moment, hand reaching up to stroke his neatly trimmed beard.
“I know about as much as everyone else does, I assume. If there’s a specific detail you’re looking for you’ll have to be more specific with what you want to know.”
“What does she look like? Does anyone besides Albus actually know where she is? It’s common knowledge that Sirius was her godfather and that she couldn’t be placed with him. Is she with her godmother?”
“No, Alice Longbotton was her godmother and everyone knows what happened there. Augusta doesn’t have her, only her grandson; none of the gym leaders have her or everyone in the league would know about it. Albus was very insistent that the Potter girl be hidden away for her own safety and to avoid being placed in the spotlight prematurely. As for looks … I’ve never seen her. I don’t believe anyone except for Albus has, but he reports her as having James’ hair and Lily’s eyes.”
“And there’s no chance he sent her to another region? Doesn’t get much further from the spotlight or remaining conflict than that.”
“Not a one. You know how he is, damn control freak wouldn’t want to risk his precious savior being influenced by another region’s culture. That and he wouldn’t be able to visit her in order to assure the rest of us of her wellbeing. The old fool’s too visible to avoid being noticed regularly dropping by another region.”
“How do we know he’s actually visiting her?” That garnered a hard look.
“What exactly are you suggesting, Opal?”
“Almost two years ago I stumbled on a young girl in the Glimwood Tangle. She had two wild pokémon with her and had clearly been on her own for a while based on the way her aura was influencing her. Amelia assisted me in securing the assistance of an Aura Guardian to tutor her in controlling and using her aura and he recently brought up some concerns about her scars with me. We were in agreement that while some of them stemmed from her living in the wilds, she was likely driven to run away from home for her own safety.” She gave Arcturus a moment to calm down when his aura suddenly spiked, it was always difficult with cases like this, and the worst was yet to come. She needed him not to explode and draw attention. “There was one scar in particular he was worried about. A lightning shaped one, on her forehead. She has a mane of curly, pitch black hair and green eyes that practically glow with the strength of her aura. She introduced herself as Harri.” Now he started cursing quietly. “It could be a coincidence.”
“No.” He nearly growled. “That’s too much to be a coincidence. Those aura and tradition obsessed idiots refuse to see the writing on the walls. Anyone with half a brain can raise a pokémon and intermarrying to keep aura ‘in the family’ only serves to make it weaker over time. Just look at Andromeda: she married that boy, first trainer in his family and no special amount of aura, and her daughter has aura to spare. The Potters were doing alright, but Lily was a prodigy. It's no surprise her daughter would be a powerhouse and that old fool,” he truly did snarl now, “abandoned her to people that drove her to living wild with pokémon!” Opal knew that if he was any less put together that Arcturus would be pacing back and forth, but he was too proper to perform such a ‘common’ behavior.
“Albus is capable of many things, but I hope he’s not the kind of person that would overlook abuse. It’s more likely that he’s never checked on her and has been relying on reports from whoever he left her with and they’ve probably been reporting as normal to hide the fact that she’s gone. If I tell anyone of my suspicions I fear the ministry will get involved and Harri doesn’t need to be in the middle of that mess. She wants to travel, to learn, and to be a great trainer. They’ll place demands on her that she’s not ready to deal with.”
“What are you planning to do with her then?”
“Make sure she passes her license exam. Once she’s a trainer much of her previous guardian’s authority goes away. It will be a simple matter to transfer the remaining responsibilities to someone else and completely remove them from her life legally. Then, if she’s willing, I want to make her my heir.” Arcturus raised a brow at her.
“Oh? Did she pass your latest set of test questions?” Opal rolled her eyes at him.
“As a matter of fact, we agree on several of the answers to my test questions, she’s even helped me design a few. The Glimwood Tangle and the wild pokémon have reacted very favorably towards her. They resonate with her aura.” Arcturus nodded, looking thoughtful.
“When she accepts, arrange a meeting. It will do Allister good to meet another future gym leader close to his age. I’ll arrange it so that Piers brings Marnie as well; I imagine the three will find something to talk about.”
* * * * * *
Harri was nervous. Despite having prepared as much as she could (even doing more than most children did according to her tutor) and having Opal’s reassurance that she had done well, Harri couldn’t relax. She had finally taken the trainer license exam last week and the results were due back today. Failure wasn’t the end of the world (as she’d been told repeatedly) and wouldn’t unduly hinder her plans for the future, but she wanted this like she hadn’t wanted much before. This was the goal she’d been aiming for since she first brought Ghost back to the garden shed; to come so far only to fall short would be crushing (if she couldn’t accomplish this with the aid she’d been given then what hope had she had back then?). Ghost and Dreepy did their best to distract and assure her in turns and she was deeply grateful to them. Opal was annoyingly unbothered and serene in her assertion that there was nothing to worry about, but did take her out to the semi-wild herd of Ponyta and Rapidash she cared for to help her pass the time. She was out in their pasture now, trying to meditate to avoid obsessing over her potential results and that’s where Opal found her.
“There you are, Harri dear. Look what’s just come in.” In her hands was a letter. She held it out invitingly. “Well, go on then. Let’s get all this fretting over with.” Harri took the letter in trembling hands and, with Ghost on one shoulder and Dreepy on her head, carefully opened it. A sturdy plastic card fell into her hand alongside the short missive. A stupid grin spread across her face.
“I did it. I did it! Opal, do you see!? I actually did it!” She was practically jumping for joy under Opal’s fond gaze.
“You most certainly did, my dear girl. And now that you have, there's a decision to be made.” Harri calmed down under Opal’s more serious expression and joined her in sitting on the ground. A few of the Ponyta and one Rapidash wandered over and settled down around them. “Now that you are a licensed trainer there’s nothing stopping you from officially catching your two friends here and starting your pokémon journey. You could travel around, gaining experience and attempt the gym challenge; I’d be more than happy to sponsor you if that was your wish. You could also apply to a prestigious trainer school to further your studies of pokémon and aura, you’d have no trouble getting accepted to your top pick with my and Riley’s recommendations. Or,” and here was where Harri started to pay special attention. That was Opal’s cautious voice, the same one she’d use when she thought Harri might get upset by whatever it was she was about to say (Harri was almost never upset; cautious, sure, but not upset, the sensation of someone caring about her enough to worry about upsetting her was novel enough to prevent her from being bothered). “You could stay here, learn from me, and take over the gym once you’re ready.” Harri gaped at her.
“But you love the gym! And you’d just, what, hand it to me!?” Opal chuckled.
“I do love my gym. Just like I love Ballonlea and the Glimwood Tangle and all that live in it. But I’m getting old and one day I won’t be able to keep up with the demands of being the gym leader. You know I’ve been searching for an heir for a while now and ideally that person would love this place just as much as I do, as much as you clearly do.” Harri sat in stunned silence. She could hardly wrap her head around what Opal was offering to her. To be a gym leader was a huge responsibility and a great honor; people would do a lot for the opportunity that had just been offered to her. Harri hadn’t thought much about what to do after securing her license. She enjoyed learning new things and the opportunity to travel without worry was exciting! But she would miss this: the peace and mischief of the Glimwood Tangle, tea and gossip with Opal, aura lessons with Riley.
“This concerns you as much as it does me. What do you think?” Ghost met her gaze head on and she could clearly feel his confidence, the surety that she could do no wrong and that he would be right by her side the entire way. He stood up and in the fading daylight began to glow brightly. Harri watched in awe as her friend evolved right in front of her. His pale coloring and fluffy fur had changed into sleek pitch black fur alongside new red eyes and blue glowing rings on full display. “Are you sure?”
“Umbreon!” She smiled, tears threatening at her oldest friend's declaration.
“Ok. I’ll study with you to become the gym leader when you think I’m ready. We can do this!” Opal beamed at her and pulled her in for a one armed hug.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she whispered. The days that followed brought several changes. For one, Harri officially moved into Ballonlea (she had her own room in both the gym and Opal’s residence). She was also gifted two pokéballs for her friends (a Dusk Ball for Ghost and a Premier Ball for Dreepy) as well as a belt to keep them on. Dreepy didn’t mind staying in his pokéball for portions of the day, but Ghost preferred to remain out and about (Harri just happened to prefer that too). Where before Harri had just been an interesting figure to the residents of Ballonlea, she was now immensely popular: everyone wanted to get to know her (it made sense, she was going to be their future protector, the one to go to for help, obviously they’d want to really know her). Opal was right by her side the entire time helping her feel comfortable and sharing what she knew about the people seeking her out. She also officially registered Harri as her heir with both the Galar League and the Interregional League Conference; Champion Leon even sent her a purple Rotom Phone with a pokédex installed! Things didn’t get much more official than that.
After all the legalities were taken care of, Opal announced that she was bringing Harri to visit a couple of gym leaders and their heirs. She was a little anxious, but calmed down when Opal explained that it was so all three of them could get to know each other. Building bonds of camaraderie was important for gym leaders, that way if there was ever a crisis that required them to step in they’d be more ready to work together. Even knowing that, Harri still hung back a bit with Opal as they entered Stow-on-Side’s gym. An old man, maybe older than Opal, walked up with a younger boy wearing a white mask beside him.
“Opal.” He nodded in greeting. “And you must be Harri, I’ve heard many things about you of course. I am Arcturus Black, leader of the ghost gym, and this is Allister, my heir.” He pushed Allister forward and he nervously wrung his hands. Ghost looked at him curiously and a Yamask slowly made itself visible over his shoulder. They both stood there in awkward silence when the doors to the gym opened again and admitted another pair of people. The older guy had a lot of hair and had an instrument with him and the girl was holding a Morpeko.
“Peirs, glad you could make it.” Opal waved them over. “Marnie, dear, it's good to see you again. Perhaps you'll liven these two up a bit.” She gestured to Harri and Allister before shooing the three off to hang out on the pitch while the adults talked. It was slow going at first, but once their pokémon started playing they all relaxed enough to chat. Marnie was sweet, Harri liked how much she cared about Spikemouth and her older brother and even though he was shy, Allister had a good sense of humor. They alternated playing with their pokémon and talking about the future. Allister wanted to take over the gym as soon as he could, but Marnie wanted to try her hand at the gym challenge first. Harri admitted she wanted to travel all around Galar, and maybe other regions, before officially taking over the gym. Reading about things and places was alright, but there was just so much she wanted to physically see and learn for herself. By the end of the day the adults almost had to drag them apart and they made it a point to get together weekly to chat and train a bit together; her friends had loads of advice for Ghost and Dreepy and Harri was happy to contribute things she’d picked up from her wild pokémon observation.
* * * * * *
Harri was relaxing on one of the giant mushrooms outside the gym one afternoon on a rare day when she didn’t have any lessons or meet ups planned when a sudden sound had her looking around in confusion.
“Cramorant!!” Harri blinked at the blue bird pokémon that flew unerringly towards her. It landed with a flourish and promptly dropped a letter in her lap. “Cram, Cramorant!” It nudged her impatiently until she picked up the letter in a daze. Nodding in apparent satisfaction it turned and flew off. Harri looked at the letter in confusion. The only people she spoke to outside of Ballonlea were Marnie and Allister, but they texted all the time, so who could be sending her a letter? It was clearly addressed to her (well to Miss Harriet Potter, but as far as she knew there were no other Harri’s living at the Ballonlea gym) and had an interesting crest stamped into the wax seal. She decided to go find Opal before attempting to open it, maybe she would know what this was all about.
“Harri, dear, what have you got there?”
“It’s a letter. A Cramorant gave it to me.” Opal’s open expression closed a bit as she examined the letter Harri handed her. She hummed thoughtfully before handing it back.
“You might as well open it. If it’s from who I suspect I dare say you’ll receive more if you don’t.” Sparing a curious look at her mentor Harri turned her attention to the letter. The seal broke easily and her eyes grew wider and wider as she read the contents of the letter within.
“It’s a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts!” She turned to Opal in confusion. “But I didn’t send in an application or take the scholarship and aptitude tests. Why would they be writing to me saying that I got in?” Harri was baffled. Hogwarts Academy of Pokémon Training and Aura was one of most prestigious trainer schools in Galar. Their student body boasted children from gym leader families, as well as other high ranking ministry families, and they were known for being extremely selective about any ‘new blood’ they admitted. High grades and a not insignificant aptitude for aura were requirements (at least for those who didn’t come from a recognized family) and the fees for attending weren’t cheap.
“Yes, I thought this might arrive one day.” Opal sighed. “We’re going to need some tea for this.” Fortified with cups of tea and a small plate of biscuits, they settled down in the stands of the empty gym. “Now then. What do you know of the Purity War?”
“It was a conflict started by Team Purity and their Leader V. They believed that the only ones who should be allowed to train pokémon were people whose families had trained pokémon for generations. Within that there was also a hierarchy that was dependent on aura. They believed that individuals with lots of aura were superior to those who didn’t have as much. The conflict ended after Team Purity fell apart after the defeat of their leader at the hands of the Potter family, although no one actually knows the details about what happened during his attack.”
“You are correct on every point, my dear. Those years of fighting were dark times, dark times indeed. The previous champion was about ready to rally the full force of the gyms when Purity V disappeared and it is true that no one knows why he vanished. Most believe it to have been the work of Lily Potter. She was a talented and brilliant woman and surely only made more so in the defense of her daughter. Which brings me to you.” Harri couldn’t help but shrink down a bit under Opal’s intense gaze. If it wasn’t for the open kindness in her face (and aura) and Ghost’s comforting presence at her side she wasn’t sure if she’d have been able to resist the urge to flee into the Glimwood Tangle. “Before I say anything else I want you to remember this. I don’t think it was random chance that led me to you a couple of years ago. I think the Glimwood Tangle picked you out itself and just arranged for us to meet. You are my heir and nothing will change that unless you decide otherwise. I never pushed for answers before because I didn’t want to risk scaring you away and it didn’t matter as much later on when I was sure you were safe here with me, but I need to know now. What do you know about your parents? Your family?” Harri swallowed harshly and forced herself to gently place the teacup down before her trembling hands could drop it. She hadn’t thought about her relatives in years and now Opal wanted to know about them. Harri wasn’t sure she could do this, but Opal’s hand on her own spurred her on.
“The only family I know about are my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. I lived with them before, well before I met Ghost and we had to leave. They would have taken him away and he was my only friend. We needed each other and … and I just couldn’t let them take him.” Ghost jumped into her lap and nosed at the tears she hadn’t even realized were running down her face. “My Aunt, she, she always said my parents were bad people. That, that they did drugs and had gotten killed by being involved in poaching operations and illegal pokémon fighting and that my scar came from one of their pokémon.” She heard more than saw Opal take a deep breath.
“I’m very sorry they lied to you like that and that you feared them so much that you had to run away so young to keep yourself and Ghost together and safe. I had my suspicions before, but this letter confirmed them. Your parents were not bad people, Harri. Lily and James were so good and cared for you deeply. Your scar did not come from their pokémon, but from the attack that Purity V led against them where your parents gave their lives to stop him and keep you safe.” Opal pulled her close and Harri continued to silently cry as everything she’d thought she’d known about her parents came crashing down. She leaded back after finally getting her breath back.
“So what happens now? Everyone will be expecting me to be the Girl-Who-Lived, to go to Hogwarts, but I’m just me and I’m already going to take over the gym.”
“You are the Girl-Who-Lived and you are the heir to my gym. This is your life and nothing that others say or think should have any bearing on it. If you don’t want to go to Hogwarts that’s fine. If you want to go, at least for a few years to try it out, that’s fine too. No two trainers or gym leaders have the same journey, just look at Allister and Marnie. Whatever you choose, you still have some growing up to do and the gym will still be waiting here for when you’re ready.”
“Can I think about it?” She sniffed.
“Of course you can, dear girl, and I’ll be right by your side when you decide.” True to her word, Opal sat with her until late in the night when Harri finally made her choice.