Harry had enjoyed his summer holiday with Luna after running away from the Dursleys' after a fortnight, but it was nice to be heading back to Hogwarts again. Harry and Luna caught up with Ron on the train.
"Daddy did a whole series of articles on the creatures Harry told us all about," said Luna happily. "Did you read them, Ron?"
"They're not real, though, he's just making them up with lots of Transfigurations," sighed Ron.
"They weren't real before, but they are now," said Luna stubbornly. "Every creature has to start somehow. Harry's explained about the theory of evolution, and how battles and magic rocks help creatures evolve. Show him one of the new Pokémon you made over summer, Harry!"
Harry called his newest Pokémon out of its ball, but Ron was very unimpressed by the big orange and yellow fish that flopped around on the ground uselessly.
"Doesn't a fish need to be in water?" he asked doubtfully.
"Magikarp! Karp, karp!" the fish burbled, thrashing about on the faded carpet of the train carriage.
"No, the Magikarp can't swim, actually."
"What does it do, then?"
"It just kind of… flops about. Its scales are super tough like rock! I based it off a goldfish. Not bad, huh?"
"Is it tasty? It's pretty big."
The fish flapped its tail and fins more frantically, but uselessly. "Magikarp! Karp!"
"No. You don't eat Pokémon!" Harry said, aghast. Well, maybe the Farfetch'd duck. But he wouldn't do such a thing.
"I think your magic carp is the most useless thing you've ever made," Ron said disparagingly.
"It is not! You just wait. It'll get loads better in its next evolution. It's a work in progress."
Ron shrugged. "I liked what you did with Hedwig much better. She looks kind of like a blue phoenix, now. That's much cooler."
"I think his fish Pokémon is wonderful," said Luna loyally. "Oh, and Daddy and I have finally finished all our drawings and notes on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," she said, handing over a bag full of large tightly rolled scrolls of parchment to Harry. "I'd like it as my starter Pokémon, please. A girl one for me, and Daddy wants a boy."
"I'll get right on it, after I've read through all this," Harry promised. "I don't want to get it wrong."
Colin and Dennis Creevey, the two most excitable of Harry's fans and heads of his unofficial fan club, stopped by with a few other Muggleborns (all avid watchers of the Pokémon cartoons) to take photos, chat with him, and admire the progress he'd made over the holidays on Hedwig and his new fish Pokémon.
Colin chatted for a while about how he and his brother had tried to make a Pokémon themselves. "We wanted an Eevee, so we tried Transfiguring Boots-"
"-That's our pet cat," contributed Dennis.
"Yes. But we'd just gotten him brown with long ears, and then there was this whole flock of owls from the Ministry warning us not to use our wands."
YOU ARE READING
The Very Best by BrilliantLady
FanfictionThis fic was inspired by two challenge prompts by Crystal M. Key on fanfiction dot net; firstly that belief makes anything possible, and another where Harry has a life goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. She also kindly served as beta for the draft o...
