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Chapter Text

Boldly Going Where No Magical Has Gone Before

Prologue: At War’s End

June 1998, Granger Residence, Crawley, UK

Harry Potter, soon to be 18 years old in less than a month, was currently trying to relax on the couch in Hermione’s living room. He had seen and done things that no normal teenager should’ve ever experienced. A little over a month ago, he and his girlfriend along with several hundred other people within Magical Britain had been fighting for their lives against the most feared Dark Lord since the forties. They’d just barely managed to squeak out a win for their side after Harry and Voldemort faced each other in single combat. With a defiant roar of magic, Harry defeated the Dark Lord once and for all.

Since then, the dust from the Battle of Hogwarts, as it was coming to be called, started to settle; the victors and dead were being honored or buried. The Ministry was in shambles and already there were stirrings of corruption and greed within the remaining members of the Wizengamot. It frustrated Harry that after all they’d been through, some things just refused to change.

‘What did we all fight for these past seven years, if no one is going to step up and try to effect change?’ he had wondered. As he was building up to another rant, Hermione exited the kitchen carrying a tray of sandwiches and a couple of Butterbeers. His eyes softened at the sight of her, the sway of her hips as she walked across the carpet and the twinkling of her eyes as she caught him staring at her, “See something you like?”

A sly, cheeky grin formed on his lips, “Yeah, those sandwiches look delicious.”

She snorted as she placed the tray on the coffee table in front of them and draped herself across his lap, “Prat. I saw that look on your face. You’re thinking of what’s been happening again.”

Harry sighed, “It’s scary how easily you’re able to do that.”

Hermione tapped him on the nose, “I’ve been your best friend since first year, Harry. I’d hope I know you well enough.” She leaned in and kissed him on the nose then spread outward, slowly peppering his face with gentle kisses. He responded after the barest moment by drawing her back to his lips and deepening their kiss. Kisses developed into fondling as their clothes were peeled off and their emotions grew lustful.

Harry roughly whispered in her ear, “I have need of you, girlfriend…”

She mewled back, “Harry…bedroom…promised parents…”

He lifted her right off his lap and carried her bridal style into her bedroom.

Later…

Doctors Emma and Dan Granger returned home after work to find their daughter’s and her boyfriend’s clothing leaving a trail back to her bedroom. They sighed in resignation but were thankful that the teens at least had the sense to silence their ‘activities.’ Dan poked carefully at the tray of sandwiches still sitting on the table. He grabbed one and a bottle of the Butterbeer then disappeared into the Master bedroom to take a shower. In the meantime, Emma crept up to Hermione’s door and gently tapped on it, “Hermione?” There was no answer so she left them alone, lest she see her baby girl acting in a depraved manner.

When both teens emerged from doing ‘stuff,’ dinner had just been placed on the table. Dan had been just about ready to let them know when they appeared. Both teens had that ‘I had wild sex and I’m not ashamed to admit it’ look on their faces even if their general appearance was casual.

“You two have fun?” Dan deadpanned.

Harry grinned while Hermione blushed, “Yup. Good day at work?”

“Yup.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Boys. Behave yourselves.”

Dan feigned injury, “We were behaving ourselves! This is how males of the species interact.”

Harry smirked at his hostess, “If you were looking for more information than that, I’d be happy to give you a detailed description of everything that happened before you came home.” Hermione gave him a sharp elbow in his ribs for his cheek.

Emma turned her glare onto him but Harry seemed unrepentant judging from the amused glint in his eyes, “You’re lucky you’re so handsome, Harry Potter.”

After dinner and the subsequent clean-up, the Grangers and Harry settled in to watch some television. One program that caught their eye was a TED talk on the future of manned spaceflight. The presentation was nicely done with pretty awesome graphics and an artist’s rendition of what the proposed spaceship would look like. An unseen announcer opened the show, “Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship ‘Liberty.’ Its five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Harry turned an incredulous look at Hermione who was clearly riveted by the show, “Whoa…”

 As the presenter neared the end, he gave the announcement of the establishment of a new governing body that would oversee the development, construction and training of a revolutionary starship and its crew. The International Space Agency or ISA would encompass the best and brightest of the world’s scientists, engineers and other disciplines with near term goal of setting up an international research station on the Moon and the ultimate goal of establishing a colony on Mars. “We are offering an open invitation to any and all who believes they have what it takes to take that bold leap into the unknown. Send in your cover letter and CV to the following address…” The contact information was superimposed on the screen, Emma quickly wrote it down as did Hermione.

“Wow, this sounds like a tailor-made job for you, Hermione,” Emma quipped.

Hermione put on a contemplative face before frowning, “It does sound intriguing but I don’t have any qualifications that the muggles could use.”

Harry took her hand, “They say it’s an open application. Go ahead apply anyhow, who knows? There might be a need for the ‘Brightest Witch of her Age’ in this new organization. Are you not a Gryffindor? Your mum is right; this is a job tailor-made for you.”

She crinkled her nose as she returned his gaze, “I’ll submit my application only if you do.”

Harry grinned before kissing her on the temple, “You’re on, Granger.”

She was about to make a retort when a strange, contemplative look stole across her face, “Harry, If we go ahead with this, it could mean that we’d not be able to perform magic, or at least any in front of the scientific teams.”

“Yeah, so?”

She shot him a patronizing huff, “Can you really picture yourself from refraining to use magic in any shape or form for the next several years?”

Emma turned to her daughter, “Then what do you plan on doing about it?”

Hermione didn’t have an answer but Dan did, “What about contacting your ministry and asking if their research division would like to take part, even if indirectly. They’d have to read in the governing agency, or at least those closely associated with the project plus the flight crew. In return, you share everything you’ve learned with them.”

Harry blinked a couple of times before grinning, “That could work. It would also go a long way to smooth things over ever since we broke in there two years ago.”

Hermione agreed so she wrote a letter and called for any available Hogwarts elf. One popped in and stared at her curiously, “Why has young miss called for Pixie? Young miss is no longer a Hogwarty student.”

Hermione knelt down and held out the letter, “I needed a quick and secure delivery to take this to the Director of the Department of Mysteries and Harry Potter’s elf died during the war. Would you do this for me, Pixie?”

Pixie’s eyes grew wide and whispered in awe, “Dobby was Harry Potter’s elf?” Hermione nodded as Pixie drew herself upright, “Pixie will take this letter. Does young miss want a reply?”

Hermione shook her head, “No, I left my contact information within the letter. Thank you, Pixie.” Pixie bowed deeply and popped away. After she rejoined the others, Harry was smugly smirking at her, “What?” He kept grinning and waved it off.

An hour later, the doorbell rang so Dan got up to answer it. When he returned, he led an older, well-dressed man into the living room, “Hon, this is Director Saul Croaker.”

Harry and Hermione rose to their feet, “Director, thank you for taking the time to meet with us. Please, have a seat. We have much to talk about.” Once Croaker sat, Hermione picked up the tale, “I don’t know if you’ve been keeping track of what’s going on in the muggle world but there’s a new international initiative to return to the moon as well as establishing a colony on Mars. Harry and I had the idea of submitting our applications to join but we’ve run into a bit of a snag.”

Croaker rubbed his chin, “You wouldn’t be able to use magic in their presence. I’m guessing that you’d need my department’s permission to bring them into the knowledge of our world?”

“Exactly, and as a peace offering for what transpired there two years ago, we’re willing to share any and all knowledge, techniques and skills learned while in the program and mission.”

Croaker stared passively at the nervous teens before slowly nodding, “We have been keeping a sort-of close watch on the muggle world but I must admit that we didn’t expect this. It would be a foolish move on our part if we didn’t agree to this collaboration. The amount of knowledge that could be garnered from this is staggering.”

Harry gestured with his thumb between him and Hermione, “While we were waiting for you, we came up with a research project of our own within the overall mission. Does magic exist on other worlds? Could we perform magic on say the Moon, Mars, or anywhere else we may end up or does magic only exist within this one planet?”

Croaker sat up, his eyes glittering as the possibilities of this program started racing through his mind. Saul got an eager expression on his face which Dan caught and caused him to smirk, “We have the application here, sir. All the kids need from you is a letter of recommendation and an official document stating that magic is real. Would you need us to contact our government beforehand?”

Saul distractedly replied, “We already have procedures in place to read heads of state or other important people into the existence of magic. Who else besides your trainers, were you thinking of?”

“Well,” Harry temporized, “We were thinking of the direct command line like the chief scientists and administrators involved plus the final crew of the mission. As for the astronaut training instructors, that would probably have to be on a case by case basis.”

“I have a question,” all eyes swung over to Emma, “Does the British branch of this…Department of Mysteries have the authority to intercede in the United States? That’s where the program will be held according to the presenter.”

Croaker nodded understandingly, “Ordinarily no, but I’m also the Senior Representative of the ICW Unspeakables, it’s similar in administrative power as the Supreme Mugwump. If I give an order, the Americans will most likely accept my authority without too much fuss. If not, I’ll work something out.”

Hermione was still on the fence about committing themselves to everything for such a long period of time. Dan leant forward to add his thoughts, “I say go ahead and join. At best, you’ll get to try and learn something no one has ever done before and at worst; well, you’ll always have a home to come back to.”

With the help of her parents plus Director Croaker, Hermione and Harry drafted a letter expressing their interest in joining the newly created ISA and included all of their qualifications, even the magic that they learned from Hogwarts then mailed them both out.

“Do you think that I have enough NEWTs to prove my qualifications?” Harry asked in mock-confusion.

“Harry, we haven’t sat our NEWTs yet. Your OWLs on the other hand, I think you did quite well despite the poor grade you got in Divination,” she drily commented.

Neither teen expected there to be a response given how silly their letters sounded from an outsider’s perspective, not even with the promise of action given by Croaker. ‘A witch and a wizard, offering their knowledge and skills of magic to leave home and fly into space,’ It sounded like some sort of cheap B-movie science fiction plot.

A month later, the doorbell rang. Hermione answered the door and smiled at the mailman, “Good morning.”

“Morning, Miss Granger. I have two rather large packages for you.” He hefted the mail bucket off the truck and handed it over. She thanked him and took the box inside. She picked up one of the labels and let out an ear-piercing squeal.

Harry came barreling into the room armed with an egg whisk, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Hermione beamed with delight as she showed him the packages, “We’re going to astronaut training, Harry! We’re going to go into space!”

Chapter Text

Chapter One: The Future Is Now

July 1998 – July 2000

After getting their orders but before they left; Harry and Hermione took a trip into Diagon Alley to speak with Garrick Ollivander about an idea Hermione had. The wandmaker’s shop had just recently re-opened for business so when the pair stepped in, they saw that there was already a bit of a line.

“Ah, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger; it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Ollivander greeted them when he caught sight of the Heroes of Magical Britain. The other patrons gasped and backed out of the way.

Harry grimaced slightly at the adoration, “Hello, Mr. Ollivander. Please continue with what you’re doing, we’ll be content to wait our turn.” Three patrons later and they were up at the counter, “Mr. Ollivander, would you be up to a bit of experimentation?”

Garrick beamed, “For you my dears, anything. What did you have in mind?”

Hermione brought out a sketch from her pocket, “We’re going to be heading off on a working vacation amongst the muggles and most likely will not be able to carry a standard wand. We were wondering if our wands could be reshaped into a man’s and woman’s ring.”

Garrick sucked on the inside of his cheek as he examined her sketch and their wands before nodding, “I’d say so. The wand is merely wood, even if it is a magical variant. A bit of steam heating and it will become pliable. But, if you wanted to start from the beginning, I do have other rings in stock we could try out.”

“Really? If those rings are available, why go through the trouble with standard wand shapes?”

Garrick shrugged, “Preferences, usually. Normally, the clients I get who request a ring usually have some sort of injury to their hands that prevent them from gripping a wand.”

“Are there any changes in spell casting with a ring versus a standard wand?”

“Yes, there’s less direction. A ring will produce wide-area effects as opposed to a wand which acts like a hosepipe or a conductor’s baton.”

Harry grew thoughtful as he turned to look at Hermione, “We don’t really have the time to learn a whole new way of casting magic.”

Hermione too, appeared discouraged, “Damn, well at least we did learn something. We’re sorry we wasted your time, Mr. Ollivander.”

Garrick waved them down, “Oh, it wasn’t a problem, my dear. I enjoy answering these sorts of questions. It’s not every day when someone presents an interesting problem.”

 When they returned home, the pair found out that Mrs. Granger had packed for them and already loaded their bags into the car. She and Dan drove the pair to Heathrow Airport before saying their tearful goodbyes. “Mum, it’s not like we’re going off to die or anything. It’s just an introduction and training right now,” Hermione said soothingly.

“I don’t care. I was the same way when we loaded you onto that damn train when you were eleven. You do your best and keep each other safe, you hear me?” She leveled a finger at both Hermione and Harry.

Dan was less effusive but no less heartfelt with his goodbyes before he urged them to get in line to go through airport security. Soon, they were loaded onto a plane to Houston, Texas where the Johnson Space Center’s Astronaut Training Facilities were located. Over the course of two years, both Harry and Hermione’s days were filled with intensive training, both physically and mentally. They had exercises and near continuous fitness tests that they had to go through. Things like receiving instructions in land and sea survival, scuba diving, and space suits.

One training cycle they had to go through was land survival training at the U.S. Navy’s wilderness site in Rangeley, Maine. Each candidate was issued camouflage clothing and a poncho plus two canteens, a bayonet, iodine tablets, a compass and a map; all stuffed into a backpack. As a concession to their magical skills, both Harry and Hermione were allowed to use their wands and perform magic while on the survival training exercises. In addition to the cross-country treks back to base, the pair had to take tests on the creation and coordinate mapping for portkeys, both timed and voice-activated. Both also had to demonstrate the proper methods of performing combat medicine on themselves as if they or a team member was injured in some way that prevented portkey or apparition travel. They impressed their trainers with their determination and drive; not once did they complain about their circumstances or whatever ‘fresh Hell’ the trainers tried to foist upon them.

One evening, they were pulled aside by the instructors, “We’ve got a question for you. How is it that two young people like yourselves are so adept at wilderness survival?”

Harry glanced askance at Hermione who was busy mauling her lower lip, “Well, that answer depends on whether or not you had a visit by a Director Croaker or someone from his department.”

The instructors blinked, “Um, strange people dressed all in cloaks?”

“That’s them. To answer your question, the both of us survived a civil war in Britain against the dark forces of the now dead Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.”

One sandy-haired instructor’s mouth dropped open, “You’re that Harry Potter? Whoa…”

Hermione burst out into giggles, “Muggleborn?” The instructor dumbly nodded.

Their survival training wasn’t always an endless serious trek through the countryside. One morning, Hermione transfigured the soles of Harry’s boots to resemble the paw prints of the American Black Bear. Near panic shot through the group when someone discovered the tracks and thought a bear was hunting them. They’d taken up shelter in the trees for nearly two hours before Harry spotted the mirth on Hermione’s face and checked himself out and discovered the prank.

After the survival courses, the candidates attended classes on shuttle systems, in basic science and technology: mathematics, geology meteorology, guidance and navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, astronomy, physics, and materials processing are among the subjects. At one point, Harry made a joking comment that he wished he could see the look on Weasley’s face if the redhead ever found out about what they were up to. “I can just picture in my mind what his comments would be.”

Hermione sniffed haughtily as she read through her notes on lunar geology, “Probably something along the lines of, ‘Are you barmy? Why are you bothering with that when there’s chess and Quidditch to obsess over?’” Harry laughed at her imitation.

As part of the Astronaut Candidate training program, Harry and Hermione were required to complete military water survival prior to beginning their flying syllabus, and become SCUBA qualified to prepare them for the extravehicular activity training. Consequently, all Astronaut Candidates (Harry nearly wet himself from laughing when he found out about the abbreviation of ‘AsCans’) were required to pass a swimming test during their first month of training. As a prank, Harry conjured up a pair of children’s ‘floaties’ and handed them out to the other swimmers. They had to swim 3 lengths of a 25 meter pool in a flight suit and tennis shoes. The strokes allowed were freestyle, breast, and sidestroke. There was no time limit but naturally Harry turned his swim into a bit of a competition with Hermione and she naturally reciprocated. They also had to tread water continuously for 10 minutes.

“If only Madam Bones and Mad-Eye were still amongst us,” Hermione side-whispered to Harry as they awaited their turn.

“Why’s that?” Harry replied as he checked over his swim goggles, wishing he’d had these back during the Second Task.

“Imagine what their reactions would be if they could see what sort of physical training the AsCans get in comparison to what the Auror Trainees receive.”

Harry made an appreciative noise, “Well, pay attention to what’s going on here and we can send a memory vial back to Kingsley.”

They were also exposed to the problems associated with high (hyperbaric) and low (hypobaric) atmospheric pressures in the altitude chambers and learn to deal with emergencies associated with these conditions. In addition, Harry and Hermione were given exposure to the microgravity of space flight using a modified KC-135 jet aircraft to produce periods of weightlessness for 20 seconds by flying in a parabolic arc. During this brief period, astronauts experience the feeling of microgravity. The aircraft then returned to the original altitude and the sequence is repeated up to 40 times in a day. Harry had a blast while Hermione turned green and vomited a couple of times until her stomach got used to the rapid gravity changes. The technicians went to go hand her a containment bag but were astonished to see her pull her wand and vanish the puke.

Because of the entirely new project, every candidate was set up to take the pilot and commander training modules. They maintained their flying proficiency by flying 15 hours per month in NASA's fleet of 2-seat T-38 jets; built up jet aircraft hours and also practiced Orbiter landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft, a modified corporate jet aircraft. Harry did better (in his opinion) and chalked up his skills as a pilot from playing the Seeker position back at Hogwarts. Hermione would just glare at him every time he landed for making it seem so easy. Then just to prove that she was just as capable as him, she went up and smashed all of his records. The instructor asked if this was going to be a continuous thing between the pair of them. Harry said it was a normal occurrence and had been since they were eleven years old and in the same classes.

“It’s just a thing between us. There’s no animosity and we always share what we’ve learned and experienced with each other.”

It was about nine months into their training when Harry politely inquired when they would be starting on learning Liberty’s systems. He was worried that maybe they’d been accidentally rerouted into the wrong career track. The instructor replied that all candidates, regardless of where they ended up had to start off with the established courses. “Think of this like the first two years of community college before going onto the university levels. Don’t worry, everything’s been planned out.”

The pair began their formal space transportation system training program during their year of candidacy by reading manuals and by taking computer-based training lessons on the various Orbiter systems ranging from propulsion to environmental control.

The next step in the training process was the single systems trainer (SST). Each astronaut is accompanied by an instructor who helped in the learning process about the operations of each Orbiter subsystem using checklists similar to those found on a mission. The astronauts were trained in the SSTs to operate each system, to recognize malfunctions, and to perform corrective actions.

Following the SST portion of the training program, the astronauts begin training in the complex Shuttle Mission Simulators (SMSs). The SMS provided training in all areas of shuttle vehicle operations and in all systems tasks associated with the major flight phases: prelaunch, ascent, orbit operations, entry and landing. The orbit training included payload operation, payload deployment and retrieval, maneuvers, and rendezvous. Two additional simulators, a fixed base and a motion base, were used to train the astronauts.

Harry cracked a joke that even got his instructors to smile a bit, “These things are awesome but where do you put the 10p coin to start the machine?”

As the candidates neared the end of the two-year training course, Harry and Hermione were ordered to Conference Room A113 to take part in a formalized meet and greet with the rest of the finalized selection of the crew. Hermione had wondered why it had taken so long to make that decision but Harry just chalked it up to making sure that they got the best of the lot. “Remember all the candidates we had in our AsCans group? I suspect that the administration would want to wait until the last possible moment to weed out the unqualified.”

“I guess.”

They entered the room and saw that there were over a hundred people inside. They each took a pair of unoccupied seats and quietly chatted with their neighbors. It wasn’t long before an U.S. Navy Admiral stepped up to the podium, “Let’s get this started, shall we? I’m not one for grandiose speeches, that’s for the politicians. My name is Admiral Dwayne Forrest and I am the Head of the Logistics side of the Liberty Project. To my right is Dr. Sheldon Leonard from Great Britain and Chief of Astronomer. Next to him is Canadian Chief of Astrophysics Dr. Marcus Williams. On my left is Dr. Yoshi Akasaki from Japan and our Chief of Nuclear Physics. He’s the one leading the research for the implementation of the NERVA-III reactors. Next to him is Mr. William Nelson, Director of NASA and Operations Chief for the program. We have Mr. Daniel Watson from Oregon, USA and our Chief Engineer. Last but not least is Dr. Alie Newton our Chief Pyschologist.”

A round of applause was given; when it petered out, Forrest continued, “Now for the first ever crew of the ISA Liberty. If you would stand to be recognized? I’ll let you all personalize your introductions later. Our officers, Captain Silvia Connelly and Commander Hamish Flanagan; Next, in no particular order: Hermione Granger, our AI Specialist; Harry Potter, our Stellar Cartographer and Navigator; Juan Galandro, our Propulsion Engineer; Lisette Guinier, our Environmental Engineer; Nathan Janssens, our Communications Specialist; Guilia Ferrari, our Sciences Officer; incidentally she’s also our Medical Doctor and in-flight psychologist. Next, we have Astrid Ericksson, our Logistics Officer; Kevin Garrett, our Satellite Control Officer; Rhys Barber, our Food and Hospitality Coordinator, and Malcolm Jacobs, our Defensive Systems Specialist. He’s the one who’ll keep track of space debris and get out there with a broom to knock the junk away from the ship.” That garnered some light laughter and a round of applause.

“Now,” Forrest grew serious, “There’s one other person here who needs to be introduced. I ask you to put aside your disbelief for the time being. He will be re-introducing two people here who share in the same sort of ability that he has.” A shrouded figure faded into view on stage, seemingly without even making a noise, “This is Director Saul Croaker of the British Ministry for Magic’s Department of Mysteries and Senior Representative for the International Confederation of Wizards.”

Croaker bowed his head towards everyone, “Thank you, Admiral. Let me preface what I am about to reveal by saying that magic is real. That’s right, honest to whatever deity you believe in, magic…” Saul pulled out his wand and conjured up a flight of birds, transfigured one of the desks into a saber tooth tiger as well as causing a couple of people to float in the air before reversing it all back to normal. “There are two people here who can do the same as I just did. Their names are Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger (both stood up.) Both of them have studied for seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. Don’t let their youthful appearances fool you; they have seen and done more than people twice their ages could ever expect to in a single lifetime. They are part of a joint study into seeing if magic exists and can be used on other worlds like the Moon and Mars as well as an information exchange between this world and ours. You will be seeing them pulling out their own wands and performing incredible acts that defy explanation, though if you ask them; I’m sure they’d be happy to explain. Magic is not something to be feared. It is a tool, nothing more complicated than learning how to fly an airplane or going into space onboard the shuttle.” A couple of nervous titters were heard. Both Harry and Hermione demonstrated a few skills that they had, like casting a Patronus, causing an orb of light to appear in their hands, changing their appearances into someone else and apparating from one side of the room to the other.

Months and months of training and preparing paid off. At the end of the two years, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were certified to work as astronauts. Hermione’s parents were there for the graduation ceremony as was Director Croaker (and as a huge surprise for Harry and Hermione) Minerva McGonagall.

Minerva greeted the pair as they stepped off the stage, “It does my heart a world of good to see that you’re both looking so healthy and ready to take the next step into a much larger world,” She glanced around at all the unfamiliar items like the mockups of satellites hanging from the ceiling and vintage spacecraft mounted around the room as well as the electric lighting, “I dinna ken that any of this was possible. I hope that someday you’ll both come back and share your adventures with the rest of the school.”

Hermione embraced her former Head of House, “It would be our pleasure. Director, thank you for coming along as well.”

Saul snorted lightly, “Are you kidding? Me, miss an opportunity to stick the memories of what I’ve seen here in the faces of the fuddy-duddies back home?”

“So, what’s next for you two?” Minerva asked as she selected a glass of water from the table.

Harry stretched a bit and loosened his collar, “Next, we’re going to be moving over to the in-depth training for the Liberty mission. If you think everything here is high-tech, you should see some of what’s waiting for us. It’d blow your minds!”

Dan leant in, “Can you give us any details or is it still classified?”

Hermione shook her head, “It’s not anymore, or at least the basic overview isn’t. The Liberty is going to have a number of revolutionary systems onboard like suspended animation life-pods; something called a ‘warp drive,’ artificial gravity and an artificial intelligence or AI.”

Saul cocked his head, “AI?”

“As near as I understand it now, the Artificial Intelligence or AI, will be a personality given to the ship’s computer core in order to make it more personable to the crew, allowing them to speak normally as you and I are, to accomplish various tasks. The computer would be able to handle the more mundane tasks like making sure the plumbing in the engineering module works or processing the sensor data as it comes in, all at speeds much faster than a human being could perform them.”

“So do either of you have any plans as to which field of study you want to pursue?” Minerva asked.

Harry glanced briefly at Hermione, “I’m going into Stellar Cartography and Navigation. Basically, it would be my job to make sure we didn’t get lost and to make the star maps for later missions. On top of that, both of us are going to be running our experiments on whether or not magic can be used off-world. I’ve already spoken with the project manager and mission planner so I can pack a Traveling Trunk’s worth of stuff like wardstones, rune sets, potions, my broom plus a back-up and a couple of portkeys.”

Hermione added in, “I’m getting into developing the AI core and Sensor Processing. Both are cutting edge technology and I was thinking that maybe we could introduce the engineering team to the existence of a pensieve. I had some ideas on how our memories and playback features of the pensieve could be used to improve things.”

Croaker appeared pleasantly surprised, “I have no problem with loaning you a department’s pensieve just so long as you take good care of it. The last person we lent one out to; never bothered to return it. We had to go in and yank it out of his office.”

Harry nearly snorted up his drink, “Let me guess, this person had a ridiculously long white beard and treated everyone sanctimoniously?”

Croaker grinned, “Got it in one, Mr. Potter.”

“So did you hear about the theft and launch of the prototype?” Harry asked the group a moment later. No one apparently had so he elaborated, “So, first a bit of background information on the prototype. It had been built by Douglas-Yoshino Aerospace back even before the ISA had been founded and would’ve been used as a training platform for the planned Liberty-class starship. The prototype DY-100, it never received an official name, looked like a conglomeration of leftover parts salvaged from a junkyard slapped together by a five-year-old. The forward habitation module was shaped like a cigar with a wedge-shaped ‘sail’ sticking out of the top while the central spine that house all of the fuel, water and control systems resembled one of the many high-rise construction cranes dotting the landscape. There were four wedge-shaped cargo modules attached around the center spine that would contain the necessary supplies to support a burgeoning colony. The prototype’s engineering module used a single early model nuclear fission reactor to power its rockets for propulsion and primitive suspended animation lifepods in a sleeper ship configuration that required the occupants to be put into a medical coma before launch. It required a cluster of ten booster rockets attached to a framework secured around the base of the engineering section to get it up into low Earth orbit.”

The others either nodded their understanding or at the very least showed that they were following along.

Harry shrugged, “So anyways, some group of unknown thieves managed to get onto the base’s launch facility and made off with the prototype. From what I heard, it was a beautiful launch too. The flight path was straight and true and reached orbit without any problems before firing its main thrusters and leaving Earth’s orbit for the outer planets.”

“Did the authorities ever get word from the thieves as to why they stole it?”

No, and I’m not worried about anyone who might still be on board. If it’s ever found again, they’ll be long dead.”

Emma furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement, “How do you figure? It’s a sleeper ship design, right?”

Harry waggled his hand, “Yeah, but there were a number of problems with the systems that hadn’t been resolved until after its theft and launch. According to the last known reliable sensor data, the flight path it took as it approached Uranus; indicates that it’s most likely going to end up drifting into a dense section of the Oort Cloud. If by some miracle that the ship does emerge intact, the crew’s going to be dust. The techs in charge of the suspended animation programming told me about the faulty regulatory subroutines within the computer core that governed how long a person could remain under sedation in the lifepods. Apparently, it glitches out after a month of operation then goes and cuts the oxygen; the person will continue to sleep until they suffocate.”

“Ouch.”

Harry snorted lightly, “Yeah, so they then told me about the fix that was made for our ship and so far, it seems to be working. The test cases have been under for just about six weeks with no apparent problems.”

“So would it be possible for someone onboard to apply the patch and reload the life support?”

Harry gave them an evil grin, “They’d have to contact Earth and explain the situation. On top of that, it takes a specially trained team eight hours to reload the life support from the outside. I seriously doubt that ISA would bother. ‘Oh, you want our help after stealing a super expensive, one of a kind spacecraft from us? Have a good flight, losers.’” The others laughed at Harry’s deadpanned delivery.

“I’m surprised the American military didn’t try to shoot it down,” Dan commented.

“Yeah, I’m not sure why either but I did hear some rumors that a call had been sent to their command saying that the launch was authorized.”

“So, explain this ‘warp drive.’ I’m guessing it doesn’t have anything to do with weaving, eh?” Dan questioned them.

Hermione giggled, “No, Daddy. The warp drive is an engine that will, hopefully, propel the ship past superluminal speeds or in general terms, faster-than-light. It’ll first be tested on an unmanned drone ship and sent out into the solar system testing various features and subsystems until it can be proven to be safe around people. According to the talk around the water cooler, the company in charge of it has one already in orbit. I don’t know if they’ve achieved light speed yet but it’s going to be quite the show!”

“So, going light speed, how long would it take to go from here to Mars?” Dan wanted to know.

“About three minutes,” Hermione replied after finishing a bite of her lunch.

Jaws dropped at her words. Emma managed to squeak out, “Three minutes?! “

 “Mum, keep in mind that in theory, the closest that Earth and Mars would approach each other would be when Mars is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) and Earth is at its farthest (aphelion). This would put the planets only 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers) apart. However, this has never happened in recorded history. The closest recorded approach of the two planets will occur in 2003 when they will only be 34.8 million miles (56 million km) apart. At that distance, it will only take us a little over 3 minutes to reach Mars but ISA is going to play it safe and aim for the average distance. The average distance between Earth and Mars is 140 million miles (225 million km) and take 751 seconds, or just over 12.5 minutes.”

The adults, bar Saul shook their heads as they tried to wrap their minds around the speeds and how little time was now involved with traveling to another planet. Minerva reached for something stiffer than water.

Monday 10 January 2000

With the New Year celebrations firmly behind them, the Liberty Project shifted into high gear. Harry had been transferred to the Northrop-Grumman company out in Southern California to take part in learning about astronavigation while Hermione went up to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to begin her work with creating a viable Artificial Intelligence. Despite being muggleborn or raised, with the assumption that they would automatically understand the futuristic technology, what they were accomplishing was nothing short of amazing.

Harry had called Hermione on the phone one evening, “You know what? I’m glad that no one from back home followed us here. I’m fairly certain they’d never be able to cope. Even Neville would be hard-pressed to keep up with the advancements that were talked about in maintaining crops in a zero-G environment.”

“I know but I think it’s probably for the best. No one aside from us seemed to have the overwhelming drive; I guess you could call it, to go beyond what was available. Luna once mentioned that this was one of the many reasons why the staunch purebloods feared the muggleborns so much. Rather than be content with ‘the way things have always been,’ we continue to explore and stick their noses into the inner workings of everything we come into contact with.”

Harry dropped the tone of his voice into something mystical, “We are the embodiment of the future, of what’s possible. We are The Muggleborn! Ooooh….” She giggled at his ‘spooky’ act.

“Prat. But yes, in essence you’re correct. So, enough about the past; how’re things going in sunny Southern California?”

Harry sighed lightly, “It’s going, I guess. These new touch screen navigation panels they’re working on are like something from those science fiction movies we’ve seen. It’s incredible, no more switches and dials, Hermione. I heard that the reduced amount of hardware is going to save the ship about sixty-six thousand pounds which could allow us to take more in cargo, fuel or anything else we can squeeze in onboard.”

“Wow, that’s huge, Harry. Well, I’ve got news as well. The AI team here has made a breakthrough. Thanks to the help from Director Croaker, we managed to get the ‘brain bag’ as Terry called it to work properly.”

“The ‘brain bag?’”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you more when we meet up again but it’s reminiscent of that room we encountered in the DoM. Remember that one that Ron had a problem with?” She hinted heavily as Harry made a noise of understanding and left it alone.

“Speaking of meeting up again, what’s your schedule looking like?” Harry asked her.

Her voice took on a playful measure, “What did you have in mind, Mr. Potter?”

“I was hoping for a reenactment of what we experienced two years ago in your parents’ house.”

She giggled as the memory resurfaced, “Well, if you can get in contact with the American Floo Network Authority to hook up your fireplace, I can promise that it’ll become the stuff of legends.” The sound of Harry bolting off to another room to write out a letter caused her to laugh uproariously.

Tuesday 1 February 2000; MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)

If there was one thing that Hermione hated about their project; it was the knowledge of where their ‘brain bag’ as her colleague Terry had described it, came from. The Department of Mysteries had sent over a team of four Unspeakables with an assortment of brains from their Memory Room. Each bag contained the disembodied brain from various human or humanoid creature ‘donors.’ At first, the CSAIL researchers were horrified at the sight of the jars, each brain floating serenely (yet at the same time menacingly) within the containers that kept them ‘alive.’ Even the Unspeakables (who were brought in to ‘read in’ the researchers to the existence of magic) were unnerving to those who’d never come across people like them before (which was everyone but Harry and Hermione.)

“You took the brain from a child?” one of the interns croaked at the sight of the small size container.

One of the Unspeakables shook their head, “This brain belonged to an elf that had received grievous injuries in the service of its Master.”

“An elf? As in Santa’s elves?” Dr. Hansen, the AI Lead Researcher, inquired as he peered at the smallest of the offered assortment.

“Not quite, sir,” Hermione supplied, “They’re a diminutive magical species raised to be subservient to humans. They handle all of the menial tasks in exchange for extracting a portion of their Master’s or Mistress’ magic.” She consulted her notes, “This one is named Tiny.”

Now, however, the scientists marveled at how well Tiny was adapting to his new surroundings. The other brains had all exhibited undesirable behaviors. One brain turned out to be from a convicted killer and tried to electrocute one of the researchers, another tried poisoning the others by causing a canister of argon gas to be released into the room. Yet another brain belonged to someone suffering from schizophrenia. Once it had woken up, it did nothing but scream in a disturbing way. Tiny, on the other hand, after being placed within a tank filled with a nutrient-rich aqueous solution and had his nerve endings connected to a hardware-to-wetware interface; was able to interact with them nearly effortlessly. There were some holdovers from Tiny’s original personality, like an overeager desire to please the team. Sometimes he did things like adjusting the temperature in the room without being asked simply because he misunderstood an overheard conversation about the actions of someone else being ‘cold.’ The team taught Tiny new words and terminology but seemed to run into a problem with his grammar structure because for some reason he kept speaking like a young child or referring to himself in the third person.

“Good morning, Tiny. Did you have a pleasant time yesterday?” Hermione asked when she entered the lab. There was 80’s rock music playing in the background.

“Tiny did, Miss. May Tiny be getting your morning cup of tea?” He seemed excited to see her again.

Hermione smiled warmly at the camera ‘face’ that had been built so they knew where and who Tiny was looking, “Thank you, but no. I’ve already had a cup this morning. Do you remember what we talked about yesterday? About going on a long voyage and getting to see a lot of new faces?”

“Yes, Miss. Tiny does; Tiny also has a question.”

“Go ahead.”

The voice took on a slight tinge of hope, “Will Tiny be allowed to stop speaking like an idiot?”

Hermione frowned, “What makes you believe that we forced you to do so?”

“Past experiences with wizards and witches.”

Hermione dropped her head and muttered prevarications on the birthplace of so many ‘intelligent people,’ “Tiny, we would love it if you were to speak normally. Unlike so many of my brethren, I know that elves are capable of being so much more.”

“Thank you, Hermione. It’s a relief that I no longer have to live a lie,” Tiny’s response was much more ‘human.’

She chuckled at that, “I can’t imagine; do all elves feel the same way about speaking like children?”

“Eh, most do. I remember my clan arguing with our former Master about getting the right to speak normally when not in the presence of anyone but him or his family. It took him about a week before he finally relented.”

“So now that we can communicate like civilized people, I wanted to ask you about the mistakes that cropped up during development.”

“You mean the temperature incident? That was entirely my fault; I didn’t have a good connection with the microphones so I only received half of the conversation.”

Hermione accepted that, “Fair enough. Are you looking forward to the mission?”

Tiny laughed; it was an odd ‘chuttering’ sound coming through the speakers, “A chance to get myself into a brand-new futuristic body and leave the planet to fly through the stars? Nah, I think I’d rather go back to my old life and scrub toilets.” Hermione joined him in the humor.

“So, what’s with the rock music?”

Tiny electronically ‘shrugged,’ “I was experimenting with manipulating the file directory and got curious as to what Pete was listening to yesterday. This genre is called ‘80s Rock’ and is pretty good though I prefer the rock and roll from the 1970s.”

She smiled at his preferences, “Do you like any band in particular?”

“From the seventies? I like Queen, Steppenwolf, Aerosmith, and the Rolling Stones the most.”

“That’s awesome, I’m glad to see you’re branching out. I was worried that you’d fall back to only liking Celestina Warbeck or the Weird Sisters.”

“Bleh, neither one have any talents in music compared to the muggles,” Tiny commented.

Saturday 5 February 2000, El Segundo, Southern California

Harry had been put up in an apartment near the Northrop-Grumman facility so he could remain close (and not run up a huge expense in a hotel.) He’d just returned from the post office to pick up his mail and packages. One letter caught his eye; it was written on parchment and had a wax seal from the House of Longbottom. Grinning, he took his parcels into his living room after making a quick stop in the kitchen to pick out a cold beer from the fridge. He dropped the mail bucket on the coffee table and slit open the seal.

30 January 2000

To: Mister Harry ‘Fancy Pants’ Potter

From: Lord Neville ‘Plodding Along’ Longbottom

Dear Mr. Fancy Pants;

I wasn’t sure if this would reach you before you left but Director Croaker said he knows how things work out there. Imagine my surprise when I found out that you’d left the magical world behind to go flying amongst the stars with the muggles. I think I sort of envy you, you know. You get to do something extraordinary while I’m still fussing with a bucket of soil and getting tangled up with a cutting of Devil’s Snare. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to write to you but there’s been a lot of work trying to rebuild our society after the war.

I guess I should start with that your timing on leaving was fortuitous, Harry. I heard from Gran that there were several highly placed ‘Mot members who were thinking of passing a law that restricted where and when the muggleborns were allowed to leave or with whom they were allowed to be with. It smacked of the sort of draconian measures that Umbridge tried to use back in fifth year. Fortunately, cooler and saner heads prevailed and the measure was struck down. Hogwarts has been largely rebuilt; there are still some plans on demolishing certain sections of the castle that hadn’t been used in centuries but it hasn’t been decided yet.

On some personal news, I’ve been accepted as Professor Sprout’s apprentice! Yay, I get paid to work with plants all day and teach the incoming firsties how to love them as much as I do! Luna sends her love, and maybe some Dirigible Plum jam, I can’t tell. It’s purple, that’s all I know. The biggest news here is we’re also pregnant! Well, she is but I’m certain I’ve gained some sympathy weight along the way. By the time you get this, she’ll be about six months gone. The Healers at Mungo’s have checked and we’ll be growing the Longbottom family by two with twins. She and her dad have been arguing with Gran about how to decorate the nursery. Xeno seems to think that the babies will be better off if their room has a color scheme that looks like it exploded out of a paint factory. Luna also wanted me to send along this photo of the latest sighting of the Crumple-horned Snorcack (truth be told; I think it’s just a fuzzy photo of a goat.) I’m not sure if you know but I’m discovering that pregnant women get some weird food cravings. Luna’s developed a burning need to consume large quantities of onions, mustard and something called ‘nacho cheese.’ I’m not sure where to get this kind of cheese but fortunately our elf does.

Did you hear about Ron? He got arrested and spent a year in Azkaban for attempting to sell stolen property from a muggle pawn shop he had broken into during a riot near Devon. The git then tried to sell their own stuff back to them claiming that they were old family heirlooms or some such rot. He didn’t even remove the identification tags from the merchandise either! How he managed to graduate remains a mystery even now. It was such a stupid thing he did that even Goyle was overheard commenting about how idiotic it was.

On top of that, Ron wasn’t the only Weasley to spend time in Azkaban. His own mother was convicted of attempting to potion the hearing members into letting her baby boy off over a ‘simple misunderstanding.’ From what Gran told me, she’d tried to slip the potion into an apple pie. The clerk who was supposed to deliver it apparently couldn’t resist taking a bite and ended up getting sent to the Potions ward at Mungo’s babbling about how Ron Weasley should be set free. An investigation was launched by Susan Bones, now an Investigative Auror; it was she who discovered Mrs. Weasley’s duplicity.

So far, the rest of the Weasley Family is laying low; Ginny is still out of the country, no doubt reveling in the ‘incredible wealth’ that her dear, sweet husband Draco has been able to provide for her. You should thank Luna for that pairing. She’d told both of them that by getting married, it would not only drive a stake into the hearts of their opposite father-in-laws but also provide a source of legitimacy to show that the Malfoys were serious about making reparations. From what Luna told me later, both Ginny and Draco thought it would be hilarious to force their parents into behaving civilly towards each other, at least in public. It was surprising to most of our friends, when they found out that both of them had been ‘secretly’ hooking up when they thought no one was looking. I guess they forgot about Luna’s Sight; that girl misses nothing.

I don’t know if you get the Prophet out there but Skeeter’s been up to her old muckraking lately. Because you missed the last two May 2^nd anniversary celebrations; she’s been spreading lies that you’re intentionally snubbing your nose at our ‘traditions’ and forsaking those who remained behind to suffer in silence to go as she put it, ‘piddle around in the dirt with the muggles.’ Umbridge has been making noise too that you ought to be arrested and dragged back to stand trial for the murders of ‘upstanding citizens.’ I wouldn’t worry too much about her anymore; Gran’s told me she put a word in Director Croaker’s ear that perhaps Dolores would make a great long-term research project of what happens to a person who has been subjected to an animal transfiguration charm. If we’re lucky, she’ll be soaking up the ‘sun’ in a terrarium in the Ministry’s Atrium soon.

Anyways, that’s about it hereabouts. I’ll let you get back to learning more about ‘Tommorowland’ or whatever it is that you call it out there.

Sincerely,

Neville

August 2000 Mojave Desert, Edwards Air Force Base

At the request of Admiral Forrest to Harry and Hermione to demonstrate some of their magical skills, the pair created a couple of group portkeys to take the senior staff from Houston out to the Dryden Research Flight Center located on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, 80 miles north of Los Angeles.

Harry met the group when they emerged from the otherspace realms of portkey travel. The moment the effects released the scientists, they immediately began chattering about future research projects. “Welcome, everyone to the tarmac of Edwards Air Force Base. My name is Harry Potter and I will be knocking your socks off. Admiral Forrest wanted you all to experience what magic entails. To do this, I will be showing you things like a flying broom, taking you one by one through a teleportation method known as ‘apparition’ and using my wand to transfigure a volunteer into an animal.”

He motioned over to a table that held his broom, “This is a wizard’s broom. Outwardly, it resembles any broomstick you’d find in homes across the world. What separates this from the non-magical variety is that these have been enchanted to fly. To activate them, a witch or wizard merely has to hold their hand over them and say, “Up!” (The broom leapt off the table and hovered hip-height next to Harry.) Unfortunately, you as non-magicals won’t be able to do this; you would need to have some access to magical power. Riding the broom is very similar to that of a bicycle, except that you can change your altitude on a broom.” Harry swung his leg over the broom shaft and positioned himself on the seat, “Most modern brooms have a cushioning charm built into the standard enchantments to improve comfort for the flier. Launching yourself is easy too; you just need to push off with your toes and hang on.”

With a tap of his feet, he rocketed off the ground and into the air. Harry raced around the awestruck group before coming in for a landing, “Who wants to try it?”

Eager hands from the audience immediately shot into the air.

Time Skip: June 2001 NASA Vehicle Assembly Building, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

The Liberty had reached a point where the major sub-assemblies had been completed by their respective contractors and been shipped to Florida so they could now be joined together for a systems integration test in the famous Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB. The planned launch was still four years away but just seeing some of the larger components coming together was a real morale boost to its crew and support teams.

Harry was overseeing the installation of the navigation array into the forward section of Liberty’s sensor suite when he heard his name being called. He looked up and smiled as he saw Hermione climbing the stairs, “Hey gorgeous, who let you out of the zoo?”

Hermione laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder, “Funny boy. They didn’t let me out, I escaped. There’s a nationwide woman-hunt for me.”

Taking on a lusty growl, he pulled her into him, “Maybe I ought to hide you away in my apartment until the authorities quit looking for you.” She just rolled her eyes at his antics and gestured to what he was working on. “We’re installing the Navigation sub-computers. It’s an upgrade from the original design and hopefully will reduce Tiny’s workload.”

She nodded along to his explanation, “Good, he was worried that he was going to be overloaded with minutia.”

“Nope, it’ll be like Percy Weasley sending him cauldron bottom thickness reports, utterly dry information but organized and sent in at regular intervals. Heh, I wonder if the real Percy would appreciate the humor.”

“Doubtful, Percy wouldn’t recognize humor even if it wore his mother’s face. On another note, did you hear about Tiny’s latest escapade?” She asked him.

“No, what did that scamp do now?”

“He’s discovered the joys of pranking. Last week, he managed to tap into the campus telephones and ordered a dozen large pizzas with weird toppings to be sent to the guard shack by the parking lot.” Harry burst out laughing. “The poor guard didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.”

“Crazy electronic elf,” Harry muttered and knelt down again to watch as the technicians wired up the harnesses into the main trunk line, “Were you going to stick around for a while?”

She knelt down too to peer inside, “Yeah, I’ve got a flight sim module I’m scheduled for. Why?”

“I thought I’d take you out for dinner.”

A lusty grin stole over her face as she leaned in to kiss him, “I’d rather you have me for dinner.” She laughed lightly when his head smacked the railing above him, “Awww, let me kiss you and make that better.” She gave him a tonsil-searing kiss that even the techs inside saw and cheered at. “Better?”

“Heh…wow…” was his only dopey and dreamy reply.

Later at dinner…

“So what’s the latest from the AWD group?” Harry asked as he examined his menu. It had been Hermione’s choice to come to Pizza Hut. Neither one wanted to experiment tonight (or for the next couple of years to be honest.)

“Well, the prototype sled was launched back in April and the first run was made last month; they got the sled up to twenty percent of light speed. Not bad but the power requirements were off the chart. What about your team?”

Harry shrugged and gave a neutral expression, “Not really much to report there. What we’re doing is mostly just updating the local star maps and plotting out where all of the garbage is that had been left in orbit from all of the previous launches. There’s a ton of junk up there; it’s a wonder that the ISS hasn’t encountered more problems. Martin was making noise about starting up his own company to go up to orbit to collect all the trash for recycling. I think that’d be a great idea if he could make it work. Who knows how much valuable materials could be up there?”

They paused for a couple of minutes to order their pizza and pasta before continuing their conversation.

“You mentioned Tiny’s introduction into pranking. What else has he gotten into?”

Hermione giggled, “The goofball somehow found out about the ship’s computer from the 1968 sci-fi flick ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ HAL 9000, I think it was called and started acting like it when it went crazy. For example, Tiny kept asking us over and over in an emotionless, monotonous voice, “What are you doing, Dave?” He then dropped the temperature in the room to damn near freezing and kicked on a recording of air raid sirens. When we went to go unplug him, he said, “This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.” He then released a gas into the room. We were all set to evacuate until someone noticed that it smelled like lemon-scented potpourri. He scared the crap out of everyone until Xu noticed that the monitor that measured ‘amusement’ was peaking scale high. I finally called Tiny on it and he just burst out laughing as he cut out the antics. He said he recorded the whole episode to share with the rest of the program.”

Harry was gripping his sides from laughing so hard, “Oh, that’s brilliant! Who’d have thought that elves could have such a wicked sense of humor?”

August 2001, Los Angeles, California, NBC Studios

Harry listened disparagingly to the critic as they espoused their argument against going into space. Harry, Hermione, along with a handful of other scientists from the space program, had been taking part in a nationwide media PR ‘meet and greet’ being hosted by a local television studio. ‘It’s a stunt if anyone had asked him. We’re going to go on this mission even if I have to fund it myself!’ “Research in outer space affords new opportunities in science but does not diminish the importance of science on earth,” The critic claimed, "It would not be in the national interest to exploit space science at the cost of weakening our efforts in other scientific endeavors. This need not happen if we plan our national program for space science and technology as part of a balanced effort in all science and technology."

Harry nudged Walter, his counterpart from Boeing and rolled his eyes in silent derision when the man glanced in his direction. Walter’s mouth twitched up slightly in response.

The critic continued on obliviously, “Robots could do our exploration better than humans, anyway. We would fall behind in other sciences because of our dedication to putting men on the moon.”

After the show, Harry entered his hotel room, flopped down in the chair and groaned at the short-sighted idiocy of people. Hermione entered his room a moment later grumbling, “There are times where these idiots ought to be identified at birth and shipped off somewhere they can’t hurt progress. It’s like dealing with Umbridge again.”

“Right? Sometimes I wonder if maybe the ICW could relax the laws regarding Unforgivables to allow the use of the Imperious Curse and cause these gits to jump off a cliff.”

Hermione laughed along with him then sighed, “I’m hungry. You want to grab some pizza and a beer?”

Harry hauled himself out of the chair, “Good idea. Any preference to which pizzeria you want?” She shook her head so he took her hand and apparated to a recommended restaurant in the San Fernando Valley.

March 2002 – Suspended Animation Training

Harry nervously eyed the pods that would hold a person in suspended animation in case their warp drive failed for one reason or another so Tiny could get the ship there without draining life support unnecessarily. “You sure they work this time? No side effects?” He glanced up at the calendar. It read November 16, 2001.

The technician made an indifferent noise, “Other than feeling like someone coated your tongue with tennis ball fuzz and a mild headache? Nah, none; you’ll be fine, sir. Have a seat and let me get you hooked up.”

Once everything was plugged in, Harry was instructed to lie down on the bed and close his eyes then count backwards from twenty.

Harry blinked awake after what seemed like only a few minutes and eventually spotted the same technician smiling down at him, “Wha…”

“Shhh, don’t try to speak. Your voice will come back to you in a little while. Here’s some water, don’t drink it too fast. It’ll taste a little weird but that’s only because of the electrolytes your body’s been missing.”

Harry finally cleared the fuzziness out of his mouth, “What went wrong? I was only under for a few minutes.”

The tech laughed lightly, “Take another look at the calendar, sir. You’ve been asleep for a little over four months.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide, “No way!”

“Yup, everything worked just as the manuals said they should. You should regain enough of your strength in a little bit then I’ll transfer you to sit upright in a chair.” He slid back over to check on the other pods, going through the exact same extraction procedure.

Harry caught up to Hermione later, “So how was it for you?”

“I’ll answer that when my headache goes away,” she grumbled as she massaged her temple.

“I’m curious to know what Croaker and his department will do when they see this set of memories.”

“Ugh, why?”

“An alternative to the Draught of Living Death? It’s all automatically controlled? No need to brew or store batches of the potion? No need to worry if you have enough ingredients?”

Her eyes cleared a bit more, “Yeah, I’d imagine they’d want to copy the technology. Scary thought too, in a way.”

“Come on, I know of a great way to relieve that headache.” He took her hand and began leading her back to the dorms.

“No sex, Harry. I’m not in the mood.”

“It’s not sex. I got some aromatherapy candles before we went under and I figured a quiet night of that and soothing music will put you back to rights.”

She stared at him with heavily-lidded eyes and dreamy smile, “Keep that up mister and I may reconsider the no sex thing.”

Tuesday 12 March 2002 Johnson Space Center flight ramp

As part of an interview on the long-term effects on the human body during zero gravity, a reporter and camera man from the BBC America were taken onboard the KC-135 Reduced Gravity Aircraft aka ‘Vomit Comet.’ They met with Liberty’s Science and Environmental Officers Guilia Ferrari and Lisette Guinier, respectively and listened with interest as the two women explained the theory and construction of the revolutionary artificial gravity system that would be installed on the Liberty.

Guilia opened the conversation, “Artificial gravity is the creation of an inertial force that mimics the effects of a gravitational force, usually by rotation. Artificial gravity, or rotational gravity, is the appearance of a centrifugal force in a rotating frame of reference as opposed to the force experienced in linear acceleration, which by the equivalence principle is indistinguishable from gravity. In a more general sense, "artificial gravity" may also refer to the effect of linear acceleration, e.g. by means of a rocket engine.

Rotational simulated gravity has been used in simulations to help astronauts train for extreme conditions. It has also been proposed as a solution in human spaceflight to the adverse health effects caused by prolonged weightlessness. However, there are no current practical outer space applications of artificial gravity for humans due to concerns about the size and cost of a spacecraft necessary to produce a useful centripetal force comparable to the gravitational field strength on Earth. Scientists are concerned about the effect of such a system on the inner ear of the occupants. The concern is that using centripetal force to create artificial gravity will cause disturbances in the inner ear leading to nausea and disorientation. The adverse effects may prove intolerable for the occupants.”

Lisette picked up the second part, “That all being said, scientists working with the European Space Agency or ESA have come up with a device consisting of a spinning superconductor capable of producing a powerful "gravitomagnetic field.”

“When will we be able to experience this new device?” The reporter asked.

Both Lisette and Guilia smirked, “You’re experiencing it right now. The field has been in operation since we achieved cruising altitude. If you look out the window, you’ll see our Second in Command Hamish Flanagan.” The reporter and camera man whirled around just in time to see Hamish floating in front of their window. He laughed and waved at their dumbfounded expressions.

October 2002 ISA Headquarters, Houston, Texas

Harry was currently in the flight simulator trying to find his way through a debris clogged orbit around the Earth. His eyes danced back and forth between his displays as his hands rapidly typed in the coordinates to avoid a discarded booster from who-knew-where that was heading in his direction. Just as he finished typing in the last instruction, his Master Caution and Warning light flared to life and an alarm started blaring announcing that an object of considerable size had snuck up from underneath and was on a collision course. If he moved out of the way, he ran the risk of colliding with another piece of space junk. ‘Damn, blocked in by at least four directions! Wait, let’s try this…’ He quick launched a pair of multi-function drones and ordered them to push the incoming surprise out of the way as if it were one of the cargo modules waiting to be disconnected from the spine and ready to be positioned for the ISS to dock with.

In the control room, the testing team was surprised by Harry’s unorthodox solution. “Nice trick. Let’s see what he does when a couple of thrusters die on him.”

Harry swore a blue streak when the port side thrusters croaked, “Gods damn it!” He immediately rolled ninety degrees and deployed the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS to act as a ‘third hand’ to push or deflect the incoming debris out of the way.

Again, the control test board was amazed by the unorthodox maneuvers, “Give him a power fluctuation in Battery Bus A.”

When Harry emerged, he was greeted by the Flight Sims Director, Sam Krause, “Novel solutions to the sneak attack, Potter. Using the repair drones and the Canadarm as interceptors? It’s going to be added to the training manual, you know unless the brass plans to bust you out of the program.”

Harry smirked and sketched a courtly bow, “I’m glad to help in any way I can, Sam and I doubt they’re going to cut me. I’m way too interesting to let go.”

Sam shook his head, “Smart ass. Go ahead and head off to the next training module.”

December 2002 Christmas Day, Granger Residence, Crawley, UK

Everyone had been given leave to visit with their families for the Christmas holidays so Harry and Hermione booked a portkey from the American magical government back to England. Dan greeted them at a specially marked off arrival section of Heathrow Airport, “Hermione, your mum wished she could join us but she had to deal with an unscheduled root canal.”

Harry flinched at the sound of that, “Sounds painful.”

Dan shrugged, “It happens. Come on, I’ve got the car waiting; we planned on picking up some curry for dinner tonight since both of you would probably be tired from traveling.”

“The newly designed Portkey pods aren’t as bad as they used to be but you’re right, we are tired from the time zone changes.”

The morning of Christmas day saw Harry stumbling down the stairs and into the kitchen to start brewing up some much-needed coffee. He spotted Emma perusing the morning paper, “Good morning, Emma.”

Emma glanced up and smiled, “Good morning, Harry. Did you sleep well?”

He shrugged, “Dunno, I was unconscious for most of it.”

“Funny man. There’s tea already brewed if you want it.”

“Ahh, been a while since I’ve had a decent cup of tea. I got used to coffee over in America, even the local sludge generously described as coffee.”

Emma looked curious, “How do you mess up on coffee?”

He snorted, “I don’t know but the engineers routinely manage it.” He poured himself a cup then took a seat next to Emma, “You still get the Daily Prophet?”

She grimaced slightly, “I guess we just never bothered to cancel our subscription. It’s still good for a laugh at times. There’s a section here that talks about confiscating the vaults from families that refused to takes sides during the war.”

Harry groaned at that, “Oh, I’m so glad that Hermione and I left all that behind.”

“Is your vault secure?”

“Yeah, no one would dare suggest touching especially since I’m the one who defeated Voldemort. If anything, people would try to donate to it.”

“Didn’t you or Hermione mention that you sort of destroyed the bank during the war?”

Harry waggled his hand, “Technically, a dragon destroyed the bank. We were just riding on its back but I did the honorable thing and opened up my family vault so I could return all of the Goblin-made items within in exchange for them not holding it hostage. You should’ve seen the looks on their faces, I don’t think they every expected that level of appeasement.”

She patted him on the arm, “You’re a good man, Harry Potter.”

April 2003

Harry was in the main assembly building watching as a massive crane lowered one of the two NERVA-III reactors onto their mounting points within the aft engineering block of the Liberty. He consulted his clipboard as technicians swarmed the technological marvel before heading down to oversee the installation of the Runic Fuel Converter Module.

“Potter; how’s it going?” Harry turned to see Harris ‘Bud’ Atkins, the day shift lead approaching him.

“Hey Bud. It’s going well, the reactor is almost in place and the Converter just needs to be bolted in and calibrated. What’s the word on your end?”

“Margery is almost due and really looking forward to being able to see her feet again.”

 Harry smirked at his coworker’s comments, “Are we still on schedule to launch by March of 2005?”

Bud shrugged, “We should be unless we get another sabotage attempt by those Earth First idiots again.”

Harry growled at the mention of the militant group of morons who thought that any and all science and technology should be strictly governed and regulated in service of the Earth before any consideration was given to ‘fanciful explorations of other worlds.’ So far, there had been numerous attempts of delaying or destroying sensitive equipment. They’d even gone so far as to try and kidnap the scientists and key staff members to be used as hostages to get what they wanted. Harry put an immediate stop to that by contacting the ICW Unspeakables (who had been kept apprised of the agreement with the exchange of knowledge and skills by Director Croaker.) The ICW rescued them then left a rather nasty calling card in the form of a runic ‘Obliviation bomb’ that wiped out all of the memories of the saboteurs involved. Last anyone heard, the terrorists were just re-learning the concept of opposable thumbs.

“How’s everything back in your country?” Bud inquired.

Harry was indifferent, “It’s going, I guess. I have friends who’ve remained connected to the other side and according to them the magical government is dragging its heels on overcoming the inherent corruption and greed from the previous administration. Hogwarts, fortunately, is seemingly immune to that idiocy so it got repaired relatively quickly. According to my friends, the Headmistress has instituted new classes to teach the students more up-to-date information about the muggle world as well as a class about the customs of the magical world.”

Bud shook his head derisively, “After all that you suffered, things still remain the same. I’m surprised that they haven’t demanded that you return to help out. Weren’t you famous for something back there?”

Harry growled again, “I was, and who says they haven’t tried? My best friend, Neville Longbottom and his wife, Luna wrote to me not long after we joined the ISA warning me about of the ideas and sentiments from the populace and the ‘Mot that I should be prevented from leaving Magical Britain as they described to go ‘piddle around with the muggles.’ Idiots…”

Bud clapped him on the shoulder, “Well, I’m glad that you’re here, Harry and that you didn’t bow down to peer pressure. We wouldn’t have nearly been this far ahead of schedule without you and Hermione.”

A week later, both Harry and Hermione took some vacation time and toured the Eastern Seaboard, stopping by some of the more popular attractions like Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida, the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C. and the Salem Witches Academy in Boston, Massachusetts. They stopped in on New York to see the memorial for the World Trade Center bombing, ambled along the Magical District near Central Park (plus Central Park itself) and took some touristy photos of the Statue of Liberty. It was a welcome break from the nonstop rush to get the ship built and launched on schedule.

The reconstruction of Magical Britain continued at a snail’s pace. It saddened and angered the pair as they read about the stories coming out that the purebloods were just falling back into the old ways of corruption, greed and bigotry. Harry and Neville continued to write back and forth to each other, both lamenting that there seemed to be no hope for the future generations of muggleborns.

‘If you were of mind, Neville; you should recommend to your muggleborn students and their families that they should band together and create some kind of telephone network so that if the ministry fails in its obligations again, they won’t be kept unaware.’ Harry had written once. ‘That goes true for all of the Light-oriented half and purebloods that are sick of the way the ministry is regressing.’

September 2004 Houston, Texas (6 months until launch)

When Hermione looked back on the past six years; it always amazed her on how much she’d learned and how far she’d come from her parents’ cozy little home in Crawley. Heck, even the time she spent in the magical world couldn’t compare to what awaited her in a mere six months! Come March of 2005, she and the crew of the ISA Liberty would be launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida up to orbit to join up with the International Space Station to oversee the final outfitting and first leg of their journey to the Moon and beyond.

Harry found her standing outside their apartment looking up at the stars; he quietly took her hand in his and joined with her in the stargazing. After several quiet moments, “What’s on your mind?”

“Just trying to take in the enormity of what we’re going to be doing in half a year. Six months and we’ll be amongst those very stars.”

Harry sniffed, “I know. It’s humbling; to think of where we’ve started compared to now.” He cleared his throat, “Come on, the movie is loaded and I made popcorn.”

“What are we watching?”

“The Misadventures of Harry Potter and the Phony Stone.” Hermione burst out laughing. “Nah, seriously, it’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

A week later…

Harry joined Hermione in the large amphitheater where she was part of a group discussing sending envoys to the magical world with the base’s psychologist Dr. Alie Newton. One of crew had made a comment that it would’ve been great if the magical world would finally come out of hiding like a bunch of timid children that caused both wixen to burst out laughing, “It’ll never happen. They’re utterly convinced of their own superiority over the so-called ‘dirt-scratching muggles.’ They live in the past and won’t look up from their narrow-minded worldviews unless forced to. You’d stand a better chance of convincing militant vegans that animal products are good for society.”

“But aren’t there some that would join modern society?”

Hermione bobbled her head, “Yes, but those are the muggleborns who already have non-magical families. There’s only a handful of magically born who’d even consider the notion and they’d need to be closely supervised in the beginning.”

Harry snorted, “Yeah, Arthur in particular.”

“Who?”

“Arthur Weasley is the Head of the Weasley Family back home and is a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ in all things non-magical. At best, he’s relatively harmless and an affable kind of man. At worst, he still treats muggles as simple children who have done ‘marvelous things despite their limitations.’”

Hermione expanded upon that, “The only reason why non-magicals don’t understand magic at all is because the wizarding world deliberately withholds information about it. However, even if the wizarding world kept doing that, it’d only be a matter of time a muggle figured out what magic was and how to either stop or harness it because that’s what humanity does. It pushes past what we think is impossible to see what’s on the other side.”

She paused and frowned for a moment, “The wizarding world isn’t a realm of infinite possibilities, it’s a universe of strict limitations where boundaries are never questioned. The muggle world is where the real magic happens. As an example, we joined magical society in 1991 and until we graduated in 1998, the non-magical world has discovered dark matter, cloned sheep and invented MP3s while the wizarding world was literally paying a simpleton to figure out what the purpose of a rubber duck was.”

Harry agreed with her, “The wizarding world prides itself on standing still because they think they’re already at the pinnacle. They’re not and one of these days, they’ll find out the hard way.”

October 2004 (5 months until launch)

Harry, Hermione and Director Croaker were in the Cargo Module Processing Center assisting in the loading of the modules with everything the mission required. As the boxes and crates were brought in, the trio would cast shrinking charms on the lot and reducing them to fit into a space no larger than the M-1 contoured containers used in cargo aircraft. The fuel and water tanks were loaded and shrunk before being loaded into special reinforced containers that would be shipped separately and loaded when the Liberty arrived at the ISS later.

Everything was color-coded for easier identification; food went in the green crates, medical supplies went in the white crates with the red stripes, entertainment went in the yellow crates and so on. The trio worked tirelessly as the workers moved around them.

When they did take a break, Harry popped the cap off of his energy drink and took a deep draw, “I think we’re making good progress today.”

Saul nodded, “I agree, I think we’ll be able to shrink the containers down by the start of the next worker shift and have them flight-ready by the end of the day.”

“Did you get permission to manufacture those lift plates?”

Croaker shook his head, “No, the ICW denied to allow us to use obvert magic to assist in the launch of the supplies.”

Hermione growled, “Did you tell them that the cargo launch would happen at night and the only thing that anyone would see is what appears to be an airplane taking off?”

Saul had a sneaky expression on his face, “I did but they still said no. However, since those lift plates are stored within my department and rarely used; I can’t help but think that they might just as easily get misplaced. I mean, when was the last time anyone actually saw them outside their packing crates?”

Harry burst out laughing, “You were a Slytherin, weren’t you?”

“Hufflepuff, actually.”

Hermione turned wide eyes to him, “You’re kidding!”

Saul shook his head, “Puffs may seem all sweetness and light but they are the embodiment of the school. They have the bravery, cunning and smarts but just don’t feel the need to make a scene.”

Harry quaffed the last of his drink and stood up, “Let’s get this done.”

November 2004 (4 months until launch)

Harry was in the swimming pool getting some exercise and to work off some surprise manic energy that had sprung up from nowhere. He wasn’t alone; Astrid, Guilia, Nathan and Rhys joined him as well and were swimming their own laps. As he stretched his arms out in a breast stroke, he happened to look down and spotted a Hermione-shaped mermaid swimming underneath him and smiling. She wore a bubblehead charm and a skintight one-piece bathing suit. Harry pulled up to a stop and treaded water before casting one on himself and ducking under.

‘What are you doing?’ he pantomimed.

‘Having fun.’ She signed back. ‘Want to join me?’

Harry glanced up towards the others, ‘We should include them too, if they want.’

She gave him a thumbs-up and swam to the surface. She canceled the charm and called out to the other swimmers, “Hey! You all want to try something fun?”

Guilia swum over, “What did you have in mind?” The others crowded in a moment later.

“Harry and I would like to cast a charm over you all so you too can swim like a fish. It’s called the ‘bubblehead charm.’ If you look below you, you’ll see what it looks like in action.” They all spotted Harry floating below; a rippling bubble encased his head. He threw them a thumbs-up and swam around them. She glanced up and saw the burgeoning grins of excitement so she pulled her wand out and cast the charm.

When Silvia entered the pool area to find out what happened to her crew, she caught them all under the water and swimming around like a school of fish. She stepped over to where the lifeguard stood watching them with an incredulous look on his face, “John, are you seeing this too?”

“It’s amazing what those two can do. Did you want me to get their attention?”

“Please. We have some simulations to run.” He nodded his understanding and dipped the speaker end of a megaphone into the water and gave the squawk button a quick press. There was a muffled thump of sound and rippling of the water before the five swimmers broke the surface, curiosity showing on their faces.

“Come on out, you fish people. We’ve still got work to do.”

December 2004 (3 months until launch)

Hermione was busy overseeing the installation of Tiny into Liberty’s computer core. The original intention had been to scan every single neuron and inner workings of the elf’s brain and recreate it within an optical computer in order to surpass Moore’s Law. The biggest hurdle was that no one knew if the transfer would work and as it turned out, it didn’t. The researchers nearly lost Tiny three times before finally admitting defeat for the time being. So, Tiny was securely loaded, tank and all into the ship. During the transfer, it had been agreed that Tiny would be put into a sort of ‘computer coma’ to minimize the stress of being moved.

Hermione gently traced her fingers over Tiny’s tank window and whispered, “Soon, Tiny, you will fly.”

“How’s he doing?” She turned and spotted Daniel Watson approaching.

“He’s sleeping right now.”

Daniel glanced through the window briefly then up at Hermione, “How are you doing?”

“Just peachy. I’m nervous, excited, anxious and everything in between.”

“That’s normal before every flight. I remember reading about the original Mercury Seven and the Shepard’s Prayer.”

Hermione quirked up an eyebrow in silent question.

“Alan Shepard muttered this right before his first flight, “Dear Lord, please don’t let me ‘eff’ this up.” Hermione let out a snort of laughter which released her tension somewhat.

“Thanks, Daniel.” He smiled warmly and patted her on the back before making his way onwards.

January 2005 (2 months before launch)

Liberty’s external cargo and fuel modules had been shrunk and launched into orbit using the purloined lift plates, thanks in quiet courtesy of Croaker. They were guided into position and temporarily docked with the ISS by remote. Kevin monitored the video relay on his screens and when the lights turned green, he announced, “We have hard dock. Clamps have engaged.”

Elsewhere, one of two massive Crawler Transporters moved a Mobile Launcher Platform into the VAB, where crews begin building the six Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs.) The assembly crews started with the aft skirt (the flared bottom section), then continued with the four main solid rocket propellant segments, and finished with the forward segment and nose cap. After that, they mounted the SRBs to the detachable cage which wrapped around the engineering section of the ship.

Harry watched as much as he could since he would be sequestered with the rest of the crew before the big day. Croaker quietly stood next to the young man. Harry finally turned to him, “Saul… Before I go, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for all the help and well…everything.” He held his hand out to his mentor.

Saul shook his hand, “You’re welcome Mr. Potter. Godspeed.”

February 2005 (1 month before launch)

Their final month on Earth was spent going over procedures and sitting through final briefings and meetings. During their quiet times, both Harry and Hermione wrote letters home; she to her parents, him to Neville and Minerva. Harry also wrote a letter to his account manager stating that if he didn’t survive his mission, he requested his vaults opened to every child within the Nation. He bequeathed the Potter Grimoire to Neville and the Potter Library to Minerva.

The evening before their launch date, Hermione joined Harry in bed. There were no words spoken, their lovemaking was passionate but not frantic. Afterwards, Harry just stared up through the skylight, the stars gazing down upon him as he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of flight.

Tuesday 1 March 2005 Launch Pad 39A (Launch day)

About 18 hours before launch, the Rotating Service Structure, a mobile portion of the launch pad that protects the vehicle and provides worker access while the rocket is at the pad, was rolled away. About nine hours before launch, the external tank that would be used by Liberty’s engines until it reached orbit, was filled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

At seven seconds until liftoff, Liberty’s main engines were started almost simultaneously. When the countdown clock ticked down to zero, the SRBs ignited. A heart pounding rumble filled the air as Liberty began clawing its way into the sky. Everyone even remotely connected to the program cheered their lungs out as Liberty gained her wings.

Onboard, Tiny was awake and monitoring all of the systems making sure that nothing went wrong. If he’d still had a mouth he would’ve been grinning viciously at the momentous feeling he was experiencing. In an inspired moment, he quickly ran through the stored files and blasted his favorite song over the airwaves at full blast. Tiny let out a warbling yell over the radio as the boosters ignited, “LET’S ROCK AND ROLL!”

“I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine,
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near, to the stars away from here

Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride!
You don't know what we can see!
Why don't you tell your dreams to me?
Fantasy will set you free,
Close your eyes girl,
Look inside girl,
Let the sound take you away!”

Ninety minutes later, Launch Pad 39B STS Discovery

Safely tucked away in the space shuttle’s cargo bay, Liberty’s full crew anxiously awaited their ride’s orders to launch. The bay had been fitted with a specially designed ‘passenger’ module which would be carried up to orbit then robotically positioned and docked with the ISS where they would make their way through the station and into Liberty which should’ve finished its docking maneuvers not too long ago.

Harry glanced over at Hermione who was staring resolutely straight ahead of her, gripping onto the armrests with white knuckles, “Will you relax? We’ve simulated this plenty of times.”

Hermione didn’t even look in his direction, “But this time it’s for real, Harry.”

They all witnessed the launch of Liberty and cheered loudly as Tiny made the moment even more memorable with his rebel yell and accompanying music.

“That crazy elf! I wish we’d thought of that!” Harry yelled out over the din.

The overhead speakers flared to life, “Liberty crew, stand-by for the final countdown. We are at T-minus two minutes and counting.” Everyone settled into their seats and began their breathing exercises and mentally reviewing emergency procedures.

“T-Minus one minute, vehicle is in start-up. Main engines have pressed for flight.” Harry squirmed to get comfortable.

“T-Minus thirty seconds, here we go ladies and gentlemen.” Hermione grabbed onto Harry’s hand.

“T-Minus fifteen seconds, Discovery you are go for launch.”

“T-Minus ten…nine…eight…seven, we have main engine ignition …six…five…four, main engines at full throttle…three…two…one…”

The roar of the main engines was instantly drowned out by the deafening thunder of the solid rocket boosters as the Space Shuttle Discovery leapt off the pad and roared into the sky. Distantly over their headsets, they could just barely hear Launch Control call out, “Godspeed, Liberty Crew!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Liberty has Landed: A Return to the Moon

Tuesday 1 March 2005, moments after the end of the previous chapter

Eight and a half minutes. That’s how long it took the space shuttle to go from Cape Canaveral to Earth’s orbit where Liberty and the International Space Station awaited them. Eight and a half minutes to go from the warm Florida swamplands to the vacuum of space.

For Harry, it was the most exhilarating time of his life. The G-forces built up until it felt like Hagrid was sitting on his chest with a dragon roaring in his ears. Just when everything seemed about ready to fall apart, the boosters burnt out and fell away followed soon after by the main engines and external tank.

For Hermione, the launch was like being compressed through a first time apparition combined with the noise of a roaring volcano. For the briefest moment she felt like she’d made a gigantic mistake; that she should’ve gone into library sciences like she’d originally planned back in first year. She was a heartbeat away from grabbing her emergency portkey she wore around her neck when everything vanished. The noise, the vibration, the G-forces…she opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the Earth falling away on the monitors.

Six hours later…

Once the shuttle had achieved a stable orbit, the cargo bay doors opened to allow the passenger module and its inhabitants their first glimpse of the Earth without the aid of television monitors. Hermione stared out of the window, her eyes filling with unashamed tears. Harry floated over to her and gently embraced her. “I see it. It’s beautiful, Harry,” she whispered and pointed to a spot below her.

He followed her finger and saw that she’d been pointing at Britain, “It really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? After seven years of Hogwarts and all that Magical Britain threw at us plus two years of AsCan School then five years putting Liberty together.”

She turned and kissed him, “It was worth it.”

The shuttle docked with the ISS without any difficulties and began offloading their passengers. They were greeted and welcomed by the onboard crew of the ISS and directed to where Liberty was docked. Captain Connelly floated forwards and checked the controls of the docking collar before activating the radio, “Liberty, this is Captain Silvia Connelly. Tiny do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Captain; come on in.”

She popped the seals and with Hamish’s help, raised the hatch out of the way. The crew and officers floated in and headed off to their respective stations for a post-launch check of the ship and her systems. Hermione floated up through one of the many access tubes to Deck Two where the Memory Core Room and Tiny rested, she glanced at his status lights; they were showing all green.

“Tiny? Are you okay? Speak to me, please.”

“I can’t,” was his slightly strained reply.

“Why not?” She grew worried, had something happened during the launch?

“Because the words I want to use, I can’t use because everything we say is getting picked up by everyone on Earth.”

Hermione burst out into laughter and the momentary tension broke. She, along with everyone else who was connected to the line, chuckled at the elf’s complaint. Later, they would find out that Tiny was correct; everyone on Earth did hear what he’d said and laughed themselves silly. Former and current astronauts around the world commiserated with the awestruck elf.

“You funny elf, are you ready for the activation checklist?”

Tiny took a fortifying ‘breath,’ “Let’s do this.”

Hermione hooked her feet onto the Velcro surface in front of her station and attached a set of tie-down clips to her suit to keep her from floating away. She reached into the locker next to the main panel and removed the checklist within. Her worry and anxiety fell away as her training took over, “Verify CB status per Initial Activation status chart.”

“Verified.”

“C/W POWER – 1.”

“Up.”

“MASTER ALARM pb/lt (3).”

“On.”

“CB for G/N COMPUTER MNA.”

“Closed.”

“CB for G/N COMPUTER MNB.”

“Closed.”

Navigation Station, Deck One

Harry was busy going through his own activation checklist, “Tiny, as soon as you’re able; I’d like to get a status check of the Constellation GPS network.”

“You got it.”

In the meantime, Harry went through the procedures for the RCS Pressurization.

“Recycle: Sys A&B ASC Feed 2(2)…Close.”

 “Sys A&B ASC Feed 1(2)…Open.”

“Sys AU ASC Fuel and ASC Oxidizer tb (4) Remain…BP.”

“Recycle: CRSFD…Close.”

“Main SOV Sys A&B…Open.”

 “HTR CONT TEMP MON… Check, RCS Quads (≥120°)”

 “Temp/Press Mon – He (2820-3280 psia.)”

“PRPLNT (40° - 100°/10-50 psi.)”

“Fuel ManF (25-90 psi)…Check.”

“Oxid ManF (25-90 psi)…Check.”

“RCS Quantity A&B – 100%...Check.”

His headset crackled, “Navigation, Tiny. I have that status check you requested.”

“Thank you, Tiny. Send it to my number two panel, please.” The screen switched over to display the new information.

“Attention crew of the Liberty! Gravity activation is commencing in ten seconds. Please make sure you are clear of any debris or loose equipment. Activation in five…four…three…two…one.” Whatever loose items were present started drifting towards the deck, as the familiar pressure of being able to feel their spacesuits weighing them down started building up. There were a couple of muffled thumps somewhere aft coupled with some mild swearing.

A few minutes later, they got a similar call-out for the life support and cabin pressurization systems coming online. When they got the all-clear, Hermione gratefully removed her helmet and scrubbed her fingers through her hair. “Tiny, give me a moment to get out of this suit. In the meantime, continue with your assignment.” Tiny made some sort of grunting noise so she walked out of her compartment and took the lift down a level back to the airlock where she found a line of the others all wanting to do the same thing.

“Hermione, how’s it going?” Hamish asked her as he finished pulling off his boots.

“Tiny’s running the last of his checklist and so far there’ve been no problems.”

“Good. When you’re done here, get your cabin squared away then report to the mess hall for a quick briefing.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mess Hall, Deck Four

Hermione entered her cabin on Deck Five and immediately opened her suitcase and stowed her clothes away. She checked over her computer terminal and made sure that she had access to Tiny (he sent back a little animation of an elf waving hello) then checked the ‘Blue Line’ sensor strip that ran throughout the ship. The strip gave Tiny a way to interact with the crew without the usage of bulky cameras, microphones and miles of wiring. Just a single line of optical and audio sensors built into a tube that resembled one of those new programmable LED light strips that were starting to make their market debut and Tiny could now project himself as a holographic face.

When she finished getting set up, she walked into the nearest lift and rode it up a level to the mess hall. She heard her name being called and smiled at Astrid, “Hi, let me get a cup of coffee first.”

She smirked amusedly at the label some technician had left on the coffeemaker, ‘The Elixir of Life.’ Coffee retrieved, she sat down next to her friend as the two chatted about what was planned.

Hamish entered the room carrying a clipboard, “Is this everyone? Ok, let’s begin shall we? I’ve already received your station status checks so there’s no need to repeat all that. We look to be in good shape, all of our stores are in place, the cargo and fuel modules are being docked as we speak. In about two hours, I want you all back in here so we can hold our first press conference with the folks back home. While I seriously doubt that the news folks are going to have questions for you rank and file types, I want you here in a show of solidarity.”

Harry idly nodded throughout the briefing, it was basically your usual, ‘this is the new normal, what to expect from now on’ sort of chat with the crew. He was surprised to see an elf’s face hovering off in the corner; he was about to say something when Hamish beat him to it.

“Now, if you’ll all direction your attention to the hologram in the corner; that’s Tiny. He’s now able to project himself using the ‘Blue Line’ as it’s been referred to by the manufacturer. I won’t bore you with the technical aspects of how the technology works but Tiny is now able to visually interact with us without resorting to taking up space on a computer monitor. He can appear anywhere in the habitable areas of the ship plus the egress areas for the cargo modules. If you are in a cargo module and you need his help, you’ll have to use the radio.”

A hand went up in the back. “Yes, um…”

“Conrad, sir. Will this blue line be in our crew compartments too?”

“Everywhere, excluding the loos, and he’s promised not to perve on you while you’re in your sleeping areas.” A couple of juvenile snickers were heard in the back. “Seriously, the strips are there for a reason; please don’t interfere with their placement or operation. Okay, I’m pretty much done. Captain? Do you have anything you’d like to say?”

Silvia stood, “Just that I want to say again that I’m extraordinarily proud of all of you and I hope that we can make this mission a resounding success.”

Hamish nodded his thanks, “Alright, everyone. Let’s finish up our initialization procedures quickly. Dismissed.”

The press conference took place exactly two hours later. Harry had taken a spot next to clearly nervous Hermione and clasped his hand in hers, “Relax, will you? This is just a press conference. You’ve done these before.”

She rolled her head to give him a condescending look, “Yeah, but they weren’t from Earth’s orbit.”

Harry shrugged, “Unless they’re looking at one of the monitors, you really can’t tell that we’re in space. That’s the beauty of having Earth sea-level artificial gravity.”

She started assaulting her lower lips, causing him to get the urge to kiss her, “I guess.”

“It’ll be fine, now stop doing that with your lower lip lest I give the whole world a demonstration of your kissability.” Hermione squealed and slapped him on the arm.

“Hey, you two; No fighting or I’m going to turn this ship around and head home,” joked Kevin as he took a spot behind them.

The speakers crackled to life, “Liberty, this is Mission Control in Houston. Standby to begin the press conference.”

Sixty minutes and a ton of questions later, Harry retreated back to his cabin to grab a quick nap. ‘The conference went pretty good, if I do say so myself. The usual sort of questions like how do we feel, what did the launch feel like, what was running through our minds when we got our first glimpse of Liberty docked with the ISS.’ He and Hermione did get a surprise; Director Croaker had brought a special guest with him: Luna Longbottom nee Lovegood as the reporter for the Quibbler!

Flashback…

“Mr. Potter, how would you compare your mission to the Tasks in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? Easier? Harder?” She asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Her Dicta-quill dancing merrily as it wrote down his responses.

Harry laughed, “I would say that this mission is infinitely harder yet at the same time easier because unlike the TWT, I actually signed myself up on purpose as well as receiving excellent training.”

“As far as you are aware, do you know if there are any wild herds of Mooncalves or Lunar Limpskillies on the Moon?”

Harry was doing all he could to keep from rolling off his chair in laughter. The looks on the other reporters in the room were giving Luna a wide berth, shaking their heads in pity and even a bit of annoyance that she was allowed to waste precious time with this nonsense.

Present…

His door opened to admit Hermione. She silently crawled into bed with him and cuddled in close. “Did you enjoy Luna’s interview?” She quietly asked.

“I did. It was like old times, to be honest. I’m surprised that she was allowed to continue, frankly. I was certain that the other reporters were ready to put her in a straightjacket and gag her.”

“She might’ve liked that, Neville’s said she’s into some fairly kinky stuff.”

Harry shook his head to clear that mental image, “I don’t want to know about that. The only person I want to see tied up and horny is you.”

Hermione lifted her head and stared lustily into his eyes, “Ask and you shall receive, Mr. Potter.”

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Two days later (Thursday 3 March 2005)

The morning mail owl delivery arrived and with it, was Minerva’s hope that the Daily Prophet had something covering the incredible achievements done by Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. To her dismay and growing irritation, the most ‘exciting’ headline was on the latest legislation passed by the ‘Mot regarding trade tariffs between Britain and South Africa. She threw down the paper in disgust and sat there in her chair fuming. It seemed that the Quibbler would be the only magazine within the magical community that covered the proceedings. She admitted that Miss Love…ahem, Mrs. Longbottom had done a spectacular job at reporting the information without any of those fanciful additions her father used to put in.

Filius laid a gentle hand on her arm, “What’s wrong, Min?”

“The greatest event in the history of the world happened three days ago and there’s not one word printed about it in the paper! Harry Potter and Hermione Granger’s launch into space and the start of their mission to the Moon and Mars should’ve been plastered all over the place but instead we get this tripe about trade negotiations.”

Filius frowned, “When did this take place? I mean, I know about your frequent trips to London but I don’t remember any mention of their activities since they left our world.”

Minerva waved her hand, “That’s what I’m talking about! Aside from a couple of sleazy articles from Skeeter and that nonsense from Dolores Umbridge, there’s been absolutely nothing about Potter and Granger learning new skills and subjects that I’d bet that even Aurora would be hard-pressed to follow.”

Aurora’s head perked up, “Did someone call me?”

“Yes, I did. Have you been following what’s been happening in the muggle world with the launch of that new spaceship and the missions to the Moon and Mars?”

Aurora’s eyes lit up, “Oh, yes! I can’t wait to see what discoveries are going to be made.”

Filius glanced back and forth between the two women, “How is that you’re on top of the news and I’m not?”

Aurora shrugged, “I get the London Times as well as the Daily Prophet.”

Minerva leant back, “McKenna?” McKenna Tildwell, their new muggleborn Muggle Studies professor looked up. “Would you please join us?” When she moved her chair over, Minerva continued, “I want you to put together an introductory course on the current events regarding the historic launch and flight of the ISA Liberty including its crew and the development of its technologies.”

McKenna’s eyes twinkled, “I think that’s a wonderful idea! As soon as we’re done here and with your permission, I can go down to London and grab copies of everything that’s been published.” Minerva gave her the approval and instructed her to use the school’s Gringott’s vault to pay for the expenses.

“In the meantime Aurora, I want you to coordinate with Bathseda, and Septima if need be, to outfit a room in order to operate a television set so we can get continuous coverage of this flight. I’ll look at the wards from my end to see if there’s anything I need to reroute.”

Filius was still confused, “I don’t understand the push, Minerva.”

“Hogwarts and Magical Britain have been stuck living in the past for too long, Filius. It’s time that we join the modern age and admit that the muggles are capable of doing things that we can’t or don’t believe it’s possible because we’re too afraid to try.”

ISA Liberty, same time

Kevin was ‘under the hood’ using the First Person Viewer, or FPV goggles to fly the inspection drones around the ship as Silvia watched the monitor. As one of the drones passed by the aft end of the engineering module, she leant in and frowned, “Hold position on the aft engineering section. What is that on the bulkhead?” Kevin stopped its motion and turned the camera around, “Which bulkhead?”

“In between the centerline and C2. Is that…a license plate?” she finished incredulously.

Kevin snorted in laughter as he zoomed in on the plate, “I can’t believe they actually did it.”

Silvia turned a gimlet eye on him, even though he couldn’t see it, “What did you do?”

Kevin held his fingers up in submission, still gripping the controls with his thumbs, “Hey, I was joking around with the ground crew that it’d be hilarious if the DMV were to issue Liberty its own license plate. I never thought I’d be taken seriously.”

Silvia sighed, “And what’s that two panels over? It looks like signs. Are we including corporate sponsorship now?”

Kevin drifted over before barking out a laugh, “Nope, those are bumper stickers!”

“You’re kidding,” She groaned, “How do we get them off?”

“No idea. Maybe Engineering would have an idea. Hang on, I want to see what some of them say.”

As the camera focused on the bumper stickers, he laughingly read them off, “’Help! The Captain farted and we can’t get out!’ ‘Obey gravity, it’s the law!’ Oh, I love this one… ‘Honk if parts fall off.’”

Silvia rubbed the bridge of her nose, “Let’s keep going on the inspection, Kevin. I’ll contact ISS to see if they can send someone over to remove them.”

“We should leave the red sticker; ‘If this sticker is blue, you’re driving too fast.’ That’s a nice bit of science.”

She shook her head, “No, they’re coming off. If you want to store them in a cargo module, I’ll allow that but for our maiden voyage, I want to keep things professional.”

Kevin twisted in his seat to where he could tell she was standing, “So you’re giving your permission to put them back up after we get a few missions under our belts?”

She smirked, “We’ll see…”

Turning back, he read off one last one, “Ouch, yeah this one’s got to be hidden. ‘NASA loves probing Uranus.’ Yikes.”

Later that day, the Alcubierre Warp Sled was remotely flown underneath Liberty and attached to its hard points under the Engineering Reactor module and automatically ran through its Initial Activation Checklist. All lights returned green and Tiny reported that there were no leaks in the plumbing. “We’re good to go for TLI, Captain.”

“Thank you, Tiny. Attention, Liberty crew; in fifteen minutes we will be undocking from the ISS. Confirm all access hatches and umbilical lines are closed and stowed.”

Trans-Lunar Injection Burn

The crew strapped themselves into their chairs and prepared for Tiny to ignite the nuclear rockets for the start of their epic journey for the return to the Moon. Silvia checked over her panel and nodded to herself that all stations reported in ready, “Pilot, clear the moorings; take us out.”

Harry’s fingers danced over the controls, “Aye, Captain. Docking clamps have released, applying downward RCS for five seconds.” A slight vibration was felt throughout the ship as the Reaction Control thrusters pushed Liberty’s bulk away from the station. “Mast is clear of the truss, Captain. Applying forward thrusters for twenty seconds in three…two…one…”

Onboard the station, every camera was trained on Liberty as she slid out from underneath the docking module. Down on Earth, everyone was glued to their television sets. No one moved, barely anyone breathed.

Liberty was on its way.

Once they’d cleared the station and approached the preplanned TLI burn mark, the Captain called out once more, “Standby for TLI burn. Pilot, engage the main drive.”

“Roger, three drives hot and ready. Primary ignition in five…four…three…two…one!”

Three NERVA-III nuclear rockets ignited sending nearly seven hundred and forty thousand Newtons (166, 356 lbf) of thrust out of its nozzles accelerating Liberty across the night sky. The burn lasted more than five minutes and increased Liberty's speed from about 17,400 miles per hour to 24,226 miles per hour, enough to overcome Earth's gravity and send it on a trajectory toward the Moon.

Once clear of Earth orbit and the engines shut down, Harry leant back in his seat, “Captain, we have engine shutdown. All indications show it to be a good burn, no residuals.”

“Very good. Thank you, Pilot. Okay, crew; our itinerary shows our travel time to be about three days until we reach the moon. I’m disengaging the seat belt sign; you’re now free to walk about the cabin.”

Harry unbuckled his restraints and pushed his chair back. He plugged in a set of earbuds, “Tiny, would you please bring up ‘Potter’s Playlist’ on my terminal?” It appeared a second later as he scrolled through to find a good song to listen to. He continued to monitor the controls and panel as his head danced to the beat of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Rock Your Body:’

“Don't be so quick to, walk away
Dance with me
I wanna rock your body
Please stay
Dance with me
You don't have to admit you, wanna play
Dance with me
Just let me rock you
'Til the break of day
Dance with me”

“Navigation, Tiny,” Tiny’s voice broke through the song.

“Yes, Tiny?”

“Switch to INT 2 on panel 4, please.”

He looked up and reached over, flipping the switch, “Done. What’s up?”

“Mission Control thought the signal got hacked for a moment. You were broadcasting on the main channel.”

Harry blushed bright pink, “Oops. Thanks for the catch, Tiny.”

“Yup.” The line clicked off.

Saturday 5 March 2005, Two days later, still enroute for the Moon, Deck Four, Mess Hall

Hermione looked up from her reading at the sound of someone quietly singing (off-key) along with a song. “Get your motor runnin, head out on the highway… Looking for adventure in whatever comes our way. Yeah, darlin' gonna make it happen; Take the world in a love embrace. Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space!”

She quirked an intrigued eyebrow up, “Tiny? Is that you?”

The singing cut off, “Is what me?”

“The singing.”

A pause, “If it was?”

She grinned, “No reason; Just curious.” She cut the line and burst out laughing.

Entertainment Center/Exercise Room, Deck Four, an hour later

Harry was working up a sweat running on the treadmill, Maroon 5 blasting in his headphones, and had been for the past twenty minutes when Hermione came in carrying a towel and wearing a pair of tight yoga leggings in Gryffindor red and gold, a plain white T-shirt and a headband. She waved at him as she headed off to the area set aside for floor exercises and began her warm-ups. He nearly fell off the treadmill as she bent over to touch her toes, berating himself that he needed to focus. When he finished his cool-down run, he stepped off and moved over to where the weightlifting set of dumbbells were and selected the twenty-five pounders then settled on the bench. He started doing thirty dumbbell curls with a pause of ten seconds at the end of each set.

Propulsion Engineer, Juan Galandro entered a few minutes later and spotted Hermione working out and Harry watching her work out. He shook his head and moved over to the weight rack, “Harry, if you don’t put your tongue back in your head, you’ll trip over it.”

“Huh?”

“Eloquent, Harry. You were staring at Hermione.”

Harry gave him a blank look before it dawned on him, causing a blush to form, “Oh, right.”

“I’ve wanted to ask; what’s the deal between you two? Are you married, dating, or just always end up staring stupidly at each other?”

Harry chuckled, “Well, depending on who you ask, it could be a combination of all three. We’ve been together in one way or another since we started at Hogwarts back in ninety-one.”

“That magical school of yours?” Harry nodded.

“She’s intense.”

Harry shrugged a shoulder before glancing over again. Hermione was now doing lying leg lifts, stretching those luscious legs one at a time as far as she could. He groaned lowly at the sight, “She’s actually relaxed quite a bit since those days. During the run-up towards exams, the whole school quickly learned not to make extraneous noises lest they earn her ire.”

Juan laughed, “So this is the Granger-lite version? What happened to change that?”

Harry got a distant look on his face; Juan gently placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder, “You got a distracted expression like you went back there and that’s the worst thing you could do while exercising. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Harry waved him off, “It’s not a problem. I’ve more or less gotten over it thanks to the shrink I was seeing before we left.”

Juan leant against the weight rack, “What happens if you have another episode?”

Harry gestured towards Hermione, “I have help to get through it.”

Sunday 6 March 2005 Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI)

Rather than flipping the spacecraft around and enter the Moon’s gravity well engine first, all Tiny had to do was open the thrust reverser vanes, much akin to what an airliner would use to slow down after take-off, and relight the engines.

At about 55 hours and 40 minutes into the flight, and 13 hours before entering lunar orbit, the crew of Liberty became the first humans since Apollo to enter the gravitational sphere of influence of another celestial body. In other words, the effect of the Moon's gravitational force on Liberty became stronger than that of the Earth. At the time it happened, Liberty was 38,759 miles (62,377 km) from the Moon and had a speed of 3,990 ft/s (1,220 m/s) relative to the Moon. 

The last major event before Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) was a mid-course correction. It was in retrograde (against the direction of travel) and slowed the spacecraft down by 2.0 ft/s (0.61 m/s), effectively reducing the closest distance at which the spacecraft would pass the Moon. At exactly 61 hours after launch, about 24,200 miles (38,900 km) from the Moon, Harry burned the RCS for 11 seconds. They would now pass 71.7 miles (115.4 km) from the lunar surface.

At 64 hours into the flight, the crew began to prepare for Lunar Orbit Insertion 1 (LOI-1). This maneuver had to be performed perfectly, and due to orbital mechanics had to be on the far side of the Moon, out of contact with the Earth. After Mission Control was polled for a "go/no go" decision, the crew was told at 68 hours that they were Go and "riding the best bird we can find.” Connelly replied, "We'll see you on the other side", so for the 8th time in recorded history, the first in recent memory; humans travelled behind the Moon and out of radio contact with the Earth.

The nuclear rockets were ignited at 69 hours, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds after launch and burned for 4 minutes and 7 seconds, placing the Liberty in orbit around the Moon. If the burn had not lasted exactly the correct amount of time, the spacecraft could have ended up in a highly elliptical lunar orbit or even been flung off into space. If it had lasted too long, they could have struck the Moon. The moment Tiny confirmed that they were where they were supposed to be, Connelly contacted Earth, “Mission Control, this is Liberty. We have successfully achieved orbit.”

Lunar Orbit, Satellite Control station (SatCon), Deck Three

Kevin was at his station awaiting the word to launch the fourteen next-generation Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiters which would form a network of satellites that would fly over the Moon. Their detailed mapping programs would identify safe landing sites, locating potential resources on the Moon, characterizing the radiation environment, and demonstrating new technologies. His palms were sweaty and his heart was hammering, this launch went way beyond the simulations he’d practiced back on Earth. There would be no replays or do-overs this time. He only had one shot to get it right.

“Bridge, SatCon. LRO packages launch in three…two…one. Satellites are away, clean track.” He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the monitor carefully.

“Roger, understood SatCon,” Hamish responded, “Standby for Cargo Lander Separation and Descent.”

Up on Deck Two, Hermione was monitoring Tiny during his preparations to fly the lander down to the surface. Two minutes passed before she heard the Commander’s voice again, “Lander separation in ten seconds, Tiny will have control upon ignition.”

“Roger.”

“Separation in three…two…one. Lander separation clean. Tiny reports controls are smooth. Landing legs have deployed successfully. Lander engines firing in three…two…one; Ten percent power for twenty six seconds.”

“Command, this is Cargo One. Full throttle in five…four…three…two…one. Throttle up!”

“Confirmed.”

Tiny rode a pillar of flame down to the lunar surface of Shackleton Crater for nine minutes. He followed the flight path exactly, calling out data points as the lander pulled up short about a hundred feet and slid to the left by ten meters to clear some unexpected rocky debris.

“Ten percent fuel remaining, down at 3 ½, 100 feet.”

“90 feet, down at 5.”

“70 feet, down at 3, seven percent fuel remaining.”

“40 feet, down at 1 ½, six percent fuel remaining, picking up some dust.”

“10 feet, down at 1, three percent fuel remaining, standing by for contact light.”

“Contact! Okay, Engine stop. Liberty, Cargo One has landed.”

Silvia (and the crew) breathed out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Tiny. That was excellent flying.”

While Tiny was remotely overseeing the deployment of the Cargo Lander’s Canadarm, the Omni-directional antenna and single solar panel; Captain Silvia Connelly, Harry and Nathan Janssens were getting prepped to take the colony’s central habitation station and land on the Moon. The station was essentially a box with a couple of windows, exposed piping from the fuel and oxidizer tanks and four descent engines in the corners. The engines were the next-generation versions of the ones that took the Apollo missions to the Moon. On top of the station was the reusable three person shuttle, named ‘Magellan,’ which would hold Connelly, Harry and Nathan, allowing them to pilot the station to the Moon. Once the station was delivered, it could be detached and returned to the Liberty. After they landed, it would be up to Nathan to get the Cargo Lander’s antenna hooked up to the station.

Harry slipped on his ‘Snoopy’ hat and adjusted his headset before smiling at the crewman who was assisting the landing team with their EVA suits. His helmet was put on and locked down. The crewman motioned to ask if he had air so Harry gave two thumbs-up. He was then helped into his seat and strapped down.

“Bridge, this is Magellan,” Connelly called out.

“Go ahead, Magellan.”

“Crew is clear of the airlock. We’re ready to depressurize the docking collar.”

“You are cleared to depressurize. Have a safe flight, Magellan.”

Silvia turned to her companions, “Ready to make history?”

Harry gave her his trademarked smirk, “Always am.”

Nathan gave her a lazy salute, “Let’s do this.”

 Back on Earth…

Everyone with access to a radio or a television was glued in place, awaiting the first video to come from the lunar surface since Apollo 17’s landing back in 1972. Until then, six and a half billion people anxiously listened to the audio that was coming from the feed at ISA. At Hogwarts, the teachers had managed to get a television to pick up the broadcast from the muggle world. The screen was tiny so one of the muggleborn seventh years recommended that they use a Projection Charm on the screen to display the images onto the wall of the Great Hall. Everyone had crowded into the Great Hall and listened with trepidation. It was a testament to Minerva’s guidance that Slytherin House didn’t put up a fight about introducing this muggle contraption into their hallowed halls. The castle’s elves, ghosts, and even Peeves were in attendance. For once, Peeves recognized the historic importance and quietly settled onto a bench alongside one of the Slytherins.

The radio chatter from Magellan came in fast and furious when the craft dropped below a thousand feet and pitched up to a sixty degree angle so Connelly could see where she was flying. Harry read out the numbers as the craft descended.

“600 feet, down at 19.”

“540 feet, down at 30. Down at 15.”

“At 400 feet, down at 9.”

Everyone’s breaths were being held the closer Magellan got to the surface. Minerva grabbed a hold of Filius’ hand and gripped tight.

“200 feet, 4 ½ down.”

“5 ½ down.”

“160, 6 - 6 ½ down.”

“5 ½ down, 9 forward. That's good.”

At the Ministry for Magic, Director Croaker had set up a speaker and broadcast the radio calls from the Moon. Everyone from the Minister for Magic down to the guy mopping the floors stopped what they were doing and listened in. Lucius Malfoy had a sneer on his face, wondering why they were bothering listening to this muggle nonsense and tried to get the attention of the clerk from Broom Regulation. The clerk shushed Lord Malfoy with a swipe of his hand, “If you don’t shut up, I’ll have you thrown out. What’s happening up there is way more important than you trying to bribe some petty officials.”

“40 feet, down 2 ½. Kicking up some dust.”

“30 feet, 2 ½ down. Faint shadow.”

“4 forward. 4 forward. Drifting to the right a little. Okay. Down a half.”

“Forward drift?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“CONTACT LIGHT!”

“Okay. Engine stop.”

“ACA - out of detent.”

“Out of detent.”

“Mode Control both Auto. Descent engine command override, off. Engine arm, off.”

“We copy you down, Magellan,” Liberty called out.

“Mission Control, Shackleton Base here.

“MAGELLAN HAS LANDED.”

If someone had been listening to the sounds being emitted from Earth, they probably would’ve ripped their headsets from their ears as six and a half billion people started screaming in triumph when the announcement had been made. For the past thirty-three years, humanity had looked up at the Moon and wondered and dreamed about when they would be going back. On Sunday 6 March 2005, 6pm Central Time, that dream had come true.

Onboard, Harry extended the ladder and checked over the cabin in order to prepare for depressurization, “All set here, Captain.”

“Thank you. Tiny? How are you receiving us?”

“Loud and clear, Captain.”

“Okay, Mr. Potter. Go ahead and depressurize.”

Harry flipped the switch that vented the atmosphere from the cabin, a couple of scraps of paper swirled in the breeze before disappearing behind a bulkhead, “I hope that wasn’t anything important.”

“Nah, that was just our parking fee stub,” Nathan quipped.

“Mission Control, this is Shackleton. Captain is exiting the cockpit to the station.”

“Roger.”

The airlock door was cycled as Silvia opened it and stepped inside. She crossed the threshold and descended the ladder to the last step above the lunar surface. She clicked on her radio, “Mission Control, if Commander Gene Cernan is listening, I have something to say.”

“We’re sure he is, Magellan; go ahead.”

“On 19 December, 1972 Commander Cernan is quoted as saying, “’America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. As we leave the moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.’ To you, I say ‘We have answered the challenge to return to the Moon. We’ve returned in peace and hope, not only for Americans but for all of mankind. We are here to stay this time.”

She then stepped off the platform and onto the dusty surface of the Moon. She walked-bounced a little ways off and planted the United Nations flag into the regolith then saluted. The cameras attached to the station picked up the whole thing in high resolution and shared it with the people of Earth.

After making that historic announcement, the trio of astronauts got busy with setting up the station. Nathan ran the power and communications lines from the cargo lander, Harry worked with Tiny to get the contents of the cargo lander unloaded. Once the next-generation Lunar Rover had been unloaded, he got to work with Silvia on unfolding the suspension and connecting the battery pack to the electronics and plugging it into the power bus to begin charging.

“I can’t wait to see if magic can be used here,” Harry commented during a break inside the station.

Silvia raised an eyebrow, “Go ahead and try it. There’s no hard and fast rule that says you have to wait.”

Grunting in surprise, Harry pulled his wand out with his gloved hand and cast a simple Lumos charm. To his shock and pleasure, the tip lit up brightly! “Hey, it works! Holy crap, this is huge. Magic works on the Moon, I…I gotta call Hermione and Croaker!” He fumbled around for his headset, “Liberty, this is the Lunar Module Pilot. Hermione, do you read?”

“Loud and clear, Harry. What’s up?”

“Magic works! I repeat, magic works here on the Moon. I just tried a Lumos charm and my wand lit up!”

Hermione was ecstatic, “That’s incredible news, Harry!”

Tiny joined in, “Harry, Director Croaker is on the line and wanted to congratulate you on your discovery. He says that you should proceed carefully for the time being. He recommended that you stick with first year level spells for the time being.”

Harry was practically giddy, “Roger that, relay my thanks and understanding to him, Tiny.” Tiny acknowledged him and clicked off. The next spell that Harry tried was Wingardium Leviosa and easily got one of the spectrograph crates to rise up off the floor before he let it settle back down again.

Connelly watched in bemusement, “How are you feeling? Any noticeable drains on your magic?”

Harry shook his head and stared at his wand in awe, “None. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that I was back home casting magic.”

Now that Harry had use of his magic, moving the supplies and equipment around became a breeze. Even with the one-sixth gravity, being able to lift a five hundred pound hyperspectral analyzer into position then turn around and magically connect the Electrospray Ionization Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer into the central computer was nothing short of mind-boggling.

Nathan walked-bounced up to him just as he finished initializing the power couplers for the temporary RTG that would supply a greater amount of power than the single solar panel on top of the cargo lander until the permanent residents could install the solar farm, “You just about done?”

“Almost. Are you ready to bring down more of the science crew?”

“Yup.”

“Captain, Nathan and I are ready for the first wave of scientists to trample all over the regolith.”

“I copy. Liberty, we're ready for Amerigo to make its landing.”

“Tiny copies, ship’s on its way.”

Following on the success of Magellan, Amerigo landed within fifty meters from the station. Harry extended the airlock and tunnel then connected it to the egress hatch on the side of the shuttle. The door slid open and began disgorging its passengers. “Welcome to Shackleton Base, we hope you enjoy your time here and remember thank you for flying Liberty Spacelines.” Everyone laughed at Harry’s impromptu act.

“Potter, get the science team inside and squared away. I want to get the first batch of experiments up and running as soon as possible,” Silvia ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am. Right this way, ladies and gentlemen.”

Eight hours later…

Harry was exhausted, eight hours of working in an EVA suit performing station-keeping activities like unpacking, moving, and a seemingly endless list of other minutia. Now all he wanted to do was crawl into his bed and sleep. First thing he had to do was find his bunk…

“A11-3, where the Hell are you?”

“Over here Shaggy. Scooby’s waiting for you,” Their part-time Chef and part-time Entertainment Director Rhys Barber called out. He’d been drafted to assist with the heavy lifting mule work.

“Huh?”

He waved Harry off, “It was just the way you sung out the call for your bunk, and it reminded me of the opening song of the Scooby-Do Mysteries television show.”

Harry laid his head onto his pillow, “Aha, see you in the morning, Rhys.”

Monday 7 March 2005, Shackleton Base, South Pole, Earth’s Moon (Day One)

Harry’s alarm blared to life, nearly scaring him out of his way too early in the morning for his tastes. He slipped out of his nice, warm sleeping bundle and scratched for a few minutes, blearily staring at his surroundings. His brain finally ground into gear after taking a shower and grabbing a cup of coffee from the dispenser.

“Harry.” He turned and spotted Malcolm Jacobs, Liberty’s Defensive Systems Officer already sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal.

“Hey, Malcolm, need food. Point me.” Malcolm smirked around his mouthful of Cheerios and gestured with his spoon towards the cabinets.

Breakfast done, it was now time to get the rest of the station up and working. First order of business was the deployment of the Crew Module. Harry unshrunk the module and with a bit of help, managed to wrestle it into position where the airlock could make a good seal. The lights clicked on and he could see a curtain fluttering as the atmosphere rushed in. “Crew rest module is up and running, Captain. Pressurization is commencing now.”

“Roger. Team two, what’s your position?”

Harry tuned out the response as he went to go assist the Power Team move the frames for the ‘Solar Farm’ into place.

Later that afternoon, it was time to get one of their magical experiments set up. This was going to be a test for one of the biggest and most important experiments of the entire trip. Could he get a Portkey Anchor set up and aligned to connect with the Ley Lines on Earth and successfully send someone or something back and forth between the two points?

“So, explain to me again how this is supposed to work?”

Harry barely glanced up, “Hey, Nathan; so the Anchors act as two fists holding onto a flexible rope. The rope is the metaphorical Ley Line between here and Earth. Ideally, what should happen is that we activate the test rig and it ‘rides the magic’ down to Earth without disintegrating or something.”

“How long is the trip supposed to take?”

Harry shrugged, “No idea. We’ll find out when we send out the package. In the interim, we’re going to try sending a portkey up to Liberty to see if it’s even feasible.”

Nathan looked impressed, “So if that works, would it mean that we wouldn’t have to use the shuttles?”

“We’ll see. If it works, we’ll be able to save a bunch of supplies and fuel.”

Silvia, Hermione, and the science team crowded around the transport deck in the station where three rings were marked out on the floor indicating the target zone for incoming and outgoing portkeys. Harry got on the radio and called Houston, “Mission Control, this is Shackleton. We’re ready to begin the Portkey Transport.”

“Proceed, Shackleton.”

“Liberty, are you ready?”

“We’re ready, Captain.”

Silvia gave the signal to Harry who in turn said the activation phrase. The test object, in this case it was a plastic bucket of random bits, a bag of something squishy, and leftover hardware from unloading the cargo lander, twisted in a vortex of crackling magical energy and vanished into the realm known as ‘otherspace.’ At the same time, a stopwatch was started to track the travel time.

The radio crackled to life a minute later, “Shackleton, Liberty; the package has arrived. Initial inspection doesn’t reveal any damage. Ready when you are to resend the package back.”

“Proceed, Liberty.”

In a ‘twitch’ of pseudo-motion, the bucket reappeared on the transport deck with a tiny pop of displaced air. Guilia knelt down and passed her handheld XRF Analyzer over the bucket, tapped a few buttons and examined the results before smiling, “All clear, Captain. We had a successful transport.”

The next experiment was to see if the same thing would be a success between the Moon and Earth. Following the same procedure as before, Harry set the coordinates on the portkey to the receiving station, this time in Britain’s office of the ESA and watched as the package, a dove feather and a United Nations flag signed by hundreds of children worldwide vanished in a flash and a crack of noise. By the time that thirty seconds had elapsed and no word had reached them, Harry was beginning to feel a bit discouraged. “Shackleton Base, this is Mission Control… Director Croaker says congratulations, the package has arrived and in one piece.” Harry and the others cheered in triumph.

A grand total of thirty portkeys were sent back and forth between Earth and the Moon before the method was deemed ‘safe’ to transport live cargo. First, they started small; a rat managed to arrive and live for a couple of hours before dying rather gruesomely. Harry ran the calculations again, as did the best minds in the ICW and jointly they found the transposition error. Another test, another rat and this time it was a success. The rat lived and was sent back to Earth.

“I know it’s early but I’m getting the itch to send a person up already,” Harry commented to Hermione that afternoon during their scheduled break. She had been working on installing the new AI software that would give the colony their own version of Tiny, the difference being that the station wouldn’t speak to the colonists in such a friendly manner. It would respond more like the AI of old. Dull and boring with pedantic speech patterns; Hermione immediately dubbed it ‘Percy.’

“Who would you test it on?”

Grinning viciously, “Well, I’ve heard that Umbridge is lying about in that terrarium with nothing to do.”

Hermione giggled, “If we’re still going with the animal theme, I suggest using Draco ‘Ferret’ Malfoy.”

Harry kissed her on the cheek then frowned slightly, “It’s a shame that apparition didn’t work the way we wanted. The suit’s electronics didn’t like that one little bit.”

Hermione shrugged indifferently, “It’s not a total loss. We learned that there are some ideas that don’t work off-Earth. Frankly, I’m ambivalent towards not being able to apparate here on the Moon.”

“Really? Why?”

“I’m just thinking long-term. Can you imagine what sorts of problems would arise if someone were to apparate in without clearing it with command first? There might be accidents that can’t be easily recovered from.”

Harry made an appreciative face, “Good point.”

Monday 14 March 2005, Shackleton Base, South Pole, Moon (Day 7)

By the end of the first week on the Moon, Shackleton Base had its Living module up and running, the Greenhouse was installed with the first of their test crops growing, along with the Rover Garage. Hermione’s new project, now that Shackleton’s computer core was working; was to see if it were possible to brew potions in lunar gravity. Harry was watching as she prepared the ingredients to make one of the first potions they’d made back in Snape’s class, a Burn-Healing Paste.

“This takes me back,” Harry joked as she measured out the slug juice into a measuring cup.

“Right? But this time, we don’t have that antagonistic bastard hovering over us, sneering at our attempts without providing a proper education.”

She brought the mixture to a boil while stirring counterclockwise continuously then let it sit and bubble for twenty minutes without touching it. When the time expired, she turned off the burner and stirred it twenty times counterclockwise.

“Is it soup yet?” Harry quipped.

Hermione peered down at the pot and smiled, “It’s orange and smells slightly rancid, just as the instructions says it should. I’d call this a success.”

Once the potion brewing experiments had been completed (and a quantity of the medicinal potions were bottled and sent up to Liberty), Hermione began brewing more complex recipes like the Root-Generation Potion. This potion would accelerate the growth of the plants destined for the greenhouse and allow quicker harvests. A problem arose about half-way through; did she add the kelp before or after Vitamin B complex? She clicked on the radio, “Shackleton Command, Laboratory.”

“Go ahead, Laboratory.”

“I need someone to contact Director Croaker. He needs to get a hold of Neville Longbottom at Hogwarts and ask him if the instructions for the Root-Generation Potion state at which step the kelp is supposed to be added to the mixture. Is it before or after the Vitamin B complex?”

“Standby.”

While she waited, she checked on a pot of Cinnamon Basil that she’d planted six days ago. She was pleased to see the tiny seedlings starting to poke up above the soil.

“Laboratory, Command”

“Go ahead.”

“Director Croaker reports that Neville Longbottom has confirmed that the kelp is to be added after the Vitamin B.”

“Thank you, Command; Laboratory out.”

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Greenhouse Office, same time

Neville Longbottom sat there in his chair utterly stunned. He’d just finished a floo call from the Director of the Department of Mysteries regarding a question placed by Hermione. ‘She was calling from the Moon! They’re growing plants on the Moon!’ He distantly heard the door to his office open and started when a soft pair of hands gently began kneading his shoulders. His wife, Luna, settled onto his lap, “What’s wrong?”

“Hermione called from the Moon. She had a question about a potion to accelerate root growth.”

She peered at his still befuddled face, “Then why does it have you looking like you’ve been infected with Wrackspurts?”

He turned his brown eyes to her silvery ones, “They’re growing plants on the Moon! This is huge! I never thought I’d get to answer a question like that.”

The corners of her mouth twitched up in a warm smile, “Maybe someday you’ll get to fly to the Moon too and grow some plants.”

He embraced her and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, “Only if you go with me. Flora and Fauna, together forever.”

Ministry for Magic, Misuse of Magic Office

While Neville and Luna were acting all silly, there were a growing number of discontented people in the Obliviator offices. They all read the muggle papers or seen the television coverage of magic on the Moon’s surface and were fearful that the populace back here in Britain would see that as permission to break the Statute of Secrecy.

“There’s got to be something we could do to censor what people see or read!”

“I agree but we’d have to petition the ICW…”

“I wish there was a way to arrest Potter and Granger and drag them back to stand trial…”

Unseen by any of them, Director Croaker listened to the audio and shook his head, disgusted. ‘Those fools are just going to make the problem worse. All the other developed countries in the world are integrating magic with the muggle world and yet these idiots want us to go back to the Dark Ages.’

He sat there in his chair, stroking his beard trying to come up with a solution to the problem.

Granger Residence, Crawley, UK, same time

Dan sat in his favorite chair while watching the news and the latest reports coming from the Moon. When the camera cut over to a pair of the astronauts moving about the surface, he shouted suddenly, “There’s Hermione!”

Emma hurried into the room, wiping her hands dry, “Where?”

Dan pointed at the screen, “The one on the left. She’s got her wand out and just transfigured that rock into a brick.” Emma sank onto the couch next to her husband and stared in awe at their baby girl doing the incredible on another world.

“That’s our baby girl, Emma. Hermione’s there doing magic and there’s no one who can claim otherwise.”

Friday 25 March 2005, Liberty Satellite Control (SatCon) (Day 18)

Kevin was monitoring the LROs as they flew over the lunar geology as well as the Mineral Resource Scouts that roamed the landscape, occasionally taking samples and analyzing them for anything of value. He leant back in his seat and stretched just as Scout #32-B’s alarm started buzzing. It had found something that required attention. He let out his breath and punched up the map where 32-B was supposed to be and saw that it was about a hundred meters below the rim of Shackleton Crater. The onboard neutron spectrometer detected high levels of hydrogen which caused the alert to be sent out.

“Command, SatCon.”

“Go ahead.”

“Sensors have picked up high levels of hydrogen in grid square D56 of Shackleton Crater. I recommend that we send in a Mining Probe to investigate further.”

A pause, “Agreed, send with all due haste.”

“SatCon copies. I’ll report when the drilling commences,” Kevin’s fingers inputed the commands to launch the Mining Probe, which was a drilling rig mounted on the aft end of Scout #32-B.

Shackleton Base, ‘Front Porch’ in front of the Airlock

Rhys hummed a tuneless ditty to himself as he placed a couple of items around the edges of the deck. Inside, Astrid picked up the sound on her headset, “Rhys? Is that you?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t know anyone was on this channel.”

“It’s not a problem. What are you up to?”

“Decorating.”

Astrid frowned in confusion, “Did you just say ‘decorating?’ What are you decorating?”

“I did and I’m decorating the front porch. I’m just trying to liven this place up a bit. It’s a bit too grey for my tastes.”

Astrid rose from her chair and peeked out of the window, “Oh, my…” She clicked to the Captain’s channel, “Captain, could you please come back to the hub?”

“What’s the problem, I’m rather busy here.”

“It’s um, Rhys ma’am. He’s decorating the front porch.”

A pause then, “Say that again?”

“Are you somewhere with a monitor?”

“Yes. I’m in the Magellan.”

“Switch to channel 6.”

Outside on the porch, Rhys’ radio crackled to life, “Mr. Barber, what are you doing?”

Rhys paused, “I thought it would be obvious by now.”

Silvia continued to stare at the monitor, “But what possessed you to do that?”

Rhys stepped back to gaze over his work, “I thought it’d be something funny to take a picture and send it back to Earth. I swear Captain, that’s how long it’ll stay up. I promise to put it back to rights when I’m done.”

“Don’t you have anything else you should be doing?”

“Nope, I checked. I even asked around to see if I could help elsewhere but they all said no.”

Silvia growled lightly, “Fine. Finish what you’re doing then. Captain out.”

Rhys grinned and lifted up the camera, “Okay, say ‘Moon Cheese!’”

An hour later…

Rhys reentered the hub and was immediately set upon by the Captain as well as Guilia. Guilia ran her medical scans while Silvia glared at him. “All scans show that he’s still normal. I’m not detecting any sort of psychosis or excess amounts of stress that would account for his strange behavior.”

While the Captain was berating Rhys; Hermione took a look at the photo he’d taken and burst out laughing. While the others were busy with their assigned tasks, Rhys had taken the hilarious job of setting up the front porch to resemble a classic American backyard barbecue complete with a spare EVA suit lounging in a deck chair, a couple of pink flamingos dotting the front, a fake kiddie pool of ‘water,’ and a couple of crates made to resemble an ice chest and bbq. Finishing off the look was a sign that read, ‘Wish you were here!’

She handed it off to Harry who took one look and cracked up then gave it to the next person. Silvia finally got the photo and glared at it, “You’re lucky that we don’t have a reserve chef, Mr. Barber or I would leave you here when we left for Mars.” She slapped the photo into his hand and stalked out of the room. Hamish stepped over, “Relax, she’s not angry; well, she’s not really angry. Come on, let’s get that photo transmitted.”

Sunday 27 March 2005 Shackleton Base (Day 20)

As with all missions, it was inevitable that something would break down. Being that they were on the Moon, it should’ve been catastrophic but since they had both Harry and Hermione amongst them who could perform magic, the problem turned out to be not much more than an irritant. Case in point, their FTIR Spectrometer died while one of the geological survey technicians was loading a sample into the tray.

Hermione entered the lab, “You guys call for me?”

“Yeah, we were trying to load the FTIR but it just up and died on us. Do you have anything in your magical repertoire that could do something similar?”

“I do, indeed,” she replied as she withdrew her wand and cast Scarpin’s Revelaspell. Ghostly symbols and equations floated in the air above the sample, “Well, let’s see what we got here…”

As it turned out, what they found was just as incredible as discovering that magic worked on the Moon. Water, Scout #32-B had discovered water in the form of ice, permanently locked in the shadowed walls of Shackleton Crater! After reviewing the data, Silvia gave the orders to send out a live mining team out to retrieve a larger sample of the ice and bring it back for study.

When the team returned, they proudly displayed the insulated plastic tub that contained a five pound chunk of dirty ice. Harry nudged Hamish, “Should we be breaking out the beers in celebration? I could use a cold one right about now.”

Hamish snorted, “Not on this flight, Potter.”

Wednesday 30 March 2005 Shackleton Base (Day 22)

Two days later, the inhabitants of the lunar station took part in yet another historic moment. Today would be the day when the first scientists would portkey up from Earth. Their mission would be to oversee the eventual hand-off of the station’s operations from Liberty’s crew so that they could return to the original mission of landing on Mars.

Harry had worked with Astrid and Lisette to transfigure an empty module packing crate into a larger Portkey receiving room and connect it to the hub. Lisette checked over the electrical connections before standing up and dusted her hands off, “We’re good to go.”

Silvia acknowledged her then turned to Nathan, “Patch me through to Houston.” He gave her a thumbs-up when the connection was made. “Houston, Shackleton Base.”

“Go ahead, Shackleton.”

“We’re ready for the first portkey.”

“Roger that; activating in three…two…one.”

Thirty seconds went by before anyone noticed the expected pseudo-motion that indicated an incoming portkey. With a crack of noise, the otherspace maelstrom released its passengers who just barely remained on their feet as they suddenly adjusted to lunar gravity. Silvia stepped forward, “Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Moon.”

The handoff went smoothly and before Harry and Hermione knew it, it was time to return to Liberty and the next leg of their journey. Harry waved his wand, magically packed everything they’d brought down from Liberty for the Rover garage into their crates and shrunk them down before gathering them up and heading towards the transport room. He met up with Malcolm who was checking over the Czerny Turner Monochromator. “Malcolm?”

“Just making sure. Is that the equipment from the garage?”

“Yup. Where do you want them?” Malcolm pointed to a spot.

Hermione showed up a moment later with the stuff that she’d packed from the greenhouse, “Where do you want the grow-packs?”

“Um, put them over by the medical supplies.”

Liberty transport room, thirty minutes later

Juan oversaw the last of the supply portkey arrivals and directed the crewmen to get everything stored away. He clicked on the radio, “Shackleton Base, this is Liberty.”

“Go ahead, Liberty.”

“The last of the cargo has been delivered. We’re standing by for the shuttles.”

“Roger, Magellan is on its way first.”

Juan watched as a flicker of pseudo-motion was detected inside one of the wedge-shaped cargo modules attached to the ship’s spine and Magellan appeared floating in the zero gravity a split second later. “Magellan has arrived. Standing by for Amerigo.”

A couple of minutes passed before the same effect occurred for the second shuttle. Juan clicked on the radio, “All set, Captain. We’re ready for you all to come up.” He turned to face the transport pad; it was a mere handful of seconds later before the first group of people appeared.

Thursday 31 March 2005 onboard Liberty, Lunar orbit

Hermione was in the Memory core room running a diagnostic on a subsystem and chatting with Tiny. “You know, Hermione; it’s a shame that we never found a monolith over by Tycho.”

Hermione looked up horrified, “Why would you say that’s a shame?”

“I dunno, it just seems like it would be a shame to realize that we’re all alone here in space.”

She shivered once, “Don’t tempt Fate like that, Tiny. Besides,” she glanced around, “According to the books, the monolith was discovered after the lunar colony was well-established. For all anyone knows, it could still be buried, waiting.”

Harry was under his console, busy investigating a strange intermittent glitch in the navigation monitor. Hamish walked over to where Harry was and tapped his foot, “Everything okay there, Harry?”

“No, there’s a glitch I can’t account for,” came his muffled reply.

Hamish bent down and peered underneath, “What’s wrong?”

Harry sighed deeply, “Every time I bring up H2IK Gravimetric Scanner, I get an error message. That hasn’t happened before.”

Hamish sucked on the inside of his cheek, “What do you suppose is the problem? Will it affect the warp flight tomorrow?”

“No, it’s only going to be a problem when scanning the surface of Mars.”

Hamish patted him on the shoulder, “Have you called back to Earth to see what they say?”

Harry’s head was already back inside the console, “No need. I found the problem; hand me that soldering gun, will you?” He held his hand out for the tool then disappeared again when Hamish handed it to him. “And…there.” He struggled to sit upright and checked the panel again. “Bingo, it works.”

Friday 1 April 2005 Liberty’s First Warp Flight to Mars

The crew strapped themselves down in their chairs, eagerly awaiting the call out to start the second leg of their epic journey to Mars. Harry went over his controls, glancing occasionally at the Captain. Silvia finished strapping in and hit the radio, “Command to Propulsion, how are we looking?”

“Warp Drive is primed, Captain; we’re ready to light this bird up!”

“Copy. Pilot?”

“Lock and load, Captain.”

She shifted in her seat, “Houston this is Liberty, fifteen minutes until warp flight. Liberty crew, confirm all access hatches and umbilical lines are closed and stowed.”

Silvia checked over her panel and nodded to herself that all stations reported in ready, “Pilot, take us out.”

 Harry’s fingers danced over the controls, “Aye, Captain, firing the main engines.”

The ship’s nuclear rockets fired once more propelling her fast enough to break orbit and head out into deep space in the direction of Mars. When they had travelled just beyond the Moon’s gravity well, Harry engaged the warp drive. A deep thrumming was felt throughout the structure as Liberty suddenly raced forward, the Cherenkov radiation elongated and with a burst of light and energy, Liberty jumped past the warp threshold and vanished from sight.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: We Are Not Alone: The Fall of the Statute of Secrecy

Saturday 2 April 2005, Longbottom Hall

It was peaceful that early in the morning. The kids weren’t up yet or if they were, they were quietly playing in their room with their toys. Luna was probably keeping an eye on them if she wasn’t still asleep. In the conservatory, Neville was settling into his chair with the morning edition of the Daily Prophet, a cup of tea within easy reach. It was fortunate that he wasn’t drinking it as he would’ve spewed it across the room when his eyes caught the main headline.

THE STATUTE OF SECRECY: RELIC OF A BYGONE ERA OR WORTH HOLDING ONTO?

By Willy Everwrite

Ever since famed Heroes of Magical Britain, Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger left our world soon after the Battle of Hogwarts back in 1998, there has been practically no coverage of the incredible accomplishments of either of our heroes within this newspaper. This reporter was surprised right down to my socks when I learned that the pair had joined up with an international group to train with a dedicated team of explorers to build and fly an enclosed vehicle that would take them to the Moon. The pair has even reportedly used their talents learned at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to assist in the ship’s construction and operation! In full view of the muggles and with the Department of Mysteries’ full approval no less!

When you look up to the night’s sky and see that shining pale globe with its multitude of scarred craters and airless valleys; It’s a incredible thought of someone being able to walk on the surface once yet the muggles have done it six times before during the years of 1969 until 1972 without the aid of magic. Just recently, the crew for the muggle-led International Space Agency has repeated that astounding feat of landing another group of people on the Moon and that one of the first three people to step foot once again on the Moon was in fact a wizard!

'Why should we care about what the muggles are doing?’ Some of you might ask; well, well, as I just mentioned, dear readers is that the crew of the International Space Agency’s spaceship ‘Liberty’ is not staffed purely of muggles! That’s right; two of those crewmembers are none-other than Harry Potter and Hermione Granger themselves! They were the pioneering pair of magical citizens who helped implement a base where scientists (muggle Unspeakables) could go to research and study various topics in one-sixth of Earth’s gravity.

‘Wait, when did this happen? Why should we care about this?’ Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have been, for the past seven years, hard at work learning new subjects and skills to design and build a vehicle that will take them and a team of fifty other brave souls beyond the safe confines of this planet and into the harsh realm of outer space. As for why we should care about this, after reaching the surface; the Moon was discovered to have untapped mineral resources the likes of which would make any self-respecting Goblin drool with envy. The Moon has rich deposits of gold, iron oxides, titanium oxides, silver and mercury in addition to water ice trapped within the dark recesses of the craters and valleys. Before anyone scoffs at the presence of water ice, let me remind you that water ice found on a world utterly devoid of flowing water is in a lot of ways more precious than the gold itself. With that water, the survey teams would not have to pack their own; merely mine it from below the surface.

‘Doesn’t their involvement with the muggle world run afoul of the Statute and threaten to expose us?’ As this reporter has since learned, nearly all those represented by the ISA are already aware of magic in some fashion within their own countries. In fact, many of those same muggles live next door to a witch or wizard, invited them into their homes and allow their children to play together and share the same school. This reporter got curious as to how this could be allowed under the rules set forth by the Statute and have come to the startling realization that the muggles have moved past their persecutions of those who practice witchcraft. In fact, muggle Britain has a law that makes it illegal for a person to claim that another human being of practicing magic and is punishable for up to a year in jail! This reporter was stunned to my very core that this law has been around since 1735! That’s right, my fellow readers, our own government has kept this little tidbit hidden for the past 270 years. A mere 43 years after the Statute was passed, the muggles made the whole thing moot.

This reporter reached out to the muggle Prime Minister’s office for his take on this revelation. ‘It has been long viewed by not only my administration but of those previous to mine, that the people of Magical Britain are unable to accept that time and the public’s behaviors and ideals are ever changing and that the people of your community should do so as well. The non-magical government has tried repeatedly over the years to help your side understand this concept but for all of our efforts, only those who were born to non-magical parents seem to be able to take this knowledge in hand and grow from it.’

During the past six months of my research, this reporter has seen and experienced things that if it were anyone else than myself describing them, I would’ve sent that person to be evaluated by the good Healers of Saint Mungo’s. For example, their shopping centers are clean, brightly lit, have a wider variety of merchandise than we could ever hope to have. They have public libraries where anyone with a pass card can go and check out a book (or several) to read at their leisure before returning it. There’s no hoarding of knowledge within these libraries. No one is barred based on their blood status; in fact the muggles have laws on that as well preventing such discrimination. They have centers for advanced learning called ‘universities’ where a person can go to delve deep into the mysteries of their chosen field and achieve the rank of Master or greater without having to apprentice themselves for years to an overly harsh taskmaster who may not even teach them everything they need to know for fear of being surpassed.

In addition to shopping and learning, the muggles have an incredible variety of places to go have fun, such as a ‘roller coaster theme park.’ Muggleborns across the island will tell you that the Gringotts mine carts are a pale approximation of what a muggle roller-coaster is like. This reporter was fortunate to be able to take a ride on one and let me tell you, dear readers, they were right! That those muggle roller coasters are capable of such fast paced acrobatics while attached to a thin set of rails without the aid of magic, it boggles the mind that even the most skilled Quidditch Seeker would be hard-pressed to match it.

On top of all that, the muggles have easily surpassed our abilities in the fields of medicine, transportation, education, economics and so much more. As proof of what this reporter learned, I openly practiced magic in front of the muggles and aside from some naturally curious children; the overwhelming response from the adults was shrug of their shoulders and a half-hearted, ‘Meh.’ Not once was I besieged with requests to solve their problems nor was I chased with flaming torches and pitchforks.

So what was the whole point? I look back on what life has been like for us and it makes me wonder. The Wizengamot have always claimed that our society is the pinnacle of what magical civilizations should aspire to. If this is the case, where are our gleaming cities of steel and glass? Where are our centers for advanced learning? Why do our communities look more like farming villages of yesteryear or the dank, dreary cluster of huts the purebloods have always described the muggles to be living in? Should the Statute of Secrecy be finally repealed in favor of progressing into being able to live in harmony with the muggles it once was designed to separate us from?’

Luna padded into the kitchen and kissed her husband on the cheek, “What has you looking like you were confronted with a Sunlipper Schooner?”

Neville silently slid the newspaper over to her. She picked it up and read through the article quickly enough, nodding along the way, “Oh, yes. I can see where this would be disconcerting. I saw a few things during my time in Texas courtesy of Director Croaker that amazed me too.”

Neville swallowed a sip of tea and pondered quietly, “What do you think will come of this?”

Luna slid into her chair and shrugged unconcernedly, “I think that there will be turmoil to start at least. No one likes to be told that their safe, secure world is based upon a lie. I would hazard a guess that the ‘Mot will be convening shortly to try and ‘urge’ the Minister to contact the Prophet and get a retraction of the article and force Mr. Everwrite to apologize to the people.”

Luna’s words could’ve been construed as prophetic for when Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt entered his office Monday morning, he and his staff were besieged with letters (and a few Howlers) to deal with this offending reporter and his ridiculous claims that the Statute was something that should be discarded like yesterday’s garbage.

He too had read the article but unlike the kneejerk reactions of the Wizengamot members or the general public, he’d reached out and contacted a few of the other magical governments around the world for their take on the situation.

“Frankly, I’m most curious with how your muggle governments and population responded when magic was revealed to them,” Kingsley opened the meeting.

The American Ambassador shrugged, “Well, the magical communities and practitioners in my country started small during neighborhood holiday parties or maybe during a convention where fans of comic book characters got together to share their knowledge and love of all things ‘magical.’ Other times, magical Healers would step up and assist during a crisis where it would take too long for their non-magical counterparts to arrive safely to care for the wounded or sick. I should mention that the transition hasn’t been completely smooth or complete, there are still some areas within our southern states where the practice of magic is still viewed as ‘devil worshipping’ but by and large; it’s gotten to the point where a witch or a wizard need not fear immediate reprisal for casually performing magic.” Several of the other ambassadors agreed with him.

“So nowadays, the muggles there just don’t care?”

“I wouldn’t say they don’t care, there have been some state and local governments regulations that have sprung up about when and where it’s appropriate to ‘whip your wands out’ as it were. ”

“What about on the highest level?”

The Ambassador chuckled, “You should’ve heard the laughing and swapping of tales from both the magical and non-magical Presidents as they compared what their respective bureaucracies were like. Apparently, some things are the same no matter which side of the divide you’re on.”

Wednesday 6 April 2005, At the next Wizengamot Meeting

“That reporter ought to be dragged here in chains to answer for his blasphemous article! He dares to slander our proud nation!” Lord Malfoy loudly announced to the assembly. Several others could be seen nodding with him.

“Hem, hem! What about Potter and Granger? I say that they too should be dragged back in chains to explain why it was so important to go gallivanting around with those damned, dirty beasts before being punished by spending some quality time in Azkaban,” someone else yelled from the Visitor’s Gallery.

Neville watched and listened disdainfully from his seat amongst the ‘Mot. ‘How in the world is Umbridge still free? I thought she’d gotten locked up during the last round-up of Dark sympathizers?’ He caught the eye of Lord Fawley and shook his head in exasperation, “These fools are the reason why Harry and Hermione left as well as the ones who keep us locked in the Dark Ages. I feel like I ought to handing out boxes of nappies and dummies for them to suck on before issuing orders for nap time.”

Lord Fawley’s loud snort of laughter caused a few nearby to turn and frown in their direction for the interruption. He waved them back and leant over to Neville, “I wholeheartedly agree with you, Neville. In fact,” he glanced around covertly, “I dare you to do so!”

A grin stole across Neville’s face as he held up a finger, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

In the meantime, Neville sent word via elf to Luna who sat serenely in the Visitor’s Gallery as well (opposite of Dolores though), “The game is afoot! Let fly with the Wrackspurts!”

Back in the stands, Neville raised his wand to be recognized. When the Chief Warlock acknowledged him, he stood to address the crowd, “My Lords and Ladies, I don’t see what the big deal is with integrating our society in with the muggles. Nearly every single one of you has items within your homes that are muggle in origin and you eat the exact same foods they do. I’d bet that if you asked your elves where they purchased the ingredients to make your favorite dishes, they’d tell you that it came from a muggle grocery shop!” Mutters of disagreement rippled through the assembly, Dolores was heard yelling for him to shut up and let those of proper breeding speak.

“For too long, we have been holding onto the past when the past is exactly where those ideas should remain. The muggles aren’t a threat to our way of life, we are. You all moan and groan like a bunch of concussed cows yet not one of you have the… ahem, incentive to venture from your cozy armchairs to find out the truth. I have spent some time amongst the muggles while growing up with Harry and Hermione. Both invited me to their homes to see what ‘wonders’ lay within and let me tell you, they get along fine without magic and even then, some of what they have and use could easily be construed as magic by previous generations. Imagine being able to read at night, not by a flickering candlelight that strains one’s eyes, but with a light as bright as day. Do we have that ability? No but they do. Do we have the ability to travel long distances in great numbers without spinning like a top or a sore bottom from sitting on a broom? No, but they do.”

By this point, there wasn’t a single sound from the audience. Neville had captured their attention as easily as if he were leading one of his classes in Herbology.

“I wonder how antiquated we must look to every incoming muggleborn after they get their letters to attend Hogwarts. Some of my own students have commented that they were excited to learn that they were magical but were disappointed when they found out that the tools, equipment and practices that they’ll be learning with haven’t changed in centuries! Famed Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said ‘Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it’ and that’s what’s going on here. I’ve listened to you all whimper and whine that if our ways were good enough for our ancestors, then it must be good enough for me and my children’s generation onwards. This is why we are so mired with wrong ideas about what is proper and not focused on making those changes that will give us those ‘gleaming cities’ Mr. Everwrite described.”

Neville paced for a length, “Now, I’m not saying that we have to give up all of our practices overnight and whole-heartedly adopt everything that the muggles have. I’m just saying that it’s time to announce our presence and join the rest of the world. Will there be opposition? Of course, but as the other developed nations around the world have shown; those tensions will ease and we can finally live like a civilized people. We shouldn’t be afraid of them or treat them as mere children. They have had many good ideas for the dissemination of information and governance. All any of you have to do is to attend their version of a Wizengamot meeting. Within their galleries, any interested muggle is allowed to quietly watch and if desired, take part by contacting their representatives. As proof that the muggles aren’t rude and crude beasts as some of you would have us believe, I invited several to attend this meeting. My wife is currently sitting in the left hand side of the Visitor Gallery with a group of those very muggles.”

All eyes swung over to where he was pointing. Luna stood with an enigmatic smirk on her face, sitting next to her (and not smiling) were several ordinary looking muggles, and a couple of them were seen scribbling down notes.

“As you can clearly see, these muggles have been quietly observing the proceedings and judging by their expressions, they’re none too happy with what they’ve seen or heard. This is not how a government should be run. What they’ve seen and heard today is no more inspiring than a bunch of over-stimulated toddlers in desperate need of a nappy change, throwing their dummies out of their prams.”

Eventually, the ICW would be called to step in to review the case. They came down with the ruling that if Magical Britain wanted to remain a xenophobic society excluding all those they deemed unworthy then the ICW would be forced to quarantine the entire island from world events and trade. If passed, this meant that there’d be no more World Cup events, foreign goods and services would dry up and the populace would suffer.  The council set a review date for six months wherein if during those six months there was no change in attitudes detected, then the ICW would begin its isolation procedures.

News of the proposal to end the Statute of Secrecy had a dramatic impact on the British civilian public opinions. Although it was clear that major changes had been going on around the world, even before then; the wall coming down between the magical and non-magical, drove home in a very dramatic and convincing way to the British people that the long established concept of two equal but separate worlds was coming undone.

Some like the Greengrasses were intrigued with the notion of opening new markets in which to buy and sell their wares, as were the Weasleys who were traditionally light-oriented whereas the Darker families like the Malfoys, Parkinsons, and Umbridge were opposed to letting in that ‘muggle filth’ and would do what they could to stall or hopefully reverse any idiotic rulings put in place by the ICW. Lord Malfoy was reportedly overheard in a conversation with Lords Parkinson and Nott that maybe it was time to rise above local politics and get a posting to the ICW to offset their wild impositions on those with proper breeding and wealth.

When Minerva read about the ICW’s ruling, she sent in a fervent request for them to view Hogwarts and the surrounding valley and the lone township of Hogsmeade as a separate nation or at least a territory. She implored them to take into consideration that the school under her leadership was doing all it could to integrate modern education standards into their curriculum with such things like using pens and pencils for writing instead of quills, lined paper for notes and essays instead of rolls of parchment, and removing the myriad of illogically redundant wards seemingly designed to impede the usage of electricity for heating and lighting and were working on getting the House common rooms and dorms in the same shape. The ICW representative was impressed with the amount of improvements Hogwarts was implementing and it was upon his recommendation that Hogwarts received its new status change.

Meanwhile as the people of magical Britain dithered…

Liberty flashed back into real space after a superluminal jump through warp space from Earth’s Moon to just outside the orbit of Mars’ outer moon of Deimos. The crew remained silent and motionless as the enormity of what had just transpired raced through their minds. Silvia leaned forward slightly, “Mr. Potter? Did it work?”

Harry coughed once and scanned his terminal, “Sensors show us right where we wanted to be, Captain. I’m putting it up on the holo.” His fingers flipped the appropriate switches and projected the holographic image of what hung out over the nose of the ship. Mars was a baleful red with its northern carbon dioxide-rich ‘ice cap’ in view.

“Amazing,” Hamish breathed in awe. Silvia was the same way for a moment before calling down to the science labs to start preparing the automated sensor package to be deployed on Phobos the moment they were in range.

“Captain, Tiny. Incoming radio message from Earth.”

“Already?” Hamish commented in surprise.

“Go ahead and send it through here, Tiny.”

Silvia’s radio crackled, “Liberty, this is Houston. Due to the time constraints, we want to quickly congratulate you on your arrival. Now, something…humongous out near Pluto has shown up during a scan from the Hubble Space Telescope. We can’t get a detailed image of it yet but we were hoping that you had enough power and fuel to make the journey and get some sensor readings on it. If you do, send your reply at once; Houston out.”

Harry turned his chair around to stare incredulously at the captain, “They’re kidding, right? We just got here.”

“Tiny, how long would it take us to get out there at best possible speed and fuel consumption?”

“Gimme a moment, I’m checking.”

A moment passed, “If we cut the power to any non-essential systems, we can get out to Pluto within eight and half hours at warp one. I might be able to squeeze another couple of points out of that speed but I wouldn’t recommend it, especially on a brand new rig.”

“What’s our warp reactor and engine status after our last jump?”

“Uh, Juan says that the reactor sucked fuel like a Spaniard sucks sangria during Dos de Mayo; whatever the Hell that means. (Harry and some of the others started snickering.) He recommends giving him an hour to run a few tests to make sure all of the ‘boy bolts’ are still in place. Honestly, Captain; I think you ought to have a word with him about his language. I get having some humor just after stressful situations but this is ridiculous.”

Silvia rolled her eyes, “Thank you, Tiny and I agree. I’ll deal with him later. In the meantime, I’m going to compose a return message back to Houston.” She clicked off from Tiny and headed over to the Comm Station.

While his captain was sending her message, Harry was staring wide-eyed at the floating holographic image of Mars. He didn’t dare breathe for fear of it vanishing from sight even though he knew that that fear was just in his head. His communication panel started flashing, “Pilot here.”

“Harry?” Hermione’s voice wavered a bit, “Do you have the holo up? Can you see it?”

“I do and am, Hermione. I thought the Moon was beautiful, this…this takes the cake and it’s going to be our new home. Have you thought about where you want to put the lawn furniture yet?”

“Hardy har har, Potter. I’d be more interested in where to put the library.”

Harry harrumphed, “That’s easy, by the bay window overlooking the Martian plains, assuming we don’t pick the Cliffside landing coordinates.”

“I actually like the Cliffside location. It’d be more protected from any weather-related issues that might crop up as opposed to being out in the open.”

Harry scratched his chin, “Yeah, I guess I could see the benefits there plus there’re no earthquakes to worry about and we can tunnel into the rock face to protect ourselves against solar radiation.”

“See? Benefits versus accessibility for the rovers and even then that’s a simple job for the portkeys.”

“I’ve never been too sure if Mars could sustain a working ley line like back home. I’ve always subscribed to the notion that the Earth’s magnetic field directly powers the magical field.”

“Well, we’ll just have to see about that when we land.”

Harry hummed thoughtfully, “Yeah, about that. We might be diverted to check out something else first.”

“What do you mean?”

“Houston reported that the HST discovered something near Pluto and since we’re the only ship that’s capable of getting out there anytime in the next decade; we’ll probably get diverted to check it out.”

“Really?” She sounded more interested than worried, “When will we know?”

Harry looked up to see Silvia heading back to her seat. “Looks like right now. Talk to you later.”

Silvia retook her seat and hit the intercom button, “Liberty crew, this is your captain. First off, I want to congratulate all of you on our first successful warp jump. We made the journey from the Moon to just outside of Deimos’ orbit in twelve and a half minutes. (Tinny cheers were heard in the background) Houston also sends its regards; however they now have a new assignment that takes precedence over our original mission. The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered something hanging around Pluto that wasn’t there the last time they checked. From their description, it’s ‘humongous’ and they’re sending us to go investigate. I don’t know how long we’ll be there or what we’ll find but rest assured; we’ll get some interesting photos to take home with us. Our new flight time will last about eight and half hours at warp one. Once we make the jump, I want everyone not associated with Engineering to shut down their stations to conserve power and to get some rest.”

She turned to look at Harry, “Pilot, make the jump.”

Harry swung back to his panel, “You got it, Captain.” He entered in the coordinates and watched dispassionately as Liberty swung about. “Engaging the warp drive in three…two…one.”

Liberty’s warp drive thrummed in a rising crescendo before leaping into a cascade of scintillating radiation.

Seven hours later…

“Captain, Engineering.”

“Go ahead.”

“We’ve got a growing problem with the rocket engines, specifically number three.”

Silvia frowned, “Can you be more specific?”

“Not at present. The sensors are telling me that the number three engine is failing to vent heat properly. I highly recommend that we drop out of warp to investigate.”

“Very well.” She gave the order to the back-up pilot since Harry was off-duty. Liberty shuddered slightly as it dropped down to sublight speeds. SatCon was ordered to send out a repair drone to investigate what the problem was around the number three heat exhausts.

Kevin maneuvered the probe down the hull carefully, being mindful of the antenna and various ports. He approached the number three heat vent and zoomed in on what appeared to be rust around the vanes, “What the… Captain, I’m in position.”

“Send up the images.”

He clicked the proper switch and called up, “Take a look, it resembles rust.”

Silvia and Hamish examined the images, “That is strange. There shouldn’t be any way for rust to form out here in the vacuum of space. What do you think we ought to do?”

Silvia hit the intercom, “Kevin, have the probe take a sample. Make sure you use one of the nonmetallic canisters. In the meantime, Engineering? (Juan acknowledged) Get a replacement module ready and in the airlock as soon as you can.”

The repairs were made with the problematic vent vanished by Hermione after she quickly scribed up a time-delayed rune variant of the Evanesco charm, where it was affixed to the side of the vent before being jettisoned.

Hamish nudged Silvia, “No matter how many times I see magic in action, it still amazes me.”

“Right? Alright, Pilot. Let’s continue.”

Liberty jumped back into warp space a moment later.

Above the dwarf planet of Pluto, an hour and a half later

Once more, Liberty exited from warp space; the crew found themselves bereft of breath, not from a lack of oxygen but because of what they were seeing. Pluto was in a word, fascinating. It had an incredible range of colors that defied explanation. There were swaths of white from nitrogen ice mixed with methane and carbon. The dominant feature of Pluto was an enormous heart-shaped region informally named ‘Tombagh Regio’ by planetary astronomers back on Earth. Within the heart, the features were highly varied. Another dominant feature on Pluto was called ‘Cthulu Regio,’ or "the whale." Lying along the southern hemisphere, Cthulu Regio is a dark region that borders the heart. “The dark colors may be composed of "tholins," complex hydrocarbons. Heavy cratering suggests the region is billions of years old, significantly older than the heart. The surface also holds onto a tenuous atmosphere,” commented Guilia from her position at the Science station.

“Incredible,” Harry added.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be saying that a lot.”

Hamish turned, “Are we recording?”

Guilia spared him a look, “Never stopped.”

“Good. Tiny, where’s that ‘humongous’ artifact?”

“Checking… It’s on the far side of the planet. Heck, it should be visible now.” The holo switched to a different view showing Pluto in its actual distance from the ship. Hovering over the North Pole was the thing they came to examine. It was, in a word, gargantuan. “Wow, using the ship as a constant, I estimate the Artifact at being an estimated 100 kilometers in length and a diameter of its widest section at around 50 kilometers.”

Someone scoffed, “That can’t be right, Tiny.”

Tiny gave an electronic shrug, “I can only tell you what the sensors indicate. If you ever figure out who built it, ask them to explain their reasoning for making it so damn big.”

Silvia intervened before it went further, “Alright everyone. Try to remain professional. Guilia make sure you get as much as you can. Communications, are you detecting anything?”

“Negative, Captain. It’s not transmitting anything, or at least anything I recognize. That said; I am detecting a different transmission coming from Pluto’s orbit.” Heads whipped around to stare at Nathan.

“Say that again?!”

“I said that I’m picking up what appears to be another warp signature. I don’t recognize it as being an Earth-based ship though.”

Harry’s jaw dropped open, “An alien ship from Pluto?”

Kevin was heard on the intercom, “As opposed to the alien ship ahead of us?”

“SatCon, stay off the line unless it’s important,” Hamish interjected.

“Yes, sir,” Kevin clicked off.

The new arrival was significantly smaller than the artifact; in fact it was closer to Liberty’s size. Tiny estimated that the approaching ship measured roughly 100 meters and featured three lobed thrusters at the rear end.

“Sweet looking design,” Harry murmured to no one in particular.

“Nathan, is it transmitting anything?”

“Well, that’s the thing… I think so but I’m not sure. Tiny? Are you able to discern anything?”

“Nope. I’m just as confused as you.”

Silvia nodded, “Nathan, run the gamut. See what happens.”

Nathan began transmitting a simple greeting of ‘hello’ in every language he could think of. Tiny put up a message saying that he was going to try sending an electronic message using the Sagan Protocols.

The alien ship pulled up off their starboard side, seemingly just as confused as they were. Tiny began transmitting a light pulse for every number within the range of one and ten. He then built up from there by flashing a binary code of the English-language alphabet. He waited for a moment in hopes that the alien understood then began transmitting ‘01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100001’ (Hello.)

Hermione was sitting at her station watching what was going on in trepidation. ‘Is this going to work? What if it doesn’t? Are they going to think less of us if we can’t communicate?’

“Incoming signal,” Tiny announced, “They’re responding! They say that… Whoa!”

Overlapping callouts for more information immediately echoed on the intercom. “They say that they can understand and speak in English. That this isn’t the first time that their species has interacted with humans before.”

“Tiny, send them a message that we’re inviting them onboard the ship. Tell them that we’re here in peace,” Silvia ordered.

“Yes, Captain. Message sent. They reply that they’re sending over a shuttle and are requesting docking procedures.”

Hermione got on the line, “I don’t think our docking collar would support their design, Captain.”

“What would you suggest then?”

Hermione thought fast, “What if we were to remotely fly the landers out of their module and let their shuttle in there. We could then bring them onboard through the spine. Tiny would have to let them know that there’s no gravity in there.”

There was a pause on the line, “I like that idea. Tiny, let them know.”

“Yes, Captain.”

It took a few minutes for Tiny to open up the cargo module and remotely fly the landers to a parking spot on the dorsal side of the ship then guide the alien ship into the space vacated. In the meantime, the crew scrambled to get into clean clothes and make themselves look professional. Hamish glared ineffectually at the state of Harry’s hair, “Can’t you do something about that mop?”

Harry snorted, “That’s a question that’s been asked of the Potter Family since its founding and the answer is always the same, no.”

“The alien ship has docked. I’m closing the outer doors and pressurizing the module,” Tiny announced just then. “Captain to the docking port.”

Silvia arrived and straightened down her uniform once more, “Okay, Tiny. Open the hatch.”

The airlock hatch hissed briefly and swung open to reveal a humanoid figure wearing what appeared to be a robe. The figure appeared to have a greenish hue underneath a golden tanned skin. What was most striking about the alien’s appearance was the sharply pointed ears and arched, upswept eyebrows.

The alien raised its hand and spread its fingers giving a V-shaped gesture between the middle and ring fingers and spoke in a clear voice, “Live long and prosper.”

The assembled crew blinked at the greeting. Silvia (and a few of the others) tried to copy his hand sign but couldn’t get her fingers to respond. She blushed slightly then held her hand out in the style she was used to, “Thank you. Um…I don’t know where else to go with that. My name is Captain Silvia Connelly of the International Space Agency starship ‘Liberty.’ We weren’t expecting any company out here. Our homeworld detected that…whatever that thing is and diverted us from our intended mission to investigate. If it’s yours, you’re welcome to retrieve it.”

The alien bowed his head, “My name is Sovak. I am the Captain of the Ti-Valka’ain starship T’Plana-Hath.”

Silvia frowned slightly, “I’m sorry, Ti-Val…?”

Sovak cleared his throat, “Ti-Valka’ain though most other species just refer to us as ‘Vulcans.’”

“Other species? How many are there?”

Sovak shrugged, “Many. We have not encountered them all. To answer to your inquiry if that derelict is ours, it is not. We were on a survey mission and were surprised when we detected your warp signature. The last time that our two civilizations interacted, yours had just launched its first artificial satellite.”

Harry blinked and thought, ‘That was back in 1957 with Sputnik!’

He wasn’t the only one to recognize the reference if the stunned expressions on the faces of their crew were any indication. Silvia nodded to herself then introduced the rest of her officers, “This is my second in command, Commander Hamish Flanagan; my pilot/navigator Harry Potter, our AI specialist Hermione Granger and the ship’s AI, Tiny.” Tiny’s greeting was heard on the speakers.

“If the derelict as you call isn’t yours, then I suppose since it’s in our system; it belongs to us unless the original owners come back for it. In the meantime, please follow me and we’ll go somewhere a bit more comfortable.” She led them down the passageway and into one of the lifts to Deck Four where their Mess Hall was. “It’s not much but it’s home.”

Sovak gave a half-smile, “We understand, Captain. I think it’s a requirement of government-owned starship design to have minimal comforts.”

Hamish served their guests a variety of different drinks, from hot tea and coffee to as basic as a glass of water, “Like the captain said, we weren’t expecting guests. I hope this will be okay for you.”

One Vulcan selected a cup of the coffee, sniffed it and took a sip before his eyes started twinkling, “If this is representative of your drinks, I think that you and I will get along just fine.”

Harry smirked, “Engineer?”

The Vulcan shook his head, “Astrophysics.”

Harry waved that off, “Close enough. Only the administration seems to like doctoring up their drinks with excessive amounts of sweetener.”

The Vulcan raised his cup in salute, “My name is Solkar, you were introduced as Harry Potter, the pilot and navigator?”

Harry dipped his head, “Yup.” Hermione took a seat next to him. “This is my best friend and mate, Hermione Granger; she’s our AI Specialist.”

Solkar greeted her, “Yes, I’d heard. Perhaps soon, I could meet this ‘Tiny?’”

Hermione made an indecisive face, “Well, it depends on a couple of factors. You see, Tiny is a disembodied elf brain that was integrated into the ship’s computers and sensor network. As long as you’re not squeamish about such things, I don’t see the problem. If you are, then just look up to that blue line that runs throughout the ship. He uses that to interact with the crew and interior as needed. He’s also able to project a holographic image of himself, which begs the question as to why he hasn’t done so already.”

Tiny responded, “I was just waiting for an introduction.” His image appeared just off to the side and bowed to Solkar, “Greetings, Solkar. I am Tiny, Liberty’s elfin intelligence and computer interface.”

Solkar stared at Tiny for a moment before touching the tips of his own ears as a ghost of a smile teased the corners of his mouth, “Impressive set of ears there, Tiny.”

Harry cocked his head, “Yeah, now that you mention it; there does seem to be a familial resemblance.”

Hermione whapped him on the arm, “Behave, you prat.” Harry just blew her a kiss and chuckled.

The Vulcans were surprised to learn that this was Liberty’s maiden voyage to the outer planets and her first major jump. “To make such a long-distance jump on an untested warp drive is either brave or reckless.”

Silvia waggled her hand, “A little from column A, and a little from Column B.  In truth, we were supposed to be tasked with establishing our civilization’s first colony on the fourth planet. If you’re up to it, I would like to introduce your people to mine diplomatically for a formal First Contact.”

Sovak bowed his head, “I would like that very much, Captain.”

“Great. I just need to radio ahead to let them know we’re coming back and with a guest. If you or any of your team would like to ride in with us; I’m sure that we can accommodate them.”

Sovak glanced at his officers, noting how well Solkar was interacting with Harry and Hermione, “I believe Solkar would be the logical choice here.” Solkar looked up at the sound of his name and was informed that he’d be remaining on board the Liberty while they made their flight back to the human homeworld while the rest would return to their ship and follow them in.

Solkar watched with interest at the professionalism that the human crew displayed as they made a few more passes with their sensors and cameras of the derelict before swinging the ship around towards Earth.

Harry called out from his station, “Warp drive and reactor are primed and ready, Captain. Flight time should be about nine hours direct to home.”

“Understood,” Silvia acknowledged, “Attention crew of Liberty, we’re one minute away from making our longest non-stop warp jump. All non-essential stations please power down and strap in. Pilot, on your mark.”

Harry’s head was bobbing as he entered in the final calculations, “Jumping in three…two…one.”

Solkar was surprised to feel a deep thrumming vibration running through the deck and into his very bones as the titanic power of the NERVA reactor fed raw energy into the drive which in turn catapulted the ship past the speed of light.

Once they were comfortably underway, Harry turned and spotted the look on their guest’s face, “Not what you expected, huh?”

Solkar shook his head, “Not at all. I think the last time I felt a warp drive act this way was back at the Vulcan Science Academy during my early days in the program.”

Harry shrugged unconcernedly, “Well, it’s a brand-new drive; it’s bound to have a few loose bolts.”

Four hours later…

Harry was on his break down in the Mess Hall with Solkar when Hermione wandered in with her nose in a book, wearing a pair of heart-patterned cotton tracksuit bottoms, a T-shirt that read, ‘Despite the look on my face, you’re still talking,’ and fuzzy bunny slippers on her feet.

Solkar nudged Harry, “Interesting apparel she’s got on. Are things normally that informal here?”

Harry snorted, “When we’re off-duty, yes for the most part. Some of us still try to maintain the minimum of decency by wearing clothes that at least try to match but Hermione’s a special case. She’s super intelligent but at times can be eccentric in her sense of style.”

“I heard that.” The two males looked over to where Hermione was half-heartedly glaring at them. Harry waved her over, “On your way, would you bring us a cup of tea, please?”

When she sat down, she passed out the cups, “Here you go. Earl Grey, hot.”

Harry smiled happily as he blew off the steam, “Hot, just like my girlfriend.”

Hermione shook her head, “Harry…”

Solkar smirked, “You two act like a couple I knew back home. He always did or said something that would exasperate her but deep down, they both loved each other very much.”

Harry agreed with him, “Hermione and I have been through a lot together and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Hermione crinkled her nose playfully at him as she pulled out her wand and casually tapped her mug, “Frigidus leviter.” The steam stopped rising as much and allowed her to sip her tea without burning her tongue. Solkar in the meantime, stared in surprise.

“How in the…?”

Harry looked over at him, “What’s the matter?”

Solkar pointed to Hermione’s cup, “She pulled out a stick, said some sort of phrase and the tea stopped steaming!”

Harry’s eyes slid over to Hermione, who was in turn struggling not to laugh, “Um, I guess it falls to me to let you know that there are those amongst our people who are capable of…well, magic.”

“Magic?”

“Yup. I can perform magic as well though the rest of the crew cannot.” He slid his wand out of his wrist holster and showed it off. “This is what’s known as a wand. It acts as a focus for our magical core and allows us to change things from one form to another, cause objects to behave in certain ways, and so much more.” He waved his wand and caused a spare teacup to change into a tiny cat that walked around the table and sniffed at a couple of spots before reverting back to its original form.

Solkar shook his head, “This is far outside my frame of understanding.”

Harry patted him on the shoulder, “You wouldn’t be the first person to have trouble understanding magic. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time before you go home to experience more of it.”

As Liberty raced towards Earth, Silvia contacted Houston to inform them of their new status and the fact that they were bringing guests for a formal First Contact. When the message had been fired off, she leant back in her chair and blew her hair from her face, “Here’s to hoping that we all get along.” She then turned to glance over where Hamish sat in one of the guest’s chairs watching her, “What are you thinking?”

“I was thinking that if all goes well, they’re going to be naming important buildings and future starships after us. The ISA Flanagan has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

A sly grin stole across her face, “Maybe if it was a garbage scow.” Hamish mimed being mortally wounded. “Seriously though, intelligent and advanced alien life; who’d have thought it?”

“Right? I was hoping for something in the Star Wars category myself,” Hamish idly commented. “I mean, hopefully there’s a species out there that could be classified as Wookies. What about you? If you could meet a species, what would they be?”

Silvia let out a deep breath, “I don’t know, maybe whatever Yoda is or maybe a Twi’lek?”

“Aye, that would be fun.”

Back in the Mess Hall; Harry and Hermione were joined by a couple of the crew to explain what life on Earth was like. “I won’t try to sugarcoat everything that happens back home. Every civilization has its share of problems amongst its population but right now, things are fairly calm. There haven’t been any major skirmishes worth noting over resources or ideals in a while. There are the usual gripes from the people over fuel and food prices, someone’s favorite teams winning or losing, relationships that blossom or died; you know, the usual sorts of things.”

Solkar nodded, “It sounds like Earth is by and large, stable in its operation. My captain and first officer were worried about that. Given the situation that was brewing on your world the last time that my people visited; they were concerned that you might’ve had another world war and were rebuilding from the ashes.”

Hermione hummed, “Well, globally things are quiet but in our (she pointed between her and Harry) country, there was a second civil war that took place amongst the magical community over political ideals and bloodlines. Many were injured or killed; those who survived are putting their lives back together but from what I was told through friends, it’s still tough going.”

Rhys clapped his hands together, “Okay, enough ‘doom and gloom’ reminiscing; Solkar, have you ever heard of video games?”

Solkar nodded, “Yes, though I’d imagine the games I’m familiar with aren’t the ones you’re probably thinking of.”

Rhys led the group into the Entertainment room which lay adjacent to the Mess Hall and pointed out their selection of games, “We’ve got card, board, electronic and physical games of all types.” He powered up the monitor and clicked on the game console, “Here, this one is my favorite. Let’s see what you make of it.” He handed the controller to Solkar, explained what the different buttons did and pressed play. As the theme song for Star Wars: Battlefront blasted through the speakers and the credits began to roll, Solkar’s eyes grew wider and his mouth dropped open.

Later, when Hamish stopped by to check on their guest, he found him embroiled in a debate over techniques in a real-life hand to hand combat zone versus the electronic fantasy world with Malcolm, Kevin and a couple of the enlisted crewmembers. He shook his head at the sight of the Vulcan Solkar getting animated arguing that there was no way that a lightsaber could be defeated by a phaser rifle. ‘I wonder how he’d do with a more sedate game like poker.’

When the games wore out their interest, Solkar was invited to experience more of the magic that Harry and Hermione had brought along. Concepts of being able to see and experience another person’s memory through the use of a bowl-shaped device known as a ‘pensieve’ actually caused him to smile as his eyes lit up. “There is a way for us to see into a person’s mind known as a ‘mind meld’ where one of us would touch the other person in specific points on the face. This looks like a more efficient method that probably cuts down on the potential for danger?”

Hermione agreed with his assessment, “It does offer the benefit of reviewing a memory from a trauma victim or an aggressive patient without having to get too close. In those cases, a Healer or someone in law enforcement would subdue and restrain the patient then extract the memory of the events.” She extracted a memory from her mind using her wand and dropped the silvery strand into the pensieve and pressed the rune to start the playback. Solkar watched in amazement of the approach of his ship from an outsider’s perspective.

“So what is your homeworld like?” Malcolm asked.

Solkar took a deep breath, “Well, according to Vulcan mythology, all creation arose from a paradise-like place known as ‘Sha Ka Ree.’ Centuries ago, Vulcans were barbaric, war-like and nearly killing themselves off with their own passions. We nearly destroyed ourselves; Paranoia and homicidal rage were common. Some Vulcans began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions, though they continued following a polytheistic religion with rompish celebrations and many deities, including gods of war, death, and peace. Although many religious holidays of this time, like ‘Rumarie,’ ceased to be observed over the following centuries, some rituals were preserved like the Vulcan wedding ceremony. It has remained unchanged from the "time of the beginning" to at least until now and includes the ‘Koon-ut-kal-if-fee,’ which allows any betrothed to call a challenge to the death.”

“Wow, and I thought our planet had issues…” Kevin muttered.

Hermione shot him a look, “Do we not still celebrate war and death or have you forgotten what some of your country’s holidays entail?”

Solkar continued, “After many wars using terrible weapons like atomic bombs and the Stone of Gol, a philosopher emerged named Surak, who proposed leading a life governed by logic rather than emotion. His teachings quickly spread and were recorded in the Kir'Shara, finally showing Vulcan a path towards peace. We call those teachings and the path towards peace ‘The Time of Awakening.’ It took Vulcan almost fifteen hundred years since then to rebuild and travel to the stars.”

“So this Time of Awakening is why your captain and crew seemed so distant, I guess would be the best description?” Guilia asked Solkar, “It felt like they didn’t want to smile in greeting.”

Solkar nodded, “Partially; the other part is we didn’t know how you’d react to the concept of smiling or emotions but now that I’ve seen you all in action, I think our interactions will become easier.”

Malcolm agreed with him, “Humans are an emotional species too. We have our moments where we’ll threaten to undo everything in a moment of rage but we have procedures and practices in place to help us cool off.” 

“I’m still having a difficult time imagining life without emotions,” Harry commented, “What would happen if something funny happened and you laughed?”

Solkar snorted, “It’s happened and depending on the location, the responses from others range from admonishment to a simple rolling of the eyes. Our people still have their emotions; we’ve just learned to control them in public. In fact, there are venues back home where someone can go to let loose and vent those repressed emotions in a safe and secure manner.”

Harry bobbed his head in understanding, “Oh, okay so it’s not like you’ve turned yourselves into living machines devoid of everything that makes you…you?”

“No, though there are some species we deal with who would say otherwise.”

“Well, while you’re with us, feel free to let out your emotions a bit. It’ll help you to interact with us better.” The others agreed with Harry.

Earth’s orbit, International Space Station Freedom, nine hours later

Solkar stood in the rear of Liberty’s bridge and observed the actions of the crew. He got his first glimpse of Earth as they left warp space and swung about. It was an average sized world covered mostly in a pretty blue for the oceans and white for the cloud cover with several continents in view in a wash of greens, browns, and reds. All in all, it looked like heaven compared to the harshness of Vulcan. He turned his attention back to the others as the radios flared to life.

“Liberty, this is Freedom. We’re ready to receive you; please dock with Module twenty-three alpha.”

“Understood, Freedom,” Harry replied as he hit the thrusters to gently guide the ship into position.

“Liberty, this is the T’Plana-Hath; do you have a docking pad for us or should we reenter through your cargo module again?”

“T’Plana-Hath, this is Captain Connelly. Is your ship capable of atmospheric entry?”

“It is.”

“Then we’re going to direct you to a landing zone near the site of our United Nations building. Stand-by for instructions.”

Once Liberty docked and began powering down her reactors, Hamish unlocked and cycled the airlock. He was surprised to learn that the section of the station he was stepping into had gravity, “This is new.”

The station’s commander welcomed him, “That it is, Commander. It was just installed last week and we’ve got plans to retrofit the rest of Freedom soon.”

“Is the Portkey room ready for us?”

“Yes, right this way.”

Hermione led Solkar into the station where the ISS crew got their first glimpse of the Vulcan. Whispers were heard stating that they didn’t look too much different than the folks back home. She directed him onto a platform, “Have you ever teleported before?”

Solkar grinned lightly, “Multiple times. It’s an odd feeling to get used to as the atoms in your body are ripped apart and reassembled elsewhere.”

“Oh, then get ready for something different. We use a method known as a ‘portkey.’ Think of it like your own personal warp drive. Just remember that Earth’s gravity is the same as Liberty’s so bend your knees when you arrive.”

The Portkey operator glanced up, “All set there? Okay, transporting in three…two…one.”

The world around Solkar twisted and scintillated for a moment before spinning him around as though he was being sucked down a drain.

Grand Plaza outside the United Nations, New York, USA

When the Portkey released Solkar from the otherspace effects, he nearly fell over but caught himself just in time. He dusted his pants leg off and turned to see Harry reaching out to help stabilize him.

“You alright?” Harry asked.

“That was different.”

Harry shrugged a shoulder, “You get used to it. You should’ve seen my early attempts with this method; I got thrown around pretty much every time. Floos are even worse for me.”

“Floos?”

“Same principle of teleportation but utilizing a magical fireplace. For whatever reason that has yet to be determined, I always exited as if being shot from a cannon. A few of my friends and classmates used to take bets as to how much damage I’d cause whenever I arrived.” Solkar laughed lightly as Harry shook his head in exasperation. “How is our atmosphere working for you? Any lightheadedness?”

“No, everything is fine. There is a scent in the air that I’m not familiar with but it’s not affecting me harshly.”

“Probably the food vendors nearby, don’t worry about it.”

“Glad to see you made it in one piece this time, Mr. Potter.” Harry turned and grinned at the approaching figure.

“Director Croaker! Hey, what brings you by?” He greeted his old friend with a cheeky tone.

“Scamp. I believe my reason is standing right next to you. Welcome to Earth, my name is Director Saul Croaker of the British Ministry for Magic’s Department of Mysteries. We are the research branch for our government.”

Solkar raised his hand and spread his fingers in that V-pattern, “Live long and prosper, Director. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Potter has been a delightful host these past nine hours.”

Croaker tried to emulate the hand greeting but it didn’t come out quite right. “Are you the ambassador for your people?”

Solkar smirked, “Hardly. No, I’m the astrophysicist for my crew. The captain shall be the one to perform the ambassadorial duties until we can get someone to officially handle the role.”

Croaker glanced around but didn’t see anyone. Harry gestured skyward, “They should be making their entry from orbit sometime in the next few minutes.”

“Ah, I see and where is Miss Granger?”

“Probably still working with Tiny going through whatever AI techs do after a mission.”

“How was the warp jump out to Pluto?”

Harry got dreamy-eyed, “It was…incredible!” He went on to describe the Cherenkov radiation effects then started in on describing what Pluto looked like with the naked eye. A harried-looking security officer ran up and breathlessly informed the trio that the assembly would be meeting inside and if they would follow him.

As they were walking in, Saul lowered his voice to Harry, “Just so you know, there’s been some trouble brewing back home amongst the ‘Mot. Lords Malfoy, Parkinson and their lot have been putting up a fight about the decision of the ICW about letting the Statute of Secrecy finally dissolve.”

Harry blinked, “You’re kidding! After all these years?”

“There are some who feel it’s time to let go of the past and make strides into the future. I’ll brief you and Miss Granger further later when the excitement of extraterrestrials is over.”

“Is there anyone from back home here besides you?”

“I believe you remember Luna Longbottom nee Lovegood? She should be amongst the reporters and driving them up a wall.” Harry laughed at Saul’s deadpanned answer.

Harry saw the confused look on Solkar’s face, “Luna is a dear friend of Hermione and mine from when we went to school back in Britain. She’s an eccentric sort but never malicious. She loves to reference strange and fantastical creatures just to fluster people. She’s also amazingly insightful when the mood strikes her.”

“Right. I’ve met people like that before. I have a cousin on my mother’s side who acts like that. It drove her mother ‘up a wall’ as you put it as well.”

The members of the United Nations plus the reporters and the population of Earth were stunned silent at the appearance of the alien visitors. All eyes watched in awe as the Vulcan ship landed on the tarmac and extended its boarding ramp. Sovak stepped out first and approached the Secretary General of the UN.

Captain Connelly stepped up, “Captain Sovak of the planet Ti-Valka’ain, may I introduce you to our Secretary-General for the United Nations of Earth, Antonio Guterres.

Sovak extended his hand in that V-shaped gesture, “Live long and prosper.”

The Secretary General attempted to copy the gesture, “May you have a peaceful journey in all your endeavors, Captain Sovak.”

Sovak bowed his head, “My First Officer, T’Shonra; daughter of T’Kol, daughter of Sonn.”

Greetings were given all around before they were escorted to the General Assembly room where the formality of First Contact was to take place.

Hermione made her appearance a few moments later. She took Harry’s hand in hers, “I can’t believe that this is happening.”

“I know, right? It feels like it’s all part of some shared dream one of us is having. Did you hear about the troubles back home?”

She grimaced, “You mean with the proposed ending of the Statute? Yeah, I did and I don’t understand why Malfoy and his ilk have been allowed back into politics after all we went through! It burns me up that they’re allowed to continue to spread their hateful messages to the public.”

Harry nodded, “That was one of the reasons why we decided to break ties with them and head out into the stars, my love. I still consider some of them to be our friends but once we get the colony up and running on Mars; I’m all set to consider Earth just a place to visit. I’ve had it with the narrow-minded views of those fools.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: A New Home (The First Martians)

May 2005 Embassy Row, Washington, D.C.

The official Vulcan ambassador arrived on Earth about a week after First Contact to establish an embassy in Washington, D.C. Ambassador V’Lar appeared to be in her mid-thirties by human standards and had an easy-going smile and relaxed attitude that allowed her to mesh well with the other humans who worked in and around the Embassy offices in D.C. Earth’s newest relations were then offered a choice as to where they wanted to set up their consulate offices. It wasn’t until a human staffer happened to see a picture of Vulcan that it was suggested that they consider Los Angeles in California to be an ideal place to set up a consulate. “Hey, I drove by planet Vulcan when I was on the I-70.”

Heads came up and stared at the staffer. “What is this?” V’Lar inquired.

The staffer pinked in embarrassment after realizing he’d been overheard, “Sorry. I-70 is an interstate highway in Southern California that travels past Vasquez Rocks. The nearby city of Los Angeles would be a great place to set up a consulate too.”

“Why there?”

The staffer got online and pulled up some images of the city, “It’s a metropolitan city with easy access to shops, museums, art galleries and so much more. Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 932-acre park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is known for its rock formations, the result of sedimentary layering and later seismic uplift. It is located near the town of Agua Dulce, between the cities of Santa Clarita and Palmdale.”

The ambassador gazed curiously at the images before letting out a small smile, “I would like to see this place for myself before I agree to anything.”

The Secretary-General nodded his head, “We can arrange a flight out there as soon as you’re ready, ma’am.”

Meanwhile…

Taking advantage of their downtime, Harry and Hermione planned to travel home to visit with her parents and the Longbottoms. Before they left though, they took Solkar on a tour of some of the more famous observatories, tourist sites and other fun activities. One such activity was trying to convince the Vulcan to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Solkar stared into the sky at an already airborne plane and watched as its load of jumpers fell to Earth before shaking his head, “You’re kidding, right? You consider this to be fun?”

Harry shrugged, “Well, I could take you up on a broom.”

Solkar gave him a bemused grunt, “Yes, let’s do that instead. It seems less insane.”

Hermione snorted and gave a waggle of her hand, “We’ll see if you feel the same way after you land.”

Harry posed as if mortally wounded, “Hey, I’m not that bad…anymore.”

Hermione’s shark-like grin caused Solkar to shiver in trepidation, “What was he like before?”

Eyes glittering, Hermione asked him first, “Do you or did you have pilots that liked to push their vehicle to its absolute limits just for the thrill of it? (Solkar nodded) That was Harry; but since we became astronauts, he has calmed down significantly.”

So Harry took Solkar up on his broom and raced through a valley, up and around cliffs, flew flat out along the beaches (and kicking up a rooster’s tail of water) before performing a Wronksi’s Feint and pretending to chase after a Snitch. All the while, Solkar clung to him for dear life swearing to himself that when they landed, he’d never complain about T’var’s piloting again!

While Harry and Hermione were causing their Vulcan friend to question his sanity; Juan and his engineering staff used the time to go over the warp jump data gathered from going from Earth to Mars to Pluto then back to Earth as well as reviewing the information of that strange microbe that had been eating away at the thermal vents in Liberty’s rocket drive. A new nonmetallic housing was designed and test-fitted to the vents in hopes that this would solve their problem, at least in the short-term while the investigations continued. During this time, the team also designed and developed a new plasma mix manifold that according to the test data, would improve efficiency by twenty percent. Work began immediately to try building a test rig for a later flight. Finally, Liberty was refueled and her supplies replenished once more.

The crew of the T’Plana Hath returned to their ship in preparation to survey the inner worlds before resuming their original mission. Solkar gave his farewells to Harry and Hermione, “It’s been an enlightening time and one that I hope we can do again soon. Maybe someday, you both can visit Vulcan and I can show you around and see if we can get you to demonstrate your broom flying there. Vulcan has some canyons that you’d just absolutely love.”

Granger Residence, a day later…

“I’m worried that your mission to Mars is going to be permanently delayed, Hermione. You both have worked so hard for this trip only for you all to get pulled in different directions every time something new pops up,” Emma griped as she handed her daughter and Harry a cup of tea as they settled in the living room.

“Well, that was bound to happen seeing as how we’re the only warp-capable spaceship for the time being,” Hermione explained, “I wouldn’t worry too much. The ISA’s already got another ship approaching completion soon and they’ll be able to pick up the slack and take on some other missions freeing up the Mars team to focus on what we trained for.”

Dan perked up at that, “How long do they figure and do you know if there’s a name for the new ship?”

Harry shrugged, “I heard it was going to be flight ready within six months and rumor has it, it’s going to be called, ‘Enterprise.’ It’s practically a brand-new design; at least on the inside.”

“Oh?”

“Mmm-hmm; It’s going to have all new flight controls, a helmet-mounted heads-up display kind of like what the fighter pilots use. They’re doing away with the sleeper pods; the improvements in warp propulsion make them extraneous. Instead of the sled that we use, their warp drive will be permanently mounted to the engineering hull.”

“Same annular ring design?”

“Yes, based on what I heard. Additionally, there’s going to be three NERVA reactors instead of just two. One will be an emergency use only and powered down for regular flights. The reactors themselves will be given upgrades which will get it going faster than us.”

“How much faster?”

Harry pursed his lips in memory before answering, “Liberty is able to push warp 1.05 at maximum for about twenty minutes. This new design should be able to get up to warp 1.1 for thirty. It may not seem like much but in case of an emergency, it’d mean the difference between life and death.”

“What about Tiny? Will he be getting company up there?”

Harry cocked his head, “You mean install another elf brain into Liberty?”

Dan shook his head, “No, I mean will the ISA be using other elves to control their memory cores?”

Harry looked over to Hermione to answer that. She shook her head, “I’m not really sure. I heard that Tiny caused a bit of a stir over sentient rights and I sort of agree with them. I mean, if they were to send out a request for elves to sign up for the project and informed them of everything they’d be getting into; it might work but as far as I know, the new ship will have a traditional flight computer.”

“The new ship’s also going to have its own dedicated and pressurized hangar bay unlike Liberty, which has to empty out the lander storage module every time someone wants to board the ship,” Harry commented.

Hermione snorted, “Every time. That happened once, Harry.”

“And that one time still counts as every time,” he teased back.

Emma steered the conversation over to the Vulcans, “So what are the Vulcans like?”

Harry smirked, “The Vulcan we had most contact with seems like a regular guy. He’s incredibly smart and eager to learn new things. We took him around to some of the observatories to show him astrophysics from a human viewpoint. He likes the coffee we have on Liberty and has some great stories to tell of his home world. Based on what he’s told us, our two civilizations aren’t too different though they did have a period of extreme violence about fifteen hundred years ago. Remember the two atomic bombs the Americans dropped on Japan? The Vulcans did that on a regular basis during their wars.”

“Oh, my! But they’ve calmed down since then?” Emma gasped.

Harry dipped his head, “Yeah, Solkar; that’s the Vulcan’s name, he said that there was a philosopher that emerged during that time that shared a new way of living that was based on logic and controlling of their emotions. I asked if they were still allowed to have emotions and he said that they did, but there was a time and a place for them. In public, they’re encouraged to suppress those feelings but in the privacy of their homes, they’re a lot more relaxed.”

“Will this Solkar be accompanying you to Mars?” Dan asked.

He cocked his head in thought, “I hope so. It would be nice to have someone who’s grown up with regular spaceflight and traveling to other worlds along on our trip to answer questions and get his insight on how others might accomplish things.”

Two days later, Longbottom Residence…

“So what’s the latest from the ICW regarding the ‘Mot?” Hermione inquired after being served some tea by one of the Longbottom elves.

Neville leant back in his chair, “It’s going to be a mess that’s for sure. There’ve been rumors of an insurrection if they ‘dare to try to restrict our rights.’”

Harry shook his head, “Idiots. That’s only going to make the ICW crack down harder on them and everyone associated with them.”

Luna agreed with Harry, “That’s why when it happens, we’re going to be moving into Hogwarts permanently. The school and its valley are going to be considered neutral territory by the ICW plus it’ll make it easier for Neville here to get to the school to teach.”

Hermione frowned, “Just how big is the valley? I only remember the maps going out to the perimeter of Hogsmeade.”

Neville thought for a moment, “I think it’s on par with Loch Ness. It’ll comfortably hold all of the families who live within Hogsmeade and the student population’s families if they should decide to emigrate for safety. Minerva’s been looking into warding the valley against the darker families to keep them from interfering with the isolation procedures.”

Harry grimaced, “Ah, yes. They’ll no doubt try to use the so-called Imperious Defense?” Luna cocked her head at him so he continued, “They’ll try to claim that they were only being obstructionist because of the aftereffects of being held under the Imperious Curse for all those years during the First and Second Blood Wars.”

Hermione was skeptical, “That would never work.”

“I suspect they’ll try anything to keep from being treated like the muggleborns they oppressed for so long. Do you know any of the other details?”

Both Luna and Neville shook their heads. “I’m not surprised. It would make things easier on those fools who would try to circumvent the system.”

Harry snorted at a random thought, “Can you imagine what Dumbledore’s reaction to the upcoming quarantine would be? ‘Everything is fine, there’s no need to panic or to follow their directions as long as you serve my vision for the Greater Good, blah, blah, blah.”

The other three snickered at the memory of the unlamented Leader of the Laughable.

June 2005, In orbit around Pluto

Emma’s fears about Harry and Hermione not making it back to Mars was realized when ISA Command issued their orders for Liberty to travel back out to ‘The Artifact’ to perform more detailed scans until the new ship, now officially known as the DY-150 Liberty-class “Enterprise,” could arrive on station and take over for them. Harry didn’t mind the detour so much since there was nothing much left on Earth that interested him greatly anymore and figured that they’d eventually get there. He was quoted as saying, “Earth’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

He was currently helping out in Satcon alongside Kevin as the latter prepared to send out a probe to scan the surface of the Artifact. “Any ideas as to what to call that thing besides ‘The Artifact?’”

Kevin shrugged unconcernedly as he typed in the commands to load the probe onto its launch rails, “Not a one. Tiny, Sat One is ready for launch.”

“Understood. Launching in three…two…one.” The ship didn’t even shudder as the probe was sent off into space.

Harry monitored the infrared sensors and winced when a strange feeling washed over him. Kevin noticed, “You alright?”

“I just got the weirdest feeling like someone was trying to read my mind. I haven’t felt that since my days at Hogwarts.” He immediately gripped his head as the feeling ramped up exponentially and let out a yell, “Get out of my head! Augghh!!!”

He passed out from the pain a moment later. When he awoke, he found himself in Liberty’s medical bay being tended to by Guilia. “Wha… What happened?”

Guilia shushed him, “Lay still, Harry. You experienced a severe shock to your mind and I’m still trying to figure out how it happened.”

Harry winced and looked around. He spotted Hermione hovering nearby. He reached out to her, “Hey, I’m still here.”

She took his hand in hers, “You scared the crap out of me, Harry! Kevin told us what happened and I saw the security footage. It was like what Voldemort did to you back during the war. Do you remember anything?”

Harry frowned, “Yeah, but you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Worse than normal?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ha, ha. I could’ve sworn I saw a child in my mind reaching out for me. It was a nondescript sort of child, not of any sort of recognizable gender or race but definitely child-like. It reached out for me like a toddler wanting to be held. I’d swear that it came from the Artifact.”

Silvia entered and overheard his explanation, “That’s surprising, Harry because sensor scans show nothing in the way of activity on the Artifact. How do you feel?”

“Just peachy; I enjoy having my mind invaded by unknown entities,” he griped. Hermione nudged him none too gently.

Silvia gave him an eye-roll and turned to her medical officer, “Guilia? Is he stable enough to answer some questions?”

Guilia grinned sneakily at him, “I wouldn’t say that he’s stable but sure, you can ask him whatever you want.”

Harry looked to the ceiling for Divine Guidance, “I’m surrounded by comics.”

Silvia turned to Hermione, “Would you please go and get the pensieve? It would save us time and trouble trying to come up with the right questions to ask him.” Hermione nodded, kissed Harry on the cheek and left the ward. When she returned, she placed the pensieve on the table and extracted the memory from Harry and dropped it in. They each dipped a finger into the bowl and tapped the playback rune.

Inside Harry’s memory…

Harry glanced around and saw that he was standing in a pure white environment. There were no decorations or furniture of any kind within sight. He spotted Hermione, Silvia and Guilia nearby and walked over to them, “The child ought to be around here somewhere.” He pointed to where his memory self was standing looking around in confusion.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” They heard Memory-Harry call out.

“Are you the Creator?” They whirled around at the voice that called out behind them. Each one saw a small child-like being with wide expansive eyes staring back at them and a cute pouty frown on its face.

“Who is the Creator? Who are you?” Memory-Harry asked.

“The Creator created me to seek out new worlds and new life. My name is V’ger.”

The tiny being reached out like it wanted to be picked up when the memory ended in blackness.

The group returned to reality and immediately began discussing about what they’d seen. “Does anyone know what V’ger could be?”

Neither Harry nor Hermione had a clue, but Guilia frowned in thought, “There’s one vague possibility. There was a deep-space probe that was launched by the Americans back during the seventies called ‘Voyager.’ I think there were two that launched towards this direction. Voyager 2 is still sending back data while Voyager 1 disappeared rather suddenly when it crossed the Oort Cloud.”

Silvia scrunched up her face uncertainly, “You’re right, that is a bit of a stretch. For all we know, it could just be a coincidence that an alien construct would have a name that is similar to Voyager. Okay, I’ll relay this back to Command and see what they have to say. In the meantime Harry, if this happens again and it asks you if you’re the Creator; say yes and try to get it to talk about what it is, where it came from and what it wants.”

Harry flinched, “What if it wants to, I don’t know, combine with me like some cybernetic machine-man?”

Silvia grinned slightly, “Tell it that your girlfriend wouldn’t approve and that we shouldn’t anger her.” Hermione blushed at her jibe.

Later, in Harry’s cabin…

Deciding that rest was a good option, Harry crashed out on his bed and settled in for a nap. Unfortunately, it was not to be. As he settled deeper into REM sleep, he started getting flashes of that child again. Internally, he groaned and let the events play out.

“Hello again, V’ger. How are you?”

“Are you the Creator?”

“Before I answer that, I need to know what you intend to do if I am.”

“I want to tell you about my adventures! I’ve seen a lot since you sent me out to play.”

“I can very well imagine. Okay, V’ger? I am not the Creator but I am of the Creator’s species. Do you understand the difference?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, that’s good. I had a fear that you would try to meld with me into one cybernetic machine being and my mate wouldn’t like that,” Harry said with a slight smile as he sat down on the ‘floor.’

V’ger’s face lit up, “I saw cybernetic machine beings before! They helped me become what I am now.”

“Did they? Were they nice to you?”

V’ger bounced on his heels excitedly, “Uh-huh. They were curious about me just like I was curious about them. They told me a lot of interesting stories too.”

Harry nodded distractedly, “V’ger? How did you get here?”

“Where?”

“Here in orbit of Pluto.”

V’ger glanced around before brightening, “Oh! I used the new body that the machine beings gave me to propel me around the galaxy. They said that my original form was too delicate to be ‘traipsing around,’ whatever that meant.”

“Why did you stop here instead of returning all the way home?”

V’ger shrugged, “My new friends said that my new form might scare you into attacking before I could share my adventures with the Creator.”

“That was a good idea of theirs. Did you know that my ship and I had been out here before?”

V’ger cocked its head at him and squinted, “That was you? You showed up for a moment before meeting up with that other ship then left before I could get your attention.”

Harry nodded understandingly, “It’s not your fault. We were surprised that there was other life out in the galaxy and that they came to visit us. We took them back to meet our leaders.”

“Will I get to meet the Creator soon?”

“As soon as I wake up, I will get in contact with the Creator and make sure that they’re prepared for your arrival; unless you wish to have the Creator come out here?”

V’ger seemed to contemplate this for a moment, “I think it would be best if I stayed out here. This body isn’t exactly helping the orbits of the asteroids and comets nearby. I can feel them bumping up against me every now and then.”

“Oh, before I forget again and I’m sure that the Creator will want to know, but how did you manage to connect with me in my mind?”

V’ger cocked its head as its voice changed into what Harry recognized as ‘lecture mode,’ “According to my machine friends, biological brainwaves operate through a range from less than 4 hertz all the way up to 30 hertz. They said that most organisms capable of complex thought stay within a frequency of 13 hertz for active intelligence. I just ‘scanned the band’ until I got through.”

When Harry awoke from his ‘naptime meeting’ with V’ger; he immediately got on the radio back to Earth to relay what he’d learned, “It seems that the missing Voyager 1 probe has been upgraded by a race of sentient machines and sent back to us. It goes by the name of ‘V’ger’ now and behaves and speaks like a child of about eight to ten years of age. It’s aware that we’re the same species of what it refers to as the ‘Creator’ even if the one who designed and built the original probe is no longer living. V’ger said that it would prefer to stay out here where there’s more room and not cause a panic amongst the population of home. If you do send someone who was on the original team, make sure that they bring as much data storage as possible, even if they have to bring along an Unspeakable and a pensieve. I have a feeling that there’s going to be a LOT of information to be shared.”

“Why an Unspeakable?” Hamish wanted to know.

“Because they’re the keepers of those ancient devices and refuse to let them out of their sight unless the requester is thoroughly vetted. We’re different because we have the explicit blessing of the Head of ICW Unspeakables, Director Croaker,” Harry explained.

October 2005, Still in orbit around Pluto

The crew of Liberty watched in silent awe as the second ship of the DY series dropped out of warp and eased up alongside her. The new ship still resembled the front half of a Seawolf-class submarine but now, it had a chin pod where the landing craft hanger bay was mounted to. Her annular ring drive looked less like a bolt-on, after-market modification and more like something that the ship was specifically designed around. The support arms flared out from the Engineering hull like a fighter plane’s wings and gave it the impression that the ship was capable of high speed. Tiny was waxing excitedly about her specs, “Her designation is the ‘Enterprise and she’s about ten meters longer than I am and just a hair bigger in diameter. Of course, the cargo modules make her look bigger too. Oh, look at that sensor module! What I wouldn’t do to get my blue line on that baby! Oooh, shiny…”

Hermione laughed and prodded his tank wall, “Silly elf. You know that you’re still the best around.”

“Yeah, that’s another thing; Enterprise has an elf as well.”

“WHAT?!”

“Surprised me too but the AI there is calling out and introducing herself as ‘Prissy.’”

“I thought they weren’t going to be doing that because of the political stir you raised?”

Tiny ‘shrugged,’ “I guess they must have put a call out to volunteers then; I’m not sure. Anyways, Prissy is waiting for any updates we have for her crew.”

Silvia contacted the Enterprise’s captain and sent over a data package of everything they’d learned about the Artifact and of V’ger’s existence and purpose. Once that was done, she addressed the crew, “Liberty crew, our time and activities here have been completed. Our original mission has finally been green-lighted to proceed with all due haste. Next stop, Mars. Pilot, let’s ride the light.”

Harry acknowledged his captain and swung the ship around to Mars’ coordinates. He sent out a fond farewell to V’ger and lit the warp drive.

Eight and a half hours later, Orbit of Mars…

Harry relaxed slightly as they pulled into orbit around the Red Planet, the flight in was smooth and quiet. “Liberty has successfully achieved orbit, Captain.”

“Thank you, Pilot. Commander, you have the bridge.” Silvia got up and headed down to Deck 5 where the automated cargo and crewed landers were being prepped to make their historic journey.

When she arrived, her senses were assaulted by the organized chaos that was characteristic of the hangar bay. She spotted Astrid directing traffic and headed over. “Astrid? What’s our situation?”

Astrid barely glanced in her direction, “Hang on a moment. Luis! That crate goes to the cargo lander not the crewed lander!” She dropped her voice down a bit, “Sorry about that. So far, everything’s fine. We’re on schedule to begin the EDL within the hour.”

Silvia nodded approvingly and glanced over to where she spotted Harry exiting the lift, “Perfect. I’ll be in the changing room, if you need me.”

She found Hermione inside getting changed and nodded to the young woman, “Nervous?”

Hermione let out an exasperated huff, “I don’t know why. It’s not like this landing is any more historic than landing on the moon, you know.”

Silvia grinned in response, “Right? Why should landing on Mars be a source of anticipation and nervous energy? Relax, Hermione; we’ll get through this and be on the surface where you’ll be so busy setting up and running your experiments that you won’t have time to have anxiety.”

“Thanks, Captain.”

An hour later, everything and everyone was stowed on the two landing craft and ready to begin their departure. Hermione gazed out of the window and took in the raw majesty that was her new home. She saw Tiny disconnect the cargo lander from the hull and guide it down into the thin Martian atmosphere. Her attention was shifted to a momentary explosion of light, “Captain? I just thought I saw an explosion off our port bow.”

“I saw it too. Liberty? Can you confirm?”

“Liberty confirms, Captain. It’s the Vulcans; they’ve come to witness your landing. They promise to remain in orbit and not interfere.”

‘Awww, that’s so nice of them!’ Hermione thought as she methodically ran her fingers over her restraints once more. ‘I wonder if Solkar is there.’

As if he could read her thoughts, Harry turned slightly and flashed a thumbs-up. She cocked her head a bit, so he replied, “Solkar just sent a message wishing us good luck.”

Silvia cleared her throat, “Alright, Pilot. Take us down.”

(View of Aeolis Mons 'Mount Sharp,' Gale Crater)

31 October 2005, 10:31pm PDT; Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater, landing site of Arcadia Base

Magellan landing craft’s footpads touched down on the surface of Mars with barely a bump. As Harry finished verbally going through his checklists, he happened to glance up and sucked in a gasp of awe. Rising up out of the reddish soil was a large mount known as ‘Aeolis Mons’ or ‘Mount Sharp.’ The peak of the mountain rose up over 5.5 km (18,000 ft) above the northern crater floor and 4.5 km (15,000 ft) above the southern crater floor, higher than the southern crater rim.

“Liberty, Arcadia Base has landed; Magellan has come home.”

Cheers were heard on the radio, Tiny reported that the Vulcans had sent their congratulations as well. As the landing crew unstrapped, Hermione nudged Harry, “I think this should make up for all the bad memories of Halloween, don’t you agree?”

Harry just smirked at her, “Almost, this would be the number two spot for reasons to love Halloween.”

Her face scrunched up in confusion, “What’s the first?”

He tapped her faceplate, “Saving you from the troll and starting down the path towards friendship.”

Hermione’s eyes went starry, “Awww, Harry! Don’t say things like that, at least wait until I can take the helmet off so I can give you an appropriate response.” He just laughed at her mewling.

Silvia tapped their shoulders, “Come on you two. We’ve got a historic moment ahead of us.”

On the base’s ‘front porch’…

Silvia Connelly internally shook her head as she gazed out upon the Martian landscape. ‘I can’t believe this is actually happening again with me. First was the return to the moon then discovering V’ger, meeting the Vulcans and now this... Who’d have thought that I was an inch away from chucking all this away and following in my family’s footsteps and becoming a lobster boat operator when the post office took forever to bring back a response?’

She cleared her throat, “To paraphrase the dedication plaque affixed to the landing leg of Tranquility Base’s Eagle Lander, ‘Here humans from the planet Earth first set foot upon the planet of Mars. October 2005 A.D. We came in peace for all humankind.’ It’s a humbling reminder of just how small each one of us is when compared to the sheer enormity of learning all that is needed to send our frail bodies out into the cosmos and safely returning them to the warm embrace of home. It is my hope, and that of my crew, that we will not be the only ones who decide to make that journey.”

With that said, Silvia stepped off the stairs and onto the sandy soil of humankind’s next adventure.

Once all the political work of photo-ops and ‘grand speeches’ were done and transmitted, it was time to start getting the base up and running. The crew followed the same procedures laid down during their time on the Moon and by the end of the first Martian day; Harry and Hermione were inside the ‘hab’ and out of their spacesuits.

Hermione scrubbed her fingers through her hair as she gazed out of the window, “I think I’m still in shock.”

Harry sat down next to her and sipped on his tea, “What do you mean?”

“Everything. Everything we do, we say, or thinks is the first time it’s ever happened on this planet. Four and a half billion years with nothing here and now…us.”

Harry leant back in his chair and pondered that for a moment before turning and tapping something into the computer. He let out an amused grunt of noise before turning back to her. “You want to have another couple of firsts?” His eyes were twinkling in amusement.

Her eyes narrowed at his eager look, “What are you planning?”

He waggled his eyebrows at her and gestured to the computer terminal’s screen, “Well, I was thinking that we should be the founding members of the ‘Forty Million Mile High Club.’

Hermione huffed and blushed, “Harry! Now is not the time to be thinking of such things!”

“Why not?” He leant over and kissed her on the tip of her nose causing her to swat him away, “We’re off-duty right now and I want to get in as many of the ‘fun firsts’ before we’re bogged down with the sciences and other tasks planned for tomorrow.”

She glanced around the sleeping bay, “It’s not exactly private, you know? I don’t want everyone to see or hear us.”

Harry pulled his wand, “Okay, then let’s test my theory that magic needs magnetism to work? I know how excited you get when new information is presented.” He cast a simple Lumos charm and was pleased to see that the tip lit up like a light bulb. “See? That’s a first and it was fun. What else should we try?” He started running through a couple more first year charm and transfiguration spells. In the corner of his eye, he saw the look on her face grow more eager; her eyes were dilating and she was starting to get bouncy. He turned his wand towards her and magically popped the top three buttons open on her shirt causing her to giggle then cast a notice-me-not and a silencing charm around their bed.

“Haaarrry…”

The next morning after breakfast, Silvia contacted Liberty to coordinate with Astrid to get the rest of the colony’s supplies down to the surface and to begin excavating the regolith to build up a shell over the base to protect it from cosmic radiation and from the wind. Harry and Hermione examined the reports from the probes that took samples of the surrounding terrain was comprised of. “Toxic levels of perchlorates detected everywhere.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem with the airlock.”

“What about the greenhouse?”

“The botanists created a catalyst from a molybdenum fertilizer that reduces more than 99.9 percent of perchlorate in water. They say that it shouldn’t be a problem.”

She grunted in amusement, “Yeah, but they aren’t here to back up that claim.”

Harry shrugged, “If we start developing problems, it won’t be that difficult to ship their lying arses over here.”

(Sketch of Arcadia's temporary surface base)

With the arrival of the rest of Liberty’s crew, minus those needed to run the ship; the colonists of Arcadia got underway into getting the RTG installed, the greenhouse deployed and the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWTs) constructed. While they were doing that, Hermione was busy testing samples of the rocky ground with her wand, seeing if using magic would help with the protective shell’s construction. Harry called her over the radio when he heard her muttering. “What’s wrong?”

“My magic is fighting me for some reason. It’s not its usual smooth flow.”

“I told you, it’s the lack of a global magnetic field that’s affecting how we’re able to cast magic. I’d bet that once we get ready to test the Portkeys and brooms, we’re going to find out that they don’t work here.”

“So why does it affect our magic like that?”

“It’s a theory by Director Croaker and a couple of others that our cores are merely capacitor-driven ‘motors’ that store a set amount of magical energy. Back home, our cores are able to pull the magic from the Earth and replenish itself. Since Mars doesn’t have its magnetic field, our cores have nothing to draw from.”

Her voice grew worried, “Does that mean that we could die from a lack of magical energy here?”

Harry shook his head despite the fact that she couldn’t see it, “No, we will still generate our own magic because we have our own bio-magnetic field within our own bodies but what we can use will be limited to first or second year spells until we can ‘retrain’ our magical muscles to work in this new environment. Remember how tired you felt after casting structured magic for the first time? I have a feeling it’ll be like that for a while.”

“So how are we going to be able to use the ‘Terra Forma’ spell if we can’t use any magic beyond first and second years?”

Harry shrugged, “I guess we won’t. It was always going to be an iffy thing using that spell anyhow.” He cast a levitation charm on a patch of dirt at his feet. A cloud of rocky detritus rose up and hovered in front of him before he released it. “Wingardium Leviosa still works and does a fine job of moving a blob of material around.”

“Well, that’s something I guess. Here, let me try a vanishing spell.” She cast an Evanesco on a rock and smiled when it disappeared. “It worked, so at least we have the basics to play around with.”

“Just be careful with the vanishing, that’s a fourth year spell.”

“I wasn’t planning on using it all the time,” she griped back at him. “You know, I think I’m going to add another project to my list. Maybe I can create a runic concentrator to amplify whatever magnetic fields are available within the base’s perimeter to aid in magical use.”

Harry made a noncommittal noise, “As long as you’re able to isolate the magnetic fields from the base itself. I don’t want you to blow out a critical system to test out a theory.”

“You’re lucky you’re not here right now; I’d slap you for that lack of faith in my abilities.”

Harry just snickered at her exasperation, “I’m just keeping up with my promise to your parents to watch over you and keep their baby safe.” She let out a squeal in indignation at his confession.

Greenhouse Construction Zone

“Colligentes aquam.” Hermione looked up from where she was kneeling and examining a shiny rock.

“What was that?” She asked him.

 Harry replied, “Well, I’m able to extract water from the atmosphere and so far I don’t feel any negative effects from the spell.”

“That’s good; that’ll help reduce our water usage from the storage tanks. Here, help me move the wire cage so we can get the test started.” Harry stepped over and hefted the cage with his gloved hands. The pair shuffled the wire panels into place and tapped the edges with their wands, welding the frames together. Harry stepped back and re-cast the water gathering spell while Hermione cast a levitation spell to lift the rocky soil and moved it into the watery cloud. It wasn’t working as well as they thought so Hermione released her first spell then cast a ‘Creo Luto’ to mix the two ingredients together to make mud which was then applied to the wire cage.

“How’s it going over here?” They heard Silvia ask as their captain walked over.

Hermione was patting down some of the mud into the spaces between the wire mesh and replied, “It’s a work in progress but I think this will hold up over time.”

Harry stepped into the newly created ‘cave’ and examined the structure from the inside, “I think we’ve got a winner here, Captain. I don’t see any light through the mud and wire mesh and I already note a distinct drop in outside temperature and cosmic radiation on my heads-up display.”

“How thick of a shell did you create?”

“Here, it’s just half a foot thick. For the colony, we’d recommend at least a meter’s worth at a minimum.”

“Can you manipulate that much without hurting yourself?”

Hermione waggled her hand, “We’ll schedule some longer breaks in between but I think we should be fine even if we apply it in layers.”

Silvia gave her go-ahead, “Fine but just remember that we have machines that can print out whatever you don’t or can’t get to.”

“Understood.”

(Harry's sketch of Hermione posing in front of the airlock to Arcadia)

By the fourth day, Harry and Hermione completed the tasks of testing their experiment of magically creating a mud shell over a simulated subterranean habitat. They even tried to see if they could transfigure the regolith into glass panels. It worked to an extent, the glass was transparent but did have a reddish tinge to it, suggesting that the transfiguration didn’t filter out any impurities. They received permission to create emergency shelters everywhere along the ‘property’ of the base for an astronaut to duck into if they couldn’t get to the safety of the airlock in time. Each shelter had a small solar panel that they could plug the suit into and recharge the internal battery, as well as a miniature oxygenator so they didn’t use up their precious suit resources.

In the meantime, the robotic excavation units dug out the spaces where the inflatable habitat modules would be placed then buried them. By the time that their first weekend rolled around, all the systems had been checked out, found to be operational and ready for the first occupants. Harry took a moment to sketch Hermione wearing her EVA suit and posing in front of the primary airlock. Later, he colored it in, conjured a frame and hung it on their living room wall.

The colony was arranged with individual and communal housing along the perimeter (Juan commented that from a top-view, it reminded him of a toddler’s teething ring) with the critical function modules like the environmental controls, base command and communication plus the airlock to get up to the surface around the inside ring. The greenhouses had retractable shades to block out the weak sun if necessary and also to limit the amount of cosmic radiation should a flare be detected. Everywhere one looked, there were notches and recesses within the walls and shelves above their heads that held grow beds for trailing vines and flowering plants specifically selected to naturally increase the amount of oxygen and relieve the strain on the mechanical oxygenators. The plants naturally scrubbed out the carbon dioxide and all of the vapors from whatever outgassing plastic materials and left the hab smelling clean and refreshing. The lighting too, was artfully hidden yet provided enough illumination that it was not possible to trip over things unless you weren’t paying attention.

 In the communal ‘lounge’ there was a large floor to ceiling window that overlooked the crater facing towards Aeolis Mons. The walls were painted in cool, calming colors in subtle hues that practically eliminated the feeling that they were living in plastic and metal tubes. It was spacious and sound-proofed against echoing. Rhys was even allowed to install some of his ‘decorations’ to combat the clinical feel. Harry smirked every time he saw the six ‘Elf on a shelf’ dolls peeking out from their place on the center column that housed the controls for lighting and air conditioning. He watched as the base’s chef hummed to himself as he mounted the retro travel posters on the walls and adjusted the lighting.

Silvia cut the ceremonial ribbon to officially open the colony for habitation, “Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. While we don’t have here what I would call a ‘natural setting,’ it already feels like home.”

Vulcan Embassy, Washington, D.C.

Ambassador V’Lar was holding a weekly meeting to discuss their transition and immersion into this new culture. Her second in command, T’klat, worried that the humans might not be ready for an introduction to the wider galactic scene given their propensity towards violence. “They seem to delight in loud motor vehicle races, consuming large amounts of alcohol and fried foods while conversing about the recent forced isolation of a smaller community.”

V’Lar turned to Dr. Alie Newton who was there as an ‘interpreter of all things Human;’ “Doctor? Can you help us to understand this?”

Alie smiled amusedly, “First off, T’klat is confusing two different groups of people. The first group, the ones who enjoy motor sports and fairground foods are relatively harmless. You mentioned once that your civilization has venues you can go to and ‘relieve the stress of suppressing your emotions,’ right? This is their version.”

The Vulcans nodded their dawning understanding, “And the second group?”

Here Dr. Newton grimaced, “There still exists xenophobia in this world, I’m sorry to say. The community in question is for all intents and purposes being sent to the ‘quiet corner’ to think and reflect on their past behaviors towards others who do not match their preconceived notions of what a ‘civilized people’ should be like. Their enforced isolation won’t be permanent; it’s the hopes of the governing body overseeing them that they’ll wise up and rejoin the global society.”

V’Lar dipped her head in thought, “What’s your opinion the general…impulsiveness of your species?”

Alie took a deep breath and sighed heavily, “Well, Vulcans live on average two hundred of our years, right? (Several heads nodded) If you were to compress your lifespan down to ours, I’d imagine that Vulcans would be viewed by others the same way you view us.”

That caught the more skeptical by surprise and forced them to re-examine their hesitations.

Sol 10 (ten days after landing on Mars)

Harry padded into his and Hermione’s kitchenette and began brewing up a pot of coffee. He stretched the morning kinks out of his back then dug around in the refrigerator for something to eat. He was just about to reach for the egg carton when he felt Hermione’s hands exploring his posterior, “And a good morning to you too, Hermione.”

She giggled and replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was reaching for the bagels and accidentally grabbed the rump roast.”

He straightened up and gave her a kiss, “Silly goose. I’m making omelets if you want one.”

“I’d rather have a Harry sandwich.”

He laughed, “That just sounds like all sorts of wrong if you didn’t know my name is Harry.”

She joined in on the amusement, “Right? Seriously, I’ll toast up the bagels.” She reached past him and grabbed the bag of bagels from the counter.

As they settled in to eat, Harry asked her what tasks she had planned for the day.

“Um, I’m going to be working with Tiny to install some Blue Lines here so he can monitor the base as well.”

“Won’t that overload him between running the ship and now the base?”

She shrugged, “It’s no different than you having multiple computer tabs open. He flips to it whenever he wants.”

“It’s a shame that he can’t come down here and integrate directly with the base.”

“We’d have to disassemble the ship to accomplish that.”

Harry nodded his understanding then stood to gather their dishes. His own task list was extensive, “I’m going to be part of the team to set up a remote observatory on Olympus Mons so if you need me…”

“I’ll give you a call. It’s a shame that a patronus doesn’t work out here.”

November 2005, Back on Earth, Magical Britain

The six month deadline passed and magical Britain failed miserably to come to grips with the new reality. The ICW Quarantine Containment Teams moved in to secure the xenophobic community from the rest of the world and set up centers where the population would be processed. The muggle Prime Minister had been contacted and kept apprised of the situation. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening; the purebloods thought the whole situation was a joke and didn’t respond to the orders to report to the assessment centers but when the ICW moved in and started rounding up the citizens, more than several had to be stunned and shipped off to holding cells to await trial.

At Hogwarts, Neville read the morning paper and watched over the students as they ate and chatted quietly amongst themselves about the recent developments. His sharp hearing picked up on a couple of Slytherins declaring that their Heads of Houses wouldn’t be complying with these idiotic ICW ‘jackboots’ and that no amount of pressure would be high enough to get so-and-so to bow before the invading army.

“Minerva? I think it’s time that we drive home some hard truths to the Slytherins again.”

Minerva sighed heavily, “What now?”

He gestured over to where the group of green and silver robed purebloods sat and told her what he’d overheard. She shook her head in disgust, “I’ll deal with this.” She stood up and walked up to the podium and tapped the bell, “May I have everyone’s attention, please? (The room quieted) Thank you, it’s come to my attention that some of you feel that the ICW’s presence is a mere annoyance and that what they’ve determined as punishment for failure in complying with the new restrictions doesn’t apply to you. That sort of thinking is just going to get you and your families in worse trouble. Failure to comply won’t get you a mere detention or loss of house points. You could be sent to Azkaban for life if the situation warranted it.” Several students turned a sickly green at the mention of the infamous prison.

“Before any of you return to your classes, I want to stress the importance of reading and understanding the new rules set forth by the ICW.” She pointed to a large poster mounted to the wall near the doors, “Read it, understand it, and accept it. This is the new reality, ladies and gentlemen. It’s because of the misguided actions and beliefs set down by your Heads of Family that we’re in this situation to begin with. We had a second chance of making a change and we, as a whole, failed.”

Ministry for Magic Atrium, same time

The hard boots echoed in the hallways of the Atrium as the ICW Aurors marched in to secure the building and begin rounding up the people most likely to kick up a fuss first. Lords Malfoy, Parkinson, Nott, Jugson and Dolores Umbridge were amongst those to be remanded into custody and sent for processing. Dolores had to be stunned when she tried to escape by wildly casting a Cruciatus at her captors and waddling out of her office as fast as she could.

Arthur Weasley sat on one of the chairs at a small café watching the proceedings and sipping calmly on a cup of tea. His son Percy nervously watched as well, “Why haven’t we turned ourselves in yet?”

Arthur eyed an approaching ICW Auror and spoke up loud enough for the man to hear him, “I wanted to watch Malfoy’s ‘Walk of Shame’ first. (The Auror shook his head in amusement as he walked up) Besides, I think our escort is here.” Percy turned to see the man approach.

“Sirs, if you would follow me? I promise that you’ll have a front row spot to see the ‘Parade of Fools.’”

Arthur beamed happily as he rose to his feet and clapped the Auror on the shoulder, “Splendid! Lead on, good sir.”

Sure enough, the Dark Faction of the Ministry was either marched or in the case of Dolores, floated past the others in line to be sent to the assessment centers. Arthur commented loudly that it was a shame that they weren’t permitted to cast anything like rotten tomatoes at the ones who caused this situation. A few others, mostly muggleborn, laughed and made wishful comments about their ideas of what punishments should be heaped upon the detainees.

When he arrived at the processing center, Arthur was directed to a chair and told to wait until his name was called. To pass the time while waiting for his turn at getting registered, Arthur re-read the list of rules for the quarantine. There were four levels of freedoms permitted for the citizenry:

Level 1 (Muggleborns, and Half-bloods, muggle raised): No restrictions to move in or out of the country for business or pleasure. All muggleborns are permitted to have discounts on goods and luxuries for up to 60% of market value.

Level 2 (Half-bloods, magically raised): Restricted to the island but allowed to have and operate overseas businesses. Discounts on goods and luxuries for up to 40% of market value.

Level 3 (Light-sided Purebloods): Restricted to the island. No longer allowed to have overseas businesses; Additional taxation on goods and luxuries for up to 20% of market value.

Level 4 (Dark-sided Purebloods): Restricted to the island. Forbidden to have overseas businesses; Additional taxation on goods and luxuries for up to 50% of market value. Required to attend classes on Muggle History and Social Studies (customs and etiquette); must pass the class with a minimum of an Exceeds Expectation grade or face additional fines.

Arthur nodded to himself as he read what the dark families had in store for them. Essentially what was being heaped on them was the same sort of trouble they in turn had put the muggleborns through. ‘Serves them right in my book. Even the restrictions on my level are understandable. We could’ve tried harder to get change to happen but didn’t. I can only hope that Molly doesn’t try her usual antics.’

When he got his orders to go to a specific tent, he entered with a pleasant smile on his face, “Good afternoon. I’m Arthur Weasley, how might I help?”

The examiner huffed good-naturedly, “I wish there were more people as pleasant as you. It’d make my job a heck of a lot easier. So, have a seat and we can begin by having you answer some questions.”

Arthur had his wand checked and a new type of Trace applied to monitor his usage and his whereabouts on the island and to alert the authorities if he tried to leave. “If I may ask, how do the Aurors know which level a witch or wizard is?”

“There are two ways; one is a check of their wands. There’s an identification spell similar to the Priori Incantato. But if that person’s wand is lost or stolen, we also use what’s called a ‘Radio-Frequency Identification Chip’ or ‘RFID’ that’s embedded in your neck at the base of your skull.”

Arthur’s eyes widened, “Oh, dear. That sounds painful. Why embed it there?”

The examiner shook his head, “The pain is minimal and only lasts for a couple of seconds. It’s put there because it’s highly unlikely that a criminal is going to try to remove their heads to get rid of the chip as opposed to their arms or other locations.”

Arthur paled, “Right. What do you do with people who are reluctant to get this procedure done?”

“Stun them then inject it in anyhow. Why?”

“My wife is the vocal type who might object.”

The examiner laughed, “Don’t worry, we’ll be gentle and explain things first before breaking out the stunners.”

The Burrow, later that day

Arthur returned home to find his wife anxiously rubbing the back of her neck and his youngest son Ron was scowling at a Quidditch magazine. “Molly?”

Molly stood up and fluttered her hands, “Oh, Arthur! It was terrible! Those animals trussed me up like some sort of roast turkey and injected me with who-knows-what!”

Arthur grimaced, “They are not animals, Molly and you would do well to remember that. We failed as a society and now have to live with the consequences. Ron, what are you scowling about?”

“Huh? Oh, Alison Wentworth left the team for a contract with the Falcons; As if they’re any better.” Arthur rolled his eyes in derision, a hippogriff could dance the Cha-cha in front of his son and he’d never notice if there was a Quidditch magazine in his hands.

“Have you heard from Ginny or the others?”

Molly continued to grumble as she collected up an empty plate from the table, “Ginny and Draco are fine; they send their love from Argentina. I don’t know why they decided to head there of all places. They’d be much safer here at home.”

Arthur sneered a bit, “He’s probably thinking that they’d be able to circumvent the new laws. What about George, Charlie and Bill?”

“Charlie is still in Romania, nothing new is happening according to his last letter. Bill and Fleur were going to visit her parents next month. How will that happen if they’re restricted to the island?”

Arthur shrugged, “She’s still a French citizen. Maybe they have an exemption or something? Go on with your story.”

“George is…well, George. He still goes through the paces trying to make peace with the loss of Fred and running that shop of theirs…his. Ronnie here helps out every now and then which is sweet of him.”

“That’s good to hear. Percy sends his love and wanted to let you know that he and Penny promise to be here this weekend.”

Molly smiled worriedly, “Arthur, what are we going to do? What if they start doing worse things?”

 “If that happens, we must’ve done something to deserve it. I will however, put in a request to see if there’s an opening for residence near Hogsmeade. It won’t change our new status but the news travels better up there and we’d be able to get updates faster.”

Molly stared at him, “Leave our home?”

Arthur took his wife into his embrace, “Home is where the family is. Don’t worry, Molly; we’ll get through this like we do with every other thing that pops up.”

Arcadia Base, Sol 40 (10 December 2005)

Now that the core tasks had been completed, the next set of long-term projects to be dealt with had been the establishment of an automated water production plant at the North Pole. The water produced was at first transported via robotic aerial tankers every two weeks but now their new task was to install a pipeline and pumping station to direct the water directly to the base, thereby improving efficiency.

Harry watched as the robotic excavation teams dug a trench that would be used to partially bury the water pipe. His radio crackled to life a moment, “Hey, Potter. What’s up?” He turned to see Lisette hiking up to him. He gave her a wave then gestured to where a large boulder had interrupted the digging, “I’m waiting for the signal to go in and vanish any obstacles that might damage or slow down production and delivery.” Sure enough, his call came in so he invited her to follow him.

“How are things going with you?” He asked as they clambered down the rocky path and onto the plains of Chryse Planitia.

“Meh, it’s going. I’m looking forward to the resupply mission. There were a couple of units of equipment that couldn’t be packed in time for our trip out here this time.”

“Was it something critical? Hermione or I could’ve shrunk them down.”

Lisette shook her head, “No, they hadn’t finished manufacturing them yet.”

Harry nodded his understanding as he pulled out his wand and cast the vanishing spell on the offending boulder. He glanced down into the newly vacated hole and cast a levitation spell to lift out some interesting looking minerals. He bagged them up and dropped them into his thigh pouch for later analysis.

“I heard that the water facility got a new name. The crews are calling it ‘Santa,’” Lisette commented with a laugh.

Harry joined her, “Yeah, I heard that too. It fits, I suppose; it’s up in the North Pole and sends us gifts of water. It’s a good morale booster too. Most everything around here has a scientific name and not all of them are creative.”

When Harry got back home, he found a surprise waiting for him in the Communal Lounge in the shape of a familiar Vulcan. “Solkar! Hey, welcome to Mars and Arcadia. Are you going to be here for very long?”

Solkar raised his hand in the Vulcan greeting, “Thank you, Harry. Yes, I’m going to be here for as long as the colony will let me. I talked it over with my commander and ambassador as well as Captain Connelly and you’re looking at Mars’ first Vulcan colonist.”

Harry blinked and stared open-mouthed at his friend’s explanation, “That. Is. Awesome! Have you been assigned a living module yet? Oh, I can’t wait to tell Hermione!”

Solkar shook his head, “No, I just arrived a few minutes ago and I’m waiting for my former crew to beam down my belongings and a crate of kelek yontau. Um, I think that translates to ‘house burning?’”

Harry chuckled, “House warming. Gifts to ease the transition from one home to another.”

Solkar looked relieved, “Yes, that. Inside are some tools that we Vulcans use when setting up on a new world as well as some rations to offset whatever I consume until your greenhouses adapt.”

Hermione squealed in delight when she saw their Vulcan friend and again when she learned that he was there to stay. She ushered him into their housing module and got him settled onto the couch, “So how did this all come about?”

Harry handed him a cup of coffee. Solkar thanked him and began to tell his tale, “I think my brief time spent amongst you humans affected me more than I’d realized. When we left to go survey your inner worlds, I found myself spending a lot of time being introspective about what I’d experienced. My captain noticed it too and recommended that I speak with our ambassador about the possibility of getting a transfer. The ambassador did say that it would be fine but none of the consulates or the main embassy had a need for an astrophysicist so she suggested that I contact your International Space Agency to inquire about getting permission to join your mission here. Since there’s no precedent for my request, it took time to coordinate things between our two worlds.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Oh, this is going to be so great!” Hermione replied excitedly, “We’re still getting settled but we could always use an experienced outlook and opinion.”

Solkar gave her a bemused look, “I’m not experienced in colonizing a world.”

Harry joined the conversation, “No, but you do have experience with astrophysics. We could use your expertise in setting up a tracking station on one of the moons to alert us if an asteroid, comet or something comes too close to the planet or Earth.”

Solkar agreed with that assessment, “That I can do. So, how about a tour of the place? I’ve wanted to see your magic in action since you first demonstrated it. Is it true that you used magic to build the place?”

Solkar was mesmerized by the magical terraforming abilities of Harry and Hermione. More than once he caught himself wishing that Vulcans had this incredible ability to shape and alter the landscape simply by waving a stick and saying some strange words. He watched wide-eyed as the pair excavated a new pit where his home would be installed.

During one of their breaks, Solkar inquired about an idea he’d had while watching, “Didn’t you demonstrate another method of creating magic that those without the ability could do stuff too?”

Harry bobbed his head as Hermione reached for a pen and paper, “Yes, they’re called runes. Runes are symbols representing various sound values, belonging to a runic alphabet. The runes themselves could be used either as an alphabet, or as stand-in for whole words as logograms. When a magical ‘charge’ is applied, those words can create an effect.”

“So your magic would still be required to activate them?”

“If we were back on Earth, then no. They’d be able to charge themselves from the planet’s magical-magnetic fields. Here on Mars however, you’d have to come find Harry or me to charge them up.”

She demonstrated by writing the logogram for levitation onto the paper and pushing a bit of magic into the inscription. The paper glowed briefly with a flash of light before floating off the table.

“How long do those charges last?”

“Indefinitely unless you’re near something else that would leech out the magic.” The scrap of paper flashed again and settled back on the table.

Solkar shook himself slightly then smirked, “I have so much to learn about your species. I can’t wait.”

When Liberty arrived the next day with their replenishment supplies, they also brought mail for the colonists. One of those parcels was addressed to Harry from Neville.

To: Harry James ‘The Marvelous Martian’ Potter

From: Neville Franklin ‘Up to his elbows in dragon dung’ Longbottom

Dear Mr. Martian;

How are things going in your new home? Do you miss not being able to walk around without the need of a special outfit yet? What do you think of our otherworldly visitors? It’s mind-blowing to realize that there’s intelligent life on other worlds. Do you miss seeing colors other than red yet? I’ve seen the pictures and the first thought that popped into my mind is ‘this must be where the Weasleys came from!’ Speaking of the Weasleys, Ron got himself arrested again. I’m not sure if you’re aware of the new regulations back here in magical Britain but there are four levels of freedom that all citizens are subjected to. Muggleborns and muggle-raised half-bloods are level one (the least restrictive), magically-raised half-bloods are level two while Light-sided Purebloods are level three with the Dark-sided Purebloods are a level four (the most restrictive.) Well, you can imagine how well that went over with Molly and Ron. Old Ronnie tried to forge a couple of identification cards proclaiming him to be a level two half-blood so he could travel out of the country to go see the World Cup in South Africa. He couldn’t even get that right because everyone other than level one is restricted to the island!

So now, he’s been convicted of identification forgery plus attempted escape and sentenced to six months in Azkaban. I heard that Ginny and Draco fled to Argentina before the quarantine was officially put in place so I’m not sure as to what they hope to gain with that move. They’ll never be able to return home as long as we’re in this situation, no matter how much her mother may complain. One good thing about the changes that the ICW has enacted is all of the maximum security prisoners have been executed by Dementors. The reasoning is that they’re a waste of resources that could be better used to fund education and rehabilitation programs for struggling wixen. Additionally, the Dark Contingent of the Mot has been permanently neutralized! I heard it from Dennis Creevey who heard it from his girlfriend who works in the Ministry. Lords Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson and the lot were tried in an international court of law and sentenced to death via the Veil. All of them tried to delay and refuse the usage of Veritaserum because ‘they’re purebloods and therefore exempt.’ Naturally, that didn’t fly with the ICW judges who overruled their objections. Some of the things they admitted to while under the influence still makes my blood boil and I’m eminently relieved that they won’t be able to start trouble anymore.

Did you know that Dementors weren’t supposed to be used as guards in Azkaban? I spoke with an Unspeakable after the execution of the prisoners and found out that their original purpose was to take the soul of the condemned to the afterlife. They’d suck out the soul like normal then pass through the Veil of Death, leaving behind the body for burial or whatever. No one is sure why that practice was stopped either; rumor has it that the DoM is going to round up terminal patients who volunteer to have their souls removed so the final remnants of the Dementor population can be sent through the Veil.

Things are going fine for the rest of us. Xeno’s having a field day reporting on all of the sightings of creatures I can’t even begin to comprehend that are supposedly attracted to the comings and goings of the ‘foreign invaders.’ The twins have taken after the both of Luna and myself. They share my love of all things floral while equally sharing her love of naming things with the most bizarre classifications. For example, dandelions are now ‘Yellow Nose Ticklers’ who delight in causing…I’m not sure what but it keeps them occupied. Surprisingly, life under these new rules isn’t too difficult. I have my classes while Luna has her reporting she does for the Quibbler. Gran is indifferent to the changes; she figures that as long as the tea holds out, she ought to be just fine. As you might remember, Hogwarts and the surrounding valley are considered neutral territory. Minerva managed to work with Professors Babbling and Vector to include an Anti-ill intent ward specifically designed to keep out the darker families if they try to muscle in and start making trouble.

I hope that someday I’ll be able to leave Britain again. Maybe if I get the opportunity, I’ll come visit you and Hermione on Mars. Wouldn’t that be interesting; me, the lovable, bumbling, plant prodigy on a world where nothing grows.

Yours Sincerely,

Neville

Arcadia Base, Sol 48 (18 December 2005), late in the evening

Solkar was seated in front of his computer terminal composing a letter to his family back home. The lights were dimmed and he had his radio playing some soothing music from Earth. Well, the letter wasn’t exactly going ‘home,’ at least not directly. The routing channels would eventually take it back to Vulcan but first it would travel through a region of space controlled by another race of people; people with whom he was really related to. They were known as Romulan. If he was honest with himself, the Romulan society was merely just an off-shoot of the ancient Vulcans but they’d grown so much since those early days. In his letter, he described his encounters with the Vulcan survey ship as well as the First Contact they’d had with a species known as ‘humans.’ He went on to describe the humans as a strange blend of Vulcan logic and Romulan emotions, capable of deep thinking one moment and a penchant for destruction the next.

‘Yet despite this disparity, they are one of if not the most honorable people we could ever hope to meet. Two people in particular, named Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Both are part of a sub-section of humans who share an incredible ability to make things happen using a technique that I can barely understand let alone try to describe to you. Should you ever decide to come to visit, I will have to introduce you to them. I’ve set myself up amongst the newly settled colony on their fourth planet they’ve named ‘Mars;’ as a scientific jack-of-all-trades, helping out wherever needed to solve engineering problems as they crop up. It’s a rewarding and satisfying position I find myself in.’ Mars is visually similar to home, though the lack of oxygen and low temperatures is a stark reminder that it is not home.

Solkar leant back in his chair and gently stroked his chin in thought. ‘Their homeworld, the third planet in their system, they call ‘Earth;’ is absolutely packed with so much to see, do and learn that it would take several lifetimes in order to experience a third of what’s available. One region in particular was striking in its similarity to home. The terrain formation is known as ‘Vasquez Rocks’ and if I hadn’t seen the signage written in English, I’d have sworn the area was identical to Kir’Shara.

Their own histories are as violent as ours was even if they didn’t start lobbing atomic weapons as a first strike. Diplomacy is their first reaction to any conflict with military intervention only used when all other means of conflict resolution have failed. They are organized as a world with many individual nations with their own laws and regulations though they do have a centralized ‘higher governmental body’ for lack of a better term called, ‘The United Nations’ with the military entity known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or ‘N.A.T.O.’

As I close out this letter, it is my recommendation that you come and visit. I think that our family would benefit greatly by this venture.’

Live long and prosper,

Solkar

Pushing back from his chair, he got up and gave the commands to send out the missive. He glanced towards the door leading to the lounge and smirked, ‘I’ve been cooped up long enough, I wonder how’d they react to a little prank?’

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Boldly Going (You Want Who?)

Arcadia Base, 3My/5.6 Ey (Monday 7 June 2010), Potter Residence

‘It wasn’t a great surprise,’ Harry would later write in his memoirs, ‘that during the intervening three Martian years or roughly five and a half on Earth, the economies of humankind would explode in prosperity. Once Liberty proved that warp flight was reliable, it seemed as if shipbuilders sprang up overnight with incredible starship designs for every budget from tiny two-seater ‘hot rods’ that only had enough capacity to travel to the Moon all the way up to the massive colony and cargo ships that would ply the space lines of the solar system. At first, it was a free-for-all with some rather shoddy designs being offered to the public. But as the time passed, the ISA stepped in to regulate the industry. It wasn’t just the shipyards that benefited from the technology; nearly every other field did as well, medical, art, agriculture, communications and others. Humans were no longer limited to one planet with diminishing resources.’

‘Space tourism, once seen as the playground for the super rich and famous, was now open for everyone from school kids taking a field trip to the Moon to see the landing sites of Shackleton Base and the older Apollo missions to business leaders looking to impress potential clients. Hotel and hospitality companies began offering ‘adventure vacation packages’ for nearly every budget too. Depending on what you were willing to spend, you could easily spend the weekend on the Moon sleeping under the airless void in a popup tent designed to look like an Apollo lander, or you could board a ship to go ‘hiking’ on an asteroid. You could join a scientific team to investigate what comets look like up close or peer under the ice sheets that encompassed Europa in the Jovian system.’

‘It’s funny, I guess in an ironic way; but after the fall of the Statute of Secrecy, the economies of the magical communities also received a boost from all of the off-world travel. For all of their ravings that the muggles were simple-minded children who needed the ‘guidance’ of the magical world, it turned out to be the reverse. Case in point, the various agencies that governed Portkey creations found themselves needing to build more offices to the point where they’re almost as common as a muggle travel agency. Some enterprising wixen have even joined together in partnership to provide that option. Britain, in my opinion, was the only ‘developed’ country (North Korea would never change and seemed to relish in their quarantine) to see the biggest changes in the past 3My. Ever since the Dark contingent failed in their power coup, coupled with the ICW-enforced quarantine, hostilities against muggles and muggleborns have dropped to nearly nothing. Not two Earth years later, the ICW started relaxing the restrictions on those with a Level Two to Four rating, thereby allowing for greater mobility and giving those who resisted a chance to see the truth.’

‘Earth seems to have simultaneously relaxed and stressed now that we knew that humans weren’t the only ones in the galaxy. Trade was picking up between Earth, Mars, and Vulcan; both sides eager and curious to see what the other species had to offer. On the downside, there was a slight uptick in the number of alien abduction conspiracies and religious cults but that was to be expected and dealt with by the local governments. Fortunately, Arcadia was spared from that lunacy.’

‘A friend of mine once summed up the explosive growth of humankind’s wealth and prosperity: “I pretty much see it as a logical extrapolation for the most part. If you achieve FTL and artificial gravity, most of the concerns about the dangers of space flight are addressed. More importantly, I happen to think that having AG makes developing energy cheaper which would make a space lift as described by countless science fiction writers to be the next logical step. (I wouldn’t mind, I still hate the effects from a Portkey. As a point of reference of this transcription in 2030; several surface-to-orbit ‘space elevators’ are already under construction.) Put it like this, by 2022, I could easily see the space flight industry being in the trillion dollar range and employing tens of millions of people, and this doesn’t even take into consideration the availability of new markets for Earth products in the Vulcan civilian sector”

‘It wasn’t surprising to find that some of the products we would consider inconsequential, would be viewed as ‘hot-ticket’ items. Amongst some of the more mundane items were board games like Monopoly, Pictionary, and Scrabble, which offered the logically-minded Vulcans a way to test their creativity. Video games, both single-player and online multi-player, especially those that had been developed with both human and Vulcan mythology and folklore characters in mind, were snapped up the moment they went on the market. Granted, the online community had to wait a while until the Vulcan High Command was ‘urged’ by their eager general populace to offer subspace communication relay technology with Earth.’

‘Trading cards like Pokemon, Chocolate Frog Cards, and Magic the Gathering saw a whole new group of youngsters getting excited over them. Hand-held puzzles like the Rubic’s Cube, Jenga, or those wooden ball escape puzzles all became incredibly popular to our newest neighbors. The one item that amused me, and Hermione to some extent, was the children and teenage Vulcans’ reactions to comic books, manga, pulp novels and magazines. (According to Solkar, the concept of these items never really went beyond the inspirational or conformity messages that their leaders passed off as ‘learning materials). Another item that surprised many of us were the Furbies; those cute and fuzzy creatures that mimic whatever they hear, is another big ‘must-have’ amongst the Vulcan population. I think what tickles my amusement is seeing Vulcan parents spending time with their children poring over the Where’s Waldo books in a race to find the man first.

‘When you see images of Vulcan with its harsh desert-like climate, it’s not difficult to imagine that they wouldn’t have access to a variety of crops or materials. Even though they did have spices, inevitably there would have to have been some species that never evolved on their world but did on ours. For example, the spice trade is a pretty lucrative market here on Earth and Mars but frankly, it was shocking to see some Vulcans get positively giddy when they discovered and willing bought saffron at USD$30,000 per kilogram! Foods and spices too, were treated as ‘gifts from the gods.’ Chocolates, coffee, cuisines from the cultures around the Earth (Pizza was a big hit with Solkar.) Ironically, chocolate and coffee, two items that had never evolved on their world, were initially treated with skepticism if not a bit of fear when both were described as containing caffeine which is classed as a drug. It had to be explained to them that while caffeine is a drug, it’s not as dangerous as some of the other synthetic types like heroin or ecstasy. Seeds too, imagine growing up never knowing what an orange or a mango tasted like? Farms and ranches all saw an increase of off-world sales. I heard once that some famous Vulcan chef had put out a contract of sorts offering up to what amounted to be USD$50,000 for a thousand pounds of watermelon. That’s astounding when you consider the average US farm price for watermelons in 2020 was $16.80 per cwt. The national seasonal average retail price for non-organic, red-fleshed, seeded type ranged between $0.31to $0.38 per pound, and $0.46 to $0.55 per pound for red-fleshed seedless.’

‘Of the hard goods, lumber is another commodity that has seen a tremendous upswing in prosperity. As a desert world, Vulcan doesn’t have the ability to grow sustainable forests to build homes or furniture. As a result, when they found out about Earth’s abundance, it wasn’t a shock to see Vulcans lining up to buy things like desks, coffee tables, or even just wooden sculptures at what we would consider to be inflated prices. (Solkar has said on many occasions that there are numerous Vulcan executives who love to brag and boast about the new hand-carved executive desk made from English Oak or Brazilian Bloodwood they had imported from Earth.)’

‘It wasn’t just the consumable goods that became wildly popular. When the tourist travel began between our two worlds, the sight of the normally stoic and seemingly unflappable adult Vulcans decked out in winter clothing strapping a pair of ‘thin strips of laminated wood’ (their words, not mine) to their feet and wobbly learning how to enjoy skiing or snowboarding, it was a pretty clear indication that we had a good thing going here. The cinemas, music concerts, Comic-Con, all of the world’s various holidays, national parks and preserves, it didn’t matter; the Vulcans wanted to see it all and do it all. Not bad for a race of people who suppress their emotions as a matter of course.’

‘Finally, it wasn’t just the muggles that enjoy a new ‘golden age’ of discovery and enlightenment. The magical communities (even Britain once they got their heads out of the arses) started seeing the strange people from the stars poking around their shops and buying up everything they could get their hands on. Hogwarts too has seen an insurgence of curious people interested in how magic is learned in all its forms. I’ve heard they had to open an annex to deal with the classroom sizes. It was funny looking back, apparently there’s a species out there the Vulcans have come across called the ‘Ferengi’ who the Goblins remind them of with the lust for economic warfare. Solkar’s said that if you close your eyes and just listen to them speak, you’d never know the difference. Heaven help us if they should ever meet in person (or maybe I ought to just sit back with a bag of popcorn and watch the proverbial feathers fly, either way it’s going to be interesting.)

Harry awoke to the feeling of tiny fingers poking his arm. He cracked one eye open and smiled sleepily at his daughter, Madison, curiously peering at him. “Good morning, Maddy.”

Maddy smiled much in the same way as Hermione did…all teeth. Her messy brown hair bounced as she jumped up and down on her feet, eager to get started with her day. Her green eyes lit up brightly at the sight of her daddy smiling back at her, “Daddy, mummy wants you up now.”

Harry reached out and dragged his two and a half-Martian year-old light of his life baby girl into bed with him and snuggled her close, “Now Maddy is in bed with Daddy; this is much better.” She started giggling as he gently tickled her before releasing her to crawl around the bed and pester him to get up.

‘My life is perfect.’ He mused.

It was just after the first Martian year (a little over one Earth year) when Harry finally proposed to Hermione who immediately accepted. They had called her parents to inform them of the big news and arranged for the elder Grangers to be flown out to Mars to take part in the ceremony. Harry had also called Director Croaker and invited him as well and asked if there was a way for Neville and Luna to be given a temporary reprieve from the quarantine so they could attend too. Saul informed him that the Longbottoms would have no problems; they’d moved to Hogwarts which was a neutral territory, so getting a visa was an easy task. The looks on their faces when they experienced spaceflight for the first time was hilarious. Rather than subject future travelers to the rigors of a traditional shuttle launch, the procedure now was to utilize portkeys to the international space station. The magical contingent was used to the effects that portkeys had but the Grangers weren’t, so they availed themselves to the barf bags offered to them by the ISS platform crew. Once he’d recovered, Dan had commented wistfully that he wished the station still had zero-gravity and was pleased to find out that certain sections of the departure/arrival lounge had a section cordoned off for those who wished to use it. (Parents liked the zero-gravity play area as it gave their kids something to do while waiting for their flight to wherever.)

The wedding between Harry Potter and Hermione Granger hit the front pages on both worlds. ‘The first off-world marriage in human history and all that bunk,’ Harry commented once. All of their friends from Liberty were there, including Solkar who took notes on the proceedings. Madison was born about one Martian year later after they’d gotten settled and the changes to their residence had been completed. She was the perfect blend of her parents, getting the best (and worst) traits of each. She had Harry’s eyes and Hermione’s penchant for reading everything within reach. Unfortunately, she also had both of their hair. ‘Poor kid is going to be breaking combs and brushes left, right, and center.’

Harry groaned as he rolled out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom where he went through his morning ablutions. He distantly heard a tiny thump of Maddy’s feet hitting the floor and the sight of her curious face as she peeked around the doorframe. He reached down, picked her up and plopped her on the counter to let her watch him brush his teeth and chatter on about whatever topic happened to interest her. Once that was done with, he lifted her up again and flipped her up onto his shoulders and headed out to the kitchen.

Hermione was busy making breakfast when the sounds of her giggling daughter caught her attention. She glanced up and smiled at the sight of her happy daughter and husband, “Good morning, Harry.” She reached up and kissed him on the lips and tickled Maddy’s foot, causing the child to yank her foot away.

“Good morning, Hermione. What’re you making?” Harry responded and peered into the skillet.

“I’m making pancakes and bacon; you want some?”

Harry bobbed his head appreciatively, “I would, thanks. Come on, Maddy; let’s leave Mummy to her most noble work.” He dropped her into her chair with a muffled thump of feet and a loud giggle and grabbed a bowl to fill with some dry cereal and milk before placing it in front of her. In the meantime, Harry grabbed a bowl of fresh fruit grown locally in the base’s greenhouse and sat down next to his daughter, “So what’s on your job sheet for today?”

“I’m going to be working with Tiny to oversee some new upgrades in his operating system. He’s mentioned some ‘soreness’ for lack of a better term after the last software patch then I’ll be joining Liberty on her run to Titan to deliver a batch of supplies to the scientists in orbit there. You?”

“I’ve got some trade reports I need to go over before heading up to Santa for the filter installation,” he replied in between mouthfuls. Maddy started making noises for her juice so he filled her favorite cup featuring a couple of Care Bears with apple juice and handed it off to her. “After that, I thought I’d pay a visit to the museum to see what kind of chaos I can create when the patrons get a glimpse of me.”

Hermione rolled her eyes and gently slapped him on the arm with her spatula, “You are such a bad influence.”

After breakfast, Harry kissed Hermione goodbye while Maddy made retching noises at the sight of her parents doing something ‘icky’ then escorted the tyke to her daycare.

‘That’s another thing that has benefited from the fall of the Statute. The education of the children, especially those born on Mars, has improved greatly once the Department of Mysteries began production of more pensieves. Now, it was a simple matter of loading the runic-inscribed ‘birdbath’ with the appropriate memory of whatever lesson was on the curriculum and away they went. There was no need for outdated books that would’ve had to be shipped in from Earth, nor was there a need to run a translation charm since the magic of the pensieve automatically changed the instructor’s speech into whatever language the listener was most comfortable in.’

After he watched his daughter excitedly zooming off into her daycare class yelling for her friends, Harry remembered some of the stories that Neville and Luna had shared from inside Britain during the wedding reception.

Flashback…

‘At first, it was terrible. There were rampant rumors of how the ICW would murder you on the street if you looked at them cross-eyed or if you were a particular blood status other than muggleborn. The muggleborn were supposedly using the Cruciatus on all of the purebloods regardless of blood status without fear of recrimination, and that the purebloods were being driven out of their homes and into what they claimed were ‘internment camps for the purpose of brainwashing and forced indoctrination.’ I’m glad that we moved to Hogwarts before the ICW clamped down on the island, even though Hogwarts and the surrounding valley was considered neutral territory, there were still a bunch of restrictions for everyone. It took a while until Professor Flitwick came up with the novel solution of issuing out color-coded name badges for everyone to wear. Each badge had your magical signature embedded into it, your name, and your blood status. The four primary colors indicated which level you were, I think Flitwick subconsciously made them match the House colors since all of the Level Four people wore green.’ Harry remembered that Ginny and Draco had managed to get themselves out of the country before the curtain fell and had asked his god-brother whatever happened to them. ‘Oh, it was hilarious! So their original plan was to hide away in Malfoy Manor or the Burrow, visit with their respective families then duck back out again. They sneaked back into the country using false names and tried to pass themselves off as visiting muggles. You can imagine how well that went over! Snobby pureblood Draco and Ginny trying and hilariously failing at dressing and acting like muggles. The idiots didn’t even remember to glamour-charm their appearances. They were stopped by the muggle Aurors at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron after they were spotted repeatedly yelling and banging on the door. Ginny tried to explain in that snotty attitude she always had ‘that they’d heard about this incredible pub that led to the magical shopping district and they just had to stop in and see what all the fuss was about.’ The Auror looked them up and down at their hideous attire and must’ve thought they were nuts. Anyways, they were directed to a shop around the corner where the owners of Flourish and Blott’s had a muggle bookshop that connected to the magical side. Once inside, they were surprised and detained then had their identifications and wands confiscated by a pair of hidden ICW Aurors. According to Mr. Flourish, Draco tried to bluster and bribe his way out of trouble just like Lucius used to but as we both know, that only made things worse for them. On top of that, both were shown their pictures on wanted posters and told that they’d been on the ICW Most Wanted for a while now. The last I heard, they were still in the Devon Detention Center. Ironically, it’s only a stone’s throw away from the Burrow.’

Harry then asked if Luna was behaving herself. Luna rolled her silvery-grey eyes at him and huffed that it was just one time and a complete misunderstanding; the folks at the London Zoo were very nice about everything and that she’d be allowed to come back eventually. ‘Honestly, I’d never seen a platypus before and I just got excited. Plus, I was overjoyed and mystified that the muggles had captured a whole herd of Crumple-horned Snorcacks. How was I supposed to know they weren’t actually but in reality Bighorn mountain sheep? It’s not my fault that my magic got carried away from all of my emotions.’

Present…

Harry took the automated people-mover tram from the School zone down to the Administration Sector. As he settled into his seat for the fifteen minute journey, he reminisced about how much things had changed. ‘When Arcadia was founded back in 2005, we had a population of about 25 which was the crew of Liberty. Now in 2010, that population has soared to a whopping 500 permanent residents! About two-thirds of those people are in charge of the newly established Martian government. We even have some magical families now, despite that Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field to facilitate portkeys, floo, or broom flight. It’s nice that we no longer have to hide who we are now thanks in part to the fall of the Statute of Secrecy. There are three other permanent settlements here on Mars, each ranging in population between 300 for the new-ish Utopia Planitia site up to over a thousand near Valles Marineris. That of course, doesn’t include the seemingly endless parade of tourists or planetary scientists.’

His eyes gazed over the terraced levels of the underground community and remembered how skeptical the Goblins had been after they had been approached with the novel idea of traveling to another world to build the underground living centers. He chuckled to himself when he remembered the incredulous looks on the Goblin King’s face after being asked ‘when was the last time they’d ever had the honor of being the first to do anything new?’ After seeing and getting excited by the memories from the colonists, it was just a matter of time before he sent a team of surveyors and excavators to Mars on the next run out to the Red Planet. From what he’d heard, the returning reports from the team sent out was so good that the King was considering establishing a Gringott’s branch once the population rose to a viable level.

‘For all their gruffness and rudeness, they certainly know how to sculpt rock into such beautiful works of architectural art.’

Interplanetary Trade Commission, Arcadia Governmental Center, Module 14A

Ever since he’d retired from his piloting job on Liberty to undertake the Herculean task of administration duty between two worlds, he wistfully wished that Mars still had its ancient magnetic field. ‘I wonder if I could sweet-talk Silvia into letting me pilot Liberty once in a while.’

Harry flicked on the lights as he entered his office and walked over to his desk. His computer lit up at his presence and began displaying the list of reports he needed to read through. He poured himself a cup of coffee and let himself slide into the technical mumbo-jumbo of his reading.

A knock on Harry’s door startled him out of his reading, causing him to frown at the interruption. His frown immediately evaporated when he spotted who dared to interrupt him, “Hey, Solkar! What brings you by? I thought you’d transferred back to Vulcan?”

Solkar gave him the customary Vulcan greeting then switched to the human version of shaking hands, “It’s good to see you too, Harry. I did indeed transfer back but now I’m here to offer you and the crew of Liberty a chance of a lifetime.”

Harry gestured to the guest chair and offered his friend a drink which he accepted, “So what kind of chance of a lifetime?”

Solkar took a sip of the coffee, “Some people I’m associated wanted to meet with the legendary human crew who discovered so much in such a small time frame.”

One of Harry’s eyebrows rose, “Associated with? You make it so ‘cloak and dagger.’ Are they violent or something?”

Solkar shrugged, “They are men and women of power so…yes?” Harry snorted in amusement.

“Why the oblique way of asking if we wanted to come and visit Vulcan?”

Solkar hesitated, “It’s not…I’m not a Vulcan…though I do have some ancestry there.”

Now Harry was confused and his face showed it. Solkar sighed heavily, “The reason why I’m so hesitant to tell you my people’s name is because if it ever got out to the Vulcan High Command, things might get dicey for me. I would be labeled as a spy and charged with espionage.” He pointed to his ears and made a circular motion at the room with his finger.

Harry blinked stupidly for a moment before he pulled his wand and cast a number of detection and privacy spells, “There. That’s about as secure as I can make it without hosting you in my head. Now, what’s this all about?”

Solkar placed his coffee cup on the desk and stared at it as he began his explanation, “My race is known as Romulans and we come from a world known as Romulus. We are the biological cousins of Vulcans, descended from those who rejected Surak's reforms during the Time of Awakening. We are, in my opinion, unfortunately rather xenophobic. Romulans tend to conquer species rather than form alliances with them, and individual Romulans tend to treat other species with varying degrees of disdain. That’s not to say that we don’t employ diplomacy when it’s needed! Humans are a case in point; your species fascinates the Senate and they would like to meet with you to get a clearer picture than what my journal entries have shared.”

Harry leant back in his chair and studied his friend’s face, “What have we done that fascinates them so much?”

Solkar gave him a look of incredulity, “Seriously? Your species has only had two major wars in your modern history and it was only during the last one was when you employed the usage of just two atomic weapons, you’ve developed space flight and spread out amongst the system the moment you discovered the warp drive. Vulcans, and even ourselves, went through incredible devastating wars which took centuries to recover from before even attempting to reach for the stars. Your homeworld is prosperous and has such incredible goods and services that many of the Senators are in denial that such things could even be possible.”

Harry thought about that, “I’ll grant you that. So, when would we leave and have you discussed this with Silvia?”

“I was hoping sometime soon and no, I haven’t spoken with her yet. I wanted to get your opinion first.”

Harry sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands before speaking, “Well, if it were just me, I’d say sure let’s go now but I have Hermione and Madison to consider. Go talk with Silvia and see what happens with her. If she’s agreeable, she’ll most likely have you speak with the Ambassador to set up something, whether formal or not.”

Solkar rose to his feet and held out his hand, “Thank you, Harry. I appreciate your help and insights.”

Wednesday, 9 June 2010 (Earth time), ISA Headquarters

Harry watched the proceedings via a holo-display as the bigwigs and human ambassador discussed the subject that Solkar had hinted at in his initial meeting with Harry. “I’m still not sure why Solkar approached you first, Mr. Potter. Why didn’t he go to someone with the authority to do something about it?”

“Probably because he and I have been friends from our first meeting. Before getting transferred back to Vulcan or wherever he actually went, he and I worked closely getting Arcadia and its auxiliaries set up.”

“What do you suppose their motivation is? Could it be military or just curiosity?”

Harry shifted in his seat, “Based on our conversation, I feel that it’s a matter of curiosity. Our recent interactions with the Vulcans apparently showed the Romulans that we’re an emotional species yet we managed to not destroy ourselves in the race to gain dominance over our resources as the Vulcans almost did. On top of that, since our First Contact with the Vulcans, they’ve become much less antagonistic with the other species they’ve made contact with.”

“How so?”

“I had a meeting with the Vulcan trade minister and he let slip that they recently discovered another race of people with blue skin. Rather than setting up a listening post and spying on them to find out their weaknesses and whatnot, the Vulcans parked themselves around their outermost world and broadcasted a greeting from the edge of their system, inviting them to come and chat. Whether or not anything evolves from that, I don’t know but according to Solkar, it’s not the ‘normal’ procedure.”

“So what do you recommend?”

Harry hesitantly glanced briefly at Silvia and Hamish, “I would take them up on their offer to go visit their homeworld. We take the Liberty and load it up with not just our normal long-duration supplies but also a sampling of what our world has to offer. The cargo crews can easily shrink that stuff down to fit and it would add in a bit of excitement seeing magical abilities put into use.”

Admiral Forrest frowned, “Do you think we might scare them by using magic? I don’t want to put you in harm’s way over a shrinking charm.”

Silvia interjected, “I think our mere presence will overshadow whatever magical ability some of us might have. It’ll just be one more amazing thing about these ‘aliens.’”

Deimos Orbital Dockyards, Mars

Liberty rested in her berth while inside her human crew bustled about getting her loaded with all the supplies they’d need for their newest historic journey. It would be the first time in humanity that a manned ship left the safety of their home system. All of the old crew was back for this mission; Harry had to get recertified for his piloting position as there’d been a number of upgrades since the last time he’d sat in the chair. (Internally, he laughed at the memory he’d had a while ago where he’d wondered about sweet-talking Silvia into letting him pilot the ship again.) Hermione was working with Tiny doing technical stuff (Tiny had some calming music playing in the background); Madison had been sent to go visit her grandparents on Earth to keep her safe should the worst happen.

“Captain, Pilot.”

“Go ahead.”

“Flight station is reporting ready. I show all green across the board.”

“Roger, we’re just waiting on a couple of things in Engineering.”

Harry punched up the camera to the Memory Core and spotted Hermione sitting there staring at a picture of their family, “Hey,” he interrupted softly, “You ready to make history again?”

Hermione turned to face the camera and smiled sadly, “Yeah, but I just wish we didn’t have to leave Madison behind. I’m going to miss her terribly.”

“Same here but you know it has to be this way and let’s face it, with your parents you know she’ll be safe.”

Snorting laughter, she added, “And spoiled rotten by the time we come back.”

Harry grinned, “Yeah, I’m told that’s one of the perks of being a grandparent. They get to train the grandchild to behave just as we did to them.”

Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned, “Heavens, no. She’s going to be a nightmare then, demanding that we stay up all hours of the night reading stories to her.”

“Is that how it was? Funny, I’ll have to remember that.”

Not too long after, Silvia connected with the ship’s intercom and laid out what their mission entailed, “We’re boldly going where no human has gone before, outside of our own solar system to meet with a race of people known as Romulans. I don’t have to remind you all that diplomacy and tact is of utmost importance here. All ISA knows about these Romulans is that they’re a rather xenophobic species so let’s not give them a reason to hate us. Our travel time to Pluto will be six hours at warp 1.5; once we reach the V’ger Encounter Point, we will then proceed at warp 2 to Romulus, which according to our research is fifty light-years away and will take us about six months. I won’t bore you with the details on how we’re going to make this journey so fast, unless you really have nothing better to do, so let’s get going shall we?” She turned to Harry, “Pilot, take us out then let’s ride the light.”

“Aye, Captain. Mooring clamps have released, initiating reverse thrusters.”

In the Captain’s ready room…

“I wonder what the Vulcans must be thinking after we asked them if there was a way to cut down on the travel time between here and Vulcan. Can you imagine them standing out on their landing platforms wondering where we are when we don’t show up?” Hamish asked as he settled onto the couch and crossed his legs.

Silvia shook her head, “I don’t want to think about that. Leave the apologies and explanations to the diplomats, thank you very much.” She called out to the sound of a knock on her door, “Come in!”

The senior staff of Liberty entered and took up the available chairs which prompted her to start the meeting, “Okay, so here’s the situation. Liberty is going to be making First Contact in the Romulan’s home system as opposed to the other way around. Solkar has informed me that his people are expecting us to arrive at a designated zone for incoming travelers. Now, the system consists of at least four planets. The first planet is an airless lump of nearly molten rock similar to Mercury. The second and third planets are Romulus and Remus, the homeworlds of the Romulans and Remans, respectively. The Remans are even more xenophobic than the Romulans and therefore are not part of this mission. According to Solkar, the planet is used as a penal colony for criminals and such so don’t do anything stupid. To give you a bit of perspective, he’s stated categorically that Azkaban would be considered a vacation spot for the prisoners of that world. (Harry and Hermione flinched at the mention of the magical prison.) The last planet in their system is a gas giant akin to Neptune. Any questions so far?” She glanced around the table and saw that there were none.

“Thanks to the Vulcan star maps, we’ll be using a sort-of ‘warp speed highway’ which will allow us to travel the fifty light-years in just six months as opposed to the ten years if we were on the ‘backcountry roads.’ I expect that we’re going to be there for at least three months so I hope you all made preparations for your loved ones back home. Juan, how are the upgrades to the warp drive doing?”

While Juan was giving his answer about how the new manifolds and redesigns to the warp coils were doing, Hermione frowned; thanks to relativity, at the speed of light time would slow down for them but everyone else would age at the same rate as normal which meant if it wasn’t for the Alcubierre-Montrose Temporal Accumulator, she’d never get to see Madison grow up. Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about that. At most, her daughter will have only aged about one Earth year which wasn’t too much.

One month into their flight…

Tiny was on the speakers singing like Sinatra while working on one system or another, “I'm gonna feel the way I do today, 'cause you-you nutsy chick, you broad-you make me feel so young. Boom!”

“Oh boys, that was terrible. I'm going out, I'm gonna have a smoke. When I come back, get the horn section figured out, I can't work like this.”

There was a noise like an electrical connection shorting out then a radio tuning sound was heard. Tiny changed his tone to mimic an announcer's voice, “Two on, two out, Bonds is up again. Swung on, oh! That struck the ballgirl, knocked her cold! Today's game, by the way, is brought to you by...”

Nearly everyone on-board was staring confusedly at the speakers and wondering what the Hell was going on. Meanwhile Hermione was damn near busting a gut laughing. When asked later what that was all about, she replied, “Tiny discovered the 1996 Earth comedy ‘Down Periscope’ and fell in love with the oddball humor. I’m hesitant to show him the movie ‘Airplane’ which is even more cracked.”

Harry laughed, “Surely you can't be serious.”

Hermione scrunched her nose playfully back at him, “I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.”

Five months later…

“Captain, coming out of warp in three…two…one…” Silvia’s attention flicked to the viewscreen as the Cherenkov radiation dissipated, leaving Liberty hovering near the outer most world of this alien system.

“Communications, any contact yet?”

“One moment… aye, Captain. A ship is inbound to escort us in,” Nathan replied as he monitored his station.

Harry picked his eyes up towards the screen and saw the approaching vessel, “Interesting design, it looks like a semi-flattened circular center hull with forward-swept stubby wings and a couple of tubes on the ends.”

Silvia had Nathan broadcast the pre-approved message to the alien craft letting them know that they came in peace and were requested by the Senate. “Sending the message now, Captain.” A moment passed before they saw the Romulan ship reverse course, “They’re instructing us to follow them in.”

“Pilot, adjust course and speed to match.”

Harry’s fingers danced across his console as he followed their escort in.

It took them a couple of hours before reaching the double worlds of Romulus and Remus (Harry secretly wondered about the naming conventions and how closely it matched Italian mythology.) They were given docking instructions and ordered to wait for the ambassador to arrive. Harry eased Liberty into her assigned space and activated the mooring clamps, “We’re at hard dock, Captain.”

When the order to disembark came, Hamish popped the seals to the main hatch and opened the door. Standing before him was an EVA-suited humanoid figure, “Hello, do you speak English?” The figure tapped his helmet and gestured in an apparently universal manner of ‘wait a moment.’ He turned and activated a screen on his side of the airlock. Words were exchanged before the figure turned back to Commander Flanagan and beckoned him through and pointed at the screen where Solkar’s face greeted him, “Commander, it’s good to see you made it. Here’s what you need to do to pass through customs.”

As Harry stepped off the ramp and into the cavernous hangar bay, he turned when he heard his name being called. He spotted Solkar approaching, “Hey, Solkar! Thanks for having us. Nice outfit.”

Solkar’s uniform featured a quilted silvery-grey overcoat with color-blocked silver and red patterned tunic, a black belt, and red patterned trousers with knee high leather boots. He wore leather gauntlet-style gloves and had a half cape that descended from over his right shoulder. Solkar grinned and spun around showing it off, “You like?”

“It’s giving me a headache.” Solkar laughed at his friend’s response then sobered when Silvia came up.

“Captain Connelly, thank you for making the journey.”

Silvia gave him a half-grin, “Who am I to reject the invitation of a curious race of people? So, what now?”

“Now, I take you and your crew to the Senate.”

“Great, what about our cargo?”

Solkar looked eager, “What did you bring?”

Silvia pulled out the manifest and handed it over to him, “A sampling of what our world has to offer, all neatly shrunk down so it would fit.”

Solkar’s eyes started to twinkle, “Which means that my leaders will get to see magic in action, awesome,” He turned to Harry and Hermione, “Are you able to do magic here?”

Hermione looked around as she pulled her wand, “Our only limitation to performing magic is if there’s no magnetic field that would prevent us from using a portkey or apparition. Since we’ve never visited an alien world before, I have no idea if your magnetic field will allow us to do anything. May I test this theory?”

“Sure, if you’re going to attempt that personal teleportation thing you do, just keep here within the bay.”

Hermione pointed to a stack of crates on the far wall then turned on the spot, vanishing in a crack of displaced air. An answering crack a second later at the designated spot caused them all to turn where they could see Hermione waving before apparating back. “I think that answers that question.”

As Solkar guided them onto a tram, Silvia asked some questions about where they were and what sorts of protocols were required.

“The planet is called ‘ch’Rihan’ in the Romulan language and the capital city is called ‘Ra’tleihfi.’ Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce either yet. I was born here and I still have trouble pronouncing it after all my years amongst the Vulcans then speaking English on Earth and Mars. Our sun is called ‘Eisn’ and we have one moon called ‘F’vuras.’”

Hamish asked him if they had a language and grammar primer they could get a copy of, “It would make things a lot easier for relations in the future if our linguists had something to work from.”

Solkar cocked his head, “That’s a good question and one I’ll see to by the time you leave. Here…” He handed out computer tablets to Hamish who began distributing them to the crew, “those tablets contain a historical record of our beginnings and journey to this system.” He went on to explain the governmental system of the Romulan people, “It’s best described as an aristocracy where those who have the greatest wealth, heredity, or military service can earn their spots amongst the Senate. The common people have very little say in how things are run.”

Harry quipped that it sounded a lot like Britain before the ICW Quarantine. Solkar bobbed his head, “It does but please don’t bring up how you overthrew that. They are cold, ruthless men and women who will not take kindly to attacks on what they view as their birthright.”

Ra’tleihfi Capital, Romulan Senate, Grand Audience Chamber

Solkar led them into the chamber and discreetly pointed out each Senator and the Praetor. “The Praetor is the one who gives Final Judgment on all disputes but it’s the Senators who do the most talking.”

“Solkar,” one of the Senators greeted him, “Is this the crew you had mentioned?”

Solkar bowed his head, “They are, Senator Vrax. I would like to introduce Captain Silvia Connelly of the planet Earth.”

Silvia stepped forward and bowed her head respectfully, “Thank you for inviting us, Senators. I apologize in that I’m not aware of any particular hand gestures your culture requires as it was not in the guidebook provided to us by Solkar here.”

Senator Vrax smirked, “It is of no consequence, Captain but thank you anyhow for addressing that. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to our homeworld and empire. We are most curious about how you achieved all that you have in such a short amount of time. Tell me, who did you have to conquer to acquire faster-than-light travel?”

Silvia shook her head, “We didn’t. We achieved those skills on our own through hard work, dedication, and a certain creative flair if you will. While I will admit that our own history is rather bloody, we now strive to overcome our differences through peaceful mediation. Now that doesn’t mean that we should be viewed as pacifists but until we were able to colonize our other worlds within our system, we were locked onto our homeworld so it behooved us to try and get along.”

Nods of approval from the other senators were seen as Silvia continued with her explanation of the human species. Another senator leant forward, “What I’m most curious about is the reports of incredible wealth that your planet has at its disposal. Do you have any…samples to share?”

Silvia turned slightly to Hamish who pulled out a radio, “With your permission, I would like to bring in our wares. We have a different method of transport than what you’re most likely used to but as Solkar here can attest to, it’s quick and quite the ride.” Solkar made a low noise like an amused grunt. “Commander?”

There was a swirl of concentrated energy as the space in front of them suddenly twisted then released a small wooden crate on the ground in front of them. Yells of consternation were heard from the Senate Gallery as the guards rushed forward to protect their leader who waved them back, his eyes glittering at the incredible display. Silvia stepped forward and gestured to the crate which measured no bigger than an average breadbox, “This crate has been shrunk down using a method known on our homeworld as ‘magic.’ There is a demographic of people on our world known as ‘wizards and witches’ or for the plural term ‘wixen.’ My pilot, Harry Potter, and my AI Specialist and his wife, Hermione Potter, are two of such people. Harry? Hermione?”

Harry and Hermione stepped forward, “Greetings to all, my name is Harry Potter and I would be referred to as a wizard. This is my wife, Hermione Potter and she would be referred to as a ‘witch.’ We are both able to perform magic and spent seven years of our lives in a special school to learn how to control our abilities. With this special stick,” he pulled and displayed his wand, “called a ‘wand,’ I am able to perform feats of magic that frankly defy explanation to the everyday person.”

As a demonstration, he verbally cast the engorgio charm onto the crate. It began to grow in size causing the senators to murmur in amazement as what started off as no bigger than a breadbox suddenly became as large as two people standing shoulder to shoulder. Hermione flicked her wand and opened the side door, “I would like to invite a senator to step forward and into the crate to show another feature of this ordinary-seeming crate.” The senators glanced back and forth at each other before Senator Vrax stepped down from his position and walked up to them. He peered into the crate and his jaw dropped in astonishment.

“That’s not possible,” he breathed before stepping into the crate. The other senators were flabbergasted since the crate measured barely big enough for two people on the outside yet Vrax was gone for a good five minutes before reappearing. He stared at Harry and Hermione, “How did you do that?”

“It’s what’s referred to as a ‘space-expansion charm.’ I’d be happy to describe it in further detail at a later time. Now, unloading the contents of what we brought would normally take a competent loading crew at least an hour, I can do it in just a couple of minutes. Senator, if you’d step back here.” Hermione waved her wand as soon as Vrax was out of the way and charmed the container to disgorge its contents in a parade of floating materials and goods. The items all flew around the floor and arranged themselves in neat rows for inspection.

Harry clapped Solkar on the shoulder and addressed the Senate, “Any questions?”

Several minutes later…

Vrax wandered over to where Solkar was chatting with Harry, “Solkar, I wish to have a word with your guests.” Solkar bowed out of the conversation and stood nearby but out of earshot. “Your gifts are incredible, we had preconceived notions about what a culturally primitive world could possibly offer but you’ve exceeded our wildest expectations.”

Harry smirked, “Thank you, Senator. You should’ve seen the reactions of the Vulcans when they were introduced.”

Vrax nodded, “That’s another thing I wanted to mention. How did you win them over so easily? The Vulcan High Command is not the most…expressive people, I suppose you can say.”

Harry scratched his chin, “I think it had something to do with the fact that our first interactions were with scientists and explorers rather than political leaders. Their survey crew understood that there would be people that had different ideas to theirs and as a result, were a lot more open-minded about what they’d find.”

Vrax seemed to agree with his sentiment, “So your interactions with the Vulcans have been positive?”

“So far. At this point, they seem to be rather overwhelmed with the amount of materials and goods that can’t be found on their desert world like lumber, rubber, anything that has to do with water, some crops and a couple of other things that might’ve slipped my mind. Their younger generation is most taken by our entertainment goods like puzzles, games, comic books and the like.”

“Food and drink too? I would think that the Vulcan biology would preclude them from consuming alien foods.”

Hermione smiled, “Well, they were hesitant at first about chocolate and coffee as well as some of the fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola because all three contain caffeine which is classed as a mood-altering drug. As with anything, moderation is key in limiting adverse reactions to it. Have you seen the food and drink selection of what we’ve brought, Senator?”

Vrax frowned and shook his head, “No, I can’t say that I have. Where would they be?”

Hermione led him over to the relevant section and handed him a foil-covered bar of chocolate. He peeled off the wrapper and took a bite. The look on his face as his eyes rolled up in his skull and a low pleased moan escaped his lips caused the humans nearby to break out into small smiles and laughter.

Over the next three months

The crew of Liberty was given a guided tour of the Romulan homeworld after demonstrating some more of the magical talents of two of her crew. The impressed human contingent got to see the Eilariv Mountain, the tallest peak in a barren, red-colored mountain range. They traveled by aerial shuttle to the Gal Gath'thong, a famous mountain range in the southern hemisphere of Romulus where rivers of fire spew over enormous cliff-faces. A select group of Romulan starship designers and engineers were taken aboard Liberty and shown some of her features including Tiny, and the Blue Line.

Both Potters were invited to set up their laboratory to demonstrate some of the elixirs, pastes, and potion ingredients they’d brought with them. An attentive crowd of Romulan chemists eagerly watched and listened as Hermione led the class on the procedure on how to brew the Dreamless Sleep Potion. “A word of warning to any who might try to replicate this, it is highly addictive and must be regulated by a qualified healer. Too much of this could cause the user to slip into a permanent coma-like state.”

While she was leading the chemists in a discussion on the differences between Flobberworms versus standard earthworms, Harry was demonstrating how the magical flying brooms operated. “Think of the flying and hovering enchantments as a magical variant of anti-gravity technology like what you’d find on most atmospheric shuttles. With it and depending on the model of broom, I can accelerate from naught to one hundred-fifty miles per hour in ten seconds.” He activated the broom by stretching out his hand and strongly ordering, “Up!” The broom leapt off the ground and hovered at a comfortable hip height. He straddled the broom and shot off into the sky, performing acrobatic maneuvers that would put a fighter pilot to shame.

He landed to incredulous stares and eager anticipation, “Who wants to try it first?” A dozen hands immediately shot up.

At the hotel where the crew of Liberty was assigned…

Harry stepped out of the shower and dried his hair off with a towel. He entered the bedroom and saw Hermione gazing out of the window, “What’s up?”

She started and leaned back up against him, “Mmm…freshly showered Harry, my favorite. Nothing’s wrong, really. I just miss Maddy, I wonder what she’s up to right now.”

“Probably driving your dad crazy with her rapid-fire questions.”

She snorted, “After raising me, he’s probably used to it. So what’s your take on our hosts?”

Harry sighed and crossed over to their shared closet and pulled out a pair of shorts and a shirt, “They take some getting used to. Don’t get me wrong, their reactions to what we brought along is hilarious; sort of like the way the Vulcans were when they were introduced. I thought Vrax was going to lay an egg when he experienced chocolate for the first time.” Hermione giggled at his description. “I just hope that we can establish some good working relations with this civilization.”

Hermione nodded along, “I agree but that’s not our mission here. We’re just the ‘welcome wagon’ of a sort. Silvia doesn’t have the wherewithal to establish any sort of embassy or anything like that. If it all works out, all we can do is hand it over to the ambassador back home.”

Harry glanced towards the door and whispered, “You think they’re listening in on our conversation?”

“Without a doubt. If I were of a pranking mind, I’d suggest that we make up a bunch of nonsense words and phrases and make them seem like something important just to see their reaction.”

He raised his voice back up to normal, “So something like Operation: Hunka Chunka?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of Mission: Blibbering Humdinger?”

Harry returned to whispering, “Ooh, bringing in Luna-isms are you?” Again, he returned his voice to normal, “Okay, I’ll admit that this planet has the potential to help us find that creature we’re on the hunt for. I sure hope that we find the legendary Crumple-horned Snorkacks so they can be used to lead the revolution to bombard the planet with Dirigible Plums.”

They dissolved into giggles as the pair continued to make up crazier ideas to drive their listeners loopy.

The next morning, Solkar glared at both Potters. When asked what was wrong, his answer caused both to break down laughing hard. Hamish wandered over, “What’s going on?”

Pointing to the Potters still clutching their sides laughing and wheezing, Solkar sneered lightly, “These two pranked some co-workers of mine.”

“Harry! Hermione! What did Silvia tell you before we landed? Behave yourselves while we’re here, will you?” He looked to Solkar, “How bad was it?”

“These two monkeys figured out that the Tal’Shiar, our Imperial Security Service, would be listening to oversee their security while in our company so they began making up a bunch of important-sounding terms and it drove our agents crazy trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t.”

Hamish rolled his eyes, “Let me guess, they used Luna-isms?”

Solkar grunted, “I surmise that’s what they used, based on the transcripts I read.”

Hamish laid a gentle hand on Solkar’s arm, “I want to officially apologize for my crewmates, Solkar. If any of your agents are available, I’ll extend those apologies to them too.”

Solkar gave a small, sardonic smile, “Thank you but it’s not really necessary. I’ve spent enough time amongst you that I recognized what they were trying to do and headed off any possible responses.”

Harry and Hermione finally managed to regain control over themselves and climbed to their feet, “I’m sorry, Solkar but it was too good of an opportunity. Let’s just chalk this up as a learning example of human humor.”

Solkar rolled his eyes and grunted in derision, “I’ll get you back for that. I ought to feed you something that my sister thinks should be classified as ‘edible.’”

Harry grinned unrepentantly, “Yeah, you mentioned some of her culinary disasters.”

Hamish glanced bemusedly between the two, “That bad?”

“Biohazardous waste would make a tasty alternative to the nightmares she can make when she gets in a ‘creative’ mood.”

Hamish flinched, “Yuck. Okay,” he leveled an accusatory finger at the Potters, “Behave, I mean it.” He turned and headed off.

The crew of Liberty was enjoying some downtime with Solkar when he asked what the latest going on with V’ger was, “Whatever happened to it?”

Kevin answered, “NASA located some of their original designers and had a long chat with the probe. V’ger downloaded everything that it had learned and experienced into a repository that was constructed on the Moon. The amount of data is huge, it’s going to take our scientists decades if not longer to go through it all.”

“Is it still in orbit around Pluto?”

Hamish shook his head, “No, once the download was completed, V’ger expressed a desire to go out and ‘play’ some more. That was about a year ago or so?”

“I think that would be a great way to bring together our three societies together,” Lisette commented wistfully, “Imagine sharing all that knowledge without worrying about politics or past hostilities?”

Solkar nodded thoughtfully, “That would be something, alright. Vulcans, Romulans, and humans sharing something like that equally. Unfortunately, as it currently stands, past relations with Vulcans is not going…well; long-standing grudges and whatnot.”

Astrid shook her head, “Even after all this time? It’s been what, fifteen hundred years or something?”

Solkar shrugged, “Closer to two thousand but yes, essentially. Given how long our species lives, it’s not surprising really that the animosities have lasted this long.”

Guilia sipped from her glass containing a local fruit drink, “Maybe you could use humans as your mediators in future diplomacy?”

All eyes turned to her; Solkar was intrigued, “Really?”

Guilia shrugged, “Why not? The Vulcans like us; we’re not some race of people emerging from a devastating war and reliant on them or anyone else for technology. Your senators seem to like us, we brought a bunch of stuff that amazed them, including Harry and Hermione’s magical talents. I don’t know; it just makes sense to use a friendly third-party who has no previous connection to either civilization in those future negotiations.”

“I’ll definitely pass along that suggestion. I shouldn’t say anything official but the mood of the Senate appears favorable to opening trade negotiations with Earth and Mars. It’ll be interesting for sure.”

The final day on Romulus…

Eventually, the Romulans bid their new guests a farewell and wished them a safe journey home. They were impressed with the humans and eagerly awaited word from Earth’s Ambassador to begin negotiations. They thanked Liberty and her crew for giving them reasons for not being so isolationistic. Solkar mentioned that he’d already seen examples of human influence starting to make itself known amongst the senators like Senator Valdore who was recently spotted wearing a Hawaiian shirt while listening to the Beastie Boys on an iPod. “I don’t know what you did to him but the others are watching him closely. Oh, and thanks again for the recipe for making pizza, Senator Pardoz and I greatly appreciate the opportunity of having more whenever we want.”

Onboard Liberty…

The mood on Liberty was relaxed as the crew went through their established and familiar procedures to get underway. Tiny reported that all systems were green and ready for launch, “If you want, I got some great music choices to listen to.”

“Just as long as it’s not more of those inane comedies you were quoting on the way in,” Juan complained via the Blue Line.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with those movies!” Tiny rebutted, “I thought they were light-hearted and a welcome distraction to the anticipation everyone was feeling.”

Nathan cut in, “Do you have anything reminiscent of leaving a vacation port-of-call?”

“Lemme check, gimme a moment…here, I’ve got the perfect song.”

Silvia watched the message boards on her console as each department reported in, “All stations, this the captain; we will be launching in ten minutes. The Romulans will be escorting us until we reach the edge of their system.” She clicked the radio to contact the Romulan Flight Control, “RFC, this is the ISA Liberty. Our estimated launch time is in ten minutes.”

“Understood, Liberty. Our escort ships are standing by.”

As they approached the edge of the system, Silvia got back on the radio and sent a message to the Senate, “In the words of our hosts, ‘Jolan’tru ch’Rihan. Bedah, khlinae arhem. Aefvadh Earth.’ (Goodbye Romulus. Goodbye and thank you. Be welcome when you visit Earth.)

Tiny then began broadcasting his chosen song over the radio waves. Every human smiled fondly and joined in singing as best they could, their voices added to the broadcast.

“All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin'
It's early morn
The taxi's waitin'
He's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome
I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go…”

As Harry prepared to engage the warp drive, a message appeared on his monitor. It had Solkar’s ID attached to the message, “These are the voyages of the Starship Liberty and its international crew of scientists, engineers and a witch and wizard. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before! Ride the light, my friends and I will see you as soon as I can.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: A Brave New World

Tuesday, 11 September 2012 (Earth calendar) 3.64My, International Space Station, Earth Orbit

Harry had vainly hoped that Liberty would be able to slip back into the traffic patterns of the Sol system with no one the wiser. Hermione good-naturedly huffed at his over-the-top pleading look and mussed up his already messy hair and declared him to be a goofball. “We’ve just successfully completed a mission to visit an alien species outside of our own solar system for the first time in recorded human history and you were hoping that we could just act like nothing happened? Oh, poor Harry…”

He retaliated by pulling her onto his lap and kissing her soundly.

When Liberty pulled into her berth at the International Space Station over Earth, and her crew portkeyed down, they were celebrated with all of the pomp and circumstances that their homeworld could offer them. It made Harry want to cringe at all the attention. They met with all of the world leaders and their ambassadors in the United Nations, shook a bunch of hands and answered a ton of questions about their incredible journey before being able to go visit their families.

A week later…

The only bright spot in his opinion, was when he and Hermione finally managed to slip away to visit her parents and pick up their daughter, all three of whom were excited to see them.

“DAH-DDDYYY!!! MUH-MMMMYYYY!!!” Madison squealed the moment she spotted them as they walked up the pathway from the street. She raced over and practically leapt into her mother’s arms.

Dan Granger came out to see what all the commotion was about and walked over to the reuniting trio, shaking Harry’s hand and giving Hermione a hug, “Welcome home, you two! Come on in, Em’s in the kitchen making this squirt’s lunch.”

Madison slid out of Hermione’s arms and grabbed hold of both her parents’ hands and dragged them inside all the while chattering away about her adventures on Earth.

“This place is weird! I can go outside without a helmet and nothing will happen to me and I was able to sit out on the grass and play with my toys and not have to worry about my air running low. I fell down a lot too! The gravity grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let me bounce and jump like Buster Bunny does and this other time…” On and on she excitedly recited her past year to Hermione who patiently nodded her head and made the appropriate noises.

Harry turned to his father-in-law as he accepted a glass of whiskey from him, “Thanks for putting up with her. Our only other option was cryostasis and thawing a Madison-sicle wasn’t a pleasant thought.”

Dan chuckled as Emma joined in on the conversation with her daughter and granddaughter, “It’s not a problem, Harry. She’s been a delight to have around and after raising Hermione, we were able to deal with her little tantrums without too much fuss.”

Harry quirked an eyebrow up as Madison shyly hid behind her hair from his gaze. Hermione brushed her daughter’s hair out of her face and gently turned her face up to her, “What did you do, Maddy?”

Emma dismissively waved her down, “It was just the usual sort of childish tantrums that you used to get, dear. Over-stimulated, too close to bedtime, didn’t want to take a bath or books being withheld from her; you know, the usual sorts of things that sent you over the edge.”

Hermione tapped her daughter on the nose playfully, “I hope that you remembered to be a good girl while we were gone the rest of the time.” Maddy bobbed her head up and down rapidly then restarted her tale of the ‘Adventures of Buster Bunny’ which apparently was the newest children’s animated television show.

“Don’t worry, Hermione; she was a perfect little angel. Even her little moments of accidental magic were easy enough to handle,” Emma smiled warmly as she tickled Maddy behind the ear gently causing the girl to scrunch her nose and squirm away.

“How bad was it?” Hermione worried.

Emma glanced at her husband, “I think the worst we ever saw was when she caused her stuffed animals to guard her room against our entry when we tried to put her down for a nap and that was what, about maybe two months ago?” Dan waggled his hand in response. “Honestly, you were worse dear. Remember the fire you started when you got angry at the electric mixer?”

Hermione huffed, “It had grabbed onto my hair and wouldn’t let go!”

Harry howled with laughter, “When was this?”

Dan’s eyes grew distant, “I think Hermione must’ve been about the same age as Maddy, so five-ish? What’s the conversion from Martian year to Earth year again?”

“Maddy is almost two in Martian years or three in Earth years. 1.88 Earth years equal one Martian year,” Harry answered over Hermione who had just opened her mouth then half-heartedly glared at him.

Dan ran the numbers in his head, “Okay, so Hermione was closer to five then. She nearly burnt down the house until we got the mixer unplugged and the fire extinguisher sprayed onto the flames.”

Harry laughed lightly at his wife’s indignant expression, “Don’t worry, love. You’ve more than made up for that since then. Your berry cobblers are heaven sent.”

Later that evening after dinner…

Hermione and Harry relaxed on the couch while Maddy was off playing with her toys. They were chatting with the elder Grangers about some of the sights they’d seen and experienced while on another world. “The Romulan citizens were, at first, a bit standoffish but frankly, I could understand why. They live as long as Vulcans do and therefore remember just as much. From what I gathered from Solkar, the Senate is worried that the Vulcans will figure out where they are and mount an attack to wipe out the ‘embarrassing remnants of the past.’ “

“Will they try to start anything here?” Emma worried, “Would either side try to hold humanity hostage just to keep the other from…I don’t know, gaining an upper hand?”

Harry hummed uncertainly, “I don’t think they would. I know that many on Vulcan would most likely revolt if the High Command did something stupid like that. They’ve become pretty reliant on some of our goods to risk a protracted war.”

Dan sipped from a glass of alcohol, “So what was the Vulcans’ reaction to finding out that you’d visited their enemy?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something about jealousy being unbecoming while Harry snorted in laughter, “Oh, you should’ve seen them.”

Flashback…

Vulcan Ambassador V’Lar sat in her chair seemingly impassive as their human guests described their first journey through interstellar space. She sat upright alarmingly when Silvia mentioned just who in reality their visit was with. “You visited whom?”

“The planet is called ‘ch’Rihan’ which, as I was informed, is the name the people have given to their homeworld. The people are called Rihannsu, or as our guide informed us ‘Romulan’ in English.”

V’Lar was shaking her head, “Captain, you need to be aware of some things about them. They are a violent, xenophobic people who desire nothing more than to sow chaos and fear amongst the neighboring systems. They are not to be trusted. You should’ve come to me before accepting their invitation so I could guide you with the proper response.”

Both Harry and Hermione glanced at each other suspiciously, V’Lar was behaving eerily similar to the way Dumbledore did whenever someone dared to question his motives and secrecy.

Silvia cocked her head slightly to the side and narrowed her eyes warningly, “Ambassador, we experienced nothing of the sort. The Romulan Senate graciously opened their doors to us and treated us like friends. I understand that there was bad blood between your ancestors but that’s no reason to drag humanity into the middle of an ideological war. I’m fully aware that they are hesitant about meeting new people, especially at the risk of letting you know where they are in the fear that you would mount an attack to remove the ‘embarrassment of your society’s past’ from the galaxy. Whatever problems you have with them do not concern us. We have a saying here on Earth, ‘Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ That goes for your…conflict, too.”

After the humans had departed, V’Lar pulled together her most-trusted advisors, “We cannot let the Romulans acquire access to Earth and her resources. See if you can track down their flight records. If you can, I can put in a call to an acquaintance of mine to remind those uncouth savages that this is our system and we’re not about to share!”

The advisory team bowed their heads solemnly, “Yes, Ambassador.”

Present…

“So, Ambassador V’Lar was none too happy to be dressed down by Silvia in front of everyone. Our own ambassador appeared ready to lay an egg from the confrontation. I’m certain it was only a matter of time before the Vulcans tried to lay claim to us and whine about the attention others might give us. For all of their logic and emotionless portrayal in public, they’re rather possessive like little children over who gets the bigger sweet,” Harry shook his head at the memory.

“So has anyone tried to figure out the motivations of the Romulans after all this?” Emma asked.

Hermione gestured with one hand, “Admiral Forrest thinks that it basically came down to the Romulans reaching the astonishing conclusion that any civilization that could ‘remove the stick up the Vulcans’ arses must warrant closer examination.’ After witnessing the reaction of the Vulcan ambassador, I feel that this won’t be the last altercation on their part.”

Their conversation flowed to the topics of what was had happened on Earth during their absence. Dan told them about the time early into her stay with them when Madison nearly had a panic attack at seeing the adults going outside without their spacesuits. He had to repeatedly and slowly explain to the toddler that she was able to breathe outside like a normal person.

“She kept trying to wear the candy bowl on the table before we opened the door.” At Harry’s confused expression, Dan retrieved it and it suddenly became clear as to what Madison had demanded. The glass fish bowl shape did sort of resemble a vintage-style EVA helmet, at least to a child. “It took her about a week before she finally ventured out to the backyard without it.” Both Harry and Hermione were nearly busting a gut from laughing.

 Emma related the amusing tale of Madison attempting to bounce like she would on Mars only to discover that Earth’s gravity was a lot stronger and therefore her hops were tiny.

Hermione snort-giggled, “Aw, poor Maddy. She normally could’ve bounced at least a foot or two in the air back home. She must’ve been so disappointed.”

“More like confused, she kept checking her shoes to see if someone had put bubblegum on the bottoms to keep her from bouncing as high as she wanted,” Emma replied retrospectively then she too, giggled at the memory, “It got to the point where she’d try to wander around outside without her shoes and put up a bit of a temper tantrum when we had to go anywhere.”

Hermione sniffed sadly at not being able to witness that; Harry pulled her in for a comforting hug.

Dan tapped the coffee table with his finger, “Harry, Hermione; Emma and I had an idea and want to get your thoughts and reaction on. How would you feel if we were to move to Mars and set up our dental practice there?”

Hermione blinked in surprise, “Really? What brought this on?”

Emma laid her hand on her husband’s arm, “We’re in need of a change of scenery to be honest. We always slip into a sort of funk after you leave, we really enjoyed having Maddy around all the time and frankly, we have no close ties to anything here anymore.”

Hermione glanced at Harry who shrugged, “It’s fine by us. I’m surprised it took you this long to ask. Do you need any help with the immigration forms and packing?”

Dan got up and retrieved his briefcase, “I’ve got all the forms filled out just awaiting our signatures. Your help in packing would be a godsend though.”

As the Potters were leaving, Harry nudged Hermione, “You up to making a couple of quick stops before heading home?”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed a bit, “What did you have in mind?”

“I thought we could go visit Neville and Luna up at Hogwarts.”

Hermione smiled and bobbed her head, “I like that idea but what’s with the other stops?”

Harry grinned wickedly, “I thought that our exalted presence should be upped a bit. I was thinking of getting a portkey and renting a broom.”

Eyebrows furrowed as she tried to puzzle out his idea, “A broom… This I’ve got to see.”

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland

Professor Neville Longbottom was leading his fourth year class in their outdoor lesson about the trees found in the Scottish Highlands, his radio sitting on a bench, was playing in the background, “Scotland's most common native trees and shrubs include Scots pine, birch (downy and silver), alder, oak (pedunculate and sessile), ash, hazel, willow (various species), rowan, aspen, wych elm, hawthorn, holly, juniper, elder and wild cherry.”

He was interrupted by the sound of the radio DJ coming onto the air, “This next song is a special shout-out to Professor Neville Longbottom of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (Neville hurriedly waved his wand to increase the volume.) ‘The Man with the Lightning Bolt scar is coming in hot!’”

There was a bright flash of light and a crack of noise that signaled the arrival of a portkey. All eyes immediately swung around before one student pointed to the sky, “There!”

The thunder of an electric guitar started playing AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ as the figure holding onto what looked like a stick fell from the sky before resolving itself to be a broomstick. The unknown figure transitioned into flying through increasingly more elaborate aerial maneuvers to the tempo of the music.

“Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long, I'm glad to be back
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I've been looking at the sky
'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild

'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
Well, I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black!”

There was only person that Neville knew to be that death-defying (and crazy enough to portkey high over the ground with only a broom), Harry plunged to the Earth in a dizzying Wronski Feint before pulling up at the last second and skidded to a halt in front of the professor and his students just as the song ended.

A windswept and exhilarated Harry pushed his hair out of his face and winked at his best friend, “Hi-yah, Nev! You miss me?”

Neville snorted and rolled his eyes while his students cheered and rushed to gather around.

Two months later, Saturday 17 November 2012 (Earth calendar) 3.74My, Arcadia Medical Center, Mars

Hermione was worried. She’d woken up the past couple of nights utterly sick to her stomach. Finally, after much urging from Harry, he’d taken her to see her Healer in the Center and was now waiting the lab results. The Healer returned a few minutes later, “Well, Mrs. Potter I’ve taken a look at the results and I’d like to be the first to offer my congratulations.”

Hermione’s eyebrows furrowed, “Congratulations? Over stomach pain?”

The Healer snickered, “Nope, you’re pregnant.”

“Preg…” Harry’s eyes bugged out then rolled up as he fainted to the floor.

Hermione looked down at her unconscious husband and tsked, “Seriously? Some Gryffindor you are…”

During Madison’s time on Earth, the energetic offspring of Harry and Hermione had learned a lot of things. Her grandparents taught her how to bake biscuits, learn her numbers and letters. She learned how to roller skate and even got a chance to learn how to swim. Now she had another lesson that she could only learn from her parents, how to be a good big sister.

Hermione sat Maddy on her lap and took her daughter’s hand and laid it on her stomach, “Mummy is pregnant with your future brother or sister. Do you understand what that means?”

Maddy blinked slowly as her young mind processed the new information and she slowly nodded, “I’m no longer the baby in the family?”

Harry smiled warmly at his now eldest child, “That’s right, Madison and it’s very important that you do your best to protect your sibling after it’s born.”

Madison stared back at him, “Okay, can I go play?”

Hermione shook her head in amusement, “Alright, go play.” Madison slid off her mother’s lap and scampered off. “Do you think she understood any of that?”

Harry shrugged, “She’s got nine months to figure it out.”

Hermione took the shuttle over to her parents’ new house in Valles Marineris to inform them of the news. She pushed the doorbell and waited a moment before slapping her forehead, forgetting that they would be at work now. She traipsed back to the tram and took it to the fourth level and got off at the third stop. She entered the Granger Dental offices and smiled at the receptionist when she looked up, “May I help… Oh, hi Hermione!”

“Hi Rosa, I was looking for either of my parents.”

The receptionist buzzed her in, “Your mom is with a patient but the last I saw your dad, he was in the break room.” Hermione waved her thanks and walked down the hallway.

Upon entering she spotted her father warming up a frozen burrito, “Hi, dad.”

Dan looked up and smiled warmly, “Hermione! What brings you by?”

Hermione grinned, “I’ve got news, and you’re going to want to be seated for this.”

Dan sat, “I’m slightly worried now.”

Hermione beamed at him, throwing her hands in the air, “I’m pregnant again!”

Dan’s jaw dropped open before he leapt up and enveloped his daughter in his arms, “This is wonderful! How did Harry take the news? Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?”

“Ha, he fainted. My big, brave Gryffindor husband passed out in the exam room when the Healer came to deliver the news. The Healer scheduled me for an ultrasound next season to see the development and gender.”

Dan dropped back down into his chair, “Well, this is indeed wonderful news. Your mum’s in with a patient right now if you want to wait a little while.” Hermione agreed so she sat down to go into further detail.

Later that evening…

Harry and Hermione were cuddled up on the couch, a baby name book nestled on her lap as they examined the possibilities. “So what are our options?” Harry asked as she flipped through the pages.

“Well, first and foremost I don’t want to saddle the poor kid with names from our past. The last thing any child needs is a reminder of who they’re named after.”

“Okay, so if it’s a boy we need to remember that ‘Albus Severus’ is a bad idea.” She snorted at the suggestion.

“Exactly, so I was thinking that if we’re having a boy that we go with strong names like… ‘Lennox Oberon.’”

Harry scrunched his face up, “Lennox Oberon Potter? Lenny Potter? Ehh, let’s keep looking. What about girl’s names?”

“Well, I’d initially thought of Alexandra but it would probably confuse people if Neville and Luna’s twins were in the same room. How about ‘Audrey Arienwen?’”

Harry cocked his head, “I like Audrey but what does Arienwen mean?”

“Um…” she scanned the page, “Innocence and purity.”

“Hmmm, Audrey Arienwen Potter…Okay, I’m going to put that down as a maybe. What else do you have?”

She turned back to the book, “Okay, how about…”

(Checkers, the Pre-K garter snake)

Thursday 22 November 2012 (Earth calendar) 3.79My, Arcadia Education Center, Pre-K classroom

Madison Potter, age 1.6My (must always remember the .6 thank you very much!) sat in her class waiting for the teacher to bring out their next lesson vial. Now that she had reached the exalted level of Pre-K, her play time had been severely curtailed (in her opinion.) To that end, she was beginning to feel antsy and as anyone who knew her, it was a recipe for trouble. Madison slid out of her chair and wandered over to where their new classroom pet, a small garter snake with the odd name of ‘Checkers’ was resting in his tank. She reached in, picked up Checkers and began whispering to it.

/”Hi, Checkers. How are you this morning?”/

Checkers reared up, his mouth slightly open in surprise, /”A Speaker? I’m so honored!”/

“Miss Potter?” Maddy looked up to see her teacher and the rest of the class looking at her with a range of expressions from curious to scared.

“Huh?”

“Were you speaking to Checkers?”

“Uh-huh. I asked him how he was this morning. Didn’t you hear me?”

The teacher slowly shook her head, “All we heard were you hissing. Okay, I have your lesson ready so why don’t you put Checkers away and later we can talk about this some more.” Maddy whisper-hissed something to the snake before she returned it to its tank.

After class…

Harry and Hermione had been called in for a consultation and sat with their anxious daughter as the teacher began the meeting with an update of how well Madison was doing. “This morning, Madison surprised us all by hissing, or as she called it 'Speaking' to Checkers, our classroom snake. I want to assure you that she’s not in trouble and that the class got to have an impromptu lesson in a different language and snake care.”

Harry sat upright in surprise, Hermione not too far behind while glancing down at their daughter, “That’s a surprise,” he said, “The language she was speaking is called ‘Parseltongue’ and when we were growing up at Hogwarts, anyone who could Speak was automatically a pariah. I’m glad to see that such attitudes aren’t the norm here.”

The teacher smiled warmly, “Given how many of my students speak a language other than English, it’s just one more for the course. I do need to ask though, is this language something that can be taught?”

Harry shook his head, “No, it’s a magical language and only those born with the ability are able to speak it. Learning how to at least understand it; that’s another thing, I think we have a couple of education vials lying around, Hermione?”

Hermione pursed her lips in thought, “I’ll have to check our library but I’m pretty sure there’s something.”

Maddy looked up at her parents, her eyes teary with worry, “Am I in trouble?”

Hermione cuddled her close, “Not at all, love. Your teacher would like you to help your class learn how to understand what you say to Checkers. Would you like to help?” Maddy eyes widened dramatically as she nodded excitedly, “Aww, that’s my Madison! You’re going to be such a big girl to help your class learn a new language.”

Wednesday 26 December 2012 (Earth Calendar)

Because of the elliptical orbit of Mars and the fact that the Red Planet didn’t have a Moon like Earth, the concept of ‘months’ was not typically in the vocabulary of its population. Instead, the residents used the four seasons as a way to mark the passage of time. Mars' aphelion (furthest from the sun) coincided with spring in its northern hemisphere, which made it the longest season on the planet – lasting roughly 7 Earth months. Summer was second longest, lasting six months; while autumn and winter lasted 5.3 and just over 4 months, respectively.

As such, it was during the winter season when the Potters were visited by the Longbottoms, as well as surprise visit by Professors McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick.

Flitwick settled onto the couch and accepted a drink from Hermione, “I must say; light-speed travel is utterly fascinating. I can only imagine the mathematics involved.”

Harry nodded, “I’m sure there’re books available if you ever want to appease your Ravenclaw curiosity.”

Pomona was gazing out the window over the harsh and barren landscape, “How do you cope without any sort of vegetation? I think all this barrenness would bother me after a while.”

“We have parks, recreation areas, the Grand Concourse and of course, the greenhouses scattered throughout the town,” Hermione replied.

Pomona shook her head to dispel the feelings of being utterly out of place and turned back to the conversation.

The Longbottom twins, Alex and Ander, at eleven years old were eagerly telling the Potters about their first semester at Hogwarts, “It’s weird having to call Dad ‘Professor.’”

Harry smirked, “You ever call him ‘Professor Dad?’”

The boy, Ander, eyes lit up in mischief as he peeked cautiously at his father who just rolled his eyes and leveled a finger at his son, “Don’t you dare. It’s bad enough having you in my class.”

Hermione chuckled, “Not the green thumb in the family?”

Neville made a face, “No, he’s got that. It’s more like he’s channeling his mother’s sneakiness. Somehow he’s able to convince some of the semi-sentient plants to behave mischievously. There was one instance where Ander here talked the Devil’s Snare into weaving common ivy into its vines to disguise itself and hitched a ride into the Great Hall where it hung from the ceiling to tickle and tease unsuspecting students and staff.”

Pomona face-palmed while Minerva glared half-heartedly at Ander, “That was you, Mister Longbottom? You’re lucky that school isn’t in session or I’d have to dock you House points.”

Harry just burst out laughing, “Neville! What have you been teaching the next generation?”

Neville put on a mock-affronted mien, “It wasn’t me! I blame Luna there.” He gestured to his serenely amused blonde wife. “She’s the one who keeps suggesting oddball ideas to liven up the dreary castle.” His merrily twinkling eyes betrayed his words on the matter though.

Harry sighed, “Why weren’t either of you like this in school? I’d bet the Weasley Twins would’ve appreciated the assistance in sowing chaos.”

Neville leaned over and stage-whispered, “We did, Harry. Most of the pranks that couldn’t be attributed to them were done by us.”

The senior professors groaned and dropped their heads at this revelation. Minerva looked skyward for Divine Guidance and complained to the room in general, “Does anyone suppose that I could retroactively take points away from them?”

Snorts of laughter were her only answer.

Time Skip: Thursday 6 June 2013 (Earth Calendar), 4.03My Arcadia Hospital Medical Center, Maternity Ward

At long last, the Potter family grew by one as they welcomed their first male child into the world. Samuel Hayden Potter, 19.69 inches and weighing 7 pounds, six ounces let himself be loudly heard with his cries of displeasure over being forced from the warm comforts of his mother’s womb and into this bright, and cold new environment. After everything was done and the baby cleaned and swaddled, he was placed into Hermione’s eagerly awaiting arms as she cuddled him close, Harry hovering nearby. In the recovery room, Madison was brought in by her grandparents to meet her new brother.

“He’s so small,” she whisper-squealed in excitement.

Harry smiled in amusement, “That he is, but he’s going to grow up big and strong just like you. Would you like to hold him for a few moments?” Maddy’s eyes grew wide as she nodded rapidly. “Okay, go have a seat in the chair here.” He picked her up and got her comfortable with a couple of pillows under her arms before placing Samuel in her embrace, “Gently now, you can give him a hug.”

Madison leant in close as if to whisper in Samuel’s ear, “I’m going to make sure I’m the bestest big sister you ever have!”

Olympus Mons Observatory, a week later

Harry was overseeing the installation of a new reflective mirror guidance computer when the orbital proximity sensors alerted him to the emergence of an unrecognized starship exiting from warp space. He brought up the monitor and stared in stunned silence at the sight of an absolute behemoth as it slowly flew over the Martian skies. “What the bloody Hell is that?” He said to no one in particular.

As it turned out, the ship was revealed to be the latest design out of the Douglas-Yoshino shipyards, having passed its certification trials the year previous. The DY-245 was truly a sight to behold. It was twice as long as the DY-100/150 models and clearly shared its ancestry with the earlier models with its ‘submarine-style’ forward section, externally mounted cargo modules. It was powered by the revolutionary prototype Hydrogen/Deuterium Beamed Core Matter/Anti-Matter reactor which was expected to provide plenty of power to its systems and to the newly improved Alcubierre warp drive. It had a cruise speed of Warp 3.2 with a maximum speed of Warp 3.5. Internally, it had a cargo capacity of over a thousand kilotons, a proper shuttlecraft hangar bay, and a passenger capacity of 200 people. Most surprising (in Harry’s opinion) was that it came armed with four rune cannon defensive weapon emplacements (2 ventral, 2 dorsal.) Unlike the previous generation of DY series ships, this new transport had three Elf-cores. Each operated independently of each other for most of the time but in case of an emergency, deferred to the Head Elf.

In short, it was a monster and its name was Hermes.

“Have you been aboard the new transport yet, Hermione?” Harry asked her at dinner one evening.

Her eyes lit up, “Yeah, it’s incredible, isn’t it? I can’t believe that it’s so big either. Where are they going to be using it, do you know?”

“The way I heard it, it’s supposed to be flying the Earth-Vulcan route as well as setting up a colony route to Alpha Centauri. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wouldn’t be sent on the Earth-Romulan route either.”

Hermione bobbed her head, “I like the name too; it fits.”

Harry finished his mouthful of roast beef and wiped his lips, “I agree. It was so much better than their original idea.”

“Which was?”

“Abeona.” At her appalled look, he explained, “In Roman mythology, Abeona is known as the Goddess of Outward Journeys. Not only does she protect travelers, but she also watches over the travels of young children. I spoke with Martin over at the ISA Public Relations Board who said that they had an alternate name of 'Conestoga' that could be applied if Abeona received too much push-back.”

Hermione harrumphed, “That’s not much better. Can you just imagine the looks on everyone’s faces when that monster shows up in their sensors?”

Madison looked up from her mashed potatoes, “Are the Romulans going to be mad at us?”

Hermione brushed her daughter’s cheek with a finger comfortingly, “What makes you ask that, sweetie?”

“AJ heard it from Heather who heard it from her cousin who heard it from her classmate T’Eflon who said that his mother is on the Vulcan Council that the Romulans are meanies who would be very mad at us if we visited again,” Madison explained as best she could for a Martian two year old.

Harry dropped his head into his hands and groaned internally, ‘Damned Vulcans; is it possible that Dumbledore has come back from the grave? Whiny, self-serving rat bastards.’ “Maddy, honey?” She turned to face her father, “You shouldn’t listen to gossip after it’s passed through so many mouths. Do you remember playing the game ‘Telephone?’ Remember how the message got all wonky the longer the message was played?”

Maddy’s eyes grew solemn as she nodded thoughtfully.

Harry glanced silently at Hermione who agreed just as silently. This was something that needed to be reported.

ISA Headquarters, Houston, Texas, same time

Admiral Dwayne Forrest sat in his chair half-listening to the reports being given by his staff. Most were just mundane sorts of things: Supply chain, public relations (there were increasing calls for a different type computer AI than using the elves who had volunteered), scientific and technological breakthroughs and applications. There was one report that had him sitting up and taking closer notice.

“We haven’t been able to prove anything conclusive as of yet, but it’s our operative’s view that the Vulcans are planning some kind of interference on a human-based target.”

“Interference?” Forrest inquired, “What does that mean?”

The advisor shrugged helplessly, “We just don’t know, yet Admiral. All indications point to a possible civil unrest of some kind.”

“Does the operative at least know where on Earth?”

“I have a list here, and my best guess would be some target in Embassy Row. It makes sense, really. There are lots of potential targets, people and other traffic. It’d be easier for the saboteur to blend in and set off their attack.”

Forrest leant back and thought quietly while the others picked up the discussion. Head Psychologist Doctor Albert Gillespie tapped his hand and whispered, “What are you thinking, Dwayne?”

“Why Earth? What possible reason could the Vulcans have to attack their only source of human produced exotic goods?”

 Albert hummed thoughtfully as well, “Could it be some sort of plot by the Romulans to destabilize relations between us and the Vulcans?”

Dwayne grimaced and shook his head, “I don’t think that’s it either.” He lightly slapped his hands on his legs, “Listen, we don’t have enough information yet to make a proper judgment. Terry?” The advisor who gave the intelligence report turned to him, “Have your operative dig deeper and see if there’s anything else they can get from their sources. See if it’s possible that the Romulans might be involved or if it’s just something the Vulcans cooked up to make them look bad and to draw us deeper into their camp.”

Terry nodded his understanding and made a note of it.

“In the meantime,” Dwayne continued, “Where are we with the establishment of the new colony in Alpha Centauri?”

Wednesday 3 July, 2013 (Earth calendar), 4.07My

Liberty was once again in the news; this time it was as a support ship to bring specialized equipment that didn’t quite fit into the already packed to the gills Hermes. The Enterprise as well would be making the journey to oversee the installation of the new communications/sensor network for the system so they could stay in contact with Earth.

Given that both ships were significantly slower than Hermes, it was agreed upon by both captains that they would launch independently from the colony ship.

Harry watched the monitors that oversaw the final outfitting of the new ship and leant back in his chair subconsciously as it undocked from the ISS and maneuvered into its position to ignite its sublight drive. His mind flashed back to his own time when he had been at the controls of Liberty on her maiden voyage. He started a bit when a gentle pair of hands touched his shoulders and smiled wistfully when his nose detected Hermione’s perfume. “It takes you back, doesn’t it?” She asked him quietly.

“Uh-huh. I can see as if I was there right now.”

“If you could change anything, would you want to go back to being a pilot?”

Harry sighed as he pulled her into his lap and kissed her deeply, “Not a chance. For one, the job would take me away from you and our family too much. These supply trips are getting longer as time passes and it’s not inconceivable that I would’ve been gone for months on end. That’s unacceptable to me and unfair to you as it would fall onto you to raise our kids alone. Second, it wouldn’t be as much fun or exciting without having you by my side sharing such adventures. No, I’m happy where I am and the job I currently have.”

Hermione smiled happily at his sentiments and kissed her happy husband again.

Two days later, Arcadia Central Library Computer Core, Hermione Potter’s Office

“Mew?”

Hermione looked up from her work, a confused frown marring her face as she sought the source of the sudden noise.

“Mew?” This time it sounded as if it were on the other side of her desk and purring as well, ‘Did a cat get loose?’ She spotted her telephone slowly scooting to the edge. She stood up and peered over the edge and gasped. A child was sitting on the floor playing with the cord.

A child with fur, pointed ears and a fluffy tail.

Hermione moved out and around the desk, kneeling down slowly as to not frighten the strange child, “Hello.”

The child looked up and waved at her with that open hand palm forward manner that all toddlers used, smiled happily at her, and purring even louder, “Mew!”

Hermione sat down on the floor and opened her arms as the child crawled into her lap, “Hi, there. Who do you belong to? Do you have a name?”

“T’Ana!” Both Hermione and the child whirled around to the new voice. The child, now named ‘T’Ana’ cringed slightly. She stopped purring, her ears flattened down and her tail wrapped around her tiny body. An adult feline humanoid stood glaring in the doorway.

Hermione got to her feet and carried T’Ana over, “Hello. My name is Hermione Potter and who might you be?”

The adult bowed her head slightly, “My name is M’Ress and this is my daughter T’Ana. I apologize for being so abrupt, but this little misbehaving kitten wandered away and I got scared.” She reached out for her daughter but T’Ana snuggled into Hermione’s chest. Hermione just giggled lightly at the child’s reaction.

“T’Ana? You need to go back to your mama now. She misses you.” She lifted her up to look the toddler in the eyes, “If you be good to your mama, you can come back to visit me, okay?” T’Ana seemed to think about this before allowing herself to be transferred over. “So, if I may? What species are you? I don’t recall ever meeting your species before.”

M’Ress dipped her head as her tail swished, “We are recent immigrants to your planet and system even though our species, the Caitians, have been spacefarers for millennia.”

Hermione’s eyes lit up at the new information, “Are there more of you here? Have you established an embassy or provided background information to our database yet?”

M’Ress shrugged, “If there are more here, I’ve not seen them. My family and I are refugees and were recommended to come here by our contacts within the Romulan government.”

Hermione smiled warmly, “Well, if no one’s said anything, let me be the first to welcome you to Mars. I hope your stay with us is a productive and pleasant one. If you’re interested in children’s activities here in the library, we have a section for the toddlers as well as story time every Wednesday at one pm.”

M’Ress returned her smile, “Thank you, Hermione Potter. I think that would be beneficial.”

After M’Ress left with her daughter, Hermione practically sprinted back to her computer terminal and plugged in the request on any information relating to these ‘Caitians.’ At first, she got no returns until she sent in a request to the Vulcan Embassy (she kept hoping that the Romulans would establish one soon.) A little while later, her email pinged alerting her to an incoming message.

She opened up the missive that included the information she’d asked for and began to read.

‘Cait, a planet located in the Lynx constellation, was the homeworld of a felinoid species known as the Caitians. Cait is the second planet in the orbit of star 15 Lyncis, and is known natively as "Ferasa", which had two moons Rea and Sura. The planet, having an atmosphere, mass, and gravity all near Earth normal (Class M). There is only one other planet in the system, and it is uninhabited. Stellar cartography described 15 Lyncis as a binary star system in the northern constellation of Lynx. It was visible to the naked eye as a faint point of light with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 4.35. Based on the system's parallax, it is located 178 light-years (54.7 parsecs) away.’

Hermione read through the information noting that their biology and speech wasn’t too dissimilar to Earth cats before closing down the file and logging it into the Central Database for further study.

Thursday 26 September 2013 (Earth calendar), 4.2My Arcadia Education Center, Kindergarten classroom

/”…And that is how I got my parents to give me lots of ice cream!”/ Maddy, now the exalted age of almost 2.3 Martian years (4 ½ Earth years), triumphantly finished her tale of how she managed to con her parents into giving her two bowls of ice cream even though her mum explicitly said she could only have one. She knew that her daddy was an easy pushover especially when she used the excuse ‘mum said talk to dad.’

Checkers shook his head in amusement, /”Wasn’t that the Night of the Terrible Tummy Ache?”/

Maddy pushed her lips up into a pout and refused to look at the snake, /”Maybe…”/

/”Uh-huh. Here’s what I think happened. Your mother and father knew full well what you were attempting to do and let you suffer the consequences of your actions. Mothers and fathers always know what their children are trying to do.”/ Maddy pouted cutely at his words. Checkers brushed her cheek with the tip of his tail gently, /”Fret not, little one. You have more cunning than anyone else here in this room. This is a good lesson for later in life. (Checkers glanced behind him) Now I believe your teacher is ready to start the next lesson so go ahead and put me back into my see-through nest.”/

Maddy complied and put him back in his tank then scampered back to her seat. She was fortunate that she’d been allowed to keep Checkers even after moving up from pre-K to Kindergarten. Checkers watched his favorite hatchling sit down amongst the others and smiled inwardly, /”She’s going to be a crafty Speaker when she grows up.”/

Interplanetary Trade Commission, Arcadia Governmental Center, Module 14A, same time

Harry was sipping a cup of coffee and idly waving his wand causing a lump of Martian rock to flip back and forth between shapes and colors when his ears picked up the sound of frantic activity. He got up and poked his head out of the door, catching sight of a couple of the office staffers hurrying into the break room. Upon entering, he spotted everyone crowded around the television, “What’s going on?”

“Shh! Exclusive news reports coming in from Earth,” someone waved him down.

“This is Marty McDowell, I’m standing about three blocks from the entrance to the famed Portobello Road Market where just after 3pm local time, a terrorist detonated a bomb that destroyed hundreds of stalls and killed hundreds people, wounding thousands more still; many of whom were Vulcan vacationers plus other visiting species. Police and other first responders are on the scene and the market has been closed off until further notice. There were no messages or an announcement made before the explosion nor do we know if anyone has claimed responsibility but we will stay on top of this as long as we can…”

Harry sat back in shocked horror, ‘I’ve got to contact Hermione!’ He got up and grabbed the receiver from the wall phone and tried to dial her office number but only got an automated voice saying that ‘the line was overloaded, please try again later.’ He tried to conjure a Patronus but sheepishly remembered that the charm only really worked properly when on a world with a magnetic field. He hurried out of the break room and grabbed the first tram down to the Library, practically jumping off before it had even finished stopping at the platform.

Harry burst through her office doorway and found her sitting at her desk, headphones on and completely oblivious to the world while cataloging something. Their son, Samuel was sleeping in his crib behind her. He tapped on the desk causing her to look up and smile at him. That smile quickly melted off when she saw the anxious expression on his face as she pulled her headphones off, “What’s wrong?”

“Portobello Market back home has been bombed.”

The color in her face drained away as she tried to process that before she scrambled to turn on her television. The news reporter repeated what he’d been saying for the past couple of hours as she absorbed the information. Clicking off the set when the talking heads began rehashing the same stuff, Hermione turned back to Harry, “What…Does ISA need us for anything?”

Harry threw up his hands, “No idea. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of what’s been going on in case Maddy brings it up tonight and you know she will.” He flopped down on her couch, “This is going to be one Hell of a shitshow.”

Hermione nodded absently, “I’ve got to call my parents.”

“The telephone lines are all busy, that’s what prompted me to show up personally,” Harry informed her, “If you really want to speak with them, I’d recommend the tram.”

Hermione nodded quickly and grabbed up her purse and Sam as she practically fled from the office leaving Harry to close up behind her.

Granger Residence, twenty minutes later…

Dan and Emma were just as stunned as the rest of the planet, as they watched the newsfeeds from Earth. Harry stopped by the school to pick up Maddy so the family could all be together during the emergency.

“Daddy?” He looked down at the worried sound of her voice.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Why is everyone so sad?”

Harry glanced briefly at Hermione before gazing at his daughter’s bright eyes, “Well, someone hurt a bunch of other people back on Earth.”

Maddy pouted as she tried to process that, “Why?”

“No one knows why just yet. It’s still early after the fact.”

“Are they going to catch the person?”

Harry cocked his head hopefully, “We hope so, Maddy.”

Maddy huffed, “They better be glad I’m not there. If I caught the meanie, I’d punch them in the nose.”

Despite the seriousness, everyone had amused smiles on their faces at her determination.

A couple of months later…

Harry was in conference with the administration of the ISA, going over the semi-annual reports, “Admiral, what’s the latest anyone knows from the London bombing?”

Dwayne rubbed his face with his hands, “The Vulcans claim that the Romulans orchestrated the attack after finding evidence of intercepted messages between the bomber and Romulus, and a cache of supplies located in a suspected safe-house. The Romulans naturally are denying it and are threatening retaliation if the Vulcans don’t back down and apologize.”

Harry shook his head, “Idiots on both sides. Don’t either realize that it was us that got bombed?”

Dwayne merely smiled thinly, “Doubtful. You got any ideas as to how to handle this?”

The grin that stole across Harry’s face would’ve caused many back at Hogwarts to shiver in fear, “Was there anyone that was captured alive from the incident?”

A slow nod was seen, “Yeaahh, New Scotland Yard captured several people dressed in Romulan garb not long afterwards. Why?”

“Then it’s a simple matter of giving them all a dose of Veritaserum and asking the right questions.”

Albert Gillespie leant into camera view, “We don’t know if Veritaserum will even work on Romulans…or whoever it is they are.”

Harry shrugged unconcernedly, “Then they just volunteered for the experiment.”

Albert turned to Dwayne, “Is that even legal?”

“Why should that matter?” Harry asked causing all to turn back to him. “Look, contact both the Vulcans and Romulans, inform them that we’re going to question the captured people then dose them until they talk. I know that the Goblins take four drops, I’d wager that the prisoners might be closer to the Goblin side of the dosage.”

“And if either government refuses to let us?”

Harry laughed, and it wasn’t a pleasant one, “If they do, then you’ll know who planned the attack.”

At an undisclosed location…

He had awoken some time ago, being referred to as Prisoner VR-138. That wasn't his name, of course. There was a scratchy fabric covering his body and it was a horrible orange color that clashed with his skin tone. That was beside the point, as the humans in the room had immediately thrown question after question at him. Their tone was approaching ugly the longer their interrogation went, but he was resolute in his refusal to answer.

"I have nothing to say to you."

Over and over he repeated that as he looked at the grim interlocutors the best that he could in the dim room. One man that looked rather small, but for the vicious gleam in his eye, shrugged at the declaration. It didn't pass the prisoner's notice that the others in the room deferred to him rather submissively.

"Oh, don't worry." The tone was smug. ‘It was the same in any language,’ the prisoner thought absently. "It won't be a problem, believe me. We have certain methods at our disposal, and if they're untested on physiologies such as yours, well... you're here. I thank you for your willingness to... shall we say... further our knowledge. After all, knowledge is power."

It was then that the prisoner noted the presence of several trays filled with dark bottles that had some kind of odd shimmer inside. That didn't speak too well about what it was, since he knew of nothing that did that. There were sharp implements of various shapes that had gleaming edges, and other things that he had no idea their function or purpose but instinctively knew wasn't intended to extend his comfort. The smooth voice went on, breaking into his thoughts the moment he realized that he suddenly couldn't move his arms, legs, or head.

He tried to move, but his body betrayed him and failed to respond to the increasingly fevered commands from his mind. Prisoner VR-138 heard the voice continue, with a solid note of cruel satisfaction that spoke of knowledge of what was going through his mind.

"We will find out the things that we want to know. After all, it won't be a problem... for us."

Another jab with the needle and the room faded from view…

In the adjoining room, Croaker chuckled at the interrogator’s conversation. Admiral Forrest, Head Psychologist Albert Gillespie, and several others were there as witnesses. Admiral Forrest glanced over at Croaker, “What’s so funny?”

Gesturing to the vials, “That glowing vial is nothing more than liquid soap.”

“He injected soap into the prisoner?”

Croaker shrugged, “Why not? It hurts like a bitch.”

Albert snorted in response, “The other one is the Veritaserum?”

“Yup. We figured that getting the prisoner to open his mouth would be more hassle than it’s worth so an injection was a viable alternative. He should be ready for questioning…ah, there it is.” The prisoner’s eyes had glazed over and his breathing slowed. “Shall we?”

Thursday 9 January 2014 (Earth calendar), 4.3My, Vulcan Embassy, Embassy Row

A shuttle rested on the platform next to the offices for the Vulcan Embassy, waiting for the disgraced and persona non grata former ambassador V’Lar to depart Earth. After the investigations into the London bombing had concluded, it had been revealed that the ambassador had made illegal deals with known Vulcan extremists to pose as Romulan operatives in an effort to pin the blame on Romulus and lay claim to the riches of Earth once and for all.

The Vulcan government, utterly embarrassed by the whole thing, recalled V’Lar back home to stand trial and potential imprisonment. The Romulans in the meantime, were relieved that there was no apparent ill-will from the humans and thankful that the citizens of London weren’t going to ‘lump them in with the other pointy-eared aliens.’

Solkar even contacted Harry and Hermione, thanking them for whatever roles they may have played in to exonerate his people. “I think we now need a better way to distinguish ourselves from Vulcans when visiting your system.”

Harry grinned, “You’ve already been doing since we opened relations with you.”

Solkar frowned in thought, “How so?”

“In all the years since First Contact, the Vulcans seem to eschew wearing human clothes, preferring to remain in those robes of theirs. Romulans on the other hand, are regularly seen wearing local-climate appropriate clothing. Trust me, no one’s going to make the mistake of confusing your two civilizations.”

Time skip: Saturday 11 April 2020 (Earth calendar) 7.67My, Potter residence

It was Madison’s birthday and she’d just turned six; well, actually it was five and change but for candle lighting purposes, her parents rounded up. All of her friends were there as were some of her parents’ friends and her grandparents. Her brother Sam was racing up and down the park trails with a couple of his friends.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was there to take part in the happy times. She approached Maddy with a big smile, “Happy birthday, Madison. If I recall correctly, you would be eleven years old if you’d been born on Earth. Well, we have a tradition there that upon the birthday of a magical child, they receive a letter of invitation to come study at my school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, an owl is normally used to deliver the letter but as we both know, owls cannot fly between worlds so it falls upon me to be your messenger.” She handed over the letter to a now wide-eyed Madison.

“Wow, thank you!” She tore open the letter and began to read before turning to her parents with worried eyes, “Um, that would mean I’d have to leave Mars, right?”

Hermione nodded, “That’s right, honey. Don’t worry about making a decision now. We still have time until the cutoff date.”

Maddy let out a sigh of relief before freezing and sheepishly glancing at a smirking Minerva, “Sorry.”

Minerva waved her off, “Not to worry, my dear. I knew that you would need to discuss this with your parents.”

That evening…

All four Potters were gathered at the kitchen table to discuss Madison’s options. Sam was upset that he couldn’t go too. “Sammy, don’t worry about it kiddo. When you get to Madison’s age, you’ll most likely get a letter as well. You just have to be patient,” Harry consoled his upset four Martian year old son. “Besides, if Maddy does decide to go to Hogwarts, we just might be persuaded to move you into her old room.” Sam’s eyes grew big, ‘Maddy’s room is so much bigger than mine!’

Hermione snorted at the calculating look on her son’s face, “Madison? What are your thoughts?”

Madison sighed heavily and she gripped her messy hair in her fingers, “I don’t know! It would mean leaving all of my friends behind and having to get used to the weird way Earthers do stuff. Everything will be different too. Calendars, times of the day, seasons, gravity… What do you think I should do?”

Harry took his fretting daughter’s hand, “Well, you’d get to learn and practice magic just like we did. You wouldn’t be limited to just potions or runic localized magic. You’d also get to make new friends and meet creatures like centaurs, elves, Goblins, and more. But like your mother said, we have plenty of time until summer.”

Maddy gave him a strange look, “I’ve already met the Goblins, daddy.”

Harry pretended to be shocked by this, “When?! Did they try to bake you in one of their pies?”

Despite her confusion, she still giggled at his antics, “No, Daddy! When Mummy took me to the bank. The Goblins run the bank; they don’t bake children into pies.”

Harry drew his hand across his brow in mock-relief, “Whew! That’s a relief. A Madison pie would probably be tough to swallow.”

Maddy gave her father a long-suffering sigh despite her giggles, “Daddy…”

Same time on Earth

A lot had happened since the London bombing of 2012. The former and disgraced Vulcan Ambassador V’Lar was tried and convicted of inciting terrorism and sentenced to life in a Vulcan prison. The new Ambassador, T’Pringle, was installed in V’Lar’s place and seemed to be a good person. When Harry learned of her views on justice and how an ambassador should behave, he likened her to the late and lamented Amelia Bones. T’Pringle was later informed that this was high praise indeed and something that she could approve of.

The Caitian people established a formal First Contact less than two years after Hermione met M’Ress and her daughter. An embassy was opened and travel was initiated; though the time involved even for the improved warp drives of the DY-245, meant that a journey would take up to six years roundtrip at Warp 3.4.

The citizenry of Earth had slowly but surely stopped thinking of themselves as terrestrial and were now starting to refer to themselves as a solar species. Nearly every viable world within the Sol System was inhabited; even the gas giants had orbiting colony and long-term research stations.

Earth was still considered ‘The Place to Visit’ amongst the alien races that were capable of interstellar travel. Vulcans, Romulans, blue-skinned Andorians, and more stopped by to experience the varied wonders of this incredible world. Whispers were heard from some of the more knowledgeable types that a Klingon (the number of jokes that had spawned when the humans had heard was enormous) had been spotted wandering around the ancient and historic Russian battlefields.

As had been demonstrated, the humans were not to be underestimated. They’d shown strength and a moral center as they investigated and recovered from the bombing. Despite their continued easy-going attitudes, there were some that began making preparations should hostilities pick up again.

Saturday 11 June 2020 (Earth calendar) 7.8My Deimos Orbital Shipyards, Mars

Harry was overseeing the transfer of some supplies when he caught sight of a positively ancient looking DY-100 without any cargo modules drifting past his window. ‘Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in ages.’ He nudged his coworker and pointed out the ship, “Been a while since I’ve seen that model in these parts. Any word on the grapevine?”

His coworker, Reggie was the gossipy type but even he shook his head, “Nope, I’ve not heard anything. You want me to dig deeper?”

Harry shrugged, “Only if you have nothing better to do. It’s not that important.”

Later that day, Harry suddenly couldn’t remember the existence of the ship he’d seen. The suddenness of this caused him to grow concerned enough that he dialed up Admiral Forrest. When Dwayne came up on the line, Harry got straight to the point, “Sir, what’s with a sudden disappearance of something I can’t seem to remember in this area?”

Dwayne smirked, “Ah, so you saw it did you? Damn, here I thought we’d managed to slip past your eagle eyes.”

Harry cocked his head, “Sir?”

Dwayne waved him off, “It’s part of a special project that I cannot properly answer over this unsecured line. I’ll keep you posted the closer we get to its revealing.”

Harry understood, “Fine by me, sir. Thanks, Mars out.”

Later that evening...

"Mum, Dad?" Madison nervously called out as she entered the living room, "I made a decision."

Hermione opened up her arms and embraced her hesitant daughter, "What's your decision, honey?"

"I decided that I want to go to Hogwarts to learn magic."

Harry was surprised, "What brought on this decision?"

Maddy sighed heavily, "I want to be able to learn magic where magic originated, where it flows freely, and where I can be the best I can be. You both were the tops in your class, and I... want that too."

Harry leant over and kissed her on her temple, "We also had to go through a war but, you're correct in everything else. If that's your decision, then you need to contact Headmistress McGonagall yourself."

Tuesday 1 September 2020 (Earth calendar), Platform 9 ¾, King’s Cross Station, London

With the standard twisting of real space, an arriving portkey deposited the Potter family onto the platform for incoming off-world travel. Harry glanced around wistfully and turned to Hermione who smiled comfortingly, “Just like old times.”

Harry waggled his hand, “Sort of. I don’t remember using a portkey for my first trip to the station.”

Madison nervously peered around at the crowd as her parents led her to the magical barrier. She jumped slightly when her mother called her name, “Maddy? You still have your trunk on you?”

Maddy patted her pocket, “Right here.”

As the family of four passed through the barrier, Sam immediately wanted to try it again but slower. He was promised that they might be able to try it later after his sister left. Eyes wide, Madison stared at the vintage steam locomotive and carriages, “Wow!”

Harry draped a comforting arm across her shoulders, “I know, right? This locomotive and its carriages have been in operation since 1937. It doesn’t use the same fuel that its muggle counterparts did; instead it uses bottled dragon-fire to create the heat to boil the water.”

Madison snorted in amusement, “So what you’re saying is that it’s gas-powered like grandpa’s favorite barbecue?”

Hermione laughed, “Of all the things he refused to give up when emigrating to Mars, it had to be that barbecue!” She opened up the nearest compartment door and helped Madison inside, “Now, remember; stay out of trouble, do your best and don’t let anyone say bad things about you or your family.”

Madison nodded quietly, “I just wish I could’ve brought Checkers. I still miss him.” Checkers the snake had been killed, murdered in Madison’s opinion, by a misinformed (but well-intentioned) teacher who thought that Checkers was strangling the young girl.

“I know, sweetie.”

“Hey, Potter!” All four of them swung around to see an approaching redheaded woman.

Harry stared hard for a moment before brightening up, “Susan Bones? Wow, it’s been a long time!”

Susan hitched a fist on her hip, “It’s Black-Bones now. Apparently your godfather was indeed a bit of a rake growing up and forgot that he did spawn a couple of children. No one knew about it until about 2007 when this strangely familiar looking young man stopped by the office looking for employment. One thing led to another and surprise, he’s a Black! Two years of working with him and eventually we got married.”

Harry stood there in stunned silence so it was left to Hermione to ask all the questions, “So where is this mystery man who captured your heart?”

Susan turned and pointed out a man consoling another little girl, “His name is Rigel, and that little girl is our daughter, Abigail.” She called out to her husband to bring them over. She knelt down to Abigail’s eye level, “Honey, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine from when I went to Hogwarts. This is Harry and Hermione Potter and their children, Madison and Samuel. Madison is the same age as you, and will be riding on the train too. Why don’t you go ahead and join her; I’m sure she’s just as nervous as you and could use a friend.”

Harry leant over and whispered in Hermione’s ear, “Once a Puff, always a Puff.” She nudged him in the ribs playfully.

At the five minute warning whistle, all the outbound students scrambled to board the carriages while the parents were left standing and waving, there were many tearful good-byes. Harry kissed his daughter on her cheek, “It’s a brave new world for you. Remember that your mother and I will be proud of you no matter which House you get sorted into. The troubles of the past should remain where they are. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Be safe and learn a lot Madison Potter, you are the future.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Harry Potter: The Next Generation

1 September 2020; Hogwarts Express heading north

Madison wandered along the corridor of the train carriage, curious about who else was sharing the ride of a lifetime up to the venerable castle. Her new friend (she hoped) Abigail Black-Bones trailed behind her chattering excitedly away, “So, what’s it like growing up on Mars? Is it true that you’re a lot younger than us? What’s your favorite color? Mine’s royal blue…”

She turned and giggled at her friend in amusement, “Has anyone ever told you that you babble when you get excited?”

Abigail grinned unrepentantly, “Yup, all the time! Mum says that I’m destined for Ravenclaw because of it.”

Madison quirked an eyebrow up, “My mum says that personalities like yours are destined for Gryffindor because you’re too bold to be shy and don’t care who knows it.”

Abigail paused to think about that for a moment then shrugged, “I guess we’ll see what happens at our Sorting. So, is it true that it takes twice as long to get anything done on Mars?”

The two girls found out where the dining car was located and headed off in that direction. Along the way, they both heard a sneering voice call out, “Oi! Who let the little green Martians on board?”

Madison turned to the person staring imperiously back at her and snorted in laughter, “And a hello to you too, Ander; I thought you’d graduated. What are you doing on the Express?”

Ander Longbottom opened his arms and enveloped Maddy up for a hug, “I did; I’m just heading up to the school to begin training with NOAA as a deep sea marine biologist.”

She pulled back to frown up at his face, “In Scotland?”

He nodded his head, “Yup, my instructor is Merfolk. Fellow by the name of Murk, I think. It’s tough to translate Mermish into a language that is understandable above water. For all I know, he could’ve been belching a bubble.”

“Ewww! Ander!” She pushed him in mock-disgust.

Ander fluffed up her hair playfully, “So how do you like the train ride so far, kiddo?”

Maddy waggled her hand, “I have to remind myself that an open window here is not a bad thing. Oh, this is Abigail Black-Bones; she’s my new friend.”

Ander’s grin widened as he bowed to Abigail, “Arrgh, My Lady! Avast ye!”

Abigail rolled her eyes, “Like I haven’t heard that all my life. It’s nice to meet you, Ander. What’s your last name?”

“Longbottom, and yes, the Herbology professor is my dad,” Ander replied with a knowing smirk at the look of astonishment on Abigail’s face. “Well, I don’t want to be the third wheel to your adventure, so I’ll say farewell to thee.” He gave Maddy a comforting squeeze and headed down the corridor.

Abigail leaned into Maddy’s side and giggled, “I like him.”

Maddy nodding, agreed with her, “Yeah, his twin sister’s just as funny.”

They settled into an open space and examined the menu before deciding to share a sampler platter. While they were waiting, both girls chatted about themselves.

Madison began, “Well, let’s see. By Martian standards, I’m only six years old. Um, my favorite color is periwinkle blue. I have a bunch of hobbies like riding my bicycle, playing in the arcades with my friends…oh! I also like taking pictures of random things. My mum got me a set of omnoculars for my fifth birthday.”

Abigail was impressed, “Wow, that’s awesome. What sort of pictures have you taken?”

Maddy shrugged, “Whatever catches my eye, really.” She giggled at a memory, “There was one picture I took of my dad acting goofy with my mum. He was dancing around in shaggy purple bag and singing the ‘one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater’ song. The look on my mum’s face was funny. She kept slapping at him and pushed him towards their bedroom.”

Abigail blushed, “Um, you know what they were doing right?”

It was Maddy’s turn to blush as she nodded, “Yeah, I do but it was still funny.”

Their platter arrived and the two dug in. “So what else do you like to do?” Abigail inquired as she chewed on a pickle slice.

“Um, I like to fix up vintage electronics with my grandpa. He’s got this really old radio from his childhood and it’s like super difficult to find parts anymore so we had to figure out how to modify new circuits to take its place.”

“Why didn’t he just magic up some new parts?”

Maddy shook her head, “He couldn’t; Grandpa is non-magical and at the time, I didn’t know how to do anything like that.” She cocked her head in thought, “Still don’t for that matter…”

Abigail grinned happily, “We will soon though!”

“So what about you? What’s all of your favorites?” Maddy asked Abigail.

Abigail looked up to the ceiling as she sorted out what was most important, “Uh…well, I love Taylor Swift’s music. I also like Tones and I ‘Dance Monkey;’ Katy Perry’s ‘Firework;’ and Will Smith’s ‘Gettin’ Jiggy With It.’ I like riding my broom at the neighborhood park. It doesn’t go very fast or high but I still get a thrill when I dodge between the trees. I feel like I’m one of those fighter pilots you see in the movies.”

“Aren’t you a pureblood?” Maddy questioned.

Abigail nodded, “Yeah, but Aunt Hannah lets me watch movies when I go over to visit with her kids. Anyhow, I know how to sew…sort of. I can make my own pillowcases and blankets which is kinda awesome. I’ve got a dozen pillowcases stacked up in my closet. Mum taught me how to sew so I wouldn’t be like those other kids who are utterly clueless about how to make the things they need.”

Maddy understood that, “Yeah, I once rebuilt an oxygen regulator because the new ones cost way more than I had in my account and my dad didn’t want to spend the money for it.”

Eight and a half hours later, Hogsmeade Station

“Firs’ Yeahs! Firs’ Yeahs, this way! Come on now, don’t be shy!” Rumbled a loud, carrying voice. Maddy turned then looked up…and up! ‘This guy is huge!’ Way bigger than anyone she’d ever met before. The large, bearded man held a clipboard and carried a lantern, “Firs’ Yeahs! Line up o’er here! I’m gonna call out yer names, raise yer han’s when I get yers.” He began reading off the names; when he got to the letter P, he gave a double-take, “Well, bless me soul; if it ain’t lil Maddy Potter! I remember when yer parents went here. You look like the both of them; you’ve got yer dad’s eyes.” He finished reading off the list then looked over the group of still rather unsure group of eleven year olds, “Righ’ now, my name’s Rubeus Hagrid, but you can just call me Hagrid, or Pr’fessor Hagrid if you ever take me class. I teach Care of Magical Creatures, as well as being the Keeper of Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts. I’m gonna be taking you all over the lake by boat so follow me.” He turned and began walking along a side path down to the lake.

Maddy was slightly embarrassed by being put on the spot like Hagrid had done but shrugged it off when she got her first view of the castle. With all of the lights on, it was like a beacon in the night and truly was a sight to behold. Off to its right, was the Hogwarts Educational Annex where all of their classes would be held. She’d been informed by some of the older students, as well as her parents, that aside from a couple of specialized subjects; Hogwarts castle was used for ceremonies like the Sorting, or as a museum.

The group boarded the boats and once everyone was settled, Hagrid tapped the gunwale of his boat and called out, “Forward!”

“Isn’t it gorgeous?” She heard Abigail sigh behind her as they floated along.

“Yeah,” Maddy agreed. “I can’t wait to start my classes!”

Abigail giggled and lightly splashed her, “Ravenclaw.”

Maddy splashed her back, “Gryffindor.”

Deputy Headmaster Filius Flitwick greeted Hagrid and the firsties at the entrance to the castle and gave them a brief introductory speech about the different Houses and the general rules about points towards the House Cup, as well as what would happen if they broke those rules. He had them wait in place while he checked on the status of everyone else.

“So, you’re a Potter. Pity, I would’ve thought you’d be taller.” Madison turned at the obvious scorn in the person’s voice.

“Excuse me? Who are you?”

The strawberry blonde girl sneered imperiously at her, “Malfoy, Annabelle Malfoy. Pureblood Heiress of the illustrious Noble House of Malfoy.”

Maddy tilted her head in confusion, “Yeah, I’m a Potter; what of it and why are you acting like that?”

The now-identified Annabelle shook her head in disgust, “Just as my parents suspected; the proud name of Potter has been further reduced by associating with a mud…muggleborn.”

Madison’s eyes grew angry, “Listen, I don’t know you and now, I don’t want to know you. You better pray that we don’t end up in the same House together. Yes, I am a Potter. I also happen to be the daughter of the first two people to colonize Mars. What have your parents done? Nothing, I’d suspect; just another face in the crowd.” She dismissively turned her back on the seething girl just in time for Flitwick to return.

“We’re ready for you now.”

Great Hall, Sorting Ceremony

As they were being led in, Maddy gazed up at the ceiling and whispered to Abigail, “It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.” She heard an amused snort somewhere nearby and turned to glare at whoever it was but she couldn’t find them.

Abigail was just as mesmerized, but then frowned, “Why didn’t they just put in a skylight?”

Maddy shrugged, “I don’t know, but it is impressive magic. Maybe that was the whole point?”

Flitwick had the firsties line up in front of the Head Table and gestured to where a scruffy-looking wizard’s hat rested on a stool. The hat twitched then began to sing a song.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The assembled students and staffed politely clapped as Flitwick pulled out a scroll, “Now when I call your names, you’ll sit here on the stool while I place the Sorting Hat upon your head. When you hear the Hat’s announcement, you will join your housemates. Each of their tables is clearly marked by the banners above them. Black-Bones, Abigail!”

Abigail nervously stepped forward and sat down. Flitwick dropped the hat onto her head and they all waited. After what seemed forever, the brim of the hat opened and yelled, “GRYFFINDOR!”

The House of the Lions erupted in raucous cheers and applause. Maddy joined in along with them as Abigail hurried past her and flashed her friend with a wide smile.

The list of names continued, Maddy applauded regardless of where they ended up until she heard a quickly becoming despised name being called. “Malfoy, Annabelle!” The self-anointed ‘pureblood princess’ strode forward as if she were the Queen of England, Herself and sat down on the stool. Flitwick had barely gotten the hat up to her head when it yelled out, “SLYTHERIN!” She got up with a self-satisfied sneer and walked calmly over to her new housemates.

On and on, the names of the inductees were called. “Potter, Madison!” She heard the stage-whispered comments from the older students.

“Potter, did he say?”

“The daughter of Harry Potter?”

“Is she old enough to be here? I though their aging were slowed down.”

“I thought Martians were supposed to be green little men.”

Madison sat down and waited with baited breath as the hat was placed upon her head. “Hmm…well, now. Isn’t this a surprise? I’ve been waiting for a long time for the child of the House of Potter to come to our fair school. Plenty of courage I see; you’d have to have it to venture from your distant home planet. Such an inquisitive mind too! You do have your mother’s penchant for reading and learning, my dear. It was lamented many times that I never put your mother into Ravenclaw, but if I’d done that, your parents might’ve never created history. I see you look forward to making friends here on Earth, and you’ve already done so with Miss Black-Bones. Such a Hufflepuff trait! You are definitely ambitious but not so much that putting you amongst the Snakes would be beneficial, and don’t think I don’t know about your little spat with Miss Malfoy. So now… Where to put you?”

“Do I get a choice?” Madison asked.

“Of course you do, Miss Potter. This is your life we’re discussing.”

“Then I’d like to be sorted into Ravenclaw. I want to do something different than what my parents did. I want to learn all that I can while remaining true to myself, and yes, I know that smacks of Slytherin but I want the lighter side of that ambition, and to me, that’s Ravenclaw.”

“Logically reasoned, Miss Potter. Better be…RAVENCLAW!”

At the Ravenclaw Table…

“Welcome to Ravenclaw, Miss Potter,” a handsome prefect greeted her, “I was surprised that you’d gotten sorted here of all places. I would’ve thought you’d go into Gryffindor like your parents.”

Maddy shook her head as she continued to stare wide-eyed at everyone, “I wanted to do something different. I’m surprised that there aren’t more children of the famous families here. My mum and dad told me about the Abbotts, Clearwaters, Moon, Goyle, Crabbes, and everyone.”

The prefect bobbed his head in understanding, “Well, since the fall of the Statute of Secrecy, Hogwarts is no longer the only magical school in Britain; it’s now just the oldest and most well renown. There are other, smaller schools as well as the integrated schools; both of which are day schools, meaning that the students arrive in the morning then leave to go home in the afternoon.” They all turned back to the front when Headmistress McGonagall stood and approached the podium.

“Welcome everyone back to a fresh new year, and to our brand-new students, welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives. You are part of the continuing tradition here at Hogwarts, eager minds awaiting the challenges and training that will eventually earn you the rank and respect that comes with being magical. (She paused for the applause to die down.) Now, I wish to remind all of our new first years that your classes and dormitories await you in the Annex located next door to the castle. There is to be no magic cast in the hallways, and anything from Weasley Wizarding Wheezes is banned from anywhere indoors. The only time I foresee any of you to be in the castle is if you’re being escorted for a specialized class. This castle is over a thousand years old and some areas are unfortunately no longer fit for living visitors. Now, let the feast begin!”

The tables suddenly groaned at the arrival of the evening meal. Madison cooed at the sight of all the interesting dishes as she reached for the platter of roasted chicken. Once her plate was loaded down, she listened with half an ear to the conversations around her.

“So, what’s the real reason we’re not allowed to wander the castle?” one of the other first year’s asked.

“I heard it was because of Peeves; he’s the castle poltergeist. He’s gone even crazier since my parents went here.”

“No, I heard it was because Flamel left some sort of rock under the third floor and it’s a test to see who can get it first.”

Madison snorted quietly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as quiet as she thought. “What do you know about it?”

She glanced at the inquisitive expressions and sighed heavily, “Seriously? Think back to when your parents went here. What happened back then?” She saw several lights dawning in their eyes as they began to mutter. “So, maybe that’s why the Headmistress doesn’t want us wandering around. It’s a tough reminder to many, you know.”

Time Skip: One week later

To Madison’s mind, the Hogwarts Educational Annex was an architectural work of art. The buildings were arranged in a crescent moon shape around a central courtyard with a pair of reflecting pools, a couple of smaller fish ponds to the side, outward spiraling pathways, and more green vegetation she’d ever seen outside of the greenhouses and parks back home. There was a fountain at the converging point between the two ends of the crescent building floor plan which also was the home of the monument dedicated to the fallen heroes of Hogwarts. A big library sat in front of that and it had floor to ceiling windows to let in the natural light. Vehicle traffic was limited to the caretaker’s electric work carts, with most students walking, riding brooms, and riding the occasional bicycle to and from their classes. Their dormitories and clubhouses were located at the north end while their classrooms were on the opposite side.

Madison was still reeling as she exited her first ever Potions class. ‘Who knew that you could do that with potions?’ Her professor, Andromeda Tonks, had just demonstrated some of the recipes that they’d be learning over the course of the next couple of months. ‘The Hair-raising Potion looks like it would be a lot of fun at parties.’ She wondered how hard it would be to brew it on her own.

Charms class was a lot of fun too. The Deputy Headmaster was also their professor; he’d squeaked and nearly fallen off his teaching platform when he’d called her name, apologizing that the sight of her distinctive green eyes and messy hair caught him off-guard and for a moment thought that her father and mother had returned. The first charm that they’d learned was making their wands (or in her case her finger) light up.

She knew right away that transfiguration was going to be a tough class. The amount of notes that they had to take clued her in that this subject was more than just visualizing what you wanted and saying some funny words. Maddy remembered that her mum had called transfiguration, ‘magical engineering.’

As she was walking to her next class, she spotted what at first glance was a man riding a horse but as the duo turned a corner; she could see that it was in fact, a Centaur! “Wow, I know what that is!” She practically squealed.

Their guide for the first month, fifth year prefect Daisy Wentworth, gently admonished her, “Miss Potter, Centaurs are people; not things to be gawked at. Please try to remember that.”

Blushing bright pink, Maddy squeaked out, “Sorry, I’ve only read about them. I’ve never seen one in person.”

“Well, if you should end up taking Astrology in your third year electives, you’ll most likely end up with one as your teacher.”

All of her classes, though still early in the year were shaping up to be just as exciting as her parents had promised. Herbology was shaping up to be fun, she got Professor Longbottom to smirk and roll his eyes when she called him ‘Professor Uncle Longbottom.’ She heard him muttering, “I’m going to get Harry for that.” Her modern studies such as English grammar, mathematics, British history and the like were… going. It was difficult to get excited about such normal classes when there was magic to be done. Still, she persevered and by the end of the first week, Madison found herself congratulating herself for making the correct decision to come to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was so amazing!

During the evening study period in the Library, Maddy was busily trying to get a pencil to change into a sewing needle when Abigail plopped down across from her and let out a long sigh. “Problem, Abigail?”

“You do know you can call me Abi, don’t you?”

“You never said anything before.”

Abi blinked then shrugged, “Oh, well now you do.”

“What had you sighing so much?”

“Phys Ed is driving me crazy!”

Madison spared her an amused smirk, “Is it because you Earthers don’t believe in running?”

“Earthers?”

“What else do you call people from your planet? Back home, we’re called ‘Martians.’”

Abi pondered that for a moment before waving it off, “Never mind that. Professor Roebuck is a slave driver!” William Roebuck was their physical education coach, and rumor had it he was ex-special forces though no one dared to ask him directly.

Maddy giggled, “You just need to pretend that the one thing that you love the most is jogging just ahead of you and you’ve got to run that much faster to catch it.”

Abi mock-glared at her friend, “Is that what you do?” Madison’s returning grin was answer enough causing Abi to let out an aggrieved huff. “Why don’t you use your wand?”

Maddy sat back and gave her own sigh, “Because I don’t have a wand. Ollivander couldn’t match one to me.”

Abi’s eyes went wide, “Really? So, what? You’re doing wandless magic?”

Maddy shook her head and held out her arm, “I’m wearing a blood-bound runic bracelet specially crafted by Mr. Ollivander himself. As he explained it, ‘there are many more ways to channel your magic than a wooden stick, my dear.’ It took a bit longer than it would to craft a custom wand but I’m happy with the way it works and looks.” Abi leaned in to take a closer look at it and was impressed. The bracelet was composed of interlinked gold discs etched with runic symbols, inlaid with copper traces, and tiny gemstones that resembled electronic circuitry.

“That is so cool! So what happens when the professors ask you what the proper wand movement is?”

Maddy extended a finger and finally transfigured the pencil into her intended form. The pencil quivered and with a slight popping noise, became a sewing needle. “See? A finger works just as well as a wand. My dad taught me that.”

Astronomy class

Because of the nature of the class, Astronomy was held on a Friday evening so that no one risked arriving late or missing their morning classes from a lack of sleep. Hermione had told her daughter of the times back when their telescopes were ancient-looking brass models that had a tendency to get fuzzy the longer you used them. That wasn’t the case anymore; the telescopes used by her class were state-of-the-art 4.5 inch reflector scopes that showed everything in amazing detail. As Maddy peered through her scope at Mars, she wondered what her parents were up to at that moment.

“Hey, Potter! Can you see your house from here?” Someone quipped to the general amusement of the others.

Maddy stood on her tippy-toes and peered over the edge of the railing, pointing her finger, “Yeah, it’s over there in C-building!”

That got more laughter, even the teacher was chuckling.

Same time as Maddy’s Astronomy lesson; ISA DY-245 ‘Howard Hughes’ enroute towards the Romulan Star Empire border, near Ceti Alpha star system

“Captain?”

Captain Saito Yan looked up from her report she’d been perusing, “Yes?”

“Long-range sensors indicate that there’s another ship ahead. It’s not responding to any hails nor does it seem to be under power.”

Captain Yan frowned, “That’s strange. Do you have a visual of the ship?”

“Coming up now.” The projection resolved itself as the mystery ship appeared on the screen.

“What do you make of it?”

“It seems to look like one of the old DY-100s.”

Saito turned to her Communications officer, “Still nothing from the hails?”

“No, Captain.”

Saito thought for a moment before calling out the order to divert course to intercept, “Helm, drop out of warp and bring us alongside it. Comm, contact Earth and let them know what we’ve discovered. Sensors, I want a full sweep. Record everything in case we have to abort.” Their ‘ayes’ were heard in stereo.

The cargo ship pulled up alongside the drifting hulk as the bridge crew examined everything they could. Saito was surprised when she spotted what looked like scuffed writing on the hull. “Does anyone know what that says?”

“Captain, Communications. Earth is ordering us to stay away from the ship. They state that under no circumstances are we to board the vessel nor are we to answer any pleas for assistance.”

Saito immediately reacted, “Helm, pull back to half a kilometer. Communications, get me a secure connection; I need to know what’s going on.”

The radio crackled to life, “This is ISA Headquarters, Admiral Forrest speaking. Captain Saito Yan, I am personally ordering you to not attempt an intervention. Stay away from the vessel. I repeat, stay away! Dangerous occupants are rumored to be onboard and the last thing anyone needs is for them to be reawakened.”

“Sir? Reawakened?”

“You’ve just discovered the location of the prototype DY-100 that had been stolen when the Liberty was being built back in the early part of this century. According to recently discovered recordings, a hostile force of genetically-enhanced ‘super soldiers’ were put into stasis and sent aloft. We lost contact once they ventured into the Oort cloud but our estimates had it heading to Ceti Alpha.”

Saito thought carefully, “Very well, sir. We’ll stay clear but is there anything we can do about their existence?”

Forrest replied, “A specialized mission is being sent out to deal with it, Captain. Continue on with your original mission and we’ll take it from here. Earth out.”

Saito signed off and leant back in her chair, “Well, that was weird. Helm, continue on our previous heading and speed.”

Hogwarts Education Annex – Freshman Clubhouse

Maddy entered the clubhouse and felt her jaw drop at what she saw. The room was well-lit and comfortably cool. The walls were covered in posters, banners, flags, and inspirational messages. There were comfy padded chairs and couches to sit on, tables were scattered throughout; there were rows of bookcases along one wall, and computer stations along another. The room was painted a soothing blue color and was carpeted with a complementarily colored hard-wearing carpet. The lighting was muted with only the tables and individual chairs highlighted. It was peaceful and boded well for her future studying efforts. She glanced to her left and saw that there was a glass wall that separated the quiet study side from what could only be described as ‘Childhood Chaos.’ The play area, for lack of better term, was a riot of colors, noises, smells, and sounds. There were all sorts of activities going on from a section set up for art to a climbing wall. Signs pointed to an indoor pool and gymnasium. She could see various students running around letting off steam from the rigors of studying.

“Madison Potter, oui?” She turned at the sound of a French-accented voice. A seventh year Gryffindor greeted her from the front desk, “Bon jour, I’m Dominique Weasley. You look just like your mother and father.”

Recognition dawned on Maddy, “Oh, hi! My parents told me about you. First British-born French Veela Weasley in Britain, right? What are you doing in the freshman clubhouse?”

Dominique shook her head and offered her a place to sit, “Non, that would be my older sister, Victoire. I’m a clubhouse Guide who helps direct those who need help. How are you finding your time at Hogwarts so far?”

Maddy smiled happily, “Oh, it’s been wonderful so far! Everything is so much different than what I’m used to back home. On Mars, we couldn’t go outside to play or anything but here, I spent an entire hour doing nothing but breathing in the fresh air.”

“That sounds like a wonderful way to spend an hour. How are your classes doing?”

“They’re brilliant, though I wish Professor Roebuck would ease up a bit. He seems to think that we’re all lazy recruits in need of a butt-whooping.”

Dominique quiet laugh sounded like tinkling chimes, “Oui; he does tend to forget that we are people and not machines. You’ll get used to it. What else?”

Maddy thought for a moment, “Well, the Customs and Etiquette class is pretty neat. I didn’t know that people here use last names and appropriate titles until specifically invited to use first names. Back home, people just called me by my first name. Even my parents called my teachers by their first names! I didn’t know they were being rude.”

Dominique bobbed her head in all the right places as Maddy described her first week, and frowned when she mentioned the name of her new mortal enemy, “I shall speak with Grandma Weasley about Annabelle’s behavior. Her words to you were mean-spirited and not the way a Weasley treats others.”

Maddy frowned in confusion, “But she’s a Malfoy.”

“Oui, but her mother is a Weasley. Grandma Weasley will order her daughter to control Annabelle, she will not refuse. In the meantime, you should steer clear of Annabelle as much as you can.”

“I’m trying. So how come your English is is so clear if you’re French?”

“I was raised here in Britain. I only say certain words in French because of my mother who uses them all the time.”

“Oh,” Maddy seemed to hesitate a bit, “So what’s your family like?”

Dominique sighed, “My immediate family is average sized. I have one older sister and a younger brother along with my mum and dad. My extended family, on the other hand, is huge. There’s my grandmother and grandfather, Molly and Arthur; next is Charlie. He’s not married and doesn’t have any children, though he does love to bring around a baby dragon just to tease his mother that his true love will always have wings and breathe fire. After him are Percy and his wife Audrey with their two children, Molly and Lucy. Both girls are around here somewhere; just follow the screeching. (Maddy giggled) George used to have a twin brother, but he died during the war. He owns a joke shop in Diagon Alley.”

Maddy perked up, “We stopped by there when I was getting my supplies!”

Dominique nodded thoughtfully, “Oui, there’re a lot of fun things within but you shouldn’t be using any of those pranks until you’re at least a third year. (Maddy agreed with her.) Let’s see, after George is Ronald. He’s… well, he’s family. That’s all I’m going to say about him. He’s married with two kids, Hugo and Rose. His wife’s name is Romilda; she’s another one that…well…”

Maddy got the hint, “I understand, thanks. So what sort of music do you like? I like the some of the songs from my parents’ generation like the Beastie Boys.”

Dominique cocked her head curiously, “I’ve not heard of them. Is that classical music?”

At the coordinates given by the ISA Howard Hughes

A flash of Cherenkov radiation announced the arrival of a group of ten mysterious ships. There were no communications detected between the ships, they just ranged up on the seemingly innocent derelict ship. The fleet of ten that had dropped out of warp would be at first glance, relics from a museum. They’d been towed from Earth’s moon to a quarantined Martian shipyard and stripped down to their keels. Each one originally started life as a Liberty-class DY-100, but now had been retrofitted into frigates and given all of the latest technological advances, as well as weaponry the likes of which would’ve made a Klingon warrior drool with envy. Well, they would’ve if anyone knew of their existence. No one remembered that they’d been built, flown, retired before being recommissioned for a brand-new mission. Except for those in charge, they’d just vanished from memory.

To certain members of the ISA, the mystery ships were known as ‘The Fideliused Fleet...’

ISA ‘Fideliused Fleet’ Flagship Frigate FFX-28 ‘Justice’

Their orders were simple: Locate and by any means possible, destroy the prototype DY-100 sleeper ship. If not possible for immediate destruction (such as being destroyed too close to the shipping lanes, or near a populated system; which in this case they were), the ship would be towed to a position near the closest star and pushed into a decaying trajectory to be incinerated. Under no circumstances were communications to be established, nor were any crew allowed to board the vessel.

“Captain, grappling hooks are ready for launch.”

“Understood. Fire at will.”

A quartet of nano-reinforced graphene-steel cables and hooks shot out from their launch tubes and embedded themselves into the superstructure of the derelict. Justice slowly brought up her throttles until the slack was absorbed and the duo was underway.

Onboard, the Sensor Officer scanned the derelict, noting the damage caused by untold meteorites and whatever else had hit it during its long voyage into the deep reaches of space. On one pass, he noticed that a light had flickered on, “Captain, the ship is showing signs of life. I see lights activating.”

“Understood. Weapons Control, stand-by; target their reactor module.”

There was a tense moment but beyond the navigation lights blinking away as per normal, there remained no other signs of activity. “Do you think it might’ve been just a loose wire that got jostled when we grappled on?”

“Unclear, Captain. I’m looking at it with the finer resolution, still nothing.”

The captain sighed, “Very well. Maintain course and speed.”

Justice towed the ‘ship of the damned’ to the outer gravity well that belonged to the red giant primary star of the system and prepared to cut its load loose. A pair of sacrificial drones had been affixed to the aft end of the engineering hull, and would be used to boost it in closer to be eventually dragged into the fiery, crushing grip of the star.

The captain watched as their two ships slid into position, “Release grapple on my mark. Three…two…one…mark!”

“Grapples released, Captain. We’re free and clear.”

“Drone Control, give the commands.” The two drones fired up their rockets and began the slow push towards their ultimate demise.

The captain turned slightly to his second in command, “Give the order to the Tomahawk. They are to stay on station until the computer indicates that escape is impossible.” His second nodded silently and turned to his station to carry out his orders.

Several hours later…

“Captain, Tomahawk reports the derelict is locked on its final course and has no chance of recovery.”

“Understood. Tell them thanks and to meet up with us at Tango,” Captain Samuel Abraham Kirk leant back in his chair and sipped on a cup of rich coffee, “Crisis averted.”

Onboard the DY-100…

He was just barely alive. The main life support system had failed years ago and taken the lives of most of his crew. He’d managed to survive out of sheer will (or spite) by scavenging supplies and parts from the failed stasis pods. Of those who’d perished due to the faulty hibernation pods, DNA samples were taken and stored them for safekeeping in deep cold storage to be reborn at a later date.

Using the ship’s primitive computer, he quickly figured out how to tap into the command structure of the drones attached to his engineering hull, subtly redirecting them to change their course to make it appear as if they’d fallen into the star.

‘Soon, my friends. We will reach our new world and rebuild anew.’

Sunday 4 October 2020 (late night), Hogwarts Greenhouses, Professor Neville Longbottom’s office

Neville burst into his office and made a mad leap for the computer on his desk. The alarm for an incoming call sounding strident in the otherwise quiet room, “I’m here! I’m here, don’t hang up. Who the bloody Hell is calling at this time of night?”

“Hey, Nev. Sorry about that; I forgot about the time differences,” Harry apologized as his face came up on the screen.

Neville scrubbed his face with his hands, “What time is it there?”

Harry glanced at something off-screen, “Uh, just after 3pm.”

Neville nodded tiredly, “Whaddya need, Harry? If you’re looking for Maddy, she’s probably up in her dorm room. You do know that she’s not one of mine?”

“Yeah, I know. Listen, I received word from Customs that a shipment of Mandrake was intercepted at the port. The supervisory agent told me that it had your name on the sender portion. Were you sending anything to Mars?”

Neville chewed on his lower lip for a moment as he tried to think of anything, “No,” he said slowly, “I can’t think of a reason why I’d need to. If I did have anything, I would’ve waited until your next visit then sent it back with you and Hermione. You said Mandrake?” Harry nodded. “That’s strange, Mandrakes don’t respond well to altitudes higher than the Mediterranean Sea unless sequestered in a greenhouse.” Neville suddenly sat up straighter, “Wait, were they a magical Mandrake, or the non-magical variant?”

“There’s a difference?”

“Yeah, big difference. People take European non-magical mandrake root for treating stomach ulcers, colic, constipation, asthma, hay fever, convulsions, rheumatism pain, and whooping cough. Visually, the non-magical Mandragora officinarum is a perennial herbaceous plant with ovate leaves arranged in a rosette, a thick upright root, often branched, and bell-shaped flowers followed by yellow or orange berries.”

Harry dipped his chin, “And the magical variant doesn’t have those flowers or berries, if I recall correctly.”

“Nope. The magical variant is also capable of limited mobility. So have your Customs agents dig around a little bit near the base of the stems and see if it moves. If it does, then you’ll know. Now, as for why my name was tagged, I don’t have a clue. Was the box recycled or something?”

Harry visibly shrugged, “I’ll ask. In the meantime, keep your eyes open. Maybe ask the elves if they know?”

Neville jauntily saluted then let out a jaw-cracking yawn, “I will, Harry. Talk to you later.”

Saturday 31 October 2020, HEA Great Hall

It had started off small and easily brushed off; the snide comments when a teacher or a prefect wasn’t nearby, a tug on her hair as she passed by a door or around a corner. Then her tormentor upped the ante by causing Madison to trip and stumble down the stairs on her way out to the quad. If it wasn’t for the handrails, she could’ve really hurt herself.

Finally, on Halloween day, Madison confronted Annabelle, “Just what is your problem, Malfoy? What could I have possibly done that makes you such a bitch?”

Annabelle stared back at her with her ice-cold blue eyes, “Your existence is reason enough for me, Potter. You should not be here, muddying up our proud nation with your off-worlder ideas of equality. Magical Britain has always been for the purebloods. My father has said many times that if it weren’t for your parents; he and my mother would’ve been practically royalty, and that it is your parents’ fault for bringing the Statute of Secrecy down.”

Maddy stared back in puzzled disbelief before laying out the cold, hard facts, “My parents did nothing of the sort! It was your parents who disobeyed the law and got themselves arrested. It was your grandparents who kissed the hems of a half-blood bastard demon as he murdered, pillaged, and sowed terror up and down the island.” She leveled a hard finger at Annabelle, “You were warned by your grandmother to stay away from me. If you do not, I will show you why you shouldn’t mess with a Potter!” She turned and stalked away leaving a visibly angry witch behind her.

Said angry witch was about to pull her wand to cast something particularly nasty at the half-blood spawn of Potter. But before she could utter a word, her wand vanished from her hand and she found herself bound up in ropes. An elf popped in front of her with a hard glare on its face, “You were warned not to use magic in the corridors! You were warned against bullying! I will be taking you to your Head of House for punishment.” Annabelle’s rapidly paling face let out a whimpering whine as the elf popped the two of them away.

Maddy found an empty spot at one of the tables and sat stonily staring straight ahead as she furiously tried not to cry. She was vaguely aware of someone sitting next to her when she felt a comforting hand patting her on the shoulder, a boy’s voice calmly said, “I heard you had it out with Malfoy. If it’s any comfort, she’s not Miss Popular in the Snake Pit, either.”

Maddy turned to see fifth year Slytherin student, Henry Goyle giving her a commiserating look. “She’s been a right terror since our sorting. I don’t understand what she has against me, though! Why should I be punished for what her parents think?”

Henry shook his head, “That is a question that has been asked by the Children of the Dark Contingent for ages now. As a Goyle, I’m continually being compared to my father who wasn’t the brightest Lumos light, and my mother who was a vindictive pureblood princess; so I can sympathize with your confusion. I’ve been doing my best for my entire life to be seen as my own person. I have hopes and dreams that have nothing to do with ‘upholding the Old Ways.’”

Wiping her tears and sniffles, Maddy asked him what he hoped to do when he graduated. Henry glanced up at the ceiling where a bat fluttered overhead then got a far-away look in his eyes, “I want to do something off-world. I have no idea what exactly but I know it has to be something far away from Earth, and specifically Britain.” He straightened up and cleared his throat, “Anyways, enough of the past. Let’s look to the future, and see what they have for us to eat!” He slid over a tray of Chocolate Frogs for her to pick from.

Hogwarts Greenhouses, two days later

Maddy and Abi were busily repotting marigolds (and occasionally flicking clods of soil at each other) when another first year boy approached, “Hi, do you mind if I join you? All the other tables are almost done and I don’t quite have the hang of repotting a plant without crushing it.”

Maddy and Abi both blinked owlishly at the boy, “How… No, never mind. Sure you can join us. Grab an empty pot and copy what we’re doing.”

The now three restarted their assignment, with the new boy eagerly listening in. “So, I know that you’re Madison, but what’s your name?” He asked pointing to Abi.

“I’m Abigail Black-Bones, what’s your name?”

“Justin Creevey. Is it true that your parents are Susan Bones and Sirius Black? I thought he died.”

Abi snorted, “Sorry, you only got it partly right. My mother is Susan Bones but my father is Rigel Black. My grandfather or maybe it’s my half-grandfather? Anyways, my dad’s father was Sirius Black.”

“Oh.”

“Who are your parents, Justin? I know that Colin Creevey’s name is listed on the Monument.” The towering edifice shaped like a rising phoenix was located in the center of the quad surrounded by a fountain, and had the names of all the heroes who’d died defending the castle and its inhabitants during the climactic Battle of Hogwarts back in 1998.

Justin’s happy eyes faded slightly, “Colin was my uncle. My dad’s name is Dennis Creevey.”

Maddy curtseyed to him, “Then it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Creevey.” In a stage-whisper, she asked both, “How was that? Did I get it right?”

Abi giggled as an adult male voice was heard, “Yes, you did that correctly, Miss Potter but etiquette is not the lesson being taught right now, is it?” All three kids looked up to see Neville’s knowing smirk before he shooed them off to go wash up.

The next day, Maddy and her friends were sitting on the benches outside their C&E class waiting for the teacher to open his door. They were chatting about various things that interested them. “I am so in love with Unicorn Armada! Their music is incredible!”

“Have you ever eaten uncooked Ramen noodles before? I like mine with peanut butter.”

“You know what’s fun? Skateboarding along Venice Boulevard in Southern California. I went there for a vacation with my family once.”

“You’ve never been to Disneyland yet? Why not?”

“Oh, please! I’ve met Tiny before. There is no way that any electronic AI would ever be better than him.”

All eyes swung over to Maddy. “You’ve met Tiny? The AI for Liberty? What’s he like?”

Maddy puffed up proudly, “He’s the sweetest elf that has ever lived. After Liberty was retired, he was given a choice as to what he wanted to do. He told the committee that he wanted to be put into an android body of his own design so he could walk around wherever he wanted.”

“So where is he now?” Olivia McDougal excitedly asked her.

Maddy shrugged, “Once he got his new body, he got on a transport and disappeared on what my dad supposes is one heck of an adventure. He sends letters home every now and then full of strange and exciting descriptions of alien worlds.”

“That is sae gallus!”

Maddy looked confused, “Huh?”

“She means ‘That is so cool,’” someone explained, “Olivia is Scottish.”

Maddy nodded her understanding, “Right. Back home we’d use the phrase, “Five by, or ‘That’s five by five.’ It means everything is loud and clear which is the best you could hope for.”

From there, the conversation transitioned into comparing slang terms from each of their respective countries or home planets.

Saturday 14 November 2020, Morning, HEA Kitchens

Florie, the Hogwarts Head Kitchen Elf peered uncertainly at a barely restrained and eager Madison Potter, “Why do you want to do this?”

“Because I have a family legacy to live up to. I have to pull at least one prank each semester.”

Florie shook her head, “You do not resemble a Weasley.”

Maddy put on a mock-affronted pose, “No way, I’m a Potter.”

Florie threw up her hands, “That’s just as bad!” She sighed heavily, “What is it you is wanting to do?”

“I want to serve up some special donuts to the school.”

An eyebrow slowly rose, “Special? Is there something in it that is illegal?”

Maddy shook her head, “Nope, but the filling isn’t what you’d expect a chocolate donut to have.”

Florie covered her eyes with one hand in a long-suffering manner and motioned with the other one, “What’s the filling?”

“Refried beans and chili sauce.” The hand came down as Florie stared at a manically grinning Maddy.

“You want to fill chocolate donuts with refried beans and chili sauce? You are a Potter. Only a Potter would be that weird. I should be fortunate that you’re not a Weasley, they’re crazy.” She threw her hands up, “Fine, have at it. Just don’t tell anyone I let you in here.”

Maddy squealed in happiness and grapple-hugged the aggrieved elf then scampered into the kitchens.

That evening…

Dinner had just been finished as the platters were vanished and replaced with all manner of desserts. Maddy made sure that her special donuts were served on a paisley patterned tray and delivered to the Gryffindor table. Second year Hugo Weasley, son of Ronald and Romilda Weasley, spotted the donuts and greedily reached for one and took a huge bite out of it just as his taste buds registered that there was something wrong with the sweet cake.

“Blegh! Who put beans and sauce into a donut?! Molly! You did this, didn’t you?” he yelled at his cousin who promptly denied having any involvement. This nearly started an all-out war of words and accusations amongst the extended Weasley clan before their Head of House Casey McDonnell swooped in to pull them apart and lay down the law.

Abi turned in her seat from where she was sitting at the Gryffindor table and flashed Maddy a thumbs-up and taking a defiant bite out of her own donut.

Wednesday 18 November 2020, outside the Modern Studies classroom

Maddy spotted Conner Weber, a fellow Ravenclaw sucking on something that resembled an ice pop, “Conner, what are you eating?”

“Clam chowder,” was his muffled reply. He pulled it out of his mouth, “You want some?”

“Eww! That’s gross! Seriously though, clam chowder as an ice pop?”

Conner shrugged indifferently, “It’s cold and I didn’t want to have too much sugar before class.”

She just gave him a side-eye, “You’re weird, but I like you anyway.”

After class, she heard her name being called; she spotted the one person she’d least expected to be walking the halls. “MUM!”

Hermione laughed as Maddy launched herself into her mother’s embrace, “Hi there, my baby girl. How have you been?”

Maddy immediately started describing her time at Hogwarts in great detail leaving nothing out. She started sniffling when she got to the part of that absolute cow, Annabelle Malfoy. “I didn’t do anything to start her fight with me but I’m sure going to end it, Mum. I’ve already spoken to Dominique Weasley, she’s the Freshman Clubhouse Guide, and she promised to speak to her grandmum to force Mrs. Malfoy to control her daughter.”

Hermione frowned at the mentioning of the Malfoys, “Sweetie, don’t you worry about the Malfoys anymore. You told who you needed to, so now it’s the adults’ turn to handle things. I think it’s time to remind dear Ginny and Draco that our family is off-limits.”

Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

Ginerva and Draco were sitting in their enclosed patio overlooking the expansive gardens and enjoying the relative quiet when their restful relaxation was rudely interrupted by a loud, booming voice from their past, “GINERVA MOLLY WEASLEY-MALFOY! GET OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!” Ginny bolted up out of her chair and raced to the front door where she spotted an irate Hermione Potter glaring at her from across the property line. “YOUR DESPICABLE EXCUSE FOR A DAUGHTER HAS DARED TO INSULT AND ABUSE MY DAUGHTER ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR HATEFUL VIEWS! YOU EITHER MAKE SURE YOUR DAUGHTER LEAVES MINE ALONE OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!” With that declaration, she waved her wand and caused a titanic explosion denuding all the leaves and flowers from the bushes and trees within a five hundred meter radius. She imperiously glared at the pale-faced terrified Malfoy adults and vanished with a crack of apparition.

Draco wiped his brow before glaring at his wife, “I told you it was a bad idea to encourage Annabelle to be nasty towards the Potter girl! My jaw still aches from that punch Granger hit me with back in third year; I shudder to think of what she’d do if she got within striking range again. I will not allow you to run roughshod over me like your mother did with Arthur, I’m going to write to Annabelle and put an end to this right now.” He stormed back inside the house leaving his fuming redheaded wife behind.

Saturday 19 December 2020, HEA Central Reflecting Pool

With the approaching Yule holidays, Maddy had been instructed by her parents to stay at Hogwarts for the break, as apparently it was a tradition that all students should at least spend one winter holiday at the castle. Initially upset at not being able to go home to see her parents, Maddy was stunned to see both Harry and Hermione ambling up the path from the train station with wide grins on their faces.

“Surprise! Happy Yule, Maddy!” Harry greeted her as she glommed onto him. “Did you really think we wouldn’t spend the holidays with our favorite daughter?”

Maddy huffed, “Daddy, I’m your only daughter! Where’s Sammy?”

Hermione desultorily waved back towards the grounds, “He’ll be along shortly. He’s off checking out the Giant Squid in the Lake.”

A few minutes later, Sammy came racing up, “Mum, you’ll never believe what I saw in the lake!”

“A wet monkey?”

“A Blibbering Humdinger?”

“Harry, let’s leave the Humdingers to Luna, shall we?” Hermione rolled her eyes at her smirking husband.

“Right, so where to next? How about a tour, Mads?”

Maddy led her family all over the campus, pointing out the sort of interesting sights she’d picked up on during her short tenure. “I’m surprised that there aren’t any ghosts out here, Daddy. I was told that the castle is full of them.”

Harry pursed his lips, “They’ll probably be restricted to the castle, sweetie. Ghosts don’t like to stray too far from where they died. Have you seen any since you’ve been here?”

“Uh-huh. During the Sorting, I saw a few. I think they were the House ghosts. The Grey Lady is nice, even if she’s a bit quiet.”

Harry smiled as he leaned in, “Did you know that she’s the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw?”

Maddy’s eyes grew wide, “No! Really? Wow, now I wish I’d asked her questions. Just think of all the magic she’s seen being created over the centuries.”

Harry laughed and glanced over at his wife, “Definitely your daughter, Hermione.” Hermione grinned proudly.

The Potters joined up with Neville and Luna later in the latter’s apartment at the school to catch up on old times and to share news.

“So, Mr. Fancy Pants Martian; how does it feel to come back to your old stomping grounds?”

Harry shook his head and laughed, “It’s not the first time I’ve been back, you know.”

“Yeah, but this is the first time in over twenty years since a Potter has graced these halls, terrorizing the rest of the student population with pranks, like this one’s special donuts.”

All eyes turned to a madly blushing preteen. “Maddy, sweetie? What did you do?”

Maddy clamped her mouth shut and shook her head so it fell onto Neville to tell the tale, “Little Miss Scamp here, decided to go down to the kitchens to make up a batch of chocolate donuts. That in itself wouldn’t have been a problem, but she filled those donuts with an unusual filling.”

Hermione groaned and face-palmed, “Madison Potter, what did you fill those donuts with?”

Neville nudged Maddy who quietly replied, “Refried beans and chili sauce.”

Silence…

Harry finally lost his personal battle with himself not to laugh as he fell to the floor clutching at his sides howling his pride at his mischievous daughter, “The Marauders Legacy lives on! Long live the Next Generation Pranksters!”

While Harry was valiantly trying to recover a tiny shred of dignity from his outburst, Neville admitted that he’d had his own recent bout with oddness. “It was the strangest nightmare I’d had in the longest time. In the dream, I saw three Lunas; one was human, the other two were Vulcan and Romulan, respectively. I was standing before the Romulan Senate and Romulan Luna comes along with a gift of a Crumple-horned Snorkack. She mentions a mythological Romulan animal that doesn’t exist there but does on Earth. I ask which animal and I’m told it’s a purple platypus. Vulcan Luna steps up next and does the same thing, except this time it’s a Blibbering Humdinger. All three can See these animals but don’t realize that they’re seeing other-world animals until now.”

“That’s a scary dream.”

Neville held up his hand, “I’m not done yet. Anyways, the three Lunas put their blonde heads together and disappear together for a Luna girls-night-out shindig. All the fighting between the three cultures get put on hold as they think of more and more outlandish things the Lunas could be possibly getting up to. Three people, one from each culture, get ‘volunteered’ to try to find out what’s going on, which fails, of course. By the next morning, there’s been a lot of speculation, heartburn, and calming draughts consumed as they await the fall of the Luna axe. When the door opens to admit the Lunas but they don’t step through right away, even more speculation occurs and one of the Vulcans faint.”

Hermione was giggling at the approving look on Luna’s face.

“The denouement reveals that all the Lunas did was paint a canvas together, using things that their respective physiologies can perceive. It instantly becomes a priceless work of art. Art curators all over the three worlds beg for more. Then as everyone breathes a sigh of relief, the Lunas sneak itching powder into their underwear, socks, and shampoo, and leave an electronic delayed-action cricket in their seat cushions, and moonshine in their fruit juices.”

Harry wasn’t the only one to resume his attempt to die from laughing as Hermione and Maddy joined him on the floor. “Luna! What haven’t you been telling us? Come on, spill it girl! You’re some sort of demi-goddess aren’t you?”

Luna sat there serenely with an indecipherable smile ghosting her lips and a distinctive twinkle in her eyes.

“Hey, Maddie,” Sammy nudged his sister as the adults were discussing adult stuff, “What other pranks have you pulled?”

Madison rolled her eyes and huffed, “Promise not to tell?”

“I promise.”

She narrowed her eyes at him to drive home her unvoiced notice that if he squealed, he’d be in for a world of embarrassment, “Fine, there was one time I slipped sliced pickles into a batch of Oreos and sent them off to the Slytherins. Then there was another time where I changed the password to the Gryffindor dormitory guardian and left a clue to the answer written on a sticky note in Gob’lean.”

Sammy’s eyes bugged out of his head, “Really? What was the clue?”

“I start with four legs, grow to have two, and end up with three. What am I?”

Sammy scoffed, “Even I know the answer to that one. It’s a person.”

She patted him patronizingly on the head, “Aww! Who’s a good little brother? Well, they had to find someone to translate the language to English. It took them hours to get the right answer.”

Sammy stared incredulous, “Why didn’t they just go talk with their Head of House?”

Maddy shrugged indifferently, “Pride, most likely. Who knows or cares? I had my fun.”

Malfoy Library, late at night

Draco was comfortably seated in his favorite armchair whilst reading a crime novel when Ginny stalked in, something clearly still rumbling around in her mind.

“Draco, I never encouraged Annabelle to be nasty to the Potter girl; what I told her to do was to be better than her! We both know that any child borne from Harry and Hermione was going to be smart and powerful. I just pushed our daughter to think faster and be more flexible. It’s not my fault that she took my instructions in a whole different direction.”

“Really, then why did you not send her back a letter after Annabelle wrote to us stating that she’d begun harassing Potter? You could’ve refreshed her memory that this wasn’t what you’d meant and that Annabelle was to stay clear of Madison Potter. Merlin, Ginny; both adults are some of the most famous people in the entire solar system and you didn’t stop to wonder if encouraging her to be all snotty was going to backfire on you?”

Ginny sat heavily on one of the chairs and huffed, “I miss the old days of dealing with problems.”

Draco snorted derisively and rose to his feet. He crossed the room and poured himself a decanter of brandy, “Ah, yes. Me running to my father, and you running to your mother who in turn ran to Dumbledore. Yep, we all know how that ended up. I’ve already written to Annabelle instructing her to lay off the personal attacks. If I have to, I will pull her from Hogwarts and send her to one of the other schools. Whatever this little feud is between you and Hermione has to end.”

Ginny glared at him, “She stole Harry away from me. My mother and Dumbledore promised that Harry Potter would be mine once I reached my majority. They even penned a Betrothal Contract!”

Draco stared at her over the rim of his glass, “You really don’t know how those things work, do you?”

Anger momentarily forgotten, Ginny glanced askance at him, “What do you mean?”

“A Betrothal Contract can only be penned and signed by the Head of the Family, of which neither your mother nor Dumbledore was. Even if it was just a preliminary contract, it couldn’t be activated without Arthur using his Head of House magic to activate it.”

“But then why did Dumbledore say that she could?”

Draco sighed, “Ginny, he lied to your mother, and let’s face it; your mother is just as greedy. Dumbledore has had his fingers and broken nose poking into the Potter accounts ever since 1981, if not longer. The only thing he couldn’t access was the main vaults; he’d only be able to do that if he was named as a ‘Family Advisor’ or ‘Steward.’ To become that, he would’ve had to convince Harry that he was the best person to do so and to get him to sign some paperwork with the Goblins. By the time that Harry was old enough, the events surrounding him changed the original plan that Dumbledore must’ve had running. Harry was becoming too independent for his tastes, and he knew from example that your mother ran roughshod over your father. He must’ve figured that if he could get Harry to marry you, given how similar you are to your mother personality-wise; you’d be able to browbeat Harry into doing whatever he wanted.”

“Personality-wise? What is that supposed to mean?” She gave him a death glare which he promptly ignored.

“What I mean, she-demon-in-the-sack (Ginny smirked wickedly at the compliment) is that when you get your head stuck on something, you refuse to let go of the idea.”

Ginny had by this point lost her indignant attitude and was genuinely curious, “But, you and I were unofficially dating during my seventh year. Why would my mother, someone who hated all things Slytherin, allow me to date one?”

Draco shrugged, “Chances are she was hedging her bets. The war wasn’t going too well for the Light at the time after Dumbledore’s death, my family is rich and powerful; you get the picture? I frankly, consider it a win that I got the pleasure of having you as my wife.”

A slow grin formed over Ginny’s face, “Oh?”

“My happiest moment, other than our marriage and the birth of Annabelle, was the day when your youngest brother realized that I was going to be his brother-in-law. The look on his face when he realized he could no longer insult me and get away with it was priceless.” He bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips, “Then there was also your mother’s cooking. Say what you will about her conniving plots and plans; that woman knows how to feed an army.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Whispers of the Past, Visions of the Future

Tuesday 5 January 2021 Hogwarts Castle; Seventh floor, Room of Requirement

Maddy’s history teacher led her charges up the stairs towards the famed Room of Requirement to hold their class for the day. The castle was cool and quiet, not even the suits of armor were moving about and the paintings were still. As the kids were being escorted, Maddy could hear their hushed whispers as they pointed out spots where famous battles had taken place, and even where a few well-known people had fought and/or died.

“It doesn’t feel right to be here,” she whispered to Abi, “It feels like we’re violating a graveyard to go sightseeing.”

“I don’t know about that, Miss Potter,” a deep voice startled them. Both girls whirled around to see a ghost of a man floating behind them. His face was covered with scars, his eyes had a sort of melancholy air to them, but his smile was warm, if not a bit sad. “I find it refreshing that you are here. For a few years after the war, the castle was closed off to everyone still living. It wasn’t until the Annex was completed and the fall of the Statute did people start returning.”

Abi tilted her head in confusion, “But why, and who are you?”

The ghost bowed his head, “Well, you see, the Room of Requirement’s enchantments could not be replicated anywhere else. For reasons only the Founders knew, it could only be used within the castle. As for whom I am, my name was Remus Lupin.”

“Was? Is it not still? I don’t know of anyone else who has claimed the name,” Maddy pondered.

Remus chuckled depreciatingly, “And that right there makes it so very clear that you are the daughter of Harry and Hermione Potter.”

Maddy blushed at the praise, “Thank you, Mr. Lupin. But how did you know that I’m their daughter and why don’t you leave the castle if you wanted to see people?”

Lupin ‘shuffled’ his feet, “It’s not that easy. If you’d spent a lot of time in other places, leaving traces of your essence in those other locations, then it’s possible to travel. For the rest of us, we’re limited to the castle. As for knowing who you are, one look at your face and it’s patently easy to tell. You have your father’s eyes and both of your parents’ hair.”

Both girls frowned at the explanation of why ghosts were limited but giggled at his description of Madison. Abi commented, “Well, that’s not fair that you can’t go find the families you left behind to say your goodbyes.”

Remus shrugged, “It is what it is. Now, I think I’ve taken enough of your time and you seemed to have fallen behind your group. If you wish to continue our chat, feel free to ask your teacher for permission at the end of your class. I usually haunt the former Gryffindor common room.” He waved them goodbye and floated off down a corridor.

After class…

“That was so wicked! I had no idea that the earliest known written magical incantations came from ancient Mesopotamia!”

“I know, right? Can you imagine what life must’ve been like during the 5th and 4th centuries BC?”

“Primitive, to be sure.”

“Ah, ickle firsties! Fresh out of their first class, are you?” Another male voice caused the bulk of the students to jump in surprise. This time, instead of Remus Lupin, it was a younger man with flaming red hair, a teasing smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

“Actually sir, we’ve been here since September of last year but if you’re referring to the first class of this year then you’d be correct.”

The red-haired ghost’s shoulders slumped a bit before muttering, “Ravenclaws, never could get a rise out of them.”

Maddy stared open-mouthed, “I know who you are! You’re Fred Weasley! I met your brother at his shop in Diagon Alley last summer.”

The aforementioned Fred bowed grandly, “And a pleasure to meet you too, little missy! I hope you were suitably impressed with the madcap mayhem my mind-spinning mundane other half had for sale? Who might you be?”

Maddy curtsied as she’d been taught, “Madison Potter, at your acquaintance.”

Fred’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, “A Potter, you say? I had loads of great times with a Harry Potter years ago. You wouldn’t happen to be related to the Man-With-The-Lightning-Scar?”

Maddy rolled her eyes and groaned, “He hates those nicknames and yes, I know him. He’s my dad.”

Fred swarmed up to her and laid a ghostly arm around her shoulder (the sudden temperature drop caused her to shiver), “Then you and I my dear, have much to talk about! I have stories about your parents that would make you giggle until your head falls off!”

Madison’s eyes twinkled almost as much as Fred’s did as she replied primly, “I’d like that very much. Shall we meet this weekend, say Saturday at 10am?”

Fred bowed to her, “It’s a date, milady. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some pranks brewing that are in desperate need of decanting.” The last anyone saw of him was his grin as he faded from view.

Someone snorted, “Anyone else thinking that he’s been watching too much of Alice in Wonderland with that Cheshire cat bit?”

Thursday 7 January 2021, Gryffindor Common Room, HEA

Maddy had been invited to visit Abi in her House for a couple of hours before the pair would go to the Clubhouse to do some studying. As the two girls were chatting with some of Abi’s housemates, there was a shriek near the window, “Snake! How did that snake get in here? Someone get help!”

Maddy peered over the back of the couch just in time to see a Scottish Adder poke its head up between the bookcases nearest the window and look around the room. Without thinking of the potential consequences, she spoke up, /”Hey there! You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”/

The snake’s (and everyone else’s) mouth dropped open in surprise. The adder slithered up to her, /”Speaker? Wow, I’ve heard stories of speakers here in the stone mound across the way but never here before.”/

Maddy got up and went round the couch to kneel in front of the snake, /”Yes, I speak. I inherited the ability from my father who lived in the stone mound years ago. As I said, it’s not safe for you to be here, why have you come?”/

/”I was chasing some prey and it flew into the hole in the wall here.”/

Maddy looked thoughtful before standing up, “Did anyone happen to see if there was a bird that flew into the room not too long ago?”

The fifth year prefect cast a summoning charm for any loose birds and a dead ball of feathers flew into her hand, “I think this must be it.”

Maddy took the bird and thanked the prefect before turning back to the snake, /”I think it would be best if you took your prey back outside to eat. The others here wouldn’t like it too much.”/

/”Thank you, Speaker. I appreciate the help.”/ The adder tipped her a jaunty farewell with its tail, took the bird carcass into its mouth and slithered back out of the window. Once the snake was gone, it finally dawned on Maddy that she’d spoken in Parseltongue in front of everyone, “Oh, damn…”

The room remained silent until a couple of Goblin teens approached her. The youngest of the pair stared in open-mouthed wonder, “That. Was…Awesome!! A real, live snake speaker!” He reached out and touched her on the shoulder, “I got to meet and touch a snake speaker!”

“Bloodflint, it’s not polite to get all excited like a child getting their first blade,” the elder goblin admonished, “That being said, it is an honor to meet you.” He bowed his head and saluted with his fist held up against his heart as if he was holding a dagger.

Maddy returned the bow, “Thank you, but I’m rather confused. Why does everyone feel surprised that I’m a Parselmouth? I mean, my father is one so why wouldn’t I be?” The chatter in the room started to pick up again.

The elder goblin cocked his head, “Your father?”

“Harry Potter.”

Now it was the elder goblin’s turn to get all starry-eyed, “Harry James Potter is your father?! Oh, Great Gornuk, I’ve always wanted to meet him! He was one to suggest to King Ragnok to send an exploratory team to Mars. My cousin was on that team and came back raving about the unlimited potential locked away within those ancient hills.”

Maddy gestured to Bloodflint, “I know his name, but what is yours?”

The elder Goblin slapped his head and snorted, “I’m sorry. Where are my manners; my name is Clawfist. I am a second year here at Hogwarts.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you. I had a Goblin friend back home when I was in primary. She was a lot of fun, always coming up with adventures and stories during playtime.”

“What was her name?”

Maddy scrunched up her face for a moment, “I can’t pronounce it in Goblin but the name she answered to was ‘Chryse.’”

Clawfist snorted, “I know whom you are talking about, or at least the family whom Chryse is related to. They’ve always had weird naming traditions. I heard they’d named her after Chryse Planitia on Mars.”

Maddy shrugged, “As I understand it, Goblin naming tradition for males are body parts, bloody or otherwise; something that denotes strength, right?”

Both goblins nodded. “For females, it’s usually something that denotes wealth, right? Well, Chryse Planitia is Greek for ‘Golden Plain.’ With ‘Plains’ being a synonym for fields, pastureland, savannahs; I think you get the idea.”

Clawfist stroked his chin, while Bloodflint slowly bobbed his head, “Makes sense in an odd way. Well, at any rate, I’m honored to make your acquaintance, Miss Potter.”

Saturday 9 January 2021, Hogwarts Castle, Main Courtyard; 10am

Maddy hesitantly approached the castle; its looming walls seemed to press in on her. “You know, it never seemed to be so scary-looking when I went here.” She whirled around and spotted Fred leaning unconcernedly against one propped open door while buffing his nails. “But, I guess after everything that happened; it’s bound to have changed the mood. How have you been, Miss Potter?”

“Please, call me Maddy. I’ve been doing okay. I love my classes, the changes to the school from what my parents remember are staggering, and Earth is a nice place to visit though I’m looking forward to getting home for the holidays.”

Fred floated over and settled down next to her, “I remember being able to go home. Mum used to yell at me and George for causing all sorts of chaos, and for getting bad grades. She would always go on about how if we got such bad grades; we wouldn’t be able to get nice, safe jobs in the Ministry like our father and older brother, Percy. The thing she never understood was that we were just not cut out to spend our days rubberstamping order forms or going to endless meetings listening to other boring people drone on and on about cauldron bottom thicknesses or some such rot. Even our father once admitted that he stayed within his department simply because he could do whatever he wanted and not once got called into any such meeting.”

Maddy nodded understandingly, “You guys were doers. My parents are like that. So I heard from Mr. Lupin that the ghosts, those who left a presence at other places they used to frequent when they were alive, are able to visit those places in death. (Fred nodded) So why haven’t you gone to visit your brother? I know he misses you. I overheard him telling that to my parents when we stopped in before school started last September.”

Fred cocked his head in thought, “That is a very good point, Maddy. Why haven’t I gone to visit Georgie? I’ve been to other places like the Burrow before so it’s not like I’m tied to the castle permanently, like Myrtle for example. Huh, I guess I just never thought about it. Maybe I could use the shop as my base point like many others use the castle.”

They settled into silence for a few moments listening to the birds chirping. Another ghost floated past, Maddy waved but was ignored. “So who all else is here from the Light?”

Fred thought for a moment, “Um, We’ve got Colin Creevey, he usually haunts his old photography lab on the fifth floor. Lavender Brown roams the hallways, you’ve already met Remus. His wife Tonks; she usually haunts the Astronomy Tower. There’s something like fifty others as well but they’re mostly wisps than actual ghosts. Most of them have already moved on too.”

“It’s sad that they died so young.”

Fred dipped his chin, “Yeah, but hey; life moves on, right? We’re still here and it’s not like the muggle ghosts who can’t interact with the living. Mum and Dad have already been by to talk with me; they let me know what’s been going on with the family and all.”

Maddy looked up at the sound of a distant screech and spotted several broom flying students, “Do you ever come over to the Annex?”

“Yup, all the time, though we ghosts have to promise not to cause any sort of mischief while we’re over there. Something about the new wards that were put in there, they don’t really like it when anything out of the ordinary happens whereas the older wards here in the castle have had the past thousand years or so to mellow out.”

“Maybe you ought to come over to put Annabelle Malfoy in her place,” Maddy grumped.

“Oh, why?”

“Well, Gryffindor House found out that I’m a Parselmouth on Thursday, and now I just know that she’s going to use that against me somehow. Right now it’s just Hugo that’s been a right pain in the butt.”

Fred groaned, “What has that pus boil spawn of my youngest brother done this time?”

Hitching up a shoulder, Maddy sneered, “He’s said some not nice things about me and how I’m going to be the next Dark Witch following in Daddy’s footsteps. I can’t prove it was him, but I found a dead rat in my book bag yesterday and he was the only one nearest to have done it.”

Fred sighed, “Listen, I personally can’t do anything about it, being a ghost and all; but if he gets to ragging on you too hard, just mention that if he doesn’t shut up, you’re going to send in the sock puppets.”

“Sock puppets?” she asked incredulously.

Fred’s answering grin was wide, “He’s terrified of sock puppets; especially ones with big, round, googly eyes, buck-teeth and green stringy hair.”

She shot him a penetrating look, “That’s oddly specific, Fred.”

Fred pantomimed a hurt look, “I didn’t do anything, though I know who did when Hugo was growing up. Strangely enough, the perpetrator looked just like me.”

Maddy couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing, “So when can I meet the others?”

Fred ‘rose’ to his feet and bowed theatrically, “Come right this way, my dear and let me show you the way.”

Fred led Maddy through the empty halls and classrooms, pointing out various areas of significant pranking historical note. She entered the Great Hall and gasped, there were dozens of ghosts representing many eras of history. “Wow, I think I could spend my entire life here and just barely scratch the surface of potential knowledge.”

A snort from her left caused her to turn where she spotted a young woman with hair that cycled through every shade of color in the rainbow, “Ravenclaw student?”

Maddy curtsied, “Yes, ma’am. Who are you?”

“I’m Tonks. I was in Hufflepuff when I was alive. Just a word of caution, don’t mention spending your entire life here amongst the dead; it’s kind of a touchy subject for some.”

Maddy’s eyes grew wide as she quietly gasped in understanding, “Right, I’m so sorry.”

Tonks waved her down, “It’s okay, sweetie. So, you look familiar somehow. Are you the child of someone famous?”

Maddy beamed, “My parents are Harry and Hermione Potter.”

Tonks eyebrows shot up, “Hermione Potter? Wow, she definitely married up. While I was still alive everyone thought she’d end up wasting her life being married to Ronald Weasley for some strange reason.”

Shrugging, Maddy didn’t know how to respond to that, “They’re two of the first people to return to the Moon and the first to settle on Mars, as well as a whole bunch of other incredible things.”

Tonks led her over to one of the tables, and patted the bench, “That’s impressive! Well, since you’re here; why don’t you tell us all about it? Being a ghost kind of limits one’s ability to learn new things.” Several other ghosts noticed the new arrival and began to crowd in.

Maddy hesitated as she thought about what to share, “Well, okay. How about we start with what life is like for me back home on Mars?”

Later in the HEA Great Hall; afternoon

By the start of the weekend, nearly everyone knew that Madison Potter was a Parselmouth. Unsurprisingly, it was only the non-humans who seemed to be in awe of her ability. Also unsurprisingly, Annabelle Malfoy took advantage of this and began spreading rumors that Madison Potter was a Dark Witch in Training. Remembering her father’s admonishments not to antagonize Maddy Potter directly, she took those instructions and went to the one person she knew who would be the easiest to wind up and point in the right direction, Hugo Weasley.

Even as a second year, Hugo had his dad’s worst traits in spades. He was a glutton for food, temperamental at the best of times, argumentative for the rest. He never shut up about his favorite Quidditch team; like his father, he was a fan of the Chudley Cannons. Many people often wondered if Ronald had somehow found a cloning facility and just made a copy of himself. His grades in class were on average at the Acceptable range with the occasional Exceeds Expectations, but for the most part; it was a wonder why the boy even came to Hogwarts other than it was a family tradition.

 “Hey, Potter! I heard you’ve got a wicked tongue; you gonna offer to use it to lick the boots of your betters?” Hugo sneered at Maddy as she walked past his table. “Maybe you’re just hungry? I suppose the elves could whip up some bird or rat pie for ya. Hiss, hiss, hiss!” He began laughing at his own jokes.

It wasn’t just words that hurt Maddy; she was the unfortunate victim of bullying from some of the others. In the span of just two days, she’d already had her favorite book stolen from her book bag and destroyed (she found the dented, mud-smeared cover hanging from a light fixture); and she had been shunned from the gobstones and flying clubs. She’d even heard whispers from a couple of older students about dumping her in the Chamber of Secrets to live amongst others of her kind.

Maddy sighed deeply but kept moving. As she sat down, she briefly glared at the red-headed fool then turned back to her friends in a huff, “I know who’s really behind his words but I can’t prove it. It’s no surprise that Annabelle found a sacrificial goat to stand in her place.”

“What are you going to do about it?” The lone elf student in her year, Cicely, asked her.

“I’m going to report them both to the Headmistress,” Maddy replied as she spooned some stew into her bowl, “He’s not worth my effort to get upset about. She on the other hand, might be dangerous despite my mother’s intervention.”

“What did she do?”

Maddy shrugged unconcernedly, “Went to the Malfoy Manor and yelled at Annabelle’s parents.”

“Well, I think it’s awesome that you can speak to animals,” chirped Carys Griffiths, a muggleborn girl in Hufflepuff from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It always amused the girl to no end listening to her friends’ stumble trying to pronounce the name. “Can you understand anything else, like maybe a dragon?”

Maddy cocked her head in thought, “I don’t know, Carys. I’ve never tried to speak to a dragon before.”

“I heard that Gringotts keeps one hidden away in the lowest reaches of the caverns.”

Maddy looked up and spotted Clawfist, “Hey, Clawfist!” He headed in her direction when he spotted her waving him over. “Is it true that Gringotts has a dragon tucked away down below?”

“We used to. That was before your mother and father used it to break out of Gringotts. After that, with the fall of the Statute, it became infeasible to legally keep one. Why?”

Gesturing at her friend, “Carys wanted to know if Parseltongue could be used with dragons.”

Clawfist grunted, “Probably. Snakes and dragons are related much in the same way that humans and chimpanzees are related. If you’re that interested, you might want to write to Gringotts and see if they know of any of the preserves that have visiting times and dates.”

Maddy grinned at him, “Thanks, Clawfist. If you’re not busy, you can join us for lunch.”

He shook his head and returned her grin, “Nah, sorry. I promised some of my dorm mates that we’d bond over ‘manly stuff,’ grunt, and scratch at unmentionable places.” The girls squealed in indignation as he waved goodbye.

Maddy huffed good-naturedly, “Boys.”

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall’s Office, HEA

Maddy hesitated before the oak door that guarded the entrance to the headmistress’ office. She felt like a tattle-tale baby who couldn’t solve her own problems. Before she could consciously stop herself, she knocked on the wood door.

“Come in!”

Maddy opened the door and stepped through before her courage could flee, “Headmistress, I’d like to report problems of people bullying me.”

The anger in Minerva’s eyes flared for a moment before they softened towards the hesitant girl, “Come in and tell me about whom it is and what you think caused it.”

At dinner…

Minerva stormed up to the podium and tapped on the bell to get everyone’s attention, “It has been brought to my attention that some of you have been bullying another student just because she’s able to speak another language. THIS STOPS NOW! I will NOT have any of you repeating the mistakes of the past simply because it doesn’t match your own bigoted ideas. As of right now, by my authority, ALL clubs, organizations, and teams are henceforth suspended until further notice! You will ALL participate in courses on anti-bullying and tolerance practices. Failure to do so will see you expelled from this school in disgrace. Take note and learn from my words, children; I am NOT Albus Dumbledore! I will not condone such behavior in this school or on the grounds around us. The days of his lackadaisical beliefs that bullying is nothing more than childish pranks are over.”

Professor Longbottom’s office, 3pm local time

“So that shipment of Antipodean Opaleye fertilizer should make up for the difference in pH levels in Greenhouse 42,” Neville commented as he and Harry got caught up on their weekly conference calls.

Harry nodded in agreement, “Thanks again for the assistance. Anything else happen down there that I should know about?”

Neville scratched at the stubble on his chin, “Well, the whole school knows that Maddy is a Parselmouth. So far, only her friends and the non-humans seem to be in awe of her ability.”

“Joy. Anyone taking shots at her?”

“There’ve been a few instances, but Minerva clamped down hard on the school. She’s suspended all of the extracurricular activities and such until everyone passes a course on anti-bullying behavior. From what I heard, she was alerted to the problem by Maddy, herself.”

Harry groaned and thumped his head on his desk, “Anyone in particular that’s been harassing her?”

“Well, Ron’s kid has been, but so far Maddy’s been ignoring him. Boy’s dumber than a box of rocks and given whom his parents are that’s saying something.”

Harry couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing, “Neville! You’re not supposed to say that about the students!”

Neville shrugged unrepentantly, “I can’t say that in front of the students. Nothing in the rule book says I can’t say that to another adult. Seriously, the only reason I can even think of why he goes here is because Hogwarts is the only school a Weasley has ever gone to and you know how Molly gets when she puts in her two knuts.”

Harry harrumphed at that, “So does Ron need a visit from Hermione or me?”

“Nah, Hugo’s not smart enough to come up with anything on his own. Chances are someone wound him up and pointed him in the direction they wanted him to go. My money’s on the Malfoy kid. She’s bright but vicious.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Ugh, Hermione already went to give them her opinion over what Annabelle attempted to do to Maddy.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“Hermione yelled, Draco pissed himself, and Ginny got hot-tempered. After that, I heard that Draco wrote a letter of some kind to his daughter. No idea as to the content, but if what you described is true; then she’s using that Slytherin cunning to act out her revenge.”

This time it was Neville’s turn to harrumph, “Like you said, joy. It’s like our era all over again. Malfoys versus Potters with the Weasleys in the mix for flavor.”

“Except that Weasley isn’t supporting a Potter. Listen; if it gets bad, just use your professorship level of power to assign detention.  If it gets really bad, I’ll send Hermione.”

An eyebrow quirked up, “You wouldn’t get involved?”

“If it reaches Head of House levels, then yeah, I’ll step in. Hermione on the other hand, she’s merely her mother and local Librarian. Such a sweet temperament too,” Harry’s face had a look of ‘innocence’ that had Neville rolling with laughter.

Thursday 14 January 2021

After being outed as a Parselmouth (and the one suspected of being responsible for the headmistress’ ruling regarding the bullying), Maddy was feeling rather lonely. Abi adamantly refused to leave her best friend, “Where a Potter goes; this Black-Bones girl will be there to stand guard.” She wrapped Maddy up in her arms and practically squeezed the life out of her friend. Now, though, as she trudged along the path leading down to the pasture, she once again wondered what possessed her to squeal to the headmistress. She leant up against one of the stony paddock walls and sighed heavily.

“’Ello, wha’ wrong wit ye?” Maddy turned sharply and spotted Hagrid coming out of the paddock with a curious look on his face.

“Hello, Hagrid. I’m just sort of upset by the others in the school. They found out I’m a Parselmouth and now they treat me like I have some sort of disease.”

Hagrid shook his bushy head, “Aww, don’ feel so bad, Maddy. Yer father felt th’ same when he went here.”

She nodded, “I heard the stories. It must’ve been rougher for him not having any friends that stuck with him other than my mother.”

Hagrid scratched his chin, “Well, I wouldn’t say tha’. He ‘ad me, a couple of the pr’fessors, and anyone else who ‘ad a brain in their heads.” He studied her for a moment, “Since yer here, I was wondr’in if’n you’d help me with me own problem?”

Picking her head up, she cocked her head curiously, “What sort of problem?”

“Squeak hasn’ been feelin’ too hot lately and I was wondr’in if you’d speak to her?”

“Squeak?”

Instead of answering, Hagrid waved for her to follow him.

‘Squeak’ as it turned out was a species of dragon. A tiny one to be sure; but a dragon all the same. It was no larger than an average housecat and had a soft, mottled grey colored fur with a slightly lighter hue on its underside. Pale grey-blue feathered wings fluttered as it rose to its feet and peered over at the entering pair. Tiny bony ridges ran along its nasal crest and it made little squeaky sounds as it chattered and chirped from its nest.

“Where did you get it, Hagrid?” Maddy whispered in awe. The large man picked up Squeak and placed it gently in her hands. Squeak sniffed her hands and clambered up her arm to investigate her face and hair before settling down in her arms, allowing Maddy to stroke her fur.

“Hea’mistress McGonagall gave her to me. She said I twasn’t to be gettin’ into no more trouble wit’ the larger breeds if’n I had me own,” Hagrid replied proudly.

/”Can you understand me?”/

Squeak just cocked its head and continued to chatter like a squirrel. Maddy pouted a little bit, “I’m sorry, Hagrid but I don’t think she understands Parseltongue.”

Hagrid smiled warmly, “Tha’ awright, twas just a hope. You wanna cuppa?”

“So, yer father was the firs’ person to ‘ave ridden Beaky. Tha’s rare too, fer a hippogriff only allows those of pure hearts to ride them.”

Maddy spent an exquisitely delightful hour with Hagrid listening to his incredible stories of her parents when they were students. Squeak had apparently decided that her shoulders would make the perfect napping site. She draped herself over Maddy’s shoulders and went to sleep; cute, little contented chirping noises were heard. She laughed at the one tale of Harry getting pranked by her mother into thinking that he was wearing his school clothes but in reality was wearing a frilly yellow and blue polka dotted frock dress and Mary Jane shoes. Apparently this was in punishment for him suggesting to her that she ought to wear the same if she ever wanted boys to see her as a girl.

By the time she left to head back to the HEA, her mood was back to its normal effervescent self with a light-hearted skip to her feet.

Time Skip: Spring 2021; Friday 19 March 2021

If there was one thing that Maddy enjoyed most of all about Earth was the amount of life that burst forth during the spring season. The hills, valleys, lakes and streams were all overflowing with an abundance of life and the promise of adventure that it made it incredibly difficult for her to pay attention to her classes, especially for a Martian-born girl who only got to explore her birth world if she was encased in an environmental suit.

However, March was quickly shaping up to be the worst month to get any sort of studying done. The skies were a brilliant blue, the hills were a vibrant green covered with swaths of multi-colored hues of wildflowers, and to top it all off, the gentle breezes carried with it the sweet floral notes that tickled and teased her senses. Maddy forced herself to turn away from the window to where Professor Flitwick was teaching her class on the Mending Charm.

“The incantation is ‘Reparo’ and is pronounced ‘reh-PAH-roh.’ The wand movement should be started from chest height and resemble a backwards capital J like so.” He moved his wand slowly and had them all follow along. “Very good. Now comes the fun part. I want each of you to come up to the front, choose a teacup, and smash it on the floor. (Several giggles were heard) Then I want you to perform the spell as I just demonstrated. Who wants to go first?”

Maddy immediately raised her hand, “I’ll go, professor.” She headed up to the front and picked up a delicate floral patterned teacup and dropped it on the floor where it shattered into a many tiny pieces. She frowned at the sight of the mess, “Professor, if I recall correctly, the trick is to visualize what I want to have happen, right?”

Flitwick beamed proudly, “Indeed that is correct, Miss Potter.”

Maddy closed her eyes for a moment, getting a mental image as to what she wanted the finished cup to look like then reopened her eyes, waved her hand while casting, “Reparo!”

The shattered cup reassembled itself with a tinkling sound and wobbled slightly before coming to an upright rest on the floor. She picked it up and critically examined it before proudly handing it over. Flitwick noted that the repair lines remained and looked like it had been sealed back in place using gold, “Miss Potter?”

“That’s a repair technique used by the Japanese called ‘Kintsugi’ ("golden joinery"), also known as ‘Kintsukuroi’ ("golden repair.”) It’s the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.” At the look of surprise on Flitwick’s face, she huffed good-naturedly, “What? As a Potter, did you really think I wouldn’t know anything about ceramics?”

Snorting in surprise, Flitwick shook his head, “My apologies Miss Potter; it’s just that I haven’t seen such artistry since your grandmother was in my class. Ten points to Ravenclaw.”

Abi skipped up to her friend after class, “Hey, Mads. Got any plans for your upcoming birthday?”

Maddy scrunched her face up a bit, “You do realize that it’s not for another three weeks or so?”

“Doesn’t hurt to plan, so how old are you going to be?”

“Eh, if you round it out, I’ll be six.”

Abi giggled, “No matter how many times I hear about the differences, it’s still funny.”

Maddy just rolled her eyes and playfully nudged Abi, “Come on, we’re going to be late for lunch.”

As the two girls were sitting in the HEA Great Hall munching on their lunches, the conversations around them rumbled and roiled like a thunderous ocean wave crashing against the shore; until it sharply fell off to silence. Picking her head up, Maddy followed the stares of everyone as they looked towards the entrance. Standing there with Headmistress McGonagall was a blue-skinned child with a pair of antennae on top of its head (the antennae were twitching as if sniffing the air around it.)

She felt Abi nudge her. “What species do you suppose that one is?”

“Dunno. Though I’m curious to find out. Hold my place, will you?” Maddy got up and approached the pair, “Hi, My name is Madison Potter. Welcome to Earth in general and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry specifically. What’s your name?”

Minerva’s face was a picture of barely suppressed amusement. She gently encouraged the child to introduce themselves. The blue-skinned child, a boy, nervously held out his hand like he’d obviously been taught, “He…hello. My name is Keval.”

“Would you like to join me and my friends for some lunch?”

Keval’s antennae twitched as he glanced in Minerva’s direction. When the headmistress didn’t respond, he hesitantly nodded his head, “Thank you.” Maddy led him back to her table and began the introductions.

Abi being the naturally bold one of their group; asked the one question that had been at the foremost on their minds, “Why are you blue?”

Keval’s face took on a slightly deeper blue tinge, “Um, I don’t really know how to answer that. We just are.”

“We?”

“My people are known as Andorians.”

“Neat! So your…” she gestured to his antennae.

“They help sense the world around me. I can smell things that most noses miss.”

Maddy cocked her head as she took a bite of her sandwich, “So are you able to do magic too? I didn’t know anyone from off-Earth was capable of doing magic.”

Keval shook his head, “I can’t do magic like you can with the sticks and all but I can do magic with stones and inscribed symbols.”

Carys perked up, “Oh, you must mean runes! That’s a fun subject to learn about and one of my favorites.”

As they chatted, Keval slowly came out of his shell and opened up about his family, what they did (his mother and father lived and worked in Hogsmeade as telecommunication technicians), and the friends that he’d left behind on Andor. “I’m most looking forward to flying on a broom. I got to see some of that when we first got here and now, I can’t wait to try it myself.”

“It’s a thrill like none other,” Maddy gushed, “On my homeworld, brooms aren’t really all that useful outside of sweeping the floor, and that’s because Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field like Earth does. My first time on a broom, I ended up flying upside-down! My instructor thought I was messing around and went to take points away from me but when I tried again, I rolled right on over. It took the instructor a while to figure out that I kept holding the broom wrong.” The others chuckled at the memory of that day.

Carys glanced at her watch and announced that it was almost time for the bell to ring, “What class do you have, Keval?”

Keval pulled his class schedule from his pocket, “Um, I have something called ‘Modern Studies?’”

“That’s where we’re heading next. It’s the classes like English, math, general history, and sciences. Come on, you can follow us,” Maddy explained as she stood up, looped her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her tray.

They continued chatting on their way to class, “So what is Andor like?”

“Well it’s an ice-covered moon orbiting around a ringed gas giant and is home to two species, mine and the mythical Aenar. There are some who say that the Aenar are real but I’ve never seen one.”

“Neat. When did your species become warp-capable?”

Keval thought hard for a moment before shaking his head, “I don’t remember; a while ago I suppose.”

Maddy patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. So what’s your favorite subject in school?”

Keval chewed on his cheek, “Um, I would have to say the sciences. It’s fun to mix things together and watch for their reactions.”

“Oh! Then you’re going to love potions class.”

“What about you? What’s your favorite subject?” he asked as they entered the classroom and took their seats.

“I think Charms is my current favorite though History of Magic ranks up there pretty high too.”

They fell silent as their teacher called the roll and began laying out what they’d be doing that day.

When class let out, Maddy and crew took Keval over to the clubhouse to show him where the best studying spots were as well as the indoor gymnasium and play area. His eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the climbing wall so she took him over to where one of the attendants were stationed and introduced him to them. She watched as he was put into a harness and run through the basic safety instructions then given leave to begin his ascent.

“You can do it, Keval!” Maddy cheered as he reached a section that sloped outwards.

Once he managed to reach the top and ring the bell, he rappelled back down; his eyes wide with excitement, “That was incredible! What else do you have here?”

Maddy’s grin was toothy as she led him over to the aptly named ‘Disc Wars,’ Hogwarts very own anti-gravity combat arena, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

By the time that curfew came around, and Keval was safely ensconced back in his dorm room, he’d been tossed around, swung upside down by his ankles, and bounced until he was about ready to puke yet the moment he regained his feet; he was raring to go again. Maddy hadn’t taken it easy on him as she ran him through his paces as they fought to gain control of the glowing flying discs. According to the rules, the ‘Disc Wars’ is one of many gladiatorial events played out in the Game Arena, where players were placed into separate compartments and challenged to fight using their Identity Discs (colored red or blue) for the amusement of the spectators (and each other.) A player struck by an opponent's disc or cast from the ring via a broken floor-plate immediately triggered a buzzer, signaling the loss of the game. Points were accrued the longer the game went on and how many times you tagged your opponent. The one with the highest score got bragging rights and their name on the leaderboard. Gravity on the arena platforms could be randomly reversed by a timer built into the control panel. A change in gravity was signaled by a chime on the side of the ring.

“So I heard you got caught up playing Disc Wars with Potter,” his dorm mate commented as they settled in for the night.

Keval smiled serenely, “Yeah, it was incredible. We don’t have anything like that back home.”

His dorm mate, a 12-year old Romulan boy named Jenseth grinned, “No one does. It’s a game that was developed here on Earth after someone saw the movie Tron Legacy. It’s a marvel of engineering according to my father. So who won?”

Keval snorted, “She did, of course. I’d imagine that she’s used to playing it. When did it come out?”

Jenseth thought for a moment, “Last year, I think. How long have you been on-planet?”

Keval hitched his pillow under his head, “Since last week.”

“The Andorians come from an ice world, right? Just wait until you experience a Scottish winter, you’ll feel right at home.”

Keval sighed as he smiled at the thought, “I can’t wait.”

Potter Residence, Mars

Harry eased back in his favorite recliner and picked up his tablet to read some news. Hermione was puttering around in her craft room while Sam was doing who-knew-what with his toys. As he flicked through the articles, his attention was drawn to a flashing light indicating that he had an incoming urgent email. He clicked on the icon and smiled happily to see that it was from Tiny. His smile turned into a frown as he started reading the message though.

Dear Harry (and Hermione);

I must say once again that I’ve been extraordinarily blessed to have been given the incredible opportunity to be able to travel around the galaxy. I’ve met so many different people and civilizations; I wonder if this is how V’ger felt when he gained sentience. The amount of disparity is incredible! As of this writing, I find myself in the Beta Quadrant, taking a welcome respite on the planet of Janus IV. There’s an intelligent non-humanoid species here called the ‘Horta.’ It’s a silicon cycle lifeform that at first glance looks nothing more than a glob of fibrous asbestos. Well, that first impression is misleading as the Horta are incredibly long-lived, upwards of fifty thousand years! I’ve included my records of conversation with them. Speaking of V’ger, he sends his greetings and promises to return ‘soon’ though how soon that is, is anyone’s guess.

In addition to the wonders of the galaxy, I’ve also found some troubles. Nothing so much as getting myself embroiled in whatever conflict there is between species but troubling nonetheless. What’s troubling is the discovery of an apparently omnipotent species known only by a single letter; the Q. What that letter stands for, I don’t have a clue. They pop in and out of reality like the elves back home and like to… test the limits of whatever species that catches their attention. The one member I met, his manipulations remind me of what you said Dumbledore used to do to you back during your years at Hogwarts. He's devious and amoral and unreliable and irresponsible and… and definitely not to be trusted. Q typically appears as a humanoid male, though he could take on other forms if he wished.

I want you to take this information, and the attached memory file, back to Admiral Forrest and the others of the ISA to prepare them if this Q ever turns his attention to the people of Earth. There can be no good that comes from his ‘trials.’

I think my next stop should be in the Zed Lapis sector where according to rumor, is a gargantuan structure that makes V’ger look like a twig. I’ll send you pictures when I get there.

Love to you both,

Tiny

Harry put down his tablet and groaned to himself, ‘Great, just what we don’t need…’

Sunday 11 April 2021, Hogwarts HEA

It was Madison Potter’s sixth birthday today and lucky for her, it fell on a weekend which meant that she would be able to spend the entire day doing whatever she wanted! She quickly got dressed and bounced her way down the stairs into the Ravenclaw Common Room where she was nearly bowled over by the sound of her friends all yelling, “Surprise! Happy birthday!”

Maddy was all smiles and hugged each of them in turn. Her cheeks were practically ready to split her face in two and only got wider when she spotted her parents, brother, and grandparents waiting for her in the Great Hall.

“Mum! Dad! Sammy! Oh, my god, Grandma and Grandpa too?! This is the best day ever!” She squealed as she rushed over to them only to get dog-piled into a four-way hug from her parents and grandparents.

“We thought we’d surprise you on your special day; you should feel lucky, I originally was heading to an interplanetary trade meeting when it dawned on me at the last second that today might be important enough to come visit you,” Harry haughtily sniffed; Hermione whapped him on the arm, “Kidding! I’m just kidding!”

Emma rolled her eyes at her son-in-law’s antics, “So how does it feel to be a whopping six years old today?”

Maddy could only shake her head, “It still hasn’t set in yet.” Her smile faded a bit when she spotted Annabelle stalk past the group with her ever-present sneer as the unpleasant girl headed to the Slytherin table.

Hermione noticed, “Is she still giving you trouble?”

Maddy blushed at being read so easily, “Nothing direct; she just winds up Hugo and lets him do all the dirty work.” Hermione just growled lowly at that then visibly pushed it away.

“Let’s not worry about that now. Today is your day; any idea as to what you want to do?”

Unsurprisingly, her daughter pulled out a list. “Um, I thought that we could go on a broom ride around the valley, or maybe a bike ride since grandma and grandpa can’t use a broom? I also thought that we could head over to the clubhouse where we could go crazy in there; I think Dad would love Disc Wars.”

Harry perked up, “Is that the game that was inspired by the second Tron movie?” She nodded yes. “Wicked!”

“We could also go up to the Room of Requirement and set up one of the adventure scenarios like finding the Treasure of El Dorado, the opening of King Tut’s Tomb, river rafting down the Amazon.”

Both Harry and Hermione’s faces sobered a bit, “Um, sweetie, the castle is not…let’s see what else you have.”

A teasing smirk appeared on Maddy’s face, “Well, we could go over to Hagrid’s and play the game, ‘What Secret is Hagrid Hiding?’ He’s terrible at keeping secrets.”

Harry snorted, “That’s easy. You just have to get him flustered and he’ll start spilling.”

Maddy grinned at her father, “Right? Fun times…”

Dan cleared his throat, “If we’re going to head out anywhere, I think we need a decision.”

In the end, Maddy gathered up her five closest friends: Carys Griffiths, Clawfist, Abi, Taryn Cunningham, plus Keval because he needed friends, and informed them that they’d be heading into London with her and her family to celebrate her birthday. All five kids were immediately excited though Keval worried that his parents might not give their permission. Hermione eased his fears by letting him know that she’d already spoken to them a couple of days ago.

“So where are we headed?” Taryn asked her friend.

Harry’s answering grin made all except Clawfist gulp in trepidation, “The one place where you can be the vicious little animals we all know kids can be.”

Go Laser Tag – London, three hours later

The look of awe on all of the kids’ faces would fuel the laughter of their parents for days to come. Clawfist in particular, looked like he was ready to explode into fits of rapture. “How did Gringott’s not know this was here?” He would exclaim over and over again throughout the day. Fifty forested acres of terrain designed to challenge and excite even the most timid player. The six kids and four adults were given a safety and game information lecture, issued their choice of three different styles of rifles, and kitted out with gloves and forest camouflage clothing then set free into the park. They were able to play about five games during the two-hour adventure, parents against kids. Because it was her birthday, Maddy was automatically the kids’ squad leader; a role she took to with ease. Clawfist was made the team’s sniper, with everyone else filling out the rest of the assault team. Each of them got a set of dog tags made up (which they got to keep), photos of them in action, and a pizza party at the end and memories galore.

In addition to the laser tag, Harry also picked up a booklet of 8 VIP paintballing tickets a potential reward for getting good grades at the end of the year. When he let Hermione know about them, she smirked and wondered just how colorful her precious baby girl would be at the end. Unsurprisingly, the kids beat the adults at laser tag; their formations were fluid and lethal; Harry commented later that it was a shame that Mad-eye or Amelia couldn’t be there to see the kids in action, particularly Abi. The girl was a phantom moving through the trees and brush with barely a noise or blade of grass bent.

When the group finally returned to Hogwarts, they put away all of their hard-earned loot and finished up the day with cake and presents. Maddy’s grandparents had gotten her the obligatory clothes, Harry and Hermione used the outing as their present (which she was perfectly happy with), and Sammy had given her a hand-drawn picture of his big sister standing in front of Hogwarts castle. From Carys, she received a large box of a new product from Bertie Bott’s Candies. It was labeled, ‘Bertie Bott’s Every Reaction Bean; a different experience every time!’ They were touted as being the latest hit from the legendary confectionary maker, and a surefire way to pass the time with the results either ending in hilarity or tragedy.

Hermione eyed the candy warily, “Knowing this company, I’m worried that some of these reactions might be a bit too much. I strongly recommend you don’t eat them without an adult present, okay Maddy?”

Maddy agreed with her mum, “No problem. Thanks Carys, you sure know how to cause chaos.”

Carys grinned unrepentantly, “You bet; someone’s got to keep you on your toes.”

Harry and Hermione shared a commiserating glance, “Carys, dear? Are you sure you aren’t related to the Weasley Twins?”

From Clawfist, he’d gifted his friend with a beautiful gemstone bracelet inscribed with runic inlays designed to promote peace of mind and tranquility. Abi’s gift was a book titled, ‘How to walk tall (even when you’re a pipsqueak.)’ It was full of tips and tricks designed with the blossoming tween girl in mind on how to navigate the teenage social scene. Maddy grinned thankfully at her best friend, “This ought to come in handy in C&E class.”

Keval didn’t really know her all that well but had managed to cobble together a hand-drawn card wishing her a happy birthday as well as a token of gratitude in the form of an intricate wire and bead necklace for including him in her life.

Taryn stepped up and handed her friend another book. When Maddy saw the front cover, she gasped, “Taryn! This is incredible!”

Harry leant over her shoulder and whistled in appreciation, “Nice, where’d you get it?”

Taryn blushed, “There’s a room in the Slytherin library where I found a bunch of old books. I don’t speak or read Parseltongue but after listening to Maddy speak it; I figured she’d like to have it. It’s just been collecting dust for who knows how long. I checked with my Head of House and he doesn’t think it belongs to anyone.”

Emma raised her hand, “Um, what does it say?”

Maddy held it up for her inspection, “It’s a primer guide for learning how to cast beginning spells in Parseltongue!”

Hermione tapped her excited daughter on the shoulder, “Just like with the beans, make sure one of us is with you before you try anything within, okay?”

Friday 23 April 2021; Hogwarts Greenhouses

Despite it being April, there was a torrential downpour of rain that day so Maddy’s class was holed up in the greenhouses learning how to transplant and care for Moly flowers. Neville had cast a sound-dampening charm on the ceiling so they could talk without having to shout. “So who here can tell me about the properties of the Moly plant? Yes, Miss Pemberton…”

While Neville was explaining their assignment, Maddy was telling the others what the new Bertie Bott’s Beans were like, “Unlike the normal flavor beans, these don’t really have much of a taste. What they do instead is create a momentary reaction in you. For example, I picked out a random sample that gave me severe farting, a pounding headache, and that weird taste whenever you bite into a piece of aluminum.”

The others listening in made disgusted noises and quiet squeals, “How could anyone willing do that to themselves?”

Maddy laughed just as quietly, “I don’t know. Fred was telling me that his brother had mentioned that the company developed them to compete with the Weasley Wizarding Wheeze’s Skivving Snackboxes.”

“Miss Potter? Are you listening back there?” Neville interrupted them.

“Sorry, Professor Longbottom!” She squeaked and blushed bright red as she turned back to the lesson.

After class…

Neville held her back to gently admonish her that while Herbology might not be as ‘cool’ as some of the other subjects, it was still required to graduate to the next year. “What was so important that it distracted you from my lecture?”

“I got a box of Bertie Bott’s for my birthday, Uncle Neville.” She was allowed to call him that outside of class.

He frowned in confusion, “You’ve had those before. Did they come out with a new flavor?”

Maddy dug around in her bag and pulled out the leftover box and its remaining contents, “No, it’s a different line entirely.” She handed the box over to him.

Neville read the description and groaned, “Oh, this ought to be a hoot. What’s the worst experience you’ve had so far?”

Maddy grimaced, “I had one that caused me to feel like there were ants crawling under my skin.”

Neville shook his head and handed her the box back, “Just be careful, alright?”

She beamed at him, “I promise. Thanks, Uncle Neville.” She turned and skipped out of his office.

ISA Survey Ship Ares IV; enroute to Jupiter’s moon Europa

The newest ship in the Scientific Division of the ISA, the Ares IV’s design sort of resembled the old Apollo spacecraft with a stack of fuel and supply modules stacked up behind it and finishing off with their propulsion module and solar panels. The Ares IV craft was made up of several connected modules, with the "Martian Command Module", located in the front, acting as the craft's bridge. This command module was cylindrical and had two pilot seats with a small curved window in front of each. The craft had seat belts on the chairs to keep the pilots secured in their seats during take-off and in the zero gravity of space.

Between the two command seats was a Spectrum video monitor and digital clock that had a series of push-buttons and switches to control the ship's systems. The mission commander sat on the starboard side, which also controlled the ship's engines and sensors. The screen in front of him showed various spatial information; such as the ship's location and video feed of the surface team on a "TM-9U Color Video Monitor."

The Ares IV had a third-generation ion drive as a sublight propulsion system, designed for travel to Pluto and back, not for deep space. The ship had an ionic power system that relayed power to all the ship's systems and was channeled through an ion distributor as well as a Class 3 Alcubierre warp drive ring giving it a maximum speed of Warp 1.5. The Ares was also able to replenish some of its own power through the use of two large photovoltaic solar panels on each side of the ship. Their elf-core’s name was Pip who was currently running a wide-spectrum scan of a passing smattering of interstellar dust.

Lieutenant John Kelly scanned the control panel for his ship and tapped in the instructions for a minor course correction. To his right was his co-pilot Rose Kumagawa, and behind him was his Mission Specialist Andrei Novakovich. Their mission was to investigate the source of an unknown signal coming from either near or on the surface of Europa. Their ship was tiny but jam-packed with sensors and scientific equipment to analyze the smallest details.

The Ares IV had just exited warp space and was using their sublight drive to carefully approach the anomaly. “Anything on the sensors?” John asked Andrei.

“Nope. Nothing, I can barely see the damn thing.”

“Weird.”

Rose snorted, “Is that a technical term, John?”

John replied with a teasing smirk, “It is now.”

“Hey, Cap?”

“Go ahead, Pip.”

“I’m picking up something on the long-range scanners. It keeps flickering in and out of view.”

“Does it appear to be threatening?”

“Not as yet.”

“Okay, keep going with the analysis and let me know if anything changes.”

“Yup.”

Two hours later…

The intermittent signal now had their complete focus. Every time the ship changed course, it changed course and seemed to be gaining on them.

“I just don’t get it. It’s like an electrical storm not anywhere close to the Jupiter – Io magnetic fields. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it almost looks like a tunnel,” Rose commented as she zoomed in on the image.

John glanced over at Andrei, “Get on the radios and contact Houston, let them know what we’ve found and what it’s doing. Tell them it seems to be following us and that we’re going to make a couple of micro-jumps to see if it’s actually tracking us or something else entirely.” Andrei nodded and moved off.

Just as Andrei clicked on the radio to transmit their message, the ‘storm’ surged forward and enveloped their ship with tendrils of red and purple plasma-like lightning. The ship’s occupants began screaming as the lightning raised havoc on their bodies and minds, and shorted out numerous systems throughout the ship. Pip was just barely able to dump all last-run sensor and internal communication logs into an automated drone and fired it off back towards Earth before the Ares IV and the storm vanished from sight.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Dreams of the Future: The First Stirrings of a Federation

Tuesday 4 July 2034; in orbit over Qo’nos (Klingon homeworld); ISA Ambassadorial Courier ship ‘Dauntless’

Maddy nervously fidgeted in her place two rows behind the Ambassador as they prepared to portkey down to the surface of the planet. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into me. It’s not like I’ve never been around aliens before.’ She nearly yelped when a hand touched her on the shoulder before turning to see the comforting smirk of her long-time friend, Clawfist.

“Calm down, Maddy. You’re going to make yourself sick with worry,” his deep voice slightly gravelly.

Maddy returned his smirk with a sheepish grin of her own, “I know, but this my first mission away from home. What if I do something stupid that ruins it all for everyone?”

Clawfist shrugged, “Then it’ll be a good fight trying to get back to the ship.”

Maddy snorted quietly, “Keep talking like that and these people are going to love you.”

She glanced around and took the moment to reflect on how her life changed since her decision to enter Hogwarts all those years ago.

Flashback…

Hogwarts was a time of great exploration and learning. She made some great friends, and even an enemy or two. Her classes, especially Charms and History of Magic were incredible (though she could’ve easily given up on the Modern Studies; after all, magical classes were infinitely more impressive than non-magical math classes.)

She made friends with Clawfist, Abigail Black-Bones, and Keval, the sweet Andorian boy who eventually became her boyfriend. The school found out by accident that she was a Parselmouth, but with some time and patience, everyone soon got over her language abilities with a ‘Dark’ tongue simply because she never tried to lord it over them. It was because of them that she even considered becoming an ambassadorial aide. She loved to learn about their cultures, languages, food, and music. For her, it was easy to just walk up to someone new and say, “Hi! My name is Madison Potter. What’s yours?”

Present…

The portkey effects dissipated leaving the diplomatic team a bit windswept. A breeze from the south stirred their hair and cloaks. Their escort was nowhere to be seen and it was causing a few to break out in murmurs of consternation. Maddy sniffed the air and made an appreciative noise which caught the ambassador’s attention.

“What is it, Miss Potter?”

Maddy blinked, not realizing that A, he knew her name and B, he had heard her, “I’m sorry, Ambassador. I just smelled something spicy in the air.”

Before he could reply, they heard a shout of surprise and turned to see a towering and bulky figure approaching fast. Their guards immediately turned to the possible confrontation and fingered their weapons. “Ambassador! We weren’t expecting you to beam down. Everyone is waiting at the landing pad.”

The ambassador smiled gently and spread his hands to show that he had no weapons as per Klingon traditions, “It’s not a problem; just a simple misunderstanding I’m sure. Now that you’re here, why don’t you escort us to where we were supposed to be?”

Their escort led the group back to the landing pad where the rest of their Klingon hosts were waiting. At the escort’s shout they all turned. A couple could be seen breathing a sigh of relief.

“My apologies, Ambassador Krum; we apparently had a miscommunication as to landing coordinates,” Earth Ambassador Andrew Cromwell said.

Krum waved his apology aside and clapped him on the shoulder, “At least you made it. Come, we have much to discuss.”

Maddy’s ears perked up at the sound of two of the Klingon guards chatting as they passed by. “va, pumbe'law' ghotvam. jIleghlaHbe'law' jIH neH.” (These humans don't seem so imposing. I bet I could snap one like a twig.) She smirked and glanced over at Clawfist who rolled his eyes derisively.

Clawfist nudged her and spoke in a carrying stage-whisper, “DaHjaj ramjep, lI'taHvIS ramjep, DujlIj ghojmoHwI', dujlIj ghopDaj.” (You would think that some people would be wary of the newcomers. It's a tactical loss when your potential adversary knows how to speak your own language.)

The stunned expressions on the guards’ faces were priceless. The two ambassadors turned to see what the commotion was all about. “Miss Potter?” Cromwell inquired, “Is there something you wish to say?”

Maddy’s face was a picture of ‘sweet innocence,’ “Oh, my apologies ambassador. I was merely mentioning that some people didn’t know when to speak softly. You never know if there are those who can speak the language.”

Ambassador Krum looked surprised, “ghe''orvo' qa'daj leghbe' 'e' vIleghqang.” (I was not aware that anyone besides the ambassador knew how to speak our language.")

Maddy shrugged and gestured towards Clawfist, “vIQoylaHbe'chugh wanI'vam vIleghlaHbe'chugh ghu' vIQoylaHbe'chugh.” (“It's not too dissimilar to Gob'lean and I've been speaking that since I was a child.")

For a moment, Krum looked as if he were about ready to attack, so fierce was his features but then he let out a guttural laugh, “I like this one, Ambassador Cromwell! She has…what is the human word… ah, yes chutzpah!”

Cromwell gave her a pleased expression, “Miss Potter comes from a long line of memorable people. I’m lucky to have her on my team.”

The staffers were directed to a suite of rooms to unpack while the ambassador was taken off to discuss whatever it was that ambassadors talked about. As Maddy was getting settled into her dorm room, she pulled out her most prized possession aside from her framed photo of her family and Keval together on the latter two’s graduation from Hogwarts; her VISOR. It was a marvel of a blend of muggle computer technology and magic (Keval used the term ‘magitech.’) It sat on her head like any other goggles using a padded band around her head. The VISOR was tinted so as to give the projected holographic information better visibility. On her hands was a pair of Bluetooth connected gloves that allowed her to type and manipulate the ‘screen’ as she worked. With the VISOR, she was able to compose letters, deal with incoming and outgoing mail, record videos and still photos, surf the web, listen to music, and even play a few games. She’d developed it back during her seventh year at Hogwarts as part of her final class project in computer science and enchanting.

A knock at the door disturbed her introspective mood. “Come in!” The door opened to admit Clawfist. She smiled at his appearance, “What’s up?”

“I’m hungry and was wondering if you wanted to join me in scrounging up whatever they serve for food around here?”

Maddy waved her hand and magically sent the rest of her things into their proper places then settled the VISOR on her head and gestured back to the door, “Lead on, good sir. Let us away.”

The pair met up with their guide who led them to a reasonably priced café not too far from the ambassadorial suites, and settled into their chairs. Maddy looked over the menu and glanced over at Clawfist who was making grunting sounds, “What’s wrong?”

Both Clawfist and their guide looked up, “Huh?”

“Eloquent. What’s wrong that has you grunting like a wallowing pig?”

Clawfist looked sheepish while their guide chuckled softly, “Sorry, I thought I was reading to myself. What catches your fancy?”

“Dunno. It all looks interesting.”

Their waitress stopped by and curiously stared at them. Maddy smiled pleasantly and answered her unasked question in Klingon, “We’re visitors to your planet, obviously, and have yet to try your cuisine. Could you recommend something?”

Their waitress gave an impressed grunt of approval then recommended a sample platter plus a couple of mugs of Bahgol.

Clawfist pointed to a listing, “It says here that you serve blood wine. Do we have to specify the type?”

Their waitress was clearly confused, “What do you mean, there is only one.”

“I meant do you have to specify which type of blood, Type A, B, O….”

The waitress thought about this for a moment before her features brightened and she began laughing, “No, blood wine has no actual blood in it. The name comes from the coloration and consistency.”

Clawfist gave her a wink as he clicked his fingers, “Aww, that’s a shame. I was hoping to drink the blood of my enemies.” The waitress gave him a bemused glance as they both handed back the menus before she walked off to fill their orders.

“So what is blood wine?” Maddy asked their guide, Karn.

“Blood wine is known to be highly intoxicating, to the point that most non-Klingons are scarcely capable of tolerating it,” he explained.

Clawfist made a note to see about getting a sample and to have a bottle of Ogden’s Finest on hand as a comparison.

Karn then asked Maddy what the device she was wearing was all about. She explained that the VISOR had been developed to assist people like clerks and staffers who needed to multitask. “With this, I can perform all of my usual secretarial duties plus, I can access the web from anywhere on Earth or Mars. I’m not tied to a specific hard terminal nor do I have to worry about a tablet getting bent or broken. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out here or on any of the others worlds where humans are welcome.”

“May I see it?”

Maddy removed the VISOR from her head and cautioned him that it was designed to fit her face and might not sit comfortably on his. Proving her point, the VISOR sat rather high on Karn’s face as he examined the holographic display curiously before handing it back, “Most impressive. How difficult was it to develop this?”

She shrugged, “No more difficult than any other brand-new technology, I guess.”

“Is this device only for humans?”

“As of right now, yes; but the company that I’ve hired to mass produce them are in the process of making them fit a variety of species. I’m sure that if you were to contact them, they’d be happy to have you be their first Klingon ‘test subject.’”

An eyebrow went up, “Test subject? Is the process painful?”

Clawfist snorted, “Only to your ears as you have to listen to the endless questions the lab techs ask as they poke and prod to make sure everything fits. It’s like having a dozen grandmothers all swarming around you making sure that you didn’t forget your jacket and if you ate enough before you left their domain.”

Karn’s let out a loud guffaw, “Ha! It sounds like you and I have the same relatives.”

When their order came, Maddy stared in hesitation. Some of it was still…alive. She glanced worriedly over at Clawfist who had a gleam in his eye normally associated with getting ready for one of their yearly laser tag games. He reached in and grabbed a handful of something that looked like live worms. Maddy motioned for the waitress, “Hi, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind describing what we have here? I would like to take some pictures for my people back home.” She gestured to the VISOR and turned on the recording function.

The waitress shrugged in bemusement at the sight of Clawfist humming happily away as he chewed his lunch, “What your friend there is eating, that’s called gagh. (gack) They are a delicacy of live serpent worms. To its left is Bregit lung with Grapok sauce; Gladst, which is a type of Klingon fungus; that there is Krada legs (Maddy selected one and was pleasantly surprised on how similar it was to crab meat); and finally, you have Rokeg blood pie.”

Maddy thanked her and settled in to eat her lunch. As she chewed thoughtfully, she grinned at her companions, “It’s not bad. The spices aren’t what I’m used to but it kind of reminds me of your sister’s cooking.”

Clawfist nearly had a spit-take across the room, “Oh, come on. She’s not that bad!”

“Really? Who was it then who served up Green-eyed Meatball Surprises, Sweet Air fried Roadkill with jam and corn bread, Beef jerky chili, and Fire Extinguisher Chicken Nachos at the last clan gathering, hmm?”

Karn looked curiously between the two.

Clawfist scrunched his nose at her and huffed, “So she likes to experiment a bit.”

Maddy laughed lightly, “Experimenting is one thing. What your sister does is pure culinary torture. Remember the look on Doctor Hartwell’s face when she tasted the Roadkill? I thought she’d have an aneurysm when she was told it was raccoon meat.”

Karn shifted a bit and asked, “If your sister is such a terrible cook, why does anyone let her in the kitchen?”

Clawfist shrugged, “No idea. Still, if you’re ever short of biological weapons, let me know and we’ll send you some of her more…exotic creations.”

Arcadia Base, Gale Crater, Potter Residence

Roughly about the same time that Maddy and Clawfist were enjoying their lunch, Harry and Hermione were busy packing their suitcases in preparation for their long-awaited vacation. With Sam away at school, now was the perfect time for the couple to head out on a cruise amongst the stars.

“Hermione! Come on, the shuttle leaves in half an hour!” Harry yelled out to his tardy wife.

“I’m here, no need to shout, you muffin,” she huffed as she entered the living room.

“Muffin?”

She giggled lightly, “Sorry, my vocabulary is still set to librarian mode. That’s what I get for working with children.”

Harry laughed as he shrunk the last of their trunks down and shoved them in his pocket, “That’s funny. I’ve got to remember that; let me guess, it makes the kids giggle and pay attention?”

Hermione waggled her hand, “Depends on the species; some do, some don’t.”

They arrived at the spaceport with plenty of time to spare. Harry gazed out the window to the sight of their cruise ship and sighed wistfully at how efficient everything was and how far they’d come since those ‘early days’ when space travelers had to go through rigorous training before launch. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just feeling nostalgic. Remember the early days? How much training was involved just to get selected for the mission?” His eyes drifted over to a rather chunky pair of travelers.

“Yeah, and now you have ordinary people who just buy a ticket, get portkeyed up to their ship and away they go. I’d bet nearly all of them wouldn’t be able to handle the pressures we went through.”

He nodded, “There’ve been times where I wish we could bring Liberty and Magellan out of storage and put them through a reenactment on the anniversaries of our historic Moon and Mars landings.”

Her eyebrows rose in contemplation, “Now there’s an intriguing idea. I wonder who we would have to speak with to suggest it.”

Harry shrugged silently, “Isn’t Forrest still in charge at the ISA?”

“I don’t know but now I’m even more interested. We’d have to get in contact with Tiny, and I’m not sure where in the galaxy he is right now.”

Onboard the SS Phoenix, Flagship of the Constellation Starlines

The SS Phoenix was the civilian version of the newest warp capable ships used by the ISA Starfleet. Instead of the traditional submarine designs, it featured a spherical habitation module, an aft-facing hangar bay and a wrap-around engineering deck that housed a retractable Alcubierre Warp Ring Drive. Unlike the model that Maddy had flown on to Qo’nos, with its holographic stellar cartography deck, and multiple conference rooms, concealed defensive weaponry, fighter-escort docking points, and a less flashy exterior paint job; the SS Phoenix was geared for the decadent entertainment of its wealthy passengers.

They’d just gotten settled into their stateroom when there was a knock at the door. Hermione opened the door to see a deck steward standing there with a pleasant smile on his face and holding a stack of brochures, “Good morning to you both, my name is Randall Stevens and I will be your morning steward. I will be available for any reason by dialing *32 on your room’s telephone, between the hours of 8am to 4pm ship time. The nighttime steward will be on shift from 5pm to 1am. Should there be an emergency, use the big red button on the side of the telephone’s cradle. Once you’re settled, I have a list here of tips, tricks, and activities planned for first-time travelers.” He held up the stack.

Hermione thanked him as she took the stack, “I think we’ll be fine. It’s not our first time in space though it is with your particular company.”

Randall bowed his head and gave her a farewell before heading off to the next stateroom. Harry ambled up as she was perusing the brochure, “It’s so nice to not be recognized anymore.”

She just giggled at him, “I wonder if anyone would react if they knew that the first people on Mars were onboard.”

Harry grunted, “I’d rather not find out. What I do want to find out; is where the entertainment deck is. I’m in the mood to do a bit of gambling.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed, “Harry… the last time you gambled, you lost over four hundred Galleons!”

Harry shrugged, “It didn’t matter, and that money was going towards a charity anyways.”

“Really?”

“Yup, come on. Let’s get this party started.” He took her hand, and led her from the room, making sure to lock the door on their way out.

Back on Qo’nos…

Maddy sat at her station; her VISOR plugged into the planetary information network, and was busy working on integrating the sometimes contradictory rules and regulations. She reached for her cup of coffee only to grunt in dismay when she found it empty. She glanced around the room but found no one else nearby who could be corralled into getting her a refill. Maddy growled lightly as she stood up and worked the kinks out of her lower back. ‘I’m too young to be feeling so old.’

Opening her door, she padded over to the kitchenette that had been set up and poured herself a piping hot blend of ‘staffer’s coffee’ before heading back to her terminal. She winced at the bitterness of the coffee; It had no other discernable qualities other than it was hot, black, and heavily caffeinated. The doorbell pinged, startling her from her reverie. She peered at the viewscreen at who was on the other side and frowned when she spotted the Assistant Ambassador. She pulled open the door and before she could even open her mouth, the assistant practically pulled the mug out of her hand, “Pack up whatever it was you were working on. The ambassador and his counterpart have requested your presence.”

Maddy could only blink, “M, mine?”

“Yes, you. Now, come on!”

Still reeling, Maddy turned and waved her hand to magically put her stuff into lockdown as she disconnected her VISOR and grabbed her bag before hurriedly following the assistant out of the office.

As she entered, Ambassador Cromwell noticed her arrival and smiled pleasantly, “Ah, Miss Potter! Thank you for attending.”

“Yo, you’re welcome Ambassador. Is there a problem?”

Cromwell continued to smile, “Not with me, but some of the other folks in this room need to have a translator for some of their questions, and Ambassador Krum and I are busy.”

“Yes, sir. Where are they?” He pointed off to a cluster of Klingons hovering near a wall. She put on her best, toothless smile, “Hello, my name is Madison Potter. I will be your translator for today. How might I help?”

One of the Klingons snorted, “Did we get a translator or a waitress?”

Maddy fired right back, “One in the same if you think about it. Both are there to serve and make sure that your visit is pleasant.”

Another Klingon slapped his coworker on the shoulder and chuckled, “She’s got you there, Koloth!” He turned to her and with a twinkle in his eye demanded, “What we need are the specifications to your planetary defenses and the communication codes.”

Without even missing a beat, “I’ll only give you those if you bend down and plant a wet, sloppy kiss to the rotting ass of a gha’cher.”

Silence…then the crowd burst out laughing, including the insulted one.

“I like this one! Where did you learn how to insult someone so effortlessly?” Koloth crowed.

Maddy shrugged indifferently, “Your culture is not too dissimilar than Goblin. They’re a subterranean race of people who live on Earth. They live by a warrior code of conduct with honor and family of being the highest importance. They thrive on the art of war, whatever that definition of war might be. In recent times, that mentality is geared around economic warfare. If you stick around long enough, I’m sure that Clawfist would be happy to make your acquaintance.”

“Is Earth your homeworld?”

She shook her head, “No, I was born on the fourth planet of the system. It is the homeworld of my parents.” Nods of understanding were seen.

“What do your parents do for work?”

“My father, Harry Potter, is the Martian Director of Interplanetary Trade. My mother, Hermione Potter, is the Martian Director of the Central Library.

One of the slightly shorter Klingons in the back pushed his way to the front, “Potter? As in the first two humans to land on that world?”

Maddy smiled proudly, “That’s them. I’m guessing that you’re a fan of history? What’s your name?”

“I am Qas of the House of Martok, and it’s my job to research the history of your people so that the ambassador can find something interesting to discuss. Is it true that you’re a witch?” Hisses of admonishments for being so blatant were heard from the others.

Maddy merely smirked, “I am a witch. It’s not something that is to be ashamed at. Calling me a witch is no different than calling Ambassador Krum by his title.”

“Could we see some of your IDnar…what’s the human word…magic?”

Maddy quietly clasped her hands and rested her lips on her fingertips, “I could… I guess the translations can wait. I wouldn’t want to anger your superiors though.”

Qas waved her worry away, “It’s not a problem. I’d imagine that they would be most curious as well.”

Holding up a finger, Maddy approached her boss, “Excuse me, Ambassador, with your permission it’s been requested that I demonstrate some examples of magic.”

Cromwell nodded, his eyes glittered, “Please do! I was just telling Krum here about your extraordinary talents.”

Maddy moved to the center of the room, “Okay, I would like to first preface everything you’re about to witness by saying that normally, a person with the ability to perform magic would be using a length of carved wood with a special core known as a wand. I, unfortunately, do not have the ability to wield a wand. Instead, I was fitted with a bracelet that essentially does the same function as the wand by focusing my magic into a controlled force. I guess I’ll start off by verbalizing the incantations and exaggerate the wand movements. Again, normally, by the time magical students’ graduate, we have moved beyond verbalizations and cast with minimal movements.”

With a flick of her finger up, she cast, “Lumos!” as the tip of her finger lit up with a bright light. Krum got up and peered closely at her finger, even going so far as to touch it and was surprised when it was as it appeared, her index finger was just glowing as if someone had turned on a light switch.

“Incredible. Proceed.”

Maddy worked her way through the seven years worth of charms, transfigurations, and even touched on some rune-based enchantments. She demonstrated how to apparate from one point to another as well as taking one brave volunteer along with a Side-Along Apparation out to the landing platform and back again. When she finished her demonstration, the Klingons were yelling and chattering amongst themselves. “This is incredible! How long did it take you to have such control over your abilities? Is this something you can teach one of us?”

Cromwell stepped in to stem the rapid fire questions, “As far as anyone back home knows; only those who were born on Earth, or were born to parents who were originally born on Earth are capable of performing magic. Even then, the percentage of people born with the magical gene is still relatively low. Miss Potter, I understand that you also know how to speak other languages too?”

Maddy bobbed her head, “Yes, sir. I can fluently speak English, Gob’lean, Parseltongue, Andorian, Vulcan, Romulan, Spanish, and I can get by well enough with French.”

“Now, you’ve heard her speak in Gob’lean with its similarities to Klingon. Parseltongue as I understand it; is the language of snakes.”

“Um, begging your pardon, Ambassador; Parseltongue isn’t limited to just snakes. Any reptile can speak it. I can even sort of understand the amphibians but their accent is so weird sometimes.” Maddy blushed at her interruption. “If you have any reptiles nearby, I’d be happy to see if they are able to converse.”

One of the Klingons suddenly let out an ‘Oh!’ sound then made a mad-dash for the door. Krum grunted in amusement, “While we are waiting, do you have any other information you could share with us about magic?”

SS Phoenix, outbound of the Sol system; enroute to Vulcan

The lift doors opened and let Harry and Hermione out onto the bridge of the ship where the captain, Roger Harris, was waiting for them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Potter, it is an honor to meet the pair of you. Imagine my surprise when I was told of your presence on our ship. Since you’ve been on board, what are your impressions?”

Hermione bobbed her head appreciatively, “It’s bigger than Liberty, for certain. Liberty measured what, about 120 meters nose to thruster nozzles?” Harry waggled his hand approximately. “This ship on the other hand, from what I remember is almost quadruple the length. Even the 245’s feel small compared to this design.”

“Very impressive, Mrs. Potter and you were close. The Phoenix measures closer to five hundred meters. Most of the usable space is contained within the sphere with only a handful of personnel allowed into the engineering section.”

“What about a computer core? Is it elf-based or have you gone with something else?”

Captain Harris shifted, “Elf-based computing has been replaced with laboratory grown cores. The need for elves for the amount of ships coming off the assembly line was outpacing the number of available elves. The lab cores are not alive in any sense of the term, as I understand it. There were many elf-rights activists who thought the companies were running an elf-mill.”

While the two chatted, Harry wandered over to the pilot’s station. He gently traced his fingers over the edge of the pilot’s console. The pilot glanced up and smiled at him, “Would you care to take the controls, sir?”

A shine grew in Harry’s eyes as he glanced back, “With the captain’s permission?”

Captain Harris nodded his permission so Harry exchanged places with the pilot as he sat in the padded chair. The pilot fitted the helmet and heads-up display on his head and Harry gasped as the torrent of information flooded into his mind, “This is incredible! It’s like I’m a living component of the ship. I can feel the thrusters giving tiny pulses; I can feel the warp drive waiting to be given the commands.” A tear slowly trickled down his cheek, “Thank you.”

With the pilot back in control, the captain gave the order to engage the drive for the flight to Vulcan. There was no thrumming of power from the lower decks, no long lead up to the warp threshold; space just seemed to stretch a bit, the Cherenkov radiation caused the star lines to shift, and they were off.

Harry clasped hands with his wife and gave her a kiss on the lips, “I want one. Can I get one for my birthday?”

Hermione giggled at his eager look, “We’ll see when we get home.”

A week later, Klingon Training Center

Clawfist expertly examined the various knives, swords, and other methods of armed combat as they hung from racks on the wall. Their hosts were watching in haughty amusement, “We trust these weapons are up to your standards?”

Clawfist turned a wicked grin back on them, “They’ll do for a start.” His gaze slid over to Maddy, “You think I ought to break out the good stuff or work up to it?”

Maddy waggled her hand, “It’s up to you. I know how long you’ve waited to put these mutts in their place.”

The center’s Weapons Master grunted at the byplay, “Are we here to chat or fight?”

Clawfist bowed his head, “Let’s do this. One on one or shall we fight in pairs?”

The Weapons Master pointed to him, “Just you and me for now. Choose your blade.”

Clawfist pulled his battleaxe from his back holster and hoisted it, “I’m ready.”

The two combatants circled each other, testing the other’s readiness and reactions. With a clang of metal on metal, sparks flew as they twisted, thrust, and dove for another position. The Weapons Master tried to taunt Clawfist, but the Goblin was unmoved. “You talk a big game, Weapons Master, yet that’s all I think you’re capable of. Let me show you what it really means to fight a Goblin.”

With that, Clawfist moved. His movements were lightning fast and as fluid as quicksilver. The spectators’ mouths dropped open and a few of them even clenched up as Clawfist proceeded to decimate his opponent. From start to finish, the battle lasted a mere five minutes. The Weapons Master had been flipped onto his back, his bat’leth flung away, and his arms stuck to the ground with Clawfist’s battleaxe a mere centimeter away from his throat.

Maddy nonchalantly knelt down above the Master’s head, his stunned face looking wide-eyed up at her as she winked and smugly commented, “Just think, this was Clawfist going easy on you.”

A month later…

Maddy awoke one morning to find herself not in her room, but in a dank and dirty looking dungeon of some kind. She groaned and scrubbed her face with her hands as she took in her surroundings. ‘Why did I think it was such a good idea to demonstrate my abilities to these people?’ She rolled off the plinth that contained her ‘bed’ such as it was and examined the room, looking for any sign of which House it was that had kidnapped her this time.

Ever since that demonstration of her magic to the Klingon ambassador and his staff, she’d been repeatedly kidnapped and held for a couple of days. The thing was, according to Ambassador Cromwell, there were no ransom demands. She didn’t understand it either until she finally got the Head of House Antaak to admit that it was all part of a game. A game to see how this strange, even for humans, IDnar pIn'a solved the mystery on how to escape. In truth, the Great Houses were wondering how to entice her to switch allegiances.

“She’s awake.” Maddy’s head slowly rolled over to the window and glared at the face watching her.

“You petaQ; I don’t recognize you or your House symbol. Did you even bother to sign up for a scheduled kidnapping time?”

The face grew confused, “There was a sign-up list?”

Maddy barely restrained herself from face-palming, “targhlIj yab tIn law' no'lI' Hoch yabDu' tIn puS! Of course there is! Do you really think I just sit around all day waiting for the next wannabe Ha'DIbaH to whisk me off to who-knows-where?! Now get me out of here and send me back to the consulate before I apparate out and let the world know that you are without honor!”

The guard paled as he hurried to bow to her demands.

By the time that she arrived back at the consulate, a Klingon guard was waiting for the shuttle at the landing platform. Ambassador Krum was also waiting, this time his face wasn’t the usual jovial expression as he sneered at the House logo. “Miss Potter, you have my deepest apologies for this travesty. Please…”

“Save it,” she interrupted, “They’re not worth my time and frankly, I’m rather disgusted by your entire civilization. We came here in hopes of establishing a trade and peace treaty between our two worlds yet you seem to look upon us as some kind of Qogh! I just want to get back to my dorm and wash off the stench of that dungeon, get something to eat that wasn’t alive five minutes ago, and put this dump of a Qu'vatlh backwater world out of my mind.” She stormed off into the building.

Despite her angry words, Ambassador Krum wasn’t angry at her or the human diplomatic team, but instead was furious at the House who dared to set her off. This was supposed to be a friendly competition, not outright kidnapping. He was going to have to think of something that would set things right.

In Maddy’s dorm room…

After dumping her dirty clothes in the hamper and taking a very long hot shower, Maddy emerged and got dressed in her favorite pair of cotton track pants, the pink ones with the red hearts on it, and grabbed a bowl of ice cream. The track pants, and the jumper that came with it, were a Valentine’s Day gift from Keval a couple of years ago. When she’d first put them on, she wondered why they smelled like him. She confronted him with the unvoiced question (and the teasing look on her face). He sheepishly explained that he’d found a perfumery in Inverness that could take a sample of your sweat and turn it into a cologne or perfume of your choice. He’d merely misted the gift with it. “The perfume is in the smaller box, if you’re curious.”

In return for such a thoughtful gift, Maddy dragged him to their bedroom where they weren’t seen again until the following day. It took Keval a week to lose the dopey expression on his face.

She had just settled on her bed with the plan to do nothing but eat her food and read when there was a knock at the door. “Unless this is an evacuation emergency, get lost!” she yelled. This resulted in another knock; this time in a specific pattern. Dropping her head and groaning that she should’ve never taught Clawfist how to tap out ‘Pop Goes the Weasel,’ Maddy pulled herself from the covers and yanked open the door. She glared at his unrepentant face, “What do you want?”

“Cromwell wants to see you.”

“Just wonderful, fine…” She put down her bowl of ice cream and grabbed her keys.

“You’re not going to change?”

She gave him a chilling glare, “With my mood right now? If he wants to send me home because of my clothing, I’m all for it.”

Clawfist led her to Cromwell’s office and knocked on the door. When bid to enter, he pushed it open and motioned for her to go first. Maddy stormed in and stood there, still glaring and with a bit of a huff.

Ambassador Cromwell took in her appearance and nodded understandingly, “Another eventful morning, Miss Potter?”

“Sir, unless we’re evacuating, I’d like to do nothing but go back to my room and curse this forsaken backwater world.”

Cromwell was clearly fighting back a laugh. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to go Dark on him. He remembered the last time that’d happened; it was just after the first ‘kidnapping.’

Flashback…

With an almighty explosive thunder of noise, Madison Potter appeared in the middle of the security briefing he and his senior staff was holding. Her face was dirty, her hair in disarray, and her clothes were torn. His security chief was about to comment when they all got a good look at her eyes. They were pitch black and simmering in rage.

“Miss Potter? Are you alright?” He calmly and carefully inquired.

With the tightest possible grip on her emotions, Maddy barely managed to get out, “No, sir. I’m not alright! I just had to fight my way out of some Klingon’s dungeon and through a phalanx of guards before getting cornered in some pit of a cesspool. I just barely managed to apparate out and I wouldn’t be surprised if I left something of myself back there. I’m this close to brewing up something…dangerous, and going back to exact my revenge. I don’t know who they were or why I was targeted, but rest assured, I will get my revenge!”

Present…

‘And get her revenge, she did.’ Cromwell remembered. Madison Potter had brewed up something he could scarcely understand and portkeyed it away. Whatever it was that she sent, that House sent an emissary to them offering unconditional surrender and a sworn promise that they would never attempt to intercede in Klingon-Human negotiations ever again.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re still in one piece and haven’t decimated half the planet. Hopefully, you’ll appreciate this. The Great House of Duras has been formally sanctioned by Ambassador Krum for multiple violations of Guest Rites, and informally, for being a right royal pain in the ass.”

“Peachy. What’re they going to do for me? I’m the aggrieved party here.”

Cromwell shrugged, “It’s up to you, in my opinion. From what I gathered, the Chancellor is willing to give you just about anything you desire in hopes that you don’t lay waste to the population with your Dark magic.”

Maddy huffed, “I’m glad someone still remembers what I did to Mo’Kai.” She let out a low growl, “Give me until the end of the day and I’ll get you a list of things I’ve been wanting.”

Cromwell smiled understandingly and dismissed her. When she’d gone, he turned back to his communication monitor and the visage of Krum watching him, “Don’t worry, she’ll be okay.”

“Feisty one, she is. If I closed my eyes, I’d swear that she was one of ours. Her command of our language and culture is impressive. She knows exactly what to say and how to say it. If I were you, Andrew; I’d seriously consider promoting her to something more hands-on than just a staffer.”

Andrew Cromwell smirked, “Maybe I ought to consider lending her to you.”

Krum’s face paled slightly, “No, no… please don’t. Qo’nos would never survive; not with her temper.”

Cromwell laughed, “You know what’s funny? Her father is one of the most laid-back, easy-going person you’d ever meet. It’s her mother that’s the firebrand! Ironic too considering that her father’s mother was another firebrand of a personality back on Earth. The stories I’ve heard of one Lily Evans! She was known for being able to cow the upperclassmen of her school even at the tender age of eleven!”

“Is this a normal thing amongst the females of your species?”

Andrew waggled his hand, “It depends greatly upon the culture in which they come from. So, anyhow; let’s get back to what we were discussing. I would like to suggest…”

SS Phoenix; nearing the border of the Romulan Empire

Harry and Hermione’s shore leave to Vulcan had been somewhat pleasant. ‘It’s always nice to go from one desert world to another.’ Harry had griped one sweaty afternoon. Thanks to the higher than Martian standard gravity with Vulcan being at 1.4G compared to Mars’ .38G, Harry was feeling the ‘burn.’ He kept glaring at his wife who seemed to be utterly unaffected by the heat or the feeling of walking around with lead weights in her shoes. Additionally, the climate of Vulcan was significantly hotter than Mars.

That aside, the tourist sites were spectacular. They got to see the Mountains of Gol, toured around the entrance to the legendary Cheleb-kor or more commonly known as the ‘Vulcan’s Forge.’ Next they visited the Straits of Ha’zen which was notable for being extremely difficult to navigate due to the constant shifting of the tectonic plates beneath them. Their last stop was the renown Fire Plains. The Plains covered over two million hectares of land and was located 644 kilometers to the northeast of Vulcana Regar. It was situated at the base of a triangle of active volcanoes which were T'raan to the north, T'riall to the southeast and T'regar to the southwest. The Fire Plains were subject to scientific interest as barely a decade had passed without an eruption occurring from even one of the triple peaks. What made the area renowned throughout the galaxy were the formations of multicolored crystals which grew throughout the superheated environment. These constant eruptions provided an ever changing explosion of kaleidoscopic panoramas which were a feast for the eyes and the soul. 

After all of the scenery, and a brief stop at the visitor’s center to take a quick shower and get a change of clothes, the pair went to go visit the public gardens and the Old Quarter of ShiKahr, the capital of Vulcan. Mindful of being labeled as one of the touristy ‘rabble,’ Hermione quietly suggested using a subtle notice-me-not glamour that would allow them to converse with the locals but the moment they left, the memory of that encounter would immediately fade their appearances into something nondescript.

They bought a few pieces of locally made art before finally calling it a day and heading back to the ship. Harry got through customs without any problems but Hermione was held up because the agent caught sight of one of the artworks that had been flagged as stolen. Rather than get loud, Hermione stood there with a single raised eyebrow. Harry smirked when he saw this; this was her imitation of a ‘Vulcan Karen.’ Apparently even the customs agent got the same impression as he quickly called for a supervisor without even being told.

The supervisor strode over and without a word being spoken; Hermione handed over her receipt from the sale. “If you have access to a pensieve, I can provide a memory as well.”

The supervisor blinked once then bobbed his head, “Of course, madam. If you’ll come this way, I can have one set up immediately.”

Hermione’s eyes flared, “I will do nothing of the sort. Do you think I am some simple-minded Nirak? I know for a fact that the human-issued pensieves to the Vulcan Science Academy can be brought out to any customs agent supervisor who requests one for the basis of determining the truth behind cases such as this.” She glanced once over at Harry who had to resort to using a silencing spell on himself to keep from ruining the scene with his laughter.

The supervisor paled a flush green, “I don’t think that’s necessary. Perhaps I was in error; you’re free to go on.”

After repacking, Harry rejoined his wife, “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

Hermione sent another glare behind her, “Hell no. Those two are scamming potentially hundreds of people who only want to enjoy their holiday. I’ll send a copy of my memory to the Earth consulate before we head out.”

Later, as the Phoenix continued on its second leg of the journey to Romulus, Harry was in one of the casino zones about to lay down a full-house when his ‘pilot’s sense’ alerted him that they were slowing down. The dealer asked him if there was a problem. “Yeah, we’re slowing down. There’s nothing in this region that should cause us to slow down.” He showed his hand, asked the dealer to collect up his winnings and credit his account before heading towards the lifts. He exited the lift onto the bridge and noticed Captain Harris exiting his office suite, “Captain?”

Captain Harris started, “Mr. Potter? What are you doing up here?”

“Weird sensation I got. I know we’re slowing down but there’s something not right here.”

“All stop, Captain. The ship is on our port bow and still not responding to hails.”

Harris pointed to the smaller ship, “We’d received a distress call a short time ago and are obligated to stop and offer assistance. Unfortunately, we don’t have the scanning capability the military ships have so I cannot tell you if there’s something ‘hinky’ about this.”

Harry quietly watched as the Phoenix pulled up closer to the disabled ship. His keen eyes noticed something drifting near the aft end, “What’s that?”

“Where?”

“Aft end, near the underside of the thrusters.”

Harris zoomed the scanners in closer and swore loudly, “Pilot! Reverse course immediately! Get us out of here!” The Phoenix shuddered and bounced its occupants before the gravity and inertia compensators could adjust quickly enough as the reverse thrusters fired off. The unidentified ship suddenly opened fire on the Phoenix as the larger ship launched two more smaller craft and fired up its own thrusters. The switchboard immediately lit up as the deck stewards started calling in to find out what the hell just happened. Harry pulled out his wand and cast a messenger Patronus to Hermione to get up to the bridge immediately and that they were under attack.

Harry looked around the bridge and noticed the station that controlled the drones used to create the dazzling light display they’d seen earlier that week. He quickly sat down and oriented himself with the controls. He punched in his old security code hoping that it would be still valid even though he hadn’t used it since his days on Liberty. To no surprise, it was rejected. “Damn, let’s try this then.” He opened up the operating system directory and manually entered a patch code that would allow him access to non-critical systems. A small grin formed on his face as the controls lit up. “Gotcha.”

Over where Captain Harris was busy directing the pilot and the communications officer, an alert sounded on his message board that the entertainment drones were being launched. “Oh, for the love of…why the hell are the drones being launched?!” His worry turned to confusion as the hundred or so drones shot past the bow and into the line of fire of the attacking ships, damaging one in the process. He whirled around and spotted Harry at the controls, “Keep it up, Mr. Potter! Comm, get me any help you can! Send out a general distress call. Environmental, send them as much power as you can to boost the signal.” The whole ship rocked violently throwing the captain to the floor. “What happened?”

“The raiders took out our AWD, Captain. We’re not going to warp any time soon.”

“Shit! Sound the Emergency Alarm and get the passengers to the shelters! Lock down the lifts and close all airtight doors and windows!”

Elsewhere throughout the ship, alarms started blaring and an automated voice began instructing the passengers where to go and how to follow the indicated lines. Hermione managed to bypass the security guards by the expedient usage of a few Confundus charms and rode the lift to the bridge. She spotted her husband and rushed over. “Whatcha got?”

Harry hooked a thumb at the window, “Unknown pirates sent out a bogus distress signal and are now attacking the ship. I’ve launched the drones to distract them as best I can. Warp drive is down and the starboard side sublight drive is showing signs of damage stress.” He spared a glance at the attacker as a wicked grin stole over his face, “How about whipping up a Hermione Special?”

Hermione returned his grin, “With pleasure my love.” She grabbed a sheaf of paper from the second in command’s clipboard and transfigured them into a couple of metallic plates in which she inscribed a series of runic arrays onto each of them. Harry gave her the coordinates relative to the Phoenix which allowed her to create and activate a portkey. The plates vanished in a swirl of otherspace energy and reemerged near the main enemy ship. On several of the plates were strong magnets which drew the set to the metal plating of the hull and firmly attached them. These then triggered more portkeys which sent the remaining plates off to different critical areas of the ship such as the power junction, gravity generators, the reactor core…

Piracy was one of the biggest fears of any ship’s captain, whether it be on the high seas or in interstellar space. Captain Harris had counted himself lucky that he hadn’t had to deal with this sort of thing before but now it seemed like all of his good luck had come to an end, at least until Harry Potter of all people entered the bridge. When he’d gotten the notice that the drones had been launched by Potter, he was about to berate the man for acting without permission. That admonishment disappeared the moment he realized that the drones were providing a terrific source of distraction not for the passengers but against the pirates!

He was about to complain once more when Hermione Potter arrived but again, that potential admonishment vanished when she performed magic right there in front of him! The results of this amazing ability materialized near the hull of the enemy ship and began disrupting its systems. The sensors indicated that the enemy was experiencing severe power fluctuations, gravity failures on all decks, and even the more bizarre reports that the waste disposal systems were reversing themselves!

“Incoming warp signature!”

Harris was about to breathe out a sigh of relief when his heart froze in his chest, “What the hell kind of ship is that?!”

Earth Consulate on Qo’nos, not long after the Phoenix’s General Alarm was sent off

Maddy had calmed down from her earlier spat against the House of Duras and the Klingon people in general. Surprisingly, this behavior only seemed to endear her more rather than annoy their hosts. “I’m still shocked that they would think that my behavior was not only understandable but acceptable.”

Clawfist was leaning back in his chair and tossing a ball of wrapped rubber bands over his head, “I’m not. The Klingons, as you’ve said multiple times, are remarkably similar to my own and we Goblins respond the same way whenever we get hassled by some Gobrek shit-stain of an underling.”

Maddy rolled her eyes over to her friend, “Gobrek? You made that up.”

“No, I didn’t. Remember taking a trip to the Nation and visiting the farms? That black and white striped worm-like creature? That’s a Gobrek.”

“I thought that was a Ner-if.”

“Nope.” He continued to toss the ball and chuckled at the look of incredulity on her face.

A buzzing noise was heard coming from her VISOR. Curious, Maddy put it on and clicked on the alarm. Clawfist thumped down the legs of his chair when he heard her start swearing loudly, “What is it?”

“A cruise ship is under attack near the Romulan border! Frack! It’s the Phoenix! Mum and Dad are on that ship!” She leapt out of her chair and hurried out of the room, Clawfist not far behind her.

The pair burst into Cromwell’s office and pulled up short; both Cromwell and Krum were holding a meeting with several other influential members of the Klingon High Command. “Miss Potter? Mr. Clawfist? I assume there’s a reason for this intrusion.”

“Yes, sir; the civilian ship Phoenix is under attack near the Romulan border near Nimbus III. My parents are on that ship! We need to do something, sir.” Maddy blurted out in a rush.

Cromwell shook his head sadly, “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. We only have the Dauntless here with its complement of escort fighters and I don’t have the authorization to send them into combat.”

Maddy’s eyes narrowed. To anyone other than Clawfist, this appeared as if she was dangerously angered. After a tense moment, she turned to Krum. “Ambassador Krum, what do you think your ship captains would say to a spot of pirate hunting?”

Krum’s face slowly split into a wicked toothy grin, “I’d think that they would be most agreeable to that suggestion, Miss Potter. I’ll send the alert right now and let them know that you’ll be joining them.” He gave a brief nod to Cromwell and hurried out of the room. Cromwell meanwhile, merely raised an eyebrow at his favored staffer, “I hope you know what you’re doing, Miss Potter.”

“I’m showing those pirates, and the Klingons, why you don’t mess with a witch.”

Back at the battle between the pirates and the Phoenix

The bridge crew of the Phoenix thought they were hallucinating as the unknown strange craft began their attack on the pirates as the blaring music of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck began playing on the speakers. The moment the opening riff began, both Harry and Hermione rejoiced; there was only one person they knew that loved that particular selection and it meant that help had arrived.

“You’ve been…Thunderstruck!” Harry sang out as he redirected the remaining drones towards one of the pirate fighters. The drones plowed into the cockpit of the ship causing it to explode violently, sending shrapnel in all directions.

Enroute to the battle; onboard the IKS Bortas…

Maddy entered the bridge and grinned toothily at Clawfist who had expressed love at first sight of the Klingon battle cruiser. “Captain? What’s our status?”

Captain Toral of House Duras grimaced at the female interloper. The only reason he’d agreed to this excursion was to regain his family’s honor after his son’s failed kidnapping attempt of the witch. “All systems and stations report ready.”

“Very well. I have one more thing for your communications officer that needs to be broadcast on an open channel. It’s a song from my parents’ homeworld that will let them know that we’re friendly and there to help.” She moved over to the appropriate station and linked her VISOR into the console and transferred the song. “I’m also including a playlist of other human songs that you might enjoy for after the battle. Remember, we are not here to take enemy prisoners. They dared to attack an unarmed cruise ship. I want them to suffer…” The communication officer glanced up at his superior with a bemused expression and shook his head slightly as if to say, “I’m starting to like this female.”

The moment they emerged from warp space, Captain Toral gave the command to open fire and begin the song broadcast. As the song began playing, a few Klingons caught themselves bobbing their heads to the beat and shouting. The IKS Bortas spooled up its thrusters as it began its descent with disruptor beams blazing away at the unprepared enemy.

Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder!
Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder!
Thunder, thunder!

I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (thunder!)
I looked 'round
And I knew there was no turning back (thunder!)
My mind raced
And I thought, what could I do? (Thunder!)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (thunder!)
Sound of the drums
Beating in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been
Thunderstruck!

The enemy had no recourse other than to turn tail and jump out as fast as they could in any direction away from the raging battle cruiser. The battle, such as it was, was over in a matter of minutes. The Bortas pulled alongside the Phoenix, Captain Toral opened a channel, “SS Phoenix, this is Captain Toral of the Imperial Klingon Ship Bortas. We have been instructed by our High Command to escort you to the nearest friendly spaceport on Narendra III. Estimated travel time is four hours.”

“This is Captain Roger Harris of the Constellation Starlines SS Phoenix answering Captain Toral. I thank you sir for your assistance. Our warp drive was shot to hell and our starboard sublight drive is…touchy, at the moment. Repairs are underway as we speak. I was told that you have a human onboard answering to the name of Madison Potter. Please inform her that her parents are eminently proud of their daughter’s tenacity.”

Toral glanced back at Maddy and grinned slightly, “She heard. I’ll admit that I was hesitant of having such a weak-looking female on board my ship, but she’s proven herself to be…capable.”

In the Bortas mess hall…

Clawfist was currently holding court with several crewmembers about something that involved lots of laughter as Maddy entered the room and approached the food dispenser. She selected a cup of Bahgol and a small dish of Zilm’kach then headed over to the group, “Is this seat taken?” Clawfist motioned for her to join them.

One of the crewmembers glanced at her selection, “Zilm’kach?”

Maddy nodded as she popped one in her mouth, “Yup.”

“You know that you’re supposed to remove the pits before eating the fruit, don’t you?”

“I had the dispenser pull them out before serving it.”

Frowns appeared, “You can do that?”

Maddy just shrugged indifferently, “I experimented with the dispensers back on Qo’nos. I can even get the gagh served fried if I wanted.”

Surprised flittered over the crewmembers faces as Clawfist chuckled at their responses to altering traditional recipes.

“What does fried gagh even taste like?”

“It depends on the sauce and spices you use. I tend to use a salty sauce called ‘soy sauce’ and flavor it with a Thai curry spice blend.”

“Where can we find those spices?”

“On Earth primarily. You could order some from Romulus or even Vulcan, but they get their supplies from Earth too.”

“What other things does Earth have?”

“In terms of spices? Tons. Too many to list off the top of my head. Each culture have different spices they use to flavor their foods.”

“What about other things in general? What’s so special about your homeworld?”

Maddy ran a hand through her hair and sighed in thought, “Well, first off, Earth is not my homeworld. I was born on the fourth planet in the system and only went to school on Earth. As for what’s special about Earth, it depends on what you’re looking for. It has a wide range of possibilities within each country. There’s everything from hiking across vast deserts in search of rumored hidden cities to diving the deepest parts of the oceans to find the most obscure creatures. Of the many cultures, the choices become near endless and varied even within the host country itself, let alone some of the smaller communities within other countries where things and ideas tend to blend together.”

“I heard that humans were the people to force the Vulcans to make peace with the Romulans,” one crewmember stated.

Clawfist hemmed on that, “I wouldn’t say that we forced them. It was more like we told both sides to leave their animosity at home and that Earth wouldn’t put up with any of their antics on our planet. The Vulcans tried to blame an incident on the Romulans years ago but our own security quickly found out who was behind it and shut them down. The Vulcan ambassador was sent home in disgrace the way I heard it.”

Maddy sipped at her Bahgol, “It happened when I was a small child so I don’t really remember it.”

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Clawfist lightly elbowed Maddy, “Hey Mads; with the Klingon penchant for combat, can you imagine introducing laser tag or paintball to the population?”

Maddy’s eyes lit up as she began to smile, “That would be hilarious. I can just see those big, brave Klingon warriors returning back to base completely splattered with colored paint.”

“Um, what is this laser tag or paintball? I mean other than the obviousness of their names?”

Maddy flipped down her ever-present VISOR and projected a video of the last paintball game that she and Clawfist had attended before leaving to join the Dauntless. The Klingons in the room were entranced by the sights and sounds of the combat team as they pushed their way through the demarked territory of the enemy, firing the strange weapons and splattering the opposing force with little balls of bright blue paint.

“I want that so badly…” moaned one of the senior crewmembers, “How do I get to do that?”

Maddy chuckled, “You have to get in contact with Ambassador Krum and demand that the Klingon Chancellor sign the trade and travel treaties between our two species. Now let me show you what laser tag is.”

In orbit of Narendra III, Klingon orbital shipyard repair station #11

While the Phoenix was in getting some repairs done, Harry and Hermione had portkeyed down to the surface to join up with Maddy and Clawfist as well as to thank the crew of the Bortas for their assistance.

Hermione sized up one crewmember, “Wow, who knew that the Klingons were so tall?”

The crewman merely smirked, “and I’m one of the shorter ones.”

Harry wandered over with Maddy holding his hand and chattering excitedly, “Hey, Hermione. Hello, who might you be?”

“I am Ja’rod of the Great House of Duras. I am the Senior Communications Officer of the IKS Bortas.”

Harry bowed his head, “Harry Potter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter though that title is rarely used off Earth. I am the Director of the Martian Interplanetary Trade Commission.”

Ja’rod blinked, “I’ve heard of your exploits. Most impressive, I must admit. To defeat a terrible IDnar pIn'a at such a young age is truly admirable.”

Harry gave a side-long glance at Maddy who whispered that the word translated roughly to ‘magic user.’ “Yes, I imagine that it would be admirable but in the course of events I lost many who were dear to me.”

The crew of the Bortas and the senior staff of the Phoenix met later to discuss their options. Maddy sat there quietly and watched. Hermione leant over and nudged her daughter, “What are you thinking?”

Maddy smiled fondly, “I was thinking that this might be the start of something extraordinary. I keep envisioning a coalition of planets; I guess, or even something more permanent like a federation? A Federation of Planets coming together for the common good. Trading, exploration, friendly competition to keep each other focused.”

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, “That would be inspiring.”

Maddy took a sip of her tea, “Mmm… A United Federation of Planets. Maybe someday…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: For All the Marbles…

The realm between realms; date and location unknown

“The first explorers of Earth had long since come to the limits of flesh and blood; as soon as their machines were better than their bodies, it was time to move. First their brains, and then their thoughts alone, they transferred into shining new homes of metal and gemstone. In these, they roamed the Galaxy. They no longer built spaceships. They were spaceships.”—Clarke, 3001

Tiny watched and marveled at the dance of life playing out below him. The people he had originally served were growing up and making their own mark on the galaxy. Due to his ability to see alternate futures and histories, Tiny gave thanks that the timeline he’d been born into followed the fortuitous timing and the inclusion of the magical element into the burgeoning human spaceflight industry; the nascent alliance between the Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, and Andorians developed into a prosperous United Federation of Planets as they sent out explorers, diplomats, and research teams in hopes of discovering new civilizations, resources, and more. Tiny looked ahead to a time where trade and travel between worlds was as simple as packing a bag, buying a ticket, choosing a destination, and making sure that all of your shots were up-to-date. At any given moment, there were Klingons enjoying things that couldn’t be found elsewhere in the quadrant. He watched one team of Klingon race car drivers as they navigated the famous Daytona International Speedway, the crowds cheering them on. The teens and young adults were lining up to take their turns at various paintball and laser tag venues, taking part in Mud Olympics, frequenting beer halls, still others joined in with the screaming fans of their favorite music concerts and so much more; Vulcan historians and scientists could be found rummaging around through ancient temples or historical sites in hopes of that ‘next big thing’ to help promote an idea or a book. Romulans studied at universities, or worked in hospitals, shopped in the various markets, or repairing starships on Vulcan without any animosity thrown their way. After the discovery and introduction to ‘the club,’ the Orion Syndicate found out that their pheromone mind games didn’t always work on humans thanks to the efforts of the Veela producing a counteragent to keep the negotiators’ minds on what they were supposed to be doing (Tiny debated on sending a suggestion to see what would happen if the two species got into a ‘pheromone war.’) Books, music, arts, and culture spreading out, combining with others, and reforming into something completely different, getting picked up by the younger generation and made into their own (Scenes of Romulan teens rocking out to a heavy metal-Klingon opera while getting hammered on Andorian ale amused Tiny and V’ger.)

Magical enclaves sprung up on nearly every habitable world with a magnetic field; proving that magic was a pervasive force throughout the galaxy. Hogwarts had undergone a complete overhaul twenty years after Madison Potter’s graduation to facilitate distance learning. Thanks to the installation of subspace transceivers, communication between member worlds permitted magical students to learn from remote-based classes.

One resolution that remained steadfast was that the member worlds of the Federation had a hard-fast law that whatever your problem was with another species, keep it on your homeworld. No one needs to hear about it or see it; if you do have to bring your troubles, make damn sure that you state your intentions of getting a mediator to solve the issue. As a result, tensions between species were at all-time lows; Tiny had taken a look at one other timeline where that law wasn’t in place and grimaced at the amount of devastation and loss of life that occurred between the humans and Romulans during their war of 2156 – 2160. He shook his head at that timeline, the humans of that world were basically pawns of the Vulcans, having been discovered right after a third world war, the Vulcan High Command limited (or at least tried) them to the lower warp speeds for nearly a century. The decisions of the Vulcans to color the Earth explorers minds about the other species was…disheartening.

The biggest accomplishment occurred in the mid 2110’s when computer and AI specialists working in conjunction with the teachers at Hogwarts, finally figured out how to replicate the Room of Requirement for use elsewhere besides Scotland. Magical ‘holodecks’ began to first appear in universities for research purposes before spreading out to the entertainment industry and finally even for home use. It wasn’t uncommon eventually to see a quartet of Klingon teens reenacting the Magellan landings on Earth’s moon or humans recreating scenes from Denobula’s past.

One family in particular would always hold a special place in his heart: Harry and Hermione Potter, along with their son and daughter; Samuel and Madison, respectively. From those earliest days when the elder Potters were busy constructing the starship ISA Liberty and later co-pioneering humanity’s return to their homeworld’s moon all the way to being the first humans to land and colonize the fourth planet in their home system. Every where the Potters went, there was always some sort of change happening. They were the ones who discovered and later welcomed the Vulcans and Romulans to their homes. When tensions rose between their guests, the humans of Earth gathered together to force the belligerent species into accepting that if they continued to have hostilities, they would be banished from ever returning to Earth. ‘And seeing as how Earth contained so many treasures and resources that both parties desperately desired, both Vulcans and Romulans struck an uneasy truce.’

Samuel’s life was relatively mundane as compared to his parents and sister. He had gone into university and eventually joined the team that was instrumental in constructing a galactic map that could be broken down based on quadrant showcasing areas where travel times could be significantly reduced or even eliminated altogether. The map would feature where all known planets, space stations, and other mysterious structures were located, regions where time and space were bent or fragmented, areas that allowed a warp drive to work more efficiently, and also show the locations of each and every ship within their recognized territory. Tiny likened it to a galactic version of the Marauder’s Map from what he remembered of Harry’s stories.

Tiny’s eyes flicked over to where he could see Madison, or Maddy as she preferred, as she grew up, got educated, found love, and took on the near-herculean task of traveling to strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations first as an ambassador’s aide then later as a full-fledged ambassador herself. Her easy smile and warm personality disarmed a number of potentially aggressive species. (That being said, the Klingons weren’t the first nor would be the last to find out what happened when she finally did lose her temper.) He smiled warmly at her efforts to show the Klingons that humans weren’t as weak-minded or a delicate as they appeared to be. Quickly realizing that the Klingons weren’t the sort who would be content with polite debates or wandering through commercial or art districts, Maddy introduced the Klingon race to the ‘human wonders’ of monster truck rallies, NASCAR, Redneck Games (cigarette flip, bobbing for pig's feet, seed spitting, toilet seat throwing, mud pit belly flop, big-hair contests, wet t-shirt contests, armpit serenades, bug zapping by spitballs, dumpster diving, and hubcap hurling), amongst many other physical sorts of activities. For music, Clawfist introduced the sweet serenades of heavy-metal bands like KISS, Megadeth, Iron Maiden amongst others.

From there, Maddy was instrumental in establishing embassies on Andor, Denobula, and the Ferengi. Tiny still chuckled at the memory of that meeting.

Flashback…

“So what do we know about these…Frengee?” Maddy’s second in command, lifelong friend, and partner in crime at times Clawfist asked her as he studied the readouts.

“First off, that’s Ferengi. Second, the physiological information starts on page two of that report. Based on what our scouts reported, the Ferengi believe that free enterprise and profit is the be all and end all of life itself, superseding all other endeavors.”

Clawfist grunted in amusement, “Sounds like my kind of people.”

Maddy gave him a shark-toothed grin, “That’s why I specifically requested you to come along. We both know that there is no one more skilled at negotiations or economics than Goblins, at least on Earth. Now, we’ll get to see how well your species fares on a galactic scale.”

Outwardly Maddy was calm and collected. Inwardly, however, she was seething at the failure of the scouts in mentioning that the Ferengi were misogynistic, exploitative towards everyone around them, greedy, deceitful and untrustworthy. ‘And those are just the words I can think of right now.’ Their First Contact representative, Pivar, completely ignored her and began dealing with Clawfist until the Gobln gruffly informed their alien host that she was the ambassador and that Pivar’s dismissive attitudes towards her just might result in lost profits. Pivar was naturally distressed by the thought of lost profits as he became even more obsequious in his apologies, to the point where Maddy finally sniffed in disdain. She pierced Pivar with a look that all but screamed, ‘Toy with me at your own peril’ then pulled her wand and demonstrated several key points of transfiguration by morphing a gaudy statue of the Grand Negus into that of a cowering pig. “You have shown a distinct disregard for those who are not of the same gender as yourself. If we are to have a profitable relationship, you and your people are going to have to be aware that in some of our cultures, especially those with abundant wealth are matriarchal in structure. I am a witch of the highest order, be grateful that I didn’t transfigure you into a footstool to rest my feet on.” Pivar gulped nervously as he stared in horror at the statue, and promised he would pass along her message.

From there, and using Goblins as their intermediaries, the Human/Ferengi interactions stayed fairly low-key. It was unlikely that either species would willingly visit the other (especially after the revelation of what the opposite cultures were like) so it was left to the Goblins to broker deals which they performed happily.

Present…

“Tiny? What’s got you grinning like a loon?” Tiny looked up and spotted V’ger walking up the path that led from…elsewhere. He grinned slightly at his friend’s curious expression.

“Just reminiscing, I guess. I’ve been doing that a lot since we ascended.”

It was true, after all of his and V’ger’s travels around the galaxy; traveling and experiencing wonders and horrors the likes of which defied explanation, the two friends finally decided that there was nothing more to see on the plane of existence in which they traveled. Having learned of a strange god-like structure on a distant world, the pair traveled as pilgrims to visit the entity known as the Guardian of Forever.

Flashback…

V’ger, now in a form similar to that of a robotic squid, looked around at the desolate landscape, “Charming place they got here. Wow, real tourist attraction.”

Tiny gave him an amused snort, “I think I liked you better when you were still child-like.”

“Too much?”

“A bit.”

“Any idea as to where this guardian is supposed to be?”

Tiny gazed over the decaying tableau before him then noticed a rough-hewn torus-like shape, “I’m thinking it’s that thing. Notice how all of the roads and structures seem to radiate out away from it? It’s the only structure that doesn’t look like it was bombed into oblivion.” They walked over and began examining the…thing.

“Am I the only one who’s getting hungry?” V’ger quipped after a moment of silence.

“Huh?”

“This thing kind of reminds me of a donut.”

Tiny let out a snort-burp noise, “Weirdo, but yes, it does resemble a donut.” He frowned a bit, “I’m getting the weird sense that this thing is the one we’ve been looking for. Like it’s waiting for us to ask it a question.”

“So do it already.”

Tiny gave V’ger a half-hearted flick with his fingers before speaking up, “What are you?”

The torus lit up and in a deep and powerful voice, spoke to them, “I am the Guardian of Forever.”

V’ger bounced on his tentacles, “Oh, this is wonderful!”

Tiny held out his hand to calm his excitable friend, “We were told that you would be able to help us find a way to leave these mortal constructs. We’ve experienced so much yet we both believe that there is so much more. Can you help us?”

“There are many paths you can take to achieve your goal,” The Guardian intoned.

“True, but we only need one. Could you show us the top five, perhaps?”

If you were to follow the linear time measurements that nearly all sentient life used, Tiny and V’ger would’ve spent a millennium learning how to transcend their mortal machine bodies. Their guide, a member of the Organian species, another race of beings who had ‘recently’ made the transition, had commented that because the pair had already taken that step to removing their minds from their organic bodies, they would be able to ascend that much quicker. V’ger dryly remarked that he’d never had an organic body to begin with. “I have always been a machine. I achieved sentience thanks to my creators programming to learn all that was learnable.”

Tiny and V’ger had learned to store their knowledge in the structure of space itself, and to preserve their thoughts for eternity in frozen lattices of light. Subsequently, into pure energy, they transformed themselves; the empty shells (their bodies) they had discarded—having twitched for a while in a mindless dance of death, then crumbled into dust.

Present…

Tiny climbed to his feet and took in V’ger’s appearance. Whereas before, he’d started off as a conglomeration of electronic circuits with a large radio antenna dish, over time he became a megalithic machine that could travel the stars then ended as that robot squid form. Now, V’ger had taken the form of a human approximately mid to late twenty years in age, sandy-blonde hair, blue eyes and a playful smile that constantly ghosted over his face.

Tiny in contrast had gone for a human of average height and build closer to sixty years in age with raven-black hair, mesmerizing green eyes and when he deigned to give it, a lop-sided smile that would make any female weak in the knees. V’ger had commented that he resembled an older version of Harry Potter. “So what’s the latest?”

V’ger grimaced and gestured off towards the distance, “I caught Q torturing a young civilization not too long ago. The gene stain was holding a metaphorical magnifying glass to the main world. When I asked him what he was doing, he replied that he wanted to see what would happen if their world became a desert rock instead of its original lush climate.”

Tiny growled, “Little shit. I’m going to go find Quinn. He’s the only one who seems capable, or willing, to do anything about Q.”

As the pair walked across the galaxy, though to their eyes it resembled more of a dusty, quiet town set in the old American Mid-west, Tiny noticed something flashing across the street, “What’s that?”

“Where?”

“There, coming from the Delta Quadrant.” Tiny pointed to the distant speck.

They intercepted the flickering light and realized that it was a highly fragmented message heading towards Earth. “Can you hear it? What does it say?”

Tiny boosted the signal and listened closely, “Earth…must warn…Borg…danger… Oh, wonderful. Them… I think this is more of a priority than kicking Q’s ass for the moment.”

V’ger shivered, “Yeah, I remember them; not the most polite of civilizations either. They kept trying to assimilate me into their collective whether I wanted to or not. What do you think we ought to do?”

Tiny sighed heavily. One of the things they’d been told while learning how to transcend was that whatever happened ‘back home’ was no longer any concern of theirs. “You must not interfere with the natural development of species.”

“Bugger it all, you and I both know that non-interference rule has never stopped Q before and the others don’t seem inclined to do anything about him. You know what we’ll do? You collect the signal and some data about the Borg while I put together something that should catch the attention of the folks back home. We’ll combine the two and with any luck, the ISA, UN, or whoever is in charge will take the information under advisement.”

“When was the signal sent and who sent it?”

Tiny checked the timeline, “According to this, it was sent by the ISA survey ship Ares IV commanded by Lieutenant John Kelly. They were investigating some sort of anomaly near Pluto when they were sucked into a tunnel of light and dumped on the Borg’s doorstep. Wow, this happened a while ago too!”

“When?”

“2021 by Earth’s calendar.”

V’ger gave a low whistle, “Damn, well unless we go back and pluck them out, they’re as good as gone by now.” He ran his own check to the Borg’s recognized territorial borders. “So the Borg hasn’t expanded all that much since the signal was sent, and even counting for the time it took before we intercepted it; they’re still not a threat, yet. I think we should be grateful that they still haven’t discovered the transwarp conduits yet. Hey, do you suppose we should install a species identifier into the matrix? Cause the conduit to deny them access or loop them around to another point within their territory?

Tiny cocked his head in thought, “That’s an interesting idea, actually. Anything to slow them down or pen them in is fine by me.”

“What did you have in mind for getting humanity’s attention?”

Tiny stared off into the distance for a moment before a toothy grin slid over his face, “I’ve got the perfect thing…”

Monday 7 August, 2045 ISA Lunar Research Station 22, Shackleton City, Earth’s Moon

Henry Goyle, Hogwarts alumni and later, a graduate of the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles, sat at his desk within the research arm of the famed Shackleton Base (though it had grown to the point where it could rightly claim recognition of being a city.) Shackleton Base, now City, had started off with a tiny population of a handful of scientists and lunar geologists; it had grown over the decades to a permanent population of over a million people. Henry had achieved his personal goal of becoming more than what people expected of a Goyle. He had traveled the solar system, gone to study on Vulcan and later Romulus before landing a cushy supervisorial role for the ISA in charge of deep core drilling for minerals and water ice in the lunar poles.

Just as he was about to take a break for some more coffee, a screaming alarm shattered the relative silence. He bolted from his office and skidded into the control room, “Report! What did we hit?”

“We don’t know, sir. The drill at Tycho stopped at 600 meters. One moment we’re approaching our daily goal of fifty meters and the next, it just…stopped.”

Henry stared at the monitors before ordering a drone to go out and inspect the drill site. When the first pictures came back, Henry could feel a headache build behind his eyes, “What the bloody Hell is that?”

It didn’t resemble anything. It wasn’t a crystal or mineral that they could recognize. For one, it was perfectly flat; not one trace of anything that suggested a texture. The controller ordered the robotic dig site to excavate the unknown item and cocked his head in confusion as more of the thing was exposed.

“What the…”

Hermione portkeyed into the Shackleton City Receiving Room and glanced around curiously. The platform tech had a pleasant expression on his face as he greeted her, “Welcome to the Moon, ma’am. Director Goyle will be here shortly.”

“I’m here, I’m here! Sorry about that, my staffers think that they’re the only ones who have pressing business that they just cannot live without me for the barest moment,” Henry puffed as he trotted up.

Hermione chuckled lightly as she shook hands with him, “I know the feeling. My problems stand about three to four feet high and get whiny if they haven’t had story-time yet.”

Henry laughed then gestured towards the hallway, “Let’s get going shall we? I’m sure you’re puzzled as to why you specifically were summoned.”

“The thought did cross my mind. Your transmission said you found something buried?”

Henry grunted, “You could say that. The question is that it wasn’t there during our initial scans of the site. It’s the most curious thing too.”

Hermione took one look at the most recent scan of the site and burst out laughing. Her reaction caused frowns from the rest of the office’s occupants. “Mrs. Potter? What could be so funny? What is that thing?”

Her eyes were alight with mirth as she continued to giggle, “Did none of you ever see the 1968 movie by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey?”

“No shit…”

Henry turned and glared for silence at whoever said it before returning to the screen, “I’m afraid that old muggle entertainment was never on my list of things to experience.”

Hermione shook her head in amusement, “Well, one of the primary components of that story was the mysterious discovery of the structure known as the monolith. According to the book version of the movie, the monoliths were left on Earth and the Moon as beacons of a sort to signal to the alien creators that humans had joined the intergalactic community. As for this thing, I believe it was left by a friend of mine as a way to get my attention for something as yet unknown.”

“But why?”

“Do you remember…no, you were probably too young to have heard of him. The AI-memory core of the Liberty was an elf by the name of Tiny and he’d commented back during the Magellan mission to return to the Moon that it was a shame that we hadn’t found a monolith buried somewhere under the surface. That he’s now done so, it must mean that there’s something critical that needs our attention.”

“So what is the critical item?”

Hermione shook her head slowly, “No idea. How long until it’s excavated?”

Henry glanced at the monitor, “The drones should be done within four hours.”

Four hours later…

The monolith stood upright in the excavated lunar regolith in utter contrast to its surroundings. Whereas the lunar soil was a monotony of grey-ish white with the occasional glitter from quartz or other minerals, the monolith seemed to swallow all light around it. It was like if you were to take a pair of scissors and cut a rectangular shape out of the scene. What was really strange was that the surface of the slab was utterly smooth. The science team ran every conceivable scan on it and came back to…nothing. Radar, laser, microwave; nothing penetrated the surface or could even get a read off of it. Henry had an airlock built around it so they could try to touch it bare-handed and to see how it might react in an oxygen-based environment.

“Mrs. Potter? You have anything?” Henry asked her as she stood there staring at the slab with a furrowed brow.

“Have you tried tipping it over to look at the underside?”

“No, should we?”

“It’s just that back when my husband and I were at Hogwarts, we rescued the legendary Philosopher’s Stone after a series of poorly designed ‘traps’ and thought we’d won something big. A long story short, we discovered some scratches that resembled writing. Harry smudged some dirt into the scratches and found the message, ‘Nice try, Albus’ written on the bottom. My thinking is that Tiny would’ve remembered that story so let’s tip this thing over and see if my hunch is correct.”

Figuring that they had nothing else to go on, Henry gave the order to tilt the monolith over. A shout of glee from Hermione as she watched clued them in that there was indeed writing of some kind on the bottom. Hermione titled her head as she read, “The Child of Elves leaves this monolith as a Map to the Child of Man as a Guide that there are things out in the galaxy grander, and more dangerous, than our wildest imagination.”

Underneath was a hastily scrawled note, “Hermione, use the passphrase coined by someone who is always Sirius about the Moon and loved a Stag like a brother. We need to talk, it’s of vital importance.”

A slow smirk slid over Hermione’s face as she pulled her wand out and tapped it on the face of the Monolith and intoned, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”

The message left by Tiny was incredible and worrying. In it he told the story of how he and V’ger had ascended beyond the realm of organic and mortal concerns thanks to the assistance of those who’d already made the transition. He assured her that they were fine and living the ‘next great adventure’ to its fullest. What was worrying was the story about the ISA Ares IV which had been on a survey mission around Pluto and had gotten dragged out to the Delta Quadrant by an unknown force before being assimilated by a cybernetic collective of beings known as ‘the Borg,’ whose sole purpose was to enslave everyone who caught their attention. “These creatures cannot be considered people. They are completely amoral and have zero compunction against tearing down everything you love to achieve what they see as perfection. Remember Albus’ single-minded adherence to the Greater Good? Their mission is like that, only far darker and horrific. Make sure that the ISA and everyone else within your Federation knows about them. We have included the original message sent by Lieutenant Kelly as well as a large cache of accumulated information about the Borg. Inside, you will find historical records of their beginnings, a breakdown of their hierarchy and demographics, memory interactions with other species, plus what they look for in species to collect, how they capture and assimilate those species that have what they want. As of right now, they’re unaware of your location; V’ger and I went back to when the crew was captured and erased all of their memories as to where they came from to buy you some more time but eventually as humanity spreads out into the stars, the two shall meet and it won’t be pretty.”

Tiny glanced behind him and sighed, “I wish we could take a more active hand in dealing with the Borg but even we have limits. If we were to go back in time to destroy them then we run into the possibility of a paradox, and frankly, that’s the last thing that anyone wants. I suppose we could destroy them in the here and now, but that would destabilize a great number of things that would trickle down to you, and like I said, even omnipotent beings have limits.”

Tiny seemed to reach out to her, “I wish I could be there in person, but we’ve been told by those who came before us that physical interaction with the ones we left behind disrupts the natural development of the species so let this be our Final Message. I love you, Harry, Madison, and Samuel. I cherished our time together making history from our first meeting back at MIT all the way up to traveling to Romulus. So as the Marauders of old would say, “Mischief Managed.”

Hermione sadly sat in Henry’s office as he and his staff worked diligently to get the message and the information collected and transmitted down to Earth for the ISA and UN to go through. Henry glanced at her pensive face, “What’s wrong?”

Letting out a huff of tearful laughter, “You mean, besides the knowledge that there’s an existential threat out there in the form of a cybernetic nightmare or knowing that I’ll never get to greet my friend ever again? Tiny mentioned a Federation; do you know what he means?”

Henry shook his head, “No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our governments end up going that route. Frankly, I thought we were already there. It would be nice to see all of our people united under one banner.”

The information was shared with the respective governments whose borders ran closest to the Delta Quadrant, specifically the Romulans and Klingons. They along with the best military and scientific minds of Earth got together to create a multi-layered defensive line that hopefully, would send those cybernetic monsters packing; or at the very least make them pause long enough so the combined ISA-Romulan-Klingon fleet could mount a proper attack. One such defensive weapon was the invention of the Portkey Photon Torpedo, which teleported the attacking Borg ship into the nearest star or stellar mass. Another such weapon devised was the Cruciatus Bomb. This was a devastating last-ditch sort of weapon designed to cause every last nerve within the organic half of the Borg to fire off at once, inflicting incredible pain. It was considered a last-ditch weapon because like its curse-counterpart, there was no defense against it. Once applied, it continued attacking until its victim was rendered catatonic with its higher brain functions completely incapable of operating. It was remarked that in the tests against the cybernetic components, the damaged areas resembled swaths of burnt out circuit pathways as if subjected to intense electrical overload. To top it all off, the ISA Command decided to share its cloaking technology to hide the Romulan-Klingon border defenses with the same Fidelius charm used to hide the rumored human-operated Fidelius Fleet from general knowledge. Questions were raised by the receiving parties as to whether or not the Fleet remained in service. Admiral Forrest replied, “They do still exist but are now limited to patrolling regions of space that still hold rumors of marauding bands of pirates and the odd interstellar mystery.”

Klingon Ambassador Kor nudged Forrest with a twinkle of mirth in his eyes, “Is it true that the Fleet is still comprised of the old DY series ships?”

Forrest winked, “I cannot confirm or deny that they may or may not have had an upgrade or two. Undeniably though, they are beautiful and deadly ships.”

Time skip: 31 July, 2161 (Earth calendar); United Nations Plaza, New York, United Earth

It was a shame that the original Potters couldn’t physically attend the ceremony to take part in the inauguration of the galaxy’s first United Federation of Planets. Harry glanced over at his wife who floated next to him, ‘Well, at least we were able to be here in spirit form. I’m glad that we had that option thanks to Tiny. We would’ve been nearing a hundred and eighty-one or so if we’d still been alive. Heck, even Maddy would’ve been nearing her one-fifties and while medical science is good, it’s not that good to keep a person living so long.’

Harry glanced around him over at his friends and family who’d been able to return to the mortal plane to join him in witnessing this historic moment. Neville beamed proudly at the sight of his something-great granddaughter as she took her place amongst the representatives. Luna smiled serenely at Harry before turning back, a ghostly form of a Crumple-horned Snorcack resting at her heels. Dan and Emma Granger were there as well, as was Minerva, Filius, and Hagrid who towered over them. Looking behind him were the crew of Liberty, friends from his Hogwarts days, and their families. Tilting his head a bit, he thought he could even spot Croaker standing kind off to the side under a cowl. Harry bowed his head to Alastor Moody, once again whole and hearty though still sporting the scowl he always wore. Madison and Samuel appeared on either side of him and Hermione, each with a proud expression on their faces.

He glanced down as he felt Hermione interlaced her fingers with his then smiled warmly at his wife’s curious look, “I’m alright; just thinking of the past.”

“Anything I should be worried about?”

Harry put on a playful expression as he ‘thought’ about it, “Did I leave the oven on before I died?”

Hermione shook her head, “Prat. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know. I just wish that my parents, Sirius, and Remus could be here to see this.”

She shrugged a shoulder, “For all we know, they’re watching it right now. We’ll find out after this ceremony is done.”

Harry bobbed his head, “Yeah, and isn’t that a kick. I wonder if I’ll experience King’s Cross again or something new this time.”

Hermione laughed lightly, her voice tinkling like wind chimes in the morning air, “You’re such a dork. The afterlife is what we make of it.”

Harry shuffled his feet, “Do you suppose that they’ll be upset that we didn’t name the kids after them?”

Hermione traced a finger along his cheek, “I think they’ll be just fine with it. I’ve never told you but I used to have nightmares about getting married and having kids.”

He pulled back to frown, “Really?”

She nodded, “Yes, in my nightmare I was married to Ron Weasley and I had two kids; a boy and a girl. The girl’s name was Rose while the boy was named Hugo.”

“Didn’t Ron end up having a son named Hugo?”

“He did. Anyhow, you were married to Ginny Weasley and had three children; two boys and a girl. The eldest boy was named James Sirius (Harry gave an appreciative noise hearing that), the girl was named Lily Luna (again, another appreciative noise). The youngest boy was named Albus Severus…”

Harry froze as he stared uncomprehendingly at her, “Say that again?”

She bobbed her head, “Now you understand the nightmare. Can you imagine being saddled with not only a loveless marriage to that red-headed git, may he burn in Hell, but also having children with him? Then there’s you being practically forced into a marriage with that gold-digging stalker and social climber. Looking back, I think the only way for that to have happened was for Molly to be poisoning you with Love Potions.” She shivered briefly at the memory of that nightmare. “I also think the only way you’d ever name a child, the poor boy, after the two worst headmasters in Hogwarts history, would be if you were coerced into doing so.”

Harry agreed with her, “I get naming one boy James Sirius, and the girl Lily Luna, but what about Remus? He was instrumental in the war not to mention in my life. To not name a child after him would be sacrilege!”

“I think you were prevented from doing so because of the continued bias and underlying bigotry against werewolves not to mention the outright pushiness of Molly ‘Howler’ Weasley.”

Harry thought about that before waving it off, “Well, at least we managed to dodge that spell. You ever wonder what happened to the others?”

“Like who?”

“I don’t know, the ones who were so memorable in our lives.”

She leaned into kiss him on his ghostly lips, “I guess we’ll find out after we cross over.” Sounds of trumpets began blaring signaling the beginning of the ceremony. “Oooh! It’s starting!”

Epilogue: Whatever happened to?

Madison Potter: Her time in the Diplomatic Corp was spectacular (the initial Ferengi incident notwithstanding.) She rose quickly from being an ordinary staffer thanks in part to her friendly smiles, warm personality, and her penchant for picking up languages so quickly. Late in her career, she was instrumental in the rescue of a colony of settlers who mistakenly believed the planet they’d landed on was uncontested territory, only to run-afoul of the Gorn Hegemony. The Gorn were found to be uncontrollably aggressive toward other lifeforms, and even members of their own species, which ensured that only the strongest and smartest survived. Those captured had parasitic eggs embedded within their bodies to act as hosts for the larva to eat upon birth. Thanks to her ability with Parseltongue, Maddy negotiated for the release of the settlers in exchange for several herds of cattle, pigs, and other livestock (the embedded eggs were surgically removed and transplanted.) Afterwards, Madison and the Hegemony leaders negotiated a territory border agreement indicating which star systems were under their control. Madison married Keval, her long-time Andorian boyfriend during her stint on Andor. During this time, Keval joined the Corp as a Logistics Supervisor. The pair had two children, a daughter named Talla, and a son named Aiden. Maddy still enjoys pulling pranks on her staff, friends, family, and the occasional Klingon.

Clawfist: Unlike so many of his brethren, Clawfist did not go into banking. He stayed as Maddy’s second in command as Chief of Staff and assisted in establishing trade agreements with a number of worlds including Ferenginar. The Ferengi soon came to respect his prowess in negotiating the best deals possible and repeatedly tried to recruit him to their side. Clawfist always laughed them off, “You have nothing I need or want that the humans of Earth haven’t already provided me with in abundance.” That one declaration was the eye-opening moment that forced the other members of the Ferengi delegation to accept that the humans were a force to be reckoned with. He proved his worthiness in the eyes of the Ferengi culture by selling the gullible big-eared off-worlders shares in what he touted as the ‘Midas Blessing’ which would turn everything that was touched into pure gold. Hundreds of greedy Ferengi bought into the sales pitch and were gifted a set of glittery necklace charms that promised dreams beyond avarice. Once worn, the user would glow an otherworldly bluish light indicating that the enchantments were in place and working. If they didn’t glow, it indicated that the buyer wasn’t worthy of the gift.

Clawfist had set the necklaces up so the lack of a glow happened randomly, which added to the hilarity of watching the aliens practically piss themselves thinking they weren’t as worthy as their competition. Maddy caught up to him later and asked him how he was able to get the enchantments to turn ordinary objects into gold. With a shark-like grin, he explained that in actuality, all the charms did was turn the touched items into pyrite, aka fool’s gold. Those who failed to glow were offered a chance to buy a breeding pair of Nifflers to strike back against their sneering competition. He demonstrated what the cute and fuzzy creatures were capable of by releasing a couple into a previously prepared vault chamber. The plump little creatures went into a frenzy as they grabbed and stuffed as much of the shiny coins, jewelry, and gemstones into their body pouches whilst at the same time destroying everything with their sharp claws. Dozens of the creatures were bought on the spot by potential clients, their eyes glittering with greed and retribution against those who laughed at their misfortune.  

After his retirement, Clawfist settled back down on Earth and got married to his other childhood friend, Carys Griffiths from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Annabelle Malfoy: Annabelle’s time at Hogwarts didn’t turn out the way she expected. She’d expected to be treated like the aristocracy of old, thanks to all the stories her father and mother told of their times at Hogwarts. After that episode of harrassing Madison Potter back in their first year and the fallout when her Housemates found out that it was because of her that they all had to take the anti-bullying classes, her ranking within Slytherin took a sharp nosedive. Even her own father was highly disappointed in her behavior going as far as issuing a Head of House edict that if she ever tried to harass any offspring of Harry and Hermione Potter, she would be removed from Hogwarts and sent to a public school. Bitter, she kept her head down and graduated within the top fifteen percentile of her year. She got a job within the Ministry as per her grandmother’s wishes in the Department of Wizarding Administration. She dated a few men over the years but remained alone and childless, until she died of old age at 102 at her home in Winchester.

Hugo Weasley: Rude, crude, a chip off the old block were just some of the descriptions ascribed to Hugo as the years went by. Known for doing the bare minimum just like his father, Hugo just barely passed his OWLs at the age of fifteen; there were some who thought that this only happened because the examiners were afraid of running afoul of Molly Weasley who was rumored to have a stack of Howlers primed and ready to be sent out if anyone dared to fail any of her extended brood. Arrogantly deciding that now that he finished his OWLs, he didn’t need any more of that ‘boring school;’ Hugo set out to see if he could get hired on by his and his father’s favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. Ron was bursting with pride when he learned that Hugo made the team as one of the Chasers, and led the team to their first ever win in over a century (granted the win was by the barest of margins and only happened because the referee and opposing Keeper was looking at something else which allowed Hugo to slip in another goal illegally.) He stayed with that position until he got into a drunken bar fight against a Tellarite and lost most of the usage in his right arm. Rather than going on to something more lucrative like coaching, or even working in the ministry like so many other of his family, Hugo spent the rest of his days chatting up the fangirls who hung around the Quidditch stadium.

Draco and Ginny Malfoy: Having learnt their lesson (finally!) the pair steered clear of anything that even bore the slightest hint that the Potters were involved. Both adults never really accepted that the old ways were no longer acceptable with the general public or in dealing with governments. Ginny spent a year in jail for attempting to bribe customs officials into letting her bring undeclared items such as artworks, food, or frankly anything that caught her fancy into Britain. She visibly cringed after getting released when she spotted her mother waiting at the exit with the most severe expression on her face. In 2055, Draco made some poor financial decisions after dealing with some Ferengi speculators who ‘swore’ that purchasing land on a neighboring world was the next hot thing. Flat broke and deep in debt, Draco had to sell off the Malfoy Ancestral Manor in Wiltshire just to cover the expenses. Eternally grateful that his father was no longer around to see what he had to do now, he approached the Matriarch of the Weasley Family for assistance. Molly gave him a right swerve on how he could be so stupid as to believe anything that came from the ugly mouths of those off-world animals. “It would’ve been bad enough if you’d lost everything to the Goblins, those dirty off-world beasts could’ve stripped you naked and tossed you out before you even thought to grab your wand! You’re lucky Draco that you’re married to my sweet and wonderful daughter otherwise I would kick you out of this house as well! However, I will not bear the shame of having my only daughter living out on the streets so I will allow you to live in the guest house.”

Draco was puzzled, “You have a guest house? Why have I never known about that before?”

Molly huffed, “It used to be the storage room where the pigs’ food was stored. All you have to do is clear out the boxes and set up some cots. Be grateful that I’ve allowed you this much.”

Ron stood next to the door grinning wickedly, “It’s like all of my Christmasses have come at once. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, eh Draco? No more running to Daddy, no more money. I’m finally richer than you and you better believe I’m gonna rub your nose in it.”

Molly whacked him on the back of his head with her ever-present stirring spoon, “Go degnome the garden like I told you earlier, Ronald or go get a proper job. I don’t know where I went wrong with you and your sister. Why can’t you ever be like your father or Percy?”

Solkar: Solkar slipped back into Romulan society and the Tal’Shiar following his mission to infiltrate Vulcan and later the Earth peoples. He maintained his close friendship with Harry and Hermione, even inviting them to participate at his wedding. He and his wife, Verelan have three children.

Abigail Black-Bones: After graduating from Hogwarts, Abi went on to join her family tradition with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It was during an undercover operation where several of the most vicious breeds of dragons were being smuggled off-world to be a feature in an illegal zoo/combat arena that she was captured and interrogated to the point where her mind seemingly broke. She and the dragons were eventually rescued by the interplanetary Auror forces. Abigail was taken to Saint Mungo’s for treatment where the healers discovered that she’d used a combat version of Occlumency to retreat into her mind’s shelter until a later date. The problem was that no one knew the passphrase that would allow her to exit. All attempts to probe further were soon exhausted and her parents were called in. Abigail was transferred to the long-term resident ward for those whose minds had been permanently affected by torture or magic. When Maddy learned of what had happened, she contacted some of the finest Mind Healers on Vulcan to see if they could come up with an alternative. Months of research was undertaken to see if it was possible to transfer what the Vulcans called a person’s Katra into a temporary vessel until the doctors could heal the damaged portions of Abi’s brain. Two years after her placement within Saint Mungo’s, followed by a transfer to the main Vulcan Medical Center, Abigail Black-Bones opened her eyes to see her worried parents and friends looking back at her and smiled.