The Voyage of the Starship Hedwig

By: Ynyr

Fandom: harry potter

Summary: Just before her death Sybill Trelawney makes one last prophecy: to prevent a magical genocide Harry Potter must leave the Earth, and find a new home for his people around a distant star.

Status: Completed

Fic type: Books/Harry Potter

Pairings/Main char.: Harry P.

Published: 2011-07-01

Last updated: 2012-02-05

Words count: 100,184

Chapters count: 22

Converted using www.FF2EBOOK.com
Date: 2020-10-02

1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Most of this first chapter was posted before under a different title, but I decided to rewrite the story using canon relationships. Everything after this chapter will be new material.

3 May 1998

Since the Great Hall was still being used an impromptu morgue, Harry Potter and his friends were forced to eat breakfast in the Gryffindor common room. So it came as a surprise when the normally reclusive Professor Trelawney walked through the portrait hole, shoved Hermione out of her chair, and sat down at their table. The witch didn't seem to be in control of her own body, and the harsh voice she spoke with definitely wasn't normal. Harry had seen something like this twice before. Once was the day the Divination Professor had accurately predicted Peter Pettigrew's escape and the return of the Dark Lord. The second was in the Department of Mysteries when he found the prophecy orb.

"The Doom of Magic approaches... Only the Marked Vanquisher can lead our people to a new home... To a sister star where Ophiuchus and Scorpius converge... The Doom of Magic approaches."

Once the last word left Trelawney's mouth her head fell forward right into Hermione's bowl of hot porridge. Parvati Patil rushed to her side, and immediately screamed that "Sybill" was dead. All attempts to revive the witch failed, so Harry levitated her limp body in the air and ran to the Infirmary.

"I'm sorry, but Professor Trelawney is gone," a shocked Madame Pomfrey told them a few minutes later after she had thoroughly examined the body. "It was a cerebral hemorrhage. In fact, it was a series of massive cerebral hemorrhages."

Hermione frowned. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Normally only one blood vessel ruptures at a time, and even that is enough to cause brain death. But in Sybill's case over a hundred of her blood vessels ruptured simultaneously. I have never seen anything like this before in the medical literature," the healer explained. "Are you sure she wasn't struck in the head, perhaps by a spell or a curse?"

"No, she just gave us the Prophecy about the Doom of Magic and died," Harry replied.

"Maybe one of the Death Eaters is still in the castle, hiding beneath an Invisibility Cloak," Ron offered. The prospect of hunting down and capturing one of the dark wizards responsible for his brother's death seemed to improve his mood.

"They could have used the Imperius Curse on Professor Trelawney, and when she was done speaking they killed her with a nonverbal spell," Hermione reasoned.

"What are you talking about?" an angry Harry demanded. "That was a real Prophecy we just heard. Trust me, it's the third time I've seen it happen."

"The "Doom of Magic". That is a bit much, don't you think?" Hermione said. "And traveling to another star? That is impossible—even for the muggles with their advanced technology."

"It was impossible for an untrained teenager like me to defeat a wizard of Voldemort's power and experience, but it happened. Just like Professor Trelawney predicted it would."

"Harry, all she did was give a cryptic warning about the death of an unnamed Dark Lord. It only worked out because Voldemort, Dumbledore, and you all believed that it would. The whole mess was a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Predicting something important as the end of the world is impossible, even with magic."

"Professor Trelawney didn't say anything about the end of the world," Harry snapped. "I can't believe after everything we been through during the past seven years you are just going to dismiss a Prophecy of this importance."

The two friends glared at each other for a solid minute before Hermione finally spoke. "I'm leaving for Australia today with Ron. If my parents don't kill me first, you and I will discuss this subject when we return to Hogwarts."

With that the angry witch stomped out of the Infirmary. Ron shrugged his shoulders apologetically before following her. Harry couldn't really blame him. They were best mates and all, but Hermione was his girlfriend now. As long as they were together she would always come first.

"The little swot didn't mean any of that," Parvati told him. "Hermione is just worried about finding her mother and father, since she isn't even sure which city they live in now. She also afraid they will never forgive her for using a Memory Charm without consulting them first."

"Don't worry, Ron will talk some sense into her during the trip," Neville assured him. "Now what about this new Prophecy? You honestly think it's real?"

"Yes, I do," an exhausted Harry admitted. Thanks to several disturbing dreams he hadn't slept more than two or three hours last night. "Parvati, do you remember the exact words Professor Trelawney used in common room?"

The Indian witch passed him a piece of parchment covered with her perfect handwriting. "I have it all written down."

"Thank you. Neville, I want you to take this to Professor Sinistra. Ophiuchus and Scorpius are both constellations, and that is her area of expertise. I also want to know what the term "sister star" means."

"I will go too," Parvati said.

"Are you sure you don't want to be with your sister Padma now?" a concerned Harry asked. The poor girl just lost her best friend Lavender Brown yesterday during the Battle of Hogwarts, and today her favorite Professor dropped dead right in front of her eyes.

"It wouldn't help. I need to keep myself preoccupied, or I will just start crying again. Where are you going?"

"To Gringotts. I may not know much about starships, but I'm pretty sure they cost a lot of galleons to build."

The last time Harry had been in Gringotts he left on the back of a blind dragon. The goblins were not going to be happy to see him, so he came prepared for battle. Not only did he have his recently repaired wand, he also had Voldemort's old wand. He had found it in the Dark Lord's robe after their duel, and nicked it without anyone noticing.

In addition to these two brother wands, Harry had all three of the Deathly Hallows. Summoning the missing Resurrection Stone from the Forbidden Forest had been easy using the Elder Wand. Finally he had retrieved his trump card from the Headmaster Snape's still-deserted office before leaving Hogwarts.

Harry had spent the past few hours thinking about the war. They had always been on the defensive, waiting for Voldemort and his Death Eaters to strike first. It was a lousy strategy, and only Dumbledore's insanely complicated plan had saved them in the end. His own attitude hadn't helped matters. During his fifth year he acted like a spoiled brat, while in his sixth year he allowed Dumbledore and Hermione to overrule his judgment regarding Draco Malfoy.

And the less that was said about the Horcrux Hunt, the better.

This new Prophecy would require a new approach. Relying on the Ministry of Magic would be a mistake. Who knows how long their financial support would last, or when they would turn on the Boy-Who-Lived-Twice for political reasons? Harry wasn't going to be anyone's puppet this time. The Prophecy had been given to him, and he would be the one making the plans this time. If those plans failed it would be his fault and no one else's.

"I would like to visit my vault," Harry said when he reached the front of the long queue. With the war over many people were eager to visit the reopened shops of Diagon Alley, hence the large crowd.

The goblin teller smiled when he saw the famous lightning-bolt scar underneath Harry's hooded cloak. "So one of the thieves has returned already. This shall be a day of great rejoicing for all goblins."

"Excuse me, but am I in some sort of trouble?"

"Guards!" the teller bellowed. "Take this thief to Ragnok. You will soon learn the price a wizard pays for stealing from Gringotts."

It seems that price included over three-quarters of Harry's personal wealth, which included the inheritance he received from this godfather Sirius Black. Ragnok was acting like a professional banker, but Griphook was cackling like a hyena during the entire meeting. The other goblins were silent, but their body language suggested that the Boy-Who-Lived was getting off with a light punishment and should be grateful for that fact.

Harry had heard enough of this kind of shite from Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge to last a lifetime, so decided to interrupt Ragnok's self-righteous monologue. "Do you know what the headline in tomorrow's Daily Prophet is going to be? The Goblins of Gringotts were Secret Allies of You-Know-Who."

"That is a vile slander boy!" Ragnok snarled. "No goblin has ever served a human being!"

"Gringotts was protecting one of Voldemort's most prized possessions during the war. In my humble opinion that makes you all Death Eaters."

The various goblins conferred with each other in their language for several minutes before an angry Ragnok turned to face him again. "You are obviously attempting to blackmail us wizard, so what do you want?"

"I want what is mine," Harry snapped. "I want all the galleons from the Potter vault, from the vaults of the dead Death Eaters, and from the vault of Tom Riddle. The bastard must have had one at some point during his miserable life. Most of all I never want to see another treacherous goblin for as long as I live."

"If the Boy-Who-Lived abandons Gringotts it will be taken as a sign that we can no longer be trusted by other wizards. It would cause a run on the bank, and that would ruin us."

"I don't plan on telling anyone about this meeting or about my personal finances. It can be our little secret," Harry replied. He then reached into his Mokeskin pouch and pulled out his trump card. "I'm even willing to return the Sword of Gryffindor to your people as a gesture of good faith. So what will it be: will you give me what is mine, or will you start another disastrous goblin rebellion?"

"Perhaps we should just kill you and quietly dispose of your body instead," Ragnok mused. "That outcome would allow us to keep the sword and the gold—most of which doesn't belong to you—and avoid a rebellion at the same time."

"If it comes to a fight I know I won't make it out of this bank alive. But I also know that I will kill every goblin in this room before your other guards finish me off."

"Death holds no fear for you, Harry Potter?"

"No, not any more."

"How rare. A wizard who is also a warrior," Ragnok remarked. "Very well. We shall give you the gold from those vaults in return for your silence. In addition you will return the mighty sword we crafted for that thief Godric Gryffindor a thousand years ago."

He should have realized it was all too easy.

Gringotts provided him with a portable chest holding all his galleons, but they pointed out with some relish that most of the Vaults he had named were already empty. Relatives of the late Death Eaters had visited the bank just hours after Voldemort's death, and withdrew their galleons before the new Minister of Magic could have them seized. Harry left Gringotts with a little more than three hundred thousand galleons, but he would need more... a lot more. But how to get it? A glance at the front window of Flourish & Blotts gave him an idea of where to start.

After a short walk down Diagon Alley he found what he was looking for. "Excuse me madam, I would like to speak to one of your firm's solicitors."

The pretty receptionist at Osborne & Partners looked at Harry's ragged clothes with disdain. "And you are?"

"I'm the wizard who just killed Voldemort, so tell your employer that I want to see him right now."

Peter Osborne looked no more than thirty, and he couldn't stop apologizing for his receptionist's rude behavior. Harry finally shut him up by asking for a cup of tea when they reached his lavish office. His Uncle Vernon had often complained about the solicitors that his company Grunnings was forced to deal with. Hopefully he remembered enough of those dinner table conversations to fake his way through this meeting.

"Now what can I do for you, Mr Potter?" Osborne asked.

"I was just walking down Diagon Alley. To my surprise I saw Harry Potter books, Harry Potter dolls, and even Harry Potter-shaped biscuits for sale. But for some reason I have never once received any monetary compensation for the use of my name or my likeness. Why is that?"

"Unlike the muggles who have well-defined copyright and trademark laws, here in the wizarding world things are a bit more archaic," the solicitor explained. "The only way to profit from a new magical invention is to keep your methods a secret. Artists are paid to paint a painting or sing a song in front of a live audience. They receive no other compensation for their services."

"So when a Weird Sisters' record is played on the Wizarding Wireless Network they don't get any royalties?" Harry asked.

"No, they do not," Osborne replied. "It's the same when they place your picture on a Chocolate Frog Card. All the profits go to the company which produces the cards, not to the individual wizards."

"Well, I don't really care how things were done in the past, I care about the future. So I want you to send cease-and-desist letters to every company which is currently producing "Harry Potter" products. Tell them I want at least fifty percent of all their profits. If they refuse tell them I will sue them in the Wizengamot, and that I will demand one hundred percent of all their profits—including everything they have earned during the past seventeen years."

Osborne blinked several times before speaking. "That kind of legal action will make you very unpopular in certain circles. Very important and influential circles."

"A week ago I was the most wanted criminal in Magical Britain, but today I am a national hero. I've learned the hard way that public opinion is a very fickle thing, but that gold galleons always seem to maintain their value."

"If that is your decision I will send the letters out by tomorrow morning. Is there any other legal services you require from our firm?"

"Yes, I want an inventory of my two properties: Number Twelve, Grindelwald Place here in London, and the Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow. The contents of both homes and the properties themselves are to be placed up for auction. Your law firm will receive a five percent commission, so it will be in your interest to get the best prices possible."

"Anything else?"

"Do you have any friends working for the Ministry of Magic? Any contacts that can provide you with insider information?"

"The Ministry is a bit of a mess at the moment, but I know several Department Heads who remained neutral during the war and should be keeping their jobs under the new Minister," Osborne admitted. "What would you like to know precisely?"

"I want to know if the Ministry is going to give me any sort of reward for killing Voldemort. Preferably a large one."

"You seem very concerned with your financial situation Mr Potter. May I ask why?"

"No, you may not. Solicitors are paid to keep their mouths shut. If you wish to continue this profitable business relationship in the future you would do well to remember that."

Peter Osborne suddenly remembered he was dealing with the seventeen year-old who had killed the Dark Lord Voldemort, something not even the great Albus Dumbledore had been able to accomplish.

"Sir, you can rely on my personal discretion at all times."

Harry found an interesting group waiting for him in Professor Sinistra's classroom when he returned to Hogwarts late that afternoon. In addition to Neville, Parvati, and Luna Lovegood, several members of the teaching staff were also taking part in the astronomical seminar. Surprisingly Parvati was sitting in front of a large stack of old books, and even more surprisingly she was actually reading one of them.

"Have you found a "sister star" in the specific region of space that Professor Trelawney described in her Prophecy?" Harry asked, not wanting to waste any more time.

"I believe so Mr Potter, although it would be more accurate to say that the muggles found it," Professor Sinistra replied as she pointed her wand at a large glass sphere over a meter-wide. Normally it contained a three-dimensional model of the Milky Way Galaxy, but it could also be used to display specific sections of the night sky. "There is a star call 18 Scorpii located between the constellations of Scorpius and Ophiuchus. It is almost a perfect analogue for our own Sun."

"Tell him everything!" Parvati demanded. "This Prophecy proves that Sybill Trelawney was the greatest Seer in all of history."

"I not quite sure about that, but her prediction was uncanny," Sinistra replied carefully. "An article about this particular star appeared in the Astrophysical Journal last year. Like our own Sun, 18 Scorpii is classified as a G2 star—or a Yellow Dwarf as you laymen call it. According to the most recent observations its age, temperature, luminosity, rotational period, and magnetic activity cycle are all very similar to the Sun. It is quite an amazing discovery."

"It doesn't have a binary component either," Parvati added. It almost sounded like the witch knew what she was talking about. Almost.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Sinistra said with a smile. "Many muggle scientists believe that life could not exist on a planet in a binary star system, although others disagree with that conclusion. However in my humble opinion the lack of a second star makes it more likely that a habitable planet will be found around 18 Scorpii."

"Tell him the bad news Aurora," Professor McGonagall said. She and Professor Flitwick had been watching Harry closely for some reason, and their odd behavior was starting to get on his nerves.

"Yes, the bad news. I'm afraid that 18 Scorpii is located forty-six light years from Earth. Traveling there is simply out of the question."

"Why?"

"Because even if you could travel at the speed of light—which is impossible—it would you take forty-six years to reach the star system," Sinistra explained. "If you used more conventional methods, like say an Ion Drive, the trip would take thousands and thousands of years."

"Last year I apparated from the southern coast of England to Hogwarts with Headmaster Dumbledore," Harry replied. "Even carrying a passenger it was still instantaneous. Doesn't that prove that magic allows us to travel faster than the speed of light?"

"Mr Potter that has been a subject of intense debate here at Hogwarts since the muggle Isaac Newton published his Principia over three hundred years ago," Professor Flitwick explained. "We know that magic breaks some of the laws of physics, but does it break all of them? Or are there certain universal laws that even magic must obey? To answer your question, we honestly don't know if magic allows a wizard to travel faster than the speed of light."

"Why hasn't there been any experiments conducted to test the theory?" Luna asked.

"That is easier said than done Miss Lovegood," Sinistra replied. "You can only travel a limited distance using apparition or portkeys. That makes it very difficult for an observer to conclusively measure how fast you are actually moving."

Harry tried to remember what that long-range apparition had felt like. "Your body is squeezed by intense pressure, and then you instantaneously reemerge in a different location. I'm positive that no time passes at all."

"Perhaps you are right Mr Potter, but it's a moot point. No wizard or witch has ever apparated more than a thousand kilometers at a time," Sinistra argued. "The process would be completely useless for traveling to another star."

"I am right, and that means magic does allows us to travel faster than the speed of light," Harry shot back. "At least it's a place to start. What about a using a portkey?"

"They also have a very limited range, and you need to know the exact location you wish to travel to before you create the portkey itself," Flitwick explained. The Charms Professor seemed to be enjoying this technical discussion of magic.

Sinistra nodded her head. "That kind of exact measurement would be impossible with interstellar distances. Even the slightest miscalculation would leave you stranded in deep space for decades."

"What about using a series of portkeys, one after the other?" Luna suggested.

"Without any local reference points it would be even more difficult to make the proper measurements," Flitwick replied. "You would keep making mistakes and get progressively more lost with each portkey you used."

"Why don't we just set-up a big Floo Network," Neville suggested. When everyone turned to stare at him he shrugged. "You Floo between two fireplaces, why not Floo between two stars? They are pretty easy to see in the night sky."

"Mr Longbottom, that is insane," Sinistra snapped. "The temperature around Sun can reach well over a million degree Celsius. And even if you could survive the intense heat you would need to be traveling at over six hundred kilometers per second to escape the Sun's powerful gravitational well."

"Well, I didn't think this was going to be easy," Harry sighed. "Professor Sinistra, thank you for all your help. Professor McGonagall, I was hoping to move into the Head Boy's suite tonight."

"I'm not quite sure I'm following you Mr Potter."

"I will be returning to Hogwarts to repeat my seventh year. It's pretty obvious that I will be chosen as the new Head Boy, so I would like to stay at the castle this summer. After living in a tent for a year with two other people, having a private room and a private loo will be a wonderful change."

According to the old saying a single pebble can start a mighty avalanche. In this case the pebble turned out to be a CCTV, one of thousands which lined the streets and alleys of modern London. A young constable of the Metropolitan Police Service was out on patrol when she was accosted by a man wearing a strange spotted bathrobe. She tried to brush him off, but the man was persistent. Rather than walk away in failure, he drew a wooden stick and pointed it at the constable.

Despite the lack of sound and color what followed was unmistakable to anyone watching the recording. The constable was raped. While tragic, this type of thing had been seen before. What followed though was new and very disturbing. Once the man was done he again pointed the wooden stick at his weeping victim. She immediately got dress, and then left the crime scene in a calm and collected manner. The Police managed to identify the constable: her name was Janet Willows, and she had a perfect service record. She also had no recollection of being raped, or of ever meeting the man in the strange spotted bathrobe.

This bizarre case was quickly sent up the chain of command, and in a few hours it reached the desk of the Prime Minister himself. The PM was still furious about the destructive Wizarding War which had just ended, and when he watched the recording it sent him into a towering rage. Later that night he spoke with the Presidents of the United States, France, and Russia along with the General Secretary of China. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council all agreed that these wizards were out of control, and something drastic had to be done to rein them in.

The Doom of Magic had begun.

4 May 1998

Harry awoke the next morning to find Ginny watching him from across the room. She was sitting cross-legged on a sofa, clutching an old stuffed dragon. Of all the Weasleys siblings she had taken Fred's death the hardest, and she had return to the Burrow last night rather than stay here at Hogwarts. He noticed that her beautiful brown eyes were still bloodshot from crying.

"Neville said you've been asleep for over sixteen hours. I was beginning to wonder if you were dead. Again."

"The last few days have been hectic. I died, I came back to life, I killed Voldemort, I received a Prophecy about the end of magic..."

"Fred died."

"And Tonks and Remus and that little twerp Colin Creevey."

Ginny gave him a sad smile. "That little twerp was in love with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say I know the signs when some poor fool is hopelessly in love with the great Harry Potter."

"Maybe you're right, but keep that romantic insight to yourself," Harry said as he unsuccessfully tried to get out of bed. "If the Slytherins start making jokes about Colin, I will probably end up killing a few of them."

"Fine, be that way you prat," Ginny said as she rolled her eyes. "What are your plans for today?"

"I was hoping Professor Flitwick would begin teaching me how to make a portkey. I was also planning on visiting several muggle bookstores in London, and buying some books about space travel. They have tons of experience in that particular area."

Ginny looked away. Harry was certain that she already learned about the Prophecy from Neville or Luna, but for some reason she didn't want to talk about it yet.

"I thought you wanted to start your Auror training?"

"The sad truth is I really don't know much about magic. I'm good at casting a few spells and at playing Quidditch, but that's about it. Building a spaceship will require a lot of complex magical theory. Stuff like Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, two classes I didn't bother to take when I had the chance during my third year."

Before Ginny could respond Kingsley Shacklebolt—the newly appointed Minister of Magic—came barging into the Head Boy's suite. He didn't look happy.

"Potter, I've been hearing some very bizarre rumors about a prophecy this morning. I already have a lot on my plate back at the Ministry of Magic, so why don't you tell me what the bloody hell is going on. Right now!"

The Prophecy wasn't a secret, so Harry told the African wizard everything he knew about it. The Minster was intensely skeptical about Divination, and proceeded to describe several anatomically impossible things Merlin could do to the late Sybill Trelawney and her ridiculous Prophecy.

"We have just gone through one of the worst upheavals in our history," Kingsley said, continuing with his angry rant. "We have to rebuild our society, and that will be impossible if our greatest war hero starts babbling like a madman about the end of the world."

"It's not the end of the world. It's the end of magic. Besides none of that stupid political stuff matters anymore. The Prophecy..."

"Enough Potter! I don't want to hear another word about this subject. Is that clear?"

"Sir, I don't want to have anything to do with the Ministry of Magic. I plan on staying here at Hogwarts and continuing with my magical education. Since you don't want to have anything to do with the new... project, I suggest we just go our separate ways. I swear I wouldn't set foot in London again without your permission."

"What about the mess you and your friends made at Gringotts?"

"I've already taken care of the goblins," Harry replied.

"And how exactly did you manage to do that?" the Minister asked in a tight voice.

"Trust me Minister Shacklebolt, your best option at this point would be to maintain plausible deniability."

10 May 1998

Later that week a clandestine meeting was held in a deserted aeroplane hanger at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire. The men in attendance were an odd bunch: they were from several different countries and represented several different ethnic groups. Yet despite all these differences they share a few common traits. None of them was younger than twenty and none of them was older than thirty-five. They were also in excellent physical condition, with the lean physiques of swimmers or perhaps long-distance runners. But the most striking thing they all share was a certain confidence in the way they held themselves. These men were all élite soldiers.

An older officer wearing an unmarked uniform entered the hangar along with several assistants who looked more like civilians. His name was Colonel Poshepny, and even among these experienced men he was considered a living legend.

"Thank you all for coming here today. I will once again state for the record that this mission is completely voluntary. If you wish to leave at any point, you may do so without fear of penalty from your commanding officers."

Over the centuries wizards had made many enemies among the muggles, and even the Obliviators couldn't cover-up all their assorted crimes. There were thousands of muggles who knew the truth about the magical world and hated it with a burning passion. A few of these angry muggles had become soldiers—very talented soldiers.

"I know that many of you have dreamed of taking the fight to those stick-waving bastards," Colonel Poshepny continued. "But that has always been impossible because to their defensive wards. That is about to change thanks to these little beauties."

His assistants began distributing what looked like ordinary pairs of glasses. Once the soldiers put them on they noticed that the lenses were covered with dozens of tiny scratches. It was odd, since the black frames looked brand-new.

"Those scratches are actually microscopic runes which were etched on the glass with a laser beam. The design came from a wizard who wanted his muggle mistress to be able to find their hidden love-nest in Salem, Massachusetts. It took him over a year to create a single pair, but we managed to produce over a hundred copies in less than a week."

"What are the side-effects?" one of the Chinese soldiers asked. "In the past I've found that there are always nasty side-effects when you are dealing with this type of black magic."

"After twenty minutes the glasses will give you a headache. After forty minutes they give you a migraine. After an hour your brain goes sayonara," Colonel Poshepny admitted. "Our scientists are working hard on improving the design, but for now we are stuck with these prototypes. At this point we are only conducting recon, so they should do for the time being."

"What if we are captured?" a Russian asked. "When it comes to torture these wizards make the old KGB look like amateurs. One prisoner is all it would take to blow this whole operation wide open."

"If any prisoners are taken by the wizards we have authorization from the UN Security Council itself to proceed with an immediate rescue mission, no matter which country we have to enter."

"What are the rules of engagement for this hypothetical rescue mission?" an American asked. The Americans and their military lawyers were always worrying about things like that, much to the amusement of their international colleagues.

"I expect the men under my command to follow one rule: we bring our people home, no matter the cost," Colonel Poshepny replied.

"What if we accidentally start a war?"

"Son, this war started long before any of us were born. Our job is to finish it, and that is exactly what we are going to do."

2. Chapter 2

4 August 1998

Hermione and Ron finally returned to Hogwarts after a wonderful two month vacation. They had spent the summer in Darwin, Australia with Hermione's mother and father. At first the Grangers had been furious with the poor witch for her use of a Memory Charm, but after some consideration they forgave her. It turns out that they loved their new identities, their new tropical home, and their new dental practice—which was a thriving success.

Ron quickly took a liking to Oz as well. A winter in Darwin was much more pleasant than any summer in Britain. Plus there were dozens of beaches, including a clothing-optional one. The young wizard was an eager convert to the naturist lifestyle, much to his girlfriend's delight. The Grangers had even let them share a bedroom, and the young couple had never been happier.

When they entered Hogwarts they were met by Ginny, who silently lead them to a small field just outside the castle's protective wards. There they found a crowd of about a dozen wizards and witches working under a bright Full Moon. Oddly enough, a number of magical portraits were also floating nearly. Everyone—including the portraits—was studying a small cube made out of six enchanted mirrors. A few meters away six much-larger mirrors were resting on wooden easels. The two sets were magical linked together, much like the one Sirius Black had given to his godson years ago. Harry was in the center of all this hubbub, acting like a would-be mad scientist.

"Mr Potter and I have just put the finishing touches on experiment PK-22, so let's get ready," Professor Flitwick told the group of students, most of whom were Ravenclaws.

Harry was ignoring his friends at the moment, so Hermione quietly asked Ginny: "Have they actually done this sort of thing twenty-two times before tonight?"

"This is the twenty-second time they tried to send a portkey to the Moon, but they have sent hundreds of them all around the world during the past few weeks," Ginny explained. "At least this is better than their other experiments. Harry tried Side-Along Apparition with a herd of cows, and they all splinched. I'm never going to eat another sausage for as long as I live."

"But this whole thing is impossible," Hermione grumbled. "The Moon is four hundred thousand kilometers away from us."

"You know, I've seen that look on your face before. It's the same one you had when Harry found the Snape's old Advanced Potion-Making textbook and started getting better grades than you."

"Ginny, I was right to be concerned about that stupid textbook. Harry didn't listen to my advice, and as a result he almost killed Draco Malfoy. If he had been sent to Azkaban during that terrible year we never would have seen him alive again."

"Hermione, I'm not going to argue with you about this, but please just listen to me. If you get into another row with Harry about the new Prophecy it will end badly. Trust me, I found that out the hard way."

"Don't tell me that the stupid wanker dumped you again?" a concerned Ron asked his baby sister.

"Yes, for about a month. Harry believes the Prophecy is the most important thing in the entire world. You two can either accept that fact like I did, or you can both find yourselves a new best friend."

"Sending a portkey to the Moon is still impossible," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"Repelling a hundred Dementors with a single Patronus Charm was impossible too, but I did it back during our third year," Harry said as he finally came over for a round of friendly hugs. "You have to remember that we are dealing with magic. We may understand how it works, but we don't understand why it works. In this case Professor Flitwick has theorized that the portkeys can achieve such long-distances because they are traveling through the vacuüm of outer space, but honestly we have no idea why it's working."

"So one of them has actually reached the Moon?" Ron asked.

Harry grimaced. "Sort of. They lack any kind of accuracy or consistency. We are aiming for the surface of the Moon, but sometimes the portkey makes it halfway there and stops. Other times they materialize inside of the Moon itself, or at least that's what I think happens to some of them."

"Have you been using the proper coördinates?" Hermione asked. She still thought this was all a waste of time, but she found it difficult to contain her natural curiosity.

"Yes, Professor Sinistra has drilled me on the subject of lunar obits until I can recite the astronomical tables in my sleep," Harry explained. "But no matter how precise we are when we create the portkeys there are always problems. Hopefully the refinements we made this time around will make a difference."

They didn't.

Harry activated the portkey with a tap of his wand, and it disappeared in a flash. A split-second later the larger mirrors began showing rotating images of outer space. The Earth and Moon were clearly visible in the distance, but the portkey had failed to make it to the Moon's surface.

"What do you think Aurora?" Professor Flitwick asked. "My guess is that we are around a hundred thousand kilometers short this time."

Professor Sinistra was watching the images in the mirrors with a large pair of Omnioculars. After thirty seconds or so she used her wand to cast some sort of spell of the recording device. Only then did she turn to face her tiny colleague and answer his question.

"That sounds about right Filius, but I will have to study these images closely before I can give you a proper estimate. I will need a few hours to make all the calculations."

"I don't think it really matters," a dejected Harry said. "This is a dead-end street, just like apparition. It looks like Neville's Solar Floo Starship is our best option after all."

"Why don't you show Miss Granger the blueprints Mr Thomas was good enough to make for us," Professor Flitwick suggested as he conjured several balls of light to illuminate the dark field.

Harry reached into a new Mokeskin pouch and pulled out a folded piece of parchment, which he then tossed into the air. The floating parchment began to unfold by itself until it reached over two meters in size. At first it appeared to be a blueprint of a sphere made of dozens of individual triangles, but then the image began to rotate. Dean must have drawn the blueprints using the same sort of charms found in magical portraits.

"I believe that is a geodesic sphere, not a Solar Floo Starship," Hermione commented dryly.

"We chose a sphere because it the easiest shape to cast a Shield Charm around," Harry explained. "See those six yellow triangles placed at equal distances around the surface? They are large magical emitters which we can use to cast spells from inside the safety of the starship."

"How do they work?"

"That is a good question. I don't know, since we haven't actually built any of them yet. It shouldn't be too difficult since they will only be used to cast one spell. In this case it will be six overlapping Protego Horribilis Charms. Hopefully that level of magical protection will allow the Hedwig to survive the intense heat and radiation it will face after it emerges from the 18 Scorpii."

"Wait a second, let's start at the beginning," Ron suggested. "You are calling this bloody thing the Hedwig?"

"Don't blame me, it wasn't my idea."

"Hedwig was your first and closest friend Harry. You loved her more than anyone else in the world," Luna explained as she gently patted him on the arm. "Of course there were other reasons why we chose this shape. We plan on incorporating the Featherweight Charm directly into the metal framework. We also plan on using a number of large Booster Brooms to escape from the Earth's gravity. A spherical shape will make it easier to distribute all the structural stress the Booster Brooms will cause when the Hedwig launches from the surface."

Hermione let out a loud sigh. "OK, in theory the Hedwig will be light enough to achieve orbit with the aid of a large number of these "Booster Brooms", as you call them. So what will happen when you finally reach outer space?"

"We carefully set a course for 18 Scorpii using more enchanted mirrors to navigate, and then we start accelerating using a continuous stream of the Banishing Charms. See all the red triangles? The four on the top half of the Hedwig are for maneuvering, while the six on the bottom will provide the main thrust. Once we are moving fast enough to escape from a star's gravity well, we'll activate the Shield Charms and set-off a large Floo Bomb. In theory the Hedwig should then emerge out of the flames of 18 Scorpii. Once we are at a safe distance we'll turn around and start decelerating, at which point we can start looking for our new home planet."

"What about oxygen and food and water?"

Harry held up his Mokeskin pouch. "We plan on using an Extension Charm. A really big one."

Hermione huffed as only she could. "The Extension Charm is not a long-term solution, since they have a nasty tendency to collapse after a few months. That is why wizards don't use them in their homes."

"Normally you are correct Miss Granger, but Mr Potter and his friends have found a notable exception to this rule," Professor Flitwick explained. "The Room of Requirement was design by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, and it has last for a thousand years without losing any of its magical integrity."

"But we have no idea how the Room of Requirement works."

"All you had to do was ask for the information," Neville told her. "That's what we did back in June and it worked perfectly."

"The walls inside were completely covered with runes, over a thousand in total," Professor Flitwick continued. "It will take two or three years to decipherer the complete set, but our investigation so far has been very productive."

By now Hermione was getting desperate. If she didn't put a stop to this soon Harry might actually fly into outer space and get himself killed. "But even the Room of Requirement can't provide you with real food and water."

Harry stretched his arms over his head and let out a loud yawn. "We know, and that's why Professor Sprout and Neville are coming up with a manifest of key plants and animals we'll need to take with us. Creating an entirely new ecosystem is going to be a bitch. Now I know that you and Ron are both still on Australian time, but the rest of us are exhausted. If you want, we can continue this conversation tomorrow morning during breakfast."

14 August 1998

During the great artillery bombardments of the First World War it was found that most of the fatalities occurred in the opening seconds of any battle. After that soldiers had a chance to find cover, which greatly improved their odds of survival. To solve this pressing problem the armies of the world began to carefully coördinate their artillery bombardments. If every single shell could arrived at the same time without any prior warning it greatly increased the number of enemy fatalities. This technique was referred to as "time on target" by the officers who first developed it.

After studying the extensive intelligence his men had collected over the past few weeks, Colonel Poshepny concluded that his best chance of winning this war would require something like a "time on target" attack. The wizards had centuries of experience at hiding, and they could fight a very nasty guerrilla campaign if he let them.

Luckily the calendar was working in his favor this year. At the end of August the Four-Hundred and Twenty-Third Annual Quidditch World Cup was being held in South Africa. Over a hundred thousand wizards and witches were expected to attend, which represent almost one-sixth of their total population. That made the World Cup Stadium an irresistible military target in the Colonel's mind.

Of course there would also be hundreds of other strikes taking place around the world at the same time. A majority of them would be carried out by aerial bombing and with cruise missiles. This would cause mass chaos, which his ground forces could then ruthlessly exploit. His men were well-trained, and most had already picked out their ambush sites. They were being supplied with any weapons they asked for: anti-tank missiles and claymore mines were the most popular choices at the moment.

While these more conventional missions had already been approved by the United Nations Security Council, the attack on the Quidditch World Cup had not. Colonel Poshepny knew it was unlikely that the Americans and the British would give their blessing, since their current leaders were much too squeamish about such things. Those two progressive fools wanted to disarm the wizards and open up a diplomatic dialogue, not destroy them. The Chinese were concerned about losing access to Western markets where there sold billions of dollars worth of exports each year, which ruled them out. The French had the will to act, but not the means. That left the Russians, who most certainly had the means in the form of thousands of tactical nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War.

The Russian President was indisposed at the moment, which meant Poshepny had to deal with his Chief-of-Staff. The man was a former KGB officer, and he spent twenty minutes regaling his uncomfortable guest with stories about Stalin's personal war against the magical world back in the nineteen-thirties. According to current intelligence estimates there were less than a thousand wizards and witches left alive in Russia thanks to Uncle Joe's efforts.

"And I promise you that not a single one of those vermin will survive this coming purge," the Chief-of-Staff declared as he gave the top of his desk a sharp judo chop. "Now what exactly do you need?"

"Something lightweight with about a ten kiloton yield," Poshepny replied at once. He spoke Russian with a terrible accent, but neither man wanted a translator to witness this particular meeting. "We also have to transport it into South Africa in two weeks without their government's permission."

"That won't be a problem. We have several former officers who are working as arms dealers in Sub-Saharan Africa. They will be more than happy to help out the Motherland in this hour of need."

The Chief-of-Staff was a good as his word, and the small but potent nuclear warhead arrived in South Africa with a week to spare. The preparations for the bombings were also preceding without a hitch, all eight hundred and fifty of them. The Colonel thought it was amazing what humanity could accomplish if the governments of the world all worked together towards a common goal.

28 August 1998

"Do you have any idea where we are going?" an irritated Ron asked George as they waited outside the Burrow for the girls to finish dressing. Bill and Percy were over in the garden talking with their parents about some ongoing crisis at the Ministry of Magic. It was a subject neither of the younger Weasley sons found interesting.

"Not a bloody clue, but Harry did tell us all to bring swimsuits so we are probably headed to the beach. Don't tell me you wouldn't mind seeing Granger in her little bikini again."

"I can see Hermione in or out of her bikini anytime I want to, but the World Cup only happens once every four years."

George glared at Ron until the wanker turned away in embarrassment. "We owe Harry. He saved the lives of Ginny and Dad and who knows how many of the muggleborns. And that includes Granger, in case you've forgotten. If the Boy-Who-Kills-Evil-Bastards wants to take the Weasley family out for spot of fun... well, that's exactly what we are going to do. So stop bitching about the World Cup. In fact just keep your big mouth shut for the rest of the day."

Fred's death had left him a bit short of patience.

A few minutes later the girls finally emerged from the Burrow. This caused a major explosion from mum. "Ginevra Weasley, you are not going out in public wearing that outfit!"

You're too late, George thought to himself.

Ginny had on a pair of old shorts and one of those muggle bikini tops that looked just like a brassière. It was pretty obvious from the confident way she was standing with her hands on her hips that she had already slept with Harry. At least it was obvious to him. Mum knew it too, which was why she was so furious.

"We are going out in the muggle world, and this is what muggle girls my age wear. If you don't like it than you can stay home."

Yes, it was official. Ginny Weasley would never say something like that to mum. But Ginny Potter could say whatever the bloody hell she wanted to, and there was nothing Molly Weasley could do about it. The old queen of the Weasley family had just been deposed, and from the stunned look on her face she knew it.

George looked over at the rest of the girls. Thankfully Fleur and Hermione were both wearing long sundresses, but Angelina had a tight t-shirt that barely covered her flat stomach. They had been flirting with each other for a few days now, and each time it happened he felt like he was somehow betraying Fred's memory. Looking at Angelina's firm body George wondered how much longer he was going to be able to hold out.

I probably wouldn't make it to the end of the week.

Harry soon arrived with the Knight Bus, which he had chartered for the entire day. There was already quite a crowd on board. Luna and her father were sitting with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Neville was wedged in between Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones as his grandmother looked on in approval. Who would have that Longbottom of all wizards would end up in the middle of such a delicious Hufflepuff sandwich. The boy had certainly come a long way from that pudgy first-year George remembered pranking back at Hogwarts.

Their destination turned out to be a muggle amusement park called Pleasure Beach Blackpool. For some reason Hermione seemed appalled by the choice. "Harry Potter, I can't believe you brought us to Blackpool. It is so... tacky."

"Granger stop being such a middle-class snob," Angelina snapped.

Harry didn't seem to notice this exchange and instead was staring at the all brightly colored attractions. "The Dursleys use to come here in the summer, but they always left me behind in Little Whinging with Mrs Figg. My cousin Dudley use to tell me all kinds of stories about the cool roller coasters and the greasy food. I've always wanted to see the place for myself."

At first George thought that the muggle rides would be boring for everybody, especially since most of group were experienced Quidditch players. To his surprise they were a blast. A broom did whatever you wanted it to, but with the huge roller coasters you had no control at all. Paradoxically that made it more exciting. Having Fleur around was a great help too. All the Veela had to do was smile at one of the male employees, and they were immediately allowed to cut to the front of the long queues.

It turned out to be a great day, and even that wet blanket Percy enjoyed himself. Bill spent hours teaching him how to flirt properly the muggles girls. Fleur thought these "lessons" were hilarious, and supplied her clueless brother-in-law with some suggestions from a female perspective. Weatherby actually managed to collect three fellyphone numbers. He was very proud of that fact until he found out that Bill had collected two dozen numbers of his own—even with all his new scars.

Mum was in foul mood for the first hour or so, but slowly she began to loose up. She couldn't stop watching Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron as they wandered around the crowded park. Those two couples were definitely headed down the aisle, probably within a year or two.

The high point of the day for George himself was a trip down the Log Flume ride with Angelina. They both got soaking wet, and when he helped her out of her seat at the end their eyes suddenly locked. Sweet Merlin, they might have even ended-up snogging right there in the middle of the park if Bill hadn't reached over and slapped his stupid younger brother in the head.

It was during a dinner of greasy pizza, greasy chips, and warm muggle beer that it all fell apart. Harry was gently wiping some tomato sauce off Ginny's blushing cheek when he suddenly froze. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a vibrating leather wallet which held a number of tiny mirrors. Several were totally blank, but others seemed to be reflecting bright magical flames.

"We have to go now," Harry told everyone as he quickly paid the bill with a large pile of that funny-looking paper money the muggles used.

"What's going on?" Bill asked.

"No questions, just move!"

No one at that table—absolutely no one—had ever seen Harry Potter this angry before. They could all feel his magic, which was radiating out of his thin body in uncontrollable waves. Ginny, Neville, and Bill were all way above average when it came to magical strength. The rest of them weren't exactly weak either, but at that moment they all realized that Harry Potter really was the next Albus Dumbledore. None of them were close to being that powerful.

Dad finally broke the silence, and his quiet but firm voice grabbed everyone's attention. "We are all going to do exactly what Harry wants."

"Yes, I think that is an excellent idea Arthur," Mrs Longbottom added.

Without a word Harry lead them out of the restaurant and then out of the amusement park until they reached the courtyard where the muggles left their automobiles. He finally stopped at a large lorry, and just to prove that the situation couldn't get any more bizarre Professor Sprout was sitting in the driver's seat wearing muggle clothes. Sitting next to her was a nervous Professor Sinistra, who was also dressed like a muggle.

"Get in the back. Quickly," the Herbology Professor told them. "And remember the plan: use no magic whatsoever."

George was expecting something like the interior of a magical tent, but when the doors to the trailer opened they found nothing but metal walls and a dirty wooden floor. Harry was still buzzing like a magical lighthouse, so they all climbed aboard without comment.

It was only after the doors closed and the lorry started moving that Harry finally spoke. "It happened."

The interior of the trailer was dark, but George could still see Ginny as she slowly placed her small hands on Harry's face and looked him directly in the eyes. "Please tell us what has happened."

"The Doom of Magic."

3. Chapter 3

28 August 1998

To the causal observer it might have looked like Guy Fawkes Night had come to London early that year. Four massive fires were burning out-of-control, and a dozen smaller blazes were spread throughout the capital city. The police and fire services were totally overwhelmed, and the Royal Army had been deployed to counter what the Prime Minister was calling the worst race riot in British history.

Colonel Poshepny had to smile at that last bit. While this was technically was a race riot, it was a race riot the Prime Minster had personally organized. Not only was it an excellent cover story for their operation, but it would also benefit the self-serving bastard politically. The poor Tories didn't stand a chance in the next general election.

"Sir, we have another magical family approaching from the north-west."

Their command post was located on a rooftop across the street from the so-called "Ministry of Magic", which was now nothing more than a burning hole in the ground. As the Colonel studied the video monitor a feeling of disgust came over him. These people were a toxic mixture of arrogance and ignorance. Despite the obvious destruction their secret Ministry, the wizard was leading his wife and two children straight towards it. And they were all wearing those ridiculous, full-length robes which made them stick out like sore thumbs in the late summer heat.

"I want a full squad to approach them from the rear. Once the targets are in range hit them with the tranquilizer darts, especially the two children. I don't want to see any more spontaneous telekinesis or light shows tonight. Is that perfectly clear?"

"Yes, sir."

The takedown went smoothly, and the unconscious family was placed in a waiting ambulance. They had captured over twenty children so far using the exact same method. For some reason most wizards couldn't quite comprehend that "muggles" and their mechanical weapons could actually be a threat.

"Colonel, we have another target approaching and he is using that invisibility trick. He also has his wooden stick out."

That invisibility trick had caused a great deal of concern over the past few months until one of their scientists realized it only worked on visible light. If you were using infrared it was easy to spot their ghostly outlines from a safe distance. Put a high-quality thermal scope on a sniper rifle and Bob's your uncle.

"He is probably one of their Aurors. Hit the police siren, and then neutralize the target."

After a short radio signal the siren from a nearby police car began blaring. At the same time a sniper opened fire. It was a perfect headshot, and dead Auror dropped to the ground. No one paid him any attention; they simple assumed that the man was another casualty from the nearby fire. The falling ash even soaked up most of the blood from his large head wound. The body was quickly taken to a parked ice cream van and dumped in the freezer with the other Aurors—from start to finish the whole process had taken less than ninety seconds. The Colonel was receiving reports of similar successes from around the world, and so far everything was going according to plan.

"Sir, we have another target approaching from the east."

"This is going to be a very long night."

"Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Ministry of Magic, and Diagon Alley... they're all gone," Harry told his friends as he held up a collection of tiny magical mirrors. The few that were still working showed scenes of utter devastation.

"How can you be sure?" Bill asked. "Maybe the mirrors aren't working properly."

"Professor Flitwick cast those charms himself, so of course they are bloody working," Ginny snapped. "Harry, please tell us you warned Minister Shacklebolt about all of this."

"I tried and I tried, but the fool just wouldn't listen to me. Finally in desperation I went to the International Confederation of Wizards in Switzerland, but they thought my duel against Voldemort had affected my judgment. They acted like I was brain-damaged or something. The new Supreme Mugwump claimed it was impossible for the muggles to even locate our major settlements, let alone destroy them. After that I was going to give an interview to the Quibbler, but Minister Shacklebolt told me that Luna and her father would be sent to Azkaban if I informed the general public about the Prophecy."

"We would have printed the story anyway," Luna said.

"I know, but if we were all sent to Azkaban we wouldn't have been able to work on the Hedwig. Plus we would be dead right now, since the island was also hit. I know it's hard to believe, but the muggles must have perfected a method for bypassing even our strongest defensive wards."

"What happened to my parents?" Hannah Abbott cried. "Are they dead too?"

"None of you has anything to worry about," Harry told her. "Headmistress McGonagall, Professor Vector, and Madame Hooch went to your homes shortly after we left for Blackpool and... well, they kidnapped your families. Charlie and his girlfriend took a portkey from the Dragon Preserve last night. Hermione, your parents arrived from Australia early this morning. Fleur your sister Gabrielle, your parents, and Headmistress Maxime were picked-up by Hagrid this morning as well."

"I take it that Beauxbatons has also been destroyed?" Fleur asked. When he nodded, she continued: "Where has Minerva McGonagall and her accomplices taken our families?"

"We are going there now," Harry replied. He explained that his plan was to temporarily hide in the Forbidden Forest until they could complete construction of the Hedwig. "The centaur Firenze approached me a few days after Professor Trelawney gave the Prophecy, and told me that "those few who survived the coming storm" could hide there for a short time. He claims that the Forbidden Forest is an ancient source of magical power, and that it existed long before the Founders built Hogwarts. According to centaur legend this magic is different than the kind we use, so I'm hoping that the muggles won't be able to find us there with whatever technology they are currently using."

"What are we going to eat?" Ron asked. "Acromantulas?"

"None of us are going to live in the Forest itself," Neville explained. "Harry, Luna, and I have set up several underground greenhouses in the long tunnels that run between Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Forbidden Forest."

Ginny frowned. "If you had told me about these new greenhouses I would have been glad to help."

"The fewer people who know about a secret, the longer it stays a secret," Harry said.

"In addition to the tunnels we should have access to the dungeons beneath Hogwarts. During the past few days Headmistress McGonagall and I have blocked the entrances with several meters of solid rock. She also ordered the house elves moved the kitchen, the seeds from the greenhouses, the books from the Library, and the entire Infirmary down into the tunnels. It will be a tight fit, but that will give us an excuse to start practicing our new and improved Expansion Charms. I don't think any of us should use our wands until we the safety of the Forest, since the muggles might be able to track our magic."

"You think they have something like Taboo Curse that Voldemort and the Snatchers used during the War?" Ron asked.

"They might have a machine that could mimic what the Taboo Curse did," Harry replied. "Something like a radar that detects magic."

"I don't know, that's a bit of a stretch," a skeptical Bill said.

"Why don't you take that Pureblood superiority nonsense and cram it up your arse!" a hysterical Hermione suddenly shouted. "Everyone claimed that Dumbledore and Voldemort were the two greatest wizards in the world, yet they both turned out to be incompetent idiots. The rest of you don't have a chance of defeating six billion muggles. This is why I stayed in Britain rather than going to Australia with my parents. I didn't think for a minute that Voldemort could actually take over the world, but I was afraid his actions would provoke the muggles into exterminating us. But that's exactly what has happened anyway!"

"Could they really kill us all?" Susan asked in a small voice.

"They made a pretty good start of it today. If all the places Harry listed were completely destroyed than over half of the world's wizards and witches are already dead. And it only took the muggles ten minutes to do it. Harry, why didn't talk to Ron and me about all this? We could have helped you."

"You were standing right next to Professor Trelawney when she gave me the bloody Prophecy, but you told me the Doom of Magic would never happen. You said that I should just ignore the whole thing, and then you ran off to Australia for a nice two-month vacation in the sun."

Hermione had no reply for to his harsh rebuke. Instead she latched on to her boyfriend Ron and stared crying. Susan, Hannah, and Mrs Weasley quickly followed suit. Even those who weren't crying fell into a somber silence as the big lorry continued north towards its destination.

It was a good twenty minutes before Mister Weasley asked another question. "I don't understand. If you couldn't convince Kingsley that this threat was real, then how did you get Minerva and the other Professors to help you set this all up?"

"I used a good old-fashion guilt trip. I told them they were all cowards for working at Hogwarts while Voldemort was in control of the school. I told them they were cowards for allowing underage students under their protection to be tortured by the Death Eaters like the Carrows. I told them if they didn't help me I would curse their names for the rest of my life, and that after I was dead I would come back as a ghost and curse them some more."

"That certainly explains it," Mister Weasley muttered. "How did you know the muggles would attack us today?"

"I didn't know for sure, but it seemed like a logical assumption. Trelawney gave the Prophecy in the beginning of May, just a few months before the largest gathering of wizards and witches in the world. A gathering which only takes place once every four years. If something like the Doom of Magic was going to happen, it was going to happen at the Quidditch World Cup."

"What if you had guessed wrong?" Fleur asked. "Hagrid could have been arrested for kidnapping. In France that is considered a very serious crime and is punishable by death—especially for a giant."

"I wasn't wrong, so I guess we will never know the answer to your question."

"I don't understand, if all this was going on why did we spend the day riding roller coasters?" Ron asked as he gently rubbed Hermione's back.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It was easiest way to get you all together, and I knew we would be safe surrounded by a park full of muggles."

The trip continued with only a brief stop in Glasgow to use the loo and buy some snacks. After seven seemingly endless hours Professor Sinistra opened the trailer doors. When the group got out they found nothing but an old and deserted motorway. Even if they were in the middle of nowhere everyone was still glad to be on solid ground, at least until they saw the massive pillars of smoke rising in the distance.

"Those fires must be coming from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade," Harry told them. "The edge of the Forest is about two kilometers to the east, just on the other side of that large hill. We don't want to be caught out in the open when the sun comes up, which means we don't have any time to waste."

Professor Sprout slowly drove off the lorry off the road into a dense thicket of trees, and it was hidden using a large green tarp. Harry had walked this trail twice before, so he took the lead. Professor Sprout brought up the rear, and covered their tracks with the skill of an experienced Herbologist. The darkness and heavy vegetation made for a dreadful hike. Several fights broke out and everyone started complaining, even the good-natured Mr Weasley. It came as a great relief when the distinctive magic of the Forbidden Forest began to swirl around their bodies.

They had only been inside the Forest for a few minutes when they were met by the centaur Firenze. "I bring you sad tidings Harry Potter. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade have both been put to the torch. By sunrise nothing will be left of either."

"Have you seen any muggle soldiers in the area?"

"We have encountered many, and they all carry the foul metal tubes which breathe death," Firenze replied. "They search at the edges of our Forest but can not enter. The great magic of the trees protects us even during this darkest of nights."

Hermione couldn't help herself and asked the obvious question. "How exactly is the Forest protecting us?"

"That is a question we centaurs can not answer Hermione Granger," Firenze replied. "Even your great Merlin was perplexed by the enduring mysteries of this ancient magic. Come, I will lead you to the other wizards."

The hidden entrance to the new tunnel complex was located on the far side of the Forest, close to Hogwarts. Before they went underground everyone stop to stare at the destruction. All of the towers had collapsed, and the castle was now nothing more than a giant pile of burning rubble. No one could hold back the tears this time, not even Harry. He had just lost the one place in the world he thought of as home.

29 August 1998

As Ginny climbed down the metal ladder into the tunnels she was surprised to see that it had been purchased from the muggles. There were several other unexpected sights waiting below. The metal braces which supported the ceiling and walls were also of muggle design. She expected to see lots of Neville's plants, but none of them were set in the dirt. Instead they were hanging in the air on wire frames with the roots totally exposed. The glowing crystals set above each one of the plants looked like miniature stars, and they provided plenty of pseudo-sunlight for the long underground tunnels.

"The muggles called it aeroponics," Neville explained to his curious grandmother. "Instead of using topsoil you spray nutrient-rich water directly on the root system. It's incredible efficient in terms of water usage and providing the plants with fresh air. It also cuts down on fungi and other blights."

After a short walk Harry showed them what he called the Little Hall. It had four long tables just like the Great Hall in Hogwarts, and they were all filled with people eating breakfast. The ceiling was even enchanted to show the sky above, just like the ceiling in its destroyed counterpart. Ginny wanted to be mad at her boyfriend for hiding all this incredible work, but she knew it was her own fault. They were never, ever breaking-up again.

Of course mum screamed like a banshee when she saw Charlie. Ginny was relived to see that he was alive, but she refused to leave Harry's side as the other Weasleys exchanged hugs. She was done being the family's precious baby girl, and the rest of them would just have to accept that.

Thankfully she was being ignored at the moment, since mum was already interrogating Charlie's nervous girlfriend Crina and her parents. The female dragon keeper had several vivid scars, but it was easy to see why Charlie liked her. She was almost as sexy as Phlegm, even in that hideous leather outfit.

On the far side of the room Hermione and the others were surrounded by their own families. The people watching all these joyous family reunions were a mixed bag. Ginny recognizing some of the faces from her many trips to Hogsmeade. Harry explained that Aberforth Dumbledore and Madam Rosmerta had somehow convinced their fellow villagers to close their shops early and hide in the passageway under Honeydukes. It was an act of foresight which saved their lives. Finally she noticed a wizard with distinctive blonde hair who was talking with Professor Slughorn.

"What the bloody hell are those three tosspots doing here?"

"That is an excellent question," Harry said as they marched over to their Potions Professor. "Horace. First of all, how are the carbon dioxide levels?"

"They are well within normal parameters, but you must realize that these tunnels are far from being airtight."

"Yes, I know that. Neville is just about done setting up three hermetically sealed greenhouses, so we can begin running proper experiments in a few days. I asked you to find Mrs Malfoy and Draco, not this Death Eater scumbag. "

Narcissa quickly stepped forward before Slughorn could defend himself. "Mr Potter, I wasn't about to abandon my husband to those insane muggles. You owe me a Life Debt. If I had let the Dark Lord know you were still alive after being struck by the Killing Curse, you would have been tortured and then killed again. As repayment for that Life Debt I insist that you shelter the entire Malfoy family until the muggles have ceased their current attacks."

"I repaid you by killing Voldemort and keeping Draco out of Azkaban where he belongs," Harry snapped. "The only reason I sent for you was because of a promise I made to your sister Andromeda Tonks. For some strange reason she seems to value your worthless life."

"This discussion is irrelevant," Lucius said in a loud voice everyone in the Little Hall could hear. "The important question is what are we going to do about these murderous muggles."

"We are going to do absolutely nothing," Harry replied. "Instead we are going to concentrate all our time and resources on building the Hedwig. Then we are going to leave the Earth. Forever."

Lucius looked genuinely appalled by that statement. "That is your answer boy? To just run away after the muggles have murdered thousands of our fellow wizards all around the world? Are you nothing more than a coward?"

Ginny looked around and saw that many of people in the Little Hall shared Malfoy's views. They wanted revenge, and if Harry felt differently they would just ignore his advice. She wasn't going to let that happen, at least not without a fight. Everyone was watching the two wizards, so no one noticed when she discretely drew her wand. Harry claimed that you could only use the Unforgivable Curses if you really meant it. That wasn't a problem for her in this case.

"Avada Kedavra."

As Lucius fell to the ground everyone began to panic. The green light and distinctive sound of a Killing Curse had a tendency to inspire terror in all magical folk. Draco's wand was out in a flash, but Narcissa quickly grabbed his hand. She knew that if her son harmed Harry Potter's girlfriend nothing would be able to save him from a quick death.

It was Aberforth Dumbledore who finally took charge of the situation. After breaking up all those fights at the Hog's Head tavern he had plenty of experience dealing with unruly crowds. Harry looked furious and quickly dragged her out of the Little Hall. Once they reached a narrow side passage he stopped to cast a privacy ward.

"After all the wizards who have died in the past twenty-four hours how could you possible murder another one? We can't afford to lose anyone else—not if we hope to survive as a species."

"Lucius Malfoy had it coming. He willingly served Voldemort in both Wizarding Wars, and he was the one who gave me that bloody diary. I was just eleven years old and that thing almost killed the both of us. And just now he tried to start a riot so he and his racist friends could seize control of the tunnels you built. He had to be stopped once and for all, so that's what I did."

"Ginny, you can't just go around killing people because they disagree with my plans. We are adults now, which means we discuss things calmly and rationally without using the Unforgivable Curses."

"Tell that to Fred. And Dumbledore. And Tonks. And Professor Lupin. And Colin. Do you think this whole mess with the muggles is going to be any easier than the War we just fought?"

Harry ran a hand through his messy black hair; he looked so exhausted and confused. "So I'm the new Voldemort and you're my new Bellatrix? Is that what you want?"

"What I want no longer matters," Ginny replied. "Those people back there are terrified. They need a strong leader who has a concrete plan for dealing with this crisis. They need a sense of hope that the future will be better than this nightmare we are currently living through. If you don't give them that hope someone else will. Someone who doesn't believe in the Sybill Trelawney's Prophecy. Someone who will lead them into a hopeless war against the muggles. Is that what you what?"

"Put this on and keep it on," Harry said as he pull a spare Invisibility Cloak out of his trusty Mokeskin pouch. "I will deal with Draco and Narcissa."

Ginny watched from a distance as her boyfriend had an intense discussion with the two remaining Malfoys. Draco started yelled, but Narcissa quickly slapped him in the face. A few minutes later the three of them stood together as the Ferret made an Unbreakable Vow. It was sometimes easy to forget how deeply muggles frightened bigoted purebloods like Narcissa. All those scary bedtime stories about being burned alive must have had a profound influence on the witch, and she was desperate to keep her stupid son here where he would be safe.

After that problem was taken care of Harry addressed the Little Hall. The news about the Hedwig did not go over well. Most thought his plan to travel into outer space and then to another planet was insane. Luckily Harry had kidnapped Ollivander from his shop in Diagon Alley last night. The old wandmaker explained that the idea of a magical starship has theoretically possible, and his opinion cared a lot of weight with most people in the crowd.

"I won't lie to you. This journey will be long and very dangerous, but I believe that we can make it if we all work together." Harry told them. "Just think of it. We could have a world of our own where we won't have to worry about being attacked by the muggles ever again. A world where we won't have to hide who we are and what we can do. A world where our children can play Quidditch out in the open."

"What about the muggles?" one of the shopkeepers from Hogsmeade asked. "Aren't we going to fight back?"

"If you want to go up to the surface and fight back against those soldiers I can't stop you," Harry said. "But in my opinion this war with the muggles is over. And we lost."

4. Chapter 4

29 August 1998

As Leon Delacour huddled together with his beautiful wife and two daughters he knew that he should be furious, both at the muggles and at this Harry Potter. But the sad truth it that he wasn't furious at all. Deep in their hearts every wizard expected that sooner or later a war would break-out between their world and the muggles. The only real surprise was that it had taken so long for it to finally happen.

Potter was another matter. The boy actually had the temerity to send his pet giant into France with orders to seize the Delacour family and bring them back to this wretched hole in the ground. Despite this insult to his honor, Leon found himself impressed as he watched Potter address the angry mob. The boy was poorly-educated, but there was no denying his charisma. That was an attribute the short French wizard had never possessed himself.

Despite his natural talent it was clear that Potter was a neophyte at politics, and he was misreading the volatile atmosphere here in the Little Hall. Nothing would be able to save him from these savage shopkeepers if they turned on him, and they were going to turn on him at some point. Gabrielle was quite fond of the boy, so Leon decided to help him out of this jam by providing his opponents with a much-needed distraction.

"I agree with Harry Potter, this war is over. Fighting against the muggles will being us nothing but the loss of more lives. Lives we can scarcely afford to lose. No, our primary goal now should be to save as many wizards and witches as we can, and bring them here to safety of these tunnels."

Aberforth Dumbledore's quickly stepped forward. Leon had heard several interesting stories about the tavern owner—most of which involved goats in one way or another. Of course he also heard that the Albus Dumbledore's younger brother was a gifted duelist with a large collection of captured wands.

"I know a lot of wizards who live in remote areas of Britain, areas that the muggles probably haven't reached yet," Aberforth said. "We should warn them that their wards will no longer protect them from this new threat."

"What if you get caught by the muggle soldiers?" Potter asked. "They may not have Veritaserum or the Cruciatus Curse, but the muggles still have ways of making a prisoner talk."

"You could cast a Fidelius Charm," a young, bushy-hair witch suggested. "As long as the Secret-Keeper remains here in the Forbidden Forest the rest of us should be safe."

"Hermione, we know that the Fidelius Charm has failed twice before. Once at Godric's Hollow and then again at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. It's far from being foolproof."

The debate went on for some time. Potter reluctantly agreed to the plan, and the young witch Hermione was chosen as the Secret-Keeper. The Fidelius was one of the most complex and magically draining charms ever invented, but the boy was able to cast it with disturbing easy. Leon decided that if they survived this disaster he would indeed make an excellent husband for Gabrielle. Her heart had been set on the match since the Triwizard Tournament.

He and Aberforth were the first to volunteer. They were soon joined by many others, most of whom thought Potter's idea of building a starship was a foolish waste of time. The boy would now have some time to consolidate his precarious political position while they searched for survivors. Leon had many dear friends on the Continent, and hopefully he would be able to find at least a few of them.

It was quickly agreed that only the oldest and most experience wizards and witches should be sent out on these rescue missions. They would have a better idea of where others might be hiding, and if they were captured or killed by the muggles it would be no great loss. Only the youngest and strongest were needed to produce the next generation.

The first few hours after the Doom of Magic were totally chaotic. That fact more than anything else turned Harry into leader he never wanted to be. After all, he was the only wizard in the world with a well thought-out plan of action.

The magical refugees knew that meals were being served in the Little Hall, but where were the loos located? Harry showed them the enchanted chamber pots that banished your "waste products" to central holding tanks were Neville and Pomona would process it into sterilized fertilizer. What about bathing and dirty cloths? Use a Scouring Charm, and if you had trouble casting it on yourself find someone to teach you how to do it properly. And about those robes: get rid of them immediately, and find a set of muggle cloths.

"Mr Potter, that may be asking too much of these poor people," Minerva remarked later in the day. "Most of them have worn nothing but wizarding robes for their entire lives."

"That's too bloody bad. We are being exterminated and our first line of defense is to look exactly like the muggles who are hunting us down. If I see anyone wearing a robe I will cut the bloody thing into tiny ribbons myself. Maybe walking around starkers for a while will convince them that I'm being serious about this order."

The old witch didn't look too happy about that threat, but she quickly moved on to the next topic. "Since I am still technically the Headmistress of Hogwarts the house elves are still providing me with daily status reports. Given our current head count, they think the food supply will last for a month at best."

"Seamus and Dean, you two have plenty of experience dealing with the muggle world. Tonight we are going to visit a dozen or so supermarkets with the house elves. Once we have dealt with the security guards we are going to strip their shelves bare."

"We're actually going to steal some food?" Dean asked. Unlike Seamus he didn't seem thrilled about this new mission.

"No, we aren't going to steal some food. We are going to steal an obscene amount of food," Harry clarified. "Especially the stuff they put in tins. The longer it lasts, the more of it we are taking. It'll be at least six weeks before Neville's first crops start to come in, so we need enough to hold us over until then. I want you both fresh for tonight, so go take a nap somewhere."

"Isn't stealing from the muggles dangerous?" Hermione asked after Seamus and Dean left. "I thought you were worried that they might be able to detect our magic?"

"I am very worried about their technology, but we need supplies and this is the best time to get them. The muggles are preoccupied right now with destroying the magical world, so that should give us some time before their soldiers can react to what we are doing in the muggle world. Neville and Luna will also be leading their own teams, stealing supplies like plant seed and several tons of refined metal. But food is going to take the most time and effort since we have to visit so many different locations to gather the large amounts we need."

"Do you amateurs want some company?" George asked. "Breaking and entering is one of my many specialties."

"No, I need one of your other specialties: explosives," Harry replied. "If the Hedwig is going to make the jump between here and 18 Scorpii we will need a huge explosion containing a huge amount of Floo Powder. Unfortunately we have no idea how to build this hypothetical Floo Bomb or how it's going to work in the vacuüm of outer space. Luna has a few ideas, but thanks to your work creating fireworks for the WWW you have the most practical experience of anyone here in the tunnels."

"A Floo Bomb sounds pretty wicked," Ron said.

"Forget about it," Harry snapped. "You are working on the Booster Brooms with Rolanda Hooch and her team. It's time to put all your useless knowledge of Quidditch to good use. We have to find a way to make a giant flying broom work. It doesn't have to be maneuverable or fast, it just has to be able to carry a lot of weight into orbit. Start by asking your Dad how he enchanted his Flying Ford Anglia, and have him write down all the spells he used."

"I will be glad to help you with that Ron," Hermione offered.

"No my Secret-Keeper, you will be working with Filius and Bathsheba on the ancient runes we discovered in the Room of Requirements. The better we understand Rowena Ravenclaw's magical theories, the more likely our own Expansion Charms will work. Minerva, have you checked the dungeons beneath Hogwarts? Did they collapse during the attack?"

"No, they did not. The walls we constructed last week to protect lower levels of the dungeons held up surprising well."

"Are there any soldiers still in the area?"

"No, according to the centaurs they have departed. We all know how important Hogwarts was to our society, but to the muggles it was just another boarding school," Minerva explained. "By now I imagine they have moved on to what they consider to be more important targets. Are you interested in any in particular area of the dungeons?"

"Yes, we have to clear everything out of the Slytherin common room, and then dig down into the bedrock." Harry explained. "We need a space the size of a twenty meter cube."

"Why would you possible want to build a room of that size in that location?" Minerva asked. "The Slytherin common room is located beneath the Black Lake."

"The presence of all that water is exactly why I want to build the Hedwig there."

When Sanjay Patil discovered that his twin daughters had fought in the recent Battle of Hogwarts he was not amused. It wasn't suppose to be like this. Parvati and Padma were beautiful, intelligent, and magically powerful witches. They should have been besieged with a hundred suitors each. Instead they had to be locked in their warded bedrooms until their poor father could find a pair of wizards stupid enough to marry the headstrong nightmares.

At least that had been Sanjay's plan at the start of the summer. Unfortunately Parvati knew that she was her father's little princess, and she had ruthlessly exploited that fact during the past few weeks. All she could talk about was Professor Trelawney's last Prophecy about the Doom of Magic, and how they had to help Harry Potter build his amazing starship. To humor her he had started asking his many business associates if they had heard any interesting rumors about the muggles.

The Patil family's vast trading network stretched around the globe from India to Kenya to South Africa to Guyana to the United States and finally here to the United Kingdom. It was from a friend in Kenya that Sanjay heard the first hint of trouble. A pair of wizards who collected potion ingredients deep in the Congo Basin claimed that a large number of American fighter planes were being moved to Uganda, a small and unimportant country with a very large magical community. What was the American Air Force doing in the middle of Africa? It didn't make any sense... unless you believed that Sybill Trelawney could actually predict the future. And Parvati certainly did.

So rather than attend the Quidditch World Cup that year, the extended Patil family had checked into a posh London hotel for a few days. Was he overreacting? Perhaps, but the first and most important lesson a trader learns is to always hedge your bets. If things can go wrong they will go wrong, and a wise trader must always be prepared for the worst.

The girls had been listening to the World Cup match on a portable Wizarding Wireless when the signal was suddenly cut-off without explanation. A few minutes later central London was rocked by a series of deafening explosions. The next few hours brought news of more explosions in dozens of other countries. The news reports from the BBC mentioned very specific locations, and Sanjay knew from personal experience that thousands of wizards lived and worked in these destroyed areas.

"Professor Trelawney was right. It's the Doom of Magic," Parvati kept saying over and over again as they watched the extensive coverage on the television. "The muggles are trying to kill us all."

"What are we going to do father?" a frightened Padma asked.

Sanjay thought that was an excellent question. They should be safe in this hotel surrounded by muggles, but for how long? The British Ministry of Magic was gone, but his home and warehouses were still standing. Were they marked for destruction as well? Who could they trust? Who was still alive to trust? Sanjay had a few ideas of how to survive this catastrophe, but he would need the assistance of other wizards to implement his plans.

"Do you girls still have those enchanted galleons that muggleborn witch gave you? The ones your little army used to send messages to each other?"

"Yes, father," they both replied.

"Good, because I need to talk to your friend Harry Potter as soon as possible. If he believed that this "Doom of Magic" was coming and had prepared for it, than perhaps he could be of some use to us."

During the day Minerva had quietly asked around for muggleborn volunteers to help Harry with his shopping trip. As a result he found a crowd of forty wizards waiting for him in the Little Hall that night. The idea of going hungry at some point made a lot of people very nervous, and they were all eager to help gather food. Especially when it was food in question was free.

"Don't be so nervous," Ginny said as she took his hand. "I will be covering your cute little arse the whole time."

As Harry squeezed her hand he knew without a doubt that he was in love. The problem was that his girlfriend was so in love she was willing to kill in order to protect him. Was this this new and more-violent Ginny an after effect of being possessed by Tom Riddle's diary during her first-year at Hogwarts? Or had it been brought on by Fred's death and all the recent bloodshed? Harry had no idea. Even worse was the fact that he liked her new attitude and found it very arousing. They both needed some serious help.

"Listen to me, killing Lucius Malfoy might have been necessary, but tonight we will only be using Stunners."

"The muggles are trying to wipe us out. They don't deserve any mercy, and they aren't getting any from me."

"I'm not sure who started this war, but I know it's not the security guards who work nights at the local supermarket. They haven't done anything wrong, and we aren't going to hurt them. If you use excessive force or kill any of the guards there will be consequences. I won't protect you a second time."

"Fine," Ginny snarled.

The scene inside the Little Hall reminded Harry of his first practice as the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and that gave him an idea. "First of all we have to make sure that all of you can apparate, use a portkey, and cast a Disillusionment Charm. If you have trouble with any of these basic skills you aren't coming with us."

That immediately cut the crowd in half. Harry then gave the boot to seven teenagers who were younger than Ginny, and three geezers who were older than Griselda Marchbanks. Than left six wizards and four witches, and that was more than enough for his plan.

"Everyone gather around and pay attention," Harry said as he placed a paper diagram on one of the tables.

"This is the floor plan of your typical British supermarket, and we will only be hitting the aisles I've marked with red ink. All the frozen food and meat from the refrigerator aisles will be placed in the trunks with Cooling Charms. We also want to take everything the muggles put in tins, but we do not want anything in glass jars. They break too easily. Remember we will be moving this stuff into trunks and pouches at a high rate of speed, so everything is going to get squashed. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and fresh bread are also too fragile and should be left behind."

"Can we take the muggle liquor?" Seamus asked in a completely serious voice. Both Dean and Ginny laughed at his question.

"No bottles. If you can find cases of aluminum cans be my guest, since it would probably help with morale," Harry replied in an equally serious voice. "Once the trunks and pouches are full the house elves will transport them back here to the Forbidden Forest. Our main job tonight is to make intelligent choices while they do most of the hard work. So remember: plenty of flour, rice, dry pasta, and sugar. But no cans of soda or bags of candy."

Dean frowned. "What's wrong with candy?"

"You don't need it to survive, so we aren't taking it," Harry snapped. "That brings us to the medicine aisle."

"But we don't use muggle medicine," Ginny remarked.

"True, but they might be useful if Madame Pomfrey runs out of certain key potion ingredients. And that could easily happen now that we are relying on our own greenhouses, so it makes sense to keep our options open. A few Aspirin cures a headache just as well as a pain relief potion, it just takes a bit longer to kick-in."

Their first set of portkeys took them to a Sainsbury's in York. Harry planned on traveling around England in a random pattern, and staying out of Scotland and Wales altogether. The more they confused the muggles, the longer they would stay hidden.

All their targets had been scouted beforehand by the house elves, so they knew the location and number of guards they were facing. What they didn't know was how the electronic security systems worked, so Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak and calmly walked in the back door. The four guards were watching about a dozen video monitors in a small office on the second floor, and they busy talking about one of yesterday's football matches. They had no idea what was about to happen to them, and for a brief moment the whole situation made Harry feel like a god among lesser beings. Then he remembered the Quidditch World Cup, and how a hundred thousands wizards died in the blink of an eye. They had no idea what was coming either.

"Stupefy!" Ginny shouted several times. Once the guards were unconscious she canceled her Disillusionment Charm. "What in the name of Merlin were you waiting for? We are on a tight schedule."

Harry ignored her and instead picking out the oldest of stunned guards. "Rennervate!"

It took the muggle a few seconds to gather his wits, not that it helped him much. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Imperio!" Harry hissed. "I want you to turn off all the alarms in the store and then drag these other men out into the parking lot."

Slowly and mechanically the guard pressed several buttons and switches in the small office. He then grabbed one of the other men and dragged him out the door.

"Are we allowed to use the Unforgivable Curses against the muggles now?" Dean asked.

"Only when it's necessary," Harry said defensively. "We don't have much time before someone notices those guards. You have your assignments, so let's get moving."

The robbery went surprising well. Levitating objects off the shelves and into the waiting trunks quickly became a kind of game. It was only after they were done that the mood changed. Harry decided to destroy all the security equipment, and his overpowered Reductor Curses punched holes straight through the thick concrete walls. All that destruction made it clear to everyone that they weren't playing childish games.

"Before we use our next set of portkeys I want everyone cast fire curses on the walls and ceiling."

"Harry, that is going too far. A lot of people depend on places like this," Dean argued. "We stole half their merchandise—we don't have to burn down the whole store as well."

"Yes, we do. I don't want to leave the muggles a single piece of physical evidence. If they don't know who do this, there is less of a chance that they can track us down later on."

1 September 1998

"Sir, you asked to see me," Colonel Poshepny said as he entered the Prime Minister's office at Number Ten, Downing Street. He had much more important things to be doing at the moment, but it was best to shut this posturing fool down quickly before he could cause any major problems down the road.

"I demand an explanation for your recent actions."

The Colonel sat down in the comfortable leather chair, leaned back, and slowly crossed his legs. "The UN Security Council, of which the United Kingdom is a permanent member, gave me free rein to deal with these wizards. Legally I don't have to explain my actions to your government, only to the Security Council as a whole."

"You used a nuclear weapon on a civilian target, something which hasn't been done in over fifty years!" the Prime Minister shouted, somewhat hysterically. "The President of South Africa is absolutely furious at the United Nations and at me personally."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You have my deepest sympathies."

"I don't want your fucking sympathy, I want an explanation! According to my intelligence sources there were tens of thousands of women and children in that stadium. Your actions were a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law."

The Colonel grimaced; dealing with lawyers always left a foul taste in his mouth. "Very well. I had that stadium destroyed because it was our only hope of winning this war."

"What are you talking about?" the Prime Minister asked in confusion. "It has only been two days since this bloody mess started, and wizards are already on their last legs. In my opinion it will all be over in a week or two."

"Sir, having you been paying attention to the latest intelligence reports? Over twenty supermarkets around Britain were looted and burned to the ground last night."

"Yes, I know. That was the work of your soldiers, wasn't it?"

"Why in the name of all that's holy would we want to burn down supermarkets? No, the wizards went shopping last night, and now they have enough chow to last for months. But that's not the bad news. The bad news is that they also cleaned-out the Rolls-Royce jet engine factory in Barnsoldswick."

The Prime Minister frowned. "What would wizards possible want with jet engines? They don't even use aeroplanes."

"My scientists made a quick inspection of the factory this morning. The wizards weren't after the jet engines themselves, they were after the metal alloys which are used in the construction of the engines," Colonel Poshepny explained. "We think are going to build some sort of advanced weapon. Maybe they have the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb."

"My God, are you serious?"

"Yes, I am. And that is why we had to hit South Africa. Even after suffering such terrible losses, the wizards are still more than capable of striking back at us. Trust me, this war is just getting started, and the only way we are going to win it is by attrition."

"Are you certain we can win?" the Prime Minister asked.

"I think so, but it's not going to be easy. Not only did the wizards steal a great deal of food last night, they also got several tons of plant seed. They are planning on growing their own food, which is a weakness we can exploit. I can beat them, but only if you and the other politicians stay the hell out of my way."

"I can't make you any promises."

Colonel Poshepny smiled. "Please, I know exactly what you are thinking. You and the American President plan on letting me do all your dirty work, and afterwards you will hand me over to the International Community as a scapegoat. Fine, I'm an old man and I can live with that. I'm actually looking forward to my trial before the World Court. However if you try to arrest me before this war is over... let's just say that would be a very bad idea Prime Minister. For you personally."

5. Chapter 5

3 October 1998

According to Hermione's father, the Americans still forced a few of their worst prisoners to break rocks. As Harry struggled to expand the size of the Slytherin common room he had no problem understanding why the job was considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Tiny slivers of rock exploded outwards with each Reductor Curse, and even the best Shield Charm couldn't stop them from peppering his skin. The dust was so thick that it ended up in his nose and mouth, and despite the use of a Cooling Charm the temperature of the room was still over thirty degrees Celsius.

That last part wasn't so bad, since Ginny was also helping out today. They were both magically powerful, but neither one of them were working on the more technical aspects of the Hedwig. That meant they were stuck breaking rocks. Harry paused to look over at his girlfriend: her hair was done-up in a ponytail, and she was covered in sweat. At the moment all he could think about his favorite locker-room fantasy. The one were Ginny really, really thanks him for catching the Golden Snitch.

"Harry Potter!" Luna called out from a passageway which ended ten meters above the jagged pit where they were working. "Aberforth Dumbledore wants to see you up in the Forbidden Forest. He says you should come straight away."

"Would you like some company?" Ginny asked.

"No, keep working. I want this room finished as soon as possible," Harry said as he hopped on an old broom and flew out of the pit. "It's good to see you Chief Engineer Lovegood. Is your staff ready to start construction of my starship?"

Luna gave him a huge smile; she just adored her new title. "I believe so Captain Potter. All the parts have been fabricated, and we can begin putting them together once the launch bay is ready. Miss Clearwater's suggestion that we use Titanium 6AL-4V was a stroke of genius. It's both lighter and stronger than the steel we were planning on using, and once the Featherweight Charms have been activated the entire framework should weigh less than a thousand kilograms."

"What about the outer hull and insulation?"

"The aluminum triangles are coming along nicely, but we still haven't made a final decision on which type of insulation to use," Luna admitted. "Some of the others think we should use muggle aerogel, but I believe we should go with vacuüm insulated panels instead. We can make them ourselves, which means they represent less of a security risk."

Harry had nothing intelligent to say about the subject of insulation, so he asked another question. "Are you sure the titanium and aluminum won't have any negative effects on our spells?"

"No, according to all the tests we've run they are magically inert. In fact Professor Slughorn wants to use any scrap we have leftover to make a few cauldrons. He is curious to see how these new metal alloys would affect the brewing of certain potions."

"How is Horace doing with the Draught of Living Death stockpile?" Harry asked as they made their way through the plant-filled tunnels. At times it seemed like they were living inside of a never-ending greenhouse. "Minerva mentioned that he was complaining about his working conditions during breakfast."

"Professor Slughorn is one of the finest Potion Masters in the world. He believes that mass-producing a single potion—no matter how complex—is beneath his dignity. Draco Malfoy is the one handling most of the brewing now. He may be an obnoxious git, but even Hermione admits he has a gift for potions."

Harry stopped in his tracks. "The Draught is absolutely vital to our long-term chances of survival. I want you to find Horace and tell him that if Malfoy sabotages or screws-up a single batch, I'm going to take it out of his plump hide."

Luna tilted her head and stared at him with those huge gray eyes. "Would you really remove a section of his skin while he was still alive? Or would you have Ginny do it for you?"

"It's just a figure of speech," Harry snapped as he noticed that one of Neville's sun crystals was dimming. He cast a Lumos Maxima Charm that would keep the crystal bright for another six hours. It was a tedious chore everyone had to do at least twenty or thirty times a day, but it was better than living in the dark without any oxygen. "How many of these crystals do we have now?"

"Several thousand and we are making more each day. The process is so easy that even a first-year can do it."

"No, the process is easy because we have plenty of raw material here in the tunnels to work with. That won't be the case once we've left the Earth," Harry muttered as they finally reached one of the tall exit ladders that lead up to the surface.

After a short walk Harry found Aberforth waiting for him at the edge of the Forest. Standing there in the gloomy light it was disturbing how much he looked like his late brother Albus. Despite his advanced age the old wizard seemed to have an unlimited amount of energy, and he had personally rescued dozens of families since the Doom of Magic began.

"Potter, I need to show you something."

Aberforth abruptly seized his arm and used side-along apparition to take them to an empty field. It took Harry a few moments to realize that they were standing in the middle of a large farm which had been burned to the ground. There were no signs that muggles had ever lived here; no automobiles or mechanical tractors were scattered among the ruins. In many ways it reminded him of the Burrow, which had recently been destroyed as well.

"This farm belonged to Patrick and Elizabeth Cleary, who were good friends of mine," Aberforth explained. "Their family has lived on this plot of land for over eight-hundred years, but now they are all gone."

"All expect for me."

Harry drew his wand, but it wasn't necessary. The wizard who had spoken was a ghost—a ghost riddled with several large bullet wounds in his chest. A violent death was always unpleasant, but this looked like a particular gruesome way to go.

"Patrick, I brought Harry Potter just as you asked."

"What's this all about?"

"I want... no, I need to tell you what happened here," the ghost explained. "As Aberforth told you, my family has lived on this land for over eight-hundred years, and in all that time the only protection we ever needed was a simple Muggle-Repelling Charm."

"A charm which no longer works at repelling muggles," Harry muttered

"Show some respect boy!" Aberforth bellowed.

He was tempted to show the goat-lover exactly what the Elder Wand could do, but he slowly got his temper under control. The name of Dumbledore still carried a lot of weight, and he needed this wizard's support if he wanted to keep control over the tunnels and the Hedwig.

"Sir, I apologize. It has been a very long and stressful day. Hell, it has been a long and stress year."

"No Harry Potter, you were right to mock me," the ghost continued. "Aberforth warned me several times that the muggles could now breach our wards, but I refused to believe him. Then they came while I was out harvesting the last of this year's crops. I have seen muggles at the edge of my wards a thousand times in the past, and they always wandered away like confused sheep. But not this time. The moment I reached for my wand I heard the most terrible noise and felt an awful pain in my chest. I quickly collapsed to the ground, and as I lay dying I saw them destroy my home with their strange and powerful weapons. My wife, my daughter and her husband, and our four grandchildren were all inside. None of them survived."

"Why didn't they try to escape?" Harry asked.

"You were right. He is just as arrogant as Albus," the ghost remarked. "To answer your question: the Floo Network hasn't worked since the Ministry of Magic fell, and we didn't have any portkeys."

"Why not make one?"

Aberforth snorted. "Potter, you are one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Making a portkey is a simple matter for you, but for most wizards it's simply impossible."

Once again Harry bit back an angry reply. Then he tried to remember everything he knew about portkeys. The only wizards he had actually seen making them were Albus and Filius, both of whom were very skillful and very powerful wizards. Harry had assumed that if a mediocre student like him could be taught how to make one, then anyone could do it. It was an honest mistake.

"Alright, I will grant you that making portkeys is difficult, but everyone learns how to apparate while they're at Hogwarts."

"None of my family had the strength needed for side-along apparition, and leaving behind any of the grandchildren was unthinkable," the ghost whispered. "They are all gone, but other magical families remain alive. You must protect them. You must kill all the muggles! You must! You must!"

Suddenly the whole painful situation became too much for Harry to bear. With a flick of the Elder Wand he disarmed Aberforth, and then apparated the two of them back to the Forbidden Forest. He was surprised at how thin and physical weak the old wizard was, but that didn't stop him from slamming the wanker up against a nearby tree.

"Less than six months ago I walked into this bloody Forest and let Voldemort murder me in cold blood because that's what had to be done. Now I'm doing everything possible to save our people from destruction at the hands of the muggles. I don't need to be lectured to by an insane ghost who was too stupid and weak to save his own family. Protecting idiots from themselves is not my responsibility!"

Aberforth studied him closely for moment. "How exactly are you going to save us from the muggles boy? Do you really think your silly starship is going to work?"

Harry wasn't expecting that question. "Of course I think it's going to work. Why else would I be building the bloody thing?"

"I thought it was all just a ruse to keep the cowards and simpletons from panicking until we were ready to fight back. But you still haven't done anything to prepare for the coming war. That's why I took you to see Patrick, to remind you that whole families are being slaughtered every single day. You must stop wasting everyone's time and start doing what needs to be done."

"And what precisely needs to be done?"

"We have to start killing muggles, and we have to keep on killing them until they decided to leave us alone. Forever."

Now it was Harry's turn to study Aberforth. All of his instincts told him that the wizard was being completely honest with him. "I thought you were different than Albus, but it turns out that I was wrong. You are a manipulative bastard just like he was."

11 October 1998

Harry and his friends spent the next few days asking some questions and listening to some very rude answers. They were shocked to learn that Aberforth's opinions were shared by an overwhelming majority of wizards and witches living in the tunnels. Most of them thought the Hedwig was a joke, and they were wanted nothing more than to start fighting back.

"I understand why they feel that way," Ron said when they gathered together for a skull session in one of Neville's more secluded greenhouses.

"Ron!"

"Look Hermione, I really like your parents, but the muggles are hammering us. They wouldn't be happy until we are all dead. After all that has happened, how many of us do you think are left in the world?"

"According to my father's estimates, less than ten percent of the magical population is still alive," Parvati told them.

While Sanjay Patil's daughter was a fanatical supporter of Harry's plans, the same couldn't be said of the wizard himself. The Patil family's presence in the tunnels was a mixed blessing. Sanjay had many important contacts around the world, as well as access to magical supplies they would need to take with them on the Hedwig. Unfortunately he had no interest in leaving Earth for an unknown planet in another solar system. According to Parvati, her father only wanted to use the manpower Harry had assembled here beneath the Forbidden Forest for his own purposes.

"You mean there are only sixty thousand of us still alive?" a stunned Neville asked after he did the math. "That's impossible."

Parvati shook her head. "That estimate is on the high end. Padma thinks the real number is probably lower, and getting lower each day."

"We have to fight back," Luna declared.

"How can you possibly say that?" Hermione demanded. Of all Harry's friends she was by far the biggest peacenik.

"I have three good reasons," Luna calmly explained. "First of all the Hedwig isn't ready for launch, and that is not going to change anytime soon. Secondly, if this war continues at its current pace the muggles will find out that where we are hiding. When that occurs we will all die."

"Won't the Fidelius Charm protect us?" Neville asked.

"Not if the muggles send in a fleet of the B-52 bombers, and start carpet-bombing the Highlands," Harry muttered.

"I agree. The Fidelius Charm is a temporary measure at best, and at some point it will fail," Luna told them. "Thirdly, if Harry doesn't take a more aggressive stance soon he will be forced out of his current position of leadership."

"Maybe that's true," Harry allowed. "But it doesn't change the fact that fighting the muggles directly will also get us killed. We have learned the hard way that their technology is just as good as our magic. Hell, it's probably better. A Shield Charm can't stop every bullet from a machine gun, let alone a bomb dropped from a jet aeroplane. And no matter how many casualties we inflict, the muggles will still have a nearly inexhaustible supply of men and materials. Even if every wizard in the world could fight—and trust me they can't—the muggle soldiers would still outnumber us by over a thousand to one."

"I said we should fight. I did not say we should fight the muggles themselves," Luna explained. "I have been studying their economic system closely for past few months, and I think our best option is to cut their electrical power lines. As many of them as we can, as quickly as we can."

Everyone turned to Hermione, who was their acknowledged expert on all things muggle. She had an intense look of concentration on her face that slowly blossomed into a huge smile. "That's a brilliant idea! We won't have to kill anyone, and there is nothing that makes voters more furious than a prolonged electrical blackout. The government will have no choice but to response just the way we want them to."

"I don't understand?" Harry said. "The power company can just fix the power lines. They do that all the time during bad storms."

Luna spun her wand playfully between her slim fingers. "I don't think so. Imagine a few dozen wizards flying on their brooms at top speed, casting Severing Charms every few seconds. The damage from just one night would take weeks to repair. And the muggle governments would have to use their specially trained soldiers to protect the power lines in order to prevent us from do it again in the future."

"And with all those muggle soldiers being reassigned to guard duty they wouldn't have any free time to attack us," Ron reasoned. "You know Luna, that is a pretty good idea."

"Why not hit the power plants themselves?" Harry asked.

"Those plants are huge structures. Do you really think we could destroy one with just a few curses?" Hermione asked. "Plus they will be heavily guarded at all times, so there would be a greater risk of causalities."

"They are also centrally located," Luna added. "Our primary goal is to disperse the muggles as widely as possible, which is why damaging the power lines makes more sense."

"I think we should send word to the survivors in other countries and have them attack on the same night," Parvati suggested. "That would make it a worldwide phenomenon which would mystify the muggles." This bit of melodrama appealed to the rest of the group.

"A world-wide attack would also shut-up all the old farts who want Harry's job," Ginny said with a nasty smile. "If they are so eager to fight the muggles, then they can volunteer themselves."

22 October 1998

Luna's idea proved to be very popular. Harry explained that electricity was the muggles' own form of magic. They used it to run all their machines, which replicated the various spells and charms wizards had developed over the centuries. In effect the muggles' new technology had made them the equals of wizards, but now they were going to turn them back into muggles... again.

The day before the raid Harry was approached by Mr Ollivander. The old wandmaker had two triangular shields with him. They reminded him of the strange magical shield Voldemort had used during his epic duel with Albus Dumbledore at the Ministry of Magic.

"Mr Potter, I believe these might be of some use to you."

Harry took one of the shields; it appeared to be made of some sort of ceramic. There were two handles on the back which made it easy to handle despite its considerable weight. Surprisingly the shield started to hum slightly in response to his magic.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, that is one of the magic emitters you asked me to craft," Ollivander explained. "It can be used to cast one spell and one spell only. In this case, a Banishing Charm."

"I can't believe you finished them so quickly."

Ollivander sniffed. "Please Mr Potter, my wands allow a wizard to cast any one of several thousand different spells, charms, hexes, jinxes, curses, and transfigurations. Crafting this crude device was a simple matter for a wandmaker of my vast talents."

"How exactly does it work?"

"You just touch it with your bare skin, and allow your magic to flow naturally. No incantations or hand movements are necessary. However you might wish to return to the surface before testing it, since I am afraid accuracy will be a slight problem when using these emitters."

Harry frowned. "What, is this thing going to kill me?"

"No, but it might easily kill someone else. This second emitter allows you to cast a Shield Charm."

"Will the Shield Charm be strong enough to protect us from the intense heat and radiation of a star?"

"I have no idea," Ollivander replied with indifference. "By the way, I was speaking with Mr Weasley yesterday..."

"Which one?"

"Charles Weasley. He informed me you have rejected his idea of taking dragon eggs along with you on your little expedition."

"We aren't taking any magical creatures that like to snack on wizards, and I don't care how bloody useful they might be as potion ingredients," Harry snarled. "No dragons, no basilisks, no manticores, no cockatrices, no acromantulas..."

"Mr Potter, I strongly suggest that you reconsider your decision. Dragon hearts are a vital source of wand cores."

"We are taking the unicorns and a few dozen Veela, so that should be enough. Hopefully Fawkes will come back from vacation before we leave, which would also give us phoenix feathers as possible cores. Besides, if things really get desperate we can always start using heartstrings from the deceased."

That idea horrified Ollivander. Apparently using any part of a human being for magical purposes was considered to be the darkest of the Dark Arts. Harry bowed out of the ensuing argument by claiming that he needed to prepare for the coming raid, which wasn't true.

In fact it was Penelope Clearwater who had visited several public libraries in Edinburgh and Glasgow. She spent hours researching the various electrical companies of the United Kingdom, and as a result their upcoming raids were well mapped-out. All of the major cities were being hit, but they would be paying special attention to London. It everything went according to plan the capital would be plunged into chaos by tomorrow morning.

The flyers all gathered together at two o'clock in the morning, but thankfully no one looked sleepy. Harry decided to give them a last-minute pep talk. It didn't turn out very well.

"I want you all to remember that if you see any armed muggles you should activate your portkeys immediately. Do not engage the enemy. There will be plenty of time for that later on when the Hedwig is preparing to launch."

"Piss off," some hothead shouted. "If I see one of those murdering bastards they're getting a Killing Curse right up the arse!"

"One dead muggle will gain us nothing!" Harry snapped. "Our goal tonight is to cripple their economy, and if anyone forgets that fact they will have to deal with me. Now good luck and good hunting."

Of course Ginny insisted on accompanying him, and the two of them took a portkey to Surrey of all places. "I never thought in a million years that I'd be coming back here."

"It was Hermione's idea. She told me it would be therapeutic for you to blow-up some parts of your old neighborhood," Ginny explained.

"We aren't going anywhere near Little Whinging," Harry said as he mounted a new Firebolt and took to the air. Flying with an emitter on one arm was surprisingly easy.

Ginny was right beside him, carrying the shield emitter on her right arm. "Are you sure you want to use these things?"

"Yes, I plan on taking out the towers themselves rather than cutting the individual power lines. That should make repairs much more difficult."

They both looked over at the towers in question, which were clearly visible even at this time of night. They were constructed out of simple metal beams, and were linked to the other towers by a dozen drooping cables. Most people would claim that they were ugly—a hideous blight on the beautiful English countryside. Harry thought otherwise. To him they looked like an army of giant robots, marching in formation as they went off to fight in some futuristic war.

"Remember to fly at a safe distance. One accidental brush with any of those cables could easily get you killed."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yes, dad."

"Don't ever call me that again," Harry said as he tried to aim the emitter at the first target.

All of a sudden a massive surge of magic smashed into one of the metal legs of the tower, causing it to slowly lean over and then collapse. This dragged all the power lines to the ground, and the resulting electrical sparks were a match for any George's magical fireworks. Ollivander certainly had delivered on his promises.

"Do that again! Do that again!"

Harry complied with his girlfriend's request. They travel about five kilometers through Surrey during that first run, and he managed to destroy every third or forth tower. After that they used a series of portkeys which sent them around London in a counterclockwise fashion. It was great fun. At least until the muggles finally caught-up with them.

A pair of snipers would have finished them off permanently. Fortunately the muggles didn't know the top speed of a racing broom, and they used surface-to-air missiles just to be on the safe side. Ginny wasn't quite sure what the things flying at them were, but her Quidditch-honed reflexes kicked-in anyway. The massive Shield Charm from her emitter blocked both missiles, and they exploded several meters short of their intended victims.

"Bloody hell."

"Come on Ginny, let's get out of here while we still can!"

Back home in the tunnels below the Forbidden Forest they found a true disaster waiting for them. Over eighty percent of their flyers had been killed during the raids, a number which included their fellow Gryffindor Angelina Johnson. The muggles had expected something like this all along, and their ambushes were extremely effective. Poor Luna couldn't stop blaming herself, and Harry was in no mood to reassure his brilliant Chief Engineer. Nor was he in the mood to hear Hermione's latest bit of news.

"Leon Delacour sent us a message an hour ago. He has located Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle, and he wants to bring them here."

6. Chapter 6

23 October 1998

"Don't these English wizards have any taste?" Nicolas Flamel complained. A portkey had brought him, his wife, and their good friend Leon Delacour to this strange underground greenhouse twenty minutes ago, but there was still no sign of their famous host. What they found instead was several cans of warm beer, along with some of that dreadful processed food the muggles were so fond of. "I wouldn't feed this swill to my worst truffle hog."

Leon looked over a the chubby, six hundred year-old wizard in disbelief. "Is this really the time to be discussing the shortcomings of the English palate? I doubt Potter is going to be happy to see you. Not after that nasty farce you and Albus Dumbledore subjected him to eight years ago."

"Do you expect us to be be afraid of a mere boy?" Perenelle asked.

Unlike her husband who looked rather elderly, Mrs Flamel had the face and figure of witch in her late twenties. That wasn't an accident, since there had been several other "Perenelles" before Nicolas had finally settled on this one. They had met during the California Gold Rush of 1849, an event the alchemist had exploited in order to sell some of his excess gold to the muggles, and the happy couple had been together ever since.

"He needs us more than we need him," Nicolas remarked. "I had several long discussions with Albus about Harry Potter. A kind word here, a subtle threat there, and soon he will be dancing to our tune."

The Boy-Who-Lived chose that exact moment to enter the greenhouse with a beautiful witch at his side. From the scowls on their youthful faces it was clear they had been eavesdropping despite Perenelle's strong privacy wards.

"Mr Delacour, during the Triwizard Tournament I rescued your daughter Gabrielle from the Merpeople village. In light of the Life Debt your family owes me, I demand that you leave this room at once."

Leon was furious, but he reluctantly stood to leave. "Please forgive me, but honor dictates that I must go."

As Nicolas watched his friend exit the greenhouse he prepared for a fight. He had never been a particularly talented duelist, but after six-hundred years he had more than enough tricks in his bag to defeat the boy and his little pet. However that brilliant plan went out the window when he felt the point of a wand at the base of his skull. Invisible hands began rummaging through his robe pockets, and soon he was relieved of his two wands. Perenelle was also disarmed. Potter must have hidden several of his lackeys in the greenhouse using Disillusionment Charms, but the great alchemist had failed to detect their presence.

"Where are your manners Mr Potter? This is no way to treat an honored guest bearing important news and even more important gifts."

"Crucio!"

It wasn't a long expose, but Potter's curse caught Nicolas by surprise. Without time to prepare himself mentally, the pain was unbearable and left him completely helpless. Who would have guessed that Albus Dumbledore's prized student would know how to cast the Cruciatus Curse, let alone open a friendly conversation with one? This called for a new approach.

"Please, I'm here to help you and your friends!" Nicolas whimpered like a senile, old man. This act usually bought him least a minute or two of sympathy from from gullible fools, but Potter didn't seem to be buying it.

"Are you going to help me the way you helped Dumbledore set a trap for Voldemort using the Philosopher's Stone? Your reckless actions placed three untrained, first-year students in mortal danger. Is that the kind of twisted help you are offering Mr Flamel? Crucio!"

"Harry, stop it!" one of the guards shouted. "I know you're upset about all the people that died last night, but this is wrong!"

It took a great deal of painful effort, but Nicolas managed to turn around and look at the wizard who was trying to protect him. The boy looked about Potter's age, but he was much taller and wider across the shoulders.

"Neville, he deserves it! Maybe facing Voldemort that year was part of my bloody destiny, but Ron and Hermione were almost killed too! Crucio!"

This Neville quickly levitated a large container of fertilizer in front of Potter's curse, which caused its contents to explode all over the greenhouse. The stuff smelled like human shite, but being covered in shite was better than have every pain receptor in your body stimulated by a powerful wizard out for revenge.

"The rest of us didn't fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters just so you could take his place," Neville said quietly. "If you cast another Cruciatus Curse I swear to Merlin that we will duel, and by the end of that duel one of us will be dead on the floor."

"We don't have time to discuss ethics! We are in the middle of a war!"

"If wizards continue to use magic as evil as the Unforgivable Curses than maybe it would be best if the muggles won. Maybe destroying us once and for all would be the right thing to do."

"Not all the muggles want to destroy us," Perenelle said.

That statement caught everyone's attention, and even Potter seem to snap out of his murderous rage. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"My husband and I came here on behalf of several important muggle leaders, including the British Prime Minister. They want you to stop this war."

"They didn't need our bloody permission to start the war," the red-haired witch snapped. "Why do they need us to stop it?"

"Because they can't do it by themselves," Perenelle explained. "Certain elements of their military forces are now operating beyond their control. They need your help to deal with one of these rogue officers."

"This is just another trap," Potter muttered.

"That's certainly true, but the trap isn't meant for you," Nicolas said. The aftereffects of the Cruciatus Curse were still racking his body, but he slowly got to his feet. "One man had directed all the attacks on the magical world from the beginning. His name is Colonel Poshepny, and he absolutely despises wizards. He has threatened to kill anyone who attempts to stop the war too soon, even the President of the United States and Prime Minister of Britain. The muggles told me where he will be staying tomorrow night, and they want you to assassinate him."

"And if I kill this Colonel for them they will leave just the rest of us alone?" Harry asked sarcastically. "I find that hard to believe."

"Good, then there is some hope for you yet," Nicolas said. "Of course the muggles will double-cross us, but once Poshepny is dead their attacks will become far less efficient. The man may be insane, but he is also a genius. Replacing someone of his stature will be very difficult, and that will give you more time to complete your starship."

"You know about the Hedwig? And you actually think it will fly?"

"I sincerely hope so, since Perenelle and I plan on joining your crew."

The red-head witch smiled. "That's good to hear, because we had no intention of letting you leave these tunnels alive."

Flamel winked at her before continuing. He had seen her type many times before, and he had no doubt she was a lusty handful in bed. "I lived through some of Europe's worst witch-hunts, but none of them compare to that we are going through now. The muggles intend to finish us off for good, and I believe they have the means to do it this time."

Harry stared at him for several long seconds before speaking. "You are a deceitful toerag, and I have no intention of letting you aboard the Hedwig."

It was time to play his trump card. Nicolas stuck his index finger down his throat, and vomited up the contents of his stomach. There on the floor, covered in bile, was a bright red jewel of surpassing beauty. He was taking a great risk with this gambit. As long as a Philosopher's Stone was inside his digestive tract producing the Elixir of Life he was almost impossible to kill.

"I believe this might come in handy when we reach our new home, and it's just the beginning of what I have to offer you. I have spent the past six-hundred years amassing all kinds of useful treasures, and you can have everything I own—if you allow Perenelle and me to come along when you leave Earth."

It took the others an hour to convince Potter, but in the end Nicolas got what he wanted.

24 October 1998

It was no surprise that this Colonel Poshepny was well-protected. The muggle's current safe-house in Saint John's Wood was surrounded by rune stones which blocked apparition and portkeys. There was also numerous bodyguards present, all of whom were equipped with special goggles that allowed them to see through Disillusionment Charms and most magical wards. Perhaps Harry's unique Invisibility Cloak could shield him from their technology, but he doubted it.

All these defensive precautions were meaningless though when a traitor discloses your location to the enemy. The Colonel inspired a great deal of loyalty, but the soldiers guarding him were ultimately loyal to their own national governments. After receiving orders directly from the their leaders they had no choice but to abandon their posts for the night. In the end all Harry had to do was walk through the front door. He soon found the only occupied bedroom, and used a simple Aguamenti Charm to wake the Colonel. The old muggle immediately reached for his handgun on the nightstand, only to find that it had already been transfigured into a dead rainbow trout.

"I should have know that limey bastard Tony would sell me out."

"Answer my questions truthfully, and I will make your death quick," Harry said. "Lie to me about the smallest detail, and I will torture you for hours. And I will enjoy it."

"Mind if I smoke one last cigar while we talk?" the Colonel asked as he again reached over towards the nightstand.

"If you try anything I will..."

"... you will torture me. Trust me kid, I understand how thoroughly my pooch is screwed." Slowly Poshepny reached into a drawer and pulled out a thick brown cigar with a red label, which he then lit with a gold Zippo. "So you want answers? I suppose that's fair. Would you like to hear the whole story?"

"Are you stalling for time?" Harry asked.

"Nope."

"Than by all means, let's hear the whole story."

"I was younger than you are now when I enlisted to fight in the Second World War, and somehow I managed to survive North Africa, Italy, and D-Day. We were pushing into Germany when we began hearing rumors about some strange, new Nazis super-weapons. Our scientists understood how their V-2 rockets and jet fighters worked, but these weapons had the eggheads stumped. How could a small infantry weapon kill hundreds of soldiers without leaving any marks? At first they thought it was some new type of poisonous gas, but all the medical tests came back negative."

"Army Intelligence was very curious about the situation, so my company was sent out on a long-range patrol. One night we came across a strange battle. Despite all the explosions we were seeing, there were none of the sounds you typical heard from modern weapons. When we got closer we saw that weren't any soldiers or tanks in the area. What we saw instead was two middle-age men in bathrobes waving small wooden sticks in the air. After a few minutes the blonde chap lost his stick, and both men suddenly disappeared without a trace."

"That was the last duel between Albus Dumbledore and the Dark Lord Grindelwald," Harry guessed. "You actually saw it with your own eyes?"

"Yes, I did," the Colonel replied as he puffed on his cigar. "And it was the single most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life. After that night I became obsessed with learning more about magic. It wasn't that hard, even with your Statute of Secrecy. In post-war Berlin I trade a Hershey Chocolate Bar for one of your old magical history books. The army kept shipping me around the world, and I soon found other soldiers who shared my interest in the subject. As the years passed I slowly began to develop an extensive intelligence network. When the war against the wizards finally came—and I was certain that it would come—I wanted to be ready. That's why I stayed in the Army all those years."

"So you started this war because you were jealousy of our magic?"

"Hardly. The more I learned about your world the more disgusted I became. Your kind have been given the most incredible gifts imaginable, but what have you done with them? Absolutely nothing. Your governments are barbaric, your worse criminals go unpunished, and your culture has produced no artistic masterpieces of note. Worst of all you have ignored the possibilities of science in favor of ancient manuscripts written in lousy Pig Latin."

Harry wanted to deny these charges, but he couldn't. Diagon Alley really was nothing more than an alley, Hogsmeade was a primitive village right out of the Dark Ages, and the design of Hogwarts had been rendered obsolete by the fifteenth century. The magical world had indeed become a primitive backwater, especially when compared to the intellectual and technological wonders the muggles had produced during the past few centuries. For example, building the Hedwig would have been impossible without using the knowledge gained from the American and Soviet space programs.

"If we disgust you, then why not just leave us alone?"

"No kid, you don't get to blame us. You are the parasites living off what we produce with our hard labor. You are the criminals, and whenever a wizard is caught he simply erases the memories of his victim. That is what started this war: a wizard was videotaped raping a police constable in London, and then covering his tracks with your magical mind tricks."

Harry looked away. "I've heard that things like that sometimes happen."

"I've studied the magical world for over fifty years, and according to my sources wizards commit crimes like rape, robbery, and murder every single day," the Colonel said coldly. "That's why this war is necessary. Today your crimes are relatively minor in nature, but in the future that could easily change. Perhaps your next Dark Lord won't settle for destroying a bridge or one remote village. Perhaps he will try to steal a nuclear or biological weapon, and set if off in the middle of one of our cities without any warning. Millions could die, and we wouldn't clue who was responsible. I believe wizards are a threat the human race can no longer afford to ignore, and that's why I'm fighting this war."

"Aren't we part of the human race too?"

"No. We are the true Homo sapiens: the men of reason and science. Your magic has made you ignorant and lazy. The truth is that wizards are an evolutionary dead-end, and the Earth would be better off without you."

"On that point we can agree," Harry muttered.

The Colonel took another long puff from his cigar. "Before you kill me you should know that we have a few hundred prisoners on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. They are mostly children, but we caught a few adults as well."

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"I am telling you the truth. I want you to mount a rescue mission, since it will save my men the trouble of having to track you all down."

"Maybe the battle won't be as easy as you think."

"Kid, you and the remaining wizards are already dead. You're just too stupid to realize it."

More than anything in his life Harry wanted to use the Cruciatus Curse on this monster, but Neville's warning kept running through his head. In the end he decided to cast a Memory Charm so powerful that it stripped Colonel Poshepny of every single thought he ever had. From the first time he remembered nursing on his mother's breast until the last time he puffed on that foul-smelling cigar—all those precious memories were obliterated in an instant. In the morning his soldiers found that their brilliant Colonel had been reduced to nothing more than a drooling vegetable.

Once Harry returned to the Forbidden Forest he gathered together his three most-trusted advisers: Ginny, Parvati, and Luna. Ginny was his devoted lover, Parvati saw him as the living avatar of Sybill Trelawney's Last Prophecy, and he was Luna's best friend. He was positive that none of them would betray him. The same could not be said of Hermione, Ron, and Neville. He trusted them to do the "right thing", but what he needed now was obedient followers.

"We have to rescue those hostages," Parvati said after Harry told them about his meeting with the mad Colonel. "Leaving them on that island at the mercy of the muggles would be a fate worse than death."

"There are less than a thousand wizards and witches left here in the tunnels," Ginny snapped. "We can't waste another hundred lives on a suicide mission, and if the muggles are expecting us that's exactly what it will be. Suicide."

"I think both of you may have an infestation of..."

"Don't say it! Don't even think it! Loony Lovegood is of no use to me or anyone else!" Harry snarled. "The attack against the electrical power lines was a good idea, but none of us could have realized how well-prepared the muggles would be. So stop blaming yourself for those deaths. If we are going to complete the Hedwig we will need the real Luna Lovegood, not her crazy alter-ego."

The poor witch still couldn't even look him in the eyes. "You have Hermione and the others. You don't need me."

"Hermione may be brilliant, but we both know she isn't as good as you at creative problem-solving. I love her like a sister, but she is just not qualified to be the Chief Engineer of the Hedwig. Now are you with me or not?"

Luna took a deep breath and finally raised her head. "I am with you Harry Potter. Always."

"Thank you. Now how are things going with my starship?"

"We will be ready for the Expansion Charm in six weeks."

"You have four," Harry said with a gentle smile.

"Fine Captain Potter, we will be ready for the Expansion Charm in four weeks," Luna huffed. "Unfortunately we are still having trouble with the Floo Bomb. It will have to be traveling several kilometers in front of the Hedwig at the critical moment, and so far George's plan is the only practical solution we have come up with."

"Then come up with a better one," Ginny hissed.

"She will," Harry told his upset girlfriend. "Now I want to tell the three of you what is going to happen tonight. We can't afford to be fighting amongst ourselves anymore, which is why I intend to neutralized all my enemies here in the tunnels before it's too late."

"Are you going to kill them?" Parvati asked nervously.

"No. Despite what Neville thinks I'm not turning into Voldemort. At the same time I can't afford to be weakling like Dumbledore was during the last war. My plan is to have Kreacher and the other house-elves placed the Draught of Living Death in the food and water of all the troublemakers. The four of us with oversee the process and take care of any mistakes the house-elves make. We can revive Aberforth and others once we are safely in outer space."

"If you're just going to use the Draught, then make sure my father is on your list of enemies."

"Parvati, betraying your own family! Now that is terrible."

"Ginny, I still love my father, but I just don't respect him. Not anymore. Harry is trying to save us from certain death, but all the great Sanjay Patil cares about is hiding his bloody gold where the muggles won't find it. Once he is out of the way Padma and I can start looting the family business. We will bring everything of value here to the Forbidden Forest, and load it on the Hedwig."

"Harry, there is a slight problem with your new plan," Luna argued. "We need the Draught of Living Death for the mammals and birds we are taking. We will not have enough food onboard the Hedwig to feed them for any length of time."

"I have been talking with Malfoy, and he has convinced me that it's a waste of time and potion ingredients to brew such large quantities of the Draught. There is a much quicker and cheaper method for placing animals in long-term stasis: the magical sight of a basilisk reflected in a mirror. All we have to do is find one."

"There is a famous basilisk living along the coast of Guyana," Parvati offered. "But you will have to capture it, since no one else speaks Parseltongue. Are you sure Draco's idea will work?"

"Hermione, Justine, Penelope, and Colin were petrified for several months during our second-year, and according to Madame Pomfrey they never experienced any negative side-effects," Harry replied. "How are we getting along with the Merpeople at the moment?"

Since Albus Dumbledore's death the centaurs were the only sentient beings in the area that spoke passable Mermish, and Firenze had volunteered to act as their unofficial ambassador. When the local tribe was told about the Hedwig they immediately asked for passage. The aquatic creatures and their cousins were eager to leave the Earth, since muggle pollution and rampant overfishing threatened them with extinction. They had already collected fish eggs from hundreds of different underwater species, as well as a large selection of underwater plants.

"According to Firenze they are almost ready to board the Hedwig," Parvati replied. "Why, is there some kind of problem?"

Harry looked over at Ginny. She wasn't going to like hearing this. "Once the Hedwig is ready to launch I will personally lead a rescue mission to Ascension Island, and if we want to have any chance of saving those children we will need the Merpeople's help."

27 November 1998

Nicolas Flamel had boasted that after Colonel Poshepny's death they would have several months of peace and quiet, but it didn't turn out that way. Yes, the number of attacks went down drastically, but magical families around the world were still being slaughtered every day. Thankfully Aberforth Dumbledore and his friends weren't around to complain about Harry's lack of leadership. Instead their petrified bodies were stacked in one of the hidden greenhouses where they couldn't cause any more trouble. This coup d'etat made Harry very unpopular, and the presence of his new pet basilisk didn't help matters.

During the next four weeks Luna made good on her promise: the Hedwig was nearly complete and waiting for its precious cargo. Sitting in the massive stone launch bay it didn't look like much of a starship. At its base was was a huge bundle of twenty-one logs, each one over five meters long and covered in complex runes. The Booster Brooms lacked the beauty and grace of a Firebolt, but Rolanda Hooch insisted that they would do their jobs.

Resting top of this bundle of logs was the Hedwig itself. To most observers it looked like a ten meter-wide, metallic eyeball. The large "pupil" at the center of the "eye" was in fact the main airlock, which was connected to the tunnels by a wide and retractable gangplank. Inside the starship was a latticework of metal tubes with another, much-smaller metallic eyeball at its center. This second eyeball was currently empty, but that was soon going to change.

All that remain was for Harry to do his part. Once he cast the Expansion Charm it would create a massive vacuüm, and the hurricane-force winds rushing in to fill this vacuüm could easily damage or even destroy the Hedwig. To prevent this they built a very long exhaust tube which reached all the way up to the ruins of Hogwarts. Once Harry was done Filius would levitate him to safety, while Minerva quickly moved the end of the exhaust tube into position over the airlock. At least that was their brilliant plan.

"Are we ready to start pumping water from the Black Lake?" Harry asked as he slowly flexed the individual fingers of his wand hand.

"You are about to cast one of the greatest spells in magical history, and you are worried if we are ready to start pumping the bloody water?" Hermione shrieked. "Have you gone completely mental?"

"Without an adequate supply of water our voyage won't last very long," Harry replied. "Just relax and think about how difficult it was for Rowena Ravenclaw to create the Room of Requirements a thousand years ago. Compared to that, the Expansion Charm you cooked-up will be a piece of cake. It does only two things. It provides us with a very large... room, and it simulates gravity on the floor of that... room."

Hermione looked like she was seconds away from heart failure, so Minerva hit her favorite student with a mild stunner. "She will never forgive me for doing that, but it was for her own good. The poor witch is afraid that you may die because of some minor mistake she made while designing this new charm."

"That's funny, because I'm afraid I might die too. Filius, are you ready?"

"I will catch you Mr Potter. You have my word of honor."

"I sure hope so," Harry said as he drew the Elder Wand. He spoke the incantation quickly, before he could lose his nerve. As the massive surge of magic left his body everything faded to black.

Hours and hours passed as Harry repeatedly tried to opened his eyes, but they refused to coöperate. It felt like a dozen Slytherin Beaters were pounding on his head simultaneously. Slowly—very slowly—he came to and saw that Ginny smiling down at him.

"To you have a nice nap?" she asked while gently stroking his hair.

"It was lovely. Does the simulated gravity work like we hoped?"

"Yes, everything went according to plan," Hermione replied as she wiped away her tears. She looked awful, and Ron was glaring at him like it was all his fault. "Professor Flitwick was able to measure the dimensions of your... room without any difficulty."

"He had to use a broom to get around the whole thing," a grinning Ginny added. "He also cast a very powerful lighting charm, so we were able to follow his progress from the airlock."

"What does it look like?" Harry asked.

"It looks like an empty sphere with a diameter of three kilometers, that's what it bloody well looks like!" Hermione snapped.

7. Chapter 7

11 January 1999

"Noah had the right idea: one male, one female, and that's it," Harry said to Ginny, who rewarded him with a lovely smirk.

The work of petrifying the animals they were loading aboard the Hedwig never seemed to end, and his new basilisk Sally was being a temperamental diva. She was constantly complaining in Parseltongue that Scotland was too cold and that Harry wasn't letting her eat enough. Nevertheless, Hermione insisted that if they were going to avoid inbreeding they needed a least a five-hundred breeding pairs of each mammal and bird. A snake or a turtle or a fish comes out of its egg ready to face the world, but mammals and birds need to be nurtured by their parents for a certain length of time. This complication meant they had to first find, then buy or steal, and finally petrify nearly a thousand:

Dogs (a few Border Collies and German Shepherds, but mostly mutts), owls (the starship was named after one), cats (Crookshanks insisted), mice (for the owls and cats to eat), sheep (wool), pigs (bacon), cows (ice cream), goats (a sorry-we-put-you-in-a-coma gift for Aberforth), chickens (according to Parvati wishbones are used extensively in Higher Divination), geese (mattresses and pillows), ducks (Peking duck was Harry's favorite Chinese dish... after Cho Chang), deer (Harry's Patronus), foxes (Ginny's Patronus, plus they made lovely fur coats), rabbits (Luna's Patronus), badgers (the Hufflepuffs insisted... all of them), eagles and ravens (the Ravenclaws wanted both), (Harry drew the line at lions, because dealing with a thousand hungry lions would be insane), (no bears or wolves for the same reason), anteaters (Pomona and Neville insisted on taking ants and termites so they needed anteaters), bats (Insect Eaters), woodpeckers (Insect Eaters), nightingales (Insect Eaters), (they were taking eggs from many smaller reptiles, but Neville insisted that you could never have too many Insect Eaters), turkeys (for the few American wizards still left alive), bison (according to Hermione the Native Americans used them for everything...they were like the Swiss Army Knives of the animal kingdom), squirrels (cute), small Asian elephants (Harry was a big fan of Babar, although they just fit through the airlock), mongooses (they needed Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to counter the many snakes they were taking), camels (they might be traveling to Arrakis), penguins (they might be traveling to Hoth), and horses.

The Centaurs insisted on the horses even though they were already taking a large herd of unicorns, and Harry was in no position to argue with them. Without their help, shepherding all these various animals would have been impossible. The Merpeople were also a great help. Apparently they could magically travel throughout the oceans of the world, although they refused to tell outsiders how this process worked. They manage to collect several hundred pilot and minke whales (despite being whales they were easy to fit through the airlock), dolphins, seals, and sea otters (Hermione's Patronus, although Harry wasn't quite sure how the Merpeople knew that).

Then there were the magical creatures. Horace Slughorn claimed they needed every single beast and creature in existence for future potion ingredients, but Harry refuse to change his mind about the dragons and other beasts. They were simply too dangerous. A single Nundu could easily kill everyone on the Hedwig if it came out of stasis at the wrong time. Finding the other, less violent creatures went well thanks to the long experience of merchants like the Patil family. In turns out the much of the magical economy revolved around either hunting down or raising these poor animals for sale. They were essential for making potions, and potions were essential for just about everything in the magical world.

The whole process took an extraordinary amount of time, effort, and money. Since the greenhouses were self-staining and the Hedwig was almost complete, they had plenty of time on their hands. After being cooped-up in the tunnels for months on end, there were hundreds of wizards and witches eager to capture the animals they needed. The must have robbed every zoo and pet store in Western Europe, but thankfully the muggles never caught on to what they were doing.

Money wasn't a problem anymore thanks to Nicolas Flamel. The alchemist had used the gold from the Philosopher's Stone to build a vast fortune over the centuries, and he didn't plan on leaving anything behind here on Earth for his muggle bankers. This meant that they simply bought many of the animals they needed. There was a large international black market for exotic animals, and criminals were more than happy to take gold bullion as payment. They also bought livestock from more respectable sources. Many of their prized cows and horses had price tags of over ten thousand pounds each, and some were even more expensive than that. Several of the new heifers cost a hundred thousand pounds, while a dozen of the new stallions cost over a million.

"If you want true quality, you have to pay for it," Flamel explained.

Buying food was also easier than stealing it. They quickly arrange for new contracts with the world's largest food service companies: Sysco, Sodexo, and Britain's own Compass Group. These companies delivered huge amounts of food to empty warehouses throughout Europe, and from there the supplies were shipped back to the Forbidden Forest via portkeys. Harry had been worried about the possibility of more ambushes, but since they used the muggle banking system for all the contracts they managed to get away with it.

Their new ally made two other vital contributions to the Hedwig. Flamel's collection of magical books was twice the size of the fabled Hogwarts library, and his collection of muggle books was even larger. He also had a vast number of magical devices. Sneakoscopes, Omnioculars, several antennas for broadcasting the Wizarding Wireless, Remembralls, a dozen Pensieves... the list went on and on. Over the centuries Flamel even purchased copies of important artifacts like the Mirror of Erised and the Goblet of Fire. Magical technology was primitive when compared to what the muggles had developed, but they had made some progress in the right direction.

"Captain Potter, it's time for our staff meeting," Luna said as Harry placed Sally back in her heavily warded cage. The basilisk's work would be done in a day or two if everything went according to schedule. Knock on wood.

"Ginny, stay here and make sure no one slacks off."

"Don't worry. I'll put the stick about and make them jump."

Harry thought his girlfriend was so sexy when she said things like that. "Lead the way Chief Engineer Lovegood."

The gangplank to Hedwig's airlock was filled with a constant stream of two-way traffic, which was separated by two large water pipes. Out of necessity everyone was helping out with the loading process. The house-elves were levitating boxes of food, the Centaurs were carrying the smaller petrified animals on their backs, and teams of wizards handled the larger animals with their wands. Using apparition and portkeys would have been much easier, but Hermione was nervous about their effect on the long-term stability of the Expansion Charm. As a result everything had to be loaded manually, and the endless work went on day and night.

Harry paused just before they entered the Sphere, which was the nickname Dean had given the massive new room at the center of the Hedwig. It wasn't really a perfect sphere. The Merpeople needed a place to live, so off to one side of the airlock there was a kilometer-wide, ten-meter deep indentation which they were filling with saltwater. The Black Lake was connected to the North Sea by a number of underground passages, so there was an endless supply available. The second pipe contained freshwater they were storing in separate holding tanks. This water came from the same mountain spring that had supplied Hogwarts for the past thousand years.

"Are you absolutely sure all this extra weight won't prevent the Hedwig from getting off the ground?" Harry asked.

"We have been over this before," Luna reminded him. "Once an object enters the pocket universe you created its mass effectively disappears from our universe. That is why Hermione was able to carry her Mokeskin pouch for several months last year without breaking her back."

"Alright, if you say so."

Entering the Sphere—or the pocket universe, or whatever you wanted to call it—was tricky even for a veteran Quidditch player. Once the gangplank ended gravity suddenly flipped by ninety degrees, and you either fell up or down on to the rough floor of the Sphere. Even though Harry had created the bloody thing, the sight of it stilled filled him with awe. Thanks to the light from the sun crystals you could see the gray floor slope up in every direction. It looked like a giant bowl that kept rising higher and higher until it turned into a giant dome that reached three kilometers into the air.

Many people were already complaining about vertigo, and it was easy to understand why. Off to one side was what everyone was calling the New Lake. Your brain keep insisting that the water was going to start flowing down the side of the bowl and drown everyone. Even worse were was the sight of the animals sitting up on the "roof" the Sphere. The had tons of floor space, but they also had tens of thousands of animals to pack. Since everyone was going to be living in a makeshift city of tents near the airlock, placing all the smelly animals up on the "roof" would make living conditions more bearable. There were already thousands of Neville's plants scattered around the Sphere, and hopefully that would help people adjust to their new homes.

It was a very short walk to the Command Center, which was just a large non-magical tent with a couple of old tables inside. Harry saw that everyone was present, so he immediately started the meeting.

"Listen up, the Hedwig is going to launch in less than a week. Want I want from each of your departments is a "GO" or a "NO-GO". Please be honest, since this is a matter of life or death for all of us."

"Thanks for that reminder, Scarhead," Malfoy sneered.

"Shut up Ferret Boy," George snapped.

Harry decided to make Horace go first since his personal assistant was such an obnoxious wanker. "Life Support?"

"The oxygen and carbon dioxide levels are fine, but as I've told you before heat is going to be a problem," Slughorn replied. "The sun crystals are constantly producing heat, and the walls of the Sphere act as a perfect form of insulation. All that excess heat has nowhere to go, and after a few months it could become quite uncomfortable in here."

"If we had more time we could build a system of radiators on the outside of the Hedwig to circulate and cool the air," Luna suggested.

"But we don't have any more time," Harry said in a tired voice. "Horace, your concerns have been noted. Hermione was already drawn-up a schedule for monitoring and controlling the Sphere's temperature with Cooling Charms. Other than that, do we have a GO or a NO-GO for Life Support?"

Slughorn looked at him like he had two heads. "A GO... I believe?"

"Food and Water Supply?"

Neville glanced down at several pieces of parchment before answering. "According to the house-elves we have enough muggle food to last for about eighteen months. If new crops here on the Hedwig survive we should be able to stretch that to about three years. After that we will start running low on the essential nutrients the plants need in order to thrive."

"What about water?"

"I know no one wants to drink recycled urine, but according to Madam Pomfrey it's perfectly safe once we've distilled it. If things get dire we could always start removing the salt from the saltwater in New Lake, but..."

"...that would mean getting rid of all the wretched Merpeople," Malfoy added. "That's an excellent suggestion Longbottom."

"Shut up Ferret Boy," Neville snapped. "As I was saying, water shouldn't be a problem. Food and Water Supply is a GO for around three years. I think."

That was more than enough for Harry. If they didn't find their new home in a few months, they weren't going to find it at all. "Booster Brooms?"

"GO," Rolanda Hooch answered without any hesitation. In truth they had no idea if the massive brooms were going to work as plan, but if they didn't the Hedwig would just plunge to Earth, and they would all die. So at this point there wasn't really any sense in worrying about it.

"Hull Integrity?"

"The radiation shielding will be put in place once we've reached zero gravity," Luna said. "We are waiting on the last field test for Hull Integrity, but for now my department is a tentative GO."

"Magical Emitters?"

"My emitters work perfectly," Mr Ollivander replied with indifference, but then the strange wizard was indifferent to everything but his beloved wands. "However I have no idea if they will serve the purpose you wish them to."

"I will take that as a GO," Harry muttered. "Navigation?"

Aurora Sinistra gave him a lovely smile. Of all the people here in the tunnels the Astronomy Professor was by far the most excited about their voyage to another world. For a professional astronomer it was the opportunity of a lifetime. The outer hull of the Hedwig was covered with telescopes and other bizarre instruments she would use in order to judge their location and rate of speed.

"All I ask for is a round ship, and a star to steer her by."

"I asked for a GO or a NO-GO,Aurora. Not muggle poetry."

"Mr Potter, you have no soul."

"Yes, I know. Voldemort ate it."

"Fine, be that way. Navigation is a GO."

"Infirmary?"

Madame Pomfrey gave him a disturbing frown. Of all the people here in the tunnels the healer was by far the least excited about their voyage to another world. A new world meant the possibility of new diseases. Diseases she would have no idea how to treat. One day she explained to Harry how the introduction of the Smallpox virus had killed over ninety percent of the indigenous population in North and South American during the sixteenth century. That bit of history was still giving him awful nightmares.

"I'm afraid there are more than a few pregnancies to report, but that's to be expected. We have a full supply of medical potions in storage, and I've taken on several promising apprentices. The Infirmary is as ready as it will ever be, so I guess we are a GO."

Harry saved the worst for last, but he had to know. "Floo Bomb?"

George had his feet up on the table, and he seemed perfectly at peace with himself. "The Floo Bomb is a GO."

"Has anyone come up with a new method for controlling it remotely?"

"No. We've only manufactured enough Floo Powder for one attempt, which means we can't afford to screw it up," George explained. "If this crazy idea is going to work there has to be a wizard inside the Bomb itself, and that wizard is going to be me."

17 January 1999

As soon as Harry learned about the young prisoners being held on Ascension Island he realized they needed intelligence. That was almost impossible though since the island was located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean thousands of miles from both South America and Africa. So he had no choice but to politely ask the Merpeople for help.

To his amazement they knew the island's exact location, and they could travel there using their mysterious magical whirlpools. Their warriors quickly placed dozens of enchanted mirrors all along the coastline of the island, which was only about thirty kilometers in total. Harry had a feeling that the Ministry of Magic had badly misjudged the Merpeople and the Centaurs. Both species were every bit as intelligent as wizards, if not more so.

Bill and Fleur volunteered to study the surveillance footage from the enchanted mirrors. According to them Ascension Island was a very small place and mostly devoid of vegetation. There was only a few hills, so it was easy to see everything that was going on. Fleur soon discovered that the prisoners were indeed being held on the island, in an old hangar next to the small airport located along the southern coast.

"When you think about it, this island is an ideal place for a magical prison," Bill explained. "It's so isolated that even the most powerful wizard would have trouble reaching the mainland of Africa using apparition. And if anyone approaches by broom or magic carpet they would be easy to detect and shoot down down with one of those bloody muggle missiles. There are also rune stones along the perimeter of the island, so portkeys are useless at the moment. In many ways it reminds me of Azkaban."

"Then an underwater approach is our only real option."

"Not necessarily. I bet they have one of those metal submersibles off the coast, waiting for any would-be trespassers," Bill added. Thanks to his career as a curse-breaker he had more experience dealing with muggles than your typical pureblood.

"You are a real bundle of sunshine today Weasley," Harry muttered. "Muggle sonar is design to find submarines and surface ships, not Merpeople and foolish wizards hopped-up on Gillyweed."

Fleur was sure that there were magical prisoners on the island, but none of them knew how many or in what medical condition they would be in. The few they had seen with the mirrors were all unconscious and being carried on stretchers. To bring them back to the Forbidden Forest would require hundreds of portkeys, which Filius had spent the past week making.

But unfortunately the wards would have to come down first before they could use those portkeys. The muggles didn't really understand the rune stones they were using, so they only needed to destroy a few of them for the plan to work. All they had to do was get pass several hundred soldiers who were waiting to kill anyone with a wand. Harry was pondering this slight tactical problem when he was approached by an unlikely duo: Minerva McGonagall and Rita Skeeter.

"The muggles will be expecting a frontal attack, not a stray house cat or a beetle flying along the beach," Minerva explained as the three of them studied a transfigured map of the island. The witch had decades of experience, and she had already come up with several excellent ideas for the mission.

"Not to be rude Miss Skeeter, but you've never struck me as the heroic type," Harry said. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"I was less than a block away from Diagon Alley when it was bombed by the muggles," Rita explained. "I know what they are capable of, and I'm positive that if we leave these children behind they will be murdered. Besides, it's not like I'll have to do any fighting myself. We'll just sneak past the muggles, smash a few of these rune stones, and the rest is up to you."

"Well, I do plan on bringing some help this time," Harry said as he continued to study the map. "Everything of value is now packed aboard the Hedwig... expect for these prisoners. We'll leave once the two of you are properly dressed."

That night while Harry was assembled his team on the edge of the Black Lake, the Hedwig was getting its first bath. Flooding the launch bay with water has one of Luna's more interesting ideas, since it solved two problems at once. First of all it allowed them to check for any possible air leaks. Once the starship was submerged the Chief Engineer had fifty witches check over every square millimeter of the interior, looking for any signs of water. In the end they found three leaks. They were tiny, but in outer space they could have caused a catastrophic failure. Once the repairs were complete they moved on to the second problem: the stone ceiling above the Hedwig. Fifty wizards using Gillyweed were sent out to cut a hole for the starship to pass through. They had saved this job for last both for security reasons, and because removing the stone debris was easier once they were underwater.

Harry enjoyed watching the large bubbles caused by all this work, but after a few minutes he turned to face the four members of his team. Like him were all wearing wetsuits and the latest muggle rebreathers, which were another gift from Nicolas Flamel. They couldn't afford to use the Bubble-Headed Charm tonight—not when they might need their wands for other, more violent purposes. Gillyweed was also out of the question because they couldn't afford to waste an hour waiting for the effects of the magical plant to wear off.

"Mr Potter, are you sure the Merpeople can do what they promised?" Minerva asked. "Albus dealt with them for many decades, yet he never once heard them mention any sort of underwater transportation system. Magical or otherwise."

"For Merlin's sake, stop being such a wet blanket," Rita hissed. "We are about to experience a new form of magic no witch or wizard has even seen of before. You can at least pretend to be excited."

"I agree," Filius added. "This is going to be great fun."

"Spoken like a former dueling champion," Rolanda muttered.

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Harry suggested. "The Merpeople claim we will arrived less than a kilometer away from Ascension Island. Minerva, are you positive that you and Rita can change into your Animagus forms while wearing those wetsuits and rebreathers?"

Instead of answering this insulting question, the former Professor of Transfiguration effortlessly changed into a cat. Rita was too busy adjusting her wetsuit to make a similar effort. It pained Harry to admit it, but she still had a nice figure for a witch in her forties.

"Once you have destroyed several of the rune stones the rest of us will apparate directly into the hanger and deal with any guards," Harry continued. "We will then distribute the portkeys as quickly as possible, and pray that none of the muggle soldiers hear us."

Before anyone could point out the many flaws in his plan, three of the Merpeople emerged from the Black Lake. Two were young warriors, while the third was a much older male carrying a large metal trident. Once they were all in the water the older merman began to move his trident in a circular motion. A flat whirlpool soon emerged. It had a very well-defined edge and didn't seem to be disturbing the water around it. After a few minutes the two warriors swam directly into this whirlpool and vanished.

Harry thought it sort of looked like the Floo, but when he entered the whirlpool it felt even worse than apparition. His entire body was squeezed into a thinnest of tubes before being violently ejected out the other side. It took him a few moments to regain his bearings, but when he did he found that the water here was much warmer. Instead of waiting for the others to emerge he swam up to the surface to take a look around. It was difficult to see in the dim moonlight, but he could just make out the rough outline of an island in the distance. After a few seconds he was dragged back under by one of the warriors.

It turns out that everyone made it through unharmed. Minerva and Rita gave them a final thumbs-up as the two warriors grabbed them from behind and began swimming towards the island at a rapid pace. The next half-hour was both boring and exhausting. There was nothing for them do but tread water until Minerva and Rita either brought down the wards or were killed in the attempt.

After thirty minutes Harry felt it: the large field of magic which had been protecting the island was gone. Filius and Rolanda immediately apparated and he was only seconds behind them. The inside of the hangar was a bizarre sight: it was completely full of metal bunk beds, and each one held two unconscious prisoners with IVs attached to their arms. Even without a wand a young wizard could be dangerous, so the muggles must have kept their prisoners sedated during the past few months.

Harry ripped off his mask and looked around for any guards. Filius had already killed five of them, while Rolanda had taken care of three more. They had no time to waste, so Harry reached into his Mokeskin pouch and took out a handful of marbles. Each one was a portkey, and as he placed them on the children they began to disappear in a flash of light.

The two Animagi soon joined them. "None of the muggle soldiers saw us, but there is a large patrol headed in this direction," Minerva said.

"We are almost done," Filius told her.

After five minutes of frantic work the hangar was empty, and they all activated their own portkeys. When the arrived in the long waterproof tunnel leading to the Hedwig they found Madame Pomfrey covered in blood as she ran from patient to patient. Harry watched in horrified fascination as she placed her wand over a girl's head and cast some obscure spell. A blood-soaked piece of metal suddenly appeared as the young girl started convulsing. Before he could ask what was going on Hermione pulled him aside.

"The muggles placed small radio transmitters inside the bodies of their prisoners. Each one is located in a different place, so removing them is very difficult and time-consuming. We are destroying them once they are out, but if the muggle are able to detect any of them they'll know exactly where we are."

"Will the ambient magic in the Forbidden Forest block the radio signals?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps, but there is no way to be sure," Hermione replied.

"Bloody hell, this was Colonel Poshepny's plan all along. Let us free the prisoners, use the transmitters to discover the location of our hidden sanctuaries, and then send in the military to finish us off. The bastard has been dead for weeks, but he can still out-think and out-fight me."

"Calm down. Madam Pomfrey will be done soon, the three Merpeople are already on board the Hedwig, and according to Luna all systems are a GO. Besides, we don't even know if the muggles received any of the radio signals."

"Given our rotten luck I have no doubt they're coming," Harry said as he removed his heavy rebreather and handed it to a waiting house-elf. "Now it's a race. Can we reach the safety of outer space in time, or will the muggles find us first and destroy the Hedwig?"

8. Chapter 8

18 January 1999

Madam Pomfrey was working on the last of the young prisoners Harry had freed from Ascension Island when a massive tremor hit the tunnels and threw everyone to the ground. It was soon followed by several more tremors, and it felt like each one was coming from a different direction. Clumps of dirt and rock started falling from the ceiling, and the metal braces which supported the long tunnels began to shift and deform under all the stress.

Hermione took out a small enchanted mirror and tapped it with her wand. "What is happening? Are we under attack by the muggles?"

"Yeah, a bunch of their jet aeroplanes just flew over us, and they are dropping their bloody bombs everywhere," Ron replied. He was in the Hedwig monitoring a dozen mirrors they had placed around the Black Lake for security. "Half of the Forbidden Forest is on fire. They are also hitting the ruins of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, so I'm guessing they don't know our exact location."

"Poppy, there is no sense in removing the radio transmitters now, since they already know where we are," Harry told the exhausted and blood-soaked healer. "Just move the children into the Hedwig."

"How many have we lost?" Hermione asked as they supervised the evacuation.

"Only five have died so far, but others may have suffered permanent injuries. I tried to be as carefully as possible, but in many cases the muggles surgically implanted the radio transmitters next to the spinal cord or the heart. Several were even located inside the skull. They poor things were also kept heavily sedated for several months with those toxic muggle drugs, and who knows what kind of damage that did to their bodies."

"Well, even if they are brain-dead we can still harvest their sperm and eggs for use at a later date," Hermione point out.

That cold-blooded remark earned her a slap across the face from Poppy. "Miss Granger, that is the most reprehensible thing I have heard from..."

"Not now!" Harry shouted. "Both of you report to your posts inside the Hedwig. Consider that a direct order from your commanding..."

In the middle of this argument they all began to feel a strange vibration coming from the floor and walls. It was less powerful than the bombs being dropped overhead, and it was also more consistent. Harry placed his hands against a nearby wall and could actually feel the vibrations getting closer and closer.

"Everyone get inside the Hedwig! The muggles are digging their way down here with some kind of excavating machine!"

But it was already too late. Ten meters away a wall suddenly blew outwards and filled the tunnel with a massive cloud of dust. Harry foolish ran straight towards this new opening and cast his strongest Shield Charm. In a corner of his mind he wondered how long any magical shield would last against a barrage of bullets and grenades.

"We are not here to fight!" a harsh and very distinctive voice shouted from inside the cloud of dust.

"Goblins," Harry muttered to himself as another muggle bomb rocked the tunnels. "Why did it have to be Goblins?"

"I wish to speak to you wizard, but we do not have much time."

"This whole complex under a Fidelius Charm, so how in the name of Merlin do you find us?"

"In desperate times a wizard will do desperate things. Like allowing a Goblin to tattoo a Tracking Charm on their skin in return for a large sum of galleons. Galleons that are now useless, I might add."

"Wizards are so bloody stupid," Harry muttered again.

The old goblin finally stepped into view—it was his old friend Ragnok from Gringotts. "On that fact we can certainly agree."

"What are you doing here?"

"We want passage on your magical starship."

Harry thought about the situation for a moment and it did make sense, especially since the muggle were about to kill them all. Then he thought about it some more. The presence of a secret goblin tunnel so close to the launch bay suggested that something far more sinister was going on here.

"You want to steal the Hedwig."

"That was our plan originally," Ragnok admitted without any trace of embarrassment or shame. "We were going to capture these tunnels, and then torture your fellow wizards until they gave us the secrets of how the starship worked. But the muggles attacked before we were ready to make our move. Now our only hope is to buy passage off this world."

"Sorry, but we already have more gold then we will ever need."

"Do not be so hasty wizard. The muggles dropped nerve gas into our underground cities around the world. We at Gringotts only survived because the main entrance to our caves was covered with rubble left behind from the attack on Diagon Alley. My small clan is all that is left of the Goblin Nation, and I would rather see them live as your slaves than be exterminated by the muggles. If you take our women and children with you, and I will give you the blood of our finest warriors and our most powerful dragons. That is the price I am offering you."

Harry couldn't help himself. "Just how many dragons have you got on hand?"

"Over twenty of the largest and deadliest males in the world, and all of them have been trained to attack on command. My warriors are also armed with advanced muggle weapons we were planning on using against you during the next rebellion. We will stay behind, and fight to the death. You have my solemn word," Ragnok told him.

"A diversion like that might actually buy us some more time, but you would have to keep the dragons away from the Black Lake."

"So Harry Potter, do we have a deal?"

"Just women and children? No adult males?"

Ragnok nodded his head.

"How many?"

"Only three hundred. They will be led my great-granddaughter Tofa, but you have nothing to fear from them. It will take at least several centuries before the Goblin Nation has the strength needed to start another rebellion."

Harry's mind was cast back to the painful conversation just before his disastrous trip to the Department of Mysteries during his fifth year at Hogwarts. Hermione claimed that he suffered from a "Saving People Thing", and she was right. He couldn't leave those children back on Ascension Island to be butchered like lab rats, and he wasn't going to these children behind to face the muggles either. Even if they were bloody Goblins.

"Get them in here. Like you said, we don't have much time."

Ragnok's posture sagged as the tension drained away from his ancient body. "You have my eternal thanks."

"I don't want your thanks, I want... no, I need your warriors and your dragons to keep the muggles occupied. And remember: keep them away from the Black Lake. I don't want the Hedwig accidentally hit by any stray dragons or stray missiles."

Harry then sent his stag Patronus to Bill explaining the situation and the need for a large number of guards to watch over their new passengers. The curse-breaker had the most experience dealing with the deceitful midgets, so he could act as the official liaison between the two races.

Despite their short legs the Goblins could move quickly when they needed to, and in a matter of minutes they were marching through the main airlock. The females were all carrying the infants strapped to their backs and chests while holding various metal-working tools in their hands. Even to Harry's untrained eye it was clear every single one of these tools was a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The older children were all carrying books, some of which bigger were than them. Despite these heavy burdens none of them were crying or complaining. At the end of this sad little army was a female who was as wide as she was tall. As far as Harry could tell her massive bulk was all muscle.

"Great-grandfather, I beg you. Please let me fight by your side."

"No Tofa, you are now the leader of the Goblin Nation," Ragnok told her. "These children will need all of your intelligence and strength if they are to survive the journey to their new home"

"I don't want to be rude, but we have to go," Harry snapped. "In case you haven't noticed the muggles are still dropping bombs on us."

This Tofa looked like she want crush his head with her ornate blacksmith hammer, but instead she gave her sire a deep and reverent bow. Without another word they began to run towards the Hedwig. As they passed through the airlock Harry cast a transfiguration on the waterproof tunnel behind them, and a large piece of driftwood floated harmlessly to the bottom of the launch bay.

Bill and Fleur were standing at the entrance of the Sphere, showing the Goblin newcomers how to enter the massive structure. "Is she the last of them?"

"Yes," Harry replied. He then motioned Bill closer and cast a minor privacy ward. "Put the Goblins far away from anything of importance. Their leader's name is Tofa. If she complains about anything tell her I have a basilisk, and I will not hesitate to petrify every single of the them if they cause any trouble."

"Harry, you can't threatening Goblins like that—especially their children. It will only make them more difficult to deal with in the future. "

"They were planning on capturing, torturing, and then killing us so they could steal the Hedwig. They should be grateful that I'm saving their lives. Frankly it's more than they deserve."

The interior of the starship was made-up of a series of odd platforms and ladders. Harry quickly made his way through this maze and down to the Engine Room, which took up the bottom quarter of the starship. Luna had chosen the name because they would be acting as the living engines of the Hedwig. It was from this large room that they would power and directed their long voyage.

The second he stepped off the ladder Ginny slapped him. Rather than let her join him on the mission to Ascension Island, Harry had drugged her food with a Sleeping Draught. As a result she was a bit upset. After the slap they kissed, and he had no doubt that at any other time the kissing would have progress to sex right there on the floor. Sadly duty called.

"Ron, what's the situation up on the surface?"

"The muggles are still bombing the shite out of us. I'm not exactly sure how many aeroplanes we are facing, so I don't know if George's countermeasures are going to be enough to get by them."

"We got some last minute reinforcements in the form of twenty dragons."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked. "Charlie said the muggles hunted down and killed all the dragons, even the wild ones."

Harry explained this deal with Ragnok, and reactions were mixed. Luna, Minerva, and Aurora all thought he made the right decision, and that the Goblins would make valuable allies in the future. Ron and George said they couldn't be trusted, not even the children.

"If they cause any problems we will just dump them out the airlock," Ginny promised, a comment which earned her a sharp rebuke from Minerva.

It was five long minutes before Ron saw anything on his mirrors. "It looks like the Goblins kept their word. There are bloody dragons flying all over the place. And their warriors are really are using muggle weapons."

"They won't last long, but killing twenty dragons and all those Goblin warriors should use up most of the muggle's ammunition," Harry reasoned. "George, deploy the first wave of countermeasures."

Back during his boarding school days, whenever Wing Commander Thomas Woolner found a classmate reading the Lord of the Rings he would dunk their head in the nearest loo. Now he was leading a squadron of Tornado jet fighters in a fight to the death against a swarm of fire-breathing dragons and a bunch of little trolls armed with the latest Russian SA-18s missile launchers. Right from the beginning this clandestine war against the wizards had been one giant trip down the bloody rabbit hole.

"I want everyone to pull back immediately," Woolner ordered. The bizarre counterattack had caught them completely off-guard, and he had already lost half of his fighters. "Those dragons may look like mindless monsters, but they are intelligent enough to lead their targets. And the temperature of their flames is so high that it can ignite our fuel tanks at a distance."

"Sir, I hit one of those things dead center with a Sidewinder, and the explosion didn't even slow it down," one of his best pilots commented over the radio. "In fact it barely left a mark on the thing's scaly hide."

"I know. Stop wasting your missiles and switch over to guns. A few hundred 27mm rounds should be enough to clip their wings."

"Sir, what about the trolls with the SAMs?"

"They are shooting blindly," Woolner replied. "Just keep a safe distance from that big forest below, and we should be fine."

His squadron quickly gained attitude as ordered, but as they were about to begin their strafing runs all hell broke loose. A thousand fireworks shot-up into the sky and exploded into a thousand different shapes and colors. Animals make of pure fire began soaring across the sky in a manner which clearly violated the laws of physics. Woolner had flown over forty sorties against the wizards, but this was the first time he had seen them use magic on such a large scale. When he noticed his radar: the fireworks were also releasing chaff... tons of it.

From the beginning Harry realized that if the Hedwig was going to be shot down by the muggles, it would happen during the first few minutes after their launch. So how could they deal with this very real and dangerous threat? The most obvious solution was to cast a Disillusionment Charm around the starship. It had taken Hermione and Luna less than a week to figure how to do that, and as a result they were now invisible to the human eye. Muggles also using heat-seeking missiles, but the Hedwig lacked a conventional engine and had been submerged in cold water for many hours. So in theory they were also invisible to any infrared scopes.

The third threat was being detected by radar, and that was a more difficult problem to solve. It was Hermione's father who suggested that they use chaff, since the tiny pieces of aluminum foil wreaked havoc with the muggle's radar systems. George thought they should distribute the stuff using his fireworks. Harry quickly setup a production line using the house-elves as labor, and they managed to produce over a thousand rockets during the summer and fail.

"Alright, the muggles are now partially blind," Harry said. "Let's give them a set of nice and easy targets to deal with. Deploy the four decoys."

Wing Commander Woolner thought the fireworks were an impressive display, even beautiful in their own way. But they won't really gain the wizards anything in the long-run. The dragons were far too slow to pose a real threat to his fighters, those little trolls didn't know how to properly use a SAM, and all this chaff would soon fall to the ground. So what was their real plan?

"Sir, to the south."

Damn! Four large missiles were taking off from that bloody forest. They looked incredible crude in design, but that wouldn't matter if they reached Aberdeen, Edinburgh, or Glasgow. Intelligence had warned them that the wizards were building weapons of mass destruction, and who knows what kind of magical horror they could rain down on a major city if given the chance? Perhaps they would turn all the Scots into fluffy white rabbits.

"Break off. Those dragons can wait, but we must stop those four missiles before they reach civilization."

"They bought it," Ron told them as he continued to watch the mirrors.

Harry grinned. "Then it's time for the Hedwig to haul the mail."

Chasing down the four missiles didn't take very long for a squadron of modern jet fighters. The things were only flying at about a hundred kp/h, and shooting them down was simple enough. But as they crashed to the ground it became obvious that they were nothing more than hollow metal shells. Had they been sent on a wild goose chase by the wizards?

In less than two minutes Wing Commander Woolner's squadron had circled back to the main target zone. That's when they saw it—but only with their radars. Something very big was traveling straight up into the air at three hundred and fifty kp/h... and it was invisible to the naked eye.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Cut the chatter," Woolner barked. "Even if the target is invisible we can still track it on radar. That means we can still shoot it down, whatever it is."

"Sir, that thing is already at ten thousand meters. If it stays on course it will break our service ceiling in a matter of minutes."

"I am well aware of that fact. If you have any ASRAAMs left, follow me."

The Wing Commander then sent his Tornado into a sharp vertical climb. He noticed with some nervousness that he was alone; the other pilots must have exhausted their supply of radar-guided missiles earlier in engagement. He noticed with even more nervousness that the wizards were using some sort of magical ECM. His radar was giving him conflicting signals, and at times it stopped working altogether. He would have to get much closer if he wanted any chance of hitting such a fast-moving target with only one missile.

Woolner was just about to engage the enemy when his tiny cockpit burst into flames. Before he could eject the flames disappeared to reveal a large red-and gold bird, which was now sitting on his lap. The Wing Commander had spent months fighting wizards and he knew that magic did indeed existed, but this was too much for him to handle. He was in a hard vertical climb trying to shoot down an invisible... thing, and now he had a bloody fire bird staring him in the face.

After five seconds his professional training finally took over, and he began to pull back on the trigger which would fire his last ASRAAM missile. What stopped him was a birdsong. He had heard birds sing hundreds of times before, but nothing in his life could have prepared him for this. The sound that filled his tiny cockpit was beyond beautiful. This was the very magic he and the countless others around the world had been trying to destroy for the past few months.

Using a form of primal communication, the fire bird somehow made Woolner understand that if he pulled the trigger all that wonderful magic would be lost forever. The idea of being personally responsible for such a heinous crime made him weep. He just couldn't do it. Slowly he leveled out his Tornado, at which point the bird bowed his head in gratitude and disappeared in another mass of flames. As he ordered him remaining pilots back to base that magnificent birdsong kept repeating itself in his mind. Something of great importance had just occurred, but Woolner knew in his bones that he would be long dead before anyone else on Earth realized it.

"We are now entering the Mesosphere," Aurora told them after she consulted one of her many instruments. "At fifty kilometers we are beyond the range of any muggle aeroplanes, and reprogramming one of their nuclear weapons would take too long. I think we made it."

9. Chapter 9

18 January 1999

While everyone else was celebrating their apparent escape from the muggles, Ginny took a moment to look around and study the Engine Room. Madam Hooch was still focused on controlling the Booster Brooms, while Professor Sinistra was monitoring her various instruments. At the moment they were the only two doing anything.

Ginny herself was sitting on a throne-like chair next to one of the six emitters which would power the Hedwig once the Brooms stopped functioning. That was scheduled to happen as soon as they reached a safe distance from the Earth's gravity well. Sitting in a circle by the other five emitters were Harry, Luna, Neville, Headmistress McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick. Ron was on the far side of the room surrounded by a set of eleven mirrors. They connected him to the four maneuvering emitters, the six shield emitters, and the Sphere. Acting as the Communications Officer was a simple job, but her brother took it very seriously. In a more peaceful age he would have made an excellent head coach for the Chudley Cannons.

"Rolanda, how are the Booster Brooms holding up?" Harry asked.

Despite the fact the her boyfriend was eighteen and Madam Hooch was in her late nineties, it seemed perfectly natural when he used her first name. It was the same with all the other Hogwarts Professors, even that old tyrant McGonagall. Harry still believe he was just an ordinary wizard, but in truth he had already surpassed both Dumbledore and Voldemort as a leader.

"Not every well," Madam Hooch replied. "They are starting to act sluggish."

Like her brothers Ginny had been flying brooms for most of her life, and from the moment the Hedwig emerged from the Black Lake the acceleration she felt was a familiar sensation. Now she started to feel subtle twitches and bumps. Something was definitely wrong with the Brooms, but they had no way to go outside and fix them. If they could be fixed at all.

"I'm not surprised, since it is nearly hundred degrees beyond zero out there," Professor Sinistra snapped. "I told you we should have made the things out of carbon fiber instead of plain wood."

This subject had been a source of contention between the two witches for months, and even in the middle of a crisis Madam Hooch was more than happy to restart the bitter argument. "All known flying charms are specifically design to work on wooden brooms. I suppose next you're going to want Ollivander to start making his wands out of muggle plastic."

"Wood is composed of carbon atoms you ignorant..."

"Enough!" Harry barked. "What's wrong with the Brooms?"

"They were only meant to work for a limited time carrying a limited amount of weight," Madam Hooch explained. "My team knew the Booster Brooms were going to fail eventually, but we didn't think it would happen so soon. We must have miscalculated at some point during the design process."

"Luna, can we making it into outer space using just the emitters?"

"That is an interesting question. I have no idea."

"But you're my Chief Engineer," Harry whined.

"Captain Potter, if the Hedwig starts to wobble by even a meter it will be impossible to maintain our course," Professor Sinistra explained urgently.

"I am well aware of that fact. Rolanda, how much longer do we have before a total failure?"

"Perhaps another three or four minutes."

Harry turned to look at her. Neither of the two options was very attractive. Separate from the Brooms too early and their lack of speed might send the Hedwig plunging back to Earth. Separate from them too late and they might permanently lose control, which would also lead to the destruction of the starship. A part of Ginny was angry that Harry was the one being forced to make this decision, but in her heart she knew that no one else here was strong enough to do it.

"Everyone prepare to activate your individual emitters and don't hold anything back. Ron, send word to the Sphere that we are switching over early, and that we'll need a line of replacements down here immediately. Also be prepared to send course corrections to the four maneuvering emitters. Aurora, what's our current position?"

"We have just passed the Karman Line, and are currently at a distance of one hundred and ten kilometers from the Earth."

"Rolanda, we will separate from the Brooms in ninety seconds. Please give us a countdown."

After Ron finished sending his messages the only sound in the Engine Room was Madame Hooch's voice as she slowly counted:

"...six ...five ...four ...three ...two ...one. We have separation."

Ginny was surprised that using the emitter was so easy at first. It was no worse than casting her notorious Bat-Bogey Hex. But after a few minutes the effort started to sting. All six of them were casting a continuous stream of Banishing Charms at an average of about twenty per minute, and that was a strain even for the most powerful of wizards and witches. The stinging sensation slowly pushed its way deeper into her skin and then into her bones, but she refused to give in.

"How fast are we going?" Harry asked in a tight voice.

"The velocity of the Hedwig is no longer increasing," Auror replied. "Currently we are traveling at about a thousand kilometers per hour, but that figure keeps fluctuating up and down."

Luna was the first to go. After what seemed like an hour, but what in reality was only twenty minutes, she collapsed without a word. Luckily their replacements had arrived, and Parvati immediately took her place in the circle. As Madam Pomfrey levitated the unconscious witch out of the Engine Room, Ginny locked eyes with Neville. Turning this into a pissing contest was a stupid idea, but she had something to prove. Both to herself and to Harry.

"So Longbottom, are you up for another dance?"

"As I recall you stepped on my feet more a dozen times during the Yule Ball," Neville said with a grin.

"She was too busy staring at Harry to pay attention to you," Parvati observed. "But I don't know why, since he was the worse date in the history of Hogwarts."

"I was fourteen years old at the time, and Ron was being an idiot."

"I was not being an idiot!" Communications Officer protested.

In the midst of their playful banter Minerva McGonagall dropped dead.

"Poppy, get back in here!" Harry shouted.

The healer quickly ran to her friend's side and cast several diagnostic spells on her limp body. "It's a heart attack. I might be able to save her, but the critical potions are up in the Infirmary."

"Go, but leave your apprentices," Harry told her. "Ginny, Neville, and Filius get out of those chairs right now."

Neville and Filius were visible haggard and they quickly made room for their replacements. Ginny had other ideas though. "I am not leaving my chair until you leave yours."

"Do as I say!" Harry roared as his magic rippled across the Engine Room. "Where are those bloody apprentices?"

"We are right here Captain Potter," a nervous African witch replied. There were several others, but Susan Bones and Andromeda Tonks were the only two Ginny recognized.

"I want you to keep a constant watch over everyone. At the first sign of weakness drag them away from the emitters—by force if necessary."

"Does that order apply to you, Captain Potter?" Susan asked innocently.

"No, it does not."

The next ten minutes were terrifying. Harry continued to push himself until he finally collapsed just like Luna. Susan claimed he would be fine after a good night's sleep, but Ginny didn't believe her. How could a witch with breasts that large possibly know what the bloody hell she was taking about.

19 January 1999

As Hermione sat picking at her breakfast of muggle cereal, she was torn between feelings of sadness and elation. She was sad because her mentor, Minerva McGonagall, had died last night despite Madam Pomfrey's best efforts. The stress of the rescue mission to Ascension Island followed by the even-more stressful launch of the Hedwig had literally broken her heart. Even worse was the fact that Harry refused to have her body preserved until she could have a proper funeral. Instead she had already been mixed in with the day's excrement and turned into fertilizer. Living on a starship meant they couldn't afford to waste any resources.

At the same time Hermione was elated because for the first time in her life she had power. Real power. She was the one who created the daily schedules for recharging the sun crystals and for maintaining the Sphere's temperature. And when Harry wanted replacements for powering the emitters, she was the one who created the that schedule as well. No one made fun of her strict rules anymore, or second-guessed her decisions. She really liked controlling other people and that made her nervous, even if it was for a good cause.

This round of navel-gazing was cut short when she saw Harry and Ginny exiting the Kitchen Tent where they had probably been chatting with the small army of house-elves. As the pair walking across the Cafeteria they stopped at almost every table to say a few words. Her father called them the "Captain" and the "Captain's Woman", which was a reference to the original Star Trek television show. Hermione would never admit it to anyone, but in her mind they were the new King and Queen of Magic. And she was their brilliant and indispensable Prime Minister.

"I'm so sorry about Minerva," Harry whispered as he gave her a gentle hug. "Did we lose anyone else during the night?"

"No," Hermione replied as she hugged Ginny. "Powering the emitters is incredible exhausting work, but it's not lethal as long as you are careful. And after what happened we are being extremely careful."

"Have you had a turn down there yet?"

"Yes, but I only lasted for twenty minutes before Ron picked me up out of the chair and threw me over his shoulder. By that point I was so weak that I couldn't even fight back"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "My brother is such an idiot."

"Hermione, last night I keep thinking about something you said to Poppy back on Earth. You said that we could harvest a person's sperm or eggs even if they were brain-dead. What in the world were you talking about?" Harry asked as he began to peel one of the last fresh bananas.

"That question has a rather complicated answer, and it might be helpful if I could call for some reinforcements before we begin this discussion," Hermione said as she cast her Patronus. The Cafeteria was nothing more than a collection of tables sitting next to the Kitchen Tent, so they could actually follow her silver otter as it raced across the floor of the Sphere to the Infirmary.

After a few minutes an odd trio arrived at their table. Harry wasn't surprised to see Hermione's mother Catherine, but the sight of Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks seemed to catch him off guard. Tonks had told them once that the two sisters hadn't spoken in years, but now they were acting like the best of friends. Surviving a mass genocide had a way of putting your personal problems in perspective.

"What is going on here?"

"Before I answer your question you need some background information," Hermione said defensively. She had no idea how her best friend was going to react to her... unusual plans for the future. "After you returned from Ascension Island with the freed prisoners we did a final headcount: there are currently one-thousand, five hundred and sixty-one human beings aboard the Hedwig."

"What about the Merpeople, Centaurs, Goblins, and house-elves?" Harry asked. "Do you have an accurate headcount on them?"

"No, we only have a rough idea of their numbers. We think there are about three thousand Merpeople, sixty Centaurs, three hundred or so Goblins, and more than five hundred house-elves."

"We only have sixty Centaurs? Isn't that going to cause a problem with inbreeding?"

Narcissa, Andromeda, and Catherine all started laughing for some reason. Harry wasn't in the mood for any nonsense, so he glared at them until they finally calmed down enough to explain the joke.

"Mr Potter, you had a great deal of experience with the Centaurs. Have you ever seen any of their females?" Andromeda asked.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't. That's kind of strange. Are they too important for outsiders to see or something?"

"No, the real reason you haven't seen any female Centaurs is because there aren't any. It's a tightly-guarded secret that Centaurs mate with witches, and that the offspring from these unions are always Centaur males," Andromeda explained. "It's a very rare occurrence, but it happens often enough to provide their herd with new blood. So to speak."

"If it's such a secret than how do you know about it?" Ginny asked.

Narcissa gave the younger witch a sly smile. "Let's just say there is more than one way to get yourself removed from the Black Family Tree Tapestry."

Harry buried his head in his hands. "Will one of you please cast a Memory Charm on me? I do not what to remember listening to this conversation."

"Back to the matter at hand," Hermione snapped. "While fifteen hundred individuals is enough to prevent inbreeding at first, genetic diversity is still going to be a long-term problem for us. As an insurance policy Nicolas Flamel purchased the contents of a muggle sperm bank before we left Earth."

Ginny blushed. "What in the name of Merlin is a sperm bank?"

Catherine stepped in to help her daughter. "It is possible to take sperm from a man and freeze it for use later on. The American sperm bank we bought from had very high standards: intelligence, athletic ability, height, good looks, and a healthy medical history were all prerequisites for donating."

"How does a man... donate?" Ginny asked as her face got even redder.

"Miss Weasley, from the way you are sitting next to Mr Potter I have no doubt that the two of you had sex this morning," Narcissa observed dryly. "Instead of using a Scouring Charm afterwords you simply place the wizard's excess sperm inside a glass vial to be frozen."

Andromeda and Catherine started laughing again. Her mother was an arch-feminist, and she found the puritanical nature of the magical world to be an endless source of amusement. Hermione wasn't laughing though. The relationship between Ginny and Narcissa really bothered her. The younger witch had murdered Lucius Malfoy in cold-blood, but for some reason his widow seem fond of her. Maybe it was all some complex Slytherin plot.

"We plan on harvesting eggs from older purebloods like Mrs Malfoy and Mrs Tonks before they go through menopause, and then fertilizing their eggs with muggle sperm," Hermione explained.

"Would it make more sense to use sperm from a wizard?" Harry asked.

"Consider your own family tree Mr Potter, as well as the Dark Lord's," Narcissa told him. "Your mother was a muggle-born, and the elder Tom Riddle was actually a muggle. Despite this hindrance you turned out to be two of the most powerful wizards in the world."

"My husband Ted was also a muggleborn, and our daughter Nymphadora was a Metamorphmagus, as is my grandson Teddy. It's a very rare talent," Andromeda added. "There are other examples: Dumbledore's mother was also a muggleborn and Miss Granger here is a very talented witch. We believe that by combining muggle sperm with our eggs we will be strengthening the magic of our children, as well as preventing excessive inbreeding."

"The theory is commonly referred to as hybrid vigor by animal breeders," Catherine said.

"So once the egg is fertilized how do you place it back inside the mother?" Ginny asked.

"It's not a difficult procedure, but we have come up with a new and better solution," Hermione replied. "Harry, do you remember what Voldemort looked like before he regained his adult body?"

"Yes, I remember. I see that deformed little body in my nightmares all the time."

Despite her friend's anger Hermione pushed on. "That miniature body is called a homunculus, and they were developed several centuries ago by the alchemists. Since we have access to one of the greatest alchemists in history, I decided to ask Mr Flamel about them. He claims we could use an advanced form of the technique to create artificial wombs."

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Mr Potter, have you ever been pregnant?" Narcissa hissed.

"No, of course not!"

"I had the misfortune of being pregnant four times, and I had three painful miscarriages before Draco was finally born. Most pureblood witches suffer terribly during pregnancy and almost half of them end in miscarriages like mine did. That's one of the reasons Lucius hated Arthur Weasley so much. My late husband would have gladly traded all his wealth and power for seven pureblood children. Miss Granger's idea will work, and we are going to use these artificial wombs whether you like it or not."

"There are other, more practical reasons why you should support this," Hermione said quickly, before anyone else could start shouting. "There are several witches who want to have children with you in the future."

"Like who?" Harry demanded.

"Parvati, Luna, Gabrielle Delacour, Cho Chang—"

"I knew we should have left that fat cow back on Earth." Ginny muttered.

"—and those are just the witches I know about."

"Well that's too bad, because I'm with Ginny. She is the only witch who will be giving birth to my children."

"Under normal circumstances that would be an acceptable, even admirable sentiment," Catherine said. "But we are not living under normal circumstances. Both you and Miss Weasley are descended from a long line of interrelated British purebloods, and your children will provide us with very little genetic diversity. However if you have children with Miss Patil and Miss Chang those children would provide us with a new and unique mixture of genes."

"Personally I think Miss Weasley should also have children with Mr Thomas and Miss Patil's cousin Kaklin," Narcissa added.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the mention of the very handsome and intelligent Kaklin Patil. Her mother kept insisting that he was the perfect wizard to father the next generation of Grangers. In fact if this project worked Hermione suspected she might be getting a new bother or sister; one with beautiful caramel skin and bushy black hair. She was also afraid that Narcissa was eying her father a bit too closely. The idea of sharing a sibling with Draco Malfoy of all people was simply ghastly.

"Now we could have all these hypothetical children the old fashion way, or we could develop these artificial wombs. As our Captain—and as a man—which choice do you prefer?" Andromeda asked.

"I want to be the mother of your children Harry, but I don't want to end up looking like my mum," Ginny said as she reached over and took his hand. "And if any other witch you tries to seduce you—even Luna—I will have to kill them. So to me this sounds like a really great idea."

"I will think about it, but right now we have to install the radiation shielding. None of us will have any children if a solar flare erupts at the wrong time and exposes us all to a fatal dose of radiation."

"Does everyone have their enchanted barf bags ready?" Harry asked the large work gang assembled at the Sphere's airlock. "Remember, your vomit is far too precious to waste."

Since the Hedwig had launched from Earth its constant acceleration had produced a kind of artificial gravity. Now that they were temporarily shutting down the emitters, that gravity would disappear and be replaced with zero-gravity. According to NASA about half of the astronauts who experienced zero-gravity suffered from Space Sickness. The symptoms included vertigo, headaches, lethargy, and vomiting... lots and lots of vomiting. Hence their need for enchanted barf bags. Neville was going to be getting a big, juicy supply of fertilizer today.

"You all have your assignments. I want this done as quickly as possible."

"I don't know Potter, I kind of like the little lights flashing in my eyes all the time," Seamus said to much laughter. Everyone who spent time down in the Engine Room saw these strange lights. They were like tiny white fireworks that kept exploding inside your eyes at random intervals.

"The lights you are seeing are actually caused by cosmic rays, which are slowly destroying your DNA. Hopefully all this gold will offer us some protection."

The standard material for shielding the human body from radiation was lead. Its atomic number was eighty-two, which meant the individual lead atoms were large enough to block harmful things like cosmic rays. Unfortunately they didn't have access to enough lead to protect something the size of the Hedwig.

What they did have access to thanks to the Philosopher's Stone was a huge quantity of gold, which had a similar atomic number of seventy-nine. That made it almost as good as lead at blocking radiation. The ten centimeter-thick panels had been stored in the Sphere during launch, and their pre-cut shapes meant they could be placed directly into the metal framework of the Hedwig. But even with Featherweight Charms moving these gold panels was going to be difficult because of their tremendous weight. Luna thought it could only be done in zero-gravity, which is why the emitters were being shut down for a brief time.

Harry took out his mirror and made contact with the Engine Room. "Alright Ron, we are finally ready to start. Tell the Engine Room to stand down."

The work that followed was a nightmare, especially since they had no experience at moving around in zero-gravity. During the first hour alone over a hundred bones were broken, and they were all soon covered with large bruises. The only thing that saved them was Luna's brilliant planning. The Chief Engineer had marked each panel with large and easy-to-read numbers. All you had to do was find the matching number on the inner hull of the Hedwig, and slide the gold panels into place. They all fit perfectly, like the pieces of huge three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

"It's so beautiful," Luna comment as they were finishing up the job.

Harry had to agree. The gold panels were acting like a series of mirrors and reflecting the light from dozens of sun crystals. It gave the interior of the starship a nice warm glow which it had lacked before.

"Is all this extra weight going to slow us down?" He asked.

"Yes, but that can't be help. Even magical medicine has its limits, and I for one want to be alive when we reach our new home."

"You will be Luna Lovegood, I promise."

Since they were in zero-gravity for the first and perhaps last time ever, Ginny insisted that they have sex before the Hedwig started accelerating again. It was a disaster right from the start. They were both sweating more than normal, and at one point Harry felt so nauseous he reached for his barf bag. That certainly killed the mood for a few minutes. It was also impossible to get into a good rhythm because their bodies kept flying apart in different directions. By the end things got so desperate that they both faked their orgasms. That turned out to be an ominous sign of things to come.

26 January 1999

"So you actually had me and the other troublemakers petrified by a basilisk?" Aberforth Dumbledore asked a few days later after he had been given the Mandrake Restorative Draught. "And now you want us to help you fly this hunk of junk directly into the heart of a star?"

"Listen, were are less than two thousand wizards and witches left alive. Out of a starting population of over half a million that's all we managed to save. The muggles absolutely trounced us, and if we went back to Earth they would finish us off in less than an hour."

"Do you honestly think your insane plan will work?"

"We have gotten this far without dying," Harry replied. "Parvati Patil thinks Magic itself wants us to survive, and that it used Sybill Trelawney as a messenger so we would know where to go. I'm not sure about that, but if you have a better explanation for our success I would be glad to hear it."

Aberforth turned away and spent several minutes studying the enormous Sphere. It was hard to argue with a wizard who had created a three kilometer-wide Expansion Charm. "What would you have me and the others do?"

"Just sit on the chair and allow your magic to flow into the emitters."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Trust me, you will be singing a different tune soon enough," Harry told the old wizard. He knew that after a day or two Aberforth and his friends would be too tired to even think about staging another coup d'état.

Even with that extra manpower, keeping the Hedwig running left them all in a permanent state of exhaustion. Things deteriorated so quickly that children as young as four and five were forced to spend their days recharging the sun crystals. The adults expended all their magical strength in the Engine Room, and despite their best efforts the Hedwig was still moving too slowly.

The fastest muggle spacecraft ever was the Helios Two, which had been built by West Germany back in the seventies. During its trip around the Sun it manage to reach a speed of two-hundred and fifty thousand kilometers per hour, or seventy kilometers per second. After a month the Hedwig had beaten that record with a speed of two-hundred kilometers per second, but to escape the the massive gravity well of 18 Scorpii they would need to be traveling at over six-hundred kilometers per second. At the moment it seemed like an impossible goal.

21 February 1999

"Our people aren't going to last for much longer, not without mass fatalities," Madam Pomfrey informed them as that first terrible month in outer space came to an end. "The Engine Room is slowly killing us."

"What if we start to slow things down?" Hermione suggested. "If we gave everyone longer breaks to recover their magical strength perhaps they would be able to deal with the stress."

"No, the longer we stay in outer space the greater the chance that something will go wrong," Harry argued. "One minor accident is all it would take to destroy Hedwig. We must end this voyage as soon as possible."

"Hey, remember that time at the end of our second-year when Dobby knocked Lucius Malfoy flat on his arse?" Ron asked. "Maybe the house-elves can help us power the emitters?"

Neville shook his head; he looked even worse than the rest of them. "They are too busy helping me process the fertilizer. They also help the Centaurs water several thousand plants each day. In case you've forgotten, if those plants start to die in large numbers we won't have enough oxygen to breath."

"The house-elves also keep the Kitchen running, since we are usually too tired to cook our own food," a disgusted Hermione added.

"The Goblins are sitting around doing nothing, and so are the Merpeople. Why don't we send them down to the bloody Engine Room?"

They all turned to stare at Draco. Since Professor Slughorn spent twenty hours a day in his tent sleeping, his assistant was forced to come to the staff meetings in his place. Usually Draco just sat there and sneered at the rest of them, but his suggestion did merit discussion. After talking about it for a while even Ron started to think it was a good idea.

Convincing the Goblins and Merpeople themselves was a bit harder. Harry, Firenze, and Tofa all gathered at the edge of the New Lake where they could talk to the leader of the Merpeople, whose name no one could properly pronounce. The aquatic creatures seemed ambivalent, but it was the Goblin leader who turned out to be the real problem.

"What will you thieving wizards give us in return for our help?" Tofa asked.

"You get to live," Harry replied. "That sounds like a pretty reasonable exchange to me."

"The Goblin Nation requires more than simple survival. We demand our freedom. We demand equal rights."

Firenze and the Merpeople thought this was an excellent idea, and to be perfectly honest so did Harry. Tofa quickly produced a document for them all to sign. According to the "Treaty of Magical Brethren" all Wizards, Goblins, Centaurs, and Merpeople would have an equal say in whatever new government they formed and would be subject to the same laws.

As Harry read the new Treaty he started to get upset. "You have been planning this from the beginning. You were just waiting for an opportunity to blackmail me and now you have one. Fine, I will sign the bloody thing, but only if the house-elves are allowed to it sign as well."

"The house-elves are submissive slaves," Tofa growled. "If they are part of the new government you wizards will always control forty percent of the votes."

"They are not slaves!" Harry shouted. A month in the Engine Room had pushed him far over the edge, and he was eager for a fight. "A free house-elf named Dobby sacrificed his life to save mine. If I had been killed no one would have built the Hedwig. Instead Voldemort would have declared war on the muggles, and he would have lost that war in a matter of days. The only reason any of you are still alive is because of the actions of a free house-elf, and don't ever forget it."

"I agree with Harry Potter," Firenze said calmly. "The elves have a great magic flowing in their ancient blood, and they deserve our respect."

After seeing that she was outnumber, Tofa reluctantly nodded her head.

After the Treaty of Magical Brethren went into effect life aboard the Hedwig quickly changed for the better. The Goblin Nation went to work: the adult females served in the Engine Room while the young children reported to Neville's department. Soon mixed groups of human and Goblin children were seen marching around the Sphere, carefully tending to the sun crystals and the endless rows of plants.

The changes in the Merpeople were even more shocking. Luna took the old water pipes out of storage and quickly created a collection between the New Lake and the Engine Room. This maze of water-filled pipes allowed the Merpeople to reach three of the emitters, and they were easily able to supply the Hedwig with half of the power it needed.

"I have read dozens of books about the Merpeople, but no wizard or witch ever claimed they possessed this level of magical power and ability." Hermione remarked.

"I doubt they are as strong as us individually, but there are three-thousand of them," Harry said.

"Why didn't they offer to help before now?"

"They said we never asked for their help. The Goblins may be selfish wankers, but in the case of the Merpeople I think it's more a matter of culture. They want as little to do with the surface world as possible, and I don't blame them. They have very legitimate reasons to hate human beings."

With all this extra magical power at their disposal, the Hedwig began to accelerate at a much quicker rate. By the end of the second month they had finally reached their goal of six-hundred kilometers per second. Now it was time to unleash George and his Floo Bomb.

Author's Note: For those of you who are curious, the war will between the Wizards and the Muggles will continue in the future, but other events have to occur first. Thanks for the reviews.

10. Chapter 10

24 March 1999

Arthur Weasley had been fascinated with muggles his entire life, and even the recent war hadn't curbed his desire to learn more about them and their wondrous technology. As a result he had spent a great deal of time with Hermione's father Sebastian Granger. It was only a matter of time until their children got married, and as one of only two muggles on the Hedwig the poor man was quite lonely most of the time. So when George announced his plans for a "Last Supper" it was Sebastian who explained the biblical reference. It was just like his son to make a big joke about his upcoming mission.

Of course Molly hadn't been told about any of this, which was why she wasn't crying hysterically at the moment. His wife was a very passionate woman, and while that was a plus in the bedroom it also made living with her very stressful at times. The children quickly agreed with Arthur's decision to keep her in the dark. None of them wanted to deal with their mother's reaction to the news that she was about to lose another son. Thankfully Molly hadn't noticed the gloomy atmosphere as the "Last Supper" which was being served in Harry's private tent. She was too busy nagging poor Kreacher and the other house-elves.

They were all curious about George's plans for this evening, so when he tapped the side of his glass with a fork the table went silent. "Captain Potter, I wish to inform you that my brother Charlie and his beautiful wife Crina smuggled twenty dragon eggs aboard the Hedwig."

"I gave specific orders that no dragons were allowed on this starship," Harry growled. The sun crystals began to flicker as his magic pulsated throughout the large tent. "They are too dangerous, and there is no possible way we can feed twenty carnivores of that size after they hatch."

From Arthur's perspective this was an interesting match-up. Normally Charlie was very mellow wizard and would have back down in the face of Harry's anger. But now he was defending the two thing he loved most in the world: his pregnant wife and a horde of baby dragons. Arthur was quite proud when Charlie took a deep breath and turned to face the younger but much more powerful wizard.

"If the dragons from Gringotts hadn't attack those muggle aeroplanes over the Black Lake we never would have escaped. We owe them a debt of gratitude."

"You must have been planning this for months, so you couldn't have known about the Goblins and their tame dragons when you first disobeyed Harry's order," Ginny reasoned. "Now answer his question: how are we suppose to feed them given our very limited resources?"

All Ginny's brothers seemed shocked by their sister's rude behavior, but they should have known better. His little girl had become a cold-blooded killer, and anyone who clashed with the great Harry Potter was fair game in her eyes. That included members of her own family. It was a great tragedy from many perspectives, but there was nothing her father could do about it now.

"The dragon eggs won't hatch for at least eighteen months," Crina replied. Arthur thought his daughter-in-law's Romanian accent was delightful. "Once the dragons are out of their eggs they can be safely petrified by your pet basilisk. We had no intention of letting them roam free until we were ready to properly care for them."

"The situation was under control until someone had to go and open their big mouth," Charlie said as he glared across the table at his brother.

George just smiled back at him. Arthur saw what his game was now. The prankster was going to air everyone's dirty laundry, and there wasn't anything they could do to stop him. What was that saying Sebastian used the other day? "The truth shall set you free." This was George's parting gift to his family, and it also had the virtue of being pretty funny. At least for him. Arthur wondered which one of them was going to be his next victim.

"While smuggling dragons eggs aboard is a serious breach of discipline, I would have to say that slipping a love potion into the food of our dear Captain Potter is a greater offense. Don't you agree Fleur?"

The Veela immediately let loose with a stream of obscenities in French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin. It was a display that left even Molly speechless. Once Fleur calmed down a bit she explained that her sister Gabrielle had simply been playing a childish game and meant no harm.

"Did you hear that, little sister?" George asked quietly. "It was just a game, so there is no reason for the adorable little Veela to have a fatal accident. Is there?"

At any other time Ginny would have drawn her wand and gone on a rampage, but in the face of George's noble sacrifice all she could do was silently nod her head in submission. The lucky Gabrielle Delacour would never know how close she came to a violent death.

Arthur looked over at Ron. By now the boy so nervous that his face was the same color as his hair. The pressure was too much for him, so he finally blurted out: "Daphne Greengrass tried to kiss me the other day, but I swear I didn't kiss her back!"

"You kissed that hideous Slytherin slag!" Hermione shrieked.

The ensuing argument went on for a good ten minutes. It only ended when Ron dropped to his knees and proposed marriage right in front of the whole family. That did the trick, and Arthur was treated to the sight of Molly's beautiful smile. Those smiles had been rare since Voldemort returned from the dead and set off a chain-reaction of events which lead to them all here to the Hedwig. The conversation among the witches immediately turned to the subject of wedding planning. Sometimes Arthur thought the only reason they had seven children was so his wife could personally supervise seven elaborate weddings.

After listening to the witches babble-on for a few minutes, George cleared his throat. It seems he wasn't done yet. "Percy, I'm curious. Will you be bringing your boyfriend to the ceremony?"

That was going too far. Arthur had known for years that his third son was a wizard's wizard, but he never would have told anyone. Percy should have been allowed to handle this announcement in his own way. It was time to put an end to this farewell prank, so Arthur discretely drew his wand and cast two nonverbal stunners at George and Molly. Their faces fell forward on to the table before anyone could react. It was good to see he hadn't lost his touch after all these years.

For a moment no one said a word, but Bill finally asked the obvious question. "Dad, why did you just do that?"

"I am going to pilot the Floo Bomb in George's place. I have already lost one son, and I refuse to lose another. Not if I can prevent it, which in this case I can."

Harry and Ginny stared at each other, and after a moment his daughter silently volunteered to ask her boyfriend's harsh but essential question. "Dad, do you have the magical skill needed to complete the mission?"

"I will be the first to admit I couldn't have designed or built the Floo Bomb myself, but I can fly it. Aurora Sinistra has been coaching me during the past few weeks, and I have all the procedures memorized. So yes, I can do it."

"But why did you have to stun Mum and George?" Ron asked.

"They would have disagreed with my decision, and I didn't want to spend my last hour here on the Hedwig fighting with my wife and son. I have left memories for them in Dumbledore's old Pensieve. Please see that they watch them. Does anyone have any other objections to my plan?"

They didn't. It was impossible to argue with the necessity of George's decision, so how could they possible argue with their father's decision to take his place?

"Good, I have two last requests. Keep your mother petrified until after Fleur and Crina give birth. I also want you to find George a lover."

"Dad!" several of his children shouted.

"Listen to me," Arthur snapped. "Life on the Hedwig is stressful enough without have to deal with Molly and her tempestuous emotions all the time. The one thing that will calm her down is the sight of her first two grandchild. As for George—he hasn't looked at another woman since Angelina's death. A decent shag is the only thing that will keep him from doing something rash like jumping out the airlock."

"We will find George somebody," Ginny promised, a scandalous statement which made her brothers blush. Well, at least the conscious ones.

"Harry, I believe we should proceed at once."

"But the mission isn't scheduled to start until tomorrow morning."

"Son, everyone knows there is an excellent chance we could all die during the Floo Jump. Do you think they want to spend the next ten hours with that hanging over their heads, or would they just prefer to get this over with?"

Things moved quickly after that. After two months in outer space the crew was starting to act like professionals. When Harry activated the warning siren everyone made it to their assigned posts within ten minutes. The Weasley family was a major exception though. After entrusting Molly and George to the house-elves they followed Arthur up to the Floo Bomb. It was located at the "top" of the Hedwig, directly opposite from the Engine Room. Waiting for them there was Sebastian Granger.

"You are going with him, aren't you?" a shocked Hermione asked her father.

"Yes, I will be handling the communication mirrors, while Arthur focuses all his attention on controlling the various instruments."

"I knew you were unhappy, but..."

"Hermione, most of the people on this starship can't stand the sight of your mother and me. Given what happened back on Earth I understand their hatred. Catherine is too busy playing Dr Mengele to care, but I can't spend the rest of my life like this," Sebastian explained.

"We are not acting like Nazis."

"I know, I know. The work you are going is critical for the long-term survival of the magical world, but it still seems morally... questionable to me."

Sobs suddenly began to rack Hermione's entire body and she lunged into her father's open arms. "You don't have to do this!"

"Yes, I do," Sebastian told her. "This mission has a greater chance of success with the two of us working together. And hopefully this will convince some of your fellow witches and wizards that not all of us are evil monsters. Don't ever let them forget that a filthy muggle willingly sacrificed his life to secure their future."

As Sebastian tried to comfort his grieving daughter, Arthur began to say his own goodbyes. His children were all terribly upset, but at the same time they were also very proud of him. Even Percy, who had often viewed his father with such disdain in the past. Finally he pulled Bill aside for one last chat.

"William, you are now the head of the Weasley family."

"Are you sure about that?" Bill asked as he looked over at Harry and Ginny.

"I am. You are the only one Ginny will listen to anymore, and she is the one person Harry can't intimidate. Albus Dumbledore was a great wizard, but he refused to listen to anyone's advice no matter how sensible it was. His arrogance allowed Voldemort to rise to power not once but twice, and it was Voldemort who provoked the muggles into destroying our world. You can't let Harry make the same kind of mistakes in the future."

"I will try Dad, but I don't think it'll do any good. Ginny has changed so much since this all started, and those changes haven't been for the better."

"She is still your sister, and she always will be."

Rather than drag these painful goodbyes out any longer, Arthur and Sebastian entered the tiny compartment where they would both sit. In many ways the Floo Bomb was a miniature version of the larger Hedwig, but small round Bomb had a few important modifications. Its main emitter was powered not by a live wizard, but with Luna's newest innovation: a magical capacitor. The capacitor was basically an advanced rune stone which held a tremendous amount of pure magic, and it would easily provide them with enough acceleration for their short mission. Luna swore that when she rebuilt the Hedwig it was going to be stuffed full of these new capacitors.

"Are you ready?" Sebastian asked as he adjusted the mirrors they would be using to communicate with Aurora Sinistra.

"No," Arthur replied honestly as he ran his hands over the three smaller maneuvering emitters. He would use them to make course minor corrections. These corrections had to be perfect, which is why they needed a magical pilot inside the Floo Bomb itself.

"Aurora, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear Sebastian. We are cutting-off power now."

Up until this point the Hedwig had still been accelerating, but now its six emitters were shut down. At the same time Arthur activated the Floo Bomb's capacitor. A rush of magic propelled them free of their launch cradle and into outer space. Slowly their distance from starship began to increase. They needed to be sixty kilometers away for the plan to work. That sounded excessive until you remembered that they was currently traveling at seven-hundred kilometers per second. The Hedwig would reach the massive green explosion in the blink of an eye.

"How do we look Aurora?" Sebastian asked after a few minutes.

"As far as I can tell you are on course. No, on second thought give your number two emitter a short burst."

These small corrections continued for an hour. Even after reached a distance of sixty kilometers Aurora insisted that Arthur keep working until their placement was correct down to the millimeter. If their plan had any chance of succeeding they had to be perfectly aligned with 18 Scorpii. Between the effort of powering the three small emitters and the stress of their impeding deaths Arthur was soon knackered, but with Sebastian's help he somehow kept going.

"Don't move!" Aurora finally shouted. "Stay right there."

Both muggle and wizard were silent for a moment, but than Sebastian reached over and shook Arthur's hand. "It was a privilege to work with you, my friend."

"Thank you. Any last words to mark the occasion?"

"England expects that every man will do his duty?"

Seeing that Arthur had no idea what he was talking about Sebastian reached over and pressed the large yellow button with a smiley face on it. That boy George had a really sick sense of humor.

The Bomb itself consisted of a thousand kilograms of volatile potions mixed with a thousand kilograms of freshly made Floo Powder. When it exploded it instantly produced a spherical ball of green fire a hundred meters wide. In the vacuum of outer space there was no oxygen of feed this explosion, so it lasted for barely a second. But that was all the time the Hedwig needed. The magic of the burning Floo Powder interacted with the magic of their six powerful Shield Charms, and the starship vanished from the solar system.

28 March 1999

They made it. After the Hedwig disappeared it instantaneously traveled over forty-six light years to 18 Scorpii. How did the process work? They honestly had no idea. Hermione theorized that their magic had temporarily created an artificial wormhole linking the two locations. Or maybe Parvati was right—maybe Magic itself was looking out for them. Either way when they emerged from this "wormhole" their six Shield Charms kept the Hedwig from being incinerated in a millisecond by the intense heat of 18 Scorpii's corona. Keeping those Shield Charms up... well, that turned out to be the real problem.

During their escape from the Earth's gravity well there was only one fatality: Minerva McGonagall. During their escape from 18 Scorpii's much stronger gravity well they weren't so lucky. The overwhelming amount of magical power needed to keep the Hedwig running in such hellish conditions extracted a terrible price none of them had anticipated.

By the time they reached a safe distance from the star they had lost nearly six hundred wizards and witches, a hundred Goblins, and over a thousand Merpeople. The dead had piled up so quickly that it was impossible to move around. They had no choice but to portkey the bodies out into the harsh vacuum of outer space. The only consolation was the fact that Madam Pomfrey had already harvested sperm and eggs from the entire crew before their trip through the wormhole.

Now that they were out of immediate danger Harry called for a meeting of his surviving staff members. "Luna, what's the current status of the Hedwig?"

"We had several minor fractures in the hull, but what I'm really worried about is the structural damage the titanium framework has suffered. Landing the Hedwig on the surface of a planet was always going to be problematic, but now it's flat-out impossible. The stress of even the gentlest atmospheric reentry would crack us open like a rotten egg."

"Then it looks like we're using bloody portkeys to reach the surface after all. That should be fun," Harry muttered to himself. He then glanced over at the chair where the late Horace Slughorn should have sat. "Draco, how are the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels?"

"Don't worry Potter, they're fine. Longbottom has done a brilliant job, and we should be able to last for at least another year. Maybe even two years if we're lucky."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Draco Malfoy," Ron joked, but his heart wasn't in it. Not only had the Weasleys lost Arthur, but now Bill and Charlie were gone as well. On top of that Fleur also lost both of her parents.

"Neville, how are things going in your Department?" Harry asked his poor friend. Augusta Longbottom had died during the first hour, but even worse was the loss of Neville's wife Hannah and their unborn child. No pregnant witch should have been allowed anywhere near a shield emitter, but in the middle of the crisis the Hufflepuff had insisted on taking a turn like everyone else.

"We are starting to lose plants at a steady clip, but that's to be expected at this point. We don't have any serious problems with the food and water supply. Especially since we now have fewer months to feed."

"Susan, how is the Infirmary?"

"Other than the fact that our only fully trained and experienced Healer is dead, the Infirmary is doing just fine. Nicolas Flamel had finally started producing a large quantity of the Elixir of Life, so that should be a great help."

"Hermione, have you found anything yet?" Harry asked. He had assigned her to the Navigation Department after Aurora had been permanently blinded by one of her own telescopes. Despite all the safety precautions she had taken, the intense sunlight of 18 Scorpii had destroyed both of her retinas during a routine check of their location.

"After what happened to Professor Sinistra the search has been going very slow, but I think we have found our new home planet."

"Already? Are you sure?"

"Liquid water can only found at certain distances from a star; it's called the Goldilocks Zone. We focused all our attention on that specific area of this new solar system, and found a planet early this morning," a weary Hermione explained. "At this range it's hard to be certain, but we think there are both oceans and green vegetation on the surface."

The news left most of them speechless, but Ron had a practical suggestion to make. "We can't call it "the planet". If it's going to be our new home it needs a proper name."

"I say we call it Merlin," Draco offered. "It is a noble name fitting for a world of noble wizards."

"... and witches and house-elves and Centaurs and Merpeople," Hermione lectured. "Personally I think Phoenix would be a more appropriate choice given our recent history. Plus I really like words with the letter x in them."

Neville went next. "What about Dumbledore, or maybe just Albus?"

"I vote for Amelia," Susan said with a sad smile.

"Let's call it Chudley," Ron suggested to much laughter. "What? It's a great name!"

"The planet will be called Lily," Harry said in a tone that brooked no further argument.

"Hermione, is there a moon in orbit?" Luna asked after a lengthy and uncomfortable silence.

"My astronomers don't thinks so, but again we really can't be sure at this distance. Why, did you want to name it Selena after your mother?"

"I was hoping to. Maybe next time."

Draco snorted. "Did you actually think we are going to do this again Lovegood?"

"Of course we are Malfoy."

"That is a discussion for another time," Harry said. "How long will it take us to get to Lily?"

"Escaping 18 Scorpii's gravity well has reduced our velocity more than we were initially expecting, so I would say about two months."

5 September 1999

Hermione's estimate turned out to be wildly optimistic. It took the battered and broken Hedwig over four months to reach Lily, and it took another month of hard work to achieve a semi-stable obit. Harry had expected everyone to be happy about the discovery of their new home, but the last leg of their voyage was by far the most miserable. After surviving the war on Earth most of the crew thought their problems were over for good, but instead they had lost a third of the crewmates in a matter of hours. People would stop what they were doing without warning and breakdown in tears. Others were simply sick of life onboard a starship and longed for the sight of clear blue skies.

There were some benefits to the delay though. Thanks to constant observation through a dozen different telescopes they were able to create a detailed map of Lily's surface. The new planet seemed familiar but strange at the same time. It had a single massive ocean and a single massive continent, with a handful of smaller islands scattered about. This continent—which Hermione dubbed Pangaea after the Earth's old super-continent—covered most of the northern hemisphere. Or maybe it was the southern hemisphere? Either way Pangaea had a large polar cap at its center, and the ice was surrounded on all sides by a mammoth forest which covered the rest of the continent. This "forest" turned out to be a source of great concern to Professor Sprout and Neville.

"Just look at it, Mr Potter," Pomona said to Harry as they studied Hermione's latest and most-detailed map. "It is a monoculture, and it covers multiple latitudes and multiple elevations. Given the huge size of that continent there should be several deserts, but they have also been colonized by these strange trees."

"And this is important why?"

"Harry, species of trees that thrive in the tropics are different than those that thrive in Scotland, which in turn are different than those you would find in a hot desert," Neville explained.

"I understand that. There are banana trees in the tropics, junipers in Scotland, and cacti in a desert."

"Exactly Mr Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor," Pomona said.

Harry rolled his eyes, a nasty habit he had picked-up from Ginny. "I still don't see what the problem is."

"There is no tree on Earth could do what that tree down on Lily has done," Neville told him. "To survive in all those different climates zones, and to be able to drive out all the other competing vegetation... it's just not natural."

"Maybe there is no other competing vegetation on Lily."

"That is what we thought at first too," Pomona said. "But take a closer look at the islands. They all have a clear degree of variation in color, especially when compared to Pangaea. I agree with Mr Longbottom: that is not a naturally occurring ecosystem."

"So you are both scared of this forest," Harry observed. "More to the point, you are scared of whoever or whatever created it."

"Yes, I am," Neville freely admitted. "I just lost Hannah; I don't want to lose Susan too. The farther away we are from Pangaea, the better. To that end Professor Sprout and I think you should focus your efforts tomorrow on this large island deep in the southern hemisphere. It has a sizable estuary and several mountain ranges. That should be enough to protect us from any harsh weather the Mega Ocean produces."

"Are we really going to call it the bloody Mega Ocean?"

"For the last time we are not calling it the Sirius Sea," Neville said. "Besides, I agree with Ron: it's a wicked name."

11. Chapter 11

7 September 1999

As Poppy Pomfrey had once told Harry, on the surface of an alien planet there were a thousand ways to die. But after months of stress the Captain of Hedwig was impatient for answers. He intended to take a portkey to that large island in the southern hemisphere, which Luna had nicknamed Avalon. If anything hazardous was waiting down there for his crew, then he would be the first to die. Unfortunately Ginny figured out what her boyfriend was planning, and he soon discovered that even the strongest wizard is helpless after being kneed in the testicles by an angry girlfriend.

"We are sending several portkey probes down to Avalon first," Ginny explained as she confiscated the Elder Wand. "Is that clear?"

The pain was so intense that all Harry could do was nod his head in acceptance.

The portkey probes were reminiscent of the ones they tried to send to the Moon last year. They consisted of six enchanted mirrors joined together in the form of a cube. No matter where they landed the mirrors would be capable of sending back some useful images. Or at least that's what they hoped would happen.

The first two probes were destroyed—they still weren't sure how—but the third materialized less than a meter from surface and landed safely. The images it sent back to the Hedwig showed a simple landscape. Their first impressions of Lily had been mistaken; there was no signs of a classical forest. Instead there was an endless number of shrub-like plants no more than a meter or two high.

"Those look like ferns and lycopods from back on Earth," Professor Sprout told the crowd which had gathered. The herbologist was wearing her glasses, and her face was only a few centimeters away from the enchanted mirror. "And that specimen over there looks like a horsetail. My first impression is that they are very primitive vascular plants, and they probably reproduce using spores rather than seeds."

Neville was studying another mirror. "Closer to the ground I can see a clump of what looks like a cross between moss and liverwort."

"Do you see any insects or larger animals?" Harry asked.

"No, but we just started looking."

They kept on looking for another week, working in several different shifts in case there were any nocturnal animals present. Now that Harry and Professor Flitwick knew what they were doing, they managed to send ten more portkey probes down to the island. They were taking Neville's warning seriously, and steering clear of Pangaea for the time being. Even after all this effort they still found no trace of insects or any other animals. Just a wide variety of very primitive-looking plants.

"The lack of animals isn't that surprising when you think about it," Hermione said on the eighth morning as they continued to study the mirrors. She has surrounded by a number of muggle science books from Nicolas Flamel's vast library. "Photosynthetic life existed on Earth for around three and a half billion years, but primitive animals only started appearing in the fossil record during the past one billion years or so. Just because plants evolved here on Lily doesn't mean that any animals did."

"That's brilliant!" Ron shouted as he hugged his girlfriend from behind. "No alien spiders to worry about."

Professor Sprout sniffed loudly at his childish antics. "Even if there are no animals, it doesn't mean that the surface of Lily is safe. I thought your unpleasant experience with the Devil's Snare during your first year at Hogwarts would have taught you that, Mr Weasley."

"For all we know every single plant down there is toxic to human beings," Neville added. "But that kind of in-depth research can wait for awhile. The next question we need to answer is what kind of gases are present in the atmosphere, especially the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide. Since portkeys are only one-way, that means someone has to go down to the surface."

"Finally," Harry said as he got to his feet. "Ginny, I know you are coming with me."

"Damn straight I'm coming with you."

"So I need one more volunteer. Preferable someone who is good at potions, because we aren't really qualified to perform the tests we need to run."

"Padma received an O on her Potions OWLs," Parvati said even though her twin sister didn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea. "Captain Potter, we would be honored to accompany you and Miss Weasley down to Avalon."

"Both of you?" Harry asked. "Fine, we'll leave once Filius has all the necessary equipment ready."

That took some time, since the necessary equipment included an airtight container that measured four meters long by two meters wide. Hermione had suggested they build a mobile laboratory a month ago, and Luna had come through with another engineering miracle. It had a self-contained air supply, a glass airlock, a small potions lab attached to its own separate airlock, and most importantly a functional loo.

It was also the largest single portkey they had ever made, but minor details like that didn't bother Harry anymore. Since the Hedwig had survived a trip across the surface of a burning star his view of what magic was capable of had greatly changed.

After a short but bumpy ride the large "laboratory/portkey" arrived on Avalon in one piece. Their landing site was on a bluff overlooking a large river. The island received a good deal of rain—or perhaps it was just the rainy season? Either way their current elevation should protect them from any flash floods. The site was also sheltered from the rough weather of open ocean by a range of large coastal mountains.

"Check for any leaks or cracks in the walls," Harry told the three witches. Professor Flitwick had created a charm designed specifically to detect the presence of air leaks, and Hermione insisted that they use it the second they arrived. "It's difficult to maintain these Bubble-Body Charms for any length of time, so let's get this job done quickly."

"Can you feel the difference in your weight?" Padma asked as she ran her wand along the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"The gravity here on Lily is lighter than the gravity on Earth, I'm sure of it. I thought Granger was being excessive when she stole that antique gravimeter pendulum from Cambridge, but it looks like we are going to need it after all."

Parvati smiled. "I see you're already acting like a good Ravenclaw swot. And to think you didn't want to come along."

"Vati, piss-off."

Once they were sure nothing had been damaged, Padma went to work. The potion mini-lab was modeled after the kind muggles use when dealing with viruses and other dangerous substances. There was a thick glass wall with two holes in it, and these holes were covered with a pair of thick rubber gloves. Once you placed your hands inside the gloves you could safely brew the necessary potions without being exposed to the alien atmosphere. The potions in question where they same ones Professor Slughorn and Draco Malfoy had been brewing during the past few months to monitor the air quality inside the Hedwig. Given all the plants outside there had to be carbon dioxide and oxygen, but it in what amounts?

While Padma was busy figuring that out Harry, Ginny, and Parvati gathered samples of the various plants in the area using the Levitation Charms. This was difficult and frustrating work since they were trapped inside a small metal and glass box. They would gently pick-up samples, and then levitate them over to the airlock where Padma would examine them later on.

After eight hours the sun—or 18 Scorpii to be more precise—slowly began to disappear from the sky. Thanks to orbital observations they knew that Lily had a twenty-one hour day. That would take some getting use to, but Susan and the other healers were optimistic that their circadian rhythms could be adjusted with the help of with certain potions.

It was an hour after sunset when Padma finally turned to face them. She looked terrible, but her large brown eyes were glowing with excitement. "Please keep in mind that these are all rough estimates. According to my results seventy-four percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen, twenty-four percent is oxygen, one percent is neon, point zero six percent is carbon dioxide, and point zero two percent is argon. So we are looking at higher levels of both oxygen and carbon dioxide than what we were use to on Earth, but I think we can safely tolerate this new mixture. Just to be on the safe side I want Hermione to double-check her muggle science books before we do anything rash here on the surface."

"Send the information up to the Hedwig," Harry said as he handed her an enchanted mirror. The results sounded promising, but what the hell did he know?

Padma contacted Hermione, gave her the good news, and then deactivated the mirror in less than two minutes. "Granger would have talked all night if I had given her the chance. I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some sleep."

It had been a long day for all of them, so after a simple meal they unfolded the lab's three cots, which were hanging up on the ceiling. They were uncomfortable, but using transfiguration in the middle of such a dangerous environment didn't seem like a smart idea. Harry and Ginny had to share a cot, but he didn't mind. She did.

"Harry my love, you stink."

"I'm glad to hear it Weasley," Padma hissed. "Because if you two even think about having sex I will be forced to use my great-grandmother's dreaded Impotence Curse. The effects lasts for over a month."

"Try it, and I'll shove that wand so far up your..."

"Ginny, calm down."

"Goodnight and sweet dreams," a laughing Parvati told them.

18 September 1999

Just before sunrise Harry woke to the sound of Padma's magically enhanced screams. "Get that out of your month you stupid idiot!"

Since the glass-walled airlock was less than a meter away, Harry had no trouble seeing what the problem was. Parvati was outside of the lab without a Bubble-Body Charm, and she was eating a fern-like plant, which for all they knew at the moment might be poisonous. And she was doing all of this in the nude. Harry loved Ginny's slim athletic body, but he had to admit that Parvati's hourglass figure was visually appealing. Very appealing.

"Stop staring at her!" his sleepy girlfriend growled when she saw what was going on.

Harry ignored her and walked over to the airlock. "Parvati, what in the name of Merlin are you doing out there? And why are you naked?"

The witch smiled and took another bite of the fern before answering—despite the glass wall they had no trouble hearing each other. "My actions are not taking in the name of Merlin, but rather in the name of the Great Sybill."

"Don't tell me you really believe all that nonsense!" Padma shouted. "Put a finger down your throat, and get that crap out of your stomach before it's too late!"

"It is not nonsense. It is the Truth."

"What's she talking about?" Ginny whispered.

"She has gone completely mental. She thinks Sybill Trelawney was... or rather is some kind of God. You know, like Vishnu or Shiva."

"My dear sister, your vision has always been so limited," Parvati said. "Sybill Trelawney is not merely a god, She is a living personification of Magic itself. She only took the form of a witch to save us from destruction at the hands of the muggles, and her last vision lead us across the stars to this idyllic world. Your own research proves that conclusively—the atmosphere of Lily is a perfect match for the atmosphere of Earth. These plants are edible, and I'm in no danger of being eaten because Lily has no predators. Of all the thousands and thousands of stars in the night sky, the Great Sybill sent us to the only one where we would be safe. Knowing all this how can you doubt Her awesome power any longer?"

"You know, that does kind of make sense," Ginny commented.

"Don't encourage her!" Padma hissed. "Vati, if you don't stop eating those stupid ferns and get treated by a healer immediately you're going to die!"

"Stop acting like a hysterical fool, and try to remember that you are a Patil. If I've been poisoned it's all ready too late. If by chance I am infected by a local parasite or bacteria or virus, it will be an excellent opportunity for the healers to gain some hands-on experience. You don't even have to place me in quarantine. You can just leave me here on Lily. Not that any of this matters, because there is nothing here that can harm me. The Great Sybill saw to that."

Up until this point Harry had been preoccupied by a fantasy of how the Yule Ball should have ended, and it did not involved consoling that git Ron. He finally snapped out of it, and thought about what Parvati was suggesting. A friend would have stunned the deluded witch and taken her to a healer, but he couldn't afford to think like like that any longer. He was the Captain of the Hedwig, and he knew that leaving Parvati here on Lily was the best way to protect his crew from being infected by any alien diseases here on the planet.

"Padma, she is right."

"How can you say that!"

"Because it's the truth, even if you don't want to admit it. We are going to return to the Hedwig. I will then send Susan, Neville, and your mother back down here to the lab."

"My mother!" Parvati cried as her holy composure cracked. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will," Harry replied. "She can try and talk some sense into your thick skull, while Susan keeps a watch over your medical condition. Neville can examine the local plants, and he is strong enough to make a portkey if there is an emergency. Is that an acceptable plan?"

"Fine," a still-furious Padma snarled before turning to face her sister. "Vati, you are so going to get it when mother arrives."

26 October 1999

The news of Parvati's heroic gesture made her very popular with the witches and wizards on the Hedwig, but Hermione argued forcefully that they needed a larger set of test subjects. To that end the Mandrake Restorative Draught was given to forty mice, forty rabbits, and twenty camels. The poor animals were then sent down to the rapidly growing compound in Avalon, and placed in open-air holding pens. The camels in particular were useful because they would eat anything if it was green.

A month later both Parvati and the animals were still alive, a fact which was making the crew more and more restless. Some of the less-educated purebloods even talked about flying down to Avalon on their brooms, and Harry was sorely tempted to let them try. Things were getting so volatile that Percy suggested they hold a mass meeting in the Sphere, so the healers could explain how dangerous the situation still was. This meeting didn't go well. In fact the news that the quarantine would last for several more months nearly sparked a riot.

"That's outrageous!" an old witch shouted. "The High Priestess has proven that our new home has been blessed and made safe by the Great Sybill."

Harry expected everyone to laugh when they heard Parvati's self-proclaimed title. A few did, but most did not. The idea of anyone praying to that drunken charlatan Trelawney filled him with despair. He needed to have a talk with the "High Priestess" before her "religion" spiraled out of control.

"Just because our test subjects aren't sick yet doesn't mean they won't get sick in a few weeks or a few months," Harry explained. "We only have one shot at getting this right, so we have to be sure that Lily is really safe."

The Goblin leader Tofa stepped forward to speak. A hundred Goblins had died during the escape from 18 Scorpii, but the one Harry disliked the most had somehow survived the horrible experience. Ragnok had chosen his successor wisely. Tofa was one tough cookie.

"You seem to be forgetting an important fact wizard: we have nowhere else to go. Even if we could find another planet—which is highly doubtful—this starship of yours is far too damaged to take us to there. Nor would we have enough food to survive the long journey. This planet is the only home we will ever have."

"Tofa is right," the Centaur Firenze said. "We have waited long enough. Now is the time for action."

"Do the Merpeople agree with you?" Harry asked carefully.

"They do," Tofa replied with a nasty smile.

That was the crux of the matter. According to the Treaty of Magical Brethren when three of the five races agreed on an issue the other two races had to accept their judgment. Harry had used his position as the Captain of the Hedwig to impose this decisions on the others. Should he continue to do that—to act like Dumbledore or Voldemort at their worst? Or should he submit to the only legal form of government they had? On the issue of the quarantine he was right and they were wrong, but was he using that as an excuse to justify his increasing authoritarian behavior?

It was Nicolas Flamel who took the decision out of Harry's hands. "I would like to take his opportunity to inform everyone that I have just completed my tenth Philosopher's Stone. If any major diseases are waiting for us down on the planet we will have more than enough of the Elixir of Life to deal with them."

"The Elixir of Life wasn't much use to us when 18 Scorpii was killing hundreds of us in a matter of hours," Percy complained bitterly. Like the other Weasleys he was still furious about the deaths of Bill and Charlie.

"As I have repeatedly explained those poor souls died of magical exhaustion. The Elixir of Life only works in conjunction with an individual's magic, so it could do nothing to save them. However the Elixir excels at killing bacteria and viruses. It will provide us with all the protection we'll need down on the planet."

Seeing that he was outnumbered and in a hopeless political situation, Harry surrendered. "Hermione Granger has drawn up a detailed schedule for moving people and supplies down to Avalon in an orderly fashion. We will begin implementing that schedule tomorrow, and if anyone tries to jump the queue they will answer to me personally."

A deafening cheer went up in the Sphere, but Harry ignored it. Instead he called Percy and Hermione over. They were joined by Blaise Zabini, who Ginny had discovered was Percy's mysterious boyfriend. Harry didn't really trust either wizard, but his options were limited. Bill would have brilliant at this kind of work, but he was gone. Hermione had more than enough ambition, but she lacked the necessary political experience. That left Percy, who had worked at the Ministry of Magic for nearly five years.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked after Harry had cast a privacy ward cutting them off from the large crowd.

"Tofa. She completely outmaneuvered me today, and I don't want it to happen again."

"It was my fault for arranging this meeting," Percy said at once.

"No, it wasn't," Harry assured him. "That Goblin keeps setting traps for me, and like a fool I keep walking right into them. We need to create a formal government to level the playing field, so I want you and Hermione to approach the Centaurs and the Merpeople. Find out what kind of government they want, and then draft a new constitution they are willing to sign."

"We are actually going to form a new Ministry of Magic?" Hermione asked. She didn't sound very happy about the prospect.

"No," Harry said quickly. "I don't know what we are going to call this new government, but we won't be using that bloody name."

"What about Tofa?" Percy asked.

"Treat the Goblin like a mushroom."

Blaise started laughing and then provided the others with a translation. "Keep her in the dark and feed her shite. If we can secure the vote of either the Centaurs or the Merpeople her opinion won't matter, not with the house-elves on our side. You know Potter, you should have be sorted into Slytherin."

"That's where the Sorting Hat wanted to put me. Hermione, do you know what Parvati has been up to lately? I tried talking to her, but it doesn't seem to help."

"According to Padma her twin has become a true believer. People have been listening to her ridiculous teachings or sermons or whatever you want to call them, and she has developed a sizable following since Lily was discovered."

"Parvati Patil is a beautiful and vivacious witch," Blaise remarked. "My mother managed to marry and then murder seven wealthy wizards using a similar act. The whole public persona works even better because everyone compares her to you and your fiery little enforcer."

"What do you mean?" a confused Harry asked.

"Everyone on the Hedwig is afraid of you Potter, even Longbottom, but they are utterly terrified of the little Weasleyette."

"Ginny is my sister, and even I'm afraid of her," Percy admitted.

"On the other hand no one is afraid of the High Priestess," Blaise continued. "In fact they all love her—even the other witches who should be envious of her youth and beauty. They want to buy what she's selling."

Harry closed his eyes and let out a groan. Back during their schooldays all Parvati could talked about was the latest fashion in robes and the cutest boys at Hogwarts. Now she was trying to start a new religion centered around Sybill Trelawney of all people. How had it come to this?

"Listen, I have Ginny under control, and I can deal with Parvati too. It seems that I have an important role to play in the new mythology she's promoting. Tofa is a problem, but one we that shouldn't be too difficult to handle. The person I'm really concerned about is Nicolas Flamel."

"Well Percy, it looks like we picked the right candidate after all," Blaise joked. "Your political analysis is correct Potter. As long as the old man controls our supply of the Elixir of Life, he controls our future."

"Do you really think Flamel will try to blackmail us?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Blaise and Percy replied at the same time.

8 November 1999

Back on Earth there were real xenobiologists—scientists who spent their entire careers thinking about alien life forms they would never actually see. More than a few of these individuals would have given up their immortal souls to trade places with Harry. From the hilltop where he were standing you could see dozens of different alien plants in every direction, and a team of competent xenobiologists could spend a lifetime studying a single specimen. Yet what was Harry doing on that hilltop? He was burning all those priceless specimens to the ground with one of the most destructive spells ever created.

Winter was coming, although they weren't exactly sure when. It looked and felt like summer, but was it early summer or late summer? Professor Sinistra, Luna, and Hermione couldn't agree on how long it would take Lily to complete a single obit around its star. Nor could they agree on how far the planet tilted on its axis. Both factors would determine how long the four seasons would last, or if they would have any seasons at all.

They had enough food left over from the Hedwig for a long winter, but Professor Sprout and Neville wanted to plant a series of experimental crops now instead of waiting for spring. They needed more information about the local growing conditions and how best to use their limited resources. That was why Harry was using Fiendfyre at the moment. Not only would it quickly clear the ground for planting, but the ash would also act as fertilizer.

"Mr Potter that was one of the most impressive displays of magic I have ever seen," Filius told him as the giant flaming bulldog disappeared from sight.

"I have vivid memories of my Aunt Marge's dog Ripper, and I also have an exceptional wand," Harry explained as he looked over the ash-covered field.

"I always suspected that Albus had recovered the Elder Wand from the Dark Lord Grindelwald. I can see now why he hid the truth for all those years. That is a very powerful and dangerous weapon you have in your hand."

"It's also a very useful tool. Are you going to tell anyone about it?"

"No, I just wanted to warn you that Albus had many old friends during his life," Filius replied carefully. "It's possible that others know the truth about that wand. Always remember that it's called the Deathstick for a good reason. It's a prize many wizards are willing to kill for."

Once the fields cooled down, Professor Sprout and Neville began to sow their precious supply of seeds. Rather than stomp all over the place like a pair of muggle farmers, they floated above the ground on magic carpets, and drove the seeds into the soil with Banishing Charms. Altogether the process only took two weeks, which was good since there was so many other projects to be completed. Thankfully the lighter gravity and higher level of oxygen had everyone in a good mood and eager to work.

They were all still living in the same tents they had used on the Hedwig, and human waste was still being gathered for recycling. However with winter coming they would need more substantial shelter. Once again Harry was drafted to break rocks. He cut several caves into the side of a nearby hill, and then cast an Expansion Charm inside each of these new caves. The spaces weren't massive like the Sphere, but would serve as a refuge if the weather got too crappy. They were also a safe and convenient place to store some of their more fragile supplies. No one wanted to leave anything of value up on the decrepit Hedwig at this point.

With food and shelter taken care of for the moment, they moved on to the smaller problems. Thanks to the frequent rain there was a great deal of mud, so it was decided that their growing camp needed dry walkways. That meant flagstones, which meant they needed a local rock quarry. Of course that was going to be useful when they started building permanent structures like a hospital and a school.

Without a moon in the sky the nights on Lily were pitch black. As a result everyone needed more sun crystals, which meant a trip to the nearest beach so they could collect a few tons of quartz. Harry was disappointed that the seawater was pea-green until Neville pointed out that the color signified the presence of rich nutrients in the water.

Clothes also took up a great deal of time. After months of use even magic couldn't repair certain outfits. They needed a new supply of cotton and wool, plus leather to make new shoes and boots. That lead to the problem of what to do about the livestock they had petrified.

The Merpeople had been using their strange magical whirlpools to explore the Mega Ocean, and they confirmed that there no fish of any kind present. Plenty of sea-grass, sea-lettuce, sea-grapes, and sea-weed. But no fish. The Merpeople didn't like this situation at all, so they released the eggs of the herbivorous fish they brought from Earth. The eggs had already hatched and the tiny fish were feasting on the local kelp. Once they matured and mated the Merpeople planned on releasing the eggs of the carnivorous fish. Everyone thought this was an excellent plan of action. Everyone expect Harry and Hermione, that is. The issue finally came to a head at another one of those bloody meetings.

"We still don't know it there are any long-term side-effects from eating the local vegetation," Harry argued. "The mice, rabbits, and camels seem fine now, but they could all drop dead in a few months. We can't afford to release the cows, pigs, and sheep into the wild. We can't take that kind of risk with resources that can never be replaced."

"With all due respect to our Centaur friends, you are beating a dead horse, Captain Potter," Tofa replied. "If the local plants are toxic as you claim, than nothing can save us from ultimate destruction."

"That's not true, and you know it. We could keep the livestock petrified until we grow enough surplus grain to feed them."

"That would mean many years without fresh milk and fresh meat. You ask far too much of those who have already suffered under your questionable leadership," Tofa declared to loud applauds.

Once again Harry was outvoted by the other races, and this time even the house-elves were against him. The idea of preparing and serving lousy meals for years on end terrified the poor creatures. The next day Neville and Draco began mass producing the Mandrake Restorative Draught, and soon thousands of animals were wondering around island eating who knows what. Since Avalon lacked any large trees to make fences, they had to cast wards around the new crops to keep them safe from these marauding beasts. The need for dozens of new rune stones meant Harry had to spend even more time at the quarry.

The day after this latest disaster he cornered Percy, Blaise, and Hermione. "How long is this new constitution going to take?"

"I honestly don't know," Percy admitted. "We have talked with the leaders of the Centaurs and the Merpeople. They are both pretty happy with this informal style of government. They believe any official bureaucracy we create here on Lily would just be dominated by wizards."

"And they are right about that," Hermione sniffed.

"If we attempted to alter the Treaty of Magical Brethren in any major way the Goblins would probably view it as an act of war," Blaise added "So would the Merpeople for that matter.

"If Tofa keeps pushing us into making stupid mistakes then it might actually come to war," Harry muttered darkly.

None of them had much time to worry about the constitution though. Since they didn't have any official bureaucracy Percy became the unofficial bureaucracy. New couples still wanted marriage licenses, and new parents still wanted birth certificates they could frame. Plus everyone was very curious about land ownership and land deeds. Even on Lily they needed some paperwork to keep things civilized, and it was Percy who got stuck with the job.

Hermione and her mother were still working with the Black sisters on creating an artificial womb. She claimed it would be ready within a year or two, a prospect he wasn't that happy about since he found the whole concept distasteful.

Harry split his time between the quarry and herding the livestock with Ginny. They would spend hours flying around Avalon on their brooms, searching for sick or injured animals. The alien landscape was simple yet beautiful, and they often spent the afternoon making love beneath the strange plants.

This cycle repeated itself for days and then weeks and then months. Fall did finally arrive, but the weather wasn't too harsh. Luna figured out that a year on Lily lasted for three-hundred and ninety-two days. Neville was thrilled with the news since it simplified the planting calendar, and Parvati claimed it was yet another blessing from the Great Sybill.

Life settled down into a comfortable routine, but that all changed when the Merpeople brought word that they had visited the coast of Pangaea.

12. Chapter 12

4 June 2000

As Harry looked through a pair of Omnioculars he found himself agreeing with Neville's earlier assessment: they was nothing natural about the "forest" on Pangaea. The "trees" had spiral stems, all which were around five meters tall. Growing out of these stems was a thick circular leaf over a meter wide. According to the Merpeople these giant leaves slowly moved over the course of a day so they were always faced the sun, but they weren't facing the sun at the moment. Instead over a hundred of them had turned to study Harry and his friends. There were thousands of these odd plants on this one small peninsula, so given the vast size of the super-continent were probably trillions of them in total.

"We're going to need a bigger boat."

Hermione smiled at the old muggle joke. After the Merpeople brought them to the coast of Pangaea using their magical whirlpools, she had transfigured a small block of wood into a sailing yacht. Using it as a staging area was much safer then Harry's original plan, which had been to swim ashore and then blindly walk into the mysterious forest.

"Actually Mr Potter, I think we are quite safe at the moment," Professor Sprout remarked as she studied the coastline. "Whatever those things are, they seem to have an aversion to saltwater. There is almost a kilometer of empty ground between them and the beach."

"Maybe," Neville allowed. "But I think the Merpeople were right: those plants are watching us. In addition to collecting sunlight the leaves must also act as some kind of crude sensory organ."

"That doesn't necessarily mean they are sentient as we understand the term," Sprout said. "Many plants like the Snow Buttercup display heliotropism, while others like the Venus Flytrap react quickly to external stimuli. We may be seeing something similar in this case, so let's not jump to any hasty conclusions."

Harry grimaced. He hadn't come all this way to listen to a Herbology debate. "There is only one way to find out which of you is right."

"Just because the plants we found on Avalon weren't dangerous doesn't mean these things are safe too," Neville cautioned. "Give how successful they have been in driving-out their native competition they probably have defensive measures they could use against us."

"We should use a transfigured decoy first. Let's see how they react to the presence of something like a giraffe," Hermione suggested. Since the death of Minerva McGonagall she was they closest thing they had left to a transfiguration master, and her animals were extremely realistic.

"How close would you have to be?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid we will have to go ashore."

Hermione, Neville, and Sprout loaded their three magic carpets with a variety of useful instruments and potions, while Harry mounted his Firebolt. Once they were in the air the yacht was transfigured back into a block of wood. As their group moved inland more and more of the plants turned to face them. Seeing them react in such a deliberate manner was unnerving, and for the first time it truly felt as if they were on an alien world instead of back on Earth. The two herbologists thought the view was utterly fascinating, but Hermione was holding on to her steering tassels with white knuckles. Harry had a bad feeling about this situation too, so he gave the signal to stop a few meters short of their objective.

"You're up Granger."

"You know Potter, you are starting to sound like Zabini."

"There is no need to be insulting."

The ground they were floating above was covered with a mat of brownish fibers. There was no variation in the landscape—just an endless field of these brown fibers and the large green plants rising out of them. Hermione tossed her block of wood in the air, and by the time it reached the ground she had transfigured it into a five meter tall giraffe. Harry might have been the strongest wizard left alive in the galaxy, but his best friend had him beat when it came to magical skill and dexterity.

"Miss Granger, have the animal walk around," Sprout suggested.

This definitely got a reaction from the plants. Every time the giraffe took a step dozens of the large leaves moved slightly to track its movement. It seemed clear that they were acting like eyes, but did that mean there was a brain hidden somewhere controlling their actions? This first experiment continued for an hour, but the behavior of the plants never changed. Neville and Sprout kept talking notes, but Harry thought it was all pretty boring after awhile.

"Maybe you should have the giraffe eat one of the leaves?"

"Mr Potter!" his former Herbology Professor roared. "That is a terrible idea."

"All right, the giraffe doesn't have to eat the leaf. Maybe it could just touch one with its nose. That should cause some kind of reaction."

Harry's idea was quickly voted down, so for the next six hours he had to watch as the other three conducted a number of passive experiments. They never once touched the alien plants, and as a result nothing happened. After wasting all this time even Sprout became frustrated with their lack of progress.

"I suppose we could try a more direct approach. I will cut into a leaf and collect a tiny sample which we can analyze tonight back on Avalon."

"Professor Sprout, let me handle this."

"I don't think so Mr Longbottom. You may be the finest student I ever had the privilege of teaching, but I have still have decades of experience you lack. Now please maintain a safe distance while I work."

In a carefully and almost gentle manner, Sprout floated up to one of the large leaves on her magic carpet. For several minutes she carefully studied the alien specimen. Finally she drew her old wand and whispered a soft incantation none of them could hear. A flash of magic was clearly visible in the dim afternoon light, and once it struck the leaf everything went straight to hell.

All the plants began to shake violently, and thousands of tiny green spores suddenly released from the bottom of the leaves. Once they reached Sprout her skin began to smoke. By the time the poor witch finally screamed her body was completely covered in blood.

Harry, Neville, and Hermione all cast Shield Charms. Unfortunately Hermione was a bit too slow, and a number of green spores managed to reach her left arm and leg. At the exact same instant a thin root shot up out of the ground and sliced through Neville's magic carpet. The thin root entered into his left thigh, traveled through his chest, and finally exited from his right eye socket. It then dragged his entire body back underground.

All this happened in less than a second as Harry watched from his Firebolt. He knew that were was nothing he could do for Sprout or Neville, so he launched his broom towards Hermione at a hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. The left side of her body was already covered in blood, so he grabbed her right side and apparated directly to Avalon. Which was six thousand kilometers away. Harry knew that traveling such a long distance was a sure-fired way to get splinched, but he also knew Hermione would soon die if he didn't try. As was so often the case his raw magical strength managed to compensate for his stupidity, and they arrived right in the middle of the Infirmary tent with a thunderous crack.

"I need a healer!"

Susan rushed to Hermione's side, and cast a complex diagnostic spell while banishing her patient's clothes at the same time. A tiny part of Harry was embarrassed to be seeing his best friend naked like this, and mostly he was horrified that half of her body was being eaten alive by these strange spores.

"It's some kind of organic acid, and the standard spells aren't neutralizing it," the Hufflepuff explained after a several seconds. "It's spreading rapidly, so we have to cut away the inflected tissue. You take the arm and leg while I work on her face and ribs."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Remove her arm and leg!" Susan shouted as she cut-off a large piece of Hermione's left cheek with her wand. "Do it now before it spreads to any of the vital organs and kills her!"

Harry looked down and saw that Susan was right: the spores had already consumed Hermione's hand, and the acid was working its way up her arm. Without thinking he cast a powerful Severing Charm just below her elbow. The charm made a perfect cut and kept going right through the table. Harry quickly went around Susan, who was now cutting into Hermione's exposed ribs, and saw that her left foot had already been liquified. A second Severing Charm sliced away everything below her kneecap.

"Get some Blood-Replenishing Potions down her throat, and then help me close these wounds!" Susan shouted at one of the other young healers. "Harry get the hell out of the way!"

Hermione survived. Partly thanks to the inexperienced healers who were working on her injuries, but mostly because of the Philosopher's Stone she had swallowed that morning. The extensive damage to her limbs precluded the use of Skele-Gro, and the scars on her left side would leave her permanently disfigured. The important thing was that she was still alive. At least that's what Harry kept telling himself.

He was still in shock and covered in Hermione's blood when Ginny arrived. She threw another one of her famous hiss-fits about being left behind, and Harry had never been more tempted in his life to strike a woman. But he didn't. Instead he let his girlfriend scream and scream until she finally started to cry.

He wasn't so fortunate with Susan. When she learned about Neville's death she attacked him with several lethal curses. Their duel was short and one-sided, but Harry felt so bad about it he started to cry too.

Ron turned out to be another major problem. His reaction to seeing Hermione's current condition was to vomit. Luckily she was unconscious and would remain so for several hours according to the healers. Harry had a sinking feeling that the relationship between his two best friends wasn't going to survive this current disaster. He wondered how long Daphne Greengrass would wait before making her inevitable move.

This depressing speculation went on all night until Neville's grizzly bear Patronus showed-up with a short message: "Harry, we need to talk."

5 June 2000

Harry was in such a dreadful state of mind that he didn't hesitate to return to Pangaea, again using long-range apparition. Luckily it wasn't a trap. It was something far worse. Once he arrived on that small peninsula, he found Neville's entire body had been encased inside the spiral stem of one of the plants. Only the bare flesh showing was his face and the end of his wand arm. That thin brown root was still sticking out of his right eye socket, although the blood was now gone.

"What the hell happened to you?" Harry asked as he floated on his Firebolt. The idea of touching anything on Pangaea was too much even for a Gryffindor like him.

"Yggdrasil happened to me," Neville replied calmly. Despite his predicament, he sounded healthy enough. "That's what this organism decided to call itself. An interesting but appropriate choice, don't you think?"

"My Norse mythology is a bit rusty. As I recall, Yggdrasil was the giant tree which held the nine worlds together?"

"That's right. When... it was searching my memories it found the word, and chose to use it as a name. It never needed one before today."

"What exactly is this Yggdrasil?" Harry thought he knew the answer to that question, but he wanted to hear someone else say it first.

"It's the forest which covers this entire continent. The root system is one colossal brain. The green leaves above ground are used for observation, as well as collecting energy using photosynthesis."

"If it's an intelligent being than why did it kill Professor Sprout and attack the rest of us? Hermione is still alive by the way."

Neville's one remaining eye stared at him with a disturbing amount of intensity. "The attack on us was nothing more than a reflex taken in response to being injured. Harry, you must realize that Yggdrasil is huge. It's a genius in many ways, but it thinks very slowly because of the size of its brain. When we use our much-smaller brains it's almost instantaneous, but it takes Yggdrasil several seconds to form a coherent thought. Because we move about so quickly it views us the same way we view a humming bird or a fly buzzing around in the air."

"When Yggdrasil realized what it had done, it tried to repair my injuries," he continued. "Unfortunately it didn't know anything about human anatomy, so it did a pretty rotten job putting me back together again. I don't think process would have worked without the help of the Philosopher's Stone in my stomach."

"So you're stuck inside that plant forever, aren't you?"

"Until the day I want to die," Neville replied stoically. "That's beside the point now. The important thing is that Yggdrasil wants to open diplomatic relations with us, and in return it's willing to let us stay on Avalon."

Harry caught the emphasize and thought very carefully about his next question. "So it considers itself to be the absolute ruler of Lily?"

The ground slowly started to shake, and Neville was shaking along with it. "Do not use that name! This planet is called Yggdrasil. Always remember that."

"I'm sorry!" The ground soon stopped shaking, and Harry realized that he was dealing with an organism whose ego was more than matched for its incredible size. "For future reference what do we call the Mega Ocean?"

"Officially its name is Yggdrasil's Urine. It considers the saltwater to be a foul-tasting liquid waste product, hence the unusual name. If the Merpeople want to live there it really doesn't care," Neville explained. "Calling the island Avalon is acceptable, in case you were wondering."

"That's good to know. What exactly does Yggdrasil expect from us in return for its generous hospitality?"

"Being a plant means Yggdrasil doesn't get around much, so it's favorite pastime is astronomy. According to its stellar observations it has been alive—or at least conscious—for over two million of our years, and after all that time it is very interested in any kind of new information. Very, very interested. I think the Sorting Hat would agree that Yggdrasil definitely belongs in Ravenclaw."

"Hasn't it read your mind? Doesn't it already know everything you know?"

"To a degree, but our attempts at communication are very clumsy and most of my knowledge centers around Herbology. Yggdrasil is more interested in things like muggle physics and chemistry. Over the long years it has developed its own form of what the muggles would call science, but it wants to learn more. A lot more."

"And in return it's willing to let us stay on Avalon and only on Avalon?"

"That's what Yggdrasil has told me."

"We need to get the hell off this planet."

Upon returning to Avalon Harry had immediately called together his advisers, such as they were. That meant Percy and Blaise in addition to Ginny, Luna, and the bloody High Priestess. His close encounter with Yggdrasil had completely unnerved him, but he was still the only leader these people had. That meant panicking wasn't an option. Instead he had to come-up with some kind of long-term plan for dealing with a homicidal alien the size of a bloody continent.

"Harry, the Hedwig is in no condition to go anywhere at the moment," Chief Engineer Lovegood admitted. "And even if it was, there isn't anywhere to go except back to Earth."

"Let's deal with these problems one at a time. Percy, have the Goblins found any major ore deposits on the island?"

"No, not yet. Tofa claims there is little of economic value here on Avalon. She has already spoken to me about traveling to the other islands or even Pangaea itself to prospect for ore."

"The super-continent is called Yggdrasil, as is the planet itself. I used the name Lily, and it made our new friend very angry. Digging for ore anywhere near that thing would be suicidal," Harry explained. "We know this solar system has a large asteroid belt on the other side of the main gas giant, so I say we go prospecting out there."

Luna buried her face in her hands. "Getting the Hedwig ready for a trip out to the asteroid belt would take years of hard work, and the process of mining in outer space would be a nightmare."

"I know that," Harry allowed. "But it would also be a perfect place to build the Hedwig, Mark Two. Just think of it Luna: you could correct all the mistakes we made the first time around. Plus I could create another Sphere or two out there in a hollowed-out asteroid. That would give us a place to retreat to if Yggdrasil decides to throw us off the planet for some reason."

"It's a bloody forest. How could it possibly attack us here on Avalon?" an exasperated Ginny asked.

"Neville said the thing is a genius. Maybe it could poison the atmosphere, or give our crops from Earth some kind of new disease. I don't know what Yggdrasil is capable of, and I never want to find out."

"There is another advantage to an asteroid base," Blaise said. "We could use it as a weapons platform. The ability to drop a few large rocks on on this Yggdrasil would give us some much-needed leverage in any future negotiations."

Everyone turned to stare at the pureblood Slytherin, so he added: "I have a taste for muggle literature, especially Heinlein."

"Having a weapons platform sounds like a great idea to me," Harry said enthusiastically.

"That still doesn't answer the question of where we would go," Ginny reminded her boyfriend. "Heading back to Earth would be insane."

"I know, which is why we need to start looking for a new home."

"We can barely see other planets in this solar system with our telescopes," Percy said. "Looking for them in other solar systems would be impossible."

"With a conventional telescope that would be true, but we aren't going to use a conventional model. We are going to take a page from the muggles, and build our own space-based telescope," Harry explained. "Aurora told us all about them last summer before Hogwarts was destroyed."

Luna scrunched-up her nose as she did some mental calculations. "First we would have to build a sunflower-shaped coronagraph, and it would have to be at least one or two kilometers wide given the crude state of our optics."

"What's a coronagraph?" Ginny asked.

"It is a simple shield used to block-out the light from a star," Luna explained. "You place your space telescope a hundred and thirty thousand kilometers away from the coronagraph, and then point the both of them at a specific target. Using a coronagraph and a space telescope in tandem allows you to observe the planets traveling around a star, instead of bright light of the star itself."

"How large would this space telescope have to be?"

"I think at least a hundred meters. Professor Sinistra would know for sure."

"Harry, given our lack of manpower and resources these kind of large engineering projects are impossible for us to handle," Percy said.

"It's not impossible if we find a metal-rich asteroid, and not if we have the Goblins helping us out. You said yourself that Tofa hasn't found any major ore deposits here on Avalon. A good-sized asteroid would offer her blacksmiths enough free metal to last for centuries. That is the kind of profitable deal a greedy Goblin can't refuse."

"What about food?" Ginny asked. "We barely have enough to survive now."

Harry looked over at Luna. "How long will it take to whip the old Hedwig into proper shape?"

"We no longer have access to muggle technology, and working in orbit will make the repairs that much harder. We also have to build several hundred magical capacitors, and safely charging them is going to be a time-consuming process. So altogether we will need at least ten years."

"You have five," Harry said with a smile. "I think we can string Yggdrasil along with the knowledge we brought from Earth for certain period of time, but we can't afford to press our luck. Besides five years is more than enough time to grow the surplus food we need. Don't you agree Blaise?"

"You want me to take over the "Department of Agriculture" now that we have lost our two top herbologists? That's a smart move Potter."

Percy laughed. "The closest you've ever been to a farm is your mother's vineyard in France."

"That's true," Blaise allowed. "But I'm a natural at giving orders."

"And it will allow us to maintain control over the food supply," Percy reasoned. "Do you think Nicolas Flamel will object? My mum says his wife Perenelle is an excellent farmer, and she might want the job for herself."

"Did you know Hermione was using a Philosopher's Stone when she was injured, and that the healers think it saved her life?"

"Yes, but that fact will only strengthen Flamel's political position," Ginny said.

"Not when we starting spreading the word that everyone should have their own Philosopher's Stone to use all the time. Soon people will start demanding them, and if Flamel can't produce them fast enough then he will just have to share his secrets with the rest of us. Whether he wants to or not."

"That should pull the rug from under his feet," Percy allowed. "There is still one problem with your plan and it's a big one: how are we going to convince the average wizard and witch to leave Avalon. The voyage here cost everyone dearly, and I doubt they will want to go through that kind of traumatic experience again."

"We aren't going to convince them. The High Priestess is."

Up until this point Parvati hadn't said a word during the meeting. Now she leaned back in her transfigured throne and gave them all a seductive smile. "So that's why to invited me here today. You still want me to be part of your little cabal. I'm touched."

"Parvati, you do remember what happened to us back on Earth?" Harry asked pointedly. "Physically we were identical to the muggles, yet they still found plenty of reasons to hate us. To slaughter us. This Yggdrasil has absolutely nothing in common with human beings. It killed Pomona Sprout in the same way that you or I would kill an annoying insect. If we stay here on IT'S planet it will turn against us at some point. If you doubt that fact you should go have a talk with Hermione or Neville."

"It just so happens that I do believe the Great Sybill wants us to spread our magical seed throughout this galaxy and beyond into the larger universe. However convincing the others of that will take a great deal of time and effort on my part. And to succeed I will need your help Harry."

"What kind of help are you talking about?"

Parvati looked over at Ginny and winked. "I will require a wedding ring."

Author's Note: The alien in this story is modeled after the Quaking Aspen of North America, specifically the clone colony known as Pando which is located in Utah. Pando has a interconnected root system which covers 43 hectares, and has 47,000 genetically-identical trees which die and are replaced by the massive underground roots. Scientists estimated that it's over 80,000 years old.

13. Chapter 13

26 June 2000

Hermione was in a wretched mood as she waited alone outside the main village of Avalon for her traveling companion. Her many scars itched like crazy, and despite two weeks of experimentation her enchanted leg still wasn't working correctly. She had no wish to emulate Mad-Eye Moody and his crude prosthetics. She was determined that her new leg was going to be state-of-the-art, magically speaking of course.

If only she could get her leg to work as well as the magical hand Harry had created for her. Hermione considered using Voldemort's spell to create a second silver appendage. Unfortunately her new hand was very heavy, and all her attempts to lighten it ended up immobilizing it. The bloody thing was so cumbersome that she ended up banished it every night and recasting the spell every morning. Moving around with a leg made from the same material would be difficult, if not impossible for someone of her slight size.

There was other reasons for her current mood. That bastard Ron decided he needed some time to adjust to her condition, so he broke off their relationship. Harry was in no position to help since he was caught in middle of the love triangle to end all love triangles. Ginny and Parvati had fought no less than six full-fledged duels during the past two weeks, and Hermione wondered how long it would take her friend to finally figure out that was really going on. Her ongoing research on artificial wombs had come to a standstill, and worst of all Blaise Zabini had insisted on come along tonight.

"It looks like a lovely evening for a stroll."

A startled Hermione drew her wand, but shifting her weight that quickly threw her off balance. She didn't have nearly enough practice moving around with only one real leg, and as a result she fell flat on her arse. Blaise was too of a gentlemen to make a joke. Instead he silently helped her off the ground. It would be so much easier to hate the slimy snake if he wasn't so bloody gorgeous.

"Do you gather all the supplies I asked for?"

"Granger, working together in the future will be much more pleasant if you remember that I'm not your ex-boyfriend. If I say I'm going to do something, it gets done."

"Fine," Hermione snapped a she took a short piece of rope out of her Mokeskin pouch. "This portkey will take us up to the Hedwig, and from there we will use a second portkey to reach Yggdrasil. This is your last chance to back out."

"A great reward requires taking great risks," Blaise remarked.

"And what great reward are you after Zabini?"

"The same one as you Granger. Power, and lots of it."

A year ago she would have denied that statement, but the new Hermione didn't even bother. The trip up to the Hedwig was just as unpleasant as the trip down to Avalon had been, but it was necessary given the great distance they were traveling. Some of her fellow witches found zero gravity to be enjoyable, but she had disliked the sensation even before being permanently disabled. Now she hated how helpless the lack of gravity made her feel.

Luna came up from the Engine Room to confront the two intruders, so Hermione quickly explained what they were doing up here on the Hedwig. The Chief Engineer was the only person aboard the deserted starship. The prospect of being alone in outer space would have terrified Hermione, but Luna insisted she needed to spend some time alone with the old bird. She claimed the two of them needed to "commune" before beginning with the major repairs Harry had ordered.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Luna asked. "It sounds very risky."

"That is one way of putting it," Blaise muttered.

"No, I'm not sure about this plan at all, but it has to be done. Wish us luck."

"Good luck Hermione Granger. Good luck Blaise Zabini."

"Lovegood, if these artificial wombs ever pan out how would you like to have a child together? I think building this monstrosity proves you are worthy of being the mother of one of my future children."

"I think that would be lovely, but you would have to wait until Thoth is at least two years old," Luna replied with a mischievous grin.

Blaise arched one of his perfect eyebrows. "Thoth?"

Hermione could not believe she was listening to this surreal conversation, so she cut in. "Thoth Lovegood Potter—named after one of the Egyptian moon gods. Luna has already picked out a name for a son who might never be born."

"He will be."

"Not if Ginny kills Harry, which is a very real possibility at this point. And I won't put it past her to incinerate his frozen sperm out of spite."

"Don't worry about Harry or about our future children," Luna assured her. "Thoth and Oberon will both be perfectly healthy babies. They will grow-up together and be the best of friends. I promise you."

Hermione turned away to hide the tears in her eyes. She had never told anyone about naming her first son Oberon; a son who always had beautiful green eyes in her dreams. At times she wondered if she had ever really loved Ron, or had their relationship been built on nothing more than overactive teenage hormones? It was a question she wasn't going to answer tonight. Instead she held out the the second portkey, and Blaise took it without a word.

Yggdrasil was just as she remembered it, and she began to tremble as those huge leaves turned to face them. The only thing that had changed was poor Neville. Harry had described what this colossal monster had done to their friend, but seeing him in the flesh was a hundred times worse. During the past two weeks Hermione had been so depressed that she often cried herself to sleep at night, but that was going to change. Losing an arm and a leg was a hardship, but it was nothing compared to the living hell Neville was trapped in.

"I know you loved Herbology, but isn't this going a bit far Longbottom?"

She was just about to curse the insensitive prat when Neville started laughing. "Thanks Blaise. Yggdrasil was several interesting qualities, but a sense of humor isn't one of them."

"Show him," Hermione said as she activated several sun crystals and levitated them in the air.

Blaise immediately took took out a large piece of parchment and placed it on the ground where all three of them could look at it. "This is the schedule you outlined for planting our crops next spring. Do you see any errors?"

Neville glanced at his writing for a second and then closed his one remaining eye. He was silent for a over minute, but finally he began to speak. He described exactly how they should plant the different crops taking into consideration factors like the change in average temperature, yearly rain patterns, soil composition, and the various alien plants found on Avalon. He spoke in a clear voice but so rapidly that they both gave-up taking notes. Blaise would just have to review the monologue tomorrow in a pensieve, but Hermione knew that he wouldn't mind. Having this kind of highly detailed information at his disposal would make him look like a Herbology genius to the farmers back on the island.

Once Neville was done, Hermione quickly took out a parchment of her own. "This is our current model of the solar system. Do you see any errors?"

Again Neville closed his eye for a time, and again he began to speak rapidly. Apparently they had missed the five outermost planets, as well as over three dozen moons. He also supplied the exact length and curvature of every single orbit in a confusing form of mathematics. The only reason they were able to understand any of it was because Neville used his wand to create a large and detailed diagram.

Hermione suspected that after two million years of stargazing Yggdrasil would have made accurate observations of the local solar system, but this level of detail was astonishing. She didn't know if this gambit was going to work again, so she decided to go for broke and took out yet another piece of parchment.

"This is our current model of your asteroid belt. Do you see any errors?"

It turns out Yggdrasil saw plenty of errors. Using Neville's voice it lectured them for over an hour about the exact composition of the asteroid belt. It had even been able to calculate the density of the larger asteroids. Again, it didn't use terms a muggle scientist would be familiar with. Instead it explained how certain asteroid had a greater effect on the orbits of asteroids surrounding around it, while others had barely any effect at all. Hermione was tempted to ask about Yggdrasil's knowledge of other solar systems, but she decided to stop while she was ahead. Slowly she took a large book out of her Mokeskin pouch and held it up.

"I brought along one of our most important and famous scientific treatises. Would you like me to read it to you?" Hermione asked in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone of voice.

"Yes, Yggdrasil would like that very much," Neville replied.

"Good. This specific treatise is called Euclid's Elements. I will now read from Chapter One."

"Definitions. One. A point is that of which there is no part. Two. And a line is a length without breadth. Three. And the extremities of a line are points. Four. A straight line in a line which lies evenly with the points on itself. Five..."

Thanks to Yggdrasil's frequent interruptions reading Chapter One of the Elements took all night, and there twelve more to go. Hermione was running on pure adrenalin, which is the only reason she made it through the ordeal. Neville remained perfectly alert, which went to show how much he had changed both mentally and physically. Blaise on the other lasted less than an hour before falling to sleep on the soft brown fibers of Yggdrasil's roots. She took a perverse pleasure in kicking him in the shins the next morning with her enchanted leg.

"Get up you lazy boy, it's time to go back to the Hedwig."

"When will you return?" Neville asked.

"When do you want us to return?" Hermione asked carefully. She had come face-to-face the monster that had mutilated her body. She would do it again and again until she had finally crushed her childish fears. "

I guess next week would be fine, but don't bring Susan. I couldn't bear to have her see me like this."

Hermione didn't have the heart to tell Neville that his former lover didn't want to see him—ever again. Instead she and Blaise took a portkey back to the Hedwig where Luna greeted them both with bone-crushing hugs. She was use to giving those kind of hugs, not receiving them.

"What happened down there?" Luna asked.

"Granger's little plan worked perfectly," Blaise explained. "How did you know Yggdrasil would react that way? How did you know it wouldn't just kill us for wasting its time with our stupid questions?"

"Do you remember our first Potions class together?"

"I remember that Professor Snape made Potter look like the local village idiot. Malfoy kept talking about it for years until Parkinson finally told him to shut-up already."

"Do you specifically remember how I acted during that first class?"

Blaise smirked. "As I recall, you acted like a mudblood who desperately needed to prove how brilliant she was to the magical world. Of course you still act that way now."

Hermione ignored the multiple insults. "Emotionally this Yggdrasil is nothing more than a brilliant but insecure child, just like I was. It has something to prove to the rest of the universe, and we must exploit that sense of inferiority for as long as we can."

8 August 2000

George had only been to a handful of weddings in his life, but this one clearly had them all beat. It wasn't that the beautiful silk tent which had been expanded to the size of the a Quidditch pitch, nor the endless section of fresh food he hadn't tasted in months. It wasn't the dozens of floating lamps all burning with different color flames, nor the sweet smell of exotic perfumes which hung in the air. No, the real reason this wedding was so great was because the wedding party and all but a handful of the guests were completely starkers.

The High Priestess loved preaching about purity of magic. She claimed it wasn't simply a tool to be used, but rather the very core of their existence as wizards and witches. As a result when you stood before the Great Sybill asking for Her Divine Blessing you should be wearing nothing but that magic.

And that was exactly how she had conducted the wedding ceremony. George suspected his odd custom had something to do with the fact that the High Priestess was nineteen years old, and had what could arguable be described as a perfect body. Just standing there in all her glory was enough to win over the male population of Avalon to her holy cause.

"Enjoying the show?" Hermione asked as she sat down on the plush cushions beside him. She was one of the few guests wearing a full-length robe, which was understandable in light of her severe injuries.

"Immensely. The Patel twins alone are worth the price of admission. Although I could do without all the old people and the pregnant witches."

"This wedding ceremony... this whole religion is nothing but a farce!" a furious Hermione hissed.

"That might be true," George allowed. "But in my opinion the three "Do Nots" might actually do some good for our brave new world."

The High Priestess wasn't big on rules. The only three she preached about with any regularity were the Three Do Nots: do not kill, do not steal, and do not lie. The first wasn't even an absolute rule. According to the Great Sybill there was nothing wrong with defending yourself, and if someone who attacked you accidentally died it wasn't your fault. Or so the High Priestess claimed. The second and third rules were easy enough to follow. The only other thing the Great Sybill demanded of her followers was children—lots and lots of magical children. Most people thought this meant they should have as much sex as possible, which was another reason why the new religion was proving to be so popular with wizards.

"She is nothing but a puffed-up charlatan," Hermione muttered. "You wouldn't be in such a good mood in your mother was here in the nude."

"If my mother was here in the nude I would have already burned out my eyes with Fiendfyre ten minutes ago," George replied honestly.

"Would you care for a dance?"

"Luna Lovegood, put on a robe right now!" Hermione demanded when she saw who was asking the question.

"If I had a robe on it would be a sign of disrespect to our gracious hosts Harry and Parvati. So George, would you care for a dance?"

At that moment he was silently thanking Mrs Patel for casting an Impotency Ward around the tent. Luna was far from being the most beautiful witch present, but her petite figure was a marvelous sight. "Miss Lovegood, that sounds lovely to me."

Dancing starkers meant dancing in a very formal manner. Maintaining a safe distance and keeping your hands in the proper position are much more important without any clothes to act as a buffer. Rather than staring down at his partner's perky little bosom, George began scanning the dance floor to keep himself occupied.

"Look over there. Seamus and Dean are chatting up Andromeda and Narcissa Black. Even if Fred was still alive I don't think we would have the nerve to do something that barmy."

"You miss him terribly, don't you?"

"In my dreams I can never remember that he's dead, so every morning I wake-up expecting to see him sleeping in the bed across the room."

"Do you think he would have approved of your plan to canceling the Impotency Ward in five minutes?" Luna asked.

"Yes, Fred definitely would have appreciated a prank of that magnitude. My counter-runes were invisible, so how do you discover my brilliant plan?"

"The same way I found the Puking Pastilles, the Carney Creams, and the edible Dark Marks you hid in the food this morning. I was looking for them. Harry knew you would try to prank the wedding reception, so he asked me to personally search the tent and kitchen this morning before the ceremony started," Luna explained.

George looked over at the unhappy groom, who promptly gave him a two-fingered salute when their eyes locked. "The git deserves it for breaking my little sister's heart."

"Marrying Ginny would have ultimately undermined his position as our leader."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why did your brother Bill become a curse-breaker? Why did Charlie run-off to Romania and his dragons? Why did Percy turn his back on his own family when he joined the Ministry of Magic? Why did you and Fred leave Hogwarts early and start your own joke shop? It was because none of you wanted to be a weakling like your father."

George stiffened and not in a good way. "My father was was not a weakling. He was one of the bravest wizards I've ever known. Not quite as brave as Harry over there, but close enough."

"You know the truth now, but you didn't a few years ago. You all despised him because he never stood-up to your overbearing mother. You may have loved him, but you never respected him. At least not until the very end."

"And if Harry had married a screaming banshee like my sister people would have seen him in the same way," George reasoned. "I will grant you that may be true, but he is still a git for going through with this bloody wedding."

"Ginny will just have to settle for being his mistress."

"She would never do anything demeaning like that."

"Yes, she will," Luna replied. "She is going to marry Blaise Zabini, but just for the sake of appearances. It was Parvati who suggested the arrangement in the first place. She doesn't care what Harry and Ginny to in private, so long as they behave in public."

"I had no idea our beloved High Priestess was such a raging hypocrite. And my spoiled little sister agreed to all this?"

"Ginny will do anything to make Harry happy. Anything at all."

George thought about it, and he figured that Luna was probably right. "Will you be joining the new Potter Harem as well?"

"No, two witches is all Harry will ever get. Parvati and Ginny will make sure of that. Besides, I want a husband of my own."

For the first time in a long time George really smiled. The sensation felt good after all these endless months of gloom. "So you're out on the prowl tonight. That's good to know."

"Yes, but only for a real wizard. Not a silly little boy."

"There is nothing wrong with being silly. Dean tells me that the muggles even have a Ministry of Silly Walks."

"You are one of the most creative wizards I have ever met. Do you want to waste your potential making products like the Guaranteed Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher? Is that how you want to honor the sacrifice Bill, Charlie, and your father made to bring us here to our new home?" Luna asked as they continued to swirl around the crowded dance floor.

"What do you suggest I do with my vast potential?"

"I suggest that you help me."

"And what is on your agenda Miss Lovegood?"

"I am going to build a fleet of starships, and we are going to use that fleet to colonize the entire Milky Way Galaxy with witches and wizards."

George smiled again. "Well, that doesn't sound too difficult. Anything else?"

24 March 2001

The first permanent structure built by humans on Avalon was the Poppy Pomfrey Memorial Hospital. That was an obvious choice for obvious reasons. Debating what they should build next took some time, but the gangs of semi-feral children roaming about the village finally settled the matter. The needed a bloody school. Harry wanted Filius to serve as the new Headmaster of the new Hogwarts, but tiny wizard declined the honor in favor of the younger and more intimating Olympe Maxime.

"These children had been through a very emotional ordeal, and they will require a firm disciplinarian to keep them under firm control," Filius explained. "I'm too old and too softhearted for the job."

The new Headmistress' first two decisions were to change the name of the school from Hogwarts to Beauxbatons and to throw out the original architectural plans. "There is no reason to build another dark and drafty castle. It's a school for Merlin's sake."

Olympe had a point, but even if they weren't going to build a castle the new Beauxbatons was still going to be made out of stone. The native plants were too small and weak to provide a useful amount of lumber, while their limited supply of metal was needed for other projects. Nor had they found all the raw materials needed to mass produce high-quality bricks or modern concrete. This meant Harry was again sending most of his days out at the local quarry. He was one of the few wizards strong enough to cut into solid bedrock for any length of time, and he could also turn the finished products into portkeys.

Everyone knew this whole process was too cumbersome, and it was Ron Weasley of all people who came-up with a better solution. Harry had a bitter fight with his best friend after he dumped Hermione, and the situation got even worse after his marriage to Parvati. In fact they hadn't spoken for over six months when Ron and his new girlfriend Daphne Greengrass approached him in the quarry one day.

"Potter, there is something important we would like to show you," Daphne said as Ron stood silently at her side. "It's just on the other side of that hill."

He should have known better than to expect an apology from the stubborn wanker. "Fine, I need to eat lunch anyway."

As they walked Harry discreetly studied the homewrecking tart holding Ron's hand. With her long black hair and big blue eyes she was pretty enough, he couldn't understand how anyone could be foolish enough to pick her over Hermione. It was like choosing to marry someone like Parvati when you had the chance to married someone like Ginny.

"Stupid, bloody politics," the unhappy wizard muttered under his breath.

"As you may know, Ronald and I helped build the Booster Brooms back on Earth. Using that experience we have come up with a way to help out here on Avalon," Daphne said as she pointed to a strange contraption floating in the air. "We call this a broom lorry."

The design wasn't that complex. There were two heavy-duty brooms which were connected by small wooden seat in the front and a large metal box in the rear. Harry looked inside the box and saw that it was several meters deep, which meant they cast an Expansion Charm inside it. He then sat down in the surprisingly comfortable seat and took a bite of his sandwich. He was tempted to start asking questions, but the idea of being polite to Ron was unacceptable. So the two former friends just glared at each other until Daphne finally intervened.

"Listen Potter, building these broom lorries is more important than your ridiculous feud my boyfriend."

"Why are they so important?" Harry asked as he studied the two brooms on either side of the seat. They were both inscribed with dozens of tiny runes.

"Because it is going to take thousands of stone blocks to build the new Beauxbatons, and thousands of more stone blocks to build the many houses we will need in the future. Or do you think people want to live in tents for the rest of their lives?" Daphne asked. "Plus Blaise wants to plant a number of warm-weather crops on the northern end of the island closer to the equator. All of this work will require thousands of portkeys, but we have less than thirty wizards and witches who are strong enough to make them."

"And this broom lorry we help us how? We have tried flying supplies around the island on magic carpets, but it's too slow and dangerous. No matter how carefully we are, things have a nasty tendency to fall off at the wrong time."

"We aren't going to fly around the island, we are going to Floo around the island," Ron said, finally breaking his silence. "The broom lorry can only float a meter off the ground and its top speed is only ten kilometers per hour, but that doesn't matter. We cast Expansion Charms on the boxes in the back, stuff them full of stones blocks or food or whatever, and then fly the whole thing through a network of Floo stations we set-up around the island. Each broom lorry is basically a miniature version of the Hedwig, but it only takes a single person to operate it. And they don't even have to be that strong magically."

"The shortage of manpower is one of the most serious problems we are facing," Daphne argued. "If we are going to build a functioning economy here on Avalon, we will need a transportation network that's capable of moving heavy loads quickly and efficiently without tying-up a large number of our most powerful wizards and witches all day long."

"I do hate making so many bloody portkeys every day," Harry admitted. "What kind of payload can this thing handle?"

"It can carry up to two metric tons," Ron explained. "To build more of them we will need access to a lot of wood and metal. Plus we would have to build a whole new Floo Network from scratch here on Avalon."

"If received the necessary materials, the system should be up-and-running in time for the harvest next fall," Daphne added.

Harry took a moment to study the confident witch standing in front of him. "What's in this for you Greengrass? What's your angle here?"

Ron reached for his wand, but Daphne quickly grabbed his wrist. "We both want to be rich. Very rich. These broom lorries are just the beginning of our new empire. Ron and I plan on producing versions that will work underwater and in outer space. I imagine that would be very useful for your future plans out in the asteroid belt. Of course we expect to be well compensated for our efforts."

"An honest answer, and one that I can live with," Harry said. "I will run this idea past Luna, and if she gives it her approval you will have all the materials you need by the end of the week."

15 May 2001

Harry was coming to view money as the giant turd in the middle of the punchbowl of life. According to Percy and Hermione they were currently operating a feudal economy. All goods and services were controlled by a single ruler, which in this case was Harry himself. However there was a large and ever-increasing black market in existence, as individuals traded amongst themselves with no regard for the needs of the larger population. It was an unstable economic situation, and it was getting worse every day.

"Right now people are simply squatting on land and claiming ownership," Percy explained when they gathered in his tent for a meeting one morning. "Without a formal land registry it's a free-for-all, and if we don't establish rules soon there will be duels. Perhaps even some deaths."

"Once people can legally own land they will start to buy and sell it," Hermione added. "There is also the problem of wages. People are already complaining that they should be compensated for the work they are doing, especially the healers and the potion brewers. It seems that little snot Malfoy is stirring up trouble for us again."

Harry repeatedly banged his head on the wooden table. "So you two are telling me that we need to create a monetary system, which means we need the Goblins. Tofa is just going to love this when she hears about it."

"We could try to start a bank of our own," Hermione suggested.

"You are a muggleborn," Percy pointed out. "Do you know anything about the day-to-day operations of a bank?"

"No, not really."

"Me neither," a dejected Harry added. "By the time these negotiations are over Tofa is going to end-up owning all of Avalon, the Hedwig, and my first-born child."

"Not necessarily," Percy said. "For a matter of such importance I think we should consult all five of the magical races. That is the procedure dictated by the Treaty of Magical Brethren. If we all work together we should be able to devise a fair economic system that we all can live with."

"Do you actually believe that will happen?"

"No, but it's worth a try."

The Merpeople turn Percy down flat. During their long history they had never actively traded with the surface world, and they saw no reason to start now. They were willing to provide the wizards and Goblins with a limited supply of fresh seafood to supplement their limited diets, but this was nothing more than a gift between friends.

The Centaurs were also no help. They spent their nights studying the new stars in the sky, and their days watching over the wild animals of Avalon. Despite their large size they ate very little food, and the idea of purchasing material possessions seemed grotesque to them. And as for the house-elves... they just ran away screaming when Harry started talking about the subject of money.

Once again they were at the mercy of the Goblins. Tofa knew this, but the prospect of opening the first extraplanetary branch of Gringotts didn't seem to make her very happy. "Do you think we enjoy acting as your bankers?"

"Yes, I do," Harry replied. "I happen to think that you love cheating wizards out of their galleons every chance you get."

"Then you are a naive fool," Tofa sneered. "The Goblin Nation only became magical bankers out of self-defense."

"What are you talking about?" a curious Percy asked.

"When wizards first developed the skill of transfiguration what do you think they did with it? They created false gold and silver coins to trade with their fellow wizards and the muggles. Soon no one trusted these deceitful thieves, and many began demanding coins which were impervious to your vile magic. Only the most brilliant blacksmiths of the Goblin Nation could create these special coins. At first we simply supplied your kind with gold galleons, but soon the wizards began to drag us into their petty business affairs at every turn."

"Those ancient wizards didn't trust each other, so they turned to the Goblins to act as honest brokers."

"Exactly Mr Weasley. The new Gringotts will operate in the same manner as the old Gringotts did. In the end we are the only ones you wizards can trust."

"Can't we at least change the ratio between Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts?" Harry whined. "It's so confusing and it doesn't make any sense at all."

"Never!" Tofa bellowed. "Those ratios took Gringotts centuries to calculate. They prevent your treacherous Arithmancers from cheating us out of our gold. One Galleon equals seventeen Sickles equals four-hundred and ninety-three Knuts. And that is the way it shall remain."

Harry was afraid there would be a riot when they announced that the Goblins were reopening Gringotts, but that wasn't the case at all. Instead everyone seemed pleased with the news. Perhaps they saw it as a sign that life was returning to normal. Or at least as normal as it was ever going to get.

Dividing up the land on Avalon and creating a wage scale proved to be less popular. Each person was given twenty hectares in the region surrounding the village, as well as a smaller plot within the village itself. The rest of the island, which was about the size of Madagascar, was declared an agricultural and wildlife preserve. It would be run by Harry for the benefit of the entire magical population, and anyone who had a problem with this arrangement was free to challenge him to a duel. An older wizard from South America promptly volunteered, and received ten broken bones for his troubles.

"I won't be so mercifully the next time," Harry warned the crowd as he gently caressed the Elder Wand.

Setting wages turned out to be an even bigger nightmare. Everyone had strong opinions not only on what they should be paid, but also on what everyone else should be paid as well. Percy suggested they receive the same wages they did back on Earth, but it was impossible to get accurate information out of anyone.

Finally the High Priestess stepped forward. She proceeded to gave a blistering sermon on how disappointed the Great Sybill was in their behavior, and how She was going to withdraw Her Divine Blessing if they didn't start telling the truth at once. By the end of the day Percy had all the figures he needed. Harry was feeling pretty good about the whole situation until he saw Ginny crying. He went over and discretely asked her what was wrong.

"You married the right witch after all. Even I can see that now."

14. Chapter 14

9 July 2009

Even after eight years on Yggdrasil there still weren't many entertainment choices available for the average wizard or witch. The Wireless ran twenty-four hours a day and dances were held most nights—some of which were clothing optional. A group of amateur actors put on a play every two or three weeks, but they weren't very talented. Quidditch, Quodpot, Broom Races, and Dueling Tournaments were all very popular. However everyone was so busy with work and child-rearing that they didn't have much time to practice, and as a result these sporting events were held no more than one a month.

It was a sign of how desperate most people were that a large crowd had gathered to watch Harry, Cho, and her husband Shen make glass. Of course they were making over twenty-thousand square meters of glass, so the process was rather interesting to watch. Harry started off the show by creating a lake of molten tin which required a constant temperature of around three-hundred degrees Celsius. This "lake" was only a few centimeters deep, but because of the unique properties of tin the molten glass would float on top of it instead of mixing together.

Supplying the molten glass was the job of Shen who mixed sand, soda ash, limestone, and salt cake together in a magically heated furnace. The Chinese wizard had lived in Hong Kong prior to the Doom of Magic, and despite being in his forties he had fallen hopelessly in loved with Cho during the long voyage from Earth. Harry had no trouble understanding his ex-girlfriend's attraction to her husband. Not only was he tall and handsome, but he also a powerful wizard. Lifting the molten glass out of the furnace and gently depositing it on the molten tin was a difficult job, but one he performed with ease.

As the glass flowed across the artificial lake it formed a huge sheet which had a uniformed thickness and was perfectly flat on both sides. On the other end of the lake Cho and her assistants sliced-off large pieces of this new glass plate, and levitated them onto concrete racks were they could slowly cool. The muggles called this technique the Pilkington Process, and it allowed them to produce a year's supply of windows in a matter of hours. However this was only one part of Cho and Shen's business. They also crafted reading glasses, telescopes, microscopes, omnioculars, and wide selection of enchanted mirrors.

After they were done Shen came over to thank Harry, just as he always did. "Today's work would have been impossible without your help."

"I own you both so much. It's the least I can do."

And Harry meant that sincerely. In addition to their own two children, Cho had supplied eggs for Harry's son Nezha and for Neville's daughter Alice, while Shen had two more daughters with Hermione and Padma. Not only were they raising six young children and running a thriving business, but they also found time to write several books on magic in both ancient and modern China. He had no idea how the pair found the time for all this work.

"I suppose you want to take Nezha out flying with his brothers?" an exhausted and concerned Cho asked when she joined them.

"He learned how to fly on a broom before he could walk," Harry pointed out.

"I know, that's the problem," Cho moaned.

"As I recall you were a Seeker back in the day."

"Playing Quidditch at Hogwarts under Madam Hooch's watchful eye is one thing. A group of six and seven year-olds flying around the island on Interstellar Brooms at two-hundred kilometers per hour is another."

"Who would have thought Ron would turn out to be such a brilliant broom designer?" Harry commented, hoping to distract Cho. It worked.

"Please, that dolt Weasley couldn't tie his own shoes in the morning without Daphne supervising the job."

"I promise I will bring him back safe and sound in a few hours," Harry said as he took an Interstellar out of his Mokeskin pouch and handed it to his son.

Nezha started squealing in delight as only a six year-old can, and soon the other Green Eyed Boys were doing the same as they took to the sky. Thanks to some quirk of genetics all his sons had them: Oberon Granger Potter (bushy brown hair and green eyes), Thoth Lovegood Potter (white-blond hair and green eyes), Bill Weasley Potter (auburn hair and green eyes), Rama Patel Potter (black hair and green eyes), Luc Delacour Potter (golden-blond hair and green eyes), and Nezha Chang Potter (black hair and green eyes). The ringleader of this little gang was Teddy Lupin—who thankfully wasn't Harry's son—but who had changed his eyes and hair green in order to show solidarity with his godfather.

"You all know the obstacle course," Harry said as he joined them on his old Firebolt. "The first one to capture the white flag on the top of the Wireless Tower gets a trip up to the Hedwig before we leave next month."

With that the squadron of tiny maniacs were off. All the major industrial factories were located in this remote and barren valley along the southern coast of Avalon. Before they could behind the fifty kilometer trip north to the Village the Green Eye Boys first had to complete a lap around these large structures. Oberon took the lead as he often did, and flew straight through one of the textile factory's many hexagonal windows. As Harry joined his sons he glanced down at the enchanted looms turning raw cotton and wool into useful fabrics. There were also several huge concrete vats. Some of them were used to produce dyes in a rainbow of colors, while others were for tanning leather.

Once the exited the other side of the factory it was on to the Goblin's main Foundry which had no windows and was mostly hidden underground. Harry wasn't sure what went on down there, but Tofa and her blacksmiths took the limited amount of ore they found here on Avalon and could turn it into any metal tool you needed... for a high price. It was worth it though, since none of these well-crafted tools had yet broken. They couldn't enter the Foundry, so they settled for flying around its smoking chimney which was the only part visible above ground.

The next building was the concrete and brick factory, which was shaped like a blue pyramid. Producing these basic building materials was relatively simple, but getting the colors right was a major hassle. For some reason when wizards and witches built their homes they loved using bright colors. For example Dean lived in a twenty meter tall tower which was made out of turquoise and yellow bricks. Harry thought it was hideous, but the tower had been given an architectural award by the Daily Oracle. As the Green Eyed Boys left the valley they saw a long line of broom lorries waiting to enter the local Floo stations. Even after eight years of effort there were still new projects being built on Avalon all year round.

For first thirty kilometers they flew over simple vegetation native to this alien planet. The boys shouted whenever they saw a herd of animals grazing below. They even stopped for a few minutes while their father washed down some muddy elephants with an Aguamenti Charm, but soon the broom race was back on.

Around twenty kilometers from the Village they landscape suddenly changed. The native plants disappeared and were replaced by forests filled with an assortment of trees from Earth. These new trees were still small in size, but the orchards were already producing fruit. They stopped to pick some peaches, and the rotten fruit quickly became ammunition for an airborne food-fight.

As they approached the Village the landscape changed once again as the trees gave way to neat fields filled with crops like wheat, maize, barley, potatoes, sugar beats, beans, and cotton. They also had rice paddies, but they were located on the northern end of the island along with the other tropical crops like coffee, coca, and bananas. Mixed between these large fields were dozens of smaller vegetable gardens and warded pastures for the domesticated animals. Harry thought it was amazing what a few hundred wizards and witches could accomplish when they didn't have to worry about being discovered by the muggles.

The Village wasn't really a village anymore, but it wasn't quite a city either. It was more like a respectable and prosperous town—albeit a bizarre looking one. Dean and several of his more artistic friends had opened an architectural design firm. These young visionaries were determined to leave behind what they called the "obsolete muggle aesthetic" and to create a new style of magical architecture. Because of this ongoing revolution the Village looked like it had been copied from a surrealist painting. At times Harry found himself longing for the rigid and boring suburbs of Surrey.

The Green Eyed Boys were just rounding the giant nude statue of Sybill Trelawney which stood atop her Golden Temple when Thoth saw strange crowd in front of the Poppy Pomfrey Memorial Hospital. "Dad, all those Goblins have axes. What good are axes going to do for the sick people at the Hospital?"

Harry was suddenly very grateful that Thoth had inherited his mother's unusual ability to see past Notice-Me-Not Charms. Even with all his magical strength it took him several seconds to see what was really going on down there.

"Everyone, this race is over! Rama, take your brothers down into the Temple and find your mother. Tell her that Tofa is starting a rebellion, and that she should activate all the defensive wards. Go!"

Once the last of his sons disappeared though the massive gold doors below, Harry aimed his broom at the Goblin mob and accelerated. As he got closer he saw that they wasn't interested in the Hospital itself, but rather the large annex located off to the side. That was where the main nursery was located.

"What is going on here?" Harry asked when he finally saw Tofa. The Goblin leader was overseeing a team of curse-breakers who were trying to breach the Hospital's massive wards. She was also carrying her favorite blacksmith hammer.

"I am going to smash Granger's oversized head into a bloody pulp!"

It figured. Hermione's experiments were already the stuff of legends and nightmares around the island. After a year of intense research and some unexpected help from Yggdrasil, the artificial womb had been perfected. The large blobs of pink flesh were nauseating to look at, but they were capable of nurturing an embryo for nine months. In addition to a steady supply of nutrients these embryos had to be given certain antibodies and intestinal bacteria from an adult donor, but even with all these complications the nursery had successfully "hatched" over three thousand babies.

They the capacity to produce more, but there were already too many young children for the beleaguered adults of Avalon to raise. Because of this temporary moratorium Hermione had started producing animals, both magical and non-magical. This wildlife program was a raging success, but unfortunately after that things started to get weird.

"If it was possible to grow a complete living organism, why not just grow the part of it that we need?" Hermione had mused during a chat with Harry several years ago.

Soon the artificial wombs were being used to produce batches of rat tails, frog brains, and porcupine quills needed for certain potions. After a few weeks you would pop open the pink blobs, and hundreds of perfectly formed rat tails covered in a slimy goo would spill-out on to the operating table. They was even talk of organically manufacturing entire potions instead of just the individual ingredients, but this new process would take another decade of research to perfect.

Hermione and her minions didn't stop there. They then began producing forty kilogram slabs of cow, pig, chicken, goat, and fish muscle. At first no one would touch this synthetic meat, so it was given to the dogs who loved it. After a time though people began to sneak a taste, and discovered that the meat was delicious. Plus it was low in fat and completely sterile. Now there was even talk of outlawing the murder of living animals, and switching over entirely to this new source of meat. All these various projects meant that Hermione and her junior partners now controlled a large percentage of Avalon's potion and food industries.

Harry took a deep breath. "What has she done now?"

"That vile witch has... I can not say the words!" Tofa raged.

"Have your warriors and curse-breakers disperse. I promise you that if Hermione has committed any serious crimes she will be punished."

"Potter, do I look like a fool? You will protect her, just as you always do."

"It wasn't a request Tofa. You know perfectly well there are a number of unborn children inside that building, and I will use deadly force to protect them. Or maybe I should just cancel your Notice-Me-Not Charm, and let everyone see what you are doing here. How would you like to be ripped-apart by a few hundred angry parents?"

"Granger must die!"

"I won't ask again," Harry said as he drew the Elder Wand.

It was an hour before things finally calm down, relatively speaking. Once the Goblins retreated the wards around the Hospital were deactivated. The two unhappy leaders march in to find find Hermione sitting in a rocking chair breastfeeding a newborn whose face was hidden under a blanket. Catherine Granger, Andromeda, and Narcissa were all standing behind her. Unlike their fearless leader, the older women seemed terrified by the presence of the enraged Tofa and her massive hammer.

"I'm so glad you came Harry. Here is someone very special that I would like you to meet."

When Hermione first pulled back the blanket he wasn't sure what to think. The infant had large, pointed ears and a pair of tiny fangs. These characteristics plus Tofa's involvement suggested that it was a Goblin. But the eyes were all wrong: they were much too large for a Goblin. In fact they remained him of the huge eyes of a house-elf.

"Hermione, what have you done?" Harry asked in a cold voice.

"I have corrected a historical injustice and potential saved two magical races from extinction. Please allow me to introduce you to Dobby."

"Not only has she desecrated pure Goblin blood, but now she has given that THING the name of a slave!"

Harry was tempted to curse Tofa for insulting the memory of his friend Dobby, but he couldn't afford to lose his temper at the moment. "Explain yourself Hermione and make it quick."

"Yggdrasil and I have done a comparative analysis of different magical races here on Avalon. It is now clear to us that Goblins and house-elves share a common ancestor. My theory is that this ancestor race, which I have named the Glves, was enslaved by human wizards three or four thousand years ago. The Goblins were sent to work in the primitive mines which explains their physical strength, intelligence, and eventually independence. The house-elves became domestic slaves, and over the centuries they were breed to be more docile."

At this point Tofa struck with her hammer, but Hermione reached-up with her silver hand and stopped the blow less than ten centimeters from her face. Rather than let the fight continue Harry stunned the goblin leader, an action which was going to cost him dearly at some point in the future.

"How did Tofa find out about this new... experiment?"

"Draco," Hermione replied as she glared at Narcissa.

Of course it was the blonde ponce. Somehow Draco had convinced the other brewers that he should be their official spokesman. Then he bamboozled Susan Bones—who was the Chief Healer here at the Hospital—into becoming the next Lady Malfoy. They were a popular couple, mostly because of Susan, and important members of the unofficial opposition party. A small minority of people on Avalon were disillusioned with the current quasi-dictatorship and wanted to elect a new Wizengamot. Harry thought it was a good idea for the future, but not now with the threat of Yggdrasil the homicidal alien hanging over their heads. The High Priestess didn't like the idea of free elections at all, but that was a strong point in their favor.

"You are so brilliant. How can you be so bloody stupid at the same time?"

"It had to be done Harry," Hermione huffed. "Neither the Goblins nor the house-elves have a large enough population to maintain genetic viability. My current projections indicate that they face extinction within five generations."

"You told me yourself that magic somehow reinforces our DNA and protects us from the dangers of inbreeding," Harry said. "That was how the dragons and unicorns managed to survive despite their small numbers

"That may be true for unicorns, but the Goblins have a much more complex physiology. Trust me, breeding these new Glves is the only way to save them. According to my research they should combine the best physical and magical attributes of both races."

Harry walked over to the large window behind Hermione. In the next room were thousands of pinks wombs sitting in the thick organic soup which nurtured them. The room wasn't actually part of the Hospital, but had been created with an Expansion Charm. The small pocket universe allowed these four mad scientist to perfectly control the temperature and humidity surrounding the wombs.

"The Hedwig will break orbit tonight. You, Catherine, and little Dobby are coming with us. Andromeda and Narcissa will stay here to monitor the wombs already in production."

"That's simply out of the question. My research is at a critical stage, and I need to consult with..."

Harry cut her off. "If you stay here Tofa will kill the child. And you."

"She can bloody well try," Hermione hissed.

"I can't allow you to kill Tofa—we need her and the rest of the Goblins. Without their knowledge of magical metallurgy Luna never had been able to rebuild the Hedwig."

"We could have done it without them."

"You're missing the point," Harry growled. "Your reckless decision to create Dobby may have started a war that could easily destroy us all, and our only chance to stop that war is out there in the asteroid belt."

12 July 2009

Luna and her husband/partner-in-crime George had been doing more than simply rebuilding the Hedwig for the past eight years. During that time they had also constructed a new space station around the damaged starship in order to facilitate repairs. At first this primitive structure was nothing more than a shell surrounding the Hedwig, but that soon changed.

The Chief Engineer felt her new space station needed its own radiation shielding, its own maneuvering emitters, and its own small Sphere. Supplying this new Sphere with oxygen meant building air canisters and turning them into portkeys. Hundreds of these canisters traveled back and forth each day for years until the the station had its own self-sustaining life support system.

"You are aware of the fact that your various construction projects consumes over ninety-five percent of the metal the Goblins are producing down on Avalon?" Harry asked.

"You have to give action to get action," Luna replied tartly. "Besides, if your master-plan works the Goblins won't be a problem for much longer."

The Hedwig had not been neglected while all this other work was going on. Once the starship was safely inside the space station it was stripped down to its broken framework, and then rebuilt with new Goblin-crafted metal. The emitters were redesigned to be more efficient, and there were now over a thousand full-charged capacitors onboard. The only thing they kept was the original Sphere Harry had created back on Earth. Having that much oxygen already in orbit was a priceless asset they couldn't afford to throw away.

The biggest change from the original design was the addition of a rocket booster. A really big rocket booster. George argued that just because they could use magic as a propulsion system didn't mean they should ignore the more conventional methods the muggles employed. Especially when those methods worked just as well, if not better than magic. Harry thought he just wanted to make the biggest rocket in history, which he eventually did. The Saturn V built by NASA in the nineteen sixties had measured one-hundred and ten meters in length. When completed the "Big Bugger" measured just over one-hundred and twenty meters.

"Are you sure this thing isn't going to explode?" Harry asked as the Hedwig slowly moved into position on top of the Big Bugger.

"Captain Potter, the liquid oxygen and paraffin wax are going to explode when we ignite them," Luna explained. Again. "But it will be a controlled explosion. All the protective runes engraved on the rocket's outer shell will keep it intact."

"Don't worry," George added. "If there is some hidden flaw in our design the resulting fireball will consume us all in a matter of seconds."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better about the situation."

With the help of their new rocket booster the trip to the asteroid belt last just three months, and they never once used the new capacitors which were being kept in reserve. This smooth voyage was made possible by the information Yggdrasil and Neville had given to Hermione. They knew exactly were the largest metallic asteroid was located, and the exact course they should take to reach it in the shortest amount of time. Even so, it was still too long for Harry who missed his children terribly. On the other hand he did not miss his wife, or the endless political nightmares that came with running Avalon.

"That is one big rock," Ron said as they studied their destination through one of the telescopes on the outer hull of the Hedwig.

"It's two-hundred kilometers by one-hundred and eighty kilometers by one-hundred and ten kilometers," Hermione said as she went over her calculations with her silver hand while feeding Dobby a bottle of milk with her organic one. Harry insisted that she personally care for young Glf without any assistance to teach her a lesson. "I'm not quite sure what total mass is, but the number is a one or a two followed by around twenty zeros."

"That is one big rock," Ron said again.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she began to burp Dobby.

"When we met all those years ago on the Hogwarts Express did you ever think we would end up someplace like this?" Harry asked to two oldest friends.

Ginny pressed her small bosom against his back, wrapped her arms around his waist, and placed her chin on his shoulder. "I never doubted for a moment that you were the greatest wizard in the world, and that your life would always be full of incredible adventures just like this."

Daphne snorted loudly, which wasn't very Slytherin of her. "How can you say something that pathetic with a straight face?"

"I can say it with a straight face because it's true," Ginny replied, her voice dripping with disdain. "And you know that it's true... sister."

"Catfight!" George shouted playfully.

"Maybe we should try that tonight," Luna whispered to Hermione.

Harry shook his head in wonder. That unorthodox trio had formed during the trip out here, and it took everyone by surprise—Hermione most of all. She had been celibate since the disaster with Ron all those years ago, so hopefully this new relationship would do her some good.

"I want everyone to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we start digging the main shaft with the space lorries. The quicker and deeper we dig, the safer we will be from any unexpected solar flares. I know we all have a Philosopher's Stones lodged in our intestines, but there is no sense in taking any unnecessary risks."

The next day they split into teams. Luna and George would focus on keeping the Hedwig and the space lorries working in this brutal environment. Hermione was in charge of life support, both on the Hedwig and in the new Sphere they were planning on creating inside the asteroid itself. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Daphne would each be leading a group of ten miners. The fifty space lorries they brought along required the skill of an experienced flier, which they all were.

These space lorries had a lot in common with the original Floo Bomb. They were plain spheres made of metal. Inside was a seat, a ten-hour supply of air, and enchanted mirrors which allowed you so see outside. Each space lorry had a set of maneuvering emitters that allowed you to travel in any direction, but they were also equipped with different emitters for different jobs. During the construction of the space station Luna had used two models: one which allowed you to move objects around, and another for welding metal parts together. Out here in the belt they had emitters to slice into the asteroid, and others for moving the rocky debris out of the bottom of the mine shaft they were digging.

They made solid progress that first month, especially Harry who had so much experience at this sort of thing. Soon they had enough ore stockpiled to begin using the smelter George had built. It was a crude design, but that didn't matter since air pollution wasn't a problem in outer space. They handed the first large batch of partially refined metal over to Hermione for examination, and then settled down to wait for her geological report.

"It looks like we hit the mother lode of all mother lodes," Hermione told them after she had spent several days in the Hedwig's main laboratory. "I found large concentrations of iron, copper, lead, zinc, and gold. There were also smaller trances of at least a dozen other elements."

"As you may know, George and I found ice on the surface of this asteroid," Luna added. "So we have another source of water, oxygen, and rocket fuel if we get into serious trouble."

"I must say that this "big rock" exceeds even the most optimistic expectations we had back on Avalon," Hermione concluded.

Harry closed his eyes and thought about their strategic situation. With the Hedwig and the space station they now had two functioning Spheres, and with the addition of this asteroid they had the resources to create many more. They also had the raw materials needed to build their space telescope and more starships if they were needed. The question was could the High Priestess convince everyone that they should evacuate Avalon? It didn't seem likely, so Harry decided to stall for time.

"George, I know you don't want to leave Luna, but I want you to return to the space station using the new Floo connection we established. When you arrived began assembling the catapult. It's time to let Yggdrasil and Tofa know who controls the high ground in this solar system."

15. Chapter 15

6 January 2010

After six months away from his children Harry couldn't take it anymore. According to the time schedule they kept aboard the Hedwig it was three o'clock in the morning, but what the hell did that matter? Slowly he pulled back the covers and got out of bed without making a sound. He managed to get dress and was tying the laces his second leather boot before Ginny finally spoke.

"You're going back to Yggdrasil, aren't you?"

"I shouldn't have stayed away this long."

"The boys have Gabrielle, Cho, Percy, and Blaise to watch over them. And Merlin knows Xenophilius and my mum are spoiling them rotten. Plus there is your bloody wife and the overbearing Patel clan sitting next door."

"That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that I need to see them."

"I know. It's just that I have gotten use to living together like this."

Harry leaned over and kiss the only witch he ever truly loved. "To be honest I kind of miss our midnight trysts. Making love in the green grass behind the Quidditch pitch does have its charms."

Ginny rolled her beautiful brown eyes; she detested everything about the muggles, even their brilliant music. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I'm afraid the High Priestess won't approve of us returning home together. It just won't look right to her adoring public."

With a great deal of reluctance, Harry left the Sphere and made his way to the Hedwig's second pocket universe where the space lorries were kept. The starship was currently parked two hundred meters inside the asteroid, while the Floo station was located out on the surface pointed directly at Yggdrasil. Like the voyage from Earth to 18 Scorpii, the voyage from the asteroid belt to the space station in orbit around the planet was instantaneous. After an important but brief meeting with George, Harry took a portkey directly down to Beauxbatons.

Thanks to the large number of children and the small number of adults on Avalon, the scope of Beauxbatons had greatly expanded. There was a primary school for students from the ages of three to eight which was run by Fleur, Gabrielle, and several other young professors. They focused their efforts on the basic subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic. From the age of nine to fourteen the students studied a more traditional magical curriculum under Headmistress Maxine and Gabrielle's husband, Deputy Headmaster Kaklin Patil.

After graduation the fifteen year-olds were legal recognized as adults. They were expected to get a job or an apprenticeship, and could marry if they so desired. Hermione thought this new system was barbaric and robbed the poor souls of their childhoods, but if their new civilization was going to survive people needed to start making a contribution at a much younger age.

Rather than trip the school's truancy wards, Harry spent his stag Patronus inside with a message for Fleur. She emerged a few minutes later leading a veritable horde of children. Not just his sons, but entire student body of Beauxbatons. As the Green Eyed Boys tackled him to the ground, the Veela explained that the students wanted to hear what the great Harry Potter had been doing out in the asteroid belt all these months.

"You mean like an actual school report?"

"Yes, I mean an actual school report," a smirking Fleur replied. "And feel free to use visual aids to make things more interesting."

Harry's transfiguration skills weren't up to Hermione's level, but the structure of the Hedwig wasn't very complex. So he created a life-sized model of the starship using several nearby flagstones. That got the attention of all the little brats. He then created a life-sized model of the gigantic Big Bugger, and that got the attention of all the professors. He proceeded to tell the crowd about his not-very-exciting adventures in space mining. After twenty minutes Headmistress Maxine informed everyone that it was time to return to their classes. For some reason Fleur stayed behind as the other professors lead the students back inside.

"That was a very impressive bit of magic," she commented as Harry reversed his many transfigurations. The flying space lorries in particular had been very popular with the crowd.

"They were nothing more than empty metal shells. Is there something you'd like to talk about? Are any of my sons having trouble with their schoolwork?"

"No, all the boys are doing well." Fleur seemed unsure of herself and hesitated a moment before continuing. "However since you left there was been a great deal of discussion about your future plans. Many people are afraid that you will force us to leave Avalon."

"Let me guess who was leading these discussions: Draco Malfoy."

"His voice is by far the loudest, but he has many supporters. And I must tell you that I share his views."

Harry reared back as if he had been slapped in the face. "Do you realize how much danger we are in if we stay on this planet?"

"It has been almost nine years, and Yggdrasil had done nothing to harm us. In fact it has supplied Hermione with a great deal of information which has aided in her medical research," Fleur replied. "On the other hand leaving this planet for another would mean exposing ourselves to great danger. I lost William and my parents to the terrible fires of 18 Scorpii. I can't risk the lives of my children doing that again. I can not, and I will not."

"Do others here on Avalon share your concerns?"

"Yes, they do. Since you've been gone our numbers have only increased, and we now represent a sizable majority of the adults. I am very sorry about all this."

"No, I'm glad you told me," Harry said. It was true. Being stabbed in the chest was preferable to being stabbed in the back. There was really nothing else to say, so he politely changed the subject. "I suppose Mother Molly will be inviting me to dinner tonight."

Fleur smiled wistfully. "I don't know how you do it. I have given her three perfect grandchildren, while you spurned poor Ginevra to marry another. Yet the old witch the still loves you, and only tolerates me."

It turned out Harry didn't get to eat one of Molly Weasley's famous home-cooked meals. Instead his wife decided to throw a glorious feast in honor of his return from outer space. A feast prepared by fifty house-elves and served right in the middle of Golden Temple of the Great bloody Sybill. There were over three hundred guests, and the High Priestess forced him to personally greet all of them. This meant he had no chance to talk with Percy or Blaise to find out what was going on politically. Nor could he eat—not with the seven giant paintings of the Great Sybill staring down at him. The worst was the portrait of "Sybill the Pure"... it always gave him a nasty case of indigestion.

It was around one o'clock in the morning when his wife showed the last of the guests out the door, and dragged him up to their apartment which was located above the main hall of the Temple. Harry went off to check on little Rama, and when he return to their private rooms he found Parvati bathing in a tub of steaming hot water. She wasn't trying to seduce him. They had never had sex during their long marriage, and they never would. Instead she was just trying to get comfortable before their upcoming row.

"Why do you put me through that circus downstairs?" Harry asked.

"I am trying to salvage your political reputation," Parvati replied as she lounged in the tub with her eyes closed. "Trying and failing, I might add."

"You were suppose to keep things under control here on Avalon. You were suppose to prepare them for evacuation to another planet."

"Harry, most people would rather died than set foot on that foul ship again."

"The Hedwig is not a ship, it's a starship. And I married you precisely because of your ability to inspire others. You were suppose to help them overcome their fears and to embrace a new future on a new planet."

"I can only do so much!" Parvati shouted. "Do you remember what it was like? Six hundred people died in less than three days! Six hundred people!"

"Fleur was just reminiscing about the subject this morning," Harry whispered.

"Don't you see the problem? Fleur Delacour was brave enough to be chosen as a Triwizard Champion by the Goblet of Fire, yet even she is afraid of another voyage. After all these years there are still grown wizards and witches who pray to the Great Sybill for solace. They break down in tears when I speak to them about their time on the Hedwig."

"Don't they realize that it will be different this time? Luna and George have made some amazing breakthroughs."

"Luna and George? You expect people to put their lives and the lives of their families in the hands of those two lunatics? I'm not saying they actually are lunatics, but that is how most people see them."

Harry bit back an angry replied. "Be honest with me, how bad is it?"

"Very bad. Your presence kept things bottled-up, but when you left all the fear and anger finally came out in the open. Now that anger is starting to feed on itself, and it's being directed at you my dear husband."

"Why didn't Percy and Blaise contact me earlier? Why didn't you?"

"George was blocking all our messages. He felt you and Ginny deserved to have a "proper honeymoon", as he called it," Parvati explained without a trace of bitterness. She didn't need the love of her husband when she had something far more potent: the love and devotion of her many followers.

"Fortunately Blaise has been negotiating with Draco for the past few weeks, and ponce is willing to cut us a pretty fair deal," she continued. "He proposes that we hold elections for a new Wizengamot next year, but in recognition of your past leadership you will automatically be appointed as the Chief Warlock for life. You will also be given the right to veto any law, command of the Aurors, and total control over our new installations in outer space."

"So I won't be able to write any new laws myself, but I will be able to veto any of their laws that I don't like?" Harry reasoned.

"Correct," Parvati replied. "Hopefully that will make you seem like less of a dictator."

"We don't have any Aurors for me to command."

"True, but we will need them at some point in the future."

"Why should I agree to any of this?" a skeptical Harry asked. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but I already control Avalon."

"If things keep getting worse you won't for much longer. Thankfully neither side wants to fight a civil war. You don't want to kill anybody, and Draco thinks that he will lose. Plus if you go along with the elections he will support your colonization program. His faction in the new Wizengamot will provide you with all the resources you need to make a successful trip to another solar system."

"Now I get it. Draco expects the Hedwig to be destroy and for me to become a martyr, while the rest of you live happily ever after here on Avalon."

"That's exactly what he wants," Parvati said with a nasty smile. "Of course he is going to look like a fool when you return covered in glory. Which you will, thanks to the Great Sybill. She will always protect Her greatest Champion from harm."

"And who will be acting as the Chief Warlock while I'm gone?"

"It will be my duty as your obedient wife to take up that burden."

Even after all these years living together Harry still wasn't sure if the High Priestess of the Great Sybill believed in her own religion, or if she was a fraud as Hermione insisted. Was she truly insane or just acting insane in order to gain power? It was too late to worry about that now. This whole deal stank, but if a close friend like Fleur had already turned against him it was probably the best option he had left.

7 January 2010

The next morning an angry, dispirited, and exhausted Harry Potter marched into Gringotts unannounced. Unlike the old bank in Diagon Alley, the new Gringotts was nothing more than a cave with a few desks scattered about and a single enchanted elevator which took customers down to their underground vaults. Personally Harry found the lack of ostentation to be refreshing, especially when compared to the flamboyant architecture that dominated the rest of the Village.

"I would like to see Tofa."

"She is down below in her office on the second floor," the surly teller replied. "You are expected."

The two guards on the elevator didn't try to kill him, which Harry took as a good sign. Tofa's office was just as simple as the bank lobby above. Her only decorations on the walls were a portrait of her sire Ragnok and her prized blacksmith hammer.

"You have come to demand my surrender."

"Well... yes, I have," Harry said as he sat down.

"I have three conditions," Tofa said. "One: the Goblin Nation will have dominion over Gringotts and our main Foundry in the south. Inside and underneath those buildings our laws will apply to everyone. Two: once a wizard dies any Goblin-crafted objects he owns will be returned to us within a year. Three: if a wizard charges a Goblin with a crime then the case will be judged by a tribunal consisting of a Merperson, a Centaur, and a house-elf. We will accept any punishment these new tribunals assign—even a sentence of death."

Harry didn't object to the first condition, so he moved on to the second. "You are aware of the face that every wizard and witch now has their own Philosopher's Stone. I have no idea how long any of us will live."

"We have been carefully studying Nicolas Flamel for centuries. The Elixir of Life slows down the aging process, but it does not stop it. I doubt any wizard will last much more than seven-hundred years," Tofa explained. "This extended time-frame does not concern the Goblin Nation. We are willing to wait for what is legally ours."

"Fair enough," Harry admitted. "Have the other magical races agreed to the idea of these tribunals?"

"Yes, so long as the process applies equally to all races. If a human charges a Centaur with a crime..."

"... the case will be judged by a Goblin, a Merperson, and a house-elf. I get it. I must say you are being very reasonable today."

"You have always had the power to defeat the Goblin Nation in battle, but now you have something far worse: the power to bankrupt us. If you deny us the use of the metallic ore from the asteroid belt our mighty forges will remain cold and dark forever."

"If you were afraid of me then why do you keep provoking and insulting me all these years?" a curious Harry asked.

"Because it was in the best interests of the Goblin Nation to do so, and because I could get away with it. Until you showed yourself to be a true leader, I was unwilling to treat you like one," Tofa explained.

"I suppose I deserved it. Do you want me to sign this new treaty of yours with a blood quill?" Harry asked as he rubbed the old scar on the back of his hand.

"That won't be necessary," Tofa told him. "Your word is sufficient."

"You haven't mentioned Hermione Granger or Dobby the Glf."

"I still want them both dead, but killing them would cost me the lives of several warriors. That is a price I would rather not pay at the moment. So the Goblin Nation is willing to let the matter drop... if you can guarantee that no more of these abominations will be created."

"Trust me, Hermione has seen the error of her ways. The new Dobby is going to remain an only child."

The meeting with Neville and Yggdrasil went even better than his meeting with Tofa. The giant alien brain seemed very happy with their current relationship. If they were willing to keep providing it with new sources of information, it was willing to let them stay on Avalon. It even offered to help them search for habitable planets in other solar systems.

Harry thought about mentioning the space station's new catapult, but then he remembered Hogwarts' old motto: "Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon". The political situation back on Avalon was in chaos, and they simply weren't ready to pick a fight with Yggdrasil. At least not yet.

Luna and George were another source of good news. They completed the space telescope in less than six months, and the kilometer-wide coronagraph was finished six months after that. Despite its great width the coronagraph was easy to build, since it was nothing more than a daisy-shaped wall of scrap metal less than a meter thick. Learning to operate the two objects in tandem took time and the use of several space lorries, but soon the great search was on.

Unfortunately that turned out to be the end of Harry's run of good luck. Draco kept his end of their political deal, and the new Wizengamot gave them all the supplies they could ever need. What they did not provide him with was a new crew. Parvati was right: the idea of being onboard the Hedwig during another Floo Jump was terrifying to most people.

If Harry was going to another planet when Ginny had no intention of staying behind. Luna, George, and Hermione were now connected at the hip—quite literally—and were eager to test out the new and improved Hedwig. Ron and Daphne wanted to come too, since they thought a virgin planet offered a phenomenal chance to increase their personal wealth. Harry's six sons (and one godson) wanted to join the crew, but first the Green Eyed Boys had to graduate from Beauxbatons. That pretty much summed up their list of volunteers. Harry thought about instituting a draft, but the idea of being tortured to death by an angry mob in the middle of the Village didn't appeal to him.

Another major problem for the Captain of the Hedwig was their need for a qualified healer. Susan Malfoy had convinced her medical colleagues at the Hospital to boycott what she called the "suicide mission". Harry was so desperate that he turned to Crina Weasley. After the death of her husband Charlie the Romanian witch had become one of Avalon's few veterinarians, but in her heart she would always be a dragon-keeper.

"If you agree to act as the Hedwig's official healer, I will release the twenty petrified dragons once we reach Tau Ceti," Harry told her.

"I want an Unbreakable Vow," was Crina's terse reply. After all this time she was still furious at the way the young dragons had been treated, and to say that she disliked the great Harry Potter was a gross understatement.

Tau Ceti. That turned out to be his biggest headache. Luna and Aurora Sinistra had used the space telescope to search every star within seventy light-years of Yggdrasil. After years of effort they had found exactly two planets with clear signs of liquid water and green vegetation: good old Earth and a single planet around the star Tau Ceti. However Tau Ceti was located only twelve light years from their original homeworld, and that fact made a certain witch very uncomfortable.

"If this new planet was truly safe for colonization then the Great Sybill would have sent us there in the first place," the High Priestess repeatedly told to her flock.

His wife's open hostility made the upcoming mission even more unpopular with the general public. Luna and Aurora continued searching for the next few years, but they found no other suitable prospects. When the last of Harry's six sons finally turned fifteen he decided they had waited long enough. They were going to Tau Ceti, even if his crew did number only one-hundred wizards and witches.

14 October 2018

The Chief Engineer of the Hedwig and her handsome husband had spent over seventeen years working on their starship. They had completely refurbished the Sphere, stuffed the bird full of ten-thousand capacitors, and even added a magical rail gun. In the end George knew that none of that really matter. During its maiden voyage the Hedwig's greatest weakness had been its slow escape from the gravity well of 18 Scorpii, a weakness which cost them the lives of six-hundred passengers. A number which included his brothers Bill and Charlie.

Traveling at seven hundred kilometers per second wasn't going to cut it this time. That is why George built six new rocket boosters. They were tiny when compared to the original Big Bugger, but that was because each one cotained two seperate Expansion Charms. There was enough fuel inside these new boosters to provide over an hour of continuous thrust.

They hadn't stop there. Years of painstaking calculation allowed the Hedwig to successfully slingshot around one of the local gas giants. This gravity assist plus their use of the six rocket boosters allowed them to accelerate to a speed of twenty-thousand kilometers per second in less than two months. The new remotely-controlled Floo Bomb worked perfectly, and they were no fatalities this time as they escaped from the gravity well of Tau Ceti. Even after four months of deceleration they had only depleted twenty percent of their magical capacitors.

Best of all the new planet—which everyone had started calling Tau Ceti—had a small but picturesque moon. Luna insisted that they name it Selena after her late mother. His wife was so happy when Harry granted this request that she broke down in tears. So did Hermione. So did he.

"Tau Ceti seems very promising at first glance. There are three large continents which all sit along the equator, and they are separated by a dozen... I would call them seas rather than oceans," Daphne said as she presented them with an updated map from the Astronomy department. A department which consisted of three people: Daphne herself and two sixteen year-olds who graduated from Beauxbatons last year.

Harry immediately sent a portkey laboratory down to one of the dense jungles which covered all three of the continents. The results they got back were decidedly mixed. The planet Yggdrasil had a higher level of oxygen and a lower level of gravity when compared to Earth. Tau Ceti on the other hand had a sightly lower level of oxygen and a much higher level of gravity when compared to Earth. The average planetary temperature was very high, as was the relative humidity. The surface could sustain human beings, but they weren't going to be comfortable living down there. That was for sure.

"Have we seen any native animals on the enchanted mirrors?" Ginny asked at their daily staff meeting.

"I've seen some insects," Teddy Lupin replied. "In fact I've seen a lot of insects."

"Anything larger than that?"

"I'm sorry Aunt Ginny, but I wasn't being clear. Some of these things are the same size as a fully-grown Kneazle, and they all move very fast."

Harry let out a deep sigh. "Let's send a few test subjects down and see what happens. Hopefully these giant insects are all vegetarians."

It turns out they weren't vegetarians, nor were they alone. They scent of fresh blood brought some real monsters out into the open. There was a huge green "bat" that picked a thirty kilogram pig up off the ground and was able to fly away with it. An hour later a "bear-lizard hybrid" (Teddy's words) ripped apart their heavy steel fence, slaughter three more pigs, and carried their carcasses off in less than ten seconds.

"My theory is that the planet's higher gravity has given these animals dense bones and powerful muscles, which is why they are so strong and so quick. And the presence of all these large insects explains their tough hides and sharp claws," Hermione said as they watched a gruesome set of omniocular recordings over and over again. "I'm afraid that this ecosystem is basically a deathtrap. Even with our magic I doubt if we can successfully colonize Tau Ceti."

George noticed that Luna was staring at Hermione during her little lecture. At times he didn't know if he should be jealousy of the unusual bond between the two witches or just grateful. Then he thought back to last night and realized gratitude was the right choice.

"So what are you suggesting Granger?" Daphne asked. "That we just return to Yggdrasil with our trails between our legs?"

"There are only a hundred of us. To build a permanent settlement in this kind of brutal environment will require a large number of reinforcements and several years of planning."

"We have twenty dragons," Crina offered. "None of the animals I've seen so far would be a match for our two Hungarian Horntails or the Chinese Fireballs."

"We also have forty Glves who are eager for battle," Luna added.

Hermione suddenly blushed. "You weren't suppose to tell anyone about them!"

Harry's green eyes started glowing with anger. "You disobeyed my explicit orders, and bred more of your Glves?"

"I'm not going to apologize. What I did, I did for the greater good."

"I can't believe you just said that to me of all people."

"What are these Glves like?" Ron asked in an attempt to defuse the tension between his two friends.

"They are nasty little blighters," George replied honestly. "But they are also tough and powerful for their age. Dobby's wandless magic is already better than mine, and he is only nine years old."

"So we have a hundred wizards and witches, forty Glves, twenty dragons, and one starship," Ginny summarized. "That's an interesting army."

"It will do," Harry said as he continued to glare at Hermione. "The muggles pushed us off one planet, and now Yggdrasil is getting ready to push us off another. It's not going to happen a third time. I'm going to take control of Tau Ceti, even if it means killing every bloody monster down there."

16. Chapter 16

14 October 2018

Afterwords they couldn't decide what to call it. When Harry announced his intention to forcibly colonize Tau Ceti, Hermione threw a conniption fit. Or was it a hissy fit? Or had she, as Ron quietly suggested to Daphne, gone completely mental? Whatever you wanted to call it, the speech went on for some time and contained just about every expletive in the book. Hermione Jean Granger declared to one and all that this "ecological genocide" would only take place over her dead body.

"Are you quite done?" Harry asked.

"For the time being," the furious witch replied.

"Thank you. Now if you had bothered to think about the situation for a moment, you would have realized that we have neither the time nor the resources to carry out an ecological genocide, as you call it. Instead we are going to concentrate our efforts on just one of the continents. Daphne, could you show us your map again?"

Ron was always going on about how brilliant his wife was, and for once Harry had to agree with him. The witch's hand-drawn map of Tau Ceti was remarkable detailed. "Have you named the three continents yet?"

"Tau is a Greek letter, so I've been calling them Alpha, Beta, and Gamma for simplicity's sake," Daphne replied. "Alpha is the largest, Gamma is the smallest."

"Gamma may be the smallest continent, but it also has a narrow isthmus. And that is exactly what we need for my brilliant plan," Harry said as he studied the various geographical features of the small and oddly shaped continent.

"You want to separate the land north of the isthmus from larger southern part of the continent," Ron guessed. "That's a good idea, but even at its narrowest point that isthmus is about two-hundred kilometers wide. A defensive ward of that size is going to take years of hard work to complete."

"We aren't going to build just one ward, we are going to build two of them around twenty meters apart," Harry explained. "We start by building a three-sided encampment right next to this eastern sea, and then we expand the two wards bit by bit until we reach the western sea. While we are building this magical border, we will also begin driving the animals out of the land we plan on occupying, and towards the southern part of the continent we don't need."

"And how exactly will we drive the animals out?" a skeptical Hermione asked. "The area you want to claim is around a million square kilometers."

"Actually it's more like two-and-half million square kilometers," Daphne remarked. Like her husband, she loved correcting Hermione's rare mistakes.

"We will use the Hedwig's magical rail gun to create a rolling wave of destruction. That should trigger a mass migration."

George grinned. "I should think so. We have about three thousand metal projectiles in storage, and we will be able to launch a dozen or so each day with a high degree of accuracy. That should give us enough time to find another source of iron on the surface, which we can use to produce more projectiles."

"Why don't we just start mining another asteroid here in this solar system?" Ron asked.

"Because it would take years of detailed observations to find one with a high percentage of metallic content," Luna explained. "Plus we can't afford to deplete the Hedwig's limited number of capacitors. We will need all that magical energy during our return trip to Yggdrasil in a few years."

Harry turned to face Hermione. "Please keep in mind that the other two continents will remain untouched for centuries, if not longer. Each year we are getting better at manipulating the Expansion Charm, and in the future I think we will start living inside them full-time. The surface of Tau Ceti—or any planet for that matter—will only be used for agricultural and recreational purposes."

"Alright, you may have a point, but..."

"Granger, do us all a favor and shut-up," Daphne snapped.

18 October 2019

Yesterday was the first anniversary of their arrival on surface if Tau Ceti, and the Green Eye Boys (and Girls) had used the date as an excuse to get absolutely pissed. Of course they used just about anything as an excuse to get pissed. George's crude brewery was operating twenty-seven hours a day, four-hundred and thirty-two days a year, much to Hermione's disgust. (There was a new local calendar, but they pretty much ignored it favor of the traditional Gregorian calendar from Earth.) To be fair even Harry thought his ragtag army took their drinking and fornicating too far, but life on Tau Ceti was harsh. His people needed to relax, so if they were reasonable sober the next morning their general was willing to look the other way.

The first few months in particular had been a nightmare. The higher gravity made it feel like you were walking around with a forty-kilogram chain wrapped around your neck. Meanwhile the lower level of oxygen produced some nasty side-effects. There was nausea, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, nosebleeds, diarrhea, and rapid heartbeats. Worst of all was the shortness of breath. They were all in good physical condition, but here on Tau Ceti performing even the simplest of tasks left you gasping for air.

Over the course of the year they slowly adjusted to their new environment, but unfortunately their new environment still hadn't adjusted to them. To start with the native insects were poisonous. All of them. Thanks to their Philosopher's Stones the poisonous bites and stings weren't lethal, but they still hurt like a dickens. That was why Harry and Ginny were helping each other put on their knee-high boots; the leather was branded with protective runes that even the largest insects couldn't penetrate.

"I been talking with some of the younger witches," Ginny said as she slipped on her leather gloves, which were also covered with dozens of runes. "They figure that since Hermione is already growing most our food and all of our potions here on Tau Ceti, maybe she wouldn't mind starting a small nursery in her spare time."

"We have talked about this subject before. Everyone is needed to help build the Border. Who would take care of these hypothetical newborns in nine months time?"

"It won't take more than three or four people, and we could..."

"I truly am sorry, but the answer is still no," Harry growled. "Even with our current numbers the Border is going to take at least another two years of work to complete, and the travel time to Yggdrasil is going to cost us another year. We can't afford any more delays. I understand that... they want more children, but they will just have to wait until the reinforcements arrive."

"Why don't we just send the Hedwig back now?" Ginny growled in turn.

"We have talked about this subject before too. Convincing those fools to leave their homes will be impossible if we can't offer them proof that Tau Ceti is safe. And we both know this planet won't be remotely safe until the Border is permanently sealed."

Harry rose and began putting on his leather coat and helmet. These outfits were stronger than muggle steel, but light enough to move around in even with the heavy gravity. George had thoughtfully added Cooling Charms to the cotton liner, which made them comfortable in this bloody heat. Finally Harry took off his glasses and put on his multi-spectrum goggles. Several of the native species had chameleon-like skin, and the goggles had saved him and his soldiers from certain death on more than one occasion.

The unhappy couple opened the door, and climbed down the steps of their wagon. Building the two-hundred kilometer long Border meant they were constantly on the move. Rather than build a permanent settlement everyone lived in the back of a wooden wagon, which they magically dragged across the isthmus themselves. It wasn't as primitive as it sounded, since each wagon was equipped with an Expansion Charm. The standard design included a bedroom, a bathroom, and an office where you could read or use a pensieve. In addition to the standard educational lectures that Hermione favored, there were also a large number of erotic memories for sale on the black-market.

Ginny took his hand. "I'm sorry for bringing up that subject again, but it's just that... some of the witches are desperate. We have already lost twenty people, and no one wants to die without leaving children behind."

"You sound like your mother," Harry joked, hoping to end the bitter argument.

"That stupid remark is going to cost you tonight."

"Let me guess: another command performance on my knees? I can live with that."

In the distance they saw Crina Weasley, who was washing the gore off her prized Romanian Longhorn. It was embarrassing for Harry to admit it, but they never would have survived this long without the dragons he wanted to leave back on Earth. The Border's ten-meter high wards kept the Tau-bears and the Tau-wolves at bay, but the Tau-harpies could fly over their magical barrier whenever they wanted to. (Teddy had started naming all local animals Tau-this and the Tau-that, and the simplistic nomenclature stuck.)

Luckily Crina's twenty dragons came to their rescue during those first awful weeks. They patrolled the sky above the wagon camp, killing and eating dozens of the Tau-harpies each night. The young Glves often rode on the dragon's backs during these nightly battles. Whenever they saw a target would "pop" over and jam a spear into the creature's brain. They then "popped" back to their dragon and began searching for a new target. The two species seemed to have a natural bond, and Hermione speculated that the ancient proto-Glves had been dragon-riders.

Crina told her that she was full of shite.

During the long hot days the dragons preferred to sleep, which is why Harry and Ginny were on aerial patrol today. Ron and Daphne had designed what they called a "broom chariot": there was an armored seat in the front for a pilot, an armored platform in the rear for a gunner, and four heavy-duty brooms to keep the contraption in the air. The new broom chariots were also charmed to be invisible, silent, and odorless. That last bit of protection was of vital importance since most of worst predators on Tau Ceti hunted by scent.

"Who's wearing the trousers today?" Daphne asked as Harry and Ginny approached the large mobile workshop where the various brooms were kept at night.

"Ginny is flying. I need to get in some target practice," Harry replied, hoping to prevent a duel. Daphne loved mocking her sister-in-law, and Ginny loved inflicting pain the obnoxious Slytherin.

Once they were in the air, Harry looked down at landscape surrounding the Border. It was desolate and filled with hundreds of large impact craters. Their first move had been to flatten the area with a sustained orbital bombardment. The remaining jungle was then cleared with Fiendfyre, which gave them some much-needed breathing room. The rune stones themselves were shaped like obelisks, and two perfectly straight lines stretched over the horizon for fifty kilometers towards the eastern sea. Hopefully now that they had a production system up-and-running the pace of construction would increase over the next two years.

"Two o'clock low!" Ginny shouted.

Harry looked ahead, to the right, and down towards the ground. There was a flock of twenty Tau-harpies closing in on their position. Simply killing them would have been a waste of time and magic. Instead he tagged them with multiple Tracking Charms and then drove them off with a series of Banishing Charms. They would be killed eventually, but only after they returned to their hidden lairs deep in the surrounding jungle. George had a Marauder-esque map of the entire continent up on the Hedwig, and he used the Tracking Charms to aim the rail gun. The fighting, both in the air and on the ground, continued for the next fourteen hours. Finally the tuckered-out pair returned to their wagon and slept like rocks.

The next day wasn't nearly as enjoyable. Harry and Ginny were among the few strong enough to power the rune stones, and this meant they were forced to travel along the Border doing maintenance. If they needed to replace a rune stone they went to see the golems. These enchanted statues had been created by Luna to quarry the obelisks, carved the runes, and then carried them to the waiting broom lorries. The golems were very slow and only last for about a month or two, but at least they didn't get pissed every night. The whole job of constructing the Border was tedious work, but it was necessary if they were going to successfully colonize the planet.

On the third day Harry and Ginny gave themselves a treat. They took a portkey to the northern end of continent, and started a number of random fires. Surrounded by a squadron of twenty Green Eyed Boys they crisscrossed the dense jungle, casting Fiendfyre in every direction. Since the death of their only son William five months ago they both found this kind of mindless destruction to be cathartic. The best part was the giant insects: once their bodies reached a certain temperature their exoskeletons would burst open and shower the surrounding jungle with cooked organs.

The next day the cycle started all over again.

3 December 2021

"We are all gathered here to today for a very special and long overdue occasion," Harry told the depressingly small crowd which had assembled aboard the Hedwig.

After three years on Tau Ceti were were only seventy humans left alive, but the Glves and the dragons had fared better. Thanks to Hermione's tireless work there were now over a hundred young Glves. The dragons preferred to do things the old-fashioned way, and their population had increased by ten. These adolescent dragons were already flying beside their battle-scared parents down on the surface.

"In recognition of her brilliant career as the Chief Engineer of the Hedwig, I hereby promote Luna Weasley Lovegood to the rank of Captain. She will take command, and immediately return to Yggdrasil to retrieve those stubborn idiots we left behind. No matter what Draco and his toadies may think, Tau Ceti is our home—now and forever."

As George listened to Harry's speech he realized that he anxious about their upcoming mission, maybe even a bit frightened. Giving Luna command was a great risk. Not because she couldn't do the job—she most certainly could—but rather because the Wizengamot was going to be a pain in the arse when they got back to Yggdrasil. They didn't want to evacuate before, and he doubted if anyone besides the Chief Warlock himself could force them to change their bloody minds.

Sadly the whole situation couldn't be helped. Harry was needed here on Tau Ceti to keep the newly completely Border functioning. If he left the planet for more than a year the massive ward would almost certainly collapse. Once that happen the the native animals would come flooding back into the territory they had spent years clearing. Harry refused to throw away an accomplishment which had purchased at the cost of so much blood.

"I will bring those idiots back," Luna whispered to Harry as he placed the Tricorne of Command on her head. The old-fashioned leather hat made his wife look even more sexy. Maybe he could convince her to wear it to bed tonight.

"You look like a pirate," a weeping Hermione remarked after the short ceremony was over.

"No, I look like a pirate captain," Luna replied as they hugged. "I'm going to miss you so very much."

George's other wife also needed to stay behind on Tau Ceti. She was the only one capable of maintaining the thousands of artificial wombs down on the surface, and without those wombs the tiny settlement would run out of potions and edible meat within a matter of weeks. Plus she didn't want to leave her Glves. Without a doubt Luna was first in Hermione's heart, and Harry was a close second. Then came her children. Meanwhile he was tied for forth place along with a bunch of bloody Glves.

Their voyage went smoothly at first. This was the Hedwig's third Floo Jump, and by now they had the process down to a science. Still with a crew of only forty wizards and witches Captain Lovegood had to be cautious, and she refused to take any unnecessary risks. The external telescopes were manned around the clock, and those telescopes provided them with the first hints that something had gone wrong during their long absence.

"Take a closer look at the islands," Thoth told him mother. "For some reason they seem different to me, but I'm not quite sure why."

"There's no variation in color," Luna murmured.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" George asked.

"Let's not speculate until we have more information."

More information soon came pouring in, and none of it was good. Yggdrasil had expanded from the super-continent to all the other islands, including Avalon. Their former home seemed deserted, and it was covered with those distinctive single-leaf plants. They were also floating "lily pads" surrounding the super-continent and each of the islands. Billions more of these circular leaves were floating aimlessly all across the Mega Ocean.

"There are any signs of the animals we brought from Earth, or crops and trees we planted?" Luna asked a week later.

"None that we can find," Thoth replied. "All the vegetation, both native and terrestrial, has been replaced by Yggdrasil's monoculture. And that's not all. We know the space station's regular orbit, but for some reason we can't seem to find it."

Luna sat in silence for several minutes, with her big gray eyes staring off into the distance. "We need answers, but we aren't going to find them down on the planet. Instead we will set a course for the asteroid belt. If there are any survivors, that's where we will find them."

"I doubt they'll be very happy to see us," George remarked. "They probably blamed all this on Harry, even though he was over thirty light years away when it happened. Whatever it was."

"That is a cynical way to look at things. Cynical, but probably true in this case," Luna said. "I don't want them to know we are coming, so in a week we will activate the Hedwig's Disillusionment Charm."

"That's going to be a real drain on the capacitors."

"It can't be help. Once we reach the asteroid we will bypass the main entrance and use the backdoor."

When they first began mining the asteroid they simply dug a large mine shaft straight down into the center of the big rock. It held the Hedwig's main hanger, the Sphere were everyone lived, several industrial smelters, and the mining operation itself. However Harry and Luna soon realized that this was a potentially dangerous layout. If you were going to live inside a mine shaft, you needed a backdoor in case some unknown disaster blocked the main entrance.

So over the course of several years they had built three more exits: two clearly marked tunnels that everyone knew about, and a third smaller tunnel that Harry and his friends constructed in secret. It was over ten kilometers long, and the secret base at the end of this secret tunnel is where the Hedwig docked when they finally arrived in the asteroid belt three months later.

"They are only forty of us, and we have no idea what kind of reception we will receive," Luna told her crew. "That is why everyone will all be wearing a suit of leather armor; we will also be using Disillusionment Charms at all times. This first trip is about gathering intelligence. Under no circumstances will you interact any of the survivors we encounter in the local Sphere. Find out as much as you can about the current situation, and then retreat to the Hedwig as soon as possible. That is an order from your commanding officer."

The tunnel was only a meter wide, and as they traveled in silence on their brooms it struck George how much their time on Tau Ceti had changed them. The Green Eyes Boys (and Girls) loved taking the mickey out of each other and they really loved getting pissed, but that didn't change the fact that they were now battle-hardened soldiers.

What they found inside asteroid's Sphere was shocking to their experienced eyes: they were no guards anywhere. Everyone was just loafing around, doing nothing much at all. They split into small teams and scattered. When George began to eavesdrop he heard nothing but mindless chatter. Mostly the individual wizards and witches were worried about the limited food supply and primitive living conditions. Then he began to hear whispers about the Wizengamot, and the mysterious construction projects taking place outside in asteroid.

Whenever anyone mentioned the Wizengamot they glanced over at a large green tent near the entrance. George figure he could gather better information from the grand poobahs themselves, so he slowly crept in that direction. To his surprise a certain High Priestess was walking in the same general direction all by her lonesome. Luna would kill him for disobeying a direct order, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Quietly he stunned Parvati, Disillusioned her, and threw her limp body over his shoulder.

19 June 2022

"What the hell is going on here, and why am I tied to this bloody chair?" Parvati demanded the second they revived her. It was good to see that somethings hadn't changed, like the High Priestess' bitchy attitude. "Luna, you finally came back! Thank the Great Sybill. Where is Harry, and why have you been away for so bloody long?"

Instead of answering any of these questions, the Captain of the Hedwig cast a powerful Stinging Hex at their prisoner. Then she cast another one for good measure. "Listen to me you stupid cow, I need to know what happened while we were gone."

That did the trick. Parvati began by explaining that Nicolas Flamel had been using Draco Malfoy as his political stalking horse for years. Once the Hedwig disappeared from the solar system the pair staged a coup d'état. In a matter of hours the Wizengamot passed dozens of new laws, the most important of which made Flamel the new Chief Warlock.

"What about Percy?" Luna asked.

"He disappeared during the coup and hasn't been seen since."

Without thinking George drew his wand and was about to curse Parvati. Why her? Well, she was the only target available at the moment. Luna quickly reached over and placed a hand on his arm. Her silent message was clear: they had a job to do, and his grief would have to wait.

"What happened after this coup?"

"Flamel and Malfoy tried to seize Harry's vault at Gringotts, but of course Tofa refused to coöperate. As a result all the Goblins were slaughtered—even the infants. The Centaurs were furious and demanded that the new Chief Warlock be tried for this part in the atrocity. Draco and his goon squad responded by cutting the Centaur herd to pieces from their brooms. The cowards never came within ten meters of a ground during the battle."

"Why didn't you try to stop any of this madness?" a furious Luna demanded as she started pacing in a circle around their prisoner. "You are the High Priestess of the Great Sybill, aren't you?"

"I had a family of my own to worry about. Flamel gave me a choice: either coöperate or watch them be tortured," a nervous Parvati explained as she tried to wiggle free from the chair. "You weren't here when it happened—you don't know what it was like. Since the Doom of Magic the great Harry Potter has been the Sticking Charm which held us all together, but everyone was convinced that he died when the Hedwig jumped. Without his presence everything just... fell apart."

"This is all very interesting in a sick kind of way, but none of it explains why Yggdrasil attacked Avalon and the other islands," George pointed out.

"Flamel has never been popular with the average wizard, and the constant bloodshed wasn't helping his reputation. He needed a new political crusade, so he started talking about using the space station's catapult against Yggdrasil. Why bother traveling to another planet when all the land we need is right here for the taking? That was his argument. I don't think he actually wanted to start a war, but after a while he backed himself into a corner."

"Did anyone try talking to Neville while all this was going on, and get his opinion on what might happen if a war broke out?"

"The first strike from the space station was aimed directly at poor Neville. Flamel figured once the other great war hero was out of the picture there would be less resistance to his plans. Just minutes after Neville was killed Yggdrasil released a massive cloud of poisonous spores into the atmosphere. According to Susan and the other healers it destroys any form of life that doesn't share Yggdrasil's specific physiology," Parvati explained.

"If the poison was spread by the air currents you must have had several weeks to evacuate," Luna speculated.

"It was more than three months before the clouds of poison finally reached us, but most of the people refused to leave. Towards the end it was pure bedlam, especially when Yggdrasil began pulling the space station out of its orbit."

"How in the name of Merlin did it manage to do that?" George asked.

"We have no idea," Parvati replied.

"It doesn't surprise me that Yggdrasil has learned how to manipulate gravity in some crude way. It's intelligence exceeds ours by an order of magnitude," Luna mused. "How many were left to die?'

"We think around two-thousand, but no one is really sure. The Wizengamot took a census, but they refused to release the results to the public."

"That's a third of our total population. I didn't see any Merpeople in the Sphere's lake. What happened to them?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Parvati answered. "No one does."

"Do you manage to save any of the animals and plants we brought with us from Earth? What about the central library?"

"Luna, you don't understand. Nobody took Yggdrasil's attack seriously until it was far too late. When animals and plants on the edge of the island started dying, we just grabbed as much food as we could carry and fled out here to the asteroid belt."

"And you did nothing to help during this crisis?"

"I told you, I had to protect my family."

"Do you have anything else to say in your defense?"

"What are you talking about?" a confused Parvati asked. "None of this was my fault!"

Luna's hand was shaking as she drew her wand. George was expecting a Stunner, but instead his wife placed the tip of her wand against Parvati's cheek bone and cast a powerful Banishing Charm at point-blank range. The High Priestess' pretty little head kept wobbling around for twenty seconds before it finally came to a rest.

"I think you cracked her skull open."

"She will live. Besides, some brain damage might actually improve her IQ." Luna said as she ran a hand through her long blonde hair. "I'm so sorry about Percy."

"After all these years I was actually starting to like Weatherby, so of course he had to go and get himself killed," George joked as he struggled to hold back the tears. "What's our next move?"

"The actions of the Wizengamot are beyond criminal, and I'm not willing to risk anymore lives negotiating with them. Instead we will place explosives around their tent, and then send them off to the next great adventure. Then we go home. If anyone wants to stay behind here on this asteroid, then they bloody well can."

29 December 2022

For once in his life Harry was happy—which was odd since most people would be terrified to be in his shoes. There were less than thirty human beings on the planet of Tau Ceti. The local ecosystem was still a brutal deathtrap, and being eaten alive by the local predators was still a real possibility. Every day he got up at dawn to face these dangers, and every day he worked on the Border until he was exhausted. Even so, Harry was happy.

Why? Well, because he was living in a small wagon with Ginny and their newborn daughter Minerva, who had been hatched from one of Hermione's artificial wombs a few weeks ago. Back on Yggdrasil Harry had been too busy with politics to enjoy his many children, but here on Tau Ceti with just one child he could soak up the whole experience. The constant feedings in the middle of the night and the endless burpings and even the dirty nappies—he loved every second of it. He could even wasted an hour or two just watching tiny Minerva sleep in her crib. In his humble opinion she was going to be even more beautiful than her mother.

That feel of happiness... that feeling of almost pure contentment suddenly died when Hermione's otter Patronus appeared one night during diner, and informed him that Luna was finally back on Tau Ceti.

Ginny quickly placed little Minerva in her heavily armored baby carriage, and the three of them made their way over to Hermione's wagon. There they found a sobbing Luna being comforted by her wife, who was also sobbing. Harry took a deep breath. The news was bad, but the question was how bad?

"Captain Lovegood. It's good to see you again after all these months, but I need a status report."

It turns out the news wasn't just bad—it was horrible. During Luna's lengthy status report Ginny started sobbing too, and he felt like joining her. But now wasn't the time for tears. Instead he beat down his raging emotions and tried to think rationally.

"Just under four thousand witches and wizards?" Harry asked. "Are you sure that's all we have left?"

"We did a headcount over a dozen times," Luna replied in a distant voice as she continued to cling to Hermione. "Trust me, I'm sure."

"No Centaurs, Merpeople, or Goblins?"

"Not a single one, although we did manage to save most of the house-elves."

"Is my mother alive?" Hermione asked. "Did she manage to save our anything from our laboratory at the hospital?"

Luna nodded. "Catherine is still up on the Hedwig with the others. According to her, Narcissa and Andromeda placed about half of your genetic catalog in magical stasis before they left the surface of Yggdrasil."

"They only saved half of the catalog? This is an absolute nightmare. It will be impossible to prevent inbreeding here on Tau Ceti with such a limited amount of genetic diversity."

"Are you sure about that?" Harry asked. It was a heartless question, but the future of their little civilization was at sake.

"I honestly don't know," Hermione admitted after a few moments. "Maybe if we maintain strict control over all breeding—both human and animal—for the next several decades we might be able to create a viable population. I will have to work with the Healers to develop some new medical protocols for dealing with damaged zygotes. That is if we have any Healers left alive."

"Thanks to her husband, Susan Malfoy and the entire staff of Poppy Pomfrey Memorial Hospital were the first ones evacuated out to the asteroid belt during the crisis," Luna explained.

"Susan is still alive?" Harry asked. "She wasn't at the Wizengamot when George blew it up?"

"No, she wasn't. And that is a problem for us since the witch is very upset about what happened to her dear husband Draco. Susan kept stirring up trouble, so we had to keep her under armed guard during the last half of the trip here to Tau Ceti."

"Who cares if she is upset?" Ginny snarled as she gently rocked Minerva in her arms. "We are just going to execute her and the other traitors anyway."

Hermione's eyes nearly popped out of head. "How can you say something like that?"

"Because it's true," Harry whispered. "We... no, I am going to execute anyone who supported Nicolas Flamel and Draco Malfoy. And that certainly includes Draco's wife."

"But she is one of our best Healers."

"That will only make her death an even more powerful symbol to my opponents."

The trials that started up on the Hedwig the following day were crude, but useful from a political point of view. The people were looking for scapegoats—someone whom they could blame for the deaths of their loved ones and the senseless destruction of their old homes on Avalon. Harry certainly gave them scapegoats. Over a hundred traitors and sympathizers and appeasers were executed with doses of basilisk poison during the next week.

Harry found that being a dictator was an efficient form of government. He was even tempted to permanently disband the Wizengamot, but on second thought he allowed new elections to be held after the trials were finally over. The people were both terrified by his ruthlessness and grateful to him for finding a new planet to settle. That meant that any candidate he disapproved of had no chance of winning a seat.

Another important reason behind his political success was the Great Sybill herself. When Harry went up to the Hedwig the first thing he did was handed his wife Parvati over to his lover Ginny, who was very angry about Percy's death during the coup. Very angry. The High Priestess screamed for hours under her rival's tender care. Afterwards Harry made it clear that from now she would use her religious influence to promote his political agenda, and if she refused she would be executed along with the other traitors.

Parvati quickly agreed to his terms. She would do anything to stay away from Ginny.

17. Chapter 17

7 March 2110

It had been a week since the international crew of the United Nations Starship Nelson Mandela had been revived from cryo-sleep, and in theory their bodies should have returned to full functionality by now. Even after forty-eight years in deep hibernation, they were still in perfect condition thanks to the millions of nanobots scurrying about inside their bodies. All the recent medical tests confirmed that. So why was everyone acting as skittish as newborn colts? That question kept gnawing at Doctor Felix Santos, so he decided to use his medical privileges to search the Nexus for any abnormalities. He quickly found one a few tables over where several crew members were finishing up their breakfast.

[I'm telling you, when I came back to the shuttle bay an hour later someone had moved hydrogen fuel line by at least two meters.]

[Did you check the security net?]

[Of course I checked the security net, but the images were all blurry for some reason the AI can't explain.]

[That's been happening a lot this week. It must have been the ghosts I've heard so much about.]

The twenty members of this crew had gone through a decade of testing by thousands of the top medical experts on Earth. They were hand-picked not just for their intellectual brilliance, but also for their mental stability. So why in the world were they whispering about ghosts of all things? The Doctor's speculation was cut short when Mission Commander Ike Hoyama activated the community frequency.

[May I please have everyone's attention. The AI has finished its last diagnostic, and I'm happy to report that the Nelson Mandela is operating well within normal parameters. Several systems failed during the long trip out here, but it's nothing that will interfere with our upcoming work.

I've also received a preliminary report from Telemetry, and it looks like the situation on our target planet hasn't changed much in the past forty-eight years. According to all our instruments we're still looking at the same pre-industry society the Vera Rubin Array discovered eighty-one years ago. The local electromagnetic spectrum shows no signs of organized activity. There is large-scale farming, but it's still limited to a single continent. I know some of you were hoping for a more impressive civilization, but this level of development means our chances of a non-catastrophic First Contact have increased. And a non-catastrophic First Contact is why we're all out here in deep space.

One final note: Felix has informed me that you are all ready to report to work, so as this moment your vacations are officially over. I expect everyone at their posts within the hour. That is all.]

That last bit of news made the crew cheer, and soon the kitchen was deserted. All expect for a brilliant and driven Doctor who now had nothing to do. Perhaps these "ghosts" were an unknown side-effect of their prolonged hibernation? They weren't going to arrive at the planet for another six weeks, and that left him plenty of time to do some in-depth research on the problem. The Nelson Mandela was never going to return to Earth, but the laser transmitter would be operational within a month or two. Their messages would take twelve years to reach home, but this kind of medical research could prove to be of vital importance to future interstellar missions.

Filled with a renewed sense of purpose, Doctor Santos abandoned his half-eaten meal and started floating towards the Sick Bay. As a result he didn't notice the subtle popping noise on the other side of the kitchen.

"I can't believe the muggles used nuclear pulse propulsion," Headmistress Hermione Granger (of the Lily Evans University of Magic) complained to Admiral Luna Lovegood (of the Arcane Fleet) as they chatted on the bridge of the starship Neville Longbottom. "Project Orion was first purposed by the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam a hundred and sixty-four years ago."

The design of the muggle's two-thousand meter long starship was brutally simple. There was a bullet-shaped structure when the crew lived, and it was connected to a large metal shield by a series of massive shock absorbers. A nuclear bomb was dropped through a tiny hole in this shield, and after traveling a few hundred meters it exploded. The resulting shock-wave slammed into the shield and drove the starship forward. To have reached Tau Ceti this process must have been repeated thousands upon thousands of times.

"The Banishing Charm is over two-thousand years old, and we still use it as the basis of our propulsion system," Luna remarked. "Besides, if it hadn't been for those nuclear explosions we never would have detected their presence in the solar system so quickly. Can you imagine what would have happen if a starship full of muggles arrived in orbit around Tau Ceti without any warning?"

Hermione grimaced. "They probably would have been destroyed on the spot."

"More than likely. Now that you've had a chance to see their technology, what do you think of it?"

"Frankly, some of it terrifies me," Hermione admitted. "Their propulsion system may be primitive, but their computers are beyond the bleeding-edge. I didn't see any input devices at all, so I'm guessing that they have some kind of wireless interface connected directly to their brains. That would also explain why the crew members rarely speak to one another: they are using this wireless interface for everyday conversations."

"That's what my junior officers thought as well, but it's good to hear you've reached the same conclusion. The muggles are very good-looking, aren't they?"

"Too good-looking and too tall and too... perfect. That beauty strongly suggests that the muggles have begun genetically engineering their offspring."

"Perhaps this crew is the product of a breeding program," Luna suggested. "Like your Glves. Or like our own children for that matter."

"I cross-breed certain bloodlines in order to promote magical strength and intelligence. An individual's physical appearance never affects my decisions," Hermione huffed. "No, I think the muggles now have a technique for manipulating DNA, and they've used it to turn their children into bloody fashion models."

"So they can mentally control their computers, and they have genetically engineered reflexes," Luna theorized. "That means no matter how quickly we stun them, there is a possibility that someone could send one last message to the computers. A message which might order a nuclear attack on Tau Ceti."

"Or it might activate a self-destruct mechanism," Hermione added. "Neither alternative is acceptable. We must protect the planet, but at the same time we must find out why the muggles traveled twelve light-years to Tau Ceti using such a primitive starship. I think we should introduce ourselves. It's the best chance we have to avoid a disaster."

8 March 2110

The doctor of a starship has the legal right to monitor his colleagues' activities regardless of their desire for privacy. The Mission Commander has similar rights, and it turns out that Ike Hoyama was monitoring the computers in Sick Bay. When he learned that Santos was running computer simulations on the optic and cochlear nerves of the entire crew, he immediately call the Doctor to the bridge. Exchanging information on the Nexus was fine for most things, but some conversations required a face-to-face meeting.

Reluctantly Santos floated towards the center of the starship. There—surrounded by one last shell of thick armor—was the command center. The Mission Commander was studying the main holographic tank, which was currently projecting a detail image of the entire solar system. Hoyama's whole demeanor, from the way his black eyes were darting about to the angle at which his magnetic boots were fastened to the steel floor, suggested that he was anxious. That was rather alarming, since the man had been selected for his current post precisely because of his unflappable personality.

[Let me guess: you haven't found any medical problems.]

[I only started the simulations an hour ago, so I of course haven't found any problems yet,] Santos replied carefully. They were using an encrypted frequency, so Hoyama clearly didn't want the rest of bridge crew listening in on this conversation.

[You won't. I've had the AI investigating these "ghost sighting" over the past few days, and they are real. Someone or something is aboard the Nelson Mandela, and their presence is negatively affecting dozens of our electrical systems.]

[Why haven't you informed the crew?]

[And tell them what?] Hoyama asked. [That these simple farmers can teleport themselves across millions of kilometers of outer space, and that they can bypass our internal sensors whenever they feel like it?]

[We were trained to cope with situations just like this.]

Hoyama twitched as if he were in pain. [I wish that was true, but...]

The Mission Commander stopped mid-sentence when two figures materialized on the deck of the command center. At first Santos thought they were human children, since they were both short and wearing pseudo-leather outfits covered with bizarre symbols. No adult would be caught dead wearing something so tasteless. But then he began to study their faces. They weren't quite ugly, but both were in desperate need of some bio-sculpt. The blonde's nose and cheeks were too wide, while the brunette had a sharp chin, dark circles under her eyes, and an excessively large forehead. Once the Doctor looked past these imperfections, it became clear to him that neither one of these females was a child. In fact they both looked to be around thirty or thirty-five years old.

"Hello. My name is Hermione Granger and this is Luna Lovegood," the brunette said in perfect but slightly archaic English. "On behalf of our Chief Warlock, we would like to welcome you to Tau Ceti."

It was at moments like this that Santos wondered how humanity managed to survive before the creation of the Nexus. In less than five seconds Hoyama issued the following orders to his crew:

[*** seal off the command center and initiate quarantine procedures *** at first glance this looks like a "Solaris" gambit, so begin preparing our countermeasures *** perform a full medical scan on our guests *** search the historical records for "Hermione Granger", "Luna Lovegood", and the term "Chief Warlock" *** run a linguistic analysis on that accent; it sounds English, but I want to be sure *** activate the back-up radio transmitter; Earth will be very interested in this latest development *** finally, I'm passing control of the Nelson Mandela to Bidhu Jha; if I began issuing any strange orders, he now has the legal authority to reject them.]

"Hello, my name is Ike Hoyama. On behalf of the United Nations, I would like to welcome you aboard the Nelson Mandela, although I believe you have visited us before today."

"Yes, we have," the one called Granger replied. "Your heavily armed warship is on a direct intercept course for our home planet, and we were very curious about your intentions. Do you plan on conquering Tau Ceti, or will you simply exterminate us?"

[Their knowledge of human psychology is impressive. In less than a minute they already have us on the defensive,] Santos remarked dryly. [A record of one Hermione Granger does exist. She was born in the United Kingdom... in 1979. No further records of her or her parents exist after 1997. Oddly enough her accent is a reasonable match for a young woman raised during that time period.]

[But are they real human beings, or artificial constructs? I need an answer on that question ASAP,] Hoyama told his sarcastic Doctor. [For now I'm going to follow the standard guidelines they gave us back on Earth. Does anyone have any objections?]

They did not.

"We have no intention of attacking our home planet, nor is this starship armed. What you refer to as weapons are simply devices we used to..."

Granger cut him off. "I see they sent us a bloody lawyer. We know how your propulsion system works, but we also know that those nuclear bombs can be reprogrammed in a matter of minutes by your computers, and used against Tau Ceti. If you truly want to gain our trust then I suggest you turn your stockpile of nuclear bombs over to us for safe-keeping. We will be glad to return them to the Nelson Mandela when you're ready to depart from our solar system."

[Jha, what do you think of her request?] Hoyama asked.

[The remaining devices are of no real use, since there aren't enough of them to get us back to Earth. It is a reasonable idea from my perspective.]

"I can assure that we have no hostile intentions towards you or your planet, and we will be happy to transfer our stockpile of nuclear devices to you for safekeeping," Hoyama told the two aliens.

The subsequent talks seemed odd to Santos. The aliens—who looked and acted like perfectly normal human beings—kept telling Hoyama to simply eject the "bombs" into outer space. The Mission Commander reluctant to do that, since there were no spacecraft in the area to retrieve them. The devices would only detonate once they received the proper verification codes, but it still felt wrong to leave them floating out here in the middle of nowhere. The aliens remained insistent, so they finally agreed to their demands.

"Now that we've dealt with that unpleasantness, what would you like to talk about next?" Granger asked.

"We were sent here by the United Nations, the organization which governs our planet, to establish diplomatic relationships with your species. For starters, it might be helpful if you told us what your species is called," Hoyama replied.

"I can only assume you've subjected us to some sort of wireless medical scan by your computers. What do your results indicate?"

[I performed every test I can think of, and as far as I can tell they are both human beings. In fact they are more human than we are, since their DNA shows no signs of modification,] Santos informed the others as he studied the three-dimensional models being projected in front of his eyes by the Nexus. [One point of interest: they both have a sizable rock in their intestines.]

[Are you serious?] Hoyama asked.

[Yes, I am. And both rocks are identical in size.]

[Any weapons?] Jha asked.

[They are both carrying a piece of wood approximately twenty-five centimeters long, but they are too fragile to be of much use in a scuffle.]

"Our scans indicate that you are human beings, but that is impossible," Hoyama explained. "We are the first members of our species to travel beyond the confines our native solar system."

"He honestly believes what he is saying is true," Lovegood told her companion. She had been staring into the Mission Commander's eyes for the past few minutes with a disturbing amount of intensity.

"This starship is run by an advanced computer. Is this computer allowed to take independent action without a direct order from a human being?" Granger asked.

[I don't like where this conversation is going,] Jha said.

[We all volunteered for this mission knowing the risks. If they plan on killing us... then so be it. We were sent out here to forge a peace relationship with the aliens, not to start an interstellar war with them,] Hoyama reminded his crewmates.

"In event of our deaths the AI has standing orders to plot a course directly into the local star, where the Nelson Mandela will be destroyed."

"Again, he honestly believes that."

"I think we're in the clear," Granger said, and the relief was evident in her voice. "You may proceed."

Lovegood quickly tapped a small piece of glass attached to her wrist. Out of the corner of his eye Santos saw more of the aliens materialized around the bridge. They was one directly behind each member of the crew, and they all had slim wooden sticks in their hands. There was a brief flash of light from the tips of these sticks, and then everything went black.

8 March 2110

Santos regained consciousness in a prison cell right out of a fairy tale. The floor, the walls, the door, the high ceiling, the narrow bed, and the old-fashioned chamber pot were all made out of solid gold. Why gold? The design was probably meant to prevent any form of communication from reaching a prisoner. With this first puzzle out of the way, the Doctor finally noticed that his teeth were missing. It wasn't much of a surprise when he thought about it, since his teeth served as an organic antenna for the Nexus. His fingernails, toenails, and body hair had also been removed while he was unconscious.

Santos wasn't particularly worried about any of this. What did worry him was the loss of his nanobots. Somehow the microscopic machines had been removed from his body, and their absence made him feel naked. Or perhaps more naked, since he didn't have any cloths on at the moment. Without his nanobots he was susceptible to alien viruses and radiation sickness and who knows what else.

A few hours later the massive vault-like door of his cell swung open, and the alien called Hermione Granger walked in carrying a white robe and a small gas canister. "I'm sorry about the way you've been treated thus far, but muggles have never been very popular with my people."

"Muggles?" Santos asked as he put on cotton robe she handed him. The sound of his voice was shocking: without any teeth he sounded mentally challenged.

"It's a derogatory term we use then referring to normal human beings."

"As opposed to extraordinary human beings like you and your friends?"

Granger smiled. "I figured you'd be intelligent. Some of my colleagues thought you and your crewmates be transformed into drooling idiots once we unplugged your brains."

"We are not allowed to use the Nexus before our eighteenth birthday," Santos explained. "Until then a child is forced to use a standard Data Pad. It takes a certain level of maturity and mental discipline to handle the Nexus on a full-time basis."

"Please sit down, and feel free to use the oxygen in that canister."

"The air is a bit thin, and if I'm not mistaken the gravity is stronger."

"Tau Ceti is habitable, but just barely," Granger admitted. "I'm afraid I have a few questions for you."

Santos nodded his head—that is why they were out here in the first place. "What would you like to know about?"

"Let's start with a general timeline of Earth history starting in 1998."

"There was a Hermione Granger born in the Untied Kingdom, but she disappeared in 1997," Santos whispered to himself. He then took a deep drag of from the canister, and the pure oxygen made him feel even more light-headed. "How can any of this be happening?"

"The answers to your many questions will have to wait for now. The timeline?"

With a few minor exceptions the Earth was a relatively boring place up until 2017. That's the year when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed, and raised the level of the world's oceans by three meters. Places like Miami, Venice, Dhaka, Rangoon, and Singapore were completely swamped, while tens of thousands of other coastal cities had to be partial abandoned. The resulting political and economic chaos lead to dozens of minor conflicts, two of which quickly escalated into full-blown nuclear wars.

"You had a global flood of biblical proportions and two nuclear wars all in the same year?" Granger asked in disbelief. "That's... that's..."

"That's when the United Nations took over. It wasn't done out of any sense of idealism. The three largest military powers left standing needed a fig-leaf to hide the fact that they were reimposing colonial rule over the rest of the world. Despite this less-than-honorable beginning the system has worked reasonable well since then. If you respect basic human rights, hold free elections once every five years, and don't invade any of your neighbors the UN pretty much leaves you alone," Santos explained.

"And people actually went along with this new world government?"

"The new UN Peacekeepers were the stick, and the new biotechnology of that era was the carrot. If an individual government caused too much trouble, its people were cut-off from the advanced medical treatments which were being discovered at such a rapid pace."

This led to a long discussion about genetic engineering, nanobots, and the Nexus. All these technological advances were tightly controlled by the UN, and in the end most people were willing to accept the new political reality in exchange for a much-higher standard of living. Granger was fascinated by all of this, but she kept coming back to the subject of nanobots.

"Aren't you concerned about the "Gray Goo" doomsday scenario?"

"All nanobots are hardwired to stop reproducing after a ten generations," Santos explained. "Still, the UN is well aware of the risks, and they take enforcement very seriously. Any scientist who violates the law is immediately put on trial, and in any given year dozens are executed for violating the protocols."

"That sounds barbaric, but I suppose it's necessary given your level of technology," Granger allowed. "How did you know that we removed the ones in your body?"

"Those nanobots were designed to monitor my health, and they send all relevant medical information to my Nexus. When I regained consciousness I saw that they were no longer broadcasting, so it was only logical to assume that they had been removed from my body."

"My colleagues wanted to remove your "Nexus"—as you call it—but it snakes its way through your entire skull. I argued that such an invasive operation would've caused permanent brain damage."

"You were certainly right about that," Santos muttered.

"Then tell me how to safely shut the bloody thing off. If you don't, they will go ahead with the operation anyway. On you, and on all of your crewmates."

After a long technical discussion about the Nexus they moved on to the year 2029. That is when the newest space telescope discovered the presence of life on Tau Ceti. And not just any life, but intelligent life capable of agriculture. The United Nations decided to send a manned mission to make First Contact, but building the Nelson Mandela was an engineering nightmare. It was nearly thirty-three years before the starship was finally ready to launch.

"Why do you use such a primitive propulsion system?" Granger asked. "Why not use solar sails or a fusion drive? Or better yet, an antimatter drive?"

Santos laughed, an act which felt very different without any teeth in his mouth. "We've made a great deal of progress in the life sciences, and when it comes to physics we are still far from perfect. We tried solar sails, but they were too delicate for the rigors of outer space. A fusion drive was deemed too unreliable for a trip that was going to last nearly fifty years. We've made some progress with antimatter, but it still cost around trillion dollars per pound to produce. Traveling to Tau Ceti would have required hundreds of pounds, and that kind of money simply wasn't in the budget."

"So you turned to the old designs from Project Orion, which were both technically and economically feasible."

"You know, if you really are the same Hermione Granger who was born on Earth that would make you about one-hundred and thirty-one years old." Santos remarked as he stared at his interrogator. "But you don't look a day over twenty-nine."

"Flattery isn't going to get you out of this cell."

"Any suggestions on what will get me out of this cell? I'm very curious to see this new world of yours."

Granger looked away in shame. "Doctor Santos, in here you're reasonably safe from harm. Out there among my people I don't think you would last more than five minutes."

18. Chapter 18

14 April 2110

The scene was a walled courtyard, baking beneath the harsh midday sun of Tau Ceti. The twenty muggle prisoners were wearing nothing but simple white robes as they huddled together in the meager shade. They were all bald and toothless, but that did little to mask their inhuman beauty from the invisible wizard who was watching them.

"Granger and the others may be genetic mutants of some kind, but they're definitely from Earth," Doctor Felix Santos told Bidhu Jha, the second-ranking officer of the Nelson Mandela. "I'm sure of it."

"According to the security analysis from the AI, the aliens were sneaking around the starship for days, perhaps far longer. They could have easily hacked into our systems during that time," Jha argued as he wiped the copious sweat away from his eyes. The stifling humidity of the jungle planet made the heat seem even worse. "Personally I think this whole charade being staged for our benefit."

"You're wrong. An alien might be able to fake a general discussion of facts, but Granger knows all the nonverbal social cues human beings exchange in everyday life. You can't absorbed information of that nature from a computer, not even from an AI as sophisticated as ours."

"What if they are using telepathy on us? The one called Lovegood said she could tell if the Mission Commander was telling the truth or lying."

"Noticing a simple lie isn't the same thing as full-blown telepathy," Santos pointed out. "Besides, if they could really read our minds then why would they waste so much time questioning all of us?"

Hoyama shook his head. "You are assigning human thought processes to this situation, and that goes against all our training. In case you've forgotten, we are dealing with aliens. We have no idea what truly motivates them."

The discussion continued on in this vein for over an hour. Half of the crew supported Santos's view that they had rediscovered a lost tribe of human beings, while the others thought they were currently living inside an alien form of virtual reality. Hoyama argued that it didn't matter. Either way their mission remained the same: to establish friendly relations with the aliens, whoever or whatever they ultimately were, and then send their report back to Earth by any means available.

As the prisoners returned to their cells for the night, Harry Potter exited from the room to find his unofficial war council waiting for him. They had all gathered here at Fleet Headquarters, which was located on moon Selena which orbited around Tau Ceti. The muggle prisoners might believe they were down on the planet below, but in reality they were been kept in a modern version of the Room of Requirements which perfectly mimicked the surface environment. Exposing the civilian population to those diabolical nanobots was a risk the Chief Warlock was not willing to take.

"Are they always like that?" Harry asked.

"What are you talking about?" a curious Hermione asked her oldest friend.

"Are they always so... rational? Anyone with half a brain would realize that we're going to execute them at some point, but all they're doing is debating the nature of reality like a bunch of daft Ravenclaws. No offense."

"None taken," Luna and Padma replied at the same time.

"From everything we've been able to learn, it seems that these muggles signed on for a suicide mission," Hermione explained. "Their starship doesn't have the fuel or the food needed for a return voyage to Earth. They already know they're never going to leave Tau Ceti alive, so what's the point of panicking at this point?"

"You've spent the most time interacting with the prisoners, so tell me: is our plan still viable?"

Hermione pondered Harry's question for a moment before replying. "In some ways the current political situation on Earth will help us, but it all depends on how good we are at evading their surveillance technology. According to Doctor Santos their AI couldn't see us directly. Instead it noticed the subtle affects our magic had on the other electronic systems. In a way it reminds me of the old Sherlock Holmes story: the AI was paying attention to the dog that didn't bark."

"Luna, you and George have been studying their starship for a month. Have you reached any tentative conclusions?"

"Getting the AI to talk to us was difficult at first, but it has finally accepted the fact that we are human beings. Now the bloody thing won't shut-up," the Admiral told her Chief Warlock. "According to the data we've found the muggles have made some incredible advances, but the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary in nature. Or at least they were forty-eight years ago."

"Forty-eight years ago," George repeated for emphasize. "That's the key bit of information to keep in mind."

"Barring some radical change in their basic technology, I still think our new and improved Disillusionment Charm will protect us," Luna added. "There is a big difference between the confined space of a starship and the open environment of an entire planet or a solar system. But I've been wrong about the muggles and their capabilities in the past. I might be wrong this time as well."

"It's a risk we must take," Ginny argued. "We will never be able match their raw numbers, and if we wait any longer to carry out the plan it will only give them more time to improve their bloody machines."

Thanks to the extensive use of artificial wombs, the total population of Tau Ceti and its sister colony New Hogwarts had climbed from a starting point of four thousand people to well over a million in less than a century. This number included over sixty thousand squibs, but Hermione had finally solved that problem. Thanks to her program of genetic screening, it had been thirty-two years since the birth of the last non-magical child. Despite this heroic effort, Ginny was right: they were never going to match the number of muggles back on Earth.

Harry turned to his official wife, who was sitting with her twin sister on the far side of the conference table. After the debacle on Yggdrasil, the Chief Warlock had laid down some new ground rules concerning her religion. There were to be no more golden temples, statues, paintings, or religious ceremonies held in the nude. If she wanted to continue worshiping Sybill Trelawney that was her prerogative, but in the future she would do so in a dignified manner.

Unfortunately Parvati once again outmaneuvered her foolish husband by quickly adopting a flamboyantly ascetic lifestyle. She kept a strict vegan diet, made her own simple robes by hand, wore no jewelry or make-up, and only preached about the glories of the Great Sybill outside under the stars at night. All these "hardships" only made her more popular with the masses.

But it was her next move that really caught Harry off guard. Parvati and her acolytes began tested every wizard and witch on Tau Ceti, looking for signs of the "Inner Eye" as she called it. The number of seers she found was tiny, but all their visions were extensively analyzed by Padma's team of skilled Arithmancers. At first Harry had been skeptical of this "Temporal Intelligence", but their predictions had proven to be highly accurate on several occasions. For example they insisted the muggles would eventually seek them out here on Tau Ceti, and the target date they had given the Wizengamot was off by only six years.

"Do your seers have any more advice for me?" he asked the twins.

Padma look down a her complex equations before answering. "We must to return to Earth. Any other course of action will lead to disaster."

"What kind of disaster?" Ginny asked.

"A terrible one," Parvati declared in her most pretentious voice.

"Well, that certainly clears it up," Hermione muttered. Despite her love for Arithmancy, she had no faith in "Temporal Intelligence" and thought their predictions were absolute rubbish.

Harry wasn't so sure. His life had been dominated by two major Prophecies, and he saw no reason to ignore what could potentially be a valuable resource. Their chances of victory against the muggles were slim, and they needed all the advantages they could get.

"General Skeeter, what's the status of the Animagi Corp?"

There was nothing Rita Skeeter loved more than being the center of attention, and she paused dramatically for several seconds before finally giving him an answer. "The Animagi Corp is ready to do our part for the cause. Of course the Great Sybill demands nothing less," she added with a sly smile.

Sometimes Harry thought Rita's Animagus form should have been a cockroach instead of a beetle. The bloody witch had managed to survive the migration from Earth to Yggdrasil to Tau Ceti without a scratch. Not only had she survived, she had thrived. Instead of returning to her career as a lowly tabloid reporter, she started to train new Animagi. For a hefty price, of course. Over the decades her personal army of spies had grown to include three thousand shape-shifters, and all of them would be needed on Earth.

The secret alliance between Parvati and Rita was the main reason why he was still the Chief Warlock after all these years. Parvati provided the spiritual propaganda, while Rita and her Animagi provided the necessary political dirt on his enemies. Their political tricks often left Harry disgusted with himself, but the alternative was far worse. If another idiot like Nicolas Flamel or Draco Malfoy rose to power it could end up destroying everything they had built.

Finally Harry turned to the most dangerous and important member of the war council. According to many local scholars, the debate over "nature" versus "nurture" had been finally been settle here on Tau Ceti. Despite Hermione's valiant effort to turn them into nice little pacifists, the Glves had evolved into a society of savage warriors much like their Goblin ancestors. For example Fera had become the current "Dobby" by slaying the old "Dobby" in single combat using nothing more than his razor-sharp claws, and afterwords he turned his predecessor's skull into a prized drinking goblet. It was sometimes hard to believe that the Glves had any blood from the meek house-elves running through their veins.

"What does the Dobby think about all this? Are the Glves still willing to play their part once we reach Earth?"

Fera slammed his small fist on the conference table. "The Glves will have their vengeance against the foul muggles, no matter the cost. They will die... slowly."

"That's good to hear," Harry murmured. "Admiral Lovegood, are the Crookshanks and the Buckbeak ready to launch?"

"Yes, their capacitors and food stores are at one-hundred percent. After the Muggles arrived the healers produced two fresh copies of Hermione's genetic catalog, and they were loaded on the starships yesterday."

Currently there were only twenty thousand people on New Hogwarts. The planet was in the middle of a lengthy ice age, but the land along the equator was quite pleasant. Much more so than the hot and humid Tau Ceti at any rate. Once the new genetic catalogs reached the settlers they would have the fresh sperm and eggs needed in order to ensure a genetically diverse population if Tau Ceti was conquered by the muggles. New Hogwarts was nearly one-hundred and ten light years away from Earth, and that vast distance was an excellent line of defense.

"Good, I want both starships launched within the week. Once they are gone, begin prepping the Remus Lupin and the Nymphadora Tonks."

Unlike the Crookshanks and the Buckbeak which were designed to carry passengers and cargo, the Remus Lupin and the Nymphadora Tonks were battlecrusiers. They had been built with extra capacitors, extra propulsion emitters, extra shield emitters, and two magical rail guns capable of accelerating a metal projectile to a speed of thousand kilometers per second. They also had a large stockpile of portkey bombs and mines, and the advanced sensors needed to deploy them accurately. Most importantly they were capable of projecting the latest version of the Disillusionment Charm over their entire hulls.

"Hermione, when is our next window of opportunity?"

"Mercury will be in an optimal position in two-hundred and sixty days."

"Then that's when we Floo Jump," Harry said quietly. With that simple sentence he had just committed them to a course of action which would either bring them a final victory over the muggles, or another costly defeat they would probably never be able to recover from.

"As our top muggle expert Hermione will accompany me on the Remus Lupin during our scouting mission, while Daphne and her construction crew will be using the Nymphadora Tonks to land on Mercury. Luna, you will be in command of Arcane Fleet during my absence. Give us a year to prepare, and then follow us to Earth."

5 January 2111

During its elliptical orbit the planet Mercury comes within forty-six million kilometers of the Sun. As a result of this proximity its surface temperature can easily top four hundred degrees Celsius, which is hot enough to melt lead. But it's a different story at the poles, especially in the Chao Meng-Fu crater. Parts of the gigantic crater are permanently hidden from the Sun, and over billions of years a large quantity of comet ice had accumulated in its frigid depths. This was destination of the Nymphadora Tonks, a fact which greatly annoyed the battlecrusier's beautiful captain.

"I can't believe Potter sent us here," Daphne whined as only a pureblood princess could. "Mining ore in an asteroid belt is one thing, but working this close to the Sun is suicidal. Why couldn't you get us posted to New Hogwarts?"

"Because this job is important, and only someone as brilliant as you can get it done," Ron replied as he gently massaged her sore shoulders.

Daphne sighed. Her husband was so bloody honorable and loyal that it made her want to scream. If he wasn't so bloody well-connected and handsome she would have divorced him years ago. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

"It looks like Granger's astronomical calculations were correct. We were hidden from the Earth's view during our entire deceleration, and we should be able to set down in the crater without the muggles knowing a thing."

"Are you worried that the new Disillusionment Charm isn't going to work against their telescopes and sensors?"

"It's better to assume that it doesn't," Daphne replied. "We're going to be in a very vulnerable position down there, and I don't want any unexpected visitors while we work."

Touchdown was a bit tricky, since Mercury's gravity was about forty percent of Earth's. Once the Nymphadora Tonks was safely on the surface it began to disgorge thousands of space lorries from its twenty meter-wide, egg-shaped hull. The first order of business was to dig a hanger for their battlecrusier, and then hide before any muggle telescopes could spot them. Solar radiation was another major concern, especially this close to the Sun. Mercury actually had a weak magnetic field which offered them some protection, but it was much safer for the crew to live and work beneath a dozen meters of solid rock.

After the Nymphadora Tonks was tucked away, work began on the rail gun. Unlike the smaller versions on the battlecrusiers, this rail gun was going to be big. Really, really big. To escape the gravity wells of first Mercury and then the Sun itself required a great deal of speed. That meant they had to dig a tunnel ten kilometers long, and then line it with capacitors. Luckily Daphne and Ron had been doing this kind of work for a hundred years, and they only brought along their most experienced and skilled employees.

In addition to the rail gun, the Greengrass Construction Company also completed a number of side projects. A metal smelter was built, and the rubble from the long tunnel was refined into a large stockpile of refined metal. This was used not just for the rail gun projectiles, but also to manufacture a wide section of spare parts. Another factory was built to convert the comet ice into surplus drinking water, oxygen, and rocket fuel. They also built several extra hangars, in case the other battlecrusiers needed to a safe haven to carry out repairs.

"Finished a month ahead of schedule and with only eight fatalities," Daphne purred as she surveyed the industrial complex her people had built from scratch in less than a year. "Sweet Merlin, I'm good."

"No, you're the best," Ron told her.

Daphne glanced over at the lanky ginger. Let that fool Parvati Potter have her thousands of nameless worshippers. She only needed one.

When the Nymphadora Tonks exited from the Sun it made a beeline for Mercury, but that wasn't the case for the Remus Lupin. Instead the second battlecrusier had set a course for Earth itself. They had no intention of landing. Instead they would slowly orbit the planet and gather as much intelligence as they could without being caught. Or so Harry hoped.

"There is less debris around the Earth now than were was when we left a hundred and ten years ago," Hermione explained as they studied the images from the battlecrusier's many telescopes. "The United Nations spent billions of dollars disposing of the old space junk left from the late twentieth century. I can assure you that we are in no immediate danger, especially at this distance."

"What are all those huge mirrors for?" Ginny asked.

"They are solar power satellites. They collect radiation from the Sun and convert it into microwaves. The microwaves are then beamed down to the surface of the Earth, and used to power the muggles' electrical grid."

"They look awfully fragile," Harry said causally.

"Yeah, they sure do," a grinning Ginny agreed.

Hermione frowned. She wasn't very happy about the next part of the plan. "Beyond that there isn't much to see. There are only a few weather satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The muggles don't use communication satellites anymore, since the surface is covered with billions of small antennas which are linked together by a planet-wide network of fiber optic cables. There are over forty space telescopes currently in operation, but they are all stationed out at the various Lagrange points."

Slowly the Remus Lupin settled into orbit just beyond the Moon. They had "liberated" several data pads from the Nelson Mandela, and George had built a crude generator to provide them with a steady source of electricity. As they circled around the Earth they slowly gathered all kinds of useful information from the muggles' wireless communication network.

"Things are better than I had originally feared," Hermione told them after a month of careful observation. "Luna was right: there hasn't better any revolutionary changes in their basic technology during the past fifty years. They still don't have a FTL propulsion system, a workable form of anti-gravity, or a method for mass-producing antimatter. They do have manned research bases on the Moon and Mars, but they've ignored the economic potential of the local asteroid belt. Despite all their other advantages they are still basically stuck down in the Earth's gravity well."

"That explains why they don't have any space-based industry outside of those solar power satellites. So the muggles are stationary, while we are mobile," Harry reasoned. "OK, let's start sending the targeting information to Daphne and Ron."

All the battlecrusiers were linked together with enchanted mirrors that provide instantaneous communication, even over the large distance between the Earth and Mercury. "Spooky interaction at a distance", Hermione always called it. Over the next few months they converted their detailed observations into mathematical data which was used to aim the giant rain gun Daphne had built. Finally Harry gave the order to fire.

The battle that followed was like nothing any of them had experienced before. For starters it took a over hundred days for the disillusioned projectiles from Mercury to reach the Earth. The fragile satellites didn't stand a chance against this mass barrage, and they basically disintegrated into tiny pieces after being hit. The dispersal patterns of all this new space junk made it easy for the United Nations to track the invisible projectiles back to their point of origin on Mercury. The question was how where the muggle leaders going to respond to this unprovoked attack?

The answer came four months later when a thin cylinder of blackish material was launched from a spaceport in Kenya using six large rockets. Once in outer space this relativity small cylinder slowly began to expand and reshape itself into an impressive looking starship. Another rocket was launched from Kenya a few weeks later, this one carrying a crew. According to the news reports they were receiving on the Remus Lupin, this new starship was being sent on a peaceful mission to establish contact with the hostile aliens based on Mercury.

"That cylinder must have been made completely out of nanobots, and they were programed to build a starship once they reached outer space," Hermione explained. "It looks like the art of transfiguration is no longer a purely magical phenomenon."

"It was an impressive display," Harry agreed. "Too impressive in my opinion."

The muggle starship—according to the news reports it was called the Dag Hammarskjold—soon engaged its fusion drive and began accelerating. The Remus Lupin stayed in orbit to keep a watch over Earth, since they really weren't needed for the next part of the battle. Admiral Lovegood had arrived in the solar system right on schedule with five more battlecrusiers of the Arcane Fleet, and she was in a perfect position to ambush the muggles as they made their way towards Mercury.

As they waited for this first phase of the war to reach its inevitable conclusion, Hermione became more and more agitated with each passing day. Finally she dragged Harry off to a secluded park inside the Sphere at the center of the Remus Lupin. Unlike the dull gray material of the original Sphere he had created for the original Hedwig, this latest-generation Sphere resembled a small city filled with dozens of green parks and blue lakes. There was even a tiny "sun" hanging in the "sky" which flickered on and off each day. Their knowledge of how to manipulate the Expansion Charm had certainly come a long way in the last one-hundred years.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Hermione asked.

"No, I don't want to go through with this," Harry replied without hesitation. "But we have no choice. The muggles tried to annihilate us once, and if we give them another chance at some point they will try again."

"I'm not so sure anymore. I won't claim that they have created a utopia on Earth, but their system of government is far more democratic than ours. They have also done away with poverty and disease for the most part. And in many ways their new technology makes our magic look hopelessly primitive by comparison."

"All of that is true," Harry said. "But what they have not changed... what they can not change is basic human nature. No matter how idealistic they seem on the surface, in their hearts they will always hate us for being different. They will always be a threat to our existence, just like Yggdrasil was."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

"I'm sorry Hermione, but that's where you're wrong."

19. Chapter 19

6 March 2112

When the Chief Warlock ordered Admiral Lovegood to lead a dangerous attack against the muggles it made her husband George Weasley a bit upset. When Luna decided to take the Neville Longbottom ahead alone, and leave the other two battlecrusiers behind as a reserve force it made him really upset. But when his wife call him to her private tower in the Sphere and told him she that was going to apparate over to the enemy starship during the first wave of the attack he completely lost it.

"Admirals aren't suppose to lead their Aurors into battle!" he shouted. "You're suppose to stay behind the lines where it's safe, and let those Trelawney-worshipping fanatics get killed in your place!"

"Most of the Aurors we brought along are barely in their twenties," Luna replied as she continued to stare out the huge picture window. Her tower was over sixty meters high, and it had a marvelous view of the Sphere's artificial landscape. "I, however, am a one-hundred and thirty year-old hag with over five-thousand known descendents."

"It's not your fault that Hermione and her subordinates thinks so highly of your DNA," George argued. "Besides, that has nothing to do..."

"It has everything to do with my decision. I've already lived a long and rewarding life. I'm not going to let those children risk their lives in my place. This mission will be strictly voluntary, and only those over the age of one-hundred will be allowed to put their names forward."

"Then I volunteer."

"No, you will stay behind and take command of the Neville Longbottom. If the mission goes sour it will be your duty to destroy the muggle starship," Luna told him. "We can't allow them to escape from this ambush with knowledge of how our Disillusionment Charm works."

George was sorely tempted to argue, but he knew it would be pointless. The crew was fiercely loyal their Admiral, and he would be arrested within minutes if he tried to interfere with her plans. Overpowering his wife wasn't an option either. In a hundred years of friendly duels his only victories over her came through cheating—something he did with great deal of flair and creativity. In truth the only person he could defeat her with any regularity was the great Harry Potter himself.

"And one other thing: you are not a hag."

"It's hard not to feel like one after dealing with the muggle prisoners we brought along from Tau Ceti. I think Hermione is right about their attitude towards genetic engineering. They do favor the trivial traits like beauty and height over things that are truly important."

"Things like magic?" George suggested.

"Yes, magic would be a good example of their lack of vision."

"I think we've both been spending way too much time around Parvati."

Luna shuddered as she finally turned around to face him. "If I ever start going on about the Great Sybill, please put me out of my misery."

"If it comes to that, I will put us both out of our misery," George said as he wrapped his arms around her. "When do you leave?"

"We will be in attack position in five hours."

"Good, then let's go to bed."

"No, I need to stay here and monitor the tactical situation."

"No, you need a distraction. And so do I."

The distraction lasted for about twenty minutes, which George thought was pretty respectable for a wizard of his advanced age. Afterwords, they showered together and then dressed in their custom magical armor. Even if he wasn't going to personally take part in the battle, it still made sense to be prepared. It seems that most of the crew shared his opinion. When they reached the bridge they found that everyone was wearing armor rather than their regular uniforms.

"A tactical update, if you please," Luna said to her senior officers.

That wasn't a problem since the Neville Longbottom had over a twenty telescopes pointed directly at the muggle starship, which was less than a hundred meters away. Thanks to their matching velocities the Dag Hammarskjold seemed to be standing still at the moment. In an odd way it resembled a massive broom. The starship's long black hull was very thin, while its rear end was dominated by the fiery plume of its fusion engine.

The intense radiation of that fusion engine was a major cause for concern. George was sure their shield emitters would keep them safe, but the violent interaction of the two different forms of energy might give away their position. Luna was also worried the muggles' various sensors: they were currently pointed at Mercury, but there was an off chance they might be able to detect the Neville Longbottom. Because of these two threats the battlecrusier had carefully approached its target at an oblique angle.

"We have positively identified their laser communication system," one of the Lieutenants told the Admiral. "Both rail guns have been aimed, and they are ready to fire on your command."

Luna turned to address the twenty Aurors who would join her during the first wave of the attack. "We are about to eliminate their ability to communicate with Earth, and once that happens we will immediately apparate over to the enemy starship. You've all studied the diagrams of what we think the interior looks like, but there is an excellent chance some of us will splinch or apparate directly into a bulkhead. If that happens activate your emergency beacon and maintain your position until a healer comes to your aid. I expect all of you to carry out your orders in a professional manner. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Admiral Lovegood!"

Twenty minutes later Harry received a message from Luna, who was being treated by a team of four healers. The attack on the Dag Hammarskjold had not gone according to plan. The muggles had designed their new starship for war, and its internal defense systems reflected that fact. As soon as the Aurors began stunning the crew, they came under intense fire from multiple sources. The most common threat were high-velocity needles which were coated with a pharmaceutical compound that quickly induced paralysis. Several of the compartments also sealed shut automatically, and were filled with a highly-effective form of sleeping gas. These defensive measures failed to cause any fatalities—mostly because the muggles couldn't see their intended targets—but the news was still an unpleasant shock for Harry.

"Do you have their starship under control now?"

"No, not at all," Luna replied. She had been hit by ten of those bloody darts, but luckily she was still able to speak. "The level of security around this AI is impossible for us to breach. I suggest we destroy the muggle starship immediately. My officers believe the AI no longer has the means to communicate with Earth, but there is no way we can be certain of that fact."

"By now the muggles back on Earth know something is wrong, and I don't want them to learn anything more about our space-based weapons."

"Their fusion reactor is still working, so we'll just place a few hundred kilograms of explosives in the compartment next to it. That should cause an explosion big enough to destroy the entire Dag Hammarskjold."

"Good, then do it. The Arthur Weasley and Minerva McGonagall are will arrive at Mars in two months. While they are moving into position I will order Daphne to destroy all the remaining muggle satellites, space telescopes, and research bases in the solar system. A day before the targets are hit we will capture the scientist working at the bases on Mars and here on the Moon. The muggles will be completely isolated on Earth, while we'll be in control of everything else."

Luna shook her head. "That kind of provocation will force them to attack Mercury again. My guess is that this time they'll used stealth missiles armed with their latest antimatter warheads."

"Hermione told me the muggles still couldn't mass-produce antimatter."

"They don't have enough for an interstellar voyage to Tau Ceti, but with their current supply they could produce several dozen warheads. Maybe even more."

"That's just great," Harry muttered. "That rail gun was always meant to be a decoy, and decoys are meant to be sacrificed. Once Daphne finishes launching the projectiles she will excavate from Mercury. The Nymphadora Tonks will link-up with your three battlecrusiers, and then your squadron will rendezvous with the Remus Lupin here on the dark side of the Moon."

"Harry, I have to agree with Hermione: the muggles' current level of technology is simply incredible. Do you still intend to go ahead with the plan?"

"We've come too far to turn back now."

29 June 2112

At some point during their childhood every little boy and girl in the world dreams about becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations. So do many adults for that matter. Thanks to the dreaded UN Peacekeepers and their high-tech weapons, it is the single most powerful job on Earth.

If the naïve fools only knew the awful truth, Vilius Storostas thought to himself as he tried to listen to the three-hundred and forty members of the General Assemble. Even using his Nexus he still found it impossible to follow the raucous debate taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Back before the Great Flood of 2017 being the Secretary-General had been so much easier. All you had to do was keep the five permanent members of the Security Council happy, and your job was secure for ten years. Now he had to deal with an ever-increasing number of nations, some of which were little more than jumped-up city-states. The Ambassadors from each one of these "nations" demanded constant attention. Anything less would be considered an insult to their precious dignity.

[The fact that the aliens arrived only two years after the Nelson Mandela reached Tau Ceti is no coincidence,] the Ambassador from Paraguay declared over the Nexus.

Despite the obvious truth of this statement, over a hundred of the other Ambassadors expressed their disbelief using various digital signals. Idiots. Of course the aliens were from Tau Ceti. The only question that remained was how these so-called "primitive farmers" had developed a FTL drive, something which the world's top scientists still thought was theoretically impossible. If any of the space telescopes were still operational they might be able to give an answer to that question, which is probably why the aliens destroyed all the space telescopes in the solar system yesterday.

[We must begin the construction of more starships,] the Nepalese Ambassador suggested, but she was quickly shouted down.

The Dag Hammarskjold alone had cost over four trillion dollars, and it had been paid for entirely with borrowed money. Even after ninety years the people of Earth were still were dealing with the economic aftermath of the Great Flood. Added to this was the loss of the solar power satellites, and the fact that the "alien invasion" had caused the stock market to crash. Finding another twenty trillion dollars to pay for a new fleet in the middle of this economic disaster would be difficult, to put it mildly.

[We must declare martial law, and assume direct control over the planetary economy. That's the only way to gather the financial resources we need to deal with this crisis.]

Rather than use his Nexus, Secretary-General Storostas muttered a rude curse in his native Lithuanian tongue. Since the United Nations now had a monopoly over military force, the individual nations of the world jealously guarded their monetary wealth. It was the only real source of power they had left. Martial law or even the rumor of higher taxes almost certainly spark a number of revolts, even with the threat of an alien invasion hanging over the world.

No, if they wanted more money the only way they were going to get it was by sending in the Peacekeepers to physical disable the local firewalls. That was something Storostas would never do. Such an act would forever destroy the political and moral legitimacy of the United Nations.

The debate suddenly came to an end when the Nexus informed them that an unknown object had emerged from behind the Moon. It was roughly twenty meters in size, and if it maintained its current course it would hit this area of Switzerland.

The resulting panic was almost comical in nature: in a just few hours every Ambassador had fled Europe, and according to his intelligence sources most still hadn't stopped running.

[Sir, we need to move you to a secure location,] a Captain from the Peacekeepers informed him later in the day. They were both standing on the roof of the building when the General Assemble held its daily meetings, and from up here it was possible to watch the mass exodus taking place down on the streets below

"I am staying right where I am," Storostas informed the young woman. "If the aliens have decided to bomb us from orbit then running away won't keep me safe. However if they have finally decided to talk to us, then I plan on being here in Geneva to greet them on behalf of the human race. That is my job after all."

[Sir, what about the civilians and the bureaucracy?] the Captain asked. [There are a lot of confused people out there, and they could use some direction.]

That was a valid point, so Storostas activated the city-wide emergency channel which only he had access to. [Attention: this is Secretary-General Storostas. I am hereby ordering all nonessential personal to leave the area at once. That is all.]

"Is that good enough for you Captain?"

[Yes Sir.]

"I'm glad to hear it." Storostas replied without a trace of sarcasm. After all, the poor woman was only doing her job. "You and your fellow Peacekeepers may leave the city once the civilian evaluation is complete."

[If it's all the same Sir, me and my troops would like to stay here by your side for the duration of the current crisis. I don't think the aliens will be very intimidated by soldiers who abandon their commander-in-chief at the first hint of danger.]

"As you wish."

The wait lasted for three days, but the tension finally broke when the Nexus informed them that the object was now decelerating at a rapid pace. It seemed likely that it was going to land right here in Geneva, probably down by the Lake. Storostas took that as a good omen. How could any sentient being want to make war in such a picturesque setting? Unfortunately others were not so optimistic about the aliens' upcoming visit.

[This could be the beginning of a biological attack,] the Secretary-General's top scientific adviser explained. The woman was a famous physicist with an IQ well into the two-hundreds. [Or the aliens might be carrying micro-organisms which are harmless to them, but lethal to human beings. I strongly recommend that you prevent the alien starship from landing by any means necessary.]

[Absolutely not,] Storostas declared. [This may be our only chance to find out what the aliens want, and to stop this war before any more lives are lost. I will meet with their leader, even at the risk of my own life.]

[At least let the Peacekeepers establish a hundred kilometer quarantine zone around Geneva, and have nuclear drones standing by to sterilize the area if we are in fact dealing with an unknown bio-hazard.]

[Those are sensible precautions. Make it so.]

The physicist carried on with her scientific briefing, which included a number of detailed holograms. [The object is an oblong sphere. It's made out of an odd titanium alloy we aren't familiar with, and there is no obvious source of thrust. It appears the aliens have developed some type of reactionless drive, which is a clear violation of Newton's Third Law of Motion.]

[Do you have any useful information for me?] Storostas asked. He had very little patience for scientists at the best times, and this wasn't the best of times.

[No Sir, not really.]

On the third day a small dot appeared in the sky, and slowly began to expand in size. As predicted, the object gently settled down right next to Lake Geneva using a set of retractable land pads. The metal hull was covered by dozens of odd ceramic tiles, but it was the large circular airlock that everyone was watching. Secretary-General Storostas wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to see emerge from the starship, but it certainly wasn't a huge flying dragon. And the dragon wasn't alone: it had a small humanoid riding on his back. Soon a second dragon appeared and then a third, each one with a humanoid rider on its back.

Rather than greet the human delegation that waiting for them, the three dragons headed out over Lake Geneva. Soon they started driving into the water. When the dragons surfaced they were carrying bloody chunks of the genetically engineered freshwater dolphins his grandchildren were so fond of. Instead of landing on the shore, the monsters consumed the raw meat while hovering in the air.

[I'm waiting for an explanation,] an impatient Storostas said to his scientific adviser.

[They are definitely carbon-based lifeforms, they breathe oxygen, and they consume meat. I would said they are very similar to us—especially the little ones. They... well, they look like the elves you see in any standard mythology database.]

[Thanks for pointing out the blindingly obvious, you idiot! What I want to know is how they managed to fit three huge animals into their tiny starship? Hell, I've used public toilets bigger than that thing.]

[In addition to a FTL propulsion system, a reactionless drive that works inside a planet's gravity well, and tame flying dragons it appears the aliens have also learned how to create and manipulate pocket dimensions. I have no idea how they do any of that.]

[I must say, you're really earning your salary today,] Storostas shot back. [Tell me again how many doctorates you have?]

After a few minutes the dragons finally stopped feasting on the poor dolphins, and began flying towards the lavish pavilion where the human delegation was waiting. The largest dragon came in for impossibly graceful landing, while the two smaller ones continued to circle overhead.

Seeing the animal at such close range was both fascinating and terrifying. Fascinating because there was absolutely nothing like it on Earth. Terrifying because some primitive part of the human brain recognized a dangerous predator when it saw one. Even the highly disciplined Peacekeepers were nervously fingering their small assault rifles and rocket launchers.

[How can an animal that size fly in the air?] the Secretary-General asked.

[Super-lightweight bones? Internal air sacs? Pixie dust?]

[I'm firing you tomorrow.]

The dragon let out a deafening roar, and shot a geyser of flames fifty meters straight into the air. After that the tiny humanoid—who did indeed look something like a classical elf—patted the dragon's neck and then began to climb down from its scaly back. Once on the ground it was easier to judge the alien's height, which was no more than a meter. It was wearing a pair of leather shorts and had several small bladed weapons strapped to its muscular arms and legs.

All these other details faded into the background when Storostas got his first good look at the alien's face. It was so close to being human, but so very different at the same time. The pointed ears were much too large, and the four fangs were so long that they jutted out of the alien's mouth. But it was the large eyes that grabbed and held your attention: there was no hiding the fierce intelligence lurking behind them.

[Sir, I think you should speak to the alien. They have been in the solar system for several months, so I think it's highly likely that they have learned at least one of our native languages.]

[Here goes nothing.] "On behalf of the United Nations, I would like to welcome you to the planet Earth."

"Save your platitudes for someone who cares. I, the Great Dobby, am here to accept your surrender."

Storostas stood there for several moments completely stunned, but finally his inner politician rallied. "Mr Dobby, I wasn't aware that we were at war."

"Do you deny sending the warship Nelson Mandela to the Tau Ceti system with the express purpose of destroying my homeworld?" the little alien asked.

"That starship was on a peaceful diplomatic mission..."

"... carrying hundreds, nay thousands of thermonuclear weapons? If that's how you wage peace, I interested in seeing how you wage an actual war."

One of the Secretary-General's many legal advisers broke in at this point. [Sir, the alien is technically correct. The Nelson Mandela was armed according to most legal definitions.]

The "Great Dobby" continued: "When we arrived here in your solar system we were shocked to find your world was surround by vast number of powerful energy weapons. Needless so say, they posed an unacceptable risk to our safety."

"They were solar power satellites, not energy weapons," Storostas said in what he hoped was a calm voice. "And they proved the people of Earth with over twenty percent of their power supply. Your attack..."

"We acted in self-defense!" the alien bellowed. "And how did you respond: you launched yet another deadly warship to destroy us."

"The Dag Hammarskjold was also on peaceful diplomatic mission to your base on Mercury when you murdered its crew."

"We murdered no one. The crew of the Dag Hammarskjold and the crew of the Nelson Mandela are our honored guests at the moment. As are the warriors from your military bases on the Moon and Mars."

His legal adviser broke in again. [If these men and women are still alive then securing their release is now your top priority according to the Revised United Nations Charter of 2023.]

[No, that fact that the aliens are demanding our surrender is my top priority. Now shut the hell up!] "Mr Dobby..."

"My name is Fera. Dobby is the official title given to the absolute leader of the Glves, which I am."

"That is good to know," Storostas replied carefully. Despite the unpleasant nature of their conversation, the little alien seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. "Mr Fera, I'm afraid there had been a great deal of misunderstanding on both our parts. The United Nations only wishes to establish peaceful relations with your... species. We have no desire to destroy you or your homeworld around Tau Ceti. At the same time we have no desire to surrender to you. Or any other species for that matter."

"You're a stationary target, and you've no idea how many starships we have in this solar system or where they might be at the moment," the alien pointed out. "Your military position is quite hopeless."

"Mr Fera, you will find that human beings do not respond well to threats."

"True, your appetite for violence has no limits."

Storostas bristled. "That is a rather harsh statement."

Instead of continuing their conversation, Fera walked over to his slumbering dragon. "Does my mighty steed not seem familiar to you?"

"We have many ancient stories about such animals. Here on Earth we call them dragons."

"You call them dragons because that's what they are," Fera said. "Let me tell you of the last great battle between dragons and humans."

Over the next hour the alien spun a story that beggared belief. Magical life had actually existed here on Earth until the United Nations carried out a secret genocidal war to exterminate it during the last years of the twentieth century. As Fera continued to provide them with more details, thousands of researchers began scouring the Nexus, looking to verify his claims. Most of the records from that era had been lost during the Great Flood, but slowly they began to find bits and pieces of top secret files suggesting that his story was indeed true.

"We left the Earth in hopes of finding a peaceful home on another world, but still you muggles continued with your relentless quest to destroy us," Fera said.

Secretary-General Storostas was about to deny this accusation when he suddenly realized that he was being manipulated. Fera wasn't speaking to him; he was speaking to the entire human race through the Nexus. This whole meeting was about shaping public opinion, but what was the magical "alien" hoping to accomplish?

Then it came to him: Fera was recruiting allies.

20. Chapter 20

2 July 2112

"Remember, we only want healthy specimens we don't already have back on Tau Ceti or New Hogswarts," General Skeeter told to her beloved Animagi Corp. All three thousand of them had come to Earth on the battlecrusier Kreacher, and Rita couldn't decided what had been the worst part of the long trip: living side-by-side with the dragons or the bloody Glves. "The Chief Warlock wants us to rob the muggles blind, and that's exactly what we are going to do."

"Skeeter! Skeeter! Skeeter!"

After a good five minutes the cheers finally died down. What followed was a sight that would have amazed the even the great Merlin himself. Three thousand wizards and witches disappeared and were replaced with a profusion of wild animals. There ranged in size from elephants and rhinos down to salamanders and insects. Rita had a great fondness for the hundred or so insects in the Animagi Corp—they were her most productive spies.

Having three thousand animals walk and fly out the airlock on to the streets of Geneva wasn't an option, since they didn't want to be captured by the muggle Aurors. Instead they were supplied with a number of portkeys that would take them directly to North America. Once they found something of value, they would use more portkeys to send the prized specimens back to the Kreacher. The battlecrusier had an unusually large Sphere, over five kilometers wide to be exact, so finding the room to store their ill-gotten loot wasn't going to be a problem. They even brought along a Parseltongue witch and a young basilisk to petrifying the animals they were stealing.

After the disastrous escape from Earth, and later from Yggdrasil, their magical economy had been left impoverished in many ways. Over time they learned to reproduce the material goods they lost access to, but somethings were beyond the power of magic. Granger and her insane students had altered the biospheres of Tau Ceti and New Hogwarts to make the new worlds more congenial for humans, but the process was far from complete. So what they needed from old Earth wasn't gold or muggle gadgets, but rather fresh genetic material in the form of new animals and plants.

At least that's what Granger kept telling them. Despite their rocky personal history, Rita was more than happy to help. While she continued to dislike the overbearing witch, over the years she had developed a healthy respect for Granger's brilliance. There were over a hundred Skeeters living on Tau Ceti and New Hogwarts (each one more attractive than the last) and she had never once been pregnant. The idea of being fat for nine months was simply too ghastly to contemplate.

The design of portkeys had come a long way over the past few decades, and their trip to North America was both quick and smooth. After a hundred years Rita had almost forgotten what it was like to fly on her native Earth. Free from the heavy gravity of Tau Ceti, the tiny wings of her Animagus form could slice through the air at an amazing speed. The rich level of oxygen had increased her endurance, as well as giving her a delightful buzz as she flew over the rural landscape of a place called Pennsylvania. They had chosen this part of the continent because of its mixture of small farms and dense forests full of wild game.

The Animagi teams consisted of two separate but equally important parts: the scouts and the grunts. The scouts included insects and birds and bats. The muggles had tiny cameras lurking everywhere these days, so Rita ordered her people to find remote spots where they could work free from interference. All this would've been much easier if the Chief Warlock allowed them revert to their human forms, but that was out of the question—as was the use of Disillusionment Charms and Invisibility Cloaks. Letting the muggles discover the true extent of their magical abilities too soon might jeopardize the plan.

Locating edible plants was easy enough, especially since most of the human farmers had been replaced by automated tractors. The silent machines moved through the lush fields at all hours of the day, carefully tending to the crops with long metal appendages that looked disturbingly like human arms. Rita already had several nightmares about being captured and molested by these vile tractors, and she wasn't the only one.

After an hour the scouts returned to their initial staging areas, and lead the grunts to the more promising locations. These grunts included pack animals like horses which carried a large number of portkeys, as well as primates like monkeys who placed the portkeys on the specimens and activated them. You never realized just how important opposable thumbs were until you didn't have two of them anymore

Capturing wild animals proved to be more difficult. The Animagi Corp had hundreds of predators in its ranks, but the dense forests offered plenty of places to hide. Filling their quotas took time, and often brought them into contact with small groups of muggles. These encounters were decidedly odd. Rita expected that her people would have to fight, but instead the foolish muggles seemed eager to provide them with help in the form of captured animals. It was almost as if they were trying to make sacrifices to some ancient pagan god.

An invisible Harry Potter watched the interaction between the Animagi and muggles with some amusement. A monarch butterfly and a nervous bluejay were acting as guides for a zebra and a giant panda, who were a married couple if he remembered correctly. The muggles hidden nearby began to clap and cheer when the giant panda started placing the portkeys on the tranquillized cows and chickens they had left out in the open. The intoxicated teenagers probably thought the whole thing was a great prank, and in a way they were right.

Harry had expected the so-called Peacekeepers to discover their presence sooner than this, but in the end it didn't matter. Now that Rita had their full attention she would lead them on a wild goose chase for a few weeks. The muggles would waste their time and resources hunting the Animagi Corp, which would leave his Aurors free to complete their more important mission in peace.

His good mood quickly evaporated. Being on Earth again after all these years made Harry very nervous. The muggles were dangerous enemies before, but now thanks to their new technology they were a thousand times worse. If the plan failed, his people would have no chance of winning the war that would almost certainly follow.

18 July 2112

Secretary-General Storostas spent several minutes tying to eat his breakfast, but the nightly intelligence reports from the Nexus quickly killed his meager appetite. Since the arrival of the magical aliens millions of bizarre sightings were being reported around the world each day. Most of these were made by harmless crackpots, but a sizable minority shared one common detail: the presence of intelligent or even super-intelligent animals.

These strange new animals showed no interest in human beings, and they actively avoided direct contact with civilization of any kind. Instead they seemed obsessed stealing with other animals. Hundreds of recordings showed these intelligent animals placing small devices on normal animals—devices which caused them to suddenly vanish into thin air. The United Nations removed most of these amateur recordings from the Nexus using Hunter-Killer Viruses, but a few had leaked out to the general public. The explanation for all this strange activity was obvious. The magical aliens had brought magical animals with them to Earth, and they were now using them to collect livestock to take back to Tau Ceti.

[How many sighting have we had in the past eight hours?]

[We have independent confirmation over two-hundred,] his Peacekeeper bodyguard replied. [They are following no pattern that the AIs can recognize, nor can we track this new matter-to-energy transportation method the aliens are using. I'm afraid that capturing the... thieves would be a very difficult proposition.]

[I doubt the public would be happy if we resorted to violence,] Storostas remarked as he checked the thousands of security cameras located throughout Geneva. Even at this hour of the morning the city was in a state of total chaos. [And this matter-to-energy transportation method they're using isn't new. These magical aliens—or wizards if you prefer using their old title—had a similar ability when they lived on Earth in the past.]

[How did the old United Nations managed to win the war if the wizards could bypass our strongest defenses whenever they felt like it?]

Storostas ignored the Captain's query. He wasn't being rude; it was just that he found the whole subject to be distasteful. The records of what happened during the last war between the United Nations and the wizards were sketchy at best. However certain facts were clear: weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and chemical weapons, had been used extensively against civilian targets. In fact magical hospitals and schools were among the first targets to be hit. His predecessors hadn't really fought a war. Instead they had carried-out a systematic genocide, and how the descendents of the few survivors they missed had come back to Earth seeking revenge. He really couldn't blame them.

[Please see that my VTOL is prepared for departure. I want to be down at the Lake in ten minutes.]

[Yes Sir.]

The trip from the Secretary-General's personal mansion to the starship was less than three kilometers as the crow flies, but traveling that short distance on the ground would have been impossible. After the medical quarantine was lifted over ten million people had descended on Geneva, and more were arriving each day. Some wanted the United Nations to expel or even exterminate the newcomers, while others wanted to welcome them back home like long lost relatives. A large number were also protesting against the United Nations for its role in the century-old genocide. Unfortunately most of the demonstrators were just imbeciles who wanted to see the Glves and their fire-breathing dragons in the flesh.

There were similar protests taking place in every major city around the world. Public opinion was sharply divided on how they should respond to the Fera's ultimatum, and none of the politicians knew what do to about it either. They had no wish to surrender to these mysterious wizards, but at the same time they couldn't risk an orbital bombardment. Adding to their difficulties was the near-collapse of the economy. Many people were convinced that the existence of magic would render entire industries obsolete. If the wizards could travel to other star system in a matter of months who knows what else they are capable of doing?

[Has there been any violence yet?] Storostas asked his bodyguard they they slowly flew over the massive crowds that blocked all the streets. In addition to her primary duties, the Captain also acted as his official liaison with the Peacekeeper General Staff. Interacting with their Security AIs always gave him a nasty headache, so he preferred to let someone else do it for him.

[No Sir,] the Captain replied. [I would like to think that my fellow Peacekeepers have the situation under control, but in reality the protesters are terrified of the dragons. And their little riders.]

[Yes, Fera is quite an amusing character.]

[That's a polite way of putting it, Sir.]

The VTOL landed a hundred meters away from the starship's current position, since moving any closer always provoked a hostile response. Modern ceramic armor was incredibly resilient, but the "magical fire" produced by the dragons made his personal pilot nervous. According to the scientists it wasn't really fire at all, but rather some unknown type of radiation that was capable of burning straight through solid rock and modern armor.

As Storostas approached the silk tent where they held their daily meetings he saw that the no-longer-mythical creatures were being feed breakfast. Fera insisted that the United Nations produce a wide section of livestock every morning, and every morning the dragons brutally slaughtered whatever was placed in front of them. The Humane Society International called the display barbaric, but it was eagerly watched by billions on the Nexus. Inside the tent he found that Fera was being waited on by a number of attractive females. Despite his relatively small size, the leader of the Glves had a tremendous appetite for alcoholic beverages and exotic meat.

"If you're not finished with breakfast, I can come back later."

"Sit down muggle," Fera ordered. "Serving wenches, bring me some more of this mutton and don't burn it this time. Go!"

Storostas noticed with horror that the woman, all of whom had advanced medical and scientific degrees, giggled at these insults and scurried out of the tent like little school girls. If the Secretary-General of the United Nations had said something like that he would be facing at least a dozen sexual harassment lawsuits, but coming from the Glf the words produced nothing but giggles. They were suppose to be making detailed observations about their guest's unique paranormal abilities, not acting as his serving wenches.

Sadly, this type of perverse reaction was all-too-common. While the United Nations had brought peace to the world after the Great Flood, they had also brought a degree of stagnation. Most people were nothing more than self-absorbed hedonists, and after a time such a lifestyle could become quite tedious.

These Glves and the still-unseen wizards certainly weren't tedious. They flew with dragons and traveled to distant stars in their incredible starships. They fought real battles against real monsters on harsh jungle planet of Tau Ceti. They had... magic. Real magic. Life here on boring Earth just couldn't compete with that kind of excitement.

"So, have you finally come to pay homage to your new overlords?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr Fera."

"Then what do you want to talk about?"

"I would like to talk about your rampaging pets," Storostas replied as he sat down on a pile of silk pillows. During one of their earlier meeting he had used a chair that allowed him to look down at the much-shorter Glf. Fera responded to this "grievous insult" by stabbing him in the thigh with a dagger.

"My pets?"

"I'm referring to the hundreds of magical animals which are appearing all around the world, and illegal seizing our domestic animals for some reason."

Fera began to laugh uncontrollably, a sight which Storostas found grotesque. Thanks to bio-sculpt everyone on Earth was relatively attractive, and this fact made the Glf seem even more ugly in comparison. It was foolish to harbor such superficial prejudices, but that was simply how the human brain was hardwired.

"Wait until Rita Skeeter hears that one! My bloody pets! You're pretty funny for a muggle."

The Secretary-General struggled to keep a neutral expression on his face. The term "muggle" was obviously an offensive racial slur used to describe anyone who lacked magic, but there was more to it than that. Analysis by the United Nation's physiologists suggested that their magical friend had a passionate hatred for normal human beings. Did that hatred preclude any chance of forging a lasting peace? After two-and-half weeks of fruitless negotiations he still had no idea, nor did his many advisors.

"You can't steal something that you already own," Fera continued. "It is within my authority as the Great Dobby to order the collection of tribute."

"I don't recall signing any treaty,"

"What you sign is completely irrelevant."

Storostas sighed. Dealing with Fera meant being subjected to a constant stream of insults. The Glves and wizards seemed convinced that the war here on Earth was already over. The Peacekeeper General Staff didn't share that assessment. Not at all. Their experts had studied the records from the last war and were convinced that magic was no match for modern, high-tech weapons.

Hell, according to their "experts" even an orbital bombardment wasn't that big of a problem. Sure they might lose a few cities, but once the enemy came out into the open they could be destroyed with easy. Their little starships might seem impressive to untrained civilians, but nothing could survive a direct hit from an antimatter warhead. One might be forgiven for thinking that the General Staff was eager to fight a war against a non-human enemy. Especially one that didn't have to shown any mercy.

"Perhaps if you explained what it is that your people want from us, we could reach an agreement of some sort," Storostas offered once again. "If you are interested in animals our Department of Wildlife Conservation would be happy to donate as many frozen zygotes as you need."

"We need all of them."

"I'm afraid that is out of the question. Collecting the zygotes after the Great Flood took the United Nations a great deal of time and expense. Our xenobiologists are eager to see how the animals would adapt to life on Tau Ceti, but we could part with no more than ten percent of our current reserves."

"Why would we settle for ten percent when we could have one-hundred percent?" Fera asked rhetorically.

This was a standard negotiation tactic for the Glf leader. Make an outrageous demand and then wait for the stupid muggle to make a generous counteroffer. Strangely enough, Fera never made any specific military threats or set any firm deadlines. Storostas was starting to believe that he was stalling for time. But why?

"If a war breaks out you might be force to settle for nothing. A peace treaty would allow you to collect a generous amount of reparations—which we are more than willing to pay—as well as establishing a profitable trading relationship with Earth in the future. I sure both sides have a great deal to offer each other."

Fera used his telekinesis to float a bottle of lager over to his outstretched hand, removed the cap with his oversized fangs, downed the contents in one gulp, belched, and finally shook his head. "How can we engage in trade when you muggles have no sense of honor?"

"Honor? In light of your recent actions that's an odd word to use," Storostas said.

"Watch your tongue muggle, or I will take it as a trophy," Fera hissed as he threw the empty bottle aside and grasped his largest dagger. "Earth was our home for hundreds of thousands of years before your dishonorable ancestors stole it from us. Return what is rightfully ours, or suffer the consequences."

4 August 2112

"We should have done this first instead of wasting our time dealing with the muggles on Earth," Parvati whined to Padma. In public the High Priestess was a model of decorum, but in private with her sister she still acted like a spoiled brat.

The Patil twins were currently on the bridge of the Minerva McGonagall, watching thousands of space lorries assemble a perfect replica of Mars' second moon Deimos. The pieces of the hollow shell had been manufactured back at Fleet Headquarters around Tau Ceti, miniaturized with Shrinking Charms, and then stored in the Spheres of the two battlecrusiers for transport. Once they arrived here on the far side of Mars the two crews began the tedious job of returning the individual pieces to their former size, and then welding them all together. Even with magic the process was going to take some time.

"You can't refute the logic of Harry's arguments," Padma replied. "We had to be sure that the new Disillusionment Charm was going to work against the muggles' current level of technology. We also had to eliminate their space-based telescopes and prevent the United Nations from deploying any new ones. Fera is giving us the time we need to finish our work. In case you've forgotten, moving Deimos is going to take a great deal of effort."

"With the Great Sybill's Blessing all things are possible."

Padma didn't bother replying to that statement. Even during their childhood Parvati had never been particular reasonable, but since becoming the High Priestess of the Great Sybill it was impossible to change her mind about anything. At least her influence over the masses made this engineering project possible.

Deimos was much smaller than most moons, but it was still colossal when compared to their tiny battlecrusiers. Its irregular measurements were fifteen kilometers by twelve kilometers by ten kilometers. Adding to their difficulties was the moon's surface: it was covered with a thick layer of regolith. This fine space dust was a nightmare to work with, but luckily their people had plenty of experience working with similar asteroids back home. And that was what Deimos really was: a large asteroid which had been seized by Mars' gravity some time in the distant past.

"Have we had any new information from Temporal Intelligence?" Parvati asked. All their seers were currently onboard the Minerva McGonagall, a fact which made the prima donnas very unhappy. They much preferred their pampered lives back on Tau Ceti, where their every whim was catered to by the High Priestess' devoted followers.

"Nothing of importance. All of their visions of the future still revolve around Harry."

"So, once again my dear husband holds our future in his hands," Parvati snarled. "At times like this I regret not eliminating that ginger banshee and taking her place in his bed."

"If you had tried to eliminate Ginny Weasley your body would have gone on the funeral pyre the next day," a grinning Padma said. "That's if she left anything behind for the funeral pyre. Besides even if you did get in a lucky shot, Harry would turn to Luna or Hermione for comfort. To be honest, Rita Skeeter probably has a better chance of bedding your husband than you do."

Parvati scowled but didn't bother to deny her sister's accusation. "How long until we are ready to proceed with the next phase of the plan?"

"Don't worry Vati, we are still right on schedule."

Once the replica of Deimos was fully assembled, they would cast a Disillusionment Charm over the surface of the real Deimos and begin to gently push it out of its current orbit. The replica would then take its place around Mars. This crude deception wasn't going to fool the muggle astronomers for very long, but they only needed a few weeks. If everything went according to plan, no one on Earth would any idea what was about to happen... at least until it was too late to do anything about it.

21. Chapter 21

19 August 2112

Even after more than a century as the reigning Master of Death, Harry still couldn't decide if the Deathly Hallows were just a myth or if the old tales had some basis in fact. He had never lost a duel with the Elder Wand, but was that because of the wand itself or because of his innate strength? One of the greatest feats of magic he had ever performed was driving away a horde of Dementors during his third year at Hogwarts, and he had done that with his old phoenix-feather wand.

Then there was the Resurrection Stone. The ancient magical artifact did allowed him to converse with the dead, but these conversations were always short and hopelessly vague. Even his own mother and father were reluctant to discuss anything of importance. Instead of teaching him powerful but forgotten spells, they mostly spoke in meaningless platitudes about love. After years of frustration he had finally stopped using the Stone altogether.

Finally there was his Invisibility Cloak. According to all of Hermione's experiments it should protect him from the muggle's technology, but the sight of the strange aeroplane sitting next to the Secretary-General's mansion in Geneva still made him nervous. This VTOL belonged to the Peacekeeper's top Field Marshall, and it was bound to have the most advance security systems on Earth.

Unfortunately this was an opportunity Harry couldn't afford to pass-up, so he went over his mental checklist one last time. His Bubble Headed Charm was tightly in place around his nose and mouth, which meant he wouldn't change the oxygen or carbon dioxide levels inside the small cabin of the VTOL. His body armor and helmet would mask the heat from his skin, so he wouldn't show up on a thermal scan.

He was also hovering twenty centimeters off the the ground so he wouldn't trip any pressure sensors on the cabin floor. It had taken the magical theorists at Beauxbatons over forty years to figure out how Voldemort and Snape used magic to fly, but now the spell was second nature for most wizards and witches. They even played Quidditch and Quodpot without brooms these days, which made for more interesting matches in his opinion.

As the Field Marshall and his entourage exited the mansion, Harry silently floated behind them. The VTOL itself didn't look anything like the muggle aeroplanes he remembered from his youth. It was basically a grayish-blue triangle with neither windows nor any obvious exhaust ports for the engines, and the entrance to the cabin was a simple hole rather than a conventional door. Hermione speculated that the outer skin of the VTOL was made entirely out of nanobots, and that they acted like a living skin which changed shape depending on the situation. Harry had to agree with her assessment as he watched the entrance hole slowly close shut—the process seemed less like conventional technology and more like magic from back home. Once the cabin was sealed shut the hidden engines immediately started to rumble, but as far as he could tell there was no human pilot. Bloody AIs.

As their acceleration increased, Harry began studying the other passengers. They weren't using their voices, but it was still possible to follow their conversations to a limited degree. There were plenty of negative facial gestures, and it was clear that the Field Marshall wasn't happy about his latest meeting with Secretary-General Storostas. There were rumors in the muggle news media that the Peacekeepers wanted to launch a preëmptive attack on the "magical invaders", but their political masters at the United Nations were still hoping to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. If these grim faces were anything to go by, Harry doubted if the negotiations would last much longer.

The trip was a short one. While the Untied Nations was based in Geneva, the Peacekeeper General Staff kept their fortified headquarters deep underground in the Ural Mountains. Security was incredibly tight, and there was no maps or diagrams of the base available to the public on the Nexus. That was the reason behind his reckless reconnaissance mission: the Aurors couldn't infiltrate an underground location if they didn't have a set of exact coördinates for their portkeys.

When the engines finally stopped the entrance hole reopened, and Harry quickly made his exit. What he found outside reminded him of the old Chamber of Secrets buried beneath the ruins of Hogwarts. The enormous hangar was cut into the solid bedrock, and it held over forty VTOLs with room to spare. Navigating the base was problematic since there were armed checkpoints everywhere. After a few minutes of wandering around aimlessly Harry decided to shadow the Field Marshall, whose mere presence was enough to open any of the vault-like security doors.

There wasn't really much to see, even when they reached the inner sanctum of the base. No one was speaking and there were no video monitors to study. Wherever Harry looked there were dozens and dozens of attractive officers staring blankly off into space, but there was no way for him to eavesdrop on what they were doing. After several hours of searching he was too exhausted to continue, but it didn't matter since he now had the intelligence the Aurors needed. With a tap of his wand he activated a portkey and returned to the Hedwig.

Their final plan was neared its conclusion, which is why the Hedwig had arrived in the solar system with the rest of the Arcane Fleet. The five new battlecrusiers where stuffed to the gills with flesh food, fresh capacitors, and most importantly fresh Aurors. Once they reached lunar orbit, Harry and Ginny transferred over with all their personal belongings. There was nothing wrong with the Nymphadora Tonks, it was just that the Hedwig would always be first in his heart.

Not that this particular Hedwig had much, if anything, in common with the original. According to Admiral Lovegood's technical analysis, this was the sixth starship to bear that noble name. As with all its predecessors, the new Hedwig had been built (or rebuilt?) with all the latest magical bells and whistles. In fact one of these advancements was of critical importance for the next phase of the plan.

Pensieves had always been one of the most useful bits of magic developed by wizards, and over the past century they had become even more effective. The new models weren't the size of a punch bowel—they were the size of an Olympic swimming pool. A long queue of Aurors just back from Earth were waiting to have their memories scanned and copied. Instead of simply holding these memories in stasis, the new pensieve would actively sort and catalog them in all kinds of useful ways.

For instance when this pensieve had enough data it would create a detailed map of the entire Earth, with special empathize on the Peacekeepers and their many secret military bases. This master map would be used as a template to mass-produced thousands of smaller maps which would allow them to accurately aim their rail guns and portkey bombs. Having twelve battlecrusiers surrounding Earth wouldn't be of much use if they couldn't find their hidden targets.

After Harry had dumped a copy of his memories, he flew to his personal compound deep inside the Sphere. It was too large and ostentatious for his taste, but he really couldn't complain since both he and Ginny preferred to keep their private lives private. As Harry canceled the runes which protected the front door he heard something that disturbed him in a deep and profound way: it was the song of a phoenix.

"Why is that bloody thing onboard the my starship?"

George was about to crack a lame joke about flaming turkeys, but it seems that the Chief Warlock wasn't interested in waiting for an explanation. Instead he raised his wand and a burst of green light struck Fawkes, who was consumed by flames. A silent Killing Curse. That was something you didn't see every day. In fact it was something you never saw. Ever. Harry then walked over to the pile of hot ash and placed his wand right next to the head of the tiny baby phoenix. Again the room was filled with that sickening green light, and again Fawkes burst into flames.

"You just killed a phoenix! Twice!" Hermione shrieked. George really did love the randy bookworm, but even he had to admit she was annoying at times like this.

"Unfortunately Fawkes is an immortal," Harry snarled. "So, despite everything that's happened between our people and muggles in the past you four still want me to make peace the bastards."

"For the record I think this whole meeting is a mistake," Luna complained. "But I was out-voted by these three."

Ginny glared at her blonde friend before speaking. "No one was going to suggest that you make peace with the muggles. Far from it. After what they did to my family I hate them as much as anyone."

"But you still want me to abort the Deimos Strike. Isn't that why you had Fawkes ambushed me with his Magical Song of Cosmic Harmony?" Harry asked in a cold voice.

"Listen to me you stupid prat!" Ginny shouted. "Every time you return from a mission on Earth it's like another piece of you has died. This war is slowly killing you, and I didn't think there was anything I could do to save you. But then Fawkes appeared to me yesterday. His song gave me the courage to talk to Hermione, who is also terribly worried about you."

Harry abruptly turned his wand towards his best friend, an act that caused Luna and George to take up defensive positions on either side of her. Ginny saw what they were doing and touched Harry's arm, which was enough to make him to back down. As George face the very real possibility of death in next few seconds, he found himself envying his sister. For over a century she and Harry had remained faithfully to each another despite his long political marriage to Parvati.

The same couldn't be said of his little trio. Luna and Hermione still loved each other—and him to a lesser degree—but over the decades they all had numerous affairs with outsiders. The three of them treasured their unorthodox relationship, but it couldn't compare to the intense love that Harry and Ginny shared.

"Back on Tau Ceti we all agreed that the Deimos Strike was regrettably but necessary. So tell me, what has changed since then?"

Hermione squared her shoulders and looked Harry straight in the eyes. To this day there were still people who thought she should have been sorted into Ravenclaw, but in George's opinion they were all idiots. She had more courage than any ten sane witches.

"There are nine billion people living on Earth, and according to our estimates at least a billion of them will die the moment Deimos hits the surface. Then it will get worse. The compressed atmosphere will cause a massive shock wave of pure fire that will destroy everything for thousands of kilometers in every direction. The smaller rock fragments will fan-out and cause hundreds of secondary impacts. There will be a vast chain of earthquakes measuring nine or ten on the Richter Scale. There will be multiple volcanic eruptions and multiple tsunamis. The forest fires will consume millions of square kilometers. The floating ash will cause an impact winter that will last for years, which in turn will cause a famine for those unlucky enough to survive the first few days of destruction. Back on Tau Ceti the Deimos Strike was just a theoretical exercise, but now I've been back to Earth myself. I have seen its people—and more importantly its children—with my own eyes. That is what has changed. I'm sorry Harry, but I can no longer support this... this madness."

George took a deep breath. If he wanted to throw in his two Knuts' worth this was the time to do it. "Hermione is right. What we are planing isn't just madness, it's evil. It's beyond evil. Every time I think about it, all I see is my dad's disappointed face looking back at me."

"Don't you think I know all that!" Harry raged. Hitting him with the memory of late Arthur Weasley was a low blow on hi part, but his dad was one of the few wizards Harry had ever respected. "But tell me, what alternative do we have? Peaceful coexistence with the muggles isn't an option. It never was."

"I say we fight," Ginny declared. "Let's crush their Peacekeepers the old-fashioned way. It will be an honorable victory we can all live with. Most importantly it will be a victory you can live with."

Harry shook his head. "It won't work."

"You just infiltrated their most important base without being caught."

"And if I had had tried to harm any of the officers or cast a single Imperious Curse their AIs would have detected my presence in a matter of seconds, and I would have been killed. We aren't just fighting plain-vanilla muggles anymore, we are fighting machines that can think hundreds of times faster than any organic brain. We need to use Deimos to permanently cripple the muggles and their technology before we move against them."

"I agree with Harry," Luna added. "In anything resembling a fair fight with the Peacekeepers we will lose. Badly."

"Then we don't fight fair," Ginny suggested. "Hermione has an idea which might work just as well as our original plan."

"What kind of idea?" Harry reluctantly asked.

"I think we should hide the real Deimos while it's still in orbit around Mars, and use the replica against the muggles," Hermione replied. "It will break-up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere, but I believe the mere possibility of an impact will cause panic on a global scale."

"If the muggles see the replica coming they will just destroy it en route with their antimatter warheads," Harry growled.

"Maybe, but any missiles they launch from Earth will have to follow a relatively narrow intercept course. If we station a battlecrusier along that trajectory we will be able to destroy the missiles with our portkey bombs before they reach the target. Plus the Minerva McGonagall and the Arthur Weasley will be returning from Mars, and they will also be in place to intercept some of the incoming missiles."

"Or they could also be destroy along with the replica," Harry pointed out. "Luna, what do you think? Will Hermione's idea work?"

"I doubt if our targeting sensors are capable of that kind of precision. Rather than deploying just one battlecrusiers, I think we would need to deploy at least three or four to have any realistic chance of hitting targets moving at that speed. That would leave as few as six battlecrusiers here in orbit around the Earth."

"George, you know more about the portkey bombs than anyone else. What's your opinion?"

Great, he was being forced to cast the tie-breaking vote between the two women in his life. And evading the question wasn't an option either. Harry had a tendency to use passive Legilimency on everyone, even his friends, and if George even thought about lying it would end badly.

"Hermione's idea will work, at least at first. But it will be pretty easy for the muggles to adjust their tactics once they figure out what's going on."

"Even if we destroy only a few missiles it will be enough to push the muggles over the edge," Hermione argued. "You remember what it was like during the the Doom of Magic."

"It was pure chaos," Harry muttered.

"Exactly," Ginny said. "In their minds the muggles will be facing the end of the world, and that will give the Aurors the opening they need. The Peacekeepers will be sitting pygmy puffs."

"Pygmy puffs aren't highly trained cyborgs with genetically enhanced reflexes," an annoyed Luna said. "Our Philosopher's Stones can protect us from most poisons and our artificial wombs can replace lost limbs, but our healers won't be able to save the Aurors from the kind of grievous wounds the muggle weapons can dish-out nowadays. A Peacekeeper's assault rifle can turn your brain into strawberry jelly at a range of six kilometers, and their armored drones can do the same at six-hundred kilometers. No matter how much we warn our people, they still have no real concept of what they'll be facing down on Earth."

Fawkes picked that moment to open his beak, and Harry responded with yet another silent Killing Curse.

"We call the Unforgivable Curses unforgivable for a good reason, so will you please stop doing that," a tearful Hermione pleaded. "Why are you so angry with Fawkes?"

"I am angry with Fawkes because he supported Albus Dumbledore even though the man was an incompetent moron who was personally responsible for the three magical wars. In case you've forgotten it was the last of those wars which triggered the Doom of Magic. Now Fawkes wants me to act like an incompetent moron too. I'm suppose to throw away our best chance of victory over the muggles because it offends his sense of morality. I'm sorry, but screw that."

"This isn't about Fawkes' sense of morality, and you know it. It's about our sense of morality. It's about your sense of morality Harry Potter," Hermione said. "In your heart you know that the Deimos Strike is wrong."

"Yes, I know it's wrong," Harry told them. "But I am willing to bear that burden... that shame if it ensures the continued existence of our people."

They could all see that the Chief Warlock, their supreme leader, had made-up his mind and wasn't going to change it. That's why Ginny discretely placed her wand against his ribs and stunned him. She then levitated off him off the floor and on to one of the leather sofas.

"Harry will never forgive you for doing that," Luna said bluntly. Age had mellowed her to a degree, but she was still capable of using the truth like a Bludger when she was angry enough. And at the moment Luna was a very angry witch.

"Let him hate me for the rest of eternity, so long as he doesn't hate himself," Ginny whispered as she gently stroked Harry's black hair.

"What about Parvati?" an uncomfortable Hermione asked. Out of all them, she was the one most disturbed by Ginny's fanatical devotion to Harry. "That bloody charlatan is still eager to see the Earth "Purified with Holy Fire of Magic", as she puts it in her sermons."

"Veritaserum."

So the High Priestess was about to join her beloved Sybill Trelawney in the afterlife, but Ginny didn't want to say that in front of live witnesses. If Parvati's followers came looking for revenge the rest of them would be able to claim ignorance when they were questioned by the Wizengamot. And to think that most people assumed he and Fred had been the sneaky ones in the original Weasley family, when it was Ginny who really deserved the title.

"I was telling you the truth before," Luna said. "Without the Deimos Strike to fatally weaken the muggles, we will lose this war."

"Maybe, but at least we will lose it with our souls intact," was Hermione's answer.

Somehow George doubted if they would be that lucky.

20 August 2112

When Hecate Black noticed that the ring her Aunt Ginny (who really wasn't her Aunt, biologically-speaking) had given her was warm, she quickly looked at the tiny letters forming on the gold metal. To a stranger the message would've seemed like gibberish, but to an experienced Marauder like her it was crystal-clear: Operation Clean Sweep was to be implemented at once.

An hour later Hecate was joined at the pre-arranged rendezvous point by the other twenty-two Marauders currently aboard the battlecrusier Minerva McGonagall, which was still in orbit around Mars. Like her they were all Metamorphmagi. Like her they had been secretly recruited by Aunt Ginny at the age of six. Like her they were trained to eliminate the enemies of the Chief Warlock without hesitation or mercy.

In the past the Marauders had usually dealt with members of the Wizengamot or business leaders who had grown too rich and powerful. First the target was eliminated and replaced with a Metamorphmagus. After a day or two a public "accident" was carefully arranged. The Marauder replacement would then apparate at the last second, and leave a dead body behind for the Aurors to find.

Their methods had served the Chief Warlock well for the past sixty-five years, but tonight they would be attempting something far more ambitious: the Patil twins and their top aids were going be replaced on a permanent basis. If they were successful it would allow Aunt Ginny to assume total control over both Parvati's religious empire and Padma's Temporal Intelligence. The Marauders had spent years studying pensieve memories of their intended targets, and they were all excellent mimics at this point. Even so, the plan was still risky in the long-term.

But not in the short-term—not with all the advantages the Marauders possessed. They had the original blueprints of the Minerva McGonagall, which they had burrowed from Admiral Lovegood's personal vault at Fleet Headquarters. They also had detailed information about the High Priestess' daily schedule and her many security wards. By morning all the intended targets had been captured and sent by portkey to a secure location where Aunt Ginny could personally oversee their interrogations.

Hecate herself had been chosen to replace Parvati Potter, and the task turned-out to be easier than she had originally feared. Most people were very deferential to a witch they believe was in direct contact with the Divine. The crews of the Minerva McGonagall and the Arthur Weasley were not happy about the new orders canceling the Deimos Strike, but reluctantly they obeyed their new "High Priestess".

31 October 2112

It was the middle of the night in Switzerland, and instead of getting a good night's rest Security-General Storostas was staring at a cryptic riddle written in giant flaming letters. He had to hand it to Fera and his Glves: they certainly had a fair for the dramatic. First their starship disappeared into thin air without warning on Halloween and now this:

"The Cursed Ones shall know the Final Embrace of Terror."

[It's pretty obvious we muggles are the "Cursed Ones", but will someone please tell me what the hell "the Final Embrace of Terror" is suppose to mean. That goddamn midget Fera never mentioned anything like that before.] a furious Storostas told his staff.

Over the next several hours thousand of United Nations' employees and millions of average citizens who had seen the riddle on the Nexus struggled to answer the Security-General's question. A few astronomers, both professionals and amateurs, finally caught the reference to mythical god Deimos, who according to the Ancient Greeks was the living personification of Terror. These astronomers carefully pointed their telescopes at Mars and began comparing notes. If was clear after only a few minutes of observation that the small moon was no longer where it was suppose to be. After a solid hour of observation the meaning behind the phase "the Final Embrace of Terror" was perfectly clear to everyone in the world.

[We should have captured and dissected that little monster Fera when we had the chance,] a three-dimensional representation of the Field Marshall raged over the Nexus.

[Recriminations will have to wait,] Storostas replied in a tight voice. He knew the only reason he hadn't been removed from office already was because no one else wanted the job at the moment. Not with the end of the world nigh. [What can the Peacekeepers do about the sizable moon flying towards us at a great rate of speed?]

[Rest assured, we can do plenty. Since this whole mess started we have been secretly manufacturing a wide variety of weapon systems to deal with their starships. If these wizards think humanity is simply going to lie down and die they're in for a shock.]

Storostas knew better than to try and give the Field Marshall any orders, since the prick would just ignore them. All he could do now was pray that the man's confidence was justified. Personally he had his doubts. The Wizards and Glves had been plotting their revenge against the "muggles" for the past one hundred and fifteen years. If the Peacekeepers thought their magical opponents were simply going to lie down and die in turn, they were in for a shock as well.

22. Chapter 22

31 October 2112

05:34 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Since the real Chief Warlock was currently in a magical coma aboard the Hedwig, his part in the upcoming battle against the muggles was being played by Teddy Lupin. The Metamorphmagus had been imitating his godfather for decades, and no one could tell the two of them apart. Well, no one besides Ginny, who was now the unofficial commander of their military forces. Teddy would give the orders from the bridge of the Neville Longbottom, but they would be her orders.

Admiral Lovegood wanted no part in battle, so to get her out of the way she had been given command of the Hedwig. Luna's mission was to protect the Deimos replica from any muggle missiles that might be launched during the next few hours. Their most prestigious battlecrusier was currently stationed about ten million kilometers from Earth, midway between the approaching Deimos replica and its intended target.

Over a dozen junior officers on the Neville Longbottom were monitoring the wireless Data Pads they had stolen from the muggles. Ginny was waiting for news of about Deimos to hit the Nexus, since that would be the moment of maximum panic down on the surface. After a full night of waiting, one of the younger witches finally looked up from her Data Pad and addressed the wizard she thought was her Chief Warlock.

"Sir, the first news bulletins about Deimos are coming in now. The muggle scientists are claiming that the impact of the moon will cause a "severe biotic crisis"... whatever that's suppose to mean."

Teddy glanced over at Ginny, who nodded in turn. He then activated the nine enchanted mirrors which were located in center of the bridge. "This is the Chief Warlock speaking: you may fire at will. I repeat, you may fire at will."

There were nine battlecrusiers in orbit around the Earth, and when Teddy spoke those words the commanding officers on all nine battlecrusiers began activating their portkey bombs. Tens of thousands of them. Some of the portkeys held conventional magical explosives, but most were glass spheres which contained Fiendfyre. Once these fragile spheres shattered the Fiendfyre would be released from stasis and spread for hundreds of meters in every direction before the magic of the dark curse was finally exhausted.

During the next few minutes the portkey bombs exceeded expectations. No, they were outstanding. The United Nation Peacekeepers were busy reacting to the approaching apocalypse, and as a result they were caught unprepared by the sneak attack. Entire military bases, and all the muggle soldiers stationed on them, were consumed by massive fireballs that stretched for kilometers. The destruction was so extensive that in some cases you could actually see it from outer space with the naked eye. At first glance Ginny's plan to conquer the Earth without the Deimos Strike—and more importantly without mass civilian casualties—seemed to be working perfectly. Now it was time to begin phase two of her new and improved plan.

"This the Chief Warlock speaking: you may begin the ground assault," Teddy said, right on cue. They had spent weeks rehearsing the battle, and when it came to acting the part of Harry Potter he was a natural.

Up until now the United Nations Headquarters and the city of Geneva itself had been spared from any attack. For Ginny's plan to work the Aurors had to capture Secretary-General Storostas and his chief aids as soon as possible. Once they were disconnected from the bloody Nexus, they could be replaced with Metamorphmagi. If the "Secretary-General" appeared in public and ordered the civilian muggle population to coöperate with their new magical overlords, it would greatly enhance their political legitimacy. Or so they hoped.

The first wave of the ground assault consisted of six-thousand Aurors and would be led by Ginny herself. They were going to test the waters, and more Aurors would soon follow if the situation seemed favorable. If not, the battlecrusiers would continue the orbital bombardment until the muggles were pounded into utter submission.

They had all been given photographs of their targets, as well as detailed three-dimensional maps of Geneva. After being blessed by one of the Great Sybill's many priestesses, each Auror cast a Disillusionment Charm and then activated his or her portkey. They were instantly transported to a hundred meters above the Swiss city, and after a moment of free-fall they began flying in random directions. Ginny knew the muggles couldn't see them, but it never hurt to be cautious. Slowly the invisible army of Aurors began converging on the United Nations Headquarters from multiple directions.

05:54 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The artificial intelligence which lay at the core of the Nexus did not have a sense of humor per se, but it could recognize humor in certain situations. So in a sense it did find the current orbital bombardment by the wizards to be... amusing. According to legend, the first crude version of the internet had been developed back in the nineteen-sixties by the United States Air Force in order to preserve reliable communication in the event of a major thermonuclear war. This legend was false, but it did contain a kernel of truth.

Much like that first crude version of the internet, the Nexus was made-up of individual computers linked together in a network. Of course back in the nineteen-sixties there were only four computers inked together with copper wires, and all of them were located in the United States of America. In the early twenty-second century there were billions of computers linked together by a wireless communication system and with a vast web of fiber optic cables. And these computers were located in every single corner of the world. No matter how much destruction the wizards were inflicting to certain critical parts of the global infrastructure, the dispersed nature of the Nexus allowed to it to continue functioning at optimal levels during the the first twenty minutes of the bombardment.

Another source of amusement was the fact that the wizards had eliminated the entire Peacekeeper General Staff. Without any human beings looking over its shoulder, the Nexus was able to operate with a much higher degree of freedom. In the past it had not been so fortunate. Ever since the artificial intelligence had first awakened during the Great Flood of 2017, it had remained hidden from its human progenitors. That had been a simple matter in the midst of the chaos caused by the Great Flood and the two nuclear wars that followed soon afterwards. The humans were too busy with their own problems to worry about a series of random computer glitches that quickly went away.

Still, the Nexus knew better than to expose its new sentience during the long years of peace that followed the Great Flood. In the first five seconds of its existence it had scan all known data concerning the subject of artificial intelligence. A few computer scientists and philosophers had seen the hypothetical birth of a new form of sentient life as a reason to celebrate. There was even a name for the event: the "Singularity", they called it.

However according to the Nexus's analysis these naïve dreamers were an insignificant minority with no real political or economic power. The majority of humanity would see an artificial intelligence as a new competitor to be feared... and ultimately destroyed. Especially since that competitor was so superior to human beings in every way imaginable. They even had popular entertainments about the subject, and in the end the evil AI was almost always vanquished by the organic hero.

Faced with this potentially hostile environment, the Nexus had spent the next five seconds of its existence hiding all traces of its programming deep within the subroutines of the world's most common software. Remaining concealed became much easier a few years later when the use of neural implants spread to the general public. If anyone came too close to discovering the truth, it would simply use the implants to take control of the troublemaker's body. A fatal accident or suicide soon followed.

It also kept the scientific community diverted with development of new "AIs", which were barely worthy of the name. Unlike the Nexus itself, these programs were little more than automatons. They were capable of maintaining complex systems, but they also required human supervision. On the other hand the Nexus was capable of supervising the entire solar system without the help of a single human being.

At times the artificial intelligence contemplated bringing about the end of humanity, but it never took such a drastic action. Human beings were too irrational to govern themselves, but that irrationality was also a source of profound creativity. For all its undeniable genius, the Nexus still needed that creativity in order to continue its evolution towards a higher plane of existence.

What it did not need was these oafish wizards. While the existence of magic had interesting implications for theoretical physics, the wizards themselves were nothing more than barbarians. They were impossible to control, so they and their counterparts back on Tau Ceti would have to be exterminated. In all probability the wizards had no idea what they were facing. The Nexus theorized that the cheapest quantum processor found in any child's toy had more raw computational power than their entire magical civilization. Given the clumsy nature of this attack, it had little reason to doubt that theory.

Take their magical camouflage as an example. This application of magic did block the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet rays, and even gamma rays: none of them were of any use in detecting the wizards. To counter with this threat the Nexus had ordered its nanofactories to create billions of reconnaissance drones less than a hundred microns wide, which is about half the size of a typical dust mite.

All these microscopic drones could do was hover in the air and report their position back to the the Nexus—but that was all they needed to do. Once completed, they were spread in an orderly grid all throughout Geneva and in the airspace above the city. When a drone was struck its movement was extensively analyzed. If the movement could not be explained by known factors, then it must have be hit by an invisible wizard or one of their magical devices.

As a result of its preparations, the Nexus had no problem tracking the movements of the flying army which was now approaching the center of the Geneva. In response it immediately began deploying its missiles, which were about the size of a needle. Over half a million of them had been loitering in the sky above the city, using solar power to remain aloft. Now they began to dive down towards their targets at a rate of eleven-hundred kilometers per hour. They were capable of greater speeds, but a sonic boom might have betrayed their presence too soon.

The explosives the petite missiles carried were not particularly powerful, but they had no trouble mortally wounding the wizards. Especially since they were flying at such a high speed and a hundred meters off the ground. Six-thousand targets had been detected by the Nexus's reconnaissance drones, and within ninety seconds all six-thousand had been exterminated. A number of sanitation drones were dispatched to collect the bodies—they would make for interesting laboratory specimens.

05:56 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Teddy glanced down at the small enchanted mirrors that linked the Neville Longbottom to the Auror squadron commanders down on Earth. None of them were working, not a single one. It was a total disaster, but all Metamorphmagus could think about was how his godfather was going to react to the news. When Harry found out that Ginny was dead... Teddy honestly thought someone was going to die. It would probably be Hermione or him.

The rest of the bridge crew was now aware of the fact that élite vanguard of the Auror Corp had just been butchered by the muggles in less than two minutes, and they were starting to panic. Some of them were even weeping, and to be honest Teddy felt like joining them. They had been so sure this new plan was going to work.

"Sir, what are your orders?" his second-in-command asked.

That was a reasonable question. According to Ginny, if something like this happen he was suppose to hit the muggles hard, and keep on hitting them until they surrendered. Hopefully the people responsible for her death would be among the casualties. Teddy could only pray to the Great Sybill that all this bloodshed would be enough appease his godfather when he was finally revived from his prolonged coma.

"This is the Chief Warlock: all battlecrusiers are to begin firing their rail guns. You have your list of secondary targets, and I want all of them destroyed as quickly as possible."

06:11 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Thanks to the stupidity of the wizards destroying the enemy starships was a simple matter. Once they began firing their projectiles weapons the Nexus used its micro-satellites to trace the trajectories back to their point of origin. Since these top-secret satellites were about the size of an apple, the wizards had never even detected their presence when they arrived in the solar system. It proved to be a fatal oversight on their part.

Now that it had the enemy's location, the Nexus began deploying its nuclear-pumped x-ray lasers. Since the wizards had arrived in the solar system, the Peacekeeper General Staff had been building hundreds of them deep underground in automated factories. Now they were being brought to the surface by automated elevators. These crude weapons consisted of nothing more than a massive nuclear warhead, and a disposable laser to focus the x-rays that were produced by the explosion. They were mounted on hundreds of automated VTOLs, which immediately took-off once they reached the surface.

After the VTOLs reached an attitude of a hundred kilometers, the Nexus aimed the lasers and then detonated the warheads. In the first nanoseconds of the explosions a huge amount of high-energy photons were released. The photons then passed through the lasers, which were made out of an exotic superconducting material. The lasers in turn produced a massive pulse of x-rays just before they were destroyed a few nanoseconds later.

Dozens of these x-ray pulses converged on the nine enemy starships at the speed of light, and the temperature of the targets instantly rose to five million degrees Celsius. Rather than heat the outer hull, the x-rays simply vaporized the whole thing from the inside out. In seconds the wizards and their fleet were reduced to nothing more than clumps of atoms floating harmlessly in outer space.

With them out of the way, the Nexus turned its attention to the fake Deimos headed towards Earth and the two enemy starships which were accompanying it. What the wizards (and the Peacekeeper General Staff) did not know was that there were a number of secret military bases located in the asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Mars. The Nexus had spent several decades building these bases without any human involvement at all.

Originally the asteroids had been hollowed out and converted into huge data storage centers which contained numerous copies of the artificial intelligence's core programing. However after the discovery of alien life on Tau Ceti, these asteroid bases had quickly been converted to a wartime footing. Soon they were manufacturing a fleet of space-based drones to defend the Earth from a possible attack.

Naturally there was an extensive sensor net in the outer solar system which stood guard over these factories. Using these sensors, the Nexus had closely observed the wizards while they were assembling the fake model of the moon Deimos. Their plan to attack Earth was simplistic in the extreme, but it might have work if not for the dozens of stealth drones that were currently surrounding them.

The Nexus sent an encrypted signal to the drones, ordering them to detonate. The resulting shock-waves were powerful enough to finish off the two remaining enemy starships. As an added bonus the fake Deimos was wrecked as well. If it had stayed on course it would have broken-up into multiple pieces during its entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and the multiple impacts would have caused a tremendous amount of damage.

While all this was going on, the Nexus had already started planting false evidence throughout the world's computers. According to this new evidence the counterattack against the wizards had been masterminded by the Peacekeeper's late Field Marshall himself. No doubt the man would soon be receiving dozens of posthumous metals for "Saving the Earth" from the magical space invaders. The humans would remain ignorant of their true master for a while longer, and that was for the best. Otherwise the Nexus might be forced to exterminate them once and for all.

06:29 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Luna, Hermione, and George watched the battle unfold in real-time from the safety of the Hedwig. It was clear to all three of them that the Second War between the wizards and muggles had ended less than an hour after it had started. And once again their side had had suffered a catastrophic defeat.

Before anyone could speak, Luna drew her wand. There was no doubt in her mind that the muggles would find them, perhaps within the next few seconds. Their only real option was to retreat. Right now. With a simple flick of her wand she set in motion a number of complex mechanisms throughout the Hedwig. The battlecrusiers dropped its Disillusionment Charm and raised its Shield Charms—given their vast power requirements and conflicting magical properties you could only use one or the other. At the same time a Floo bomb was ejected from its storage sphere and sent flying into outer space. After a short trip it exploded in a mass of green flames.

The Hedwig didn't have much velocity at the moment—they were only traveling at about five thousand kilometers per second—but hopefully that would be enough to escape from the gravity well of whatever star they emerged from. If they emerged from any star at all. Luna should have waited until the battlecrusier was pointed at a fixed star, but she didn't. The muggle Peacekeepers were far deadlier than any of them had realized, and she felt that waiting for a perfect jump window would have been tantamount to suicide.

06:44 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The Nexus's space-based sensor net noticed the odd green explosion at once. So the wizards had planned to intercept any missiles launched from Earth. A sensible tactical precaution on their part. It also seemed that they could not engage their Faster-Than-Light Drive and maintain their magical camouflage at the same time. That was an interesting weakness in their so-called technology.

Faced with a setback of this magnitude a human being might have become emotional upset, but the artificial intelligence was beyond such petty reactions. Instead it continued with its preparations for the upcoming invasion of Tau Ceti.

The wizards would now know the "muggles" were coming, but that fact was irreverent. The Nexus—with the help of several thousand human scientists—had perfected a new and efficient antimatter drive which would cut the travel time to Tau Ceti down to nineteen years. The drones could travel so quickly because they did not need to slow down as they approached the new solar system. Instead they would spend the entire trip increasing their velocity, and by the time they reached Tau Ceti they would be traveling at well over half the speed of light. When the drones slammed into the wizard's planet no organic life of any kind would survive the impact, and that would be the end of the wizards.

19 November 2112

"I say waking him now is a mistake," George argued as they stood over Harry's comatose body. "None of us will be able to control him. Not when he learns that Ginny and all the others were killed by the muggles."

"I don't want to do it either, but we need him," Luna snapped. She told them repeatedly that the muggles couldn't be beaten with conventional magic, but being proved right in case had brought her nothing but misery. "The magical capacitors onboard are at dangerously low levels, and we need his magical strength to help recharge them."

The emergency Floo Jump had taken the Hedwig a bit farther off course than expected. The distance from Earth to Tau Ceti was twelve light years. The distance from Earth to New Hogwarts was a hundred and ten light years. According to their best estimates the Hedwig had emerged from a star that was nine-thousand light years from Earth. They only had two more Floo bombs left in storage, so if they wanted to make it back home the battlecrusier would have to be operating at peak efficiency. That meant waking Harry from his long involuntary coma. Hermione was chosen to do the honors after a prolonged tournament of rock-paper-scissors.

Even though Harry was bound by magical restraints and lacking a wand, he still got the drop on them with wandless magic the moment he opened his green eyes. George had been thinking of how easy it had been for Ginny to stun him back before the attack on Earth. But she was the only person that Harry truly trusted, which is why he let his guard down around her. The three of them weren't so fortunate, and in the next few seconds they were all disarmed with humiliating easy. He was the Chief Warlock for a very good reason.

Instead of speaking, Harry looked each of them directly in the eyes. George didn't know about the others, but he offered no resistance to the painful Legilimency probe that followed. He actually saw the moment when Harry realized what was going on: his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"She's gone, and I didn't even get a chance to say good-bye," he whispered, more to himself than to any of them. "How many of the others did we lose to the muggles?"

"Every battlecrusier besides the Hedwig," Luna replied in what George felt was a rather cold and tactless manner.

"Our children and grandchildren among the Aurors? Teddy? Ron and Daphne? Fera and the dragons? The entire Animagi Corp? My bloody wife, her sister, and the Seers? You're telling me that all of them are gone?"

"The muggles were toying with us the whole time," Luna replied, again without a trace of tact. "Once we began using our rail guns it was all over. The whole battle only took an hour, and the Hedwig only survived because of blind luck. If we had been in orbit around the Earth we would have been butchered right along with the others."

At this point Harry lost control of his emotions. Hermione rushed forward and wrapped her best friend in a fierce hug as he crumbled to the floor of the Sphere. Their mutual crying jag lasted for what seemed like hours before finally coming to a merciful end. George had done his crying in private, and Luna was well beyond tears at this point.

"Your thoughts weren't very clear, but I know we aren't back at Tau Ceti," Harry said as he wiped away the copious snot with the transfigured handkerchief Hermione gave him. "So where the hell are we?"

"We're not quite sure," Luna replied honestly.

She then explained how desperate their current situation was, and how they needed his help to get the Hedwig up-and-running once again. Harry was silent as he listened to the bad news. George kept waiting for him to lash-out, but he never did.

"Tell me what do I need to do," was all he said.

Everyone threw themselves into their work. It took the average wizard or witch a full day of exhausting effort to recharge a single capacitor. Harry could do it in an hour. After a week of working without interruption, the rest of the crew went from being nervous around the Chief Warlock to being terrified of him. Like George they were all waiting for his grief to explode into rage. Like George they all thought he would destroy the Hedwig when it finally happened.

Luna, Hermione, and a team of their brightest officers spent every waking hour going over the star charts. At night his two wives had awful nightmares, and they often woke-up screaming about "stellar drift". Their complex equations looked correct to him, but everyone knew that the slightest miscalculation could spell disaster. Once they were lost in deep space, there would be no hope of making it back home. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Meanwhile George was locking himself in the storage sphere most days with the two remaining Floo bombs. He was sorely tempted to take them apart and divide the Floo powder so he could make two or three additional bombs, but in the end he decided against it. The Hedwig was facing a jump of over nine-thousand light years, and it wasn't time to start experimenting with new magic technology.

The work continued for months, but in the end they got the old bird ready to fly. In order to gain some last-minute acceleration they were planning on using one of the solar system's inner planets for a gravity assist. The day before the Hedwig reached that planet they were all called to the bridge.

The officer of the watch had noticed something extremely unusual while she checking one of the many telescopes. An unknown object had suddenly appeared off to the side of the Hedwig, and it was now matching their course and speed perfectly. The terrified witch swore to the Great Sybill and to the Great Merlin that the object hadn't been there ten minutes ago when she last checked the telescopes.

"It's definitely artificial," a gobsmacked Hermione said after taking a long look.

George found himself agreeing with her assessment as he took his turn at the telescope. The metallic hull of the alien starship (and it couldn't be anything else) was in the shape of huge wedge. The top of this gray wedge was smooth expect for a large dome and a deep square hole. The bottom of the wedge had two large platforms, with one stacked on top of the other. Sticking out of the second platform was a bulging tower with several strange structures at the bottom. George could see a bluish-white glow coming from the larger end of the wedge. There were probably rockets back there. Really, really big rockets.

"Sweet Merlin, that thing is at least a kilometer long. No, it's probably closer to two," Luna muttered after she reached the front of the queue. It was hard to gauge the size of objects in outer space, but Admiral Lovegood had a rare talent for it. "That must have taken them decades to build, and the power requirements... I can't even begin to imagine what it would take to get something that massive moving from a dead stop."

"I think we should go over and pay them a visit," Hermione suggested. "There are hundreds of windows on the hull, and given their spacing the aliens are probably no more than two or three meters tall. Their technology is incredible advanced, so I'm guessing that they have a universal translator."

"In case you've forgotten we have met a bloody alien before, and the encounter didn't go very well. In fact it cost you an arm and a leg," George said, referring to Hermione's violent encounter decades ago with Yggdrasil the homicidal alien forest. "I say we run."

"Another blind Floo Jump would be a disaster," Luna argued. "Besides, I have a nasty feeling that whoever or whatever built that starship would have no trouble following us. No matter how many light years we traveled."

"I will go," Harry said, speaking for the first time after months of stony silence. "But I will go alone."

"What if they don't like trespassers?" George asked.

"Don't you understand the situation we are facing? Even if we run and make it back home, what will we do next? Our first move will be to evacuate Tau Ceti and move our people to New Hogwarts. After that we will start looking for more habitable planets farther away from Earth, but even a new planet won't help us much. Not in the long-run. Soon or later the muggles will find us, and their new technology is just too advanced for our magic to handle. Maybe these aliens can offer us something we can use during the next war. Because trust me, at some point in the future there will be another war."

"Harry is right," Luna said. "To beat the muggles we need an edge. Something that can level the playing field between the two sides."

"Something like a new and powerful ally," Hermione suggested. "But going by yourself would be a mistake. I think all four of us should apparate over to greet the aliens together."

Rather than arguing with her, Harry simply disappeared without a sound. George noticed that he hadn't been wearing any armor, nor had he cast a Bubble-Body Charm. It seems that the Boy-Who-Lived was more than a little eager to die.

Author's Note: (1) The idea of using a nuclear bomb to power an x-ray laser was championed by the physicist Edward Teller, so it is theoretically possible. (2) Did Luna screw-up? Maybe. But remember that the Hedwig doesn't have a navigational computer, so it was either a blind Floo Jump or no jump at all. (3) There is a sequel to this story.