FicWad

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Star Trek. For that matter, I don't own much of anything except a lot of debt. If I could claim the two series and all their spin-offs, I would. So please don't sic the law demons on me ok?


Chapter 14: Return to Hogwarts

For a few seconds nothing happened, then there was a flash of white flame and Fawkes floated down to perch on the boulder.

Harry fell back on the grass in shock. "Fawkes! What…How…Where did you come from?"

Hui, who had drawn her phaser at the burst of flame, relaxed at Harry's reaction. "I take it you know this bird, hon?"

Harry nodded while still looking at the phoenix.

Fawkes had been looking at Harry, almost as if he was not quite sure that the grown man seated on the ground in front of him was the same skinny boy that Harry had been at Hogwarts almost three hundred years ago.

The phoenix suddenly shot into the sky, singing at the top of his lungs. After doing several dives and spins, Fawkes landed by Harry and began head butting his left hand.

Harry turned his hand over in response to Fawkes' head butt. As soon as Harry had turned his hand over, Fawkes cried several tears into the cut on Harry's palm, healing it.

Harry looked at the swan sized bird next to him "Thank you Fawkes, How've you been doing?"

"Harry, just what is going on?" Hui asked. The interaction between her husband and the flame colored bird seemed like old friends meeting after a long time.

"Hui, honey, this is Fawkes. He was Dumbledore's pet," said Harry introducing the bird to his wife.

Fawkes gave Harry a look that just said 'Get it right buddy.'

Harry flinched as numerous images flooded his mind. "Whoa! That was weird. Fawkes what did you do?"

Fawkes cocked his head to one side, and more images and feelings ran through Harry's head.

"You did what? You nut. Why did you do that?" said Harry, shaking his head ruefully.

"Harry, just what the Hell is going on between you and that phoenix?" asked Hui. Her tone and body language showed that she was really confused about what was happening.

"Hui, Fawkes here went and agreed to be a sort of...messenger, I guess is the best way to describe it. Apparently he can talk, but it's kinda weird. I can understand him, but his method of speaking is really odd. It's mostly images and feelings, not really words but it's very clear about what he's talking about."

Fawkes looked at Hui and then back to Harry and let out a chirp.

"Yes, she's my wife, why?" asked Harry.

Fawkes bobbed his head and chirped again.

Harry patted the ground and Hui sat down next to him. "Hon, Fawkes wants to hang around with us after we take care of business. I'm not sure why, but I guess he's been lonely since Dumbledore passed away. Phoenixes are creatures of good and from what I understand they don't tend to stay around people unless they like them."

Hui looked at the bird intently for a moment and a smile broke out on her face. "Sure, why not? He's a beautiful creature."

Fawkes took a few hops over next to Hui and looked in her eyes. She gasped as a flood of images and feelings entered her mind. "WOW! You're right, that is weird, but thank you Fawkes, you're pretty special too."

Fawkes puffed himself up for a moment then looked at the two of them expectantly.

Hui blushed at the images the bird sent. "You're a real wise guy aren't you? We've only been married a week, of course there's no children yet."

Fawkes started prancing in front of them, spreading his tail feathers and chirping what sounded like "Anchors Away."

The two of them turned bright red and burst out laughing from the images and emotions that Fawkes was showing them.

Once they calmed down a bit, Hui asked, "Fawkes where did you get that from?

The flame colored bird blinked twice and gave the avian equivalent of a shrug.

Harry shook his head but had a huge smile on his face. "Albus in San Francisco back in 1968. Good lord, I had no idea."

Fawkes let loose with a few notes of song which kept the good spirits going.

"Okay, Fawkes, we'll wait here," said Hui just before the Phoenix disappeared in a flash of flame.

Hui shook her head "That bird is a riot. He did give me a few ideas though."

"Ideas?" asked Harry curiously.

Hui patted Harry's hand and said "You'll find out later Harry." The sparkle in her eye and devilish smile said it all.

A flash of fire announced Fawkes' return. Embraced in his talons was the Hogwarts sorting hat.

"Put me down, you overgrown excuse for chicken flambé!" yelled out the hat.

Harry and Hui stood up and Harry took the ancient hat from Fawkes and set it on the boulder in front of them.

"Damned bird knows I don't like traveling like that," grumbled the hat.

Harry gestured to the tattered piece of headgear. "Hon, this is the Hogwarts sorting hat. How's it been going, Hat?"

The folds that formed the sorting hat's eyes narrowed as it twisted slightly towards Harry. "I know you. You're familiar. I may have sorted one of your relatives once."

Harry shrugged and picked up the hat. "Tell you what, Hat, I'll just put you on and let you figure it out for yourself."

He placed the sorting hat on his head and no sooner had it touched him than the hat exclaimed, "POTTER! Just where the hell have you been? Do you know what sort of shitstorm you caused when you disappeared?

Harry blinked at the language, something he wouldn't have expected from such an ancient, scholarly artifact. Though, once he thought about it, having read the minds of dozens of eleven-year-olds every year for a thousand years, the hat was bound to pick up a few things. "Yeah, I know. Honestly, it was an accident. I'm back, though. Alright, I'm about three hundred years late, but I'm doing the best I can right now," replied Harry sheepishly.

Harry took off the hat and offered it to Hui. "Hon, go ahead and put him on. Let's see what he thinks about you." Over the years that they had known each other, Harry had given to Hui a complete description of the castle and its residents as he remembered them. There had been a few discussions where they had wondered about where she would have been sorted if she had gone there.

Hui took the hat from Harry and placed it on her head.

"Hello. Who do we have here?" asked the hat.

"Hui Potter, Mr. Hat. We were curious about which house I would have been in," said Hui politely. Growing up in a mostly Chinese magical neighborhood, she'd learned that should she ever come across any magical beings or artifacts, she always needed to be polite. According to the legends that she had heard as a child, you never knew who or what might be connected to them and become offended if you weren't polite.

"My, you're a breath of fresh air. Even after two hundred years, I remember how obnoxious some of those toerags were. Now, where would I put you.... Hmmm…excellent mind and very brave." The hat turned on Hui's head to face Harry. "Potter, you know, your better half here reminds me of your old pal the walking encyclopedia. So the best fit for your wife would have been Gryffindor, though I might have let her go to Ravenclaw if she'd asked for that instead."

As soon as the hat made his announcement, Fawkes started doing a dance as if to say 'Ohh yeah!' while a large grin appeared on Harry's face.

Harry took the sorting hat off Hui's head and placed it on the boulder in front of them as Fawkes finished his impromptu dance.

"Thank you Mr. Hat…" began Hui.

"Please, enough with the Mr. Hat. Call me Daniel. It's what the founders called me," said 'Daniel' the sorting hat.

"Okay, Daniel, after I met Harry and heard his stories about Hogwarts, I was curious to which house I would have been sorted into. Thank you for letting me know," said Hui sincerely.

Daniel bent slightly as if taking a bow. "Not a problem. Now, we need to talk. I've got information for you, Potter, and a care package. Sit down and let's chat."

The two of them sat back down and waited for Daniel to begin.

"First of all, tell me what you know so I'll what to skip," asked Daniel.

Harry thought for a moment. "I generally know what happened up till the muggles started blowing up half the planet as well as the general aftermath. What I don't know is why no one can get into Hogwarts and what happened to Voldemort."

"Hmm… right then. I don't have to explain how things went to hell then, and I don't need to tell you the results. Mrs. Potter, can I assume that you filled him in on that stuff?" asked Daniel.

"That's correct, Daniel. Most things we're pretty clear on, but Hogwarts and Voldemort, no clue. What we do know is that about a month after the bombs fell, every witch and wizard that was in England, left. As far as we know, any witch or wizard born since leaves as soon as possible. Right now, both of us can feel a ward that's making us feel uneasy. We think it's this ward that's keeping witches and wizards from staying." explained Hui.

"Excellent, that makes things much easier," exclaimed Daniel. "Now keep in mind, I did not witness the destruction from the Muggle bombs. I was still stored in the Headmaster's office at the time. About a month before I was extracted, there was a day in mid-summer when almost everyone left the castle for a celebration. The only ones left behind were either children too young to go and the very sick or badly injured. No one who left came back.

"I later found out from the Weasleys that Tom and his chief supporters were all in London, mostly in Diagon Alley, when the blasts occurred. About a month later, a spy within the Death Eater ranks reported that Voldemort had returned to Hogwarts, but was severely weakened.

"As soon as a team could be put together, what was left of the Order and its supporters, including Dumbledore and the curse-breaker Weasley, hit the castle and got the few remaining kids and prisoners out. They got me and a few other artifacts before Dumbledore took control of the wards and charms on the castle and did…something to them. Even Weasley wasn't ever quite sure what he did. The effort cost him his life though. All he said before he died was that Tom was trapped in Hogwarts and only Fawkes could get in there." Daniel seemed to bow slightly at the mention of Dumbledore's passing, almost as if he was saying a prayer for the headmaster's soul.

Harry, too, bowed his head in remembrance of Dumbledore and his ultimate sacrifice to contain Voldemort. After a moment Harry asked, "So Tom's still alive and trapped in Hogwarts?"

"As far as I know, he is. Dumbledore certainly believed it." stated Daniel.

Hui had been sitting back and concentrating on the information. "Harry, Daniel, assuming that Tom's still alive, we're looking at either an incredibly powerful nightmare come to life or a broken wretch of--I don't know, something that should have been killed with the rest of its followers."

Daniel sort of nodded and Harry said "That's about the size of it. I'm betting on the latter case, since Daniel didn't see or hear of anyone who left coming back. If Tom was badly hurt by the blasts and radiation, I can see it taking him a month just to get to the grounds of the castle, let alone to anyplace inside, even with magic. Now Daniel, you mentioned a care package?"

"Ahh yes, I'm glad that you remembered that. Hang on a second." Daniel scrunched himself up and for all the world liked like he was straining to go to the bathroom. The sight brought a smirk to the honeymooners' faces.

Then the hat relaxed and said. "Potter, take this thing out of me if you don't mind."

Harry stood up and picked up the hat. As he did so, the bottom of a rectangular box appeared. Hui got up and grabbed the edge of the box. Harry kept moving the hat backwards from the box edge and together they extracted a box that was roughly six feet long and about a foot thick from Daniel

"Thank you, that thing was uncomfortable. The Weasleys asked me to get that to you." said Daniel

Harry and Hui looked at the box. While it looked brand new, it had a certain shabbiness to it. Harry, realizing where they were, looked at Fawkes who was quietly sitting on the grass preening himself, and then to the sorting hat. "Guys, I don't think opening that box here would be a good idea. It was the Weasleys that got you to keep an eye on that thing Daniel. Who knows what's actually inside? We're not that far from the heart of London, here; anyone could happen by. I don't want the contents to hurt or frighten anyone just in case they booby trapped it. Fawkes, can you take us somewhere close to Hogwarts, but out of sight? Just outside the wards would be fine."

As Hui began gathering up their stuff, she asked, "Why near Hogwarts? Why not back at the hotel or some other place?"

Harry, who was tying up some bandages out of Hui's aid bag to make a makeshift shoulder strap for the box, replied, "That's the only place that I can think of where there will be absolutely no chance of this thing hurting anyone but the person who opens it. I remember the Weasleys, every last one of them could be some of the most devious people you could ever meet, and they lived through a war for decades after I left. Most of them were the kind of person that would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it but if you pissed them off or somehow got on their bad side you were in for a world of hurt. I wouldn't put it past them to rig this box up with some sort of trap, just in case, especially if the twins were involved."

Slinging the makeshift strap over his shoulder Harry picked up Daniel and held out his other hand to Hui. "Just grab onto Fawkes tail feathers and he'll take us there."

Hui grasped Fawkes' tail feathers and they disappeared in a flash of flame.


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They arrived in a small clearing just outside the wards with a thump. "Okay, Daniel, I can see why you don't like that, the landing's a bit rough," said Harry.

Hui looked at Harry like he was nuts. "I don't know, it seemed perfectly fine to me. Fawkes is a wonderful transporter in my opinion."

The scarlet bird puffed up and gave the sorting hat a look that just said 'I told you so'.

Harry unslung the box from his shoulder and laid it on the ground. He motioned for everyone to move back. Hui picked up Daniel and moved away from Harry and the box. Fawkes moved over next to Hui and watched intently. Harry undid the wrapping on the box and the string holding the lid on underneath. He carefully lifted the lid from the box and nothing happened. Harry let out a sigh of relief and motioned Hui to come over and take a look. She came over and saw that the box appeared to be packed full of books and items that the twins probably had a hand in making. Harry picked up two of the three things that caught his eye immediately, two separate parchment envelopes. One of the envelopes had printed on it in lurid green letters, Read Me First. He spotted what appeared to be his invisibility cloak folded neatly within the box but it could wait.

Opening the first envelope, he extracted a letter that appeared to be several pages in length. It actually turned out to be two different letters, one from Bill and the other from the twins. Bill's letter explained that the books in the box were Dumbledore's notes regarding the Horcruxes and what the old wizard had theorized that Tom had done to himself since being re-embodied. Bill had been good enough to include his notes on what Dumbledore had done to the wards and charms on Hogwarts. He explained that Dumbledore had somehow turned them inside out and keyed them to Voldemort's magical core, trapping him in the castle. The calculations indicated Voldemort should be trapped within Hogwarts forever with no magic, living his eternal life with the same magical abilities as a squib at best, but Bill said that something didn't feel right about them. He'd apparently checked them over a few hundred times and everything looked ok, but he called it a "gut feeling" that they were off somehow. He also mentioned getting a glimpse of Voldemort during the rescue mission into Hogwarts, before Dumbledore modified the wards. It had, Bill said, been like seeing an ancient mummy come to life in one of his Egyptian tomb assignments. Voldemort had been little more than a charred, supporating husk. Bill had started to fire a spell, to try and finish the bastard off, but Dumbledore stopped him. Killing the body, he'd said, would only release Voldemort's spirit to wander again, and allow him to possess another person like Quirrell someday. He still had at least two Horcruxes that hadn't been found.

To finish off the letter, Bill also let them know that he had been the one to set up the plaque to signal Fawkes.

The twin's letter was quite funny as it was written in the "twin speak" that they had perfected. The general gist of it were descriptions of all the "gifts" that they had included in the box, many of which were their own inventions, including classic items like the Extendable Ears. There was also a family update for their, as they put it, "little brother from another mother," listing the fates of those siblings and parents who had passed on, plus the marriages, children, and grandchildren of those still living. Enclosed in the folds of their letter were two additional items. One was a wizarding photo showing the surviving Weasleys at the dedication of the plaque, along with several other people including Luna and, surprisingly enough, Hermione. It was strange seeing all of them looking so much older, most of them with graying hair from the stress of a lifetime spent in the war against Voldemort. The other item was an extremely lifelike drawing of Harry and Hui holding each other in their cadet uniforms that apparently Ginny had done. From what the twins said, she had done it based on the descriptions that Luna had given of the two of them. As a final parting shot they had said that they were going to figure out a way to get to Harry's time to make sure that Luna's great granddaughter was fit enough for an honorary Weasley.

Once their snickers had subsided, Harry picked up the other envelope. Opening it, he found a very familiar piece of blank parchment.

"Thanks guys, this is going to help out a lot," he said more to himself than anyone in particular.

Hui looked at the piece of parchment with some confusion. "Hon, I don't see how a blank piece of paper is going to help us out."

Several years earlier, Harry had crafted an ankle holster for his wand. He had done the same for Hui and whenever possible, both of them now kept their wands strapped to their lower legs, just in case. Hui was just glad the current uniforms allowed her to carry it concealed that way, and thanked her lucky stars that the old uniforms from the last decade, with the mini-skirt that had been proposed by a very strange admiral as a way to allow her fellow Starfleet officers to "express their femininity," had finally been scrapped before she joined. Even the horrid, gray, robe-like uniforms would have been a vast improvement.

Harry drew his wand from the holster and gave Hui a warning "Hon, I'm going to activate this. Last time I tried any active magic here, that ward we've been feeling went berserk. It won't actually do anything to hurt us, but don't be surprised if you get a sudden urge to flee. Just sit tight and it will calm down in a few minutes."

Harry tapped his wand to the parchment and spoke the activation phrase, "I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The ward didn't react to the map activating, but Hui was surprised when the blank sheet filled with moving lines which drew out a map of the castle floorplan.

Harry just smiled as he looked at the map. "Hmmm…there's the snake-faced bastard. He's in the headmaster's office."

"Harry," Hui gasped, grabbing his arm. "When I pushed you to touch your blood to the plaque, I was hoping to solve a mystery, nothing more. I don't think we need to actually take on Voldemort today."

Harry chuckled and patted her hand comfortingly. "Don't worry, Hon, I don't plan to. We're still in the same situation that Dumbledore and Bill were in; he still has horcruxes. That's why he's survived all this time. According to the notes, one of them may be a few hundred meters under that plaque, sealed into the Goblin tunnels. Even with modern weapons and technology, I'm not sure how we'd ever get it out. And the other might be in the castle somewhere, but they never figured out where in seven decades of searching.”

Harry paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “We don't need to deal with Moldy-Voldy right now; he's trapped and not doing any harm to anyone for the moment. It can wait 'til I know for a fact that when I do kill him, he'll stay permanently dead. No, that's not why I was checking on where he was; I just wanted to make sure he was far enough away. Look -- Voldemort is here," he said while tapping the map where the headmaster's office was located. "And the library is here, several floors away. Hon, what I want to do is get in there and grab all the books we can carry. Much of what's holding the magical world back right now is the lack of knowledge; the Hogwarts library has everything we need to change that!" Harry tapped the other side of the map opposite from Voldemort. "I think we can get in and out without him knowing we were there."

Hui looked at the map intently and then an evil smile came across her face. "What better way to fuck with his head than by stealing those books from under his nose. Besides, when you go after him, you're going to have magical backup, and I'm not taking no for an answer on this one buster."

Harry saw the look on his wife's face and he knew better than to argue with her about it.

He took the invisibility cloak for the box and held out his hand. "This is my old invisibility cloak; I used to sneak around the castle with it. If for some reason Tommy comes out of that office, we can use it to sneak past him. Bill's note said he wouldn't have any magic at all, so he shouldn't be able to hurt us. Getting in and out should be easy, but just in case, having this will only help."

Hui took Harry's hand and said, "Daniel, keep an eye on the place, we shouldn't be gone too long. Fawkes, can you take us straight to the library?"

Fawkes waived his tail feathers and Hui once again grasped them in her free hand. With another flash of flame, they vanished.


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When they reappeared, the sight that greeted them dashed all of Harry's hopes. The library, once a pristine and hallowed bastion of knowledge, presided over by the meticulous Madame Pince, was a complete disaster. Many of the bookshelves had collapsed and there were piles of decaying parchment just tossed here and there. In many areas, the contents of the library appeared to have completely dissolved into lumps of gray mulch. In others, there were still shapes recognizable as books, but many appeared to have significant damage from the ravages of time and from what appeared to be infestations of various small creatures, both magical and non magical.

"Son of a bitch," muttered Harry at the sight.

"Aiya! Huaile..." Hui exclaimed, falling back into the language of her childhood.

"Hon, just whisper in here, I don't want to take a chance on attracting Tom's attention if he comes down here," said Harry after a moment. Hui nodded and the two of them began to poke around for any salvageable books.

During the hour or so that they surveyed the library, they were only able to find a few books that were even marginally salvageable. There was first year transfiguration text, an introductory arithmancy book, one of the seventh year potions texts and, of all things, a grumpy copy of the Monster Book of Monsters. Even several minutes of stroking the binding didn't seem to calm it. It was in the best shape of all of them, though, having been able to defend itself against many of the destructive elements and creatures that had ruined the rest of the library.

Harry had taken notice of the state of the building itself it seemed dilapidated, almost if the charms that helped protect it were failing. Many windows were broken and there appeared to be areas where standing water or snow would collect during storms. He didn't notice any missing ceiling panels, but from all indications, it appeared that the roof was leaking. This explained much of the damage the books had suffered. Harry surveyed the room once again, mourning the tragic loss of priceless knowledge.

Waiving Hui over, Harry sighed and said, "I think we've found all we can right now. I want to get a better idea of how the castle is faring. I think I know why everything is run down, but I need to get a look at some of the rest of the place. Let's not use Fawkes 'til we get to the entrance hall, unless it's necessary." Hui nodded again and let Harry lead the way; this was his turf after all.

The little party moved as quietly through the dilapidated castle as possible. Harry noted that the hallways and rooms that he could see into appeared to be in the same general state as the library. The castle, so bright and full of life three centuries before, was now looking its age.

As they approached the entrance hall they heard a noise that put their nerves on edge. It sounded like someone shuffling along and a piece of wood striking flagstone. Ducking into an open room, Harry realized that they had neglected to check the map during their trek from the library. Hui, who had been carrying the map, opened it up and gasped. A figure labeled "T. Riddle" was only about a hundred feet away from the door.

Pulling out the invisibility cloak, Harry covered them in it, hoping that Voldemort wouldn't be able to see them through it. Looking through a window into the hallway, they got a good look at Voldemort. It wasn't a pretty sight. All of Voldemort's exposed skin was nothing but a mass of keloid scars, and from the angle they were at they could tell he was blind due to the empty eye sockets in his head. Harry's scar began to hurt for the first time in many years and he let out a barely audible hiss in pain.

Voldemort whirled as if he had heard a gunshot and attempted to cast a spell. The small red streak of light would have missed them by almost ten feet, even if it hadn't faded out before it reached them.

Before things could escalate any further, Fawkes flashed into existence over the Potters' heads, grabbed them by the hair and cloak and spirited them to safety, outside the wards.