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 15: Your Mission, should you accept it.

Arriving back in the clearing, Harry whipped the invisibility cloak off the two of them. Hui grabbed Harry and held him tight. She had seen the dragon that he'd been fighting his entire life and it frightened her. Harry just held her until she began to loosen her grip.

Daniel, who had been observing the scene, asked, "Just what the hell happened in there?"

Harry looked at the hat as Hui loosened her grip. "We only got a couple of books, but that bastard's still alive and kicking. And he's got at least a little bit of magic left."

"So what are you going to do about it?" asked the hat.

Harry looked at his wife who, while still pale, was now busy securing the books they had salvaged in the Weasley care package. "For the moment, nothing. Something's not right about this and we need to get out of here." The hat made a movement as if to speak again, but Harry interrupted. "Just drop it for now, Daniel"

Daniel fell silent and Harry helped Hui finish packing up the few items that were still out. Once they were done, they grasped Fawkes's tailfeathers and Hui said "Fawkes, please take up to our hotel. Get us the hell out of here."


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As soon as they left the magical interference around Hogwarts and arrived at their hotel, Harry and Hui's communicators went off. Upon answering, they were surprised and at the same time almost relieved to learn that their leave was being canceled. The two of them were to report to Starfleet Headquarters immediately, as a planetary emergency had been declared several hours before, and their orders had them assigned there. Hui quickly gave a description of their apartment above the Jade Dragon to Fawkes while Harry rapidly packed their luggage. As soon as Harry was done, Fawkes grabbed Daniel and as much luggage as he could and flamed out to the Jade Dragon. Harry and Hui rapidly checked out of the hotel and were able to get priority transport directly to Starfleet Headquarters.

Upon arrival, Hui was assigned to the medical offices to help out, though with what, no one there had any real idea. There were no patients there, just records, a few medics and two doctors who were absolutely clueless to what was causing the frantic activity at Headquarters.

Harry was assigned to be a runner for Admiral Kirk's office, but since Kirk was currently on the Enterprise dealing directly with the threat to Earth, Harry didn't have much to do.

Listening to the reports coming in, Harry learned that a probe from an unknown civilization was hell-bent on getting to Earth and finding its creator, and God help anything that got in its way, such as the Epsilon 9 Communications relay station and three Klingon Battlecruisers. Harry did manage to get permission to run that information down to medical, so they might have a clue to what to prepare for should casualties come in to their offices. No sooner had he relayed that information than Earth’s entire planetary defense grid was shut down due to the probe's actions. When this happened, a controlled pandemonium broke out as people desperately tried to bring the grid back online. Harry spent several frantic hours handing tools to engineers and running orders through darkened corridors, feeling helpless.

Suddenly, almost as quickly as it started, it was over. The Grid came back up like it had never been down and the probe vanished. Harry later learned that Admiral Kirk had pulled a metaphorical rabbit out of his hat and saved the day.

About an hour or so later, Harry and Hui were released to go home and get some sleep. Because of the chaos the probe had caused, they were told that they didn't have to be at their duty stations until noon the next day and even then it was going to be mostly clean-up from the crisis. Taking a cab, the two of them got a ride to Chinatown where they walked the rest of the way to the bar.

Avoiding Hui's grandfather, they went directly upstairs and to their bedroom. As soon as the door closed, the stress of the last 36 hours, from the spooky halls of Hogwarts, catching sight of the magical world's most powerful and frightening boogey-man, to the long hours of helpless fear in an clinic, hit Hui like a freight train and she broke down crying in Harry's arms.

"Dammit Harry, I'm a doctor not a Tomb Raider!" she exclaimed thorough her tears.

Harry resisted the urge to laugh, as he had heard similar statements from Dr. McCoy when he'd been aboard the Enterprise all those years ago.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Harry gently said "No, you're not, not yet anyway. You're going to be a great healer though. Now, do you remember what we learned back in Psych in our second year?"

"Everyone deals with extreme stress differently?" she replied questioningly.

"Got it in one, dear." He brought her into a strong hug. "Don't worry, it looks like your way is to work like mad through it and then break down in private. So it's probably normal. Me, I'll just be a moody cuss for a few days, maybe break a few things, but we'll be fine."

Hui sniffed a few times and smiled. "A fine pair of heroic Starfleet officers we make."

Harry just laughed. "You should have heard the stories Gran would tell us on how Jim used to deal with things. He's calmed down now, though. From what I've heard…"


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Instead of going to sleep right away, the two had made love to each other with a desperation that was born of two people reaffirming to themselves that they were still alive despite two life threatening situations in an extremely short period of time. Shortly afterwards, the two of them fell asleep in each others arms.

About two hours later Hui woke up covered in a cold sweat with her heart hammering in her chest like she had run a marathon. Harry snapped awake as Hui sat upright and looked around the darkened room in a panic.

"Hon, you ok?" he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, just a nightmare. Must have been brought on by all the excitement," she said as she lay back down next to Harry.

Harry wrapped an arm around her stomach, pulling her close. "What about?"

Hui scooted her back into Harry's chest. "Don't really remember, just remember the color red," she said sleepily as she began to drift off. Hui was mostly telling the truth. All she did remember was the color red…blood red.


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Harry and Hui's first official week back consisted mostly of in-processing at their respective duty stations and general busywork. That weekend the two of them went through their wedding gifts and three stood out.

The Enterprise command staff, none of whom had been able to attend due to the rigors of getting their ship ready to be re-launched, had sent them a full dining set in a beautiful floral pattern with green accents. Captain Decker had been the one to take the time to find and get the set for the staff. Harry would have liked to have met the man and thank him personally for doing this for a total stranger. As it was, the Potters were going to leave flowers in his name at the Fleet Memorial as a thank you.

Tara and Stendec had gotten together and gotten them a lace bedspread embroidered in various Vulcan runes and images. Hui felt it was more a work of art than an everyday household item, but they still began to use it on their bed.

Surprisingly enough, the most unique was the gift that Werner Dursley and his family had given the newlyweds. Opening the large box, Hui had found a framed set of Chicago Police force badges dating back to when the force was first founded. The accompanying note caused them to laugh out loud when Werner pointed out that some of them were even older than Harry was. It also stated that the Potters were welcome to visit anytime and that the first round was on Werner at the bar that he and a few other officers were partners on.

Returning to Kirk's office on Monday, Harry was pleased to find that Admiral Kirk had returned from the Enterprise shakedown cruise, which he had chosen to help complete after the V'ger crisis. Kirk took care of some minor items that needed his attention and, that afternoon, had Harry ushered into his private office for their first meeting about the revelation of the wizarding world.

As soon as the normal protocols had been observed and Harry had delivered the copy of the Lovegood grimoire to the Admiral's hands, Kirk asked, "Ensign, given your expertise in this area, are there any threats from the magical population that I need to be aware of?"

"Admiral, that is a question that has two answers. In general, no. These days, most people with my gifts don't even know they have them. Those that do know generally don't have the skill to do much, let alone anything dangerous. I was an average student, and only completed five years out of seven at my school, but I still know many, many more spells than anyone else I've met here so far. They are more likely to be a danger to themselves if they were to consciously try a spell more complicated than making a light or levitating something.

"That being said, sir, there is one threat out there that, on a scale of one to ten, I'd call a two at the moment."

Harry held up his hand, forestalling the question that was forming on Kirk's lips. "Sir, allow me to explain that statement before assuming the worst."

Kirk nodded for Harry to continue.

"Before I got bounced through time, there was a very powerful, very evil wizard just starting his second try at taking over the wizarding world. Having talked to some magical people here, I've learned that after I left, he succeeded to a degree, taking over all of Great Britain and making inroads across Europe in the early part of the twenty-first century." Harry went on to explain their assumptions about the hidden war that had been waged during those decades, and how many of the 'terrorist' incidents in the historical record may have been magical attacks rather than mundane violence.

"Voldemort's reign of terror was cut short by the nuclear bombings of World War III; it is probably the one and only silver lining to that horrible time," Harry explained. He went on to explain the concept of horcruxes, and how they had kept Voldemort from dying of what would otherwise have been mortal wounds. Then he told Kirk about his honeymoon visit to Hogwarts, and their discovery that Voldemort was still alive, though currently trapped inside the castle grounds by very powerful wards.

"So you're saying that this Voldemort is trapped forever in this prison of his?" asked Admiral Kirk.

"Yes sir, but I'm personally not sold on the 'forever' part. Reminds me of the Titanic being 'unsinkable', truth be told. There aren't many magical beings still around who would willingly release him, even if they knew he was in there. And if they knew and wanted to, I doubt they could get close. The method that I used to get in there would be almost impossible for anyone else to duplicate, particularly if they had less than virtuous intentions. Sir, so far those wards are holding and Voldemort isn't going anywhere, but it's my opinion that something is not quite right. The way those wards were designed, he's not supposed to have any magic, but he managed to fire a weak spell at us. There may be a flaw there, somewhere, that could spell trouble someday, but it's probably not significant, and certainly not imminent. I'm sorry Admiral, I wish I had a better answer for you," said Harry honestly. He really wanted to reassure his commanding officer that the threat was minimal.

Kirk waived off Harry's concerns and then asked "How soon can you be ready to brief the Chiefs of Staff?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Sir, if you want me to give a briefing similar to the one you received at the reception, call it two hours from right now. Something more substantial and properly documented is going to take maybe a month, mostly due to arranging demonstrations and securing hands-on evidence. Admiral, permission to speak freely regarding this, sir?"

Kirk nodded. "Go ahead, Harry."

Harry swallowed; he was taking a risk by being a bit familiar with Admiral Kirk, even if he was his foster brother. "'Uncle' Jim, come to dinner sometime this week. I'll introduce you to some other wizards and witches in a normal setting, as well as two magical beings that are anxious to meet you."

Jim Kirk blinked and then furrowed his brow in thought. "Would tonight be okay? I've got late meetings the rest of the week, but I'm clear tonight."

"Yes, sir. I'll have to guide you there, though, otherwise you'll never find the place, sir," replied Harry.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Kirk said, "Come on, it's close enough to quitting time and I'm getting hungry."

With that the two of them left the inner office and headed out to dinner at Mickey's bar.


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The dinner at Mickey's bar turned out pretty well. While Kirk had initially been a bit stiff at the unfamiliar surroundings, Fawkes had managed to get him to snicker and relax after singing a bit and showing him an image of Harry, as he had been when he had climbed out of the lake following the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The mental image of Harry at age fourteen, holding a girl in each arm and looking like a wet cat, finally broke the ice.

Kirk, Mickey, the Potters, and, surprisingly enough, Daniel the sorting hat had a long discussion regarding how the wizarding world's remnants and Starfleet could benefit each other. Over time the conversation evolved into one about leadership and the burdens of command. As the conversation was winding down, Daniel muttered quietly, "Hufflepuff, definitely Hufflepuff."

"What was that Daniel?" asked Hui curiously.

"Oh, I was just speculating on which house the Admiral would have been in. A thousand years of placing people in houses is hard habit to break. Admiral Kirk would have been a brilliant Hufflepuff, much as your Mr. Diggory could have been had he lived to graduate. He understands that a commander will get the job done, but a leader will truly care about the people doing the job and is more than willing to do the job in the place of their subordinates," said Daniel wisely.

Kirk nodded and raised his glass towards the hat on the table in front of him. "If you'd met me at age eleven, or even eighteen, Daniel, you might have decided otherwise; I was far more reckless and ambitious in my younger years, determined to make my mark on the universe. It was my early years in Starfleet that showed me what was truly important. Its part of the reason why I did all those first beam downs, during those years on the Enterprise. I always felt it was necessary to make sure it was safe for my crew before I'd put them in harm's way. Unfortunately, too many paid the price for coming with me. Harry, Hui, you're going to learn through the course of your lives that being a commander can be taught. Anyone can learn tactics and paperwork and tell people what to do. Leadership, on the other hand, is something that either you have or you don't. A leader will pay the price for every injury and casualty that occurs under their watch with a piece of their soul. The thing to remember is that a leader may not want the job but is more than willing to do the job so others don't have to. Harry, from what everyone here's told me, I think that you have that special something that makes a leader. I'm not saying that as an Admiral, but as someone that's proud to know you."


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The next month flew by for Harry and Hui. Hui was working intently with Dr. Lifferth and Dr. McCoy, who had returned to active duty, in developing a series of non-invasive tests and protocols for identifying and evaluating the magical potential of any witch or wizard currently in or joining Starfleet.

Harry's time was spent writing the briefing, setting up and testing out demos as well as verifying how magic would react with the technology that was likely to be in the briefing room.

The morning of the briefing, Harry was in the briefing room ensuring everything was prepared. As Harry went around the room triple checking everything he was going over everything he would say to make sure he didn't screw anything up. He wanted this to go perfectly so he could do something to help restart the wizarding world without jeopardizing his career.

Harry was so lost in his nervousness he didn't notice Admiral Kirk escorting Doctors Lifferth and McCoy, Mickey and Hui into the room. The Doctors and Hui were there to assist Harry and present the medical side of things while Mickey was there acting as a representative of the civilian wizarding population. They watched in good humor as Harry adjusted the folder in front of Admiral Nougra's seat for the third time.

Kirk cleared his throat and Harry seemed to jump six feet straight up as he snapped to attention. "Sir, the presentation is ready Sir!" Harry snapped out like a new cadet.

The older members of the party shook their heads. Kirk smiled and said, "At ease and relax Harry, you'll do fine."

"Don't worry, honey, you'll get your point across to them. They'll listen and only good will come of it. We're going to help you do this so it's going to be fine," Hui said confidently.

"'Sides, that batch becomes too hard headed, ya can always zap 'em with yer stick," piped up McCoy with an easy smile.

"Or you can tell the annoying weasels to go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut and see what happens," said Mickey, adding in his own two cents.

Harry glared at the two wise-crackers. "I'd kind of like to still be a Starfleet officer when I'm done here, thank you very much. It's just that everyone that's going to be listening to me has earned their way to this table. They've been there and done that. Me, I'm a wet behind the ears kid that's gotten lucky. I just hope I can pull this off," said Harry nervously.

"Harry, what was that house you were in, the house of the brave and daring, Griffin house I think," inquired Kirk.

"Gryffindor, sir" Harry answered.

"Right, Gryffindor. Get ready to bring up that inborn bravery. These people won't kill you, but you just need to be yourself and don't bullshit them. If you don't know, say so. Make sure you let them know what's speculation and what's fact. They respect that kind of information and honesty. Now give me a final run down of the agenda. Let's see how this should go."


The briefing itself went fairly smoothly. Initially there were scoffs of disbelief and raised eyebrows, but Harry made it a point to prove that there was nothing up his sleeves and performed a few spells for the gathered flag officers. Between that and Fawkes flaming into the sealed room with Daniel for the duo to participate, they seriously paid attention and began asking questions that pushed Harry to his limits. One question did toss Harry a curve that left him thinking about it off an on for some time to come.

Admiral Purr'nell, the Catian head of the Starfleet Chaplain's Corps asked, "Ensign, have you taken into consideration that members of other species may also have the same abilities that you do and may be better prepared to assist the wizards of humanity? An example that I am familiar with is buried in Vulcan's ancient past. Those Vulcans that were gifted with extraordinary mental abilities, similar to yours and your mate's magic, were encouraged to become spiritual and healing members of their society."

The Catian turned to face the head of the scientific division of Starfleet. "Admiral T'Lo, I hate to ask this of you, as I know how private Vulcans are of parts of their society, but would you say that at least some citizens of Vulcan might be better prepared to assist than Starfleet? I only ask because some members of Starfleet may not be as open minded to the abilities of wizards as others."

The Vulcan admiral closed her eyes for a moment in thought then opened them. "Thank you for your candor, Purr'nell. I believe that the adepts of Gaull are better prepared than others to assist in the mental training that a wizard or witch that is just coming into their powers may need for control. However, as they are rather…isolationist in nature, approaching the priests and priestesses there with such a request would have to be done carefully; much as Ensign Potter has cautioned us about approaching isolated enclaves and colonies that may contain magicians that are trained in some manner."

"Thank you Admiral Purr'nell and Admiral T'Lo. I hadn't thought of that. Assuming Starfleet agrees to assist it's something that can be looked into," said Harry. The idea of other races with similar abilities hadn't occurred to him, and would require some long term thought.

Going over the Voldemort problem in and of itself was an issue. During the course of discussion on this topic, several ideas were tossed about that while on the surface seemed very plausible, on closer inspection hinged on two things that would bring the ideas to a halt, to be used as only last ditch efforts. Through the letters he had received from the past, Harry knew that three horcruxes were assumed to remain: Hufflepuff's cup, believed to be hidden in a Death Eater's vault at Gringotts; the Diadem of Ravenclaw, possibly hidden somewhere in Hogwarts; and a third that remained unknown. Bill's letter had mentioned that Dumbledore was always very close-mouthed about that last horcrux, but had long implied that it was out of reach. Flattening Hogwarts with a strike of photon torpedoes would probably take care of the Diadem, but no one had any idea of how to access the caverns, now sealed and apparently shielded from detection under London, and there were no other leads on the third and final object. Even the admirals who were the most skeptical of the metaphysical aspects agreed that, based on Harry and Hui's experience in the castle, there was at least something resembling 'Lord Voldemort' there and if it somehow were released, it could be a disaster. In the end they agreed to let Hogwarts and its prisoner alone, though the Federation would quietly acquire the land around the ward edges and make it off limits to anyone without clearance just in case.

When the time came for a decision, the chairman, Admiral Nogura, released Doctors Lifferth and McCoy back to their regular duties, recused Admiral Kirk from the deliberations, and asked that the Potters and Mickey wait outside the room until they were called back in.

About an hour later, the little group was called back in and Harry stood at attention while the others quietly waited off to one side.

"Ensign Potter," began Admiral Nogura, addressing Harry, "I want to thank you both for bringing this information to Starfleet and the Federation's attention. We have compared the results of the examinations done by Doctors McCoy and Lifferth to Starfleet baseline results. The powers you possess, which you refer to as 'magic', appear to be related to the esper ratings that have been part of the Starfleet psych workup for decades. Your scores on all four of the standard ratings of esper potential are well above average. We have apparently been aware of 'wizards' for quite some time, but simply had no idea of the powers that people with this potential were once able to use." The elderly admiral looked around the table at the seated chiefs of Starfleet. As he met each ones gaze, they nodded.

"Ensign, as I understand it, most of those who have these abilities today are not aware of it, due to the loss of the societal infrastructure after the wars and destruction of two centuries ago, and the subsequent loss of the knowledge and skills that made a magical society possible. Of those who have these abilities, most of them, if told, would probably not be overly interested in learning skills which have been rendered redundant in the modern world, and which are potentially destructive to their technological conveniences."

Harry sagged in disappointment. As hard as that was to hear, it was also true. Trying to rebuild the wizarding world in the twenty-third century would be nearly impossible; the worlds were all but incompatible, and very few would be willing to give up modern comforts and technology for the chance to learn to wave a wand. There was little or nothing that magic could offer that was not already available through technology. "Aye, sir," he acknowledged sadly.

"However," Nogura continued, "the presence of this 'Voldemort', along with other incidents we have on record--"

Mickey spoke up for the first time in the meeting. "My apologies for interrupting, Admiral Nogura, but could you clarify what these other incidents involved?"

Nogura paused thoughtfully, then nodded. "The most recent one that isn't classified occurred aboard the Enterprise not long after the beginning of its five year mission. After encountering the energies at the galactic barrier, two members of the Enterprise crew with high esper ratings developed extreme abilities, include the telekinesis, telepathy, and the ability to create and destroy objects with a wave of their hands. Our theory is that the energy encountered somehow boosted their 'magic' to extreme heights. Their personalities, unfortunately, were either damaged by the energy discharge or were corrupted by the sudden influx of power. They turned on the crew, and eventually on each other, until then-Captain Kirk was forced to destroy them both."

Mickey nodded. "That does sound like magic, sir. This Voldemort creep that Harry and Hui ran across was rumored to have done things which had a similar effect, both to his power level and to his psyche."

"Exactly," Nogura agreed. "There will always be humans who, as a result of violent upbringing, genetic predisposition, or trauma, become unbalanced. Any unbalanced person can cause great damage under the right circumstances, but when one who is disturbed also possesses power beyond the norms, then we have the potential for real tragedy.

"There is also the possibility that Starfleet will encounter races in the future who have abilities similar to yours. Hopefully they will be friendly, but we cannot guarantee that. The best defense against an unbalanced wizard, or a race of hostile magical beings, would be to have some wizards of our own, trained and equipped to combat the threat. Ensign, as I understand it, both you and your wife are scheduled to begin your operational courses in about a week. You in the upcoming operations class and your wife in medical school, Is this correct?" asked Nogura.

"Yes sir, it is," replied Harry.

The admiral nodded sagely. "There is no need to rush into things. We will need time to make plans, design new programs, learn to shield our equipment, find candidates, and develop protocols. In a few years, when you have some experience under your belt and a bit more rank on your shoulder, we may have an assignment for you, training Starfleet wizards."

Nogura looked Harry straight in the eyes. "Mr. Potter, until that time, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to assist us in creating the first contact protocols in regards to meeting wizards and what to do should Starfleet ever come across any that are hostile. We don't want to antagonize any magical beings if we can help it. You may be asked to advise other officers if situations arise that need your special knowledge. This mission will be secondary to your primary job functions upon completion of your courses. Do you accept?"

Harry didn't even hesitate "Yes sir, I do."

"Excellent. In accordance with your special duties you are herby promoted one grade to Lieutenant Junior Grade. That should help with some of the red tape you may run across. Good luck with your courses, Lieutenant Potter."