DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.


Wizards and Avalonians I:
The Man-Who-Won and the Ladies from Avalon

by Fred Herriot
A side story to Phoenix From the Ashes

Proofreading done by Rose1948, Rashaan Butler and Rorschach's Blot

Based on Harry Potter, created by Joanna K. Rowling; Ikkitōsen, created by Shiozaki Yūji; and Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko.

Including characters, references and situations from Mahō Sensei Negima, created by Akamatsu Ken; and Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi, created by Kaishaku (Ōta Hitoshi and Shichinohe Terumasa).

Phoenix From the Ashes was derived from the fanfic The Bet: Crippled, written by Gregg Sharp. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.


WRITER'S PREFACE

I did make mention of the various magical societies on Earth in various places in Phoenix From the Ashes, especially when I brought in the character of Rear Admiral Heather "Spitfire" Thompkins in Part 51 of the story. This expands on the question of how the hidden magical societies on Earth might react to the Earth Defence Force and the Avalonians. The story begins a day after Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot returned to Britain from H.M.S. Hood as shown in Part 55 of PFtA.

Enjoy!


The Borough of Islington in London, in a hidden house on Grimmauld Place, Friday 9 July 2010, mid-afternoon…

"Harry, why were we invited to this? You know we can't…"

A gentle kiss made the pretty — though also look prematurely aged for a woman who was physically only twenty or so — woman stop as she gazed into the warm green eyes of the Man-Who-Won. "Her Majesty wouldn't care, Mandy," Harry Potter stated as he gave Mandy Brocklehurst a reassuring look. "The invitation from the Palace indicated that not only was I to attend tonight's levée aboard Hood…but my 'companions' as well. That includes both you and Pansy, plus Teddy's mother. I can't refuse, you know."

Hearing that, Mandy's hazel eyes teared. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you, Harry?"

"You tell me that every day," Harry said as he moved to pull her onto her feet, and then he looked towards the kitchen of the beautiful town house he had inherited over a decade before at the death of his godfather Sirius Black. "How's Dora, Pansy?"

"She's fine. Quiet as a puffskein as usual, but fine," Pansy Parkinson said as she wheeled out a beautiful older woman in a wheelchair — magically enhanced, of course, to get around floor obstacles as well as ascend and descend stairs — to join her lover and would-be co-wife. "Just had to make sure all the charms were in place to keep her warm. With the low levels of magic she's got now…"

"Would she be safe, Harry?"

Harry gazed on the portrait of the elderly woman now mounted on the wall dividing the sitting room and the ground floor hallway leading to the front doors. "She should be fine, Grandaunt Walburga," he said as he gave the image of Sirius' mother Walburga Black a reassuring smile. "All of Hood's crew were given a carte blanche exception by Her Majesty from the restrictions in the Statute of Secrecy; given that Avalonians are all high-order psychics, it just didn't make any sense to try to keep the magical world hidden from them. And since Hood is meant to protect ALL Britons — magical and normal alike — why keep us secret from the normals on that ship?"

"Especially since two of those delightful Space Angels saved your poor cousin and adopted her as their child," the portrait of Walburga's great-grandfather, Professor Phineas Nigellus Black — the last Slytherin alumnus to be Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — mused from his place close to the fireplace.

"Especially because of that, Headmaster!" Harry affirmed with a nod. When he had been confirmed as the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of Grimmauld in the summer of 1996, the portraits of his late godfather's relatives had warmed up immediately to the Boy-Who-Lived. Even if the orphaned child of James and Lily Potter was a half-blood in the eyes of the pureblood elite of British wizarding society, he had been magically adopted by Sirius Black before Phineas' great-great-grandson died at the hands of his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange at the fight in the Department of Mysteries just before the end of that school year. Despite Walburga having blasted off Sirius' image from the Black family tapestry in the 1970s for his turning his back on his family, her husband Orion hadn't formally disowned their elder son before his death in 1979…which gave Sirius the right to claim the headship of his family after he escaped Azkaban over a decade later.

"Oh, speaking of which, Harry, how is young Margaret?" the portrait of Walburga's husband — which was mounted right beside his wife's image — then asked. "Mrs. O'Neill and Mrs. Carter haven't been by to visit for a while."

"She's fine, Granduncle Orion. Doing really good in infant school; she'll be moving on to junior school in September. She's fully recovered from what Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did to her after Dudley got sent to jail because of his drug problem." He shook his head. "Stupid idiots…"

"Harry, there are idiots everywhere you go," Phineas said with a touch of sympathy in his voice. Despite Dudley Dursley's drug problems, that he had gladly accepted jail time for his crimes showed him to be a far more honourable man than his "perfectly normal" parents…both of whom were now learning how to survive in jail as they served time at Her Majesty's pleasure for their abuse of their only grandchild for the few bouts of accidental magic she had shown since Vernon and Petunia had taken Margaret into their custody two years ago. "Normal or magical, it doesn't matter. Just be happy that another of your mother's family is alive and safe."

"And in good hands," Orion added. "The strength Mrs. O'Neill and Mrs. Carter showed to all those who hated the idea of their adopting young Margaret because they were aliens…even after what their so-called 'masters' did to them before the Earth Angel and her siblings freed them all…"

"Indeed!" Walburga declared with an approving nod.

Harry smirked. Ever since Margaret Dursley was rescued from her grandparents back in March thanks to Lucy O'Neill and her bond-mate Shelley Carter, the portraits of all of Sirius' relatives had expressed keen interest in meeting other Space Angels — as Avalonians were commonly referred to throughout the English-speaking world — who were now resident in Britain; given that Harry's own sister Rose was effectively Terran-born, she wasn't seen as a "true" Avalonian in that regard. Of course, while the scientific truth of such women tended to fly over the heads of most wand magicals — many of Harry's countrymen tended to view them as a very interesting version of a muggle golem, a being that a person could actually interbreed with and have human children with — the fact that the Man-Who-Won's own cousin had been rescued from the monsters who badly abused Harry Potter after his parents' deaths in 1981 was a mark in favour of such beings…and never mind what Rose Potter's own saviour Alicia Holmes had done for her and ninety-six other unborn and newly-born witches whose souls were saved by the Curse of Hufflepuff during the last years of Voldemort's first rebellion. In the wake of those revelations, many magicals — guided usually by normal-borns — had gone forth to meet Avalonian-Britons and learn more about these beautiful psychics now living throughout the United Kingdom.

It could have led to a very positive evolution of British wizarding society as a whole…

…until the Avalonians' ex-masters and their allies on Uru moved to ruin it a week before.

And effectively forced many in wizarding Britain to confront the fact that the muggles now possessed technology that could be seen as truly magical in the eyes of many.

Which allowed very old fears — the same fears that forced magicals to adopt the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1689 — to roar back from the depths of their souls like a tidal wave.

Harry shook his head, which made both Pansy and Mandy grin. Twelve years of living with the Man-Who-Won had taught both his lovers a lot about his moods. "Still thinking about what's been said about Hood?" his Ravenclaw lover then asked.

He sighed. "Yeah. Hopefully when Luna gets out that special addition to the Quibbler on Monday, some of the fears will be chased away," he admitted.

"If they don't end up being increased," Phineas mused from his portrait.

"What do you mean, Professor Black?" Pansy asked.

He chuckled. "You weren't around when news of Deannette Raeburn's Power Jewel broke out of Canada in the 1890s, Pansy. Naturally, there were elements of the Canadian Ministry of Magical Affairs who wanted to seize the thing and study it." A sigh escaped him. "Thank Merlin for the Niitsítapi; they had known the truth of that device for centuries. The one time some idiot from Ottawa tried to physically PULL the Jewel off that woman…"

Morbid laughter filled the living room as Harry shook his head again. Given the fact that the Power Jewel now held by one Major General Deannette A. Raeburn of the Canadian Army had been on Earth for three billion years, it had absorbed incalculable levels of life energy — "ki" as the Japanese called it — to bestow on its chosen Host powers that were simply godlike in scale. With the Jewel on her person, no magical curse could hurt her, not even the Killing Curse. Dean could — after she had been trained by the Immortal Master Hosan Hirosuke himself in the 1920s and 1930s — dead lift the mass of a MOUNTAIN with both arms, fly through any medium at supersonic speeds, resist everything up to a thermonuclear bomb blast at point-blank range and do anything else she could imagine within certain self-imposed limits. Her marksmanship and swordsmanship — Power Jewels always came with a beautiful edged blade forged of pure neutronium that was normally called a "Cat's Claw sword"; for humanoid Jewel Warriors, such was always shaped like a straight-blade version of a Japanese katana with a deadly chisel point and a razor-sharp cutting edge — were incredible as well…and she had used such to devastating effect against the Axis in World War Two. When one saw the leader of the War Hawks in action, the reason many mystics and magicals respectfully referred to her as the "Protector of All Life" became very clear.

"Well, that was resolved a long time ago, sir," Harry mused as he walked over to gently stroke Nymphadora Lupin's dark brown hair, which made the nearly-comatose auror — who had been struck down by Bellatrix Lestrange in the final Battle of Hogwarts in late August of 1997, most likely with the same type of curse that had struck down Neville Longbottom's parents years earlier — smile as she gazed up at her son's godfather. "Lucky thing the Queen didn't call the general in to help deal with Voldemort. It would have been a slaughter for sure."

"True…but I can understand what made Deannette decide to not be a 'superhero' as the Americans like to refer to such beings," Phineas said before he perked. "Oh!"

The fire in the living room hearth exploded in emerald flames as a pretty blonde woman about Harry's age came into the room. Like Harry and his companions, Luna Lovegood was dressed in fashionable clothes for a levée in the presence of the Queen. "Hello, everyone!" the daughter of the owner of the Quibbler declared. "Ronald should…"

"Hey, Harry!"

Luna turned as someone else came through the floo. "Hey, Ron!" Harry said as he walked over to take Ron Weasley's hand in his own. "Got away from your mother, eh?"

"Bloody right I did. Can't believe she won't listen to a damned thing about the real reason Hood was commissioned," the star keeper of the Chudley Cannons — whose long losing streak had finally been broken in 2001 after the youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley had joined the team and they had charged all the way to the League Cup; in that, he had been aided by his lover, Draco Malfoy's Avalonian-Briton sister Raven — said, and then he looked down at himself. "Well? Does this look pretty good?"

Harry looked, nodding in appreciation. Ron was wearing a dark maroon blazer with a white shirt underneath topped with a red-and-gold Gryffindor tie, black slacks and a pair of Oxford shoes over his feet. "Looks perfect, Ron. Lucky thing for us that the Order of Merlin medallion is so similar to the Bath civil division star, so people won't be too curious. And they're charmed to look like the Bath star to normals."

"Damn straight," Ron said as he gave his best friend a close look-over before nodding in approval on seeing how sharp-dressed Harry was; many of the Man-Who-Won's friends had long memories of the hand-me-downs Harry had always been given by his guardians until he took control of his family fortune in 1996 and decided to finally look the part of a young lord both in the magical and normal worlds. Noting the beautiful sash and medal star on Harry's black blazer, Ron could only smile. They were both First Class winners of the Order of Merlin thanks to their spirited defence of Hogwarts in the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters — Harry's award had also been given in recognition for his long-running battles with the Dark Lord ever since the Boy-Who-Lived began attending Hogwarts — so they wore the deep royal blue sash of the Order of Merlin from right shoulder to left hip, plus the star of the medal on the left side of their jackets. Luna herself was a winner of the Order of Merlin Second Class; she didn't wear the sash of the higher award, but the star of that award was on her blouse under her left breast. Indeed, to most normal observers, The Most Honourable The Marquess of Taunton Deane and Grimmauld, Sir Ronald Bilius Weasley of Ottery Saint Catchpole and Dame Luna Selene Lovegood of Ottery Saint Catchpole would appear to be two young knight commanders and one dame commander of the civil division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath…which would ensure less work for the Obliviators given the mixed situation aboard Hood this evening.

"Hello! Harry?!"

"C'mon in, 'Mione!" Harry called out.

A lovely woman then stepped into the room through the floo. Like the others of the so-called "Golden Trio of Hogwarts," Hermione Granger had the sash and star of the Order of Merlin First Class on her dress under her business overcoat; given that the levée would be held on the open upper flight deck of Hood, the chances were there that it would be chilly and she didn't want to use heating charms to stay warm. After a quick check of Ron to ensure the pureblood member of the Trio was properly dressed for a levée among the Royal Family and the normals, the Special Adviser on Normal Affairs to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement then walked over to look in on Pansy, Mandy and Dora. "Hey, Dora," Hermione said as she gently touched the wounded auror's chin.

Dora's dark eyes turned to gaze absently at Hermione, and then a light smile crossed her face. "Even with all the research they've done, they still haven't really discovered what happened to her, huh?" Ron mused as he and Luna came up to gaze upon their nearly-comatose friend.

"Not at all…but the healers at St. Mungo's have confirmed it's the same type of spell that was used on Neville's parents in '81," Pansy admitted as she gazed down at Dora. "Some sort of Lestrange family magic, I think. I've tried every potion I could think of — and even tried some of the experimental stuff Uncle Severus has invented since the war — to try to fully snap her out of it, but it doesn't work. At least the idea of getting her out of that place has done her some good."

"How so, Pansy?" Luna asked.

"She has been able to go to the washroom and back to her bedroom when she needs to. She also understands about eating even if Winky often has to hand-feed her," Pansy stated. "So that shows she is capable of some things. Neville's parents are pretty much the same way now that they're out of St. Mungo's and back home; at least, that's what Mike passed on to me from Neville himself." Michael Parkinson was Pansy's older brother. A former Ravenclaw, he had been a year ahead of his sister and had become the Earl of Keerford on the deaths of their parents just before the Battle of Hogwarts. And while the actions of the late Malcolm Parkinson concerning Pansy's future had caused her a lot of grief afterwards, the love between Michael and Pansy was as solid as neutronium. In the wake of Pansy becoming a squib thanks to a broken magical contract that Harry Potter had rejected out of a simple desire to not adhere to such nonsense, Michael always provided for his crippled sister and employed her as a private potions researcher; even if Pansy couldn't use a wand these days, her brain was still very sharp.

Sadly, Mandy couldn't claim the same thing with the last living member of her family, her father Benjamin Brocklehurst. After Mandy had lost her magic when Harry rejected the marriage contract that had been negotiated behind his back between Benjamin and Albus Dumbledore before the latter's death in the late spring of 1997, the potions store owner based now in Knockturn Alley had always acted as if it had been Mandy's fault that she had been forced to become a squib. And while Benjamin still denied his role in nearly wrecking his only daughter's life, he dared not do it in public these days; harassment of squibs — "non-magical magic-born persons" as they were properly titled these days — by any means had been outlawed in 2004. These days, the elder Brocklehurst publicly avoided Mandy like the plague; he had no desire to spend a year in Azkaban if the aurors — many of whom, in a desire to earn the favour of the Man-Who-Won, openly supported the reform movement he helped champion regardless of their own blood-status — caught him hurting his child. Further, with the death of Mandy's mother Belinda and older brother Kenneth thanks to the Death Eaters in the fall of 1996, she had no family to her name outside the people she lived with at Grimmauld Place.

"That's a good sign," Mandy noted, and then she took a deep breath. "Teddy!" she called out towards the hallway. "We're ready to go!"

"Coming, Aunt Mandy!"

Everyone watched as a grinning boy of twelve came down the stairs, followed by an equally smiling house elf in the formal robes of a servant of the House of Potter. Dressed smartly in his Hogwarts school robes — his school badges were spelled with a notice-me-not charm to ensure those normals who would take notice of it wouldn't get too curious — the only child of the late Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin was literally bursting with excitement at the idea of stepping onto the decks of Britain's first ever starship. Fortunately for the adults in the room, Ted Lupin was wearing a bracelet that helped him control his metamorphmagus powers…though with the expected presence of one Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins aboard Hood this evening, any accidental magical displays could be easily explained off. "Master Harry, Master Terry is all ready to go aboard the great sky ship," Winky proudly declared as she bowed her head to Harry. "Winky only wishes she could come with everyone."

"Have you actually tried to teleport aboard Hood, Winky?" Luna asked with a knowing smile.

"Winky DID try, Mistress Luna!" the crimson-haired elf stated. "After all, Winky wants to make sure the places Master Harry and Master Harry's family are going to are safe for them! But the wards on Hood are so STRONG! Winky couldn't get aboard to look around!"

"Relax, Winky," Harry immediately stated on seeing that the poor elf was about to break down and cry at failing to properly serve her family. "Now, make sure the place is locked up while we're gone."

"Of course, Master Harry!"

"Allons-y!" Pansy then called out.

Everyone stared at her. "Pansy…no offence, but you bloody hell watch too much normal television!" Ron said as everyone made their way to fireplace.

"And what's the matter with watching Doctor Who, Ronald?" Luna wondered.

In a moment, everyone had disappeared into the floo…


The City of Westminster, Ministry of Defence Headquarters…

The people from Grimmauld Place emerged from a fireplace in a private room in the north block of the building on the east side of Whitehall, said room was also warded with normal repellent and notice-me-not charms; only non-magical magic-born persons who worked for the Ministry of Defence — not to mention Avalonian-Britons who worked here; the news that normal repellent and notice-me-not charms had no effect on Avalonians hadn't yet got out into the general magical public — knew of this place. And sure enough, a smiling elderly man in the uniform of an Army warrant officer class 1 of an infantry regiment was waiting for them. "Great-grandpa!" Hermione called out as she embraced the last regimental sergeant-major of the 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, who had served in said regiment through two world wars. "How are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I'm here to escort my beautiful great-granddaughter aboard Her Majesty's Starship Hood for Her Majesty's levée," WO1 Nathaniel Carter said as he allowed Luna, Pansy and Mandy to embrace him, and then he firmly shook Harry's, Ron's and Ted's hands before he walked over to gently embrace Dora, kissing her on the cheek. "And to announce to you that I've been called back to service. Part-time service, of course."

Everyone gaped, and then they gazed on the hat badge on his peaked cap; Carter was in Number 2 uniform as this levée was not seen as an occasion requiring ceremonial uniforms. It had the beautiful star badge of the Royal Sussex Regiment, not the garter badge with dragon of the Queen's Regiment or the garter badge with dragon and rose of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. "They reformed your regiment?" Harry asked.

A nod as the old soldier waved them out of the room to the landing close to the north doors. The magicals were all quick to see him literally billow with pride as he answered, "All the old infantry regiments that were active at the end of the Second World War were reformed as Territorial Army units over the last month, Director Potter." WO1 Carter tried not to preen. "Right now, just at two battalions per regiment…which, given the number of Avalonian-Britons and Terran-Britons now flocking to join the TA, means…"

"A total of a hundred and thirty infantry battalions," Hermione stated.

"AND they're fully manned to…"

"Bloody hell!"

People paused on hearing Ron's exclamation, and then they paused to gaze on him. Noting that he was now staring off somewhere north of east, everyone looked themselves.

The sight was impressive.

"The Durmstrang galley is NOTHING compared to THAT!" Mandy whispered to Pansy.

The raven-haired, brown-eyed alumnus of Slytherin could only nod. "Nothing that has ever flown or sailed the high seas can compare to that, Mandy."

And it was quite understandable.

Floating a half-kilometre above the waters of the Thames, Her Majesty's Starship Hood had her bow pointing west towards Buckingham Palace; when Harry had seen Britain's first starship from the roof of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes on Monday morning when she was commissioned by the Prince of Wales, the great vessel had her bow pointed east towards the North Sea. As she was currently "at anchor," the Union Flag was flying off her jack staff at the bow with the White Ensign at her ensign staff. From one of the booms projecting out from her foremast, a dark blue admiral's pennant with two gold maple leaves in horizontal formation flew; the maple leaves indicated that the force commander of the United Nations Earth Defence Force was currently aboard the British starship. No Royal Standard was visible on the ship; the Queen wasn't scheduled to arrive aboard for over an hour via Star Flare shuttle transporting her from Windsor Castle. Unlike other warships when they "dressed ship" in preparation for a visit from the Queen, Hood didn't have the long cable lines that could have signal flags strung from them. But her cloudy grey hull with its sky blue sheen was currently aglow with running lights and external lamps that showed off her white-trimmed black pendant number 51 on the hull underneath the main bridge, the Union Flag painted on the hull aft of amidships and the name HOOD in red letters written just forward of the main engine exhausts; when evening finally came, the ship would look simply spectacular.

"Ah! There you are!"

Everyone turned…and then WO1 Carter walked over to take the hand of the man in dress blues with the Arms of Dominion on his lower sleeves denoting his current rate. "Warrant Officer Class 1 Paul Gordon. I'm Hood's Master-At-Arms," the newcomer introduced himself as he gave his equal in rank a polite nod.

"Warrant Officer Class 1 Nate Carter. Regimental Sergeant-Major, 1st Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment," the older man said before he proudly waved to Hermione — which made the other magicals all grin — as he did introductions.

"Pleased to meet you all…and it's jolly good to see you again, Miss Lovegood," WO1 Gordon said as he waved everyone west down Horse Guards Avenue towards Whitehall itself. "Lucky thing our friends in the Horse Guards were willing to allow their parade square to be used by us to transport people aboard Hood."

"Why not use the materialisers?" Harry asked.

"'Materialisers?'" a confused Ron wondered.

"It's their version of apparition, Ron," Hermione explained.

He then nodded. "Oh, you mean transporters!"

Luna laughed. "And you complained to Pansy about watching Doctor Who, Ronald?"

He flustered as the two elder servicemen laughed. "Lucky thing there's a whole bunch of young dragons ready to breathe some new life among magicals," Gordon noted.

"Well, they are trying, Paul," Carter mused, glad to note that Hood's crew had been thoroughly briefed on Britain's magical side. "But the old pureblood gentry are still fighting tooth and nail to keep things as they were." He shook his head. "Just the perfect thing to bring out another wanker like that Riddle fellow."

"You can say that again," Mandy muttered under her breath.

Hood's senior rate perked. "Something the matter, Ms. Brocklehurst?"

"It's Mandy's father, sir," Ron answered before Harry could glare his friend into silence as his lovers really didn't care to have their non-powered state sung out to every person in sight…even if said person was a normal. "The bastard tricked her into signing a magical marriage contract to have her married to Harry here. But since Harry wasn't warned ahead of time, when he rejected the contract, she…well…"

Gordon blinked, and then he sighed. "You have my deepest condolences, young lady," he said as he gazed intently at Mandy, who gave him a misty-eyed smile in return.

Ron then thumbed Pansy. "Pansy here's the same way," he added.

"I see," the master-at-arms breathed out. "Well, maybe we can do something about it when we're aboard. Come along now, people. The shuttle's this way."

The magicals all blinked as Luna smiled a secret smile…


Once they got to Horse Guard Parade, they boarded one of the Space Dhow SVC2 shuttles for the quick trip over the skies of central London to the Hood. Piloting the craft was an incredibly beautiful woman who had given Harry and Ron appraising looks before she glanced towards Mandy and Pansy with a nod in understanding. She was dressed in Royal Navy work dress with a jacket and baseball cap on her head. Her jacket epaulettes — as befitting a raw recruit in the senior service of the United Kingdom — were covered with bright blue slip-ons bearing a black rectangular patch on the base surrounded in gold ship's rope and topped with a naval coronet, the word HOOD in bright gold within the box. The white name tape on her left breast read DOWDING L. in black. Gazing upon her from her seat in the back of the small shuttle — and quickly noting how extraordinarily beautiful she was — Hermione leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Is she an Avalonian?"

Harry nodded. "I think so," he whispered back.

"Don't you recognize the name?" Ron quietly asked.

"Huh?"

"Leilani Dowding," Ron said. "She was one of those girls that appeared in muggle newspapers like the Sun and all that." He ignored Hermione's incensed look as he added, "Luna told me all the Space Angels on Hood were named after those girls."

"Since when did you start reading the Sun, Ron?" Hermione frostily hissed.

"Oi! Even if I date Raven a lot, I'm still single! Give me a break!"

Unseen by many of the magicals, a certain raven-haired, dusky-skinned Terran-form Avalonian-Briton would-be communications and information specialist — who had been elected as Elder Mother of the Avalonians now on Hood earlier that day — was trying not to blush TOO much on being so readily recognized by Ron Weasley. Like all of Hood's current ship's company, Leilani Dowding had heard all the incredible stories about the magical side of British society since she had first woken after gestation aboard her current home starship back in February. And while she had been quick to sense the bonds of deep love Harry Potter's two would-be wives felt for him, the fact that Ron Weasley was still effectively single — even if he did state that he was dating some woman named "Raven"; Could that be Raven Malfoy? Leilani wondered to herself as she recalled the story of the disembodied spirits of over ninety unborn magical children tracked down by the Elder Mother of all Avalonians in Britain, Alice Holmes, in the 1980s and given new life as Terran-turned-Avalonians — would certainly catch the interest of many of her sisters once he got aboard Hood.

As soon as the Space Dhow had soared over the Thames north of Westminster Bridge into the sky over the borough of Lambeth, Leilani easily keyed the flight controls to allow the shuttle to perform a lazy starboard circle to the south, flying all the way down to Burgess Park before she turned the shuttle north, allowing the passengers in the back to see Hood in all her vastness through the front windows. As the Golden Trio, Hermione's great-grandfather, Harry's godson and his would-be wives got out of their chairs to gaze on the massive starship ahead, they just fell silent as the sheer scale of Britain's first faster-than-light spacecraft sank in. "The bow's halfway between London Bridge and the Cannon Street Bridge…and the stern reaches right past Tower Bridge!" Hermione whispered.

"That's one bloody BIG ship!" Ron breathed out.

"How can it just FLOAT up in the sky like that?!" Mandy demanded.

"Anti-gravity projectors in the hull, Ms. Brocklehurst," Leilani explained. "Right now, they're at a setting that allows the ship to hold position in a sort of 'parking float' over the Thames. If they were turned on full-force, planetary rotation would shoot the ship right into orbit." She gazed at her passengers. "That's not recommended, of course."

"I'll bet," Pansy breathed out, and then she perked. "Is it true?"

"What is, Ms. Parkinson?"

"Some idiot Yank tried to blow up Hood's sistership Arizona on Monday?"

Leilani nodded. "Unfortunately so. Even if we don't mean you any harm, there are some natives who just don't care for the idea of having aliens live among them."

"Why?!" Mandy demanded.

"It's the same sort of reason people liked to burn magicals at the stake back before you had that secrecy statute passed in 1692, Ms. Brocklehurst," WO1 Gordon said as he looked over his shoulder at the former Ravenclaw. "Or the same sort of reason those who fought with that Riddle fellow your fiancé here had to put down in '97 — much less that Grindelwald bastard Admiral Thompkins and her friends helped put down in '45 — went after normals all the time. It's basic human nature. People sometimes can't accept others who are different. Different skin colour, magical or non-magical, normal or metahuman, Terran or alien…" He shook his head. "Some people just love to stir up the pot for whatever reason fancies them, ma'am. Can't avoid that sort of rot."

"So you put them down by whatever means possible," WO1 Carter added.

The others nodded…


Within a minute, the Space Dhow had slid perfectly into one of Hood's boat bays.

There, Harry got a big shock.

"Mary Caldwell?!"

The lieutenant in her blue Number 1A uniform — her sheathed ceremonial sword was hooked to the belt around her waist — laughed as she warmly grasped her old primary school classmate's hand. "Hey, Harry!" the pretty woman with the long brown hair in a bun and the glittering hazel eyes called out. "It's been a long time since we were at Little Whinging Primary, eh?! Always wondered what happened to you after we moved on to secondary school. Never believed that whole 'St. Brutus' School' rot your uncle and aunt put out to all the neighbours after you went off to Hogwarts. It's good to see you again!"

"One of Dudley's victims, Harry?" Ron asked as he gave his friend a knowing look.

"She was one of MANY of them, Ron," Harry admitted before he proceeded to do introductions.

"So when did you find out Harry was magical, Lieutenant Caldwell?" Pansy asked.

"Call me Mary," the junior anti-ship warfare director of Hood said. "Didn't actually find out until I was assigned to this big boat here and we got briefed by Mr. Boot from your — Department of Mysteries, was it? — after Her Majesty issued the Magical Royal Proclamation allowing us to learn of magicals." She smiled as Leilani — who, after shutting down the Space Dhow, had gone off to get an anti-gravity chair for Dora Lupin — came up to rejoin them. "Here, let's get Mrs. Lupin into a chair."

"Her normal chair is magically enhanced to work around floor obstacles, Mary," Pansy said.

"True, but the magical wards on this ship could interfere with whatever you used on this chair," Leilani said. "Here, let's get her over. Give us a hand, Ted?"

Ted — who had been stunned speechless when he finally got a chance to fully gaze upon the sheer beauty of the Avalonian-Briton who had brought them aboard — smiled as he helped his mother from her wheelchair into the floating anti-gravity unit. "Can you feel inside her, Ms. Dowding?"

Hood's Elder Mother perked, and then she hummed as she reached over to gently touch Dora's face. After a moment, she shuddered. "I can barely sense her in there," she admitted as she and Mary guided Dora into sitting down. "What in Lyna's name happened to her?"

"Some sort of family magic curse her aunt hit her with when we finally put down the Death Eaters in '97, Leilani," Ron said as Leilani helped adjust Dora into place, and then she placed her blanket over her lap. "Folks at St. Mungo's can't figure out what to do with her, though."

Leilani hummed. "Maybe the Thoughtmistress-prime could look at her."

"Who?" Harry wondered.

"Moroboshi Negako," Mary provided. "You folks call her the 'Earth Angel.'"

Save for Luna, all the other magicals gaped in shock…


Within an hour, one of Hood's Star Flares SVC1s landed on the upper flight deck to allow the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to step aboard, they accompanied by Prime Minister David Cameron and a small party of senior officials…including Her Majesty's Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt and his Senior Undersecretary, Percy Weasley. To allow the levée to go ahead without any problems, snack tables and lounge chairs had been set up in the hangar itself — the other three Star Flares carried by the starship were currently on the ground at RAF Northolt in the borough of Hillingdon at London's far western end — thus allowing people to stay under cover in case inclement weather came in. Of course, Hood's crew — augmented by two hundred new recruits in proper square-rig uniforms, each wearing a sailor cap proudly declaring H.M.S. HOOD in gold on the black tally wrapped around the headband — were there to welcome Her Majesty aboard as her Royal Standard was broken on the foremast. Present to greet the Queen and her party — atop the ship's commanding officer, Captain Nathan Kerr — was Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins of Canada, Flag Officer Commanding United Nations Earth Defence Force…and to the magicals presently on Hood, one of the most popular Supreme Mugwumps in the recent history of the International Conference of Magical Communities, ranked second only to Albus Dumbledore among British magicals.

Watching the woman known more popularly as "Spitfire" escorting the Queen as she walked among the sailors of Hood, Ron was quick to see the sash of the first class Order of Merlin wrapped around her black jacket. "Does she wear that when she's in public?" he asked Hermione's great-grandfather.

"Oh, she does. But normal military people would see that dark red ribbon on her left chest first," the regimental sergeant-major of the Royal Sussex Regiment advised.

"What is that, sir?" Mandy asked.

"That's the Victoria Cross. With a bar to show a second award," Hermione explained. "It's the highest award of valour in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. It ranks higher than an Order of Merlin First Class in the overall order of precedence."

Harry then smirked. "Lucky thing Percy's predecessor as Senior Undersecretary is still cooling her arse in Azkaban at Her Majesty's pleasure," he whispered. "If she heard that a 'muggle' award ranked higher than an Order of Merlin…"

The others snickered; they all had very dim memories of one Dolores Umbridge…who had not weathered the attempted takeover of the Ministry of Magic by the Death Eaters during the summer of 1997 at all. After the Battle of Hogwarts and the total defeat of Voldemort's forces thanks to Harry Potter — who had been trained over the previous year by Nekane Springfield (the niece of the famous Thousand Master himself) and the Dark Lady Tsukuyomi…with clearance from the International Conference of Magical Communities — just before he would have begun his final year at Hogwarts, all those who had supported Tom Riddle in secret at the Ministry were sacked and eventually imprisoned in Azkaban. Umbridge — who had been in charge of "muggleborn registry"…but had been rendered utterly powerless when one of a series of emergency Magical Royal Proclamations from Buckingham Palace was issued to hamstring the ministry of Pius Thicknesse — was eventually tried for multiple crimes, including her actions while serving as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts a year earlier. And while pureblood bigotry towards normal-borns like Hermione Granger and magical hybrids like Fleur Delacour-Weasley was still present — one only had to listen to the private conversations of people like Draco Malfoy and others like him in the Wizengamot chambers at any of the weekly meetings — the memories of the Second Purification War were still too fresh in people's minds to allow renewed legislature to be passed so things could return to the way "they had always been."

Once the inspection of the troops was finished, the Queen returned to the dais to make a speech, and then everyone was dismissed to allow the levée to commence in earnest. As the sailors and Royal Marines went below decks to secure weapons and other kit before returning to the levée, naval reservists from H.M.S. President based on the north shore of the Thames near Tower Bridge began serving food and drinks for all the guests. Everyone — save for Dora Lupin; Teddy was keeping close to his mother as she watched people around her, still as silent as the grave as her eyes flicked to and fro — had got drinks in hand by the time the Royal Couple had come up to join them, they accompanied by Nathan Kerr, Heather Thompkins, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Percy Weasley.

"Lord Potter, it's wonderful to see you and your friends again," the Queen said as she gently took Harry's hand in her own. "How are you?"

"It's always a pleasure, Your Majesty. And I'm fine, thanks," Harry stated. After the monarch had greeted all the others and had been introduced to Hermione's great-grandfather, the Man-Who-Won then added, "I only just wish that things on our side of the secrecy divide were as calm as they have been since Riddle was finally dealt with thirteen years ago."

The Queen nodded. "Yes, Harry, I've seen recent issues of the Prophet and the various regional magical papers concerning this large ship Young Master Tsukihana and Young Mistress Ayami happily created for us." She then gazed in amusement at Luna. "I assume, Luna, your wonderful expose of the Task Force's mission will make heads turn."

"Hopefully so, ma'am," Luna vowed.

"If it doesn't make people want to bury their heads further into the sand," Pansy noted.

The Queen nodded again. "You have a point, Pansy. Kingsley, I thought you promised me that the silly restrictions about non-magicals born of magical families not receiving or maintaining the Order of Merlin were to be removed. Pansy and Mandy were both given third-class awards as I recall."

Kingsley sighed. "Try as we might, Your Majesty, the pureblood faction in the Wizengamot simply refuses to see reason on that matter, much less all the other things that would help us finally come in line with continental Europe," the ex-auror rumbled. Everyone was quick to sense the frustration in his voice. "No matter what happens every time we try even the cosmetic changes, those people whose relatives fought under Riddle just refuse to bend an inch. It's been a miracle that we've been able to change as much as we have over the last decade, but…"

The Queen sighed. "I will not resort to another Magical Royal Proclamation if it can be avoided." She intently gazed on the Grenadian-descent leader of her magical government as all the magicals near her sensed her drawing on the power of the Monarchy to get her point across. "But make it clear, Minister. Our patience at such intransigence is coming to an end. The next time a dark lord appears, the Separation Act will be done away with once and for all and We will be forced to rule you directly through Parliament. Many will not like THAT, I believe."

He bowed deeply. "I will do so, Your Majesty."

"If you want to make it a little easier, ma'am…" Heather coyly offered.

The Queen hummed. "I wish not to be tempted, Admiral Thompkins. You and your friends can be very excessive when things get out of control. I want the magicals of this land to live in peace alongside the normals, not cower in fear even more than they normally do." She then smirked as a mischievous twinkle appeared in her eye. "But I will keep your wonderfully kind offer in mind, Heather," she then added.

"We live but to serve, Your Majesty," the magical member of the War Hawks declared with a graceful bow.

Morbid laughter escaped everyone there, and then the Queen went off to meet some of the chefs and stewards from President who had prepared the snacks and drinks. As soon as the Golden Trio and their companions were alone, Ron leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Any sign of Rita Skeeter? Fred and George overheard her muttering into her cups about some 'dastardly plot' you were cooking up to destroy all the purebloods at the Leaky Cauldron last night."

"I made sure she couldn't come, Ron," Percy whispered as Kingsley headed off to meet Home Secretary Theresa May, who had been chatting with Secretary of State for Defence Dr. Liam Fox. "With the way the magical wards are on this ship — as Terry explained them to me — any animagus would be exposed as soon as she came within a yard of the hull."

"Harry, why is it you don't just expose her and be done with it?" Hermione asked.

"She still has her uses, 'Mione," Harry stated. "It's a pity Professor Dumbledore never thought to teach me how to use people like her when he was still alive. Nekane — and Tsukiko-sensei — certainly were much better teachers in that regard."

Some of the magically-born people around him automatically shuddered on hearing the given name of Gellert Grindelwald's counterpart from Japan who was perhaps the most feared sorceress of her day…and who, unlike Grindelwald, had actually ESCAPED being persecuted for her actions thanks to the Americans, who — after rescuing the woman born Yomigawa Tsukiko and known to her detractors world-wide as the "Dark Lady Tsukuyomi" from the Nagasaki atomic bombing in 1945 — realized what her true goals had been all along and used that to force the ultimate replacement of the International Confederation of Wizards by the International Conference of Magical Communities. These days — even if Tsukiko had been exonerated by the Emperor of Japan for her actions in World War Two and was seen as a freedom fighter of the first order worldwide — most British wand magicals still viewed her as an evil monster that smashed Europe's domination of the old ICW once and for all time. Her having taken Harry Potter under her wing in the summer of 1996 hadn't endeared Tsukuyomi to many British purebloods; her stern instruction of the Boy-Who-Lived had given him a very broad and deep understanding of chaos magic…which had helped make things VERY hot for many of Voldemort's fighters in the summer of 1997 when "Death Eater Season" had been declared open with no bag limit. Those who had died at Harry's hands during those bloody two months were often seen as the lucky ones, especially given his use of the infamous Gonebren Prison in the moors of Cornwall to lock away people like Dolores Umbridge due to the wiping out of the Dementors of Azkaban with a mesonium bomb unleashed on the island prison by Harry's year-mate and sister Gryffindor, Mun Aesup. It was only because of the Boy-Who-Lived's very quick and easy defeat of the Dark Lord and his forces near the end of August in 1997 — with very LITTLE casualties on the side of the light throughout that campaign — that had rehabilitated Harry's reputation and effectively guaranteed his becoming the head of the DMLE even after only seven years' experience in the Corps of Law Aurors after graduation.

"A pity he didn't do a lot of things, Harry. We still survived it," Percy then noted as he patted his friend's arm, and then headed off to join Kingsley.

Heather took a deep breath. "Sometimes, that's the best thing to say about a war," she noted before sensing First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope approach. "Excuse me."

As the Canadian rear admiral turned to shake the hand of the senior sailor in the Royal Navy, the others exchanged looks and sad nods. "To absent friends," Harry said.

"Always. To absent friends," Nate Carter said as people hoisted their glasses.

"Absent friends," the others intoned before they clinked glasses and drank…


"Theodore. You appear to be rather lonely."

Hearing that toneless voice, Ted blinked before he turned…

…and then blinked again on seeing the twenty-something woman now standing close to him, dressed oddly in a black martial arts gi with a black belt wrapped around her waist, that decked out with a Chinese character he didn't recognize in gold thread. Noting how different she looked in comparison with other people here, he then sighed. "You shouldn't be dressed like that, miss," he whispered. "People will notice."

"They will notice what they desire to notice," the newcomer said, which made him blink at her before he took a closer look. She was clearly Oriental by birth, with a full head of dark brown hair and eyes that were a very deep shade of brown up close. In a funny way, she seemed a kinsman to one of his godfather's special teachers from his sixth year at Hogwarts, Yomigawa Tsukiko…whom Ted thought was seriously awesome. She clearly was in excellent shape; one of the reforms instituted in Hogwarts after 1997 was to reintroduce various intensive physical training classes, which had been cast to the wayside over the latter half of the previous century, most likely — so the conspiracy theorists said these days — in a way to weaken the overall strength of British magicals and ensure that a dark lord like Voldemort would never face powerful opposition. There also seemed to be an aura of terrible danger cloaking her from head to toe. Yet she also seemed quite polite and Ted couldn't see or sense a wand or wand holster on her. "There are those who know of me. Others do not. If they choose to learn, they will learn. If they choose not to learn, do not concern yourself with them. They will pass you buy."

Ted stared at her, and then looked around. Sure enough, there were the odd people looking their way…but most of those people were nodding politely to the older woman with him; the others — after someone whispered something into their ear — also nodded in greetings before turning back to their own business. "That's some charm," he whispered as he turned back to gently touch his mother's cheek.

"There is no magic involved," the stranger mused as a contented smile crossed Dora's face on her feeling her son touch her like that. The newcomer was quick to note that reaction. "Your mother has not been fully affected by Bellatrix's living-death curse," the older woman mused as she reached over to gently touch several points on the former auror's forehead, which made Dora blink before she gazed in confusion at the newcomer. "It strikes me odd that the simplest solution to restoring your mother to proper health and vitality did not make itself apparent with the healers in charge of her care."

Ted gasped. "Mummy can be cured?" he hissed out.

A light smile — which seemed odd on such a severe-looking face — answered him. "She can. And while I understand that healers would be loath to kill one of their patients to save another — even three others, counting Neville Longbottom's parents — there are other means to restore your mother to health. Now, take your mother and proceed to the landing at the forward end of the hangar deck. Do not rush."

Hearing that, he nodded as he moved to push the anti-gravity chair forward. Watching him go, Moroboshi Negako nodded before she glanced over to where Ted's current guardian and his companions were standing, chatting away with each other. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned both Mandy Brocklehurst's and Pansy Parkinson's ki signatures, and then she nodded before she moved to follow Ted and her mother off the hangar deck…


Watching them go, Luna Lovegood smiled to herself.

Sometimes, the best way to make change…was to ask the right person for help.

The "stalebloods" — a recent nickname for purebloods that followed Voldemort's hard line that had come into vogue over the last decade; they loathed being called that as much as normal-borns hated being called "mudbloods" — wouldn't see this coming…

…until it was just simply too late to stop them.

Smiling, the daughter of the Quibbler's owner turned back to her friends…


For Ted Lupin, getting the chance to step into Hood's interior was simply wicked.

Unlike older people in wizarding Britain, the young metamorphmagus' peers at Hogwarts hadn't gone totally sparse when the first images of H.M.S. Hood flying over Diagon Alley were shown in the Monday evening edition of the Daily Prophet. Ted's peers had grown up in the wake of the Second Purification War, when wizarding Britain rebuilt itself from what the Death Eaters unleashed and moved to get on with their lives. The classes that came to Hogwarts post-1998 were under the stern guidance of Minerva McGonagall as their headmistress…and with the experiences of the previous seven years influencing her, the formidable mistress of transfiguration was determined to ensure another Voldemort would never rise from the ranks of Hogwarts students again. Of course — as Harry himself told Ted once — it certainly helped that one of the "emergency" Magical Royal Proclamations the Queen had issued in the summer of 1997 had completely severed all governmental controls over Hogwarts, granting it total independence from the Ministry of Magic. With that in place — and with the Board of Governors forced by that same Proclamation to swear a binding oath on their magic to always serve the interests of Hogwarts, thus effectively blocking moves to subvert the school curriculum to any political agenda — the changes McGonagall ushered in during her first years as Headmistress were still in effect…and soon restored Hogwarts' reputation as one of the world's top magical schools.

And while many in the Ministry of Magic couldn't really complain about that

…some of the changes were still making people gnash their teeth.

Muggle Studies had been renamed "Studies of Non-Magical Peoples" and was currently taught by a normal-born who had gained a university degree from Cambridge after graduating from Hogwarts. History of Magic had its resident ghost teacher finally exorcised in late 1997 and was now taught by someone accredited from the Continent who DIDN'T concentrate on goblin rebellions all the time. Potions was taught jointly by Horace Slughorn and Severus Snape these days; with the discovery of "lost" magical objects from the Room of Requirement netting a lot of new operational funds, a third teacher had been brought in to instruct basic brewing techniques to the first years before Slughorn and Snape got a hold of them to expose the new students to the wonderful ways of potions. Additional teachers were also brought in to help with other core disciplines, which attracted the attention of companies across Europe who were glad to pour in sponsorship money to bring old classes back to life. Along with that came increase exposure to what had once been declared as "dark" or "forbidden" within the halls of Hogwarts. One such subject was technomancy, which had been outlawed for years in Britain but was accepted across most of the planet…and had been finally welcomed to Hogwarts as a third-year elective in 2000. With that, magical forms of television had come into serious vogue in Britain…with the first steps of a magical version of the Internet having been introduced two years ago.

It was through the MagicNet — as the magical version of the Internet was normally called worldwide — that the first images of the Hood taken from Diagon were seen by Ted and his peers hours before the Daily Prophet came out with its Monday evening edition.

And while older people in wizarding Britain went into a mass panic attack on seeing such a huge and well-armed "sky ship" — clearly, the word "starship" had completely flown over people's heads — Ted and his peers saw the Hood as the most awesome thing ever to happen in their lives.

It made television shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek and movies like Star Wars seem all the more real!

Even better, learning the Avalonians were providing the technology their own creators developed millennia ago — the same technology that had seen Hood and her sisterships constructed thanks to a pair of bright young Japanese teenagers named Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami — to help Earth defend itself against aliens who'd want to conquer the planet made it all the more awesome.

And now, Ted knew, all his friends would be BEYOND jealous of him.

He was walking on the decks of Hood!

Yeah, he didn't know why he was following the stranger right now…

…but the person who guided him into this "turbolift" to travel down to Sick Bay — any self-respecting Trekker would know the meaning of THOSE words! — seemed pretty okay…even if there were things about her that creeped Ted out.

After a quiet ride that took the car down into the main hull and forward a bit, the doors then swooped open into the waiting area outside the starship's primary medical station. Waiting for them there as Ted pushed her mother's chair onto the deck was a pretty woman in the square-rig dress of a sailor. "How are matters concerning the preparation of Nymphadora's new body, Nell?" Ted's companion then asked.

A glance at Dora revealed no reaction; Harry had often told his godson about how much his mother always HATED being called by her full first name. "We're about a third of the way done, Negako-sama," the would-be medical assistant said as she moved to help Ted push Dora into the bright examination room beyond the main doors. "The elements of Mrs. Lupin's DNA that control her metamorphic and magical powers are taking time to properly encode into her new body, but the gestation should be finished before the levée ends."

Hearing that, Ted blinked before his jaw dropped. "Wait…!"

Negako gazed on him. "What do you conclude from what you have just heard, Theodore?"

Ted gazed on her — as it finally dawned on him who THIS person was; Harry had told him about the Earth Angel — and then he blinked. "You're turning Mummy into an Avalonian? Like Aunt Rose, Aunt Raven and all their friends who went to Meridiana were made Avalonians by Ms. Holmes?!"

"Do you disapprove of such an action?" the ninjutsu grandmaster then asked.

He blinked — surprised that this woman cared for his opinion; most adults would be rather leery to allow a child such leeway, especially when it came to the future health of his own mother — and then he hummed as he recalled what he had learned about Avalonians over the last five months before nodding. "Mummy would become a psychic. She would also live even longer than Nicolas Flamel and his wife did. She would probably keep her magic and metamorphmagus powers — you just said they were being 'encoded' into her DNA…" — he gazed on Nell McAndrew, who nodded — "…and that's the genetic building code for all things — so she could…finally…" He sniffed as tears filled his eyes.

Instantly, Nell swept him into her arms as he began to cry. Watching her son weep, Dora moaned as she drunkenly reached over for her child. Noting that, the would-be medical assistant moved over to gently place the sobbing Ted into his mother's lap, and then she moved to give them both a supportive hug as Dora drew her child close. A quick mind-probe later, Nell then pulled away, smiling in reassurance at Ted and Dora before she moved to beckon Negako over to one side. "She barely knows him!" the would-be medic whispered once they were out of earshot. "Negako-sama, how…?"

"Nymphadora gave birth to Theodore in one of the healing rooms in the permanent spell damage ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," the ninjutsu grandmaster noted, her voice quiet to allow Dora and Ted their moment together. "She never knew consciously that she was giving birth when he came to term in April of 1998; Nymphadora only realized she was pregnant in late August of the previous year, just before the final confrontation between Harold Potter and Thomas Riddle at Hogwarts. Still, with Harold's consistency in bringing Theodore together with his mother while she was convalescing at St. Mungo's, it forged a deep emotional bond."

"Well, it will soon become a proper shirei'cha bond," Nell mused with a smile.

"Indeed it will. And once Nymphadora has recovered, Amanda and Pansy can recover from their fathers' foolishness."

Nell smirked. "The bodies are already being prepped right now, Negako-sama."

"Splendid."


The upper flight deck, an hour later…

"Utterly magnificent!"

Harry perked on hearing that jovial voice, and then he smiled, offering his hand to the man now joining him by the edge of the flight deck overlooking the starboard aft-of-midships main gun turrets. "Good to see that you made it, Horace!" he called out.

Horace Slughorn laughed as he firmly shook the hand of the son of one of one of his more promising potions students. "Glad to be here, Harry! My God, what on Earth are people moaning about when it comes to this ship?!" he said as he waved around him.

"Oh, you know most people, Horace," a familiar witch's voice declared with her normal detached sternness, which made Harry grin as he turned to watch the current headmistress of Hogwarts come up, accompanied by the other heads of houses and the youngest potions master to have emerged in Britain in centuries. "If it comes at them suddenly, they always panic and think the sky's about to fall onto their heads. Hello, Harry!"

"Hey, Aunt Minerva," Harry said as he warmly embraced Minerva McGonagall, then did the same to Pomona Sprout before he shook the hands of Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape and Ron's brother Charlie; he had become the head of Gryffindor in 1997 when Minerva had become headmistress. "Have you had the chance to meet Admiral Thompkins?"

"We did," Filius stated. Like the others from Hogwarts, he was dressed in normal-looking civilians, his second-class Order of Merlin — of all the Hogwarts teachers active at the time of the final battle against the Death Eaters, only Severus had won the first-class award for his long and dangerous work as a spy for Albus Dumbledore — hanging proudly from his jacket. "Of course, Horace was a teacher at the time the War Hawks used Hogwarts as their base of operations in the last year of Grindelwald's War — this was a couple of years before Minerva did her freshman year — so he knows Admiral Thompkins and her friends." He then gazed on Luna as Horace puffed with pride on being recognized that way. "So how was the trip to Yaminokuni, anyway? Was there any effect on your magic or Terry's magic when you were in space?"

"None at all, Professor," the daughter of the owner of the Quibbler said. "We didn't go down to chase the Urusian Imperials and that Ōgi monster into the Dark Grove south of the planet's capital city, Muzlim Madiina, like the Xiàolíng Emperor and her brother and sister tōshi did…but it appears that magic is as normal on other planets as it is on Earth." She then smiled. "Then again, there were other things to distract both Terry and I — Alejandro, too — while we were with the Task Force."

"How so, Miss Lovegood?" Severus asked.

"Three of the Xiàolíng's children were restored to life during that trip, Professor: The Prince Huái of Hóngnóng, the Xiàoxiàn Emperor and the Prince Yì; he was one of the Xiàolíng's children who never survived childhood." As the others nodded — as it had been explained to many people of the Task Force during their mission when asked, the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn was seen far more positively by magicals these days given his sponsorship of the first imperial Chinese magical schools…which, to one extent or another, still survived to this day — Luna added, "Terry did the Neuwied Test on them. The Prince Huái scored 367 points on the Test and the Xiàoxiàn Emperor scored 418 points on the Test. Sadly, Prince Yí scored only 66 points."

Silence.

"Merlin's Beard…!" a white-faced Charlie gasped. "How…?"

"Well, the Prince Huái…"

"Harry?"

Harry perked as Hermione came up to join them. "What is it, 'Mione?"

"Have you seen Ted or Dora anywhere?"

People paused to look around. "I haven't seen them since after the Queen came aboard and the levée started," Pansy noted. "Maybe…"

"Just a moment," Luna said. "Computer, locate Theodore Lupin!"

"Theodore Lupin is in Turbolift 29, approaching Upper Hangar Deck flats," the polite male voice of the ship's computer answered from everywhere around them.

"Merlin!" Pomona gasped. "What was that?!"

"You can ask the main computer of the ship anything even out HERE?!" Ron wondered.

"Anywhere on the ship…Mister Trekker," Luna then teased.

Ron blushed as Charlie laughed. "Hey!" the former yelped.

"Something wrong?"

People turned as Kingsley and Percy came up to join them. "Yes, Minister Shacklebolt. People lost track of Harry's godson and Mrs. Lupin," WO1 Nate Carter explained. "Luna here was more than happy to show us the internal ship's locator system to find him."

"There he is!" Mandy said, pointing. "He's got his mother with him."

"Must have gone to the heads," Carter then mused.

"'Heads?'" a confused Percy asked.

"Toilet, Mister Undersecretary," the RSM of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment explained. "The Navy has its odd language, just like magicals do."

A chuckle escaped the third oldest Weasley son. "Oh!"

"What's with Dora?!"

Hearing Pansy's concerned question, everyone looked over…

…and then blinked on seeing the polite smile on Nymphadora Lupin's face as she was pushed towards the other magicals by her beaming son. "What on Earth…?" Kingsley declared, and then he turned to Harry. "Has she ever acted like that, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. By then, the Lupins had come close enough to be able to speak to their friends without shouting. Stopping the chair his mother was sitting on, Ted then moved to slip the blanket off her. People then gaped as Dora calmly stood up from her chair and walked straight over to Harry, her movements stiff but relatively fluid. As the Man-Who-Won gaped in shock at the sight of the former auror acting like this, Dora came up to him…and then she threw her arms around him as she landed a tongue-filled kiss right on his lips. Mandy and Pansy both squawked in shock on seeing that while the others gaped…and Luna was grinning like a cat that had just caught the canary and eaten it before the owners got home. As Harry — given that both of his lovers were squibs now, any move to formally marry either Mandy or Pansy had been frequently blocked by the conservative elements of the Wizengamot — found himself warming up to the passion flowing into him from Dora, the others just watched this…until Filius drew out his wand and whispered a spell to begin the diagnostics necessary to determine one's Neuwied Test score.

Seconds later, a ghostly parchment appeared…which made the charms master and former master duellist gape in disbelief. "Oh, Merlin…!"

Minerva looked over. "What is it…oh, my dear…!"

Mandy, Pansy and the other magicals save Luna looked.

They blinked.

Jaws were now down around their knees.

And none of them could say a damned thing.

Gazing at the ghostly parchment, WO1 Carter blinked before he gazed on Luna. "Tell me, Luna…is a score of three hundred and five points respectable for wizards?"

"Oh, it's quite respectable," Luna said. "Harry's score is 244 points…and he's seen as one of the most powerful wand-wizards alive. Nowhere close to Admiral Thompkins' score, of course. She actually ranked 504 points on the Neuwied Test when Master Unspeakable Neuwied first demonstrated it at the ICMC chambers in Geneva back in 1984."

Everyone turned to gape at the daughter of the owner of the Quibbler…and then they blinked on hearing the voice of their sovereign ask, "So now that young Ted's mother has recovered, could Harry's other companions be allowed to recover from what their foolish parents forced on them all those years ago, Negako?"

"Oh, indeed they could," a tonally-flat voice answered, which made almost all the magicals freeze as they sensed a great, dark aura emanating from somewhere behind them. "Once Amanda and Pansy have become Avalonians, they can proceed to act as Harold's proxies in the Wizengamot and help force through the necessary reforms you have long desired that element of your government to legislate after Thomas Riddle and his subordinates were permanently dealt with in 1997."

People turned to look…

"THE GRIM!" Ron then screamed as he lept up into the air…

…only to be snared by a glowing chain of energy ending in a grappling hook, which wrapped around his arms and waist three times before he was yanked away from falling off the flight deck to the tumbledown below — thus falling straight off the ship over a half-kilometre to the waters of the Thames — and then he got yanked over to hang in the air close to Moroboshi Negako's left leg. "Ronald," the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū calmly stated. "Do you wish to kill yourself?"

Ron blinked as the others — save Harry, who was still enjoying the wonderful kiss Dora was giving him — all stared wide-eyed at the woman in black.

Except Ted; he was trying desperately not to laugh…

To Be Concluded…


WRITER'S NOTES

While I did always have the idea of having the world of Phoenix From the Ashes interact with the Harry Potter universe — as you'll notice what I did to characters from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Táin Bó Cúailnge such as Chìtùmǎ and the Donn Cúailnge, who appear here as immortal phoenixes of the same type as Albus Dumbledore's companion Fawkes — I did not wish to drag in the whole war with Voldemort into the story. For the Harry Potter characters, their lives went on pretty much as depicted in the novels (Harry would start Hogwarts in the late summer of 1991 and graduate in the late spring of 1998)…though I did — in factoring in the world of Mahō Sensei Negima and my own Icemaidens stories to this universe — adjust the whole series of events leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts (which occurred in the mid-summer of 1997 as noted above). Atop that, many more people who were recorded to have died in that battle as noted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows such as Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey and Nymphadora Tonks — and yes, to be fair, people on the other side of that battle such as Bellatrix Lestrange — survived the battle in the universe of this story.

Some elements of this story are inspired by some of my favourite HP fanfic stories, such as The Mandatory Marriage Contract Fic from Itsme66, Old Soldiers Never Die by Rorschach's Blot, Harry Potter and the Harem of Honeys by Szordara (all listed as favourites of mine here at this site), White Knight, Grey Queen by Jeconais (which can be found at Jeconais' own fan fiction archive, which can be linked through his author's link at this website; please note, you have to register at that website to access the story) and the really funny short story Pureblood Traditions by Crys (which is found at the same website Jeconais' stories are located at). Also note that the governmental structures revealed here are the same as what I use in my own Harry Potter fan fiction stories…minus the Magical Sheriff concept, which didn't need to be brought in here given this story is set in a "post-war" situation for Harry Potter and company. Certain family and given names used here are my own creation, by the way.

And now, the specific notes…

1) Her Majesty's Starship Hood (pendant number 51, fourth ship of the name) is the starship that acts as the home vessel to the British contingent of the United Nations Earth Defence Force (UNEDF) that was formed in Part 20 of PFtA. Commanded by Captain Nathan Kerr (introduced in Part 24 of PFtA), the ship is crewed partially by Terran volunteers from the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines…and partially by Avalonians (a race of bioroids with Vulcan-like psionic powers that were first introduced in The Senior Year story "What Price For Love?"). Hood is a ship capable of faster-than-light travel and was built with technology that is well over five thousand years ahead of all the other races in the local cluster (as initially introduced in The Senior Year). She can fly at a maximum FTL speed of 3,200,000 times the speed of light (Warp 20 in the warp speed scale used in this series, which is a fifth power factor measurement). She possesses fifty-four 520 millimetre mixed-ammunition main cannons in eighteen three-gun turrets, eighteen banks of sixteen-cell anti-ship/anti-surface missile launchers that could bear annihilation (anti-matter) warheads if required, as well as multiple gun and missile anti-aircraft weapons for small-ship defence. She possesses the same type of energy deflector shields the various starships Enterprise from Star Trek possess. Like the battlestar Galactica from both the original 1970s series and the recent re-imaged series, Hood carries two hundred star fighters (called Starfire SF1 in Britain), four large executive shuttles (the Star Flare SVC1) and twenty smaller shuttles (the Space Dhow SVC2); because of this, her proper American-style hull classification symbol is SBBV ("Aircraft Carrying Space Battleship"). At full manning, her crew would be 2,500 officers and rates; the ship is heavily automated to allow a skeleton crew to man her if there are not enough trained personnel to crew her. She would also have an aerospace contingent of 2,500 officers and rates from the Fleet Air Arm's 51 (Space) Naval Air Wing (51 [S]NAW) and an infantry battalion battle group of 1,500 officers and men from the Royal Marines' 41 Commando (41 Cdo RM), which administratively is a fighting unit of 3 Commando Brigade.

In the British Commonwealth naval tradition, Hood inherited the ship's crest and all the battle honours of her namesakes…including the famous battlecruiser sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. This is in marked contrast to American naval tradition, where battle stars and campaign credits are not carried to newer ships of the same name. For example, the nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise (CVN-65) or her future namesake (U.S.S. Enterprise [CVN-80]) would not inherit the battle stars and other awards of their namesake (U.S.S. Enterprise [CV-6]) from World War Two. Hood only possesses one battle honour, won by her namesake from World War Two: Bismarck, 1941. Such is displayed on a battle honours board — usually measuring 3 x 1.8 metres (10 x 6 feet) for a capital ship — posted normally on a bulkhead on the main bridge.

Hood's motto is Ventis Secundis (Latin for "With Favourable Winds"). Her ship's official colours are medium blue and gold…though on the ship's hull — as with almost all Royal Navy ships — the name is written in red letters as close to the stern as possible. Her ship's crest shows a Cornish chough (a raven) holding an anchor in one claw as she faces to the viewer's left, all over the year date 1859 (the launch date of the first H.M.S. Hood) in gold. All of the Hoods that have served in the Royal Navy are named in tribute to a family from Cornwall (where the chough can be found; it is used on the family coat of arms) that have served quite honourably in the British armed forces, including Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724-1816)…who was a mentor to Britain's most famous naval hero, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758-1805).

2) The incident concerning Harry's cousin Margaret "Maggie" Dursley was covered in Long Way Home. That was where Maggie's current guardians, Lucy O'Neill and Shelley Carter were introduced. At that time, Shelley worked as a special clerk registering Avalonian-Britons for the Home Office and Lucy was — atop serving the housewife role in their home on 5 Privet Drive — planning to become a soldier in the British Army.

3) For those unfamiliar with my fanfics, the character of Major Dean Raeburn (now Major General) often is mentioned from time to time. The concept of Jewel Warriors was introduced in my story Wanderers. Before having Dean guest-star in PFtA, she appeared in The Thunderbolt's Tears.

4) The Niitsítapi are more commonly called the "Blackfoot" among white North Americans; they are native Canadians resident in what today is Alberta and northeast British Columbia.

5) The insignia for the Order of Merlin medal awarded to worthy wizards and witches in Britain has never been described in the Harry Potter novels. In my Icemaidens stories, I rank each of the Order of Merlin's three levels as being equivalent (though each rank of the Order of Merlin is ALWAYS subordinate to the equivalent normal medal) to the three highest levels of bravery decorations in the United Kingdom. Making the Order medallion look like the Order of the Bath medallion seemed logical. The post-nominal letters for the Order of Merlin are MO1 (First Class), MO2 (Second Class) and MO3 (Third Class).

6) Michael Parkinson is a character I introduced in my Icemaidens stories. For your information, he is a year ahead of Pansy and is a Ravenclaw.

7) Translations: Allons-y — Let's go; Arms of Dominion — The commonly accepted version of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom as displayed in England; Tōshi — Literally "Fighting Soldier," this is the name given to "Resurrected Warriors" (as magicals would term them) whose past-selves come from the Three Kingdoms age of China's history (as depicted in Ikkitōsen); Shirei'cha — The name for the empathic bond between an Avalonian mother (shi) and her child (rei), which forms automatically at birth and normally fades when the child undergoes the Awakening at around age twelve (since Teddy is a normal Terran, this won't happen until Nymphadora becomes an Avalonian).

8) The 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment was the Territorial Army (British reserve army) battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment in the last decades of that regiment's existence as an independent unit of the British Army. The battalion was first formed as the "Sussex Rifle Volunteers" in 1860, then acquired its final designation in 1943. Battalion headquarters was in Worthing. In 1967 — along with the rest of the Royal Sussex — the battalion was amalgamated with other units into the Queen's Regiment; the 4th/5th was reduced to company size and made "C" Company of the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion. The Queen's Regiment would then be amalgamated with other units into the The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) — this is the same regiment Lucy O'Neill joined — in 1992.

In the universe of this story, when the Avalonians migrated to Earth, they proposed restoring all the infantry regiments that had been active in the British Army at the end of World War Two as Territorial Army units, staring with two battalions per regiment and eventually growing if required. Hence, the new incarnation of the Royal Sussex Regiment (short form R SUSSEX) would serve as an affiliated regiment of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment…but could mobilize additional battalions under its own regimental name if required. As matters are planned right now, the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment (1 R SUSSEX) will be headquartered in Chichester in West Sussex, while the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment (2 R SUSSEX) will be headquartered in Lewes in East Sussex. It is planned to give the 2nd Battalion an airborne tasking; the 1st Battalion would remain as ground infantry.

As an aside, Hermione's great-grandfather WO1 Nathaniel Carter is inspired by his counterpart from Old Soldiers Never Die, Sergeant-Major Smythe. I just expanded on the concept and — since it is commonly accepted fanon that Hermione comes from Crawley in West Sussex near London Gatwick International Airport — gave my version of RSM Smythe his home regiment. WO1 Carter is also mentioned in my Icemaidens stories.

9) British military uniform notes:

The Number 2 Uniform worn by officers and men of the British Army — also known as Service Dress due to its close resemblance to the fighting uniform that became standard after the Second Boer War (1899-1902) — is the mode of dress worn for most formal duties by all units. The standard Number 2 Uniform is composed of a khaki single-breasted jacket with epaulettes, breast pockets and hip pockets; a light green button undershirt and khaki tie; and khaki trousers (or for women, a skirt). Modifications to the jacket cut are made for Highland regiments to accommodate the wearing of a kilt. Headdress is typically a khaki peaked cap with a red headband, though certain services wear different models of headdress such as various coloured berets, glengarry bonnets, slouch hats or forage caps. Buttons on the uniform jacket are always of a distinct pattern and colour dependant on the wearer's corps or regiment of affiliation. Normally, issue of this model of uniform to Territorial Army soldiers is limited; in the universe of this story, replicator technology dealt with that.

The Blue Number 1 Uniform worn by officers and rates of the Royal Navy is the uniform type worn for ceremonial occasions. For officers, this uniform style consists of a double-breasted navy blue jacket, matching trousers, white shirt with black tie, peaked cap and black leather shoes. Petty officers, chief petty officers and both levels of warrant officer wear the same type of uniform. Leading hands, able seamen and ordinary seamen wear a traditional square-rigged sailor suit with a white sailor cap wrapped with a black tally around the base. The uniform type is divided into three levels. Number 1A is with medals and bearing arms (rifles or swords). Number 1B is the uniform with medals without bearing arms. And Number 1C is the uniform with medal ribbons in lieu of the proper medals themselves. For female members of the Navy, skirts can be worn save for when in Number 1A uniform.

10) All of Hood's Avalonian-Briton crew are named and modelled after various Page 3 girls from newspapers like the Sun and the Daily Star. The two whose namesakes appears here are Leilani Dowding (born 1980), who began modelling in 1999; she made her first appearance in the Sun that year; and Nell McAndrew (born 1973), who served as the model for Laura Croft for the Tomb Raider video game from 1998 and is also a marathon runner who has participated in the London Marathon since 2005.

Leilani's namesake on Hood plans to be a Communications Information Systems Specialist (which is the equal of the United States Navy rating of Operations Specialist). Nell's namesake, as demonstrated above, plans to be a Medical Assistant (the equal of the rating of a Hospital Corpsman across the Atlantic).

In the reality of this story, the originals were quite tickled pink that they got "spirit-sisters" among the Avalonian-Britons now serving on Hood.

11) Trainee seamen in the Royal Navy do not wear the standard black epaulette slip-ons one would start to see when one is rated an Able Seaman. When part of a training establishment like H.M.S. Raleigh (the basic training unit of the Royal Navy, located in Torpoint in County Cornwall), special coloured epaulettes are worn from the first day of training to the last, when the new trainees move on to trades training. For the Avalonian-Britons on Hood, they were given slip-ons in the background colour of their ship's badge, the ship's name put on a badge similar to what their counterparts on H.M.C.S. Haida wear at the base of the slip-on.

12) That Terry Boot and his father Ian Boot (the first name is my creation) — it was the elder who briefed Mary Caldwell — are Unspeakables is an invention of mine that I also use in the Icemaidens stories.

13) The Separation Act, 1692 is my name for the local legislation that had to be passed to fully accept all the elements of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and thus allow wizards and witches of Britain to break away fully from the control of Parliament to eventually form their own government, as personified by the Ministry of Magic (or as I would see it properly addressed, Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic). However, in the universe of my Icemaidens series (and here as well), a Magical Royal Proclamation stands above even the Separation Act (which forms the cornerstone of the Magical Constitution of the United Kingdom, along with other certain post-1692 Acts of the Wizengamot). Released at the command of the serving Sovereign, this — following the legal theories of how a Westminster-style parliamentary government normally runs with a King or Queen at the highest level — would legally and magically bind all wizards and witches into acknowledging such acts…though such does not take away a wizard's or witch's free will to do whatever s/he might desire as key elements of the Separation Act do guarantee full freedom to use magic to one's benefit within reason.

14) For those who haven't read my stories in the past, Moroboshi Negako — note that all Oriental names in this story are written in "family name-first" order — was once a psionic database of ninjutsu battle knowledge and memories that became a sentient being in 1808. I introduced her in The Senior Year. Her presence in the mind of Moroboshi Ataru was — as was explained in TSY — the primary reason he always chased skirts and acted like an idiot; this was meant to allow Negako the chance to gain enough ki energy to create a body for herself…with Ataru not surviving the experience. Over the years since she first appeared in the story "Spirit-War Tomobiki," I've evolved Negako into a being similar to Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation; calling her "Earth's first true artificial intelligence" is a comment I often use to describe her.

In the universe of this story, she became an Avalonian six months before PFtA began, then became a sort of big sister figure to Ataru and his other adopted sisters, Moroboshi Tariko (Ataru's true twin sister, whom I model from the "civilized" Ataru that appeared in the Yatsura manga story "Just The Two of Us" [manga story #18]) and Moroboshi Hiromi (a tōshi of the Ikkitōsen type, whose battle name would be Ryūkō Kyōrei and is the reincarnation of the second-to-last emperor of China's Latter Hàn Dynasty, Liú Hóng, the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn [lived 156-189, ruled 168-189]).

Negako serves as the Grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū (literally "School of the Way of the Supreme Life"), which is the Moroboshi Clan's in-house form of ninjutsu. Negako is seen by many tōshi as the "Black Death of the Martial Arts;" in the years before she became sentient, she had been used to put down tōshi to where seen as a disruption to Tokugawa-era Japanese society. Mystics and magicals on Earth refer to her as the "Earth Angel" or the "Daughter of Mother Earth" given that her powers are based on ki manipulation of the living energy of the earth itself and that the initial psionic seed that saw her created a thousand years ago was taken from the earth. Because she is seen as grandmaster of her family Art, Negako is always addressed by Avalonians with the term "Thoughtmistress-prime" (though never to her face, of course); males ranked so highly are known as "Thoughtmaster-prime." Negako personally loathes the use of titles…though she does accept family titles such as "Onē-san" from Ataru and Tariko and "Onē-sama" from Hiromi. Most who know of Negako always address her with either the basic honorifics "-san" or "-sama"…and "Lady Negako" in English (or the cognates to that phrase in other languages).

As shown here, Negako speaks in a very crisp and formal mode. Given her Taoist-descent beliefs, she will address all she meets — save those she considers true friends, which could only be counted on one hand — by proper given name; this is why she calls Percy Weasley "Percival" in this story. As stated above, she flatly refuses to use titles of rank when addressing people she meets…save for one person: The Emperor of Japan, whom she calls "Your Majesty." She also cares not for masking things that others would consider improper to speak of in public; Negako is often seen as blunt to the point of rudeness. She is also very much one of the deadliest people alive on Earth today, so her "eccentricities" are always tolerated.

15) A note on Harry's special teachers in his sixth year at Hogwarts:

Nekane Springfield is the cousin and unofficial big sister of Negi Springfield in Mahō Sensei Negima. As I've done with the Harry Potter characters, I set the Negima timeline according to what Akamatsu-sensei indicated were the birth years of the members of Negi's class at Mahora. By the time Nekane was asked by the International Conference of Magical Communities to train Harry, she would have graduated from the Meridiana Magical Academy in Wales and become a teacher there. As her true age was never established in Negima — and given how young Meridiana-trained mages can be sent off to do adult things as witness what happened to Negi when he was TEN! — I see Nekane as being of the same age as Harry; in the universe of this story, her birthday was 2 June 1980 (the same birthday as her second Japanese voice actress, Sawashiro Miyuki). Nekane was ultimately responsible for teaching Harry wandless magic as well as giving him a thorough understanding of ALL aspects of magical societies beyond what was controlled by the British Ministry of Magic. As an aside, given the strong relations the magicals in Negima have with Nerio (the Mundus Magicus), people such as Nekane and Negi are NOT under the rule of the Ministry of Magic…and thus, by treaty, are forbidden from directly interfering with wand-wizards such as Harry Potter. Given the potential threat of Voldemort at the time he reappeared in public in 1996 and how his actions could potentially affect magicals of all types, the ICMC declared an emergency exception and gave Nekane the clearance to teach Harry what he needed to know. These days, Nekane is still a magical teacher at Meridiana.

Yomigawa Tsukiko, also known by the style name Tsukuyomi-no-Tsukushi (shortened to "Lady Tsukuyomi" in English), is my own creation; she is first mentioned in The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone. A traditional Eastern sorceress of the same vein as Amagasaki Chigusa from Negima, Tsukiko launched a devastating magical war in 1939 — almost parallel to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific side of World War Two (also known as the "Greater East Asia War") — to overthrow the domination of the International Confederation of Wizards on traditional Oriental magic and the magicals of various European colonies in the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia and the East Indies…and by extension Africa. In the Icemaidens universe, she was killed in the Nagasaki atomic bombing of 9 August 1945…though it is believed she ultimately survived and is planning to return to power. In the universe of this story as noted above, the American Department of Magic — who long advocated reforming the ICW to make it more egalitarian — realized what Tsukiko was ultimately after; agents of the DOM managed to get her clear of Nagasaki before Bockscar came on its fateful mission. Because of her efforts to free magicals across Asia, Tsukiko was exonerated by the new ICMC after the war and officially magically pardoned by the Shōwa Emperor. These days, she is something of a recluse who lives at the Tenmon-jinja ("Shrine of the Gate of Heaven") in the mountains of Kyūshū overlooking Nagasaki…but was more than happy to come teach a bright student like Harry Potter when called on by the ICMC.

As an aside, Tsukiko's style name is written in the classical form as "月読筑紫," literally meaning "one who reads the moon from Tsukushi." Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto is the Shintō god of the moon. The word Tsukushi — literally meaning "amethyst zither" — is an old name for the island of Kyūshū (literally "Nine Provinces"), the southwest of the Home Islands of Japan where cities like Fukuoka and Nagasaki are found. Note that the "no" part of the style name was never written in ancient times; only when hiragana was developed in the Ninth Century C.E. that the character "" came to be used. In modern Japanese, Tsukiko's style name is written "月読の筑紫."

And no, this person is NOT the crazy Shinmei-ryū swordswoman that first appeared alongside Chigusa in Negima; in the reality of this story, the swordswoman assumed the battle name "Tsukuyomi" in tribute to Tsukiko's actions during World War Two.

16) H.M.S. President (sixth ship of the name) is the "stone frigate" (the popular nickname for a shore establishment) that serves as the primary unit for the Royal Navy Reserve in the city of London. First commissioned in 1903, President is currently located in the borough of Tower Hamlets on the north shore of the Thames east of Tower Bridge. It has a detached tender, the Medway Division, located in Chatham in Kent. Units such as President provide personnel augmentation to the regular Navy as well as provide specialist personnel such as harbour clearance divers, chaplains, medical support and headquarters staff support.

17) Ki Tsukihana (battle name Kōgetsuei) and Hakaru Ayami (battle name Jun'iku Bunjaku) are two of my own Ikkitōsen tōshi-based characters that appear in PFtA. Both Tsukihana and Ayami were two of five hundred people kidnapped by the Ipraedies (a race from TSY) in preparation of their conquering Earth; this was the reason that the Urusians (Lum's people) launched the Tag Race in the first place. Escaping from Ipraedies custody almost two years before the time of this story, both people made their way to the Den'sha system, where they discovered a giant space factory left behind by the Sagussans (the race that created the Avalonians). Using it, they built Hood and forty-nine other starships — known properly as "Type One space battleship-carriers" — to defend Earth against alien invasion. The ships were completed sometime after Ataru rid himself of his "wife" (as seen in a background scene in PFtA Part 8), then brought to Earth. These vessels are now being commissioned into the armed forces of their home nations. Tsukihana and Ayami — as their creators — now serve as Special Technical Advisers to the Earth Defence Force…even if the former is only thirteen years of age and the latter is fifteen! Legally, both of them are Moroboshi Negako's wards.

18) Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins — also known as Spitfire — is one of my characters; I created the first version of her back in the early 1980s, when I also created the first version of Major Raeburn. Originally meant as a matter-transformer like Firestorm from DC Comics, I evolved her eventually into an arch-mage of considerable power. She was a member of Major Raeburn's team of fighting metahumans during World War Two, the War Hawks (officially the First Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit [1 CSWU]). In the universe of this story, Heather and her friends helped Albus Dumbledore defeat Gellert Grindelwald in the Battle of Nurmengard sometime after the end of the European side of World War Two in 1945. Because of her high magical power, Heather was unanimously voted in as a supreme mugwump in the International Conference of Magical Communities after her retirement from the Royal Canadian Navy in 1954. She was recalled to duty during the events of PFtA and asked to become Flag Officer Commanding, United Nations Earth Defence Force (FOC UNEDF), the military commander of the formation of starships Hood is a part of and the senior military officer under Moroboshi Hiromi in her position as Director, United Nations Earth Defence Force (DIR UNEDF).

19) The Neuwied Test is my play-off on the magical version of an IQ test that often appears in Harry Potter fanfics and is used to measure a wizard's total magical potential; I first introduced this in Harry Potter and the Icemaidens. To give you an idea of what the score means, an average wizard or witch scores between 110-160 points, someone like Albus Dumbledore would score over 200 points and house elves like Dobby score over 300 points.