Jayfeattheris Awesome: I did not write this. My bestie, Amberstar of Thunderclan, did. I just let her use this slot and replace A Lightwing Guide because A( A guide is a bit much for a fandom that only exists in my head, and that was a bit TOO much, and B( Bother her and I are expirienceing technical difficulties; whenever we try to make a new story, the page goes blank after we hit the next button after selecting a catagory fot a new fic. Does anybody know what the heck that is, or how to fix it? That would be really, great, thanks.

Now, without further ado, here's Amberstar.

Okay, so here we are; a re-write of chapter one. The original was terrible because A: it was a NaNoWriMo challenge, and B:I was really nervous when I wrote it, because before then, I had never written ANYTHING nerdier or more stupid-sounding in my ENTIRE LIFE. But, now that I'm a little more calmed down, and that I've settled into the fact that my head-fandom is now public, I've started writing better, and the chapters keep on getting longer.

I will eventually re-write ALL of the super-bad early chapters, it's a work in progress, so please, do exuse the bad-quality writing that you see up until about... chapter ten, I think? Maybe even after that? But don't worry; the writing will get better as you go along, so just bear with me here, and suck it up until I can re-make decent versions of AT LEAST chapters 2-4. I decided to focus on chapter one first, because, naturally, it is the first thing everybody sees when they get onto this fic.

And I know, from my own experiences as a fanfiction critic, that the first chapter is the only chance you have to make a REAL impression on the readers; if they don't like what they see, they'll disregard your fic as lame and move on.

Also, for the purposes of this fic, Julian is two years younger than he actually is. So he's 25 at the moment, don't ask me why; it was kind of a "spur of the moment" decision. And Lizza is 19.

With the best hopes for the future of this fic, Amberstar of Thunderclan.

Lost, Missing, Found

. I s . O n .

The Wizarding World is out of hiding. Julian Bashir's little sister, Lizza, begins the next step in her training to become an Beyonding-Class Auror. And then disaster strikes. Presumed dead, Lizza is thrown into the nightmarish corner of the galaxy known as the Gamma Quadrant, where escaping a Dominion prison camp is easier said than done. Meanwhile, Julian attempts to grow closer to the girl of his dreams(to much teasing from Garak), finally starting to recover from his grief. Then Lizza's patronus arrives...and everything changes.

~ Earth Year- September 7th, 2369 ~

7.5 Star-Date Years Until Expatriation Event…

Julian was talking about science again. Whenever this happened, Garak found it best to just smile and nod occasionally.

Now, he was, by no means uneducated, of course; the Obsidian Order had provided a fairly wide-range of education. But he was, by no mean, an expert or a total genius, like Julian Bashir was. He had only a vague knowledge of some of the things his friend went on about sometimes, when the topic of their weekly conversations turned from politics to science.

Friend? Since when did that happen? He mused absentmindedly as Julian went on about some sort of complex medical procedure, the name of which Garak couldn't pronounce. He had, recently, found that over the past year, he was beginning to make the biggest mistake an operative could make; he had actually begun to think of the doctor as a friend.

He had chosen Julian Bashir for a reason; he was perfect. High in the station hierarchy, hyper-active and chatty, and naive enough to let information slip. He had, naturally, been the best person to approach for Garak's purposes.

Julian's excitement at meeting him somewhat helped in securing their fake friendship, though Garak hadn't counted on rumors about his true purposes to have spread so quickly. It had become somewhat of an inside joke between the two of them.

He had yet to slip on something important regarding Starfleet's inner workings, but Garak was always careful to pay attention, just in case he did. He honestly didn't know when he had started looking forwards to his conversations with Julian; perhaps it had been a month ago, when he had found himself, deep in the monotony of running his shop, glancing many an impatient glance at his clock, and the odd sort of relief he had felt when lunch time had finally arrived. He had spent that particular meal complaining profusely about the behavior of that day's costumers.

Hopefully, soon, the doctor would let slip some information that would be sure to secure his return to cardassia.

Meanwhile, he had decided that until such a time, he really didn't care if he had come to think of the doctor as a friend. And when that time came… well, that was what betrayal was for. He probably wouldn't feel too bad about that, either. One tended to feel that way after having a previous career made up of betraying people on a daily basis.

"…and then, there's the trick of making sure that the marrow structure remains the same, because if it doesn't, well, things tend to get ugly, you know what I mean?" Julian continued rapidly. True to his protocol, Garak nodded and smiled. No, I really don't know what you mean. His thoughts contradicted.

Suddenly, glancing over Julian's shoulder, he noticed a young woman staring at them a short distance away. She was tall, with shoulder-length black hair, and shockingly bright green eyes. Her facial features were sharp and sleek, like a movie star's, and her lanky, skinny body stood with a certain...attitude, was the only word he could think of.

There was a mischievous look on her face, which also had a child-like quality to it; so much so, he could assume she was fairly young, eighteen, or maybe twenty, perhaps. She was certainly old enough to be in Starfleet; otherwise, she wouldn't have been wearing a yellow and black uniform, meaning she was either an engineer, or a security officer.

The uniform itself was slightly different from what he had seen of Starfleet uniforms so far. He couldn't tell from here, but it looked as if her comm badge was a different color as well; red and silver, maybe? With a hint of black?

Suddenly, her eyes locked with his. A teasing smirk played across her face, and she put a finger to her lips, signaling for him to be quiet. Garak considered his options for a few moments. On one hand , she could be an undercover Obsidian Order agent, signaling him for some sort of operation in which to redeem himself.

One the other hand, based off her stance, the grin on her face, and the way she seemed to be singling out Julian, she could very well be just another mischievous young officer who was keen on pulling some act of mischief or the other. It had happened before, a few weeks ago; a young engineer had thought it funny to launch his mashed potatoes into Julian's hair with a spoon trebuchet. Pranking the Senior Staff, it seemed, was somewhat of a sport within the ranks of the younger officers.

However, before he could decide (It was really a lucky convenience that Julian was so busy talking, he hadn't noticed that Garak's attentions were directed somewhere else), the young woman was making her way over to their table with an over-exaggerated "I-am-sneaking" movement, the grin on her face broadening. Garak relaxed. Mischievous young officer, it is then.

He also decided that he was now in a good enough mood to allow this prank, whatever it was, to happen; anything to get Julian to stop talking about science, really. Nodding and smiling was starting to get boring.

The young officer crept right up behind Julian, adapting a look that bordered on both ridiculous, and maniacal. Garak forced himself to keep a straight face, looking bordly at the doctor and he talked on and on, completely oblivious. Now that she was closer, Garak noticed that she had a small backpack slung over on her back, and that, strangely enough, there were no pips on her color, as if she had no rank at all.

"…so I'm thinking, that if I can somehow get the riboflavin to—"

The woman slapped her hands down on his shoulders. "BOO!" She yelled. Julian practically jumped out of his skin, and he fell out of his chair as he jumped, twisting to try and see who his "attacker" was. Garak, trying to seem as dignified as possible, bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from laughing. It was certainly not proper for any member of the Obsidian Order to laugh at something as ridiculous and childish as this. Most improper, indeed! He mused. It was terribly hard to resist, though.

Of course, his amusement at what had transpired was soon replace by curiosity at what Julian said next.

"Lizza!" he shouted angrily, though the anger sounded half-hearted, "What have I told you about that? Why do you always do that?"

Now this is certainly interesting. So Doctor Bashir knew this woman, who was now standing cheerily with her hands folded behind her back.

"You told me to not do it, and I do it because it's funny, and to add on to the former answer, I think we both know I disregarded your request." She piped cheerfully. This spiked Garak's interest even further; her accent was not dissimilar to Julian's though it was a bit more pronounced.

Julian heaved himself to his feet, making it so that Garak could now see the peeved look on his face. "Lizza's" smile didn't diminish at Julian's frown. In fact, it seemed to grow more and more cocky with each passing second. After a few moments of staring each other down, Julian crossed his arms over his chest seriously and spoke.

"You brought the goods?" he asked. Garak's eyes narrowed. Was he witnessing some kind of joke, or was something more going on here?

"You know I did." Lizza told him, crossing her own arms as well. "I've been practicing as well. Have you?"

"Oh, don't you worry; I'll be beating you flat this time."

"Hmm? Really now? Isn't that what you said last time? And the time before that? And the time before that, even?"

"Pft, no."

"Pft, yes."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"Well, we'll see who's talking after the carnage is over, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall! And the one who'll be talking; it's going to be me. AGAIN!"

Garak looked at them back and forth as they argued. What the heck were they talking about? He cleared his throat, letting them know he still existed. Their heads snapped around to look at him in an oddly cute way. Julian seemed to do a sort of mental fumble, as if suddenly realizing he had forgotten to introduce them.

"Oh, Lizza, this is Garak, one of my new friends on the station." He told the woman, who gave Garak the tiniest of nods, and a two-fingered "I'm-cool-and-you-know-it" salute. "Garak, this is Lizza, my sister."

It took a few seconds for him to register what Julian had just told him. He has a sister!? He tried to remember if Julian had ever mentioned her. He vaguely recalled the name popping up… actually quite a few times, actually. He decided to blame his habit of over-observation. Whenever he wasn't the one talking, he would often find himself doing an extensive analysis of his surroundings; which tended to result in him not hearing what he was being told.

He imagined himself banging his head against a brick wall, seeing as he couldn't physically do so.

"Ah, yes. I've heard about you; it's good to finally put a face to the name." he lied. It was all he could do to protect his pride and act like he knew what he was talking about.

"Right. Oh, and the rules; my name is Lizza, got that? No calling me 'Lizzy', or 'Lizz', or 'Elizabeth', or 'Ella', or 'Elly', or 'Beth', because 'Beth' sounds just plain stupid. There will be no vocal or visual support shown for the Chudley Cannons (goodness knows why they're still even around), the Appleby Arrows, the Sweetwater All-Stars, or the Quiberon Quafflepunchers; got that?" Lizza listed, giving him an intense look as she began bashing the Quidditch teams. If I followed Quidditch, I think I would be terrified right now.

As it happened, though, Garak did not follow Quidditch, much unlike the rest of the Alpha Quadrant. When the wizarding world had come out of hiding, a few short years after first contact, Quidditch had been quick to rise to the top of the sports universe, taking hold of every civilization that the humans visited, enrapturing the citizens with its prestige. It had even become popular in cardassia; and as a race that took everything, especially its competitions, seriously, cardassia had produced teams that could play against the Klingons (which was really saying something).

Cardassians didn't do a half job when it came to winning, and, as such, the teams would go to extreme lengths to win; even hiring several bajoran players during the occupation. They had even made it to the last Galactic Cup a few years ago, or so he had heard. Of course, he had been busy on Romulus during the galactic cup. And boy, had he seen some weird things during that particular operation. He had actually seen a group of vulcans and romulans (getting along for once, probably because of the game) yelling; yes, vulcans yelling, at the holographic projection of the qualifier game between the klingons and the breen.

All-in-all, the pressures and high-emotions of Quidditch had never really appealed to him.

"So, what is it, might I ask, that you are arguing about?" he inquired. He really needed to know if there was something weird or possibly illegal going on here; though Julian didn't look like that kind of person, he had been wrong before.

"Oh, we were just discussing how I'm about to beat him to a pulp in wizard's chess." The explained triumphantly, as if she had already won. The two siblings glared at each other in an "it-is-ON" kind of way.

He looked between the two of them. He had played chess before(the only Earth game other than quidditch that cardassians really aproved of-or enjoyed, for that matter), but he had never witnessed anyone being this serous about winning. He had also rarely seen anyone play wizard's chess; for obvious reasons, of course. He was a muggle, and though both worlds mixed quite a lot these days, there still many wizarding traditions that stuck strictly with wizards.

Now that he thought about it, was Lizza a witch? He took a moment to examine her quickly; he comm badge was definably weird; it was sleeker and thinner than Julian's, with a russet arrow on a gold background, rather than gold on silver, and it had a sleek, black shape running under the russet arrow, much like a ring around a planet. And now that she was closer, he could also notice that the sleeve of her right arm was slightly shorter than that of her left.

It had a loose, flapping strap attached to the cuff, and a button meant for said strap was placed just below her elbow. Aside from that, the cuff was also rimmed with a dark brown trimming, much unlike a normal Starfleet uniform. In addition to this, there was a kind of leather belt around her waist, which had hadn't noticed before; it had some sort of holster on either side of it, and there appeared to be some kind of badge clipped onto a small, leather pouch attached beside one of the holsters.

He couldn't quite make out the badge all too well. If he wanted to get a better look without looking conspicuous, he would have to get her to move a little more.

"Well, certainly don't let me stop you." He told them with a grin. Lizza and Julian ceased their pre-game glare, ending it with a hard handshake.

"Bring it on." Lizza said challengingly, sliding the backpack off her arms and slamming it onto the table. Garak jerked his food out of the way before the impact (not that he particularly cared for it all that much at this point; cracking Lizza Bashir's character was much more interesting). She took her brother's plate off the table, and-literally-threw it into the nearest trash can. Garak raised his eyebrows. Quite the impressive aim, then. He thought.

Julian gawked at her for a moment before responding, Lizza zipping open the bag and pulling out a rather handsome-looking leather case.

"On it, I shall bring!" he shot back, as his sister pulled up a chair, stealing it from one of the other nearby tables. He moved his chair so that he sat directly across her, and sat down angrily, fixing her with an intense, competitive glare. Garak couldn't help giving him a look.

"Doctor, that doesn't make any sense." He told him witheringly.

"Garak," Lizza told him seriously, slapping a small, faser-pistol-sized device down on the table beside the chess box,"nothing bout us makes any sense."

As he looked at her confusedly, she slid the backpack off of the table, and lifted the top off of the box. Carefully, her brother lifted the contents out; a full chess board with all of it's pieces already set. Lizza removed the box and set it down on the floor next to the now-empty backpack.

Julian set the chess board down between them; Lizza didn't object when he set it so that his were the white pieces. Lizza flicked a switch on the device she had brought out. Hand still on it, she looked up at her brother. Garak now had a front-row-seat to what was sure to be an interesting competition. He breifly wondered, "What might I have just gotten myself into?" before deciding that his sibling rivalry couldn't-and wouldn't- be able to affect him in the slightest.

"You ready to lose, Jul?" Lizza asked intensly, eyes narrowed. Julian's jaw twitched at the nickname.

"Bring it on...Beth." he shot back. Oh, dear... what have I gotten myself into?

"Let it begin." Lizza declared simply, flicking on the device.

Immigration Song blared on, making nearby lunch-eaters jump.

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"Knight to E5." Lizza commanded. Her black horse moved forwards, then reared and kicked Julian's pawn off the board, shattering it in two.

Julian collected the broken piece with a scowl. He twirled his wand, as looked at the board thoughtfully. The game had, at this point, been going on for about an hour; way past time for Garak to return to his shop, but he really didn't care at this point. Lizza had declared a check in her last turn.

The device that Lizza was playing her music on, the PMD (Pocket Music Device), was now playing a song that, according to Lizza, was called T.N.T, by some old Earth band called AD/CD, or something like that. From what he had gathered from this game, was that she was a good tactician, and good at bluffing.

She looked over the board with intelligent eyes before each move, most of which usually didn't seem to take her long to decide upon. In fact, her every movement, on the chess board, and within her physical self, seemed to be influenced by the beat of whatever song the PMD was playing. Julian, however, took longer in his decisions; in fact, by Garak's estimations, over half the time they had been here had been spent watching him decide what to do next.

The music that Lizza seemed to find strength in, seemed to be a horrible destraction to her brother. This, Garak, had noticed, was probably(from what he had observed from the game, and from what he had gathered from their pre-game taunting) why Lizza had been able to beat Julian as frequently as she seemed to have. While her actions(and, perhaps, her thoughts), ran as fast as the music she was playing, Julian, though seeming to enjoy the music itself, looked as though he were constantly trying to deliberately go against the beat as much as possible.

It was a clever distraction strategy that Lizza had implemented; one that Julian might not even notice. He guessed, though he was no neurologist, that the distraction was subconscious, as he himself was experiencing the desire to resist tapping his foot as an instinctual reaction to the rythm.

"Castle to E5." Julian finally ordered. About time

"You have about as much sense as a cave troll, you egg yolk!" grumbled his piece as it moved forward.

Garak couldn't help the snicker that escaped him(because let's face it; it was pretty funny), but managed to regain his nonchalant mask as Julian whipped his head around to glare at him.

"Please; do continue." he insisted plainly. He now saw exactly what Lizza had been doing.

"Bishop to A4" she commanded lazily.

Julian stared at the board blankly as pieces of his king were scattered to the other end of the promenade.

"Best 2 out of three?" Lizza inquired with mock sypathy. Julian let out a heavy sigh and sat back in his seat.

"No. My lunch break was over a while ago." he said mournfully.

"Oh, well. I'm sure Commander Sisko would understand. I had to steal you for a reason, you know." Lizza shrugged, grinning at him and turning of her PMD.

"A very well played game, have to say." Garak commented, nodding to Lizza."I can see right now that I might just have to play against you."

"That depends." Lizza said slyly, grinning."Are you a worthy opponenet?"

He opened his mouth, clever retort at the ready, but Julian interrupted him before he could speak.

"No! No, sorry; as much as I would love to see you two duke it out, Sisko will kill me if I'm any more late than I already am." He protested, hands raised defensivly.

"Well, you don't have to watch. Marina's busy helping Cheif Cortez prep the Centurion, and Wilark gave me the day off for training. I've got six more hours of shore leave to kill, and I still feel like beating people on the board." she explained, waving her hand to indicate the chess board, which more or less now resembled a battlefield.

Julian rolled his eyes, and got up, stretching, before walking off, presumably to find the scattered pieces of his material. Lizza made an odd little twitching motion with her right wrist, and a wand seemed to shoot up out of her sleave and into her grasp. Garak's eyeborws arched high up. Well, that's something new.

"Repairo." she said casually, pointing her wand at one of her broken pawns. Her pieces allready seemed to trust her, and weren't glareing at her the way Julian's had. Garak ran through verious scenarios in his mind, wondering how best to initiate a conversation.

"Well, I've certainly never seen someone's wand shoot out of their sleeve before." he commented. From what he had seen of her, it seemed like the best way to talk to her.

"Well, it's this new holster thing they're testing. My mentor, Wilark; he doesn't like them. Think's that they're clunky." she told him, shrugging.

"Mentor? So you're in some sort of training program?" he inquired.

"Yeah. The A.A.T.P., for Beyonder Class." she said proudly, lifting her chin. At Garak's cunfused look, she added,"You know? Accelerated Auror Trainging Program?"

"No, really; I don't." he told her wryly. He felt a shiver slip down his spine. An Auror in training? I'll have to be more careful about what I say around her. So, that explained her odd uniform, and quite possibly the badge as well.

"Okay!" came Julian's voice as he returned to their table, cradleing many shards of broken white chess pieces."So, good to see you haven't killed each other yet. All is well, yeah?"

"Oh, yes, I prefer to kill people on the battlefield; not at the dinner table. That would just be plain rude." Lizza announced forlornly, indicateing the chess board. Julian rolled his eyes, and muttered repairo under his breath. No sooner were the first chess pieces whole again, than they were compaining loudly about how much of an idiot Julian was.

Garak, feeling a bit more open than usual for some reason, gave his friend a puppy-dog look of mock sypathy. The doctor stuck his tongue out at him.

"Oh, bug off, Garak!" he said dejectedly.

"Nope!" the cardassian anwswered cheerily. Julian rolled his eyes, and Lizza gave the tailor a thumbs up of approval.

"I'm not sure if I should leave you two alone together; the Alpha Quadrant can only take so much sarcasm before the economy collapses." Doctor Bashir said solomny, looking at the two of them worriedly.

"Don't worry, Julian." Lizza comforted, touching her brother's hand with her own, and speaking with a motherly softness,"One game of chess isn't going to crash the economy."

"Unless, of course, we decide to play chess with starships; that would ruin the economy." Garak piped helpfully. He didn't know what was coming over him; for some reason, it appeared as if Julian's childishness had rubbed off on him somehow. He hadn't partaken in sarcastic banter for... well, he didn't know how long; but it had been a while, and he certainly didn't remember feeling this disgustingly cheerfull while he had last done it.

"You really aren't helping your case." Julian said worriedly, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Look, dude," Lizza told him,"I'll meet up with you a bit before the Centurion leaves; depending on how long it takes to beat Garak in several rounds of chess, that is."

Julian frowned at her, and Garak felt a pulse of aprehesnsion go through him. Several rounds?! I have a shop to run! I can't play for several rounds! Come to think of it, when had he decided on playing at all? Hadn't he meant the comment about playing Lizza as sarcastic?

Well, it has been a while since I've played a game of tactics... And Lizza seemed like a decent enough opponent;perhaps even bored with winning against her easily-hoodwinked brother.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then." Julian shrugged, looking at his wristwatch. He paused for a moment, before stooping down and taking Lizza's backpack.

"Oi! Just what do you think your doing?" she protested as he made off with her bag. He shot her a grin over his shoulder.

"Why, dear sister, I'm ensuring your return! Just think of it as incentive to actually come and visit me before you leave." He teased. Lizza jerked back in her seat, clutching a hand to her heart with and expression of mock hurt.

"Why, Julian! When have I ever taken off without saying goodbye?" she exclaimed. The doctor rolled his eyes, turning away.

"Since your fourth year at Hogwarts." He called as he left. His form dissolved into the daily crowd of people, bustling along the promenade on various errands.

Now alone with Lizza, Garak wondered what in the galaxy had possessed him to agree to this game as the young woman adopted a malicious grin worthy of a homicidal psychopath.

"Right then." She said, rubbing her hands together. "White or black?"

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Julian put up the last of the equipment, after having completed a rather successful knee surgery (how anybody could have gotten a Lego brick lodged that deep in their skin, he had no idea). Looking at the infirmary clock, he saw that it was only 5:67. One more hour to go until Lizza has to leave.

He glanced at the entrance anxiously, hoping childishly that she would waltz on in right at that moment, declaring either victory or defeat against Garak. Her backpack lay near the entryway, awaiting its owner.

The ship that Lizza was assigned to, the USS Centurion, was going on a 3-month-long expedition into the Gamma Quadrant, to map out new systems far out in the deep space between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. It would be a long assignment, but his sister had been ecstatic to tell him about it.

It would be her first test in the field as a Beyonder-in-training. Beyonders were Aurors who were typically assigned to exploration expeditions, Deep Space Stations, and various trade routs, protecting the explorers, or working alongside other Aurors in the pursuit of Dark Wizards suspected of fleeing into deep space.

It was a broad job description, and as such, the Beyonder Class Aurors were the most elite of them all. Only the best recruits made it through the training program, and more

more recruits washed out of the Beyonder Course than any other. Add that to the fact they had put his sister into the A.A.T.P., he was surprised that she hadn't broken under the stress already.

I guess her enthusiasm makes up for the stress. He thought as he started stacking data pads, though so mentally distracted that he kept mixing them up, accidentally placing a pad regarding somebodies dental exam in with a stack recording the day's minor mishaps(a stubbed toe, a bad finger cut, a thumbtack impaling somebodies heel, among other things).

Over-enthusiasm was a family special, as far as him and Lizza were concerned. After giving up on his dream of becoming a professional tennis player (he had feared that there was too much risk of over-preforming and revealing his engineering by accident), he had studied with a passion, raging to get through medical school and go to Starfleet. He had absolutely stank at the physical fitness part of Starfleet basic training, but they had decided that his skill as a doctor made up for it.

He had only been a recruit, fresh out of medical school and half a month through his Starfleet training, when the entire galaxy had gone into a state of panic. The instructors had burst into the classroom, just as the teacher had been explaining the varying effects of neuro-shock, and started yelling orders at the recruits and their teacher.

The borg attack had shaken everybody, though none so more than Lizza; when a borg ship had broken Earth's defense, it had desended upon the Starfleet Academy, damaged, and had crashed through the Medical Wing, where Julian had been learning about neuro-shock just hours before. Himself and the other newer recruits, who had been ordered to take shelter, had felt the explosion from within the undergroud bunker they had been hiding in.

Lizza, who had been starting her sixth year of Hogwarts at the time, had flooed in from Hogsmeade after the battle with her best freiend, Ethan, tailing her, frantically examining Julian for injuries. After the news of impending attack had reached the ears of Hogwart's Headmaster, Headmaster Eliss, the school had been locked down, and protective wards had been frantically established.

Lizza and a few other older students, including her Slytherin friend, Ethan Woods, had posted themselves loyally at all entrances to the school, even perching themselves ontop of the Owlry and astronomy towers; a few Gryffindors had allegedly climbed out of windows in the Gryffindor tower as well, helping keep watch over the skies as the battle raged from beyond the atmosphere. No matter how much the teachers had yelled at them to "stand down and leave it to the grown-ups", the students had stood firmly, wands out and pointing at the sky as younger students were ruched into the Chamber of Protection(perhaps the most useful think Salazaar Slytherin had left at Hogwarts).Thankfully, it had never come to a fight.

After finding his physical condition to be satisfactory, Lizza had began fuming and rageing, as had Ethan. Then, standing on some of the rubble of Starfleet Academy, she had boldly declared that she would become an Auror; the best that had ever lived. And not only had the attack sparked Lizza's passion for protection,; it had given Julian a sense of urgency that hadn't been there before.

After the attack, he had blazed through his classes and training with a passion, spending less and less time with his friends and more and more time studying and practicing. Lizza had adapted a similar attitude. She had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas that year, and the year afterwards, and had done the same for Easter. During that summer(which would usually have been spent over at her friend, Luke's, place), she had invited Ethan over constantly, the two of them spending their afternoons dueling in the various environments that surrounded the Bashir residence. And if Ethan wasn't available? Well, Julian, when he was home, had taken to hiding in his closet if Ethan wasn't around; he didn't favor being the target of Lizza's killer Bat-Bogey hex, thank you very much!

All in all, the two of them were absolutly fanatical about their careers, that was for sure. He just hoped she would never end up having to fight in a war, or do something incredibly stupid and dangerous, or have to go under cover for months at a time like some Aurors had to...

A knock at the entrance jerked him out of his reminising. Whirling, he saw his sister leaning against the doorway, grinning, the chess set bock tucked under one arm, the PMD in one hand.

"Candygram." she announced plainly. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh, yes. What is it this time; a dungbomb desguised as a lollipop?" he said wryly.

"Oh, come on! That was one time!" she exclaimed, eyes wide. She went over to her backpack and started to load it up.

He went over to her, crouching down beside her. He felt another thrill of pleasure; since beginning his Starfleet career, he had only gotten to see her so very few times. He had gained a new appreciation for her presence since entering the grown-up world. Guess it goes to say; you really don't appreciate this stuff till you only get to see it every other month or so…

"Who won?" he asked, leaning back on his heels.

"Ask Garak." Lizza replied, casting him a cheeky grin as she stuffed the chess set into the largest pocket.

"Now, your training to be an Auror; you should know, even after one game with him, that he lies about most things." He told her, wondering just how far into her profiling lessons she was into.

"Hey! I can't spot a liar from fifty miles away yet!" she protested, zipping up her bag and sitting back on her heels similarly to how he was, throwing up her hands innocently. "Give me a couple of years! Then I'll finally know who dyed my hair pink in the incident of 64'. I've been suspecting Luke for years, but you never know…"

"Hey, I swear, it wasn't me!" it was his turn to look innocent now. "You know very well that there was always that risk whenever you stayed at Luke's place for the Christmas Holidays!"

"You do realize that denial just makes you look guiltier, right?" she arched one eyebrow at him slyly.

"I thought you just said you weren't an expert yet!" he exclaimed, flopping his arms to his sides dramatically.

"Brother dearest, are you confessing?" Lizza inquired. Oh, snap. He had fallen right into that slip-up. He grinned at her sheepishly.

Lizza let out an exasperated gasp, pulling her left arm into her sleeve and hitting him repeatedly with the now-floppy fabric. He cringed dramatically, nearly overbalancing.

"I knew it was you! You dirty little-!" she exclaimed, hitting him with her sleeve to punctuate each word. Julian, however, decided it was time to fight back. Pulling down both his own sleeves, he struck back at her, and soon they were laughing raucously, each of them flailing their arms around in the general direction of the other.

The battle lost its glory when Julian got hit in the eye and Lizza took a fist to the chin.

"Well, maybe I am a little sorry…" he claimed, rubbing his eye painfully as Lizza massaged her jaw.

They sat there a few moments reminiscing. How long has it been since we were like this? He wondered. Had it been during his sister's early Hogwarts years? During one of his visits from Junior Medical School, perhaps? Or was it right before he had shipped off to Deep Space Nine, as Lizza was starting her time as a Starfleet Cadet?

He smiled at her. She was just like how he remembered. If Lizza ever took interest in finding a bachelor, she'd have every man in the quadrant lined up trying to win her over. Her sleek, polished facial features, with her neatly-rounded triangular chin and stylishly messy hair (much like Julian's own), painted the picture every man probably saw when he thought about what his dream girl would look like. But no, Lizza was a tomboy to her core; she had very few female friends, and possessed an uncanny passion for racing brooms, sports ships, and the kind of down-and-dirty work that the Auror's life involved.

She was, in some ways, his opposite; while he preferred the peaceful way to doing the right thing, and often stuck to the rules like a flea to a dog(most of the time), Lizza could get down right nasty. Her first "catch" as an Auror-in-training had involved a man who had been wanted for assaulting and killing several children. She had literally blasted him to pieces. Kind of by accident, of course-she had a mysteriously powerful Reductor Curse-but scary none the less. He remember well the day it had happened; she had been terrified, but had gotten over it quickly.

She had always excelled at curses and hexes like that, whereas he had been a total failure. His strength was in Charms and Transfiguration, where hers was in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. He had a fascination with healing and medicine, while she had a fiery passion to protect and fight. Sitting here, in DS9's infirmary, laughing like they had used to, it was easy to forget how different the worlds they lived in where.

"So… how are you, anyway? I mean, speaking of liars…you holding up alright?" Lizza started quietly, her crooked smile dissolving. Julian felt his own face crease into a frown. She just had to bring "it" up…

He nodded slowly. "Okay. At least, nobody seems to suspect, anyway. It's not something people usually assume when they meet somebody. I've managed to hold back enough so far to make it look convincing. At least, I hope I've made it look convincing."

"Well, just remember not to get too smart about something; nothing crazy, like, exactly how long it would take to reach Earth and back without a warp drive or something. Yeah, probably not do anything like that." She told him, shrugging. He nodded again solemnly, agreeing. Though, mentally, he did the math. Whoa, he though as the result came to him, NOT a trip I want to make.

Lizza's Comm badge gave a beep.

"Wilark to Bashir." Came a gruff voice. Lizza hit her badge.

"Yeeeeeeees?" she asked innocently.

"Get your sarcastic hind end on this ship before I drag you on it myself!" the voice replied. "NOW!"

The badge gave another beep.

"He adores me." Lizza told Julian with a grin.

"Well," Julian said, pushing himself to his feet," you heard the man. And I have a cardassian tailor to question, apparently. Unless you feel like relenting?"

"Oh, no," Lizza told him, standing and swinging her backpack over her shoulder, "you have the honors; I insist."

"Afraid to admit defeat?" he questioned slyly. She gave him a playful smirk.

"Nah. I just like to make things difficult for you; we've known that since my third year, remember?" she stated wryly. Julian loved the smile that was plastering itself all over his face. Why can't I see her more often? I love being in Starfleet… but sometimes I wonder if it's worth not seeing her for years at a time.

"Well… I suppose I'll see you in three month, then…" he said sadly. Lizza's smile turned sad, too.

"I guess, maybe. Unless Wilark has me busting my butt with more stealth training." She agreed.

He pulled her into a hug, and the slightly smaller woman wrapped her free arm around him.

"You be careful out there, sis." He told her seriously as they broke away.

She nodded sternly, her Auror personality leaking out onto her features. "You too; from what you've told me, some really crazy weird things go on around this station."

"You know that's right." He sighed. Lizza offered him one more smile, before turning away and disappearing out the infirmary entrance.

She'll be fine. He told himself, trying to ease the sudden fear that plucked at him from every angle. She's got a good mentor, with a good crew. Besides, what could possibly go wrong on a simple cartography mission?

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Dax passed through the Infirmary entrance, heart pounding in her chest, sorrow and pity pulsing through her. She knew all too well what Julian was going to go through; she had been through it so many times over the last three hundred years. But telling someone that it was their turn to grieve like this… it was always the hardest.

She saw Julian, puttering around as usual, organizing a new shipment of Essence of Murtlap. He was humming the bugle-call of Puddlemere United. Oh, Julian… I really wish this weren't true…

The bubbly, ever-happy, hyper-active Doctor Bashir was the last person you would expect tragedy to befall. It felt so wrong, for him of all people, to have this happen to them.

But it had happened, and it was now up to her to tell him. She cleared her throat. He turned, grinning broadly.

"Helloooo, Jedzia!" he said flirtatiously. Even now, he's flirting with me, with no idea what I'm about to say… she though with a pang.

"Julian… there something that you need to know." She started, shuffling her feet. She felt strangely guilty, even though she had done nothing to be guilty of. The doctor's face fell as he realized how solemn she looked.

"What? What's wrong, Jedzia? Did something happen?" he asked her worriedly, stepping forwards and looking her up and down, as if checking for injuries.

"Something…something did happen, Julian… but it doesn't involve me." She told him softly. There was nothing she could do to cushion the blow, no matter how gentle she was.

"What? What is it?" he demanded urgently, eyes wide. Dax glance at the floor, and then the wall, both of which were suddenly very interesting. Or perhaps it felt better to look at them rather than see everything shatter in Julian's eyes.

"Odo and Chief O'Brian found the source of the distress signal." She braced herself for what she was about to say. "They found the wreckage, and …bodies. There were no survivors. I'm so sorry… It was the Centurion."

And that was when the world ended, not with a whimper, or a bang, but with the long, lonely wail that rose out from the Infirmary on that late Monday morning.

Okay, sorry, but the next few chapters are still crummy. I'm getting on that as fast As I can. But, as you can see, I've turned from cheap to prolific. Originally, I was going to polish up this chapter; but then, I ended up re-writing it completely. So, what do you guys think about it?

Oh, and tiny little bit of backstory; the Wizarding World came out of hiding soon after First Contact.

How do you think the rest of humanity might have reacted to that?

L-*Uuuuuuuuugggg! Just get on with the next chapters already! You finnaly gave me some more personality; KEEP. IT. COMING!*

Alright, alright(Missus Bossy; sheesh).

PLEASE REVIEW! I NEEDZ MORE SUPPORT CUZ FINALS KILLED ME AND AS SUCH I AM LOW ON SELF ESTEEM!