Lightning among the Stars

Chapter One: Two Humans, Shaken not Stirred

(A/N: Sorry this took a while but hey, the word count speaks for itself. Let the story commence!)

"Oof!" Hermione grunted as she landed on her back on something hard and metallic with a loud crash.

Lying there with her back aching, Hermione looked around. She was in a squalid alley between two buildings, the ceiling or sky above obscured by greenish smog not unlike what she remembered Mundungus' pipe producing. Harry was nowhere to be seen, so she rolled herself off the bin on which she had landed (as evidenced by the Hermione-shaped dent in the lid) and looked around before calling, "Harry!"

The bin shuddered violently almost in response, before the lid flew up and Harry emerged, coughing and covered from head to toe in something that smelt like four-week-old cat food mixed with used nappies. Hermione wrinkled her nose, then the full aroma of the bin hit her and she gagged. Harry smelt almost pleasant by comparison.

Harry shuffled forwards and tipped the bin over, rolling out amid a landslide of assorted refuse. Hermione reached for her wand, but was surprised to discover that it was gone. "Don't bother," Harry coughed. He appeared to have lost his glasses somewhere in the dumpster, "Going through the Veil made us assimilate our wands. I'd hazard a guess that we're capable of wandless spells now."

Hermione frowned and concentrated. Finally she said, "Evanesco," and all the garbage vanished, along with the stench emanating from Harry.

"Oh, thank god," Harry said, removing his hand from his nose.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but before she could a harsh voice drew their attention, "Tsss! Humans! And they look… tasty!"

Harry and Hermione both turned to see a group of creatures looking at them from someway down the alley. Their skin was odd, almost blistered-looking, and they had prominent jaws filled with sharp shark-like teeth. Their eyes were red and bulging, and their hands were clawed and covered with filth. Neither knew what these creatures were, nor were they keen to find out.

The creatures eyed Harry and Hermione before one hissed, "You're right, they do look tasty… let's get them!" They started forwards.

Harry moved between Hermione and the creatures, his arms lit up with a blue glow and he made a single angry motion with his hands.

-LatS-

Captain Preitor Gavorn was out on one of his regular vorcha patrols down one of Omega's seedier avenues when an immense blue flash lit up an alley on his left. As he ducked into cover behind a stack of crates, no fewer than six vorcha hurtled out of the alley, screaming their heads off with terror before they collided with the opposite wall and fell to the ground, a series of preceding cracks telling him all of them had died on impact.

Gavorn slipped out from behind the crates and looked into the alley. Two humans stood some way down in front of an overturned skip, one of them taller than the other and still in a ready stance with blue energy swirling about his limbs. The look of shock on his face told Gavorn he had been the source of the biotic strike, but that he had not been expecting its strength.

"You two," Gavorn said, levelling his sniper rifle at them. At this range, he wouldn't need his scope. "Are you responsible for those vorcha dying?"

-LatS-

Harry frowned, "What did you say? I can't understand you."

The dinosaur-like creature spoke again, but still in the same language.

Harry sighed, "I… don't… understand… you." He began trying to launch a passive Legilimency probe towards the creature but couldn't quite find anything out. Its mind was so alien that he couldn't gain any purchase, so to speak. All he could pick out was a loyalty to someone named "Aria".

A few more attempts to communicate were made before the unfamiliar creature gave up and activated some kind of gauntlet around his arm. Typing on it as though it were a keyboard, he held it out towards them.

A robotic voice issued from the device, and mercifully it was in a language they could understand, "Où avez-vous deux viennent, et comment avez-voussur cette station?" (Who are you two, and how did you get onto this station?)

Well, at least Hermione could understand what was said. She replied in kind, "Nous sommes d'Angleterre. Je crains que mon amine parle pas français, pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît changement à l'anglais?" (We are from England. I'm afraid my friend does not speak French, can you please change to English?)

The person nodded before tapping on his gauntlet and holding it out again, "Is this better?"

Hermione nodded and smiled, "Yes, it is. Thank you. Now, if I may ask what are you?"

The creature looked at them curiously, "Don't you know? I'm a turian! My name is Preitor Gavorn."

"Well," Harry interjected, "I'm afraid neither of us has ever encountered a "turian" before, so…"

"You haven't met a turian before? Have you been living under a rock or something; your kind has been travelling among the stars for the past twenty years!"

"We have?" Hermione asked, "But… as far as we remember we'd only got as far as the moon… what year is it?"

The turian frowned, "The First Contact War was in 2157, and it's 2177 now."

Harry's jaw dropped, "2177?" When the turian nodded he turned to Hermione, "Hermione, we were in 1998…"

The brunette nodded, "Yes… that means that we're nearly eighteen decades into our own future!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up there;" the turian interjected, "Are you saying that you're from the past?"

Harry shrugged, "Considering we have no idea what a turian is, that'd be a fair guess."

The turian thought for a second before nodding, "You're coming with me. My boss can probably sort this out."

Hermione visibly perked up at the thought, ignoring Harry's smirk as he thought, "Some things never change. A hundred and eighty years into the future and Hermione still likes meeting authority figures."

Shaking his head slightly, he and his companion followed Gavorn off down the alley.

-LatS-

Aria T'Loak was examining a datapad containing the latest security reports when Captain Preitor Gavorn approached. "What is it, Gavorn?" she asked, dropping the datapad onto the couch beside her, "Are the vorcha getting uppity again? Or is it time for your weekly report already?"

"No, ma'am," Gavorn replied, "I was out on patrol when I noticed six vorcha entering an alleyway. Less than two minutes later I witnessed the entire group exiting the alley again… thrown by the biggest biotic surge I've ever seen."

Aria's eyes narrowed and she focused past Gavorn to look at the two humans behind him, "And are these two the ones responsible for the action you speak of?"

Gavorn nodded, "Yes. I brought them to you for that reason. I should say though; they seem not to have omnitools so you'll need to use your omnitool's text-to-speech function."

Aria's eyes narrowed and she clicked her fingers, "Give them omnitools. I refuse to type what I want to say."

There were a few minutes before another alien, this one much more humanoid with a bald head and two pairs of eyes, appeared and handed two bands to Harry and Hermione. Gavorn immediately stepped in and began typing again, instructing them on how to use their omnitools.

When they had finished their rapid crash-course in omnitool usage, they sat down on the couch where Aria indicated and waited for her to speak.

Finally the blue-skinned woman chuckled, "Are you waiting for me to announce you?"

Harry blinked, startled at the woman's cool attitude, before he recovered, "I take it that you're the one in charge of… what did he call it… Omega?"

Aria laughed, "Oh yes, I am the one in charge." She leaned forwards, "I'm the boss, CEO, queen… if you're feeling dramatic." She stood up and turned to face the main floor of the club, "You ask me if I'm in charge of Omega, well… I am Omega."

She sat back down, "But I digress; what's your story? Considering I haven't seen your faces on my docking bay surveillance and there's no record of your boarding the station. So how did you get here?"

Harry leaned back, "It would appear that my companion and I have been launched a total of one-hundred-and-seventy-nine years into our own future. Our starting point was in London, England, on Earth."

Aria scrutinized them for a brief moment before she stood up, "I want to see proof."

"How?" Harry queried.

Aria leaned forwards, "Asari like me have the ability to meld our minds with those of others to see their memories. I will only believe you came from the past if you allow me to see your memories. Refuse and both of you go out an airlock for wasting my time."

Harry sighed and lowered his Occlumency barriers, "Fine. Go ahead."

Aria sat down in front of him and looked him right in the eye, "Relax… and embrace eternity!"

As Harry felt Aria begin searching his mind, he immediately pushed a completely fabricated set of memories towards her. After viewing a heavily-edited version of Harry's life, excluding Ron and any indication of Harry's abilities beyond unnatural strength with his "biotics", Aria finally sat back and massaged her aching temples, "I… see."

After a few moments she looked up at Gavorn, "Take them away. Find a place for them to stay and make sure they're comfortable. Their story is legitimate, but I need to go and lie down before I make any more decisions on what to do with them."

Gavorn nodded, gestured to Harry and Hermione, and led them from Afterlife.

Unnoticed by any of the trio, a black-clad figure looked up from the bar as they moved by. Her eyes glittered from under her hood, and her lips curved into a smile as she stood up, paid for her drink, and followed. As she passed through the doors of the club, she seemed to flicker out of existence.

-LatS-

Harry looked around their new apartment as Gavorn finished transferring a Codex to their omnitools and stood up, "There, that should answer any questions you might have. Study them well if you're going to stay here."

Hermione nodded, "Thank you, Mr Gavorn."

The turian laughed, "Mr Gavorn? How formal. Just call me Captain, please."

"Okay, Captain."

The turian nodded, "I'll be off then. Your omnitools are programmed with the frequency of mine if you need to ask something." He left.

Harry settled back on the couch, "So, what do you think?"

Hermione shrugged, "This is fascinating. We've come forward in time… if I wasn't sad that everyone we knew is most likely dead, I would be elated at this chance to learn about how things turned out."

"Well," Harry said, holding up his omnitool, "It looks like what's now known as biotics originally evolved from magic, and it's no longer a hereditary condition in humans. It apparently now requires something called element zero to activate."

Hermione examined the analysis he had sent her and nodded, "That sounds reasonable. Maybe the magical genome has become recessive or dormant, and it's only exposure to the radiation of element zero that allows the genome to reactivate itself or give it the component required to…" she trailed off into a string of scientific jargon that went straight over Harry's head.

Finally Harry checked the clock and stood up, "Hermione, we should get to bed. Or at least find some food."

Hermione frowned, "That reminds me; we need to get some money."

Harry leaned back against the settee cushions, "But what could we do?"

"Run odd jobs? We could ask Gavorn."

Harry nodded, "Let's wait until morning. We're both tired, and it'll be better to leave it until we're well-rested. I'm feeling a little wiped from that mind-meld thing Aria did to me."

Hermione nodded and wandered over the bedroom part of the apartment. She stopped halfway there and immediately blushed. There was only one bed… and it was a double. A narrow double, at that. She could tell she and Harry would have to practically cuddle up to one another to get in.

The problem was solved not ten seconds later as Harry glanced over and said, "I'll take the couch."

Hermione nodded, but was unable to deny that she gave an inward sigh of disappointment. Walking over to the bed, she settled down on the covers and closed her eyes.

Harry watched her for a few minutes before lying down on the couch and closing his own eyes. Plans for the future they now inhabited could wait until morning.

He never noticed a slight shimmering in the air over by the door, nor did he hear the soft swish as the invisible observer slipped out of the apartment.

-LatS-

Harry and Hermione decided to go exploring Omega when they woke up the next day. After acquiring a map from Gavorn and downloading it to their omnitools, they set out to look around.

It quickly became obvious to the pair that Omega was the beating heart of the galaxy's dark side. Mercenaries and the most unseemly of people were everywhere, and Harry had to suppress the urge to fire up his biotics and start beating in earnest as he watched criminals brokering deals and bullying those weaker than them. It was only Hermione's presence that allowed him to accomplish this, her calming hand in his as they walked slowly around. Presently they came to a district where a bunch of the vorcha and krogan mentioned in the Codex watched them from various buildings.

"You're in the wrong place, humans," sneered one of the krogan, "This is Blood Pack territory."

Harry chuckled, "What's the Blood Pack?"

The krogan laughed, "You're cocky, human! The Blood Pack is one of the most powerful merc groups on Omega! Now get out of our district! Or do you want us to force you out?"

Harry looked around, finally spying a metal pole on the floor. Picking it up, he focused.

The Blood Pack looked confused as an aura of biotic energy appeared around the human, and then it became shock as he proceeded to bend the pole as easily as if it were made of rubber.

Tying the pole into a perfect bow knot, Harry flung it onto the ground at the krogan's feet. His tone was ice cold as he replied, "I want you to try."

-LatS-

Meanwhile, on the other side of the district, Preitor Gavorn was speaking to Aria on his omnitool, "No, don't worry. They won't get into any trouble; I gave them a map marked with the merc territories so they wouldn't walk into…"

Loud screaming drew his attention, and he turned to see a number of Blood Pack krogan and vorcha running in his direction out of the district. As they passed one of the krogan yelled, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! HE'LL KILL US ALL!"

Gavorn watched them go before turning around. Harry Potter was standing twenty feet away, surrounded by biotic energy and smiling at him, "Oh, hello Captain Gavorn."

Gavorn gaped at him for a second before he raised his omnitool and said, "Um, never mind. Looks like the Blood Pack had more to worry about from meeting them."

He ended the conversation and turned to Harry, "Was that you?"

Harry gave him a deadpan look, "No, it was a…" he checked his omnitool again, "…volus with a pikestaff. Yeah, it was me. They were mouthing off and acting all tough."

Gavorn stared at him, "Acting… tough? Potter, those are Blood Pack mercenaries, they're part of one of the three most powerful merc gangs in the Terminus Systems and definitely the most vicious."

"The other two were… the Blue Suns and Eclipse, right?"

"Correct."

"Blue and white armour on Blue Suns, yellow and black for the Eclipse, right?"

"Yes… how did you know that?"

"Just guessing," Harry pointed over Gavorn's shoulder, "There's a lot of them over there. If you'll excuse me, I'll just go and say hello… pass me that pole."

Gavorn eyed the indicated length of solid metal, "Why do you need it?"

"Oh, I just want to make an impression… or several. On them."

Gavorn handed Harry the pole and Harry wandered towards the mercs, idly spinning it in his hand like a baton. Gavorn heard him say, "Hi, you must be the welcoming committee. I'm Harry, I'm your new neighbour…"

There was a pause while the mercs looked at each other, then one said something. This was evidently a mistake, Gavorn noted a few seconds later.

-LatS-

"Get the heavies or we're all going to die!"

The Eclipse engineers behind the lines heeded the call; a line of YMIR mechs thundered into the now-hostile neighbourhood… and were flung back out in pieces a split second later.

It seemed that the black-haired psychopath they had encountered first had been joined by a friend, a brown-haired woman with seemingly just as much raw biotic power and just as few qualms about using it.

Now the duo were holding the line about fifteen metres inside the district, the woman creating barriers to stop bullets while the male stood beside her launching biotic pulses into anything that moved.

"Hey!" Harry yelled, just as the first of the mercs' gunships rolled in, "We don't want any trouble; just let us work out a deal with your leaders and we'll leave!"

"What are you doing?" Hermione hissed.

"Ad-libbing!" Harry whispered back before looking up to get the mercs' response.

A few more minutes passed before the mercs agreed and split up to get their leaders.

-LatS-

"Alright, human," snarled Jaroth, leader of Eclipse, "What's this deal you wanted to cut?"

Harry lounged back in his chair, "You guys commit your resources to Aria and obey her orders, and I don't wipe all of you out."

Garm laughed, "You really think you could take all three of us as well as all our soldiers, human?"

Harry laughed back, "I don't think, I know. Now, will you accept my deal?"

Tarak spat on the table by Harry's feet. "Fine," he said, "I guess that answers my question." He raised a hand and thought, "Impedimenta!"

All three gang leaders froze. "What…" snarled Garm, "What have you done to us?"

"Taken steps," said Harry, as he took his feet off the desk and walked around it, "I was trying to be polite, but now…" He stopped in front of Jaroth and looked him dead in the eyes, thinking, "Legilimens!"

-LatS-

"A present, you say?"

"Yes, Aria," Harry grinned, "I assume Gavorn has already told you about our little altercation with the Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse today?"

"Yes, he has. Even if he hadn't, most of Omega is talking about it."

"Well, we…" he winced at Hermione's warning look, "I mean, I, had the idea that we owed you for being so hospitable towards us and not kicking us out an airlock." He smirked, "As such, we captured the merc gang leaders and made them swear fealty to you."

Aria blinked; she hadn't expected that, "You did WHAT?"

"Captured the leaders of Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse and made them swear fealty to you."

"Well," he thought, "That's partly the truth. They'll obey my orders before yours, but still…"

"…And what made you decide to do this?"

"They looked at me wrong. Besides, it seems the mercs now hate us enough to join forces."

Aria frowned, "Hmm… in that case it might be better if you leave Omega."

Harry held up his hand, "Aria, we can't just take your money or a ship…"

Aria laughed, "Ahhh, humans and their noble natures… very well, if you think you can come up with a way to come up with sufficient credits to buy or build your own ship, then you're free to go on your way. Until then…" she stood up and turned away, "Dismissed."

-LatS-

Harry and Hermione returned to the apartment four hours later, having exhaustedly scoured Omega looking at prices on both used ships and tickets for passenger freighters off the station. They had had no luck.

"The issue," said Hermione as Harry waved his omnitool at the door to lock it, "is that we haven't got any money. Galleons, Sickles and Knuts are all worthless here even if any had survived the trip."

Harry nodded in agreement as he moved towards the kitchen area, but then something caught his eye. Turning towards the lounge area, his sharp Seeker's eyes picked out an odd shimmer near the window.

Instantly, all Harry's experience from fighting Disillusioned Death Eaters during the war came flooding back. Hermione turned as Harry dropped into a combat stance and brought his biotics swirling into being, "I know you're there! Show yourself, now!"

The air continued to shimmer before seeming to become opaque with static and finally revealing the figure that had been hiding beneath the cloak. A woman stood in front of them, clad in a tight black costume with a hood casting her eyes into shadow. She smiled, drawing the biotic duo's attention to a narrow strip of pink lipstick on her bottom lip, "Greetings. My name is Kasumi Goto. I believe we can help each other."

-LatS-

Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, Donovan Hock shivered. He had an odd feeling that somebody incredibly powerful was now gunning for him.

A second later he dismissed it as another everyday occurrence and went back to the datapad he was perusing.

-LatS-

"How?" Harry asked suspiciously. Seeming unarmed this woman may be, she had been hiding in their apartment and Harry would rather liplock a Nundu than let down his guard and get so much as a hair on Hermione's head harmed as a result.

Kasumi nodded, "I happened to overhear your earlier discussion with Aria T'Loak about needing money for a ship off Omega. I myself have an issue which requires my attention, and I think that by us teaming up we can solve each other's problems."

Harry sat back on the couch with Hermione at his side, keeping his eyes fixed on Kasumi, "Go on."

Kasumi swallowed as she lowered herself onto the seat opposite, "A close friend and colleague of mine, Keiji Okuda, was murdered not that long ago. The man who murdered him, a weapons dealer named Donovan Hock, stole something which I want back."

Harry nodded, "And how does this help us?"

Kasumi nodded again, "Hock has a vault. I've never seen the inside for obvious reasons, but rumours say he has a fortune in there; easily enough to fund building a large ship."

"And what about you? Don't you want anything from there aside from this item?"

"What Hock stole from my colleague is, to me, more valuable than absolutely anything else in the world. I want nothing else from the vault."

"I see," Harry said, leaning forwards, "Hermione, a word in private?"

The brunette nodded, and the duo moved away to the other side of the apartment, "What do you think?"

Hermione chewed her lip, "She seems to be telling us the truth. Besides she wouldn't have any reason to mislead us, but I'm still unsure about helping her."

"I'm for it," Harry replied.

"What?"

"Think about it. We both know that we need a ship to get off Omega, and for a ship we need money. This solves our problem; besides according to her, this weapons dealer murdered her friend and stole something she treasures. Ripping him off seems like a fair trade to me."

Hermione frowned, but nodded, "Fine. But I think we should be careful."

Harry nodded back and walked over to Kasumi, who looked up as he approached. Harry took a deep breath, "Deal."

-LatS-

"So," said Hermione as they sat in a cabin of the passenger freighter Kasumi had booked, "What's the plan here?"

Kasumi smiled, stepping over to a large television screen on one wall and holding up her omnitool. The screen lit up and pixels coalesced into Harry's and Hermione's revolving faces, "Hock deals only with those who deserve his respect, and I know the type he respects. As such I set you two up false personas. You know, criminal records, aliases, articles in Badass Weekly."

Harry nodded, "So… cover?"

Kasumi tapped her omnitool and the screen changed, displaying extranet reports and other documents, "You two are a husband and wife, Solomon and Alison Gunn, who appear to be respectable but are actually biotic pirates operating out of the Attican Traverse. You're famous for capturing a turian cargo frigate completely unarmed except for biotics, despite the crew being armed to the teeth and well-trained. However the turians have recently gotten wind of your operations, so you need to buy a lot of weapons to stave off their attacks."

Noticing her companions' expressions she continued quickly, "Don't worry, it's all faked. You're not going to have turian special ops coming after you any time soon."

Harry frowned, "That sounds fine… so what's the plan?"

Kasumi's smile widened, "Hock is hosting a party for his connections. Everyone is bringing an expensive gift."

Harry's frown became a smirk, "We won't need one. We can just make everyone think there's one."

Hermione looked at him for a second before her eyes widened, "Harry! We can't just use the Imperius on everyone! It's illegal!"

"Correction," Harry responded, "It was illegal a hundred and seventy nine years ago. Now it's just a means to an end. Besides, from what the Codex says, Omega is on the other side of the galaxy from Earth. Even if the Ministry has survived the last eighteen decades, do you really think the Taboo works all the way out here?"

Hermione sighed, "Fine."

Kasumi looked puzzled, "I'm missing something here…"

Harry shrugged, "Hermione and I have access to a very unique form of biotics. Using words we can refine the effects. For example, one word might render a target unconscious, while another might cause it to explode. It's not all biotic dark energy manipulation with us."

"And what does "Imperius" do?"

"Mind control. Basically it allows us to control another human."

Kasumi's eyes lit up, "That could be really useful! It'll definitely make our job easier and far more satisfying if Hock is the instrument of his own destruction!"

Harry coughed, "Kasumi? Back on task."

Kasumi shook her head, "Anyway, you two are going to need better clothes than those for a party." She pointed towards the en suite bathroom, "They're in there. You can change one at a time or together."

Hermione went first and eventually returned wearing an elegant black leather dress with a high collar and a triangular silver decoration at the base of her throat.

Harry smiled, "You look amazing," before entering the bathroom himself.

Hermione licked her lips as he returned, wearing a completely black tuxedo except for white squares on the cuffs and his white shirt. Even if she and Harry had lived together after the divide with the Weasley family, neither had really had the urge to have sex since it was still too early. The brunette, however, was now ready and planning to get her itch scratched after the mission.

"How do I look?"

Kasumi nudged Hermione, who jerked out of her thoughts long enough for the witch-turned-biotic to laugh, "Very nice, Mr Bond."

Harry laughed as well, "Thank you, M. Does anybody have a martini?"

Kasumi butted in before Hermione could continue the banter, "Okay you two. Referencing two-century-old literature aside, we still need to finish the plan."

Hermione was instantly all business again, "We still need a gift. We can't Imperius everyone."

Harry nodded, "Which means we need to make a gift between here and there. Suggestions?"

Hermione thought for a minute before her eyes lit up. She quickly accessed the extranet from her omnitool, ignoring Harry's questioning look as she finally gave a soft, "Ah ha!"

Producing a scrap of paper from the pocket of her jeans, now folded up neatly on the settee beside her, she smoothed it out on the tabletop and activated her biotics, closing her eyes and chewing her lip in concentration.

For a second nothing happened, and then Harry and Kasumi both saw it. The paper was changing; growing and transforming into canvas, colour spreading across it.

Kasumi gaped as an image began to form, "Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna on the Rocks!"

"Not really," Hermione said, opening her eyes again as she began layering what Harry realized was a complex Confundus Charm around the forgery, "That was what I checked the extranet for; the original was lost decades ago. We'll need to trick Hock into thinking it's legitimate, but…"

"That's smart!" Kasumi had caught onto her reasoning, "It's very likely that at least one of Hock's guests will be an art dealer or forger; they would realize the picture was a fake in seconds. We would need something like that Imperius you mentioned to convince them otherwise."

Hermione nodded, stepping back with a smile, "There! I keyed Kasumi in so she isn't affected; what do you think, Harry?"

Harry smiled, "Very nice, but we won't know until it's tested… though this is Hermione Granger we're talking about."

The brunette blushed and slapped her raven-haired friend on the chest with an open hand, "Flatterer."

Harry stuck out his tongue at her, "You know it's the truth."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply but at that moment a loudspeaker came on, "This is your captain speaking. Our relay jump to the Crescent Nebula was successful and we will be docking on Illium in twenty minutes time. All passengers please prepare to disembark and have a pleasant day."

Kasumi got up and stretched, "Okay, time to go." She walked out of the cabin, the two smartly-dressed biotics following her.

It turned out that in order to reach the planet where Hock had his base of operations, they would have to take a further two ships; one to the Citadel and one to reach Bekenstein.

As Harry and Hermione settled into their new cabin on a shuttle heading for the Citadel from Illium, they wondered briefly what they would find on Bekenstein.

-LatS-

"Ahh, Mr Gunn," said Donavan Hock, "A pleasure to meet you. I have heard a great deal about your activities in the Attican Traverse."

Harry, playing his part as best he could, simply nodded and glanced at the Eclipse mercenary examining the painting case Harry had previously handed him, "Mr Hock, thank you for inviting us. May I introduce my wife, Alison."

Hermione nodded in greeting, "Mr Hock."

The Eclipse mercenary finally deemed the case free of any unpleasant surprises and handed it to Hock, who unscrewed the end and slid the painting out. Unfurling it, his eyes glittered, "The Madonna on the Rocks? Amazing, I had heard it was lost years ago!"

"We thought that too," Hermione said, "until we captured an asari smuggler trying to sneak through the Hades Gamma cluster and found that on her wall." Her lip curled and Harry offered up silent praise for her acting ability as she sneered, "Stupid blue bitch; would you believe she actually begged for her life?"

Hock laughed, "Yes I can. Would you like to come inside?"

Harry nodded and he and Hermione followed Hock into the manor, Kasumi following behind under her cloak.

-LatS-

"So, Mr Gunn," purred a woman as she approached the pair standing quietly on the balcony, "I've heard a great deal about you… would you be interested in talking business?"

Harry turned to face the woman and leaned on the railing, as Hermione curled in close to his side and rested her head on his shoulder. He appreciated that they were only acting, but he couldn't quite force down the feeling that Hermione was enjoying this, "Of course."

The woman gave him a look which was apparently meant to be seductive, but only resembled a leer. Hermione gave a soft growl. "Well," said the woman, ignoring the brunette giving her a burning look, "The extranet hints that you lead a small terrorist group. Would you be interested in joining forces to take down a… competitor… of mine?"

Harry frowned, "And what's this competitor done to you?"

The woman's lip curled, "Done to me? Ha! He's done nothing to me, I just want to take over his assets!"

Harry frowned, "Alison, should we do it?"

Hermione looked up at him, "I don't know, Solomon. There doesn't seem to be anything in it for us…"

The woman's sneer turned back to a winning smile, or what was apparently meant to be one, "You'll get a small cut from the proceeds… after all, you don't need much with your reputation and skill."

Harry raised one eyebrow and fixed her with a long look, using a little magic to give his eyes a menacing twinkle. The woman backed down in seconds, "My apologies, evidently you're not in the mood for business. I'll leave you alone."

Harry nodded, "That would be wise." He turned back to the balcony.

"Nicely handled," whispered Kasumi, "But are we ever going to get to dealing with Hock?"

"Might be sooner than you'd think," whispered Hermione, "We have company."

Sure enough, Hock was striding towards them, "Ms. O'Reilly says that you snubbed her?"

Hermione snorted, "What is this, a primary school classroom? Ms. O'Reilly was flirting with my husband and I am less than inclined to talk business with people who think I'm just going to stand by and watch some trollop flirt with my husband."

Hock laughed, "Your wife is a feisty one Mr. Gunn. I am not accusing you; I have had two other guests complain about Ms. O'Reilly already tonight. I will have her removed."

Harry nodded, "Very well."

"One more thing, the asari smuggler… I have a suspicion which smuggling ring she may work for, what was the name of her ship?"

Harry felt Hermione briefly stiffen against him and made a show of thinking, "I can't remember… Alison, any idea?"

Hermione frowned and chewed her lip before brightening, "I know!" She gave Harry a look, "Remember? You joked about it being suitable for an emperor's freighter!"

"An emperor's freighter? Her acting's good but her ability to subtly hint leaves something to be desired…" Out loud he said, "Oh yes, the Imperio!" His hand twisted towards Hock and a soft blue flicker appeared around it. Hock immediately shivered a little.

"Right," Harry mentally commanded, "Now, lead us down to your vault. Say nothing and act normally."

Hock nodded and walked slowly back into the building; as Harry and Hermione followed him, Kasumi whispered, "Nicely done. So we're moving up with the plan now?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, we are."

-LatS-

They followed Hock into a room full of bookshelves, where he pulled on a statue, cycling a fake fireplace out of the way to expose a keypad and generator. Hock typed in a code before cycling the statue back into position and walking back towards a flight of stairs leading down.

"Wow…" Kasumi commented as they entered through a door and found a vault door ahead of them, "Kinetic barrier, DNA and voiceprint analysis and… a password? Damn, he's paranoid… though Keiji could have broken through this door in his sleep."

Hock approached a panel and set his hand on it, following up the computer's beep by saying, "Peruggia."

Kasumi chuckled, "Peruggia? Please, that's the guy who stole the Mona Lisa."

Harry spared her a glance before saying, "Let's go, we still need to check this vault out."

"Just a moment," Kasumi replied. She stepped up to the camera on the wall and held out her omnitool towards it. A second later she turned to look, "And now they're blind."

"Good thinking," Hermione said as they stepped into the lift and started to head down.

-LatS-

"Alright," said Harry, cracking his knuckles as they stepped out of the elevator, "Hermione, you take the far side on the other side of that fence, I'll take this side. Kasumi, go find your greybox. Hock… just stand there and look decorative."

Kasumi snorted, "Who'd want him as a decoration?" but she headed off down the lines all the same looking for the greybox.

Harry turned to the first item and immediately blinked; having gotten an eyeful of something he was fairly confident he'd never be this close to in his lifetime.

"It's Michelangelo's David!" Hermione yelled at him across the vault, "Now stop measuring up against its junk and get it stashed!"

Harry mouthed soundlessly as Kasumi, now on the other side of the room, took a moment to lean on a low wall for support while she laughed, before he turned back and muttered, "Reducio."

Distantly he heard Kasumi remark, "Bet you'd like to measure up to his junk, wouldn't you?"

Hermione's outraged screech of "KASUMI!" was followed by laughter from the thief as the statue shrank down to six inches high. Harry picked it up and stashed it in his pocket.

A shout came across the room, "The Statue of Liberty's head? How did he get this?"

Kasumi replied, "I'll send you the Codex entry!"

A few minutes pause and then Hermione yelled, "They blew it up! Damn them! Damn them to hell! Those damn, dirty… um… terrorists!"

Harry took that as a chance for slight revenge, "This isn't Planet of the Apes! Now stop referencing twentieth-century films and get it stashed!"

He chuckled as he heard a muttered, "Hypocrite," before the huge copper head vanished and he turned to the next item in line, a statue of a krogan.

-LatS-

"I found it!"

Kasumi's somewhat more subdued tone drew Harry's and Hermione's attention, and they turned from the last items they had been picking up to approach the thief.

Kasumi was standing in front of a small silver device resembling a handheld radio, looking down at it sadly, "Here it is. Here's Keiji's greybox."

Harry scanned it with his omnitool, but the greybox did not react in any way. "There's no point," Kasumi said, "The thing about greyboxes is that the information can only be decrypted with a specific key. It could be anything; taste, smell, sound… memory." She picked it up almost reverentially and pocketed it, before turning her attention to the two guns lying next to it. Her eyes widened, "I don't believe it."

"What?" Harry asked.

Kasumi reached out and picked up one of the guns, "This is a Kassa Fabrications M-12 Locust submachine gun… the weapon which killed two presidents."

Hermione frowned, "How?"

Kasumi shook her head, "I'll give you both the Codex entries later; it's a long story." She picked up the Locusts and handed one to each of them, "You should take these. Even if you don't use them, it gives a better impression to at least be visibly armed, just in case biotics won't work."

Harry frowned, "But neither of us knows how to shoot?"

Kasumi looked askance at him, "The guy who took on all three of Omega's biggest merc gangs and lived… can't shoot? What did you fight them with?"

Harry gave her a sheepish grin, "My biotics and a long metal pole?"

Kasumi sighed, "Should have seen that coming. Listening to a Blood Pack krogan gibbering about a "psychotic biotic" should have tipped me off."

"Psychotic biotic?" Harry repeated blankly, "They're calling me the "psychotic biotic"?"

Kasumi nodded, "Yeah. You should be proud; only in this galaxy a week and already you've got a reputation."

Hermione chuckled, "No, that's just Harry. He always does this."

Harry shot back, "You know you like it, 'Mione. Don't think I didn't hear you and Kasumi discussing my package."

Hermione's face went brilliant red as Kasumi leaned on the wall to hold herself up; her knees were suddenly trembling too much to support her from the effort to not laugh herself sick.

"Anyway," said Harry, turning back to the vault display next to him and shrinking the vase there, "Let's get back to work."

-LatS-

They finished shrinking and storing the contents of the vault in good time and returned to the lift. Hermione, having placed an Undetectable Extension Charm on her handbag before they left the passenger cruiser on Bekenstein to keep their clothes in, took Harry's spoils from him and added them to her own collection. Kasumi, who had regained her composure as they finished emptying the vault, sighed, "I wish we had a way to make these. Heists like this would be so much easier for me."

Harry nodded, "Yeah… why these were never mass-produced in our time is a question I've always wanted answered."

"Simple," Hermione muttered, absorbed in trying to ensure that Michelangelo's David wasn't going to get an impromptu vasectomy from the Statue of Liberty's crown of spikes in transit, "Because most magicals were absolute fools."

"Touché," Harry replied.

Kasumi frowned, "Magicals? Okay, I was polite earlier by not asking about your references to events a hundred and eighty years ago as if you were there for them, but as far as I can tell neither of you is an asari so I can't possibly see how you could have been there!"

Harry shook his head, "We'll explain later. This isn't the time, Kasumi. I promise though, we will tell you later."

Kasumi thought for a second before nodding, "I'll hold you to that." She tapped the button to send the lift up.

-LatS-

The three accomplices and their Imperiused puppet stepped out of the lift and immediately stopped. "I'll go knock the guests and guards out," Harry stated, "You three stay here."

Hermione shook her head, "Harry, no. With the layout of the room there's no way you can get everyone at once."

Harry sighed. As always, Hermione was right. "Okay," he relented, "I'll take the left side, you take the right."

Hermione nodded, and they each went a different way, emerging from the stairs on opposite sides of the room and moving to positions where they could see each other. Harry nodded to Hermione, and they acted as one, "Peripheria Somnum," (Perimeter Sleep)

Guards and guests collapsed in unison. In seconds, where once had stood watchful sentries and chattering acquaintances of Hock's were now sprawled and snoring bodies. The two time-travellers hesitated, but there was no sound. Evidently they had been lucky and got everybody at once.

Harry whistled, and Kasumi emerged from the stairs with Hock on her heels. She blinked in shock when she saw the slumbering carcasses strewn throughout the hall before mock-pouting, "First the shrinking thing and the bag, and now this? You two are making me look and feel like a rank amateur…"

Harry chuckled, "Sorry. Let's get on with this." He turned towards the bookcases, but then stopped as a thought struck him, "Hey Alison, come here a second. I have an idea."

Hermione approached him and he leaned in close. When he was finished talking, the brunette was beaming, "That's brilliant Ha- Solomon! My smart husband..."

Kasumi gave a mock sigh, "You're still hung up on how much you like that idea? Why didn't you just drag him into the bathroom for a quickie before we started?"

Hermione went pink, "Kasumi!"

Kasumi shook her head, "Whatever, De Nile isn't just the river in Egypt. At least keep the raging beast at bay until we get back to Omega or, failing that, back to the ship."

Hermione's outraged retort never came as Harry waved his hand at a turian by his feet and said, "Rennervate. Imperio."

The turian sat up and Harry crouched down in front of him, "Right. I want your name and information on your operations first, then you will transfer all evidence; names, coordinates, shipping manifests, etc. to my wife's omnitool. You will then empty all your accounts and transfer all the money to my omnitool."

The turian complied. As soon as the funds cleared, Harry nodded to Hermione, "Obliviate and Stun,"

Hermione nodded and waved her hand at the turian, who collapsed again.

And on it went. Each guest was revived, placed under the Imperius, interrogated and ordered to turn over all money and evidence before being Stunned again.

Finally Harry stood up from dragging a salarian over to the neat pile of interrogated guests and said, "Alright, back to work then."

Hermione nodded, examining the cache of evidence on her omnitool, "What next?"

Harry gestured around, "We need to strip this room, empty vaults and such, still."

"Hold on," said Kasumi, "What was all that for? Why did we need all that information?"

Harry smirked, "Another nail in Hock's coffin, you might say. Turning this new evidence in to the local law enforcement will allow them to arrest Hock and his guests. I somehow doubt that even if he manages to talk his way out of prison, he's going to be able to talk any of his friends into helping him for fear he'll turn them in."

Kasumi's grin broadened, "That's… genius. But back to work now?"

"Indeed," said Hermione, "We still have to strip this part of the house."

Harry waved his hand and all the bookcases immediately disgorged their contents; the books flew into an array of neat stacks in front of Harry and Hermione. Hermione's eyes glittered.

"Down, girl," Harry joked, putting a hand on Hermione's head, "Sit… stay. You can read them as a reward later."

"Woof," Hermione deadpanned before jabbing Harry in the ribs with her left hand and waving her right. Paintings and tapestries detached themselves from the walls and floated over to join the books.

Kasumi sighed as both books and wall décor vanished into Hermione's bag, "Yeah… I'm just going to open a shop and quit being a thief. I don't think I can measure up to you two now."

Harry laughed, "Oh, don't be like that. Come on, let's get clearing."

-LatS-

It was as they were clearing the third room that Kasumi drew their attention. Turning from where she had just tried to pull a picture down off the wall, she pointed to the safe behind it, "Look here."

Harry glanced over at the safe, then pointed at Hock, "You, unlock that and transfer all the money to my omnitool."

Hock nodded listlessly and proceeded across to the safe, following his orders. Harry eyed his omnitool's readout as the credit balance on the instrument instantly went up by a million or so credits.

"That was an interesting amount," Kasumi commented, eyeing the balance from across the room, "Let's see if we can't find more…"

-LatS-

And on they went, stripping each room in turn and searching for concealed safes before moving to the next room. Finally, they came to Hock's bedroom, where they emptied the displays of antiques before turning their attention to the central computer.

Kasumi picked up a datapad, "It looks like he's obsessed over trying to crack Keiji's greybox."

Hermione was examining the computer, "Let's see… Solomon, could we use this?"

Harry nodded, "Hock, go on that computer. Give me a full accounting of its contents."

It took a few minutes for Hock to complete the breakdown of his computer's contents, but once Harry had finished perusing the summary given to him he already had his next orders figured out.

"Liquidate all your assets and clean out every bank account you have, transferring the money to my omnitool as you go. Once you've done that, compile all evidence of your dealings, contacts, activities, and so on and transfer it all to Alison's omnitool, then wipe your computer's memory. Make sure that it's completely irreversible. Finally, access your security systems and erase any and all evidence involving us."

Hock obeyed and Harry watched as, once again, the credit balance on his omnitool blurred through numbers, more than tripling in under a minute.

"I think that's everything covered," Hermione said carefully as Hock finished purging the computer's memory, "We should leave now."

"In a minute," said Harry, "Just a couple more things to be done first…"

"Like what?" Kasumi asked curiously as she helped Hermione load the last of the antique swords from the wall displays into the brunette's bag.

Harry simply smirked as he Stunned Hock and levitated his body. "I say we add insult to injury. Follow me."

He picked up the now-blank datapad that had once held Hock's progress on cracking the greybox and headed for the door back into the hall.

-LatS-

Donovan Hock groaned and rolled over from where he lay sprawled against the fountain in the centre of his home. A soft clatter told him that something had fallen from his chest, and as he looked down he saw a datapad by his hand.

He picked it up and thumbed the button to show its message.

Mr Hock,

Thank you, thank you for showing us such hospitality during your little party! It must have been exhausting; everyone fell asleep so we decided to clear up…

Hock's head shot up and he looked around. His jaw fell open as he saw that his entire house (from what he was able to see) had been stripped back to bare walls.

Horrified, he returned to reading the datapad.

...and I must say, you have a great deal of interesting acquisitions; the Statue of Liberty's head for example…

I digress, however. We got a little too enthusiastic with the clearing, but we decided to be good guests and leave our gift. So no hard feelings, I guess…

Oh! Before we forget, we also hired some nice guys to escort the guests home. They should be there about when you finish reading this message.

Enjoy life… at least what's left of it that we didn't ruin for you,

Zeus & Athena

P.S.

This was for Keiji, you son of a bitch.

Hock's eyes widened as he realized exactly who had masterminded this insult.

Even as Alliance military police blew the doors and windows, swung into the room and began levelling weapons at him and the stirring guests, Hock could only find the presence of mind to roar, "DAMN YOU, GOTO!" at the ceiling, before two officers knocked him down and cuffed his wrists.

-LatS-

Meanwhile, on a passenger freighter bound back to the Citadel, the subject of Hock's ire was laughing with Harry and Hermione, "That was great! I'm so glad we got all this sorted out!"

Harry grinned, "Yes, but we're not done until we get back to Omega."

Kasumi nodded, hugging Keiji's graybox to her chest, "You know; I owe you two a lot more than I can repay just by giving you all the money from our heist."

"What did you have in mind?" Hermione asked.

Kasumi glanced out the window before replying, "You're going to build a ship with all this money. You're going to need someone to fence this stuff so that you can get that money. And you'll need a crew. I want in."

Harry looked at Hermione, who chewed her lip for a brief second before nodding, "It sounds like a plausible idea. We will need to gather a crew for the ship." She tossed her handbag across to Kasumi, "Take this. Value all of that, and when we get back to Omega we can start trying to get rid of it all."

Kasumi nodded, "Thank you. But first… have you started drawing up your ship plans yet?"

"Ship plans?"

Kasumi slapped her forehead, "I'd thought you smarter. Yes, ship plans. You can't build a ship without a plan."

Hermione laughed, "Oh, you'd be surprised at how successful Harry's been at running into things without a plan over the years."

"There's a reason I never make plans for anything," Harry shot back at her, "When does any plan we come up with work?"

Hermione smiled thinly, "Yes, but I attribute that to what I like to call "The Potter Effect" than anything else."

Kasumi coughed, "Okay, might I take a look at that stuff while you two trade barbs?"

Hermione tossed the handbag across to her as she and Harry continued to verbally spar.

The first thing Kasumi pulled out was the Egyptian statue. She smiled, "Ahh, Egypt. I could probably get a lot for this even outside the Alliance."

Catching Hermione's quizzical look, she explained, "The alien races have stuff we want or need, like biotic amps from the asari and so on. But we also have stuff they want. Case in point, the asari go mental for ancient Egyptian stuff." She chuckled, "I had a statue of Anubis a couple of years ago, showed a picture to a few contacts on various planets. This one asari on Thessia eventually bought it for five times my price. Trust me; depending on how I can spin this, we could get a few billion credits for this one item alone."

"Alright," said Harry, "What next?"

"What next…" Kasumi murmured, before remembering something, "Ah! What's next is you two owing me an explanation. Your comments about magic earlier… I want to know what that was meant to mean."

Harry nodded before sitting forward in his chair, "Well, it's like this…"

-LatS-

They arrived back at Omega later that night to find Gavorn already awaiting them on the spacedock, "Welcome back, you two. I trust your little excursion was productive?"

"Most definitely," said Harry, smiling at the turian, "Does Aria want to see us?"

"Not yet, she knows you two will probably want to take the evening to settle back into your apartment, but she would like to see you first thing tomorrow."

Harry nodded, "Right. Tell Aria we will see her tomorrow then."

Gavorn nodded to them and headed off down the street back to Afterlife as Harry turned to Kasumi, "You're welcome to stay with us while you talk to your contacts."

Kasumi nodded her head, "You are too kind, Harry."

Harry smirked, "Shall we go then?"

They headed quickly back to the apartment, where a few productive hours were spent making a start on the plans for their ship.

It was as Harry deactivated a datapad detailing what they could potentially do with magic to make various systems more efficient that Hermione checked the clock and jumped up, "We should go to bed, we have a lot of work to do in the morning."

Harry agreed, and they quickly set up a bed for Kasumi on the settee.

As Harry lay down to sleep Hermione crawled in beside him, "Harry, can we talk?"

Harry turned to look at Hermione, "Of course, what did you want to talk about?"
Harry could just see the light from the window reflecting in Hermione's eyes as she looked at him, "I'd like to talk about us."

Harry shifted to sit upright, "What about us, Hermione?"

Hermione chewed her lip, "I… don't know. I used to be okay with us just being friends, but now…"

"You want more?"

Hermione nodded.

"Why didn't you talk to me about this before?"

Hermione shook her head, "After you divorced Ginny and I broke off my engagement to Ron, I felt it was still too soon. Then we were offered the positions in the Department of Mysteries and work took over everything. Now we're in a different world, a different time… at the other end of the universe from anyone we might even be able to visit the graves of… and that worries me. I don't want to feel like I wasted this opportunity, Harry."

Harry gazed at the brunette in the half-light, "Hermione…"

Hermione cut him off, "I need to say this Harry. Ever since first year… ever since you rescued me from the troll… I guess I was just too shy."

"You couldn't have been shy forever."

"No… but by the time I thought about it, you were showing signs of being interested in Ginny. So I stepped aside and went for the second best option."

Harry nodded, "So when Ginny and I started discussing divorce…"

Hermione chuckled, "Oh talk about it like it was mutual, why don't you? You were practically forcing her to sign the papers at one point."

Harry clenched his fist, "Four days after our honeymoon ended… with McLaggen no less!"

Hermione looked revolted, "Ew, Harry! I didn't need that mental image!"

"Sorry Hermione," Harry chuckled, leaning back against the pillows, "So what now?"

"What now…?" Hermione repeated slowly, before rapidly straddling Harry's legs and leaning in close, "I'm tired of waiting Harry. I want this now."

Harry eyed her for a brief second, then caressed her cheek and leaned towards her as well. Hermione blinked as he kissed her, "Me too, Hermione…"

smut scene redacted; refer to HPFFA for full lemon; link is on profile

-LatS-

Harry rose a few hours later to find Hermione still asleep and still wearing her happy smile beside him. As he crawled out of bed and ambled over to the kitchen area he came across Kasumi, seated at the table and looking intensely grumpy.

"You look like hell," Harry remarked in a chipper tone as he passed the thief and opened the cupboard to find some coffee.

"Because of you," Kasumi hissed at him with a certain amount of exhaustion and venom in her voice, "Do you have any ideahow loud she is?"

Harry glanced over at the sleeping Hermione, "She's not being that loud now."

Kasumi scowled and went back to nursing her own cup of coffee, muttering a few black remarks about "quiet ones" and "getting all the fun".

"Tell you what," said Harry as he poured boiling water from the kettle Kasumi had evidently just used, "Hermione and I have to go see Aria this morning, so you can sleep while we're out."

"Now that idea I like," Kasumi said, finishing her coffee in one gulp and returning to the couch, "Now wake up your bedmate and get going. Wouldn't do to keep the Queen of Omega waiting, would it?"

Harry poured another cup of coffee and walked back to Hermione, "Hermione, time to get up."

Hermione blinked sleepily and rolled over to look up at him. Her nose twitched cutely as the smell of coffee reached it, then she sat up and took a mug, "Thanks Harry… last night was great."

Harry smirked, "Well, there's more where that came from in the future. But you have to get up, Kasumi is kicking us out so she can finally get some sleep and we have to see Aria anyway."

Hermione nodded, quickly downed her coffee and scampered towards the shower. The last thing Harry saw before the door shut was Hermione looking over her shoulder, blowing a kiss and wiggling her ass at him.

-LatS-

After Hermione had finished in the shower and Harry had had one of his own as well, they set out for Afterlife. This early in the day, the streets were surprisingly quiet. It appeared they had left in the middle of the gap, when the nightlife of Omega was retreating back inside and the active-by-day folk were still eating breakfast.

Those few on the streets stared as they passed; looks ranging from amazement at Hermione (who was still practically glowing) to looks of jealousy at Harry. "What are they staring at?" Hermione wondered.

"Us," Harry replied, "Kasumi was complaining about us being loud this morning…"

Hermione covered her mouth with one hand as they nodded to the batarian doorman in front of Afterlife and entered the club, "You don't think…"

"Yes," said a voice. They turned to see Gavorn leaning against the wall, "About time you two showed up. Though considering the evidence I'm fairly certain Aria won't mind."

"She could hear us as well?" Hermione said, blushing.

Gavorn laughed, "No, but the noise disturbance reports she was receiving from some of her boys on the streets gave her enough to think about."

They proceeded up the stairs to find Aria studiously examining a glass of blue liquid. On the other side of the balcony, another asari was giving Harry and Hermione a look which suggested she wanted to jump on Harry and drag him away.

"You wanted to see us, Aria?" Harry asked.

Aria blinked and looked up, having evidently been lost in her thoughts. Her eyes roved over Hermione's radiant appearance before she schooled her features back into their expression of cocky confidence, "Yes... I trust your little excursion was fruitful?"

"Yes, it was…" said Harry, looking the asari directly in the eyes. It might have just been the remaining endorphins from the previous night's activities, but Harry felt like he could take on the world at that moment; a feeling that was easily demonstrated in the nonverbal, "You know what we did and you can't stop thinking about it…" he was practically speaking into Aria's mind.

The asari looked away with a soft sniff, trying to disguise the brief darkening of the blue across her cheeks, "Yes, well… what's your next plan?"

Harry smirked, leaning back in his chair as Hermione set her head on his shoulder, "Finish the plan for our ship and start buying up supplies. Actually, we'd need to talk about possibly borrowing a dry-dock from you. We'll pay for it."

Aria opened her mouth but the asari on the other end of the balcony spoke up, "Mother, you can't be thinking about charging them?"

Three sets of eyes turned to look at the speaker, and for the first time Harry noticed the resemblance between Aria and the asari.

Aria frowned, "Ah. Potter, Granger, I would like you to meet my daughter, Liselle."

Hermione inclined her head towards Liselle as she approached; Harry rose and kissed the back of her hand.

In the background, Gavorn was making bets with two of Aria's bodyguards on how long it would take for Aria to crack under the pressure… at least until Aria's empty glass shattered across his head fringe.

As the turian cleaned the broken glass out of the neck of his armour, Aria relaxed in her chair and said, in a tone of forced dignity, "Alright then… shall we get down to business?"

(A/N: And I'm done. Boy that took a long time. A big shout out to XRaiderV1 for his help with the lemon, to pyrgus and stargatesg1fan1 for advising me on points to improve (mostly Harry's manner and behaviour) and to the good people of Fiction Group on Facebook for helping me with working out some of the later details. If you're interested in signing up, go to this page: www . facebook groups / 274833792558847 / (minus spaces). It's generally just a good place to find good fiction and such.

Now, a quick request. If there is anybody who is good at drawing deck plans for spaceships, please contact me. I have been attempting to draw the deck plans for their ship and been thwarted by my own lack of skill; apparently my first attempt "looked like a gummy worm". *stares at XRaider*.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all when I post the next one. Peace! Leonineus, OUT!)