A/N
Initially, I wanted to include an immortal character (an elf), but in the end couldn't find a place for her in the story. There were too many problems I couldn't solve, so I was forced to take out 2,500 words of text with the elf. Pity :D
The chapter came out shorter than I anticipated, but I told everything I wanted and I don't like to beat around the bush. It's raw unbetaed and uncorrected.
P.S. Other stories are still in work. Wasn't in the right mood :D
Chapter 2
Surprisingly Hermione was the first one to wake up. It was a middle of a day, so Harry was absent. She took a shower and went searching for Harry. She was very interested in results of her experiment. Hermione made extensive changes to the body of the girl. She even ensured that Eve's children would inherit new traits. The witch didn't know for sure if it worked, but the prospect of creating a new kind of human was exciting. The only problem was that Eve and her descendants would need food enriched with Element Zero once a while, because the girl couldn't survive without Element Zero anymore. She could, of course, simply inhale the substance. Unfortunately Hermione wasn't able to duplicate Element Zero using magic.
She found Harry in his study. She wasn't surprised that he read a book on controlled fusion, but she didn't expect to see a white cat sitting in his lap. The witch went to him and petted the cat.
"Where did you get it?" Hermione asked.
"Ah, you are up at last. Next time you do something that reckless..."
"I know," she interrupted him. "Won't happen again. You didn't answer the question."
He shrugged. "Found it in the Diagon Allee."
Hermione frowned and looked at the cat suspicious. "Did you test it?"
"Yes. I performed anti-animagus spell and other spells. It's a cat."
"Well it's cute," she said with a smile. "What's the name?"
"Cliodna."
The witch snorted, "Odd name."
"She likes it," Harry said. "I performed planned experiment on your Subject."
"Boggart exposure?"
"Yeah, and the Subject has proven to be most interesting," he said and smiled. "Eve saw her mother turned into an inferius, which then stated that Eve had gone mad."
"What? How did she know of inferius?"
"I thought about it. Want to wait until she wakes up to confirm it, but probably her mother was one of the victims of the war and obliviators did poor job. Maybe her mother was a witch who never said that to her family until some point and was declared mad later. I can see something like that happen if she didn't have a wand. A horrible fate, by the way."
Hermione frowned. "What about abilities?"
"Success. She released amazing amount of the energy and lost consciousness. It was difficult to hold the shield."
"Is she alright?"
"Just exhausted," he replied. "It seems I would need to study healing magic to perform it on you, Hermione."
"Yeah," she nodded. "It was terrible experience, but I believe that next time it would take only two or three days. If you learn how to do it, it won't be that difficult. I believe I can brew a potion that would do the most of the job."
"That's good news," he smiled and stood up. "Let's go outside. There is something I want to show you."
"Not again!" she exclaimed. "The last time you had this expression on your face was when you discovered FTL-Drive."
"Don't worry," he said and grinned. "I had to do something during the week you worked on Eve and, well, the time you were sleeping. Let's go."
Hermione was worried because his ideas tended to be dangerous and she was sure the thing he was going to show her was one of those ideas. She sighed and followed him outside. What she saw there was odd looking rings two meter in diameter located several dozen meter from each other.
"Kneel before me, the genius!" he said dramatically.
The witch snorted and said, "Shut up, Harry. What the deal with these rings?"
He didn't answer; instead he levitated a big rock and banished it through the ring. The rock disappeared as soon as it reached the ring. The same moment it appeared out of the other ring and fell to the ground. "These are magical version of Mass Relays," he explained.
"You promised that you wouldn't work on it without my supervision!" she cried furiously.
He smiled. "Relax, I didn't do anything dangerous. The thing is simple as pie."
Hermione sighed and asked, "So it works?"
"Yeah. It works with non-living things very well. People would need good shielding to go through it, but our ship wouldn't have any problem with it. The only real problem I experienced was maintaining connections between three rings, but I'm sure you would solve it in no time. We need only a way to choose a destination."
"Does it have distance limitation?"
He nodded. "Well, that's another, rather minor problem. Theoretically, about fifty light years, but we would need a good power source; otherwise the maximal distance between the gates is only hundred meters. And you know the only reliable magical source."
Hermione frowned and whispered, "Souls."
"Yes," he nodded. "We would need to bind a soul to each ring to power these gates."
"We don't need them right now, but if necessary…" She paused.
Harry nodded and finished, "we'll do what is needed."
Hermione sighed and asked, "How did we become so much like Grindelwald?"
The wizard scowled and uttered, "We're nothing like him. He used the same philosophy for the wrong reason."
"How do we know that our reasons aren't wrong?" she growled and sent a reducto to a tree.
Harry took a step towards her and hugged. "Mione, we want to restore the Old World, we want to explore the galaxy and lead everyone towards stars. What's wrong with our goals?"
She relaxed and kissed him. "You're right. There is nothing wrong. It's just in the moments like this I think about my parents. What would they think about me, if they knew that I'm ready to murder people like this?"
"There is enough scum in this world that deserve to die and if it saves other lives? Maybe your parents would understand, but you know, that not everyone is strong enough to take this kind of responsibility. We saw it during the war and were foolish at some point too. How many lives could have been saved if the 'light side' would take more serious actions against Voldemort? You do remember, what we decided, do you? We'll do the necessary if they can't, otherwise… I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
"Yes," she sighed. "It's for their own good."
She shook her head. "By the way, why rings?"
"No reason. Rectangles are just as good," he said with a grin.
"I'm glad it worked," Hermione said. "But next time you do something without me, I kill you."
"Ah," Harry drawled, "You and your empty threats."
"Couch for tonight, my dear," the witch said with a grin.
"Oh? But now there's Eve living with us. She is… sexy, and powerful as well," he said coyly and apparated behind her before she could hex him. Unfortunately Hermione knew him too well and as soon as he appeared a hex smashed into his chest sending him flying for a few metres.
"That felt good!" she said satisfied.
Harry groaned and stood up. "How do you manage to hit me every bloody time?" he exclaimed. "It's damn frustrating!"
"You should know better than provoke me," she laughed.
"But really, Mione, I'm hopeless in I duels against you. I'm getting soft."
She grinned, "Don't worry, Harry. You're not. It's just because you don't want to harm me. You know that magic is about intent."
He scowled and muttered, "That means, however, that you want to harm me."
"Oh yes, of course I want, because you're pervert!" the witch exclaimed and cracked up with laughter. She then looked up at the cat and said, "The cat looks quite scared."
"Well, you are scary, Mione."
"Thanks." She grinned. "I'm hungry."
He facepalmed at his stupidity and sighed. "I'm terribly sorry. Totally forgot that you'd be hungry. Want to go out?"
"Yes, I'd like that," she nodded.
"Take my hand, I'll bring us somewhere nice."
The witch smiled, took his hand and a moment later they disappeared with a loud crack leaving the white cat alone. Harry placed a spell to prevent her leaving the wards and going near the rings, so he didn't worry about her running away. A minute the cat stayed near the rings and studied them. Then it went inside.
When Eve woke up she panicked, but after few moment she began to calm down, seeing that she wasn't in hospital. She was in her room at those wizard's place. The last thing she remembered was her dead mother and that was scary. No, it was terrifying! She didn't remember what happened and why she was in her bed. More important why she… Eve blushed realizing that she was in her underwear. That meant that Harry had to undress her. The girl shook her head and stood up. A hour later she moved down the ladder, but stopped when heard voices of Hermione and Harry.
"...I doubt that," she heard Hermione's voice. "But you're right, we can't endanger the Earth by activating the Mass Relay."
"And what does it leaves us with?" the second person asked. That was Harry.
"I may be mistaken, but if I'm right, than the Mass Relay leads to the Arcturus. The star is more than thirty six light-years away, so we could be there in about two hundred fifty days if we use your FTL-Drive. Without a time dilation it's perfectly acceptable."
"Well it is acceptable, if we use the stasis chamber," added Harry. "Otherwise I would go mad in twenty five dozen days being confined to the starship."
Eve heard Hermione's laugh. "Yes. I would too. That leaves, however one problem. We would still lose too much time, so I suggest we leave one of your Jumpgates somewhere in the Solar system and take the other one on the ride. We would..." Hermione's voice got quieter and Eve couldn't hear what she was saying. "...souls..."
"That's a good idea," Harry said. "You can come out, Eve. There is no need to eavesdrop."
She blushed and came out embarrassed, that she was caught. She couldn't be certain what they were speaking about, but the one thing was clear: they planned a space travel, and, well, she was very interested. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she didn't to go with them.
"I'm sorry," she said looking down, "I didn't mean to. I was... I heard what you were speaking about..."
"And we've got you interested?" Harry asked grinning.
"Yes, kind of," she mumbled.
"That's great!" he exclaimed with a exaggerated enthusiasm. "We talked about you a few minutes before. An since you're interested, you're coming..."
"Harry, you're getting ahead of yourself," Hermione interrupted him and said to Eve. "What he was trying to tell..."
"I know what I was trying to tell, Mione!" Harry exclaimed.
"Be silent, otherwise..." Hermione scowled.
"I hate you," he said and sighed.
"Now when he is silent at last," Hermione told her with a smile, "I'll tell you what is this about. Before we had found the substance I implanted into you, we were planning a space journey. We wanted to explore the galaxy using our newly constructed starship. Since we need time to observe you, we were forced to put our plans on hold. But while we were going out today, Harry had an idea. You're a good person, you don't really have anyone and anything in this world, and we can trust you... Yes I know that because I can easily read your mind, Eve. That's not important right now. The idea is to ask you to come with us. We won't force you, we can stay here for a few weeks and then let you go, if you don't want to... But I see that you're thrilled by the thought of coming with us, so..." the Witch blushed and stopped talking.
"Could you stop it, please?" Eve pleaded. "I mean you're answering my questions before they even pop up."
Hermione sighed. "I'm sorry. I won't invade your mind without a need anymore. Legilimency became sort of habit in the last year. As I was saying, we're offering you to come with us. It may take a few years, but we would travel in a stasis chamber..."
"Like a cryosleep pod?"
"Exactly. That's why the journey would take only months for you. On the other side, we would be able to teach you using your new power and observe you without a need to put everything on hold."
"Well, count me in! You can't be serious about me passing this opportunity?"
"Good to hear it, Eve," Harry said. "Do you have something to do before we go?"
"You mean... we leave now?"
He snorted, "No, you silly, we still need a few days to prepare everything and say our goodbyes."
She though it over and realized that she didn't really have someone to say goodbye and it was exactly as Hermione said. She had no one and nothing, that would hold her on the Earth. The illness ruined her life even if she managed to live through it and get even more healthier than ever.
"No, I'm ready to go wherever you want to go."
Harry smiled and said, "Well then, Hermione will tell you everything you want to know about journey. Have to go to the Ministry." When he moved to the door, the cat clawed his leg and clinged onto it. Harry smiled, took the cat and placed on the flood. "No, Cliodna, you have to stay." With that he left the house and soon disappeared with a CRACK.
"Well, let's go, I'll show you the ship," Hermione said.
"Really?"
"There is no need to hide something from you, is there? "
The witch smiled and led the girl to the storehouse. It wasn't all that great, just an old dusty building. However, as soon as she saw the ship, Eve couldn't help but smile. The girl was amazed by the size of the vessel, but it was design that forced a smile on her face. It was way too familiar.
"Do you and Harry like Star Trek?" she asked. "Because the ship looks awfully similar to those from the tv-series."
"Not really," Hermione answered. "It was just the best design we came up with. A sphere would be too big, ugly and mostly useless. A long and tiny look would be simply too long. Would you want to walk two hundred metres every time you needed to get to the greenhouse from the cockpit? So a disc was a perfect solution. The cockpit is located in the center of the disc and you can reach easely every section of the ship. These rods are engines and they have to be like this."
Eve nodded and told, "Makes sense then."
"Let's get inside," Hermione said and led Eve to the ship.
The first room they stepped in was quite a small square one, about five meter in diameter. It was mostly empty, but she noticed five interesting looking suits hanging on the wall.
"That's airlock." Hermione said. "We developed special charms which make possible to regulate pressure and clean the room. Do you know what it is and why a ship needs one?"
"Yeah, pressure differences, toxic atmospheres and many other problems."
The bushy haired witch smiled and said, "Exactly. I'm glad that I don't have to explain everything." She pointed at suits and explained, "These are space suits. They're much better than those you probably know. Don't feel much different from normal clothes, but extremely reliable."
"Amazing!" Eve exclaimed and muttered, "I wonder how much NASA would pay for those."
Hermione laughed and suggested, "Let's go. There is still much to show." She exited the airlock and entered next room. "That's the main and only circular corridor. You can access every section of the ship from this corridor. Every door on the inner wall leads to the cockpit. The room to the right is the greenhouse. It's responsible for oxygen production, but that's not the main reason we dedicated a room for plants. We need them for various potions."
"Potions?" Eve asked, as she looked around the greenhouse.
"Yes. You heard stories about love potions, didn't you?" Hermione asked and continued, when Eve nodded, "These stories are true. Sometimes witches and wizards use the love potions. There are, however, much more useful things to brew."
"It's beautiful here, so much plants," Eve whispered and tried to touch a blood red flower.
Hermione however grabbed her hand and warned, "Don't touch it. Highly poisonous. Better not touch anything here, because some plants here may want to eat you alive."
Eve paled and nodded, "Thanks for the warning. How come this room is so large?"
"It's the one of the few rooms we magically enlarged. We need a lot of ingredients for our potions."
Soon they left the greenhouse and moved further through the corridor. Eve noticed that the interior design was nothing she expected of a starship. It wasn't that unlike of their house. Comfortable, but spartan. The next room they visited was a big lab. There were many devices, many of which she couldn't recognize, and some magical things. After Hermione showed her the cockpit, her room, which was small but good enough to live, main hold, Eve was led to the kitchen.
"That's the best thing of the room," Hermione said proudly pointing at a big cupboard.
"A cupboard?" Eve asked confused.
"Not really. Harry calls it bottomless fridge." Hermione smiled and continued, "Just open it and call for something you want to eat."
Eve shrugged and opened the cupboard. It was empty but she did as she was told. "Well, I want crisps." The next moment crisps appeared on a shelf before her. "Wow, that's awesome! Can this thing produce anything I want?"
"No, not really," Hermione answered. "The problem is, you can't create food using magic. Well, there is a way, but it's not really worth trying, since you would spend days to create something edible. So we stuffed the cupboards with tons of various food."
"Well, it's awesome anyway, I would like to have such a fridge at home."
"We may give it to you later," the witch offered with a smile.
"Really?"
"Don't know yet. But there are more important things to discuss. I know that you agreed to come with us, but you should know that we discovered fifty thousand years old alien ruins on the Mars."
Eve's eyes widened and she asked, "There are Martians?"
"No, they came from other part of the galaxy and used the planet to observe our race. We don't know why, but at some point these aliens abandoned the base on Mars. Sure we could probably investigate and explore the ruins again, but it would take time. The truth is, there is a Mass Relay Network in the galaxy, probably built by these aliens. It makes possible to travel instantly across the galaxy. It's like stargate network, if you know what I mean."
"Like the movie?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes, something like that. One of those Relays is located in the Solar system. We want to use the network to explore the galaxy. We think it's stupid to limit ourselves by investigating the ruins, when we can go to these species and ask them directly."
Eve stayed silent for a few moments and said, "But that could be dangerous."
"We're used to danger, Eve. Besides we decided to let the Relay in the Solar System stay inactive and travel to the Arcturus system using our FTL-Drive. This way we wouldn't endanger the Earth."
At the same time Harry went to the Ministry. He had to let people know that they would travel for next years and wouldn't be available. Remus and Nymphadora knew already, since he first visited them before going to Ministry. Unexpectedly he ran into the Ron Weasley on the way to the Minister. Harry didn't see him for a several months and was surprised that the former friend had long hair now. It was odd to see him like this. It was quite difficult to talk to him, since there were not much of their friendship left. Harry knew that both sides were equally at fault, but it was too late to change anything.
"Hello, Ron," Harry said.
"Harry," greeted the redhead.
"I see you let your hair grow long."
Ron smiled and nodded. "Yeah, like a proper pureblood." At that Harry scowled, but Ron continued before Harry could say something, "It's nothing like that and you know that. It's just easier to get what you need in this Ministry if you plays by their rules."
"Sure," Harry snorted. "You always looked for an easy way."
"At least I do something," Ron replied, "Unlike you, who resigned."
"We have more important things to do than endless debates in the Ministry. But enough of this. I didn't come here to argue with you. You might want to know, that I and Hermione will travel for next few years and won't be available for owls and other means of communication. We would be glad if you tell this to your father, Ginny, George and, well, others of your family."
The redhead sighed and nodded, "I'll make sure they know."
"Thank you."
"Say, I always wanted to know, why have you lied to me that day when I destroyed a Horcrux?"
Harry sighed and look towards fireplaces which spat out a witch or wizard every now and then. They stood in a secluded passage, so he decided to answer him. It was the first time they spoke about it for Morgan's sake.
"When I said that Hermione is like a sister to me?"
"Yeah."
"It's not that simple, Ron. Hermione and I were like brother and sister before you walked out of the tent. You broke her heart that day forcing to chose between me and you. And you broke any trust I had. Everything was ruined the moment you left. I and Hermione shared very unique moments, we realized that we have so much in common and that we love each other more than just friends."
Ron shook his head. "That doesn't explain why did you lie to me after I came back."
"The moment you left, I felt like you lost the right to call me a friend. I was angry and didn't feel obligated to tell you truth. Even if you saved my life... that changed absolutely nothing. It wasn't the first time you left me, when I needed friends the most. That's why, when you asked, I told you what I felt was right to tell. Otherwise you would get jealous and run away again. I needed every help I could get to kill Voldemort and by lying to you I got what I needed."
"So you just used me as a pawn."
"I wouldn't say it that way. But, yes, in some way, I used you for the Greater Good."
"You filthy bastard!" the redhead exclaimed. "I was..."
"Shut up!" Harry interrupted him angrily. "You of all people have no right to complain. Wasn't that the reason you and your family lied to me in first place when you had got into my compartment before our first year? Hasn't Dumbledore told you to befriend me for the Greater Good?"
Ron blanched and asked, "How do you know that?"
"That doesn't matter anymore," Harry said calmly. "I understand and can accept that. Besides, you was a friend, even if you was asked to be one."
He looked down, "I was. We had a good time in Hogwarts. Pity that we managed to ruin it. Maybe we repair it sometime in the future."
"I don't know, Ron. The things you did after the war..."
"I was angry and had every right to be angry."
"You had right to be angry, but to give that interview, calling Hermione..." Harry sighed. "It's not good crying over split potion. At least we could talk. I have to go. We won't probably see each other for next year, maybe two or three."
"Where're you going to?"
"Somewhere far away. Take care."
"Tell Hermione that I'm sorry. And... good luck, I think."
"Thanks, Ron. She'll appreciate it."
Harry nodded and moved to the Minister. Fortunately Daphne wasn't there, so he could relax for a bit as he waited for the Minister. The talk with Ron was exhausting and he was glad to have some tine to calm himself.
"Harry? Didn't expect to see you that soon again," he heard Kingsley's voice. "Did something happen?"
"No, everything is alright. I just came to let you know that we, I mean Hermione and I, won't be available for some time."
"Unavailable for some time?" the Minister asked.
"Yes, we'll travel far away to investigate certain thing for at least a year."
"Thank you for noticing me. It was bad enough to look for you few days ago. I would like to have more details, but I know that neither you nor Hermione will spill it out."
Harry smiled and nodded. "Right. Farewell, Kingsley."
With that he left the Ministry and breathed a sigh of relief. All goodbyes were said, so he could move on more serious things. He had to find at least fourteen wizards or witches for sacrifices. He had no clue as to why Hermione needed to bind souls to the pair of gold rings and nine silver ones. He trusted her, however, and she would eventually tell why he needed to kill. He knew, however, that they needed three souls for his magical version of Mass Relays. As for now, he had to find those who wouldn't be missed. Sure he would prefer to take souls of prisoners of the Azkaban, but, unfortunately, there were absolutely no way to do it. There were however enough Death Eaters who somehow bought the way out of the Azkaban. It was amazing how stupid was the wizarding world. He wondered if they would they ever learn.
"Ah well," he muttered, "Have a lot to do..."
Daphne wasn't happy. At first it seemed like a good idea to fool Harry and Hermione by using her animagus form. She knew they would test her, but she wasn't one of the most talented witches for nothing, she used a potion which had bound her to the animal form for at least four weeks. Sure there were ways to transform her back, but she doubted that even Hermione would use them. During these weeks she planned to learn as much as possible about Hermione and Harry and to try to put a strain on their relationship. It wasn't that difficult, her animagus form was beautiful and she was sure Harry would like her. And then she would provoke Hermione. Of course it was a small thing, but it's always those small things that ruin relationships.
The problem was that she got terrified by both Harry and Hermione. What she heard and saw was terrible. It reminded her so much of Voldemort and Death Eaters. They spoke so easy about sacrifices and the darkest magic. She wanted to run away, but Harry made sure she wouldn't be able to get away and she didn't want to make them suspicious. She could believe her ears and eyes when Harry after missing for two days returned with a handful of rings and said that a soul was bound to each of the rings. It meant that he killed at least a dozen people to do so. Sure those were scum, formed Death Eaters, but still... She had to get to the Ministry and inform them that the Saviour was becoming a new Dark Lord, but that wasn't possible! What they performed on that muggle girl was disgusting enough. She didn't know what they did, apparently turned into some magical creature. What would they do later? She was terrified at that thought, because she knew they could become even more dangerous than Voldemort.
Three days later she, however, managed to calm herself down. Neither Hermione nor Harry was actually evil. And the stories they told Eve were quite interesting. She didn't believe the story about Morgan le Fay at first, but when they spoke about her again with more details, Daphne couldn't help but to think over all those things. She found herself asking whether the Dark Arts were really evil. They had an actual proof that Morgan was the good one despite her being a Dark Witch. She met the ghost of Guinevere. Harry took Daphne in her animal form to the Queen. Her story was difficult to believe, but all evidences were there. King Arthur and his half-sister had good relations until Merlin somehow twisted him into believing that other races were inferior to humans and posed a threat to them. The queen wasn't happy with Arthur and tried to dissuade him from taking up arms against his sister, but he refused to listen and that led to the break up. That would later remembered by both magical and muggles as her betrayal, which resulted in the death of Guinevere, when she tried to escape the Camelot with a few loyal knights. The whole story made so much more sense than the official one.
So the Daphne decided to stay and learn more about them. Not that she had a choice, but at least she wasn't scared anymore. Some things she learnt were mind-blowing. In a few days she discovered more about muggles and their science than in her whole life and it fascinated her. She couldn't believe how ignorant she was, how prejudiced and bigoted the magical world was. It wasn't really her fault, she was simply brought up this way and never knew much about muggles. Daphne realized that if she weren't forced to stay with Harry and Hermione, she wouldn't learn all this, because she wouldn't listen, then run to the Ministry and send all aurors she could to arrest both Hermione and Harry. There was, however, something that still terrified her. Her hosts were going to leave the Earth very soon. She couldn't really comprehend what it meant. To leave Earth? How? And where? And what was that thing they called a starship? However, why would that matter, if she would be dragged on that bloody ship?
"So, why do you need these rings?" Harry asked Hermione, when they reached their underground lab. She didn't want anyone, even the cat, to hear about the rings.
She smiled and asked, "Have you ever read the Lord of the Rings?"
"Yes, why?" he replied confused.
"Well, there is some truth in that book," she continued. "I researched Horcruxes for last three years and discovered a few things. The first thing we have to avoid splitting our souls. It won't do any good to us. That was the main reason Voldemort had gone mad. I found another way to become immortal. The fact is, we don't need to split our souls to bind them to an object. A ring for example. The downside is that we would need to wear these rings all the time, otherwise we would become wraiths until someone finds our rings and put them on. Rings will always be found, since we enchant them to seek and to call for a suitable host. The longer one wears a ring the earlier we would be able to take over his or her body."
"Eh...Like Quirell?" Harry asked with disgust.
"Morgan's ass, no! Are you insane? Why would I suggest something like this?"
Harry laughed. "It was a joke, Hermione."
"Oh... It wasn't funny at all. Anyway, we would control the new body like our own, so don't worry about sticking out of the back of the head. Normally we wouldn't even need a sacrifice, but we need to enchant our rings so that they would compel people to put them on. We might give our rings some powers, like invisibility or a power to control the fire to make wearing these rings advantageous. To power these enchantments we need a soul bound to it," Hermione explained and took gold rings to hand. "These two are made of the adamantite. I have paid a fortune to goblins to get it. It's almost indestructible as it is. When we create Horcruxes out of it, there won't be much that can destroy them. A star or a black hole would still end our existence."
"Okay," nodded Harry, "Then why do we need these nine rings?"
"That has something to do with Arithmancy. I know you're not good at Arithmancy, so I explain. We need two rings, one for each. That's good though. Two is the number of the balance. This way, if we make it right, as long as one of us lives, the other won't become evil, but one can't live, if the other has died."
Harry sighed and muttered, "That sounds awfully like the Prophecy."
"It's Arithmancy and it's a kind of prophecy. Basically we're protecting the world from ourselves. Anyway, there are runes engraved on these rings. Runic numbers seven and three for Life and Rebirth. Finally Nine rings for the completeness."
"Why not just engrave nine as well?"
"The more runes we engrave the less stable the whole construct will become. The simpler the better. Besides, the Galaxy is big, we might need... followers. Nine rings will serve like the Dark Mark. They're made of mithril like the Sword of Griffindor. Not as good as adamantite, but I think it will still do the job. Rings will grant our followers immortality, but they wouldn't be able to betray us."
"Well, Hermione, you're starting to sound like Voldemort. It's kind of creepy," he said with a grin.
"Ah, shut up, Harry. As I was saying, we will enchant the nine rings so that our followers will obey us. They won't be mindless drones, but when we really want to enforce our will on them, they will comply. It's only a protection against abuse of power. By the way, I have a first follower in mind."
Harry looked surprised. "Eve?" he asked.
"Yes, they don't have to be magical. I read enough of her mind to know that she may become a great friend. She is a bit insane because of that incident with her mother turned into an inferius by Voldemort himself, but I don't have a problem with it. Do you?"
He shook his head and answered, "No, she isn't any more insane than we are."
Eve was fascinated by the world of magic. Sure there were problems, but she couldn't imagine a world without problems. The girl was thrilled to meet the legendary queen and upset by the story she heard. Eve couldn't, however, wait anymore to leave the Earth. There was so much to see. At least she hoped so. But Hermione and Harry had some things to do before they could start the journey. At last it was the day. She was, however, surprised when Hermione handed her a silber ring, before they could step into the starship.
"It's our gift," Hermione said. "But you should know, that it's enchanted."
"Enchanted?"
"Yes, it will grant you... a very long life and ability to communicate with us regardless of distance. But there is a catch. Once put on, it can't be removed."
That surprised Eve. "Why?" she asked.
"It's complicated," Hermione answered. "You would lose your human form."
She frowned. "Why should I wear it then?"
"If you die, we will be able to resurrect you using the ring. In another body, but still."
"I don't know," she whispered and sighed. Sure she was thrilled at the idea of being almost immortal, but she didn't want to die because somebody would remove the ring. "It's kind of scary."
"It's you decision, but we," she showed her hand with a ring, "Wear the same rings."
She hesitated for a minutes, but then decided, "Okay, I'll do it."
Hermione hid a smile and looked at Eve. The moment she put on the ring Eve felt pain and got some uncomfortable feeling like she had lost something important, but the next moment the pain was gone and she let out a sigh.
"That felt odd," she said.
"That means we did everything right," Hermione noted.
"You..."
Before Eve could say something, she was interrupted by Harry who loudly cursed at the cat, "CLIODNA, do me a favour please, stop scratching me! Otherwise I'll stun you. Really, what's wrong with getting on the ship? Oh! You dodget it. You're fast, but I'm faster! ARGH, feline! I said, stop scratching me!"
Seeing Harry fighting the cat, Hermione and Eve burst out laughing. She was really fast and managed to dodge his spells. In the end he levitated the cat using his wand and let out a victorious cry. With a smirk on his face he stepped on the ramp and got into the starship.
Hermione said smiling, "Let's go, or the cat will escape the ship again."
Eve nodded and followed the witch to the Pandora. "Maybe he should have left her," Eve whispered, "The cat seemed to be scared."
Hermione shook her head and told, "Well, cats don't like unfamiliar things. She'll be alright. I hope."
Soon they took off the Earth and left the atmosphere. That was quite fast and Eve was surprised that she felt practically nothing. But when they called her to look at the Earth through the window in an observation room. The Earth was... huge, magnificent. It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. She could stare at the planet for days. She noticed that Cliodna calmed down too, being enthralled by the view, which was rather odd. Eve found herself asking how the cat could be this intelligent? Cliodna obviously understood the significance of the moment. But, well, she was on a magical spaceship. If someone would say her two weeks ago, that her life would change so much, she would have laughed. And now, she was cured, gained powerful abilities, got a ring which made her almost immortal... Why should the cat be unintelligent?
"I programmed the ship for the travel to Arcturus. We should go to the stasis chamber," Hermione said.
"Alright!" Harry exclaimed happily.
With that he took the cat. Cliodna, obviously, was still mad at him and bit his finger.
"Sorry, Cliodna, but you was unreasonable," he said kissing the cat and followed amused Hermione.
"You may have a competition, Hermione," Eve said grinning.
"With a cat?" Hermione snickered.
"Yeah," the girl nodded.
"See? It's fine here, you didn't have to be so scared," Harry said petting the cat.
The stasis chamber was small and looked a bit different than she imagined. Hermione didn't show her the chamber during previous tour and the girl was surprised that it was located in the greenhouse. She anticipated to see something like cryo-pods, but there were only chairs. Quite comfortable leather chairs. Eve sent an inquiring look at Hermione who shrugged and explained, "Otherwise plants would die. The whole room will be put under the stasis spell. These chairs are unnecessary, since we won't feel a thing. But just in case... take a seat please."
Eve nodded and took place beside Hermione. The witch asked, "Ready?".
"Let's go!" uttered Harry and the next moment everything went dark.
"What's wrong?" Eve asked, while Hermione and Harry launched glowing balls.
"I don't know," Hermione answered with a frown on her face. "The stasis spell has worked. And we should be in the Arcturus system. The problem is, there is absolutely no energy in the muggle energy cells, which is odd."
"Wait, I'll feed it," Harry said in a tense voice.
A few minutes later all systems came online again and the lights went on. Eve could hardly believe that they travelled thirty six light-years in a single moment. Well, they were travelling for some time, but she didn't felt a second.
"Let's go to the bridge," Hermione suggested. "I have to look at the data to understand what, for Morgan's sake, had happened."
Soon they came to the bridge. Hermione and Harry took their seats and Eve stood behind them. It was uncomfortable silence for everyone on board. Even the cat was nervously moving to and fro waging its tail.
"There is some man-made space station there," Harry broke the silence, "But..."
"NO!" Hermione exclaimed. "That can't be right!"
"What's wrong?" Harry and Eve asked at the same time seeing as Hermione paled.
"I'm sorry... I messed something up. I'm sorry," she whispered. "It wasn't supposed to be that way. I'm sorry..."
"Hermione, snap out of it. Explain," Harry said.
"There was massive energy loss while we were in stasis. Stasis field ate too much energy and engines were underpowered. That means we travelled at sub-light speed. I didn't consider it," she said weakly.
Harry sighed and closed his eyes. "How slow were we?"
"Less than a quarter of the speed of light. It's been hundred sixty six years. Relativistic effects were still at play, so add a few years on top. Tempus," She said and the current date appeared in the air before her: '17.09.2172'.
After a second of silence Harry cracked in a mad laugher, which was interrupted by Hermione, who hit him with a stinging hex.
"What are you laughing at!" she exclaimed.
"I hate this spell," he said. "It's just hilarious, that you messed up this badly at the most important time."
"I didn't!"
"You did too."
Hermione argued, "No, I didn't! There is no way energy could be drained unless..."
"Unless what?" Harry asked, seeing that she has got an idea how did it happen.
"Unless there was a bloody animagus under stasis spell!" she stated, pointed her wand at the cat and cried, "AVADA..."
"Stop!" interrupted her Harry and took the wand from her. He threw his own spell at the cat, however, "Stupefy."
For the first time Eve was scared. They both looked furious. They eyes were cold and they emanated anger. She wasn't that upset that they ended up hundred seventy one years in the future. She had nothing to lose, but she could understand that for Harry and Hermione that was quite a blow. When Harry laughed, Eve recognized it as a nervous, mad laugher. He was upset by Hermione's mistake at first until their anger was redirected at the cat.
"So, it's my fault," Harry said. "I should have put her under more tests."
"No," Hermione shook her head. "I ran some test too. Whoever she is, she fooled us both."
"That's why she didn't want to get inside the starship," he whispered.
"Probably she has bound herself to the animal form using some potion. I'll try to remote the potion out of her," she said and started to work on the cat with her wand.
"Do it," he nodded and turned to Eve. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," she answered, "What does 'animagus' mean?"
"The cat is animagus. It's a witch in reality turned into a cat."
"Oh, that explains why the cat was that intelligent," Eve noted.
"Not really," Harry argued. "There are quite intelligent cats in the magical world. Hermione's..."
"It's working," Hermione interrupted him gaining their attention.
The cat began slowly transform and a few seconds later the trio looked at the beautiful naked woman. Both Hermione and Harry recognized her.
"Greengrass," said Harry .
A/N:
Well, we're in the future! The story will slowly diverge from the canon of Mass Effect Universe. I don't really understand why many fanfiction authors are so inclined to keep everything possible (mostly impossible, however) canon. Like killing Kaiden/Ashley on Virmire or forcing Anakin Skywalker to go all Sith Lord on the Galaxy for no reason, or keeping the Graveyard Scene for Voldemort's resurrection when there is no way it could be possible. What is the reason to recite a game, a movie or a book? Sure it's easier, but do we write here because it's easy? The Mass Effect, Star Wars, Harry Potter worlds are so detailed, that you could easily create something new. Something that is actually worth reading like Masses to Masses by INf3ctioNZ. Sure he tends to keep many things canon as well, but at the same time broadens the known universe in amazing way. Another example is The Voyage of the Starship Hedwig by Ynyr. I read it after I posted the first chapter of this story, when someone noted that I had similar ideas. And well, it's awesome! It's like reading a completely new fantasy/sci-fi story. It's quite dark and depressing, however :D. So, please, use your imagination to create wonderful works :D Wait, why the hell did I write all this?
P.S. Mass Effect 3 was an amazing game, but the last Mission was disappointing.
