A note to the poor readers:
It's been ten long years since an update to this fic was even contemplated, much less made manifest by will. I have little to no excuse other than that of real life having gotten in the way, along with depression, a very real thing, I might add, and other contributing factors that have now culminated in me taking up the pen, as it were.
So, Here's Chapter 3.
Chapter #3: This Must be Thursday.
Many weeks had come and gone since Harry's serendipitous arrival aboard the USS Voyager, and many a prank pulled, many a lesson with Q and much to both Harry's and Annika's delight much, uh, cuddle time. Harry, with a rather curious Fawkes on his shoulder, was wandering the corridors of Voyager, in search of something to do. It's fair to say, however that he wasn't looking for something to do per say, as much as looking for a distraction. Just a few nights ago, the three items that had granted him the oft misunderstood title of Master-Of-Death, had reappeared in his quarters. He had question Q about it, but the omnipotent being had given the young man a considering look and after thanking him for asking him, rather than outright accusation, had stated that no, he had nothing to do with it, and yes, he, unlike harry, fully understood what said title meant, had wondered if this day would ever arrive.
"What do you mean you understand the title better than I? I was always of the belief that Death has no master and that to master death was to not fear it?"
Q, uncharacteristically, had Asked Harry's permission to transport them somewhere a little more private so they could seriously discuss the matter. After hesitantly agreeing, Harry and Q found themselves in a place that Harry had visited only once before.
"Kings Cross Station again?" Asked Harry Hesitantly,
"This is the Q continuum, Harry, It has manifested itself in a way that your mind is able to comprehend." Q said with more solemnity than he had ever displayed with anybody else he'd interacted with on the mortal plain.
"I brought you here because apart from my fellow Q, we can talk here and not have anyone else interrupt us. Don't worry, Fawkes knows where we are and is at this very minute reassuring Cathy and Annika of your safety." Q said, noticing the look on Harry's face.
"So, just what does the title of Master-Of-Death really mean? And what are the hallos really about?" Harry asked, not sure if he was going to like where this conversation was going to go.
"well, for me, it's fairly simple, but, I really am unsure as to how you're going to take this," Q prevaricated.
"Why do I get the impression that you're going to tell me I am Q, or something like it?" Harry asked,
"That is because I am." Said Q quietly.
Harry considered Q for a moment and then began to laugh, thinking that at any moment, Fred and George would pop up behind Q and call it a good prank. Remembering sadly, however, that all his family and friends had been mercilessly struck down during the Battle of Hogwarts, at the Wand of Tom Riddle, Not wanting even now to refer to him as Voldemort, as it was a made up name anyway, and who in their right mind would dub themselves with the Nom de guerre Flight From Death? After a while, Harry's laughter began to die off, noticing for the first time, the seriousness on Q's face.
"You're serious?" Harry asked incredulously,
"I am." Q stated.
"When you reunited the hallos, you became one of us. However, there was a test behind it, which, I'm sad to say, many of your fellow magi failed spectacularly, even your old mentor Dumbledore." Q said sadly.
"He admitted as much to you in this very station, when you were last here, did he not?" Q asked, Harry thought back to the time he was in this representation in his mind and remembered that Dumbledore did indeed state that his own failing was the coveting of power he had no business wielding. The fact that the Elder Wand had even given him its allegiance was a testament to the old man's words, that he was barely worthy of wielding the meanest of the three powerful artefact's.
"Harry, you're barely eighteen years old, so your powers have yet to fully manifest, and while I royally messed up when it came to Amanda, and my own son, I cannot afford to do so a third time. I am the closest thing the Q have to a liaison with humanity and the greater universe as a whole." Q appeared to age before Harry's eyes and Harry caught a glimpse of the true being underneath the facade he wore to interact with what Q would have previously referred to as lesser beings. IF he had to admit it to himself, however, Q found that this was in fact wrong, as his many interactions with Picard, had rudely reminded him of the failings of the Q.
He had, at one point even assisted a fellow Q in ending his own existence, for Rassilon's sake! At that mental Cussing, Q's eyes widened, as if he had been hit with an epiphany. Memories, he thought long buried, flooded the ancient being's mind, of races long lost to time and companions, that now never were, never would be and never could be.
"Throughout your history, the three items now in your possession, have appeared at different times, seeking each other out and seeking their rightful master, to reunite them and bring them together, to unlock the true potential of their true wielder." Q spoke, coming out of his revelation.
"I know that this is much for you to take on as of now, but, I've just come to a realisation myself, that could very well change the very nature of the Q continuum. I promise you Harry, we will speak more on this, but, I find myself in need of a long discussion with our fellow Q, and I fear it's been a long overdue one, and is unlikely to be a short or pleasant one." And with that, they were transported back to Voyager, and before Harry could say anymore, Q had vanished. Harry thought to himself, "This must be Thursday, I never could quite get the hang of Thursdays."
Harry, still wandering around Voyager was still lost in his thoughts, when he was abruptly brought back to reality when Fawkes let out an ear piercing cry.
"Hey! What's the big idea!?" Harry shouted as without warning, save that of his familiar, the ship suddenly rocked as though under heavy weapons fire, causing him to widen his stance instinctively so as to remain on his feet. Whirling about, Harry silently disappeared as if he were never there and found himself on the bridge, just in time to steady Captain Janeway as she stumbled and tried to find her footing.
"REPORT!" She barked, before turning her head and offering Harry a gentle Smile of gratitude.
"We appear to be under heavy weapons fire," Tuvok replied calmly, "the energy signature is unknown." He finished his report.
B'Elanna Torres, on the other hand, said something that caused Harry to stiffen but only Tuvok and Janeway noticed.
"What is it, B'Elanna?" Janeway asked, watching Harry out the corner of her eye, noticing that he had paled, and his emerald eyes had darkened to almost black with the rage she was sure he was feeling.
"Captain, if I'm reading this right, the energy signature matches that of Harry's Magic." She said, with trepidation.
"What? But, how?" Queried Harry Kim, still in so many ways out of his depth when it came to dealing with what he called in his mind homo magi, which as he would later learn, was the correct scientific designation for such beings as Harry Potter.
"I think I can answer that." A voice said, before Q appeared, firmly grasping Harry's shoulder in an attempt to curtail his incredible rage.
"And before any of you get it in to your puny minds to level any accusations at me, I had nothing to do with it!" Q grit out through clenched teeth, knowing as well as the young Potter did, what the cause of this attack was.
To say that they were all shocked at the pure rage in Q's voice would be like saying that the Arizona desert was a little warm during the day, or that Antarctica Is merely suffering a cold snap. Harry, after a few minutes managed to bring himself under something resembling control and bit out:
"How can one of them be here, now? I was certain all knowledge and rituals to summon one of them was destroyed and lost to time?"
Q shook his head sadly and was just wondering the same thing, when the ship was rocked again.
"If either one of you would be so kind as to inform the uneducated, we most assuredly would appreciate it!" Torres ground out through gritted teeth.
"They're tearing our shields apart like they aren't even there! Captain, for now, the hull is holding up, but another hit like that and we're going to be seeing multiple hull breaches. We need to find a way to remodulate our shields, or every single one of us is going to end up dead due to decompression." She growled.
Harry seemed to slip in to a trance and his eyes began to glow so brightly, that an earie glow took over the bridge and everyone on it. Raising a hand slowly, he splayed his fingers out as if stretching an invisible shield across the length and breadth of the ship. Q, firmly grasped Harry's shoulder, and lent him some of his own not inconsiderable power.
"You haven't the power to maintain something of this magnitude yet, young one. You have the control, let me handle the power requirements." Q said, with, was that paternal pride Janeway detected? Putting all that aside for later, she instructed B'Elanna and Tuvok to remodulate their sensors until they could cut through the interference that seemed to be generated from this unknown entity so as they could attempt to determine what or who it was.
Q reached out and with uncharacteristic gentleness, gripped B'Elanna Torres's arm and minutely shook his head at her.
"This is one area where technology, no matter how advanced it may be, will not help you. Cathy, While I am usually predisposed to do as I like, when I like and how I like, I implore you to please find Miss Hansen. Her and Harry's soul bond are going to be needed for this." Janeway was about to object, but the warm calloused hand of her first officer found her upper arm and he looked at her with understanding and knowing in his eyes, and she seemed to acquiesce.
"Catherine, I hope I'm wrong, but, I fear I am not. My people spoke of something like this in our ancient legends, and it took several of our most experienced and powerful medicine men to even hold off one of these beings, much less drive it back. IT goes without saying that it cost every one of them their lives, but, North America is still around today because of their sacrifice." He said.
"I'll go get her, you stay here. We need our captain to be right where she is for now." And with that, he entered the turbo lift.
"How come we couldn't simply call her with the comms?" Kim asked, a look of puzzlement on his face.
"because," Harry spoke up, "These beings interfere with what I now know to be subspace in such a way that your com badges wouldn't work. Also, you'd not even be able to generate a stable warp field, which is why we haven't even been able to get the hell out of here as fast as I'd have liked." He snarled, focusing his eyes on something that only he and Q could perceive.
"What is it, Mr. Potter?" Janeway asked in a commanding voice.
"Something that was left out of the chronicles of my life." Harry said darkly. He had discovered the works of a rather famous twentieth century author while looking through the computer for something to read. The works of MS. Rowling had delighted, fascinated and irked him in equal measure. How she managed to get as much detail as she did was still a mystery to him, and one he wanted to solve, if for no other reason than to insure the statute of secrecy hadn't been breached. On the other hand, he had worked out that such books would have been seen as tails of fantasy thus he theorised no real harm was done. But, still, he was curious to know how it had happened. He suspected, much to his chagrin, that she had the sight, and was surprisingly, annoyingly accurate in this case. He was thankful that she did not chronicle everything, including the summoning of interdimensional entities, better known as demons, in the Wizarding World. These entities were a favourite of Riddles, when he wanted total and utter destruction, and much to his ever growing displeasure, he had been dubbed the demon slayer, as he was the only one capable of sending these beings back from whence they came. Whether or not they were dead or alive, surprisingly had depended greatly on how much destruction, if any, they had wrought while in this dimension. Much to his own consternation, he had even won the respect of these beings, in particular their leader, who promised him, after the last of them were sent back, that they would no longer answer the call of Riddle. He soon found out, that Riddle had inexplicably lost all knowledge as to how to summon such beings and now, he, Harry was the only one with said knowledge, due to absorbing the knowledge contained within the penultimate horcrux during its destruction that fateful night in the forest.
It was during his encounter with Dumbledore, that he met said being, and it was explained to him, that as the only guardian of said knowledge for the last six months, after the returning of the final being to their own dimension in multiple pieces, it was up to him to keep that knowledge out of the hands of those that would use it to do harm.
Just as he was about to get lost in memory, Chakotay returned with Annika, and seeing the distress Harry was clearly in, she rushed over to him. Chakotay reached out a hand to stop her, but a shake of Janeway's head stayed his hand.
She grasped his hand, and without warning, a golden glow enveloped the pair. Fawkes, sensing that the soul bond of his familiar had completed, lit on the shoulder of Harry and started to sing. The song was one of love and hope and gave strength and courage to all who heard it.
As soon as the glow died down, a voice, not of anyone on board voyager boomed throughout every mind on the ship.
"Demon slayer! I would speak with you! It has been four hundred human years since you were last seen here. The one that carries the name bad faith, summoned me here! I do not wish to remain. However, he summoned me here to deliver a message to you, should you return. I am not a messenger, Child! I would know how one of bad faith retained the knowledge after I stripped it from the minds of all humanity save yours!" Harry's face darkened again, because he knew who this was. It was the very being he had struck an accord with so many centuries ago. Yet, to him, it had been a scant few weeks.
Harry, despite the situation, began to laugh uproariously.
"hahahaha! Bad, hehehehe, faith! Bwahahahaha! Why couldn't I have thought of something like that back when I was in school? Bvahahahahaha! Malfoy would have hated it! I can just hear him now. 'Wait 'til my father hears of this!' hehehehehehehe!" The crew all thought he'd finally cracked under the strain of temporal displacement, but were further shocked when the booming voice, less forceful began to laugh in their minds as well.
"ah, yes, bad faith did seem the type, although, he did learn his lesson and became his own man after your disappearance, Guardian. I will deliver his message directly to your mind, then, I wish to be sent back. I am tired, and my time in this dimension has weakened me. I wish to return home and see to my people." He said in an even softer voice.
"It shall be done, Lord Balthazar." Harry intoned, power ringing in his voice. At that Revelation, it was Harry Kim, who got it first.
"B-B-B-Bal-Balthazar? As in one of the three kings?" He stammered out with incredulity.
"The very same, Child." Came Balthazar's voice.
"When Flight From Death summoned us, he fashioned bodies for us from the dead, further desecrating them and not giving them the respect all things deserve. It was only through the actions of the young clay worker that we were able to break the abominable bonds Flight From Death placed us under."
"Clay worker?" Kim pondered,
"He means me, young grasshopper." Harry teased in a fair imitation of an old Asian mentor he had once had in his younger years.
"Lord Balthazar, I would ask only one boon of you." Harry asked with deference in his voice and posture.
"Name it, Child, in return, along with the boon I ask of you, I will grant you another. I will also make one final request of you, and I will consider our accord still in effect." Harry's eyes widened, and he scowled.
"please, no, I do not need or require more power." He bit out.
"Child, I understand, I truly do, however, I have gathered together all the magic I have, and wish to bestow it upon you. Please, Guardian, I will not die, as you incorrectly assume, for when you send me back, I will regain it in equal measure. Without it, you cannot open a rift to send me back. Please, young one, I implore you to accept. As my power will be freely given, you will have little difficulty with control." He said with as much pleading as one such as he could muster, which was to say, close to none at all.
By a strange coincidence, none at all, was how much choice Harry had, whether he liked it or not. However, he knew better than to deny a gift, freely given by Lord Balthazar. Many had lost their lives for the display of greater hubris and considerably less insult or injury to the ancient being's own. Resigned, Harry again intoned:
"I accept your gift, My Lord. Please, I ask that you repair the ship, None of these beings had anything to do with the actions of Malfoy." Before anybody could do anything, a man appeared among them. He was a dark skinned man, almost black in appearance.
"Thank you, young one, Both you and your life mate will benefit from this." He said with more gratitude than Harry expected.
Opening his hands out from the fists he had them clenched in, he place one each on the heads of Harry and Annika. Both of them were enveloped in an emerald glow, similar to that of Harry's eyes for the next minute, yet, only Q was able to break himself out of the shock long enough to shake his head at Harry and comment,
"I should have accounted for the Potter Factor. Nothing is ever normal with Picard, DS9 or Voyager, but, you take the cake! I freely admit to wanting entertainment, and often times for my own amusement, but shit! The friendship, and loyalty of a greater being? I knew I should've paid more attention to the twentieth century." He muttered to himself, but, apparently, not quietly enough, as Balthazar Laughed heartily.
"ah, but you did, Q, or should I say, Doctor?" Balthazar laughed again, seeing the look of shock on Q's face.
"Of course I knew who you once were, impudent child, There were many things the Time Lords could not undo. The natural progression of this universe was one of them. Earth's history was another, save for the small changes that didn't do much to stymie the very progress that your race so casually snuffed out in the last iteration of this entire universe with your feckless impulse to become the masters of the universe. You, of all beings should have known that there were greater forces at work, but, instead of using the moment to stop both time Lords and Daleks, You rewrote the very fabric of the universe, taking at least one of those races out of existence entirely. Granted, the Daleks were never supposed to be brought in to being,, but neither were you to become omnipotent, lazy, and disgustingly arrogant. I had hoped for better from you, Theta Sigma!" It was this declaration of that particular name, more than anything, that caused Q to pale and vanish without warning.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone get rid of him without some scathing retort." Chuckled Janeway. Balthazar, however, was not amused, and turned to her.
"Catherine Janeway, I have watched you, I have also seen you travel through time as if it were a Sunday stroll. Q, as he is now known was always a curious being, always championing humanity and its progress and ability to adapt and change. Even now, after relearning who he once was, after receiving the memories of what he once was, he is off to confront the very beings that brought this universe as you know it in to being. He will not cause you trouble, as he is rediscovering his own moral compass. Something, if you remember rightly, you had a hand in kickstarting the process of." Janeway's eyes widened and thought back to that time in the Delta Quadrant.
"I see you are remembering." Balthazar said.
"I cannot stay a moment longer, I must impart knowledge to the young Worker OF Clay, then with his help, I must depart back to my own dimension." He said. Harry, knowing what to do, held up both hands, the infamous death stick appearing in his right hand. He began to trace runes in to the air, but, before he could utter the incantation to open the rift, Balthazar waved a hand, and Voyager was repaired with little more than a thought. Looking deep in to Harry's eyes, he began to transfer all he knew to Harry's mind. Harry, before he passed out in to Annika's arms, uttered the incantation, and like a door opening, a rift, large enough for a man to walk through, opened up.
"I thank you, Guardian, you will not be forgotten, and our home will be considered sanctuary for you and yours in perpetuity." Balthazar proclaimed, before casually strolling through the portal. With the sound of a heavy door closing, Voyager's latest encounter was over. Before succumbing completely to unconsciousness, Harry Muttered something that made the Douglas Adams fans among the crew chuckle.
"This must be Thursday, I could never quite get the hang of Thursdays."
"No, lad," Chakotay laughed, "It's Tuesday, actually."
Author's notes and bollocks:
Well, Here's another chapter! Eleven years, but here we are! I won't promise a speedy update, because motivation is scarce around here.
However, I'll see you next time!