Authors notes
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IV – Air (part one)

Harry was standing in front of his bookcase looking for something to read. However, since he had read all the books several times from cover to cover, he wasn't really inspired by any of them. He was almost tempted to try the Parseltongue book again, but he always ended up increasingly frustrated as he only understood about three words per page, if at all. The decision was taken out of his hands when the ship jolted forwards.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" He muttered as he half-ran to the railing on the other side of the room. He skidded to a stop before he got there. The view was not what he had expected. "Where's the pretty blue light gone? Hey, ship, wanna give me any hints?"

A few seconds later, Harry's motion sensor detection alarms went off.

"Well, alrighty then, I have company. Crap, I'm not dressed for company," he said as he ran his hands over the dirty grey t-shirt and torn jeans. Harry took off towards the ring room, snagging his invisibility cloak on and draping it over his body as he ran at full pelt.

He was now beginning to see the gaps in his logic. His room was at the very front of the ship, the ring room was towards the back, and it was a very big ship. The chances that someone could enter the ship and leave before he had a chance to get there had never actually crossed his mind.

'Dammit, Harry, faster!'

By the time Harry was a few corridors away from the room, he noticed a man walking down the corridor, away from him. He skidded to a halt, his shoes making a noise on the floor. The man turned around sharply and stared past Harry, who clutched his cloak tighter to his body as he sank into a crouch. A few moments passed before the man continued on his way.

'Well he looked human. Could this be his ship? But he doesn't seem like the captain of anything. Is he stuck like me? But no, he didn't appear to be lost, or worried, so he must know where he is, and he must have meant to come here… right?

'Follow him? Or not follow him? What's that noise? Sounds like … crying … screaming?'

His curiosity piqued, he gave one last look in the direction that the man had disappeared to and he began walking at a brisk pace towards the ring room. Just before he reached the noise that had descended into chaos, he turned a corner to the corridor leading to the room, he stumbled on two men, a bit older than himself.

Harry flattened himself against a wall and held his breath as they walked past him. Both held torches, and one carried a gun. Again faced with a choice of whether to continue the last few yards to the ring room or to follow the two men, Harry chose to continue. However, as he got closer he realised that it was the noise blind panic from scared people.

'They won't be able to help me, but the other three might. That first guy seemed to know something, and those two also seemed to be searching for something… well what are you waiting for, go chase after them!'

Harry tracked them down as they were talking about some sort of game, outside the door to an observation room. He snuck in behind them as stealthily as he could. Harry blinked in surprise as the blue light show outside was back in full swing.

The first man was also there, standing in the centre of the railings.

"We're on a ship?" One of the younger ones said.

'Wait, you didn't know that!? I was counting on you lot to know something!'

"Its design is clearly Ancient, in the truest sense of the word," the older man said.

'Correct in one, Mr-I'm-Going-To-State-The-Obvious. Haven't you even seen how some areas of this ship are literally falling to pieces and there are all those holes in some of those rooms. And was that a Scottish accent I heard there?'

"Launched hundreds of thousands of years ago."

'And you know this how?'

"Dr Rush," the younger guy with the gun who looked like he was military said.

"Faster than the speed of light, yet not through hyperspace," the older man known as Dr. Rush continued on.

'And again, what are you babbling about? Can't you at least try to give me a straight answer…'

"What are you doing?" the military guy asked the other guy who was twisting his body to look up and out of the ship.

"Who knows how far it's travel," Dr. Rush said as he ignored them.

"Dr. Rush," the military guy said, "We've got a lot of wounded, we need to get home."

Rush paused and stayed silent.

Harry noticed a sound in the distance, almost like some part of the ship had stopped working.

"Lt. Scott, come in," crackled over the military guy's radio.

"Go ahead," he said.

"We've got a problem. One of the air vents just shut down in here," the female voice said.

'Lieutenant Scott? Definitely military- American? Two names down, one to go … plus all the others back in the ring room. Why would they come here? It's not like they knew where they were going? Did the Room send them here? But what were they doing at Hogwarts… why were they at Hogwarts? Is there another crisis back home? I mean, yeah, Voldemort's gone back maybe some new evil has- how did they get here?'

Lt. Scott looked annoyed as he said, "Copy that." He turned to stare at the back of Rush's head.

"Yeah, the air's getting pretty thin in here too," the unnamed one said.

"What does that mean?" Lt. Scott asked.

"That the life support system is failing," Dr. Rush stated. "We should probably do something about that."

Rush turned and walked out. The two men shared a look before they followed in the scientist's footsteps.

Harry followed too, still invisible. However, at some point he became too lost in his own thoughts and he ended up losing track of the three men.

'So many question- what would I ask them first? What? Why? How? Where? When? Any of those would be a good question to ask- I want answers, finally a chance, but no, it's just a bunch of weird people crowded into a room rolled in panic and injury with a scoop of chaos and a cherry on top.

'They all want to go home, or at least that's what they're all talking about, but that Rush guy seems to be more interested in the ship- Oh, get a grip Harry, you've been in his presence for less than ten minutes, how can you really tell what he's thinking. It could just be the way he is normally.

'It's not like you can just go up to him, or any of them and ask all your questions. I can't imagine that- but what if- Damn it, that gun scares me! What do I have to defend myself with? A wand that is being temperamental and the ship hates magic, and two daggers. Merlin's beard, Harry, you've never used daggers in a real combat situation, just 'cos you saw that auror use a short sword like it was an extension of his arm doesn't mean that you can do the same thing!

'To even use the damn daggers you'd have to get close to the lieutenant, and then be really lucky and hope that he's a crap shot with the gun and that he doesn't know how to fight in close combat, and you haven't even factored in the other military personnel in- technically you haven't seen any, but there was that girl on the radio and there must have been some in the ring room-

'Crap where did they go?

'I don't believe it, they left me! Why does everyone leave me? I- Get a GRIP! You're invisible dammit! You haven't even said anything to them-they don't even know you're here!

'Crap, I'm becoming worse than a first-year Hufflepuff! Just think! They didn't leave you behind, but they will have continued on to wherever they were going… no, they didn't say where they were going, but try to think logically… where would they go? The armoury? They'd want to taken control of the weaponry? No, those things don't work, and you've got all the swords and knives in your room as decorations.

'So where else might they go? Back to the ring room? Maybe, but they're already been there, so somewhere different maybe? The hospital wing- they had injured people, but that's in that direction and they were headed this way.

'Wait, didn't they say something about the air? That there was something wrong with it?- Stupid, really, there's nothing wrong with the air, I've been here for so long now, I would've realised before now, and what are they really going to do? It's not like they're going to be able to actually work the damn controls, they just don't work-

'But, they seem to know things… maybe they can- Control panels, must hurry.'

Harry spun on his heels and started running back towards the front of the ship. He'd managed to get nine corridors away before his feet and his brain connected.

'Dammit! Why I am running back to the control panel near my room? It's not like they know it's there. There's that one nearer the ring room that they've probably found- but there's no guarantee- why does it matter, if they're not there, the chances are they will be there, or I can just go to the ring room and see what they're doing there.'

He turned around again, and headed back the way he came.

Harry was just about at a crossway in the corridor when he almost barrelled into a man and a woman, both who had dark hair.

'Crap! Could I run with making a bit more noise? I don't think that you've announced your presence enough yet?'

"Did you hear-"

"I thought I heard-"

They both said at the same time.

Harry was given an out as they heard shouting coming from the corridor that Harry had been heading down.

'The control room, I knew someone would be there!'

The two turned and headed towards the noise, Harry followed as quietly as possible.

The three of them made it to the room shortly after Lt. Scott and another man with a gun arrived..

"-damn us all," the unnamed guy from the observation deck said as he argued with Rush at the terminal ports.

"You don't know," Dr. Rush said.

"What's going on in here?" Lt. Scott demanded.

The two men stopped arguing, as Rush sighed before saying, "The life support system is on but for some reason it's not working properly," Rush stated, "I'm attempting to reset it."

The younger man turned to Lt. Scott and said, "He has no idea what he's doing."

The other military guy raised his gun and pointed it at Rush. "Step away from that thing." The man who Harry had entered with held his arm out in front of the woman and they moved away from the line of fire. Harry side-stepped with them.

'Why would anyone give the crazy man a gun? It'd be like giving Bellatrix a nuclear bomb and telling her to go have fun-'

"That screen says, that what you're doing-"

"Eli," Rush interrupted. They both continued to talk at once.

"-is going to overload the system. Is that what it says or not?"

"-please, you only think you know what it says on this screen because I embedded a rudimentary version of the language into the game."

'Finally! Someone names the first unnamed guy. Eli. So now, you all just need to name drop for the man and the woman who almost ran into me and the gun-wielding maniac.'

Eli scoffs.

"This is not a game," Rush said.

"Don't touch it Rush," Lt. Scott ordered.

"If oxygen, aboard this ship, falls before critical level, it will become increasingly difficult to concentrate."

"What you're doing could blow up the whole ship," Eli countered.

"Are you sure Eli?" Scott asked even as Rush reached for the controls once more.

"BACK OFF NOW OR I WILL SHOOT-!" The crazy man shouted at seeing Rush's movement.

"Lower your weapon Sergeant!" Scott commanded.

'Not exactly a name, but something to call him by… and really what is the problem? There is absolutely nothing run with the air- I don't have a problem with concentrating- well I do have problems with sleeping- but my concentration is fine-'

"No, he screwed us once, I'm not going to let him do it again," the Sergeant shouted back.

"I am going to press that button. It's going to fix the life support, and then you and I," Rush said as he gestured between himself and the sergeant, "and everybody else are going to be able to breathe and think much better."

Eli was shaking his head in the background.

"Don't do it," the sergeant said lowly, his gun still trained on Rush.

Scott moved to Greer's side, "Look, Sergeant, I know you're in a tough situation here, but I am giving you an order. Lower. Your. Weapon."

The man nodded his head slightly, but his eyes were still fixed on Rush who was still resting his fingers over the control panel. He finally dropped his weapon to his side with a crazy half-smile on his face.

Rush took a moment before he pressed the button with lit up.

Eli moved forward to see the screen better as Scott asked, "So?"

Rush said, "Well I suppose that would have been too simple," before he turned and stalked off.

Eli took a better look at the console, before shaking his head, saying, "Apparently that did nothing."

They all exchanged looks of disappointment.

'Well, duh, there's nothing wrong with the air, or the life support, I'm a prime example- hey! Watch where you're going! You almost walk into me, you idiot! Go lean against another wall, that was mine! All warm and cosy. And you haven't even apologised- Oh, yeah, you can't see me… that was still my wall…thief.'

"This may take a little more time, T.J., hang in there," Scott said over his radio as he walked out.

"Copy." She crackled back over.

'So, there's another one called T.J.- she has a nice voice… hey look, Dr. Rush is coming back, maybe he's found something- no, he looks annoyed… again.

' Don't they have better things to do than to work in silence? Hello? People, I need information here! Somebody say something!'

Eli opened his mouth.

'Yes, go on. Something. Anything.'

But it was just a yawn.

'Way to get my hopes up there, mate.'

"Hey, what's this?" The guy who Harry had almost run into asked, as he pointed at a port.

Eli, Dr. Rush, and the unnamed woman crowded into his space. Harry crowded in too, and looked over Eli's shoulder.

"Er- Brody," Eli started. "That's a map of the ship." Harry leaned in closer.

'Wow, I thought it might look something like that but it's…interesting. Strange, though, I mean, you all appear to be scientists or something and he's all excited by a map… Hey- thanks Eli! Another name, you are helpful after all. But- why are you looking at my ear like that? And why are you moving closer to me, haven't you heard of personal space? … I'm jut gonna back away now… slowly...'

"Well, at least we know what the ship looks like," the female said.

"Yes, but that wasn't exactly hard to find," Rush said as he moved away.

"I know," Brody said, "I was hoping that it was actually a life signs detector."

"How would that help?" Rush asked, annoyed at something.

"I just-" Brody said. "I thought I- might have- maybe-"

"Heard someone running," the woman finished.

Rush stiffened while Eli laughed, and then asked incredulously, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, when Park and I heard the two of you," Brody gestured to Eli and Rush, "arguing, well, I heard running and then it stopped abruptly."

"It sounded like it was right on top of us," she added.

'Well, that's not a very good thing. I didn't know you were there. You Ms. Park could have seriously hurt me if we'd collided, and I really don't like pain. Not to mention, there are crazy men with guns on board.'

"You heard running, you say?" Rush queried.

'Crap, he might have heard me running too. Merlin's balls I need to stop running- but it's the fastest way around the ship since I busted my Firebolt!'

Brody and Park both nodded, and Eli looked creeped out, "Are you seriously suggesting that there's someone on the ship with us?" They both shrugged. "Like an Ancient, maybe?"

Lt. Scott chose that moment to walk back in, "Like an Ancient what?"

"Oh, you know, just a random Ancient running about the ship," Eli deadpanned.

Scott blinked. "Ok, then, found anything?" He asked Rush who shook his head.

'Well, it looks like the lieutenant doesn't care… or maybe he doesn't believe Eli… I mean he did say it in that way- but no-one's saying anything, they're all back to work in silence…

'I really wish they would elaborate on the whole ancient thing. It really would kill you to give some clarification to the invisible kid. It's really not nice of you to ignore me, you know?'

"What's that?" Eli asked. "Well it doesn't look like life support."

"Yes I realise that," Rush said as he pressed a few more buttons.

A blue hologram appears to the side of the console, with an image of a star constellation on it.

'I know that constellation… I think, Professor Sinistra … maybe it's- oh, who am I kidding I don't really know much about Astronomy, I failed that OWL- there was that thing going on, with McGonagall and that kinda distracted-.'

"Woah," Eli exclaimed as he moved closer to examine it.

"What are we looking at here?" Scott asked, as he too moved closer.

"It's a star map." Rush said.

"That's the Milky Way," Park said, standing by Eli.

'I knew I recognised it!'

"I believe it is a visual log of the ship's journey," Rush stated.

"So this is where we are now?" Eli asked as he pointed to a flashing blue light next to the constellation.

"No," Rush replied, "That is where the ship originally embarked from."

"Earth," Eli said, as the hologram showed a blue light racing across the screen.

"It's leaving the galaxy," Park said.

"It did, long ago," Rush stated as the blue light zig-zagged across the screen from one blue dot to another.

"That was Pegasus."

'Didn't look like a flying horse, to me…'

"So those points are more stars?" Scott questioned.

"No," Eli said, "they're galaxies."

"Rush, where the hell are we?" Scott asked.

"Several billion lightyears from home," came the reply.

'Oh crap.'

Authors Notes
I'm not planning on retelling every episode with just the addition of Harry and his thoughts. In the next few chapters he'll start to interact with the other characters properly, and you'll get more of his back-story, and theirs.

Next chapter, Air (part two) should be up by tomorrow.