At dinner, Katie sat beside Ajax, on his left so as to be able to converse easily with him.

"What happened earlier?" she asked.

"Draco stole my brooms, 'fessed up to Umbridge, who gave them to him as a reward for his honesty, and then gave me detention when I attacked the willow tree in my anger at the miscarriage of justice. That went just a bit too far and I activated a failsafe to keep me from killing her. I knocked myself out. Amaranth jumped from the tower, invoked the Tau Ceti protocol four as pertains to stolen goods and brought me to the infirmary. I had forgotten to tell her about my little failsafe mechanism, so she was really worried. I presented the case, in full, accurate to the best of my abilities, and requested a commutation of my sentence if I can repair the damage done to the tree by my attack. I'll get his answer after dinner, and I need to talk with Madame Pomfrey after Dumbledore's done…she found something in her scans that she wants to investigate."

"So are you out again? Because if so…" Katie trailed off warningly.

"Back off, Bell." Amaranth warned. "He's mine, and if you do anything to him, you'll regret it."

"Is that a threat?" Katie asked lightly.

"It's a promise." Amaranth said seriously. "Don't fuck around with dragons."

"Does she think she's a dragon?" Katie asked quietly.

Ajax tensed ever so slightly before relaxing again. "She's a dragon animagus." he said. "the draconic instincts are rather strong in her mind, and she has difficulty maintaining human behavior." he said smoothly. It wasn't a lie, as she was a dragon and had the animagus skill.

"Professor McGonagall is an animagus. Maybe she could help your girlfriend with that problem." Katie replied.

"What's her form?" Ajax asked.

"She's a cat." Katie replied. "Why?"

"Just curious. So, if I dangled catnip in front of her, waving it back and forth in front of her nose, it wouldn't affect her?" Ajax asked.

"Uh, she'd probably give you detention from here until next year if you tried that." Katie replied.

"I have no intention of trying it." Ajax replied. "I'll bring it up when I talk with her next. Pass the salt?"

The salt was passed, and Katie went into a tangent about Seeker strategies, which Ajax noted and logged for later analysis.

After the meal was over, Ajax followed Dumbledore out of the hall.

"I have decided to lessen your sentence." Dumbledore said, stopping in front of the gargoyle.

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You will serve a week of detentions with me." the Headmaster replied, eyes twinkling merrily.

"And the conditions of such include…what?" Ajax quested.

"Well, you will repair the tree, but you will be allowed to play Quidditch. I know how the captains are, and I wouldn't want you to be in danger from your team captain." Dumbledore said genially. "Go see Madame Pomfrey, I know she needed to speak with you, then come to my office. The password is lemon sherbet."

The gargoyle sprang to the side, revealing the staircase.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Ajax asked, tapping his fist against the doorframe.

"I was wondering if you would voluntarily return." Madame Pomfrey replied, exiting her office.

"My word is good." Ajax replied, finding a chair. "What did you want to speak about?"

"Do you have a creature inheritance?" she asked bluntly.

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Do you refer to animalistic traits on my person?"

"Yes."

"You could say that it's an inheritance of sorts…what do you know of genetics?"

"Genetics? I've never heard the word before." Pomfrey replied, confused.

"Genetics is the study of the roadmaps for the body. These maps are called DNA, by the Muggles, anyway. A group of rather sadistic Muggles thought it might be a good idea to add in a few maps taken from whichever species of bird it was they chose. The ratio I've got is two avian maps to every ninety-eight human maps, and it's resulted in a few…differences from the normal human. Anything else you wanted to delve into?"

"According to my scans, you were a Squib. Can you do a Lumos spell for me?"

Ajax heaved a sigh, but complied, lighting up the room with the bright glow from his wand. "Nox. Satisfied?"

"No, you shouldn't have been able create that much light." Pomfrey replied, puzzled.

"Don't reveal this, I'm not ready for the backlash it could create." Ajax said, tugging off his glove. "This is why. My becoming a Dragon Rider appears to have strengthened my previously weak magic. Up til now, I didn't even know about it."

"And how powerful would you say you are?"

"I can pull off about twenty Aveda spells without tiring, if necessary." Ajax replied.

"That's an Unforgivable spell." Madame Pomfrey noted.

"Known as such in the United States, yes. Punishable by law…under certain circumstances, but can be used whenever someone feels like it." Ajax explained. "I haven't used it here, but I make Muggle style ammunition with it, for use in extreme situations. That way, I can use a hundred spells and not worry about magical exhaustion."

"You make Muggle ammunition out of the Killing Curse!" Madame Pomfrey asked, shocked.

"Yeah, using the incantation 'dectus'." Ajax replied. "No problem."

"But that's an Unforgivable, punishable with time in Azkaban!" Pomfrey exploded.

"Here, yeah." Ajax replied. "I live on Atlantis. Most of the time, anyway. Besides, I haven't used it since I came here. The Ministry can't pin anything on me, as I haven't done anything illegal here. If that's all, I have a detention with the Headmaster." So saying, Ajax hopped up from the chair, and left the infirmary.

"Lemon Sherbet." Ajax announced to the gargoyle, barely slowing down. It sprang aside, and Ajax continued up the stairs.

Just as he was knocking on the door, Ajax batted aside a mental probe. Opening the door, he stalked in, attempting to look as if he hadn't noticed the probe.

"Fifth year Gryffindor Ajax, reporting for detention, SIR!" Ajax said stiffly, standing to one side of the door.

"Sit down, my boy." Dumbledore replied, feeling slightly off-balance. "Lemon drop?" he indicated the bowl on the desk.

"I was under the impression that I was here for detention, sir," Ajax replied, maintaining his stiff posture, though seated. "Not to eat candies."

Dumbledore's eyebrows went up. "What are you playing at, Mr. Tone?" he asked gently.

"Sir?" Ajax replied. After an expectant pause, Ajax decided to speak. "I'm not playing at anything, sir. I have adopted a formal military stance in my body language and speech patterns so as to foil whatever plot you've hidden deep below the surface, sir."

The headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do you think you would be the target of a plot, my boy?"

"Because I have commonly been relegated to the role of a pawn, sir." Ajax lied. "I have grown weary of such actions towards my person, and have engaged countermeasures to prevent the same from continuing to occur, sir."

"I see." Dumbledore replied. "I could help you with that."

Ajax carefully lifted an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes." the headmaster replied. "Like this: Legillimens!"

This time, Ajax was unable to block the invasion, and decided to change his mindscape before locking Dumbledore inside.

"Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship…Enterprise, her continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, To boldly go where no man has gone before, this time to Stardate 440002.3 for the assimilation of Dumbledore." With that, the voice stopped, and the rather oddly-shaped thing hanging in the black fired something. The pods on the rear flashed blue for a moment, the ship seemed to stretch slightly, then the entire thing flew forward at an incredible speed.

The thing started to make repeated flybys of Dumbledore's head, as a theme played in the background, done by a nice, classical orchestra.

Names in crisp, blue lettering were also appearing and disappearing, though he couldn't make out what they meant. He chose to ignore them for the time being, a little more focused on what the voice meant about 'assimilation' Once more, he found himself looking at what he assumed was the rear of the thing as the blue pods seemed to brighten before finally flashing and it disappeared with a final diamond-shaped flash of light far in the distance.

The scene shifted, and the headmaster found himself standing in the ship, watching as people in strange clothes moved about with frantic urgency.

"Sir!" someone towards the back of the room announced. "The Borg are hailing us."

"Onscreen." replied a balding man, seated directly in front of the previous speaker.

The viewer pinged, and the everyone in the room heard the Borg begin to speak.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service Us. Resistance Is Futile." The chilling pronouncement was followed by a brief screech of feedback as the channel closed.

If the mood was frantic earlier, it was now ordered panic in the room, and even the balding man seated in the center of the room had a hard time staying calm. However, he began issuing orders with a calm urgency, orders that were swiftly carried out. The ship rocked under heavy fire from the enemy vessel, forcing the shields to drop, and then a Borg drone appeared out of nowhere, pausing briefly to battle a bearded man who still had a head of hair, then grabbed the balding one and vanished again.

"They must have some for of appiration." the headmaster mused. "I'll need to look into it."

Surprisingly, the Borg ship broke off it's attack after disabling the Enterprise, beginning it's run towards Earth.

Several hours of hard work later, with ill-used muscles screaming their protest at the Headmaster, the Enterprise had managed to catch up to the Borg vessel.

Once again, the Cube hailed the Federation vessel, this time with video to accompany the audio.

"I am…Locutus…of Borg." the balding man said on the screen. He had been changed, sporting a great deal of odd things the headmaster couldn't understand. The first officer, who had briefly fought with the Borg Drone, looked positively furious, in a cold way.

Onscreen, Locutus continued. "Resistance…is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over." It was a dispassionate statement, almost as if the man was discussing the weather. Others on the bridge appeared to be devastated.

"From this time forward…you will service…Us. You will be assimilated. Resistance…is futile."

The channel closed with the same slight squeal of feedback there had been with the previous hail, and the image disappeared, replaced with the external view of the Borg vessel hanging in the black, still running for Earth.

"We're getting him back." the first officer growled out.

"Indeed you shall." came a familiar voice. Dumbledore found the source of the voice, casually strolling out of a closet, wearing clothing similar to what the others were wearing.

"Who are you?" the first officer asked.

"Specialist Tone." came the reply. "Am I to assume you are THE William T. Riker, current commander of this vessel?"

"That's right." Riker replied. "Why are you here?"

"To insure the return of your captain, since you seem to be near hell-bent on getting him back." Tone replied easily. "Besides, the man knows a good wine, and I'd hate to loose his expertise on such matters."

"Our captain has been stolen from us and all you care about is wine?" Demanded an officer in the back.

"No, Worf, that's not all I care about. I'm also interested in women and song." Tone replied, grinning. "That, and giving the Borg an intergalactic form of 'fuck you'. I want that ship gone from existence, relatively now, and I don't care what needs to be done to achieve that. A word of advice, one that I'm hoping is redundant, don't use any of your typical tactics. Use nothing Picard would have been familiar with, because the Borg know what he knows. An away team could do enough damage to force them to stop, given what I know about the Borg."

"What do you know of the Borg?" Riker demanded.

"Enough." Tone replied. "If I might lead the team? Your place, at present, is here on the bridge."

"Fine." Riker growled. "Get him back if you can."

"Roger that." Tone replied. "Worf, I need your honorable warrior instinct for this, and I think I'll take Ensign Straton and Ensign Dumbledore with me as well."

"What?" the headmaster protested. "You can't do that!"

"Can and will. Unless you'd care to show me a legitimate set of orders that say you out rank me or even Mr. Worf." Tone replied. "Let's move, people."

Tone, Dumbledore and Worf entered the room Dumbledore had considered to be a closet, and Tone said "Deck Ten." The room began moving, and Dumbledore realized it was a lift.

The three were armed with phase rifles, and met a forth on the transporter pad.

"Go ahead, Mr. O'Brian." Tone said, standing ready.

A moment later, Dumbledore was on the Cube, and the group began shooting at things in the ceiling. Worf managed to grab Picard, and Ensign Straton was hit by a Borg weapon.

"It's not enough!" Tone said, "Keep firing!"

The Borg assimilated Dumbledore just as Ajax beamed off of the Cube, and the last thing he heard while still in Ajax's mind was "Beware. This time I went easy on you. Next time, I may not play so nicely. Beware."

Dumbledore jerked as the influence of the Borg hive mind was quickly removed, and he seemed to once again be in possession of all his original limbs. Still, things seemed to be a bit odd, his senses were fuzzy, and he had a hard time thinking straight.

"Well, my boy." Dumbledore said brightly, trying to ignore the mental warfare he had recently engaged in. "I'll be having you do filing for a week so as to keep my office looking clean and tidy. You won't be permitted to use magic to fulfill the task."

"Okay." Ajax replied easily. "I'll file first by stardate, then alphabetically."

When Albus didn't say anything, Ajax looked up to see that the Headmaster had seemingly gone catatonic. "Maybe I'll call the nurse, too." he added.

An hour later, Ajax left the Headmaster's office, whistling brightly. He was holding onto a note from the Headmaster, excusing his presence outside of the Gryffindor Tower beyond curfew.

Hermione and Ron ran into him as he turned to enter the last hallway between him and the Tower.

"You aren't supposed to be outside the tower past curfew." Hermione said. "Where have you been?"

"In the Headmaster's office." Ajax replied. "I was there for detention. I have here an authentic excuse note."

Hermione took the proffered note, checked the signature, then handed it back. "You can go." she said. "Still, it's better that we caught you rather than say, Professor Snape or Professor Umbridge."

"Well, I guess I'll get in there, eh?" Ajax asked. "See you at breakfast."

A/N: So, another chapter done. Just another day in the life, people. Review!

Master of the Blood Wolves: She started deferring all punishment to her a bit later. Ajax is still safe…for now. I'll consider your request as pertains to Amaranth's mind, but at the moment, I'm not ready to do that.