Chapter 11: Christmas Part 1
After the long trip on the train the Granger family decided to get take out for dinner, so they stopped at their favorite Chinese restaurant to pick up everyone's favorite dishes. Once they arrived home they set out the dishes and sat down to dinner. They limited the dinner conversation at the table to small talk about the weather and getting to know Sally Anne better. After all, the Grangers agreed to be guardians for her under Harry and Hermione's recommendation. The goblins at Gringotts helped get the paperwork through the courts in record time. After everyone ate their fill the family retired to the sitting room so the adult Grangers could grill their children on happenings at the school.
"Okay," Mr. Granger said, as he rubbed his hands together, "tell us about your year so far. What's been different from the last time you came through the time line?"
"Well," Hermione said, while thinking, "the main difference is Sally Anne here. Harry and I appreciate you taking her in when we asked you to."
"Me too," Sally spoke up.
"We know Sally," Hermione agreed, then continues, "As you know we met her on Halloween, but what we didn't tell you is how we met her. She literally ran into me while running into the castle crying. We could tell by her aura that her emotions were all over the place. Even though she lives with us in our Hufflepuff owner's suite she is in Gryffindor house. What prompted us to have you become her guardians in the non-magical world is that she can channel Gaia like us. On Halloween she banished a twelve foot high mountain troll into the wall of the bathroom she was in. The troll was let in by a professor we have been keeping our eye on. Sally got caught unawares by the troll while the rest of the students were evacuated to their common rooms. That's when we decided to take her as our ward in the magical world and as a Padawan learner in the ways of the force. Because of the troll, we decided it would be a good idea to upgrade the wards to the school and to extend them to cover the village of Hogsmeade. Now the students can have outings without worrying about their safety from followers of Voldemort."
"We also made a discovery that we think you will like a lot dad," Harry added.
"What was that son?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Well," Harry said, "You remember how you keep going on about how you always wanted to get into the astronaut program when you were in the military?"
"Yeess," George answered, "That was a long time ago though. Why bring it up now?"
"You remember how we discovered one of my ancestors was Merlin?" Harry asked to drag it out.
"You've got my attention son," George said, "no need to dramatize it."
"Okay dad you got me," Harry said, "the thing we discovered is Merlin was not from Earth. We went into the ward room to upgrade the wards and found a tall obelisk covered in runes. That, in and of itself, is not unusual for a ward stone. What was different is the stone has two indents that are the shape of our staffs. Hermione and I inserted our staffs into the slots and to our surprise they triggered a hologram of all things. The hologram was of Merlin himself and he explained how the ward room came to be built."
"Dad," Hermione took over, "the ward room for Hogwarts used to be the bridge of the starship Merlin flew to our galaxy in. He crash landed in Scotland where Hogwarts is now and had the castle built on top of it. He later gave the castle to his great grandson Godric Gryffindor who along with the other founders established Hogwarts School."
"Now for the good part dad," Harry said with a gleam in his eyes, "He also left us a working space ship with hyperdrive and space folding capabilities. We were instructed to patrol our area of the galaxy, so when we go to do that there is no reason we all can't go."
"Looks like you will get to space a lot sooner than anyone else." Hermione said with a grin to match her dad's, "The astronauts are limited to Earth orbit, but we are not."
"Is that the surprise you were talking to Neville about Harry?" Sally asked.
"Yes Sally," Harry answered, "since you are family we decided to let you in on the secret before the others. We still have to test fly the ship first to make sure it is safe for the family before we all go out in it. Hermione and I would survive if we had a sudden decompression due to our powers but you three would not. As soon as we deem it safe you will be the first to go up in it."
"I can't wait," Sally said excitedly.
"Me neither," Helen added with a nod from George.
Hermione gave out a big yawn causing everyone to chuckle a bit.
"I think someone is a bit sleepy," Helen commented.
"I am mum," Hermione said, "It's been a long day with healing the Longbottoms and the long trip on the train. If it weren't for our friends we would just phase home to save you the trip to London."
"You need to spend time with your friends Hermione," Helen said wisely, "Enjoy your friends while you are all still children. Well, you know what I mean."
She added that last part due to their true ages.
"I know mum," Hermione yawned again with Harry joining her, "I think I'll just take my husband and retire for the evening. Good night all."
"Good night you two," Helen said, "If you'll follow me Sally we will show you where your room is. You can decorate however you want. You are allowed to use magic here because of Harry and Hermione's status as adults in the magical world."
"Cool," Sally said, "I couldn't do that at the orphanage for obvious reasons."
Helen showed Sally her room and then she and George retired to their room for the night.
ooOOoo
While Harry and Hermione were sleeping, a pair of silver cylinders appeared on their bedside table, along with a box full of crystals and a note.
At Gringotts the director was working at his desk when a box appeared on his desk with a note attached to it. He picked up the note and read:
Plant these in a cavern so the person hunting them
will have to earn the right to harvest one of them as part of
the rite of passage to earn the title of master of the Jedi Order.
I brought these crystals here as they are not native to this galaxy.
This is very important for the task I have set for my chosen ones.
You and your clan have been picked to be the guardians of the holy crystals.
If any in your nation can feel the resonant power from the crystals
they are to contact the Pendragons for training in the order. It would be
wise to follow their council.
TC
Director Ragnok was in awe of the note and opened the box to peer inside and when he picked up one of the small crystals from the box it sang to him in his mind.
ooOOoo
Helen Granger was awakened the next morning by a persistent humming sound. She kept swatting at her ear trying to chase the perceived insect away. When that didn't work she sat up in bed to listen.
"Huuummm, chiiii, chi chi chi chiiiiiiii," she heard. She turned to her husband and shook him.
"George, wake up," she whispered urgently.
He turned groggily to his wife and mumbled, "waas up?"
"Listen," she said.
"Huuummm, Huumm, chiiii, chi chi chi chiiiiiiii," they both heard.
"What is that?" he asked, looking at his wife.
They got up and put their dressing gowns on. When they exited their room, they noticed Sally poking her head out as well. She and the Grangers followed the sound down to their basement. When they opened the door, the trio saw a sight they never thought they would ever see in real life. Even Sally was bit skeptical before, but now she was a firm believer. Harry and Hermione were standing there in their training clothes with light sabers in their hands sparring with each other. The action was so fast and furious; the Grangers could barely follow the light of the sabers as they swing. Hermione forced Harry to retreat toward a nearby support pillar with her flurry of attacks. She swung at Harry and he deflected her saber with a block of his own and she accidently sliced through a support pillar holding up the basement ceiling.
"Oops," she said and with a quick Reparo, continued the fight.
After another ten minutes of this the couple finally noticed the Granger's, along with Sally standing there with their mouths open. They saluted each other with a bow holding the sabers pointed up and then deactivated them and placed them back at their belt hooks.
"That was exhilarating Harry." Hermione said, "These are easier to use than I thought they would be."
"I agree," Harry said, "I think we might have scared our parents and Sally though."
"I wasn't scared," Sally protested, "just surprised."
However, Helen Granger was nodding vigorously in agreement, "That looked very dangerous; especially when you cut through that pillar."
"It's not dangerous to us mum," Hermione said while igniting her saber. She ran her finger along the blade to show it wouldn't hurt her and when Helen reaches out Hermione moves it away quickly and deactivated it.
She reattached her saber to her belt and explained, "It's not dangerous to Harry and me, but it will do everything you saw light sabers do in the movies and more."
"So; Star Wars really is real," Mr. Granger stated, "I only half believed."
"I'm not sure if Star Wars is real or not," Hermione said, "but based on these and the note we found with them it might be."
"What about the light sabers," Mr. Granger asked, "how did you come by those?"
"They were on our bedside table when we woke up this morning," Harry answered.
Flashback
Harry and Hermione woke up at their normal time of five AM and stumbled into the bathroom to brush their teeth and use the water closet before their morning workout. They washed their hands when finished and give each other a morning kiss and then returned to their room to get dressed in their training clothes. Hermione looked over at their bedside table and spotted two cylinders sitting next to a box with a note on it. She picked up the note and read it.
"Harry, look at this," she said handing him the note.
He read it and said, "It looks like the Creator is helping us out again. Even though we know how to build them we wouldn't have been able to because of the special crystals needed. The crystals in the box are for training only and Ragnok has been given the full powered ones to grow for us. He has been instructed to plant them as a test for our Padawan's to become fully fledged masters."
Hermione reached out to one of the cylinders and it shot into her hand and ignited, with a snap hiss sound, a green blade extending from the end.
"I can feel the crystal inside singing to me in my mind like it was made just for me," Hermione said in wonder.
Harry extended his hand to the other one and it flew into his hand and ignited.
"Me too Hermione," Harry said, "this is wonderful. Let's go to the basement and try them out. Don't want to wake everyone up and there is no room for sparring up here."
The pair turned off the sabers and walked quietly down the hall to the stairs and then through the kitchen to the basement. When they arrived, they cleared out enough space to spar in with a wave of their hands. They lined up facing each other, reignited their sabers and with a salute started sparring. They discovered that they couldn't be hurt by the sabers and decided to test their skills in an all-out battle.
End flashback
"And that is when you walked in on us," Harry said, "sorry we woke you up."
"Don't be sorry, son," George said, "That was very impressive."
"Is that what you plan to teach me?" Sally asked.
"Yes Sally," Hermione answered, "Our family will become the first Jedi Knights in this galaxy."
"The first of many we hope," Harry added.
"Let's hope Lucas Arts doesn't decide to sue us for copyright infringement," George joked.
"I hardly think that will happen," Hermione said, "If it ever comes up, we will tell him that the Jedi have been around a lot longer than them. Who knows, maybe one of his ancestors came from the galaxy the Jedi's originated in. The knowledge of how to build these is in our data base in the school ward room and it had to come from somewhere. Maybe Merlin was from there as well. His ship is certainly armed to the teeth; only I think the ships weapons have been enhanced somehow. The armaments don't look like the ones in the movies. They look closer to the ones in Star Trek in shape and color. That is one of the things we plan to test out in the asteroid field beyond Mars."
"This must be one of the jobs mentioned by the Creator when he sent us back Hermione," Harry speculated.
"I agree," Hermione said, "The sooner we try them out the sooner we will know for sure. We've got time today if you want to. We can do our shopping tomorrow or the next day. We have three weeks before we have to return to school."
The pair looked over to their parents for permission with puppy dog eyes and their bottom lips stuck out.
"You don't need our permission you two," George said, "You are older and wiser than us."
"While we appreciated the praise, you are still our parents," Harry stated, "We will always look up to you and be your children; no matter our true ages."
Helen and George walked over to their children and give them a hug; all three including Sally, which made her feel on top of the world at having a true family, finally.
"Go ahead you two," Helen said, "I'm just as anxious as your dad to go into space. We were both in line for the program but got passed over since were married and at the time they were only taking singles because of the danger. They've eased off on the requirement these days, but now we're too old. Besides, we have you, Harry and now Sally Anne to think about."
Harry and Hermione hugged their parents and ran up to their room to get cleaned up and changed into their Consular robes. They then phased directly to the control room of the ship to prep it for take-off.
"Just a minute Hermione," Harry said, "before we leave let's see if our elves want to come with us."
"Good idea," Hermione said, "They might like it as much as we do."
"Tippy? Dippy?" Harry called out.
The two elves popped in at his call and look around in awe of their surroundings.
"You called My Lord?" Dippy asked.
"Yes," Harry answered, "Hermione and I would like to know if you want to go with us on a little trip."
"Where are we going My Lord?" Tippy asked, "And what is this place?"
"You are aboard Merlin's old Captain's Yacht," Hermione said, "It's a space ship that will allow us to travel to other stars."
The two elves stiffened up momentarily and then relaxed.
"We understand now My Lord and Lady," Tippy said, "We would love to go with you."
"What do you mean you understand now?" Harry asked, "Why did you stiffen up just then?"
"It's what happens to elves when we receive the knowledge needed to serve our masters properly." Dippy answered, "We were given the knowledge on how to run certain systems aboard the ship and a general knowledge on the rest of the ship. If you tell us to go somewhere on the ship we will know where it is now and what to do when we get there. The systems we know best are things elves like to do such as maintenance and how to operate the mining system and process any ores we might pick up. We also know how to operate the cargo systems to bring anything into the cargo bay and store it properly. All the elves at Hogwarts now have this knowledge."
While they were talking, the elves from the castle were restocking the food replicators with the raw ingredients needed to make any meal. The linens in all the staterooms were changed with freshly laundered sheets and pillow cases. The elves were very happy to have something to do since most of the students were gone from the castle for the holiday.
"Very well," Harry said, "Take stations at life sciences and tactical for take-off and then you can move about the ship doing your regular duties."
"Aye Aye Captain, "they said in unison as they took their seats.
Harry sat in the left chair and Hermione in the right chair. After touching a few pads on each of their control panels, lights started to turn on all over the ship as it powered up. Outside, on the wings of the ship the reddish strips started to glow slightly and running lights turned on. The shaft to the surface had strips of lights that came on to illuminate the interior of the hanger and shaft all the way to the top. The antigravity drive spun up with a low rumbling sound that was reverberated within the confines of the hanger causing the walls to shake from the power generated. Harry ramped the engines to full power and the ship that had rested for over a thousand years beneath Hogwarts started to rise off the floor. He touched a pad on his console and the landing struts retracted into the ship.
"Let's go to the moon first, Harry," Hermione suggested, "In my dreams last night I was told we would find something interesting there."
"You're the navigator," Harry said, "the moon it is."
He touched another pad and the ship slowly rose up the shaft to the top of the mountain behind Hogwarts. On the top of the heavily forested mountain was a plateau with a nice meadow that had a small pond that was currently frozen over. In the summer time it was a favorite watering hole for the wildlife in the area. The ground started shaking a bit as the meadow with the pond lowered into the shaft below it and then moved to the side into an open area made just for it. Out of the now open hole in the ground a sleek black wedge-shaped ship ascended gracefully and rotated until it was pointed in the direction of the moon which was in the new moon phase, meaning the backside was lit by the sun.
ooOOoo
Inside the castle the staff and the few students that didn't go home for Christmas were sitting down to breakfast when they observed the liquid in the cups of tea and pumpkin juice started to ripple as if something was vibrating the surface, making the liquid have waves. Then the plates started rattling and everyone could feel a deep resonance in their bones.
"What's going on Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked getting frightened.
The rattling started to get louder and harder with the walls and pictures now moving.
"Everyone out onto the front lawn," Professor Dumbledore said urgently, "we may be having an earthquake."
The headmaster conjured cloaks for everyone as they scrambled to get outside before the walls fell in on them.
"But we've never had an earthquake before," Professor Flitwick squeaked as he ran behind the others; not here in Scotland anyway."
"I know," Dumbledore agreed, "And that is what is worrying me."
They all made it out of the building in good time and gathered on the front lawn. Hagrid was running up from his cabin and approached the headmaster.
"Was hapinin?" he asked.
"THERE," one of the students yelled out pointing towards the mountain behind the castle.
Everyone turned to watch as a black wedge shaped something rose above the spires of the castle and gracefully turned towards the moon and in a flash accelerated away, causing a loud boom like thunder as it disappeared into the sky.
Professor Snape pulled his shrunken broom out of his pocket and expanded it. He mounted it quickly and flew up to where the thing seemed to come out of the mountain. He got there just in time to watch the meadow with the pond move back into place, sealing what he thought was a large hole in the ground. He flew back down to the headmaster, landing near him. He dismounted his broom and after shrinking it put it back in his pocket as he walked up to the teachers gathered, looking at him.
"I don't know what that thing was," Professor Snape reported, "but when I got up there I watched as Founder's Meadow was moving to cover what looked like a large hole in the ground. That meadow is at least a hundred and fifty meters in diameter and has a large pond in the middle of it. What could move a piece of land like that? And don't say magic either. I know of no magic that could do what I saw."
"That had to be a space ship," Sara Pickford, a second year muggleborn student said, "at least it looked like one I saw in a movie once, but it was the wrong color and too small."
"What's a space ship?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Impossible," the muggle studies teacher said, "the muggles don't have these what did you call them; spaceships? They just started using horseless carriages."
A couple of the other teachers along with Professors Snape and McGonagall looked at him incredulously.
"Even I know they have had automobiles for a long time," McGonagall said with Snape nodding, "I think we need to look at your teaching materials."
Sara spoke up, "But they do have spaceships professor. I know I didn't pay much attention in history class in primary school but even I know the Americans have been going to the moon in space ships. I learned in class that the first man to land on the moon was in nineteen sixty nine. However, they have to use rockets to escape Earth's gravity and they don't look anything like that space ship that we just saw."
"You mean muggles can go to the moon and back?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Yes ma'am," Sara answered, "they even have machines that have gone to Mars and the other planets. I've seen pictures in books."
"My word," McGonagall said, "What are we going to do Albus? What if it comes back? I thought muggle devices couldn't work around here because of the amount of magic in the air."
"I don't think we have anything to worry about," Albus assured everyone, "Harry and Hermione upgraded the wards to their maximum capability. If my suspicions are correct, that was probably them we saw earlier. The only thing I can come up with, Severus and Minerva is that device must have already been here and has been for a long time. Only the Potters can tell us what it is and what it means."
Snape shuttered at the thought of the Potters with that much power at their control. He definitely did not want to get on their bad side. He smiled a bit inwardly at the thought the dark lord stood no chance whatsoever against them. Now he just has to redeem himself enough to get rid of that blasted tattoo on his arm. He looked around at the other teachers to grade their emotions about what happened and observed Professor Quirrell by himself, apparently having a conversation with his self. After what looked like a wince in pain the professor straightened back up and walked into the castle.
"Okay everyone," Professor Dumbledore said, "It should be safe to return to the castle. If that thing comes back we will just have to ignore it for now. It obviously belongs here as part of Hogwarts, albeit an unknown part before now."
The teachers and students all returned to the Great Hall and their disrupted breakfast that was kept warm by the elves.
ooOOoo
"You think we got their attention Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I'm sure we did," Harry answered as they were leaving the atmosphere, "I made sure the engines were just enough out of tune to rumble the building as we took off. With the ship cloaked we should be able to get back in without anyone being the wiser."
"Good thing you cloaked the ship as soon as we entered the cloud bank," Hermione said, "I'm sure the muggles picked us up on their radar. I detected a few blips on my sensors as we were ascending."
"At the speed we are moving they will probably think it was a glitch on their screens or something," Harry assured her, "We will need to reveal ourselves eventually, but let's check out the neighborhood first."
"Setting course for the backside of the moon," Hermione said formally.
"At your command," Harry responded.
"Course plotted and laid in," Hermione said, "you may execute when ready."
"Here we go," Harry said, "ETA to the coordinates you set, ten minutes."
Harry touched a pad on his console, which responded with an acceptance beep and the ship accelerated very quickly. Harry and Hermione looked out the window in front of them and watched as the moon grew steadily larger as they approached. After watching for a couple of minutes they got busy on their various consoles doing diagnostic checks on all systems to make sure they were running correctly. They wanted to bring the family into the ship, but they also wanted to make sure it was safe for them. The couple worked quietly for a few minutes until Harry declared:
"All systems show good on my side. Con is good and weapons show they are on standby and ready."
"Internal and external sensors show good," Hermione reported, "Replicators and transporters are on line and ready for use. Structural integrity sound and holding. Bio matter interface ready. All we need to do is inject the nanites and we will be able to communicate with the ship and our control room under Hogwarts through our minds."
As she said the last bit, two hypo-spray cylinders materialized on the console in front of them. They each took one and allowed the micro miniature computers to enter their bloodstream where they spread rapidly throughout their body enhancing their senses and giving them a better awareness of their surroundings.
"Wow," Harry said, "What a rush. I can feel the air moving around in the cabin and my sense of smell has increased. I can feel another presence in my mind besides yours now."
"That must be the ships Bio-AI you sense," She answered, "I can sense it too. I think we will be able to control the ship with our thoughts now. This could come in handy in an emergency."
As the Potters integrated more and more with the Phoenix they realized they could sense the space immediately around the ship. They found they could also passively sense out to about fifteen parsecs1 around the ship clearly and out to about fifty parsecs with active scans, which was enough to see if there was any activity worth investigating. The passive scans were good for monitoring a system of planets for life and any space going vehicles without giving their position away. The active scans could be picked up by others if they were monitoring the right frequency. If nothing else, they would detect an energy signal that they may or may not be able to interpret depending on their level of technology. Earth radar wouldn't know what it was seeing and might burn out from the power while an advanced species might recognize the high powered signal, but not be able to interpret it as a scan. The technology aboard the Phoenix was much more advanced than what was currently available in the Milky Way galaxy. This was by necessity, as the galaxy Merlin came from was much more violent and Merlin built the mother ship the Phoenix was a part of to get away from the violence.
"This is wonderful," Hermione said in wonder, "I can sense a planet with life about fifteen light years from here. I'm also picking up an anomaly on the moon that shouldn't be there."
Harry reached out to the moon's surface to confirm her scan.
"I can sense a metallic structure beneath the surface on the side of that large crater on the north side of that canyon," he said, showing it to her in her mind.
"I see it," she said.
Hermione used the ship's sensor console to record her findings and put it up on the screen to examine it in more detail. The screen showed a three-dimensional display of what looked like a base buried underground with a hanger for spacecraft and several rooms for other uses. She focused an active scan and detected a database she could tap into and started to download the information contained within. The computer in the base attempted to send out a signal to the planet Hermione had picked up earlier on passive scan, but she blocked the signal.
"Did you catch that?" Hermione asked.
"Yea," Harry said, "looks like we need to check out that planet you scanned earlier to see if they are friend or foe. From the looks of this data the computer says whoever built this base had been monitoring Earth for many years and only left when we started sending men to the moon. They buried the base before leaving and left a message for us to come visit."
"I guess they figured if we found the base we might be advanced enough to seek them out." Hermione concluded.
"Well, the ship is in tip top shape," Harry said, "You want to bring the parents?"
"If they want to come along," Hermione said, "I'd love to have them. The ship should keep them safe if we run into any hostilities."
Hermione plotted a course to take the Phoenix back to hover above London so they could pick up the rest of the family.
"Course plotted and laid Captain," Hermione said with a grin, "Ready when you are."
"Aye Aye Captain," Harry said with a grin also and touched a pad on his flight console.
The ship changed direction and headed back to Earth. Harry activated the cloak again to keep from being detected and when they arrived he put the ship in a stationary orbit above Crawley. Hermione activated the communications console and tapped in to the wireless phone service and then called her home.
Back at the Grangers, the three left behind were relaxing in the sitting room watching the television while waiting for the Potters to return. The phone in the hall started to ring. Mrs. Granger got up to answer.
"Granger residence," she said into the receiver.
"Hi mum," the voice on the phone said.
"Hermione?" Helen answered surprised, "I thought you were going out into space. Where are you?"
"We are in space mum," Hermione answered, "we are in stationary orbit about seven hundred kilometers above Crawley. You guys ready?"
"Yes," Helen answered, "We have a travel bag for each of us and are ready. How are we going to get onto your ship?"
"We will bring you up with the transporters," Hermione said, "just like in Star Trek."
"Are you sure it's safe?" Helen wanted to know.
"We're sure mum," Hermione said, "Harry has gone to the transporter room to bring you up when ready. We have the house on our sensors and can see three life forms in the hall where the phone is. Grab your bags and he will bring you up."
"Okay Hermione," Helen said and hung up the phone.
"I wonder if this will be different than a port key?" she asked George who had been listening in.
"We're about to find out," George said as they all started feeling tingly all over their bodies as the transporter effect took hold and the trio disappear in a swirl of light particles. An instant later they materialized on a platform in room with Harry standing behind a control console.
"Hi everyone," he said, "follow me to the bridge."
They group exited the transporter room and headed to the bridge which was a couple of doors down the hall.
"That was certainly a different experience," George commented.
"Yea." Sally agreed, "Nothing like a port key. No spinning."
They entered the bridge of the ship and the Grangers and Sally could see the Earth below them on the main view screen.
"Have a seat everyone," Hermione said, "Next stop is the asteroid field for some target practice."
The Grangers and Sally sat down in the available seats and watched the screen as Harry touched a pad on his console and the ship accelerated out of Earth's orbit on a course for the asteroid belt. The trip would take a couple of hours at sub-light speed so the Potters put the ship on auto and showed their family around the ship, assigning quarters for everyone to use whenever they were aboard. The tour ended in the Captains dining room where they sat for breakfast after visiting the food replicators to choose what they wanted to eat.
ooOOoo
1 Parsec = 3.26 light years
Thanks for reading.