Chapter Twenty-One: The Boy and His Toys

"Well, here's what I found out," Bill Weasley said. He held up a hand. "Flagrante curse." He pulled one finger down. "Geminio curse." He pulled a second finger down. "Dragon." He pulled the third down. "And that's atop the normal security for the bank."

Hermione sank down on the couch. "I was so hoping it would be a big dog and a few word puzzles," she said.

"Goblins don't play nice," Bill said. "They don't want to capture potential thieves, they want to kill them in as painful a fashion as possible."

"Well," Black said as he took a swig of firewhiskey, "I see sitting in my parlor a Gringotts employee and a dragon handler. Add to that the brightest witch of her age, and I'm wondering what the problem is?"

"I hate to say this," Hermione said, "but the easiest way to get there would be to imperio one of the Lestranges and make them go in."

"Rabastan is dead," Sirius said. "Died at Hogsmead. I believe Rudolphus is also dead. But I'm not sure. That leaves the worst of them all—my dear cousin Bellatrix."

"You wouldn't know where dear cousin was, would you?" Hermione asked.

"I don't, but frankly it wouldn't matter," Sirius said. "A strong will can fight off the Imperius curse, 'Mione. You know that. She's a fanatic. She'll shrug it off easily."

"There's another way," Bill said.

They all turned and looked at him. "But," he added, "it involves Sirius giving you your birthday gift a bit early."

Hermione frowned and looked up. "Birthday gift?"

"Kind of slipped my mind," the older wizard said. "It's really two parts." He reached into his pocket and removed a large, golden skeleton key brimming with charms. "First, I was going to give you the key to the Black Family vault, so that you could go with me and pick out a wedding ring you liked. Assuming, of course, that you wanted to."

Hermione was still staring at the key. "You were going to…."

"Yes," Sirius said. "Not because you took care of me after Azkaban like no other could. Not because you're the brightest, most beautiful witch of your age. But because I love you like I never thought I could. And if you'll have me and all my many imperfections, I was hoping I could be your husband."

It would have the perfect romantic moment, if not for the fact that George and Fred Weasley were in the room.

"Fred, I'm going to cry," George said.

"George, I'm going to cry," Fred said.

They turned and looked at the stunned Hermione and pantomimed tears. "Most beautiful thing…" one began, "we've ever seen," the other finished.

"What does this have to do with getting to the Lestranges vault?" Hermione asked.

Sirius actually turned faintly purple.

"Oh," Hermione said. "OH!" She stood, wrapped the man in a hug and then kissed him so hard and so deeply the four Weasleys in the room blushed to their roots. She pulled back and grinned. "And yes, Sirius Black, I would love to be your wife."

Ben and Luna did not mean to spend the whole night with the McGonagalls. However, after being shown to a room with a comfortable bed and a loo with a shower, the two realized they were simply not fit for any further activities.

"So, how long have you been married?" Marie asked as she walked them up the stairs to the guest room.

"What day is it?" Ben asked.

"It's Thursday."

Ben tallied the days. "We bonded the first Monday morning in October," he said.

"It's been a week and a half," Luna said.

"And no honeymoon?" Marie said.

"I had Dean Thomas's brains blown all over my face the day before," Luna said. Her eyes took on a far-away look. "And Ben here had his stomach ripped out. Thought he was going to die. Thought my knight was going to leave me. But my magic made it better. Still, put a damper on honeymoon plans."

Marie stuttered. "God, child, what is happening in that world of yours?"

"War," Ben said simply.

"But you're just children."

"Yes," Ben agreed.

Marie turned the bed down. "Well, there's no war here tonight. You two get some sleep, and in the morning Sean will help you as much as we can."

Luna nodded, then impulsively reached up and hugged the older woman. "Thank you for your kindness."

Maria nodded. "You're welcome, Lass. Now, you and your man get some sleep." She left and closed the door behind her.

Luna handled the wards, being one area where Ben did not receive more than a rudimentary lesson. He did, however, put silencing charms on the bed and walls. "Come here," he said when they were done.

She meekly walked to him. He removed the scroll first and placed it on a night table. Then he turned his attention back to her and stared to slide her robes off. It was a tender gesture, and not erotic at all. He was looking for injuries that had not healed. "You took a hard tumble," he said as he traced the large bruise on her shoulder. He helped her lift her arms to remove the shirt she wore under the robes.

Luna winced. "It was somewhat unpleasant," she agreed. She tried to reach back to unclasp her bra, but stopped with a grimace.

"Turn around, I'll do it," Ben said.

She smiled knowingly. "I'm sure you will." However, she turned around. "Your shoulder looks worse from here," he said sadly. He unclasped her bra, and she let it fall to the floor.

He continued to unclothe her until she stood nude before him. "That hip looks like it hurts."

"The muggle automobile hit me," Luna said.

"And your knees. That has to hurt."

"The trance helped a little."

He looked up and saw tears in her eyes. "Luna?"

"I'm sure I'm okay," she said, though her voice trembled.

Through their bond, he felt her fear and sadness. The brief respite from horror that marked their bonding was long gone. Now, all she could behold was pain and loss.

His hands were on her. They caressed her with love, but no actual need. They were there for the basic, instinctual comfort provided by touch. Through his touch, he poured healing and love into her with such power and warmth it overwhelmed her.

He stopped only long enough to pull his own clothes off, then stood. She felt his power wrap itself around her body and lift her cleanly from the floor. He did not touch anything but her hand, but with the Force levitated her to the bed.

She lay facing the door, on her good hip. Ben walked around the bed and climbed in beside her, spooning against her body. He was warm and comforting. She could feel his desire, but he did not move to act on it. Rather, he gently wrapped one arm around her waist, snuck another under the pillow holding her head, and held her so close their bodies were almost one.

"I love you," he whispered.

"And I never tire of hearing that," Luna smiled.

"Sleep. I'll keep you safe tonight."

"I know."

She closed her eyes as his heeling power soaked gently into her body, and let sleep come.

When Ben woke the next morning, he had the strangest sense of déjà vu. He was in a strange bed with a beautiful girl lying naked by his side. Her hand was across his chest, her face nuzzled against his chest.

He looked down at her, and smiled. "My space witch," he whispered.

He felt her body tense against his as she stretched, and the hand slowly began creeping down his chest.

This time, he did not jump out of bed. Rather, he smiled and said, "Good morning."

"It is, isn't it?"

Her hand reached its destination. "I feel better," she whispered. She pulled herself deftly on top of him. "And to think we could have been doing this since the morning after you crashed."

"What was I thinking?" Ben said.

An hour later, the two walked down the stairs to the still unfamiliar house. The day outside was grey and wet. "There ye are!" Marie McGonagall said. "I hope you had…." She paused.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"She's…" The older woman shook her head. "She looks much better this morning."

"It's Ben's alien healing powers," Luna whispered loudly. "Sex with him makes everything better."

Nearby, poor Sean McGonagall spewed coffee all over his paper.

"Ohh, coffee!" Luna said in open adoration. "May I have some?"

"Of course, dear," a flustered Marie said.

Luna rushed to the counter and took the creamer. She poured half a cup of creamer into a coffee cup. She then poured three large, heaping spoonfuls of sugar into the creamer. Finally, she poured about a quarter of a cup of coffee in, and stirred it.

All three stared. "Yes?" she said, blinking.

Ben smiled with a shake of his head. "Thank you again, Mrs. McGonagall, for letting us stay. It was very generous of you."

"Not every day you get to house a witch and an alien."

"Or an alien who is also a wizard," Luna said over her barely warm coffee-flavored creamer.

"So," Sean said as he folded and discarded the ruined paper, "what is your plan for getting into the annex?"

"A disillusionment spell," Ben said. "We walk in, grab it, and walk out."

"Pretty sure thermal sensors would pick up even a disillusioned wizard," Sean said.

"Really?" Luna sipped her creamer. "How very odd. I didn't know muggles had devices like that."

"My family are muggles," Sean said.

"And they are a wonderful family too," Luna said. "And you make the most wonderful coffee."

Ben knew what the other man was trying to say. "Luna, I think they object to the term muggle."

"I suppose we could make an acronym for them, then," she said brightly. "I do so love acronyms. Hermione created one called Society for the Protection of Elf Welfare. SPEW. Is that not just delightful? Perhaps BWM for Beings Without Magic, or PWM for People Without Magic, if you want to use people instead of beings."

"Back to the question at hand," Ben said, "there's another method that I know your technology cannot detect. The morning after I crashed, Luna and I went with another friend to investigate the site. I was able to hide us from the soldiers."

"And once you get to the ship, what then? Are you going to just fly away?"

"I wish we could," Ben said. "However I burned out all the propulsion systems when I landed. No, I'm looking for a swoop—it's like a technological version of a broom, but it's militarized and so has weapons. Plus there's a beacon that could help my father find me."

"No, he's not coming to invade," Luna said. "We've had that question a lot."

"I bet ye have," Marie said. She put a plate with a pastry before each of them. "Tottie scones. Good start to a day."

They were indeed very good.

It did not take even twenty minutes to reach RAF Leuchars. Ben and Luna squeezed back into the min-Cooper with their brooms and watched the green but dreary countryside as they drove up toward Leuchars.

"I don't think you should try driving into the actual base," Ben said as they turned onto the main street into the base. "We can fly in without any risk to you or your family. If they're anything like the military from my…world, I guess you'd say, you don't want to antagonize them."

"No, you don't," Sean said. They slowed as they approached a bus station. "The annex is about two miles directly north of the base. Follow the coast and you'll find it. It's essentially just a hangar surrounded by razor wire and electrified fencing." He took a breath. "Look you too," he said, "I can't say I know everything that's going on. But Minnie spoke very highly of you both. Be careful, okay?"

"We will," Ben said. "Thank you for all of your help."

"Yes, thank you," Luna said. She leaned over and kissed Sean's cheek. "Your wife is the nicest BWM I've ever met."

"I'll wager she's the only one you've ever met," Sean said.

"True, but that does not mean she's not the nicest," Luna said.

She climbed out, and Ben followed. Then they pulled out their brooms. Fortunately, it was late enough in the morning that the station was empty. They waited until Sean turned the car around and was out of sight before they mounted and lifted into the air.

RAF Leuchars was nestled adjacent to the Eden Estuary just south of the Firth of Tay. Though the sky was steel gray and cold rain fell around them, Ben could not help but enjoy the greenness of the land, and the life that thrummed through it. As primitive as this world was, he could feel that this was an ancient land that sung with Force power.

Luna reached across the space between then and he took her hand without hesitation.

Finally they flew over the base staying very close to each other and far away from the runways. Ben watched with the same avid interest as Luna as fighters took off and landed. From Luna's perspective, they appeared to be very large, loud and intimidating. From Ben's perspective, they were wasteful and poorly designed. He doubted most of the craft could even make it past the speed of sound, and had no doubt they were not capable of leaving the atmosphere.

"Point me Ben's space ship!" Luna said.

Her wand spun around until it pointed north of the base, and they continued flying along the coast for another two miles until they came to a small crop of hangars just inland from the sea. There were no runways, nor any indication that it was a military base save for the high razor wire.

As they approached, Ben could see tightened security around the outcropping of buildings. There were two checkpoints leading to the buildings, and then a line of razor-wire topped fences, followed by a second line of fencing. Within the fences he could see at least three patrols with four-legged animals.

Finally there was a large checkpoint at the entrance of the largest building.

"That's where it is," Ben said with certainty.

"Let's go, then," Luna said.

They dropped silently toward the ground just to the side of the building checkpoint. He folded the two of them into the Force and walked toward the door. There were two guards on station there, and they were not bored place keepers. They were attentive and kept their eyes open and alert.

They had to wait ten minutes, but finally someone stepped out of the door. Ben gave the weighted door a push with the Force to keep it open just long enough for he and Luna to get in. A guard almost immediately stepped to it and pulled it shut behind them.

"Need to get that looked at, eh?" they heard him say to the man who exited.

Inside the door was a plain room of no more than four square meters. A card reader lined the only door going forward. "This is it," Ben whispered. "I sense fifteen people inside. Can you charm the outer door locked?"

Luna did so, and when she did, Ben lit his saber only long enough to cleave the locks from the inner door.

Immediately alarms sounded as he and Luna rushed in, still invisible in the Force. Almost immediately five men carrying heavy weapons rushed toward the door. Ben and Luna stepped far out of the way and waited as the men rushed inside to investigate.

A Force push caused the door to slam, and a series of charms by Luna kept it closed.

Only then did the two of them turn to survey the interior of the room.

Ben's Stealth-X fighter remained more or less intact. However, it was covered with wires and sensors of various designs and types. It was surrounded by a handful of men and women in white coats. One was actually playing with one of the aft laser cannons. Or was. Upon the sudden slamming of the door, the scientist stood and looked to his nine other colleagues. A quick survey of the room showed there were no other exists. They were essentially trapped.

Ben pulled the two of them from the Force. "Hello," he said.

The researcher who had been playing with the laser cannon squealed like a very young girl. He turned and ran into the open casing of the laser cannon. The resulting clang of his head meeting permisteel rang through the hangar as he fell to his back.

"You might want to be careful around that," Ben said. "You set off the tibanna gas and this building will be blown sky high."

The project leader, a woman in her forties with sky-blue eyes and iron-gray hair, marched imperiously around the ship. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Actually, I was going to ask you what you're doing with my ship."

The woman stopped and gave him the once over. "I am calling security."

"I'm sure you are," Ben said. He removed his short-wave com from a pocket in his robes. "Astromech droid, can you understand me?"

The droid still nestled securely in the back of the ship beeped. "Voice command authorization, Skywalker. Release the cargo pod."

What researchers had assumed was the sleek lower hull of the ship split with a hiss and lowered. Inside was a work of beauty. Ben walked past the stuttering, wide-eyed head researcher.

"It's still there," he said to Luna. "Looks like it survived landing in your pond."

"No need to be rude," Luna said. "The pond's name is Phyllis."

"Right, forgot," Ben said with a grin. He leaned under the ship and switched on the swoop's repulsors and guided it out from under the fighter.

The researchers grouped together and stared long and hard at the hovering swoop bike. "What is that?" the head researcher said.

"Think of it like a very fast motorcycle that gets ten thousand miles to the gallon," Ben said. He ducked back under while Luna stared at the researchers. She walked right up to another woman, this one Indian in complexion, and sniffed loudly. "Plum jam," she said. "I do so love plum jam. You wouldn't happen to have any here, would you?"

"Sorry, no food in the hangar," the woman said apologetically.

"Who are you?" the head researcher said.

"Who are you?"

"I'm asking who you are."

"I know who I am, who are you?"

Under the ship, Ben chuckled to himself as he retrieved a very large high-energy repeater blaster cannon. It was the largest hand-carried weapon he had in his ship, to be used only for those very special occasions.

"What is that?" the lead researcher said as she saw the gun.

"May I have your hat?" Luna asked.

"What? No, you may not have my hat!"

"Could I have hers?" Luna asked, pointing to the Indian researcher. "It does smell so lovely."

"You can have my hat," the other researcher said timidly. She handed it over, and Luna proudly put it over her blonde locks. "Ben, look! I have a hat!"

"And you're beautiful in it!" Ben said.

"Does that mean I'm not beautiful out of it?"

"You're beautiful in, out, beside, on top or under it," Ben said without looking up. He was carefully bolting the blaster cannon to the front of the swoop and rigging the fire controls to provide double his fire power. Finally, he hopped easily the ten feet up to the nose of the fighter, and started digging in the cockpit. He pulled back with a large black box in his hand.

"Got the beacon," he said.

"Oh good!" Luna said with a cheer and a clap. "So, what do we do next?"

Ben climbed down from the ship. He walked to the lead researcher. "I'm the alien who flew this," he told her. "This technology is thousands of years in advance of yours, and frankly I don't think you should have it. So, I've initiated a self-destruct sequence. You can't deactivate it, but you can safely evacuate your personnel. I mean you no harm, but I don't want to give you any better means of killing your fellows. So, my wife and I are going to climb on board my swoop, and we're going to blow a hole in the wall. We'll go first, naturally. After that, you have one minute to get you and your people as far away from this building as possible. I'm sorry for the destruction, but I just can't take the risk of you abusing technology you shouldn't have."

The lead researcher was sputtering. The kind Indian girl was looking scared. Luna handed her back the hat. "Just in case," Luna said. "But thank you all the same."

They climbed on the swoop, which rose two more feet in the air. Ben switched the fire controls from the built-in laser to the blaster cannon module, and fired a single shot.

The entire seaward wall of reinforced cement exploded outward in a shower of dust. Luna then turned and undid all her charms on the front door. Just as the five soldiers came tearing out, Ben yelled, "Get your people moving now!" before he kicked down on the accelerators and he and Luna tore out of the hangar.

"Is there a wind shielding charm?" Luna asked. The wind whipped violently around them. Ben's hand moved to a console in the center of the swoop and pushed a button, and almost instantly the wind stopped.

He slowed a moment later and the swoop rested in air perhaps half a kilometer from the base. He reached out with his senses until he could feel the hangar. "Feels like they all got out," he said.

Luna nodded her agreement. "Did you really set a self-destruct?"

"Sort of," Ben said. He lifted his com. "I slave-rigged the proton torpedo launcher. It'll fire with the release hatch closed. Are you ready?"

Luna wrapped her arms around his waist and nodded.

He pushed the com controller. In the distance, they saw a massive orange ball of fire rise into the sky, followed a second later by the report of the explosion. A few moments later a rush of hot air pushed at them.

"That was a very big explosion," Luna noted.

Ben nodded and reached out with the Force again. Fortunately, the researchers took him at his word and the whole facility had been abandoned. Which was good as the concussive force of the explosion actually caused a partial landslide into the estuary.

"Ben," Luna whispered. "Are those aeronautical planes supposed to be flying at us like that?"

Ben felt the rush of danger as she spoke and looked up as one of the fighter jets launched a pair of missiles at the swoop. "That's not good," he said. "Hang on!"

He leaned forward and shot them toward the deck. The missiles had some type of heat-seeking capability and altered their trajectories to find him. However, so close to the surface they could not execute the full 360 degree turn required to catch him as he flew toward the oncoming jets.

The two missiles slammed into the open field of a small farm and obliterated a large part of it.

"Might be a good time for a disillusionment spell," Ben said over his shoulder.

Luna nodded and quickly disillusioned both themselves and the swoop. To the eyes of the pilots, it appeared they both disappeared from sight.

One of the pilots, a veteran of two wars in the Gulf, switched over to thermal imaging. "Got them!" he cried.

On the swoop, the early warning system blared an alert. "Sean was right!" Ben said as two more missiles came flying at him. At the time of the explosion, Leuchars had four Tornado F3 fighters in the air. Finding their supposedly secret facility under attack, the pilots searched for and found potential targets while the weapons systems officer secured a good radar lock.

They were going to kill the target that attacked their facility.

Ben swerved the swoop back and forth in a serpentine motion as the two missiles closed on his position. "Hang on!" Ben said.

He pulled up on the swoop, cut acceleration briefly, flipped in mid-air, and jammed the thrusters. The two missiles shot past while Ben took them directly toward the oncoming jets. The jets opened fire, shooting large, powerful projectile rounds at them.

Ben spun the swoop and dove again. The jets tried to alter their angle to intercept, but again Ben was flying too close to the ground. As the four jets peeled away in large loops to try and come back around, Ben slowed them and immediately shot south again. He flew just feet from the ground as he sank into the Force to let it guide him.

So close, combat radar systems had difficulty distinguishing him from the ground clutter. With the additional distance he gained by his maneuver, it was doubtful the jets would be able to catch up.

"I'm wondering if it would have been easier to just go to Flamel first," Ben said.

"Well," Luna said as she held him tighter, "even I know not to come between a boy and his toys."