Albus Dumbledore sighed. It was near the end of the year. The Triwizard tournament was obviously a bust. The only thing good to come out of it was Fudge got sacked since he was nominally behind the task changing, even if he had nothing to do with what actually happened.

The champions, plus the others were still missing, though the few that knew how to could communicate through the room of requirement. Very few details of their actual plan were told, which led him to the conclusion that they didn't want him to know their actual plan. He wisely didn't inquire further.

He did know they would begin it soon. There was even a chance they might make it back before the end of the school year. He rather thought there was a bigger chance they would never make it back. Fawkes had been gone the entire time. His bond with his familiar was gone. He was quite sad about that, but when he asked he only heard that Fawkes was well and eager to be reunited with Nadia.

About the only good thing of late was the potions grades. Garnok's brother Marnok was working out very well, well with three fourths of the houses and even the Slytherins privately admitted he was a good teacher.

He had even offered him a full time job, but the sly Goblin had refused to commit. That he was waiting to see what happened to their missing people was obvious. Still, the Nok clan was definitely in ascendance, but they were always one of the more reasonable goblin clans so he had no great problem with that.

He had the distinct feeling that Harry was bringing the great problem, and when did he start thinking like Severus? He shuddered.

Harry flew over Atlantis, smiling as he thought of all their time here. Just ahead of him was Lafiel. With but a thought he caught up with her and called her, "It." Their game of tag lasted hours. It was a good way to spend their remaining time here before they got serious again, which he supposed was any time now.

On impulse he pulled Lafiel into a hug that she hesitantly returned even as they floated back to the ground.

The runic array to separate Nemo had been ready for weeks. The room, like the copy, stored and replayed what they needed when they needed it. All that was needed was to throw the switch. Team blue sat around the five positions easily powering the array that separated Nemo from the wards. His casket opened.

Daphne was the first to speak. She spoke in what she was told was still halting Atlantian. She said, "You are safe. Nadia is safe."

He nodded, even as he tried to awkwardly get up. Daphne held out her hand and helped him, then Harry and Victor helped him out of the casket and over to the one with Nadia still in it.

He immediately spoke in an angry tone. Daphne translated, though most already got the idea. Daphne said, "He says. You should have saved Nadia! Put me back. Save her!"

Daphne move so he could see her face. She replied in the same language, "We intend to save her, but she must hold this place together for a little longer, until we are ready to go."

He touched the casket, a warm white glow gave him some kind of assurance before he asked what their plan was. Before long he ended up in a chair. Food was brought to him. It took them several hours to explain their plan, and even more time to explain their creation of an engine for the ship.

He insisted on going right away and checking on the submarine that he called Nautilus. Victor and Severus picked him up in their flight suits and flew him there, with the others following.

The man looked a bit green when they sat him down, but recovered quickly as he haltingly walked through the submarine checking systems and equipment. The demon engine, as people had taken to calling it, had been slowly cooling without anyone manning it.

When he saw the engine his eyes boggled. Luna immediately sat in her seat and started running the engine up, which led him to rapidly consult several readouts along the walls before nodding absently. He then looked at the empty chairs then back at the readouts before nodding again.

He asked that Luna stay here to continuing to power the systems as the rest went to the bridge. He was able to bring all the systems up, including the scanners which told them they were over a mile deep in the ice.

He brought them to his quarters and had Daphne translate his words.

"Nadia cannot exit her casket without destroying the ward scheme holding Atlantis together. Your trick that got me out is unlikely to work with Nadia, since everything is through her, but you know this. Once she overpowers it, the ward residue will likely keep Atlantis intact for minutes at best. We have to get her here fast. The ward failure spillover will also block magical travel, and probably even Fawkes so how do you plan to get her here before it is too late? Your flying won't be fast enough."

Harry said, "We'll if I had my Firebolt I might be able to get her here fast enough. Well, either me, Victor, or Lafiel."

Hermione said, "We have several perfect crystals left. We might be able to grow something that would act like a broom. I'm not sure we could do nearly as well as the flight suits without spending just as much time, and we only have the few to try with."

When Nemo understood what they were saying he said he would see what he could find.

A day later he gave them the drawings for an Atlantian flyer, which was a two seat light aircraft that they didn't have the facilities to produce. They could, however make the frame with one of the crystals, and possibly even a drive section if they incorporated their own design.

Hermione added her own twist making the rear seat bigger so someone could hold onto Nadia when they flew back. She also added seat belts, even if they had to be transfigured.

They had the flyer ready ten days after Nemo was released. They were already well after the time they planned to leave, which was a growing concern now that Nadia was holding the full weight of the wards. It seemed that their initial work freeing Nemo had made things worse, but there was nothing to be done about it. The Blue Water and Nadia were taking damage. Nothing permanent yet. They could and did feed magic to the gem which reversed that damage, but for Nadia they could do nothing until they got her out.

Of course, ready was an exaggeration. Harry could fly it. Victor could too, but not even as well as Harry, and Harry's was rough, much like an old broom. They had screwed up, but had no time to fix it. Lafiel was their best choice, which was fine, but it was still a failure. Her ability to fly on the barely usable broom translated well here. They settled on Lafiel flying with Harry in the back.

He would focus on simply holding Nadia and moving in sync with Lafiel to stabilize the craft, while she took the rest of their combined skill and flew, or at least that was the plan. He was also there in case anything unexpected happened, since Lafiel would be too busy flying.

Nemo forced himself once more to calm as he sat in his ready room. A cup of coffee sat cold on his desk. He got up and poured it in the small sink before straightening his outfit. These were the same clothes he was imprisoned in, but they were also his only uniform, and it seemed well suited to this day.

Three of the five were in the engine room. The engine was sitting in the caution zone. That was fine. They would need to move quick and the Nautilus was a good ship, even if the bastards had stolen the fusion drive.

He walked calmly to the bridge and sat down. All around him the rest of his new motley crew took their stations. Thankfully they had learned enough of his language because he had failed to learn theirs in the time they had.

He asked knowing the answer, "Status Report."

Fleur Delacour sat at their sensor station. She said, "Harry and Lafiel should be getting Nadia in the next few minutes. Once Nadia destroys the ward the ice melting array will activate outside the ship. After that, we are hoping they will be on board within three minutes. Severus and Samantha are on standby to treat Nadia's injuries. Harry and Lafiel will then join the others in the engine room. We are hoping that the falling wards will open a path to the surface but we expect the weapons systems will have to be deployed."

"Weapons?" he asked.

Victor was at the weapons station. "The missile bays remain empty. The last two perfect crystals are on standby there and have been inscribed with a weapons array we developed, but have not had any magic applied."

"Go ahead and prime them."

Victor asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. The crystals can be recreated. We cannot, and we may not have time during our escape."

Victor directed Severus and Samantha to charge the weapon arrays.

Fleur said, "I'm detecting the beginnings of ward failure. No sign of them yet. The Ice Melt array is active. Ice is beginning to flash to steam."

Nemo nodded, appearing cool as a cucumber. He asked, "Time to ice melt?"

Fleur said, "Five minutes."

On the Flyer, things were much more interesting. Nadia was barely awake, even as Harry held her tight to him. The Flyer was approaching several hundred miles per hour, but it wasn't in a straight line. The ice in the ceiling was forming into spears and trying to kill them.

Lafiel dodged like their lives depended on it, because they did. Harry tried to stay in sync, but Nadia was almost dead weight. It wasn't enough.. He pulled out his wand and started sending blasting curses at the ice projectiles even as he willed the bulk of his magic into the craft and Lafiel's control.

The craft speed up, but then so did the things trying to kill them. Nadia blearily woke up, only to quickly understand their current situation. She touched the blue water, quickly creating a shield above them. Harry stopped his blasting and again fully focused on his link to Lafiel, trying to give the craft as much energy as possible. They got back on track breaking the sound barrier as they blasted across the false sky.

Nadia hung on, continuing to touch the gem as their shield continued to get pummeled by ice. Up ahead Harry could see a gigantic lance of ice far above the Nautilus.

He was surprised when Nadia quickly grabbed his left hand even as she placed her other hand on Lafiel's neck. In their heads she heard, "Your spell. Use it. Destroy the threat."

Harry wasted no time as he felt not the two way link he expected, nor even a three way, but the four way link shoving power into his system. His wand shot out throwing out a foot wide bolt of power vaporizing the threat to the ship and blowing his wand to pieces, only the power flowing through them protecting them and their craft from damage.

Lafiel handed him her wand with barely a thought as they approached the Nautilus, barely slowing down enough to enter the open cargo door.

Samantha closed the door behind them, even as she urged Nadia to come with her to be checked. Nadia ignored them and kept clinging to Harry for support as they moved to the engine room. She was soon assisted on her other side by Lafiel.

Nemo asked again, "Report."

Fleur said, "Nadia is collected and while weak, insists on going to the engine room with the others." Samantha is standing by. Severus is in the weapons room.

"Weapons, disable all safety lockouts. Confirm targeting solution and begin charging. Fire as soon as the weapons capacitors and the engine room are in the red zone. We have to get through a mile of ice. This isn't going to be easy, quick, or safe."

Victor quickly started flipping switches even as he started to monitor the weapons charge state. So far everything looked good

"Sensors. Keep looking for threats. Determine if we have the energy to run the shields and act accordingly. Weapons are given the priority. It's useless if we can't get out."

Fleur looked at the indicators. Their engine was ramping up far faster than the weapons capacitors. She started flipping switches, engaging the ships shield system, which would also serve to bleed heat off from the main guns. Power was still ahead of the guns. She flipped the rest of them on.

Victor said, "Ten seconds until we are able to fire."

"Fire when ready," directed Nemo.

In the engine room they were warming things up at a cautious pace, not even the main weapons capacitors charging was seriously denting what they could do. They thought they were in good shape till Nadia sat between Harry and Lafiel. They didn't have a crystal rod for her, but then she had something better. She lifted the blue water from around her neck and, and place it to the engine, then as if there was a perfect slot for it pushed right in. The engine howled in pain, as power levels instantly doubled.

Nadia said calmly, "Once the neutron blasters fire, they will draw power faster than you can supply it, but not with this, not for a time at least. Just keep feeding energy. I will monitor."

Seconds later the ship started firing, diggings its way out of a mile of ice. The demon engine shrieked louder as they began to vaporize the ice. The steam shooting out quickly ravaging Atlantis even as the Nautilus began to move for the first time in thousands of years.

Outside the wards collapsed completely, leaving only the area around the ship still intact, even as they were buffeted by super-heated steam.

In Norad readings from seismographs around the world were quickly gathered and the readings fused. The technician on staff immediately picked up a red phone. "Sir we have a possible nuclear detonation at the north pole."

"Details?"

"Initial estimates are at least a mile deep, though we think its deeper."

"That's preposterous. We wouldn't even feel that."

"It's not an Earthquake. We have already measured at least a foot drop in some of the land mass."

"Crap. Go to defense condition three and be prepared to go higher. I'll brief the president on what we know. I've got a secure headset. I may not be able to respond, but keep telling me what you know as you know it. No delays."

"Confirmed. The mountain is now at defense condition three. Initial report indicates underground explosion above any known nuclear yield, but initial seismograph readings do not match expected patterns for a nuclear explosion. I repeat initial seismograph readings do not match for a nuclear detonation."

"Does it matter? The guy on the other end said. If this is man made and someone can do that. Find out."

"Confirmed. Elmendorf Air Force Base is scrambling fighters as well as P8A and P3C submarine hunters, but its going to take some time sir."

"I know. Can you tell me anything else?"

"Not really sir. It makes no sense. The depth is wrong for a weapons test and it is hard to believe any sane nation state would test something that large. It draws too much attention. It is almost as if.."

"Yes captain?"

"It is almost as if a chunk of the north poll just dropped down twenty or thirty foot all at once."

"I thought you said you had measured a foot drop."

"That was an early reading. It is up to ten now and continuing."

"Crap. Okay, do you know of any known or hypothetical weapon that could do this?"

"No sir."

"Increase to defense condition two. I'm also authorizing sharing our information with the major powers. If they are behind it, then I can hardly see how sharing the basic information hurts us much. They know we have sensors. If they aren't behind it, we might avoid an escalation."

"Confirmed on your authority, I am directing reports and information for this event to all five eyes allies, with a secondary reports to Russia and China after minimal scrub."

"That will do for now. I've got to disconnect and brief the president. Get the base commander up to speed. If contact with myself or the other joint chiefs is lost then execute the chain of command."

"Confirmed. The base commander is here."

In the Nautilus Nemo calmly asked, "Weapons Report. How are they holding up?"

"All four main guns are entering red levels. Shall I reduce power?"

"Negative. I helped build this ship. Long term damage is likely, but long term is irrelevant right now. Reduce power when you hit the middle of the red band. Try to sustain us there. That should see us through the ice."

Nemo once again wished he had more crew members, and that five of their potentials and Nadia weren't being used as glorified batteries, but the particle canons were never intended for this kind of sustained usage, since no power supply existed that could sustain it, until now that is.

He looked at his own readouts. The most worrying was hull pressure and temperature. The shields were shedding it faster than should be possible, but it didn't look like it would be enough. They also couldn't slow down. The others didn't know it yet, but the canons were already past the point of no return. If they backed off too much they would not fire again, and then they were really dead.

He looked over where Fawkes was, but figured he had gone to join his mistress.

"Sensors. Send a message to the engine room. Inform them that we must shed heat without losing output."

Fleur said shakily, "Message sent sir."

In the engine room they all heard the message. Nadia took Harry and Lafiel's hands and joined in their link with the others. With the blue water they were now seven.

"I grant you all access to the heritage of Atlantis. Take what I know, what my people know and help me find an answer."

Designs were considered and discarded faster than even the fastest thought. The shields were the best Atlantian technology had to offer, but the heat and radiation given off by the main guns were well outside of what they were designed to handle. Lafiel herself did not have this level of technical knowledge. Her ship did, but she did not. Oh she understood the principles on how to create antimatter and the planar space drives, but none of that helped them.

The answer it turned out came from Hermione. They were surrounded by water and ice. They just needed to create a rune scheme that brought particles of ice in direct contact with the skin of the ship and kept replacing them fast enough.

They would have to use magic to keep the hull coated in ice, or at least as close as they could get to it, then when the ice flashed into steam it would take away heat just like muggle refrigeration. The hard part was continually moving new ice to the hull.

They quickly thought of and discarded a dozen ideas. The biggest question was how to draw the scheme. Nadia replied in thought, "Think of what you need and the Blue Water will help you realize it. It is connected to the ship and to us."

As they though it, runes began to rapidly glow across every surface of the ancient submarine before they suddenly flashed alive. Ice began coating the ship and was just as quickly flashed away.

Nadia sent, "I will maintain the ice shield. It will take my entire focus. I leave the rest of the blue water to you."

The engine continue to shriek in pain, even as additional runes appeared on the outside of it to cool and calm the raging fury within.

On the bridge Nemo again asked, "Status report."

Fleur said, "Whatever they are doing is working. Our shell temperature is down to roughly 100 degrees centigrade."

Victor said, "We are about half way there. I'm trying to exit into the ocean."

"Continue. It would be much better if the Earth did not see this ship."

Nemo again looked at his readouts. Damn the guns were already starting to fail. He thought for sure if he could keep them hot they would be okay. Was their nothing else? The missiles in the weapons bay were useless. That had been wasteful. Wait, how were they cooling the ship? He analyzed the behavior and realized they were using magic to bring the ice in.

"Sensors, how long are we from the surface?"

"An hour, maybe a bit less."

He looked at his own indicators and said, "Inform the engine room that the weapons will reach failure point in about thirty minutes. We are going to halt firing and simply focus things on maintaining a water shell around the ship in fifteen minutes."

Fleur said, "I've sent your message. Are they really going to fail?"

"Yes, I thought they would last long enough, as we didn't back off. I was wrong. We had never considered such sustained operation."

"We can still get out can't we?" asked Fleur.

"Possibly," said Nemo. "I would think that Fawkes could probably flame us out one by one at this point. We are certainly well away from the wards holding us in, even if they weren't destroyed now. I'd prefer to save the ship, but I'll not risk anyone's life for it. Make sure you relay that as well."

Fleur let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as she relayed the captain's orders.

In the engine room Lafiel thought, "I agree with Nemo. We should save this ship if we can, but no one should die to do so. Can we do anything to prevent the weapon failure? Some quick thoughts between them, the crystal, and Nadia returned that to be impossible. They were already fractured beyond the point of no return and just waiting for the end.

They kept things going for another fifteen minutes then shut the engines and weapons down. Their makeshift engine remained hot and continued to power the ship systems and shields which were now reversed and directing heat into the ship from their surroundings to keep the water melted and the ship warm. It wasn't enough to really get anywhere, but things were stable.

The super capacitors on the weapons systems were also full leaving them with stable power that could be fed back to the main systems, so the immediate plan was to let everyone get some sleep and figure out a better plan in the morning.

Nemo returned to his own quarters, unable to sleep as he reviewed his own memories on the construction of this and similar ships, trying to figure out how he could replace the damaged parts. He was stunned when out of nowhere this little short thing appeared and called itself Dobby.

He tried to understand the little guy, he really did, but he had no clue what it was saying, though he did appreciate when he poured him another cup of coffee.

He considered waking one of the others, but nothing seemed urgent, and if they could sleep they deserved their sleep.

Harry was stunned when they met in the mess hall the next morning for breakfast to find a five course meal and an elf. "Dobby?" he asked questioningly?

"Dobby is here. Dobby knew the great Harry Potter would find a way out. Dobby just have to wait till you be close enough for Dobby to follow."

"That's great Dobby..." He searched for more words and found none.

Hermione asked, "Where are we Dobby?"

Dobby suddenly looked really sad. "He said. Dobby not know. Dobby only know four pops from Hogwarts."

Lafiel pulled her tablet from her clothing and flipped it on, relieved to once again get a connection. She said, "We are still under almost a thousand feet of ice, but the good news is we are about two hundred miles from Norway. I could probably direct my ship here. It could probably cut us out, eventually, but its not meant for this kind of work, and the salt water may damage it over time."

Nemo said, "That's probably not necessary. Yes, it is nearly impossible to repair the weapon systems with what we have here, but if this guy can get here, can he bring stuff back, or maybe send someone with Fawkes?"

Nadia brightened. "What do we need?"

Nemo quickly created a list of natural crystals they could use that Daphne wrote down. They had to be natural, which mostly meant just not enchanted.

Daphne said, "The simplest solution is to send Dobby back with this list and a letter authorizing the expense from your vault Harry, along with a drop of blood. I could authorize it myself, but my dad would be notified, particularly when a non Greengrass house elf delivered it."

Harry said, "That's fine. It's not that much is it?"

Daphne shrugged. "Probably about 500 or so galleons. These are some pricey crystals."

Samantha said, "Harry, I've got this. I can charm it in such a way that it will go directly through Ragnok. Don't worry about the money. I'll pay this one, and this will leave no trace."

Harry shrugged, not particularly caring.

She turned to Debby. "Once you get within popping distance of Gringotts just let go of the letter and wait. Someone will return with what we need."

"Dobby understands."

She asked, "Is there anything else we need? Dobby seems to have found food somewhere."

The elf twisted his hands in worry. Samantha asked it, "What was that food Dobby?"

"Dobby not find much food. Dobby transfigured food to better food," he stated proudly.

"Okay, I'm going to ask our healer to return with Dobby. Transfigured food is pretty harmless, but we have been eating way too much magicked food. The note asks for food as well. The main thing is we stop eating the magicked stuff before it does cause problems."

"Dobby is sorry." He looked about ready to bang his head against the wall.

Harry went over to the little guy. "You did nothing wrong Dobby. Now, with your help we are going to get some good food and be able to fix this ship. Now, are you okay Dobby? Do you need to eat or to rest? I can't imagine it was easy getting this far out."

"Dobby okay. Dobby not hungry. Dobby ready to go."

"If your sure Dobby?" Harry said uncertainly.

Samantha cast a few spells unobtrusively on the little guy. She said, "He is weak from being away from you for so long. Let's delay the letter for a few hours. He should be fine then."

Harry nodded.

It took them two weeks to create replacement crystals for the weapons systems and less than an hour to destroy them. It took another week to create another set, but that one got them into free water.

Over all that time the nations of the world backed down from their enhanced posture and chalked up the major drop in the north pole area to natural causes.

In that time, the healer from Samantha's curse breaking team arrived with Garnok and a truly prodigious amount of food stored in expanded bags.

He quickly ordered everyone, without exceptions to cease all usage of magic, magical links, or anything that even smelled of magic for at least two months and take a vacation. They did so using a small island Nemo had found that seemed to be an ideal vacation spot, at least for now. Later in the year it would become inhospitable, but it was idyllic for now.

They invented the story that they quickly managed to get out of what they thought was Atlantis before ending up on an island and had lived there until Dobby had finally found them. It was a little unrealistic, but it would do for now, particularly since the world didn't need to know what really happened. The fact that the press had already spun it so of course it wasn't Atlantis, only fed into their own lies. For once the Prophet was actually useful. Nadia and Nemo were just people that had been shipwrecked on the same island years ago.

All the parents had been previously told that magic confirmed their children were alive and healthy and that they would continue to search for them until they found them.

Garnok arranged for Hermione's parents to be contacted, informed quietly that their daughter was okay, including their made up story, and invited to join her while she recovered. That a ruddy bird kidnapped their daughter because it thought Harry wanted company, and then was unable to get them back because of wards on the island was weird, but within what they came to expect of the wizarding world.

No one mentioned the submarine, which they took turns manning as it couldn't be left unattended.

Astoria's family was also invited and quickly took them up on the offer as well. Draco was a surprise. He didn't seem to fully believe the story, but then no one much cared that he didn't believe. Luna's dad was contacted and brought in as well.

At the end of the little two month holiday they activated their own wards on the little island, making a place they could dock and power down the Nautilus as well as just get away from it all. The wards were easily strong enough, well not to stop the storms that would come, but to redirect the worst of them around the island, making the island habitable all year round.

In the end, they didn't make it back to Hogwarts till nearly Christmas of the following year, one week before vacation, but no one much cared.

A week later Harry smiled when he heard the news that the wards at Privet Drive had totally collapsed, and that he would have to stay with Hermione. They had been working towards that anyway, but he wasn't sure if it had all worked out and feared either being stuck at Hogwarts by himself or having to possibly return to Privet to recharge the wards.

Lafiel was here as well, and he honestly couldn't ask for more. At times he considered trying to kiss either Hermione or Lafiel, and at times he could figure out which one he meant. He concluded that Hermione was correct and that all boys were perverts

He was surprised when Lafiel and then Hermione snuck into his room. He quickly realized that he was only in his underwear and a t-shirt. He started to open his mouth to protest when Lafiel whispered, or rather commanded, "You shall be quiet."

He nodded quietly. He was a bit confused when Lafiel laid on his right side and Hermione on his left, but both were above the covers. He started to say something once more but Hermione saw his lips start to move and said, "Not a word Harry."

Harry swallowed. Hermione's parents were going to kill him. That was fine. He yawned and before he knew it he was asleep.

The other two were soon as well, but before long their hands sought out each other's hands.

It was near six in the morning before Mr. Granger checked on his daughter. Finding her door unlocked and her room empty, he quickly woke up his wife and they soon found them.

"I'll kill him," he whispered.

"For what?" she asked curiously.

He blinked. "I need a reason?" he asked, as if the very concept had not occurred to him.

"Yes," she whispered dryly. "Besides, it is quite clear who visited whom."

"Why does that matter?" he whispered in curiosity.

"At the risk of engaging your coffee deprived brain, why do you think they are glowing?"

He blinked, then blinked again. "They are glowing," he stated dumbly.

She hauled him out of there and pushed him towards the kitchen. "I know you didn't sleep much, but get some coffee."

"They are glowing," he repeated.

"We'll I doubt it means they are pregnant."

He started to turn around. She redirected him. "I think they are fine. They are clearly sleeping peacefully and not engaged in any particularly inappropriate activities."

"They are glowing." he repeated.

"Go get coffee!" she said, beginning to get a little irritated.

She went back to Harry's bedroom and gently shook Hermione until she started to blink. Lafiel and Harry awoke right after. Harry's eyes grew wide.

She practiced her best stern expression as she asked, "Just what do you think your doing to my daughter?"

Harry tried to hide under the covers and she laughed.

When they were slightly more focused she asked, "Do you know why you were glowing?"

"Glowing?" Lafiel asked

"Your hands were all joined and you were glowing."

Hermione's eyes widened and she said without thinking, "We linked while we were asleep?"

"That better not be a sexual reference." stated Hermione's mother.

"No. No," panicked Hermione.

Lafiel said, "We can share magic when we hold hands or at least touch, but we never did so in our sleep before, though I guess we never slept in the same bed before."

"Is it dangerous?"

Hermione replied, "I doubt anyone knows. It's not as if the ability is common."

"Then I can trust you not to sleep in the same bed again for now at least?"

Hermione and Harry nodded quickly. After a bit Lafiel said, "If you wish."

"Good, because talking your father down when he is sleep deprived is a bit of a challenge. Please don't make me do it again anytime soon."

Hermione asked, "He knows?"

"He does."

"Oh f***."

"Language. You know better. Now, get up, get dressed and get in the kitchen for some breakfast."

"But," Hermione tried.

Lafiel said, "I do not understand. What exactly is the problem?"

Hermione turned to her. "My father saw us, both, in the same bed as a boy!"

"Yes?"

"That is not a problem where you're from is it?"

Lafiel replied. "There are many ways that could be a problem, but in this case it is not. Both you and Harry have acted with great honor. I would not hesitate to bring you both before my grandmother. Why should I or anyone be embarrassed to sleep by or even with either of you?" She genuinely appeared to be puzzled.

Harry was mortified. Hermione's mother was listening carefully. Hermione said in a loud whisper, "Lafiel!"

Hermione's mother turned to Harry, "I know you have all been through a lot, and I know my daughter usually has a rational head on her shoulders and I think Lafiel does as well, but I tell you this, if either of them gets pregnant you won't have to fear Dan."

Lafiel asked, "Why would anyone get pregnant if they did not intend to?"

Hermione rolled her eyes again. She said, "I'll explain later. Just don't mention any of this to my father. None of this. Got it?"

Harry said, "Definitely."

Hermione's mom asked, "What about the glowing? What is your story there?"

Hermione suggested, "Um we must have eat one of the Weasley twins prank candies before we left Hogwarts?"

Hermione's mom looked on with disapproval. "Should I be concerned at how quick you were able to come up with a plausible lie?"

Hermione smiled.

"Don't think you have ever fooled me daughter, though I suspect you fooled this poor boy for years."

Harry looked at Hermione, as if in a new light, but wisely said nothing.

Hermione's mom said, "In ten minutes everyone better be in the kitchen."

Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when she left and then let out a soft sigh when Lafiel and Hermione also left before stumbling up, closing the door, and then going to do a quick wash in the bathroom before putting on some clean clothes. It was the best he could do, but a part of him really wanted to call Dobby and see if the elf could save him.

Breakfast was a challenge they could meet. Yes, if they could survive nearly getting buried a mile under the north pole they could survive breakfast, probably, and things were looking up.

Lafiel now had a path to get back into space, and a crew of people willing to follow her, including Nemo and Nadia.

She still had no way home, or more importantly, back to her actual time. The only safe one they could see was to lock themselves into the enchanted sleep like Nadia was, but no one was willing to do that, and truth be told no one was in that much of a hurry to travel to the future, but Harry knew that Lafiel would one day make the attempt and he vowed to be at her side that day and in all the other days he could.

He hoped the others would be there as well. For most of his life he had lived not knowing that there were people that wanted him dead, let alone about magic. Now the threats were gone, magic was even more miraculous than he knew, and the future seemed endless.

Oh, there was one more thing. They had all agreed that the Triwizard tournament was a tie.

At Lafiel's request, Harry had dug through his vault and then bugged his godfather to do the same. She now owned her own pensieve, that she was adding memories to regularly.

Author's Note: I actually forgot that Hermione and Lafiel get together with Harry at the end of this, after a fashion at least. There is another book to this series, though it is incomplete. Romance will continue to be a relatively small part of this series.

I do have one request. For those that have made it this far, how about a review? I'm going to leave this story as incomplete for now, since I'm inclined to try to include the new material as well, but that might be a little while.