Three days later, Harry was with Julian as he welcomed Lt. Melora Pazlar to Deep Space 9. He had one comment which he said under his breath to Julian. "Yeah. There's no way her race evolved in low gravity – they had to have gone there."
Julian rolled his eyes even as he walked forward. "Lt. Pazlar! Welcome to Deep Space 9."
She looked at the man. "You are …."
"Dr. Julian Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space 9. I am the one who has been coordinating your equipment and modifications for your requirements."
The woman was mostly polite. "I see. I wasn't aware that my needs were deemed a medical condition." Harry noted the resentment. Julian's face flashed a sudden loss of composure.
Harry intervened by snorting in amusement – which refocused the woman's ire. "Is that funny?"
"Kind of. Julian got assigned because he's the Doctor – but I imagine Julian would have been assigned anyway. He's the member of the Command Staff with the most flexible schedule and he's extremely intelligent. The last assignment he had to watch over visitors? Three Federation Ambassadors. I would guess Julian considered you a walking medical condition as much as he considered the Vulcan, Bolian, and Arbazan Ambassadors walking medical conditions." Harry paused. "Although you do bear a passing resemblance to the Arbazan Ambassador: Quite beautiful but pretty exacting in her requirements."
Pazlar was taken aback. "You are …"
"Sorry. I'm a resident, Sir Harry Potter of Earth. I'm a friend of his and he's been excited for your visit for days." She glanced at Julian, who looked sheepish. "He was giddy and I finally cornered him four days ago to find out why. I wanted to meet the woman he's been waiting so impatiently for."
"I see. Well, I am Lt. Melora Pazlar, a Starfleet cartographer." The woman had finally composed herself. She turned to Julian and said, "I hope I have satisfied your curiosity sufficiently, Doctor Bashir."
Harry rolled his eyes at the woman's 'I'll not be a victim' attitude. Harry already considered her kind of a bitch. Julian maintained his demeanor.
"Oh, everything is fine. I've set up your quarters as requested and have your equipment over here – blame the Cardassians for making it impossible to bring it right to the docking port for you to use."
She nodded and gritted her way until she was out of the docking area. "Why are there two?"
Julian was enthusiastic. "The one on the left is the one you specified precisely. The one on the right I have modified to take into account the larger than average Cardassian threshold. They seemed to take delight in making passage uncomfortable."
Pazlar arrived at the two and sat down in the one that she had specified. "I don't want to seem ungrateful – but I am used to this one."
Julian looked morose and Harry crowed. "I told you!" He whipped out his wand and shrunk the second one and handed it to Julian. "If she changed her mind, I can restore it for you."
The woman looked at them in confusion. "What is this about – and what did you do?"
Harry grinned at her. "Julian started thinking about how he could make things better – he's puppy-like in his enthusiasm. I suggested that you'd be upset if he made changes without permission and he should provide what was asked. Julian and the rest around here are far from condescending – but you seem prepared to be a bitch to everyone because you're tired of the normal condescension. Anyway, I was just needling Julian about me being right and him being wrong – my daily dose of schadenfreude. I will leave you to him. Have a good day, Leftenant."
He stepped away and then paused and looked back. "Oh. And as to how I did that: I'm a wizard." He then walked on. He reflected that he didn't know why he used the traditional British pronunciation right then.
Early the next morning, Harry got up early and moved to the remaining steps of brewing the solution. After checking that it was the appropriate color and texture, he fired up the small burner and continued on the next steps.
During a suitable rest point, he notified Julian that the solution would be available later that day. He then completed the potion. Thinking back to his education, he then brewed another potion, the Strength potion.
He hadn't considered it because most many using snake parts didn't work on him anymore. Blame the basilisk. That being said, the Strength potion was even easier to brew. It could be brewed by a first year, a first year Gryffindor. The ingredients were just rarer.
As he packaged up his potions, he mused that he would have to talk to the Paqu about growing the plants needed for Standard Ingredient. Standard Ingredient was a combination of several plants, used either crushed or as sold. It was used in many applications and how it was combined had made one family having the formula rich.
Harry's eyes widened as he realized something. He stopped on his way to Sickbay but then decided he could do his test later. If he was right … he chuckled. A question he had long pondered might just be answered soon.
He cheerfully made his way to Sickbay. As he entered, Julian was stoically working. "Sir Harry," he said distantly.
Harry looked at him. "Don't tell me – she didn't budge."
He was about to say something when a call came in. "Dax to Bashir." Harry rolled his eyes as he heard how the idiot Elaysian had hurt herself trying to push too hard. Julian treated the wound and kept his professional demeanor. Harry was impressed because he would have ripped into her.
"Since you are not going to be going on your mission today, you can observe some tests that I have to complete for something Harry provided me."
"What tests and for what?"
Harry said, "My people are magical Humans – they don't exist in this dimension. But we made magical potions and I brought a whole bunch of ingredients. And while we'll have to search for alternate ingredients in this dimension for large amounts, Juian was enthusiastic about Strengthening Solution – something which can give a user extreme strength for a limited time. I also brewed Strength Potion, which is a different potion."
Julian immediately went to the vials Harry had brought. One was orange, one was turquoise. "How are they different?"
Harry shrugged. "The Strength Potion is easier to brew but more expensive in terms of ingredients. The Strengthening Solution is much harder to brew but relies on easier ingredients. How long they work? I don't know. The solution – turquoise – should be tested on me first. You can scan me and see what's happening. And then tomorrow – or on a different person – try the potion (the orange one) and see what happens with that."
Julian nodded. "Let me scan you first, and this 'Strengthening Solution'."
"Have at it," Harry said while sitting on a biobed.
Melora watched as Julian scanned Harry and had him perform a few simple spells to check his magical pathways. Federation scanners didn't break down with magic use around them.
Julian nodded. "Everything seems normal – well, normal for you."
"Good."
"Now. This solution." Julian scanned the solution with his tricorder and even went so far as to put a small amount on a slide and scanned it with a microscope. "Somehow, this contains a similar energy to what you put out naturally in much larger amounts."
Melora asked, "Is it exotic?"
Julian, reading the screen, said absently, "Not really. It's normally a background radiation throughout the cosmos. Sir Harry's body seems to gather and produce it in extreme quantities. We don't have records of any race which has the same ability, but it has been found in extreme levels in some very random circumstances."
Harry chuckled. "Which ended badly for a number of them."
"Yes. But that doesn't mean that is always true."
Harry shrugged cheerfully.
Julian finally said, "Nothing in this is poisonous. So – bottoms up. You drink it and I'll scan you to see what happens."
Harry nodded and accepted the vial. "Bottoms up." He uncapped it and quickly drank it down, scrunching his face at the taste.
"I take it that it has an unpleasant taste," Julian commented with amusement.
Harry sighed. "Almost all potions do – at least the useful one."
Harry lay there and allowed Julian to do his scans. His expression was enthusiastic interest. "You adrenalin levels are increasing rapidly, though your heartrate is not being affected extremely. I'm also reading increased acetylcholine production, though not massively." He looked around. "Can you go and lift that up while I keep scanning?"
Harry shrugged and carefully stood up. He didn't feel all that different. He was careful about pressing against anything or manipulating anything. He went over and lifted up the heavy table.
Julian said loudly, "I meant the chair!"
Harry looked at him – he was holding the table easily though it was a bit unwieldy. "I'll stay here and you scan."
Julian did so. "The readings are … I had not expected that."
"How does it marry up to that research you were doing?"
Julian said, "There is an increased acetylcholine level and absorption, but not as much as the research indicated was needed. Your body's magical field is more active – or that's what I assume is the case. Not all of what you're doing can be accounted for by the chemical changes."
Harry set down the table and then, carefully, conjured a barbell. "Scan that – how much does it weigh?"
Julian did the scan. "It is approximately 14 kilograms."
"Thirty pounds. Okay. I'll lift it at five minute intervals. We'll see how long this lasts."
"Okay."
Julian did the tests and they found that the strength reduced after one hour forty minutes. By two hours, Harry was back to normal.
"Okay. Tomorrow, we'll do the other potion." He looked at Lt. Paxler. "Have fun with the puppy."
"He's my doctor?" she said.
"Not really anymore – he completed the setups and did the healing. Now he's just Julian." Harry wanted to get out of there and it was obvious.
The Elaysian woman stopped him. "Can I ask a question?"
"Sure," Harry said easily.
"Why were you so obnoxious yesterday?" she asked archly.
Harry said with a smirk, "I decided that if you expected someone to be an arse, I'd be the arse and Julian could be the understanding and helpful one. Julian is remarkably determined when he decides he should be. You can be a bitch to him, but he won't back off. I thought I'd bypass that whole step and let you be a bitch to me. Anwway … later!" Harry quickly left.
Lt. Pazlar looked at the door for a long moment and then looked at Julian. "Am I really that bad?"
Julian smiled. "No. But Sir Harry is a bit more … vocal, I guess is the best way to put it, about what he sees. He's also more cynical about social interactions than most. He readily admits this. He also is more wiling to be offended than most Humans of this day and age."
"So you don't agree with him?" she asked.
Julian considered for a long moment. "No," he answered honestly. "I don't." Later, Harry would comment that Julian was far more accepting than he could ever be.
The Elaysian woman let the Human doctor take her to the new Klingon restaurant. He learned that she knew more about Klingon food than he did.
Harry, however, was not thinking about Julian Bashir or Melora Pazlar at all. He was back in his quarters cooking a meal. When he was done, he served himself. And it was just as wonderful as he had expected it to be. Harry thoroughly enjoyed his meal. He then packaged up a few containers and brought them to Ops.
Commander Sisko saw him. "Sir Harry. How can I help you?"
Harry glanced around. "I was doing a cooking experiment. Have you or your crew eaten lunch? I want you to give me your opinion."
"I haven't eaten – the other staff members have."
Harry shrugged. "You and Jake – that will be a good test. Maybe Nog too if he's available."
Benjamin gave his resident knight a small smile. "I suppose I wouldn't say no to being treated to a meal."
"Come on. Let's grab the boys – I really want to see how they like this."
It didn't take long and soon Benjamin Sisko, Jake Sisko, and Nog were seated in a private area at Quarks – Harry didn't need it too private. He served the three his meal.
All three ate it – quickly. Sisko looked up. "This is very good. Surprisingly good. Not what I was expecting from soup and a pork cutlet."
Nog nodded enthusiastically. "This is as almost as good as snail steak. Maybe even as good." He quickly ate the meal.
Jake Sisko just made a few noises and quickly rushed through the food.
Harry sat back and watched, shocked. Of all the things, he had not been expecting that.
Finally, Sisko finished his meal and asked, "That was an exceptional meal. What did you do?"
Harry sighed. "When I was a teenager, I used to visit my best friend's family – I stayed with them a number of times. I almost married the daughter, in fact, though that fell apart after our war. But Mrs. Weasley was widely acknowledged as one of the best cooks in Magical Britain. No one who ate her food ever had a bad word to say about it. And while I might not know all of her recipes, I think I just figured out one of her secrets."
Sisko motioned toward the empty plates and bowls. "You used what you found on the food?"
Harry nodded. "Yes."
Sisko gave a small grin. "Well, if she cooked like that, I can't imagine anyone complaining."
Jake piped up, "Me neither!" Nog nodded enthusiastically.
Harry grinned. "I agree. Her food was absolutely wonderful."
Sisko asked, "So what was the secret?"
Harry opened his mouth, paused, and then said, "For the moment, I'm going to keep it to myself." Harry farewelled the three and made his way back to his quarters.
One thing he had done when he started thinking about potions was to analyze Standard Ingredient using Federation scanners. And when he was done, he couldn't believe how common the ingredients really were. All it took was growing them, drying them, and then processing them to a common consistency. The combination could be ground together then if needed.
Harry suspected that the combination had originated as a food additive because all of the herbs were commonly used in cooking now. Someone had likely tried to convince a gullible possible customer and just happened to find that the ingredient did produce a magical effect.
That formula was a closely held secret but the combination was inexpensive. Many, many potions used Standard Ingredient and it was kept in quantity by anyone who regularly brewed them. Harry had mused that if people knew the truth, only people who were inordinately conscientious about funds would make their own version – the family only got a small profit from each dose. The family had obviously gone for quantity over quality and wanted it as widely used as possible.
One Harry had determined the ingredients, he had guessed that the very process used to make it too consistently mixed to determine individual ingredients is exactly why it was so consistent in reaction for potions: A brewer never had to worry it was incorrectly prepared. And Harry now realized this was why Mrs. Weasley always seemed to be buying potion ingredients. She wasn't brewing potions – she was cooking dinner.
Mrs. Weasley's food had kept a family of seven healthy and strong. The Weasleys, as a group, were far outside the norm of magical Britain. Each one of them was a powerhouse in their own way, even the bookish Percy. Harry had always wondered what it was that made Mrs. Weasley's food so great. Standard Ingredient seemed to be at least a part of the answer.
Harry wanted to keep potion brewing alive. He would need to ensure that this ingredient was grown and made. He thought of the Paqu – but there could be problems with that.
The Paqu might consider themselves too busy to grow the plants. He would make arrangements to see Sul and ask her who he should next do business with that wouldn't alienate her. He mused that Earth might be a better choice – all of the ingredients were used in Earth cooking …
Something to think about.
Harry had to admit that a number of potions would violate the morality of the Federation. Some used parts which meant the animals would have to be killed. Where Harry was from, the Muggles would have found the Wizards normal in most things and slightly barbaric in some things. Members of Starfleet, however, would find quite a number of potion-gathering procedures entirely barbaric.
This was something he was going to have to confront at some point at least.
Replicated ingredients could not always replace natural – there were too many quantum errors. Real animals would have to be grown and then be killed for liver and bile and bones and other parts. Snake teeth and animal claws could come from some live subjects but teeth could not.
Still, at least he could have truly enjoyable food for himself and those he and his elves fed.
The next morning, Harry was back in Sickbay. Julian was there alone. "Where's our observer?"
Julian said lightly, "She's doing some work to prepare for her trip to the Gamma quadrant."
"Okay. Well, I'm here to let you test the Strength Potion – see how it works."
"Sit on the biobed."
Harry was treated to a redo of the day before. The potion lasted a bit longer, but he also didn't get as much of a strength boost.
"I don't know if that's a product of the different potion or how it affects me or because I had the other potion yesterday," Harry said.
Julian replied, "There seems to be no specific chemical reactions I could see which were because of the solution yesterday."
"How did it work?" Harry asked.
Julian looked down at the screen. "This reaction seems to give the bone strength and increase a few other chemical processes. However, I would guess that you can't use this too often?"
Harry thought back. "We were warned not to allow it to be used more than once every three days."
"There would be a toxic buildup of one of the chemicals if you used it too often. Saturation would be reached after … three doses I think."
"So four would be toxic," Harry surmised.
"Yes."
"But it's a more controlled reaction too."
Julian sighed. "Yes. Like neuromuscular adaptation, it could be enormously effective – and have tremendous limits too."
"What are the limitations on your neuro … whatever you said?"
Julian smiled. "Neuromuscular adaptation. Once the treatment is started – no low gravity until it's finished. Or the person would be permanently unable to receive the treatment again."
Harry considered. "How about a feather-weight charm?"
"Demonstrate?"
Harry cast a charm on the chair and it floated. Julian scanned it and said, "The chair seems to be immune to almost all gravitons." He read his tri-corder. "That would count as low-gravity."
Harry considered. "Actually, that charm is for objects. Mobilicorpus is for people." Harry glanced around. "No people to demonstrate on."
Julian considered. "Does it lift the body or make it as though the body is on a platform?"
Harry considered that. "I think it lifts the body."
Julian called over a crewmember and had him light down. "Whatever you do – don't resist." Julian then motioned toward the nervous crew member. "Go ahead."
Harry sighed. He looked at the crewmember. "We're testing the effect of my magic – how it actually performs certain functions. I'm going to levitate you." Harry cast the charm.
Julian scanned the crewmember quickly. "It's the same as the feather light but it's affecting the body. The clothes are affected to a lesser degree."
Harry cancelled the charm. "Thank you." The crewman nodded … and then fled.
Julian commented, "I could have been a bit less casual, I suppose."
"You think?" Harry said with humor.
Julian shook his head and got cheerful again. "Anyway. Can we test the potions on Melora?"
Harry sighed. "I don't know if they'll work but we can try them. Probably the solution. We can try both of course." Harry paused. "Do you think she'll be okay if it doesn't work?" He was worried.
Julian sighed. "I talked to her about it. It's less for her and more for her people. We want to see how it would affect them and measure how much of a difference it will take. She's interested but she hates being treated as lesser."
Harry scoffed. "She deliberately goes where she has to overcome limitations. She's not lesser – she just has a chip on her shoulder."
Julian nodded. "Yes. She does. She actually apologized for that."
Harry shrugged. "It's her life. Anyway. I'll do whatever but I can provide the potions – right now. In the future, it will depend on finding alternate ingredients."
Julian nodded. "Thank you. If I need further help in testing, I will let you know."
Harry replied, "You can handle any possible toxicity or side effects. Magic won't do much to help more on it." With that, he left Julian to it.
In the end, Julian attempted the treatment that had come out of the research 30 years earlier. It had started to work but an attempted hijacking had exposed Lt. Paxlar to Low-Gravity again, preventing it from working or ever working again. The Low-G had, however, allowed Paxlar to overcome the hijacker.
The Strengthening Solution did produce a result – for a limited time. Harry gifted her, through Julian, the 6 doses remaining from his brewing. She could use them however she liked and keep them in stasis otherwise.
Harry promised to try to come up with an alternate using Alpha Quadrant ingredients. He also refused to comment on the fact that she seemed to use one of them for a night with Julian under normal Gravity. It wasn't his business.
