Foothold
The Second Wizarding War had been won, but its consequences, were far more severe, than anyone could have imagined.
Muggles of UK were done being second rate citizens to the wizards. Tired of covering up their messes, while having to answer for the rampant 'terrorism' and 'accidents', that they had nothing to do with, or had any control over. The government decided to do something about it, tasking their secret services and military to address the issue. To bring the magical world under control of the UK government.
The muggleborns were not even done hiding from the pureblood fanatics yet, when they came under attacks from the mundane side of the government. At first, they went willingly. Believing, that the fellow muggles were there to protect them from the war. Soon, it became obvious that it was not the case.
Unfortunately, vast majority of the arrested were muggles and squibs, with many actual wizards and witches being underage, stripped of their wands. Therefore, only small portion of those arrested were able to escape. Even then, the wizarding world was still under control of Voldemort, so seeking help from the Ministry, was out of question for them.
By the time the war was over, it was too late to contain the situation. Minister Shacklebolt tried to calm his counterparts, resolve the situation peacefully. However, the information about the actions of the muggle's during the war, was leaked to the general public by an overachiever of a journalist. This led to many bloody altercations between the two worlds.
At that point, the situation was bad, but still salvageable. It lasted until one of the ignorant purebloods, had come up with a 'genius' idea. He and his buddies, compelled a number of highest-ranking, military personnel, with an Imperious Curse. The command they gave was simple, but effective. "Blow up the biggest concentration of Muggles, with the biggest bomb you have!"
As it turned out, those particular muggles had access to nukes. With the biggest concentration of people, being in China. By the time the dust settled, a month later, over 80% of world population was erased from the map.
Then, the situation got worse. Earth's ecosystem was already on the slippery slope and the Nuclear War, pushed it well over the edge. Following year saw mass extinction and starvation, on never-before-seen scale. Killing well over 90% of the survivors.
That year had seen the hottest and the coldest days on records, by a wide margin, across the whole globe. Accompanying them, were 1 in 1000 years weather events, daily, in multiple locations at once.
Then, the situation got worse. While the world scrambled to pick up pieces, to save those they could, another group of 'geniuses', opened a portal into demons' realm. It was not the first time it happened in Earth's history. However, other times, the portal was only opened briefly. Just long enough, to get a couple of demons to 'play' with.
This time, the portal was never closed. The world was also preoccupied with other pressing issues. Therefore, by the time the wizards in UK become aware of the situation, the demons were already outnumbering the surviving humans 100 to 1. With both Americas and most of the African Continent already under demon's control.
Very few wizards could go 1 vs 1 with a demon, with muggle weapons also being effective, when used in great numbers. However, it became apparent early on, that the Earth was lost. Of the 1000 strongest surviving wizards, sent to close the breach, only 50 made it back. Even then, they only managed to push the horde back by a measly 10 kilometres in a single area, before they had to retreat, due to losses and exhaustion.
In their age group, only Harry and Ginny were skilled and powerful enough, to join that expedition. The vast majority of the other participants, were much older, more seasoned. It was not surprising, as the magical strength of wizards never stopped growing, even if the ability to wield that power effectively, deteriorated with the aging body.
Ginny sacrificed herself, taking a killing blow for her brother Bill. It was then, that she learned about her ability to be reborn from her own ashes, due to her Phoenix Animagus form. Unfortunately, being reborn as a new born baby, prevented her from participating in that fight anymore. At least, she kept her adult mind upon rebirth. The first few days of her new life, were very awkward, to say the least. Thankfully, it only took three months to regain her adult body, aging at significantly accelerated rate.
Harry also fallen in that fight, covering retreat of what was left of their fighters. The mourning of his passing, was interrupted by his sudden and unexpected return, 2 weeks later. He reappeared on his own bed, with all 3 Deathly Hollows sitting on his chest. Which was surprising, considering that he hasn't seen 2 of those in a while, ever since he disposed of them two years ago.
With the decimation of their strongest fighting force, many of which were senior officials in what was left of the global wizarding world, the power structure had a lot of vacuums. Despite being only 19 years old, Harry was pushed into the leadership role. His miraculous return from the other side, in addition to his previous accolades, apparently, made him 'just the man for the job'.
Using his position, he decided to restructure the outdated Wizarding World. Among his first actions, was to fill many of the freed positions, with people he knew and trusted. Ginny and Ron got high positions in the military, with Ginny being in more active role, while her brother was more involved in the tactical planning. Their main goal was to slow down the demons, giving the rest of them more time to figure something out.
Bill and his wife Fleur, moved a few ranks up among the Ward specialists, working on strengthening the wards around Hogwarts, as well as warding retreat locations, further North and East. The two directions, from which the demons were not yet pouring onto the Continent.
Charlie and Luna were promoted in the Magical Creatures department, which was tasked with saving as many creatures as they could manage, both mundane and magical. Meanwhile, Nevile had much the same task, for the magical and mundane flora. Those departments were also working overtime on food and ingredient productions.
The biggest push was for the research department, to find a solution to the dire situation they were in, where Hermione was promoted to one of the most senior positions, along with a few surviving professors of Hogwarts. Their main focus was in three directions.
First area, was to find a way to close the demon's portal. Without having to go through billions of the monsters. The smallest of which, was the size of a Mountain Troll, while being smarter, stronger, faster and more resistant to magic. Apparation, Portkeys, Floo Network and even Phoenix Fire, were blocked by the demonic magic, that saturated half of the planet. Some demons could also fly, swim and even travel underground, making it impossible to avoid them. None of the hiding spells worked either, even the Fidelius was disturbed by the presence of the otherworldly magic.
Second area, was to relocate into space. While some demons could fly, they didn't see any that went beyond Earth's atmosphere. That area was the most promising for their survival. Unfortunately, the wizarding world was so outdated, that space travel wasn't even on their agenda, previously. Therefore, they had to invent a lot of spells, to make that happen. Unfortunately, that was not something that could be done in a rush. Most spells took years, if not decades to be invented, while the results, often, only superficially resembling the targeted effects.
The last area, was a broad area search for any other solution to their situation. To either stop the demon's advance, hide from it, or to escape to another place, where the demons would be unable to follow.
Harry also pushed the government to liaison with all of the remaining sentient species, trying to save as many as he could. Which included Goblins, Centaurs, Merpeople, Muggles and few others. Despite the situation, that area was the hardest to push, as the Wizarding World got a whole lot more xenophobic, since the war with the Muggles started.
(*Departure*)
"Harry, we are ready to begin" said Hermione, poking her head into his office. Watching her best friend sitting at his desk, doing some last-minute paperwork. No matter how much he complained, it was clear to everyone, that he was a true leader. She very much doubted they would be still around, if not for his sudden appointment.
As far as she was concerned, it was about the only intelligent decision the previous leadership did. It was amazing, how much self-interest and ego played role in the politics, even when faced with world ending situation. Their little group spent as much time fighting the old politicians, as they had spent fighting demons.
"Thanks Hermione, I will be there in a minute" responded Harry, lifting his head to look at his friend. Standing up, he started to carefully pack the last few items from his desk, into his trunk. Even since he took over leadership of the survivors, they had to relocate 3 times, pushed back by the demons. Therefore, they never really unpacked fully, being always ready to move on a moment's notice.
Now, there was nowhere else left to run. The demons now came from all 4 directions, pounding on the wards to the last bastion of human civilisation. Even that was not going to last very long, the wizarding wards were simply not powerful enough, to withstand the prolonged siege.
The run of the mill demons, were bad enough, but behind them came Demon Lords, or so the people called them. Those were easily the size of a giant, with strength of 100s lower tear demons. One of them, torn down Hogwarts wards in under a minute, making the survivors retreat in a panic. Losing many people and supplies in the process.
Just two weeks ago, Ginny killed one heading their way, using one of the two remaining nukes, that muggles brought with them. Now, another Demon Lord was on his way, only hours from their last bastion.
They were just over 1300 people strong. With 500 wizards, 500 muggles, 200 goblins, 100 house elfs and a handful of other sentience's. Getting just this small variety was an achievement on its own. Harry had to send quite a few of the old politicians to the front lines, under different pretences, to make it happen. He wasn't really trying to get his political opponents killed, just give them a reality check.
It worked for some, less so for others, many, never came back. Even after the 'purge', all of the non-wizards had to make many serious concessions, for the wizards to accept them into their midst's. Harry had to make some concessions too, to avoid infighting among his subjects.
This also spelled an end to many proud sentience's, like centaurs, merpeople, giants. They were never going to accept the wizard's terms. Most of the goblins rejected them too, only handful of dissidents joining, after their stronghold got decimated. Only the reputation and persistence of Arthur Weasley, allowed for any cooperation to be achieved at all.
This was also their saving grace. Muggle ordinance was efficient in thinning out the demons, delaying their advance. At the same time, they had much better understanding of space travel and what was involved in that, advancing wizards by decades.
Meanwhile, goblins brought a wealth of obscure knowledge from the old vaults, that was used to prepare their way out of this mess. Additionally, the goblin made weapons and armour, held quite well against the demons. That alone, significantly increased the efficiency of their vampire troops. They were very fast and strong, compared to normal humans, but lacked the ability to seriously harm demons, without use of goblin forged swords.
At the same time, the house elfs took over chores and repetitive tasks. Giving others more hours in a day, to advance their areas of responsibility.
Putting his shrunk trunk into a pocket, Harry stepped out of his office. The halls were crowded, with more people looking from the various rooms. They were all nervous, but also excited, to leave the warzone behind. He smiled at Ginny, in her 3 years old body, arguing with her mother about her right to be in the first wave of the advancement.
She didn't quite managed to clear the radius of the nuke's explosion, keeping the demon lord and his cronies from destroying the bomb, before it had a chance to detonate. They had agreed, to limit their interactions, while she was like that. There was just something wrong, about spending time with your girlfriend in a body of a young child, even if they didn't do anything intimate.
Stepping out of the front doors, he took a look at the rippling wards, that were pounded on constantly, by the surrounding demons. The noise was muted, but still audible. Around the perimeter of the wards, stood quite a few ward specialists, keeping them healthy. Next to them, were small groups of fighters, ready to take on any demon, who made it past the wards.
It was ironic, that the last stand of humanity was in an area, no bigger than the house of his aunt and uncle. The smaller wards were easier to maintain, while limiting the number of demons, that could attack them at once.
The majority of the warden area was covered in a ritualistic circle, where number of their researchers were doing last minute checks. They only had one shot at this. To open a dimensional gate of their own, but not to the demonic realm. They were, actually, not quite sure where it leads, only that it would have an atmosphere similar to Earth. There was simply not enough time, to refine the targeting any more than that.
Where ever the portal led; they were ready. They had discussed and prepared for many different scenarios. Be the challenges on the other side environmental, or locals. If there was one thing, that all of their people agreed on, it was not to give themselves up to the mercies of the locals, if there were any. They were masters of their own destiny, they fought and bled for it.
"Are we ready to start?" he asked the lead researcher. Who was, at one point, an unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries.
"Yes Minister, we are ready to open the portal" he responded, indicating for his colleagues to take their spots around the ritual circle.
Giving the man a nod of understanding, Harry turned to the wizarding tent, where most of their survivors spent most of their time. "Team 1, get ready" he commanded. As they were not sure what was waiting for them on the other side, they were deploying in groups.
The first group consisted of 20 people, of which 15 were some of their strongest fighters, as well as 5 of their top warders. Each member of the team, was geared up with the best gear they had, including the armour, brooms and numerous protective charms cast over them.
They were going to establish the breach head, for the following troops. Putting up the protective wards and any other charms needed for safe passage for the others. It was quite possible, that the portal would open mid-air, underwater, or in small underground cave. They ran through many possible scenarios and the best way to handle them, to facilitate safe passage for the survivors.
Once the group 1 was assembled, Harry turned to the Unspeakable Allonzy. "You may begin" he gave the command, watching the group of witches and wizards start to chant, lighting up the ritual circle on the ground. After a minute, the circle started to spin, creating a purple vortex of air above it.
In a minute, the spiralling stabilised, creating a small maelstrom within the wards. Getting a go ahead from the unspeakable, Harry turned to the assembled team. "Group 1. Go!" he ordered, watching them run and leap into the centre of the ritual circle, being swallowed by it. "Group 2, assemble!" he ordered to the watching survivors.
The second group was going in with 5 minutes delay. It consisted of 80 of their next best fighters and 20 more warders. They were going to reinforce and support the first group. "Group 2. Go!" he commanded, when the 5 minutes passed. "Group 3, assemble!" he called for the next batch.
This group was going with 10 minutes delay to the second group. It consisted of 170 muggle soldiers, 150 goblins, 30 house elfs and most of their command structure. This was the last batch of reinforcement, they were there to prepare the location for the arrival of the remaining, non-combatants. "Group 3. Go!" he ordered, after 10 minutes. "Group 4, assemble!"
This group mostly consisted of the underage children and a few adults, who kept them in line. They also carried most of the supplies, they were able to scavenge. Mrs Weasley and Ginny were in this group, much to the latter dismay. However, there was no arguing with Molly, when she got like that. "Group 4. Go!" he ordered, after 20 minutes delay.
"Let's pack up people!" he ordered to the remaining fighters, warders and researchers. Now, they just had to make sure, that demons were not going to follow them. Packing up the massive tent, they armed the last remaining nuke, set to blow in 5 minutes. The ritual was going to last only 2 minutes, without the researchers powering it up. At the same time, the wards should hold for at least 10 minutes, without support. This gave them a good window of opportunity to clean up after themselves, while taking out a few more demons in the process.
Jumping through the portal, Harry experienced a feeling akin to being stretched out into a noodle. When he didn't think he could take the feeling for much longer, he suddenly compressed back. Felt akin of pancaking into a frying pan, at terminal velocity. It took a few moments of him blinking his eyes, before he came to himself. Looking around, he could see, that at least 70% of their people got knocked out by the experience. Without a doubt, this was the worst way of magical travel he tried.
The portal was also good 20 meters in the air. Those who came in the earlier groups, were busy catching and sorting the new arrivals. All in all, it could have been worse. The air smelled stale, but was breathable. From what he could see, they were in marsh environment, with no trees in sign for cover. At least, there were no hostiles in the immediate area they came through.
"Jerkins, what are you still doing in the camp? Take the scouts out, we need to know where the hell we have landed and what is out there" commanded Ginny, to their leader of scouts. "I don't care that half of your people got knocked out. Take the ones that's left and give me the information we need" she ordered.
Harry found it kind of cute, seeing 3 years old ordering the grown men around, not that anyone was going to tell her that to her face, unless they wanted to get hexed into the next week. Considering her fighting powers, as well as high attrition among their fighters, she was now, essentially, in charge of their fighting force.
Turning to his own duties, Harry went about resetting their headquarters tent back. The top brass was going to gather in conference room in the next hour, to discuss their situation and plan their actions forward. From what he saw so far, the events were unfolding in one of the more optimistic scenarios, they envisioned.
(*Taking stock*)
"Thank you all for coming. Unless there are any emergencies, I would like to start with Madam Pomfrey. What is our current status?" he asked the old Hogwarts healer.
"Ah right. From what we have gathered, the muggles were the worst affected by the transition. Seventeen of them had to be put under statis spell, to give us time to process the less injured patients. Another 300 of people experienced some sort of pulled or torn muscle and 400 had cracked, or broken bones. I would also advice against waking up those 800 people, who were knocked out. They do not seem to react favourably to Enervate. All it all, could be better, but not as bad as we have expected" she summarized their situation, with a tired nod.
"Good, good. It is more work for those who handled the transition well, but at least we are not in any immediate need of more manpower" nodded Harry in agreement. "Any idea where we are, Hermione?" he asked his friend, who was reporting on the behalf of research department.
"From what we have managed to get from scrying and star charting, we are nowhere close to Earth. We may be able to determine our position better after the nigh fall, based on the known stars, if we can find any" she shrugged. They had expected, that the plotting of their position in stars, relative to Earth, was going to be hard, if not impossible.
"The portal closed as expected, so we are not expecting demons to follow us. Not the less, warders put the permanent detection wards in that location, just in case. Magic on this planet is definitely different to ours, but not enough, to cause any significant problems. There is more of it than back home, but it is not anywhere as aggressive and corruptive, as the demonic magic."
"Therefore, we don't expect it to affect our own magic too much. We are also expecting, to have a good percentage of magical users on this planet, if there are any sentience's" she summarised.
"That may be a problem, if there is significant population on this planet" nodded Harry. "Any word from the scouts?" he asked Ginny, who had to transfigure her chair, to be visible over the table.
"Yes, they just got back a few minutes ago, from the preliminary perimeter checks. They ran into a small town, about 50 kilometres to the West of here. It is around 5,000 people strong and consist of at least 9 different types of sentience's, including humans and robots" she explained, making the present look at her with interest. They were not expecting to find any beings, that were endemic to Earth.
"Now get this. According to them, there were at least a few spaceships, they could see. Note, they were ordered to stay a good distance away, to not be spotted" grinned Ginny. She was sure, her dad, as well as good number of muggles and muggleborns, were going to go bonkers at that.
"Was there really?" perked up Hermione. She was in charge of the team, that was tasked with figuring out a space travel back on Earth. Unfortunately, they run out of time, before they could get anywhere with it. "If they have a few spaceships near a small town like that, those must be very common here" she thought out loud.
"Now, that is something we definitely need to look into" agreed Harry, also getting a few nods from the gathering people. Turning to his best mate, he addressed the redhead. "Ron, you and Ginny will be in charge of figuring this thing out. We need to get access to the information and technology that people here hold" he told him. It was not worth mentioning, that people with spaceships also possessed a significant danger to their group, a danger that they had to know how to counter.
"What about your people, Irongrip? Did they discover anything of value?" he asked the goblin. The relations with the creatures were still quite tenuous. Irongrip was not the highest-ranking goblin in their group, but he was the one who has the best tolerance to humans, allowing for better communication. Even so, his question resulted in an annoyed grunt.
"Grr, nothing yet. The lands here have too much water, to tunnel efficiently" he explained, getting a nod of understanding from Harry.
"When we get the rest of our scouts on their feet, and better feel of the lands, we will establish a few other bases of operations, in the interesting areas. Hopefully, the other locations will be more agreeable with your people" he explained, getting a grunt in response. It sounded like agreement or approval, so he moved on.
"Professor McGonagall, are the schools back and operational?" he asked. With over 60% of their people being underage, the education was one of their top priorities.
"Yes. However, over 90% of our charges are currently undisposed and are in Poppy's care" she explained, getting a nod and grimace in return.
"Right. We should also reserve some time in classes to cover whatever our scouts find. I imagine, that we would need to teach some stuff in relation to spaceships. That is something we would want our people to understand and be able to replicate" he mused.
"We will figure something out, when the information becomes available. I would imagine, that this spaceship stuff is likely to be postgrad level of education, the universities and such" she suggested, getting nods in agreement back.
"Still, it is likely, that some of that stuff will need to be taught early on" countered Hermione. "I think, we can also start thinking about organising university and mastery levels of education now, that we are somewhat safe" she added, looking at her role model.
"I will bring in up with my colleagues" agreed McGonagall, after a moment of silence, seeing if anyone had any objections to the idea.
"Great. How did the farms handle the transition?" he directed the question at Nevile and Luna.
"Not too bad Harry. We lost about half of the crops and animals in the transition, some types as high as 95%. However, no permanent loses, it will just take a bit of time, to get back to our old volumes. Either way, we have more than enough in storage, as we had been farming more than our needs, for a while now" explained Nevile.
"None of the Grillytrins came to greed us either" poured Luna.
"Grillytrins?" enquired Harry.
"They look like flying octopuses with 3 eyes and love to meet long distance travellers, to learn news from distant lands" she elaborated.
"Umm, yes, we have not encountered any magical plants or creatures yet" translated Nevile, who was now their best expert on Luna-talk, as her boyfriend. "We have been collecting the local samples of flora and fauna, putting them into smaller farm trunk. They are different than the ones back on Earth, so may have some interesting properties, that someone may want to take a look at, at some later date" shrugged Nevile.
Nevile and Luna took the preservation of nature to heart, essentially farming every single plant and animal type they ran across. Unfortunately, the process was not started, until Harry came into his Ministerial seat and appointed them to the high enough position, for their voices to matter. After that, it was a fight to get enough resources for their needs.
All in all, they done extremely well by the survivors, but were able to save less than 5% of Earth's natural diversity. At least, they were able to save the most common sources of ingredients for potions and other magical needs. Mostly, due to that stuff being a whole lot more widespread, therefore, being present in many local greenhouses. They had also monopolised over 90% of their house elf population, to attend the many farming trunks, earning the love and devotion of the little buggers.
"Any problems with setting up wards, Bill?" asked Harry, only to get a negative shake back. "Great. In that case, once you are done setting up local wards, I want you to ward at least 2 other locations. Put them under Fidelius and have enough portkeys made, to move our whole camp, in case we come under sudden attack" he directed the curse breaker. They had learned with Hogwarts, about not having a retreat location and evacuation plan ready, losing over 80% of their people in a single day.
(*Xerebus*)
It had been two weeks since their arrival. The majority of those affected by the transition, were back on their feet in 1-2 days, not worse for wear. Only around 50 people had a longer recovery, but all of them were expected to make a full recovery, in time.
Their camp was now fully established, with war level wards and a few expanded tents, to reduce overcrowding. It was necessary to cram into single tent back on Earth, to reduce the footprint of the protected area. This was not the case for Xerebus, the planet they found themselves on. So far, they remained undetected and unthreatened.
The military branch managed to infiltrate and kidnap a small pirate ship, with a crew of 3 humans and 1 alien, - Sakiyan. The pirates were subjected to intense sessions of questioning under Veritaserum, with translation charm, as well as Legilimency, to learn their language. They all had less than stellar records, so there was little guilt over their abduction and treatment.
Harry really wished he mentioned his struggles with Occlumency, in Ginny's presence, back in his fifth year. As it turned out, her brother Bill introduced her to the discipline back in Egypt, after her disastrous first year. Unlike him, she had both the talent and determination to learn it. After the war, when he mentioned his struggles with the mind arts to her, she proven to be a much better teacher, than Snape ever was.
In addition to the pirates themselves, they also acquired their ship and some technology. All of those were kept in another location, away from the main camp. Precaution, in case the technology could be tracked. The research team spent most of their days in that area, going over it all with fine comb. However, they were currently limited by the lack of language and technological knowledge.
"Thank you all for gathering. Now, that we have finished setting up, it is time for us to make some longer-term plans" started Harry, once more surrounded by the leadership of the survivors. "Ginny, please tell us what you have found out so far, about the local and global situation" he addressed his girlfriend, now in 6 years old body.
"As you all have heard, this planet is called Xerebus. From what we were able to gather, the population is somewhere around 1 million beings, so it is really scarcely populated. It is controlled by the species called Hutt, which often lead big crime syndicate's" she began.
"Contrary to our earlier beliefs, the spaceships here, are not only able to fly in space, between different planets, but also between stars" she paused. Letting those who haven't heard about it yet, time to absorb the significance of that information.
"As far as we gathered, there are high tens of millions of populated systems in this galaxy, maybe even hundreds of millions" she paused again. "There are also millions of different species of sentient beings" another pause. "Our current stellar position is on the edge of what is known as Hutt Space, a small area of the galaxy, controlled by criminals and pirates. This area alone, has over one million of populated systems, with at least 500 times that, in not populated ones" she added, to the stunned silence.
"It is hard to fathom such scale" breathed out McGonagall, stunned.
"Yes, I have been dealing with it for over 10 days now, and still find myself in disbelief" agreed Ginny. "I expect it will take me two more weeks, before I learn the Galactic Basic language enough, for language transfer potion. After that, we can put more people on analysing the information, that Hermione's team were able to gather from the captive's equipment" finished Ginny. There was much more that she learned in the last 2 weeks, but it was enough to give people general idea of their standing, for now.
"Thanks Ginny. Do you have anything to add Hermione?" asked Harry. Being the leader, he heard most of this information before, but was still wrapping his head around it.
"Yes. As expected, the local technology is significantly more advanced, than what muggles were using back home. We also found no magic present, in any of that, it is all purely mundane" she paused, giving others time to absorb the information.
"Their weapons, called blasters, fire gaseous, high temperature projectiles. They are nowhere as fast as bullets, but pack a significantly stronger punch. The standard shield charm can only take a few of those, before breaking. Therefore, I would suggest avoiding shielding under sustained fire, instead, seek shelter" she explained.
"Their technology is still affected by magic, but to a lesser extent. We believe, it is possible to add some magical enhancements, without breaking their technology. Additionally, we are able to duplicate their technology, as long as it is powered down for the process and we have all of the necessary raw materials" she added, getting many interested looks.
"We use Gemini charm to make a copy of an item. Then, use the switching spell, to replace the conjured materials within the copy, with the real materials. However, the bigger and more complex the item is, the more magic it takes to make a copy. The quality of switched materials also matters. For example, we can switch bronze components with raw tin and copper, but it takes significantly less power, if we have ready-made bronze, to do the switching with" she finished.
"That is very innovative use of the spells, Ms Granger" prised the transfiguration teacher.
"Thank you, Professor" responded Hermione, with a pleased blush.
"So, as long as we have working example of their technology, as well as correct raw materials, we can create more of it?" asked intrigued Harry, getting a nod in agreement back. This was massive development for them. The technology here was so advanced, it would have taken years, for their people to understand its inner workings. Even longer, to be able to produce their own copies, much less improved versions.
"Irongrip, can you ensure, that your people work with Hermione's team, to get them all of the raw materials they need?" he asked the grumpy goblin, getting an affirmative grunt in return. "I want for our people to start getting familiar with the local technology, as soon as possible. We also should outfit all of our people with the best local armour and weapons, we can get our hands on. Quantity over quality at this point, we can work on the improvements with magic later, when everyone has basic protections" he added to the goblin, to appease him.
The goblins were in charge of mines and materials, as well as armour and weapons. There was no economy at this point, for them to handle. Not that they particularly enjoyed playing that part, in the old Wizarding World. It was mostly forced on them, while being about the only way to keep their craftsman and warrior culture, guarding the wealth from robbers.
The younger members of their species, were also educated for a few years, together with humans and house elfs. It was a hard battle, but with help of his friends, Harry was able to swing the same basic education, for all sentient species under their umbrella. As an enormous carrot, to entice the goblins and house elfs to make the big change in their culture, they were now allowed to use wands.
Not that it was a very big concession, at this point, as the wands were in short supply, with no one in their group having any expertise in making more. There was a group working in that direction, but no one expected any significant breakthroughs any time soon. The shortages were so bad, that some students had to share wands, in the school.
No one knew what became of Fawkes, no one seen him, or any other phoenix for that matter, since Albus Dumbledore's funeral. At this point, Ginny was their only source of phoenix feathers and tears. Therefore, the supply of new materials was very short. The few unicorns they were able to capture, were lost with Hogwarts, making their tail hairs extremely expensive, non-renewable commodity.
The only saving grace they had, were the number of dragon eggs, they were able to save. However, those were yet to be hatched, as no one knew, if they were going to stay in this location for a long term. No one wanted to deal with live dragons, when it came to their transport between areas, or planets. Additionally, it would take years, before the dragons were old enough, for their bodies to be harvested for ingredients.
"Now, with all this information out in the open, I would like to hear, what everyone thinks our plans should be, in long term" asked Harry. He had a few ideas of his own, but wanted to hear what everyone else was thinking.
"With the technology of this galaxy, as well as so many available worlds, it would be very easy to get lost. We can even settle a planet, that muggles would be unable to live on. Or just stay in the black, between stars. It will be nearly impossible to find us there" suggested Luna, getting an acknowledging nod, from the others.
"I don't think it would be as easy, as Luna thinks" countered Arthur, clearing his glasses. "Even back on Earth, before the war, it was already getting harder and harder to hide from the muggles. With technology here being so much more advanced, it may be impossible to hide the Wizarding World anymore" he added his expertise.
"I didn't think about that. Mr Weasley may be right. We will get to testing the local technology against magical concealment, right away. We may not be as well-hidden, as we think" acknowledged Hermione. Hastily making a note in her notebook, underlying it a few times, to be very distinctive. Meanwhile, the rest of the present grimaced. Without relentless, daily attacks from the demons, they already started to get into, possibly, false sense of security.
"Since the locals here are criminals and pirates, shouldn't we, you know, get rid of them?" asked Ron with grimace. "They make for bad neighbours and if they discover us, they will be hostile, for sure" he added.
"I don't think all of them are bad Ronald" objected Hermione, to her boyfriend crude suggestion. "However, I agree, that we either have to move, or make them move" she conceded.
"Actually, most of the locals, will be fine with us taking out the criminals. I forgot to mention earlier, but lots of people in these parts are slaves. They also have bombs implanted in them, so they don't run off, or rise against their masters" explained Ginny, making many narrow their eyes. "If the criminals find about us, that is likely the fate, they will try to force on us too" she added.
"What?! We should set them free!" exclaimed Hermione, in outrage.
"Calm down Hermione, that is what we are exploring. What direction we are going to go in" tried to pacify her Harry.
"Well, I think we should free them" grunted Hermione in response, but sat down, crossing her arms.
"I believe, that there is another danger, that many of you are ignoring. With so many different species, planets and environments, there are also, likely, quite a few pathogens going around, that none of us will have immunity to" contributed Madam Pomfrey, to the general acknowledgement of her point.
"We will get you the local medical information, Madam Pomfrey, as soon as we are able to extract it from their computers" agreed Hermione, making another note in her notebook.
"Any information on the local wizards?" asked Bill. As far as he was concerned, they were the biggest threat to their wards. Many of them were designed against muggles, so even if their technology was able to see past them, the people will still be turned away.
"No luck so far, only some vague mentioning of Force and Jedi, but nothing concrete. It may be the case, that local wizards have also decided to separate. However, I am unsure, how would they manage the muggleborns across such vast space" answered Ginny. It was one of the areas, where she focused heavily on, during Legilimency sessions with the pirates. At the very least, these specific people, had no direct knowledge of the local Wizarding World.
"That may be another argument, to free the local slaves. It will give us a good sample of the local population. By the numbers alone, there must be at least some muggleborns among them. If there are none, then someone had taken them" contributed Nevile.
"Back on Earth, only 1 in 5000 muggles gave birth to a magical child. Even if the local birth rates are comparable, we will need to test more than just the population of the closest town, to be sure" elaborated Luna, augmenting point of her boyfriend. "It is also unclear, if the non-humans can have magical children" she added.
"We could use the slaves, in the mines" grinned Irongrip, making Harry roll his eyes.
He was fairly certain, that the goblins often said things, just to vex humans. If Hermione's reddening face was anything to go by, Irongrip was doing well.
"There will be no unwilling slaves here. However, we should also consider, that the slaves will have families and places to get back to. Will the Obliviate even work on the aliens? How are we going to free them, without compromising our own anonymity?" he asked the group. Being raised as a slave to the Dursleys, he could sympathise with the locals, but the safety of their own people came first, for him.
"I fail to see, how we can even subdue that many people, without the word leaking into the greater galaxy" contributed McGonagall. "If we go after these people, we have to accept, that there will be no secrecy about it. You cannot Obliviate someone on the other side of the galaxy. Just one slip up and our anonymity will be gone" she added, rubbing her tired eyes. Despite the relative safety their people experienced over the last two weeks, they were still all putting good 60-80 hours of work per week.
"I agree with Minerva here. We don't have the slightest idea about the technologies and workings of the locals. There is no way we can get involved with them in any significant way, while keeping our anonymity" agreed Arthur. Even back on Earth, they often had to do follow up Obliviates, as the information spread increasingly fast. They even had to get help from Obliviators in other countries, to contain some leaks.
It was much easier in early days. Even with imperfect clean up, no one would believe the rare witness, with no proof. With photography and cameras, it became increasingly more important, to do a thorough clean up. Many of his colleagues were counting the days, until the fall of the Statute of Secrecy. Very few believed it would remain intact, for long.
"So, no matter what we choose to do, there is high chance, that we will get into fight with the locals" mussed Harry. "Either due to our own intervention on behalf of the slaves, or because our concealment capabilities may be insufficient, for the technology of this place. Is dialog with the locals possible?" he asked Ginny, currently their best expert on the locals.
"Not likely. The only way they will negotiate with us, is if we show ourselves to be more powerful, than it is worth dealing with. Even then, it would be, at best, temporary truce. It will last only as long, as it takes them to find a way to stab us in the back" she summarized, what she learned about the politics of the lands, from the locals. The whole notion of the Hutt Space, was about chaos. Constant fights for the territories, slaves and loot.
Any non-Hutt power in the region, would suddenly get themselves attacked from all sides. Meanwhile, any Hutts engaged in the conflict between each other, had to worry about others using their distracted and weakened state, to take over their territory.
"Very well. Ron, I want your team to figure out a few battle plans, based on what we have and know. Both offensive and defensive. Irongrip, have goblins work with Hermione's team, on improved armour and weapons. We don't have the numbers, so have to win on quality of our gear and training. Speaking of training, Ginny switch training for the wizards and muggles, to fight against locals. It looks like we are done with the demons, for now" Harry started issuing orders.
"Nevile and Luna, start expanding our farmlands. We will be unable to fight for very long, if we don't grow fast. If the fight starts, we will be absorbing as many people, as we can handle. It is also something that Educational Department should be ready for, Professor McGonagall. I don't know the level of education of these slaves, but I assume it is not very high. We may need to give at least the basic education, even to the adults" he addressed the other members of his cabinet.
"Madam Pomfrey, the slaves will need basic medical checks and bomb implants removal. The Health Department, should start preparing to handle that sort of patients. Mr Weasley, the newcomers will need to be processed and integrated into our society, as fast as possible. We should also start work on restoring the properly working society, with economy and proper administration. As someone who worked in the old ministry, you should have the most expertise for that" he told the man.
"We will also need a way to keep those who don't have our trust yet, from accessing any of the critical information and areas. This is something, that Curse Breakers should handle, Bill. I think, you guys can also prepare a good amount of space, to house the newcomers. Maybe add some magic, that will let us catch troublemakers, before they can cause too much damage" he suggested.
"I really hope it will not come to another war, but all of the current facts point in that direction. It is either run or fight. We are unable to do the former, so let's at least make sure we are ready for later. Any questions or comments?" he finally asked the group.
After they discussed a few more suggestions and ideas, the meeting got dismissed. Everyone had a lot of new work to do, to prepare their people for another fight, with an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.
(*Preparations*)
"Hey Hermione" greeted Harry, poking his head into the office of his best female friend. As was common, the young woman sat behind a desk covered in books and notes.
"Oh, hi Harry" she greeted back. "Did you need anything?" she asked. They were all so busy these days, that they rarely got to see each other, outside of meals.
"Well, I heard you wanted to see me. Ron and Ginny were practically vibrating, but would not tell me what about" he poured. As the leader, he usually had more information, than any of his friends. It was rare that they got something to hold over him, therefore, were using it to its full potential.
"Ah, right! Come with me, you will love this" exclaimed Hermione, jumping up from behind her desk.
They navigated through a few rooms and corridors, with other researchers working in small groups on various things. Finally, they made their way to what looked like shooting range, or maybe weapons development part. Hermione beelining to one of the goblins working in the corner.
"Mountaintip, could you give Harry the demonstration of the new armour?" she asked the goblin, who glared back in return.
"Again? Why do you keep bringing them one at a time? Like I have nothing better to do" grumbled the goblin, nonetheless, he got to work setting up the demonstration.
"Sorry, it is the last time!" apologized blushing Hermione, but was too pumped up, to let the words put her down.
"New armour?" asked Harry in interest.
"Here, this is a plasteel, commonly used as an armour material by locals" she handled him a square piece of material.
"It is quite light" noted Harry, bouncing up the armour plate in his hand.
"Yep, it is also about as strong as good steel back on Earth, while being three times lighter" she explained. "Now, watch" she directed him.
The goblin had positioned an identical piece of armour at the shooting range. Then, he walked back and picked up one of the blasters, took aim and shoot the armour. Even at the distance, Harry could see the damage to the armour, as well as the small fire caused by the laser shot.
"It is not very good, is it?" he summarized his observations.
"It will save your life, even from the direct hit from a blaster. But if it is a glancing hit, usually you can still fight, unless it hits a weak spot" explained Mountaintip. Then, he took another piece of armour, walking back to the shooting range.
"This is enchanted plasteel" explained Hermione, giving Harry another piece of armour from another pile.
Harry took it, but could find nothing different, other than complex runic design at the back. "What are the enchantments?" he asked.
"Nothing complex, just a standard design for un-breakability" answered his friend, making Harry look back at the design once more.
"This is standard?" he asked in disbelieve. He was fairly certain, there was no way, he could draw something this complex.
"Yeah" Hermione rolled her eyes, at her slow friend. "Now watch this" she directed, as the goblin made his way back again and took another shot.
This time, it was clear that the shot didn't penetrate the armour. There was still a small amount of fire, but less than the last shot. "Wow" summarized Harry, examining both pieces of armour. The original had a small hole burnt through it, with much bigger damage on the outside. The enchanted piece, was not penetrated. Even on the outside, the damage was significantly smaller, with just some material being chipped away.
"Yeah, it takes about 3 hits, to make the same amount of damage" noted Hermione with pride. "Now, this is durasteel" she handled him another piece of armour.
"Wow, this is heavy" exclaimed Harry. It was much heavier, than it looked.
"Yes, it is 3 times as heavy, as steel. This is another material sometimes used as armour, but due to its weight, generally only as a thin plate, over the chest area. It is more commonly used in buildings and ships" explained Hermione, while the goblin prepared another demonstration.
This time, he shot the armour plate five times in total. Only on the third shot, Harry could see a damage starting to take place. The first shot was ricocheted completely, with partial ricochet, for the second one.
"This thing is even better, than the enchanted plasteel" noted Harry, impressed.
"Yes, it is around 6 times stronger than plasteel. Now check out this enchanted durasteel" she handled him another piece of armour.
Harry nearly ended up throwing the piece up into the air. The weight he was expecting, never materialised. The thing was as light as a feather. "Featherlight enchantment?" he asked impressed. Turning the plate over, to examine significantly more complex runic design.
"Featherlight..., and un-breakable" she corrected him with a smile, making him look at her sharply. Then a predatory smile made its way onto his face.
Turning his head in the direction of the shooting range, Harry bounced on tips of his toes in excitement. That excitement only grew, when all 5 of the shots simply bounced off the enchanted piece of durasteel. Examining the two pieces closely, he could see even bigger difference. The original piece of durasteel, looked more dented, than actually broken. Meanwhile, the enchanted piece looked pristine, with just some soot marring its surface. "Is it actually unbreakable?" he asked with interest.
"Not quite, but it takes around 20 shots to damage it, even then, it is mostly the heat that is doing it. We have a few other enchantments we want to try to add, but it is still work in progress" she explained.
"How soon can we gear out all of our fighters?" asked Harry with excitement. He could see why the Weasley siblings were so excited. With armour like that, they were going to dominate any local fighting force.
"Haha, not so fast Harry. We are still working out the ways to bend the material into correct shapes. Additionally, each unique piece of armour, will need a custom runic design. We have a lot of people working on it, but it will take time. Also, Ginny already called dibs on the first armour. Something about hatting to have to grow up again" laughed Hermione, making Harry smile.
He was quite familiar with his girlfriend's feeling, about having to experience childhood again, even if at accelerated pace and with adult mind. Her magic was unaffected, but she lacked strength, height and coordination of her adult body. That is without mentioning, how it affected her relationships with people around her. Most found her situation amusing, while Mrs Weasley had her parental instincts reawakened, keeping Ginny within her sign, at all times.
"What about their weapons, any upgrades we can make?" he asked Hermione.
"There are some areas we can improve, but it is low on our priority list. The weapons are quite good the way they are. In worst case scenario, you get around 100 shots in a row. Even then, it is just a question of replacing the heat sink and you are ready to go. The only issue we are running into, is the lack of ammo, but some of the Allonzy's people are working on it. I doubt it will be a problem for very long" responded Hermione. Leading Harry away from the Mountaintip, to keep the goblin happy and undisturbed.
"Good, good. Keep up the excellent work Hermione, not that I was expecting anything less from you" prized Harry.
"It was actually Professor Babbling, who done most of the work. I just made copies of her original designs, to have more pieces to tests. By the way, you should know, that this armour, even enchanted, is not very effective against magic. For that, we are still better off with dragonhide, or even the auror's robes" she explained. "Let's hope we don't run into local aurors, until we solve that issue" she added.
"I will keep it in mind" he nodded in understanding. "Still, great job. Pass my gratitude to everyone involved, will you?" he responded, getting a nod in agreement back. Saying their goodbyes, Harry peeled off, to check on progress of their farming branch.
It was amazing how small and, at the same time, how big the footprint of farming was. The fields themselves, were in expanded trunks, so the 100 or so trunks, used for the purpose, fit into a single, sizeable room. On the other hand, each of the trunk's inner space was massive one square kilometre.
Harry never been to a farm, so he never realised how much food each person consumed. As it turned out, each field could only feed around 10 people for a year. Thankfully, with a little bit of magic, they were able to collect 4 harvests per year. Additionally, each trunk had 3 compartments of equal size. This all combined, allowed to feed 120 people, from the products produced by each trunk.
It was possible to make bigger spaces in the trunks, with more compartments. However, this size was the biggest they could do, while still mass producing them. Anything bigger, required exponentially more efforts and resources to produce, not something they could spare at this time.
Of those 100 trunks, only 40 were dedicated to food production. The rest, were used as nature preserves and ingredient greenhouses. They were still expanding the farming areas, despite already producing enough food, to support 4 times their current population. The limiting factors were the wood production by forests and soil from compost piles. Wood was also in high demand to expand their storage and for new constructions, as it held magic very well.
With access to the preservative charm, that could keep things fresh for very long time, they were hoarding everything. Waste not, want not, was their operational prerogative. Even good quality potions, submitted by the school children during classes, were all put into storage, rather than flushed down the drain.
In fact, due to the overrepresentation of children in their group, they were relying on them to do a good amount of work, around the camp. Usually, that work was done as part of the class curriculum, in practical application of magic. For that purpose, a lot of their classes had their curriculum adjusted, to teach the kids to work on what was necessary, to keep the survivors going.
It didn't help, that biggest percentage of children were among the wizards, while goblins had the least. Having the easiest time of moving to and from the battle with the demons, wizards had the most engagements with the enemy, suffering the greatest loses among adult population.
Meanwhile, goblins had put all of their youth in the deepest and best protected parts of their burrows. Therefore, when the defences were breached, very few children were able to escape, being trapped.
As it turned out, today, school was having a herbology day. Doing hands on learning across multiple farms and greenhouses. That made Nevile and Luna very busy, so Harry had to postpone the visit with his friends to another day. Instead, he went to the military area.
"Captain Collins" he greeted the highest-ranking, muggle military man, in their group. When their scouts discovered his army battalion, there were only 200 of his original 400 men left, defending a military installation from demons. That installation had couple of nukes as well as good amount of other muggle ammunition left. Unfortunately, while they had the warheads, they didn't have any of the rockets left, to deliver the payload.
It was a tense negotiation, to have them join with the wizards. There may have even been a good amount of compulsion charms involved, to ensure a quick agreement. However, over the last few months, the captain and his remaining men proved to be a good addition to their group.
The remaining muggles, were picked up from one of the civilian ships, in the waters far north of Norway. It was mostly full of children, clearly seeking safety in Northern Ocean waters, that the ship was not designed to brave. Because of where their muggles came from, nearly no information from the muggle side of the world was recovered, with exception of odd book in the possession of various individuals.
"Minister Potter" the man greeted back, overlooking the soldiers' doing drills on the training grounds below.
"How are they doing?" asked Harry. Looking at 9 years old Ginny, floating above the troops on a broom, occasionally sending a stinging hex at people, who needed encouragement.
"We have been trained to fight people, so it is mostly just a refresher course for my men. Civilians, your people and the goblins, need a lot of work" he explained with grimace. It was clear, that the man was still having troubles with magic, goblins and aliens.
"How much longer, before they are ready for combat?" asked Harry, ignoring the discomfort the man shown. Unfortunately, it was same for wizards, who had to work with goblins and muggles. And the goblins, who had to work with humans. House elfs, were the only ones, who didn't seem to care who they worked for, as long as they were given enough work. Plus, they usually stayed out of view of others, as their customs dictated.
It was one of the main reasons, to push for all species getting basic education together. To make the future generations more able to work together, to erase some prejudice between species. Unfortunately, it was going to take time. He hopped, that addition of many other alien species to the mix, would speed up the process, rather than cause the unstable mix to explode.
"My men are ready for combat now, but the others, will take at least another 2 months. However, it would be better to give them full 9 months of training, before sending them into combat, as was standard back in army" he explained.
"Hmm... I am afraid we may not have that long, not even the 2 months" responded Harry. Getting a questioning look from Collins, he elaborated. "The early indications from the warding team, is that the local technology can see past our concealments, if someone is looking hard enough. If we don't make our move soon, we will lose the element of surprise" he explained.
They spent a few more minutes, discussing their options. Finally, agreeing to start weapons and battle tactics training, before finishing the physical. It was not ideal, but it was better to have partial training in all areas, rather than complete training in just one area, while clueless in all the others.
Finishing his talk with the captain, Harry made his way down to the training grounds, gaining Ginny's attention.
"Harry! Are you up for a spar?" she asked, flying near him at eye level.
"Sure" he answered, then got a glint in his eyes. "Just so you know, just because you are kid, doesn't mean I am going to hold back" he told her with a smirk.
"You are so going down, Potter!" was her heated response.
"Bring it on..., midget" he responded, taking off running and putting a shield behind him. A volley of curses and a battle cry, were his answers.
