Chapter 2: A Different Time, A Different Place
Zach awoke to the sound of birds singing somewhere in the distance. His thoughts drifted to what Q had said." You will have a foe from your past. A dangerous foe." That was absurd. Zach didn't have any enemies did he? No, he thought shaking his head. Not from the past. He reached for his sword; a dark black sword he'd found on an archeological dig. It was still there, which was good. So was his phaser, which was even better. Zach then heard someone approach and turned to see a women in emerald green robes and a man with greasy black hair running towards him. "Who are you?" the woman asked." Admiral Zach Baker, United Federation of Planets," he answered without thinking. Both of the strangers blanched and the greasy haired man said," A muggle! How did you get here?" "Professor Snape please calm down," said the woman." I am Professor Minerva McGonagall and this is Professor Severus Snape. We are from a school called..." "Hogwarts," Zach replied. "Yes, I am quite aware of who you are. What year is it?" "1995. Admiral, are you quite alright?" "Yes, I'm fine." Liar, Zach thought, this is not my time. Q, you bastard, you knew this was going to happen! Zach frowned, but then put on his best smile. "Could you please take me to a place where I can get some food and perhaps some rest? I've had a long journey and I'm very tired." McGonagall nodded and said," You can stay at the school, it's still empty, all the students are still on summer vacation, so I suppose you can stay in one of the dormitories." "Thanks!" Zach replied, excited at the chance to finally get the see this famous, magical school." Meanwhile, Professor Snape and I will go inform the Headmaster that you have arrived," McGonagall told him. Zach smiled and headed up the hill.
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Snape was livid." What in the hell do you think your doing, Professor? He's a muggle! Do you realize what that means ?!" McGonagall gave him a cold look and said," It means that we will have to keep him happy so he doesn't tell the whole muggle world about us! The longer we keep him preoccupied, the longer we have to figure out what to do with him." "If you ask me, we should just put a memory charm on him and send him on his merry way." "Well, I didn't ask you, Serverus, and we can't just put a memory charm on him, he has technology that reverses those," McGonagall said, glaring at him. Sometimes she still couldn't see why Dumbledore had hired him. She watched as the admiral walked forward with set determination and then stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes landed on the massive school. "Good God, and I thought the Galaxy class ships were huge! This is just, just cool!" Zach was gawking up at the school as though it was about to get up and run away and he'd never see it again." Shall we go in?" McGonagall asked. Answering, Zach quickly headed up the stairs and into the school proper. McGonagall lead Zach down one winding hallway after another, until they finally stopped in front of a huge gargoyle. "Mars Bars" McGonagall said simply. The gargoyle leapt aside and behind it was a staircase that lead straight Dumbledore's office. Zach arched his eyebrow and stated," You're security is inefficient. Anyone could make themselves look like you or a student, overhear the password, and sneak right in. A simple retina scanner would prevent that from ever happening." "And just where are we going to get one of those...things?" Snape asked, his voice full of hate." I happen to have one in my trunk. Perhaps when this little meeting is over you'd like me to show it to you."Snape looked like he was going to explode, while Zach just smiled a small victory smile and strode into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore looked up at him and said,"Ah, yes. You must be the admiral that Fawkes told me about." As he said this a beautiful phoenix swooped into the room. Zach looked at Dumbledore and asked," He can talk?" "Of course I can talk," Fawkes said testily." How?" Zach was by now very curious about how a bird can talk." I lock onto the syntax. I know over four thousand languages," the bird said proudly. "Impressive, for a bird," Zach said wryly." Well how many do you know?"
"Five billion."
"Five billion!" Snape was amazed." How could you possibly know five billion?!" "I was assimilated by the Borg. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some food and some sleep." With that Zach turned on his heel and left the office.
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Zach walked up to the portiat of the Fat Lady at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, fuming. He hadn't wanted to tell them he'd once been a member of species responsible for killing billions, even if it was for a short time. To long for me, he thought. " Who are you and what are you doing here?" The Fat Lady demanded, still jumpy after her run in with Sirius Black two years ago." I am Admiral Zach Baker of the United Federation of Planets." Realizing that there was such a thing back in this time period he didn't hesitate to tell people who he was. No reason denying who he was. " Password," the Fat Lady demanded, still giving him suspicious looks." Dumbledore didn't say anything about a password," Zach said, shifting uncomfortablely. "Because you didn't give him enough time, you stupid boy," Snape said meanly." You can use anything you desire." "In that case the new password for me is baker alpha tango 191." The Fat Lady sighed heavily and said," I wasn't aware we had a new student." Snape replied," He will be sorted at the Sorting Ceremony, as a muggle observer. I just hope he doesn't get put into my house." "The feeling is mutual," Zach sneered."And that would be a STARFLEET observer." The Fat Lady, seeing that an argument was about to erupt, quickly opened to allow Zach admittance. Zach stepped through, not wanting to give Snape any reason to get him thrown out of the school before he'd even had a chance to get settled. The Gryffindor Common Room did not impress Zach as much as it had the many students that had walked through it before, but he thought it was comfortable and that was all that mattered to him. He saw that there was already food on the table, so he sat down and helped himself. After he'd eaten, he left, too excited by where he was at to sleep. He wandered the halls meeting Nearly Headless Nick and the Grey Lady. Suddenly he heard a loud thump followed by several loud crashes and swearing. Suddenly another ghost appeared and flew straight at him. Correction, a poltergeist was flying at him. Zach ducked and rolled behind a statue in the hall. "PEEVES," shouted Argus Filch, the caretaker. Caretaker, Zach thought uneasily, the same name as the entity that pulled Voyager 75,000 light years from home. Peeves sniggered and then picked up a huge tub of green goop that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and dumped it on Filch. Zach, not wanting to make Filch mad at him already, pulled out his phaser and fired. Peeves was blasted down the hall. Filch immediately pursued Peeves, not even giving Zach a simple "thank you". The only thing he did was shout at Peeves," You'll be banished for this," before turning and perusing the irritable poltergeist. Maybe I shouldn't have helped him after all, Zach thought, sighing and walking down the hall.
Zach awoke to the sound of birds singing somewhere in the distance. His thoughts drifted to what Q had said." You will have a foe from your past. A dangerous foe." That was absurd. Zach didn't have any enemies did he? No, he thought shaking his head. Not from the past. He reached for his sword; a dark black sword he'd found on an archeological dig. It was still there, which was good. So was his phaser, which was even better. Zach then heard someone approach and turned to see a women in emerald green robes and a man with greasy black hair running towards him. "Who are you?" the woman asked." Admiral Zach Baker, United Federation of Planets," he answered without thinking. Both of the strangers blanched and the greasy haired man said," A muggle! How did you get here?" "Professor Snape please calm down," said the woman." I am Professor Minerva McGonagall and this is Professor Severus Snape. We are from a school called..." "Hogwarts," Zach replied. "Yes, I am quite aware of who you are. What year is it?" "1995. Admiral, are you quite alright?" "Yes, I'm fine." Liar, Zach thought, this is not my time. Q, you bastard, you knew this was going to happen! Zach frowned, but then put on his best smile. "Could you please take me to a place where I can get some food and perhaps some rest? I've had a long journey and I'm very tired." McGonagall nodded and said," You can stay at the school, it's still empty, all the students are still on summer vacation, so I suppose you can stay in one of the dormitories." "Thanks!" Zach replied, excited at the chance to finally get the see this famous, magical school." Meanwhile, Professor Snape and I will go inform the Headmaster that you have arrived," McGonagall told him. Zach smiled and headed up the hill.
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Snape was livid." What in the hell do you think your doing, Professor? He's a muggle! Do you realize what that means ?!" McGonagall gave him a cold look and said," It means that we will have to keep him happy so he doesn't tell the whole muggle world about us! The longer we keep him preoccupied, the longer we have to figure out what to do with him." "If you ask me, we should just put a memory charm on him and send him on his merry way." "Well, I didn't ask you, Serverus, and we can't just put a memory charm on him, he has technology that reverses those," McGonagall said, glaring at him. Sometimes she still couldn't see why Dumbledore had hired him. She watched as the admiral walked forward with set determination and then stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes landed on the massive school. "Good God, and I thought the Galaxy class ships were huge! This is just, just cool!" Zach was gawking up at the school as though it was about to get up and run away and he'd never see it again." Shall we go in?" McGonagall asked. Answering, Zach quickly headed up the stairs and into the school proper. McGonagall lead Zach down one winding hallway after another, until they finally stopped in front of a huge gargoyle. "Mars Bars" McGonagall said simply. The gargoyle leapt aside and behind it was a staircase that lead straight Dumbledore's office. Zach arched his eyebrow and stated," You're security is inefficient. Anyone could make themselves look like you or a student, overhear the password, and sneak right in. A simple retina scanner would prevent that from ever happening." "And just where are we going to get one of those...things?" Snape asked, his voice full of hate." I happen to have one in my trunk. Perhaps when this little meeting is over you'd like me to show it to you."Snape looked like he was going to explode, while Zach just smiled a small victory smile and strode into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore looked up at him and said,"Ah, yes. You must be the admiral that Fawkes told me about." As he said this a beautiful phoenix swooped into the room. Zach looked at Dumbledore and asked," He can talk?" "Of course I can talk," Fawkes said testily." How?" Zach was by now very curious about how a bird can talk." I lock onto the syntax. I know over four thousand languages," the bird said proudly. "Impressive, for a bird," Zach said wryly." Well how many do you know?"
"Five billion."
"Five billion!" Snape was amazed." How could you possibly know five billion?!" "I was assimilated by the Borg. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some food and some sleep." With that Zach turned on his heel and left the office.
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Zach walked up to the portiat of the Fat Lady at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, fuming. He hadn't wanted to tell them he'd once been a member of species responsible for killing billions, even if it was for a short time. To long for me, he thought. " Who are you and what are you doing here?" The Fat Lady demanded, still jumpy after her run in with Sirius Black two years ago." I am Admiral Zach Baker of the United Federation of Planets." Realizing that there was such a thing back in this time period he didn't hesitate to tell people who he was. No reason denying who he was. " Password," the Fat Lady demanded, still giving him suspicious looks." Dumbledore didn't say anything about a password," Zach said, shifting uncomfortablely. "Because you didn't give him enough time, you stupid boy," Snape said meanly." You can use anything you desire." "In that case the new password for me is baker alpha tango 191." The Fat Lady sighed heavily and said," I wasn't aware we had a new student." Snape replied," He will be sorted at the Sorting Ceremony, as a muggle observer. I just hope he doesn't get put into my house." "The feeling is mutual," Zach sneered."And that would be a STARFLEET observer." The Fat Lady, seeing that an argument was about to erupt, quickly opened to allow Zach admittance. Zach stepped through, not wanting to give Snape any reason to get him thrown out of the school before he'd even had a chance to get settled. The Gryffindor Common Room did not impress Zach as much as it had the many students that had walked through it before, but he thought it was comfortable and that was all that mattered to him. He saw that there was already food on the table, so he sat down and helped himself. After he'd eaten, he left, too excited by where he was at to sleep. He wandered the halls meeting Nearly Headless Nick and the Grey Lady. Suddenly he heard a loud thump followed by several loud crashes and swearing. Suddenly another ghost appeared and flew straight at him. Correction, a poltergeist was flying at him. Zach ducked and rolled behind a statue in the hall. "PEEVES," shouted Argus Filch, the caretaker. Caretaker, Zach thought uneasily, the same name as the entity that pulled Voyager 75,000 light years from home. Peeves sniggered and then picked up a huge tub of green goop that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and dumped it on Filch. Zach, not wanting to make Filch mad at him already, pulled out his phaser and fired. Peeves was blasted down the hall. Filch immediately pursued Peeves, not even giving Zach a simple "thank you". The only thing he did was shout at Peeves," You'll be banished for this," before turning and perusing the irritable poltergeist. Maybe I shouldn't have helped him after all, Zach thought, sighing and walking down the hall.