Chapter Twenty-Three: One False Step
Thursday, 13th January 2000.
Natalie looked up from her book, over the trickling fountain as the porta activated. She softly tucked her bookmark into place and moved to stand when Harry and Luna suddenly shot out of the event horizon at speed on his broom and made a dangerously fast turn through the air of the Atrium. A light shower of water droplets hit her as the broom clipped the water feature during the manoeuvre and shot quickly into the medical wing.
No small amount of terror began to fill Natalie as she dropped her book and shot to her feet charging after the pair who were now both standing in the medical room, the broom dropped on the floor beside them.
"Trust me, Harry. I am fine." Luna insisted as Harry guided her towards the wall.
"Let's be sure, please." He pleaded.
"Fine, but set it vertically. My back is still stiff from that damn prison bench."
"Prison bench?" Natalie echoed in surprise, drawing the eyes of the pair before her.
"Er..." Harry replied eloquently as he always did when caught in the middle of something and Natalie got her first good look at the two. Neither seemed obviously injured in any way, but both did seem somewhat out of breath.
"What happened?" She demanded, stepping forward and helping Harry guide Luna onto the now heavily angled bed so that the scanner could work over her form.
"It's nothing too serious. It was really beautiful out last night, so we decided to sleep under the stars. We were caught sleeping and someone used a device on Luna that seems similar to the Cruciatus Curse." Harry answered at last as the device whirred to life and slipped up and down over Luna's figure, the shining blue light colouring her skin and clothes as it moved back and forth.
"That torture curse the Death Eaters used?"
Harry nodded and both fixed their eyes back on Luna who closed her own and laid back against the soft mattress.
"Close, but not the same." She said, "The curse fills your whole body. Every nerve feels like it's burning with fiendfyre. This wasn't quite so bad…" She trailed off as Natalie heard another set of footsteps entering the room behind her and turned to see her daughter approach, a severe look on her face as she took in the room.
Within moments she was beside Luna and the pair whispered back and forth, too quietly for her to hear. When they were done, Luna looked a little brighter than when she had arrived, but Hermione looked like she was ready to track down whoever had hurt the younger girl and end them.
"I think we might have beaten you to that, Hermione," Harry said out of nowhere, and Natalie was surprised the lad had discerned Hermione's intention so easily. "We thought the guns made a big splash when you fired them. That power cell went up like a small nuke."
"I'll say. The two of them cracked the ship. It was sliding off the mountain as we left." Luna smirked in satisfaction.
"Remind me not to get on your bad sides," Natalie said, watching the three relish in their extreme victory.
"Sorry, mum. It's just, that spell and I assume this torture weapon… It's one of the worst spells imaginable. And Luna…" Hermione trailed off and looked at the blonde girl who stared at Natalie for a moment before she nodded. "Luna has endured more of it than anyone I know, bar maybe Neville. And from an 'expert in the form' as it were."
"I am glad that Augusta managed to take that evil cow down, but she got it easy in the end compared to her victims." Luna snarled and Natalie saw that there was a far deeper story she was currently unaware of hiding behind the face of the one who she tended to think of as the kindest and most loving of their group.
"Don't worry," Harry whispered to her as the girls spoke by the bed once more. "We're not all crazy and going to randomly attack anyone."
"How did you…?" Natalie asked, glancing at Harry.
"Please, you're Hermione's mother. And I can read her like a book. We are exactly what too many irresponsible adults made us. Warriors. We understand mercy, but in the case of people who will use torture for their own perverse enjoyment like Voldemort, Bellatrix and the Goa'uld… Let's just say they will only get exactly what they deserve."
"It's too easy in this magnificent place and visiting other planets to forget that you all had to fight a war. Hermione still hasn't told us a lot of what happened during it."
"I won't break her confidence on that. It is her choice to tell you or not. But be patient with her. There is a good reason she and Luna bonded so tightly after the war. I'm sure she'll tell you soon." Harry said, touching her shoulder lightly as she watched the two girls talk.
This little moment had left her more confused, rather than less. And she found herself wondering what exactly her little girl and her friends had endured at the hands of these Death Eaters that had left them so willing to utterly break any who would declare themselves their enemies.
The computer by the bed chimed softly and Harry and Hermione closed in on it quickly to check the result. "Mild muscle strain in the upper back and shoulder area, increased heart rate, hormones are a little off," Hermione noted. "There does not appear to be any sort of lasting damage."
She unceremoniously turned Harry on his heel and the boy offered a mild verbal resistance. Hermione fished two potions from his shoulder bag and turned back to Luna. "Drink. They'll help. And you get to take it easy for a few days again."
Luna rolled her eyes playfully at Hermione before she downed the two potions. "Fine, I'll stick to reading. In fact, we should have Merlin analyse the playback of our encounter. He can try and brute force a translation of the language for us. Then we can have a meeting to discuss the Goa'uld."
"That's a good idea." Harry agreed, tapping commands into his remote. "I'll send a request to the Asgard for anything they are willing to share on the goa'uld. Get our knowledge base up to snuff." As Harry finished entering his commands, he looked back up and stepped closer to Luna. "Take it easy, little one."
Luna nodded her reply and Natalie could almost feel the almost sibling bond between the two. She once more found herself out of the loop as to how the two of them became so close in the way that they were, and resolved to have a few extra chats with her daughter in the coming days.
ϟ
Friday, 14th January 2000.
Harry snuggled her tighter against his chest and Hermione let out some of the tension she was holding as she let her worries drain away into his comforting embrace. In the few months they had now been officially dating, they hadn't spent every night together, but whenever they did she slept deeper and more soundly than usual. So far, they had only actually slept when together as opposed to the actions Luna often implied when she saw them heading off together, and tonight was definitely not going to break that pattern.
After learning the full extent of the encounter with the goa'uld from Harry after dinner, Hermione felt as if she was wound tight like a spring with worry.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry's voice came in the darkness and Hermione tried to align her thoughts so that she could answer the question. She wasn't even certain exactly what was bothering her the most right now.
Harry remained patiently silent as she figured it out before eventually speaking. "I hate knowing that damn thing even exists. We tested its output today and… What could possess a creature to create something solely for the purpose of torturing others?"
"I don't know exactly what it is in their brains that makes them do it, but I've felt it before. I just call it evil and leave it at that. Figuring out why isn't so important as figuring out how to stop or avoid those who would do so." Harry responded, his left arm sliding up and down her own as she pressed her back tighter against his chest.
"And to subject Luna to such a thing. She's become the little sister I always wanted but never had."
"Mine too. Just the idea of someone hurting her is enough to send me into a rage. I exploded their damn throne so hard I think I might have killed one of the guards with the shrapnel alone. And the goa'uld certainly expected his shield to be a better defence against the second one. He still wasn't moving when we apparated out of the ship." Harry said with a satisfied tone to his voice.
Hermione rolled in his arms, taking him by surprise as she applied her lips softly to his own and laid her hands over his softly thudding heart. She relished the touch for several seconds before pulling away. "I love how protective you are of everyone. Just remember to keep yourself safe too. I really don't want to even consider losing you, Harry."
He nodded his reply as the pair looked into one another's eyes, difficult but not impossible in the darkened room.
"I'm torn between my need to know and my deep disgust," Hermione said after another comfortable silence. "Part of me needs to know the how and why of everything. It's not quite as bad as it used to be, but it is still there…"
"You don't say," Harry smirked, and Hermione gently slapped his arm as she knew he was referring to her forceful removal from her newest library.
"Shut it." She replied with her own broad smile. "But then I see how Padma is struggling. I see your face in the moments when Riddle's thoughts surge up. And I don't think that I am strong enough to cope."
"Hermione, you are…" Harry began.
"I know I am strong, Harry. I don't need the platitude, no matter how much I know you mean it. But… I also know my limits better than you think. Better than you do. I nearly broke under only a few minutes of Bellatrix's tender care," she spat. "and yet Luna endured it for months. You've endured it from Voldemort himself more than I care to think. Just the idea of it is too painful to bear."
"We'll figure out a way to help Padma, I am sure of it," Harry said, pulling her tight once more.
"I know. I've been searching. Magic isn't a real option as whoever cast the spell would need to see the memories they're masking or removing during the process, just shifting the problem into someone else. The database has a few different kinds of memory technology, but none of them covers memory removal. They're designed to aid recall."
"The problem with moving into a place where the former owners were all about knowledge. I doubt the idea of removing knowledge from themselves ever even occurred to them."
Hermione gave a soft chuckle at the very light dig at her own ravenous appetite for information. "True. I did find something useful for us as a whole though. A little device that mounts on the temple. It was designed to aid memory recall, so I don't think I can alter it to help with Padma's problem, but with a little tweaking I think I can make it so that we can run the memory training program on it as a background task."
"So we could continue the training while doing other things, instead of having to take turns using the chair?" Harry asked, sounding rather impressed.
Hermione felt that now very familiar bloom in her chest at his praise and couldn't help but smile. She simply nodded in order to not let Harry know just how much she enjoyed it when he did so.
"That's brilliant. You're brilliant, Hermio…" He said confidently and Hermione lunged up at him once more, kissing him deeply and loving the combination of the warm bloom in her chest with the feel of Harry's arms and body entwined tightly around her as his lips explored her own once again.
When they, at last, pulled back, she could almost see the joy on Harry's face despite the darkness around them. "You don't have to reward me for thinking that you are great."
Hermione blushed and tapped his chest with all the energy she could muster in the maybe two inches between their bodies. "Shut up." She teased with no heat in her voice.
Life with Harry hadn't always been easy thanks to the prophecy and war that had loomed over him from the day they had first met. But those moments of strife made her appreciate these moments of levity and happiness all the more. And the closeness they had developed since they'd become fully open with one another about their feelings had only increased her overall happiness.
Hermione was proud of many things in her life, but none more so than her agreement last May to help Harry hide from the baying masses for a few days. The journey it had led them on so far had improved her life in so many ways.
ϟ
Saturday, 15th January 2000.
The full council sat around the table in their smaller chamber as Merlin watched the gathered members softly chatting with one another. A far more common sight here at Aether as they had gathered several times now to discuss their options and actions.
"Ready when you are," Luna said, smiling softly from her place between the hologram and Hermione. Merlin considered each face for a fraction of a second before he moved to speak.
"I've gone over the data from the vulta and both remotes several times, analysing the conversation and locational data. Assessment has been difficult as the Asgard have yet to reply to our communication requests and the Lanteans did not seem to interact much with the goa'uld before they permanently moved on from Avalon. It was actually the SGC that provided the most assistance during the assessment."
"How so?" Richard asked.
"As you can imagine, they've encountered the goa'uld numerous times in their travels so far and, being a military program, they keep detailed records of each time they step through the astria porta. They are written by the staff, so the level of truth is difficult to ascertain as I've noted a few cases of differing recollections, but they certainly highlight a trend for despotism and violence on the behalf of the goa'uld. Though the SGC have certainly returned that violence in kind. The members of a single one of their teams, the frontline unit SG-1, are personally responsible for the deaths of Ra, Hathor, and Seth. They were also involved in the deaths of Apophis and Sokar, though Apophis later returned."
"Wait? Returned how?" Neville asked.
"The goa'uld possess a device they call the sarcophagus," Luna replied. "It is based on a very old Alteran experimental technology that messes with the cells of the body. It was an imperfect technology when the Alterans abandoned it, and the goa'uld did not make it better. It was responsible for the derangement of Apep, which pretty much led to the state of the galaxy as it stands now."
"Correct. The goa'uld appear to use them to lengthen the lifespan of their hosts far beyond what is normal for a human. The device has a dangerous narcotic effect if used repeatedly, driving the user mad. And once it has been used to extend a life beyond more than a few times its normal reach, being removed from its use has a rapid degenerative effect on the host. The recording of Apophis's death was quite disturbing to witness knowing the host was still conscious after centuries of enslavement within their own mind and body."
"That is horrifying," Natalie whispered.
Merlin nodded his agreement. "There have also been more System Lords killed directly in the past five years than in the thousand years before it. It seems the warfare that the goa'uld engage in with one another is relatively balanced. They kill humans and jaffa in droves, smashing their armies against one another, gaining and losing territory and occasionally enslaving a rival under their thrall. But it is quite rare, for the System Lords themselves at least, to actually murder one another.
"They tend to resolve to enslave their defeated, lording the win over them for centuries. This has resulted in several shifts in power within their structure of more violent and dangerous goa'uld maneuvering into positions of greater influence."
"Killing the figurehead isn't disbanding the army. It just sits there waiting for someone worse to take over and begin wielding it all over again." Padma added, looking down and Merlin once more felt concerned at her behaviour since her exposure to the energy being Anubis had become.
"Correct. Sokar was recently positioned to wield a surprisingly large force against the other System Lords, but was killed by the destruction of a moon he used as a torture palace. The resurrected Apophis managed to avoid death on the moon and immediately went about taking Sokar's resources for himself, going from enslaved underling to one of the most powerful System Lords again in one move."
"Great. So by directly engaging the goa'uld personally, the SGC are actively making the galaxy more warlike?" Hermione summarised.
"It certainly seems that way. But as I mentioned, they are a military-run program. They seem to feel that they are well enough equipped for such a fight, and they have made strides towards achieving the ability to strike at the goa'uld more directly. Not to mention have fended off a full-scale invasion at least once."
"It sounds like the only way to truly defeat this kind of enemy is to take out all of them in one fell swoop." Natalie mused to herself. "But I don't see how such a thing could be possible, given their own intense mistrust and battles."
"I will continue to run simulations on our options, but for the time being it seems to be out of our capabilities to effect any sort of reasonable change. At present we have a grand total of two space-capable vessels, neither of which are built for warfare, nor have they been tested in space. And we appear to have drifted from our purpose for today."
When none of the council disagreed, Merlin refocused the discussion back on the recent encounter. "It seems that Luna and Harry were discovered by a small party that appears to have come from the direction of the porta mundas they located."
"But we tried to send a vulta through it using the 'closest other' setting," Luna said. "It would not activate. Oh."
Merlin nodded at the blonde's sudden realization. "The vessel seems to have arrived in orbit sometime after that. Without proper sensory equipment, I can only state that it landed on the nearby mountain after you had been incapacitated via an energy weapon of some sort. It passed a charge throughout your entire body, your remotes recorded the signature, so we should be able to identify the device used if we encounter it again."
"I assume it wasn't the torture stick Luna brought back?" Hermione asked.
"No, that is another form of energy altogether. This appears to have successfully kept you both under while the ship landed and they took you inside using the porta mundas, indicating they have replicated its technology. I am very glad we have stopped utilising that particular method of transit given that fact. Otherwise, any and all of our recent structures would be open to easy access by the goa'uld.
"Again, sensory equipment on the remotes is quite limited, so I only got a pathway readout from where you boarded to where they kept you, and then to the room where you confronted them. The exterior shots of the ship the vulta returned show it to be far larger than that. And, if the SGC records are accurate, this is one of their smaller capital ships."
"Fantastic," Harry grumbled. "We might need to look into building something a bit bigger than the Navis."
"I have set a background task for that very purpose. It is currently inspecting the options for a more heavily defended and armed vessel large enough to engage with such ships. As for the individual you encountered, it appears to be a disgraced underling of Apophis, Klorel."
"That was his name?" Luna inquired.
"Yes. SGC records indicate Klorel is Apophis's 'son', and was with him during the assault two years ago. His failure there, and his subsequent failings led to him dropping in stature with Apophis. About four months ago, he was found crashed on the planet Tollana. There the host, an acquaintance of members of the SGCs first response team named Skaara from Abydos, requested that the Tollan free him from his parasite. A Triad took place, involving Lord Zipacna for the Goa'uld, a Nox neutral arbiter named Lya and this SG-1. Skaara was awarded sole use of the body, and Klorel was removed and sent away with Zipacna. Who was also shamed when SG-1 and Lya destroyed the ship they had hoped to use to conquer the planet."
"Wow, sounds like Klorel is going to be in trouble all over again." Padma grinned happily.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be him. Battered by Harry's blasting curse, presumably revived in one of those sarcophagi only to have his arse handed to him by daddy for yet another failure. Not to mention the damage to that ship." Richard laughed.
"What did the ship look like afterwards? That explosion sounded enormous, but we couldn't see it very clearly through the trees." Luna asked.
A hologram of the mountain hovered into place above the table and the council looked in awe at the broken vessel strewn about its roots. Most of the golden pyramid still lay on one side of the uppermost reaches of the peak, the inner section that had been resting atop the mountain now visible within. The rest of the vessel had been blasted outwards and tipped over onto its side, now laying atop the expanse of trees around the mountain. Smoke billowed out of both sides of the structure as fires raged over its surface.
"Nice," Harry said, satisfied.
"Do you have a way to ensure a blast like that doesn't happen while we're within range?" Hermione asked, glaring at the man next to her.
"Sure do. I'll be integrating it into the new model. Everyone will get a new one. But it sure did a number on that sucker. Forgive me for being a little bit proud." He smirked at her in return.
The hologram flickered away and Luna got them back on track once more. "Did you have any luck translating the actual conversation?"
Merlin glanced at the girl and shook his head. "Unfortunately not. Judging by intonation and the following actions, the samples we have are short commands or questions. And given the few repeated words, it may well be quite contextual as well, making it even harder to discern. There is insufficient data to extrapolate from for the moment, and none of the databases I have access to, not even the SGC, have any sort of comprehensive records of the language beyond occasional snippets in the reports themselves. We will need to find a way to rectify that if we want to engage in any meaningful discourse with the Goa'uld, but given their history, I fail to see much benefit from such activity."
"They've been at war with the Asgard since before the Lanteans returned to this galaxy," Harry noted. "And if the cave message from the Furlings was any guide, it sounds like the rest of the Alliance tended to skirmish with them at the very least. Given their society seems based on the enslavement of entire worlds for them to gather the resources to war endlessly with one another, I for one would resist any desire to discourse with them for anything but their unconditional surrender."
Padma nodded her immediate agreement, and to the surprise of most of those present, so did Luna and Hermione. "Having felt that torture weapon, I cannot ever see myself seeing eye to eye with a culture that could develop such a tool."
"Enemies it is." Richard summarised, with the rest of the council nodding in agreement.
"Very well, I will note that in the records," Merlin replied. "And I will continue to search for any additional information I can find regarding the culture and language so that we might fare better in future encounters."
"On that note," Hermione redirected, "while searching through the database, I came across these."
She entered a command on her remote and a small light shimmered atop the council table. The light gathered together until it formed a thin three-dimensional triangular shape in the air with a pulsing white line where the prism came together on the upper surface.
"This model is a little bit different from the source design I found in the records. I've added a feature or two already. It will function as a radio, GPS where possible, and a mental access device for the systems and structures we're building that use such an interface."
She glanced over to Harry who smiled broadly at her before she continued. "And, it will allow us to run the mental training suite as a background task throughout the day, or while sleeping. Which should help us get a big head start on it if we don't have to share usage of the chair to do it."
Harry squeezed the girl's hand and Merlin noted the others were a mixture of shocked and impressed.
"That will certainly speed up the process." Natalie mused to herself quietly. "Impressive work, Hermione."
Hermione blushed once more, but Merlin had become quite familiar with the look of pride the girl wore as well. "I'm still running the last few tests before we implement them, but they should be done in a day or two."
"Very nice," Harry whispered into her ear, along with something Merlin could not pick up, though it set the girl's cheeks glowing even brighter. And the others seemed content to let that particular topic go until the devices were complete.
"I suppose. if we're moving on from all of that?" Richard asked, "I've been reviewing our hit rate when it comes to off-world travel. With the exception of the Lal Ring, we've encountered some form of imminent danger on every planet we've visited bar Othalla." His eyes flicked to his wife for a moment before he turned back to the table as a whole. "I think we might be best restricting our exploration until we feel we're up to a level where we can tackle more of these problems ourselves. Quite a few of these encounters have come down to pure luck."
Merlin noted several bobbing heads as the council seemed to agree with the assessment.
"We're not in any big rush to explore too far," Neville said. "As much as I'd like to find something to help my parents, that was never going to happen overnight. And there are still plenty of areas we have yet to thoroughly explore in the Ring itself."
"Regarding the Ring, I have been monitoring it with the long-range sensors. Both the Ring and the Pyramid have begun to move normally in space once more." Merlin explained.
"Seriously?" Luna asked.
"Yes," Merlin replied, as a hologram of the planets in question hovered into place above the table. "It is quite small at present, but there is a definite variation in the position that wasn't there before. Unless this wobble was common during their unique path until now, I feel certain that whatever Lal had been doing to keep them locked together has ceased."
"I guess now that the mission has been completed, there is no need to keep a dozen planets out of their normal patterns for the rest of eternity," Padma noted. "Is there any danger to the planets themselves now that they've begun to drift?"
"It will take some time to properly assess their new orbits and calculate potential issues, but for the foreseeable future, all the planets and systems seem to be safe. If it changes, I will inform you all."
"I think we all became a little complacent after finding every planet on the Ring to be quite safe. At least compared to Camelot and Consortium." Natalie smiled. "Perhaps we focus our efforts there, and here on Earth, for the time being. At least until we have something with a bit more gusto to fly about in. The navis are delightful, but we need to know we can chase a ship into orbit and stand our ground too, if we're going to keep encountering hostile forces."
"And if we camp somewhere, we should keep a few vulta nearby as night guards," Harry added. "It was foolish of me not to this time, and as Richard said, we got extremely lucky overall."
"Maybe additional wards could help too," Luna noted. "We put up some basic ones to keep any predators at bay, but I wasn't expecting a full-on starship to show up. I was rather enjoying going camping in the open again. It was quite fun. Father and I have not done so for some time."
Harry smiled at her and nodded his agreement. "I should have known better. All that time on the run; Hermione made sure I knew a slew of protective enchantments I could have used." Merlin noted the knowing look that Hermione was giving her boyfriend as he said it.
"Perhaps it is time we outsource again," Natalie suggested.
"I've been considering that," her husband said. "I was never in the forces myself, but I have a few friends from my university days that were. We even ran into a couple of them while holidaying in Australia recently. If Merlin can hook us into the Australian telephone network somehow, I can give them a call."
"Full military training? Isn't that a little much?" Neville questioned.
"Maybe not the full experience, but some advice on tactics and training. We can build any kind of gun or other weapons we like, but none of us has any real experience in utilizing them properly. Maybe we should have done this a lot sooner."
"I agree. The kind of fighting we are used to from the war is nothing like what I think we are going to run into out there. This run-in with Klorel had some slight similarities. But, despite our success, we were seriously unprepared for the differences." Harry said.
"Any objections?" Natalie asked the council, and while some looked slightly nervous at the prospect, they all nodded in agreement. "Then it's settled. Have fun darling." She said turning to Richard who now appeared to be considering just what he would say to these men to convince them to aid the group.
Merlin turned to Hermione, speaking quieter now that the meeting appeared to be winding down. "Dr Canis has encountered some unexpected difficulties. She would like to speak with you in the morning to discuss the problem."
"Really? That is unfortunate. I can go and see her now." Hermione replied.
"She did request that it was tomorrow. But I don't believe it would be an imposition to go sooner."
"Alright. If she's sure, I'll see her after breakfast."
ϟ
Sunday, 16th January 2000.
Hermione stepped into the small antechamber off the offices ahead of Natalie. While her presence had not been part of the request, Natalie had followed along regardless intending to have a day spent with her daughter, quite content to wait in the corner while Hermione resolved whatever issue the team below were having.
She leaned against the wall as Hermione entered a short command string on the panel opposite the door and within a moment there was a chirping response. The girl entered a few more commands and stepped back, turning to face the three figures that shimmered into being in the middle of the room.
"Good morning. How is everyone?" Hermione asked the doctors.
Summer glanced at the other two before she spoke. "We are well. And we've made significant progress overall."
"That is good to hear. But do not rush on our account. I know it must be rough being stuck down there, but it's better safe than sorry with this thing."
"We're well aware of the risks," Leo grumbled quietly.
Summer glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before turning back to Hermione. "Indeed. We have hit a slight snag though. The variation in biology means we aren't completely sure when applying the methods we believe will function as a cure. Potions such as these need to be taken orally, which would mean waking her before we're sure it will work. And allergies to some of the ingredients involved are somewhat common for people exposed to them on a regular basis. I can't imagine what an immune response in a totally alien physiology would be and we only really have one good shot at getting this right."
Hermione glanced at Natalie, who was now paying a lot more attention to the conversation. "Ok. What is it you need?"
"Another brain," Aurora said, deadpan.
When the younger doctor saw the look on both the Granger women's faces, she burst out laughing and the other two smiled broadly as well.
"Sorry. We've had to make our own fun. A bit of medical humour." Summer apologized. "We need an expert in viral and retroviral applications. I have assembled a short list."
Summer turned and appeared to tap a command into the air, though Natalie knew she was in fact inputting it into the control panel in their quarters below. Hermione turned to the panel behind her and began to read the list.
"Our hope is that if we can get a little muggle help, they might have some testing methods and delivery options that we can use to better test our creations before we go blindly administering it to the poor woman."
Natalie stood and walked over to where her daughter was assessing the list. There were a dozen names, most of which she had never seen before, but one, in particular, stood out to her. While she was only a passing acquaintance with the man, they had met a few times at conferences over a decade ago.
"I know him," Natalie said, pointing to the name. "Surgeon. Good sense of humour. We've met once or twice. Based in the UK."
Hermione glanced at her for a moment and Natalie gave her an encouraging nod. She could see the debate inside her daughter as the girl warred between giving the team what they needed to further their cause, and intentionally violating the statute of secrecy. They would not be able to enforce secrecy with a muggle via contract as they had with the three doctors they already had on the team. A problem that Richard was also debating with his friends in Australia.
"It'll be fine. Get Merlin to track him down and we'll go have a chat. I think you will like him."
She reassured Hermione as the two turned back to the trio. "We'll get on it right away. The sooner we can solve this issue, the sooner we can get you back up here and on with whatever it is you wish to do next." Hermione smiled and the three doctors nodded in return before they faded away, leaving the two Granger women alone once more.