Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Roughnecks: The Starship Trooper Chronicles, and/or Xenosaga.

Brief Summary: The Future and the Past collide, because of one man, taught in the ways of war, but a messenger of peace. Homesick he tried to go to his home and found himself bringing friends. How's this going to help with defeating U-TIC and the Death Eaters?

Posted Message: I have not finished Xenosaga 2, yet, so please bear with me as I learn more about Xenosaga. Another note, I haven't finished reading all the Harry Potter books, but I have a good enough grasp to place this story in Harry's 4th year. Warning, this will be a Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Allen/Shion, Jr./MOMO, Ziggy/Julia, you get the idea, plus a few OCs. Now shut up and sit down and start reading maggots!

Magicks and Ethers

Chapter Prologue: "Homesick Soldier Boy"

Elsa, restaurant at the stern of the ship

A young looking man with short blonde hair with olive green bangs sat in a chair looking out into the vastness of space with his blue eyes that held a sickly red to them. Wounded many years earlier had left the mark of his encounter with a most evil man. How could he forget? That man had threatened all with a crazy ideal, a mad ideal. He remembered how he had been told that the man had been defeated, for the final, time just as he was about to go on a mission. This mission left him in the current situation he now found himself in.

This man had served long and hard in the elite and covert force known as the Mobile Infantry. With rising tensions all around the world, this young man found himself thrust from the position of an amateur reporter into the position of a soldier, and not just any soldier, but an Ape! He had worked long and hard and made up for any lack of quality with sheer determination and willingness to put his very life on the line for the M.I. and the United Nations, but as he became more exhausted, he came to the realization he might not make it, but he would die trying instead of washing out and getting his memory altered. No, he would become a soldier even if it killed him.

He made with all others from his training platoon, a record; he believed and would believe to his death, unmatched and unsurpassed in the annuals of the Mobile Infantry. He made it and was assigned to a special unit that protected the everyday people from the supernatural. During his first combat mission he killed several obelisks, single handedly no less. He won the Combat Star and Cross on his third mission when he captured four werewolves alive and relatively unharmed in a single night and unarmed. He got the Wounded Lion with Oak Leaves the same day he got his second chevron for wounds suffered and heroics done during the Neo-Death Eater Uprising at the Battle of Apocalypse, the first and only battle of the uprising of its kind in northern Norway.

He had also been there at the secret discussion of the formation of the Strategically International Collation of Nations summit when armed terrorists attempted to destroy important elements of the UN. He had won the Star Victorian Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and another Wounded Lion with Gold Oak Leaves for quickly gathering a small squad of troopers and barring entry into the main conference room until reinforcements arrived. The Japanese delegation had sent him a specially made kodichi and full katana set for his heroic stand while the rest of the squad had received also received medals and full sets of katanas as well.

Then from there he had been sent Freak Hunting in London for a little over a year. The Freaks were a nasty artificial form of vampires which ran amok on a global scale, but most were centered on the British Isles and that was were some of the most fiercest fighting took place. In the end, a follow unit of the Royal Military had taken the blame, but the few survivors had been sheparded into the M.I. Then the group was found innocent of any wrong doing against the crown through a serious of maneuvers preformed by the more elite regular units of the Mobile Infantry.

Then he was assigned the mission of hunting done a man by the name of Thomas Molavo Riddle. The man was on a murderous rampage on a global scale, though he did so in the shadows. Thankfully, the M.I. arrived in time and prevented the truth of the supernatural from getting out. Had it happened, all hell would have just about literally broken out. Though the troopers had no doubt who would be victorious in either case. The curses and hexes used by Riddle and his followers didn't leave time for them to dodge the troopers' attacks.

Modern, raw firepower outweighed the ancient art of sorcery by a ratio that at the time was still being calculated, but for this trooper had hit a low point in his career. He had become separated from his squad after becoming slightly reckless over the last couple missions and easy walkthroughs. This had led to butting heads with his superiors, because he was still only a corporal and thought too much of himself. Then he got lost one day and ended up in rough shape after a brief encounter with a couple of nasty dragons. He was near death when the Death Eaters found him and captured him. They could not pull off his armor so they could torture him, so they decided that the armor would provide little protection in the long run, but before they could get very far, a man with messy black hair and brown eyes led a raid on the group and rescued the young man from torment.

They took him back with them to their little fort they had been operating out of and began to try and heal him. They easily learned his last name, because it was stenciled across the side of his helmet, both his shoulder guards, and his right chest area. They healed him as best they could, but in the end he needed real medical help, but with his armor in the way, he gave reluctant permission to remove it and showed how. He was quickly treated and found himself in the company of some fine people. He met one in particular, the man who had led the raid, a man named James Potter. The two became fast friends and then several months later, a M.I. patrol found the fort under attack by Death Eaters. They could see the tell tale signs of a lone trooper inside the fort, helping to hold the position. They charged in without a second thought and discovered that it was their very own wayward corporal. The two friends said goodbye and went their separate ways.

"What do you think of the name of Harry James Potter?" James had yelled out after his friend.

"Sounds like the name of a destined hero!" was the reply.

Shortly there after, SICON became official, but it was not announced to the general public. In short, 'Psycho' – as the troopers called it – became the secret military and law enforcing arm of the United Nations. They stayed like that until the Operation Pest Control (OPC) in the late 2060's, when SICON replaced the UN as the main global power. Though this trooper never knew about his home's 2060's, the last date he remembered was 2011, when he was just several weeks shy of being 26 years old.

He had gone out on a mission to covertly check out some ruins with other troopers from his entire regiment, an ultra rare deployment for an investigation, especially of some ruins. He had learned to curve his attitude and was allowed to remain on the line and this was his first mission since his missions in England and the follow-up board of inquiry. He had messed big time, but they saw the change and he was now point man for placing sonar rods on the lake floor. The nearby archeologists were in the dark about the group and that was what everyone wanted. Then he had found something and started to report it as he walked along it.

"It appears to be some kind of temple, not really sure, but it has to be a temple. I really can't say what made it; the stone is still very smooth, as if someone had actually just built the place. I don't get it, but that ain't my job at the moment… wait, what's this, it leads towards the digging site, odd. Hmm… this stone isn't from around here and these buildings – for lack of a better term – don't appear to be from Africa. Something weird and wicked these are. Hey! Something just passed by me! Are there any other divers in the water?"

"Negative, you're all alone down there."

"Alone my foot, there was something moving, switching to general scan mode. What the hell is that thing? Get me out of here, NOW!"

"Roger th… EARTHQUAKE!"

"Someone help!"

He then woke up in some mass of wrecked power cables and metal and the sounds of a battle decided, but that's when she found him. She had long blue hair that was straight, white creamy skin and dazzling blue eyes. She was at least a full foot shorter than him with a heart shaped face with a small nose and small pink lips. She was wearing some kind of olive drab green uniform with a skirt that appeared to be almost form fitting and showing that she was in shape and was very shapely herself.

From first look, she didn't appear to be a front line soldier and the communication headset around her neck verified that, but she did have a weapon in hand. She didn't see him until she was less than a meter from him, only then did she raise her rifle. He didn't hesitate, he lunged at her and heard the tell tale sound of a rifle still in safety mode, he was able to wrap his arms around him middle and brought her down to the ground, but he shifted positions so she landed on his lap. He then ripped the weapon out her hands, tossing it to the side, then grabbing and holding her hands above her head with one hand, careful not to harm her as he was in a power suit and she wasn't, he took his helmet off.

She was in mass panic and was struggling against him, the uniform adding to his growing list of annoyance, he calmed her with a kiss and when they broke it, he said, "Quite the cliché, eh?" She calmed and he released her hands, and she just curled up like a ball in his lap, completely overwhelmed. That's when a big thing appeared and saw the two. It was white with blue trim and held two submachine guns in either hand. The female voice barked over the external speakers.

"Move you two! We got to go now!"

Retrieving his helmet and the abandoned weapon, he picked the Comm. Tech up and made like a bat out of hell. The three met up with what appeared to be a squad leader and his troop.

"Anymore survivors?" he asked.

"Just the group with Lt. Virgil Clements at the stern sir," the female replied.

"Where to?" he had asked.

"Starboard assault boats are still green light," another ground pounder said.

"Move out to the Starboard Assault Boat Hanger!" the leader ordered.

The fifteen of them moved out and got to the boats where thirty-two others had a devil of a time holding off monsters that the young man found himself fighting against. Then half-dozen others came tearing around a corner and one of them got caught by a monster that was chasing them. She was being thrown about, so he jumped back over the barricade and charged with his under-slung RPG and side-mounted shotgun echoing out death. The monster dropped the woman in his arms and he took off with her back to the barricade. Then three of the tall robots appeared with a small group of infantry and fought and killed the monster. Some more people followed and everyone mounted up as the ship gave its death lurch.

He had one hell of time explaining who he was and where he had come from when the Elsa had picked them up. He had always heard the joke that M.I. would be called Starship Troopers after the book, but now he had made that a reality, at least for himself. He then had one hell of a journey there after, from fighting off U-TIC Auto Techs to fighting off Gnosis inside of one to being held prisoner aboard the Durandel Battlecrusier to fighting on some space station that he couldn't get the name right to surviving a forced re-entry of the worst kind. Now he was about to go off to a planet called Militia that had long been abandoned. He didn't know why he was going, but that same Federation Marine complenement that he had worked with since the Woglinde would be with him, he had a unit again.

He was brought out his mussing by the blue haired girl he had first meant. Her striking likeness to the battle android KOS-MOS was startling, but he showed little interest in the android, but he was strong friends with the Realians, that he was named their CO. Yet, all that matter was the young woman that had settled into his lap, but he still had the nagging feeling, the feeling of…

"Credit for your thoughts?" she asked.

"It's penny for your thoughts, or at least used to be. Just homesickness, yeah, yeah I know, life is grand here, but… I miss the Mobile Infantry and hearing how recruits came to be an Ape as we were called. Such a proud name wethought and others would joke, but no one ever questioned our abilities to get the job done and done right Melody," he said.

"Oh Craig, just forget it! You know you will never make it back to Earth, but I know what you mean. I always loved Adrianne and now, as you told me when you got back from Citadel Ship, that's were my home went… I was born and raised in my early life on Militia," Melody said and went quiet.

"Two lost birds among hundreds of thousands… Life can be cruel, but if we're strong, we can live through it," Craig said with a smile.

"HEY! MISTER APE, GET YOUR ARMORED ASS TO THE BRIDGE NOW!"

"Duty calls, but soon, we will find a home and I know you'll love it!" Craig and Melody made their way to the bridge.

"What is it Captain Matthews?" Craig asked arriving on the bridge; Captain Matthews jerked his head to Shion Uzuki.

She stepped forward holding out something that Craig knew was from his personal belongings. He never went anywhere without it, it was as much as a good luck charm as the rubber band around his right wrist.

"Give that to me!" he roared and tried to snatch it from her hand, but Shion threw it to MOMO.

Craig had developed as soft spot for the young female Realian, but that little item meant more to him, than anything else among his belongings. He went to snatch it from her, but than Ziggy – formerly Ziggurat 8, aka San Jaurers – stepped in the way. He growled angrily that his stuff had been gone through and that taken.

"Explain," came from KOS-MOS.

"A personal gift from a friend back on Earth! He saved my life when I started to act like Jr. ("HEY!" Jr. yelled) and nearly got myself killed and captured by an enemy," he stated through clenched teeth.

"So you are human!" Jr. shouted, in which he earned a glare that scattered everyone in Jr.'s immediate area, including Jr.

"This item has similar properties to the Emulators, care to explain?" Shion asked, rather demanded.

"It could have soaked up radiation or something from the Emulators or even as far back as the time I set off my first clean nuke in battle against some rather unsightful mutants," Craig said annoyed.

"It is emulating its own power from with-in," KOS-MOS interjected.

"Then if you're going to say that, I'm going to say just one word," he turned and started towards MOMO once more, but she tossed it to Melody, who all knew he would stop and not harm her, but she gave it back to him with a sharp glare to everyone that rivaled Craig's own.

"Classified," he supplied.

"By whose ordered?" asked his Realian XO, Grail.

"HQ's orders really, but I made a promise to keep its origins a secret and a secret I shall keep. I was hardly good at keeping them when I was a child, but now I can and will do so," Craig said softly, but then something hit there ship and a Gnosis came threw the ship's bow near Tony Stanford, the pilot.

Tony fled back to the rear of the ship, this Gnosis was unusual, but it looked ten times more terrifying with the skull like face, but Craig instead flew forward, panic written across his face as some jumble of words were exchanged and a flashing light rocked the ship and suddenly, where the Federation Fleet working with the Elsa had been tracking it, there was nothing there, but an energy discharge of unknown origin at the sight of the freighter and a report from a picket of a Gnosis, made everyone fear the worst.

The Elsa landed in a field after crossing over some forest terrain, crashing pilot less into the earth of some planet. The ground was soft from sudden rain and so the ship received little actual damage. Surveying the wreck, men and women dressed in blackish-grey armor or multi-colored robes search the wreck for survivors, they found a lot of survivors, but two men found a familiar designed boot attached to leg armor, attached to a full suit of armor, minus the helmet, but the face was one they hadn't seen in ten years time.

Briefing coming around, Craig saw the familiar, but aged faces of his friends and he said it, "I'm home at long last."

He passed out as he clutched not only a long thin piece of wood, but a young woman with blue hair, who was slightly smiling to herself, "Home…"

The two men began shouting into for help, saying, "The Star Falcon has returned!"

Men and women in armor came running, helping to lift the two forms onto stretchers and get them to doctors ASAP.