Chapter Twenty-Seven: One Decade Later

July 31st, 1995

One decade. A decade filled with peace and progress. Real progress. Progress that had revolutionized the way the human race perceived reality. Harry Potter was now twenty-five years old, and he had married both Hermione and Daphne after they all turned seventeen. They had moved into the rebuilt Potter Manor, which had been abandoned by Harry's grandparents during the First Wizarding War. After she graduated from Hogwarts, Hermione Granger took a job in the Ministry as the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She was doing a lot of good work and had assisted in gaining new rights for House Elves, certain races of goblins, and universal rights for vampires and werewolves. Hermione had made a name for herself in the wizarding world, and that name was only spreading with time.

Daphne Greengrass had graduated Hogwarts a year and a half early, leaving Britain behind to join Harry at the Marauder Enterprises Headquarters in America. She lead the new Department of Magical Sciences, which had brought in all of the former members of the same department from Hawkins Lab, which had been shut down in 1991. Marauder Enterprises had accepted all of their people and assets with open arms, reopening all of the Lab's old departments and projects so that their work could continue under Marauder Enterprises' watchful eye. But Daphne was the Director of the most important department within the company, making her very popular in both the magical and non-magical communities. Something that made her and her parents very proud.

The Statute of Secrecy had been repealed in Great Britain on September 1st, 1985, making it the first time in three hundred years that wizards were free to walk among the no-maj. The no-maj Prime Minister launched a press conference the day of the repeal, with Harry accompanying him to reveal magic to the thousands of viewers watching the conference. There had been a mixed reaction of amazement and fear, though most of the fear disappeared when they realized that Harry was the CEO of Marauder Enterprises. They recognized the good work magic had done for the appliances they held in their homes. The appliances they used daily and made their lives easier. So the no-maj opinion of magic increased for the better, and word spread to outside countries fairly quickly. The ICW was forced to repeal the entire Statute on January 2nd, 1986. It had only lasted two hundred and ninety-four years.

With the Statute gone, Marauder Enterprises opened its doors to a large number of unemployed wizards and magical creatures. They all received hands-on training upon being hired and were positioned in highly important jobs regarding the construction of massive structures. Including the Planetary Defense Ring, the Dyson Sphere, the massive construction yards being constructed on the Moon, as well as the massive starships being built out in orbit, which would eventually be used to send humans out among the stars in search of new homes. Things were escalating quickly now, with new technologies being developed every other week. And Harry was at the center of it, using his unique knowledge to achieve great things.

His holographic technology was now perfected. There was no more blur, and he had made it so that the holograms could add to themselves in under a millisecond as the user scrolled. This technology was added into the new HoloRoom, which allowed users to stand within holographic environments that felt real. And they could walk within the environment, seeing as it shifted and changed so fast that it seemed as if it was an open world. The HoloRoom had been a major success for Marauder Enterprises, being incorporated into millions of buildings across the world.

And by 1993, Marauder Enterprises was a global superpower. It had bought out hundreds of companies and had spread out beyond Great Britain and America. They had warehouses in almost every country and had even constructed their own mass military that was controlled by the U.N and ICW. The new military was dubbed the 'International Armed Forces' or the 'IAF'. The IAF was composed of several soldiers allocated from each nation within the U.N, as well as volunteers from the magical and no-maj communities. They had task forces made of wizards that were great on broomsticks, as well as several special squads of Aurors given to them by the Ministry of Magic and MACUSA. And the no-maj special forces were given advanced exoskeletons developed for not only protection but to also enhance their physical abilities.

The exoskeleton was a thick set of weightless armor that contained several functionalities that assisted the 'Knights' in combat. Including a built-in Heads Up Display, silenced boots, foot clamps to keep them in place, nano-shields that protected the Knights from long-range projectiles, a built-in jetpack, invisibility technology that folded light around the suit, voice emulators, and more importantly; artificial intelligence. The Knights had gotten the first generation of artificial intelligence, which assisted them in combat. But those were Gen1 models. The newer AI models already in development would last much longer and could function like real human beings with a bit of extra development.

But the Knights weren't Harry's most prized creation, despite how special they were to him. No, his greatest creations were far better. The FTL drive, the pinch fusion core, nanotechnology, stasis pods capable of putting a human in suspended animation for a thousand years, and best of all. The Immortality Machine. Harry had created the FTL Drive first, using his knowledge of Aiúa's to build it. He called an Aiúa out of the Outside and placed it within the FTL drive. And once it was within the now sentient core, Harry watched as the core's philotic structure bonded with every other philote in the universe. And when that was done, he taught it how to pull itself across those connections and how to reach other Aiúa's. And it worked. The FTL Drive was able to jump between Earth and the Moon in less than an hour. Something that had never been done before. It was now being implemented into Dr. Maria Graves' fleet, which was being constructed on the Moon.

The Pinch Fusion Cores acted as a miniature star. They undertook the same process as the core of a star, producing massive amounts of plasma and power that Marauder Enterprises was using to power their ships, vehicles, weapons, as well as power some of the sub-systems of their starships. They were very handy. Nanotechnology had been an idea given to Harry by the Hive Queen and her fleets swarms. He recreated the same effect with nanites that he created in his lab and was eventually able to get the nanites to function as a fully linked swarm. They were soon incorporated into the IAF's weapons, allowing soldiers to change their weapons at will. Need a pistol? Change your rifle to a pistol. Need unlimited ammo? The nanites in you're clip will replicate to add more rounds. And best of all, they were incorporated into larger things. Nanites were added as a layer of the Knights' armor, allowing them extra protection from projectiles and blunt-force trauma. And they were introduced to the hulls of their starships so that if the hull took damage, it would begin to slowly repair itself to avoid complete destruction of the vessel.

The stasis pods had been a stroke of pure genius by Hermione, who recognized that cryo-stasis was impossible under normal circumstances. All of their test subjects would be suspended for only a day or two before freezing over completely. Some never lasted more than twelve hours. But Hermione - seeking a solution - developed a new drug known as Cytoprethaline, which when injected into a volunteer before cryo-sleep negated the negative effects. There was no freezing over. No death. Only a minor case of nausea and vomiting that couldn't be cured. A small price to pay for a thousand years rest.

Immortality though. That was his best work. Harry once again used his knowledge of Aiúa's to create the ultimate machine. A machine that was capable of many genetic feats many thought impossible. It could modify the genetic code of any human being in existence, changing their philotic structure entirely so that when the user exited, they stood in a completely new body. It could transfer an Aiúa into new bodies. And it could even resurrect the dead if the body was placed within the machine in time. It was incredible and had even been tested several times under the eyes of the U.N and ICW. Harry believed that by the early 2000s, the Immortality Machine would be within every hospital in Europe and the Americas.

But today wasn't about any of that. Today was a great day for Harry. It was his birthday, sure. But that wasn't why he was so happy. The Planetary Defense Ring was complete. The two rings had finished their construction three weeks before, and the final stages of deployment were to occur in a few minutes. The crews of magical engineers would enlarge the two split rings and place them around Earth in the shape of a '+'. The rings would then be reconnected down the middle and activated. And it would work. They tested the miniaturized version a hundred times. Placed so much stress on it that they had to do a few minimal repairs. Earth would be protected from outside threats.]

So Harry stood within the observatory at the very tip of the Marauder Enterprises Headquarters. It was a massive building, easily the tallest in the world. And the observatory was positioned over the clouds. It was nighttime, allowing all those present to watch as the rings were enlarged in the distance. So far away that it would take some time for them to bring them here if it weren't for the specialized FTL Drives on the Firebolts carrying the rings. Harry was accompanied by everyone. His wives Hermione and Daphne. The now-retired Albus Dumbledore. Head of the Auror Department Sirius Black. Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts Remus Lupin. Chief of Police Jim Hopper. Joyce Byers and her husband Bob Newby. Auror Will Byers, who had joined the Auror's department within MACUSA three years earlier. Jane Ives - or Eleven - who had joined Harry in Marauder Enterprises within the Magical Sciences department. Nancy and Johnathan were both there, having gotten married in 1991. Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, Steve Harrington, his friend Robin Buckley, and Lucas' younger sister Erica were all there.

They had all changed a lot in the past decade. Sirius had recovered quite nicely from his time in Azkaban. He married Amelia Bones, rekindling an old relationship from their Hogwarts days that Harry hadn't been aware of. He had rejoined the Auror Department, and after Amelia won the office of Minister of Magic in 1990, he took over as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Auror Department. Remus Lupin had come out of hiding after the public outlook on werewolves change greatly for the better. He gained back his position as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, and after Dumbledore retired in 1992, Professor McGonagall took his place as Headmistress, and her position was filled by Remus, who became the Deputy Headmaster.

Hopper had officially adopted Eleven as his daughter in 1986 and had continued his work in Hawkins as Police of Chief. He seemed a lot more cheerful too. Hopper remarried in 1992, and his wife was pregnant with another daughter. He was starting over, and Harry was proud of him. Joyce and Bob Newby had gotten married in 1987, and were living happily in the much larger Byers House. Joyce had used the galleons in the old Potter Trust vault to expand and repair the home, and they were happy with their now four-year-old son Bill.

Will Byers was now twenty-four years old. He finished his magical education in seven years like every other magical and took his NEWTS within the Ministry of Magic on his birthday in 1992. He was able to pass with flying colors - mainly due to Hermione's tutoring - and was easily accepted by MACUSA's Auror Program. He worked alongside the IAF's Knights many times in combat and spoke highly about their performance. And Eleven had come a long way as well. She and Mike's relationship had lasted quite a while, but nothing lasted forever. The two broke up in 1993, and Eleven more to America to work with Marauder Enterprises. She joined Harry and Dr. Graves in the Department of Magical Sciences, working alongside Harry as they worked on their projects. She had assisted quite a lot with the Immortality Machine and had been responsible for the creation of their size-altering clothes and self-lacing shoes, their most popular clothing items.

Nancy Wheeler was now a reporter in New York City working on magical and non-magical news. And Johnathan was a photographer for the same news network, designing still images, videos, and holo-images for the network. Mike was working as a cop under Hopper. Dustin was teaching at Hawkins High School. Lucas was working with the Ministry of Magic in an unknown capacity. Harry knew he worked closely with the Unspeakables, but exactly what the young man did Harry wasn't sure. Max had married Lucas the year before and was working with Dustin at the High School. Steve and Robin had opened their own restaurant together and were great business partners. And Erica was in college trying to get an art degree. They had all come a long way from the young children and depressed adults Harry had met in '83.

"Sir?" Harry blinked, his eyes shifting towards the engineer standing in front of him. She was quite young but had graduated from college early at the age of seventeen. She was hired less than two months later and had quickly climbed the ranks. Alyssa Truit. She had dark auburn hair, blue eyes, and was shorter than everyone else. But the confidence in her posture made Harry smile. Despite being twenty years old, Alyssa had a lot to prove. She had to be better than her peers, who were all far older than her. Harry valued her as a member of his team. "The rings are waiting for your orders,"

"Right. I'm sorry, I lost track of my thoughts," Harry apologized, stepping forward to access the control terminal that would grant instant communication with Firebolts 'Capetown' and 'Richmond'.

"It's alright, sir. Perfectly understandable," Alyssa replied with a smile.

Harry returned it and activated the terminal. "Julian, this is Harry. Status?"

An older man wearing a short cap appeared over the terminal, smiling brightly. "These rings are heavy sir, but we're making the home-stretch now," Julian replied. And they were. The rings were now visible, closing in around the planet. Harry could only see the one due to the size of them, but he knew the other one was nearing position. After a few more minutes, the ring was in place. "Sir. The rings are in place, and our engineers are beginning the rejoining sequence," Harry gave the man a nod over the holographic call.

"Sir. You never told us how you plan to test this," Alyssa spoke.

"That's simple. I'm going to launch a nuke at it," Harry replied. Alyssa's eyes widened.

"A nuke, sir? Is that wise?" She asked.

"Of course. We've tested it many times while it was miniaturized. And we've run the simulations. Don't forget, I was building this thing from scratch before you were out of high school," Harry said jokingly. Alyssa understood, smiling in return as she peered up at the ring. It was huge, taking up half the night sky. But it didn't take away from the night sky. It was an added beauty. She was excited to see just how well the shields held up against a nuclear bomb. But not just any nuclear warhead. A Tsar Bomba. The most powerful nuclear weapon developed by the Russians.

Julian reappeared on the terminal. "Sir...the rejoining is complete,"

"Good...turn it on," Harry ordered.

"Yes sir," Julian replied, and he was gone once again. A new feed appeared. Firebolt Capetown had retreated halfway to Luna, where she had a great view of Earth and the rings. They had indeed been reconnected. Harry turned to look out the observatory, smiling as Hermione and Daphne took his hands. He had been waiting for this moment for a decade. It was happening. The ring - which had looked like nothing but a curved piece of metal, suddenly lit up. Blue lines spread all over the structure, and when it was fully powered, the shields went up and disappeared. But on the feed from Capetown, the entire planet was surrounded by a blue shield. He had gotten the idea from his and Sirius' mirrors. Earth could still see outside unaffected, while those outside could see nothing but the blue bubble around the planet.

There was applause and cheer around the entire observatory as the feed continued. Julian appeared beside it once more. "Sir. The payload is ready for the drop. Do we have permission to continue?"

"Of course. Drop it," Harry replied. Julian nodded and disappeared for the last time. Harry, Hermione, Daphne, and Alyssa stood closest to the glass of the observatory, watching the video feed with interest. The Capetown had highlighted the Richmond in the feed and was tracking it as it delivered the payload. Richmond then made an FTL jump away from the shield directly beside the Capetown, the two Firebolts focusing on the approaching warhead. And then it struck the shield. Harry felt and saw nothing. But the shockwave was visible from Capetown. The few satellites beyond the perimeter of the shield were destroyed instantly, and the shield visibly vibrated with plasma energy. But then the shockwave died and everything returned to normal. It worked. Alyssa was shocked. "The payload was successful, sir. It worked,"

"It did," Harry said in equal shock. It had worked. He had been sure it would before the actual test, but to see it work was quite different from knowing it. It was all that he had dreamed over. A shield around the world. And because the shield surrounded the rings as well, there was no way to get through it without shutting off certain grids to allow ships entry. Humanity wouldn't be killed by meteor strikes or massive solar storms. They would live. Harry had done it. There was thunderous applause throughout the auditorium. Alyssa cheered, shaking hands with Harry before stepping away to give Eleven a hug. Harry was busy staring at his work.

"You did it," Hermione whispered, smiling brightly.

"We did it. All of us. I couldn't have done it without everyone involved," Harry confessed.

"Fine, we did it," Hermione conceded, pulling him into a hug that he quickly returned. But his eyes stayed on the ring. It was a beautiful structure. His engineering crew had done an excellent job. The metal casing around the exterior had been built first, followed by all of the connection and port arrays. But it had been incomplete until Harry developed the Plasma Cores by using the Pinch Fusion Cores. The plasma developed by a single fusion core was powerful enough to power the rings for two decades. But there were thousands of pinch fusion cores on each side of the rings, which would be powered for several millennia. It was truly a beautiful sight. Harry wasn't quite sure what to say.

"It's amazing," Eleven had joined him, and was peering up at the ring. "I'm not sure it's real,"

Harry laughed. "I keep imagining I'll wake up tomorrow in Hawkins Lab. I'll be fourteen again, drowning myself in the plans for it. But it would never work. That's my nightmare. That it didn't work,"

Smiling, Eleven motioned to the replay of the nuclear blast. "But it does. Nightmare averted,"

"Yes...nightmare averted," Harry replied. His greatest accomplishment had been complete. He had completed one of his three tasks. Protect Earth. Provide limitless energy for humanity. And spread humanity as far out as humanly possible. The Dyson Sphere was Harry's next step, and it was already in the process of pre-production. Outposts had been set up on Luna and Venus in early 1991. And the Mercury outpost was established in '94. Within a year, the outpost would be fully outfitted with the latest production tech and could begin to construct the mirror swarms that would surround the sun. And while Mercury worked on those, the other Outposts would be busy building the Solar Distribution and Receiver Stations.

A specialized distribution station would orbit the Sun using a prototype stellar engine and would pour energy down towards the thirty-six receiver stations on Mercury. Those stations would filter the energy into the thirty-two Distribution Stations, which would then fire towards withering Venus or Luna's matching thirty-five Distribution and Reciever Stations. And from Venus or Luna, they would distribute the energy directly into the Planetary Defense Ring, which would then fire its own beams of energy into Earth's Receiver Stations. From there, humanity would have endless amounts of energy, and the stellar engine would extend the life cycle of the star.

And if a starship required extra engine powers, they would be outfitted with their own Distribution and Receiver ports so that they could receive and give out energy to/from other ships and stations. It was a complex system, but it was spectacular on the part of Dr. Graves and Dr. Holman. They - and Dr. Huber - had made the P.D.R's possible, and now they would focus on the Earth Dispersal Project and the Dyson Sphere. But they had all chosen not to enter the Immortality Machine and thus would die long before the Dyson Sphere was complete, seeing as it wasn't projected to be finished until the 2060s. It was a massive project. Far more massive than the P.D.R's. But it was a necessary leap for humanity.

"Harry," Eleven called out, pulling him from his thoughts once again. Harry turned to her and followed her gaze towards the U.N representative that had just exited the elevator. "The press conference," She reminded.

"Right, yes. The press conference. I almost forgot with all the excitement," Harry replied. He placed a quick kiss on her cheek and stepped up to the U.N representative. Harry had met the man before. He was a nice guy. "Mr. Neil. I'm assuming I'm needed in the press room?"

"I'm afraid so. After what was seen in the live feed, everyone wants to talk to you," Mr. Neil replied. Harry assumed as much. He accompanied the man down the elevator, and the two were deposited onto the first sub-level of the tower. It was visible from the lobby and acted as a conference room for the press. Harry had used it several times to announce certain breakthroughs that were achieved by Marauder Enterprises. Stepping up to the microphone, Harry was met with a round of applause and several camera flashes. There were hundreds of reporters in the auditorium, all of them shouting questions that they believed needed answering. Harry smiled and raised his hand in a sign of silence. It worked, and they all went quiet.

"I'm aware that many of you have questions, and I will answer them at the end. But right now I'm sure many of you are questioning what exactly that was. Some may be well-versed in our happenings, but for those of you that aren't, I'll fill you in. Today, we launched the greatest achievement ever created by mankind. Fire? This is far better. The wheel? Pathetic. Mastering flight? Doesn't match. Reaching the Moon? That couldn't possibly match this. Because what we did benefits all of Earth. Humans and magical creatures both. We've created a shield around the planet. A shield that will protect us from the dangers of space for millennia," Harry explained. "We've just launched the Planetary Defense Rings,"

The entire auditorium went crazy. Marauder Enterprises had of course announced the rings, but had placed the release date as 'July 2000'. It was five years earlier than expected, and it was quite a surprise for many. "As for how the rings work? They function off of plasma cores created by our Pinch Fusion Cores. There are thousands of plasma cores within the rings, ensuring that the rings run for as long as possible. We estimate they'll last for twenty or thirty thousand years. But by then, we'll either have better ways to power mass structures of this size, or we can just replace the plasma cores. It's safe to say that we can keep this running for as long as Earth exists. So a long time,"

"Will rings be going around the other planets in the Solar System?!" One reporter in the middle of the crowd exclaimed.

"We are in the process of duplicating the rings - through magic - to be placed around Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. We will be waiting until a permanent outpost is set up on Mars before establishing a set of rings there. We hope to have the entire inner solar system protected from outside threats by the early 2000s," Harry replied.

"What kind of outside threats?!" A reporter from the back asked.

Harry sighed. "When I was creating the Planetary Defense Ring a decade ago, my sole purpose for creating such a structure was to protect Earth from threats such as solar wind, radiation, stray asteroids, and solar storms. But in the past decade, I've studied a lot, and have learned a lot more. I studied the evolution of humans, and find the chances of the same kind of evolution occurring a second time highly likely," Several people were shocked by this, but Harry continued. "And if a technologically superior race were to stumble upon us, I wish for humanity to be as prepared as possible. This is why we developed the rings. This is why I pushed so hard for the repeal of the Statute of Secrecy. So that if humanity was forced to face a catastrophe, it could do it united. It is why I built the International Armed Forces so that if an alien race attempted to strike us with force, we could stand a chance to fight back. And this is why I established the Earth Dispersal Project, to spread humanity as far out as possible. So that even if the Sol System fell into enemy hands or we were all killed by natural means, humanity would live on. Living on other planets in the cosmos. That is the purpose of all this," He motioned around him. The tower. "It's to save humanity. From itself. The universe. And any outside species wishing to do us harm,"

There was absolute silence.

"Do you know of any extraterrestrial life outside of our own?!"

"Not currently, no. Besides the magical creatures, that is. But no. We've spotted no evidence that a species outside of our own exists in the universe. My concerns are merely hypothetical," Harry answered.

"When can people start volunteering for the Earth Dispersal Project?!"

"Dr. Maria Graves is currently leading that division and is making great progress. If you're unaware, we've opened up shipyards both in orbit and on the Moon. But unfortunately, our colony cruisers aren't yet ready to be stocked and sent out. They not only need to be finished, but they need a destination. But I assure you, when the project is ready to get off the ground, you all will be the first to know," Harry replied.

"Are the Knights prepared for war with an alien species?!"

"The Knights are the best of us all. Hand-picked out of both the United Nations and ICW armed forces. They've been genetically augmented to be perfect. And they are. Out of the seventy-three combat missions our Knights have been a part of, they've led sixty-seven. All of them have been successful with minimal casualties. If an extraterrestrial species arrived with ill-intent for us, the Knights will be prepared to act against them. Will they win? That depends on the level of advancement the opposing species possess. But I'm confident in the Knights' abilities,"

"Level of Advancement?! Do you have a measurement for that?!"

Harry smiled. "The U.N, ICW, and I have been going over possible steps humanity will have to go through to become the guardians of the universe. Something that is so far away from possible right now that it is the last possible tier on the list. But yes, we did successfully form levels of advancement,"

"What are they?" Someone near the front asked.

"Well, there are seven tiers to a species. All species start at Tier 7, the Pre-Industrial Civilization. Humans were in this stage until 1750. Around that year, the industrial revolution began, and we entered Tier 6, the Industrial Age. Civilizations here become urbanized and gain a broader understanding of mechanics and medicines. Tier 5 is the Atomic Age. Humanity reached this stage in 1945 when we discovered how to split the atom and created nuclear bombs. Tier 4 is the Space Age. We reached this thirteen years later in 1957 when we launched our first satellite. Tier 3 is the Space-Farring Age. We reached this tier a few years ago in 1988 when the 'Firebolts' began to be mass-produced. And we reached the second stage of this tier in 1990 with the creation of the FTL Drive,"

"And we were very close to Tier 2 - the Interstellar Age - up until last year, when we created the Instantaneous Communication Device or ICD. The species in Tier 2 are capable of near-instantaneous space travel, near-instantaneous communication, energy manipulation, and contain plasma weaponry. Tier 1 civilizations are known as the World Builders and are capable of manipulating great amounts of gravity, creating completely sentient AI's, fabricating dense materials, creating life, and creating entire worlds. And Tier 0 civilizations are like gods. They can travel across the universe at will and can control the universe itself through what we call Neural Physics. We currently reside as a Tier 2 civilization,"

"But we can manipulate gravity, you have prototype AIs, prototype fabricators, and you've built a massive ring. Surely you could create a world if you put your mind to it!"

"This is all true. But a Tier 1 civilization has all of these things mastered. Perfect AIs. A perfect understanding of how to manipulate the gravity of planets. Fabricators capable of constructing entire complexes. And the ability to create life and entire planets. We can do none of these things yet. And we won't be able to for quite some time. But we're working on it. The U.N, ICW, and I are all trying to reach the ceiling. Tier 0. We made the jump from Tier 6 to 2 in two hundred and fifty years. But those tiers were easy. These next tiers require us to understand the universe in ways we haven't conceived of, and it will take time. So I ask that you be patient, and simply enjoy the fact that we're near the end,"

"MACUSA is claiming that you're developing slipspace technology. Why go backward from the FTL Drive?"

"The FTL Drive is very fragile, and cannot function under intense stress. The Slipspace Drive will function as a backup to get our ships to their destinations. But it's still in its infancy, so we don't expect to have them on our ships for a while," Harry replied.

"What about the Terraformer the Ministry claims you're planning on making?!" One reporter asked. Harry raised an eyebrow. He had only told a select number of people about the Terraformer he had been building plans for. It wasn't even in official pre-production. It was a sketch Harry had made on a piece of paper that he copied onto his terminal. The Ministry had no right to know about his plans before they went into production. "Mr. Potter?" The same reporter asked.

"Yes. Sorry. I lost my train of thought. The Terraformer isn't in any stage of development at the moment and hasn't yet gone through the planning phase. It hasn't yet been decided if we'll make it at all. But if we do, we would likely use it on Mars first. It's the next likely candidate for a home outside of Earth. And then we would go with Venus. But like I said, we've only thought of it. We have no current plans to actually do it," Harry explained. He would have to talk with Amelia soon. There was no way in hell that sort of knowledge should have been leaked without him knowing unless that reporter had some sort of informant within Marauder Enterprises. But that was impossible. Despite the companies honesty with the company, it still had secrets it wanted to be hidden, and they did screenings on their employees all the time. If there was an informant in the company, Harry would have to speak with them.

Harry found his way into the staff bar, taking a seat at the bar itself. He ordered a glass of scotch and waited for a moment before it was given to him. Someone took a seat beside him. It was Alyssa. "I never get tired of watching you do that, sir," She spoke, referring to the press conference. "You're completely honest with them. No deception. No lies. Not even flattery. You just tell the truth. About everything,"

"I have no reason to lie, Alyssa. I'm doing all of this for them. And they made us what we are. I figured that as long as we're honest with them, we can continue to do what we need to to make everyone's lives easier. A win-win," Harry explained, taking a during from his glass. He sighed, enjoying the taste. He then turned to Alyssa, who was watching the HoloTerminal at the end of the bar. It was displaying an American football game. She had grown up in North Carolina. She no doubt knew someone who played the sport or played it herself. Harry didn't know. "You're missing the after-party. I hear Stilson bought a hundred cases of straight beer. I'm sure that that's going to be a lot of fun,"

"And miss spending time with my boss who has very interesting thoughts when he's eight scotches in? No chance," Alyssa replied with a grin.

Harry laughed, downing the rest of his glass. "You know I can't get drunk right?"

"Yeah. Wizards are lucky," Alyssa replied.

"Not because I'm a wizard. It's the shadowmancy. And the bioweapon experiments," It was common knowledge now that Harry was both a Shadowmancer and a bioweapon. While he had never transformed into his monster form, he had the black eyes and claws to prove it. Alyssa nodded, taking a drink from her glass of water. She was twenty and they were still in America. She couldn't drink for another year. "Even wizards can get drunk, but their magical cores make it a lot more difficult. That's why we developed firewhiskey. It has a very fiery sting and can get you so drunk you fall over and burn down the house,"

"Oh yeah. That's the one that makes you burp flames, right?" Harry nodded. "That would be cool to try,"

"Yeah, that'll be smart. Going from glasses of water to firewhiskey. That's like going from 0 to 300 in a millisecond. Get used to regular alcohol first and then make your way up to firewhiskey," Alyssa put on a fake pout and Harry laughed. They enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the night until it was time for them to retire to bed. Alyssa went back down to the housing levels below the lobby. And Harry went back up to his room where Hermione and Daphne were waiting for him. He climbed into bed between the two and quickly fell asleep. It had been a long and eventful day. And a great birthday.