The Dragons Return

by viningc

Harry had a war with Earth but he had been given the gift of a lifetime, a place where his dragons and riders would be unconditionally safe. This story continues the trilogy by Bobmin356 and Alyx started at: /s/7591040/18/The-Queen-who-fell-to-Earth

2. Chapter 2: The Colonists Settle In

Chapter 2: The Colonists Settle In

Standard Disclaimer:
We don't own Harry Potter or the Dragonriders of Pern. We're just playing in that combined sandbox for a bit.

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Spath's Weyr, Pern, July 3, 2010...
When Harry and his family arrived, they had brought Remus and Mildred Lupin with them, along with a new 300-inch telescope plus all the electronics required to activate their Pern observatory. The work had finally been completed the previous week, and Mildred was now enthusiastically observing a new solar system, making measurements of planetary orbits and rotations, and searching for the "Red Star".

Harry, as the "Provisional Planetary Governor", was busy putting the finishing touches on what he considered the bare minimum laws he wanted to post for the planet's newest inhabitants. He had already required any new immigrants to Pern to take a magically binding oath to not do anything that would harm any of the other inhabitants unless they feared for their lives or the lives of others. Even then, they were constrained to take the least harmful action possible. In addition, anyone wishing to actually work for the Dragon Nation was required to take a magical oath of loyalty to the Dragon Nation, voluntarily take a mild dose of Veritaserum, and successfully answer a short series of questions. He didn't want to take any chances with terrorists infiltrating the new colony.

He had no idea how he would integrate with any existing colonists if they ever found any. He had seen the three huge spaceships on the horizon the first time he was outside at dawn but, so far, they had found no trace of the colonists who had arrived on them. Harry didn't want to usurp their rights on the planet but he had to make sure his dragons were safe. He hoped that, when they finally met, they could learn to peacefully co-exist. Perhaps the common enemy of Thread would "help".

Since he had approved the Centaurs' use of the "Surface Weyrs" he had decided it would be more appropriate to call them "Holds" since very few of them would actually house many dragons. With that decision had come the almost automatic reinstatement of the title, "Lord Holder", representing the individual who was responsible for the safety and productivity of the inhabitants of the Hold.

He also thought it would be a good idea to revive the idea of Craft Halls where those interested in service careers could band together. After spending some time in Spath's Weyr, he hoped that one of the first crafts to start would be indoor plumbing!

"Good morning, Weyrleader! How's it going?" asked Jeofrey Walker, the permanent Admin Assistant on Pern.

"Fairly well, Jeofrey," replied Harry. "I'm afraid I got rather spoiled on Earth with its indoor plumbing. I'm hoping that some of our immigrants are plumbers!"

"I don't really see how they can run pipes through solid rock though," responded Jeofrey. "I've seen houses built on Earth and all the wiring and plumbing is installed inside the walls before they are finished. How would they do that here!?"

"I have a feeling that we will have to use magic," said Harry. "After all, we have a 'Turbolift' system, a magical system for indoor plumbing shouldn't be all that hard to create … I hope.

"I came in early so I could finish off the set of base Laws I was working on last week. If you would, please try to get them cleaned up and ready for distribution by the end of the day. I don't think there is anything that anyone with an ounce of common sense wouldn't think of but, since we are trying to integrate several different species, I think it best to have as much written down so there are no misunderstandings. Please coordinate with Janay, so she can maintain all our cross-planet records."

"Will do, sir," replied Jeofrey enthusiastically.

"Please don't call me 'sir'. It makes me feel old! I'm not even 30 years old yet," grumbled Harry. "Right now I just want to finish getting things set up so everyone can start ruling themselves. I never realized being a 'Planetary Governor' would involve so much paperwork!"

"You could always just tell everyone to 'Be nice to each other', … sir," said Jeofrey.

"No, then I'd get involved in all sorts of disputes when one person's definition of 'nice' didn't mesh with someone else's! I've already decided on the basic structure of the Planetary Government. It's going to start out with a Lawmaking group, a Judicial group, and the Dragonriders and their dragons will be the peacekeepers and protectors," explained Harry. "All I have to do is get enough representatives from each species to get invested."

"You'll do it, sir," said Jeofrey. "You've come this far."

"I sure hope so," said Harry. "I sure hope so." Harry glanced out the thick plate glass of his inner office at the garden in the center of the main cavern 20 levels below him. Even from this distance, he could see Grawp, Hagrid's brother, happily planting large trees, just imported from Earth. He seemed to have a thick necklace around his neck but Harry knew it was the Peruvian Vipertooth, Ganeath, who was loosely wrapped around Grawp's neck. He marveled that they had become so close. Grawp even seemed to understand others better now and really seemed to enjoy his current job as Weyr Gardner, working with the house-elves putting the final touches on what would be the visual star of the Weyr. He hoped they could bring more Giants to Pern so they could learn to peacefully interact with other species as Grawp was doing. Harry reluctantly returned to his notes and got back to work.

1: … 'The people' are herein defined as all sentient beings, of whatever form they may take.

2: The right of the people to defend themselves, by whatever means necessary, shall not be infringed. The taking of sentient life, no matter the species, is prohibited unless it is required for the protection of other lives.

...

13: Dragonriders and unbonded dragons shall always have the power to enforce these laws. They may be aided in such enforcement by special Auror Teams.

Excerpt from The Weyrs of Pern by Remus John Lupin, published 2050.

Spath's Weyr, Pern, July 7, 2010...
"Hi Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Janay, his permanent Admin Assistant since the days of Campbeltown Weyr.

"Sure, Janay," replied Harry setting aside Hermione's latest idea for a planet-wide Judicial System that involved all the intelligent species. "What can I help you with?"

"I was hoping that I could be reassigned to Svartvatn Weyr after this next hatching in November so that Jholson and I can get married. We now have Admin Assistants on Earth and Pern who are up to speed on what needs to be done. They may not be riders, but they are only a cell phone call away if you need some information. Even I would have to probably look most facts up for you as it is," said Janay hopefully.

"No one, not even me, has any say over what you do privately. I'm pleased for you both and offer my congratulations. I am a bit puzzled why you'd think it was necessary to ask my permission."

"I was afraid you wouldn't like being without a permanent Admin Assistant always by your side."

"Are you sure they are both as capable as you?" teased Harry. "I would hate for the Dragon Nation to dissolve just because we couldn't find two replacements that weren't as good as you!"

"Don't be silly," said Janay, blushing slightly at the praise. "They each concentrate on keeping their paperwork updated for their planet and use the couriers to make sure duplicate records are available on the other planet. Besides, I will only be 'a dragon away' if you need me for anything. Jholson and I have finally decided we want to make a go of our relationship and I can use the skills I've honed as your assistant to help keep the Svartvatn Weyr as up-to-date as possible with our extra-terrestrial family."

"Not that you needed it, but you have my blessing," said Harry. "I hope everything works out well for both of you. Please keep me in mind if there is anything I can help you two with, I feel I owe you a huge debt for acting as a buffer between me and every casual walk-in that 'just wanted to say Hi' while I was in an important meeting. You kept my schedule flawlessly and were so helpful in keeping waiting appointments occupied until I was ready for them. We will all miss you. I expect you and your new family to visit as often as you can."

"Thank you so much for all you've done for me," responded Janay. "After I first became a rider, I didn't really know what I wanted. Working for you helped me to learn about all there is going on in the Weyr and the larger Dragon Nation. Now I think I want to spend a little downtime with Jholson, get to know each other better, and maybe later, take some Education classes. It would be nice to be able to help our next generation of Dragonriders."

"Why don't you take the next courier run to Earth and stay there at least a week so you can get most of your wedding plans finalized. It will give me a chance to see if I can survive without you," joked Harry. "Just make sure you say goodbye to Hermione and May before you leave. I'm sure they will want to know everything that is happening."

"I will, thank you. We aren't going to go through with an actual wedding though. We are going to have a handfasting ceremony because we want to include our dragons like you six did.

"I'd better go. I can see you are as busy as always. I just really wanted to let you know what was going on. Bye, Harry."

"I hope to see you when you return from Earth then," said Harry. "Bye for now." Harry smiled at Janay as she left and then reluctantly went back to trying to create a logical, simple, and practical government.

Spath's Weyr, Pern, July 11, 2010...
Brad Tomlinson put the finishing touches on his latest attempt at solving the indoor plumbing problem at Spath's Weyr. Months ago, almost as soon as he'd arrived, he had immediately been captivated by the Weyr's "Turbolift" system which operated by magic. He soon realized that a similar system could be fitted to each apartment that needed it to allow water in and wastewater out. He had teamed up with a young wizard, Gadus Vluhogast, and a muggle Sanitation Engineer, Sean Bennett, who were staying in the same barracks as he was and they had quickly developed a method of removing water from an area, they just hadn't had any specific place to send it. Now they did, thanks to a fortuitous meeting with one of the Dragonriders, Susan Bones, and the Goblin Master Tunneler, Brusk.

They had been given a Weyr Contract to create a useable indoor plumbing system. Using standard plumbing supplies ordered from Earth, they had plumbed a standardized model apartment, leaving the plumbing exposed so they could more easily demonstrate how it worked. They had magical access to potable water from one of the huge reservoirs around the Weyr. Everything from there up to the Wastewater exhaust worked as it normally did on Earth. The major part of the system was in the waste reclamation system they had created which not only converted most of the waste to a reusable, safe, fertilizer but also recovered phosphorus and ammonia separately. The main holding tank was large enough that it could accept waste for years without overflow but it was emptied almost daily by the various settling tanks, separators, and other portions of the system which converted the odorous waste into an odorless, germ-free end product that could be reused anywhere.

"OK, I have applied the final runes to the exhaust tank and sealed it," said Gadus. "Everything should be ready on my end."

"The reclamation system has been ready for days now," said Sean.

With those assurances, Brad … flushed and the toilet filled with water and a green dye. They all held their breaths as the toilet bowl filled with water and slowly, and then more rapidly emptied out before refilling. They could hear the exhaust tank filling but nothing else.

"Flush it again," suggested Gadus.

Brad pressed the lever again with the same results. If the system were not working, the toilet would have overflowed at this point, but it didn't. They looked at each other hopefully.

"Alright, let's go take a look at the recovery system and verify that this wastewater actually made it," suggested Sean.

They all left, entering the special closet that allowed them to port directly to the exhaust of the holding tank where the recovery area was set up, so they could see the results for themselves. If this worked, they were going to convert the apartment where they had been working into a Plumbing Supply and Installation establishment. They couldn't charge for the materials, because the Weyr was supplying all that, but they could charge for their labor and they had gotten The Weyrleader's word that they would have a monopoly on training Masters in Pern Plumbing for as long as they lived.

One of the happiest days for all the inhabitants of Spath's Weyr was when Brad Tomlinson and his team were all rewarded Dragon Kin Medallions and 1,000 Galleon bonuses for their work in solving the "indoor plumbing" problem in Spath's Weyr. The Weyr now had access to hot and cold running water for cleaning, cooking, showers, and ... flush toilets. The system was retrofitted into all the Holds and Weyrs the Dragonriders and Goblins created, including those on Earth, such as Disko Island, but Spath's Weyr was first.

Excerpt from The Weyrs of Pern by Remus John Lupin, published 2050.

Pern, Aug 12, 2010...
Charlie Stokes and his group of survivalists turned explorers made their way slowly down from the Weyr, along the stream towards the ocean. They had managed to escape the dishonest government on Earth by immigrating to Pern as a group, complete with their families. Now they were doing their part for their new planet by helping to explore it and help fill in the general knowledge of the planet. Initially, they hadn't been too happy about the requirement to include dragons in their party but now he felt better about it. Jim Paulson, one of their younger members, had accidentally broken his leg and had been quickly flown back to the Weyr for medical attention. The break had been so bad that he would have died before they could have hiked back with him on a stretcher. As it was, they carefully packed him into one of the small, collapsible pods the dragons carried and he was back at the Weyr in Emergency Room #1 within seconds. Also, they could send daily messages back to their families, if necessary, through the dragons. Now, his group was starting to think of the dragons as an essential part of any exploration party as well as their friends!

Charlie's group had stayed close to the stream but they had briefly made contact a few times with a small herd of Centaurs who were traveling in the same direction, though the Centaurs were exploring quite a bit on either side of the stream as well. After the last contact, Dregran, the centaur herd leader, decided to divide his herd into two groups to cover each side of the ever-widening and deepening stream and let the humans continue along the bank. Since all three groups could maintain contact with the dragons that were accompanying them, they felt like they could explore more extensively by splitting up, yet still maintain contact. The Centaurs were just as slow progressing along the stream as the humans because they were ranging so far away from the stream and back.

It was starting to get dark and Charlie was taking one last water sample from the stream before helping his men set up their tent for the night when he barely heard a stealthy rustling in the bushes behind him. He carefully loosened the strap holding his .45 in its holster and whipped around, drawing his revolver, as he heard a loud roar. He managed to get a single shot off when a huge cat dropped dead almost at his feet with a broadhead arrow sticking out of its chest. He shakily stood and looked across the stream at Eymoth, one of the young centaurs exploring the other side of the stream.

"Good thing my hearing is better than yours," called Eymoth, good-naturedly. "I've been standing here for five minutes waiting for that cat to show itself. It was all I could do to keep the dragons from ruining my fun!"

"I'm certainly thankful you were here, but sure wish I'd had a little more warning!" responded Charlie, shakily. "Have you run across any more of these things?"

"We haven't on this side of the stream but Dregran let us know to keep an eye open for them. He has found and had to kill two of them on your side because they were stalking one of his mares," said Eymoth. "I'm thinking it might be a good idea to camp together, on this side of the stream tonight."

"I agree," said Dregran, the herd leader, as he walked up. "The stream is still shallow enough for us to ford it easily and the dragons can carry the humans over if they don't want to get wet. Why don't you and your team start gathering wood for a nice bonfire?

"Well, human, what do you think of your first encounter with the Pern wildlife?"

"Happy that you and your herd were here," said Charlie shakily as he examined the huge cat. It looked something like a large Cheetah but with an odd-shaped head. Besides the arrow in its chest, there was a large bullet hole lower down on its torso. The bullet wouldn't have killed it immediately but it would eventually have died … after it had killed Charlie!

"Look at the fleas on this thing!" exclaimed Charlie. "It makes me itch just looking at it. Rainnonth, would you ask the Weyr to send someone out to collect this beast? I don't really think anyone unprotected should get too close in case the fleas carry some disease we don't know about."

"I've contacted the watch dragon. He said someone will be dispatched within the hour," replied Rainnonth, one of the unbonded dragons asked to help with the exploration of Pern. "The rest of the humans are coming now, so we may as well start ferrying you across the stream."

Spath's Weyr, Medical Center Quarantine Section, Aug 14, 2010...
"How are your patients?" asked Harry.

"It's still too early to tell," replied Dr. Sheppard. "The fleas are definitely the disease vector but they aren't like Earth fleas, so we need to study them while we try to develop a repellent. As far as our patients are concerned, all we can do right now is keep them comfortable and hope we find a cure or they pull through on their own. The biggest positive part of the situation is that any live fleas on a dragon, rider, or passenger are killed by the cold of Between.

"If they recover on their own, we can use some of their blood to create a vaccine against the illness, but they are going to have a miserable time of it. I'm just glad the disease is only passed on by the fleas. Because of that, we can treat them without fear of infection."

"Please keep me informed, doctor," replied Harry. "We still have groups of explorers out there who are 'at-risk'. Can you tell me anything about the cat they sent back with the hazmat team?"

"It looks like some kind of Cheetah, with a larger head," responded Dr. Sheppard. "The biggest problem is that they seem to hunt in packs and appear to be extremely intelligent. I sure wouldn't want to run across one on my own much less a pack of them!"

Pern, Aug 22, 2010...
"We are almost at the ocean now," commented Rainnonth, "and I can see a large pack of those cats paralleling our course by about half a mile."

"That's a lot closer than they've gotten recently," said Charlie Stokes worriedly. "They seemed to learn to avoid us because of our firearms and your arrows, Dregran. Do you think they are getting up the nerve to attack us again?"

"I think they are," said Dregran. "I have never seen a predator so tenacious and just plain aggressive. Since we combined our forces into one group after their last attack, they pulled back. It's almost like they were waiting for reinforcements, which now seem to have arrived."

"I am flying a little higher now, Horse Man," commented Rainnonth, "and I can see at least 4 more groups at least as large as the first one I mentioned, though they are slightly further away. They are all headed in the same direction and appear to be converging on a position somewhere ahead.

"There are 60 unbonded dragons here. If we each carry 2 humans and one Centaur, we could easily evacuate all of you if we start now. They would not have time to reach us before we were loaded up and airborne."

"What do you think, Dregran?" asked Charlie. "I hate to be chased away, but these things are just a bit spooky for my taste."

"If I had more mature fighters in my herd I might enjoy staying to fight, but most of the herd with me are just older colts that haven't that much experience in battle," grumbled Dregran. "I think it would make much sense to leave now and return with a larger force from my herd. Rainnonth, do you think you could bring us back to this same area when we are ready to return?"

"We can do that, Horse Man," responded Rainnonth "but I would like to ask The Weyrleader if it is OK to fight with the life on this planet. On Earth, we are the hunters, it seems odd for something so much smaller than us to be hunting us. We are now landing to accept the humans. If you would form a loose group, we will gently pick up each of you when we are ready to take off."

Quickly the dragons landed, helped the humans mount as best they could, and then formed a cradle for the centaurs with their front claws. Once each dragon had its appointed load, they leapt into the air and slowly circled while waiting for the rest of the wing to get airborne. Just as the last dragon leapt into the air, a couple of the fastest cats tried to leap after them and catch the centaur the dragon was carrying. Another dragon rushed in and flamed them and the dragon wing with their precious load went between to Spath's Weyr.

Spath's Weyr, Aug 22, 2010...
"Welcome back, Charlie, Dregran," yelled Dr. Sheppard over the noise of the arriving dragon. "If you all would please just stay where you are for a little while, I have some shots I need to give you before you mix in with the rest of the Weyr inhabitants. We were finally able to find a cure for the disease caused by the fleas on the big cats."

"Hope no one died from the disease," said Charlie.

"No, and, believe it or not, the dragons were the reason we found the cure," said Dr. Sheppard enthusiastically. "The cold of Between kills any fleas on anyone who goes Between. We simply used the dead virus to create our vaccine. We figured it could only help and were proved right when even those extremely ill recovered within a day. Now, we have a vaccine to prevent any possible sickness caused by the fleas."

"Do you have a repellent yet?" asked Dregran. "It's good not to get sick but the flea bites are even worse. I can understand why the cats are so aggressive, they have no defense!"

"Nothing yet," said Dr. Sheppard with a frown. "We really need some live fleas for testing and that may be hard to do since they only seem to live on the cats."

"What if I asked a wizard or two to go out with you and stun some of the cats?" asked Harry as he walked up behind Dr. Sheppard. "The stunned cats could then be loaded into air-tight plastic boxes with an air supply, and the dragons could then fly them back here straight without going Between."

"That would definitely get us our flea samples," responded Dr. Sheppard. "If you can get a mix of ages and sexes, we might even try seeing if we can find out why they are so aggressive."

"Chekiath, would you contact Lokith and ask Kat to organize a small group of wizard riders to go back out with Charlie to capture some of the cats?" asked Harry. "Also ask Mosyth to have Dominick create some kind of sealed container we can use to transport them in. It should be big enough they will be comfortable in them for a while until we can decide what to do with them and there should be no way any of the fleas can escape."

"Will do, Harry," replied Chekiath. "Kat says she is going to take some normal riders as well. Crossbows are just as useful as wands for stunning and it will give them a chance to see more of the surface. Dominick says he can have about 20 large, heavy plexiglass containers with steel bars closing the top, covered with a fine, steel mesh that will contain the fleas, ready in about 3 hours."

"That's great," responded Harry. "I think it's getting a bit late today. Why don't we all get some rest tonight and start out fairly early tomorrow? Let everyone know to be ready to leave right after breakfast. That will give Dominick's team time to get everything constructed and down here ready to go.

"Anyone have any other ideas?"

The three responded in the negative. Harry turned and continued on his way to the central garden where he was supposed to meet with May so she could show him what she had done with her transplanted Japanese garden.

He had just finished reading the last report from Earth that Ronan had forwarded to him. It looked like he was going to have to leave Pern for Earth sometime in mid-October to help get ready for the November hatching. He still wasn't sure if it would be safe to hatch their dragons on Pern or not. He didn't want to take any chances of them reverting in more ways than color. Right now, they had fine control over their flame and the Pern standard dragons did not … if they even still existed.

Spath's Weyr, Aug 23, 2010...
Kat's team ended up capturing five of the Cheetahs, an adult male and female, and three almost mature kits. Literally thousands of insects had been recovered from the five cats and safely stored away in fine mesh cages until needed for testing. The Cheetahs had then had a quick trip between to ensure that any remaining fleas were dead and then they were washed and healed. In some places, there had been open, bleeding wounds because there had been so many fleas on them. After they had been taken care of to the best of the vets' abilities, the Cats had been separately caged in large enclosures and brought out of the stun. Invariably, each one did exactly the same thing once they were fully conscious; they would freeze as if waiting for something, look around cautiously at the enclosure they were imprisoned within, and start cleaning themselves.

"Harry," said a puzzled Chekiath.

"Yes, Cheki?"

"I can sense them almost as if they were another dragon," responded a very puzzled Chekiath, his eyes whirling yellow with streaks of black. "They are puzzled but very pleased they aren't suffering from the fleas anymore."

"Can you talk to them? I don't hear anything yet."

Chekiath showed Harry where to "look" for the Cheetahs, and finally, Harry was able to sense the big cats, faintly.

Harry concentrated on the adult male Cheetah and tried to initiate contact. He didn't have any luck until he pushed with a little of his magic as well. "Hello," said Harry, focusing on the full-grown male.

The cat stopped cleaning his fur and looked around with a distinctly puzzled expression.

Harry walked up to the clear heavy plexiglass side of the enclosure and tried again. "Hello!" exclaimed Harry.

The cat stood and casually but warily walked over closer to Harry. He couldn't see anything between him and his prey but he could sense no terror either. He reached up with his paw as if to touch Harry and encountered the clear wall between them. He sat down and looked at Harry. "Are you talking to me? I have never talked to prey before."

"I think you will find that we are both predators but that we don't need to fight each other, we can help each other instead. My name is Harry Potter. Is there some name I may refer to you by?" asked Harry.

"Funny, you don't look like a member of the Clan but I will indulge this fantasy of yours for now, since I don't seem to be able to reach you right now. You may refer to me as Miststar. I am the leader of our Clan," replied the Cheetah arrogantly.

Harry looked at Miststar worriedly, not because he was afraid of the cat but because he was afraid of what he would be forced to do if he failed at this diplomatic task. And diplomacy it was. If he could not convince this feline, and through him, all the others, he would be put in the position of having to contemplate the genocide of an entire intelligent species. For his dragons, he would do it as a last resort, but he would much rather seek a way that allowed them to at least coexist on the planet without strife between them.

Spath's Weyr, Main Conference Room, Level 20, Oct 4, 2010...
All the Weyrleaders, Wingleaders, Wing Seconds, and anyone else interested were present for this last meeting of those currently present on Pern. The Conference Room was huge and had a tremendous view of the surface of the planet through the bulletproof glass lining one entire wall of the room. Harry was the only one who could see it right now, as everyone else was facing him and not the view. The seating was auditorium style, with each seat having a small fold-down top for a writing surface. No one had problems hearing the speakers, as Harry had arranged for a permanent Sonorus rune to be set into the lectern at the focal point of the room. He had also set up video repeaters connected to large LED screens hanging at various points from the ceiling, so those sitting further back would also be able to see.

The Conference Room could easily accommodate 5,000 humans as well as a couple of hundred resting places for larger species, like centaurs or even giants. However, the only two giants at the moment were Hagrid, who was usually somewhere near the front of the room, and his brother Grawp, who never attended any meetings. Each seat had an individual microphone that could be used to ask questions. The questions were transmitted to speakers located in the ceiling so that everyone could hear not only the question but the responses.

Harry had tried to set it up similarly to the way he had seen the ICW meeting room but without a hit wizard up at the ceiling. Harry had opted to control everything through the use of his flight of dedicated riders. They all sat at control panels that allowed them to turn on or off the microphones of any seat he so indicated or to activate or deactivate a silencing ward under each seat or group of seats. It wasn't as complicated as the system at the ICW. There was no option for temperature control or seat-to-seat communication but he felt it was enough for their purpose.

Harry also made sure that there was a video recording of each meeting in case anyone needed to refer to it in the future. At first, the centaurs had been very vocal about wanting to see everything that happened in the Planetary Seat of Government. Now they usually just sent a couple of observers and asked to see the recordings if anything came up that the centaurs were interested in following. They were finally starting to trust Harry and the other Dragonriders.

Right now, since the meeting was to be mostly about the coming hatching in November, there were a couple of centaurs and just those riders who were scheduled to return to Earth to help. Harry had a feeling that the first item he was going to cover would be of immense interest to not only the centaurs but to every other new colonist of Pern.

"Good morning, and welcome!" Harry began. "This is the meeting of the Weyr Council, dated October 4, 2010, Earth standard. There are only a few things I want to bring up about our upcoming hatching on Earth in November, but first I want to announce an important piece of news that everyone new to Pern will probably welcome. After I have finished, I will open the meeting up to new business and answer questions."

"I talked to Dr. Sheppard just before the meeting, and he informed me that he now had developed not only a flea repellant but a solution to reduce their numbers drastically." Harry waited a moment until the appreciative murmur quieted down. He noticed the two centaurs immediately start paying closer attention.

"Anyone wishing to get some of the repellant or a recipe so you can brew your own should see Dr. Sheppard in Emergency Room #3 on the ground floor to the right of the exit Spoke Tunnel," said Harry. "A minor application will evidently last about a week and even washing will not remove the effect. If you apply two applications, it will kill any fleas that land on you but you need to be careful that you only use such a strong application only once a month. Using it more often may result in a toxic reaction. Dr. Sheppard is still studying the potion and would appreciate any and all input from anyone who uses it." As Harry spoke, he saw one of the centaurs get up and leave hurriedly to spread the word to his herd.

Harry then started talking about the coming hatching. He wanted to make sure the Weyrling Masters for the different Weyrs had assigned enough riders from their Weyrs to cover the number of estimated eggs they would have.

Spath's Weyr, October 5, 2010...
Harry had been in "discussions" with Miststar for several days now. He finally felt somewhat confident that the big cat understood what Harry was offering his kind. Today would be the first real test of that understanding.

"Cheki, I know this is potentially dangerous, but I want you to do your best to maintain strict discipline and not attack Miststar, even if it looks like he is going to attack me," sent Harry, quietly within his mind. "I have my magic ready and am able to defend myself, if necessary. Miststar needs to learn that, not only can he trust me but that he cannot hurt me."

"I will do my best, Harry," replied Cheki, worriedly in his mind, "but if he gets too close, I may not be able to stop myself."

"I'm sure you will do fine, Cheki," said Harry. "All of the Cheetahs can see what is going on but only Miststar will be released initially. I can stop him before he gets anywhere near me if I need to. Just keep aware of his intentions and let me know if they change suddenly."

"Alright, Harry," responded Cheki, unhappily.

Harry walked up to Miststar's enclosure and looked at the great cat contained therein. "Greetings, Miststar," sent Harry, mentally to the large male Cheetah. "We have talked many days about what we can do to help each other. I would like to think I can trust you to act in an appropriate manner if I release you."

"We have talked, yes, but you have yet to prove to me that you are not prey," growled Miststar. "Until you prove that we are equals, we cannot 'agree' on anything."

Harry looked up in frustration at the spectators in the glass partitioned gallery above in the special quarantine room they had created just for this attempt. He could see both his wives looking on anxiously as well as most of his Staff and many other interested parties. This was his last chance to avoid the Cheetah genocide. He certainly hoped that what he had planned would work.

"First, I am going to mount my dragon and let you find out for yourself that you cannot harm him," sent Harry to the aggressive Cheetah. Harry then climbed up onto Cheki's neck ridge and looked down at the Cheetah.

"Are you ready, Cheki?" asked Harry.

"I hope so," responded Chekiath. I know you are safe, I just don't know what this Cheetah can do to a dragon."

"You will be fine," said Harry. "I know that his teeth and claws will not even scratch your scales. Are you ready?"

"Yes, let's do this," replied Cheki, assertively, though his eyes swirled with yellow and black.

Harry reached out with his magic and cast a wandless aberto spell that opened the door to Miststar's enclosure. Immediately the Cheetah jumped out and ran at Chekiath, who stood resolutely still. Since it was the only part of the dragon the cat could easily reach, Miststar immediately tried to bite into Cheki's leg only to find it so hard it felt like a rock.

"What is this thing you call a dragon!" exclaimed Miststar annoyedly. "It looks alive but I have never bitten into anything so hard. I might have broken my teeth!"

"Cheki, gently now, we don't want to really hurt him," prompted Harry.

Chekiath lifted his right front leg and reached out to grab Miststar, but the big cat was too quick for him and avoided capture. Suddenly, in a lightning move that bewildered the Cheetah, Cheki knocked him end for end towards the other end of the room.

"Can we agree that dragons are not prey," asked Harry.

"I agree," said Miststar angrily. "I would not want to attack one of these with my entire pride!"

"Fine," said Harry. "Will you now move off a bit so I can get down without having to worry about you attacking me?"

Harry watched as the Cheetah slowly moved back a little bit but not as much as he'd hoped. He had a feeling the great cat was going to try something sneaky. "Harry, I don't trust him," sent Cheki worriedly, his eyes twirling almost black.

"It's alright, big guy," replied Harry. "I have a feeling he is going to try to attack me when he thinks I am most vulnerable. I will just have to prove to him I can be an even worse opponent than you. Keep faith that I am in control."

"I will try, Harry," replied Cheki, as he almost glared at the Cheetah.

Harry slowly started lowering himself from Cheki's back, keeping an eye on the Cheetah through his dragon's eyes. When he was halfway down, the Cheetah sprang for Harry. Harry quickly turned and cast a spell at the quickly advancing Cheetah, "Expelliarmus!"

The effect on Miststar was dramatic, he was flung backward painfully into the cavern wall. Harry finished his dismount and cautiously approached Miststar who was now shakily regaining his feet and looking warily at Harry. "What did you do," growled Miststar. "I wasn't even close!"

"Actually, I was trying to be gentle," replied Harry. "I wanted to stop your attack without doing too much damage to you. We cannot work together if I kill you, can we? Many of us can do what I have done or worse."

Miststar looked warily at Harry. "I think you are as formidable as I, in a different way. Perhaps we can work together. Let us sit and talk."

"Cheki, is he sincere," asked Harry.

"I believe so," replied a greatly relieved Chekiath. "He seems frightened that you hurt him with so little effort on your part."

Relieved, Harry asked, "If I release the rest of your Clan that are here, will they behave themselves and refrain from attacking?"

"They will, or answer to me," replied Miststar looking meaningfully at the other four confined Cheetahs.

"Can we trust them?" Harry asked Chekiath.

"I sense nothing but respect from them," responded his dragon. "I will keep a close watch, though, and recommend you stay ready for an instant response just in case."

"Then let us begin," said Harry, reaching out to release the rest of Miststar's Clan. Still not trusting them completely, however, he placed a quick ward against the three juveniles and then levitated the female over so she could sit next to her mate. She was obviously terrified and cowed by the experience, which is what Harry had hoped for. Anything to keep them from attempting to attack him. Any attack at this point would seal their fates and he wanted to avoid that at all costs. Better to be slightly brutal now to allow for closer co-existence later.

Harry conjured a chair, which also put the Cheetahs off further, and commenced negotiations. After hours of negotiation, the best Harry was able to obtain was their agreement to not attack any intelligent beings and to leave all penned, domesticated animals alone. In exchange for these gifts, Harry was to cleanse all of Pern's Cheetahs of their flea infestations and arrange for continual repellant treatments. It wasn't anywhere near what Harry had hoped for but, given that even supposedly domesticated cats are notoriously aloof, it was probably the best he could have hoped for. It was even better given that Harry planned to enforce a magically binding oath on each and every one of the Cheetahs, both all those now living, as well as all future progeny.

The Weyrleader came into contact with the Cheetahs and managed to invoke an enforced peace between them and all other intelligent species on the planet. He used their dread of the Pern fleas they had been infested with and an enforced magically binding oath on all Cheetahs, both current and future populations, to gain this peace. ... After many years, as young kits grew up familiar with the other intelligent species and free of the intense pain invoked by the agonizing flea bites, many of the younger Cheetahs became slightly closer to other species. As cats, though, they ever remained aloof and apart, only ever doing something beneficial for other species if they felt like it.

Excerpt from The Weyrs of Pern by Remus John Lupin, published 2050.

HMP Erlestoke, November 10, 2010...
Severus Snape limped towards the dining hall after the morning exercise session. His leg had been broken sometime during his first year in prison and had never set properly. The only reason he was still alive was because he had been moved out of the cell with Otto Monsooni after nearly a month. If he had stayed much longer, he knew he would have been long since killed. Even now, he did his best to avoid the hulking emigrant. His leg hadn't been broken until Monsooni had caught up with him once during a joint exercise session.

He thought very little now about his previous life. It was too important to concentrate on staying alive. None of the other prisoners seemed at all friendly towards him once they found out why he was here but, of them all, only Otto was homicidal. In all the time he had been imprisoned, his only visitor had been his court-appointed attorney who visited about a month after he had been interned to let him know that the attempt at a retrial had been denied and that parole was not an option. He recommended to Severus that he keep his head down and try to draw as little attention to himself as possible if he hoped to survive until the end of his sentence.

As he was about to enter the dining hall, he noticed Otto just getting up to leave, so he waited just outside until he was sure Otto was well on his way back to his cell. He'd had enough encounters with Otto over the years to know that he definitely didn't want to be anywhere near him.

The Weyrleader's Office, Dragon Isle, November 10, 2010...
"That was your last appointment for the day, Harry," said Jenny, his Earth-side Office Manager.

"Thank you, Jenny," said Harry. "How's your friend doing?"

"Anne's really excited that she might actually be able to impress at the next hatching this month," Jenny exclaimed. "I know she's working very hard in the Weyrling classes. I talk to her about them almost every night."

"Tell her she's lucky to be up for impression now," said Harry. "The first classes had to do a worldwide tour to visit all 36 Earth Weyrs to get their sight pictures memorized! Now there are only three of those Weyrs that have been reactivated as museums as well as Minnewanka and Joensuu Weyrs. Minnewanka Weyr is being maintained to be our Earth observatory trying to find Pern from this side of the Galaxy. Joensuu will be the last one visited. We were going to abandon them along with all the others but Ismo talked me into keeping Joensuu open. As long as he can keep uptight security in the surrounding area he's earned the right to maintain Earth's only dragon resort."

"I've heard about it," said Jenny, " I would love to visit it someday."

"Why don't you see if you can get an assistant trained up for when your friend starts her tour and go with them?" suggested Harry. "I'm sure there won't be all that much to do here that your assistant couldn't handle it by herself for a week."

"Wow, that would be lovely!" exclaimed Jenny. "I didn't think non-riders were allowed to go along!"

"We send chaperones all the time and I'm sure you can come up with some kind of excuse to rationalize why non-rider office staff needs the same experiences as their rider counterparts," said Harry with a twinkle in his eye. "Who knows, you may start a trend that all future staff will want to follow."

"I'm not so sure about that, but I love the idea of visiting the other Weyrs. I'll talk my husband into coming along to help me 'chaperone'. He needs more of a break than I do. He works down on the docks helping to keep track of everything that comes and goes," said Jenny. "Thanks for the idea. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yes, I should still be here tomorrow, though I do have some personal shopping to do with my partners before we go back to Pern for a couple of weeks," said Harry.

"Oh, you mean your wives? I thought all Wing transfers took place at the end of the Earth year," questioned Jenny.

"Yes, doesn't everyone think of their spouse as their partner? As far as the Wing transfers, normally they do but I need to get back to Pern. There are some projects I really want to take a part in there, even if I do need to be back for the hatching in November. Most of the Division will stay here until December though, I'm just taking my immediate Wing and wives with me," explained Harry. "See you tomorrow then, Jenny, good-night."

"Goodnight, Harry."

After Jenny had left, Harry looked out the panoramic bulletproof glass window next to his desk down at the harbor of Dragon Isle teeming with ships in the huge bay. Some waiting to deliver whatever the Pern colony had decided it now needed or waiting to offload more advanced applicants for colonist status, others on their way to their next port of call. Some had no business to do with the Dragon Nation at all, they were just using this new, convenient port as a refueling point before continuing on their way.

None but Harry saw the flights of dragons perched on the breakwaters, scanning each and every vessel for possible threats. Even more dragons were assigned to link up with any incoming craft when it was well over 100 nautical miles from the island to give it an initial check and shadow it all the way to the island. Nothing got within 100 miles without such an escort, not even known friends. There was just too much going on at this one location to take any chances. There was a larger loose ring of dragons orbiting the island at about 500 miles who tried to detect any possible threat to their Island at an even greater distance. Fortunately, almost all the dragons were unbonded and didn't mind the long boring hours flying in all kinds of weather. The dragon/rider pairs were kept closer to the Island and swapped out every 3 hours to try to help keep the human component sharp. Harry was sure someone would try something eventually, and he didn't want to be caught unawares. They weren't quite on a war footing but it wouldn't take much to push to one.

It was hard to believe that exactly two years ago Pern had been discovered … by accident! If Ronan hadn't been daydreaming about Lee's picture in Harry's office, the one behind his desk even now, they never would have made the jump that proved to be the crucial piece of the puzzle needed to protect his dragons.

"How's it looking to you, Cheki?" asked Harry as he looked over at his dragon sunning himself in the late afternoon sun.

"Busy," said Chekiath, his eyes swirling with a faint green tint. "Everyone wants to be our friends now."

"Not everyone," said Harry regretfully. "But many more than there used to be. Even Russia has been taken off the prohibited list now that Muggles are finally in charge of their government. Most of their magical community had no idea what their 'leaders' were actually doing."

After a quick trip to Pern to finally get to see it with his own eyes and set in motion certain specific initiatives he felt needed to be taken care of immediately, such as finalizing the Observatory on top of Spath's Weyr and the hospital that took up most of the second level, he had reluctantly returned to Dragon Isle on the 1st of November. He had to ensure there were procedures set in place to handle almost any occurrence, even if he were not here. He was almost finished and this office would become the office for the rotating Wing Commander. He didn't yet know how long a tour of duty would last but knew that it probably shouldn't be more than a year or less than 6 months just so they had good continuity. A full Division of 300+ bonded dragons, about 2000 unbonded dragons, and 200 house-elves were currently "stationed" on the island.

Harry was fairly sure they had jumped into Earth's future to get to Pern but so far they had discovered no evidence of any previous colonists on the Pern they had found. They did find three huge spaceships in orbit around the planet. They were hard to miss as they glowed brightly every dawn. When quickly investigated, they all appeared to be powered down and drifting, so Harry decided to ignore them for now until more important things were accomplished.

May was downstairs in the hospital ensuring all the final touches were applied before it went fully active. It was designed to be able to handle at least 100 dragon patients as well as about 250 "beds" for smaller species. Work on a similar facility on Pern was underway, lagging behind in installation only until each component was tested thoroughly on Earth. The Pern Hospital differed mainly in size. It would be able to handle at least 500 dragons, twice as many humans, and over 500 "beds" for other species. The new environment was expected to have many surprises, hopefully, nothing they couldn't handle on their own. They already had over 50 doctors wishing to learn the new dragon specialization from May and there were many more doctors and nurses who wanted to take advantage of learning new skills and honing old ones in an alien environment. Harry was just glad he had decided to get started as soon as he had learned where Ronan had gone on his extra-solar jaunt.

It was truly amazing what could be accomplished when there was little bureaucracy and a lot of resources thrown at it.

The Weyrleader's Office, Pern...
Skip Taylor, acting Co-Weyrleader for Pern while Harry was on Earth, looked out the bulletproof glass window of The Weyrleader's outer office, just off the main conference room, at an alien vista. This office suite was the only one with two entrances: a dragon door leading to a large cavern with a dragon-friendly ledge leading to the outside, and, through an outer Admin Assistant's office and waiting room, a huge conference room, an inner Admin Assistant's office, and waiting room, to Harry's inner office and another cavern with a dragon-friendly ledge to the inside of the main Weyr at the top of the open space carved out of the mountain. Each space from inside to outside was large enough for Chekiath to move through comfortably.

Right now he and Kat were supervising the continued expansion of Spath's Weyr to enable it to hold more non-riders than originally planned. Instead of 3 Ring corridors, they were expanding it to 4 Ring Corridors on the ground level and a level zero with 5 Ring Corridors beyond Ring 1 that would be 300 feet below ground level. The third and fourth rings on the ground level would be hidden by Fidelius charms on either side of the main entrance to help with security. All the apartments on the two levels were set up for single or close generational families.

Spath's Weyr, April 12, 2011...
"We found it! We found it!" exclaimed Mildred Lupin as she hurried into Harry's office waving a sheaf of papers around excitedly.

"Found what?" asked a puzzled Harry.

"The rogue planet, what the dragons refer to as the 'Red Star'! It is approaching from below the plane of the ecliptic and ..."

"Hold on, Mildred, calm down and try to explain it in terms a poor wizard might be able to understand," laughed Harry with an amused expression.

"Alright, I'll try: the plane of the ecliptic is an imaginary flat surface on which a planet rotates around its sun. All bodies in a solar system are very close to this plane, being only slightly above or below if there is any difference. The rogue planet was obviously captured by this solar system at some time in the past, as it isn't on the plane but is currently quite a ways below it and approaching in such a manner as to cross it and go quite a ways above it soon. I estimate it should be close enough to see with the naked eye within a month," explained Mildred breathlessly.

"How soon until it's close enough for us to start seeing thread," asked Harry, worriedly.

"At this point, I don't know," replied Mildred. "Now that it has been found, we can start taking precise measurements and hopefully give you a good estimate soon.

"As you know, we've had all the other basic solar system measurements down, almost exactly, for some time now. This was the last little bit we were missing. We were looking for it on the plane, not so far off the plane, that's why we just found it."

"That's great," said Harry. "Now we have an idea where it is and know it will be here soon. I'm glad the Weyr is finished and all the external structures are constructed of rock and connected to the Weyr entrance with underground tunnels. Now we can start concentrating on how to fight thread."

Harry smiled as an excited Mildred ran from his office to let everyone else know of the discovery of their expected planetary challenge. "Cheki, would you contact all the Weyrleaders and ask them to meet in the Conference room with their Wingleaders in about 2 hours?" asked Harry.

"Will do, Harry," responded Chekiath, happy to be able to help his rider.

Over Spath's Weyr, May 10, 2011...
It had been almost a month since the discovery of Pern's nemesis and the wings had been practicing different formations that they hoped would help them to destroy thread before it reached the planet's surface. It helped that all dragons could flame, so even the unbonded dragons could help. Harry also had several wings of unbonded dragons acting as sentinels in case thread started falling unexpectedly. For now, all non-riders were requested to stay near a Weyr or Hold entrance, just in case thread started falling before Mildred had predicted it would.

The Centaurs had decided to start a new Hold near the sea at the end of the stream leading from Spath's Weyr. Bane's Hold had finally been finished a few days ago and the Goblins and Gringotts dragons were even now driving connecting tunnels through the intervening rock to link up the Weyrs and Holds. The tunnels were wide enough to accommodate a Goblin trolley that could carry passengers and merchandise back and forth. The trolleys were semi-enclosed on a higher level than the rest of the tunnel to keep any foot traffic from causing problems with the trolleys. There were also stairwells every mile or so that led up to rock way stations on the surface which allowed access up or down. The way stations were large enough to protect a few wagons and any animals drawing them.

"How do they look to you, Cheki?" asked Harry.

"I think the riders need to trust their dragons more," growled Chekiath. "If that were really flesh-eating thread falling instead of paper strips, I know of two dragons and even more riders that would have been hurt or dead by now."

"Well, let them all know, you big lug," said Harry fondly. "You are The Weyrleader's dragon!"

Harry heard Chekiath passing on the remonstrance to the riders, reminding them that dragons were inherently better at spatial orientation than they were. When he was finished, Harry asked, "Can you see how the unbonded dragons over Bane's Hold are doing?"

"Much better than here, Harry," said Cheki. "I think they will be able to protect the area around the Hold well."

"Call them in from practice now," said Harry. "Looks like the 'Thread wings' are out of paper anyway."

Harry watched as the wings currently practicing went Between to return to the Weyr before having Chekiath return as well.

Pern, July 15, 2011...
Cetath and his Wing of unbonded dragons had been slowly making their way across the ocean towards the northern continent to scout for jump imaging when he saw what appeared to be a dark cloud in the distance, well back from the rapidly approaching shoreline. As he watched, he saw flashes of light along the leading edge at the bottom of the cloud and suddenly realized what he was seeing. "Weyrleader! Thread has started falling earlier than our predictions and I can see dragons fighting thread," sent Cetath.

"Can you send us a jump image yet?" asked Harry.

"Not yet, but we are now flying as fast as we can and should be able to send a good image within 10 minutes. As soon as we get close enough, we will jump over the shore, find a good place for your arrival, and send you an image," replied Cetath.

"How heavy does the threadfall appear to be?" asked Harry.

"Not too heavy now. When we first saw it, it appeared really dense but suddenly almost disappeared shortly after we saw it."

Harry thought deeply about what he had just heard and then replied. "As soon as you send me the jump imagery, I want you to take your Wing of dragons and do a time jump so you are at about 20,000 feet and just before you saw the sudden disappearance of thread. When you arrive, send a new jump image to the rest of your division of unbonded dragons so they can help start flaming the thread. It should still be frozen but please be careful anyway. Please remain invisible during this entire time. Once the thread is gone, come back down to about 5,000 feet and follow the dragons you've seen back to their weyr. We will be with them at that point."

Cetath responded to let Harry know he had understood and tried to fly even faster.

"Garanoth, would you please ask Ronan to send our specially equipped Egg out to Cetath's jump image to capture some of the thread before it hits the atmosphere?" sent Harry. "We need to get some as soon as possible to find a better way to combat it."

"He is on his way, Harry," replied Garanoth.

Over Valley Hold...
M'Lan, huge, disillusioned, and almost past his prime as a rider, sat hunched low over the shoulders of his great Bronze, Zigheonth, watching as around him, his 114 fellow riders attacked and re-attacked thread. The threadfall had looked overwhelming when they had first arrived but now, for some reason, it had suddenly almost cleared. He didn't know why, but he was grateful. They had been fighting what had appeared to be an unwinnable battle for over half an hour and they were all tired.

As M'Lan and his riders started to make their turn to start a new attack on the thread he was suddenly flying in a shadow. Then he heard, "Why not rest your riders, Weyrleader, and let Spath's Weyr finish this for you? We have just arrived and are fresh." He looked up in amazement and saw what must have been 120 dragons aligned in a strange formation above his riders.

"We thank you, Spath's Weyr, we will move to the side and try to stay out of your way. I have never heard of Spath's Weyr, but we do know it is dangerous to try to fight thread if you haven't trained together," responded M'Lan gratefully.

He watched dazedly as the new Dragonriders made short work of the remaining thread. Finally, when there was no more thread to be seen, the new Weyrleader above enquired via his dragon, "Do you have any injured dragons or riders? If so, we have some excellent healers at our Weyr. We would be most happy to help in any way we can."

"I thank you," said M'Lan. "We have been lucky so far. We had five injuries before you arrived but they have already returned to our Weyr for treatment. If you would like to follow us back to our Weyr, we would like to show our appreciation for your help and get to know more about Spath's Weyr. My name is M'Lan, Weyrleader of Benden Weyr."

"M'Lan!" exclaimed the new Weyrleader. "We know that name but for us, it is from our ancient past. Yes, let us follow you and meet when we land. My name is Harry."

M'Lan marveled not only at the idea that someone could think of him as from the "ancient past" but at a rider with such an odd name. He passed jump imagery for the combined flight and went Between.

Benden Weyr...
"It is so tiny," said Chekiath privately to Harry. "I hope there are more of them somewhere else or they would have surely died without our help."

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," replied Harry. "Everyone else has landed, what say we land near their Weyrleader."

Since Chekiath was a guest in a strange place, he decided to forego his normal insane dive and gently glided down to the ground to land lightly next to the Benden Weyrleader's dragon. Chekiath glanced at him with a smug grin. "He's so small, Harry!"

"He isn't that much smaller than you, you big lug!" replied Harry. "Please try to be polite, we are guests here. Ask Cetath to surreptitiously land his Wing wherever they have room around the rim. Also, pass the word for Hermione to join me."

"OK, Harry."

Harry slid easily down from Chekiath's back, took off his helmet and gloves, and approached M'Lan. "It's a pleasure, and a bit of a surprise, to meet you, sir," said Harry. "I have a feeling we are going to have a lot to talk about. Let me just start by saying today's threadfall caught us by surprise. We weren't expecting any fall until sometime next week. As soon as we saw the darkened sky, we knew what it had to be and came as quickly as we could.

"Please allow me to present my wife, Hermione."

"Very pleased to meet you both," said M'Lan as he shook their hands while staring awestruck at Chekiath. "I'm sure the holders at Valley Hold are just as happy as I am that you showed up to help. I have many questions but, if you don't mind, I would like to wait until the other Weyrleaders show up, so you don't have to repeat your story too many times. In the meantime, there are refreshments available for your riders and we have herdbeasts over in the feeding grounds on the other side of the lake for your dragons."

"I appreciate your offer but we know how short food can be. Our dragons have all fed recently and we just had lunch not long ago," replied Harry. "If it's OK with you, I would like to send my Weyrhealer over to see if she can help with any of your injured, and let my riders wander around getting to know your people."

"Help from your Weyrhealer would be most welcome," said M'Lan gratefully, "and your riders are more than welcome to visit and make themselves at home."

Harry and Hermione were led up to the Council Room opening off the Queen's Weyr while the rest of Harry's riders and dragons mingled with the Benden Weyr inhabitants.

Benden Weyr, July 16, 2011...
Not all of Pern's Weyrleaders had arrived until late the previous night, so Harry and Hermione had graciously agreed to spend the night. Harry had sent the rest of his dragons and riders back to Spath's Weyr so as not to be a burden on their hosts but he had asked Cetath if he would keep his Wing invisible and in the local area. Chekiath and Comaloth had both been telling him since late last night that the Pern riders seemed to be trying to plan something that involved Hermione and they weren't sure if they liked the idea. By now, Harry and Hermione had a pretty good idea of what was being planned and made their own plans accordingly.

Harry and Hermione walked out into the Kitchen Cavern from the Sleeping Rooms and found a seat at the table where many of the other Weyrleaders were congregated. A serving drudge brought over steaming cups of Klah for Harry and Hermione and asked what they would like to have for breakfast. After placing their order, Harry turned to the rest of the table to see what was going on.

"Good morning, M'Lan," said Harry cheerfully. "Is everyone here so we can have our meeting?"

"Not yet," replied M'Lan. "We are still waiting for one of the other Weyrs that should be finishing up with threadfall soon. We will probably be ready after lunch."

"In that case, I think I had better be going back to my Weyr for a few hours to get caught up. It never helps to be away for too long," said Harry. "If you don't mind, I would like to leave my wife Hermione here with you to research your records of threadfall so we can refine our information in order to coordinate better coverage with the rest of the Weyrs."

"That would be fine," replied M'Lan. "I will ask Juni, our Weyrwoman, to assist."

"I will leave right after breakfast and return in roughly 3 hours then," said Harry.

"What is this drink," asked Hermione. "I thought it was coffee but it tastes like a mixture of coffee and chocolate with a hint of cinnamon."

"I don't know what coffee, chocolate, or cinnamon are, but this is Klah," replied M'Lan. "We harvest the bark of the Klah tree and brew this drink from it. It helps to give us extra energy when we need it."

"It's wonderful," responded Hermione with a smile. "Perhaps when things settle down, we can trade some chocolate for some of your Klah bark."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," said M'Lan.

Soon after, Harry made his good-byes, mounted Chekiath, and they went Between. Instead of returning to Spath's Weyr, however, they simply jumped to the opposite side of the caldera from where the Watch Dragon was posted and landed on a small ledge while maintaining their invisibility.

About an hour later, Harry received a worried message from Hermione, via Comaloth. "Harry, I think something is starting. Comaloth tells me the male dragons are trying to get her to start a mating flight. I just now told her to pretend to go along, as we discussed last night."

"Are you alone right now?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I'm in the Records Room but there are two entrances," responded Hermione worriedly.

"OK, make your way to the sleeping chambers we used last night and let me know as soon as you get there. Barricade the door any way you can until I arrive," replied Harry.

A few minutes later, Comaloth took off on a mating flight, Chekiath immediately appeared and started chasing her, and Harry apparated into the small sleeping chamber which, by now, had all the Bronze riders trying to get into the room. Comaloth easily outflew every dragon except Chekiath, and the Pern riders left in disappointment.

Benden Weyr Council Room, July 16, 2011...
Harry and Hermione walked into the Council Room almost full with the other Weyrleaders. They, almost to a man, averted their gazes. Harry strode up to the middle of the huge wooden beam table and glared at them. "Didn't I tell you that Hermione was my wife?" growled Harry. "I guess that doesn't mean anything to you but I would have thought that annoying a new ally against a common threat would have been the last thing you would have wanted to do."

M'Lan stood up menacingly and said angrily, "We need more Dragonriders. To do that, we need more eggs. When your riders visited yesterday almost half of them were women riding fertile queens! We need an alliance but we need eggs more."

Harry looked at the larger, seemingly stronger, man and gathered his magic about him. He turned almost calmly and, using his Earth-given strength coupled with a healthy boost from his magic, struck his fist against the table and split it in two. He looked at the shocked and cowed Pern riders and said, "That is what I think of your alliance and your need for eggs. Follow me outside, I want to show you something."

Harry and Hermione turned and left the room for the main Weyr Bowl. Once everyone had joined them, Harry looked up and sent to all dragons, worldwide, "Please allow yourselves to be seen."

The Pernese were totally shocked when literally thousands of dragons appeared, flying in complex patterns, circling over their Weyr. At the altitude they were flying, it wasn't apparent to human eyes that more than half were riderless.

M'Lan, stunned, turned to Harry and groveled. "We didn't know," he said. "We were so desperate, we took the only action we could think of to ensure our survival. On behalf of my fellow Weyrleaders, I humbly apologize."

Harry learned from M'Lan that the reason that Benden Weyr was so concerned about eggs was because they didn't have a queen. Shortly after they lost Sidraneth, they also lost Moranth to a freak accident that her rider survived. Harry asked the unbonded female Horntail, Enith, if she would like to try to be friends with Juni and received a positive reply. While shocked that there were such things as unbonded dragons, M'Lan was overjoyed to accept on Juni's behalf.

M'Lan was even happier when Enith told him that she would bring a Division of 300 dragons with her, some of which were also female. Harry's only stipulation was that the initial hatching at least had to take place on Disko Island. He was still concerned about any future dragons losing their Earth-derived abilities. Benden had no objection and said they would make arrangements for transportation of their candidates and any other concerned parties back to Earth when the time came. Enith was overjoyed, they now had their own manned Weyr.

"I hope that teaches you that you need to trust more and scheme less," said Harry leaning towards M'Lan aggressively. "Right now, you have no idea what you almost destroyed but I plan on explaining it to you in no uncertain terms. To do that most effectively, I think we should adjourn to my Weyr to continue our meeting. You may get the jump imaging from my dragon, Chekiath."

With that, Harry and Hermione turned to their dragons and mounted while the other Weyrleaders hastily called their own dragons down and followed suit.

"Cheki, please give them the jump image leading to the outside entrance. I don't want to give them too much of a shock all at once," said Harry with a grin.

"Of course," said Chekiath with his eyes swirling a bright green. A moment later, all the dragons and riders disappeared Between.

Spath's Weyr, outside entrance, July 16, 2011...
Dragons started landing near the entrance to Spath's Weyr. There were Weyrleaders, Weyrwomen, and Weyrling Masters from Benden, Fort, High Reaches, Igen, Ista, and Telgar Weyrs.

"Cheki, please pass the word for all non-humans to try to remain hidden from our guests for now," asked Harry. "They are going to get a big enough shock from just the physical Weyr without adding in non-human occupants.

"Once we get inside, please show our visiting dragons where they can rest and get a snack."

"Already done," replied Chekiath. "Susan wants to know where you want to start the tour."

"Tell her to meet us at the Sector Zero kitchen with all The Weyrleader's Staff. That way, if there is a question I can't answer, one of them will be able to."

Harry turned to the visiting Pernese riders and said, "If you will follow me, please, I would like to show you Spath's Weyr." All that could be initially seen was a wide opening under a small mountain lake. The Pernese were about to have their entire worldview turned upside-down.

"What's this?" asked M'Lan. "A cave into the mountain at ground level! What kind of Weyr do you have here!?"

"We have much more than is apparent right now," replied Harry. "What you see as a cave, is actually an entrance we added after the Weyr was finished. We realized that the non-rider inhabitants would need to have access to the outside of the Weyr without having to ask for a ride from a dragon."

"But there's water flowing from the cave and from the side of the mountain!" exclaimed M'Lan. "Surely, this is all natural."

"Actually, not," responded Harry. "everything from where the water exits the mountain to where we are standing was created after the Weyr. If you notice, the interior of the cave probably seems a lot brighter than any cave you've seen before. Let's walk inside, so I can show you more."

They slowly moved inside the cave entrance as Harry showed them the permanent vendor stalls that were, even now, doing a brisk business. It seemed that many of the Weyr's inhabitants had found some niche they could fill to provide something of value to their fellow colonists, even if it was in the form of decorative crafts. When they arrived in the approximate middle of the canopy, Harry brought them all to a stop. The Pernese were looking at the myriad stalls with wonder.

"It's like a permanent gather," exclaimed Juni, "but under a stone roof!"

"Exactly," replied Harry. "We knew something about your planet and its problem with thread before we arrived, so we wanted to make sure that all our fellow inhabitants were well protected. If you will all look up ..."

There were gasps from the Pernese as they saw the source of light in the cave. The ceiling was transparent! Not only that but there were fish swimming about and even a couple of dragons playing in the water.

"How is this possible?" asked M'Lan. "That water has to be 50' deep at the least for those dragons to be playing in it, yet we can see everything clearly!"

"Actually, if is closer to 75'," explained Harry. "You can see through the bottom because, when we created this canopy, we fused a huge quartz plate into place for the bottom. The quartz is thick enough to withstand the water pressure but still clear enough to allow light to pass both ways. As you can see, one of the dragons is, even now, looking at us curiously. Shall we continue?"

Harry lead them on into the underside of the canopy, almost to the actual Weyr entrance, and stopped yet again. "If you will look to your left and right, you should be able to see steel-framed, glass buildings, which we call greenhouses, up against the mountain. You should also be able to see what looks like sheer stone cliffs about 30' out from the greenhouses. We have 50 greenhouses on each side of this entrance and grow a great deal of food and medicinal herbs in them. What appears to be stone cliffs are, in fact, one side of stone apartments where a great many of our immigrants live. We can visit them later. I just wanted you to know what was here before we went further. There is a street that runs along between the greenhouses and the apartment front but, underneath that is an underground street, linking all the greenhouses and the apartments so we are totally safe from threadfall at all times. Shall we continue?"

As they moved into the actual ground-level entrance to the Weyr, the sound of running water from the stream became louder, but not overpowering. They passed the entrance to a ramp leading downwards shortly after entering the wide tunnel. As the light from the entrance started to fade, there was still plenty of available light due to what looked like a series of long, brightly glowing tubes of light.

"How do you keep the light glowing in those tubes?" asked H'Lok. "It looks like it would be really awkward to pull them down and recharge them and there are so many of them!"

"We have a generator which provides us with a form of energy that we use for many things in the Weyr, including providing light and heat. If you notice, in between each set of tubes, there are what appear to be dark, thick strings attached to the roof. We call those wires. They conduct the flow of energy from our generators, almost like water flows, to the lights," explained Harry. "I know this is a long way to walk, but I wanted you to be able to see and feel the size for yourselves before I show you any of the shortcuts we use. We aren't far from the Weyr entrance now, if you will follow me?"

They walked on and eventually came to the main ground-floor Weyr entrance. As they exited the tunnel, there was a collective gasp from Harry's guests. Harry led them out away from the entrance another 500' so they could turn around and look at the wall they had just exited from. "Zigheonth, I am sending you a jump image. Would you please join your rider here, inside our Weyr?" sent Harry.

M'lan gasped, "You just talked to my dragon! How is that possible?"

As Zigheonth came in for a gentle landing near his rider, Harry responded, "I can talk to every dragon on this planet as well as on Earth, when I'm there. There are also other intelligent species on this planet that I can talk with but I will explain about them later. If you can hold your questions, all will eventually be explained. We don't want to hide anything and will be happy to explain, as best we can, anything you wish to know about.

"This Weyr was basically cut out of solid rock and is a cylinder a nautical mile high and a nautical mile in diameter. I'm sure you can see quite a few openings in the rock walls above us. What you may not be able to see is that there are 21 Levels, most of which contain what we call dragon apartments. This Weyr, all by itself, is capable of holding over 28,000 dragons and riders … if we had that many.

"Level 0 and 1 are reserved for our non-riders. It would be a bit much to ask of them to have to climb down just to get to the cavern floor. We also have 32 different kitchens capable of feeding around 1,000 people an hour as well as two Emergency rooms, which you can see on either side of the tunnel we just arrived through. The Emergency rooms are capable of handling injuries for dragons or other species, including humans. We are even capable of performing fairly involved surgery on dragons. Every year, fewer and fewer of our dragons go Between, they have come to trust that we can treat, heal, and cure almost any problem they have.

"If you look up one level to Level 2, you will see a much larger opening with a grid-work frame below the landing ledge and protecting the area below it. This frame is a direct response to the tragedy you experienced with Fara and Sidraneth. Zigheonth, would you please fly up and land on the grid?"

M'Lan's dragon jumped up and glided over the grid and gingerly settled down … or tried to. "I cannot touch the surface!"

"Just bring your wings in and settle, you will eventually be able to touch the surface," sent Harry.

"We have a way of slowing and cushioning a falling dragon so they are not hurt and the grid protects anyone below them," explained Harry. "Once Zigheonth can touch the grid, he could walk into the opening into either of the two Emergency Rooms there if he wanted to. If he were incapacitated, we have doctors always available … who you can even now see gathering at the opening … who can bring an injured dragon inside so they can help him within seconds of him landing."

"What a wonder," said M'Lan sorrowfully. "To have something like this in our Weyr would be truly a blessing!"

"We can help you to modernize your Weyrs if you wish," said Harry. "Once Zigheonth passes the jump image to all the other dragons though, there is no reason why an injured dragon couldn't just jump directly here for help. Dragonriders help dragons, ALL dragons, even yours."

"I just wish you had found us sooner," said Juni sadly. "My dragon might have been saved."

"I would wish that as well, but we dare not go back or it might change something that would cause far more problems than we can imagine," said Harry softly to the grieving rider. "I lost my parents when I was very young, we have lost dragons and riders from attacks by others, and we still dare not go back to change anything. All we can do is our best to make sure as many possibilities are covered to keep our dragons as safe as possible."

"I thank you for your words and for Enith," said Juni. "I had thought never to know a dragon's companionship ever again. Enith has helped to ease my aching heart and will always be my friend. She will never take Moranth's place in my heart but I now find I have room for others there." Juni hugged Harry briefly before releasing him and wiping at her eyes.

Harry looked embarrassed and then looked up at M'Lan's dragon. "Zigheonth, would you fly up and get a good jump image you can send to all the Pern dragons, please. Any who wish to visit will be more than welcome. Also, send the image for the outside entrance so they will have two references."

Zigheonth flew up and faced the Level 2 dragon ledge. "It changes!" exclaimed Zigheonth.

"Yes," responded Harry. "That is how we keep track of the current date and time. It helps with our jumps between here and Earth."

There was a sudden influx of Pern dragons overhead and then they vanished again after seeing the wondrous Weyr for themselves. The air in the central cavern was momentarily filled with dragons as a shaken snow globe would be filled with dancing motes of snow. The Pern riders watch entranced and couldn't help but notice the bright light at the top of the Weyr.

"Is that the sun shining through the top of your Weyr?" asked M'Lan.

"No," replied Harry. "That is our local heat and light source for the main cavern. The top of the cavern is still over 6,000' from the top of the mountain. I will explain that and many other things later. Now, if you would follow me, I think it would be a good idea to take some refreshments and meet the rest of my Staff. We aren't individual Weyrs, we are a single nation of dragons and, due to an accident of fate that enables me to speak to all dragons, I have been forced into the role of leader to them all."

Harry led the Pern riders over to kitchen 0R, just to the right of ER #3, to meet the Weyrleader's Staff.

Spath's Weyr, July 25, 2011...
"So, what do you think of our departed guests," asked Harry.

"A little too 60's free sex for me," replied Ronan with general agreement from most of those present. "I suppose it's a result of the dragon bond but we don't seem to have that problem; surely, in all this time, they could have come to a better resolution!"

"From what I was able to learn," stated Mariah, "their female dragons, that were capable of egg-laying, never really wanted to share a Weyr. Since all our females can both lay eggs and flame thread, that shouldn't be a problem anymore. Hopefully, they will pick up on the consort system and start gravitating to permanent partners like we do."

"I found their medical technology downright primitive. The only really useful concept I found was their Fellis Juice. It is a much more concentrated pain killer than what we have been using. The only problem is we must be very careful about the dosage. It can be addictive and too large a dose can be lethal," added May. "They were amazed by our medical facilities for dragons, especially our ability to perform surgery. One of their injured dragons is in our hospital right now recovering from surgery to seal a thread score."

"After staying one night in a dragon apartment, all the dragons wanted their own," smirked Susan. "We have offered our expertise in modifying their Weyrs in exchange for many herbals that just don't exist on Earth. I have a feeling that many of the plants we find here could be used to help the Dumbledore Plan along back home."

"I am really hopeful for Juni," said Luna dreamily, "now that she has Enith looking after her, she has started to be a little more animated and aware of her surroundings. As much as they all want riders, I think unbonded dragons will have a place in our society for a long time to come. If nothing else, if a hatchling doesn't find a rider on the hatching sands, it won't signal an automatic jump Between. There are enough unbonded dragons to reassure any such hatchlings that they are still loved and cared for within the larger family of dragons, riders, and non-riders."

"Did you see their eyes almost pop out of their heads when you called Dobby in to serve drinks in the Conference room?" chortled Sirius. "I want to be there when the Goblins and underground dragons show up to help 'modernize' their Weyrs."

"I'm just glad we were able to finally get our computerized threadfall projections corrected using their historical data!" exclaimed Arnas with real feeling. "We were able to cover all the falls for them while they were here and they now know they can rely on us."

"I think they were most unsure about our legal system," said Hermione. "They had enough of a problem with the tripartite model of government. Wait until they realize that ALL intelligent species are considered equal."

"I wonder what they will do when we reveal magic to them?" commented Lee Jordan.

"I think they were really touched by the history we were able to recover from our dragons in regard to what happened after Sidraneth reached Earth," Said Remus Lupin. "What amazes me is that we ended up here soon after she left."

"Why do you think we have no mental communication with Earth?" asked Harry. "It's because we have jumped into our own future. I truly believe that, if we were on the same timeline, we would still have mental communication with Earth, regardless of the distance."

"I just hope we don't have any troubles with their fringe elements that are against any technology," said Katherine Black worriedly. "We have enough trouble fighting the planet and thread without having to fight humans again!"

"After Ronan was able to grab up a quantity of frozen Thread and analyze it, I was able to come up with a warding scheme that will destroy it if it falls in a protected area," said Draco. "It would be nice if our dragons could have that kind of protection."

"Why not?" asked Harry. "How do you get the protection?"

"I have developed a spell and a rune based on that spell," replied Draco, "but we aren't all magic users, so we can't use it."

"What if the rune were to be carved into a dragon's scale?" asked Harry. "Then all dragons would have the same protection whether their riders were magical or non-magical."

"It requires a magic accumulator to work though," explained Draco despondently. "Without an accumulator, the spell would only destroy a single thread attack. Kind of useless if you're in a whole bunch of thread."

"Couldn't a magic accumulator be tied into a dragon's innate magical power?" asked Harry excitedly. "Or a small accumulator could be attached to the dragon, allowing the spell to work for a reasonable amount of time before requiring a recharge. If we could do that for every dragon, I would jump at the chance for the extra protection!"

"Let me look into it," said Draco hopefully. "I call the spell 'Protego Thread'. It's a combination of Protego, Wingardium Leviosa, and Incendio spells. The Incendio only kicks in if it detects thread specifically."

"Please get back to me as soon as you find out. This could make the difference between life and death for our riders."

"Will do, Harry."

The discussion lasted for several hours, and there still seemed more to be discussed when Harry finally called a dinner break.

Pern, Aug 4, 2011...
Harry and Chekiath were in the middle of a huge savannah-like plain where Miststar had assured him they would be able to lure the rest of the Cheetahs to be trapped and freed of their fleas. It was going to be a long campaign and Harry decided to just erect a temporary, single dragon weyr using an old space enhanced aluminum shed with Draco's ward runes etched into it for protection against possible threadfall.

The nights were getting a little cold, so Harry had all the doors closed, not only against possible thread, though none was supposed to fall in this area for several more weeks, but against the chance that one of the infested Cheetahs might sneak in past the Dragonriders standing guard to stun and capture them. Harry had been up for almost 26 hours straight now and just wanted to try to get some sleep before again trying to lure in more of the big cats. He had found that with his ability to communicate with the cats came to an equal ability to call individual cats or groups to the area.

Harry settled down, cradled in Chekiath's paws, and finally drifted off to a night of restless sleep.

He had no idea how much time had passed but suddenly he felt like someone was choking him and somehow knew the only way to escape was to use a particularly aggressive spell. "Incendio!" shouted Harry in his sleep.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that blew the aluminum shed apart and a dazed Harry landed, totally hairless on any of his exposed body, over 30 feet away. "Harry!" sent a mortified Chekiath. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," sent a barely conscious Harry, just before he passed out completely.

Spath's Weyr, Hospital-Level, August 6, 2011...
"May, Harry is starting to wake up!" sent an anxious Chekiath.

"I'm coming, Cheki," sent May.

Harry slowly became aware of his surroundings. He was in a strange dragon apartment with Chekiath curled up nearby looking at him anxiously, his eyes twirling dark black with streaks of yellow.

"What happened, where are we?" asked a groggy Harry.

"What happened was that you somehow managed to ignite a dragon fart," explained May. "Chekiath wasn't even singed," she added with a definite hint of aggravation in her voice.

"Where you are is in the first patient room off ER2," Hermione said. "You arrived here unconscious with 3rd degree burns over every exposed area of your body with not a hair anywhere to be found, as it all burned off. Doctor Sheppard treated you for the burns, cuts, bruises, and even a broken toe!

"When he realized what had happened, Chekiath immediately announced to every dragon on the planet that 'Dragon farts are NOT funny!' You have become the absolute hero of every Dragonrider on Pern and soon on Earth!" she said with a laugh.

"Oh, no," groaned Harry. He just knew Sirius would never let this die. "Hermione, please ask Ronan to pass on to the Goblins that we desperately need not only ventilation but a separate exhaust system for every dragon apartment which will draw off any gas generated to a safe area where it can either be vented safely to the atmosphere or ignited to get rid of it."

"Will do, Harry," chuckled Hermione.

"Right now you need to get some rest," said May. "You've been down checked for flight until you heal completely. That's at least for the next two weeks, given how fast you heal! Doctor Sheppard will make a further determination then. Here, drink this potion. It will ease your pain and help you to sleep."

"Fine," muttered Harry as he drank the bad-tasting concoction. He finally drifted off to the soft murmurs of his wives.

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