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

19. Chapter 19: Death, Life, and Other Impro

Chapter 19: Death, Life, and Other Improvements
Keroon Hold, Nov 26, 2029...
Lord Holder Binint was dead at the age of 51, which was a ripe old age for a Pern native.

Over the year after his virtual imprisonment, Lord Holder Binint had slowly come to regret his actions towards his people. He eventually learned that, if he was polite, the various Dragonriders assigned as his caretaker would join him for meals and eventually in discussions and games of chess that helped pass the time. When he had his first heart attack about nine months after his imposed imprisonment, one of the Weyr's doctors was there in seconds and helped him survive. After that, he spent most of his time in bed with others nearby, if needed to help with his care. Even then, no one would talk to him unless he was polite. He was being forced to learn consideration, though, for him, it was too little, too late. When he died, Lady Cilli was informed and almost all of her original Holders chose to follow her back to Keroon.

Lady Cilli didn't want a big fuss made about a funeral for her husband, there were too many people who hated him and not enough who could even stand to be in the same room with him. He was interned in his family mausoleum by some of the Dragonriders who had helped take care of him at the end. Some of them had come to grudgingly respect the old man, so they held a small service just outside the grave and closed the door. They felt that no one should be laid to rest without at least someone feeling they might be missed.

Sakushima Hold Pier, Dec 1, 2029...
Harry, Isikara, Kunie, Christopher, and Britta walked slowly out to the end of the Sakushima Pier, discussing some of the things they would be able to do for the Dolphins.

"The bottom of our Weyr is almost at sea level and we aren't really using it yet," said Isikara. "We could easily excavate another 20 ft. and then ask the Goblins to create a rock-lined channel to the open sea. Once connected to the sea, there would be roughly 10 feet of water in the bottom of the Weyr, depending upon the tide, and we could even create a sea-level entrance for anyone not able to hold their breath long enough to get in via the channel. It would be simple enough to dig a trench and then drop a pre-contoured stone block in place so the sand doesn't fill it in again.

"If we need more space later, we can always add another level on top of our existing Weyr."

"You have us at a disadvantage there," said Christopher. "We only have one level and it's nowhere near sea level."

"Would there be some way we could enter from the land side to talk with the Dolphins?" asked Britta. "I would like to be able to interact with them a little closer without having to worry about the local weather."

"We could always construct a pavilion at the end of the pier for that," said Christopher. "I thought the idea of a Dolphin Hold was so they could have a place of privacy to interact with 'their' humans."

"You're right," said Britta, disappointedly, "The Pavilion is a good idea, I just wanted to be able to study the Pern Dolphins a little closer."

"Well, we have all sorts of non-riders in our Weyr," said Kunie. "Perhaps the Dolphineers will allow you to visit."

"All I can do is ask," said Britta, hopefully. "If I don't ask, I don't give them the chance to say 'yes'."

As they approached the end of the pier, they could see Ivar removing a bloodfish from a young dolphin who didn't have a dragon amulet yet while Kristine was nearby talking to the young dolphin's mother. After Ivar finished treating his young charge and attaching a self-activating Protego Defens charm, the young dolphin and his mother happily swam off. Kristine and Ivar then climbed up to the end of the pier, warm and dry inside their new Dolphineer Suits that Harry had provided.

The adults sat on benches at the end of the pier while the younger people … and Harry, sat on the end of the pier. Harry told the two new Dolphineers what had been discussed so far so they could let the Tillek know.

"I think the Hold at the bottom of the Weyr is a good idea, especially if some dragon apartments could be added. None of us have any long-range telepathic abilities and it would be a big help if some dragons could be persuaded to help us. In case of an emergency, they would be able to call for reinforcements faster than a dolphin could swim for help.

"I think we should also have several smaller Holds placed along the shores in strategic locations around Pern. Dolphins have spread all across the Seas and Oceans, and we need to provide places they know they can go to find help or just be safe."

"I see no problem with creating extra Dolphin Holds," said Harry. "but think we need to have Dolphineers to man them before we create places for them. If there is not a constant presence in the Hold, other, probably inimical life may decide they want to move into a welcoming, empty nest site.

"In the meantime, I will have all our Dragonriders start passing the word that you are recruiting to expand your ranks. Will you be able to accommodate any potential candidates if they all come here, Christopher?"

"We will make sure we do," said Britta, emphatically. "The Dolphins of Pern have been without help for way too long. We owe it to them to do whatever we can to correct that oversight."

"What she said, I guess," said a bemused Christopher, as he smiled lovingly at his enthusiastic, scientist wife. "We could also make a diving platform to lower over the side of our freighter, the SPS Far Horizons. Then we could help any dolphins, even in mid-ocean, if they can get our attention."

"I think a small ship's bell, mounted along one side of the ship with a long rope hanging within 10 ft of the water would solve that problem," said Kristine. "A dolphin could easily jump up to tug on the rope to let you know it was there."

"That should work if they aren't too injured to jump and are alone, but it's a start," said Christopher. "I'm sure we will find new problems and their solutions as we continue to work with dolphins."

The SPS Far Horizons:
The first all-steel vessel of the Southern Pern 'Navy' was an old freighter. It was a joint purchase between The Weyrleader and the Lord Holder of Sakushima Hold, Christopher Dalsgaard. An extra heavy-duty double hoist was installed against the possibility of a future addition to the fleet of a DSEV (Deep Submergence Exploration Vehicle). It was launched on Pern's Southern Sea on January 20, 2017.

After the discovery of Intelligent Dolphins on Pern, a floating diving platform was built by the RTL and maintained on the Far Horizons. If they were approached by dolphins in need while at sea, they only needed to lower the platform into the water to be able to easily interact with the dolphins. The platform included a metal mesh 'trough' that allowed dolphins to remain in the water but provided footing for humans to attend to them.

Over the years since the discovery of Intelligent Dolphins, many changes and improvements have been made to the platform, but its basic shape and usage remain very similar to the original platform.

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

Spath's Weyr, Hatching Grounds, Feb 15, 2030...
Harry was very relieved after today's hatching. They had 80 new Dragonriders, but just as important, they had 60 new unbonded dragons. They now had a total of 9,720 bonded dragons and 7,080 unbonded.

Evidently, his efforts to make the unbonded dragons feel useful and have them make friends with human families were working. They now felt enough of a part of the new order that they didn't feel the lack of a rider to be quite as stressful as it once had been. There were still a few unbonded hatchings where the hatchling indicated that his or her rider was "in that direction". When that happened, they would send a team out with one dragon carrying the hatchling. They would fly in the direction the small dragon indicated until the direction changed. Then they would backtrack, land, and start looking for the new rider. It was happening less and less now, but no new hatchling had died because of the lack of a rider.

Now if he could just convince the bonded dragons not to immediately go Between if their bonded partner died, he would be at least partially content. So far none of his riders or bonded dragons had died since they'd come to Pern. It was too quiet and he dreaded what was going to happen the next time he lost a dragon or rider.

Spath's Weyr, Children's Day, Mar 10, 2030...
It was Tegan's 10th birthday, thus it was Children's day again. This year Hermione had decided she would coordinate some age-appropriate activities for the children so there wasn't quite as much chaos in the Weyr as there had been in the past. She had organized several areas such that the activities in one area wouldn't detract from the activities in another. Harry had even extended an invitation to the Weyr and Hold children and their parents or guardians. He had explained it to the Pernese as like a Gather but especially for children.

A Flight of 12 unbonded dragons had found they enjoyed reading stories to small children and had developed different 'voices' they could each use to portray the different characters in a story. Some house-elves had volunteered to help keep the children supplied with anything they wanted while they were in the 'audience', but the dragons had them all so enthralled that there was nary a peep out of them during the reading of a story. It seemed that those up to about 12 years of age, along with a smattering of older children really enjoyed the dragons' renditions so much they kept them busy the entire day.

What was even more telling was the fact that many of the Pern children were even more captivated than the children of the Earth immigrants. Evidently, they had never thought to read stories using different 'voices '. The fact that the storytellers weren't reading out loud, but into their minds was also a part of the novelty. Hermione had set them up in a large open, carpeted room filled with comfortable sofas, throw cushions and blankets. It was away from the main cavern where most of the other activities were taking place, and she had cast a sound-deadening charm on the entrance so any external noise wouldn't bother them. One of the last things she had done was place signs around the cavern pointing the way to the "Dragon Bards". MasterHarper Torg had several of his Journeymen recording as much as they were able to see if there was anything they would be able to use.

The Laser Tag Emporium was proving very popular with children from the ages of around 11 through 18. Harry had agreed to pay all fees for the day but insisted that each group had to have a safety presentation before they were allowed to enter. Their hands were stamped once they had been through the presentation once, so they weren't required to go through it again if they wanted to play in different groups. The proprietor did his best to make sure that each group that entered was of generally the same experience level. It isn't much fun, after all, to be constantly losing to someone older and more experienced.

They had even tried to recreate a small part of an amusement park they had seen on Earth. Ronan had gotten involved when Harry had sent a group of glamoured goblins to see him. He had shown them videos of different amusement parks, so they had an idea of what was involved. The goblins then altered one of their carts to act like a roller coaster. It ran up, down, and around the main cavern on tracks specially placed for maximum advantage. There was even a corkscrew loop and a drop that look like it would end up in the lake. Though the basic structure looked quite flimsy and ready to fall down at any moment, everything was firmly fixed in place using goblin magic, and cushioning charms had been strategically added to make sure there were no accidents to detract from the festivities. Near the entrance to the goblin roller coaster, were several other similar rides: bumper cars, merry-go-rounds, a Ferris wheel, and others. There was even a small section containing games of skill but, unlike their Earth counterparts, these games were designed to be possible to win.

Colorful food stalls were set up in strategic locations offering specific items, such as ice cream, or cotton candy. If anyone wanted something different, they could still go to any one of the kitchens.

Master Harper Torg, who had been Master Zechun's second-in-command and had wanted to continue in that position rather than be the MasterHarper, had been the official escort for the children from the Weyrs and Holds, though quite a few parents and Journeyman Harpers came along to 'help supervise'.

As Harry started his morning perimeter walk around the main cavern, Master Torg started walking with him. Harry slowed enough that the elderly Pern Harper could keep up.

"Weyrleader, quite an impressive Gather you have here!" exclaimed Torg. "That 'roller coaster'? It looked quite scary, seeing and hearing some of the riders on it!"

"Yes, it does," agreed Harry, with a smile. "The goblins who put it up are thinking of calling it 'Dragon Flight' after seeing Cheki and me fly around the outside of the Weyr."

"That seems appropriate. I even noticed that, for all the screaming, most of the riders were reluctant to get off and many would even circle around to rejoin the end of the line to ride it again."

"It seems to be the most thrilling adventure many of our children have had access to. For that, I'm very happy, given some of the inimical life forms they could run into on Pern."

"True," agreed Torg, sadly. "Some of the apprentices we brought with us even seemed to enjoy it."

"You might tell some of your more adventurous ones about the Laser Tag Emporium. It provides a safe way to 'play' at combat with their equals. Warn them they won't stand a chance against the centaurs though. Now, if you will excuse me, I must finish my walk within a specific length of time and there are others ahead who wish to have a word."

Harry sped up to his normal pace as a woman moved out from a shop front to start walking with him. Amazed, Torg looked at the energetic Weyrleader, conducting Weyr business in a manner which assured anyone approaching him would be forced to concentrate on presenting their case in the shortest time possible and must be as convincing as they could during that short time. Even now, he could see the first woman slowly walk back to her shop as a man started walking with the Weyrleader.

The Southern Sea, Northeast of Sakushima Weyr...
It was dark, at least three hours before dawn, but they were expecting threadfall over the ocean north of the Weyr, so Division 1, Wing 2 was on duty to be the first to call the alarm if it looked like thread would fall over any land areas. Fortunately, the falling thread glowed slightly into the infrared, so showed up clearly in their HUD display.

Suddenly, bright streaks of yellow and purple appeared mixed in with the falling thread. The HUDs were initially overcome by the brightness of the streaks and went to full black for an instant and then stabilized so the streaks weren't as bright. Lakoshi, Wing Second for Wing 2, quickly raised her visor to watch with her naked eye. She didn't know what she was seeing but knew that her memories could be extracted for viewing by others and they might be able to determine what was being seen if she watched carefully enough. She sent word through her dragon, Hedeirth, for a few others in her wing to do the same, since the streaks were very prominent in the dark sky.

She didn't know what they were, but she was definitely glad they weren't up there fighting thread. It didn't feel right on so many levels. It wasn't until several days later that they would learn how fortunate they were. The yellow streaks were iron meteors and the purple were mainly calcium meteors. They might have been safe behind their dragons' wards, but the number of meteors present would have quickly overcome the protection and they would have been vulnerable. At a hastily called Wingleader's Meeting at Spath's Weyr, it was decided to ask their astronomers to try to predict when meteors might be mixed in with threadfall and their initial attack would begin outside Pern's atmosphere to try to get rid of the meteor threat first.

After their first attempt, they also found that it eliminated a lot of the thread problem as well.

Spath's Weyr, Kitchen 0R...
"Weyrleader, you're a hard man to tie down!" exclaimed Master Trader Bermorg, as he approached Harry at breakfast. "Mind if we join you and discuss a little business?"

"Have a seat, Bermorg. You and your wife look much more relaxed since we first met. You must have found Weyr life agreeable."

"Weyr life is too easy. We long for a return to the trade route but still need to find something that Northern Pern can use to trade equitably with Southern Pern. I quickly came to realize you are subsidizing the Northern Holds and Weyrs, but I hadn't been able to determine by exactly how much until recently. You have been subsidizing Pern trade by over half!"

Harry knew it was more than that, but chose to allow the error to go by. "Do you have a possible solution, then?"

"We cannot travel well by wagon across much of the Southern continent. I was wondering if it would be possible to arrange some sort of dragon transport to enable us to find possible new venues for trade with the north."

"Are you asking for just you or for your entire clan?"

"I would want to take my wife and one or two others at a bare minimum, but if I could safely take everyone, that would be ideal."

"How many in your Clan?"

"Including young children, there are 32 of us," replied Bermorg, hopefully.

"Wouldn't it be more beneficial to the speed of your exploration if you could leave the very young behind here with a few adults for proper supervision? If you did that, the young could remain in school and you wouldn't have to worry about them while exploring."

"True," said Bermorg, thoughtfully. "We have 16 young children and babies. If we left six adults behind, nursing mothers and a couple of men, we would still have ten who could explore."

"Would you want to remain together at all times or would you want to split up and explore in different areas?"

"We might want to occasionally split up for short periods of time, but not for very long or very far."

"Would you be all in the same area at night, when sleeping?"

"Oh yes, I don't plan on us having to go that far away from each other."

"In that case, I would like to suggest you make use of our Tour Egg. It will easily handle 22 passengers or ten passengers with extra camping gear. I can ask a Flight of twelve unbonded dragons to accompany you not only to carry the Egg but to act as security and I can ask for a Unit of two Dragonriders to go along to act as Flight Control and Communications so you can get word back to us or from us at any time. Would that suit your needs?"

"That would suit, but what will it cost?"

"I consider it an investment into the Pern economy, so it won't cost you anything," Harry replied. "We will send a magical tent for you to sleep in. It is larger on the inside than the outside, so there will be plenty of room, but you can also sleep in the Tour Egg if you wanted to. At least one of the Dragonriders will be magical, so they will be able to handle some things that you ordinarily wouldn't be able to."

"That's very generous, Weyrleader," replied the stunned Master Trader. "How long will it take to get all this ready?"

"Cheki tells me that the Egg is ready now, the Wing of unbonded dragons should be here shortly, and we can get two volunteer Dragonriders probably before noon. Will that be soon enough for you?"

"Probably too soon," said Bermorg. "I don't think we will be ready before tomorrow morning!"

"Were you ever assigned a house-elf to help you get settled?"

"Yes, Deesey has been most helpful and she is a delight with the children."

"Just let her know when you are ready to leave and she can lead you to the Egg and let everyone else know you are ready to leave. Where do you plan to start looking?"

"I was planning to just slowly go west from here and look for likely places, hopefully along the shore or along major rivers where Pern sailing vessels could land. I know you are hoping to generate more trade in Pern medicinal plants. If we find any useful areas, how will we work out a deal?"

"We basically control the entire Southern continent now," said Harry, thoughtfully. "If you find a large enough area that contains useful plants, try to write up an accurate description of the location and I will set a nominal 'rental' fee for the area. I would recommend you pay that and then charge any Pern harvesters a usage fee to harvest the plants.

"An ideal location would be somewhere close to a Weyr where any workers could be guaranteed Weyr protection during threadfall. If it's any distance away from such protection, we can always create a local minor Hold for their use while they are there. We can discuss that further after you've had a chance to explore if you like."

"What were you thinking of as a 'nominal' fee?"

"Oh, nothing major, perhaps a galleon for 100 years as long as all usage was for the ultimate benefit of all Pern."

"That would certainly be 'nominal'!"

"Well, I will leave you to it," said Harry. "I need to get my day started."

"Thank you very much, Weyrleader. You have been most helpful. I hope your day goes smoothly."

"You're quite welcome, Master Trader. I hope your exploration is fruitful."

With that, Harry rose, took his tray to the drop-off point, and continued his daily routine.

North York Moors, UK, Earth...
Their second game of the season against the Falmouth Falcons had just ended and Ron Weasley was ecstatic. His new strategies were proving overwhelming for their opponents. They had been well ahead in points when the Chudley Cannons Seeker had managed to capture the Golden Snitch. 250 to 30 was a score to be proud of, especially against the Falcons who had several times made it to the World Cup playoffs. If things continued to go this well, he would have to talk to his players and get them to hold back and allow the opposing team a few more goals. The fans would be more appreciative if the game lasted longer and didn't appear to be so one-sided.

If he played his cards right, they might even get into the World Cup this year. His head coach was considering retirement and that would mean Ron could move up to the Head Coach position. He had some definite plans for the future of 'his' team if he took over as Head Coach.

South of Sakushima Weyr, Apr 9, 2030...
They had been carefully exploring every possible location they came upon. Several minor possibilities had already been marked on their maps, but nothing, so far, that would warrant a major undertaking that could help bring the Northern Pernese to become equal trading partners with their affluent neighbors on the Southern continent. He was so happy that The Weyrleader had agreed early on that any and all income from Pern medicinal plants were to be accrued to Pern accounts only. It was as if he knew that was one of the only ways to achieve equity between the two groups.

So far they had only found smallish patches of plants. Aconite (the root of the plant used in a powder to form a pain reliever, but could be deadly in too large a dose), Adonis (also used for pain relief), Aloe, Coriander (a diaphoretic), Featherfern (used in a tonic to relieve fevers), Lavender, Needlethorn (but the new immigrants had much better, stainless steel needles that could be sterilized and reused), Rosemary, Sticklebush, Tarragon, Witch Hazel, and Yarrow. They had even found fairly large groves of Fellis and Willow trees, which were carefully marked as distinct possibilities.

They had just crossed the coastline and were currently flying slowly over a large plain covered with almost solid green from the plants growing there.

"Can you go slower and get us closer to the ground, so I can have a better look?" asked Bermorg.

As they got closer, Bermorg got more and more excited. He looked at his wife who smiled back at him.

"Yes, it does look like Numbweed. It looks like the fields of it stretch for miles!" she exclaimed. "And the leaves are so large and lush, it's easy to recognize even from so high up."

"Tony, would you mind asking some of our escorts to carefully map out this entire area with plants similar to those below? Then find us a place to land, somewhere along that river we saw earlier to the west of us."

"Sure thing, Bermorg!" responded Tony cheerfully. He was a relatively new Dragonrider, bonded to Giozirth, the son of Christopher and Britta Dalsgaard, the Lord and Lady Holders of Sakushima Hold. He had asked to be assigned to Spath's Weyr though, because his new girlfriend, Libby Roberts, rider of Lorarth, also a new Dragonrider and a witch, was assigned there. They were both happy to join this expedition because it could help Pern and so they had more of a chance to be together.

His parent kept pestering him to move to Sakushima Weyr so they could have more time together. He was their only child, born shortly before they left Earth and when they had thought they were too old. He supposed he would eventually request a transfer, but was enjoying his newfound independence too much right now.

Tony passed the word about the survey to the unbonded dragons. 'Giozirth, would you please increase our altitude enough to see the river to the west of us clearly. We need to find a place clear enough to make camp.'

'Of course, Tony,' said Giozirth, lovingly to his wonderful rider. They rose to about 500 ft. AGL (Above Ground Level) and then flew straight to a large clearing next to a small lake formed in the river.

As they set down, Bermorg looked around and said, "This looks perfect for us to survey the quality of the plants. I will need to personally explore up the river towards the ocean to verify if it's easily accessible to Pern sailing craft."

"I will call Nekenth for you and then Giozirth and I will accompany you while Libby and Lorarth make sure your group here are safe."

Giozirth hopped down from the top of the Tour Egg, giving Lorarth just enough room to curl up on top. It gave her enough height to be able to oversee her immediate surroundings and two unbonded dragons flying patrol nearby gave her an extended view of the area.

Nekenth landed near the Egg and Bermorg walked up to the dragon and scratched its eye ridges. "Thank you for agreeing to help us, Nekenth. We could not have been able to do this without your help and the help of your flight."

'It is our pleasure to help, Trader Bermorg.'

Bermorg carefully mounted Nekenth and the two dragons jumped into the air and slowly started upriver towards the sea. About 20 miles from where they had landed The Tour Egg, they came upon a big lagoon, protected from the sea by a series of coral islands with enough openings to enable the smaller Pern sailing craft easy entry. The only problem was that the river was too shallow to allow further travel upstream.

They tested the river water at various places along the way back and then tested the lake water. It was all brackish, meaning that at times the tides pushed water back along the river into the lake. There evidently wasn't enough land height to keep the saltwater out.

"That's two problems we will have to overcome," murmured Bermorg to himself.

By the time he returned, his wife had a report on the numbweed. "It's the best quality I've ever seen!" she said, excitedly. "I don't care how much work it will take, we must be able to harvest this vast resource. It will make us equal trading partners with the new Weyrs and Holds."

"Excellent," said Bermorg. "Let's write up a report for the Weyrleader and ask him if he has any suggestions on how best we can develop the area to make it easier for Pern workers to harvest and process the plants."

The final survey showed that the numbweed plain stretched almost 200 miles south of Sakushima Weyr, taking up most of the peninsula the Weyr was located on. The first thing The Weyrleader set in motion was the digging out of a 20 ft deep channel from Numbweed Lake to the lagoon. The next thing was to create a minor Hold at their original landing point as a central location where workers could live and store their product for trans-shipment elsewhere. Since the processing caused such a stink, special clothing was created which covered and protected the workers. They had airtight hoods they could wear that had air cylinders attached allowing three hours of uninterrupted work before they had to take a break and change out the cylinders. Both the Hold and each cylinder had Protego Thread runes engraved on them. This would give extra protection in case of unexpected threadfall.

The third, and biggest project by far, was to create a series of dams far downriver that would eventually create a much deeper lake north of the Western Barrier Range. The lake was originally about 90 miles long and less than 50 miles wide. And the land was so flat in that area, it only dropped about 100 ft. from the lake to the sea and most of that drop was before a large marsh on the southern end of the numbweed plain. After the huge granite blocks of the dam were installed and the carefully calibrated spillways installed, the lake grew to over 200 miles long and 75 miles wide. The extra 100 ft. height allowed the one spillway leading to the numbweed plain to run faster with more water. This had the benefit of changing the lake from brackish to fresh and a special lock system in the middle of the Numbweed Channel kept the saltwater out of the lake.

The fourth improvement made was the creation of special Hot Rock powered ovens set up distributed equally across the entire area. The rocks were heated so that water would quickly come to a boil to process the numbweed on site before taking the result back to the hold for storage. This kept most of the smell away from the living quarters which made the workers especially appreciative. After the numbweed was boiled down, the residue was carted off to the marsh and dumped there in an effort to slowly raise the land and make it capable of supporting more numbweed. Hermione was initially against this until a special survey showed that nothing lived there that didn't live elsewhere on Pern in excess.

The last improvement consisted of a series of wide-gauge tracks and burdenbeast drawn carts to help transport more product back to the hold at once and to transport the residue away to the marsh area.

It would take a year of hard work on the Pernese part, but they would eventually earn their place in the planet's financial arena. The numbweed extract proved especially popular on Earth, where most of it was exported to different medical companies for further processing into new, very popular and effective medicines.

Master Trader Bermorg had finally found what Harry had been hoping he would, the means for the Pernese to grow financially independent.

Sakushima Weyr, Apr 20, 2030...
Yuko Isikara stood at the bottom of a 50 ft. deep pit with a steep rock wall on the seaward side with a currently dry channel at the top. The rest of the pit had gently sloping sides that led up to an almost circular beach which was actually a sand-covered ledge, designed to always be above the high tide mark. There were sixty Dragon apartments embedded into the rock walls. Half of them had been space enhanced for double occupancy and one, nearest the channel at the top of the rock wall behind him, had been set up as a human barracks capable of holding 100 Dolphineers in single and double rooms. The Wing of unbonded dragons had already moved in and were all watching the proceedings curiously.

Yuko quickly walked up the slope to the top and called out to his wife, Kunie, "OK, open the sluiceway, just a crack."

She complied and a slow trickle of filtered seawater started to flow down the bottom of the channel and collect in the bottom of the pit where he had been standing a short time ago.

"A little bit more," he called. The trickle of water slowly grew to a steady, but small stream and the water level in the pit started to slowly climb the slope towards the high watermark.

"More!"

Now the small stream became a much larger stream, actually leaping out of the channel to arch into the pit which was rapidly filling. It was about one-quarter full already.

"OK, lock it off there for now." At the current rate, the pit should be completely full in about three hours. It would hold thousands of gallons of water and had a goblin-designed rune on the bottom designed to draw the old water down and expel it back into the sea, far enough down current from the entrance to ensure the contents of the growing pool would always remain freshly-oxygenated seawater. They were hoping to start a fish farm to help feed the Dolphins with possibly some leftover for the Dolphineers and the rest of the Weyr.

Near the seaward channel, between there and the human barracks, was a Dolphin aid station. It was protected from the weather to protect the equipment inside. It contained a raised table that could be lowered to allow a Dolphin to swim onto it and then raised to a comfortable height for humans to work at while retaining enough water to keep the dolphin comfortable. It was a Dolphin operating table where Dolphins could have surgical procedures performed if necessary. The table was based on the tables originally installed at Spath's Weyr. The one at Sakushima Weyr would now be the primary such table due to the convenience for the Dolphins. There was a large, shallow tank nearby where recovering patients could rest while being carefully monitored. It had pipes in the walls that allowed clear seawater to enter and flow around the tank until it overflowed near the main pit.

"How is the magical filter holding out at the end of the channel, Kunie?"

"Some debris is collecting but is then being ported out to the beach as planned. Looks like it's working as I'd hoped. A small fish just passed through, so it's not blocking anything alive."

"Good, why don't we go get lunch? By the time we get back, we should be almost ready to open the sluiceway door all the way and lock it off so our Dolphin residents can be allowed free access to their new home."

Two hours later, they returned, having been delayed due to some urgent Weyr business. The pit was about two-thirds filled. "Raise the gate a little more, Kunie. I don't think the increased flow will hurt anything."

The flow into the mighty basin increased markedly. Yuko watched as the water quickly inched up the sloping sides of the pit. "More."

Now the water wasn't inching up anymore, it was rapidly flowing up the sides. Soon it reached and passed the low tide mark. "OK. Open the gate all the way and lock it off."

There was a sudden rush of water from the sea outside to finally fill the Dolphins' new home. The level stopped shy of the high tide mark as expected and the pool was clear and sediment-free. Filled with water, the bottom didn't seem as deep as he knew it was. The light-colored rock they had chosen to line the pool with helped to show up anything that might be in the water and underwater lights around the edges would help highlight anything swimming there.

Just then a large blue-grey form came rocketing through the sea channel with a human form holding onto its dorsal fin. The Tillek was the first dolphin to enter and she had brought one of her favorite Dolphineers with her, Kristine. Ivar followed shortly after holding on to Oregon. Soon there was a small pod of 20 dolphins swimming around in the deep pool, jumping into the air and generally enjoying themselves.

Almost 15 years after it was first constructed, the bottom level of Sakushima Weyr was converted to house Dolphins, their human Dolphineers, and a Wing of unbonded dragons assigned to work with them. A few years later, another level was added to the top of the Weyr to replace the space lost to the Dolphins on the bottom level. Since the Weyr had an interior area a mile across, the pool now at the bottom was actually a small indoor lake, suitable for the comfortable residence of hundreds of dolphins. It was equipped with an emergency Dolphin Operating and Aid station, barracks for 100 Dolphineers, and Dragon Apartments capable of holding a full Wing of unbonded dragons. There was a Dolphin Bell located at the end of a short pier near the Weyr end of the sea channel. If anyone, dolphin or human needed the other they only needed to ring the bell.

Since the Weyr had now essentially lost their bowl, a huge ledge was installed under what would have been their old second level. It only jutted out from the wall for 500 ft, leaving a huge opening overlooking the new Dolphin pool. There were magical wards protecting the edges so no one could accidentally fall in, but they could be overcome easily enough if someone wanted to try to dive into the pool, 300 ft below. Many of the resident dragons took advantage of this feature and would join the dolphins in the water to play. Once, a foolish Dragonrider tried to join them. It was quickly learned that a 300 ft drop into water was not something a human body normally survived.

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

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Inner Office, July 9, 2030...
"Courier!" yelled Jeofrey, as a Dragonrider walked past him carrying the courier pouch.

Harry looked up at his monitor to see who it was, but the rider had his mask closed for some reason. 'Cheki, do you know who this is?'

'I do, Harry, but he asked me not to tell you.'

Harry stood up, slightly apprehensive, as the rider approached. He handed Harry the courier pouch with his left hand and reached out to shake hands with his right. Harry took the pouch and took the offered hand with his right hand. There was something odd about the hand. It looked like normal skin but almost like a girl's hand because there was no hair. The grip felt a little odd as well. The last two fingers seemed to grip slightly later than the rest of the hand and then gripped slightly tighter.

"Ronan?"

"How did you guess!?" asked Ronan, as he flipped his helmet back to reveal his grinning face.

"The last two fingers on your right hand didn't quite match up to the grip of the rest," replied Harry. "The skin doesn't have any hair either."

"You always were too observant," Ronan complained, laughingly. "They could have inserted artificial hair, but I was too anxious to get back home. I feel we've been gone too long already."

"Well, they seem to have done a good job. The hand feels natural except for the slight delay of the last two fingers. I imagine that will just take practice."

"Yeah, the artificial fingers have extra padding to hide the metallic feel and the glove I wear is a carbon nanotube glove impregnated with flesh-toned pigment to match the rest of my arm. They made it to reach up to my shoulder, so it's almost invisible if I'm wearing any kind of shirt with sleeves. They said they would keep working on the glove with hair and send it on when it's ready."

"Sounds useful, you would have protection on that side because of the glove even if you weren't wearing your Dragon Pendant."

"That's right and I don't feel near as much heat or cold due to the insulating effect of the glove. I even have some feeling in the artificial fingers!"

"That's great! What does Karen think about it?"

"She's beyond happy for me, yet at the same time, it didn't bother her when they were missing. She was just happy I survived the accident."

"That's because she loves you. How is William doing?"

"He's taking a little longer than me, possibly because the prosthesis is larger. And he is having to learn how to walk all over again."

"Any idea when he will be able to come home?"

"I think he had another month of therapy, but I'm not sure."

"Well, he'd better not rush it like you did, I want him fully functional when he returns," Harry said with a smile.

"It's good to be back, Harry. I do need to get back and see what I've missed now, though."

"It's great to have you back, Ronan. Try not to work yourself to death. Spend more time with your family, you've earned it and your staff seems to have everything under control."

"Look who's talking! Do you ever take time off?"

"I do now, I'm grooming Daniel to take over."

"Poor Daniel."

"Yep, and lucky Harry. You take care and I'll see you later."

Harry watched happily as his friend walked confidently out of his office. He looked down at the unread reports on his desk and decided to take some time for himself as well.

"Jeofrey, would you please write a short, concise summary of these remaining reports and the contents of the courier pouch for me? I need to get out of the office for a while."

"Sure thing, Harry. Going flying?"

"Probably … among other things. It all depends upon who's available."

"Have fun," said Jeofrey as Harry strode out of the office.

Spath's Weyr, Harry's Quarters, Wednesday, July 31, 2030, 0800...
His entire family had just left his bedroom after wishing him happy birthday for his 50th. They were gathered in the living room, waiting for him to arrive so he could open his presents and they could have a 'family only' breakfast with him. As he came out of the shower and started getting dressed, Daniel came back into the room.

"Happy Birthday, Dad."

"You just said that, not fifteen minutes ago. Getting forgetful in your old age?"

"No, just following a script. I have to tell you that there will appear to be a terrible disaster in a little over three months and you will be investigating it … as far back in time as you need. You can't tell anyone else about the investigation and you can't tell anyone I was here." With that, Daniel walked out of the room.

Harry pondered his son's odd behavior but decided to keep his council for now. He checked the time, finished getting dressed, and walked out to join his family for his birthday breakfast.

As he walked out into the room, it suddenly struck him how odd a family he had. He knew he loved everyone so much it hurt, he just hoped they continued to realize that as their apparent ages started to diverge. Both Hermione and May were now 51 to his 50. Hermione looked to be about 25 while May looked almost 40 and he looked more like May's older 17-year-old son than her husband. Daniel and Mary were both 24 yet looked more like his younger brother and sister than his oldest children. At least Tegan still looked like the eight-year-old that she was.

Suddenly a small form torpedoed into Harry, almost knocking him to the floor. He reached down and picked up Tegan and looked her in the eye.

"Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

"Thank you, Tegan. Are you ready for some birthday cake and ice cream?"

"I am, but Mummy May says we can't have any until tonight," she said with a small frown.

"Tell you what, I will give you the first piece of cake when it's been cut."

"You will!?" asked Tegan with wide eyes full of love and surprise.

"Of course I will! Even on my birthday, it's important to make sure my baby girl gets the first piece!"

"I'm NOT a baby girl anymore, Daddy! I'm a big girl of 8 years old now! I'll even be in 3rd grade when school starts again."

"Unless we have more children, you will always be our baby," explained Harry carefully, smiling at the small bundle of energy in his arms.

"Can you order more right away, then?"

Harry chuckled at that. Tegan had recently learned that many of the merchandise that came from Earth was ordered from catalogs. She had spied May looking at a catalog filled with children's clothing and immediately assumed they were going to order more children.

"We'll see. Right now, we need to have some breakfast."

Harry set Tegan down on her booster seat between him and May. He immediately had to grab the back of the chair as Tegan stood to get her helping of breakfast. It wasn't often that they ate in their apartment, but when they did, Tegan always insisted she could serve herself … no matter how much of a mess it made. Hermione, Daniel, and Mary, who had come home from Hogwarts for the day, sat opposite.

As they ate, Harry couldn't help but notice that May seemed more withdrawn than surprised.

After breakfast, Hermione took Tegan to school, Daniel went to The Weyrleader's Office to get started on the day's paperwork, and Mary returned to Earth to start her day teaching Charms at Hogwarts. Since they were now alone, Harry cornered May before she could leave for the hospital.

"What's bothering you today, May?"

"Nothing, Harry, I just have an infected dragon I need to check on."

Harry moved to block her exit from the room. "Not so fast. Cheki tells me there aren't any dragons in the hospital right now, so you aren't going to get away with that excuse. Now, what's wrong? I am your bonded mate, so I know when something is bothering you and I want to help, even if all I can do is listen."

Harry was surprised and concerned when May broke down and started sobbing. He reached out and drew her to him to give her as much comfort as he could until she could bring herself to share her misery with him.

Finally, she calmed enough to be able to start letting him know what the problem was. "Oh, Harry, I'm an old woman now and you and Hermione are still so young looking. I'm going to lose your love as I get older and more wrinkled. I was looking in the mirror this morning and found more wrinkles on my face!"

Harry pulled back just enough to look her in the face and carefully studied the beautiful woman he held in his arms. "Sorry, I don't see anything but laugh-lines and we all have those."

May struggled for a moment to get away but finally subsided in his arms. "Harry, I'm getting older much faster than you or Hermione. I'll be a wrinkled old hag while you two still look as young as you ever have. Even now, I look old enough to be your mother rather than only a little over a year older!"

Harry talked with her for another half hour, long enough to calm her down and reassure her of his continuing love. As she walked out the door, he had a sudden epiphany. As they got older, May would become increasingly unsure of his love because of the increasing difference in their appearance. He was going to have to come up with something that would help to hide that difference.

He sat down and immediately started a letter to his old schoolmate:

Lord Neville Longbottom
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

Neville,

As you know, I'm soul bonded to two wonderful women. Unfortunately, I have just been made aware of a problem relating to the fact that one of them, May, is not magical, and she's aging at a greater apparent rate than either Hermione or I.

I am going to start researching a possible solution that would cause the three of us to at least to appear to be much closer to the same apparent age. I need some kind of solution that would make May appear younger while making me appear older. In fact, we should both appear to be nearly the same apparent age as Hermione. My first thought was to use some form of a Disillusionment Charm, but that would not allow for any change in appearance as we get older and will no longer be effective once it becomes known that such a charm is being used.

My second thought was to use some kind of a potion, perhaps based on a polyjuice potion, that could use something from the three of us to cause our apparent ages to become closer. It would have to include a wide variety of healing and curative properties so that May would not still feel old while looking much younger. Whatever is developed should last at least a month, if not longer, before it must be renewed.

If we can come up with a solution, I would be happy to give you all credit for its creation. I'm sure it would be most popular with anyone having a magical to non-magical bonding. I would appreciate any thoughts you and your beautiful wife, Hannah, might have on this subject.

If at all possible, I would like to have this ready to go on or before June 1, 2031, so I can present it to my wives for May's 52nd birthday.

Your friend,

Harry, Lord Potter

He was going to have to create a special spell or potion, just for the three of them. It would basically be a glamor that hid their apparent ages from others as well as the two women. When he finished, the glamor would slowly bring their apparent ages into sync, based upon Hermione's apparent age. She now looked about 25, by this time next year, they would all look about 26 and would continue to age as Hermione aged. That way May would continue to be the loving wife he knew rather than become depressed about her growing age.

He would have to incorporate as many 'cures' into it as he could. It would never do for a young-looking woman to suffer from arthritis or some other old age infirmity. Harry smiled and hoped he could pull this off. If it worked like he hoped, he would quietly offer it to other mixed-magic couples.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Outer Office, Aug 19, 2030...
May and Daniel were seated in the small conference area, watching Hermione arguing with Harry about them becoming joint Heads of the Pern University.

"Harry, we need to maintain positive control over the educational output of our University!"

"I agree, but neither of us can be the Head of the University. We need someone who not only has the credentials but looks old enough to be taken seriously by the students and Faculty. Neither of us has either of those qualities."

Hermione finally stopped arguing and actually thought about what Harry had said. "Then how do we maintain control?"

"Why not set up a School Board of Governors? We could have positive control over curriculum, hiring, scholarships, and facilities while letting someone else have the headache of having to run it all."

"But I want to be able to teach some. I feel like I have so much to offer!"

"And what course would you teach, potions? Herbology? What"

"I was thinking something along the lines of 'Law and Magic' or something similar. How Law affects what magical people should and should not be able to do."

"Then teach! That doesn't mean you have to be in charge of everything. I wouldn't mind teaching a few courses in 'Defense Against the Dark Arts', 'Advanced Runes', or 'Advanced Wards'. I could even teach a basic course in making wands if I had to, but I don't want or need the hassle of running everything myself, and you don't either!"

"Well, we need to find someone to take over. We have classes starting in less than a month and we don't have a Headmaster or Headmistress!"

Just then Jeofrey called out, "Courier!"

The four of them looked up as William Kincaid walked in with a firm stride, his sister behind him.

Harry jumped up and grabbed William's hand with both of his in a heartfelt handshake. "William! You look great. How is the leg?"

"It's wonderful!" exclaimed William. "They gave me two choices: try to get the original leg to work using something called an exoskeleton that would make the leg able to work almost normally or remove the leg and attach a permanent prosthesis that would work better and give me at least as much or more feeling as my old, damaged leg. I chose the second option because my leg constantly hurt. Now I don't feel any pain and I have more positive feelings from the artificial leg they grafted onto the stump than from my original biological limb!

"We stayed with my parents during the last two weeks of physical therapy and they send their grateful thanks for what you've done for me. You can definitely add my thanks to that as well."

"And mine as well," added Connie. "I now have my happy, fun-loving brother back."

"It looks just like a real leg," said Harry, looking at William's left leg.

"That is my real leg," laughed William. "It was my right leg that was damaged. They cut that off just above the knee, then added padding and a special covering to the artificial leg so that it looks almost real, even when I'm not wearing long pants. For a muggle contraption, it's surprisingly comfortable. After we left the clinic for the last time, Connie had the idea of applying a cushioning charm to the area between where my original leg ends and the prosthesis starts, and now it's even more comfortable."

"I'm just happy it turned out so well," said Harry. "I've wanted to do this ever since the attack that caused you so much anguish, but, until recently, there was no way to fix your leg the way it needed to be."

"Don't forget to tell them that you invested in the muggle technology that led to this miracle," interjected Daniel. "If you hadn't, it would have probably been many more decades before it was ready."

"Is that true?" asked William, looking at Harry with even more respect than before.

Harry nodded his head and looked uncomfortably at William before glaring at Daniel for telling his secret. "No one but me was supposed to know about my investments. I felt I owed it to you, Ronan, and anyone else who gets injured as a part of our Nation."

Connie rushed over to Harry, knelt down to his level, and pulled him into a fierce hug while crying happily into his shoulder. "There are no words that can convey our gratitude for what you have helped make possible. It wasn't your fault that William was injured, but you have helped make us all whole again by your actions. In everything you do, you reaffirm your qualifications to be our Weyrleader. It's no wonder that every dragon and rider loves and worships you!"

Harry looked even more embarrassed if that was possible and his wives and son looked on approvingly. Harry was getting a small portion of approval back for all he'd done for them all.

Spath's Weyr, Harry's Quarters, Sept 1, 2030, 0800...
Today was going to be a big day for them. Almost 300 Professors ready and anxious to start teaching had moved into their quarters in the University, 5,000 students had managed to meet the requirements and were even now living in the student quarters … if they weren't already living in Spath's Weyr.

Andrea Ross was having breakfast with them. Once they finished, she would be getting her granddaughter, Tegan, ready for school and then would walk with her to class and return home with her later in the day. It was a real benefit having another grandmother who could help out when needed. Harry, Hermione, and May would be attending the Pern University opening ceremonies starting at 0900. Of course, today of all days, Tegan wanted extra attention rather than trying to get ready for her first day of 3rd grade.

Harry, Hermione, and May, knowing this could happen, had gotten up early and were all ready to go. They had eaten a light meal and then woken Tegan. As she started playing, they played along with her, yet also slowly but surely managed to get her fed, cleaned up, and dressed, ready for school. Once she was ready to go, Andrea took over and started a new 'game' that required them to run around in the Weyr gardens, getting ever closer to the schoolroom.

They had started their day extra early so they could go to Earth and see their youngest children off to Hogwarts. It was their last year and they wanted to savor their children while they could. They had even discussed the possibility of teaching some special classes at Hogwarts again … if they could figure out how to fit them in around their teaching responsibilities here.

As they left, Harry turned to the other two with a satisfied smile on his face and said, "Shall we go?"

Hermione and May both nodded as they moved up on either side of their husband. Harry pulled them close with an arm about each of their waists and disapparated to the Pern University Entrance.

Spath's Weyr, Pern University, 0900...
Since the huge University building was actually inside a cavern, there was no weather to worry about. The large area off to one side of the main entrance had been set up as a group meeting area, similar to the Weyr's Main Conference Room. The biggest difference was that there was room for over 12,000 in the audience, with specific seating along one side adjustable specifically for Centaurs if required.

Up against the building itself was seating for 600 staff positions on a raised platform behind a podium where speakers could address the audience. Harry, Hermione, and May sat in the first of the tiered rows of Faculty seating, right behind the podium where Sir Stanley Scott stood addressing the inaugural class of the Pern University. May had finally helped solve their need for a suitable person to head the University when she suggested that Sir Scott could probably be convinced to take the position if he were told that he could combine the position with teaching some classes about Dragon Physiology. That, coupled with the fact that any of his students would likely jump at the chance to help with his research, had finally clinched the deal.

"Faculty and Students of Pern University," began Sir Scott, "we are gathered here on a very historic occasion. Not only is this a new, unique educational facility, in what it will be teaching, but it is unique in that it is the first advanced educational institute that is located off of planet Earth. No matter what else you do, for the rest of your life, you will be known as the first class to attend Pern University.

"We are unique in one other manner, Most colleges and Universities consider your class year as when you graduate. Since we are new, we decided to consider your class year as when you started. That means that, no matter how long until you graduate, you are all members of the first class, the 'Class of 2030'." He paused for the cheering and applause among the students to die down.

"We are also different from many similar institutes on Earth in that we do not have a school uniform, we do not divide students up among competing 'houses', and we don't care if you are a pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, or a pure muggle student. Everyone, no matter what their background … or species for that matter … are students. You are here to learn, not just the information we are trying to impart, but also learn to get along and cooperate with each other. The only species we have consciously left out are Dragons. If they wish to attend any of our classes, they will have to do so remotely. We just don't have the space for even one to actually attend lectures in person." Again, he waited. This time for the laughter, to subside.

"You may find yourself attending classes with any number of unique and fully qualified individuals here. We accept not only humans, but centaurs, goblins, house-elves, and any other of the intelligent species present on our planet. Some, like the Dragons, cannot attend in person, but they can use our telecommunications connections and satellite campuses to attend lectures and interactively ask questions and interact with not only the faculty but other students as well. With that in mind, if you are taking a course that includes other species, it is in your own self-interest to make sure you do interact with everyone else in your class. Many of the grades revolve around the concept that everyone in the class passes or fails, which we leave up to the students in the class. If there is a Mer signed up for such a class and they are unable to pass because no one would include them in their discussion groups, then everyone fails, not just the Mer.

"We have many distinguished Professors here to teach you and are still looking for more to add to our staff. Right now, we have a student-to-staff ratio of a little over 20 to one. It is our intention to maintain that ratio, even if we have to only accept fractional students. For those magical students wanting to get in, if they can't initially get in, they might try splinching." He paused as the magical students laughed. He was sure the non-magical students would be doing their best to get an explanation later.

"Today, being the very first day our University has been open, we are going to use the entire day to conduct tours of the first floor of the school. All other floors are identical as far as layout, but the contents of the library will differ slightly depending upon what is being taught on that floor. Most muggle studies will be taught on the first two floors as well as elsewhere in the Weyr simply because our non-magical students will find it harder to get around. The higher you go in the building the more specialized the instruction. Anyone trying to disapparate to some of the higher floors will find them impossible to reach without permission, as our most specialized Auror classes are held there.

"All of you already have living quarters, so know your way around the Weyr. All meals are to be taken at any of the 32 kitchens around Level 1 in the main cavern. If you must bring snacks with you, please do not consume them during class and make sure you clean up after yourself, or we will have to prohibit snacks in the future.

"For those of you who don't know me, I am a non-magical holding Doctorates in multiple fields, including Medicine and Physics. I am currently tasked with conducting research into Dragon Physiology and am continuing research, part-time, in the field of human exposure to radiation. Because of this, I will be looking for a few good students to fill a few paid research assistant positions.

"As you all filed in today, you were given a colored card with a number on it. This is how you will identify your faculty tour guide for today's tour. In a moment, they will spread out and hold up placards of different colors with numbers on them. Please go to the Professor whose placard matches your card. We have tried to keep each group homogeneous as far as magical or non-magical, because some of the magical guides will be going up to higher floors to conduct their tour and, if you are non-magical and get separated from the rest of the tour, you will have a long walk back down to the ground floor. In future years, we will be asking previous year's students to take on the role of tour guides, so pay close attention today; you may be called upon to conduct the tour in subsequent years!

"Having said that, let me assure you that we have easier ways to move between floors, but the Turbolifts installed in the University does not work exactly like their counterparts in the rest of the Weyr. Until your guide tells you how the University Turbolifts work, you will be stuck using the stairs if you are non-magical. For our magical students, we allow point-to-point apparation within the University building, but you must be careful as all floors are similar. We have specific Apparation points that specifically identify which floor you are on if you use them. All private quarters and offices are warded against apparation.

"Now I am going to ask the woman responsible for the creation of our University to say a few words before we break up into our Tour Groups. It is with great pleasure that I introduce Professor Hermione Granger, Weyr Law Smith, and one of our Professors teaching our Law and Contracts courses. Without further ado, I give you Professor Hermione Granger."

Hermione walked up to the podium and thanked Doctor Scott for his introduction. She felt odd that she was using her maiden name after all these years, but they had all decided it would be best for the students, as otherwise there would be three Professors Potter. Then she turned to the audience and started.

"Many of you here are magical, so are aware of how most magical schools work. For the benefit of our non-magical students, I would like to explain that almost every major magical school on Earth operates as a boarding school. Students live in the school year-round with breaks during the winter and summer solstices. The classes are structured to take the entire year to teach.

"We will not be using the typical magical school year.

"For those of you who are non-magical, you are familiar with how most of your schools work. For the benefit of our magical students, I will explain that way of dividing up the school year. Each year is divided up into three main parts; two semesters which are considered long enough to teach a specific level of information and a summer session where extra work may be accomplished, including make up work to allow a slow student to graduate on time or extra credit work to allow a fast student to graduate early. Most schools consider 12 to 14 semester hours of instruction to be full time and 6 hours over the summer to be considered a full load.

"This is the way our University will be run; Two semesters and an optional Summer session.

"Our magical students may find the work to be hard initially because you must be really focused in order to get the knowledge. For any one subject, there will be either three-one hour classes or two one and a half hours classes a week. Summer sessions are usually five classes a week, one or more may be more than an hour long depending upon how much material there is to cover.

"In order to do well, it is expected that a successful student will do all required homework and study an additional three to six hours outside of class for every hour they spend in class. That is why each floor has so much space given over to study areas. They are designed to facilitate groups of students gathering to discuss classes and homework.

"Our magical students aren't familiar with the term 'homework' either. Homework refers to school work that is done at home. To understand this, you need to realize that most non-magical, younger students live at home with their parents during the school year and commute between home and school, thus homework is school work done at home. You will be living in the student barracks, so that is your 'home'. However, we realize that some work may be harder for some than for others and peer tutoring is encouraged. That is why we have made the study areas available.

"Many courses are complicated enough that they will have pre-requisites. A class with a pre-requisite means you must take the previously required courses or officially test out of said courses prior to taking the harder course. In almost all cases, you will be required to follow the set order for such courses. It has been set up this way due to the short length of the class semester.

"Anyone with questions about any of this, please either ask your Tour Leader during your tour, ask your Student Advisor when you meet with them, or ask during your first day of classes. The information is important enough that you need to understand it completely.

"Now, I would like to request all our Professors who are Tour Guides to spread out in front of the stage and hold their placards up so their groups can find them. There will be no more than 20 students per group and each Professor knows how many students are supposed to be in his group. Once a group has gathered around their Group Leader, they may depart for their tour."

Hermione stepped down from the platform and joined her fellow teachers in holding up her placard. Hers was Gold in color and had the number 5 on it. She would be the only one with non-magical students mixed in with magical. All the other Law students that her fellow Professors would be showing around were magical. Six of her students were first-year interns with large Earth Law firms that regularly had dealing with the magical world. When they found out Hermione would be teaching these classes, they had immediately jumped at the chance to send some of their new, up-and-coming young lawyers. Their wages, tuition, room and board, and guaranteed promotion to Junior Partner were paid for by their companies in exchange for a five for one agreement. The students agreed to work for their firms for five years for every year they spent in training.

Hermione saw the last of the normal students hurrying up. The magical students had all disapparated directly to her location as soon as they saw her placard matched their cards. The non-magical took a little longer because they had to fight their way through the crowd.

"How many of you do NOT know what apparation is?" asked Hermione. As she suspected, all of the mundane students raised their hands.

"Apparation and disapparation are magical means of moving from one place to another quickly. Just like driving a car, however, there are dangers. If you don't pay attention, you can leave part of your body behind." She waited through the gasps from the muggles and chuckles from the magicals.

"When you leave a part of your body behind, it is called 'splinching' and is not usually fatal. On Earth, there is an entire branch of the Magical Government whose sole job is to match lost body parts to those who have lost them. We don't have that problem here, not only because we stress the proper use of the three D's when disapparating: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation, but we also will send you … and your unattached body part or parts back to Earth to be reattached. If you're lucky, you may be able to return in less than a week. Any longer than that, and you will have missed enough material that you will have to be dropped from classes and hope to be able to return the next time the class is offered. For pre-requisite classes, that may not be until the following year. If you have not completed enough classes to finish at least one course, you will be dis-enrolled and you lose your class standing and will have to be enrolled with the next year's students.

"For the students who come after you, that may not be of any particular significance, but for you, you will lose the renown of being part of the very first class here. Something you might wish to consider if you are in a big hurry. It would be much preferable to be late or even miss a class entirely rather than get dis-enrolled for something that is so easily avoidable. Do I have your agreement?"

She waited while the magical students considered the magnitude of messing up so horribly with something so simple. They all eventually nodded their understanding of her terms.

"Having scared you all silly with my dire warning, I will continue by saying that point-to-point disapparation is allowed within the confines of the University. When you do, you must ALWAYS apparate in one of the approved areas on each floor set aside for such arrivals. You may not apparate directly into a class or study area. I would now ask everyone to grab onto this rope I have brought with me. I am going to use it as a one-time use portkey and take us all to the twelfth floor to the apparation point there."

She waited as everyone grabbed the rope, the muggles a little tentatively, and then she said, "Hold on tight now," before she muttered an incantation and tapped the rope with her finger. All 21 of them disappeared from in front of the University.

Pern University, Floor 12, Apparation point...
They all appeared on the apparation point and the magical students and Hermione immediately stepped out into the adjoining hall. The muggles looked a little bewildered but they too stepped out into the hall when Hermione gestured for them to come out.

She specifically addressed the six muggle students, "Obviously, no one told you of the possible danger of staying in an apparation point. Try to think what would happen if you were taking your time exiting and someone else decided to arrive at that moment. Further, consider what might happen if they just happened to arrive at the exact place you occupied. Two people in the same place at the same time … not a pretty picture."

The muggle students looked slightly sick and the others just rolled their eyes. They knew the layered spells would do their best not to allow such a disaster to happen. Hermione saw their looks, so added, "I know all about the layered spells. Just consider what would happen if so many people tried to use the same point at the same time that the ward was overcome. What would happen then?"

This time there were no eye rolls, just slight paler faces looked back at the apparation point.

"Just a timely reminder that, though you use magic every day, there are always dangers to what you are doing. Now, if you will all follow me into the turbolift, I will explain the differences between this system and the one in the main Weyr."

The students followed Hermione into the Turbolift which was across the hall from the apparation point. After they had all gathered around, Hermione began, "Can anyone tell me how this system is different already?"

"There is no circle of buttons, just a grid of 6 rows and 5 columns with buttons numbered from 1 on the lower left to 30 on the upper right," said one of the students.

"That's right. There are 30 floors in this building and only a single Turbolift on each floor. Therefore, once you arrive on a floor, you will have to walk from there. Are there any other readily apparent differences?"

"There is no 'Port' button or any others, for that matter."

"That's correct. If you press a button, you are immediately taken to the floor corresponding to the button you've pressed."

"What happens if you press more than one at a time?"

"What do you think would happen and do you want to try it out?"

"Well, since pressing a single button would immediately take you to the indicated floor and from your response, I'm thinking it's possible the Turbolift would try to take you to as many floors at the same time as the number of buttons you've pressed. I'm now really worried about using this system if I'm drunk!"

"Actually," said Hermione with an evil-looking gleam in her eye, "that might be an option we could add to a future expansion, but it's not the way this system works. If the magic senses more than a single destination, it immediately takes you to one of the Spath's Weyr, Level 1 Emergency Rooms. The assumption being that you are not in control and may need medical assistance. If you're too drunk to press a single button, then obviously you are in need of a potion to sober you up. From what I understand, it is one of the more foul-tasting concoctions they have. Does anyone notice any other difference?"

Hermione waited while various possible differences were put forward, some valid, others fanciful. Finally, when no one gave her the answer she wanted, she finally relented. "The apparation point corresponds to the Turbolift Arrival Room and it's on the opposite side of the corridor from the Turbolift. Next to the Turbolift is a staircase leading up or down to the floor above or below. The floors here are only 40 ft total, including the ceiling and floor, so using the stairs here is much more practical than in the main Weyr where the same distance is 300 ft.

"Even though we have tried to keep all related classes on the same floor, sometimes you may have to go to a different floor for a specific class. Sometimes it may be faster to take the stairs since there are four stairways while there is only a single Turbolift, located near the front of the building. Someone press 13 and let's continue our tour there."

Someone reached out and pressed the button numbered 13 and they all disappeared from the Turbolift on floor 12.

Pern University, Floor 13, Apparation point...
Hermione led them all out of the apparation point and pointed to the left. "All you can see from here is the University Overlook. The windows here look out the front of the building and to the right, you can see the general assembly area where we all met this morning. It won't be used often but, since there is no weather underground, we will be able to keep everything in good repair for when it's needed.

"To the left is a large open area where school athletic events can take place. There is a large oval track surrounding an area that some of our magical inhabitants are hoping will get turned into a Quidditch pitch." She waited while the enthusiastic magical students made supportive comments, and then continued. "We may have a Quidditch Pitch at some point, but it will never become an official part of our curriculum here at Pern University. I understand that one or more of the courses offered require an increased level of physical fitness. It may be that those students may be required to play a bit, but I doubt it. There are far faster ways to increase physical fitness than Quidditch. In any case, we would never dream of denying our students the use of the Pitch for pick-up games or informal tournaments. If you will now follow me to our next point of interest."

As they walked into the large, open central area with comfortable sofas and chairs scattered about with strategically placed tables suitable for larger study groups Hermione listened with amusement as the magical students tried to explain how Quidditch was played. When they reached approximately the center of the area, Hermione turned to the students following her and signaled them to stop.

"This is the central study lounge. If you look back the way we came, the first room to the right of the corridor leading to the Turbolift is the Library for this floor. Every book required for the courses taught on this floor is available in the Library as well as any that may have even the remotest possibility of being related. Any book may be ordered there and is usually available within a day or two, depending upon how long it takes us to find it. If we have a copy of the book on hand anywhere, it is usually available within minutes. Any books in the Libraries are expected to remain there as research material for others. If you need a book, you are expected to purchase it, but we do not charge the inflated prices most Universities charge. We charge a nominal fee according to the weight of the book. Last I checked, it was a Galleon a pound, so if there are any books you wish to add to your library at home, this is probably as good a place as any to purchase them.

"Around the room, you will see several large doors with 10 additional corridors evenly spaced around this room. The doors lead directly to classrooms and are numbered, starting with 13-01 for the first classroom to the right of the Library on around to 13-20 for the last classroom. Obviously, 13 is the floor number and the rest is the room number. Between classroom 13-20 and the Turbolift corridor is a general use conference room, available for scheduled use by signing up for it in the Library. Students may schedule it to make presentations for their thesis work or Professors may schedule it to bring in people looking to hire future graduates. It may be scheduled in one-hour increments up to a month in advance.

"The 10 corridors lead to the Professor Suites where the resident Professors have their living quarters, offices, private workspaces, and meeting rooms; two suites per corridor. Those areas are protected by anti-apparation wards and may only be entered by express invitation from the Professor living there. Each Professor has his or her own classroom, with a private entrance to their classroom from their quarters. If you are signed up for a specific Professor, you will be scheduled for classes in his classroom.

"We have no detentions, no demerits, and, in general, no punishment for not progressing in your course of study. We consider you all to be adults. As such, we expect you to act like it. If you do not study sufficiently, you will start failing your tests and will most likely not graduate. That should be punishment enough since someone is paying a lot of money for your education; if not you, then someone else you may or may not be responsible to. If you wish to party, we will not stop you, just please do not do so in a manner that will disturb anyone intent on doing their best here. Be aware though that, no matter how much money you may have, if you fail to pass a semester, you will be asked to leave and not return. We want this to be a place of learning, not a place to party. You can do that on your own, anywhere else, at a considerably lesser expense.

"This is basically the end of my tour. Does anyone have any questions?"

"We were told that some of the upper floors would be restricted, yet all 30 buttons appeared to be available in the Turbolift. How do we know if we are allowed on a particular floor or not?"

"If you press a button for a restricted floor and do not have the authorization to go there, nothing will happen. If you try to bypass the authorization, I have been told that the result can be quite painful."

"We have six muggle students who have been following us around. Won't they be at a distinct disadvantage while here?"

"On the contrary," said Hermione with a slight show of irritation, "Each and every one of them is already a lawyer in their own right and are just attending here to gain some specific extra knowledge to allow them to work in both the magical as well as the non-magical world. They have already taken six or more years of college or university classes and are already knowledgeable about much of the information you will be finding yourselves working with. All they need to know is the specific ways that need to change to work within the magical world. You would do well to cultivate their friendship, they might just be that edge that is the difference between a good grade and an outstanding grade. I seriously suggest everyone here cultivate friendships with everyone else. You can never tell when it will help you once you are working in the real world, outside academia."

Most of the magical students looked at the six with renewed interest. And the six non-magical students relaxed, realizing they were going to be treated fairly in a magical environment.

"You said each Professor has quarters and offices located in the building. Where are yours?"

"I may be teaching here, but I have quarters in the main Weyr. I am what we call the Law Smith for the entire Dragon Nation, so live with the rest of The Weyrleader's Staff on Level 20. Many of my assistants will be teaching here and we all will be available for scheduled office hours for extra tutoring or help to determine which courses you should take."

Hermione sat in a comfortable chair surrounded by her students talking for almost an hour before the last question was asked and answered and she could make her way home. All in all, she felt the opening day had gone well.

Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Oct 5, 2030...
Nelke Volkerink, a young 12-year old Dutch girl, living near the outskirts of Apeldoorn had visited the Apenheul Primate Park the previous day with her family. She had spent most of the time searching for butterfly or moth eggs and had finally found something exciting. Under a large green leaf, she had seen a multitude of tiny, rainbow-hued spheres, clustered in clumps under the leaf. She was an amateur Lepidopterist and had decided to combine her hobby with her class project.

She managed to find a leaf that contained a smaller clump and carefully cut it from the bush. She harvested several more branches and leaves without eggs for future food for her charges.

Once she got them home, she took the old 50-gallon tall fish tank she was going to use and carefully deposited everything. She carefully placed a reptile surface heater on the bottom of the aquarium to maintain the temperature so the eggs wouldn't freeze, placed a tight mesh screen on top so her charges couldn't escape, set up a digital camera hooked up to her computer, and set it up as a live view website. The video would comprise her school project and she wanted to get a good grade. She even invited her teacher over at specific times so she could personally verify the fact of the multi-colored eggs.

Then she waited … and waited. A month after her discovery the eggs hatched, watched by thousands of people all over the world. The tiny eggs hatched out into brilliantly colored, fuzzy grubs that slowly crawled all over the carefully harvested leaves and quickly left tiny trails of leaf mesh behind as they gobbled down the plant fiber of the leaves. She had to beg her parents to take her back twice to get more fresh leaves so her grubs would have enough to eat.

By the time they stopped eating, about a week after hatching, each of the almost microscopic grubs had grown to be about an inch in length. There were 20 of them, no two seemed to have the same color combination. By this time several world-renowned biologists had become interested in the webcam site and one had even visited her to verify what he was seeing.

Shortly after the grubs stopped eating, they started spinning cocoons. Each cocoon seemed to be just as brightly colored as the grubs. Fascinated, the world watched and commented on what they were seeing.

Finally, after another month, the cocoons started to move as whatever was inside tried to work its way out. When she saw the first one emerge and spread her wings to dry, Nelke almost screamed in surprise. There, instead of a butterfly was a tiny, perfectly shaped, 3-inch tall woman with rainbow wings and long green hair. Nelke had unknowingly helped the Dumbledore Plan along by revealing Fairies to the non-magical world.

FF_9879605_802250558 Page 25 of 25