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

30. Chapter 30: Redemption

Chapter 30: Redemption
Spath's Weyr, Dragon's Mast, Jan 1, 2063...
Brad Harper sat in the front row of seats in the main Conference room on the top level of Spath's Weyr for only the second Dragon's Mast he had ever attended. He had a feeling this one was not going to be near as easy to get through as the first. How had he managed to get himself into this situation!?

He looked up, startled, when Harry actually yelled at one of the people appearing before him. That was out of the ordinary. Usually, Harry didn't allow his temper to come out. Brad decided Harry was just trying shock tactics to get through to someone so hide-bound they couldn't see anyone else's viewpoint if it bit them on the nose. Brad was a bit startled by his understanding as well. Back when they were both in school, he would never have given Harry so much credit. Ah well, better late than never. This Potter was nothing like his father, for whatever good that might do him.

That got Brad thinking about how he had ended up here, at Dragon's Mast ... again …

The Weyrleader's Office, Disko Isle, Nov 23, 2061...
It had all started when Brad had revealed to Harry that he was better known to Harry and Hermione as Severus Snape.

"Do you remember any of your instructors?"

"I remember Professor/current Headmistress McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Burbage, Professor/Ex-Headmaster Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid, Professor Lupin, Professor Quirrell, Professor Snape, Professor Sprout, Professor Trelawney, and Dolores Umbridge."

"Do I look anything like any of them?"

"Not that I can say. Wait, you aren't Pomona Sprout after a sex change operation, are you!" joked Harry.

Snape just looked at Harry as if to say, "Is this idiot for real?"

"Sorry, Mr. Harper, sometimes my sense of humor tends to be a bit odd. Please continue."

"In that case, I will have to reveal myself in a more candid manner," said Snape. Here he paused momentarily as if gathering his thoughts. Then he said, "I am the person you knew as Severus Snape." Then he sat quietly as if resigned to his fate.

At Snape's pronouncement, Chekiath jerked his massive head around, 'Who is this to cause so much shock to my rider?' He looked furious as if he would momentarily bite someone. Fortunately for Snape, Cheki waited for his rider to say something before doing anything so overt as attacking someone for talking to his rider. He did bring his head, with all his teeth bared, close enough so he could get an excellent perspective of Harry's new guest.

Snape moved back in his chair as far as he could and winced at the sharp teeth bearing down on him.

"Back, please, Cheki," Harry finally ordered, Then he looked closely at Snape. He said, "Now that you mention it, I do see some resemblance, though the Snape I knew had long hair that didn't appear to have been washed in years. His robes covered most of the rest, but I have a feeling that if he had your physique, his robes wouldn't have fit nearly as well as they did. Why are you telling me this, when I have it in my power to murder you and hide the body where no one would ever find it."

"I'm telling you now, so you won't be surprised if, or more likely when, someone else brings my identity to your attention."

"Yes, that would be a valid worry," said Harry, pondering what to do. "Why are you telling me, though, instead of just staying away. Were you interested in emigrating to Pern?"

"I have no idea, at this time. If Nylah wants to go, then I would like to accompany my wife. If she expresses no desire to go, then neither would I. I spent the last 65 years in prison, most of that time I lived on my wits and had to initially fight to maintain a peaceful coexistence with my fellow prisoners. I have no desire to go back or, even worse, go to Azkaban."

'What do you think, Cheki?'

"I still cannot read this man. If I can't read, I can't trust.'

"So, what to do? What to do? You have a negative balance of goodwill, yet you have returned Ryan to us. What are your desires in this?"

"I simply wish to live out my remaining years in partnership with my wife. I think I've changed from the Snape you knew. I would ask that you not pre-judge my actions or inactions, but to get to know the new me and my family before passing judgment."

He had been surprised by Harry's calm acceptance of the information. He had been even more shocked by Hermione's unequivocal, almost rabid, response. In the end, he was relieved to have escaped with the trivial requirement he had.

Spath's Weyr, Jan 31, 2062...
Brad and Nylah stepped out of the Dragon Egg Transport and looked at the vast maw of the main entrance to the Weyr. They had undergone a fairly in-depth introduction to Weyr life at Dragon Isle but would be learning to put that into practice over the next few days. Until they got used to how to get around on their own and became more accustomed to the actual scope of the distances involved, they and four other families would have shared access to a house-elf. Personally, Brad didn't think it would be that bad. Both he and Nylah were in quite good shape physically and he could already feel the difference the slightly lower gravity made to his muscles' responses.

Nylah had written ahead, asking to meet with "Whoever takes care of the orphans". She had quickly gotten a reply from Tegan Andrea Ross, Weyr Fosterling Mistress, letting her know, in no uncertain terms, that there were no "orphans" on Pern. There were a few children who had lost their birth parents, but most of the children she oversaw were part of what she called "Pern's Foster System". Their parents were still alive, they had just been shipped off to a different hold or Weyr to be raised as they were not directly in line to inherit their parents' estates.

This worked out for the parents because they didn't have to worry about their younger children. It worked out for the children, as they got to meet new people and see new places. It worked out for the planet, as it allowed for a much better "cross-fertilization" of the human stock. Those without any living parents fit right in with the others and soon came to accept most adults as their "surrogate parents", just as the fostered children did.

At a little over eight months pregnant, Nylah still seemed quite energetic. Though Brad had been hesitant about traveling here so late in her pregnancy, Nylah had insisted. Now, as they slowly walked through the entry tunnel into the main Weyr cavern and their guide explained about many of their amenities, Brad surreptitiously maintained a light levitation spell on his wife's extended belly.

When they finally emerged into the main cavern, Nylah surged forward, almost leaving Brad behind. Somehow, she had seen and recognized Andrea Ross, the Weyr Fosterling Mistress. As the two women started an animated conversation, basically ignoring anyone else, Brad gave a small apologetic smile to the tour guide and told the man they would make alternate arrangements for later. Then he hurried off after his wife, who was following the much older woman across the cavern floor and through its central garden.

Only his longer stride and the pull of his magic as he continued to help support her enabled him to keep up with them as they swiftly passed along the winding paths in the lush garden. By the time he emerged from the other side of the central gardens, they were halfway across to one of the entrance tunnels on the other side. He lengthened his stride and managed to catch up to them just as they turned down one of the ring corridors and entered one of the doors near the junction of two tunnels.

As he entered the well-appointed room behind them, Andrea turned to them and said, "Welcome to the Weyr Fostering Barracks. All those children in the Pern Foster System are initially housed here. Some move in with their masters if they get that type of apprenticeship. Others stay until they are legally 'of age' and are eligible to move out into an 'adult' apartment on their own. Most tend to want to stay here if they can, with the friends they have found since arriving.

"Usually, the only foster children we get are orphans or native Pernese. Parents who originated more recently from Earth usually prefer their children to stay at home until they are old enough to fend for themselves. It's a cultural thing, basically what they have grown to accept as the norm."

"I want to see Kuvayeva Zakharovna," demanded Nylah. "I was told she would be here."

"Yes, Tina is here, but it will be up to her whether or not she sees you."

"I must see her …," began Nylah, with growing ire, when Brad suddenly interrupted her by placing his hand on her arm. She looked at him crossly for interrupting.

"My wife is a Doctor on Earth, Mrs. Ross, and is used to getting her own way when it comes to possible child abuse cases," explained Brad. "Please excuse her exuberance. She hasn't yet realized she is no longer in her own sphere of influence. I think what she is trying to say is that the child we saw was malnourished and obviously maltreated. Nylah is concerned that the young girl is receiving proper care and was hoping to be able to verify that with her own eyes."

Brad could see Andrea visibly calm down from what had been working towards a monumental blow-up between the two overly protective women. "Why don't I escort the two of you to our kitchen where you can get a cup of tea and I will go try to convince Tina to come out and meet you," said Andrea. "Meeting in an open, public place will be much less confrontational than meeting here or in her room."

As Andrea led them to the Kitchen, Brad did his best to reassure and calm his wife, both vocally and through their bond, as they made their way into the main cavern.

Spath's Weyr, Weyr Foster Barracks, Private Quarters, Jan 31, 2062...
"No, Tina, she isn't here to take you back to Earth. She is only concerned that you are being properly taken care of," explained an exasperated Andrea Ross, the Weyr Fostering Mistress. "We would never allow anyone to take any of you away like that. You would have to want to return and even then, we would be very particular as to whom we allowed you to leave with.

"I wasn't given much information except that The Weyrleader approved their request to visit with you. If The Weyrleader approves, you can be sure it's safe."

Kuvayeva Kristina Zakharovna, or Tina to her many new friends, had filled out considerably over the little more than a year she had been on Pern. She was mostly over the nightmares she used to have but was still terrified that someone would finally realize she didn't belong here and send her back. When she arrived, she looked like a scrawny, scared ten-year-old child. Now, she was obviously a well-nourished, confident fourteen-year-old young woman. It was amazing what regular meals and knowing someone cared could do.

"Tisky!" called Tina, defiantly.

"Missy called?" replied the young female house-elf as she popped into the room.

"Yes, Tisky. Someone is here to see me from Earth and, even though Mistress Ross says the lady can't take me back, I want some way to escape if I need to. Can you keep an eye on things and bring me back here if I call for you?"

"Yes, Miss, but I'm sure everything will be alright if Mistress Ross says it is." Tisky then popped out again after getting a nod from Andrea.

"OK," said the resigned, sullen teenager, "let's get this over with.

Spath's Weyr, Jan 1, 2063...
Brad still remembered with awe the whirlwind of events around their visit. His new wife was unstoppable when she had her mindset on a specific course of action! They had been there less than a week, but Nylah had insisted on meeting the young girl who had stolen her purse to make sure she was doing well. It was only a little over a year since the incident, but there was a world of difference in the young girl.

Spath's Weyr, Kitchen 6R, Jan 31, 2062...
Andrea Ross walked out of Spoke Tunnel 6 and turned left to enter the Kitchen 6R area where Brad and Nylah Harper were waiting for them. Tina was following closely behind, almost hiding behind the older woman. As it was late in the morning, there were very few people seated in the dining area and Tina knew most of them. An old couple seated closer to the central gardens drew her eye. The woman was an obviously successful professional woman who appeared to be in her mid to late 30s. At first, Tina thought the man sitting with her was The Weyrleader because he had a similar physique. He was wearing a smartly tailored suit, however, and his hair was neatly styled and slightly the wrong color.

"Mrs. Harper, I've convinced Tina to come out and at least meet you," Andrea said as she approached the couple.

The woman looked up excitedly and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Ross."

Nylah's eyes moved to look at Tina, examining her carefully. Tina pulled back and tried to hide behind Andrea at the sudden intense gaze from the older woman. "Stop that, Tina," said a cross, but understanding Andrea. "I told you The Weyrleader approved their request to see you. He wouldn't do that if it was not going to be in your best interest!"

Tina slowly edged out from behind the Fostering Mistress, still untrustful of unknown adults. Nylah felt her heart go out to the child. This could very well have been her when she was younger. "Please, don't be alarmed," pleaded Nylah. "I was the woman whose purse you tried to steal just before you were apprehended." Nylah saw Tina stiffen slightly from alarm and hastened to add, "I'm not here because I want any form of retribution. I was a single mother when not much older than you are now and my main interest is to ensure you have been properly cared for. I know firsthand how scary the world can be when you're on your own. It would please me immeasurably if we could become friends."

Both Brad and Andrea watched, relieved at the lessening tensions, as Nylah and Tina slowly got acquainted. As the conversation between the two became more animated, Andrea and Brad just smiled knowingly at each other.

Spath's Weyr, Jan 1, 2063...
Tina had been afraid to meet with his wife initially but finally agreed. She had been afraid that Nylah had come to take her back to Earth for punishment. Once that misunderstanding had been cleared up, they had gotten along famously. Tina even became their unofficial tour guide the entire time they were there.

Spath's Weyr, Guest Quarters, Jan 31, 2062...
Now that her primary concern had been alleviated, Nylah slowed down considerably. Tina would have run her off her feet so she could show off her beloved new home to her new friends. Nylah, however, was increasingly feeling her pregnancy and now was worried they wouldn't be able to return to Earth in time for the birth. May had come at Brad's urging to reassure his wife.

"It's quite alright, Mrs. Harper," said May calmly. "Our dragons only take 2.6 seconds to arrive anywhere on Earth, even if we start out on Pern. I understand you are concerned about the birth of your child and want it born on Earth. If you could go anywhere you wanted for the birth, where would you go?"

"Knowing the hospital I work in, and the people there, I would have to say that I would want to give birth there, if at all possible."

"And just to be clear, that is the Royal London Hospital, Maternity Ward?" asked May.

"Yes," replied Nylah. "I don't work in the Maternity Department, but have visited there several times while at work and can't think of anywhere else I would want my baby to be born."

'Trath, dear, would you mind asking one of our duty riders to jump to Earth and get jump coordinates for The Royal London Hospital at …,' started May. She had to pause to get additional information. "Would you give me the address, Mrs. Harper?"

"Yes, it's between Whitechapel Road and Stepney Way. Turner Street and Milward Street bound the other sides."

As Nylah gave her the hospital location, May was transferring the information to Trath who was feeding it to the duty rider. "If you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I'm just making sure our dragons know exactly where your hospital is located."

They talked about motherhood in general and childbirth in detail for the next five minutes until the duty rider returned.

'Sorry it took so long, May, but I wanted to visit personally to make sure I got the most recent jump image. Glad I did, evidently they have upgraded their air ambulance entrance since we last visited.' With that, she transferred the jump image to May through their dragons.

"Mrs. Harper, I now have the exact jump image for the new air ambulance landing pad on top of the hospital. In less than 10 seconds of you getting to a dragon, we can deliver you safely there, ready to be moved wherever you need to go."

"My goodness!" exclaimed Nylah. "That's faster than if I had to go from home!"

"Yes," quipped May, "we don't have to fight traffic."

Both women laughed and continued comparing notes on giving birth. Nylah was reassured by this competent, older doctor who obviously knew what she was talking about since she'd already had four children herself.

Brad simply sat there listening to all the gory details. He was a bit uncomfortable, but if there came a time when his knowing something could help his wife, he had to listen.

At a break in their conversation, Brad came to a decision and broke in with a question of his own, "May, we don't plan on being here for much longer, a week or two at the most. So far we have not had to use any of the money we deposited into Gringotts. Is there some way we can transfer any remaining amount to another account when we leave?"

"I'm sure that can be managed," said May, "but I'm not the one to talk to. You would need to go to Gringotts and discuss it with them."

"Thank you," said Brad, "I had a feeling it would be that a simple matter."

Later that evening, Brad and Nylah went to Gringotts and arranged for a one-time transfer of their entire balance except for a single Galleon. It was to be transferred anonymously to the account opened by Erol and Fateena Gadhi and was scheduled to take place as soon as Gringotts Pern was notified that they had left the planet.

That night while they cuddled on the loveseat in their apartment, Nylah said, lovingly, "Once this baby has been delivered you are going to be in a lot of trouble. That was a really nice thing you did today, and I want to be able to show my appreciation properly."

Brad just snuggled closer and said, "That's not why I did it, but I would be foolish to refuse any love sent my way by such a beautiful and wonderful woman."

"And that's just why I want to reward you," purred Nylah.

Spath's Weyr, Feb 5, 2062...
Tina had led them on a whirlwind tour of the Weyr. Brad still found 'Weyr' an odd name, but was becoming more comfortable with it. Ryan had visited for a while yesterday and they had introduced him to Tina. The two had hit it off almost instantly, despite the physical age difference, since Ryan still was mentally closer to her age than his own actual age. By the time he left, Tina was calling him 'Uncle Ryan'.

They had just been visiting with a small herd of Centaurs in the central garden and were just out of the bulk of the tall trees and starting into the more formal gardens when Nylah suddenly stopped, leaned forward with her hands clutching her stomach, and groaned, "Oooh, that hurt!"

Brad carefully grabbed her and levitated them both out of the gardens into a clearer area just between the garden and the nearest kitchen dining area. As soon as they landed, May was there, having been warned by Tisky that there was a problem.

"Are you OK or do you think it's starting?" asked May.

"I'm not sure," said Nylah, plaintively. "This could be false labor, but I don't remember it hurting this much the first time."

"Do you want to go back to Earth now or wait to see?"

"Now, I think," gasped Nylah.

Seconds later they were back on Earth and Nylah was being handed into a wheelchair to be taken down to the Maternity Ward for her first of many checkups. Their clothes and recent purchases found their way home the next day when Ryan came by to see how Nylah was feeling.

Spath's Weyr, Jan 1, 2063...
Their visit had been cut short after only five days due to some very insistent false labor pains. Nylah wanted her child to be born on Earth, no matter where they might end up later.

Brad looked up as the accusers in one of the cases Harry was hearing today became a bit vocal when Harry didn't come to the conclusion he felt was necessary. Things hadn't even settled down before Brad was again thinking back ...

11 Lindley St, Stepney, Feb 6, 2062...
Nylah informed him they were emigrating to Pern. Andrea Ross was getting too old to handle so many young teens, even with help. The only reason Nylah hadn't contacted a realtor as soon as they returned yesterday was because it was a Sunday and none were working as far as she could find. Now, she was on the phone, trying to find one who would agree to handle the sale of her house. Many wanted to handle the sale, but not near as many wanted to adhere to the terms Nylah wanted to enforce. There was very little money from the 'interest' being charged to the new owners to pay for realtor involvement in checking on the property and ensuring payments were made on time.

"Nylah, just give the house away or sell it for a single pound," said her exasperated husband. "I am rich enough that the cost you would get from selling this house is trivial when I think of the frustration you are going through."

"You can't be that rich that the cost of this house would be trivial. Besides, it's my money and I don't want to leave with nothing to show for what we went through!" exclaimed Nylah.

"Here, this is one of my most recent bank statements," Brad said, showing her a small sheaf of papers he had recently received in the post. "And that's for one of my smaller accounts!"

Nylah took a quick glance and then looked closer as her eyes widened in surprise. "I don't care," said Nylah, defiantly. "It meant a lot to me and Paige to be able to purchase this house and turn it into a home. I wouldn't feel right just abandoning it!"

Brad thought for a few moments and then voiced a possible alternate plan, "Why don't we finance the sale ourselves? I have three 'employees' that will need to be gainfully employed. They can personally collect the monthly payments and take care of any problems with the house or the tenants."

Nylah thought about this for a few minutes and they haggled over what to charge for interest and when each payment would come due, as well as a host of other things that came up during their discussion.

Eventually, they agreed the new owners would effectively be renting with the option to buy at any time. 95% of their "rent" would go towards the principal loan amount. Brad got around the problem with realtor involvement by using his "employees" who were remaining on Earth as his "Bill collectors". They would show up on the fifth of each month to collect a check for the agreed-upon amount. If there was a problem, they could give an additional five days' grace. If there was more of a problem, they were to get in touch with Brad for a determination as to what to do. It had not taken long for Brad to find out that all mail going to Pern was collected from all over the planet and sent first to Dragon Isle. From there it was sent to Pern and then distributed to wherever it was destined to go.

Brad didn't really want to get into the real estate business but was doing this to make things easier for his wife and her friends who wanted to purchase the house. Even though the purchase price was a huge amount for the purchasers, it was really a paltry sum to Brad. He would almost have preferred to just give it to them, but Nylah seemed set on getting her money out of it.

Later...
Brad/Severus now had to find a new place to set up his potions experiments. He decided to call his son-in-law first, using his new cell phone. "Hi, Dave, this is Brad. We are going to be emigrating to Pern, so are selling our house. Because of that, I need to find a temporary place to set up to perform experiments on some of the standard magical potions. Nothing that is against the law, obviously, but I will need a good-sized, well-ventilated room with additional space for storage. Have you or any of your fellow Aurors come across anything that might meet my requirements that is available for a few months?"

"I think I might know just the place," said Dave. "Let me check on the status and get back to you. I should know by tomorrow at the latest."

"Thanks, Dave, I will await your call."

London Metropolitan Police Department, Later...
"Yes, Sir, I was thinking it might prove instructive if we could watch his reaction when I take him to where the Carr Crime Syndicate was exterminated," said Dave.

"Well, we are still trying to find any possible evidence on the upper floor," said Chief Superintendent Gordon. "We have even brought in some Aurors to help. I don't see any problem with allowing him the use of one or more of the rooms on the ground floor though, as long as we can ensure he never goes up to the second floor … or, if he does, we know about it immediately."

"Thank you, Sir. I will let him know."

Old Ames Glass Building, 9A Martineau Rd, London, Feb 7, 2062...
"Here's the building, Brad," said Dave. "As you can see, it's kind of out of the way, which is why I brought you the first time instead of just giving you the address. We are still conducting a crime scene investigation on the second floor, but the first floor has been cleared and you should find something suitable there. Just promise me you never go upstairs." As he gave this information to his new father-in-law, he was watching for any kind of reaction. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't familiar with Legilimens or he would have hidden his surface thoughts better.

For his part, Brad never gave any indication he knew anything about the location. "What happened here?" asked Brad, expressing normal curiosity.

"There was a murder on the second floor, and we are still searching for any incriminating evidence. We have even gone so far as to bring in some magical Aurors to help."

Brad almost gave himself away to hear what had happened on the second floor referred to as simply a 'murder'. Fortunately for him, his control was flawless. They toured the bottom floor, which he had never previously visited, and he picked out three adjoining rooms near the entrance that would be perfect for his experiments.

London Metropolitan Police Department, Later...
"No, Sir, there was nothing as much as a flicker of surprise when I showed him the building. I still feel he knows more than is apparent, but with no real evidence, feel there is nothing we can do."

"Very well, D.I. Hamilton, I understand your frustration but am almost relieved. I would hate to reward our 'benefactor' by arresting him, but would not hesitate to do so if we found evidence he was the one responsible," said Chief Superintendent Gordon, with relief. "Keep an eye on things, just in case, and let me know immediately if anything turns up. I will keep you informed of anything pertinent we may find out on our end, as well."

"Thank you, Sir. Will do."

The only thing they were ever able to determine was that a particularly powerful brew of veritaserum had been created on the premises. When asked, Brad admitted he knew how to brew the potion, but that, in itself, was not enough to incriminate him in the wholesale slaughter of almost all the upper-level leaders of the Carr Crime Syndicate.

Old Ames Glass Building, 9A Martineau Rd, London, Feb 13, 2062...
Brad had been banished from the house by an ever more agitated Nylah. He had only agreed to leave because Paige was there and promised to call if anything happened. He was in his new lab working on encapsulating potions when he got the call from Paige.

"Brad, it's time! The ambulance just left with Nylah and I am on my way to the hospital now."

"Thank you, Paige. I will be there, probably before you are," said Brad, as he cast a careful stasis spell on his current work. Once the spell was complete and he was sure it would continue to work properly until he could return, he disapparated to the hospital.

Royal London Hospital, Maternity Ward, Feb 14, 2062...
Brad had been helping Nylah control her pain through their increasingly close bond when she tightened her grip on his hand so much it would have been extremely painful for anyone with less strength than his.

"Push one more time, Nylah," encouraged the assisting Nurse. "This should be it!"

With a final Herculean effort, Brenda Paige Harper was born to the world at 1222 G.M.T. Since both bonded parents were present for the birth, they both felt their bond expand and grow stronger as a new presence joined them, their new daughter.

After the birth was completely concluded and the Nurses had cleaned everything up, mother, daughter, and father shared in the warmth of what was now a family bond.

"Brad, I can feel our daughter as if she is at the edge of my mind. Is this normal for magical births?" asked Nylah.

"Not as far as I know," replied Brad. "The only reason I can think of that I have never heard about such a thing happening is because I had never known any wizards who would willingly attend the birth of their own children. Perhaps it's because both of us were present and strong in our own bond that Brenda was able to join us."

"Well, it will be jolly useful," said Nylah. "I will have a much better idea of what is bothering her when she fusses and know how to take care of her better. I wish Paige and I had a bond like this."

"I'm not sure you would want one now," smiled Brad at his wonderful wife, "but there is a bonding ceremony that Paige and Dave can go through that might allow them to share a little bit of what we have with each other. It would allow them to know when the other was angry, in pain, or in danger at the very least."

"People Against Dragons" (PAD) Headquarters, Apr 1, 2062...
Brad didn't find out until much later that a meeting that would adversely affect his family took place this day.

Jacob Chambers opened the third meeting of PAD. Their first two meetings had been in members' homes. The first set the command structure, the second initiated a search for better, more permanent facilities. Now they were in their new home and ready to start planning for the future … with no dragons in it. He looked out over the assembled members and felt a sense of pride. Their membership had more than tripled since their first meeting.

"Welcome, new and old members to our new home for People against Dragons," said Jacob. "We have recently moved into our new home, here at Dragonsclaw Reach in San Jeba, California. We were lucky to find this abandoned warehouse for a very reasonable rate, but as you can see, we still have a lot of work to do. I am Jacob Chambers, the Chief Executive Officer of PAD and the one responsible for our future expansion and action plan.

"We are a semi-covert group in that we don't seem to have a lot of popular support right now. Because of that, we ask all our members to vet any potential new members very carefully. Make sure they are against dragons and not just venting once about something that they actually feel is right.

"Everyone present today has shown their support of our cause by paying their $25 a month dues and, in some cases, donating even more to the cause. It may seem that we don't have very many members, but remember, this is only one group out of many more that will be meeting at different times, in different places.

"Seated behind me, to my left is Kian Lane, our CFO, and next to him is Sean Woods, our Head Security Officer. Behind me and to my right is Benjamin Guerrero our Battalion 2 Commander and next to him is Tom Mason, our Battalion 2, Squad 4 Leader.

"I now invite Ben up to talk to you about some of our ideas for ridding our planet of dragons, Ben, if you would?"

Jacob sat down next to Kian as Ben Guerrero rose to take his place at the podium. He leaned in close to whisper to his co-leader, "Think they'll buy it?"

"I hope so. They would never stay if they knew that this paltry 50 people is our total membership. Great idea with the Battalion 2 idea. It makes it seem like we have a lot of people already. I just need to come up with a better way to part them from their money. We have enough now to run for a few more months, but after that, we may need to curtail some of our more expensive ideas," said Kian.

"Well, we will milk them for as much as we can, as long as we can. If something useful to the 'cause' happens, so much the better, but all I really care about is the money. It seems that you can come up with the most useless causes and still find enough marks to follow you to make it worth the effort."

Kian just grinned and nodded his head in agreement.

The Harper Arms, 9A Martineau Rd, London, Apr 3, 2062...
"When Ryan told us about 'The Ryan Arms', I couldn't believe that so much could be accomplished in such a short time," said Brad. "This looks totally different from what it used to be."

"Yes, we were actually able to incorporate all of your ideas into the design and, with your permission, will be using some of the more generic ideas on future properties we develop," replied Chloe Walker, Weyr Legal Counsel, who had handled the conversion of the property Brad Harper had purchased. "Your new apartment building will be very secure and its residents will be as safe as the Dragon Nation can make them.

"The idea of setting up personal one-way emergency port keys for the residents was a very thoughtful idea. Any resident who is attacked while outside the apartment will automatically be ported back to their apartment and the building manager will be notified of the emergency port. One of the house-elves you have employed will then check on the resident to see if further aid is required. All five of the house-elves have agreed to be bonded to the building and the ward stones have been made purposely overpowered to ensure the elves will always be in good health. If anything goes wrong with the setup, they know to contact us for 'service'.

"I must say, I wasn't aware there was anyone who could personally afford not only the extensive re-building of the property but the additional contract with the Dragon Nation for security and medical services. I have seen your advertised rental rates and, for the services provided, they seem very reasonable. In fact, there are quite a few properties in the general area that charge a lot more but provide a lot less."

"That would be my wife's fault," said Brad. "She wants to emigrate to Pern but refuses to sell her old house at a loss. I need to maintain a presence on Earth to manage the property since I am financing the sale myself. I needed someplace to house my employees while I'm gone, so thought this would be the simplest way to gainfully employ them while also using them to collect the monthly rent/mortgage payments.

"They have a safe place to live while working for me, all their needs are taken care of, and I don't have to worry about upkeep."

"Very sensible," said Chloe. "In fact, this property will eventually pay for itself. Not right away, but in less than twenty-five years, you should start showing a profit as long as nothing goes disastrously wrong. Not many people take such a long view about the recovery of their investments."

"I'm used to making careful decisions," stated Brad, "and this seemed to be the best out of several alternatives."

"Well, I hope you are happy with your new purchase," said Chloe as she handed the last of the signed documents over.

The Harper family was now the owner of a twelve-story, 4 basement apartment building with 120 above-ground apartments and ten below-ground high-security apartments. The first sub-basement contained all the building's common areas; a movie theatre that was free to residents and inexpensive to guests, various stores sub-let to well-known national brands, and space for additional businesses as the building committee saw fit to allow them in. Any rent from such businesses still went to the Harper family, but the committee decided who got to offer their services within the building.

Every apartment had a balcony or porch overlooking the inner courtyard where an Olympic-sized, heated pool was available for free use by those living in the apartments if they so desired. There were also four mini 'restaurants' equally spaced around the edges for those who wished to dine in a more public area for a reasonable fee. Guests and non-residents were allowed in by reservation only and were never allowed to take more than 50% of the available seats at any time. The entire courtyard was protected by wards that kept the weather and other minor inconveniences, like intruders, out. It was almost like having a huge indoor temperature-controlled mall without the crowds.

Security apartment number 1, in the second sub-basement, was reserved for the Harper family, Brad's employees, and the house-elves. All the other 129 apartments were income-producing. Most of the payments were made directly from one bank account to another, with no coordination required by anyone other than the bank managers. So much for Brad's need to keep his employees … employed. Brad had worked directly with Gringotts London to arrange for the Goblin's oversight. He quickly became one of the Goblin Nation's favorite depositors.

11 Lindley St, Stepney, June 7, 2062...
Brad sat back from the table as Nylah handled the transfer of title to her home. She had found a family that worked at her hospital that wanted to move closer, but couldn't afford a normal mortgage in the area and convinced them they could afford her house. When they realized they would be paying less than they were now, for their current house on the outskirts of London, they were sold. In fact, they would only be paying 2,100 pounds sterling per month and only 100 pounds was interest!

As they finished up, Brad moved forward again, so he could explain some of the unique features he'd recently had added to the property.

"Mr. and Mrs. Richards," began Brad, "you will find this house to be very inexpensive to run as far as electricity and water are concerned. I have contracted with the Dragon Nation to have installed not only a small power generator but also a water and wastewater system. If all services to your neighbors are completely cut off, you will still have power and clean running water. In fact, once you have paid for the house, you will find that you get a small cheque each month from the London Electric Utility because you will be supplying a small amount of excess electricity to the city.

"The water supply isn't quite as stand-alone as the electricity, though what you get from the taps inside and outside the house will be quite a bit cleaner than your neighbors due to the microfiltration system put in place. The only way you will ever lose water completely is if the main water supply to this entire neighborhood is cut off. Even then, you have a large reservoir as well as rainwater recycling to help keep that reservoir filled that should see you through any reasonable outage. With that in mind, all the outside taps have both indoor and outdoor shut-off valves. You can allow your neighbors to use your water, or not, as you see fit. If water is completely cut off and you are the only two using the stored water, you should be good for about 120 days of average use, longer if you conserve as much as possible.

"The Dragon Nation agreed to set this up as an experiment to see how successful single house utilities could be. There is a sealed three-foot man-hole next to your front walkway that leads down to the equipment installed. You should never see anyone going into it unless there is a visible dragon sitting nearby."

As they all got up to say goodbye to Brad and Nylah, Brad called, "Mabry."

"You called, Mr. Harper," stated his head house-elf. The other humans in the house, his wife included, all jumped at the sudden intrusion of the odd-looking creature into their midst. He was wearing what appeared to be a tuxedo with the new Harper crest showing on his right chest.

"Yes, please take these papers to my Gringotts Account Manager, Aglor. Since this house still belongs to us until it's paid for, I would appreciate you or one of your team keeping an eye on things. If something needs repair, please let the appropriate individual know and, depending upon what damage is being repaired, the cost can be taken care of through the mortgage account."

"Yes, Sir." The elf took the sheaf of paperwork from Brad and popped away.

"What was that?" asked a rather shaky Chelsea Richards.

"That was the house-elf in charge of The Harper Arms, our new apartment building in London. If something happens to the property that we need to know about right away, you can call his name and he should appear as soon as he has a chance. Needless to say, if you cause any damage to the house, we expect you to pay for repairs, but if there is any other type of damage, like leaky pipes or an accident that happens in your front yard, I will take care of it. Up until you have paid off the entire loan, I want to make sure this property is maintained in excellent condition."

"Please, what is a house-elf?" asked George Richards, looking only slightly less alarmed than his wife.

"A house-elf is a highly intelligent, magical creature. Surely you know about magic, don't you?" asked Brad in an imperious manner, though internally he was almost laughing hysterically.

"Yes, we'd heard that magic actually existed, but we never thought we would ever see any of it," said Chelsea.

"Hmm," said Brad thoughtfully. "Mabry."

"Sir," said the elf as he popped back in.

"Mabry, these are the people who will be renting Mrs. Harper's house with the intent to purchase it. Please monitor the house in case they call you. They should only call if something drastic has happened to the house that needs our attention, or if there is a life-threatening occurrence where they need help and cannot otherwise make a phone call. Feel free for you or your crew to visit if they allow it, so they can get comfortable with you. They know about magic but are not familiar with house-elves.

"By the way, did Aglor have anything to pass on to me?"

"Just the standard Goblin greeting, Mr. Harper."

"Thank you, Mabry," said Brad. Before he dismissed the elf, he looked at the thoroughly awed Couple across the room and asked, "Do you wish to allow Mabry or his friends to visit? If so, are there any times that would be best?"

Chelsea looked at George and then said, "Sunday afternoons might be best. Can they call ahead to ask if it's convenient first?"

Brad turned to Mabry and said, "Mabry, talk to one of my human employees about getting cell phones for any of your crew that wish to have them. They can teach you how to use them. If we are going to be interacting with non-magical people, we will need to use their means of communication. Unless you have anything else, you may go back to whatever you were doing."

Mabry bowed to the Richards and said, "Mabry is pleased to meet you. I will call this Sunday to verify it's a good time to visit. We will all come so we know you and bring a late lunch if that is OK with you."

"Yes, that will be good. Thank you," stammered a dazed Chelsea.

Mabry bowed to Brad and Nylah and popped out again.

As they got in the car for the drive to the Dragon Isle terminal so they could start their trip to Pern, Nylah laughed. "Was that really necessary?" she asked between giggles.

Brad smiled at her. "They needed to know and I thought that was probably the quickest way to make sure they knew. I'm sure Mabry and his team would keep an eye on their personal wellbeing as well as the houses, but I wanted to stress to them that they are responsible for the apartment building, not for the house.

"I must admit, though, it's a lot of fun pulling the 'magic card' on non-magical people. It's really funny seeing the looks on their faces when they realize that magic is real."

"Please, at least let me know ahead of time so I'm not startled."

"As you wish," said Brad as he hugged her to him.

"Mr. Harper?" came from the front seat.

"Yes, Archie," replied Brad.

"If you don't mind, I would really like to go to Pern with you. I've enjoyed working with you since … you first appeared, and would appreciate the chance to visit someplace new."

Brad thought for a few moments and then replied, "You do know there is no need for a driver on Pern, and I've set up accounts for each of you that will ensure you are well off, even after you decide you want to 'retire'."

"Yes, Sir, I know all that. I just want to be able to say I've been to another planet before I die."

"In that case, why don't you sign up for the emigration classes they hold on Dragon Isle. Once you finish those, we can talk further. You might find you want to emigrate on your own and not be under my authority."

"Yes, Sir, I will do that immediately."

Brad felt his inside coat pocket to make sure his packet of notes was safely inside. He had made quite a bit of progress on his 'Potions to Pills' research and didn't want to have to do it all over again.

Spath's Weyr, Dragon's Mast, July 1, 2062...
Brad Harper sat in the front row of seats in the main Conference room on the top level of Spath's Weyr for his very first visit to what they called Dragon's Mast. Nylah had discussed why she had decided to immigrate to Pern with Andrea and the two had come to an agreement. Nylah was to become the Assistant Weyr Fostering Mistress until Andrea felt like retiring, at which time Nylah could take over completely. While she was the Assistant, she would be learning everything about her new job that was available. They had been on Pern less than a month and already the fostered children looked upon Nylah as a second mother.

Harry Potter had suggested the Fostering Mistresses apartments be expanded to include a second suite for them, but Brad had put his foot down. If Nylah was home, he wanted her 100% to himself. They were too newly married for him to want anything else and it didn't take much convincing to get Nylah to agree. As it was, they were midway between Spoke 7 and 8 on Ring 3. Within easy walking distance, but separate quarters nonetheless.

Brad had watched the proceedings with interest. This was like a feudal Lord's Court, where he would pass down low, middle, and high justice and there was no appeal to his decisions. Twice now, Brad saw Harry close his eyes as he evidently thought deeply about his possible choices for his judgment. In both cases, the outcome wasn't what Brad would have thought it would be, it actually made more sense and was fair to all parties involved.

Finally, the "court" cases were over and Harry, looking happier, said with a pronounced smile, "Now it is time to give out last month's awards, bonuses, and make new appointments."

As he called up the first of several people waiting for their awards, Brad marveled that they could afford to give out so many each month, if this was normal. There were five people waiting to be granted recognition for some outstanding service to the Weyr, Pern, or the Dragon Nation. Each received a plaque outlining who was being honored, what they had done, and when and they also received a 1,000 Galleon bonus usually in the form of a bank deposit slip since that much gold would be awkward to carry. One person, for some reason, wanted to have something tangible to hold when he was given his award, so had asked for a bag of one hundred Galleons to be given to him at the ceremony with the rest deposited as usual.

During the entire process, Nylah had been quietly fidgeting next to him as she waited for her turn. He was really going to have to teach her how to meditate if this was the way she was going to react when she had to wait for any length of time.

At long last, Harry turned to Nylah with a smile. "It is with great pleasure that I turn to our last applicant. She has been with us for less than a month, but the reason she immigrated to Pern was based on something that happened almost a year and a half ago.

"Nylah Harper, please join me here, on stage, so the oath of office may be administered." As she walked up to the stage, Harry further elaborated, "Nylah has requested to become the Assistant Weyr Fostering Mistress, one of the Weyr's most important jobs. Our children must grow up knowing not only that they are loved, but that they must be responsible people. The Fostering Mistresses are tasked with being the primary examples for their charges."

When Nylah reached the stage, she turned to Harry and said, "I would like my husband to administer the oath."

Harry looked questioningly at Brad, who said, "We discussed it between ourselves and the only real way she could be true to her oath and still live with me is if I take the oath with her. The nature of the work is such that she will quite often seek me out for advice or comfort. If I do not take the oath with her, I cannot provide that.

"I understand that by taking her oath I will in effect be taking it as well."

"In that case," said Harry, "come on up and join us."

Once Brad joined them, Nylah had one more request that shocked not only Harry but one of his wives as well. "I would like your wife, Hermione, to join us in the oath," said Nylah. "I know she has a deep distrust of my husband and can think of no better way to set her fears to rest.

"Brad did some horrible things when he was much younger, but he has paid his debt to society and is now the man I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with. I want everyone to see him for what he is now, not what he was over half a century ago."

Hermione was summoned up to the stage and agreed to take the oath with the bonded couple. Once everyone was ready, Brad used the ritual blade Harry handed him and sliced both his palms and the palms for the two women. Then, with him in the circle they formed by holding hands, he read the oath and heard it repeated in stereo …

"I do swear and affirm that I will never knowingly allow any harm to come to the Dragon Nation, either physically or through espionage. Any information that is considered a 'Weyr Secret' will never be divulged. If forced to the point of breaking to divulge such information, I will immediately lose consciousness and will remain so until I am safe from aggression. If I manage to escape my captors, I will do my best to help sanctioned authorities to capture said aggressors.

If, at any time in the future, I decide I wish to terminate my employment with the Dragon Nation, I am free to do so but will be required to have any 'Weyr Secret' information removed from my memories, at which point, this Loyalty Oath will no longer be in effect."

As they finished the oath, everyone could see a bright glow form around the trio holding hands on the stage. Many similar oaths had been given during Dragon's Mast but never had the glow been so pronounced. There was no doubt in anyone's mind who witnessed the event that Nylah would be an excellent Fostering Mistress and had the full support of her husband.

When they finished and dropped hands, Nylah looked down at the palms of her hands only to see the cut from the ritual knife already healing without even a scar to show it had been there. "I don't think I will ever get used to how fast magic can heal," said Nylah.

'Especially when your husband's magic helps it along,' thought Brad, smiling to himself.

"They don't normally close up quite so fast," said Hermione, looking at her own palms and then, speculatively, at Brad/Severus.

"A little extra push with healing magic helps," said Brad, "especially if one of the oath takers is not magical."

Spath's Weyr, Brad's Potions Lab, Aug 6, 2062...
Brad and Nylah stood in front of the strangest-looking potions test apparatus either had ever seen. There was a small glass globe, about the size of an adult human's fist with a rune sequence etched around its circumference. There was a small tube attached on top connected to the globe via a one-way valve; anything introduced into the tube could go into the globe, but nothing in the globe could come back up into the tube.

The globe was filled with what Nylah assured Brad was a very close approximation to normal stomach acid. Most things introduced through the tube, into the globe, would dissolve. Some slowly, some quickly. The series of runes around the globe would allow it to expand up to about 40 times its present size. If the globe expanded beyond that, it was automatically banished to a special chamber Brad had designed to safely handle explosive mixtures. Several times over the past months, Brad had been forced to open the chamber to clear out the accumulated debris of failed experiments.

As Brad watched, Nylah took his latest attempt at creating a "potion-in-a-pill" and raised it to the top of the tube. It was a tiny 5-millimeter capsule that looked just like one used by many Earth pharmacies to deliver medicine. In fact, Brad had purchased several thousand "blanks" to be filled with his experimental mixtures. Nylah released the 'pill' and it quickly rolled down the inclined side of the tube to stop at the one-way valve.

Brad applied a slight magical 'nudge' to the valve and it opened, dropping the 'pill' into the acidic mixture. They both watched avidly. They were both wearing, at Nylah's insistence, clear eye protective goggles.

As they watched, the capsule quickly turned purple, indicating that the outer capsule had dissolved. Shortly after that, a bright blue cloud of liquid appeared in the globe expanding its .1 ml contents to 25.1 ml, causing the globe to expand slightly. The blue liquid was just there to provide a 'proof-of-concept'. It showed that the series of runes on the two capsules had worked and, in conjunction, had safely released their 25 ml target load of possible potion into the artificial stomach.

After he had approached Harry about learning enough about Runes to allow him to find one that would shrink its contents down to a manageable volume it had taken him months to figure out how to figure out that he needed a capsule inside a capsule delivery system and then more months to figure out how to get the full volume liquid into the runed inner capsule.

His delivery system was now working. Time to replace the bright blue liquid with an actual potion.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, Aug 28, 2062...
"Harry, your first appointment of the day has arrived," said Jeofrey, Harry's Admin Assistant of over 50 years.

"Thank you, Jeofrey, send them on in. Have you been able to find a suitable replacement for your position yet?"

"Are you that anxious to get rid of me?" asked Jeofrey in a mock hurt tone.

"Not at all, Jeofrey, but surely you want to spend some quality time with your grandchildren. Working here doesn't give you much time off."

"Too true, Sir. I have a couple of new candidates coming in later that I hope will be suitable."

"Don't forget," said Harry as his first guests of the day came in, "they don't have to know everything by heart like you do. They will be given a chance to learn and you can work side-by-side until you are satisfied."

"Thank you, Sir. I will strive to give you the best possible replacement."

"I know you will, said Harry as he rose to meet his guests, "I trust you like not many others."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" asked Harry of Brad and Nylah Harper as he ushered them to seats in the private conference area.

"We have some questions about copyright applications on Pern," replied Brad. "I have invented a new way to deliver potions and want to be able to pass any benefits on to our descendants."

"That sounds interesting, and potentially very useful," said Harry. "We use the same International copyright system they do on Earth. Our preference is that you copyright on Earth first and then we just accept the copyright here on Pern. We don't have any agency here to handle assigning any copyright on our own."

"In that case," said Nylah, "we have an International copyright on Earth already, so will be marketing a line of small medical capsules here and on Earth that will take the place of those noxious potion vials you people seem so keen on. The pills themselves are tiny and you can store about fifty of them, indefinitely, in the same space as it took for a single potion vial. They are odorless and tasteless as well."

Harry perked up at this news, "When do you think you will be ready to start selling them? If they are truly better than potions, I will want to replace all our potions in our hospitals here and on Earth with your pills."

"Not for a few months yet, sorry, Harry," said Brad. "I need to figure out how to safely fill multiple capsules at the same time and the potion ingredients will still have to be brewed, it's just the delivery system that has changed. I imagine I will be licensing the rights to many organizations. If you go through a lot of potions, you may want to be one of those organizations. Not only would it be a tremendous saving as far as cost, but you would have 100% quality control over the resultant product."

"Sounds good," said Harry, "Once you get closer to the final product, please talk to Karen Clark, she is the Dragon Nation CFO and will be able to handle the financial details.

"Can you tell me anything about how they work?"

Brad looked at Nylah, who asked, "If you can't trust The Weyrleader, who can you trust?"

Brad turned back to Harry and said, "I have developed a safe way to concentrate the amount of medicine in a single serving dose vial down to a small enough size to fit into a small capsule. It's basically a two-layer gel-cap capsule. The inner capsule has a small rune carved on it that keeps the dose shrunk down so it will fit inside a capsule of about 5 millimeters. The outer capsule then covers the inner rune until it dissolves. When the inner capsule dissolves, the medicine instantly changes to its normal size and starts taking effect. The best part is that it does away with the old 'bitter' taste of the potions, as they are already in the stomach when the capsules dissolve, therefore, un-tasteable … unless the user bites down on the capsule and breaks it in their mouth."

"Wow!" exclaimed Harry. "That sounds like a really great idea. I wonder why no one thought of it a lot earlier?"

"Probably because there are no magicals that have spent as much time in the non-magical world as I have," replied Brad. "I became intimately familiar with the pills non-magicals use during my time in prison. It also helps that my beautiful partner is a fully certified medical doctor who knows all the little details I needed to make this work.

"If you think about it, my being sent to prison has benefited the magical world in more ways than simply punishing me."

"True," responded Harry, thoughtfully. "I'm thankful that your imprisonment had the desired effect. There are way too many who come out the same as or worse than when they went in."

"I think my situation was unique," said Brad. "I spent most of my initial years simply trying to survive without my magic in a non-magical environment. Once I managed to get to where simple survival was assured, I had given up on wishing revenge on those who sent me there, I instead used the time to study and better myself and my situation as much as possible. This is the result."

"Well, however it turns out, please keep me informed, through my Admin Assistant and if I can lend my influence to help move things along, let me know."

As they rose to leave, Brad shook Harry's hand and said, "Thank you. Back when we were back in Hogwarts together, I would never have imagined us interacting like this. Now, I find it comforting. I just hope I never have to meet Hermione in a dark alley."

"Oh, I think you'd be safe enough," laughed Harry, as he escorted them to his office door. "Since that brilliant ploy by your wife at the Oath Ceremony, Hermione has calmed down quite a bit."

With that, they said their goodbyes.

Spath's Hold...
Coen van Dongen, a Dutch operative hired by some organization calling themselves 'PAD' had made it onto Pern and into its primary city, or Hold as they called them. They had hired him to come to Pern and cause disruption through terrorism. He couldn't believe his good luck that their hair-brained scheme to get him "past the oath" and onto Pern had actually worked!

He kept a low profile the entire first day. Finally, he was assigned a room in Spath's Hold where he could have a little privacy. He carefully peeled off the self-healing hand gloves and then the nano cloth under the gloves. The pair of gloves along with real human blood kept in stasis had enabled him to easily bypass the oath. That he was a wizard and could simulate the glow from a successful oath had just made it easier. He hid the self-healing hands for later disposal, but carefully stowed the nano cloth gloves against any possible future use. He would not remove the nano cloth latex-covered mask until he returned to Earth. The gloves were almost impossible to get since they were manufactured for Dragonriders, International Law Enforcement Officers, and the Military almost exclusively. The face mask had been carefully created from an even rarer large, unused scrap of nano cloth. He had finally convinced his employers that part of his payment for undertaking this particular contract was their agreement that he could keep both when this task was finished.

Now he needed to do a little scouting of the area to determine what he could do, with the least risk on his part, that would cause maximum disruption for the Dragon Nation. He was very careful to keep his occlumency shields as strong as possible. He had heard that the adult dragons could read minds. He didn't realize that this made him a 'blank'. He was basically invisible to the dragons unless they were looking specifically for him.

Spath's Weyr, Kitchen 6R, Sept 7, 2062...
Coen had finally settled on what to do, now chance would determine who became his first victim. He had found out that the Dragon Nation considered orphans extremely important for some reason, so he was going to make his first strike against that institution. There were two old biddies in charge of the entire operation. Either one would do. He would just sit here and wait to see who showed up for breakfast first. He had found an apparently abandoned storeroom on the first sub-basement under the ground floor that would do perfectly to hide the body while he planned his next attack.

He was just glad that none of the large dragons came near the ground level very often. Just to make sure, he was sitting in the center of the dining area. Every dragon he'd seen landing on the ground floor so far, landed just outside the hospital entrance. The smaller dragons were more problematic, they seemed to be everywhere. Baby dragons didn't bother him though, they couldn't be smart enough to hamper his plans. He did wonder how long it took for a baby to grow as big as some of the behemoths he'd seen flying around with riders on their backs.

Just then, he saw one of his potential targets approaching with a breakfast tray. He quickly got up and moved towards where she was evidently getting ready to sit down.

"Excuse me," said Coen, as agitatedly as he could, "Are you one of the Foster Mothers?"

"I am the Weyr Assistant Fostering Mistress, yes," said Nylah.

"I'm Coen, a new immigrant. I think I have found where a child has been hiding and thought I should bring it to someone's attention. If I'm right, whoever it is, may still be there at this time of the morning. Would you come with me to check it out?"

"Of course," said Nylah, immediately getting to her feet, breakfast forgotten over the possibility of helping another child. She followed Coen as he lead her quickly to the stairs leading to the lower levels.

Spath's Weyr, Storage Room at 000702-16...
It didn't take them long to reach his chosen location. As they approached the door, Coen turned to Nylah and whispered, "Try to be quiet, I don't want to spook the child if they are there."

"Of course," Nylah whispered back, knowing just how skittish children on their own could be.

Coen opened the door carefully so as not to make any noise. Nylah crept into the room and Coen carefully closed the door after them. Nylah was trying to see past the boxes stacked in the room when she felt a sudden, intense pain in the back of her head and everything went black.

Coen looked down at his handy work and smiled. If she wasn't dead, she would be soon. He pulled the readied rope from his belt pouch and proceeded to tie his victim's arms and legs. He was so busy, he didn't even notice the sudden flutter of wings or their just as sudden silence.

Spath's Weyr, The Harper's Apartment...
Brad noticed a low-level concern over his bond with Nylah. He smiled, she had probably found another child who needed her personal help. Since she'd started work in the Weyr, she seemed to 'find' at least one a week. Usually, it turned out she got concerned for no reason, but she was getting better.

He turned back to his daughter, Brenda, and tried to feed her another mouthful of mashed bananas. It was usually her favorite, but she could evidently feel something of her mother's concern over their weak bond, so was being a bit more fussy than normal. Suddenly Brad felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and Nylah seemed to drop from the bond. Both Brad and Brenda screamed from the pain. Brad scooped her up as soon as he could see straight again and apparated directly to The Weyrleader's Office... or as close as the wards let him get.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office...
Harry looked up, startled to see a distraught father holding his screaming baby suddenly appear in his outer office. He got up and rushed over to where Brad was in a panic, trying to get Jeofrey to understand what the problem was.

"Brad, try to calm down," said Harry. "We can't help if we don't know what the problem is."

Instead of saying anything, Brad simply opened his mind to the last few minutes and pushed for all he was worth. Harry, Cheki, and through him, every other dragon and fire lizard on the planet knew that something disastrous had just happened to Nylah. Through their dragons, Hermione and May were notified. May got an elf to take her to Harry's office and Hermione apparated there just a bit faster. May pried the screaming baby from Brad's arms as Hermione slapped Brad into something resembling coherence. While his wives were taking care of Brad and Brenda, Harry was mobilizing the Weyr's dragons and fire lizards to trace Nylah's location.

The dragons were to spread out and look in all the public spaces and the fire lizards were to go into each and every room in the Weyr. With the thousands of fire lizards, it shouldn't take long. They had a good image of Nylah to go on.

A few moments later, he got word that she had been seen leaving the central cavern a short time ago with one of the new immigrants. Harry had all the fire lizards concentrate on that area. Almost instantly after, he saw a horrifying image of a bloody-headed Nylah being tied up in a storeroom.

Harry called for the duty magical rider to apparate to his office in full stealth mode as he quickly stripped off his outer flight suit. Meanwhile, May and Hermione had managed to get their charges quieter. Brenda had cried so long and hard she was exhausted and Brad was in shock. He didn't even register that Hermione was slapping him. Brenda finally fell into a fitful sleep and Brad simply collapsed on the floor.

Spath's Weyr, Storage Room at 000702-16...
Harry and Joddy appeared in the storeroom behind Coen just as he was starting to tie Nylah's legs. Harry stunned him immediately.

"Joddy, take him to a holding cell for wizards. We will see to him later."

As Joddy popped out with his prisoner, Harry gently picked up Nylah and concentrated his magic. He needed to be in the Hospital Emergency Room NOW and the trip needed to be as gentle as possible.

Spath's Weyr, ER#1...
He released his magic and … they were in the ER. He carefully moved over to one of the waiting gurneys and gently laid Nylah down as the duty doctors and nurses rushed over to see what they could do.

"What happened?" asked Katie Bell.

"Someone found a way to get past the Equality Oath and attacked her," growled Harry. "Please do everything in your power to make sure she recovers fully. I need to go get her husband."

Nylah was already being moved into the closest operating theater as Harry disapparated to his Office.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office...
Hermione looked up as Harry reappeared with a questioning look.

'Found her and captured the one responsible. He's on hold for now until we take care of Nylah and her family.'

'Brad's in shock,' Hermione sent through their bond, 'and Brenda isn't much better. She doesn't really understand what happened, Brad probably thinks his wife is dead, is she?'

'She wasn't when I left, but she was in a bad way. Let's get them to the hospital waiting area. Brenda can be put into a cot and given a mild sleeping potion. Brad needs to watch what is happening so he knows his wife is receiving the care she needs.'

Harry opened his arms and May along with Brenda and Hermione levitating Brad joined him. Harry gathered his magic again and ...

Spath's Weyr, ER#1...
… they were in the ER.

'That was really smooth,' said Hermione. 'We will have to talk about how you did that later.'

Brenda was settled down in the family waiting room adjoining the operating theater. Harry settled Brad into a chair and enervated him.

"Brad, we are in our hospital's Emergency Room and our doctors are already operating on Nylah," said Harry, gently to the distraught man in the chair. "You can watch what is going on through this window, but, please, do nothing to interfere or you could lose your bonded."

Brad just shook his head in numb agreement. Harry looked at Hermione and said over their bond, 'Please stay here and look after him. I know you don't like him or trust him, but you will be able to step in if necessary. You can draw on my magic for extra power if you need it while May cannot.'

'I will,' replied Hermione, in a firm tone. 'I may not like him, but I really liked his wife and no one deserves what happened to her. Go take care of the low life who did this.'

Spath's Weyr, Holding Cells...
Harry apparated into the Security Department next to their underutilized holding cells. Joddy was seated in a chair across from cell #1, slowly rocking his feet back and forth in the air. Since he was so small, his feet didn't reach the floor when seated in a normal human-sized chair.

"He hasn't come out of the stun yet," said Joddy. "I put him in this cell because it was the first I came to. All of them have full wards to protect against any type of escape."

"Thank you, Joddy. What do you think we should do?" asked Harry, mainly to see how Joddy was acclimating to being an assertive Dragonrider.

"I think we should put him into stasis and wait until Nylah has recovered and have both Nylah and Brad present for his interrogation and eventual punishment."

"Good idea," agreed Harry. "Do you want to apply the spell or do you want me to do it?"

Joddy waved his hand at the cell and the prisoner became absolutely still, not even appearing to breathe. "Done," said Joddy. "You will have to call me to remove it. I want to know the outcome in any case."

"Good job, Joddy, back to duty for you. I will make the log entry for our prisoner."

Joddy popped out of the room and Harry turned to write in the Security log so anyone else coming into the holding area would have an idea why one of the cells was occupied. They didn't normally have the area manned, as there was so little call for Security in the Weyr. Harry finished up by placing one of the specially shielded video cameras so it got a good view of the transparent walls of the cell and the area surrounding it.

Spath's Weyr, ER#1...
Brad was still in shock. His bond was still quiet except for a restless Brenda. His beloved wife, Nylah, must be alive, because the doctors had not stopped working feverishly, but she was so very, very still ...

Spath's Weyr, ER#1, Sept 8, 2062...
Brad became aware that there was a most wonderful smell coming from somewhere. Brenda stirred in his arms where she had finally fallen into a fitful sleep late last night. He immediately tested his bond and felt the faint presence of Brenda, as well as something else just starting to appear. If it was his wife, she was barely there.

He poured all his love into the bond directed at that faint presence. He gently woke Brenda from her slumber and hoped that she would somehow realize what he was doing and follow his lead. Suddenly, Brenda was there, a distinct presence in the bond, also sending to the bond. It wasn't love so much as an annoyance that her schedule had been interrupted and her mother hadn't been there to take care of her. Brad chuckled to himself, wryly. Perhaps if his love wasn't enough, their daughter's annoyance might help.

He realized someone had been calling his name, so he gently withdrew a portion of his presence from the bond and looked up at Harry Potter.

"It's about time," said Harry with a smile. "I was afraid I was going to have to throw all this food away and bring more later."

Brad looked down at a small table set beside his chair and saw an assortment of various food, both hot and cold that looked like it had just been brought from a nearby fancy restaurant. Brad recognized that the food had probably come from the nearest kitchen, but didn't care. He grabbed a bowl of something that looked like it would be suitable for a baby, tasted it, and then offered it to Brenda. She started eating avidly. Evidently crying and staying awake most of the night took a lot of energy.

"Thank you, Potter," said Brad. "I've been concentrating so hard on our bond that all time seems to have stopped. Just before I realized you were here, I thought I finally sensed Nylah, but it was so faint it's hard to tell."

"I can understand that," said Harry. "They've kept her heavily sedated. Non-magicals are so much more delicate than we are. I talked with Doctor Sheppard who was called in to help and he said her skull had been shattered from the blow. If I hadn't gotten her here as quickly as I did, she would have been dead within minutes. As it is, since we aren't able to use magic to heal her directly, they have been forced to do most of the work of removing bone fragments and repairing her skull using non-magical means. It seems that using forceps to grab a piece of bone is much easier than levitating it, especially if it's still attached in any way."

"Will she be alright?" asked Brad, worried past being able to even think clearly.

"Why don't I let Katie fill you in on what has been going on," said Harry. "She has been working almost non-stop since Nylah was brought in."

Brad stopped a moment as Brenda carefully pushed the spoon of food over to his own mouth so they could share. He ate it and got another spoonful to offer her before looking up again at the too young-looking doctor just approaching. He just raised his left eyebrow in question, but she already knew what he wanted to know.

"She will survive," said Katie. "Skele-gro will not work on mundane patients, so we had to open up her scalp and remove all the bone fragments all the while carefully injecting non-inflammatory drugs to keep her brain from swelling. Once we had all the fragments out, we ground them up, added a stem cell mixture to create a paste, and applied it to a sterile nano cloth patch.

"The patch is now securely in place and has finally hardened enough that we were able to close the scalp over it.

Physically, she should be fine once she heals from the trauma of being attacked like she was. Mentally may be another matter. We think we got to her injury soon enough so she will be alright, but only time will tell. Mundanes heal so much more slowly than we do.

"I will be keeping her in the hospital ICU for at least the next few weeks and in a private closely monitored room for at least a week or two more. Depending upon how she responds to treatment, she should be able to go home after that … as long as she gets plenty of bed rest and does nothing to increase her blood pressure. No lifting, no sudden movements. I will give you a list of restrictions when she is released.

"We've kept her heavily sedated, so she is feeling no pain. In fact, she will probably be sleeping for the rest of the day. I recommend you and your daughter go home, clean up and get some real sleep before you come back later this afternoon. She will still be here and may even be awake by then."

Brad carefully set Brenda down and jumped up and hugged Katie. "Thank you, Doctor. I owe you a life debt just for the attempt. If there is anything I can do for you or yours, please let me know," Brad almost sobbed in his relief.

Katie gave a gentle return hug and disentangled herself from Brad saying, "No debt is necessary. We have had to perform similar operations before, but not usually on a mundane. Dr. Sheppard came in to help because he has more experience with mundanes. He even stepped in a couple of times to allow me time for a quick bite to eat and to clean up a bit. It helped to clear the cobwebs and keep my mind clear. Without his help, I wouldn't have lasted through to the end."

She bent down and took Brenda's hand. She looked into the child's solemn eyes and said, "Your mother will be alright, she just won't be as strong as she used to be for a while. You will have to let your daddy take care of you more and both of you take care of her."

Brad felt a sudden pull on his magic through the bond and Brenda, all of 6 months old, exclaimed with determination, "We will!"

Katie looked at Brenda with surprise and turned to Brad. "Take special care of this one, I have a feeling she is going to be a force to be reckoned with."

Brad felt Brenda rummaging around in his mindscape, well inside his mental shields, and, as gently as he could, pushed her out. She looked at him as if to say, 'We will talk about this later!' Brad looked at his daughter speculatively and said, "Yes, I believe she will."

Spath's Weyr, Weyr Hospital, Sept 18, 2062...
At first, it had appeared that she would make a full recovery with no ill effects. The nano cloth patch made that portion of her skull much stronger than normal and her intracranial pressure quickly went back to normal levels.

It quickly became apparent, though, after she became truly aware, that there were some problems. She seemed to be unable to think of the right words when she wanted to communicate with others. This led to her being frustrated and, at times, she lashed out at those nearest her. Too often this was Brad or Brenda.

At first, Brenda didn't understand and started crying, which just upset Nylah more. Brad had to ask a nurse to come in and tend to his wife while he took Breda to an adjoining room in the hospital suite to talk to her.

"Brenda, baby, your mother has been hurt really bad in the head and has forgotten some of her words," Brad gently explained to his infant daughter. "This makes her angry with herself, but when she expresses that anger, it sometimes seems like she is angry with us. She isn't, and the speech therapists will eventually re-teach her what she needs.

"In the meantime, we need to be as cheerful and helpful as possible so she doesn't become more frustrated and angry. Do you understand?"

Brenda looked at him through teary eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Yes, daddy. I just wish she was better."

"So do I, baby," said Brad, "so do I." He was amazed at his daughter's rapid advancement in her speech abilities. He had caught her twice more roaming around in his mindscape just after he had awakened from a deep sleep. Finally, he had sat down with her and explained it was not polite to wander in other people's minds without their permission. Since then, they had shared at least two hours a day where Brad helped her learn how to talk and reason properly.

She already had her own version of a mindscape and was learning occlumency in order to help order her thoughts. Brad figured she was already at least as intelligent as an eight or nine-year-old child. The only thing holding her back at this point was her physical strength. At seven months, she could walk, but not for long, and didn't have the strength or coordination yet to be able to hold a book for long.

He sent his love for both her and her mother through their weak bond and got a smile in return. They hugged each other and returned to Nylah's room to continue doing what they could to help. Their bond became more and more important to all three, as it allowed Nylah to feel their love and they knew when something was bothering her.

Spath's Weyr, Weyr Hospital, Oct 14, 2062...
Brad walked into his wife's hospital room to find Drs Bell and Sheppard trying to get Nylah to take a potion.

"What's the problem?" asked Brad.

"She still needs her rest," said Isaac, "but she really hates the taste of the sleeping potions."

"I have an idea," said Brad with a smile. "Here, Nylah, take this pill." He offered her a tiny pill and a glass of water.

She looked at him warily, but the love he was sending over their bond reassured her. She placed the pill in her mouth, took a mouthful of water, and swallowed. Almost instantly, she was asleep, and only the fact that he was expecting it allowed Brad to catch the glass before it spilled.

"What was that?" asked two excited doctors almost in unison.

"That," stated Brad, "is my new potion-in-a-pill. It's the same dreamless sleep potion you were trying to get her to take, just encapsulated and shrunk in size until the stomach acid dissolves both capsules. Then it expands to full volume and takes effect almost immediately.

"Nylah and I have been researching this for over a year. I am still working on how to mass-produce the effect, though, so the pills are in limited supply."

"Well," said Katie Bell, "when you have resolved all the problems, we will want to start stocking every possible variant. Is there an expiration date for the pills?"

"No, I have added a stasis rune to the inner capsule, so any dose will be just as fresh twenty years from now as if it was just brewed."

"Definitely, then," said Dr. Sheppard. "We will replace all of our potion stock with pills and no longer have to worry about them having lost their potency due to being in storage too long."

"Nylah should be able to go home tomorrow when she wakes up," added Dr. Bell. "I have watched you and Brenda care for her and am impressed. You two have helped in her recovery even more than the therapists. Your control over your emotions when she gets angry is exemplary. I feel with two such dedicated therapists that she will do better at home. I will give you the list of restrictions I promised when you come to get her."

Spath's Weyr, The Harper's Apartment, Nov 12, 2062...
Nylah had been home for almost a month now and was improving visibly every day. She was more cheerful, didn't allow herself to get so frustrated when she couldn't remember a word and was sleeping much better due to Brad's 'pills'.

When not caring for his family, Brad had been working on his plans for the manufacture of his pills. He wanted to maintain control of the process so he could leave something to his family besides money when he finally passed on. In fact, he and Nylah were waiting for Karen Clark to arrive for initial discussions about licensing arrangements with the Weyr. Brad had decided after getting to know the Dragonriders, and Nylah agreed with him, that it would be safer for everyone involved if he allowed them to be the sole manufacturer and distributor of his new invention. He had toured their potions lab and approved of both the technical expertise of the workers there and the quality control maintained.

Cabdey, a house-elf Brad had hired to help take care of his holdings on Pern after Nylah was attacked, popped into the room. "Dragonrider Karen Clark is here to see you," he said.

"Bring her through, please, Cabdey," said Brad.

Karen walked into the parlor of their suite and noted a much improved, but still weak Nylah. "I'm glad to see you so improved after that horrific attack," said Karen. "When we are through here, Harry was wondering if you both could meet him in the Security Department."

After looking at Nylah and getting a nod of agreement, Brad said, "We would be happy to meet with him. I imagine this has to do with Nylah's attacker."

"It does. From what I understand, he wants you both there for the man's questioning. He has been under stasis since the day of the attack."

"Good," said Brad. "I might have some useful input for his punishment. Now, shall we begin?"

"Very well," said Karen. "From what I've been able to find, your process is the encapsulation of already existing potions, is that basically what we are dealing with?"

"Yes, but it goes a little further than that. Each tiny capsule holds a full-strength potion in compressed form. Once the inner capsule dissolves, its ingredients are allowed to expand to their original volume, about 2.5 ml, which is the volume of a standard potion container. The contents are under stasis, so will suffer no degradation of potency from long storage, unlike the current method of potions storage and, since it is already in the stomach when it expands, there is no associated foul potion taste. It took Nylah and me over a year to develop the best method to use and I want to protect my line's right to maintain full control over the process."

"That sounds reasonable. What recompense are you looking at for licensing your process?"

"I have inspected your current potions lab and found it superior to most I've seen over the years, so I know that the ingredients will all be of high quality. Because of that, I want to make the Dragon Nation the sole manufacturer and Distributor of the 'Pip', potion-in-a-pill. I would want to maintain full control over any surprise Quality Control inspections and, if I found a problem, would want to be able to rescind the license if corrections were not made immediately and any sub-standard Pips recalled."

"That is all doable," said Karen, "but you still haven't told me how much money you expect to make from this. If it's too expensive, it might not be worth it for us to even start."

"You say you've done research on the matter. How much have mundane pill manufacturers charged, per pill, for similar advances in the field?"

"I have found the return varies on how well the individual is able to negotiate. In every case, they all tried to get the maximum they could. Usually, the pill enclosure was coupled to the contents in some way as well, but when narrowed down to just the cost of the container, the inventor usually gets anywhere from eight to ten Sickles per container."

"Well, I guess I'm about to break a tradition, then," said Brad. "I already have too much money now, so I'm not as interested in making more as I am in leaving a legacy for our family. Since the contents will be manufactured in your labs and their costs will vary, in any case, that part is out of both our control. I do control the container and the manner in which to place a potion into said container. With that understanding, I will agree to license the manufacturing process to the Dragon Nation for a Knut for each Pip manufactured."

Karen looked shocked. She had never met anyone who wasn't out to get as much as they could from any process they developed. Even something as simple now as indoor Weyr plumbing had earned the inventors years of exclusive rights and millions of Galleons of profits. Warily, she asked, "Is there anything else you would need?"

"Yes," spoke up Nylah, being slow and methodical so as not to make any mistakes in her speech. "I want any such potions put into our containers to be made freely available to any children who need them, regardless of their status. Children are not in a position to be able to afford some of the more expensive medications and their parents are sometimes forced to make a choice between food or medicine. At least for children, I want to remove that choice."

Karen smiled, "We already make all potions freely available to anyone who is a member of the dragon nation and to any children who need aid, so that stipulation will not be a problem. Will there be anything else?"

"Yes," said Brad, "I want all monies to be deposited into a separate Gringotts interest-bearing account. I think 'The Harper Medical Trust' would be a good name. Nylah and I will be its initial signatories, but that will change as our family grows. I'm doing this for my family and this account will be easily transferred to our descendants. I can't think of anything else, can you, Nylah?"

"No," said Nylah, slowly, looking like she was struggling, even with that simple word. Brad sent her as much love and comfort as he could over their bond and she calmed down.

"In that case, Mr. and Mrs. Harper, I will get final approval from The Weyrleader and have the papers drawn up by our Legal Department. Expect a packet for your signatures within a few days. Thank you for your time and don't forget to go see Harry. He said he would wait for you in his office."

As Karen Clark walked out, Brad called, "Cabdey, Minny."

"Yes, Master Brad," said Cabdey as he and his wife Minny popped into the room. They had been married when Brad hired Cabdey and he refused to break up the pair. Minny had proven invaluable in Nylah's care.

"We will be going to see The Weyrleader. I would appreciate it if you care for Brenda while we are gone as we need Minny to go with Mrs. Harper."

"Of course, Sir," said Cabdey, solemnly. He and his wife had arrived on Pern shortly before Brad hired them, having been fired by an abusive master after he realized just how much money he was being forced to pay for Cabdey's services. His old master never knew Cabdey was married and that he actually had two house-elves for the price of one. Their new master was much nicer and even offered to pay both of them more than the standard, required rate. They were just thankful that they were accepted as a pair.

The nice livery they were 'required' to wear was nice as well. Their new master told them that their appearance reflected on his family and he wanted his house-elves to be just as properly and nicely dressed as their new masters were. Brad and Nylah didn't know it, but Cabdey and his wife would have happily worked for them for nothing, given the congenial atmosphere of the household. Master had even told them both that he would hire temporary help if Minny ever gave birth, while still paying them, so Minny could take proper care of their new child!

Minny popped out of the room only to return a few seconds later with the bag she always carried any time she was to accompany Mrs. Harper anywhere. It contained a series of special 'Pips' that Brad had developed for her, simple multi-vitamins, calming draughts, health potions, and sleep potions were the standard. In a specially warded compartment, only accessible by Master were specialty drugs, very potent Veritaserum among them.

"Minny, would you please take Nylah to The Weyrleader's Office? I will join you both there."

"Yes, Master," said Minny as she took hold of Nylah's hand and they disappeared.

Brad looked at Cabdey and said carefully, "I have some idea how your former master treated you. I am ordering you right now to consider your life second only to Brenda's or Nylah's. You have a wife to care for and I don't want anything to keep you apart. If something happens get Brenda and yourself to safety. Things can be replaced, people cannot."

"Yes, Master," said the house-elf, outwardly calm, but inwardly awed and overjoyed that they had been able to find such a wonderful master.

Brad disapparated from the apartment and …

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Admin Assistant's Office...
… appeared in the anteroom to Harry's office.

Harry was just coming out of his office to greet Nylah and Minny as Brad appeared. After greeting the two women, Harry turned to Brad and said, "Ready to question your wife's attacker?"

"More than ready, eager," replied Brad, dangerously.

Spath's Weyr, Security Department, Holding Cell #1...
Joddy was waiting for them at the cell when the three humans and one house-elf appeared in the arrival arch. As Harry led the others over to the cell, Joddy said, "I have the Veritaserum when you are ready."

"If I may," interrupted Brad, "I have something that may work even better than normal Veritaserum."

"Oh," said Harry skeptically, "how so?"

"In my studies over the years, I have come across references to certain individuals, hired assassins mainly, who habitually take anti-Veritaserum drugs. The drugs don't stop the Veritaserum from working, it just kills the assassin before they can be questioned. I have developed a variant that works slightly differently. It is combined as a single drop slow-release Veritaserum dose combined with a quick-release calming draught and universal antidote. I am not sure the antidote will work with all possible poisons, but it will work with anything I'm aware of."

"Intriguing," said Harry. "Let's try yours then. I was going to have Joddy administer six drops."

Brad reached into the bag Minny was carrying and pulled out a small pouch. He extracted a small bottle and a pair of tweezers. He carefully extracted three tiny beads, so small they might be overlooked with a casual glance. He recapped the bottle and handed a small paper dose cup containing the three beads to Joddy.

"When you would have administered the Veritaserum, simply get these into his mouth by any means available," explained Brad. "They should dissolve instantly, giving him no opportunity to spit them out. It's OK to touch them with dry hands. I use tweezers because they are so small."

"Nylah, why don't you and Minny move behind that wall over there," suggested Harry. "It's a one-way wall which will allow you to see and hear everything that goes on on this side, but looks like a normal wall from this side."

Once he had made sure the two women were seated comfortably on the other side of the wall, he returned and said, "OK, Joddy, revive him. Let's see what he does before we administer anything."

Joddy removed the stasis field which still left the assassin stunned. Belatedly, Harry remembered what had happened and enervated the man. Everyone present knew he was now conscious and aware of his surroundings, but he just lay there with his eyes closed, obviously evaluating his surroundings without overtly giving away the fact that he was awake.

"You may as well sit up and relax," said Harry. "We know you are awake and you can make a better evaluation of your environment if you can see it."

The man sat up with a quick jerk of his muscles which indicated long and constant training. He looked around curiously and saw nothing but two men and a house-elf seated across a low table from him. What he didn't see was the optically clear, bullet-proof glass completely surrounding him. No one had bothered to search him and take away his wands, portkeys, or any of his weapons, a situation which erroneously made him think he had only just been apprehended and that his captors were exceedingly stupid.

Feeling confident, he decided to find out what had happened to him and what these peasants thought they were going to do.

"How did I end up here?" asked Coen. "Last thing I remember, I was showing your Assistant Weyr Fostering Mistress where I had found a child hiding."

"Ah, you don't remember hitting her on the back of the head hard enough to shatter her skull and then tying her up then," said Harry calmly.

Coen started internally, but he didn't show any reaction externally. They must have caught him in the act somehow. Well, he was still a trained killer, even if it looked like these two had done enough farm work to significantly develop their upper bodies. They shouldn't last that long against him. Too bad really. Now he would have to remove his mask after he was through here and hope no one remembered his true face. Too bad also there was no way off the planet except via those blasted Dragon Transports.

'Can you read him, Cheki', asked Harry.

'No, he is just like Hidden Man. I can see him and smell him, but he is a hole in my mind.'

'Well, try not to lose sight of him.'

While talking to Cheki, Harry had unconsciously turned slightly away from their prisoner. That must have been enough for him to think he had a chance. He hit the glass on the inside of his cell … hard. Harry and Brad looked down at him bemused.

"Moves pretty fast for a man in a glass box who's been asleep for months, doesn't he?" asked Harry.

"Moderately so. You want to enervate him or should I?"

"I'll do it," said Harry. He lifted the unconscious body off the floor, sat him in the chair again, and enervated him.

When Coen came to his senses, he looked closely at his captors. Neither appeared to have moved, but now there was some sort of visual disturbance between them. He concentrated and eventually was able to make out where he had hit his forehead. A small amount of makeup on his artificial face had rubbed off onto what was apparently the glass wall of an enclosure he was in. So much for attacking his captors immediately.

"A glass box, clever," said Coen disdainfully. "What's next?" Maybe they were a little smarter than they looked.

"What's next is we ask questions and you provide truthful answers," said Harry. So far Brad hadn't trusted himself to say anything.

"And how do you think you are going to manage that with you out there and me in here?" asked Coen, calmly. He needed to get out of this box! Perhaps if he baited them some …

"So, where is that little biddy that's the cause of all this? Does she have too much of a headache to come see me?" Coen leered. "I knew I should have had a little fun before I hit her, but I was in a hurry."

Brad looked at Harry with an icy calm. "Can I play with him a little bit when we are through here?"

"Only after we have pumped him dry of all the answers we need," replied Harry, just as calmly, but with no less of an implied threat.

Coen continued to try to get a rise out of one or both of them, but nothing he said seemed to matter. Finally, just as he opened his mouth to say something else, Brad said, "I think that's enough …" Silently he cast the Immobulus spell on Coen while his mouth was partially open.

"I wondered how long you would let him go on before you did something like that," said Harry. "Now what?" He wanted to see what the new Snape would do.

"Joddy, would you please place those three beads into his mouth and come back out," asked Brad.

Joddy looked at Harry, who nodded, so he popped into the glass box, tipped the beads into Coen's mouth, and popped back out.

"Finite Incantatem," said Brad.

As soon as Coen was free of the spell, he moved slightly and then froze on his own again. He knew they had given him something, but it didn't appear to be Veritaserum, which would have been instant death for him. He felt as if the room had suddenly gotten very warm, but couldn't seem to move.

"What's going on?" asked Harry.

"The antidote is going through his system counteracting any poisons it finds. From the way he's sweating, it's finding quite a bit."

Finally, as they watched carefully, Coen relaxed and just sat in his chair as if they were the best of friends. Brad said, "OK, it's working, you can ask your questions."

Over the course of the next three hours, they asked him every question they could and a few Nylah and Minny came up with as well. As soon as they learned about PAD, they got all the information about his meeting location as they could and passed it on to the duty Rider who passed it on to Earth. Before they were finished, Coen had been forced to remove his mask and surrender it and his gloves, as well as all his offensive and defensive armament.

When they found he was a hired assassin, they also started asking about his prior contracts. All his prior business dealings had been on Earth, so Harry sent for a representative of Interpol, who, after hearing some of what was being revealed, sent for a certain file and came up with even more questions. After five more hours, the Interpol man left happy to let the Dragon Nation execute this piece of garbage. He had a memory copy that would solve literally hundreds of cold cases from the past forty years.

When they all ran out of questions, Harry turned to Brad and asked, "How much longer will your potion remain in effect?"

"A few more hours yet," said Brad. "He will eventually fall fast asleep and wake with little memory of what transpired. What do you have planned for him?"

"From his testimony, he has damned himself. He would be executed just for what he did to Nylah, but, unfortunately, he can't be executed more than once."

"May I have a chance to extract a little personal revenge before he is executed?"

"Only if you promise to wear something during your fight," replied Harry.

"What's that?"

"This," said Harry, holding up a Dragon Kin Pendant. Of the two types, this one simply stored any energy impinging upon it into an internal accumulator, causing the protective field to become stronger. Harry didn't tell any of that to Brad though, he might decide not to wear it.

"OK," said Brad. "Tomorrow about this time?"

"It's a date," agreed Harry. He had some arrangements to make before then. He planned on making this as public as he possibly could.

Spath's Weyr, The Harpers' Apartment, Nov 13, 2062...
Joddy popped into the lounge area of the Harper's Apartment and called out, "Mr. Harper! I have a package for you from The Weyrleader."

Brad walked into the room from the adjoining bedroom where he had been preparing for his coming duel and looked inquiringly at the house-elf. It was odd and somehow disconcerting to find one who was so self-possessed and assertive.

"Do you know what is in the package?" asked Brad.

"A Dragonrider flight suit minus the helmet," replied Joddy, "and a Dragon Kin Pendant. Harry says you must wear both underneath your dueling robes before you come up to his office for the trip to the Security Department."

"Thank you, … Joddy is it?"

"Yes, I am Joddy. I was the duty Rider the day the assassin was captured."

"Rider, does that mean you ride one of those monstrous dragons?" Brad asked in surprise.

"They are not monstrous, but yes, I am bonded to Solionth. We share the full duties and responsibilities of any other Dragonrider."

"Well, thank you again, Joddy, and congratulations on your bond. My wife and I share a bond and, while I have no idea what it's like to share a bond with a dragon, I know that bonds themselves are wondrous. I know you and your dragon will be very happy together."

Joddy beamed at Brad's words. No one had specifically expressed his situation in just those words before. And here was a powerful human wizard congratulating someone who, just a few decades ago would have been beneath notice. Joddy, and through their bond his dragon, Solionth, felt a warm glow of pride and pleasure.

"Do you need any help getting into the flight suit?" asked Joddy.

"Since I've never worn such a contraption before, it might be a good idea if you stuck around until I got it on correctly." Brad opened the package and placed the pendant on the table temporarily. He pulled out the flight suit and found a thin, lightweight double cloth garment that had molded in boots and was all one piece. The inner cloth was blacker than night if that was possible and silky, almost liquid to the touch. The outer cloth was rougher and seemed to be more sturdy. Brad assumed that the outer covering was to protect the inner lining.

It didn't take long and he was completely covered by the flight suit except for his head and hands. Joddy had shown him how to open the single seam in the front. Brad pulled on the legs, pulled the suit up over his hips, and then worked his arms into the sleeves, pulling it up around his neck. Joddy then showed him how to close and re-open the seam. He then showed Brad how to extend the gloves and don them and re-stow them if he wanted bare hands. Brad was informed that, with a proper helmet, what he was wearing was not only totally waterproof but capable of protecting him from extremes of heat and cold as well as the vacuum of outer space.

"Thank you again, Joddy. Do you know why The Weyrleader wants me to wear this under my dueling robes?"

"I think I know why, but will let him tell you himself," said Joddy as he placed the Dragon Kin Pendant around Brad's neck and carefully put it inside the neck of the flight suit.

Brad donned his dueling robes and he and Nylah were ready to go. There was no way his wife would miss the punishment of the man who had tried to kill her. She didn't know what form that punishment was to take yet, but she was looking forward to seeing the last of him.

"If you are both ready," said Joddy, "I can now take you directly to the Security Department."

At their nods of agreement, he clasped their hands in his and then disappeared from the apartment.

Spath's Weyr, Security Department, Holding Cell #1...
When they all arrived in the Security Department, they found it greatly expanded from their previous visit. A dueling pitch had been erected in the center of the greatly expanded room on a slightly raised platform. The marked limits formed a rough oval 100 yards long by 50 yards wide. Spectator stands had been placed all around in the form of typical bleachers, twelve seats high. High-resolution cameras had been placed in strategic locations all around the area, covering both the dueling pitch and the spectators.

As Brad walked up to Harry with a puzzled expression on his face, Harry smiled and said, "You didn't think I knew you wanted to duel our prisoner? I figured if it was going to happen, we needed to publicize it to show what happens to those who break their oaths. I have one request though."

"What's that?" asked Brad.

"Don't kill him outright. We want to try to use him to capture those who sent him here if we can."

"Hmm, I may be able to help with that somewhat," said a grim Brad Harper. "An overdose of the same drug we gave him earlier will essentially leave him a mindless hulk that can be controlled by an Imperius. We would, of course, need to strip absolutely everything useful from him before the end."

"We can discuss it with the Earth Nations Law Enforcement Leaders that will be here to witness your duel," said Harry. "I'm not a fan of Dark Magic, but some of the spells do have their good uses.

"What kind of duel do you wish to have?"

"As far as Coen is concerned, it will be a no-holds-barred, duel to the death. He should have everything returned to him that was taken after I petrified him, but he should enter the pitch naked and have to don his gear as everyone watches. That way he will know that we know what he has."

"You do know he had gloves and a full head covering of the same material as our flight suits are made of, don't you?"

"No, is that significant?"

"Yes, the material will stop any physical attack up to a 50 caliber, high-velocity shell with little to no discomfort to the wearer. Above that, the wearer will suffer steadily increasing damage as the limits of the suit are reached to spread and control the impact. It will also block some magic attacks, but your pendant will block them all."

"So that's why you wanted me to wear this contraption under my dueling robes!"

"I'm sure you will be able to take him, but I would rather not face your wife if anything went wrong."

Brad had started to object but reconsidered at the mention of his wife. He had to be here to care for her. "Fine, let's get this circus started."

As Brad entered one end of the pitch, he heard his wife starting to loudly let her displeasure be known to any and all around her. He watched as Hermione grabbed her and started quietly explaining things to her. Nylah eventually calmed down some, but still looked terrified and he felt her love and concern through their bond. He just hoped she wouldn't do anything to distract him. As soon as he sent that thought through the bond, she quieted down quite a bit and he only felt love and confidence through the bond. He smiled lovingly at her.

Suddenly his naked, stunned opponent appeared at the far end of the pitch and Harry started to explain to the present spectators, and those watching via the cameras, what was going on. At a suitable point in his presentation, he had the prisoner enervated. As Coen shakily rose to his feet, Harry continued.

"Coen van Dongen, you have been found guilty of the attempted murder of one of our citizens. You have been found guilty of bypassing our Equality Oath that would have prevented your attack. By the way, we have already created means of detecting any such attempts in the future. You have also been found guilty of hundreds of additional actual murders on Earth. The collected evidence was given to the proper authorities on Earth and they have unanimously agreed to allow us to handle your punishment.

"As you are a Warlock, you will know how to defend and attack using magic, therefore, we sentence you to a no-holds-barred duel to the death using magic or mundane methods as you desire. All the original equipment you arrived with is in the bundle at your feet and your opponent is the husband of the woman you attempted to murder, the man you see at the opposite end of the pitch.

"He has graciously allowed that you are given time to don your garments and stow any gear that needs to be stowed before he will start. He did not tell me at what point he would feel you had sufficient time, so I recommend you get on with it."

As Brad and the surrounding spectators watched, Coen moved with amazing speed and precision, putting on his clothing and putting away various weapons. As it appeared he was almost finished, Brad cast a sonorus on himself and said in an amplified but calm voice, "Coen, I am no longer a vindictive man, but what you did to my wife is beyond contempt. I plan on meting out severe punishment to you today to show you, in some small part what your past victims went through. I wish you dead with all my heart for what you did to my bonded, but wish you to suffer more.

"As soon as you attack or move from that spot, I will assume the duel has started. Make sure you are ready because I am coming to terminate you." Brad then canceled the sonorus.

That Brad didn't yell or scream invective at his opponent, just made him appear even scarier to those watching. They could see his cold determination … even Coen. Coen for his part thought he had been in worse situations before, so was confident he would escape somehow. Perhaps killing this idiot on the pitch with him would win him some sort of reprieve. Almost as if reading his mind, Harry spoke up again, "If, somehow, you manage to overcome your current opponent, we have one more waiting to take you on. Turn around and look behind you, to see your second opponent."

Coen swiveled in place and looked behind him and almost collapsed in fear. There was a huge black-bronze dragon snorting smoke and no little amount of outright flame in his direction. Ryan's Dragon wanted a piece of the action against this creature who had harmed his beloved Ryan's sister. Ryan sat on his dragon's neck and glared at the man on the pitch. He was sure Brad would triumph but, if he didn't, Ryan and Danianth would get their revenge.

Coen was now afraid for the first time in his life. He was sure he could defeat the man on the pitch, but to take on a dragon all by himself was unthinkable. Well, one fight at a time. None of his muggle weapons had any kind of range on them and he was so far away that any spell he cast could easily be dodged, but he might as well try something to get this comedy started. He cast a powerful shield attached to his feet with his off-hand and cast a quick, yet powerful, Reducto at his opponent.

Brad watched the spell approach as if it were moving at half speed. In fact, his reflexes had sped up and he was processing information a lot faster than he would normally. He decided to test out the protective aspects of the Flight suit Harry had wanted him to wear. He flipped out his gloves and donned them in a quick almost practiced motion, then he simply stood there and held his hand in the path of the oncoming spell.

Coen couldn't believe his eyes, this idiot was just standing there and he had held his hand up as if to catch a spell that would end up shredding his entire arm and probably that side of his body. Faintly he registered a scream, presumably from the late idiot's wife. Pity she hadn't died. He saw his spell was close enough that there was no way it could be dodged, so turned to face his next opponent.

Nylah had screamed when she saw the angry blue beam of light arrowing for her beloved Brad. What was worse, he just stood there! She almost fainted when the spell hit and Brad was hidden behind a shimmering blue corona of sparkling energy.

The powerful Reducto hit the protective spell of the Dragon Kin Pendant and spread over the entire face of the shield that formed as the magic was absorbed into the built-in accumulator. Brad was impressed. He hadn't felt anything at all. His vision through the sudden shimmering of the shield wasn't even impaired. It didn't seem like the glove had stopped the spell though. It must have been the pendant.

He watched as his overconfident opponent turned to face what he thought would be his next adversary and Brad smiled. This was going to be so much fun and so very, very satisfying. He slowly started closing the distance between him and Coen, hoping that Coen realized his mistake before he got there.

Nylah sat up again when she saw Brad still standing, apparently unfazed. Then he started walking, slowly toward his opponent. What was he doing? This man could kill him and then where would she and Brenda be without their beloved husband and father? She glanced to her left and saw Hermione seemingly fascinated by the action but not overly concerned. Perhaps she was over-reacting. Maybe things weren't as dangerous as they seemed.

Coen realized the dragon was just sitting there and there was an unnatural silence in the room. He took a quick glance behind him and was shocked to see his opponent SLOWLY walking towards him. He should be dead! How had he stopped that Reducto? He should be lying there a bloody mess! Enough of this, he started throwing spell chains as he hopped around the space available with the intention of dodging any incoming spells. His shield was still active, but no sense wasting it unless it was absolutely necessary.

Nylah saw the assassin start leaping about like a madman, firing multi-colored beams of light at her husband, yet Brad continued to simply walk towards his opponent as if he were taking a Sunday stroll. Occasionally he would move his hand and something that had been sent against him would be redirected to cause it to splash harmlessly against the dueling shields protecting the audience.

Brad watched as his opponent wasted his energy jumping around to dodge spells that weren't being fired at him. What an idiot. He wasn't even really paying much attention to Brad, just acting as if he were in a normal duel. Occasionally, Brad would banish some physical item sent against him just because it was getting hard to see his opponent for the amount of debris between them. Where had it all come from? He must be converting dust specks into much larger objects to use as weapons. Just a waste of energy. Coen would probably be almost completely magically exhausted by the time they met nearer to Brad's side of the pitch than Coen's.

Coen finally slowed down and paid more attention to his opponent. He was walking slowly, didn't appear to be shielded unless a spell got through, and then the spell just dissipated against whatever spell he had up. He had yet to cast any offensive spells of his own, so perhaps he was counting on a really massive spell when they got closer? Coen stopped casting his spell chains and slowed his advance as well so he could decide on a different strategy. He kept his shield spell firmly in place and added a little more power to it.

Brad watched satisfied as Coen finally realized he needed to change his approach. Brad had never fought like this before, but he had never had such protection either. They were about ten feet apart when suddenly Coen launched an all-out attack that used so much transfigured material that Brad lost sight of him for a moment. A few seconds later he felt a hint of concern through his bond and cast his first attack spell. A low-powered Reducto to clear the air in front of him.

Nylah watched as the two opponents got closer and closer. Suddenly, Coen started casting so furiously that the area between them was almost completely obscured by flying missiles. She gave a gasp of concern as she saw Coen pull a knife and leap forward, rapidly closing the distance between them.

Brad's Reducto hit Coen's Shield and, even though it was low-powered for Brad, it burned almost all the way through the shield. Coen paused slightly, dodged to the side, and dropped his now useless shield. He had felt the warmth from that spell through his shield! This was one powerful warlock! He wouldn't be expecting a physical attack though. This fight should be over in the next few seconds.

As the space in front of him cleared, Brad saw Coen leaping for him at close range with a knife in each hand. His prison-honed reflexes kicked in and Brad grabbed a wrist in each hand and, without even thinking about it, head-butted Coen on the bridge of his nose. He immediately applied pressure to the wrists he held to cause enough pain for his opponent to be forced to drop his knives.

Coen felt a blinding pain as his nose was broken and his wrists were trapped in what felt like ever-tightening steel bands. Who was this Warlock he was fighting against? He kept current of all the duels going on around the world, so he could have counters ready for anyone he might be forced up against, but he had never seen or heard of this man before. He had countered everything thrown at him as if it were nothing!

Brad continued to apply pressure, hoping to break one or more of his opponent's wrists. Finally, one knife and then the other dropped to the floor. Shortly after, Brad felt a snap in the wrist he held in his right hand. One of Coen's wrists had just broken. Brad looked into the man's eyes, smiled grimly, and let go of both wrists as he stepped back.

Coen almost dropped to the floor. This monster was even more capable than he was at physical attack! His nose was streaming blood unhindered and his left wrist was broken. For some reason, his opponent had given up his advantage and released him. He took a quick glance around and found his poisoned blades lying on the ground within easy retrieval distance. He quickly banished one of the blades at his opponent's face while jumping to grab the other in his right hand. He winced from pain as he used his left arm as a counter-balance and felt the pain from his broken wrist, but recovered in time to see what his opponent would do about his latest attack.

Brad moved his head to one side to avoid the banished knife, so didn't see the pendant's shield stop it, causing it to drop to the floor. He watched with a smile on his face as Coen readied for another attack, one hand useless and losing a lot of blood from his nose. Now, what else could he do to make Coen suffer?

Coen shivered. That smile was evil and Coen understood evil. What was this thing he was facing, it couldn't be a man. No man he had ever known of was both magically and physically capable like he was. In truth, Coen was a warlock only because he fit the definition of a warlock, as in someone learned in dueling and all martial magic. In Coen's place, it included non-magical means, as he would use anything to give him any advantage. This THING in front of him could not be human! Now Coen was afraid and he knew he could expect no quarter, nor would he give it.

Brad cast a quick reducto at the hand holding the knife. Both he and Coen were amazed when the knife disintegrated, but the hand, encased in the nano cloth gloves was unharmed. Brad cast as powerful a Bombada at the floor under their feet as he could. He wasn't trying to hurt Coen, he just wanted to make sure there were no debris nearby that could be used as weapons. The Bombarda exploded at his feet and blasted everything out against the spectator shields. Everything, including a very surprised and dazed Coen. His head and hands were unaffected, but his clothing was torn and actually smoking in places.

Coen looked on in horror from where he had landed on the floor as Brad quickly closed the distance between them. This monster could move like lightning and he thought it was slow because of the start of the fight. The being looked at him with what appeared to be concern, but it couldn't be, that was a human emotion. It stopped a few feet from Coen and just watched.

Brad moved so fast he was next to Coen even before he had come to a complete rest. Damn! He hoped he hadn't incapacitated him too much. He needed to continue to inflict damage. He stood a few feet from Coen to see what the assassin would do next. Coen finally rolled to his stomach and tried to gain his feet only using his good hand. Brad backed off a little to give him some room.

As Coen started to rise, his monstrous opponent backed up to give him more room. More foolish him. Coen had seen his other knife almost at his right hand as he was getting up. As carefully as he could, he palmed the knife in a way he hoped his opponent couldn't see. As he got his feet under him, he faked a stumble and thrust with all his might at his opponent's abdomen. His poison blade would do the rest. As his blade made initial contact, Coen felt his feeling of satisfaction fade as his knife was stopped by something harder than human flesh and he looked in horror at the blacker-than-black hide of the creature he was fighting.

Brad felt a slight pressure as Coen's knife went home, but the flight suit had done its job in conjunction with the pendant. He felt it was now time to end this fight. He backed off and cast another Reducto at the remaining knife. This time, he wasn't surprised when the hand wasn't harmed. Then he knocked Coen down and picked him up by one leg. He proceeded to break or dislocate every bone in the leg he held from the toes all the way to the hip. As Coen screamed in abject agony and not a few spectators vomited or fainted, Brad switched to the other leg. By now Coen was unconscious, so Brad enervated him before starting on the other leg.

Watching the fight, Nylah had first been terrified for Brad, then satisfied that her attacker was receiving proper punishment, but now, as Brad meted out such horrendous damage, she was sickened. She knew why he was doing it, but all she wanted to do was hide her face from the awful scene in front of her. From some of the sounds around her, she wasn't the only one. He was doing this for her, though, so the least she could do was support him as best she could and hope it didn't last too much longer. She sent as much love through her bond as she could and felt him reciprocate.

When he finished the second leg, he again enervated Coen and started on his arms. He would leave his neck, head, and abdomen alone. He didn't want to kill his opponent, just cause him as much pain as possible for hurting his poor, defenseless wife.

Coen was now gibbering in pain and fear. He knew where he was going to end up and wasn't looking forward to it. This had to be a creature from hell, conjured especially to torment him before his journey actually started.

Brad laid Coen down on his back and opened his belt pouch, pulling out a small pouch. He extracted a small bottle and a pair of tweezers. He carefully extracted twelve tiny beads, so small they might be overlooked with a casual glance. He recapped the bottle and upended the contents of the small paper dose cup into Coen's gasping mouth.

Coen instantly became still. Brad cast a sonorus on them both and started asking questions. Between Brad's additional questions and the new questions from various Earth Law Organizations represented during the duel, Coen talked almost non-stop for three days before he had a painful seizure. After his seizure, he lay still, a simple, broken, empty husk that had once been a man. Brad stayed with him the entire time. He wanted to remember this to help offset his wife's suffering.

When Coen stilled and would no longer respond, Brad looked up at Harry, canceled the sonorus, and asked, "Do you wish this empty husk for your own purposes?"

Harry, who had watched in fascination as Brad reduced his opponent to a literal skin bag of broken bones now shook himself. Could they heal this body back to some useful form? Could they send him to find his employers? Harry thought back to all the questions and answers and just shook his head in numb denial. There was nothing he wanted to do with the ex-assassin lying there.

Brad saw the negative shake of Harry's head and took it for what it was meant, an end. He cast a powerful Incendio Tria and held it until there was nothing left of the assassin but a fine powder and the rock floor of the dueling pitch was smoking. Ryan and Danianth, who had been watching avidly the entire time, approved.

Spath's Weyr, Dragon's Mast, Jan 1, 2063...
Brad Harper sat in the front row of seats in the main Conference room on the top level of Spath's Weyr for only the second Dragon's Mast he had ever attended. He just knew this one was not going to be near as easy to get through as the first. His wife and new relatives were gathered around him, waiting anxiously for what was to come. Suddenly Brad heard his name being called and dropped out of his meditative state so he could again react to the real world around him.

"Please come up on the stage, Brad and Nylah Harper," said Harry Potter, his old nemesis, but now, he hoped, his friend.

Brad took his place on Harry's left side as Harry turned again to the audience.

"Today we celebrate the award of a New Dragon Kin Medallion and its accompanying 1,000 Galleon award. Brad and Nylah Harper worked for over a year to correct something that the magical community has suffered from for generations, the vile taste of our potions.

"They have developed a way to mass-produce very small, tasteless capsules that actually can contain any of our standard potions and anything we develop in the future. The capsules dissolve in the stomach and their contents instantly take effect without having to go past your taste buds with their accompanying cries of distress at the taste.

"The Harpers are retaining all rights to their copyrighted invention, but are licensing the Dragon Nation to be the sole manufacturer and distributor of the resulting 'Pips' as they call them, Potions-in-a-Pill. We have signed a contract that gives the Dragon Nation sole rights to use the Pips unless our quality control declines in any area and isn't immediately corrected.

"For this great privilege, the Harpers could have asked as much as a Galleon a Pip, an enormous amount! Instead, they have only asked the nominal sum of a single Knut per Pip with the added proviso that any child needing any medication so encapsulated get it gratis. Since we already treat children for free, we 'reluctantly' agreed to this stipulation."

Harry paused as he got the expected laughs. He reached out and Dobby handed him the richly brocaded box holding the Dragon Kin Medallion.

Harry turned to the honorees and said, "Brad and Nylah Harper, I, The Weyrleader of the Dragon Nation, hereby award you both the Dragon Kin Medallion, denoting an exceptional service to the Dragon Nation. Know that this denotes to everyone that you are now a member of the Dragon Nation with all the rights and duties that implies and," Harry paused for effect. "After what we saw you do to the man who attacked your wife, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any such 'duties'." This last got a laugh from some, a nervous twitter from some, and a shudder from others. No one who had witnessed the 'duel' came away unaffected.

Harry continued after he got the expected reaction, "We members of the Dragon Nation consider each other family. Some members are closer than others. I hope you and your new family become very close indeed and hope that the initial problems we suffered through will fade and be as nothing between us."

Brad, who knew exactly to what Harry was referring, was almost in tears. To think that he had treated this young man with such contempt early on, only to find a true friend later in life. He owed Harry so much!

Harry leaned in, towards Brad and said quietly, "If you and your extended family would please join me and my wives in my office when we are finished, I have something else we need to give you."

Brad just nodded. Since their presentation was the last one for this particular Dragon's Mast, Brad and Nylah visited and received congratulations from the departing attendees and then followed Harry to his nearby office.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office...
"Brad, Nylah, Dave, and Paige, what I want to do is going to require some initial trust from you all. What I want to do is going to require a Loyalty Oath to the Dragon Nation, because it involves a Dragon Nation Secret that you will never be allowed to divulge to anyone not a member of the Dragon Nation. Are you all willing to trust me enough to take this oath without knowing the reason beforehand?"

Harry looked at Dave and added, "It will never involve anything illegal, immoral, or anything that would cause a conflict with your duties as an Earth Auror, er, policeman. It will provide you with additional resources that will help protect you as you go about your duties."

They looked at each other and then, individually, gave their consent. Harry, one at a time, administered the Loyalty Oath to each in turn.

"I do swear and affirm that I will never knowingly allow any harm to come to the Dragon Nation, either physically or through espionage. Any information that is considered a 'Weyr Secret' will never be divulged. If forced to the point of breaking to divulge such information, I will immediately lose consciousness and will remain so until I am safe from aggression. If I manage to escape my captors, I will do my best to help sanctioned authorities to capture said aggressors.

If, at any time in the future, I decide I wish to terminate my employment with the Dragon Nation, I am free to do so but will be required to have any 'Weyr Secret' information removed from my memories, at which point, this Loyalty Oath will no longer be in effect."

Once everyone had taken the Oath, Harry said jokingly, "Now that you have taken the oath, you are all eligible to hold jobs with the Dragon Nation. This is the same oath we require of all our employees."

At the looks of confusion he got, he hastily added, "That's not why I gave it to you though, it's so I could give you all these." He then pointed to a box behind his desk that held three Dragon Kin Pendants, their gem eyes sparkling in the light.

"But there are four of us and only three necklaces," said Paige questioningly.

"Remember what Brad just went through?" asked Harry. As they nodded, he continued, "Brad already has his pendant. We call it the Dragon Kin Pendant and it provides magical protection against most magical and quite a few physical attacks. It is the reason why Coen's attacks had so little effect on Brad."

Dave's eyes got really big as he realized what this could do for him in his work and to have his wife protected as well was the deciding factor.

As Harry, Hermione, and May placed the pendants on the three new wearers, Harry continued, "The chains are charmed to be unbreakable and will only allow the wearer to remove them once in place. They will allow helpful intent 'attacks', such as immunizations, so you could still be treated in an emergency. You would not be able to be operated on by anyone not from the Dragon Nation. Our Doctors have been given a way to safely and temporarily remove the pendants if necessary, but the pendants will eventually return around your necks on their own if the doctors don't replace them sooner.

"I know Nylah and Brad have a baby. We have a pendant for her that will also allow Brad to set an emergency port location. If she is ever in trouble, she can say a set phrase and she will be ported to the location Brad sets. If she is somehow hurt in spite of the pendant, just like all yours, she will be ported directly to the nearest Dragon Nation hospital Emergency Room, where she will be taken care of, at no cost, because she is wearing the pendant. When you have more children, they will be supplied with the same protection. Once they come of age, however, they will be required to give the same oath if they wish to keep them … and you may not tell them why."

After a light lunch and pleasant conversation, they were ready to leave. Brad and Nylah were going to show Dave and Paige around their new home. Brad made sure he was the last to leave and held back a bit.

"Harry, I really appreciate everything you have done for us. I am willing, right now or at a time and place of your choosing to drop all my shields and allow you free access to my mindscape."

Harry, though tempted for Hermione's sake, refused, saying, "Thank you for the offer, Brad, but I feel that would be nothing better than mind rape. I don't feel I want to go down that path, even if it's offered. What I would appreciate it if you could lower your shields enough so the dragons can 'hear' you. They just don't trust anyone they can't 'hear'."

Brad quickly created a 'Public Place' in his mindscape and pushed his current thoughts and stream of random consciousness into it. He made sure it was outside his defenses and dropped all protections from it. Looking at Chekiath, he asked, "Will that do?"

'Yes, Hidden Man,' said Cheki with a snort of amusement. 'We will now have to come up with a new name for you. What do you think of Leg Breaker?'

Brad shivered. "If possible, I would really rather not be reminded of that. Perhaps something related to the honor just bestowed upon us." From then on, Brad was Lord Pill and Nylah was Lady Pill. Brad didn't like that any better, but he had suggested it.

Timor, one of the moons of Pern, Cylinder Research Lab, Jan 11, 2063...
It wasn't really Cetath's fault. He had just come from Earth where he had enjoyed eating a freshly caught 500 pound tuna. Nature just caught up with him at the wrong time. He was helping transfer scientists to the Cylinder Research Lab on Timor, one of Pern's moons when he couldn't hold back any longer. All the scientists he had just brought in, rushed to re-enter the Dragon Egg Transport and seal the door. Everyone else rushed to escape to another of the sealed rooms or to find any handy breathing mask.

None of them noticed any change in the strange 4-meter long one-meter diameter cylinder that was being studied. It lost its super-reflective nature and looked more like molten metal. The change spread to all the cylinders in turn and each quickly reverted to its prior state. To be honest, the change didn't last long before they all reverted back to their base state, but it was a change they would have wanted to know about.

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