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

31. Chapter 31: The Sun Dragons, Part 1

Chapter 31: The Sun Dragons, Part 1
Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Quarters, May 4, 2063...
Harry came bouncing into his quarters sporting several cuts and bruises, including a very prominent black eye.

"Having fun again with your new 'playmate'?" teased Hermione.

"Yeah, it was great," said Harry, happily. "Brad is the only one who has ever managed to keep up with me for very long. I know he's over a hundred years old, but he is in better physical shape than anyone else on the planet besides me or Daniel. He's also more powerful magically than probably 90% of our magical population of any race. He makes an ideal sparring partner, especially when we both wear magic suppression bracelets.

"He taught me a new move today … and I taught him a response to that move that he'd apparently never encountered before. It was a GREAT workout!"

Hermione and May just rolled their eyes. May, because she knew Harry would be Harry. Hermione, because she had finally gotten over her unreasoning hatred of Brad Harper/Severus Snape. She was still reserved around him but was more accepting of the man he was now rather than treating him as if he were still the Snape of old.

"Did you ever figure out how that last knife thrust got past Brad's Pendant's rune shield?" asked Hermione, curiously.

"Not yet, everyone with any knowledge of runes and similar magic, have been trying to find the reason so we can correct it, but no one has found an explanation yet. Obviously, we are looking at it from the wrong point of view." Harry scratched his head and said, "That is even one of the questions I asked Coen when he was still responsive, but all I got was some gibberish about a fiend from hell.

"The only possible way for the attack to have passed through the shield is supposed to be if it was perceived by the shield as an attempt to offer medical aid."

"I'm sure you will eventually figure it out," said Hermione, assuredly. "You will keep working at it until you have figured out how to protect us better."

"I wish I had your confidence," mumbled Harry, mostly to himself.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, May 23, 2063...
"Come on in, Albert, and have a seat," said Harry. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Thank you, Harry," said Albert as he and his assistant sat across from The Weyrleader. "I know you've met my assistant before, but I will introduce him once again because I wanted you to know he will be taking my place. Harry Potter, Weyrleader, please meet Alina Brahmani, my fully trained replacement."

"Taking your place?"

"Yes, my wife has finally convinced me that I need to retire so she can go spoil our grandchildren. Unlike a Weyrleader we know, we aren't getting any younger. I will be 100 years old in a couple of years, and we want to use some of the money you've so kindly given me over the years for allowing me to do what I enjoy doing so much. We plan to travel and visit all the places, together, that I never had the time or opportunity to take her to."

"Well," said Harry, with a smile, "it's about time! We will be sorry to see you go, but I'm sure Alina will eventually be able to fill your shoes. How will you be traveling?"

"We haven't decided yet," said Ford, a bit unsure of himself. "Some of the places I want to take her are a bit out of the way and might be problematic for someone of our advanced age."

"Do you think your wife would be amenable to traveling via dragon-back?" asked Harry. "I know you have been using one of the unbonded dragons to travel when necessary. Perhaps he would like to 'retire' as well and go with you. You already have a full flight suit and it would be simple to outfit your wife as well."

"Thank you, Harry, that's incredibly kind. I have gotten rather fond of Nadirth. I suppose the first thing to do would be to ask Nadirth and then to convince my wife."

'Nadirth,' called Harry.

'Yes, Weyrleader, I would be most happy to accompany Master Ford and his mate on their travels.'

'You knew this was coming, didn't you?'

'Yes, but he should have rested long since. He is getting long in the tooth for a human.'

'That he is,' said Harry, sadly. 'Mundanes age so quickly. I will leave it to you two to convince his mate.'

Harry turned to Albert, who had been looking at him quizzically. "Nadirth has agreed to escort you and your wife on your trip. I leave it to the two of you to convince your wife," said Harry.

"I don't think she will require much convincing," said Albert, "she has always wanted to fly with a dragon."

"Looks like she will get her wish then," grinned Harry.

Just then Sir Stanley Scott came bursting into the room over the loud protests of Jeofrey that could be heard from next door. "Harry! I've got to ..."

"You aren't retiring as well, are you?" asked Harry, totally disrupting the elderly scientist's train of thought.

"Why of course not!" said a scandalized Scott. "I cannot imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing now. I do have a most efficient assistant trained up, though, in case anything happens to me. Dr. Oliver Harris is almost as capable as I."

"Of course he is," said a bemused Harry. "Was there anything, in particular, you needed right now, Doctor?"

"What, oh, ah, er, … I seem to have forgotten what I came in here for," said a flustered Dr. Scott.

"Well, you know where I am when you remember," said Harry, "though it might be better if you let Jeofrey schedule an appointment for you next time. Then you can tell him what it's about so, if you forget, you will have a reminder."

"Yes," mumbled Dr. Scott as he wandered out.

Albert laughed, "I have heard of distracted scientists, but I think the epitome of that just walked out your door."

Harry just smiled as he bade his other two visitors goodbye.

'Norendrath, would you ask Sirius to come to my office when he gets a chance, please?'

'He says he is on his way, Weyrleader.'

'Thank you.'

A few minutes later, Sirius Black, Head of Weyr Security entered his office. "What can I do for you, pup?"

Harry looked at his godfather with some confusion and then said, "I don't really know why I wanted you here, it's as if I know something, but don't know it yet … Perhaps it has to do with my office security. Dr. Scott just burst in here while I was meeting with someone else and there has to be a way to at least slow down such unexpected visits."

"Not as long as you refuse to put up a door that only Jeofrey can open from his side," returned Sirius. He looked at Harry speculatively. It wasn't like Harry to lose track of why he did something.

"Maybe you finally want to learn how to be an animagus," suggested Sirius, hopefully.

"Sorry, Sirius, but, as I've told you before, I just don't have any desire or need to transform into something else. I have all I need with Cheki."

"Well, you know where I am when you come to your senses and want my help," said an ever hopeful Padfoot as he, too, left Harry's office. Perhaps he could come up with some runes that would allow Jeofrey to stop unannounced visitors' access to Harry's office.

Spath's Weyr, July 12, 2063...
'Cheki, I need to get away for a while. Let's go flying!'

"Jeofrey, Cheki and I are going flying. If anything comes up needing my input, call Daniel and ask him to handle it."

"Of course, Sir."

Cheki agreeably rose from his place to the side of Harry's office and followed his rider to their semi-private exit from the Weyr. Harry climbed up on Cheki's neck, and Cheki launched himself into the air.

'Anyplace you want to go in particular?' asked Cheki.

'No, love, just as far away from the Weyr as we can go without leaving the planet. I just feel this urge to be away from everything.'

Following Harry's expressed wish, Cheki first jumped to over High Reaches Hold on the western coast of the Northern Continent and then started flying out into the Western Sea. Harry had stretched out along Cheki's neck with his eyes closed, viewing the world through Cheki's eyes. Slowly, he was drawing more and more magic to himself, without even realizing what he was doing.

'Harry, what have you done!'

'Nothing, Cheki. I'm just resting here listening to our heartbeat.'

As soon as Harry said, 'our', he started paying attention to what was going on. Somehow, he and Cheki had merged into what appeared to be a super dragon. Harry/Cheki craned their neck around and looked in wonder at the huge, shiny, platinum-colored body and even larger filmy, yet strong platinum-colored wings.

'My front legs are puny!' wailed Cheki.

Harry looked through their eyes and saw legs that looked more like human arms, though they were jointed more like a dragon's front legs. They ended in almost human-shaped hands with retractable claws. 'They look quite capable of performing fine motor skills,' commented Harry. 'We could type on a keyboard instead of pouncing on it like you do now.'

They were now hovering, effortlessly in the air, wings spread to the sun. 'That feels nice,' said Cheki, as the sun warmed their whole body.

'We seem to be collecting energy directly from the sun,' said Harry, wonderingly. 'It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have to eat as much in this form.' He looked closely at his 'arms' and noted that they were also covered in tiny, close-fitting scales that seemed to not only drink in the light but to reflect it as well. 'I wonder how big we are?'

'We will only know if we return and compare ourselves to someone else,' said Cheki. 'Are we going to stay this way?' he asked plaintively.

Harry recalled what he had been doing in the moments prior to their change, and slowly, carefully willed a reversal. Finally, they were once again separate dragon and rider. Harry and Cheki performed the 'merge' three more times to ensure they knew what was happening before they could return to Spath's Weyr. Each time they had changed, it had taken less and less magic and Harry could almost feel his core expanding.

In their combined form, they didn't so much 'fly' as drift as fast as they wanted to. Their 'wings' didn't seem to be adapted to flying as much as to collecting energy. Harry could feel the solar power they absorbed being converted into physical and magical energy. Perhaps this was why he had been feeling so restless lately. He knew he was going to need a lot of magical energy for something, but didn't know how he was going to get it or, for that matter, what he needed it for. They returned with a lot to think about.

When they got to the Weyr, they found that they had spent a lot more time than they'd realized. It was now late, almost night at the Weyr. Harry decided he needed another opinion on what was happening, so disapparated to …

The Pern Mother's Cavern...
… the Pern Mother's Cavern. He found the visitors' entrance closed and locked, but it didn't matter, because he had come directly inside, not needing to climb the endless stairs the pilgrims used to enter the cavern system. He levitated himself to the top of the pillar where the Pern Mother's tree stood. She was obviously expecting him, as she had manifested in her near-human form.

'So, Harry, you have started to evolve,' said the Pern Mother. 'It has taken you long enough.'

'You knew this was going to happen!' exclaimed Harry. 'Is that why I've been so unsure of so many things recently? Have you been trying to push me in a certain direction?'

'Guilty on all counts,' said a pleased Pern Mother. 'You are not just one of the Finders, you are finally starting to come into your true power.'

Harry just looked at her in shock.

'Come, Harry, you have been getting more and more depressed every time there is a death. Now, in your sun-dragon form, you will have the ultimate power to control many aspects of life on our planet … including who lives and dies. From the first time I met you, I knew you were different from all those around you. It's only been in the past few years that I finally realized why.'

'But I never asked for any of this!' exclaimed Harry, indignantly.

'Of course you did,' responded the Pern Mother. 'Every time you rebelled against some happening on our planet and forced a different outcome, you were moving in this direction. What now remains is for you to learn all you can about your new abilities and gather your power for what is to come. Don't worry, though, while your final crisis is close in planetary terms, you still have centuries of your human years before you will have to act.'

'Can you at least tell me what is coming?' pleaded Harry.

'No. If I did, you might not learn what is required or might respond inappropriately at the wrong time. You will learn all you need to know in plenty of time. Just trust your instincts. If you feel something needs to be done, do it.'

'Will I be able to get help from my friends and family?'

'Not right away. It might be best if you made them think your new form was a new entity, one no one had yet seen. I will aid in this by referring to you as the Pern Father. While technically true, it will also mislead them into thinking what we wish them to think until it is safe for them to know more.'

A dazed Harry reappeared in his apartment well before his mates arrived for the evening. Unusually for a dragon, Cheki didn't even try to allude that he knew something that no one else knew. Through Harry, he knew how important it was to keep this a secret, even from other dragons.

Pern, North Magical Pole, July 21, 2063...
Harry/Chekiath had been coming back to the same area now almost every day. It was handy that day here was night over Spath's Weyr. They had 'the change' down to just a few seconds and very little effort on either of their parts. Usually, they simply floated along, collecting energy. Fortunately, it would be day again when they returned, so no one noticed that Harry and Cheki seemed to almost glow. It would have been highly visible at night, but they had been spending their nights here.

Harry/Cheki looked at the ocean under them. They reached out to the planet's crust and 'felt' its texture. They felt the dense hot core with its load of harder compressed, ultra-hard rock slabs floating around underneath the planetary mantle. They finally found one they felt to be suitable and started pulling the slab to and through the mantle above it. They compressed the slab of dense rock into a hexagonal pillar three miles in diameter and, when it had finished extruding, like clay through a mold, it stood a mile above sea level.

Harry used the surrounding seawater to quickly cool the extra rock as it was being extruded, forcing the resultant steam to recrystallize into water so there would be no visible indication of the process they were forcing. When he was finished, it looked like someone had dropped a giant hex key into the ocean. Its sides were regular and it's top flat, perfect for … something. Harry still didn't know what he was going to do but felt that this would be a step in the right direction.

Once the new island was in place and assured it would be there, unchanging for thousands of years, he carefully cast a modified fidelius charm over the entire area. Now no one but he or Cheki would ever know it was there … unless/until he shared the information with someone. Then only that individual would know, and they wouldn't be able to share its location with anyone else.

When they finished creating the island, they started transferring magical energy to it. Two, three, four hours, and finally, Pern had a North Magical pole in fact as well as theory. Harry/Cheki watched as the Ley lines popped into being stretching between his North and the Pern Mother's South magical pole. He could feel the magical energy of the entire planet increase exponentially.

Satisfied with what they had accomplished, they returned to Spath's Weyr in the early hours of the morning to start their normal day. So far, they had gone nine days with no food or sleep and did not feel the lack. The sun's energy provided everything they needed. Now Harry knew he had to wait for the next trigger, whatever that turned out to be. Whenever he reached out to feel the Pern Mother's presence, he felt she was pleased with his progress, though still refusing to give him any further guidance.

Even after creating the new island, Harry and Chekiath both were still almost ready to burst with all the extra energy they had stored, Harry was surprised to note that Chekiath had developed his own magical core! He was going to have to teach Cheki some simple wandless, silent spells to see if a dragon was capable of performing human magic.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, July 22, 2063...
"Harry," called Jeofrey, "Ragnok has requested an emergency appointment."

"Sure," replied Harry, "ask Daniel to take all my appointments until I'm finished seeing Ragnok. Did he say when he would be here?"

"I got the impression … oh, he's here now!"

"Better send him right in, then," said Harry. He had a feeling he knew what had the Goblin Chieftain so upset.

Ragnok came storming into Harry's office as if he was prepared to do battle, but, for goblins, that was a normal state. Harry stood to meet his new guest and offered him a seat in the small lounge area near his desk. A goblin-sized chair and goblin treats appeared as Dobby realized who was visiting Harry.

"Harry," began Ragnok with no preamble, contrary to his ordinary way of greeting The Weyrleader, "we have detected a huge tectonic event of some kind on the other side of the planet. I would like your help in investigating. Whatever happened could presage the destruction of Pern and we may be able to repair any damage done in time to save the planet and our colony."

Harry almost laughed but managed to put on a concerned expression instead, "Cheki, please call the duty wing to the cavern floor. Tell them they will be transporting a group of ..." He looked at Ragnok for numbers.

"Fifty to start, but we may need more as we learn more."

"... fifty goblins to the other side of the planet. Speed is of the essence, but get the stand-by Dragonriders to prepare for a much larger force of goblins to be transported by dragon egg soon."

'It is done,' Cheki solemnly announced so that Ragnok could also hear.

"Well, that's taken care of," said Harry. "Would you like me to take you myself? It would be interesting to see what has gotten our Goblin Nation in such an uproar."

"That would be acceptable," said Ragnok as he pulled on a heavy cloak against the cold of between. Harry had offered many times, but the goblins kept refusing the use of flight suits except for special, very limited uses, even if they were tailored specifically to fit goblins. Ragnok felt that to wear one would be a show of cowardice.

Pern, near the North Magical Pole...
Seconds later Cheki, with Harry and Ragnok riding the base of his neck, arrived near the new island they had created last night. Harry and Cheki could see it but were sure no one else would be able to do so. As the rest of the hurriedly assembled goblins started arriving, Ragnok looked at the dead calm surface of the sea with vexation.

"Whatever happened, is no longer visible here. We must rush to the west coast of Northern Pern to see if we can protect the coast from the tsunamis that are sure to come."

Harry sent word to all his riders, and seconds later, they were dropping the goblins off on the west coast where they immediately started erecting defenses against a possible incoming wall of water. Harry and Cheki just sat back and laughed silently to themselves. This was an excellent prank! They knew there would be no tsunami, as they had purposely made sure there was none generated.

It only took minutes for the goblins to create a series of solid stone seawalls and baffles that would withstand the powerful forces of a tsunami and protect the coastline. Once finished here. They would jump to the opposite side of the Western Sea and protect the other side of the continent. As they finished, there was a distinct pause as the goblins kept expecting a wall of water to come beating against their new fortifications. They waited and nothing came.

A puzzled Ragnok turned to Harry and said, almost plaintively for a goblin, "But I saw the readings myself!"

"That's alright," said Harry. "We all needed a drill to make sure we could successfully defend against just such a disaster as you've suggested. We turned out in plenty of time and your team put up the defenses in more than enough time. It is not their fault that nothing occurred. Perhaps there was a local tremor that was misread as a much larger, more distant disaster?"

"Anything is possible," grumbled Ragnok, grimly. "We will go back and investigate until we find out what happened."

"Just please promise me you will not execute anyone until you know exactly what went wrong and exactly who was responsible," pleaded Harry. "It would be a waste of expensively trained troops to kill the wrong ones."

"Yes," said Ragnok, calming somewhat. "Too bad your Veritaserum doesn't work well for goblins."

"Why not talk with Brad Harper," suggested Harry, "he is a Potions Master and may be able to develop something you can use."

"An excellent suggestion," grumbled Ragnok, as he climbed back onto Cheki for the trip back to the Weyr.

'Maybe we made a mistake hiding the island so soon,' said Harry, wryly in private to Cheki.

'As long as he doesn't actually do any harm to any goblins, it should be alright,' replied Cheki.

'I didn't think anyone would notice a little disturbance on the other side of the planet. I should have known the goblins would be able to. I will have to make sure there are no stresses to detect if we do this again.'

"Ragnok, would it be possible for me to see what caused so much concern?" asked Harry.

Ragnok looked thoughtfully at Harry before replying, "I suppose. If it were any other wizard, I would not allow it, but you have proven you have a Goblin's Honor."

Ragnok escorted Harry down to the Goblin Den on the far side of Gringotts Pern. There, a short distance from the entrance to the new goblin city they entered a large room with low (for humans) magical workstations surrounding the room and a large table in the center of the area. The space was large enough that there was plenty of room for the crowd of goblins working at their positions.

Ragnok walked over to a specific workstation along the far wall and barked, "REPORT!"

The harried-looking goblin so addressed jumped nervously and started to go into an attack stance until he realized who was confronting him. He carefully removed his hand from his battle-ax and stood as tall as he could. "No change from when the disturbance stopped," he replied.

Harry looked at the bewildering display of magical devices on the workstation and casually asked, "Do you have some way to show what readings you were getting along with a timeline for reference?"

Ragnok and the so-far unnamed goblin just stared at him as if he were a particularly nasty fly, buzzing around their heads. Ragnok came back to himself when he realized this was their ally, even though he was a lowly human. "Goblins are trained from an early age to memorize and accurately recall all details of their analysis, especially when dealing with volcanism and planetary tectonics."

"But that doesn't help a poor, mentally deficient non-goblin to understand or even believe something momentous happened," replied Harry, not unreasonably. "In this case, there is nothing to indicate that there were any anomalous indications at all."

At the implied slight, the wizened goblin at the workstation did grab his battle-ax and draw it. Harry just looked at his impending death calmly and icily said, "If I had meant that as a slight on your ability or honor, goblin, I would have said you were a coward and been done with it. Anyone can make a mistake, especially when tired or when expecting something to happen … even goblins."

Harry allowed some of his magic to escape his tight control and a bright nimbus of power surrounded him, making anyone looking at where the three were talking to instantly look away.

Ragnok placed his hand on his compatriot's shoulder and said, "Let us hear out The Weyrleader. If he did not mean to insult us, he might have something in mind that would benefit us all. There will be time enough for an Honor Battle if one is truly necessary.

"Weyrleader, may I present to you Investigator Braglast. He has been an investigator for decades and has turned down promotions many times because he would rather do than lead.

"Braglast, standing before you is The Weyrleader, the one human who truly treats us as equals and the one responsible for our new home here."

Braglast hastily put his ax back where it had been. He had heard rumors about this human and he didn't think Ragnok would appreciate him killing the human … if he could. From the visible aura surrounding him, the outcome might be in doubt. He didn't get where he was today by fighting battles he wasn't sure he could win.

As Harry allowed his Aura to slowly fade, as if he wasn't even aware it had been showing, he started again, "Could there be some other reason why you might get false readings? Is the level of magic on Pern the same as it is on Earth, for instance?"

Braglast took the suggestion to heart and immediately turned to his instruments and started a calibration series. Shortly, he was cursing for all he was worth. Harry just looked at Ragnok and raised his eyebrow inquiringly.

Once the cursing slowed a little, Ragnok asked in gobbledygook, "Is something wrong?"

"The current level of background magic we can draw on has increased fourfold from what it was when we arrived on this planet! It used to be less than a quarter the field strength of Earth's ambient magic, now it is almost equal. Background magic does not increase for no apparent reason," replied Braglast, unaware that Harry, through his Dragon earrings, understood the language.

"Surely that would have thrown off your readings," suggested Harry, also in gobbledygook.

Braglast looked chagrined, which on a goblin was a frightening sight. He responded, "It would have, but we have never known magic to change like this, so no one would have even thought to check."

"It might be a good idea if everyone checked," suggested Harry. "Is there any way to determine when the magic started increasing?"

Both Ragnok and Braglast thought for a moment before Ragnok finally blurted out, "Our children!"

"Children?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Braglast, "our children are constantly being measured to ensure their magical core is growing properly. An increase like this would show up in their measurements."

"I will take The Weyrleader to check on our children while you and these other investigators ensure that all your equipment is calibrated properly … and stays that way, no matter what the level of magic becomes!"

"Yes, My Lord," replied Braglast, accepting the mild rebuke. He would be able to take his embarrassment out on the other investigators though. He was sure none of them had any idea magic had increased.

-oooOOOooo-

A short time later, Harry and Ragnok arrived at the goblin 'nursery' where all children were cared for during the day. When they walked in, the place appeared to be in an uproar. Children were fighting each other and several of the older children seemed to be ganging up on one of the adults in the room. Since Ragnok didn't seem to be concerned, Harry just watched with interest. Finally, the adult fighting noticed them, quickly disarmed his five opponents, and called the entire room to order.

As the students hurriedly formed into ranks facing Ragnok and stood at attention, their teacher moved to the side of the room where they were standing. "My pardon, My Lord. No one told us you would be inspecting us today. We were just starting our physical training."

"Everything cannot be run to a schedule, Nurkus," replied Ragnok. "Your charges must be ready for the unexpected. No visit was due for today until just a few moments ago. We have just learned that the background level of magic on the planet has increased quite a bit recently and were hoping your daily measurements could give us an idea when it started."

The goblin instructor turned to the assembled students and yelled, "RAGNOT! Front and center!"

One of the older students came running up to the front of the room and snapped to attention in front of Ragnok. Ragnok eyed him as if he were a piece of discarded trash as Nurkus almost yelled at the student, "Have you noticed any changes in the core sizes of your charges?"

"Sir, yes, sir," yelled Ragnot back. "For the past ten days, their cores have been growing faster than we were informed they would be, though not so fast as to appear abnormal. This morning, it was determined that their cores had expanded from the previous day's reading by almost four times its previous magnitude."

"And why was I not informed of this event?" asked Nurkus, ominously.

"We had not yet reached the time when you recorded our finding," said Ragnot, nervously. "It is not my place to bother your honored self with trivia."

"When anything happens that is out of the ordinary, it is not only your place but your duty, to report such a change immediately!" yelled Nurkus. "Five demerits for lack of courage to report an important finding! Dismissed!"

As the young student thankfully went back into ranks, Nurkus turned to Ragnok, stood ramrod straight, and said, "My apologies, My Lord. They are still learning and today will help them learn more. I stand ready to take whatever punishment you deem best for their failure. I have obviously not trained them properly."

"You are not the only one caught by surprise," said Ragnok, dejectedly. It was really embarrassing to be seen as so careless by a human, even someone like The Weyrleader. "Our lead Investigator was also fooled into calling out fifty of our Emergency Engineers and Dragonriders because he thought there would be a massive tsunami.

"You will start doing your measuring first thing when you gather, and send a runner with your findings to Braglast immediately, every day."

"Yes, My Lord, you are most understanding. It will be as you say."

"I'm not bloody understanding," thought Ragnok, "I'm furious, but I can't blame it on anyone else."

-oooOOOooo-

'Well done, Harry,' said Cheki, as Harry made his way back to his office.

'Well, we couldn't have Ragnok punishing anyone for what we did, now could we?'

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Quarter, Aug 22. 2063, 0400...
'Weyrleader.'

'Yes?'

'As requested, I have been listening to Master Scott,' said Kulanth. "He just went between as he slept.'

'Thank you, Kulanth. Please let the duty Doctors know in the ER. I will ask one of our elves to transport him.'

As the dragon faded from his consciousness, Harry carefully disentangled himself from his wives, covered them so they wouldn't get chilled, and made his way to the living room.

"Dobby."

"Yes, Harry," said Dobby as he popped into the room with a slightly disheveled look.

"Sorry to call you so early," said Harry, "but Sir Scott has passed away in his sleep. Would you please take his body to the Hospital Emergency Room so they may prepare his body according to his wishes? They are already expecting him."

"Of course, Harry."

"Take me with you. I need to make sure his property is packed away and any Weyr material is kept separate."

Dobby reached out his hand, Harry gently took it, and they disappeared from the apartment.

Spath's Weyr, Sir Scott's Laboratory/Apartment, 0405...
Harry pulled a tiny trunk out of his pocket, expanded it to full size, and said, "Pack Stanley Scott's Personal effects." He didn't put much energy behind it, but still, the trunk was soon packed with everything that Sir Stanley had called his own. Harry had half-heartedly watched to ensure something that was Weyr-Sensitive didn't make its way into the trunk. Once it was as full as it was going to get, Harry sealed it against any intruders except Sir Scott's next of kin or anyone authorized by his Last Will and Testament.

He looked around the neatly maintained room which now seemed so much emptier than it had yesterday. "Accio Letters," said Harry calling to him what had now become the standard procedure for anyone living in the Weyr. Albus had left a series of letters to different people and it was such a good idea that everyone seemed to be following suit. Five letters flew into Harry's hand and he checked to whom they were addressed.

Three were to be sent to Earth for delivery there, presumably to his family, one was to Dr. Oliver Harris, his assistant, and one was to Harry.

Dear Harry,
If you are holding this letter, then I am forever beyond any censure from your dragons for not being proper with their Weyrleader. I feel that now, I can finally treat you as the friend that I've come to value. Please try not to take my passing too hard, after all, we all die, some just sooner than others. It was my time and I hope I died in my sleep dreaming of all the new things I've learned since you found me.

I have set aside some of the money you've insisted I take for doing what I would have gladly paid you to allow me to do. The money is in a special fund in Gringotts, along with instructions on my final wishes. I want to be sealed inside a metal coffin, sent on a long, slow decaying orbit to a final impact on Pern's sun. I want my body to take some small part in the next series of stellar births when this star finally goes nova. The money should be sufficient to not only pay for the coffin but to pay for some special treats for those dragons I have been working with because I have one last favor to ask of them. I want them to not only launch my coffin on the proper trajectory but to do me the honor of guarding my last resting place on its journey. It would never do to get halfway there only to be knocked out of orbit by some passing meteoroid!

I have written to my last remaining great-grandchildren. My family line was never prolific, and I was only able to trace three remaining relatives. They probably don't know anything about me, but the million Galleons (after taxes) I am bequeathing to each of them might at least make them a little curious. I hope you don't mind, but I suggested that Pern would be a wondrous place for them to at least visit. Who knows, they may decide to live here as I did. I can't think of a better legacy to leave my children.

I have left a list of my private research notes for Dr. Harris to do with as he sees fit. He may wish to veer off in an entirely different direction, though I hope I've taught him the importance of being extremely careful with our test subjects. As long as he has been working with me, I have known him to be quite methodical and he always seems to try to pre-plan as much as possible. I hope I have left you with an able successor.

Whatever monies are left in my Gringotts account, I leave them to you to disburse as you see fit. Perhaps a scholarship fund for some deserving candidate(s) in whatever field you think would serve your Nation best. To be honest, I just let the money accumulate, so other than knowing I have enough for my aforementioned behests, I have no idea how much more will be available. I leave that in your able hands.

One more thing, I was never a very visible, outgoing person. I was more interested in my research than in the other inhabitants of Pern. I don't feel I need any big send-off. A quiet memorial service by your resident Druid Priestess would be more than sufficient. Just let people know when and where, but don't expect a big turn-out. I can't imagine that many knew anything about me.

At least now, you won't be interrupted anymore by some randomly ranting Doctor who gets so excited he forgets he shouldn't just barge in unannounced. I did value your time and input, Harry, and was just so excited to share what I was learning about your dragons. Since you never, ever told me off, I like to think you enjoyed putting up with me.

Your faithful servant,
Sir Stanley Scott

Harry felt a painful tug on his heart and realized he was starting to lose those who had been close to him at a faster and faster rate. Soon, of all his contemporaries, he would be the only one left. How was he going to survive? Did he want to survive? If he lived, would he be able to maintain his sanity?

He felt he really needed someone to talk to and there was only one being he thought had the appropriate point of view.

The Pern Mother's Cave, 0412...
Harry simply appeared on top of the rock column, next to The Pern Mother's tree. He didn't apparate, he didn't port, he simply wasn't here, and then he was. There was no feeling of being torn asunder from one location and thrust somewhere else, it just was. Harry didn't even marvel at his new ability, he just took it for granted as he reached out and touched the tree.

'Hello, Harry.'

'Hello, Pern Mother. I have some concerns and need to discuss them with someone, but no one else on this planet except you can understand exactly what I am going through.'

'That is because you are so much more than you seem at this tiny moment in time, Harry. It took me a while to realize it, because, for me, it's been such a very long time, but you are starting out much as I did so very long ago.'

'So all the Centaunans …'

'Yes, they are all descended from those who were my close friends and family.'

'It's no wonder you are so protective of them!'

'Yes, I almost went insane when that abominable Thread first arrived on my planet. It killed so many I loved and I had no way to recover them. They had decided they wanted to live a planetary existence again, and I just let it happen with no oversight. If I had been more than half-asleep, I could have at least tried to protect them.'

'How did you survive?' asked Harry, earnestly.

'I'm not sure. In the end, I guess I knew I had to do what I could to save those left, so I did. Now that you have come to make things more interesting, I'm very glad I did, but it was touch and go for centuries.'

'The last time we met, you said something about "who lives and dies". Will I really have that power?'

'You are getting there, but don't have it yet. Maybe in another few hundred turns, but not now.'

'Will you help me to save those who have become important to me?'

'Of course! We are in this together for now. Bring those you wish to save, and I will keep them safe in my cave until you can provide for them yourself.

'You do realize that the power you call "magic" has been increasing steadily every since you awoke me and not all of it comes from me. When you created that island using your new power, it created a magical pole for the planet that had never had one before. Magic is now increasing daily and what you call "Ley Lines" are becoming more and more powerful. Soon, in planetary time, I will be able to call you the Pern Father.'

Spath's Weyr, ER#3, 0420...
Harry appeared in the ER and just stood there and watched as the frustrated doctors were trying to autopsy Sir Stanley. Finally, something caused one to look up and she saw Harry.

"Harry, what have you done?" asked Maxine Kelly, angrily. "Sir Scott is encased in a stasis field like nothing any of us have seen before. As far as we can tell, there is no biological activity whatsoever, not even bacteria! Will you release him so we can determine how he died?"

Harry thought for a moment and then replied, "No. Sir Scott asked me to take care of his funeral arrangements, and this is part of it. Place him in a viewing room in an open casket so those wishing to say goodbye may do so. I will return with further instructions later." With that, Harry simply disappeared as if he had never even been there.

Frustrated, Maxine turned to the other doctors and said, "Well, you heard The Weyrleader. Let's get this set up so we can all go back to bed. I just wish we had known beforehand so we wouldn't have wasted so much time."

Spath's Weyr, Sir Scott's Laboratory/Apartment, 0350...
Harry appeared in Sir Scott's Apartment, silently. He hoped he was going to do this right, but he had to do it now if it were going to be done at all. He would probably refine his technique over time, but now he needed to act quickly.

He gathered the planetary magic around himself and decided what he wanted to do. He wanted time to absolutely cease to exist for Sir Scott and for nothing to be able to harm him in any way while he was in stasis. As soon as he knew exactly what he wanted, he released his gathered magic towards its intended target. As soon as he was sure it had worked, he left the apartment.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Quarter, Aug 22, 2063, 0430...
Harry lay in bed cuddling his two wonderful wives. To anyone seeing them, he was asleep, but in fact, he was deep in his mindscape making plans with just enough of his consciousness on the surface to warn him if he was needed. He had a lot of plans to make and some very hard decisions as well. He didn't realize it yet, but, in the future, his wives would call his plans the "Harry Potter Mortuary Plan". He just knew that when, not if, his wives predeceased him, it would literally drive him insane if he didn't have some kind of plan in effect that could give him hope. The Pern Mother had already told him he would eventually have the power of life or death, he just didn't have that ability yet.

Was it just him or would anyone with access to planetary levels of magic have the same or similar abilities? The only one he knew like that was The Pern Mother, and she had evidently lived a long time … from a planetary point of view, not a human.

Spath's Weyr, Aug 24, 2063, 0900...
"He only looks like he's sleeping, not like he's dead," commented a mournful Dr. Oliver Harris to his assistant as he walked past his mentor's open coffin. "Now that it's too late, there is so much I want to be able to discuss with him."

"I'm sure he would have been most interested in the new energy patterns emerging in the planet and surrounding space," replied Dr. Greetje Stokman, the new Assistant Weyr Research Lead. "I can almost see magic swirling through the atmosphere. I know I can feel it on my skin and my core has started growing again. We must concentrate on this new phenomenon and find out all we can about it."

"Of course, Greetje, but not right now. Now I just want to say one last goodbye to my old mentor before he begins his last, long journey."

Pern, 1300...
Harry/Cheki in their combined form and invisible to anyone else, watched as Dr. Scott's last escort launched from the planetary surface. He had told them they had to fly straight, without going between to meet the last wishes of their 'passenger'. Now was the time, while they were still in the thickest part of the atmosphere. They carefully reached out with their gathered magic and exchanged a mass of rock, measured very carefully and stored in The Pern Mother's cave, with the stasis preserved body of Dr. Scott. They watched and listened for a while, but it didn't appear that any of the escorts noticed any change in their consignment.

They then moved to The Pern Mother's cave and looked down at the apparently peacefully sleeping body of Dr. Scott. 'He will be most surprised when he wakes to find out he is not dead,' Cheki thought in his own mind.

'Yes,' replied Harry to himself, 'We need to try to decide how to wake him so he doesn't die all over again!'

Harry wasn't sure where this was going, or even if it would work out at all, but his directive had been, 'If you feel something needs to be done, do it.' This felt like it needed to be done, even if nothing came of it, it was a step in the direction he felt he wanted to go.

Pern's North Magical Pole, Oct 31, 2063, 2300 (Spath's Weyr time)...
'Right here,' said Cheki/Harry. 'I can almost taste the magic and it's most intense at this point.' Cheki/Harry carefully inscribed a circle in the rock of the island, centered within the maximum intensity magic that had formed since Harry/Cheki had created the island and pumped so much of their magic into it.

'Do you think a 20-yard diameter circle will be big enough?' asked Harry.

'It will have to be,' replied Cheki. 'You have ways to make people and things smaller, you will just have to make everything fit.'

'Trath and Comaloth are not "things"!' exclaimed Harry, as he carefully created three massive, circular pedestals, just touching near the center of the circle while being careful to keep the circumferences within the circle, if just barely. On each pedestal, nearest the circle edge, he created a dragon perch, small for the massive dragons that were Cheki and his consorts, but Harry would worry about that later. The perch looked like a heavy metal bar, bent in the middle to about 30 degrees, pointed towards the middle of the island.

Inside, and overlapping the inner pillars, he created a rectangular rise of black rock surmounted by a crystal sarcophagus. Each sarcophagus touched each of the others in the center of the circle. None of the perches or sarcophagi had names attached yet. He would etch that into place when needed. Whoever ended up being laid to rest here would be at one of the focal points of the planet's magic and would absorb an immense amount of magic. If he could channel the magic the way he wanted, it would have a drastic effect on anybody on the island.

When they finished with the initial three, they started creating additional plinths aligned as if they were fallen tree trunks centered on an immense blast. Most of the other plinths had dragon perches on the outer edge, but a few of them did not. 'Harry,' asked a worried Cheki. 'Shouldn't they all have perches?'

'Not everyone we bring here will be a Dragonrider,' responded Harry. 'I will not cause any dragon, not bonded to a rider to be entombed here unless they desire it. If so, the perches can be added at that time.'

Cheki just wondered that his rider was so astute as to think ahead to any possibility. He was gaining in intelligence much faster now since they'd 'joined', but he still had some trouble overcoming his old ways. He no longer thought of people as some sort of gestalt of the old Pern days. They were now individuals, each of whom had a name to identify them. 'It is hard, sometimes,' fretted Cheki.

'I know,' responded Harry, 'but soon you won't have to hide your newfound knowledge from anyone. I have faith in you that you will not use someone's name instead of their nickname as other dragons do. I caught you only once about to do so and you haven't forgotten since.

'You are the most impressive dragon on two planets. I would imagine you are the most impressive of all time!'

Cheki still felt good when his partner praised him. His newfound knowledge about non-dragon ways did nothing to diminish their bond. They both felt happy that another anniversary of the death of Harry's parents had almost passed with no disturbing occurrences. What they were creating was a way to celebrate a long, happy, eventful life together … and possibly beyond.

Spath's Weyr, Dragons Mast, Nov 2, 2063...
Daniel was presiding over the weekly Dragon's Mast, as he almost always did now. Harry sat with Cheki well off to the side and watched proudly as his son deftly handled some very acrimonious disagreements.

'You notice, Cheki, he almost always starts by asking both parties what is best for Pern,' commented Harry proudly.

'Yes,' responded Cheki, 'and then he asks each what they truly believe would be best for their opponent which was also best for Pern. Most of them usually end up solving their own problems, it just takes Daniel to show them the way. I approve of family. Even though dragons are doing their best to understand the new idea, it wasn't until we merged that I truly understood.'

Just then, they saw Dr. Oliver Harris making his way over to where they sat. As soon as he arrived, he almost incoherently tried to tell Harry something he obviously thought very important. Harry lightly touched his surface thoughts to try to make some kind of sense of what he was being told. When he finally understood, he said, 'Cheki, send this to Daniel and Gemioth. This is so important the entire planet needs to know!'

As Daniel finished up his current dispute, Dr. Harris was still babbling away, unaware that his new finding was about to become general knowledge.

Daniel finally wound up the current case and, before starting on the next, motioned for quiet. Since no one was making any particular noise, this had the desired effect of riveting all attention, except for Dr. Harris, on him. Harry gently gripped the old man's shoulder to distract him and held his finger to his mouth to indicate silence was required. Dr. Harris looked a bit startled but complied.

Daniel looked around, especially at his father, to ensure everyone was paying attention and started, "Video to high-quality document mode." As he got the flicker of light indicating compliance, he continued. "A theory that was postulated around the middle of this year has just been confirmed by Dr. Harris, Sir Scott's replacement.

"We now have documented proof that the level of magic all over Pern has been dramatically increasing. Not only that, but children whose cores had slowed down to a steady-state, but slight, increase, have started growing rapidly again."

This caused a pleased murmur amongst the magical members, who knew what a larger magical core meant for any magical person.

Daniel continued, "We also have documented proof that at least one Squib has cast his very first low-level spell. Upon examination, it was found that his core had also grown." Amid the sounds of shock, Daniel continued talking, "We will be initiating testing of not only all Squibs, but all mundane born. If Squibs can now perform magic, why then shouldn't all of us?"

With this bombshell announcement, many in the audience started trying to ask questions. With his handheld up, Daniel again called for order and got it immediately. He indicated a shocked Dr. Harris, sitting next to Harry, and said, "This is all Dr. Harris knows at this time. He and his assistant, Dr. Stokman, will be setting up tests within the next few days and posting their findings on our public WAN for all to read. If you have questions, I will direct Dr. Harris to have one of his interns set up a discussion group on our Dragon Nation forum.

"Any questions you ask may aid in the Doctor's research. I just ask everyone to please read everything or at least search for similar questions before asking your own. If we maintain order and consistency on the forum, it can only help us all to find answers that much sooner.

"Thank you, Dr. Harris. You have given some of us hope and many of us something to think could happen that we never even thought about … a Pern with a totally magical population! Please get everything set up as soon as you possibly can."

Daniel gave a wry grin and said, "I will try to keep the wolves away from your door physically by posting duty Dragonriders outside your personal and lab spaces, but cannot guarantee you will be safe for long without additional information forthcoming." Daniel smiled again as he saw Dr. Harris give a firm nod, get up, and hurriedly leave the Conference Room.

"Now, since that is out of the way, who was next on our agenda?" Neither Daniel nor Harry commented when most of the magicals with children rose almost en-masse to leave. Dr. Harris, Dr. Stokman, and all their assistants had already been assigned rotating protection details to keep them from being harassed. That May immediately stepped in and stated that none of the protection detail was to be parents with children wasn't overlooked in the discussion soon to begin raging on the Dragon Nation Forum.

"Questions about increasing magic on Pern" page, The Dragon Nation Forum, Nov 16, 2063...
MysteryElf, Forum Moderator: Please, LordHolderBenden, I don't know if your username indicates who you are or who you wish you were, it doesn't matter here. All are equal. If you continue to 'yell' at everyone in an attempt to get your own way, I will be forced to temporarily ban you from the forums … again.

Please keep in mind, this discussion is mostly about what is best for Pern and how we can help, not what is best for you and how we can all make that happen.

HumblePredator, Member: Can you reiterate some of the recent findings, so we all don't have to dig back through the past two weeks of posts to find out the latest?

MysteryElf, Forum Moderator: Of course, HP, let me bring up my list I've been maintaining online and I will list the high points:

1 There are no more Squibs on Pern. Every one of them is now capable of casting at least third-year spells and all of them are now eligible to attend free magical night school classes to teach them how best to use their newfound abilities.

2 All mundane Pern residents are now exhibiting at least minimal magical potential. Unfortunately, most are little more than what our Squibs used to be, but everyone is hopeful they will gain more power as the magical fields around Pern continue to grow.

3 Yes, the magical fields around Pern are growing. The earliest recorded time so far given was on or around 21 or 22 July of this year when the Goblins detected what they thought was a huge tectonic event.

4 No, no one not a part of the Dragon Nation has been told. This includes those still attempting to come to Pern to visit or possibly emigrate. We have been rotating our Dragonriders and their families back to Pern as much as possible if they desire to come. Believe it or not, not everyone wants anything to do with magic and even some of our magical riders are concerned about possible problems in the future. They will act as our "control group" which we will use to measure our increase in abilities.

5 Yes, every animal born on Pern is showing some effect of being exposed to the increasing magical fields. Some of the young Cheetahs, for example, have had bouts of "accidental magic". Our Weyrleader is of the opinion that there is really no such thing and is doing his best to ensure that all young people and their parents are educated about what it means to be magical and how to deal with it. There have been no live births since the start of the phenomena that do not have a measurable magical core. We have not had a hatching for dragons yet, so it is not known if dragons will also benefit. Everyone hopes they will.

6 Yes, there have been deaths related to the sudden increase in magic. For some reason, as LordHolderBenden has constantly pointed out, most of these are in the old Pernese Holds. For some reason, it almost invariably revolves around a child creating and eating magical food. Anyone who understands magic knows that food created magically contains no nutritional component and, if consumed to excess, can lead to death due to starvation. LordHolderBenden, please think about this fact and make sure your holders know it.

7 Pern now has three sets of poles; True North and South, a line about which the planet rotates; Magnetic North and South, a line about which the planet's magnetic field forms; and Magical North and South, a line about which the magical Ley lines seem to be forming. The magical south pole seems to be centered on The Pern Mother's Cave, but the magical north pole just appears to be an area of open ocean in the Western Sea.

8 Other than the fact that the magical field around Pern is increasing, there seems to be no pattern or steady-state rate of increase. It's almost like some random event is causing the increases in magic.

That is all we know for sure, so far.

StormNecromancer, Member: Thank you for listing all that, MysteryElf. Would it be possible to update your first post with a list of the latest findings? Then we could all just go there to find the latest.

MysteryElf, Forum Moderator: Of course, that is an excellent idea. I will do that now. Please no one kill anyone else while I'm gone!

Pern, North Magical Pole...
'I think that's all we can safely pump into our island for now,' said Harry/Cheki. 'I know we are both concerned that dragons become magical, but killing ourselves will not help. Let's go home.'

Spath's Weyr, Hatching Grounds, Nov 22, 2063...
The dragons were thrumming loudly, encouraging the hatchlings to break through their shells. All the visitors, human and otherwise, leaned forward to see what color the first hatchling would be, as the sharp crack of eggshell breaking could be heard over the other noise in the bowl. Harry and Cheki watched as a small bronze head forced its way out of the hole it had created and started widening the opening until the shell fell into two halves. The dragonet took a step towards one of the prospective riders, tripped, and slowly sailed overhead.

Hagrid quickly snagged the small dragon out of the air and returned it to where it had been so it could find its rider.

Cheki looked at Harry and said, 'Guess that answers that question.'

'Yes,' replied Harry. 'Now all we need to do is learn how well dragonets adapt to having magic.

'Hermione, please schedule some of our magical Dragonriders to team up with every new hatchling and rider bonded pair.' As he passed on his orders, he was also erecting a temporary anti-magic field over the hatching grounds to help protect against any draconic accidental magic. As he worked on the field, he felt Cheki reaching in with his newfound magical consciousness and tailoring the field to stop dragon magic only.

'Well done, Cheki!' enthused Harry. ' I didn't even think to do that, and you seemed to do it so easily.'

'It's like you said, Harry, magic is mostly intent and dragons are nothing if not intent.'

Spath's Weyr, Plain at the base of the mountain, Jan 10, 2064...
"Well," said May, "they are finally on their way. I didn't think they would ever master everything they needed to know to have a safe trip."

"It's the magic," said Hermione. "It's added another level of complexity to their training. Humans don't really reach a trainable age until they are about eleven. Dragons need to be taught from the day they are hatched. It was a brilliant idea to team up magical riders with the newly bonded Dragonriders, Harry."

"It just made sense at the time," said Harry. "Now I need to do something that may be even harder."

"What's that?" asked May.

"Please follow us," replied Harry as he climbed onto Cheki. Soon they were in the air and Cheki passed the jump image to Comaloth and Trath. Soon they were over the Western Sea with nothing in view as far as anyone could see.

Pern's North Magical Pole...
'May, you have been able to perform simple magic for weeks now,' began Harry, mentally. 'What I am going to ask you and Hermione to try requires you to reach out and grab as much of the planetary magic as you can while relaxing utterly.

'Both of you lie along your dragon's necks, close your eyes, and just feel the magic accumulate. Once you feel like you are full to bursting with magic, look through your dragon's eyes.'

He watched critically for several minutes but became worried when nothing happened. His whole plan so far had hinged upon them being able to merge as he could with Cheki.

'Sorry, Harry,' said May. 'I can see through Comaloth's eyes, but we've done that before. I don't feel any different.'

'Neither do I, Harry,' said Hermione. 'What is it you are hoping to accomplish?'

'What I am going to show you two is a Weyr Secret at the highest level. Only the six of us will know and not even a hint that we know something others do not may be allowed to escape. Open your eyes and watch me and Cheki.'

Harry waited until he was sure he had his wives and their dragons' complete attention and then he and Cheki merged.

Both girls gave involuntary screams of fright and their dragons reared back as if attacked. They quickly calmed down when Harry/Cheki simply floated there in front of them, looking back.

'Harry?' asked Hermione, tentatively.

'Yes, Hermione. This is the Harry/Cheki gestalt you are looking at. In this form, we absorb energy from the sun. After we reach a certain level, we can increase our magic levels at will. When it starts to become painful, as if we've overeaten, we can then infuse the magical energy into something else.

'Please follow me closely.' With that request, Harry/Cheki started their descent to Potter Island, located at the North Magical Pole. When they were as close as they could get without landing, Harry sent them both an image of the island and how it had been formed. Again they both gasped as the island suddenly appeared below them.

'Harry, you're beautiful but almost impossible to look at when the sun shines on you,' said Hermione.

'We thank you, but our beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,' said Harry/Cheki. 'When we first merged, Cheki was alarmed that his forelegs were deformed. Now we simply find them to be most useful.'

The women's dragons seemed almost hypnotized at suddenly seeing their consort change into an immense new form more than half again his normal size. Harry/Cheki looked at the two and said, 'You will keep this secret.'

Their only response was, 'Yes, Cheki.'

'Harry, would you un-merge and allow us to watch from inside your mind as you slowly merge again?' asked Hermione. 'It might help us to replicate how you perform the merge.'

'I will in a while, first, I want all four of you to just absorb as much of Pern's magic as you can. While you are absorbing from the planet, I will be slowly infusing you with even more. I will stop before you get too uncomfortable.'

For almost four hours, Harry fed magic into the four in front of him instead of into the island as he had been doing. He finally stopped when he felt they had reached their current limit of core expansion.

'OK,' Harry/Cheki finally said, 'I have given you as much magic as your cores can currently hold. They have expanded significantly, but are nowhere near what mine were when Cheki and I first merged. Lie along your dragons' necks, close your eyes, and look into our mind as Cheki and I un-merge and re-merge.'

Slowly then, taking almost ten minutes, Harry and Cheki un-merged while his wives and consorts watched. Then they took another almost ten minutes and re-merged. When they were once again merged, they looked at their consorts hopefully.

They watched as their consorts started the process they had seen in their mind. Hermione and Comaloth appeared to be closest when they finally gave up after trying for what seemed like hours.

'This is extremely important,' said Harry/Cheki. 'We will return here during Spath's Weyr night cycle to absorb magical energy and increase your core size. It may not happen immediately, but it must eventually. This is too important to allow to happen when it does. We must push to make the change as soon as possible.' Harry didn't tell them anything about what The Pern Mother had told him.

It took them almost a week of nightly trips to the North Magical Pole before Hermione and Comaloth were able to merge. May and Trath took almost a month more. During that time, the women slept during the day at Spath's Weyr and worked on expanding their cores on the other side of the planet during Spath's Weyrs night. Harry was still filled with concern, though. No matter that his wives and their dragons had achieved the ability to merge, they were still aging. They would still eventually die. Something was missing.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, Oct 31, 2064...
"OK, I'm here now, Daniel, what is it you needed to see me about so urgently?" asked Harry.

"Look at this paper that came in the courier pouch today. It should leap out at you."

Harry took the mundane copy of The Orkney News Daniel handed him and looked at his oldest son questioningly.

"Orkney is a group of islands just north of the Scottish mainland," said Daniel. "We don't normally get it, but one of the residents in the area sent it to the Campbeltown Weyr thinking we might be interested."

Harry looked at the paper and the headline jumped out at him.

Missing girl found safe and unharmed, by local constable!
Ten-year-old Marta Coineagan was apparently kidnapped from her home Tuesday, Oct 28th, and the crime wasn't discovered until her father got home that afternoon. Her father told police, "My wife died a few years ago, so Marta and I have come to rely on each other. She will come home from school, lock the front door, and wait for me to get home from work. I was terrified when I found the house torn up like it was."

Marta was found along a deserted stretch of road, near the end of Crowness Road by Police Constable Mòrag Guinne at about 0300 hours on the morning of the 28th of October. Constable Guinne said she "felt like something was trying to tell her where the girl was" and found her not long after. Constable Guinne said the child seemed very calm when she found her. "As I approached, I saw a dim glow in the night. As I approached, I could see it was a small figure that turned out to be the girl we were looking for. I walked up to her, knelt by her side, and asked if she was alright. She looked at me, touched my cheek, and said, 'Yes, I'm fine now, but I would like a ride home.' She seemed eerily calm for someone who had just been forcibly removed from her home."

Marta was cold and hungry, but otherwise unharmed. When questioned at the Station by a Child Services representative, she said, "A bad man took me, but Mother took care of him. She told me I would be alright and that someone would be along to take me home soon." It is not known who "mother" might be, since the child's mother died mysteriously on October 31, 2062, while her husband was taking their daughter to a friend's house for a birthday party. She was discovered lying in the front yard with not a mark on her, still breathing, but apparently in a coma. She died two days later.

Harry looked at Daniel and said, "Mother?"

"Yes, I thought you would pick up on that," said Daniel. "You don't think ..."

"It's possible," said Harry, catching his son's thought. "All of our dragons and many of our riders have embraced the Druidic faith. It's possible that the increase in belief is causing a resurgence of the Earth Mother's physical emanation.

"You have been all but running Pern for the past few years, I think I will take a small 'vacation' and go to the Orkney Islands."

Spath's Weyr, Harry's apartment...
"I would love for you both to come with me," said Harry, "but you both need to continue your daily merged magical exercises. I don't know why, but I know it's important for all of us."

"We'll be alright," said May, "just make sure you keep in touch and let us know what is going on."

"If you need help," said Hermione, "we will be there as soon as we can get to our dragons."

"I may call you both once I know more. If what I think is happening, I will need help charging at least one rune stone."

Hogwarts Weyr, Saturday, Nov 1, 2064, 0400 hours...
Harry and Cheki came out over Hogwarts Weyr in the wee hours of the morning. 'Hello, Kuroth,' said Harry mentally to the watch dragon. 'No need to wake anyone. Cheki and I will be investigating an occurrence up in the Orkney Islands but don't have a good jump image, so had to stop here first.

'Are you all doing well? It's been a while since I've checked on all the Weyrs, Daniel has all but taken over.'

'Good morning, Weyrleader,' said Kuroth, one of the dragons assigned to the school to help with their curriculum. 'We are all well. Daniel is doing a good job and will make a fine Weyrleader for all the dragons, but that will not happen for many years to come.

'I will let Timath know you were here when everyone wakes in the morning. They will be sorry to have missed you.'

'That's fine, Kuroth. Let them know I will try to visit before I return to Pern.'

'Will do, Weyrleader.'

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands...
Around 100 miles north of Hogwarts, Harry and Cheki finally arrived at Kirkwall in almost the center of the Orkney Islands. It was still dark, with dawn hours away, but Harry wanted to start their search in the dark, all the better to detect any Ley lines. Harry had noticed the lights of a small airport to the east of Kirkwall proper, so he and Cheki kept a close watch for anything or anyone sharing their airspace. They weren't too worried. Unless by some astronomical chance an airplane collided with them, they were invisible. Even wizard sight wouldn't be able to see them at their current altitude.

Harry lay along Cheki's neck, closed his eyes, and merged. Harry/Cheki opened their eyes and started searching the ground almost 2,000 feet below them. The Ley lines in the area were pronounced, but weak. Not near as strong as those near Hogwarts Castle. They carefully looked for any crossing lines or bright areas, and finally found what they were looking for west of Kirkwall proper.

'There,' said Harry, looking at a particular point on the line they had been searching. 'I can feel a consciousness like the Pern Mother's, but much weaker.' They slowly drifted closer. Harry didn't want to actually approach the new "Mother" until after daylight and they'd had a chance to soak in some energy.

West of Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, 0829 hours...
They had greeted the dawn at about 0710 hours due to their altitude, the surface didn't see the light for another nineteen minutes. Harry finally felt their cores were at maximum, so they slowly descended until they were less than 100 feet from the surface. There was a small thatched house almost exactly where they had seen the bulge in the Ley line, so they carefully set down in front of the main door, still invisible to anyone present. They had watched an older man leave before dawn, so thought this might be the home of the Coineagans. It was a Saturday, so Harry wondered where the man who had left had been going, but they were here to meet with the daughter.

While they were waiting, they picked up a huge rounded boulder from the side of the nearby road. They carefully cleansed it with fire, polished it until its surface was smooth, and started carefully inscribing ward runes on the surface using one of their retractable claws. This new consciousness was so weak they wanted to give her a fighting chance by protecting her as much as possible. As they were nearly finished, they looked up to see a small girl sitting on the front step looking right at them.

When the girl saw they had noticed her, she stood and walked over closer to them. "You are so bright! It's almost like looking at the sun!" she exclaimed.

'Hello, Mother,' said Harry/Cheki.

"Oh, no, I'm not Mother, but she is near. She says you would make wonderful converts to help bring others to us."

'We are honored she thinks so, but we are from a far place and have come to offer advice and what protection we can, not to join with you. We have our own Mother we owe allegiance to and she would not be happy with you if you were to try to keep us here.'

"Oh, Mother would never try to force anyone to do anything they didn't want to do," said the little girl who they now knew was Marta. "She just wants to help as many as she can. What are you doing?"

'We are carving protection runes on this stone. It will form a magical and physical protection over your home. Anyone with evil intent will be chased away and harmful magic will not affect you while under its protection.' Harry/Cheki carefully placed the finished boulder on the ground at the corner of the house and started charging the new rune stone with some of the energy they had absorbed from the sun and converted to magical energy. The stone started to glow and pulse with energy and an almost visible dome of energy appeared over it. The dome expanded to cover the house and then even more to cover the surrounding countryside. Knowing how magic and electricity normally didn't seem to be able to coexist, they had carved extra runes to allow them to work with each other. After all, energy was energy.

"Ooh," said Marta. "That is pretty!"

'We are glad you like it. We plan on staying until it is charged enough to cover most of the islands around your home. As long as the stone remains safe, you will remain protected.'

"Thank you so much," said Marta. "Mother says she appreciates your help. She wants to know if there is anything she can do for you."

'No, Marta, we have everything we need. As long as she brings peace and prosperity to you and your people, we will be happy. Know that there are dragons and their riders on your planet that will help you if you need it. They look fierce but are really quite gentle with their friends. We will let them know you would appreciate visits, but know they already know to worship you. They are probably why Mother is even now growing stronger.'

Harry/Cheki continued to absorb the solar energy, convert it to magical energy, and charge the runestone. With their new Sun Dragon sight, they could actually see the limits of its protection expanding. As they worked, they watched the man who had left, return with a young woman.

"Sun Dragon, this is my father, Niall, and Mòrag, is the kind lady who gave me a ride home when I had been stolen away," said Marta.

Harry/Cheki looked at the two adults who were looking at Marta, obviously wondering who she was 'talking' with. They slowly faded into view so they would all know who Marta was talking with. The man took a step towards Marta as if to protect his daughter, and the woman took a step towards Harry/Cheki as if she would stand between them.

'Do not fear us, we have come to give Mother some extra protection while she is weak. Once enough of you have seen her and know she is real, she will gain even more strength and be able to protect herself. We are creating magical protection for your islands so she will have a chance to gain the strength she needs.

'Bring your friends here to meet Mother while we are working, so they may see us and know we are your friend.'

The man rushed into the house and started making calls to all his friends, asking them to come visit. Mòrag started using her cell phone to contact those she knew.

By noon, there was quite a gathering surrounding the house. All those who arrived started calling their friends and acquaintances as soon as they understood what was happening.

The protective dome, actually a hollow sphere, centered on the runestone, had grown so it had already reached the outskirts of Kirkwall. Harry/Cheki and Marta seemed to be the only ones who could see it. Mother had yet to make a physical appearance.

West of Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Nov 5, 2064...
The area around Marta's house seemed to be filled with tents and people. The entire town had stopped what they were doing at one time or another to come to see what was happening and to marvel at the huge platinum-colored dragon that was blessing their town. The runestone had enough of a charge that its protection covered the entire town now and much of the island. Harry/Cheki found that it now took a lot of energy to expand the protection outward by even a few inches. It was time to get some help.

'May, Trath, Hermione, Comaloth, I need your help. Please join me on Earth.'

Harry/Cheki could feel their surprise. Until now Daniel had been the only one everyone 'knew' could talk to all dragons no matter which planet they were on. Now, evidently so could Harry.

A few minutes later, Harry/Cheki felt their arrival on Earth.

'Merge with your dragons and I will send you a jump image,' said Harry. They rose above the countryside until they were about 500 feet over Marta's house. Once Harry/Cheki felt the change in their consort's forms, he sent the image. There was an audible sigh of wonder from thousands of throats below when suddenly the Sun Dragon was joined by two more.

'I need help expanding the area of coverage for this rune stone. Please help me to convert solar energy to magical and charge the stone. It is going way too slowly.'

May/Trath and Hermione/Comaloth slowly started a rotation with Harry/Chekiath using the stone as the axis of rotation. When they all started charging the stone a beam of barely visible light erupted from the center of their circle and was rapidly soaked up by the stone. Harry/Cheki saw the area of protection start to visibly move outward again.

West of Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Nov 15, 2064...
The three of them had been working now for a total of two weeks and the area of protection was only slowly expanding again. It covered almost all the Orkney Islands and Harry/Cheki felt it would have to do. They had one more thing they needed to do. They concentrated and the surface of the huge rune stone slowly changed until it looked almost exactly like the scales covering the Sun Dragons.

As they finished and stopped charging the stone any further, the Mother finally made her appearance.

"Mighty Dragons, I thank you for your gift. I can feel its energy helping me to come to life. Know that, if ever you need a boon, make it known to me and, if it's within my power to grant, it is yours."

Harry and his consorts looked at the almost solid-looking apparation, that was the fledgling Earth Mother, with pleasure. Harry said, 'Keep your worshipers safe and happy and that will be our boon. Know that you will become much stronger. Others like you will eventually arise across the planet. Once each is strong enough, you will seek each other out and merge to become a single planetary consciousness. This was once our home. Protect it and we will be content.

'I have made your rune stone capable of charging itself from the sun. If you would keep its protection, let no one cover or damage it.'

With that, Harry and his consorts rose from the surface and jumped Between. Many stories of their days helping the new Earth Mother would arise. None of them would ever know who the Sun Dragons were, though, with all the pictures taken, none would ever be able to say it never happened.

As they had foreseen, many pockets of belief in the Earth Mother grew to encompass vast areas of the planet's inhabited surface. With the rise in belief, the individual consciousnesses also grew until they started to merge. Soon it was reported that the phenomenon was spreading. Crime in such areas was down and productivity and mutual support was on the rise. Free will was just as prevalent as ever, but now, everyone in those areas seemed to have a common guiding 'voice'. When criminal elements tried to infiltrate to take advantage of the 'trusting people', they either left quickly or, if their intent was malicious enough, they died.

Near Earth's South Pole...
Before they had jumped Between, Harry/Cheki had carefully gathered the planetary magic to them and concentrated on being as far away from their current location as possible but still on the surface of the planet. After they jumped, they came out about midway along a line between Wellington, New Zealand, and McMurdo, Antarctica, but west of the line by several degrees.

Once they stabilized in their new location, Harry/Cheki had his two merged consorts join his mind as he sent his senses into and below the planetary crust. As on Pern, he searched for one of the massive, super compressed chunks of rock floating in the magma. Once he found a likely candidate, he carefully started drawing it up and through the mantle while compressing it further to a shape similar to the one he'd extracted on Pern. Here, the only difference would be that it would remain visible to everyone. Since it would be visible, he didn't convert the rising steam into water but did make sure there would be no tectonic reverberations. Earth, like Pern, would not suffer from any tsunami.

'OK, ladies, we now need to charge Earth's new south magical pole.' Slowly the three Sun Dragons started to rotate above the island and pump magical energy into it. Since Harry/Cheki had help now, it only took a little over two hours before the island had enough of a magical charge for it to turn into the magical south pole. They continued to pump magical energy into the new island for the next five hours. As their last task, Harry/Cheki converted the walls of the island up to about three feet from the top to absorb sunlight and continue charging the island with magical energy. Just as they were getting ready to leave, they noticed a large aircraft approaching their position. Long before it arrived they had protected the island from magical and mundane attacks and were gone.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Apartment, Nov 16, 2064, 0800 hours...
"Why didn't you convert the top of the island to absorb sunlight as well?" asked May, once they'd all had a chance to relax a bit from their efforts of the last couple of weeks.

"I thought we might want to use the island for something and it would be really hard to put buildings on top if the surface were so smooth things tended to slide off," he said. "I already claimed the island for the Dragon Nation, so no one else will be able to legally do anything with it. It is in a good position to allow refueling for aircraft going to any of the Antarctic bases, though. I will probably allow the UN to lease a portion of the island for a base there."

"When did you do that?" asked May. "You haven't been anywhere without us."

"I told Daniel to take care of it as soon as we left Kirkwall."

"But he's on Pern …," began Hermione. "Oh ..."

"That's right, Daniel isn't the only one who can talk to both planets. Remember when I called you both to Earth? I was at Kirkwall when I called."

May and Hermione looked at each other and then grabbed Harry in a group hug. "Wherever you are going, you'd better take us with you!" exclaimed May. Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

"That was my idea," said Harry so softly it was hard for them to hear.

United Nations Building, New York City, Jan 1, 2066...
For the past year, the Dragon Nation had been working with the United Nations of Earth to verify the dragons' ability to quickly intercept and capture any missile launched that contained explosives, nuclear or otherwise. Because of the news coverage of the tests and their ongoing International Aid and Rescue Operations, the dragons, both bonded and unbonded, and the Dragonriders were now quite well known and respected around the world.

Harry was seated close to where he and Cheki had been seated the last time they were here, so many years ago. Unlike that time, he was not supposed to address the Council but was just here in case any unanswered questions came up. He was bored and started thinking about what had led up to this latest meeting.

There had been many instances where criminals were safely brought to justice, but one particular instance that had been televised live was instrumental in easing mankind's fear of dragons. A dragon was quietly sitting on a sidewalk, waiting for his rider, who was in a local shop, when a tiny 5-year old girl angrily stalked up to the dragon and started telling him off for "sitting on her hopscotch court and ruining the chalked drawing". It was obvious to any watching the film that the dragon didn't quite know what to do about his pint-sized attacker. The telepathic dialogue wasn't heard in the film, but the cameraman and the reporter remembered enough to give voice-overs during the required portions.

'I am very sorry, little dragon, for damaging your playing field,' said the dragon to the tiny terror. 'If you think of what it looks like I would be happy to re-draw it for you so it will not get damaged again.'

The tiny girl looked at the dragon like he was an idiot, but then, just the 'conversation' they were having caused her to think of what the drawing looked like. Six joined rectangles in a column with a semi-circular area at the end. Lucky for the girl, she included an idea of the size because she thought of a game she had been playing just a day earlier. Of course, none of that is caught on camera. What is caught is the girl's terrified mother running up and grabbing the girl as if she were in mortal peril.

The dragon studied the area he had been sitting in for a moment, then looked around to see if there might be a more suitable … and safer place for the court, one not quite so close to the street and its heavy traffic.

Fortunately, there was a vacant lot nearby, so the dragon carefully moved into position and used flame to melt a portion of the lot large enough for the hopscotch court. Once it was smooth enough, he "jumped in place" to cause the cold of Between to almost instantly cool down the area. Then he used one of his claws to draw in the rectangles and the circular area, placed the required numbers in the blocks, and then asked the girl her name. When she gave it, he carefully wrote it under the first rectangle. Thus the world now knew that this was Anna's hopscotch Court.

Mother and daughter watched in awe as the dragon worked. When he was finished, he turned to the tiny human and said, 'I hope this will make up for the grievous damage I did to your original. I know it's not quite as excellent as yours, but I hope it will do to allow us to be friends.'

Both mother and daughter 'heard' the dragon. The little girl walked over and carefully inspected the dragon's work and said, "It looks OK, just be careful where you sit in the future!"

The dragon bowed his head humbly and said, 'I will do my best, Little Dragon.'

What the camera didn't show was the cushioning charm the dragon carefully applied to the entire area so if anyone fell, they would not get hurt. It did show the dragon's rider leaning against the wall of the shop trying very hard not to laugh too loudly in case he became the new focus of the "Little Dragon".

Harry came back to the present when the Secretary-General called for a vote. Slowly at first, but very quickly, once they started, the lights in front of each Delegate's box turned green. Russia no longer had any missiles, having sold them all off to finance their reconstruction. There were only a few remaining nations that actually had a nuclear capability and they, while hesitant, could not deny the dragon's capabilities. 100% of the unannounced launches that could have been offensive in nature had been intercepted and simply disappeared. They never did find out what had happened to the missiles. What finally convinced the United States to agree had been an accident. A launch of a manned reentry vehicle that was supposed to go to the International Space Station for a personnel transfer had developed troubles late in the launch. A dragon had suddenly appeared, carefully grabbed the manned lifting body, and had taken it to within inches of the ISS, in-line, on-speed, and on course for a successful docking.

Once the lifting body had been carefully inspected, it had eventually returned safely to Earth. Now every nation in the world was voting in favor of universal nuclear disarmament. Only a very few missiles would be retained, their locations, no matter what country they were in, manned by multi-national technicians and soldiers, just in case a threat appeared where they were deemed necessary. It appeared that the nations of Earth had finally decided that "Mutually Assured Destruction" was no longer a viable option.

Harry smiled to himself. What no one knew was that every 'dragon' that had intercepted one of the potentially hostile missiles had been a Sun Dragon. Now that the Earth Mother was in ascendance and the Earth had a set of magical poles, magic on Earth was increasing. Every Weyrleader and their staff on both planets was magical now and Harry and his wives had worked hard to convert them all and their dragons to Sun Dragons. Any Sun Dragons with a Dragonrider in their family also had their wives and/or husbands taught how to merge.

Harry thought for a bit and then frowned. Every first and second hatching Dragonrider was now a Sun Dragon. They could all absorb energy directly from the sun, but something was still missing. They were all still growing older.

Benden Weyr, July 7, 2069...
'Do you trust me, Daindalth?'

'Of course I do, Weyrleader, but Meekun is feeling so sick …'

'I am going to do something that is going to cut your bond temporarily. Everyone will think he's dead and you must also disappear, but please, if you value the life and sanity of your rider, DO NOT GO BETWEEN!'

'I understand, Weyrleader, I think, but it will be hard.'

'I know, Daindalth. Cheki and I will help initially. When I put your rider in stasis, my consorts will take you to a special place. You must remain there with them until I return with your rider. Do you think you can do this?'

'I hope so, Weyrleader.'

Harry gathered the planetary magic and placed Meekun in stasis. As soon as he did, Daindalth almost went insane with grief. Harry finally had to cast a strong compulsion on him before he was able to leave with May, Trath, Hermione, and Comaloth.

Potter Island, North magical pole, Pern, July 10, 2069...
Harry was finally able to spirit Meekun's body away and immediately took him to Potter Island. There, he merged with Cheki and briefly removed the stasis to demonstrate to Daindalth that his rider was not really dead. He then immediately replaced Meekun's stasis and levitated him into one of the crystal crypts. As he sealed the crypt, he again gathered his magic and considered what he wanted to happen. He wanted Meekun's body to be healed, he wanted Meekun's mind to retain all his memories and to be free of any dementia or other mind disease, and he wanted Meekun to regain his muscle tone.

Then he turned his attention to a calmer, but still distraught Daindalth. 'Daindalth, see the small perch at your rider's head?'

'Yes, Weyrleader?'

'Sit up on your hind legs and grasp the perch tightly with your claws.' Once Daindalth was in position, Harry quickly cast a stasis spell on the dragon and then shrank him down so he was about one-tenth his normal size. The perch didn't appear too small now. Harry again gathered his magic and released it with the same intent as for Meekun. If this worked, they would both be much younger and stronger when he finally removed them from stasis. The planetary magic would work no matter in what condition the dragon and rider were.

Harry looked at the crypt next to Meekun, where his Weyrwoman would eventually be placed in stasis. Juni, his previous Weyrwoman had died too soon, back in 2056, for him to have saved her as he was saving his compatriots now. He knew they had loved each other, he just hoped Meekun had grown to love his new Weyrwoman as much.

Harry/Cheki floated over to look at the crypt containing Sir Scott. He was looking much younger than when he had been placed inside. Something was working, Harry just hoped it was working the way he wanted it to. He just hoped he would be able to come 'back to life' as he was hoping all the others would be able to.

Timor, Cylinder Research Lab, Oct 14, 2069...
"I tell you, Simon, it may sound like something from a Sci-Fi story, but if these cylinders were some form of null time barrier, there would be nothing in this universe that could touch them!"

"I don't care what you say, you're just going crazy trying to figure out what the cylinders are composed of. Help me try new experiments on cylinder #1 so we can eventually breach them and find out what's inside."

Temporary Nuclear Holding Facility, Kerzers, Switzerland, Aug 1, 2069, 0300 hours...
'They took the Nuclear Warhead,' said Brendan/Acheth. 'I guess you were right, even wizard sight can't see an invisible Sun Dragon. He looked right at me, but ignored me.'

'And he took the correct one?' asked Harry/Cheki, just to verify.

'He did, it was the only one "left". The special warhead that had 99% of its nuclear material replaced with super dense granite and a small tracking device in each implosion ball. The high explosives were carefully hollowed out and replaced with putty, leaving only enough of a shell to be identified as high explosives. The only danger from the "bomb" is from close handling and none of the conspirators will probably handle it long enough to get enough exposure to do any permanent damage.'

'Thanks for the update. Keep me posted as to its current location. We still don't know where they are planning on using it. Pick up for questioning anyone that has any contact with the decoy. We might get lucky and pick up most of the organization.'

'Will do.'

Rue Principale, France, 0430 hours...
'They have been taking it slow, Harry. They were in a dairy van but switched to a French Police Transport van just before the Swiss/French border. Now they are near Les Fin, France. There are still many different ways they could go We have several small Dragon Nation apartments and even a couple of the new Weyrs between where they are and New Campbeltown.'

'Thank you for the update, Brendan. Just make sure that, if it looks like they are going to try to detonate the device, get it out of there. The rest of your team can take down the PAD members, but you should be safe from any explosion that occurs from them trying to detonate the device. We just don't want any of the resultant pollution to escape.'

'Understood, Harry.'

Besançon, France, 0530 hours...
'Even more places they could go, but some would require them to back-track. If they continue in the general direction they are going, their number of potential targets has decreased.'

'Thanks for staying with them. I know it must be boring, following a small group of criminals around.'

'Well, it is my Weyr you think they are ultimately headed for. How could I not be involved?'

Reims, France, 0900 hours...
'I was really relieved when they bypassed Paris. It would have been a nightmare trying to apprehend them in that crowded city. Reims isn't all that better, but now it looks like you were right, they are probably headed for New Campbeltown. They have switched from the Police Van to a food truck, so are likely going to use the Chunnel to cross over. Each time they switch vehicles, they also switch personnel. I have had our secondary team pick up the PAD members from the previous teams and take them to Dragon Isle. It really helps that the Dragon Nation has been given such wide-reaching powers of criminal investigation and apprehension by the United Nations.'

Calais, France, 1130 hours...
'This is the most worrying part. Five of us have unmerged and are following the food van on brooms. We will remerge as soon as they are clear of the Chunnel in the UK.'

Cambridge, UK, 1540 hours...
'They took their sweet time! They had a leisurely lunch in Dover before switching teams again a few miles down the road at Kent Downs. We had Jondy bring us something to eat and it was probably better than what our suspects had.'

Glasgow, UK, 2120 hours...
'No question about it now, they are definitely headed to New Campbeltown. When do you want to stop them?'

'They had a remote detonating device on the bomb, so why don't we allow them to set the bomb and move a short distance away. We can easily remove the bomb when they are out of sight and pick them up any time thereafter.'

'Sounds good. That way we will know if they have any idea what the layout of New Campbeltown is like when they place the bomb. Of course, with a real bomb of the size they think they have, placement wouldn't really matter.'

New Campbeltown Weyr, Aug 2, 2069, 0040 hours...
'Looks like they planned their approach to coincide with our general food deliveries. They are idling on a side road along the approach to New Campbeltown with their lights off.'

'I just had an evil idea,' said Harry/Cheki. 'We should have plenty of time before they try to detonate their "bomb", why don't we remove everything from the crate except the remote detonator and a tiny charge, just enough to make a loud bang. Then, when they stop to detonate, we place the crate behind them. Shield the detonator from cell phone contact until they know we are there.'

Brendan/Acheth got a wide grin as they thought of the results of the prank Harry/Cheki was suggesting, 'Let's do it! I'll even make sure there is someone available to take some magical images of the whole thing.'

New Campbeltown Weyr, 0100 hours...
'They were the first through the gate with their "delivery",' thought Brendan/Acheth. 'I will want someone to find out where they were able to get the required passes. They carefully set their crate in an out-of-the-way place. Obviously, they don't know our normal procedure. If I hadn't passed the word to have the delivery area clear, their crate would have been immediately opened and sorted to wherever it was supposed to go. All they saw was a deserted loading dock.'

New Campbeltown Weyr, 0130 hours...
'OK, the "bomb" has been removed and we have the crate with us. The detonator is enclosed in a radiation-proof box that can be magically opened when we want it to react to the signal from the PAD member's cell phone.'

East of Glasgow, UK, 0500 hours...
The PAD team stopped their truck on a side road after leaving Glasgow proper. They were told that this would be more than sufficient distance so they would not be affected by the blast. They all donned dark glasses, and faced roughly to the southwest, towards where they were expecting the blast to occur.

"Everyone ready?" asked Hamish McBride, the team leader for this last team of PAD members. They didn't realize it, but they were the last, as all the other members, no matter how distantly located, including those responsible for starting the movement. All were now in custody on Dragon Isle, just waiting for this final act before being questioned under veritaserum in front of the head law enforcement officers from several countries, including Switzerland, France, and the UK.

Hamish looked to the southwest and dialed a speed dial number on the phone in his hand. Nothing happened! He waited a few minutes and looked down to make sure the number dialed was correct. Then, just in case, he hand dialed the number he had been given and pressed 'Talk'. Still nothing.

"What's wrong, gentlemen, something not working right?" asked a voice behind them. They all jerked around, pulling what weapons they had as they turned, mostly handguns, but also a short shotgun. What they saw terrified them. There, surrounded by dark shadows, was their crate! What was it doing here?

One of the shadows detached itself from the side of the crate and they were all so startled, no one reacted. It snatched the phone from Hamish's hand and said, "Let me try."

All the Team's eye's got really big as they looked at the phone. Then they heard a dial tone and a ring from the phone that Hamish had held, followed by a loud bang from their crate. One of the older team members dropped to the ground, dead from fright. The others were so shocked they just stood there numb. Hamish recovered enough to attempt to use his portkey, but it didn't work. Brendan was too thorough not to remember to erect anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards before revealing themselves.

Suddenly, all the PAD members dropped to the ground as they were stunned simultaneously. Then their weapons were taken from them and they were being stripped of anything that could be a portkey.

Dragon Isle, Interrogation Room 1, Aug 3, 2069...
The previous day, all the invited judges and Law Enforcement Officers from the countries involved had watched the Shadow Teams' memories of their 'pursuit' of those now held in their cells. They also watched memories of the initial veritaserum questioning which resulted in the entire PAD organization being captured. Now it was time to question and judge those last captured. The final judgment of all the rest would hinge upon what was found out from these three prisoners.

Hamish was brought in and pushed down into the chair on one side of the table in the interrogation room. Harry already sat on the other side. There were two bottles of water on the table, one next to each of the two seated there. Harry reached out and "suggested" to Hamish that he was thirsty. He slowly increased the compulsion on the prisoner until suddenly Hamish reached over and grabbed the water bottle next to Harry. He quickly broke the seal on the bottle and drank half of it down as fast as he could. It didn't bother Harry, both bottles contained veritaserum.

Harry waited until he saw the tell-tale slackness around the prisoner's eyes and then started the questioning.

"What is your name?"

"Hamish Dùghall McBride"

"What was in the crate you delivered to the New Campbeltown Weyr on the morning of the first of August this year?"

"It was a nuclear warhead that had been decommissioned from someone's ICBM."

"Why did you deliver it where you did?"

"We are People Against Dragons! We wanted to show them that they can't live on the same planet as we do."

"Did it matter to you that millions of innocent people might have died?"

"No."

"Did you realize that the blast area for a warhead like you had would have been almost 100 miles and that you were well within the blast radius at a little over sixty miles?"

"No."

"Were you told you would be safe from the blast?"

"Yes."

"Tell me the names of all the members of your group, including any who were not present, but that you know are members of PAD."

The interrogation ran for three hours, by which time they had more than enough evidence for a death verdict. They also had quite a few names, almost all of them in holding cells on Dragon Isle, the rest would be joining their friends soon.

Dragon Isle, Interrogation Room 1, Aug 6, 2069...
All the interrogations were finished. The most disturbing part of the questioning was that out of the almost three hundred prisoners they held, thirty-five of them had been young, impressionable teens or young adults who should have known better. Their only saving grace had been that none of them knew what the ultimate goal of PAD had been. To a man (or woman in a few cases), they only wanted to join something that would give them a sense of belonging and excitement. They had no idea they were members of a terrorist organization. Fortunately for them, they had never been involved in anything illegal. While their involvement would go on their permanent police records, they were all let off on probation and warned about what could have happened. They were also forced to watch the first few executions to cement into their minds that they needed to know much more about any future organizations they joined.

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