Author's Note: I'm running early this week, that said, our household is about to go so through some major upheaval in the next two weeks so while I have the next chapter half written my writing time might become compromised. Here's to surviving what's ahead. Enjoy, chapter is just Harry being given a flight of fancy by his pater. MNF

Chapter 12:

Space Adventure

*** Disclaimer: The place they visit in this chapter wasn't fully open until 2001. Considering this is fiction that centres around characters who can manipulate magic, I decided this slight flight of fancy wasn't too much, and it really doesn't affect the plot of the story. If you can't or won't stretch this far, don't read the chapter. You can join us again on Chapter 13 and still be up to date on the plot.***

Monday 31 July 1995

Harry felt stuffed from the second feast in as many days that Nicola and her team had whipped up. Harry had wanted steak, which made Remus and Sirius oddly excited. Canines and their meat. Nicola didn't disappoint making a delicious steak with a wonderful herby marinade that produced meat seared on the outside but was juicy on the inside. The same herbs were mashed into butter which melted onto the top of the steak in a decadent way. Mashed potatoes, garlicky green beans, courgette and tomato salad and freshly baked (and still warm from the oven) bread filled out the picnic the group had on the patio. It was far more informal than Neville's meal, but Harry had picked it himself, rather than having someone (like Neville's gran) pick it for him.

Harry would lie if he said he wasn't excited to see what afters was planned after seeing Neville's birthday cake the day before. Alexander came out with a domed platter and a small cruet. He placed it before Harry and lifted the lid to show Harry the moulded chocolate bomb beneath with much flair and fanfare. The sphere of chocolate looked like the night sky, the milky way transecting the whole thing and the constellation of Hydra, the water snake, depicted with the star Alphard twinkling at the birthday boy. Harry looked at Sirius, smiling as it highlighted their shared middle name.

"This is amazing," Harry said. "How did you do this in the heat?" Admittedly, it was an exceptionally sweltering day; then again, it was the end of July.

"I was in the walk-in freezer while setting it," Alexander admitted. "Here, pour this over the top." He lifted the curet and handed it to Harry.

"This is hot," Harry said. "If I pour it over the sky, it will melt!" Harry thought this was a travesty.

"Your real dessert is under the dome," Alexander said with a snicker. "Please, I want you to enjoy all of your birthday cake." Since the man wanted him to destroy this masterpiece, Harry did as he was told, and a warm, creamy white, sweet-smelling sauce poured out and did indeed melt the dome. Many oohs and aahs as the dome melted and a beautiful, layered dessert was revealed. The bottom was a dark chocolate cake. The next layer was a mousse of some sort, followed by caramel, another layer of the cake, a different mousse, and a shiny chocolate top.

"This is amazing," Harry said in awe. "What is all of it?" He was still staring at the wonderfulness that was on the plate.

"It's a dark chocolate sponge, with a layer of vanilla mousse and a layer of treacle mousse with a layer of caramel and a dark chocolate ganache. The liquid is a thinned crème pat." Nicola came out with Anna and Brigid, the maids, and they began laying slices of the cake and small ramekins of the sauce at each place.

"That was the most spectacular dessert I have ever seen," Augusta chimed in. "Whatever you're being paid, Sirius should double it. You belong in a patisserie, young man."

"My life is wonderful as it is," Alexander said. "But I appreciate your praise. Happy Birthday, Lord Harry. May you have many, many more."

"Thank you, Alexander. This is the best birthday cake I have ever had, and I might ever have in the future."

"You've just given me a challenge for next year," he said with a jovialness that made the room fill with laughter.

Tuesday 8 August 1995

"Whose house are we in?" Harry asked as he followed Sirius through the Floo and moved aside for Neville and Hermione.

"Every Hit Wizard or Auror has a safe house; this was mine. I'm quite certain it's been wiped of anything magical or in any way useful, but it's mine, although the deed still reads Earnest Broadmoor, your great-uncle on your granny Potter's side. When he died in the great war against Grindelwald, the place was left to your granny. When I turned seventeen, she gave me the keys. I wasn't fond of Leister, a bit too slow for my taste; however, it was a home, and it was free. So when I needed a safe house, it was ready-made for me."

"Cool, so we're in Leister?" Harry inquired. "Why?"

"Ah, why indeed, your birthday surprise is here. We're going to visit the Leister University Observatory, after it's dark, obviously. Before then we are going to the National Space Centre. Now, it's still under construction, but I have a mate who works there and was willing to let us in to see some of the exhibits."

"Mr Black, may I ask how you know someone who works in the Muggle aerospace industry?" Hermione asked.

"Excellent question, although I wish you would just call me Sirius like everyone else, Hermione." He gave her his best puppy dog eyes which made Harry and Neville turn and roll their eyes. "I did several undercover missions during the war, and many of them I was imbedded with Muggle spies. One of them was a bloke named Duncan Blair, a wild Scotsman who loved his whisky and was a former pilot. After he retired from Her Majesty's service, he went to work at the Uni here in the aerospace department. So, I got in touch with him just before your birthday and set this up."

"You have led an interesting life, Sirius," Neville said.

"Neville, my boy, you have no idea," Sirius said with a tinge of sadness.

Much like with his therapist, Harry and Sirius had taken to walking and talking, sometimes Remus or Neville joined them, but mostly it was pater and son. Both men were scarred by their childhoods and loss. Both were unaware of true love or friendship before they came to Hogwarts. To tell their stories to someone who understood was helping both heal and strengthen their bond. Sirius was often verklempt when Harry was indigent on his behalf over things that happened more than a quarter of a century earlier. Sirius wanted to murder Harry's relatives but knew nothing good would come from it. The Muggle authorities were bringing the Dursleys up on charges; it would have to do.

"So, I have some Muggle money, and I have my debit card, but I do not know how to get us from the flat to the Uni. I was hoping you'd be able to help me with that, Hermione or Harry," Sirius explained. "Shall we take the bus?"

"Do we have a busy schedule?" Hermione asked.

"A what?"

"Going to say no on that front," she quipped back.

"Don't you just stick out your hand, and it appears like the Knight Bus?" Sirius asked.

"No, Pater," Harry said with a chuckle in his voice, "they run on schedules. I have some pounds; I think it might be easier to hail a cab to take us."

"Lily took us on a bus in London once," Sirius said. "We rode on the top. I now understand why dogs like to put their heads out of the windows in moving cars."

"I'm not sure I want to see Pater on a Muggle Bus," Harry deadpanned.

"I resent that," Sirius said back, although he was smiling and gave his son a hug. He wasn't ever going to tell Harry he'd already embarrassed himself when Marlene McKinnon took him on one when he visited her the summer between third and fourth year. He didn't understand why it had to stop at lights and signs and didn't just change shape like the Knight Bus and keep going.

The quartet traipsed down the stairs to the ground floor and let themselves out. Sirius locked the door with the key. Harry looked at him questioningly.

"I had the locks replaced while I was on the run," Sirius explained. "I spent several months here with Remus, but then the darned Triwizard Tournament started, and I wanted to be closer to you."

"Thanks for that," Harry said, realizing Sirius had given up sleeping in a bed and eating off a plate for most of a school year for him. His Pater loved him in a way Harry was only beginning to comprehend the depths of.

It didn't take Harry long to hail the cabbie and give him the destination. They, unfortunately, ended up with a rather chatty cabbie.

"Where are you folks from?" he asked. There was a cacophony of answers. "Maybe one at a time?"

"Hampstead," Hermione said.

"Orkneys," said Neville.

"Surry, although we live in Wiltshire now," Harry added.

"London, although I do prefer the house in Wiltshire," the final, more mature voice added.

"Here for a visit to the Uni? You look about the right age," the driver said. "My name is Pat, and I've been a cabbie in Leicester since I was twenty. So which one of you is looking at the Aerospace department? Heady work, that is."

"Harry's interested in space," Hermione piped up. "We're along as support."

"Good friends you have there, Harry," Pat said. "Wherever you go for Uni, stay in contact with these folks. I'm still best mates with my primary school buddy. Even stood with me when I married my gal. Going on thirty years we are."

"Congratulations," Sirius said. "When you find that person who loves you more than you can imagine, it's important to hold onto them." However, there was a wistfulness in his voice that made Harry wonder what was really going on with Madame Bones and his pater.

There was more chit-chat while they drove through the former market town, some of it about the local football team. Pat was a fan of Leicester City FC and was hopeful about their chances of taking the League Cup. Harry had learned the basics of football in physical education in primary school and then about the leagues and teams from Dean Thomas, who was fanatical about West Ham. He and Hermione could keep the conversation going until they arrived at their location.

Hermione helped the quartet find the correct building and the office of Sirius's friend, Duncan. He was just as Sirius had described him; a prominent Scot easily likeable. He immediately pulled his old friend into a strong bear hug when he opened the door.

"I was thrilled when I got ye call," he said with a thick brogue. "Where have ye been for the last decade or so? I tried to find ye, but it was like ye fell off the earth."

"Long term assignment," Sirius answered jovially, but he was thankful his friend couldn't see his eyes. Azkaban still haunted him. "Even took me away from my godson. Harry, this is Duncan Blair. Duncan, my godson who I recently adopted, Harry Potter."

"Son of that mate of yours who could drink an entire bottle of whisky and still play darts with perfection? Wasn't his name Potter?"

"Yes," Sirius confirmed. "Unfortunately, Harry's parents were murdered, and I was unable to adopt him before this summer. Now, Harry is quite interested in space and the stars, and I've brought him here to celebrate his fifteenth birthday, so I hope you can give us a tour."

"Of course, I can," Duncan said with a cheer. "I might even lure him here to do his studies. How are you doing in ye studies? Taking much science?" Duncan asked Harry.

"Er," Harry hesitated, "mostly earth science and chemistry." If you called Herbology and Potions sciences.

"Take some physics in there and keep up with ye maths." That made Harry cringe; he hated maths.

"It'll be important to get your A-levels. Now, let's head over to the collection we're building. We've already sent our bid to the Millennium Commission for funding for a real museum, and we're waiting for the city council to approve us, but I think we'll have a beauty of a museum by the new millennium," Duncan went on.

"That's exciting," Harry said, and Hermione and Neville agreed. Harry and Hermione could keep the conversation going, allowing Sirius and Neville – who admittedly wasn't entirely sure what was being said – to listen and learn.

The first object that Duncan showed the group was the Orlan Space Suit, created by the Russian Space agency and put into use in nineteen seventy-seven. The teens agreed that it looked highly uncomfortable and were surprised how much the visor blocked the sun out. Even in the well-lit storage area, it made it very hard to see.

Next, they saw the Apollo seventeen moon rock. While it looked just like any old rock, Duncan explained that it contained considerable amounts of titanium and was roughly nineteen million years old.

"The astronauts who collected this rock had been trained in geology, so they just dinna pick up just any rock, they collected ones that'll give the science team more information," Duncan explained. He showed them a few other rocks of significance and walked around the different exhibits of other astronomical and aerospace importance.

Duncan then took them to another building where he showed them pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope from after it was fitted with its 'contact lens' to make it 'see' better. He showed them the information the Leicester University scientists discovered using data from the ROSAT X-ray satellite about the Hyades cluster and what it taught about when the sun was younger.

"The cluster is full of young stars about the size of our sun," Duncan told the group, "and it proved that the sun would have been more active when it was younger."

"What does that mean?" Neville asked. He'd become very interested in what the man had been telling them and now wanted to read some of the books Harry had been pouring through.

"Well, there would have been more solar flares," he said, and Neville looked at him dumbfounded. "Discharges of powerful energy." Neville understood that he'd seen some of Harry's magic, even without a wand. Sometimes it looked like wild arcs of power.

"There also would have been greater pull on the earth, which would have made it bulge and shrink."

"With the pulls, would the tides have been wildly affected?" Hermione asked.

"There woulna been any water yet. The earth was only 45 million years old. It took over a billion years for water to form on the earth."

"Wow, I didn't know that," Hermione followed up with.

"I've shown you most of what I can; how about we head to my favourite pub and have some supper? After that, it should be dark enough to see the light show the heavens put on."

"That sounds great; thank you so much for all of this," Harry gushed. He was having a wonderful day.

The pub was cleaner than the Leaky Cauldron and reminded the trio of youngsters of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, in that it was brighter and the food appeared quite appetizing. They were seated at a round table, Sirius taking the spot so he could watch the door, Duncan taking up the place to watch the back door. When they realized what they'd done, they broke out laughing.

"Old habits, they die hard, don't they," Duncan said to Sirius, and they agreed. "How old are all of you?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen, almost sixteen."

"Excellent, you're all able to order a half now. I would suggest the local ale," Duncan said.

"I've never liked ales," Sirius said. "I drink a stout if I'm forced to drink beer at all. Whisky or gin is what I prefer."

"Yere such a Londoner."

"Guys, my advice is to order a cider," Hermione said. "It's sweeter and I find beers astringent and oddly tasting of mouldy plants." The boys both made a face at that, thinking of potions that had gone badly and their smells.

When the waitress came to take their orders, it ended up being an ale, three fingers of gin, and three ciders.

Later that night, when the quartet were back in Sirius's flat, he regaled them of tales of a magical brewery that had been destroyed during the wizarding war. "They had the best stuff, including this beer called "Purple Passion". It had an aphrodisiac in it, and they would only sell two bottles at a time, and it could not be consumed in public. I only had it once, but the night I had with Amy was one to remember.

"Too much information, Pater, just way too much," Harry said, and they all laughed.