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you believed in love will find a way
Trading Yesterday 'one day'
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Dr. Theodore Nott swallowed hard and tried to hold back tears, his eyes never leaving the black coffin as it was sent through the blue-shimmering event-horizon. Once the object had completely vanished through the ancient mirror, he turned his head ever so slightly and his heart almost stopped once more at the sigh. It was times like these that reminded him once again, why he had – ever since the program first started about 8 years ago – always remained a civilian. Unlike him, almost everyone else in the Hall had joined the Military, and thus – even at such an emotional occasion like a funeral - were not allowed to show what they truly felt. Hence, it pained him greatly to watch his loyal friend and teammate – recently promoted – Lt. Colonel Ginevra Weasley stand at attention, her deep brown eyes filled with tears and fixed upon the blue-event horizon after saying goodbye to a member of their weird little patchworked family. However, having worked with her for all these years, he knew better than to comfort her in front of all the other military personnel that had gathered in one of the many secret halls underneath Mount Hogwarts – probably the most secret military base in the entire world. So, instead of giving her hand a little squeeze like he would have done in an un-military facility, he just gave her a re-assuring look and in return, her lips formed into the smallest of smiles. She understood. Once this whole charade was over, their team – their family – would gather for one of their famous team-nights, with pizza and alcoholic beverages to numb the pain of loosing one of their own.
Theo still remembered the first time the team gathered for a movie night. It was after they had gotten to know each other on their first mission…
After an ancient mirror was discovered at the bottom of Loch Ness, that was capable of creating a wormhole with a liquid blue event horizon, that allowed humans to travel to other planets. After its discovery it took almost a decade to figure out how it worked, and Theo – the anthropologist who had always been called crazy for his ideas that there was evidence of alien races found around Loch Ness – was asked to join the 'star-mirror'-programme. However, since the 'mirror was considered military property, they assigned one of their own to join him on his journey to – what they hoped – to be another planet. That's been the first time he had met cold, sarcastic and cliché-hating military officer Colonel Draco Malfoy. Not knowing whether or not the 'mirror really worked, Malfoy surprised even his superior officers when he volunteered for the mission. Theo soon figured out that the Colonel wasn't really bothered by the fact that this could have very likely been a one-way trip; the older man had lost both his wife Astoria and their son Scorpius in a hit-and-run while he was deployed in a black-ops mission overseas – and he had never quite forgiven himself for not being able to protect his family.
So together, they were the first to step through the star-mirror and their bodies materialized at the other side of the wormhole, about three hundred lightyears away on a planet that was inhabited by locals. Theo and the Colonel discovered that their race was threatened by a snake-like parasitic race called 'Death Eaters', which captured human humans and enslaved their bodies, using them as hosts.
This new enemy was well beyond a power they had ever seen, but along with the nuclear bomb they had brought along for emergencies, they were able to blow up the alien ship that hovered in orbit of their planet – 'Diagonalley' as they were told it was called.
After successfully enabling the enemy ship, Draco went back through the ancient mirror – telling a small white lie to his superior officers about having destroyed not only their enemy, but every single being on the planet. Theo on the other hand had decided to stay on the Diagonalley in order to help rebuilt the local's village and study the ancient cultures that had apparently invented the star-mirrors so many years ago.
Eventually, weeks turned into month, and Theo figured that the 'mirror was not only capable of offering transportation from this planet to Earth, but to millions of other parts of the universe. Apparently, all that was needed was to press a combination of six symbols that were craved into the mirror's frame. The reason it had taken Earth's scientist so long to activate their mirror was that the one they had discovered at the bottom of Loch Ness came without a frame. Hence, a team of scientists was needed to figure out a way to dial Earth's 'mirror manually via a complicated computer system. One of the main scientists that knew about this top-secret military device and mostly responsible for its development on Earth was Ginevra Weasley. Red-haired beauty, kick-ass captain in the Wiz-Military and PhD in astrophysics.
Theodore was taken completely by surprise when – after staying on the local's planet for about a year – she stepped through the star-mirror's blue-shimmering even-horizon, dressed in full combat with Colonel Malfoy and about a dozen other military officers by her side.
Confused about their arrival, Theo demanded to know the reason about their visit and the Colonel reluctantly explained; occasionally rolling his eyes at the young red-haired Captain whenever she got a little too excited in her explanations about the 'mirror's functions.
"Before you accuse me of anything," Colonel Malfoy silenced him after Theo shot him a look, "they did believe you and all your friends here died in the explosion."
Theo raised an eyebrow at them and tried to ignore the heavily armed officers that started interrogating his local friends.
"Then how come you're back?" he questioned and pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose. "I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you Draco… it's been quite a while after all… but well, you see – "
"Ah!" he was cut off by the Colonel's impatient voice. "I've endured enough babbling from her already," he complained and glanced at his red-haired second-in-command.
Captain Weasley's eyes widened. "Well, Sir, the technology used by these alien races to make the star-mirror functioning is really – "
"Ah!" the Colonel said again, and – being the good soldier – the red-head remained silent. "I already told you, Captain, that I'm not really fond of scientist."
Ginny Weasley raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, Sir, I'm sure you'll like me when you get to know me."
Colonel Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Oh, I adore you already, Captain." He shook his head slightly and turned back to Theo. "Back to business. Some of these 'Death Eater' snake-people activated the 'mirror and kidnapped one of the guards that protected it."
The anthropologist looked confused. "They didn't come through from this end."
Malfoy didn't look convinced. "Where the hell are they supposed to come from, then?"
Theo sighed, and pointed towards the mirror. Slowly, he explained everything he had found out about this alien-piece of technology.
Captain Weasley's eyes widened with each passing minute.
"Sir," she said, her voice filled with enthusiasm and excitement as she faced her commanding officer. "This is so much more than we had anticipated. According to Dr. Nott's translations – "
"Please, call me Theo."
She nodded with a small smile. "According to Theo's translations, we can configurate our main computer to run these… addresses … and we will get access to a huge number of possible planets."
The Colonel raised an eyebrow and brushed his fingers through his slightly greying hair. "So this means…?"
Captain Weasley's eyes lit up. "Well, Sir, we will – eventually – be able find the Death Eater home planet."
Colonel Malfoy grinned and clapped Theo on his shoulders. "Nice work, Nott. With your help back at , it's gonna be a piece of cake to bring these nasty snakes down."
The red-haired Captain winced slightly. "Actually, Sir, it might take some time. We don't know on which planet the Death Eaters are hiding."
The Colonel sighed, as he led his second-in-command and Theo back to the mirror to dial Earth. "Well, not a piece of cake, then… let's just go with cookie instead."
"A piece of cookie?" Theo asked, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Colonel Malfoy grinned. "Why yes, a cookie never hurts, does it, Weasley?"
Captain Weasley flashed him one of her smiles. "No, Sir, it doesn't."
From that point forward, several teams – known as Star-mirror-Teams – continued to travel to other planets, trying to eventually find and destroy the Death Eater's home base. Soon, the flagship team known to everyone on base as SM1 – that consisted of Colonel Malfoy, Captain Weasely and himself – was completed by a fourth member: Flin't. He was a former slave to the Death Eaters, who rescued Colonel Malfoy from a collapsed ceiling on his home planet. Then Flin't joined the team to free his people, that were enslaved by the Death Eaters. He wasn't one to talk much, merely agreed with his famous "Indeed" or raised an eyebrow to show his concern or doubt. Nevertheless, contrary to the military's fear, he proved to be one of the most loyal soldiers known to the programme. And well, what once was a team put together by a purpose to find new technology in order to defend Earth against a nasty alien race, soon became a family. And for two in the team, it became more… but Theo knew that both Ginny and Draco had served the military far too long and were far too loyal to ever act upon their feelings – even though they had saved Earth countless of times and deserved a little happiness of their own.
During the first year of the programme, they joined an expedition to Antarctica and after a major Earthquake, both Draco and Ginny got stuck in a cave, covered by meters of thick, cold ice. Once they found them, they were barely alive. Cuddled together underneath the sleeping bag, their lips blue, and their faced covered with thin layers of snow. It was that moment, Theo decided, that they first had felt more for each other than being merely teammates.
About two years later, Flin't noticed, too. Suspected of being compromised during one of their missions, both the Colonel and his second-in-command were forced to admit their feelings during a lie-detector test. Apparently, they were both stuck on an alien ship, and Ginny got trapped behind a force field while the ceiling above her slowly started to collapse. While Theo and Flin't were ordered to ran ahead and dial the 'mirror, the Colonel refused to leave the red-head behind.
As became a habit to the personnel at Mount Hogwarts, SM1 escaped. However, not everyone was so willingly at believing that; hence, the polygraph-test was ordered. At first, he justified his actions with their ongoing mantra, that nobody got left behind. Every SM-Team lived according to that. Eventually, the alien-lie-detector discovered that this was not the entire truth, and Draco admitted that "I would have rather died myself, than loose Weasley."
Luckily for both of them, only Flin't, the Chief-Medical-Officer Dr. Pansy Parkinson, and himself had witnessed the confession and decided to keep silent about it. Ever since then, Draco and Ginny agreed to leave it 'in the room' and tried to act as if neither of them had said anything that would jeopardize both their careers. After all, a WIZ-Military Colonel having a relationship with his second-in-command would get them both court-martialled – no matter how loyal and invaluable they were to the programme.
Eventually, the incident would fade; they went back to 'Colonel' and 'Captain', and 'Sir' and 'Weasely'. However, no matter how hard Draco and Ginny tried to deny their feelings, Theo, Flin't and Dr. Parkinson could not be fooled.
"Remember that time when the Colonel got stranded somewhere off-world for three months?" Theo had mused over a cup of tea and looked across the table at his friend.
Pansy nodded and took a sip. "Of course. Ginny worked day and night to find a way to bring him back," she sighed. "She was devastated. I had to drag her to the commissary or else she would have worked through without eating."
Theo nodded. "Draco usually does that," he said, and Pansy just nodded. Everyone with eyes in his head knew that the Colonel had made of a habit of bringing sandwiches to the red-head's lab, or that he would even drag her along to get some food. Everybody also knew that this was not the usual behaviour suited for two military officers – but no one at base seemed to care.
"She was just as worked up about it as Draco was when Ginny got kidnapped by one of the Death Eaters," Pansy added, and Theo's mind wandered. The incident had a occurred about two years later, and he was furious when he heard about her abduction. The Colonel was on edge the whole time, screaming and barking orders to younger military officers, that were close to crying at his behaviour. Eventually, the found out where the Death-Eaters had taken their friend; an ancient hiding place, that was covered by a giant basilisk. Major Weasley got lucky – they found her just in time; the basilisk, however, was mercilessly beheaded by a determined Colonel Draco.
"I'm surprised she started dating that Cop," Theo eventually mentioned after taking a bite from his biscuit. "Harrison… What's his name?"
Pansy gave a bit of a snort. "Harrison Potter," she groaned. "Come on, Theo. We both know he's a poor substitute for the man she really wants."
Theo poured some more milk into his tea. "Draco didn't say anything when she showed him the engagement ring."
Pansy sighed. "He wants her to be happy," she said reluctantly, "he would never let his own feelings for her jeopardize her happiness."
Theodore threw his hands up in the air exasperated. "But she's not happy," he exclaimed, remembering the many conversations he had with Ginny over the years. "She's content. And she likes him… but she's not in love with him."
Pansy sighed once more. "She's in love with Draco. And he's in love with her… I think it's time for a girls night out… I need to talk some sense into Gin…"
Grinning, Theo finished his tea, got up, and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "That's what I wanted to hear. Now, I've got to go. Good luck on your trip off-world. I'm sure the locals will be happy to have a real doctor treat them for once."
Theodore shook his head to get his mind back to the present. The funeral underneath Mount Hogwarts passed in a blaze. Ginny eventually came forward, and gave a heart-wrenchingly beautiful speech, that had everyone's eyes filling with tears. After that, some other higher-ranking officers spoke a lot more formal about how their fallen friend had served with duty, honour, and loyalty. Theo, however, didn't really listen. And he was one of the first to leave the official ceremony to drive the remaining members of the team back to his place… to watch a movie, have some beers, and grief their friend in peace and quietness.
"Dr. Parkinson has died a true warrior's death," Flin't eventually said and handed a beer to each of his friends and they toasted in her honour.
Theo swallowed hard. He still couldn't quite believe that Pansy was gone. Killed on what was supposed to be a simple cultural exchange.
Recently promoted General Malfoy gave a small chuckle from his place on the sofa next to Colonel Weasley.
"Sir?" she questioned; her beautiful eyes still red from crying.
"Little power-seeking witch," he mused and lifted his beer to silently salute their friend. "She scared the hell out of me with all her needles in the infirmary…"
At the memory, every member of SM1 laughed.
"She could be very convincing if she wanted to," Theo grinned. "Made you realize that marrying Potter wasn't quite right for you, was it, Gin?"
Ginny's eyes widened and no matter how much military training she endured, the red-haired Colonel couldn't prevent the rosy blush from spreading over her cheeks.
"The heart wants what it wants, Colonel Weasley," Flin't said matter-of-factly, causing her to blush even more.
Draco cleared his throat, having noticed the red-head's clear embarrassment.
"Hey, Flin't," he said and sipped on his beer, "why don't you get the movie started? Wizard of Oz was the Doc's favourite, wasn't it?"
Flin't bowed his head. "Indeed," he said, and marched towards the television and Theo joined him.
Nevertheless, he noticed Ginny's quiet sigh, and he moved his head ever-so-slightly to see her leaning slightly against the – recently promoted – General's side.
"Thank you, Sir," Ginny whispered, closed her eyes and placed her head in the crook of his neck.
"For what?" Draco asked, and Theo pretended to be occupied with the DVD-player.
Ginny gave a hint of a smile as their eyes met. "For being here for me."
Draco put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Always," he said, and placed a feathery kiss on her flaming red hair.
Surprised by, but nonetheless happy with their open display of emotions, Theo moved his head and gave Flin't, a questioning look.
"It appears to me, Theodore Nott, that Colonel Weasley has applied for a transfer request," he explained and pointed towards the letters that were stuck into Ginny's uniform, "which removes her out of Malfoy's direct chain of command. As I recall, Dr. Parkinson had pointed that out before her recent death."
Theo allowed himself to smile for the first time since the funeral. "Thanks, Pans," Theo whispered and glanced towards heaven, "you always believed in love would find a way," he added quietly and contently listened to the first tunes of the movie as he watched his two friends snuggled closely together on the sofa.
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Quidditch League. Semi Finals. Kenmare Kestrels. Chaser 2: [Military Science Fiction] Science fiction with a distinctly military theme. Characters are usually members of a military organisation, and the plot will generally revolve around a war and/or military conflict. Duty, honour, heroism, and other military cliches are par for the course.
(word) loyal
(quote) 'a cookie never hurts' – Gone, by Michael Grant
(word) collapse
Words: 3000 (that's a close one :D)
A.N.: Military!AU and Stargate!AU… So anything you recognize belongs to the show's creators. My title was inspired by the son 'one day' by TradingYesterday, I recommend you listen to it, I just love the song :)