Voyager - Year 5
Their relationship was not to be sweetness and light for long, however. There were constant comments from what Harry suspected was Janeway's pet project, Seven of Nine. She wanted to examine Hermione's programming in order to better understand emotions, she said, since Hermione's were real, yet also programming. Both Harry and Hermione were not comfortable with the Borg being anywhere near Hermione's code. Hermione didn't like how pushy Seven was, and Harry had his own issues with the Borg. He'd seen more than he cared to regarding them, and found that he wouldn't complain very much if they all disappeared suddenly. Given how she was reacting to Seven, Harry wondered where Janeway had been stationed when Wolf 359 happened. Hermione, on the other hand, had read through every record that she could find of the Borg, and found herself sharing Harry's loathing of them.
Even if he could overrule the captain regarding Seven, he wouldn't. He remembered Hugh. Perhaps this Borg drone could be made completely human, and a study could be done of the process. Hermione was watching it closely to explore the possibilities, also studying methods of granting herself a body, if possible.
He returned to his cabin and scowled. For some reason it felt emptier than it should. He could often return and find that she was elsewhere in the ship, but that wasn't the feeling that he had right now. "Hermione?" he called out, and got no answer. "Computer, where is the Hermione Granger?"
"Hermione Granger's location is unknown at this time."
"Her last known location?"
"Lt Potter's quarters. She deactivated there." Harry looked around his cabin for a bit, before finding her holo-emitter on the floor. His blood went cold. She'd never just let it lay on the floor. The thing could get broken. "Potter to Torres."
"B'Elanna here, what can I do for you, Harry?"
"Can you help me find Hermione? I just found her holo-emitter on the floor, and the computer says that she deactivated."
"Gimme a minute, Harry." He could hear some background noise and then her voice came back on. "She deactivated suddenly, caused by an outside force. Checking to see if I can . . . targ-spawn! Head to Cargo Bay 1, Harry. I'll get security there."
"The Borg bitch," he growled.
"Looks like it. I'll meet you there. Torres out."
Harry growled softly to himself, but grabbed his phaser and made sure it was tuned to his signature. Bitch might be able to shield against normal phaser fire, but let's see how a Borg handles magic. He headed out the door, a man on a mission.
By the time he reached Cargo Bay 1, he found not only a few security people and B'Elanna Torres just arriving, but also Commander Chakotay and Captain Janeway. "What are you doing here, Lieutenant?" she asked sharply.
"Seeing if I can either help Hermione, or avenge her, if necessary. Her disappearance traces to Cargo Bay 1."
"Stand down, Harry," Janeway ordered softly.
"Captain, my . . . my girlfriend was rudely removed by someone or something in Cargo Bay 1. My first thought is that it's the drone, but I'm not going in guns blazing to kill a Borg. But if someone is in there absorbing or deleting holo-people, how long before the Doctor gets absorbed? We need to stop this now."
"I said stand down, Lieutenant!" she ordered. "While you were coming down here, guns blazing, we were continuing to verify our information. It appears that Seven was working her way through the databases and found Miss Granger's program. She has been assimilating other bits of information, and chose to attempt to assimilate her. The Doctor is in there right now checking on both of them."
"May I ask what will be done if it turns out that Seven of Nine has managed to eradicate Hermione?"
"You may not ask." The reply was very sharp.
The Doctor exited the cargo bay. "Seven of Nine has been transported to Sickbay. She was in a coma. I am sorry to report that the holo-program of Hermione Granger was not salvageable. I am on my way to Sickbay now." With that, he left.
Harry's emotions shut down, as his time at the Dursleys had taught him. "Lieutenant?" Chakotay asked softly.
"I hope that she stays in the coma," was all Harry said.
"Miss Granger may have seemed real, Harry," Janeway said in a compassionate tone, "but in the end, she was a holographic program."
"And alive, Captain. She was as alive and real as you or Chakotay are. Just because she was multi-colored ones and zeroes does not make her any less of a person. She was certainly more human than that . . . thing just dragged to Sickbay."
"Your tone is approaching insubordinate," Janeway said. "I'll give you leeway due to grief, but I'm warning you -"
He rolled his eyes at her. "You're warning me that there's a line you won't allow me to cross, and I'm approaching it rapidly. Permission to be excused, so that I can go back to my quarters and plan a small memorial for her? Don't know how many people will attend, but damn me if I intend to let her life on this ship be swept under the rug and forgotten." His tone was anything but polite.
"Return to your quarters," she said. "And remain there. You've crossed the line, but I'm allowing for that grief."
His salute was filled with mocking, but wasn't actionable.
He was released from house arrest two days later. His shift was letter perfect, his tone even and polite, but purely business-like. Seven, it was reported, was still in a coma in Sickbay. This drew a nasty smile from Harry.
Seven days after the incident with Seven, there was a report from the Doctor. "Captain Janeway? It seems that Seven is awake. It appears, however, that things have … well, things have changed."
"Explain."
"I'd prefer it if you came to Sickbay. Bring Mr Potter with you as well."
"Is that a requirement, Doctor?" Harry asked blandly.
"No, but I suspect that you will appreciate what has happened."
"Well, Mr Potter, I suppose we should make the Doctor happy and find out what has happened with Seven of Nine." She rose to her feet. "Join me?"
"Yes, Captain," he said with no real emotion.
The trip to Sickbay would have been awkward, if Harry had cared. Janeway attempted to make conversation, to which he responded with the shortest viable answers. Luckily for both of them, it was a short trip.
"Took you long enough," the Doctor chided with good humour. "May I introduce to you both . . . Hermione Granger!"
Harry's reaction was immediate and startling to the others in the room. "No! That is not my Hermione! That is a Borg drone who murdered my Hermione, and who assimilated enough of the program to mimic her! The bitch should have stayed in a coma or died, rather than wake up and pretend to be Hermione!"
The blonde Borg drone looked at him with pain in her eyes. "Harry, I -"
"Shut up. You're going to try to convince me that you're really her. I don't buy it. You're a Borg, and you're just trying a new assimilation technique." With that, he spun and exited Sickbay.
The remainder of that year had been tense, to say the least. When they came across a nebula that would take a year to go around, or a month to go through if they put everyone but the Borg in stasis tubes, Harry had argued vociferously against trusting her; vociferously enough that he nearly spent the trip in the brig. His attitude toward the Borg would have called for an honour duel in the 20th century's wizarding world. To describe it as terse would be sarcastic at best. Since Captain Janeway wanted to try to assimilate her into the crew properly, he stayed just shy of insubordination when dealing with both her and Janeway.
In the end, she had been the only meat individual who was capable of withstanding the month long transit through the extremely toxic nebula, and Harry had very grudgingly gone into a stasis chamber.
It wasn't that he wanted to be this way toward the Borg; in fact, he hated the person he was when he was around her. His issue with her was that she insisted on using so many of Hermione's gestures and mannerisms. He knew that it was probably unintentional - the assimilation had worked to a point, so those mannerisms were unconscious.
But he had not truly been given a chance to grieve for Hermione, since the drone had so much information of the space they were in from her time in the Borg. She had been placed in his department, as had Tom Paris and Harry Kim when they weren't doing bridge duties. It was the equivalent of continually re-injuring himself every time they were forced to work together.
He was barely on speaking terms with Captain Janeway as well, for the same reason. There had been times in the previous five years when he was willing to deal with her off duty in some of the holographic programming, helping to get some 20th century information correct. After the incident where he lost Hermione to the Borg drone, he was known to openly pack up and leave scenarios when she entered. He never visited the Leonardo daVinci one, as much as he would have liked to, because it was known to be one of her favourites, so he knew that she was more likely be in there during her time off.
Chakotay spoke to him, trying to get Harry to give both ladies a chance again. "May I speak freely, sir?" After Chakotay nodded he said,."I know that there are times that a captain has to do things that involve the safety of the crew, and that someone may die because of that decision. Those conditions are usually fairly obvious. I don't believe that the Seven of Nine scenario that involved the Borg drone consuming my girlfriend fit the necessary criteria. Not to mention the fact that she showed her bigotry in deciding that a photonic life-form wasn't really alive. What will she do to the Doctor? What has she already done to him? She can, because she doesn't see him as truly alive. And as for the Borg drone? She sounds like my Hermione, but -"
"Aren't you being as bigoted toward her as you claim Janeway is being toward holographic life forms? You refuse to give her a chance because she acts like Hermione but looks like Seven. Try to get to know her for herself."
"Is that an order, sir?" Harry asked archly.
"No, damn it. You know it isn't. But you're going to hate yourself one of these days for treating her the way you have."
"I doubt it, sir. I don't have a problem with ex-Borg drones. Look up a Borg named Hugh, for example. I was on board Enterprise when that incident happened. What I do have a problem with is ex-Borg drones who not only murder my girlfriend, but also get away with that murder. As part of my duties, I am forced to work with that Borg drone on a daily basis, while we get the damned Astrometrics lab up and running, and she insists on mimicking Hermione Granger." His voice changed, thickening slightly, which surprised Chakotay. Harry was usually much better at hiding the so-called 'negative' emotions, so for him to have this reaction was a mark of how deeply he was affected.
"I am forced to work with my girlfriend's murderer, and people ask me why I can't get along with her?"
He shook himself and stared Chakotay in the eyes. "It is up to you as to whether or not you make her aware of this, but I will be bringing Captain Janeway before Starfleet Command when we return to Starfleet space. Captain Jean Luc Picard was involved in a case that granted rights to non-meat based beings. Mister Data, to be specific. Hermione Granger was alive, even if she was photons and computer data.
"There are also requests for transfer to another ship once we return. While I respect her ability to keep the ship functional and get her back home, I no longer consider her to be a good Starfleet captain. In a different situation, I would refuse to serve under her, given a choice. Until we return home, however, nothing can be done."
Chakotay said slowly, "I will talk to her in regards to a morale problem. The rest is between the two of you."
"Thank you, Commander."
"You look as if you might explode, Lieutenant," the doctor said. "And I mean that in a nearly literal sense."
Harry Potter took a deep breath. "Considering some of the crap going on around here? Does anyone realize just how ridiculous the Prime Directive is if captains are allowed to invoke it and ignore it as they see fit? Check the records and see how many times someone has been successfully prosecuted for breaking it. The ones who did tended to have done other rather … shall we say bad, to understate it … things in their past to warrant a conviction. Kirk? How many times did he ignore it? Picard? Commodore ran'Weyi? The list continues. But because we might have needed someone's help, we helped doom a planet, because the people there are too damned stupid to realize they're killing themselves. The Federation is too big on the 'doing what is easy' side of things, and not enough on the 'doing what is right' side."
"It is a quite slippery slope, Lieutenant," Commander Tuvok said as he entered Sickbay. "It may seem easy to condemn an action, but a captain must weigh all the options. External sources saving a population could lead them to expect such intervention at a later time. Even if it does not, there is a very real risk to destabilizing a government, which invariably lead to great bloodshed. A simple action such as what Ensign Paris did could have far more dangerous results which would greatly outweigh any potential good that his attempt would have engendered."
"I can understand that; really I can, Mr Tuvok," Harry replied. "I think what really has me angry is the punishment. Thirty days of solitary confinement for that? And demoting him? Demotion I understand. The brig I understand. Thirty days I understand. But being very specific in it being solitary? That was the Captain trying to make a point."
"Which she was well within her rights to do, Mr Potter," Tuvok responded. "None of her punishments for his actions were outside what Starfleet allows. In fact, I suspect that if we were in the Alpha Quadrant, she would have had him arrested and returned to prison."
"Then why did she allow visitors once or twice? You can't tell me that Starfleet has never come up with a way to prevent anyone from using only the basic functions on a replicator. Locking it down, so to speak? Where's the logic in having solitary confinement with someone standing right outside the door. Hell, even in the twentieth century, most prisons didn't post someone immediately outside the door, as far as I know. The cell had its own bathroom, as opposed to Starfleet ships, where someone escorts the prisoner to a bathroom." He shook his head. "I swear sometimes that the Federation got all the worst from their wizarding origins. Maybe being around technology and magic that can do so much for you makes you stupid or something. It certainly made me stupid for a while."
"What do you mean?" the doctor asked.
"Well, to continue my monologue - I actually fell prey to thinking that Starfleet was the pinnacle of what I would want to do. Explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations. Boldly going where no one has gone before. Yeah, I've done that, but I forgot that politics comes along with it. Tom Paris was released from prison to help fly in the Badlands, in case I needed back-up. They waved a pardon under his nose. By rights, the first officer and chief engineer should be in the brig for the entirety of our trip home - but we need them, so the law gets set aside for convenience's sake." He paused. "Mind you, I happen to like all three of the people I just mentioned. I consider them friends, to be honest. But I'm damned if I'm going to look at Starfleet through those god damned rose colored glasses any longer. Janeway and her pet project seem to take precedence over anything else. Including my comfort. Do you think I like being such a bastard to Seven? Every time I see her, though, I see the one who murdered my girlfriend. And I'm pretty much forced to work with her."
"Interestingly enough, I think what pissed me off the most about her letting him have a visitor or two was the fact that she allowed Harry Kim to visit him for a short period one day. I like Harry a lot, but he's a good Starfleet officer. Me? Not so much any more. I wonder if some of Tom's punishment was actually meant as a slap because of how friendly the two of us are, and the fact that we talked about Tom wanting to help that species." He shook his head. "Either way, it's just something else that has me disillusioned about being in Starfleet."
"Captain, I'm detecting a large anomalous energy signal heading directly for us from Mark 337.912, fifteen degrees below plane," Harry Kim said. "It appears to be moving at Warp 9.2."
"On screen," Captain Janeway said. What appeared was the standard star field, except that there was a large silver object hurtling toward them. "Time until impact, assuming we don't change course?"
"Three minutes, fifteen seconds," Tuvok replied. "It appears to be similar in composition to the energy that Lieutenant Potter uses when he performs his spells, for lack of a better term."
"That is the term for them, Mr Tuvok," Harry Potter replied. "Permission to change course, Captain?" he asked in the business-like tone he had been using for the past year.
"Granted. Ten degrees to starboard, if you please."
"Ineffective," Tuvok stated. "The energy signature has altered course to intercept us."
"Can we get any better resolution on it, Mr Tuvok?" she asked.
"Attempting to increase resolution by applying a subspace modulation filter." The image sharpened.
The silence was palpable. Harry Kim finally spoke clearly, although Harry Potter could be heard grumbling. "I'm not seeing things, am I Mr Tuvok? That's a … deer? Elk? One of those?"
Before Tuvok could reply, Lieutenant Potter spoke up. "To be specific, it's a stag. And if I ever meet the people who came up with the temporal Prime Directive, I'm going to kick them in the balls so hard that their great-great-grandchildren will wink out of existence."
"How do you know the specific creature, Lieutenant?" the captain asked.
Harry pulled his wand. "Expecto Patronum," he intoned, and received a faint mist. "Well, that's not happened for a while." He closed his eyes, and shortly a smile graced his face, although tears could also be seen leaking from his eyes. "Expecto Patronum!" he yelled, and this time, his expected stag appeared on the bridge. It looked around for a moment before appearing to nuzzle him and then fading away.
"I see," Janeway said eventually. "Can we avoid it?"
"Unlikely," Potter said. "It was likely sent to either the ship or a specific person on Voyager. It will change course until it impacts." He laughed, although there was little humor to the sound. "Good news is that everyone should feel fairly good when it impacts, and it should do no damage to the ship. Beyond that? We're basically screwed as far escape is concerned."
"We shall see if you are correct in roughly twenty-three seconds," Tuvok said.
The bridge crew watched the stag get closer, and braced for impact. A moment later, there was a silver mist that quickly dissipated, and Harry Kim was grinning. "He was right. That did feel good." He looked at his console. "Captain, it appears that whatever it was downloaded a ridiculously large amount of data directly into our data banks. We will need to -" He stopped as the ship lurched forward.
"Captain, we are now at Warp 9.7," Tuvok announced. "We appear to be heading in the direction that the energy anomaly came from."
"What caused the course and speed change?" Janeway asked.
"I did," Harry Potter said, his fingers flying across the console. "That was my Patronus that impacted us, and not only did it download information to the ship, but there was a message from me to me. If we can get there in time, we might be able to rescue survivors."
"Conference room, Lieutenant," she barked. "Tuvok, Chakotay? Call B'Elanna and the Doctor and have them come as well."
"Do you mind explaining why you simply placed us into warp, Mr Potter?" Janeway asked, the menace clear in her voice.
"They are potentially twelve hours from utter destruction, Captain. They were from that Demon class planet we landed on about ten months or so ago. They forgot that they were copies. Everything about them is breaking down. The handful of seconds we always waste dithering about this sort of thing could literally mean life or death for them."
"What do you mean, 'dithering'?" Chakotay asked.
"Whenever something comes up, there's always this conversation that lasts easily a minute and usually more about what we should do, even when we're in life or death situations. I'm beginning to suspect that my presence is the only thing that has allowed us to survive some of our encounters. 'Five seconds to impact.' 'Fire on my mark.' 'Fire.' That takes what? Four or five seconds to say? Half the time, when we're finished talking about this crap, the time should have been up several seconds earlier. So I figured that since I was going to end up in the brig over this anyway, I might as well earn it."
"Why would you earn it?" B'Elanna asked.
"Because it seems that the process of mimicking her allowed their Seven of Nine to be overwritten by Hermione's personality. You can take my badge and throw me in the brig for the rest of the damned voyage, but I will not lose her again, Captain. I will get us there and save her if it is at all possible."
She raised an eyebrow, but simply nodded.
They came out of warp and found the Voyager - or what the Voyager would look like if designed by Salvador Dali. "Captain, there are two life signs aboard … correction, it appears that Lieutenant Potter has taken control of both the transporters and force fields and transported the survivors directly into Sickbay."
"Doctor, please stabilize your new patients. I'm on my way down." She looked to the helm. "Potter? With me." He simply nodded and joined her.
He nearly ran into Sickbay when they arrived, but stopped as he reached the beds behind the Class 7 force field. On the beds were two males. One had clearly been himself at some point, and the other looked to be Harry Kim. "Dammit!" he yelled, punching a wall hard enough that everyone in there heard the breaking of bones. The doctor looked up and scowled. "Must you make more work for me, Lieutenant? It's bad enough that … well, they already know, so I'm not hurting them any to admit that they don't have long. I can't reverse their cellular degradation."
"At least we live on in memory," the dying Harry Kim rasped out. "Our logs and personal data survived because of our Harry." He looked toward the Potter analog. "She's proud of you, Harry. I know it. If we're lucky, we'll see each other on the other side." He looked up at the Harry who had tried so hard to save them. "Thank you for trying, Harry. It means everything to us. All of us, even those who went before. Thank you." He laid his head back and a moment later, the bed announced his death. The Demon class Harry Potter looked up and gasped out, "Wish I could see her one last time before I go."
"You'll see her on the other side," he was told. "Yours was at least Hermione. Ours is the Borg drone. Go, Harry, and be with her again. You've got a soul, I know you do. The power of that Patronus proves it. Go be with our lovely Hermione." With that, the one on the bed set his head down, his bed announcing his death within seconds.