I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.
Chapter 3
Padma and Parvati exited the floo to see Harry sitting at his computer already. He glanced up for a second to check who it was then he was right back to whatever was on his screens. With a glace at each other and a pair of nods they approached him and flanked him right and left. They leaned in and wrapped him in light hugs, making sure their busts pressed into his shoulder just to see if he froze for a moment. He did.
"What has you working so hard you couldn't come greet us at the floo?" teased Parvati.
The scent of their perfume was getting to him a bit so he took a deep breath and pressed on anyway. "A ship." he said simply.
"Oh! So that thing is a boat?" said Padma as she looked over the strange shape on his screen. There were two 'wings' on the rear reaching out directly to the sides and a long body that got smaller as you neared the front. It was an odd design for a boat.
"Not a boat. A ship. More specifically a star ship. Its the model of what the drones are going to build for me when all is said and done." he corrected.
"...Ok." said the twin beauties with a little trepidation.
"No, really. This can fly into space among the stars and its all powered by a single potentia. What I can make now aren't true potentia because of what their made of and how their made but a true potentia can be put under load for longer and lasts for thousands of years. But I need to get my hands on naquada before I can grow them. Magic crystals are good for a start but they don't last under load and deteriorate quickly, in months to years. And they can only be grown to a certain size as well...but that is kind of off of topic. Yes it can fly among the stars and I really want to get to where the wizarding world can and will operate full fleets of these. Astronomy will make more sense for students then if you could actually go and see what you're studying." he rambled.
"No we believe you. We just didn't know how far this went. Or that this was possible. But you've already built magic technology so we have no idea how far it can go. Or how far you wanted to take it." said Padma.
Harry turned to look at her and noticed the slightly tight tank top and tight short shorts and paused. Looking over to his left he saw a similar look on Parvati and gulped. He felt his body temperature rise I little more and wondered how wrapped up in the work he had been that he hadn't noticed their attire earlier when he'd looked up. As if deciding to spare him more problems the two quickly pecked him on the cheeks at the same time and moved off to their computer terminal to get back to work, only then noticing something on the constructor table.
"Harry whats that?" Padma pointed.
"That, my dears, is a reciever and transmitter. I am going to hook that up to this terminal and use it to scan for signals and communicate with the drone ship while its out doing work for me. It't kind of a requirement for operation of the drones anyway and it picks up all bands, including subspace."
"Subspace?"
"One of the layers of the universe, if you would think of the universe itself as something like an onion. On the top layer there is things like us and underneath you have subspace and hyperspace and phase space and the like. You're not quite there yet in your tutorials but I've got some ideas for that too. I've kind of realized that you won't be up to speed in an appreciable amount of time so I've got the idea to download it into your heads but I need to build it first. Another thing that is going to have to wait until I get more materials." he sighed.
"Ok. Wow. I really hope you're not just crazy but the pay seems to be good." Parvati giggled.
He smirked. "By the way, had to go into the alley after you left yesterday and owl post Ron and Hermione which means that we can probably expect her sometime today demanding explanations. I guess I need a new owl too."
"What happened to your old one?" asked Padma.
"Killed during the war."
"Wasn't it your familiar? I'm so sorry."
"It's ok. I miss her though."
"Still..." Padma let it end there.
"Yeah." he said before, he too, let it die.
The transmitter/receiver finished on the table and he rose to grab it and install it. He gave a glance to the girls while he did and found Padma to be peaking at him over her sister's shoulder. Giving a small smile he continued with what he was doing. The install process was rather simple as all he had to do was fit it into the slot he'd added to the case when he built the computer itself. There was only one more slot but that was for the transporter he was hoping to build before he built the chair he was now planning to advance the girls faster.
With the device installed he returned to the console to scan the frequencies and see what he could find to watch or study about the transmissions in London. He found plenty of television channels and he even picked up satellite as well. The encryption wasn't hard to find a way around and now he could catch up on what the muggles were actually capable of. He continued to search through until there was a knock at the front door.
Since the fidelis had fallen over the time since Dumbledor had died there had still been few knocks at the door. He usually ignored the few he did get as the neiborhood wasn't so good here. He rose from his seat and peaked out of the peephole and was shocked to see that it was Hermione and two older people, obviously her parents. So he opened it.
"Hi Hernione." he greeted.
"Hi Harry. These are my parents again, Dan and Emma Granger." she introduced. Her father stepped foreward and extended his hand. Harry accepted and shook the offered appendage.
"Nice to meet the boy, no man, that kept my daughter out of the death camps of that maniac that I'm told I was obliviated to protect me from." Dan said. His tone was a bit stiff.
"Dan!" his wife cautioned, "None of it was his fault. If what Hermione has told us is the truth, and we have no real reason to doubt that, then he really is the reason there isn't magical terrorists killing off us muggles and terrorizing the entire country. So be nice."
Dan flinched and released Harry's hand. Taking a deep breath he tried again.
"Nice to see you again. We understandably want to know more about this magical world of yours before we let Hermione go back to school and figured it was best to make sure she had told us everything so far since she came to retrieve us from where she had stashed us. We appreciate that she wanted to protect us but the decision should have been ours." he stated.
Harry nodded. "Would you like to come in? I can't promise your car will be fine in this neiborhood but as long as you set the alarm it should be fine. It has an alarm doesn't it?" Harry said as he stepped aside. They nodded and entered. Harry led them to the room where all the 'magic' was happening.
"Hermione probably wanted to come to check out what I'm doing. How much of that letter has she let you see? I know I talked about bringing technology to the wizarding world but I didn't expect her to bring you two along." he said as he guided them to empty seats and sat in his usual seat before he brought up his sensor. On the sly he scanned the three of them and smirked at his results while Hermione took a deep breath.
"What do you mean by magic technology and how do plan to implement it? Where did the ideas all come from? How did you come about all of this?" she said in one breath.
"Hermione Jean!" her mother warned. "I would back off a bit and give him time to talk to you before you demand answers like this. You've pretty much implied that this can't even be his ideas that he's working with. From what you've described the wizarding world really needs to come out of the dark ages and this would be good for them and you. Calm down and wait." Harry nodded and smiled at Emma.
"Thank you Emma, but I'm kinda used to it. In order, magic technology is technology that works with magic as the power source and I plan to keep bringing out small improvements to the way of life for everyone. The ideas are mine but how it came about...I'm gonna have to go with 'magic'" he responded with a smirk. Parvati and Padma snickered a bit.
"You mentioned that you would probably have Padma and Parvati here but I really don't understand how 'magic' can be your explanation." she stated.
"Magic is a perfectly reasonable explanation for now Hermione, until he feels like it's time to tell you more." stated Padma.
"No it's not! And the thing on your hand! What's going on. You didn't even take school seriously and suddenly you're building calculators for arithmancy and getting a computer of some sort to work in a high magic environment...just 'magic' is not an explanation." Hermione was getting frustrated.
Harry frowned. "Yes it is. Because 'magic' is exactly what happened and if you're going to be rude about it I guess you don't need this arithmancy calculator I built to work at Hogwarts at all..."he let it hang.
"Don't be silly, of course I want the calculator, but how?" she asked again.
"You're not going to get a better answer than 'magic' right now Hermione. Leave it please." he pushed. She pouted. Emma and Dan, on the other hand, watched and listened to the whole exchange with a little wonder.
"It's a wonder you're such good friends if this is how you talk to him Hermione. Talking at him and then talking down to him as well." Hermione flinched a little at the rebuke from her father.
"She's just a little high strung is all. We all have our faults." was Harry's response which gained a nod from her father. "By the way...why didn't you tell me your parents were squibs Hermione?"
That brought Hermione out of the pout. She looked at him and opened her mouth the deny but Harry beat her to it.
"I just scanned them and they both have the genes and small amounts of magic. You're surprised but I think this happens more often than anyone knows. My theory is that there really aren't any muggleborns at all. The laws governing genetics say that one time is just a mutation, two times is possible but unlikely, three times is nearly impossible but anything more than that for spontaneous generation of a mutation in successive generations is impossible."
"That also means" interrupted Parvati, "that you are a halfblood and not a muggleborn like you are classified by the ministry which means that more job opportunities will open up for you."
"There. That dark ages level discrimination is what I'm talking about." interrupted Dan.
"Yes. But that discrimination might help me when I'm looking for employees for this stuff. If you can't find a job because of blood bigotry then come work for Harry Potter in his magic technology." said Harry in an attempt to lighten the mood. It worked. "On top of that I have a seat on the Wizengamot that Dumbledor didn't want me to find out about and he appointed a proxy of his own choosing to that seat to vote his policies. That proxy is still sitting the seat and next session I have to go and straiten it out. Then I can appoint a new one or sit the seat myself. Then, according to Kingley, I also have the Black seat which Dumbledor hid from me as well. The Wizengamot kinda wants me to take both seats while Draco is pushing to have the seat handed over to him as the Black heir. But because of Sirius's will naming me the Black heir he doesn't have a leg to stand on. So I can work to have some of that bigotry overturned." Harry revealed.
"That makes us feel better and is a better answer for our concerns than we were expecting." said Emma.
"I'm glad I could help." was Harry's answer.
"Then there's the technology I'm working on. I've got calculators and computers, and soon I'll start on a mining operation for raw materials. Soon we'll have movies and magical television as well. I'm going to drag the wizarding world foreward, kicking and screaming if I have to. Wizards weren't always so backwards. Just think about Atlantis."
"But Atlantis is a myth, Harry." stated Hermione.
"No it isn't. I know where it is. It is just almost impossible to get to as it stands right now. Soon I will have what I need to retrieve her and the historical records will win out over the old traditions." he smirked. He felt a hand on each shoulder and looked to see that Padma and Parvati had risen and approached him from behind. They were standing in support which warmed his heart a little more for the both of them.
"If that's true then where is it?" Hermione huffed.
"The part about sinking beneath the waves is true. What's not true is that it is on Earth. It was sunk on another planet and I know which one and where it is." he stated.
That one statement ended her comments. She froze with her mouth wide open. Then her jaw snapped together and she frowned.
"You must be having me on. There's no way!"
"Yes there is. Muggle technology can't do it yet but mine can. I just have to build the ships. And tomorrow the first shipment of raw materials to build the first interstellar ship will arrive. I will still make calculators and such but the goal, with my new transmitter, is to get the ship built and away for mining and construction operations as soon as possible. The design is similar to a bus in size but I can have it fit with transporters and anti-gravity and whatever else I need in short order. Built right into the craft. Its gonna be great. If you can all table your disbelief long enough I just might be able to show you." he said.
He waited and watch the interplay of emotions across the faces in the room. Dan and Emma looked on with astonishment while Hermione with abject disbelief. She couldn't reconcile the somewhat lazy schoolboy with a visionary. Padma was not smiling but her expression was contemplative and it looked as if she would at least wait to see if he could deliver. Parvati was studying him for any sign that this may be some prank and finding nothing. Looking to her sister he noticed the now characteristic nod they shared before both squeezed his shoulders in support. He sighed in relief.
"Changing the subject," Dan started, "Does this squib thing put us into a new category? We've always been referred to as muggles before."
"Yes. It means you have magic but not enough to be matched with a wand. It means that Hermione is a halfblood from a long line of squibs and that all of you have the genetics to use my technology. This 'magic technology' requires magic to get the most out of it, sometimes to get anything out of the devices you have to have some magic. As magic is simply another energy type that we can biologically manipulate it kind of makes sense. The effects of magic are the obvious changes in quantum states caused by the agitation of exotic particles agitated by our control of our energies. The better your control the better you can control the changes and effects. It's really quite simple." he offered.
Hermione looked back and forth between Padma and Parvati for a moment and their stances next to Harry and realized that he would not be bending to her will to tell her too much more and that he had the support of the two Indian witches in its entirety. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When her frown melted from her face she opened her eyes and looked at him with a new expression of grim determination.
"You'll give me first crack at the library in Atlantis right?" it was more of a statement than a question.
"No. There is too much information and the library is digital. It can be accessed through many of the computers in Atlantis. What I can promise is that if you have been caught up with the needed knowledge to read the library at all I will let you have access along with anyone else we pick up along the way. To include my lovely assistants here." he smirked. The sisters smiled.
"And what's going on there? How did they get involved with this?" she pried.
"I bumped into Padma and her father and after describing what I was doing and showing a few examples Parvati volunteered. Right now, other than this conversation, they are working on a learning program to hopefully get them caught up and able to read the database I have here."
"So you did get your hands on new information! Where did it come from Harry."
"Magic." he stated again, the conversation coming full circle. She made a frustrated sound and her hands went into her hair. He smirked again. Her father and mother chuckled.
"Hermione, you have to accept that there may be things that Harry won't or can't tell you sometimes. It may be more that you won't understand the full answer than anything else. The whole quantum states part of that conversation went way over my head." said Emma.
"Thank you Emma." he said.
"Well it seems that you have a decision to make Hermione." said Dan. "You can go back and finish Hogwarts or sign on here. But I would wait for him to make the offer before trying to strong arm a position on the team. It looks like there are only two stations." Harry nodded.
"Actually if you could get in touch with Professor Vector to get her on board with the calculators would be a big help. They are built with arithmancy and higher level math in mind." he picked up the spare from the desk and handed it over.
She studied it for a moment before fiddleing with it for a minute. Then, seeming astonished that it worked in the warded house at all, looked up again.
"You really did get technology to work with magic huh? Not the old lazy schoolboy after all." she said with a smirk.
"No. He grew up and has a new lease on life." his smirk still in place.
"Well that is enough for this old dog, way more ...information than I was expecting. You've got big plans and I think it best we left you to them." Said Dan as he stood. His wife and daughter stood with him.
"Just remember to get in touch with Vector over the calculators so I can know how many I need to build, ok?" Harry reminded as he rose to lead them to the door.
"I won't forget." Hermione said as she gave him a quick hug. Then she laughed.
"It's your birthday and I'm the one getting the present."
He smiled and walked them to the door. He hadn't expected them to show up at said door at all. Maybe use the floo and only Hermione at that but this had been an almost pleasant surprise. With one last handshake with Dan the Grangers walked were finally gone. When he returned to the sitting room the twins were still standing there, waiting for him.
"Today's your birthday and you didn't say anything?" started Parvati.
"It's just another day. I didn't really think anything of it." the girls looked at each other before nodding again. They approached and each gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek, one after the other.
"Happy birthday Harry." they said together before both retreating to their station giggling the whole way. "Now we have to think up something for you before we go today."
Harry shook his head and smiled before sitting back down and tapping back into the transmissions he was intercepting. He frowned.
"Astria Porta." he stated simply.
That got the twins attention. They were not very far into the learning program but they knew those two words at least.
"Star gate? Something else you planned on building?" asked Padma.
"It's a portal from one planet to another, set up in a network with addresses to 'dial' to each specific gate and travel instantaneously from one planet to another. There's one on Earth, which I expected, but...actually there's two. One is buried in the arctic but one is in the states and was almost powered up just now. They may figure out how to travel through it before long. There's no telling what they'll bring back to earth but I don't have the capability to do anything about it right now I guess."
"That doesn't sound good. Say, could one of them be used to get to Atlantis?" asked Parvati.
Padma and Harry looked at her. "Maybe, but the one in the arctic has to be dug out or transported out and we just can't do that yet. And Atlantis will need new potentia after all this time so we still need the mining operations ship as well."
"We notice that you didn't say much about starships with the Grangers here. Why?" asked Padma.
"I had no way of knowing how crazy they may think I am. I think they were pretty accepting in the end but right now I've got all the direct help I actually need." the girls nodded at this and turned back to the learning program. Harry switched over to the design for the mining operations ship and added in life support for three. The ship already had it for one but he beefed up the system for three people just to be safe. It should be able to do its job with no one on board but if they ever needed to get aboard while in space it was an option.
His calculations said that he could possibly get the ship built, with the proper amount of starting materials in about two days but that was without making a good stock of calculators as well. The next shipment after tomorrow would be a couple of days later and he would make the calculators then. That would get his mining operations off of the ground. He included a potentia growth station into his plans for the first shipment of naquada and carbon. The recipe was simple, naquada and carbon weave crystals grown to trap exotic particles that would agitate the quantum state of the universe inside the crystal and carry the energy through the naquada. Near limitless clean energy would be at his disposal.
The mining ship would bring back its first haul and beam it to the back yard before going back to mine more and to build, with the constructors, an Aurora class ship, redesigned with drone launchers and pulse cannons and of course running on its backup naquada generators until such time as he had the ability to connect a potentia to the platform.
He was still hard at work on the design when the girls tapped him on the shoulder to let him know it was time for them to leave. He stood and walked with them to the floo when they surprised him by first Padma throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him full on the lips. The kiss was short but was followed with a exact copy action from Parvati immediately following.
"Consider those your birthday kisses." Padma blushed.
They left the house through the floo with Harry standing perplexed staring after them.