Enjoy chapter two, which in the original draft was the second third of chapter one.

~/*\~

Just Add Water

Chapter Two: Hearts and Minds

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Six days after Fleet Commander Ahn'tamet announced Earth's absorption into the Golden Star Empire, seven magicals, Class Six (commonly referred to as the 'Picket Class') or above with a talent for Solar magic lead the strike force tasked with seizing Azkaban Prison. A shield enveloped the island, and the Empire's army flooded onto the island from rugged triangular landing craft with sleek profiles. As the soldiers stormed the island the air became thick and restricting as a suppression shield went up; anyone without a special counter-enchantment woven into their clothing or armor suddenly found themselves trying to move through molasses. Many prison guards spent the fifteen minutes between the shield going up the invading army completely securing the island cowering in terror; the Dementors had turned on them when it became obvious they were no longer in command. Unable to run or manage the focus for a patronus, the soul-sucking monsters had slowly drifted closer and closer to them until one of the magicals leading the army arrived and dealt with the monsters with a bolt of purifying fire.

Compared to these soldier's usual missions, securing Azkaban was child's play. It was much easier than landing on a void-infested planet to rescue as many as they could or holding the line against a planetary invasion. In every case of a Dementor trying to consume their former masters the Dementor soon found itself struck by a ball of fiercely burning, protective, living flame that consumed them, freeing all the souls they had ever consumed. It was a truly awesome display, in some cases hundreds of souls were released and the clearly human shapes, appearing as wispy ghosts, looked around the prison weeping in relief for a moment before they faded away like mist on the breeze.

To some of those storming the island, this was personal. The Empire's enemies sometimes fielded creatures like these that consumed souls, and many of these soldiers had lost friends to them. The Ministry guards responsible for watching over the prison gave no real resistance as it was stormed, they hadn't heard anything from the Ministry for days and the invaders were powerful enough to utterly destroy Dementors. (The words on their lips were usually 'I'm not paid enough to fight anything that can kill a Dementor.') When the last Dementor was destroyed and the guards rounded up, the Empire's strike force began emptying the prison. Even with the foul creatures destroyed, the very stones of this island were… tainted. None of those present could manage the scourging the land needed, that would require something more. The residue from the destruction of every Dementor still hung heavily in the air, and would be useful for the next step.

For Sirius Black, one day in Azkaban was much like another. Sure, seasons mattered, some brought bitterly cold weather and others brought harsh storms that seeped through the windows and stone walls. A fog of misery and suffering clung to Azkaban that made it hard to think. Still, the sounds of an army storming the prison were hard to miss and the screams of the Dementors engulfed in Solar Flame were something he'd never heard before. Eventually when most of the other sounds quieted, three magicals flanked by dozens of guards began tearing the cell doors open and placing manacles on the prisoners before placing them on self-levitating stretchers, even chaining them to the stretchers. Sirius watched through the bars as they moved along until they finally reached his cell. Seeing him standing and looking to be in better shape than the others, the obviously powerful wizard in heavy armor commanded him to exit the cell and present his arms. Sirius did so, then he spoke while they were placing thick metal shackles inscribed with runes on his hands and feet. "Any chance I can get a trial? They never gave me one, I wouldn't be in here if I had the chance to testify under Veritaserum."

The wizard in heavy armor paused for a moment while the soldier finished locking his shackles, then spoke. "You have the right to request a new trial under Imperial law. For the moment you will be transferred with the other prisoners and our healers will treat you. Can you walk out?"

Sirius straightened himself. "I can walk."

Despite a body ravaged by Azkaban and its Dementors, despite malnutrition and muscle atrophy, Sirius walked out of Azkaban prison under his own power feeling more hope than he had since before Halloween 1981. He wasn't free, but had the promise of finally getting a trial after… hell, he wasn't even sure how long he'd been in Azkaban anymore. He managed to stay on his feet until the wizard and soldiers moving the prisoners reached the rocky beach and his strength failed him. The wizard who had spoken to Sirius caught him with a wandless levitation charm and simply floated the man the rest of the way to a landing craft. Once inside the expanded loading bay Sirius saw healers tending the worst of the prisoners, and to his shock they were not human. Some had horns and strange skin colors, some had strange body-shapes, hell, one of them was a crimson dragon the size of a hippogryph who could apparently heal by breathing magical fire. Sirius Black had no idea what to make of seeing so many non-humans, but having a werewolf for a friend had long since cured him of his culture's intolerance.

Sirius was set back on his feet against a wall as the craft lifted off, the back hatch flickering with an energy barrier of some kind. The same wizard who had kept him from falling stepped closer and spoke again. "I don't know whether you're really innocent or not, but if you are, I figured you would want to see this. We've already removed the records and anything of value from the prison, but those damn demons tainted the very stone."

Looking through the transparent barrier, Sirius could see the island getting smaller for several moments. Then the landing craft came to a stop and a massive wedge shaped object descended through the clouds, directly above Azkaban. It was impossible to make out many features with this distance and weather, but Sirius was reminded of a movie Lily suggested he go see in the seventies. He was confused about why it was hovering over Azkaban until a section of its bottom hull began to glow for a moment before a concentrated beam of golden fire shot down, enveloping the entirety of Azkaban Prison. It wasn't long before the stone walls melted into slag and the slag boiled away to nothing. The assault continued as the stone beneath the prison met the same fate, the hole growing deeper and deeper until the entirety of Azkaban Island collapsed into it and the frigid sea rushed in to fill the empty space, resulting in a massive cloud of steam. The physical and mental exhaustion weighed heavily on him and Sirius felt himself nodding off, but still managed to say a few words before he lost consciousness. "Thank you."

~/*\~

The next time Sirius woke, he was seated on a sloping lounge chair submerged in some kind of goop. Only his head was above the thick gel cocooning the rest of him, kept in place by a hard shell of clear plastic or ceramic. Despite trying to, he was unable to move so he looked around. Around him he saw many of his fellow Azkaban inmates in the same restraints as himself, so he forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. After a few moments he heard a slithering sound and opened eyes that he didn't remember closing. There was a creature, something he would assume was one of Earth's extinct Lamia if not for the exotic orange and blue coloring and the way her upper body was also covered in fine scales. She was wearing a white robe as she approached Sirius and checked a display he couldn't read from where he was seated. Seeing she had his attention, she spoke up in a language he'd never heard before, but helpfully her words were translated to an English script that hovered in front of his eyes. "Sirius Black?"

Sirius croaked out a response, his throat dry and aching. "Yes, that's me."

Before continuing the healer (it was a guess, given that she was wearing the same colors as the healers that had been treating the prisoners at Azkaban) held up a bottle with a straw in it to his face and Sirius eagerly drank. As he did, she continued. "You've been here in the Astria Prison infirmary for three days so far, and you should be released to your cell in two more. You have requested a trial under Imperial law, is that correct?"

Not wanting to speak, Sirius just nodded. His stomach felt empty, and there must have been some potion in the water to calm it. It was odd that he felt so thirsty but wasn't light-headed. This time, a short bit of script in a language he'd certainly never seen before appeared in front of her eyes, and Sirius realized that the scripts appearing in front of their faces were an extremely advanced translation spell, even explaining human gestures. She spoke up again before Sirius could ask a question. "Very well. For the time being you will join the prison's population once you've recovered physically and you will be given an interview with an investigator in a week or two, pending good behavior. For now you should rest. The gel you're soaking in is repairing your body and leeching out the residual magic poisoning you. You don't need to eat or drink thanks to the fluid we're feeding into your bloodstream. Do you have a question before I start checking the others?"

To say he was groggy and exhausted was an understatement, but Sirius managed to fight through the exhaustion that was trying to pull him back to sleep. "Is my godson, is Harry alright?"

"What is your 'godson's' full name?"

"Harry James Potter, he has dark hair and green eyes. I haven't seen him since the night his parents were murdered."

Sirius watched for a few moments as the serpent healer called up what looked like the illusion of a type-writer's keys (but clearly not in English) and quickly navigated several screens that appeared before her. Sirius had a sinking feeling in his gut, had something happened to Harry? Had Hagrid been attacked that night or had Peter gotten to the boy after he'd failed to kill the rat? After a few moments he saw the healer pause on a screen he couldn't read and spoke up. "I found him in our records. He's a student in England and alive. He's scheduled for a mandatory medical examination with the other children of his area in four months, we won't have any information beyond that until then; of course you won't be given any information at all unless our investigation finds you innocent."

As exhaustion claimed him again, Sirius felt his eyelids grow heavy. "Thank you so much, he's safe…"

~/*\~

Nine days after Ahn'tamet addressed the people of Earth at the United Nations, an alien was guiding a speeder bike through the air above Crawley in Britain. The rider received no small amount of attention as she guided her transport to slow as she followed a map projected in front of her. While much of the magical world had required a firm hand, the mundane had generally been more reasonable. No one living on Earth was happy about the state of affairs, but no one could say the new hospitals going up around the world were not working miracles. Peace was tentative and could fall apart at any time, but every promise kept built just a little more trust between humanity and the Empire. The Golden Star Empire had also begun training Earth's armies in their weapons and tactics, as a prelude to inducting them into the Milky Way's defense forces, or at least the segment of it that included those who could breathe air similar to Earth's. (That those weapons carried both remote shut-offs and tracking devices was a given.) Learning the only segregation in the Empire was based on who could survive what climate and atmosphere struck most people as sensible.

Still, as the figure landed in front of a well-off but not extravagant home in a middle-class neighborhood, there were a few people who chose to accost her. These people did not know beforehand, but upon accosting the lone alien they soon learned what an Imperial Combat Medic was made of. These four rather large men with shaved heads had quickly transposed hatred of their fellow man to the aliens as soon as it was clear the whole thing wasn't a hoax. Following the call of the hatred in their hearts, they leaped at the lone figure who had removed her helmet, revealing dark orange skin and silver hair. In response, she twitched her wrists and two combat knives slipped into her hands, then with the grace of a ballerina she danced. None of the four men were lethally injured, but their 'victim' wasn't afraid to sever tendons or deliver a debilitating strike to the groin. Bystanders who had been moving to help her, as alien or not she hadn't done anything to warrant the attack, stopped with their mouths hanging open as she calmly activated a projected holographic interface and spoke audibly in English. "Crawley Integrated PD? I'd like to report an unprovoked assault, sending the recording now. Please send someone to arrest the attackers, they're wounded but are not in danger of bleeding out."

With that done, she picked up a small messenger bag and made her way to the house that was her destination. The first step of Imperial integration on Earth had been to send contingents of peacekeepers to work with local law enforcement. While a lot of politicians and people who enjoyed power in the current scheme of things tried to prevent local police from working with the aliens, when the alien squads informed the local cops that their only goal, full stop, was to prevent loss of life and protect the innocent during the transition of their world from independence to an Imperial member world, most officers found that alien or not, they could work with these people. It helped that many cops the world over were generally sensible people; it didn't take a genius to see that their world was outgunned and outmanned. If nothing else, the Empire held the high ground with the fleet of warships in orbit. Various militaries had tried driving the aliens away and accomplished nothing, not even slowing them down.

~/*\~

The Granger family had seen what had transpired outside. With the upheaval the world was going through, no one really wanted to go to the dentist so their practice was temporarily closed. Possibly permanently closed, given the great strides in medical care the Empire had brought with them. Given the violence, the family was considering running out the back when the Alien knocked on their door. "Hello. I am Ferisa and I'm here to talk to you about your lives going forward. I've completed my certifications as a combat healer and an instructor of children so I've been asked to answer your questions; there is information you need to know."

Though hesitant, the two dentists opened their door and provided the best hospitality they could. Ferisa seemed to enjoy the tea and snacks they served. Seated around a table in the Granger's living room, Ferisa began to speak. "First, I want to tell you what you need to know about practicing medicine as Imperial citizens. To re-open your clinic and begin serving your patients again, you need to complete a course on the new materials and techniques we're providing. From what I understand, the course is similar to what your government already demanded of you to stay current with new advancements. The time and place hasn't been nailed down yet, but you will be informed when the classes are set up."

The couple and their ten year old daughter listened quietly to the alien speak with a bit of an odd accent. Dan Granger replied after a moment of thought. "That sounds reasonable. What should we do if a patient contacts us about an emergency in the meantime?"

"We have temporary medical structures in most cities until we can build more permanent ones; just look for the white pyramids. Medical care is free for the next six months as part of the transition." With that Ferisa closed her eyes, leaning back and sipping her tea with a contented moan. "This is good. I'm proud to have been doing my part, but it is so nice to be off the front lines. My battalion had it rough, but not as rough as the forces Ahn'tamet commanded." She went quiet for a moment then chuckled before speaking again. "I trained hard, learned to heal people from the most grievous wounds and even learned to fight if I needed to." To the surprise of the Grangers, Ferisa spoke again, emotion flooding her voice. "I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed to know I'm never going back to the front lines again."

Emma spoke up this time. "Did you retire from active duty?"

Ferisa laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "No, I've been retired." She let out another almost broken laugh that visibly made the Grangers recoil. "I'm sorry, I'm not going to hurt you. It's just, when we secured this galaxy and my battalion was transferred here, I found out why I'd been taken off the front lines forever. My home reality, where my species came from and most of us lived, got hit hard at the same time your reality's 'Andromeda' did and we lost three entire galaxies, including most of my people's colonies. My species is now in danger of extinction."

As the orange skinned woman made a visible effort to calm herself, little Hermione darted out of her parent's arms and gave the woman a hug. Ferisa flinched at first before forcing herself to calm down. It took a while and two cups of tea, but eventually she continued. "Thank you, I should rephrase that last bit, my people aren't likely to go extinct while the Empire stands. There's a neat bit of magic and technology that can make any children I have almost clones of me, taking just a few of the best traits from their father. There's actually one other thing I need to discuss with the three of you. I assume you've heard the explanation we've been airing for the role magic plays in our war?"

All three Grangers nodded their heads. The ability to pull matter and energy out of nothing was obviously a potent ability in any conflict. Confident the three had seen one of the newscasts, Ferisa slipped a hand into her bag and withdrew a sealed case. Placing it on the table in front of them, she opened a latch and revealed a pale white crystal small enough to be held in the palm of a hand. "Hermione, both our scans and Earth's records say you have magic of your own but that doesn't mean you'll be sent to the front lines. At least not while there's so few magicals from this world. Please pick up the crystal and hold it for a moment, you don't need to do anything else. It's going to glow as it absorbs a little of your magic."

Dan and Emma looked at each other worriedly, but Hermione was eager to follow the instructions. There had been a few times she thought she'd done something strange over the last few years, but had chosen to believe she was mistaken. That was before the world found out magic was real. With absolutely no hesitation she reached out and picked up the crystal, which looked like the quartz crystals she'd seen in certain shops around London. As promised it glowed brightly enough at her touch to cast shadows even with the late afternoon sunlight filtering through the windows. Dan and Emma were obviously concerned, but Ferisa spoke up. "Don't worry, it's just a useful crystal we manufacture. It has to be kept sealed because it absorbs magic through physical contact. I have a reader with me that will tell us about your daughter's magic, how strong it is and what sort of spells she might be good at."

After about five minutes, the crystal in Hermione's hands stopped glowing and Ferisa withdrew a box about the size of a hand-held gaming system with an obvious slot for the crystal to be inserted. Without waiting for instructions Hermione placed the crystal in the slot and nearly vibrated in excitement as the device lit up and let out a soft humming sound. Reaching into her bag again Ferisa withdrew a blue pyramid about the size of a grown man's fist and placed it on the table. Tapping the base with her finger, a projection with columns of alien script appeared above the object. Ferisa hummed as she analyzed the results but noticed the three Grangers looking at it in confusion. "Oh. Interface! Access Settings. Change Standard Text Language to English please."

A few seconds after she spoke, the text blinked away and returned in a language they could all read. Ferisa spoke up again as they looked at the results. "Good news! You're a healthy, strong magical Hermione. According to what we've learned so far, you're in the top fifteen percentile for your species and age group, which is pretty good." There were several hundred words of floating text, but without context the Grangers had little idea of their significance so they paid close attention to their guest as she continued speaking. "Each magical species is different and we're still learning more about yours, but it looks like you're probably going to be best at magic that involves a lot of finicky parts, like complicated enchanting or healing spells. For your elemental affinity… It looks like you're predisposed to Wind and especially Fire magic. You have a rather strong affinity for fire for someone who's never cast a spell before."

Hermione began asking question after question as Ferisa answered her as best she could. As afternoon stretched into evening however, she had other places to be. "Sorry, but we'll have to cut this short. Hermione, because you're magical you're going to be moved into a class with other magical children, and I'll be your first instructor. We're going to have the first class in the big park by the library to the west, and we'll meet there for the first time on Monday of next week at eight in the morning. You'll be given a wand, which is a focus that helps beginners learn to use their magic and hopefully learn your first spell. The only thing you need to do before then is report to the nearest Empire facility for your initial medical examination. Dan, Emma, both of you are welcome to observe the lessons and examination if you wish."

With that Ferisa excused herself and left the family behind, smirking at the unconscious vandal who had tried to take a can of spray paint to her ride and been electrocuted by the 'bike's' security system. Her bike was something she'd bought with her own pay and since she had little else to spend her Credits on, she had added many new features and upgrades over time. A few diagnostic spells showed the vandal would be fine when he woke up, other than some residual pain, so she left him lying on the ground and headed to her next appointment, a family named 'Finnigan.'

~/*\~

Somehow, Harry Potter had missed the initial recruitment drive that saw many adult human magicals and their families registered as Imperial citizens. Many of these magicals were given jobs around the solar system on Venus or Mars as well as various other planets and moons in the solar system to begin the work of making those planets livable. A month after Ahn'tamet addressed the United Nations Petunia and Vernon Dursley saw a chance to be rid of their nephew forever, so Vernon had taken the boy to the processing plant the aliens were building in central England. Harry wasn't aware, but the plant would be used to produce construction materials for new buildings and infrastructure going forward, bringing Earth 'up to code,' so to speak. These new materials would slowly be used to replace every existing building and utility on the planet since the new materials were thousands of times stronger and more efficient. They were also much better for the environment.

Vernon had thrown a half-starved child wearing rags at the guard, an alien similar to a short human save the extra pair of arms wearing crimson armor over gray skin. Vernon had been asked to stay while they verified his claim that the child was magical. Vernon and his wife had been arrested immediately when another alien, this one with green skin, long scaly ears, and the lower body of a snake had examined Harry and run a few diagnostic spells over him. Both Vernon and Petunia had ignored the 'critical' part of 'critical war resource,' somehow misconstruing that the Empire only saw magicals as resources and not people. Even if Harry and the others were needed to win the war, the Empire still wanted them as healthy and happy as possible, not starved and beaten until they were sickly, fearful, and timid. After some tests and being given a large meal Harry had slept in a cozy hospital room, the first time he could remember not sleeping in a cupboard. In the days that followed, Harry met a number of friendly aliens who were happy to interact with him and got to eat as much as he wanted. He suddenly had the problem of a nice but pushy nurse encouraging him to eat more than he felt comfortable with every meal.

As he healed Harry had watched his relative's trial unfold. The Golden Star Empire needed to make it clear to everyone that hurting children was highly frowned upon in their empire, which now included Earth. Harry was shocked that people who could use magic, like him, were very important so people needed to know not to hurt them or stunt their growth. The sentencing was harsh; his uncle was sent to serve seventy years of hard labor in the new mines on Mars while his aunt was sent to serve ninety years of less arduous community service on the new lunar base dedicated to the continuation of endangered sapient species.

Apparently the Empire could make a child take after one parent a lot more than was usually the case, and Harry was told that they often found species that were nearly extinct. Sometimes they even found interesting beings that were the result of experimentation who were the only ones of their kind. Harry thought it was nice that his aunt would be able to help people. Thanks to the new medicine being shared by the Empire, both would easily serve their sentences without dying of old age. Petunia's sentence would include mandatory psychiatry visits and the offer of taking time off her sentence if she agreed to be a surrogate for near-human endangered aliens. Otherwise she would be working as a cook or maid that was never directly allowed to interact with children.

Harry was given no small number of treatments after his relatives had abandoned him at that base, both physical and mental. And they had paid off. His bones that had broken during 'Harry hunts' and hadn't healed perfectly straight had been restored, he'd gained muscle and energy, he didn't need glasses anymore and was enjoying having perfect vision. Even the scar on his forehead, the one that had never finished healing, had faded to a pale white line after a treatment the healers had made him sleep through.

~/*\~

The lead healer spoke up, eyeing a crystal that had turned from pale white to a seething black, as if something alive was thrashing around inside. "Take the kid into decontamination and get a cursebreaking team here now."

One of the assistants looked at the facility's lead healer as he set the crystal down on a tray and backed away slowly. "What is it? It was so difficult to remove from that poor kid…"

"I'm a healer, not a cursebreaker! I have no idea other than the fact it shouldn't have been on the kid's forehead. Leave it for the people who know what they're doing. Now, everyone into the decontamination ward! Until we know what that thing is, we're assuming it's dangerous and infectious. Move people!"

~/*\~

Harry had received both the standard implants for male magicals. (Females got an extra one that only became active during puberty. A very patient nurse who looked like an elf had vaguely explained that it made a lot of things less unpleasant and safer for them.) The standard computer interface was a tiny silver band around the back of his left ear that gave Harry both a real-time translation of anything said around him, displayed in a holographic subtitle in front of his left eye, and let him connect to any computer in use by the Empire, though his current access was limited. The second implant was more complicated and only given to lifeforms that could generate magic. It was a band of seven beads that just barely showed past the skin on his chest, around the base of his neck. These beads did several things; first they constantly drained one percent of the magic his body produced, which the nurse explained would make him grow stronger over time as the implant sent that energy to help the war effort in one way or another. The beads also made his magic smarter, which meant that the little things it had been doing to help him heal faster and make his body tougher were now done 'the right way,' so they took less energy and worked even better.

After the Dursleys were tried, Harry met an alien of a species he hadn't seen before. He would never forget what had happened that day as long as he lived: An alien with a general human shape save for a snakelike prehensile tail, two horns that just barely sprouted past his white hairline, reflective purple eyes and burnt orange skin had found Harry in his room at the newly constructed hospital. "Hello, Harry. My name is Stalgin, and I'm going to be looking after you for a while." He sank to his knees and smiled at the boy. "Do you know why people who can do magic are so important to the Empire Harry?"

When the small boy had shook his head no, Stalgin continued. "Well right now we're fighting against two forces that want to consume everything: Entropy, which steals energy and the Void, which steals matter. Both have a lot of soldiers and creatures that fight for them, but the real problem is they keep stealing matter and energy away from us, and everything they steal makes them stronger. People who can use magic, like you and me, we get our power from the same place Entropy keeps what it steals, and we can take matter back from the Void too. I know you're young, but since you're one of the highest twenty Earthlings in magical potential in your age group, your job is to come with me on my ship, the Just Before Dawn."

Harry had looked at the man in wonder. "I'm going on a spaceship?"

With a comforting chuckle, the man answered. "Yes. I think you'll like the 'Dawn,' as we call it. You'll be with me for a while and I'll teach you as much magic as I can while we take the slow way to the world where you'll be working for the Empire. I'll be picking up the rest of the other kids with really high potential in the next few days but I wanted to get you first, I know hospitals aren't fun."

Very shyly, Harry asked the man a question. "Um, Mr. Stalgin, what will I be doing for the Empire? I don't really know how to do anything unless you want me to take care of a garden."

With a chuckle, the alien responded. "That's actually what you'll be doing, more or less. You see, there's a planet right now that's just a bunch of rocks stuck together with barely enough air to breathe. You, and just a few others to start with, are going to turn it into a great place to live, with water, animals, plants, and all kinds of magical creatures! Don't worry though, I'll teach you everything you need to know! You see, my species is really weak as far as how much power we can use, but in exchange we can use a lot of different kinds of magic. If you pay attention and work hard, you'll know everything you need to know by the time we get there!"

~/*\~

Newsreels: Under Construction

~/*\~

"Welcome back viewers, this is Shia Runsocris with today's news. To start, Ahn'tamet, recently promoted from Fleet Commander to Governor of the Milky Way Galaxy, released a statement that this reality is, at least for the moment, believed to be clear of enemy forces. Naturally, our scouts will continue to monitor the situation and will maintain all due vigilance. In news from the local front, the Milky Way and nearby surviving minor galaxies have been secured thanks to an additional peacekeeping force that arrived two weeks ago. With mines and production facilities under construction in all inhabited systems, the main fleet is now free to begin securing the Triangulum galaxy. Triangulum has an unusually low number of sapient civilizations but initial scouting efforts report a large number of planets suitable for mining and terraforming. Information on any fully prospected world and their inhabitants can be accessed from any interface. All worlds currently without life are being evaluated for terraforming, and we can expect the first worlds to be ready for initial colonization in the next few weeks. Any citizen interested in a new start on one of these worlds should enlist in the required courses; requisites for a Terraforming Certification include a basic understanding of Imperial tools, magnetic fields, magic, ecology, weather, and reproduction. Prospective terraformers should also begin the search for compatible individuals for their terraforming team; if you cannot find the requisite team members, please consult your interface for matchmaking assistance."

Shia paused for a moment, taking a sip of water. "In local news, fifty major Material Processing facilities are now online in major population centers and smaller facilities will be coming online in additional locations in the next week. As part of the standard integration plan, all outdated ground vehicles can now be exchanged for Imperial models powered by the local energy grid at these processing facilities. Additionally, nearly any form of salvage or detritus can be exchanged for Imperial credits at these locations, providing the materials have been obtained legally. Credit value of salvage is determined by the chemical makeup of the salvage.

"With the Material Processing facilities online, construction of the new Planetary Transit Network will begin in three weeks. Construction will include an intercontinental hypersonic rail system and will proceed in phases. Phase one will link cities on the same landmass together, phase two will include building transit lines under the ocean, and phase three will include three equidistant orbital elevators. Hiring for these projects will begin shortly and will include paid training.

"This has been Shia Runsocris bringing you the day's news. Please join me tonight for an interview with Planetary Architect Santh Arils on the challenges of balancing form and function in modernizing planets while ensuring native plant and animal life continues to thrive. Santh is one of the premier architects responsible for sculpting paradise worlds in a dozen realities, and he will be producing plans for every planet in Sol before moving on, continuing his work around the Milky Way."

~/*\~

A/N: Here's chapter two, where we see Harry for the first time and find out what the Empire thinks of Dementors. ('Cleanse them with fire!')

Next update will be chapter three, probably going back to my update every two weeks schedule. Please leave a review, every one motivates me to keep writing; I read and treasure every one.