I held off posting while the alert emails weren't working, and I have to say the flood of reviews warmed my heart. Thank you to everyone who left me a review, please enjoy the next chapter of 'Just Add Water,' which catches this site's posts up with my Ao3 account.

~/*\~

Chapter 6: Landfall

~/*\~

It was probably a good thing that Harry had exhausted himself yesterday; otherwise he didn't think he could have slept being as nervous as he was. He'd gotten up, conjured water for the bathtub (that on Earth would have been called a hot tub for six adults) at just the right temperature so it would warm the bathroom and set about preparing for his day. Since the floors of the ship were all made to collect conjured material he didn't feel bad about jumping into the water as long as his towels stayed dry. Relaxing in the water, he dove under to get his hair wet and applied shampoo.

Half an hour later Harry was walking into the mess hall clean but with hair that was still a little damp. Today he was going to meet the girl assigned to him by the Empire and tomorrow they would be dropped on their new planet. Madral and Fleur would be there too at least, but they would literally be on the other side of the planet so it would probably be a long time before he saw them again. Harry was one of the first ones in, and the cook, an alien with interesting earthy-toned striated skin, smiled at him as she dished up a rare Earth breakfast of pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon. She hadn't shared her actual name, apparently a quirk of her native culture was that only close family members or lovers knew each other that way. It was weird, but if she preferred to be called 'Cook' well that was her choice. As for the food, the meals over the months he'd been a passenger on the Dawn had been a wide variety from many different cultures and worlds. Harry had used his interface to keep a list of the ones he liked the best.

Harry made his way to a table and picked up a pitcher of blended juice he'd gotten used to. It was only a little sweet, and each pitcher was fortified with a lot of essential nutrients, so it was healthy. In any case, Harry felt his nerves build as he ate. He didn't even notice as Madral and Fleur came in, or when their group was joined by Victor. All three of the fourteen year-olds understood his emotions, and offered their quiet greetings as they enjoyed their breakfast. Madral got caught adding pancakes to his list of things to try again, and the group laughed quietly at that.

Eventually more people filtered in and the noise level grew. Seeing Harry was nervous, Madral led the three of them to an empty room that had several small, well-trimmed trees and soft grass growing. There were still a few hours to go until they would go to meet the new arrivals, so Madral began to teach the group a spell he knew. He'd done this before for Harry and Dahlia, and both could use a few of the spells his father had taught him. Now he taught the group to use a spell he'd learned from an older sister who had been a master druid for centuries. It was really only a simple bit of magic, a way to decide if the more difficult spells of that discipline appealed to you or not, but it was a good way to waste some time. By the time the new arrivals were heading their way, all three had made good progress towards the 'Wrath' spell, which shot a blast of prickly, shocking, golden energy at a target to damage it, and Madral had refined his skill with transfiguration a little. (Harry had a bit of natural talent with transfiguration and was always happy to help out others when they asked.)

Eventually Stalgin and one of his aides found the group, and escorted them to different sections of the ship, along with two more students Harry didn't know very well. There were four individuals coming to meet them from three different sections of the ship, taking different paths. Harry was rather surprised when his partner was coming from another section than Shandris Stormrage but followed Stalgin while Madral, Fleur, and Victor went to meet Madral's sister. Their entire class was going to gather in the mountain environment they used to exercise after lunch for something. If Harry knew exactly what Sethria, his chosen terraforming partner, was discussing with her instructor he would have been even more nervous than he was.

~/*\~

In a hallway near one of the airlocks that separated the many different class groups, a hunched man covered in silver-gray fur with wolf-like features led Sethria through the ship. Sethria had crimson skin, yellow eyes, and white hair. She had a pair of slim tendrils that draped down from the base of her skull under her ears to just above her small breasts. Other than a long, fully prehensile tail, Sethria's form was nearly identical to a human's, though her body boasted a lot of lithe muscle from a lifetime of training. Her personal history was… interesting.

~/*\~

Far in the prehistory of the galaxy Sethria was born in, an advanced intergalactic species had experimented with the energy commonly known as magic. Wild and untamed, magic had offended them on a personal level so they had sought to bind it, to make a cosmic force of the universe submit to their sensibilities. Over time they had largely succeeded; a microorganism was created to bind magic, to control, absorb, and replace it. Eventually these nearly-perfect 'midi-chlorians' absorbed all of that galaxy's magic and began to create a field of living energy that encompassed the entire galaxy. The 'nearly' part came when those sapient beings who would be users of magic in a healthy galaxy began to use this 'Force.' Users found they could exist in a state of calm, emotional detachment or a state of fully embracing their passions and selfish desires; the Force made it impossible to hold a healthy neutral ground. People, life, always existed best in the middle ground between Order and Chaos, and the 'light' and 'dark' users of the force found themselves pulled to the extreme ends of that spectrum. Always.

Given the meddling Sethria's galaxy was predictably and perpetually torn by horrific wars with Force users always leading or in the middle of every one. Sethria's mother Tevea was from a species known as the Sith Purebloods, and was the last of her species as far as she knew. Her people had a strong connection to the Force's dark side, and that connection led them to ruin. Feeling betrayed by the Dark side of the force, Tevea fled to a world named Pion which was as far away from anything of importance as possible. Pion had once possessed mines for the materials needed for building FTL capable ships but when those mines were exhausted the world abandoned; now the only thing left was a 'nexus' of light-side Force Energy. When Tevea, angry, desperate, and lonely stumbled across Pion in her search for a refuge to save her species from extinction she knew it was a perfect refuge. The Light-side nexus would counter, would balance the dark side energy that was a part of her very being. It wasn't a perfect solution, but the nexus would curb the worst effects of her heritage. Using her hard-fought skills and cunning Tevea began preying on pirates, stealing their ships and resources. Her last big haul was a shipment of construction supplies and robotic droids, which she subtly guided a pirate crew into stealing before she took possession of their vessel.

With a space station under construction to keep her world as safe as possible, Tevea had built a home on the world below and drank deeply of the Light side Force Nexus as she meditated to find a path forward. Through cunning plans and her own skills, Tevea would venture out into the galaxy in search of males to father children when needed and began to have children on that far-flung world with her droid servants farming and providing the needed medical care. Sethria had quite a few siblings and none of them shared the same father; thanks to their mother refining Force techniques to force certain traits to be dominant they each looked like an entirely different subspecies of Sith Pureblood. Sethria's father had been a particularly powerful Jedi her mother encountered and defeated during a trip to the larger galaxy.

Sethria's childhood growing up under a 'mostly' reformed user of dark magic and member of the species that gave the Sith movement its name was interesting. Her mother cared, but wasn't exactly good at expressing love and tenderness. Sethria was pushed very hard to be the strongest she could be, to be the absolute best. After all, the universe was a dangerous place and the only way to be sure of your survival was to be even more dangerous. And thanks to her own efforts and the bloodline she'd been blessed with, Sethria was truly a powerful young woman.

Sethria's universe had come to the attention of the Golden Star Empire when they had discovered a rogue Sith Lord sacrificing a planet to the Void in exchange for power. Needless to say they immediately ruined his day. From there, the Empire had begun taking worlds under their protection and started unraveling what was wrong with magic in the galaxy. Of course, they'd also taken control of every inhabited world, starting with those controlled by the Hutts and other criminal cartels even as they recruited armies and brought every world they controlled into a post-scarcity paradise. Compared to the corrupt and inefficient governments in place, the Golden Star Empire truly cared about the welfare of its citizens. With such a contrast in quality of life and personal safety nearly every population welcomed the Empire to their world. (Their governments did not, however, which caused a 'bit' of strife.) World by world the Golden Star Empire's armies scythed through and brought peace and safety to everyone willing to work for it.

Some groups took this better than others; the Mandalorians had signed up almost from the get go and were working to clean up their own galaxy alongside the Empire's forces. The Jedi were all for imposing order on lawless worlds, but were decidedly unhappy when the Empire challenged their beliefs and began work to restore magic to its proper place. Every practicing Sith or 'darksider' (Dathomir's Nightsisters for example) had to face mandatory anger management sessions and long lectures on why being an evil jerk was self-destructive but they eventually came to love their place in the invading empire's armies. And not just for the massive power boosts they gained from new medicine, techniques, and the alteration of the Force itself; the Golden Star Empire let them experience combat, let their passions run free as long as they only harmed enemies. In fact, the use of neural implants greatly discouraged the constant backstabbing that had always been a hallmark of those who used the Dark Side of the force; those who joined the Empire found it was a nice change to be able to trust those around them.

~/*\~

Sethria had returned to Pion from collecting a Kyber crystal of her own to find a Golden Star warship in orbit. (Sadly, she hadn't been trusted with a plasma blade while onboard the Dawn, though she still wore her indigo crystal around her neck.) Since the Golden Star Empire's goal was to prevent extinction wherever possible, her mother was asked to continue saving her species and given access to powerful magical species to continue the work of preserving her race. Sethria in particular proved her species had good genes: She was strong, fast, skilled with combat precognition, and magically powerful, if significantly limited in the types of magic she could use effectively. A base was being built over Pion and more settlers were being carefully chosen; that world too would soon boast shipyards forging magic into starships. Sethria had been on the Just Before Dawn for almost fifteen months now, and while she was often abrasive she had been held up as an example for the collection of young darksiders being taught how not to be evil, self-destructive, cruel jerks.

Her stay hadn't been bad really. Sethria had spent the first five months with her oldest brother for company until he had been dropped off on Earth's moon at the new Imperial station being built there. Sethria had learned a lot aboard the Dawn; there was so much more to magic than she had ever imagined possible and nearly every night she had studied late. From what she understood, the system that chose which colonists went where (and with who) had been indecisive on her for a while, and that made her more curious as to what her partner would be like. As they reached a hallway with a locked door, her instructor for the last fifteen months paused and spoke to her.

"Sethria, before we meet your partner, I want to give you a little information on him because you've been a good student and so helpful with the others. I was actually arguing for you to be paired with another boy who's a lot more powerful and has enough training he might be able to take you in a fight. But the AI argued against that, and it really was right; while you're a good match now Madral doesn't have as much potential for growth as you do. Eventually you'd outstrip him and your psyche profile suggests you would not be happy with a weaker male."

Giving her lupine teacher an appraising look, Sethria responded. "So, I assume that means that the boy the system chose for me isn't as strong as I am now, but has a lot of potential for growth?"

Giving her a smile that showed a lot of teeth Grimwark answered her. "Yes. He's probably going to be the strongest of his generation. I don't know what was going on with his world but his caregivers were actively trying to beat his abilities out of him and break his spirit. One of the local authority figures might have been involved in that, I didn't bother to read the whole file. Anyway, the kid's healthy now and he's grown a lot since he started treatment for malnutrition and such."

With a disappointed snort, Sethria rolled her eyes. "What, is he twice as strong as before? Twice 'almost nothing' is still 'almost nothing.' At least with 'Madral' I wouldn't be stuck with weakling."

After a chuckle with a fair bit of growl in it, Grimwark responded. "He's nearly seven times stronger than his first scan. A lot of that was just from getting him healthy, but his species has a wonderful capacity for growth in general too, at least when they're willing to work for it. Not only that, when he's mature he will probably be the strongest mage in his entire species. Sethria, eventually you will be expected to have children with him. Not for years of course, you won't be physically ready for another four or five years and your implants will prevent pregnancy before that even if your body starts its fertility cycle early. But your species is a powerful one, physically and magically. To start a powerful clan on a new world, what better father than a species with strong potential for growth?"

Sethria chewed on that thought for a few moments. It was true, having children was something she was expected to do, and it was something her mother had wanted her to do as well. She would do it gladly, if for no other reason than to preserve her species and do her mother proud. After all, the Empire had magi-tech that could ensure her children were nearly clones of herself if their father ended up having weak genes despite what Grimwark said. Then again, the old warrior hadn't steered her wrong yet; he'd earned her respect for both his combat skills and knowledge, after all. (Unlike Harry's group, the teachers responsible for her galaxy's darksiders sometimes needed to beat lessons into thick skulls, repeatedly.) It wasn't like she could ask for a different companion anyway.

~/*\~

On the other side of the bulkhead that was beginning to open, Stalgin turned to Harry for some last minute advice. "Harry, before you meet her, a warning. I tried to argue for a different partner for you, but the AI was right that the other options wouldn't force you to grow. Not like Sethria will anyway. She comes from a more violent culture than you'd find on Earth, so try not to appear weak in front of her. Good luck."

With a dull clunk, the heavy door that barred the hallway unlocked and opened. Harry Potter's first impression of the girl, or rather young teen, he'd be living with was that her skin was red. She also had a whiplike tail that looked like it might be fairly strong and prehensile and a couple of seemingly decorative tendrils lying on her chest. Sethria was pretty, though in a more muscled, athletic way than Dahlia. For Harry it was the same way he'd say a sunset or a forest was pretty, puberty and all its wonderful horrors had yet to visit him. Trying to be polite, Harry spoke first as the two examined each other. "Hello, my name is Harry Potter, it's nice to meet you. That's a cool tail, is it prehensile?"

Sethria smirked at the boy. And he was obviously a boy, having yet to enter his species' adolescence. Examining him with every sense her mother had taught her wasn't easy, she'd always been better at combat and physical enhancement, but it seemed Grimwark hadn't lied. To answer Harry's question, she curled her tail around and poked him in the forehead with the tip. The boy's emotions were easy enough to sense; he was nervous and still a bit afraid, something left over from before the Empire found him. But Harry was genuinely glad to meet her and had no problem with her appearance or species at all, which hadn't been the case on the few occasions she'd left her home planet in her birth galaxy. While Sethria had found herself both hoping for and dreading the idea of being trapped on a planet with an equal, this boy really wasn't the worst she could have gotten. Still wanting to get a measure of him, Sethria spoke. "My name is Sethria. I heard your species thought they were alone in the universe before the Empire annexed them, aren't you uncomfortable knowing I'll probably be the only other living creature you'll see for months or years?"

With a puzzled look, Harry answered her. "Why? You're probably a better person than my relatives."

Sethria laughed lightly at Harry's response. He wasn't lying, he really didn't care what she was. She had been concerned because humans, an apparently ubiquitous race, had often been xenophobic in her home galaxy. If you had asked her what she wanted in a colonizing partner, she would have had a hard time explaining exactly what she wanted. But Harry seemed tolerable. In a way, it made sense since the AIs that matched them together wanted the two to get along, and wanted them to be happy citizens of the Golden Star Empire. And given the AI's analytic capabilities, the psych reports, and the constant monitoring of everything that happened onboard the Dawn, the artificial sapients were rather good at their job.

~/*\~

Eventually everyone in Harry's group, along with the new additions sent to balance out the genders, made their way to the mess hall for lunch. Sethria and Harry had spent some time together in the casting range, racking up additional credits. Harry had been impressed with the power of the lightning Sethria threw downrange without a wand or any other focus and she in turn was impressed by Harry's versatility. Harry found himself amused as they ate, red meat wasn't the most common meal onboard the Dawn, but this seemed to be a special occasion. Madral, his sister, Sethria, and even Fleur proved their species' predatory roots as they fell upon the offered steaks. That isn't to say Harry didn't enjoy his, though he didn't recognize the source animal; the taste was rich and somewhere between beef and lamb.

After the meal, the teachers gathered the group together in one of the sparing rooms, one that included a recreation of a small forest and a clearing with a stream crossing through it. Harry turned to pay close attention to Stalgin as he addressed the group. "As soon as you're on the surface, your job is to survive and terraform your world. As you work, the magic from imperfect spells will slowly saturate your world and encourage the growth of even mundane plants and animals. Eventually your efforts will produce worlds with plant life, ley-lines, and a magnetic field. However you will need to work together to accomplish this. Once you're on the surface one-fifth of the credits you earn will go into a group account, controlled by your group leader. We are going to choose leaders right now.

"Since none of you are adults we don't expect perfect maturity out of you, and something adolescents of many species have in common is that proving yourself stronger awards a certain amount of respect. Leaders have privileges and responsibilities, while they can give orders to others in their group, they are not permitted to be cruel. Neither can they do anything to stunt their fellow's growth; they are required to look after their group's health. Your AI will warn you about behaviors that approach abuse. Each pair will now have a sparring match in which the only restriction is that you are to do nothing our healers cannot fix by tomorrow. All of you should have seen enough while on the Dawn to know where that line is. Now, let's begin. Each of you are only allowed a single focus during your match."

Harry watched the earlier sparring matches and was impressed at the variety of spells used. Both male and female teens ended up as leaders of their groups, the deciding factor almost always their diligence in studying or reflexes. Betting started up fairly quickly, with the student's shouted bets being tracked and enforced by the watching AI. Harry stood with Sethria on his left and the group consisting of Madral, Shandris, Victor, and Fleur on his right. Getting a feel for placing bets, losing some but winning more, Harry shouted out as Victor and Shandris walked into the ring. "One hundred credits on both Stormrage siblings!"

Sethria quirked an eyebrow at that. Harry had been doing fairly well with the bets, but he still had less than eight hundred credits in total. However, after examining the two about to fight with her eyes and other, more arcane, senses she smirked and placed the same bet for two hundred credits. She had just over 2,300 in total, so wouldn't lose as much if they lost. A number of students took the bet, and groaned loudly when the match ended a moment later with Victor pinned to the dirt when Shandris turned into a large brown bear with a lunar symbol on its left shoulder.

Madral and Fleur's match took a few moments to arrange: Madral's staff had been empowered by a powerful being, it was a training tool that guided his spellcasting and would be unfair to use. After a bit of negotiation, Madral instead used druidic magic to grow two curved wooden glaives out of a nearby tree. During the ensuing match, Madral proved he had hardened them against magic and the balls of fire tossed at him by a Veela that quickly proved why she was onboard the Dawn in the first place. Still, Madral wasn't a slacker either and the match was fairly entertaining as he tried to get close and Fleur tried to keep him fighting at range. Eventually Madral got close to Fleur and proved that, thanks to his many older sisters beating the snot out of him in practice matches, he believed in the equality of the genders in training. Fleur gained a few sprains and some significant bruising before she went down and stayed down, but nothing that wouldn't be gone by the next morning if she saw a healer. There were groans as those who'd lost saw their credits transfer to Harry and Sethria.

Then, it was Harry and Sethria's turn in the ring. Harry had been thinking constantly about what he should do as they watched the other matches. He really didn't know anything about how Sethria fought other than that she could hurl a nasty amount of lightning from her hands and her apparent skill with a blade. Harry really didn't like his odds against Sethria in close quarters, what with the eager smile on her face when the teachers handed her a piece of Living Wood in the shape of a blunted sword with a slot for the crystal she wore on her neck. Apparently the crystal was important wherever she came from, because as soon as she placed the crystal into the slot, the sword seemed to change slightly and felt more… her. As soon as the match started, Harry cast a blasting hex into the dirt between them and ran deep into the small forest. He might not win, but he wanted to impress her if nothing else.

So, Harry retreated and quickly started trying to set a trap. Transfiguration was a school of magic that seemed to come easier to him than others, and in this life no one had ever tried convincing him that snakes were evil. A few moment's work gave him an army of crudely shaped serpents and a few hissed instructions sent them on their way. Moving quickly he transfigured a few larger snakes to act as his bodyguards, then he settled down to wait for Sethria to come to him. Harry had been told he had a rare magical talent, the ability to speak Parseltongue. It didn't give him the ability to control snakes, but apparently most serpents would at least be interested in speaking to him. Parseltongue was useful with some healing spells, curses, and animation magics; it even gave him an aptitude for spells that involved snakes. Since the basic transfiguration spells were fairly easy for him to master, Harry had worked on being able to create snakes easily whenever needed. (Life might be going well for him now, and he was unlikely to ever see his aunt and uncle again, but Harry refused to be a victim ever again.)

Eventually Sethria stalked into the bit of forest where Harry stood on a large tree limb high above the forest's floor, two large snakes at the base, one next to him and one hidden in the canopy nearby. No sooner had she stepped foot into the little clearing, than all the smaller snakes hidden under leaves began to move towards her. As expected she unleashed a storm of her lightning and destroyed them. Joke was on her, those little ones were purposefully shoddy work, and only existed to lull her into a false confidence. As she came closer, more and more serpents struck at her and were likewise destroyed. When she was almost in range of the tree, Harry sent out the dozen fourteen-foot vipers he'd hidden under the ground and behind trees. This time, when Sethria went to electrocute them they held up much better, thanks to a coating of rubber. (It wouldn't protect them entirely, but it would make her work harder to destroy them.) While she was distracted, Harry cast the largest water-summoning charm he could from his position above her.

Sadly, she sensed his trap and darted away with only a little of her own lightning shocking her. Naturally Harry rained down every spell he could think of without hindering his own snakes, and when she was nearly out of his line of sight, he triggered a section of the dirt to fall into the pit he'd quickly dug with transfiguration. It was only about ten feet to the metal of the ship's deck, but with her in a hole he could rain spells down on her until he actually hit her with something. That was when Harry discovered Sethria could apparently jump thirty feet in one vertical leap as she flew through the air straight at him. Harry also discovered she was capable of telekinesis when a branch suddenly broke and knocked him off his perch when he raised his wand to tag her with a stunning spell. When Harry landed on the forest floor after bouncing between a number of branches, he found Sethria wasn't one to show mercy to a fallen opponent or give them time to regain their feet. Once he'd lost his wand, Harry's only response to the beat down was a few flares of accidental magic that Sethria managed to avoid entirely.

While Sethria didn't show him mercy, she was careful to not seriously injure Harry. With the match decided, Sethria levitated Harry onto his feet and began walking back to the group. Harry hurt, but compared to his uncle or cousin she'd been gentle. If nothing else, he knew nothing was broken, so without a word of complaint he followed. He now understood what Stalgin had meant about Sethria forcing him to grow. One of the ship's healers checked him out briefly and had him drink a potion that eased most of the pain and began healing his bruises. Between the potion and his own magic, guided by his implants, Harry knew he was going to be perfectly fine by morning. In a positive turn, it seemed Sethria appreciated his indirect method of fighting, at least after she'd asked why he chosen that method. "You're like a third taller than me and you probably have twice as much muscle. Plus your focus is a sword. I assumed you knew how to use it and wanted it nowhere near me."

After dinner, Sethria followed Harry back to his room. Whatever species she actually was, apparently she didn't have the human nudity taboos Harry thought to himself as he soaked in warm water to relieve his aches and pains. He was pleased that Sethria had a few bruises of her own, even if they weren't anywhere near as extensive as his. At least one of his larger, hidden snakes must have surprised her while he'd been distracted.

Sethria didn't talk much as they got ready for bed. Harry was glad that someone had teleported Sethria's bed from her previous quarters. He wasn't sure whether or not he was afraid of her, but was glad he wasn't expected to sleep next to her. After the awkward experience of preparing for bed with an audience, Harry spent a few moments typing out a letter to Sirius. Just briefly describing his partner and attaching a photo before he turned in. Despite the residual pain and the odd feeling of his magic soothing his body, the day's exhaustion quickly took its toll. Harry slept the sleep of the exhausted as Sethria slept soundly in the knowledge her partner was at least tolerable.

~/*\~

The next morning Harry and pretty much every other student was at the spell casting range early, either working on learning something new or just racking up a few more credits. Harry found it a bit odd, but apparently Sethria was fairly limited in what magic she could use, even if the few spells she'd mastered were powerful. Stalgin and the other instructors eventually found the entire class busy at work, and chased them into the cafeteria to eat, announcing that until they started to grow their own food this might be their last chance for a freshly-prepared meal. Surprisingly the fare was a number of Earth breakfast foods again. Once the students had all started to eat, the instructors started to give out the gifts mentioned the day before.

A lot of students were given enchanted articles of clothing, things that would be useful on their new worlds. Victor received a long hooded coat with spells that would keep him comfortable in any weather as well as a walking staff with a magical core from the same creature his wand had 'settled' with. Fleur received a crystal focus that could hang on her neck and a pair of tall hiking boots with a myriad of enchantments to be the perfect size, to keep feet warm or cool, and to assist their wearer in keeping their footing. In fact, the boots were an extremely common gift, leading the students to consider the possibility that they would need to tread carefully on their new worlds. (Something that was entirely true. Compared to Earth, these worlds were just rock pushed together until they had near-Earth gravity and were stable enough to not fall apart into asteroids. Nothing had really settled yet.)

Sethria received boots in addition to the Living Wood sword she'd gotten yesterday that had now fully bonded with her crystal. Harry received boots and a vambrace that fit over his right forearm. It was a handy thing for sure, it had a slot to hold his wand and an expanded storage compartment. After the late breakfast and the gifts were given out, the instructors split the students into groups. Some would go straight to the construction bays where one of the ship's fabricators would create their housing before the Dawn secured it to the surface. Stalgin singled out Harry and Madral, speaking to them while the others nearby watched. After getting comfortable in one of the nearby chairs, Stalgin spoke to the two of them. "Harry, Madral, I have good news for the two of you. Because the Dawn's surface scans of the planet in this system have determined that the world you two are headed to is just slightly past your species' tolerance for heat, you're being given a massive discount on an enhancement ritual. If you remember, many rituals are horribly unsafe but some are both useful and worthwhile."

Stalgin brought up his holographic interface and interacted with it for a moment, then both Harry and Madral saw theirs open with the description of a 'Class Two Enhancement Ritual.' Letting them look at the particulars for a bit, Stalgin continued speaking after a few moments. "This ritual, Solar Attunement, allows your body to absorb sunlight and use it to restore your magic reserves; that will be useful immediately, but as you grow stronger it will be less useful as your reserves dwarf the incoming magic. That's the major effect, it also has three minor effects, all of which will prove useful. This ritual completely negates sunburn and grants your body a resistance to heat in general. It also gives you the ability to use Solar magic with study and practice; Solar magic mostly revolves around fire, purification, and imbuing land with magic that empowers life. Since your world is slightly hotter than expected, this will keep the two of you from suffering illness caused by the heat and sun."

Briefly, Harry and Madral glanced at Fleur and Sethria. They both knew that Fleur's ancestry gave her a predisposition to Fire magic, and apparently it also gave her a resistance to heat. Sethria apparently guessed the direction of their thoughts and spoke. "My species was born on Korriban."

It was a simple statement, but when Harry queried the computer for basic information about the world, it turned out her words conveyed all they needed to. Let it be said that Harry Potter felt no desire at all to visit that world. After the betting finished up yesterday and the frenzy of spellcasting this morning, Harry had nine-hundred and thirty-four credits, but even with the discount the ritual completely wiped him out. But looking over the information on Solar Attunement, it was a ritual that would pay for itself in time. Without much hesitation Harry approved the purchase and followed behind Stalgin as the man led them to a special room they hadn't been allowed to access before. Rituals were touchy things, so a specially isolated room was needed.

This ritual was entirely unpleasant, as participants were required to add their blood to a prepared powder, knead it into a paste, and then paint symbols representing the Sun on themselves. Harry was still forming the last few symbols on his chest when Madral channeled magic to the interconnected array of symbols that reached nearly every part of his body and screamed as they burned into his skin. The burns needed to be left alone and heal on their own, eventually there wouldn't be so much as a mark on either of them as the magic permeated every cell of their skin. Harry was scared, but when he was ready he channeled the magic in the right way. It escaped no one's notice that Harry was able to bite back his own scream.

Even though the pain was intense, Harry tried not to complain. A rule of thumb with rituals was that ones like this were actually the safest; every ritual had a cost, something that was paid or sacrificed. The Solar Attunement Ritual's cost was paid up front in powerful magical ingredients, blood, and pain. Compared to seemingly less costly rituals whose cost was paid out over time or that demanded a piece of the caster, those rituals that demanded a cost up front were actually far cheaper. Harry and Madral would gain the full effects of the ritual as they healed, and if they spent time taking in the sunlight, their recovery time would be cut down greatly, especially under a star with living fire threaded into its heart during its creation.

~/*\~

From there, Harry returned to his room and gathered his personal effects; a few physical books, his clothing, and the plants he'd grown from cuttings or seeds during the last eleven months. Most of the plants growing onboard the Dawn were either edible or medicinal in some way and Harry had collected two dozen small plants, with twelve of them producing fruit or vegetables he liked, five whose leaves he could make into tea, three that produced pleasant scents and looked cool, and four with medicinal properties including one leafy green and blue striated fern whose properties were similar to willow bark, only more concentrated. After checking that ingesting that fern wouldn't interfere with the ritual, Harry started chewing a few leaves as he finished transferring his clothing from his drawers into his knapsack.

After he was packed he followed the group he'd found himself spending time with in the last few days with the addition of Sethria and Shandris; his collection of plants levitating behind him. (He wasn't the only student who had started growing useful plants, but his collection was the largest in his group.) It turned out to be a very long walk to the fabricators nestled on the lowest deck of the Just Before Dawn. When they arrived, they saw two houses being constructed around a metal frame out of some sort of resin and panels of imitation wood. Robotic arms moved here and there, using bolts to attach panels to metal beams and then filling the space between inner and outer walls with some kind of material that seemed very viscous and quickly dried in layers. What was to be the new residence of Victor Krum and Shandris Stormrage was being built as an odd fusion of two the distinct styles of their homelands. Harry was most interested in the domed structures attached to the house on two sides, which turned out to be solariums or greenhouses.

Once the first house, the one not about to house Victor and Madral's sister was completed, those watching got to see the Dawn deploy some kind of energy beam onto the rocky surface of the planet. It turned out the beam was fusing the rock into one cohesive piece, to keep the area the house would be installed on stable. Madral and his sister seemed to be making up for lost time and catching up as the Dawn entered the lower atmosphere and someone or something levitated the first house, with its new occupants inside, onto the surface. A few moments later, the Dawn repositioned and began stabilizing an area on the other side of the planet. When Victor and Shandris had been placed on the surface and the Dawn moved to the next planet, Harry tried to reassure Madral. The elf was a little upset that he wouldn't see his sister again in person even though the planet she was on was in the same system as where they'd be living. Harry reminded him that they'd seen magicals flying through space under their own power. "I'm not saying it's an easy skill to learn, but do you really think we can't learn it?"

As the ship moved to the next barren world of rock, the fabricator activated again. Two sailing ships slowly took shape as the Dawn began an intensive scan of the planet's surface. Between the four of them about to land on the surface, they would have to decide on a name for it. Madral's depressed mood lifted a little as he watched the ship that would be the first to be completed, based on how the robotic arms were focusing on it. It was interesting to watch the ships be assembled, the fabricator was applying layers of some material over a skeletal frame, like with the houses. Harry wasn't sure what it was being built out of, only that it was likely every bit as tough as the standard houses for those who would be living on land. Madral's ship was elegant, built out of a purple synthetic material and when the ship's frame was complete they could see the silver sails with light purple designs being loaded into the cargo hold. It was not a small ship, holding enough rooms to comfortably house two dozen people in spacious individual rooms in addition to a galley, dining room, and many others whose purpose hadn't been decided yet.

Looking through the energy field keeping the ship's atmosphere inside, they watched the Dawn fire an energy beam onto the surface again as the fabricator built the first ship's uppermost deck. Only a few moments later it was time for Madral and Fleur to depart. While Harry was intending to say goodbye with a manly handshake, Madral pulled him into a hug. The four of them said their goodbyes, and Madral spoke one last time while climbing a series of ladder rungs on the ship's side. "Stay safe Harry. Remember we can contact each other anytime, and don't worry about the fact that it will be night for me when it's day for you; my species is nocturnal anyway."

With that, Harry waved as his best mate entered the pressurized area below deck and his ship was moved onto the surface. When the Dawn moved to reposition, he saw that the other ship was nearly complete, and chuckled at its appearance. It was a full-size replica of the HMS Victory, a rather famous British sailing ship, with only the interior layout and the materials changed. He had no idea if it had any cannons, since all the gunports were closed. Moving to get a better view of the back, Harry realized there was one large difference compared to the original: like Madral's ship, (which wasn't any smaller) the rear was one large plane of glass, or something a little stronger, with bedrooms and rooms for growing plants individually isolated with the massive window making up the entire wall. A third of the window would even be underwater eventually.

Speaking of Madral's ship, Harry found himself just a little envious over his friend's single sail and simple rigging. This replica of the HMS Victory was going to be an utter nightmare to rig with ropes and sails when the time came. Small flashes of light revealed both his and Sethria's bed had been moved into rooms near the center of the massive window. All too soon it was time to climb aboard so Harry did, following Sethria up the ladder which was made of some easily-gripped composite material attached directly to the side of the ship. Harry climbed with his wand held in his mouth, using the focus to levitate his plants up after him.

Taking his first steps on the strangely warm deck, Harry re-adjusted the rucksack on his shoulder and briefly took in the large exterior deck. Depending on the weather, I could grow a lot of plants in pots out here. Taking his wand into his hand, he hurried after Sethria who had already reached the door just past the ship's wheel that led into the airtight rooms below deck. Next to the door were two breathing masks, and a message popped up on the display over his left eye informing him that until the planet gained more atmospheric moisture and much more oxygen, the masks would be needed whenever they left the climate-controlled interior rooms. Without much trouble, he followed Sethria to the giant window in the top-most room at the rear of the ship. (That room happened to be a very large shower, like you'd see in a locker room, but much more comfortable.) Moving to stand next to her, together they watched their ship exit the rapidly-shrinking crescent-shaped Just Before Dawn and descend to the planet's surface.

Despite having seen the projection when they were assigned to planets, Harry was still shocked to see nothing but barren rocks and dust as they descended. Very interested in the place they'd be landing, Harry watched their sailing ship approach a sloping valley in a series of hills, where presumably the peak would one day become an island. (Or at least it would be a good spot to build an island on top of.) The entire area was smoking stone and looked like it had recently melted; the rim of the valley was a little taller than the main mast of their ship at the highest point. Both Harry and Sethria were thrown from their feet when the ship came to a rest, not expecting such a hard landing. Harry was glad he'd charmed his potted plants against shattering or spilling their contents as he lost control of his levitation charm.

As the two regained their footing and made their way towards the deck, looking to get a better view of their new world, they heard a notice from the AI that had chosen to join them on this world. "Warning: Exterior door sealed. The Just Before Dawn'sefforts to stabilize this area have left it heated beyond your species' tolerance levels."

With his plans of seeing this world and feeling its air on his skin ruined, Harry spoke up. "Thank you for the warning AI. What should we call you?"

"You may call me Sal."

"Nice to meet you Sal. I guess we'll explore the ship instead. Is there a place inside where we can conjure water or electricity?" The need for water was self-explanatory and Harry assumed there was a need for magically generated electricity to keep the reserves charged. Something was maintaining the comfortable temperature and powering the lights, after all.

"Any water conjured will be drained into the ship's water supply in an identical manner to the Just Before Dawnand excess will be drained onto the surface. Be aware that waste water is not recycled given your ability to conjure more. On that note, you will have to decide how to handle this ship's sewage sometime in the next two months. I recommend a pipe buried in gravel covered by at least four feet of sand. Electricity may be input at a terminal on each deck, they are clearly marked."

"Thank you." Harry glanced at Sethria. "I guess I'll get my plants set up in my room, explore a bit and then start conjuring?"

"Yes. I will examine our new home as well. This primitive vessel will need a name."

Harry paused for a moment. "On the outside at least, this is a copy of a famous sailing ship called the HMS Victory. We could call it the Victory?"

Sethria looked at the boy for a moment. She'd never been great at naming things, and Victory wasn't the worst name for a vessel. "Victory is good enough. Now get busy, remember you're at zero credits now."

With a polite nod, Harry walked out of the room and searched for the way down. It took him some time to find his room down two flights of stairs and he was surprised by what he found: his bedroom had light blue walls with emerald borders and accents. It was large, much larger than his room on the Dawn, and even had an attached bathroom. While his bed was there, the rest of the room was bare save a desk and comfortable chair. As Harry placed his collected plants in front of the massive window and began watering them, he smiled. This wasn't the best or the worst outcome, but he would make it work. He wasn't exactly happy about being under the command of his partner, but she was undeniably stronger than him, for now. He'd spent a lot of time browsing the things credits could be used for, and if he worked hard and spent wisely, it wouldn't be long before he was the one in command. He had the right to challenge her for leadership once every year, after all. Harry Potter had no intention of being anyone's servant if he could help it, but he was also smart enough to wait until he was ready to take control of his life. With his plants taken care of he made sure the luxurious bathroom had enough drains and began conjuring water. While he worked he opened his interface and opened windows to display his current credit total, the Victory's current water supply, (starting at zero and climbing surprisingly slowly) and his saved pages in the credit market program. As he worked he realized that the sunlight and humid air around him were soothing the burns from his first ritual.

~/*\~

A/N: I'm trying to get back to posting a new chapter of something every two weeks; I'd do more, but I'm kind of slow. I have about twelve chapters of this fic ready to go, and I'll be posting them when my other fics aren't ready. I've mostly been working on Children of Prophecy, which takes the Kitsune OC I created for this fic and introduces her to Harry in a nearly-cannon setting.

Anyway, please leave a review, each one helps motivate me to keep writing!