Chapter 11:

Hermione Granger gave a presentation entitled "Magical ballistic weapons".

"Last year, in this group, we discussed using rifles in magical combat. During the summer I asked my father, who was earlier in the army, a lot of questions about that weapon type. The advantages are speed and accuracy. I determined that each of these advantages can be accomplished with magic, and came up with overall design for a group of spells that would be better than rifles. Together with Colin Creevey, Fred and George Weasley, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Ernest Macmillan, we have a prototype ready to be tested.

The capability is modeled on the basic NATO army weapon. NATO is a military alliance that Great Britain is part of. It turns out that this weapon turns a small amount of energy into a very effective long distance weapon. About 1800 Joules per round. Colin Creevey immediately saw that he could create a flash for his photography with that amount of energy, and easily rapidly take more photos. That was the proof of concept that the energy requirements could be met.

The transformations create the rifle barrel, the only part of the original weapon actually needed. Then the projectile, about 4 grammes of lead in a particular shape. Then how to apply the energy needed behind the projectile. Using magic, recoil can be eliminated.

The projectile travels through the air at about 900 metres per second, over 2 and half times the speed of sound. It also spins, giving it more stability. It can be effective to a kilometre and beyond, although beyond 200 metres or so, many corrections to aiming are needed for both ballistic drop and air resistance and air cross movements.

That leaves aiming. We came up with a use of the point-me spell, to point the barrel towards the wand of the enemy. That usually provides an effective target area.

There are some enhancements we plan for aiming. One to modify at the time of firing a direction from the enemy's wand, in case they are holding it oddly. Another would be the corrections in aiming needed for long distance. Another set of enhancements would be to experiment with many other round types, each requiring a different energy level and weight and shape of projectile."

The Room of Requirement was again setup to be Diagon Alley. Harry announced, "This time, two at a time will walk from buying books to ice cream. There will be hit wizards trying to attack you. Anthony and Terry, you're first."

They walked warily, ready to draw their wands. Someone standing with no apparent purpose put his hand in his pocket, and Terry drew his wand and yelled "Expelliarmus". The simulation froze, and Harry Potter told him, "You had no legal justification, lets try that again."

This time there were different people and when someone appeared to be drawing a wand on them, Anthony put up a shield, while Terry was ready to transfigure an object to block any unforgivable curses, which shields do not block. No attack was made. They walked further. This time someone else suddenly sent a cutting curse, Diffindo, at Anthony. He had a shield up in time as both rolled away. Terry who was looking for other attackers saw the earlier suspicious man firing some sort of yellow spell at them and blocked it with a shield. Both attackers followed up with the killing curse, and only Anthony transfigured an object to block it in time, and then two against one, another Diffindo got him.

Harry complimented them and said, "Very good. You reacted when justified and held off the initial attacks, and were looking for additional attackers. It will take a lot more practice to do better at this type of fighting. This is why we travel in pairs or larger groups and exhibit constant vigilance. Death Eater attacks are not duels."

Meanwhile the Horcrux hunt was going well. With Sirius free we got the locket and helped gain a little loyalty from Kreacher. The Diadem was in the Room of Requirement as expected. The ring was gotten with expensive help arranged by the goblins. Harry Potter agreed to pay for it. The Resurrection Stone went into one of the more secure Potter vaults, not his trust vault.

Hufflepuff's Cup was a negotiation challenge. It was in Lestrange's vault. A law wizard helped Sirius Black, the head of House Black, go through a set of legal steps to get some authority over Bella's possessions in that vault. The Goblins, again for a large fee, agreed to remove the Horcrux from Cup and then return the now cleaned cup to the rightful heir of Hepzibah Smith, the last owner of the Cup.

Harry Potter's scar Horcrux was still being researched, both by Dumbledore and the Goblins, separately. They wanted the fee if they could find a way to remove it without harming him.

Luna and I were having dinner in the Room of Requirement. 17th century French cuisine. I said, "This is French cuisine in the wizarding world, you won't see them serving nouvelle cuisine."

Luna interjected, "Not the 1960's nouvelle cuisine, nor even the 1742 version from Menon."

I continued, "We know we'll be living in France approximately 30 years from now, based on what you said."

Luna answered, "You were going to ask when. I do not know. Sometimes when I think about something, I see, but it is not something I can control. Besides, it is something for us to decide, not just follow future's seen."

I asked, "When you were trying to see the future of Renee, you said Q blocked you."

Luna said, "I thought about Renee to see if I could see anything, but instead I saw Uncle Q saying, No spoilers for this part of the story."

I said, "You do vary from the books and the movies. I don't hear you mention Wrackspurts, and Nargles."

Luna looked thoughtful and said, "When you told your parents that you would not try to change my behaviour, and then suddenly became interested in defence and trying to look intimidating, I decided to be less of a target you'd feel the need to defend. I think my belief in the effects of Nargles and Wrackspurts were due to inductive reasoning in canon, but not actually proving either being responsible for what I attributed to them. In this reality, I used my study of Vulcan logic to clarify what I know versus what I assume, and from what I can prove to others. Besides Star Trek canon, Uncle Q has helped me directly see the teachings of Surak. So for Wrackspurts, I can believe in the likelihood of their effects, but unless and until I can prove that to others, it is illogical for me to casually mention them. As for Nargles, later canon has shown that it was bullies who were stealing my things, not Nargles."

I thought about it and said, "Another difference could be that, using muggle video game terminology, you are now a player character, instead of a non-player character or NPC."

Luna said, "True, but I don't think you successfully convinced Dumbledore that he is an NPC. He still plans to survive and control things. He is wary of Q, but still thinks of Harry Potter as a weapon not the central character of the story. He considers both of us as extensions of Q."

I said, "We'll need to plan around that. In some fan fictions, Dumbledore is almost a dark lord while presenting a genial, being on the side of good, persona."

I continued on another topic, "Another thing I noticed is that in the books you were not a vegetarian, but in the movies you were, due to the strong feelings of your actress. In this reality, you are not vegetarian. I think appearance follows the movies but character traits follow the books."

Luna said, "And noone notices inconsistencies. Lavender Brown is in Gryffindor this year, as the books show, not Hufflepuff as shown in the movie about this year. Her appearance and also Dumbledore's will change, and noone will notice anything."

I said, "If people keep noticing that we disappear together, they might think we are up to no good."

Luna smiled and said, "They would be right about that."

The next day, Harry Potter, me and Luna met with Dumbledore. He started, "Harry, as you are probably aware, Tom and Luna have some extraordinary information about past, present, and possible futures, but the nature of which would be better for you not to know."

I continued, "You'll need to continue your study in Occumulancy, but even then, Mr Riddle is an exceptionally strong legillimans, and you are likely to be facing him in the future. There is also a deeper matter of your free will, that I do not want to unduly constrain. It might not make sense without knowing the context, but that is something I worry about."

Dumbledore stated, "Negotiations are continuing with the Goblins about the soul fragment of Voldemort in your scar. They cannot assure your safety with the methods they know now, and do not want to be responsible for your death or mental disablement. One approach being discussed is for them to teach others what they would do themselves. They insist on your informed consent to the contract, even if it is no longer their responsibility. Also, due to the prophecy it would be best if you directly hire or authorize as your hand, anyone who destroys any of Voldemort's soul fragments."

I continued, "You might consider also visiting Gringotts and getting your heir ring. It may have some protections. You can also see if you can get your head of house ring, or if not, at what age you can do so. You might also be recognized as an adult and have the under age use of magic restrictions removed."

Dumbledore continued, "Before Voldemort can be made mortal, the diary in possession of Lucius Malfoy needs to be destroyed. Also, soon after Voldemort next acquires a body, he'll make a new horcrux from his snake Nagini, which will need to be killed, preferably with the Sword of Griffindor."

I said, "If we can get the diary and your own scar first, there will be no need to deal with Nagini. In another timeline, Lucius Malfoy was worried enough about a Ministry raid, that he removed it from his possession. It is believed that he keeps it in a secret room under one of his manor's room. He doesn't believe it is secure enough."

Harry asked, "Do you think Draco knows the location of the diary?"

Dumbledore answered, "Probably not, until such time as there would be a need for him to know."

The next time Luna and I went to the Room of Requirement, Luna had prepared Vulcan food.

"Vulcans are of course vegetarian. I think Vulcans are the Ravenclaws of Star Trek, Klingons are the Gryffindors. Who do think the others are?"

I said, "Maybe Humans are the Hufflepuffs. They create a Federation instead of a human empire. Slytherin is a tough one. Could be Ferengi, except they are so openly greedy, and I do not see ambition or even great cunning from them. Maybe Romulans?"

Luna answered, "I agree about the humans, but Ferengi, Romulans or Cardassians , are not exactly Slytherin, but maybe the closest are Cardassians."

She continued, "We have Plomeek soup, Pok tar, and a side of Balkra. To drink Gespar-masu, the closest I could find to pumpkin juice."

A while later I started, "There is only 1 or 2 major challenges before solving the Voldemort problem. We have to plan for what is next. We'll have about 30 something years before the Star Trek world starts."

Luna said, "Do you know that the Vulcans have been watching Earth since 1957? They detected the first artificial satellite and are now waiting for the first warp signature to contact the planet."

I said, "I do not think the statute of secrecy can last that long. By the 2010's most muggles will have portable devices on them at all times that can record video and instantly transmit it to global networks. I do not see enough competence in the Ministry to deal with that even if it were possible."

Luna added, "It would only take one country to fail to contain the knowledge. It could well be Magical Britain."

I said, "Decisions will have to be made. Some will want a further isolation, some will want a strategic decision to end the secrecy."

Luna asked, "What if the Eugenics Wars are in our future, except instead of one side being artificially genetically altered, they were actually magicals? That war started around now."

I answered, "That would bring the future on track to the Star Trek future, but would result in the almost complete elimination of our kind. There has got to be a better way to get to that future without the horrible period of 1990s to 2050's. I think we can get to a Federation with magicals accepted as another first contact around the time that other aliens are accepted. I think what Renee did in the series is find some sort of indigenous intelligent life on Io a moon of Jupiter. It was a sentient microorganism."

Luna said, "Between the defeat of Voldemort and Renee's discovery, we have to get the magical world ready to be accepted by the non-magical world."

I agreed, "A Federation of magicals, non-magicals, newly discovered life, Vulcans, others out there, but not a muggle empire. That way leads to the mirror universe of Star Trek. This will require a lot of thought and planning."

Luna and I decided to meet with Dumbledore to try to work with him, instead of in opposition to each other for the future.

I started, "While there are still significant problems in solving the Voldemort problem, we'd like to discuss with you what happens afterwards."

Dumbledore's eye's twinkled and he asked, "What would you like to see happen?"

Luna answered, "That is not an open ended question. There are forces to behold ahead, and only different ways to adapt to them. If Earth were by itself, technology will make the statute of secrecy untenable in about 20 years."

I added, "Almost every muggle will carry around a device that takes photos and moving pictures with sound and instantly transmits them to far away data centers and then to other people far away. If the video is widely interesting, within hours millions might see it. Statements also can become widely repeated and known, again millions within hours, sometimes minutes or even seconds. Within 25 years, live video logging will be common, where people who are well known are viewed live by their fans."

Dumbledore answered, "That sounds challenging. However, you said something more alarming, about if Earth were by itself. Was that language you once spoke to me that of a people not on Earth?"

Luna said, "Yes, but not one we would see here for another 160 years. There is another advanced technology people, who are similar to people or maybe tall elves, that is even now watching this planet. They will refrain from contacting us until we discover how to travel faster than light."

Dumbledore, said, "Ah, yes, the speed of light. I understood that muggle scientists said that would be impossible, and I think magical travel is always slower than it."

Luna said, "It might be discovered by humans in 70 years. The extra-terrestrials watching us already know how, and they are non-magical, although they have some legilimency abilities."

Dumbledore asked, "What do you think should be done?"

Luna answered, "There are different likely timelines that we know of. The best one has humans being something like the Hufflepuffs of our region of space, creating a Federation of many species and cultures. We hope that magicals can be part of that."

I added, "However, in the Star Trek future, a group of enhanced humans was almost wiped out in a long war starting around now and continuing into the 2050's. I am afraid that magicals could be the stand-in for that group of enhanced humans."

Luna said, "What should be done, is a deliberate ending of the Statute of Secrecy before it is broken due to technological advances. The goal would be to start the Federation concept with essentially two species of humans."

I added, "I am afraid that magicals would instead try to fully separate from muggles, either preventing muggle-borns from having magic or removing all contact with their families and all contact with muggles. They would need to be like the Goblins to avoid detection, and live underground. Once muggles know about magical places, they could map them with technology. I do not think the power of a notice-me-not is infinite. By the 2020's artificially intelligent machines would notice blank spots in maps. Even living underground would not evade detection from technology."

Luna continued, "Then there are the aliens. Some of them can probably find magicals. Some of them are, in their own way magical."

I continued, "Oddly enough most of those left humans alone, except when humans trespassed their areas of space. It was humanoid species of a similar technology level that were mostly encountered and occasionally fought against. If humanity didn't adopt similar technology, Earth might be colony of theirs in a few centuries. In the Star Trek history, the Federation is what gave us the ability to survive the more advanced aggressive species, although there was another timeline where humans something like the Death Eaters also built a hostile human star empire."

Dumbledore said, "This goes far beyond what I was expecting. I was worried about what to do with the Death Eaters if we manage to get rid of Voldermort. However, I am the Supreme Mugwump and if there is evidence I can present to the International Confederation of Wizards, that will help, I will."

I thought about what Dumbledore said and replied, "They are not unrelated issues. The Death Eaters, or even blood purists, would likely respond to this knowledge by attacking muggles. I think they would lose, but if they were to win, I doubt they could keep up with aliens. They tend to be 100 years behind in their understanding of technology, and nearby alien cultures have technology that is more effective than magic in some ways."

Luna added, "They might consider the nearest aliens as looking similar to elves and try to put them in their place. However, they are the nicest of any of the aliens around us. They would be in for a rude awakening when dealing with actual warlike cultures that would attack a planet from a distance."

I continued, "I think that the Death Eaters need to be decisively defeated. Leaving them in positions of power and influence will not lead to their redemption. The simplest way to start this effort is to make sure that everyone knows that taking the dark mark is not only voluntary but requires some evil act. If any person with the dark mark could be made to testify truthfully, it could be a start. One possibility would be Barty Crouch Jr., since he has already been convicted, he could be made to testify if he was found. Another possibility would be Snape, where his testimony could be agreed to in exchange for no charges for actions prior to 1982."

Luna said, "You have the influence in this society now, and you are best placed to make these changes happen."

I added, "To deal with Voldemort, we will need to deal with Lucius Malfoy, so the other person with a great deal of influence over society now should need to be removed even to get to the point of dealing with what happens after Voldemort."