Chapter 31:

Xenophilius got back from his research trip to the Silk Road, before the summer began. He wrote several Quibbler editions worth of content from that trip. When we saw him he was telling us things about Silk Road history. "While you might already know that the Roman Empire and China knew about each other, there were many magical visitors to Tibet from Rome. I also have another set of articles on how the wizards working for Alexander the Great traveled to far more places than he did, in that region.

I had less success finding evidence of the Yuxa. It is a 100 year old snake that appears as a human. While I had some good leads, I couldn't exactly accuse a person of being a Yuxa."

I asked Xenophilius, "What do you think about the idea of having a global edition of the Quibbler? It would be limited to articles of general, not local interest. You could prepare it on a portable computer, and then email it to magical printers throughout the world, who would be paid to print and distribute the paper in their areas. The advertising could be global brands of technomagic and other products and services. You could also have specific adds for each regional printing area."

Xenophilius answered, "It is an intriguing idea. I would like to see learn more about the costs and revenues in doing that."

Luna added, "It would also let us get some of our ideas more visibility. My logic column. Your research in ancient legends."

The planning for the new school took up a lot of the summer. Debates were mostly about the details of the school, not whether it would be started. There was not much opposition, since it was only going to be another educational option.

The current consensus, waiting for the August vote, was that the ICW was going to require that ministries cannot prevent students from going to the new school, or in some way punish them or their families for going there. The ICW also was going to make sure that educational certificates would be handled fairly. If a ministry had their own requirements, different from international standards, then they had to be specified as a testable standard. The new school would then provide an option to learn that standard. The standard could not be to have a particular experience in a particular location, but instead skills and knowledge that could be tested anywhere.

The Starfleet campus, including the new school was going to get its own international apparition and portkey arrival area. MACUSA would have places, on campus, where they would issue permission to exit the campus to visit the rest of the US. Between the new island and the rest of the campus, there would be a variety of transportation options invisible to non-magicals. For those who don't like apparition or floo travel, there would be an underwater San Francisco cable car, connecting the locations. For students, it would be slowed down to take an hour and a half to go the 3 kilometer distance, at the start and end of terms, to give them a chance to meet their fellow students.

The curriculum of what was going to be called Starfleet Junior Academy, was going to be flexible. All students were expected to achieve the international standards equivalent to Britain's OWL's and some NEWT's in 7 years. They could go at their own pace, and after 7 years, anyone could learn at the NEWT level in the main Starfleet Academy campus, or even take OWL subjects that they still need to. Starfleet Junior students with the needed pre-requisites could take classes at the main campus. Classes that were popular enough would also be taught at the Junior campus.

Students would be taught Starfleet culture and ideals, the non-magical world, computer knowledge, and space technology. Also many of the classes normally part of non-magical education, but less intensively, to leave time for the magic curriculum.

While there were many dormitory areas, students could move between them as they wanted. It was expected that students with different interests might choose the same dormitories, there would be no formal division of the students into houses.

There would be one giant main dining hall, which would accommodate as many cuisine varieties as possible. While students were expected to mostly speak English with staff and each other, and jointly follow Starfleet ideals, there was no encouragement to adopt a combined culture.

There would be a store on campus that would carry all essential school supplies, including wands, as well as items typically popular with students. MACUSA money was in use, with other magical currency accepted at prevailing exchange rates, but change given in MACUSA money. There was a bank on campus to exchange non-magical money, and to handle bank drafts from both magical and non-magical banks around the world. For those approved to travel to the rest of the US, there were apparition connections to the MACUSA shopping areas.

Ordering items from other countries were facilitated with fast cargo transfer methods already in use by large magical trading firms. No owls were sent out from Starfleet Campus, they were considered to be a risk to the discovery of the hidden campus. Letters could be sent the same way cargo is, if they carry something other than information. Otherwise, they would be emailed either directly to the recipient, or local printer and distributors that were by now common throughout the wizarding world. To send a letter to someone traditional, in Britain, one would write out the letter, it would be scanned, then emailed to a London printing company, which would print it out on parchment and the same color ink, and then send it by owl to the recipient. The printing company would place its own wax seal on the envelope. For certain very formal letters, this would not be considered sufficient, and instead a properly sealed envelope would be physically transported to Britain, and then owled to the recipient.

Later in August 1997 there was the well attended ICW vote in Peru. There were a lot of questions asked and answered about the plan, but the national magical delegations had already gone over these before the conference, and a consensus had already been reached. The vote was very heavily in favor of starting the school, Starfleet Junior Academy, which would start the first Tuesday in September, which, in 1998, the year it would open, would be September the first.

The British Ministry of Magic now needed to prepare for their visits to muggleborn who would be 11 years old on September first 1998, a year from now. Those visits would be in late September almost a year before their magical schooling would begin. It was agreed that they would be told positive things about the wizarding world, and about both Hogwarts, Starfleet Junior Academy, and those foreign schools that accept muggleborns from Britain. They would also be given a booklet on wizarding customs and culture, a booklet from Hogwarts, a booklet from Starfleet, as well as severe warnings about revealing anything about magic to those who do not already know of it.

The rest of the summer, Luna and I did a lot of visiting around Britain, both people we knew, and tourist sites. We expected to move to Starfleet Headquarters the next summer. My parents were already looking for a vineyard to buy, a little bit north of San Francisco. They planned to magically move their winery there. They were going to build a new house, the one in England was a recent purchase, and they were planning to sell it.

Xenophilius was considering my suggestion that he prepare the Quibbler on a word processor, and distribute it globally. That would let him operate his business from anywhere. He was also considering the offer my parents made for him to build a house in their new vineyard. They said that he wouldn't even have to hide it, if he didn't want to. That as long as it met building code, unusual architecture would not stand out too much in California.

It was September the first, 1997, and we were back on the Hogwarts Express. I was starting my 7th year, Luna was starting her 6th year, but for both of us, this would be our graduation year. Luna was planning to have a good number of NEWTs passed by then, and we could always study for more international equivalents of NEWTs at Starfleet Academy.

There was a lighter mode on the train than in previous years. I was also seeing, for the first time, portable devices in use, outside of just the friends of Hermione. Some students were showing slideshows of their summer vacations to each other. I heard one group laughing at the antics of one student's pet kneazle. I also noticed that the video went on longer than a usual magical photograph did. Some, mostly Ravenclaws, were reviewing upcoming lessons in their new school year, on what looked like laptop computers. Another group were playing some sort of videogame, each using their own portable device. Another group were typing away on their devices, and hostilely laughing, apparently sharing some gossip with each other in different cars.

I heard one third year say to another, "If you switch to Starfleet Junior next year, we can still keep up with video calls." The other smiled and said, "Always, and we'll still play Quidditch online. Anyway, my parents want to see how the school is before deciding in the spring. We'll be visiting there during Easter break."

At the welcoming feast, Dumbledore made his usual speech, but added this part, "There has been an increasing popularity of portable magical devices, which has required the introduction of new rules. At mealtimes, please interact with your fellow students, without the assistance of devices. Devices should be used briefly and unobtrusively. Calls, voice or video, should be handled elsewhere. During class time, devices are strictly limited to note taking, and the display of course materials. Points will be taken for any deviation of permitted uses."

A few days later, at breakfast, a group of owls arrived. They all looked similar, fast and businesslike. They had shrunken carrying containers, and one owl would, in turn, give several students, each a package containing a full size letter and a booklet. Each student below 7th year got a booklet about the option to transfer to Starfleet Junior Academy. Each 7th year, who wasn't already working for Starfleet, got a booklet, "Careers at Starfleet".

The choice of 7th years head boy and girl this year was difficult. The obvious choices, like Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, even myself, were too busy with our Starfleet part-time work to want to add on that responsibility, and none of us needed the recognition it would provide. The ones who accepted it were Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbot.

For the 7th years in the Advanced Study Group, who had not yet accepted a job, I was trying to find them careers in Starfleet, so that they could also help with Section 31. It was a large organization that didn't just need world-class inventors like Hermione Granger and the Weasley twins, but also all sorts of support roles.

Both Dennis and Colin Creevey announced that they were transferring to Starfleet Junior Academy starting in January. Colin already had a summer job at Starfleet Headquarters and was going to be continuing there. Dennis said he was definitely going to work for Starfleet, and help with Section 31.