Chapter 18

A wave of dread washed over Harry as he boarded the Normandy. When he was younger he'd have easily ignored this, but two centuries of life had taught him not to ignore his intuition. He made his way to the cockpit to chat with Joker, but it was empty. With a shrug he decided to go into the cargo bay to ask Wrex a few question when a cold chill ran down his spine, like being doused with a bucket of freezing water, or being under a disillusionment charm. He froze in terror when he heard a laugh that haunted his nightmares.

He briefly looked for an escape before giving it up as impossible. There was nowhere on the citadel where he could hide, and boarding passage on another ship would only delay the inevitable. He looked up and started walking slowly towards the infirmary, his heart thudding in his chest. He'd faced Voldemort, a quarter century of world war, the Turians in the Relay 314 incident, and several other threats that would horrify anyone else, but this foe that greeted him was one he truly feared.

"Mr. Potter... Up on the table. Now." Elizabeth Chakwas said as he walked through the door. Joker gave him a sympathetic look from the bed he'd been confined to before Harry arrived. Harry's courage evaporated and he attempted retreat.

"Hey Elizabeth! Great to see you. Whoops, I forgot I have a thing... with Wrex... in the cargo bay... yeah." Harry said. He was halfway back to the door when it slid shut and locked in front of him.

"Seriously, Elizabeth?" Harry asked.

"Table. Now." Elizabeth said. He sighed and resigned himself to another one of Elizabeth Chakwas' patented torture sessions. He strpped down to his boxers and hopped up on the table as instructed. Karin stood aside laughing while watching the immortal savior of Earth whinging like a petulant child.

"Really Mr. Potter, you're older than everyone else in this room combined." Elizabeth said after Harry jerked away from her when she poked his bare chest with her wand.

"Don't you give me that, I've known your family since the twentieth century. Sadists the lot of you!" Harry said, causing Karin to burst out laughing again. Elizabeth wrote down a list of observations on a notepad, before telling Harry he could get dressed.

"You're fine. As always... however if I hear about you getting shot again I have a regimen of healing and nutrient potions shipped to the Normandy and ask Karin to supervise their consumption." Elizabeth said.

"I'll be good." Harry said meekly. She laughed then brought him in for a hug, eventually releasing Joker with a new set of potions that would work even better on his bones than the last. With the new one, he would be able to take part in moderate PT, which is something that overjoyed him. Joker was by nature a very active person, despite his illness and job as pilot, but the low impact exercises he'd brought into his routine were not very challenging.

"Harry, how are you?" Elizabeth said.

"I'm well. You?" Harry asked. She took Karin's hand an squeezed it.

"I miss Karin of course, but we both knew our work would keep us apart. I'm pleased to know that she's safe under Jane's command." Elizabeth said.

"That she certainly is. So I won't violate patient confidentiality by asking how Joker's potion is coming along, but I will say I hope you were able to help. How's Hogwarts?" Harry asked. Elizabeth smiled.

"Aaron Longbottom will one day be the death of me. I swear that boy puts some of the horror stories my ancestor wrote about you to shame." Elizabeth said. They reminisced for a while, both Harry and Karin catching up with Elizabeth before Harry took a few subtle cues and begged off to give the two women some privacy. He almost literally bumped into Shepard as she walked by the Infirmary towards the main corridor.

"Heya Janey." Harry said.

"Hi Harry. What's going on in there?" Jane asked.

"Elizabeth came to check up on Joker and I." Harry said. Shepard grimaced.

"Don't tell her I'm here. She gave me a potion for back pain after a run in with some Batarians, it worked wonders but... Well Orange Juice and Fudge are two delicious things in their own right, but those two tastes were never meant to mingle." Shepard said. Harry laughed.

"I'm convinced after two centuries of exposure to the Pomfrey family's potions that she makes them taste bad intentionally just to discourage us from getting hurt." Harry said. Shepard lead him to her cabin and he sat in his customary position in front of her desk as she sat behind it.

"We're pretty much ready to go. We're setting sail tomorrow morning at 800 citadel time, it'll be a three hour flight to Noveria and around two to wait for the landing window." Shepard said. Harry nodded.

"Shame Noveria's so bitchy about privacy. If we could inspect all the ships waiting to land we'd find her immediately." Harry said. Shepard shrugged.

"Can't be helped. Harry I do have a favor to ask." Shepard said.

"Sure." Harry said.

"When we get down there, I'm going to do everything in my power to take Benezia in safely, but if there isn't an option... I don't want Liara to watch her mother die." Shepard said. Harry smiled kindly.

"If every other avenue fails, I'll apparate her to the Normandy and take the heat. It won't come to that though." Harry said.

"How can you be so confident?" Shepard asked.

"I'm pretty sure between the two of us, one will get off a stunner in time to incapacitate her." Harry said. Shepard looked at him blankly.

"You forgot you're a witch again, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"No... maybe... shut up." Shepard said. Harry fell over theatrically from his chair and laughed loudly from the ground. Shepard couldn't help but join in. After he made his point he returned to his chair and smiled at her.

"There is one other thing, I wanted to talk about though." Shepard said, looking extremely nervous.

"What about?" Harry asked.

"Us." Shepard said, her face blushing wildly. Harry's smile widened.

"I was wondering when you were going to broach the subject." Harry said.

"I just... I think you know how I've felt for a while now." Jane said. Harry nodded.

"I've caught a hint or two." Harry said. Shepard hesitated.

"What do you think?" Shepard asked, biting her lip. Harry pondered for a moment before standing and walking aimlessly around.

"I helped to raise you. I literally helped bring you into the universe. I should be completely averse to this..." Harry said, carefully considering his words.

"You aren't the first in your family to have a thing for me. I think even Hermione had a bit of a crush before Ron pulled his head out of his ass. I've never been able to reciprocate though." Harry said. Shepard's shoulders slumped, and she struggled not to cry.

"The thing is, It's different with you and I don't know why. With Karen and your mom, I still saw them as one of my own, even when they grew up... but you... Jane I'd like to give us a shot, if you're will-OOF" Harry said, interrupted by a ginger batttering ram slamming into him and kissing him almost violently. Harry took a moment to regain his bearings and then reciprocated. They kissed for a while before coming up for air. Harry was sure the memory of the dazzling smile radiating off of Shepard would be more than enough to summon a patronus.

"I can't believe... Harry I'm just... Thank you." Shepard said.

"I feel like saying 'you're welcome' would be terribly egotistical." Harry said, getting a laugh out of her.

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Liara and Shiala sat in the mess area looking morose. They'd been speaking about Benezia, and both were worried about encountering her on Noveria. For Liara the problem was obvious. She was her daughter, and she had no desire to to fight with her mother, not verbally, physically or biotically. Shiala's problem was that before Saren she basically worshipped the Matriarch. Benezia had come to her at a terrible time in her life. She'd been assigned to a squad of commandos that had been fooled into doing a Red Sand dealer's dirty work. The agency she'd been working for had secretly been bought out by a Salarian Eclipse lieutenant that wanted to make a name for himself.

Her squad had murdered several innocent guards before realizing the situation and surrendering to C-sec. She had been mortified beyond words and had returned to Thessia, determined to drink herself stupid. She'd made it halfway there too before she was literally picked up off the floor by an elegant woman at the beginning of her Matriarch stage with a kind smile. The hangover the next day had been of epic proportions, however when she thanked Benezia and went to leave, She'd been surprised with a job offer.

Asari commandos are closely monitored by Thessia, even if their actions in Shiala's squad's case didn't necessarily match up with their normal standard of conduct, and Benezia had seen great potential in the maiden. Not only had she been an amazing physical and biotic combatant, but she'd studied Asari culture and religion extensively, could recite several spiritual tomes from memory, including the entirety of the Justicar's code, and had been commended on more than one occasion for negotiating a peaceful conclusion to several of the jobs her squad had been assigned to.

After the red sand incident, she felt like she was lost, running aimlessly in a dark forest, and here came Benezia reaching in and grabbing ahold of her, and pulling her back into the light.. and now she might be helping a rogue Turian spectre commit treason on a galactic scale. Her introspection was interrupted by the arrival of a goofily smiling Shepard and Harry.

"Mind if we join you?" Shepard asked.

"Of course not." Liara said, obviously distracted.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, already knowing what the problem was, but wanting to ease them into what could be a difficult conversation.

"Tomorrow we'll probably be confronting mother." Liara said.

"Matriarch Benezia is my mentor, Harry. She helped me at the lowest part of my life, and tomorrow I might be forced to hurt her." Shiala said.

"Not gonna happen." Harry said confidently. They both looked up sharply at her.

"How can you say that?" Liara said.

"Hey Sargent Gardner, you busy?" Harry asked.

"What can I get you?" Gardner asked with a grin.

"I'd like to demonstrate the stunning spell for Liara and Shiala, mind being my guinea pig?" Harry asked.

"Sure, let me just sit down so I don't crack my skull." Gardner said. Harry withdrew the elder wand and pointed it.

"Ready?" Harry asked. Garnder nodded.

"Stupefy." Harry said. Gardner collapsed onto his side with a silly grin on his face.

"Go ahead and scan him." Harry said. Liara brought up her omnitool and scanned Gardner, seeing very little activity in his frontal cortex.

"Remarkable." Liara said.

"Ennervate." Harry said. Gardner leapt back to his feet and held out his hands, wiggling them dramatically.

"Ta-da!" Gardner said.

"Thank you Sargent." Harry said.

"It was my pleasure. Now, what'll it be? Fresh batch of scones just came out of the oven." Gardner said.

"Ooh blueberry?" Harry asked.

"Chocolate chip." Gardner said.

"Heresy!" Harry shouted. Gardner laughed and eventually managed to convince Harry and Jane try the new scones.

"So that magic... does it hurt?" Shiala asked.

"Nope! And I should know, I've been hit by plenty of 'em." Harry said. He wiggled his wand between his index finger and thumb

"Want to try?" Harry asked. Shiala looked at Liara and nodded.

"Go ahead." Liara said, squeezing her eyes shut, bracing for impact.

"Stupefy!" Harry said. The world dissolved into blackness as her awareness left her, but only momentarily before she was gently coaxed back into consciousness by the counter spell.

"The plan is either Janey or will drop her with a stupefy and wipe out any Geth that are with her. Then we'll bring her back to the Normandy, and return to the Citadel where she'll be questioned." Harry said.

"By whom?" Shiala asked.

"I was hoping you'd be willing to do it. I don't want there to be any doubt of the veracity of any intel she gives us, and it will be more believable to the council if it comes from you." Harry said to Shiala.

"Thank the goddess. I'm sorry, I was afraid you'd... well..." Shiala said.

"Torture her?" Harry asked, not unkindly. Shiala nodded but didn't speak.

"Never. The Alliance has laws against that, and after the embassy was established congress re-worded them to include the other races, and not just Humanity. There are elements within the Alliance that resisted that but they can suck it." Harry said, before placing a hand on Shiala's shoulder.

"You don't know us very well yet, Shiala. We're not offended." Harry said.

"Thank you." Shiala said.

"I still don't understand why she would willingly do this." Liara said.

"Maybe she didn't. You said that she and the other commandos joined Saren originally to try to steer him away form the path he's on, right?" Harry asked. Shiala nodded.

"Had she been acting strange before you were left on Feros?" Harry asked. Shiala pondered.

"In retrospect, she was a lot more quiet. She would also stare into the distance, like she was lost in thought, sometimes even while we were delivering a report. That is considered extremely rude coming from a Matriarch of her stature." Shiala said. She didn't notice Harry's expression tighten.

"Shiala would you share a memory of your last encounter before you landed on Feros with Benezia?" Harry asked.

"I don't know how..." Shiala said.

"I'll use legillemency. I just need you to concentrate on that last encounter." Harry said.

"Do it." Shiala said. Harry jumped into her head and looked intently at the memories floating by him. He was concentrating on trying to find the memory that Shiala was trying to share, he had no desire to embarrass her by prying. He found it quickly and jumped in to view it.

"Report." Benezia said, her face barely illuminated in the darkness of the dreadnought. Harry felt dirty, like the air was thick, his skin felt greasy just being there.

"Everyone is equipped and ready. Fresh heat sinks all around and shield capacitors are fully charged." An Asari standing next to Shiala said.

"And the Geth?" Benezia asked, her eyes slowly glassing over.

"Prepared as always." The Asari said again. Benezia swayed slightly but caught herself before either of the two other Asari could react. She stood there, staring through Shiala, saying nothing for nearly a minute before Shiala responded.

"Matriarch, are you unwell?" Shiala asked.

"What? No, I'm fine. Go see to your duties." Benezia said.

"Yes, Matriarch." they both said in unison. Harry pulled himself out of her mind and growled.

"What?" Shiala asked.

"She's under some form of mind control. It was trying to get ahold of you too, but it was subtle. My skin felt gross.. greasy..." Harry said. Shiala's eyes widened.

"Now that you mention it I remember feeling unsettled aboard the dreadnought.

"Benezia is not in control of her actions. This just turned into a rescue mission." Harry declared. At that point Gardner returned with a plate of scones. Harry tentatively grabbed one and took a bite. He looked at it speculatively, swallowing before letting out a defeated sigh.

"So?" Gardner asked.

"Goddamnit... It's really good." Harry said.