Harry Potter and the Elvish Magic

Harry Potter and the Elvish Magic

Chapter Three: Aboard the Silladem

"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate," Rubon said, as they stood in a glade in a forest. Harry had no idea that they were really standing in a magically generated version of it. Rubon had explained that although he had told them that the environment was really a holograph, he had only said that to avoid any Muggles from hearing the word "magic" (Harry had been struck by the similarity between Elvish and wizarding cultures). In fact, the only reason that the ship was able to occupy two sets of dimensions simultaneously and therefore travel at one billion times the speed of light while travelling through time at what was to Harry a normal pace was because of magic. He had read from his computer display that this was accomplished by using magic very similar to that of a Time Turner. Rubon had then put the ship on autopilot (it was the best term Harry could come up with), and taken Harry and Ron down to one of the Simulation rooms to practice the Elvish form of martial arts. They were both advancing far more quickly than Harry would have thought possible; and his body was aching. His thoughts were jerked back to the present abruptly, however, when Rubon flipped him, and he landed harmlessly on the grass.

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Rubon said, shaking his head. "You'll need to concentrate more."

"You're right," Harry said, getting up and resolving to concentrate more. Rubon began circling him, and Harry kept his eyes open. Sure enough, when Rubon shot forward, Harry whipped his arms out and spun him around, landing him in a hold on the grass.

"Well done!" said Rubon, obviously surprised. "I think that you should probably go rest now. It will only seven more hours until we reach the Andromeda galaxy." Harry nodded, out of breath, then released Rubon and staggered through the far to long distance through the corridors to the rooms he had been assigned. They were quite spacious, with several windows, which Harry kept closed because the invisible force fields, which were in reality magical, made him afraid that there was nothing between him and the vacuum outside.

Harry collapsed on his bed and looked exhaustedly at the computerized display overhead. He wasn't used to the computers and high-level technology being in a ship with hallways which looked remarkably like those of Hogwarts. His eyes took a moment to focus on the display, which read "6:57:45:43 to destination" (he was having a very hard time making out the numbers representing hundredths of a second; they were flashing by so fast), as he fell down into sleep.

In muscles all over his body, blood cells delivered oxygen and carried off carbon dioxide. Triggered by the extreme build-up of lactic acid, his body synthesized new muscle cells to compensate for the increased workload. In conjunction with the first slowing of rapid teenage increase in height, the timing was perfect for extreme muscular growth. Fortunately for Harry, he didn't know just how vital his developing abilities might prove to be. He slept on peacefully, truly free of danger from Voldemort for the first time in over four years.

***

"Harry!" snapped Hermione over the display. "Wake up!" He sat bolt upright, and looked about frantically for his clothes.

"Just one moment, Aunt Petunia!" he said, sounding sadly like a soldier answering an officer's query. Hermione's face softened, and her tears were driven back by her laughter at the look on Harry's face.

"You fell asleep in your clothes, Harry," she said. "Another set is in the closet to your right, and your camera only shows your bed area. You can change in the bathroom to your left. Although, if you'd like to change right where you are so you can talk to me, that's fine, too." Harry smirked.

"Oh, very well," she said. "I suppose I should tell you, I really am smitten with you. Oh, and you're due on the bridge in fifteen minutes. I wouldn't be late, or the captain himself might have to deal with you." She had been using a mock warning tone, but then she burst out laughing. Her picture disappeared to be replaced by the words "Neither transmitting nor receiving signals." Harry made sure that his camera was turned off (sometimes it did pay to have a Muggle upbringing), before he wriggled out of his clothes and found a new set in the closet. He was thankful to find that bathrooms hadn't changed much over four hundred years, so it was easy for him to prepare himself to go to the bridge. He discovered gratefully that his body had stopped aching, so he was soon outside the entrance to the bridge, which opened for him. Everyone except for Maloriel was present.

"Let's begin," said Rubon. He was visibly excited about the possibility of finding a new home for his kind, and Harry sincerely hoped that they found place for them. After all, he might have to go to it eventually, and for all he knew, his future body was magically asleep somewhere aboard the ship. He knew that Rubon would never tell him to avoid altering the timeline, and truly, Harry didn't want to see his future self. He hoped that he never would (he didn't want to know the future). Suddenly, the ship jerked almost imperceptibly, and the viewscreen lit up.

"Enough light can finally catch up with us to be meaningful," Rubon said. "We'll finish slowing down gradually, until we come to a complete stop in the Andromeda galaxy in..." He searched his display.

"15 seconds," Harry supplied, reading off from his console. He put his hands where they were supposed to go, and the counter ticked down to zero. The ship stopped almost imperceptibly, and the viewscreen showed a multitude of stars. "Ship on manual control," Harry's display flashed.

"Now," said Rubon, "because we're 2.2 million light-years from Earth, any magical laws don't apply anymore." Harry noticed that he was careful not to mention whether or not the Ministry of Magic was still in existence. Harry realized that he had absolutely no idea whether Voldemort had been defeated or not, although he was certain the Voldemort wasn't in power. It would have seemed more obvious, Harry was sure.

"Therefore," said Rubon, "we should have no problems using a combined Seeking Charm to find habitable, uninhabited planets. If we touch the points of our wands together, it should be fairly easy."

"We will be vulnerable when we do that," Ron warned. "We should put up one of those shield things." Rubon's fingers flew over his console, and the screen showed a barely visible barrier undulate into position around the ship.

"Also," said Hermione, "it would increase the strength of our charm if we formed a horizontal triangle with our wands, and yours was in the centre, vertically oriented." Harry realized that it maybe made some sense. He instructed the ship to stay still, then they grouped in the centre of the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione formed a triangle with their wands, the tips touching. Rubon reached over Hermione's shoulder and touched the tip of his wand to the tips of theirs. Harry had felt a combined power rush through them as they touched wands, and they said the same words simultaneously.

"Orbus findus," they said, solemnly, but with great conviction. When teaching them basic Finding Charms, Professor Flitwick had been careful to emphasize the importance of maintaining a mental focus on the object of the charm. Harry pictured in his mind a great ball, with a sense of the ability to safely support life. Immediately a picture of his home planet filled his mind. That's no good, he thought, and focused on a picture of the Andromeda galaxy. He sensed the Silladem floating near it, while his own field of vision moved towards the opposite side. There, a star grew larger and larger; while to the right of it a planet came more and more into focus. Harry was surprised that while he was doing this he was aware of his immediate surroundings as well as the planet that he was somehow seeing. He supposed that his brain was quite capable of processing two sets of sensory input at the same time. Although, he thought, it's probably easier because only sight and touch will function in a near vacuum like space, rather than full sensory input, so our brains only have to handle a little more than a full sensory load.

Harry was finding the knowledge he had of the Muggle sciences to be more and more useful as he matured in the wizarding world. It had been one of the few ways he had been able to do fairly well in Potions. One other way, although Harry was loath to admit it, was Snape's teaching style. His extreme level of expertise in all aspects of potions, coupled with his ferocity towards his students, forced many of them to strive to do well (Harry promised himself that if he ever became a teacher, he would be much kinder, although no less demanding, of his students.)

Suddenly, his focus shifted back to the planet he was regarding. It had an ecosystem surprisingly like Earth's, although the gravity was nearly twice as much as they were all used to. It had plenty of raw materials available, and the life-forms it had were non-sentient, and appeared to be fairly docile. Harry shuddered to think what would happen if ordinary humans came upon it and destroyed the environment. He realized how fortunate it was the Elves were so environmentally conscious. The seasons of the planet were slightly unusual, but Harry knew that they would adjust. He knew, with some sense of certainty, that this was the planet for them.

Suddenly, his vision of the planet vanished as Rubon broke the connection, and he realized that he, Ron and Hermione had seen the planet just as Harry had, and that they also had decided that it was the right place.

"If you visualize us going towards that planet like we 'saw' ourselves doing, Harry," Rubon said, "and you're at the controls, the Silladem should take us there." Harry sat down and placed his hands on the console, visualizing how they had travelled towards the planet. Suddenly the ship jerked, and whipped forward. Glancing down at his display, Harry realized that they were travelling many, many times the speed of light (he didn't bother to glance at the exponent.) He hadn't realized how far they were from the planet, and concentrated on them stopping a safe distance from it. The ship jerked to a halt suddenly.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't realize just how far it was across the galaxy." Hermione was looking faintly green, and both Ron and Rubon were smirking at her.

"If you take us down to just above the surface, Harry," Rubon said. "And do try not to go quite so fast, if you could, please."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Harry said, doing his best impression of a nautical accent. Hermione rolled her eyes, the greenness now gone from her skin. The ship slowly descended into the upper atmosphere. Remembering that there would now be friction against the hull, Harry was careful not to go at a speed which would damage the ship from excessive heat. The planet's surface details grew steadily larger and larger, while the stars faded from around them. Keeping his eyes on the viewscreen in front of him, Harry was surprised to see that there were tree-like plants which grew several miles in height. He wondered how it was possible for them to grow to such a great height with such high gravity, but concentrated on avoiding banging into any of them. He soon found that they were going faster than he would have liked, so he slowed the ship down to a crawl. The ship whipped through the trees, as Harry guessed they were, and Hermione covered her eyes. Harry levelled them off, and even he was challenged to get them through the branch-like protrusions without colliding with at least one of them. He managed, however, to bring the ship to a hover above the ground without harm, and to land it on a rocky place. He took a deep breath, and turned off the main engines.

"It appears," said Rubon, "that we will be able to live quite well on this planet, although the gravity will take some getting used to. Notice how we're pulled so hard into our chairs?" Harry lifted his arms off the console, and let them drop heavily into his lap. They felt like lead.

"Oh, no," he said.

"Look at the bright side, Harry," Hermione said. "When we get back to Earth, we'll be in perfect shape." Harry looked at her in exasperation, and then boosted himself out of his chair.

"Are we ready?" Rubon asked, as they all pushed themselves up. "We should keep our wands out in case we have a problem, but otherwise this should be all right."

Rubon led them through the corridors to a door, which had a green light above it. He pressed a series of buttons, a camera focused on him briefly, and then both the door and another one which was behind it slid open, and they walked out onto a rocky surface.

Harry looked around in awe. At the very least, this planet was far more beautiful than was usual on Earth. It had many extremely tall, tree-like things scattered around, their tops in the grey clouds. A wide river of what Harry was sure was water rushed by them, and there were mountains in the distance. It could have been Earth, had it not been for the trees, and the fact that the air smelled a little differently than was normal. Harry turned around at a sudden noise, and saw his first extraterrestrial animal. It was covered with brown fur, and looked much like the Nifflers Hagrid had had them working with last year, except for that it had lighter fur. Suddenly, it spread its limbs, extending flaps of skin between them, and waved them up and down rapidly. It rose rapidly into the air, showing no apparent sign of effort due to the planet's gravity. It flew away much like any of the birds Harry was used to. Soon it was out of sight among the trees.

"Poor thing," Hermione said. "We probably gave it an awful fright." Harry was about to reply that the animals would hopefully learn to trust them, when he glanced at the horizon, which was much farther away than it had been on Earth. The planet's probably much larger, he thought. It makes sense, with the greater gravity and everything. A deep purple mass of clouds was gathering there (at least, Harry though they were clouds). They seemed to grow larger by the moment, and a slight breeze began blow and grow stronger.

"We should probably get back inside the ship," Rubon said. "We don't know how severe that storm will be, assuming that it is a storm." Harry certainly did hope that it was a storm, and not something they would have absolutely any idea of how to deal with. He was just starting to realize how difficult it might be to adjust to an alien planet. They hurried inside the ship, just as the storm came upon them. Huge drops of water shot down, and Harry cried out in pain as one stuck his back and bounced off. Rubon hurriedly pressed a button, and the doors rapidly slid shut. Harry's back felt fine, although Hermione examined it anxiously.

"You're all right," she said. "But that drop of water must have come down so hard that it cut right through your clothing." Feeling his back, Harry found that she was right. There was a long slit through the back of his shirt, and Harry was glad that it didn't come down too far. Although he wouldn't have minded too much if Hermione had seen, he knew that neither of them was ready for that. Sometimes, however, he had trouble resisting, and he sensed that Hermione had the same problem. His thoughts were jerked abruptly back to the present, however, when Rubon began speaking again.

"You'd better go back to your rooms, Harry," he said, "and change your shirt. Could you meet us in the third 'holograph' room when you're finished, please?"

"Of course," Harry said. He walked off to his room, closed the door behind him, and pulled off his shirt over his head. He opened the door to his closet, and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. He was shocked at how much he had changed. He had been skinnier than most of his classmates, but now he could rival any of them except for perhaps Ron in body size. He was quite certain that his arms hadn't been that thick yesterday. He was sure it was because he was an Elf that he had changed so much. In fact, the only assurances he had other than his face (which had changed too) that the person in the mirror was in fact Harry Potter were the familiar scar on his forehead, and the barely noticeable scar on his arm where Wormtail had cut him a few months before. He sighed, remembering that horrible night, before remembering what Cedric had told him in his dream, that it hadn't been his fault, and pushed the memory to the back of his brain. He reached forward and pulled out another shirt, his pale skin reflecting the light from the computer display. He pulled the shirt over his head and tucked it in, and then went off to the "holograph" room that was marked with a large number 3. He opened the door.

"How did you get here so fast?" asked Hermione in amazement. Then, she turned back towards Ron and Rubon, as Harry went to stand next to her.

"We will now commence our Animagus training," Rubon said. "May I ask which animals you feel would be best for you to turn into?"

"I have always admired phoenixes," Hermione said. "And I have read that it is theoretically possible to turn into one."

"I agree," said Rubon. "I think that a phoenix would be the best form for you, if I do say so myself. Ron, what do you think?"

"I have always admired the winged centaurs," said Ron. "They're so versatile, and so very intelligent."

"That's an interesting choice," said Rubon. "I had originally thought that you would be a tiger, but both animals are splendid tacticians, much like you are. You see, your Animagus form needs to be a reflection of your own personality, while also reflecting your own choice. Your choice of a winged centaur does both. Your tactical skill is shown in your animal, while you still choose which animal you will be. Hermione's choice shows her intelligence and sense of morals, while she still chooses from among the few animals that have qualities of that calibre. That leaves us with Harry." Harry closed his eyes and thought hard, very hard. An image immediately began to form in his mind, and he shoved it aside immediately. He couldn't be that, could he? It was simply impossible. He didn't have that kind of power. But you do, Harry, a voice said in his head. It's merely how you use it that determines who you are. He remembered Dumbledore saying something similar to that before, and decided to go along with the picture in his head.

"I would like to be a dragon," he said.

"You would," said Rubon. "It will be interesting seeing what species you end up being, I don't doubt." Harry was beginning to get used to Rubon's subtle sense of humour, and wondered why it seemed so familiar. He focused abruptly on Rubon again as he introduced them to the intricacies of the Animagus transformation.

***

It was several hours later. Rubon had explained that the Animagus transformation was a highly personal process, and that after receiving his initial instructions, they would complete the training on their own. Harry was therefore sitting in his room, surrounded by pictures and models of dragons, and trying to make his hand turn into that of a dragon. He himself had been surprised by his choice, but more and more he was convinced that it was the right one. He had begun to notice that dragons weren't all as hideous as the Hungarian Horntail he had faced the previous year, and that there were many different species, some of which could speak human languages, and had brains which were slightly above the level of the average human's.

The ship's computer (Harry was glad that it was fairly intuitive to use; otherwise he would have been completely lost) included the equivalent of several hundred volumes on dragons. After reading through a small portion of it, Harry had decided that he wanted his Animagus form to be of the rarest dragon species of all: the Zauberians. They were by far the most intelligent and most powerful dragons, and were also extremely reclusive. According to what Harry had read, they lived high in the Alps, and had been determined to distance themselves from humans ever since Hannibal, in his epic crossing of the Alps, had nearly come upon their main settlement over 2200 years ago. Although, it's really over 2700 years ago now, thought Harry, as he remembered what time they were now in.

The Zauberians, like chameleons, had the ability to change the colour of their scales extremely rapidly, although they tended to favour a deep red. They were far more intelligent than most humans, and their senses were far superior to those of humans. Harry was more and more convinced that they were the right choice, although he wasn't sure how the real Zauberians would react when he acquired the ability to become like them. He stared at his hand with great intensity, willing it to become the great hand of a dragon (Harry had to keep reminding himself that dragons had hands as well as claws; he'd read that the more intelligent species of dragons had retractable claws, and seldom had a need to use them, preferring to use their more dexterous hands).

Harry realized suddenly that he was concentrating more on how his hand should appear, rather than how it should actually be. He closed his eyes and concentrated, a sense of energy flowing through him and concentrating on his left hand, which he was holding aloft. Suddenly, a weight descended upon his arm. His eyes snapped open and regarded a great red scaled hand, nearly as big again as his entire body. He wiggled the fingers, noticing how well he could feel the air rushing past them, and he tensed five muscles. Five long, sharp claws shot out, as long again as his new fingers were to the first knuckle, and he could tell that they were lethal. Suddenly, he realized that his arm was beginning to go numb from all the extra weight, and he focused on having his hand become human again. It rapidly melted and ran back into his human hand (Harry was wondering why he wasn't feeling any pain when it did so).

Harry was stunned. Rubon had told them that it might take them over a month to become Animagi. How was he able to begin the transformation into a Zauberian dragon merely hours after Rubon had first explained the transformation to them? He was bewildered, but then remembered Rubon's next instructions: After you're able to transform your hand into your Animagus form, you're probably ready to go for a full body transformation. Go into one of the large cargo bays: Harry, go to number five, Ron, number six, and Hermione, number seven. It will be a while before you get to this stage, because the transformation usually requires a lot of practice, especially because you've all chosen magical animals. Do not attempt flight as of yet, we will deal with that later. Have fun, and remember that a signal will activate on your displays when dinner is ready. Harry thought that he should probably start practicing the transformation; Rubon probably meant that they would initially be able to transform their hands into the corresponding parts of their future animal forms, but that they would need to repeat the process several times in order to get used to the transformation.

Harry spread his hand again, and concentrated. This time, his hand immediately became that of a dragon. Harry noticed the difference in how his hand felt much more this time. His hand tingled with increased sensations of air tickling against it, and he remembered reading about how dragons had far superior senses than humans did. The amount of sensory input that his brain was receiving from his hand was intoxicating. He wondered how his brain would handle the new sensory load when his entire body became that of a dragon, but then he realized that his brain would work better in his Animagus form as well, so that he wouldn't have much difficulty.

Harry concentrated, and his hand became human again, and then became dragon again. He practiced this transformation several times, until he was able to change his back and forth several times in a second. Then he decided that he would go secretly to the fifth cargo bay and try to transform his entire body. He put one of the models of a Zauberian dragon into his pocket, and looked carefully at all the others, committing them to memory, before setting off stealthily to the cargo bay. He reached the cargo bay without incident, slid open the door, walked through and closed it, and locked it behind him. Then he walked into the middle of the huge cargo bay, noticing that he no longer thought of the planet's gravity as unusually heavy. He looked around him carefully to make sure that no one was watching, and then took the model of the dragon out of his pocket and set it on the floor in front of him. He stared, and closed his eyes, visualizing his body being the same way. His clothes suddenly became extremely tight, and he abruptly stopped, his body springing back to human form. He concentrated again, visualizing his body and everything on it becoming a dragon. He expanded abruptly, and he felt everything much more keenly. He opened his eyes carefully, and saw that the floor was much farther away than it had previously been. Two thick, smooth-scaled, dark red legs joined into two large feet with slightly long toes. He could feel the air around him much more easily; his feet could feel the texture of the floor in incredible detail; he could smell the slightly unusual smells of the metal of the ship (it was an Elvish ship, so naturally nothing was unnatural); and he could hear Rubon and Maloriel's voices far off in the ship, although he couldn't distinguish any actual words. But the largest difference was in sight (A/N: no pun intended). He had read (he was becoming more like Hermione every day) that Zauberian dragons could see ultraviolet and infrared light as well as "visible" light, but he had had no idea that it would be like this. He could see an entire host of new colours that he couldn't recognize. He was glad that his brain now had a greater capacity for handling information (he would normally have been swamped with data and passed out). Shaking his head, he concentrated, and immediately he was a human again.

His body was aching, and he belatedly realized that it wasn't used to supporting the weight of a Zauberian dragon. He decided that he should practice transforming into his Animagus form as rapidly as possible, because he should be able to use his Animagus form if he ever needed to, and he wouldn't be able to if his body wasn't strong enough. Harry remembered that when you became an Animagus, you were only given part of the physical strength of your animal, and then only while in its form. You had to gain the rest yourself, and as you gained it, you received less and less strength when you assumed your animal form. Harry's body seemed to ache even more as he realized how much stronger Zauberian dragons were than humans were. Look at the bright side, Harry, he told himself. Think of how impressed Hermione will be when you finish. As he had grown older, Harry had begun to care more and more about how physically developed his body was. His love for Hermione had increased this sentiment, and he was glad to see that his body seemed to be developing normally.

***

Harry had continued to practice his Animagus form until he could transform perhaps five times in a second, then he had gone back to his rooms, his body aching, and drunk several glasses of water. Then a signal began flashing on the computer display, and he realized that it was time to go to dinner with the others. He went down to the dining room that Rubon had shown them shortly after they had escaped the Goroth. He touched a finger to the wall beside the door, which slid open. Rubon had explained that Maloriel had been forced to go into suspension sleep for reasons he didn't explain, so only he and Ron were in the room. Hermione soon followed Harry, and the dinner proceeded in silence, until Rubon spoke.

"I really must congratulate you all on the quickest Animagus transformations I have ever seen," he said. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at him in astonishment.

"How," began Harry.

"But," sputtered Ron.

"Ihonestlydon'tknowwhathappenedbutsuddenlyIwasabletotransformintoabeautifulphoenixandIreviewedeverythingthecomputerhadrightawayandIstillcan'tfigureoutwhatIdidwrong," Hermione said. They said these things exactly the same moment (Hermione speaking very fast), and Rubon began chuckling.

"Umm," he said, taking a deep breath, "TheanimagustransformationisveryeasytodetectatfirstsoIwasabletodetectyourinitialtransformationseventhoughyouallmadesureIwasn'tmonitoringyouvisually,andIsupposeIshouldcommendHermioneonherabilitytotalkfast." He said this nearly as fast as Hermione, who blushed furiously.

"Now," he said. "The storm should end soon, so tomorrow we should be able to go outside. There you'll learn to use your Animagus forms, and I'll teach you some more magic while we begin construction on the settlement." Harry suddenly realized that they were all finished eating.

"Congratulations on being able to eat so fast," Rubon said, laughing. They were all very tired, and all went to bed.

***

The next day, they went out of the ship and began to learn to fly. Even Hermione had difficulty learning despite her animal's small size, because flying took a lot of energy. Harry found it even harder to remain in the air than to stand on the ground. He realized that it was even harder here than it would be on Earth, where the gravity wasn't as strong. He restricted himself to simple manoeuvres until his animal form's natural grace took over, and he was soon doing as many acrobatics in midair as Ron and Hermione. When Ron transformed, he became a centaur with a horse's body that had brownish-red hair, and wings of the same colour. His upper torso remained much the same, until he changed so that he was an ordinary winged horse. Suddenly Harry remembered that winged centaurs had the ability to change into both winged and ordinary horses, and that they could be very dangerous animals. Harry also remembered that he now had the ability to change the colour of his body. He concentrated, and suddenly became the colour of the sky above. Hermione looked at him, not realizing that he was still there and screeched in alarm (Harry had never heard a phoenix screech before; it was an awful sound). He "reappeared" suddenly below her, and she playfully dive-bombed him before Rubon waved them all down. When Harry landed and transformed back, he realized exactly how much flying abused the back muscles. His entire lumbar region was throbbing. He knew that the pain would go away with practice, but he still didn't like it.

He followed Rubon to the area they had chosen for the initial settlement. It was on a rocky protrusion devoid of the trees that dominated much of the planet's surface. A stream flowed at the base of the protrusion, and it could almost have been a scene from Earth. For the next few hours, Harry, Ron and Hermione learned about the many different forms of Elvish magic and architecture. Harry had had no idea that Elves preferred a balance of building homes underground and up in trees. He realized that another reason that the planet was right for them was the amount of rock, which would allow them to build underground, and the profuse trees, which grew to a great height.

Hermione had an unexpected talent at artfully carving out rooms and passageways through the rock. She soon became the leader of the underground construction. They exercised their flying abilities by flying up into the tall trees to build smaller structures. Harry was sure that Rubon had deliberately ensured that they had plenty of flying practice while in their Animagus forms. He had insisted that they build the structures at the very top of the trees. The four all went to bed each night with aching bodies (Rubon was working as hard as they were.)

The rest of the summer flew by rapidly. After they had said their farewells and thanks to Rubon, they transfigured their clothes back to Hogwarts robes and felt themselves being pulled back. Rubon sighed as they left, and then went down into the area of the ship he hadn't shown them.

He paused before three compartments; each containing an Elf in magical suspension. He looked carefully at each of them, concentrating. He needed to get it exactly right.

"Coire echui," he murmured, the familiar Elvish spell rolling off his tongue with the ease attained only by long practice. The compartments glowed slightly, and then somehow began to emanate a sort of energy. The walls dissolved, and Harry Potter, Hermione Potter, and Ron Weasley stood before him.

"Honestly, Rubon," Harry said, shaking his head. "I told you that it would be in the Andromeda galaxy, and you still took that bet? Keep the ten Galleons."

"Actually," said Rubon, "it was meant to be a sort of bribe. I was hoping you'd help me decide on a name for it."

"I thought that Hermione would be nice," Harry said. Hermione smiled slightly.

"That sounds like a good name," Rubon said. "I like it. I wonder where I've heard it before?" Hermione glared at him.

"Well," said Rubon, "let's not waste time. Hermione, could you please begin waking everybody up, and once you wake Albus, have him supervise everything at the bridge? Thank you. It's a wonderful son you have. Ron, you're the best at it, so you can wake up the 'regular' humans on board. Try not to fight with Malfoy, or make faces when he's nearby Ginny. They are married, you know." Ron rolled his eyes.

"But he always makes faces when I'm nearby Eledh," Ron protested. "We are married, you know."

"Yes," said Rubon, in a mock-patronising tone. "But you see, if you stop being overly protective of your sister, he will stop being overly protective of his sister. He won't harm Ginny in any way, you know. He was only pretending to be a Death Eater." He finished on a more serious note.

"Oh, very well," Ron said, and walked off. Hermione had already gone.

"Harry," Rubon said, "Maloriel was just about to have the baby when she put herself in suspension sleep."

"Right," Harry said. "I'll be in the hospital wing. Please bring her as quickly as possible, and use a very weak awakening spell. Bring her on a stretcher while she wakes up. Hurry!" Rubon hurried off, and Harry Apparated to the hospital wing. The familiar magical and Muggle tools lay around him, and he hurriedly set up a room with the proper equipment.

***

Thirty minutes later, Harry met Rubon outside the same room. "The baby is just fine," he said.

"Good," said Rubon. "May I go in?"

"In a moment," said Harry. "I wanted to talk to you about the baby's name."

"I still like Hermione," Rubon said. "If it's all right with you."

"If you insist," Harry sighed. "However, I think that your son will not be happy having to grow up with me calling him 'Uncle Hermione'." Rubon stopped dead.

"You mean..." he sputtered. Harry grinned.

"Yes," he said. "I personally think that you should name him Mephistopheles. Not that that's a reflection on his nature, of course. You should go in; Maloriel's waiting for you." He strode off chuckling. Rubon stared after him for a moment, and then rolled his eyes. He paused a moment before going in to see Maloriel, and muttered, looking to the heavens, "See what sort of a grandson I have?"

The chapter has ended.