Harry Potter and the Starship Enterprise

Of course, even in the midst of all the buying for Harry, he and Christine managed to get wedding gifts for Fleur and Bill. However, it was Christine who took charge of wrapping them, then gave them to Molly to put with the rest of the gifts. Now that that was taken care of, it was time to arrange for her foray into the Department of Mysteries and see if she could find out anything about the veil into the other dimension (or more accurately, parallel universe) which Sirius had fallen through two years ago. It frankly wouldn't surprise her if he'd lived at least part of that time in his dog form, but she couldn't be sure until and if they managed to get to that universe again, not to mention that planet, and find him again.

Later that day Christine got another owl from Spock that said he had had a talk with Kirk, McCoy and Scott and they had agreed to assist them in getting Harry and his classmates safely to Hogwarts by putting them on the train for a short time in order to throw the Dark forces off the track. At a designated time, a half hour or so, once they were well away from the Kings Cross station, but before the Dark forces' attack an hour into the journey, the students would be beamed up to the Enterprise via the cargo transporter, which could be modified to handle people, dozens at a time if necessary (in this case, it would be over one hundred).

They would be held in the Transporter Room temporarily, then beamed down again, back onto the train, once it reached Hogsmeade Station, so they would be able to retrieve their school trunks and such, then board the transport for Hogwarts, several top members of the Order designated to keep an eye on them until they had made it safely inside the castle ... then stationed around the castle, on call virtually around the clock, at least until it could be determined whether or not Dark forces had figured out what had happened.

She was happy and relieved that they had agreed to help, her heart feeling far lighter as she Apparated to the Ministry and made her way to the Department of Mysteries. She had managed to find her old employees' badge and showed it to the wizard stationed outside the main door. Obviously if you had once worked there, you had continued access to the area--at least to a degree. Christine could only hope that that access extended to the area where the battle where Sirius had supposedly been lost had taken place. She would only be able to tell upon arriving there.

It was just as she remembered it; it was as if the nearly sixteen years between then and now had never been. But there was no time for nostalgia; she had a job to do. She turned on her tricorder, having modified it so it would work even in a place inundated with various spells and charms, in order to get the information she had promised Spock. After about half an hour she managed to find the veil Harry and Remus had described. At first glance it looked like an ordinary curtain, but she knew it wasn't. Nothing here was as it seemed--that was why this place was called the Department of Mysteries.

Despite her best efforts, however, the tricorder's readings and recording capabilities went virtually off the scale. Obviously the properties of the veil were very similar to those found in the ion storm which had originally opened up the portal between their universe and the Mirror universe, but at the same time, there were some readings very different from anything she had ever seen. She was a scientist, but even at that, these readings were beyond even her comprehension. Hopefully they would not be beyond Spock's, however. If anyone could figure them out, she was certain it would be him.

It took roughly an hour and a half before she was satisfied that she had enough information for Spock. It was incredible how much there was; it had filled up virtually all the tricorder's memory, and she knew she would have to put the information on a special high-density hard disk in order to ensure that all of it got to Spock so he could go over it, then discuss his findings with Kirk, McCoy and Scott before getting back to her.

Harry would not be pleased that she had gone without him, but she had checked on him and he and Ginny were still deeply asleep when she had left early that morning, so she opted not to disturb them, because they deserved whatever peace and tranquility came their way, not to mention the ability to simply be alone together, young and in love.

Upon returning to her room, Christine scribbled a note to Spock and gave it to the owl that had brought her the message from him. "Take this to Spock," she told the bird, opening the window so it could depart. Within the hour she heard a knock on her door.

"Christine, it's Spock. May I come in?" his deep, throaty voice called quietly.

Christine opened the door and wordlessly ushered him in. "Your note said that you had analysed the veil at the Department of Mysteries. May I know what you found out?"

She handed him the hard disk with the information. "Everything I discovered is on this disk. One thing I can say, however, is that the veil seems to have many of the same properties in the ion storm which originally opened the portal between our universe and the Mirror universe. Even at that, I found some readings I simply could not comprehend, like nothing I've ever seen before. Hopefully you can, and take steps so we can get back to the Mirror universe and Halka in that universe to hopefully find my ... friend Sirius."

"Hopefully," he echoed. "That depends on whether or not I can decipher the unusual readings." He turned for the door, one hand on the knob. "I will contact you at my earliest opportunity. Thank you for all you've done so far."

"Thank you for being willing to help me save Harry and his classmates," she returned softly, smiling in a way that made Spock's heart rate speed up further than it already was--and that was saying something! He returned the smile and put his hand on her cheek briefly, then departed.