Harry Potter and the Shadow War

Chapter 4 - Introductions

It was probably fortunate that Harry and his friends were accustomed to creatures such as goblins and centaurs because, as far as Harry could tell, they all kept their composure when they were introduced to the person that Ivanova told them would be escorting them to their temporary quarters.

Lennier, according to the commander, was the aide to an ambassador to the station. He was from a planet called Minbar. Harry was still trying to assimilate the idea that individuals from many different planets - including some that had been colonized by Earth - lived together on this station. Lennier was approximately average height for a man, but he appeared to be completely hairless. He had brow ridges with no eyebrows, there was no sign of facial hair, and the crown of his bald head was surrounded by a bony plate that ended as a sort of frame to his face. He was very pale, and his ears were tiny versions of human ears, nestled within curves of the plate on either side of his head. His clothing was a loose robe in shades of white and beige, not terribly different from wizard clothing. In addition, there was something sympathetic in his face, which was a nice change from Garibaldi and Ivanova, who had been all business.

"Well, here they are. Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hermione," Ivanova said as she pointed each of them out in turn. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No," replied Lennier. "I believe that is all. We will await further instruction from you." He spoke English perfectly, but with an American accent.

Lennier then placed his fingers together in front of his chest and gave a little bow to her. Ivanova inclined her head in response.

"Follow me, please," the Minbari instructed the four teens.

They walked in silence through some corridors and rode on a couple of lifts. Harry wasn't sure what the station residents called them, but they seemed to function like lifts to him, so that's how he thought of them. He was amazed by the size of this place. He hoped he wouldn't be expected to find his way around because he didn't think he could manage it. As they entered an area where the accent color on the walls was green, they saw a much wider variety of - people? Harry didn't know if that was the appropriate word, as many of these creatures looked far less human than their Minbari guide. He tried not to gape, but it was difficult.

At last, they reached a door at which Lennier paused briefly, and then entered. The four wizards followed, glad to escape from the crowded corridor.

Harry received another shock when the single occupant of the room rose from her seat to greet them. The woman before them looked very little like her male counterpart; in fact, she seemed almost human. She did have a bony ridge around her head, but there was dark, wavy hair both above and below it, extending past her shoulders. Her skin, too, had more of a pink tint to it. Her clothing was similar in style to Lennier's, but it was in vivid colors of blue and purple and was a trifle more fitted to her body.

"I am Ambassador Delenn, of the Minbari Federation," she said, smiling gently at them. "You may simply call me 'Delenn.'" Her accent was different as well, almost Eastern European. Lennier quickly went through each of the guests' names once more.

"Thank you, Lennier," Delenn said. She then addressed Harry and his friends.

"I am sure that you must be hungry by now. Can I offer you something?"

Ron, of course, was the first to answer in the affirmative. The others agreed that they, too, were a little hungry. Hermione asked to use the restroom. Delenn sent Lennier to prepare a light meal while she showed Hermione the facilities. Ginny elected to follow, also needing that particular room.

Harry and Ron sat uncertainly on the padded sofa, watching Lennier prepare the food. It seemed almost a ritual to him as he moved through the kitchen area, following some prescribed sequence of actions. Occasionally, he would bow or make some gesture over the food. Harry hoped that Ron would be able to curb his usual habit of stuffing as much as possible into his mouth at once. He had a feeling that such table manners would not be well received here. He leaned over toward Ron, trying to be unobtrusive.

"I think we'd better be on our best behavior," he murmured quietly. "We don't want to offend anyone. We don't know their culture, but we can at least do the best we've been taught."

Ron turned his head sharply and met Harry's gaze. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Once everyone had regrouped and the food had been served, Lennier retreated to another room. At this point, Hermione's insatiable curiosity came to the forefront.

"I beg your pardon," she began, addressing Delenn, "but can I ask you a question?"

"Certainly," came the simple reply.

"I apologize, but we aren't familiar with your race. You and Lennier don't look very much alike. Is that typical?"

"No," Delenn answered, smiling indulgently. "I did not always look this way."

She said some words in a musical foreign language, and a picture appeared on a screen nearby.

"This was what I looked like less than two years ago," she said, indicating the image. "I underwent a transformation that made me half human."

Harry looked closely at the picture. The facial features were definitely the same, but that person was hairless and had the bony plate around her skull, some sort of birthmark on top of her head, pale skin, and dark lips.

Ron was looking incredulously between the image on the screen and the woman sitting in front of them.

"I've had five years of Transfiguration, but I've never seen anything like that!" he exclaimed. "How did you do it?"

"Our people discovered a technology nearly 1,000 years ago that enabled this kind of change," Delenn replied.

Harry wanted to ask why she had done this, but he thought it might be rude. Besides, Ginny was entering the conversation.

"Dad would love to see something like that!" she said. "Imagine, Muggle technology that can do at least as much as our best transfiguration magic. But I have another question, if I may?"

The ambassador nodded.

"I saw a lot of people on the way here that appear to be in some kind of uniform. Actually, there were two basic kinds, gray and blue. I suppose they must work on the station. If that's the case, though, why do Commander Ivanova and Security Chief Garibaldi wear different uniforms?"

"The gray uniforms are security. The blue are the other station personnel. As for Ivanova and Garibaldi, they gave up their uniforms some time ago, when the government of Earth began doing things they didn't agree with. I had their present uniforms made for them, along with one for the captain."

"Wait," interjected Harry, trying to comprehend what was being said. The ambassador's voice was so hypnotic that he had nearly missed it. "Are you saying that the top officers on this station have had a...falling-out with Earth? The whole planet?"

"Not exactly, no," Delenn replied. "With the government only. It is a very long story, and one that is not really mine to tell. That must be the captain's decision."

Her expression was kind but firm, and everything was silent for a few moments. At last, Delenn spoke again.

"Now, why don't you tell me a little about yourselves?"

***

Meanwhile, Captain Sheridan was in the middle of his briefing about the station's unexpected guests, and he felt like the expression of disbelief on his face would be permanently frozen there.

"Let me get this straight," he began, trying to process everything he had just been told. "These four humans appear on the station, two at a time, under mysterious circumstances. They claim to be from Earth, having been somehow transported from Scotland in the year 1996. They also believe that they attend a school where they study how to use certain magical abilities they were born with. Does that pretty well cover it?"

"Yes, sir," said Ivanova. Then she added, "They believe that they arrived here through the use of something called a Portkey. Apparently, this is a transportation device created when a spell is placed upon an ordinary object."

"But they're not Technomages?" the captain asked, almost hopefully. He didn't trust Technomages, but at least he was somewhat familiar with them.

"We don't know much about Technomages, but they don't appear to be," answered Garibaldi, taking over. "Technomages can manipulate technology at a level beyond what we can even imagine. These kids seem amazed and confused by our technology."

"Are they delusional?" Sheridan asked next. Ivanova and Garibaldi exchanged a glance before responding.

"That's what we thought at first, but they seem to be very aware of what's going on," replied Ivanova. "There's one in particular, the girl called Hermione, who acts very rationally. She tries to use a logical approach to everything."

"You can't tell me you believe them?" said Sheridan, astonished.

"I have to admit, they're straining my Russian skepticism," confessed Ivanova. "Maybe I'm going crazy, but I'm starting to think it's possible they're telling the truth. After all, a few hundred years ago, telepaths might be seen as performing magic. Maybe these kids are some sort of variant."

"Just wait," Garibaldi added. "You haven't heard the weirdest part yet. Dr. Hobbs?"

Dr. Lillian Hobbs, a woman who appeared to be of Indian descent and who had been silent up to this point, rose from her seat.

"As requested, we performed a physical on all of them," she began. She walked over to the room's computer screen and entered some commands into the keyboard beneath. "They are all in good health. Almost too good, in fact. Kids get injuries all the time. They fall, they run into things, get hurt playing sports, et cetera. The two redheads had no old scars that we could see and no evidence of broken bones."

"Is it possible that they just happened to never get hurt?" Sheridan asked, still trying to make this situation fit into the universe he thought he knew.

"Theoretically, yes. However, we took a basic medical history when we examined them, and the boy, Ron, said that he had broken his leg about two-and-a-half years ago." She began displaying images from the physical as she was speaking. "Normally, when a bone is broken, the body produces more cells than necessary to repair the fracture, causing a slight bulge. However, as you can see, his leg bones are completely smooth and intact. The other boy, Harry, also indicated that he had broken his right arm about four years ago. Not only is the arm unmarred, but the bone cells are less than five years old!"

"Are you suggesting that he re-grew an arm?"

"No, Captain, it's stranger than that. He only re-grew the arm bones. The skin and muscle tissue appear to be aging normally."

Sheridan couldn't take it anymore. He sat down in his chair with a thump, unable to speak.

"The two calling themselves Harry and Hermione have the expected childhood scars, but there appear to be no marks on them from the last five years or so. They each have one unusual feature." At this point, the screen showed a close-up of something that was unmistakably scar tissue and, just as unmistakably, in the shape of a lightning bolt. "This is a scar on Harry's forehead. The scar tissue appears to be very old in general, but it also appears to have re-opened at least once in the last few years. Finally, Hermione has perfectly straight and normal teeth, but her gums seem to indicate that her front teeth were once larger."

There was utter silence in the room for more than a minute. Why me, Sheridan thought, for at least the hundredth time this year. At last, he spoke.

"Is Lyta on station?"

"Not to my knowledge," answered Ivanova, looking surprised at the question. "I expect she will be here soon to report to the Vorlon ambassador."

"Send her to me as soon as she arrives," Sheridan commanded. "I have a favor to ask of her."

"Yes, sir."

"Is there anything else?"

"Well, just to add a little more spice to your life, Londo is objecting to your offering asylum to the Narn cruiser," Garibaldi supplied.

"He would," grumbled Sheridan, "but this is still my station, and I will continue to run it as I see fit. Now, I'm going to go take a walk. You're all dismissed."