Harry Potter and the Shadow War

Chapter 7 - The Shadow Approaches

The Zocalo turned out to be a sort of large marketplace, with booths selling everything imaginable - even some things Harry didn't think he could have imagined. There were also smaller portions of the station in the general area that had apparently been rented out as storefronts. Harry had managed to find a coin collector who had been very interested in his English coins. His friends were surprised that he was carrying Muggle money, but he had explained that, ever since the Aunt Marge incident, he had decided to convert some of his wizard money to Muggle money and keep it on hand. As an added precaution, he carried a little with him at all times. Although Harry had no idea how much a credit was worth, he nonetheless gathered that he was getting far more than face value for his money.

In addition, the wizard coins that both Harry and Hermione had been carrying with them bore a certain resemblance to Centauri ducats, so they were able to spend them as well. They bought a few personal items and some spare clothing. Ron protested a little, mostly for show, at accepting these purchases because he and Ginny hadn't contributed anything. Harry and Hermione ignored him.

They continued their tour of the area, pausing in a kind of canteen for some food and drink. Suddenly, Harry's scar gave him a jolt of pain. It subsided quickly but did not really go away. He looked around quickly, hand to his forehead, trying to find a possible source for this. At last, he met the eyes of a man seated in a corner, which made the pain increase again. The man had a dark complexion, brown hair slicked back, and a piercing gaze. Before Harry turned his gaze away, he thought he saw a vague, insect-like shape beside the man.

While Harry had been searching for the source of his discomfort, his friends had noticed and were asking him what was wrong.

"That man over there," he answered quietly. "The one in the corner wearing a brown suit. He seems to be making my scar hurt."

"He looks rather like a used auto salesman," commented Hermione, who happened to be facing in the correct direction. "A little slippery, if you know what I mean."

Lennier had also cast a glance in that direction.

"It's Morden," he said, and the distaste was evident in his voice. "He works for the Shadows. Perhaps we should leave."

Once they had settled their tab and left the vicinity, Lennier turned to Harry with interest.

"You sensed something about Morden?"

"His presence seemed to make my curse scar hurt."

"Was there...anything else?"

Harry hesitated but decided to go ahead and tell the truth.

"I thought I saw some kind of shape beside him. I couldn't see it clearly; I just got an impression of an angular head and a lot of legs."

"That is very interesting," Lennier said thoughtfully. "It seems that you can sense the presence of Shadows. We knew that telepaths could do it, but we'd never heard of anyone else. I do not like to interrupt the captain's meeting, but this could be important information. Follow me."

***

Meanwhile, Captain Sheridan had just finished telling his senior staff what he had learned about the four wizards.

"I believe they are who and what they say they are," he concluded, "and I don't believe they're a threat to the station. However, we still need to decide what to do with them. Delenn has been very accommodating, and I don't want to abuse her hospitality. The kids probably have no way of paying rent on their own quarters, but I'm not prepared to send them Down Below, either. Suggestions?"

"If they really have all of these abilities, maybe they can pay us in kind?" suggested Ivanova. "Provide services?"

"Yes, it's a possibility," the captain agreed. "I've already wondered what they might be able to do against the Shadows. It's our war, though, not theirs. If they're to get involved, I want their participation to be strictly voluntary."

"Understood."

"By the way, Captain," said Garibaldi. "I thought you might like to know that G'Kar's been asking about these kids. He wants to speak with them."

"Why?" Sheridan asked.

"I don't know. It appears he's heard some rumors about them. Probably wants a sample of their DNA or something."

"None of them is old enough to give that kind of consent."

"Well, technically, Captain, they're all around 280 years old," replied Garibaldi apologetically.

"That doesn't change the fact that they are, in actuality, 15 or 16. I'm not going to split hairs over this."

"No, but G'Kar probably will. You know him."

Sheridan paused and sighed.

"Yes, I do. All right, I won't prevent him from speaking with them. Could you hold him off a little longer, though? Say, maybe until tomorrow?"

"I think so."

"Good. Do it."

"John? If I may?" interjected Delenn politely. He nodded to her, and she continued. "If I were in the position of these young persons, I would want nothing more than to get home. If we can find a way to help them in this, I think they will not be here long."

"Delenn, I've only traveled through time once, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience. I'm no expert, and I don't know anyone on the station who is."

"But someone brought them here," she continued earnestly. "There must have been some reason for this. Perhaps they were sent here for a purpose they do not themselves understand. Once this purpose is fulfilled, the same someone who brought them will send them back again."

Sheridan paced up and down the room, deep in thought.

"You may be right," he said at last. "God knows, it makes at least as much sense as the rest of this insane mess. I am at least willing to do what I can to help solve this puzzle, if that's what it is."

At that point, Lennier entered with his four charges in tow.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt," he said, bowing politely, "but something has just happened that I think you should know."

Sheridan noticed that Harry was absently rubbing at the scar on his forehead. As Lennier proceeded to explain their encounter with Morden, the captain became more interested. He looked at Harry intently.

"What, exactly, did you experience?" he asked Harry, wanting to hear it from him directly.

"Well, first my scar started hurting," Harry began uncertainly. "Mostly, that's only happened to me when the dark wizard Voldemort was nearby. It's also happened when he was feeling something strongly, but it didn't seem like I was feeling anything that wasn't my own, so I looked around. I saw a man in the corner who seemed to be the focus of the pain. And beside him I saw a vague, spindly shape. That's all."

"All right," said Sheridan, making a decision. "Please sit down, all of you. I wasn't sure about getting you involved in all this, but it appears that you are involved, whether we like it or not."

Everyone seated themselves, as instructed, and the captain proceeded to give them a brief overview of the Shadows.

"We know very little about these Shadows," Sheridan began, "except that they are ancient beings, older than humans or Minbari. Apparently, every 1,000 years or so, they surface and spread chaos and destruction. We don't know why. We're beginning to piece together their process for doing this. At first, they didn't want anyone to know what they were doing, or even who or what they were. They used agents, like this Mr. Morden you encountered. These agents helped to pit one people against another, starting small wars, maybe to distract attention from what they are really doing, which is, we believe, massing their power and assembling allies for the big war that is to come. This is what their ships look like."

At this point, he brought up some of the footage they had on Shadow vessels.

"Ugh. They look like giant spiders," commented Ron.

"These ships are partly organic," Sheridan continued. He heard Hermione whisper "living material" to the others. "Each one is piloted by an intelligent being, whose brain is wired directly into the ship's computer."

"That's - that's awful!" exclaimed Hermione in horror. "Where do they get these - people?"

"We suspect that at least some of them are beings that were captured by the Shadows, or sold to them. We have learned that the Shadows are afraid of telepaths, and we believe that we can use telepaths to disrupt their ships long enough for us to destroy them. We haven't tested this yet, but we're planning to do it soon. Now, I'm telling you this because you all have unusual abilities. I'm asking you if you know of any way that you could help us against these things."

There was silence for a while. The four kids exchanged glances and seemed to be thinking it over.

"You don't have to answer right away," the captain said. "I understand that you didn't ask to be brought here, and I recognize that it isn't your war. I'm just asking if you think you are willing or able to assist us in any way."

"Unfortunately," Hermione said thoughtfully, "not having the resources of the Hogwarts library may make it a bit difficult for us to find useful spells. Potions, of course, are out of the question due to the lack of ingredients. And, to be honest, we're all still in training. I don't know if we could come up with enough power to do any good."

"I think we'll need some time to think it over, if you don't mind," said Harry.

"Of course. You can go now, if you want. I'd like to move you to your own quarters tomorrow. Thank you for your input, Delenn. I think we're finished here."

Lennier, Delenn, and the four humans exited without comment. Once they were gone, however, Ivanova spoke.

"Captain, you're going to use them as bait, aren't you?" she accused.

"In a way," Sheridan answered. "Look, this information indicates that Harry, at least, has some kind of connection to the Shadows. If the Shadows are the reason those kids are here, we need to know that. And we need to know if the Shadows know anything about them."

"Well, just for the record, I don't like it," answered Ivanova.

"I don't, either," echoed Garibaldi.

"Frankly, neither do I," replied the captain. "There are a lot of decisions I've had to make in the last year that I haven't liked, but it's been my responsibility to make them. Find some available quarters in Green Sector, not too far from where they are now. Then we'll watch and see what happens."