WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
"When I heard the learn'd astronomer" by Walt Whitman
Chapter 1
A little more than a decade had passed since the demise of Voldemort. A war had been fought…a long, arduous war...one that ended because of a single man...who had the help of two others; a loud, boisterous male and a quiet, calculating female.
Since the end of that war, life had changed drastically; generally for the better. The magical governments had bestowed tributes, medals and honors on the trio who had destroyed the Dark enemy that had haunted England, and indeed, the rest of the globe.
There had been a few major changes…reforms in the lifestyle of house elves…the banning of the both the death penalty and the Dementor's Kiss. Cornelius Fudge had been mercilessly sacked by the political allies of the Order of the Phoenix, and generally, most Ministers were now made of sterner stuff than those who reigned when the twentieth century had been in its twilight years.
And there had been many minor changes.
The woman who had greatly aided in the endeavor to destroy Lord Voldemort vanished from the Wizarding world.
The red-haired boy who was no longer a boy became more reclusive, focused only on his one passion, and was perhaps, as some suggested, mentally damaged by the carnage he had witnessed.
And the dark-haired, green-eyed savior simply shrugged off his fame...and decided there was only one way to bring safety to the Wizarding and Muggle public. So he entered politics.
*~*~*~*
June 8, 2008
London, England
Harry Potter had his hands behind his back as he looked out the window and into the sunrise. As usual, one thought prevailed over all others in his mind. I hate this job. Sighing, he allowed himself to retreat into his memories of his younger days…or rather his memories of the one woman he wanted to see more than any other…
*Flashback*
"Hermione! You can't leave…not after," Harry gulped, "What...what...happened in the battle."
"What, Harry? What happened in the battle?"
"I realized something…I'm in love with you. I always have been."
Hermione shook her head. "No…you're not in love with me…not really."
"Shouldn't I be the one to decide that?"
"Harry…you only think you're in love with me because I got hurt. I know you love me, but…you can't be in love with me."
"Why can't I be? Because you're not good enough for me?"
"No, because you don't know what real love is."
"I know what it is! I know…because I feel it every time I look at you. Every time that I see your eyes…hear your voice…feel your touch…every time that I'm with you."
Hermione choked back the tears that threatened to fall.
Harry pleaded with her. "Please…just let me love you. If you don't love me, I'll understand. If you can look me in my eyes and say that you don't love me…I won't push it anymore…"
Hermione looked into his emerald eyes and told the biggest lie in her life. As she said the words she would forever regret, she could see his heart breaking, "I don't love you."
She turned away from him as fast as she could and she left…left him, left Ron, left the entire wizarding world.
*Present*
If I had kept my ruddy trap shut, she'd probably be standing next to me right now…Harry thought.
The door opened, shattering Harry's reveries, and in stepped his Chief of Staff...Draco Malfoy.
Granted, ten years ago, they hated each other's guts...but Harry knew that if he were going to be the Minister of Magic it would be more beneficial to have Malfoy on his side. And wouldn't you know it...he was right.
"Good morning Mr. Minister, His Excellency and the Protector of Our Liberties," Malfoy drawled as he set a sheaf of papers on Harry's desk.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said good-naturedly as he looked over the scrolls of parchment Malfoy had presented to him, "You know that title was invented by Fudge."
"And you should employ it more often," Malfoy said as he sank into a plush chair in front of Harry's face, "It sounds...aristocratic...deserving of power."
"It sounds like I'm a pompous idiot."
"That too," Malfoy said, smiling wickedly.
Harry rolled his eyes. "How's Ginny been?" he inquired as he sat in his own chair and began skimming through the scrolls.
"Pregnant."
The scrolls of parchments dropped from Harry's suddenly limp hands and hit his desk. From there, they rolled off his desk and a few fell into Harry's lap.
He coughed. "Excuse me?"
"Pregnant," Malfoy said again, amusement at Harry's reaction glinting in his silver eyes.
Harry sighed, "Please tell me you're joking..."
Malfoy shook his head, "Sorry, Mr. Minister Sir...but it's official, in eight months or so, Mrs. Virginia Malfoy will give birth to a healthy heir to the coveted Malfoy Estate."
Harry sighed, "I fear for Ginny's sanity."
"And mine?"
He shrugged. "I could care less."
"Gee, thanks, Harry," Malfoy smirked, "Now, are we going to get on with the Department of Mysteries reports, or what?"
Harry looked over the parchments, his emerald eyes locking with his chief of staff's, "Don't I pay you to go over them for me?"
"No," Draco smirked. "You pay me to make you look good."
"I see," Harry said with a small chuckle, "Then you're doing a decent job of it...my approval ratings' up another five ticks this week." He riffled through the Department reports and groaned, "Another sighting of your father?"
"Yes," Malfoy nodded his confirmation and have a sardonic snigger, "As if everyone didn't see him die in the fires of the Hell that the final battle became."
*~*~*~*
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a dark plan was being formulated.
"It's impossible."
Lucius Malfoy's robes swirled as he turned to face the Death Eater who had just dared to speak. "Is it now, Nott?" he said, malice rushing rampantly from his lips.
Nott trembled under Malfoy's gaze, "Well...well...."
"Well?" Malfoy said, continuing to bore his eyes into the man's soul.
"Well, it's impossible!" Nott finally cried, rather pathetically at that.
Malfoy sneered, "Now why do you say that?"
"Well, getting there for one thing…where do you propose we get a rocket to take us? And then taking over the mines for another thing, we simply don't have resources to do so."
"Why? Why am I surrounded by idiots?" Lucius muttered.
When no answers were forthcoming from his "army", or at least what was left after the final battle at Hogwarts eleven years ago, Malfoy simply shook his head. "You people forget...we have one thing in our favor." A sneer came across his face.
*~*~*~*
London, England (The muggle one…)
"Granger!"
The director of the European Space Agency…the young, demure, twenty-nine year old Hermione Granger sighed. Not again...
She immediately took off the Virtual Reality glasses and unhooked her portable strap-on keyboard from her arm. As she got to her feet, she removed the hard-drive, which was smaller than a hundred and fifty page paperback, from her pocket. As she placed the personal computer securely in her desk she made certain not to damage the infrared scanners that allowed the PC to work without wires attaching each piece together. Honestly, could this place run without her?
She opened the door to her office and hurried towards the elevator. Ever since she had temporarily relocated her office to the research labs for the Columbus Project, it seemed as though every time she had settled into running her calculations and checking with other sources on her e-books stored in her hard-drive that the voice alarm would go off...another problem for Hermione "Superwoman" Granger to solve...
She marveled at her position these days, How did I get here?
Twelve years ago, she had no background in muggle science aside from all the books she had read on the subject during her summers. Unbeknownst to most people, she had a deep fascination and passion with space, second only to magic. But when she left the wizard world, she ruled that out. So, she turned to her other love. Her only setback had been her lack of schooling in the subject, but she was determined.
After studying for a few weeks, she took the test for the equivalent to a diploma and passed with flying colors. After that, her parents asked their friend at Cambridge University to consider accepting Hermione as a student. The Cambridge officials had been rather skeptical of Hermione's scientific talent and requested that she take a test to measure her aptitude for and knowledge of the subject.
So she did...and her scores had been unprecedented for a woman with the proper education, let alone none. She was accepted immediately and four years later had graduated at the top of her class with offers from all over the world…which led to her unprecedented appointment at the agency...
The elevator doors swished open as soon as she had placed her palm on the reader, which flashed green, and she walked in with a sense of immense confidence. "Columbus Level Two," Hermione said crisply.
After a trip of a few seconds, the doors opened again; and she was greeted by the pasty white face of Wilhelm Hauser, E.S.A.'s deputy director. "All right, Bill, what's gone wrong this time?"
Bill nodded and he lead her around the busy work of the lab-coat attired Columbus workers, many of whom sat in the same position Hermione had been in while in her office. Reaching over with their right (or should they be left-handed, left) hands, to type furiously on the lightweight, thin keyboards on their opposite forearms, while reading whatever data they imputed on their virtual reality glasses.
"Um...vell, ve...um...seem...seem...seem to be...uh..." He fiddled with his VR glasses as he continued to stammer nervously.
In a quick move, Hermione snapped the VR glasses off Bill's face and put them over her own. Data streamed in front of her eyes, altering the three-dimensional images of the Columbus, which appeared to be only a quarter of a meter in front of her.
"Well, Bill, you're right," she said, "This is a problem."
"Dat is vhat I thought," Bill stated in his pronounced German accent as he nodded, sweat dripping from his forehead, "Vhat do ve do?"
Hermione laughed darkly. "'What do we do?' There's nothing we can do Bill...someone stole the L-3 transmutation scanners, and there's no way she's gonna go to the Moon without them."
Hermione turned to look at Bill as she took the glasses of her eyes. One of her patented glares was nearly enough to send the poor man to his knees, "It's really missing?" she said quietly, almost a threat in her words.
"Um...ja...d-dat vould appear to be...da...case..."
Never before in his adult life had Deputy Director Wilhelm Hauser wished that he was dead...but seeing the expression on Hermione's face was more than enough to make him want to crawl into a hole.
"Bill!" she finally exploded, "The only way to mine the ice - which I may add, is the only reason Columbus is going to fly - is if we have the L-3 scanners! Honestly! How did they just disappear? They're not the kind of things to disappear like that!"
Bill cowered slightly, "I.....I...dunno...the L-3s just...vanished...as if....b-by...magic."
The last thing he expected those words to do was cause Hermione Granger to look away from him and snap her attention around the building...but they did. After she had put Bill's VR glasses back on and hijacked his keyboard and hard-drive, she began rapidly inputting data into her computer.
For the first time in Bill's life, he heard Hermione Granger swear. Slowly, she took off the glasses and slipped them into her pocket. "Bill," she said slowly, "We're going to have to call the Minister."
"Of Defence?" Bill said, his voice still shaky.
"No," Hermione said as she turned around and stormed towards the elevator, only turning her head to say the last two words at Bill, "Of Magic."
As soon as Hermione had disappeared, Bill ran a clammy hand across his sweaty forehead. That makes sense... we'll just call the minister...of... "WHAT?!" he yelled the last part aloud.
In her office, Hermione crawled on her hands and knees and tossed some green powder into the fireplace, "Ministry of Magic," she said softly.
*~*~*~*~*
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