Chapter 2
By the year 2008, the Muggle world had changed drastically from the way it was upon Harry's graduation in 1996. Terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center in the United States, the Internet had expanded, and Europe had unified as a federal state under the moniker of the European Union.
Technology had drastically improved, with strides being taken in the sectors of virtual- and nano-technology. And three hundred thousand miles away, the discovery of polar ice on the Moon led to numerous international expeditions under the aegis of NASA or the European, Russian and Chinese space agencies. The selenian ice mines had given the world ample reason to begin preparation for an international lunar colony, which was to be supervised by the United Nations.
Despite these leaps forward in progress, the Muggle penchant for warfare and barbarianism had once again reared its ugly head. After the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2008, the military coupled with former key members of the old KGB took over the government in a violent coup d'etat. The Russians announced their intention to withdraw from the U.N., and began massing troops on the Iraqi and Afghan borders...threatening two nations that had been admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization barely months before. Whether the Russians were making a blustery gamble or were seriously intending to make a war and force the rest of the planet to come was something only time could tell...
And it was to this world situation that a crisis was birthed on Columbus Level Two in London, England. It was a crisis that would turn every world, Muggle and Wizard, on its ear...
*~*~*~*~*
"Ministry of Magic," Hermione Granger said as she kneeled in front of the now green flames of her office fireplace. At first, she hadn't wanted to have a fireplace in her office, but now...she was grateful she did.
She reached a receptionist, "Hello, you've reached the Ministry of Magic. If you would like to make-"
"I need to talk to the Minister of Magic!"
"Do you have the required security clearance?"
Hermione shook her head, "Probably not, but-"
"Then I'm afraid I can't let you speak to him."
"I'm Hermione Granger."
"Is that supposed to mean something to me, Miss?"
"Does the word 'Voldemort' ring a bell with you?" Hermione seethed, frustration beginning to take over her being. You'd think that people would still remember when you helped save the bloody world.
The receptionist's image in the fire actually paled slightly, "Y-You-Know-Who?"
"Yes," Hermione said sharply, "Lord Voldemort. I helped defeat him, and I am a personal friend of Harry James Potter." Or at least, I was. "And I need to speak to the Minister of Magic now."
Suddenly, the image in the fire changed as the receptionist was visibly pulled away. Her visage was replaced with a paler, masculine face with stormy gray eyes and platinum hair. Hermione gulped, it can't be! He can't be the Minister! Her mouth dropped to her chest. "Malfoy?!"
"Granger?" Malfoy said, his voice dripping of disbelief.
"What are you doing here?" they both exclaimed at the same time.
Hermione continued, "You can't be the Minister!"
Everybody's a bloody critic, he thought. "And I sure as Merlin am not," Malfoy countered, "The Minister's not here right now, and the receptionist called me down here because you kept harassing her."
"I need to speak to the Minister!" Hermione said, her nostrils flaring with impatience, "I don't care who he is. There are traces of magic all over the Columbus, and he needs to know about it."
"The what?" Malfoy responded. She's finally lost it, I gather...
She swore. "I forgot! You guys don't know what the Columbus is."
Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "Should we?"
"You didn't have to, but now you do."
"What the heck are you talking about, Granger?! You're talking like some sort of… madwoman!"
Hermione sighed. "It's really complicated, Malfoy. I'm gonna need to come talk to you and the Minister in person."
"I still don't understand. You're gone for over a decade and now all of a sudden you want to talk to Harry?"
"No, not Harry! The Minister!"
"Harry is the Minister, Granger!"
Her face paled and her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "What?"
"Harry's the Minister now. Of course, you'd know that if you had bothered to keep in touch with anyone."
"Well," she muttered, "this complicates things a bit."
Draco furrowed his brows in confusion, "It does?"
She exhaled sharply. "Just forget about it. Look, I need you to clear Harry's schedule for the rest of the day." At Draco's look of disbelief she added, "This is more important. Trust me."
"Trust you??"
"Yes! Trust me! I know you don't like me and all but this is a matter of life or death and I need you to work with me!"
"Life or death?"
"Yes. Now, I'll be over there in an hour and I'll explain everything better, okay? Just clear his schedule."
Draco clenched and unclenched his jaw as though he didn't like what he was about to say but had to say it anyway. "Fine…but this better not be a waste of time, Granger!"
"It won't be!" she yelled back as her face disappeared in a rush of green flames.
Unfortunately, she thought as she pulled back into her office.
*~*~*~*~*
Draco Malfoy stormed into Harry's office, inadvertently slamming into Colin Creevey and ruining the picture of the British champion Chudley Cannons with the Minister of Magic.
Malfoy looked Harry directly in the eyes, locking his grey with Harry's green. "Finally, you're out of that bloody meeting! It's Granger. She called an hour ago. She's got some kinda crisis at the Muggle place she works and demands to speak to you."
Colin Creevey, whose personality had not changed much since his graduation from Hogwarts brightened at the possibility of getting more snapshots of Harry. Ignoring the rest of the Cannons, he snapped a perfect shot of Harry and Malfoy as Harry's jaw dropped. "The Prophet's gonna love this," he said, sniggering slightly.
Draco snapped at him, "You! Out! All of you get out of here!" The Cannons and Colin left the room, muttering under their breath.
As soon as the last Cannon left their sight, Harry asked, "Granger?! As in..."
A figure appeared in his doorway. "Hi, Harry."
Harry and Malfoy both did a double take.
"How'd you get around the wards?" Malfoy screamed, his composure lost for a moment, "We can't just let anyone waltz in here!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want me to go out and try again?" Hermione snapped at him.
Harry, meanwhile, had a utterly lost expression on his face. Then, without warning, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground...dead to the world.
Hermione sighed. "Well, that's not good."
As soon as Harry had collapsed, dozes of Magical Law Enforcement Wizards Apparated into the Minister's office. A few Healers soon joined the rest and began working on Harry.
"Now look what you've done!" Draco said to Hermione.
Hermione sighed, "And this is my fault how? Honestly! If that's his reaction now, I'd hate to see what happens when I tell him the real news…"
"What," Malfoy said as he crossed his arms, sarcasm dripping from his words, "you're pregnant and he's," he jerked a thumb at the unconscious Harry, "the father?"
"Oh, please. That sort of thing only happens to you, Malfoy."
"For your information, I'm married!"
"Like that would change anything," Hermione cut her eyes to Malfoy, "So who's the unlucky lady?"
He smirked. "Ginny Weasley...or should I say, Malfoy?"
Hermione laughed and then cut her response short at the steely glare Harry's chief of staff was giving her, "You're joking."
"You wish."
Hermione sighed; the things that one misses when they flee from their world with the firm resolve never to come back. "And I suppose now you're going to say that she's pregnant as well."
He laughed. "As a matter of fact, I was."
Hermione suddenly had a yearning to take comfort in a soft plush chair...otherwise she was quite certain that she would be joining Harry in taking an unexpected snooze on the carpet.
Finally, the Healers peeled back, and the Minister of Magic stood up and carefully adjusted his glasses. I fight the Dark Lord in person and kill him with my own spell, I work with a former Slytherin, I've seen more terror than any wizard alive...and yet I have to faint when she walks in...
"Hi, Harry," Hermione repeated.
"Um…eh…erm…hi."
Smooth move Potter, his inner voice complimented sarcastically.
The two stared at each other silently as Draco forced the Healers and Enforcement Wizards from Harry's office. When everyone had left, Draco glanced at the two and said, "Excuse me, but wasn't there some sort of crisis we're supposed to be dealing with?"
"Uh, yes," Hermione looked down at the floor and then back into Harry's eyes. A resolve that had not been there before was now cemented across her visage. "Harry...a very valuable piece of technology was stolen from the E.S.A....and there were signs of Dark activity all around the building."
"Dark activity as in..." Harry replied.
"As in Dark magic, Harry," Hermione finished.
"Point, Granger?" Malfoy drawled, "There's Dark magic everywhere."
"Not at the E.S.A.," she fired back.
"Hold it!" Harry interrupted, "What's the E.S.A.?"
Hermione sighed. "The European Space Agency…I'm the Director there."
"Space?!" Harry asked incredulously.
"What does this have to do with the Ministry?" Malfoy snarled, "And why does it require the attention of the Minister?"
"Because magic was used to steal a very important piece of technology which was highly classified."
"Again," Draco asked, "why is this such a big deal?"
"Because that piece of technology allows you to get to the moon without high-power rockets to get you out of the Earth's atmosphere!"
"And what," Harry said, slightly uncertain, "would Dark forces want with such a device?"
"We have a Selenian Ice Mining base on the moon with over 300 muggles working there...and 20 nuclear devices."
Harry's eyes blinked. "Why did Europe place twenty nuclear devices on the Moon?"
"It was the only way to get access to the Selenian Ice."
"Okay..." Harry said as he began to get really, really worried.
She continued, "The fact that there are nuclear devices on the moon was highly classified. No one outside of the E.S.A. or government knew about it...no one. See, we use small-scaled detonations to break through and forge actual mines. While it's the only way to do it, the public would panic if we released the information."
"This is ridiculous!" Malfoy snarled, his patience finally at an end. "Dark wizards don't need nukes!"
"They do if they wanted to create panic among muggles without revealing the fact that they're wizards," she snapped.
Harry sighed. "Aren't we kind of jumping to conclusions here? There's no reason to suspect that they'll attack the mines."
Hermione sighed. "You don't understand Harry. If Dark wizards stole the L-3 scanners, there's no other logical place for them to go. The International Space Station isn't enough of a target...but the L-3 can allow them to get their hands on some easy nuclear weapons. I should know...I invented the bloody scanner."
"Well," Harry said, "Couldn't they just want to go to the moon and not the base?"
"For what, Harry? A sight-seeing tour?" Hermione replied.
Harry sighed. "Good point."
Draco interjected, "So what do we do about it?"
Hermione sighed, "That's what we need to figure out....but I think that the first thing we should do is get you guys to the E.S.A."
Malfoy shook his head. "No way. We're not taking the Minister anyplace where Dark magic has been around."
"Oh, for crying out loud…I defeated Voldemort, Draco! I'm not some sort of...china doll!"
Malfoy shook his head vehemently, causing his hair to tumble in front of his eyes. "No can do Potter. Your place is here. You're not some sixteen-year old cavalier anymore."
Hermione snapped at Draco, "Well, what else do you expect to do? Bring the E.S.A. here?!"
Malfoy looked over to Harry, his eyes narrowing. Harry looked at him for a second then shook his head.
"No."
"Merlin! Potter, you're the only wizard I can even think of who could possibly pull it off!" Draco snapped.
"Oh, come on, you guys! Malfoy, if you feel that uncomfortable about it, just bring some Aurors."
Draco asked, "Well, why do we even need to go to the E.S.A. in the first place?"
"Oh, I don't know...maybe because it's our technology that's gonna allow us to get to the moon?"
"Whoa! Hold it there! You never said anything about us going to the moon!" Malfoy exclaimed.
"And how do you suggest we stop them?!"
"I don't know!"
Hermione sighed. "Malfoy...are you a man or a ferret?"
"Well, I've been both."
"Merlin! Would you guys just stop?!" Harry interrupted. "Jeez...you're acting like we're back at Hogwarts!"
Both Hermione and Draco fell silent.
"Well, Harry," Hermione said roughly, as she turned to the Minister of Magic, "Here's my advice. Let's go there, get some people we can trust and solve this before it escalates. The only other option is to be Cornelius Fudge and let the crisis dictate to us."
Harry continued, "You're right, Hermione…but we need to work together, you guys, not argue. And as far as planning what we need to do, I know just the person for the job…"