RETURN TO SENDER
Standard Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in the sandbox constructed by JK Rowling and others.
Author's Note: A moment of silence for 9/11 and all the people lost on that day and the days after. Not to toot my own horn, but I would like to dedicate my story "In Flanders Field" to their memory.
And before I forget, I would like to acknowledge the inspiration provided by Dunuelos and his story "Harry Potter and Afterlife, Inc." (which is one the most brilliant stories out there) for some of the things that cropped up in this tale.
Without further ado ...
Chapter Six. Conversations in the After Life
Albus Dumbledore had left the building.
There was confusion and chaos as the Amazon guards disentangled themselves from their Queen; they were on their feet in time to watch, awed, as Dumbledore jumped into the tunnel - and was held in a brilliant glowing field like a fly trapped in amber before winking out, accompanied by a virtual cascade of eye-blinding sparks as the tunnel went dark.
At the consoles, the scientists and the general were gyrating from sparkling console to smoking panels even as people rushed in to man the boards and check gauges, shrill cries and sharp commands barked out as even more people came in with fire extinguishers -
"QUIET!"
Everyone froze - eyes turned cautiously, most blinking when they realized that it was the small blonde who'd issued the command. She was standing alone, arms on hips as she glared at the tunnel before she glanced at the uniformed gentleman who was standing at attention, facing her.
"General Kirk?"
"I'm sorry, Queen Gabrielle. Time travel was initiated."
"And HOW did that happen? I thought the tunnel was in visual mode only?"
"Gabrielle …" She turned and impaled her partner with her blazing green eyes and Xena actually stepped back at that implacable glare. "It was my fault."
Gabrielle's eyes narrowed to slits and the others watched Xena actually gulp in consternation. They couldn't believe it - the tall warrior's reputation had preceded her and most people in the facility knew to avoid her when she was in a mood …
"Explain."
"Uhm … I was curious, all right? I wanted to see how far we can go with this thing, so I asked Drs Swain and MacGregor to show me a … hem, hem, a practical demonstration."
The tall woman smirked. "I really wanted to take a look at us, you know? Back when you were a wide eyed babe in the woods, talking your way in and out of trouble … Hey!"
She jumped out of the way of a rolling chair sent her way by the smaller blonde and quickly continued, wary of other things heading her way. She may be hell on wheels with her chakram - but Gabrielle could send lethal projectiles her way just as efficiently and accurately.
"Anyway … the set-up here is mission-specific. The only timeline we can access is Harry's … and, well …"
"Queen Gabrielle." The small blonde turned her eyes to the female lead scientist, who gulped when the green eyes focused on her. "We encountered a, well, the best way to describe it is a temporal 'block' or 'lock'. We could only go to a certain point and couldn't get past it …"
"I ordered Drs MacGregor and Swain to get past it," Xena jumped in. "I authorized increasing power … we were reaching transportation values when Bumbledork decided to make his move."
She paused. "Sorry."
Gabrielle maintained her glare on her partner for a long moment before relenting. She took a deep breath even as she rubbed her face with her hands. She could understand her partner's curiosity - it had been one of Xena's many endearing traits (and one which, unfortunately, so few people in their time understood or appreciated) - she shook her head.
There was nothing she could do now - they had to try to get out of this mess, and quickly.
"All right," she said. "Where did the old goat get off to?"
Dr MacGregor glanced apprehensively at Xena before indicating a specific display. Gabrielle approached, glanced at it … and blinked. She looked up at the still-empty tunnel, shook her head and looked at the display again before turning an accusatory glare at her partner.
"You set him up."
Xena blinked and responded brightly. "Huh?"
"C'mon, Xena! You heard him - all he was on about was returning in time for him to change his will, to make sure that someone else aside from the Granger girl was to receive his 'gift' … but to send him there!"
She blinked when she realized that her tall partner was staring owlishly at her - Gabrielle searched her partner's face for any hint of deception or mischief but Xena was totally clueless and lost.
Gabrielle closed her eyes against the building pain in her head. This was bad and getting worse … but there was still a chance to save the situation.
"Gabrielle?" She heard her partner's voice and allowed herself to be wrapped in those strong, loving arms.
"What was I thinking, Xe?" she whispered as she slumped into her partner's embrace. "When they approached us to take over this place … what was I thinking?"
"The same thing you always do when faced with a situation - if you could help, why not?" Xena smiled wanly. "You can never resist doing what was right, Gabrielle … even when it was a grumpy, bad-tempered, crotchety warrior princess looking for salvation."
The smaller woman gave her a warm smile but shook her head, the magnitude of their problem weighing down on her. She felt her partner's warm hands drawing comforting circles on her back and sighed before turning back to watch the gyrations of the project staff as they tried to put their consoles back together. She shook her head. "Thanks, Xe," she said softly.
"You're welcome?"
Gabrielle tilted her head back. "You took a hard choice away from me, love - I was more than ready to send the sanctimonious git to Charon as a deckhand but that doesn't solve our problem …"
"OK …" the tall warrior said slowly.
"Our mandate is to get the timeline back on track; problem is we've got only one chance at it. The Second Chance guys have screwed up so badly that we don't have as many chances to send someone back …"
"And Dumbledork was it?"
The blonde CEO shrugged. "Who else was there? Harry Potter's used up all his chances … Hermione Granger also … besides, sending either of them back, even with memories intact, meant they had to work around Dumbledore - either terminating him or marginalizing him to limit the damage he could do.
"The problem was that everyone was so focused on getting rid of Riddle that they overlooked the real issue - they got rid of a Dark Lord, but did nothing to clean up the cesspool which spawned the idiot … give it time, and another Dork Lord will come out of the woodwork and they'll be running around like headless chickens trying to put him down … or begging the 'Chosen One' to save their arses one more time -"
She sighed. "It's like Hagrid killing Aragog - sure, the beast would be dead but the acromantulas are still in the forest. Soon enough, another would take Aragog's place, and the spiders would continue expanding their population and territory until one day they would be on the edges of Hogwarts and it would take far more than a few wizards to drive them back.
"If they could find enough wizards and witches willing to do so."
"And sending Bumbledore back will solve all that?"
Gabrielle shrugged. "It's an elegant solution - as he said, we owe him at least another chance to get things right. At the same time, it re-sets everything and everyone back …"
Xena stared at her partner. "Charon's gonna love you - bringing all those souls across, only to bring them back …"
"You forget, my dear Operations Director, there's a hold on bringing souls across the Styx until we give the go-ahead."
"I don't mean all those souls there now, love - I meant all those who'd gone before. Harry's dog father, Amelia Bones, the Diggory lad … uhm, you may have a problem with the last one."
"Oh?" Gabrielle turned to her partner, an eyebrow rising in question.
"I heard something about the Diggory lad being reassigned … Forks, Washington or something like that."
"We'll check it out. It won't be an issue for some time, anyway."
"OK." The two again fell silent, enjoying the comfort of the other's presence, until Xena broke the silence. "Uhmm … Do you really think sending the old goat back is for the best? Given what he knows … chances are that he'll set himself up as the Hero of the Wizarding World - maybe even Emperor Albus I …"
Gabrielle blinked and called out in a panicked voice, "General Kirk?" The General looked up from his discussion with the scientists as Gabrielle continued, "Will Dumbledore retain his memories?"
The General blinked at the question and glanced at the scientists, deferring the matter to them. The two exchanged a quick look before Dr Swain, the balding, grey haired scientist, spoke up, "Uhm … no, ma'am. Memory decay will commence anywhere from 30 to 180 seconds from arrival and merger with his past self … after which the memories from that point forward will … dissipate."
"Pensieve?"
The dark haired female scientist shook her head. "No, ma'am - even if he were to download the memories or write notes, they'd just disappear since they're not part of that timeline, or at least, those events haven't occurred yet."
"Wait, wait …" The scientists and Gabrielle turned to a confused Xena. "I thought you'd retain your memories when you get sent back … or at least, that's what you said about Doctors Newman and Philips."
"Begging your pardon, ma'am," Dr Swain said, a quick flicker of fear apparent in his eyes. "But this isn't a television show …"
He gulped at the elegant eyebrow that was slowly reaching her hairline as well as the slightly bared snarl and quickly continued, "There are very specific, and strictly followed, protocols to allow one to retain memories if you're to be sent back … Mr - Fumbledork? - didn't go through them so …"
"There may be some trace memories, ma'am," Dr MacGregor interrupted. "Nothing specific though - best guess is either a feeling of déjà vu or a feeling of something important that has to be done," she said with Dr Swain nodding beside her.
Gabrielle nodded and shared a grin with her partner. The Amazon guards glanced at each other - they'd seen those smiles too many times before. Those expressions meant infinite pain for those who'd thought that Gabrielle was just another blonde chit of a bombshell … or that Xena was just another muscle-bound dyke with an affinity for sharp objects and small blondes.
A sudden beep from the consoles caught their attention.
Dr MacGregor glanced at the monitor and quickly began hitting a sequence of buttons, Dr Swain quickly doing the same at his panel. Dr MacGregor gave Gabrielle a glance, "Systems online, ma'am. We should have temporal and visual lock in a few minutes."
"All right." The Destiny Repair CEO felt a large callused hand wrap around her smaller one and smiled at her partner before settling back to watch the show, as the giant tunnel's screen flickered to life …
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