Chapter 11

It took Harry a week to prepare for the expedition. He also had to wait for the moon to be in the correct phase. Nobody, but those who would go with them were invited to the outing, except for McGonagall, Remus and Daniels, who would be staying in the viewing room to monitor their flight.

The day of the trip finally arrived and Harry went to go fetch Neville. Filius Flitwick and Rolanda Hooch would be brought along with McGonagall, while Madam Pomfrey brought Dumbledore. Sirius was already bouncing with excitement and couldn't wait for the experience. When Harry returned with Neville, it was to find the other participants waiting nervously in the sitting room.

"Good morning." Harry said with a smirk. "Welcome, and thank you for your time today. Our schedule is set and lift-off is in one hour. Now would be the time to ask any questions you may have."

"Does everyone know the secondary purpose of this mission?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, but you raise a good point." Harry said. "Before his fall on the night Voldemort killed my parents, he created several items that would make him immortal. He succeeded, in a manner of speaking. Long story short, we found the items and we trapped his spirit, which was possessing Professor Quirrel during the first year, and we'll be depositing them on the far side of the moon, where he can enjoy his immortality, all alone, for the rest of time."

Many faces paled at the revelation. "Will he be able to speak to us, during the flight?" Neville asked nervously. Harry had told them that he had the monster trapped and that he could speak to people from his new prison.

"Remus was able to create a ward that blocks spirits." Harry said. "It's been successful in confining him to his prison."

"How did you trap his spirit?" Flitwick asked.

"The Mauritanian Soul Trap." Harry said. "It's a form of phylactery. Unlike the ones ancient necromancers used in the past to overcome their own deaths, this one does not allow the spirit to interact with the physical world. He's barely more than a ghost, and appears translucent when he chooses to become visible."

"Why not destroy the artefacts that he used to attain immortality?" Hooch asked.

"Punishment." Harry said darkly. "He strove for immortality and achieved it. Let all who follow after him, hear of the consequences of his actions and tremble for the fate that befell him."

"Hear, hear!" Sirius said, in agreement.

"Isn't this punishment harsh, even for him?" Dumbledore asked.

"Are you numpty?!" McGonagall asked, her Scottish roots shining through. "He's the Dark Lord! He planned the extermination of all muggleborn and the subjugation of all the rest of humanity!"

"But he's already trapped!" Dumbledore fired back. He didn't like it when she swore at him in Scottish. Being called a useless, bumbling idiot didn't suit him, either, in his opinion. "We don't have to isolate him for the rest of time, too." he tried more calmly.

"I say we vote on it." Harry offered. "Those in favour of punishing the bastard and ensuring one of his followers doesn't attempt to free him, raise a hand. Those in favour of destroying him, don't." All the hands in the room lifted, excluding Dumbledore. "It's unanimous."

"I didn't vote for it." Dumbledore objected.

"But your opinion doesn't matter in this." Harry said. "You've already sworn a vow not to interfere. I respect and like the people gathered here. They may have swayed me."

There was silence then, and Dumbledore sighed, accepting his defeat. He realised he was excluded from the group of people Harry liked. There were a couple of procedural questions and Harry answered everything, before leading the passengers to the vanishing room. He closed the door behind him and it disappeared while another one appeared on the far side of the room, where the exit to their house in Texas was.

Sirius and Remus had taken the results from the tests and had come up with a viable space-suit. Unlike muggle space-suits, they could add all the protections Harry would need to an actual suit. So Harry left to go get dresses and soon returned in a Tuxedo, his space 'suit'. Harry found it funny and never asked if it was deliberate or a misunderstanding. He'd tested and confirmed the magic they used, though. It had everything he needed.

The group entered the craft and Harry helped everyone buckle in, while the ground team went to the viewing room. Then he went to go take his seat. "Okay, is everyone ready?" Harry asked. "Ground control, are you seeing everything alright?"

"We're all good here, Harry." Remus said.

Harry turned to Dumbledore, who was sitting in front of a large amount of displays, all being projected in front of him from overhead. He was facing to the side, away from Harry. "You got everything Professor Dumbledore?" he asked.

"I still don't know why you put me in charge of anything." Dumbledore said.

"Because everyone else is here to enjoy the trip." Harry said. "Last time I had a meteor stuck in the side, when I came back. If something impacts, your job will be to tell me about it so that I can make any repairs before coming back. We only realised later that the breach may have caused other issues on re-entry. The chances were very small, but they were there, so I don't want a repeat. This mission must go perfectly, or we're turning around."

"Understood." Dumbledore said, resigned to monitor the screens.

"That being said, if anything impacts we'll all hear it and a ward will inform me that something's happened, so you should be able to watch the main window while we fly until something happens, if it even does." Harry said. "Any last minute questions from the rest of you?" he asked the rest of the group.

"How many times have you gone into space again?" Madam Hooch asked, a little nervously, now that she was strapped in. It had been a fun idea, but not being in control was working on her nerves.

"Just the once." Harry said. "We haven't gone further than a certain range, though, so we may lose contact with our ground team. Magic seems to be more difficult in space, so the further we go, the more difficult it will be to maintain the connection. I've estimated the power requirements and added a backup for communications as well, based off what we learned on the initial flight. Inside the craft will work like normal, though, so don't worry about being powerless while we're out there."

"Powerless?" Dumbledore asked. "Aren't you going to be raising protections to secure the items?"

"Oh, I can cast spells just fine. It takes a bit more effort, but I'm a good deal more powerful than the average magical." Harry said nonchalantly as he closed and sealed the hatch. "Take-off in five seconds." he announced.

It took those five seconds for Harry to get in control of the systems and buckle up simultaneously. Then they started to rise, faster and faster.

"How are we not broken puddles right now?" Hooch asked, seeing the world fall away below them. "We're accelerating too fast!"

"Gravity runes." Harry said. "I'm increasing our gravity from the opposite side, while I increase acceleration."

"That's a fantastic idea!" Hooch exclaimed.

"Muggles had the idea first." Harry said. "It's called inertial dampening, in popular science fiction. My system works manually though and I need to keep a good amount on concentration on it, so that we don't start lifting up or losing consciousness. That would be disastrous."

"Maybe it's a good idea to not speak then?" Sirius offered. He was enjoying the view, as they slowly tilted to look up at the morning stars, but he was also part of planning and knew what could go wrong.

"Okay." Madam Hooch said as her eyes were glued to the view in front of her.

A short while later, Harry started manipulating more controls as he started aiming the ship in the direction of the waning third quarter moon. The others didn't realise the forces he negated as he steered them, seemingly without effort. He had an idea of how to make hand-held controls for this, but he was interfacing with the ship almost directly, as necessary, and controlling gravity and g-forces through his spelled gyroscope, to ensure the forces were applied in the correct direction as their angle changed.

The ship was still facing away from the sun, but the reflected light, without the benefit of the atmosphere, still started to sting and he had to activate the tinting. He kept on accelerating until he reached a decent clip and then slowed acceleration, until he was just keeping them at that speed.

When the acceleration stopped, he set the gravity and sighed. "Cruising velocity reached. Locking speed."

"Good." Remus said. "How's the new shields looking?" he asked.

"Holding steady, but taking a bit of pressure." Harry said. "I'll re-enforce before it starts breaking down."

"That's acceptable." Remus nodded. They knew space wasn't quite empty and the speed at which they should be travelling would be impossible on the planet.

"What do you mean the shields are taking strain? What shields?" Hooch asked.

"There's still matter in space." Harry said. "We're going really fast and we're impacting that matter at a massive speed."

"How fast?" Hooch asked.

"A little under 200 000 kilometres per hour." Harry said, sitting back with a smile. It was the fastest he had ever moved. Mach 160, in fact. "Congratulations! We are all the fastest moving people in human history."

"200 000?" Hooch asked, her eyes going wide. "You mean, your shield is absorbing matter that's moving that fast?"

"Kind of, yeah." Harry said. "It's mostly to protect the ship from friction, but my ward can't hold out against that much force, so we upgraded the ward with a shield against physical impact."

"You're insane!" Hooch exclaimed. Then her smile grew on her face. "I love it!"

Harry laughed and so did Sirius and Filius, who was still watching the night sky, marvelling at what he was experiencing.

"Do you guys want to feel zero gravity?" Harry asked.

"But, we're moving." Pomfrey objected for the first time.

"We're not accelerating." Harry said. "As long as we maintain current speed and the shield stays up, we can experience Zero-G. But nobody is allowed to unbuckle. If something does go wrong at these speeds, you'll be flung around the cabin at speeds that will, like Madam Hooch said, turn you into 'broken puddles'."

"If something goes that wrong, we'll be puddles no matter where we are." Hooch stated with a raised eyebrow.

Harry thought about it, then nodded. "You know what? You're right. Feel free to unbuckle if you want." Then he slowly released the power in the active gravity rune until he could feel in his stomach that he was not experiencing gravity. He did not unbuckle, since he was closest to his controls in his current position.

That didn't stop Sirius, who had already tried the Zero-G runes in the empty bedroom in Grimmauld Place. He released his buckles with an audible click and slowly floated from his chair. "This, is cool." he said.

Strangely, it was Flitwick to follow next, followed by Hooch and then Neville and then Dumbledore, with a bemused smile on his face. Madam Pomfrey decided to stay seated. She did lift her arms and conjure a ball to pass between her hands. The others were now jumping from floor to ceiling and throughout the entire ship.

"Hey, Harry? How long is the trip to the moon going to take?" Neville asked.

"We're currently moving at a speed that should get us there in two hours. Why?" Harry asked. "Oh, and Professor Dumbledore, I realise you're having fun, but you are the only one with a post to man. I'd appreciate it if you do that."

"Of course, Harry." Dumbledore said, moving back to his seat easily, with a bit of wandless magic to move him closer.

"I just wanted to know how long we have to enjoy this view." Neville answered Harry's question, as he hung weightless in front of the large window.

"You want to see something cool?" Harry asked.

"Yes, of course." Neville replied.

Harry smirked and activated a feature he had been saving for this trip, making the hull of the ship translucent. Then he reclined his seat and lay back, looking up at the stars.

"Whoa!" Neville exclaimed, as he saw the walls change so they looked like one large window. "This is fantastic!"

"What Professor Sinistra would give for this view?" Dumbledore muttered, also looking up.

"Back to your seats, people." Harry said. "I'm activating gravity again. It can upset stomachs for those unused to or untrained at Zero-G."

"Now he says it." Professor Flitwick said. He was looking a little green. Apparently he had thought spinning was a great way to use the opportunity.

Pretty soon the people were back at their seats and gravity was restored. All of them were now laying back and watching the stars.

"Why are the stars not moving?" Neville asked.

"They are very far away." Harry explained. "We'd have to move faster than light, or move at a curve to make them move. If we left our solar system, they'd still look like they hadn't moved."

The group relaxed and talked a bit, until Remus's voice said, "Harry, I think we're losing-". That's where the transmission cut out.

"Huh." Harry said, looking at his odometer. "Just over halfway there. Seems comms are down." He opened a panel on his seat and took out a familiar disc. Then he connected it to a panel above his seat and it glowed until a new image appeared of Remus. "Backup system is up." Harry said.

"Good." Remus said with a sigh of relief. "How much further do you think this one will go?"

"Probably the rest of the way." Harry said, activating the backup camera plates, showing the forward view and the inside of the ship for Remus. "This system works on a completely different principle and with normal power levels it should be able to go twice as far, but I added enough power to them to go four times further than our normal transmissions." It seemed Harry's camera system, while not as versatile as the Mirror connections, since it showed a two-dimensional image, rather than a three-dimensional one, was more stable due to that fact.

"Okay, we can see everything again." Remus nodded looking up and away from the small display that showed only Harry's face.

"Why is this your backup system, if it has a greater range?" McGonagall asked.

"Because I wanted to know what works out best." Harry said. "We still don't know what's causing the interference in space. This served as a test."

"Well, before you go on any other joy-rides, please make this your primary system." McGonagall requested. It sounded like a demand though, with how her eyes were narrowed at him.

"Sure thing, Aunty Min." Harry said with a smile.

"Good." was all she said.

"Of course, there is still a chance that communications will fail when we're on the dark side of the moon, so don't be surprised if that happens, okay?" he asked.

"As long as we know to expect it, I can live with that." McGonagall said, with a huff which said she wasn't fine with it at all.

They went quiet again, as the rest of the passengers considered how they would feel, should there be no way to communicate with those on the planet. The feeling was not a good one. Being alone in a small spacecraft, hundreds of thousands of kilometres from home.

"Harry?" Neville asked again. "What would happen if an asteroid hit the window at this speed?"

"We'd lose our primary way of looking out, but there's a backup for that too." Harry said. The 'window' was actually a large mirror, connected to another one on the outside. There was even more protection on the front of the ship, for obvious reasons.

"Wouldn't we be exposed to space then?" Filius asked in realisation.

"Trust me, there is less chance of something entering from the front of the ship than on any other part." Harry assured them. "There is a bit of family magic involved with how though."

"I'm starting to wonder exactly how many family magics you have." Dumbledore asked.

"Keep wondering, old man." Harry said, flippantly. "And for your knowledge, the window's protections was one of the first applications of the family magics I learned."

"James and I invented it together, in fact." Sirius said. "The first real Potter/Black family magic."

"You two were inseparable." McGonagall said from her side. "No wonder that specific magic was the first thing you developed."

"You know?" Dumbledore asked in shock.

"Of course I know." McGonagall answered. "I could hardly be considered family otherwise."

"Aunty Min doesn't know the spells, but she knows the effects." Harry said, for clarification.

"And I'm not telling either." McGonagall added. "So forget trying to convince me, Headmaster. I know you're already thinking about it."

"I'm merely curious." Dumbledore admitted. "I wouldn't pry."

"Yeah, right!" Harry laughed. "You can't handle not knowing something. You'll be asking for all my secrets on your deathbed still."

"Well, if I'm on my deathbed…" Dumbledore shrugged.

"You'll die curious." Sirius interjected. "Not even then will you get our secrets, you manipulative old goat. You'd fake a disease, just to know something."

"I would never!" Dumbledore argued. He did look slightly affronted, but Harry suspected it was an act. He wouldn't put it past the old man either. He was too used to getting his way. "How about another vow, just to satisfy my curiosity?"

"We'd need something of equal value in trade, like your own family secrets." Sirius said instantly. "Protected by the same vow, of course."

Dumbledore shut up at that. He'd have to consider it.

"Maybe now is a good time to give Daniels the gift, Remus?" Harry asked with a smile.

Remus smiled back. "Of course." he said. Then he turned to the head of security, who was standing off to the side. "A gift, from the cub." he said, holding out a gift bag, which he took from under the table.

Daniels, walked closer and took the bag. He opened it and frowned at what he saw inside. "Is this one of those toys you were making for the children?" he asked, looking up at the screen as he reached in and removed the pitch black hilt, with a wolf head embellishment for a pommel. "It looks really nice, though. Thank you."

"It's more than a toy, Daniels." Harry said. "Hold it away and press the button by your thumb." He instructed and Daniels did it. A red beam and the sound of a lightsaber was heard. "That's the training setting. Yours can make contact, so it can be used as a baton." Then Harry smirked. "Do you see the little slider, with the green part on the right?"

"Yes." Daniels said, looking at it.

"When you slide it over and it turns red, the staff turns purple, and then it functions like a real lightsaber." Harry said with an evil smile. "Congratulations, Daniels. You own a functioning lightsaber, so be careful. It'll cut through anything, with almost no resistance."

Daniels flicked the slider and the blade changed colour. His eyes glowed an unholy purple in its light and his face became a smile that belonged on a serial killer. "Oh… this will work nicely." he said in a low grumble. Then he switched the blade off and slid the slider back, for safety. "Thank you, Mister Black. I will treasure it always."

"You're welcome Daniels, and call me Harry." Harry said at the sincere gratitude. "If you were wondering, I named the weapon 'Fang'. I know its cliché, but it just worked, you know?"

"I think it's perfect." Daniels said. "I suspect the men will be upset, though. The strongest weapon should belong to the Alpha."

"You are my strongest weapon, Daniels." Remus said. "I'd trust you with the pack if I fell as well."

"Thank you, Alpha." Daniels said respectfully, with a nod. He reached down and withdrew a baton, which he always carried and placed his new weapon in the holster, holding the baton in his hands behind his back as he stepped away again.

"Is it wise-" Dumbledore started.

"No." Harry interrupted. "You will not spoil this moment for me. I trust Daniels with my life. He wouldn't hurt an innocent and he follows the rules of the pack."

"Marauders first!" Daniels saluted, with a fist over his heart, thumping his chest twice. "Marauders forever." he finished in his low rumble.

"Daniels is my second." Remus said. "We don't doubt the loyalty of the pack and we've never had a traitor."

"The Alpha provides too well, for anyone to want to." Daniels agreed.

"I didn't mean to insinuate-" Dumbledore started again, only to be interrupted again.

"I think you've said quite enough, Headmaster." McGonagall said. "Your prejudices are showing."

Dumbledore lowered his head at the accusation. It wasn't untrue. He had long feared the wolves would side with the other side, if it came to a choice. The Purebloods had created that situation on purpose, to force the wolves' hands. "I apologise. I see I have offended you. That was not my intent." he said, finally. "Of course I am grateful to Remus for providing for you and making your lives better."

Daniels nodded at the screen, accepting the apology. "Don't judge us based on the actions of the few. It was the pack and the Alpha that took out the ones that didn't curb their lust for blood. All wolves in Europe swore their loyalty to the pack, on their lives and all wolves receive the protection of the pack."

"He doesn't need to know that." Remus scolded lightly.

"I'm sorry, sir." Daniels said, standing upright and shutting his mouth, eyes front.

"Don't worry about it." Remus said. "He's under a vow not to interfere or go against us. Just don't speak of the scope of our influence around people who don't have clearance."

"Understood, sir." Daniels said instantly again, posture not changing.

The rest of the trip to the moon, was rather silent, little comments and updates on the state of the ship was all that was heard for a while, until Harry started slowing them down, when they started nearing their goal. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Luna. The theoretical last remnants of a giant Mars-sized planet, which hit Gaia, the early Earth, around 4.5 billion years ago."

"Muggles know how the moon was formed?" Flitwick asked astounded.

"Theoretically." Harry said. "It can't be proven, though."

"Still, we wizards have just always accepted that it was there all along." Flitwick said. "To think the muggles have taken the hypothesis so far."

"I've been studying the moon, since I plan on curing the lycanthropic transformation." Harry said. "Remus won't let me become a wolf if I don't have that sorted first."

"What?!" was exclaimed from most of the people in the ship with him. McGonagall seemed to have lost some colour as well. "Harry, you can't be serious!" Poppy exclaimed.

"No, I am." Sirius said with a smirk.

"This is no joking matter, Sirius." Poppy said sternly. "It's a curse, Harry! Why would you let yourself be cursed?"

"If I control the negative side-effects, it would be a blessing." Harry said. "And by the time I've figured out how, it won't be your choice if I decide to become one."

"At least let us talk about it." McGonagall pleaded.

"When I'm done, you'll want to be one too." Harry said. "Except, maybe not, considering you're a cat."

"I wouldn't mind." Sirius said. "I'm already a dog. I wouldn't mind the benefits of enhanced senses and everything else that comes from it."

"You are an irresponsible, childish man!" McGonagall stated. "He's your ward! You are meant to talk him out of such foolish behaviour!"

"Don't bother arguing, Sirius." Harry said as he continued slowing them down. "I'll wait until I'm old enough to leave the house, before I make that kind of choice anyway."

Pomfrey and McGonagall seemed to relax a bit at that. They would be having a long conversation about that later.

"Okay, we're about to go to the dark side of the moon." Harry said. "If communication drops, don't worry."

"We'll be expecting to hear from you within the next thirty minutes, then." Remus said with a nod.

"Good luck." McGonagall said.

"I don't need luck, Aunty Min." Harry said confidently, as he rounded the bright side of the moon, still slowing down. "The ship is well built. I can likely crash-land this baby and it will still be in one piece."

"Try not to." McGonagall insisted.

"I don't intend to." Harry agreed. The transmission soon died. He was now flying them over the surface of the moon and soon reached the shadow, which was why he had needed the moon to be in this phase. He didn't want to exit onto the surface when it was over 120 degrees Celsius. Nor did he want to exit onto the moon when it was below minus 170 degrees Celsius. It would still be cold, just inside the shadow, but with warming charms and the protections on his suit, including oxygen, protection from the vacuum and everything else, he was certain of his safety.

He soon landed, just inside the shadow enough to know he was safe to exit. Then he unbuckled himself. "You should all stay here. I have to go drop the package and then raise the protections." Harry said.

"Be careful and apparate back, the moment you feel anything is going wrong, you hear me?" Madam Pomfrey said.

"As the on-board Healer, I'd be stupid not to head your advice." Harry said solemnly, as he walked to the airlock. Then he focussed on a part of the hull that was specifically doubly re-enforced with extra layers, which weren't part of the rune protections, and transfigured it around himself and the hatch, so that it would remain airtight.

"Moment of truth." he said to himself. Taking a deep breath, he activated the suit's protections. Before opening the door, however, he transfigured a tiny hole, through which he could decompress the newly made airlock, letting the air out. Explosive decompression was probably a bad idea at this time.

He waited a couple of seconds to test his protections and breathed a sigh of relief when everything seemed to be working as it should. Then he opened the hatch and became the first human to see the surface of the moon with his own eyes, unmarred by a fancy helmet with glass and other protections.

He smirked and walked forward, feeling the low gravity take hold as he left the ship's artificial gravity. He connected the magical tether by the door, which would not allow him to move too far from the ship, but allow him free movement otherwise, and then he walked down the steps that the hatch made. The passengers on the ship were watching and listening what he was doing through a camera disc connected to his tie. They'd be able to see him in front of the ship as well.

When he took his first step onto the lunar surface, he said, "Take that NASA!" It would be immortalised in writing and through the recording of the whole trip he was making. "I came to the moon myself!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist as he did so. Then he walked to the drop hatch and had it open for him. He levitated the 'precious cargo' out. It was in a crate, marked Marauders Inc. It also had a sign with an Arrow that said, 'This Side Up'. It was pointing down, though. Harry chuckled at that. It would drive Voldemort insane looking at that for all eternity.

Then he walked out in front of the ship and placed the box down. Then he incanted a spell to lift Voldemort's containment.

"You did it, then?" Tom Riddle said as he appeared, looking around at the surface of the moon. He looked resigned. "You made it to the moon and you intend to leave me here for all time?"

"That was the deal, wasn't it?" Harry asked. "You wanted to not be destroyed, and I couldn't leave you on the planet."

"You've proven your power over me. Couldn't I make a better servant?" he tried. "You could have me debase myself for your entertainment and it would still be better than this."

"I'm not a monster, you know." Harry said. "I intend to come to the moon again. When I do, I'll bring you some entertainment, as I promised. You won't be able to change what entertainment, but it will be something. Until then, consider this solitary confinement."

"So I'll be a prisoner, one way or another?" he asked. "Very well. It was the deal. You have proven a worthy adversary, Harry Potter. You have defeated me. I thank you in advance, for the entertainment you promised."

Harry nodded and then went back to the ship, to retrieve the ward stones. He placed them around the man and activated the Fidelius that was already placed on them. Then he added a warding scheme, to protect from impacts and some of the sun, so that the crate and its contents were never in any danger. "Only I will ever be able to find you. You should hope that I never die."

"I will not need to." Tom said. "The man who defeated me, the Greatest Dark Lord of all time, is surely not someone who will die easily."

Then Harry smirked and removed a wand from his pocket, placing it in top of the box. "The Elder Wand." he said. "Nobody will ever die by its curse again. Nobody will ever be able to claim the power of the Master of Death."

"You are a cruel boy." Tom said with some real hatred in his eyes for a moment. Then he smiled a sinister smile. "I would have done the same."

"I'm nothing like you, Tom Riddle. I'm doing this to protect the people of Earth from both you, and it." Harry denied. "You wanted power, to do as you pleased. To avenge yourself on a world that threw you aside and rejected you. I'll not have that problem. I may have once been treated like trash, but I never became a monster for it. You chose that yourself."

"We shall see." Tom said, before vanishing again.

Harry then turned and walked back to the ship, leaving the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle Jr, to contemplate his fate. When Harry returned to the ship, he climbed back up to the door, before closing the hatch, sealing the pinprick of a hole and opening the transfigured space. He was hit by a wall of air as it rushed into the void, and he stood there stunned for a moment. He really should have expected that.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, as Harry finished transfiguring the wall back into place.

"Yeah, the air just hit harder than I would have thought. For a moment there, I thought I had apparated." Harry confessed, before he switched off the feed to the display on the left wall, where he heard his voice echoing his words.

"That's not what I meant." Sirius said. "You really are nothing like him. Don't let what he said get to you." There were nods all around.

"He is right, of course." Dumbledore said. "You have a great heart, to offer him something to do during his imprisonment."

"Imprisonment implies possible release." Harry argued. "He's exiled from the planet. There's no going back for him."

"Even so." Dumbledore said. "He brought that fate on himself. I am proud of the boy you have become, Harry. Despite the mistakes of this old man, you have become much more than I could have hoped."

"Thank you, Headmaster." Harry said, then. "Are you all ready for the next part?" he asked.

"Next part?" Neville asked. He wasn't aware of a next part.

"You didn't think this was the only purpose for the mission did you?" Harry asked, as some of his good humour returned. "We have another landing to make."

They were soon moving again and communications were soon re-established. "Harry?" Remus asked. "How did it go?"

"First step completed." Harry said. "Riddle is now in his new permanent home."

"Excellent." Remus said. "Ready for the next part?" he asked with a smile.

"Already en-route." Harry said.

They were flying over the light side of the moon again and soon they reached the dark side again, but not on the opposite side of the moon. Rather, Harry took them to a point where there should always be a bit of sunlight near the South Pole, on a hilled outcropping. There Harry landed again, but he didn't intend to get out this time. He opened the hatch again and lifted out another box. This one was heavier and took a lot more power to move, but he soon had it placed. Then he lifted out four more ward-stones and placed them around the box, a good distance apart, before he activated them.

Then he had to focus on setting up another warding scheme. The vacuum of space was more difficult than on the surface of the moon, and the spell took almost as easily as it would have on Earth.

"And, I'm done." Harry announced as the last ward activated.

"Did it take?" Remus asked.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Harry said as he manoeuvred the ship outside of the Fidelius. "What do you see?" Harry asked Remus, who had seconds before been looking at the box, in the centre of the ward-scheme.

"It looks like the moon." Remus said in confusion. "What should I be looking at?"

"The Fidelius on the warded area." Harry allowed.

"Oh!" Remus said in realisation. Sirius also looked relieved, even though he couldn't see anything. "Great! Do the last part and come on home."

"Will do." Harry said. Then he flew them back into the Fidelius. When everyone could see the box, Harry sent a spell at it and the box cracked and broke as a construct grew from it.

"Is that a bloody house?!" Neville asked incredulously.

"Yup." Harry said. "It comes with a garage and everything." They watched as it kept expanding until a large two-storey house stood before them. Harry opened the garage door, with a bit of wandless magic and then flew the ship inside, in reverse, so they could watch the door shut.

"Harry? What are you doing?" Dumbledore asked, as he felt gravity change for a moment, going away and coming back almost instantly. They watched as the door opened again and sunlight met their eyes. "What-" Dumbledore started, but Harry was already flying them out again. They were back in Texas!

"Surprise!" Harry exclaimed. "Welcome home!"

"How did you-?" Dumbledore asked again, but he interrupted himself. "Let me guess: Family Magic?"

"Yup." Harry said again, smugly.

"Does this mean, you actually put a house on the moon?" Neville asked incredulously.

"Yup." Harry said again.

"And you can just go there, by going into your Garage and it will transport you between the two places?" Neville tried.

"Yup." Harry said a final time. Merlin, it was great to be him!

The Professors, Madam Pomfrey and Neville looked at him in shock as he landed in front of the house and unbuckled his safety belts, before he walked to the hatch and opened it. He saw three smiling faces, looking up at him. "Well done, Harry!" Remus said.

"Yes!" Daniels said. "Well done, sir! You're both the youngest person and the first wizard to step foot on the moon."

"In style, too." Sirius said with a smirk, from behind Harry.

"Get down here, so that I can hug you!" McGonagall demanded. She was more proud of him than she had ever been. He had achieved his goal, before he turned thirteen, even! At least, his body was.

Harry smiled and walked down, to be engulfed in a hug from his maternal figure. "Thank you, for always trying to support me." Harry said to her.

"Oh, I've not forgotten the wolf thing, but I'll let you have today and tomorrow, before we sit down and talk about that." McGonagall said. She turned, even as she continued hugging him, to look at Daniels. "No offense, of course."

"None taken, Professor." Daniels said. "If I had any doubts in the cub's capabilities, I'd be right there with you. I wouldn't want the life of a wolf for my own children, but if he can do as he thinks, I'd be happy to welcome him to the pack." He looked at Harry sternly, "But not before."

"Of course not." Harry said, as McGonagall finally let him go. "I know how much you suffered."

"Good." Daniels said, before his hand felt the blade at his side and he smiled. "I really want to try this out." he said as he took the weapon out.

Harry smirked and was about to conjure him something to destroy, when someone beat him to it.

Dumbledore had just exited the ship and his wand was out. He had conjured some sort of training dummy, made of straw. "It's old-fashioned, maybe, but it should do." he offered.

Daniels smirked and lit the lightsaber, before flicking over to the purple blade. Then he rushed forward and slashed three times through the dummy, from top to bottom. As he stood there with the blade still extended, the dummy fell to pieces, cleanly cut through. "Nice!" he said as he looked at the blade, before he flicked it off. "I didn't even feel the contact."

"You shouldn't." Harry said. "It's supposed to be able to cut without resistance, unless it meets another force weapon. Even the toys I make will be able to stop the blow, but yours is more deadly."

"Could I have another dummy?" Daniels asked, before he switched the blade back on, but with the red staff out only. Dumbledore complied and soon the Dummy was fixed, its pieces having flown back together again. Daniels didn't wait to attack the dummy. It was a broken wreck in two hits. "I can use this too, for non-lethal combat."

"He calls that, non-lethal?" Neville asked as he watched the straw pieces still coming to a rest after the vicious hits. "That would kill a normal person!"

"Nah, only break a few bones." Daniels smirked evilly. "I'll avoid the head, at least."

"If you start making work for me, I'll not be pleased." Madam Pomfrey said in a huff.

"No need, Healer Pomfrey." Daniels said respectfully. "We recently recruited a healing staff. We already had one wolf with the required knowledge, if not the qualification. Now we have seven trained and qualified healers on call."

"What do you need healers for?" Neville asked.

"Wolves play rough." Daniels said easily. "We get scratches and bruises all the time." Then he murmured, "Especially with the prisoners."

"What was that?" McGonagall asked, having heard.

"Interrogation sometimes leaves the wolves pent up." Daniels admitted. "We're not allowed to kill the prisoners, so we sometimes fight each other to relieve the stress."

"I thought you had all the Death Eaters, already?" Dumbledore asked, frowning.

"The Death Eaters aren't the only evil in the world. We don't just operate in the magical world, you know." Remus said. "And that's enough questioning. We'll not be telling you anyway. This is Marauders business." he added with a stern look at Dumbledore.

"Good." Flitwick said. "Let me know if you ever need a Charms Master to help you out." he volunteered. "The magical world refuses to help people in need, to protect the secret. As long as you can keep the secret, I'm not going to do a single thing to stop you."

"Filius!" Dumbledore exclaimed in shock. "They have no right to threaten exposing our world like this!"

"You're wrong." Flitwick stated irrevocably. "We've been given the power and we keep it to ourselves. Or we fight over it with Dark Lords. We can't even ask for help, when we need it, because the government doesn't trust us. And why would they? They are right to fear us. We do remove inconvenient knowledge from their minds. If we can do that, why can't we help, even as we do the same?"

"Don't worry about it." Remus smirked. "We've got that side covered as well."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore demanded.

"Shall we return home?" Harry asked the guests, interrupting the argument, as he turned to the side-room, which was the vanishing room. "I've been informed that there is a nice lunch being set up for us." Everyone, but Dumbledore, turned and started walking along with him. "Don't make me make you." Harry called back to the old man, even as Dumbledore started being dragged by a summoning charm.

Dumbledore stumbled, but started walking on his own after that. He knew he had no right. The vow bound his hands in this. He wasn't happy, but considering what he'd seen so far, at least they were taking steps to keep the secret and had very capable people running whatever operations they were performing.

"How long have you been able to cast the Fidelius?" Dumbledore asked, when they were in the vanishing room and the other door appeared. He'd realised it on the ship, but had decided to wait, before asking.

"The Fidelius was already set up on the ward stones. I just activated them." Harry said truthfully. He'd set them up on the ward stones, but that didn't need to be said.

"I know the Fidelius, Harry." Dumbledore said, lifting an eyebrow. "Only the caster could set the secret keeper. You would need to be the one that cast it originally, even if you cast them on the stones beforehand, to be able to set the secret keeper."

Harry sighed. "Fine. I've been able to cast it since Christmas break, first year." he admitted. "It was necessary to set up protections for the wolves. Plus, Sirius and Remus could set the Fidelius, as long as I cast it originally. They know how the spell works and I add them into the ward stones."

"And this is all possible, due to your special circumstance?" Dumbledore asked, knowing about him being brought back, but not necessarily about his extra power. He didn't know that the Fidelius could be set by someone else. That was news to him.

"Something like that." Harry said.

"What special circumstances?" Flitwick asked as Harry led them to where the old House Elf was setting up lunch for them. "Is this about Mister Black's abnormal power level and intellect?"

"It does." Harry said. "It's not something I'm telling many people about." he said apologetically.

"My theories currently include, absorbing the Dark Lord's power and experience, or some form of ritual magic that allowed you to boost your abilities, or constant and repetitious use and abuse of a time-turner." Flitwick said easily. "I was hoping you'd tell me one day, but I can live with my theories."

"If you really want to know and can promise to keep it to yourself, I'll be informing my study group of the specifics tomorrow, for lunch." Harry offered.

"I had to swear a vow!" Dumbledore objected.

"But Professor Flitwick didn't plan on using me as some sort of sacrifice to ensure Voldemort's death." Harry countered. "I trust his integrity. It's yours that was in question."

Flitwick stopped dead in his tracks at Harry's words, and when Harry turned back, he saw something he never thought he would. Flitwick looked like he wanted to kill Dumbledore. "You were planning what?!" he all but yelled as his face contorted into a rictus of rage. "A child, used for sacrifice!?"

"Now, hold on, Filius. Harry said that in the worst way possible. It wasn't as simple as that." Dumbledore said, taking a step back, as Filius advanced on him.

"Explain yourself, Albus." the part-goblin said as he summoned Harry's lightsaber from his pocket and activated it. "Now."

"He had a part of the Dark Lord's soul in him." Dumbledore said instantly, still backing away. "The only one that would be able to remove it would be Voldemort himself. I was never going to harm the boy. I couldn't. Only the Dark Lord would be able to kill him. The prophecy stated it clearly!"

"In his defence, the prophecy did sound like it stated that, but it could also have meant something else, depending on your definition of the words, 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives'." Harry said. "Personally, I'd sign a warrant with my hand and send an army. I'd do the same if I was Voldemort."

"So you chose to see it in the worst possible way and planned on allowing the boy to die?" Flitwick asked dangerously, but he had stopped advancing. "You are not the man I thought you were, Albus. I would quit my position, but now I fear what you'd do to the children if you weren't kept in check." Goblin culture valued their children as treasures. It would be unthinkable to even hurt a child for any sort of temporary gain. Even he was never mistreated as a child. At least, not by the adults.

"I was wrong." Albus said. "And fortunately my plans were stopped by the quick intervention of Mister Black and his family. I also didn't want this to happen, I swear to you. I was hoping that the lad would have a chance to grow up and live before the Dark Lord returned."

"Don't speak to me." Filius spat. "You're a monster for even considering it." He switched the blade off and handed it back to Harry, before he left the house through the front door and slamming it shut as he left.

"Oh, I wish I could be there when he told the other Heads of House." Sirius said from where he was leaning against the wall.

Dumbledore seemed to lose some colour, before he rushed out of the house as well, to try and do some damage control. McGonagall soon followed, her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn't like having to defend the old man, but she had learned that while his intentions were pure, his method was not sound.

Harry looked over to Hooch, who just watched the door in thought. "Aren't you going to go with them?" Harry asked.

"Why?" she asked. "He deserves a sound thrashing. And I don't intend to return to school next year. I've been offered a more promising career at Marauders Inc."

"What?" Harry asked, turning to Sirius.

"The demand for your brooms have skyrocketed after the last school year." Sirius said. "We need someone to show the goods around, after you teach her your production method over the holiday."

"But I had plans!" Harry objected. "I have a project that I want to work on!"

"Then teach me quickly." Hooch suggested. "Or get Professor Babbling to help. She can probably learn the runes, while you add your magics and protections after the fact."

"But the brooms take so much power." Harry whined. He really should have found a way to power the brooms in a different way.

"The first line of brooms will not need so much power, if you'll recall." Hooch said easily. "I'm thinking a quarter of the power and speed, and without the wind-shielding wards, since playing Quiddich at speeds as great as your current brooms allow, would be asking for fatalities."

Harry thought of that. If they only needed that much power, and he could skip the rune carving side of things and the ward… "Okay, that sounds more doable." he finally decided. He turned back to Sirius. "Good call. It'll shore up support for our company from most broom and Quiddich enthusiasts. I also have a couple of ideas for design that I wanted to try out, that I never got a chance to, but you're in charge of getting us the supplies. We can't keep buying bats for these. People will get suspicious."

"And you, Poppy?" Remus asked of the Healer. "Aren't you going to go to Hogwarts to heal the Headmaster, after the Heads of House are done with him?"

"He can wait." Madam Pomfrey said. "I suddenly have an appetite and feel the need to chew slowly." she said as she entered the dining room, where a veritable feast was waiting. Soon, the rest followed her, with smiles on their faces. Never piss off your primary healthcare provider.

The lunch was started with a toast to the success of the mission. Sparkling wine for the adults and sparkling grape juice for Harry and Neville.

"How does it feel to be a hero Neville?" Harry asked.

"Hero?" Neville asked.

"All astronauts are called heroes." Harry said.

"What's an astranut?" Neville asked. Harry had said the word before, but he seemed to have forgotten.

"As-tro-naut." Harry enunciated. "It means that you travelled into space. That's a title you gained just for joining us. Neville Longbottom, doon-to-be third-year student at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, future Lord Longbottom, Astronaut." he said miming reading a sign in the air. For effect, he made an illusion of the word appear there in flashy lettering.

"No offense, Harry, but that would probably only work in muggle or muggle-raised company." Remus pointed out.

"Not unless we start showing more films about space." Harry said. "We can always start showing some Star Trek movies." he said with a shrug. "Maybe some of the original moon-landing videos followed by the one I'm making about today?"

"You're making a movie?" Neville asked.

"No, it's called a documentary when it shows real-life events." Harry corrected. "I'm trying to educate the magical world of the advancements of the Muggle world. They need to know what they are shunning for no good reason."

"And I'm going to be in this documentary?" Neville asked, looking down at his clothes. "I didn't even dress nicely."

"You're dressed fine." Harry scoffed. "Like a proper pureblood boy. It's also best for posterity to have things happen naturally."

"But you're in a fancy muggle suit!" Neville objected.

"This is a space-suit." Harry argued, with a bit of a smile. "I needed it for the mission."

"That's still not fair." Neville argued.

"I didn't choose this suit myself Neville." Harry said. "Blame my godfather for that one."

"I will, when my children one day asks me why I didn't dress up like you did." Neville said.

"Already planning on kids, are you?" Harry asked, smirking at him. "Have you and Hannah already decided on how many? Were you planning on starting this family straight out of Hogwarts, or were you planning on starting later?"

Neville blushed and stammered to good-humoured laughter and a couple of slaps on the back.

"Don't let them mock you, Neville." Madam Pomfrey said. "I think it's great that you already know what you want in the future."

"Harry has his eyes on seven girls already." Neville muttered.

"Seven?" Sirius asked, excitedly. "Who joined the Harem?" he asked.

"At this point it's five." Harry said. "Hermione doesn't seem like she'd like that kind of arrangement. Luna is also undecided."

"Oh, right!" Sirius said. "Luna Lovegood. She's a strange one, but I bet she's all kinds of fun."

"She is both strange and fun." Harry admitted. "She's also very insightful and sometimes scares the living daylights out of me. She was sleepwalking the other night, talking to someone that wasn't there. There was this moment, afterward, where she talked to me in the common room and then left to go to bed, suddenly continuing her conversation. She was still asleep!"

Sirius shuddered. "That sounds spooky." he said.

"I know!" Harry said. "Strangest thing is, she took the time to talk to me and the conversation gave me an idea about my current project."

"Oh? What is this project?" Hooch asked.

"It's got nothing to do with flying." Harry said.

"I'm not that obsessed with flight, Mister Black." Hooch responded.

"It's a secret anyway." Harry said. "I'll let everyone know when, or if, it works."

"As long as this one isn't dangerous, please?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Nothing like the spacecraft or supersonic flying brooms, no. This one will be quite tame, but very useful." Harry said. "If it works." he qualified.

The rest of lunch was spent in that vein, discussing vacation plans and making them. By the time the last guest left, Harry was in his bedroom, working on his project. He already knew most of the parts he would need. The most difficult part would be the central control unit. For that, he intended to steal from muggles again. In fact, he intended to steal directly from them. His control unit was a phonebook. All those unique names and numbers would serve his purposes nicely.

He had asked around and heard of the latest trend in cell phone design. It was small, could fit in the palm of your hand, and placed in a pocket without bulging like the older models. Harry recalled his uncle having a smaller one at some point, too, which could send short messages. He intended to incorporate both those features, but with a magical twist.

By that evening he had succeeded in only incorporating one of the features he wanted to, into the two test devices, so he packed them away and went to bed.

The next morning he woke up nervous. That day would be a big one. Telling the girls that he was basically double their age could backfire badly. He cleaned his room, twice, and made sure that the room, which he had before turned into their Zero-G room, was setup as a mini-theatre, with comfortable seats, and asked Kreacher to prepare snacks for the presentation.

Then he started working on the storage crystal, playing parts and recording certain snippets to another diamond, to keep the original unedited. He was just finished with it, when he realised it was ten minutes before his guests were due. He went downstairs and greeted the guests that arrived with McGonagall. Then he quickly checked himself over again and started pacing by the front door.

"Don't worry, Harry." McGonagall said. "They are your friends. They only know you for the person you really are. It's not like you've changed overnight.

She was waiting with the other Heads of House, who Harry had decided to invite as well. He didn't necessarily want them all in on the secret, but McGonagall had vouched for them. Considering Flitwick was already invited, he had no problem with Sprout knowing too. Snape was a little more difficult, but considering how he had treated him lately, he would give the man the benefit of the doubt.

McGonagall had told him of their reaction to Dumbledore's original plan as well, and he was quite thankful for their anger in his defence. "Of course, Aunty Min. I just can't help it. I'm afraid to confine the emotions using occlumency, because being too calm might work against me in this situation."

"Feel them then." Snape said. "But don't let them control you. Take a moment and breathe. Normal people can do that much, without occlumency. They will still see your emotions, if they really are your friends."

Harry stopped pacing and looked at the man. It was good advice. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before letting it out with a shudder, allowing himself to accept the emotions, without becoming a slave to them. He felt better. "Thanks Professor Snape. That helped."

"Don't mention it… ever." Snape said. "I just don't want you breaking down before the other guests arrive. Then you can feel free to break down in sobs all you like."

Harry chuckled. Typical Snape. "You know, you're not as bad as they write in the papers." he joked. It looked like Snape though he was being literal, though, so he added. "It's just a figure of speech. Don't get all scowl-y on us."

That made him scowl a bit more, but Harry ignored it, as he felt someone approach their outer wards. "Someone is here." Harry said. Then he walked to the door and went out, to lead the guests inside. They usually told people to meet them in front of the house next-door, to lead them in from there, to protect the Fidelius from being too widely known.

AN: I know some of you feel I'm being to liberal with who gets to know about coming back from the future. Here's the thing: I always think that authors could avoid a whole lot of running in circles and needing to lie to friends and then angsting about it, by simply telling people. Everytime I read one of those, I ask myself; Why not only tell people you can trust? You're the author! You know who he can trust!

This is my attempt at trying to avoid that. Binding people to oaths, a possibility in the magical world, is just a bonus, which can be used on stupid/selfish/irritating/untrustworthy people.