Chapter 2

As they climbed the stairs up to the big hall, Geralt told the others what happened before they returned. The fight with those wraiths, that they stood back up and what they got informed on from Dumbledore.

"So, you're telling me that he defeated a dark magic lord who terrorized the rest of this Great Britain? And he did not even break a sweat. How weak are those mages?" Lambert walked beside Geralt, looking surprised.

"Well, I would say we got lucky, if the power of the other two are any measurement. After all, we could not hold these creatures back, what this Professor Dumbledore could do. But the difference is, as far as I know, the kind of magic they are using. It is direct, not like the kind what Yen or Triss uses. Their kind of magic is more area based. But I am not an expert, we better ask Yen. She will have more information."

As they got into the great hall, they saw that Yen already got a little bed set up for Harry. Yen also was reading another letter from an owl. She was deep into thought, so she did not hear them coming in. As she finished the letter, she looked up to the owl. "Now, how would I respond to that? Do I have to write it on this parchment?" The owl hooted lowly, pointed with one wing to a pencil, as to say "That will do to write" "Pretty smart owl you are. Please wait a minute."

"Yen, what is this letter about?" Geralt stands beside Yen, trying to read the letter too.

"Oh, Geralt. Well, Dumbledore told me that he would like to come here first, instead of me going to Hogwarts. Maybe he wants to keep it a secret for a while longer. Also, he wants to bring someone too, so I must answer that we can't give them any shelter. With John and the others, the usable rooms are all full. But at least we can listen to them. Heard anything from Ciri or Triss?"

"They were not in the Armory, so I think John found them up in the Tower. Maybe they even found the place John is from. Would be a shame if he left us, to be honest. He can fight." Geralt watched the stairs up to the Tower. There was no sound, so they were still up there.

Later that day, John and the others came down from the Tower. Geralt and Yen were surprised because of the old woman in their midst, as well that John had removed his helmet and they could see his face for the first time. While Yen tried to catch her breath, the old woman was looking around in great interest. Her intelligent face was looking in every corner. As she was looking to the others, she smiled.

"Oh John, you made some friends and allies. They seem to be nice. What did you tell them?"

Doctor Halsey was curious as always. John was smiling. He never would say it out loud, but he missed her. Now if only she found a way to get Cortana out of her 7-year life cycle. He always knew that her rampancy would get her one day, but he hoped they will find a cure for that. He was dependent of her, ever since the first time they fought together on Halo Installation 04. He could not imagine a fight without his AI companion. And if he is going to teach the students on this school like Dumbledore suggested, he will need her help. He was still not social, even if the woman in this universe and even Cortana tried their best.

"Nothing classified ma'am," he answered strictly, as he was trained that way. Never say too much, so you will not babble out some important information.

"I think you can tell them John. As long we are here, you stand under my order. I am pretty sure we get the gateway going in no time. I already have some ideas if that beacon does not work." Doctor Halsey began to mumble in thought, not realizing that Geralt and the others just watched in wonder.

"Excuse me, milady, but who are you? I just assume because of your clothes that you are from John's world?" Geralt asked, just wanting to be sure.

Halsey looked up, surprised she did not tell them already. Her bad habit of thinking too much too fast was showing again. "Oh, please forgive me that little oversight of my part. My name is Doctor Catherine Halsey, one of the top scientists of the UNSC, the military from the UEG. I was the one who made John to the man he is today. As of how the Spartan program fulfilled that special feat, I must tell you that even I need permission from my superiors to tell you more. I can tell you this though: The Spartan program was first designed to fight our own kind, we called them the Insurrection. They were a collection of inhabitants from far away planets, who wanted to be independent. In the time since we got into the war with the Covenant, the UEG now thinks that we should have let them be. The civil war we had was not helpful against the Covenant. But know this: without me and my Spartans, humanity in my universe would be already extinct. We were on terms of numbers and technology surpassed by the Covenant, but because we got the Spartans, we got enough time to get a counter in and in the end, we survived. Everything else is, like I said, classified. So, now you know who I am and what I did. And John already told me who you are. Now if I am correct, in that crib is that baby called Harry Potter?" Halsey was now walking to the little bed. As she looked inside, she saw an awakened Harry looking at her in wonder. His bright green eyes were meeting her blue eyes. She smiled and reached inside the crib. Harry was still in wonder, but after a while he was smiling and babbling. "Oh, what a nice reaction." She was now looking at Yen, still with Harry in her arms. "I hope I don't intrude in your territory. I am not really the mother type."

Yen was smiling too. She was walking over to Halsey and took Harry back, while he was still giggling and putting his thumb into his mouth. As she was now carrying Harry, she was walking to the rest of the group, so everyone could say hello. "No, you are not. It would be a good thing if he is not fixated on one person, because we are not his real parents. But we will look for him as if he was."

"Then it will be better if I get some of my equipment here too. With that, I can help to keep him healthy. I could do a verty through scan of him, down the the genetic level it would check for genetic diseases and birth defects."

As she said that, John jerked up. Did he hear that like he was supposed to do? Cortana took his thought and voiced it to Halsey via the speakers in his helmet, she could not take this without getting confirmation on her suspicion. "Are you saying if he is compatible like John, you would make him a Spartan too? Even if they are no longer needed?" Cortana sounded angry.

Halsey thought about it, but just shrugged. "I heard rumors about a Spartan IV program, all voluntary. If Harry wants to become one, we can't force him not too. But that is in the future. Even then, we would have to get even more equipment here than I was thinking about. And Cortana, please keep your anger in check, I am not close enough in curing de AI Rampancy to get you back in fighting shape if it comes to this. And I would be sad to ask John to keep you looked up until I find a way."

"Oh, so you were thinking about it. Good to know. Just curios, how far are you in curing Rampancy?" Cortana was intrigued.

After all, she was created by scanning a living brain from a flash clone of the same woman who stands before them.

"I have an idea, but I want to test it before using it on you. Because if it fails, you would be too smart to be put down afterwards. And that is a risk I don't want to take."

While Halsey and Cortana discussed the way how this procedure could fail, with John was a silent bystander (someone had to hold the Helmet, Cortana told him), Ciri and Triss were playing with Harry. They soon found Harry has easily won their hearts, and Ciri saw herself as his big sister already.

"Can you imagine him older? I am sure he will be a heartbreaker." Ciri laughed, lifting Harry in the air. "I am not sure about that; it depends how his father looked after all and how he will act. I mean, if he acts like the last stupid asshole, he won't break any hearts, because Yen would put him in the Tower until he knows his manners"

"Let's just hope Lambert does not become his Idol." Triss whispered, hoping Lampert and Geralt would not hear them.

They were all enjoying their time together, not thinking what happened on that evening. As they were talking, another owl was swooping down on Yen, catching her by surprise. How could an owl be so fast? It was not even 3 hours since she sent her answer to Dumbledore. But that would mean he is closer than they knew. She opened the letter and read it out loud.

Dear Miss Yen

Thank you for your quick reply. It was surprising that my owl was finding you this quickly, I think I got a fast one. Please, if you can give her something to eat for her trouble, that would be lovely.

To the matter at hand, do not worry, we won't be staying long. The people I want to take with me to Kaer Mohen are Professor McGonagall, you already met, and the Chief of the Goblin nation, Ragnok. He needs to be with us, so we have a witness on how we will proceed with the inheritance of Harry James Potter, as the Goblins are the guards over our gold. And Minerva wants to come along to see how Harry will be living for the foreseeable future.

If you wish, you can keep that owl, so we can stay in contact. I will also bring some books for you to read, so you know how our society works.

Please let me know when we should visit your castle.

Kind regards.

Albus Dumbledore.

Yen was looking up to the owl, who was already perched on a beam over a window. It seemed she liked it there. "Hey, owl. What do you eat? And how should we call you?"

The Owl turned her brown head over to Yen in puzzlement. Never was she asked on what to call her. Normally, the humans gave them names. But if she asked, then she could tell her. But how? She was looking around the hall, searching something she could use to form the letters in the human alphabet.

But Triss surprised the owl by saying: "You can just hoot like you normally do. If you are slow enough, I could make it out what you are trying to tell us."

So, the owl began to hoot slowly like the redheaded woman wanted. She was even more surprised as Triss began to translate her hooting into words. So, she hooted a laugh and "spoke" again.

"So, she likes Beacon or mice, but those she can hunt for herself. Also, her name is Sarina, so if we could call her by that name, she would be glad. And she finds it funny that some of us can talk 'Owlish', because that is almost as rare as those who can speak with snakes or other reptiles." Triss translated. "She also understands us and knows, that Dumbledore wants her to stay here and be the messenger. Now she would like to go back to work and bring him an answer. But only if she had her beacon first." At that, all in the hall laughed, Geralt already going to the kitchen to cut a bit of bacon for their new pet. After she had eaten, Sarina flew off with the answer for Dumbledore, telling him he could come on the next day.

As they themselves were eating dinner, they discussed how to raise a baby in the castle. That they knew it won't be easy. In winter it would be almost too cold, so they would need good clothes for him. At that point, Halsey interjected. If they can make a stable connection between their universes, she could get hold of some heating units, so the castle would not be this frigid. At that, Yen let out a breath and just said, that this would be good, so then it would not be so crowded in the places where is a fireplace. So, they talked about this and that and the time just flew by. As it darkens outside, Harry was sleepy in his little bed.

Ciri was looking over to him and then asked a question that had all talk stop. "What do we have here when Harry gets hungry? As far I know, we don't have any milk in the kitchen, right? He does not seem old enough to eat normal food." Yen began to think, but Cortana came on an idea first.

"How about you use your powers and go into a store to get baby food? You have money, right?" her voice came out of the Speakers from John's helmet.

"That can work. But what if, because he is a magical child, he needs special food? Doctor Halsey, you said you could check his genes, right? Could you tell if he has some allergies or something like that?"

"Yes, that is correct. But for that I need my equipment from my lab, so if you could get it first. Maybe I get an answer sooner so we could bring in even more. Like weapons."

"Ah yes, that is something we need to think about. With a child around, we should keep the weapons away until we have taught him how to handle them and the dangers of when you do it wrong. And I think John will be pretty good at it. Where is he by the way? He just left his helmet here and went somewhere?" Ciri stood up to search for John.

"According to the sensors in the helmet, he is in the bathroom. I think now he knows that it is secure here, he wants to get his hair back into regulation order. He let it a bit too long."

With that said, Having eaten enough Triss stood up to make her way to the bathroom. "I'm going to look if he needs help. I can't imagine how it will look if he just cuts his hair as he sees it. Shaving is one thing, but for his hair he will need someone." So, she walked to the bathroom on the side of the great hall, the only one in he ever used, because it was the closest to his quarters.

Since he landed in front of the gates of Kear Mohen, he always slept near the great hall, right in the corner next to the entrance. Or at least there Triss saw him always each night when she was walking around the castle. For her, he was so mysterious that she just wanted to know how he ticked. The only problem was that he did not talk much. So now she hopped that with the arrival of Doctor Halsey, that he would open up a little.

As she was coming around the corner to the bathroom, she saw that the door was closed. So, John had to be inside. She knocked on the door and waited for his confirmation to step into the bathroom.

John opened the door, his beard half shaven. "Can I help you?" he asked a stunned Triss. He had for convenience put his hair in a high ponytail, so it would not disturb his shaving. He looked at her in puzzlement.

"Ah, no, I thought I could help you cut your hair. But it seems you solution is nice too. You look good. Even better as soon you shaving is finished" she giggled. John had a tiniest smile, not even noticeable. He knew that she had a thing for him, his training gave him the ability to read the body language of people accurate. He needed to, because his brothers and sisters in the Spartan program were mostly in their armor during the Covenant war. They rarely got out of it to do something fun. There was always another fight. Now he was here, letting his guard down a bit because he was not in danger anymore.

"Thank you, I would appreciate that. I like my hair short. This ponytail is just because it would be hard to cut my own hair. So, should I sit down after the shave? It will only take like 5 minutes."

"That would be good, I go get some scissors. Just wait here, ok?" Triss smiled. She could still remember that he did not want anyone to get close. So, he was more open now. And maybe she could ask him some things while she was cutting his hair.

While that was happening, Doctor Halsey finally got something on her communicator.

"So, our ships can come here? If that's the case, could you bring a lab and a MJOLNIR assembly/removal system? I think John would like if I upgraded his suite. Can you do that?"

"Yes, but no big ship can come to your location. Even in Slipspace there is only a tiny window we can use. The biggest ship we could send, until we secured the path, is a Charon class frigate. We already sent the UNSC In Amber Clad II on his way. It will have everything you wanted; you know how we already anticipated what the requirement will be. The Sangheili also send a light cruiser. They will have small landing craft to meet on you location. I assume you told Spartan 117 that he should not attack them?"

"Yes, I told him that they are now our allies. When is the arrival?"

"They should arrive in around 2 to 3 days. Oh, before I forget, the Arbiter is on the cruiser. He wants to thank Spartan 117 for his help against the Prophets."

"I will tell him that. We will wait on my position. And please tell the Captain and Shipmaster, they must come in stealth. As far I know this world has a spacefaring capabilities and will most likely be scared if they detect another spacecraft in the area around the planet."

"Understood. Over and out"

Doctor Halsey put her communicator back into her pocket. Now she would only have to wait.

John came later back into the great hall, freshly shaven and with cut hair. Triss behind him was smiling, she got a good conversation with him. The trick seemed to be to not ask question he cannot answer. That's how she found out that he likes to read, if he can. So, she promised him to get him some books about this world and his many historical events. It seemed he wanted to know what happened on this world.

"Did I miss something?" John asked, grabbing his helmet and putt it back on his head.

"You could say that, John." Halsey turned to him, smiling.