Harry was only half listening to the instructions from the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
How many of them had they had now?
One more incompetent than the next, and some even downright evil, with the exception of Moony of course, Professor Lupin that is.
If truth be told, he himself hadn’t been all that bad either, he thought, as he fondly remembered those months of training his fellow classmates in practical defensive spells.
This clown however, was on par with that fraudulent git, Lockhart. Harry couldn’t even be bothered to remember the guy’s name.
‘… against Mr Potter.’
Harry looked up startled at the mention of his name.
From the sneer on Malfoy’s face they clearly were drawn against each other.
He looked questioningly at Hermione.
With a look of exasperation she mouthed what looked like ‘Duel…Malfoy… New Spell’
Harry was only vaguely aware that a new spell had been discussed earlier, but squared up to Malfoy regardless.
‘Wands Out, boys,’ the DADA teacher said.
On the count of three both young men flicked their wands. As their spells met a vortex began to form.
The last things Harry heard before he was pulled into the rapidly forming vortex were Hermione’s scream of ‘No, not that one!’ and the professor’s comment of ‘That is a prime example of what happens when you do not pay attention in class.’
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When the vortex closed behind them, they were no longer in the classroom.
‘Good one, Potter,’ Malfoy remarked.
‘It looks like we both decided to test the theory of that useless professor.’
‘What theory was that? I wasn’t exactly listening, I’m afraid,’ Harry said, as he looked around him.
They seemed to be in a large empty hall, but not like anything he had ever seen in Hogwarts. It was more industrial looking and kind of reminded him of some of the computer games Dudley used to play.
Malfoy laughed, which was an unusual sound, coming from the Slytherin.
‘Apparently there is one spell that should never be used in duelling, as it could have unexpected consequences. It seems we both decided to use that exact spell just now.’
‘Why in Merlin’s name teach us a spell we shouldn’t be using!’ Harry shouted exasperated.
‘I drifted off after he mentioned that there was a spell called Viatoris Fortissimo.’
‘So what do you think happened and where do you think we are?’ Draco asked.
‘Well, we are definitely not in Kansas anymore, young Dorothy,’ Harry said.
‘Just trying to lighten the mood,’ Harry said quickly in response to the angry look on Malfoy’s face.
‘It’s a reference to a movie I used to watch with, Mrs Figg, the woman who minded me when I was a kid.
I wasn’t implying anything.
In the movie Dorothy gets transported to a different world during a very bad storm. It seemed fitting.’
Before Harry could go into further details of the movie, the walls of the room slid open and in walked a woman with long blond hair and unusual markings on her face. Her form fitting clothing were unlike anything you would see in the Wixen or even Muggle world, but again Harry was vaguely reminded of the avatars in his cousin’s computer games.
‘Who are you?’ Malfoy demanded of the woman. His habitual sneer back in place.
‘Seven,’ the woman replied.
‘I asked for your name, not the time,’ Draco said, looking the woman up and down.
‘Seven of Nine… Borg… Ring any bells? Resistance is futile,’ the woman said.
Harry and Draco exchanged a quick glance and simultaneously cast ‘Petrificus Totalus’.
The woman fell down like a plank.
‘Clearly resistance isn’t as futile as she thought,’ Draco remarked.
‘Good to see we are on the same wavelength, when it comes to casting spells, Potter.’
‘I’m just glad you didn’t cast one of the unforgivable ones,’ Harry remarked.
‘That is hurtful, Potter. I may be a Malfoy, but I am nothing like my faaaaaather.’
Before Harry could say anything else, the wall slid open again.
This time a group of people ran in with weapons drawn. At least their demeanour conveyed that whatever they were pointing at the boys weren’t toys.
They were all dressed in tight fitting body suits like the blonde woman on the floor. It clearly was some sort of uniform.
‘Who are you and what are you doing here and what on earth have you done with my Security Officer,’ demanded a woman. She clearly was the one in charge, though she wasn’t the most menacing looking one.
‘My name is Harry Potter and this is Draco Malfoy,’ Harry said, pointing to his companion. ‘We are students of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and accidentally ended up here after our teacher presented us with a flawed lesson plan. It happens a lot in that school, I’m afraid.’
‘As for your Security Officer,’ Draco added, ‘she said that resistance was futile and we demonstrated that it was not. She’s perfectly fine by the way.’
With a quick ‘Finite Incantatem’ Draco released the woman from the magic spell.
She immediately drew her own weapon and pointed it at Draco.
‘A simple Thank you would be nice,’ Draco muttered under his breath and Harry felt the urge to giggle.
‘Listen,’ he said placatingly, ‘we clearly got our wires crossed. We mean you no harm. Could you tell us where we are and how we could get back to Hogwarts?’
‘My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway. You are on the spaceship ‘Voyager’ and all we know is that our sensors showed that a wormhole had appeared in the cargo hold. Seven went down to check it out and when she didn’t come back, we came down to investigate. As to how to get you back to this school of yours, I would have no idea.’
There were so many thoughts rushing to the foreground of Harry’s brain.
So Seven was a name? Spaceship? Wormhole?
But before he could actually form a coherent question, Draco started to laugh for the second time that day.
Harry was surprised to find that he liked the sound.
‘So we are in outer space? Next thing you tell us we also traveled in time. Is this some sort of joke?’ the Slytherin said.
‘The year is 2375, so you tell me,’ Captain Janeway answered.
At this reply Draco fainted.
The captain sighed and tapped the badge on her uniform. ‘We need you, Doctor’ was all she said.
Harry’s shock at seeing his classmate faint was nothing like the shock of seeing another person materialising out of thin air.
‘Please state the nature of the medical emergency’, the person said.
Captain Janeway just pointed at the boy on the floor and turned to Harry.
‘This is our Emergency Medical Hologram, EMH for short, and by your companion’s reaction I take it you have traveled both in space and time?’
Harry gulped.
‘Yes, ma’am’ was all he could come up with.
‘I prefer Captain actually. Anyway, let’s get your friend settled in sickbay. Maybe best for both of you to get checked out anyway in case you are carrying any germs that could be harmful to our crew.’
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It didn’t take the Emergency hologram long to check out the two boys and declare them both fit and in Draco’s case conscious.
Seven was also given a clean bill of health. Luckily she was quite philosophical about what they had done to her and accepted that their instinctive reaction had been a logical response to her challenge under the circumstances.
‘Low blood sugar,’ Malfoy said, when he came to, by way of explanation why he had fainted.
The EMH was about to contradict this statement, but Captain Janeway kindly interrupted him.
‘How about a tour of the ship, while we figure out what to do with you two,’ she said.
This wasn’t the first time this ship had taken on stranded passengers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harry and Draco couldn’t believe their eyes. Magic was cool, but advanced technology was like magic on steroids.
The view of outer space from the command deck, or The Bridge as the Captain called it, was breathtaking.
Having been deemed no risk to the crew, the boys were given some time to explore the ship on their own and to have a rest before meeting up later.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When they sat down some time later with the Captain and Seven to discuss what to do with them, Captain Janeway asked whether the boys had given their predicament some further consideration.
Harry and Draco had done a lot more than that, and Harry felt his cheeks reddening at the thought and avoided looking at Draco, who also seemed less pale than usual.
'Yes, we have actually discussed the events that led us here and we feel that it might be worth a try to recreate the circumstances of our classroom duel in hopes that it will bring us back to where we started,' Harry managed to reply eventually.
Seven acknowledged the logic of this approach, but pointed out that even the slightest variation could have them end up somewhere entirely different.
Harry and Draco shrugged. What choice did they have?
In the cargo bay they thanked the Captain and Seven and squared up to each other once more.
‘Wands Out, boys,’ Captain Janeway said, having previously been instructed to do so to create as accurate a reconstruction as possible.
Harry and Draco didn't need telling twice.
‘Viatoris Fortissimo’ they both shouted at the count of three and like before a vortex started to form.
When next they opened their eyes, they were back in their DADA classroom, which was empty apart for one familiar face.
‘Welcome back, boys,’ Professor Dumbledore greeted them with that trademark twinkle in his eyes.
‘I knew you would find a way to return here, even if you took your sweet time.’
Harry and Draco looked at each other and with a quick nod of understanding they simultaneously cast ‘Petrificus Totalus’.
‘He deserved that,’ Draco said, ‘That man can be so insufferable.’
They both laughed.
Relieved to be back in their own time and space they embraced each other.
‘What happened in space, stays in space,’ Draco whispered in Harry’s ear before giving his earlobe a quick teasing bite.