Chapter 1
Captain Picard sat on the Bridge of the NCC 1701-D. Suddenly, a bright light pulsed on the bridge. Everyone looked over and saw it coalescing into a figure of a man.
Even as Worf moved to stand in front of the captain Picard stood and yelled out, "Data! What is that?"
Before Data could answer, a man emerged from the light and the light disappeared. Worf was tense. The man looked around and said, "Hello?"
The Captain gave a look to Worf, who moved back to his station – although he kept an eye on the man who appeared.
Picard nodded at the newly appeared man. "Hello. I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, USS Enterprise. Whom am I addressing?"
Harry was surprised. "Woah. That's about the most diplomatic greeting I've received in several thousand hops. Hello, Captain Picard. I am Harry Potter, Dimensional Traveler."
Data, who was observing this, said quietly, "Fascinating."
Picard asked, "Dimensional traveler?"
Harry nodded. "Through an incident which occurred a long time ago, I have become somewhat of a multi-universal troubleshooter." He looked around. "By the looks of your ship and crew, this is the first time I have ever appeared in this cluster of Universes."
Picard looked interested. "That sounds remarkable. Where are you from?"
Harry grinned. "Great Britain, early 21st century. Although I've been to many worlds and many times other than that. I don't rightly think I am from anywhere anymore. Or maybe it's better to say I'm from the multiverse."
He looked to his Ship's Counseler inquiringly. She looked at Harry quizzically and gave a small shrug. Harry looked at her and said, "You're a telepath?"
Deanna shook her head. "Empath. I'm Deanna Troi, Ship's Counseller. Although my mother's people are telepathic, my father was human. My gift is empathy, but I can't get a reading from you."
Harry nodded. "Probably disconcerting: I have my occlumency shields up." He stood for a moment and then said, "How about now?"
She nodded and then turned to Picard. "He feels sincere, and very curious."
Picard smiled, "Would you like to perhaps talk in a conference room?"
Before Harry could answer, Data sounded out, "Captain. Subspace anomaly forming 200,000 kilometers off our port bow."
Picard turned. "Onscreen!"
He turned to his Tactical Officer. Worf said, "Something's happening." He looked at the captain. "A new change in sensor readings."
Picard turned back to the screen, trying to see what was occurring. He calmly called out, "Mr. Data?"
Data said, "Scanning sensors."
Harry watched the screen as well. Suddenly in the middle of a blurry spot, a ship appeared. Suddenly, the world around him changed. The bridge took on a much more utilitarian look. The personnel changed and there were more of them. Picard turned and said, "Lieutenant. Is that an enemy vessel?"
Harry was struck by sense of wrongness. Instead of the alien man, Worf, there was an attractive blond behind the large desk. She replied, "I'm getting too much interference, Captain."
The captain turned to Harry. "Maybe this is the trouble which brought you here?"
The woman called out, "It's clearing! Definitely a Federation Ship. Accessing Registry." She looked at her scanners.
Riker volunteered. "It looks like they had a rough ride."
The woman's voice had a note of surprise as she said. "NCC. 1701. C." She looked at the screen. "USS Enterprise."
Picard looked at the woman and then turned to Harry.
Suddenly a voice came from a woman who just entered the Bridge. "Captain, I need to speak to you now."
Irritated the Captain replied, "I'm kind of busy at the moment, Guinan."
The woman's voice was insistent. "This can't wait."
Before Picard could reply Harry said, "I'd listen if I were you."
Harry and Picard met with Guinan in the War Room, which was the planning hub for the BattleCruiser Enterprise.
Harry got a sense of great age and something very close to magic from the woman. He could sense she wasn't entirely human.
Guinan explained that the universe was wrong but could not explain further. When Picard said, "You must have some idea of how things have changed."
She replied, "I look at things, I look at people; they just don't feel right."
Before Guinan and Picard could take it further Harry volunteered, "I actually saw the Universe change. Before that anomaly and the appearance of that other ship, the Enterprise was a different ship with different people."
Picard was irritated. "What do you mean?"
Harry considered it. "Maybe I could show you."
Picard was taken aback. "You have a way to show a memory?"
Harry said, "If you can get your hands on a stone bowl, I can put a memory in which will allow you to view its contents. I used to need one specially made, but I learned how to do it with any bowl made from basalt or granite."
Picard said, "Have you ever heard of a replicator?"
The room now contained several people. The Captain, Guinan, Tasha, Harry, Data, and the First Officer from the Enterprise C were all in the room. Because Data wasn't actually alive, he could not enter the temporary Pensieve, so he was there to keep an eye on the room while the group viewed the memory.
Harry took his wand and cast a number of enchantments on the bowl. Guinan said, "I don't think I've seen a human magic user before."
Harry grinned. "Not in this universe. Every universe is different."
The others in the room, except for Data, were surprised by this. Data just calmly observed.
Picard asked, "Magic?"
Harry turned to the Captain. "Yes. In my universe, there are magical people and magical creatures. I grew up on Earth, Great Britain, late 20th Century to the early 21st during a magical war. Due to a botched magical ritual I tried, I have become detached from a particular time and particular timeline.
"I was born Harry James Potter, Wizard. I have also have been called Maarek Ilumian, Fury of the Light, Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Triumphed, Master of Death, The Chosen One, and the Lone Traveler. If we had time, I'd tell you more. But it seems to be in short supply now."
Harry then extracted his memory and placed it in the bowl. He turned and said, "This is a memory. Just one finger and your mind will observe the memory I have placed within the bowl."
After everyone had viewed the memory and come back out Picard asked Data, "How long were we in there?"
Data replied, "20.43 seconds."
Picard sat heavily in one of the chairs. "I can scarce imagine what I have just seen. A Klingon as my Tactical Officer?"
Harry said, "Maybe because I'm unattached, I was the only one who could observe what occurred. But that was an accurate portrayal of what I saw."
The arguments as to what they should do were between Guinan and Picard. Having actually seen the memory, Picard was much more amenable to changing his mind regardless of his instincts. He asked Harry to come with him to meet the Captain of the Enterprise C in Sickbay.
When they arrived, several Enterprise C crewmembers were being treated. Picard asked the Doctor to wake the Captain up – regardless of her condition.
She looked uncertain. As she moved to grab a hypospray, obviously reluctantly, Harry asked what her injuries were. After she described them, Harry had an idea. "Can I try something?"
Doctor Crusher looked to the Captain and he nodded. She said, "Go ahead." She pointed her tricorder at Captain Garrett. Harry took a deep breath and cast his strongest healing charms on the Captain. Beverly blinked at the tricorder. In amazement she said, "There was an interruption for a moment. Now the Captain's injuries are healing at a vastly accelerated rate. She should be waking up just about …."
Suddenly Captain Garrett, who was unconscious just previously, gasped and opened her eyes and looked around wildly even as she struggled to sit up.
Due to Harry's arrival, the repairs to Enterprise C were begun much quicker than they otherwise would have taken place. After being escorted back to the War Room, Harry showed the Enterprise C Captain the same memories that he had show the Enterprise D staff and Lt. Richard Castillo.
Picard described the circumstances and what he felt should be done. Guinan was also present and explained what she knew from her perspective.
Captain Garrett sighed heavily even as she recognized the necessity of Picard's decisions. "How long do we have?"
Picard, with some melancholy, replied, "We have detected Klingon vessels coming. They will be here in under six hours."
Captain Garrett was appalled. "We could never get enough repairs done that quickly! We'd only be going back to die!"
"I know."
Harry, who was observing this, interrupted. "Is there any person who is empathic or telepathic which knows your ship intimately – in all details?"
Captain Garrett turned to Harry with some incredulity. "What good will that do?"
Picard said, "Please answer."
Garrett thought about it. "We have a couple of Vulcan Engineers. I don't know if they survived."
Harry said, with some intensity, "Find out."
As Garrett messaged her First Officer, Harry said, "Who knows the effects of the stimulants and other medicines you have on hand?"
Harry stood in what was as close to the center of the Enterprise C as he could make it. It had taken two hours to get one of the Vulcan Engineers from Enterprise C to come to the Enterprise D and complete a mind meld with Harry. Luckily, with the Vulcan technique, he didn't need to expend hardly any of his energy during the process and he now had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of what the repaired systems of the Enterprise C should look like. He didn't need to know how they worked or how to use the repair tools that were normally used – he just needed something to allow him to visualize exactly what they looked like and how energy flowed within them.
An earlier Travel had shown him the importance of visualization and how much it reduced the magical drain.
The Vulcan had thanked Harry for the occlumency techniques he had shared when the two had melded.
Harry now stood with Beverly Crusher. She would provide a large dose of a stimulant which, upon testing, had allowed Harry to recover mentally and magically very quickly. It would still eat into his reserves, but it would now be less likely that it would cause him to collapse.
Harry said, "Okay. Tell them to shield the computer core and the warp drive. I need to know when everyone on board is away from damaged equipment and the systems are shut down."
As Beverly accessed the wall panel, Harry dug deep within himself to concentrate on the images of a repaired Enterprise C and on his magic. Beverly returned and said, "They're ready."
Harry nodded. "Give me the stimulant."
Beverly nodded and applied the hypospray to his neck.
Harry felt his magic flow. The normal constraints were almost gone. He concentrated on his visualization and then suddenly slashed his wand through the air as he yelled, "Reparo!"
The Enterprise C crew stood mute as a great cacophony sounded through all of the bulkheads. The backup systems seemed to flicker and die. They all stood in the dark, worrying, for about 30 seconds and then suddenly the main circuits that had been too damaged all kicked on. The bridge crew rushed back in and looked around. All of the damaged parts and incomplete repairs now looked completely gone. The bridge looked pristine.
One of the crew moved quickly to the main Engineering station and began diagnostics. After a long half a minute she called out, "Backup systems are fried! But main systems are operating at optimal efficiency! The shields on the warp and computer cores have disappeared but they are unchanged! Repairs can now be completed in 1.5 hours!"
Captain Garrett breathed a huge sigh of relief. The Klingons were still four hours away, by Picard's estimate, which meant they would have time to affect the repairs before they brought the Enterprise C back into the anomaly to finish the fight with the Romulans.
Harry woke up with a groan. He looked around and saw Dr. Crusher. "Welcome back."
"What happened?"
"Well, two hours ago you collapsed after using your talents and all of your reserves to help repair the other Enterprise."
Harry looked at her. "Did it work?"
She smiled. "Brilliantly! They've completed the remaining repairs and we've been loading them up with ordinance. The Klingons are still a couple of hours away."
Harry moved to stand up and she protested. "You need your rest! You almost killed yourself to do that job! It's done now!"
Harry took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm sorry – I hate hospital wings. I need to see for myself."
Still disapproving she relented, with one caveat. She had one of the nurses go with him to keep an eye out to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.
Harry stood on the Bridge of the Enterprise D. Captain Garrett was about to take the other Enterprise back through the anomaly. They would have waited another 30 minutes, but Harry insisted that it be done sooner rather than later. He knew his luck and he didn't want to wait until the last minute – that would just be tempting fate.
According the Picard's earlier estimate, the Klingons would still be over 45 minutes away and to Harry, that was as close to a battle as he wanted to be.
Tasha Yar had convinced the Captain to allow her to travel back to the past. Guinan had confirmed that she was an anachronism and that married up to Harry's observations.
They all watched as the ship entered the anomaly. Despite expectations, the anomaly stayed much the same immediately. Soon, however, it became more chaotic and then less and then more and then less.
Harry looked around. The ship had not changed back.
Soon it became a problem because the Klingons were due any minute. One appeared and began charging weapons. Something then happened which interrupted this.
The anomaly suddenly calmed and started to shrink. Just before it disappeared, a ship appeared on the event horizon – and suddenly several things happened.
The Enterprise D changed back to what it had looked like when Harry had first arrived. The Klingon ship that had been about to fire on the Enterprise D suddenly faded. And the Enterprise D was suddenly faced with a ship that had been lost to history.
"Report, Mr. Worf!"
Worf looked at his scanners and said, "The ship reads as Federation. NCC. 1701. C!" He gasped. "USS Enterprise!"
Harry groaned. Picard and Crusher looked at him curiously.
Suddenly Worf said, "They're hailing!"
Picard said, "On screen!"
Harry gasped when he saw the woman who hailed them. Instead of the mid-30s/early-40s Captain Garrett that he had expected, there was a woman who looked to be in her early 50s – although still beautiful. She also was in an Admiral's uniform.
"Hello, Captain Picard. I'd like to transport over and talk."
The meeting in the Conference Room aboard the Enterprise D shocked the crew – and Harry.
"And suddenly, unexpectedly, we won the confrontation above Narendra III. The repairs Mr. Potter affected aboard the ship allowed us to maneuver much more freely and the more powerful weapons that we returned with made short work of the marauding Birds of Prey. This, of course, went against everything that we had been told when we had first come to your time." She looked around. "Let me tell you, I am glad to see the future that was erased from existence because it was horrible." She looked directly at Harry then. "However, I believe we also created an alternate timeline."
Picard asked, "What do you mean?"
Admiral Garrett sighed. "What do the records have on our ship?"
Data performed a few actions and reported, "The Enterprise-C was lost 22 years ago above Narenda III. The Romulans performed an incursion against a Klingon outpost and the Enterprise C answered their distress calls. In the ensuing battle, two Romulan ships were confirmed destroyed. A third and the Enterprise C also left debris – but there wasn't sufficient evidence to conclude exactly what happened."
Garrett nodded at the report. "There was obviously a divergence. We destroyed all three Birds and then provided humanitarian aid to the Klingon outpost until the Empire sent ships of their own. The Chancellor of the Empire recognized the bravery of the Enterprise and awarded all of its crew battle honors. Subsequently, Enterprise C and its crew have become the main diplomatic envoy to the Empire."
Picard, as all of the other crew members, were shocked, Worf most of all. Especially when she turned to him and said, "I'm especially interested to see a son of one of the High Council serving in Starfleet. In the Universe we come from, he is about to take over his father's position on the Council under Chancellor K'mpec."
Worf's face took on a terrifying look. Those that knew Klingons well would recognize the expression as one of joy and sorrow mixed. Harry muttered, "Reminds me of a goblin." No one commented on that.
"There were some changes. Tasha Yar, who came back from the alternate now, survived and married Captain Castillo. However, she died two years ago." Admiral Garrett sighed. "When we checked Tarkuras IV for her, we found she had died there when the Tasha we knew had survived."
Admiral Garrett addressed Harry. "Tasha wanted me to pass a message if I ever got a chance. She wanted to thank you. As a result of her arrival in the past, she was able to save her sister and to marshal resources to help stabilize her home planet. She, and her sister Ishara, decided that the trade-off was worth it." She grinned a bit, apparently thinking something to herself. Harry was very curious.
She turned back to Picard. "However, with the anomaly not disappearing, it was decided by Starfleet that the Enterprise C would have to come back through with every surviving member that originally came back. We also have many family members aboard."
She paused and then began talking again. "We came back on the stardate we originally encountered on our first trip through the portal. Also, our memory banks are full of an alternate history and technology advances, some based on the weapons your alternates sent back with us. There was debate as to whether that violated the Prime Directive, but finally it was decided that, should the Enterprise C find things as they are, the advances would be presented as a gift in thanks to the help we received when we first stumbled forward in time." She was smiling at the Captain with a certain intensity.
Picard, ever interested in social sciences, was looking forward to how different decisions created different results. He was also curious about the look he was recieving.
Harry was uncertain as to why he was still there. He did know he was still enormously tired from his exertions earlier. He asked if there was a room he could rest in. Worf was directed to take him to guest quarters.
After twelve hours of sleeping like the dead, Harry woke up in the VIP quarters that he had been assigned. After cleaning up, he wondered what he should do know.
He then spent a couple of hours reading general history files from the ship's computer. If he was suddenly to be involved with a new reality cluster, he wanted some idea of the good and bad markers in history. Unlike most realities, where he often had to fly by the seat of his pants, he decided that a sense of the timeline would be useful.
After this, he was contacted by the Ship's Counselor to 10-Forward. Upon entering, his first reaction was that it was the cleanest bar he had ever seen. He saw the beautiful woman who had first tried to read him when he had appeared and made his way over.
She stood and smiled as he approached. "Hello, Mr. Potter."
Harry nodded. "Just call me Harry. How are things today?"
They both sat. "Well, call me Deanna. We've started toward Earth. Normally, we would go toward a Starbase but the Enterprise C arriving in this Universe is big news. Another ship will take our place in the previous sector."
Harry replied, "From your expression, I take it that's unusual?"
Deanna nodded. "As a matter of course, most starships almost never return to Earth during their missions except when necessary. As the Federation Flagship, we only come back perhaps once a year. Being directly involved, we've been ordered to escort the Enterprise C."
Harry nodded. Guinan came over. With a smile, she took Harry's order. They didn't have pumpkin juice but upon getting a description, Guinan said she would attempt it.
Harry and Deanna talked. Harry had been surprised that his abilities hadn't garnered more interest by the Captain and crew.
Deanna smiled as she sipped her own drink. "You have to understand that while such abilities are extremely uncommon, they are not unheard of. That you have gone out of your way to help us during this most recent crisis classifies you as interesting, but not of the highest priority."
Harry accepted the glass Guinan presented. Guinan sat down and watched to see his reactions. He took a sip and considered the taste. "Not exactly the same, but quite good! A bit sweeter than I would expect."
Guinan said, "Well, if you stay with us, I'll have a chance to try again."
Harry shook his head. "I only last as long in any Universe as I'm needed. I don't know if I'll be here for a minute or a year. I've already been here and awake for about 10 hours and that's on the long side of a short visit. So I might be here a while. I don't know."
Guinan asked, "But how do you know?"
Harry sipped his sweet pumpkin juice and then replied, "I'll know when I know. I used to complain that I was Fate's Bitch, but now I enjoy making a difference when any where I can."
Guinan and Deanna were fascinated. Harry told of his history and some of the universes he had visited. He described the phenomenon which moved him. Deanna asked if she could record the conversation. Harry grinned as he gave permission.
Guinan was also quite interested. Her people had met many individuals of many races but Harry seemed to be quite unique.
After two hours of conversation (which was listened to by many off-duty personnel with Harry's permission) Deanna was messaged by the Captain about Harry. Harry was asked to meet with the Captain at 19:00 hours to which he agreed.
As the conversation was winding down, Wesley Crusher came in to 10-Forward. He had heard about the dimensional visitor and wanted to meet the man.
Deanna was watching Harry and saw him stop talking and suddenly look around. He locked on to the teenager who was coming toward the table.
"Hello. I'm Wesley Crusher and I wanted to meet you."
Harry stood. "I'm Harry Potter. I think I was supposed to meet you."
Wesley looked insanely curious. "Why do you say that?"
Harry looked at Wesley, looked at Deanna and Guinan, and then back to Wesley. "Because, Wesley, you're a wizard."