Disclaimer: The following work is fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, trademarked by J. K. Rowling, and characters from the Mass Effect series, owned by Bioware. No ownership of their work is assumed or implied. This work is strictly for entertainment purposes and is not part of the official story line. All associated with this work are not profiting from the creation and or publication of this work. Any issues or questions regarding the publication of this work should be directed to the author or his specified representative.

20th July, 2069. Potter Compound, Cranleigh, southern Britain, Earth. Home of the Lily Potter Foundation and of the architects of the Stellar Alliance.

Footsteps in a darkened room echoed briefly as they approached a white circle in the centre. In the air, dimly revealing the occupant, first hundreds then thousands of brilliant points shined in the darkness.

"And the sky full of stars. Each light represents one of our stealthed probes observing a star system. In a couple of months time, the first wave will be fully deployed."

Behind her, the door silently closed after admitting someone else, someone she knew well.

"First wave?" The newcomer asked as he looked around.

She nodded, her hair following half a second behind. "Just so. The second wave is already being prepared for points of interest, alien colonies, astronomical observations, ruins, mining resources, new worlds to settle." She turned around, coming up behind him.

"Ah. I had wondered if there would be a way to make the program pay for itself." His tone told her he was only teasing.

"Beyond the new understanding of our galaxy, you mean." Hermione played along as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Beyond that, yes. Just because we can spend all that time and effort on the probes doesn't mean we won't get questions afterwards. We do need something to placate the public when they discover how much we spent on this grand undertaking."

"And they will find out, I know, Harry. Even if the initial investment is all coming out of our own pockets. As the driving force behind Reintegration of magicals back into society, even though it was nearly sixty years ago, they've, the public, have still not let up on watching us. Even after all we do to help fix the mistakes of the likes of the Dumbledores and Grindelwalds."

"Yes, even then. Something about being responsible people in charge of others, I think was the general idea." Harry wrapped an arm around his wife. "The spread of powers is still only in its early stages, honey. Not even one in a hundred humans has magic or chakra. You can't blame the majority for being cautious. The Wizarding World War, the Revelation, the follow-up with Reintegration, the riots… There have been so many changes since we met at Hogwarts. And this is going to be the biggest. The sky is truly no longer the limit."

"We know people will want to explore now that we can explore, thanks to that accidental discovery of fast FTL last year in that prototype accident. Pocket dimensions via magic or chakra allowing many times more eezo to be held, well, someone was going to try it sooner or later, even without the researchers being sent too much that time. Sending out drones with basic sensor and FTL comm packages to do the initial survey is the responsible thing to do, so that no one gets hurt."

"And if it just so happens to bring you all the data first…" Harry teased his wife.

"Well, no one said I couldn't satisfy my own curiosity at the same time."

Harry chuckled. "True, dear. I always did like win-win solutions best."

4th May, 2252, Sigma Draconis system, Σ Draconis II, Daedalus colony, Eos city

Despite the number of Greek names used, Daedalus was a normal world in the ever-growing Stellar Alliance. The planet had finished terraforming a century earlier from a nitrogen and carbon dioxide atmosphere and was now home to a variety of small but thriving ecosystems across its surface.

Eos, meaning dawn, was the name the first settlers had optimistically given to the planetary capital as well as the the space station that orbited above it and the city was home to one of the many Astro Survey Centres built by the Lily Potter Foundation.

Despite the name, no surveying took place in these complexes. Instead, they were where lots of employees, generally university students looking to make some spending money, would examine information brought in from the probe network being deployed to more and more systems across the galaxy.

Around two centuries earlier, ruins found on Mars had first alerted the Alliance to the existence of aliens in the past, forever answering one of the great mysteries. The races of Earth were not the only intelligent life to arise in the universe. Since then, other ruins had been found on various planets and moons as the Alliance made its way out among the stars but no one had found living, intelligent, alien life.

The various students who worked in the data centres often daydreamed that maybe they would be the one to change all of that. Lynette Walford wasn't immune to these fantasies but when she was on the clock, she had to set them aside in order to get her work done. "At least as a centaur, I get to lie down on the job." Lynette said to herself as she settled into one of the specially cushioned stalls her people needed. "It sure beats stargazing the old-fashioned way."

Early in her shift, she was interrupted in creating a report on the latest boring system, a red dwarf with little debris, no planets and no easy resources, by the computer alerting her to an anomaly. This happened often, the software finding something that triggered it to get a real person to look at the data, anything from a particular mineral being abundant in the system, nice for a small bonus but nothing special, to finding an already-habitable planet. Such a find could make her a small fortune as the discoverer, at least that was Foundation policy, rewarding them for good work.

This latest alert, however, quickly exceeded her expectations. The scout ship had dropped off this particular probe weeks before far outside any expected planetary system of the single F9 star, going back into FTL to head to the next system. Total time in the region under an hour then back to the safety of their own little, private universe.

They hadn't stayed long enough, and couldn't even if they had from so far away, to see the signs of life on one of the planets crowding its parent star for warmth in the inner system. That went double when the primary was so much brighter and so close. That job was for the probe which accelerated inwards, spiraling closer as it surveyed the star system.

Now, the probe's telemetry data reported on three gas giants with their attendant moons and captured asteroids, one thick asteroid belt, a hot rock close to the star bigger than Mercury and even richer in metals and…

"That's odd. That almost looks as if…" Lynette didn't notice as her voice trailed off. She didn't really know she'd spoken to herself at all as she examined the data. The last significant body in the system was a rocky planet, almost as far out from its star as Mars is from Sol, placing it firmly in the Goldilocks Zone. That was already cause for interest but the probe's spectrometer showed strong nitrogen and oxygen lines, water vapour… All the classic signs of a life-bearing world!

That wasn't the oddity. That was the patches of light on the planet's night side! As she eliminated cause after possible cause from contention, she was quickly left with the one explanation she'd always wanted and never expected.

Her hand hit the button to summon her supervisor even before the smile broke out on her face. Belatedly, she remembered her class on scientific traditions, especially on great discoveries. Blushing, she was grateful that the booth was soundproofed, just in case she was wrong, after all.

"Eureka!"

'Now, what is taking that blasted man so long?!' Lynette checked the time, astounded that what felt like half an hour had only been thirty seconds. The door opening and her supervisor entering took her mind off her realisation completely.

7th June, 2252, Stellar Alliance Parliament, London, Earth

"This is Saradhi Ingerman reporting live from outside Parliament. The decision on changes to the military budget in wake of the discovery of live aliens has again occupied the entire session today, just as it did yesterday, but analysts predict that the armed services won't be getting everything they're asking for. On the other side of the spectrum, pushes for immediate, open communication have again been voted down by a wide margin." The reporter flashed a dazzling smile at the camera.

"Our in-house experts believe that some increased funding is inevitable with the lion's share going to the Navy to fund a new run of battlecruisers, possibly as many as another hundred! While the Potter Clan continue their support for greater preparedness, just in case, opponents of their extreme position point out that these aliens have showed no sign of hostility toward the Stellar Alliance or even an awareness of our existence. As such, the kind of measures supported by the Potters are premature, at best, warmongering, at worst.

"We'll be sure to keep you updated on developments as and when they occur!

"This is Saradhi Ingerman for Heinlein Habitat News. Back to Daisy in the studio!"

From off-screen, a nearby tourist made himself heard before he was cut off. "Hey, gorgeous, you don't need your Allure-"

Codex: Stellar Alliance summary

Stellar Alliance, the government for humanity and its allies, originated on Earth after the reunification of the wizarding and regular world. The revelation of the existence of non-human intelligent species made many previously-important differences seem small. Veela integrated peacefully enough since they were already allied to the more moderate wizard faction. Goblins were 'conquered', officially. Unofficially, they signed treaties with local governments allowing them to work in the banking sector in exchange for amnesty on past crimes. The clean slate worked to lure enough wizards over that it was all over bar the shouting. The move to unify also bled across into the regular world. This only accelerated when the rejuvenated space programs found the Prothean ruins on Mars. The cost and benefits of space were great enough that only China held out from the global initiative for long. The loss of their first Mars-bound vessel cost the conservatives their ascendance in Chinese politics and the internationalists soon rose to power, bringing the last of the major powers under the banner of the Sentient Alliance. Its mandate was to oversee all space activities on behalf of its signatories and to ensure equitable distribution of its benefits. Private enterprise was encouraged but monitored. SA funds went to establishing infrastructure and policing the new colonies.

Mars attracted a lot of early interest. Venus was later terraformed thanks to magic-enhanced technology allowing for massively expanded payloads carrying engineered bacteria and other supplies. Mars' terraforming was a more gradual process.

Orbital colonies blossomed with a combination of environmental regulations on Earth and low transport costs from Earth orbit making orbit an attractive place for heavy industry. Asteroid mining expanded to keep pace.

Pluto exploration mission finds the damaged Relay. No repairs are possible. Despite the distances and various downplayed issues, later termed learning experiences, the Relay is dismantled and the eezo contents distributed to SA signatories. Revolutionary Eezo core unveiled. The static buildup problem of first generation cores solved by engineering of static-powered generators, thus cycling power back into ship systems. The use of Relay eezo increases efficiency even further, allowing for travel at 120ly/hr by time of first contact.

Dozens of colonies are created between finding the Ruins and the First Contact War. At first, many of the nearby ones are to extract local resources. A few are scientific outposts. Terraforming and orbital colonies abound in these cases. Only a few, very rare 'garden worlds' are found within hundreds of light years of Earth. These are considered the prime real estate and SA remains highly protective of them. Naval fleet bases are established in their systems and settlement restricted to those with clean records in an effort to preserve their ecosystems. Fleet bases and tourism are the early major industries for these systems, supplanting the usual resource extraction and industrialization until local population increases to support it with native demand.