Commander Potter of the Starship Ascension

A Harry Potter / ? Crossover

Chapter 1: The Next Great Adventure

By Legato Deathscythe

Disclaimer: Don't own shit. Got the idea for a few crossovers but I can't decide where to go. Fortunately I can start them off all the same with this chapter. The question becomes what I should cross it over with. I'll ask after this chapter is posted and give up a poll with the options.

Seven years, had it only been seven years since he had finished off that snake faced bastard? It had been one hardship after another hoisted onto the young mans shoulders. So many lost to the war, then the second guessing, the cries for lost family and friends, the condemnations for not finishing the war fast enough. As if he should have been held responsible at the young age of seventeen for a war effort. Percy Weasley had shown his true colors not during the battle but after. Harry always felt the boy was little more then a collaborator. Not that he'd say it for Molly's sake.

Andromeda hadn't lasted long after the war, so Harry had taken in his godson no questions asked. But as he looked at the world around him, Harry Potter had to ask himself if this was the world he wanted to live in. Barely anything changed after the war. Granted, Hermione had managed to succeed in her quest for equal rights for any sentient not a pure-blooded human male. But aside from that the real problems still remained. If anything it had gotten worse. And the muggle world wasn't much better. The terrorist attack in New York back in 2001 had just shown Harry that he wouldn't have much better luck out in that world. Things were getting worse every day it seemed. The only real peace was with family and friends. Not that he had many he could trust, fewer then he wanted.

So he had been working on what most would call a pipe dream at best for the last few years. Harry had gained masteries in many fields of magic, and had also studied many other disciplines. Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics were his current interests as he paid the goblins for certain materials and services. The hangar/construction bay he had contracted the goblins to build under Potter Manor stored most everything he had built and designed since he was twelve. He had trusted the goblins to get what he needed for years. Ever since he first stepped into Gringott's for the first time.

–

July 31, 1991 – Gringott's Bank, Diagon Alley, London

Harry had barely gotten over his shock of seeing piles and piles of gold in a vault with his name on it as Hagrid filled a bag with just enough for Harry for the year when he caught sight of something. Harry stepped into the vault and stepped closer. What he saw was a book, an old copy of "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne. When he opened it he saw a note in the book.

Harry -

Never stop dreaming of the impossible.

Mum

Harry ran his hand over the old book and smiled. It was something of his mother's. A connection to his family. He looked at the goblin, Griphook, and asked, "Where would I go to find out if there was something like a house or something still in their name?"

The goblin simply looked at him and said, "You would need to speak with the account manager for the account. I can arrange a meeting with him prior to your departure from the back today if you wish."

Harry nodded, he was so eager to see if there was anything else left from his parents, his family. Hagrid didn't have much problem with that, after all, Dumbledore had simply said to get Harry what he needed for school and to watch over him in the Alley. He didn't see any problems with Harry talking with someone here about his families holdings. Sides, by the time he got to the surface the poor man knew he would need a little something to get him over the cart ride.

Harry spent about an hour with the account manager, Ripclaw, who gave him a full accounting of the Potter holdings, the true value of the family to include a high security vault with more gold and a lot of heirlooms. The goblin had one more thing to give Harry.

"Usually we'd wait until you reached the age of majority to give this to you. However as you are the only member of the family remaining it invokes the end of line clause. This will allow us to process any orders on the account. The last order your father gave us was to earn as much as we could for the family and rebuild the family manor in Wales. It's on the edge of a cliff facing the Irish Sea I believe. You have maybe five hundred meters between the manor and the cliff, but safety charms would stop anyone from falling off and getting injured," Ripclaw informed him.

Harry nodded and placed the Head of House ring for the House of Potter on his finger as Ripclaw instructed. He looked at it and smiled, feeling just a bit closer to the family he had never gotten to know. He didn't, couldn't know that his taking that ring would cause all sort of headaches for anyone else. At that point, he was just trying to get closer to the long dead.

Albus Dumbledore would have a bit of a headache for the next month due to the Blood Wards failing. He would find out later why, and frankly couldn't hold it against the child. Anyone in his position would have done the same thing in Albus reckoning.

The rest of the day had been spent collecting the needed supplies from the rest of the Alley. Due to how long it took him to finish up at the bank, Harry never met Draco Malfoy at Madam Malkin's. It didn't make much difference in the long haul. The best part for the day however had been getting his wand, and Hagrid giving him his first present in a beautiful snowy owl that harry would eventually name Hedwig.

Harry would spend the next month going over every book he had picked up, to include the book from his vault. It was a prized possession simply for the note inside the cover. He had even went to Potter Manor using a portkey that Ripclaw had given him to get there. He found a large library of not just magical knowledge but a a rather large collection of fiction or all types. Harry read as much as he could.

–

September 1, 1991 – Hogwarts Express 8 hours out from Hogsmead Station

Harry just smiled as he watched the terrain passed by. They had just left the station, all the happy families seeing their children off. Harry was envious of the others with happy families to write home to. The red haired brother's, the Weasley's, had stopped by and introduced their younger brother Ron to him. Harry just smiled as he spoke with Ron about the world he was entering. Eventually they were joined by someone who could at that point could become either friend or foe.

"They say Harry Potter is in this compartment," the blond boy.

Harry had been trying to explain the concept of Science Fiction to Ron when they had been interrupted, the copy of "From the Earth to the Moon" in his hand. He looked up at the blond boy and said, "The would be me."

"I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," the blond introduced himself. In another world, another universe the conversation would take a bad turn due to Ron simply chuckling at the way the boy introduced himself.

Before that could happen however Harry asked, "What do you know about non-magical literature and other entertainment?"

"Nothing, why would I?"

"I was wondering. The way you introduced yourself is the same as a rather popular non-magical character named James Bond," Harry explained.

Draco threw up just a little in his mouth at that. "Really."

"Yes, not that he isn't a character to live up to. He's sort of one of those beloved hero's that gets by with his training, his wits, and always gets the girl in the end. There's a lot of characters like that, the classic hero role."

Draco felt a little lost for a moment, something he shared in common with his bodyguards and Ron Weasley. Harry turned to them and asked, "Does wizarding literature have the same sort of thing?"

Before either could answer a girl with bushy brown hair and a slight overbite looked in, "Have any of you seen a toad? A boy lost his."

Harry answered politely, "Nope, no toad here. Just talking about the differences in Magical and Non-Magical literature."

The girl looked like she wanted to join their discussion, but had promised to help find said toad. Harry made a mental note of it and would later learn her name, Hermione Granger. It would lead to a friendship crossing house lines that quiet frankly would have several rocky periods over the years. The hardships shared and faced would strengthen the bonds between Harry and his group over time.

July 31, 2004 – Potter Manor, Hangar Bay

It was sleek, with black metal polished to a high gloss all over the hull. The wings were swept back much like a fighter jet, and the engines in the back were long rectangular slits along the back and the wings. Within the construct Harry had made liberal use of expansion charms, transfigured materials, and even gone as far as attempted to recreate the masterpiece of magic that was the sorting hat of Hogwarts. He had given his craft a personality that he had based on what he felt was a motherly persona. The voice was much like that of Professor McGonagal, and just as scholarly. He affectionately called his want to be spaceship Ascension, in hopes that what he learned from her could elevate the whole world beyond the conflicts that seemed to pop up almost daily. The central consciousness of the ship he had named Lily.

There were many systems that he had built in to his ship. He had taught Teddy everything he could as he went about construction, hoping that the young boy would be as excited as he was. The only real problem Harry saw was that Ascension couldn't go faster than light, or FTL as he would say. This was not a limitation of her building, but the simple fact that humanity had yet to figure out that particular issue. Fortunately he felt that if he found out one day he could upgrade her engines. He did have an experimental concept constructed into the ship. He figured that apparition was the key and spent time tearing through the arithmetical calculations of the process. He felt that his ship SHOULD be able to jump over relatively short distances through space if he had gotten it right. He also had built up a potential navigation system, but using Galactic center as point zero.

One would wonder how Harry planned on powering his ship. They would find it filled with crystal like capacitors in the engine room all charged through runic clusters that would pull in energy from the fabric of space itself. Harry had come to the conclusion that magic was very usable in such a way. One day the rest of the world might actually try to figure out how to use this energy for their own purposes. It never depleted, never polluted, and most of all never ever needed to be fought over. So long as the universe existed so would magic. Muggles had started theorizing along similar lines, calling the energy zero-point energy. Harry hoped that it lead to a more enlightened world one of these days.

This didn't mean that he had not foreseen possible problems. He had designed in several weapon systems and a way to control them all from the bridge. Point defense weapons existed along the hull that had been hidden behind concealing doors. The doors would retract and give the powerful rail-guns a chance to fire at any danger. The main guns facing forward would be capable of firing a concentrated beam of energy form the ship in several different ways, from a massive beam of energy, to a rapid volley of energy bursts. He didn't know if he would ever need it, but he was a student of Alistor "Mad-Eye" Moody so planned for the worst.

Many of his friends from the war had moved on with their lives. He never had figured out what to do and had shared much of his work with the Department of Mysteries. He didn't know if they cared, or if they would ever use what he gave them, but he felt it important that if he left and never came back that some of his work on Ascension should survive him. He had also published many of his "theories" in muggle science journals. Most of it were his thoughts on how energy could be utilized in both defensive, offensive, and peaceful ways. This include the complex formula he had developed.

Hermione and Ron both felt he was a bit unhinged after the war. Taking a killing curse to the chest hadn't helped his mental state, but the time he had spent with Albus at the crossroads of life and death had brought him a certain peace. Much of Tom Riddle's, he refused to use his anagrammed name, knowledge had transferred to him. Harry wasn't too upset still being a parselmouth, it merely allowed him to speak to more beings, and ask them to watch his property for any dangers. His friends had gotten married, and had two children. Rose and Hugo considered Harry the cool crazy uncle that everyone wanted to settle down.

Harry had even gone as far as to have his entire fortune converted from coins into one ounce rectangular strips of gold, silver, and even some platinum. He left the knuts behind which still numbered in the millions to be divided between his friends should he leave. The entire combined library of the Potter's and the Black's had been loaded on-board, he didn't want that knowledge to be lost to him should he leave. Magic helped out a lot when it came to space within his ship. The crew quarters were spacious and each bed had been outfitted with stasis charms so that he and anyone that joined him as his crew could spend decades in sleep while Ascension flew through space. He only needed himself and Teddy, but could take maybe twenty more total as he had ten rooms in addition to his own. Teddy had already decorated his room, as had Harry.

Today would be the first test flight of the Ascension. Harry had invited everyone he knew to witness this momentous occasion, including Luna and her father Xeno to record the event for The Quibbler as well as a reporter from the Daily Prophet. Also attending were Kingsley Shackelbolt, the Minister of Magic, and Croaker, the head of the Department of Mysteries with one of his assistants. They had brought along with them members of the Non-Magical government, to include the Prime Minister. The Weasley's had shown up as well, with all the children joining them. Draco Malfoy, his wife Pansy and their son Scorpius were there as well as Narcissa Malfoy. Harry just smiled as he watched the gathered enjoy the day, talking and playing together. Teddy was taking care of the younger guests, showing them around the less sensitive parts of the ship and telling them all about it. Harry smiled as his group gathered in the Docking bay and made sure everything was ready.

Hermione and Ron walked up behind him and both smiled at their friend. Harry was engulfed in a massive hug from the woman he considered his sister, then shook the hand of the man he considered a true brother. "Well guys, what do you think so far?"

Hermione just shook her head in amused exasperation, "Well, I'm eager to see if it will work as you expect it."

"Yea mate, knowing you this thing will fly, but all the other things you want it to do? I just can't imagine it," Ron said.

Harry just smiled, "Don't worry you two. I've taken every precaution, tested and retested every system. Ascension will fly, and she'll be able to cut through space with out a problem. The only really questionable system is the Jump Drive."

Hermione chewed her lip as she asked, "I am wondering, did you have to put so many weapons on her?"

Harry just chuckled, "You never know what might happen. CONSTANT VIGALENCE!"

The three friends broke down in laughter at that. Harry slowly calmed down and looked at his friends, "You know, I've got more then enough room on board if you two want to come with me. We've got everything we could need, food, water, the combined libraries of both families. I've even got enough material to start up a colony in the hold. I've taken a lot of time to do this, and thought it through. I've even got enough genetic material both magical and mundane to repopulate a planet with every animal species we know of. I got lucky with the phoenix eggs and dragon eggs. It just wouldn't feel right without you two joining me on this next great adventure."

The pair looked at each other, a smile shared between them. Hermione spoke, "We'd love to join you Harry, it sounds like something wonderful. It's just the idea of leaving all our families behind is scary. Especially after the war."

Harry nodded, "I know, it's not exactly what one would call an easy thing."

"Fact is Harry, we're happy with where we're at. It's just not something we can see doing now. We had more then enough adventure's when we were kids," Ron said.

Harry smiled at the two, "It's alright. Sides, I'm not planning on leaving forever. I've got to take her out for a shakedown cruise first, and even then I've got a few other ideas to work on. Plus I created and put in what could be called a sub-space transceiver array on the manor grounds. So even if I'm light-years away I'm still just as easily reached."

"What ideas would those be?" Hermione asked.

Harry just shook his head, a smirk on his face, "That would be telling."

Harry got serious on them for a moment though, "Guys, I'm not taking Teddy with me on the first real test of some of the major systems. I've got an experimental concept built for an FTL drive based on apparition that should work. Operative term though is should, I'm not certain about it yet. Simulations all come back green but I won't know it's safe until the first jump. I don't want to risk Teddy getting blown up because I'm wrong."

Hermione chewed her lip in concern. Harry turned to his two best friends and asked, "I want you two to take care of him, watch over him, help him if something happens. Today's just a test flight of the sub-light systems, everyone here is going to join me on this trip. Teddy is only seven. I don't want to risk ending his life before he even gets to go to Hogwarts."

Ron firmly grabbed Harry's shoulder and looked him in the eye, "Don't worry. We'll take care of him mate."

Harry smiled, "Good. I've left the Black fortune here. My plan for it has always been for Teddy to take on the title and Head of House roll for House Black when he comes of age, so money shouldn't be a problem. Also, he has full access to the Manor and construction bay here. Everything I've written down is here and is ready for him to keep working on. Ascension has both libraries entered into her database including all literature we could get our hands on from the non-magical world. If something happens to me, then it all goes to him."

Hermione looked at Harry and asked, "Are you planning on telling him?"

Harry just smiled, "He already knows. I told him I need him here monitoring the experiment from a safe location so that we could be certain the data could be looked over later by other people. I want you guys here when I do this."

A few moments later Harry had all the assembled gathered around a podium. He looked out at everyone, a smirk on his face that reminded those that knew him of Sirius Black. Harry placed his hands on the podium and spoke, "Greetings to everyone. I'm Harry Potter and I'm happy you all joined me here today for this first real flight of the Ascension. I'm more then happy to announce that all the advancements in both Magic and technology will be shared with the world. The technological advancements are being filtered through PBM Aerospace, CEO of which is my good friend Draco Malfoy. The magical advancements are all being distributed through Weasley Research and Weasley Industries, CEO's being Fred and George Weasley. This includes the various sized power modules that I developed for usage in both the ship and for smaller items. Considering the amount of power a large sized module is capable of producing, for now we will only offer the smaller ones for public consumption while we experiment and find the limitations and safety issues with using them for other applications.

"The theory behind the Crystalline Runic Power Batteries, or Zero-Point Modules as they are being called among our non-magical researchers, has been shared and will be shared with the scientific community of the world. Obviously we've sanitized the theory and math behind them for any and all magical references. Eventually we should be able to mass-produce them for the whole world. The possibilities and benefits of such a limitless, clean, and affordable power for the human race are obvious."

Harry continued on with his presentation, outlining his hopes and dreams for what the technomancy behind his ship would do for both magical and non-magicals separately and as a whole. He felt strongly about this, and could only hope that he was getting the idea of his dream across to the people around him. Once he finished he invited his guest to board Ascension and lead them up to the dorsal observation deck.

He stood in front of them and said, "Today we are going to simply give the sub-light drives a quick run. Our destination is the Moon, our closest astronomical neighbor. During the sixties and seventies the United States sent several people to visit. It took them three days to make the trip just to get there. Our travel time will be considerably smaller. The reason for this is that the Apollo program relied on large booster rockets and timed burns, leaving the majority of the trip to the laws of momentum and gravity. Ascension relies on an ion engine which will burn at a constant rate the entire trip, allowing us to get there and back in only a couple of hours."

Harry quickly sent a mental signal to Lily to launch the ship. This was one part of the ship he was keeping from everyone for now. As far as anyone was concerned there was a crew on the bridge taking care of everything. They weren't aware that Lily was actually handling everything at the moment. Harry smiled as refreshments were passed out, the world passing by them and the awe of the crowd as the Ascension left Earth's atmosphere. Harry mingled with the crowd, explaining the magic and science behind everything. One scientist from Canada seemed rather put off with all the talk of magic behind everything.

"Well Dr. McCay, I understand you'd be happier if I could quantify what it is I and a small percentage of the population are doing. Problem is that we've been calling it magic and working from that mindset for over two thousand years, at minimum. Even if I could call it something else, the terminology works for what we do. Why come up with an entirely new lexicon?"

"Maybe because it's scientifically absurd. Any sufficiently advanced technological or in this case biological system takes on the appearance of magic," Dr. Rodney McCay said.

"I don't disagree with you, but until I can find a way to actually take the magic out of it it's going to be a while. The only way I'm getting around international law to get some of the theories and technologies into the mainstream is by crippling them and removing any possible magical reference. Even calling it zero-point energy is a stretch and we're doing the best we can," Harry said.

"Yes, yes, of course, the Statute of Secrecy."

"Yes, and until we can find a way to get everything together without magic being used in the creation process I can't even propose using the CRPB's for wide-spread use in the real world. The ion-drive pulling us through space right now only uses magic as it's part of the power systems. We're able to push that through PBM Aerospace with little effort, once we get a workable non-magic related power source. Until something happens though I can't even contract out with any governments for the technology. Another world shattering discovery held back from the world because of bureaucracy and fear," Harry said.

"Really, and what are the bureaucrats afraid of?"

"The world finding out that there's a part of the population that can alter reality with a little training and focus. Even if we're more socially advanced then we were back during the Witch Trials, there's still fear we'd end up burned at the stake, or experimented on," Harry shivered at the thought of being stuck in a sealed room like that.

"Anyone ever tell that that sort of thing would be considered a crime by most civilized countries?" McCay scoffed.

Harry just looked at him, "It's a little hard to make that case when it could be you under the dissection knife. Believe me, I've tried," Harry noticed that they were about to reach their destination and excused himself from the conversation and went to the front of the observation deck.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I can have your attention. I present to you, the Moon, as close as man's come to it in the last thirty years," he said then turned to watch the view himself. It was breathtaking. Ascension flew around one side of the moon, and then came out from behind the dark side, Earth shining in the distance.

"One day, hopefully we will be able to share this with every man, woman, and child of our world. One day."

–

Harry was pretty pleased with how the day had turned out. The British and US Government representatives seemed interested in what they could get from PBM, even though they were prevented by law from getting a hold of anything that could only be classified as magical. The American's seemed really interested in the CRPB's. Unfortunately they were classified as an enchanted magical object, therefore distribution to the non-magical governments was prohibited. Harry just shook his head at the short-sightedness of a race of people that was cpable of such wonder being so close-minded.

He stood at the balcony over looking the cliff Potter Manor was built on. The massive bay doors for the construction bay just a few hundred feet below him. He leaned against the railing, watching the moon hang in the sky. He felt the approach of someone behind him, and relaxed slightly when the thin feminine arms wrapped around his waist. Harry closed his eyes and relaxed into the embrace of the nice female form behind him.

"Where's Theadore?" she asked.

"He's spending the night at Shell Cottage with all the other kids. Fluer and Bill wanted to give everyone a chance to have a night to themselves. I would have let them all use the Manor, but Fluer seems to think I need some time without children under foot."

A warm chuckle was all the answer the woman gave him.

Harry sighed and just kept looking towards the sky, "Sometimes I wonder, why I didn't just find someone to settle down with after the war. God knows I could have if I looked hard enough."

"Why did you decide not to settle down?"

"Because I couldn't find that person that wasn't drawn in by any number of meaningless reasons. My money, power, and fame would ensure I could either have my pick of any woman for a wife or sleep with as many as I desired. But I just can't do that. The girls I'd concider trying anything with are already involved, married, or about to be. Ginny and Neville got together during the war, I would be extremely selfish if I got in the way of that."

"So you take in your godson, but you are about to do something that could leave him alone for the rest of his life," she said.

"No, not alone. I've already taken care of that. The thing is that in order to do something like this you have to take risks. If you're to improve on the world, if you want to make a difference, you got to take the chance that one day you won't come home. I'm good at that."

"Why not just take him with you?"

"Because he's the only one who knows everything I've done here. If something happens to me he'll be able to learn from it and make it so no one else ends up like I might," Harry explained.

"And no one else can do that?"

Harry shook his head, "No one else has the same grounding as I do in both science and magic in order to do it. The procedures and such are all written down, but Teddy is the only one who truly understand them right now. He's the only one aside from me that can bring it all together."

Harry took a moment to gather his thoughts, "Besides, I get the feeling that I need to do this alone. That something amazing will happen when I activate that jump drive for the first time. And even then, I know without a doubt that I'll end up back home."

"It almost sounds like you believe that God has a plan for you," she said, a bit of laughter in her voice.

Harry smirked, "God, Magic, the Universe, Fate, call it what you will. I'm one of the very few people who know for certain that there is a world beyond what we call life. My first seventeen years of life were dominated by a prophecy which was an expression of Fate. I have the ability to bend reality to my will, the gift of Magic. Quantify all of that how you will, but to me at least it's proof that there is something more then we can comprehend. If that... that higher power is what we think is God, then all we can do is try to understand as best we can."

Her arms caressed his body and he could feel her breath on his neck, "I have to admire your ability to believe, to have faith in something you can't prove or put into a simple box."

"I have to believe in something, or I have nothing."

–

Ascension flew straight through the night, cutting through the space between Earth and the Moon. Harry was in the command chair on the bridge, Lily's image standing behind him on his right shoulder. Harry smiled as he watched the Moon on the screen and started pulling around into orbit and sliding through night around to the dark side of the moon. He flicked a control on the command chairs arm and said, "We are all ready here on the Dark Side, are you still receiving telemetry?"

"Yes were are Ascension. We are reading you five by five, subspace radio is working within expected parameters. Data from all systems is being received exactly as you expected, Uncle Harry."

"That's good Teddy. I am reading becon Terra-1 and have marked it in the navigation systems. I just hope that we can use this for mapping purposed eventually," Harry said.

"Don't worry about it Uncle Harry, we're going to have to start somewhere, might as well start with home," Teddy said.

Harry just smiled as his godson spoke, "Well, I'm now plotting the jump for the orbit of Mars. You're not taking notes in crayon right now are you?"

"That was back when I was four, and you wanted to try to get me learning long before anyone else would start."

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste, kid. You've got a really good one, even if you change hair color every second of the day," Harry chuckled.

"You are just lucky I'm smart for my age."

"Smarts have nothing to do with it, Teddy. Hermione is smart, you however have something that she doesn't have," Harry said back.

"What's that?"

"The ability to wonder about things beyond what is written down. Hold onto that and you'll do great things," Harry said.

There was a bit of quiet for a moment, "I'll see you on the other side, Uncle Harry."

"I'll be there kiddo. Course plotted and laid in. We are go for FTL jump. Start the clock," Harry said. This was it, the moment that he had been feeling approaching. This would be the moment that changed everything.

Teddy's voice sounded over the channel, "Jump on my mark in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... JUMP!"

In a flash of light, and what felt like he was being pulled far far away from the small island in the Universe called Earth, Harry Potter started on what would be his next great adventure.

To Be Continued...

Authors Notes: I've been working out ideas for an HP/sci-fi cross over for a while. Frankly I have been trying to come up with something that might be interesting, like Crossing over with Galactica, or SG1, or Star Wars. It's all a lot of interesting possibilities. The problem is that when they do this a lot of the times, the magic gets lost. They try to turn it into just another aspet of the force, or quantify it into scientific theory and remove the wonder and awe behind it all. I'm going to try to not do that here.