Captain Vernon Dursley of the Federation science ship Everyman was proud to say that his was the most normal ship in the galaxy. And it was, to be honest; it was the very last place anyone would expect anything odd to occur.

The Captain ran a tight ship; everything was clean and explainable and nothing was out of place. The crew always did as they were told and completed their duties perfectly.

The captain was on the younger side; maybe late twenties or early thirties. He was quite fit and had a stern face with sharp blue eyes and thin gold hair that was slicked back and shiny. Just by his looks, you could tell he was a man who commanded respect and perfection.

His wife, Petunia, was a very beautiful woman who was as smart as she was beautiful. Her dark hair was always scooped back in a tight ponytail to not impede her work as Chief Science Officer. She had bright green eyes and smooth skin that seemed to glow in the artificial light. At seventeen, she had become one of the youngest people to ever make lieutenant; she had been a child genius without the help of genetic resequencing, which was something she always worked into her boasts. It had been her ambition and intelligence that drew Captain Dursley in.

Now, several years after they'd met at the Academy, they had a bouncing baby boy named Dudley, who they believed was perfect in every way.

Everyone believed that the Dursleys were the perfect family- the Dursleys certainly thought they were- but, like any family, they had a secret; a big slimy one that disgusted them more than anything and had prevented Lieutenant Dursley from visiting Earth, where she'd been born and raised, since she had been assigned on her first science ship.

The Potters.

God forbid anyone ever find out about the Potters; freaks they were! The Lieutenant absolutely hated that her sister had decided to marry that filthy Potter boy! The Dursleys never mentioned the Potters or Petunia's sister; no one knew they even existed. All was well.

One day, which would've been either late October or early November on Earth, the Everyman was docked at Starbase 173 for repairs after being damaged in an ion storm. Luckily, there were no casualties and the injuries were minimal. Though many of the ship's systems were down, including transporters and the warp core and other vital systems. They'd be there at least a week and Petunia was anxious to get onto their next assignment, though she did like the fact that all this free time gave her a chance to spend time with one-year-old Dudley.

The little baby boy was throwing a fit over the mushed peas his mother was trying to feed him when Captain Dursley walked into the living area, shoulders square and his four silver pips gleaming on the collar of his uniform.

"Good morning!" he said as walked over to the replicator, retrieved his oatmeal, sausage links, and coffee before sitting down next to his wife and son.

"Good morning, darling!" The woman put the baby food down on the table and wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

Dudley suddenly chucked a bit of mushed peas that had gotten into the corner of his high chair at them; his parents just laughed in adoration of their silly little tyke.

Vernon ruffled the baby's thin hair then  ate his breakfast as quickly as he could, then he stood up saying, "well, I'm off to the races!" before leaving their quarters.

The captain was startled to find a tabby cat sitting across the corridor, looking down at what looked like an old paper document. "Bloody hell?..." he narrowed his eyes at the cat. It had strange markings on its face, almost like glasses. And it was studying the document as if it was reading it. But that was silly; cats couldn't read.

"Morning, Captain," the voice of the ship's chief engineer made the captain look up.

"Morning, Lieutenant." He replied. "How're things down in engineering? Made any progress with the warp drive?"

"That's what I was just going to find out!" the Benzite chuckled as the two men turned to walk towards the turbolift. "I really hope they've made some progress; last I heard, the core is possibly irreparable."

Captain Dursley's blond eyebrows shot up. "Irreparable?!"

"Possibly. I sure hope not; the other crewmen are becoming quite restless."

"Yeah. My wife is terribly bored, even taking care of little Dudders. Just wants to get out of here as soon as possible."

"I couldn't agree with her more, Captain!"

"Yeah. And, by the way, someone should probably tell that new ensign that his cat got out again." Captain Dursley attempted to rationalize the cat in the corridor.

The engineer tilted his head inquisitively. "Ensign Kibt's cat died two days ago, Sir."

The captain whipped around and looked past the Benzite at the tabby cat, which was still perched outside his quarters, watching him, no paper documents anywhere to be seen. "Well then I guess it was someone else's cat..." he chuckled.

"Of course." The engineer nodded and continued walking alongside his captain.

There was no shortage of strange things on the Starbase that day. The repairs had been the only thing on his mind when he'd woken up, but now, they had been pushed to the far reaches of his conscious.

For one thing, the base was swarming with owls! And not just Terran owls; all kinds of owls with strange plumages and horns and extra wings. They swooped all over the station, hooting and squawking. Captain Dursley asked the Starbase captain about it; she responded by informing him that the owls were the pets of a group of people who'd come the night before, and as long as they weren't hurting anyone or keeping people from working, she didn't have any real problem with letting them fly around and stretch their wings. The children aboard passing ships Sure seemed to like them; many young kids could be seen flocking around an unfortunate own that had landed on the floor and was now squawking, quite alarmed.

There were odd people at the Base too. People wearing long robes and funny pointed hats. They were gathered together in several groups, chatting excitedly among themselves.

Captain Dursley's heart dropped to his feet when he heard one of the odd people say the word "Potter". He stopped to eavesdrop, trying not to be noticed by the people.

"Yes, Potter, that's right." A Trill woman with long red hair and lavender robes nodded.

"I still can't believe a Terran defeated You-Know-Who." Grumbled the Klingon man standing next to the Trill. "It should've been a Klingon. Obviously."

"It doesn't matter what species he is, Kirros." The Bajoran man standing opposite the Klingon said exasperatedly. "What matters is You-Know-Who is gone! All thanks to Potter!"

With that, Captain Dursley hurried off back to the airlock to check the repairs of his ship. He tried to shake off the owls and the people in cloaks. Lots of Terrans are named Potter, he thought, punching in his authorization code into the panel by the airlock, no need to worry Petunia; there's no evidence that this has anything to do with her sister.

But still. Those people in cloaks. It really unnerved him.

He spent the day forcing himself to focus on ship's business. He refused to allow his mind to wander to the owls or the people in cloaks or the Potters.

By the end of the day, the captain had heard the most bad news he'd heard in his entire career; the warp core was badly damaged and in need of replacement, the navigational and transporter systems were fried, weapons were gone; he'd known all this, of course, but he hadn't known the true extent of the damage; they were lucky to have gotten out of that ion storm in one piece!

Weary and in need of a drink, he returned to his quarters. The corridor was quiet except for an indistinct conversation happening somewhere around the bend. As the captain stopped in front of his quarters, he noticed that the same cat that had been there earlier was still there!

"Shoo!" He attempted to scare it away, but it just stood there, blinking at him. Was this normal cat behavior? Surely not. Maybe I'm just tired, he thought, shaking his head and turning towards his door, it's been a busy day...

When he entered the quarters, his wife was fondly watching Dudley play on the floor. "I heard," she went to her husband and embraced him, "six weeks. That's terrible!"

"I know." He hugged her back. "Hey, have you heard from your sister lately?"

She blinked, taken aback. "Uh, no... no of course not. Why?"

"There were weird people on the Starbase today; people in cloaks, talking about a Human named 'Potter' and something called You-Know-Who."

Lieutenant Dursley went pale, but attempted to dismiss the situation, "well maybe it's some other Potter... no reason to believe it has anything to do with her sort!"

"I truly hope so. If people found out about them..." He shuddered at the thought.

"Well we shan't worry about it." The slender woman went to the replicator. "Your usual, dear?"

"Please." He sat heavily in his seat.

******

No sooner than when the Captain enter his quarters, the cat in the corridor finally moved, running into the turbolift. When it was alone, it transformed into a tall human woman in an emerald green cloak and glasses, her hair put up in a tight bun.

"Deck six," she said, smoothing out her cloak as the turbolift glided down to her requested deck.

On deck six, she was met by three human officers in gold uniforms, having what sounded like a heated debate about Federation politics. She nodded to them as she got off and they got onto the turbolift. They did not pay her any sort of attention. She walked down the corridor stiffly until she arrived at the airlock. After looking around to be sure no one was around, she removed a smooth wooden stick from her cloak and pointed it at the panel, mumbling something. The doors slid open and she exited the quiet ship and entered the loud, lively Starbase.

She walked into a lounge-like area, which was empty except for an elderly human man with a long white beard, a purple-and-gold cloak, and sandals, who was sitting in a chair, studying a PADD through his half-moon glasses as if he'd never seen one before. He looked up when the woman came to him.

"Ah, Minerva!" He said, delighted. "I've been to every party on this Starbase and I haven't seen you!"

"I was on the Everyman," she replied, "watching the Dursleys."

The man nodded. "Ah, yes. Little Harry's relatives."

There was great distress in Minerva's features. "I hope you'll reconsider leaving him with them; there's something off about them. I have a bad feeling about this."

The man put the PADD down and spoke softly, "they're the only family he has, Minerva."

"I know, but still!"

"Hagrid will be here any moment with Harry. I have a note for the Captain and Lieutenant." He pat a pocket on the chest of his robes. "It's set in stone."

Minerva opened her mouth to object, but sighed and shook her head. "I... I hope for the best..."

Suddenly, a very large, very hairy man lumbered into the lounge, holding a small bundle to his chest.

"Hagrid!" The white-bearded man stood up with a smile. "Have you brought him?"

"Yeah, I bought him." Hagrid held out the bundle, which contained a small baby boy with an odd cut on his forehead. "Little tyke fell asleep as we were passing Vulcan."

Minerva took the baby and cradled him.

The white-bearded man stepped forward and tucked a paper envelope into the folds of the blanket. "You will grow to do great things," he promised the baby, pushing back his curly black hair so his whole scar was visible, "Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived!"

__________

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