Triage

They're about 5 minutes out from the Orokin system when Harry's Oberon staggers up to the bridge.

"Harry, what's going on? Where are we?"

Not for the first time, Harry curses his limited grasp of Englsh, "You were hit, we are almost home. Make better."

"I feel strange."

"Can you hold on 10 minutes? People with good English able to explain."

"I'll try. Who's that?" She points straight at the man in the wall

"Of course she'd be able to see him. He is hard explain in my speak. Please wait."

"What's wrong with my hand?"

He reaches up to take the hand of his Oberon, "No thing wrong, will explain later. Come look window."

It was a very tense few minutes spent holding Hermione's hand through the Oberon and being unable to properly explain what is going on. So much so that his knees almost buckled under him when they returned to real space in the Orokin system.

"Cy, call my mother, I need someone that can speak English to come aboard."

The Lotus appears in a communication window, "Tenno, Harry what's going on?"

"I accidently shot a student with my void abilities, and they're currently using my Oberon. I need Pandora or Xeno, void even Luna to come aboard and explain what's going on. She has no nanites and none of my equipment is able to extract void energy."

His mother looks off to one side before turning back, "Luna is on her way, Ordis should be connecting an umbilical in a few minutes."

Harry turns towards Hermione, "I've just talked mother, Luna be here soon."

"You've 'just talked to mother', the 'to' gives direction to the listener." Hermione corrects absently.

"Good, you think again."

She giggles, "Can think, do think, or will think?"

"Um, er, can?"

"Nope, are."

Harry pouts, "That not option."

"It was, just not listed."

Harry glances over when he feels the ship shudder, seconds later a warframe that is split down the middle, white on one side and black on the other, comes walking around the lift section.

"Harry, you weren't expected till winter break."

"Luna?"

Hermione stares in amazement as a blond teenager appears out of the, whatever it is.

"In the flesh."

"Congratulations or commiserations?"

"Yes."

"Ah, well done on getting another warframe then."

"It is better than the alternative, for me at least. Sorry, we're being rude. I'm Luna Lovegood, from Ottery St-catchpole in Devon."

"Hermione Granger, Crawley in London."

"Welcome to the Orokin System, I'm just going to talk to Harry about what happened and then I'll explain it to you."

"Are you also going to explain why I'm dreaming?"

"Yes, that will be part of it."

"Ok."

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Luna pins Hermione with a look that leaves her feeling 2 inches tall, "Hermione, I've found out what's happened from Harry. Why did you follow him?"

"I just wanted somewhere to sleep where I didn't have to listen to people bitching about me."

"Why didn't you just ask?"

"I thought that if I was already there he wouldn't be able to say no."

"Well, this is a good news and bad news situation. I'm going to transfer back into my Warframe and then I'll take you to see something while we talk."

Hermione nods mutely as Luna merges with the black and white Warframe. She then allows her to take her hand and lead her through the spaceship? They end up standing in front of a matt black pod that is connected to a load of snow white cables.

Luna walks over to the pod as she looks, "To answer the last part first, you are currently dreaming. It's a special type of dreaming, but your body is currently asleep in here. I'm going to open this briefly as it's the only thing keeping you alive at the moment."

Hermione staggers back as she looks at her face serene in the seat of the pod, an ugly grey wound in her side visible because her clothing has disintegrated. Luna closes the lid again and Hermione looks around frantically until she sees the face of her saviour standing immobile in an alcove. There she freezes, and slowly reaches out a hand to touch it's face.

"Harry saved me?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me what happened?"

So she does, and Luna hugs her as she talks about crying in the girls loo, then through the experience with the troll, and how a fairy rescued her. She also finds out that Warframes can't cry. Once she's finished talking about everything that's happened at school she feels a little better.

When she finally finishes talking Luna says, "Now that the hard part is out the way, I'll explain what happened. The void is a place between worlds that joins them all together. Like all of existence there is energy in the void and it is rather inimical to life. In fact, there is no way to resist void energy without using void energy. Part of the problem is that void energy is not entropic, increases entropy, chaos? Don't worry about it, you'll understand once you've been given the nanite treatment. It doesn't break down machines, metals, or even bodies. It just stops all life from working, even digital life. I actually had to look up the word digital while I was on the way here.

"Anyway, creatures with a soul, and apparently post owls, can adapt to the void by making it part of them. Around 8 to 900 years ago this happened to a colonisation ship that got stuck in the void. What the Orokin discovered from that misadventure is that the process of adapting drives mature humans insane. For still growing humans, it grants them powers that are hard to control and highly destructive.

"What's happened to you is that rather than getting weeks of low levels of void exposure through the hull of a ship designed to keep the void out, you instead received a concentrated dosage that should, and would, have killed you. Except these pods provide life-support as well as a link to Warframes. This was followed by nearly an hour of low level exposure, so as you couldn't die you adapted. This then allowed the pod to perform its primary function and link your mind to a Warframe. This is how you're where you are. The Tenno call it the second dream, and until you're able to wake up yourself you'll need to get used to Warframes being your body. Also, don't try to force it, as it takes a level of self-actualisation in order to accept that you can be both. Most Tenno that have woken from the Second Dream couldn't tell you how, why, or exactly when it happened. The others, like Harry, were all under do or die levels of stress and managed to do."

Something seemed wrong with that idea, but Hermione couldn't put her finger on what it was. She was also realising that she's out of her depth, and that she's just an 11-year-old girl. Ok, 12, but at the moment she wants to be 11 again.

Relentlessly Luna carries on, "As soon as they've worked out how to get it here, you'll be transferred to another pod in order to undergo healing. During this time you'll lose access to the Warframe you're in. You'll also be given all the nanites and implants that Tenno need in order to live in this system. This includes language and basic education. Next time you wake up, you'll be controlling a Warframe of your own while sleeping in your own pod."

"But what if I don't want to be a Tenno?" Hermione asks plaintively.

"You die. Your choice about this ended when you accepted the void energy into yourself. Even though you were unconscious at the time. You either live as a Tenno or you die now and we have to explain to your parents how battle honed instincts caused you to be killed."

"But I'm only 12, how am I supposed to deal with that?"

"Harry was a toddler. The pod is there to keep other people safe from you, while the implants and nanites are to keep you alive and well in the pod. It's not like you can eat, drink, or use the toilet while you're in there."

"Keep other people safe?"

"Harry's wearing a device we call an amp, I have one too. It works on void energy and it stores enough for its own needs before venting the rest off harmlessly. Without it, it builds up inside us until we expel it uncontrollably. However, it requires the control that comes with the self-actualisation that you go through when you wake from the Second Dream. Every night, Harry came back to sleep in that pod so that he wouldn't be a danger to other people. Now you're a smart girl, and I know that when we leave you're going to think about this conversation. Probably dream about it while you're healing too. That's why I've been so up front with you. Yes, it's a big thing you're being shown, and it's going to change the way that you see the world. But is it going to change you? Will you be the girl that followed Harry, or the girl that cried in the girls loos? Also, consider this. Every single one of the original Tenno had their memories wiped, though it didn't work on Harry, however every single one that has woken up from the Second Dream has regained their memories."

Her piece said, Luna sweeps from the room. Hermione gazes at her saviour for a moment before she follows.

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Minerva

We have arrived safely at Lua, however, there has been a complication. Hermione has adapted to the void damage and the void has become part of her. As I write this Luna Lovegood, Pandora's daughter, is talking to her while Hermione is using my Oberon. If it's at all possible, would you be able to bring her parents to Lua so that we can explain what's happening, why and what it will mean for her going forward.

Regards

Harry.

She crumples the letter in her hand before smoothing it out again and grabbing a sheet of parchment in order to pen a letter to the Grangers. She then takes the letter to the long distance owl that she normally uses to send letters to Harry and Natah. A quick check of the time, 5:30, and she ties the letter.

"Would you be able to take this to Dan and Emma Granger. It's important and urgent, so please wait for a reply. When they do, bring it straight to me regardless of where I am or what I'm doing."

The owl bobs its head before taking off and disappearing within a couple of wing beats. She then makes her way to the Gryffindor common room, as something has obviously not been going right if Hermione was able to follow Harry without someone waking her up to report her missing.

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Harry stands next to Luna as The Lotus opens the pod and lifts Hermione out of it. The Oberon chassis losing it's spark as her consciousness is removed.

"She's going to need her own Warframe after this."

"She is."

"I wonder which one she should have."

"No you don't, you're just trying to avoid the problem."

"But she needs a Warframe to do everything she needs in order to earn that one."

"Not if you copy the original."

"But I was saving those bits."

"You shot her."

"It was an accident."

Luna just looks at him.

"Ok, yes, accident or not, I'm still the one that shot her so I need to be responsible for ensuring she has everything she needs to start moving forwards."

Luna beams a smile at him.

"Are you sure you're only 14?"

"No, but that's how many years I've lived so that's what counts."

"Which Warframe are you working on at the moment?"

"Same one, she will teach me to fly. Same as she will Hermione."

"Do you want any help?"

Luna shakes her head, "No, this one and the last one I have to do on my own."

"What's the last one?"

"A fly stuck in amber."

"Protea?", Luna nods, "I can at least help you with the Xoris and some mods."

"Thank you Harry."

"You're welcome. I'm just trying to work out how to get Hermione to start syncing with her new Warframe."

"Don't worry, I'll handle that once her parents have visited."

The Lotus walks over and removes her helmet, "It's done. She's going to be in there for at least a week as a lot of her body needs to be rebuilt with working cells."

"Thanks Mum."

"Thank you Aunty."

Natah waves them off, "I'd do the same for any of my Tenno. I'll arrange to have one of these put together with a solar reactor so that any future accidents can be dealt with immediately. How are you planning on dealing with the need for Hermione to have her pod close by?"

"I've been digging out a drydock on the Moon, so if I can get the blueprints and materials for a Dojo I can set that up instead. We can then setup a tree if I take some Orokin technology with me."

Luna nods, "That will be useful for me next year when I go to Hogwarts."

"I was then going to install enough power and storage to duplicate orbiter functions for each pod in the tree."

Natah frowns, "You know you'll be getting close to making your own tower if you do that?"

Harry sighs, "Yeah, but can you honestly say that the facilities here would be viable with Corpus or Grineer technology?"

Natah grimaces, "No, but that doesn't make it a good idea."

Luna laughs, "Aunty, it doesn't have to be a good idea, just better than no idea."

"Luna, the Orokin cracked the moon with their seeds."

"But how many did they use?"

Natah opens her mouth to reply and then finishes looking up the information, at which point her jaw drops, "Thousands." She breathes.