Rating: this chapter - R
Author's Note for this chapter: Attack of the Shorts!

- - -

Chapter 14


"What's going on?" Harry demanded, strapping himself into his chair.

"Moldyshorts and his whole fucking armada are hot on our tails!" Blaise grinned as the ship rocked under a hail of gunfire.

"What?" Draco gaped, what little color left in his face dropping down into his boots.

"I think we pissed him off." Hermione grinned as she monitored her station.

"Ha! Nailed another one! That's four credits you owe me, Forge!" Fred grinned, high-fiving his brother as they manned the guns.

"You both owe me twenty!" Ginny grinned, shooting off another hail of gunfire from her station.

"You three are impossible!" Ron groaned.

"Torpedo coming in! 3 o'clock!" Colin shouted. Harry and Blaise grappled with the controls and sent the ship into a steep dive. The torpedo missed them by inches and slammed into one of Voldemort's Class 4 warships. Harry grinned as the ship exploded in an orange ball of flame.

"Seamus, how are we doing?" Harry called.

"Everything is at 100%, no damage so far." came the reply.

"What are you planning, Cap?" Blaise asked.

"He's expecting us to run away. He's not expecting us to attack!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Draco exclaimed. Harry grinned at him. "That's suicide!"

"It is...but he won't be expecting it.!" Blaise chuckled.

"You both are insane!" Draco exclaimed. Blaise and Harry only laughed.

"Seamus, I need as much power as you can give me to the front shields!"

"You got it, Boss!" Seamus replied.

"Hang on to your arses, people!" Harry called out as he and Blaise turned the ship around.

"Ron, Ginny, Fred, George – on my mark, fire all weapons at the control tower!" Harry ordered as a large Class 10 ship began to fill their view screen. Draco moaned, his hands clenching the arms of his chair so hard, his knuckles were white. Remus reached out for the hand nearest him and was pleasantly surprised when Severus took it, twining their fingers together. Remus looked up at him, his gaze caught by Severus's dark eyes.

"If we get out of this alive, you and I need to have a long overdue talk." Severus told him. Remus swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"As you wish, Severus." Remus whispered. Severus's lips twitched as if he wanted to grin but couldn't quite manage it. He leaned over to whisper in Remus's ear.

"I long to hear those words from your mouth as we fulfill all manner of carnal desires together." Severus growled.

"Severus!" Remus gaped, his face going bright red with embarrassment and lust. Severus only chuckled and sat back in his seat, not relinquishing his hold on Remus's hand.

"Will you two stop having sex near me!" Draco hissed, the grip on his chair not lessened slightly. Remus laughed and Severus simply smirked. "Ugh! Newlyweds!"

"They are hailing us, Sir!" Hermione called.

"Speakers!" Harry snapped out as he directed all his concentration on keeping Hedwig out of danger.

"Surrender your ship and your crew or you shall meet your demise!" hissed Voldemort.

"Not on your fucking life, you bastard!" Harry growled.

"Evans! You're still alive?"

"So it would seem, you piece of shite!"

"You shall die for your insolence, boy!"

"Blah blah blah! Change your tune! I've heard it before and it's outdated! You couldn't kill me when you had me, what makes you think you're going to kill me now? How fucking childish!" Harry snorted derisively. There was a snarl from the other end as Voldemort cut off communications. A moment later, the laser fire tripled in number, rocking the small ship to and fro.

"I think I'm going to be sick!" Draco moaned.

"Three Class 10 ships heading our way! They're firing up their torpedo bays!" Colin called out.

"Bank and roll!" Harry commanded, tilting his controls. Blaise matched him and the ship shot upwards at a forty-five degree angle, narrowly missing the bridge to one of the smaller ships. The ship, not noticing it was in the path of one of its comrades, smashed straight into it and both exploded in a bright ball of flame.

"That got em!" Ron grinned.

There was a huge explosion somewhere below decks, knocking everyone about.

"What the fuck?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Seamus?" Harry called. There was no answer. "Seamus, answer me!" Nothing. He unstrapped himself, "Ron help Blaise with the controls. Luna, meet me in the engine room!"

"On my way!"

"I'm coming with you!" Colin shouted, already getting to his feet.

"No, Colin. You need to be their eyes. Let Luna and I handle this. I'm sure Blaise wants you where he can keep an eye on you."

"Damn straight!" Blaise nodded. Harry looked at his co-pilot.

"He's going to be fine, Blaise."

"Just go get him for me." Blaise stated. Harry nodded and left the room at a run.

- - -

When Luna and Harry got to the engine room, they noticed that the housing for the warp core was severely damaged. Exposed wiring snapped and hissed around the room.

"Seamus!" Harry called out, moving some piping out of the walkway.

"Seamus!" Luna shouted, heading the opposite way. They circled the room, calling out for Seamus until they met up at the opposite side. Here a piece of the wall had fallen to the floor and they could see out into the darkest part of space. The anti-grav shields were holding well. Harry looked around and spotted a foot poking out from beneath the fallen wall.

"Seamus!" Harry shouted. "Luna!" Luna moved to Harry's side and together they lifted the wall away. Seamus was laying on his side in a fetal position, his hands and arms curled protectively around his stomach. Luna ran a scan over him.

"He's unconscious but alive!" Luna grinned with relief. "A bit of a concussion and his ankle is broken."

"The baby?"

"The baby's signs are at normal levels."

"Thank Merlin!" Harry sighed.

"We need to get him to med."

"Can he be moved?"

"With the head trauma, I'll have to stabilize his neck before I can move him to a stretcher." She raised her sleeve and typed in a series of numbers on the control pad strapped to her wrist. A moment later, two med bots entered the room. The checked over Seamus before gently moving him to the stretcher they brought then headed out of the room, their precious cargo between them.

"Harry?" Blaise asked.

"Seamus and the baby are okay. He's got a bit of a concussion and a broken ankle but Luna says their both fine."

"Thank the stars!" Blaise grinned. "You better get back up here. We're in some serious shit."

"On my way!"

- - -

Ron gave Harry back his seat.

"What did I miss?" Harry asked, strapping himself back in.

"That explosion must have done some damage. We're dead in the water." Blaise announced, flicking buttons on his control panel with no results.

"Hedwig, status report?"

Concussion grenades have knocked out main power circuits. I am unable to move. She announced sadly.

"Fuck!" Harry groaned, running his hands through his hair.

"We're being hailed again." Hermione announced.

"On screen." Harry sighed. A moment later, the snake-faced bastard himself was staring back at him.

"Do you surrender?"

"I haven't before, what makes you think I would now?"

"You're dead in the water, so to speak. I have so much firepower trained on your location that one word from me and you'd be space dust. With those kinds of odds, I don't see how you can refuse."

"I've never been the gambling type." Harry snorted.

"I will be generous, just this once. I will give you half an hour to surrender your ship and your crew. Talk it over." The screen went dark and silence reigned on the bridge.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asked, starting to panic.

"Calm down, Ronald. Harry always has a backup plan." Hermione chided. Harry looked up and grinned.

"We know..."

"...That grin..."

"Anywhere!" the twins announced.

"Colin...how far are we away from Gryffindor?" Harry asked suddenly. Colin frowned at him for a moment before his eyes widened in shock.

"Not even a few hours last I checked!" Colin grinned. The others in the room soon had various stages of a smirk on their faces. Only Draco, Remus and Severus were confused.

"What's going on?" Severus demanded.

"Well my dear Dueling Master..." Harry grinned, just as an explosion rocked the ship.

"Fifteen Class 12 Starships have just come out of hyperspace behind Voldemort's forces!" Hermione laughed.

Thank you Mum and Dad! Harry grinned.

"What did you do, Harry?" Severus asked. Harry held up his right hand and pointed to the ring encircling the the third finger.

"For emergencies only." Harry explained. Severus nodded with relief.

They watched the view screen as the forces of Gryffindor whittled down Voldemort's army down to a few minor ships and his own command station. They cheered with relief when the saw Voldemort's ship turn and launch itself into space. After the relatively short battle, Kingsley's face appeared.

"Captain Evans. We're glad to see you safe and well."

"Thank you for the rescue, sir." Harry nodded.

"We've got a tractor beam on Hedwig and will bring you safely to port in the main hangar. Are there any injured?"

"Seamus was hurt in the blast."

"I'll have the medical team meet you."

"He's pregnant, sir."

"They will be prepared. And Harry?"

"Sir?"

Kingsley grinned for the first time, "Welcome home, son." Kingsley signed off and Harry sat back in his seat.

"We're home, Mates!" Harry announced. Everyone cheered at that bit of news, except Draco. He was now closer than ever to being married and he still hadn't had a chance to talk to Harry. And now he wasn't sure if he ever would.



TBC...

Next chapter...things are going to get very interesting for our fated lovers! Stay tuned!