{A/N} So, new story. Obligatory I own nothing. Let's get down to business. This is obviously an HPxME crossover and I hope to do it justice. I've taken elements from Katkiller-V's Another Realm series and LogicalPremises' Of Sheep and Battle Chicken stories. I'll be pulling a lot of Asari culture from them because frankly they go super in-depth with it and I love it all. Hopefully I can do their ideas justice. This isn't A/U per se because I'm not going to wildly obliterate canon, but there will be subtle differences in the world itself that I think make a lot more sense than they did in the games. (Pretty much all of the credit for that goes to LogicalPremise because his A/U world is absolutely phenomenal). That said, it will not be quite as dark and gritty as OSABC because I couldn't write it well. Hope everyone enjoys, please review because it is manna from heaven to any FF author.

Harry Potter sat at on a plush couch sipping on an excellent Asari tea as he waited for the owner of the apartment to return. It was opulent, as befitting the status of the Asari that lived there, and its security was nothing to scoff at. Fortunately for Harry, nothing short of a dozen Asari commando units could keep him out of a place he wanted to get into. His trusty invisibility cloak and a few silencing spells and confundus charms and he was in. As he sat and waited he contemplated the wisdom of his course of action. What he was doing was highly illegal and could have major ramifications for humans if things turned out poorly, but the upside was just as great, for him at least. His musing was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and closing, and the occupant of the apartment moving around the foyer. Harry grinned, his recklessness only slightly tempered by age and experience, and waited to be noticed. Soon enough he heard a feminine gasp and an outraged voice, "Who are you and what are you doing in my home!"

Harry stood to his full height, which turned out to be about an inch shorter than the Asari whose apartment he had broken into, "My name is Harry Potter, and I am here to have a discussion, Councilor Tevos."

Tevos glared at him and pressed a button on the omni-tool strapped to her wrist, no doubt to summon guards. Harry smiled thinly, "I've made sure that no electronic signals will be leaving this apartment, and trying to leave won't help. You won't be getting out of here until I let you."

Tevos seemed stunned by the knowledge, but quickly regained her poise, striding briskly to a chair on the other side of the room and sitting before saying, "Very well. Say what you have to say and then leave."

Harry sat down as well, "Of course. Straight to the point then. I'm here to join the Council Spectres."

The Councilor was silent for a moment before bursting out into laughter, "You are certainly a bold human. But then, I've noticed that all humans are like that."

Harry smirked, "It does seem to be a defining trait of my species, but I am completely serious."

Tevos shook her head, "Preposterous. This council has stood for more than two millennia. The Spectre's are beings who have shown unimaginable skill and loyalty. Who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to their race and this council. You humans are children, flailing around in confusion, trying to throw your miniscule weight behind whatever catches your fancy. You want too much, too soon."

Harry nodded, "Perhaps. But you must admit, we have a reason. The Turians would have exterminated my people if the other Council Races had not interceded. We push forward so that we have the means to protect ourselves should we ever be attacked like that again."

The counselor frowned, "That may be, but you must look at it from others perspectives. Humans have barely been part of the galactic community for two decades. Humanity cannot expect to receive privileges that other races have not gained after centuries of being under the council aegis. But we've gotten off topic. There is absolutely no way a human can be considered for a spectre appointment at this time."

Harry smiled, "Tell me, how old do you think I am."

The suddenness and randomness of the question threw the councilor off but she recovered admirably with the skill and poise of a seasoned politician saying dryly, "I haven't had much occasion to guess the age of humans, I come in contact with so few."

Harry grinned, "Just give it a try councilor. This will probably go quicker if you just play along."

Tevos rolled her eyes, seeming to relax a bit now that the intruder to her apartments seemed content to play word games, "I'd say perhaps in your late twenties or mid-thirties."

"Would you believe I am 197 years old?"

If the Asari matriarch had had eyebrows she would have raised them, at least Harry thought so. He'd always had trouble with alien facial expressions. She said, "I find that hard to believe. Humans are not nearly so long lived."

"Well, there's a story behind that."

Tevos rolled her eyes again, "And I assume you're going to tell me."

Harry grinned smugly, "Yes I am."

So he told her. Starting with the founding of Hogwarts he gave a quick summary of wizarding history. She listened to him, nodded, and said, "This sounds like excellent fiction. I'm sure you'd make a wonderful author."

With a smile Harry drew forth his wand and conjured a bouquet of flowers. The counselor gaped. Harry conjured a vase on a nearby table and filled it with water before putting the flowers in, "That is a common reaction when people first experience magic."

The Asari whispered, "That isn't possible. Not even the most powerful of Matriarchs could do something like that. It is impossible with biotics!"

"But not with magic."

Tevos' eyes lasered into Harry, "And there is a whole society of you? What else can you do?"

Harry sighed, "There was a whole society of us."

"Was?"

"When Humanity discovered the the Prothean ruins on Mars we also discovered Element Zero. As you may know, we were a bit hasty with our technology and there were accidents with Eezo engines that scattered Eezo dust across the planet. Where the accidents actually happened, some babies exposed to the Eezo dust were born with biotic powers while the others developed cancerous growths and other physical ailments. However, Eezo dust was scattered across the globe in tiny amounts. This small amount did not affect anybody, unless they were magical. Eezo exposure in magicals, even in the smallest amounts, caused rapid neural degeneration and death. Within three months of the first accident, the entirety of the Wizarding World was wiped out."

Tevos was quiet for a moment, "I am sorry. That must have been difficult."

Harry nodded his thanks, "I have come to terms with it."

Tevos replied, "So these… wizards. You were more long-lived than humans?"

The wizard nodded, "Normally humans live to between 80 and 90 years of age, perhaps 100 or 110 with modern medical advancements. Wizards and Witches could easily live to be 150. The oldest wizard in recent times lived to be 355."

The Asari folded her arms, "Remarkable. So, you are a different species?"

Harry shook his head, "No. We could still reproduce with non-magicals. Nobody ever figured out where Magic came from. It generally ran in bloodlines, but sometimes it randomly popped up in non-magicals."

The counselor repeated, "Remarkable. But we have gotten off the subject again. However extraordinary your abilities, I cannot simply make you a spectre."

Harry shrugged, "I was an auror for 50 years, law enforcement like your C-sec, and right now I'm looking for a bit of direction. I obviously can't go to the Alliance, so I've come to the council."

Tevos cocked her head to the side, "Why can't you go to the Alliance?"

"Wizards kept themselves secret from non-magical society. Roughly 800 years ago non-magicals began to persecute witches and wizards so we as a society passed a law to separate ourselves from non-magicals. We called it the Statute of Secrecy and after that we kept ourselves hidden. When Wizards or Witches were born to non-magical parents we would of course, need to tell them the secret but they in turn kept the secret. When Muggleborn, born of non-magical parents, wizards and witches started to die from the Eezo exposure they tried magical and non-magical means of curing their disease, but nothing helped. Humankind knows nothing of wizards, and there is no need for that to change. The Alliance would probably try and dissect me to find out how my abilities work anyways."

Tevos smirked, "What makes you think I won't do that."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle, "Dear councilor, if we don't come to an acceptable agreement by the end of this meeting, I will be erasing the memory of it."

The counselor was suddenly wary again, "That is another one of your abilities?"

Harry nodded grimly, "Yes, it is unpleasant, but the spell is necessary. It helped us keep the Statute of Secrecy."

Tevos declared, "I will not have you or anyone messing with my mind!"

Harry smiled genially, "It's perfectly safe. I've used it numerous times and it works fine on Asari."

"You've tested this on my people?"

The councilors look of outrage tempered Harry's amusement of the situation, "I've used the spell to remove the memories of myself from Asari slaves I freed from the Batarians. Some of them saw me use my magic, and I wasn't quite ready for word of me to get out yet."

Tevos was taken aback by his response and then said quietly, "Ah. Well, if that is the case I must thank you for freeing my people."

Harry waved her off, "It is of no consequence. After Mindoir, well, I've spent the last seven years in the Traverse dealing with Bavarian slavers."

Tevos gaped at him, "That is you? By the goddess! We've been trying to figure out who's been destroying those pirate bands! Eyewitnesses state that it's a single human male that walks into a base or boards a ship and slaughters every pirate there!"

Harry smiled gingerly, "There were eyewitnesses? I must have been sloppy."

The counselor said with wonder, "Not even the best Asari commandos could do that single handedly."

With a shrug Harry said, "Magic is a beautiful and terrible thing. One moment I can conjure flowers, the next I could make the blood boil in your veins."

Tevos grimaced, "That does not sound pleasant. Tell me though, if your entire society died off because of Eezo exposure, how are you still alive?"

Harry had a bittersweet smile on his face as he said, "Through a series of unfortunate accidents I am functionally immortal. I will only die when somebody defeats me in combat, and so far it hasn't happened."

The councilors gaze sharpened, "How, exactly, did you become immortal?"

"Magic."

Tevos sighed, "I feel that I will soon come to hate that word."

Harry chuckled, "Yes. I had a friend that didn't like that explanation either. Suffice to say that it's a set of circumstances unique to me that even other Magical's couldn't hope to replicate."

"Mr. Potter. I hate to belabor the point, but nothing here is going to convince me that you are a spectre candidate. As competent as you may be, you are still human. It will be centuries until humans are granted this honor. It sounds like you will still be alive, come back then."

Harry sighed, "Councilor, as I said before, I'm looking for direction. After the Skyllian Blitz the Alliance has been hunting Batarians ruthlessly. The slavers have gone to ground and I haven't been able to track them anymore. The Alliance has taken up my mantle. I could go pick a fight in the Terminus systems, but without council or Alliance ships nearby to tip off to clean up, any good I do will be wasted. Bereft of my chosen duty, where now do I turn. To the Council, the Spectres. The place where I would have the resources, the intelligence, and the authority to go after the worst of the worst, the threats to the galaxy."

Harry realized he had gotten a bit heated during his speech when Tevos burst out laughing again, "You certainly are dramatic."

The wizard folded his arms across his chest, "I'm passionate. Surely the Asari have the same issue, being such a long lived species. What is life, without a purpose. Maidens explore the galaxy, Matrons have their families, Matriarchs have their causes. What purpose then, do I have. I'm looking for another one right now. I don't want recognition, I'm not doing this to promote humanity or it's causes, I want to be a Spectre because that is where I will be able to do the most good. "

Tevos leaned back and smirked, "You think that being a Spectre is about doing good? I think you're sor-"

Harry interrupted her, fire in his eyes, "I know what it's like to get my hands dirty. To make hard decisions. What do you think I've been doing for nearly a decade? Batarians and Mercenaries hardly ever surrender."

The Asari saw the fire in his eyes, the wells of power hidden within him, and shivered, wondering for the first time exactly what the human was capable of. She spoke cautiously, "Mr. Potter, were I to sponsor you for the Spectre's, you would not be doing it as a human. You could not be doing it as a human."

Harry smiled, "So there is a chance."

The councilor groaned and rubbed her forehead, "I may come to regret this, but the raw combat prowess you possess and the potential that this… magic, has is something I believe the council should and must keep track of. To that end, if inducting you into the Spectre's is the only way to do it, then that is how we shall have to proceed."

Harry's smile bloomed into a full face grin, "I knew that I could convince you."

"Goddess help me I'm going to regret this."

Harry leaned over and picked up his now cold glass of Asari tea and drained it. He gently set it back down and then stood up, "Well. Since we've come to an agreement I won't keep you."

He was going to turn and walk out but Tevos interrupted him, "Wait. If we're going to do this it must be done properly. We'll have to vet you, there will need to be evaluations."

Harry smirked, "You'll have a hard time vetting me. I don't exist. All you'll find are three bank accounts and a small ship listed in my name."

The glare Tevos gave him would have made a centaur quail, "Of course. The secrecy you still cling to. Very well, but there still must be evaluations."

"Name a time and place and I will be there."

Tevos raised her wrist and had her fingers poised over her Omni-tool before asking, "What is the contact information for your Omni-tool?"

Harry shrugged, "I'd rather not give you something to track me with, operational security and all."

"You view this as an operation?"

"Of course. I broke into the Asari councilors private chambers.I had to get past C-Sec plus a squad of hidden Commandos. That's highly illegal you know."

Harry whipped his wand out of the inside pocket of his jacket and conjured a piece of parchment and a quill, "I'll just write it down."

He set the parchment down on the table and conjured up an inkwell to dip his pen in and glanced up at Tevos, "Whenever you're ready."

Her jaw, which had been gaping at his casual breaking of the laws of physics snapped shut and she thought for a moment before spitting out a time and an address, "Be there in one week."

Harry nodded before folding the parchment up and stuffing it in his pocket. He turned to leave and was halfway to the door when he said over his shoulder, "And Councilor? If you think that disseminating information about my existence will protect you from having your memories removed, remember that I can get to you at any time and any place. You haven't even scratched the surface of what I can do, and I would hate to have to bring my full power to bear against you. Just remember."

He quickly strode into the foyer and once out of sight of the councilor, spun in place and silently apparated away.

The Councilor waited a few moments but never heard the door open, so she went to investigate. She found the empty foyer and frowned, unable to decipher exactly how he got in or out. She started a moment as her Omni-tool lit up, whatever sorcery the wizard had done to prevent her signals from leaving had dissipated and now the distress call she'd tried to send earlier went out. Not five seconds later a dozen Asari commandos burst in, guns drawn and biotics flared. Tevos stood in her living room, arms crossed in annoyance. When the commandos had cleared the apartment the leader turned to ask Tevos, "Why did you call us? There is nobody here."

Tevo's arm snapped out and a finger pointed unerringly at Harry's teacup and the newly conjured vase of flowers, "That was not there when I left this morning. Someone has broken in, helped themselves to my tea, and left me flowers. Find out who. And how."

The commando was shocked, "Honored Councilor, Nobody has passed us all day except for you."

Tevos' biotics, always carefully controlled, flared and the sheer power of them nearly brought the Commando to her knees, "Do you think I am playing a joke on you? If you do not find out who was in my apartment and how they got here, the only thing you will be guarding is a trash dump in the Terminus Systems!"

The young Asari saluted and scurried away to investigate. Tevos groaned, her lapse fading and all of her hard won control reasserting itself again. She hit a few buttons on her Omni-tool to call for a private meeting between her and the other Councilors before sighing, "He even drank the last of my tea. This is going to turn into a long night."

Harry popped into existence on the deck of his ship, a small corvette that he'd liberated from a squad of Blue Sun mercenaries before he'd gone on his one man crusade against Batarian slavers. Back when he'd been exploring the galaxy just for the hell of it. It was not a large ship, which suited him perfectly. She was just big enough for an FTL drive, but small enough that he could operate the ship by himself. He'd had to do a lot of remodelling over the years and it was almost a completely different ship thanks to his tinkering. He'd gutted most of the inside and removed all of the weapons systems except for the two forward mounted Mass Effect chainguns. He'd used the space to install a tiny bedroom and bathroom for himself. Runes were an incredible subject that as a youth he'd ignored, but after fifty years as an auror he'd seen a lot of them and after he retired he'd made something of a study of them. He was certainly competent enough to completely rune the tiny washroom so that the using it was mess free and he had an unlimited amount of hot water. He'd made the fuel tanks substantially larger so that he could make longer trips because very few places outside of the Terminus systems would sell fuel to an unmarked ship like his.

He'd been very hesitant to use space-expanding charms on the ship because he was unsure how the enchantments would react to Faster-Than-Light travel across systems and through Mass Relays. They would have been convenient but he'd rather not die in a freak accident as his ship compressed into a tiny hunk of metal with him inside it. He'd made do for eight years though, and the little ship had grown on him. After the first few months he'd decided he would keep it and named it the H.M.S. Gallant. He was still British after all, even if most people identified by their planet of origin now.

The I.C.W had been in an uproar, after the formation of the Systems Alliance, with furious debates raging about whether they should follow the Muggle's example and create an organization to go to space and defend Wizarding interest there. Harry was thankful that his time as a representative for Britain had been long over by that point. Many had wanted nothing to do with space, the Wizarding World had no need of colonization and expansion like the rest of overpopulated Earth. Some, a small but vocal and at the time growing minority, had wanted to leave Earth and start their own wizarding colony. The other side had volleyed back that magic probably wouldn't even work properly off planet. It had degenerated into spells a dozen times and after two years they hadn't made any progress on the problem at all. That was normal though for the I.C.W. and nobody was really too worried about the lack of progress.

Advancements in runic arrays and advanced arithmancy pioneered by Hermione Granger had allowed the wizarding world to comfortably adapt some muggle technologies for use in areas saturated with magic. When television was introduced to the Wizarding World in the early 21st century it had caused an absolute craze amongst the more sheltered families. It had also had the effect teaching wizards about the muggle world and allowed them to keep up with all the advancements that were being made. That was why the Wizarding World knew about the Eezo-shuttle accidents in Singapore within minutes of it happening. They quickly dispatched teams of Medi-wizards and Aurors there to help the local Magical population. They'd gone expecting a humanitarian crisis but what they'd found had been a charnel house. The entire magical population of Singapore and the surrounding area had died within an hour of the accident, their brains eaten away by the interaction between magic and Element Zero. They'd quickly cleaned up any public evidence and obliviated the muggles who knew too much and left, fearful of whatever had killed them.

It wasn't enough though, for the response teams. Only hours after returning to their countries they'd begun to also show signs of neural degeneration. They began to lose control of their limbs, their memories became fragmented, and even though they were hospitalized in due course it was only three days until there wasn't enough left of their brains to keep their bodies running. Magical researchers had gone to work on the problem as their entire society was affected, a wave of death radiating outwards from Singapore. Element Zero had spread over the globe, not unlike the radioactive isotopes spread by the detonation of the first atomic bomb.

There was no cure, no potion that they could research or spell to invent, ten million witches and wizards around the world died in barely three months. Magical creatures died in droves, magical plants withered. Harry watched the entirety of his life collapse around him. It had honestly driven him insane because as the Master of Death, an unwanted and hated title that he had never found a way to get rid of, he was perfectly healthy and unaffected. Harry tried not to think about that part of his life anymore, and so he stepped away from his introspection and began preparing for what he assumed would be a series of rigorous tests and combat simulations.

Harry spent the week girding himself for battle. At least, that was how he thought of it in his head, in his own dramatic fashion. In reality he spent a week cooped up in his ship on a public docking bay in the Wards. He didn't want the plentiful cameras and public surveillance to catch sight of him and track him. A week was a long time to be stuck on the ship but he was used to it. He spent the time working on a third set of battle robes.

Battle robes were his own invention, a necessity due to the fact that Mass Effect weapons were vastly more lethal to a man wearing robes than spells flying at him. A good shield or hasty conjuration would stop spells, but he was certainly not fast enough to conjure a block of stone between him and a piece of metal the size of a grain of sand speeding towards him at supersonic speeds. The solution to that for normal people was to wear a suit of armor with kinetic shields. That was all well and good but Harry had found, after purchasing a very expensive suit of armor from the black market, that while encased inside the layers of armor he could not make his magic work. Six months of research later he finally figured out that when wearing environmentally sealed armor he could not connect with his wand. That was a problem. His solution to the problem were Battle Robes. Three years of even more research and enchantment, neither of which were his forte, had gone into his masterpiece.

The robes were made out of dragonhide that he'd harvested and preserved from the dragons that succumbed along with the rest of the Wizarding World. He styled them after the open robes meant for casual wear that had been popular when he was younger. With a tap of his wand the front would fuse together in a more formal style, closed from throat to toe and with tighter and less flowing sleeves, but more importantly they emitted a field six inches outwards from him that vaporized anything moving towards him at at speeds lethal to his health, not unlike kinetic shielding that stopped objects moving faster than a certain velocity. This inured him against bullets and fragments from explosives, but the fire and shock-wave would be problems. Dragonhide was already nearly flameproof, but a little more insurance in the form of fireproof charms didn't hurt so he tacked them on. To counter the shock-wave he added cushioning charms. A direct hit from a rocket would probably still paste him but he could see those coming at him, and therefore use magic to defend himself from them. He'd dyed the robes a dark red in a nostalgic nod to his auror days, but as a last addition to the enchantments he'd added self-cleaning charms so that he didn't have to bother cleaning blood out of his robes.

To get around the restriction of operating in hazardous environments he wore a pair of tight trousers and a long sleeved turtleneck made of thin, supple leather. Gloves and boots of the same material went with it. With a pulse of his magic clothing would fuse at the wrists, ankles, and waist and a specially altered version of the bubblehead charm would coat his clothes. He'd long since fixed the flaw in the spell and anytime it was popped the bubblehead charm would isolate the area so that there was no decompression and then it repaired itself. He wore a blank white mask charmed to be unbreakable that fused with the edges of his hood and created a separate bubblehead charm the enclosed his neck and head to complete the environmental seal. Runes carved into the inside of the mask recycled air and allowed him to see through it as though it weren't there. He did enjoy the air of mystery it gave him and the lack of eye holes and real eye contact forced him to not use legilimency as a blunt instrument to ravage the minds of slavers and pirates he ran across. Too much of that sort of thing would have negative impacts on his psyche, more than he needed.

To complete his gear he wore a heavy leather belt with a pouch fastened to his left hip that contained any shrunken knick-knacks he might need; A shrunken WindSprite broomstick, one of the few tiny vials of veritaserum he had left, a flask of firewhiskey, and other assorted items. On his right hip was a clip with a sticking charm targeted to his mask so that he had someplace to carry it when not wearing it. From right shoulder to left hip he wore a baldric and scabbard carrying the Sword of Gryffindor. It was useful as a tool to intimidate pirates, and a close quarters weapon when his enemies decided they were tired of shooting pointlessly at him and tried other means of attack. A Krogan could break every bone in his body very easily if it ever got close, and Harry found that three feet of enchanted silver blade imbued with one of the deadliest poisons known to man was enough to dissuade them. He'd dabbled with swordplay in his younger days but had spent the past 20 years practicing and honing his skills in earnest and gaining all the experience he could ever want or need. A quick release wrist-holster for his wand strapped to his wrist was the final touch.

All of this he put on the morning of what he assumed was going to be a test of his combat skills. He drank a pot of tea and had some toast before closing up the front of his robe and activating his protective field. He grabbed his mask off of the peg he hung it on and stuck it to his belt and carefully cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on himself. He didn't want to leave a trail of witnesses back to his ship. The robust electronic surveillance of the Citadel would be more of an issue but he'd scoped out the cameras near his ship and he was confident he could avoid them. He didn't mind being picked up once he was well away from the Gallant.

He carefully made his way out into the Wards, and towards the address that Councilor Tevos had given him. It was a large dull grey box of a building far out on one of the five arms of the citadel in a neighborhood with a spare population. He approached the a door with two guards flanking it, both of them studiously ignoring him thanks to his charm. He stood in front of them, a huge grin on his face, and almost felt bad about what he was about to do. Almost.

With a flick of his wand he dispelled the Notice-Me-Not spell and slid his wand back into its holster. Both Turians jerked in surprise and he very quickly had two assault rifles aimed at his face. A rough flanged voice barked, "Identify yourself!"

"Harry Potter, I believe I'm expected."

They glanced at each other and back at him, taking in his dubious dress and the hilt sticking up over his shoulder, "You need to disarm."

Harry shook his head, "I think not. Call your superiors."

With another dubious glance at each other one put a hand to the visor on his head and spoke softly into it. After a few moments he nodded once and brought the hand back down, "Follow me."

They entered and Harry followed the Turian down a long hallway that opened up into a massive room, probably three quarters of the entire building. It was well lit and had other small buildings dotting it. One looked like a wall had been blown out and there was rubble along the boulevard it abutted. Obviously it was some kind of training ground, and already Harry could feel his adrenaline start to pump sluggishly through his body. Nearly two centuries of life, a childhood of warfare, and a career in law enforcement could not cure him of the rush that he got when combat was imminent.

His guard pointed him to a small glass-enclosed room about 20 yards down from him, jutting out of the wall on the side where he'd entered. He nodded and then walked over to the room. He could already see it was crowded, two Asari, three Turians, and a round dozen Salarians filled the room. All of their eyes were on him as he strode casually into the command center. He thought about saying something pithy but was pre-empted by Councilor Tevos, "Good, you're here. Let's get started."

He nodded his assent, "Very well."

The Councilor began by introducing everyone, "Mr. Potter, these are my colleagues, Councilor Sparatus and Councilor Valern."

The richly dressed Turian and Salarian councilors each gave him a shallow nod which he returned. Tevos continued, pointing out the rest of the group, "This is Salarian Special Tasks Group team codename Ash Ghost, they are here to monitor you during this exercise. These are Spectre's Nihlus Kryik and Saren Arterius who will be evaluating your performance today. And this is Spectre Iyala T'rahn, who will be your opponent in today's exercise."

Harry gave a long slow whistle, "You really want to be sure that you can kill me if you need to."

The Councilor answered him flatly, "Yes."

The younger Turian laughed, "At least he doesn't lack for courage."

Harry smiled genially, "Spectre Kryick, I think that you'll find that anything I lack, I make up for with courage."

The other Turian Spectre scoffed, "I have more important things to do than listen to a monkey make jokes. Let us be done with this farce and move on."

All three of the councilor's sighed before Tevos spoke, "Very well. Mr. Potter, this will be a combat trial pitting you against Spectre T'rahn. You will have the entirety of the training area in which to conduct yourselves. Your goal is to incapacitate your opponent, don't try and kill each other. You will have twenty minutes to complete the exercise. Afterwards we will debrief and determine if you will move on to other trials."

Without further ado, he turned to his opponent for the day and gestured to the door, "After you, Madam T'rahn."

Her eyes found his and they tightened for a moment. A tiny smirk appeared across her face as she strode casually out of the room without a word. He used those few moments to assess his opponent. She was slightly taller than his five feet five inches, and much more muscular than his own wiry frame. She dressed in pitch black, skin-tight commando leathers and carried the corresponding helmet underneath one arm. A massive pistol was holstered at her side and a somewhat more normal sized shotgun was folded up and clipped to the small of her back. All in all, she was the picture of a typical Asari Commando, not that he had encountered any before. Almost all of his combat experience was against Hegemony backed Batarians and the Vorcha and Krogan that made up the Blood Pack. His experience against biotics was woefully limited so he was rightfully cautious about who he was about to fight. 'Then again,' he thought, 'Tevos probably brought in the most powerful biotic she could find on a weeks notice because her imagination is running wild at the thought of what my magic can do.'

He adroitly followed her and in short order they stood across from each other in what looked like a tiny town square. They were around thirty feet away from each other, with nothing but open land between them. Both of them were waiting on the order to begin when a voice came over a loudspeaker, Salarian this time, "Wait one moment. Some of the equipment needs to be re-calibrated."

The Asari spectre sighed and crossed her arms. Her foot began tapping the ground impatiently so Harry decided to break the ice and entertain himself at the same time, "So. Did they tell you what this was all about?"

She glared at him for a moment before responding in a surprisingly girlish voice that was at odds with her harsh words, "I was pulled off my mission because some punk human thought he was Spectre material and they wanted to run a combat test. You look fancy, but I'm going to have fun ripping you ass to shreds for the inconvenience."

Harry laughed and ran a hand through his already messy hair, an annoying habit he'd never been able to get rid of, "Well, I do apologize for the inconvenience but I think you'll be eating your words soon."

Her foot stopped tapping and she cocked one hip outwards her stance screaming disdain, "Look human. I'm nearly 800 years old, and more than half of that has been as a Spectre. I've seen everything this galaxy has to offer and then some. Tevos briefed me on your so-called magic but I don't give a damn about whatever tides-cursed reality warping bullshit you have going on. Unless you've got the combat prowess to use it, I'm going to drown your ass in the fucking ocean."

Stunned by her age and by her experience Harry could only reply, "Tevos must have really been freaked out then, to call someone like you in."

The Spectre laughed, her high girlish voice almost a giggle but the harshness she exuded making it anything but, "That's right. Sounded like a maiden before her first fight with a Krogan Battlemaster she was so scared."

Harry smiled gingerly, "So I can only assume that if I lose this trial I'm going to wake up strapped to a table."

His opponents grin was feral, "You probably won't be waking up kid."

The last wizard shook his head and said, "Well, that's certainly motivation enough."

With that he pulled up the hood of his robes and unhooked his mask, bringing it up and sealing it over his face. She put her helmet on and no further words were passed between them as they both waited tensely. A minute of silence followed in which Harry stilled, focusing himself for the battle ahead while the Asari Spectre exuded nothing but nonchalance and impatience. The same salarians voice finally came over the loudspeaker again and said, "The trial will begin in ten seconds."

"Three. Two. One."

Both combatants moved swiftly. Harry's wand slipped out of its holster into his hand and with a violent thrust sent a gout of fire towards his opponent. In those same moments his opponent had stomped her foot and sent out a wide shockwave of biotic energy storming forward. Harry didn't see if his fire had been effective because he was lifted off of his feet and thrown backwards. After a dozen feet he collided with one of the tough pre-fab building that littered the training ground. He was blasted through it and landed heavily inside. The cushioning charms saved him from any serious injury but the force with which he'd impacted still left bruises. Harry scrambled up with a muttered curse and used a quick cleaning charm to get the dust off of him before quietly casting a disillusionment charm over himself. He swiftly exited the building through the hole that he'd caused and surveyed the battlefield.

There was a large scorch mark around the area that the Spectre had been standing but she was there no longer there. Not knowing where she was he shifted to his left. A silencing spell served to cover any sound his footsteps made and he was careful to avoid any of the rubble lying around. The next few minutes were a test of his patience and stealth, as he moved slowly around the battlefield searching for his opponent. The Spectre had seemingly disappeared and he was unable to find her. More than half of their time had passed and Harry was frustrated, patience never being his strong suit, and so he came up with a new plan of action.

Retreating into one of the buildings he was pleased that there was enough rubble filling it to enact his plan. At some point that roof had caved in and a pile of twisted metal and shards of tough plastic had been haphazardly shoved into one corner. He stepped into one corner of the building, careful to keep out of sight of the doorway, and began waving his wand in a complex pattern. Transfiguration wasn't his strong suit but after nearly two centuries of practice he'd gotten pretty good at it. The rubble was twisted into a rough humanoid figure that was the same size as Harry. He conjured red robes and flung them over his transfigured dummy and completed the look with a conjured white mask. He was about to send out his dummy when he noticed the lack of equipment belt and the distinct lack of sword on its back. With an impatient groan he spent a few more moments transfiguring the necessary accoutrements and securing them. Finally ready, he waved his wand and the dummy marched out the door.

He went swiftly behind it and forced it to walk down the main avenue towards the square that they'd started in. His wand moved in tight motions as he fought to keep it walking with a smooth gait and he stayed roughly twenty feet behind it, hoping it would be enough to keep him out of any more surprise biotic shockwaves. His dummy quickly reached the center of the square and Harry stood at the outskirts, his back to a wall. A quick Sonorus spell enhanced his voice so that the Spectre wouldn't know that it wasn't actually coming from the dummy and he boomed out, "Stop hiding Spectre! Come out and face me! Are you to afraid of one hu-"

The Spectres hand cannon thundered from off to his right and a dozen rounds impacted the transfigured dummy. It was thrown backwards from the impact and Harry canceled the animation charms on it but kept the original transfiguration intact, letting it fall limply to the ground. He kept his mouth shut and didn't move a muscle as the Spectre cautiously hopped down from the top of a building and prowled over to his supposed corpse. He let her reach it and the moment her toe prodded it, discovering metal instead of flesh, he cast an overpowered stunning spell at her.

She was completely caught off guard and his spell impacted her side throwing her to the ground. It didn't knock her out like it was supposed to though. Instead she rolled to the side and popped right back up, although it was with less than Asari-like grace and she staggered a bit as she came to her feet. Her hand was steady though as it whipped around, drawing the shotgun from the small of her back and spraying his position with deadly accurate shots. He let his defensive field take care of those and hurled another stunner at the woman, trying to take her out quickly. She saw it coming though and dove to the side, any debilitating signs of his first stunner gone. This time she came to her feet smoothly and thrust out one hand, sending a ball of blue fire towards him. Harry cursed as he scrambled out of the way, letting the warp fly by and pulverize the wall behind him. This had the side effect of covering him in grey dust as it was blasted outwards from the destroyed wall, effectively rendering him visible again.

His opponent growled, "I see you!"

Harry didn't bother with words, choosing instead to let his disillusionment spell fade away and send a body-bind jinx at the Spectre. She dodged, but he'd bracketed her with two more and as close as they were to each other she couldn't get out of the way in time. His spell struck her and Harry felt a small surge of triumph as she stiffened, but it was washed away when her body flared blue and she disappeared from the area. A moment later he saw a another flash of blue in the corner of his eye as she appeared from her charge on the other side of the courtyard. Harry took a moment to re-think his strategy.

Low-level spells weren't working like they normally did. Even in armor almost everyone Harry had encountered went down to a stunner or a body-bind. Whether it was a function of her more expensive armor or powerful biotics he didn't know but those spells weren't going to work. His dueling style during his auror days had been a high-speed, high-energy one. He'd use his seekers build and mobility to dance around his enemies spells while at the same time bombarding them with with a huge amount of curses and hexes. It was a style designed to overwhelm his opponent, cracking their shields and destroying their conjurations while at the same time herding them wherever he wanted. This wasn't going to work because weaker spells didn't seem to have an effect and he was reluctant to escalate to more dangerous curses for fear of actually harming her. Thus, a different style was called for. He wasn't as skilled as Dumbledore, but he liked to think that his battle transfiguration was up to snuff.

His course decided he immediately transfigured a trio of angry lions and conjured a swarm of canaries. With a flick of his wand they all charged across the square towards his Spectre opponent. He was hoping that his transfigurations would unnerve her but she was completely poised as she smoothly took them out. A singularity grouped all of his birds together and a quick warp detonated it. At the same time her shotgun roared and each of the tigers was dispatched by mass-accelerator rounds. Harry hadn't been idle in the few seconds it'd taken her to dispatch his transfigurations and he had transfigured four heavy iron chains from the rubble at the edge of the square. Animation charms and a compulsion charm gave them pseudo-life and a purpose and they were quickly slithering across the square towards the Asari spectre. As a distraction, Harry conjured dull grey metal spheres about the size of an apple and began to speedily banish them at her. The first of them was flashing across the field at the same time as she put down the last of the lions and slammed into her left leg. It didn't seem to have an effect though as she smoothly side stepped the second and third. Harry had sped up his conjuration and banishment though and so she was forced biotically charge away to avoid taking more hits.

This was exactly what Harry had been waiting for. As soon as he saw the flash of blue out of the corner of his eye where she was coming out of the charge he flicked his wand and sent hit animated chains flying towards her. As he turned he saw another flare of blue as she tried to push the chains away from her. She missed two of them though and both of them quickly enveloped her and constricted. A surge of triumph roared through Harry as he started to sprint towards the Spectre as she collapsed to the ground. Knowing that even if he'd captured her she was still dangerous he conjured still more chains and banished them towards her, hoping to cover her head and toe and restrict any movement she could make. It was in vain though as the chains already on her were suddenly covered in blue fire and both of them quickly disintegrated.

She rolled out of the way of his oncoming chains and before he knew he was pulled off of his feet, as this time the blue aura surrounded him. Enveloped in a pull field, he went flying past her and slammed face first into another building. This time though he did not break the wall and instead the pull field was holding him there against it. He was able to turn around so that his back was to the wall just in time to see Iyala T'rahn pop to her feet and fling another ball of warp fire at him. His well honed instincts took over and he summoned a block of concrete with a swipe of his wand that intercepted the warp. Instead of sending another warp at him, she again whipped the shotgun from the small of her back. However, instead of spraying him with mass effect rounds again, she took an extra half second to slap a large shell into a slot in the side and send a carnage round roaring towards him. He'd had plenty of experience with those though, and so with his first uttered incantation of the day he cast, "Glacius!"

Ice burst from his wand and swiftly enveloped the carnage round, snuffing it out. He kept pushing though, hoping to envelope his opponent in it. Unfortunately there was another flash of blue as she charged away again, avoiding it. The pull field dissipated and Harry dropped heavily to the ground. He looked wildly to either side trying to find his opponent but hadn't locked on to her before his danger sense prickled and he threw himself into a forward roll to avoid what looked like a lance of blue lightning that blazed through the area his chest had been a moment before. He popped to his feet and turned right, where the warpfire lance had come from, and found his opponent only to have to dodge out of the way of another lance of biotic power. With a growl of frustration Harry thrust his wand towards the Spectre and bit out, "Confrigo!"

The Blasting Curse shot across the square and impacted the ground just to the right of the Spectre. With an explosion of flame she was thrown off of her feet and through the air, landing heavily on the ground a dozen feet from where she'd started. She was starting to stagger to her feet when Harry sent another Blasting Curse towards her, again sending her flying. This time, somehow, she landed on her feet and even though his third Blasting Curse was on its way, she blurred blue and dodged it with yet another biotic charge. Harry spat out another curse but it was interrupted as the Spectre came out of her charge right in front of him and snapped his head back with a biotics enhanced punch right in his mask. He heard her muffled curse of pain and the crack of bones in her hand as it broke on his unbreakable mask. She was so close that when he brought his arm around trying to aim his wand the best he could do was her left shoulder. He snarled out, "Fulminare!" and at the same time she gave a cry of effort and another warpfire lance blasted from her broken hand and blew a hole an inch in diameter through his left bicep. At the same time his lightning bolt blew its own hole through her shoulder, making her entire left arm go limp.

Both of them staggered back, clutching their respective wounds. Spectre T'rahn was the first to recover, and even though her right hand was broken and her left arm was hanging limp at her side, she charged towards him. Harry tried to bring his wand around to blast her away again but she was on him too quickly and slammed her body into his, sending them both down to the hard ground. He knew immediately what she was trying to do, as broken hand came across to grasp his right wrist, his wand arm. She twisted her body around and in a flash had him in a textbook arm-bar, his wand pointed harmlessly at the sky. Her girlish voice gritted out, "Yield!"

Instead, Harry let go of his wand and and wandlessly summoned it into his left hand. Even with his injured arm he swiftly had his wand pointed at her helmeted head, "Break my arm and I blow a hole through your skull."

Her body glowed blue and he let magic well up inside him and through his wand, the tip beginning to glow with suppressed power. A voice came over the loudspeaker, "Enough. The exercise is over."

Both of them immediately relaxed. His left arm dropped and he cradled it to his chest and he felt his right come loose from the vice grip of her arm bar as she flopped back. Both of them took a moment to catch their breath before Iyala said, "Athame's ass human, what is your mask made of."

Harry shoved her legs off of him and sat up, "Dragon bone."

She also sat up, cradling her right hand against her stomach, "Bone? That was a biotically enhanced punch. It would have cracked a krogans skull plate. It should have shattered your mask."

Harry shrugged, wincing as a jolt of pain went through his arm, "It's got an unbreakable charm on it."

She snorted, "An unbreakable charm? Does what it says?"

"Yeah."

She shook her head, "What a pain in the ass. I thought I was going to break your face but I broke my hand."

Harry transferred his wand back over to his right hand and began to prod the hole in his arm with it, "If you give me a minute I can fix that for you."

The Spectre cocked her head, "Really? Neat. It'd take hours in a bone regenerator and then a few weeks of rehab normally."

Harry nodded absently as he concentrated on the flesh-mending charm that he was casting on his arm. The biotically created wound resisted his efforts for a few moments before the wound closed. He could feel the muscles underneath his skin writhing as they regenerated and turned his attention to the Spectre, who was watching closely. He held out his left arm, ignoring the discomfort it caused, and said, "Give me your hand."

She held it out to him and he gently grabbed her wrist. He used a switching spell to switch her glove with air and her blue hand was bared so that both of them could examine it more closely. All of her knuckles were definitely broken and it looked like some of the metacarpals further back were also cracked. He nodded once before intoning, "Ossis Emendo."

His magic washed over her hand and with a few quiet snaps her bones mended themselves. She immediately took it back and started to flex it, marveling at how quickly it had been healed. Harry gave her the usual instructions, "Take a few painkillers tonight and don't strain it and the soreness should be gone tomorrow."

She got up and and held out a hand to help him up. He took it and she hauled him to his feet saying, "Not bad for a human. Some of that shit even surprised me."

He nodded his acceptance of her compliment, "Let's get back to the booth. I want to see the Salarians try to figure out how I did most of that."

The Spectre laughed, "Those little lizards are probably losing their minds trying to figure out those animals you sicced on me."

Both of them made their way back to the booth and when they came into sight of it Iyala asked, "So, can you do something about this hole in my shoulder too? I saw you fix yours and it seems like the same kind of wound."

Harry shrugged, "I'd need a few diagnostic charms to be sure but most likely."

"Good, because you really fucked up my arm. I can't even move the tides-cursed thing."

Harry chuckled, "That's the effect of the lightning, not the wound. It messed up the nerves in your arm. It should wear off in a bit."

Both of them entered the control room and all of the attention was on them. All of the Salarians, including the councilor, were clustered around a group of screens obviously analyzing data from the fight. The Turians had their heads together, heatedly discussing something. The only one standing alone was Councilor Tevos who had her arms crossed and was tapping a foot impatiently. She spoke as soon as they entered, "Ash Ghost, what is your assessment."

All of them shuffled around a bit before the captain of their group spoke in a reedy voice, "Our instruments could not determine what Mr. Potter was doing. Spectre T'rahns biotics registered but his own… energy blasts did not register at all. In addition his transformations were not something our instruments could quantify. Our conclusion is that Mr. Potter was tapping into an unknown energy source that we cannot see nor interacts with."

She nodded, seemingly expecting the answer, "Spectre Kryik, Spectre Arterius, your assessments?"

The youngest of the two Spectre's spoke first, "Potter is obviously well versed in combat. His instincts and awareness are well honed. His… magic is obviously very dangerous. However, he seems to have limited experience against biotics and it does seem less effective. He hit T'rahn with multiple energy blasts that were ineffective. Once he moved past those though he became significantly more dangerous. Only a biotic would be able to escape that trick with the chains. Overall, I'd provisionally say he has the combat skills to be a Spectre."

The other Turian Spectre, Saren Arterius, grunted, "The monkey has a few tricks and they might be enough to overcome a rabble of Batarians but any skilled fighter will see through his tricks and slay him."

At his words the Asari spectre stiffened and snarled out, "That first burst of fire would have fried you Arterius. Your biotic charge is a disgrace and your fancy armor would have melted all over you."

Saren eyed her impassively, "I would have gutted him before my armor even had a chance to heat up."

"You arrog-"

Tevos cut her off, "Enough. Both of you. Spectre T'rahn. Your assessment please."

Iyala's voice was surprisingly fierce, "Give him to me."

Tevos response was quick, "What?"

The Spectre reached up to take off her helmet before replying, awkwardly removing it with one hand. The smile on her face was ravenous, "Give him to me. I will make him into the kind of Spectre that Arterius could only dream to be. His combat skills are good, but think about what he could do with training against a biotic. It would take the Solarch or Lunarch to bring him down. And we haven't even scratched the surface to what his abilities are."

The Turian councilor, Sparatus, spoke for the first time barking out, "He is still a human! Look at him! As soon as he appeared and proclaimed himself a Spectre everyone would know we had a human. It cannot happen."

Iyala grimaced, "He's not with the Systems Alliance. He has no loyalty to them. Surely we ca-"

Harry interrupted her, "I can disguise myself easily enough. Observe."

He waved his wand up and down his body twice, murmuring each time, and his illusion took effect. To all the observers it seemed that his body changed. His shoulders narrowed, chest expanded, and hips widened until all the observers saw was the slender form of a female standing before them. He quickly tapped his throat and when he spoke next his voice was feminine, sultry and aristocratic, the perfect imitation of a woman he had known in the past, "Everyone will see an Asari Spectre."

Iyala, who was standing next to him, poked his illusory breasts, "Fascinating. I see them but they aren't there."

Harry slapped her hand away, "I'm not going to go around hugging people. They'll never know."

Sparatus objected, "Still. No Asari would be caught dead speaking the human language."

The Asari Spectre rolled her eyes, "Then he'll learn the language. Give him to me and I will make him a legend!"

All three of the councilors shared a pointed look. Their body language shifted subtly and while Harry hadn't been around them enough to catch the subtext, evidently all of the Spectre's had. Saren's stance suddenly radiated agitation while Iyala's conveyed smug satisfaction. Tevos spoke for the triumvirate, "It is this council's decision that Harry Potter be given a Spectre's trial. He will have two years to prove to the Spectre's and this council that he has the necessary skills and commitment to do the job. At that time he will either be relieved of his duty or given all the rights and privileges of a Spectre. All the other details will be worked out at a later time. Dismissed."

Without further ado, all of the councilors turned and left the room. Half of the STG group left, forming a loose diamond around the Councilors, along with Nihlus Kryik who gave Harry a nod as he padded past. The other half of team Ash Ghost stayed clustered around their equipment, starting to pack it up. Saren Arterius was the last to leave and and he stalked out with a few parting words, "Humans have already proven incapable of bearing a Spectre's burden. This one will be the same, no matter what tricks he can do."

Iyala snorted, "Ignore him. Stupid Turian hates humans. He blames them for his brothers death. Now. We've got a lot to do. We have to get you in the system, get you some credentials, fake a psych evaluation. You have to fix my arm first though. You know, this armor is going to cost a lot to fix."

Harry sighed, "Your armor is going to cost a lot? I'm going to have to patch my robes and make sure that the enchantments on it haven't degraded. Biotics sure seem to have that effect."

The Asari looked at him intently, "Enchantments? Alright, screw everything else, you're going to tell me all about your magic, starting with how the hell you stopped my shotgun rounds without shielding or armor."

"Alright, alrig-"

"And we have to scrounge up some food, I'm always starving after a good fight."

Harry dutifully followed her out of the building, wondering why he always ended partnered with the crazy ones.