I would like to thank Kuilin for betaing this chapter.

Chapter 52.

Space Travel, Part IX: PC or NPC?

7:34 am, July 26th, 1993

In his headquarter office, Harry subconsciously tossed the scrambled eggs around in his plate, and sighed: "So, that's about all what Severus has told me on his dealings with Baikov - in Parseltongue. Hermione, I am not so sure what to make of the whole matter."

Hermione's face was also grim. She said: "Harry, I need a while to think about it."

Harry nodded, and said: "Take your time."

Judging from his interactions with Baikov, Severus Snape is acting all by himself now. Slytherin coldly said. We shouldn't allow this kind of behavior. The Malfoys are leverages that we can use against him.

Hufflepuff quietly reminded him: Severus has never sworn his loyalty to us, remember? And we all agree that there is nothing wrong with people having their own judgement. Moreover, although this might not mean the same to us as Hermione's life being in danger, we do have to realize that Severus' life is at risk - he surely cherishes his own life, and Lucius and Draco care about his life to a certain degree. Severus' judgement called him to maximize his chances of staying alive.

That's exactly the problem. I agree people can have their own judgement, as long as they don't act on it. A corner that was much darker than Slytherin seethed through his teeth. We need to invent something like the Mark of Light.

Gryffindor roared in righteous fury, Hufflepuff gasped in absolute horror, and even Slytherin frowned.

Harry told his dark side to shut up.

Ravenclaw spoke up: Hey, aren't we even curious about what Severus got from Baikov? From my point of view, we can't call Severus' agreement with Baikov a bad one. Let's face it, Baikov was a student of the most powerful wizard in Russian - a lot of people have ranked Shakhov right below Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Severus managed to get quite a stack of notes from Baikov on Interdicted magic, and he did this without even promising Baikov that he would tell him about any of the magic he gained from the notes afterwards. This was a miracle, no less. If we were given the chance, we would definitely do the same as Severus did.

-Err…

Even Dark Harry had to admit that Severus had somehow pulled out a miracle - without consulting Harry. It is well-known that it was very hard to get information from powerful wizards who were also perfect Occlumens. The world's top wizards had tried to extract information from Grindelwald for almost fifty years now - Lucius had said he guessed some had secretly tried torture, but obviously that nothing had broken someone like Grindelwald. Moreover, Baikov knew how to make an one-time Hammer, therefore he probably already sealed himself against unwanted release of information, just like "Nicolas Flamel" did.

Slytherin pondered: Baikov has worked in the Cosmodrome for eleven years, he had done some serious preparations for his suicidal space mission for several months before the news about the Stone stopped his suicidal thoughts, and he continued that work now and then as a hobby after a few bottles of Vodka. Therefore, if we want to maximize the probability of success of this mission, which is possibly vital for winning this war, then retrieving information from Baikov is a good thing to do. And with Baikov's stolen and magically modified Soyuz return capsule and his semi-finished spacesuit, this could have saved us months of time, and hence this is a vital opportunity. However, I have a feeling that Severus is increasingly seeing himself as an ally to us, not as a subordinate. We need to quench this idea, and have a tighter leash on Severus - this is for Severus' own good. That man has troubles with seeing dangers even when it is right in front of him. He himself confessed on that shortcoming a month ago.

Hufflepuff quietly suggested: Hey, maybe it is time for us to learn how to have an ally...

And Hufflepuff's arguments were cut off by Hermione: "Harry, I think I would agree with you on certain points that you might argue, such as security implications. There are several things that I would like to point out. First, although I still think Severus has some problems telling the differences between right and wrong, Stella would cry at him if he were wrong, so this decision can't be evil. Second, with Stella on Severus' side to help with character judgment, Baikov probably isn't a bad person. However, as a matter of fact, I am more concerned for you than the whole matter - you weren't that excited about Baikov's desire to explore space, or that you might have finally met someone who shares your dream."

-Ahh…

Harry didn't quite know what to say. He had always thought that exploring other galaxies would be the next great step for sapient beings on Earth, and he had often complained about why so many intelligent people just busied themselves with mundane daily matters, instead of something that could save the entire race. However, when another clever wizard turned out to have similar ideas, Harry's own mind also focused more on the pity strugglings among human beings.

-Have I fallen into the same trap that has prevented humans from attaining true greatness?

Hermione continued: "Harry, I think I see what the problem is. You see most people you don't know as NPCs. You see me as a PC, so you are really excited when I share values with you; Severus is probably somewhere between a PC and a NPC in your mind, so you are also quite happy when it turned out that he wanted to revive someone, too. However, when someone you don't know - such as Baikov - also shares some rare ideas with you, it's more or less like a great plot in a science fiction book."

-Err…

Hufflepuff said: Hermione is right. We do see most people as NPCs. And the previous horrible idea about the Light Mark is a perfect example of this train of thought. By imposing the Light Mark, we reduce our followers into NPCs in a RPG game. And that's exactly what Voldemort has done by the Dark Mark - reducing people to NPCs. And see what came out of that - Severus' betrayal might or might not fit into the Prophecy that led to Voldemort's first failure; Voldemort ended up floating in the space for ten years because he didn't tell Bellatrix where to find even one of his many horcruxes; and Voldemort had no idea that two of his most powerful servants were Parselmouths...

Gryffindor also raised a point: You know who had actually imposed a "Light Mark" to many people? Comrade Mikhail Andreyevich Shakhov. And see how that ended up for the cause he fought for - his "NPCs" overthrew Soviet Union after he died, just to get rid of the "Light Mark". Remember, Shakhov's cause was only Communism and the Soviet Union. Do you want to imagine what our subordinates would try to get rid of their "Light Mark"?

Even Slytherin agreed: Now even I feel lucky that we refused Professor Quirrell's suggestion about the Light Mark the moment he raised it.

Cold sweat ran down Harry's spine even as he felt lucky.

"... Treating people as PCs is also benefiting us in other ways. Remember our first mock battle? Back then, Sunshine won the battle by combining the wits of other people. Like you told me, when Severus and Lucius had - or they thought they had - good ideas, they told you about the ideas. I bet they never did that with You-Know-Who. Harry, not only people who are near us are PCs -" Hermione paused in mid-sentence, and carefully asked, "What happened, Harry?"

"Err, I wholeheartedly agree with you, that people are not NPCs. And I shall never impose any Light Mark -" Harry found that he had let his mind slip, but he decided to finish his sentence anyway, so that Hermione would know another circumstance where she had to stop him or anyone else who might try the same, "- onto anyone."

"You, what?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

Harry then explained to Hermione how Dark Harry had come up with the idea, and how the result of the Cold War had taught him better.

Hermione stared at Harry in wide eyes. After quite a while, she said with a bit of stutter: "O-OK, Harry, I understand. And, of course, I would try my best to stop anyone who would try this approach."

Harry gravely nodded.