Child of Ra -- Ch. 3
Summary: Harry accidentally falls through a portal in Voldemort's lair. On the other side of his one way trip he meets a very strange group of muggles, almost as strange as himself. And where ever Harry goes, trouble is soon to follow...
Chapter 3
The day after the first meeting found Harry sitting in yet another meeting; this one concerning his return to the wizarding world.
“The problem is getting hold of your people through whispers and not yells. We’re one classified group trying to get a hold of another hidden group. All of this without another secret group called the NID getting wind of it.” O’Neill clapped his hands together and gave a grin that was more like a grimace. “Oh, the fun. Anyone have any ideas?”
“If I had my owl Hedwig I would just send her with a letter. As it is, I don’t know anything about the wizarding world in the U.S. I’m pretty sure I slept through that lesson in History class…”
“So, what else? Is there a number we can call up?”
“No. Wizards don’t use telephones. They use owl post or the floo network to communicate over a distance.”
“What’s the flew network?”
It's floo, spelled f-l-o-o, and it’s speaking or traveling by fireplace.”
“Why don’t we use that?” asked O’Neill.
“Because muggle fireplaces aren’t typically hooked to the network, and chances are that none of yours are, since none of you apparently has ties to the wizarding world. Plus, we don’t have the magic powder required to do it.”
“Okaaaay… what other options are there?”
“Sir,” Harry looked very awkward and looked down at the table and bit his lip before he spoke. “The only option we may have is to fly me back to London. Once I’m there I can find the Leaky Cauldron, a wizard pub in town, and contact my headmaster from there.”
“He’s right, Jack. That may be the only option,” said Daniel.
“Fine then, we’ll send him directly to London. And when I say directly I mean directly, no pit stops. And I’m sending SG-1 with him. You guys will keep safe and out of trouble until he’s back in his people’s care. Who’s this headmaster that you mentioned?”
“His name is Albus Dumbledore and he’s the Headmaster of my school. He’s also the leader of the resistance against Voldemort and my trainer and commander, as such.”
“Commander?” asked O’Neill with a frown.
“My people are in a civil war, sir,” said Harry softly. “In a war consisting of such a small community, everyone is involved whether they want to be or not. But all that really matters is that we can trust the headmaster.”
“Alright, then it’s him we’ll be expecting to pick you up and no one else. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” said SG-1 plus Harry.
“Alright then, matter settled. I’ll arrange a flight for tomorrow morning. Be ready to go.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It ended up being that they left at about 5 in the morning, much earlier than to Harry’s liking.
It took about 9 straight hours to reach London, and Harry was glad when the flight finally came to a stop.
“That has got to be the most boring form of flight ever created.”
“Which do you prefer? Hang gliding?” asked Daniel.
“Broomstick flying, actually…”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “Oh,” was all he could think of to say. ‘Of course, broomsticks… how could I forget?’
It took about an hour and a half to find all of their luggage (Daniel’s alone was lost for a little over half an hour). Finally they summoned a cab outside and drove to the hotel Jack had arranged for them.
Since they had arrived so late in the evening the group decided to wait until the next day to start about the business of contacting the wizards.
“Are you sure you know where it is? I mean, it has to be hidden pretty well for people not to notice it…”
“You forget that we have magic. A few spells and no muggles can find it and no one can plot it on a map. That’s the way this place is. Muggles can’t see it, their eyes slide right past it, but wizards can.”
“Well, that’s useful,” said Daniel. “Too bad we don’t have that kind of technology.”
“We do have some cloaking technology, but no where near enough power to hide our whole base,” said Carter.
“So you can make some things invisible, but without magic?” asked Harry, his interest piqued. They had explained what it was they did, and needless to say Harry had been about as stunned about that as they had been about his magic. But they hadn’t given him many details.
“Yeah, it’s technology we’ve picked up from a couple of races, especially the gouald.”
“What’s a gouald?”
“It’s a race of snake-like aliens who take possession of humanoids and think that they are gods. You might be familiar with a few of them- Ra, Isis, Osiris, Anubis…”
“You’re kidding- the Egyptian gods? You know, that’s really weird when you tie it with our history. Supposedly the first wizards sprung up in three areas- central and southern Mexico, Egypt, and of course, in the present day U.K. area. According to all legends they were people ‘chosen by the gods.’”
“Really? So is it genetic?”
“Yes, as far as we know. Though, wizards are known to be born to non-magic parents as well.”
“It could just be recessive through those lines,” said Carter.
“So, do you think that wizards could have been created by these gouald?” asked Harry.
“I don’t know, it sounds like something that they would do; and have done to some degree, like Nirrti when she was experimenting on P8X-987. She was attempting to ‘breed’ a human with psychic abilities. But I doubt that they would have given up so easily, especially since it seems to have worked so well.”
“But what if they became afraid of the wizards? What if they became too powerful to control?” thought Daniel out loud.
“What if… they were involved in an uprising?” Carter quirked her eyebrow as she proposed her thought.
“Like the one that finally drove them away…” said Daniel as things began to clear up.
They all sat in silence for a moment, considering the implications for what they were saying.
“Wow, that’s weird,” said Harry as he considered the thought that he might be descended from alien experimentations.
“Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. Besides, this isn’t exactly a secure location…” said Carter, giving he room a suspicious look.
“True, I vote we turn in for the night and leave conspiracy theories to the ‘I Believe’ t-shirt sporters,” said Daniel.
“I agree,” said Teal’c, the first thing he’d said all night.
“Good night everyone,” Harry said as he climbed into bed as Carter and Teal’c left for their room, leaving Harry and Daniel alone.
Daniel was digging through his bag for his pajamas, turning aside every now and then to sneeze. Obviously the England air wasn’t agreeing with him.
“So, are you looking forward to going back?”
Harry sat and thought over the question. Was he happy about going back? All he’d been thinking of was his duty to fight. He had to go back, they needed him to fight.
“I don’t really know. Don’t misunderstand; I want to see my friends again. But really, it’s just that I don’t have a choice. I have to go back and fight.”
“You don’t have to,” said Daniel. It saddened him to hear the kid speak like that, like a trained soldier. Harry wasn’t old enough to have that kind of weight on him.
“Yes, I do. You don’t understand,” Harry sighed.
All of a sudden he looked and sounded much older than Daniel had seen up till then. Daniel could almost see as a terrible weight laid itself upon the boy’s shoulders, causing them to sink with the effort of holding a whole world, like Atlas remade.
“What don’t I understand? You’re too young and in school. No one would blame you for not throwing yourself to the forefront.”
“But they would,” Harry stopped and bit his lip. He looked on the verge of telling him something, and Daniel sat forward expectantly.
Up till now Harry had avoided telling the muggles about his role in the war. They knew nothing of his fame and most definitely not about the implications of the prophecy. But suddenly, Harry felt so tired of his stoic appearance, tired of keeping his secrets. He just wanted someone to talk to.
Harry looked over at Daniel. He was sitting forward with care and worry in his eyes. Harry decided.
“There are some things I haven’t told you, about myself and this war. You know, or course, that the wizarding world is at war and that Voldemort hates me and why, remember?”
Daniel nodded.
“Well, what you don’t know is the consequences of his failing to kill me and his own temporary downfall. After those events I became famous overnight, literally. Not only had I managed to survive a curse that was unblockable and which kills all it touches, but I’d also managed to get rid of Britain’s most recent Dark Lord who had been terrorizing the country and had been looking towards expansion. Before I could walk or talk every wizard or witch in the world knew my name. So when I first came into the wizarding world when I was 11, even though I knew nothing of that world, that whole world and every human and creature in it knew me. And almost all of them had this preconceived vision of greatness about me.”
Daniel could hear the bitterness in Harry’s voice as he got up and began pacing while he told his story. Daniel sadly thought that he knew where this was leading…
“So even before all this mess started the wizarding world saw me as their savior, and treated me thus-the pros and cons both. I was treated like royalty by most, with cold dislike by others. It was either one extreme or the other it seemed. And above all, by both sides, I was expected to be a little ‘golden boy’ who did nothing wrong, and God help me if I wasn’t.”
His voice slowly worked up from bitter to resentful. Daniel could see his teeth clench and lips purse in frustration. Daniel’s face fell. Yes, he new where this was going…
“So you see, now that Voldemort is back, who else would they turn to? ‘He destroyed him once, he can do it again,’ they think. And the sad thing is, they’re right. I do have to fight him. It is me who has to destroy him.”
“Harry, you don’t…”
“Yes, Dr. Jackson, I do,” said Harry a little angrily, but Daniel wasn’t offended. He knew from experience with Jack that it wasn’t necessarily directed at him, more at the whole situation.
Harry rubbed his face. Daniel could see him grimace and knew it had to be bad.
“Dr. Jackson… do you have any experience with… prophesies?”
Daniel tensed. That was unexpected.
“A little, yeah… why?” Now he really was worried. Who was this boy that he had prophesies concerning him? Surely it couldn’t be that bad…
Harry sighed and hung his head. “I haven’t told this to anyone, not even my friends. A prophesy was made before I was born. But through events I was tagged as the one it concerned, or one of the two.” Harry grinned hatefully at the opposing door and laughed a bitter laugh that sent a shiver down Daniel’s spine. “My favorite part was where it said ‘Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…’”
‘Either must die at the hands of the other….?
My God.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It was 6 am when everyone was finally up and moving. Harry wasn't thrilled, but after the restless night he’d had he was ready to get up and move; anything to divert his thoughts from what he was going back to. All night he had been bothered by dreams of a faceless crowd pushing him towards a cell door. He fought and pleaded against them but they just kept pushing him forward, like a lamb to the slaughter. Once at the door it opened and he found himself back in Voldemort's torture chambers. The next thing he knew he was hanging by his wrists, with the old whip scars searing on his back. Then Voldemort stepped forward from the shadows as they closed in around him and with a cry cast Avada Kedavra. From there he heard the events of the Halloween night 15 years prior, and had woken in a cold sweat. He was only happy that he never cried aloud, so he didn't think he had disturbed Daniel.
Unbeknownst to Harry, Daniel was fully aware of his night troubles. He had woken during the night to find Harry soaked in sweat, tossing and turning fretfully and muttering quietly under his breath. He thought it sounded like Harry was trying to plead with someone not to make him do something. And then a little later he begged for forgiveness for some unknown wrong. When Harry woke suddenly from his nightmares Daniel pretended to be asleep. He figured Harry probably was trying not to disturb him, and Daniel did not want to make Harry feel uncomfortable, though he was dying to ask the boy what he had seen in those dreams.
With this in mind, neither mentioned anything of their discussion last night and Harry's night time confessions, though Daniel fully intended on having a long talk with Jack upon their return. There had to be something they could do.
Daniel knew he was becoming more then a little attached to Harry; he was becoming down right protective of the ill-fated boy. He only wished there was something he could do to help Harry with his situation. He almost wished he didn't have to take him back.
But as it was, they headed out into London at about 7:30 in the morning, ready to search out this 'Leaky Cauldron.'
Fortunately, it appeared Harry did indeed have an idea where they were going. He would tell them if they went too far in any one direction or occasionally remembered certain turns. About an hour into the drive, just when they thought that the cab driver was about to leap back and strangle them, Harry sprang forward-
"Wait! I recognize these stores! Here! Let us out here!"
The cab pulled over and Harry leapt out, striding quickly down the side walk. He reached a corner, looked around, and turned to his right. As SG-1 scrambled out to catch up with him, Daniel just managed to convince the cabby to wait a minute for them before he dashed off after the others.
When he got around the corner, the first thing he noticed was Harry's ashen face.
Daniel came up to him, and Harry turned toward him, but his gaze was unfocused, as if he couldn't even see him.
"Harry? What's wrong? Where is it?"
"It's... It's not there... nothing is here... it's gone..."
Chapter 3
The day after the first meeting found Harry sitting in yet another meeting; this one concerning his return to the wizarding world.
“The problem is getting hold of your people through whispers and not yells. We’re one classified group trying to get a hold of another hidden group. All of this without another secret group called the NID getting wind of it.” O’Neill clapped his hands together and gave a grin that was more like a grimace. “Oh, the fun. Anyone have any ideas?”
“If I had my owl Hedwig I would just send her with a letter. As it is, I don’t know anything about the wizarding world in the U.S. I’m pretty sure I slept through that lesson in History class…”
“So, what else? Is there a number we can call up?”
“No. Wizards don’t use telephones. They use owl post or the floo network to communicate over a distance.”
“What’s the flew network?”
It's floo, spelled f-l-o-o, and it’s speaking or traveling by fireplace.”
“Why don’t we use that?” asked O’Neill.
“Because muggle fireplaces aren’t typically hooked to the network, and chances are that none of yours are, since none of you apparently has ties to the wizarding world. Plus, we don’t have the magic powder required to do it.”
“Okaaaay… what other options are there?”
“Sir,” Harry looked very awkward and looked down at the table and bit his lip before he spoke. “The only option we may have is to fly me back to London. Once I’m there I can find the Leaky Cauldron, a wizard pub in town, and contact my headmaster from there.”
“He’s right, Jack. That may be the only option,” said Daniel.
“Fine then, we’ll send him directly to London. And when I say directly I mean directly, no pit stops. And I’m sending SG-1 with him. You guys will keep safe and out of trouble until he’s back in his people’s care. Who’s this headmaster that you mentioned?”
“His name is Albus Dumbledore and he’s the Headmaster of my school. He’s also the leader of the resistance against Voldemort and my trainer and commander, as such.”
“Commander?” asked O’Neill with a frown.
“My people are in a civil war, sir,” said Harry softly. “In a war consisting of such a small community, everyone is involved whether they want to be or not. But all that really matters is that we can trust the headmaster.”
“Alright, then it’s him we’ll be expecting to pick you up and no one else. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” said SG-1 plus Harry.
“Alright then, matter settled. I’ll arrange a flight for tomorrow morning. Be ready to go.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It ended up being that they left at about 5 in the morning, much earlier than to Harry’s liking.
It took about 9 straight hours to reach London, and Harry was glad when the flight finally came to a stop.
“That has got to be the most boring form of flight ever created.”
“Which do you prefer? Hang gliding?” asked Daniel.
“Broomstick flying, actually…”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “Oh,” was all he could think of to say. ‘Of course, broomsticks… how could I forget?’
It took about an hour and a half to find all of their luggage (Daniel’s alone was lost for a little over half an hour). Finally they summoned a cab outside and drove to the hotel Jack had arranged for them.
Since they had arrived so late in the evening the group decided to wait until the next day to start about the business of contacting the wizards.
“Are you sure you know where it is? I mean, it has to be hidden pretty well for people not to notice it…”
“You forget that we have magic. A few spells and no muggles can find it and no one can plot it on a map. That’s the way this place is. Muggles can’t see it, their eyes slide right past it, but wizards can.”
“Well, that’s useful,” said Daniel. “Too bad we don’t have that kind of technology.”
“We do have some cloaking technology, but no where near enough power to hide our whole base,” said Carter.
“So you can make some things invisible, but without magic?” asked Harry, his interest piqued. They had explained what it was they did, and needless to say Harry had been about as stunned about that as they had been about his magic. But they hadn’t given him many details.
“Yeah, it’s technology we’ve picked up from a couple of races, especially the gouald.”
“What’s a gouald?”
“It’s a race of snake-like aliens who take possession of humanoids and think that they are gods. You might be familiar with a few of them- Ra, Isis, Osiris, Anubis…”
“You’re kidding- the Egyptian gods? You know, that’s really weird when you tie it with our history. Supposedly the first wizards sprung up in three areas- central and southern Mexico, Egypt, and of course, in the present day U.K. area. According to all legends they were people ‘chosen by the gods.’”
“Really? So is it genetic?”
“Yes, as far as we know. Though, wizards are known to be born to non-magic parents as well.”
“It could just be recessive through those lines,” said Carter.
“So, do you think that wizards could have been created by these gouald?” asked Harry.
“I don’t know, it sounds like something that they would do; and have done to some degree, like Nirrti when she was experimenting on P8X-987. She was attempting to ‘breed’ a human with psychic abilities. But I doubt that they would have given up so easily, especially since it seems to have worked so well.”
“But what if they became afraid of the wizards? What if they became too powerful to control?” thought Daniel out loud.
“What if… they were involved in an uprising?” Carter quirked her eyebrow as she proposed her thought.
“Like the one that finally drove them away…” said Daniel as things began to clear up.
They all sat in silence for a moment, considering the implications for what they were saying.
“Wow, that’s weird,” said Harry as he considered the thought that he might be descended from alien experimentations.
“Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. Besides, this isn’t exactly a secure location…” said Carter, giving he room a suspicious look.
“True, I vote we turn in for the night and leave conspiracy theories to the ‘I Believe’ t-shirt sporters,” said Daniel.
“I agree,” said Teal’c, the first thing he’d said all night.
“Good night everyone,” Harry said as he climbed into bed as Carter and Teal’c left for their room, leaving Harry and Daniel alone.
Daniel was digging through his bag for his pajamas, turning aside every now and then to sneeze. Obviously the England air wasn’t agreeing with him.
“So, are you looking forward to going back?”
Harry sat and thought over the question. Was he happy about going back? All he’d been thinking of was his duty to fight. He had to go back, they needed him to fight.
“I don’t really know. Don’t misunderstand; I want to see my friends again. But really, it’s just that I don’t have a choice. I have to go back and fight.”
“You don’t have to,” said Daniel. It saddened him to hear the kid speak like that, like a trained soldier. Harry wasn’t old enough to have that kind of weight on him.
“Yes, I do. You don’t understand,” Harry sighed.
All of a sudden he looked and sounded much older than Daniel had seen up till then. Daniel could almost see as a terrible weight laid itself upon the boy’s shoulders, causing them to sink with the effort of holding a whole world, like Atlas remade.
“What don’t I understand? You’re too young and in school. No one would blame you for not throwing yourself to the forefront.”
“But they would,” Harry stopped and bit his lip. He looked on the verge of telling him something, and Daniel sat forward expectantly.
Up till now Harry had avoided telling the muggles about his role in the war. They knew nothing of his fame and most definitely not about the implications of the prophecy. But suddenly, Harry felt so tired of his stoic appearance, tired of keeping his secrets. He just wanted someone to talk to.
Harry looked over at Daniel. He was sitting forward with care and worry in his eyes. Harry decided.
“There are some things I haven’t told you, about myself and this war. You know, or course, that the wizarding world is at war and that Voldemort hates me and why, remember?”
Daniel nodded.
“Well, what you don’t know is the consequences of his failing to kill me and his own temporary downfall. After those events I became famous overnight, literally. Not only had I managed to survive a curse that was unblockable and which kills all it touches, but I’d also managed to get rid of Britain’s most recent Dark Lord who had been terrorizing the country and had been looking towards expansion. Before I could walk or talk every wizard or witch in the world knew my name. So when I first came into the wizarding world when I was 11, even though I knew nothing of that world, that whole world and every human and creature in it knew me. And almost all of them had this preconceived vision of greatness about me.”
Daniel could hear the bitterness in Harry’s voice as he got up and began pacing while he told his story. Daniel sadly thought that he knew where this was leading…
“So even before all this mess started the wizarding world saw me as their savior, and treated me thus-the pros and cons both. I was treated like royalty by most, with cold dislike by others. It was either one extreme or the other it seemed. And above all, by both sides, I was expected to be a little ‘golden boy’ who did nothing wrong, and God help me if I wasn’t.”
His voice slowly worked up from bitter to resentful. Daniel could see his teeth clench and lips purse in frustration. Daniel’s face fell. Yes, he new where this was going…
“So you see, now that Voldemort is back, who else would they turn to? ‘He destroyed him once, he can do it again,’ they think. And the sad thing is, they’re right. I do have to fight him. It is me who has to destroy him.”
“Harry, you don’t…”
“Yes, Dr. Jackson, I do,” said Harry a little angrily, but Daniel wasn’t offended. He knew from experience with Jack that it wasn’t necessarily directed at him, more at the whole situation.
Harry rubbed his face. Daniel could see him grimace and knew it had to be bad.
“Dr. Jackson… do you have any experience with… prophesies?”
Daniel tensed. That was unexpected.
“A little, yeah… why?” Now he really was worried. Who was this boy that he had prophesies concerning him? Surely it couldn’t be that bad…
Harry sighed and hung his head. “I haven’t told this to anyone, not even my friends. A prophesy was made before I was born. But through events I was tagged as the one it concerned, or one of the two.” Harry grinned hatefully at the opposing door and laughed a bitter laugh that sent a shiver down Daniel’s spine. “My favorite part was where it said ‘Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…’”
‘Either must die at the hands of the other….?
My God.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It was 6 am when everyone was finally up and moving. Harry wasn't thrilled, but after the restless night he’d had he was ready to get up and move; anything to divert his thoughts from what he was going back to. All night he had been bothered by dreams of a faceless crowd pushing him towards a cell door. He fought and pleaded against them but they just kept pushing him forward, like a lamb to the slaughter. Once at the door it opened and he found himself back in Voldemort's torture chambers. The next thing he knew he was hanging by his wrists, with the old whip scars searing on his back. Then Voldemort stepped forward from the shadows as they closed in around him and with a cry cast Avada Kedavra. From there he heard the events of the Halloween night 15 years prior, and had woken in a cold sweat. He was only happy that he never cried aloud, so he didn't think he had disturbed Daniel.
Unbeknownst to Harry, Daniel was fully aware of his night troubles. He had woken during the night to find Harry soaked in sweat, tossing and turning fretfully and muttering quietly under his breath. He thought it sounded like Harry was trying to plead with someone not to make him do something. And then a little later he begged for forgiveness for some unknown wrong. When Harry woke suddenly from his nightmares Daniel pretended to be asleep. He figured Harry probably was trying not to disturb him, and Daniel did not want to make Harry feel uncomfortable, though he was dying to ask the boy what he had seen in those dreams.
With this in mind, neither mentioned anything of their discussion last night and Harry's night time confessions, though Daniel fully intended on having a long talk with Jack upon their return. There had to be something they could do.
Daniel knew he was becoming more then a little attached to Harry; he was becoming down right protective of the ill-fated boy. He only wished there was something he could do to help Harry with his situation. He almost wished he didn't have to take him back.
But as it was, they headed out into London at about 7:30 in the morning, ready to search out this 'Leaky Cauldron.'
Fortunately, it appeared Harry did indeed have an idea where they were going. He would tell them if they went too far in any one direction or occasionally remembered certain turns. About an hour into the drive, just when they thought that the cab driver was about to leap back and strangle them, Harry sprang forward-
"Wait! I recognize these stores! Here! Let us out here!"
The cab pulled over and Harry leapt out, striding quickly down the side walk. He reached a corner, looked around, and turned to his right. As SG-1 scrambled out to catch up with him, Daniel just managed to convince the cabby to wait a minute for them before he dashed off after the others.
When he got around the corner, the first thing he noticed was Harry's ashen face.
Daniel came up to him, and Harry turned toward him, but his gaze was unfocused, as if he couldn't even see him.
"Harry? What's wrong? Where is it?"
"It's... It's not there... nothing is here... it's gone..."