Everyone else claimed that it had been scary for them when he had developed superpowers. Okay, they hadn't actually admitted it out loud but he knew it was only a matter of time. It had scared them that he was capable of doing things that they could only dream of doing. It had been scary for them to think that they might have lost him.
It was twice as bad for Rodney himself.
He had given up that life, given up the life of doing amazing things that muggles couldn't. Of course making a man float in mid-air had been nothing new for him, a wave of a wand and few muttered words and he was able to make entire groups of people do that. He hadn't ever done it without a wand before, though. That was the reason why, he knew, that the ancient device hadn't turned him into a molten puddle of protoplasm. He had enjoyed it, though. He had enjoyed it immensely.
Rodney McKay sat at a table in his lab looking over the report of a scientist that had just recently gone off-world and found a device that was apparently useful. The way it was described in the report, however, sounded like a device that had been found by an SG team and had simply proved to be an Ancient version of a toothbrush.
He couldn't concentrate on reading the report, though. He couldn't help but wish that he had his wand with him. He had really enjoyed being able to do the physically impossible once again. He had thought of sending Jeannie a letter asking her to send him his wand, he knew she would have kept it. She had a tendency to do things like that. But he knew that the SGC would be looking at everything that was sent to Atlantis and he didn't really like the idea of explaining to them why he was being sent a wooden stick. Besides, he wouldn't be able to do any magic around anybody else. That had been his deal with the Ministry upon telling them that he quit his job there, that he was going to a different galaxy to study muggle sciences.
He had gotten hell for that with the people he had left behind. Rodney had been one of the leading minds even in the magical society. Of course he was, he was the grandson of Albus Dumbledore. He had been forced to go to the Ministry and get them to make him unfindable by magic it had gotten that bad. He had been forced to get his father to oblivate his neighbors more times that was probably healthy because of the amount of owls coming and going from his house. If someone of the magical society wanted to find him they'd have to do it the muggle way.
He hadn't been bothered by any of his former co-workers since. Of course, going to a different galaxy helped a little.
He sighed and closed the laptop. He was only halfway through reading the report but he couldn't concentrate. Maybe he could talk Elizabeth into letting him go to Earth. He had no doubt in his mind that he could think up some excuse to make her let him. Then he thought of all the bad things that could happen in the half hour it took to travel over the bridge and he knew that it was out of the question.
Rodney sat down on his bed. He mentally closed and locked the door before pulling a photo album out of a drawer. He took a deep breath before opening it.
The people in the photos smiled up at him and waved. The one in the center of the first page was of his whole family. His mother, father, sister, himself, his grandfather and grandmother. His aunt and two uncles, both on his father's side as his mother was a muggle. A very understanding and open minded one at that. Jeannie hadn't inherited their father's magic, something Rodney had held over her head many times growing up. He had been accepted to the magical boarding school their grandfather was headmaster of and she hadn't. She had an astounding aptitude for brewing potions, though. She was always helping and learning about them from their father while he was away.
The two pictures on the second page were of his grandfather in all his bearded glory, cussing out Rodney's father. Rodney couldn't remember what it was that had gotten his grandfather so angry but knew it was bad. It took a lot to anger Albus Dumbledore enough that he swore. The second one was of Rodney asleep in a hammock with his barn owl on his chest, asleep with it's head underneath one of it's wings. Jeannie had been the one to take the picture, having claimed that it was proof that even he slept every once in a blue moon. The picture-Rodney shifted in his sleep as the page was flipped.
The next page held pictures of Jeannie at her college graduation. The first one was of Jeannie in her graduation robe. The second was of Jeannie accepting her diploma. The third was of Jeannie with Rodney, their father, and their mother. The last was a candid picture of Jeannie kissing Kaleb. Their grandfather had been too busy to come to her graduation, too busy at Hogwarts.
The next page had pictures of around Hogwarts, taken by Rodney during his time at the school and found to be put into the album years later. The first was of Dumbledore talking to the school, beard long and purple robes flowing. The second was of the boys in Rodney's Ravenclaw dorm. They were all playing a game of poker, introduced to them by one of the older students that didn't have any magical heritage.
He wished that he could go back to it all. Now that he wasn't able to take back his true roots, he wanted to. He missed his family. He missed his old job. He wanted to take his grandfather up on a still outstanding offer and be the defense against the dark arts teacher for a year, he had always thought that it would be fun.
Rodney snapped the book shut when there was a knocking on his door.
"McKay, lemmie in!" John said from the other side. Rodney re-hid his photo album before mentally unlocking the door and letting the ranking military officer in.
"What d'you want, Sheppard?" Rodney demanded irritably as John walked in.
"Wanted to know if you wanted to come have lunch with Teyla, Ronan, Carson, and myself." John said. Rodney sighed and shrugged.
"Well it isn't like I was trying to do anything important, such as sleep." Rodney muttered as he followed John out of his bedroom. He had truly been planning on sleeping, he hadn't had more than two hours sleep in at least three days. But now he thought about it, spending some time with his new family was just as important.