After returning the city to Pegasus, the Atlantis Expedition settled into a routine; every two months or so the Dedalus would arrive with another group of personnel, most in desperate need of training just to survive in the city. This time, nearly a year after the battle with the super-hive, mostly administrative people disembarked from the Dedalus; one in particular was man in his early thirties, long platinum blond hair and a permanent sneer affixed to his face.
A necessary evil, Woolsey called him when complaints about his arrogance, his less than knowledgeable comments, and his incompetence in certain areas came up. After a week in the city he met AG1 in one of the Rec Rooms. Unfortunately no one noticed when he went silent and surprised for a moment before his face went blank after he caught sight of Rodney McKay. The blond watched and waited for nearly three weeks before acting. First he made sure that no one would notice that there was an extra report, only a few words long, that was sent through the gate with that week's data burst. His T's crossed and his I's dotted he headed for the Mess only one thing on his mind, Revenge.
"Well, well, well what have we here" a voice drawled from behind Rodney McKay, "really, Longbottom, just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower I find you hiding amongst muggles." He was completely ignored until Teyla realized he was staring directly at Rodney and nudged the aforementioned scientist to catch his attention.
"What? Oh," he turned to look at the blond, "who are you? And if you want me to fix something might I suggest you actually get my name right. "
The blond smirked and said in a condescending voice "Now, Longbottom I know you have memory issues but this is a bit ridicules."
"Did I not just say I wasn't Longfellow, or Goodbottom, or whatever name you just called me? Honestly, do you people try to be this stupid?" Rodney huffed out in irritation.
A small, demented grin crossed like a shadow on the blonds face, "You still deny who you are, Neville Longbottom of the Damned, well I supposed we'll have to put that to the test" He pulled a thin polished stick from his sleeve.
"Are you going to poke my eye out?" Rodney asked drily; only to be completely shocked when, with a murmur and a strange twist of the polished stick, the crowd that had gathered was pushed back about a foot leaving AG1 in the center of a large gap with the blond. To their even greater surprise he twisted the stick again and the four of them froze below shoulder level.
The demented grin grew to a frightening proportion, "Do you know how long I have been waiting for revenge? I don't know which of the Damned killed my father but you are the one I have with me right now."
"I told you, I am not whoever you think I am. I am Rodney McKay, not this Longbottom fellow. I don't even know who that is!"
"That is truly unfortunate, for you; you are a dead ringer for someone I want dead, and your friend does bear a passing resemblance to Potter. Two birds with one stone, as it were. But let's see if we can jog your memory, I'll even start off with an old favorite." He turned to Sheppard, pointed the stick at him, and said "Crucio"
Even before the red light from the stick hit Sheppard, Rodney knew that it would be bad. He could feel his face drain of blood as he watched Sheppard bite through his lip before giving in and screaming. Shaking, he could hear unfamiliar voices, echoing around and with Sheppard's screams. Through the shaking that had begun he tried with all of his might to concentrate to focus on anything but the three fold screams and the bone deep knowledge that soon his best friend would be worse than dead.
The screams went on for what seem like hours; when they finally subsided, Sheppard panting and bleeding still stuck in the same position he froze in Rodney managed to gather enough wits to ask "Why?"
"Stupid Gryffindor, my father always taught me to hit where it is going to hurt the most. You gave yourself away with them, your family" he sneered, "Your greatest weaknesses; you're going to suffer before you die, and through them your suffering will be that much greater. Now we need to keep jogging your memory." He pointed the stick at Teyla this time and as she began to scream lights danced before Rodney's eyes and he shook hard and without reservation. When Ronon, who impressively held out for nearly twenty seconds, began to scream actual images flashed in his eyes that the scientist forced himself to ignore as he desperately tried to think of a way out of this for his team. A sudden silence had him jerking his head up fearing the worst. The blond was looking back over his shoulder towards the edge of the crowd where five or six people, all with sticks of their own, had gathered and it appeared that they were trying to break through whatever the blond had done. The man turned back to Rodney, "Well, it looks like our fun is going to be cut shorter than I would like, I wonder though who should I kill? I may only get one shot"
Rodney saw his chance and spoke quickly, feeling fear that he was already too late, "Me, you said you wanted me dead right? So kill me but leave them be"
"Oh Longbottom," he chuckled causing several of the people with sticks to look up in shock at the name, he could just hear murmurs of 'damned' over the roaring in his own ears, "you will beg for death long before it finds you, their deaths will weigh as heavily on you as my father's does on me" the blondes eyes glowed with madness as he points his stick towards Sheppard and with demented glee whispers "Avada Kedavra" causing the several people in the crowd to cry out with horror.
Time seemed to slow for a second, as the green light flashed towards Sheppard. Rodney could only watch helplessly as the light came closer and passed him the smell of death breaking something inside of him. He could almost hear something shatter in his mind before he whispered, "NO!" The chairs the three sat on, despite being steel, crumpled suddenly under the force exerted without warning; their bindings releasing as all three landed flat on the floor as the spell flashed over Sheppard's head colliding with the far wall in a shower of sparks. The distraction was great enough that no one noticed Rodney had moved and was now next to his team running a soothing hand over them murmuring the only healing spells he knew, "I really wish Mia was here, she was so much better at healing than I am" he muttered.
In a blink he had turned back to Malfoy and silently cast the same spell as Malfoy had cast on them not long before. Malfoy, unperturbed at this turn of events, crowed in glee "Longbottom, I knew I could draw you out of your cowardice"
A gestured ripped his sleeve, showing an ugly tattoo of a skull and snake. Rodney caulked his head to the side and spoke quietly, intensely, "You should have left me to my ignorance, Malfoy, and you should have learned from the mistake your brethren made before you; never involve my family in your dispute with me."
"Dispute, you murdered my father, you bastard."
"Me, oh no. It was Mia that blew the back of your father's head out, the things that girl could do with simple healing charms just boggles the mind. Not to mention that murdered is a bit strong of a word considering your father was a murdering rapist, a torturer that relinquished his right to humanity and mercy when he joined that merry band of idiot. Much like you have" Finally a bit of fear stole across Malfoy's features replaced quickly by defiance.
"When I get out of this…" a quick gesture from Rodney interrupted him.
"You say that like you'll actually survive the day" Rodney brought his hands together in a decisive movement which caused a loud crack before one of his palms began to glow. The glow faded quickly and Rodney picked up the small seed that had been left behind; he stalked toward the still immobilized Malfoy, absently grabbing a knife off of a nearby table. "You should be proud, Malfoy, this is one of only two of these plants in existence; A special creation of mine for just such instances as this. I trust you have found your dear aunty Bella; she received the first for her actions against my parents. Now I wouldn't leave your cell, might be bad for you."
Malfoy, pale as he already was, went ghost white at the mention of Bellatrix; her remains had been found nearly three months before he took this assignment. What was left hadn't been pretty. "Let's not be hasty, Longbottom, surely we can come to some kind of understanding. I still hold a great deal of power in our world I can get anything you want just let me go and we can discuss it like civilized men, yeah"
Rodney stared at the blonde in front of him with none of the glee the other man expected given their history, just a single minded intensity that had become his trademark throughout the war. Without a word he moved forward still holding the seed in one hand and the knife in the other, with a short gesture with the hand holding the knife Malfoy's hand raised palm up until it was straight in front of him. It was only when Rodney had the knife poised above the blonde's hand that he spoke, his voice emotionless and flat "Draco Lucius Malfoy, you took the mark of a dangerous sociopath and declared war on our world. You are responsible for countless deaths during your terrorist activities, for which you were pardoned. More importantly you attacked my family, innocents in this dispute, in an effort to hurt me when you were not even truly sure who I was. You may have escaped your actions during the war but you won't escape this" with that Rodney's hand flashed and a line of blood welled in the palm of the blonde death eater. He then gently placed the small seed in the bloody cut the magic within the seed healing the cut and sealing the seed within Malfoy's hand. He spoke again just before the Blonde disappeared with a small pop, "Your cell has a stasis ward around it, so long as you stay within the bounds of the ward the seed will not sprout, but rest assured you will only live as long as my family decides you will."
There was a crack of air being suck from the room as Draco Malfoy vanished. Though the shield around the area fell when Malfoy was transported away no one approached, they had never seen explosive Rodney McKay act with such deliberate and forceful calm. Those who knew of Neville Longbottom also feared what one of the damned would do if they got any closer. Rodney ignored them moving swiftly back to where Ronon, Teyla, and Sheppard lay unconscious. He checked them again then snapped out in a much more normal tone, "Will someone call Carson?" Carson had stayed on after Jennifer Keller had chosen to remain on earth with her ailing father. Though Jennifer was quick to return after her father passed two months after the city had returned to its place Carson wasn't willing to give up control of his infirmary again; Jennifer had also made noises about returning to the status quo regarding her relationship with Rodney though he wasn't so sure she held his interest any longer.
It wasn't long before Carson had all three still unconscious teammates safely ensconced in the infirmary. Rodney took a seat next to his Colonel turning it in such a way that he had a clear view of Ronon on the far side of the small room and it would only take the slightest of glances to check on Teyla who was on his other side. Carson ran his tests clucking his tongue disapprovingly, honestly reminding Rodney of Madame Pomfrey. Mr. Woolsey, followed by several Marines, stormed into the infirmary.
"Will someone," he spoke with the forced calm only a diplomat would have, "tell me why one of my staff is currently hiding in the wraith cell, three members of our leading team are unconscious, I have had six different expedition members approach me in the last fifteen minutes to inform me that they won't work with someone who is damned, and these four gentleman refuse to let anyone enter the infirmary without armed escort." Rodney looked at the four guards; to a man they all turned pale, one even squeaked. Rodney rolled his eyes.
"According to the scans Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon have all suffered some kind of nerve damage very recently; without knowing the cause I won't know if it is permanent or not. I canna understand why they're still unconscious though." Carson looked baffled.
Rodney huffed an impatient sigh; the four Marines twitched "Draco Malfoy is in the wraith cell because it's the only place on Atlantis where he won't end up dead. This is because he was stupid enough to try and torture my teammates" for a moment Rodney looked so fiercely protective that two of the four Marines drew their weapons to the astonishment of Mr. Woolsey and Carson. Rodney calmed quickly and looked unimpressed by the firepower pointed in his face as he continued, "They should be waking up soon, and after they do I will explain everything. As for the idiots, you'll likely get several more who refuse to work anywhere near me, you can decide what to do with them." He likely would have had more to say but then the colonel stirred.
"Did anyone shoot down the dart that hit me?" He groaned out. Teyla and Ronon were also beginning to come around in their own beds.
"Never mind that, why is the wraith cell the only safe place for Mr. Malfoy?" Woolsey demanded.
Rodney rolled his eyes and ignored the bureaucrat, speaking directly to his teammates, "You'll need to be careful how you move for a few days your nerves are going to be shot. If you experience shaking this is normal for about another 24 hours but after that it could indicate permanent nerve damage. Luckily the little shit didn't make any real effort."
"How would you know that?" Carson asked as Rodney moved to help his colonel sit up.
"I'm still waiting for an explanation." Woolsey snapped with his foot tapping impatiently.
Rodney pulled and irritated face, "Fine" he spat, "I will explain in one hour in the conference room, I will only go over this once. You" he gestured at one of the Marine's; everyone watched in mild astonishment when the marine in question actually ducked away from Rodney's pointed finger, Rodney twitched in irritation. "I am not going to go berserk anytime soon; you can go play with your guns or whatever it is that you do in your spare time. Find a spokesperson and then maybe try making decisions based on actual facts this time around, huh. Carson, let's just say for now that I have some experience with what they were hit with and know the effects if left untreated." With that he moved to help Teyla and then Ronon to sit up, refusing to answer any more questions. After about fifteen minutes the infirmary finally cleared out when it became obvious that nothing anyone could say would change Rodney McKay's mind. Rodney was going over potential effects to look out for with Carson and his teammates.
WATCH 'WERE THE WORLD MINE'
A galaxy away a technician opened a seemingly innocuous report, one of hundreds he received from Atlantis. It was five simple words long, 'the gardener has been found', the British man immediate passed along his own signal knowing that his words would go straight to Albus Dumbledore himself.
YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO
Back in Pegasus Richard Woolsey looked over the conference table with irritated concern. Rodney McKay was seated down the far end still looking worriedly over his three teammates, though he didn't seem to be answering their questions any more than he was anyone else's. Next to them were Carson Beckett and Jennifer Keller. Finally on the other side were the two surprises, Radek Zalenka and Amelia Banks. Amelia looked nervously Rodney while Radek was practically bouncing in his seat out of excitement.
"Is it true?" The Czech demanded eagerly, "Are you truly one of the Damned?" Amelia Banks jumped at the term and made some sort of abortive protective motion.
Rodney snorted lightly at her movement. "You know we truly hated that name." he commented.
Radek shrugged, "Is what you are known as, yes? Is not such a bad thing where I am from."
Rodney looked at him steadily, "You're not magical" there was no question in his voice. Sheppard snorted at the term is slight disbelief resulting in a glare from his friend.
Radek shook his head, "No but there are places where the separation could not happen. My family has lived in the shadow of The Count's summer home since before he was The Count. You and yours are celebrated there, spoken with admiration for what you had done. It is unfortunate that you could never find safety with us."
Amelia had wheeled around to gape, open mouthed at Radek while he was speaking. "Admiration" she whispered aghast. "They massacred at least 500 people in one night. Nearly a fifth of those were innocents, true innocents and you have the gall to admire monsters like that. "
Radek frowned, "You believe propaganda; this is disappointing for someone in your position."
"Don't bother, Radek, not a single one of the self righteous asses has listened to a thing we had to say. I don't see why it should change now."
"What could possibly justify the murder of 500 people" Keller breathed in horror causing Rodney to roll his eyes.
Of the others Ronon and Teyla were regarding him curiously; they were more open minded than many of the people who came from Earth. Ronon in particular had a faintly interested gleam; anyone with that kind of a body count almost always meant someone with some skills behind it. Sheppard was interested and behind his mask seemed slightly saddened. Woolsey whom Rodney honestly thought would react like Keller was watching with something akin to sympathy in his eyes.
"What happened?" He asked finally, giving the scientist a chance to make them understand.
Electric blue eyes flashed with surprise. This was the first person in a position of power to ask. "You'll need the full story then" He half sighed half warned. When the leader of the expedition nodded Rodney shrugged. "You asked for it…"
Magic exists. Hush Colonel, there is a reason I am starting this way. What you experienced earlier was a form of magic, a curse. But we will get back to that.
About a thousand years ago those with magic were just beginning to hide from those without. It was during the so called Dark Ages. Fear of those with these extra powers had begun to spread, new religions sprung up that called for the death of all those with magic.
Four particularly strong Magicians decided not enough new magical were being trained under the old system of apprenticeships and so banded together to form a school. Their names were Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. The school they created was called Hogwarts. Yes Colonel I am fully aware of the humor of that name but I didn't choose it.
For many years these four taught their students without prejudice. They even took in students who had been born to non magical families, now called muggleborns. The records are unclear about what truly started the argument but later sources ascribed the growing tension to this policy. It is well known that Slytherin feared non magical, called muggles, for their violence. Many now believe that meant he also feared and hated muggleborns as well but that was never really proven. Slytherin left the school never to return. The reason I am telling you this is so you have the necessary background.
Now nearly a thousand years later a boy was born into an orphanage. His mother was a witch of the Slytherin line who had ensnared his father, a muggle. She had dosed him with a love potion then stopped sometime during the pregnancy. The common belief is she thought he had really fallen in love with her. He left her and she died giving birth to Tom Marvolo Riddle.
This boy grew up during World War II. Teyla, Ronon has someone told you about that time period? Good. When he turned 11 he was invited to join Hogwarts. By this time Tom had realized his power and used it. My friends and I, the Damned I suppose, believe that he started off first to protect himself but quickly learned that power corrupts.
The boy grew into a man. He learned murder before he turned 17, killing a girl then framing another student. He wandered the world learning some of the foulest rites that ever existed and creating a few new ones. One of the things he learned was a form of immortality. The act of cold blooded murder shreds ones soul and with the correct preparation pieces of that soul can be stored as a sort of safety net. No I am not to the point where I come in yet, Colonel.
Finally he began to try and take the world under a created name. The name Voldemort was still feared in the magical community when we were arrested. I will get to that later, Colonel. He terrorized the world for 11 years.
Just under two years before he was brought down the first time a prophecy was spoken that said roughly that a boy would soon be born that could bring down Voldemort. There were two children who fit that prophecy, both born on June 31 1980. I was one, born with the name Neville Longbottom. The other was a boy named Harry Potter. You think that doesn't make sense, Colonel try the rest of it. We'll get to all of it later but let's just say that our punishments were truly…inspired.
Voldemort ended up choosing the child of prophecy. He chose Harry and I try not to be guilty over how grateful I am about that fact. The night he chose Harry and marked Harry as a savior he did one more thing that would affect the rest of us. We know he had been planning to make another soul container that night, we know that he had gone through all the preparations and had planned to use Harry's death. We know this because while Harry was doing the impossible a small fragment of Riddle's soul attached itself to a newly formed scar on his forehead.
How he did the impossible you ask. There are three curses that are considered unblockable. They are so evil that they are an automatic life sentence within English magical society. The first is a curse that strips the will of a person, makes the do the bidding of the caster no matter what it is. Having been under the effects of both the plant that Lucius dosed us all with comes close. The second you three felt tonight, it is a pain curse that can drive someone to insanity within five minutes. The final curse kills whatever touches it. There is no recovery and there is no hope. Harry Potter remains the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse.
That night the Voldemort's powers were broken and he lost his body as a result. He was less than a ghost, unable to die while his soul containers existed. Yes Banks they have a name but it is not one I will throw around for just anyone to hear. No, the less know what it is call or how to do it the better. He fled the house and the people celebrated.
I was the other potential and my parents paid the price for that. After the semi death of Voldemort a group of his followers, called Death Eaters, attacked my family. The four used the pain curse on my parents. They did not recognize me from that day until the day they died when I was sixteen. They existed, not lived, in a ward for the untreatable.
When we were 11 the both of us received an invitation to Hogwarts to our mutual surprise. Harry had grown up with his muggle relative, ignorant of his roots. I was considered little better than a squib, a non magical child born to magical parents; no one thought I had enough magic to get in. But those are other stories.
By the end of the first term Harry had made two extremely tight friendships with a muggleborn by the name of Hermione Granger and a Pureblood, the technical term for someone that has at two generations of magic behind them on both sides, by the name of Ron Weasley. By the end of First Year they had face the spirit of Voldemort, who was riding on the back of one of the professor's head. By the end of Second year they had faced one of Voldemort's soul containers which had been possessing Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister. Third year there trio did not face Voldemort but still learned more about Harry's family and why they died. At the end of our Fourth Year Harry was kidnapped and his blood was taken as an ingredient to give Voldemort a body again. It was at the end of fifth where things really began to get interesting.
That year the wizarding government chose to ignore the possibility that Voldemort had regained physical form. That school year ended with a running battle between six school children, including myself, and twelve Death Eaters in the very heart of the government building. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, her friend Luna Lovegood, and I realized quickly that we needed to do damage and as such began to throw blasting curses at the enemy. They underestimated us and because of that we were able to hold them at bay until help could arrive. This help included Harry's godfather, who had been unjustly imprisoned for murder for most of Harry's life. He died during that battle.
We found out later the Headmaster whirled Harry away to tell him the Prophecy. We were taken to the hospital wing. At that point we were still willing to follow the adults, willing to bow to their authority. Then some of the teachers arrived. The deputy headmistress lit into us. Chew us out up one wall and down the other. But not for what you think. It wasn't for sneaking out of school, not for putting ourselves into danger, not for any of the myriad of things that any of us would have accepted. No she tore a strip off the five of us for daring to use hexes instead of stunners. We were facing hardened killers, some of which were throwing all three of the unforgivable curses like they were nothing and she was upset about the fact that one of us blew the arm off one of our opponents. It was the last straw, even for someone as meek as I used to be. Yes you heard me right Colonel I was meek. When Harry turned up the next day we swore ourselves to him.
"He knew that we needed to train. We were underestimated the first time we fought and it saved our lives but we wouldn't be underestimated like that again. What we needed was time." The entire crowd was hanging onto his every word. Even Banks was looking somewhat enthralled. "What we truly needed was time. We found it but not in the way most would have guessed. I'm sure the histories that tell about us say that we disappeared for two months right after the end of fifth year and that we reappeared… changed."
Amelia Banks reluctantly nodded when eyes turned to her.
"There is a room in Hogwarts call the Room of Requirement, designed to give its user exactly what they need. That's where we were for those two months but for us ten years passed that we could train."
"That's sixty times faster than the normal rate." Sheppard spoke and Rodney nodded.
"We never aged physically but a great deal can change in ten years even without what we did." At sudden weary looks he snorted. "Though it doesn't mean much to most of you we decided quickly that we need to become True Masters of different types of magic."
Banks looked mildly disgusted while Radek nodded thoughtfully. "Many thought this is what you did" He spoke.
"I should have known you would know about it" Rodney said, highly amused. At the others blank faces he sighed and continued. "A True Mastery is unlike anything in the non magical world. While most who study magic believe it can be mastered in the same way one master's weapons training or martial arts. It can be learned like that. With repetition and practice but True Mastery is something else entirely. Most never try because it is dangerous."
"What he is not saying is that it is also highly illegal in most if not all developed countries." Banks interrupted harshly. "It's not even taught about in any of the schools. I'm not sure how fifth years would have even heard about it without delving into things that should be left alone."
Rodney shrugged carelessly, "Hermione remembered it being mentioned in passing and she was able to use the room to find out how to do it. If it had been even mentioned in any of our classes' things might have turned out slightly differently. You see" he said for the parts of the audience that were still in the dark, "A True Master is not someone who merely learned the spells and could use them effectively. A True Master of any field of magic submerges themselves within that magic and allows it to change them. The Count Radek spoke of is known throughout the world as Count Vlad Dracul, most commonly known as Dracula. He and his cousin Elizabeth Barathory are True Masters of Blood Magic. They are considered success stories among those who would do this. The pop culture vampire image, the blood thirsty monster? That comes from failed Masteries. People who studied under the Count but didn't anchor themselves properly. The thing was we never even knew that there were tethering spells. Not until long after everything was said and done." With a slight grimace he continued the story.
According to the texts a True Mastery can be broken into two parts. The Gift and the Price. All the texts talked about the gift and the price but what none could mention was the Test. It turns out that the tethering spells block the Test.
Using the room it was all too easy to find the rituals. The tethering spells would have served to limit how deeply we could submerge and how long the magic could flow unimpeded. It would guide the changes to come. Because of the spells the Test rarely ever happen so it was never mentioned.
So we performed our rituals ready to pay the price but got far more than we could have ever bargained for. Because it was the Test that kept us trapped for 10 years within the Room. We had meant to spend what would have amounted to a few days on the outside and still be able to catch the train home.
We chose magic based on our strength's and preferences because we would have the strongest connection to them. Yes Colonel it will do you good to know what they did as well. It will be important later.
Luna chose mind magic. As a natural Occulemens, someone who can block mind readers, it was only logical. Her Test involved her being locked within her own mind until she could escape; it took eight years. Her price was her reality, her past. During that time she experienced every possible outcome of every choice she had ever made or any choice that had been made around her. Her memories faded into just one possibility. She lived in a present in which her mother simultaneously lived and died when she was child; where she had been sorted into all four houses. Bullied and a bully herself. She no longer had any grounding in her own reality. But she could walk into others' minds as if they were her own, as automatically as she breathed. She could create false memoires that were indistinguishable from real ones, something that is considered impossible in the Wizarding world. Let's put it this way, she could convince a person that they were both a victim of a Wraith feeding and the Wraith that fed on them simultaneously.
Ginny chose Dark Magic because of her experience with one of Riddle's Soul containers. Don't sneer so, Banks, before you hear what Dark Magic really is. You see we all thought Dark Magic was magic that could be used to hurt other, offensive magic as it were. That's what we were taught in school. It's not. We found out from Ginny that Dark Magic is nothing less than emotion fueled magic. It is any spell that needs not only intent but emotion behind it to cast it successfully. Yes, Banks, that includes the Patronus Charm. For those who don't know the Patronus Charm is considered one of the hardest light spell to cast; it conjures a guardian of pure happiness to protect from several dark creatures, including the foulest on earth known as Dementors.
But back to Ginny. She chose Dark magic. Her Test was mastering her emotions. Her Price was her rationality. She became a creature of pure emotions; strong and unchecked. Her abilities with emotion fueled magic though skyrocketed. She no longer needed spells for her magic, it simply radiated off her with her emotions. Happy she could kill what had been considered an unkillable creature, the Dementor. Her anger could burn a target to cinders. Her hatred could kill a city block.
Hermione chose Healing. To the day we were sentenced she was the kindest of all of us. She wanted to help others. Her test was also about control but it was controlling her body rather than her emotions. Her price was her ability to cast offensive and even most defensive magic; any unnecessary pain she caused came at great price to herself. Even when she killed Lucius Malfoy it cost her in pain. With a touch she felt every injury that the person ever had. A near instant diagnosis and often a near instant treatment. She could also take injuries onto herself to heal if she needed to.
Ron chose Animal Magic. While he had a great head for chess, and with that politics he had always been a person of action rather than thought. He believed that Beast magic could blossom from that. He was right. He thought he was choosing transformation into animals, which again was part of it but not all. His Price was his active magic; he will never cast spells again. His test was surviving the pain of his first transformations. He is the only person in recorded history who can change at will into any creature, magical and non. As a strange result though his very skin became toxic to anyone except Hermione and Harry.
Harry, as the child of prophecy and with his connection to Riddle, chose Soul Magic. He was tested with his own worst moments and those of his adversary. His Price was the ability to touch others. It is…difficult to describe what he gained. The ability to shred souls for one. The power to draw magic from the people and things around him. He gained the abilities of a Dementor. The foul creature that fed on Soul energy. He could take abilities from others in this way as well as cause terror in the hearts of his enemies.
I chose Elemental Magic. I had always had a knack for Herbology and other Earth related magic's so I decided to go one step further. I sank past it though, into a life stream that connected the universe. I sacrificed half my humanity and half my individuality to become an Avatar of the universe. I can see anywhere in the universe in real-time. My test was keeping my sanity. I became a conduit of the universe and in order to process it my brain had to basically upgrade by several million percent.
Those ten years were difficult at best but when we emerged two months later we were ready to take the fight to the Death Eaters and their leader. Harry used his connection to Voldemort to learn his plans, his raids. We attacked our enemy at every chance. Within a year they feared us as much as they feared their leader. The people we saved cheered and booed us in turn. We killed, sometimes in horrific ways.
Bella Lestrange was one of the people responsible for torturing my parent into insanity along with her husband and brother in law. Luna shattered her husband's mind and left him a drooling vegetable. Her brother in law went to hone Ginny's abilities even further. If I remember right it took him several weeks to finally die. Bella though she had also killed Harry's godfather and for her we designed something special. A plant of my own design that would grow using the blood and soul of a witch or wizard, imbued by Harry with the essence of a dementor. I planted it in her blood and left her locked in a room with no way out. The plant kept her alive as it slowly shredded her soul. We projected it would take at least six months to die. It was the same seed I planted in Malfoy. Once we pull him from the cells he will die in agony. Oh stop looking at me like that, Banks. He used the Unforgivables on my team.
All was going well for two years then Molly and Arthur Weasley, Ginny and Ron's parents, were taken. Unlike the teachers, the Headmaster, and nearly every other adult we met all they cared about was us staying safe. Oh Molly berated us plenty for our actions but it for putting ourselves in danger. Harry and I were effectively orphans, we had never had that kind of love. Luna had her father but he was disconnected from reality and had been since the death of her mother when she was nine. Hermione and her parents were estranged for their protection. It broke her heart to do it though.
The Weasley's with their huge hearts took us in. They were as much our parents as they were Ron or Ginny's. And they were taken. We found where they were being held after they had been tortured. One of the worst memories I have is of Arthur Weasley's last breath just after we burst into the room they were being held. Then the recording burst into life.
In case you didn't catch it that was the night we killed five hundred people. It is mostly blurred, coated red and sounding of Molly screaming. The prisoners did get a choice I remember that much; to a man they chose a painless death over living with what had been done to them. The Death Eaters and their leader didn't. We tore through them. I can remember wanting the recording to stop and wanting to cause them the pain they inflicted. It ended the war against Voldemort as he died in the attack. We made sure he was truly dead too.
In the end we were exhausted, grieving and betrayed by someone we trusted. There were five other Weasley brothers. Of them we would have expected Percy to betray us. He had a history of choosing authority over family. It wasn't though. He helped set up a safe house so we could heal. It was Charlie who gave us up. The Headmaster told him that we were being taken in for our own safety. Instead we were tried before any of us could escape.
The punishment for our actions was inspired if nothing else. The Headmaster did not want us to be killed, in case we were needed again, but no one wanted us there. So they locked away our memories and magic; de-aged us all and sent us through time to live our lives all over in other places. I was put on the doorstep of the McKay's and Dumbledore made them believe I was their child. I don't know where the others are except they would be adults now. Dumbledore would not send us too far into the past and risk us dying but he would have made sure they were older than our younger selves.
"We have a great deal of preparations and not much time." McKay finished and glanced around to the abject shock that surrounded him. Even Radek was mildly bug eyed from the story. Mr. Woolsey pulled himself together first.
"Preparation?"
"Yeah, preparation" Rodney huffed out impatiently. "Were you not listening. My Mastery dragged me down into the stream that connects the universe. In order to deal with the information flow my mind had to make several hundreds of trillion more connections than it had before. Now that is not a connection that goes away but it was suppressed for so long that restoring the connection will put me out of commission for a while."
Jennifer's concerned, and mildly horrified, "Are you sure you should?" over lapped with Sheppard's "Out of commission for how long?"
"First of all even if I didn't want to reestablish my connection, which of course I do it is a large part of me, there wouldn't be much choice. Next time I enter any kind of REM sleep or unconsciousness I will be pulled back. From the time I enter the stream it will probably be six months to a year I will be unconscious."
"You wish to use time dilation, yes? To shorten scale. I will not put up with doing your job very long." Radek commented into the silence.
Rodney snorted, "Yes, Merlin only knows what the idiots would blow up if I was gone for that long. I'd come back to find my city at the bottom of the ocean. We set up a time dilation field on the mainland again at an hour for every minute of the outside and have Colonel, Teyla and Ronan stand guard so some creature doesn't decide to make me lunch. That way it will only be a few days, your time."
-Back on Earth some time later-
Albus Dumbledore waited patiently for the room to fill. He looked for all the world like he was having the time of his life despite the drab walls of the conference room. He did have time. Plus, he had long learned how to deal with America muggles. The old wizard would have liked handled everything in house as it were but his informant told him that here was no way to reach Neville Longbottom through magical means.
"Thank you for meeting with me" He smiled genially at the group. He recognized them from the dossiers created by his informer.
First was the muggle Doctor Daniel Jackson. According to his information he was a studier of language and history. Dumbledore suspected a Ravenclaw personality. He regarded the old wizard with that same inborn curiosity. He would be the easiest to win over with facts.
Next was General Samantha Carter, she was actually what would be called a half blood squib. Her mother was a muggleborn and her father a muggle. She had taken after her father clearly. The woman had not looked up from her the strange glowing square in front of her. She had the most contact with Neville. Dumbledore would have to speak carefully as she likely had some attachment to the boy.
Peering suspiciously at him was a man Albus knew to be named General Jack O'Neill…though he looked far older than the age in his file would indicate. The man was silver haired and steely eyed. He would be the one to convince. Pure muggle, as far as any records go O'Neill was one of the few people in the world without a drop of wizardry in his ancestry.
The fourth man was a tall dark skinned man whom was simply called Teal'c. Even his informant had not been able to glean much about him. The few things that had been passed on were likely misprints or mistranslations. There simply was no way for this man to be from another planet.
The final man who was meeting with him was the one who set it up. Cameron Mitchell was a graduate of Salem. He was a proud half-blood who embraced both halves of his heritage. And he was practically bouncing in his seat to help.
"You said it was urgent." O'Neil drawled.
"And it is, my dear boy. How much do you know about magic?"
O'Neill rolled his eyes, Dumbledore could barely see enough of Samantha Carter's eyes to see she did the same. "We had that briefing ages ago. Now if that is the only reason you dropped by…"
"No I am afraid it is not. It is always so hard to determine how much another knows but if you already know about magic I can move onto the reason I am here. I come bearing grave news. As I am sure you know not long ago a magical war was ended. It was ended by a group of students whom I failed quite badly. In order to succeed they allowed themselves to be drawn down a dark path using magic's that were both banned and dangerous. I felt some responsibility toward them, enough so that when they were tried I spoke on their behalf. All of them had been denied a childhood and so I made a plea that it could be given back to them in way. We had them de-aged to children and to protect them I had them sent through time to be raised by families that would love them."
"And how does this affect us?" O'Neil interrupted indolently. Dumbledore felt a flash of irritation, it had been decades since he was spoken to like that.
"We have found that the spells keeping their memories bound are failing." He lied smoothly, "leaving a group of very powerful, very dangerous, very unstable people. One of these people is part of your program. If the spells are breaking down like they are with the rest than it could lead to many deaths."
He captured all of their attention, "Who?" Dr. Jackson asked intently.
"With us his name is Neville Longbottom but I believe that the name you know him by is Rodney McKay."
Okay so there will be one more chapter. I can't promise when but it will happen. I have literally been writing this for two whole years.
Also I have actually published short stories now. Check out the link on my profile