A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews! I love hearing what you guys think. I hope that this chapter is as enjoyable as the last two. This chapter was a lot of fun for me and it went somewhere I was not expecting when I sat down at my computer. I do want to remind everyone that all of my stories are AU. If you guys have questions, please let me know. I will do my best to answer through PM.

Happy Reading

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate

It took a lot to shock an Ascended being into speechlessness, but as Janus looked down at his descendant he could honestly say that he had no idea what to say or do. Thoughts were flashing across his mind at a dizzying speed allowing him to come to three conclusions very quickly. One, he had forgotten that the device would need an age limit on who it chose to bring to the outpost; having a baby appear had never been a possibility he had taken into account. Two, something horrible had happened to his remaining family as he was well aware that they had been in hiding and that Harry had a healthy core before he had left them. This thought alone was almost enough to make Janus process anymore thoughts.

As he picked up Harry and held him close he watched as another figure appeared in their partially corporeal form, only for another and then another to follow. The third conclusion he had reached was that there was no possible way he could hide this from the others.

As more and more Ascended appeared within the outpost Janus looked down and noticed the envelope that had been tucked into Harry's blanket. It was next to nothing for him to use his powers to release the letter from the envelope and hover so that he could read it without releasing or jarring Harry. It had been almost a thousand years since he had held a child and even with his Ascended powers he was wary of moving him around too much. Taking a quick glance at the child that was already falling back to sleep in his arms, Janus turned his attention to the letter only to narrow his eyes in anger as he read.

Dear Petunia Dursley,

Tonight you sister, Lily and her husband James Potter, were murdered by the Dark Lord Voldemort. Your nephew has survived and I am placing him into your care. I know that you have no love for your sister nor will you love Harry, but I think that his being placed with you will be for the best. The child must not know of the Magical World or his place in our society until he is eleven. I will place protections around your home to keep your family safe as long as you agree to provide a living space for Harry. Once he returns to our world, I will ensure that you remain safe for this sacrifice.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.)

Janus glared at the letter as the tendril of power he had been using to hold it up crumpled the parchment like the trash it was. Still holding the child, he looked up to find himself under the scrutiny of a roomful of disapproving Ascended. Not only that but he could feel the weight of the gazes of the others that had not taken a partially corporeal form. Never before had he been the focus of the Ascended collective or seen the collective turn its attention to one place before.

When Khord stepped forward to speak, Janus took a quick glance around and realized that those that were gathered in his outpost were some of the oldest of the Ascended. They were the first to ascend after they had come to this galaxy and were responsible for most of the laws that they followed. If there was anything that resembled the council they had formed as a government while still human, these Ascended beings would be their counter parts.

"What have you done Janus?" Khord spoke in the same even tone that most of the Ascended had adopted after leaving the mortal plane. Someone not used to hearing conversations between the Ascended would never know whether the being speaking was angry, disappointed, excited, or afraid. Somewhere down the line they had stopped showing their emotions. Most of the Ascended relied on silent communication that was unique among their kind. The fact that the others had taken on form did not bode well for Janus.

"I have broken no laws. This place was created before I ascended and I used no ascended knowledge while building the outpost or the device that has brought Harry here." Janus spoke clearly, not exposing his panic to the others.

"And yet you hold a child in your arms. It no longer be said that you are not interfering in his life." Another Ascended spoke from somewhere in the back of the room.

"This child was brought here because he fulfilled the requirements of the device." Janus was trying desperately to think of something to say. He already could tell what they were going to say.

"But he cannot stay." Khord spoke again. "You must send him back from whence he came to avoid interference in his natural development."

"I will do no such thing." Janus could not keep the anger from his voice as he thought about the letter left by Dumbledore. "It would be a mistake to send him back."

"You have no choice. To keep him here would be pointless as he is a child. Surely you do not expect to leave him here alone?" Another of the oldest spoke as she stepped forward.

"He cannot go back. He was left with people that will not take care of him. I will stay with him before sending him back." Janus looked at the other Ascended warily. "I would be willing to descend and take care of him as he is my descendant."

The woman he had just answered was one of the ones that frequently argued for stripping Ascended beings of their memories and leaving them on planets that were under developed if they were found guilty of interfering with lesser beings. Honestly, now that he could recognize some of the Ascended in the room, he was becoming worried about what would become of Harry once they chose a punishment for him. They would not care that he had not actually broken any laws, the fact that he was holding a human in his arms while he was still Ascended was enough in their eyes for punishment. If he was lucky, he would simply be banished like Oma Desala had been, and her punishment was fairly light as she was also one of the oldest.

The other Ascended being just ignored what he had said as she took the child from his arms. He had to stop himself from fighting her as she was now holding the child. It took every bit of self-discipline he had to hold himself still.

"Again, it is not your choice. The child will go back to where he was taken from. You will not have any further contact with him. Is this understood?"

Before Janus could respond another Ascended being appeared in the room. Janus's first instinct would have been to ignore another observer as he could still feel the gaze of the collective on him, what harm could one more do after all, but seeing Khord and the others freeze in place before nodding their heads in respect had him looking at this new Ascended being in confusion. Even the one now holding Harry was watching this new arrival with both wariness and respect.

The woman walked quietly over to where he and the one that had taken Harry from his arms were still standing. As she drew closer to his side of the room Janus realized that the very air around her seemed to spark with power. She smiled softly at Janus as she took the child into her own without even sparing a glance for the other that had taken the child while telling him what he was to do.

"Raina, it has been long since…" Raina simply held up a hand causing Khord to stop speaking immediately. Janus was beyond confused and could feel the confusion coming from some of the others that were watching but had not taken form. He was not the only one who had never seen this Ascended being.

"It is good to see you again Khord. I found myself unable to stay away however." She looked around at the Ascended that had gathered in the outpost and smiled again. "I find myself needing to…interfere." Janus did not bother hiding his surprise as she continued to speak. "When you ascended Khord, I was so happy to no longer be alone, but maybe it is time I give you a history lesson. I feel that otherwise you will make a big mistake and miss an opportunity that you do not yet see."

"This world caught my attention, as it did many of yours, when your descendants developed cores. I have watched as they grew and were reminded of my own history even while you watched and found this to be an odd occurrence. You see, back when I was mortal, our people were no more developed than the humans of Earth are now." Her smile widened as power rippled across the plane as she spoke. "Surely you did not think our people appeared out of the void as an advanced race? We too once believed our abilities were magic. Celestis was once very much like Earth, and our people began to develop cores while we were still nothing but hunters and gatherers. You see, it is natural that your descendants developed cores as well as it is a natural defense. The energy they take in is stored and used to help keep them healthy and to survive, much as it did for us so very long ago."

"It is surprising how alike these Wizards are to us; we to developed foci to help us use our power just as they have. We too found nature reacting to our stored energy and found uses for the flora and fauna that evolved because of their interaction with us. I have been amazed at the similarities to my own history that they have shown. I did not even think I could be surprised anymore." She paused as she looked down at Harry. As she looked up she began again. "When I was sixty, I became pregnant again. I had long thought I was past having children and I was content with my son and his family. But the thought of having another child was wonderful, so I prepared for my new child. As I said, we had advanced to where the humans on Earth have advanced so far. The non-Magicals of course; our knowledge of medicine was not terrible for the time. Unfortunately, I went into labor too early and there was unforeseen complications that developed. My child died before she could take her first breath…and my core broke. Never before had this happened, the healers had no idea how to help me and I was fading quickly. I was tired and no longer wanted to fight to stay alive…and that was when I ascended. I was the first and it was an accident as we had no idea that the possibility of ascending to a higher plane was even possible."

Even Khord now looked stunned at the story. More than a few ascended were now just watching in shock as the woman who was claiming to be the first of their kind to Ascend into this plane told her story. Even those in Pegasus had turned their attention to the happenings taking place in the small outpost Janus had built.

"I did not have the laws that to guide me as you do now. I stayed near my family and my home, eventually helping others so that they could ascend when they were ready to depart from the mortal plane. Many Ascended over the next few generations and our dependency on our abilities waned due to our advancements in technology. There was no real need for anyone to learn about their abilities because they had technology and what the technology could not achieve the Ascended could. Eventually the cores were gone and our people were only using small portions of their abilities already having forgotten how to use what we once thought was magic."

"Our people were now actively looking to Ascension as their next step after living their mortal lives. It was many generations later that we first felt the effects of the worship that we were getting as those on the mortal plane looked to us as gods; mostly because we were still interacting with those that were till mortal. That constant stream of power…was so intoxicating…it was no surprise that the Ori were born. It will be hard for you to understand as you have never felt it, but that power was every bit addicting as the most powerful drugs we could create. Eventually, the Ori decided that we should block others from Ascending as we would not have to share power with newly Ascended."

"Like Janus, I had continued to keep watch over my descendants, and when I realized that no more of my family would be allowed to ascend I told them. To block another from Ascending is to wipe them from existence, and that was something that I could not allow to happen to my remaining family. Eger spread the word and eventually led a large portion of the Alterans away from our home galaxy and the rise of Origin. My husband and I followed, as I could not stand to leave my human family with no one to watch over them. I left my own children that had ascended behind as they fully embraced the new ideals of the Ori and no longer cared for their human family. Power was all that mattered and they would destroy anyone that would try and take that power away. My husband and I watched as our human descendant and his people seeded this galaxy and started to build a society that would try to emulate the best of their ideals. We watched as the Alterans grew in this galaxy, which they called Avalon."

Raina swayed side to side as she looked again at the child in her arms. When she spoke again it was so softly that a mere human would have struggled to hear her, but for the Ascended her words rang across two galaxies as though a thunderclap. "Due to an accident while working on Potentia, Eger would have been the first in this galaxy to ascend. I was with him to make sure that he had no complications and when I should have met him on this plane…I instead found that my husband had blocked his ascension." When she looked up at the gathered Ascended her eyes were burning in fury that had not abated in the many millions of years that had passed for her.

"My husband had thought he could use this new galaxy as his own personal source of power. He would have more power than all of the Ori we left behind. He wiped one of my grandchildren from existence, and so I wiped him from existence." Her eyes were hard as she looked at the others, sneering when it looked as though they wanted to speak. "Moros was not the first to think about killing an Ascended, he was not wrong to fear the threat of the Ori as they did not hesitate to do so and they will not hesitate if given the chance again. I would never allow my husband to get away with what he had done. Had I not done so…none of you would have made it to this plane, so chose your words wisely, Khord."

Janus watched as Khord flinched at the gaze that Raina was directing at him. This was not someone that he would have wanted to cross before he knew what she was capable of…now that he knew that she was the eldest, and an apparently someone that had lived with the Ori and knew of their power at that, he would have agreed to almost anything while she was holding his descendant.

"While we appreciate knowing your history and we are glad that you do not agree with the Ori…how does that affect this child?" Khord finally asked a question while the others just watched on warily.

"Ah…after I dealt with my beloved, I watched as you grew as a people and as you began to Ascend. I watched both those that Ascended and your human counterparts and…I eventually decided to keep my distance so that I would not affect your natural development. As Ascended beings, you created laws to prevent you from becoming as the Ori. You would not interfere with any lower plane. Your human counterparts did much the same as they grew in technology. They would learn all that they could but not share any knowledge with those that were not as advanced."

"I have watched as you created and then tossed aside technology for others to find and exploit. I have watched as you have made mistakes and then ignored them, leaving your friends to deal with your messes. Messes that now exist in two galaxies. I have watched as you have skirted your own laws as you descended in order to interfere with whatever world caught you fancy, only ascending again after you have interacted with a society, claiming all they while that you were working within the laws of non-interference." Some of the Ascended were outraged at the accusation that they had actually been interfering. They were also uncomfortable with her actually talking about their habit of descending as it was mostly ignored and never talked about. "Do not bother denying it. I dare any of you to speak up and say that you have never descended and interfered by leading the peoples on the mortal plane. I won't even bother to mention those that did not even bother to descend." Raina just smirked at Khord for a few moments before continuing.

"No one? Well then. Let me tell you what I observed tonight. I have a bit more power than you as I have lived as an Ori. Even in this galaxy I still hold the excess power that I gained from the people in Celestis. I am a bit more sensitive to the fluctuations of vacuum energy than you are due to this. Tonight I felt a massive wave of power that I have only felt while in Celestis, and even then it was eons ago. I felt a core being broken. I only felt it a few times as it was originally believed that the core needed to be broken to reach Ascension. Ultimately it was proven that the core had no effect on the process, but it was a feeling that I have apparently never forgotten. It was easy for me to track the point of origin for the power fluctuation. There I found this baby in his crib with his dead mother lying on the floor. I watched as the child was taken by a very large man, who refused to leave the child with his godfather. I watched as the giant took the child to a woman and an old man and then watched as they placed the child on a doorstep before leaving."

"I followed the old man as he reminded me of my beloved. I watched as he sat at his desk and then watched as he boasted of his plans to an odd looking bird that smelled of ash. Apparently, this old man that reminds me of my husband plans for this child, which I am now holding in my arms, to die as a sacrifice. He would then place himself as a hero to the people once again by taking credit for the child's deeds. Before sacrificing this child, he plans to make his life a living misery that would make the Ori proud to have him as one of their own."

"Now I have watched for eons as you have tried to find ways around your laws of noninterference, and this child is your loophole." Janus just looked at Raina incredulously.

"What do you mean? You cannot think to tell us that we should interfere in the child's life?" An Ascended spoke from the safety of the back of the room.

"That is exactly what I am telling you. This child is already here by a device that does not break your laws. To send him back would actually be interfering as you would be knowingly sending him into the control of a man that wishes for him to die."

"The child still deserves to be raised by family. Maybe we could place him with some relation…somewhere this man could not find him." Another that Janus could not see spoke.

"The child has no close family. His parents died tonight and both Lily and Petunia were adopted. Something that Dumbledore…the old man knew." Janus spoke and nodded to Raina as he explained. "If you want to get technical…I am the child's closest family and this is probably one of the few places On Earth that he would not be able to use his magic to track the child. The shields around the outpost work even better than their 'wards.' The only other place that would be completely out of Dumbledore's control would be another Alteran outpost like the one under the ice in Antarctica." Janus decided to keep quiet about his other descendants in America as he was not sure that they could protect the boy from Dumbledore if needed.

"You…what exactly is it that you think we should do with the child, Raina?" Khord walked over to stare at the source of his current feelings of irritation. Even asleep, the child looked like any other he had seen. How could the child be so important as to catch Raina's attention?

"I think that you should see this child as an opportunity. This child is already removed from others giving us the opportunity to interact with him as ourselves without interfering with a society as a whole. This child, this Alteran child, is our opportunity to see our people once more among the stars. We could teach him of our mistakes and our history. Tell him of his people's technology while not telling him how he should live his life. We can act as advisers and allow him to choose his own destiny. Just imagine, teaching someone without the limits of Ascended law; something that you have been trying to get around sense you first ascended. One boy growing up learning just what his people were; learning their hopes and dreams, accomplishments and failures. He is the hope of not only fixing past mistakes, but of actually reaching those dreams that were left behind when our people left the mortal plane behind."

"We can interfere in this case, temporarily as he grows, as any action taken at this point would be interference. That line has already been crossed, so why not do as you have wished all along and teach the boy how to be Alteran without teaching him your bad habits? Let's finally see what the Alteran can become."

Across the higher plane in two galaxies, not a sound was heard as the Ascended beings processed the suggestion made by the oldest of their kind outside the Ori they had left behind.

Eventually a woman stepped forward to speak. "Would you have some of us descend and take care of the child?"

"Ganos Lal, you and Moros have provided me much entertainment." Raina smiled as she looked at the younger being. "I do not think it would be needed for us to descend. We are perfectly capable of interacting with him with this form. He does not need us to hold his hand until he chooses to die or ascend. We would only need to see to his care and education. I am sure that Janus would be happy to be his primary caregiver and we would all have the chance to teach him and we can do so as we are. I am by no means suggesting that you descend and pretend to be something that you are not. Teach him as an Ascended, not what you think he should learn according to his current technological standing. As of right now, he is not part of any society other than ours. He has no limits placed upon him. He is Alteran. The only Alteran that we have access too."

"This is unprecedented. Do you truly think that he would be able to do as you say…to correct our mistakes and help our past allies…those that were left behind?" Another asked quietly. She would not have asked except for one glaring fact that she could not escape. Raina was correct when she said that they had all taken the chance at descending in the hopes of guiding a people, but it rarely made things better.

Raina looked at the woman knowingly. "Usually when one of us descends, we interact with many. Even if there is someone that we have placed our hopes on, many are still affected just by our presence. This child would be the only one to interact with us as we truly are. He would see, not just what we wish him to see in order for him to think well of us, but he would see our failings as well…as human and Ascended. He is the best chance for achieving what many of you have been trying for. Even I descended before I gave up on showing people what I thought was a better way. I believe this never works because we are constantly hiding ourselves in the attempt to keep our interference to a minimum and to present ourselves in the best light possible. This child will give us a chance to show him who we are unreservedly."

"Be his caregivers and teachers? That is all?"

"I imagine he will eventually seek out company of his own people…the magicals on Earth are technically Alteran, but that can be at his own pace. We would still only interact with him and not with the others. It should be easy to teach him as Alteran children generally mature fairly quickly and I am sure that Janus has a repository that could be used to help teach the child." Janus nodded when the attention turned back to him.

"We would all have a chance to teach the boy…to tell him of our lives and what we left behind?" Another stepped forward, his interest clear.

"Yes. All those that chose would be free to interact with this child."

Once again there was nothing but silence as the Ascended thought about the possibility of actually interaction with a living Alteran. Thought about actually interacting without hiding anything.

"Is it fair to put this on a child's shoulders? The responsibly to fix the mistakes that we left behind?" Oma Desala made her presence known as she asked her question. Her thoughts were currently on her largest mistake. Could she honestly tell a child about what she had done and expect him to clean up her mess?

"I never said that we tell the boy that it is his responsibility. Only that we tell him of what we have done and allow him to make his own choice. He could choose to live as a hermit at Kheb and join us on this plane, or he could chose to lead the Alteran that now inhabit Earth back into the stars. He could choose to deal with Pegasus and Atlantis, with the Goa'uld that has taken over here, or he could lead them to another galaxy all together. He could even choose to return to Celestis and deal with the Ori if that was where he felt he needed to go. It would not be up to us as to what he would choose, but up to us to see him grow to a point he can make his own choices. If he chooses not to deal with any of our mistakes…so be it…let's see where he could do with our knowledge."

Janus was having a hard time now containing his excitement. This was more than he could have ever hoped for when he started his project or when he found Harry laying on the floor. This would give him the chance to interact with his family again instead of just watching and to tell Harry about Atlantis and his experiments. He looked around as he waited for the others to make a decision. He could now feel the strands of power as they communicated silently to each other.

It seemed like hours before the attention of the others focused back into the hologram room of Janus's outpost.

"I thank you Raina for coming forward with this proposal and for telling us of your history. I do not think we would have even thought about interacting with the boy had you not done so. I wonder now that I have heard your history, if we are much better than the Ori were. Maybe we too act too much as gods, choosing to influence others and to not step in when we see others making our same mistakes because we fear the consequences. You were correct that we have been trying to find ways to fix our mistakes when we descended and some of us, like you, have given up. The last time I tried to show a planet a way to develop, they used my knowledge to wipe out other races. I could never stand to try again." Others were nodding as Khord spoke. He looked down with a frown as he spoke thoughtfully. "I have many regrets, and I do not want to add another to that list."

He looked around again before turning his attention to the eldest and one of the youngest Ascended beings; both were looking at him expectantly as he was the spokesman for the council. "It seems that we have come to a decision."