Here it is, chapter seven. As if you didn't know already, I don't own these people or places.


"Hey John. There's something weird about Hermione, and the other two." Ronon caught up to him in the lunch line.

"You just figured that out?"

"No, just look at this." Ronon walked up to the two strange new arrivals who were eating lunch. "So, Hermione mentioned you guys knew Oliver Wood." The two looked up at him, slightly suspicious, then looked at each other.

"Yeah, we went to school with him, he was my team captain." He regarded Ronon carefully. "You know Oliver?"

"I know of him, he's a great athlete." He repeated Dr. Beckett's earlier words. The two men exchanged a nervous glance.

"That he is, I'll have to tell him his fame is now officially intergalactic."

"I've never heard of him, what does he play?" John asked, thoroughly confused.

"Football" Malfoy quipped, just as Harry answered "Golf". The two seemed to suddenly decide they weren't hungry and politely excused themselves.

"What was that?" John asked as he stared at their retreating backs.

"I don't know. It's code for something."

"But you don't know what?"

"Not at all."

"Where did you learn this code?"

"Hermione."

"Of course you did, and she just shared it with you?"

"No, I overheard it, sort of. I want to know who this Wood guy is."

"They think you know their code, I think we both know where they'll be going."

.

"I can't believe you told him! You're the responsible one. You can't just go around telling aliens about our world."

"I didn't tell him anything about our world. What are you talking about?"

"Wood, Hermione, he knows about Wood. Wood is a part of our world."

"And what, precisely, did he say about Wood?"

"Asked if we knew him, told us he was a good athlete." Hermione smirked.

"Smart man, however, as long as you didn't say anything stupid he doesn't know anything." She glanced at them. "You didn't say anything stupid, did you?"

"The other one, Sheppard, he asked what Wood plays."

"And you said?"

"Football."

"So the problem is?"

"I said golf."

"A bit suspicious I'll admit, but it wouldn't have been irreparable if they hadn't followed you back here."

"So are you going to tell us the truth?"

"No."

"Just no? You're not even going to try to make up another lie?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard" Her eyes fixed on him in a glare. "I have not lied to you yet, nor do I intend to do so in future. There are some things I am unable to share with you just as you would have been unable to share your work here with me had we met on Earth."

"Right, sorry."

"So if she didn't tell you anything, how do you know about Wood?"

"We didn't."

"I overheard Hermione talking about him."

"So who is he?"

"He is exactly what you've heard, he's an athlete."

"It's true, nothing in that brain but balls, sticks and goalposts."

"Malfoy, shut up, Oliver is not stupid, in fact, I happen to know he graduated with grades well above yours."

"So Wood isn't code for something?"

"Oh I can think of something wood is code for."

"Don't be crude, and no, not really, he is in fact a real person, it's what he represents to a lot of people that causes the need for secrecy."

.

"Harry."

"…Yes?"

"I want you to have me expatriated."

"You…what?"

"I want to be expatriated. I'm going to stay in this galaxy, if I go home it will be to visit. I fully intend to move to an uninhabited planet here."

"I don't follow, why does this…plan, for lack of a better word, mean you need to be expatriated?"

"You will eventually figure that out."

"You know he won't."

"Maybe not, but you will eventually tell him."

"Malfoy gets it? Hermione, are you going to do something stupid?"

"No, it's very well thought out."

"But it's illegal, or just really Slytherin right?"

"Mostly Slytherin."

.

"A CO2 scrubber? You made her a CO2 scrubber? They're going to a forest planet Rodney. Oxygen is not going to be an issue."

"Look, some things need more oxygen than their environment can provide for them."

"Sharks for example. Thank you Rodney, I love it."

"Ma'am, the Daedalus is calling, the colonel says to not dial the gate."

"Does the colonel say why?" Elizabeth asked, confused as to what new information the colonel could have received.

"Yes ma'am" the colonel's voice sounded. "We have more of these guests for you."

"More? Send them down colonel."

"Bugger, we didn't report back."

"Is that going to be who I think it's going to be Potter?"

"Yes, with any luck she's more interested in Hermione than us." Colonel Caldwell appeared in the gate room with two red-heads.

"Thank you very much colonel, we greatly appreciate the transportation." The female red-head said, smiling pleasantly at him.

"It's no trouble, we were headed this way." She thanked him again and turned to face the rest of the room. She spotted Hermione and marched straight up to her. Hermione faced her friend calmly.

"Hello Ginny." Her friend glared back at her.

"Hello Ginny? Six years, and that's all you have to say." A hand flew out and an audible crack echoed around the room as Ginny's hand came in contact with Hermione's face. The entire room was staring in chock. "I have two questions, and you're going to answer them." The two circled each other, tense and ready to spring. "Did you choose to leave?" The three men from earth who apparently had some connection with Hermione subtly motioned for a few marines to stay put and not interfere.

"No." Hermione stated simply.

"Did you have the means to contact us?" The ferocious woman snapped.

"No, but 've been working on getting the people here to trust me." The answer was, again, completely calm. Ginny stared her down for a few more seconds, before her demeanor changed entirely.

"Six years Hermione, do you have any idea how much I missed you? Never do that again! What have you been doing all this time? Did you get married? Are there a lot of cute boys here. Come on Hermione, another galaxy, how amazing is that? Tell me everything."

"Oh it's a fascinating galaxy, but I couldn't tell you much about it. I spent the majority of my six years here running away from monsters."

"Oh, so it was kind of same old then." Both girls smiled.

"You know I've really missed you."

"How could you not. Did Harry tell you? Of course he did, he's been flashing the damn baby pictures to random strangers on the street, she's really the most well behaved little girl I've ever seen."

"Really? And here Harry was telling me she was just like you."

"Oh shush you, you were supposed to be godmother of course, but as you've been skiving off your duties for years we had to have Fleur stand in and Merlin you wouldn't believe it but she's got seven now and another on the way and he figure just bounces right back, I swear, it takes her two days. But really, plans need to be made. Colonel Caldwell said you were about to leave for some other planet which means you were setting up camp and you're not coming home, which is what you're supposed to be doing. I sent my husband to fetch you a week ago. Now, care to explain yourself?"

"Maybe you should breathe." Hermione looked at the other woman dubiously, only vaguely aware that a matter of a few years ago she could have spoken just as fast for just as long. "No, I wasn't going to go home. I was going to visit, but I have to stay here."

"Started something you need to finish have you?" Hermione nodded. "Involving the monsters?" Another nod. "Ok. So, about these plans. You have a planet for headquarters ready?"

"Yup."

"And it has a you know what?"

"Not stupid Ginny."

"And you have the permissions?"

"I'm having myself expatriated, it will be an easier route in the end, it will also allow me to share certain information with some individuals."

"And if you change your mind or we finish early I think we have enough weight between us to have you reinstated."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Well that takes care of the technicalities, how about the practical?"

"We were just heading over to the planet to set up camp, then I was going to send your husband back to explain the situation to you while Malfoy spoke to the minister and some other choice people, while I started the build, then I was going to head back and take people who wanted with me here, and then all hell was going to break loose."

"Good idea, or, we could do it like this: I take you and my husband home with me now, we do the whole 'Look, we found Hermione Granger, you'll never guess where she was, no really we're not telling.' And then we recruit our dear order and army friends, while my dear brother here goes with Malferret and helps him set up as I assume it will be his house we're building first, and they join us in a few days."

"Sounds good enough for me. What is Bill doing here by the way? No offence Bill, it is lovely to see you."

"None taken, if you showed up unannounced in another galaxy I think I'd ask you the same question."

"Well seeing as my husband didn't come home when he said he was going to, and he hadn't told me where he was going but apparently knew where my best girlfriend was I decided to follow him. The minister wasn't at all helpful as usual, but then I remembered my dearest, favourite older brother Bill, who is now an unspeakable, and as such actually has better security clearance that the minister. Also it helps that Percy still feels guilty about what he did and the minister relies on him to do everything so he set us up with transportation."

"Who is the minister?"

"Caradoc Dearborn, they found him about a year after you left, he's amazing in a fight but couldn't handle paperwork to save his life, I don't know what they were all thinking."

"Right then, everyone ok with the new plan? Let's go."

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Ok, I am very very sorry about the delay, but I am going to have to put this on hiatus indefinitely. Clearly I can't manage multi-chaptered stories just yet. There is just too much going on for me to focus on one story for an extended period of time.