P3X-795

"This isn't your fault, you know."

"It bloody well is."

"No, Sam's right. It isn't your fault." Daniel paused for a minute to scratch at the dried blood on the side of his face. "We had no idea that the native population thought it a slight against the gods for a woman to read. I was just as excited over the text on the ruins as you were."

"I should have known better," Hermione sighed. She really wanted to stamp her foot, but she thought that might seem a bit childish. She hadn't been on that many off world missions with SG-1, but she'd been lucky thus far not to get a difficult planet. She was glad she tamped down the urge when Jack walked over and kicked one of the walls in his cell.

"Stupid, backwards ass planet. And no, you shouldn't have known better. Our intel didn't have anything about this village being full of misogynists. It's not the first time it's happened. Hey Carter, tell her about the one where you ended up in a dress."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Sorry sir, I'm afraid I don't remember that one." She winked at Hermione. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, we don't really have anything else to do but talk until SG-8 manages to negotiate our release."

"They may have taken your wand, but you can still apparate. Why haven't you even mentioned trying to get out as an option while we've been tossing around escape plans?"

"Hey, yeah," Jack exclaimed. "You can just pop yourself out of here-"

"And then do what, Jack? I can only apparate to places I've already seen without a chance of splinching. I could get back to the 'Gate, and then what? I don't have my GDO, or my wand, so I can't get back to Earth. I could go snooping around, trying to find our gear. I'd probably get caught, and any dealings SG-8 would have made would be null, because the natives wouldn't trust any of us to keep our word. Not to mention what would happen if they actually thought I was a witch," Hermione reasoned.

"Our best bet is to let negotiations continue, and if they fail and a strike team can't get us out, then I'll consider wandless magic. It's unpredictable, though. It really IS the last option."

"We're just worried. We've all been through this a hundred times, but you-"

"Daniel, don't even act like I'm not as tough as you. I fought in a war when I was a teenager, remember. Not to mention, living in a tent with two teenage boys for almost a year. If I can survive that, I can stand up to anything. And I may not be off world as often as you, but this IS still part of my job. It's a risk, I know that. But it's a calculated risk, and we've been lucky so far. We'll be all right."

She watched the rest of the team exchange looks. In the three years she'd been working with them, she'd learned most of their silent communication, but not all. "What?"

The nonverbal conversation seemed to come to an end, and Daniel sighed. "We know you're as tough as the rest of us, Hermione. We're always going to worry, though. You don't have as much combat training as the rest of us, you don't go off world as much, and… you have the kids. None of us is afraid of going off world, but we don't have anyone depending on us the way that you do to come home safely."

"Is that really the way you think?" Hermione's voice was very quiet. Alarmingly quiet. The team was duly alarmed. The men moved away from the bars connecting their cell to the women's, and Sam started sidling away as cautiously as she could. The last time they'd caught that tone coming from the witch, she'd proceeded to almost vaporize the Goa'uld that had been interrogating her.

"Do you really think I put my children in jeopardy coming on off world missions without thought? Do you think I would, for an instant, put them, or you, in the line of fire for a jaunt to another planet?" Her voice picked up in volume as she became increasingly irate. "And do you think the kids and I wouldn't be devastated if something happened to one of you? I love you, you stupid bastards, and so do my children. Don't you think we feel sick every time you fail to report in at a check? Don't you think we stay up at night, fretting to each other when you're out of contact for weeks on end?"

She finally gave in and stomped her foot. "I spend every minute you lot are off world worrying that one day, something is going to happen and you're going to come back as a team of three. Or not come back at all. Do you think I could handle that? After what I've been through?" As though suddenly drained, she walked over to sit on the crude bench the cell provided. "We depend on you to come home safely. And if you don't think that's true, I guess we DON'T really matter to you the way that we thought."

Three voices of SG-1 crowded over each other trying to deny her words, but it was one firm and unyielding tone that cut through the others. "I have made a vow, Hermione Jones, to protect your family as if it was my own. I will make every endeavor to bring your Tauri family home to you with every mission."

Hermione looked up through the curtain of her hair. "And you too, Teal'c. We need you too."

He inclined his head towards her. "Indeed."

"Well, that's all right then, isn't it? So, no more of this 'not as important' crap, yeah?"

The relieved team nodded at her.

"I do feel bad about ballsing this up, though. You're not going to make your meeting on P2S-4C3, though."

"Oh, that was just an extended meet and greet. I'm sure the Kelownans won't mind rescheduling."

Sg-8 was able to get them exonerated and returned to Earth two days later. After a few days downtime, they dialed in to P2S-4C3 to reschedule their meeting. The Gate was unable to make a connection. They never found out why.

2008

The Ministry Ball

Everyone in the hallway outside Shakelbolt's office had been forced back into the ballroom proper. The one exception was the stern Jaffa refusing to leave the immediate doorway. He had managed to make eye contact with Daniel Jackson earlier, and confirmed that he would stay under cover. He could tell that the Doctor wanted to rush in to help his best friend, but Hermione Jones had not enacted any of the previously agreed upon safety precautions.

They had several back up plans ready to execute, and a single word or charm from her on any of them would have involved immediate action. Teal'c had caught sight of her as she was forced back into the office, and while she had time before the door shut to shout any of their various code words, she hadn't. She also did not look remotely frightened, but completely livid. He would not leave her until he ensured her safety, but he also trusted her to follow the agreed upon plans.

He watched as yet another red haired male approached him. He had seen earlier as an older woman herded an enormous amount of people with similar colored hair back into the ball, along with the man Hermione Jones had dubbed 'problem number one.' They had all attempted to sneak back in at some point, and this latest one seemed to be following his brothers.

"Still no luck with the wards, eh?"

Teal'c did not answer, but merely stared at the man.

"Bloody hell, you're intimidating, aren't you? Look, mate, I think I can help you with the door. I don't know Hermione as well as my brothers or Ginny, but she was as good as family for a while, there. I don't know who has her behind that door, or what they want, but I don't want her hurt. I can get you in the door."

"How would you proceed where others of your kind have failed?"

"My brothers are idiots, and I've got specialized training. Name's Bill, and I'm a hex breaker. I can get you in, if you want."

"Your brothers believe Hermione Granger owes them something. Of this I do not agree."

"I'm with you on that one. Like I said, they're idiots. Well, Charlie and George are okay. But I wasn't planning on telling them the wards were down."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the eldest Weasley son.

"Ah, like that, is it. I work with goblins, you're a lot less frightening. And better to look at. Here's what I was thinking. I quietly take down the wards, so if she needs help, you can get in. I'm not planning on telling anyone else, 'cept maybe my wife. She's wanted to talk to Hermione since that Hogwarts madness. My wife's always wanted to know why Hermione didn't apply at Beauxbatons instead of Durmstrang. She thought they could be all enlightened French graduates together."

The Jaffa considered the proposal. "Hermione Granger has no interest in returning to this world. There is no guarantee she will wish to speak to you or your wife."

"That's her call then, isn't it?" Bill asked in a cheerful voice. "Want me to get started on those wards, then?"

After another moments thought, Teal'c took one step to the left. It was all he was willing to concede.

"Right. Well, I'll just get to work then, shall I?"

The conversation on the other side of the door wasn't as friendly.

"I still don't believe you'd bring me your information out of the goodness of your heart, Skeeter. You have an angle, everyone does. And I'm not playing into it."

Rita rolled her eyes. "For Merlin's sake, Granger, not everyone is out to get you. When the hell did you get this paranoid?"

"Well, it started when this reporter wrote false, slanderous articles about me-"

"Fuck, Granger, that was almost fifteen years ago. Give it a rest. This is what I get for being altruistic. Maybe I should have just published it, but…" she muttered to herself.

"You want me to take you seriously, stop talking to yourself."

"Fine! I felt guilty, okay? I really did think you were as bad as what I was writing during your fourth year. You weren't the least bit pretty, and smart can only get you so far. And yet, you had the hero of the wizarding world, a famous Quidditch player, and a Weasley all chasing after you. I thought there HAD to be some dirt there and I came to the most reasonable conclusion."

"Except you were WRONG. Potter and I were only ever friends, and Krum actually LIKED having a girl around that wasn't panting after him. You painted me as a trollop, when the truth was that they were only friends with me because I was 'another one of the guys'. I didn't deserve that."

"No, you didn't," Skeeter sighed, and sat down. "It wasn't until I was researching the whole thing with Snape that I realized it, though. I thought I'd be getting the juiciest piece since the Grindelwald war, and I did get enough to write some great pieces. It wasn't until I put it all together that I figured out how badly I'd misjudged you. I still sold it, and the public ate it up. But I had the facts to back up what I was writing then."

"What facts do you think you have? No one knew what was going on at the time."

"No, but they didn't have friends in the muggle children's services area. They didn't know how much of a burden you took on for your cousin."

Hermione stood and pointed her wand at the other witch. "My children are NOT a burden."

Skeeter just waved a hand at her. "Sit down, that wasn't what I meant."

She waited until Hermione put her wand away and regained her seat. "Your cousin wasn't exactly swimming in money. She'd moved five different times in three years. She didn't name the father of her children in any of the three birth records. I know from the interviews of students that saw the showdown between you and McGonagall that she threatened to sell your cousins home. Most of them saw that it was that comment that finally made you snap. But none of them new why, did they?

"That house should have been condemned. I went to see it a couple months after you sold it. Was there anything of value at all in it? Was it worth covering your cousin's tracks?"

Hermione sighed. She was getting really tired of sighing. She'd have to have Jack take her out to shoot cans or something soon to release all this tension. "It depends what you mean by value. Was there treasure, or a listing to other great property holdings? No. What there was, was a stuffed rabbit with an ear almost chewed off the belonged to Aiden. A book Sara still loves that her mother read to her every night. A blanket that Jeremy couldn't sleep well without. Pictures in a box in the attic. Small tokens of love from my cousins lovers to her in a chest at the foot of her bed.

"There were treasures in that house, things that no estate agent would have seen. I spent a week there with the kids before I left the country. That was worth everything. Rhiannon wasn't rich, but she loved her children. I love my children. It was worth all that we both had to go through to make sure that they're happy."

Both women were feeling vaguely mellow after the showdown they'd earlier had. They had a moment of quiet, before Skeeter asked, "Think we could have a house elf bring us tea?"

"Are you really that determined that I should know what you found out? Even though it doesn't make a difference to me now?"

"I really do think you should know, Granger. It might not help, and it won't exonerate McGonagall, but someone besides me should have an inkling. I think the Minister has an idea of what happened, what with Dumbledore's will and all."

With a frown, Hermione summoned a house elf and ordered tea service. "What does the will have to do with it? I thought it was only recently read."

Skeeter's eyes sparkled. "It was. But you don't know. The whole thing that happened to you? It was Dumbledore's fault. "

"He'd been dead for two years!"

"Yes. But the reason was fifty years in the making."

A house elf popped into the room with tea. "Thank you, you may go."

Hermione turned to Skeeter. "Fine, you have my attention. What the hell do you mean this was all Dumbledore's fault?"

Skeeter smirked at her. "All in good time. What do you know about the Grindelwald war?