Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the idea of Harry Potter or any of the money making forms of it, and that sadly goes the same with Stargate SG-1 and anything else that happens to pop up.
A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews :D.
Part 10: Ripples
Nymphadora Tonks was now finished with her homework and was coming back from the library, walking to her common room so she could relax before heading to dinner; however, laughter caught her attention and she could not help but go to it.
"Sabin, how are you doing that?" Charlie asked between chuckles.
"Come on Charlie, he already told us how, do you have to ask again?" Bill teased, lifting up his wand that now had a floating orb of silvery energy floating inches from the tip.
Sabin had just created it and had given it to Bill, saying his wand would be able to hold it.
Sabin had told them he was a Guardian, and told them a little bit about his duties, but asked them not to tell, since he didn't want to worry about how people would respond to him until later. They agreed to keep it to themselves, though Sabin already knew they would.
The Weasley brothers had then decided to give Sabin a little tour, but soon became occupied in orb making.
"You could hold it in your hand, but I don't think you would be able to sustain it," Sabin advised, before turning to Charlie, who was holding out his wand expectantly.
"Wow. This is so cool," Charlie said as Sabin concentrated and made another orb before floating it to the tip of Charlie's wand.
"Look! Look at this, you can guide it with your wand," Bill exclaimed, waving his wand about and watching it weave about, even gliding off a few feet before being pulled back to the tip of his wand.
"So we can touch them, right?" Charlie asked, his bluish orb shedding waves of light.
"Yeah, but they'll fade if they don't have a source of magic to pull from," Sabin answered, making a third orb, this one red. "They feel tingly."
"WHOA!" Tonks shouted, running to them. "Can I have one?" she asked excitedly, wiping out her own wand.
"Sure, here," Sabin said, giving her the red orb he had just made.
"HEY!" Bill shouted, jumping back as Charlie hit his shoulder with his blue orb.
Charlie started laughing.
"Well if that's how you want to play," Bill said, laughing as well as he brought his own orb up to duel.
Bill and Charlie spread apart, throwing and catching each other's orbs as more students seemed to pour in from nowhere, the possibility of fun drawing them in.
Before Sabin knew it, he was making an orb for everyone before they went off and joined one of the two forming teams; Bill and Charlie the team leaders.
"This is awesome," Tonks said, joining Charlie's team, already throwing her red orb and catching a yellow one.
The game continued, but it suddenly stopped upon the arrival of five students with snake badges.
Sabin turned to them, already raising his hands to form orbs for them.
"You wanna play?" he asked, inwardly wondering why the others had stopped playing, but upon speaking, the atmosphere shifted from uneasy silence to shock.
"You-you're going to let them play?" a Ravenclaw boy asked, a white orb at the tip of his wand.
"Yeah, why not?" Sabin asked.
The Slytherins were now looking at Sabin with mild curiosity.
"Well…they're Slytherins, everyone knows they…they're evil," he said, whispering at the end, not looking at the Slytherins in the eyes.
Sabin couldn't help it, he got a little angry.
"Who are you to decide what kind of people they are?" Sabin asked with some force behind his voice, reminding Charlie and Bill that he was the Guardian, and revealing to the others that he was no normal child (if the making orb thing from his hands had not indicated that enough).
"Everyone decides for themselves whether or not to be nice or mean, good or evil. Don't judge by the exterior, you'll lose a lot of possible friends by doing that," Sabin continued, his voice echoing throughout the hall, similar to the way it had while he had spoken to the NID, though not with that much anger or power.
All of the students, several prefects included, stared at Sabin at that statement and the power he had spoken it with, many looking thoughtful, Slytherin and non-Slytherin alike.
"So, you're going to let us play?" a second year Slytherin asked, utterly surprised after shaking the shock of having seen a near five-year-old cause those all around, even the seventh years, to listen.
"Yeah," Sabin said with a smile, all previous annoyance gone, while raising a hand with a forming orb. "Green or Silver for your first orb?" he asked, seeing the dominant colors on the crest.
"Um, could I have blue? I'm partial to that color," she said shyly.
"Sure," Sabin said, giving the orb a blue surge before placing it near the tip of the held out wand.
"So…first orb?" she asked, deciding it would be dumb for her to ask how Sabin was making them wandlessly since the others didn't seem to be questioning it.
"Well, when you play, you'll be throwing it to the other side, so the orbs will be passed from wand to wand. The point of the game is to get as many orbs on the other side, and to not get hit by them, but to catch them and fling them back while trying to hit the other team," Sabin explained, more students joining them.
"Oh, so it's like Dodgeball?" a Hufflepuff asked, joining the crowd of students.
"Dodgeball?" a Slytherin asked.
"Oh, it's a muggle game I used to play at my school. Only when you're hit with the ball, you're out, until someone from your team catches a ball and calls your name," they explained.
"Oh, alright then, are we going to play it that way?" the Slytherin asked, many around surprised he hadn't mocked it being like a muggle game.
"Sure, we can have that part of the hall be for the people out," Charlie said, pointing to an area by a suit of armor that was serving as their separator marker.
"Alright," the tall Slytherin boy said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Sabin. "Green please," he stated.
Sabin grinned and plopped a green orb at the tip, which then hovered a few inches from it, ready for action.
Before the students knew it, they had formed two solid teams, both having members from every house. The broad hallway was now filled with over a hundred students, brightly colored orbs flying to and from both sides (students going in and out from the newly dubbed 'jail' near the suit of armor), and fun taunting declarations being led by the Weasley's.
Sabin had Zoned a narrow path on the right side of the hall so people who wanted to get through could without being hit, and also for newcomers to join the other team so the numbers would stay balanced.
It was a fun war game, the orbs bouncing off of people's heads occasionally, making them out, while others caught other orbs on the tips of their wands to quickly throw them back, thrusting their wands out to force the tingling orb back to the opposing team, while calling out a team member's name to get them out of jail.
Soon everyone forgot about houses, members from all of them working together to beat the other team. Before long, both Gryffindors and Slytherins were warning each other about incoming orbs, even deflecting orbs from their fellow team members, no matter their house.
Sabin was now making new orbs to keep the supply up, since a few of the orbs were fading and going out, having bounced off the floor, walls, or ceiling too many times, when he suddenly heard a 'SQUEEE!' and someone charging down the hall.
"I adore this game!" a short man shouted, pulling out his wand and muttering a charm.
Professor Flitwick? Sabin thought, not sure he had his name right as the short hyper professor formed a yellow orb, one just like Sabin's.
"May I join you all?" he asked, several of the students giggling while trying hard not to get too sidetracked at seeing one of their professors all twitterpated about playing a game. They might get hit and forced out until someone from their team catches an orb on their wand and calls their name.
"Of course professor," Bill shouted, waving him over to his team while dodging a purple orb.
Soon after Flitwick joined, Professor Sprout came as well, unable to pass up the chance of pinging Flitwick in the head with an energy orb and feel free to laugh without feeling guilty. And then Professor Hubert Morts, the Defense teacher, came, though he joined Sabin in making orbs.
"You think we can make orbs with a timer to explode into several orbs?" he asked.
Sabin grinned, knowing what the man was wanting.
"Twenty seconds once we throw them to the teams, four orbs in one," he said, closing his hands over a rainbow colored orb and opening his hands to produce two.
He gave one orb to Morts to toss in.
"Special orbs! Beware!" Morts shouted, him and Sabin each throwing an orb, one to either team.
"Incoming!!!" Bill shouted, reflecting the rainbow colored orb onto the other side.
BOOM!
Several orbs suddenly shot out of the two orbs (eight total), flying every which way and causing over a dozen people to be out, including Flitwick.
Most everyone was laughing, too tired now to gather up the orbs fading on the floor. They had been playing for nearly an hour now and were getting a little hungry — surprised that time had passed so quickly.
"Alright, I think we all should be heading to the Great Hall now," one of the prefects said.
"Ah yes, this was very fun, but it's almost time for dinner," Flitwick agreed, joining Morts beside Sabin. "Come my boy, I think your friends and the professors are done with their meeting now and will be in the Great Hall waiting for us. Glad your guardian allowed you to join the students; I can see he has taught you a great deal. Wandless orb making, and from one so young, spectacular!" Flitwick squeaked.
Sabin decided not to contradict him. He would probably know soon enough anyways.
- - -
Jack had gone into some explanation of everything, but left the Stargate program out of it, ingeniously being vague about what they did at Cheyenne Mountain and in telling Dumbledore, Snape, Mike, and Minerva how they came across Sabin.
It had taken a few minutes to convince them that Sabin was the Guardian. The three wizards and one witch, though they already knew it was the truth, were finding it really hard to accept.
"So he just decided to follow you?" Mike asked.
"Yup, though at first he was invisible, and only let me hear him, the little monster," Jack said with a smile. "We had a routine task of collecting a survey of a location, and unknown to us, he was there."
"So this…Jovon, left Sabin in this 'area' to wait for someone he chose to go with?" Minerva asked, appalled.
Jack shrugged, not knowing how to answer that question.
"Who is Jovon?" Snape asked.
"Sabin hasn't been really forthcoming in much information about him, just that he, and a people he calls 'the Wielders', taught him a great of what he knows," Daniel said.
"How did Sabin become the Guardian?" Minerva asked. "He's so young, how could anyone place such a responsibility on a boy?"
"Sabin made the decision. Though he is young, he is wise beyond his years, and has abilities to aid in his Guardian tasks," Teal'c said simply.
"He put up the ward at your base," Dumbledore stated. "I had believed he had, but that he had some help."
"'Ward?'" Daniel asked. "Oh! You mean Zone. That's what Sabin calls them."
"Sabin said there were a lot of Zones here, which is why he finds it a little difficult to poof," Jack added.
"'Poof'?" Minerva asked.
"You know, teleport?" Jack clarified. "He told me he bends the zones here, and that some of them are very old. He even said there are some here that aren't activated, why is that? Do you control them Professor?" Jack asked.
"Yes, I have to activate them, and will do so if the castle comes under attack," Dumbledore stated. "And you're not a student, call me Albus."
"Alright, first name basis all around then," Jack consented, speaking for his team before continuing the previous discussion. "Defense is always good. The zone/ward Sabin placed on the base is very nice. The NID can no longer come in. I find it quite entertaining; though the General had to deal with explaining the circumstances to the President…I don't envy him.
"Oh, and if you meet anyone a part of the NID..." Jack continued before looking at Snape. "I give you my explicit permission to curse them to oblivion. Please, wand waving extremely desired here. They tried to get Sabin, and they are really an annoying bunch of people."
"If I encounter any NID members, you have my word that I will take care of them," Snape vowed.
Dumbledore decided to imagine he didn't hear that pledge.
"So has Sabin decided to stay with you all?" Minerva asked.
"Yes, and adoption was mentioned, though I'm not sure if he—" Jack began, Daniel cutting him off.
"Oh, come on, Jack. He practically adopted you already, adopted all of us actually, and you didn't see the look on his face when you suggested telling these people that you had adopted him before you looked down and saw him nod. I think this is a brilliant idea, we should have thought about doing this sooner," Daniel said.
"I agree with Daniel Jackson. Guardian Sabin will agree to this wholeheartedly," Teal'c put in; again reminding people he was not a mute.
"Alright, I'll talk to him before dinner then," Jack agreed.
"Well, now what about him being Harry Potter? I mean, I don't know much about the Wizarding World, but from what Mike explained to us…this, this is a pretty big deal," Sam said.
"You're right in that assessment Sam, which brings us to the question. Should we tell the world Harry Potter is alive and well, and if we do, how much of the truth do we reveal?" Dumbledore said.
"I think we should leave out him being the Guardian," Daniel stated.
"I agree," Mike, Snape, Jack, and Dumbledore said at once, followed up by "Indeed," from Teal'c and "Well, that's obvious," from Minerva.
"Well, if the Colonel is going to adopt him anyways, we should simply say he is staying with him and being taught by him, since I'm sure the whole school already assumes he has gifts in magic after his display earlier," Snape suggested, glancing at the now sleeping fledgling.
"That could work," Sam agreed. "Say a friend of the Colonel's, who wishes to remain nameless for safety reasons, brought Sabin to him some time ago, not knowing who he was. But because of the sensitive nature of the circumstances, the Colonel kept him secret from most people. It leaves some mystery there so people can fill in the blank with what makes sense to them, saves us from having to come up with things to back up later. Then, just recently, we came to the truth, and decided that people should know that Harry Potter has been found."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed.
- - -
Taking Morts' hand, Sabin went with them to the Great Hall, quickly finding the staff table with SG-1 and most of the other professors already there, though Jack and Albus weren't seated yet, but standing by the side door, waiting.
"Sabin!" Jack shouted, motioning him to join him and Albus.
Sabin released Morts' hand and ran up, curious about what this was about.
Placing his hand on his shoulder, Jack guided Sabin out after Dumbledore, and into an empty side room.
Sabin noticed Dumbledore raise some silencing zones and other protections, so he followed suit and raised his own as well.
Dumbledore smiled approvingly before growing serious.
"Sabin," he began, kneeling down on one knee before him. "I have spoken with Jack and the others, you know, about your parents."
Sabin nodded.
"But I've also learned something else about you, Sabin, so I need to ask you something."
"That I'm Earth's Guardian?" Sabin asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Yes," he sighed. "But what I have to ask you isn't about that. The news that you are alive and well is important…"
"You want to know if it's alright to tell people who I am," Sabin stated simply.
Dumbledore nodded. "I don't think it would be wise to let people know you are the new Guardian, though. Most people think Guardians are myths, and bringing out the fact that a Guardian has come would not be taken well by the Ministry. I'm sure the other magical nations will be happy to hear it though; just take it slow, just as you have been. Reintroducing the world to the idea of there being a Guardian might cause some people to act irrationally."
"I understand, I've actually already encountered that," Sabin said.
"Stupid NID," Jack mumbled.
Dumbledore decided not to wonder about what the NID did exactly, but continued.
"I will announce that Harry Potter is alive and well after you all have left. We wouldn't want the Ministry to try and get involved sooner than they will try already," he said.
"Good idea," Jack agreed.
"Jack has also agreed to formally adopt you, if that is alright. I believe it will make things easier for all of you later," Dumbledore said, earning a broad smile from the boy.
"So what will my full name be?" Sabin asked, looking to Jack.
"Well, I'll have Hammond help us out in this, with Albus' help of course, but I was thinking something that has all of your names in it. Like: Harry Manchu Sabin Norard Potter," Jack said, thrilled that Sabin had accepted the idea of adoption.
"But if you adopt me, where's your name?" Sabin asked.
"Hmm, how about: Harry Manchu James Sabin Norard Potter O'Neill?" Dumbledore suggested, pausing slightly after James and Potter. "That way you have both of your names, and have Jack's, and keep Sabin as your middle name. That's what you want right?"
"That's a long name," Sabin stated.
"Well, so is mine," Dumbledore pointed out.
"Why don't you go by Wulfric?" Sabin asked suddenly.
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Well, the way I grew up, my first name is my main name, not my middle."
"Oh. Well, I think you look more like an Albus anyways," Sabin said with a shrug.
"Why thank you, I seem to think so too," Albus admitted.
"Hmm, Harry Manchu James Sabin Norard Potter O'Neill," Sabin muttered. "A long name, but I think I like it."
"Sounds dignified somehow," Jack mused.
"You'll have more time to think about it," Dumbledore said. "Well, let's go eat dinner now, before they start wondering where we are."
They reentered the Great Hall, both Sabin and Dumbledore releasing their wards and zones from the room before sitting down at the head table.
From left to right (from the student's point of view) sat Snape, Teal'c, Sam, Daniel, Jack, Sabin, Mike, Minerva, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Sprout, Morts, Flitwick, Hagrid, Sinistra, Trelawney (a woman who made Jack and Sabin think of a mosquito), and Madam Pince.Sabin looked over the table and down to the four house tables, many of the students waving at him, happy they had been a part of the game that would no doubt go down in Hogwarts' history.
Sabin was enjoying himself so much, he barely paid any mind to Dumbledore's introduction to him and SG-1 (though he didn't introduce them that way of course, but by the way Mike had introduced them earlier).
He was vaguely aware of Snape giving him a soft calculating gaze before going neutral, and as for Mike and Minerva, they seemed to be giving off a mixture of worry, acceptance, and awe as Dumbledore continued.
"Colonel Jack O'Neill and his friends, including his protégé, Sabin, who, as I have just recently heard, had ingeniously prompted a fun game of Dodgeorb in one of the halls," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling more than what was thought possible/healthy, "will be with us for dinner, and may come back to visit from time to time."
All eyes shot to Sabin, who appeared to shyly shrink in his chair and shift into a light reddish shade, before saying a soft, 'hi'.
"Well, now let us eat, I am sure you are all hungry now, and I believe Sabin, Colonel O'Neill and his companions need to be leaving soon after dinner. As Jack told me, they 'have a flight to catch'. Let's eat."
And with that, he clapped and food appeared.
"I think I'm beginning to like magic more and more," Jack said to himself, quickly dishing out some food for Sabin and himself.
Throughout dinner, Sabin was aware of the countless pairs of eyes on him, and the conversation shifting around that was focused on him and Jack. He caught a few statements that Jack has a portkey and turned him invisible while they pulled a prank on Albus and that Jack and Albus are cousins.
Sabin giggled.
"Something funny, Sabin?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah. Rumors," Sabin said with a nod.
"Ah yes, rumors. I hear them too," Jack said, before scooping a pile of chocolate pudding onto his plate.
Dinner settled down after a while though, probably since people were beginning to get full and were running out of rumor ideas.
Jack poured his third cup of pumpkin juice and was about to drink it when someone from across the table gasped loudly, and then shrieked at him.
"Young sir!!!" Trelawney exclaimed, eyes wide while pointing a quavering finger at him.
"'Young?'" Daniel asked, leaning forward to see who the screaming banshee was.
"Oh great…here we go…" Mike and Minerva both moaned.
"Uh…yeah?" Jack asked.
Trelawney gasped again, putting her delicate hand, with far too many bracelets dangling around the wrist, to her forehead.
"I see deep pain and suffering in your future…" she warned, before gasping again and moving her finger towards Sabin. "This boy! He will be the source of it all! He will be the death of you! You must depart from him, before it is too late!" she said, her voice going all high pitched.
"Whoa. Now miss, I don't know who the heck you think you are, but yo—"
"Ohhhh…many trials I see for you. Oh! My inner eye cries for you! Woe to you and your companions."
"Look lady, I've had many bad trials before Sabin, and I'm sure I'll have more with or without Sabin, so you just close that inner eye of yours an—" Jack said before being cut off by her again, the other professors either too shocked to intervene or deciding such attempts were futile.
"My inner eye sees much, these are certainties if you keep this boy near. You will suffer and die if you stay on this path. I know these things for a fac—"
Well, Sabin had had enough. He had mind brushed her, and he knew she knew for a fact that these weren't certainties, but merely possibilities if even that, and that the only reason she was saying these things was to get attention and to stir things up.
She was saying this crap because she enjoyed messing with people!
Sabin raised himself up from his chair, deciding right then and there it was time to end this kind of idiotic display. Permanently.
WHAM!
He slammed his hand down on the table, probably harder than he had intended (okay, exactly as hard as he had intended), causing an actual ripple to wave across the table before the wood went back to its original form again and the plates and glasses settled.
Trelawney shut her trap as the whole hall gasped.
Sabin leaned forward slightly before hopping off his chair, quickly going under the table to pop out on the other side, and firmly walked forward (in front of the whole captivated Great Hall) to stop right across from her, Dumbledore himself at a loss of what to say or do to ease the situation.
What can one say to cool down an angry Guardian?
Standing straight and looking her dead in the eyes, Sabin squared his shoulders and went off — the best an angry almost five year old Guardian could.
"Why do you say these things when you know they are only possibilities of the future and not certainties?! What do you think gives you the right to say these things that could affect someone's life to such a degree that even you cannot see (not that that is much) its resulting magnitude?
"You might see the future, you might even believe you see mine, but what you are failing to realize is that we make our own decisions and there is a difference between you giving genuine guidance and you giving false advice just because you feel like it.
"I know a great deal about life and death, and hanging death out there to frighten people is actually worse than not warning them about genuine dangers, because you make them see death and life in a way that is not true.
"Life is to be lived and revered, and Death is to be respected, not feared! And though the concept of death is understandably difficult for some people and scary to those who even can comprehend a part of it, you are missing the big picture.
"You treat death as an end, the conclusion of all paths in life, but what you fail to see is that it is not the end."
Sabin paused, not even noticing the ripples in the stone around his feet he was creating upon his every word.
He exhaled, Trelawney completely dumbfounded in her chair, staring at him at if she had never seen a human child before.
Sabin shook his head, as if disgusted by something.
"Stop believing you are above everyone who does not have your abilities, and stop feeling sorry for yourself because you think people don't understand you. How can they when you distance yourself so much and shun them and predict their deaths? You need to stop hiding behind your predictions and actually live."
The Hall was utterly silent; everyone unable to believe that, yet again, Sabin had rendered one of their Professors speechless.
Jack slowly got up and made his way to Sabin, briefly seeing the disturbance in the stones before Sabin re-centered his energy.
"We shall be in your office, Albus," Jack informed him, turning to Sabin who had raised his hands to be picked up. "I would apologize for the disturbance, but I don't feel it is warranted."
"Very well, Jack," Dumbledore said with a nod as Jack picked Sabin up and...
--Poof--
- - -Coming up: Departure