Disclaimer: Still don't own it… this will be the last chapter with it posted.
Still jointly written
Chapter 2: Unraveling Belief
Sirius sat in the cell after Daniel had gone. The muggle had mocked him and used the type of sarcasm he remembered James preferring. The raven haired wizard walked over to the wall mounted lanterns and studied the cylindrical shaped surface. There was no flame within it nor could Sirius feel the hum of magic he knew from magical light sources. He however became aware of an auditory humming buzz which seemed to emanate from the light source. He knew the only reason he heard the sound was due to his Animagus form.
Satisfied that the lights were not magical, Sirius walked back to the cot and sat down. He closed his eyes and contemplated attempting to Apparate out. He couldn't feel any wards, but that didn't mean they might not be there. Sirius felt fairly powerless without his wand. He couldn't perform more than simple spells without it. Wand-less magic had never been a strong point for him.
Sirius thought about the other problems with attempting to apparate. He didn't know where he was, so he wasn't sure if the places he knew were close enough for him to apparate. If I'm in England, France or any European country I could probably reach Grimmauld Place, but anywhere further east than Poland and I'm fucked. And if I'm in America, like I fear, than there's no way I can apparate home.
Sirius stretched and stood once more. He had decided that apparation straight home was impossible, but an Alohomora spell on the door and a series of apparations away from the guards was a good option. He walked to the door and knelt in front of it. He placed his hands to either side of the doorknob and concentrated. "Alohomora," he whispered fiercely, putting as much energy into it as he could. There as a slight click followed by a buzz and popping sound. Suddenly a high pitched wailing sound, an alarm, flooded the hallways and rooms of Cheyenne Mountain.
Carter, Jackson and Teal'c were already on their way to see the prisoner, but a security breach tends to hasten one's pace. As they arrived, two guards stood, one with sidearm in hand, staring in confusion at the door.
"Report, Corporal." Sam's military instincts kicked in. At heart she was a scientist, but she was still a ranking Air Force Officer.
"I'm not sure, Colonel," one guard snapped to attention, complete with a crisp salute, "the alarm sounded, we knew it was this door, because the light above the cell door came on. But the door didn't open, in fact it sounded like it shorted out."
Returning the salute, Carter responded, "Shorted out? That doesn't make sense, these doors are…" Daniel cut her off.
"Sirius, are you okay?" He carefully opened the observation door, jumping back at a set of dark eyes peering back at him.
Sirius realized his mistake at mixing magic and the muggle door. He somewhat sheepishly asked, "What happened to the door?"
Carter answered before Daniel could form the words, "That depends, what did you do?" She was now kneeling, investigating the minute space between door and door jam. "This mag-lock is fried. I don't even know how this could have been done; let alone how you managed to do it from in there!" She turned to the Jaffa, "Teal'c, this is going to have to be cut through. Could you call for Siler?"
With a nod of his head, Teal'c responded, "Indeed, Col. Carter."
Sirius was surprised that he felt somewhat guilty about the door. He haltingly said, "Um, sorry. I never took muggle studies so I didn't realize a simple charm would do, um that to your door. You don't need to cut the door, if you back up I can get out without any trouble."
Carter stopped looking at the door, and stood; now looking at the prisoner. "You can get out without any trouble? I don't think so. If you could do that you would have by now."
"I don't think so, Sam." Daniel began to explain, "Yes, he's a prisoner, but only because we know nothing about him and he came through the gate in an… unexpected way. But I don't think he wants to hurt us, in fact his being here may be an accident of some kind."
As if the remainder of what Sirius had said just hit her, confusion set into Sam's face. "Did he just say "muggle"?" Daniel nodded. "What's a muggle?"
Almost rehearsed and perfected, Daniel and Sirius answered Sam simultaneously, "Non-wizards." Daniel looked as confused as Sam, and Sirius wasn't far behind. He had said nothing of the wizarding world to Daniel, why would he have responded like that?
Sirius knew at that moment he had to leave the cell, for one he had to get a good look at Daniel and two he was beginning to feel just a bit claustrophobic. "Um, could you please step back a moment?"
As a secondary response, Sam agreed and stepped away, but she had to know. "What do you mean non-wizards?" She was familiar with Asgard beaming technology, and the methods used by the Reetou, but nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to witness.
Sirius saw a clear spot to apparate to and silently said the spell within his mind. With a loud dual popping sound he appeared in the spot he had been looking at.
123456789012345678901234567890
General O'Neill had just sat down at his desk, in his office, in his chair. It wasn't as comfortable as Hammond's chair had been, but it was his chair. In a well-practiced maneuver, he swung his feet toward the top of his desk, and in the split second it took from floor to desktop, his day went south.
There were different types of alarms for different needs within the SGC. The one that just went off wasn't for an unauthorized incoming traveler, or a containment breach in one of the labs. This one meant a prisoner was attempting to escape, and seeing how there was currently only one prisoner…
O'Neill was almost there when he turned the corner and heard a loud 'pop', and also saw a man appear a foot in front of him. He spun on his heels, and yelled, "Whoa!" He didn't know whether to be upset or throw change for a great trick. "What the hell's goin' on?"
Sirius hadn't expected anyone else to arrive in the hallway. Holding up is hands in the universal 'I'm not armed' way said, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
Still not sure what had happened, Daniel held up one hand, as he used to do, telling Jack not to shoot. "Jack, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, General Jack O'Neill."
Jack smiled sarcastically, "Charmed. What is he doing out of his cell? Carter?" He had learned to trust Carter's evaluations, even when he had no clue what she was saying. He knew without a doubt she was, as Hammond had once put it, "way smarter than he was." So her response landed with all the grace of a disabled Death Glider.
"I don't know, Sir. I'm as clueless as you this time." Jack did a double take at Sam, not fully knowing if she was being funny. He then went where he always did when he didn't understand Carter.
"Daniel?"
Still dumbfounded, not over what he saw, but because he knew what just happened, or at least he thought he did. "Uh, yeah, he umm…" He knew the word. He didn't know how, but he knew what this was called.
Sirius had turned toward Daniel while Jack spoke with Sam. At Daniel's stuttering response Sirius supplied the word, "Apparated."
Daniel snapped his fingers and pointed to Sirius, "YES! He apparated!"
Jack cocked his head, "Which means?"
"I don't know exactly. I mean, it's in there, but I can't find it. I know I know it, but I didn't study it, not here anyway."
Looking intently at Daniel, Sirius murmured, "You look familiar."
"So do you, but you shouldn't, I mean you can't!"
A familiar voice came from beside them, walking up the adjoining corridor, "Perhaps you are remembering from when you had Ascended, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c stood beside a very confused Siler, who was pushing a cart with large welding tanks.
"Does this mean we don't need to cut the door open?"
123456789012345678901234567890
The walk through the corridors to the briefing room had been rather quiet. Communication between SG-1 teammates had been in low voices as they walked. Sirius was flanked by Teal'c and Daniel as he was guided to a seat at the long table. Sirius reached for a glass and poured some water from the pitcher before sitting where he was guided to. He was somewhat surprised that they hadn't placed shackles on him. He took a sip of the water as the muggles sat down at the table as well, although he wasn't sure Daniel was a muggle.
After a long pause, Jack cleared his throat, "So, Sirius, is it? Daniel tells me you're a wizard?" Daniel and the rest of the table brought their eyes to O'Neill, who looked back at Daniel and raised his palms and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say 'what?'
"That would be correct. I've broken just about every secrecy law my society has by allowing you to know this, but somehow I doubt that is going to matter much," replied Sirius with a slight smirk, reminiscent of his Marauder days.
"Your society. That would be Kingsley and the folks at Hog's Head?"
"Hogwarts." Daniel quickly corrected him, although not sure why he almost took the mistake personally.
"Hogwarts… sorry." Jack seemed to be a little more serious now. He didn't necessarily see Sirius as a threat, but he needed to know more about him.
Sirius was glad Daniel had corrected the mistake. He said, "Kind of, Kingsley is a wizard and Hogwarts is the best school in Europe for aspiring witches and wizards to learn at."
Jack sat up, putting his feet back on the floor, "See! That's what I mean. Why can't we have cool schools like that here?"
Sirius looked somewhat confused by his response and said, "Yeah, I suppose Salem Witches Institute is a rather lame name for a school, but then again I'm partial since I'm a Hogwarts alumnus."
Jack looked as though he had been confronted with an Asgard geometry problem. He glanced at Sam, who turned to Sirius. "Salem Witches Institute? As in Salem, Massachusetts?"
Daniel spoke up, "Well I don't think it would very well be Salem, Oregon, we all know witches don't like damp weather."
Sirius raised an eyebrow in Daniel's direction. He said, "I don't know about the damp weather part, but it very well could be either place since all magical schools are in Unplottable locations and I've never been there, so I don't really know where it is."
Sam replied, "You're telling us that there's a school for wizardry here in the United States, and it exists outside of normal space! Sir, do you know what that would mean?"
"No, Carter. Tell me. But please keep it simple, you know how easily I get clueless."
"Wait, are we actually contemplating the possibility of a wizard school in Salem, or anywhere?" Daniel stopped himself; he knew Sirius spoke the truth.
"Col. Carter, is it not possible Sirius Black is from a parallel dimension, like the one where Daniel Jackson encountered an alternate…"
"TEAL'C!" O'Neill's words were loud but not upsetting. "Not you too? Don't encourage her." Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
Sirius slammed his fist down on the table, "Shit! Why didn't I think of that? The veil! It was behind me when Bella and I were dueling, I must have fallen through it when she broke through my shield." His glass had tipped over and spilt when he hit the table. He quickly waved his hand over the water before it cascaded over the edge of the table. He murmured a word so quietly even Daniel and Teal'c didn't catch it. The water vanished and he righted the glass. He looked somewhat pale as he looked up again.
Daniel wanted to understand, more so than the others, including Carter, who's analytical mind was going berserk at the impossibility she was witnessing. "How do you do that?" It was obvious everyone at the table was thinking it, but only Daniel could form the words.
"A simple cleaning charm, although wand-less magic is much more taxing than normal magic," replied Sirius, sounding rather tired.
"Ah, yes. The stick!" O'Neill cracked himself up remembering a short while ago, sitting in this exact chair, saying the exact same thing. "Do you mean you can do more with the… wand, than you can without it?"
Sirius nodded slightly and said, "If Ollivander ever heard anyone refer to one of his creations as a stick he would…"
"Strangle you." Daniel interrupted Sirius. Again he didn't know where the words came from, but they felt right. Ollivander would have strangled Jack for the insult. "How is the old man, I haven't seen him since…" Had he ever seen him?
Jack, Sam, and Teal'c looked at Daniel as though he had lost his mind.
Sirius looked at Daniel and murmured, "Exactly…" Then it hit him, where he knew Daniel from. It had been almost fifteen years, but, "Now I remember, you were with Moody the day I was arrested because of Pettigrew."
Daniel continued where Sirius had stopped, "Because you killed Pettigrew and thirteen muggles. You were laughing hysterically as we took you to Azkaban. I thought you were insane."
Sirius snarled slightly, "Pettigrew is the one who blew up the street, not me. I was laughing because he had somehow outsmarted us all; he betrayed his best friends and then framed me when I hunted him down. That bastard lived a quiet unassuming life as a rat for the next thirteen years while I rotted without even a trial because Crouch is a fucking asshole!"
"I tried, Sirius. You have to know I tried to get you to trial. If I had known you wouldn't get one I never would have brought you in." Daniel wasn't even in control now, the words poured from his soul. They were his thoughts and feelings, but from where. Something wasn't right. "Wait? Fifteen years? No, what you're talking about happened about two years ago."
Sirius didn't know why, but he believed the sincerity of the words. "You were a junior Auror, you had no power. Mad-eye may have been able to do something, but he felt I betrayed him and wouldn't listen when I asked him to question me with Veritaserum. But it was most definitely fifteen years ago, I escaped Azkaban two years ago, not got put there."
"Daniel," Jack paused, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but believed even less what he was about to say, "Two years ago, I was a Colonel, Carter was a Major, Teal'c was bald and Jonas Quinn was on SG-1. You were ascended then, Daniel."
Sirius asked with heavy confusion, "Ascended?"
Daniel knew he should have been the one to respond, but the words wouldn't form. More importantly the thoughts behind the words wouldn't form. Teal'c decided to assist him. "Daniel Jackson spent almost two years among the Ascended. He had been unable to remember anything of his time there, until now, it seems."
Daniel didn't know what to think. Before the mission to Kelowna, he dreamed of being able to ascend, and he not only got the chance, but did, and returned. He had tried everything, every form of meditation he had ever studied trying to reclaim the memories of the time he was gone. Now they were flooding to him, but they didn't feel like his memories. Was it possible ascension was nothing more than a trip to an alternate universe? No, there had to be more to it than that. He knew however that his questions couldn't be answered by his trusted friends around this table.
"Excuse me, please. I," he paused, not knowing how to explain where he was going, "I need some time… to think."
The room was silent as Daniel left for his quarters. Everyone was thinking during the awkward pause, but no one said a word… until…
"So, Sirius. How do you know our buddy Daniel?" All eyes fell on O'Neill, and he wondered himself how he did that with a straight face.
Sirius took a deep breath, "Well… I don't recall that being the name he had, but about fifteen years ago Voldemort killed two of my best friends because Pettigrew betrayed us. Daniel was one of the Aurors, magical law enforcement officers, who arrived to arrest me when Pettigrew blew up a street after yelling how could I betray James and Lily."
O'Neill sat up in his chair. "Speaking of blowing things up, could you possibly," he waved his hand around in small circles with one finger pointed outward, "fix my blast shield? It kinda got a big hole in it when you came through the Stargate."
Sirius's lips quirked at the hand motion, "I take it my delightful cousin's reducto curse put a hole between three and five feet wide in it?"
O'Neill's face got that look, as though Daniel was trying to explain something. His head cocked to one side, and his eyes squinted slightly, "Reducto curse?"
Sirius bit his lip to not laugh out loud. "The reducto curse is typically used to blast solid objects out of the way or collapse a hole under your opponent's feet in a duel. If it hits a person it crushes every bone in the body." His face was completely sober as he finished his explanation.
"No wonder you get along so well with Daniel." O'Neill smiled, he didn't know why, but there was something about Sirius Black he trusted, maybe even liked. "So, do you have a… repairo curse to fix my shield?"
Sirius caught the subtle sarcasm but answered as if he hadn't, "Actually a simple reparo charm will fix it so long as most of the pieces are still present; otherwise I have to transfigure a new section."
Carter looked at O'Neill with raised eyebrows. Jack pulled himself up, shoulders back, and said "See, Carter, I'm a natural."
She smiled, and looked back at Sirius. "Transfigure?"
Sirius smiled, transfigurations had been his and James's favorite subject. "Transfiguration is the art of changing one object or being into something else. Holy… I sound like McGonagall."
Once again, Carter was amazed, "That's not…" she stopped before saying the word possible, she had seen Sirius perform two impossibilities already. Obviously she was going to learn more about possibilities.
"Possible?" Sirius said with heavy amusement.
Carter sighed and smiled. "Do you mean alchemy? Chemical reactions to alter the physical properties of a…"
Sirius shook his head slightly, "Not exactly… alchemy is a more specialized and rarely practiced branch of magic. The only alchemist I know is Albus, but if you would like I can show you the one bit of transfiguration's magic I can do without a wand."
Carter was speechless, Teal'c was hesitant, O'Neill was curious. "Does that mean you can fix my shield?"
Sirius nodded his head, "With my wand, yes."
The General looked at Carter and Teal'c, both nodded. He turned to Sirius for a second, and rose and walked across the room. Opening a small box on a utility cart, he produced a pale length of wood, roughly a foot long. He returned to his seat at the head of the table. "Daniel trusts you, Sirius, and I've learned to trust Daniel." He extended the wand to the wizard. "I trust you too."
Shadowed pain flitted through Sirius's eyes as he reached with his right hand to accept his wand, "Thank you, I will do everything I can to prove myself worthy of your trust." As his hand gently gripped the familiar ashen surface of his wand Sirius felt the magic rush through him, a slight breeze rustled through the room, though the ventilation system didn't fluctuate.
With a nod from O'Neill, Teal'c rose to escort Sirius to the Control Room. "Please come with me, Sirius Black."
As they walked toward the door, Sam jumped up and ran after them. "I gotta see this!"
Jack sat for a moment, as if pondering some great mystery, and then, "Me too!" as he ran for the door.
The Jaffa led Sirius down the stairs to the control room. Once inside this room with flashing lights, monitors, keyboards Sirius's jaw dropped in surprise. Sirius had never before seen anything even remotely like this room. To his right was a large window with a perfect four foot circle blasted out of it, over the window was a dull metallic looking cover, with the same hole. Sirius could still feel the residue of Bella's magic around the edge of the hole.
Sirius noticed the lack of glass and metal bits, "I take it the glass is more easily replaced than the metal?"
"Yeah, you could say that. It's standard bulletproof glass, but the blast shield is the hard part. It would take a few days to get a new one down here and installed."
Sirius nodded to O'Neill, "So you won't mind it I use the glass to fix the metal, right?"
O'Neill looked at Carter, who was once again as clueless as he. "No. By all means, Rumplestiltskin, turn the straw into gold!"
Sirius smiled and nodded. He stepped up to the console in front of the window. Through the hole he could see the large ring they had been talking about. Raising his wand he began to 'write' in mid-air with it. Odd symbols appeared on the glass and metal shield. He muttered a few words that sounded Latin or Greek. More symbols appeared and he waved his wand. The symbols vanished and the glass seemed to liquefy before moving to fill the hole at which point is solidified into a metal to match the blast door. Sirius stepped back, "I fixed its structural fractures as well, and it may even be able to take another blasting curse without breaking, now."
Wide eyed and open mouthed, Jack, Sam and the entire Control Room staff stared at the new blast door.
"Sir."
"I know, Carter."
"This is…"
"I know, Carter."
Sirius hadn't felt this good in a long time. He turned toward the assembled muggles and smiled widely, bowing slightly to them. "I'm happy to help." Sirius's stomach decided to speak up them and with a slight laugh he asked, "So when's dinner?"
O'Neill smiled as he walked up to Sirius, and put his arm around his shoulders. "Right this way." The two began walking, "So tell me, Sirius…" Jack stopped walking, "do you like oatmeal?"
1234567890
We'd just like to thank those who reviewed chapter one. We hope you enjoyed this chapter. Coming soon in chapter three, Daniel's revelation, and Sirius' cross-training.
Sirius: "General O'Neill, what is a 'zat gun'?"
