The room they ended up in was a small room with a large desk cluttered with all sorts of interesting objects and at least a dozen portraits on the various walls surrounding them. The people in the portraits – the majority of whom were old men, although there were a few women as well – all gave assorted shouts of alarm or surprise when they materialized, and Jack once more found himself in uncertain territory.
"Where are we?
"From the description in the Histories, I'd surmise we are in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts."
Jack scowled, again.
"They're not Histories, Teal'c… they're just…" He trailed off, because he didn't know what they were. For that matter, he didn't know for sure anymore that they weren't histories. "If I find out this is some kind of joke, I swear there are going to be some Asgard heads rolling…"
"Why Asgard?" Daniel asked, curiously, looking around the room and reaching out to pick up a little doohickey off the desk. It belched, and he dropped it with a clatter.
Jack prudently stepped away from the desk, figuring that if something belched, the next thing would probably bite.
"Because the Asgard are the only ones we know of with this kind of transporting technology," Sam said, although it was more of a guess. "I-"
"What the hell?"
O'Neill had backed right up to a very large bird stand. Complete with a very large and colorful bird that was watching him and the others carefully. It was an impressive looking creature, with large, colorful feathers, but it also looked hungry, and Jack stepped away from that, too.
"That must be Fawkes," Teal'c said, stepping closer. "He is a Phoenix."
"How do you know that, Teal'c?" Daniel asked.
The bird ruffled its feathers at the sound of its name, and Jack looked at Teal'c, too.
"What kind of idiot names a bird Fox?"
"You're pronouncing it wrong, I think, sir," Sam said, as Daniel went over to look at the bird, obviously intrigued. "There's a W in it."
"Whatever… I guess the old guy and his cronies decided not to show. Let's get out-"
The door suddenly opened, and sure enough, there was the old guy himself. Dumbledore smiled reassuringly at the small group, and came over and sat down behind his desk.
"I see you've met Fawkes," he said in that calm voice of his.
Daniel had turned from the man and was once more looking at the bird.
"It certainly looks like every description of a phoenix that I've ever read," he said, distracted. He started to reach his hand out to actually touch the bird, and Jack scowled.
"Watch out, Daniel. It probably bites."
Dumbledore smiled.
"He won't bite you, Doctor Jackson. Go ahead and touch him. Fawkes is, indeed, a phoenix, and the only one of his kind – as I'm sure you already know."
"The only one?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. "How does he make little phoenixes, then?"
"The new phoenix rises from the ashes of the old," Daniel said, touching the breast feathers of the large bird, gently. "It's long been a symbol of immortality and also to the Ancient Egyptians it was a symbol of the rising and setting of the sun." Daniel frowned, and looked over at the old man behind the desk, but his next words were to Jack. "It's also been said that the phoenix is a servant of Ra, the sun god."
"Ra?"
Jack turned and looked at the old man, suspiciously.
"That's not entirely accurate, Doctor Jackson. The phoenix is sacred to Ra – not a servant to him."
"Daniel?"
Jackson shrugged.
"There's more than one story about the phoenix, Jack. Some of them say servant, and some do, actually, simply say sacred. He could be right…"
"I am right," Dumbledore assured them. "Fawkes is no more a servant of Ra than I am."
"Well, that's reassuring," Jack said, darkly. "Considering I still don't have a clue who you are."
"He is Albus Dumbl-"
"Teal'c," Jack interrupted, holding his hand up. "Just let him answer, okay? Please?"
Teal'c fell silent, and joined Daniel at the stand that the phoenix was perched on, while Jack turned and looked at the old man once more. Dumbledore smiled, and gestured for him to sit down, but Jack shook his head. He'd stay standing, thank you very much.
"As your large friend has already informed you, Colonel O'Neill, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I'm the headmaster here at Hogwarts, which, as I already told you is a school-"
"For wizards and witches," Jack said impatiently. "Yeah, I was listening. But who are you? And what the hell is going on around here? This is-"
"You've had a rough morning, Colonel. You and your team."
"What's going on?" Sam asked, before Jack could ask it again. "Someone is going to a lot of trouble to make us believe that the Harry Potter books have come to life in front of our very eyes and I-"
"The books are real," Dumbledore said. "For the most part, anyway. There are some embellishments – but I suppose that is true of any writer…"
"The books are real?" Jack repeated, and now Daniel had turned from Fawkes – who had closed his eyes in pleasure at the archeologist's stroking of his feathers – and was looking at Dumbledore with an equally distrustful expression. It was one thing for the crazy old guy to have a bird that happened to look a lot like a phoenix, but it was another for him to say that witches and wizards existed.
"I told you they were a History, O'Neill." Teal'c said.
"They're not a history, Teal'c," Jack snapped, taking the whole frustrating morning out on his friend. "They're books. Stories. They're-"
"Quite real," Dumbledore said, interrupting. "Please… allow me to explain."
"Oh, that would be nice," Jack said sarcastically. "The problem is, I don't know you, and don't trust you any further than I can throw Teal'c. For all I know, you're some alien trying to take over the planet one gullible kid and his family at a time."
"I'm not an alien, Colonel O'Neill," Dumbledore said, not at all offended. In fact, he seemed more amused by Jack's distrust than anything. "Nor am I a Goa'uld – as Major Carter can undoubtedly assure you."
Sam stared at him. As far as she could remember, none of them had even mentioned the word Goa'uld. Not where he'd have heard it, anyway.
"How do you-"
"Know about your ability to sense the naquida in a Goa'uld or Tok'ra?" Dumbledore finished – and now Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were all staring at him as well. "Let's just say I know a lot about the four of you and leave it at that…"
"Why don't you answer the question, instead?" Jack said, crossing his arms.
Dumbledore sighed, but didn't seem to feel threatened. Which was too bad, because Jack was at his best when he was intimidating someone.
"Fine. Have a seat, and we'll talk."
Suddenly, where there had only been one chair, there were four, and they all stared some more. Daniel reached out and touched one, and sure enough, it was real.
"How did you do that?" There hadn't been a flashing light as there would have if it had been the Asgard responsible – and Daniel realized that he hadn't seen one of the flashing lights yet that day. He was beginning to believe the Asgard weren't responsible, after all.
"It's a gift I have," Dumbledore said, gesturing for them to sit down. "Please… allow me to explain…"
"This had better be good…" Jack grumbled, and he sat down in his chair, while the others did the same.
