"Can he fly a broomstick this far?" Sam asked about half an hour later. She'd been called into Hammond's office – since that was where Sirius was and it was just as easy to bring her to them.

Sirius hesitated, but then nodded.

"He could. It'd be a long flight, but if he is feeling desperate enough he might risk-"

"He could fly Buckbeak," Sam said, interrupting her own answer.

Sirius shook his head.

"Buckbeak can't be covered by an invisibility cloak, and Harry would know better than to risk being spotted with him."

"Buckbeak?" Jack asked, looking at Daniel, who shrugged. He didn't have a clue.

"A hippogriff," Sam explained. Which didn't explain anything, now, did it? She saw that immediately, of course. "He's a creature that's part horse and part eagle."

They both gave her a look that plainly said they didn't believe her, but before Sam could say anything more, there was a cracking noise and a flaming light, and suddenly Fawkes was there again. The phoenix landed on Hammond's desk, right in front of Jack, and the colonel could see there was a note tied to his leg.

He didn't even hesitate to reach out and take the note from the phoenix's leg, and unrolled the parchment inexpertly. The writing was small and neat, and he read it once to himself, and then read it aloud before anyone could ask what it said.

"'I'll take care of Harry. Tell Sirius to remain where he is…'"

Obviously Dumbledore was worried about Sirius – and from what she'd read in the books, Sam had to admit that there probably was reason to worry. From the books – which may or may not be true – Sirius tended to be a little rash at times.

"Not a very helpful response…" Daniel said, dissatisfied with the answer.

He wasn't the only one.

Hedwig hooted, impatiently, reminding them that she was waiting for a reply to give Harry, and Sam looked at Sirius and Jack.

"What do we tell Harry?"

Jack shrugged, reaching for the pen and pad once more.

"We tell him to stay put. He can't come here; it's too far."

"And too dangerous," Sirius added.

"I wouldn't advise telling him either of those things," Sam said. "He's young enough to think he's invincible."

Sirius nodded.

"She's right. He's pretty much at the age where he'll do the opposite of whatever we tell him – unless we tell him why."

Jack frowned, looking down at the paper.

"I can't tell him to come, hoping he'll do the opposite and stay put… He'll think I want him to come."

"Tell him to stay where he is and that you'll get a hold of him as soon as you can…" Sam suggested. "Hopefully that'll hold him until Dumbledore can get to him and do whatever he's planning on doing."

"Dumbledore will probably beat Hedwig anyways," Daniel said. "Owls don't fly all that fast, do they?"

"Faster than you might think," Sirius said, watching as Jack tied the note he'd hastily written to Hedwig's leg. "She made it this far, after all. And she probably made very good time. We should probably take her up to the surface, though, so she doesn't have to look for her way out."

"She got in here okay," Daniel said.

"Probably through the air ducts," Sam replied. "Sirius is right. It'll be safer for her – and it'll probably be safer for our people; in case they got in her way."

The owl was a predatory bird, after all, and had talons and a vicious beak that she could use if she needed to.

"Fine," Hammond said, standing up and going to the door. "Colonel, take the owl to the surface."

"Me?"

"Just do it, colonel. And take Fawkes with you, too."

Hammond was tired of birds being in his office. For one thing, he was tired of all the weird stuff happening. He had plenty of weird stuff to deal with anyways – just being in charge of the SGC – he certainly didn't want to add to it any more than he had to. For another, eventually one of those birds was going to crap, and neither was little. And for all he knew, the phoenix might even crap fire – and he didn't want his office burning down (and even less, wanted to have to explain to the powers that be above him why it had happened).

Jack scowled, but stood up, reaching his hand out to Hedwig.

"Come on, bird."

The owl hooted as if she understood everything that had been said and launched herself over to him, landing on his shoulder instead of his bare hand – which was a better perch for her, since she wouldn't rip his hand open with her talons. His shoulder didn't have much protection, just his t-shirt and uniform, but it was better than nothing, and she was pretty careful. He could feel a couple of the talons stabbing into his skin, but not deep enough to really hurt.

Sirius stood as well, obviously planning to join Jack, and a moment later he was in dog form.

"That never ceases to amaze me," Sam said, shaking her head.

The dog wagged his tail, looking up at her cheerfully.

"Come on," Jack said. He didn't like having the owl's beak so close to his ear. Better to get her on her way, and then hope they could get back to a slightly more normal day. "Carter? Grab the fire bird."

"Phoenix," Daniel corrected.

"Whatever."

They left Hammond's office, an odd little procession with as many animals as people, and Hammond looked over at Fraiser, who hadn't opted to join SG-1 on their trip up to the surface.

"Can you believe this?"

Janet smiled, and shook her head.

"And I thought I'd seen it all, sir…"

"Me, too."