With what sounded like a deafening crack that reverberated in his head – making his ears ring – Jack found himself in another place completely after what seemed like only a moment. The room was dark, lit only by a light coming through the window to Jack's right, but it was enough light to tell him that he was in a bedroom – a room with a bed, at any rate, because the occupant of that bed was suddenly sitting up.

"What-?"

"Dobby has brought him!"

The little big-eared… thing… moved quickly over to the bed – or tried to, anyways. He was still holding tightly to Jack's leg, and O'Neill had no intention of being dragged anywhere else.

"Dobby! Shhh!"

Harry Potter reached for his glasses, confused and out of sorts at having been woken up by the house elf. Especially with such a loud noise as apparating – or whatever it was called when the house elves did it.

Jack frowned, recognizing the voice, even as the light from the window illuminated the person on the bed, telling him what his ears already had.

"Harry?"

"Jack?" Even in the faint light, O'Neill could hear the shock in the boy's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask y-"

"Dobby has brought him!"

"Shh!" Harry jumped out of bed, barely avoiding getting tangled in his sheets and blanket. "You're going to wake up my-"

There was a loud banging on the door, which was pushed open with a loud crash only an instant later. Now the room was it up from a bright light out in the hallway, but much of that light was blocked by a very large man in striped pajamas. A man who looked furious – even in the dark.

"What's going on in here?"

There was a loud crack even as the light was turned on, and the man gave a yelp of surprise when he saw Jack standing there. Jack, of course was no less surprised.

"Who are you?" The pajamaed man asked with an angry roar. He turned to Harry. "What are you doing? I suppose this is one of your freak-"

"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked, interrupting. He didn't appreciate being yelled at during the best of times – he certainly wasn't going to let some stranger do it. Not at him. And not at Harry.

Looking a little wild-eyed and obviously thinking fast, Harry spoke up, turning to the man in the pajamas.

"Uncle Vernon… this is my friend… um…"

"Jack." Jack finished, frowning.

"You're an American," Vernon said, surprise warring with annoyance.

"Yeah."

Dursley turned to Harry.

"What are you doing? Importing the weirdoes now?"

"Hey, watch who you're calling a weirdo," Jack said, no less annoyed.

"This is my house and I'll do whate-"

"Jack's a wizard," Harry lied, quickly. "He's been on the run with Sirius and is here to check on-"

Vernon's angry red face suddenly went white, and he took a step back.

"With…"

"Yeah, with my godfather," Harry said, knowing full well the effect that would have on his uncle and hoping it was enough to get him to back down. "He's-"

"I will not have you bringing strangers into my house in the middle of the night," Vernon told his nephew. He turned to Jack, who didn't have a clue what was going on – or how Harry knew that he'd been with Sirius. "You're not-"

"Jack just needs to talk to me for a minute," Harry said quickly. "Then he'll go."

"Wait a minute…" Jack was beginning to put two and two together. "This is your uncle?"

Harry nodded.

"The one that treats you so badly?"

Before Harry could say anything, Vernon spoke up again.

"What I do in my house is none of your-"

Jack scowled. This was actually a meeting he'd hoped to have – under less odd circumstances, of course.

"You listen here, you lousy piece of-"

"Jack, it's okay. Really."

"Stay out of this, Harry," Jack said, stepping towards Dursley, who took another step back. Even though Vernon was larger and heavier than Jack, he could see the threat in Jack's eyes, and he backed down from that.

He hated doing it, though, and it showed.

"Finish your… discussion…" Vernon said in a final act of bravado – which was ruined when he licked his lips nervously. "But then I want you out of my house."

"I'm not through with you," Jack said, scowling. Sure, the guy would bully a little kid no problem, but when it came to facing someone who was able to stand up to him… Jack hated bullies – and even worse, hated someone who would treat his own nephew like Harry had been treated. "You've got a lot to answer for, and-"

"Jack, it's okay," Harry said, stepping between him and his uncle. Vernon took the opportunity to leave the room, closing the door with almost as loud of a crash as he'd opened it with. "He's been a lot better…" Harry said, as if he was worried Jack was going to follow his uncle down the hall. That was the last thing he needed! Especially since he didn't know what was going on.

O'Neill scowled, staring at the door for a long moment, but then turned to Harry.

"Fine."

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked. "I was going to try and come to-"

Another loud crack interrupted him, and Dobby once more reappeared. The house elf smiled hugely, his ears waggling slightly. Jack stared at it once more.

"Ask that thing."