Author's Note: I haven't forgotten this story, really! I will be working on it, but I want to get the Christmas one out of the way, too, preferably before June! Sorry about the hold up on it!

OOOOOOOO

"What happened to Voldemort?"

Dumbledore held up his hand.

"Wait on that question, Jack. This isn't the place to discuss it." The old wizard looked at those with him. "Dobby? You and Sebastian return to the school. Meet us by my office, if you would, please. We'll be along shortly."

The two house elves nodded, and with loud cracks promptly disappeared.

"The rest of us will apparate to Hogsmead and walk back from there."

Jack hesitated, looking at Harry and then at the large dog that he recognized to be Sirius. Dumbledore caught the look, of course, as did everyone else.

"And a secret needs to be revealed, now that it is well and truly already out of the bag, unfortunately. Sirius?"

Harry's head nearly jerked off his neck when he turned. After his initial glance at the dog when it had emerged from the brush, he'd been too occupied with what was going on to consider the resemblance to Sirius – not to mention he knew it just couldn't be – but the moment Dumbledore said the name his attention was brought abruptly back to the dog. Only to see the dog vanish and the last person he'd ever thought to see again suddenly emerge.

"Sirius!"

The dark-haired wizard smiled, relieved to finally show himself to his godson after causing him so much pain. He crossed the short distance between them quickly, pulling Harry into a rough embrace, which after a stunned moment Harry returned.

"I… I don't understand…"

"Now isn't the time to discuss it," Dumbledore said, smiling gently. "Sirius? You take Harry. Remus? Will you-"

"I'll take Daniel," Lupin agreed, walking over to stand beside Daniel, who didn't have a clue what they were talking about.

Minerva moved to stand beside Jack, while Dumbledore moved over to Sam, and Hagrid moved by Teal'c.

"Hold tight," Dumbledore told SG-1. "We're going to take you with us."

Jack looked at the centaurs, and raised a hand.

"If you ever need anything…"

Zip smiled that terrible centaur smile, and gave O'Neill a salute.

"It was our pleasure Jack O'Neill. Feel free to return any time."

The centaurs turned and started off into the forest, while Jack felt Minerva reach for his hand.

"Hold tight," she reminded him, guiding his arm around her waist. He did as he was told, and a moment later with a loud crack they were gone. A moment after that, the clearing in the Forbidden Forest was empty as two by two the pairs vanished into thin air.

OOOOOOO

"The castle is a short walk from here," Dumbledore said only a few minutes later. They were standing outside a small village, and he was giving the members of SG-1 a chance to gather their equilibrium after apparating. He was also giving Harry a chance to get over his understandable shock at seeing Sirius alive and well.

"That wasn't fun…" Daniel said, ignoring Dumbledore. He was sitting on a low wall; his legs trembling so hard that they wouldn't support him just then.

"It was worth it to see the Centaurs, though, right?" Sam asked, shrewdly, knowing that it was a good way to take him mind off just how lousy he felt all of the sudden. She didn't feel much better, but Daniel looked downright awful.

He gave her a shaky smile, well aware of what she was doing.

"Even better to find Jack."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

The Jaffa wasn't phased at all by the trip; he'd had much worse – and besides, he had a symbiote to help him recover.

"They said you were dead…" Harry was saying, standing in front of Sirius. He was getting over his shock quickly, had passed through a swelling happiness, and was now trying to understand why anyone would play such a horrible trick on him.

"They had to," Sirius told him. "We needed to keep the fact that I survived a secret…"

"But-"

"We couldn't tell you, Harry," Dumbledore said, gently, interrupting. "With your unique bond to Voldemort, the moment you knew, he would know, and it was very important that we allow him – and his followers – to believe that he was dead."

"But-"

"We wanted Bellatrix to believe me to be dead," Sirius said, unable to say his cousin's name without loathing.

"But, why?"

"To make her believe that what belonged to me was now hers – including one house elf."

"Kreacher," Sam said, listening in.

Sirius nodded.

"We were going to use him to do a little spying. Not that we expected to get a whole lot out of him, and he isn't the most loyal of creatures, but he would have had to obey, and would have been bound to keep the secret – no matter how much he didn't want to."

"It was entirely possible he could have been a great advantage for us," Dumbledore said, ignoring Sirius' dislike of the house elf. "An advantage that we decided made it worth the awful hurt that allowing you to believe Sirius to be dead would cause."

Harry shook his head, taking a step back.

"I don't believe it…"

"Harry…"

"You let me think you were dead, just so Kreacher could spy on Voldemort?"

"It was-"

"It was necessary, Harry," Dumbledore interrupted. "We-"

"No!" Harry turned on Dumbledore, his elation at having his godfather back turning to fury as he realized that everyone had been in on some kind of sick trick that was aimed directly at him. "It wasn't! Nothing is worth what I went through! You told me he was dead!" He turned to Lupin. "You did, too! You said he was dead and that there wasn't…" he turned back to Dumbledore, his face brilliant red and his green eyes flashing with anger. "You lied to me… you all lied to me…"

"Harry…" Sirius said, softly. "You have to understand…"

"No!"

Whirling, Harry took off, unable to find another release for the anger roiling through him and unwilling to face those who had hurt him so badly.

"Harry!"

"Let him go, Sirius," Dumbledore said. "He's heading for the school, and he'll be as safe there as anywhere…" The old wizard turned to the others. "Come… the school isn't far, and there is much to discuss."