Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.
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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 58: Confusing Crash Course
The first thing they did was search the two of us extensively. I made a large fuss when they tried to take the goblin steel sheath for Erebus, so O'Neill— grumbling all the while— volunteered to carry it.
I accepted.
They deemed 'the stick', my wand basically, harmless, handing it back to me.
It made sense, really.
What could a kid with a stick do against a bunch of hardened Air Force officers with assault rifles? The officer tried to pry open my other pants pocket— the one containing my mokeskin pouch— with absolutely no luck whatsoever.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mess with that pocket, honestly." I said by way of apology. "Badly sewn, but I liked it so much I got the thing."
After a few more attempts at opening the pocket, the officer just shrugged and gave up. It had nothing to do with the Confundus Charm I sent his way, no sir.
Me, a law breaker? Perish the thought!
I followed the small group of Bra'tac, Teal'c, O'Neill, and Hammond through the bowels of the facility, feeling a bit lost as we went from corridor, to corridor, to corridor.
There were guards at every junction, each of them saluting the General when we passed by. I carefully reined my Lightning inside; not wanting to screw up any of the machines in the base every time another set of guards who were armed to the teeth startled me.
A few minutes later, we entered what seemed to be a hospital ward. I saw many beds, with a few soldiers hooked up to some sophisticated machinery.
"This might not be the best idea." I spoke up, not having said much since I arrived here. While I was fairly confident in my ability to rein in my magic to minimize the damage, I could never be absolutely sure— especially when it came to hospital gear with no protection from magical energies whatsoever.
"It is standard procedure to conduct a few tests to make sure you don't carry any threatening pathogens in your body." A woman said, walking up to us. She greeted Bra'tac, and the rest, before turning to me.
"I'm Janet Fraiser; chief medical officer." She extended a hand, which I took and shook awkwardly with my black, scaled hand— heh, she went bug-eyed at the sight.
"Harry Potter." I said, finding no need to lie to government agents.
There was a small reaction to the name, behind me.
§I felt a shift in the air coming from the big man.§ Balthazar informed me in my mind. §I believe that Hammond fellow recognized your name.§
"Figured as much." I thought back. "He is the leader of this place, after all."
"What kind of tests?" I said warily, and added. "I can't be near those machines, because they'll malfunction near my presence. Wouldn't want any of your guys to die because of me."
She blinked at my statement, features becoming slightly wary.
"You're saying that you can emit some kind of energy that can interfere with the machines in the medical facility?" A blonde, short haired woman said, entering the room from behind me.
I gave a nod of confirmation and leveled my full gaze onto her.
"Oh!" She said, flushing slightly at the social misstep. "I'm Samantha Carter."
"Harry Potter." I introduced myself again. "And to answer your question; yes, I can do that. Want to see?"
"Perhaps not the time, Mr. Potter?" The deep voiced man said; I turned my head slightly.
"I'm guessing they don't know about— uh—" I said, unsure of how to phrase it. "What's the code-word for—"
"Suffice to say that no such code-word exists." Hammond said, moving me out of the hospital facility, O'Neill and Carter following the both of us, looking a bit curious at the development. Judging from the lack of Teal'c and Bra'tac, I assumed they remained in the medical facility.
"Sir? Permission to speak freely?" Carter said, sounding slightly agitated.
He considered her request as we passed another set of guards through yet another hallway. This place was a maze.
"Granted."
"Isn't it a little… Unorthodox? The way we didn't conduct the standard health exam for Mr. Potter here." She said, giving me an apologetic look. "No offense."
"None taken." I smirked and scratched my face with my black scaled fingers in an attempt to rile her up.
She merely gazed at it with interest, instead of the disgust or worry I was expecting.
"Is this what generates your energy field?" She asked as Hammond finally decided to stop somewhere.
I didn't give her an answer.
He opened a nondescript, light green door, which led to a large conference room with a projector and a computer on the far end.
"Colonel, Major." Hammond said slowly. "I need a few minutes alone with this gentleman."
"But, General!" Carter protested, but was silenced with a mere lift off the General's hand.
He commanded respect: that either meant be was an honorable leader, or inspired that much fear within the ranks.
I was hoping for honorable. The dastardly duo gave me dubious glances and complied, exiting the conference room, but keeping the door open as Hammond and I moved to the furthest spot away from the door.
I heard O'Neill's grumble and smirked.
"You're him, aren't you?" Hammond started in low tones. "Harry Potter, the wizard from Britain, is that correct?"
"Yeah." I nodded, a little confused. "I thought non magics weren't supposed to know about the secret, with the exception of the highest authorities."
"Protecting the planet from outside threats is one of the directives of this facility." Hammond explained, his Texan accent strong in his speech. "The presidency saw it fit to inform me of the existence of magical society so I would not simply hunt them down in the misguided belief they are using alien technology."
That sounded like a line Hammond had heard, rather than one he thought of, himself.
"Ah, you're dubious about the truth of the matter." I nodded, understanding the man's plight.
Imagine if you lived your entire life, raised up on the sciences, religions and the like. None of them acknowledges the existence or good of magic— the mere idea of something defying their understanding and capabilities causes them to scoff at it.
General Hammond, here, was no exception, it seemed.
"Frankly, if any other organization had told me that information, I would have dismissed it as fiction." Hammond admitted.
"You want a demonstration." I stated, realizing where he was going with this.
"In short, yes." Hammond confirmed with a nod.
"What if I refuse?" I asked lightly, watching the man give me a hard look.
I felt the slightest sliver of apprehension crawl through my body.
"Then I might think you're a spy, sent to ruin us from within. I would have to lock you down and call for the relevant authorities on the matter." Hammond said simply.
I frowned. It was an empty threat, as I could simply send a Patronus to Erebus and have him break me out of jail.
Not to mention the fact that I probably could escape this place, given enough time...
Still, I should probably show some cooperation, since we were all the good guys here.
From those files I had read, these people had done their fair share of saving the planet— numerous times, even.
Me? Well, I've fought monsters. I've saved London, sure; but I had help. In the last battle, I only fought Voldemort— sending Erebus out to hold off his army with his children.
Could I claim I was the savior of England?
No, it seemed a bit too farfetched to claim, for my tastes.
To put it into perspective, these people saved the entire planet from subjugation to another race— however improbable the subjugation itself. Muggles, who didn't know about the faeries, the wizards, and all of the creatures that resided on the planet, would simply assume that they were all going to be enslaved by these so called 'gods'.
They fought back, the odds massively against them.
I could definitely respect that.
So I cooperated.
"Fine, but I don't want to do it more than once." I said, and prepared to show the man some tricks.
"Not yet." Hammond cut me off. "I would like for the members of SG1 to be present for it."
I frowned. "Are they clued in to the secret?"
"They are not."
I considered my next question.
"Do you trust them not to run their mouths in public?" I asked.
Hammond raised an eyebrow, looking around at the facility we stood in; the secret, underground facility.
"Good point." I said sheepishly, scratching the back of my head. "As long as they don't say anything, they should be fine; otherwise, the government will erase their memories."
"That's possible?" Hammond said with a bit of shock.
"Erase, alter, plant new ones, and even control people, really." I informed the man. "You didn't know?"
"The sum of my knowledge on the matter is that magic exists, but no proof was presented to me." Hammond said, sounding perturbed at the suggestions.
"Well if it's any consolation, we have our own police forces to keep the bad eggs in check. And our government simply tends to avoid the non magicals as much as possible." I added to take away his paranoid thoughts. It didn't really help.
"And if they can't be kept in check?" Hammond asked, his eyes shifting to a deadly look for the barest of moments, showing me a hardened leader beyond his benevolent nature. "If this magical government itself is the one harming ours?"
He reminded me of Dumbledore; looking out for the interests of his people, rather than his own.
I smirked, and extended my hand.
"Harry Potter." I said. "Keeper of balance in my own corner of the world."
The General seemed dubious.
"But you're still—" Hammond said, before staring at my open hand, bluish white Lightning coursing out of the skin, filling the room with light. I felt my hair stand on end, swaying gently in air as I stared at the power coalescing in my hand.
It wasn't much, enough for a Breakdown Fist, really; but that was enough energy to tear through reinforced steel, with my current strength level.
I harshly clenched my hand shut, killing the flow and causing a strong shockwave to rattle the chairs and desks around me. Hammond took an instinctive step back, before standing his ground.
"Sir!" O'Neill and Carter's voices came from the door as they rushed in. O'Neill pointed his gun at me.
"At ease, Colonel!" Hammond said, sharing a glance with O'Neill and nodding his head. Reluctantly, he lowered his gun, holstering it, and made to leave, with Carter following behind.
"Take a seat, Colonel, Major." Hammond said, and they gave him a questioning glance. "Dr. Jackson, Teal'c and Master Bra'tac will be joining us shortly. Would you like anything, Mr. Potter?"
"Some food would be nice. I haven't had anything proper to eat in a while; and a coke?" I said.
"The turkey sandwich was really good today, and we only got pepsi here." O'Neill quipped.
"Turkey sandwich sounds good." I nodded, feeling my mouth water at the thought of food. "And pepsi, coke… Whatever. It's all the same to me."
"You take that back." O'Neill said immediately, standing up and looking affronted. Carter looked amused.
"All. The. Same." I said each word slowly, leaning forward slightly in challenge.
"Gentlemen." Hammond warned, and we broke off our gazes to meet his.
"Oh." O'Neill said. "Right. Sorry."
"What he said." I said, feeling faintly amused at the byplay.
"I'll have someone bring over some food for all of us." Hammond said, before exiting the room and saying a few words to a nearby guard.
The next few minutes were spent in a relative silence, with the three other occupants in the room being completely used to such a thing occurring. Carter kept sneaking glances at me and my arm, while O'Neill busied himself with picking his nose in an attempt to annoy her. Hammond merely sat down and stared off into space.
Probably hungry or something, who knows?
I grasped onto the strange link that felt so familiar to Erebus' essence, and tugged at it. It responded in kind. As the minutes passed, I could feel it getting stronger.
Erebus was on his way. How long that would take, I had no idea.
One of the military guys came in holding trays full of food and drink, placing them on the conference table, easy within reach.
I wondered if he was a voluntary gofer or if he simply lost a bet and had to play servant duty for a week. The thought left my mind as I took a bite out of the sandwich, savoring the taste, before scarfing it all down.
"This is really good." I said, before grabbing another.
"Told you so." O'Neill answered as Teal'c, Bra'tac and a third unfamiliar man came in— a very unassuming person, carrying himself in an attempt to seem as harmless as possible.
It made me wary.
Among all of the others, the guy who looked like he got beat up for lunch money when he was a kid was the most threatening?
Ridiculous.
"General." The unfamiliar man greeted.
"Dr. Jackson." Hammond said warmly. "Welcome. Have a seat, all of you."
All three men complied. Jackson gave me a sidelong glance— lingering slightly on my right arm— before piling a few sandwiches on a plate. He offered some to Teal'c and Bra'tac.
Teal'c refused, but Bra'tac didn't, giving the man a nod of gratitude, and biting into his food.
Hammond gave a nod to the guard standing at the door, and it closed shut.
"Bastet is dead." Bra'tac said gravely, placing the food back on the plate. Teal'c shifted at the words.
"Bastet? Help me out, Daniel." O'Neill said, turning to Dr. Jackson for answers.
Jackson's eyes unfocused for a second or so, before lighting up with recognition.
"Bastet, the Egyptian goddess worshipped in the Second Dynasty, which was as early as 3000 BC. Revered as a goddess of warfare, and later on becoming a goddess of protection." Daniel spewed out in one quick breath.
Oh god, not another Hermione!
"I meant, where did she rank in the food chain?" O'Neill grumbled.
"Pretty high, I'd imagine." Daniel replied unhelpfully.
"Indeed, you are correct, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said. "Bastet is known as one of the System Lords."
The heck's a Goa'uld? What's a System Lord, for that matter?
"What's a System Lord?" O'Neill asked.
"As you know, there are many Goa'ulds masquerading as gods in our galaxy." Teal'c answered, instead. "System Lords are basically a hierarchy of the more powerful Goa'ulds out there, each controlling and operating from its own region of space."
"Was Apophis one?" Daniel asked, getting a dark look on his face.
"Yes." Teal'c replied evenly. "He was."
Past tense, plus tension in the air.
There was a story there.
"So, what? You killed her, and brought the kid along?" O'Neill asked, changing back to the original subject.
"I'm afraid that the honor of defeating Bastet went to the young warrior here." Bra'tac corrected, giving me a respectful nod, which did not go unnoticed by anyone.
I returned the nod, equally respectfully; glad to have an ally here, at least.
These people may not be my enemies, but I didn't know if they were my friends, either.
"You killed her." O'Neill said incredulously, nudging the sheath on the table. "With that?"
I glanced at General Hammond, silently asking for permission.
"Go ahead." He said.
I extricated myself from the chair, and pointed at the wall on the other side of the room. With a small effort of will, bluish white power coalesced into a Lightning Blade, which embedded itself deep in the concrete wall, the impact causing cracks to form on the surface, before disappearing with a thought.
Silence ensued.
"What... Was that?" Daniel said, sounding astonished.
"It appeared to be an energy discharge of some sort." Carter said. "Though I'm not sure what kind of device is capable of this, aside from a Zat'nickatel, of course."
"Zats, Carter." O'Neill whined. "They're called Zats."
"No device." I corrected, stifling a grin at the Colonel's antics. "That was all me. My magic."
One. Two. Three. Four…
"That's impossible. Magic isn't real." Carter said automatically.
Ah, four seconds for that reaction. Cool.
"The amount of energy needed to even damage that wall is considerable! The human body can't generate that much power." She continued.
"The impossibility of my power is not in question, here." I said, faintly amused at her sputtering. "I drove six Lightning Blades into two of these so called gods. They didn't hold up well."
"Who was the second?" Hammond asked. I shrugged.
"I don't really care." I said honestly. "I just wanted to get home and made the deal with Bra'tac, here. I would kill the two gods-"
"Goa'uld." Daniel interrupted. "They're called Goa'ulds."
"So that's what Goa'uld means. Thanks." I acknowledged. "I killed these Goa'ulds in exchange for passage home."
"May I ask how you managed to even get yourself off world?" Hammond asked patiently.
"Killed a Dark Lord. He used the last of his power and said 'begone'. I blacked out, and the next thing I know I'm on another planet already causing trouble." I explained a bit lamely.
"Magic." O'Neill said. "No magic wand, eye of newt or whatever? Gigantic spell book that you have to carry around? No awful poetry?"
I perked up, and pulled out my wand, making the man go bug eyed. "No poetry. I'd cut myself with a rusty knife before I use poetry as a form of magic. A wand, however; that, I can do. Reparo."
The wall I had damaged immediately repaired itself, leaving no evidence of my breaking it at all.
"That's amazing." Carter breathed, looking like she had a million questions on her mind.
"You think I can convince you to come over to my place and fix the sofa, and my kitchen table?" O'Neill suggested hopefully.
I rolled my eyes, and turned to Hammond, who was giving me a look of utter astonishment.
"And there exists a whole community of men and women like you?" Hammond asked. "All possessing the same level of power as you?"
O'Neill moved forward intently, wanting to hear the answer.
"Don't put me on their level." I scoffed at the implication. "They can use wands, and that's about it. Without their wands they're useless."
"And, you're not?" O'Neill said, fishing for information.
Lightning answered my call, suffusing into my muscles and nerves for the split second I needed to dash behind the man. I poked the back of his head. He took a moment to realize what had happened, before turning to me sharply, Erebus' sheath already in his hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
Except, I was too fast for him.
"Woah, there!" O'Neill said; a genuine look of surprise on his face as he forced himself to relax in his chair once more. "You've got some speed there, kid… That's amazing."
Seriously, if he was going to call me 'kid' one more time, I was going to punch him.
I placed my hand on the man's shoulder, and began to chew him out.
It was a motion that many people do, many times in their daily lives, and nothing ever happens then.
So why was it that, when I grabbed onto his shoulder, we were both engulfed by a flash of light, so bright that I was completely blinded by it? Why was it that when the spots in my vision faded and color returned, I wasn't even in the same room?
"Where—" I opened my mouth, and shut it again as my eyes completely adjusted to the light, seeing something I never thought I'd see in my life.
The Earth, looking as big, round and blue as I had seen in it pictures, floated below me.
"Yep. We're on a spaceship." O'Neill's voice came from my left, equally astonished, judging from the way he scrutinized his surroundings with a wide, alert gaze.
It was a strange room, indeed; built in a general cylindrical shape, painted in grays, browns which were illuminated with lights underneath the flooring, with a plain looking chair in the back. We walked around for a bit, checking for a door or something.
Nothing.
"There's nothing." O'Neill groused, before throwing the sheath right back to me. "You can have this back."
"Thanks." I acknowledged and placed it on my right hip.
Another flash of light came from behind us, and we turned to see— I shit you not— a little gray man; a thin humanoid with completely black eyes staring right back at us.
"Greetings, Jack O'Neill." The little gray guy said in a sort-of effeminate voice, though, judging from the lack of genitalia— ugh, why was it naked, anyway?— it was probably asexual.
"Greetings." O'Neill waved his hand in greeting, before approaching it with a slightly confused gaze. "Have we met?"
"I am Thor." It said.
O'Neill straightened, looking at the creature before him with more alertness.
This was Thor, God of Thunder?
The alien then looked at me, as if it was noticing me for the first time. It frowned slightly, before pressing a few buttons on the chair it sat in.
"I am afraid I do not know who you are." The being— Thor— said to me.
"Harry Potter." I answered back. "You are Thor, God of Lightning? Aren't you supposed to be a muscled Viking with blond hair, smashing people and monsters around with a hammer?"
"Hah!" O'Neill said, amused. "That's all fake. He's just got lots of technology."
"I apologize for taking you by surprise, and for dragging another one of the Tau'ri along with you." Thor said, as O'Neill turned to the large window overlooking the Earth. "But I have come on a matter of great importance."
"We're in orbit around Earth, right?" He pointed at the planet in question, looking back at the gray being.
"Yes."
"You know; we have satellites and telescopes that can see things like spaceships." O'Neill continued in a tone of voice that seemed half panicked and half resigned at the audacity of beings so unlike him.
Likely, dealing with Teal'c and other alien races had done that to him.
"Our ships have never been detected in orbit around Earth, before." Thor stated, as if that settled the matter.
"Wait, before?" I blurted out. "When were you here?"
"Several times." Thor explained. "Loki was especially fascinated with the Tau'ri and had to be stopped."
"Oh. All right." O'Neill said, before approaching the being. "I'm sorry, you were saying something; matter of great importance?"
"We received word of what transpired between your people and the Goa'uld named Hathor." Thor said in a monotone.
O'Neill shifted slightly, possibly in anger. "She had it coming."
"As a result." Thor continued as if O'Neill hadn't said anything. "The Goa'uld System Lords have turned their attentions towards you."
"What— for killing Hathor?" The man sounded incredulous. "They should be thanking us. She was planning to overthrow them, you know."
"Her intentions are irrelevant." Thor cut the man off. "Earth has once again proven it can be a formidable threat to the Goa'uld."
"Oh, now we're a threat to them." O'Neill took a few paces to the left, sounding a little agitated.
"They have decided it is a concern to be dealt with." Thor explained patiently. "The System Lords are capable of launching an assault one hundred times more powerful than that which you previously withstood at the hands of Apophis."
That seemed to kill whatever angry retort O'Neill was building up, seeing as his mouth clamped shut for a few seconds.
"Okay." He breathed. "That could be a problem."
"Wait." I cut in. "What kind of assault are we talking about, here?"
They didn't answer.
I remembered the little girl's words to me, back on that other planet. She talked of fire coming down from the heavens and decimating their entire population.
"You mean the so called 'fire from the heavens'?" I continued.
O'Neill got a look in his eyes, and nodded.
"Yeah." He confirmed. "Easier for them, you see? Why waste time sending troops against the world's armies if they can just relax in orbit and bomb the hell out of everything? A single ship can probably wipe out most of our cities in a day."
"And we've got a possible future assault of hundreds of these ships?" I said.
O'Neill nodded. "Looks like it."
"…I think 'problem' is an understatement here." I said, feeling way out of my depth.
"The Asgard agree." Thor said, moving the conversation back on point. "I have come to offer our assistance."
His chair beeped again, but I could already figure what it was, judging by the sudden familiar feeling of Darkness coming off from my left.
"It appears there is something outside of this ship, waiting." Thor said.
"Bring him here." I requested, gaining the attention of both creatures. "He's mine."
Thor gave me a scrutinizing gaze, before nodding.
A flash of light came from behind us, before the familiar cloaked form of Erebus emerged.
"What the hell is that thing?" O'Neill asked, sounding perturbed.
"Took you long enough to get back." Erebus said, extending his hand to me. I grasped it, and willed the Demon to turn back into his Falchion form. Erebus gave a submissive nod, before morphing into the black sword I had grown familiar with.
There was no fanfare, no powerful wind swaying about, making my hair fly in a stylish manner.
One second, Erebus was there; the next, there was a sword in my hand.
A sword that I returned to its rightful sheath.
"What the hell is going on, here?" O'Neill looked so confused. For that matter, so did Thor.
'How does it feel to be on the confused side, huh? Huh!?' I mentally crowed.
Small victories.
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Open war with System Lords?
Cold war with System Lords?A mix of the two above?I'm not really sure on how to decide this. If we go by power levels, I'm sure someone like Neville can lob gigantic rocks at the ships— but they'll blast them away. Harry can launch his Lightning, but he is not powerful enough to do much damage, if at faeries for help always comes at a price, and they won't directly intervene unless they feel threatened— which is rarely, since they live in Nevernever.I'm already thinking about a few, more sneaky strategies to deal with the Goa'uld; since a full on battle against hundreds of spaceships seems unwinnable, no matter appreciate input!