John stood in front of a large imposing desk in the British-Muggle Ministry, as he pondered on how it was strange that he was already differentiating between the magical and muggle. He sighed as he drummed his fingers on the desk as a plump woman behind the desk tapped slowly on her computer keyboard. "What did you say your name was again?"

"John Sheppard."

"I don't have any appointments for a John Sheppard with anyone, let alone anyone in the IOA," the woman said as she looked up from her screen to John.

John sighed again and then began to explain slightly exasperated with the entire process, "I did not make the appointment myself. Maybe they have it listed under Harry Potter."

The woman nodded and turned back to her screen. She hummed and hawed as she scrolled through different pages on her screen. "Here it is. Alright, Mr. Potter, I will need to see some sort of identification before I can let you in."

John pulled a wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out his military i.d. card and handed it to the woman. The woman glanced at it before handing it back. "I need identification of a Harry Potter, sir."

John groaned. He had no identification as Harry Potter. Damn procedures.

***

"We are sorry about that, Mr. Potter. We should have warned the secretary up front that you had some slightly unique circumstances. Please remember to bring proper identification next time."

"Of course," John replied grumpily. The woman opened a double door that lead into a conference room, inside there sat three people, who John assumed were the IOA members that would be hearing his application to reapply at Atlantis. John did not recognize any of them.

One of the members, a short squat woman with her black hair pulled back into a tight bun, looked up from her portfolio as he entered and the secondary secretary shut the doors behind him. She glanced down briefly before looking back up. "Mr. Potter, thank you for joining us," she said tersely as she motioned to a chair that sat across from the three representatives.

"I would prefer Sheppard if you don't mind," John replied as he sat down and adjusted his chair to the table.

"This committee will not be recognizing the alias that used during your subterfuge of the American military, Mr. Potter," the old man to the right of the woman said.

"Of course," John replied, feeling worse about how this meeting was going to go.

"Now," the man to the left of the woman spoke, "we are here today to review your reapplication to the Atlantis expedition. We here at the IOA of course know all about your activities when you were the acting commanding officer in Atlantis. Major Loren, who has of course has taken over your position, has sent along his highest recommendations that you be reinstated to the Atlantis mission.

The IOA recognizes that your leadership was invaluable during the previous years of the Atlantis mission, and that without it we might not even have an Atlantis, but what has come to light recently has left us in an awkward position."

The woman spoke up again, "You see, Mr. Potter, how are we at the IOA suppose to accept that one of our top leaders in Atlantis was able to deceive the entire program into believing that he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, while in reality he is a British citizen. With the enemies that we have, it does not bode well for the IOA if we can not even gather accurate information on who we send to command our forces." The woman peered at John over the brim of her glasses. "Do you understand, Mr. Potter."

"Of course, ma'am. I have no reasonable explanation for my actions. It was never my intention to bring any harm through my joining of the United States Air Force, or my leadership in Atlantis," John said as he fidgeted in his chair under the heavy stares of the three representatives.

"And then there is of course this report that you filed," the man to the right spoke as he held up a folder and placed it in front of John. "It is common that strange things are brought to the attention of the IOA, but even this is a little strange for our taste. Claiming that there is an entire population of wizards right here in London is a little outside the scopes of what the IOA deals with. But, it is stranger that one of the leader of the Atlantis expedition claims that he is a wizard himself." The man paused as he tapped his pen on his the table before leaning forward.

"So you know what we did then, Mr. Potter?" the man asked.

"I am afraid not, sir." John replied.

"We brought it to the attention of the Prime Minister," the man replied as he leaned back in his chair. "At first, of course, he was shocked that John Sheppard was originally a British citizen, but then he heard your real name, Mr. Potter. And then suddenly everything was right as rain. He said, 'Harry Potter? Really? Well if he ever comes to visit you tell him he should stop by my office, as I would like to thank him personally. He'll know what I am talking about.' The minister then told us that should you want to rejoin the program, we should be all means let you. So tell us, Mr. Potter. Why does the Prime Minister think so highly of you, despite having pretended to be an American citizen for the past seven years?"

John wet his lips quickly before he spoke next. "I am a rather recognized person within the wizarding community. I received an Order of Merlin, First Class for services to Great Britain a little more than seven years ago. I am sure that is what he was speaking of," John explained vaguely.

"And what did you do to earn this," the man on the left paused as he looked down at the notes he had been scribbling, "Order of Merlin."

"I ended a war that was raging in the wizarding world by killing a dark wizard by the name of Tom Riddle, more commonly known as Lord Voldemort. I believe I mentioned him in my report."

"This is ludicrous," the woman spat as she slammed her hand down on the report in front of her. "We are supposed to believe that you are a 'wizard' hero that defeated a dark lord. It is fairy tale rubbish."

"Would you like proof?" John asked, becoming aggravated that this meeting was getting nowhere.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, we would." The old man on the right replied as he looked John hard in the eyes.

"Very well," John replied as he stood up and pulled his wand from the sleeve of his dress shirt.

"Mr. Potter, what do you think…," but the man was cut off.

"Ducklifors," John commanded as he stabbed the report that was sitting on the table with his wand. Almost instantly there was a high-pitched squawk and a little yellow duckling sat where the report had been sitting only moments ago. "That, Mr. Representative, is transfiguration. The ability to turn one thing into another."

"Well, I must say that is better than pulling a rabbit out of a hat," the man on the left said quietly, a small grin gracing his features as he watched the duck.

"Glieson!" the woman reprimanded as she turned her attention back to John. "So you can do some parlor tricks, but that is by no means proof that an entire wizarding community exists here in London."

"The only proof you need, is to go speak to the Prime Minister again and ask him in more detail about it. I am sure that he can let some within the IOA know what is going on."

"I think we will do just that," the woman almost all but growled out, "This meeting is adjourned until this afternoon after we have had a chance to speak with the Minister."

***

Owen Cauldwell, head of the Department of Muggle Affairs, sat at his desk within the within the Ministry of Magic as he sorted through various missives requesting his presence. He was about to open a missive with the familiar scrawl of Arthur Weasley, when a howler appeared on his desk, dropped by an elegant eagle owl.

Casting a quick silencing charm around his rooms, he carefully picked up the howler and while holding it at arms length broke the seal. Rather than an angry voice he was expecting from some dissatisfied wizard, the eerily cold angry voice of the Minister of Magic floated forth from the smoking envelope. "Owen Cauldwell," the disembodied voice started quietly, "you had better make yourself available in my office immediately and explain to me why a department within the Muggle Ministry has been enquiring about our very existence! You had better have a good explanation as to why your department has not sent out a team of obliviators or I will have your seat!" The howler burnt up leaving a pile of ash on Owen Cauldwell's rather messy desk.

Cauldwell sat in shock as he stared at the pile of ash. How had none of his teams picked up on this?! Scrambling, Owen shifted through the different missives on his desk until he finally found one on the bottom of the pile, it was almost a week old. "Susan!" he yelled, before cursing as he remembered the silencing charm was up. Taking it down he yelled again, "Susan, get in here!"

Moments later a young woman came through the door. "Yes, sir."

"Why was no one ever sent over to the Muggle Ministry?" Owen said in panic as he flourished the report.

"We thought we would leave it to your discretion as to what to do about it, sir, with well, you know, him being involved and having the original issue come from the United States," Susan said nervously as she pulled on the hem of her shirt.

"With who involved?"

"Have you not read the report, sir?" Susan asked.

"No, I only just had the Minister demanding my explanation of it. I had not even seen the report until just now."

"There should have been a priority notice on it," Susan responded weakly.

"There wasn't. Now explain."

"It's Harry Potter, sir," Susan said, the awe apparent in her voice. "It was him that broke the Statue of Secrecy. We figured he must have had a good reason, so we decided that we would let you decide what would be the appropriate actions to take."

"Harry Potter," Owen repeated slowly. "I have got to go now, Susan. Watch the office while I am gone."

***

Owen Caudwell stood besides a rather angry Minster of Magic as he was offered the tin of floo powder. "This has escalated too high, Mr. Caudwell. Obliviating the Prime Minister is out of the option, so you had better hope that their agreement to an oath of secrecy is easily obtained," the minister said as he glared over the rim of his glasses.

"Of course, Minister," Owen replied nervously as he threw the floo powder into the fire. "Prime Minister's Office." Owen Caudwell spun away and landed in the office of the Prime Minister. Facing him were five people. Three of them seemed completely taken aback that he had just come through the fireplace like some strange version of Santa Clause, while the man that he knew to be the Prime Minister, looked slightly surprised as though he were not expecting it to happen again. And then there was the fifth.

While Owen recognized him, he was not the boy-hero image that was usually publicized. Instead a man stood in front of him, looking slightly grim. Owen moved out of the way, and the Minister of Magic came through the floo. The Minister wasted no time in greeting the room.

"Good Afternoon, Minister," the Minister of Magic greeted as he moved forward to shake the Prime Ministers hand. "And you must be the three IOA representatives," the Minister said smoothly as he greeted each of them. And then he finally turned to Harry Potter. Owen could almost feel the air crackle as the two faced each other.

"Mr. Potter," the Minister said as he moved forward to shake the hero's hand.

"Malfoy." Owen could hear the discomfort in his boy-hood hero's voice. It must be the first time that the two had encountered in quite some time. "I had not realized that you had become Minister. Congratulations." No, Owen concluded, most definitely not comfortable.

"If we can proceed to the conference room, we can begin the discussion of this delicate issue that has arisen," The Prime Minister broke in has he began to walk towards the doors leading out of his office and into an adjacent conference room.

Once they had all been seated the Prime Minister began to make his introductions. "These are the three representatives that have been reviewing the case of Harry Potter, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Bansier, and Mr. Glieson."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Draco replied as Owen watched the faces of the rather shell-shocked representatives. Muggles really did take a while to adjust to the realities that the magical world did in fact exist. "This is the Head of Muggle Affairs, Mr. Caudwell."

"Muggle?" the woman named Wilson asked.

"Non-Magical people," Owen supplemented.

The Minister of Magic nodded and continued on, "As you all might realize, this is a difficult situation we have found ourselves in. Mr. Potter has unwittingly revealed the magical world to a number of people of high standings within the British Muggle government, and we find that our usual means of damage control would not be suitable in this situation."

"And what would your usual form of damage control be?" Bansier asked.

Owen was motioned to explain, "It is a form of selective memory alteration. It basically removes any memories of the wizarding world from a muggles mind."

"Isn't that unethical?" Bansier asked rather alarmed.

"It is how our world has survived so long," Malfoy said, brushing of the slight insult. "Because of this we were hoping to gather a list of names of all muggles that have come into contact with this information and have them take oaths of secrecy on the matter, if that is agreeable with you, Minister Paulson."

"I would agree to it, but it is not only my citizens that have been exposed to this. There are Americans, Canadian, and one from the Czech Republic that have been informed of this also, with the possibilities of others."

At this announcement, Owen was glad he was not sitting between the Minister and Harry Potter, the anger that was palpating off of the Minister was incredible. "Potter, what did you do? Do you realize how difficult it is to get cooperation of the other ministries?"

Owen saw that Mr. Potter had the good graces to slightly cringe. "Sorry."

"I would like to read the reports that caused this whole mess."

"We're sorry, sir, but those are confidential," it was Ms. Wilson that spoke up again.

"I don't think you understand, Ms. Wilson, I am the Minister of Magic, and this is directly affecting my entire community. I need to read those reports, and you do not have the authority to deny them."

"Minister Malfoy, again this is an internationally confidential matter. It is not under British jurisdiction. We would have to confer with all of the other nations of the IOA," Minister Paulson injected as drew his portfolio closer to himself, as though that would keep it safe.

"If that means that more people will read the report that I absolutely reject. This cannot reach any further into the muggle world than it already has!"

Owen glanced around the table. Everyone was tense. But then he noticed that Harry Potter had leaned forward to speak.

"Why not just enact a trade of sorts. The IOA gets confidentiality clearance of the wizarding world, and the Wizarding world gets to gain confidentiality clearance of the IOA."

"I don't even know what that would entail. For all I know I could be agreeing to information about you saving some important kitten from a tree," Malfoy threw back.

"It would be worth your consideration, Malfoy," Potter bit back as he leaned back in his chair.

"And why would that be? So far nothing has come out of this but trouble for the wizarding community."

"I have seen things that could potentially greatly benefit the wizarding world, and I am sure that the wizarding world could greatly benefit the mission," Potter replied as he turned to look back at the Prime Minister.

Minister Paulson stared thoughtfully at Harry Potter until he turned to Minister Malfoy. "Unfortunately we have no way of guaranteeing that the IOA would agree to that as a whole, your wizarding community would have to allow us confidentiality before we could bring it up to the leaders of the IOA."

"Then we are unable to come to an agreement," Malfoy replied.

Owen could see that the Minister Malfoy was about at the end of his patience. "Why not send a team of obliviators to the meeting. If they don't agree they will be none the wiser for what they have disagreed to," Owen suggested quickly before anyone could say anything else. Owen glanced over at the minister and could see that he was processing it in his mind.

"Minister Paulson, would you agree with Mr. Potter's statement that this could be of benefit to us?"

"Yes. I would have to say that it would be. It is almost impossible to believe sometimes, but it is amazing none the less. I would suggest we consider this option. Our own operations might be benefited if we had information that the wizarding community was able to provide."

"I agree," Potter replied.

"Minister," one of the IOA representatives said, Owne could not remember his name, "Are we really going to let them tamper with the minds of the leaders of the IOA should they not agree with this?"

"I believe that there is a great chance that the IOA will agree to the confidentiality between the two of us. And if they don't, I will have the Minister Malfoy's word that nothing will be harmed except for memories pertaining specifically to the wizarding community," Minister Paulson said, giving Malfoy a hard look as he said this.

"Of course. Very well, Mr. Caudwell will prepare both a presentation for your IOA and a team of obliviators should they not agree. Please contact us through your usual means when you are prepared to meet again with us."

"Of course," Minister Paulson replied. "It was good to see you, despite the difficult circumstances and Mr. Caudwell, we look forward to your report."

"I will have it prepared as soon as possible, Minister," Owen replied with a slight bow of his head.

"Mr. Potter," Minister Paulson continued, "Do not consider yourself reinstated yet. The IOA members still have much to discuss with you."

"As do I," Malfoy injected. "Minister Paulson, Representatives of the IOA. If you will excuse us, we have much to do. Mr. Potter, it you will please continue back to the Ministry of Magic with us."

There was a long silence. "Very well."

"Good day." And that was that. Owen Caudwell followed his boyhood hero and Minister Malfoy back out of the room and through the floo to the Ministry of Magic. They had a great deal to do.

***

John sat in the minister's office and watched as Malfoy stood furiously behind his desk. "Now explain to me fully why it is that you had to break the Statue of Secrecy."

"Confidential," John replied with a slight smirk.

"So help me Potter," Malfoy growled in frustration. "I don't give a damn about what they made you sign, it isn't a wizards oath. Now tell me!"

John's smirk grew wider. "I infused it with my magic. It is as good as an oath." Then John paused, and his smirk fell as he grew more serious, "But really, I can't believe neither the Americans or you were able to obliviate everyone before this got this far. I was expecting this to be picked up right away before it even made it to Britain."

"It is not my fault the Americans are incompetent. Maybe if they weren't I wouldn't have to deal with this mess," Malfoy replied bitterly.

"And really, how did you manage to become Minister of Magic?"

"Despite what you may think, some people actually like me," Malfoy replied, his head rising slightly. John snorted.

"Right," John replied, "Look, I have to get going."

Malfoy cut him off. "Like hell. You are going to remain at the Ministry until this is all worked out."

"You can't keep me here," John replied as he stood up to leave.

"You broke the Statue of Secrecy. I have every right to keep you here, Potter. And trust me. I am going to. Adams!"

An auror burst through the doors of the office, wand at the ready.

"Take Mr. Potter to a holding cell. Make sure you station guards outside of it. We would not want our guest getting away."

"Of course, Minister."

"Malfoy…" John began.

"Can it Potter. When this is all cleared up, then you can go home, you are lucky I don't want a field day by pressing charges against you."

And with that, John found himself being walked through the back halls of the Ministry of Magic to a holding cell as an Auror held a wand to his back.

***

Hope you like it.