A/N: Yay! Short wait between updates, for once. Hah, that's because I already had this chapter written when I posted the first :) figured it'd be best to do that, considering this isn't technically a true crossover yet.
Ok, so I got a couple of questions in the reviews. First, Madeline is female, as is her counterpart in the Harry Potter universe – so no female!Harry. I think I'll discuss the pairings at the end of next chapter, since they'll kind of give away some of the story, but I can say that there won't be any slash or femme slash in this story nor any of my other stories. Why? Read my profile. I explain everything there.
Enjoy, and please, please review!
"You ready?" John asked, standing in front of the door to Madeline's quarters. They were supposed to meet the team for dinner in ten minutes, but John knew the dinner crowd well enough to know that by that time it would be nearly impossible to find a big enough table to fit everyone. It took about two minutes to get to the mess, and it would probably take another three to get dinner. Five minutes made a huge difference in the rush for tables and food around Atlantis.
"Almost." Madeline called from inside her room. The door opened ten seconds later to let John in. The pilot was impressed. Madeline had taken no more than twenty minutes to fully move in to her room.
Madeline's bed was placed in the center of her quarters. Her computer sat on a desk pressed against the left wall, a standard steel dresser stretched across the right wall, and books were stacked neatly alongside the front wall. Posters of various English tourist destinations decorated the bare sections of her walls. "Love what you've done to the place." John commented.
Madeline grinned sheepishly. "This is almost exactly what my apartment looks like back home." She figured if she was going to live in another galaxy, she needed a space of her own.
"Why all the books?" he asked. The only book he brought when he first came to Atlantis was War and Peace; he didn't really have any time for reading. Madeline had everything from Stranger in a Strange Land to Machiavelli's The Prince. Her collection, around forty books by his estimation, ranged from poetry to philosophy to "how to" books.
"I always come prepared." Madeline answered briskly. "I'll probably finish all of these by the end of the month."
John laughed. "I wouldn't count on that. This week you'll have the most amount of free time, unless the Wraith come over to play. The Genii will keep you pretty busy afterwards."
"Good. I'd rather be busy than have to resort to reading these for the thousandth time." Madeline admitted. She went back to folding her clothing, which was spread across her bed, sorted neatly into pants, shorts, shirts, and so on. John could tell that Madeline liked to be meticulously organized. He hoped the habit would rub off on Rodney.
John glanced at his watch. Three minutes had passed since he walked in. Before he could urge Madeline to go faster, the diplomat proclaimed, "that'll do for now." The two left her room and headed down to the mess hall.
Almost every table was taken by the time they got their dinner. Luckily, Ronon, Teyla and Rodney had saved them seats at a table in a secluded corner.
"Zelenka should have come to me before…" John tuned out the rest of Rodney's sentence, as he had learned to do long before. He grabbed the seat at the end of the table, sitting Madeline to his right, across from Teyla. Next to her sat Ronon, across from him sat Rodney. He looked around the table before returning his gaze to Madeline. "How do you like Atlantis so far, Dr. Marshall?" He asked with his flashiest crooked grin.
Madeline swallowed her food before answering. "The city is incredible. I've never seen anything like it before. To think of the mysteries just waiting to be unlocked…" Her voice trailed off, as her memories carried her to another place that had held such mysteries, one that she had seen many years ago. The memory of that night was not a happy one, not one that she could discuss with her coworkers even if she wanted to. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and stabbed her food with her fork to take another bite. "Not bad," She said once she had swallowed her food. "It's nothing like the food back… home." She finished lamely, catching herself before she said "Hogwarts". That would have been disastrous.
By now the table had fallen into an awkward silence. Even Rodney had stopped babbling about Zelenka's shortcomings. They all could tell that she was hiding something, but what it was no one could fathom. Ronon, Teyla, and John could see the haunts of war and death dancing in her eyes – haunts the three had contended with themselves before finding a home in Atlantis. What had this woman been through, that closed her off from everyone else? John wondered, hoping that someday she would be willing to trust them enough to tell them about her past. He knew, though, that it was folly to push the truth out of her - that would just alienate her from the group even more.
Madeline was wondering why her past was escaping her in the first place. Ten years she had successfully hidden her past, hidden the gaping hole that still ached in her chest. Now, it seemed that it would spill out at any moment. What was it about these people that made her feel comfortable enough to talk about the Wizarding World? Perhaps it was John's tousled black hair and obvious hero complex, or Rodney's consistent babbling and complaining, event through a full mouth. Both reminded her of her best friends; one long dead, the other's life unknown to her anymore. Perhaps it was Teyla's obvious concern for her teammate's well beings, or Ronon's stoic, fatherly protection over the assembled group. Whatever it was, she didn't like it. If she told these people what she really was, her enemies would find her, and kill her like they did to… she still couldn't think his name, after all of these years; she still hadn't accepted that he was gone.
She passed the rest of the meal without talking to her coworkers, who glanced her way from time to time as they bantered and ate. As soon as her meal was finished, she excused her self, clearing her tray as she left.
Walking back to her quarters, she wondered if she was now far enough away from England to safely reveal her past, without worrying about her life. But then she remembered that these people were mostly military, and thus would report her story to their superiors, who would then tell their superiors, and completely expose the existence of the wizarding world. While it may not hurt her, it most definitely would cause a mess of paperwork and heartache for countless people. Madeline decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
"Should someone go after her?" Rodney asked after Madeline had left the table.
John shook his head. "She'll tell one of us when she's ready."
"Tell us what?" Rodney inquired. He knew something was up, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Teyla looked at Rodney like he was a five year old. "Dr. Marshall has seen horrors in her life that she hasn't gotten past yet."
John and Ronon nodded. That much was obvious to everyone. Well, almost everyone.
"So what do we do?" Rodney asked. John sighed, clenching his fists under the table to keep his temper. Rodney had absolutely no people skills. Most of the time it wasn't that much of an issue. This time, however, it could hurt Madeline if he didn't keep his mouth shut.
Luckily Teyla was more patient. "We earn her trust. And we wait. As John said before, she will tell us when she is ready."
Rodney looked incredulous. "We aren't going to do anything? But she's hiding something! What if it affects us?"
"Rodney, we are NOT going to do ANYTHING until she is ready to talk." John's patence had finally snapped. "Madeline is NOT a prisoner to interrogate: she's a member of our team. Treat her that way!"
Rodney wasn't satisfied, but he could tell that John, Teyla, and Ronon weren't going to discuss the issue further. "Alright, alright. But if it becomes a problem I'm going straight to Carter."
John rolled his eyes. Teyla rubbed her temples. Ronon looked at Rodney like he was about ready to kill the scientist.
Harry Potter looked around the living room at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, now painted over in Gryffindor red and gold. Plush, scarlet couches replaced the old morbid green, and a fire danced merrily in the once cobwebbed fireplace. He and Ginny spent the first five years of their marriage redecorating – reclaiming, in all reality – the old and noble House of Black. The only things that remained from the house's old regime were the family tree in the drawing room and Mrs. Black's portrait in the entry way. Harry hadn't the heart to take down the family tree, and since he couldn't find a way to take Mrs. Black off the wall, they covered her portrait with a thick Gryffindor banner, complete with a strong silencing charm to muffle her horrified screams. Teddy, now ten, had great fun with his cousins teasing Mrs. Black, from whom they could hear faint screeches of "blood traitors". Their young charge was off visiting Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, Uncle Fred, and Uncle George at the Burrow, where he was no doubt getting into all sorts of mischief. Harry was sure that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were pleased Teddy was too young to have a wand quite yet. He was grateful for their help, though; he and Ginny needed to be alone today.
Today was the day a new portrait would be added to the memorial the Potters kept above the fireplace. Today, on the thirteenth anniversary of his death, Sirius Black would finally be honored in his home. Last night, he and Ginny had moved the portraits of those lost in the war to make room for Sirius's portrait. His parents, Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Dumbledore, Dobby, and Snape had small portraits encircling the two – soon to be three- in the middle. Hermione's unmoving painting hung on the right; Ron's hyperactive painting hung on the left. His heart gave the familiar twang of loss- portraits only moved after their real-life counterpart's heart stopped beating. Four months after the war, a rogue Death Eater killed Ron when he and Hermione were on their morning walk. Hermione, heartbroken, had left the wizarding world, telling friends and family that she feared an attempt on her own life.
Harry knew that that wasn't the real reason. The night before, Ron had finally worked up the courage to propose to her. They would have been married on the same day as he and Ginny were. Harry suspected that the "attempt on her own life" was just a convenient excuse for Hermione to run off and hide from her grief.
Ginny walked up behind him and clutched his hand, balancing the new portrait on her thigh. It was still veiled. She moved it over to the fireplace, leaning it against the mantle. She placed her hand over the veil. "Ready?" She asked. They both knew what that really meant- was Harry ready to move on? Harry hesitated before nodding once. It was time.
As the veil unfurled and revealed the portrait, Harry felt his heart stop beating and his stomach jump to his throat. There sat Sirius Black, unmoving and unblinking.
A/N: HE LIVES!!!!!!!! I guess Sirius is now "The Black Who Lived", huh?
To head off questions about this, yes Fred is alive in this fanfiction, and Ron is dead. Sorry, but I couldn't think of any other way to get the story to work. You'll find out why later on if you haven't already picked up on the clues. It should be pretty easy to guess who Madeline is now. If I were you, I wouldn't comment on her true identity in a review. It'd probably ruin the story for some of the slow people :) kudos to whoever gets it, though.
I think I did the math right on the timeline. I'm trying to set this ten years after DH, so that would put the OotP three years earlier.