Chapter 27

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"I'm going to have to stay on Earth and go to boarding school to be tutored in magic, aren't I?" Harry asked dolefully, looking at the list.

"I don't know. I was going to give the list to General O'Neill to see if by any chance there's someone on it that has the clearance to know about the SGC and the Atlantis Expedition even if they're not able to be read in enough to enter the mountain. We ask to be relocated to the mountain for three months and rent a house in Colorado Springs near enough to the mountain for Rodney to spend time in their labs and hire a tutor to give you an intensive burst of tutoring to get you started. Then we'll see how you get on with learning from the textbooks for a while before we commit to sending you back here for full time schooling," John suggested.

"Okay," Harry agreed, smiling. He would prefer to stay on Atlantis with his fathers, and Torren and all his friends. He ran off to join the family for a second breakfast.

Rodney looked up as John made a surprised sound. He was looking at the pamphlet of tutors. "Did you find someone you know?"

"No but perhaps someone who might already have the clearance we need. Don't say anything to Harry yet," John said smiling. He got up to call General O'Neill to explain the situation and ask about the man he'd found.

-o0o-

John, Rodney and Harry drove to DC and used the portal to get to the magical shopping district in Boston, wanting to have time to get the lay of the land by themselves before contacting Ilvermorny. Dumbledore had made them wary of the power that headmasters seemed to have in this society. John wouldn't have minded going back to Diagon Alley to check out all the stores they'd been rushed past by the deceitful old man. He wanted to know what he'd been trying to hide from them.

They were surprised to see all the prices listed in both Galleon and American dollars, though a quick calculation made them realise that the Galleon price was better value if the exchange rate was the same as in Britain. They still had a quite a few Galleons left since the only thing they had purchased was books, so they didn't bother looking for the bank to start with. The other big difference was that most of the shoppers their age and younger were in normal clothing. Jeans, shorts, dresses, all of the usual array of nonmagical fashion you'd expect to see in a large shopping mall.

Harry was keen to get to the wand store and purchase a wand, since finding the perfectly matched wand at Ollivander's he'd been yearning for it. Though he had to admit from the little he'd read of the Charms textbook that wands and wand movements didn't seem to be necessary, in fact he was using the book more as an idea for what he should try to do next. Many of the spells didn't make much sense to him. They seemed to have no practical applications. Who needed to be able to transfigure a needle out of a match, and what good would it do without thread, but there was no spell to make thread in any of his books. Still he wanted a wand, or more accurately he felt like he was missing that particular wand.

The shopkeeper in the wand store was brisk and businesslike instead of trying to be mysterious and creepy. He explained to them that certain types of wand wood and wand cores would resonate with a person's magic and therefore work well with or fight against the magic as they attempted to cast. Harry again tried dozens of wands but none of them reacted well.

"Can I resonate properly with more than one wand? The wand that matched me in Diagon Alley was holly and phoenix feather," Harry said.

"Merlin child, why didn't you buy it when you found your match? It will be twice as difficult to get another good match now," the wandmaker demanded.

"We weren't allowed to purchase it because I hadn't agreed to go to Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Fiddlesticks and Broomsticks! Who told you that utter tripe?" the wandmaker exclaimed.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," Harry said, only just stopping himself from using Rodney's rude moniker for the elderly wizard.

"He had no right! Why did that idiot Ollivander put up with that nonsense? You should have gone back and got the wand, he would have sold it to you," the wandmaster said.

"Is there an easy way to travel from here to Diagon Alley, a portal like the one we took from DC?" Rodney asked.

"No, the Brits won't have anything to do with the portals. The best way to get there would be to purchase a portkey from the travel shop but it'll be pricey," the wandmaker replied.

"Can I ask you more about wands? You see, from the reading I don't see why I need one I can do most of the charms and stuff without one but since I held the wand that matched it's as if my magic is calling for it. Is that normal? What does it mean?" Harry asked.

"That's a very strong bond, if it feels like that, but only one in a thousand wizards can do much without a wand. Most of us could master maybe half a dozen easy spells or spells they use most often, you're going to be a powerful wizard," the wandmaker said seriously.

"Should I keep trying to learn spells without a wand or should I get one?" Harry asked.

"You'd need one sooner or later, normally each year's spells are significantly more powerful than the year before as your magic matures so as you move up the grades you'll probably find yourself needing it for more power or better control but you'd do better with the wand you've already matched with. I don't have any phoenix feather wands, phoenixes are too rare," the wandmaker admitted.

Harry was slightly disappointed to be leaving another wand store still without a wand but none of the wands in the store had felt like they were right for him like the holly and phoenix feather wand did.

They headed to the bookstore next, Rodney had skimmed through most of the textbooks on the list for Hogwarts first years and a couple of the other books that Dumb-as-a-door had not recommended and he wanted to see how the texts for Ilvermorny compared.

-o0o-

The three of them entered Gringotts and asked to make an appointment to speak with someone who could advise them about the account Harry had in Gringotts in London. They were told that the branch manager could see them at four that afternoon.

At ten to four, John approached one of the tellers. "I'm John Sheppard, we have an appointment with Manager Burgock at four o'clock, is there somewhere you would like us to wait?"

The teller gestured to a small door, "In there."

"Thank you," John said. He'd spoken to Rodney and Harry about the importance of not appearing impatient, and to expect to be kept waiting both because running a branch this size would mean unexpected delays and as a power play and remaining calm took away some of the pleasure the other would feel in having made you wait. They all pulled out new books and began to read.

"I don't really understand what you expect me to do. I cannot give you access to the account from here," Burgock said.

"That's perfectly understandable. We were wondering is there a way to lock down the account so no money is removed from it by anyone. Dumbledore told us that Harry's Hogwarts tuition had been removed for the coming year before Harry chose whether or not to attend. Is there something we can do to make sure it was refunded and no other payments other than those arranged by his birth parents are taken out? Or do I need to travel back to London to arrange it."

"I can have the account sealed upon your orders if you have the guardianship paperwork for the boy," Burgock replied.'

"We have the adoption paperwork but we did not know who Harry's birth parents were at the time of the adoption so his birth name isn't on the certificate," John explained.

"Then we will need to verify his identity. It will cost you a galleon and I will need three drops of your son's blood. For five Galleon and seven drops of blood we could show the last seven generations of his family, identify close blood relatives and any other vaults or accounts he could claim," Burgock said.

"It's up to you Harry, it's your blood," John said, though he was curious if the seven drops would tell him how Harry was related to his father Patrick Sheppard.

"I wasn't to give seven drops and five Galleon, I want to know more about who my family was," Harry said.

"Do we need to make an appointment to have that done? We don't want to waste your valuable time if a more junior employee can meet our needs," John asked.

"No I admit that you've peaked my curiosity," Burgock admitted pulling out the equipment he needed.

Harry donated the blood without wincing and watched eagerly as the family tree formed. It confirmed that he was indeed the son and only child of James Fleamont Potter and Lily Marie Potter nee Evans and showed Petunia and Dudley as his closest living relatives. John was too distantly related to how up on the tree but he intended to look up James' ancestors' names in the Sheppard family tree later that night.

"You're the Heir to the House of Potter and secondary heir presumptive to the House of Black. I will contact London myself and have the Vaults sealed until you return to Britain to claim them. Did you want them audited?" Burgock asked.

"If we could have a list of transactions over the last ten years since his parents died," John requested. "And a copy of his parent's Last Wills if you have them on file."

Burgock looked at Harry and he nodded, surprised that his consent was clearly being asked for.

"It will take several days, shall we make an appointment for the same time next week?" Burgock suggested.

"If that suits you," John replied, wondering why they couldn't just send him the transaction records.

"Do you have any other business to transact today?" Burgock asked.

"No but I do have a question about your people if you don't find our curiosity offensive," John said.

"My People?" Burgock asked.

"Yes, Rodney and I are part of a classified program who are aware of people from other planets visiting Earth and even interbreeding with humans over the centuries. We speculate that this might even be the origan of witches and wizards on Earth, though we've no way of proving that after so many centuries. Are you and the beings that wizards call house elves alien races? Are the beings that wizards call house elves enslaved on this planet against their wishes? Is there a way that we could have an honest conversation with some of them without getting them in trouble with their … is employers the right word? Would they or your people appreciate an offer of assistance to leave Earth? Or to aid you to communicate with your home world?" John said hopping that the senior Goblin would appreciate the sincerity of his wish to aid them in the best way they chose to be aided.

"I cannot make the decision to speak of these issues with you at this time," Burgock said shaken. "Come back next week and I may have someone wanting to talk about these offers."

"Thank you for your time and attention," John said leading Rodney and Harry out of the office.

-o0o-

"What do you think that meant at the end?" Harry asked eagerly. "Was he upset at us for asking?"

"I think he was shocked more than upset, he didn't know how to react," Rodney suggested.

"Yes, I think Rodney's right, he didn't know what to say, or perhaps he didn't know what he would be allowed to say. I think their society may be organised a lot like the military. He might be the branch manager but it's more of a position like being the Military CO on Atlantis, there's still things that I need approval from Woolsey, O'Neill to be able to negotiate," John agreed.

"It's a waste of time to speculate. We will find out next week," Rodney replied.

"It's not a good idea to talk about it openly here, but I think that I should have a chat with some people in Colorado," John said quietly.

Rodney immediately changed the subject, talking about a curious shop he wanted to look at.

-o0o-

"How am I to reason with the child if I cannot communicate with him. Fawkes won't even take a letter for me," Albus lamented.

"You could take Severus' advice and find a muggleborn who is able to help you use that amail address thing," Minerva said doubtfully. She'd never heard of amail before, never seen a computer and had no idea what they were talking about. Why would someone have more than one address? They couldn't be in two places at the same time.

"Remus my boy. Welcome. Do you know anything about posting a letter to an amail address?" Albus asked.

"Do you mean an eemail address, Headmaster? Why do you need to send one?" Remus replied.

"One of next year's student's adopted family refuse to communicate with me any other way. They're also refusing to let their adopted son learn magic in spite of his birth parent's wishes. They threatened to shoot any owl I send them," Albus said deliberately making himself appear anxious for the boy's safety.

"You left a wizarding orphan in the muggle world? Can't you just go to the ministry and apply for guardianship?"

"I'm afraid not. The man is the child's blood relative and the adoption was done legally. As he's an American citizen he's within his rights to decline to send the boy to Hogwarts," Albus said sighing.

"Have you contacted the headmaster at Ilvermorny to see if the boy has been enrolled there?" Remus asked.

"No," Albus said reluctantly.

"If they're American then the Ilvermorny headmaster is the only one with the right to intervene to insist the child gets a magical education, or to act in loco parentis" Remus pointed out.

"Do you know how to use amail?" Albus asked.

"It's eemail. I know how but I don't have a computer to send one with," Remus replied.

"Then how do we send one?" Albus asked trying to conceal his impatience, it didn't match well with the all knowing benevolent leader image he wanted to portray.

"Well, I usually go to a cybercafé or a public library. Do you have the address you want to send it to? You'll have to write out for me what you want to say, we won't be able to have a private conversation in either of those places and you cannot use magic that close to a working computer," Remus said practically.

This didn't suit Albus at all, he didn't want the werewolf to suspect that the child who wasn't coming to Hogwarts was Harry Potter yet.

"You could show me and I can send it," he said hopefully.

Remus sighed, it had been hard enough for him to teach James and Sirius to use a public telephone, he didn't think he had the patience to teach a pureblood to use a computer. Albus had probably never even seen a muggle typewriter or any electrical gadget. The man was so highly magical he was probably going to have to wear gloves to use a computer without blowing it up.

"I'm pretty much a novice myself, you'd be better off asking one of this year's muggleborn students. They grew up with computers," Remus replied, grateful to be able to palm off the duty on another.

-o0o-

"Sir you'd be breaking the statute of secrecy writing that," Christopher Illingworth warned him hesitantly starting to regret agreeing to send the email for the headmaster. The seventh year Gryffindor was the only muggleborn prefect and had therefore been asked to help the elderly wizard.

"John Sheppard claims to be the child's adopted father. He knows about magic even if he doesn't have any," Albus replied unconcerned.

"Yes Sir, but this isn't a private email address, it is a military email address, to a high-ranking officer, his mail probably goes through security and then an aide or military secretary who wouldn't know about magic before he reads it," Christopher said, quaking at having to argue with the headmaster.

"The amail isn't direct to General Sheppard? It has his name in the address," Albus asked shocked.

"It contains the General's name, rank and service number. This is a work email address for the American Air Force. He probably has another account for private and personal email. I wonder that he didn't give that to you instead of this one, but at least one other person would have access to this account, so they can take over his position if he is injured," Christopher tried to explain. "Why don't you just go and visit the child or send him a letter?"

"I cannot visit the base he lives on. Security is too tight and even I am not immune to muggle bullets," Albus admitted frowning. "He requested that all future correspondence be via amail and he's already upset about a minor misunderstanding we had when they came to do their school shopping and changed his mind about letting his son attend Hogwarts."

"If I may ask Sir, what kind of misunderstanding would have parents choose not to send a child to Hogwarts? Did they run into some pureblood supremacist and find out how racist this world really is?" Christopher asked. "Because if that's the case I don't think that this father misunderstood at all, and perhaps this kid is better off getting a muggle education."

Albus frowned, he'd had no idea that any of his students felt like that, particularly a student that was a prefect and close to the top of his class, by all measures Christopher Illingworth had beaten that pureblood attitude. Surely, he didn't know that it was his status as a muggleborn that had prevented him from being named Head Boy for the coming year.

"The child was adopted by muggle relatives but they were not muggleborn," Albus replied.

"Sure, but did the purebloods know that or did they just see a kid accompanied by a pair of muggles? I haven't let my parents visit the alley since before second year, they got so upset last time," Christopher asked.

"I need to contact them. The child is magically powerful and has had several violent bouts of uncontrolled magic. If he doesn't attend a magical school, his magic will have to be bound, and that's a loss he may never get over," Albus insisted, glossing over the idea that there were other ways for a child to be taught to control their magic.

"So he already knows your name, and the name of Hogwarts. I can leave out all actual mention of magic so the letter makes sense to him but doesn't breach the statute to someone who isn't in the know," Christopher said carefully rearranging the wording of the letter to hopefully pass through the military censorship unremarked.

Albus read through the letter and approved it. "Send it exactly as it's written here, do not add anything," he ordered.

Christopher frowned internally even as he nodded, something felt off about this whole thing. His parents hadn't hesitated to let him come to Hogwarts but he was sure that the headmaster wouldn't have bothered to visit them personally if he had declined. "Can I at least add an introductory paragraph so he knows that you had help to send it and explain that after the first of September it might be a while before I can get to an internet café to check for a response?" he asked.

"How soon would he be able to send a response?" Albus asked.

"He could send a response the minute he gets the email but I don't know how long it takes for emails to be approved by the censors and sent on to him or whether his outgoing email is also delayed waiting to be censored. When I email friends theyare be able to respond immediately if they're on line, but it could easily take a couple of days or more," Christopher replied.

Albus thought it over, as much as he didn't like having to admit to needing help he also wanted John Sheppard to be aware of how much effort he'd gone to to send the message the way John had requested him to and how inconvenient this method of communication was. The fact that he only did so because Fawkes was still refusing to take a letter to Harry or his fathers was beside the point.

"Introduce yourself and explain that I asked you for help and you'll only be able to check for emails on Saturdays," Albus said.

After Albus insisted on reading the introduction Christopher wrote before letting him send the message Chris was even more concerned about the child whose parent would be receiving this email.

-o0o-

To: 228-64-1234 .gov

Dear Sir

My name is Christopher and I am a seventh year at the school Headmaster Dumbledore has invited your son to attend. He has asked me to send the following message as he has never used a computer before. Once I start school on the first of September, I will only be able to check my email on Saturdays so I apologise in advance for any delays in relaying messages back and forth.

Dear John

I apologise for my lack of understanding of the seriousness of your husband's medical condition, but you also underestimated our abilities to deal with medical emergencies. In our world things like broken bones can be healed within minutes and I'm sure that Rodney was in no real danger. In fact, we may be able to heal his allergy completely, or teach young Harry to. Regardless I am sorry for the distress our lack of understanding each other caused.

Now that you've had time to think it over, I'm sure you are concerned that the strength of Harry's outbursts will continue to grow until he learns to control his gifts and that left untrained he could destroy the entire base you live on or attract the attention of your enemies. The disaster at Chernobyl is said to be an example of the potential accident he could cause.

You will note that the American school has not contacted you. They do not consider Harry to be a resident of their country, he is British and his place is here at the British school where his parents attended and enrolled him to attend. Rest assured that Harry will be accepted and welcomed by his peers even if he doesn't manage to get back in time to catch the train at 11:00am on September the first.

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards

-o0o-

After the Headmaster had left Christopher thought over the email he'd been asked to send. He'd been forbidden to talk about it which worried him but surely Dumbledore only meant talk about it with his classmates, he could still ask his Dad for advice.

Nigel Illingworth frowned when his son finished explaining the email he'd been asked to send for the headmaster.

"Why is this kid so unique?" he asked.

"I don't know. What makes you think that he is unique?" Chris asked.

"You were sent a letter, we replied and the teacher that came to talk to us had a whole list of students to make contact with. We got less than an hour of her time," Nigel replied. "This kid said no and the Headmaster himself goes out of his way to ask a student to email a message to him instead of sending an owl, and to watch that you sent the message without changing the wording at all. If he had to ask a student, does that mean there aren't any teachers capable of sending it for him or was he trying to keep his interference with the child's refusal of the offer a secret?"

"From what Professor Dumbledore said, the kid didn't initially say no he said yes and Professor Dumbledore must have either taken him and his family to Diagon Alley himself or met them there if there was a medical emergency and a misunderstanding while they were there that he's trying to smooth over," Christopher said.

"You still have this guy's email address?" Nigel asked.

"Yes, but the headmaster made me give my word not to write anything to him without the headmasters approval, I cannot break it," Chris replied.

"You're not going to. Give me the address and go and help your mother with the dishes," Nigel said getting up.

-o0o-

To: 228-64-1234 .gov

Dear Sir

My name is Nigel Illingworth and my son Christopher was asked to help the Headmaster contact you today.

Christopher is a little worried about the contents of that email and having read it I must admit I have reservations about him being used to try to persuade you to a particular course of action.

His mother and I did not qualify to attend the school ourselves and his invitation came as a total surprise to us all six years ago. Christopher was keen to learn what the school had to teach and we let him attend, but in hindsight we have hesitations in encouraging other parents to do the same.

The bigotry you no doubt noticed while shopping is very real and is widely pervasive in their society nowhere more than in their government. If your grandparents weren't part of the society you will never truly be fully accepted and your career options will be severely limited. Christopher is at the top of his class but his employment prospects aren't as good as they should be. He hasn't learnt the things he needs to pass his GCSE, let alone A-levels to get into university, and it seems nepotism and the number of generations that your family has been known in that world means more than good grades in their society. If I had the last six years to do over, I would have ignored his pleas and sent him to the local comprehensive.

I also noticed reference to your husband. I don't mean to be offensive but I feel I must warn you that Chris tells me that he has never met an openly LGBTQ member of their society or anybody who admits to having same sex parents. He also tells me that many of the old families still practice arranged marriage so I am unsure what prejudices your son would face if the fact he has two fathers became openly known.

Christopher was also surprised by the lengths Headmaster Dumbledore has gone to contact you a second time. All of his classmates accepted their first letter so it's impossible to know if they would've been approached more than once, or if there were other children invited to the school who declined to attend, but we were visited by the person responsible for new admissions who spent approximately 45 minutes answering our questions before taking us to the Alley and handing us a map before rushing away to get to her next appointment as soon as we'd gone through the archway. I have never in the six years my son has attended Hogwarts, had a conversation with or a letter from the Headmaster. In fact, Chris said that his first conversation with the man didn't occur until after he became a prefect in his fifth year, and he doubts that any of his friends did either unless they'd done some seriously heinous mischief.

Neither Chris or I had ever heard of accidents being dangerous like the Headmaster described. In fact, Chris believes that if he left school before 5th year they would take steps to prevent him from being able to have accidents at all. We believe you might be being manipulated though neither of us can work out why.

Please excuse this impertinence. I'm not just being a busybody or trying to interfere with your decision, I truly wish someone had been able to warn me of some of the things I'm telling you before we made the decision to let Christopher attend that school. Christopher was forbidden to send you anything other than the letter the headmaster wrote out for him to type, otherwise he'd have shared his concerns with you himself. He'd already given his word to send the email before he was able to read what the Headmaster was asking him to send, which in hindsight also made him uneasy.

Sincerely

Nigel Illingworth

Civil Engineer.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.