Disclaimer: 'Stargate' and 'Harry Potter' both belong to their respective creators, so I don't own them; I'm just borrowing them for the immediate moment in time and space

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Truth and Revelations

General Landry was as good as his word; barely thirty hours after the conversation in the main briefing room of the SGC, all four members of SG-1 were on a plane to Britain, the essentials of their belongings packed as they waited to arrive at their destination. Landry had been willing to arrange private transport, but Daniel had refused. He didn't want to attract too much attention to SG-1's visit to America, in case certain government officials (Unfortunately, the 'death' of ex-Vice President Robert Kinsey didn't automatically mean the SGC's politics-related problems were solved, as the incident with Khalek had proven all too well) tried to find out what was going on and stumbled across stuff he didn't want them to know.

As far as Daniel was concerned, the secrecy of the wizarding world was still paramount; like knowledge of the Stargate itself, the world just wasn't ready for magic to become public knowledge, even among the upper reaches of the government itself. Hell, he was doubtful it was even ready to be private knowledge; it was why he'd declined to tell anyone but the 'top brass' of the SGC about his past for the moment…

"Daniel?" Sam's voice said from off to one side, breaking through his train of thought. "Are you all right?"

Shaking his head to break off his train of thought, Daniel glanced over at Sam, once again reflecting how strange it was to see all four of the current SG-1 in casual clothing. Given that the Ori had so far not reached Earth yet, there'd been little need for missions in other parts of the world since Mitchell had joined the team, and, despite the fact that the new 'commander' (Even if it was more of a title than anything else) was fitting in well, none of the team yet felt comfortable with the idea of spending a day off with him.

It may have been over a year since he'd been put in charge of the SGC, and from there put in charge of Homeworld Security, but part of each of the other three members of SG-1 still missed Jack O'Neill's presence at those outings…

Still, at the moment, Jack wasn't here and all four of the current SG-1 line-up were out of uniform, and grateful for the opportunity; military fatigues could easily get uncomfortable no matter how much the designer tried to make them otherwise. Daniel was wearing blue jeans, a blue-and-cream checked long-sleeved shirt and a brown leather jacket, Sam had chosen jeans and a dark red top, Mitchell was in black trousers, black T-shirt and a dark green jacket (Sam had jokingly reminded him that he wasn't on camouflage operations right now) and Teal'c was wearing his familiar floppy-brimmed hat, along with a short-sleeved shirt and jeans, all in a dark blue colour.

Quite frankly, Daniel almost wished Sam had worn something else; given the identity of the Minister of Magic, she'd probably work out how he felt fairly quickly if he gave her too many little clues, and his reaction to Sam dressed like that would definitely count as a rather… prominent… clue.

Of course, his discomfort could also have been because he did not want to have the woman he loved wearing something so… tight… when he had to focus on matters that could decide the fate of several worlds; it made it almost ridiculously hard to concentrate on what he had to do.

Admittedly, he knew it was mostly his mind making the top more revealing than it actually was; as far as he was concerned, Sam would have looked great in everything from skintight black leather (Although why she'd be wearing that Daniel had no idea; even his most vivid fantasies never extended to Sam having a leather fetish) to Abydonian robes…

Once again, Daniel mentally forced himself back on track- this wasn't helping him deal with the current situation in the slightest- and focused his attention back on Sam.

"Yeah… I'm fine, Sam," he said, grateful that Mitchell and Teal'c were sitting a couple of places ahead of them; right now, he just wanted to have to talk to one of the team, rather than all of them. "It's just… well, it's been two decades since I've seen any of my old friends from… well, before I became Daniel. I guess I'm just… well, I guess I'm…"

"Just a bit anxious about seeing them again?" Sam asked, looking inquiringly at Daniel. He nodded slightly, and she shrugged. "Hey, given what happened to you the last time you saw the majority of them- some of your closest friends dead and you facing the possibility of having to kill that 'Voldemort' guy- I can't say I'm surprised you're a bit worried."

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she looked at him curiously. "Did you ever… well, after you left them, did you…?"

"Make contact with any of them to let them know that I was still alive?" Daniel asked, Sam nodded, and he continued talking. "Well, a little; I sent them the occasional card for Christmas or their birthdays, although I made sure to use the muggle post and send it via a series of 'dummy addresses' so they could never trace it back to me."

Then he stopped talking, a slightly regretful expression on his face. "At least, I used to…"

"What?" Sam asked, looking in confusion at him.

"Well… after I returned from ascension, I kind of… well, I stopped doing it, really," Daniel said, looking slightly ashamed of himself as he spoke. "I mean… after missing so many letters while I was ascended, I guess a part of me just couldn't see the point in starting it up again, particularly when I couldn't explain why I'd stopped for a year in the first place. I figured it was easier to just… let them think I'd gone somewhere where I couldn't send them letters, or I'd died, or… well, anything… than have to come up with some kind of explanation about why I'd stopped writing and started doing it again; it would have attracted too many questions from them that I didn't know how to answer."

"Ah," Sam said, nodding slightly before a new question occurred to her. "So, any chance you'll be wanting to visit any of them while we're over there?"

Looking back at her, Daniel noticed the slightly eager expression on her face- evidently she was eager to meet somebody who'd known him before he was Daniel Jackson- and smiled inwardly.

He knew it was a bit unfair, after keeping his past life secret for so long, but, so long as he didn't actually lie in his reply, he supposed he could get around it…

Besides, the expression on Sam's face when they realised who the Minister of Magic was would be something Daniel would be very interested to see…

Sighing slightly, Daniel shook his head as he looked at Sam.

"Sorry, that won't be possible," he replied, looking apologetically at Sam. "We'll have to get straight to the Ministry as soon as possible, and then we'll probably need to get back to the SGC to begin mounting an offensive. I doubt they'll be time for casual visits, much as I'd like the chance to see everyone again."

For a moment, Sam looked like she was going to ask something else, but Daniel shook his head slightly and raised a hand.

"Sorry, to cut this off, but I've still got a few details about this visit I'd like to straighten out," he said, looking apologetically at Sam. "If nothing else, it's been a long time since I visited this place; I'd like to be sure I know what I'm doing."

"Oh… right," Sam said, nodding in understanding as she sat back in her chair. A part of her felt a little disappointed that she wouldn't have the chance to find out more about Daniel's past at the moment- she may have studied astronomy rather than sociology, but the concept of a whole society remaining hidden was just fascinating- but accepting that he'd need time to figure out what he'd need to do when they reached their destination.

She had to admit, she was finding this new aspect of Daniel- the whole 'tortured hero forced to do the right thing'- somewhat… appealing.

Of course, it wasn't like she hadn't cared for him before all this. From what he'd told them of how he was back then, the essential details about Daniel's personality were still the same- he was still the same good, kind, compassionate, selfless man Sam had known for the past nine or so years of her life, working alongside him time and time again to travel through the Stargate and find new means of fighting the Goa'uld, the Replicators and the Ori…

But this new aspect of his past… the life Daniel had been forced to deal with and yet still managed to come through as the man he was, rather than what he could have been… the fact that he was still prepared to fight for what he believed in when nobody could have blamed him for wanting to just tell the world to get lost and leave him alone…

It just made Sam admire him all the more.

She just wished she knew why she suddenly felt like spending so much time staring at him as he reclined, thinking about what he'd do when they arrived… why she suddenly found herself wondering how she'd never noticed that his physique had developed a great deal since his early days as a slightly scrawny archaeologist with allergy issues…

Suddenly realising what she was thinking, Sam shook her head sharply.

Stop it! she told herself. You're dealing with a potential alliance between a dark wizard bent on destroying anyone who isn't magical and a Goa'uld; this is not the time to be checking out your best friend!

But still… even as the thought crossed her mind… Sam couldn't stop herself from sneaking the occasional glance in Daniel's direction as the flight continued towards Britain, and wondering what, exactly, he'd been like when he'd been at school; if nothing else, she wouldn't have minded seeing what Daniel was like if he'd remained as… assertive,as he'd described himself… as he'd been when he'd proposed to Ginny Weasley…

What would it have been like if the two of them had met when he was younger?

Sam couldn't say.

Nor could she say why such thoughts were suddenly occupying her mind as much as they were now…

A few hours later, the flight having concluded, their check-in details resolved and their luggage- just a couple of bags, of course; they weren't intending to stay in Britain for much longer than they had to- deposited in their hotel, all four members of SG-1 were standing in the centre of London, having just come off the underground railway.

"Interesting," Teal'c said, nodding his head thoughtfully as he studied his surroundings. "Although there are similarities to those buildings that exist back in Colorado, there are also significant differences."

"Yeah; they're a bit shorter, for one thing," Mitchell said, smiling slightly as he studied his surroundings; he'd told Daniel on the flight over that he'd never been to London himself, and was evidently appreciating the chance.

Of course, it was apparent that Teal'c was finding the time to study and admire his new surroundings just as much as Mitchell was, even with their mission prominent in their minds. As SG-1 had rarely been called upon to deal with Goa'uld activity in Europe- indeed, baring Russia, Egypt and Antarctica, Daniel couldn't recall any time in the last few years where he'd travelled to another part of Earth- Teal'c's experience of the world outside America was significantly limited, and he was evidently appreciating the chance.

Naturally, despite the knowledge of the mission they were on at present, the other three were enjoying their 'free time' just as much as Teal'c, not just because they were grateful for the chance to get into casual clothes rather than the typical military green/civilian blue costumes. In general, they blended in fairly well with the surroundings, baring the obvious detail of Teal'c's far-from-normal physical build.

Now all they needed was for Daniel to get his bearings- it had been a long time since he'd needed to use this particular route- and direct them on where to go from here.

"So…" Mitchell said after a moment's silence, during which the team had waited by the Underground entrance as Daniel studied his surroundings, "remember the way yet?"

"I think so…" Daniel said hesitantly, as he raised one finger to tap his lips in a thoughtful manner. "It's not a sure thing, but I think… when I was going to the public entrance,I went… this way," he said finally, indicating a nearby side road.

"You think?" Sam said, looking at Daniel in surprise. "I'd have thought you'd know a bit more about where this place is; it is the location of a society's government, after all."

Daniel shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I didn't really visit it that much; I only went there a few times, and barely two or three of those were done the muggle way; the rest of the time I just apparated straight to the place," he explained, as they began to walk further and further into the side road, the buildings becoming increasingly less impressive the further they went. "Plus, as I said, the Ministry and I didn't really see eye-to-eye, so I generally tried to stay away from them anyway; either they were branding me as an attention-seeking lunatic because they didn't want to admit that Voldemort was back- although I think some people might have been bribed to look the other way as well- or they were trying to convince me to become their 'poster boy' to show the public that I thought they were doing a good job."

He snorted slightly in a harsh manner. "I wasn't interested in that, of course; even when they admitted that Voldemort was back, they were more interested in looking like they were doing a good job than in actually doing it. They arrested at least one innocent person during that time just to create a good impression, and wouldn't let him go even when I asked him to."

For a moment, Daniel was so intent on retracing his steps from that first long-ago trip with Mr Weasley that he barely even registered that the rest of SG-1 had stopped, but it only took a couple of steps for him to realise that he was alone. Pausing, he turned around to look inquiringly at his friends, as Mitchell raised his right hand slightly in an inquiring manner.

"Uh… and we're contacting these people after they did all that to you?" he said, looking in surprise at Daniel. "I mean, I would've thought you'd've wanted to stay away from them…"

Daniel, however, only smiled at Mitchell's question.

"Trust me; I know for a fact that the current Minister will listen to me this time," he said simply, trying not to grin too much; he didn't want to spoil his little 'surprise' at their destination.

Then he turned around and continued to walk. Mitchell exchanged curious glances with Sam and Teal'c, but, eventually, the three of them just shrugged and hurried after Daniel. Given that they were about to visit a past that he'd never wanted to have to deal with again, Sam, for one, was just grateful that Daniel had anything to smile about, and figured it would be best to leave him with whatever secret he might have that would explain why the Ministry would listen to him.

It was shortly after the brief halt that Daniel stopped again, this time in front of a very vandalised-looking phone booth, that was positioned in a dingy-looking street which only contained some old offices, a pub that had seen better decades, and a rubbish skip.

"This is it?" Sam asked, indicating the offices incredulously. "They're a ministry for an entire world of magic, and this is the best they have in the way of office space?

"Actually, the offices are underground and only accessible if you know what you're doing," Daniel said, looking over at Sam briefly before he grinned and shook his head in a pitying manner. "But yeah, I agree with you; it is kind of pathetic that they couldn't give themselves a more impressive location for their own government, even if it does avoid any attention."

Sighing, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small square of material, as he flicked his wrist casually, causing his wand to slip out of his sleeve and land in his hand. "Well, we'd better get on with this."

"What?" Mitchell asked, looking in confusion at his friend.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what the Ministry's policy is on muggle visitors- you could just not be allowed in- but I'd rather not have to start telling people that Voldemort's back without some independent witnesses to back up my story," Daniel explained, as he indicated the piece of material in his hand. "This is one of the only ways I could think of in getting you in there without anyone noticing you until I'm ready; it's been shrunk at the moment, but I can have it at greater-than-normal size in a few moments."

"What is it?" Teal'c asked, looking curiously at the material.

"It's my father's old invisibility cloak," Daniel explained, smiling slightly at the suddenly eager expression on Sam's face. "They're remarkably rare, which is why I think that this method of getting in will work; they're so rare that I doubt methods of detecting them have become a common part of any security systems this place may have."

"Ah," Mitchell said, an evidently sceptical expression on his face as he studied the small piece of material in Daniel's hand. "Uh… you're sure that'll fit all three of us?"

Daniel smiled.

"Trust me; before I left the wizarding world, my friends and I went to a lot of effort to make this thing capable of hiding all four of us," he said, as he raised his wand and gave it a few 'practice waves', nodding in approval when it gave off small sparks. "You're a bit bigger than we were back then, but given that there's only three of you, it should work."

Before anyone could ask any further questions, Daniel aimed his wand at the material he held in his hand and yelled out "Engorgio!"

Instantly, the material in question expanded to a size that almost resembled a tent rather than the cloak Daniel had claimed it was. The shimmering grey material draped over his arm, Daniel smiled at the slightly stunned expression on Mitchell and Sam's face as he tossed the cloak over to Teal'c.

"You'd better go in the middle; Sam and Cam can just go on either side of you," he said, as Teal'c studied the material in his hands for a moment before looking back at Daniel.

"You say this is an 'invisibility cloak'?" the Jaffa asked, looking curiously at his friend. "If that is so, why is it visible now?"

"It's only invisible when you're wearing it, Teal'c; the rest of the time, it's just your average cloak," Daniel explained, before his expression became serious once more as he jerked his thumb towards the phone box. "Anyway, we'd better get moving; the sooner the Minister knows that Voldemort's back, the better."

Nodding in understanding, Sam and Mitchell headed over to stand on either side of Teal'c as the Jaffa pulled the cloak over his head, draping it over his two friends in the process. At once, the three figures had vanished, with only a slight shimmer in the air where the cloak hadn't quite settled properly to indicate that they were even there.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel walked into the phone box, leaving the door open behind him to indicate that the others should follow him. As he felt something force him forward slightly, he smiled briefly and picked up the receiver, praying that the number wouldn't have changed in the last few years.

"Uh… Jackson?" Mitchell's voice said from behind him, confusion evident in his tone. "You sure that-"

"Sssh," Daniel said briefly, before he raised the receiver to his ear slightly- it may not matter how he addressed the speaker, but after so long in the muggle world he preferred doing it this way- and dialled what he hoped were still the required numbers for entrance to the Ministry; six two four four two.

As soon as the dial had whirled smoothly back into place following the last number, a female voice spoke in the box, prompting a slight jolt behind Daniel as though somebody had jumped.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Daniel Jackson, here to speak with the Minister of Magic on urgent business," Daniel replied, calmly and casually; he wasn't going to announce himself as Harry Potter just yet.

"Thank you," said the voice. "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

As the square silver badge clattered into the chute that would have once been used for returned coins, the box began to sink into the ground, prompting two surprised gasps and a slight 'mmm' of interest from under the cloak. As Daniel pinned the badge to his jacket- noting that it said Daniel Jackson, Minister Meeting- he only vaguely registered the voice asking him to submit his wand for registration at the security desk before he had stepped out into the vast wooden-walled hall of the main Ministry office, smiling slightly as he once again heard the shocked gasp of the rest of his team from under the invisibility cloak. Beckoning his friends to follow him with a hand behind his back, Daniel walked down the corridor, past the fountain- he noted that the centaur, goblin and house-elf had been removed, probably on the order of the current Minister- until he reached the Security desk to the left of the large main gates.

"I'm here to see the Minister of Magic," Daniel said, nodding at the wizard behind the desk (Who, he noticed with some surprise, was the same person who'd been here the last time; evidently his old friend didn't see the point in hiring any new security).

"Wand," the man said simply, indicating a brass instrument that vaguely resembled a set of scales. Daniel laid his wand on the instrument, which briefly vibrated until a narrow strip of parchment came out of the slit at its base, which was promptly snatched up by the wizard and examined. "Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, been in use for…"

He paused in his reading and looked at Daniel curiously. "You've only used it for seven years?"

For a moment, Daniel thought something was wrong- did the man actually remember him from that previous visit?- but then he glanced at the paper and saw the problem; the wand was listed as having been purchased when he first started Hogwarts, but it had only been actually used for about seven years.

"I've been working in the muggle world; I don't really need it that often these days," he said simply, hoping that would suffice as an explanation for the moment. The wizard looked uncertain for a moment, but then he just nodded, took the piece of paper, and handed Daniel back his wand before pulling out a secrecy sensor. For a moment Daniel was concerned, but when it passed over him and nothing happened, he relaxed; evidently it didn't go off so long as he wasn't concealing anything dangerous about himself.

Nodding briefly at the man, Daniel turned and began to walk towards the nearest lift, his ears detecting the slight shuffle that indicated that Sam, Mitchell and Teal'c were just behind him. As he stepped up to the lift and pushed the required button, Daniel smiled slightly in anticipation of what was about to come.

Here I come, old friend… he said, the smile still on his face as the lift doors opened and he stepped into them, his friends close behind him as he pushed the button for the Minister's office…

"Great…" Hermione Granger, one of the youngest Ministers of Magic in history and top of her graduating class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- even with all the time she'd missed hunting Voldemort's horcruxes- said, as she stared in frustration at the pile of paperwork before her. "Honestly… how anyone managed to do this job without killing themselves in frustration I'll never know…"

Her 'official postal owl', as Hermione referred to her when anyway asked why she kept an owl in her office, hooted inquiringly, and Hermione looked over at the owl with a small smile on her face.

"It's nothing, Hedwig; just work getting on top of me again," she said, once again unable not to think of her unofficial 'brother' as she looked at the snow-white owl that had once belonged to him. When she'd been well enough to leave the hospital following Harry's final goodbye, she'd discovered that he'd left Hedwig behind along with most of his other possessions; baring some clothes and money, all he seemed to have taken with him- wherever he'd gone- was his wand, his cloak, the Marauder's Map, the Get Well card Ginny had made him in third year, and the photograph album Hagrid had given him towards the end of his first year. Why he'd left so many other personal possessions behind, Hermione had no idea; either he'd wanted to travel light, or he just hadn't felt them worth taking.

She'd never been able to decide, really.

And, of course, she'd never been able to ask Harry for a detailed explanation as to what his reasons had actually been; even when he'd started sending her and some of the others cards for special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays, he'd never included a return address, so she'd never been able to try and track him down that way.

Quite frankly, even after almost two decades, nobody had any idea where Harry had actually gone, or when he'd managed to pick up what items he had…

Regardless of what had happened to him in the future, at the time of his departure, the other members of the Order had decided that, until they found Harry or knew he was dead, as his closest living friend, Hermione was entitled to her choice of Harry's remaining possessions, and she'd chosen to keep Hedwig. The owl was getting old, of course, and sometimes seemed to be moulting slightly, but, as a magical owl, she was still in pretty good health, and Hermione liked keeping her around as a reminder of her old friends; she still had Crookshanks, of course, but she didn't feel right bringing him into the office for no actual reason.

A slight thump from outside her door prompted Hermione to look up in surprise, thoughts of the past driven from her mind for the moment, but she was soon smiling broadly as she noticed the slight hint of pink hair through the frosty glass in her door; evidently her friend had finished her earlier assignment sooner than had been expected and decided to just come to the meeting anyway.

"Tonks…" she said, shaking her head pityingly, as Tonks Lupin (Whose choice of name after marriage still prompted the occasional joke among her friends and colleagues), the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement came through the door, her typically sheepish expression on her face as she looked at Hermione while rubbing her shoulder slightly.

"Uh… sorry about the noise; I… uh… tripped on a loose floorboard again?" she said hopefully.

Hermione just shook her head; her friend's clumsiness was notorious to all.

"You know, if that excuse of yours was ever an accurate account of events, my floor should have fallen in with all the 'loose floorboards' you seem to keep finding?" he said, staring teasingly at Tonks as she indicated a chair. "Quite frankly, if you keep on tripping over your own feet every time you visit me, I'll have to give your department to Dean; I know for a fact that at least he can actually stay quiet when the need arises…"

"No way!" Tonks yelled, shooting up rapidly in her seat even as she began to sit down in it. "You can't give it to Dean; he's a complete idiot! The man wouldn't know how to do anything beyond hit the target around a lot; you've got to have someone who actually thinks for this job to be done properly-"

"Tonks, calm down; you know I'd never give your department to someone else," Hermione said, grinning at the woman who'd become like an older sister over the past few years as she stood in front of Hermione, her hair rapidly turning red to match her currently-intense emotions. "Honestly, you are so easy to tease sometimes…"

Glaring at Hermione for a moment, Tonks finally just sighed in frustration and slumped back into her chair.

"OK, you've got me again," she said, as she gave Hermione a small smile to show that she didn't bear the Minister a grudge; even though the two had known each other since Hermione had still been in school, Tonks still sometimes treated Hermione as though she was the metamorphagus's boss, rather than her friend. "Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?"

At that query, Hermione instantly became all business, sitting up straight in her chair as she looked at Tonks.

"Unfortunately, it's a continuing matter," she said, as she reached into her desk to pick out a file from a drawer and pass it to Tonks. "I've been reviewing the information from our muggle observation branch, and they've noticed quite a few of the… more silent members of our society, shall we say?… suddenly proving rather… active around airports; their passports have been registered as being in use at the check-in desks."

Tonks' face grew pale at those words.

She and Hermione were some of the few people who knew that the Ministry of Magic had exaggerated the success of the post-war clean-up of the Death Eaters. Determined not to repeat Fudge's mistakes, Scrimgeour had, fortunately, refused to allow Death Eaters to walk free, and sentenced them all to Azkaban no matter how much they pleaded to have been controlled by the Imperius Curse, but even with the aid of the Order of the Phoenix, a few Death Eaters had managed to escape capture (Including Snape, Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew', among others).

Despite all attempts to find them, the searches organised by the Ministry and the Order had so far failed to turn anything up that might reveal where the hiding; evidently the Death Eaters were more willing to operate 'under the radar' than they had been after the previous war, when many of them had made full use of their families' money to live as comfortable a life as possible.

"Do we have any idea why this is happening?" Tonks asked Hermione, knowing that her friend would understand what she meant. The real mystery wasn't why Death Eaters were using muggle transportation- magical means of leaving the continent were under constant surveillance to prevent the remaining Death Eaters escaping, but the Ministry's means of keeping an eye on muggle transport methods was still limited no matter how much they tried- but why they were risking leaving at all.

After all, leaving Britain, the Death Eaters would be bound to attract attention, especially since they weren't even using assumed names to conceal their actions, so why would they take such a risk now, after so many years…?

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to speak, however, the door to her office opened once again and a man in glasses and dressed completely in muggle clothing- jeans, a shirt and a jacket- walked in, smiling broadly at the two women before him.

Glancing up in surprise, Hermione quickly took in his appearance, soon confirming that she didn't recognise him from any pictures of the still-active Death Eaters, but unable to shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere.

In fact, change his eye colour and darken his hair, and the man could almost pass for…

Before the thought could finish crossing her mind, Hedwig had flown off the perch to land on the man's shoulder, where she promptly (Adding to Hermione's confusion) nipped him once on the ear with her beak before flying away again.

"OUCH!" the man yelled, clutching his ear as he stared at Hedwig; despite the annoyance on his face, his smile suggested that he was actually glad to see the owl. "You know, Hedwig, I know I left you pretty rapidly back then, but it's been over twenty years; you can't have been holding a grudge for that long!"

Hermione's jaw dropped.

Twenty years…

It couldn't be… he looked so different…

But it was him.

No matter what else had changed over the last few years, she knew it was him; nobody else could have provoked that kind of reaction from Hedwig.

"H… Harry?" she whispered, staring incredulously at the man before her, the man who had apparently once been her closest friend- practically her brother- when they were both at school, and whom she hadn't heard from for the last twenty years…

Looking back at her, the man- Harry?- smiled.

"Hello, Hermione," he said, a soft expression on his face, the expression she'd seen on his face so many times when he'd been consoling her about Ron, despite him hurting just as much as she had been…

It was Harry Potter.

He had come back.

And, for the first time in her life, Hermione had absolutely no idea what to say.