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
The next day, the four members of SG-1 sat at the departure gate for the earliest possible flight back to Colorado Springs- due to begin boarding in only a few minutes- as arranged for them by General Landry via phone call; convincing the airline to clear the necessary number of seats to allow SG-1 and their allies to get back to Colorado as soon as possible had been difficult, but, eventually, they had been convinced to allocate the necessary number of seats to SG-1 and the forthcoming arrivals.
So far, however, Mitchell had yet to coax the reason for Daniel's small smile out of his friend, and any attempts to ask Sam and Teal'c for help had met with nothing; Teal'c wasn't interested enough to care about it either way, accepting that they would learn the reason for Daniel's actions soon enough, while Sam just refused to take away the reason Daniel had to smile like that unless she had to. It was proving more than slightly frustrating to the lieutenant colonel that he was unable to get the answer to his question out of the team's archaeologist, but, on some level, he understood Daniel's reasons for keeping it quiet; it was more of a mater of principle- as the commanding officer, he hated being ignorant of information about his team- than anything else that prompted him to keep asking.
Eventually, with the time for the flight ever rapidly approaching them, Daniel glanced at the entrance and smiled slightly as he saw six figures entering the departures lounge, attracting the attention of the other SG-1 members as a broad smile split his face.
"It's them," he said, as he indicated the group of people in question. "They just came in with the big guy; you can't miss them."
Looking in the direction of the entrance gate, Sam had no trouble picking out who Daniel was referring to. Admittedly, it was easier to recognise them than it might have been under other circumstances given that Tonks and Hermione were in the group, both dressed in jeans, long-sleeved T-shirts and jackets. A pair of thin glasses perched on Hermione's nose gave her a more intelligent, scholarly appearance, particularly with her hair pulled back in a business-like ponytail.
However, right now, it was the large man off to the side that attracted Sam's attention instantly; even without Tonks and Hermione, Sam would have guessed that this was the man Daniel and Hermione had been referring to when they talked about getting an extra seat.
The man in question seemed to be almost the same size as the Stargate itself- although the scientist part of Sam noted that he was probably a foot or two shorter than the 'gate- almost giving the impression of being too big to really be allowed indoors, with a big bushy beard and dressed in a long leather jacket, red shirt, and dark trousers. He was so large that the crowd seemed to automatically part before him as he walked, and Sam privately wondered how he'd even managed to get into the airport in the first place. If it hadn't been for the friendly, eager expression on his face as he looked at them, Sam had little to no doubt that she would have been scared of the man on sight alone; as it was, she suddenly felt sure that she could trust this man with her life, no matter how intimidating he seemed.
The other three men, by contrast, were significantly less physically imposing than the first man; for one thing, they were actually all regular height. One of them was a man dressed in shabby-looking clothes, giving the impression that he hadn't been shopping for a while, his shaggy-looking hair adding to the instinctive impression he gave that he was almost a tramp of some kind. His face appeared slightly withdrawn, as though he was ill or something, but his eyes burned with a brilliant intensity that clearly showed a strong personality. Despite the age difference, the manner with which he and Tonks interacted made it clear to Sam that there was more between those two than mere friendship, a fact that was further proved when she noted the golden bands on their left fingers; if the two of them weren't married- or at least engaged- Sam would be very surprised.
The remaining two figures were, in their own way, equally distinctive, not least because both of them looked exactly identical to each other. They were two tall, red-haired twins, dressed in long, dark jackets that looked like some kind of leather over dark chinos and deep red shirts. Both of them had an expression on their faces that looked as though she were either preparing to laugh at some upcoming joke or stage a complex plan that would leave somebody royally humiliated, but, at the same time, there was something appealing about them.
Glancing back at Daniel, despite her currently conflicted feelings about this discovery of a past that Daniel had never shared with them, Sam allowed herself a small smile as she saw the broad grin on her friend's face as he looked at the new arrivals.
"You know the other four, I take it?" she asked, indicating the group approaching them.
"Yeah…" Daniel said, smiling as he glanced back at her; Sam was surprised to actually see the faint glimmer of tears behind his glasses as he looked at her, before he swallowed slightly and stood up, glancing over at Mitchell and Teal'c, who were sitting on the other side of him. "Come on; I'll introduce you."
As he walked up to his old friends, Daniel smiled slightly as he saw the four new arrivals stare at him in surprise. It was easy to see that, even after everything they may have heard from Tonks and Hermione about his return, on some level, none of them had actually believed it until they saw him now. For a moment, he debated which one to address first, but that problem was sorted when Tonks and Hermione stepped back slightly, letting the other four step forward to look at him, awe evident on their faces.
Sensing, rather than seeing, the rest of SG-1 step back to give him a chance at a private 'Hello' at the moment, Daniel smiled as he walked forward to look at his old friends, taking care to control the tears that he still sensed brimming at the bottom of his eyes.
"Hi, guys," he said, a slight croak in his voice as he spoke, looking at his old friends with an ever-increasing smile on his face. "It's… it's good to see you."
"Harry…" the shabbily-dressed man said, staring at him incredulously, eyes wide as he took in the man standing before him. "Is… is it… really you?"
Glancing over at the man, Daniel smiled at the familiar face. He was pleased to see that the man actually looked healthier than he'd ever been back when he'd first been one of Harry's teachers at Hogwarts; either he'd learned to cope with his 'condition' better, or there was a better way of dealing with it nowadays.
"Yeah, Remus," he said, reaching over to place a hand on the shoulder of his father's last living friend as he spoke. "I've changed a lot… but it's really me."
He shrugged apologetically. "Sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances, of course… but I'm back."
"Harry…" the deep, gruff voice that had first introduced him to the wizarding world said, its owner looking at him with that familiar warm smile mingled with tears. "Ah god… Harry…"
Before Daniel could respond, the man had grabbed him and swept him up into a fierce hug, squeezing his ribs with such force that Daniel was grateful all the unarmed combat training he'd received over the years had toughened him up; if this had happened to him in the old days, something would probably have cracked.
"Uh… Hagrid…" he gasped, looking up at his oldest wizarding friend as he gasped slightly. "Glad to… see you again… as well… but… oxygen…?"
"Oh… uh… right…" Hagrid said, smiling awkwardly as he released his hold and stepped back, although he continued to grin broadly at the archaeologist as he planted a large, firm hand on Daniel's shoulder. "But look at yer! Ye've done brilliantly, from what I hear! Three doctorates in the muggle world, and ye got them all yerself! Incredible!"
"Yeah… it was pretty incredible for me, too," Daniel said, smiling at the Hogwarts gamekeeper before he turned to look at the two twins, his smile becoming even broader as he studied them. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here, though."
"Well, Harry m'boy-" one of the twins said, grinning just as broadly back at Daniel.
"Or Daniel, if you prefer-" the other one said, his own face a copy of his brother's (Sam could think of no other explanation for their identical appearances).
"When we heard-"
"That our beloved investor-"
"Not to mention our first financial backer-"
"And unofficial adopted brother-"
"Was back in the anti-Dark Lord game-"
"And needed help in dealing with a problem-"
"Of some considerable scale, we gathered-"
"How could we refuse-"
"The chance and opportunity-"
"To help him out once more?"
Despite the seriousness of the situation they were still facing, Daniel couldn't stop a slight chuckle at the twins' antics as he gave them both a grateful, friendly pat on the shoulders.
"Thanks," he said, giving the two long-time jokers a brief, affectionate smile before he turned back to his teammates, who were still waiting patiently for him to complete the introductions, deciding that he should clear up any of the obvious questions about who everybody was sooner rather than later.
"Well, time to get the introductions out of the way," he said, beckoning his newer friends towards him with a brief gesture as he turned back to his older ones, exchanging a brief smile with Mitchell and Sam as they stood on either side of him, Teal'c standing on the other side of Mitchell.
"Everyone," he said, looking at the wizarding arrivals as he indicated Sam, Mitchell and Teal'c, "these are my colleagues on SG-1; Lieutenant Colonels Cameron Cam' Mitchell and Samantha 'Sam' Carter, and Teal'c. The new arrivals are Remus Lupin, former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and full-time werewolf, Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper and half-giant, and Fred and George Weasley, proud owners of wizarding joke shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and pranksters extraordinare."
Sam's eyes widened slightly as she glanced back at Daniel.
"Weasley?" she asked, looking inquiringly at Harry. "As in… Ron and Ginny Weasley?"
"Precisely," one of the twins- Sam had no idea whether it was Fred or George- said, giving Sam a wide grin as he spoke; only the pain in his eyes made it clear that the topic of his two siblings remained a painful one for him, even almost two decades after they'd died. "They were our brother and sister respectively; we've known Harry/Daniel/whatever-he-wants-us-to-call-him here since he was only eleven years old and couldn't even lift his luggage onto the school train by himself!"
"You know, just because I wasn't exactly a prime physical specimen back then is no reason for you to keep going on about that," Daniel said, smiling affectionately over at the twins before his expression became more serious once more as he looked at the new arrivals. "I'm assuming Hermione and Tonks told you all about the situation we're facing at the moment?"
"Aliens posing as gods, portals to other planets, and Voldemort's apparently come back from the dead?" the other twin said casually. "Oh yeah; we've been filled in on the whole picture."
Daniel blinked in surprise.
"You said his name?" he said, looking a the twin who'd just spoken in surprise.
"Is that unusual, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, looking curiously at his friend.
"Well… yeah, actually," Daniel said, as he looked back at his Jaffa friend. "I didn't mention it before, but back when Voldemort was in power, he made such a reputation for himself that most of the wizarding world were so terrified they couldn't even say his name; even after I was thought to have 'defeated' him when I was a baby, they always called him 'You Know Who' or 'He Who Must Not Be Named'. I could probably count the number of people who willingly spoke his name when I was growing up on one hand…"
"Tell me about it; do you know how often I had to say the name just to convince my staff to say it?" Hermione put in, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation as she looked at her old friend. "It was one of my major goals once I got back in office; stop everybody in the wizarding world from being so backward and superstitious as to be afraid of just saying the name of a dead man…"
Then she paused and glanced over at Daniel, a not-so-serious look of frustration in her eyes as she looked at her old friend. "And now, of course, you tell me that he's actually not dead, meaning that I may have to start this whole thing all over again…"
Daniel shrugged nonchalantly.
"Hey; that's not my fault," he said, looking back at Hermione with a slight grin on his face. "You've got a problem, take it up with whatever higher power thinks it's fun to mess with us mere mortals like this; I didn't do anything to get Voldemort brought back from the dead once again."
"Indeed; you could not have done so even when you were capable of 'messing with us mere mortals'," Teal'c put in, looking over at his long-time friend and ally with a similar small smile on his face.
"Eh?" Hagrid put in, looking curiously over at Teal'c. "What do yer mean by that?"
"Nothing major; just… something that happened to me a few years back- it's not really important," Daniel said, before glancing over uncertainly at his teammates. "Uh… sorry to be rude, but, seeing as how we've still got a bit of time before the plane takes off, could you just let General Landry know who's coming to help us while I make sure the new arrivals know everything they need to know?"
For a moment, Sam felt like protesting- after al, surely they all had a right to 'brief' people who were going to be their new allies in this latest crisis, and it hardly took all three of them to make a call to Landry- but then she saw the slightly pleading expression in Daniel's eyes and relaxed as she realised why he was doing this.
Even with the problem they were currently facing hanging over him, he wanted to have a chance to talk to his old friends for a little bit.
After spending nearly two decades away from them, how could Sam deny him a few minutes alone with them all?
"Sure thing," she said, nodding in understanding at Daniel. "Cam, Teal'c, we'd better let Landry know who we've managed to recruit."
As the other three members of SG-1 walked off to call the Stargate facility- Mitchell, Daniel noted with a smile, looking slightly disappointed that he wouldn't have a chance to talk more with the wizards- Daniel turned to look at his old friends, a broad smile on his face.
"So… you're all still doing well, then?" he asked, looking at the six of them inquiringly. They all seemed to be pretty healthy, of course, and he knew for a fact that Tonks and Hermione had accomplished a great deal with their lives, but the others were more of a question-mark.
"Oh, absolutely," Fred said, a broad grin on his face as he threw a friendly arm over his brother's shoulders. "The joke business these days is pretty much thriving; we brought out Zonko's a couple of years after the war ended, and since then we've been expanding our business to pretty much everywhere we can get a shop set up!"
"Great," Daniel said, smiling over at Fred and George with a mockingly casual grin on his face. "In that case, I suppose you've got the money to pay back my original investment at last, right?"
Fred and George's eyes widened as they stared at Harry.
"Uh… what?" George said.
"Well, the way I see it, as your original investor, I am entitled to a fair share of the profits of your little enterprise," Daniel said, leaning back casually in his seat (Or as casually as he could; airport waiting areas had never struck him as entirely comfortable) as he looked at the twins. "Of course, in calculating the size of my investment you need to allow for interest rates over the years, but I think, taking into account that you probably wouldn't even have been able to start your shop if it wasn't for me, I should probably be entitled to a majority share…" He let his voice trail off as he saw the growing expressions of horror on the faces of the twins.
"I'm joking," he said, smiling broadly at them. "I make enough money in my current line of work; why would I want any more?"
"Still as jocular as ever, mmm?" Remus put in, chuckling slightly as Daniel turned to look at his old professor.
Daniel shrugged slightly, the smile falling a little from his face.
"Well… it comes and goes, really," he said, after a moment's pause. "My role in the Stargate Program… it's brought me a lot of good memories- not to mention some incredible friends- but, at the same time… well, I've had to witness things that I've sometimes wished I didn't."
"Such as?" Tonks asked, looking inquiringly at Daniel.
"Oh… never mind; it was all a long time ago, and I'm over it," Daniel said, inwardly cursing himself for his foolishness in bringing it up; he was not going to get drawn into discussions of the various misfortunes that had befallen him since he became Daniel Jackson.
It had been hard enough dealing with the well-meaning but ultimately misguided sympathy of his friends and mentors back when he'd just been Harry and was dealing with stuff like his connection to Voldemort; at least, on some level, they could try to understand what that was like.
With him now considering himself more Daniel than Harry, and his problems including something that none of them could imagine- the knowledge that he'd been prevented from saving the planet that he'd regarded as a second home from destruction because some higher beings wouldn't let him interfere- it would just be even more complicated…
Then again, he needed to tell them some details about his life; he might as well begin with the obvious questions about theirs and let them know some of the smaller details after they'd replied.
"Anyway, enough about me," he said, looking over at Tonks and Remus with a small smile on his face.
"So," he asked, indicating the hands of the metamorphagus and the werewolf with a casual grin, "shall I take it from the rings that you managed to make an honest man out of Moony while I was away?"
Remus turned away from Harry slightly, an awkward expression spreading across his face as he debated how best to answer Daniel's question, but Tonks just smiled broadly over at the archaeologist.
"Yeah, but it took a while to make him get over his inferiority complex," she said, affectionately squeezing her husband's arm as she looked at Daniel. "I mean, God, you couldn't have stayed around long enough to make him see sense? I kept on telling him I didn't care about the fact that he'd become wild and hairy in the full moon for ages, and it still took a good few months- practically a couple of years, I might add- before he had to stop trying to come up with reasons to turn me down!"
"Same old Moony, eh?" Daniel said, looking over at Lupin with a criticising grin on his face. "Talking of which, how is your 'furry little problem' these days?"
"Oh… more under control than it's ever been, really," Lupin said, smiling slightly at the son of his old friend. "Recent advances in the Wolfsbane potion mean that my condition's reached a point where I can not only maintain control during the transformations, but I can actually choose whether or not to transform in some occasions. It's made it a bit easier for my career as an auror- when you learn how to control the transformation it makes for a remarkably effective means of tracking criminals- but I always end up feeling a bit… well, 'hung-over' is the only term I can think of that fits… afterwards."
"Ah," Daniel said, nodding sympathetically at him. "Hope you brought some of that, by the way; if you're going through the Stargate with us, it couldn't hurt to have some of the potion in case your transformation's triggered when you go through."
"Why?" Fred asked, looking curiously at Daniel. "If he's OK here-?"
"Fred, we have no way of knowing whether it's just our moon that has an effect on werewolves, remember?" Hermione said, looking critically over at her former would-be brother-in-law. "It might turn out that Earth's moon is the only moon that affects werewolves, but equally, if Lupin goes to another planet where the moon's in a different stage of its lunar cycle and he hasn't got his potion on him, it could trigger his transformation and then we'd have a werewolf on our hands on top of everything else we may be facing!"
"Ah," Fred said, nodding briefly in understanding. "Got you."
"Anyway," Daniel said, deciding he might as well get back to his original topic of discussion as he looked at Tonks, "what do you call yourself now, anyway? Nymphorda Lupin? Nymphorda Lupin-Tonks? What?"
Tonks snorted harshly.
"As if," she said, staring critically back at Daniel. "It's Tonks Lupin, thank you very much; I wasn't going to keep that name any longer than I had to."
"Ah," Daniel said simply before looking over at Fred and George. "How about you two? Settled down yet?"
"Now, Harry-" Fred began, his traditional broad grin spreading across his face.
"You should know-" George continued.
"Better than anyone-"
"That we, my good man-"
"Are dedicated to our work!"
"We are committed-"
"Seriously committed, I might add-"
"Lifelong bachelors-"
"Dedicated solely to the cause-"
"Of bringing pranks and joy to the world!"
"Which means that Angelina and Katie still haven't accepted your proposals yet, huh?" Daniel said, turning to look at Hermione. "Am I right?"
Hermione chuckled slightly as she looked at the twins, similar smiles on the faces of the other three as they looked at the red-headed pranksters.
"You're right there," she said, grinning back at the archaeologist as she spared a teasing glance at the Weasley twins. "I mean, don't get me wrong, they're both still dating these two, but there are times when it's more of a 'friends with benefits' thing than anything else."
"Well, good to know some things never change," Daniel said, grinning over at the twins once more- both of whom were actually looking slightly embarrassed at the ease with which Daniel had seen through their lie- before he looked over at Hagrid. "How about you, Hagrid? Settled down yet?"
"Eh… no' really," Hagrid said, shrugging uncertainly at Harry. "Bin spendin' more time with Olympe recently, but… well, when yer get past the half-giant thing, there's just not much there fer anything that ain't friendship at best; she just doesn't entirely get meh fondness fer interesting creatures."
Daniel nodded sympathetically at Hagrid; it must have been hard for him to accept that the woman who, in many ways, he had more in common with than anyone he'd ever met, would never exactly be his 'type'.
After all, in some ways it almost reflected how he felt about Sam; they sometimes seemed to have so much in common, and yet there could never be anything there… because she was in love with his best friend.
Shaking his head to clear away that very unwanted train of thought- he had more important matters to worry about than his love life- Daniel turned to look at Hermione, only for her to start speaking just as he opened his mouth.
"Before you ask, Harry," Hermione said, responding to Daniel's question before he could actually ask it, "I'm still single; it's been a full-time job clearing out the corruption in the Ministry that settled into it at the end of the first war against Voldemort, so there hasn't exactly been much time for romance in my life…"
For a moment, Hermione looked as though she was about to say something more, but, looking at her, the man who had once been Harry Potter knew what she was about to start discussing and placed a comforting but halting hand on her shoulder to stop her.
If she'd started talking about Ron once again- the last man, to Daniel's knowledge, that she'd ever dated seriously, no matter how little time they'd actually spent together before he died- he somehow doubted either of them would have managed to maintain their composure.
As the two of them looked sympathetically at each other, for that brief moment in time, Daniel could almost swear that nothing had happened, that the last two decades had never taken place and they were still the closest friends each other had ever had…
But then the moment passed, and Daniel had to remind himself that it wasn't the case. Oh, they were still friends, but after him spending two decades away making a career for himself away from the wizarding world, while she went on to become the most powerful person in it, they lacked some of the closeness that they'd possessed back in the day.
It was nobody's fault, of course- it was just the way things normally turned out after two friends spent almost twenty years apart- but still…
It kind of hurt to know that the old closeness was gone.
Still, Daniel mused to himself with a slight smile, that's the beauty of life; hopefully, we can start again.
"So," Hermione said, looking at Daniel with a casual smile that broke through his train of thought before he could even begin it, "how about you, may I ask?"
Despite the fact that he'd started this conversation to allow him to mention this particular issue in the first place, Daniel still felt a familiar twist of pain in his stomach as he recalled the events he would have to tell them about.
Even after six years, in some ways, the memory of the day he'd finally lost her still hurt…
"Well…" he sighed, as he looked around at his old friends, allowing himself a brief smile as he recalled the happier days of his life back then, "on our first mission through the Stargate, I did end up married to a woman called Sha're."
"Married?" Hermione yelled, her eyes widening in surprise as she stared at Daniel. Glancing over, the former Harry Potter was partly satisfied to see that the rest of the group looked just as shocked at that news, although precisely why that was the case he couldn't be sure off the top of his head; maybe they'd just never guessed he'd actually get married.
Of course, the fact that his wife came from another planet could also be involved
"What?" he said, looking at them in a casual manner as they stared at him incredulously. "Other planets have marriage too, you know. Besides, Sha're was just as human as the rest of us; she was descended from some Egyptian slaves that the Goa'uld had taken to that planet millennia ago."
"Oh," Lupin said, after a moment's pause while the rest of the group took in what Daniel had just said to them. "Well… that's good."
"So, when do we get to meet your better half?" Fred asked, looking at Daniel with a grin on his face; only the slightly saddened look in his eyes showed that he and his brother were recalling the sister who, if things had turned out better, would have become Harry's wife some day…
But, like Sha're, Ginny was no longer here.
"She… well, she's dead," Daniel said, sighing slightly as he took in the expressions of sympathy on their faces; he may resent it on some level, but at least they were sympathising with him for something they could at least hope to relate to.
"About a year after the two of us married," he continued, looking around at his old friends as he spoke, "she was abducted by the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis and used as the host for his 'queen' Amaunet. I spent my first three years in the Stargate program trying to bring her back- the project was closed down after we blew up the ship of the first Goa'uld we encountered, but we learned there were more of them out there a year later and the project assumed a new importance- but, eventually, it all ended when Amaunet tried to kill with a Goa'uld weapon; Teal'c was forced to kill Amaunet- and Sha're with her- before she could kill me."
He sighed in frustration as he bent over, his forehead clasped in his right hand as he stared at the floor. "God… the only good thing about that memory is that at least I knew she wasn't being tormented by Amaunet any more…"
"Oh my God…" Hermione whispered softly, reaching over to place a comforting hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Harry… I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"
Looking back at Hermione, Daniel smiled slightly at his old friend.
"Thanks, Hermione," he said simply, the faint gleam in his eyes the only sign that he was grateful for her comfort. "I… well, I appreciate that."
"Uh… hello?" a voice said from behind them. Looking up, the assorted witches and wizards saw Sam standing behind them, a slightly awkward smile on her face as she looked at Daniel and Hermione, the witch's hand still on the archaeologist's shoulder. For a brief moment, Daniel could have sworn he saw a faint trace of jealousy in her eyes, but if it was there it faded away as soon as it had begun.
"Just thought you should know that our plane's started boarding; Cam and Teal'c are already on board," Sam said, indicating Hagrid with a small smile that almost managed to completely draw Daniel's attention away from the almost hostile glare in her eyes as she looked at Hermione. "I thought that, given his size, it would be best if we got there as soon as possible; les chance of him tripping over any luggage on the way."
"Fair enough," George said, shrugging nonchalantly as he stood up, stretched slightly, and grinned over at Sam. "Lead on, my dear!"
"Never call me that again and I won't send you in the wrong direction," Sam stated simply as she looked at the red-haired twin in front of her. She knew she was being somewhat overly hostile to him; he hadn't even done anything to actually annoy her, and here she was, taking out her pointless frustration on him.
After all, she'd already accepted that Daniel would want to spend time catching up with his old friends; she shouldn't be feeling… jealous of them, of all things!
But still… the sight of him sitting next to that 'Hermione' girl like that, him looking relaxed in a manner she didn't recall ever seeing him look since Sha're's death… their evident closeness even after all the changes they'd gone through over the last decade or so…
Even as Sam turned around to show them the way to the plane, their new allies getting up to join her, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was some other reason for the way she was feeling that she couldn't immediately put her finger on…