Chapter Thirty-Seven: In The Line of Duty


Tuesday, 27th June 2000.

Hermione woke once more, still wrapped tightly up to Harry, who had his arms around her waist. His soft steady breathing let her know that he still slumbered and she almost wished that she too was still in the land of nod.

Her body ached from head to toe. She and Harry had pushed so much of their own energy into the ritual as they battled the natural resistance of so powerful a ley line. Had Remus not been in perigee, applying so much energy into the circle, she doubted they would have succeeded at all.

She rolled slightly, finding a more comfortable position as she laid back on her own wild hair. Hermione gave a short chortle as she noticed just how incredibly bushy it was again, having been saturated in untamed magic again for the first time since she had received her Hogwarts letter. In those early years, her own completely untamed magic had flowed through it making it impossible to tame, and now it would probably put up an equal battle for several weeks before she would be able to control it once more.

The movement startled Harry and his eyes quickly focused on her face. "Mmmm, morning."

"Actually, I think that it is afternoon." She replied, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the windows, which still showed the sun's position, much like Harry had done at Christmas with the chair room in Aether, even though it did not allow its intense light to blind her.

"Don't care," Harry said lightly, still a bit groggy from waking and seeming slightly giddy as well.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired. Sore. Comfy." He said, tucking up closer to her, burying his face in her hair. "You smell good."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at how unfiltered Harry seemed to be right now. "We'll have to get up eventually. Unless you want them to provide all your meals spoonfed to you while you lie in bed."

"I could get used to that." He replied. "I could make it a benefit of being High Councilor."

"Is that so?" A female voice came from the doorway and Hermione lifted her head to see who it was.

Aurora and Cyla were standing there, each holding a tray and looking at the pair. "Hello." Hermione managed before she dropped back onto the mattress. "How may we help you?"

"I thought we were the ones here to help you. By spoon-feeding our glorious leader again." Aurora said with a wide smirk as she stepped up beside the bed, making Cyla laugh.

Hermione looked at the redheaded woman in surprise, unable to recall hearing her make such a vibrant sound before.

"See, Cyla agrees with me."

"How are you all?" Harry asked, shuffling awkwardly up the bed until he managed to prop himself up against the headboard.

"We're all good. Everyone is up and about, besides you two of course. Carson has taken all the wands though. Says that no one is allowed to cast until he gives the ok. Not that it stopped Parvati from enchanting part of her room with runes this morning. Despite having had free reign to design them however she wanted when you lot built this place."

"Maybe we should put Carson on the council as the chief medical officer instead of me," Hermione said, as Harry helped her match his position against the head of the bed.

"Maybe," Aurora said, seemingly having no issue with Carson being placed over her, given her own young age. She set the hovering tray in place over Hermione's lap as Cyla mirrored her on Harry's side. "Now, do you think you can manage cutlery, or do we actually need to spoon-feed you."

Harry gave the woman a smile as he took the offered cutlery from Cyla. "Thank you. Let's find out shall we?" He said, as the ancient woman removed the cover from his meal to reveal a thick paste, that Hermione thought was mostly mashed potato.

"Mmmm. Looks delicious." She said, picking up her own cutlery.

"How is the ley line?" Harry asked before he took a large bite, his arm dropping rapidly after each bite as he lacked the energy to properly raise it for very long.

"Stable. Padma says that the ritual seems to have worked well. The ley line has spread much wider now, filtering through the full breadth of the mountain itself. And up into it as well. Small fingers have stretched upwards into the base of most of the towers. Andi said she will bring Vector and Flitwick by tomorrow to have a look over the results, once Hogwarts lets out for the year. We gave them the scanning equipment needed so that they can compare the results to the intersecting lines under the school."

"That's good. And Dobby?" Hermione asked, slowly consuming her own meal.

"He's back at the Mesa, awaiting permission to return, once we know it is safe."

"I hate calling it giving him permission," Harry said, looking sour at the term.

"Call it what you will, it amounts to the same thing for now." Aurora shrugged. "But it definitely looks promising so far. We did, however, track a small tsunami spreading out from around this continent after the ritual ended thanks to the sensors in the Mesa and the vulta still exploring the planet. It seems holding a moon in place like that for hours is not a great idea. Even less of one when there are two other moons still moving in opposite directions throughout. Verda's tides were already pretty complex."

"Is there any damage?"

"A little," Cyla said slowly, drawing both Harry and Hermione's attention. "Neville is keeping an eye on it."

As she finished her sentence, Cyla looked to Aurora who smiled at her and nodded that she had gotten it correct.

"Good to see your lessons are paying off," Hermione said.

"Thank you," Cyla replied as Harry finished the last of his meal and he covered the tray once more.

"It's slow going, but we're getting there," Aurora confirmed. "But, if you're done, we'll leave you lovebirds alone. I think your parents are planning to bring dinner later. Hope you feel better soon."

Aurora stood, and Cyla quickly joined her as the two exited the room. Harry shook his head at the pair before he turned back to face Hermione. She bit her lip as she noticed a small bit of the surprisingly delicious paste on Harry's chin and she leant in. Harry clearly expected a kiss, and she couldn't help but laugh as she swallowed, given the hurt look on his face that she had just licked a bit of his dinner off his face.

"What?" She asked with a smirk before she shuffled over and tucked against his chest.

"I'm glad everyone is ok. But I'm already getting antsy being stuck in bed. Even though the company is quite agreeable."

She smiled and ran her fingers lightly over his chest, feeling a little bit better after their meal and chat. "Me too, but we must abide by the doctor's orders."

"True, but I don't recall a doctor ordering us to bed. Dobby just popped us here." Harry said, his own hand running up her spine and sending a delightful shiver through her body.

She tucked tighter against him and moaned happily, feeling quite content despite wishing to have something to occupy her. Sometimes it was nice to just relax for a few days.

ϟ

Wednesday, 28th June 2000.

Padma knocked on the door as she checked to ensure that she had given her sister the slip for the moment. As much as she loved her, Parvati had been a little unbearable the past few days as they recovered from the ritual. The fact that she had somehow expanded her closet to the size of a small house while banned from casting magic was most vexing. Especially as neither one of them had any need for that much space.

The door opened and Harry stood before her, slightly swaying on his feet for a moment, but that was an improvement over how he had been the day before.

"Come in," Harry said, turning from the door and allowing her entrance.

"Where's Hermione?" She asked as she sat down on the couch in the living area.

"In the bath. I was about to join her."

"Sorry, I'm interrupting," Padma said, standing suddenly as she finally took in Harry's attire of naught but a bathrobe.

Harry unceremoniously pushed her back onto the couch before he dropped onto the far end himself. The simple actions tiring him more than she would have expected. "I'm certain that she will keep. Hermione loves a good soak. And neither of us has the energy for anything more than relaxing right now."

"All the more reason I sho…"

"Stop making excuses and talk. You came by for a reason. Are things worse after the ritual?"

Harry was watching her closely and Padma felt he could see right through her. "No. It's actually been much easier since the ritual. Which left me a touch embarrassed about my outbursts during the Isis meeting the other week. I'm not sure if the ritual knocked some of it out of me, or if it just exhausted the residue as much as it exhausted me. But, no. I'm not here about that."

"Okay," Harry said, nodding slowly. "What can I help you with then?"

She paused, gathering her courage. "I came to apologize."

"Apologize for what?" He asked.

"You were right. I would not have been able to handle that. It was draining just being involved at all. And you two still haven't recovered."

Harry smiled and his head dropped back against the rear of the couch as he clearly tried not to laugh, which Padma somewhat appreciated. "You're welcome. But I will say that I am very happy that you feel that way."

Padma looked at him in confusion, unable to figure out why he'd be glad she was so unprepared.

"You're thinking too hard on it. Missing the obvious." He said, noticing the look on her face that Padma tried to school away. "The reason I knew that Hermione and I would be able to handle it, is not something I would wish on anyone. The things I've endured made me able to take the stress, but I lost my entire childhood to develop that strength. I am very glad that you do not have to live that."

Padma blushed as she recalled some of the adventures she had been told the others had gone on during their time at Hogwarts. But most of what came before that for Harry was still quite vague for them all. She was sure that Hermione knew. There was no way that she had not pulled that information out of her boyfriend. But all that Padma knew for certain was that Harry had a rough time living with some nasty muggles.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't put me there, or keep sending me back. You certainly didn't kill my parents. You didn't hide a magical artefact in a school and leave three children to protect it. Etcetera, etcetera. There are several people who bear the blame, let them do so. You are entirely innocent of wrongdoing when it comes to me, Padma. I bear you no ill will at all."

"Not entirely true. I may have believed you might have been the Heir of Slytherin for a few weeks in our second year." She said, trying to hide her face once again.

"And neither of us are twelve years old anymore. I'd be a bit of a dick if I held you accountable for listening to rumours that might very well be true. I've never bothered to actually check the lineage. So while I wasn't the one loosing the basilisk on people, I certainly come close to the family line. Others maybe could have resolved such problems, but again, enduring things like that is what allowed me to develop the strength we needed on Sunday. So, swings and roundabouts."

Padma smiled at his endearingly cheery outlook. "How? How does one endure what you seem to have and still look at the world as a place they want to live?"

"Well, for one, I left it." He said, with a wide smirk. "But it's the same answer I give you regarding the other thing. Friends. Family. I have people that love me, and people that I love. Dumbledore was wrong about a lot of things, but love is a power that no one truly understands. I know it gives me strength. Some day, you will understand it too."

Harry stood and walked over in front of her, squatting down so that he was at eye level with her and Padma was suddenly reminded of his attire. She forced her eyes to remain upwards as he spoke. Hoping that he was still wearing underwear to prevent any accidents.

"We trust you, we rely on you for your strengths and we're here for you to lean on when you feel weak. Remember that." He said far more firmly than he seemed capable of, given the slight sway in his posture. "We good?"

"Yes." She said, nodding tightly, making sure her eyes did not drift below his neck.

"Good." He replied, standing, and Padma thanked the strength of the knot around his waist. "I'm off to have a nice long hot bath."

He didn't even wait for Padma to stand before he headed into the next room, a burst of steam rushing out before the door closed behind him. Padma gave a soft chuckle at the awkwardness of that last little interaction, but her mind soon focused on what Harry had told her. She wasn't weak, she had just endured less than someone who had suffered a great deal.

And after her encounter with Anubis, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to be as strong in such matters as Harry was. Perhaps being strong support was far better than being the one at the top.

ϟ

Thursday, 29th June 2000.

Nymphadora smiled as she watched Teddy crawl about the small play area that Harry had equipped her room with. She was almost completely recovered from the ritual and without work to go back to for now, she was happy to spend a few days with the others in their magnificent new home. Which was fully powered up again now that they had confirmed the ritual had caused no damage to the structure or the power systems.

A chime at the door indicated a visitor requesting entry and she stood, hitting the button by the door that allowed them inside. Harry and Hermione stood there, looking far better than the last time she had seen them the day before.

"Evening, Tonks. Mind if we come in?" Hermione asked, and Tonks waved the pair inside.

Harry moved over to the play area and planted himself in the small indented space. The moment Teddy saw his godfather, he lunged at the dark-haired man and Harry smiled in delight as he began to play with the boy.

"Sometimes I wonder which one is the child," Hermione said softly, walking with Tonks back to the couch where the two women watched the boys playing happily.

"If anyone deserves a second chance at childhood, it's Harry," Tonks replied. "How are you two feeling?"

"Much better now. Carson just gave us the ok to get back to things."

"Good. Though I still don't really know what that means for you all around here."

Hermione smiled. "Mostly, it means we go back to studying the databases and researching what the heck we're going to do next. At least when we were building the Sangraal, we had a defined next step to go after. Now, we seem to drift from one thing to the next, more often than not as a reaction to someone else."

"Doesn't sound all that bad," Tonks said.

While she did miss work, Teddy kept her plenty occupied most of the time. And Shack had called by to consult with her on a few things from time to time, despite her official retirement from the Auror Corps at her mother's insistence. Not that she argued all that hard against the idea.

"One of these days, I'll figure out what it is I want to go on doing. Mum is right, I can't be an Auror anymore. Not with Teddy. It was going to be bad enough when Remus was going to be around to watch him while I worked. Now, as a single mum…"

"You have all of us to help, Tonks. Just look at Harry. Say the word and he'll happily watch Teddy for as long as you need him to."

"I know," Tonks replied, looking pensive for a moment. "It was more about the crazy level of danger than leaving him alone. I could always find a babysitter. But if something happened to me, he'd be all alone." Hermione gave her a look before swinging her gaze back to where Harry had his giggling godson hanging upside down behind his back, asking where Teddy had gone. "True. Look, you know what I mean. It just doesn't feel right anymore. When I was a girl, all I wanted was to be an Auror. But now... Kids change things in the weirdest ways, Hermione."

"Isn't that a good thing?" The brunette asked.

"I guess. But it leaves me with no idea what to do."

"How about, you enjoy being a mum? And if you ever really need something to do, give us a call. I'm sure we can figure out something you can do around here. Pretty crazy commute, but we're always happy to have you."

Tonks gave a chuckle at the offer. "Careful what you wish for, I might just agree."

The two watched the boys now rolling about on the floor as Teddy jumped all over his godfather. Tonks was so glad that Harry had accepted Remus's offer. Her eyes flicked to the window as she was once again reminded that the massive orange rock currently hovering over the distant mountains was named for the man. She missed him terribly.

"Knut for your thoughts?"

"I miss him, Hermione," Tonks said plainly, knowing the woman already knew what she was thinking.

"So do I. He was a good man overall. Did Harry tell you about the invitation he extended to some old running mates of Remus's?"

"No. What's he up to?" Tonks replied, glancing at the man tickling the snot out of her child, quite literally.

"Well, as you can well see, we have several different moons out there. He invited a couple to come and visit Verda for a while. See if lycanthropy is directly linked to any moon or only the Earth's one."

Tonks glanced between the two currently visible moons and the man on the floor tickling her child who had apparently considered such options.

"That's brilliant," Tonks said, genuinely surprised.

"He has his moments. But as I said, this new paradigm we have here offers up things we never could have done while stuck back home on Earth. So if you feel lonely, or cooped up, just let us know. Or if you just need to get away from life for a few minutes. I'm always prepared to lend an ear."

Tonks glanced at the woman beside her and smiled. "Thanks. I'm sure you'll hear from me sooner than you expect."

ϟ

Friday, 30th June 2000.

"Alright, everyone assembled?" Jack West Jnr asked the group and Harry checked to see everyone standing at his sides.

He still had no real idea why they were gathered at the stargate, but Jack had arrived late the night before and arranged a special training session for today. Everyone was still feeling the effects of the ritual, and that seemed to be exactly what Jack was hoping for.

"Good." The man continued. "This is a one-in-a-million chance, so we're going to make the most of it. In a moment, we'll be heading to a small obstacle course I set up on another world. You are going to run it, no magic."

Several members of the group groaned, but Harry noticed that Natalie and Richard were both smirking. He guessed it must be nice to occasionally feel on level ground with their daughter and her friends in a situation.

"The course is fairly straightforward. Today's real challenge is to push through a barrier. You're all far from fully fit. Making this the perfect time to undertake such a test. We'd do it out there if we could, but that jungle is far from safe for trudging through on foot at your current skill level. This place is noted in the database as being abandoned, and I've not detected any kinds of truly dangerous flora or fauna while preparing the course for the last few days.

"I will be there monitoring your progress," He said, indicating the small handheld remote that he'd been given for such purposes. "And Carson here has agreed to be ready and waiting on standby back here just in case."

"Where exactly are we going?" Richard asked.

"According to Merlin, the planet is called Vor Anguu, though the SGC have tagged it as P3X-888. As I mentioned, I found no signs of it being occupied by any detectable sapient species. Though there are some creatures running about the brush. I didn't find anything you shouldn't be easily able to handle if you're paying attention."

"Right," Hermione said, glancing at Luna by her side who seemed to perk up at the idea of new creatures to learn about.

Her small friend was armed for the exercise, but only with the same bright orange stun-only form of the weapon they were all carrying. Given her absence of a mini for the exercise, they were all going without the small devices. They would have to communicate verbally with one another, or use the hand signals that Jack had been teaching to them.

"Ready?"

"Not really," Padma grumbled softly.

"Good," Jack replied, with a smirk that Harry knew meant he was going to be feeling this for the next several days at least. West dialled the stargate using his remote and stepped through.

Glancing at the others, who didn't look overly enthused, Harry took a deep breath and pushed forwards as well.

ϟ

Hermione was exhausted and she was soaked. Evidently, a near torrential downpour was not reason enough for Jack to call off their little exercise. They had been at it for ages now and Jack's idea of a short obstacle course was gruelling.

In and out of thick bushes and narrow trees. Over and through thick muddy pools filled with branches that had fallen off in the storm. Their dark armoured outfits she had made so long ago now, after the Stragoth incident, were caked in grime and her muscles were aching. Poor little Dobby looked like he was about to drop just from trying to keep up with their long legs. This was also his first major training session with the group, and he clearly wasn't as cut out for running around like this as they were.

He looked far healthier after a few days away from Aedis. Hermione hoped that by the time they returned, Vector and Flitwick would have good news for them and he could move back in full-time. She doubted any of them would have the energy to take him back to the Mesa tonight.

Suddenly, Harry froze in place just in front of her, bringing her harshly back to reality. She chided herself for letting her thoughts slip as she instinctively dropped to her knee beside him, ignoring the thick squelch of the mud parting around her joint as she swept her eyes over the trees in front of them. The rain had lessened considerably, though it was still what she would call heavy, and she was able to make out a pathway running through the area ahead of them.

"What is it?" She whispered.

"Not sure. I think… there." He replied, snapping in the direction of a small break in the trees. "Down."

He gave a hand signal for everyone to crouch down into the bushes further as Hermione finally heard the sounds of someone traipsing rather roughly through the trees ahead of them. Thankfully she had hunkered behind a thick bush that would hide her from that direction, but she heard the others dropping into the muddy ground behind them.

"I don't see what the big deal is. Really." A voice came from the group ahead.

"What's hard to get? We're at war with these asshats. Finding out more about them could only be useful." A second voice came, with a thick American accent.

Hermione glanced at Harry who gestured for them all to stay calm and stay down. It seems that the planet they were on was one the SGC were presently scouting as well.

"Will you two be quiet? It's still a ten-minute walk to the gate and I cannot listen to you bickering the whole way. This weather is already miserable enough." A third voice said as the first of the figures became visible through the trees.

They were all dressed in green and brown camouflage outfits with black vests and several weapons Hermione had often seen in movies she had watched with her parents, but that she couldn't have identified for you if you had threatened her with one. Each of them had patches on their shoulders. The one visible on three of the closest shoulders was a planet sitting under At, the point of origin symbol from the SGC's first stargate, while the one soldier walking backwards had what looked like one of the chevrons of the fourth generation stargate with the number fifteen imposed upon it.

She glanced at Harry again and noticed that he had seen the patches as well. He gestured for everyone to hunker down quietly. They no longer strictly had a reason not to interact with the SGC, now that they weren't hiding on Earth, but they were currently quite heavily armed, even if it was all stun based for training.

The soldier that was walking backwards swung around to face forwards, but froze, looking in their direction as they turned, bringing up their gun.

"What the hell are you doing, Johnson?" One of two figures bringing up the rear asked as they too cleared the trees.

"Something's out there ma'am. In the trees." Johnson replied.

"Heads up marines." The figure said, bringing her own gun higher and facing their direction. "What is it?"

"There is something bright over there, Lieutenant. Looked orange to me. In the middle of a forest?"

Hermione glanced downwards at the brightly coloured training pistol in her hands. While she was certain that the brush in front of her covered hers from view, it was possible that someone had theirs somewhere that the marine in front of them had noticed.

"Harry?" She whispered again, hoping he had an idea of how to get out of this.

"Easy there. It could be friendly." The Lieutenant said, moving forwards, the other woman from the back approaching beside her.

"Back up, quietly," Harry instructed, and everyone behind them began to move.

They were all being incredibly cautious. One wrong move and the people in front of them might start shooting. And they were not carrying their wands right now, having expected a simple training mission alone. While Hermione could cast a few spells wandlessly, she was not confident in her ability to wandlessly cast a shield that could handle incoming fire from six marines.

"Hello? Is anyone there? We're explorers." The lieutenant said, her eyes sweeping back and forth in their general direction, though her gun remained off to the side and level with the base of her sternum. "We'd like a chance to talk."

"Lieutenant?" The woman beside her whispered. "Is that wise?"

"It's what we're out here to do, Mawes. If there is a native population on the Goa'uld homeworld, we would do well to befriend it. Hello?" She finished, much louder again.

Hermione turned to Harry as he saw the others were having difficulty moving quietly in the muddy terrain. He locked eyes with her and they both realized that they would likely not be able to back away from this encounter. Harry tilted his head slightly to the left and Hermione gave him a tight smile before she nodded.

Without warning to the others, Harry stood, and Hermione saw all six of the marines instantly clock his position, training their guns in that direction. The urge to start firing at them was difficult to resist, but she stayed down for the moment, ready to allow Harry to run this show. She did, however, keep a very firm grip on her weapon.

"Greetings," Harry said, making a show of keeping his hands above his waist where he had holstered his bright orange pistol before standing.

His clearly non-threatening display saw the two women closest to them lower their weapons. The lieutenant smiled at Harry and took another step forward.

"Hi there. By any chance do you understand me?" She asked.

Harry nodded, but did not reply. The council had collectively agreed to avoid using English when out in the galaxy, to avoid accidental association back to Earth and the SGC. They didn't want their actions to bring problems to Earth, or to be tarred with the same brush that cultures had already used on the SGC teams that may have visited, especially those involved in the technology thefts. But they hadn't decided on how to handle interacting with the SGC themselves.

"Are you alone?" She asked, her weapon now hanging loosely from the sling around her shoulder.

Harry took a deep breath and Hermione could see him considering the question. If the team came any closer it would be possible for them to notice the rest of them, tucked in the bushes. After a moment, Harry gestured for the others to rise. Hermione looked up at him, asking silently if he was sure, and he nodded in return.

She carefully stood in place, hearing the others rising behind them and the lieutenant and Mawes seemed shocked at so many appearing out of the bushes. Hermione kept her weapon in hand, but kept it low so as not to seem threatening.

"Oh, there are a lot of you. My name is Lieutenant Riley. This is Sergeant Mawes."

Harry gave them a silent nod, and Hermione could see he was still trying to figure out how to proceed with this first actual meeting between their groups. He turned to face the others, looking for suggestions.

"Ideas?" He asked quietly.

"Retreat," Padma suggested, eyeing the four further back who still all had their weapons in hand.

"I'm sorry," Riley said, "I don't understand what you are saying."

Harry turned back to her and held up his hand outwards in a sign to wait a moment before turning back to the group. "Are we ready for this? We're tired. We're caked in mud, and we still haven't decided how we want to handle our relations with the…" Harry paused, obviously not wanting to use the moniker that they should not know at a first meeting. "With them." He finished.

"We have to make first contact at some point," Natalie replied with a shrug and Hermione found herself inclined to agree for the moment. They were here and they were already talking.

"How do we want to handle the language thing? We agreed not to use English off-world." Richard asked, noting the two nearest team members watching them closely, but not showing any recognition of the words they were speaking.

Hermione gave the question some thought before her mind settled on a potential option. She drew Harry's eye, careful to keep her hands low. And she made a gesture to herself that she hoped he understood. He gave a short chuckle and she figured he got the message as he nodded and waved for her to go ahead.

Hermione turned to face the two and with a cadence reminiscent of Cyla's earliest communication, she spoke. "He lo." Copying the greeting that the Lieutenant had spoken into the night air moments earlier.

Harry smiled at the face the women made as they heard the somewhat mangled English word repeated back at them.

"Ah, hi," Mawes said, cautiously watching the group.

Hermione noticed that the others were looking at her somewhat impressed, most with small smiles on their faces and she noted that three of the remaining members of SG-15 lowered their weapons completely.

As she turned to smile at Harry, a throaty roar sounded in the brush nearby, echoed by more all around both groups.

"Defensive," Harry yelled as the group brought their weapons up, facing outwards at the roaring that was now fast approaching.

"Marines," Riley shouted, bringing her own weapon to bear and firing several bursts into the air.

Hermione heard rushing footsteps approaching rapidly, and she brought her pistol up firing at the sound. A tall humanoid reptilian figure fell as the blast hit it square in the face and it slid along the muddy ground.

Several more of the scaled forms jumped out into the clearer section of the forest that Mawes and Riley were standing in, rushing the seemingly weakest group. Harry, Hermione and Neville all aimed in that direction and quickly felled the four growling figures before they could tackle the sergeant and lieutenant.

Unfortunately, this seemed to coincide with some of SG-15 having the same idea. Without the rampaging creatures to hit, their bullets continued on and struck around their group. Hermione froze as Harry staggered, clutching his hand to his chest, a look of pain on his face as he slowly fell backwards onto the slick ground.

"Harry!" She screamed, falling to her knees beside him and noticing the red liquid seeping out from under his fingers. Harry had been shot, and the sound of gunfire continued all around them.

Her fingers tingled and she knew that she needed to do something, but seeing him lying there bleeding had thrown her mind into disarray. Anger and fear balled up tight in her chest as Neville knelt beside Harry as well. He quickly pressed down on Harry's chest, hoping to stop the bleeding enough for them to return to the Stargate. Without their wands, they were heavily restricted in ways to help him.

"Cease fire!" Riley yelled and Hermione heard the heavy footsteps of whatever had attacked them all rushing away, having decided them all too much work. "Thomas, get over here, now."

The sound of several people rushing their position spurred Hermione's anger further. These were the people who had just shot Harry. All that anger rushed down her arm as she reared back on her heels and she blasted a wave of unformed magic in the direction of the three figures now rushing at them. Without further thought, she bent back down and grabbed Harry's arm tightly, focusing her mind for a moment before she turned in place and reappeared with a loud crack by the stargate.

"West! My wand." She yelled, as Neville took one hand off Harry's chest and began entering a command into Harry's remote, bringing the stargate to life behind him.

"What the hell happened?" Jack said, darting out from the nearby trees.

Hermione snatched her wand from his hand and quickly tried to focus her mind enough to stem the bleeding, at least long enough for them to return home. With another flick, she had Harry levitating off the ground and Neville pulled him towards the event horizon as the others quickly appeared around them in a slight panic.

Harry moaned in pain as he was pulled through the stargate and Hermione rushed through after him, as she heard Jack sending a message over his remote.

"A bullet wound? How?" She heard Carson say as she rushed out to see him looking over Harry's hovering body, clearly responding to the message from Jack on the other side. "Very well, we'll get him patched up."

As Carson said this, he triggered Aedis to beam them from the courtyard to the medical wing. Hermione was far enough from the small group that she was clearly not included as part of the transit and in her panicked state, she apparated herself into the beam itself.

When the beam reformed in the wide medical room, she found herself tossed violently out of the energy, slamming roughly against the nearby wall as a deafening crack filled the air, even louder for the fact that this room was fairly small and contained.

"Bloody hell. What was that?" Carson said, pushing Harry's still hovering form over the nearby bed before he noticed Hermione laying on the floor. "What are you doing down there?"

"Help him, please." She said in reply, pushing up off the solid floor and stumbling towards them, before a pair of arms grabbed her. "Let me go. He needs me."

"No, deary. He needs me. You just wait over there with Cyla and let me do my job, alright?" Carson said, giving her a tight smile. "That goes for you too, dear. We can manage this just fine. No need to risk your health just yet." He said, directing the comment at Cyla who, having stopped Hermione's approach, was in the process of stepping towards the bed herself. Cyla pulled Hermione into a side hug, both women nodding their agreement to Carson. "Good. Aurora, come over here, please."

The magical woman who had remained behind, having not agreed to the training program as yet, stepped over, wand at the ready. She quickly swept it over Harry's suit and it peeled itself open. Harry groaned loudly as the fabric peeled away from the bloody wound and Hermione wanted to rush to him and help.

Carson now blocked Hermione's view of the wound and he reached forwards with a pair of metal clips that flicked something to the side, clanging loudly in the metal tray to the man's left.

"How is he?" She asked, frantically.

"Aurora, clean the wound, please," Carson said, remaining focused on his work.

"Tergeo," Aurora said and Hermione heard the sound of Harry's blood being syphoned away. "Carson?" She asked quietly, glancing up at the Scottish man opposite her.

"You are one very lucky young man," Carson said, very carefully checking the area on Harry's chest. "Very lucky indeed. I won't even need to stitch this up. Aurora?"

He glanced up at the woman opposite and she nodded again, waving her wand over Harry and Hermione snuck forwards, seeing three small scrapes across Harry's very bruised chest. As she watched, the skin knitted back together under Aurora's wand and all that was left was the growing bruise.

"How?" Hermione asked, running her hand gently over Harry's leg.

"I would guess that those suits of yours took most of the energy out of the impact. This looks like a 9mm bullet. It had enough in it to pierce that enchanted fabric, but it didn't actually penetrate the skin." Carson said, turning the smooshed bullet that was held pinched between a pair of forceps. "I'd estimate the wound itself was due to the bullet warping this sharp edge as it busted through. It's going to hurt to breathe for a while, young man."

"I can handle the pain," Harry said before a cough racked his body. "Ow."

Hermione's hand tightened on his leg and he looked down at her. She gave him a fairly forced smile before his head dropped back and Aurora turned away, heading over to the nearby cabinet full of potions. She returned with a pain potion which she forced down Harry's throat. Giving it a moment to take effect, she gingerly began applying a bruise salve using her wand to slowly spread the thick mixture over Harry's chest, covering the still spreading discolouration from where Harry's ribs had taken what was left of the force of the bullet.

"This will help clear it up faster, but try to keep to small movements for the time being," Aurora said, giving Harry a stern look.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him for now." Hermione said, feeling the tension and panic slowly letting go of her as she could see that Harry would be fine.

The two healers nodded, stepping away to leave Harry and her alone for the time being.

ϟ

"What in the high hell was that?" Mawes asked as she picked herself up off the muddy ground, her head still ringing from where she had landed heavily.

"They're bloody goa'uld," Johnson said, helping the lieutenant to her feet, while keeping his gun trained in the direction the others had fallen.

"Thomas, get over there and help that one out," Riley said, pointing to where the figures had disappeared back into the dense bushes.

"You can't be serious?" Johnson groaned as Thomas rushed over towards the bushes as ordered.

"Shut it, Johnson," Mawes said, turning to face the lieutenant. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but I didn't see any ribbon device on her hand. And those pistols they were carrying didn't look or sound like any goa'uld weapons I've ever seen."

"Lieutenant," Thomas said, bent over peeling the bushes apart. "They're gone."

"What?" Riley said, running over to where they had seen the man fall. "How the hell did they do that?"

"It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen, ma'am," Grady said, joining them by the bushes where Thomas was still searching for anything. "They just vanished into thin air, one after another."

"That's impossible," Johnson said, despite having been standing beside Grady during the encounter.

A loud roar from the distance drew their collective attention up from the bushes and Riley turned back to the handful of still bodies that had charged at them as they stood on the path. Two of the figures were completely still a handful of bullet impacts on their chests, green blood seeping out around the wounds. The other three were evidently breathing, though they were completely unresponsive.

"Lieutenant, seems those weapons only stunned these things. They might wake up at any time." Mawes said, eyeing the creatures carefully.

"True. But what inspired them to attack now? SG-2 reported no sign of indigenous life from their visit. Henrys had a bet going with Arthurs that they would find something and was quite upset at the lack of anything of note. Coburn pulled them out within two hours, flagging the planet for our follow-up."

"No idea, ma'am. It seems unusual for creatures to attack such a large group. But there were dozens of them still in the trees." Arthurs said, keeping his weapon trained on the surrounding trees.

"Pop a marker on that tree, Thomas. We need to head back to the SGC and report in. Any further excursions here are going to need a much bigger security force. And they'll want to start looking into this other group. Hopefully, they don't hold a grudge." Riley said, turning to the rest of her squad. "Gather your gear and head for the gate. I don't wanna stick around here any longer than we have to. Keep your heads on a swivel and let's move out."