Chapter Forty-Eight: Harmony

Tuesday, 19th September 2000 - Loop Day 46.

Hermione stretched happily, her muscles relishing in the movement after a comfortable night of sleep. Warm arms remained loosely around her waist as she moved and Hermione smiled at the feeling as her mind finished returning to a fully awakened state.

Her relationship with Harry had gone from strength to strength over the past year, gradually moving deeper and deeper as they embraced what was between them.

"Happy birthday," Harry whispered behind her, drawing her attention and reminding her of the date.

Hermione rolled in his arms, her hair rushing behind her as she moved in and kissed him deeply. Both of them moaned pleasantly at the feeling and she delighted in the flutter in her belly that had not gone away in the slightest, even after so long. They had both been afraid of how changing their status might affect their friendship, but it had only proven to be even stronger.

"Mmmm, morning." She said, finally pulling away and tucking her arm over Harry's chest, laying her cheek on his bare skin.

The pair lay in silence for several minutes, simply enjoying the company of the other as Hermione's mind skipped through the many memories they had forged together in the last year. She could not stop the smile that spread over her face any more than the other deeper reaction she had to the memories.

"What?" Harry asked, his left hand casually playing through her messy hair.

"Nothing. Just thinking about us. It makes me happy."

"Me too." He replied, his right hand entwining with her fingers on his belly.

"Also," she said, glancing up at him, "I realized that with Earth cut off, you will have been unable to spend an inordinate amount of money on a present or day out."

Harry looked mildly shocked for a moment that she had him so well pegged, but it soon passed to be replaced by a wry smile instead. "Doesn't mean I can't plan something regardless."

"Oh, of that I have no doubt. But…" Hermione whispered, pulling her fingers free of his hand and playing them lightly over his skin, a thin trail of gooseflesh following its path. "What if I had something else in mind? After all, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

Harry looked down at her, shocked. "Why would you be crying?"

Hermione's smile grew. "It's a song, Harry. It means that it's my birthday so I should be allowed to change plans if I so desire."

Harry seemed a little bit lost, his mind clearly trying to figure out how to acquiesce to her wishes while keeping his plans intact as well. Hermione sat up and rolled atop his body, laying flat on his chest for a moment as she kissed him again firmly. Harry responded eagerly, and Hermione couldn't help smiling into the kiss before she pulled away and sat up, now straddling Harry.

He was watching her closely as she stared down at him, and she could feel his heart under her splayed fingers, racing in his chest just as fast as her own was. Without a word, she reached up and pulled her nightshirt away, leaving her naked as she had foregone wearing pants last night, the over-large shirt she'd stolen from Harry months ago providing plenty of modesty under normal circumstances.

"You see, there is something else I wanted for my birthday this year," Hermione said, squashing the rising insecurities with the help of Harry's wide, wandering eyes and flushed cheeks. "And I think you want it too." She added with a smirk and a seductive shift of her hips over his pelvis.

Harry's hands firmly gripped her hips and his thumbs dug in sharply, though not enough to hurt her. Hermione smiled down at him, biting her lip softly. He was clearly trying his hardest to allow her to finish, keeping his hands from wandering where they currently wished to go.

His reaction buoyed her, and Hermione grasped his wrists and pulled his hands away, lifting them higher so that they would rest upon her naked breasts.

"Touch wherever you like, Harry. I'm ready, and I want us to go all the way today." She said, a thrill running through her as his hands caressed her the moment they made contact.

After a few moments, his hands slowed and Hermione opened her eyes to look down at him. She could see something was keeping him from committing fully to her request.

"Are you sure?" He asked, staring into her eyes.

Hermione leant down, the move adding pressure to the feel of his hands on her chest as she kissed him, wedging his hands between them. With a snap of her fingers, she knew Harry felt the fabric around his waist vanish and the evidence he'd been hiding slapped against her right arse cheek. She was glad she'd been practising wandless casting a lot lately, allowing her the much-needed fine control for such a move. Though right now she'd still have settled for merely vanishing enough of the material for her dastardly purposes.

"Yes." She whispered as she pulled back. "More than anything."

Harry leaned upwards and embraced her lips again, one of his hands coming free from between them and sliding down her side. She shuddered at his touch, her skin tingling in the wake of the move as his hand cupped her backside.

There were no more words spoken between them, eyes locked on one another as their bodies moved gently, yet surely. The instinctual age-old dance of mankind guided them both as they came together. It may or may not have been the first time for either of them, Hermione did not care either way, but regardless it was their first time together. And almost an entire year of slowly learning one another's bodies to the level they already knew each other's minds certainly helped this moment to feel incredibly right.

Hermione pecked his lips softly before she sat upwards, the change in position stirring her loins all the more as Harry watched her go. She could see his determination not to completely lose himself to what he was feeling written all over his face. Hermione shut her eyes and let the sensations wash over her for a moment, squirming slightly and enjoying both the feeling and the sound coming from below as they moved.

Opening her eyes, she noted she was positioned to look out the window above the bed, the wide ancient city laid out before her under the darkness provided by their depth. The sun was not yet high enough in the sky for its light to properly reach them here. Yet the city twinkled at her, lights in the many distant rooms and towers shimmering, as though the entire city was celebrating their moment with them.

Done with the momentary distraction, Hermione refocused on her boyfriend as his hands began to wander once again. She had more important things to think about than the view.

ϟ

Hermione collapsed atop of him and Harry found he didn't mind in the slightest. Her firmness as she panted as heavily as he did felt reassuring in their post-coital bliss.

"Mmmm, happy birthday to me!" She said blissfully, her rapid deep breathing tantalising him even moments after having finished.

His arms wrapped about her body, sliding over the soft and slightly damp surface. He pressed his lips to her cheek, the only part of her face he could currently reach in their firmly entwined position and he felt her smile into his neck.

"Happy birthday, Hermione."

He felt her arch her body at the comment and he had to suppress a moan as they were still joined and she was teasing him in the most delightful way.

"Did you enjoy it?" She asked softly, and Harry heard a sliver of her insecurity creep into her voice.

He slid his right hand deep up into her thick hair and forcefully, but gently, turned her face so he could look into her eyes. The brown orbs showed even more of that uncertainty. "It was perfect."

The insecurity vanished as her eyes lit up and she kissed him hard. Her arms wrapped him as best she could with his back still flat on the bed. As much as he had been looking forward to the trip over to the distant mainland and a small grotto he had found, he had to admit Hermione's plan was infinitely more enjoyable. And they could always go a bit later.

"You seemed hesitant." She said, pulling away and looking deep into his eyes. "Are you sure you're ok? I wasn't too pushy?"

Harry smirked at her. "Hermione, I have never said no to pleasuring you whenever, and wherever you asked." He replied, causing her to blush.

He knew that she was recalling some of those events, like the pair breaking in the Aedis library while the others were distracted so that Harry could eat her out in her favourite gel bag. Or how she had given him a bit of sneaky head while he was supposed to be helping Luna make dinner in the Aether kitchens. And how close they had come to this exact act in their private quarters aboard Vir while returning the Aurora back to Atlantis for the first time, only Neville to hide from at the time. The memories spurred another round of intense kissing.

Feeling his heart settling into a more normal, though still elevated, rate Harry followed Hermione's lips as the kiss continued. Everything the pair had been through seemed to sing within them at the contact and Harry was relishing in the feeling even as she retreated.

He wasn't done enjoying her presence, so as Hermione leaned back, he tracked her move and soon was lying on top of her instead. The kiss finally broke apart and Hermione was there looking up at him. Harry's breath caught as he looked at the vision before him, her wild hair spread wide across the covers. Her dark eyes were blown wide as she stared up at him in return. The crisp paleness of her skin shone in the soft light that she had programmed the room to emit at this time of the morning.

Harry became lost in the magnificence of her until he felt something squeeze around a very particular portion of his body and his attention was focused once more on the cheeky look on her face.

"Your turn?" She said, biting her lip as she finished and Harry knew exactly what she meant.

Maybe it would be much later today that they would finally set off for the mainland.

ϟ

Thursday, 21st September 2000.

Ronan's chest heaved as he pushed his body through the corridors, the sound of his thundering footsteps and deep breathing all he could hear besides the blood rushing in his ears.

A state that he enjoyed after so many years of military training and his time Running from the Wraith. He found a measure of peace in his exercise, and was grateful to Cyla for having built the room into which he now ran.

Without pausing, he launched himself onto the first machine. One that had taken four attempts to get correct given he had to describe each in detail for the Ancestor before she was fully able to grasp their design and form them correctly.

His muscles screamed in resistance as he pumped away, forcing the machine through its paces as he kept his heart rate soaring. Doing anything and everything to keep his mind focused away from the fact that his new friends were so focused on learning, that they were ignoring all the power at their disposal. Refusing to go out and do something about the Wraith until they had everything figured out.

He quickly tore his way through a circuit on all the machines, practically launching off the final machine and into the long room that adjoined his gym. Sweat was pouring down his body, and his hands would have been slippery if not for the copious amounts of tape he had wrapped them in before he began.

Picking up a new weapon from the selection that he had prepared earlier that morning, Ronan took aim down the long narrow shooting range, lining up the heads of the dummies that he had been provided with and fired several quick short bursts.

Thanks to the intensity of his workout, it took several attempts to knock them all down. His body was unable to steady properly with all of the different chemicals tearing through his veins thanks to his continuing abuse of it. He was pushing himself far harder than he ever had at the Academy, and his results were becoming all the poorer for it.

Kell, his once Task Master, would have been furious with him during his training for sloppiness like that, but today was not about accuracy. Merely pushing his body as much and as long as possible. To keep the memories away. Memories such thoughts about Kell brought forward thanks to the man's eventual treachery, bringing a dark scowl to his face as he dropped the gun back on the benchtop and looked at his handiwork.

The far end of the range was a mess of slowly rising dummies, animated by his friends' magic to return to their normal state once the attack was over. He could hear the bullets popping out of the healing wounds onto the floor as they slowly came to stand upright again as he panted heavily from his constant exertion.

The dozens of shots that had gone wide thanks to his ragged nature, however, remained embedded in the odd field that sapped their energy and kept them in the air until he disabled it using the odd set of symbols by the door.

Ronan grabbed the nearby tankard and drank deep of the revitalizing fluids within. Something that Luna and Hermione had created for him for these very workouts, when they had found him last week barely scraping his way along the corridor, trying to continue the exercise despite his body failing him.

However, without a proper sparring partner, Ronan was left with few options. Luna had said she would attempt to make a dummy that could fulfil the role for the time being. But it was far from being ready yet. Leaving only the standard exercises to distract him from his anger, grief and boredom.

Slamming the tankard down onto the bench, ignoring the way it slowly refilled with liquid once more, Ronan grabbed the smaller bottle nearby and headed for the door again. He would take the longer path this time, as punishment for his sloppy aim. With a slap against the controls on the wall by the door, he triggered the timer and shot off, out into the city once more.

Hoping that the punishment he was putting himself through would quiet the pain in his mind.

ϟ

Saturday, 23rd September 2000.

Harry tapped away at the console in one of the smaller labs about halfway up the central tower, finalizing the design parameters on the satellites for the time being.

Jack hadn't been able to provide him with a full breakdown of the Identify Friend or Foe system, more commonly known as IFF, that the Earth militaries used to literally identify friendly or unfriendly craft on their sensors. At least not before the man had been trapped on Earth in the time loop. The elder man had been conferring with his more learned colleagues about getting a proper detailed description that would fit their purposes. And Ronan was unaware of any such Satedan technology.

Harry understood that it was similar to the way the SGC dealt with their Iris access, but he still didn't quite know how to properly use it to identify ships that didn't quite fall at either end of the spectrum. And failure here meant just as certain danger as the technicians there not opening the metal barrier for their own people due to an identity mixup. Except here it was an incredibly powerful offensive weapon actively attacking rather than a defensive barrier preventing entry.

Which left Harry unable to complete the programming entirely, but he'd found a suitable workaround for the time being. Whenever a vessel was detected approaching on the satellites' long-range sensors, which had an extensive range, it would communicate with the nearest manned Aetherial outpost and await instruction before firing.

He was pretty happy with the stop-gap measure for now, and it would allow him to begin integrating the satellites, knowing he could patch the software later. Harry needed the distraction now that the Aurora no longer needed to be tethered to Vir to maintain orbit. The longer they were unable to contact Earth, the more he felt the need to rush back to Avalon and do something.

Hermione was thankfully doing her darndest to keep his mind focused elsewhere since her birthday, and the two had christened many of the rooms in the city by now. Even the ships in orbit were not safe from their amorous adventures, though neither had even considered the Wraith one on the south pier. Once they had broken the seal, so to speak, on sex, Hermione had become even more desirous. And Harry was more than happy to indulge those desires.

He glanced up and saw the very person he had been thinking about entering, but his thoughts immediately shifted once he saw the look on her face. This was not another booty call.

"What is it?" He asked as she walked over and sat gently on his lap.

"I need you to grab anything you might need for a few days back at Aedis. Mum has something she says you need to see as soon as you are able." She replied.

"O-k," He said warily. "Something good or something bad?"

"Hopefully, good." She replied, gently running her fingers through his somewhat shaggy hair. "But it could go either way. Please?" She asked, and Harry knew she was struggling with not telling him everything she knew right there and then.

"Of course. I'll meet you in the gate room in a few minutes?"

Hermione leaned in and gave him a swift kiss. "Thank you."

He wasted no time once she stood and within minutes he was stepping out of the transport cabinet in the large gate room, the stargate already activated to his left. Hermione swept over from the control console and took his hand tightly. With a firm smile at him, she guided him through the event horizon and the pair were whisked back to Avalon.

Harry's mind was a whirl with possibilities of what Natalie might have found that required such a sudden return, but he didn't really have time to think about it. Hermione was clearly feeling a little impatient and simply apparated the both of them to the lab her mother was working in as soon as they were both clear of the event horizon.

Natalie shot out of her chair at the sound before she smiled at the both of them standing there.

"Afternoon. I see my daughter didn't waste any time coming to find you." She said, gesturing for the both of them to come over.

Harry looked between the two Granger women, getting more and more confused by the moment as they pressed him into the chair in front of the console and Natalie operated the device, bringing up the vulta data from a planet she had been checking. Hermione just eased Harry's small bag off his shoulder and replaced it with her hand.

"As you know, thanks to Merlin's exploration through their computer systems, we have the mission embarkation logs from the SGC leading up to the time loop. Richard and I have been slowly checking each of the planets that they visited in the month leading up to the event, trying to see if any of the planets were similarly blocked from connection."

Harry nodded, having been well aware that the Grangers had chosen to remain in Aedis doing so for the moment. They were as bad at sitting there doing nothing as he was, so had begged for the task to keep themselves busy.

"So far we've found another three worlds besides Earth that we can't access. Their 'Alpha Site' P3X-984. Alaris, which they designate P4X-239 where SG-12 are doing a long-term survey and P4X-639 where SG-1 are observing a coronal mass emission and the accompanying geomagnetic storms. These are the only planets to have teams off-world at the moment. Unfortunately, the complete map of the galaxy from Aether has not yet been fully transferred over to the database here in Aedis, and I haven't had the chance to cross-reference all of it with the one in Atlantis yet, as out of date as it may be, so we don't know if any of the three would have any Alteran relics or equipment that might cause such a thing to happen. Any we have connected to, we've sent off vulta to explore."

"Right." He said, still not entirely sure what Natalie was dancing around.

She paused and gave his free shoulder a squeeze and he felt Hermione gripping his hand tightly. "I was watching the playback from a planet they call P8X-412. It's a desert planet occupied by a small society ruled over by a goa'uld who has them mining naquadah from a nearby underground vein. Nothing all that special from what we know of the goa'uld. But when I saw a familiar face, I knew I needed to contact you immediately."

Harry's confusion increased. They knew from the same mission logs that the only teams the SGC had off-world that day were all trapped within the time loop. His thoughts came to a grinding halt, however, when Natalie keyed the terminal again and the image she had been referring to appeared on the holographic display.

"I recognized him from the tele. Hermione explained that your Ministry was so eager to recapture him that they broadcast his likeness on muggle television and in the papers as well. Though he looks a lot healthier than in those, he was still instantly recognizable."

Harry sat frozen in place as he stared at the face of his godfather, watching over a small group of people dragging some form of woven mat covered in rocks over the sand. The hair was much longer, and his beard was far more impressive than he recalled. But the eyes were unmistakable.

He'd hoped against hope, since they learned the truth of the Veil, that they might find Sirius Black alive, but he'd never hoped that he'd be so healthy. Or that it would happen so soon. The one time they'd tried to send a vulta through, it had vanished without a trace. Their most powerful long-range sensors could not detect even the direction it had gone once it passed through.

A smile spread over his face as the shock wore off and the realization that Sirius was indeed alive set in properly. "Thank you." He said softly, turning to Natalie before he leapt up and wrapped the woman in his arms, hugging her fiercely.

He pulled away and wrapped Hermione up in another hug immediately afterwards. "And thank you, for not telling me right away. I'd have been a mess the whole way over if you had. Wondering how he was."

"That was Mum's idea too. She thought it would ease your concern faster to just see him right away."

"Clever woman, your mum," Harry said, releasing his girlfriend and glancing back at Natalie, who was smiling at them both.

"And we have another idea you might appreciate," Richard said, Harry finally noticing where the man was resting against the wall near the transporter. "It's probably not a great idea to rush through the gate yelling his name."

"Yes, I've had more than enough of trying to leave a planet under fire," Natalie said, rubbing the shorter side of her unbalanced hairstyle. One that she had kept that way since their first run-in with Anubis, even though all other sign of her injury was long gone.

"Ok, but how then…" Harry began to ask before he spotted Richard's wry smirk.

"Salvus."

Natalie gave a short sigh at her husband's behaviour before she nodded. "Trust him to use such a moment to get you to fire it up."

"Ok. I'm confused." Harry replied.

"It's what Dad named the new ship. Apparently, it's finally finished and ready to go, but it still needs 'High Councilor activation' remember? Just like Vir did. He'd have fired it up and rushed off to Earth all on his own by now if it didn't."

"Salvus," Harry said questioningly. "Savior?"

"He picked it once we knew Earth was in trouble," Natalie said, showing exactly what her husband had been hoping to do once it finished construction.

"Given we all think it's a bad idea to try and recover your godfather via the stargate, we'll just have to use the only interstellar starship available to us in this galaxy," Richard said, looking pleased as punch that it would finally be available for his own purpose as well after this mission was complete. "It will allow us to enter the system while cloaked, scan for and beam Sirius aboard, and be gone before anyone even knows we were there. As even using a cloaked navi would require activating the gate, and that might be noticed."

"I suppose a rescue mission is as good a maiden voyage as any for a ship called Salvus," Harry said, glancing at the screen once more.

After four long and guilt-filled years, it seemed that Harry would finally get to see Sirius in person again.

ϟ

Sunday, 24th September 2000.

It had taken Hermione and the others all night to properly prepare and stock Salvus for the trip, despite her father's prior assertions. While construction had indeed been completed two days prior, her father had forgotten to use that time to equip the vessel properly with food and other such supplies in his eagerness to rush to Earth's aid. Instead, only focusing on adding weapons or rescue gear. Regardless of the fact they were pretty much certain there was no actual attack taking place.

Hermione glanced at Harry again, seated in the central chair he normally disliked, staring out the dome at the dusty planet below them. Throughout the entire trip in hyperspace, and the closer they came to their goal, the more nervous Harry appeared to become. By now, he was gripping both the arms of the chair so tightly that she could see his knuckles going white.

The scans had only just begun now they were back in real space, and she could see her mother patiently monitoring their progress at a nearby station. Her father was keeping an eye out for any approaching ships, just in case the goa'uld that ran this planet returned via ship while they were here. Not that such a vessel would have a hope of harming them, or even detecting them under the running cloak. But it might still have been able to interfere with the search in some other way.

The others had all chosen to remain in Atlantis for the moment, once they had been informed of the mission. In order to allow Harry some space to deal with what they were currently doing. Though Luna and Neville had both promised Hermione that they would return in a heartbeat if she decided Harry needed either one of them.

"I think I have him," Natalie said, as the CIC hologram showed an image of the pyramid below that was the sole major construction on the entire planet so far as they could see.

Within were a handful of dots indicating life signs. One, in particular, was flaring in a room off the main chamber.

"It's hard to know for certain. The system has never scanned his signature before. And there is something a little odd about the size of the life sign." Natalie remarked, keying the system to try and garner further detail. "The pyramid itself seems to have some form of low level, but active shielding we've not encountered before that is messing with the scan. But the computer is definitely detecting a magical human."

Harry sat still for a moment before he ran his left hand through his hair, as was usual when he was stressed. "Please, beam the signal to the bridge." He asked, much softer than Hermione had expected, as he shifted forward. Leaning his mouth and chin on his clenched fist as the arm rested elbow-first on his knee.

Natalie glanced at Hermione and Richard, and Hermione noticed her father readying his weapon at his thigh, out of Harry's view for the moment.

While she was sure that Sirius would never hurt Harry intentionally, he had been out in the galaxy alone for years. Anything could have happened, and it was only prudent to be cautious.

Natalie nodded and entered the command into the terminal, a field of bright white light filling the empty space between them and the CIC. An odd grunting sound came from it as something appeared within before the light vanished and Hermione was left speechless at the sight in front of her now.

Sirius Black was standing there, his back to them. Completely naked.

And he was not alone. A woman with hair even blacker than Sirius's was pressed against his front looking forwards as well. While she was wearing a very revealing beige 'dress', it was currently hiked up around her waist leaving no doubt in Hermione's mind as to exactly why the life sign had been coming through so unusually.

Unless keyed specifically accurately to prevent it, the beam's standard settings would carry along any additional living matter touching the target life sign. A default setting designed to aid in the recovery of multiple persons at once. And these two were most definitely touching.

Sirius grunted once more and gave a short sharp thrust of his hips, the woman grasping the bar that circled the CIC in front of her for support at the sudden thrust, and Sirius squeezed his butt cheeks tightly as he did so. Hermione was mortified as she realized they had interrupted the act at the worst possible moment.

She glanced towards her mother, turning away from the couple basking in their shared afterglow only metres away and saw her re-entering the scan parameters before a voice drew Hermione's attention.

"Sirius?" Harry asked, and Hermione turned again to see him leaning forwards in his seat, both hands back on the arms and a hopeful look in his eyes.

The figure, who had slumped over the woman in his arms, straightened at the sound and seemed to take in their surroundings for the first time since arriving. With a wet sound that made Hermione cringe in embarrassment, they took a step backwards, allowing the dress to fall. Realizing what was about to happen, Hermione flicked her wrist and a pair of black boxer briefs appeared around Sirius's waist as he turned to look for the voice.

Front on, there was absolutely no doubt that this was Sirius Black. The hair was back to his on-the-run state, all wild and scraggly about his head and face, but those eyes were unmistakable as they fixed on Harry in the tall chair in the middle of the room.

"Harry?" Sirius asked, his voice slightly scratchy itself, as though he hadn't spoken in the four years since he'd gone missing.

Harry smiled, one wider than Hermione could remember seeing on his face in some time, and he shuffled right to the edge of the chair, clearly getting ready to jump up and glomp his long-lost godfather.

"You left me," Sirius said, freezing Harry in place right as he stood up.

"What?" Harry replied, a look of sudden confusion on his face.

"You left me. I came to rescue you, but you left me to die. Lost. Alone." Sirius said, not a hint of irony or mischief in his eyes or face.

Hermione was stunned. She had never heard Sirius ever say such things to Harry. Not even in his confused and overly excited state the night that Pettigrew had escaped all those years ago. And now he seemed to be doing so intentionally, as though hurting Harry with his words gave him some form of perverse pleasure.

"I was wounded, bleeding. Alone in the darkness." Sirius continued before Harry finally spoke.

"I tried. I wanted to follow you, but Remus wouldn't let me."

"Still blaming others for your failings. It was your fault we were even there at all. Because you fell for You-Know-Who's trap." Sirius said, now advancing slightly towards Harry.

Hermione now knew something to be horribly wrong, but before she could speak, two high-pitched blasts sounded from her left and blue bolts of energy slammed into Sirius and the woman, knocking them to the floor.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled, finally launching forwards only for Hermione to catch him in her arms halfway to the now unconscious figures on the floor.

"Why did you do that?" She asked her father, as he stood and kept his weapon aimed at the stunned figures.

"Because I told him to," Natalie said softly. "I'm sorry, but that was not your godfather, Harry."

Harry looked at her in disbelief, his eyes flicking back to Sirius's slowly breathing body on the floor. The conflicting feelings within obviously clouded his mind, preventing him from making the leap that Hermione had. Natalie confirmed the direction her thoughts had taken by changing the hologram above the CIC from the pyramid to an image of two still heads.

The heads became see-through and within two angry red lengths were visible, wrapped around the top of the spine, stretching up into the brain.

"The body is Sirius Black, but those words were not his," Hermione said, completing the thought aloud. "They're both hosts."

Harry finally stopped fighting against her grip and seemed to sag in her arms. Hermione pulled him tight to her chest and she could feel the warring emotion within him. The muscles twitched beneath his skin as he tried to decide what to do next.

"Beam them to a cell. Separate cells actually. Keep them from speaking to one another." Hermione said, and her mother nodded, entering the required command before the two figures were whisked away from the bridge. "We'll be in our quarters for now. Head back home, please, and we'll figure things out there. Together."

While technically none of them bar Harry had any form of official authority over the others, her parents did not argue in the slightest. Richard simply sat at the now empty navigation terminal and keyed the ship to head for home. Hermione kept Harry in her arms, despite how awkward it made walking as she headed for the door before they were both also surrounded by beam energy.

She felt a great swell of thanks to her mother as the process sent them to their quarters, where Harry's control slipped completely, and the tears began to fall.

ϟ

Monday, 25th September 2000.

Harry stared resolutely through the bars of the cell, the prisoner within matching his gaze and staring back into him as he did so. It had taken Hermione all night to finally bring him around, excitement momentarily taking over before disappointment struck again.

He had figured they could just build another set of headbands like Luna's and force the goa'uld consciousness back so that Sirius could come forth. But Hermione had explained that her father had already tried while they flew back to Aedis. They had no pre-blending frame of reference for Sirius to work off to split the brainwaves. By the time they had accidentally released Isis, Luna had spent entire months having her brain waves constantly monitored by Merlin, the Chair and her mini. But they had none of that for Sirius. They would need to carefully sift the two signals apart before they could make one that would work on his symbiote without potentially harming his normal biological processes.

And even if she succeeded, there was no guarantee that Sirius could emerge alone. Luna hadn't been kidding when she'd told them she had been running the training program since the creation of the minis. Tracking hours logged, she was at more than double the runtime of all the rest of them combined. And Sirius had logged exactly no hours in the program.

Harry scanned the face before him, noting that while the man's hair was once more wild and scraggly, his face had not thinned back to the gaunt, corpse-like state of their first face-to-face meeting. He still seemed healthy.

But instead of the warm and cheeky smile of his memories, the face split into a dark and sadistic grin. Something that, while he had imagined it once or twice before the truth had been revealed as to who betrayed the Potters, now just looked wrong to Harry on the face of his godfather.

The symbiote had given up trying to break the silencing charm that Hermione had cast shortly after it had awakened in the cell here in the bowels of Aedis. Its first words were further attempts to emotionally devastate Harry, but the symbiote was clearly a fool that didn't understand Harry at all. The words had only hardened Harry's resolve to free his godfather once more.

Sirius had spent too long behind bars already. Harry refused to be his own godfather's jailer for long.

"Harry." Luna's voice came, clear and crisp in his ear as she flicked his shoulder, causing him to jump.

He turned to see her standing beside him, looking as though she'd been quietly trying to gain his attention for some time. "Sorry. Lost in my head."

She smiled softly at him. "I know what that is like. Are you alright?"

Harry turned away, still not sure of the answer to that question himself, but unwilling to burden the others with his feelings either. A sharp prod in the ribs drew his gaze back to Luna, who was now looking at him seriously.

"Do not do that!" She said quietly, yet fiercely. "Do not pretend we don't care, or that you need to hide it. Be honest with me, Harry Potter."

Harry had seen the look in her eyes now only once before, when they were searching for Helena Ravenclaw and he wasn't paying her words the proper attention in his impatience.

"Sorry. No." He replied, admitting that seeing Sirius in a prison of Harry's own making was killing him.

"We'll fix it, Harry. You will have your godfather back again. I promise." Luna stepped up and hugged him tightly.

Harry relished the touch, the innate support of those around him. His eyes drifted inexorably back to the figure in the cell and some of that feeling seeped back out as he noticed the dark laughter the figure was giving off, silent though it may have been.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry asked, eyes once again focused on Sirius.

"Of course I am. If I can dig through the mind of a Wraith Queen without harm, I can deal with your godfather and a snake."

Harry was surprised to hear her refer to the symbiote as a snake. She tended to use what they believed to be the goa'uld's preferred terms for their kind's habit of taking hosts. It showed her displeasure with the one in Sirius more than anything she had said or done so far.

Luna pulled her wand, the restriction being almost ignored of late with the repeated need for her almost unique magical talents, and Sirius's eyes flicked to the item warily. Obviously, the symbiote had access to Sirius's memories of magic, but the wand he'd been using in the battle had not survived the trip through the veil. So, unlike the Wraith, he was at least wary of what might come next. Especially given the last time someone had cast a spell on him, he'd lost the ability to taunt his captors, and now Harry knew it was wondering what the waify girl was planning to do.

She smirked at the man before softly speaking a single word. "Legilimens," Luna said, flicking her wand at Sirius and Harry watched as his godfather twitched.

His grey eyes rolled up in his head and it almost looked as though he was being shocked. It was obvious that the symbiote was fighting, but Luna was becoming very good at extracting information from their other prisoners. Whose psychic abilities proved a far greater challenge, it seemed, than a goa'uld could hope to wield.

After several moments, Luna broke the connection intentionally, simply lowering her wand and giving a slight pant from the exertion.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked, focused on his friend as Sirius fell to his knees in the cell, clutching his head.

"I'll be fine. It's not as hard as the queen. But it still requires a lot of effort." She admitted, placing her hands on her hips and taking several strong deep breaths. "He's still in there, Harry."

Harry felt a huge swell of relief at those words. He knew that was how the blending was supposed to work. And it was obvious that the symbiote had access to the real Sirius's memories given the words it had chosen to use to taunt Harry. But to have someone he trusted as much as Luna confirm his godfather's mind was still there was something completely different to understanding that it should be.

"He was at the periphery of the connection, banging on it. I couldn't hear him, but he was there. And he looks very angry."

"I'll bet," Harry said.

"It will take me some time to properly sift through what I just got. As you know, forcible legilimency isn't the best at getting targeted information."

"Take care of yourself first, Luna. As much as I hate holding him in there, you are one of my dearest friends." Harry admitted, not wanting her to risk exhausting herself and leaving them with three symbiotes to deal with. Somehow, he felt that Isis taking control of Luna would be far worse than the two in Sirius and his female friend.

Luna just gave him a soft smile before she guided him away from the cell. "Come with me. We can meditate on it together. Like we did on Vir."

Harry knew this was more a way to get him to stop stewing here where all he could do was stare, but with her big endearing eyes, it was so hard to deny Luna anything. He just nodded his acquiescence and the pair left the room, the goa'uld behind them still panting on the floor at the experience that Luna had just put it through.