Ch. 47 — Is it Real?
Harry was shaking his head in despair, listening to the Marine talking about his exploits at Hogwarts with Jack. Only Merlin knew how the analysts at SGC would handle that load of dragon dung. The stories weren't the most outrageous exaggerations he had heard of his Hogwarts years, so far, but any effort he put into trying to correct them would be ignored. As usual.
"There are several natives approaching your position from twelve-o'clock," Angelina said over his comm.
"We should be meeting someone soon," Harry said out loud. "We're not that far from the village."
Jack had turned to stare at him.
He turned back to the Marine. "You're joking, right?"
The Marine shook her head. "You haven't seen him practice with his lightsabre." She paused. "So far, everyone who has underestimated him has lost. Only our Combat Commanders can beat him . . . and then it's not every time."
Harry raised his eyes to look up at the sky in frustration at listening to what the Marine was saying when he saw the movement in one of the trees ahead. Because they were with muggles, his wand was in his lightsabre. Without thinking he had his hand up and the beam glowing. "Incoming!" he shouted as something shot at him from that tree.
For a few seconds there was just the buzz of the lightsabres as they dodged and swatted the incoming projectiles. They weren't arrows, Harry saw, looking at one of them on the ground that he had dodged. They were darts, like the ones muggles used to knock-out dangerous animals.
Then it was quiet.
None of the Marines had been hit. Each of them were pointing their lightsabres at the infra-red blot of one of their adversaries.
The Stargate team hadn't been so lucky, they had been hit several times. Fortunately, the suits and tech cloaks had protected them.
"That wasn't very nice," Harry yelled, "to attack visitors without warning. Should we respond in kind?"
There was silence from around them.
The man-sized shapes in the trees quickly fled.
Harry sighed. "Well, despite the friendly appearance, at the camp, they seem to think anyone they don't know is an enemy."
"Or else they've experience with raiders?" Dan said. "According to what I've read, the American Indian tribes were always fighting with one another for prestige. Rarely were the fights deadly. I read one report by a French priest where he saw a battle between two tribes in Wisconsin that lasted for several hours, and the only injuries were bruises and minor cuts. Despite all the combatants having knives and hatchets.
"It was called counting coup, where you tried to get close enough to touch your opponent without him touching or hitting you. To actually kill someone was considered a major faux pas, and the offender was ostracized by both tribes."
"Well, they do have bows and arrows for hunting we saw from the surveillance drones, so if they wanted to kill us, they would have used those," Sam said.
Jack was looking at one of the darts. "The tips are discoloured. Probably a drug or mild poison of some kind, so I think they wanted to capture us."
Harry looked at one of the Marines. "Someone gather those for study." The Marine nodded and looked at one of the others, who started half-heartedly collecting the remains of the ones they had struck with their lightsabres, as well as the intact ones that had missed. He dumped the ones he collected into an expanded bag on his belt.
The Marine lingered behind as the group started forward. When S.G. One wasn't looking, he used accio to summon any he had missed.
They had halved the distance to the village when Hermione told him, "Three natives are approaching from your twelve-o'clock."
"Ship says three natives are approaching us from dead-ahead," Harry repeated for the others' benefit. They stopped and waited, the Marines forming a loose perimeter, with the SG-1 team foremost by Harry.
Shortly, Tonane and two companions of similar dress and age could be seen picking their way through the trees. Harry recognized Tonane from S.G. Eleven's comm and drone pictures. The others he had seen in pictures, but their names were unknown.
Tonane smiled on seeing them, giving a curious glance at the Marines and Harry whose faces were hidden behind their helmets' visors. "Hi!" he said congenially. "What brings you here?"
"Why were we attacked without warning?" Jack said a bit belligerently. "No one attacked you when you walked into our camp."
Tonane shrugged nonchalantly. "They thought you were coming to count coup or take a wife. We have only recently returned from winter camp, and other's think it will be easy to sneak by our scouts." He smiled at them. "No harm was intended."
Jack frowned and slowly nodded. He glanced back at Harry. The wizards were standing still. Their heads, hidden by helmets, were moving back and forth, scanning their surroundings.
"I am Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson," he proceeded to name the other members of S.G. One, concluding with, "And this is Admiral Potter."
"Long names," Tonane said with a mild frown.
Jack shrugged.
"There are a lot of us, so short names are confusing," Dan said apologetically, "In a crowd of a thousand, many people would have the same name."
There was a moment of silence as the natives thought that one over.
"Well," Jack said, "We were looking for our friends. They were here a couple of days ago, and they have vanished . . . gone missing."
Tonane nodded as if that made perfect sense. "They're not missing. They're with the spirits."
Jack stared at him, eyebrows raised, "They're dead?"
Tonane looked startled and taken aback at that. "No, no, no . . .," he said, hands raised to protest, "with the spirits."
S.G. One exchanged puzzled looks. "The spirits?" ventured Sam uncertainly.
"You don't know the spirits, Sam?" Tonane said, just as puzzled.
"Oh," Daniel said suddenly moving closer to Sam and Tonane, "w-we know the spirits. We definitely — definitely know the spirits, but there're so many in the forest. Specifically which spirits are they with?"
Still smiling, Tonane said, "Xe-ls probably. Maybe T'akaya."
Harry thought Tonane was a bit creepy with his constant smile.
"Why were they taken?" Jack said.
"We saw your friends making war on our mountain, trying to take the ke."
"Ke?" Jack said.
"Trinium, maybe?" Sam said, looking at Jack.
"Yeah, that's what your friend called it." He paused a moment. "After Xe-ls took your friends, he told me to shoot an arrow through the circle of standing water to warn your kind not to return. I guess you didn't understand."
Jack frowned and glanced at Harry. "Sorry, but we never saw an arrow shot through the Gate."
Tonane looked up at the sun. "Actually, Kono should be arriving at the circle of standing water, soon." He looked back at them curiously.
"As soon as we learned that our friends had . . . been taken, we started out for here, not using the . . . circle of standing water," Sam added.
"So," Jack said, "how can we get our people back?" Jack said.
"It's not our custom to abandon our friends," added Sam.
Tonane nodded genially. "You cannot be blamed if you never saw the warning. I could introduce you to Xe-ls . . . and we could tell him it was all a misunderstanding.
"You'll take us to where our friends are?" Jack said.
"I don't know where your friends are, but Xe-ls will. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Right, Jack?"
"Right," Jack said grumpily.
Tonane and his companions started off in an apparent random direction, not back towards the village. Shrugging Jack started to follow him.
"Clearly," Teal'c said quietly, "he is blaming the spirits for his actions."
"Perhaps," said Sam as she followed Jack, "but the tech to make them disappear as we saw is far beyond these peoples' capabilities."
Daniel sighed, and hurried to catch up with Jack. Harry listened as Dan proceeded to warn the Colonel about what some of the native-American rituals involved in talking with spirits — and to go along with whatever was suggested by the natives.
Sam moved up to Tonane and asked about the ke, how the natives managed to remove the impurities that made it crumble so easily.
After his brief explanation, he started calling, "Xe-ls!" which astonished Dan. He had been expecting an elaborate ritual of some kind.
After the third or fourth time, a snarling wolf walked out from behind a tree.
"Interesting," came Hermione's voice over the comms. "That wolf wasn't there a moment ago."
Tonane ignored the voice. "T'akaya, my friend," he said approvingly. "My, your coat shines beautifully today."
"A little flattery couldn't hurt, Jack," he whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Jack looked at Tonane a moment, the looked at the wolf critically. After a moment, he said, "I can honestly say that I have never seen a finer-looking wolf as your friend," he said to Tonane.
Tonane nodded approvingly. "Ask her about your friends."
Jack looked at the wolf, back at Tonane, and then to the rest of the SG-1 team. Finally, he shrugged. Turning to the wolf, he said, "We mean you and the others here on this planet no harm. We're not sure why you took our friends, but I apologize for any misunderstanding you've had with our friends. If you would release them, we'd be very grateful."
For a moment, the wolf stared at him, then a raven cawed and flew over the group to land in a tree to one side of the group. The wolf turned and stared at the raven.
"Tonane . . . is . . . is that Xe-ls?"
To which the native replied, "Yes, it is, Daniel."
Sam moved closer to the raven. "As the Colonel said to your . . . friend," she glanced back at the wolf, "We meant you no harm. The Goa'uld have marked our planet for destruction, and . . . ke . . . looks as if it might be a very useful material in that struggle. That's why we were mining it."
There was a moment's silence, then the raven cawed.
Harry felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. It sounded as if the bird had somehow said, "I'll think about it."
He relayed what he thought he'd heard as the others were arguing about whether the bird had agreed to release the other team or not.
The bird flew off and the wolf walked behind a tree and disappeared.
"We should go to the village to wait for Xe-ls decision," Tonane said.
"It's not disapparition," Hermione said as one of the Marines walked over to where the wolf had vanished.
"No signs of magical residue," came the dry voice of the Marine a moment later.
"Illusions?" hazarded on Marine.
"No," Hermione said, "I had a drone land on the wolf. When the wolf disappeared, the drone was left behind."
They hadn't gone far when a raven cawed and landed on the branch of a nearby tree. The wolf walked out of the deeper forest to stand under the same tree.
"Well, that was fast," Tonane said, surprised. The Raven cawed a few more times. Tonane turned to Jack. "Xe-ls has granted your request. Your friends will be released."
Jack nodded cautiously. "Did . . . Xe-ls . . . say when?"
"Colonel?" Sam said.
A mist had formed to one side of them, into which the wolf walked. A moment later all seven of the missing SG-Eleven team-members were with them.
"Those aren't the missing team members," Hermione said into Harry's ear.
Both SG teams were startled when the Marines and Harry suddenly pulled up their lightsabres and pointed them at the newly revealed SG-11.
"Stand back, S.G. One," Harry commanded. "Those are not S.G. Eleven."
The Marines moved quickly to cover their perimeter as SG-1 stepped back from the aliens.
Harry kept his lightsabre, and the wand hidden in it, pointed at the Raven. The wand-tip, he knew, was glowing red with magic in anticipation of a cast, either defensively or offensively. No one else could see it over the glowing-red lightsabre blade. He also knew all the Marines were doing the same.
"Stargate came here in peace," Harry said loudly. "When someone came unannounced into their camp, he was welcomed quietly, and was listened to when he spoke.
"You, however, have attacked without warning, twice, and lied to us about freeing those you hold captive . . . or are they dead?"
"They are alive," the one who appeared to be Lt. Conner said.
"Then release them," Harry said, still confronting the Raven. "Tonane has told us that you told the Salish to send a warning through the Stargate to stay away. As far as S.G. Eleven's families are concerned, you killed them. You clearly intended to never send them home, otherwise you would have sent them back with that warning. We wouldn't be here if you had done that."
"It will take time," came the somewhat annoyed response.
"We have plenty to spare." Harry said. "One of you may go, the rest will remain."
"You would hold us hostage?"
"Normally, I wouldn't care, but you've already lied to us once. Besides, if we don't hold you hostage, how do we know you aren't lying, again, and will simply disappear?"
The raven flapped its wings and lifted off the branch.
"Mic off," Harry said, then cast, "Accio raven."
With a squawk, the raven jerked and was summoned to Harry's hand. He would have missed except for his Seeker reflexes allowing him to seize the bird's legs in his left hand, then used a sticking charm so it couldn't escape him. He held the bird upright, not wanting to panic it further.
"The raven stays," he said, turning to face the fake Connor, ignoring the bird's frantically beating wings. His lightsabre now pointed at the speaking spirit. "Relax, Xe-ls," he said to the bird. "I have no intention of hurting you. I'll let you go as soon as S.G. Eleven returns."
The raven still struggled.
He sighed and swept his lightsabre under his left arm. He tilted his wand just enough to cast a low-powered sleep spell on the bird, slowing its efforts and calming it a bit.
Tonane was giving him a horrified look, matched by nearly all the fake SG team members, except Connor. One of the imposters at the back of the group stepped backwards into the mist that was still there, gradually disappearing.
Connor's expression was carefully blank. "You were at the mountain, doing things without our permission."
"Colonel O'Neill will apologize on behalf of Stargate Command for failing to seek permission before starting, but mining without permission is not something that should be a death sentence. Even in a sacred area. It was done with ignorance of the importance of the site to the Salish or you.
"They are alive," the one who appeared to be Lt. Conner insisted.
"Then release them."
There was silence for a moment.
"We will, of course, leave as soon as you return S.G Eleven to us," Harry said. "You do not want us here, and we will honour that."
"How do we know this?" the 'spirit' objected. "Perhaps you will come back later, when the Salish have gone to their winter camp."
"The same way we trust your words after you have lied to us and impersonated our friends . . . we don't," Harry said. "But we have already removed the Stargate from the planet, we will take it with us when we leave. Without a Stargate, Stargate Command can't come to your planet."
The fake Connor stared at him.
Harry shrugged. "It's easy enough to test, have one of your people go there and look. It shouldn't take you more than a few minutes."
"How do we know you haven't just moved it somewhere else, and will bring it back, when the Salish leave for Winter camp?" he asked suspiciously.
Harry smirked. "You don't, you'll just have to trust that we are more honest, and have more honour, in what we say than yourselves."
They stood in silence for several minutes, then people started coming out of the mist behind the fake SG-Eleven team. The Marine on the left waved and pointed as she said, "Over here, move over here."
The released team hesitantly moved to where the Marine pointed, staring at their counterparts still standing near the mist.
"Those appear to be the S.G. Eleven," Hermione said in his ear. "I'll beam them up and we'll give them more thorough tests." She paused. "That the comms all give the correct passcodes and indicate that the team members are genetic matches, so far it looks good."
As soon as the team stopped moving, they disappeared in a flash of light as they were beamed to the ship.
"They will be given a bit closer scrutiny onboard the ship to make sure they are not another substitution. It won't take more than a few minutes."
The fake Connor pursed his lips. "They are the real team members!"
Harry shrugged, "Just as you claimed to be the real S.G. Eleven. As someone famous on Earth once said, 'Trust . . ., but verify.' "
The stand-off held until Hermione once more came on the comm. "They appear to be who they say they are, right down to the DNA. Plus, their veritaserum answers were correct."
Harry sighed. "Well," he said out-loud, "Everything seems to be fine." None of the Marines changed their stances. He turned Jack.
"Jack, if you would please apologize on behalf of Stargate Command to Tonane and his people for not asking permission before starting mining exploration?"
Jack pressed his lips together and frowned, but turned to face Tonane. "I apologize on behalf of Stargate Command and Earth," he said stiffly. "We should have approached you first before beginning any operations here on your planet beyond just looking around the area of the Stargate, the circle of standing water, you call it. Please forgive our transgressions."
Tonane looked at his spirits, but they all had blank expressions. "Yeah, sure," he said hesitantly. "No hard feelings."
"Thank you, Tonane," Jack said.
Jack turned to the fake Connor and nodded, then turned to the raven that Harry still held. The bird had quieted down and was watching and listening closely.
"Xe-ls, I apologize on behalf of Stargate Command and Earth. We should have approached the Salish first, and they would have told us to contact you about doing more than just looking around the Stargate."
The bird just stared at him.
"Thank you, Jack," Harry said, "See you on the ship."
Immediately after Harry finished speaking, Jack's team disappeared in a flash of light.
Harry looked at the bird he still held. "I apologize for upsetting you and holding you here, but I'm sure you realize that it was prompted by your own dishonest and dishonourable actions. We have removed all of Stargate Command's equipment, including the unexploded ordinance, so that no one in the future might be harmed. We have restored the areas we disturbed, and the area of the Stargate is now just a field. We will take our leave now. We do not intend to return."
On the comm, he said to the Marines, "All together, disapparate to the ship. I will follow as soon as you leave.
In a practiced manoeuvre, the Marines swung their lightsabres to beside their legs, turning them off as they did so. As soon as their hands were at their sides, they began a slight turn to the right, and disappeared with a single loud POP!
Harry then did the same, only letting go of Xe'ls just before he began his turn.
In a second, the only ones left in the small space in the forest were the spirits posing as SG-Eleven, Xe'ls flapping her wings to keep from falling to the ground, and Tonane with his companions.
██:::::██:::::██
"Very well, done," Harry said to the Marines in the Apparition/Vanishing Cabinet Room. "I couldn't have asked for better."
They all saluted him, grinning widely.
"Dismissed," Harry said after grinning back at them, "The rest of the day is yours after your debriefing." He turned and headed for the Bridge.
As soon as Harry arrived, Hermione informed him that, "Both Stargate teams have already been sent back to Stargate Command, if you have no objections, we're ready to return, too."
Harry shrugged. "We've mapped the system, right? No reason to hang around."
Hermione nodded to Marietta. The planet beside them suddenly dwindled to a point, as did its sun a moment later. "I also placed a notice-me-not spelled and cloaked observation drone in a geostationary orbit over the mountain," Hermione said, "just as we did at Rillaan, in case of an emergency."
Watching the stars slowly moving around them, Harry said Ron and Hermione, "Having you up here telling me what to say, at times, was extremely helpful." He paused. "How did you know the first S.G. Eleven was fake?"
Hermione huffed. "It was ridiculously simple. The comms and suits they wore were fake. The moment they appeared out of the mists and we didn't get automatic contact from the comms, I knew something was up. A sharply-focused scan showed they weren't completely human."
She shrugged. "They would have been found-out the moment they stepped into Stargate Command, anyway."
"Was the veritaserum necessary?"
"We couldn't know if the new team were just more sophisticated versions." She sighed. "Beyond that? I don't know. It's possible they have hidden compulsions placed on them. I've alerted their handlers to keep a closer eye on their actions on missions and on base, as a precaution.
"Any evidence on where these 'spirits' were hiding on planet?"
"According to the ship's deeper scans, most of their industry and cities are either underground or extremely well-camouflaged to blend into the terrain. That's why the drones missed them. They were looking for obvious signs of habitation. Like our refugee city on the moon, with proper ventilation and displays-as-windows, you wouldn't know you were miles underground unless you were told so, nor could anyone find them with a simple surface-scan that only went a few yards below-ground. Most of their residences appear to have one wall that is actually on the surface, but well-disguised as a cliff-wall, or rocky mound. The entire side of a mountain-cliff could be fake, housing tens of thousands, and no one would notice with a visual scan."
Ron sighed. "Well, I'm starting to get hungry. Lunch?" he said to the others.
██:::::██:::::██
Hermione was almost dancing as she came into the Common Room. She looked around and skipped over to Harry, who had his current assignment spread across a table. Ron was on the other side of the table working on his.
"We did it!" she said breathlessly, grabbing his head and giving him a big kiss.
Harry, slightly bemused, now, stared up at her.
"Did what?"
She took out her wand and gave it a quick wave. The room's sounds immediately became quieter.
"You know how the Room of Requirement made a portal that reached from here to the ship at Uranus?"
Harry nodded.
"We finally managed to figure out how the Room did it! No longer are we stuck with putting a ship in Earth orbit to transfer back and forth! And getting to any of the stations is as simple as walking through a door! We have a runabout out there now, testing for a limit. So far, everywhere inside Neptune's orbit seems doable!" She clasped her hands and spun in a circle, before kissing him again.
"It's a bit like the Vanishing Cabinets, but the initialization sequence is a bit more magic-intensive. It took both of us to set up the link. It was quite exhausting, too." She stopped and furrowed her brow in thought. "We'll have to bring in a couple of granite boulders to be the magical-batteries for opening a portal, each time . . .," she mused, then snapped out of it. "This means we can speed up the atmosphere transfer, too, without using the Gates, again." She paused. "And free-up the freighter and crew from their shuttle duty, too." She nodded to herself. "That'll speed up the terraforming by years!"
"Think it might be capable of reaching Rigel Kentaurus?"
Her eyes grew wide as she gasped. She immediately sat down at the table and pulled out her tricorder. She flipped it open and began writing something, the rest of the world already forgotten.
Harry grinned and went back to his assignment
That night, in bed, he thought about his goal of moving the other magical races. The merfolk were decidedly pleased with their world. While it had a few surprises for them in creatures that wanted to hunt them, much as sharks did on Earth, they weren't insurmountable problems. Plus, they had found several 'fish' that were as tasty, if not more, as the ones on Earth.
The Mer-world now had a small group of Centaurs exploring the largest island. While there were several predators on the island, none were a serious threat to the Centaurs. Firenze told him they seriously were thinking of bringing a few of the Unicorns with the next group of explorers.
The stars were not opposed to setting up a colony on another world. The Continental Centaurs near Greece seemed especially interested in moving.
██:::::██:::::██
He had been surprised when he first had ventured into the Forest with Firenze nearly two months ago looking for one of the Centaurs to start the dialogue about a new world. He had expected them to either avoid him or chase him off. Instead, the small patrol they found, or who found them, he wasn't certain, had led them back to their camp.
"We've been expecting, you, Mr. Potter," Magorian said on seeing the boy with Firenze. "The stars tell us change is coming . . . Rigel Kentaurus has been especially bright, lately."
Harry gave the centaur a surprised look. He nodded nervously. "Well, I know you don't pay attention to what Wizards do, but I thought you should know that we, my friends and I, have a starship — a ship to that can actually go to the other planets and stars.
"We went to Rigel Kentaurus and discovered it has an inhabitable world. That is, a world where creatures like us can live." He paused.
Magorian just looked at him.
He cleared his throat. "It's mostly a water world, with only few islands, the largest is as big as England, but closer to the Equator. There are several others almost as large" He took a steadying breath. "I thought you," he glanced around the clearing they were in and at the other gathered Centaurs, "might be interested in living on a world where there aren't any wizards."
The Centaur raised an eyebrow. The others murmured behind Harry. "I made this offer to the Merfolk and they've set up two colonies on opposite sides of the largest island.
"Kentaurus?" Magorian said, glancing up at the sky — it was still daylight. He looked at Bane. "That would explain much." He glanced back at Harry. "And what would you gain by doing this?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Well, as I told the Merfolk, this world is getting more and more crowded with non-magicals, and it's getting harder and harder for magical creatures to hide and keep the secret. If some or most of your people move to Kentaurus, that will help keep the secret. The added advantage, from your point of view, it that you wouldn't have to deal with wizards interfering in your lives."
Magorian looked around the clearing, with a significant glare at Firenze.
"For some of our brethren it is becoming more and more difficult to evade the humans," he finally said to Harry. "We will think on this."
Harry held out one of the comm-stones. "This is a communication's device. Tap it three times with a finger and say my name. If I can, I will answer immediately. If I'm in class or somewhere where I can't respond, another will take the message."
Magorian took it with a look of distaste.
"It's not magical, by the way," Harry added. "It's about as magical as your bow and arrows." He paused. "Plus, if you want, you can put it on something and say, 'stay', while holding it there, and it will stay there. You can stick it to almost anything."
Magorian nodded and turned away.
Harry shook his head ruefully, that was as clear a dismissal as anything. He turned and walked back to the Castle, Firenze pacing him.
He had been quite startled when two weeks later Magorian had called him on the comm and told him he had several adventurous stallions and mares interested in exploring this new world.
Last month, they had transported the group of nine to the planet. They had left all of them and Magorian with the long-distance comms so they could easily communicate their findings, questions, and decisions with each other.
██:::::██:::::██
The Centaurs seemed quite happy with the results, so far, Firenze had told him earlier today. Especially so as they appeared to feel that the Unicorns would like this new world, too.
Harry hoped so.
Now he needed consider how to get to someone important with Goblins.
He sighed.
He would probably have to go to Professor Flitwick.
Which would mean revealing the Requirement, both the Room and the Ship.
On the other hand, now they weren't dependent on Hogwarts! Their Vanishing Cabinets and Apparition Room was outside the Hogwarts grounds.
Plus, the Enterprise stores were recruiting from the continent and India, and soon from the colonies and Australia. There was even a small group of half-bloods tracking down former Hogwarts graduates, both those who had stayed in England and those who had emigrated.
Finally, with him an adult, the Headmaster had no hold over him. With the Dark Mark no-longer visible, as Snape had shown the old wizard, he couldn't hold the threat of Voldemort returning over his head.
If truth be told, in view of the fact that the Goblins magic was incapable of detecting Riddle at all, it was quite likely the wraith had lost contact with his remaining soul-anchor and had finally passed on.
There was, of course, no way to prove it one way or the other without hunting down the wraith — which was too risky an operation to attempt, he thought.
He nodded to himself. Tomorrow, he would make an appointment with Professor Flitwick and see what he said.
██:::::██:::::██
"You won't believe me until I show you, Professor," Harry said to Flitwick. He and Hermione were in the wizard's office after classes on Monday.
The Professor looked doubtful.
"Honest, Professor," Hermione said. "This is all on the up and up."
"Alright," the wizard said, standing up from behind his desk and walking briskly to his office door, "let's see this hidden room."
A few minutes later, they were standing in a corridor on the seventh floor with a tapestry of a Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach ballet to trolls on one wall.
The twins had removed all their spells from the corridor, itself. There was no need, anymore. There were six separate "secret" passages in the school to which they had added branching passages. The branching passages were all behind doors that were spelled so that only Crew members could find and open them. The doors opened much as the brick wall by the Leaky Cauldron led to Diagon Alley did. The passages, naturally, led to the D.S.F. off-campus meeting room and Central Apparition and Vanishing Cabinet terminal Room.
"What you do is walk up and down this corridor thinking of what you want, and the room creates it," Harry explained. He demonstrated what he meant. "I'm thinking I want a place where I can train to duel," he said out loud.
On his third pass, the door appeared. He stopped and opened it. "See? Look inside."
"My word!" Flitwick said in surprise.
It was set up with training manikins at one end. The manikins held wands in the standard position for duelling. A bookcase stood nearby, filled with books on duelling. There were chairs and a rack of towels beside it.
They waited several minutes as the diminutive Professor examined the room.
"Come on out," Harry gestured from the door, "You can explore this room, later. The next one will shock you."
They left the room, and Flitwick watched curiously, and excitedly, as Harry again walked up and down the corridor the requisite three times.
"I want the room of lost, abandoned, and hidden things," he said out loud, each time.
A new door appeared.
As promised, Flitwick was speechless at the sight that greeted him. While the Crew had raided the room for galleons, gold, jewellery, gems, and valuable old books, there was still thousands and thousands of other items in the massive room.
"I think this room is even bigger than the Great Hall," Harry said, hands on his hips, looking around.
Flitwick was examining a few of the closer items, including what looked like a rapier stabbed into a cushion, with a blood-stained dagger beside it.
"This room has all the things people left behind at the end of a school-year, or things people wanted to hide," he pointed at a pile empty sherry-bottles, "and never came back for them. It also has lots of Hogwarts things that aren't in use or are broken." He gestured at a triangular table with one clawed and two pawed legs.
"It can also create things, like," he paused and thought. "I need . . . ah . . . an American walkie-talkie!" A blocky box-like thing appeared, about the size of one of his books, but not as wide, and it had a metal antenna sticking out of the top with buttons on one side.
He sighed as he picked it up off the floor. "Unfortunately, anything created in the room, can't be taken out of it."
Flitwick watched him walk out the door, and the walkie-talkie vanished as he passed through the doorframe.
"But what I really want to show you is next. If you thought this Room was amazing, the next one will flat-out make this look pedestrian!"
Flitwick gave him an astonished and doubtful look, but followed him out, carrying the dagger he had seen. The dagger did not disappear as he left the room.
"The Room can also make passages to anywhere . . . for example, your office." He walked back and forth the requisite times, then opened the door. Flitwick looked into his office and slowly nodded. "Or," he closed the door and walked back and forth again, "my room at Number Four Privet Drive." The door opened to his bare room, decrepit bed, table, threadbare rug, broken toys piled in the corner, and all.
"Come on," he waved to the professor as he walked inside. "Take a look at the room where I lived for the last six years, and the house for the last sixteen." He walked inside.
Hermione gave him a wan smile and stayed behind to protect the door from interference should anyone stumble upon it.
The professor gave a disapproving look at the shabby room. "This is really your room?"
Harry sighed and looked out the window. "Yes, ever since I got my Hogwarts letter." He glanced at Flitwick from the sides of his eyes, not looking at him directly. "They moved me in here from the cupboard under the stairs because they were afraid wizards were now watching them."
Flitwick gave him a sharp look. "Cupboard under the stairs?"
Harry shrugged and opened his room's door. The difference between his shabby room and the neatly-wall-papered, carpeted, and orderly hallway was immediately apparent. As were the locks on the door, although they were currently hanging open. Flitwick eyed them with raised eyebrows.
Harry gave him a rue smile. "I couldn't do magic outside of Hogwarts. The locks were very effective."
He led the way downstairs. He was sure the professor took note of the many pictures lining the walls featuring his three relatives, but not him. Not to mention the almost showroom appearance of the sitting-room.
The professor did stop in front of the cupboard under the stairs and looked at the sliding barrel-bolt lock on the door. A lock clearly designed to prevent something on the inside from getting out. He gave Harry a long look. Harry shrugged. "The Headmaster knows all about my living arrangements here, both before and after my Hogwarts letter." He looked off towards the Little Whinging playpark. "Mrs. Arabella Figg, a squib who lives just a street over, kept him posted."
It was late afternoon, so neither Dudley nor Vernon were home. The house was quiet and his aunt wasn't in the sitting-room.
Neither was she in the dining-room nor kitchen.
He assumed she was out gossiping with a neighbour.
He led the professor into the back-garden. He waved his arms and spun in a circle. "As you can see, we really are here."
≈ ≈ ≈ ≈██:::::██:::::██
Author's Note: Touchstone, in April, never happens because the "Beta" Gate from Antarctica was taken by the DFS before Solitudes could take place. Thus, that gate was never stored in Area 51, and N.I.D. never got to the Gate for their experiments.