Disclaimer: I make no money with this.
Chosen By: Mom
Prompt 1: Locked In
Prompt 2: Gold
Pairing: Neville Longbottom, Sam Carter
WC: 1000+
Written: June 28, 2024
Story #18
Neville looked around after coming to trying to get his bearings. They were in a cave of some sort with tunnels in three directions. When he looked down, he saw his companion had yet to waken. Looking up again, Neville noticed they had fallen about ten feet or so. As he cast the Tempus charm, he realized they had been unconscious for about an hour. He knew no one would look for them for another three hours, it was the time allotted for Sam to show him the flora on this planet.
After making sure nothing was broken and Sam was unhurt as well, Neville sat down to wait for her to come to. It wasn't a long wait, maybe ten minutes, but felt like forever.
"Ugh, what happened?" Sam asked as she sat up.
"The ground gave out and we fell." Neville answered.
"About ten feet, I'd say." Sam looked up to the hole they fell through.
"Yeah, are you alright?" Neville wanted to make sure.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm unharmed, just a little shaken." Sam told him as she did a mental check of her body.
"Good." Neville's relief showed on his face.
"Are those tunnels?" Sam wondered as she took in where they were.
"I believe so. I haven't checked them out yet but there're three of them." Neville answered.
"Well, shall we see what's down here or sit and wait for help?" Sam inquired. They had only found on patch of flora she had been tasked to show Neville. Daniel had wanted to come but SG-4 had brought back an artifact that General Hammond wanted translated immediately, so she had volunteered to take the wizard instead. She enjoyed Neville's company; he was a quiet man but knew how to handle himself if a fight broke out. Sam found herself quite taken with his knowledge of all things flora and knew he would very much love seeing plants that weren't on Earth or had become extinct.
"Sure, which way first?" Neville asked.
"This way, can you leave those little blue lights as we go so we know where we've been?" Sam wanted to know.
"I can." Neville told her.
"Nifty little things." Sam grinned at the herbologist, who nodded his agreement.
They chose the tunnel on the left to explore first. There wasn't much to it, mainly bare stone with a few wet places where an unknown water source dripped down. Once at the end, they turned around and headed back with Neville canceling the Bluebell spell as he went.
The next tunnel was the one on their right. This tunnel had a few plants growing but they were the same as some they found on the surface in shaded areas. Again, Neville left a trail of lights that he canceled when they came to the end of the tunnel.
Finally it was time to check out the center tunnel. This one was a bit larger, like it was a main passageway for whoever had lived there. As they traversed the tunnel, each took note of the rooms along the way; they wanted to reach the end before getting caught up checking out what the rooms had to offer.
The center tunnel seemed to be three times as long as the other two, proving it was the main tunnel. After reaching the end, Neville and Sam started their way back, checking each room they came to. The first several rooms offered very little, barren except for a few pots and jars. However the next set of rooms found them making a note to let Daniel know about them, there was writing on the walls.
When they entered the next room, Neville grinned broadly. There were all kinds of flora to be logged; he felt like a niffler let loose on a pile of gold. He pulled out the mini-recorder Colonel O'Neill had given him to take notes on what he saw. He would have to come back with proper equipment to get samples of everything. He had a small herb bag with him but some of these plants needed no sunlight to touch them so it would require his other kit, the one spelled for blocking all light as well as capturing some of the air around the plants.
After leaving the rather large open room that had a large opening in the ceiling letting natural light in, they each took a room to search until Neville called out for Sam.
"What did you find?" Sam inquired as she stepped in.
"Not sure but I think it's right up your alley." Neville pointed to a shelf.
"Wow! Yeah." Sam checked the shelf Neville had pointed to. It was full of various objects. She wasn't sure if they were weapons, household items or what but Sam found herself excited to find out. As she noted the room, they turned to leave when the opening suddenly closed.
"Uh, Sam?" Neville's voice showed his nervousness.
"I know, check the walls to see if there's a hidden latch somewhere." Sam instructed.
"Sure" Neville said as he lit the tip of his wand and ran it down the wall next to the door, opposite the one Sam was checking. After thoroughly searching every inch of surface, they sighed.
"Well, looks like we're locked in. How long before they come look for us?" Neville wanted to know.
Sam checked her watch, "About thirty minutes before we're to check in then another ten after that. Can you apparate us out?"
"I can try." Neville grabbed Sam's arm and attempted to apparate but couldn't. When Sam looked to him, Neville sighed, "That would be a no. It's like there's an anti-apparation jinx."
"Okay, well, guess we get comfy." Sam stated as she sat on a nearby bench.
"Yeah. Will they know where to look?" Neville pondered.
"Eventually they'll pick up our trail. It really depends on who they send." Sam explained.
"Okay." Neville said as he joined her on the bench. "Good time to check those out then." He pointed to the artifacts on the shelves.
"Not without knowing what they are. We'll need someone to translate before touching." Sam told him.
"Touched things you shouldn't before, huh?" Neville chuckled.
"A time or two, yeah." Sam smiled and they chatted while they waited.
Jack, Daniel and Teal'c arrived at the General's door at the same time.
"What's going on, Jack?" Daniel asked.
"No clue." Jack responded as he knocked.
"Enter." Hammond called out.
"Hey, General, what's up?" Jack greeted his commanding officer.
"Major Carter and Professor Longbottom have missed their check-in. I want you to find out why." General Hammond explained.
"They went to P3X-792, right?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, Major Carter escorted Professor Longbottom to P3X-792 to show him the flora you found when you visited it. Their check-in was thirty minutes ago. We sent a M.A.L.P. through as scheduled but there has been no sign of either of them. Colonel take your team and find our missing people." Hammond commanded.
"Yes sir." Jack said as he turned to Teal'c and Daniel. "Gate room in five."
"Oh, and Jack, take Auror Potter with you." Hammond instructed.
"Yes sir." Jack nodded as he exited the office.
After stepping through, Jack asked, "Any idea which way they went?"
"Yes, actually, Sam told me the basic route she planned to take." Daniel shared.
"Lead the way." Jack swept his arm out in front of him.
The team walked for an hour before Jack spotted that their trail had deviated to the right.
"This way." Jack stated as he followed the path taken.
After walking a few minutes, the group stood around a hole in the ground. It was fresh and, once their eyes adjusted, they could see the ground disturbed below them.
"Looks like their alright." Daniel said.
"Well, looks like we're doing a bit of repelling. Alright, anchor your ropes." Jack instructed as he anchored his and tested it. As Jack, Daniel and Teal'c repelled down the hole, Harry levitated down but wasn't the smoothest Jack had seen.
"You alright there, Potter?" Jack eyed the Auror.
"Yeah, but there seems to be something fighting my magic. It would explain why Neville didn't apparate them out." Harry explained.
Jack took in the area as he noticed the little lights down the main tunnel. "Well, it doesn't seem to hamper all magic."
"True, maybe it's just warded against apparating." Harry stated.
"Looks like we're going this way." Jack said as he started down the main tunnel.
The group walked for thirty minutes before coming to the end of Neville's lights. As they listened, they heard faint voices coming from the wall next to them. This time when Jack tried to radio Carter, she answered.
"Good to hear your voice, sir." Sam stated.
"Good to be heard, Carter. What happened?" Jack asked.
"Not sure, after waking up from the fall, we decided to explore the tunnels. We made it to the end and was coming back, checking the rooms as we did, when we stopped in her. There's artifacts on several shelves. Neville called me in here and when we tried to leave, the door slid closed." Sam explained.
"Did you trigger something?" Jack asked.
"Not that we know of, sir. We haven't touched anything." Sam informed.
"Well, let's see if we can get you out of there, shall we?" Jack stated as the team studied and felt around the walls and floor to see if a lever or switch or something was there they could activate.
"Hey Neville, did you try Alohomora?" Harry inquired.
"Hey Harry and no, I didn't think of that." Neville shook his head. Why didn't he think to try magically unlocking the door? Probably because there was no lock he could see but it was no excuse to at least try.
Neville unsheathed his wand and pointed it at the door as he cast the spell. However, nothing happened.
"Didn't work." Sam reported.
"Worth a shot." Jack huffed. "We'll continue checking out here just hang tight."
"Copy that, sir." Sam responded.
Jack had each of them to take a room to search, hoping somewhere there was a lever or button to free Carter and Longbottom. After searching a few room, Harry had an idea.
"Hey Jack, mind if I try something?" he asked.
"What?" Jack wanted to know what Harry had thought of.
"Well, there's a spell we learn after being an Auror for a three years that will show what's hidden. It complicated, which is why it's not learned until later." Harry explained.
"Alright, give it a try." Jack said as he, Teal'c and Daniel moved to give Harry room.
"Revelio Secreto" Harry intoned as he did quite the complicated wand movements. When the area glowed yellow, Harry pointed to a very small spot towards the bottom of the wall.
"O'Neill" Teal'c got Jack's attention as he pointed to the spot.
Jack walked over and touched the spot but still nothing happened.
"Well, now what?" Jack looked at his companions.
"Let me try." Harry offered and Jack accepted, moving out of his way.
Harry placed the tip of his wand against the spot and pushed, the door to the room where Sam and Neville were trapped slid back.
"Howdy, campers." Jack greeted.
"Sir, thanks." Sam said.
"It was Harry who figured it out." Daniel smiled.
"It took touching my wand to the button for it to activate." Harry explained.
"So whoever made these tunnels knew our type of magic?" Neville inqured.
"It would seem." Teal'c answered.
"Huh, well, that would explain some of the plants we found." Neville shared.
"Yeah, like what?" Harry asked.
"Well, the room two doors down and it is quite large and has aconite, asphodel, baneberries, bubotubers, cobra lilies and quite a few more. It even has gillyweed growing in the pool." Neville gushed. "There's also some I'm not sure about, I think they're extinct or quite rare in our world."
"Sounds like you hit the jackpot, Neville." Harry smiled at his friend's enthusiasm.
"You have no idea, Harry. Some of them I think were used in healing and pain potions, adding to the potency." Neville vibrated with happiness.
"Well, maybe we should contact Snape and see if he knows the ones you don't." Harry wondered.
"Um, yeah, sure. I don't have to join him do I?" Neville stuttered.
"When are you going to stop being scare of him?" Harry chastised.
"Not, not ever. He's a top-notch Potions Master and all but he still scares me." Neville blushed.
"You won't have to work with him, Neville." Daniel tried to soothe him.
"Th-thanks." Neville said as he turned to leave.
"As much fun as this has been, we need to get back before Hammond sends another scout party." Jack herded everyone towards the hole.
After everyone climbed up with Harry and Neville levitating up, they walked back to the DHD and dialed home. When they stepped through, General Hammond was waiting for them.
~Fin~ (WC 2163)